LOS ANGELES -- Gunther von Hagens, right, gestures towards a cadaver preserved through a process called "plastination" during a news conference as Jeffrey Rudolph, president and CEO of the California Science Center watches. Hagens' "Body Worlds: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies," opens Friday. (06/30/04 AP photo)
 

I've been away for Thanksgiving

Sorry I haven't posted in a week or so. I've been, not so much eating turkey, as eating pie. Yum. I did absolutely nothing over the holidays. Which normally might seem like a good thing, but I did so much of nothing, that I feel like I squandered some time I could have used and been a better steward. I took my "briefcase" with me over the holidays but I never opened it. Maybe I'll do better over Christmas. :/

Check out how the honors program there spells "trivia". 

Web cam hunting

Hunters soon may be able to sit at their computers and blast away at animals on a Texas ranch via the Internet, a prospect that has state wildlife officials up in arms. A controversial Web site, http://www.live-shot.com, already offers target practice with a .22 caliber rifle and could soon let hunters shoot at deer, antelope and wild pigs, site creator John Underwood said Tuesday. [...]Underwood, an estimator for a San Antonio, Texas, auto body shop, has invested $10,000 to build a platform for a rifle and camera that can be remotely aimed on his 330-acre southwest Texas ranch by anyone on the Internet anywhere in the world. [...]Underwood, 39, said he will offer animal hunting as soon as he gets a fast Internet connection to his remote ranch that will enable hunters to aim the rifle quickly at passing animals.He said an attendant would retrieve shot animals for the shooters, who could have the heads preserved by a taxidermist. They could also have the meat processed and shipped home, or donated to animal orphanages.

MILWAUKEE, Wis. -- Louis Volpe, acting regional supervisor of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's safeguarding intervention and trade compliance program, holds two Giant African Land Snails in the USDA's Milwaukee office. Federal health officials have seized several of these dangerous pests from Wisconsin classrooms and have started a national search for the creatures. Many of the snails, which are illegal to possess in the United States, were being used as teaching tools in some classrooms where school officials don't know they are dangerous, said Willie Harris, eastern regional director of the USDA's intervention and trade compliance bureau. (04/21/04 AP photo)
 

Bad timing

Once again, something I just found on the internet that I thought was just funny...


Rabidplaybunny87: Okay, so my neighbors officially hate me

GarbageStan23: why?

Rabidplaybunny87: Well, me, david and andrew were having a bonfire in the backyard, and we were making s'mores and all... and suddenly we here sirens, and see a firetruck turn into the street in front of us.

Rabidplaybunny87: So we all went running to see what was up, and our neigbor's house was on fire!

GarbageStan23: oh man!

Rabidplaybunny87: Yeah, and when we got there, the wife was crying into her husbands arms, and we were just kinda standing there, and then she saw us, and then like for 10 seconds, gave us the dirtiest look ever

Rabidplaybunny87: Turns out, we were still holding our sticks with marshmallows on it, watching the fire....

Rabidplaybunny87: talk about bad timing...

Funny prank on Credit Card junk mailers

I saw this on the internet and thought the idea was hilarious.


1. Save every Free Credit Card Offer you get, Put it in pile A 2. Save every Free Coupon You get, put that in pile B
3. Now open the credit card mail from pile A and find the Business Reply Mail Envelope.
4. Take the coupons from pile B and stuff them in the envelope you hold in your hand.
5. Drop the stuffed to the brim envelopes in your mail and walk away whistling.
I have now received two phone calls from the credit card companies telling me that they received a stuffed envelope with coupons rather then my application. They informed me that it they are not pleased that they footed the bill for the crap I sent them. I reply with "It says Business Reply Mail" I'm suggesting coupons to you to ensure that your business is more successful. They promptly hang up on me.
Now, I did this for about a month before it got boring, so I got an added idea! I added exactly 33 cents worth of pennies to the envelope so they paid EXTRA due to the weight. I got a call informing me about the money, I said it was a mistake and I demanded my change back. After yelling at the clerk and then to the supervisor they agreed to my demands and cut me a check for the money. I hold in my hand at this very moment a check from GTE Visa for exactly 33 cents.

