... said reporter has to file a story like this:

His mother, whose residence is where the sexual activity occurred, teaches at a public school. She testified at Thursday's hearing, insisting repeatedly that she was unaware of her son's sexual acts with her male German shepherd.

Your dog wants a restraining order!

Male domestication, step 4: teaching him practical jokes that worked on his dorm friends will not work on you. I learned this one a long time ago. This is probably more due to me being old than to me being smart. Just ask my wife!

It would seem the F-35B is quite close to its first flight. I don't think the Navy has shown interest in this variant, which is too bad. The things a flight demonstration team could do with this, I can only imagine.

Zahi Hawass & co. are at it again, this time announcing the discovery of an ancient city in the Sinai peninsula. Thought to be about 3500 years old, it represents the most ancient citadel found in that area to-date.

A recent effort to clean up a northern California canyon overlook site has resulted in the recovery of more than 50 vehicles. Some were simply rolled down embankments, others were quite obviously launched at high speed by drivers looking for a shortcut to the start of the reincarnation line.

This sort of thing would seem to be rather common. I remember reading years ago about a murder investigation involving the search for a woman thought to have been murdered, whose body was stuffed into the trunk of a car which was then rolled off an embankment into a nearby river. A search of the area didn't find that vehicle, but it did find some dozen or more others which had been... disposed of... for many other reasons.

People will just toss any damned thing in a river, it would seem.

That new excavation project of Stonehenge we've occasionally linked articles on has produced what appears to be a definitive summary of their findings. According to the report, it would seem the place was a ceremonial burial ground for perhaps a single family for something like 30 generations. Then, about 3500 years ago, it was abandoned and eventually forgotten. To provide a different time fix for just how ancient this place is, consider that when this place was abandoned after five centuries of use, the pyramids were just being built. Even more tantalizing are remains that seem to indicate the site was in use more than 10,000 years ago.

Ron gets a... a... no-prize for bringing us a rather unusual gift idea. I personally have never understood the whole extreme bondage scene, but I guess as long as they pay their taxes, stay out of trouble, and off my lawn... meh.

While this particular page is SFW, I cannot vouch for any part of the rest of the site.

No, really, I'm just watching to see how the widget works. Personally, I think "boobmaster" would've been a more appropriate name. SFW!

Fans of medical macabre should find this collection of "unusual brain injuries" of interest. If you want to know how bad mental illness can get, short of killing the victim outright, you need look no further.

Another day, another high-res photo of the latest Martian lander. Now that we have what seems to be a flotilla of high resolution-capable orbiters whirling about the red planet, failed landers may become less of a mystery.

Ron gets a no-prize that's burnt on one side for bringing us news of the development of a bacteria-based computer which can solve the classic "pancake problem". As with most bio-based computer designs I've read about lately, they've got it solving extremely simple problems right now. It would seem that, while this technique has a lot of promise, practical applications are still in the "after I retire" time frame.

Annie gets a no-prize that'll shriek at her in drag for bringing us news of a sales increase in everyone's favorite "pork product", spam. I used to eat that stuff a lot when I was a little kid, and then (for reasons I can't remember) just sorta stopped. Olivia's pretty passionate about bologna, something tells me she'd probably like spam too.

Using freshly sampled material from ten Viking skeletons from around AD 1,000, from a non-Christian burial site on the Danish island of Funen, Dissing and colleagues showed that it is indeed possible to retrieve authentic DNA from ancient humans

How soft your fields / so green can whisper tales of gore / of how we calmed the tides of war / We are your overlords...

Consumer Reports has posted their first impressions of 'Wii fit'. In a nutshell: entry level fitness. Definitely better than nothing, but not particularly challenging if you're already reasonably athletic. They've even got video!

They're called "awful", but I think this collection of custom license plates is pretty funny. I especially like the "EAT THE - [children first]" plate. From Virginia no less!

