Coming soon to a console near you: the "ultimate" FPS accessory. I'm still amazed nobody's come up with a left-hand HOTAS solution to give me no-lift access to the number keys and other odd combos.

So, since Olivia and I are both on vacation, she gets late nights, which in our house equals 9 pm. I go upstairs about 20 minutes ago to remind her of this, and I notice a... fruity... smell.

Me: "Olivia? Why do I smell perfume?"

Olivia: "I don't know! I don't know!!!"

Suddenly, I'm in 'stern parent' mode. "What did you do?"

"I didn't MEAN to wash Butterscotch!* It happened by accident!"

So I feel the robot critter's mane, and, sure enough, feels like someone opened a whole bottle of shampoo on it.

Me: "Olivia!!"

Olivia: *lots of theatrical sobs, tears, and various pleas for mercy*

Me: "Olivia! You knew better than this!"

"Yes" *sob*... *sob* "daddy... I did!!!"

"So how long should you be grounded for this?"

"A..." *sob* ... *sob*... "thousand years!!!"

"I can't ground you for a thousand years. I'll be dead before then. How long?"

"A..." *snort* ... *sob* ... "day?"

"Ok, you're grounded for a day then."

Olivia, in a 'holy crap I had no idea he'd say yes to that' tone: "NOOO!!!!!"

Ellen was having a private moment in the bathroom while all this was going on, which meant I only got snarled at three times while I was trying to explain it all.

The thing is, Olivia being grounded for a whole day, a day which is predicted for ice storms, is not exactly a walk in the park for daddy.

Ah, well...

-----
* Her robotic pony. Damned thing is as big as our coffee table, and very, very furry.

So it may turn out that the people who save us from a massive impact in 2036 are... wait for it... the communists [ahem] Russians. Or, they could be the ones who bank-shot the thing from a near miss into a certain-hit. Think about how well all their other projects have turned out, and sleep well tonight.

As with most things that seem stove-bolt simple in real life, measuring friction in a repeatable, neutral way turns out to be damned complicated. Considering my wife trips on level floors and my mom trips over, well, as far as we can tell... air, this is a subject of more than casual interest to me.

It would seem that, when corrected for a variety of variables, engineers, across cultures and through history, make the best terrorists. A deep technical background, and radical beliefs held so strongly you could bounce rocks off them. A picture of an old college buddy suddenly swirls into view...

I found some sage advice from an Aviation week editor on things that might actually have a chance at preventing the next hajji from blowing up a plane.

F- being a vegetarian, I wouldn't eat any of this stuff either. Warning: contains picture of already-prepared "mutt for dinner." Not violent or cruel, but it could upset the sensitive. As if those people still hang out here anyway.

One of the strangest things in our transition to digital cable is Olivia's fascination with Boomerang. This channel specializes in re-runs of Saturday morning cartoons from about 1966 through around 1981. That's right, the same era that's considered the nadir of "common" animation. In spite of the fact she has much more, and much better, animation to choose from, she still comes back to these horrifically cheesy retreads. I guess there's something more going on, something that kept me watching, all those years ago.

I'm trying to figure it out, but every time Fangface comes on, my head explodes. Ellen won't even be in the same room with it. More as it develops...

Scientists are working on an alcohol substitute that only gets you pleasantly buzzed and can be fixed with a pill. It's based on Valium derivatives, so I'm pretty suspicious, but if it passes nanny state and obama-ite regulatory tests, I'm all for it!

Just gotta watch the back-stop, I guess. Mark gets a no-prize that'll he can charge his fellow re-enactors to use for bringing us this great example of "adapt and re-use."

Update: Now with "video that works" goodness!

Movement of the Earth's magnetic pole has accelerated again. 40 miles a year, for something as big as, you know, the f'ing pole, seems pretty spectacular. I always love it when a natural phenomena has mysterious origins and unknown implications. Watching the MSM try to pin it on whoever they're unhappy with that week is always great sport. Global warming, anyone?

