via Washington Post

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Posted at 11:09 AM in Current Affairs, Finance, Humor | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The Daily Show on Bear Stearns:

Stephan Colbert on the Economy:

Aasif Mandvi reports on the Bear Stearns bailout while experiencing gravitational altitude correction:

I talked to guy about 300 feet ago . . .

Posted at 05:53 AM in Current Affairs, Finance, Humor | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Surprisingly explicit print ads from fashion designer Tom Ford:

click for full story on each

Sources:

Tom Fords A Valley
Copyranter
http://copyranter.blogspot.com/2007/09/tom-fords-valley.html


What A Dildo: Designer Tom Ford's Phallic Fragrance   
Jezebel
http://jezebel.com/gossip/rag-trade/what-a-dildo-designer-tom-fords-phallic-fragrance-291216.php

Through advertising, Tom Ford continues to inform heterosexual men that he doesn't want them buying his products.   
Copyranter
http://copyranter.blogspot.com/2008/02/through-advertising-tom-ford-continues.html

Posted at 06:05 AM in Current Affairs, Media, Television | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

click for larger graphic

Graphic courtesy of NYT

>

See also
Kosovo - Key events 
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/serbia/kosovo/key_events_en.htm

Kosovo's Final Status: A Key to Stability and Prosperity in the Balkans  http://www.state.gov/p/eur/ci/rb/c13099.htm

>
Source:
Kosovo Declares Its Independence From Serbia 
DAN BILEFSKY   
NYT, February 18, 2008   
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/18/world/europe/18kosovo.html

Posted at 07:47 AM in Current Affairs, Politics, War/Defense | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Strangely beautiful photo

A Chinese fish farmer with some of his catfish, bred on the outskirts of Hangzhou. The fish farmers are said to have turned to illegal veterinary drugs to keep fish alive in contaminated ponds.

Source:
China Says Its Seafood Is Now Safer and Better
DAVID BARBOZA
NYT, January 18, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/18/business/worldbusiness/18fish.html

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The End of the World

We Will Rock You

Posted at 05:54 AM in Current Affairs, Humor, War/Defense | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

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Rex has the best of 2007 lists up -- its huge!

Go check it out

http://www.fimoculous.com/year-review-2007.cfm

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This is my vote for the most overlooked story of the year:  Former DOJ Official Tested the Method Himself,  in Effort to Form Torture Policy

A senior Justice Department official, charged with reworking the administration's legal position on torture in 2004 became so concerned about the controversial, interrogation technique of waterboarding that he decided to experience it firsthand,sources told ABC News., Daniel Levin, then acting assistant attorney general, went to a military base near Washington and underwent the procedure to inform his analysis of different interrogation techniques.

Keith Olbermann *SPECIAL COMMENT* 11/5/07-

Part 1

Part 2

DoJ Official Declared Waterboarding Torture      

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Fun stuff:

click for animation

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Posted at 06:35 AM in Current Affairs, Idiot!, War/Defense | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

via boing boing

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Larry Lessig at 2007 TED

Posted at 06:32 AM in Current Affairs, Music, Politics, Video | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Amusing

Posted at 06:49 AM in Current Affairs, Humor, War/Defense | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Light Bulb

«... good enough for our transatlantic friends ... but unworthy of the attention of practical or scientific men.»
British Parliamentary Committee, referring to Edison's light bulb, 1878.

«Such startling announcements as these should be deprecated as being unworthy of science and mischievous to its true progress.»
Sir William Siemens, on Edison's light bulb, 1880.

«Everyone acquainted with the subject will recognize it as a conspicuous failure.»
Henry Morton, president of the Stevens Institute of Technology, on Edison's light bulb, 1880.

Automobiles

«The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a novelty, a fad.»
The president of the Michigan Savings Bank advising Henry Ford's lawyer not to invest in the Ford Motor Co., 1903.

«That the automobile has practically reached the limit of its development is suggested by the fact that during the past year no improvements of a radical nature have been introduced.»
Scientific American, Jan. 2 edition, 1909.

