Last night I dreamt that I lived in a place where the government was gradually taking away many of the people’s freedoms, in the supposed interest of protecting them. It started with relatively minor things, like losing the right to travel without showing papers, the right to privacy (for instance, in telephone conversations), and [...]

I need some #2 PLASTITE® 45 or PLASTITE 48-2 thread-forming screws, and had some difficulty finding a source for them in quantities less than 10,000. I really don’t want to invest $700 in screws.
I inquired on a mailing list, and people suggested various vendors. Two people suggested McMaster-Carr, and they had the screws [...]

What if God Wanted Pasta Sauce

I was present when Martin took this tortilla out of the toaster! It’s a miracle!  Check it out!

I overheard Jim Newton explaining to someone why he founded TechShop. He described having been involved in some capacity with MythBusters, and having access to all kinds of equipment, then losing that access. He founded TechShop because there wasn’t any existing workshop open to the public.
My take on that (with apologies to Alfred [...]

You might think that vaporware is a relatively new thing. Perhaps the best known example is Duke Nukem Forever, which was announced in 1997 but still has not shipped. It received Wired News’ Vaporware Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.
Vaporwear has actually been around much longer: Project Xanadu was announced in 1960, and [...]

Last month I wrote of receiving a death threat by email, which turned out to be an extortion attempt that was making the rounds as spam.  The FBI issued an advisory about this scam in January.
CNN now reports that the FBI is investigating these scams:
The FBI has received more than 100 complaints about the so-called [...]

As we’re told by Weird Al Yankovic:
Put your Viking helmet on,
Spread that mayonnaise on the lawn,
Don’t you know, it’s Weasel Stomping Day!
Make your kids knitted Viking helmets, and start indoctrinating them while they’re young! [h/t Boing Boing]

I know I’ve seen various mentions in the press of natural mosquito repellents more effective (and less unpleasant to humans) than products with DEET. I couldn’t remember what they were, but a web search turned up several.

Catnip (Nepeta cataria) — ten times more effective than DEET — available as Catnip Oil Insect Shield
Lemon Eucalyptus [...]

In an article about the Amazon merchandising of the forthcoming final installment of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7), The Inquirer has accidentally leaked the ending:
Over one million advance orders have already been placed for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, as readers young and old tune in to [...]