A company's developed a hamster ball in which you run while wearing VR goggles. My initial reaction was scorn, but adopting Mom's best "who cares what others think of how you look?" attitude, I have to admit it's kind of... well, I can't bring myself to say that I think it'll succeed, but it does have a certain elegance of function.

Synchronicity-ously, last night I was reading New Scientist's straight-faced pooh-poohing of the question "Could the world's energy crisis be solved by a sufficient quantity of hamsters running on wheels?" My favorite response delved into the question of whether caged wheel-running was natural or stereotypic behavior; I learned that if you give hamsters bedding of 20cm or more, their wheel-running drops dramatically. I can't wait until the next cocktail party!