Astrojax is a modern, Swiss take on the yo-yo. It has three very hard plastic balls on a piece of string. My very cool manager ordered several sets of Astrojax and distributed them among the team last week. In the process of trying to master the basic tricks, we’ve been gleefully sending them flying towards cubicle walls, monitors, and faces. It’s amazing that we have yet to lose any teeth.

If you want to get a feel for what we would be doing with them if we were 16 and coordinated, check out the Astrojax videos.

What happens if you cross The Truman Show and Big Brother? Joe Schmo, coming soon to an obscure cable channel near you…

Money quote from the article Worm turns out to be one of man’s closest relatives:
“Up until now Xenoturbella had been thought to be related to the bivalve molluscs – which include mussels and oysters,” said Dr Telford. “We found this hard to believe as it looks nothing like a bivalve mollusc.”

I find this amusing in light of the fact that they discovered that the worm was closely related to man. I would have thought the worm looked more like an oyster than, say, Dr. Telford.

The instructional film that everybody must see: Keep Your Parents Off the Net

(Apologies to Mom and Dad.)

THIS is what I call an image. Dave Barry considers it further proof that the end is nigh. I have to say, it doesn’t look good for the home team.

…is there anything they can’t do?

Can you figure out what the story is about?

From Two Small Planes Collide Over Florida… At least two people were feared dead.

ABCNEWS.COM June 13 — A desperate shortage of punctuation marks at The Associated Press resulted in careful rationing in the article headlined Beloved N.Y. Bra Lady Dies at 95. Conservation efforts included the following…

Several periods: Koch, who died Thursday, had been hospitalized since last week, when she fell and broke her hip at the Town Shop, whose threshold she first crossed in 1927, when she married Henry Koch and his lingerie business.

One comma, and possibly a period for good measure: But last year, after national news stories appeared about an old woman who still found a reason to believe in life, in work and in the importance of a bra that fits she suddenly became famous.

Two parentheses: She went to his successful business there were four stores then to handle his account.

One semicolon: “I always liked people. No sales pressure that we don’t allow,” she said.

According to a highly placed source at The Associated Press, the punctuation shortage was a temporary problem that has since been addressed. “.,:;.,(:;)…,” added one contact, who asked not to be identified, “!!!”.

Swazi king blames women’s trousers for world’s ills. Such a short article, so many fabulous quotes.
“The Bible says curse be unto a woman who wears pants, and those who wear their husband’s clothes.”… Mswati.
“What rights?”… Mswati.
“The king says I am the cause of the world’s problems because of my outfit. Never mind terrorism, government corruption, poverty and disease, it’s me and my pants. I reject that,”… Thob’sile Dlamini.