Blast of cold air can open computer to hackers
Seriously - no matter how much encryption there is, just (literally) freeze the memory, then dump the contents to something else, and you've got whatever they had open. Awesome?

Pakistan causes worldwide YouTube outage
So if you had trouble watching videos the other day, it was because they didn't like "un-Islamic content" - and things got out of hand.

Python stalks, eats family dog in front of kids
And no one did anything about it; in fact, when a guy finally got there to help, he didn't remove the dog for fear of harming the snake. So...why didn't anyone kill it?

Spanking Raises Chances of Risky, Deviant Sexual Behavior
Or so researchers would have you believe. Among deviant behavior: unprotected premarital sex. Wait, that's deviant again?

Virtual teachers outperform real thing
Supposedly. If you're autistic.

Government records incorrectly kill off thousands, and there’s no easy fix
If some dimwit, or careless, clerk makes an error in typing, guess what? You are dead. You can't pay taxes, or get benefits, or anything. And fixing it is extremely difficult, taking more than a year at best.

"In all, Social Security officials had to “resurrect” 23,366 people from
January 2004 to September 2005. In other words, over a period of 21 months,
Social Security was presented with irrefutable evidence that it had been
“killing” more than 1,100 people a month, or more than 35 a day."

And that's just the ones they fixed.

Why are there so many natural disasters during presidential election years?
Because Presidents get to decide what counts as a disaster.

Pizza and beer now cost an arm and a leg
And guess who you can thank for it? I'll give you a hint - the artificial market for ethanol is driving up prices for everything else involved with agriculture. Guess who you can thank for that? Just guess. I'll bet you can. And I bet you can also guess who won't be fixing it! (Answer to both: Congress!)
Always nice to have recession with inflation. Always a pleasure. Especially when we can actually do something about it.

And finally, Chavez orders troops to Colombian border.
Oh good. Looks like war is brewing. He's said that if Columbia comes chasing after the guerillas, who are an unrepentent bunch of murderers, terrorists, and thugs, but who also happen to be "socialist", that Venezuela would consider it an act of war. Unfortunately, the guerrillas routinely flee to Venezuelan territoy. Colombia has to do something. Venezuela's harboring those dedicated to the downfall of Colombia's government would also be grounds for Colombia to declare war. So, let's hope they can act like adults. Unfortunately, Colombia's government is clueless and heavy-handed, and Chavez is an arrogant, childish fool.

A supercow - this thing has ridiculously large muscles. I mean, cows are pretty big anyway, and can be scary when out of control...but this one is scary even under control.


Antidepressents don't help any but the worst off.

People who own cats are at less risk of heart-attack.

"The Worst Technology Laws"

If any of you are looking for a job, have you considered moving to China...to live and work in an "English community"? I'd heard of it, but here's a place that's actually looking to hire!

And since I don't feel like posting much more, I'll give you a video, the title of which is awesome.
Iraqi Researcher Defies Scientific Axioms: The Earth Is Flat and Much Larger than the Sun (Which Is Also Flat). It's really great.

A Tenfold Improvement in Battery Life?
Some smart guys figured out a way to store a whole lot more power in batteries.

Brain changes make elderly vulnerable to fraud - study | World | Reuters
So they aren't just gullible after all.

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Move Over, ‘Meerkat Manor’ | Newsweek Books | Newsweek.com
I wish I knew what process led to this particular outcome:
a writer did a feature on the highly-endangered, black-footed ferrets. It was "recycled" as dialogue in a romance novel...between the two main characters...after they've just finished...enjoying each other. It doesn't seem to fit in very well.
I'd heard the dialogues in those were usually bad...but...I can't imagine anything much worse. (Not to mention anachronistic - they describe ferrets coming over the land bridge from Siberia...and the story is set in 1850 - and no one had thought of land bridges yet).

A response to "Liberal Creationism." - By Stephen Metcalf - Slate Magazine
Remember the link I posted a little while ago about the IQ differences in races? It being due to genetic factors? Here's another guy who says that's highly questionable. I'm a little more inclined to believe him. I want to believe that "all men are created equal", at least in general, and not just spiritually. I want to live in a world of equals, not castes. But I also want to know the truth. I hope more research is done on this issue...if it really were to turn out that certain groups have higher or lower intelligence, that'd have huge implications...most of them bad.


China expresses "grave concern" that USS Kitty Hawk passed Taiwan on way back to Japan - International Herald Tribune
You might have heard of this whole mess. Now the Chinese are saying they're unhappy that the ships may have gone through the Taiwan strait after being turned away from Hong Kong.
I'm at least a little surprised at their astounding blindness as to the importance of public opinion - people in this country already dislike them quite a bit, and this is going to make their paranoia and hatred much worse.
But, I'd believe that we probably did go through that strait on the way home. After all, since Taiwan is our ally, why not swing by? heheh. Not like we were going through a sovereign state's internal territory.


Krugman: The making of a mess - International Herald Tribune
This writer is of the opinion that we're headed for a huge financial mess - not only because of all the things you already know about, but because the people who created our modern financial system don't actually understand it. It's gotten too byzantine for anyone to predict or navigate.



Brazilians giving up their American dream - International Herald Tribune
Thanks to the idiocy of our current immigration policy, as well as the impossibility of even becoming a legal citizen for many legal immigrants (thank you, again, bureaucrats), many of the hundreds of thousands (or millions, no one knows) of Brazilians who came here are now leaving. It just isn't worth it anymore. I expect more groups will follow, and we will be worse for it.

Also, you've almost certainly seen it by now, but I've been meaning to post that Mike Huckaby/Chuck Norris ad. I was surprised it was made.


It's funny...but I don't know how you'd follow up on that. It seems like the sort of thing that, should he win, will come back to bite him in the ass. I mean, we both know the whole immigration mess isn't going to get fixed, probably ever.

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All I can say is, holy crap.
This guy is called the "tree man" for the way his hands and feet look. I wish I could embed the video, but I can't.
Tree Man video
Wow. It looks painful.

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