Tsunami Donations

_[Deana originally put a tsunami relief fund donation box here. I've moved it to the navigation bar on the right so it will stay visible even if new entries are posted. --Ed.]_

Happy Holidays, All Y’All

My brother Carl sent me a really good article debunking the idea that ‘Happy Holidays’ is an attack on Christmas. What’s scary is that the idea apparently needs to be debunked.

where old Apples go to die

…or “yet another reason to buy a Mac”. Over the past few years, Apple has set up a “hardware recycling program”:http://www.apple.com/environment/recycling/ for old computers. If you send your old Mac to them, they’ll disassemble it and recycle the parts, diverting up to 90% from the landfill. If you live in Cupertino, [...]

Happy Solstice!

Today is the Winter Solstice! Sit back, have a hot beverage, listen to some music, and enjoy these two stories, one “true”:http://news.nationalgeographic.com/kids/2003/12/wintersolstice.html and one “fanciful”:http://www.bikereader.com/contributors/penna/solstice.html.
From all of us Radcliffs to all of you Global Spin readers and authors, we hope you have a wonderful holiday.

American Anthropological Atrocity

The ersatz AAA meetings took place in Atlanta this past weekend, and if you’re curious how they went, I’ve posted the body of my letter to one of the Society for the Anthropology of Religion conference organizers (ha) below:

Me-Ouch!

I am so, so sorry. But I found a reference to this on Slate.com this morning, and when I saw it, I had to share. Think scary, scary Japanese anime cats for consumerist girls. This led me to the truly painful main site, where there are references to Catz, Dogz, and Foxz (sic). This is [...]

traditional irish snog

Mike came up with a tasty combo this weekend: Silk Nog and Bailey’s Irish Cream. The best part is that if you squint when reading the labels you could consider it “good for you”. For those of you who are recipe-impaired, here’s a run-down:
8 oz. Silk Nog (the “’snog’”:http://www.freesearch.co.uk/dictionary/snog, aka soy nog)
1 oz. [...]

mayoral wraiths

It’s nice to know that San Diego is becoming known for “something politically positive”:http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/comment/story/0,14259,1375959,00.html instead of “the usual”:http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20041214-9999-7n14pension.html.

2004 science highlights

_Scientific proof that water once flowed on Mars has been “voted the breakthrough of the year”:http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/story.jsp?story=594065 according to journal Science._
Runners-up included _Homo floresiensis_, human embryo clones, and declining diversity. Yay, scientists!

robot masters update

Honda is working on the “next generation ASIMO humanoid robot”:http://www.japancorp.net/Article.asp?Art_ID=9021, and their early progress is pretty exciting. ASIMO can run (if only at 3kph), shake hands (thanks to new sensors), avoid obstacles, and cock its head as though to ask, “Why do I only have a 1-hour battery?”
The Honda ASIMO site has “video clips [...]