Loving the 2nd Amendment...

Concealed-carry can actually be a good thing, you know:

"ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - A fatal shooting at an Albuquerque Wal-Mart last week was the state's first by someone with a concealed-carry gun permit, authorities said.

Police said Felix Vigil was attacking his ex-wife with a knife near the store's deli counter where she worked when an armed customer intervened and shot him. The woman, Joyce Cordova, was treated for multiple stab wounds and later released from an Albuquerque hospital."

F-bomb of the day...

From a school in the UK....quite unlike any of mine:

"Pupils are being allowed to swear at one Northamptonshire secondary school - as long as they limit their use of bad language to five times a lesson.

A tally of how many times the f-word is used will be kept on the board."

Yeah, I'd just save them all up until the end of class, and let out one almighty tirade just before class is dismissed. :)

Today's tip from Captain Obvious....

On the recent $280 billion-something transportation bill just passed (it was only $20 billion over Bush's limit, so no veto from Dubya, of course):

"The more than 1,000-page highway bill is more costly than he preferred and includes cash to bankroll some 6,000 pet projects for lawmakers in their home districts."

So, make sure you vote for those big, powerful, spend-a-rific parties next time. Yes. That's sarcasm.

Follow up "fun fact":

"Not since John Quincy Adams has a president served a full term without using a veto. "

/fiscal conservative Republicans, my *ass*.

Watch as scientists recreate plasma conditions on the sun.

Next up: creating a singularity that will suck in the entire planet. Hey guys, maybe you should back off a bit and think if this stuff's a good idea first? :)

Space time...."OUT TO LAUNCH"

Shuttle update: finally the first post-Columbia disaster liftoff, no problems so far.

Saturn update: Listen to some eerie radio transmissions from the ringed planet. Shifted down by a factor of 44 for your puny human ears. :)

Can your government ever GIVE UP power, once taken?

Looks like we're trudging towards making most of the "Patriot" Act permanent for the next 10 years. It's passed the House, so WRITE YOUR SENATORS and tell them you don't want to live in a police state where everyone is suspect to numerous violations of your rights, at any time. (good stuff on that last link explaining what exactly the government can now do...search your house without notification, get info on what churches you go to, books you get from the library, any financial records, e-mail and web use....usually WITHOUT PROBABLE CAUSE.)

We'll see how the Senate vote goes....but if you vote for ANY of the asses in Congress that pass this, we're going to be standing across a wide chasm on our political discussions from now on. :)

Next time you go to vote, remember that lots of Dems and Reps both pass this sort of oppressive crap. (Oh, and I loved the convenient 2nd bomb threat in London that didn't kill anyone, it just *happened* to be the same day that Congress was debating limiting their powers under the Act. Yeah, great coincidence. Scare people, then have the vote.)

Libertarian: No longer voting for the lesser of 2 evils.
www.lp.org

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The House voted by a wide margin Thursday night to renew expiring provisions of the USA Patriot Act, the collection of antiterrorism measures passed after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

The final vote was 257-171. The bill makes permanent 14 of 16 provisions in the act set to expire next year and extends two others for another 10 years.

...

Lawmakers narrowly turned back an effort by Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Virginia, to renew the expiring Patriot Act provisions for four more years, rather than making them permanent -- an amendment that drew spirited support from archconservative Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-California.

Rohrabacher said he supported the Patriot Act in 2001 because of the threat faced by the country after 9/11, but only under the belief that once the emergency was over, "the government would again return to a level consistent with a free society."

"We should not be required to live in peacetime under the extraordinary laws that were passed during times of war and crisis. Emergency powers of investigation should not become the standard once the crisis has passed," he said, drawing applause from his colleagues.

Boy do I feel dumb....

Proof that it's never too early to take your Microsoft certification exam:

A Pakistani girl has qualified as a Microsoft Certified Professional at the age of 9.

Arfa Karim of Multan has officially become the youngest MCP in Pakistan, and one of the youngest in the world. Karim, now 10, met with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates last week--an experience she later described as second only to visiting Disneyland.

Fireworks for NASA?

Of a different sort: NASA slams an 800-pound copper projectile into a comet to see what's inside. History in the making? Or just grown boys who like to blow things up? :)

Update: Some things never change....a Russian astrologist is suing NASA for messing with the ephemeris of the comet and f*cking up her horoscope.

New WTC

...redesigned yet AGAIN, and Liebeskind is pretty much out of the picture, but I like this one. Big. Bold. No twisty crap. No smaller towers. Beam of light to shine out the top. Ok, that's something I can learn to like.

The building, which has been dubbed "The Freedom Tower" by Pataki, will remain 1,776 feet, symbolizing the year the United States declared its independence.

It would be almost 100 feet taller than the Taipei 101 Tower in Taiwan, currently the tallest building in the world.

It also will retain a spire, containing a 400-foot broadcast antenna which will emit light at night and is intended to echo the Statue of Liberty's torch.

The public observation deck will be at 1,362 feet, the height of old South Tower, while a glass wall will rise 1,368 feet, the height of the old North Tower.

And the fact that it looks a bit like flippin' the middle finger to the terrorists is nice, too.

More SCOTUS goodness....

Well, at the end of this year's session for the Supreme Court, a mixed bag:

• Split on the two Ten Commandments cases
• Groskter's gonna get crushed for promoting copyright infringement on their file-sharing network
• Your local police can't be sued for non-enforcement of a restraining order (can I have my permit to carry concealed now?)
• And a swift "bite in the ass" of someone filing a request to use the "eminent domain" ruling to build a hotel on Justice Souter's house. Doomed to fail, but hilarious! :)
  

On Monday June 27, Logan Darrow Clements, faxed a request to Chip Meany the code enforcement officer of the Towne of Weare, New Hampshire seeking to start the application process to build a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road. This is the present location of Mr. Souter's home.

Clements, CEO of Freestar Media, LLC, points out that the City of Weare will certainly gain greater tax revenue and economic benefits with a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road than allowing Mr. Souter to own the land.