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"BUILDINGS were evacuated, a street was cordoned off and a bomb disposal team called in after workmen spotted a suspicious object.
But the dangerous-looking weapon turned out to be the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, made famous in the 1975 film Monty Python And The Holy Grail."
03/27/2009
links for 2009-03-27
03/25/2009
links for 2009-03-25
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Many variables (suspects) but no definitive causal agent. [via Ed]
03/24/2009
links for 2009-03-24
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It's time to reform offshore banking, and see what untaxed wealth big business is hiding in overseas tax shelters.
But what reason other than evasion could there be for Goldman Sachs Group to set up three subsidiaries in Bermuda, five in Mauritius, and 15 in the Cayman Islands? Why did Countrywide Financial need two subsidiaries in Guernsey? Why did Wachovia need 18 subsidiaries in Bermuda, three in the British Virgin Islands, and 16 in the Caymans? Why did Lehman Brothers need 31 subsidiaries in the Caymans? What do Bank of America's 59 subsidiaries in the Caymans actually do? Why does Citigroup need 427 separate subsidiaries in tax havens, including 12 in the Channel Islands, 21 in Jersey, 91 in Luxembourg, 19 in Bermuda and 90 in the Caymans? What exactly is going on at Morgan Stanley's 19 subs in Jersey, 29 subs in Luxembourg, 14 subs in the Marshall Islands, and its amazing 158 subs in the Caymans? And speaking of AIG, why does it have 18 subs in tax-haven countries? -
NASA will post online nine names that are finalists for the agency's Mars Science Laboratory mission and invite the public to vote for its favorite. The non-binding poll to help NASA select a name opens online Monday, March 23, and will accept votes through March 29. (…)
The naming contest is part of a Space Act Agreement between NASA and Disney. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is the prize provider for the contest. This collaboration made it possible for WALL-E, the animated robotic hero from the 2008 movie of the same name, to appear in the online content inviting students to participate.
Scheduled to launch in 2011 and land on Mars in 2012, the rover will use a set of advanced science instruments to check whether the environment in a selected landing region ever has been favorable for supporting microbial life and preserving evidence of such life. The rover also will search for minerals that formed in the presence of water and look for chemical building blocks of life.
03/22/2009
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Idiot. He knew it was wrong and did it anyway.
"Nate Murphy, whose famous finds include Leonardo, one of the best-preserved dinosaurs in the world, will make that plea in federal court in Billings, Montana.
Earlier this month, Murphy pleaded guilty to state charges of stealing a fossil from private land in order to sell it. An expert cited in that case said Murphy's find was worth between $150,000 and $400,000.
The self-taught dinosaur expert, who is director of vertebrate paleontology at the Judith River Dinosaur Institute, could face jail time."
03/21/2009
Sick Mom Update
I was briefly in Fort Worth, Texas because I was informed that my mother had been admitted to the emergency room.
I came back to Las Vegas with Mom’s cat in tow, err, in a carrier. It could have been an interesting, and perhaps noisy, flight, but she was a very good kitty. We are waiting for her to come out from under one of the beds without hissing at everyone and everything. :^) [update: she let me pet her, but not pick her up. good kitty /soothing voice]
She (Mom, not the cat) has been getting radiation treatments since Tuesday and started chemo on Friday. On the one hand she is doing so much better after her half-assed, passive suicide attempt with regular meals, respiratory treatments, and meds that she is doing pretty good, comparatively. She remains bed-ridden and pretty weak.
Here be spelling errors… and perhaps logic and syntax errors as well. 
She has a roughly frozen juice can (12 x 7 x 8 cm) sized tumor in her upper chest/lower throat (slightly to the right) roughly in the area where she had the lung resection 4 years ago. Obviously, they didn’t get it all. It is a ‘non-small cell,’ ’slow growing,’ and ‘non-aggressive’ cancer. We would have known that if she had admitted that she never went back to the doctor for monitoring. She is a great big fibber.
Anyway, this mass surrounds and constricts the Vena Cava, sub-clavicular artery, and the something or another (brachio-?) cephallic artery. Thus the dizziness, and surface vascularity as her body tries to reroute blood back to her heart. In addition, the mass abuts her esophagus and trachea and displaces them to the left while constricting them about 30%. Hence the hoarseness and difficulties in swallowing. There does not appear to be any erosion of either the esophagus and trachea according to the imaging (MRI, CAT, and X-Ray).
I do not expect that Mom will be able to return to her own house. The current plan, regardless of the outcome of this initial radiation/chemo routine (7 weeks), is to bring her to Nevada so she can be closer to us, but especially for Ian.
I know I am not the only one out there with a loved one in difficulty. Please know my thoughts are with you as well.
03/20/2009
links for 2009-03-20
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Sweet. I dropped a lot of money in the shuffleboard table at Campbell's Tap in Oceola, MO back in the summers of 1978 and 1979. "This classy, professional quality shuffleboard table has it all! Tournament size with a premium two-inch thick play-field with maple wood veneer, the table is coated with a polymer finish for long-lasting performance that never requires resurfacing"
03/16/2009
‘Kiss my fat ass,’ says Meghan McCain
No Laura Ingrahm, you’re trying to wiggle out of your offensive remark by saying. “”Oh com’on I was just being satirical and “teasing.”
That’s the consistent refrain of the passive-aggressive bully. Shame on you. You’re not only a loud-mouthed bully, you’re a chicken. What’s up with that?
‘Kiss my fat ass,’ says Meghan McCain
Last week, Ingraham mocked McCain on her radio show after the daughter of former GOP presidential nominee John McCain urged Republicans to seek compromise with Democrats. Ingraham called McCain “a Valley Girl gone awry” and a “plus-sized model.”
<…>
McCain said she felt like Tyra Banks when the model “went on her show in her bathing suit and said, ‘Kiss my fat ass.’”
“That’s what I feel right now,” McCain said. “I’m like, ‘Kiss my fat ass!’”
Ingraham quickly responded to McCain once again on her show, telling McCain that she needs to learn to deal with satire and “teasing.”
“Can I say ‘lighten up,’ or is that offensive too?” Ingraham asked.
I’m not especially a fan of Meghan McCain, but all I can say is, “Go Meghan!” Too bad you can’t say, “Shut the fuck up, bitch.”
Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney: “‘Scooter’ Libby is an innocent man who deserves a pardon.”
Me: “Why are you even on TV and who cares what you think.”
03/15/2009
links for 2009-03-15
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You have doubtless watched this. I'm just bookmarking it here. And if you haven't seen it, OMG do so now.