And in Other News

[Trumpetmaster]

Thanks everyone...
I have to be back here tonight
to deploy a new voice mail system...
so I will catch up later!!

[Haggis@wk]

Foreign Policy

” Across the globe, people are choosing to have fewer children or none at all. Governments are desperate to halt the trend, but their influence seems to stop at the bedroom door. Are some societies destined to become extinct? Hardly. It’s more likely that conservatives will inherit the Earth. Like it or not, a growing proportion of the next generation will be born into families who believe that father knows best.”

I found this to be very interesting. I gotta see if my local library has his book.

[Haggis@wk]

Red rain could prove that aliens have landed

” There is a small bottle containing a red fluid on a shelf in Sheffield University's microbiology laboratory. The liquid looks cloudy and uninteresting. Yet, if one group of scientists is correct, the phial contains the first samples of extraterrestrial life isolated by researchers.”

Well, at least they didn’t show up and start looking for Tom Cruise…..

[barfle]

I can only hope that the stuff in the vial isn't gelato.

[Shapley]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11628283/

[OperaTenor]

Gee Shap, how ya gonna reconcile that one?!

The only way this would be more fun would be if it was Jimmy Carter instead of Clinton...

[Shapley]

I can't comment on it, since I've given up politics for Lent.

But, how is it for me to reconcile. I've supported the ports deal. I think the uproar was much ado over nothing. I pointed out that Clinton had been a factor in handing port operations over to the Chinese back in the '90s, and now he's lobbying for the UAE, while his party (and a bunch of Republicans) are pitching a fit about the deal.

V/R
Shapley

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Two points: 1) politicians are weasels. I think this surprises nobody.

2) I still think that the operation of US ports by non-US companies is a bad idea. Any port, any offshore company. Very Bad Idea.

[OperaTenor]

Originally posted by Shapley:

But, how is it for me to reconcile.

Ah, that awesome knack for ignoring the obvious implication! :p

Clinton agreeing with GWB?

I agree with Selma. I didn't know we did this prior to this, and I don't care who was responsible, I think it's a bad idea. No other country will give a rat's patoot about our security compared to us, or a domestic company that can be held accountable for it.

<small>[ 03-08-2006, 06:24 PM: Message edited by: OperaTenor ]</small>

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

I looked up Cape Girardeau, MO, to see if it was close to Kansas: it isn't, it's almost in Illinois. But, to my delight, I find it's very, very close to Paducah, KY. Where the American Quilter's Society has this museum that's on my Lifetime List, and two large quilt shows every year...

[Shapley]

Selma,

Paducah is about an hour away. I've been to the quilter's museum once, back when it first opened. The wife-to-be and I were touring around Paducah, and she was shopping for a wedding dress.

V/R
Shapley

[Haggis@wk]

Great Moments in Public Education

Now you know why drive up ATMs have Braille on them!!!


”Mayra Ramirez scored an A in driver's education this year, but sitting through the 10-week class felt like a bad joke to the Curie Metropolitan High School sophomore.

Ramirez is blind. She knows she's never going to drive. She can think of a lot of things she'd rather be studying than rules of the road, but she didn't have a choice.

Chicago Public Schools requires all sophomores to take the class and pass a written road-rules exam--a graduation requirement that affects about 30 blind and visually impaired students in specialized programs at Curie and Payton College Preparatory High.

"In other classes, you don't really feel different because you can do the work other people do," said Ramirez, 16. "But in driver's ed, it does give us the feeling we're different. In a way, it brought me down, because it reminds me of something I can't do."

[DavidS]

Haggis - that's as may be, and my heart bleeds for a person who has such a disability as Mayra.
But I am often tempted to ask many drivers I meet whether they need a white stick...

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Everybody! Check Google, click on the oddball "Google" logo. Mars Maps!!!

[haggis]

well, shuckens, I saw that this AM but didn't think to click on it....cool

[Shapley]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,188227,00.html

[GreatCarouser]

A 14-year-old girl in Toledo, Ohio, reported to police that
she was abducted at gunpoint by a man who forced her into his car,
where he pulled down his pants and told her, "You know what I want."
The girl, who went unnamed by police, pretended to drop her ring so she
could look around under the seat for a weapon. She found a hammer, and
when she got the chance she used it to whack the man in the groin and
escape. (Toledo Blade) ..."We really need the public's help on this
one," a police spokesman said. "We really want to nail this guy."

[DavidS]

Good on you, girl!
That's what's known as getting to the root of the problem.
She nailed him good and proper - we should all learn from her example!

[Shapley]

Museum of Water to open in New York

Personally, I think the idea is all wet. I guess we'll just have to wait and see if it floats.

[Shapley]

McMansion Backlash Swells

Seems some days you just can't win. First, the complaint was that the affluent were moving out to the suburbs, taking the tax base with them and leaving 'urban blight' in their wake. Now the affluent are moving closer to the cities, bringing their 'Hummer Houses' with them and destroying the 'character' of the 'close-in' communities. The answer, as always, regulate, regulate, regulate.

"If it moves, tax it. if it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it."
- Ronaldus Maximums -

V/R
Shapley