the hornbeck family - what were they thinking!

let me get this right. the people in the photograph above, are the parents of the 11 year-old missouri boy who was abducted, and for the last four years has apparently endured psychological torture, and quite possibly physical, and sexual torture as well.

this, allegedly at the hands of a pizza-delivery guy by the name of michael devlin.

this story is horrific enough, but now, less than a week after the young hornbeck has been returned by the authorities back to his tearful family, he appears on a television screen!.
yes; his parents have put him on a national television show to tell their story.

er, don’t you think the parents might consider that they first have a duty to try and protect their 11 year-old son? do they really think that by hauling themselves, and him, before the cameras and the entire nation, that this is in any way possibly conducive to the boy’s very best long-term psychological interests? i somehow doubt it.

can either of his parents even spell the word psychological?

to say that this poor kid can’t get a break is a massive understatement. you’d think his parents might allow him to begin to have some room to breathe, some space to move, and hopefully regain some lost dignity.

i'm no expert, but i'd have thought a good therapist was the way forward, not a battery of bright lights, some production manager barking orders, a tv crew, the normally funny, but all-of-a sudden 'concerned'(for added effect) show-host, a lap-dog, carefully chosen, mostly female audience , tearily nodding along on-cue, and the rest of the production that is the very false 'reality', that is a television show.

people never fail to disappoint…

well i'm sure he'll thank them for the experience when he's older...

nutty finally sees the comet!

finally!

from the rooftop of our light-polluted apartment building, bang in the very heart of, hazy, washington, d.c. this time, i finally managed to see comet mcnaught, both naked eye, and with a pair of 10x50 binoculars on a tripod.

at just before 4pm, i spotted it. at first it was very difficult to discern from all the plane contrails (especially in d.c. so close to national airport) but after eliminating a few false alarms, i saw it.

i was amazed to see it easily naked eye about 15 mins later.

i'll be out tomorrow for more of the same.

a naked-eye daytime visible comet is extremely rare. in fact this is the brightest comet of the last 40 years!

tomorrow will probably be your last chance to see this comet, as the weather's not looking too good, and by next saturday it will be below the horizon.

it will be positioned approx 20 degrees below the sun to the south west, and the best time of the day to see it will be between 3:30pm and 4:30pm.

as it's a couple of outstretched handwidths away from the sun, be very careful if you try and use binoculars to spot it. NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN USING BINOCULARS! if you ever want to see again, that is.

if you do miss it, all is not lost.
it is next scheduled to make an appearance in 4534...

e-mail to lexus

i have just seen your tv advert showing a lexus dropped from the sky. at the end, your announcer, smugly proclaims "so much for gravity".

i would just like to point out to your smug announcer, your ad agency, lexus, and toyota engineers, that gravity is the strongest known force in the universe.

should lexus actually manage to produce a car that can withstand the incredible destructive gravitational forces present at the singularity of a super-massive black hole, please don't hesitate to contact me immediately.

sincerely,

nutty.
washington, d.c.

Your PCs forecast climate future

from the bbc:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6268595.stm

A computer model of climate run on home PCs in conjunction with the BBC has yielded its first results.

About 250,000 people downloaded software from climateprediction.net onto their home computers, each running a single simulation of the future.

team nutty is proud to take part in this experiment, and is currently ranked 1,102.

Colombia seizes $54m drugs cash

from the bbc:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6274063.stm

The cash came from shipments delivered by the Norte del Valle cartel, which Washington says has moved more than 500 tons of cocaine to the US.

The first stash of $19m was found in vacuum packed blocks hidden behind a false wall in Cali.

Three other hoards were found earlier this week around the city.

President Alvaro Uribe said he wanted to congratulate the police for a "great accomplishment".

"This is a positive step toward having a Colombia without rebel organisations, without paramilitaries, without drug traffickers or corruption," he told reporters.

that’s complete bollocks, and rhetoric, mr. uribe. it’s impossible to stop a product from being sold that has a 17,000% profit.

that’s why nobody’s done it. including yours and the united states government.

