FEMA Slow To Investigate Toxic Trailers

FEMA is under fire for being slow to investigate reports by Hurricane Katrina victims who testified they've fallen ill from high levels of formaldehyde in their FEMA-provided trailers. What do you think?

Therese Dougan,
Office Manager
"Oh come on, those illnesses could've been the result of any one of the many governmental failures following Katrina."

Report: Astronauts Flew Drunk

An internal review at NASA revealed that some of their astronauts may have been drunk when they boarded shuttle missions into space. What do you think?


Doris Snyder,
Tobacconist
"Um, when are NASA astronauts not drunk? They're being shot into outer fucking space!"

Veggie Booty (?) Voluntary Recall Issued

Recent Recalls: "Wellbaskets.com Is Alerting Customers of the Veggie Booty Voluntary Recall Issued on June 28, 2007 by Robert's American Gourmet (July 2) (Fri, 06 Jul 2007 15:33:00 GMT) Veggie Booty has been voluntarily recalled by manufacturer Robert's American Gourmet due to possible Salmonella contamination. The recently recalled product, Veggie Booty, was a component of many gift baskets created by www.wellbaskets.com."

IRAN'S SPYING SQUIRRELS?

By Ali Arouzi, NBC News Producer

You can tell that Iran is feeling a little beleaguered these days when there are reports that Tehran may be under attack from rodents!

That is what the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported this week, that police had, ahem, "arrested" 14 squirrels on charges of espionage.

The rodents were found near the Iranian border, allegedly equipped with eavesdropping devices, according to IRNA.

When asked to confirm the story, Esmaeel Ahmadi Moghadam, the national police chief, said, "I have heard about it, but I do not have precise information." He declined to give any more details.

IRNA said that the squirrels were discovered by intelligence services – but were captured by police officers several weeks ago.

British blamed for Basra badgers

British blamed for Basra badgers:

Last Updated: Thursday, 12 July 2007, 13:00 GMT 14:00 UK

The badgers appeared near the British base in Basra
British forces have denied rumours that they released a plague of ferocious badgers into the Iraqi city of Basra.

Word spread among the populace that UK troops had introduced strange man-eating, bear-like beasts into the area to sow panic.

But several of the creatures, caught and killed by local farmers, have been identified by experts as honey badgers."

UK military spokesman Major Mike Shearer said: "We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area.

Bourbon Street Sign

Playboy: At last something else to do with your free hand

N.J. Dog Crowned World's Ugliest - The Huffington Post

N.J. Dog Crowned World's Ugliest - The Huffington Post: "N.J. Dog Crowned World's Ugliest"

PETALUMA, Calif. — Elwood, a 2-year-old Chinese Crested and Chihuahua mix, was crowned the world's ugliest dog Friday, a distinction that delighted the New Jersey mutt's owners.

Elwood, dark colored and hairless _ save for a mohawk-like puff of white fur on his head _ is often referred to as "Yoda," or "ET," for his resemblance to those famous science fiction characters.

"I think he's the cutest thing that ever lived," said Elwood's owner, Karen Quigley, a resident of Sewell, New Jersey.

Quigley brought Elwood out to compete for the second year at the annual ugly dog contest at the Marin-Sonoma County Fair. Elwood placed second last year.

Most of the competing canines were also Chinese Crested, a breed that features a mohawk, bug eyes and a long, wagging tongue.

Quigley said she rescued Elwood two years ago. "The breeder was going to euthanize him because she thought he was too ugly to sell," said Quigley.

"So ha ha, now Elwood's all over the Internet and people love him and adore him."

Beyond the regal title of ugliest dog, Elwood also earned a $1,000 reward for his owner.

Dvorak Uncensored » ‘Mr. Wizard’ Has Gone To That Great Science Experiment In The Sky

Mr. Wizard’ Has Gone To That Great Science Experiment In The Sky

Many of you are too young to remember who Don Herbert was. But for those of us with a little gray on top, we remember him fondly.

TV's 'Mr. Wizard' Don Herbert dies at 89

By LYNN ELBER
AP TELEVISION WRITER

LOS ANGELES -- Don Herbert, who as television's "Mr. Wizard" introduced generations of young viewers to the joys of science, died Tuesday. He was 89. Herbert, who had bone cancer, died at his suburban Bell Canyon home, said his son-in-law, Tom Nikosey.

See anything wrong in this Spelling Bee photo?

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86 Mac Plus Vs. 07 AMD DualCore. You Won't Believe Who Wins

86 Mac Plus Vs. 07 AMD DualCore. You Won't Believe Who Wins: "The Most Outlandish Computer Comparison Ever!

Bloat. If you think that Americans are getting fatter, take one good look at the operating system (OS) your computer is running right now. It gets larger and more weighed down with every update. We are in the third decade of global personal computing, and have we really progressed that far?"

....

When we compare strictly common, everyday, basic user tasks between the Mac Plus and the AMD we find remarkable similarities in overall speed, thus it can be stated that for the majority of simple office uses, the massive advances in technology in the past two decades have brought zero advance in productivity.

Greg Palast Has Roves Missing Emails

Greg Palast is in possession of the missing emails. He also points out what everyone else seems to be missing, that the attorney firings aren't the real story, the 2004 election is.



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The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs: A new lie from Microsoft? Or just wishful thinking?

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs: A new lie from Microsoft? Or just wishful thinking?: "A new lie from Microsoft? Or just wishful thinking?

See here. Headline reads: 'Next version of Windows to be `fundamentally different.'' Um, no it won't. It will be fundamentally the same. It will suck. For a quarter of a century these guys have been putting out sucky operating systems and vowing that the next one is not going to suck. Or won't such as much. Or something. But they always suck. They can't help it. The suckitude is ingrained in their culture. It's in their DNA. Sorry, Bill."

iPhone to be available at 2000 store fronts on launch

Apple's inaugural mobile handset, iPhone, will be available for sale at 2000 retail store fronts when it goes on sale for the first time next month, putting the device within reach of most US households.



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Slashdot | Click Here To Infect Your PC!

Slashdot | Click Here To Infect Your PC!: "Click Here To Infect Your PC!
Posted by kdawson on Wednesday May 16, @05:47AM
from the proving-a-point dept.
It's funny. Laugh. Security
Email me for FREE viruses writes 'Just how many people would click an ad saying 'Is your PC virus-free? Get it infected here!'? According to the security researcher who ran that very ad on Google for 6 months, 0.16% (409 of 259,723) would click on it. 98% of those people were running Windows. The Google Adwords campaign cost $23 in total, which works out to $0.06 per infection had the site actually been malicious.'"

Dvorak Uncensored » Amazing photos of Nuclear explosion taken at 1/1000,000,000 of-a-second

Dvorak Uncensored » Amazing photos of Nuclear explosion taken at 1/1000,000,000 of-a-second: "Be sure to wear your sunglasses and not stare directly at it

Harold Edgerton built a special lens 10 feet long for his camera which was set up in a bunker 7 miles from the source of the blast which was triggered Nevada - the bomb placed atop a steel gantry anchored to the desert floor by guide wires. The exposures are at 1/100,000,000ths of a second."

New Orleans' Rebuilt Levees "Riddled With Flaws"

Joel K. Bourne, Senior Editor–Environment, National Geographic Magazine
for National Geographic News
May 6, 2007

Almost a year ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers declared that it had restored New Orleans' levees and floodwalls to pre-Hurricane Katrina strength.

But the system is actually riddled with flaws, and a storm even weaker than Katrina could breach the levees if it hit this year, say leading experts who have investigated the system."

The best thing to come from the Dot Com crash... Domino PCs!

