Same old thing

News from yahoo:

MOSCOW - A court declared oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky guilty of an array of charges Tuesday including fraud and tax evasion, and sentenced him to nine years in prison minus time served.

The declaration of guilt and sentence came in the 12th day of the laborious verdict-reading process in the most closely watched trial of post-Soviet Russia, and one that has been widely criticized as politically motivated.

Seems like business as usual in the used-to-be Soviet Union. Maybe taxes weren't paid, and most likely shenanigans and tomfoolery happened, but the hammer came down because of the man's politics. So with this sentence, Russia takes two steps backwards.

Traffic

Why is it that, despite yesterday's traffic being clogged with
"early get-away" folks, and no doubt midday today seeing more
of the same, why is it that I *know* that getting home tonight
will be an epic task? Where do these people come from? And
why do they all wait until they're in front of me to start talking
on their mobile phones?
Yesterday it sounded like the dialog from Deadwood in my van. I know
I should have more patience. I know I shouldn't throw rocks at other
drivers. I know, I know.

Know what makes it more frustrating? Our local radio traffic guy
will point out when there is some stupid reason for a back-up. "There's
several highway administration trucks blocking the right and center
lanes but the workers have just been playing cards and drinking beer for the
last two hours....." I think he's just trying to help, but, well, sometimes
you don't want to know that you've been sitting in traffic because some
fool doesn't know to move to the shoulder after his cellphone use has
caused a 3mph bump to the guy ahead of him. Oh, or worse, when the guy
who received the 3mph bump decides that he's won the pain-and-suffering
lottery and demands an ambulance and fire trucks.

Oh man, I've almost talked myself into staying home. I better go.
Have a great weekend everyone.

bout time

We can only hope that al-Zarqawi has been wounded or killed. The guy is as foreign to Iraq as any American soldier from the midwest. So when they call for foreigners to get out of Iraq, this guy should be the first to go. In a box will be acceptable. And we'll be happy to leave as soon as the Iraqis can take over. (it's a good sign that 40,000 of them moving into Baghdad to sweep for terrorists)[not insurgents, terrorists]

Weird News

From News of the Weird, the last one tickled me:
Gas Pedal? Brake Pedal? Whatever (all-new)

Accidents by elderly drivers who police suspect momentarily confused the gas pedal for the brake: Age 88, crashed into a bank (killing a customer), St. Pete Beach, Fla. (February). Age 85, crashed into a post office, West Salem, Ore. (December). Age 87, crashed into an animal hospital, Lynchburg, Va. (December). Age 88, hit two cars and two people in a Wal-Mart parking lot, Pembroke Pines, Fla. (January). Age 81, crashed into a car dealership after hitting her husband, a salesman, a car and a tree, Fort Myers, Fla. (April). Age 84, crashed into her son, waiting to be picked up at the front door upon discharge from a hospital, Manchester, N.H. (May) (He had to be readmitted.).

New Math

From Aljazeera:

The Iraqi parliament has approved appointments for six cabinet vacancies, handing four more positions to the Sunni Arab minority.

But the Sunni selected as human rights minister turned down the job, saying he cannot accept a position awarded on sectarian criteria.

Less than half of the National Assembly, 112 of the 155 legislators present, approved Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's six nominations on Sunday, including Shia Arab Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum as oil minister and Sunni military man Saadoun al-Duleimi as defence minister.

There has to be some kind of typo; less than half, 112 of 155? Maybe it's me.
I'll get another coffee and run those numbers again later.

Ouchie

I get the call in traffic... Your kid hurt her finger playing
basketball you need to come get her. So I drive to the school, imagining
the extent of her injuries along the way. *Is* there
such a thing as a nine-fingered violinist? Will they let her be an
astronaut with only one arm? (from the gangrene scenario) Will the pain
drive her insane before I get there?

