In Mexico City the Sky is like an Orange Fuzzy Comforter

In the USA, remains of the bird, usually a bloody goo called snarge, are sent to the Smithsonian Institution's Feather Identification Laboratory to determine the species.

and...

Strangely enough, vehicle-animal air collisions also sometimes include species that cannot fly. The Smithsonian Institution's Feather Identification Laboratory has identified frogs, turtles, and snakes as the animal in the "bird" strike. On one occasion they identified a cat at high altitude and on another a rabbit at a height of 550 metres (1800 feet).[1]

The most likely explanation for this incongruity is that the animal identified had been either eaten or carried aloft by a bird of prey, though there are also meteorological explanations, such as raining animals.

Bird strike - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It’s now December 13, and the news this morning is that Citigroup has decided to face the music and take $49B in SIV exposure onto its balance sheet. Thankfully the “conduit” is dead, and other banks around the world will soon enough be forced to face the music too. So I think we’re almost to the bottom of the credit crash; note that Blackstone has raised a new $1.3B fund to bottom-feed on debt-related assets. Maybe the small-investor play is to shift money into a broad financial-sector fund around year-end.

Meanwhile, what about the ratings agencies (Moody’s, S&P, Fitch) that gave these SIVs and their constituent debt slices inordinately high credit ratings? And what about the fact that the ratings agencies get paid by the very entities they rate? Does anybody see the parallels with Enron here (off-balance sheet shenanigans, compliant accounting firms (now ratings firms), public-company shareholders losing billions)? Get ready for more execs trading pinstripe suits for prison garb, and more government meddling (a la Sarbanes-Oxley) in the free market after the cow is already out of the barn.

Great. And maybe we can get another SOX law to fuck over small and medium sized businesses who want to go public.

Big Thinkr » Blog Archive » When the other shoe drops

Read the following with a British accent for full effect:

Today is the fourth day of ownership of my pen, and I have to say I'm starting to treat it like an old friend. I walk around the office with it clipped in to my shirt pocket and someone in the accounts department actually asked to borrow it while we were both standing at the photocopier. Would you believe it, they actually tried to walk away with my pen! They were very embarrassed when I called after them as they walked down the corridor and asked for it back. You will be happy to know that it is now back, safe and sound in my top pocket, ready and waiting to start writing again.

I highly recommend you read the first two reviews at least. Who knew a simple bic pen could open a gateway to hell!

Amazon.co.uk: Bic Crystal ballpoint pen, medium point, black, EACH: Electronics & Photo

Start: 2007-12-15 18:00
End: 2007-12-15 23:59
Timezone: Etc/GMT-5
Location: Vortex, Atlanta

That's right kids, it's that time again. SantaCon is coming!!! I've seen the pics from the last few years and have to say, Yall do it right!!!! Just to remind everyone, I have listed the rules for SantaCon again. There is no Santa in charge to call. If you can't show up for the start, get the phone number of someone who can help you catch up later.

You peeps should go to this. I'll be in da D.F. :(

Atlanta SantaCon | Dirty Southern Burners

Day 18 - I18N

Catalyst I18N and L10N using Catalyst::Plugin::I18N
Introduction

The task is fairly simple:

* Allow the user to specify a language of choice,
* Replace all messages with function calls to a translation module,
* Write translations for every language you want.

The last part (L10N) should be very simple (using a graphical PO editor is preferred) in order to allow non-technical people to localise your software.

Catalyst Internationalization - Catalyst Advent Calendar - Day 18

A clip from the Robo-1 Grand (robot fighting) Championship in Tokyo. I’m trying desperately to find a way to link this video to illustration, but can’t do it. We’re going to put it under our ‘toys’ category and look the other way, though, okay?

I find myself rooting for the ‘balloon-head’ and samurai penguin robots!

Fighting robot tournament footage from boingboing.

Fighting Robots » Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog

"Romney, whose Mormon faith has become the subject of heated debate in Republican caucuses, wants America to be blind to his religious beliefs and judge him on merit instead," Ijaz writes. "Yet he seems to accept excluding Muslims because of their religion, claiming they're too much of a minority for a post in high-level policymaking."

Dear God, please save us from Mormon Fundies.

CNN.com - CNN Political Ticker

12.2.8.7. Correlated Subqueries

A correlated subquery is a subquery that contains a reference to a table that also appears in the outer query. For example:

SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE column1 = ANY
(SELECT column1 FROM t2 WHERE t2.column2 = t1.column2);

Notice that the subquery contains a reference to a column of t1, even though the subquery's FROM clause does not mention a table t1. So, MySQL looks outside the subquery, and finds t1 in the outer query.

VERY useful if say... someone makes a table field an ENUM when it should be another table or individual boolean fields.

MySQL AB :: MySQL 5.0 Reference Manual :: 12.2.8.7 Correlated Subqueries

For almost 200 years, the Seminole Tribe's struggle was simply to survive. Chased by 19th century soldiers into Florida's interior, the Indians battled inhospitable wetlands, poverty, and governmental neglect to gain independence and sovereignty. Now, thanks to casino gambling, the tribe has grown rich. Health care is free, college tuition is covered, and each of the tribe's more than 3,300 members — from infants to seniors — receives monthly dividend checks that add up to about $120,000 a year. The struggle now, say many Seminole leaders, is how to meld the tribe's exploding prosperity into a life that values and preserves their culture.

Dividends get a lot of press, but its important to note that <10% of tribes with casinos give dividends. The main benefit of tribal gaming is to fund tribal governments to provide basic services on the reservation, and through employment (both at the casino and in tribe backed businesses).

A centuries-old struggle for tribal survival has become new challenge in a new century: How to survive success? -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com