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 I got these screenshots from CNN and MSNBC at lunch today.

This is exactly why I always look at many multiple sources for my news.  It is much, much worse if you let, say, a month go by.  Then check the headlines.  You will probably see news articles along the lines of “New Orleans New Music Renaissance Wows All” or “Housing Demand Skyrockets in New Orleans” or “New Orleans: City of Miracles”.

  Wildfires Strike Greece

“So many fires sparked simultaneously in so many places is no coincidence,” Karamanlis said, and vowed to punish those responsible.

Personally, I wonder how long it is going to take for the media to latch onto that possibility for this year’s fire season in the U.S… (Alternatively, you can read my post on the 2007 Fire Season… use the search box on the right.)

Here are some more statistics y’all.  Enjoy!  What are the odds (as an American) that:

• You are in jail, on probation, or on parole: 1 in 32. (Source)
• You are a cop: 1 in 456 (Source)
• You were a victim of a crime during 2005: 1 in 26. (Source)
• You were a victim of a crime during 1960: 1 in 53. (Source)
• You are accidentally killed by lightning (each year) : 1 in 6.4 million (Source)
• You are accidentally killed by your doctor, nurse, or pharmacist (each year) : 1 in 1500 (Source)

Every day on my way home from work a badly written advertising sign catches my eye.  For the sake of anonymity, let’s call the place “Andy Steak House”.  No, not “Andy’s” - “Andy”.  It bothers the hell out of me every time I drive by it. 

I mean, even if Andy was a non-native English speaker, you would think the sign guy would have tried to make the correction instead of going “Whatever, it’s your money, freak.”  and making the large, expensive-looking, and otherwise nice sign.

But that is just for a small local business.  I got to wondering what certain national advertising slogans would look like without punctuation.  After I thought of “Pork.  The other white meat.”, I had to pull over in a drugstore parking lot until I stopped laughing.

I amuse easily.

Anyway, there are a couple of neat Slogan Generators out there.  Here is a link for one.  Please try it out.  My word recommendations: Death, Spork, Smurf, and any body part you care to name.

Actually, this whole site is pretty great (movie line generators, stuff like that).  I added the link to the Check It Out section of the sidebar.  So check it out.

(This is the second part to the Garden Project posts.  To see everything so far, go to the Projects link.  You can get there from the main page or from the sidebar on the right.)

Dirt

Let’s talk about dirt.  To build an elevated garden, the dirt has to come from somewhere.  The stuff you can get in bags at Lowe’s takes up about 1 cubic foot.  But a cubic foot of dirt is 40 pounds.  And therein lays the problem. 

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Holy smokes, the thunder has been non-stop here for 10 minutes now, and I am about to lose electricity (just playin’ the odds here… I lose electricity if the next door neighbor’s dog breaks wind, so I am pretty sure it’s gonna drop out any time now).

Anyway, the Puzzle for Charity is up to $55 now.  Good Luck!

 I recently came across an article that claimed that there was a shortage of bullets in the U.S. due to the ongoing fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Over “a billion bullets per year” are fired either in combat or training for combat in these regions, apparently. 

I am not sure if this number is right or not - there are references to how many rounds are made each year by some ammo companies, but no real references are given.  But a billion of anything is a tremendous number.  For example:

• You would have to fire 32 rounds per second every second for a year to  burn through this amount of ammo.
• Laid end to end, this number of bullets would encircle the Earth.
• Assuming each of these cartridges weighs 250 grains, this is about 62 bullets per kilogram.  This comes out to a total weight of 16 million kilograms or about 18,000 tons.  This is the weight of 7,500 Ford F150s.
• Just by volume alone:  to ship this number of bullets overseas, it would cost you (lots of assumptions made here, but it should be in the absolute minimum ballpark according to shippingquest.com) roughly $3.1 million dollars.
• If all of those bullets were fired at once, the energy expended would be the same as 600 simultaneous lightning strikes.

The Puzzle for Charity prize is up to $54! (and the quilt, of course).

Give it a go!  The link is in the sidebar on the right!  Good Luck!

The Elevated Garden Project stuff is finally being published.  I will write more and more as time allows.

Go to the Projects section of this site to see it so far.  The link is on the right.  Enjoy!

My zipper broke first thing this morning while I was at work.  The little YKK bit broke off but the zipper itself was still functional.  Luckily I was able to find some wire I was able to thread though the little hole and make the life-saving fix.  I am sure a paperclip would have worked but all I had were those jumbo ones and I just didn’t want to look like some sort of Office Depot Flava-Flav.

I was thinking… If I couldn’t fix it, would it be better for the zipper to be stuck up all day or down all day?  New Poll!  It’s on the right. 

 Woman in Labor Fined $1000 for Speeding to Hospital  

Actually, this story was up everywhere for a while and then rapidly fell off the front pages.  Yep, she was pregnant.  Yep, there are pretty unreasonable new traffic laws on the books in Virginia.  So where did the public outrage and media circus go?

Well, she was not actually, technically in labor.  No, she didn’t check herself into the hospital when she finally did get there.  And she didn’t actually tell the officer about any labor pains… Hmmm. 

For two different views on how this story was reported, check out both links.  You are what you read.

I just finished transferring the video from my vacation to to hard drive in a format Window’s Movie Maker can understand.  This has been a real pain, but, in the end, I have decided to continue using the free tools (and the stuff I already have) to produce the final video.  This is why it has taken so long.

But now I have the files transferred to the hard drive and the DVD backups made.  I am now trying to find a simple way that I can use what I have to capture Google Earth tour videos in high enough quality for me to use them in the movie.  I may actually have to film the screen itself to get the quality and frame rate I want. (!!)  Everything else I have tried results in blocky, choppy, and poorly rendered video.

I saw the Battle at Kruger video today.  Check it out, please!

I also changed the poll question.  Every vote counts!

 Well, we have all read the reports that have ramped up in frequency and intensity over the last year regarding the dangers of Chinese imports.  Cough syrup, pet food, toothpaste, toys, fish… all tainted in some way or another.  Also, we read that China’s pollution is killing the planet.  China has a space program while people starve.  China sells weapons to the wrong people.   China displaces people so government projects can go through.  And let’s not forget about Tibet.

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I went back to the gym this week after a two-week hiatus, and was rewarded with two more OFNOG sightings.  One splashing water on his face at the bank of sinks, and the other picking stuff out of his toes.  The counter has been updated.

I finally saved all my video files to a Windows Movie Maker friendly format.  Pretty easy once I figured out how to batch-convert the files without nuking the video quality.  I am waiting on some still pictures from my brother before I can continue.

Oh, yeah.  Hunter will be changing his stocks soon.  Personally, I recommend taking the money that’s left and putting half into booze and half into lottery tickets.  Or just set it on fire in the driveway.  At least that would be fun.  Next time I talk to my brother I will have him put Hunter on the phone so I can boo him for about 5 minutes.

Warning:  The next World News post will be a China rant.