Link roundup

1. How to disable Facebook's latest privacy violation.

2. Neca is going to make toys for Valve.

3. Destructoid on Nintendo's ridiculous (and probably ridiculously expensive) new game controller: "it's shaped in such a way that gripping it doesn't feel as uncomfortable as it looks."

Link roundup

1. Allow me to brag - - my oldest won the sportsman award at his league-wide little league ceremony yesterday.

2. Lifehacker's Facebook privacy guide.

3. Scan of "Costume Party" illustrated by Eduardo Risso (site is NSFW).

Link roundup

1. Lifehacker's top 10 privacy tricks. I especially like, the suggestion to use temporary credit cards to avoid repeat billing.

2. Bill Belichick gave a commencement speech saying that no championship team in the last decade in the four major sports had the league M.V.P. from that year on the roster. Not remotely accurate, but it sounded good.

3. Gizmodo's updated list of must have iPhone and Android apps.

Link roundup

1. How to use Amazon to self-publish.

2. FYI, it's free shipping plus 30% off everything at American Eagle this weekend.

3. Creepy tree wallpaper.

Link roundup

1. "Remember, when signing up for things with your email address, put the name of the company as your name so that you know who is leaking your email to spammers." More tips about spam here.

2. How to make a foam and posterboard mortar board graduation hat for kids.

3. "The Walt Disney Co.’s Imagineering research division, which develops new technologies for the company’s theme parks, is planning to open a small lab in East Cambridge next month, 11 years after Disney shuttered its last such facility in the city."

*Buy Walt Disney Imagineering: A Behind the Dreams Look at Making More Magic Real at Amazon.

Link roundup

1. The LA Times says you shouldn't buy a car this year. You can click through and find out exactly why, but the article's existence is awfully interesting - - the car companies must have stopped buying ads, right?

2. The Nike + GPS running app is currently free at iTunes. Via.

3. I want to get a wifi router for my parents and need something simple and dependable. (It'll be mostly used for a Kindle, Dell laptop, iPhone and Droid.) Any suggestions? (I have a Cisco ValetPlus, which I've been less than thrilled with.)

Link roundup

1. Scratch-built Wheatley (Portal) toy.

2. Pretty disturbing - - beehive that took over a chimney.

3. Sho Murase posted her illustrations from the Star Wars Visions book (which was overall actually a bit of a letdown).

Link roundup

1. 7 Tools to Help You Conquer Your Allergies, including a recommendation of the SinuSense Water Pulsator Sinus Rinse, available at Amazon.

2. And speaking of Amazon, Richard Dawkins's science book for kids, illustrated by Dave McKean, is available for preorder (34% off). Via.

3. And speaking of gadget lists, "This Super Sherpa Climbed Everest 21 Times. Here's His Eco Gadget Bag."

Link roundup

1. "Is the Downfall of Dominique Strauss-Kahn Also the Downfall of the Euro?"

2. Gawker:

In 2009, the Cerdas, a Las Vegas family whose two daughters suffered from immune deficiency disorders, appeared on the reality show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Their old, moldy house was torn down, and new one, designed to protect the young girls, was built in its place. But as it turns out, the Cerda girls may not have been sick at all.

Six doctors in Oregon testified that neither Molly, age 10, or Maggie, 8, suffer from an immune deficiency disease. Rather, their mother Terri may suffer from Munchhausen by proxy syndrome, a psychological disorder that leads caregivers to invent or exaggerate health problems in others for attention or sympathy.

3. In a pinch, you can use tinfoil to more easily move heavy furniture.

Link roundup

1. Comment and win a Kindle.

2. How to "Move From Blogger to WordPress Without Losing Google Rank."

3. "Houston Press apologizes for 'hottest sex offenders' list."

Link roundup

1. How to sue telemarketers. (Apparently, they have to give you a written copy of their do not call policy if you ask.)

2. Reddit agrees - - the move women love is the Vulcan neck kiss.

3. "DARPA seeks help for interstellar starship."

*Buy NASA patches at eBay.

Link roundup

1. Funny Portal 2 animated gif. And speaking of, it would be cool if Valve made a POTaTOS kit that attached to a typical Mr. Potato Head.

2. How to set up a green screen photo studio for $100. Via.

3. Gallery of beer league hockey jerseys.

*Buy vintage cameras at eBay.

Link roundup

1. TomTom sold user data to the police, who then used it to expertly place speed traps. Via.

2. RPS takes a long look at The Old Republic:

And this level of story exceeds anything I’ve seen in an MMO. There’s currently nothing else that comes close, with perhaps only The Secret World as a rival for such a narrative-focused approach. Simply the fact that my character pretended to be someone else – Blade, she went by – for such a protracted period, was novel to the point of gripping me. And within that, as I lied and tricked the various residents of this Hutta enclave, I was able to betray at my leisure. I could come out of that situation – a good day’s worth of play – having decided whose side I was really on.

The other thing to note here is that I was playing alone. And there was little impetus to team up with anyone. The story, in fact, encouraged me to be soloing this. This happens to be exactly how I want to play MMOs, so I was delighted. But those who are all about guilds and the like will have to get through some significant sections before they’ll get their way. That’s not to say that you can’t team up, because you absolutely can. Certain areas will be blocked off to someone who’s not the same class as you, and some quests are specific to you, but it’s more the lack of narrative sense that put me off wanting a buddy.

In fact, at the point where you really do need someone else to help you battle through, the game gives you an NPC companion.

3. Lifehacker's guide to setting up an online store.

*Buy Darth Revan toys at eBay.

Link roundup

1. St. John's new prize basketball recruit is named God's Gift Achiuwa.

2. A detailed, lengthy analysis of the wisdom of building a Death Star and actually using it to destroy a planet. For example:

So, the Emperor and Tarkin focus on making one really huge, high-impact investment: The Death Star. They throw in Alderaan as part of that investment. This doomsday weapon will supposedly free up their resources to spend less on administration, personnel and infrastructure, and continue to function without a Senate. It seems like a big investment until you realize how much they save by not actually having a functioning government.

This is an attractive option even today, as politicians look to pay for tax cuts and handouts to core constituencies by laying off or cutting salaries and benefits for bureaucrats and government workers, as well as by skimping on infrastructure.

The problem, of course, is that it doesn’t work. The underpaid, undermotivated, poorly managed stormtroopers can’t even track down the Empire’s most wanted fugitive androids in an extremely sparsely populated area where they have undisputed control. If Tatooine still had meaningful senatorial representation and local government, Luke never would have gotten off the planet. Whole systems just break away and form not just a resistance, but a giant frickin’ fleet of spaceships that destroy not one, but two death stars. The failure of leadership is so total and complete that Tarkin is killed in his own fortress and the Emperor is murdered in his own office by his own right-hand man.

3. Guide to utilizing Chrome, including various useful extensions.