Alaska Department of Revenue vaporizes $38 billion account – Engadget
Quote: A quick-fingered technician at the Alaska Department of Revenue reformatted a hard drive while handling “routine maintenance work” that contained an account worth $38 billion—yeah, with a B.
And nobody was even reprimanded for this, apparently.
WTF?
Nineteen Tons of Coke Seized off Panama
Quote: A U.S. Coastguard boarding of a suspicious vessel off the coast of Panama led to a record seizure of cocaine – 19.4 metric tons of the drug hidden in two containers onboard the freighter.
19.4 metric tons? TONS????
Jeez!
I was alerted to this because of my Google news search for “panama city florida” – I think it’s amusing, because this provided the final keyword for the trigger:
Quote:: The 14 crew members, all Panamanian and Mexican nationals, were arrested and are being transferred to Tampa, in the southern U.S. state of Florida, and Panama where they will be prosecuted.
D’oh.
Dallas high school student sent to Haskell jail for being undocumented | pegasusnews.com
Quote: She has lived in Dallas with her family since she was 5-years-old.
She is an honor student at a Dallas public high school where she is (was) set to graduate in about two months. She has made plans for college after graduation this spring.
Larry James’ Urban Daily
A repository of ideas, resources, commentary and opinions concerning the issues facing low-income residents of the inner cities of the United States and how mainstream America largely forgets or, worse, ignores the day-to-day realities of urban life for the so-called “poor.” Written and edited by the President & CEO of Central Dallas Ministries. Please visit CDM.
She is a great example of the success and accomplishment of one inner city child who grew up in a very poor, but loving family here in inner city Dallas, Texas.
Do I like the idea of undocumented immigrants being here? As a concept, no. I think there are many potential problems.
But these people are…. people. Real people.
Have some of them broken laws? Sure! So have citizens…
It’s stories like this that are the reason I’m uncomfortable with the “deport all them bastards!” attitudes I see from so many…
Tropical Storm ERNESTO Forecast Discussion
Article: AFTER REACHING THE GULF OF MEXICO…THE MODEL TRACKS DIVERGE AS STEERING CURRENTS SLACKEN WITHIN A WEAKNESS IN THE RIDGE…WITH SOLUTIONS AS FAR WEST AS THE GFDN THAT TAKES ERNESTO TOWARD THE WESTERN GULF…AND AS FAR EAST AS THE FLORIDA BIG BEND AS SHOWN BY THE GFS ENSEMBLE AND THE NOGAPS.
Well… With this update, I’m now keeping a close eye on this storm…
The good news so far is that Day 4 and 5 are so uncertain that (see the bit I quoted above) there’s just no telling yet…
The bad news is that we’re definitely in the running as much as anyone across the gulf coast right now, and it’s looking more and more like a Cat1-Cat2 landfall (of course, WAY way WAY too early to even really guess….)
Here’s the current model spread:
This would make it look like we’re out of the woods—but you have to realize that these aren’t the full set of models that the forecasters have, and they’re typically some combination of up-to-date and out-of-date…
I look at the NHC forecast discussion to find out what’s really going on, before I look at any other info… Then I look at the forecast tracks from NHC (although I like the NRL-MRY better, with the TS-level, Gale-level, and Hurricane-level forecast windspeed quarters) to see where the consensus is, armed with the forecaster’s comments… So in this case, the track at day 4/5 is uncertain – which makes me worry less that the track is moving closer to us… Now, in 2-3 days, we should have a much better feel—and Ernesto could swing well away from us, or leave us in the running…
So, we’ll see.
As always…
UPDATE: Check out the latest track from NRL-MRY:
Yummy…
Now, the latest NHC discussion makes it sound like chances are high it’ll slide to our east, but I suspect it will be tense around here in a couple of days…
Well, not really, but I thought this was amusing:
The white lines define the current (as of that radar image) projected stormtrack – this can change from image to image, and in fact, the next sweep was a bit different…
(We’re located nearly due south of the “PFN” airport icon – halfway between it and the east/west road to the south of it – at the center of the red rings. For a sense of scale, the red rings are 5, 10, and 25 miles)
Still, I’d rather write about this than the Middle East crisis for now…
Link to Article: Urban Legends Reference Pages: Photo Gallery (Beer Can House)
Quote: Claim: Photographs show rooms of a townhouse filled with beer cans and boxes.
