Flying Cars

2004 is already 5 hours and 45 minutes old and cars still do not fly. This is totally lame.

did anybody see the dog?

I have no fear of snakes, but this freaks even me out. link

More info here. link

All hail Mr Chupa Chup

Enric Bernat Fontlladosa, the inventor of the best lollipop ever, the Chupa Chup, died Saturday. This relatively short article by BBC World showed me yet again that I don’t know everything, even about the items I love. I didn’t even know the company was from Spain, let alone that Dali designed the logo. One thing is for sure though, the man was a visionary:

“I looked at candy and I was surprised that there was no candy made for children, when they are the main consumers,” Bernat said when asked about his invention. “It did not fit well in their mouths, it got their hands dirty and it caused problems for their mothers. This is why I had the idea of putting it on a stick.” link

Israel

This AP photo of Egyptian foreign minister Maher sums up how I feel about the current situation in the Middle East. Did I mention that Israel has about 200 nuclear warheads? Just for comparisons sake, Pakistan and India both have about 20. link

Santa decided US Civil War

BBC World has this to say as part of an article on politicians sending out christmas cards:

“The venerable Abraham Lincoln was the first US president who saw political mileage in the Christmas message, and in the process, immortalised the figure of Santa as we know him.

During the American Civil War, which pitted the slave-owning South against the government union of the North, the then president requested a political cartoonist, Thomas Nast, to illustrate Santa with the Union troops in an attempt to bolster their spirits.

Mr Nast was the first to introduce a fat Santa in the now-traditional red suit and big leather belt.

Seeing this jolly fellow side with the North was allegedly very demoralising for the southern forces. They lost not very long after.” link

Merry Christmas

ABC News has an interesting article about possible threats in New York City and the preparations that are under way for the New Year’s Eve party on Times Square:

“Heavy weapons teams, bomb squads, city, state and federal weapons of mass destruction units, bioterror sensors, undercover agents, thousands of uniformed officers and so-called Arch Angel convoys — units trained to remove dignitaries in case of an incident — are all part of the plan.” link

Doesn’t that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside? Let’s hope it’s not because of a dirty bomb.

scotch

Spent a night out in town and sampled quite a number of scotch. Then I took the bus home. Of course this is only possible because there is a working public transportation system in this country. Apparently some other people that also intended to go home by bus were far worse off though.

A joke - or not

Little David was in his 5th grade class when the teacher asked the children what their fathers did for a living. All the typical answers came up — Fireman, policeman, salesman, etc…

David was being uncharacteristically quiet and so the teacher asked him about his father.

“My father’s an exotic dancer in a gay cabaret and takes off all his clothes in front of other men. Sometimes, if the offer’s really good, he’ll go out to the alley with some guy and have sex with him for money.”

The teacher, obviously shaken by this statement, hurriedly set the other children to work on some coloring, and took Little David aside to ask him, “Is that really true about your father?”

“No,” said David, “He works for the Bush administration, but I was too embarrassed to say that in front of the other kids.”

Saddam has been captured

Saddam Hussein has been captured, according to officials from the DOD and Tony Blair. link

Paul Bremer at press conference: “Ladies and Gentlemen - We got him.”

Richardo Sanchez: “We now have final closure.”

New York Coffee

Is there a law of nature or something that coffee gets worse the closer you get to New York? Seems that way. Sitting here on the airport in Newark, only miles away from NYC, the coffee sucks. But hey, it’s free.

And I am off…

It’s hard to believe it because it still seemed months away just the other day, but I am flying home to my family in Germany in a few hours. Just wanted to point that out and gloat because I scored an upgrading and will fly first class. Karma exists after all, be it in the form of Airline miles. But if you’re good, I might bring you a breath mint back as souvenir.

iPodhead.com

Yup, I have a second Web site: iPodhead.com.

The site is intended to offer tips, tricks and reviews around the iPod.

I originally intended to do this as a category or something on this site, but then decided to go all out and make it a full fledged site. There should even be a forum pretty soon. We’ll see how it goes. Thanks again to Jaime. The girl can code, I tell ya!
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Ironic

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 28 (UPI) — Thousands of Iraqis took to Baghdad’s streets Friday condemning terrorism and urging a halt to political violence.

The demonstrators shouted “death to terrorists” (…). link

That’s like saying “We are demonstrating for peace! And if you are against us, we will beat you!”

Democratic drinking game

I am watching the democratic presidential debate on C-Span. I am wondering if I should make a huge pile of popcorn or play this game to make it a bit more interesting.

The trip of the fake turkey

It’s all over the web, but I simply had to point out that the photo that appeared on literally every front page in America last Friday of Bush holding a turkey in Baghdad turns out to not be what it seemed. The turkey was a prop, not meant to be eaten. link

Move along, there’s nothing to see here.

Same old merchandise a problem to consumers

A lack of variety and innovation in several sectors of the economy are largely responsible for lack of consumer interest.
Editorial
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Puzzle

Some people in the newsroom played Hang Man earlier today and left us a puzzle. So we left them one too. (photo of puzzle inside)
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Alternatives preferable to fossil fuel

An editorial on why we should explore alternatives to fossil fuel. This was actually written together with Shannon McPherson in a pretty interesting collaboration effort. I kept jumping from my Ti writing the column to her eMac writing this edit. Turned out pretty good.
Editorial
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Next stop, elections

If Bush’s visit was simply to boost soldiers’ morale and safety was such an issue, why would the White House round up around a dozen reporters?
Opinion Column
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Dick Gephardt

Check out this photo.
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5,500 japanese

I always wanted to go to Japan some day. Now I have another reason.

’Tis the season of sales, but tact should remain

Thanksgiving weekend culminated in the nations largest sale ever, yet lessons should be learned from the deplorable behavior some shoppers exhibited.
Editorial
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