Here's a four-minute short film about a little-known farming practice that makes the world what it is today. Can you imagine if this crop disappeared, what our day-to-day life would be like? Better? Worse?

The Thinking Machine, version four, is a chess-playing javascript that shows you all the moves the computer is considering, often several steps ahead, with colored lines that represent each player and the perceived outcome of each line of play (darker is better for black, the computer, and lighter is better for white, the human). It's not Big Blue -- the programming is such that experts will easily whallop the machine and beginners will be smacked down hard -- but it's an interesting look into the thought process involved in becoming adequate at chess. Plus, it's darn pretty, with all those radiating waves of influence coming off each piece, the simplified use of shapes to denote the pieces, and the light saber color scheme.

Here's a fantastic animated short film in which national culinary specialties re-enact every major war since World War II. It can be confusing at times to figure out what's happening, but part of the fun is when it dawns on you which country is being represented by which pile of food. Plus, the burgers that shoot their own fixings at stuff are just rad.

It's called "Food Fight ." 

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I'm smitten with these wineglasses from Hamilton Design that represent each of the seven deadly sins. What would you drink from them? Here are my choices:

Wrath

Ah, the grapes of wrath. With that hard spear on its edge, the glass could only be filled by Devil's Corner pinot noir from Tasmania. 

Greed

The multiple horny pockets of the greed glass just beg for the fake 1787 Chateau Lafitte (purportedly from Thomas Jefferson's wine collection) that went for $156,000.

Pride

How about a 1999 Pride Mountains Vineyard Cabernet Reserve (95 points!) to fill that tall stem? 

Gluttony

The giant belly on this bulbous glass could only be filled by Fat Bastard .

Lust

I'm not even sure how this glass works, but I'd fill it with a Dominatrix Pinot Noir from the Naked Winery in Oregon. 

Envy

The holes in the side of the glass made me laugh out loud. And isn't there a winery in Napa called Envy? Why yes, there is! 

Sloth

My favorite sin ... probably shouldn't go too far out of my way to fill this glass (which requires a second person to do the pouring) with Sleepy Creek Vineyards' (in Illinois??) Little Woody ... oops, too late, sold out. Oh well. Maybe some other time. Can I nap now?