And you’re still sitting atop the beast, and you truly do not a) want to be going so fast, and b) want to go in that direction.

Stuff is spilling into the aisles, lots of it, the clerks are dazed, the air is very, very stale. In the sock section, a customer was sitting on the floor looking through all the merchandise in piles.

But I do hate it when I give the clerk a twenty and the change, and she doesn’t know what to do. This seems to happen more and more. She looked at the change, looked at the register, chewed her gum some more. Looked at the change again, stared hard at the register.

The register knew what to do.

Snowfall. I always play it when I’m wrapping presents.

The Department of Energy and eight major coal and electricity producers will invest in a $1 billion power plant that is expected to extract carbon dioxide while removing pollutants. The plant will begin operating by 2012.

And still a hurricane with 75 mph winds. Weather experts are puzzled that it has retained its strength, but there is still no land threat.

A comparison of higher-end office chairs, from Slate.com.

Bring on the hot cocoa, which has more antioxidants than either black or green tea. Coffee, however, is the drink of choice among most consumers of hot beverages.

Researchers at UCSF get nerve cells to regenerate in lab rats after spinal injuries. This is a first.

While it is a major step, they caution that restoring function for spinal injury patients is still very far away.

In parts of China, Africa, and the Middle East, sands advance upon civilization despite man’s best efforts to keep it out.

Because scientists are still learning about the physics of granular flow, there is not much that proves effective.

Got some good ideas? You’re allowed three proposals, but get them in by February 28, 2006. If your design makes it to the final three, the prize comes to a bit over $6,000.

When sand is shaken in a box, patterns form. Images here illustrate those patterns.

If the particles are shaken with a certain amplitude and frequency, clumps are formed, which are called oscillons.

If you take two sizes of sand, with each a different color, put them in a drum that is rotated on its axis so that the sand is constantly moving down, a very interesting thing happens.

When a kangaroo is frightened, it thumps its feet. The distinctive sound may soon be used by farmers who lose crops to foraging roos. Researchers say the sound drives off feeding kangaroos, and the ones that stay behind are on alert, which means they aren’t eating.

A tantalizing glimpse has been caught on camera, but its face was hidden by leaves. It has red fur, little ears, a long bushy tail, and is slightly bigger than the average cat.

New species of snakes, beetles, bats, and fish are constantly being discovered in the Bornean jungle.