Climate resets 'Doomsday Clock'

from the bbc:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6270871.stm?ls

Experts assessing the dangers posed to civilisation have added climate change to the prospect of nuclear annihilation as the greatest threats to humankind.

As a result, the group has moved the minute hand on its famous "Doomsday Clock" two minutes closer to midnight.

The concept timepiece, devised by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, now stands at five minutes to the hour.

The clock was first featured by the magazine 60 years ago, shortly after the US dropped its A-bombs on Japan.

Not since the darkest days of the Cold War has the Bulletin, which covers global security issues, felt the need to place the minute hand so close to midnight.

…nice to wake up to

'Perilous choices'

The decision to move it came after BAS directors and affiliated scientists held discussions to reassess the idea of doomsday and what posed the most grievous threats to civilisation.

Growing global nuclear instability has led humanity to the brink of a "Second Nuclear Age," the group concluded, and the threat posed by climate change is second only to that posed by nuclear weapons.

"When we think about what technologies besides nuclear weapons could produce such devastation to the planet, we quickly came to carbon-emitting technologies," said Kennette Benedict, executive director of the Chicago-based BAS.

The announcement was made at simultaneous events held by the magazine in London and in Washington DC that included remarks from the English Astronomer Royal, Sir Martin Rees, and physicist Stephen Hawking.

…like these guys know anything…


look on the bright side; at least i didn’t mention bush!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANonAJY61zE

Control Room (2004)

this is an absolutely must-see documentary film. period.

put it straight to the very top of your netflix queue.

Barack Obama

i don't know why people are questioning his credentials to run for president.

i mean, how much worse can he be than the one we've already got?

90 Killed in Baghdad; U.N. Sets ’06 Toll Above 34,000

can you begin to imagine how americans would react if this had happened in their capital?....

their own killing their own.

from bush's speech: "And one message came through loud and clear: Failure in Iraq would be a disaster for the United States."

would be a disaster...? IT IS A DISASTER!

sorry, george, but if this was any other country, this would be labelled a civil war.

and one more thing, george. YOUR so-called vision of shoehorning american-style democracy in a middle-eastern country, by way of an uninvited occupation, has probably done more to incite hatred and recruit suicide bombers than anyone.

why you should become a member of REI

it's not many times that i'll praise a corporation on my blog. in fact most of the time, it's quite the opposite. but in this case, REI really did surprise me.

went to REI to buy some winter snow boots the other evening as they are having a big sale. as i’m trying on different boots, only to find the ones i want they don’t have in my size, the extremely helpful, and not at all annoying sales associate (how unusual is that?) notices that my girlfriend is wearing a pair of boots they carry. she mentions that she bought them a couple of years ago, but they have a tear in them.

let me point out these boots have not been well-looked after, …to say the least, but to my amazement, the guy turns to my girlfriend and says “you’re a member, right?” she responds “yes”.
“oh, we’ll replace those”, he then disappears into the stock room, returns with a brand new pair in a box and hands them to her, beaming.

it gets better. she goes up to the sales counter, whereupon the clerk keys in her REI membership information. “you bought these two years ago” he says. “yes” she replies. “oh, you get thirty dollars back, then. these are on sale, right now”. “that doesn’t sound right” she says, with me nodding, “that’s the way the way the system works” the sales clerk responds.

so she gets a brand new replacement pair of boots, no questions asked. in fact, she didn’t even ask.. and $30 dollars back after 2 years of mistreatment!, all because of a slight tear. amazing!

REI membership = lifetime warranty!

i’ve just ordered a pair of mountain boots and thermals online, (amateur astronomy observing in winter isn’t exactly warm) and from now on we’re buying ALL camping, mountain, and related clothing equipment,etc. from REI!

why would you not?

“Hold Your Wee for a Wii"

from The Associated Press:

A 28-year-old suburban Sacramento woman died of apparent “water intoxication” after participating in a contest — “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” — sponsored by local radio station 107.9 KDND. The rules were simple: Participants simply competed to see how much water they could drink without going to the bathroom. The winner would receive a shiny new Wii video game console, the highly coveted, $250 must-have from Nintendo.