«The ordinary "horseless carriage" is at present a luxury for the wealthy; and although its price will probably fall in the future, it will never, of course, come into as common use as the bicycle.»
Literary Digest, 1899.

Airplanes

«Flight by machines heavier than air is unpractical (sic) and insignificant, if not utterly impossible.» - Simon Newcomb; The Wright Brothers flew at Kittyhawk 18 months later. Newcomb was not impressed.

«Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.»
Lord Kelvin, British mathematician and physicist, president of the British Royal Society, 1895.

«It is apparent to me that the possibilities of the aeroplane, which two or three years ago were thought to hold the solution to the [flying machine] problem, have been exhausted, and that we must turn elsewhere.»
Thomas Edison, American inventor, 1895.

«Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.»
Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre, 1904.

«There will never be a bigger plane built.»
A Boeing engineer, after the first flight of the 247, a twin engine plane that holds ten people.

Computers

«Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and weigh only 1.5 tons.»
Popular Mechanics, March 1949.

«There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.»
Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC), maker of big business mainframe computers, arguing against the PC in 1977.

«I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year.»
The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957.

«But what... is it good for?»
IBM executive Robert Lloyd, speaking in 1968 microprocessor, the heart of today's computers.

Events

«We will bury you.»
Nikita Krushchev, Soviet Premier, predicting Soviet communism will win over U.S. capitalism, 1958.

«Everything that can be invented has been invented.»
Charles H. Duell, an official at the US patent office, 1899.

«I see no good reasons why the views given in this volume should shock the religious sensibilities of anyone.»
Charles Darwin, in the foreword to his book, The Origin of Species, 1869.

«Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau.»
Irving Fisher, economics professor at Yale University, 1929.

«If anything remains more or less unchanged, it will be the role of women.»
David Riesman, conservative American social scientist, 1967.

«It will be gone by June.»
Variety, passing judgement on rock 'n roll in 1955.

«Democracy will be dead by 1950.»
John Langdon-Davies, A Short History of The Future, 1936.

«A short-lived satirical pulp.»
TIME, writing off Mad magazine in 1956.

«And for the tourist who really wants to get away from it all, safaris in Vietnam»
Newsweek, predicting popular holidays for the late 1960s.

«Four or five frigates will do the business without any military force.» -– British prime minister Lord North, on dealing with the rebellious American colonies, 1774.

«In all likelihood world inflation is over.»
International Monetary Fund Ceo, 1959.

«This antitrust thing will blow over.»
Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft.

«Remote shopping, while entirely feasible, will flop - because women like to get out of the house, like to handle merchandise, like to be able to change their minds.»
TIME, 1966, in one sentence writing off e-commerce long before anyone had ever heard of it.

«They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist-»
Last words of Gen. John Sedgwick, spoken as he looked out over the parapet at enemy lines during the Battle of Spotsylvania in 1864.

«Our country has deliberately undertaken a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far reaching in purpose." -– Herbert Hoover, on Prohibition, 1928.

«It will be years - not in my time - before a woman will become Prime Minister.»
Margaret Thatcher, future Prime Minister, October 26th, 1969.

«Read my lips: NO NEW TAXES.»
George Bush, 1988.

«You will be home before the leaves have fallen from the trees.»
-– Kaiser Wilhelm, to the German troops, August 1914.

«This is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honor. I believe it is peace for our time.»
-– Neville Chamberlain, British Prime Minister, September 30th, 1938.

«That virus is a pussycat.»
-– Dr. Peter Duesberg, molecular-biology professor at U.C. Berkeley, on HIV, 1988.

«The case is a loser.»
-– Johnnie Cochran, on soon-to-be client O.J.'s chances of winning, 1994.

«Reagan doesn't have that presidential look.»
-– United Artists Executive, rejecting Reagan as lead in 1964 film The Best Man.

«Capitalist production begets, with the inexorability of a law of nature, its own negation.»
Karl Marx.

«Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote.»
Grover Cleveland, U.S. President, 1905.

«Man will not fly for 50 years.»
Wilbur Wright, American aviation pioneer, to brother Orville, after a disappointing flying experiment, 1901 (their first successful flight was in 1903).

