Isaac.Eiland-Hall.com

Excite News

Quote: He called the incident a “one-time error in judgment.”

One would certainly hope so…

What charges can three cops staging a fake car chase rack up? Check the link… Pretty impressive…

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Photo Gallery (Grand Canyon Skywalk)

Quote: The $30 million all-glass Skywalk will hover 4,000 feet above the Colorado River over a rim of the Grand Canyon, allowing tourists to stroll on a semicircular platform 80 yards beyond the canyon rim, surrounded by Plexiglas that will provide a spectacular view of the canyon floor directly below. The Skywalk’s opening is planned for early 2006, the attraction being part of a new Grand Canyon West resort on the Hualapai reservation at the western edge of the park, about 120 miles from Las
Vegas.

Sounds…..... REALLY BLOODY SCARY…. but also pretty cool.

Says it will accomodate 120 people and hold 72 million pounds, so that’s 600,000 pounds per person, which I think would allow for every single other person to be a $%@#$%ing idiot and jump up and down at the same time and still have plenty of safety margin.

I think I’d be scared out of my mind, but it sounds like something I’d like to try…

$30,000,000 to build, $25 tickets, that’s 1,200,000 people not counting operating expenses for ROI. As it happens, though, that would be 10,000 ‘sets’ (1,200,000/120) of people… heh.

I can’t imagine this thing not being wildly popular, with the ticket price being the only minor drawback…

AP Headlines

Quote: Ross Products said Rhodes wrote an essay confessing that she eats at least five jars of baby food a day and has even found herself snacking on strained fruits and vegetables in her car and at her work desk. The Los Angeles-area woman has a due date next month.

Do I really have to say anything to that?

...........weird…....

Bullet missed cow, hit woman in leg – Tasmania – Breaking News 24/7 – NEWS.com.au

Quote: Mr Nathan said police found Stadler slaughtering a cow on the Tyson property shortly after and he admitted he had shot the cow, but had missed on the first shot.

Defence counsel Peter Davis said Stadler had aimed the gun down so if the bullet missed it would hit the ground.

CNN.com – Iran nuclear game too close for comfort – Oct 24, 2005

I’m stealing the Farkline for this one: Iranians freaking out over cunningly-named game “U.S. attacks Iran”, in which, well, the U.S. attacks Iran.

Yeah.

D’oh.

Good news is that it actually isn’t a screwup by our own government, merely a game by a company whose games I’d check out if I had that ever-elusive disposable income…

Newark Paying Newspaper to Print Only Good News About City

Quote: The Newark City Council has awarded the Newark Weekly News a $100,000 no-bid contract to publish positive news about the city.

jawdrop

This has GOT to break some laws somewhere… Like.. a BUNCH of laws…

Surely…

Rape victim: ‘Morning after’ pill denied | The Arizona Daily Star ®

Quote: When she finally did find a pharmacy with it, she said she was told the pharmacist on duty would not dispense it because of religious and moral objections.

I despise abortion. I truly, honestly, no-jokes 100% seriously do.

For many years, I considered myself an extremely ardent Pro-Life supporter.

And I still am, according to my own definition. I abhor abortion.

But I abhor the government taking away choices like that from citizens even more, and it’s cases like this that have changed me into a Pro-Choice-first, Pro-Life-close-second person.

This is utter and complete bullshit.

That pharmacist has no justification for refusing the drug—and if they can’t do their job (as is made clear here), then they need to be forcefully removed, and have all their relevant authorizations revoked with prejudice.

Protecting the Presidential Seal. No Joke. – New York Times

Quote: Citing the United States Code, Mr. Dixton wrote that the seal “is not to be used in connection with commercial ventures or products in any way that suggests presidential support or endorsement.”

Don’t we have laws in this country covering parodies???

Of course, what amuses me is that the statement above indicates the White House thinks that Onion article was using the seal to indicate presidential approval… Really? That explains a lot about why our country is as far down in the hellhole we’re in…

The Blog | Alec Baldwin: What Happened to the Party of Lincoln? | The Huffington Post

Quote: My question for today is: Why are contemporary Republicans so full of shit?

My personal answer: Hey, who cares? They’re the only thing making the Democrats look like the better of the two parties… bah-dum-ching.

