Forbes has an excellent year-end round-up listing the top ideas of the last 85 years and related articles. In one of these Ben Stein describes how American society discourages innovation.

Evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson discusses The Origin of Religions, From a Distinctly Darwinian View.

Cyberpunk becomes reality #147: Pay at Kroger with your fingerprint.

Electronic Arts aims to be the next Disney. They continue to have top games including my favorite - NCAA Football, and C's - The Sims. Now with The Sims Online they could be holding the keys to the non-fantasy-game Everquest addiction.

Alan Heeger won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for developing plastic that conducts electricity. Eventually - spray-on plastic conductive layers, foldable video display, disposable electronics.

Finally, a missle defense system. When will critics figure out that Mutally Assured Destruction is long gone & ballistic missle defense is not a first-strike technology? It may have been optimistic to expect to shoot down thousands of Soviet warheads (though, just the thought of it sure put them out of business), but we must be able to defend ourselves from a handful of terrorist missle attacks, or we're simply wearing the emperor's new clothes.

Lott's Life: Turns into pillar of salt yes or no?
US News Whispers: Lott will go.
Washington Post: Lott will fight.

Some older links as I clean out the favorites file:
A Business 2.0 article about the development of the Counter-Strike mod for Half-Life. Cool.

Trent Lott, whether he actually thinks that integration is the cause of "our problems" or not, will be an albatross around the neck of the Republican Party: Peggy Noonan, Thomas Sowell, Andrew Sullivan, David Frum, Mickey Kaus.

A reasonable explanation of why it's not so bad to be addicted to online video games (from an Atlanta entertainment mag - Jive Magazine).

There have been few posts because I have been a little out of sorts since we (The University of Alabama) lost to Auburn. I really want Coach Fran to stay, but I want him to end the speculation that he may go to Texas A&M - now. In a particularly vicious column, Paul Finebaum lets Coach Fran have it.

Radio Shack just figured out that it's annoying to have to give your address just to buy an adapter or something.

I like my Amazon.com personalized recommendations, but TiVo sounds a little creepy.

Reason magazine interviewed Dave Barry. Both are entertaining libertarians.

Review of the latest H. L. Mencken biography.

Swiss audio lab agrees - Bin-Laden did not make recent tape.

He was one of the pantheon of my childhood. I grew up playing chess and Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess was the book we learned from. Plus he was a Cold War hero. I've always wondered exactly what happened to him. An article in the Atlantic shows how his life has become A Beautiful Mind without the happy ending. It's sad.

Alabama finally has a new governor - Republican Congressman Bob Riley. It means no lottery, but...the lesser of two evils and all that.

The Segway Human Transporter is now available on Amazon.

Bill Safire sounds the alarm about Homeland Security/Big Brother.