Running the numbers for artist payments of legally downloaded songs. It is so honorable that the record companies pay artists their fair share since they don't actually do anything when a song is downloaded. Hah! Of course, you can always go independent.

What every Dad wants for Father's Day...the BeerBelly.

Today is primary election day in Alabama. But which districts do I live in? Go to the Alabama State Legislature's ZIP Code search. You will need your nine digit ZIP code to know your exact House and Senate Reps. Don't know those last four digits? No problem. Go to the USPS Address search. Type in your address without ZIP code and submit. You will get your full nine digit ZIP code. Enter this into the Rep ZIP Code search and see who represents your community.

In an election year, when all else fails, play to people's bigotry and own self interest.

The Diet Coke(tm) and Mentos(tm) Experiments.
via sploid.

Why a goat? It's so funny and yet so sad at the same time. I just hope the sex goddesses get here soon to save her.

Super-size me, please! -via sploid

Why do they have to put High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) in everything these days? Accidental Hedonist discusses this and more. Perhaps it is a poli-geo-eco conspiracy? Or could it be that HFCS are a harmless additive that increases shelf life and sweetens food really cheaply? But then again when have companies ever had our best interests at heart when there's a buck left in our wallet?

Have you had trouble opening those see-through plastic packages from places like Best Buy and Walmart that are further soldered and fused together to make them virtually unopenable? You're not alone. And it also appears that these packages are causing a surge in non-intentional hand injuries. "'I would definitely like to tell (manufacturers) that serious hand injuries are occurring because of this packaging,' said Arbelaez, a member of the Trauma Care and Injury Control National Committee of American College of Emergency Physicians." To open the packages, regular scissors don't do the trick. Box cutters increase the risk of cutting yourself or a work surface. About the only thing I have found that will cut through them safely are the Super Shears from Cutco. They are heavy, strong and cut right through all those layers of PVC.

The cure for cancer in five years?

Superbra saves woman's life.

The blog of Samuel Pepys.

Have you ever seen a cheerful elephant?

Get rid of pain from stings and bites by removing the venom with The Extractor. via cool tools

New bra has built in heart rate monitor. via wired gadgetlab

ABC News reported today that a confidential source inside the government told them to replace their "cell phones, quick." It appears that our free and democratically elected government has decided that 1984 makes a great guide for governing. Surprisingly, many Americans are not alarmed. William Gibson notes in a recent and rare interview, "I think it's [the X-Files, Nixon wiretapping, science fiction]. I think it's predicated in our delirious sense of what's been happening to us as a species for the past 100 years. During the Cold War it was almost comforting to believe that the CIA was reading everything..." Sadly, these actions are largely unprecidented. This is because technology never before made it so easy for the government to spy on you. Combine this revelation with the collusion with credit card companies, media conglomerates using public funds to terrorize their own customers, RFID tags tracking every purchase and every item you carry into any building and mounting coverups and the picture becomes very clear that our government is no longer OUR government. While we have had poor leaders in the past, there has never been such a successful coordinated attack on the Constitution as there is today. At least there are a few folks paying attention.

And in other news, ionic purifiers are neither ionic nor purifying...discuss.

You're only as good as you think you are.

I have seen the future and... the future looks just like the past, about 500 years ago. Scientists, biologists, engineers and businessmen have determined that switchgrass can be used to make cellulose based ethanol. If you're not aware, switchgrass is the plant that has covered most of the Great Plains and Central Canada since the last Ice Age. It's what the American Bison liked to eat before we decided to use them as target practice and move all our unwanted Indians onto their land. And switchgrass, when not being eaten, or ripped out by farmers, will grow to the asstonishing heights of six to eight feet. Also, switchgrass, unlike the uber-lobbiest ADM favorite - corn, doesn't require lots of fertilizer made from coal or natural gas to grow. It also has an energy output that is 343% higher than corn based ethanol. Switchgrass will grow anywhere there's a little dirt and an occaisional rain. It's also perennial so it never has to be planted again. Hay machinery can be used to harvest it. But don't take my word on it. Goldman Sachs believes in it too, to the tune of $27 million. This news, could not come at a better time.

Is this a prelude to the coming Atlantic hurricane season? I really would not want to meet up with this storm.