What do you get when you mix 19 year old soldiers, bulldozers, acres of fruit trees and bad foreign policy? Fun for the whole family! A touching story to help kids understand why everyone else in the world hates America. Gee, I wonder why all those people over there have time to protest and build bombs? Maybe because they don't have a farm to work on anymore?

OMG! As if the monkeys weren't bad enough! Now they are teaching robots martial arts! Don't these people ever watch the SciFi Channel?!? AHHHGH!!! The sad sad tale of humanities end...

Great! Just what the world needs...Cyborg three-armed monkeys rampaging our cities and stealing our precious bananas! Hey, let's give sharks legs and alligators wings and mix it up even more! Here's the New Scientist story.

This story on Slashdot Can You Sue Over Loss of Personal Information? is exactly the reason I never apply for a credit card or a prize or anything in a public place. This is also why my wife and I have a crosscut shredder and never throw anything out with our name on it --even if it's not filled out. I'm not worried about the NSA. I'm worried about some sleazy spammer or credit card company that will sell my valuable data to the highest bidder. To protect you personal data from those that want to fill your inbox with penis enlargement ads, always try to:

1. Avoid giving your information to anyone for any unneeded reason.
2. Never give more personal information than is needed. If the box is marked optional on the form, leave it blank.
3. Never give out your Social Security number to anyone unless it is absolutely necessary. Also, don't carry your SS card in your wallet or purse. Keep it in a safe place.
4. Don't sign up for anything you don't want or need so that you can get a "free" prize or gift. That prize is worth so little compared to your privacy and peace of mind.
5. NEVER buy anything from telemarketers (even if they say they are a charity) or spammers EVER!
6. Shread everything that has ANY personal information on it; preferably in a crosscut shreader. Once you are done using it or archiving it, get rid of it. This includes; old bills, bank statements, credit card offers, junkmail offers for things like insurance, old receipts, deposit slips and even old grocery lists.
7. Have a seperate "hotmail" address for those websites that require an email address.
8. If you start getting a lot of spam for no apparant reason, change your email address to something a bit harder to guess. It's a lot easier to send random emails to jsmith@aol.com than say j0hnsm1th@aol.com.
9. Install personal firewall software and preferably a hardware firewall between you and the Internet.
10. Keep your antivirus software up to date.

From the..."I always wondered department"...the story behind Ctrl-Alt-Del. From Slashdot.

In the future...cars will not run on hydrogen, but on PLA (plain-old-air). Here's the story of one frustrated designer trying to get the capital to build the ultimate in pollution free vehicles. Wired News: Air Car Caught in Turbulence

In what might be the largest lawsuit ever, Wal-mart is getting sued by 1.6 million female employees for unequal pay. Here's the link...Wal-Mart battles huge sexism claim. Discovered on BoingBoing.

Here's the rest of Orson Scott Card's essay...MP3s Are Not the Devil - Part 2.

I know what I want for my birthday...Whee!!!

Orson Scott Card of Ender's Game fame has written the essay MP3s Are Not the Devil about the RIAA suing everybody and their grandfather. Part one is out this week.

The big story today out thar in the Internets is about letter scrambling. Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, olny taht the frist and lsat ltteres are at the rghit pcleas. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by ilstef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
If that's not enough, and it never is when a bored programmer gets an idea, here's The Word Scrambler Thing to do the scrambling for you. Wheee!!! That should keep you going for at least the time it takes for the next meme to rise; which should be about fifteen seconds after I post this.

Two of my favorite blogs are signing off today. William Gibson turned in his notice today. "I’ve found blogging to be a low-impact activity, mildly narcotic and mostly quite convivial, but the thing I’ve most enjoyed about it is how it never fails to underline the fact that if I’m doing this I’m definitely not writing a novel – that is, if I’m still blogging, I’m definitely still on vacation." I'm sad that he's stopping, but glad a new book will be coming out of it.

The other blog is Moja Vera; the U.S. soldier that has been blogging about his days and nights in Iraq. Moja gets to come home tomorrow. Again, I'm sad to see the end of his blog, but glad he gets to come home alive.

This whole blogging thing I first thought was really silly. All I kept thinking about was some of the really bad ones I had seen in the beginning... bad poetry and people rambling on for days about nothing. But then I read a few really good ones like those above and became totally intrigued and addicted. I began to see the ramifications of this type of one to many dialogue...everyone having a voice to the masses. This seems most important now. With the world taking sides on everything, these blogs help me remember that this world is not made of just me and "all of them". It helps me see the humans behind the "they". It allows me to see that we are all people struggling from our own point of reference to understand to desire to sense to feel to love to hate to to live -- to be. Even if that means I have to read some bad poetry once in a while.

"Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

Peace. Blog on!

In an almost unbelieveable turn of events, MTV reports that the Pixies will be reuniting in April. I've done a little checking and it appears that this might not be true. Only time will tell. If it does happen, then w00t! lot of places but first read on BoingBoing

Someone posted this on the Gibson board and I thought I might share. It's great fun! Online Coloring Book

Kids gotta learn early that it's political bribes and payoffs that run this country! St. Paul is now requiring all youngsters that wish to operate any sort of refreshment stand to buy a $60 vendor license. "You gotta grease those palms with the cold hard cash before you'll be selling pop around here kiddo! Stop crying and wipe your nose! This is Amahreeka! You gotta pay to play!" In other news, city parks will begin introducing swing tolls next month...

From the immense intellect of these modern times, California governor candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger comments on the controversial issue of gay marriage: "I think gay marriage should be between a man and a woman." From defective yeti

What are you? Are you a liberal pinko commie or a conservative religious zealot? Take the World's Smallest Political Quiz and find out.

A good laugh for Monday; especially if you are looking for a job. The Morning News - The Non-Expert: Defenestrate Your Résumé! "Most companies automatically forward résumés of two-pages or longer to Popeye’s Chicken, so be sure to confine things confided to a single sheet. If you are having trouble getting everything to fit, try narrowing your margins, reducing your font to 7, or getting rid of the ‘deadweight’ by eliminating your education or omitting the nouns."

Drink to your health! Scientists report that a chemical in red wine may contribute to longer life. The chemical mimics an affect caused on the body due to calorie restriction. "The chemicals are designed to mimic the effect of a low-calorie diet, which is known to lengthen the life span of rodents. Scientists involved in the research say human life span could be extended by 30 percent if people respond to the chemicals the way rats and mice do to low calories." They think that this is a biological response to lean times that allowed animals to live long enough to reproduce.

Another story that puts Alabama in a positive light...Chief justice vows to fight monument removal order. I have to side with the other justices who understand their role as Alabama Supreme Court judges. "...the justices said Moore is legally bound to follow a lawful court order even if he disagrees with it." Judge Moore is unable to hold the HIGHEST position in this state's court without letting his own emotions cloud his view of the law. He also does not care about the welfare of his own statesmen by forcing them to carry the burden of daily fines due to his defiance of the very laws he swore to uphold. I think it's time to hold our own recall. This is what happens when we elect officials that should be appointed.