Somewhere in a pile of fiction ideas, I have a scribbled quote from a scientific article that describes how most of human DNA was believed to be junk sequences that did nothing. I saved it thinking that it would be an interesting story concept to have someone discover that these masses of junk sequences were actually the key to human evolution. They could, in sci-fi land, hold the information needed to figure out how humans used to look and how they were going to look. Just because the sequences seemed to be junk now, didn’t mean that they couldn’t be interpreted as having some meaning. Well, I never got around to actually writing a story, but scientists now believe that these sequences, which are very repetitive, “could actually provide valuable clues to the course of human evolution”. A Wired News article gives some differing opinions on this development. Some scientists have evidence that the repetitive strands “have helped genes travel from generation to generation.” Some think it is less useful, but not critical. Most just aren’t sure. At any rate, my story doesn’t seem as compelling now that it could actually prove to be true.

I had a dream with apple-head dolls in it, and then the American Folk Toys site appeared on Larkfarm. Eerie. We made apple dolls more than once in elementary school (those good old-fashioned New England curriculums). I thought they were scary looking. Thus, perhaps, the appearance in the dream.

When the Boston Globe decided to run “Heartbreak house – couple say dream home became a nightmare.” on the front page, they upset a lot of people. Front page placement raises the importance and caliber of a story; readers take that front page seriously, and expect the paper to do so as well. The story of how a couple was disappointed in their $1.55 million “This Old House”-renovated purchase and sold it at a loss angered many readers. ”Maybe next week you can write the heartbreaking tale of the Weston attorney whose Godiva chocolates melted on his way home.” The homebuyers are upset also by the unwanted attention. They never realized the story would be on page one. “Putting it on an equal footing with major stories and with people who have real problems was not appropriate.” They bought a new home they are happy with and the family they sold to is happy. The Globe is left to ponder that front page placement. (via MediaNews)

Jason Kottke linked to Weird Al’s Amazon wish list, but I had to delve deeper. Weird Al got married on February 10, 2001, and that looks like the remains of (part of?) his wedding registry. Now, I’m speculating that he married Suzanne Krajewski, based on the Amazon info. There’s someone by that name who works for Twentieth Century Fox (according to web searches). There is a photo from his wedding on his official site. Looks like the Regis look has caught on somewhat in the demented music biz.

I’m feeling much better now. Whatever I had, it was smart and took out my head. There’s not much you can do when it hurts to think. Turns out you think about a lot of things. And they all hurt. So you sleep instead. But I did find out what TV shows don’t make me think. I just won’t admit to having watched any of them. I did, however, spot Google co-founder Sergey Brin masquerading as himself on To Tell The Truth. He knew what “URL” stood for. So did a professional bowler pretending to be him.

I’m home sick with a coughing, head-aching thing. I realized that I actually put a lot of thinking into my log entries (hope it shows!) because I thought perhaps I could do a few entries. Then my brain started to hurt. So I’m going to go watch some high quality (ha ha) daytime TV instead. Hopefully that will put my brain to rights (or, sleep, most likely). I’ll be back soon.

A Wired News article called my attention to ZairMail. With their service you can send a letter to someone (or multiple people) for no charge. They’ve taken spam back to snail-mail! ZairMail inserts targeted advertisements in the envelope along with your message. They promise to keep your addresses private, so they claim not to be collecting them to sell or use for further junk mail. I wonder how many people will use this service to send their own advertisements out for free (those “make money fast” ads spring to mind)? You can also, if you wish, pay them to send your mail without ads (but direct mail services aren’t a new concept).

File this one under “over the top” embellishments. I saw a guy whack open a champagne bottle with a sword once on TV. I thought the method forced just the cork out of the bottle. Turns out it is a little more violent than that. According to WineToday’s description, the lip of the bottle is actually forced off. And there are champagne sabres designed for this very task. The back of the blade is used. Here are some other ones (a little cheaper). And a lovely one that looks well balanced. Since I usually run out of the room when champagne bottles are opened the normal way, this isn’t something I’m going to get into myself. But for high drama, what other flourishes can compare?

Star Trek: Spock vs Q. Read by Leonard Nimoy and John De Lancie. It’s over a year old, which means I missed any publicity surrounding it and instead noticed the new sequel. Hmmm. Fascinating. Or, at least, interesting.

Stick your coffee sleeve next to a web camera or on a scanner and your browser loads a website. Britevision and Digimarc announced this venture in October. Digimarc was already using the same technique with magazine pages, but someone has correctly surmised that coffee cups end up next to computers more often. With the sleeve so close, “the opportunity for an effective call to action is unprecedented.” Except I still think downloading software and using a scanner and camera involves a lot more effort than typing in a URL. But I like to type. And I don’t drink coffee. Maybe the caffeine helps spur along that “call to action”. (via memepool)