2009 August

The funeral was today.
We didn’t have a ton of time to ponder it.  He kinda got notice, put his affairs in order, and died.  People seem to agree that this was a blessing, both for him and those close to him.  I am inclined to go along with them.
Because I started a small avalanche of [...]

The estimated 2009 defense budget is $1916.8B (that’s roughly two trillion dollars to you and me).
The estimated cost of the president’s healthcare bill is north of $1.2 trillion
In 2003, $25 billion came up missing in a Treasury report.
On September 10, 2001, Donald Rumsfeld went on tv (YouTube link) and announced that $2.3 trillion was missing.
The [...]

Cheney is saying he does not object to the rogue behavior of CIA agents who went beyond their legal mandate
Cheney says cooperation with CIA probe “will depend”
Absolute power corrupts absolutely
White House claims Pakistan modified U.S.-made missiles: report
Well maybe we shouldn’t have sold them to Pakistan.  Just sayin…
Great Masterpieces of Anti-Television Storytelling
A great read/view
Pastor Preaches ‘Obama [...]

The Font War: Ikea Fans Fume over Switch to Verdana
Wow.  Just… wow.
Homeland Security Says Laptop Border Searches Will Continue
Change you can count on.
Crime Expert Backs Call For “License To Compute”
It’s hilarious and serious at the same time.
FBI Investigating Mystery Laptops Sent To US Governors
You know some of them are going to be used.  Interesting info [...]

I am not old enough to say goodbye to another person.
This occurs to me as I type the third personal eulogy/remembrance in very recent memory.  My work family has lost a very important, albeit not always visible member.
WHO IS THAT GUY?
This is a question I have heard over and over again in my [...]

London: Police Use Twitter at Climate-Change Protest
Fuzz got hip!
Subprime Lenders at the Head of the Line for Federal Subsidies
Yes, now they’re going to be rewarded for what they did. Nice country, eh?
Two car manufacturers want Bob Dylan’s voice for their GPS
Like a rolling Zimmerman…
IsThisMeetingReallyWorthIt: Meeting Cost Clock
The answer is invariably NO.
Researchers crack WPA Wi-Fi encryption [...]

This one’s a winner, folks.
There is now an infrared camera that can screen people who may have swine flu.  It uses FLIR (Forward Looking Infrafed Radar) to sense temperature/heat.  The ones who look hotter might be sick with… you know… H1N1 [a variant of R2D2].
FLIR (the company) officials said they have sold hundreds of the [...]

Toyota recalls 95,700 Toyota, Scion cars in U.S
Because they’re ugly.
A historian found holes in the official version of the Kennedy assassination.
One historian?  One hole?
Women With High Testosterone Take More Money Risks
And they get to hold onto the remote more too.
Rep. Lipinski wants Congress to rule on carry-on size
Yes, folks, cancer has been cured!
Turn Your [...]

OK, as we all know, I’m usually a bit late to the party (if I show up).  Every now and then someone directs me to something on YouTube that looks interesting.
Actually, people are directing me to YouTube all the time but I find very little of it interesting.
I am truly amazed at the depth and [...]

We are a Dell shop, running Windows XP, for better or worse.
I run linux but have to run an XP box for obvious reasons.
This morning we got a question about someone’s Mac.
“My computer won’t let me get to the internet.”
Uh-oh, don’t you have a Mac?
Yeah, I guess.  Why?
Because none of us support them because we [...]