Mark gets a silly little no-prize for bringing us this SNL-like sketch regarding a... most innovative... use of technology in the Church. I'm not Catholic, but I still smiled a bit.

Scientists are testing whether or not the chemical which makes peppers hot could be used as a kind of anesthesia. Capsaicin not only blows your head off in a chili pepper, it also numbs nerves. It's hoped this could lead to new treatments for post-operative pain.

Have lotto ticket, will travel (on a broomstick):

Wiccan high priest Elwood "Bunky" Bartlett, who won an estimated $49 million in the Maryland lottery last month, intends to use his money to set up a school for witches -- a real-life Hogwarts.

I definitely wouldn't want to be on the local zoning board when this guy shows up.

Is that a lion in your front yard, or are you just glad to see me:

Using a video camera and raw chicken, state officials hope to learn whether the king of the jungle is prowling the woods of West Virginia.

Just in time for Halloween!

Scientists have discovered the first evidence that Velociraptor-like dinosaurs really did hunt in packs. It also appears they really did carry that vicious-looking claw upright to protect its sharpness. Bonus: actual Velociraptors were turkey-sized. Having seen an actual turkey up close this weekend, I can definitely say I would not want to be around a pack of 5 or 6 hungry ones. Turkeys may not be the biggest birds in the world, but they're absolutely not what I'd call small.

While it appears lots of people knew Hitler was literally a giant, stinking gasbag, I didn't. And, as is right and proper, if I don't know it then nobody else does either, so there you go.

Jason is rightly proud of calling the play years before it made its way out onto the field.

And I do love the way the MSM spins: (emphasis added)

The explosion Monday killed at least 28 policemen and wounded 17 policemen and three Iraqi civilians, according to the U.S. military, making it the deadliest insurgent attack in Iraq in more than a month. The last mass-casualty attack struck Baqubah in late September, targeting a reconciliation meeting and killing at least 25 people.
...
Meanwhile, a spokesman for tribal leaders in Diyala province said all but one of 11 sheiks kidnapped in eastern Baghdad on Sunday had been freed.

It goes without saying these mentions were buried so deep I had to read the article twice to find them. They're really going to have to try a lot harder. Otherwise, people may think we're turning Iraq around.

Of course you know this sort of thing would happen in Florida. Money quote: "Homosexual necrophilia is what the purpose was." Bonus: great "man-on-the-street" interviewing straight out of a Jeff Foxworthy skit.

Robert R. gets a no-prize that can spot a cruise missile a hundred miles away for bringing us news of a military controversy down under:

Aviation analyst Dr Carlo Kopp told the Four Corners program on ABC TV that the Super Hornet would be far outclassed by the new generation of advanced Soviet-built aircraft being acquired by China, Indonesia and Malaysia.

"In most of the engagements scenarios that we could postulate the Super Hornet would get shot down. It's as simple as that," he said on the program.

The defence department rejected the claims as Four Corners went to air.

Aviation Week has been covering the Australian purchase of F/A-18E/F Super Hornets (as well as the aircraft itself) extensively over the years. If the information in linked the article accurately summarizes what was in the show, this program, and this gentleman in particular, should not be taken seriously.

It is true that the Super Hornet is somewhat slower than the C/D variant it is replacing. This does make it somewhat less maneuverable, and therefore somewhat more vulnerable in air combat. However, this is not "just" an airplane; it's a weapon system. And as a system, the E/F variants are extremely capable. Perhaps not as capable as an F-22 (it also doesn't cost as much), but nonetheless extremely effective, much more so than the C/D variant.

Most damming of all is that the film in question does not seem to mention the AESA radar system at all. Short for Active Electronic Scanned Array, these systems are far more powerful than their predecessors. Indeed, they're so powerful and so new, their full capabilities are still being explored, and what has been figured out is highly classified. What is known is they work very well, allowing a force multiplication that often makes them a deciding factor in any engagement in which they participate*.

