In "Mundane SF"

Probably of all the plot devices I hated worst in Star Trek (and other) universes were the "Devices that can translate any language." I can accept the premise of faster-than-light travel and teleportation (as unlikely as they are), but a device that immediately translates Alienspeak into lucid English is a bit much.

In "Superman is a Dick. "

Let's be kind to Superman. As mentioned before, most of these stories were hoaxes, pranks, and practical jokes -- not to mention imaginary stories, or Superman under the influence of red kryptonite. And, sometimes, the covers and splash pages were deliberately misleading, and failed to appear in the actual story. Yes, after a while, it got tiring to read these brilliant but ultimately predictable plotlines. On the other hand, Marvel was much simpler. Its characters were more interesting. Marvel was always character-driven, DC plot-driven. During puberty I switched to Marvel.

In "13 Things in science that do not make sense. "

Interesting that 10 out of the 13 Things are related to astronomy or cosmology. It's time to get off this ball and find some answers further from home. The fact that we're still faced with unanswered questions is exciting. There's nothing better than a good mystery -- or 13 good mysteries.

In "Fifty Word Fiction."

"I finally did it, my Act of Revenge." "So tell me about it," chirped Satan, dealing out the cards. "Well, on Earth, today it's Easter," smiled Christ, winking at his opponent. "Look there below."" "Damn straight," chuckled Satan, not referring to his hand. On the firmament below, amidst an Easter breeze - they were nailed up on telephone poles.

In "Common errors in English."

It was good to see Brians' dismissal of claims regarding the subjugation of minorities by insisting that standard English be used in formal settings. (I personally prefer adding an apostrophe to a name ending in 's' when using the possessive. 'Brians's' sounds much too cumbersome.) As an aside, I have found that 9 out of 10 people get the plural of 'quiz' wrong.

In "An Autistic Savant Explains."

Dr. Ramachandran touches upon savantism and synesthesia in some of his books. Apparently damage to certain parts of the brain allows other parts to become "unrestrained" in output. Tammet in his obsessiveness and super-recall makes the Monk look like a piker in comparison.

In "Bleeding Edge gothic dolls."

At least they're better than tampon dolls here

In "Holy Monkey:"

On Ash Wednesday, the forehead is used as advertising space for God. The guy on ebay probably stole the idea.

In "Playful Chocolate"

The glowing testimonials ("For the first time in 7 years of marriage, my wife jumped on me for sex!!") seem a bit made up.

In "Bird Type Specimens."

Audobon would be thrilled.

In "The Works of Charles Fort"

The Fortean Times print magazine is also interesting, with some great photos and quirky news items.

In "The Leonard Nimory Should Eat More Salsa Foundation"

This item seems to belong to 505 Unbelievably Stupid Web Pages, by Dan Crowley http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1402201427/qid=1106024848/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/103-8985746-2072640?v=glance&s=books

In "Pongomania!"

I also prefer PlayDoh -- it smells so addictingly nice.

In "WebBoggle: Oh, how I love ye!"

I would have done better but my screen was too small.

In "The FDA has approved a study to investigate whether the drug Ecstacy "

If drugs like MDMA were legal there would be less impurities, more publicly available information and support about it, etc. Removing punitive legal sanctions against it would open the doors of perception for those who seek it. Granted it may open a pandora's box. But people are using it, anyway. Why should it be a jail sentence?

In "The SeeLinder"

There's something about 3-D that endlessly fascinates. The 3-D Viewmaster, red & blue anaglyphs, magic stereograms, hologram book covers, lenticular photos, on & on. Wonderful.

In "2004 "10 Worst Toys" List"

I remember the old word-burning stylus as a kid. You'd plug in the stylus, it would heat up and you'd etch in the outlines of a picture printed on a thin piece of word. But invariably you'd drop the stylus onto your clothes or whatever and forget about it until a minute or two later when you sniffed the odor of burning flesh.

In "The Fantastic Four teaser trailer"

I'll see it for no other reason than seeing Chiklis. From Curly to Vic to Grimm.

In "themakeupgallery"

The horror section is always worth a look. People are fascinated by the grotesgue.

In "THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE SHAT:"

That Shatner site is listed in 505 Unbelievably Stupid web Pages, by Dan Crowley. (Sourcebooks, Inc. 2003.)

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