Hobbit remains found in Indonesia. Okay, no, they’re not like hobbits. They’re just little people. But they’re real, and I think the history of early humans just got a bit more interesting.

Via William Gibson’s blog, William Schneier explains why RFID Passports are a bad idea: Since the terrorist attacks of 2001, the Bush administration–specifically, the Department of Homeland Security–has wanted the world to agree on a standard for machine-readable passports. Countries whose citizens currently do not have visa requirements to enter the United States will have to issue passports that conform to the standard or risk losing their nonvisa status. These future passports, currently being tested, will include an embedded computer chip. This chip will allow the passport to contain much more information than a simple machine-readable character font, and will …

Your attention please. Lime says this is not a joke. I’m not sure, but I thought I’d bring it to your attention just the same. Just go look. http://www.malepregnancy.com/ Yes, really.

Via Simon World’s Asia By Blog roundup, here’s the most striking link in his most recent batch: one at serial deviant that says that The WHO says that human-to-human transmission of bird flu (H5N1 avian influenza) is now a real possibility, the last two cases being part of a family cluster. Oh, great. Fun times await.