This calculator watch from Stanley comes with a built-in, telescoping ruler. Link (via Top 10 Geek Watches)

Christine sez, "This is a story I wrote about how doctors and nurses in remote parts of the developing world are making sure their medical knowledge stays up to date.… Read the rest of the article: Portable med-library in a crate for use in developing world

The US surgeon general gave a speech at the University of South Carolina in which he warned that obesity was a greater threat to national security than terrorism: "Obesity is… Read the rest of the article: Surgeon gen'l: Obesity is bigger threat than terrorism

If you cripple your products by adding Intel's DTCP-IP DRM to it, you could be liable for more than eight million dollars in fines if your implementation gets cracked. In… Read the rest of the article: Add Intel DRM to your product, pay $8m fine

EFF Chairman Brad Templeton sez, "Since I kept getting cards in my luggage every time I checked a bag describing how the bags had been searched "for my protection" I… Read the rest of the article: Fourth Amendment luggage tape

The "anti-griddle" is a super-chilled slab of metal in your kitchen that nearly instantaneously freezes anything you set down on it: * Quickly freezes sauces and purees into solid, unique… Read the rest of the article: Minus 30F "anti-griddle" insta-freezes anything you put on it

Liz sez, "Next week, the San Francisco Bay chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery is having Seth Schoen from EFF give a presentation on current DRM controversies." Seth is… Read the rest of the article: Amazing free DRM speech in Cupertino next week

Toronto's hydroelectric authority is planning to offer citywide mesh WiFi service: Brian Sharwood, a telecom analyst with the Seaboard Group in Toronto, said it makes sense for a utility to… Read the rest of the article: Toronto to become giant wireless hotspot

I've just posted the fourth and final part in my podcast of my story "Return to Pleasure Island," a dark and mean fantasy story that was originally published in Realms… Read the rest of the article: Cory's Return to Pleasure Island podcast conludes

Today's Doonesbury strip totally nails the fallacy of the creationists whose "intelligent design" mantra is "teach the controversy." Link

In this YouTube video, "a man throws boiling water into the air in Saskatchewan during a typical mid-winter, -40c day." What follows is a huge cloud of freezing, steaming vapour… Read the rest of the article: Video of boiling water thrown into -40C air – WHOOSH!

Phil sez, "I sent my Dad your HOWTO on building an intercom with an old telephone because it reminded me of something he built when I was a kid. He… Read the rest of the article: HOWTO build a home phone-exchange

This ten minute mini-documentary showcases footage shot in Disneyland around 1956, a year after the park opened. It's lovely stuff — just the colors are wild! Link (via The Disney… Read the rest of the article: Disneyland footage from 1956

Big Bad Boomin Bugs is a $18 science toy that provides a panopticon through which you can minutely observe your captured insect specimens: a magnifying bell-jar with sensitive amplifiers that… Read the rest of the article: Panopticon toy for trapped insects

This $60 tote-bag contains an integrated FM radio and an amplifier/speaker rig for an iPod or other player; best of all is that it looks like an old-timey luggable Fisher-Price… Read the rest of the article: Tote-bag with iPod amp that looks like a Fisher-Price kids' turntable

Molle Industria makes subversive mini-games aimed at undermining post-industrial capitalism: Tamatipico Is Your virtual flexworker: He works, he rests and he has fun when you want him to! Raise his… Read the rest of the article: Games to subvert post-industrial capitalism

Following on from a coalition launched by dozens of campaigning groups who opposed AOL's plan to charge a tax to guarantee delivery of the email they send to their supporters,… Read the rest of the article: AOL: Screw you, we're taxing email anyway

Smile Plastics makes a variety of recycled plastic materials, including a line of "soft and squishy" plastics recycled from plastic intended for use in medical applications; this clear, soft material… Read the rest of the article: Recycled "squishy" plastic with embedded stamps and other junque

Andy "Waxy" Baio has been threatened with a lawsuit for hosting a parodical video about Bill Cosby called "House of Cosbys." In the video, a Bill Cosby fan clones the… Read the rest of the article: Waxy threatened with a lawsuit by Bill Cosby over "House of Cosbys" vids

A man whose wireless ISP's signal was blocked by a nearby church spire built a low-cost, 60-foot-tall tower in his yard and mounted his antenna atop it. Final costs: *… Read the rest of the article: Man builds 60' wireless Internet tower in yard to get past church spire