I am soooo disappointed. I thought Bigfoot was really going to be unconvered this time, but it turns out to be just a Web-site promotion scam:
I am soooo disappointed. I thought Bigfoot was really going to be unconvered this time, but it turns out to be just a Web-site promotion scam:
With all kinds of crime and corruption going high-tech, it's nice to know there's still room in the world for some good, old-fashioned petty improprieties:
Correction of the year so far, from The New York Times:
An article on Friday about the planned construction of two large solar power installations in California described incorrectly the operation of the solar panels in one, to be built by SunPower. Its panels pivot from east to west to follow the sun over the course of a day — not west to east.
Hooray for the South Bend Tribune, which joins the list of newspapers calling for the state to end one contradiction between the state constitution and state law. The constitution requires that a "free" education be provided for Hoosier children. But under state law, parents have to pay for textbooks, so that constitutional requirement isn't being met:
When the Indiana Constitution and the Indiana Code are at odds, which should take precedence?
As a persistent and strident critic of excessive federal spending, I feel compelled from time to time to comment on a national program that seems defensible. One of those is the "orphan products" program of the Food and Drug Administration.
When Fort Wayne Community Schools unveiled its $500 million building program, a lot of people said, "But what about academics?" Now we have the answer. FWCS has plans to reinvent its six high schools. I'm working on an editorial about it, and I don't know exactly the final shape will be, but it will not be nearly as uncritically supportive as The Journal Gazette's:
Oh, well, as long as he had something important to do:
Police say a Carmel man faces child neglect charges after he left his children home alone twice on one day to buy liquor, withdraw cash and visit a massage parlor.
[. . .]
Thank goodness Michael Phelps won his eight gold medals. It would have been a shame to waste all that good hype. This is from the normally un-gushy Christian Science Monitor, under the headline "The Phelps Olympics: An epic fit for ancient Greece":
Almost without question, he is now “the greatest swimmer in history,” says David Wallechinsky, author of “The Complete Book of the Olympics.”
Are you people out there doping yourself up digitally every time I turn my back? First, Digital Goddess Kim Komando warns us that Web sites are targeting our kids with so-called digital drugs, audio files that have the same effect as drugs:
There are different slang terms for digital drugs. They're often called "idozers" or "idosers." All rely on the concept of binaural beats.
It is incorrect to call binaural beats music. They're really ambient sounds designed to affect your brain waves.
I think I've mentioned several times here to be suspicious of stories using a lot of percentages -- it probably means the raw numbers weren't scary enough, and you are being misled. Here's a good example from The New York Times:
The portion of people who have home equity lines more than 30 days past due stands 55 percent above its average since the American Bankers Association began tracking it around 1990.
This is one of those good ideas that are spoiled only by the realization that such things should go on all the time, not just when there's a cash-flow "crisis":
At a time when all school districts are feeling a cash-flow pinch, Westfield Washington Schools is working with city officials to save money by sharing fuel tanks, paper and maintenance.
Fishers, Ind., is still a town, but at more than 60,000, it's already the eight-largest municpality in the state. It's long past time for the town to become a city, many say, which would involve having a mayor instead of just a council. Not everybody is happy about the prospect:
As a town, executive decisions are reached in the council form by a seven-member body.
Now we know why the county health police are cracking down so hard on outdoor cooking. It's a plot to keep us stupid and controllable:
Humans are "strange" and smart animals, and according to a new study out in this month's issue of Genome Biology, it may be because we're such good cooks.
Futurists should be taken with a grain of salt, especially when they claim to be able to see further than a year or two out. But they can be entertaining reading:
The suburbs have three destinies, none of them exclusive: as materials salvage, as slums, and as ruins.”
OK, now they're scaring me:
MOSCOW (AP) — A top Russian general said Friday that Poland's agreement to accept a U.S. missile defense battery exposes ex-communist nation to attack, possibly by nuclear weapons, the Interfax news agency reported.
Or maybe Russia is just being helpful, offering to help us test the missile defense battery.
Eight felony charges a distraction -- gee, do ya think?
Barack Obama doesn't want Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his legal troubles to be a distraction at the upcoming Democratic National Convention, and he got his wish Thursday when a judge ordered the city executive to stay home.
A Los Angeles fixture, the 99 Cent Only Store, will be raising prices on some items, voiding their long-standing slogan of "Nothing Over 99 Cent, Ever," and breaking the hearts of some 99-Cent loyalists.
The chain, which opened in the Westchester section of Los Angeles exactly 26 years ago Wednesday, said the business lost about $1.5 million last quarter.
I didn't know this, but it doesn't surprise me:
Under Indiana statute, law enforcement officers are exempt from having to buckle up when responding to an emergency. But police agencies can set their own policies.
The Fountain County Sheriff's Department does not require seat belts for its officers. Now, Sheriff Bobby Bass says that might change after deputy Terry Holt, 35, crashed on his way to a call.
Do as we say, not as we do. Yeah, that works for me.
