] The findings, he said, also suggest that this difference
] does not lie in the overdevelopment of a specific
] mathematical region of the brain. Rather, it seems
] related to an ability to use more of the resources the
] brain has available.

[ Huh. Sure wish there was more to the article... but it's an interesting result. -k]

Vital Signs: Mental Abilities: Peering Into a Math Whiz's Brain

] A group of children hunting for Easter eggs Saturday
] during a church event found two loaded handguns outside
] an elementary school.

This is horrible....but the headline was far too great not to be memed

[ wow. that totally sucks. -k]

CNN.com - Children on Easter egg hunt find guns instead - Apr 11, 2004

The site is sponsored by Burger King.....it's odd...... I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!

Essentially, it looks like all of this stuff has been pre-recorded, but damn.....they recorded a LOT of possibilities. There haven't been many things thus far that the chicken hasn't done when asked. This is a great way to waste a lot of time.

[ Dammit he won't kick anything I ask him to. The TV, chairs, tables. I asked him to kick the TV and he did a dance, the impudent fowl! Oh, he'll sit in the chair, but won't kick it. Lazy bird.

Neat concept for a site tho... -k]

Subservient Chicken

] The Census Bureau reported Thursday that four of the 10
] fastest-growing counties in America are in Atlanta's
] suburbs, where sprawl has created some of the worst
] traffic congestion in the country.

[ Yeah, more people need to get they work on in places closer to they domicile. Driving into downtown from fricking snellville or further is the lame. I guess then, more companies need to have buildings out of downtown. That experiment seems to have not worked that well in Norcross, but kinda ok out in Marietta. -k]

Census: Atlanta suburbs exploding

] May 15th to 16th -- Ferrari days at Road Atlanta
]
]
] The Ferrari Challenge, Ferrari's own racing series,
] was created to allow Ferrari customers to enjoy their
] cars in a structured competitive environment, racing
] against other Ferrari owners on some of the great race
] tracks of North America. Spectators get to enjoy a heard
] of these rare and exciting Italian race cars at a track
] near their home.

[ Sweet! This could be pretty fricking rad. -k]

Road Atlanta

] The gate at the entrance to this tiny Sicilian village
] has come off its hinges and swings in the wind as cats
] wander into homes abandoned after a series of mystery
] fires.
]
]
] advertisement
] Spontaneous fires started in mid-January in the town of
] Canneto di Caronia, in about 20 houses. After a brief
] respite last month, the almost daily fires have flared up
] again — even though electricity to the village was cut
] off.
]
] An endless flow of scientists, engineers, police and even
] a few self-styled “ghostbustersâ€? have descended on
] the town, searching for clues to the recent spontaneous
] combustion of everything from fuse boxes to microwave
] ovens to a car.

[ What the fuck!?!? -k]

MSNBC - Blazing mystery is straight from the ‘X-Files’

] A software company voluntarily released the source code
] for its paperless ballot verification system on Tuesday,
] marking a first in the increasingly controversial
] electronic-voting market.

[ No, not Diebold, but at least it's a step in the right direction. The company is called VoteHere and apparently anyone can dl, though I'd read the licence carefully... it's most definitely not GPL ;) -k]

MSNBC - E-voting firm opens up its code

] By crunching demographic numbers (in collaboration with
] the paper's statistical consultant, Robert Cushing),
] Bishop has been able to demonstrate that the United
] States isn't merely separated by Red (Republican) and
] Blue (Democratic) states; it's also separated,
] increasingly, by Red and Blue counties. The likelihood
] that you will ever argue politics with your neighbor is
] diminishing rapidly, because it's less and less likely
] that, politically, you and your neighbor will ever
] disagree.

[ An interesting little piece about the county-level political homogeneity the nation has been experiencing in the past 25 or so years. This was sort of striking to me, though I guess not surprising... i just hadn't thought about it before.

The conclusion the article makes is possibly valid (and I won't spoil it -- go read).

After reading it though, I'm more curious if this trend isn't countered somewhat by the increasing role of the internet and phone in our social lives... I may not discuss politics with my neighbor, but i do so daily with you folks online...

I'm also curious why it's happening, and by what mechanism. I've never said a word about politics to any of my IRL neighbors. Does political ideology carry an aura with it? What are the visible traits a particular political party imprints on a county -- school arts funding levels, number of trees and parks, wealth, distance from nightlife? Fascinating. -k]

Mister Landslide's Neighborhood - Red versus blue states isn't the half of it. By Timothy Noah

[ Rad... cool japanese tech preloaded w/ English versions of stuff. -k]

Dynamism.com - Catalog

] NEC Corp has developed a battery that can be recharged
] only in 30 seconds, company sources said. Called an
] organic radical battery, it can be recharged to the same
] level of power as that stored in nickel-hydrogen cells,
] which are widely used in digital cameras, portable MD
] players and other electronic devices.
]
]
] It takes only about 30 seconds to recharge the battery
] enough to allow 80 hours of continuous operation of an MD
] player, compared with around an hour needed by
] conventional rechargeables, the company claims.

[ Cool. -k]

NEC Develops Fastest Rechargeable Battery