She left behind a husband, two sons and a daughter. From The Associated Press:

..that’s a great contest. exactly WHO thought that one up?

appropriate logo...

here's their website. absolutely no mention of it.

http://endonline.com/home_content/index.php
the actual winner of the contest is going to have so much fun playing video games in the knowledge that somebody died trying to win this 107.9 KDND...

what's the betting it'll be put up on ebay...

Hope over 'obesity-busting gum

from the bbc:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6262347.stm

Scientists are looking at whether an appetite-suppressing chewing gum could be used to tackle obesity.

An injectible treatment could be available in five to eight years, but the long-term goal is to produce a form that can be absorbed in the mouth.

One in five adults are obese, but that could rise to one in three by 2010.

of, course if mcdonalds hit all their company targets, then that figure will rise to four out of three...

come on san diego!

it also helps that i can't stand the patriots.

e-mail to fox sports: fox sports & joe buck get it wrong (again)

this may come as bit of a shock to joe buck, fox sports, and nascar fans, but "the world's best drivers" are not driving round a track solely consisting of left turns...

they are called world rally championship drivers. it's a sport that has rounds that take place in different countries, has drivers from different nations, is followed around the world and is supported by international manufacturers (UNLIKE NASCAR)

THERE IS A WORLD OUTSIDE OF NORTH AMERICA!

GO BEARS!

rooting for the bears even though i don't like rex grossman, and i do like the seahawks.

er, that makes perfect sense...

Cocaine on '100% of Irish euros'

from the bbc:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6250189.stm

Cocaine on '100% of Irish euros'

One hundred percent of banknotes in the Republic of Ireland carry traces of cocaine, a new study has found.

Some of the notes had such high levels of cocaine on them that it is thought they were used to snort the drug.

extremely high levels of guinness odours were also detected…

Money is not my motive – Beckham

from the bbc:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/6253613.stm

Money is not my motive – Beckham

David Beckham insists his move to LA Galaxy is not financially driven.

The 31-year-old will earn a reported $250m over five years after agreeing to leave Real Madrid for the Major League Soccer side at the end of the season.

The deal means Beckham will be earning 500 times more each week than most of his team-mates at Los Angeles.

But he said: "I didn't want to go there at 34 years old and for people to say he's only going for the money. It's not what I'm going out there to do."

he also said that aliens are living among us, he and ‘posh’ were very good friends with elvis, and met regularly in a restaurant in real madrid, richard simmons work-out videos were all the rage in britain, and that he was 110% positive that la galaxy would make it to the very top in international competition…

since you've opened your mouth, why don't you set up and donate the money to charities if you really want to be taken seriously. otherwise, nobody on the planet is gonna' believe you.

after all, it's what you do in the shirt that counts.

Skull Supports Theory of Human Migration

from the new york times:

Skull Supports Theory of Human Migration

From a new analysis of a human skull discovered in South Africa more than 50 years ago, scientists say they have obtained the first fossil evidence establishing the relatively recent time for the dispersal of modern Homo sapiens out of Africa.

The migrants appeared to have arrived at their new homes in Asia and Europe with the distinct and unmodified heads of Africans.

An international team of researchers reported yesterday that the age of the South African skull, which they dated at about 36,000 years old, coincided with the age of the skulls of humans then living in Europe and the far eastern parts of Asia, even Australia. The skull also closely resembled skulls of those humans.

creationists counter that this is simply preposterous, since the bible, the only one and everlasting true, real authority, teaches us that the earth and everything on it is only 6,000 years old. they also point out that these unbelieving, so-called ‘scientists’ have clearly demonstrated in their sorcercy that they have used satan’s evil in order to spread wickedness, and as such, will all burn in hell for their sins.

team nutty powers on

team nutty overtakes kung-fu hamsters!