«I am tired of all this sort of thing called science here... We have spent millions in that sort of thing for the last few years, and it is time it should be stopped.»
Simon Cameron, U.S. Senator, on the Smithsonian Institute, 1901.

«The Americans are good about making fancy cars and refrigerators, but that doesn't mean they are any good at making aircraft. They are bluffing. They are excellent at bluffing.»
Hermann Goering, Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe, 1942.

«With over fifteen types of foreign cars already on sale here, the Japanese auto industry isn't likely to carve out a big share of the market for itself.»
Business Week, August 2, 1968.

«The multitude of books is a great evil. There is no limit to this fever for writing; every one must be an author; some out of vanity, to acquire celebrity and raise up a name, others for the sake of mere gain.»
Martin Luther, German Reformation leader, Table Talk, 1530s(?).

«Ours has been the first [expedition], and doubtless to be the last, to visit this profitless locality.»
Lt. Joseph Ives, after visiting the Grand Canyon in 1861.

«There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. As this operation continues, those weapons will be identified, found, along with the people who have produced them and who guard them.»
General Tommy Franks, March 22nd, 2003.

Radio

«Radio has no future.»
Lord Kelvin, Scottish mathematician and physicist, former president of the Royal Society, 1897.

«The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to no one in particular?»
Associates of David Sarnoff responding to the latter's call for investment in the radio in 1921.

«Lee DeForest has said in many newspapers and over his signature that it would be possible to transmit the human voice across the Atlantic before many years. Based on these absurd and deliberately misleading statements, the misguided public ... has been persuaded to purchase stock in his company ...»
a U.S. District Attorney, prosecuting American inventor Lee DeForest for selling stock fraudulently through the mail for his Radio Telephone Company in 1913.

Space Travel

«There is practically no chance communications space satellites will be used to provide better telephone, telegraph, television, or radio service inside the United States.»
T. Craven, FCC Commissioner, in 1961 (the first commercial communications satellite went into service in 1965).

«Space travel is utter bilge.»
Richard Van Der Riet Woolley, upon assuming the post of Astronomer Royal in 1956.

«Space travel is bunk.»
Sir Harold Spencer Jones, Astronomer Royal of the UK, 1957 (two weeks later Sputnik orbited the Earth).

«To place a man in a multi-stage rocket and project him into the controlling gravitational field of the moon where the passengers can make scientific observations, perhaps land alive, and then return to earth - all that constitutes a wild dream worthy of Jules Verne. I am bold enough to say that such a man-made voyage will never occur regardless of all future advances.»
Lee DeForest, American radio pioneer and inventor of the vacuum tube, in 1926

Rockets

«We stand on the threshold of rocket mail.»
-– U.S. postmaster general Arthur Summerfield, in 1959.

«... too far-fetched to be considered.»
Editor of Scientific American, in a letter to Robert Goddard about Goddard's idea of a rocket-accelerated airplane bomb, 1940 (German V2 missiles came down on London 3 years later).

«A rocket will never be able to leave the Earth's atmosphere.»
New York Times, 1936.

Atomic and Nuclear Power

«The basic questions of design, material and shielding, in combining a nuclear reactor with a home boiler and cooling unit, no longer are problems... The system would heat and cool a home, provide unlimited household hot water, and melt the snow from sidewalks and driveways. All that could be done for six years on a single charge of fissionable material costing about $300.»
–- Robert Ferry, executive of the U.S. Institute of Boiler and Radiator Manufacturers, 1955.

«Nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a reality in 10 years.»
-– Alex Lewyt, president of vacuum cleaner company Lewyt Corp., in the New York Times in 1955.

«That is the biggest fool thing we have ever done [research on]... The bomb will never go off, and I speak as an expert in explosives.»
Admiral William D. Leahy, U.S. Admiral working in the U.S. Atomic Bomb Project, advising President Truman on atomic weaponry, 1944.

«Atomic energy might be as good as our present-day explosives, but it is unlikely to produce anything very much more dangerous.»
Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister, 1939.