Course, it turned out to be one of those basketball ouchies. Run of the
mill thing that could be a break, but most likely was only a bad, bad
ouchie. The trick now is to get an x-ray and ortho appointment without
the usual six hour Urgent Care Center wait. Urgent? that will be six hours.
I wonder where you go if you're not in a hurry. Is there such a thing as
a Take-your-time-I-don't-mind-waiting Care Center? I think there is, and it's
called the Urgent Care Center. Ah well.

Anyway, mom has taken over the Dr adventure. Much as I hate to admit it, a
mom has a comforting advantage by nature. And I couldn't go with because
there is a meeting that we have to attend in order to be eligible for a
$1000-off tuition drawing; they may not be back in time. [and this year I
feel lucky]

Maybe I'll fix something special for the kid while they're gone. The problem
is timing; her favorite vegetables are french (pa-toui) fries, and hash-browns
(mmmm), and those are things that don't like reheating. Maybe I'll mix a few
green beans into the chocolate pudding and call it balanced.

UPdate-
Awww, poor critter got a chipped bone. We may have more doctors to do tomorrow
but she's doing fine -- she wore an arm sling to the school meeting
and impressed her friends no end. From my experience though, broken fingers
only come into full bloom on the next day -- hope she's ok in the morning.
(oh... the tuition drawing? Next year that sucker is mine)

And more-
The child would make a fine lumberjack. Not a whimper as she set off for school.
And the doctor said my splint would be fine. [in the woods we usually just
splint broken limbs with a chainsaw on either side and finish our shift]

Sounds like my first car

From Ananova:

Firemen wrecked driver's first car

German firemen have destroyed a teenage driver's first ever car after they mistook it for scrap and used it for practice.

The fire fighters from Hennef, near Bonn, spotted the teenager's pride and joy parked alongside a scrap yard they thought it had been dumped.

They set to with hydraulic scissors and axes to cut the roof and doors off to practise for freeing people from crashed cars.

But the car had only been parked and not dumped next to the junk yard.

The 19-year-old driver, who had just bought the car after passing his test, said he had not even driven it yet as he was waiting to renew the MOT.

Insurers for the fire service will now have to pay out damages to the young man.

Too Much Time on Their Hands

So the guys at the National University of Singapore have developed a system for remotely petting a chicken. You know, for when your chicken is in a toxic environment or you're just too lazy to walk out to the coop and pet her in person.

"This is the first human-poultry interaction system ever developed," said professor Adrian David Cheok, the leader of the team, who has been developing the technology for nearly two years.

I can just see the team, sitting around the lab, wondering why it is that nobody else ever thought to develop a "human-poultry interaction system."

Anderson, Is that Yu?

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has formed a special force of undercover online commentators to try to sway public opinion on controversial issues on the Internet, a newspaper said on Thursday.

China has struggled to gain control over the Internet as more and more people gain access to obtain information beyond official sources. The country has nearly 100 million Internet users, according to official figures, and the figure is rising.

A special force of online commentators had already been operating in Suqian city in the eastern coastal province of Jiangsu since April, the Southern Weekend said.

Their job was to defend the government when negative comments appeared on Internet bulletin boards and chatrooms, the weekly quoted local officials as saying.

Suqian city's propaganda department recruited the commentators from among government officials, the weekly said, adding that they must "understand (government) policies, be versed in (political) theories and be politically reliable."

"They will guide public opinion as ordinary netizens. This is both important and effective," Ma Zhichun, one of the recruited commentators, was quoted as saying.

The only netizen I ever knew from China, Anderson Yu, seemed to be a government stooge. Or at least a stooge. The problem with being an advocate on a bulletin board is that you've got to defend your arguments. You're free to ignore the facts, change the subject, or deride your opponent, but very few minds are changed by that kind of advocacy.

Bill siad that?

It's amazing how few of Bill Clinton's supporters agree with
his recent statement:

"There is no point living in the past," Clinton said. "Look at where we are now. Everyone, all freedom-loving people would be better off with a genuinely representative, effective, free government in Iraq whatever your feelings are about what went on before."