Annie gets an ancient no-prize for bringing us news that the Vatican has opened the largest pagan tomb found under St. Peter's for public tours. Recently restored, the second-century mausoleum is considered one of the best-preserved examples of stucco sculpture to survive antiquity.

Members of the peanut gallery currently or formerly involved in the medical profession (veterinary or otherwise) may find thi s list of "insulting" diagnosis abbreviations of interest. The comments on the FARK link include more items, as well as more than a few sniffy "This is not funny!" replies.

I've railed against the various Democrat-sponsored (or left-wing endorsed) health care ideas many times on this site. It would appear that, finally, people have found a state-run alternative that works:

Americans have grown used to buying every kind of product from overseas. So why not “buy” foreign ideas or social institutions? Why, for instance, hasn’t the United States adopted the same healthcare system as Europe, Canada, and nearly all the rest of the developed world?

While the United States is portrayed as the outlier, the truth is that another developed nation has eschewed the European government-payer model—with a great deal of success. That nation is Singapore, a city-state with a population of just 4.6 million but a lot to teach America.

Can we create something like this? Well, in a sense I think we already have, albeit in a limited fashion, with "thrift savings" medical accounts (at least that's what I think they're called, at my workplace anyway). Not being Singaporeans, we most likely can't duplicate it, but at least it provides a template to start with that doesn't have a reputation for making its victims beneficiaries wait six months for an important operation. Stick that in your "why can't we have a system like Canada's or Britain's" pipe and smoke it!

Via Econlog.

Annie gets a no-prize with foil hat firmly attached for bringing us this "doomsday" scenario at least one group believes is inevitable if a national ID scheme is ever implemented. Because we all know how the current amazingly well constructed HIPAA legislation is being utterly and completely ignored.

Next...

It would seem the reason we haven't heard much about the Air Force's new bomber initiative is because we're not supposed to. Personally, I'd hope a new multi-billion dollar black program would result in something other than a B-2 on steroids (as pictured). Then again, speculation has seldom matched actuality when it comes to the appearance of black programs which eventually saw the light of day. The millions of "F-19" stealth fighter kits stand testimony to that.

Looks like the fall of communism claimed a victim we never expected:

A woman with a bizarre fetish for inaninimate objects has revealed she has been married to the Berlin Wall for 29 years.

...

While the rest of mankind rejoiced when the Wall, erected by the Soviets in 1961 to halt an exodus from East to West Berlin, was largely torn down in 1989, its "wife" was horrified.

She's never been back and now keeps models depicting "his" former glory.

Rrrmm... yeah. I wonder if she's able to hold down a job?

Ron gets a remarkable no-prize for bringing us news that one of NASA's Mars orbiters managed to take a picture of its latest lander on its way down. Even though they don't specifically mention it, the picture was probably yet another layer of belts and suspenders laid on in case something went wrong. Since nothing did, we have a new space probe on site and this nifty picture.

Another day, another lunatic preacher learning that it's just not a good idea to take on TV professionals on their home turf. The twist: this time it's a Saudi woman reading a "learned doctor" the riot act.

... the Phoenix has landed. Congratulations to NASA for pulling off the first soft landing in 32 years. Is it just me, or does NASA seem to have gotten in the habit of landing stuff on Mars during federal holidays? A clever ploy by JPL for overtime pay? Who knows?

...

But O so funny.

All the more reason to move to Oklahoma!

LAWRENCE (WBZ) ― Lawrence officials are investigating a bizarre case of animal cruelty in which a pet python was nailed to a telephone pole with six roofing nails and left to die.

A reward is being offered to help find whoever nailed the python to the pole at an intersection on Lexington Street, where he was left dangling for at least eight hours.

Story and video can be found here

Wearable motorcycle, anyone? And I thought the regular ones were deathtraps...

Fencing is all well and good, until you need a walker. No, really!

I have to admit, trying to get wi-fi internet connections banned because you're allergic to them is a novel strategy. Not one that's likely to work (one hopes, at any rate), but novel nonetheless.