Slashdot | AOL's Embarassing Password Woes

An anonymous reader writes 'AOL.com users may think they have up to sixteen characters to use as a password, but they'd be wrong, thanks to this security artifact detailed by The Washington Post's Security Fix blog: 'Well, it turns out that when someone signs up for an AOL.com account, the user appears to be allowed to enter up to a 16-character password. AOL's system, however, doesn't read past the first eight characters.' This means that a user who uses 'password123' or any other obvious eight-character password with random numbers on the end is in effect using just that lame eight-character password.'"

Dvorak Uncensored » Have any cockroaches for sale?

Dvorak Uncensored » Have any cockroaches for sale?: "A Houston museum is offering 25 cents per cockroach to fill an exhibit about the wonders of insects that eat decomposing things.

The Houston Museum of Natural Science wants 1,000 American cockroaches, which grow to 2 inches long, can fly and thrive in the city’s sub-tropical climate, said museum entomologist Laurie Pierrel on Wednesday.

They will be part of an exhibit polishing the image of bugs that feed off decaying organic matter and in so doing add to the general cleanliness.

Pierrel said she will be outside the museum the next three Saturdays with a bucket for the bugs and money for the sellers.

How big will the bucket be? I can think of a few really big cockroaches we’d all love to be rid of."

EO Newsroom: New Images - A View of Earth from Saturn

Although the Earth Observatory typically reserves “Image of the Day” space for publishing data and images acquired by Earth-observing satellites, we are sometimes so enthralled by the spectacular images acquired by spacecraft observing other parts of the solar system that we want to share these 'otherworldy' views with our visitors. And if you are looking for remotely sensed images of the Earth, this view is the most remotely sensed image we have ever published!"

Dell to choose Ubuntu

Several sources within Dell have told DesktopLinux.com that Dell's desktop Linux pick is going to be Ubuntu, and that Ubuntu 7.04 will be available preinstalled on three Dell desktop and notebook lines by the end of May.



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Dvorak Uncensored » RIAA to net radio: Even if you play only independent non-RIAA music, you still have to pay us! It’s the law!

Dvorak Uncensored » RIAA to net radio: Even if you play only independent non-RIAA music, you still have to pay us! It’s the law!: "RIAA to net radio: Even if you play only independent non-RIAA music, you still have to pay us! It’s the law!"

unfortunate placement of yahoo ad

Title says it all!



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14 Year Old Teenager in 1901 Makes Predictions About Life in 2001

In the year 1901 Arthur Palm, a fourteen-year-old student from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, published an article in his school newspaper (the Excelsior) describing the world of 2001. Below is an excerpt of his article as featured in the book Yesterday's Future: The Twentieth Century Begins (Voices of the Wisconsin Past).



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Mayor White: Electricity deregulation 'a rip-off' | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Mayor White: Electricity deregulation 'a rip-off' | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "Mayor calls electricity deregulation 'a rip-off'
White and Rep. Sylvester Turner say low-income customers unfairly carry the burden

By ANNE MARIE KILDAY
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle"

Before a crowd of about 400 people complaining about high electricity rates, Houston Mayor Bill White said deregulation of the electric utility industry was "a rip-off" for Texans.

Houston Rep. Sylvester Turner urged the crowd to let other lawmakers know they support his measure to cut rates by 15 percent, restore a low-income assistance fund and allow the state Public Utility Commission to review the sale of Dallas-based Texas Utilities.

White and Turner spoke Saturday afternoon at a town hall meeting sponsored by ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, at Barbara Jordan High School.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, Texas' retail electric rates last month were about 9.14 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared with the national average of 8.14 cents. States with higher rates were Hawaii, at 18.33 cents per kilowatt-hour, and northeastern states, where rates ranged from 10.95 cents in Maine to 13.95 cents in New York.

Electric rates for Texas residential customers increased in January, as many utilities were freed from state regulation.

The Perfect Bacon Sandwich Decoded: Crisp and Crunchy - New York Times

The Perfect Bacon Sandwich Decoded: Crisp and Crunchy - New York Times

First Sign of Water on Planet Outside Our System

First Sign of Water on Planet Outside Our System: "First Sign of Water on Planet Outside Our System
Anne Minard
for National Geographic News
April 10, 2007

For the first time, astronomers have detected water in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system.

Astronomer Travis Barman announced today that he has discovered water around planet HD209458b by combining theoretical models with observations from the Hubble Space Telescope."

Dvorak Uncensored » Princeton scholar and decorated Marine added to the secret “no fly list” because he spoke out against Bush!

Dvorak Uncensored » Princeton scholar and decorated Marine added to the secret “no fly list” because he spoke out against Bush!: "Princeton scholar and decorated Marine added to the secret “no fly list”"

A top Constitutional scholar from Princeton who gave a televised speech that slammed President George W. Bush's executive overreach was recently told that he had been added to the Transportation Security Administration's terrorist watch list. He shared his experience this weekend at the law blog Balkinization.

"I was denied a boarding pass because I was on the Terrorist Watch list," he said.

When inquiring with a clerk why he was on the list, Murphy was asked if he had participated in any peace marches.

"We ban a lot of people from flying because of that," a clerk said.

Murphy then explained that he had not marched, but had "in September, 2006, given a lecture at Princeton, televised and put on the Web, highly critical of George Bush for his many violations of the Constitution."

The clerk responded, "That'll do it."

A Setback Then a Reprieve for Vonage in Courts - New York Times

A Setback Then a Reprieve for Vonage in Courts - New York Times: "April 7, 2007
A Setback Then a Reprieve for Vonage in Courts
By LAURIE J. FLYNN

Vonage Holdings, the Internet phone company, had a wild ride in the courtroom yesterday.

First, a federal judge in Alexandria, Va., barred Vonage from signing up new customers for its Internet phone service.

Then hours later, a federal appeals court gave Vonage a temporary stay of that injunction, allowing the company to continue to enroll customers while it sought to overturn the lower court ruling.

"

Hackers Dissect Apple TV to Create the Cheapest Mac Ever -

Hackers Dissect Apple TV to Create the Cheapest Mac Ever -: "Hackers Dissect Apple TV to Create the Cheapest Mac Ever
Rob Beschizza Email 04.06.07 | 2:00 AM

Inside the Apple TV

Apple TV is dead, long live the Mac Nano. Sort of.

Just two weeks after Apple released its streaming media box to the public, hackers successfully installed OS X, Apple's desktop operating system, on the $300 device, making it the cheapest PC Cupertino has ever sold."

Vonage barred from signing new customers - Daily Business Update - The Boston Globe

Vonage barred from signing new customers - Daily Business Update - The Boston Globe: "Vonage barred from signing new customers

Internet phone company Vonage Holdings Corp. will be barred from signing new customers as punishment for infringing on patents held by Verizon Communications Inc., under an injunction ordered today."

Patrick boycotts Senate's first Muslim prayer

from HoustonChronicle.com -- Republican Sen. Dan Patrick on Wednesday boycotted the first prayer delivered in the Texas Senate by a Muslim cleric, and then praised religious tolerance and freedom of speech in an address at the end of the day's session.

--------

The Mobile Phone Industry Must Die. DIE!

The Mobile Phone Industry Must Die. DIE!:
ARTICLE DATE: 03.26.07
By John C. Dvorak

Let me preface this entire column by saying that I hate mobile phones and think they are the bane of modern society. I personally seldom carry one and when I do it's a prepaid cheap disposable. My mobile phone bill amounts to around $20 a month using this practice. What's yours? Furthermore, almost everyone carries a phone nowadays, so when I need to make a call I can just ask to borrow one. Most everyone obliges. And I'm not practicing this because I'm cheap. It's the principle."

French Train Breaks Rail Speed Record - New York Times

April 4, 2007
French Train Breaks Rail Speed Record
By ARIANE BERNARD



BEZANNES, France, April 3 — A French high-speed train broke the world speed record on rail today, reaching 357 miles (574.8 kilometers) an hour in a much publicized test in eastern France, exceeding expectations to travel at 150 meters per second, or 540 kilometers an hour.