portrait of a world leader

anyone watching bush give his vastly unimpressive speech cannot fail to have noticed that he completely omitted one important sector of the demographic as he spoke during last night’s address on the so called ‘war on terror’.

the most telling, was the line, “the american people are not satisfied”…. “i’m not satisfied”…er, what about the iraqi people not being satisfied!? he spoke to the nation as if the iraqis weren’t even listening!, or involved. how unbelievably arrogant can this man continue to act? plenty, it seems.

then there was the gem about malaki and “his people”. malaki couldn’t even arrange a hanging a few days ago. period.

no, george bush. you chose to present a medal to the parents of a soldier who gave his life for others the very next day after your speech, a speech given in a room where there were many rich, handsome volumes of important literary works forming a pleasing, soothing, dignified backdrop to your carefully choreographed words.

it’s a pity you haven’t read any of them…

the only speech president bush can make that i'll take seriously:

wanna see a comet - possibly naked eye?

the photo above is of comet mcnaught. if you want to see this comet, dress very warmly, and prepare to spend at least 30 mins. braving the elements if you live somewhere cold (it's gonna feel like 26 degrees with windchill in d.c when the sun goes down in d.c this evening) it's no fun getting cold. and once you are cold, you're just not going to want to be outside.

get to some place off the ground floor, the higher up the better. away from bright lights if you can.

go outside and wait for the sun to set. all those layers making for warm clothes, gloves, hats, scarves, hand and foot warmers, etc. are looking like a real good idea now...

as soon as the sky starts to darkens, to the southwest you will see venus shining brilliantly. 17 degrees away (just more than an outstretched hand held at arms length) slightly south of east, you will see comet mcnaught, hovering a few degrees above the horizon. it will be very difficult to spot if you have no binoculars, no supporting tripod, and have no prior observing experience. be patient and you might get lucky and be rewarded, especially if it brightens (it's closer to earth than the sun, or mercury). observing's not like watching tv. there is no instant gratification. that's why i do it.

the reason it's bright is because it's close to the sun (that's why we never, ever see venus and mercury high in sky overhead), that means that it's going to 'chase' the setting sun below the horizon. by 7pm, the comet will be below the horizon, so in effect we have little over an hour of available viewing.

after tonight, it will be to low in the sky for observers in mid-latitudes, and will become an object for southern observers. that means that tonight's it! (sorry - no reruns).

patience is highly rewarded in amateur astronomy. the more you observe, the more you see. literally. when i first started looking at 'faint fuzzies', as they call them, i could hardly make out any detail, now when i look at the same objects, i can see a lot more detail. weird.

i'm off to my roof deck, to get a good look with binoculars and tripod (highly recommended).

good luck!

Landis angered by Pound criticism

from the bbc:

Landis angered by Pound criticism
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/6244041.stm

Tour de France winner Floyd Landis has hit back at criticism of him by World Anti-Doping Agency chief Dick Pound.

Pound described Landis' stage 17 win, after which he tested positive, "as a great story", adding, "but if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

"He was 11 minutes behind, and all of a sudden there's this Herculean effort, where he's going up mountains like he's on a goddam Harley."

Landis has responded by calling Pound's comments "defamatory and absurd".

floyd llandis has every right to be outraged. it’s obvious dick pound knows absolutely nothing about motorcycles. if he did, he’d have said llandis was on a ducati.

er, can harleys actually make it up those mountains, dick?

first it's the creator of instant noodles, now it's the creator of muttley.

from the bbc:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6243717.stm

Iwao Takamoto, the US animator who created cartoon dogs Scooby-Doo and Muttley, has died aged 81.

as a kid, i never liked scooby-doo, but impossible not to root for muttley.

dc blogger summit - but not for dc bloggers...

i posted this response:

dc blogger?

sounds like a cheese party with bad music, bright light and resumes. not for people who actually live in dc and blog. hmm.

conclusion: typical lame d.c. bollocks!

p.s. i'm posting this to my blog.

nutty

college football wins, and loses at the same time

what a great week of college football.

but do you think can they can try and make the whole system just a little more complicated and absurd...?

detroit: what a friggin' let down!

when i was a kid growing up, this was what we were promised for the 21st century.

what have you given us instead? fuel-inefficient giant suv's and pick-up trucks!

thank you! it was this man and his programme that started my passion for astronomy.

from the bbc:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6238447.stm

The Sky at Night enters 50th year

Sir Patrick Moore has presented the 650th episode of BBC One's astronomy programme The Sky at Night, nearly 50 years after the show first aired.