Making the rounds: two of the four leaders allegedly behind the al Qaeda plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet over Detroit were released by the U.S. from the Guantanamo prison in November, 2007, according to American officials and Department of Defense documents. Good thing that was during the Bush administration, otherwise we would've been greeted with another round of "cover-up for the president" from the MSM. But by all means, let's close it down, provide a forum for the worst of them during a show trial in Manhattan, and let the rest scatter to the four winds. What could possibly go wrong?

R&C had the pleasure of being one of the groups to close out DC Tribal for 2009.

When A Gramma gets something into her head, it would take nothing short of a crowbar to get it out. The best part is, neither Ellen nor her mother think this lady has much of an accent.

Nothing quite like someone goofing on Garfield. What? Are you kidding? Ok, here's a hint: my wife and Amber give each other framed pictures of their cats for Christmas, and they aren't joking. I never, ever yell at our cats, especially when Ellen's not around. Yep, that's right.

Scientists have discovered the "Local Fluff" is held together by a previously unsuspected magnetic field. Why people get worked up over a thin layer of hydrogen and helium is a bit beyond me sometimes, but I guess they have to do something with those old space probes.

With the press focused on the search for the Higgs boson and the LHC ending the world, the search for the neutralino may end up being the science story of 2010. Confirming or disproving the concept of super-symmetry will definitely be high on the list of "crap we don't understand but physicists rightly think is real important." Unless the world ends.

The sad part is, this is only a little exaggerated. One of my favorites: "On the environmental front, Copenhagen hosts a massive international conference aimed at halting manmade global warming, attended by thousands of delegates who flew to Denmark on magical carbon-free unicorns."

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Olivia and I are, once again, deep in Indian Country (aka "New York") for the holidays, so posting may be more uneven than usual.

Just in time for the holidays, Michael Shumacher is now definitely-for-real back in F-1, this time with Brawn Mercedes. Ross Brawn and Michael Schumacher were most of what made Ferrari so dominant in previous years. Will they do it again? Who knows, but it sure will be fun to watch!

"This isn't just bizarre voyeurism. Duck penises are a wonderful example of the strange things that happens when sexual conflict shapes the evolution of animal bodies."

With bizarre high-speed film of something that just shouldn't move that fast.

This week's Boston Globe photo essay is dedicated to all that global warming that keeps falling outside. Composition is particularly strong with this set. I would've tried for something similar, but I was too busy shoveling.

Just when you thought the pervs had tried it all, we now have a butt-sniffing bandit. This one reeks of a hoax, but the police seem to be taking it seriously. For now.

And now, a guy with a blowtorch in his ass. Hey, folks, we know you come here for high brow discussions and fine culture, and we aim to please! Stay classy, AMCG!

I'm sorry, there's just something about a redneck fisherman messing up that never stops being funny. Probably has something to do with his being from Tennessee.

Green energy, pristine deserts. Try as they might, they can't have it both ways. This doesn't make sense until you realize the actual goal is to empower the nanny state and make us all more reliant on government.

LG has announced the creation of "the world's thinnest TV". The 42-inch unit is only 2.6 mm thick. If I recall correctly, I think that's slightly less than two nickles glued together. It also weighs not quite 9 pounds, making it much simpler to mount on a wall. No word on price, but I'm sure a premium will be charged to defray the R&D costs.

Scientists have discovered what appears to be conclusive evidence for a venomous dinosaur. Just because the critter was turkey-sized doesn't mean it wasn't dangerous to bigger critters. A dozen venomous, clawed turkeys would be enough to ruin anyone's day, donchaknow?

The last GM big-block V8 has finally rolled off the assembly line.

Kim Peek, the real-life inspiration for the movie Rain Man, died on Saturday of an apparent heart attack. From the article, it would seem that after the movie was a hit he spent the rest of his life enjoying his fame and doing good works with it. So may we all.

