Oh, the indignity

Two kids in a stolen Mercedes get nabbed by a cop...on a Segway.

Long Beach police have made their first Segway-assisted arrest, nabbing three juvenile car thieves after an officer gave chase aboard his two-wheeled, battery-powered Segway Personal Transporter.

At a top speed of 12.5 mph, the Segway was no match for the stolen Mercedes-Benz, but Officer Jose Miguez was able to keep the vehicle in sight for two blocks until the teens leaped out of the moving car to escape just moments before it jumped a curb and struck a utility pole.

Dude, I think it's the other pedal you're supposed to step on.

Link: Cop on Segway patrol in Long Beach makes car-theft bust - Newsday.com

On the bridge of flowers

On the bridge of flowers, originally uploaded by tedcompton.

In the parking lot

In the parking lot, originally uploaded by tedcompton.

Ah, the envy

Lucie Morillon, the U.S. representative for Reporters Without Borders, a French group that promotes free expression, said that the Beijing government often censors Web sites under the guise of protecting children or national security.

Just imagine how jealous this makes Commander Guy and his loyal sidekick, Trickshot Dick. (Yeah, the emphasis is mine.)

It's a gray, gray day. Bah. But at least it's warmer, warm enough to bring the spring fever back. The combination is sleepifying. So sue me. Tomorrow, though, if the weather permits I'm setting out on a little photo safari. Maybe that will excite things up for a day or two.

Link: Flickr not even flickering in China / Internet photo site says service is being blocked and hopes it's only temporary

Oh oh.

And it looks like Adam's into the apples again, too.

Link: Mike the Mad Biologist

JIC

JIC, originally uploaded by tedcompton.

Yeah! It's the American way!

Asked whether human life is a result of God's creation or evolution over millions of years, a majority of Americans said both are probable explanations, a poll suggested on Friday.

So Dude, when does American Idol start again?

Speaking of which - no, I'm not kidding here, really I'm not - this morning I found the anti-Idol, and she is....

Well go and look for yourself. I dare you to watch just one.

Link: The Raw Story | Most Americans believe in both evolution, creationism

See here's the thing, Bunky

They could have named her Parsippany and saved us all this.

Sometimes I wish they'd change their name

Virgin launches Europe's first bio-diesel train

Then again, sometimes I like it just fine the way it is.

Link: The Raw Story | Virgin launches Europe's first bio-diesel train

Everybody wants a piece of Larry Flynt

June 8, 2007 -- Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt, days after posting a $1 million bounty for verifiable information on the sexual exploits of Washington pols, says he's been deluged - getting more than 200 leads, “80 percent of them on Republicans.”

Or, well, Larry's money anyway. Yes of course it's ugly. But then, so's this.

And Larry's a lot more fun.

Link: 200 TIPS 'XXXPOSE' POLS By SCRIPPS HOWARD - National News | US News | Current National News

So maybe it was just a beta or something

Ah, hysteria. A few backs back, when Estonia's government websites were hit with distributed-denial-of-service-attacks, ordinarily-smart people were quick to point the finger at Russia -- and declare this to be first full-scale cyberwar, if not the future of warfare itself. Leading newspapers dispatched their correspondents to Eastern Europe, to uncover what had happened. Great magazines planned massive coverage. Never mind the fact that no one was hurt by the onslaught of ones and zeros. Never mind that the connection to Russia was dubious, at best.

Link: Danger Room - Wired Blogs

Me too

By the way, one reason I want health care specifics from Mrs. Clinton is that she’s received large contributions from the pharmaceutical and insurance industries.

Want more specifics, I mean. Not only about health care and not only from Clinton. And fewer “debates.”

I haven't spent much time watching the debates and I intend to spend even less as this election wears, and wears, on. As far as I can tell, they consist of so-called “news” people asking dumb questions while so-called candidates attempt to evade them, most of which is then, as JP neatly points out from Pottersville this morning, resoundingly ignored by the “news.” Gives debating, not to mention our political system, a bad name. Me, I might just go out and buy a bumper sticker of some kind and head for the beach.

Speaking of which - might, I mean - this might be a good weekend to spend a day driving over to the coast, take some pictures. Or maybe somewhere else. I've never been to Concord or Lexington or Walden Pond, or seen the Springfield Armory, or been up over the Mohawk Trail in the summer time. It's going to be a stay-at-home summer this year, and I'm thinking it would be a good idea to get as much of that in as I can before gas hits $5.00.

OK, the sun isn't quite all up yet here this morning. Maybe when it is things will look brighter. Ya think?