Sir Patrick presented the first show, when he was asked to do three programmes on astronomy in 1957.

At 83, he is British television's longest serving presenter, and still continues his own astronomy work.

The series began before the launch of the world's first man-made satellite, Sputnik 1, and the "space age".

But since then it has witnessed the first pictures of the far side of the Moon in 1959, the Apollo Moon landings of 1969 and the UK's total solar eclipse in 1999.

Many of the world's leading astronomers have appeared on the show, including Harlow Shapley, who first measured the size of the Milky Way galaxy, Carl Sagan and Fred Hoyle.

Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin have also been guests.

Without a big budget, the programme has often had to take innovative approaches to explaining our Solar System.

It has also had to deal with the problems of star gazing in a part of the world flooded with light.

Sir Patrick explained the show's enduring appeal: "Astronomy's a fascinating subject. You look up... you can't help getting interested and it's there. We've tried to bring it to the people.. it's not me, it's the appeal of the subject."

knighthoods in england are sadly all too often 'doled' out to 'undeserving' captains of big industry, and big-name entertainment stars, etc. but in this case, patrick caldwell moore really does deserve the title, sir.

feedback from dodge

On 1/7/07, customerassistmkt customerassistmkt@daimlerchrysler.com

Dear Mark:

Let me assure you that DaimlerChrysler appreciates all the various forms
of feedback we receive in regard to our television advertising. Your
opinion is very important and provides valuable input in determining
what types of advertising will be created in the future and where
advertising dollars should be spent.

We understand your concern with this advertising and appreciate the time
you took to express your opinion.

Your dissatisfaction has been noted.

If you have further questions, please feel free to reply to this email.
You may also call us on our toll-free number at 1-800-964-0600.

Privacy
http://www.daimlerchrysler.com/disclaimer/index.html

Robin
Senior Staff Representative
Chrysler Group Information Center

my response:

robin,

as expected, the only thing daimlerchrysler can assure me of is not taking the time or effort to respond personally to my e-mail.

don't tell me my opinion is very valuable and then not address any of my concerns, and instead respond with a generic response. that's company bullshit and we both know it.

i'm posting your complete reply to my blog, as i did my original e-mail to dodge vehicles, including your name and e-mail.

your last line is somewhat correct; none of my future dollars will ever be spent with daimlerchrysler.

mark

Protons, Neutrons and Electrons: The Stuff of Life

The above image shows Hubble's map: Dark matter may be invisible but it accounts for most of the Universe's mass. Its gravitational attraction acts as a template, pulling normal matter - the stars in their galaxy groupings – into the large-scale structures we can see through telescopes.

or if that doesn’t mean much too you, the universe is made up of:

4% atoms – that means that everything we know about, including you, me, other humans, all other life forms, tv’s cars, mountains, air, seas, planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies, etc. i.e. absolutely everything. period.

23% cold dark matter – the stuff that holds galaxies, and clusters of galaxies together, but we can’t detect, but we know it’s there, but we also know that it doesn’t belong to the above 4% group.

73% dark energy. the force that is driving the expansion of the universe and has been since the big bang (sorry creationists)

that means that 96% of the energy density in the universe is in a form that has never been directly detected in the laboratory.

e-mail to chevy

over the years, it’s been my great misfortune to see some truly terrible tv adverts, but having witnessed your new “this is our country, this is our truck” ad, it seems indeed possible that new lows can not only be reached, but punctured, gored, and harpooned, using a large, blunt object. and all in the name of selling a pick-up truck.

allow me to elucidate. (if you are unsure of this word’s exact meaning, go buy yourselves a dictionary – if your 2006 profits allow…)

just how many more american icons can you vomit forth and fit into 30 seconds? must have been a tough decision to leave out a plague of locusts and the twin towers actually falling on 9/11..

couldn’t you find a burning flag somewhere? couldn’t you just hold up a photograph of a 4-year-old girl smiling at ronald reagan waving a banner that says “if you don’t buy chevy trucks, they’ll go bankrupt!”.

ah yes; the imagery.