«The energy produced by the breaking down of the atom is a very poor kind of thing. Anyone who expects a source of power from the transformation of these atoms is talking moonshine.»
Ernest Rutherford, shortly after splitting the atom for the first time.

«There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will.»
Albert Einstein, 1932.

«There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom.»
Robert Millikan, American physicist and Nobel Prize winner, 1923.

Films

«Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?»
H. M. Warner, co-founder of Warner Brothers, 1927.

«The cinema is little more than a fad. It's canned drama. What audiences really want to see is flesh and blood on the stage."
-– Charlie Chaplin, actor, producer, director, and studio founder, 1916.

Telephone/Telegraph

«This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.»
A memo at Western Union, 1878 (or 1876).

«The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys.»
Sir William Preece, Chief Engineer, British Post Office, 1878.

«It's a great invention but who would want to use it anyway?»
Rutherford B. Hayes, U.S. President, after a demonstration of Alexander Bell's telephone, 1876.

«A man has been arrested in New York for attempting to extort funds from ignorant and superstitious people by exhibiting a device which he says will convey the human voice any distance over metallic wires so that it will be heard by the listener at the other end. He calls this instrument a telephone. Well-informed people know that it is impossible to transmit the human voice over wires.»
News item in a New York newspaper, 1868.

Television

«Television won't last. It's a flash in the pan.»
Mary Somerville, pioneer of radio educational broadcasts, 1948.

«Television won't last because people will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.»
Darryl Zanuck, movie producer, 20th Century Fox, 1946.

«While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially it is an impossibility, a development of which we need waste little time dreaming.»
Lee DeForest, American radio pioneer and inventor of the vacuum tube, 1926.

Railroads

«Dear Mr. President: The canal system of this country is being threatened by a new form of transportation known as 'railroads' ... As you may well know, Mr. President, 'railroad' carriages are pulled at the enormous speed of 15 miles per hour by 'engines' which, in addition to endangering life and limb of passengers, roar and snort their way through the countryside, setting fire to crops, scaring the livestock and frightening women and children. The Almighty certainly never intended that people should travel at such breakneck speed.»
Martin Van Buren, Governor of New York, 1830(?).

«What can be more palpably absurd than the prospect held out of locomotives traveling twice as fast as stagecoaches?»
The Quarterly Review, March edition, 1825.

«Rail travel at high speed is not possible, because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia.»
Dr Dionysys Larder (1793-1859), professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, University College London.

Other Technology

«Transmission of documents via telephone wires is possible in principle, but the apparatus required is so expensive that it will never become a practical proposition.»
Dennis Gabor, British physicist and author of Inventing the Future, 1962.

«[By 1985], machines will be capable of doing any work Man can do.»
Herbert A. Simon, of Carnegie Mellon University - considered to be a founder of the field of artificial intelligence - speaking in 1965.

«The world potential market for copying machines is 5000 at most.»
IBM, to the eventual founders of Xerox, saying the photocopier had no market large enough to justify production, 1959.

«I must confess that my imagination refuses to see any sort of submarine doing anything but suffocating its crew and floundering at sea.»
HG Wells, British novelist, in 1901.

«X-rays will prove to be a hoax.»
Lord Kelvin, President of the Royal Society, 1883.

«Very interesting Whittle, my boy, but it will never work.»
Cambridge Aeronautics Professor, when shown Frank Whittle's plan for the jet engine.

«The idea that cavalry will be replaced by these iron coaches is absurd. It is little short of treasonous.»
Comment of Aide-de-camp to Field Marshal Haig, at tank demonstration, 1916.

«Caterpillar landships are idiotic and useless. Those officers and men are wasting their time and are not pulling their proper weight in the war.»
Fourth Lord of the British Admiralty, 1915.

«What, sir, would you make a ship sail against the wind and currents by lighting a bonfire under her deck? I pray you, excuse me, I have not the time to listen to such nonsense.»
Napoleon Bonaparte, when told of Robert Fulton's steamboat, 1800s.

«The phonograph has no commercial value at all.»
Thomas Edison, American inventor, 1880s.

«If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said 'you can't do this'.»
Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads.