The train, code-named V150, is a research prototype meant to demonstrate the superiority both of the TGV high speed train and of its likely successor, the AGV, which is also manufactured by the French engineering group Alstom. The performance on Tuesday came close to but did not break the world speed record for any train, set by an electromagnetic train in 2003.

The French railroad company SNCF and Alstom publicized the event as a test of “French excellence,” building on national pride for the 25-year-old bullet train.

TiSP: Going with the flow

How TiSP Works: "TiSP: Going with the flow
TiSP Kit

Google TiSP (BETA) is a fully functional, end-to-end system that provides in-home wireless access by connecting your commode-based TiSP wireless router to one of thousands of TiSP Access Nodes via fiber-optic cable strung through your local municipal sewage lines."

Dvorak Uncensored - Interior Department Falsifying Scientific Data For Political Friends

Dvorak Uncensored � Interior Department Falsifying Scientific Data For Political Friends: "Interior Department Falsifying Scientific Data For Political Friends"

Pandora founder talks about the danger facing internet radio- game over?

A ruling from an obscure, 3-person panel from the Library of Congress threatens the existence of Pandora, and every other internet radio service out there. The plan from the Copyright Royalty Board is to increase the fees to internet radio operators so high that they will effectively be out of business. Here's our video interview with Tim...



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Samsung Booth Babe

A Fee Per Song Can Ruin Us, Internet Radio Companies Say

March 19, 2007
A Fee Per Song Can Ruin Us, Internet Radio Companies Say
By ROBERT LEVINE

New-media companies and record labels are feuding again. But this time, it is the digital companies that warn they may be driven out of business.

Several Internet radio companies are arguing that a recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board, a three-member panel under the Library of Congress, would make it almost impossible for them to stay afloat.

Under the ruling released on March 2, Web broadcasters must pay each time a listener hears a song, at a rate that began at 0.08 cent in 2006 (the ruling applies retroactively) and rises to 0.19 cent in 2010. Besides increasing the charge for each song, the ruling established a $500 minimum payment for each Web channel — making it difficult for companies like RealNetworks and Pandora to offer as many different kinds of music as they do now.

Captain America Killed | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Captain America Killed | The Onion - America's Finest News Source: "Captain America Killed

Captain America, the comic book character created during World War II as a patriotic opponent of the Nazis, was killed by sniper bullets in a recent comic. What do you think?


Monica Chan,
Systems Analyst
'But who will avenge him? If only there were a group of 'avengers,' if you will, organized for that purpose.'


Herbert Mandelbaum,
Archivist
'Yet another intelligence failure by S.H.I.E.L.D.. How many more screwups must we endure before Bush fires Executive Director Nicholas Fury?'


Diego Lopez,
Florist
'Oh, man! Why are all the really cool assassinations wasted on make-believe people?'"

Getting Out of a 2-Year Cellphone Contract Alive - New York Times

Getting Out of a 2-Year Cellphone Contract Alive - New York Times: "Getting Out of a 2-Year Cellphone Contract Alive
By DAMON DARLIN

The two-year contract. It is the bane of a cellphone owner’s existence, especially one who must have the latest hot phone at a discounted price.

Two years is a long time, and few other marketers can get away with demanding it, much less adding to it. Every time you walk back into the cellphone store or call the customer service operators, it seems, the contract is extended. Lose the phone or ask for a replacement, and the contract is extended. Sign up for a family plan, same thing.

But try getting out of a contract early? You can do it, but you will have to pay an early termination fee of as much as $240. "

Slashdot | FAA May Ditch Vista For Linux

Slashdot | FAA May Ditch Vista For Linux: "FAA May Ditch Vista For Linux
Posted by kdawson on Wednesday March 07, @08:07AM
from the hello-Google dept."

An anonymous reader writes "Another straw in the wind: following last week's news that the US Department of Transportation is putting a halt on upgrades to Windows Vista, Office 2007, and Internet Explorer 7, today comes word that the Federal Aviation Administration may ditch Vista and Office in favor of Google's new online business applications running on Linux-based hardware.

Apple Unveils New Product-Unveiling Product

Apple Unveils New Product-Unveiling Product: "Apple Unveils New Product-Unveiling Product

March 6, 2007 | Issue 43•10

SAN FRANCISCO—At a highly anticipated media event Tuesday at San Francisco's Moscone Center, Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs introduced a new Apple product he said would 'revolutionize' the process of unveiling new products throughout the world.

'In 1984, Apple introduced the Mac,' Jobs said to an overflowing crowd as an image of the first Macintosh computer was displayed on a giant screen behind him. 'We changed the face of the music industry with the first iPod in 2001. And in January, we showed off the revolutionary new iPhone. Today, Apple is releasing a piece of innovative new technology that will forever change the way innovative new technology is released.'"

Wired News: March 4, 1887: Start Your Engine

Wired News: March 4, 1887: Start Your Engine: "By Tony Long| Also by this reporter
02:00 AM Mar, 04, 2007

1887: Gottlieb Daimler's 'Benzin motor carriage' is given its first test run in Esslingen, Germany. It's the first four-wheeled vehicle to feature Daimler's gasoline-powered, water-cooled internal combustion engine, the prototype of the engine that continues to be the most widely used to this day.

Daimler's motor carriage was aptly named -- it bears a close resemblance to the traditional horse-drawn carriage.

'Benzin,' incidentally, has nothing to do with Carl Benz, the other German automotive pioneer closely associated with Daimler. In this case, benzin is the German word for gasoline. In fact, at the time when the Benzin motor carriage made its debut, Daimler and Benz were fierce competitors.

Their companies continued growing separately until 1926, when they merged. Daimler and Benz never met.
"

Houston WiFi to benefit lower-income residents | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "City's WiFi plan: Access for all
Lower-income residents could be among top beneficiaries of mayor's proposal

By ALEXIS GRANT
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

The Internet remains inaccessible to many low-income people. Some Houston numbers:

• 270,000 : Households without Internet

• 40,000 : Low-income discounts available under city's planned wireless Internet system

• $10 : Discount monthly price for access to planned city wireless system

• $22 : Approximate regular monthly price

Source: City of Houston

Mireya Zenil isn't used to going to the library every time she wants to use the Internet.

Until a month ago, the 17-year-old used a cable connection in her eastside home to do online research for school projects or check her MySpace account. But her parents recently canceled their Internet service because it was too pricey, and they're now shopping for a cheaper connection."

17" Powerbook LCD bug, literally!

An actual bug stuck i just behind a lovely Powerbook screen. This is a sad (for the owner & the bug), but very interesting article.



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Good Morning Silicon Valley: It's not an office suite, dammit, it's a ... a workplace collection. Yeah, that's it.

Good Morning Silicon Valley: It's not an office suite, dammit, it's a ... a workplace collection. Yeah, that's it.: "February 22, 2007
It's not an office suite, dammit, it's a ... a workplace collection. Yeah, that's it."

How To: Build your own stuffed cat turn signal indicator (?!)

Winky the Cat was a stuffed animal turn-signal sold through catalogs. I wanted Winky for my car, to keep me safe with his soft fluffiness and his acrylon-like fur. Sadly, a victim of teenage peer pressure, I couldn't bring myself to buy Winky. Now, 25 years later, I realize that all is not lost. Yeah, I can't buy Winky, but I can make my own!



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Ancient Tree Frog Found Encased in Amber

National Geographic News

February 17, 2007—A miner from Mexico's Chiapas state has made the find of a lifetime—a tiny tree frog preserved in amber that could be 25 million years old, a scientist recently announced (map of Mexico).