I'm not sure which is better... the position of this (very expensive) British helicopter, or the position of the parking truck. The latter being quite definitively out of frame, we'll just have to speculate.

It would seem that, after some four hundred years of observation, Jupiter's great red spot may soon cease to be the largest storm on that planet. Personally, I blame John McCain.

If one scientist's theories prove correct, the largest biomass in the world may not be in the oceans, but under them. Perhaps 111 million years old to boot. Stephen Gould once said evidence seems to indicate that as soon as life could exist on Earth, it did. It now seems increasingly likely that, barring something that destroys the planet outright, it always will.

Heck something like that may even be able to tolerate the Sun's future expansion into a red giant.

It would seem people are lining up at Apple's flagship store in Manhattan for no clear reason. Me, I get a whiff of publicity stunt when I think about this. However, New Yorkers are justifiably famous for taking a buck and running with it. If it really were a stunt, I can't imagine them not saying so.

Steve Jobs may be a maniac, but he most likely will go down in history as one of, if not the, most important person to come out of the first wave of the PC industry.

Nothing livens up a press conference like counter-rotating flying dildos. No, really!

Via Violins and Starships.

Those of you in the peanut gallery who've thought they saw something flash on the moon can stop worrying about the guys with the butterfly nets now. To this day I'm somewhat surprised a really big impact has not happened in the past four hundred years or so.

How wrong is this picture, let me count the ways. Now for some eye bleach...

Everyone knows "unconventional" warfare doesn't get a whole lot of cash from the federal government. Well, until you realize "not a whole lot" needs to be put in perspective. $23 billion dollars may not seem like a lot stacked up against, say, the F-22 program, but something tells me it'll buy a whole bunch of nifty widgets for secret battles.

Scientists have, for the very first time, witnessed the start of a supernova. The pictures certainly don't look like much, but considering this is happening in another galaxy, whaddayagonnado?

A very loud squwak No-Prize to Annie for bringing us this!

Swoozie... yeah not that smart yet.

I added 2 more to the mix today. That brings us to 3 kittens right now. The 2 new ones are ~1 week old. One still has it's 'extension cord' still on.

And that's it. Hope you enjoyed them! I'll try to create an "all-in-one" entry later today.

~She is dancing to Frank Sinatra, not classical music. But she did perform a Sinatra ballet for us, and it was quite entertaining.

Everyone has one of these. So what? There's a reason, ya know.

They were very precise this year. Smooth, even.

And so it begins...

The AOA is actual. To my knowledge, this is the last remaining common user of JATO bottles. Considering how many must've been made in the 50s and 60s, they're probably still going through OEM stock.

This little girl has a home. We got her today and hope to have her back to her home in 3 weeks.

It's KITTEN season!! That's right, our house has turned into a foster home yet again!

For some reason this shot makes me think of the model planes I used to have hanging from my ceiling.

If there had been an F-86 at the show, and they'd convinced one of the F-104s to take part, we would've covered every generation of fighter except the first and the third. I'm not sure it's actually possible for an F-15 to fly formation with, say, a SPAD.

Michael Yon: "Pornography and propaganda are closely related, as they are both cynical attempts at manipulation, rooted in a lack of respect for humanity."

Even though that's not what his article is about, to me it represents a pretty accurate and concise definition of what separates erotica from pornography. Well, it does in my opinion at any rate. Deciding what represents "respect for humanity," and when that line is crossed, is unfortunately rather open to interpretation. Were it otherwise, I think the whole adult industry would most likely have a much easier time doing business.

You're doing it wrong:

A Canadian man who asked his lover to carve a heart-shaped symbol on his chest during a rough sex game almost died when she accidentally pressed too hard and punctured his heart, a newspaper said on Thursday.

There's a claim form that'll end up in someone's secret "best of" stash!

Time for a break from pictures, at least until I get home and fix up some more. It appears a new "aviation mystery" is intriguing enough to have caught AvWeek's eye. I got nothing, looks like a dart to me, but if Aviation Leak thinks it's interesting, it's most likely worth a look.