Latest silly season rumor: Danica gets an F-1 ride. Ok, brutal honesty time... the reason why the mainstream media celebrated her only win was because they didn't know much about racing. That was a team strategy win, had nothing to do with her speed. That said, conventional wisdom is she's plenty quick enough, and just has to find the right ride (shaddup, you). It would be amazingly good for the sport if the first genuinely competitive F-1 US driver in a generation was a woman, and a hot one at that. However, common sense says she'll sign a NASCAR contract and be disappointed in her open wheel "failure" all the way to the bank.

A submersible autonomous gilder recently completed its first transatlantic crossing. As I recall, Global Hawk did the same sort of thing about ten years ago, but it didn't have to contend with sharks. There's all sorts of implications, aside from the generic cool factor involved.

Scientists have recorded the deepest-known underwater volcano eruption. I think it's amazing that the pressure is so high even when flashed to steam the explosions only last a second or two before being collapsed back into water.

Ok, I get that people need gross anatomy classes. What I don't quite understand is why it's being taught outside. Note: Pictures are luridly graphic, but since the dude is already seriously dead, it's not exactly violent. Gotta learn somehow, I guess.

I think I forgot to mention we got snow. We decided to let the snow accumulate on the car so we can get a better idea on how much we got.

Remember when I said the Hi-Fi hobby has a nosebleed section? This one's in the center section, mid-field. Read the first page, as much as you can anyway, and then skip to the last page. It literally took my breath away when I saw the price. Yes, Virginia, there are audiophiles far nuttier (and richer) than I.

...well it's not sugar plums!

First, the "you can't make this stuff up" lede: "A 4-year-old boy, beer in hand, is accused of stealing Christmas presents from his neighbors. It's a strange story, but also a sad one. "

And then there's "The child, Hayden Wright, was found around 1:45 am Tuesday, wandering the streets of his neighborhood. In a police reports, officers said he was wearing a little girl's dress and drinking a beer."

But best of all is: ""He runs away trying to find his father," she said. "He wants to get in trouble so he can go to jail because that's where his daddy is."

Ah, the holidays!

So for once the weather channels were right, and we've got (for this area) an impressive amount of snow outside. Looks to be 8-12" already, with at least that much "scheduled to appear." Above freezing temperatures with rain enough to wash the salt off the roads isn't scheduled until late this week, so the Milano's put up for the duration. I blazed the trail out to the Cruiser this morning, Ellen's re-clearing things out right now. Whee!

A fortuitous combination of sensors and camera angle have provided the first direct evidence of liquid on the surface of Titan. I wonder if the atmosphere on the surface is thick enough to do away with a pressure suit? I know, I know, it's so cold even the best parka wouldn't be enough, but it would seem nice to do away with the air tight requirement.

A computer scientist recently toured the Titan Missile Museum, and his observations are everything a gear geek could hope for. My dad helped run one of these things back in the 60s. Some of his stories are damned amusing. Others are downright terrifying. I'm glad this one is a museum. I can only hope one day they all are.

Scientists have announced the discovery of a "super-Earth" rich in water. I'm figuring they determined that by the spectra the planet is reflecting, but the article doesn't specifically mention the technique. It's bigger than Earth and circles a much smaller star, so it's ol' "it's life Jim, but not as we know it," sort of thing.

No, really, when monkeys attack. I've watched Olivia make almost exactly that move on a little punk at the playground when his teasing turned to touching. I had to yell at her to stop, but inside I was definitely smiling.

The on-again, off-again, on-again, off-again saga of Alfa's return to the US now seems to be on-again. I think. Personally, I think Alfa getting sold to a different automaker would not be apocalyptic. Far from it. But it is encouraging to hear at least some support for the idea of a return.

My main objection to global warming extremists is economic. Because they're all True Believers, they're well armed with arguments just sophisticated enough to throw off Johnny on the Street. So I'm very happy to return the f'ing favor. You talked a good talk, and scared a lot of people, but dude, let me tell you. They've been trusting you because you sound like you know what you're talking about. But they've never really liked you. And now they have a reason not to even trust you.