«Fooling around with alternating current is just a waste of time. Nobody will use it, ever.»
Thomas Edison, American inventor, 1889 (Edison often ridiculed the arguments of competitor George Westinghouse for AC power).

Source:
Top 87 Bad Predictions about the Future
3/28/2006    
http://www.2spare.com/item_50221.aspx

Posted at 06:25 AM in Current Affairs, Science | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

source: Health vs. Pork: Congress Debates the Farm Bill   

Hat tip kottke

Posted at 06:52 PM in Current Affairs, Idiot!, Politics, Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Hat tip kottke

Source:
Mafia's 'Ten Commandments' found   
BBC, Friday, 9 November 2007, 11:06 GMT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7086716.stm

Posted at 02:19 PM in Current Affairs, Philosophy | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Source:
HALLOWEEN AIEEEEEEEEEEEE- EEE
Daryl Cagle. Cagle Cartoons

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This is now the largest evacuation in the U.S. since Katrina: 250,000  513,000.

Source: Google Maps San Diego County Fires

Charities:

Donations to help fire victims can be made at SD Foundation or by calling 619-235-2300

American Red Cross
http://www.sdarc.org/site/pp.asp?c=erKQL4NQE&b=3510321

Volunteer San Diego: Make a donation to Volunteer San Diego's Disaster Program is made possible by donations of time and money.

Local residents who wish to donate emergency supplies and personal necessities are advised to contact:

St. Vincent De Paul - 619-446-2100
Goodwill - 886-446-6394
Salvation Army - 619-231-6000

Money collected will first go towards supporting the disaster volunteer recruitment efforts for the wildfires. Additional funds will support year-round disaster preparedness and volunteer programs. You can donate online here or mail your donation to:

Volunteer San Diego
4699 Murphy Canyon Road
San Diego, CA 92123

Local Emergency Information:

County Emergency Page:
http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/dmpr/emer/index.html

Emergency Hotel Lodging Assistance
800-918-4182
www.arestravel.com

Updates via Sign On San Diego's news blog:
http://fireblog.signonsandiego.com

Additional Resources:

Fire Information Engine 

Fire Information - National Fire News

Google Maps San Diego County Fires

NOAA California Fire Weather web page   

Southern California Situation Report

Posted at 08:29 AM in Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Longtime NYT and Macworld tech columnist David Pogue has been keeping a list of nagging questions: Pogue's Imponderables:

* Why is Wi-Fi free at cheap hotels, but $14 a night at expensive ones?

* What happens to software programs when their publishers go out of business?

* Would the record companies sell more music online if it weren't copy-protected?

* Do cellphones cause brain cancer?

* What's the real reason you have to turn off your laptop for takeoff?

* Why can't a digital S.L.R. camera record video?

* Wi-Fi on airplanes. What's taking so long?

* Who are the morons who respond to junk-mail offers, thereby keeping spammers in business?

* I'm told that they could make a shirt-pocket digital camera that takes pictures like an S.L.R., but it would cost a lot. So why don't they make one for people who can afford it?

* How come there are still no viruses for Mac OS X? If it has 6 percent of the market, shouldn't it have 6 percent of the viruses?

* Do shareware programmers pay taxes on all those $20 contributions?

* How are we going to preserve all of our digital photos and videos for future generations?

* Why are there no federal rebates or tax credits for solar power?

* Why do you have to take tape camcorders out of your carry-on at airport security, but not the tapeless kind? Couldn't you hide a bomb equally well in either one? (Actually, I have about 500 more logic questions about the rules at airport security, but I have a feeling they'll remain answerless for a very long time.)

* Laptops, cameras and cellphones have improved by a thousand percent in the last ten years. Why not their batteries?

* SmartDisplay, Spot Watch, U.M.P.C., Zune… when will Microsoft realize that it's not a hardware company?

* Why don't public sinks have foot pedals?

* Why don't all hotels have check-in kiosks like airlines do?

* Five billion dollars a year spent on ringtones? What the?

* How come cellphone signal-strength bars are so often wrong?

* Do P.R. people really expect anyone to believe that the standard, stilted, second-paragraph C.E.O. quote was really uttered by a human being?

