RFID just succeeded (original). When Wal-Mart wants manufacturers to use a technology, they will use it — Wal-Mart’s leverage is just that big. The privacy implications are horrendous (original), but the applications are fairly neat.

Handy Democratic primary link of the day: Poll Roundup, from a Daily Kos denizen’s diary. There’s a clearer but less detailed version here.

Neil Gaiman, co-creator of Medieval Spawn, made some provocative comments recently (original). (Scroll down through the rest of the mail till you get to the bit where some fanboy yells at Neil for holding up new Medieval Spawn merchandise.) Todd’s currently appealing the jury verdict to the 7th Circuit court of appeal. I thought it would be simpler for everyone if I waited until the appeal was done and the jury decision was confirmed before licensing out Medieval Spawn toys, statues, games, comics, novelty condoms, or whatever. ...

The most interesting thing on television today is the 30 hour Senate debate on judicial nominees (original). It’s not going to change a thing either way, but both the Democrats and the Republicans are tossing their best speakers up there to chew up time and sling rhetoric. Good for those fascinated by process.

I’m going to miss Monday Mashup this week (and be light on general on blogging). A family member is in the hospital with something fairly serious and I a) can’t focus on blogging and b) don’t have as much free time anyhow.

Wow, those are certainly some attractive jobless numbers there. In fact, they’re so good I stole the graphic so I could stick it up here. Damn, but that’s good. So good, I decided to reformat it a bit so I could admire it again. Oh. And I guess employment dropped by 41,000 anyhow. So, uh… what’s unemployment look like, anyhow? As they say, all this really means is that the rate of increase has decreased. ...

On the topic of Unknown Armies writeups, here’s Unknown Armies: Kansas, another UA blog. As I understand it, their game is being played via the blog, which is an interesting idea. I’m really curious about the mechanics behind the curtain. Anyhow, the writing is promising, and it’s set in Kansas.

Mike Sullivan’s Magipunk (original) concept is deeply cool and I want to play in it. GMs, take note.

CafePress whiffed badly on book pricing (original). The base fee is five bucks per book for saddle stitch or wirebound, and six bucks per book for perfect bound. On top of that, they’re charging six cents per page, and that’s printed page rather than physical page. A 250 page paperback would have a base cost of $21. A 32 page comic book would have a base cost of $6.60. (Er. $6.92. I dunno where I went wrong.) Profit margins are optional. I don’t think this’ll take off. ...

Since there are a few regular game writing memes out there these days — my Monday Mashup and Ginger’s Game WISH come to mind — I thought it might be nice to have an announcement list for people who want to keep up with them. Thus, I set up a list at Yahoo for precisely that purpose. Right now, every time I post a new Monday Mashup, it’ll send a message to the list. Ginger is setting Game WISH up the same way. The list is moderated, and there shouldn’t ever be any other traffic on it, so it’s just a few posts a week. ...