Overheard in the U District an hour ago, about 10:30 a.m.:

“I’m taking off. See you tomorrow.”

“You got class?”

“No, I’m going home to sleep.”

“Oh.” (Looks out the shop window. It’s gray and pouring rain.) “Nice weather for it.”

It is indeed nice sleeping weather in Seattle, but that’s not why you’re just getting links today. It’s because I lost the whole morning to a radio interview and am still playing catch-up.

First up: reader Gretchen McNeely points out that my wife’s invention has been adapted in a couple lower-tech versions.

Next: I realized I’ve not yet blogged about my college roommate Brandon Sanderson, who is now a fantasy novelist of some note. He was in town last weekend for a book signing so we stopped by to say hi, and heard an excerpt from his upcoming YA fantasy series Alcatraz, which he wrote on a whim and was quite surprised to sell to Scholastic for big bucks. The cover art he showed us made me think Scholastic is hoping Alcatraz will be The Next Harry Potter, so maybe Brandon will be a billionaire this time next year.

Finally, I’m a big fan of cartoonist Michael Kupperman, currently writing the laugh-out-loud funniest comic in world history, Tales Designed to Thrizzle, but somehow I missed these TV Funhouse adaptations of two of his strips until today.

(What do you guys think about the weblink pair technique used three times above? Am I overusing it? Maybe so.)