For some reason the announcer kept babbling on about QF-4s during the demo. I couldn't quite figure out if he meant this F-4 was actually a pilotless drone somehow rescued, or if the only other flying F-4s in the US were missile targets. Common sense would seem to imply the latter case, but I've been wrong about such things before.

Oliva, looking over my shoulder while I prepped this: "Daddy! That's the airplane with the parachute on its tail!" For some reason the drag chute made a real impression.

"When under the pretext of fraternity, the legal code imposes mutual sacrifices on the citizens, human nature is not thereby abrogated. Everyone will then direct his efforts toward contributing little to, and taking much from, the common fund of sacrifices. Now, is it the most unfortunate who gains from this struggle? Certainly not, but rather the most influential and calculating." - Frédéric Bastiat

In other words... well, look at the masthead quote again. It's a thought that's occurred more than once. And, since human nature is what it is, will occur again. A++++, will libertarianate again!!! sort of thing.

This was the first time Olivia got to get as close to the airplanes as she wanted. She definitely took advantage of the opportunity.

A first for all of us was the Starfighters flight demonstration team. I would've been thrilled to see just one of them toodling around in the sky. Three doing precision aerobatics sent me into airplane geek heaven.

I'd always been told the F-104 was perhaps the prettiest jet fighter ever made. I would stare at various models and static displays over the years and ponder this. Now, for me at least, there is no doubt.

These are the last flying F-104s in the world, making this quite a rare privilege. Keep an eye on your own airshow schedules, and if they end up anywhere near you run, do not walk, to go see them.

Not only was this Olivia's first air show, it was her first bus ride. As you can see, she enjoyed posing in her mom's garden hat.

Another May, another Andrews AFB Open House. This time... this time... I had the good sense to bounce the ASA ISO a lot higher and, most importantly, had the Best. Birthday. Gift. Evar! Ellen gave me a motion-comp zoom lens. No more wobbly images for you!

In previous years, 75% of the pictures I wanted to show were ruined by blur. No more. We're going to have some fun now.

Well, ok, I'm going to have some fun. S'my blog, s'my pictures!

Fark veterans will know nearly all of them by heart, but the rest of you should find this collection of best mugshots "evar" amusing. Hey, at least they're famous for something!

It would seem information is not in fact destroyed in a black hole. This would appear to have profound implications for the way we view the universe. The standard model has been fraying around the edges for years. I'm surprised it's taken this long for people to come up with a spectacularly different alternative.

Actually, I'm surprised someone hadn't thought of tying tomb stones to the WWW. Now that'd be a helluva epitaph, putting the URL of this place on my grave marker, eh?

Making the rounds: an enterprising Swiss pilot has created what sure seems to be one nifty jet-pack for human flight. Could this be what finally creates the "Rocket Man?" Well, I'd certainly like to see one!

Anyone who can take care of (what looks to be) 20 macaws can't be all bad:

Once she was the world's richest vice queen, earning ten million dollars. She bedded Hollywood legends like Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando.

But now the only men's pants Heidi Fleiss sees flying round are the ones in the machines of her LAUNDERETTE in a remote desert town.
...
Today Heidi—who lost her fortune after being busted and jailed in 1997—lives in a trailer she shares with twenty parrots she took in when a pet shop closed down.

A little, well ok a lot, crazy maybe, but not bad. As long as you're happy, there's not a damned thing wrong with living in a trailer and taking care of a laundromat. There are other ways to be mighty after a fall.

Meet Scott Cutshall, a guy who weighed a quarter-ton who got on a bike and dropped nearly 300 lbs in 3 years. I often see plus-sized people, sometimes impressively plus-sized people, out on the trail as I ride. Yeah, even I'm sometimes impressed spandex comes in those sizes, but I'm not grossed out. They're out there same as me, why should I care?

