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Amazon.com has a new feature called a plog — product weblog — that informs you of various new items based on items you have already bought. It’s an interesting idea, but not too different from what they already did, and some of the recommendations seem a little off somehow. This is the strangest one so far: Nanch Drew: The Secret of Shadow Ranch was released today; We thought you’d be interested because you rated Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind Game Of The Year Edition. From the Manufacturer: Saddle up as super-sleuth Nancy Drew for a trip out west to the Shadow Ranch in Arizona. A phantom horse is terrorizing the ranch, leaving a trail of frightening “accidents.” Local legend says the horse has come to avenge the hanging of its master, and that misfortune will befall whoever sets eyes on it. The mysterious horse tramples all hope of a restful ranch vacation for you, as Nancy Drew. Is it a four-legged spirit from a tragic love story or is there a sinister scheme lurking in the shadows of the saguaro cacti? You must divine the truth from the ghost stories quickly, and question everyone you meet. Don’t expect a straight answer from anyone. In this high-stakes game everyone seems to be wagering that you’ll be gone before sundown.An interactive mystery-adventure game, Nancy Drew: The Secret of Shadow Ranch puts players in the shoes of teenage super-sleuth Nancy Drew as she investigates a string of mysterious events on Shadow Ranch and in the desert and canyon lands that surround it.Features:A thrilling western adventure; complete with roping, riding, and romance All-new interface features a larger game window, increasing the sense of realism and adventure Based on the best-selling Nancy Drew book of all time— The Secret of Shadow Ranch—a favorite with generations of readers Assume the role of Nancy Drew, girl detective Up-close interaction with horses and other ranch animals; saddle up and ride your very own horse, and go barrel-racing Explore incredibly lifelike Arizona ranchlands, complete with ghost towns, ranch buildings, canyons, and wide-open spaces 20+ hours of thrilling game play as you search for clues and interview suspects Call for hints, get e-mail, and surf the Web on your in-game cell phone Solve the mystery on your own or team up with family and friends New puzzles that tie directly to storyline and give important cluesBuilt-in game hints, but only if you want them Two difficulty settings, Junior and Senior Detective, so both experienced and new detectives can have…read more. ...

Hmm, one of those long periods of time between posts…told myself I wouldn’t do that. Oh well, I’ll just say I’ve been busy. :) For now, HULK BLOG!!!

Space probe Cassini is going into orbit around Saturn this evening. It has been travelling for close to seven years to get there. In December, the Huygens space probe it has been carrying along for the ride will take off for a landing on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, which appears to have an atmosphere and oceans of some sort. Cassini is one of the last relics of NASA from before the “Faster, Better, Cheaper” era, and as a result is a big, nuclear-powered – through radioisotope decay – Cadillac of space probes. Wonder if future missions will start looking like that, now that we have the “Moon, then Mars” agenda? :) ...

My first computer was a Commodore 64, so, like a lot of folks my age, I feel sort of proprietary about the Commodore name, even though the company went out of business years ago. That being said, I’m not sure how I feel about this digital music player, named after the VIC-20. Keeps the name out there, but I guess I would like it better if it wasn’t called the “e”-Vic. The C64 joystick should be neat, though. Too bad they probably won’t include Conflict in Vietnam. ...

If you are a member of Congress, and someone hands you a crown, put it down and leave. (After determining it isn’t meant for you, of course.) :) Courtesy of The New York Times (free registration required)

A debate at Harvard about the efficacy and results of minority-recruitment programs is fascinating, if largely because it starts to illumine the conflict between trying to divide the world into groups and dealing with actual individuals. In this case, there doesn’t seem to be a question that Harvard has succeeded in increasing the number of black students in the University. However, once you start subdividing the ethnicity they have used as a touchstone, some odd differences start to come to light: Students of recently-immigrated black families — Africans and West Indians, for example — make up the bulk of the increase. Descendents of African-American slaves — familes that have been in the US for more than three generations — have not been as successful. ...

Pretty good argument for Kerry picking John Edwards as his running mate. However, according to the article, it looks like Kerry is leaning towards Dick Gephardt or Tom Vilsack, which I don’t quite understand. I don’t know much about Governor Vilsack (Iowa), but I do know that Gephardt has a record of not being able to deliver in elections, aside from his home district. Why would a man who struggles with the charisma/connection thing select Gephardt, who has an even worse time connecting, as his VP choice? ...

Interesting article on the confusion concerning the numbers of al-Qaeda terrorists around the world, brought to us by Spiked. It doesn’t seem it is possible to talk about al-Qaeda without bringing up a question that just puzzles me. For a terrorist group with supposedly well-established political aims and members all over the world, doesn’t al-Qaeda seem far more murderous than strategic? In other words, do they really have a plan of how any of their horrific acts are going to accomplish what they say they want? For instance: ...

One of the nice things about working where I do is that we occasionally have little sales during the day, primarily for charitable purposes. In this case the sale was of used books, and the charity was the Food Bank of North Carolina. Now, anyone who has seen our house knows we do not need more books, but I ended up with 11 of them anyway. Must keep the books circulating. The weird thing is, I almost never buy biographies new, but I’m compelled to when I see them used. Something about thumbing through a musty biography just seems right. Good haul in this set: ...

As has been blogged about quite a bit since it happened, SCOTUS has ruled in a 5-4 decision that people are required to give their names if asked by a police officer. (With the caveat that there must be a law on the books that requires you to do so, which isn’t necessarily true in every state.) I find it interesting that the Court ruled that you had no Constitutional right to withhold your name, but didn’t necessarily rule on producing your identification papers. It provokes the idea you could simply give a false name, but, if arrested, differing from one’s physical ID would probably lead to being charged with giving a false statement. ...