Killer Auto Gadgets

A German safety company examines add-on auto gadgets that could turn lethal even in low speed crashes.

...back-seat DVD players could kill a child in a crash at only 18mph, safety tests have shown. The screens - commonly strapped to the back of front seats and costing a few hundred pounds - can easily fly off in a collision, hitting rear passengers in the head. The problem relates to the systems bought as accessories - rather those which are built into the back of headrests. In a simulated collision, the DVD screen was sent hurtling from the front- seat headrest into the head of a crash-test 'baby' sitting in a child safety seat in the back.
...
The test showed mobile phones and satnav systems in holders attached to the dashboard or windscreen could also fly loose, hitting passengers' legs and feet. The phone holders, which are fixed to the interior using suction pads, stayed in place but the phones inside were thrown out. A satnav system in a similar holder remained in place but one attached to an air vent flew through car.

Teenage Birth Rate Falls

It should come as good news that in 2005 the teenage birth rate in the United States dropped to a 65-year low. Who's behind ameliorating the problem? Champions of comprehensive sex education and abstinence-only advocates both claim credit for the findings in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics report.

Cart Before The Horse

LAGOS (AFP) - A Nigerian school has received a gift of 300 laptops -- one per pupil -- but has no electricity to power them up, the official News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported Friday. Ndidi Nnoli-Edozien, coordinator of the One-Laptop-Per-Child programme (OLPC) that donated the computer, said the two-block Galadima Primary School in the centre of the federal capital Abuja had no electricity.

Not A Clown Car

Imagine a 75 year old woman giving unasked for advice to strangers. The best part of getting old is that you can remove the PC filter say what you are really thinking and nobody will hit you.

LOGAN, Utah - A 76-year-old woman has been barred from the bus station after giving unwanted birth-control advice to mothers with large families. "I think it's wrong. It's a violation of my First Amendment rights," Laura Stevens said. She was arrested Tuesday for trespassing, a misdemeanor, according to police records.

My grandmother would have been a lifer.

Its All In The Name

Who knew that naming rugrats had turned into a business.

Sociologists and name researchers say they are seeing unprecedented levels of angst among parents trying to choose names for their children. As family names and old religious standbys continue to lose favor, parents are spending more time and money on the issue and are increasingly turning to strangers for help.

a child's name has become an emblem of individual taste more than a reflection of family traditions or cultural values. "We live in a marketing-oriented society," says Bruce Lansky, a former advertising executive and author of eight books on baby names, including "100,000 + Baby Names." "People who understand branding know that when you pick the right name, you're giving your child a head start."

Other Dress Code Problems

CLEVELAND -- Their union said there have a been a few occasions where male controllers complied with the letter of the guidelines by wearing dresses to work.Air-traffic controllers locked in a labor dispute with the Federal Aviation Administration are upset over a dress code and have shown their displeasure in colorful fashion. At the Cleveland-area air-traffic control center in Oberlin, a controller was told his aquamarine pants were, quoting now, "not gender appropriate" for a man. The FAA said the dress code is meant to create a professional atmosphere.Spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Corey said there have only been rare instances of outrageous outfits meant to create a stir while technically complying with the dress code.

Should make you feel safe knowing your life is in the hands of such stable professionals. Bring back the Gipper.

Pennsatucky Round-Up

Two deer entered an automatic door at a New Oxford, Adams County, retirement home and ran through the building before making their escape.

In a darkened corner of the eastern U.S. known as Pennsylvania, lawmakers are tackling the controversial issue of whether beer should be sold in grocery stores

Nanticoke – A man charged by police on evidence of drunken driving blamed Red Man Select chewing tobacco for leaving an alcohol odor on his breath.

PA Dept. of Public Welfare houses sex offenders and mentally disabled together. There is no law in Pennsylvania preventing sex offenders from living in the same personal care home as mentally retarded people.The state cannot discriminate against them if they're not posing a threat to others.

The Mrs. Degree

Finally one college has taken a stand on this educating women in book learning is a good thing concept.

Starting this fall Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary will offer a program in Christian homemaking, the seminary's president said Tuesday. "We are moving against the tide in order to establish family and gender roles as described in God's word for the home and the family," seminary President Paige Patterson said in his prepared report to the Southern Baptist Convention this week in San Antonio, Texas.

According to the seminary

Web site, the bachelor-of-arts in humanities degree, with a concentration in homemaking, will be offered through the seminary's undergraduate college program.

There is of course one skeptic of this inspired degree.