Poor Grendel's had an accident. So may you all.

Annie gets a no-prize that'll fit in a pocket protector for bringing us news that girls feel they're driven out of the computer science because (waves hands around), "it's masculine geeky." Think about that one for a second. Yeah, that "smack" sound was all my guy friends doing a face-palm.

Don't worry, man. I'm raising one and I still don't understand them.

It seems Yellowstone's plumbing is a helluva lot larger than previously thought. Not only is the caldera some obscene number of miles across, it's hundreds of miles deep, and has layers scientists publicly admit they don't understand. You can have your damned grizzlies, my next vacation will be in the Bahamas.

I am glad this jack ass got sentenced.

And in the "broken clock" category, we have the ongoing de-facto legalization of marijuana, made possible by the quiet tolerance of the Obama administration's DEA. At the end of four years the business will likely be big enough to cause congressmen to squawk should a Republican end up the in the executive in 2012 and take a run at shutting it all down. At the end of eight it almost certainly will. I've thought marijuana was no more dangerous than cigarettes for years, and have the conventional libertarian desire to legalize (and tax) most if not all drugs, so I'm all for it.

Hmm... I'll take armed, naked crazies on the lawn for $200, Alex. As noted previously, I'd wager she looks more like Kathy Bates than Uma Thurmond. Life often isn't fair that way.

An Australian scientist has discovered a species of octopus that uses coconut shells to build itself a shelter. This is said to be the first observed evidence of tool use in an invertebrate. Just as long as those tree-climbing octopus never make an appearance, I'll be fine.

Scientists are figuring out how to make a regular LCD TV respond to gestures you make. That'd certainly relieve the regular rabbit hunt that happens every evening around here when it comes time to track down the remote. Still, it's one thing to think you're being watched, and quite another to know it.

Presenting Fapmapper, which combines the creep factor of public wankers with the utility of Google maps. I learned a very long time ago that people who want to be seen naked in public are 99.99% of the time the last people who should be seen naked in public. If this helps me avoid them, well, there ya go.

Sometimes the shot is just that important. There's a similar picture sequence from a 50s road race, but Google searches won't turn it up.

Poms are quite tasty!

“I had stopped for the sign at East 29th and College when this dog came flying out of the sky right in front of my Jeep — right out of the sky,” says Jamie Padden, Davenport. “It dropped out of nowhere.”

The shape of things to come here: brothers beat down home invaders and receive multi-year jail terms for their trouble. Well what do they expect? Sure, the robbers tied them up on the floor, but the robbers also said the family wouldn't be killed as long as they didn't move! Those maniacs went after the robbers with a cricket bat! Put one of them in the hospital! And a good thing too it happened in Britain, otherwise that poor thief likely would not have gotten the best of care!

The bishop was buried in the cathedral church in Myra, which became a pilgrimage site, but Irish historians claim the early crusaders brought his remains back to Jerpoint Abbey.

Pretty neat!

To wit: There's no such thing as a woman so beautiful a man can't be made sick of her crap. With (barely) SFW pictures of an example. The obverse is, of course, just as true.

A group of scientists have announced the creation of artificial blood cells just as agile as the real thing. If the substance delivers on its promises, it could lead the way to a whole host of new drug delivery methods and trauma treatments.

And now, a platinum and diamond vibrator. Yeah, can't see that one heading our way for Christmas any time soon. Seems to me it'd be likely to chafe.

Via, of all places, Instapundit.

Scientists are claiming to have solved the mystery of Iapetus's weirdly contrasting sides. Turns out it's a combination of some other moon spewing crap into its orbit, as well as the rotation of the moon itself.

I think we may have featured it before, but an apartment done up as a star ship replica is always worth a second look. 500 square feet is, if I recall correctly, efficiency territory. Small, but cool!

...make Olivia look at the camera.

"It is a commonplace that [people] are excessively ruthless and cruel not as a rule out of avowed malice but from outraged righteousness."

-- Paul Johnson, Modern Times

My little buddy at work.