My question is: How did our two-party system get this deeply [profanity]ed?

And by “two party system” I mean “a system made up of two parties that are very different in rhetoric, but virtually alike when you get down to it – made up of moronic self-serving asshats”...

(Oh, I’m sure there are plenty of exceptional politicians out there, but they sure are rare, aren’t they?)

(Hey, three rants in a row! Do I win a prize? )

New York Daily News – Home – Daily News Exclusive: Bushies feeling the boss’ wrath

Quote: Facing the darkest days of his presidency, President Bush is frustrated, sometimes angry and even bitter, his associates say.

I realize that some of my distaste for this buffoon is probably the result of misinformation and misunderstanding, and that there is a hell of a lot that has to be done that makes our leaders look bad…

But this dude has singlehandedly put us into Vietman II: Hurt The Man That Made My Daddy Look Bad (not really, btw – no need to mess with Hussein on Bush I’s account – I mean, there were no WMDs, so one must assume it was a family affair), screwed our foreign policy around the world, built a coalition of the willing, consisting of ourselves, and oh, we conned the UK (Don’t forget Poland!)............................

At least Clinton’s failings were things that didn’t screw up the nation nearly so badly…

Letters Show Frist Notified Of Stocks in ‘Blind’ Trusts

Quote: Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) was given considerable information about his stake in his family’s hospital company, according to records that are at odds with his past statements that he did not know what was in his stock holdings.

Ugh…

Am I surprised by this? No. Not really.

Am I excited by the fact that he’s a Repulican? No—although I am always glad when it’s not a Democrat, there are plenty of asshats on both sides of that picture… Although I admit to taking a small joy that so MANY Republicans are in trouble at the moment… Although I don’t believe the Democrats are good enough to be conspiring to make it happen, so…... I have very mixed feelings on it all, as you can see…

Do I believe the trust was truly blind? I tend not to…

Do I believe this report that the trust wasn’t blind? Well, I am cynical about politicians, so I tend to believe it more than not, but I’m well aware that there’s always more to the story than we plebes get…

Still, all in all, the scale of my emotion tips ever so slightly towards a minor cheer that maybe another asshat will get their comeuppance… even as I sympathize with the hell he’ll be going through over this until everyone forgets…

Not that any of my reaction is unusual… I just decided to write it all out for you… Sort of an anti-rant, since it’s lack of emotion that characterizes this…

Cable close to Sprint wireless deal | CNET News.com

Quote: Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications could be close to offering cell phone service using Sprint Nextel’s network as part of its bundled services, which currently include cable TV, high-speed Internet and digital home telephone services.

I’m a pretty big fan of Comcast—this is good news to me…

I might not benefit as much as I might otherwise, though, since my VOIP provider is Packet8, but still… At some point, I’ll want a cell phone again—and Nextel is the best network…

To have a deal that saves money (i.e. a better price), especially if Push-to-talk works, and even MORE especially if it would use Wifi where available… Man. That could be mondo spiff

VeriSign to control ‘.com’ domain until 2012 | CNET News.com

Quote: “It really hits the reset button on the relationship between VeriSign and ICANN and allows everybody to get focussed on more important things, like security and stability and the globalization of the Internet,” VeriSign Senior Vice President Mark McLaughlin said in an interview.

ICANN President Paul Twomey said the settlement shows that issues involving the domain-name system are best resolved within ICANN, rather than through an international bureaucratic body.

Well. I’m glad you both are all lovey-dovey now, so can you PLEASE QUIT SCREWING THINGS UP?

Hmm… I need to make an “unlikely” category, I think…

Can you tell I dislike both Verisign and ICANN? Yeah… They’re doing a well-below-average job in my book…

Open-Xchange plans expanded e-mail option | CNET News.com

Quote: Open-Xchange—server software for handling e-mail and calendars—is expected to announce on Tuesday an open-source project called Intelligent Design that will permit communications with the Evolution desktop software. Just as Open-Xchange is similar to Microsoft’s Exchange server software, Evolution is similar to Microsoft Outlook letting computer users manage contact lists, appointments and e-mail.

Intelligent Design? Evolution?

..................what?

Okay, I’m seriously afraid now…

Ready for a 20-inch laptop? | CNET News.com

Quote: How big is your laptop? Fifteen inches? Seventeen inches? How about a massive 19- or 20-inch wide-screen LCD model?

