Slashdot Mirror

Alaska's pork should be reduced in 2007 for two reasons:

1. Uncle Ted Stevens is a Republican, and the Dems have the majority in the Senate (49+1+1=51 vs. 49). Therefore, Uncle Ted isn't in the majority, and he can't use his majority status to ram things through appropriations.

2. The Senate has "eliminated" pork, known as earmarks, for this budget cycle (source). I'm sure it won't be a 100% freeze, but given that the amount of earmarked appropriations skyrocketed under the GOP-led Congress (60% increase in the past five years), it's reasonable to expect that it will be reduced dramatically -- especially to states with two Republican Senators and a Republican Representative, such as Alaska.

So, with Uncle Ted presumably bringing in less pork for the foreseeable future, will Alaskans react by electing a Dem, or will they re-elect Uncle Ted in the hopes that the GOP recapture the senate and Stevens' seniority becomes valuable locally again?

Single mode fiber cables are not $0.40 a fiber foot. They are $0.09 a fiber foot at 500ft 12 fiber with ends (Black box 500ft fiber cable). Single mode goes 60km at 10Gb/s between 1550nm repeaters.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-mode_optical_f iber
Future data rates are in the many Tb/s range for one fiber. Multimode needs repeaters more often, but has higher capacity using WDM (multiple simultaneous frequencies). The supercomputer backbone runs 100Gb/s.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0612060 108dec06,0,2753357.story?coll=chi-business-hed

The thing is that these communication companies have lots of dark fiber to expand the communications "pipes" between cities. The only real reason is that they want to artificially restrict supply as to keep data communication costs high to milk the public. By wanting to make "smart" networks nodes, they will slow the agregate data rates over what a "dumb" system would provide. BY trying to prioritize packets, they have to add things to look at each packet and decide if this packet has priority. That takes a lot of resources. Simply sending it on its way to the next node looking only at its destination address, takes very little computing resources. More resources that are required at each node means more expensive nodes and lower flow through the node. It makes sense only if the pipes between nodes are packed to the gills with data. If the pipe has extra capacity, that extra computing power is wasted. All it does is add costs without any real benefit to the consumer, only adding profits to the comm provider. This is the achilles heel of the non neutrality argument. The one that they try to ignore or gloss over.

A simple "dumb" router for 16 10GbE is $25K cost ($100K price). It maintains a robust network environment. A complex "smart" router of the same size is $250K cost ($1M price). For the price difference, you can buy 16 duplex fiber cables at $2.88 a foot (price) of 95km each. Instead of one smart router you can buy 4 dumb routers and an extra 20km of 3 additional fibers on each route. So for that one smart router, you get 4 dumb routers with 4 times the capacity over the same distances (20km between nodes) using about the same power. Those critical high priority packets flow unimpeeded because there is plenty of idle bandwidth for them to use. In fact you can handle twice the number of those high priority packets per second and still have plenty of room for the lower priority packets as a smart router can handle just high priority packets with no room left over for any others.

And as features go up, the smart routers cost more and more. The trends will widen the gap between the dumb network and the smart network as communication speeds go up and demand doubles every 18 months. Fiber cables will be placed in the ground with more and more of individual fibers in each one. That reduces the "laying" cost which is about the same whether you are laying a 6 fiber cable or a 216 fiber cable. The latter holds many more spare fibers to be used in case one breaks or goes bad. So the build methods also favor the dumb, but lots approach over a few smart ones. Far less chance of all the dumb ones failing at any given period over the few smart ones.

Net neutrality favors the customer and a smart "dumb" communications provider. The "dumb" providers costs are lower, capacity is greater and is more reliable thus, gets more demand and more profits than the prioritizing "smart" providers whose plans only work, if there is few of the "dumb" ones and even more dumb customers.

Like most paper theories, the ideas may sound good, but they fail when put in practice. The non net neutrality argument is one of those that don't pass the practice test.

