Guess which much-loved early gadget from our childhood is set to get a sales boost thanks to the publicity surrounding the death of Michael Jackson?
The Etch A Sketch. A design company calling itself GV Art + Design has been promoting itself around the internet with a stunning pair of drawings of Jacko, created using nothing more than an Etch A Sketch - and presumably quite a bit of Vaseline to stop their thumbs blistering up after numerous hours of tweaking those fiddly little wheels.
Their site has a how we did it section, should you still have access to an Etch A Sketch (there's one in the loft, in one of those boxes or bin liners) which includes a very handy tip for making an Etch A Sketch drawing remain on the screen permanently should you sketch up something magical.
HOURS OF FUN: Jacko - plastic-faced even in death [Image credit: gvartwork.com]
It probably is a close approximation of what he would've wanted.
Arise, new Dalek Master
Geek King Professor Stephen Hawking, who younger readers will know from his guest appearance on The Simpsons and older readers will fondly remember for portraying Davros in BBC TV series Doctor Who between 1972 and 1985, was granted America's highest honour this week - the chance to be near and touched by Barack Obama.
Obama roughly manhandled Hawking (pictured) in order to stick the US Presidential Medal of Freedom around his neck, an honour which bestows Hawking the right to herd goats around Manhattan and get away from US restaurants without having to feel bad about not leaving a tip.
TROUBLESOME MEDAL: "Just stop struggling, Stephen, I nearly pulled your ear off that time" [Image credit: guardian.co.uk video]
The US Presidential Medal is roughly equivalent in stature to the UK's Cycling Proficiency Test.
Quick! Get the worst camera in the house!
Something ludicrous enough to get Hawking up out of his chair and kicking the arses of UFO nuts until they JUST SHUT UP is this - an apparent sighting of a UFO over bustling Norwich.
UFO fans will be pleased to see the photograph is blurry, vague and could be of anything, as is customary in all UFO sighting shots. To our untrained eyes, the photo resembles a jellyfish that's been fished out of the sea by a gang of local youths and is being cruelly thrown about for a game of "sting basketball".
Spotter John Young said "I glanced out of my bedroom window to see a bright light in the sky, much like a star except slightly larger in appearance and considerably brighter."
SUPER SIGHTING: "It is OK, Mighty Zangon. His camera is of low sensor quality and he is using digital zoom. We will remain unseen"
A commenter on another Norwich-based UFO video gives us a more rational answer - "It is a bag with a light in... it is a fun pastime for chavs. Works like a hot air balloon."
"Er, hello other people. Love from Ian xxx"
If you take a more realistic approach to space and think that, maybe, there are a few other types of being floating about out there in the void gazing at the same stars as us while feeling similar levels of boredom and disconnection from their alien lives, why not try communicating direct?
For another 10 days, Hello from Earth will be collecting text messages from us lot, with a view to beaming a sample of them onwards to Gliese 581d - the nearest Earth-like planet we currently know.
Here's Wilson and Jacqui with a friendly explanation..
The messages received so far are, as you might expect of a message thing on the internet, mostly embarrassingly poor. At least this will tell the brutal military reptilian dictatorship currently in charge of Gliese 581d we are not likely to be much of a threat.
