If you\’re really anal about protecting your iPod, the iPod armor is just for you. It encases the iPod in a foam-lined aluminum case, while the ports on top are still accessible so you can still listen. Looks like an iron maiden.

The original Star Wars trilogy had a massive marketing campaign and this article covers most of it. They had several mail-in offers, where you send in some proofs-of-purchases and you get a special figure. They even sent letters to parents offering \”free\” figures for their kids. Ah, the good ol\’ days. I remember seeing a commercial for Return of the Jedi on TV, but my parents didn\’t take me to see it. Maybe that\’s the source of my deep-seated resentment toward my parents.
[ From Slashdot ]

The Washington Post has a great article about the history of super-sizing. Back in the 80s fast-food franchises discovered that lowering the price of food caused people to actually buy more food. Everybody started doing this, and after prices were as low as they could go McDonald\’s introduced super-sizing, where they provided more food for a small price increase. The food itself was very cheap to produce, so the extra money they charged was almost pure profit. The article explains it better:

Here\’s how it works. Let\’s say a $1.25 bag of French fries costs $1 to produce. The potatoes, oil and salt account for only 20 cents of the cost. The other 80 cents goes toward all the other expenses. If you add half again as many French fries to the bag and sell it for $1.50, the non-food expenses stay pretty much constant, while the extra food costs the franchise only 10 more pennies. The fast-food joint makes an extra 15 cents in pure profit, and the customer thinks he\’s getting a good deal. And he would be, if he actually needed the extra food, which he doesn\’t because the nation is awash in excess calories.

The article also mentions the steadily increasing portion sizes in this country. Americans eat more and more because we\’ve been trained to believe big portions are normal. Very interesting stuff.

Badass, Quentin Tarantino\’s doing kung fu movies now.

I have absolutely no interest in American cars but the new Mustang GT makes me reconsider. This thing is incredible! The perfect mix of modern design and retro styling cues. I think Ford seriously has a winner on their hands. 400 horsepower, 390 torque, and the best thing about American cars is you can get a lot of power for a fairly cheap price. I just hope they don\’t change it too much for production. Dieselstation has some high-res pictures.

If I were suicidal, this is how I\’d kill myself. Dodge unveiled the Tomahawk, a 500 horsepower motorcycle powered by a V10 Viper engine. 0-60 in 2.5 seconds and a top speed of 300 mph, it needs 4 wheels to handle all that power. It\’s just a concept motorcycle, but Dodge might actually build a few hundred at $250,000 each. Crazy. Dieselstation has high-res pics of this too.

William Gibson\’s new book Pattern Recognition is coming out next month. It\’ll be interesting cause it\’s set in the present, unlike his other books which were in the future. The reviews say it\’s his best book in a long time, which I hope is true cause the last three (Virtual Light, Idoru, and All Tomorrow\’s Parties) were pretty lame.

A movie theater near my house is showing The Big Lebowski tonight at midnight. I love these revival theaters that show old movies I missed the first time around. I remember the previews made the Big Lebowski look kind of dumb, so I skipped it. But then I rented it and now it\’s one of my favorite comedies. Finally I get to see it in a theater.

The Diary of Samuel Pepys is an original new blog. Pepys kept a diary for almost 10 years starting in 1660, and now it will be posted every day as if it were a weblog. Annotations and footnotes will appear alongside to help explain things. His diaries recorded the Great Fire of London and the Plague, as well as other 17th century, uh, stuff. Brit Phil Gyford thought reading all 9 volumes of the diaries was too daunting, so reading it day-by-day will be more manageable. He\’ll presumably post the diaries over the next 10 years. One thing\’s for sure, he won\’t run out of stuff to write about for a long time.

I only hope that, 340 years from now, someone will take the time to post my diaries online also. Then you\’ll finally know my innermost secrets. Of course, you\’ll all be long dead by then. Mua-ha-ha! (evil laugh)
[ From Slashdot ]

American West airlines wants to try charging for meals on their flights in order to cut costs. For example, a snack box with cheese, Wheat Thins, nuts, beef jerky and cookies is $3, while a Chicken Kiev dinner will be $10. Thank god they\’re not hoping to make a profit from this, cause no one\’s gonna pay extra for airplane food. I hope they don\’t eventually become like movie theaters and ban outside food.