Pop-rock's wackiest duo, They Might Be Giants, has gone and made a children's album for their eighth studio release. That's what they're calling it, anyway. But unless you want your kids to turn out like David Lynch or ''Weird Al'' Yankovic, this isn't a children's record. ''No!'' is a collection of 17 truly bizarre tunes - perhaps the duo's most bizarre ever - averaging 2 minutes apiece. The songs are innocent and charming, but their surrealistic lyrics and mockingly cartoonish arrangements probably make them more entertaining for adults than for kids…

As notoriously sex-shy giant pandas reach adulthood in China— around the age of six— they are now routinely given ringside seats to panda porn as part of their initiation rites.

When Didi turned six on Tuesday at the China Giant Panda Breeding and Research Center in Wolong, he sat eyes glued in front of a screen that showed a video of two giant pandas mating, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

New model auto radar detectors are interfering with small satellite data systems across the USA, disrupting credit-card transactions at gas pumps, Muzak systems in fast-food outlets and even stock trades.

"It's a very large problem for the industry," says Richard Dalbello, executive director of the Satellite Industry Association. […]

[…] About 20 drive-ins live on in New England, which is 20 more than some people assume but nearly 200 fewer than in 1958, when drive-ins were at the peak of their popularity nationwide.

Ah, 1958. I can't quite recall those days of $3.75 blue jeans and $375 college tuition, of Eisenhower in the White House and Kerouac on the bookshelves. But I like to visit new places, which in this case would mean traveling away from antiseptic multiplexes or cloistered ''home theater'' setups and back to the glory days of drive-ins.

My wife, child, and I head down Route 9 one recent Saturday night to the Leicester Drive-In, a twin theater. But the screen near the box office looks as though it's had a few healthy bites taken from its top by some 1950s movie monster.

''Wind damage,'' the morose ticket-seller tells us, adding that the double feature - ''Spider- Man'' and ''The Rookie'' - will be shown on that screen. We U-turn and head for the Mendon Drive-In, only to be informed by a hand-written roadside sign that the same double feature is ''Sorry SOLD OUT.'' […]

Take a walk in central London and discover history and art through lettering on buildings and signs. From the stately, if awkwardly, lettered facade of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields to the trendy new typeface on King's Cross Station, urban sites are analyzed, critiqued, and occasionally praised by experts in the study of art and design. Get a taste of the last century at the Covent Garden Underground Station, which features three distinct styles dating back to 1906, then go further back into Victoriana at the largest umbrella shop in Europe. Even traffic signs get a fresh look. If you can't make it to the British Library, at least you can admire its elegantly lettered gates online.

This site is dedicated to the Gin Fizz, the Widow's Kiss, and the Singapore Sling, the drinks our mothers and grandmothers drank, and the drinks we strive to save from extinction as a small measure of remembering those great women and their great cocktail parties. Here you can find information about those cocktails, and their history, rituals, barware, and hors d'oeuvres that were once an important part of the culture that surrounded them.

I regret to tell you all that the FoamTotem will be down for three or so weeks as I am upgrading my DSL connection for more outgoing bandwidth. This should make your Totem experience even more young and exotic.

So, you won't be able to see these pics via the Totem. And I just inadverdently hosed rv, who probably can't get to her pictures any more either.

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Penguins in the Falkland Islands are suffering mass-starvation. Biologists fear that nearly a quarter of the world's population of Rockhopper penguins might have perished.

"Something weird is going on in the Falkland's this year. The Rockhoppers haven't moulted properly and the Magellanic chicks have all starved to death," says Andrea Clausen, a marine biologist with the charity Falklands Conservation.

The cause of the deaths is unclear. But researchers point out that melting Antarctic ice has left deep waters near the Falkland Islands 1-2°C cooler than usual this year. This could be disrupting plankton production, reducing the amount of food available. […]

A Santa Monica school has banned tag as a dangerous sport. This is the sort of news story that sends columnists into cranky spasms of bilious curmudgeonry -- why, in my day we played tag with bayonets! Half the class had a flesh wound after recess, and we went on to whip Hitler! […]