Karen's favorite Chinese place:

There are two ways to experience an authentic Szechuan Chinese restaurant. One is to hop on an airplane and fly to China, the other is to go to Joes Noodle House in Rockville.

[ Joes Noodle House ]

Should be the site of Sunday dinner. Hope it's not all too spicy, Iman does need to eat too.

Good news for me:

The work in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition dispels the common belief that tea dehydrates. Tea not only rehydrates as well as water does, but it can also protect against heart disease and some cancers, UK nutritionists found. Experts believe flavonoids are the key ingredient in tea that promote health.

[ BBC NEWS | Health | Tea 'healthier' drink than water ]

I'm not a big fan of water, and lately I've been on a big iced tea kick, especially iced green tea when I can get it.

Sorry, Spork.

Try again:

About 2,500 experts were in Prague for the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) general assembly. Astronomers rejected a proposal that would have retained Pluto as a planet and brought three other objects into the cosmic club.

[ BBC NEWS | Special Reports | Pluto loses status as a planet ]

Perhaps we will finally have peace in the middle east, I'm sure this is what the brouhaha has been all about.

Almost 2 years later, and I've finally eaten at Amina Thai (first Halal Thai restaurant in the DC area).

I got some mussels, shrimp, and squid in lemongrass and chili peppers dish, Yaty just got a super spicy shrimp in lime juice salad. Both quite yummy.

Development studio System 3 has scored rights to the old Epyx library of games and is already planning to bring popular titles Impossible Mission and California Games to the DS and PSP. Impossible Mission is due to grace the handhelds in January, while California Games will release in May including unlockable content in the form of older titles Winter Games and Summer Games.

[ Epyx back on DS, Wii - Nintendo Wii Fanboy ]

Back in the olden days Epyx made quite a few memorable games, perhaps none as addicting as Impossible Mission. I think it has even been long enough that the surprises will surprise me again.

The purpose of this list is this: given the name of a character set, find out a little bit about it.

[ Character Set List ]

Sure this guide won't tell you why [CTRL]+g is the character [BEL] in ASCII and on some machines will make a beeping noise if you echo or print it to a command window, but this is a great place to start when trying to understand why "text" isn't a good enough description for the file that you are trying to read, or why your "smart quotes" don't look correct in a web browser on another OS.

Like the mythical half-horse, half-man of Greek lore, Concept Centaur combines the best of several technologies to create an innovative whole. The result of exploration by Segway Inc.'s product development team, Concept Centaur will challenge the way you think about four-wheeled transportation.

[ Segway | Concept Centaur ]

It just looks like a great time. Sure I guess you could use it to get across town too, or herd animals, or deliver goods, or I don't know what, but it's clearly designed for just having a great time. Nice maneuverability in tight spaces too. I hope that the redesigned city of the future left room for something like this.

Still looks cool, though.

Super Saver Shipping applies to Amazon Grocery items:

• More than 14,000 non-perishable items--and growing every day
• All items eligible for free Super Saver Shipping and Amazon Prime
• Great everyday prices on your favorite brands
• Shipped to your door, just like any other Amazon.com purchase

[ Amazon.com - Grocery ]

With a bit of planning that could save a ton of money and time.

These guys:  are some sort of Hallmark creation called Hoops and Yoyo.

Haven't a clue what they are, or what their purpose is, but I find them rather addicting.

Props to Karen for introducing me via their cries for coffee in this e-card:

Perhaps I'm a glutton for punishment, but I think I have a new playlist for long trips in the car:

1. Ring Of Fire - Social Distortion
2. Ring Of Fire - Dwight Yoakam
3. Ring Of Fire - Wall Of Voodoo
4. Ring Of Fire - Frank Zappa
5. Ring Of Fire - Eric Burdon & The Animals
6. Ring Of Fire - The Regulars
7. Ring Of Fire - Olivia Newton-John
8. Ring Of Fire (Demo Version) - Grace Jones
9. Ring Of Fire - Johnny Cash

Unfortunatly there are additional gems that Rhapsody doesn't have the rights to yet, so perhaps I'll wait until they get a few of these:

1. Tom Jones
2. Duane Eddy
3. Ray Charles

Dari suggested Leonard Nimoy, but he seems to have only covered I Walk the Line.