“this is our concept vehicle” – an anvil. this is a completely immovable object. strange choice for transportation…

no hispanics, or other minorities? guess it’s not “their country”…

and all this wrapped up in john mellencamp country twang bollocks, oops!, i forgot the ‘couger’! er, hasn’t he done some recent rebranding of his own? i did some research.

his political values seem equally elastic. he and his spouse once wrote a jeremiad against the bush administration that said, in part: “it is time to take back our country. take it back from political agendas, corporate greed and overall manipulation.”

that was in 2003. now he’s sitting on the fender of a chevy truck, strumming a guitar and singing, “well, i can stand beside ideals i think are right, and i can stand beside the idea to stand and fight.” he can also stand beside a nice shiny truck, if the fee is right

i’m sorry chevy, but i’ve been asked to write this e-mail to you as i have a number of very good mates, every one a thoroughly good bloke,(you’re gonna need that dictionary, but not an american one for this), including beesch, and without fail, they are sustaining very sore wrists, as they instinctively reach for their remote controls in anger to hit the mute button.

won’t you hear their pleas for help?

i, and they, await your response.

nutty
washington, d.c

go jets!

history keeps repeating itself

from voa news:
http://voanews.com/english/2007-01-07-voa11.cfm

Iraq's Leader Says Campaign Will Soon Begin to Make Baghdad Safer

don’t tell me; al-maliki's going to get the american military to erect billboards all around baghdad proclaiming "YES! BAGHDAD'S SAFE. GO SHOPPING!", then he's going to cut taxes for the rich, mismanage the economy, refuse to sign the kyoto protocol, invade another country, where he isn’t wanted, botch the whole job, and blame everyone else..

e-mail to dodge vehicles

I quote: "The Rock'em Sock'em robots are a symbol of toughness and the ability to out-last the competition, which are among the key attributes of the Dodge Ram pickup truck," said Mark Spencer, Senior Manager - Dodge Marketing and Global Communications.

i find this tv advert incredible. are not all modern vehicles required by law to incorporate impact-absorbing safety crumple zones? in your tv advert, all the force of the attacking robot is not absorbed by the dodge ram pick up truck, but is redirected back from the truck, quickly immobilizing the robot (smoke rising from neck, etc.)

surely this sends quite a disturbing message. if you are in a vehicle, traveling at any speed, relative to x, and you are involved in an accident, and that vehicle doesn't absorb any impact (like your dodge ram in your tv advert, all that impact will transmitted to you. that is something very, very bad (unless you want the occupant to suffer).

i.e. you actually want your truck to absorb all the blows.
that's how you get out alive...

i await your response,

mark solomon
washington d.c.

ah, the good old usa

from the bbc:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6236585.stm

A washing machine complete with a warning not to put anybody inside has been given an award for the "wackiest warning" by a US lobby group.

The Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch says the tendency of Americans to sue companies has gone too far, encouraging absurd warning labels on products.

apparently, common sense isn't sufficient, or common anymore.

i wonder what the warning labels say on washing machines say in baghdad....

letter to the democratic party

got a e-mail today from the howard dean democratic party looking for contributions.

here's what i sent back:

here's my contribution, howard:

get your party off the fence and make a stand on climate change. make ratifying the kyoto protocol the number one democratic election issue. every single child in america is learning about this issue right now when they go to school. the science for it, is overwhelming.

tell everybody in this country it's their future. tell children their parents have to stop living in a dream world, and wake up to reality. tell americans they have a moral responsibility to stop polluting the world, and stop pretending it isn't their problem. it's now everyone's problem.

