Like Mary Landrieu said, Mayor Nagin has trouble getting his people to not steal cars on sunny days, so there you go.

Thanks to Craig.

Posted by: Ace at 07:24 PM | Comments (8)
Post contains 43 words, total size 1 kb.

The field has improved significantly since last year's race, when none of the contestants crossed the finish line:

Stanley the Volkswagen, designed by Stanford University, zipped through the 132-mile Mojave Desert course in six hours and 53 minutes Saturday, using only its computer brain and sensors to navigate rough and twisting desert and mountain trails.

You know, I read articles about this from a couple of other sources, but only in SignOnSandiego did I find this sentence:

The $2 million reward was funded by taxpayers.

UPDATE: The more I think about that sneaky-bland little sentence the more pissed I get.
This technology is intended to reduce American military casualties ($2 million is an incredibly cheap pricetag in that arena).
And later, of course, there are all those nifty civilian uses that tend to flow out of military technological advancements.
But in the midst of this exciting story, she feels the need to stop and inform the public where the government gets its money. Because we didn't know?
It is a curiously pointless interjection.

-Unless she thinks Americans shouldn't be paying for it. Then the little stand-alone sentence makes total sense.
Hammerhead.

Posted by: LauraW. at 05:34 PM | Comments (27)
Post contains 211 words, total size 1 kb.

We often talk about the tone of depression and defeatism that runs throughout the American media's coverage of the war in Iraq.
Sometimes you have to go far afield to hear an encouraging word. Iraqi blogger The Mesopotamian has something to say.

Here we have the U.S.A. and Great Britain and their smaller friends, an alliance that has defeated Nazi Germany and the mighty Reich, and have had the stomach to obliterate Japanese cities with atomic bombs. Here we have the Americans, the descendants of those who wrested a whole continent by shear obstinacy and fought for every inch of land with blood and sweat. Here we have nations that have waded through rivers of blood and mud and marched through entire continents to become symbols of human perseverance and enterprise. Yes all this history and yet we have some who think that our miserable "Sunni Triangle" poses an insurmountable problem and that one should "cut and run" and "bring home troops immediately" etc. etc.

Probably copied more of that than I should have, but it is just so sweet.

Posted by: LauraW. at 10:24 AM | Comments (42)
Post contains 190 words, total size 1 kb.

OK, not really. This story made me think about those guys with the neon lights under their cars.

Scientists created mosquitoes with glow-in-the-dark testicles.

The team of researchers at Imperial College London has found a way to tell the sex of the mosquitoes - by genetically modifying them so that the males express a glowing protein in their testes. A laser beam then singles out the glowing larvae, which are then separated from the females.

The article says they separate and sterilize the males, then release them to mate fruitlessly with wild females. Presumably displacing the sperm of viable wild males and thus heading off the spread of malaria.

Still, can't you see some guys going for this? Wouldn't that be hot on the dance floor? Kilts would come back into vogue like crazy.

Thanks loads to Purple Avenger, who has been posting great comments here like crazy lately.

Posted by: LauraW. at 07:09 PM | Comments (24)
Post contains 157 words, total size 1 kb.

So dubbed by Babalu blog, this being the anniversary of when angry Bolivian peasants plugged Che Guevara. If you hit the link, just keep scrolling. Lots of raging cryptofascist Cuban goodness in there.

Here's just a taste of how Cubans react to Che:

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - (KRT) - Plans to show a critically acclaimed movie about Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara's youth as part of Hispanic Heritage Month have placed Broward County's library system under siege, facing charges of both insensitivity and censorship.

"The Motorcycle Diaries" was supposed to air Monday evening as part of the heritage festival's lineup that also includes a puppet show of Don Quixote, flamenco dancing and the movie "Mask of Zorro." After a first attack by Hispanic activists who say Guevara killed and tortured their friends and family, the library is now under fire from civil libertarians for deciding to yank the film.

Unfortunately, not all of the Latin world is as educated about Che as actual Cubans are:

The 38th anniversary of the falling in combat of guerrilla fighter Ernesto Che Guevara was commemorated with a ceremony at Santo Domingo Autonomous University (UASD).

The event, organized by the Campaign of Solidarity with Cuba in the Dominican Republic, marked the beginning of activities taking part in several cities.