* Why aren't there recycling bins for bottles and cans where they're most obviously needed, like food courts and cafeterias?

* Why doesn't someone start a cellphone company that bills you only for what you use? That model works O.K. for the electricity, gas and water companies —and people would beat a path to its door.

* Why doesn't everyone have lights that turn off automatically when the room is empty?

* What's the deal with Palm?

* Why are so many people rude on the Internet?

If you know the answers, by all means—fill us in at nytimes.com/pogue.

Posted at 06:05 AM in Current Affairs, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Dove warns parents about their own industry

Posted at 06:29 AM in Current Affairs, Media, Philosophy, Television | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Interesting graphic:

Source:
The Everyman Who Exposed Tainted Toothpaste
WALT BOGDANICH
NYT, October 1, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/world/americas/01panama.html

Posted at 10:38 AM in Current Affairs, Food and Drink, Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Tom Toles, via Yahoo!

Posted at 11:16 AM in Current Affairs, Idiot!, Politics, War/Defense | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

via the Long Tail

"Admit it - back in the 20th Century, none of you imagined that World War III would be Robots vs. Muslims. Seems obvious now."   

Posted at 07:26 AM in Current Affairs, War/Defense, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

via Headline Junky, we see this monograph for the Army War College titled "Deprogramming an Ideology."

Its the only appropriate item I found for today . . .

Posted at 02:56 PM in Current Affairs, Politics, Religion, War/Defense | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Popular Mechanics on how to survive anything: Hurricanes, floods, earthquakes tornadoes -- 55 ways to save yourself:

• How to Survive Anything Mother Nature Throws at You
One hundred years of technological progress can be erased in minutes by nature’s fury. Recent disasters have left not only destruction, but also heroism in their wake, and we can learn from the experiences of the survivors.

• 5 Steps to Get Ready for Disaster (Not Stuck in It)
If it becomes necessary to leave your home, there may be little advance notice. Here's how to prepare for an evacuation, while staying healthy and in touch, plus tips on which gear and documents to have by your side when it's go time.

• 22 Steps to Save Yourself When Natural Disaster Hits
If there are only moments to spare, you need to know how to react to everything from an earthquake to a tornado and a flood to hurricane. Study up on the basics so you can be decisive during the destruction.
PLUS: How to Shut Down Your House in 5 Minutes

• 7 Steps to Eat, Drink and Be Smart When Worse Comes to Worst
A healthy family of four typically consumes a lot more than you'd think—50,400 calories and 14 gal. of water a week. Get a menu for four different lengths of time away from the fridge, plus smart tips on where to find good water.

• 4 Steps to Power Your Home When the Grid Fails
Generators fill in to juice your home, but you need to be smart about buying the right generator and installing it safely. Inside, we compare three top portable power sources—and make sure they can handle your load.
VIDEO: How to Safely Install a Generator

• 5 Steps to Fix Your Home After a Crisis
The damage is done, and you need answers. Here's how to get everything at home in order when the worst-case scenario plays out, from personal safety to insurance, emergency repairs to water damage.
DIY: 3 Quick Home Projects for Disaster Recovery

• 107 Pieces of Survival Gear for Your Car, Home and To-Go Bag
A well-stocked disaster kit can save lives in a crisis. Relief agencies recommend keeping three days’ worth of essentials in the house at all times, but we recommend you go further. That way, when disaster strikes and there’s no time to think, you won’t have to.
DOWNLOAD: Print Out PM's Ultimate Survival Checklist Right Now!

>

Source:
Survive Anything
Popular Mechanics, August 2007
http://www.popularmechanics.com/survival

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Posted at 06:47 PM in Current Affairs, Humor, Idiot!, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

No one seems to understand that in the modern era, whatever you say or do is recorded for posterity.

Here's Dick Cheney, explaining why invading Iraq is such a bad idea?

Posted at 06:52 AM in Current Affairs, Politics, War/Defense | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Sadly true:

Does your politician suffer from Chronic Re-Election Paranoia (CREEP)? Do you think our nation has an Incarcerex dependence? Tell your elected officials to give up the quick fix and create a new bottom line for the war on drugs.

