I was at Chapters today flipping through a magazine when it occurred to me how many advertisements were in it. After looking in a couple others, even big name ones, there were still a huge number of ads. Let's do the math, here. The first magazine I was looking at was only a short thing, 55 pages or so. I counted it up and there were around 20 full page ads, plus some extra pages covered with smaller ads, plus a couple of 'side bar' ads. That's insane. So, an already overpriced $6.50 CND magazine is at least 35% advertisements, along with some extra added in ads and a few articles with one of those graphic things covering one and a half pages that leaves only half of a page of text. Clearly this would need to have some really amazing articles to make it worth buying. Of course, this is and has always been a trend with the magazine industry. People like their articles all jazzed up with images and little drawings and such. And, as they say, money doesn't grow on trees. Making a mag is a costly investment, and it takes a lot of these ads to keep costs down. Still, it isn't hard to believe that sometimes publishers decide to put in more than necessary to make a few extra bucks. Now, though, with blogs, RSS feeds and sites like Digg gaining in popularity every day, the internet may be cutting into magazine's profits more than you think.

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In a terrible accident Top Gear and Brainiac host Richard Hammond was seriously injured yesterday while trying to break the British land speed record. He succeeded, but there was some sort of mess up involving the parachute while he was filming some final material for the show on his last run. He is said to have some brain damage but it is possible that he will be fine. The full story is summarized on Wikipedia. I love his work and wish luck to him and his family. Edit: Today Hammond's condition was changed from "serious but stable" to "stable." He was already talking normally to his friends and family today. Hopefully things will continue to improve.

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I picked up Mega Man ZX and a sweet new DS Lite in Onyx yesterday. I almost didn't buy it since I have a DS already, but I'm glad I did. It is a lot easier to hold for long periods of time as there are no side bits jabbing in to your palms. It also looks great and makes the games look great. I've had a bit of a gaming lull recently, but this is sure to change things. If you don't have a DS or have one but play it a lot, I definitely recommend getting a Lite. More photos here.

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