Here's the link to a plain-english read on it by the chicago tribune: http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ez orn/2006/09/scary_movie_dow.html

Here's an explitive laced though pretty good summary: http://www.boingboing.net/2006/09/15/amazon_unbox_ to_cust.html

Here's the EULA: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.htm l/ref=atv_dp_cs_use/002-8388024-7705601?ie=UTF8&no deId=200026970

From the bottom of my heart, I thank all unbox consumers for abaondoning the decades of time and people's effort to create and guard the principal that I own my media.

I'm sure I won't be the only person to reply and point out that hours of national TV exposure (and subsequent stories, etc) are worth at LEAST $2M. As they say, "no press is bad press.."

Furthermore, think about how many people (on the fringes of their target demographics) that hadn't heard of ATHF are now keenly aware of the show? With the movie coming up.. yea.. $2M is cheap.

FTFA: "Ms. Coakley said the amount was more than the state would have obtained through litigation. The settlement shields the companies from civil or criminal liability by state and local agencies, Ms. Coakley said."

..and frankly, in the end, they may not have been liable for any of this anyhow.. since it was mostly just the Boston police/whomever being semi-retarded. But $2M is a small price to pay for the publicity they got, and now the goodwill of paying "more than their fair share" towards homeland security and what the authorities even term as "goodwill funds."

Too bad ATHF jumped the shark a bit (IMHO) after season 3. And even more bad that the two poor schmucks working for the ad agency are still charged with crimes. They should be set free, and whatever moron phoned in a litebrite as a "bomb" (and the corresponding police moron who agreed with him) should be looking at potential liability. WTF is wrong with our government. Does anybody remember the post-9/11 homeland security debacle with Tom Ridge reccomending people use duct tape and plastic sheeting to protect themselves from terrorists.. and then several people dying by asphyxiating themselves in their own homes? The sad fact is that our society has become so stupid and centered around sensationalist events that terrorists don't even need to make bombs anymore.. just scatter throughout several major cities a few dozen briefcases with litebrites affixed to them, and watch the panic ensue.

While I don't agree with "offering cash for dissenting papers" I do think that the scientists with opposing viewpoints AND the evidence to support these viewpoints do need to get more coverage. The Global Warming subject is currently a media darling as evidenced by Al Gore's recent Nobel Prize nomination for his "work" in this area. I guess the invention of the Internet wasn't good enough for a nomination! http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi -0702020118feb02,1,4285055.story?coll=chi-newsnati onworld-hed/

The Trib reports Chicago cops went out last night and collected all the Chicago examples.

It's actually the poop of some giant monster worms creatures, but who cares, let's eat it anyway.

Well, stupid rich people are already doing that.

Save all your receipts. Anything your company ends up not paying for (and maybe even some of the things they do) are tax deductible if you're moving due to a job.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/realestat e/yourplace/chi-0701180020jan18,0,7207865.story?co ll=chi-classifiedyourplace-hed

Surveillance cameras in Chicago are not only in high-crime areas. They are pretty much all over the downtown areas in low-crime areas, including Streeterville, the River North, all along Michigan Ave and State St. and pretty much everywhere in between every 3-4 blocks (every one or two blocks in some areas such as the Streerterville areas around the Columbus and Grand Ave area.). The ones in high-crime areas are the most obvious since they have flashing blues light on them, but the ones in other areas are just small black ball cameras hanging off the street lights. Some of them even seem to have some sort of wireless transmitter (indicated by the rather large antenna hanging beneath some of them.)

Mayor Daley recently pledged to have surveillance cameras on "virtually every block" in Chicago by 2016 and recently proposed that every business in Chicago requiring every "'licensed business that is open more than 12 hours in a 24-hour period to install and monitor a ''sufficient number of cameras'' to record the comings and goings of its customers." Here is the an article from the Sun Times:

Picture this: Aldermen caught on camera: http://www.suntimes.com/news/anderson/209791,CST-E DT-monroe14.article

Another recent article described the removal of surveillance cameras from Millenium Park, stating that "As suddenly as a pair of security cameras had appeared last month on Jaume Plensa's brightly lit glass-block towers at Millennium Park, they were gone Tuesday. Anxiety over national security saw them installed atop one of Chicago's most visible public art installations. Uneasiness over their aesthetic impact had them removed."

