punch down blocks inside them.

Bad phreak, no tone generator.

If you've not heard of podcaster and novelist Scott Sigler he's one of the luminaries of the new media movement. Before becoming a novelist who's taken the New York Times booklist by storm he recorded his novels as audiobooks and gave them away for free on iTunes, podiobooks.com and his own website, the idea being that if you liked them you'd send some money his way and possibly buy the novels when they made it onto dead trees. Lo and behold it worked and now he's on tour for the hardcover release of Ancestor, his latest novel.

I haven't …

While wandering around northern Virginia recently, Lyssa and I happened across a couple of new stores that could really use patronage as well as suggestions if they're going to take off. The first is a little pagan-type store on Route 50 west called Sticks and Stones (9970 Main Street; Fairfax, VA; 22031; phone 703-352-2343) which opened its doors just a week ago. Their selection's not bad for a brand new shop - a little thin on books but they have a good selection of practical materials and good prices all around. They're taking suggestions for things to stock and classes to …

After so many weeks of cold, bracing wind and a few days of snow, a weekend of bright sun and temperatures in the mid'70's seemed like an ideal time to get out a little and do some running around while enjoying the nice weather. And so on Saturday afternoon I opened the windows, threw some gear into my backpack, slapped a GPS puck onto the roof of the TARDIS (I've grown quite attached to my Rikaline GPS-6010 - thanks again, Rhianna!) and headed over to pick up Hasufin and Mika to do a little wardriving in northern Virginia. For those of …