tell americans that if want the world to be a better place, then they have to actually do something more than go shopping. tell them that they have to change. if they want to lose weight, they know they have to give up something (like food, and go exercise). talk alone, will not secure a better future. there are no quick fixes, but america has an incredible opportunity to lead the world forward in clean technology instead of just polluting it.

how refreshing a message would that be! who wouldn't vote for that!

come on, howard, just how brave are you really? here's your one chance...

and democrats: if howard isn't 'the man', i suggest you go and get someone who is.

mark solomon
washington d.c.

daisy makes yoga news headlines!

YOGINI OF THE MONTH

Rebecca Stack recently completed the Flow Yoga Center 30-Day Challenge....

of course, she couldn't walk or sit down properly for the next week...

a higher order, perhaps?

i believe team nutty is ranked higher than team jesus...

the world's fastest taxi?

from the bbc:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_east/6231085.stm

Taxi driver's 420mph speed ticket

A taxi driver has been given a speeding ticket for allegedly driving at 420mph (676km/h) on a city street.

Tom Matthews was photographed while carrying a fare in his 12-year-old diesel Vauxhall Cavalier in Newport.

When a notice of the £60 fine and three penalty points arrived, it said he was clocked at 420mph in a 30mph zone.

Mid and South Wales Safety Camera Partnership apologised and said the mistake was made by an employee rather than roadside equipment.

letter to the new york times:

Dear Sirs,

I read your article yesterday: 'Man Is Rescued by Stranger on Subway Tracks'.
What a wholly inadequate headline!

Yes, he made it all the way to the editorial the following day, but you still seemed to miss the point.

The word 'Hero' is so overused by the present Bush administration when it comes to the military and its role in Iraq, that not a week seems to go by that it isn't trotted out like some crude geometry conditional statement:

"you serve in the military, therefore you are a hero".

This ordinary man, on the other hand, did something very heroic, not for his country, but instead a completely selfless act for another ordinary man, someone he didn't know. why not give him some special recognition; how about a medal for Mr. Wesley Autrey!

Come on New York Times. Get the headline right.

Stranger Rescued by Hero on Subway Tracks.

mark solomon
washington, d.c.

a real life hero

from the new york times:

Man Is Rescued by Stranger on Subway Tracks

personally, i’m sick to death of the overworked ‘hero’ tag automatically applied to each and every member of the military serving in iraq. i’m sorry, but you’re not a hero until you actually do something heroic.

we take young men, train them to kill, and let them. soldiers do society’s dirtiest work. that’s why we decorate them in ceremony, playing music of pomp, where we pin medals to their chests. all nations do the same.

we don’t do the same to members of society that actually save lives like heart and brain surgeons, nor do we bestow such honours upon teachers and professors.

strange when you really think about how civilized we think we have become…


this ordinary man did something very heroic, i’m quite sure many would not. not for his country, but a completely selfless act for another ordinary man, someone he didn't know. why not give him some special recognition; how about a medal for him!

come on new york times. get the headline right.

Stranger Rescued by Hero on Subway Tracks.

coming to the nfl...

anyone watching the sugar bowl cannot fail to be impressed by the arm of jamarcus russell

"now who would have thought that!"

from the bbc:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6224531.stm

The Iraqi government has launched an inquiry into unofficial mobile phone footage showing the execution of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

…wouldn’t it have been easier to have not allowed any electronic devices in the room in first place, or didn’t the geniuses think that was a distinct possibility?…

much easier to hold an inquiry…

what were they expecting; cucumber sandwiches, followed by tea and biscuits?

elevated 'ain advisory! beesh might be trying to dethrone team nutty!

some disturbing developments regarding team nutty:

i was going over the team nutty stats for climateprediction.net and i came across this participant:

acme cheeze. it has 3 active members

go to:

http://climateapps2.oucs.ox.ac.uk/cpdnboinc/team.php

and type: acme cheeze, under search.

beesch. is this you and some sick underground secret ‘ain society, trying to topple team nutty?

