Yesterday's NPR Science Friday podcast included a video of Dr. David Hu's research on how slithering works to move snakes. Aside from being interesting science, it's even better for the schadenfreude of watching snakes trying to move on completely smooth surfaces or while wearing sweaters.

After four and half years of faithful service, I think it is finally time to retire my 6G ipod mini. It started having trouble with battery life late last October and, of late, has refused to start playback unless connected to external power, although it would play for quite a while on its own once started and, when it cut out claiming lack of power, it would usually come back just fine after a quick jumpstart.

Tonight, though, while doing dishes, it shut down on me less than five minutes after being disconnected from my computer. Twice.