If these mutated particles were to stay high up in the atmosphere, then it would be no big deal. The problem is these particles are so heavy with ickiness that they'll eventually make their way back to ground level, poisoning everyone in their path.

So, not only do we have less freedom as a result of burning the American flag, we have more unnatural forms of freedom, nicknamed "freekdom" by scientists, which slowly poison our society.

THE HANGING STRANGER: What Does Happen When You Burn An American Flag?

The Alter Ego display shows what kind of virtual characters people choose to be in online games and 3D worlds.

This is an article about an exhibit which juxtaposed pictures of "real-life" people, next to images of the characters that they played in MMORPGs. Click on the picture in the article, to be taken to more side-by-side images. I found it very interesting to observe how some people were very different from their avatars, and others were very similar. Though of course the editors seemed to concentrate on the images that provided the most dramatic differences.

BBC NEWS : Virtual gamers reveal themselves

In Canada there are snow festivals in the winter in which people make elaborate scupltures out of ice and snow. Nothing I recall seeing up there in the early 80s came remotely close to this. It might be that technology has improved in the past 20 years. It might be that the Chinese are simply taking this a lot more seriously. In any event, the results are simply amazing. Massive functional buildings made entirely of ice and filled with lights!

another good reason to go to China.

R Todd King: China Photos 2005 - Harbin Winter

"If I pop, you're screwed!"

Mr. Housing Bubble: T-Shirt Humor: The Funny T-Shirt Store

In the endless conflict between law enforcement officers and driving enthusiasts, technology has given an edge to the combatants on both sides. Consumers have been able to purchase more accurate, longer-range detectors with nearly each passing year, while the police have been armed with guns that can minimize the time for detection across a growing spectrum of frequencies.

2005 Radar Detector Buyer's Guide - Motor Trend News

What started as a sale turned into a mob scene as thousands of people pushed their way through the Richmond International Raceway gates to buy a $50 iBook laptop computer from Henrico County Schools this morning.

Just wait until it's oil, or food, instead of laptops.

Mob scene, several hurt in rush for cheap laptops

When they arrived at his crib, McClain allegedly tried to strike a cop with a four-foot sword. After missing, McClain retreated to his basement, where he donned a chainmail armored vest and leather gauntlets to protect his arms. He also added a giant wooden mallet to his arsenal and beckoned officers to come downstairs and get him. "I'm gonna crush your fucking skulls," McClain warned. Then, in a nice rhetorical flourish (for a lunatic, at least), he added, "I have a thousand years of power." That omnipotence, however, was no match for a police Taser, which felled McClain. He was then carted off and charged with felony assault and a misdemeanor count for failing to remain at an accident scene.

By the Power of Greyskull... I... HAVE... THE {ZZZAAAPPPPPPPPPPP}!

Medieval loser tasered by cops.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

The parellels between Steve and I are sometimes uncanny. I hope to do him one better though, since I learned a lot of these lessons before I turned 30.

'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says

I'm having a lot of fun with this.

Church Sign Generator

Apple Computer this month is expected to update its retail copies of Mac OS X 10.4 to includ the first two maintenance releases to the Tiger operating system, ensuring that all new customers obtain the most stable and reliable version of Mac OS X directly out of the box.

The company's online store in Canada is already listing for sale the current version of Mac OS X as "OS X V10.4.2 'Tiger' Retail," although the latest official release remains at 10.4.1. Developers contacted by AppleInsider also said they are expecting to receive Mac OS X 10.4.2 on optical media -- something Apple did not offer with the release of Mac OS X 10.4.1 last month.

Mac OS X 10.4.2, which is due for release from the company this week, will reportedly deliver over 80 fixes and enhancements to Tiger, in addition to those included with Mac OS X 10.4.1.

Among the many fixes expected in the release are Finder updates to finding by kind and using Slideshow, updated ATI and NVIDIA graphics drivers, and improved autologin for managed user accounts.

Other areas of change will reportedly improve user experiences with AirPort and wireless access, iDisk synching, installation reliability, and file sharing using AFP and SMB/CIFS network file services.

The release is also rumored to deliver enhancements to Address Book, Automator, Core Graphics, Core Audio, Core Image, iCal, iChat, Mail, Safari, and Stickies.

Sources tell AppleInsider that Mac OS X 10.4.2 will likely arrive in two versions: a 42MB Delta release containing only the changes made since Mac OS X 10.4.1, and a 55MB Combo update that will pack all the enhancements made to Tiger since its inaugural release on April 29th.

According to reports already present on several Internet sites, Apple over the weekend provided its developers with Mac OS X 10.4.2 build 8C29, which at the time contained no known bugs.

Still, it's rumored that Apple continues to work on Mac OS X 10.4.2 this week and is considering builds from the 8C3x milestone as final candidates.

Almost as many fixes as new features for tiger.

AppleInsider | Apple to refresh retail copies of Tiger with 10.4.2