LGM-118A Peacekeeper missile system being tested at the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

This is a time-lapse photo showing the paths of the multiple re-entry vehicles deployed by the missle. One Peacekeeper can hold up to 10 nuclear warheads, each independently targeted. Were the warheads armed with a nuclear payload, each would carry with it the explosive power of twenty-five Hiroshima-sized weapons.

Image:Peacekeeper-missile-testing.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

One of my favorite moments from William Gibson's Virtual Light, which I highly recommend if you haven't read it:

Nightmare Folk Art was like that, sandwiched between a dead hair-extension franchise and some kind of failing real estate place that sold insurance on the side. NIGHTMARE FOLK ART-SOUTHERN GOTHIC, the letters hand-painted all lumpy and hairy, like mosquito legs in a cartoon, white on black. But with a couple of expensive cars parked out front: a silver-gray Range Rover, looking like Gunhead dressed up for the prom, and one of those little antique Porsche two-seaters that always looked to
Rydell like the wind-up key had fallen off. He gave the Porsche a wide berth; cars like that tended to have hypersensitive anti-theft systems, not to mention hyper-aggressive.

There was a rentacop looking at him through the armored glass of the door; not IntenSecure, but some off brand. Rydell had borrowed a pair of pressed chinos from Kevin. They were a little tight in the waist, but they beat hell out of the orange trunks. He had on a black IntenSecure uniform-shirt with the patches ripped off, his Stetson, and his SWAT shoes. He wasn't sure black really made it with khaki. He pushed the button. The rentacop buzzed him in.

'Got an appointment with Justine Cooper,' he said, taking his sunglasses off.

'With a client,' the rentacop said. He looked about thirty, and like he should've been out on a farm in Kansas or somewhere. Rydell looked over and saw a skinny woman with black hair. She was talking to a fat man who had no hair at all. Trying to sell him something, it looked like.

'I'll wait,' Rydell said.

The farmer didn't answer. State law said he couldn't have a gun, just the industrial-strength stunner he wore in a beat-up plastic holster, but he probably did anyway. One of those little Russian hold-outs that chambered some godawful overheated caliber originally intended for killing the engine blocks of tanks. The Russians, never too safety-minded, had the market in Saturday-night specials.

Rydell looked around. That ol' Rapture was big at Nightmare Folk Art, he decided. Those kind of Christians, his father had always maintained, were just pathetic. There the Millennium had up, come, and gone, no Rapture to speak of, and here they were, still beating that same drum. Sublett and his folks down in their trailer-camp in Texas, watching old movies for Reverend Fallon-at least that had some kind of spin on it.

He tried to sneak a look, see what the lady was trying to sell to the fat man, but she caught his eye and that wasn't good. So he worked his way deeper into the shop, pretending to check out the merchandise. There was a whole section of these nasty-looking spidery wreath-things, behind glass in faded gilt frames. The wreaths looked to Rydell like they were made of frizzy old hair. There were tiny little baby coffins, all corroded, and one of them had been planted with ivy. There we... [ Read More (0.6k in body) ]

RE: Southern Expressions: Part 3

Well, obviously, I can't say much about this new SCO filing [PDF] at this time. It's all about moi. A bit more here and here.

Why is anyone still doing business with SCO?

Groklaw - My Very Own Motion, Tra La

Hey, hey... check it out... If you can handle beta-quality releases and are an unforgivable cheapskate, Google has the solution to your "why does broadband have to cost so much?" problem!

NEW Google Free Wireless Broadband Service

...where you can get a reasonably authentic baguette? There are simple things about Paris that I wish weren't on the other side of the world. There are so many things that I wish weren't so far away.

In this novel, Dick masterfully portrays the paradox of the American dream: that the selfish drive for personal gain ultimately leaves people feeling isolated and unfulfilled. What Hadley learns over the course of the novel is that the peculiarly American tradition of desperately searching for meaning or significance (otherwise known as a mid-life crisis) is often undertaken out of a selfish desire for fulfillment and is therefore doomed to fail.

...it is precisely this simple voice that Dick harnesses so brilliantly to capture a simple life in search of complication.

Something about that sentence hit a nerve deep within me.

Boing Boing: David Gill reviews Philip K. Dick's new old novel

Here's an article about the "world-famous" Nun Bun which was stolen/kidnapped about two years ago. The Nun Bun is a cinnamon roll that has a strong resemblence to Mother Teresa.

Its interesting to read about the coffee shop I hung out at in high school on BoingBoing.

Boing Boing: Kidnapped Nun Bun Resurfaces in Seattle

Pi Day and Pi Approximation Day are two unofficial holidays held to celebrate the mathematical constant π (Pi). Pi Day is observed on March 14 (3/14 in American date format); Pi Approximation Day may be observed on any of several dates, most often July 22 (22/7 - in European date format - is a popular approximation of π).

The day happens to be Albert Einstein's birthday, among others, and it is common to sing "Happy birthday Dear Albert". Massachusetts Institute of Technology often mails out its acceptance letters to be delivered to prospective students on Pi Day.[1]

Pi Day - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So if someone checked your Web Searches, would it tell on you?

Wife googled 'How to commit murder'

At exactly 5:45:34 on April 18, 2004 a computer taken from the office of the attorney of Melanie McGuire, did a search on the words "How To Commit Murder."

That same day searches on Google and MSN search engines, were conducted on such topics as `instant poisons,` `undetectable poisons,' 'fatal digoxin doses,' and gun laws in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Jennifer Seymour, who worked for the State Police digital technology unit, testified thismorning how she examined the digital contents of computers and hand held devices obtained as part of the investigation.

Her testimony was the strongest evidence yet in the state's circumstantial evidence case against the 34-year-old McGuire, who allegedly murdered her husband with a .38 caliber weapon, dismembered his body and placed body parts in three suitcases found in the Chesapeake Bay in May of 2004.

See link for full story..

Would your web search tell on you?

We lost MemeStreams user FineThen to BlogSpot, but her posts are still worth following. I like this one.

I was reading this article in the Times the other day about a scientist who was working on his PhD in evolutionary biology and almost done with his thesis. The catch? This guy was a fundie Christian who didn't believe in evolution, but rather that the world was created in the exact way described in the bible. Colleagues and other scientists felt this was a huge dillemma- should you be allowed to practice a science that you don't believe in?

Oddly enough, I identified with this man. While I find many aspects of fundamentalist Christianity a tad grating (ha) I totally understand how it feels to be disenchanted by a practical science's underlying value system, but still desire to learn it as a tool to assist you with your beliefs.

Lets face it. Its bullshit that people need to hire lawyers to solve their problems. Its ridiculous that the law is written in such confusing and arbitrarily convuluted language that ordinary people can't understand their rights or laws that are meant to protect them. And its insane that to pay for law school you need to either be born rich or crazy. But who does it help to stay out of the field and let it be a one-sided conversation?

That fundie guy uses the education he has recieved in science to (attempt to) dismantle its core assumptions and prove that his view of the world is correct. If I can do something analagous with my law degree, without convincing myself along the way that my core assumptions about humanity were wrong, then I will consider this lawschool thing a success.

The People's Law Student: Why am I here?