LED Pumpkins? Oh hell yes! I have already pre-ordered this bit of fun:)

Boing Boing: Make's special Halloween edition

Freakin rad!

GRAY MATTER Pretty Penny - Popular Science

By the end of the month, bulldozers will raze Atlanta's most famous — and infamous — party district.

I hadn't heard about this until now. I don't spend a lot of time in "Buckhead" proper, because I feel much more akin to bars in Decatur. Hopefully Fados won't get bulldozed....it was my favorite bar down there.

It's last call for Atlanta party district - Los Angeles Times

Sparklers seem innocent enough, as delighted children twirl them about, creating light trails in the warm summer darkness.

But in truth, they are extremely dangerous.

I find this humorous since I burnt the f*** out of my foot yesterday with a sparkler. Its so sad given the amount of time I have spent lighting "dangerous" fireworks in my lifetime that the firework that finally injured me was a bloody sparkler. But a word to the wise...don't burn the cheap sparklers with wooden sticks. The ash falls off the end and if you are unlucky (like me) it will fall right between your flip-flop laden toes. Ouch.

When It Comes to Fireworks, Leave the Shows to the Pros - Forbes.com

The couple is among the thousands looking to get lucky in love who are expected to flock to Las Vegas to tie the knot on a very propitious date -- 7-7-07 -- which comes along only once a century.

Just remember you are unique....just like everyone else.

Couples rush to marry on lucky day - CNN.com

It takes about 30,000 genes to make you such a wondrously complex lifeform. Those genes can be credited for your enviable physique, your sparkling eyes and those heartstopping dimples.

Okay, let’s cut the flattery and hotfoot it to the other end of life’s spectrum. Here, it may take fewer than 400 genes to build a basic lifeform. This is what Craig Venter, the buccaneering American biologist who was instrumental in spelling out the human genome, is attempting to do. His plan is to sew together the minimum number of genes necessary to create an off-the-shelf, living microbe.

More on the Craig Venter story

Life is just a bowl of Petri -Times Online

Researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) today announced the results of work on genome transplantation methods allowing them to transform one type of bacteria into another type dictated by the transplanted chromosome. The work, published online in the journal Science, by JCVI’s Carole Lartigue, Ph.D. and colleagues, outlines the methods and techniques used to change one bacterial species, Mycoplasma capricolum into another, Mycoplasma mycoides Large Colony (LC), by replacing one organism’s genome with the other one’s genome.

“The successful completion of this research is important because it is one of the key proof of principles in synthetic genomics that will allow us to realize the ultimate goal of creating a synthetic organism,” said J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., president and chairman, JCVI.

Press Release: JCVI Scientists Publish First Bacterial Genome Transplantation Changing One Species to Another - FierceBiotech

"Some people like baseball, others like math – I just like to set off bombs," he said. "I figure here, learning how to do it properly is better than messing around with it at home, right?"

Meadows is one of 20 teenage campers enrolled in a weeklong explosion camp in the Missouri Ozarks.

Wow...I want to go back to camp:)

NPR : At Camp, Teens Blow Stuff Up, As They're Told

wow....this is so smart....and so simple. Damn it....why didn't I think of this?:)

Invitrogen - E-Gel® CloneWell SYBR Safe™ gels

Nashville owner Craig Leipold has sent a letter to the NHL advising it to stop considering Balsillie as a potential candidate for ownership until the sides can reach a final sale agreement.

"We did send the NHL a letter today requesting that it not do any further due diligence on Jim Balsillie's offer for the Nashville Predators until we reach a binding agreement," Leipold said in a statement on Friday. "If Jim is interested in reaching a binding agreement, we are prepared to move forward."

A league source also told CP that Leipold asked the NHL to discontinue Balsillie's application because he was caught off-guard by the Canadian billionaire's intention to relocate the franchise to Hamilton.

TSN : NHL - Canada's Sports Leader