13 - Workin' In The Code Factory

Here's another rather interesting BBC article. It's about a teenager who exchanged his iPod for his father's original Walkman for a week and wrote observations about the differences. I was pleased at the quality of the writing; he obviously has some talent beyond his years.

Anyhow, I found this entertaining tidbit in the comments. Yes, the software for the iPod is made in a sweatshop. Underpaid, unedicated laborers in a nation we can't even pronounce (much less locate) toil fourteen hours a day to hammer together the software for your iPod. They stamp it in by hand in hot, dangerous working conditions under the lash of their corporate overlords. That has to be it. It couldn't possibly have been made by a team of professionals working in the jet-set offices of a major IT corporation or anything.

12 - Better Living Through Time Travel

This was dinner for the whole family last week. I just wish we had the power of instant preparation and one of those instant-heating ovens so we could get it in under 30 minutes as advertised.

I can dream, can't I?

11 - Unfortunate Implications

Sometimes, Google Ads are spot-on. Sometimes they seem irrelevant. And sometimes, they're just creepy.

Here's the article the above ad was attached to. I'm not quite sure what set of emotions this particular juxtaposition of imagery and article is meant to evoke, but neither do I want to think about it for very long.

10 - Yes, Wonderful Things

This was the headline image on the Drudge Report.

Successor to a wildly controversial, long-ruling leader with strong religious views? Check. Really, really young for his position? Check. Got a lot of grief over his name? Check.

Here's hoping that he skips the "never accomplished anything of historical note" and "remembered mainly for how cool his funeral was" part of being a Tutankhamun.