This truely is an amazing place. These pictures cannot do it justice, but perhaps its a taste... (Yes we took these.)

Pictures from Banff so far...

An inuksuk (plural inuksuit) [1] (from the Inuktitut: ᐃᓄᒃᓱᒃ, plural ᐃᓄᒃᓱᐃᑦ; alternatively inukshuk in English [2] or inukhuk in Inuinnaqtun [3]) is a stone landmark used as a milestone or directional marker by the Inuit of the Canadian Arctic. The Arctic Circle, dominated by permafrost, has few natural landmarks and thus the inuksuk was central to navigation across the barren tundra.

Inukshuk - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

bucy wrote:

Senior Bush administration officials told Congress on Tuesday that they could not pledge that the administration would continue to seek warrants from a secret court for a domestic wiretapping program, as it agreed to do in January.

I don't agree with the headline. They haven't conceeded their legal arguement. They never did. They've never argued it in a court, either. Some of the arguments they've made are incredibly thin. This immunity they are asking for is simply an attempt to avoid having to put their money where their mouth is on this. Its all a bunch of bullshit and hand waving. Whats important is that they aren't doing this now. However, they have substantially damaged the Constitution of the United States by playing this game. A future would be tyrant will pick up this thread where they left off.

RE: Administration Pulls Back on Surveillance Agreement - New York Times

I like this... Not quite sure where MemeStreams is though.

xkcd - Map of online communities

Although the Bible plainly speaks of great famine in the last days, the prophetic words of Revelation 6:6 states that the olive and grape harvest will not be damaged.

In general, breeders have assumed that grapes were either completely self- fertilizing or were cross-pollinated by wind, so that in either case insects were considered of no value. The grape harvest will not be affected by the missing bee population.

Bee hysteria reaches a new level.

Missing Bees, Cell Phones and Fulfillment of Bible Prophecy - Christian Newswire

Snoop Dogg has been barred from entering Australia after failing a character test, Australia's government said on Thursday.

Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews said Snoop Dogg, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, was told his visa would be cancelled after he pleaded no contest to gun and drug charges in the United States earlier this month.

"He doesn't seem the sort of bloke we want in this country," Andrews told local radio.

While Snoop Dog is perhaps a less sympathetic character than the psychotherapist who wants to visit his children, this is another datapoint in the encroaching international information sharing and travel control regime that appears to present significant threat to people's right to travel and associate freely. Snoop Dog may be a pain in the ass but he isn't a terrorist and he isn't gunna overstay his visa and take a job under the table. There are fundamental human rights being ignored here.

Australia bars Snoop Dogg | Entertainment | Reuters

Nano has been talking about this one...

Best joke ever...and so true

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Home sales posted their sharpest drop in 18 years in March, a real estate group said Tuesday, as problems in the subprime mortgage sector pushed sales well below what economists had forecast.

:::pop:::

Existing home sales pace, prices fall again in March - Apr. 24, 2007

"It is now pretty well established that certain types of videos and images have an effect on behavior," New York Governor Eliot Spitzer told reporters yesterday. Spitzer wants video games that are "degrading" to minors regulated the same way as cigarettes for those under 18. Retailers who would sell or rent these "not appropriate" games to minors would face fines.

The Democratic governor plans to give details about his plans this Friday in a Manhattan speech before Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network. Like wagering how many times President Bush will bring up 9/11 in a speech, start placing your bets now on how long it'll take Spitzer to bring up the VT massacre in his speech.

Eliot Spitzer just jumped the shark.

Joystiq

Today, News Corp. launches their news aggregation service called MySpace News. The service is best described as Google News meets Digg. This is not an unexpected move. When MySpace parent company Fox Interactive acquired NewRoo this time last year in a deal reportedly in the single-digit millions, the clock began ticking on the release of a MySpace news aggregator.

Digg is such an innovative website.

MySpace launchs 'digg' clone.