The block of amber, or fossilized tree resin, encasing the 0.4-inch (1-centimeter) frog was unearthed in 2005 and sold to a private collector, according to the Associated Press (AP). The collector then lent the piece—seen in this photo released on February 14—to scientists.


Photograph from AP/Gerardo Carbot-Instituto de Historia Natural y Ecologa

XM And SIRIUS Radio Merging

By SETH SUTEL, AP Business Write

XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., rivals in the fledgling satellite radio industry, have agreed to combine in a deal that investors hope will result in lower costs, assuming it overcomes significant regulatory hurdles.

The companies billed the deal announced Monday as a merger of equals, with shareholders of both companies owning approximately 50 percent of the combined entity. However, Sirius will be giving $4.57 billion of its stock to XM shareholders, a substantial premium to the value of their shares.

Mummified man found in front of his Long Island TV

Mummified man found in front of his Long Island TV

Associated Press

HAMPTON BAYS, N.Y. — The partially mummified body of a man dead for more than a year has been found in a chair in front of his television, which was still on, authorities said.

Vincenzo Ricardo, 70, apparently died of natural causes, said Dr. Stuart Dawson, Suffolk County's deputy chief medical examiner.

Police found Ricardo's body this week when they investigated a report of burst pipes.

The home's dry air had preserved his features, morgue assistant Jeff Bacchus said.

"You could see his face. He still had hair on his head," Bacchus said.

Ricardo's wife died years ago, and he lived alone, Dawson said.

"He hasn't been heard from in over a year. That's the part that baffles me," he said. "Nobody sounded the alarm."

Neighbors said they had thought Ricardo was in a hospital or nursing home.

"We never thought to check on him," said neighbor Diane Devon.

Skeleton "Valentines" Won't Be Parted

February 13, 2007—In what's been called a Valentine's Day gift to Italy, archaeologists today excavated two interlocked Stone Age skeletons—leaving their "eternal embrace" intact and making it easier to analyze the double burial.

Discovered last week during construction not far from Verona, the setting of Romeo and Juliet, the roughly 5,000-year-old couple has already become an icon of enduring love to many.

Like Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers, the prehistoric twosome appear to be young, as evidenced by the condition of their teeth. But that's about all that is known about them so far. They could just as easily be two brothers.

But dig supervisor Elena Menotti takes the romantic view.

"It was a very emotional discovery," the archaeologist told the Associated Press last week. "From thousands of years ago we feel the strength of this love. Yes, we must call it love."

—Ted Chamberlain
National Geographic News

Chinese man to hang for ant scam

A Chinese company chairman has been sentenced to death for running a scam involving giant ants.
Wang Zhendong promised investors returns of up to 60% if they put money into the fictitious ant-breeding project, the court heard.

Wang, from Liaoning province, raised 3bn yuan ($390m; £200m) in three years, prosecutors said.

HP printing secrets from a former employee

From the Houston Chronicle's Tech Blog....


The Consumerist — rapidly becoming one of my fave stops on the Intarwebs — has a great post featuring stuff you didn't know about Hewlett-Packard printers and their tech support.

The source? Supposedly a former employee. The goods? If true . . . absolutely fascinating.

Cartoon Network CEO Resigns Over Aqua Teen Scare

Cartoon Network boss quits over bomb scare
Jim Samples is taking the fall for the marketing debacle at Turner Broadcasting.
February 9 2007: 3:17 PM EST

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The head of Cartoon Network resigned Friday after the network's guerilla marketing scheme for one of its shows went bad last week and led to a bomb scare in Boston - a fiasco that cost its parent company $2 million.

In a letter to employees, Jim Samples, the general manager and executive vice president of the network, wrote: "I deeply regret the negative publicity and expense caused to our company as a result of this campaign. As general manager of Cartoon Network, I feel compelled to step down, effective immediately, in recognition of the gravity of the situation that occurred under my watch."

Turner Broadcasting System and Interference Inc. agreed to pay $2 million to make amends for last Wednesday's bomb scare in Boston, the Massachusetts attorney general said Monday. TBS is the parent of the Cartoon Network, which initiated the marketing scheme. CNN, CNNMoney.com and TBS are all owned by Time Warner Inc. (Charts), the world's largest media company.

Samples had been with Atlanta-based Cartoon Network for 13 years.

In the marketing scheme, battery-powered cartoon advertising signs were placed around Boston and other cities for Aqua Teen Hunger Force, a show that's on the Cartoon Network's late-night Adult Swim programming. The signs led to a massive security alert around Boston.

-- from CNN's Katy Byron and CNNMoney.com's Rob Kelley

As the president and Republicans continue to hype the surge -- and stifle debate about it -- Bush's own war planners are preparing for failure in Iraq

The Pentagon's not-so-little secret
As the president and Republicans continue to hype the surge -- and stifle debate about it -- Bush's own war planners are preparing for failure in Iraq.

By Sidney Blumenthal

Feb. 08, 2007 | Deep within the bowels of the Pentagon, policy planners are conducting secret meetings to discuss what to do in the worst-case scenario in Iraq about a year from today if and when President Bush's escalation of more than 20,000 troops fails, a participant in those discussions told me. None of those who are taking part in these exercises, shielded from the public view and the immediate scrutiny of the White House, believes that the so-called surge will succeed. On the contrary, everyone thinks it will not only fail to achieve its aims but also accelerate instability by providing a glaring example of U.S. incapacity and incompetence.

The profoundly pessimistic thinking that permeates the senior military and the intelligence community, however, is forbidden in the sanitized atmosphere of mind-cure boosterism that surrounds Bush. "He's tried this two times -- it's failed twice," Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said on Jan. 24 about the "surge" tactic. "I asked him at the White House, 'Mr. President, why do you think this time it's going to work?' And he said, 'Because I told them it had to.'" She repeated his words: "'I told them that they had to.' That was the end of it. That's the way it is."

On Feb. 2, the National Intelligence Council, representing all intelligence agencies, issued a new National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, as harsh an antidote to wishful thinking as could be imagined. "The Intelligence Community judges that the term 'civil war' does not adequately capture the complexity of the conflict in Iraq, which includes extensive Shia-on-Shia violence, al-Qaida and Sunni insurgent attacks on Coalition forces, and widespread criminally motivated violence. Nonetheless, the term 'civil war' accurately describes key elements of the Iraqi conflict, including the hardening of ethno-sectarian identities, a sea change in the character of the violence, ethno-sectarian mobilization, and population displacements."

The report described an Iraqi government, army and police force that cannot meet these challenges in any foreseeable time frame and a reversal of "the negative trends driving Iraq's current trajectory" occurring only through a dream sequence in which all the warring sects and factions, in some unexplained way, suddenly make peace with one another. Nor does the NIE suggest that this imaginary scenario might ever come to pass. Instead, it proceeds to describe the potential for "an abrupt increase in communal and insurgent violence and a shift in Iraq's trajectory from gradual decline to rapid deterioration with grave humanitarian, political, and security consequences."

Bush justified his invasion on the basis of false intelligence in the now notorious NIE of October 2002 that claimed Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. Now, as the latest NIE forecasts nightmares, he is escalating the war. But almost everything has changed in the nearly four years since the invasion.

A newly elected Congress has been galvanized to debate a bipartisan resolution disapproving of Bush's escalation. Yet in the Senate, where 60 votes are necessary to establish cloture on a filibuster, the Republican minority has blocked a vote. Though many Republicans are keenly aware that continued support for Bush's policy amounts to political suicide in 2008, all but two of them have joined a phalanx to shut down the vote. By mustering behind him, they tie their fate to his policy. Bush, however, will be gone, while they remain exposed to the political elements.

