Bwahahaha!

The BIAW are so screwed now!

Elected judges must disqualify themselves from cases involving people who spent exceptionally large sums to put them on the bench, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday in a 5-to-4 decision.

The BIAW have been messing with state politics for a long time, getting judges who are in their pockets stealthily elected to our highest courts. Now it looks like those judges will have to recuse themselves from ruling on BIAW cases. Whaaaa!

Consumer recall info

I just found a great site for keeping up on recall information - really good if you want to know if there has been trouble with some big ticket item you might be interested in!

US Recall News

what?

I know I have not been blogging regularly. I have been knitting and cooking a lot. And I have a broody parrot sitting on eggs. So sue me!

I'll try to do some knit blogging...I still have to show off how the "spank me" sweater turned out, and the felted mukluks and the felted bag. Sigh.

deep thought

Dino Rossi is a sore looser WATB. That is all.

imagine that

I actually agree with an NYT editorial:

None of the investigators’ major assertions, however, have been tested in cross-examination or evaluated by outside specialists. It is imperative that federal officials make public all of their data so independent experts can judge whether the mailed anthrax was indeed identical to Dr. Ivins’s supply and only that supply.

It is also critical for officials to explain more fully how they eliminated the many other people with access to the material. (emphasis added)

and

Because Dr. Ivins killed himself before he could be indicted, there will be no opportunity for an adversarial testing of the F.B.I.’s conclusions. The bureau, unfortunately, has a history of building circumstantial cases that seem compelling at first but ultimately fall apart.

Hatfill had odious associations with white supremacists, and this was leaked out to cast aspersions on him when he was the main 'person of interest' in the case. So excuse me if I'm a little skeptical when many of the the first things to come out about Ivins are of a similar nature.

waiting

Researcher Meryl Nass quotes CBS:

It is unclear how the FBI eliminated as suspects others in the lab who had access to the anthrax. It's not clear what, if any, evidence bolsters the theory that the attacks may have been a twisted effort to test a cure for the toxin. Investigators also can't place Ivins in Princeton, New Jersey, when the letters were mailed from a mailbox there.

If I have time, I'll wander over to the document dump at the DOJ and see if it looks convincing. I have an open mind on this, but after Hatfill I think we should all consider the evidence carefully.

insanity

This is the kind of thing that makes me really mad:

In court documents, Ferguson argued that Zellmer was unemployed for the 88 days they were married and that she and Ashley's biological father were her parents in all ways.

Ferguson became Zellmer's fourth wife in September 2003. Three months later, Ashley drowned in the family pool at their home near Kent while she was in Zellmer's care.

Okay, mom left her girl in her new husband's care, even though they'd been married less than 3 months, and maybe she didn't know him as well as she thought. But then....

In June 2007, King County prosecutors charged him with first-degree murder when they learned he had taken out a $200,000 insurance policy on Ashley and that there were previous incidents where Ashley told her mother that he had thrown her down the stairs.

Wait a minute. Mom knew that her new husband was abusive towards her little girl, and still left her alone with him? Somebody needs to explain to me why this woman isn't also facing criminal charges?

awesome parrot news

Yes, African greys really are this smart:

"I'm Mr. Yosuke Nakamura," the bird told the veterinarian, according to Uemura. The parrot also provided his full home address, down to the street number, and even entertained the hospital staff by singing songs.

I only wish they would recognize that we humans can't fly, so we wouldn't have to climb trees to rescue them when they get lost.

fwap!

Darwin Award contestant:

The 19-year-old skateboarder was riding westbound on 45th in the street when he entered the intersection at University Way and slammed into the articulated bus, police spokeswoman Renee Witt said.

"The skateboarder ran into the side of the bus and then fell under the rear wheel," she said.

NB: Westbound through this intersection is downhill. He was probably going too fast to stop. The bus had a green light.

In other news:

Yikes!

A shark believed to be a great white killed a 66-year-old swimmer with a single, giant bite across both legs Friday as the man trained with a group of triathletes, authorities and witnesses said.

Dave Martin, a retired veterinarian from Solana Beach, was attacked at San Diego County's Tide Beach around 7 a.m., authorities and family friend Rob Hill said.

He was a veterinarian, so he probably loved animals. How ironic.

More animals!

Pierre was outfitted with the suit about six weeks ago. Since then, he has gained weight, grown back feathers on his hind parts and is again acting like his feisty, alpha-male self.

On a recent visit, Pierre waddled around the tank, taking brief dips and standing on a rock next to his mate. He blended in well, although he was the only penguin with a black tummy.

And do watch the video. Very cute!

actually this makes sense

Having a hearty appetite, eating potassium-rich foods including bananas, and not skipping breakfast all seemed to raise the odds of having a boy.

The British research is billed as the first in humans to show a link between a woman's diet and whether she has a boy or girl.
...
Dr. Michael Lu, an associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and public health at the University of California at Los Angeles, said the results "are certainly plausible from an evolutionary biology perspective."

In lean times, more females would be born; in good times, the sex ratio would be more nearly equal. Since males can fertilize more than one female, fewer males are strictly 'necessary', and indeed they might be a drain until resources are more plentiful.

some people never learn

When are we gonna read the obit?

Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty has been jailed for 14 weeks for violating his probation and for using drugs.
...
The punishment means Doherty has been forced to postpone a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in April.

The gig would have been his biggest solo show yet.
...
The star's record label said in a statement: "Peter was very much looking forward to the show and would like to offer his sincerest apologies to all his fans and to all those concerned."