Link: Welcome to Pottersville: Paul Krugman: Lies, Sighs and Politics

Just when I thought it was safe to get out from under the bed

i’m not kidding. that’s the gist of an official resolution, quietly signed by 18 u.s. senators in both parties at the end of may (including senators obama and lieberman). senate resolution 207 specified that the month of june provides americans an opportunity to “learn more about the dangers of the internet.” got anything positive to say about the net? save it for july, pal. june is for commending organizations which “promote awareness of the dangers of the internet.”

Link: skippy the bush kangaroo: virtually scary

Marble

Marble, originally uploaded by tedcompton.

Consequences

Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute acknowledged on Thursday that the surge has achieved “mixed results” and that “it might be useful” to have defined consequences in place if the Iraqis fail to make progress on the political front.

Like they haven't had enough consequences already, I guess.

Is there a lot of blame-the-Iraqis stuff going around this spring, or am I just imagining?

Link: IraqSlogger: Lute Supports “Consequences” for Iraqi Gov

Well, hey, a legend in Indiana is not like a legend in Dubuque

Randall Tobias may have become the butt of late-night comics' jokes after admitting to ABC News he was a client of the so-called “D.C. Madam” and resigning his top State Department post in April. But his home state of Indiana is celebrating him as a “legend.”

Tobias, the one-time Bush administration AIDS czar and chief of the U.S. Agency for International Development, is slated to be honored as a “Living Legend” by the Indiana Historical Society at a special awards dinner next month, according to the Indianapolis Star newspaper.

Link: The Blotter

Breakfast of champions

Woohoo! Put some of this stuff on your Wheaties.

AMSTERDAM — Dutch students have developed powdered alcohol which they say can be sold legally to minors.

The latest innovation in inebriation, called Booz2Go, is available in 20-gram packets that cost 1-1.5 euros ($1.35-$2)....

“Because the alcohol is not in liquid form, we can sell it to people below 16,” said project member Martyn van Nierop.

Link: FOXNews.com - All You Need is Water: Dutch Students Make Alcohol Powder - Business And Money | Business News | Financial News

The 6th of June

Hitler knew the significance of the Western front. “In the East, the vastness of space will... permit a loss of territory... without suffering a mortal blow to Germany’s chance for survival. Not so in the West! If the enemy here succeeds… consequences of staggering proportions will follow within a short time.” He knew that D-Day was coming, and he replaced the hapless 716th Infantry Division with the well-trained and heavily armored elite 342nd Infantry Division. Somehow, allied intelligence missed that massive troop movement. It was a massacre, and 2400 died that day. The official report of the battle for Omaha Beach states that within the first ten minutes after the ramps were lowered every single Officer and every last Sergeant was dead or wounded.

Link: Blue Girl, Red State: 63 Years Ago Today

Hello, I must be going

Hello, I must be going, originally uploaded by tedcompton.

At the bottom of the hill

At the bottom of the hill, originally uploaded by tedcompton.

Surely he means benchmark, doesn't he?

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, speaking in Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday, noted that the May 31 deadline for Iraq's passage of the hydrocarbons law had not been met, also stating, “We would certainly be happier if there were faster progress on the political front.”

Oh, wait. I get it now. We have benchmarks, they have deadlines. Made by us.

Sorry.

Link: IraqSlogger: Kirkuk Status May Hold Up Oil Law

There'll always be an England, yum!

More than half of British women prefer chocolate to sex, saying it can be depended on to give pleasure, according to a survey published Tuesday.

Link: The Raw Story | British women prefer chocolate to sex: poll

But maybe it's a feature, not a bug

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating a Texas laboratory's finding of acetaminophen in dog and cat food, an agency spokesman said Monday.

Still it might be a good idea to trade in your little cat for a big dog.

The highest level of acetaminophen found by the Texas lab -- 2 milligrams per gram of dog food -- is a large amount, Rumbeiha said. That is eight times what a 10-pound cat could safely consume, he said.

However, a 20-pound dog would have to eat more than 6.5 pounds of food in 24 hours to be poisoned, unless it ate the same contaminated food daily, Rumbeiha said.

And don't feed it every day.

You, however, Bunky, can eat whatever you want to - someone your size, that is.

Link: Texas lab finds pain medicine in pet food - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

She's not with me

She's not with me, originally uploaded by tedcompton.

That Commander Guy: He's right on top of things, isn't he?

Bush declares cold war is over

Bush said he would make case directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“My message will be Vladimir — I call him Vladimir — you shouldn't fear a missile defense system,” Bush said.