The seminary's trustees were told about the new program last fall. It wasn't mentioned in news stories or the seminary's press release, but a Baptist blogger critical of Patterson's administration reported he "nearly shot Diet Coke out of my nose" when he heard the recommendation.

Trying to imagine how such a degree falls under the umbrella of the institutional mission of a theological seminary, blogger Benjamin Cole dismissed the idea as "quite silly." A seminary degree in cookie-baking is about as useful as an M.Div. in automotive repair, if you ask me," Cole said. After the fall trustee meeting, Cole proceeded to parody what he nicknamed the "Mrs. Degree" in 10 blogs between Oct. 30 and Nov. 21

What Would J.B. Do

Who knew Supreme Court Jurist Judge Scalia was a fan of 24.

Senior judges from North America and Europe were in the midst of a panel discussion about torture and terrorism law, when a Canadian judge's passing remark - "Thankfully, security agencies in all our countries do not subscribe to the mantra 'What would Jack Bauer do?' " - got the legal bulldog in Judge Scalia barking.

The conservative jurist stuck up for Agent Bauer, arguing that fictional or not, federal agents require latitude in times of great crisis. "Jack Bauer saved Los Angeles. ... He saved hundreds of thousands of lives," Judge Scalia said. Then, recalling Season 2, where the agent's rough interrogation tactics saved California from a terrorist nuke, the Supreme Court judge etched a line in the sand.

"Are you going to convict Jack Bauer?" Judge Scalia challenged his fellow judges. "Say that criminal law is against him? 'You have the right to a jury trial?' Is any jury going to convict Jack Bauer? I don't think so.

"So the question is really whether we believe in these absolutes. And ought we believe in these absolutes."

What happened next was like watching the National Security Judges International All-Star Team set into a high-minded version of a conversation that has raged across countless bars and dinner tables, ever since 24 began broadcasting six seasons ago.

Appears they didn't get into the real debate on how bad John Wayne could kick Jack's butt.

Leave No Child Inside

Once punishing a child meant sending them to their room now it is making them leave their electronic haven and go out into the "Big Room". A report on the new children plague NDD "nature deficit disorder"

Coining the term "nature deficit disorder," Louv has argued that indoor kids are more prone to a range of childhood problems, including obesity, depression and attention disorders. He contends that they miss out on the spiritual, emotional and psychological benefits of exposure to the wonders of nature, including reduced stress and improved cognitive development, creativity and cooperative play.

For The Phlistines

A frontal shot so you don't have to Zoom.

Need A Bigger One For Groundhogs

Not for you PETA types but if you want to have fun with squirrels build them a catapult.

Fed Ex 'em

While not always a paragon of virtue the man can make some interesting points while being entertaining. The Newt on the World That Works and the World That Doesn't.

Quieting The Mind

In diverse places like Oakland, CA and Lancaster, PA a few minutes a day are devoted to mindfulness training,"talk yoga" or embracing your inner hippie. Actually doesn't sound like a bad idea in the overstimulated world that children today inhabit. The faculty and administration could also benefit.

Yolanda Steel, a second-grade teacher at Piedmont, said she was hopeful that the training would help an attention-deficit generation better manage a barrage of stimuli, including PlayStations and text messages. “American children are overstimulated,” Ms. Steel said. “Some have difficulty even closing their eyes.”

Dr. Saltzman, co-director of the mindfulness study at Stanford, said the initial findings showed increased control of attention and “less negative internal chatter — what one girl described as ‘the gossip inside my head: I’m stupid, I’m fat or I’m going to fail math,’ ” Dr. Saltzman said.

A recent study of teenagers by Kaiser Permanente in San Jose, Calif., found that meditation techniques helped improve mood disorders, depression, and self-harming behaviors like anorexia and

bulimia.

Dr. Susan L. Smalley, a professor of psychiatry at U.C.L.A. and director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center there, which is studying the effects on schoolchildren, said one 4-year-old noticed her mother succumbing to road rage while stuck in traffic. “She said, ‘Mommy, Mommy, you have to sing the breathing song,’ ”

Public Education Why Have It

... the simple fact that one of the surest ways to leave a kid “behind” is to hand him over to the government. Americans want universal education, just as they want universally safe food. But nobody believes that the government should run 90 percent of the restaurants, farms, and supermarkets. Why should it run 90 percent of the schools — particularly when it gets terrible results?
...
There’s a consensus in America that every child should get an education, but as David Gelernter noted recently in The Weekly Standard, there’s no such consensus that public schools need to do the educating.