we all know of the former minister's problems with cheese, but i never thought it would come to this!

most worrying…

US President George W Bush intends to reveal a new Iraq strategy within days

from the bbc:

Bush 'to reveal Iraq troop boost'

college football

i haven't seen a whole lot of college football, but this massive upset of oklahoma by tiny underdogs, boise state, surely showed what american football is all about much more than t.o's highly paid athletic prowess and neuroses.

if any of the nfl playoff games, and especially the usually lame superbowl, come anywhere close to the dramatically, thrilling fiesta bowl game between boise state vs. oklahoma, i'll be surprised.

wow!

that was one hell of an entertaining game of football. just impossible not to root for boise. what ballsy play-calling at the end!

of course, makes a nonesense of the insanity that is college football rankings, since the winner of this game can't go on to play ohio state...

how to dj...

from wikihow:


Step 1.

So you want to be a DJ, the traditional way.

You already have two turntables, a mixer and a pile of records. You want to mix one song with the next by blending them, but they don't match. What you need to do is figure out the BPMs (beats per minute) of each song to know if you need to bring the tempo up or down to have them both playing at the same speed.

er, what happened to listening to the record and learning to first catch a beat?

Listen to the song and pay close attention to the drum beat. Try to isolate it from the rest of the instruments and the vocal track. If you are new to this, try first with the instrumental version of the song if it's available, as it'll make things easier.

why not buy some enya…

…..A great help for starting DJs is to write down the BPMs of the songs on the record sleeves and then sort them by speed from the slowest to the fastest ones. That way, you know in what order to play them in your DJ set. (did christine moritz write this?)

because you never want variety…

conclusion: :(

now, have you got all that, tanc...?

didn't take long

from the new york times:

Broncos cornerback shot and killed

Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams was killed and two other people were wounded in downtown Denver early Monday when the occupant of a passing vehicle unloaded a handgun into the limo in which Williams was a passenger.

Williams, 24, became the city’s first homicide victim of 2007 when he was shot shortly after 2 a.m. as he and a group of friends, including Broncos wide receiver Javon Walker, were driven away from a nightclub at 10th and Broadway.

i’m not making this up. this is from a link from the NRA’s site:
http://www.givethemback.com/

A Shocking Story of Gun Confiscation In America

The video you will see on this web site is horrifying. The crimes committed against law-abiding gun owners are beyond comprehension. The arrogance of anti-gun politicians and government officials and their hate of freedom will churn your stomach.

The law is the law, the Constitution is the Constitution. If ONE local mayor or police chief can decide what the Second Amendment means, it opens the door to tyranny—where ANY mayor or police chief can say what the Second Amendment means.

That's why I'm asking you to make a special contribution to help guarantee that all firearms confiscated by New Orleans Mayor Nagin and Police Superintendent Compass are immediately returned to our fellow gun owners.

You’ve seen this brand of abuse of freedom in the history books—in the pages about days of gun confiscations leading to the terror of Stalin, Mao and Hitler. But you’d never in a million years think it could happen in America.

Well, it can and it did. And it will happen again unless we take action today.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Police Superintendent P. Eddie Compass unleashed a wave of confiscations with these chilling words:

“No one will be able to be armed. We will take all weapons. Only law enforcement will be allowed to have guns.”

Thousands of firearms were then confiscated from law-abiding gun owners. The police gave no paperwork or receipts for those guns. They just stormed in and seized them.

With your help we’re going to make the first time in New Orleans the LAST time in America. Thank you!

From the NRA: happy new year to darrent williams’ family…

go michigan!

not because i'm particularly a fan of michigan, but i can't relate to a place that doesn't have a winter.

many thanks to salim!

for the most, most, excellent glenrothes single malt whiskey we enjoyed last night.

cheers mate :)

also,

er, rebecca loved the "she who must be obeyed" phone call"

i'm sure she won't reference that for the rest of year... :(

she's just informed me that it's her pick for the best gift of 2007.

i guess i should thank you...