Pakistan launches its first home made submarine

Kind of brings to mind a boat built by some kids in the garage, doesn't it? It's a government project, built in Pakistan, of course. I'm not sure if it will actually do any good, but I guess it will make them feel nice. Until India takes over the coast around Karachi and Pakistan is landlocked, of course.

CNN.com - FBI seeks senators' records in 9/11 leak probe - August 24, 2002

And the decay of Congress' status as the senior branch of government continues. Sen. Bob "Sturgeonlover" Graham says he'll turn over the documents the Feebs desire. All part of his duty to keep the White House and the intelligence community looking good.

Militants kill 10 Muslims as polls near - AUG 25, 2002

Hey, you don't have to be a Muslim to be a "militant"! Now Hindus are getting some of the action, too. If they keep it up, maybe they can be promoted to "activist"!

Arsenal opens gates to public for 1st concert since Sept. 11
Visitors must not go beyond area that Styx, Kansas are performing

If there are any terrorists out there who are planning to hit Redstone Arsenal, can I ask you a favor? Can you please hit it while Styx and Kansas are performing? I assure you, they're evil spawns of Satan. I think we can all agree on that, right?

State site finalist for atomic fuel plant
Nuclear power suppliers eyeing Jackson County

Always fun when your state seems the right place to put a nuclear fuel enrichment facility. Even better when they want to put it in a county with a 1000:1 resident to meth lab ratio.

CNN.com - Air guitar legends strike a chord - August 24, 2002

Congratulations to Zac Munro, of London, winner for the second year running of the World Air Guitar Championships. Zac is now officially the biggest dork in the entire world.

A pain in pond, a delight to diners

Apparently, the DCSWF is delicious. At least according to diners at the Yin Yankee Cafe in Annapolis. But we knew that, didn't we?

CNN.com - Alaska protects one rare white bear - August 24, 2002

It's a black bear, but it's white. So it's under special protection, an emergency regulation passed yesterday.

Fun With Referrer Logs

Have a little trouble with parking tickets, do we?

Yahoo! Search Results for Boston Meter Maids Hitler Youth

AP Wire | 08/23/2002 | N. Korea, Russia Talk Economics

Well, that's a real meeting of the minds. Next up, the English and Scots will discuss cookery, and we're getting together with the French to thrash out how to run a Presidential election.

Georgia School Board Requires Balance of Evolution and Bible

Ladies and gentlemen, the Cobb County Board of Education is a gaggle of morons.

After the vote, Gordon O'Neill, a board member, led his colleagues in a prayer: "Heavenly father, we ask that you provide to all of us a clear understanding of our fellow man and an acceptance of a diversity of thinking. Amen."

Way to look unbiased, Gord.

The Nando Times: Armitage arrives in India amid worsening tensions

Yes, Richard Armitage to the rescue!

The Nando Times: U.S. warplanes bomb air defense site in Iraq, military says

Are we really sure we aren't already at war with Iraq?

Jackson busts 55th alleged meth lab

That's 55 this year alone. Jackson County is located in the northeast corner of the state -- closer to Chattanooga than any major city in Alabama -- and is primarily rural. Its projected population in 2000 was 52,224, meaning we're talking about approximately one meth lab per 1000 people. That doesn't seem sustainable to me unless at least ten percent of the population is on drugs.

Another bit from the Skeptical Inquirer... From "A Skeptical Look at September 11th: How We Can Defeat Terrorism by Reacting to It More Rationally":

To conclude, we suggest that most homeland security expenditures, which in the zero-sum budget game are diverted from other vital purposes, are terribly expensive and disproportionate to competing needs for preventing other causes of death and misery in our society. While prudent, focused improvements in security are called for, the sheer costs of most security initiatives greatly distort the way we address the many threats to our individual and collective well-being. Our greatest vulnerability to terrorism is the persisting, irrational fear of terrorism that has gripped our country. We must start behaving like the informed, reasoning beings we profess to be.

'Critical' flaws in Microsoft software

No!

Several "critical" software bugs in Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Office software could be used to hijack millions of personal computers, the company warned on Thursday.

