LATEST ADDITIONS

At least, that's what In-Stat's survey shows. Seems low to me, but maybe a lot of folks are putting white earbuds on those $25 flash-drive players.

Huckleberry looks pensive—which is definitely not in his nature.

Bagheera looking uncharacteristically silly—although maybe she's just blinded by my new flash.

On December 31, 2006, the UK will pay off its post-WWII debt to the US. "Nobody pays off their student loan early, unless they are a nutter," Dr. Tim Leung explained. Well, the full story is a bit more complicated than that. Or maybe not.

"I just want you to know, Stephen, that I spent the entire afternoon recompiling all of the text and graphs and data for the <a href="http://www.stereophile.com//features/338/index.html">Test CD 2</a> booklets."

I have a soft spot for this show, but what really impresses me about this article on the long-running series is that the Sci-Fi network stuck with the show and worked to get viewers versed in its backstory and mythos, instead of just moving it to different time-slots each week like the "real" networks do.

Michael Chabon's rant about the imposition of predetermined boundaries and contours, of a formulary of play&mdash;and why Sid in <I>Toy Story</I> wasn't necessarily a Norman Bates in the making.

Headline of the year.

<I>The Independent</I> interviews Jared Diamond, author of <I>Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed</I>. The good news? We may not be doomed. The bad news: Yet, that is.

The link is to <I>The Guardian Unlimited</I>'s podcast of Stephen Fry and Christopher Hitchens debating blasphemy. You might think you don't have time to listen to a 78 minute argument? Well, think again&mdash;<I>this</I> you've got to hear.