Takin’ the 30 Stockton to Saigon (on New Year’s Eve!)

Lost several hours today on Blame It On The Voices (where has this epic timesuck been all my life!?)

Funny fotos: Blue Screen of Death costume and Epc Crstms Crd (via Andre)

Neat demo of Raspberry Pi, an ARM GNU/Linux box for $25: Bringing up a beta board

A Christmas Story is a family favorite of ours, so I found it interesting to see where the cast members are now

A wonderfully written reflection on coming home after traveling (thanks Webb!)

Cooking crackers:

If you think of crackers as little bits of pie crust, or fast-cooking bread, you quickly comprehend why they’re so easy to make. Which only makes it more befuddling that no one does, since packaged crackers are universally overpriced and often contain ingredients with which you’d never cook, starting with artificial ones and continuing with dough “conditioners” and preservatives.

Kiva featured on Boing Boing’s extensive Charitable Giving Guide (thanks Ken and Mark!)

Whoa, QR Code tattoo returns random URLs: The Random Tattoo

wget in the news!

[David] Shaver told the hearing that he found a program on [Bradley] Manning’s computer designed to allow the speedy downloading of files. According to the prosecution Manning was able to download huge quantity of documents using the program, called Wget [sic].

I found this very compelling: Optimize for Happiness (Tom Preston-Werner, GitHub co-founder) re: planting a flag…

A reminder of why I still blog:

I think that’s why blogs with beautiful, intimate photography are so darn popular, they allow us all regular peeks into the homes, kitchens and tables of strangers.

OMG: The crappy old Cala Market a block from where we used to live is going to become a Trader Joe’s (and a CVS) (perhaps someone read my In the Trader Joe’s deadzone)

This will resonate with anyone who’s been to Southeast Asia, India, or Africa: Making water sachets

I’m not necessarily in the market for a smartphone, but if I were, I’d probably be leaning in the direction of Android. That said, this infographic gave me serious pause: Android Orphans: Visualizing a Sad History of Support

In a thoughtful post, Shannon of “A Little Adrift” muses on the ethics and the elephants of Asia (also see: my elephant week)

I had no idea you could cut your Christmas Tree in a National Park

Each year from mid-November through December, your local Forest Service Office sells permits that allow you to cut a fresh Christmas tree on National Forest Lands. Fees for the permit vary at each local office. The permit allows you to cut one tree for your holiday festivities. It also helps the Forest Service thin tree stands that have a concentration of smaller trees.

Time-traveling munitions: City evacuates 45,000 to defuse massive WWII bomb

Time-lapse in a single frame! Sutro Tower Sunset