Let the Tiger Woods parodies...begin!!! Video is naughty but contains no nudity and, wtf, it's Friday afternoon. Knock yourself out!

Scientists have a new theory which predicts the possibility of an engine powered by the fields found in a quantum vacuum. Includes this bon mot: Of course, nobody is getting a free lunch here. "Although the proposed engine will consume energy for manipulation of the particles, the propulsion will occur without any loss of mass," says [Alex Feigel at the Soreq Nuclear Research Center, a government lab in Yavne Israel]. He even suggests, with masterful understatement, that this might have practical implications. Ya think???

Yup, I was right: the weird swirly blue thing in the sky earlier this week was a "Russian Missile Fail". Never ascribe to aliens what can adequately be explained by incompetence.

The engineers at Lotus have created a new type of internal combustion engine (ICE) that, it's claimed, is 10% more efficient than the best existing ICE. People have been trying to make 2-stroke engines practical in an automobile for more than a century, and it hasn't happened yet. Still, it seems to be a lot more than just plans in a computer.

Turns out those Himalayan glaciers that are disappearing at an ever-more-rapid pace well, aren't. I know, I know, the guy practically drips reactionary denial. That said, I'm still going to refuse to beggar my country and others, while allowing other polluters to belch ever more nasty stuff into the air simply because they're "developing", over a catastrophe so fragile an Indian scientist can refute one of its more colorful assertions with ease.

A 70 year old man has apparently died of a heart attack while skydiving. When I first read it, I wondered, "how could you tell that from a bunch of hamburger and broken bones?!?", but it turns out he was tandem jumping. Go grampa! Bye, grampa!

Scientists have developed a new low-toxicity treatment for sickle cell anemia which appears to flat out cure the disease in 9 out of 10 adults. A similar, much more toxic, treatment has been available for children for some time, but the protocol was so nasty it either killed the adults outright or some time later gave them a nasty disease which would do the deed. The headline mentions stem cells, but it doesn't seem to make up a big part of the cure.

This one was so gross I didn't want to keep it up on my computer: a tongue-eating parasite has been found of the coast of New Jersey. It (thankfully) is harmless to humans, well, except for that whole "so skeeved I need a shower" feeling. With severely creepy pictures!

F- having a stone medieval mug, I want one I can mount a bayonet on. Like all military-grade things, it has eye-watering specs and an eye-watering price. Still, it's fun to look at!

Looks like the Army is exploring nuclear energy as a way to power their bases. I think it'd make an interesting stalking horse to see just how far the greens are willing to go to allow emissions-free power. Since I'm convinced green is the new red, I'm pretty sure they'll do everything they can to stop it. Since it's a military base, I'm not sure how far they'd get.

First Saturday Night Live, now The Daily Show. The trouble with being funny while making a point is the point sticks a lot better. Well, I guess it's only trouble if the point is toward you.

Making the rounds: a mysterious spiral blue light appeared in the skies over Norway last night. Not only do they have pictures, they have video. I don't know what the f- it is, but if I had to put a $5 chip down I'd set it on, "Russkie missle test gone bad."

Shocking only to the MSM: Sarah Palin is now only 1 point behind in popularity polls. Yeah, I know, this has more to do with a popular president working with his Congressional buddies to ram unpopular legislation through than it does any resurgence on Palin's part. Still, considering how diligently the MSM tried to tear her apart when the book came out, the recovery is remarkable. I guess she kept at it long enough to last into the next news cycle.

A better, and more honest, way to put it would be, in the face of heretics and apostates, first affirm the faith. I didn't, and don't, want to turn this into some sort of humanist holy war, but the other side seem to already have.

Obama to the ISI: fix your mess or we'll do it for you. It's still not widely understood just how important, and culpable, Pakistan is in the hunt for al Quaeda. As with most effectively failed states, I don't see us demanding things as doing much good. But it does at least provide some political cover when we have to move against what will inevitably be portrayed as, "an unwarranted attack on another sovereign state."

