Today's moment of Zen

From a 1989 training manual. Amazing the things newspaper reporters can get their hands on.

Two ideas for geek niche marketers

Lacking the manufacturing resources, I'm just going to throw these ideas out into the public domain. If anyone wants to actually produce and sell these items, let me know, because I can guarantee you at least one buyer ...:

Fuzzy gamer dice. The ones that hang from car rear-view mirrors. Except that they need to be d4s, d8s, d10s, d12s, or d20s. Perhaps some combination thereof. The closest I've been able to find is the standard six-siders at any number of Web sites, and Warehouse 23's fuzzy plush dice sold individually, which are a little too large.

It occurs to me that if you use 2d10 for the set, you'll never suffer the ultimate embarrassment of not being able to make a percentile roll out on the open road. (This has actually hypothetically occurred, somewhere in the universe.)

Unix underwear. This is actually a request on behalf of Kady, but heck, I'd probably get a set too.

Bill Amend had Jason wearing a set of briefs labeled "chmod 0700" in his "Foxtrot" strip a few years ago, but that seems to be as far as the idea's been taken. Geek undergarments are a tremendously underserved market.

So, niche marketers: Go for it! Geek pride is a powerful force, and geeks tend to have lots of money to spend on things that amuse them thus.