"Flaws" -- that is, gaping security holes -- were reported in MSIE 5.01, 5.5, and 6.0, plus Office. A fine job all around, really.

Attack of the Interstellar EU

My new Skeptical Inquirer arrived yesterday, and I'm enjoying it. There's a long report on the Skeptics' Conference I'd like to break down here eventually, but for now I'm going to talk about appropriately named Phillip Krapf, author of at least two books, including The Challenge of Contact: A Mainstream Journalist's Report on Interplanetary Diplomacy who is covered in the "Psychic Vibrations" column by Robert Schaeffer. From the column:

Krapf says that on June 11, 1997, the aliens whisked him aboard their spacecraft, subjected him not to medical examinations but three days of drawn-out meetings with various members of the interstellar bureaucracy, and commanded him to begin writing a book...

Krapf writes of his contact with The Verdants, who are an enlightened, peace-loving race... These superior beings, who represent an Intergalactic Federation, are strict vegetarians. They promise a wonderful future for Earth in which all our needs will be met and everyone lives in peace and harmony. But there's a catch: approximately 20 percent of Earth's population is too greedy and self-centered to accept an egalitarian utopia. So these un-peace-loving people must be peacefully rounded up and peacefully transported to remote places of exile, whether they like it or not. They much also not be allowed to reproduce any more of their miserable lot, so that means they'll have to be sterilized as well. Peacefully, of course, as the Verdants carry no weapons.

The parallels with the European Union are obvious, of course. (Also, I originally wrote utopia as "Eutopia". Coincidence?)

Unfortunately, according to Krapf, the events of September 11 convinced the Verdants that humanity wasn't ready to join the GF. You would think that things like the ongoing wars in Africa, or the Balkans, or Indian/Pakistani tension, would have been enough for them, actually.

Caption Time 2

Putin Wants Korean Rail to Help Russia's Far East

Pootie-Poot hugs Kim Jong-Il. But is there more going on here? If you know, post it in the comments.

Boston Globe Online / Nation | World / Army training posts have met the enemy, and it is kudzu

Oh, god, kudzu. Trust me, if you don't have to deal with this, you're lucky. This stuff, it just grows. It loves the southern climate, nothing around here eats it, and it's almost impossible to eradicate. Left alone long enough, it will cover houses. And now it turns out that the Army can't deal with it either. Tanks can't move over it.

The Agriculture Department recommended people plant the stuff back in the thirties. They were completely insane then.

AP Wire | 08/22/2002 | Former Jamestown police chief sentenced to 18 years

In Missouri; he was found guilty of "statutory sodomy" and "attempted child molestation". The child was nine years old at the time; her mother, the convict's former wife, denies the charges, as does the former police chief in question. I of course have no idea if it's true or not. What I will say is that I don't envy a man who is both a former police officer and a convicted child molester going into our prison system.

Global Warming Is Good for You!

Dylan Otto Krider -- who as far as I'm concerned can take the Church of Scientology for all the money it's scammed out of Tom Cruise and John Travolta combined -- points me to his article on Global Warming denier Gerald T. Westbrook. It's just great. Too much to quote, but here's a little bit:

Bottom line, [Dr. Mahlon Kennicutt of Texas A&M] says, is that the Westbrook materials he reviewed are political documents. "They refer to scientific documents, but these are…people taking a position based on their view of the world, and certainly, I'm sure on the industry side there's a belief that they haven't been raping and pillaging their environment."

He says that a decade or so ago, he also didn't think the science was there to prove global warming. Today Kennicutt can't name a single scientist who asserts that carbon dioxide and temperature are not rising, at least in part because of fossil fuels. "The jump then is what does that increase cause?"

There are four levels of global warming denial:

1. "The Earth isn't getting warmer."

2. "Maybe it's getting warmer, but humans aren't the cause."

3. "Okay, humans are the cause, but it's a good thing."

4. "Okay, it's a bad thing, but there's nothing to be done about it."

Westbrook seems to move around between the levels depending upon the audience.

The number of Kyotos required to make a difference, Westbrook says, means "cars go away, the trucks go away. We go back to almost living like the [Native Americans]."

Anyone want to guess what [Native Americans] is in place of?

