Of course, it’s baked. It’s hot outside.
- From the “What’s In A Name?” Department: The New York Times is reporting on how China, in an attempt to “modernize”, is starting to require people to change their names, because their new computerized ID system is programmed to read only 32, 252 of the roughly 55,000 Chinese characters used for names (now there’s a password cracking alphabet for you!). Actually, they want to tighten the space even further, permitting slightly more than 8,000 characters for the names. According to the government, it was more than enough “to convey any concept in any field.” Fascinating article on the naming of Chinese.
- From the “Big and Bad” Department: The Ventura County Star has a nice article on the new Big Bad Voodoo Daddy album “How Big Can You Get? A Tribute to Cab Calloway” (which I received in the mail Friday). I can highly recommend the album: every song is great!
- From the “Desperetley Seeking…” Department: The New York Times has another interesting article on the Craigslist “Casual Encounters” section, for people looking for quick, physical, meaningless relationships. Although the article is SFW, the entries on Craigslist clearly are not.
- From the “So That’s How They Do It” Department: Ever wonder how stars today prevent the “muffin top”. Well, that bastion of journalism, the San Francisco Chronicle, has the answer. It also has the scoop on why baby poop smells good. News you need to know.
- From the “But It’s Only A Weather Balloon. Right.” Department: Not to be outdone by its competition to the North, the Los Angeles Times has a long piece on what was really going on in Area 51. Turns out: they were hiding something.
