A story from the Associated Press earlier this month (courtesy of the San Francisco Chronicle) reinforces the importance of paying attention to what you are doing. Lockheed Martin dropped a NOAA satellite (NOAA-N) on its side during a routine operation to move it from a vertical to horizontal position. The …

I'm happy to announce that power was restored to my house at about 9pm on Saturday. Yesterday was spent getting the computers all happy once again and preparing for the arrival (today) of the PowerMac G5. More news as it happens.

The race is on! Apple has just sent me an email indicating that they shipped my G5 on Friday for delivery on Monday. But, the real question is: will there by power when the PowerPC arrives?

Well, it's 4:40am, so I'm not sure what the damages are outside, but we've been without line power for about 6 hours and the batteries claim that I have about 6 hours to go -- hopefully they are right this time. So far, the reports on the power situation are …

Earlier this week, CNN posted an article that finally focussed some national attention on the use of the USA Patriot Act by the government against "common criminals." The article contained a number of good examples of why such broad-reaching authority needs to be meted out in an even-handed way with …

Not the usual fare for this site, but I found interesting this article from the Washington Post about a meeting between President Bush and Bono (of the band U2). Bono used a good combination of praise for Bush's long commitment and concern over the issue of AIDS, but complained at …

An article from the Atlanta Journal Constitution contains a variety of quotes from musicians as diverse as the Grateful Dead's Bob Weir, David Draiman of Disturbed, and rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy indicating that the efforts being made "on their behalf" by the RIAA are not being appreciated by …

According to a survey published by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, reported by BBC News, girls in the developed countries surveyed (UK, US, New Zealand, Sweden, and Australia) are more likely to go on to college than their male counterparts. More interesting is that girls are universally certain …

Popular Science has an article about the worst jobs in science. If you have the time, take a look. Sadly, I can say that I had friends in Lexington who had the number 3 bad job.

A man who has been an official witness at over 200 deaths carried out by the State of Texas has stopped signing up to witness the acts, but that doesn't mean he's against capital punishment. The article (oddly enough from the Scotsman) goes over some of the inmates he has …

In an article from the Scotsman, Dr. Susan Black opines that the growth in television shows like CSI and Silent Witness are jeopardizing justice by making jury expectations unrealistic. Not only does she contend that the popularity of the "sexed up" forensic techniques will establish expectations in juries that are …

An article in the Washington Post this morning describes the benefits inuring to presidential candidate Howard Dean for not having a voting record on the national scene. At issue right now are the key Democratic complaints about President Bush and the fact that nearly all of the other Democratic candidates …

A creative company in the UK has devised a new fundraising mechanism aimed at people who make a lot of money (which would include just about everybody in the west). As reported by Wired, and as you can see for yourself by visiting the site at Global Rich List, the …

As a long-time Star Trek fan, I have to admit that after Star Trek:Voyager and the last lack-luster film, I have not put much thought into watching Enterprise, the latest Star Trek series. However, a recent article in Salon (yes, you'll have to either watch ads or subscribe to …

The Washington Post has an article about a number of schools in Fairfax County, VA that are trying "looping" with their grade school classes. The technique involves moving the entire class (or close to it) up to the next grade level with the same teacher. The technique appears to be …

In a search to find out the popularity of the variations on the name Eric (Erik, Erick) during a discussion with a friend, I happened upon the Social Security Administration's official Baby Name site. Yeah, I thought the same thing.... since when does the SSA need an official baby name …

Obituaries are a bit out of character for this site, but I felt it appropriate to note the passing of renowned scientist Edward Teller. Teller is best known as the "father of the H bomb", however he had also worked at finding peaceful uses for nuclear reactions (including nuclear power …

Before you go out and put too much trust in that peer-reviewed scientific research that just came out last Friday, take into consideration this report from the New York Times about a study released previously this year concerning death rates and the designer drug, Ecstasy. The study, published last year …

In good news for the consumer and probably equally good, if not better, news for the music industry, Universal Music is starting to combat the falling sales of music by cutting prices. According to an article from the Associated Press (via Tampa Bay Online), Universal is cutting wholesale prices by …

Admittedly, it's not a surprise, but after reading the overview article in the New York Times this morning, I wanted a closer look at the original study which was sponsored by the German Marshall Fund of the United States. The results can be found here and the rest of this …