Status: True.
Dang.
TaxProf Blog: Tax Foundation on The Rising Cost of Tax Compliance
Quote: The Tax Foundation has released a new study on The Rising Cost of Complying with the Federal Income Tax. The study estimates that complying with the federal income tax code during 2005 cost U.S. taxpayers $265.1 billion (up from $134.2 billion in 1995 (in inflation-adjusted dollars)), or 22 cents per dollar of tax revenues collected (up from 15 cents per dollar of tax revenues collected in 1995). By 2015, compliance costs are projected to grow to $482.7 billion.
Tell me – just TRY to tell me – that the tax code is not b0rken.
Dude. It’s hosed.
dallasobserver.com | News & Features | Schutze | Bad Ticket | 2006-01-12
Quote: We have, for example, the case of Michael Crane, who came to my office to tell me the story of his encounter with a DART cop who, he says, yelled and motioned at him from across the street: “Come over here!” So Crane crosses the street as he has been ordered, and the cop whips out his ticket book.
Crane told me when he asked what he was being ticketed for, the DART cop informed him he had just crossed the street illegally.
Sucker!
Houston, we have a prob—- er, I mean… uh… Dallas, we have a problem.
:-S
The bizarre world of Patrick Byrne’s Overstock | The Register
Quote: These days things are looking pretty awful for the online retailer. It faces mounting losses. It has suffered through an IT collapse. And as we’ve discovered, it forces buyers to endure the most shocking customer service we’ve ever encountered. All the while baffling Wall Street with a riddle wrapped in an enigma of a CEO.
Wow.
This makes for a very very interesting read.
With all the advertising they do on television, which will surely generate more sales—this will hurt all internet shops, as people have bad—nay, horrible experiences with this company.
How can they stay in business?
The Australian: Why I cut my tackle: rugby fan [November 15, 2005]
Quote: A RUGBY fan who cut out his testicles with wire cutters to mark a Wales victory is at a loss to explain why he did it.
Well, he’ll certainly be a top candidate for the Darwin Awards this year…
As far as his thoughts about adopting: NO! Just.. NO… Please….. No….........
Sploid: DuPont poisoned you for decades
Quote: “They are toxic,†Evers said of the PFOA chemicals. “They get into human blood. And they are also in every one of you. Your loved ones, your fellow citizens.â€
Uh… That doesn’t sound very good, if true…
And the old adage about how they get Teflon to stick to the pan when nothing sticks to Teflon—well, apparently that chemical doesn’t stay stuck in Teflon, eh?
Hmm…. o.O
Kuwait’s biggest field starts to run out of oil | Editorial Column
Quote: It was an incredible revelation last week that the second largest oil field in the world is exhausted and past its peak output. Yet that is what the Kuwait Oil Company revealed about its Burgan field.
I read somewhere else today that of the estimated two TRILLION barrels of oil in the entire world (i.e., our entire global supply of oil that we ‘started’ with a century ago, that cannot be replaced without millions of years of inactivity), we have used now ONE trillion of those barrels.
In other words, folks, we’ve used half of our entire supply.
Consider that we’ve used the oil that was easier to get to.
Consider that our consumption of oil only continues to rise.
Folks, there’s a problem right here in River City that starts with O which stands for Oil.
We need alternatives—and maybe quicker than we’d thought.
There is a feeling from multiple sources of a general global crisis happening in the 2012-2015 range… I haven’t gone in for such predictions since I was a fundie Southern Baptist (I believe the booklet I remember was ‘88 Reasons Jesus Will Return in 1988’), and I have a big dose of skepticism with this prediction… but in the general “where are we going and why am I in this handbasket” scheme of things, I can’t help but think that I won’t be surprised to see something happen…
Good grief!
The police shooting is almost an afterthought to the busy day of mahem this man caused… Yeesh.
