Quote of the day...

From a *very* detailed article on tax breaks for business use of your SUV:

"If we were going to devise a formula for wrecking the country, it would be difficult to improve on this one. We might as well call this portion of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 the Osama Bin Laden Support Fund."

When Senators Attack....

23 DAYS LEFT....keep an eye on the countdown on the left. Don't you wish all our political conflicts were solved this quickly and cleanly? :)

Bang-up job of the week....

NASA is at it again:

"An experimental spacecraft designed to show off new autopilot technologies ran into the satellite it was supposed to rendezvous with, NASA confirmed Monday. "

Can't wait for the shuttle to finally go up next month. Heh.

***LIZZY GOT A JOB!***

...AFTER YEARS OF STRUGGLE...ONE STUDENT....ABOUT TO EMBARK ON THE MOST AMAZING JOURNEY....

Ok, so it sounds better if you read it in "movie man" voice. Congrats to Lizzy on her new job awaiting her after Towson!

Pork of the day:

...if you still trust your elected boys to keep spending our money the same way they always do, know that some of your $6 billion "Homeland Security" tax dollars are going to buy friggin' Segway scooters:

"...the Santa Clara, Calif., sheriff's department, which purchased four Segways to transport its bomb squad in the event of a terrorist attack on Silicon Valley. They won't get very far at 12.5 mph."

Ceiling fans and the Americay Way?

Ok, I was reading some stupid article about how fan efficency is somehow responsible for our energy waste, reliance on foreign oil, blah blah. Came across this gem:

But Democrats and outside energy efficiency advocates said Deal's measure would pre-empt stronger fan efficiency requirements already approved or being considered in more than half dozen states, calling it a step backward in efforts to curb energy use.

Congress not only "is doing far too little to improve energy efficiency," but also "will pre-empt stronger state standards," said Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine, arguing against Deal's measure.

That's just the problem. Federal power under our Constitution was NOT supposed to pre-empt the right of the states to pass their own laws. But since our courts have established a precedent, now we have a backwards system where federal laws undermine any similar state law, even if the state law has more stringent requirements. It's enough to make a Libertarian ill. I have to go lie down now. :)

Eclipse tomorrow!

Annular solar eclipse tomorrow evening for you USA residents. Only 10% viewable from here, but damn if I won't be out with the telescope/solar filter/camera taking pictures.

Today's health tip:

Looking to keep your wits into old age?

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Sex, cryptic crosswords and a good run could help ward off dementia and other degenerative conditions by stimulating new brain cells, an Australian researcher said on Thursday.

Well, I love crosswords and have a nice in-house fitness center in the building I work in. Um....er....Hey, Katy! :^p

(Best quote from the fark.com discussion: "Excuse me miss, I just ran into the bar here to give you these crossword puzzles. Wanna have sex?")

Pic of the day...April Fools to the penguins?

From Yahoo:

Emperor penguins look up at a giant imposter at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo, Japan. Zoo director Teruyuki Komiya dressed up for a stint in the penguin enclosure for the annual April Fool event to display a human being at the zoo.

Today's e-dating tip:

Beware creating an online alter-ego to date your girlfriend, she may actually break up with you for "him". End result in this case wasn't too good:

A Taiwanese man who used a different identity through the Internet to double-date his girlfriend, has committed suicide after the girl fell for his email-based alter ego, a Taiwanese newspaper reported on Wednesday.