I'm not pro-Kyoto really; I think it was a bad design and lets poor countries (where a lot of the pollution growth is coming from) off the hook. But its opponents are not being honest about it any more than its supporters.

North Korea Incurs U.S. Penalty for Missile Parts Sales to Yemen

Symbolic penalties, since we don't trade with North Korea anyway. But it's certainly a good idea to bring them into the international community, yes sir!

AP Wire | 08/23/2002 | Bush questioned on Calif. candidate

"Bill Simon assures us that when the courts look at this case he'll be innocent, and I take the man for his word," Bush said Thursday while in Oregon on another fund-raising swing.

Maybe that's the President's problem. He's just too trusting. He probably believed Ken Lay when he said there weren't any problems at Enron, and he probably believes Dick Cheney when he says that everything at Halliburton was above board.

Little support in Bay Area for Iraq war

Not exactly Man Bites Dog, is it?

AP Wire | 08/23/2002 | Pakistan says India launched attack

Yikes. I don't know if this really happened or not, but it sure seems like an escalation to me.

The Miami Herald | 08/23/2002 | Earlier Regier article had same message

Not only a religious fanatic but a liar... Jerry Regier is the fanatic whom the First Little Brother put in charge of Florida's child welfare agency. He'd come under fire for co-writing an article encouraging "manly discipline" for children. Translation: "Beat them until they're black and blue." Also, women should not work outside the home, and gays are evil. He denied writing the article, but a year before another article with the same message appeared in the same publication... with his name, and his alone, listed as the author.

Woman Gives Birth at Starbucks

Damned lines.

ajc.com | Metro | 'Probable' West Nile case confirmed in Georgia

Six of them! With two fatalities! Lucky there's nothing to be concerned about!

Heck, forget not going outside, I'm never leaving my bed again.

Oh, God, please let them be mistaken.

Deliberate fire set after shots fired at sorority picnic

Last night, shots were fired (in the air) at a picnic attended by members of the University of Alabama chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, a black sorority. This morning, a fire was apparently deliberately set at the sorority house, doing significant damage. Thankfully, none of the eight students in the house was hurt.

As you may or may not know, there have been some racial difficulties in the UA Greek community, particularly on the female side, in recent years. White sororities have been pretty stridently anti-integration. Obviously, I don't know why this fire was set, but I have to fear the worst.

Yahoo! News - Fish in Moms' Diets Fuel Growth of Newborn Brains

Wait, didn't they just say that pregnant women shouldn't eat fish? No, that was just tuna, right? Whatever. Anyway, you guys get your act together, figure out what it is people should eat, then we'll talk.

Evolution takes stage in Cobb County; school board to address classroom alternatives

If anyone's in Cobb County, Georgia tonight, why not stop by the school board meeting and watch them try to set the clock back to the 18th century?

Nah, that's not in bad taste

The Nando Times: Cadbury apologizes for ad making light of Kashmir

Cadbury's ad -- appearing in a Bombay newspaper on Indian Independence day -- said that their chocolate was, like Kashmir, "too good to share". Oy.

Allies may help in missile defense

The best way they can help is by refusing to have anything to do with it. It's a huge waste of time and money.

Jason Rylander thinks that cloning extinct species, mammoths in particular, is "a profoundly bad idea". (He even brings Jurassic Park into it.)

I disagree. I don't know about cloning dinosaurs (which is almost certainly impossible), but mammoths are a completely different animal, literally and figuratively. They only went extinct very recently. More importantly, they (almost certainly) went extinct due to human agency, at least in part. I not only think it's acceptable for human agency to try and bring the mammoth back, it's our duty.

Besides, I think seeing a mammoth would be neat.

Two captive Jehovah's Witnesses beheaded in Philippines

Okay, that's just wrong. Even if they were Jehovah's Witnesses.

"They did this because they want to punish the nonbelievers of Allah," he said.

I can't say that I agree with your interpretation of the Koran there, boys.

Israel Arrests Senior Hamas Leader

Why, whatever for?

Meanwhile, incompetent bombmaking continued as a 55-year-old Palestinian woman was killed on a chicken farm belonging to an Islamic Jihad terrorist.