As to the comparison with and retirement of Australian F-111s, well, it is true that, on paper at least, the Super Hornet does not compare all that well to the older system. That said, the F-111 was a remarkable platform whose performance statistics will most likely never be equaled again. However, the Aardvark's design is forty years old, it is becoming increasingly difficult (and therefore expensive) to maintain, and adapting it to newer and more effective munitions may not be possible for much longer. Almost nobody expects it to last long enough for the F-35 to directly replace it, hence the Super Hornet purchase.

True, the Russians are beginning to roll out some worryingly capable weapon systems of their own. However, none are available in large numbers, and their capabilities have not been proven in anything close to combat situations. It would be interesting to find out what the opponents of this purchase are proposing as an alternative strategy.

Because, from everything I've read at least, there really isn't one.

-----
* Indeed, it was the lack of AESA-equipped radars that is most often seen as the reason why a flight of four F-15s was not able to defeat an Indian opposition force four times its size a few years back.

Well, I guess you're still growing something, even if it does appear to need blood. Mark gets a no-prize shaped like a skinny chick in black for bringing us this great just-in-time Halloween gift.

No rumpy-pumpy in our planey-waney:

The A380 may have the world’s first airborne double bed, but it won’t be put to the obvious use if Singapore Airlines has its way: “If couples used our double beds to engage in inappropriate activity, we would politely ask them to desist,” said the company’s Stephen Forshaw. “There are things that are acceptable on an aircraft and things that aren’t, and the rules for behaviour in our double beds are the same ones that apply throughout the aircraft.”

Singapore is justifiably famous for its uptight leadership. It's also quite well known as a clean, safe city. It would seem, from the small amount of information in the article, the policy is mostly a "don't-ask, don't-tell, don't-shake-the-door-off" sort of thing.

Since we have no current plans to visit the place and wouldn't be able to afford a cabin like that if we did, we'll certainly not be reporting on it any time soon.

Olivia and I have this habit of falling asleep in the car.

No kidding, this slide is 60 feet long and 30 feet high.

We took Olivia to The Great Country Farm again this year. This time she was all for the rope swing!

Just in time for Christmas, everyone's favorite wreck crusher is for sale. I could've sworn I'd seen this thing on commercials for events in the US, but I can't imagine it would be all that profitable to ship it here from the UK. Maybe there's a duplicate wandering around?

Fortunately, I only recognized about half the things on the list. Unfortunately, they were mostly the bad half.

Some scientists believe the previously reported "cold spot" in the universe is actually a cosmic defect. Others are, of course, not so sure. And I couldn't find any inklings as to just what such a thing might mean to the naked apes living in a nondescript portion of a universe with a defect far far away. But that's just me.

The best part is, you can tell exactly what the cat is thinking just by looking at him. You can also tell what the dog is thinking, but that's just because all he's thinking is, "runaroundrunaroundrunaroundboo!runaroundrunaroundrunaroundboo!"

Scientists have discovered new insights into the spiny anteater's mating behavior. I bet the graduate assistants on that project were wondering what they'd done in a previous life to deserve that assignment.

The beleaguered standard model of the universe got a boost today with the discovery of a long-predicted, but never before observed, bunch of supermassive black holes. By using the Spitzer and Chandra orbiting observatories, scientists for the first time were able to take images of previously unobservable quasars, ancient structures which are formed by the aforementioned black holes.

This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.

Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it.

It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

~St. Francis of Asissi

... Ya gotta go:

If you're stuck in traffic when Mother Nature calls, Japan's Kaneko Sangyo Co has developed the loo for you.

The manufacturer of plastic car accessories drew back the curtain today on its new portable toilet for cars.

Great. Now I'll have to worry about Buffy and her Cell Phone of Doom while she's sitting on the can. Ah well, at the treacly rate traffic moves around here, wouldn't be much more than a tap. And boy, a slosh from that thing'd be just about the best punishment I can think of!

