] The father then walked into the garage, picked up a
] propane tank, a lighting device and a can of gasoline he
] used to douse the van, police Capt. Tony Rode said. He
] smashed the van's window, got inside and set it ablaze,
] despite attempts by the Marines to stop him, Rode said.
]
] The Marines, reservists who are members of a military
] Casualty Assistance Calls Officer team, pulled Arredondo,
] 44, from the burning vehicle and extinguished the flames
] on him, police said.
]
] Arredondo was initially taken to Memorial Regional
] Hospital in Hollywood with burns over as much as 50
] percent of his body, emergency officials said.
]
] Melida Arredondo told the Miami Herald that her husband,
] an immigrant from Costa Rica, "was very proud of Alex
] serving," though he wished his service would have been
] during a "more peaceful" time.
]
] But Luz Marina Arredondo, Alexander's grandmother, felt
] the government was at fault for her grandson's death.
]
] "I blame them a lot," she said. "They send them like
] guinea pigs over there."

Most understated quote:

"My husband immediately knew that his firstborn son had been killed and my husband did not take the news well," Melida Arredondo said before police escorted her to the hospital.

ABCNEWS.com : Man Burns Marine Van After GI Son's Death

] I enjoy reading, hanging out with my wives, creating
] terrorist plots to bring about the destruction of the
] non-Muslim world, etc.

Osama Bin Laden's Friendster Page. Funny. Very well done.

Buttafly.com :: Humor - Politics - Procrastination

] Republicans crafting the party's platform backed a
] proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage on
] Wednesday in a sharp contrast to efforts to put the
] party's more moderate face on display at next week's
] convention.

Nice to see that Cheney is totally off message, after his relatively moderate comments yesterday. The Bush White House usually isn't so sloppy.

Top News Article | Reuters.com

When coloring in 800,000 pixels on a map of India, Microsoft colored eight of them a different shade of green to represent the disputed Kashmiri territory. The difference in greens meant Kashmir was shown as non-Indian, and the product was promptly banned in India. Microsoft was left to recall all 200,000 copies of the offending Windows 95 operating system software to try and heal the diplomatic wounds. "It cost millions," Edwards said.
...
Microsoft has also managed to upset women and entire countries. A Spanish-language version of Windows XP, destined for Latin American markets, asked users to select their gender between "not specified," "male" or "bitch," because of an unfortunate error in translation.

Two Words Bill... Babel Fish.

Lost in Translation?

] A Cuban woman tucked herself inside a wooden crate the
] size of a small filing cabinet and had herself shipped
] from the Bahamas to Miami aboard a cargo plane.
]
] The woman, whose name was not released, will be allowed
] to stay in the United States. A cargo crew found her
] curled up inside the crate after unloading it late
] Tuesday at the Miami airport.

Wow, that's dedication. Of course, if you're not from Cuba, you're screwed.

Salon.com News | Cuban woman ships self in crate to U.S.

] Terrorists will paralyze the Internet on August 26, a
] Russian expert in antivirus programs said on Tuesday.
]
] First of all, the United States and Western Europe will
] suffer from the attack, Gostev was quoted by the agency
] as saying. The head of the labs, Yevgeny Kaspersky,
] reminded the audience that similar attacks had earlier
] paralyzed the Internet in South Korea. He added that it
] would be "impossible" to stop terrorist
] organizations if they "get down to business".

Well, I'm not too worried, but then again, I'll still have my television to keep me warm.

Russian Computer Expert Predicts Internet Terrorist Attack - NEWS - MOSNEWS.COM

This is a useful site.

Kmax : Blog Links for your blog links

It is not thought to display an unbiased view of the news; on the contrary, it is thought to ironically accentuate the bias of it.

newsmap

] The IBM glass engine enables deep navigation of the music
] of Philip Glass. Personal interests, associations, and
] impulses guide the listener through an expanding
] selection of over sixty Glass works.

Remarkable. Allows you to listen to Glass pieces, sorted by all kinds of strange associations. Very interactive.

The IBM glass engine

] Welcome to DC.Gov's interactive map of downtown
] Washington. Find monuments, museums, and other points of
] interest. Click on an icon for photos and information.

This is very cool.

DC Flyby