Sir Bill! Bill Gates was knighted today. Regardless of how you feel about his software and business practices, there is no question that Bill is using his wealth to accomplish good things for the world.

Boris Vallejo, Wherefore Art Thou? The folks at BoingBoing have unearthed another find–remixed romance novel covers! I hope he turns his attention to sci-fi covers next.

Quickies Busy day, but these were too good to pass up: Star Wars landspeeder on sale on eBay. The explanation for the sale is almost better than the product itself. “Please Help! I have to sell the Landspeeder because I’m building a full-size mockup of the shuttlecraft Galileo used in the original 60’s Star Trek … Continue reading

Traders 1, Greenpeace 0 While I believe in environmentalism, I must admit that I am seldom impressed by the amateurish tactics of many environmental organizations. In the latest fiasco, Greenpeace attempted to disrupt the trading floor of the petroleum exchange in London. Bad idea–they got their asses kicked by the traders.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Two of the original “dogs playing poker” paintings sold for $590,400 to a private buyer. “The (paintings’) sequential narrative follows the same ‘players’ in the course of a hand of poker,” said an auction note from Doyle. “In the first, our main character, the St. Bernard, holds a weak … Continue reading

Why Virtual Worlds Will Eventually End Civilization As We Know It The folks at Terra Nova linked to an interesting article on people dropping out of real life to spend their time playing EverQuest. He makes the very good point that there are three reasons why people prefer the virtual world to the real world: … Continue reading

I couldn’t resist this little anecdote: Melanie Griffith threw a tantrum when she was unable to buy a pink iPod mini early last year, according to the sales associate who tried to serve her. The associate, who asked to remain anonymous, said Griffith came right up to him and “pretty much demanded” a pink iPod … Continue reading

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly…. Very cool article from Wired News on using genetically altered versions of the HIV virus to attach cancer cells. Wouldn’t it be ironic if HIV turned out to give us the cure for cancer? Many thanks to Slashdot for pointing out this article.

Going with the flowOver the holidays, I caught up on my reading by working my way through “Flow” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. “In work, sport, conversation or hobby, you have experienced, yourself, the suspension of time, the freedom of complete absorption in activity. This is “flow,” an experience that is at once demanding and rewarding–an experience … Continue reading

Sometimes it’s okay to Welsh on a bet…. I couldn’t resist. Don’t read this story unless you have a strong stomach.