so, i'm dumb and still italy-obsessed, many moons after my return from the glorious boot. in order to deal with it all, i've created a outlet for my weepy nostalgia and strange fascination with all bizarre things italian. that's right - i now have an oh-so-special italy blog, focusing on all things italian, wine, and berlusconi. i just started it up, so if you think you might be into it, go check it out. it's still in its infancy - lacking a big blogroll and any sort of design - but hopefully it'll grow. and grow. until somebody famous sees it, realizes i am awesome, and pays me to come live in italy, get drunk 24/7 and write about how wonderfully wacky the country is.

via Michael of Articulatory Loop, here's a promising new source of worry for men (in case early death, prostate cancer and the holiday season's ubiquitous jewelry commercials weren't enough): the heat from your laptop may be cooking your testicles. Well, okay, not cooking. But reducing fertility. And while that sounds fine, there's still something disconcerting about the ceaseless howl of my Compaq-brand space heater's fan. And as you can see from the picture below of me at the office, I'm deeply concerned with projecting an image of masculine potency:

(not pictured: ugly green socks)

I think I might need to ask Santa for one of these doohickeys.

Check it out -- from Engadget come instructions on how to replace your iPod's built-in graphics. Cool.