Posted at 06:24 AM in Current Affairs, Humor, Idiot!, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Hypocrisy abounds:

Pat Oliphant via Yahoo!

Posted at 06:29 AM in Current Affairs, Humor, Idiot!, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Very amusing:

iPhone: Simple to use.
Paris Hilton: Simple.

iPhone: Well-protected against viruses.
Paris Hilton: Has herpes.

iPhone: Critics complained battery life too short.
Paris Hilton: Critics complained prison life too short.

iPhone: Provides driving directions.
Paris Hilton: Knows how to drive. (Sort of.)

iPhone: Responds to touch from multiple fingers at once.
Paris Hilton: Responds to touch from multiple fingers at once.

iPhone: Wants to be held by everyone.
Paris Hilton: Wants to be held by her mother.

iPhone: Sexy footage leaked onto the net.
Paris Hilton: Sexy footage leaked onto the net.

iPhone: Appeared in multi-million ad campaign.
Paris Hilton: Appeared in "House of Wax."

iPhone: Everyone wants what's in the box.
Paris Hilton: Everyone knows what's in the box.

Source:
Hype Smackdown: iPhone v. Paris Hilton
By Jeff Diehl
June 28th, 2007
http://www.10zenmonkeys.com/2007/06/28/hype-smackdown-iphone-v-paris-hilton/

Posted at 06:07 AM in Current Affairs, Humor, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Hysterical:

Retired Gen. George Washington Criticizes Bush's Handling Of Iraq War

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Revolutionary War veteran noted that while Hussein was a tyrant, that alone did not justify a "conflict that seems without design or end."

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/62432

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Revolutionary War veteran noted that while Hussein was a tyrant, that alone did not justify a "conflict that seems without design or end."

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* Thousands More R Thousands More Dead In Continuing Iraq Victory December 18, 2006

WASHINGTON, DC—Breaking a 211-year media silence, retired Army Gen. George Washington appeared on NBC's Meet the Press Sunday to speak out against many aspects of the way the Iraq war has been waged.
Enlarge Image Gen. George Washington

Washington likens Vice President Cheney to controversial British Chancellor of the Exchequer and Stamp Act architect George Greenville.

Washington, whose appearance marked the first time the military leader and statesman had spoken publicly since his 1796 farewell address in Philadelphia, is the latest in a string of retired generals stepping forward to criticize the Iraq war.

"This entire military venture has been foolhardy and of ill design," said Washington, dressed in his customary breeches and frilly cravat. "The manifold mistakes committed by this president in Iraq carry grave consequences, and he who holds the position of commander in chief has the responsibility to right those wrongs."

Washington noted that while Saddam Hussein was an indefensible tyrant, that alone did not justify a "conflict that seems without design or end."

"The Iraqi people did suffer greatly under unjust rule," Washington said. "But in truth, it is the duty of any people that wishes to be free to fight for its own independence. Had France meddled in our revolution beyond the guidance and material assistance they provided, I should think similar unrest would have darkened our nation's earliest hours."
Enlarge Image CNN Retired Gen. Speaks Out

Washington made the cable news rounds, telling Wolf Blitzer that the war was a "tragic mistake for our nation."

The Virginia-born Revolutionary War veteran and national-capital namesake also expressed his worry over the state of the American militia, the unchecked powers of the executive branch, and the lack of a congressional declaration of war.

"The very genius of the American presidency is that it is an office held by an elected representative of the people, not by a monarch who can rule by fiat and enact policy at will," Washington said.

The retired general asserted that many of the current problems in Iraq could easily have been predicted by wiser civilian leadership.

"I can say from personal experience that even a malnourished force with feet clad in rags should not be underestimated, even by a far superior power," added Washington, who has disavowed further comparison between the Iraqi insurgency and the American colonists. "There is nothing a committed fighting force cannot accomplish if bolstered by the strength of its convictions."

Washington's critical comments echo those of other retired generals, including Maj. Gen. John Batiste and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Wesley Clark, who attacked Bush's Iraq policy in a series of television ads run by political action committee VoteVets.org during the 2006 midterm elections.

