Google has released Artist Themes for your iGoogle homepage, and this video made me totally excited about them:



You can get themes designed by creative people like Marc Ecko, Jeff Koons, Coldplay, NIGO, Michael Graves, Robert Mankoff and so many more.

There was a big public party on Thursday in New York City -- where I happened to be. For now, I've installed this one; but like my desktop background, I suspect I'll enjoy changing these themes in parallel with my ever-changing mood.

A robot made by the scientists at the University of Pennsylvania awesomely reassembles itself when kicked apart. How long before they control the universe? Based on robot rate-of-learning, which I approximate from watching sci-fi movies, I'm guessing about four days. Try to act surprised.

This is one of those "damn I wish I'd thought of that first" moments. In the late 90s, Historian Bill Geerhart pretended to be a 10-year-old boy named Billy and wrote letters to convicted serial killers asking them questions like whether or not he should stay in school. The replies are just classic. Now, ten years later, he's writing back to them letting them know how successful he's been and all thanks to their advice.

You really have to read them all.


And then of course Manson's perfectly sensible reply...




And if reading notes from serial killers creeps you out, he also sends notes to the founder of Hustler, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Arnold Schwarzenegger, etc. Go spend the next half hour of your life reading them all.

Seen in the Google hallways: