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Just fix the darn protocols, dammit. It's been a year since Blue Security was taken down by PharmaMaster and NOBODY has done ANYTHING to prevent any subsequent DNS amplification attacks from happening.

If ISPs at least blocked forged-ip packets from exiting them, then THAT would be a nice start.

Any talk about budget discipline that doesnt include paying off the national debt and/or reforming entitlements is just pissing in the wind. So far, none of the candidates have really put any effort into the matter, so quit using financials to justify your own political opinions. Certainly, the democrats have zero credibility here.

We're spending twice as much just on the interest associated the national debt as we are on Iraq each year. And, the debt continues to grow.
Going forward, if entitlements aren't under control, in a worst case scenario 75 years from now, about 95% of the entire net worth of america would have to be sold off to pay for social security, medicare, etc.

And, the numbers get worse each year we delude ourselves into thinking iraq/etc are the major financial issues.

Read up and get informed, then send this on to your friends:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2007/06/20/AR2007062002342.html

Here here! I wish I had mod points today.

It used to be that a war's home front consisted of a lot of sacrifice - not just sending the boys off to fight and die, but also making do with less, shortages and rationing, and, of course, higher taxes to pay for the military expenditure. Now we somehow think that we can fight a war without sacrifice. In the particular case of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the President and Congress seemed to feel that we could not only afford a $750 billion open-ended war (probably over $1 trillion before all is said and done), but could even afford tax cuts for the most well-off at the same time.

The President and Congress (2001-present) don't even feel the need to account for the cost of this prolonged war in the normal budget - it requires periodic "emergency" spending so that everyone's precious balanced budget fuzzy calculations can still work out.

What's fishy is how powerful Google has suddenly become politically. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2007/06/19/AR2007061902058.html?hpid=moreheadli nes

He said AT&T is spending about $18 billion on network maintenance, a significant chunk of which is required just to keep up with tremendous growth of traffic on its backbone. "And a sizable chunk is traffic that is illegal," he said.

Verizon said it expects to invest $18.0 billion in net capital from 2004 through 2010 in deploying the nation's largest network that brings the broadband capacity of fiber optics all the way to customers' homes and businesses. http://www.tvover.net/Verizon+FiOS+Profitable+In+4 +Years.aspx

So AT&T says it costs them $18 billion for maintenance while Verizon spends $18 billion on a whole new network infrastructure? I call bullshit. This is the same company that said they expect to be paid to by web sites for traffic over thier network.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2006/03/08/AR2006030802326.html

Enjoy,

I wouldn't be so sure about that... many environmentalists are starting to consider nuclear power as a way to address global warming. I expect the movement towards nuclear power will continue as the climate change problem gets worse, unless some better power technology appears.

This case specifically -> http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN1 529267420070616?feedType=RSS&rpc=22 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2007/03/06/AR2007030602705.html

How or what does a district really do? Perhaps I'm naive but isn't a vote a vote? What matters what district you're in? If 100 people vote, 51 for x and 49 for y. It shouldn't matter who voted where.

Then any US citizen accused in a foreign country would absolutely be a criminal.

Tim Griffin, Michael Elston, Paul McNulty, Monica Goodling
Sara Taylor, Bradley Schlozman, Steve Biskupic, Alberto Gonzalez, David Safavian, Lurita Doan, Ken Tomlinson
Tom Delay, Bob Ney, Conrad Burns, Ted Stevens, Kyle Foggo, Duke Cunningham, Brent Wilkes, Mitchell Wade, Curt Weldon, Donald Rumsfeld, Jim Tobin
Scooter Libby, Manuel Miranda, Darleen Dryun, Thomas Scully, Chuck Mcgee, Pete Domenici
Porter Goss, Brant Bassett, Virgil Goode, Katherine Harris, Jerry Lewis, Ed Buckham, Steven Griles, Mark Foley, Paul Wolfowitz, Ken Lay, Conrad Black, Douglas Feith, Richard Perle, Roger Stilwell, Tony Rudy, Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon, William Heaton, Adam Kidan, Neil Volz,

Tim Griffin, Michael Elston, Paul McNulty, Monica Goodling
Sara Taylor, Bradley Schlozman, Steve Biskupic, Alberto Gonzalez, David Safavian, Lurita Doan, Ken Tomlinson
Tom Delay, Bob Ney, Conrad Burns, Ted Stevens, Kyle Foggo, Duke Cunningham, Brent Wilkes, Mitchell Wade, Curt Weldon, Donald Rumsfeld, Jim Tobin
Scooter Libby, Manuel Miranda, Darleen Dryun, Thomas Scully, Chuck Mcgee, Pete Domenici
Porter Goss, Brant Bassett, Virgil Goode, Katherine Harris, Jerry Lewis, Ed Buckham, Steven Griles, Mark Foley, Paul Wolfowitz, Ken Lay, Conrad Black, Douglas Feith, Richard Perle, Roger Stilwell, Tony Rudy, Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon, William Heaton, Adam Kidan, Neil Volz,

Tim Griffin, Michael Elston, Paul McNulty, Monica Goodling
Sara Taylor, Bradley Schlozman, Steve Biskupic, Alberto Gonzalez, David Safavian, Lurita Doan, Ken Tomlinson
Tom Delay, Bob Ney, Conrad Burns, Ted Stevens, Kyle Foggo, Duke Cunningham, Brent Wilkes, Mitchell Wade, Curt Weldon, Donald Rumsfeld, Jim Tobin
Scooter Libby, Manuel Miranda, Darleen Dryun, Thomas Scully, Chuck Mcgee, Pete Domenici
Porter Goss, Brant Bassett, Virgil Goode, Katherine Harris, Jerry Lewis, Ed Buckham, Steven Griles, Mark Foley, Paul Wolfowitz, Ken Lay, Conrad Black, Douglas Feith, Richard Perle, Roger Stilwell, Tony Rudy, Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon, William Heaton, Adam Kidan, Neil Volz,

Tim Griffin, Michael Elston, Paul McNulty, Monica Goodling
Sara Taylor, Bradley Schlozman, Steve Biskupic, Alberto Gonzalez, David Safavian, Lurita Doan, Ken Tomlinson
Tom Delay, Bob Ney, Conrad Burns, Ted Stevens, Kyle Foggo, Duke Cunningham, Brent Wilkes, Mitchell Wade, Curt Weldon, Donald Rumsfeld, Jim Tobin
Scooter Libby, Manuel Miranda, Darleen Dryun, Thomas Scully, Chuck Mcgee, Pete Domenici
Porter Goss, Brant Bassett, Virgil Goode, Katherine Harris, Jerry Lewis, Ed Buckham, Steven Griles, Mark Foley, Paul Wolfowitz, Ken Lay, Conrad Black, Douglas Feith, Richard Perle, Roger Stilwell, Tony Rudy, Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon, William Heaton, Adam Kidan, Neil Volz,

Tim Griffin, Michael Elston, Paul McNulty, Monica Goodling
Sara Taylor, Bradley Schlozman, Steve Biskupic, Alberto Gonzalez, David Safavian, Lurita Doan, Ken Tomlinson
Tom Delay, Bob Ney, Conrad Burns, Ted Stevens, Kyle Foggo, Duke Cunningham, Brent Wilkes, Mitchell Wade, Curt Weldon, Donald Rumsfeld, Jim Tobin
Scooter Libby, Manuel Miranda, Darleen Dryun, Thomas Scully, Chuck Mcgee, Pete Domenici
Porter Goss, Brant Bassett, Virgil Goode, Katherine Harris, Jerry Lewis, Ed Buckham, Steven Griles, Mark Foley, Paul Wolfowitz, Ken Lay, Conrad Black, Douglas Feith, Richard Perle, Roger Stilwell, Tony Rudy, Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon, William Heaton, Adam Kidan, Neil Volz,

Fire people who dissagree with you.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2007/04/14/AR2007041401010.html

Enact a law that goes against all the principals of the United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_PATRIOT_Act

Shoot people with a shot gun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Cheney_hunting_i ncident

Help Osama Bin-Ladens Family.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/warroom/f911notes/inde x.php?id=18

Just plain lie
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/18/wood ward.book/ ...

But you have sex with 1 intern and all hell breaks lose!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monica_Lewinsky

From here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2007/03/06/AR2007030602705_pf.html

"She graduated Phi Beta Kappa, has published in top legal journals and completed internships at leading institutions in her field. So when the Yale law student interviewed with 16 firms for a job this summer, she was concerned that she had only four call-backs. She was stunned when she had zero offers."

.haeger

Sorry, but really I say screw the fancy, expensive medicine, from personal experience. I would like to not have spent my teenage years without basic health care I needed. I'm covered now at a good job, but I haven't forgotten the setback that was.

I see rich people kvetch about keeping the most expensive health care system the way it is, when poor people could very well use the preventative, holistic, affordable medicine they practice in many places - like Cuba. We have kids dying for the lack of basic dental procedures - come on!

My favorite Chavez-ism: He set price controls on various food items in order to stop inflation and "protect the poor". Naturally, as any economist could predict, this had no impact on inflation but did create food shortages. How did Chavez respond? He accused people of "hoarding" food and sent his police off to seize whatever food supplies they could find. source

If Venezuela weren't swimming in oil, its economy would already be in ruins. Unfortunately the oil money is just buying Chavez time to build up to an even more spectacular collapse.

They had cameras in a few places on the vehicle for that research. One of places was in the face of the driver and another right in front of the vehicle plus on the back (I am not sure if that was any cameras on the side of the vehicle). They said that a motorist had driven her car right into a tree during the day, they said that the only reason that did occur was because she was not paying attention, she wasn't talking on the cell, nobody on her car with her, it was during the day in a low traffic road. She was just day dreaming.

Another research that I remember reading said that Brain Immaturity Could Explain Teen Crash Rate. In it, the researchers talked about teens showing off while driving with their friends and also about the fact that they are more easily distracted than an adult (over 25) due to their brain growth until they reach 25.

Would a cell phone ban in the cars help anything in these two cases? In my opinion they would do little to nothing.

Who is to say warmer won't be better?

Climatologists studying hurricanes. There is a direct correlation between the level of surface sea temperature near the equator and the intensity of hurricanes. Warmer sea water will mean more intense hurricanes.

Increase in Major Hurricanes Linked to Warmer Seas

Severe Hurricanes Increasing, Study Finds

Small increases in sea temperature, he added, can "exponentially provide more and more fuel for the hurricanes."

See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2007/06/13/AR2007061302033.html

Is it any surprise the courts make these sort of decisions?

A few days ago we had an idiot judge (yes, a *judge*) suing cleaners $54M for the emotional stress of losing is pants http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2007/06/12/AR2007061201667.html?hpid=moreheadli nes
and hot on the heals of that we had an idiotic ruling by a U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Chooljian decreeing that RAM shall be archived. And we've got an Attorney General, the #1 lawyer in the country, who smirks "I don't recall" for hours of testimony, then goes back to work and it's business as usual.

The entire judicial legal system is an anachronism. As we've seen, it contains some very clueless (and sometimes downright stupid) people making important decisions. We've got patent law which is way out of control and anti-trust law which might as well not exist at all. The law is written for and sometimes even by corporations like the RIAA and Disney http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary/20020305_s prigman.html , in exchange for campaign donations http://consumerist.com/xml/comments/264638 . And lets not forget about hot cups of coffee. The entire legal system is a joke. The problem is people like Judge Pearson, Magistrate Chooljian and Attorney General Gonzales don't know it. They think they're important public officials part of a proud tradition who are loved and admired by the population they rule^H^H^H^Hserve. Suspect many people think otherwise.

Time to turf the whole thing out and start again. I mean, how much worse is this going to get?

At least Americans are lucky they don't like in the former British Empire where you get some senile git wearing a black cape and a powdered wig banging a hammer and glaring at you, and expecting to be taken seriously. "This is my court!" they thunder. If any other public servant did that in their workplace, they'd be taken away for psychiatric assessment.

$35 million?? My God, that's not even the cost of a decent pair of pants these days. Just cut a check and move on...
Wearing Down the Judicial System

Ask and ye shall receive:

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2006/03 /when_macs_attack.html

http://lwn.net/Articles/222153/

http://www.networkworld.com/community3/?q=node/534 4

http://blogs.securiteam.com/index.php/archives/304

http://www.shadowserver.org/

I can continue for pages and pages if you wish. You know, search engines are useful tools at times ;) Now granted, most of it comes from exploits in 3rd-party apps, such as Apache, PHP, SQL, etc. But...knowing this, and how there are botnets running with Apache priviledge levels.....kind of dumps that whole "don't run as root in *nix" argument right into the toilet. As long as people are people, they can be socially-engineered to offer up their passwords for whatever reason (I'm looking at you, OSX users). Relying on a popup password entry box for security is just as silly as allowing a Windows machine to sit un-patched on the internet.

I am actually quite surprised that more OSes don't have some sort of application firewalling/sandboxing built into them, instead of relying on concepts like UAC or root permissions that are worthless if all it takes to bypass them is someone typing a password into a popup box, clicking Allow (and how many people do we know that use blank or short, all alphabetical passwords, hmmmm?), or running insecure application software that is always accessible via the internet.

Hate to disappoint you, but Jane Goodall and her team witnessed "war" in Chimpanzee communities in the 70s. Some stories were documented in "Demonic Males:Apes and the Origins of Human Violence" by Richard Wrangham and Dale Peterson.

Here's a link to an excerpt, if you're interested:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longter m/books/chap1/demonicmales.htm

That's not to say I completely disagree with your sentiment, just that it isn't a uniquely human trait. Perhaps a uniquely primate trait, but not strictly human.

Humans ceratinly seem to have the greatest capacity for war, and I don't think we'll be finished with it any time soon, but that doesn't mean our more violent nature isn't some kind of throwback to instinctive behavior.

All you've described is a seal of approval. Redefining publishers to that limited and very low cost role might be reasonable however it can equally be done by more general internet friend and acquaintance networks (e.g. stumbleupon etc.), as long as those networks have not been too compromised by fraudulent astroturfers.

---

Windows and closed source software. The US intelligence agencies back door to every network connected country and business on earth.

Somehow I missed when this happened, but it should mean patent litigiation is going to totally rebalance issues of obviousness vs. prior art.

The talk of massive "increases" is a bit deceptive. The reason there appears to be more "intelligence" spending is that a lot more things are considered "intelligence" activities now.

TFA speaks to this exact point. The biggest increase didn't happen between "1995 and 2005" or "2000 and 2005", but between 2001-2003, when the largest government restructuring in nearly sixty years - since the creation of DOD and CIA with the National Security Act of 1947 - added a whole slew of capabilities and entities to the "intelligence" infrastructure of the United States, with the addition of DHS to the IC and the creation of the position and office of DNI.

It's all about organizational structure and what elements are considered intelligence. For example, a lot of elements now considered part of the "intelligence" budget are also part of the "defense" budget. And then you put the "intelligence" and "defense" budgets next to each other and they look really large, don't they? Except they're not additive. Nearly all of the "increase" comes from now including many defense activities and domestic security components under the guise of "intelligence".

Sure, we've increased intelligence spending. But intelligence spending still only around 2.5% of the total US budget. Defense spending is less than 20% (not anywhere near the "over half" some people like to say). We've also increased the number and types of programs that fall under the high-level, broad "intelligence" umbrella.

As an aside, for people concerned about outsourcing and contractors, the IC is considering that issue as well, but the fact is that the IC couldn't function without the array of products, services, and capabilities it obtains via specialty contractors.

Currently, the US intelligence infrastructure seems to have new missions.

It gathers intelligence from and about the American people.
It makes justifications for actions of the current administration.
I thinking that we should a lot more information about the amount of our taxes that are being used for these purposes, don't you?

The suit, in trying to hold Yahoo accountable, could become an important test case. Advocacy groups are seeking to use a 217-year-old U.S. law to punish corporations for human rights violations abroad, an effort the Bush administration has opposed... Yahoo is guilty of "an act of corporate irresponsibility," said Morton Sklar, executive director of [World Organization for Human Rights USA]. "Yahoo had reason to know that if they provided China with identification information that those individuals would be arrested."

"That's about all I get in my postal mailbox. Where have you been? "

There is no comparaison between getting 30 emails a day advertising rolexes, meds, and millions of dollars from Nigeria than getting one or two mailers a day advertising supermarkets and possibly millions of dollars from the publishing clearinghouse.

And sure, I do hate getting stupid flyers and coupons through the US postal mail as much as you do, but please let's try to keep things in perspective -- this later kind of mail is annoying -- even scummy -- but somewhat manageable -- while the first kind of mail (internet SPAM) has become so unmanageable that some of us had to close down lifetime email mailboxes as a result (and many of us have possibly lost a number of legitimate emails through over-aggressive filtering as well).

And in the US for postal mail at least, there is also the added bonus that you can opt-out yourself from unsolicited credit card offers, and there is also the added satisfaction that when a junk mailer sends you a post-paid reply envelope, that he/she will be forced to pay something like $1.50 every time you send the envelope back with shreds of their materials inside.

One aspect of the virtual property rights issue is often confused in these discussions (and seems to be confused in the court ruling):

Ownership of the intellectual property related to content developed in a virtual environment is not the same as ownership of the virtual items.

Linden's TOS recognizes creators rights to the content created within SecondLife http://secondlife.com/whatis/ip_rights.php but that does not extend to ownership of the virtual items:

Uh, no.

Impeachment roughly equals an indictment. It has nothing to do with guilt - it is a formal statement of charges. House impeaches, Senate tries and potentially convicts. Only after the Senate convicts an impeached President is that President 'guitly'.

Get your facts straight before challenging others'.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/spec ial/clinton/iguide.htm
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/02/12/ senate.vote/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2007/03/14/AR2007031400462_2.html

Oh noes, the liberal media.

You reckon? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2007/01/08/AR2007010801352.html

They DID make the world's first Comp-u-Table! pre-installed with the same GUI as Apple's iPhone! now all they need is to let you sit on it so it can scan your butt and it'll be perfect for home use.

They DID make the worl'd first Comp-u-Table! pre-installed with the same GUI as Apple's iPhone! now all they need is to let you sit on it so it can scan your butt and it'll be perfect for home use.

An excerpt:

While he headed the Houston-based oil services and construction company, Cheney strongly criticized sanctions against countries like Iran and Libya. President Clinton cut off all U.S. trade with Iran in 1995 because of Tehran's support for terrorism. ...

Much of Halliburton's business with Iran comes through Halliburton Products & Services Ltd., a subsidiary incorporated in the Cayman Islands and based in the United Arab Emirates. Halliburton Products & Services opened a Tehran office in early 2000, before Cheney left Halliburton to become Bush's running mate.

...John McCain is not going to be choosing cabinet officials anytime soon. The right-wing extremists who dominate the GOP primaries still mistrust him for publicly calling them out in 2000, and the centrists who loved McCain back then have since been alienated by his blatant pandering to the right-wing extremists. All McCain has left to attract voters is a lingering nostalgia for the pre-Dubya, pre-9/11 days when political moderates roamed the earth and had not yet been pulverized into extinction.

I don't recall hearing *any* politician, regardless of the country they are in, but especially the Congressional ones, apologize, or otherwise admit they were wrong regarding these WMDs.

John Edwards did, a year and a half ago.

It was not just our President who was convinced, but Congress was as well

Yes, Congress was convinced, convinced by the intelligence fed to them by the administration.

and one from Mr. "I invented the Interwebs"

Any more bullshit talking points you'd like to rattle off here? How about Love Story or Love Canal? Pelosi One? Plame was not covert? As long as you're making shit up, go hog wild.

and I quote here

Why stop with two? Why not give out the whole list of quotes from Clinton administration officials saying Saddam was a bad guy that wanted WMD? It's a few pages long. The problem with the list, is that there are no quotes saying that Saddam was such an imminent threat that we had to take him out now, no time for diplomacy or weapons inspectors.

"Tyrants almost always disguise their lust for power as sympathy for the persecuted and downtrodden .."

Who did the following George Dubya or Chavez.

Pass a law giving him total authority over the entire federal government.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20 070509-12.html

Plotted to steal an election through a rigged electronic voting machine, targeting ethnecally unsound voters. Eg blacks and Hispanics and overseas members of the armed forces who were also black or Hispanic.

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/1725601 2.htm

Invaded a country and steal the oil and sell it back to them.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052607Z.shtml

Revoke the US commitment to the Geneva Conventions, something that was implimented by the US in the aftermath of the nazi excesses of WW2.

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Cheney_criticizes_Ge neva_Convention_in_Military_0526.html

Dispense with the right to a fair trial

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2007/05/20/AR2007052001409.html

Announce you are planning to cancel the nuclear arms reduction treaty with the Russian Federation and put missiles in Bulgaria, Romania and Poland.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2007/05/20/AR2007052001409.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6708459.st m

Enthuse the police to shoot anti globalization protestors

http://youtube.com/watch?v=G63FEamhpA0&mode=relate d&search=

"Tyrants almost always disguise their lust for power as sympathy for the persecuted and downtrodden .."

Who did the following George Dubya or Chavez.

Pass a law giving him total authority over the entire federal government.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20 070509-12.html

Plotted to steal an election through a rigged electronic voting machine, targeting ethnecally unsound voters. Eg blacks and Hispanics and overseas members of the armed forces who were also black or Hispanic.

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/1725601 2.htm

Invaded a country and steal the oil and sell it back to them.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052607Z.shtml

Revoke the US commitment to the Geneva Conventions, something that was implimented by the US in the aftermath of the nazi excesses of WW2.

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Cheney_criticizes_Ge neva_Convention_in_Military_0526.html

Dispense with the right to a fair trial

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2007/05/20/AR2007052001409.html

Announce you are planning to cancel the nuclear arms reduction treaty with the Russian Federation and put missiles in Bulgaria, Romania and Poland.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2007/05/20/AR2007052001409.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6708459.st m

Enthuse the police to shoot anti globalization protestors

http://youtube.com/watch?v=G63FEamhpA0&mode=relate d&search=

Blade Inflation
By Dave Barry

What's next from the razor-sharp minds of the shaving industry?

Attention, consumers with bodily hair: The razor industry has news for you! You will never in a million years guess what this news is, unless your IQ is higher than zero, in which case you're already thinking: "Not another blade! Don't tell me they're adding ANOTHER BLADE!!"

Shut up! Don't spoil the surprise for everybody else!

Before I tell you the news, let's put it in historical context by reviewing:

THE HISTORY OF SHAVING

Human beings are one of only two species of animals that shave themselves (the other one is salamanders). The Internet tells us that humans have been shaving since the Stone Age. Of course, the Internet also tells us that hot naked women want to befriend us, so we can't be 100 percent sure about everything we read there.

But assuming that www.quikshave.com/ timeline.htm is telling the truth, Neanderthal Man used to pluck his facial hairs "using two seashells as tweezers." No doubt Neanderthal Woman found this very attractive. "You smell like a clam," were probably her exact words. It was during this era that the headache was invented.

By 30,000 B.C., primitive man was shaving with blades made from flint, which is a rock, so you had a lot of guys whose faces were basically big oozing scabs. The next shaving breakthrough came when the ancient Egyptians figured out how to make razors from sharp metal, which meant that, for the first time, the man who wanted to be well-groomed could, without any assistance or special training, cut an ear completely off.

This was pretty much the situation until the late 19th century, at about 2:30 p.m., when the safety razor was invented. This introduced a wonderful era known to historians as "The Golden Age of Not Having Razor Companies Introduce Some Ludicrously Unnecessary New Shaving Technology Every 10 Damn Minutes."

I, personally, grew up during this era. I got my first razor when I was 15, and I used it to shave my "beard," which consisted of a lone chin hair approximately one electron in diameter. (I was a "late bloomer" who did not fully experience

puberty until many of my classmates, including females, were bald.) My beard would poke its wispy head out of its follicle every week or so, and I, feeling manly, would smother it under 14 cubic feet of shaving cream and lop it off with my razor. Then I would stand in front of the bathroom mirror, waiting for it to grow again. Mine was a lonely adolescence.

The razors of that era had one blade, and they worked fine; ask any older person who is not actively drooling. But then, in 1971, a very bad thing happened: Gillette, looking for a way to enhance the shaving experience (by which I mean "charge more") came out with a razor that had TWO blades. This touched off a nuclear arms race among razor companies, vying to outdo one another by adding "high-tech" features that made the product more expensive, but not necessarily better. This tactic is called "sneakerization," in honor of the sneaker industry, which now has people paying upwards of $200 a pair for increasingly weird-looking footwear boasting the durability of thinly sliced Velveeta.

Soon everybody was selling two-blade razors. So the marketing people put on their thinking caps, and, in an astounding burst of creativity, came up with the breakthrough concept of: THREE BLADES. Gillette, which is on the cutting edge (har!) of razor sneakerization, currently has a top-of-the-line three-blade razor -- excuse me, I mean "shaving system" -- called the "Mach3Turbo," which, according to the Gillette Web site (www.gillette.com) has more technology than a nuclear submarine, including "open cartridge architecture" and an "ergonomic handle" featuring "knurled ela

In an interview with NPR's Steve Inskeep airing May 31, 2007 on NPR News' Morning Edition, Griffin said the following: "I have no doubt that global -- that a trend of global warming exists. I am not sure that it is fair to say that it is a problem we must wrestle with. To assume that it is a problem is to assume that the state of earth's climate today is the optimal climate, the best climate that we could have or ever have had and that we need to take steps to make sure that it doesn't change.

"First of all, I don't think it's within the power of human beings to assure that the climate does not change, as millions of years of history have shown, and second of all, I guess I would ask which human beings - where and when - are to be accorded the privilege of deciding that this particular climate that we have right here today, right now is the best climate for all other human beings. I think that's a rather arrogant position for people to take." [17]

James Hansen, a NASA climate scientist, stated that Griffin's comments showed "arrogance and ignorance", as millions will likely be harmed by global warming.[18] Jerry Mahlman, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said that Griffin was either "totally clueless" or "a deep antiglobal warming ideologue."

who failed "her" Gender Test at the 2006 Asian Games?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2006/12/18/AR2006121801384.html

The US not reducing its emissions will do nothing to get those other countries to reduce theirs.

FYI, according to the Washington Post, the US is reducing its carbon emissions -- at least when the weather cooperates.

What I would like to know is this: what evidence is there that reducing our carbon emissions now will affect global warming?