[Los Angeles Times]
Is the "fog" of postmodernism lifting?

[The Salt Lake Tribune]
A report issued Monday by the Book Industry Study Group says that the number of books sold dropped by nearly 44 million from 2003 to 2004, even as the annual number of books published approaches 175,000. People are reading less, so what you're seeing is the same phenomenon that has hit magazines and newspapers, a massive shift toward home video, DVD, internet and cable.

[SciFi Wire]
Well, this is disappointing.

[ABC News]
The wagons circle ever tighter: BMG to acquire Columbia House.

[The Huffington Post]
A liberal response to the Drudge Report is launched. I don't know how successful it will be at promoting its message, but this is good—Mike Nicholls: I think that metaphor is in trouble. To take the bible literally, as fundamentalists do, is an attack on the greatest collection of metaphors we have. We need metaphor as we need stories. We need stories that mean more than just the events that transpire in them.

[SFGate.com]
If Star Wars is bad sf (see below), perhaps it is better political and moral philosophy?

[Technology Review]
Whither the Renaissance Man? One wonders if, along with biodiversity and cultural diversity, the diversity of the individual mind might be another casualty of modern life.

[New York Times]
A brief explanation of why Star Wars is bad—if sometimes fun—science fiction.

[Chromasia]
Some phenomenal photos posted here.

[acme.com]
Make your own license plates.

[KYOU Radio]
Viacom launches world's first open source podcast station.