David w/ baby Elijah 

Dear IE, I'm leaving you for good

Jared sent me this. I thought it was funny. I've been thinking about switching browsers because of all the bug problems IE has.

Security Watch : Don't get burned by viruses and s.
Dear IE, I'm leaving you for good


By Robert Vamosi Senior editor, CNET ReviewsNovember 12, 2004

Dear Internet Explorer:

It's over. Our relationship just hasn't been working for a while, and now, this is it. I'm leaving you for another browser.
I know this isn't a good time--you're down with yet another virus. I do hope you feel better soon--really, I do--but I, too, have to move on with my life. Fact is, in the entire time I've known you, you seem to always have a virus or an occasional worm. You should really see a doctor.
That said, I just can't continue with this relationship any longer. I know you say you'll fix things, that next time it'll go better--but that's what you said the last time--and the time before that. Each time I believed you.
Well, not any longer.
You cheater!The truth is there's nothing more you can say to make things better. I know about your secret marriage to Windows. You say you two are not seeing each other anymore, but I just don't believe it. You say you can live without Windows, and I've heard that Windows can live without you, but I know that's simply not true.
You say you can live without Windows, and I've heard that Windows can live without you, but I know that's simply not true.
What about HTML e-mail in Outlook? Every time there's a new letter in the Inbox, you rush over to help Windows render it. And what about HTML within Word? There you go again. And don't get me started with those late nights you've spent rendering images in Windows Explorer. You're all over Windows and, what, you just expect me to turn a blind eye?
You're no longer fit For another thing, you've gone and gotten all lazy and out of shape on me. When was the last time you picked up a new feature? Two years ago? Three? While you rest on your laurels, while you spend your days slapping patches on the various flaws that seem to pour out as though your source code were a colander, the Internet has changed. A lot.
Last Christmas, I gave you a free RSS reader, Pluck, and you seemed to like it, with new feeds popping up from time to time keeping you fun and relevant. It gave me reason to think maybe you and I could work things out. But, in the end, it just wasn't a true fit; it wasn't really a part of you.
When I mentioned wanting to view more than one Web page at a time, you just laughed, said it couldn't be done. Well, I knew that wasn't true. Opera, Netscape, and now Firefox, they can all do it. You simply don't want to discuss change.
And when you do, it's only because of someone else. A certain someone else: Windows. Don't deny it. You didn't think twice when Windows XP SP2 offered you its shiny new pop-up blocker. Or gave you new firewall protection. I know Windows has promised to block buffer overflows, too--but I'll believe it when I see it.
Yet what have you done for me lately? I don't want to keep upgrading my operating system just to keep you around. Talk about baggage.
This is itI know, I've tried breaking up before, and I've always come back, but that's because I couldn't find the right browser to move on with. I want an independent browser, one that stands on its own without a codependent operating system. What I want is a browser that's strong and secure, one that handles the latest content and won't crash. I want transparency. I want code that actually means something.
I have found just that.
You barely even talk to Macs anymore, and you always seem to walk out of the room whenever Linux stops by. Why?
With Mozilla Firefox, at least I know where I stand. The code is open source, built from the ground up, clean--not recycled. No more hidden agendas. At least when there's a flaw in Firefox, this browser alerts me on its toolbar. It doesn't try to hide its mistakes, waiting until the second Tuesday of the month to offer me a patch for some flaw that's been out there for six months already.
I can take my Firefox to my Mac and Linux friends, and everyone gets along just fine. You barely even talk to Macs anymore, and you always seem to walk out of the room whenever Linux stops by. Why? What are you afraid of? Honestly, a grown browser like you afraid of a little operating system? I think this snobby behavior speaks volumes about what's wrong with this relationship.
So this is it: Good-bye. I know you'll do fine without me; you always have. I'm sure there'll be someone who'll find you to be cute and interesting. It just won't be me.