I'm not talking about Bolivia,
And I don't want to change your life
But there's a warm wind blowin' the stars around
And I'd really love to see you tonight

I've always loved that song, even though it doesn't make any damn sense.

Posted by: LauraW. at 12:35 PM | Comments (25)
Post contains 299 words, total size 2 kb.

Can Mexico use a buxom, scantily clad model in ads which aim to protect sea turtles?

The woman in question is the Argentinian model Dorismar. Here's one of the ads in question.

Frankly, I'm shocked and heartened.
There is actually a human being out there that is more important than a sea turtle.
As long as they're this confused, they haven't won.

Posted by: LauraW. at 07:16 PM | Comments (29)
Post contains 74 words, total size 1 kb.

I love my gardening catalogues. Gardener's Supply is one of my favorites.

But every once in a while, they hit a clunker.
Tell me, people; what loves to make its home in your airy, well-built woodpile? What is the reason you hold firewood at arm's length when you bring it inside in the wintertime?
Yeah. Bugs.

It is nice to have a roaring fire in the winter. But when you gather wood from your yard, you generally load it in some kind of hand-held tote. The nice thing about these totes is that you can feel anything crawling up onto your hand, shake it off into the snow, and then do the obligatory heebie-jeebie dance.

Behold The Black Widow bridge..

The photo inset from my paper catalogue shows that the straps feed from the bottom of the carrier, and cross in the middle of your back. That's a nice touch. It provides easy access to the back of your neck for the spectrum of vermin that make their homes in woodpiles.

The woman in the picture looks so happy. Probably because they took the pic in Spring and just split the wood that morning, so she knows she's safe.

Posted by: LauraW. at 06:01 PM | Comments (22)
Post contains 205 words, total size 1 kb.

...this should tickle you. Presenting the Salmon Thirty Salmon.

Air-brush artist Chris Coakley, a worker at Goodrich Aerospace in Everett, Wash., paints an Alaska Airlines 737, now called the 'Salmon-Thirty-Salmon,' to look like a giant King Salmon Friday, Sept. 23, 2005. A crew of 30 painters spent 24 days on the job, intended to highlight Alaska Airlines' history of shipping large quantities of fresh seafood from Alaska to points all over the country.

On the runway.

A big Howdy! to our friends in Alaska. Pretty cute, guys.
Thanks to Scott, who does love puns.

Posted by: LauraW. at 04:10 PM | Comments (24)
Post contains 102 words, total size 1 kb.

His name is Assemblyman Mark Leno (D., San Francisco), best known lately for authoring the California gay marriage bill.

Mark Leno doesn't like being tough on sex offenders. Mark Leno and his pals oppose a bill that fixes a breathtaking stupidity in California's "Megan's Law." What's that stupidity?

Thanks to Cathy Seipp we now know:

Did you know that in California, child molesters and rapists are a protected class? It's true. Not only are California landlords banned from using the state's Megan's Law database to decline renting their properties to sex offenders, they're not even allowed to warn other tenants that these paroled criminals are now their neighbors. If they do the first, they can be fined $25,000 for housing discrimination. But if they don't do the second, they can be sued for failing to protect tenants against a known danger.

Curious to know more about Mark Leno? How about this:

...among Mark Leno's other worries are that since San Francisco is such a geographically small city, keeping sex offenders a mile-and-a-half away from schools would force them out of the area. You might think that stratospheric San Francisco rents would also discourage anyone just released from prison, but so far, at least, Leno hasn't backed an affordable-housing-for-paroled rapists measure.

He also once called a San Francisco police sting against Internet sex predators "mean-spirited" and "a waste of tax-payers' money." What, I wondered, does Leno consider a good use of taxpayers' money? Well, besides gay marriage, his projects have included hosting self-esteem conferences for young men, making sure the transgendered aren't denied medical insurance, and fighting anti-porn filters in public libraries.

Thank God I don't live in California!

Some followup by Cathy here.

Posted by: Harry Callahan at 03:42 PM | Comments (11)
Post contains 297 words, total size 2 kb.

A social conservative comes out for Giuliani.

I'm doing this for free, you know. I ain't on the guy's payroll. Yet.

Posted by: Ace at 02:52 PM | Comments (64)
Post contains 27 words, total size 1 kb.