Some US auto industry leaders are meeting with Bush to talk about how they’ve lost the edge to Asia. Up for discussion is the topic of health care, which allegedly costs them more than steel these days. Good luck, ya jerks. If this doesn’t work, I can arrange a meeting with a concrete wall that you might find more success with.

Somewhere around 150 employees of an Iraqi research facility have been kidnapped. The gunmen made swift work of capturing everyone, and it seems to have been a well-planned operation.

If you’ve upgraded to the new version of Google Earth, I recommend you check out the historical map overlays available! Some of them are very cool.

Cryotherapy: it sounds like something on Star Trek, but it’s for real. People are freezing themselves for 3 minutes at temperatures as cold as 130 below, and some are reporting amazing results. Just thinking about it made me go put on a coat.

Will Google give out free cellphones someday? If they’re laden with advertisements, maybe. I already can’t handle TV commercials… but if an ad was preventing me from making a quick phone call… I’d probably drive over it with my car. Still… free phones, people!

Speaking of cellphones, if you send text messages regularly, you might occasionally wish the letters were laid out differently. MobileQwerty is way ahead of you.

Skateboarding girls. This video is truly zen art at its finest.

Also quite zen is LizardVille, the site of a 10-year-old Florida girl who hypnotizes lizards and photographs them in various settings. Not surprising, the lizards appear to enjoy watching Steve Irwin, according to the homepage.

When the courts finally approve your corporation’s takeover of some mega-conglomerate, you might finally find yourself in the market for one of these.

So… big Rummy’s facing criminal charges in Germany? This is almost too good to be true! Imagining him in an orange jumpsuit practically brings tears to my eyes. Danke schon, Deutschland.

Here’s a 1500 megapixel picture of Machu Picchu. Amazing.

I think all dogs should have at least one of these.

What American accent do you have? This quiz accurately pegged me as having a Midland accent, or no accent at all. Why someone from Boston would need a quiz to tell them they have an accent is beyond my comprehension.

Dudes, dudettes, and dudesters… I’m back in business. The tenuous wireless signal I had been riding was inaccessible much of the past week, and as a result, I put an order in for cable internet. Two fine gentlemen came this afternoon to rig it up, and now I’m surfin’ without interruption.

I figured since I had mentioned pictures of my new place damn near a week ago, I’d better get those babies up first. So, here they are:
Click here for pictures

I hope to find time before work to keep the blog going strong.

Also, I hope everyone celebrated the stepping down of Rumsfeld, and, though it may be a miniscule improvement, I’m glad we have the democrats back on top after the recent election. Oh, AND Ken Blackwell lost. All good news… makes ya wonder what’s on the horizon!!

An article calling for the resignation of Rumsfeld will be published today in the newspapers of all the major service branches. Perhaps it’s a little overdue, but in this country of slow-motion reactions, his immediate departure would still be a blessing.

This video may be interesting, and may not… I have a pretty weak wireless signal in my new place that I’ve been surfing on all weekend, and consequently, internet video is painfully slow. The Root of All Evil: The God Delusion.

Speaking of my new place, National Geographic shot some footage in my apartment last week for a piece they’re doing on the Boston Strangler. Trust me, my landlord thought it was as bizarre as I did! Anyway, here’s the info on it. I hope to post pictures of my place later today, if I can find the time.

And in neighborhood news, a man was arrested at a BART station on weapons charges… but here’s the gritty side of the story: he was on a tree stump, masturbating, and when cops arrived, whipped out a screwdriver from his ass. It doesn’t get much better than that, folks.

In Boone, Colorado, a “pumpkin bandit” left pumpkins all over the town with no explanation… and no one saw a car or a suspect!

Here’s a video of some kind of futuristic synth. I want one.

Here’s an interesting map showing what the middle east might look like if divided by religion and conflict lines.

The amazing lyrebird can imitate the sounds of… well… anything? It sure appears that way.

Who’s heard of a turnspit dog? I guess every dog has it’s day.

Potentially the most miserable failure in stuntman history: dude attempts to jump the St. Lawrence river in a rocket-powered Lincoln Continental. I guess people truly didn’t realize how giant and heavy cars were back then.

Salt intake and obesity go hand in hand. Interesting article. They also link salt to high blood pressure.

PaintBall - a flash game that’s (thankfully) not related to paintball guns.

TSA screeners at Newark failed to find 20 of 22 suspicious items, including guns. Undercover agents appear to have had little trouble getting through checkpoints, and TSA officials are trying to downplay the results. Dudes, you should be downplaying 8 out of 22… but 20 out of 22 is a miserable failure.

Bob Barker is calling it quits! Truthfully, I’m happy for him. It’s about time he kicked back and relaxed. Enjoy, Bob.

Video the Vote is a pretty good idea, but a little late to the party.

Tweak out your Powerwheels! Maaaaan, if we had known about this back in the day, I so would’ve taken the kid’s from down the street. What can I say? My bro and I were always hungry for motorized speed… and 8mph back then would’ve delivered.

Creepy album covers with dummies on them.