Capitol Hill Blue: GOP memo touts new terror attack as way to reverse party’s decline
Quote: GOP insiders who have seen the memo admit it’s a risky strategy[...]
Really?
Ya freakin’ think?
Okay, I grant you, the Democratic party, for the most part nationally, has sat on their thumbs while they could have done SO many things to provide good, solid leadership that our nation is dying for (literally, if you count our innocent soldiers being slain in Iraq).....
I’m not so much Democrat as I am Anti-Republican…
And things like this scare me. These are the people in power—who have the power to allow another 9/11 to happen.
Quote: The day after the patch was applied, Oglesbee removed it, stuck a pin in the patch and sucked out the medication, authorities said.
Oglesbee then asked another nursing assistant to help her reapply the patch to the patient. The second assistant became suspicious, and Oglesbee admitted removing the patch, officials said.
That’s pretty sad right there…
Quote: # If you file for bankruptcy, you have to delete all the music on your computer. Seriously.
Some more Fun With Sony… I swear, I’m going to have to make a Sony category before this is over, I think…
Aftenposten Norway, Norwegian news in English
Quote: “For truckers it is a macabre sight when suicidal types wave and smile as they drive into the front of a rig,” said Alf Ragnar Karlsen of the Norwegian Transport Worker Union.
That’s rather disturbing…
In the US, we prefer “suicide by police”. In Norway, it’s apparently “death by honking big truck”...
Kansas education board downplays evolution – Science – MSNBC.com
Quote: “This is a sad day. We’re becoming a laughingstock of not only the nation, but of the world, and I hate that,†said board member Janet Waugh, a Kansas City Democrat.
I feel your pain.
Techdirt:Sony: Rootkits Are Okay, Because No One Knows What They Are
Quote: Thomas Hesse, President of Sony’s Global Digital Business, literally says: “Most people, I think, don’t even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?”
The gall.
The absolute gall.
Using this logic, we should throw out all the asbestos claims—at least, they could have, before people knew it was harming them. After all, people didn’t know asbestos was bad, so why should they care about it?
Ladies and gents, if you don’t know what a rootkit is, I’ll tell you why you should care: A rootkit is basically software you didn’t authorize (like a virus) that hides itself from the system.
I’m a geek. I can typically tell when a virus has infected a computer. And even if I can’t, typically anti-virus software eventually can.
But a rootkit is able to hide itself from the operating system. It’s a virus gone stealthy.
Now, let’s back up a moment, because many people associate “virus” with “destructive”. That’s simply not true. It’s like a gun—by its very existence, it has the possible capability to cause harm, but it might be innocuous—consider that a “toy gun” that fires no bullets is still technically a “gun”. For this analogy, that’s very much appropos. Not all virii necessarily cause harm. (Except that some might cause harm by their very existence, much like pointing a toy gun at a police officer might not have the most positive outcome)
So, not all rootkits themselves might cause harm. And, in fact, Sony’s rootkit is not designed to do harm.
However, it won’t be long, now that knowledge of it is trickling out, that real virus writers will be writing things to exploit the Sony rootkit—because it’s not even a well-designed rootkit: it’s very poorly written, and allows for exploits…
If you’re infected with Sony’s rootkit, if someone is able to write a file that starts with “$sys$” as the name (i.e. instead of somedocument.doc, they call it $sys$somedocument.doc), it is hidden from Windows. Which is how they hide the rootkit from you. But with something as simple as that, it means it’s very easy to write something that exploits it…
This is an outrage.
I am personally boycotting Sony until such time as they completely disavow this entire method, and offer true, complete, and workable solutions to systems they have infected.
Akihabara News – Mario Bross speaker
Quote: First of all, these things seem to be unavailable for purchase,
That’s “Mario Bros.”, i.e. Nintendo… And thank goodness they aren’t available- that would scare me too much… hehehe
Meanwhile, they look spiffy, and it’s worth the click for the pic. For about 5 seconds before you move on, but isn’t that the case for about half of what I blog here? 
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…
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.
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.
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…
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.