* Popular Mechanics looks at living off the grid, while the Guardian looks at the impossibly big Swiss Army knife that's been making the rounds.

* A Trout in the Milk examines the ten basic superhero plots. In other important superhero news, Deborah Eisenberg (author of Twilight of the Superheroes, another book from this year I want to read) talks with Bookninja about superheroes and the current cultural moment.

* And it turns out soy makes you gay. But not soy sauce, because that's fermented. Fermenting removes the gayness from the molecular structure. That's science.