I'm a fan of http://www.interfacelift.com

Sorry, I didn't realize I was supposed to check that out first.

and how many cookies it tries to glue to you
and of course if you have a virus scanner on your machine.

Many folks here will not click on a site they are not familar with.
I esp. do not click on too many videos unless I know what they are.

come from which sites? I saw one cookie for each wallpaper site I could positively identify as coming from a wallpaper site.

Sometimes you hit a site where masses of cookies start appearing, until you can't navigate. THOSE sites I block, once I can get free of them.
This is assuming you have set your preferences so you have control over which cookies to accept and which to deny.
That way, when a cookie request appears, it has the site name on it.

I like it~

Im a hypocrite. I do the same. but what matters is that YOU like it. you have to live with it.... So why not make it personal... I have an angry penguin for my backdrop. I like it though nobody else does...

Personal picture is good.

A collection of wallpapers curated by Tom Watson designed to make your computer beautiful without distraction. And you can add your own.

http://simpledesktops.com/

http://www.deviantart.com/
Lots of different types of imagery to choose from there. just browse around, see what you like, support some independent artists if you feel like it, and find similar artists making interesting content. Some of the fractal art makes for especially pleasing backgrounds imho.
http://browse.deviantart.com/digitalart/fractals/manipulations/

Speaking of which, the "spanky" fractal database has been a long-time favorite (since 1994!). i still use a rotation of their lyapunov fractals on one of my computers.
http://www.nahee.com/spanky/ (at the bottom, look for "An index of Fractal Material at Spanky.&quot
They also have a section supporting the fractint software, if you care to roll your own.

Of course you could just go fishing in the Hubble space telescope pages and find something cool.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html

Thanks for sharing.