ENGLISH CHANNEL -- British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, in a dinner jacket and bow tie, with Neil Jenkins, left, managing director of Gibbs Aquada, nears the French coast at Calais after regaining the record for crossing the English Channel in an amphibious vehicle. Using a Gibbs Aquada - -which can reach speeds of more than 100 m.p.h. on land and 30 m.p.h. on water -- Branson made the crossing in about 90 minutes, beating the previous record of six hours which was held by two Frenchmen. (06/14/04 AP photo)
 

LONDON -- Garry Turner from Lincolnshire, England, who has the world's stretchiest skin, demonstrates his talents to a passer-by on the Millennium Bridge in central London to promote the fiftieth anniversary of the Guinness World Records and the new 2005 edition of the book. (09/09/04 AP photo)
 

NASA Jet Will Try to Go 7,000 MPH

NASA Jet Will Try to Go 7,000 MPH

2 hours, 8 minutes ago Science - AP


By JOHN ANTCZAK, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES - In March, NASA (news - web sites) launched an experimental jet that reached a record-setting speed of about 5,000 mph. Now researchers want to leave that milestone in the dust.


AP Photo


AFP
Slideshow: NASA Tests Hypersonic Jet




NASA's third and last X-43A "scramjet" was set to streak over the Pacific Ocean on Monday at 7,000 mph for 10 or 11 seconds — or 10 times the speed of sound.


The first X-43A flight failed in June 2001 when the booster rocket used to accelerate it to flight speed veered off course and had to be destroyed. The second flight in March was a success, reaching Mach 6.83 — nearly 5,000 mph — and setting a new world speed record for a plane powered by an air-breathing engine.


The last hypersonic X-43A will try, weather permitting, to break that record by making its advanced supersonic combustion ramjet perform at a level that can't even be tested on the ground, project officials said Wednesday from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.


"What we're trying to do is really get to the reality of flight — find out what does work, what doesn't work. So there is risk in this program," said Vince Rausch, Hyper-X program manager at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia.


"We fully anticipate that we've reduced that risk to acceptable levels but you never are sure, especially in doing something for the first time, going Mach 10, until we actually fly."


Just 12 feet long and 5 feet wide, the unmanned X-43A is mounted on the nose of a Pegasus rocket that will be carried aloft to 40,000 feet by NASA's B-52 research aircraft and released. The Pegasus rocket will ignite and carry the X-43A to an altitude of 110,000 feet and a speed of about Mach 10, then release it for its brief powered flight.


The X-43A will then become a glider and perform maneuvers until it splashes down into the ocean.


That will be the end of the X-43A project, which has cost more than $230 million and has no immediate follow-on program.


"I have mixed emotions about this mission," said Joel Sitz, project manager for X-43A flight research at Dryden. "I'm very excited about next week. I'm also a little bit sad about seeing the end of the program. It's like watching your son go off to college."


Scramjet technology may be used in developing hypersonic missiles and airplanes or reusable space launch vehicles, with a potential for offering speeds of at least Mach 15. Unlike rockets, scramjets wouldn't have to carry heavy oxidizer necessary to allow fuel to burn because they can scoop oxygen out of the atmosphere.

