ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar - A self-destructing palm tree that flowers once every 100 years and then dies has been discovered on the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar, botanists said Thursday.null

Proof that we still don't know everything! This is cool...

New tree species found in Madagascar - Yahoo! News

unmanaged wrote:

The individual AMT law, intended in 1969 to affect only the wealthy, has not been updated to account for inflation. It is now affecting 21 million middle-income earners – exemptions for this demographic have expired. Congress is currently debating re-authorizing these exemptions, so the law is in limbo. Once the law is approved, the IRS could take seven weeks to start processing returns, delaying refunds for those who file early.

Damit... I hate the IRS and our silly d*&^% wagging government... I will never be rich so this does not really apply to me ...

Really, what is "wealthy"?

If you are earning 100,000/year, is that wealthy?

Take a look at the info below:

Inflation in my adult years increased average prices 1,000% or more -
example 1: a postage stamp in the 1950s cost 3 cents; today's cost is 41 cents - 1,266% inflation;
example 2: a gallon of 90 Octane full-service gasoline cost 18 cents before; today it is $3.05 for self-service - 1,870 % inflation;
example 3: a house in 1959 cost $14,100; today's median price is $213,000 - 1,400% inflation;
example 4: a dental crown used to cost $40; today it's $1,100 - 2,750% inflation;
example 5: an ice cream cone in 1950 cost 5 cents; today its $2.50 - 4,900% inflation;
example 6: monthly government Medicare insurance premiums paid by seniors was $5.30 in 1970; its now $93.50 - 1,664% inflation; (and up 70% past 5 years)
example: several generations ago a person worked 1.4 months per year to pay for government; he now works 5 months.
And in the past, one wage-earner families lived well and built savings with minimal debt, many paying off their home and college-educating children without loans. How about today?

taken from http://mwhodges.home.att.net/inflation.htm

RE: File Early, Get F&*^ED!

Slovak and Hungarian police seized enriched uranium that could be used in a "dirty bomb" when they arrested three traffickers in a joint operation, officials said Thursday.

"According to preliminary information, the material could have been used to make a so-called dirty bomb," Slovak deputy police president Michal Kopcik told a news conference in Bratislava.

The traffickers wanted 1.6 million dollars for the 481.4 grammes of material, Kopcik said. It contained uranium-235, the type used in nuclear reactors and nuclear warheads, and the naturally occuring uranium-238.

So it begins... (again)

AFP: Slovak police say 'dirty bomb' uranium seized

One of the nation's most aggressive attempts to limit the mobility of convicted sex offenders was struck down yesterday, as the Georgia Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the state's law restricting where they may live.

...

"It is apparent that there is no place in Georgia where a registered sex offender can live without continually being at risk of being ejected," the ruling said.

The Georgia law had been considered one of the most comprehensive in the nation, not only for the breadth of its residency limits but also because it covered even the mildest types of sex offender, such as those convicted of having consensual sex acts as high school students.

Finally, some sanity out of the Georgia lawmakers...

Georgia Court Rejects Law on Sex Offenders - washingtonpost.com

In order to transition NetBank accounts over to ING DIRECT, a system conversion will be taking place. Any balance that you have in your NetBank account(s) at the end of the day on December 7th 2007 will be converted to an ING DIRECT account(s).

As a result of the conversion:

* All NetBank ATM and VISA® Check card(s) will be de-activated effective November 23rd 2007.
* Bill Payments will no longer be processed effective December 7th 2007. Any bill payments with a scheduled date after December 7th 2007 will not be made. Please do not schedule any new payments to be made after this date as they will not be processed.
* To help ensure you receive all your bills in paper form and make your payments on time, we encourage you to deactivate all Electronic Bill Presentments you may currently have set up.
* NetBank paper checks will no longer be processed after March 1st, 2008. For your convenience, any outstanding paper checks written against your NetBank account(s) prior to December 8, 2007 will continue to be accepted and processed through March 1, 2008.
o Prior to December 8th, 2007, all paper checks will be cleared against your NetBank account(s).
o After December 8th, 2007, all paper checks will be cleared against the new ING DIRECT account(s) that is established for you.

So, the reason I opened a netbank account about 5 years ago, was to use a Visa Check Card. Since that time, my credit score dipped from a few mistakes on my part.

Now, ING won't keep me on as a customer.

I just spoke to them, they pulled my credit and informed me that I cannot be a customer of theirs.

When I called and requested a copy of the credit report, they told me that they don't have it and that I would have to contact Equifax to obtain it. I informed them that I have the right to see the data that they used to make the underwriting decision per the FCRA, and this fell on deaf ears.

So, the long story short, ING doesn't want anyone with less than a 700 point FICA score, yet another in the long line of capitalist giants that has destroyed something good.

ING, fuck you and thanks for nothing... I'm firing you now.

Decius wrote:
It did not "just work." Within a few minutes I'm googling around for long winded explanations of how I have to configure this and compile that and download this other thing in order to get this OS working on this extremely ubiquitous hardware.

This HOWTO describes how to get Wifi working on your Dell Inspiron E1505/6400 laptop using Ndiswrapper.

Im sorry, but if in 2007 you STILL have to compile something in order to get a basic thing like wireless networking working on an extremely popular hardware platform, LINUX WILL NEVER BE SUCCESSFUL ON THE DESKTOP.

I would concur with your perception. I installed Ubuntu Gutzy Gibbon on my new Lenovo T61, and sorry to say, it just works.

I don't see a need to move to a proprietary laptop (osx) to run an operating system. If I was closer in miles, I'd volunteer to fix it for you. I love my Ubuntu, and at work, all the mac users are jealous of the graphics that I have, compared to the $$$$ they shelled out to get a mac.

RE: Ubuntu sucks, nothing has changed.

Turn your ideas into pictures.

From floor plans and landscape designs to process flows and technical drawings, Gliffy Basic's shape libraries and intuitive interface will help you create diagrams instantly.

Only Gliffy makes it this easy to share, publish, and even collaborate with family, organizations, and co-workers.

I have a professional account, for $35 for two years, it's a wonderful replacement for Microsoft Visio, and has now made my migration to Linux complete. I really now have ZERO need for Microsoft Software of any kind. WOOHOO!

Gliffy.com

By Carl DiOrio

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Striking Hollywood screenwriters must turn in their unfinished projects by Friday so that union officials can ensure they don't secretly work for studios during the walkout, which is expected to be lengthy.

OMG - So now that the sitcoms, soap opera's and other drivel doesn't have writers, we'll have to do something different. Oh, wait, how about Reality TV?

Or perhaps, we could find an automatic script writing bot to do their daily drivel...

Good Riddance... it's about time we got some new blood....

Union orders writers to turn over scripts | U.S. | Reuters

I love it when I see old shit turned into functional gear again...

Hope you enjoy it...

A Vax 11/780... converted to a bar... complete with Sink... Amazing.

My other VAX is a VAXbar

We are ready for this year's Phreaknic convention in Nashville, and have a scavenger hunt planned that starts at Midnight tonight, and ends on Saturday the 20th.

There are fine prizes, including a new, in the box, firewall for SOHO use, and several other cool things...

If you're planning on coming to Phreaknic, wander over to the scavenger hunt site, sign up, and take a crack at playing, since it's a free event, and you can only win...if you play...

Phreaknic 0x00b Scavenger Hunt