It would seem the very early buzz about the upcoming Indiana Jones movie bears striking similarities to the early buzz for Lucas's last attempt to recapture his glory days. Last time around, I stuck my fingers in my ears and sang "LA LA LA LA" really loudly until I could get to the theater and see Phantom Menace myself. I won't be fooled again! Especially when I'm the fool!

Or the fool who follows him. Something like that. Why yes, Olivia has been making us watch Star Wars about once a week for the past six weeks. Why do you ask?

Nothing like a home-bru flame thrower and a couple of tard teens to lighten the day. Bonus: dead-on Butthead giggling in the last scene. I never did anything this stupid, but I knew a lot of other guys who did.

Alternate title: Paging Elliot Ness, white courtesy phone please. Of course, since Elliot almost certainly didn't speak Japanese, he'd probably be just as interested in finding out what being a beat reporter following the seamy underbelly of Japanese society is like as I was.

Chili's a cow. Chili's a big cow. Chili has an interesting taste in snacks (emphasis added):

However, nine-year-old Chilli grazes just on grass and enjoys the occasional swede as a treat at his home at the Ferne Animal Sanctuary in Chard, Somerset, where he was dumped at six days old.

How the hell does that get by the copy editors?

Mark gets an ancient no-prize with a special oak leaf cluster (for providing a great title to this post) for bringing us news of the discovery of the most ancient bust of Julius Ceasar found to-date. I've always thought it's remarkable that we have a very good idea what a particular set of elites looked like between about 500 BC and 300 AD, and have no idea what anyone else really looked like on either side of that window for thousands of years. I do not doubt I would recognize any of the Julio-Claudians were they to walk down a street.

Finally, a contest worth winning:

Ask most people where the best beer in the world comes from, and they'll probably say Germany or England. More worldly folks might mention Belgium.

But ask a beer aficionado these days, and odds are you'll get an answer that might surprise you – the good old U.S.A.

Woot!

The on-again, off-again hunt for the origin of high-energy cosmic rays is on once again. It turns out the strong correlation between these exotic bursts of energy and the planes of nearby large galaxies wasn't nearly as strong as it was first thought. I think. Cosmology make Thag's head hurt!

Mark gets a silver no-prize with an earthy blue star on it for bringing us this older, but no less amusing, cartoon about a certain peanut gallery member's favorite football team. I'd probably laugh more, but the Redskins stink so bad they're not usually not even worth the occasional chuckle.

I peed myself laughing at this.

Of course...it's Florida!

While this business report on Alfa's re-entry into the North American market is understandably biased toward Canada, a bit of reading-between-the-lines seems to indicate there's a very good likelihood of an Alfa plant being built in the US. I wonder if they'll need a .net software engineer with a 20 year history of involvement with their marque?

Horror film fans may be happy to find out a new, and perhaps the only, biography of Nosferatu star Max Schreck is now available. It would seem that, like many early film stars, there's not a lot to tell at first. However, it definitely seems to lay to rest the old "he was really a vampire" legend.

Looks like some doctors are getting a little frisky with the ol' fMRIs. Any time someone says "brain structure" and "political party" in the same sentence, I get damned suspicious.

The folks over at Ares have dug up some reports on new widgets from DARPA being deployed in the field. I think the radar that lets people look through walls sounds the neatest. Robocop lives!

Nothing like a video report on a dog helping foster newborn kittens to start the day off right. Head.Explode(Candy);

Mark gets a no-prize with no detectable accent I can hear for bringing us this "Red State Update" view of the Democratic primary process. It was the very last line of dialog that clinched it for me.

Annie came over on Sunday and brought over a mouse shaped LASER TOY! What did we all do...showed it to Swoozie!

Look for the red dot! It had to die. Much success was had!

...when you have a parrot!

Another day, another English eccentric with a trebuchet. Joshua gets a no-prize he'll have to go way long to catch for bringing us UK goofiness at its best.

I'm just about certain I've seen this guy around, I just can't quite place where.