Even Sen. John Warner of Virginia, the Republican cosponsor of the resolution against the escalation along with Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., cast his lot with the Republican martyr brigade, voting to suppress his own measure. In 2002, the Republican right mounted a primary campaign against Warner in retribution for his deviation from their ideological line, but failed feebly. Warner cannot fear a repetition of the right's vengeance. Can he be undermining himself out of deference to the authority of a commander in chief whose course he believes is reckless?

The Republican prevention of a vote on the Warner-Levin resolution reflects an effort to close debate on the war itself. It amounts in effect to a gag rule on Bush's Iraq policy. During the Vietnam War, under President Johnson, neither party attempted to shut down debate. After 1969, President Nixon's Vietnam policy consisted of misdirection, deception, covert action and fait accompli, such as the counterproductive and ultimately catastrophic invasion of Cambodia. The Bush administration's methods can be traced to the Nixon administration, with Dick Cheney as the connecting thread.

The reception of the latest NIE, even more than the NIE itself, indicates again Bush's and Republicans' denial of objective analysis from the professional intelligence community. The October 2002 NIE was produced under intense pressure from the White House, especially Vice President Cheney, to validate its preconceived views. "The administration used intelligence not to inform decision-making, but to justify a decision already made," Paul Pillar, the national intelligence officer for the Middle East who oversaw the assembling of that NIE, wrote a year ago. In the shadow of this travesty, the new NIE was written with great care; its frightening descriptions, therefore, should be considered to be deliberately guarded and reserved in tone.

Just as Bush and the Republicans rejected the bipartisan wise men of the Baker-Hamilton Commission, they have now rejected the objective assessment of the professionals. By thwarting the bipartisan Warner-Levin resolution, they have declared that they will operate on their own fanciful criteria, even against their own political interests.

As the Senate curdles in frustration over Republican tactics, the trial of Scooter Libby continues to clarify the degree to which the administration covered up its disinformation campaign that led the country into war with another disinformation campaign to cover up the role of the vice president as the prime mover of the smear campaign against former ambassador Joseph Wilson for committing the unforgivable act of revealing the truth. For the Senate Republicans, Scooter Libby is not an object lesson. The lesson they take away, if any, is not the necessity of open government but once again the need to burn the tapes.

Libby's effort to prevent his grand jury tapes from being entered into evidence in his trial resembled nothing so much as Nixon trying to suppress his tapes. Both in the end revealed their respective coverups. Cheney learned from Nixon to burn the tapes at least figuratively; now, his chief of staff, Cheney's Cheney, has tried to protect Cheney by literally and futilely suppressing the tapes. Cheney finds himself back at the beginning. For him, life has come full circle. From the entire history of deception, from the Nixon to the Libby tapes, the Republicans have learned nothing.

The new NIE offers more than "key judgments" on "The Prospects for Iraq's Stability." It is also a template for the short-term future of American politics. The ruthlessly cruel events projected for Iraq will blow back to the United States. The more Bush fights there, the more the embattled Republicans must fight here.

The Senate Republicans' vote to suppress the resolution on the war was the moment when they irrevocably aligned themselves completely with a president who rejects objective analysis. Unable to shield him or themselves from the inevitable consequences, they have made a conscious decision to place the president's delusions above the welfare not only of the Republican Party but also of the troops sent into the deadly labyrinth of Baghdad. Quietly and calmly, as the Republicans hype the "surge," the war planners prepare for the worst.

-- By Sidney Blumenthal

Google Apps, which lets companies offload their e-mail systems, is beefing up

Google Steps Into Microsoft's Office
Google Apps, which lets companies offload their e-mail systems, is beefing up

Greg Brandeau is itching to dump the decade-old, homegrown e-mail system he manages at Pixar Animation Studios Inc. (DIS ). And the senior vice-president for technology at the Walt Disney Co. (DIS ) unit is sure about one thing: The replacement won't be Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT ) Exchange and Outlook duo, whose e-mail, calendar, and other programs dominate corporate computing. Brandeau says it's difficult to manage the software because Pixar uses a variety of computers. His likely choice may surprise you: Google.

Apple - Thoughts on Music

Steve Jobs
February 6, 2007

With the stunning global success of Apple’s iPod music player and iTunes online music store, some have called for Apple to “open” the digital rights management (DRM) system that Apple uses to protect its music against theft, so that music purchased from iTunes can be played on digital devices purchased from other companies, and protected music purchased from other online music stores can play on iPods. Let’s examine the current situation and how we got here, then look at three possible alternatives for the future.

Craziest X-rays

A dentist found the source of the toothache Patrick Lawler was complaining about on the roof of his mouth: a four-inch (10-centimeter) nail the construction worker had unknowingly embedded in his skull six days earlier.

The strange tale of General Tso's chicken.

General Tso’s (or Zuo’s) chicken is the most famous Hunanese dish in the world. A delectable concoction of lightly battered chicken in a chili-laced sweet-sour sauce, it appears on restaurant menus across the globe, but especially in the Eastern United States, where it seems to have become the epitome of Hunanese cuisine. Despite its international reputation, however, the dish is virtually unknown in the Chinese province of Hunan itself.

Record Labels Contemplate Unrestricted Digital Music

Record Labels Contemplate Unrestricted Digital Music
By VICTORIA SHANNON

CANNES, France, Jan. 22 — As even digital music revenue growth falters because of rampant file-sharing by consumers, the major record labels are moving closer to releasing music on the Internet with no copying restrictions — a step they once vowed never to take.

Executives of several technology companies meeting here at Midem, the annual global trade fair for the music industry, said over the weekend that at least one of the four major record companies could move toward the sale of unrestricted digital files in the MP3 format within months.

Most independent record labels already sell tracks digitally compressed in the MP3 format, which can be downloaded, e-mailed or copied to computers, cellphones, portable music players and compact discs without limit.

Zoo: Male panda too fat to have sex

By SUTIN WANNABOVORN
Associated Press

BANGKOK, Thailand — Chuang Chuang the Panda is just too heavy to have sex.

Thai authorities have put him on a strict diet as part of a long-running campaign to get him to mate with female partner Lin Hui at the Chiang Mai Zoo in northern Thailand.

"Chuang Chuang is gaining weight too fast and we found Lin Hui is no longer comfortable with having sex with him," said the zoo's chief veterinarian, Kanika Limtrakul, adding that Chuang Chuang weighed 331 pounds while Lin Hui is only 253 pounds.

As a result, zoo authorities are cutting out bamboo shoots in the daily meal for Chuang Chuang and giving the obese bear only bamboo leaves, Kanika said.

Playboy Playmates pranked into Apollo 12 mission checklists

Back in 1969, some pranksters at NASA inserted scanned images of three Playboy centerfolds (on fireproof plastic paper!) into the little checklists the Apollo 12 astronauts took into space.



[Apollo 12 crew member Pete] Conrad got Miss September 1967 Angela Dorian ("Seen any interesting hills and valleys?") and Miss October 1967 Reagan Wilson ("Preferred tether partner"). [Al] Bean got Miss December 1969 Cynthia Myers ("Don't forget — Describe the protuberances") and Miss January 1969 Leslie Bianchini ("Survey — her activity").
Conrad told us in 1994: "I had no idea they were with us. It wasn't until we actually got out on the lunar surface and were well into our first moon walk that I found them." Bean recalled: "It was about two and a half hours into the extravehicular activity. I flipped the page over and there she was. I hopped over to where Pete was and showed him mine, and he showed me his."

Bush On North Korea: 'We Must Invade Iraq'

Bush On North Korea: 'We Must Invade Iraq'

Eiffel tower made of matches

EnglishRussia writes -

"A guy from Ukraine, Alexandr Pashkevich, has made a model of Eiffel Tower from matches.

The height of the structure is 3,3 ft (1 meter) and it consits of 15 000 different details made from 7464 matches.