Millennium Park cameras removed after outcry: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/newsroom /chi-061219park-cameras,1,4093395.story?coll=chi-n ewsroom-hed

The University of Chicago has recently installed a 9.4 Tesla superconducting magnet for fMRI brain research. They claim this MRI can resolve down to individual neurons, and can even watch them fire. A press report is available here.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-06122 90280dec29,1,3035061.story?coll=chi-newslocal-hed

Your math is good up until you assume that even a minor percentage of wii accidents are reported to one particular little-known website.

I agree with you, which I included the comment that this Wii problem website is not going to be a reliably accurate portrayal of the incident amounts. However, this site does go beyond a 'little-known' website. It's been mentioned in a Reuters news article which gets published to various news outlets such as yahoo, Chicago Tribune, the New York Post, the Los Angeles Times, CNN Money, and the Washington Post not to mention the hordes of local newspapers, blogs, TV and Radio stations who reported on this topic and mentioned that website.

Suffice it to say, they're not 'little-known' when talking about the topic of Wii remote damages. However, I would believe that they don't have accurate data or methods to accurately report the data. Though, as I mentioned in my earlier post, it would have to be off by 400% to even reach 1%, which would be an amount at which I can start to see an actual product defect, rather than 'user defect', so to speak, hehe.

I'm sure there's a large margin of error on that math as it's just using basic estimates and takes in a lot of assumptions, but I think it does put this 'Wii remote damage' phenomenon into a better perspective of how it's more of a 'bizarre' news story than an actual consumer problem. It seems more like FUD than a creditable concern. I'd boldly state that not even Kevin Bacon can be connected to a case. =P hehe Of course, there's plenty of room for me to be wrong on this. =)

Cheers,
Fozzy

Really, though, what did you expect from Texas?

Link

The only people in the case with a conscience are the jurors, the prosecutor and the judge had no qualms. That's not really a surprise though, not too many defense attorneys become judges. In fact, the more people you imprison as a prosecutor, the better your chance to become a judge or hold public office - this combined with prosecutorial immunity - and the fact that charges are rarely filed against prosecutors who engage in clearly illegal behavior such as destroying evidence - is why the legal system in the USA is so fucked up.

And, as you can clearly see, the idiots on the juries on each and every single one of these cases ate the bullshit the prosecution's expert witness threw at them. The lack of funding to defense attorneys by the state ensures that the prosecution's witness is the only one your average jury will see. And because most juries are composed of people who have barely completed what passes for a "high school education" in this country, the will smile and nod their head and convict you.

USA! USA! USA!

We give local police guns and other equipment to protect the public, but we can't trust them with cellular-jamming equipment?

I can't really figure out where the new news is in this, seeing as we're already on the "Illinois ain't paying squat" part of this saga.

Blagojevich hasn't paid for video lawsuit as judge ordered (Chicago Tribune, reg. required, subscription-free Sun Times here.)

...[L]awyers from Jenner & Block in Washington, D.C. say they haven't received the money or an explanation for the delay, according to court documents. So they went back to the courtroom earlier this month to ask the judge to force the administration to comply.

Chalk up another horrible idea to good ol' Rod, (illegally importing drugs from Canada, buying $2.5 million of non-FDA approved flu shots). But all's well - we voted him in another 4 years too.

Judge: Craigslist not liable for ad content
By Mike Hughlett
Tribune staff reporter

November 16, 2006

The popular Craigslist Web site is not legally liable for allegedly discriminatory housing ads posted by its users, a federal judge in Chicago ruled in a case pitting landmark Internet and fair housing laws against each other.