Scientists think it's snowing inside Mercury. Snowing iron, no less. It would seem to be the only model found (thus far) which explains the planet's weak magnetic field. Now that's a lava lamp!

I'll see your fancy flying robots and raise you a fancy floating robot. Hopefully they'll have some telemetry devices on their shiny robotic sailing vessel, otherwise if it fails to cross the Atlantic all by itself they may never know for sure what happened.

Behold the manic intensity that is a parrot at play. Swoozie gets this wacky over some of the toys in her cage, but since she's a pionus she's not as loud. Which is a good thing.

It would seem all those "myths" about eagles taking children just got moved from "busted" to "plausible."

Warning: The video is definitely a "nature, red in tooth and claw" sort of documentary. If you're upset by that sort of thing, the very least you should do is turn down the sound. The narration isn't in English, so you won't miss anything.

Via Ares.

While I would've probably enjoyed more floppy-induced mayhem and less goofy shtick, this film about one man's quest to find a use for 3.5" floppies was still amusing. This is my boomstick!!!

Happy Birthday Richie!

Hope you all had a great day!

Remember that little boy a few weeks back who raised a ruckus because his parents claimed he was trans gendered? NPR has th edetails. For me, the money quote is: "Suppose you were a clinician and a 4-year-old black kid came into your office and said he wanted to be white. Would you go with that? ... I don't think we would..."

Scientists are working on spacecraft which would use electromagnets instead of thrusters to hold position. While the benefits are obvious, there are a number of engineering problems yet to be solved.

So versatile... from Olivia's real last name to the look Ellen gives me at bed time!

Code Pink has officially jumped the shark:

Members of the anti-war group Code Pink gathered Friday with a cauldron of flowers outside a controversial Marine Corps Recruiting Center in Berkeley, Calif., to use witchcraft to rally against the Iraq war.

I'm not sure what's worse, the fact that they're trying these stunts or the fact that they get press coverage Jesus would envy every time.

Damion gets an extremely subtle no-prize for bringing us one fine example of hot-rodding a ricer. Hey, at least he's not hiding anything, eh?

Rhinos: 1, Wildebeast: 0. Hey, if they were bright they wouldn't be living like that, ya know?

Robert H. gets a very buoyant no-prize for bringing us the Aeroscraft, which purports to be the "FOURTH DIMENSION OF FLIGHT." Having your own personal blimp certainly sounds nifty enough. Sort of like a big yacht, but without the piracy worries and (perhaps) the ability to steer around a few storms. It doesn't seem they've actually built any yet, and there's no price listed, which almost certainly means what it usually means.

You'd think someone would've turned a wheel or something. I have a feeling neither of the captains in this "kiss" collision went much further in their careers.

Slashdot link up news that after a painstaking recovery process, data from one of Columbia's hard drives was retrieved and used to complete a physics experiment performed on the doomed space ship. Considering what the thing looked like when the lab got it, it's amazing they found anything at all.

Annie gets a weirdly intriguing no-prize for bringing us the results of a recent genetic survey of everyone's favorite egg-laying mammal, the platypus. As the article notes, it would seem they're just as weird on the inside as they are on the outside.

The deserts of western China have done it again, this time producing an extraordinary, and extraordinarily old, bird fossil. Every once in awhile Swoozie definitely puts on airs, looking at us like "my kind was soaring around dinosaurs when yours barely knew how to dig a hole." Of course, then she stumbles, falls off her perch, and bounces like a tennis ball when she hits the floor eight inches below, so we don't take her all that seriously.

SQUAWK!!!

Problem: A new study provides evidence that people who identify themselves as conservative are in general happier than those who identify themselves as liberal.

Solution: Spin, damn you, and faster!!!

That one is twirling so fast I'm surprised it's not smoking.

While I'm sure armchair historians will have a bit of fun with this colorful language map of Europe, I think it may emphasize the differences a bit too much. From my readings, the map shouldn't be this jigsaw puzzle of different colors. Instead, it should be more like a series of colored gels, overlapping each other around the edges in diffuse but notable bands.

