They are keeping an eye on us, now you can keep an eye on them. MIT is working on a Government Information Awareness site, a sort of search-engine to keep track of the feds.

phenobarbiedoll just popped up in my GeoURL feed.

Yesterday was the 100th anniversary of George Orwell’s birth.

He tried to warn us…

Freelancer’s Union sounds like an interesting idea, but if you don’t live in New York City, it won’t do you much good.

Jenny writes about snacks. She rightly ridicules snacks trying too hard to be health food.

But the other end of the spectrum alarms me. I’ve noticed that at the grocery store, there are some sections I almost never visit, and when I do, I am astounded at the shit that people are evidently cramming down their gullets. Many of these products seem to be ways to extend existing manufactured food products (or at least brand names) into new niches–especially to make condiments into standalone food items, to make messy food more portable, and to claim as much shelf space as possible in an arms race of product diversification between food-manufacturing conglomerates. In the dairy section, Philadelphia-brand cheesecake bars. Tubes of yogurt–called “gogurt” if I recall correctly–that you rip open and squeeze into your mouth (I am guessing the beneficial lactobacillus has been killed in these). In the frozen-foods section, Sara Lee (I think) cheesecake “bites”. Tubes of pudding that you freeze. Cookie-dough-flavored snack food–how incredibly perverse! Eggo waffles made with Fruit Loops. Brightly packaged string-cheese logs, cheese niblets in a can, and so on. Potato chips intended to taste like baked potatoes smothered with condiments.

An analogous trend is found among hard-liquor companies producing malt beverages (ie, beer) that’s been de- and re-flavored to taste like a margarita, rum-and-coke, or whatever.

I keep getting all this spam for pills that promise to make my penis larger. (And, curiously, my balls too. I mean, who ever feels they need bigger balls?)

I know this is a scam. How do I know? Because penile enlargement drugs don’t come in the form of a pill. They come in an ointment that you rub on.

Saw these two covers (of Blur and Boards of Canada albums) side-by-side at Waterloo records.

Barbarella >> Lady Miss Kier of Deee Lite >> Ulala of Space Channel 5 >> Mena Trott of Movable Type

Found at Central Market, wasabi peanuts are a taste sensation.

The correct way to eat: Put one (1) in your mouth. Close the can. Crunch down. Savor the amazingly hot wasabi goodness, as your eyeballs rattle in their sockets and smoke shoots out your ears (just like in a cartoon). Repeat.

Pictured above is the new Mazda RX-8. You don’t have to be Jean Dixon to predict that this is going to be an extremely popular car. Apart from a Wankel engine, the notable thing about it is that it is a sports car with four doors, the rear doors being half-sized and reverse-opening. Snazzy design, with sharply pronounced front fender bulges.

And in the white corner is a Subaru concept car, the evocatively named B11s. Now, I like Subarus. I own a WRX. Subarus, however, have never been noted for good styling–if anything, the company has seemingly gone out of its way to design dorky-looking cars. This is obviously a new direction for the company, if they actually build it. It’s a good looking car. But it’s somebody else’s good looks. Same shape, same unusual door configuration, similar fender bulges.

Gwen suggested it should be marketed as the “WRX-8.”