WIRED

... magazine, which is not often worth the pick-up much anymore, is definitely browsable this month. First, because the section on Yahoo video-on-demand is more than the usual puff piece and the P2P for Dummies stuff is worth filing for th the 4GM fans.

Second, because Jon Stewart's on the cover. Back when were doing stand-up together at synagogue shows (I was, for the years, the default goy at Montreal shows), rarely did I consider that he would go on to become the only honest newsman in America. I have no problem admitting my massive man-crush on Stewart; the idea that an entire generation is growing up with The Daily Show's brutal truth-telling as the model for how to interact with their government actually gives me some tiny amount of hope for the future.

In a tech-mood, I direct you to the sidebar (not just there to hold up the profile). Spend two days on Lifehacker and it will glom itself onto your morning read forever. More focused than Metafilter, I've learned how to organize my time, fold fitted sheets, program my Tivo to catch newer movies, and it does a pretty much weekly round-up of Firefox extensions.

MAKE Magazine is for hands-on tinkering in a closed-case world. Just for the article about the boy who built his own roller coaster in his backyard in Germany, worth the read.

All of this having a theme, I suppose -- in a world which grows ever more confusing and overwhelming, there are people and websites which remind you, constantly, to seize control back. It's your world -- crack it open and see how it runs, in every sense of the idea. Do not shut up and consume. Even if it's a futile gesture, it's an active futile gesture.