A recent study blames corn syrup for the rise of type-2 diabetes in the United States. So put down that F'ing Sobe/Red Bull/Snapple/Cola and drink water, fercryinoutloud! And people wonder why kids are becoming more obese, people are getting sick for seemingly no good reason, and generally don't feel well to begin with. Down with soda! Beer and coffee...they don't count.

This morning on the Howard Stern Show, Stern called Sammy Hagar at his CA home to confirm the tour "rumors". Sammy immediately confirmed that the rumors are indeed true -- Van Halen is going back on tour and he'd be with them.

Sammy also indicated that he and the Van Halen crew have been jamming and writing together for the past three months. The first song expected to be released is titled "It's About Time".

Sounding almost too Star-Trek-like, a Hungarian architect named Áron Losonczi has combined concrete with optical fiber from Schott to create LiTraCon -- essentially translucent concrete! A wall made of this material is said to have the strength of traditional concrete, but thanks to the embedded array optical fibers, it can display a silhouetted view of the outsid

An open letter to the Grass Roots from Tim Minear, Executive Producer of "Wonderfalls":

Is Jordan's seemingly neverending Wheel of Time series fit for the screen? Red Eagle Entertainment seems to think so. Variety (subscription req'd for further viewing) is reporting: "Red Eagle Entertainment has optioned worldwide feature rights to Robert Jordan's 11-book series "The Wheel of Time." Deal includes all ancillary rights. Red Eagle will initially work t

Lucasarts has sadly decided to stop development of the anxiously (at least by me) awaited sequel to Sam & Max: Hit the Road. From the brief press release: "'After careful evaluation of current market place realities and underlying economic considerations, we've decided that this was not the appropriate time to launch a graphic adventure on the PC' says Mike Nelson, Acting Genera

"Why don't smart kids make themselves popular?" is just one question asked and addressed by the author of an article, Why Nerds are Unpopular . It's an interesting read on some theories as to why smart kids in seconday school are relatively unpopular, while in earlier or later years, that simply doesn't matter. An interesting read.

Hippofilms, a Los Angeles-based film production company, has announced a worldwide casting call for the roles of the young members of Monty Python, the famed British comedy troupe. They're looking for "the perfect six people to portray the young members of Monty Python (age range: 18-35) in GIN AND TONIC - a theatrical film bio of the late Graham Chapman, founding member of Monty Python - set to begin shooting in London later this year.

From my bro-in-law: "According to Mattel officials, Barbie and Ken have broken up. This isn't going to help any of those rumors about Ken..." Thanks Bob.

PalmSource announced today that the previously known "Palm OS 6" will be released instead as "Palm OS Cobalt", while "Palm OS 5" will be renamed/retooled as "Palm OS Garnet". Garnet will be geared more towards Palm Powered handhelds and smartphones, while Cobalt will have much awaited features such as multitasking, multithreading, memory protection, support for more memory and larger scre

In yet another disappointing setback for Indiana Jones fans worldwide, George Lucas has expressed his dislike of the current draft of the Indiana Jones 4 script, ordering yet another rewrite. It's now looking like a 2005 production start at the earliest for release in 2006.

With the story of ricin showing up in the Senate mailroom coming up, I went to take a look at what exactly "ricin" (I believe is pronounced "rice-in") is. In short: really nasty stuff that's insanely easy to make. Take a gander at these facts:

What it is: A protein toxin derived from the castor bean. It can be made from the mash that is left over after the beans are turned into castor oil.

In an attempt to look like they're helping to increase Internet security, the U.S. government is now offering Americans free cyber alerts and computer advice from the Homeland Security Department. The program, which begins Wednesday, will function independently from the Homeland Security Department's well known color-coded system, which reflects the national threat level. From the article: "The

Forbes.com has an article up detailing their picks for the worst cars of all time. Among those listed are the 1975-1980 AMC Pacer, the 1970-1974 Chevrolet Vega and of course the

In an interesting (possibly) new method for delivering the internet to the distant rural population of Cambodia, Boston based First Mile Solutions is attempting a "digital pony express" of sorts. A motorcycle with built-in WiFi (NYTRR) roams from village to village, wirlelessly picking up and dropping off emails. How pissed off are those drivers going to be once spam hits th