A previously little-remarked comet has suddenly become much brighter. So bright it seems to be visible even in brightly lit urban areas. While not much more than a speck now, it will soon grow a tail that should make it one of the more impressive comets to trace the northern sky in quite some time.

Predictably, we're forecast for cloudy skies most of the week.

There's just nothing better than getting someone with one of those internet "screamer" surprises. Although I do think it wasn't very nice to scare the little kid. They don't get that scary surprises are harmless at that age.

I think it was Mark who sent one to Ellen a year or two ago. She was downstairs on my computer (I forget why) and picked it up. Because the sound was so quiet, she kept turning up the volume on my 130 watt per channel speaker system. When the scream hit, I thought a bomb went off in the basement. Ellen wasn't quite right the rest of the night.

Great! Now I have to start worrying about the trees:

Carnivorous trees grabbing humans and cattle and gobbling them up is not just village folklore.

Residents of Padrame near Kokkoda in Uppinangady forest range sighted one such carnivorous tree trying to dine on a cow last Thursday. According to reports, the cow owned by Anand Gowda had been left to graze in the forests.

That's some serious woody pwnage right there, dude.

The greatest story never told, indeed:

The results of the surge, or "the escalation" as Harry Reid derisively called it, have been obvious in the Icasualties.org numbers. Before the surge, a bad month would claim the lives of roughly 3,000 Iraqi civilians and security force members. In February '07, the exact number was 3,014 Iraqi casualties. In March, the figure was 2,977. As the surge began to have its effects, that number dropped to 1674 in August. In September, with the surge taking full effect, the numbers showed a profound change--the Iraqi death toll plunged to 848.

Happily, September's figures don't appear to be an aberration. October has seen 502 Iraqi casualties so far. If the trend continues though the end of October, the final number should be around 650 for the entire month. That represents better than an 80 percent improvement from the war's nadir.

YOU'D THINK THIS would be a big story. After all, the mainstream media makes such a show of "supporting the troops" at every turn, you'd think it would rush to report the amazing story of our soldiers accomplishing what many observers declared "impossible" and "unwinnable" not so long ago.

It hasn't worked out that way...

Crow all you want about my propaganda and cherry-picking, but go take a look at that graph on the second page of the article and then tell me something good isn't going on.

And then there's this:

There will not be a sectarian ""civil war" in Iraq, perhaps best evidenced by the fact that the media—excuse me, actual reporters in Iraq, not plaintive Times editorialists—have quietly let the claim die. Just as quietly, they have stopped wondering if Iraqi security forces will be able to hold together, and instead focus on corruption in the higher ranks.

At the present rate, the only way the media could shift goalposts faster is if the crane moving the goalposts was attached to Jeff Gordon's stock car.

I noticed The Washington Post started moving the goalposts at about the time Yon started to report positive things. Nice to know, in a "but-not-really" sort of way, that I'm not the only one who saw it.

It's amazing the things you can catch with a camera, a tripod, and more than a little chutzpah. One of the aspects of high rise living both Ellen and I miss is the commanding views from the high floors. It was better than a weather forecaster for predicting the really big stuff.

Another big diamond has been found at Murfreesborogh, AR. I somehow managed to avoid going to that steaming mud hole last time we visited. Something tells me the next time around I may not be so lucky.

Full-sized lunar lander, anyone? I'm most likely better off not knowing how much one costs.

Then again, if it were durable enough, and I could charge $5 for a "ride"... hmmm...

Slashdot (of course) linked up this tale of the Driver's License Printer Thief. In summary: it seems one Timothy Scott Short stole a computer and the driver's license creator attached to it from a Missouri DMV. Unfortunately, he couldn't get the computer to work. Which didn't mean the printer was bad, just that he needed another computer to use the printer. Which meant he needed to get at the bits of software that would allow this different computer to use said printer.

