Diablo 2, Blizzard's classic action RPG, is to be "resurrected" on PC and game consoles. It will be rigorously faithful to the original (no rebootery or other new features) but with updated graphics, UI and controls.

This is very bad news for me. — Read the rest

If your name is Ted Cruz and you need a break "from a natural disaster caused by your failed leadership," then this ad is for you! "So hurry up! Flee in glee!" Cancun is waiting for you.

A psychology graduate shared a method on Tik Tok on how to deal with insomnia, which worked for her. With the stress of the pandemic, politics, the economy and a brutal winter (for some), who hasn't dealt with some sleeplessness? — Read the rest

This week, actress Evan Rachel Wood and several other women spoke up about the violent abuse they say that musician Marilyn Manson inflicted upon them. (Wood had told her story to a House judiciary subcommittee in 2018 but didn't name Manson at the time.) — Read the rest

Brian Warner, who performs under the name Marilyn Manson, is accused of abusing four women, reports Vanity Fair. Evan Rachel Wood, who stars in the TV series Westworld, is among those writing that the pop star traumatized them.

"The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson," Wood wrote.

A faux alligator push button desk phone, a plaid Skotch Grill, and a swell Calder-esque mobile are just a few of the vintage treasures I've scored at the White Elephant Sale (WES) in Oakland, California. But I've also picked up everyday items there, like shoes, office supplies, and kitchen utensils. — Read the rest

Land sakes alive! It is above my huckleberry to describe a maneuver not performed since John Quincy Adams declined to attend the inauguration of Andrew Jackson, President Andrew Johnson is today doing the like. As it were to confound sober men the peaceful transfer of power has customarily been accomplished these 40 years heretofore. — Read the rest

The Auto Pill Bottle is a pretty cool invention that automatically dispenses pills, instead of forcing people with physical disabilities such as Parkinson's Disease to struggle with pressing down and unscrewing the bottle cap. But the story behind it is even cooler. — Read the rest

How does a marketing team follow-up on a Lifetime mini-movie starring Mario Lopez (the trailer for which got a million plays overnight, compared to the actual movie, which took over a week to break 100,00 plays)?

As always, KFC has the fascinating, provocative, WTF answer: the KFConsole, for chicken n' gaming. — Read the rest

I loved getting the Johnson Smith Catalog in the mail as a kid. I'd pore over every page of fine print and tiny line drawings to find patches, smoking monkeys, magic tricks, practical jokes, puzzles, and instructional booklets. The catalogs were over a hundred pages long and I would spend days going through each one. — Read the rest

My dear friend Ann Druyan, co-creator of Cosmos and creative director of the Voyager Golden Record, and her daughter Sasha Sagan, author of the wonderful For Small Creatures Such As We: Rituals for Finding Meaning in Our Unlikely World, light the Hanukkah candles for the final night of Hanukkah. — Read the rest

Motown legend Smokey Robinson recorded an unintentionally funny personal video message for a woman whose children made the Cameo request as a surprise for their mom who apparently grew up near the singer. — Read the rest

Hotels are suffering greatly as a result of the pandemic, reports MSN. By the end of the year, the hotel industry in the United States will have recorded a billion unsold hotel room nights.

Based on an average daily rate of $131, hotel owners have seen about $46 billion in lost revenue.

Prominent U.S. cybersecurity firm FireEye disclosed on its corporate blog Tuesday it was hacked, possibly by a foreign nation, and the breach included the theft of internal hacking tools the firm normally uses to privately test the network defenses of their own clients. — Read the rest

A rash of mysterious monoliths have recently begun to surface all around the world, in what's either an actual alien invasion straight out of a comic book, or an ultimately disappointing viral marketing campaign for something dumb that's yet to be announced. — Read the rest

Spoken Word with Electronics is an audio series delivering to you a two side recording of unusual stories paired with vintage modular electronic sounds

Hi, everyone, welcome back to the show. This week is a tribute to Mr Rogers. — Read the rest

The Jamaican-born Canadian speculative fiction writer Nalo Hopkinson is the author of such award-winning books as Brown Girl In The Ring and Midnight Robber; her most recent work includes the short story collection Falling In Love With Hominids and the House of Whispers comic book series from Neil Gaiman's revitalized Sandman Vertigo line. — Read the rest

From artists to serious design pros, color isn't just about fun. It's a livelihood. And, there's a lot more to it than being able to point out the differences between a royal blue and a sky blue. Can you tell the difference between a blood-red and a garnet red? — Read the rest

Baltimore's public schools are closed this week after a ransomware attack brought down its network. Administrators hope to bring students back in on Wednesday, but "it could take weeks" to bring up the computers.

The district was hit last Wednesday, before Thanksgiving Day, but schools will remain shut on Monday and Tuesday.

At the New York Times, Thorin Klosowski writes about how easy it is these days to set up a fully-armed and operational retro console: all you need is a Rasberry Pi [Amazon] and about thirty minutes. Klosowski posted a straightforward guide to setting it up that even I could follow. — Read the rest