Spot fucking on. Yahtzee nails this review.

-k

The Escapist : Video Galleries : Zero Punctuation : Grand Theft Auto IV

Interactive infographic on money spent after x number of years for buying and renting.

Basically, having now bought a house, I move for at least 6-10 years, depending on house appreciation (or depreciation).

-janelane

[Pretty useful. Bolsters the idea that if you're likely to be someplace less than 10 years, rent, unless you really have an angle. -k]

Is It Better to Buy or Rent? - NYTimes.com

Now you can see what gas prices are around the country at a glance. Areas are color coded according to their price for the average price for regular unleaded gasoline.

[ The most striking thing I see here is that the darkest "green", the *lowest* average, displayed on this map is still set at < $3.55!

Growing up in New York, I was accustomed to high gas prices and found the sub $2.00 prices here in GA when I moved (in 2000) to be quite amazing. To think that the lowest average is well over $3 in the US is pretty incredible. -k ]

USA National Gas Temperature Map

Known as the Airborne Laser, the craft will house a multi-megawatt chemical oxygen iodine laser capable of hitting a target many hundreds of miles away. At its core, it's the same basic technology as found in a drugstore laser pointer, only a billion times more powerful. While the craft is scheduled for its first live target test in 2009, the laser and the airplane have yet to be tested together.

"Damn you, Kent! How could you build that mirror!"

The World's Spookiest Weapons | Popular Science

The Vatican's chief astronomer says that believing in aliens does not contradict faith in God.

[ But do they have a soul? -k]

SPACE.com -- Vatican: It's OK to Believe in Aliens

Last week, federal, state, and local police in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas conducted a massive sweep dubbed "Operation Sudden Impact."

The operation included raids of businesses, homes, and boats; traffic roadblocks; and personal searches. They say they were looking for "terrorists." If they found any, they haven't announced it yet. They did arrest 332 people, 142 of whom they describe as "fugitives." They also issued about 1,300 traffic tickets, and according to one media account, seized "hundreds" of dollars.

...

The FBI along with hundreds of officers said they are looking for anything out of the ordinary. Agents take computers and paperwork from businesses.

What a damn atrocity. This is such bullshit. Way to go, America! Let's all freak out in exactly the way those psychotic fuckers want us to. Good plan.

Also,

"What we have found traditionally is that terrorists are involved in a number of lesser known type crimes," said Mark Luttrell, Shelby County sheriff.

makes me fucking laugh. I'm sure the Shelby County sheriff's got *loads* of counter-terrorism experience. And by "counter-terrorism" i mean "counter-marajuana-dealer". Not that this horseshit would be justifiable even if he has, mind you.

Tennessee Terrorism Sweep nets traffic violators

FedEx blows. Independent contracting is the biggest load of bull. The rest of the article is about how they fired her after she asked for a leave of absence for her third recurrence of cancer.

Yeah, I have my own, entirely customer service related reasons to hate fedex, but this doesn't help me like them any more.

It does make me less surprised that a driver once delivered, without requesting a signature as required, a parcel containing a signed and numbered art print with a 3 inch puncture (v shaped, like the corner of a heavy box would leave) straight through both sides of the large cardboard envelope, the two layers of protective corrugated cardboard within, and, of course, the print sandwiched in the middle of all that.

That is only one of a series of egregious failures. I have sworn to never willingly use FedEx, either actively or by dealing with companies who ship exclusively via FedEx. My only exception is, and will probably remain, Apple Computer, who I can't give up on the basis of my FedEx hatred alone.

Say what you will about the U.S.P.S., I've had excellent luck with them on everything from overnight to parcels.

Fuck FedEx.

Working Life (High and Low) - New York Times

An Atlanta ordinance seemingly targeted to keep young women off strip-club stages also prohibits under-21 musicians from playing gigs at many of the city's music venues. It would, that is, if the measure were uniformly enforced.

That's retarded. The age of majority should be either 18 or 21. Fucking pick one. This graduated notion of adulthood is silly.

Creative Loafing Atlanta | News

Currency exchange outlets in Amsterdam won't to trade US dollars for euros because the value of the dollar is dropping so quickly they're afraid of losing money, even with the outlandish vigorish the sleazy little joints usually tack on.

We are so fucked.

Amsterdam currency exchangers won't take US dollars - Boing Boing

Pablos Holman is a professional inventor who helped build Hackerbot, a robot that sniffs passwords over WiFi and reveals them to insecure users. He also runs Hackerbot Lab, a warehouse in Seattle filled with tools for wannabe hackers.

What he's working on: "Hacker rescue program. Trying to get hackers working on better stuff instead of wasting time in the security-research field."

Hah!

ETech Yearbook 2008: Meet the Faces of Innovation