Vietnamese Writer Won't Be Silenced Ms. Huong's novels are not openly political, but their leitmotif is the disillusionment of people trapped by a fate beyond their control.

Scientific Study of Consciousness-Influence on Random Physical Events. Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research. 'The observed effects are usually quite small, of the order of a few parts in ten thousand on average, but they are statistically repeatable and compound to highly significant deviations from chance expectations.' On the quantum level, a small effect can have dramatic overall consequences. Interesting.

"Moving Mannequins was established to fulfill the demand for an extremely lifelike display mannequin, which when coupled with movement, stimulates emotion and draws excited attention to the display." Eeeerie.

Space Shuttle Discovery is set to launch Wednesday. If all goes well, the shuttle should launch at 3:51 ET. more inside

<b>Curious George: Alternative Singapore Tour</b>. Off to Singapore on Thursday. 2nd trip there. First one bog standard touristy. However I make a lousy tourist. Guidebooks have been reread and Google links pursued. Am I destined to sit by a pool for a week? Or are there some quirky places/things to see? more inside

The Neanderthal genome is to be reconstructed. They have already had some success at sequencing Neanderthal proteins: John Hawks reckons they most probably have DNA sequences already. Incidentally, we have a better idea of what the Neanderthals looked like thanks to a 'Frankenstein' reconstruction.

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Have you ever played Tom Baker or Normal? Give it a go. I particularly enjoy the extended version of Tom Baker, Steptoe, Blakey or Normal, which I play against my wife and cat, neither of whom know wtf I'm on about. Gleefully, I laugh, as my Steptoe is unsurpassable.

Zoho Mechanical Man: 920 handmade bronze & stainless steel parts, 85 of which are moveable. 43cm high weighing 6kg with a magnetic base. I want one!! (flash)

Curious George: International calls My boyfriend is in Argentina for a couple months. What's the best way of calling him? Calling cards? my own cell phone? my land line? He is purchasing a temporary cell phone for use while he's down there, if that has any bearing on your response.

Curious Flats: as the dust settles in London, where can my friend? more inside

Jumping the Wall Danny Way jumped over the Great Wall of China 4 times on his skateboard, becoming the first person to jump the wall without a motorized vehicle. While I agree this is not really worthy of a FPP, I think the fact that the article mentions that China has a Minister of Extreme Sports does. I wonder how you say "Dude!" in Chinese?

Make the Web Mobile With IYHY Because the vast majority of companies and sites will never take the time or spend the money to make their sites "mobile friendly".

The Ultimate 78 Collector - 'The very term "folk music" rankles him: The music he worships was made by professionals -- backwoods or no -- and released on commercial records that were revolutionary in their day. He dismisses Dylan as "shit," but then again he despises all forms of rock 'n' roll, which to him is no more than the cuss-word verb of its original meaning, a blues double-entendre for fucking... more inside

- It's a weekend. MoFi addicts need a fix. How about a THEME? Lost and Found: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5* *Site mentioned previously (briefly) discussed here. See also: Object Not Found. (Feel free to add links to your "lost and found" related sites.) Discuss.

Planarity. (flash) Move the circles so the lines don't cross. more inside

China invades! Anyone else paying attention to Chinese National Offshore Oil Company's bid to take over U.S. energy giant UNOCAL? more inside

Cot death warning Is it just me, or is this a flawed article? The study reveals that infants that die of crib death tend to have slept in the same bed as their parent on the night they died. Is it possible that they slept with their parents because the child was fussy because they were sick in some way! There seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding of correlation and causality here.

Can you build an 'ancient death ray' ? "We're looking for viewers to participate in an upcoming special episode of MythBusters. All you need to do is construct and test an experiment you've designed and send it to us on videotape. ... Category 2: To build a full-scale replica of Archimedes' mirror capable of igniting the target at a minimum distance of 100 feet." more inside