The decision was a victory for online civil liberties supporters. It was a setback for housing civil rights advocates, though they still found some hope in the judge's ruling.

The Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law sued San Francisco-based Craigslist in February, claiming that during a six-month period, the site published more than 100 housing ads in Chicago that violated the federal Fair Housing Act.

Those ads included such declarations as "Non-women of Color NEED NOT APPLY" and "African Americans and Arabians tend to clash with me so that won't work out."

The 1968 Fair Housing Act bars housing discrimination, and newspapers and other publishers of ads deemed discriminatory can be held liable for violating the law.

But the 1996 Communications Decency Act, in an attempt to promote unfettered free expression online, shields Web forums from liability for ads and opinions posted by their users.



Internet giants back Craigslist

That's what Craigslist argued in its defense in the Chicago case, and it was joined in friend-of-the-court filings by such Internet giants as Amazon.com, eBay, Google, Yahoo and AOL.

The Chicago Lawyers' Committee has a heavyweight ally, too, though not through a formal court briefing. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has said the ban on discriminatory ads applies to Web postings like those on Craigslist.

The battle boils down to the definition of a publisher.

The decency act says that a provider of an "interactive computer service" can't be treated as a publisher of information it gets from others.

Craigslist is indeed an interactive computer service, a conduit of information provided by others, Judge Amy St. Eve said in a written opinion that effectively dismisses the case.

Thus, under the 1996 communications law, Craigslist can't be treated as a publisher, she wrote in the decision, which was filed Tuesday and then circulated Wednesday by attorneys involved in the case.

The Chicago Lawyers' Committee plans to appeal St. Eve's ruling, or to ask the judge to reconsider her decision.

In a statement, Craigslist said St. Eve's decision is "a win for the general public's ability to self-publish content such as free classified ads on the Internet." Craigslist noted, too, that it has "industry leading standards" in policing its site for offensive ads.

Internet law experts weren't surprised by St. Eve's decision, because judges have usually ruled in favor of Web forums like Craigslist, citing the decency act's broad protection.

"It's very clear under these precedents that Craigslist shouldn't be held liable for ads provided by third parties," said Kurt Opsahl, a lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a technology and civil liberties group. The organization filed a friend-of-the-court briefing on behalf of Craigslist.



Not a total victory

The Chicago Lawyers' Committee took solace in parts of St. Eve's opinion.

Craigslist argued that the decency act grants it immunity from any sort of lawsuit stemming from its users' postings. Web outfits like Craigslist have commonly made such claims of "unlimited" immunity--and judges have usually agreed.

Link

You are slightly inaccurate in your comparison of Movies/TV to Video Games.

This is from an old Chicago Tribune article:

"the video game industry rang up more than $9.9 billion in North America in 2004 versus Hollywood's North American box office of $9.4 billion" http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/c hi-0508230159aug23,1,6023554.story?coll=chi-leisur etempo-hed

Television does earn more than this, but not by very much. NBC is expecting a revenue of ~$12 Billion USD this year which is only $2 Billion more than the gaming industry made two years ago.

The Gaming Industry is quickly overtaking all other forms of entertainment as far as revenue is concerned. Whether or not that reflects the percentage of the population playing games vs. watching tv is a question I don't have the answer to.

...for the Bob Loblaw Law Blog

The Chicago Tribune itself says that the numbers were based on a combination of early election results and a Washington correspondent who was wrong just once in the previous 20 years (20% error?). Private polls did show a significant Dewey lead before the election. Between the two, it was surprising Truman won the election, but I do not think even die-hard Republicans would claim the election was stolen. And just reflect: That headline was based on early election results, which lack a number of biases present in exit or telephone polling. (The major hard-to-address biases early results have are limited sample size and geographical bias.)

For those who saw my post yesterday about the Senate torture/habeas corpus bill... An amendment toning the bill down was rejected early in the day, and then the bill in its full-strength, scary form was passed and will be signed into law by the President shortly:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi -0609290178sep29,1,1387725.story?coll=chi-newsnati onworld-hed
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/detention/26947prs200 60928.html

So, a bill legalizing wiretapping would just be par for the course for this government.

