The CDC just conducted their first official study into the validity of Morgellons disease — a bizarre phenomenon in which patients, including Joni Mitchell, insist that they have small fibers or threads growing under the skin and causing constant discomfort. The study involved a group of Bay Area patients, and the conclusion wasn't what they wanted to hear. Essentially, they're all crazy. more ›

How do you feel about holiday music? We thought that KOIT started playing their 24/7 holiday programming a little early this year, but we do love randomly hearing Jose Feliciano's "Feliz Navidad" in our car. There are two holiday albums out this year that we've been enjoying. If you're a fan of Sarah McLachlan, you should buy her holiday album Wintersong. The CD has several traditional holiday tunes, but we were pleasantly surprised by a cover of "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" and "Christmas Time Is Here". And while no cover of Joni Mitchell's "River" can really improve on the original, it was still a nice inclusion. The other Christmas collection we highly recommend is Sufjan Stevens' Songs for Christmas. For around twenty bucks, you get 5 CDs gorgeously packaged with stickers, a poster and a singalong book. That's over 42 Sufjan Christmas tunes. more ›

So it looks as though there's a little less competition in the Valley, and therefore the world, for portable MP3 player technology. D&M Holdings went and sold the rights to Rio's IP assets to SigmaTel. You may remember Rio as the folks who brought one of the very first MP3 players to market (we bought a 32mb Rio as a Christmas gift for our mom back when we were flush with dot-com boom cash, figuring she could rip her Joni Mitchell CDs onto it). more ›