"We're very happy that someone of General Washington's stature is speaking out," said Jon Soltz, cofounder and chairman of VoteVets.org. "He has impeccable conservative credentials, extensive foreign policy experience, is a true citizen-soldier with a proven commitment to his country, and, if that's not enough to get Bush to listen, he's the face on the dollar bill."

However, White House response to the former general's criticism was swift and sharp. Spokesman Tony Fratto dismissed Washington as "increasingly irrelevant" and "a relic" who "made some embarrassing gaffes" during his own military career, such as the Continental Army's near destruction in the Battle of Long Island in 1776.

"The general's reckless and irresponsible comments show that he clearly does not understand the realities of 21st-century warfare," Fratto said.

Conservative pundits moved quickly to discredit the decorated general.

"I don't care who you are—or if you cannot tell a lie—it's un-American to question the president in a time of war," Sean Hannity said on his radio program Monday. "Plus, I find it very interesting that a man who owned slaves and sold hemp thinks he's entitled to give our Commander in Chief lessons on how to run a war."

Toward the end of his Meet the Press interview, Washington expressed fears for the future of Iraq, Middle East policy, and America itself.

"These convoluted foreign adventures were not what I envisaged for my young nation," Washington said. "Certainly the citizens of the republic deserve better than this. Had I but known this was the fated course of my country, I might not have found the strength to liberate Her from the mantle of King George."

Posted at 06:36 AM in Current Affairs, Humor, Politics, War/Defense | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Cool building proposed to be built in Dubai:

In skyscraper-crazy Dubai, tall isn't enough. In a design to be unveiled today in the oil-rich emirate, David Fisher, an Italian-Israeli architect, has dreamed up a 68-story combination hotel, apartment and office tower where the floors would rotate 360 degrees. Each floor would rotate independently, creating a constantly changing architectural form.

Each story of the tower would be shaped like a doughnut and be attached to a center core housing elevators, emergency stairs and other utilities. Wind turbines placed in gaps between the doughnuts would generate electricity.

The doughnuts won't rotate fast enough to give guests upset stomachs. A single rotation would take around 90 minutes. "It's quite slow," says Mr. Fisher.

In a project to be unveiled today, architect David Fisher has dreamed up a 68-story tower where each floor will rotate, causing the building's shape to constantly change.
Mr. Fisher's isn't the first plan for a rotating tower in Dubai. Last year, a local developer showed off plans for a 30-story 200-unit condominium tower that would rotate one revolution per day. Solar panels would drive the rotation mechanism.

It is hard to say whether the plans are simply rotating pies in the sky -- or projects that will actually be erected. But given what has been built in Dubai already, anything seems possible so long as oil prices remain high.

Source:
Dubai Puts a New Spin on Skyscrapers
Planned 68-Story Rotating Tower Part of Massive Construction Spree
ALEX FRANGOS
WSJ, April 11, 2007; Page B1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117625795099465923.html

Posted at 06:06 AM in Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

At three minutes and four seconds after 2 AM on the 6th of May this year,
The time and date will be

02:03:04 05/06/07.

The same thing occurs 12 hours later (PM) -- then This will never quite repeat exactly again.

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Nice interactive Map on the political fund raising of the candidates, via the NYT:

Posted at 06:31 AM in Current Affairs, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Friday the 13th - The Most Widespread Superstition?

The sixth day of the week and the number 13 both have foreboding reputations said to date from ancient times, and their inevitable conjunction from one to three times a year portends more misfortune than some credulous minds can bear. Some sources say it may be the most widespread superstition in the United States. Some people won't go to work on Friday the 13th; some won't eat in restaurants; many wouldn't think of setting a wedding on the date.

Notable births and deaths on Friday the 13th
> 

>

Sources:
Wikipedia: Friday the 13th
Salon: Friday the 13th: Should you stay in bed all day?   
About.com  Why Friday the 13th Is Unlucky   
Wordspy: paraskevidekatriaphobia

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RIAA Lawsuit Decision Matrix