I woulda had a great career, but then I got high
I woulda been a great big star, but I got high....

figures

Maybe this judge will take women's stories a little more seriously in the future:

A man who had argued with his estranged wife over the custody of their three children has confessed to drowning them in a hotel bathtub on the night they were to go back with their mother, police said Monday.
...
A temporary protective order was approved three days after the petition was filed, but Circuit Judge Joseph Dugan rejected a permanent order Jan. 10, 2007. In explaining his decision, Dugan wrote there was "no clear or convincing evidence that the alleged acts of abuse occurred."

..after she had told the judge that he had made threats to the effect that he would kill their kids just to get back at her.

Our society is deeply in denial over the extent of its sexism.

busy busy

I have not been posting a lot lately, things are busy! At work I have been busy writing the various reports that are due this time of year on our marine mammal work, plus we are doing some interesting work on species for which there aren't many data, and a few of these might be worth a publication.

At home, things are going well, Kianga seems to be gearing up for Spring, which means there will probably be new egg blogging soon!

Happy Vernal Equinox!

OK, that was fun

Last night at Drinking Liberally, Goldy asked if I wanted to participate in the podcast that they do, talking about current events. I can't help it, my curiosity gets the better of me every time, so I said 'OK, I guess so.'

You can find the resulting podcast here.

I don't sound totally idiotic, but you can tell I'm not used to talking for broadcast...too many longish pauses while I try to think of something coherent to say! But I have to admit, that was sort of fun. Though I'm glad McKenna was there too.

even Microsoft admits Vista sucks

Don't tell me I didn't warn you. But it's all coming out in the lawsuit now.

Even some of Microsoft Corp.'s top officials struggled to make Windows Vista work smoothly when it was released, according to internal e-mails released Wednesday.

The messages, unsealed in a lawsuit against the company, show that Vista's early problems with hardware and software compatibility affected more than just average PC users. The e-mails also illustrate how the company will try to avoid such issues in the next Windows release.

...

One February 2007 exchange started with an e-mail to Ballmer from Microsoft board member Jon Shirley, who explained that he upgraded one of his computers to Vista only to find it was experiencing problems working with two of Microsoft's own MSN applications. Shirley wrote that he wasn't upgrading his other computer because of a lack of hardware drivers.

Which reminds me, how is that MacOS 10.5.2 upgrade going? Heh. (Note that I am still a happy Tiger user.)

translator

So, I understand that on Monday, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday, Mitt Romney was running around in a parade, pressing flesh and kissing babies, as politicians do.

Mitt Romney was greeted warmly by a largely African-American crowd at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Parade in Jacksonville. He shook hands with several dozen parade-goers and even hugged a few of them.
...
“Who let the dogs out?” he called out, as he stood there beaming in his shirt and tie. “Who! Who!”

I understand that he also referred to a little kid's necklace as "bling bling."

From the script of the 1980 movie Airplane, I declare that what Mitt needs is a "jive translator":

Jivemn2 : Mnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Attndnt : Can I get you something?
Jivemn2 : S'mo fo butter layin' to the bone. Jackin' me up.
Tightly.
Attndnt : I'm sorry I don't understand.
Jivemn1 : Cutty say he cant hang.
Woman4 : Oh stewardess, I speak jive.
Attndnt : Ohhhh, good.
Woman4 : He said that he's in great pain and he wants to know if you can help him.
Attndnt : Would you tell him to just relax and I'll be back as soon as I can with some medicine.
Woman : Jus' hang loose blooood. She goonna catch up on the rebound a de medcide.
Jivemn2 : What it is big mamma, my mamma didn't raise no dummy, I dug her rap.
Woman4 : Cut me som' slac' jak! Chump don wan no help, chump don git no help. Jive ass dude don got no brains anyhow.

In this case, I think the "jive ass dude don got no brains" would be Willard.

good one

Robber shoots self while robbing convenience store:

Police say surveillance video shows the man shooting himself as he placed the gun in the waistband of his pants. The clerk wasn't injured.

A short time later, police found Derrick Kosch, 25, at a home with a gunshot wound to his right testicle and lower left leg.

He's one nut away from removing himself from the gene pool. Congratulations, Derrick!

happy new year

Have not been blogging much lately... I guess I have been busy kicking troll ass on other blogs, among other things. There is one particular troll who won't even engage me anymore, no matter how much I taunt him - ever since I wrote that he should "keep your nose out of my vajayjay." I couldn't have offended him, could I?

I do hope so.

Anyways, I have a terrible head cold that has been kicking my ass for a couple of days now, and I'm trying to get better so I can at least go out for awhile to ring in the New Year. (I'm not dead yet!)

So, have a great '08, everyone! Let's all wish for a return to sanity this year.

why Willie is cool

And it isn't just for writing all those songs...

Country music star Willie Nelson has donated $40,000 to Vancouver, the town where he sold some of his first records a half-century ago.

Vancouver received the $40,000 check three weeks ago. On Wednesday, the city turned over $15,000 each to the Humane Society of Washington and the Boys and Girls Club.

In addition to aiding local charities, Nelson's donation originally was intended to help defray the costs for the city's 150th anniversary of its incorporation.

ha ha!

I guess the OS must be Vista:

The downtown Seattle bus tunnel is closed because of a failure of the computer system that controls tunnel operations.
....

All of the systems in the tunnel — such as ventilation, lighting and signals — are controlled by a computer system installed during the recent retrofit of the tunnel. That computer system is currently down, and there was not yet an estimate of when it will be restored.

Update: After re-opening for a day, the tunnel was closed again on Wednesday (Dec. 19) and will remain closed at least through Friday. So far, the newspapers have not reported what "computer system problems" entails.