Endangered Chocolate

Now, this is a nightmare. A Chocolate Shortage? The plant endangered by disease and overplanting?

(Via Sci-Tech Daily.)

Spam Spam Spam Spam

This is a new one on me: anyone else familiar with it?

This to bring to your kind notice that I am desirous of donatig my ovary to someone who really needs it.

I am 27 years of age staying in INDIA (Mumbai) and plan to remain a spinster all my life. But I shall be glad if my ovaries can render motherhood to any woman on this earth who is infertile due of ot bearing ovaries. Please send me details regarding how I can porceed with the donation of my ovaries.

Department of Deja Vu

Siegelman camp: Riley lying about business record

Stop me if you've heard this one before. A Republican is running on an "honesty and integrity" platform against a scandal-racked Democratic incumbent, with one of his major pitches being that he's a successful businessman. However, he's facing charges that he's not really a successful businessman and all of his money was made simply because of who his father is.

Adventures in Airport Security

Former trainee faces child porn charge
Investigation started with man's boast about sneaking in weapons

A security trainee at the Mobile airport was taped last month boasting about how he could smuggle weapons onto an airplane. He was fired for that. Yesterday, he was arrested on a child pornography charge. To be honest, this looks like the ATF grasping at any straw they can find in order to hold him; the "pornography" in question appears to have been models for drawing kept on a computer disk.

For a change, snakehead run into town on a rail

Typical. A Maryland sushi restaurant has imported six live snakeheads. They say that they're only doing this to serve them for dinner. Right.

Yahoo! News - 'Buffy' Rates Worst Show for Families

I've mentioned this before, but the Parents' Television Council is a bunch of bluenosed ninnies.

Serial Killer Stalking Rome's Alley Cats

Romans, apparently, like cats, even strays. They feed them, stroke them, etc. The killer so far has killed six cats, either poisoning with strychnine or kicking them to death. I hate people like that.

Philippine rebels seize at least six people in first kidnappings since U.S. mission

Normally, I would condemn this action. However, these six people were:

A) Jehovah's Witnesses, and;
B) Selling Avon door-to-door.

Heck, I might have kidnapped them myself.

No, no, this is bad, of course.

West Nile hitting home

Good luck to Combustible Mom, who has come down with a (fortunately mild) case of West Nile fever. They say she'll be okay.

Miami airport concourse evacuated; at least 43 people treated for respiratory distress

Jeez, let's hope that's all it is... My guess is that what we have here is just someone being a jackass.

No S***, Sherlock

Income affects students' scores

Poor students did worse on the ACT than middle-class students, who did worse than rich students. Wow, amazing, I never heard that before.

The real news is that Alabama test scores stayed steady while national test scores went down. Whoo-hoo!! You're coming down to our level, America! All we have to do is stay steady and we'll be average in no time!

CNN.com - Israel arrests suspects in university bombing - August 21, 2002

Great news.

Get ready for the complaints about how the Israelis are violating the civil rights of these poor Palestinians by putting them in jail and asking them questions.

Tougher laws on alien fish urged
Snakehead experts begin drafting limits on import, sale of aquatic life in Md.

Remember -- if snakeheads are outlawed, only outlaws will have snakeheads.

Hubbard Winners Named

Dylan Otto Krider (what a name!) of Houston won the Grand Prize at the L. Ron Hubbard Awards for Writers of the Future, thereby bringing a lifetime of shame upon his family and bitter attacks from cultists upon me for mocking the God of Scientology.

Ananova - Emergency landing after naked passenger tries to force way into cockpit

Worse, they had to land in B-----m.

On the one hand, why he could force an emergency landing isn't clear to me. What, he had a concealed weapon? On the other hand, I'd probably do what the man said too, as long as he promised to conceal his weapon, if you get my drift.

The Nando Times: Belgians outraged by Pygmy exhibition

First, there's a "Belgians Are Short" joke, or a "Their Country Is Small/Weak" joke, here somewhere, but I can't conjure with it. Sorry.

Second, isn't this just the EU at its most enlightened? A group of Pygmies came to B-----m (hey, this isn't a Serious Screenplay) and put on an exhibition of Pygmy culture to raise money for wells, schools and hospitals for their home in Cameroon. And the Belgians stayed away in droves because it offended their tender sensibility. (Oh, and it reminded them of the unspeakable horrors perpetrated by Belgians in Africa.)

