So my cordless mouse freezes entirely after working perfectly. I try the magic 'jiggle the batteries' trick. No go. I can't imagine that it's a power issue at this point because I never experienced any warnings like skipping about, but I try a couple of near-dead triple-A batteries laying about. Viola! We have mouse again, so it was the power. This lasts for three minutes and then these (already used) batteries are dead too. Replacements have things ticking like Pittsburgh again, but I am left surprised at this new behavior from my mouse, as I don't recall ever seeing a battery-powered appliance not show any hints of intermittent operation before dying, and I am impressed with this mouse's ability to suck every least erg out of the batteries. The thing is, it never did this before, so I wonder where it learned all this?

Play Time:	Gender Test. Thanks Warpig.
Link of the Day:	Pop groups. Thanks KaRRiLLioN.
Stories of the Day:	Chinese man ordered to give back 'stolen' public toilet. Thanks Brian. Survey: Sweden beats U.S. as top Web-savvy nation. So Cute! (Has He Had Work Done?) (NY Times free registration required). Thanks Jonathan C. Forster.
Wild Science:	Massive online sky survey completed. ET fails to 'phone home'.
Auction of the Day:	old Composition HAUNTED baby doll ONCE ALIVE!!! Thanks Tui.
Follow-up:	Human Transporter sales move slowly
	Thanks Mike Martinez.