More than that there is a illumination in the tower, made of numerous LEDs

10 Top Tech Towns

Using highly scientific methodology as well as algorithms snuck out of NASA and Google, we analyzed cities across the US to find the top 10 places to get your geek on.

40 Photos of Abandonned Amusement Park

Some very interesting photos. Awful site hosting them, but the photos are very good.

The world's first radio broadcast took place a hundred years ago on Christmas Eve 1906.

BBC World Service Discovery -
Fessenden: King of the Radio Waves



The broadcast, a programme of live music, readings and phonograph recordings, was transmitted to ships in the Atlantic Ocean by Reginald Fessenden – a prolific inventor largely forgotten by history.

Responsible Holiday Drinking

Responsible Holiday Drinking

People tend to drink more over the holiday season. How will you drink responsibly this year?

Theresa Carr,
Systems Analyst
"I'm trying to schedule so I it get it all done before lunch."

Bolton Steps Down

John Bolton, the American delegate to the UN, will step down when the current term runs out. What do you think?

No iPods To Kim Jong Il

Sean McGill,
Shoe Salesman
"This won't do a damn thing. Everybody knows Zune is the preferred MP3 player of the Axis of Evil."

Allara Jones,
Systems Analyst
"Ouch! Right in the middle of the North Korean Christmas shopping season, too."


Kai Thornton,
Large Truck Mechanic
"I don't know what good it will do to impose petty sanctions tailored specifically to annoy a crazy foreign leader with nuclear weapons, but what can it hurt?"

Parting Words For VHS Tapes, Soon to Be Gone With the Rewind

Parting Words For VHS Tapes, Soon to Be Gone With the Rewind

By Jen Chaney
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, August 28, 2005; Page N01

VHS -- the beloved videotape format that bravely won the war against Betamax and charmed millions of Americans by allowing them to enjoy mindless Hollywood entertainment without leaving their homes -- has died at the age of 29. It passed away peacefully after a long illness caused by chronic technological insignificance and a lack of director's commentary tracks.

No one knows exactly when this once-valued objet de home entertainment began its journey toward that previously-viewed-video bin in the sky. Some say it was March 1997, when the slimmer, sexier DVD was introduced to American consumers. Others pin the time of death to the week of June 15, 2003, when DVD rentals first topped those of VHS. And there are some -- technophobic, time-warped souls who still keep their Erol's Video membership cards in their wallets -- who argue that VHS isn't deceased at all. It's just, well, resting its eyes.

A vulture walks onto a plane...

A vulture walks onto a plane with two dead raccoons. The stewardess stops him, and says "I'm sorry, sir, but only one carrion allowed per passenger"

HBO SPECIAL Hacking Democracy - Google Video

HBO SPECIAL Hacking Democracy - Google Video

Eisenhower's Prescient Message: The Military Industrial Complex

Almost 50 years ago, President Eisenhower, in this excerpt from his farewell address, warned us that, "in the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex." Was his vision of the future correct?

Video with music by Phillip Glass.

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Bush 41 Christens Navy Ship

Recently, President George H.W. Bush christened a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier bearing his name. What do you think?


Brenna Gold,

Herbalist

"That's a bad idea. The last thing George Bush named after himself sank pretty fast."

Ann Coulter involved In Illegal Voting Case: Could Face Prison if Guilty

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida: Conservative columnist Ann Coulter has refused to cooperate in an investigation into whether she voted in the wrong precinct, so the case will be turned over to prosecutors. Knowingly voting in the wrong precinct is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

I hope this is true, that she did do it , and she becomes a convicted felon with her right to vote revoked. Karma can be a bitch; especialy if you are one....




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Meteor Destroys German Cottage...

Reuters | Posted October 21, 2006 12:27 PM

AP
A fire that destroyed a cottage near Bonn and injured a 77-year-old man was probably caused by a meteor and witnesses saw an arc of blazing light in the sky, German police said on Friday.

Burkhard Rick, a spokesman for the police in Siegburg east of Bonn, said the fire gutted the cottage and badly burned the man's hands and face in the incident on October 10.

i-Pod flashmobbers dance in their hundreds at station

Hundreds of people descended on Liverpool Street station for the biggest ever turnout for the latest internet craze - mobile clubbing.




Armed with MP3 players loaded with favourite tracks the "clubbers" arrived on the concourse just after 7pm last night. Students, business people and office workers danced in silence as they listened to their iPods among commuters listening to announcements about late trains.

Details of the time and venue were sent by email. The event is similar to the flash mobbing movement pioneered in New York which involved large numbers of people gathering to conduct bizarre activities.

One commuter said: "It was entertaining if strange to see all these people gyrating to their own beat. It was the Soul Train arriving at platform one."

Multimedia message

Lindz and Matt getting ready for Halloween.

Mooning Amtrak Trains, Southern California USA

Mooning Amtrak Trains, Southern California USA: "28th Annual Mooning of Amtrak
2nd Annual Mooning of Metrolink
All Day Saturday, July 14, 2007, Laguna Niguel, (Orange County) California, U.S.A."


now, i wonder why people think my home state is, well, odd......

Welcome to the Netherlands?

Goes to show you just how passive-aggressive the Dutch can be :)

somebody has a lot of free time...but it is cool







Matchstick Marvels will be taking you on an enchanted trip to J. K. Rowling's world of Harry Potter this year. Acton will be displaying his matchstick version of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at the Matchstick Marvels museum in Gladbrook, IA. The model is based on Hollywood's version of Hogwarts seen in the Harry Potter blockbuster movies. When finished in December of this year, it will contain over a half-million matchsticks held together with 15 gallons of carpenter's wood glue.

Dutch: Earth's Tallest Humans

Found on Digg..... hum, wonder if there is something to this. Half my family is from the Nederlands, and we are all pretty tall folk. My daughters are pretty tall, too, much taller than their Mom and her family - they are all kinda little folk :)


In the last 150 years, the Dutch have become the tallest people on Earth, and experts say they're still getting bigger. It is a tale of a country's health and wealth. Many Dutch are much taller than average. So many, in fact, that four years ago the government adjusted building codes to raise the standards for door frames and ceilings.

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Possessed Demon Cat From Hell!

This is one seriously pissed off cat...someone please call a priest!



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Harris: Non-Christian Politicians 'Legislate Sin'

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/52261

She's crazy - Katherine Harris Crazy

Harris: Non-Christian Politicians 'Legislate Sin'

Congresswoman Katherine Harris (R-FL) recently stated that separation
of church and state was "a lie," and that non-Christian elected
officials would "legislate sin." What do you think?

Wendy Raudive,
Customer Support
"She wasn't saying that Christians are the only people fit to make
laws—just that they're the only people, period."

Constatin Clark,
Sin Lobbyist
"As a sin lobbyist, I have to say that Harris is making it very
difficult for sinner interests and the sin platform."

Andy Lees,
Systems Analyst
"What kind of lie is 'separation of church and state?' A 'the check is
in the mail' kind of lie, or a 'the world was created in seven days
and dinosaurs never existed' kind of lie?"

BOINC: compute for science

BOINC is a program that lets you donate your idle computer time to science projects like SETI@home, Climateprediction.net, Rosetta@home, World Community Grid, and many others.

After installing BOINC on your computer, you can connect it to as many of these projects as you like.

-----------

For Mac OS Tiger

The World Map of Happiness

This is very informative. From what I know, and I'm no expert in this area, of course, the rankings do appear to be very accurate. Denmark, Switzerland, are One and Two, the Netherlands is 15th.

The U.S., I noticed, is ranked 23rd, and Canada is 10th.

A pirate walks into a bar...

A pirate walks into a bar with a steering wheel around his testicles.

The bartender says to the pirate "hey, you know you got a steering wheel hanging off of your testicles?"

Says the pirate "Argggh, it's drivin' me nuts!"