It seems that, a very long time ago, Earth may have had more moons that just the modern one. Having rocks the size of small buildings smash into the planet as the result of their orbits decaying doesn't sound like too much fun. I wonder if they'll be able to correlate a mass extinction or two with such events?

Mark gets an old but good no-prize for bringing us the latest (that we've seen anyway) Morse code vs. text message contest. Oh, and Jay, it's MORSE, not "morris." Geeze.

It looks like everyone's favorite egg-beater helo is getting an interesting upgrade. Funds pending, of course. The Chinook is rather well-known for being the only operational aircraft which can have a mid-air collision with itself. I wonder if this will improve the chances?

Annie gets a very interestingly shaped no-prize for bringing us the true story of what happens when rich Americans in the West get into a tiff with each other. You can take the redneck out of his tacky neighborhood, but...

My view...

Her view...

Robert H. gets a really noisy no-prize for bringing us this video of the demolition of NASA's Launch Complex 40. It does sorta seem to fall over like a monstrous slinky, eh?

Scientists seem to have found a link between early childhood abuse and adult suicide. The finding may not be as "duh" as you think. The link is physiological, which means it can be tested for and potentially treated.

So, fess up now, are any of your favorite songs on this list of "top 90's worst videos. I'm expecting a lot of indignant harumpfs and denials from the peanut gallery. Methinks they doth...

Ron gets a really weird looking no-prize for bringing us the story of Beauty, a bald eagle with most of the top of its beak gone, presumably due to a gunshot. Her caretakers are going to try to build an artificial upper beak so she can eat and drink more normally.

Leave it to Asians to put an oh-so-distinctive spin on pizza. Unfortunately only one of the advertisements seems to work, but it's plenty weird enough for you to get the gist.

Ron gets a no-prize the size of a small car for bringing us the latest on that colossal squid dissection. It would appear the thing got caught because it was hungry. The downfall of many of us, I would guess.

It would seem Hillary has finally found an economist to support her gas tax cut. I agree I don't think Hillary's campaign staff will be calling Brian any time soon.

Were it me taking a voyage anywhere near the pirate-infested waters near Somalia, this would be a damned comforting thing to see. Just bring the bass boat a little closer, Hajji, I only want to spend one shell on you today.

Scientists may have finally discovered the mechanism that allows birds to navigate using the Earth's magnetic field. Swoozy definitely knows how to get from the perch to the food bowl and back. So far, we've never tested if she could figure out going any farther.

Scott's rule of collecting, #7: an explosive is an explosive, no matter how old it may be. Me, I'll stick to something safer to collect, like scale model kits or old Italian sports cars. I'll leave the explosives to the re-enactors, who at least have the good sense to use new powder and blow it up on-site.

Look, it definitely seems to me it would suck ass to have a volcano go off in your general vicinity. But man oh man, does it make for one hullva picture. Wait for the download, (I think) it's worth it.

Owners of Xbox 360s should be happy to hear Microsoft has finally come clean about supporting the victor of the hi-def wars. It definitely was just a matter of time, but it's nice to find out just what that time is.

Public relations agency: 1, News reporters: 0. For any other race driver, even Danica Patrick, an F-1 test ride is roughly equivalent to getting a ride on a Blue Angel F-18 or Thunderbird F-16. Except you're solo, and get to twiddle the controls. In other words, it's nice, it's fun, it obviously generates good publicity, and that's about it.

I'm only now getting back into Indycar now that they've merged with CART, but the few road races I've seen with oval-trained IRL drivers in the majority are... amusing. And not in a good way (well, maybe a little). The skill set required to be fast on a speedway will help a little on a road course, but not much. It's possible she'll be quick, just like it's possible for me to jump into an F-22 and fly a successful combat mission. Both have the same likelihood.

