] In the summer, Florida manatees range as far west as
] Mississippi and as far north as Virginia. When the
] weather cools, these plant-eating aquatic mammals,
] sometimes called sea cows, retreat far southward or into
] natural warm springs sprinkled among Florida's inland
] coastal waterways. The promise of 72-degree water
] year-round draws snorkelers to places like Crystal River
] and Homosassa Springs, two warm-water sites about 60
] miles north of Tampa on Florida's Gulf Coast.

MANATEES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Florida: Swimming with sea cows

] I awoke the way you awake when you suddenly know that
] there is a large levitating sinister presence hovering
] towards you with menacing intent through the maligant
] darkness.

Funny story. Reminds me of my ex and his blimpy, sinister presence hovering towards me in the night.

The Horror of Blimps

] hile Pentagon war planners may be gunning for an attack
] on Iraq by mid March, heavily armed soldiers have already
] quietly seized a strategic position: your Easter basket.
] National retailers like Kmart and Walgreens have stocked
] their shelves with baskets in which the traditional
] chocolate rabbit centerpiece has been displaced by
] plastic military action figures and their make-believe
] lethal paraphernalia.

Yes! That's what I want in my Easter basket. Toy soldiers.

The Village Voice: Features: Full Metal Bonnet by Erik Baard

MAZDA TRIED something radical: it launched the RX-8 in Sony’s Gran Turismo 3 videogame two years before the real car debuted at January’s Detroit auto show. Mazda execs admit it was risky, revealing their shark-nose sports car in pixels so long before it hit pavement.

Neat! Kinda makes me want one even more....

Pixels to Pavement

] Imagine Iraqi commanders getting misleading text messages
] on their cell phones. They appear to contain orders from
] Saddam Hussein but are actually sent by the U.S. military
] in disguise, directing Iraqi troops to a trap.
]
] Or how about a radar that confuses the Iraqi air defense
] system by showing U.S. bombers in the wrong locations, or
] heading in the wrong direction?

Or how about we put a whole bunch of secretive ideas up on the web and hope nobody but our allies read CNN.com? I'm sure the military already has a web page up somewhere with classified strategy on it. How do I know? Because the Navy does it all the time. Stuff I need to get briefed for is already up on the web. The Navy likes to brag about their innovations. That's just dumb.

Fierce cyber war predicted

] "Ty is now free to tour the world," band manager Paul
] Wollnough told mourners at Corner House Christian Church
] in Hubbard, 60 miles southeast of Cleveland.
] Some of the hundreds in attendance wore ribbons
] emblazoned with "Rock on, Ty." As they filed into the
] church, brief laughter interrupted tears and sniffles as
] a recent picture appeared on a screen above an altar of
] Longley, 31, and his sister, Audrey Dinger, grinning for
] the camera with their cheeks stuffed to bursting with
] grapes.
] The Rev. Jim Burks, related to Longley by marriage, said
] that whenever Longley couldn't make it to Ohio and
] western Pennsylvania from Los Angeles for holidays, he
] would spend his day delivering peanut-butter-and-jelly
] sandwiches to the homeless in Venice Beach.
] "His heart was as big as his hair," Burks said, quoting
] Longley's mother.
] Longley joined Great White about four years ago. None of
] the four surviving band members attended his service.

I had dinner in West Warwick on Friday night. And even though I REALLY REALLY wanted to, we did not drive past the ruins of The Station. Although we did drive past the "Station Fire Family Resource Center", which is being housed in an abandoned car dealership. Warwick is just sad now.. flags at half mast, signs and ribbons everywhere. One of the guys my boyfriend works with escaped the fire, but two of his friends did not. It's still all anyone talks about around here, everyone knows someone who was there, it seems. I still sort of want to see the scene. Is that wrong?

His heart was as big as his hair???

] If you're in a contaminated building with no exits
] whatsoever, at least book it to the opposite corner.

I simply cannot get enough of the ready.gov parodies.

Unready.net - Be Amused - Chemical Threat - Visual Guide

] That pocketknife you surrendered to airport security
] screeners might now be tucked away in someone else's
] pocket -- someone who bought it on EBay.

Bureaucrats get EBay fever / State sells penknives confiscated at airports at online auction

] Hoping to capitalise on a wave of nostalgia for Communist
] East Germany, a Berlin company is planning to build a
] theme park that revives life behind the Iron Curtain in
] the country that disappeared nearly 13 years ago.

I smell a field trip!

Fun for the whole family

OKay I read the article, but really that's not why I'm blogging this. It's the picture to the right of the article. What the hell is that guy wearing?! Or was wearing?! He should be arrested for indecent exposure or something. My goodness. I don't need to see that while I'm eating lunch...

Instead of ID, They Show Badges