Southern man?

As someone who grew up in the South, I had to deal with misconceptions about the South on almost a daily basis. Once I moved up to the Midwest, I thought I was through with them...but I was not. The state of confusion over Southern identity is pretty much messed up across the board.

This is one of the things that academics need to do: clear up not the confusion but the roots of that confusion. Notice this interview with David Williams covering his book Bitterly Divided: The South's Inner Civil War, which argues that most Southerners did not support the Confederacy.

Lies and misconceptions must always be exposed.

coolest use of spare time

I loved Lego as a kid, but I never did anything extraordinary with it. If only I would've realized the artistic possibilities! Here's the Beijing Olympics rendered in Lego.

grabbing the golden coins

I love reading competing histories. For instance, Gamasutra published an interview covering the evolution of Sega, makers of several video game systems and a damn hedgehog game. That article prompted a heated and funny debate on Slashdot. There's nothing funnier than riled-up nerds.

some infant is going to be seriously cool

According to Slate, scientologists believe in some form of reincarnation. That means the soul (they call it a "thetian") of the recently departed Issac Hayes will inhabit some new person...who will become the coolest person in its whole maternity ward immediately upon birth. Lucky bastard.