With me so far? Good. Understandably, the printer manufacturer doesn't make these bits of software available to the general public. Otherwise some idiot with a crowbar and a truck might steal a printer and then try to hook it up to a regular PC and start stamping drivers licenses out like they were pancakes at an IHOP. So to get them, you had to call the manufacturer, which only legitimate customers of this printer (you know, like state DMVs) would do.

See where this is going now? Only a specific sort of idiot would call tech support trying to pry the bits of software out of the vendor. Which, it appears, Mr. Short was. And so, in short order, Mr. Short was introduced to Mr. Secret Service Man. Jailarity, as they say, ensued.

Hello? Hello? Oh, wake up, willya? It was funny to me!

Bridgestone has created the "world's thinnest" e-paper display, and unveiled another that can display more than 4,000 colors. Suddenly the paper computers featured most recently in Vernor Vinge's latest don't seem so far away.

Hard decisions deserve hard questions, climate change most of all. For me, this was the best question:

5. Just how rich are those future generations likely to be? If you expect economic growth to continue at the average annual rate of 2.3 percent, to which we've grown accustomed, then in 400 years, the average American will have an income of more than $1 million per day—and that's in the equivalent of today's dollars (i.e., after correcting for inflation). Does it really make sense for you and me to sacrifice for the benefit of those future gazillionaires?

Which is why I'm pro-growth first of all. Compound interest is your friend!

Space.com is carrying this interesting roundup of enduring mysteries about our sun. It's nowhere near as well known as you think.

If my experience in various airplane sims is any indication, flying this low is actually not as hard as it looks. Just gotta keep a steady hand and a very close eye on the HUD. Which is not to say I'd ever want to try it in real life. Remember folks, in a contest for lowest altitude you don't want first prize.

I'm not completely sure this astrologer's look at David Copperfield's recent troubles is legit, but it certainly makes for interesting reading. In a, "wha?!?" sort of way, that is.

Fark linked up an in-depth examination of yet another D.B. Cooper candidate. As with most magazine-length articles, it's heavy on frou-frou and light on actual evidence, so I'm not convinced. However, a purser working for the airline from which the airplane was hijacked, who was once a paratrooper and who had a house near where the guy jumped seems like someone worth looking into, if you ask me. But what do I know?

This is WHY I cannot leave Scott and Olivia alone for even an hour.

It's nice to know I'm not the only sysadmin in the world who has to deal with loopy users. Longtime readers will know I have support stories just as funny. Those who aren't, search for "Welcome to My World", and wonder.

Mark gets an arty no-prize that helps feed the homeless for bringing us Canstruction:

A foundation of the Society for Design Administration (SDA), Canstruction® is a design/build competition currently held in cities throughout North America. Teams of architects, engineers, and students mentored by these professionals, compete to design and build giant structures made entirely from full cans of food.

Don't miss the photo and video galleries! Puts those soda can displays at the grocery store to shame.

Chickens: 1, Pissed off bunnies: 0. I especially like how they keep an eye on the little rascals until they chase them off.

IBM has announced a new chipset which will allow the wireless transmission of full-length hi-def videos in seconds.

When I read things like this, I often think about all those who, just a year or two ago, insisted The Only Way Toward Progress was through government-funded broadband initiatives. Oh, the wailing and gnashing of teeth that would be heard when one or the other of these ideas ran up against the everyday reality of business interests and local politics. Such complaining! I often wondered if any of them still had their "c:\spot run" t-shirts on, what with all the ripping and tearing and shrieking against bloodthirsty corporations and Luddite politicians!

And yet. And yet. If they'd had their way, yes, we'd all be sitting pretty with our medium-sized pipes shooting medium-sized dollops of information around. Well, those of us who could afford computers and had the knowledge to use them at least. But what would've happened after stage one? Now that we have these pipes, when do we get new ones? Who pays for those? Who would've even bothered researching if they knew they'd have to go through what everyone knows is the absolutely head-splitting exercise known as "local government?"

