This one’s for Michiko, who works at a patent office in Osaka: Lawyers Unearth Early Patents (registration required; get login and password at BugMeNot) Two patent history nerds found the…

For some time now I’ve received questions from a few of you about blogging software/platforms. I tried my best to reply semi-coherently, but… Unfortunately, I am almost always busy or…

You think C-rations and MREs are bad news? Welcome to better dining through osmosis. When I was growing up, I had an uncle who was in the National Guard. He…

All hail the Chinese butt book pirates: Clinton is the latest victim of Chinese publishing pirates, who counterfeit entire books and rewrite the contents. Acting on the orders of their…

I read this article this morning and can’t stop thinking about it: Terror in the Skies, Again? If you were the author, would you have gotten up and done something?…

19. Is it round? Yes. 18. Is it made of metal? No. 17. Is it multicolored? No. 16. Is it straight? No. 15. Do you clean it regularly? Yes. 14.…

Happy belated BV to the Ho. I’m in the middle of his book. It’s sitting in my throne room, bookmarked with toilet paper. Damn fitting, I must say.

Hot from the inbox: Fellow blogger, I am sending this message to the bloggers on my blogroll (and a few other folks) in the hopes that some of you will…

Fox News Channel To Sign Off In Japan This was inevitable I think. When they changed to paid subscription in the aftermath of the their first announcement of quitting in…

Until today, I had always been under the impression that there were no civilian casualties as a result of Japanese attack on the US mainland during WWII. Wrong: http://slate.msn.com/id/2102499/ Sure,…

Using piranhas for bait!: Fishing for vampires. Via Fishing, Drinking, Stinking, the best fishing blog I have ever seen.

How about the ever-popular *hugs* ? (>_< )( >_< ) My intellectual offering for today is a short story written exclusively in the *hugs* format (as in, "You broke up…