Sounds better than existing, but still—I wouldn’t want to be locked into lower resolutions, even with a larger monitor….

LCD can be pretty, but with a CRT, I can run the insance resolutions I want to run…

Top News Article | Reuters.com

Quote: “She just fell asleep and didn’t wake up,” Kaigler said

Sounds like it happened about as peacefully as one might hope for. If so, I’m glad of it.

Courtesy NASA:

You must download and watch this AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME movie.

Covers the 2005 season through part of Wilma.

Wow.

Just wow.

I mean…... Wow.

TheBostonChannel.com – News – Man Arrested In Pumpkin Bomb Scare

/me shakes head sadly…

WKYT 27 NEWSFIRST & WYMT Mountain News – Kentucky lands grant to protect bingo halls from terrorists

Quote: Kentucky has been awarded a federal Homeland Security grant aimed at keeping terrorists from using charitable gaming to raise money.

And by “charitable gaming” they mean “bingo”.

Isn’t gambling against Islam? I don’t visit any bingo halls, but my impression is that they aren’t filled with Muslims… Maybe I’m just not paying enough attention…

Christian group wants to ‘redeem’ US states – Yahoo! News

Quote: Cory Burnell wants to set up a Christian nation within the United States where abortion is illegal, gay marriage is banned, schools cannot teach evolution, children can pray to Jesus in public schools and the Ten Commandments are posted publicly.

This is what keeps me up at night.

They’re fringe for now, but the day might come when we have a Christian Taliban in this country… That scares me like nothing else can…

It’s not just these fringe idiots that scare me, it’s the Religious Reich that’s already out there that scare me. And everytime Bush blathers on about Jesus, it excludes everyone who isn’t a fundie… Do you think the Muslims or the Athiests want to hear that stuff? If we did manage to have a Muslim president, would the Christians want him praying to Allah publicly like Bush does to Jesus? I think not.

Most DNS servers ‘wide open’ to attack | The Register

Quote: Four in five authoritative domain name system (DNS) servers across the world are vulnerable to types of hacking attacks that might be used by hackers to misdirect surfers to potentially fraudulent domains.

Great.

Well, this will probably be a problem within a few months or a couple of years—if it’s truly a threat…

Device Profile: DeLaval Voluntary Milking System

Quote: When a cow decides to be milked, she enters an entry lock where she is identified. If a sufficient amount of time has elapsed since her last milking, the cow is allowed to enter and given a dietary concentrate. A multipurpose robotic arm then extends underneath the cow and, guided by laser and photo sensors, cleans and dries each teat before attaching vacuum milking cups.

After milking, the vacuum cup lines are retracted, and the robotic arm sprays the cow’s underside with a disinfectant solution. The gate then opens, releasing the cow to the feeding area, and the VMS system cleans itself before allowing the next cow to enter.

That’s pretty darned cool

And it runs on Linux…

devoted1.com

Want to turn your iPod into a cross?

Well, now you can. With picture-y goodness.

... sigh

Niall Kennedy’s Weblog: Google spam suite primer

Quote: Google provides a full suite of services for the entry-level blog spammer.

You know what I’m sick of?

Google-bashing. This has just tipped my low-grade irritation over into actual, full-blown angst.

Look, people, this is bullshit. I bet you most of the Googlebashers have been bitching about Microsoft for years… “Microsoft is teh ev1lz0rz! Z0mg! Adn so is teh G00glz0rz!”

Come off it…

And gamers are all murderers, and all goths just want to sacrifice your dog to the devil….

Get. A. Freaking. Clue.

Dimwits.

For This Group, Snail Mail Is All There Is – New York Times

Quote: Despite all the talk about an increasingly connected world, the proportion of American adults who have never used the Internet and do not live in an Internet-enabled home has remained almost unchanged since 2002, according to a study recently released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

So, it looks like it will take time, and the natural aging process for this number to go down now…

80% penetration of society—that’s pretty cool. I remember the milestones – 25% of Americans have a computer, 40%, 50%, 66.7%.... I was by no means the first person online, but having gotten my start in ‘87 in the BBS world, and getting on the ‘net in 1994…. It’s been a nice ride seeing this all go mainstream…