All too often charismatic politicians stump for things like "building bridges to the future." I only wish more of you would just stop for a second before nodding your head and grabbing your sign and ask, "why do we need a bridge?"

The answer may surprise you.

A family was saved from a fire by its parrot, which imitated the fire alarm so convincingly they woke up and escaped. From the little I understand of parrots, it's not that the thing was trying to help its owners, it was simply trying to yell down a rival that was burning down its house. The fact that it was able to do so speaks volumes about a parrot's ability to blow the windows out when the mood strikes. Whee!

I learned that, even sitting less than four feet away from me, Olivia can get into the most amazing things. Up this time: a mini-sharpie marker Ellen must've dropped who knows how long ago. Normally I toss them on sight. Permanent markers do not make daddy smile! Somehow I missed this one, and now Olivia looks like she murdered Barney with a kitchen knife. Swear to God, I only looked away for 5 minutes! Big, long, lurid purple spots and streaks from toe to face (face! sharpie!) now adorn everyone's favorite princess.

"It's okay daddy! It's my tattoos!"

Took us ten years to go from 82,000 to the rollover, and by some weird coincidence I actually had the Nikon in the car with me when it happened...

Assuming no untimely encounters with SUVs or bits of landscape, our Spider will be going through a major (but not complete) overhaul very soon, perhaps as soon as next winter. Then the engine's time will match the odometer's, or nearly so! Been a fun ten years, it has. Let's hope for ten more, and eventually a second rollover!

This comes this week for set up. We are going to start to move furniture around.

We've had Ellen's brothers (13 & 9) for 2 nights now. Went downtown to Nat'ral History. Hence all the pix. Just saying, that's all...

In case you did not know, it is a lava lamp.

We had my younger brothers in town, and as you see, none of them will hold still for a photo.

Pink's photo for Halloween from the breeder.

Looks like, as suspected, the infamous robotic gun attack was a mechanical failure. Never ascribe to malice...

Hello Kitty-themed AK-47 anyone? Olivia took one look at it and demanded one for Christmas. Said she's gonna shoot bad guys with it. Heh...

The Mythbusters plan on seeing if cockroaches really can survive massive doses of radiation. Have medium-sized TV network budget, will travel.

Ron gets a no-prize that goes well with "chowdah" for bringing us news of a most unusual adhesive:

[S]cientists have developed a coating that mimics the tenacious adhesion of a mussel. The coating could improve biosensors, medical devices, marine and medical anti-fouling coatings, purify water contaminated with heavy metals, and advance manufacturing methods for flexible displays.

The secret ingredient? Dopamine, of all things. Turns out it's not just for brain chemistry!

Now that my group seems to have enough consoles (and eventually, enough controllers) to have a Halo 3 day, I wonder if we'll see anything like this?

I have a hard enough time with those monkeys jumping out at me from every angle. Now I gotta worry about the scenery. Sheesh.

Making the rounds: a robotic AAA weapon malfunctioned and ended up killing 9 soldiers. No word yet on whether it was a mechanical or software problem that caused the failure, but anecdotes in the article seem to indicate these weapons have a reputation for flipping out.

Scientists have announced the discovery of the most Earth-like extra-solar planet found to-date. This sorta sounds like the last one we linked up, but I'm not completely sure. As I understand it, the next generation of space telescopes will be able to directly image these bodies.

Funny only because nobody got hurt: Cable Company: 0, Hammer-swingin' granny: 1

Fear not, fellow Americans! In these dark days of war, pestilence and Paris Hilton, a new hero has arisen. She is none other than 75-year-old Mona "The Hammer" Shaw, who took the aforementioned implement to her local Comcast office in Manassas to settle a score, and boy, did she!

Mark gets a no-prize that'll do a whole lot more than throw rocks at kids on his lawn for bringing us this bit of gray vigilante justice.

In spite of actually sending this week's bunch of captioned cats to myself, they didn't arrive, so we'll push forward to another day.