Stupid Xmas gift of the year

You could get someone a Hello Kitty iPod "Be@rbrick" -- that's "bear brick" -- a pink plastic teddy bear that has a holder for an iPod. Whether the bear, or be@rbrick, is actually an iPod player/charger, or just a holder -- this cNet page calls it a "stand" -- this is the perfect cute, stupid and useless gift for your teenage girl giftees -- if they have pink iPod Minis.

Meanwhile, who could resist this story:

The types of mutilation are varied and creative, and range from removing the hair to decapitation, burning, breaking and even microwaving.

No, that's not the latest scadal from Guantanamo, Abu Gharib, or various CIA black sites in Eastern Europe. It's a description of the Barbie doll abuse surprisingly common among girls who own the famous doll.

"Whilst for an adult the delight the child felt in breaking, mutilating and torturing their dolls is deeply disturbing, from the child's point of view they were simply being imaginative in disposing of an excessive commodity in the same way as one might crush cans for recycling," said a researcher.

That's just what rendition is -- recycling!