So the Pygmies are going back to Cameroon. And they aren't likely to bring much back with them. But at least they weren't exploited.

I don't know enough about this to say if it really was offensive. Maybe it was. But it really seems to me that the Belgians were more afraid they, the Belgians, would be offended than worrying about actually doing something to help impoverished people.

The Nando Times: Plot to destroy basilica thwarted, Italian police say

What, again? This is the church with the fresco depicting Mohammed in Hell, which was a target earlier this year. You have to hand it to al-Q, once they find a target, they stick with it until it's gone.

(Oh, man, that was a joke, but now I'm thinking about the Pentagon. I hope the military knows this, though I can't imagine anything al-Q could come up with that would destroy the Pentagon.)

Anyway, here's this six-hundred-year-old fresco which Muslims (even non-terrorist Muslims) want destroyed because it offends them. I can't help but think of the fate of so many churches in Britain and Germany, their stained glass and other decorations destroyed in the name of the Reformation -- not the worst crime committed (by either side) in those conflicts, but one that angers me nonetheless.

Muslims don't get off either. I'm still upset about Hagia Sophia.

The Nando Times: Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal committed suicide, Iraq confirms

And if you can't believe Saddam, who can you believe?

"Yes, I confirm his suicide and an official will give you full details on Wednesday," [Tariq] Aziz said.

I can see it now... "He shot himself five times, then pushed himself out of a car and rolled himself into a ditch by the side of a road. He then wrote TRAITOR all over his chest with his own blood, and finally burned down his own house with all of his possessions inside."

Pryor sees possible flurry of inmate executions

Running for re-election? Well, time to step up the executions! We now have two, count 'em, two ways to kill -- electrocution and now, for the first time, lethal injection!

The jury in Johnson's trial voted 9-3 for life imprisonment without parole. Circuit Judge Richard Hundley rejected the jury's recommendation and imposed the death penalty. Johnson was found guilty of gunning down Cantrell at Cantrell's home after he and an accomplice posed as customers wanting to do after hours business.

Well, the Supreme Court has said that juries and not judges have to make death penalty decisions. But screw that! This is Alabama, we never pay any attention to the Supreme Court anyway! What, are you going to nationalize the National Guard to keep us from frying this guy?

HS Foreign 20.8.2002 - International study: Europe's biggest climate change in the Baltic Sea region

In August tens of thousands of fish have died of asphyxiation in Lake Peipsi, which is one of Europe's largest lakes. Researchers blame it on the warmer climate.

But There's No Such Thing As Global Warming, right?

Senator tags sturgeon on workday

Florida Senator Bob Graham caught and tagged a number of sturgeon in the Apalachicola River. And let them go! Given the epidemic of people being attacked and severely injured by Florida sturgeon, there's only one answer -- he's gone over to the other side! He's helping the fish, like one of those politicians on The X-Fileswho helps the aliens.

The Nando Times: Bin Laden announces jihad collaboration in recovered tapes

Oh, a collaboration. I dunno, usually collaborations are pretty weak. I mean, you buy a book and you think you'd rather the authors had each written a book instead of sharing this one. I assume that goes for international terrorism as well.

The Nando Times: Man believed to have supplied Sept. 11 terrorists with fake IDs is arrested

Guy flees the country to avoid arrest; guy comes back to the country and gets arrested. He's a naturalized citizen born in Egypt, whence he returned today. Our ally, ladies and gentlemen.

Newsday.com - Ranchers Complain About Prairie Dogs

"Dammit, we're paying two and a half cents an acre to use this grazing land, and we want some service! Now, kill off this endangered species!"

Jay Davis of the Sierra Club said 98 percent of the prairie dogs present when explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark traveled across the country are gone.

Actually, they're all gone; prairie dogs only live a few years and that was 200 years ago. What he means to say is that the current population is roughly two percent of the size of the early 18th century population. It just so happens that the population is centered in South Dakota and they're very common there.