Oh, and welcome to the police state . You may not notice any difference at first... but sooner or later it's probably safe to say that you will.

'Immediately after the Big Bang some 13 billion years ago, equal amounts of matter and antimatter formed. Much of it quickly acted to annihilate the other, but for little-understood reasons, a bit more matter than antimatter survived, providing the universe with the planets, stars and galaxies visible today.'

This is about the only time this blog will be on-topic, so here goes:

No, she didn't like it.

So the tape is also a chilling reminder that in this war evidence means nothing--superstition, bias and delusion everything.

In short, most of our enemies who appear in this latest film are dead, scattered or in captivity--and by the very policies of military retaliation and incarceration so criticized around the world.

Hopefully the black smoke thing will go away as the fuel is changed in the US (if it is ever changed). Certainly here in the UK diesel seems to have little difference to gas beyond diesel's greater fuel efficiency and slightly higher price, ever since they mandated a change in refining. I have to say it still gives off slightly worse fumes* than regular gas, but the difference is much less significant in comparison to just 10 years ago.

*in terms of odour and appearance

But then I remembered I had just read this story.

Goldfish don't wear Speedos. At least that's one indication they are smarter than dolphins.

I used it on trans-Pacific flights ssh-ing to machines in the States (over a vpn), and it worked quite well for me, save for a 20~30 -minute period of no access. Of course latencies were ever-present, but overall I was pretty pleased, especially since I managed to be so productive. And IM-ing was pretty smooth, too.

Considering your experiences, mileage does vary, it seems, but my experience was quite positive, so I'm very disappointed that they're taking it down. But this won't be the last we hear of this service. Sure enough, the Chicago Tribune says Lufthansa "might try to offer similar service after Boeing phases out Connexion. The carrier installed it on 62 of its 80 long-haul aircraft and planned to outfit the rest by year's end."

Admittedly I was trying to do email using pine/ssh and it probably would have been more bearable if I had been using a caching IMAP client rather than an interactive shell one. But not all that much better I think. And no, browsing the web didn't work for me at all. As I said, the connection seemed to be going up and down for minutes at a time, and when it was routing at all it was really too slow to even load a webpage.

Bush budget deficit

versus

Clinton budget surplus

One thing that we know about China is that (1) it has few laws ensuring product safety and (2) that Beijing rarely enforces those laws. As a result, many products from China are just dangerous.

Consider the recent case of lead contamination of children's toys. The toys had 5x the amount of lead that is considered safe.

Now, consider the case of a bracelet that was 99% lead. A Chinese company made the bracelets for Reebok. A child who accidentally ingested the bracelet died.

Now, consider Chinese honey that is contaminated with a dangerous antibiotic.

Here is the summary reduction. The price of a product imported from China is $X. The price of a product made in the USA is $Y. Generally, $X is much less than $Y. The difference in price represents the "cost" that you paying for tough, enforced regulations and for higher ethical standards. Most American consumers do not want to pay this cost directly, so Walmart (a.k.a. the clearinghouse for Chinese products) prospers. Still, most Americans do pay this cost indirectly via, e.g., higher medical bills.

Like the Chicago Tribune and the Springfield State Journal-Register. Both these papers have forums; the Tribune on some editorial pages (forum linked) and the S-JR on every single story posted online (story about 2 stupid politicians linked). I wonder how Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-ILLINOIS) is going to vote on this?

Chicago cops totrure(d) people to get confessions:
(report on torture
Daley says he was not aware of cop torture
Gutierrez assails Daley over cop torture scandal

And SURPRISE! The statute of limitations has run out, NO COPS ARE GOING TO JAIL FOR THIS!

Chicago cops totrure(d) people to get confessions:
(report on torture
Daley says he was not aware of cop torture
Gutierrez assails Daley over cop torture scandal

And SURPRISE! The statute of limitations has run out, NO COPS ARE GOING TO JAIL FOR THIS!

