IRAN has some... interesting criticism of Al-Jazeera.

THE CHRONICLE SCOOPS AGAIN: This time with grand jury testimony from Barry Bonds, who demonstrates why so many people don't like him very much. If you're interested in following the BALCO story, David Pinto's Baseball Musings will probably be on the case. Of course, if you're a baseball fan you probably already have that site bookmarked.

PROTEIN WISDOM has Holiday Wishes From Anna Nicole Smith.

THE MUMMY RETURNS: King Tut is coming back to Chicago's Field Museum in 2006 as part of a U.S. tour starting next year. I saw the first exhibit in 1977, but this time I hope to answer questions left hanging, like "How'd he get so funky?" and "Did he do the Monkey?" And yes, I did see Steve Martin in the same general timeframe, at the late, unlamented Universal Amphitheater.

NINTENDO is getting into the movie business. I don't know why, since there's much more money in video games.

THE HOLY GRAIL: What is your quest? British codebreakers join the search, but is the Grail elusive or an illusion? This article gets bonus points in my book for mentioning the Merovingians, because the Merovingian swore in French in the Matrix sequels, much as the French taunted King Arthur in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Then again, my book is only read by other crazy people.

CAUGHT ON TAPE: Two of the Texas strip club murders, on videotape and phone conversations between Florida teacher Debra LaFave and the 14-year-old student with whom she allegedly had sex, on audiotape.

SONY IS HARASSING BLOGGER JASON KOTTKE for posting audio and text of Ken Jennings finally losing on Jeopardy. Fortunately, it has not come to a lawsuit... yet. Perhaps clearer minds will prevail.

THE ALGONQUIN HOTEL is trying to bring back the Round Table, but ten thousand dollars for a martini seems a little pricey.

REMEMBER THAT MISSING STOCKPILE OF HIGH EXPLOSIVES IN IRAQ? The Independent, hardly a right-wing paper, may have a partial answer to where they went... and when.

FANS MOCK PLASTIC SURGERY: Liz Hurley seems to have developed "trout pout." Nicollette Sheridan is pitching a skin care product, though many think her face is not kept in a jar by the door.

THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION "is a disaster waiting to happen,” according to one NASA flight controller.

BEHIND THE BURKA: a pictorial on The Women of Afghanistan.

ANN ALTHOUSE was a member of the Who fan club before their first album was released in the United States; now, not so much.

CAMERA PHONES will soon have lenses made from a couple of drops of oil and water.

JASON GIAMBI: Credit where it's due -- the S.F. Chronicle broke the story of his grand jury admission that he was on the juice in 2003.

Here is a drumlink that I have always pointed my browser. It is neat because they have a ton of online videos of drummers doing solos showing how they play certain songs etc. Pretty cool stuff.

Drummer World

HAHM AND HAHN ALIKE may enjoy The Drum Report.

JON PRATT (and others) may enjoy these cool nanotech movies.

JON SCALZI presents The Ten Least Successful Holiday Specials of All Time.

RNA TESTING may be able to tell those CSI types when a suspect was at a crime scene.

OLIVER STONE does not like the DVD format; Ann Althouse delivers the smackdown.

CEREALITY: An all-cereal, all-the-time cafe featuring pajama-clad servers opens in Philadelphia.

ANNA BENSON, wife of NY Mets pitcher Kris Benson, tells Howard Stern that she will have sex with all of his teammates if he ever cheats on her.

NICHE GOOGLE: Now it has search engines for government and scientific papers.

NEW CELLPHONE TURNS INTO A SUNFLOWER: The future looks like a pretty landfill.

END OF THE WORLD UPDATE: Those hordes of cane toads are now on the verge of invading New South Wales, threatening the dingo population. Some are blaming global warming, of course.

NATALIE PORTMAN: Although I noted the protests over the cutting of a topless scene from Closer, Portman expects the footage soon will turn up on the internet.

DAVID FELDMAN answers the imponderable questions of life, such as: "Why do women open their mouths while putting on mascara?" Or: "Why do doughnuts have holes?"

MILK IN VIRGINIA contains a special ingredient: rocket fuel.

A JAPANESE ROBOT makes small talk to keep the elderly from going senile.

MAN KILLED BY EXPLODING LAVA LAMP: It looks to be a case of operator error.

MUSICIANS urged to register for royalty payments for certain digital and satellite transmissions. The Count Five and the Shangri-Las have collected already.

I'VE HEARD of being born with a silver spoon in one's mouth, but this is just... eeeew.

IRAN BOMBS GOOGLE!

FORMER NAVY SEAL acquitted of stalking Sheryl Crow.

TIME lists 2004's Coolest Inventions.

GO, GO GODZILLA: The atomically-mutated reptile gets a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. A throng of onlookers shouted "We love you, Godzilla!" and "Viva Godzilla!" as the monster posed for pictures, spewed bursts of radioactive fire and destroyed several buildings along Hollywood Boulevard.

DEBRA LaFAVE, a teacher was accused this summer of having a sexual affair with a 14-year-old student, will be using an insanity defense.

DAN RATHER: Is he too planning to invoke the insanity defense? He claims that has often spoken with the ghost of Edward R. Murrow. Everybody say it together now: "What's the frequency, Kenneth?"

"BLOG" was the number one word looked up on Mirriam-Webster's web sites this year.

DENTAL PLAQUE can be fatal.

ARESA BIODETECTION has genetically engineered flowers to turn from green to red near landmines.

WMD ATTACK ON U.S. VIRTUALLY "INEVITABLE," says Yossef Bodansky, former director of the U.S. Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare.

Not to make everyone feel old, but this web article from a Korean web site finds that Koreans feel that email is for old people that aren't tech savvy. But wait, I am of Korean decent and I am getting old, and use email a lot both at work and at home. Plus I work in the Information Technology field. Go figure.

End of Email??