Logos in the sky with diamonds. Behold, the Floating Logos Project.

Scared of Santa -- enjoy a little holiday cheer in the form of this photo gallery of kids freaking out on Santa's lap. Note that some of the Santas are truly scary and/or unconvincing. More Xmas fun from SouthFlorida.com here -- including Photoshopped Celebrity Santas...uh, for some reason.

Armadillo Cookies! Presumably, you know, not made from armadillo...but very cute nonetheless. Captured by the hilarious Cardhouse at this year's Arizona State Fair -- see his "Pig Parts" photo essay for more strange edibles, 4-H bunnies, and weird art. He's also been to a Japanese toystore and San Fran's Musee Mecanique. Enjoy!

Miss Kim has revived the Friday Five today, with a roundup of year-end questions. Hmmm, glancing at the calendar, I note that there are only 2 more Fridays in 2004...Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. Oh my.

What did you do in 2004 that you'd never done before? Ate a Scotch Egg, and watched Ben Affleck make a fool of himself in person, at the DNC. In the remaining 14 days of '04, I hope to learn a little stick-shiftin', if ya know what I mean.
What would you like to have in 2005 that you lacked in 2004? A fabulous new job, a book contract....ummm, and maybe one of these?
Did anyone close to you give birth? Like it's going out of style: Aden and Isaac, plus the Henry twins, and next year brings Romeo/Beatrice, Baby Chapman, Baby Tran #2, Baby Matteo, and so forth. Fertile times...
Did anyone close to you die? No. Wow.
What countries did you visit? Just the good old US of A...unless Austin counts as another country? ;-)

"The curse of the Christmas Single." -- This one's for the Natster, the King of Christmas Music. The UK tradition of a one-hit Yuletide wonder is charted here by The Guardian, with their Bottom Ten picks of all time, from Bing Crosby to Run-DMC. Ho ho ho!

This is stunning -- aerial kite photographs of San Francisco in 1906, showing the destruction after the earthquake and subsequent fire. (Via Bifurcated Rivets)

"Quitting the Paint Factory" -- a thoughtful piece from Harper's that asks the taboo question in today's America, Inc. : what's so great about work? And more importantly, why do we spend so much time doing it, even when it's not fun, or challenging, or rewarding? I'm not sure I want to replace my work hours with "idleness," exactly, but how about more time for being creative, playing, reading, writing, taking care of our homes, families, communities? Oh right, we're s'posed to pay someone else to do that for us, right? Sheesh.

I've been Snowdealed! -- Snowdealt? Anyway, over at Eric C. Snowdeal IV's blog (written by ECS III, since IV is only a few months old), the postcard I sent them back in the day has made it into their slideshow, la la la. Eric IV was born very early, and his dad has charted his progress from the NICU rollercoaster to his current happy, healthy babyhood with a zillion photos and entertaining updates on their extended family (including great dogs). My favorite web stop on weekday mornings...imagine what 2005 will hold?

"The Ten Commandments can help a judge know the difference between right and wrong." -- Um, you'd think a judge would look to the law for help on that. But when he's got the Big Ten embroidered on his robe, I guess anything goes. This concludes our Moment of Constitutional Crisis for today...tune in tomorrow for more hijinks as America stumbles towards theocracy!

Mmmm, S'more Nativity. So this and this are OK, but the celebrity wax version is blasphemy? Hmmm...

All I want for Christmas is a BeeGees Rhythm Machine! -- The awesome MiniOrgan.com showcases forgotten toy keyboards like this one, the Speak & Music I spent some happy times with back in the 80's (more than with Speak & Math, anyway...remember that dull robotic voice, "Nine...di-vi-ded by...three...is....You're correct!"). Rock on! Via Mr. Sun.

"If you loathe political debate, join the faculty of an American university." -- So says The Economist, in this short diatribe on the ivory towers of overzealous political correctness. I can see how there's a generally liberal slant in academia, but in my experience undergraduates are some of the most conservative, close-minded people around...until they get their brains forcibly jammed open by the faculty (whatever their personal political leanings) and taught a little critical thinking.

Anyway, in a couple years we won't have to worry about the faculty bias, because a rising tide of Baby Republicans will swamp our universities with Red State values. This fascinating piece from The American Conservative, natch, explores the demographic differences between where Dems and GOPs live, work, and breed: "The white people in Republican-voting regions consistently have more children than the white people in Democratic-voting regions. The more kids whites have, the more pro-Bush they get." Yikes.

Fertilized eggs, hold the sperm -- a stunning development in reproductive biology over in Wales, where human egg cells were prompted to divide by exposing them to an extracted sperm enzyme...but no actual sperm. A potential breakthrough for therapeutic stem cell research, some infertile couples, and mad scientists everywhere.

Chocolate Cthulhu on EBay! -- OK, it's really a chocolate Santa. But it looks like Cthulhu. Caveat emptor: Cthulhu is best enjoyed in plush form. I think I just like typing "Cthulhu."

Today I had a quality Lunchtime Sighting -- on the back of a grimy delivery truck, where unknown wags daub slogans in the road salt like "Wash Me," etc., I saw the following:

* "We are ALL having the same DREAM -- GO RED SOX!"
* "AAA"
* "Ortiz Rulez"
* a peace sign
* "R.I.P. Dimebag"

All on the same truck! Woah.

TinTin! Today's ? du Jour comes in the form of this cool TinTin stamp, and this very weird medical workup of TinTin. Seems like those socialized doctors in Canada have a lot of free time on their hands...

It's been a while since I did a crazy LEGO post, so enjoy Andrew Lipson's Mathematical LEGO Sculptures. Ow, my brain. This man is some kind of evil LEGO genius -- he's also rendered Dilbert and friends, priceless works of art, and a freakin' Hoberman Sphere! All hail!

My Unusual Fortune Cookie Collection -- sounds like a very lame school project, or a fine website! I've actually gotten this one, but this? Seems like clear evidence of cookie tampering by these folks. Caveat eater.

Dear God. Thanks to George for this one. I guess you do have to serve somebody...

"It's only when women are widowed that they discover there's such a thing as a remote control" -- Uh, I'm not sure about that...but the rest of these Battle of the Remote and the Sexes etiquette tips from the BBC are pretty sound. Also, the comments...hee hee hee.

Call me "liberal" -- I don't mind ... unlike, say, John Kerry. How has the word plummeted from an aspirational compliment to a pejorative slur? Hmmm, I wonder if the Svengalis of the 51% had anything to do with it...

Wow -- I really wish I knew how to knit.

Morrisey's Latino connection -- amazing article from The Believer on everyone's favorite mopey Brit and his seemingly inexplicable appeal to a generation of alienated Mexican-American youth in Southern California ("Moz Angeles," to be exact). Who knew that "Piccadilly Palare" and "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" are the soundtrack to cultural assimilation?

"I'm the cheesiest king of the world!" -- Find all your favorites in this Top Ten Cheesy Movie Lines poll. I'd add "Beeee goooood" from E.T., I never liked that one.