While I Was Out

Whenever I go a few days without posting, there's always a lot of stuff to talk about afterwards:

• Response was underwhelming in last week's poll here, but I'm even more inclined to believe Michael Irvin after reading this.


• Are old-school video games way better than new ones, never mind the advanced graphics of today's releases? Or are today's games more like "interactive movies" and thus well worth the time and money? Vodkapundit and his commenters weigh in.


• Even cooler than the potato gun: the potato cannon. This book has directions for building one. (Hat tip: InstaPundit)


• This would be funny if it weren't true: Boy eats peanut-butter snack, kisses girlfriend. Unfortunately, the kiss proves to be fatal, seeing as how she's allergic to peanuts.


• Fellow local blogger Eric rants against the Machine (a favorite subject of mine) in a post that also points to this funny Onion story: RIAA Bans Telling Friends About Songs. Heh.


• For years, many shopkeepers have chased away teens hanging out in front of their property by blasting classical music from their speakers. Now comes word of another form of "teen repellent": A high-pitched tone that's usually only audible by people under the age of 30.

The lights fantastic: As you know, I'm really excited about Firewheel being in Garland. But tonight, since I was already in Grapevine for a holiday dinner, I had to drive the additional five minutes over to Firewheel's older cousin, Southlake Town Square (it's a similar concept to Firewheel, minus the anchor stores or the theatre (just ten more days!) but highlighted by an old-fashioned City Hall). As always, the lighting at this time of year is amazing, and walking around on a cold night like tonight brought on a classic holiday mood of the kind not often found in Texas.