Chinese Pastor faces harsh sentence for supporting "house church" movement

FAITH UNDER FIRE
Prominent pastor faces harsh sentence
Chinese authorities find 200,000 copies of Bible, Christian books
Posted: November 13, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
A prominent Beijing house-church leader, found in possession of a massive cache of Bibles and Christian literature, faces a harsh sentence if convicted in his upcoming trial, according to Chinese contacts of the U.S. activist group Voice of the Martyrs.
Cai Zhuohua, 32, the leading minister to six house churches in Beijing, will be tried formally in court in the Chinese capital any day now, the Oklahoma-based group said.
The pastor was seized Sept. 11 by three plain-clothes officers believed to be from the Department of State Security, VOM said. Eyewitnesses said he was waiting at a bus stop when three strong men approached and pushed him into a white van
Cai was on his way home from a Bible study session. His wife, Xiao Yunfei, was arrested Sept. 27 with her brother, Xiao Gaowen, and sister-in-law, Hu Jinyun, while hiding in Hunan province. All four are held at Qinghe Detention Center, Haidian District, Beijing.
Cai and his wife face a harsh sentence because of their prominent role in Beijing's house-church movement, which is banned by the communist government. The regime allows Protestant church activity only under the state-controlled Three-Self Patriotic Movement. Catholics also are restricted to a government church, which rejects ties to the Vatican.
The case is being handled directly by the Department of State Security. Qiang Wei, deputy general secretary of the Politics and Law Commission of Beijing, issued a two-word, handwritten directive, "Yan Ban!" -- meaning to deal with it harshly and severely, according to VOM sources.
The central government, the sources say, has labeled it the "most serious case on overseas religious infiltration since the founding of the People's Republic of China."
Authorities apparently were shocked to find about 200,000 copies of the Bible and other Christian literature in a storage room managed by Cai.
The government allows only a publisher affiliated with the Three-Self Patriotic Movement to print a strictly limited number of Bibles and Christian literature each year. The publications cannot be sold in public bookstores.
The rapidly growing house church -- with as many as 100 million adherents, according to some estimates -- has had to rely on Bibles smuggled into the country and officially sanctioned printers willing to print some extra Bibles for cash.
A VOM source said the confiscated literature was only for internal use and Cai made no profit from it.
The case, according to a prosecution source, is part of a broader national campaign against the underground church and its publications that began in June.
Authorities are upset especially with a house-church quarterly called "Love Feast," which has published articles on President Bush's faith and the death of Jonathan Chao, a Chinese scholar who monitored the house church from abroad.
But instead of charges related to religion, Cai, his wife and two relatives could be charged for tax evasion or illegal business management, VOM said, citing its prosecution sources.
"All of those who have known pastor Cai over the years can testify that he and his wife are wonderful Christians with loving hearts for both the church in China and their motherland," said Bob Fu, a VOM associate and president of China Aid Association.
Fu, a former co-worker of Cai, is urging "people of all faiths" to write or telephone the Chinese Embassy in Washington to demand release of the Christians.

DHAKA, Bangladesh -- A Bangladeshi Biman aircraft lies at an angle after it skidded off a rain-soaked runway. The plane, carrying 87 people including five crew, hit a large puddle of water before veering off the runway injuring several people. (10/08/04 AP photo)
 

ET, Thailand -- A devotee to the Chinese Shrine of Jui Tui in et, Thailand, has his face pierced by a bicycle and helped by others as he takes part in the annual Vegetarian Festival. Ritual Vegetarianism in et traces it roots back to the early 1800's. The festival begins on the first evening of the ninth lunar month and lasts for nine days. Participants in the festival perform acts of body piercing as a means of shifting evil spirits from individuals onto themselves. (10/20/04 AP photo)
 

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- A frame grab from video shows a lion attacking a man who jumped into the animal's enclosure and shouted "Jesus will save you" at the Taipei Zoo. The man, identified only by his surname, Chen, suffered from bite marks on his arms and legs. "He took this dangerous action today because he imagined he heard voices," psychiatrist Teng Hui-wen told reporters, saying his case was still being investigated. (11/03/04 AP photo)
 

Marines turn to God ahead of anticipated Fallujah battle

Click here to read the article.

Freaky 

I'll help you pack your bag and even drive you to the airport

In this article, it says some Democrats have said they are going to move to Canada rather than live under another Bush administration.

.....I'll even buy their luggage and pack them a sack lunch.

Transsexual Golfer Qualifies for Womens Tour

Does anyone else see the problem with this?

W

Get down on your knees and thank God. He rescued us again.

Planted votes found on machines in Philly before polls even open

Let the m@yhem begin.

Click here to read the article.

(M@yhem written correctly is censored on the blog. Would thugs really know what the word m@yhem even means?)

300 children bitten by 'blood sucking' monkeys at famous Indian temple

This is one of those situations where I know it shouldn't be funny, but when I read the article I just picture a hilarious scene from the Simpsons.

Britain Weighs Ban on Smacking Children

This subject really gets my goat. <--Southern euphamism