"When All Else Fails... Amateur Radio," the ARRL's slogan calling attention to the fail-safe nature of the Amateur Radio Service, has never been more true for more of us than it is today.

Good read... That is why I took the test 14 years ago...

It Seems to Us: When All Else Fails... Amateur Radio

Electrolysis is a technique for returning surface rust to iron. It uses the effect of an small low voltage electric current and a suitable electrolyte (solution). It has advantages over the old standbys, like vinegar, Coke, muriatic acid, Naval Jelly, wire brushing, sand blasting etc -- These methods all remove material to remove the rust, including un-rusted surfaces. With many, the metal is left with a "pickled" look or a characteristic color and texture. The electrolytic method removes nothing: by returning surface rust to metallic iron, rust scale is loosened and can be easily removed. Un-rusted metal is not affected in any way.

What a good idea... now get rust busting...

Electrolytic Rust Removal

Rio Rancho Officer Germaine Casey, 40, crashed at the Albuquerque airport at a point where a road enters an underground parking garage, said Trish Hoffman, a spokeswoman for the Albuquerque Police Department. He was pronounced dead at an Albuquerque hospital.

Bush had been headed to the airport after attending a fundraiser for Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M.

Bush Motorcade Crash Kills New Mexico Policeman

DefCon security on Friday warned attendees at the annual hacker conference that Dateline NBC may have sent a mole with a hidden camera to the event to capture hackers admitting to crimes. DefCon says it was tipped off by their own mole at Dateline who sent them a pic of the undercover journalist who DefCon employees identified as producer Michelle Madigan.

Check the photos... it is her...

'To catch a journalist' @ DefCon NBC Style

Disgust is an adaptation for survival but what is the point of it now, asks Paul Bloom

Good read...

To Urgh Is Human

mp'd mobile declared bankruptcy after nearly 1/2 of their customers did not pay their bills. Now Verizon, the company the leases Amp'd its network space, is petitioning the court to let them cut service to Amp'd's remaining customers.
From RCR Wireless News:

Verizon Wireless said that as of June 23, Amp'd Mobile had incurred $15.6 million in post-bankruptcy charges and is costing the carrier $370,000 a day, but still has not obtained debtor-in-possession financing that would assure the carrier that its bills will be paid. Verizon Wireless said it has received one payment of $2.5 million, which was supposed to placate the operator and allow Amp'd Mobile to have continued access to its network.

At the time of the bankruptcy filing, Amp'd had already run up $41 million in unpaid bills to Verizon, in addition to the aforementioned $15.6 million.The Pioneer Press reports that Amp'd has about $9,000 in cash. This means that you are likely richer than Amp'd mobile.

Amp'd marketed their services to low income/young/credit risk customers who were otherwise unable to get a nonpre-paid cellphone. It did not work. At all.

Time To Port Your Number: Amp'd Mobile Bankruptcy Costing Verizon $370,000 A Day

That's right. You read the title correctly. Porn wine. You've heard of ice wine, but never "vice wine", right? Groan. If you subscribed to the NY Times you may have read the article about porn star Savanna Samson, whose claim to porn fame is her gyrations in the X-rated "New Devil in Miss Jones." Samson (aka Natalie Oliveros) has launched a signature brand of Italian wine labeled Sogno Uno ("Dream One").

Now, you want to hear something interesting? Wine critic Robert M. Parker Jr. loves it! Yes. The Robert M. Parker, wine critic gave the wine 90 points! Parker claims it is "luscious and oppulent." Yes Mr. Parker, but what about the wine?

Now, how does one go from porn star to vintner?

Odd. Hey you got the $, do what you love, or is it love what you do?

Porn Wine

Ingredients:
1 whole ripe pineapple, about 3 lb.
12 cups water
20 ounces raw sugar or brown sugar
1 3-inch stick cinnamon
3 whole cloves

Directions:
Wash the pineapple thoroughly, remove the stem and cut the pineapple into large pieces, rind and all. Place the pineapple chunks in a large bowl and add 8 cups of the water, the sugar, cinnamon and cloves. Cover and let stand in a warm place for 48 hours. Strain the tepache and add 4 cups of water. Or if you prefer, add 1 cups of beer (lager) and let stand an additional 12 hours, then strain and add 3 cups of water.

Serve cold, with ice cubes.
Serves 6.

Going to a party on the 4th and 21st, so lets see if I can whip up a batch... :)

Tepache Recipe - Mexican Beverage Recipes at epicurean.com

Some bartenders create new beverages by playing around with different liquors, juices and garnishes until they come up with a certain taste. Restaurant Eve's Todd Thrasher takes what you might call the mad scientist approach.

One recent Saturday afternoon found him behind the bar at Restaurant Eve surrounded by pots and beakers, straining dark, viscous liquids through napkins. He was brewing his own tonic water -- the secret ingredient for Jose's Gin and Tonic.

Read that again: He was making his own tonic water. From scratch.

Thrasher doesn't work as a bartender -- his official titles include general manager and sommelier -- but in his spare time, he invents some of the most quirky and delicious cocktails in the area.

"I worked at Cafe Atlantico for about six years," Thrasher says, "and [chef] Jose Andres always . . . complains and moans about how Americans make gin and tonics -- we use too much water, we use too many ice cubes, we mess it up completely every time. So I said one day I'm going to make you a gin and tonic."

And what's the most important part of this quintessential summer beverage? The tonic, of course.

"So I started messing around and looking for quinine. My grandmother told me that when she was a kid, they had quinine pills for everything, so I started looking for them. I thought what I'd find would be a refined white power."

He pulls out a large brown bag. "Unfortunately," he says, laughing harder, "what I got is dirt." Opening the bag, he shows me the raw quinine -- a grainy brown powder. "It looks like dirt, it tastes like dirt, it's absolutely horrific."

All About Eve

Like you, perhaps, I've had a long and primarily joyous relationship to breakfast cereal. I reached childhood just as the transcendent sugared cereals hit the market. I was conceived in 1962, the year that General Mills combined Cheerios with Circus Peanuts to give the world Lucky Charms, and Cap'n Crunch and I were both born in 1963, a fact which I celebrated bowlfully deep into college. My brother, Toby, was conceived a year later when Froot Loops were rolled out, and he outlived his birth-year twins, the Cap'n wannabes alien Quisp and miner Quake, by nearly three decades [the brand was relaunched in 1999 -- Ed.].

Since my brother and I were so close in age, for me cereal and sibling have always been intertwined. We were a family built to fuel the marketing juggernauts of processed foods during the 1960s and 1970s, and my brother and I competed both in the aisles and at the table. A devotee of the brown sludge that remained at bowl's bottom, Toby poured excess milk at the outset and then retained it through repeat servings of Count Chocula; I found this practice despicable, and instead poured just enough cold, fresh milk to get me through each of multiple bowls of Franken Berry. Of course, our rivalry was reasonable: like all sensible children at the time, we were in complete agreement that late-comer Boo Berry was an ill-conceived, poorly balanced product that only wicked losers ate.

Hahaha What a great read...

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