Hawk Wings - Plug-ins for Apple Mail

Hawk Wings - Plug-ins for Apple Mail: "You will find 120+ plugins, add-ons, scripts and helpful apps here. That's a lot. A Top Ten list might help you get started. Otherwise, choose one of the categories below. Browse. Enjoy!"


this is a huge list of stuff addons and what nots.

Today is the 65th Anniversary of Television Broadcasting

The first scheduled television program was broadcast by the National Broadcasting Company from the Empire State Building in New York City 65 years ago today.

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Pogue’s Posts - Technology - New York Times Blog - A New Perspective on Living Space

Pogue’s Posts - Technology - New York Times Blog - A New Perspective on Living Space: "A New Perspective on Living Space"

Here's a direct link: http://photomichaelwolf.com/100x100/

MEMENTO MORI

MEMENTO MORI
by DAVID SEDARIS
When gifts come back to haunt you.
Issue of 2006-05-08
Posted 2006-05-01

For the past ten years or so, I’ve made it a habit to carry a small notebook in my front pocket. The model I favor is called the Europa, and I pull it out an average of ten times a day, jotting down grocery lists, observations, and little thoughts on how to make money, or torment people. The last page is always reserved for phone numbers, and the second to last I use for gift ideas. These are not things I might give to other people, but things that they might give to me: a shoehorn, for instance—always wanted one. The same goes for a pencil case, which, on the low end, probably costs no more than a doughnut.

I’ve also got ideas in the five-hundred-to-two-thousand-dollar range, though those tend to be more specific. This nineteenth-century portrait of a dog, for example. I’m not what you’d call a dog person, far from it, but this particular one—a whippet, I think—had alarmingly big nipples, huge, like bolts screwed halfway into her belly. More interesting was that she seemed aware of it. You could see it in her eyes as she turned to face the painter. “Oh, not now,” she appeared to be saying. “Have you no decency?”

I saw the portrait at the Portobello Road market in London, and though I petitioned, hard, for months, nobody bought it for me. I even tried initiating a pool, and offered to throw in a few hundred dollars of my own money, but still no one bit. In the end I gave the money to my boyfriend, Hugh, and had him buy it. Then I had him wrap it up, and offer it to me.

“What’s this for?” I asked.

And following the script he said, “Do I need a reason to give you a present?”

Then I said, “Awwwww.”

It never works the other way round, though. Ask Hugh what he wants for Christmas or his birthday and he’ll answer saying, “You tell me.”

“Well, isn’t there something you’ve had your eye on?”

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

Hugh thinks that lists are the easy way out, and says that if I really knew him I wouldn’t have to ask what he wanted. It’s not enough to search the shops; I have to search his soul as well. He turns gift-giving into a test, which I don’t think is fair at all. Were I the type to run out at the last minute, he might have a valid complaint, but I start my shopping months in advance. Plus I pay attention. If, say, in the middle of the summer, Hugh should mention that he’d like an electric fan, I’ll buy it that very day, and hide it in my gift cupboard. Come Christmas morning, he’ll open his present, and frown at it for a while before I say, “Don’t you remember? You said you were burning up, and would give anything for a little relief.”

That’s just a practical gift, though, a stocking stuffer. His main present is what I’m really after, and, knowing this, he offers no help whatsoever. Or, rather, he used to offer no help. It wasn’t until last year that he finally dropped a hint, and even then it was fairly cryptic. “Go out the front door, and turn right,” he said. “Then take a left and keep walking.”

He did not say “Stop before you reach the boulevard,” or “When you come to the Czech border you’ll know you’ve gone too far,” but he didn’t need to. I knew what he was talking about the moment I saw it. It was a human skeleton, the genuine article, hanging in the window of a medical bookstore. Hugh’s old drawing teacher used to have one, and though it had been ten years since he’d taken the woman’s class, I could suddenly recall him talking about it. “If I had a skeleton like Minerva’s . . .” he used to say. I don’t remember the rest of the sentence, as I’d always been sidetracked by the teacher’s name, Minerva. Sounds like a witch.

There are things that one enjoys buying, and things that one doesn’t. Electronic equipment, for example—I hate shopping for stuff like that, no matter how happy it will make the recipient. I feel the same about gift certificates, and books about golf or investment strategies or how to lose twelve pounds by being yourself. I thought I would enjoy buying a human skeleton, but, looking through the shop window, I felt a familiar tug of disappointment. This had nothing to do with any moral considerations. I was fine with buying someone who’d been dead for a while; I just didn’t want to have to wrap him. Finding a box would be a pain, and then there’d be the paper, which would have to be attached in strips because no one sells rolls that wide. Between one thing and another, I was almost relieved when told that the skeleton was not for sale. “He’s our mascot,” the store manager said. “We couldn’t possibly get rid of him.”

In America this translates to “Make me an offer,” but in France people really mean it. There are shops in Paris where nothing is for sale, no matter how hard you beg. I think people get lonely. Their apartments become full, and, rather than rent a storage space, they take over a boutique. Then they sit there in the middle of it, gloating over their fine taste.

Being told that I couldn’t buy a skeleton was just what I needed to make me really want one. Maybe that was the problem all along—it was too easy: “Take a right, take a left, and keep walking.” It took the hunt out of it.

“Do you know anyone who will sell me their skeleton?” I asked, and the manager thought for a while. “Well,” she said, “I guess you could try looking on bulletin boards.”

I don’t know what circles this woman runs in, but I have never in my life seen a skeleton advertised on a bulletin board. Used bicycles, yes, but no human bones, or even cartilage, for that matter.

“Thank you for your help,” I said.

The baby was tempting because of its size—I could have wrapped it in a shoebox—but, ultimately, I went for the adult, which is three hundred years old and held together by a network of fine wires. There’s a latch in the center of the forehead, and removing the linchpin allows you to open the skull and either root around or hide things—drugs, say, or small pieces of jewelry. It’s not what one hopes for when thinking about an afterlife (“I’d like for my head to be used as a stash box”), but I didn’t let that bother me. I bought the skeleton the same way I buy most everything. It was just an arrangement of parts to me, no different from a lamp or a chest of drawers.

I didn’t think of it as a former person until Christmas Day, when Hugh opened the cardboard coffin. “If you don’t like the color we can bleach it,” I said. “Either that or exchange it for the baby.”

I always like to offer a few alternatives, though in this case they were completely unnecessary. Hugh was beside himself—couldn’t have been happier. I assumed he’d be using the skeleton as a model, and was a little put off when, instead of taking it to his basement studio, he carried it into the bedroom, and hung it from the ceiling.

“Are you sure about this?” I asked.

The following morning, I reached under the bed for a discarded sock and found what I thought was a three-tiered earring. It looked like something you’d get at a crafts fair, not pretty, but definitely handmade, fashioned from what looked like petrified wood. I was just holding it to the side of my head when I thought, Hang on, this is an index finger. It must have fallen off while Hugh was hanging the skeleton. Then he or I or possibly his mother, who was in town for the holidays, accidentally kicked it under the bed.

I don’t think of myself as overly prissy, but it bothered me to find a finger on my bedroom floor. “If this thing is going to start shedding parts, you really should put it down in your studio,” I said to Hugh, who told me that it was his present and he’d keep it wherever he wanted to. Then he got out some wire and reattached the missing finger.

As the days pass, I keep hoping that the skeleton will become invisible, but he hasn’t. Dangling between the dresser and the bedroom door, he is the last thing I see before falling asleep, and the first thing I see in the morning.

It’s funny how certain objects convey a message—my washer and dryer, for example. They can’t speak, of course, but whenever I pass them they remind me that I’m doing fairly well. “No more laundromat for you,” they hum. My stove, a downer, tells me every day that I can’t cook, and before I can defend myself my scale jumps in, shouting from the bathroom, “Well, he must be doing something—my numbers is off the charts.” The skeleton has a much more limited vocabulary, and says only one thing: “You are going to die.”

