Arnie puts boot into California's debt

ARNOLD Schwarzenegger, the governor of California, has devised a novel way of raising funds for the cash-strapped state - a giant car boot sale. The massive spring clean of state property is part of the former Hollywood actor's campaign to flush out "the cobwebs of government". The resulting mountain of unwanted items - seized by police, confiscated at airports or simply outdated and unwanted - range from a Ford Mustang and three aircraft engines to 30lbs of assorted scissors and 3,000 light bulbs for traffic signals. They were being sold yesterday and today at the "California Garage Sale" in Sacramento, the state capital. Some of the items will also be offered on eBay. The ramshackle collection includes everything from the obvious - old office desks, discarded computers - to the intriguing - a used forklift truck, out-of-date colour film, diamond and gold jewellery and a large number of knives. Other items for sale also include a popcorn machine, a lemonade dispenser and an espresso machine. The eBay listings read like the prize list for the Generation Game: Panasonic camcorder, Nikon camera, cordless drill, digital scales. Much of the equipment has been stored in crates in a 187,500 sq ft warehouse leased by the Department of General Services. Some of it was bought by government agencies and fell into disuse; other items were seized at airport security checks or in official raids. Most of the goods "were just sitting here for years gathering dust", said State and Consumer Services Agency Secretary, Fred Aguiar. "Some of the stuff may have been taken in drug confiscations by the Department of Justice or local jurisdiction. Like the red Mustang - that was part of an asset seizure, forfeiture thing." Mr Aguiar said he did not know how much the sale would raise. But it is unlikely to be riches. Desks could go for as little as $2 and laptop computers for $20, he said. Under former governor Gray Davis, California, which has an economy roughly the same size as Britain's, had a $38bn budget deficit and debts of $27bn. (©Daily Telegraph, London) - Catherine Elsworthin Los Angeles

Girl-ifying the geek's final bastion

At the risk of exposing myself as hairy-knuckled '70s throwback, can I ask that the women of Planet Earth abandon their ill-judged and inappropriate fascination with gadgetry, video games and all that has traditionally been the hallmark of the saddo-male? Carry on this way - treating yourself to iPods and Eyetoys and Manga DVDs as though they were a perfectly legitimate interest for normal people - and you risk propelling bone-fide dweebs towards extinction. You should know that we're not the type to gladly share our hobby with you normals. We're geeks for heaven's sake - we define ourselves as much by what we aren't as by what we are (although clearly not in a hip, grungy sort of way). The thought of the feminisation of nerd culture is quite honestly terrifying. Mooching by the 'Dungeons and Dragons' stall of a favourite comic store recently, I spied a woman - a living, breathing, panty-wearing female - and nearly spilled by 'Magic' deck in a panic. What, I was almost moved to demand, did she think she was doing there? Sniffing around my 'Dungeons and Dragons' section! Ought she not be in Waterstones, checking out the latest Zadie Smyth or losing herself in something fluffily packaged and set among the world of Camden singletons? Apparently not. According to researchers in the US and Britain, women are fuelling the current gadget boom and hence tugging nerd-dom, wincing and whining, towards the mainstream. Yes, of course you're smitten with your new iPod minis and clamshell mobiles but it goes deeper than that. Video games, the final bastion of freakish male escapism (and I say that as a fan) are being colonised by the Other Sex. Partially, this is a result of a concerted industry heave to Care Bear-ify the digital world, lashing out Eyetoys and Karaoke simulations to the detriment of such sterling genres as the beat 'em up, shoot 'em up and (my favourite) the bash-the-villain-in-the-back-of- the-head-with-a-glass-shard 'em up. Imagine my disbelief on recently visiting a flagship Sony Store to discover the Playstation level not only dominated by the latest Tom Clancy or Pro-Evolution Soccer but by a load of noncy entertainment featuring pink penguins (really) and cartoon monkeys that might have walked straight out of the back of Walt Disney's head. It was bit like going for a steak only to realise you've booked a vegan restaurant by accident and have ordered beef tomatoes under the impression you were getting a fancy meatball dish. Yet, while I staggered about in bedraggled horror like a movie hero who's just twigged his brandy has been laced with knock-out pills, my wife was agog at the unfolding orgy of cutsiness. This, let me remind you, is the woman who once tried to recycle my Xbox and has often suggested giving the PS2 to a needy cause (causes seldom come needier than I, is my reply). I don't think I've been as troubled since - true story - my mother started giving line-dancing classes. So acute is the demand for what are already being referred to, rather patronisingly, as 'girly gizmos' that a plethora of online stores specialising in feminine-friendly gadgets are in business. At Girlstuff.com, for example, you may treat yourself to a pedometer, which measures how far you've walked (though I think something like that has already been invented, referred to by the ancients as a 'map'). Or what about Pino, a robot kitten (who presumably doesn't grow into a rancid Tom and try to sleep with all its siblings) and the iRiver N10, essentially a cross between an iPod and a piece of jewellery (the iPod, you will remember, being a cross between a walkman and a dead battery). Girlstuff wasn't even supposed to 'go live' this year but has been forced into an early launch after furious women bombarded parent site Boystuff.com, accusing it of cold shouldering the girly constituency. Where, I would like to know, will it end? With the far-flung acceptance of geek culture? The cracks are already appearing; Peter Jackson's 'The Lord of the Rings' left the wraith out of the bag so to speak, permitting humanity at large an inkling of our little secret - that this sort of thing is occasionally quite interesting. Ssssh, my brother dweebs. Let's keep it to ourselves. If you have any comments for Ed, why not contact him at