Scientists hope poison kills snakehead fish - 8/20/2002 - ENN.com

"No dead fish yet," said Heather Lynch, spokeswoman for the state Department of Natural Resources. "This morning, the pond looked exactly like it did yesterday."

You don't think they've already escaped, do you? They could be anywhere!

Blair's Law Update

Combustible Boy has been wading into the fringe of the fringe wackos, leading to pages like this which apparently (it's not very clear) claims that the WTC was hit by a UFO. But it might be a joke. The page also hosts, for example, the examination of Michael Jackson's ever-changing face that was getting some blogosphere play a few days ago. Of course, even a nut can have a sense of humor. I have no judgment about this sort of thing.

Swim league wants dome over pool

My first reaction: "They're worried about getting wet if it rains?"

Muslim ruled winner in Democratic runoff

A man named Yusuf Salaam (isn't that what Cat Stevens is calling himself these days? No, that's Yusuf Islam, right?) is bidding to become the first Muslim in the Alabama legislature. Salaam -- a former city councilor in Selma, of all places -- will still have to win a general election against a Republican, but has won a challenge to his victory in a runoff election. I don't know anything about this guy, I just wanted to point it out.

'Jurassic Chicken' Could Bring Back Dinos

Scientists think advances in DNA technology could lead to a dinosaur-type creature being hatched from a bird's egg in the next 60-100 years.

Or maybe you'd just get an enormous man-eating chicken, which admittedly would be almost as good. It would be bad news for KFC though. You want to explain to a 30-foot chicken with teeth and claws that you deep-fried its mother and have its siblings on a rotisserie?

Department of Weird Things Foreigners Eat

Chinese demand for Asia's ant-eaters surges

I've mentioned this story before, I think. China is a big market for the illegal export of pangolins (also known as "scaly anteaters") which are protected species under Thai law. While they do want the meat, typically it's the scales which are the big prize because they're thought to "prolong life and strengthen the sex drive". Of course, they don't.

Tuscaloosa County resident has West Nile virus

Hey, I'm a Tuscaloosa County resident! This isn't an old guy, either, he's only 46. Never, ever go outside.

albawaba.com: Contradicting reports concerning Abu Nidal fate

Okay, this is getting weird. There are reports that Abu was working with the Kuwaitis against Saddam. I would make some sarcastic comment about "our allies, the Kuwaitis", except that if he really was fomenting revolution in Iraq, I'd have to wonder if he wasn't working for us as well. Yipes.

Here's a guess. Twenty years from now, this is all going to be revealed, and a lot of people are going to look bad. I don't know what's going on, but I'd really be surprised if we and the Israelis weren't somehow involved.

TownHall.com: Conservative Columnists: Paul Craig Roberts

TAPPED sends me to this piece of racist claptrap that could just as easily have been written by David Duke.

The 1964 Civil Rights Act has been illegally enforced for 37 years. The result is a massive system of race and gender discrimination against white males in order to achieve proportional representation of racial minorities and women.

That's far from the worst of it. I don't normally pay much attention to editorial pages and the idiocies of right-wing "thinkers", but this is beyond the pale. (Pun intended.)

Another Piece of Junk from The Laughing Librarian -- Library Humor
Book For Kid or Porno Vid?

In & Out, Up & Down
Spying on Miss Muller
Jenna's Playhouse
The Pink Party
Mission to Uranus

That's just a sampling. Hey, why can't they be both? Actually one (not one of the ones I listed) is both. Guess which one.

(Via Librarian.net.)

From neon to nature
Branson, Mo., looking to attract younger tourists

Yeah, that's going to happen... Well, "younger" is a relative term, and I expect the first generation of Branson tourists are all dead, or at least not getting around much anymore.

My father is in his sixties, and I can usually make him laugh, or at least smile, by suggesting he take his next vacation in Branson. It's not something he would ever do. Of course, for Branson he'd be a young guy.

CSICOP Crop Circle Experiments

CSICOP shows you how to make a crop circle, with a number of links to various articles of various amounts of credulity.