Link: Bush declares cold war is over - Yahoo! News

You mean there's more than one?

But apparently Fox News Channel can't tell one African-American member of Congress from another...

Link: Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall June 4, 2007 07:43 PM

You mean, maybe it wasn't Bill Clinton's fault after all?

Some Faux News “analyst” comes up with a novel explanation for Commander Guy's regime:

“I'm waiting to find the space aliens that kidnapped the president that I grew to admire after September 11 and left this tool behind. ... I'm furious.”

Cheney is from Mars? Who woulda thunk?

BTW, is that a little whiff of desperation in the air?

Link: The Raw Story | Fox analyst: 'Space aliens kidnapped president' and 'left this tool'

What's good for the birds...

What's good for the birds..., originally uploaded by tedcompton.

Good news!

Science Daily — The Tropical Eastern Pacific, a discrete biogeographic region that has an extremely high rate of endemism among its marine organisms, continues to yield a wealth of never-before-described marine animals to visiting scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama.

Including five (five!) new species of sea slugs. (Sea slugs!) (Sea slugs?)

Link: ScienceDaily: Five New Species Of Sea Slugs Discovered In The Tropical Eastern Pacific

Oh that's special, Newt

“So you go through this list and you say to yourself, this government, not just the president, this is not about the presidency, the government is not functioning, it's not getting the job done,” he said.

It's not Commander Guy's fault, it's the government's fault.

Link: United Press International - NewsTrack - Top News - Gingrich: Government not functioning

That's the problem

“At the end of the day, I believe fully the president is doing the right thing, and I think all we need is some attacks on American soil like we had on [Sept. 11, 2001],” Milligan said to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, “and the naysayers will come around very quickly to appreciate not only the commitment for President Bush, but the sacrifice that has been made by men and women to protect this country.”

Link: The Raw Story | Arkansas GOP head: We need more 'attacks on American soil' so people appreciate Bush

I think I saw the movie

After hearing the drilling noises, police officers broke down the door - only to find dentist Hannes Mader working a late shift on a patient.

Link: Ananova - Dentist mistaken for safe-breaker

Water

Water, originally uploaded by tedcompton.

Maybe I'll go on a diet after all

The FDA is located in Montgomery County, Md. , a suburb of the nation's capital; the suburb's school board has a bigger budget than the FDA; the county's budget is twice that size....

So where are we today? There are 13 million food imports this year, with FDA able to inspect only about 1 percent. The system is so weak that many FDA professionals fear the word is out in the international community you can send virtually anything, of any quality, regardless of risk, to the United States, because no one's looking....

And the picture's not much better domestically. The FDA is responsible for inspecting over 200,000 food processing facilities in the United States, but because their staffing is so inadequate, they can get to most only once every 10 to 15 years.

Read the whole story. But finish your breakfast first.

Link: The overwhelmed FDA - The Boston Globe

Who's idea was this?

Who's idea was this?, originally uploaded by tedcompton.

The long wait

The long wait, originally uploaded by tedcompton.

Next: DNAism

Soon enough, scientists say, we will all be able to decipher our own genomes — the six billion letters of genetic code containing the complete inventory of the traits we inherited from our parents — for as little as $1,000....

“You can imagine a family who won’t let someone marry their daughter until they examined her prospective husband’s genome,” Dr. Watson suggested at a news conference on Thursday. “You’ll want to know what your mate is going to have.”

Link: 6 Billion Bits of Data About Me, Me, Me! - New York Times

Wolf!

So another “terrorist” plot that has been in the works for a year and a half, involving a bunch of misfits, simply “thinking” about an attack they don't have the wherewithall to execute and that even if accomplished, would not produce the damage they think, has been uncovered by Federal officials by paying an “An informant with a criminal history including drug trafficking and racketeering ...in exchange for payments and a reduced sentence.”

So in a year and a half, this bunch was still not able to get past the “thinking” phase, had a criminal being paid by the United States Government to get it going -- and the whole thing breaks the same weekend that the Bush Administration expands its War of Terror to Somalia? Anyone seeing a pattern here? And how convenient that this “plot” in the thinking stages since January 2006 was “broken” right in time for this week's presidential debates.

Link: Brilliant at Breakfast

And where does the MPPA stand on this?

But now the established pornography business is in decline — and the Internet is being held responsible.

The online availability of free or low-cost photos and videos has begun to take a fierce toll on sales of X-rated DVDs.

Just thought I'd ask.

Link: For Pornographers, Internet’s Virtues Turn to Vices - New York Times

Red on paper

Red on paper, originally uploaded by tedcompton.