I’d always thought that I understood this, but lately I realize that what I call “understanding” is basically just fantasizing. I think about death all the time, but only in a romantic, self-serving way, beginning, most often, with my tragic illness, and ending with my funeral. I see my brother squatting beside my grave, so racked with guilt he’s unable to stand. “If only I’d paid him back that twenty-five thousand dollars I borrowed,” he says. I see Hugh, drying his eyes on the sleeve of his suit jacket, then crying even harder when he remembers I bought it for him. What I didn’t see were all the people who might celebrate my death, but that’s all changed with the skeleton, who assumes features at will.

One moment he’s an elderly Frenchwoman, the one I didn’t give my seat to on the bus. In my book, if you want to be treated like an old person, you have to look like one. That means no face-lift, no blond hair, and definitely no fishnet stockings. I think it’s a perfectly valid rule, but it wouldn’t have killed me to take her crutches into consideration.

“I’m sorry,” I say, but before the words are out of my mouth the skeleton has morphed into a guy named Stew, who I shorted in a drug deal.

Stew and the Frenchwoman will be happy to see me go, and there are hundreds more in line behind them, some whom I can name, and others whom I managed to hurt and insult without a formal introduction. I hadn’t thought of these people in years, but that’s the skeleton’s cleverness. He gets into my head when I’m asleep, and picks through the muck at the bottom of my skull. “Why me?” I ask. “Hugh is lying in the very same bed—how come you don’t go after him?”

And the skeleton says, “You are going to die.”

“But I’m the one who found your finger.”

“You are going to die.”

I said to Hugh, “Are you sure you wouldn’t be happier with the baby?”

For the first few weeks, I heard the voice only when I was in the bedroom. Then it spread and took over the entire apartment. I’ll be sitting in my office, gossiping on the telephone, and the skeleton will cut in, sounding like an international operator. “You are going to die.”

I stretch out in the bathtub, soaking in fragrant oils while outside my window beggars are gathered like kittens upon the heating grates.

“You are going to die.”

In the kitchen, I throw away a perfectly good egg. In the closet, I put on a sweater that some half-blind child was paid ten sesame seeds to make. In the living room, I take out my notebook, and add a bust of Satan to the list of gifts I should like to receive.

“You are going to die. You are going to die. You are going to die.”

“Do you think you could alter that just a little?” I asked.

But he wouldn’t.

Having been dead for three hundred years, there’s a lot the skeleton doesn’t understand; TV, for instance. “See,” I told him, “you just push this button and entertainment comes into your home.” He seemed impressed, and so I took it a step further: “I invented it myself, to bring comfort to the old and sick.”

“You are going to die.”

He was the same with the vacuum cleaner, even after I used the nozzle attachment to dust his skull. “You are going to die.”

And that’s when I broke down. “I’ll do anything you like,” I said. “I’ll make amends to the people I’ve hurt, I’ll bathe in rainwater, you name it, just please say something, anything else.”

The skeleton hesitated a moment. “You are going to be dead . . . someday,” he told me.

And I put away the vacuum cleaner, thinking, Well, that’s a start.

AppleCared: Life Inside AppleCare

As a technical support agent, you develop mental calluses that help you move on and through the chaff and treasure the customers that are amiable, acknowledge that they need help, and are happy with the answer they're given. A good number of calls are actually like that and make the job bearable. A similar number are very, very far from it.

It's a business critical machine, this portable. So that's why you don't have a backup of your data or a spare machine to use in the mean time. It, and all that's on it, is just that important to you. You can't run your business without it, and you have no way of replacing it should something happen to it, even temporarily. I understand. Go to hell.





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While Window Shopping

I was window shopping yesterday, and noticed a nice shiny iPod with video - yes, it was a tech shop, my kinda toy store...anyway, I don't have one as yet - got a nano, though, and an HP iPaq to split the duties - and, so, any way, I like to check them out when I see one in a hands on display area. Picking it up, I spin through the menu, checking out the items preloaded on it. I noticed that there was a copy of the Incredibles on it. Did a little checking, and, of course, this isn't available on the iTunes Store. Not yet anyway. So, it either came from Apple preloaded, or someone at the shop ripped it and loaded it up. Interesting to see a maybe-sorta-pirated movie on an item in a store display.

Entangled Evacuation

The Baytown Sun
- MOBILE EDITION -

http://baytownsun.com/mobile/mobilestory.lasso?ewcd=ff02368a28261637
Entangled Evacuation

By David Bloom

Baytown Sun

Published April 20, 2006

Counties and cities spanning the Texas Gulf Coast have defied an executive order from Gov. Rick Perry to empower one person to make evacuation decisions during hurricanes. Instead, the officials from a 13-county region surrounding Houston — including the mayor of Baytown and Chambers County judge — opted for a committee of 15 to make decisions like how to stagger evacuations and when to enable contraflow on clogged highways.

Of course, mayors and county judges already have the authority given by the Legislature to call for mandatory evacuations. They say appointing one commander is impractical and leads to uninformed decisions. And with a committee, each jurisdiction is represented we suppose, leaving less chance for favoritism and, most assuredly, politics.

Forming the committee would begin immediately with each county judge appointing one member, with the other two decided by the mayors of Houston and Galveston.

But this tempest in a teapot over commander or committee ignores the real issue: the gross negligence of certain elected officials who had no plan or clue about a mass evacuation, making it a greater danger than the storm itself.

The fundamental problem was the lack of a coordinated plan to deal with the massive evacuation. Since then, for example, has the state of Texas developed contra-flow plans along major evacuation? And what about supplying gas, comfort and medical stations along the routes?

We also need a statewide database of people with special needs; the enforcement that all nursing homes and health care facilities have an evacuation plan; and a requirement for school districts to make buses and buildings available to evacuees.

Public awareness campaigns also should be launched informing Texans of the importance of keeping vehicles properly fueled during hurricane season and plans in place to care for pets during emergencies.

Working on it, we are told.

Certainly, centralized control over evacuations would be an improvement, assisting with problems related to evacuation traffic management and special needs assistance.

Ultimately, it matters little who calls the evacuation. The decision to leave town ahead of a hurricane remains solely a personal or family decision.

What is important is that the state must be better prepared for the mass exodus of millions along the Texas Gulf coast.

Rita taught us painful lessons about the woeful inadequacy of our plans in the face of such catastrophe.

Clearly much work remains ahead of the start of the 2006 hurricane season, now only 41 days away.

Today’s editorial was written by David Bloom, managing editor of The Baytown Sun, on behalf of the newspaper’s editorial board.
Copyright © 2006 The Baytown Sun

James Green
jimgreen@bdgreen.com

The Videotape Recorder Turns 50

The Videotape Recorder Turns 50

Routine NAB preview event showcased revolutionary technology

by James E. O'Neal
The Ampex video recorder is unveiled at the NARTB show in Chicago, April 14, 1956.

FALLS CHURCH, VA.: In an age when video cameras and recording devices are virtually everywhere, it's difficult to believe that it wasn't always possible to walk into a Wal-Mart or Best Buy store with $50 and leave with a new video recorder.

The science of magnetically recording video images is so mature today that it's taken completely for granted, but that was not always the case. Television broadcasting as we know it appeared in the mid-1930s. Video recording technology lagged by another 20 years."

Google Earth Sleuthing - Story of a Burning Ship

An obscure satellite photo captured a scene of daring rescue at sea where a burning ship's crew was rescued by two other ships. The interesting thing was it took the power of thousands of forum readers to help find the answer to the mystery.

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1983 Apple T-Shirt Ad showing a Stylin' "Apple Family"

Nothing says really bad and old fashion like geek ad copy from 'back in the day'.



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