I saved just under 1200 links to del.icio.us through January. To get some value out of that obsessive activity and save you some time what follows is a list of the best “posts” I discovered. Items are on this list because they use the blog post format in interesting ways, they represent a large amount of valuable work, they are exceptionally well written, they are about something I find really interesting or there is just some special quality about them that compels me to share them with you. Astrix denote the very best ones.

* Daily Monster 75

Stefan G Bucher, Wed Jan 31st. The 75th post in a wonderful series
of video posts showing the drawing of an animated monster. The best bit
is the readers contributions providing back story for the monsters. Participatory
TV at last.

The Top 100 Alternative Search Engines

Read/Write Web, Mon Jan 29. A fantastically thorough look at Search
and the proliferation of niche search engines.

It Bothers Me That I Have To Go

Don to Earth, Tues Jan 23. A post by a nonagenarian on leaving this world.

Pad Thai for beginners

Chez pim. Sun Jan 21. A very in-depth look at making Pad Thai, with photos.

The cost of monoculture

Gen Kanai weblog, Fri Jan 26. Expose of problem with development
of South Korean Net History, with discussion.

SecondLife: Revolutionary Virtual Market or Ponzi Scheme?

Capitalism 2.0, Tue Jan 23. Strong Secondlife backlash post with very lengthy discussion.

Bruce Osborn: Oyako – Portraying Japanese Generations

Pingmag, Wed Jan 24. Collection of portraits of japanese adult
parent-child relationships.

How to isolate amniotic stem cells from the placenta, at home!

Pimm – Partial immortalization, Tue Jan 23. Step by step guide
to do-it-yourself stem cell collection, with pictures.

On Space Art in Sebastopol

Plastic Bag, Mon Jan 22. Account with images of creating art to
be viewed on google earth/maps.

Every ad in Times Square

Ironic Sans, Mon Jan 22. A photo record of every advertisement currently
visible in Times Square, New York.

MonsterID as Gravatar Fallback

Split brain, Sun Jan 21. Interesting implementation of automatic avatar/monster assignation.

When Being a Verb is Not Enough

PBS, Cringley, Fri Jan 19. Epic rant on Google’s impending takeover of the net.

Reaction to the iPhone reveals how the electronics industry failed to beat the iPod

Thomas fitzgerald, Wed Jan 17. Analysis of electronics industry and them not getting design.

The Lonely Tree of Ténéré

Damn Interesting. Wed Jan 17. Account of absurd demise of lone
300 year old Saharan tree.

Event-Driven Web Application Design

Yahoo! User Interface Blog, Wed Jan 17. Excellent clear look at one aspect of current state of javascript application development.

American Idol Myspace Hunt: Round #1

Death by Camera, Wed Jan 17. Tracking down US Idol contestants via their Myspace profiles.

Sunday Reader esp. Uniqlo clip.

Wider Angle, Sun Jan 14. A great mashup post but mostly here for the link to the amazing Japanese robot dance routine.

What Can We Do With Flickr?

Flickr user cogdogblog, Oct 14 2006. Obsessive and a little silly use of flickr photo notes to illustrate the uses to which Flickr can be put.

* The Astoria Notes

Ironic Sans, Wed Jan 17. Scans of letters and great account of interactions with unhappy neighbour.

* Wii Sports Experiment, Results!

WiiNintendo, Mon Jan 15. Lengthy illustrated report on using the Wii for weight loss.

* My Wild Million-Hit Ride on YouTube

The tyee, Wed Jan 10. Account by “Spiders on Drugs” creator about what happens when your work is popular on Youtube.

Styling form controls with CSS

456 Berea Street, Tue Jan 9. Huge amount of work illustration variation in CSS styled form elements across browsers.

Custom DOM Attributes for Fun and Profit

Unspace.Tue Jan 9 Well written examination of using attributes vs classes.

Older Posts discovered by me in Jan 2007 – cheating a little but I couldn’t let the rules prevent me sharing these great posts

Internet 2007 Predictions

Information Architects Japan, Dec 26 2006. Long post with images with 2007 net related predictions.

The 50 loudest websites in 2006 and what made them successful

Information Architects Japan, Dec 21 2006. Look at factors behind successful sites with neat visualisation charts.

The Design Disease

Noisy Decent Graphics, Dec 03, 2006. Self-analysis of how obsessive a designer can get with illustrations.

* Welcome to the amazing world of pop-up books!

PingMag, Nov 27 2006. Fantastic look at pop-up books with youtube hosted video to illustrate.

Patterns – a photoset on Flickr

Flickr User Ludd, Last Nov 25 2006. Not really a post but photoset of 70 patterns from public transport upholstory.

Tailors Today: A Poster Showing Every Book I’ve Ever Read

Tailors Today, Thur Oct 12, 2006. A tutorial on how to create a poster of every book you’ve ever read.

Online Image Editors Compared

Smiley Cat, Jul 28 2006. Don’t miss the data matrix comparing 10
different web based image editors.

Creative photos by Chema Madoz

haha.nu, Jul 2nd 2006. A collection of very imaginative photos
by Chema Madoz.

* May I take your order?

Rahoi, Mar 2 2006. Scans of mind-bendingly bizarre English on Chinese
menu.

How to Prototype a Game in Under 7 Days

Gamasutra, Oct 26, 2005. Interviews and examination of high-speed
game design at Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center.

Microsoft 1978

Coding Horror, Aug 15 2005. Where are they now? look at photograph of original M$ team.