Chicago cops totrure(d) people to get confessions:
(report on torture
Daley says he was not aware of cop torture
Gutierrez assails Daley over cop torture scandal

And SURPRISE! The statute of limitations has run out, NO COPS ARE GOING TO JAIL FOR THIS!

It's really trendy here on /. to whine about SUV's in terms of energy consumption, but, the fuel burned by an SUV pales beside what a semi full of goods headed into the city burns.

The average SUV weighs 4242 lbs and gets 19 MPG. Larger ones like the Escalade are rated at 13 MPG in the city. The cargo for your average grocery store trip is, let's say, 100 lbs. A tractor-trailer rig is somewhere around 25,000 pounds empty, gets 5-6 MPG when loaded, and carries up to 40,000 lbs cargo. Let's assume that the average is half that. If I did the math right, moving groceries by semi is then 57 times more efficient.

As a kicker, truckers use 13% of fuel purchased in the US versus 63% for cars and other light vehicles. So you're right about the "pale" part, but it appears to be the other way around.

The Federal Aviation Administration is examining the potential risks of such batteries as cargo in passenger planes. In 2004, non-rechargeable "primary" lithium batteries were banned as cargo on passenger flights. The FAA found that Halon, a fire suppressant used on planes, couldn't snuff out a primary-lithium-battery fire.

Primary lithium batteries contain volatile lithium metal; rechargeable lithium-ion batteries don't, operating instead with less volatile lithium chemical compounds. Still, the FAA noted "concerns" about lithium-ion batteries as cargo.

Although an FAA report on the issue is due out within a few months, FAA fire-safety expert Harry Webster said at Wednesday's NTSB hearing that recent tests show Halon effectively fights lithium-ion battery fires.

The hearing was called because a UPS jet was forced to make an emergency landing in February. Its crew escaped unhurt, but the blaze severely damaged the plane and shut down the Philadelphia airport for several hours.

The NTSB hasn't determined the fire's cause. (The plane also had flammable solvent in its cargo hold). There have been a handful of minor air-cargo fires involving lithium-ion batteries, according to an NTSB report.

No one has been killed or seriously injured in the U.S. by lithium-ion battery combustion, the safety commission says.

Here's one still on fire

But there have been numerous reports of property damage, including fires like the one at Pablo Ortega's house in Selma, Calif., a town near Fresno.

Ortega's wife and 19-year-old son arrived home one evening in January 2005 to find their house full of smoke.

When firefighters arrived, the fire was out. But the living room had been destroyed, according to safety commission records. Fire investigators found the charred remains of a Motorola V220 cell phone on the living-room floor. The phone, which had been purchased a month earlier, had been charging while the Ortegas were away.

Fire and insurance investigators concluded the battery malfunctioned and exploded, rocketing almost 16 feet across the living room, igniting a curtain fire that spread to furniture.

From your "ads for expensive toys" comment, I'm guessing you're talking about "Wired" magazine and not Wired News. The magazine's content is controlled by completely different people so errors in Wired News are not reflective of the magazine at all, which I think continues to be one of the best technology-focused magazines. Less advertising and commercialism than other magazines (e.g. "Popular Science"), filled with good writers (Lawrence Lessig is a recent addition), and half of each issue is dedicated to long, insightful articles. Chicago Tribune named it the best magazine in 2004. Wired News seems to be riddled with errors like these that are odd for a technology news website, but its magazine sister doesn't suffer from anything nearly that bad.

If you're too drunk to pass a field sobriety test, you are not capable of driving a vehicle safely. Period.

Although I wore a seat belt before it was mandatory, I don't think you should have to. 'Snot my prob, Bob. AFAIC you can do any risky behavior you want, so long as it isn't ME you are endangering.

If you want to drink a fifth and race your motorcycle around your farm, that's fine by me. Just stay the hell of the road I have to use!

