I scour the Interwebs for mind-blowing, helpful, and/or inspiring content so you don’t have to. I consider this a public service. Other people consider this “screwing around looking at websites.” Call it what you will.

May the following information entertain and edify you this week:

1. Alan Taylor at the Boston Globe is blogging an Advent Calendar of photography from the Hubble Space Telescope. Every day you get a new photo, with a detailed description of what you’re seeing. Even though it’s hard for me to wrap my mind around phrases like “600,000 times more luminous than our sun” or “11.6 million light years away,” the Hubble pics fascinate me to no end. We live in a beautiful universe.

2. The editors at Patrol have come out with an excellent end-of-year list of the “Best Faith-Inspired Albums of 2008,” otherwise known as “the greatest music Christians have made in the past twelve months.” I respect Patrol a lot, not just because I’ve written for the publication, but because they don’t care at all about bowing to the CCM industry (and its advertisers) or being nice just because an artist is a Christian or liking lame music just because it’s about Jesus. They’re just interested in music that’s good. As a result, this top-50 list features Don Chaffer twice and Michael W. Curtis Tomlin a combined zero times. You must read it, then go out and buy some new music.

3. That fine publication, Mental_Floss, is getting bloggy in a Christmas way, which has resulted in some great lists. One is 8 Great Christmas Specials (But Not the Ones You’re Probably Thinking). This is an awesome list for many reasons, but the best of which is that it includes Mystery Science Theater 3000’s takedown of the horrible 1964 film “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.” You heard that right. You can watch it below.

4. And lastly, I just became aware of this blog: Zooborns. It is a compilation of photos and background about, in their words, “the newest and cutest exotic animal babies from zoos and aquariums around the world!” On a scale of cuteness with 1 being a basket of bunnies and 10 being a kitten wearing sunglasses and hanging from a tree, this blog is off-the-charts cute. In fact, it may be the epicenter of cuteness worldwide. It is so cute it might actually make butterflies stream out of the USB slots on your computer. How cute is it? These three words should do the trick: baby pygmy hippo. I’ll let you see those photos yourself. Until then, here’s a baby gorilla.

You’re welcome. Have a nice Monday.