Wired reports: Time nips at the Great Wall.  This amazing 4,500 mile structure, which has stood since 221 B.C., is rapidly deteriorating from the ravages of time and souvenir-hunting humans.  I took this pic when we visited China three years ago (click for larger pic), and the disrepair is clearly evident.

Wired reviews Wired: A Romance, a new book about the history of Wired magazine and its founders, Louis Rossetto and Jane Metcalfe.  "No one mentioned in the book, however, actually works here now. "  I'll have to read the book, sounds like a history of the times as well as the story behind the magazine...

Wired has been my favorite magazine since late 1994, when I first tripped over it.  Although there is some Omni-style fantasy, on the whole it remains forward looking and insightful, and refreshingly different from everything else.  As an example this month's cover story is about all the private entrepreneurs who are building rockets (like Elon Musk at SpaceX).  Great stuff.

One of the definite icons of the "dot-com" era was Herman Miller's Aeron chair, which at $1,100 apiece symbolized the excesses of pre-revenue startups.  In recognition that times have changed, Herman Miller introduces the Mirra, which is a comparative bargain at $600.

Billboard magazine has begun tracking 'net music downloads.  Makes sense...

Giant sea creature baffles Chilean scientists.  Eew.  Looks like a 40 ft. leathery jellyfish.  Or something.

Amish Tech Support is hosting this week's carnival .  Some pretty heavy stuff; I guess I'm not in the mood for politics tonight...  Well okay, maybe a little bit; you know how much I detest the Supreme Court's recent affirmative action ruling - it was racist, pure and simple - so I'll point out Embarrassing Illogic, from Occam's Toothbrush, and in a more blatant vein, we have The Truth-a-lzyer Test, from clubbeaux.  This ruling just seems completely wrong to me, no matter how I look at it.