With all this talk of the decline of web advertising these days, several readers have asked us via email and posts to our messageboards whether clicking on the ads on this site directly helps us. There is a more complex answer to be had, but the simpler one will just about suffice in its place, and that answer is yes. This is because in addition to the fact that there are CPC (cost per click) ads in the mix, which only actually pay of if they are clicked upon, even for the much broader CPM (cost per thousand) advertisements, click-through rate is often used to define whether such campaigns are a success, and should be continued. So there, clicking the ads certainly can't hurt, and who knows, maybe some day someone will actually shock that damn monkey.

Link of the Day: Win RG {Flash required}. Windows "really good edition." Thanks Frag.Machine. Sheer genius.
Play Time: WingNut666's Doom Quiz-O-Rama! A little too easy because of repeating questions, and there's sometimes only one answer that makes sense, but fun nonetheless. Thanks Daxxus.
Story of the Day: 'Tron 2.0' Plot Details Downloaded (Zap2it.com). Thanks Jonah Falcon.
Weird Science: Dark blue light 'may end jetlag' (Ananova). Thanks Andrew Arace.
Wild Science: 'Spin' Could Be Quantum Boost for Computers NY Times free registration required. Thanks Jonathan C. Forster.
Media of the Day: This teakettle auction (thanks Modo). I'm a little teapot, short and stout, here is my handle here is my spout!