The only thing I miss about smoking...

... is the breaks. Smokers get more breaks than the average worker bee to go an indulge their addiction. I got used to being able to set aside five minutes a few times a day to think about things other than whatever was on my desk. I didn't relish giving that up when I quit smoking. Luckily, Al Gore had already invented the internet when I gave up my smelly habit. I don't know that I could have ever quit smoking without the internet to distract me.

Now the internet is the best way to refresh (or "distract," depending on your perspective) my brain during the work day. How Stuff Works is a favorite site. The articles are all written by about a dozen people who are apparently staff at the site. My suspicious nature leads to believe there is some kind of "angle" here, something else at work... but I haven't found a consistent bias to any of the material.

I like the science questions:

What is spider's silk made of?

How spacesuits work.

How solar cells work.

Useful DIY tips:

Fixing a hole in drywall.

How to treat a cat that has been sprayed by a skunk. My experience with cats tells me that flushing out a cat's eye with water is not quite the simple task that this illustration would lead you to believe, but maybe I'm just being cynical.

How to repair small appliances.

And then there's the stuff you really want to know:

Could I lose weight by getting my ear stapled?

How crack works.

What is foot and mouth disease?

How do aphrodisiacs work?

Why are booger sticky?

What are the best over-the-counter remedies for a hangover?

Enjoy.