Sponsorships: General Information - Baseball-Reference.com

A quick pitch for a wonderful site. Baseball-Reference is a free online baseball encyclopedia, with complete stats and a lot of great features, and Sean's adding new stuff all the time. You can now sponsor a player or team page. (Here's mine, a favorite player of my youth.) The bulk of players -- scrubeenies -- are $5 a year, with prices rising at $5 increments depending on page hits.

Young says McKinney campaign 'fudged' taped endorsement

Andrew Young told the McKinney and Majette campaigns that he was sitting out the election and wouldn't endorse either. That didn't stop McKinney from recycling an old tape and playing it to make people think she had Young's endorsement. Imagine, Cynthia McKinney being dishonest!

A major player in the lives of 2 baseball cities

One of the designers of Camden Yards in Baltimore is turning her attention to Fenway Park. Nothing against the Baltimore park, but Camdenizing Fenway would be a mistake.

The Nando Times: Boom in Afghan opium poppy harvest

Good news for the post-Taliban economy. Party time!

The Nando Times: Thailand approves extradition of U.S. child porn suspect

Okay, I've said this before, but I'll say it again... While "child porn suspect" is technically true, this man is accused of raping a girl. Why is it that the images are getting attention and the reality is not?

CNN.com - NASA not giving on missing probe - August 19, 2002

You know, when your probe breaks in half it might be time to let go.

INDIAN INDEPENDENCE DAY: Coming together in friendship

The story recounts a celebration of the day in my current hometown of Northport. Interestingly, Indians and Pakistanis (and Bangladeshis) here seemed to have no problem mixing with one another, even sitting at the same tables.

"It's just political," Pakistan native Feroza Memon said. "Basically, India and Pakistan are the same country. The culture is the same, the food is the same. There are Hindus and Muslims in both countries."

And don't doubt for a second that the leaders of Ms. Memon's home country don't know that. And that it doesn't keep them awake at night.

Nigerian Sharia Court Upholds Stoning Death Sentence

Sure is a nice religion they have going there. A woman bears a child out of wedlock, she has to be stoned. But they're merciful -- she gets to wean the baby before they kill her.

Reuters Wire | 08/19/2002 | Palestinian Guerrilla Chief Abu Nidal Reportedly Dead

It's about time. He was 65; how many lives did he snuff out long before that age?

Snakehead eradication begins in Crofton

Apparently it's a tourist attraction still. And, of course, there's merchandise. I want a Snakehead Eradication T-shirt.

State officials say the chemical cocktail of diquat dibromide and glyphosate will kill all the oxygen-producing vegetation and suffocate a large percentage of the fish, including snakeheads. But because snakeheads have a primitive lung that allows them to breathe out of water, biologists will return after about a week to apply the fish poison rotenone to ensure eradication.

A week? Aren't they just giving the snakeheads a chance to make a slither for it?

CBS News | Explosive Catch | August 19, 2002 08:15:27

A couple of Pennsylvania fishermen have definitely topped the Marylanders and their DCSWF. They went fishing in the Schuykill and caught a live explosive rocket. The military doesn't know where it came from, but the military seems to lose a lot of stuff.

Columbine Loses Majority of Staff

Jeez, one little massacre and half the staff makes a run for it.

Larry thinks he's joking...

I figure I'll be getting this email in my inbox any day now.

CNN.com - Abdullah certain bin Laden is alive - August 18, 2002

I'm not exactly clear why Afghanistan's foreign minister thinks Osama is still alive. (Mullah Omar, too, but I never thought there was any question of that.) It seems to be a matter of faith, and we all know what that's worth.

'Invasives' threaten Maryland habitats

Even before the DCSWF, Maryland was having trouble with invasive species. Chesapeake Bay's oyster population has been devastated by outside disease and nutria are wreaking havoc in a wildlife refuge.

State to apply herbicide today to snakehead-infested waters

Operation Agent Orange begins! The state of Maryland got the other pond owners to sign on the dotted line, and theoretically the first step in the eradication of the DCSWF/M will take place today. After the plants are dead and oxygen levels in the ponds drop, they'll poison the poisson.

Mercury News | 08/18/2002 | When Bush makes decision about Iraq, he will clearly explain it to Americans, aide says

Why do I have trouble believing that? Maybe it's because the President simplifies everything to such a degree that he's not capable of clearly explaining anything?