While this collection of stunts are definitely impressive, I'm just happy that my shots look like these shots. Except for, you know, having access to MiGs and stuff like that. Can't recall? Scroll down to the bottom of our site and pick any May archive from the past four or five years. You know, stuff like this. And, well, this.

Have digital graphics suite, will travel. As a demo, it's pretty darned cool. As a story? Hey, if we couldn't criticize other's people's creations, the internet would be a much, much quieter place.

Virgin Galactic's first commercial space ship had its coming out party on Monday. I could've done without the revelation that the hot chick painted on the nose is actually Branson's (now 90-something) mom. I know, I know, but still...

Ok, I get that some folks could be skeeved out by transgender people. Being raised in the deep South, I know there are an unfortunate number of people so badly skeeved out they do stupid things. You know, like leave a nasty, threatening voice mail message on the phone of a transgender teen who just applied for a job at their McDonalds. A bit of a shame, really. The bottom rungs of McDs are rightfully seen as a kind of hell, but the truth is it's not a dead end. Far from it. Work at it hard enough, long enough, and McDs will make someone with a high school diploma very wealthy indeed.

But not for this guy. No, this guy let his prejudices override his professionalism, and now what likely was a bright future is now a dead end.

Karma's a bitch, ain't it?

After getting busted by AvWeek's minions, the Air Force has admitted to a previously black stealth UAV. Beats the heck out of a P-3 playing bumper cars with MiGs, eh?

While your regular variety of wacky leftists sit in yurts and complain about economic growth, the *real* business of climate change is being discussed by people who arrived on private jets and drove to the place in limousines. Thousands of limousines. Why worry when it's becoming common knowledge the only real way to "get things done" is to force us to do them.

That sound you hear is the left side of the peanut gallery nodding, and wondering just wtf the rest of us might have a problem with this.

Pat gets a cranky no-prize for bringing us news that, "there are no good pictures of cats in wigs." Experts on the species will not be surprised the person setting out to fix this is from Texas. Natives will be even less surprised that she lives in Ft. Worth.

One thing you can always count on the Democrats for is eating their own children. It took me reading it in three places to realize this really is Code Pink going after the sitting president.

It seems iPods have found a competitor in the vinyl LP. If the pressings are high-quality, the sound is actually quite good, and engineers worked out how to eliminate the clicks and pops just before CDs arrived. That said, albums are a royal pain to maintain, requiring more cleaning than an M-16 in a tropical jungle. I'll stick with CDs, thanks.

It would seem Uranus's weird "tire-rolling-down-the-road" axial rotation can be explained by a very large moon which could still be roaming loose somewhere in the solar system. You'd think we would've spotted something that big by now.

It would seem everyone perceives men to be smarter than women. Perception is, of course, quite different from actuality. Unless it's my house, then perception and actuality are dictated by the boss. Which, if you read this site long enough, you will rapidly realize is not me. :)

What better way to while away the rest of the weekend than using Google Maps to explore Pompeii. What always surprises me is how small ancient cities were. Then you get used to looking at cities which can be encompassed in a 100m scale, you go chasing Rome's old Imperial walls and realize just how BIG that city was back in the day.

The center of the maelstrom. Except nowadays we run 5 speakers with 2 amplifiers per. It's a good life.

Boeing's latest attempt at justifying that big ugly 747 with the laser in its nose? Kills IEDs dead. A weapon with infinite ammo that only takes about 5 minutes to cook off a hajji-wired 155mm shell? Sign me up for 12! Ain't technology grand?

Nothing like finding vines in the vah-jay-jay to throw your whole day off (SFW). Annie gets a no-prize that damned well better warm its hands before it sets to work for bringing us proof that old-world stabs at birth control are still alive and well.

I can remember when there were only 2 other wireless networks detectable in our neighborhood. Recently I had reason to do another scan and there must've been 20. None had names as memorable as this. That sound you hear is Ron furiously scribbling ideas for his, once he gets it.