I hate the fact that I can't replace the carpet in my basement without a permit.

I agree; stupid laws like that give governing a bad name. But how about a permit to build a second story porch? If I'm standing on your damned porch, I want to know that a qualified carpenter built it, not some doofus who doesn't know a nail from a screw.

Or the fact that if my business grows to more than 10 people I have to start making sure I hire someone of a different ethnicity even if there's no one qualified.

Er, for instance? You do realize that these laws protect people's rights, don't you? As to "even if nobody's qualified" means maybe you need to pay a little more, cheapskate. The black guy can't work as cheap as the Mexicans you pay under the table.

And IANAL, but I think YANAL either. The law doesn't say that. But if you're a contractor in East St. Louis and all 9 of your carpenters are white, well, you have a racial problem that needs to be corrected.

Or the fact that I can't write a piece of software that can play a DVD without paying $10,000 to the DVD-CCA to liscence the CSS encryption scheme.

Well, stop voting Republican, dumbass. And don't start voting Democrat either, they're just as bad (but your post assures me you vote straight ticket).

Or get a concealed carry permit in my state.

The Constitution says you have the right to bear arms. It does NOT say you have the right to conceal them. If you have a gun I want to know about it, so I can stay away from your armed drunken ass!

I hate the fact that innattentive and wreckless drivers that cause accidents get off with just insurance surcharges -- and possibly not even that in no-fault states -- while someone who uses a cell phone without a handsfree or drives with a 0.08 BAC can get jail time.

If you're wreckless your insurance won't go up, but if you're reckless it will. (You own a business and you can't spell?)

If your BAC is .08 and you're not breaking any traffic laws (speeding, weaving, running red lights) and don't get in a wreck you're off scott free. But if you're .08 and get in a wreck with a sober driver at an intersection, I'm going to find it VERY hard to believe that the sober guy is the one who ran the light. And so will a judge.

If you get in an accident with me and you're .08, my lawyer will make you think the cops are nice guys.

It is impossible to be drunk and not innattentive. You must be a very irresponsible person.

"Except he did not leave his children such things"

He most certainly did.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0606260 177jun26,1,3667425.story?coll=chi-news-hed

"The investor also is setting aside stock valued at $3.2 billion to provide about $1 billion to organizations headed by his three children."

Obviously that inheritance tax is only for us peasants whose children do not have their own tax shelter organizations to funnel money to.

not thousands, MILLIONS

I was going to mention that too...I was just reading this story in my http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi -0606070180jun07,1,2047673.story?coll=chi-news-hed &ctrack=1&cset=truelocal newspaper, and apparently it's a full 80% of the active-duty military that had their personal info stolen.

Nothing in the article says anything about them 'crying foul'. It mentions that they're pleading 'not guilty' to the charges but nothing else about their reaction.

My bad, I read a different (additional) article... From this Chicago Tribune article (possible registration required).

The pertinent text from that article:

...,

The popular social networking site improperly lured Saverio Mondelli, 19, and Shaun Harrison, 18, to Los Angeles with the prospect of a consulting contract, said Mondelli's lawyer, Michael Dowd of Manhattan.

And when they arrived in California last week and sat down for a business meeting with what they thought was a contingent of MySpace employees -- who were actually Secret Service agents and local detectives -- they were arrested without warning, Dowd said.

"The proposition to hire them as consultants was made by MySpace," Dowd said. "This was a naked attempt to lure them into the lion's den and to somehow make an allegation of impropriety against them."

The question is, when will the dam finally burst?

I think it's about to. We'll see in November. Although I'm personally not voting Democrat, I'm splitting my vote among various losers, which is closest to "none of the above". I'm damned sick of both parties (although the Repubs have more of my ire at present).

When will we see headlines talking about impeachment?

As I'm old enough to have voted for Nixon, I'd say as soon as the Democrats control both Senate and Congress.

When will people finally wake the fuck up and say enough is enough?

Never. Cows don't revolt.

Will there ever be an end to the war on terra?