Still, it is quite a bit of fun to watch a driver used to actual race cars try to wrestle one of these starfighters around a track. The look on the crew cheif's face when they pitch a multi-million dollar example into the weeds is worth the price of admission alone.

But it's not something to bet half of a race team's season on. Even if you are as slow as Honda.

Via Instapundit.

In a way, I'm surprised it's taken this long for someone to re-engineer the Real Doll. This time with "anime goodness," although I must say I don't really see a strong resemblance. I do still get the same heebie-jeebies looking at one. Yours, for only $7500! Whatta bargain!

Is the investigation of a single, tragic death in Minnesota going to lead the unraveling of an entire string of serial killings? To me, it all sounds way too sensational, spooky, and just downright circumstantial to be true. Hopefully the media outlets will be sensible enough not to name any "persons of interest."

More details of Israel's attack on... something... in Syria are emerging. If it makes that pesky Persian bomb harder, more expensive, and less convenient to build, I'm all for it.

I always suspected those guys underneath the stage of The Muppet Show were having a good time. Now I have proof.

Rick R. gets a no-prize in the shape of a score board for bringing us this great link.

It would appear a telescope that doesn't have a conventional lens or mirror may be able to image extra-solar planets 30 light years away. Which is the line that got me to read the article, but further reading strongly suggests practical considerations make this far less likely than it would at first appear.

Jeff gets a no-prize with a lightsaber hidden in it for bringing us yet another example of George Lucas's marketing brilliance. There's even a video!

The only problem I'd have is Olivia would adopt it and take it to school.

Remember that cargo ship with all the Mazdas? Turns out it's more challenging to get rid of 5000 cars than one would at first think. I completely understand the company's motivation. It's a shame human nature prevents these things from being recycled as complete cars, instead of shiny metal bits.

A team lead by a University of Arkansas* professor have found strong evidence that "Liem’s Paradox" applies to hominids just as much as fish. Oh don't worry, I didn't know what it was either. Go read, you'll get it.

Egypt studies, hominid research... boy, the anth department at my alma mater is sure a helluva lot more interesting than it was when I was an undergrad. I guess getting a billion dollar endowment from three or four of the richest people in the country will do that for ya!

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* Go Hogs Thankyouverymuch!

While essentially unfinished, this video segment does provide more detail on that algae process that produces biofuel. It still sounds extremely promising. If they can somehow hook up with that guy building those biofuel stills, it'll blow the lid off the whole system.

Something like this is inevitable as long as gas prices stay high in the US. As a nation, we're legendary for simply not tolerating it, and unlike the last time around the technology, incentives, and most importantly the free capital are available for someone... hell anyone... to come up with an alternative. So I'll make a prediction: barring any truly cataclysmic event*, $1 pump fuel by 2013 is not just possible, it's inevitable. Let's meet back here in five years and if I'm wrong, I'm buying.

Via Instapundit.

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* Aliens landing, some hajji nutball finally lighting a nuke off in downtown DC, Jesus himself walking across the Hudson, dogs and cats sleeping together, that sort of thing.

It would seem baby birds babble just as much as baby humans. Swoozie had a couple of distinctive calls when she was really little, now gone. We're still trying to teach her R2D2 whistles.

What? You thought we were just acting nerdy?

Scientists are still in the process of observing the largest and longest-lived electrical storm on Saturn found to-date. It's been running for five months now, with no sign of letting up. Now that, friends, would be one helluva storm to chase.

The sad thing is, this guy will most likely end up on Conan in the very near future. Video is SFW, but you'll most likely want the eye bleach handy.

Meh. His (fat, sharpie-markered, shirtless) body, his business. Pay your taxes, stay out of trouble, keep off my lawn, etc.

Flaps: Check
Throttle: Check
Glideslope: Check
Alignment: Check

... now what was that last thing again?

An RAF Top Gun crash-landed a brand new £69million Typhoon fighter – apparently after FORGETTING to put the wheels down.

What is this, 1938 or something?!?