No, really, when Christmas trees attack. Being a good German Austrian, he told the authorities, cut the tree to size, and drove it home.

These were the cars modeled in Grand Prix Legends. If that simulation was even vaguely accurate, these little beasts are very fast and very scary. But they do look oh-so-right, eh?

Nothing like the manic energy of a 3 month old kitten. One of these days we'll end up with ones that aren't so fat, old, and lazy. How the bird handles it all will be interesting.

Idea: Compare how men who watch porn compare with those who don't. Problem: Finding someone, anyone, who can make up the latter group. Sometimes even when the experiment fails to get off the ground it can still tell you something.

So in a street full of tall buildings, these guys manage to smash a moving car. An advantage to driving an old, low-slung sports car is it increases the chances of a miss. A disadvantage is if it manages to score they'll have to scrape what's left off the wrecking ball.

Hey, man, turnabout is fair play, eh? Yeah, this guy reeks of "kook in a castle", but dangit, he's our kook in a castle. When the left does this stuff, they end up with Oscars. I guess we'll just have to settle for, you know, being right.

Mike J. gets a no-prize he'll have to protect from the monks when they come boiling out of Hagia Irene tonight* for bringing us this oh-so-subtle bit of symbolism during a recent Obama press conference. It can't possibly be an accident. I'm just amazed the editor had the balls to run the picture anyway.

----
Oh, go look it up yourself this time.

In the on again/off again saga of Alfa coming back to the US, it seem things are back on again, and with a very nice looking sedan. "Milano" wasn't really much of a name anyway. Giulietta is much nicer, evokes all sorts of things for people who've never heard of the marque, and is spelled just weirdly enough to make it challenging. Will we actually see it? I'd like to think so.

Mars rover Spirit has failed again in its efforts to un-stick itself. This time it looks like a problem with one of the wheels itself, instead of just the weird powdery soil it stumbled into a few months ago.

While I was never (often) like this, I can think of several dozen guys who were. When they were done messing up text games they'd usually head over to the chat rooms.

You know, chat rooms? They were like IM, but with more nerds and creeps.

Fans of "Things with Wings" should be interested to know Av Week has got pictures of yet another aircraft the Air Force says does not exist. Looks like I don't know how many "artists impressions". The scale is a little weird, too, but that could just be the lens.

It seems that the Voynich Manuscript may finally be solved. Wtf? Am I the only one who knows how to use WP? Personally, I thought the idea that it was a spy report for the future aging slowly in reverse was a much neater idea. Dan Simmons fan? Why yes?

Jeff gets a rusted no-prize for bringing us this "as-it-happens" video of what appears to be an F4F variant getting fished out of Lake Michigan. The reason why this doesn't happen more often is (as I recall) back in the early 60s the Navy got legislation passed that gives them sole possession of all Navy property, past present and future. The volume of paperwork alone required just to start a salvage project is said to be legendary.

... gankin' ur furneetyoor. Mike J. gets a no-prize with a leisure suit on for bringing us this cat-sized blast from the past.

That's right, folks, for about $130 a night you too can experience life as a hamster. All it would need to complete the experience is a giant, menacing cat. Oh no, ours are too old, fat, and lazy to be much of a threat to anything.

Another year, another "computers don't save you a dime, you idiot story. My reply has, and always will be, "fine. If they don't save any money, let's go ahead and turn them off, eh?" And let's start with the authors of the study, while we're at it.

That said, this is very well received: The problem "is mainly that computer systems are built for the accountants and managers and not built to help doctors, nurses and patients," the report's lead author, Dr. David Himmelstein, said in an interview with Computerworld. To which I can only say it's not just health care which has this problem. We've been inflicted with not one but two expensive purchase order systems at my workplace that are an absolute horror to use simply because it makes the 3-member accounting team's job easier.

Making the rounds: a former Miss Argentina is dead from complications resulting from cosmetic buttock surgery. In other news, people pay good money to have a surgeon take a knife to their ass.