Will there ever be an end to the war on drugs? That started with Nixon (analgies analogies!)

Will we ever see a terror level below yellow?

Not so long as the President is yellow. In fact, the whole Federal Government seems to be full of cowards, wimpily cowering before the big bad Muslims.

Does anyone believe the bushit?

Unfortunately, yes. You only have to read Slashdot to see that... and these are supposedly nerds, supposedly intelligent. I wonder what they're talking about over at the People Magazine forums? Probably this, this or this.

It's pathetic. I should move to Amsterdam.

The movie apparently will be the first in some 15 years not to involve producer Rick Berman, who oversaw every Trek series from "The Next Generation" on, E! Online reports.

----

Nintendo plays with YOUR MIND
`Brain Age' is for gamers who aren't all thumbs

Playing "Brain Age" is like taking the SAT all day long. If that sounds like your kind of fun, you'll love this new game for the Nintendo DS.

You'll solve more than 100 logic and memorization problems. Writing your answers on the DS' touch screen and speaking into the game system's microphone, you'll memorize words on a screen and try to recall as many of them as you can. You'll quickly count to 120. You'll solve match questions. And ultimately, the game will calculate how old your brain is, based on research by the Japanese professor whose book, "Brain Age," is a sensation in Japan and spurred Nintendo to create this video game in only 90 days. Nintendo plans to release another brain game, "Big Brain Academy," next month.

Uniquely, you play the game by turning the DS sideways and holding it like a book. "Brain Age" is meant to be played small chunks over a long period, up to one year. The more challenges you solve, the more challenges you unlock and the younger your brain age becomes. Age 20 is the goal. While I don't feel smarter than I did three weeks ago when I began playing the game, my brain age has become younger. That's because, according to research behind the book and the game, working on the problems stimulates blood flow to my prefrontal cortex.

My brain's age? I'm not telling; my brain is young enough to know better.

----------

egwinn@tribune.com

You could sit in a tank all day for what good it would do you. Why not have the fam send you a big steel box to sit in?

The future will be light, hard composites. As the bullet strikes it, it pivots to a higher relative angle as the bullet trajectory. Much more efficient than stopping a bullet dead. Even this dragon skin is likely to put disabling bruises on your body.

That is, if it even works like you say. Who's spinning this?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns -ap-army-body-armor,1,6953058.story?coll=chi-news- hed

If the army just wanted you to go and die, they would have banned personal body armor in 2003.

I don't buy that a military guy could be as senseless as you. Why doesn't the army equip all soldiers with the latest high-tech weaponry that nobody knows how to use? Why don't you go out and buy the newest, most expensive car, it'll save your life in a car accident you know, at least that's what they tell you when you buy it. Maybe you should wear a football helmet when you go outside, even if it obstructs your vision.

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,usa3_0 42104.00.html

10 years ago all you could get was kevlar. You get all fired up over nothing, you fucking fool.

In the cases of both the danish cartoons and the CIA records, the paper published the facts around the issue, but not the actual cartoons, nor the actual operatives names and addresses.

Regarding the cartoons, I recall reading a half page editorial on why exactly the Tribune chose to refrain from printing the cartoons. IIRC, they had previously printed the URLs of web sites where the cartoons could be found online, but decided that reproducing the actual 'toons would be in bad taste. Similar justification was provided by the New York Times, etc.

That, and they didn't want to be bombed by the extremist arm of the "religion of peace", not that anybody will ever admit that in print.

I was about to say the same thing. But try this link its via google.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi -060311ciamain-story,1,123362.story?coll=chi-news- hed

This one was interesting too.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi -0512250424dec25,1,7168647.story

Nice to see no expenses spared for kidnapping someone.

I was about to say the same thing. But try this link its via google.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi -060311ciamain-story,1,123362.story?coll=chi-news- hed

This one was interesting too.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi -0512250424dec25,1,7168647.story

Nice to see no expenses spared for kidnapping someone.