Toy Fair: Delusions of Childhood

What's hot at New York's annual toy fair? Well, Barbie of course, who goes Hollywood this year, but...

If Barbie isn't your daughter's cup of tea, she might appreciate Serpentina, who has a pierced lower lip, pet cobras named Ted and John Wayne, and a strong dislike for the smell of burning hair.

Serpentina is part of the Bleeding Edge collection of 12-inch Glam Goth Dolls, all dressed like trashy vampires, retailing for $24 each. Her friend Storm O. Misery offers this tip on meditation: "I sit in the middle of an electrical storm and channel my dead pets."

Meet Serpentina Maria Sangria from the Bleeding Edge line of Glam Goth Dolls. (Bleeding Edge)

I think Wednesday Addams would be fond of Serpentina - especially if she could add more piercings at will. Or, how about this little gem from Strugglez (I can see why they named their company that - they be struggling for a decent concept...)

Meet Puddles and Ca-Ca and Poo-P, three of the newest potty-training assistants. They're mascots from the Strugglez product line to help your kid graduate from diapers by transforming your toilet into a bunny, giraffe or puppy dog.

Each $20 potty pal comes with an animal head that fits over the toilet tank, complete with floppy ears, a smiling face, bushy tail. Puddles, Ca-Ca and Poo-P promise to be there when your little tyke hears nature call.

ABC

There are advantages to having teenagers. :)

The Gigapxl Project

Physicist Graham Flint is working on an ultra-high-resolution portrait of America -- a series of gigantic, gigapixel images taken with a custom camera made from bits and pieces of decommissioned Cold War hardware. Armed with a self-designed camera he crafted from parts of spy planes and nuclear reactors, Flint is crisscrossing America, taking thousands of pictures of cities, monuments and national parks. Wired.com story

Link to the Gigapixl Project website & gallery.

He said, he said, he said, he said

The saga of Ward Churchill. Read all about it. What he said that got him into such trouble, what he said in response to media reports, what the Governor of Colorado said, what the Chancellor of CU said. Churchill really does try very hard to "justify" his writings.

Finally, I have never characterized all the September 11 victims as "Nazis." What I said was that the "technocrats of empire" working in the World Trade Center were the equivalent of "little Eichmanns." Adolf Eichmann was not charged with direct killing but with ensuring the smooth running of the infrastructure that enabled the Nazi genocide. Similarly, German industrialists were legitimately targeted by the Allies. It should be emphasized that I applied the "little Eichmanns" characterization only to those described as "technicians." Thus, it was obviously not directed to the children, janitors, food service workers, firemen and random passers-by killed in the 9-1-1 attack. According to Pentagon logic, were simply part of the collateral damage. Ugly? Yes. Hurtful? Yes. And that's my point. It's no less ugly, painful or dehumanizing a description when applied to Iraqis, Palestinians, or anyone else. If we ourselves do not want to be treated in this fashion, we must refuse to allow others to be similarly devalued and dehumanized in our name.

Governor puts just the right amount of "moral outrage" into his letter to Republican alumni.

All decent people, whether Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, should denounce the views of Ward Churchill. Not only are his writings outrageous and insupportable, they are at odds with the facts of history. The thousands of innocent people - and innocent they were - who were murdered on September 11 were murdered by evil cowards.

Chancellor strikes just the right note of "due process."

Even as the debate continues, we must understand the serious nature of actions to terminate or suspend a professor on the basis of conduct that includes political speech.

Before such a decision could be made, the University must observe due process as required by the U.S. Constitution and the Laws of the Regents. We must have faith in our processes to guide our actions in the most thoughtful and equitable manner.

Therefore, today I announce a course of action that will provide due process, as well as help us understand the boundaries of our most fundamental protections as citizens and faculty members.

Within the next 30 days, the Office of the Chancellor will launch and oversee a thorough examination of Professor Churchill's writings, speeches, tape recordings and other works.

The purpose of this internal review is to determine whether Professor Churchill may have overstepped his bounds as a faculty member, showing cause for dismissal as outlined in the Laws of the Regents.