Every so often, something from The Grauniad will hit Blogdex, and many times (as in this case), it’s something by Python Alumnus Terry Jones. Since he’s a bright, funny guy, they’re entertaining and insightful, though he’s clearly put out by the present unpleasantness.

I could not with a clear conscience suggest that I believe prayer, qua prayer, is likely to be an effective tool in ridding the country of the current plague of plutocrats disguising themselves as theocrats and implementing a disastrous foreign policy; but this essay nevertheless reminds us of a number of chilling facts.

The other person in my car was just last night speculating about when we’d be able to order fast food without human intervention.

Clearly a kindred spirit in thrifting and research, Roger Jacob recounts the history of a venerable drugstore after seeing it depicted in a charity shop painting. Especially interesting is the list of common products in the store back in the day!

I probably wouldn’t even bother with this story about the BBC making available some of its enormous archive of material, were it not for the Phrase of the Day: "shagging marmots".

Holy crap: first a photon; now, (almost exactly, hmm…) two years later, an atom. That’s some damned spooky action at a distance. Of course, with only .75 fidelity, it’ll be a while before Dr McCoy is willing to use it.

Finally, somebody has gotten serious about using a cool iPod gadget to broadcast the content of your choice to nearby FM radios.

I got me some Sanatogen Tonic Wine from a little grocery in Jamaica, and have thus stumbled upon the illustrious history of Tonic Wines. Check out the recipe for iron wine! And Sanatogen? Unless my bottle went bad (not impossible given the state of the grocery I bought it in), the stuff is pretty awful, so it must be good for you, right?

And can I have a shout-out to the grand British tradition of Christmas miscellanies? Also, a terribly entertaining story about appendicitis.

OKCupid is a fascinating place, attracting all manner of folks. Some are drawn by the way-cool matching algorithms, others by the trademark Personality test. They have a variety of other tests available, including the How Geeky Are You? test, on which I scored a 72. Fairly geeky, but at the hundredth percentile for people of my gender, orientation, and age range. I couldn’t be prouder.

The secret lyrics to Law and Order, revealed. I should transcribe the lyrics to the Angel theme song. And one must never forget that “The X Files is a show/ with music by Mark Snow.”