Stepford wives, who are we to complain?

Why yes, it's another clip post. (I am trying to minimize them, I've just been scattered lately.)

But we're going to start off with a picture gallery of the world's largest pumpkin being carved. They picked a really, really impressive carver to do the deed.

Also, this is full of so much win I can barely stand it. Halloween light shows--who knew they were becoming popular? But this fellow went all out with it, stringing up thousands of LED lights on 1,144 controller channels (using the Light-O-Rama system), and a ton of song-based programming so actions mostly match up with lyrics. An incredible amount of devotion went into this.

(Amusingly, same house, completely different song and programming, and it's still cool. Oh, and if you didn't see the connection between LMFAO and Halloween? Well, their video for Party Rock Anthem features rock zombies. It also features singer and photographer Lauren Bennett, inexplicably, but hey, pretty girl in a party mix? Likely never a bad call.)

Ars Technica recently reviewed the Maylong tablet, available at the staggeringly low price of $99 from Walgreens, of all places. It's an incredibly harsh review, but from what I've been reading, also incredibly true. It seems like it would be a far better deal to take that $99 and buy several iStyle decals, a mirror, and a thick plastic frame, and glue everything in place, because it would work better than the Maylong.

Not to be outdone, though, BBYOpen's Joshua Kahn thought that Ars Technica may have been too strident about its utter uselessness, and to prove the point, came up with fourteen tried-and-true uses for the thing. I guess the end result is...do you want a mini cutting board, doorstop, and portable whiteboard enough to pay $99 for it? (Because, seriously, in that case? Chunk of wood from Lowe's and a couple pieces of sandpaper, buying a mini whiteboard, and buying a mini cutting board will cost you $20, max, and that's IF you're not shopping around for deals.)

I'm also bringing you the penguin sweater project, courtesy of Mr. Drinkwater, because I can.

And the Gutters blog brings you both the one-page explanation of the X-Men: Schism series, and the one-page superhero reaction to Occupy Wall Street. You're...welcome? (Though to be fair, I am interested in reading the X-Men book, now, and that's the first new comic book in a while I've been interested in reading.)

Someone took a clip from the second ever broadcast Doctor Who episode, wherein they address the "First Question" to brilliantly minimal effect. (What's truly interesting is that I found that mention when Mr. Allen tossed me this link, to a special Doctor Who mini-episode written by a group of schoolchildren at the Oakley Junior School. Even more impressive? The winning students were invited to the studio in Cardiff, where Matt Smith congratulated them personally. Now that's a boost to educational efforts everywhere.)

Finally, getting to Second Life-based news, Ms. Uccello Poultry takes on the next generation of SL viewers, in a fairly detailed review. Good, clear pictures are always a bonus; but for me, what she says is more important than what she shows.

Also of note: when she uses it? She's still crashing on nearly every teleport. The new beta release is that unstable, still. We're all hoping it gets better, not worse.