Really, what would be so terrible about government mandating that every kid has to go to school, and providing subsidies and oversight when necessary, but then getting out of the way?
...
Milton Friedman noted long ago that the government is bad at providing services — that’s why he wanted public schools to be called “government schools” — but that it’s good at writing checks. So why not cut checks to people so they can send their kids to school?

What about the good public schools? Well, the reason good public schools are good has nothing to do with government’s special expertise and everything to do with the fact that parents care enough to ensure their kids get a good education. That wouldn’t change if the government got out of the school business. What would change is that fewer kids would get left behind. Article

Fair And Balanced

Recently posted Facts on Fred Thompson as to be evenly balanced some facts on John Edwards.


* John Edwards rejected the campaign slogan "America's First Gay President" in favor of "America's First Woman President".

* In the original version of Snow White, the Evil Queen's mirror answered "John Edwards".

* The reason John Edwards' haircut cost $400? Renting the tungsten carbide tipped jackhammer to break through the hairspray.

* John Edwards uses a Year-at-a-Glance calendar so that he doesn't have to ask for help turning those heavy pages every month.

* John Edwards has no idea what the underside of a toilet seat looks like.

* John Edwards would lose a game of tic-tac-toe while playing x's and given a three-move head start, so as not to damage his opponent's self-esteem.

* John Edwards still carries the scar from where a dandelion seed once fell on him.

* John Edwards went swimming in the ocean and got beaten up by plankton.

* If John Edwards visited the Empire State Building, the island would soon become known as Girlhattan.

* A single drop of John Edwards' blood contains enough estrogen to reverse menopause.

* During a campaign stop at a school for the blind, John Edwards tried reading Braille for a photo-op and broke his finger.

* When John Edwards plays with a Ken doll, it's anatomically correct.

* The vacuum of space is not the absence of matter, it's the overflow from John Edwards' absence of manhood.

* The #1 Google return for a search for "John Edwards"? The Stayfree home page.

* John Edwards is the only person who actually looks MORE macho while riding a Segway.

* John Edwards once failed a high school math test because he hugged the buttons on his calculator instead of punching them.

* John Edwards hates the Easter Bunny because the eggs he leaves are never the same shade of pink as his lip gloss.

* All his papers are signed "Mister John Edwards" so that he can dot the "i" with a heart.

* Teddy bears can't sleep at night unless they're cuddling John Edwards.

* Surveys show that 70% of US children under the age of six believe in both Santa Claus and the Tooth Edwards.

Dad Tricks

My dad used to say that inside of the car's air-bags was uncooked popcorn. When you wrecked the popcorn would pop and you would have a snack until help came.

When I was little, my dad told me ATMs worked by having little monkeys inside them. I believed that for years. Now I work in a bank, and wish it were true!

My dad told me the worst swear word you could possibly say was "Bostonian". It meant "someone who has no private parts." My brother and I used the word until we were teenagers and my father giggled every time we said it, right before he sent us to our rooms.

when i was little my dad told me that polyester was a small animal in australia & they would kill it to make clothes. that night i sat in my room reading the labels on my clothes for hours & threw all of the polyester ones away.

When I was little my Dad told me that the tune played by the ice-cream van was the ice-cream man letting everyone know that he'd run out of ice-cream.

When we'd approach exits or toll booths, my father told me the sound the car made when it went over the rumble strips was the car getting angry because I had been bad. I still sit up a little straighter when I hit a rumble strip.

From Post Secrets Father's Day Edition

What Company Did You Start During Your Summer Vacation

Wake up your team and get him/her to start entreprening, so they can pay your taxes in your dotage. Appears that the 35-45 year olds are the slackers.

Michael S. Dell (of Dell Inc.) sold stamps to collectors when he was 12 Bill Gates founded Microsoft when he was 19. Facebook, the social networking site, was the brainchild of Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard University sophomore at the time. A study by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor showed that the United States was unusual among developed countries in having a higher business start-up rate among its 18- to 24-year-olds than its 35- to 44-year-olds.

But why has America produced so many successful young entrepreneurs? Ben Casnocha, 19, author of the new book

My Start-Up Life: What a (Very) Young CEO Learned on His Journey Through Silicon Valley,offers clues.

As he recounts in his book, Ben was 14 when he started Comcate Inc., a Web-based service for helping local governments manage customer service. He called on numerous mentors, many of them initially strangers or casual acquaintances. Some talented and busy people, presumably impressed by the young man, decided to support his enterprise. He also asked for outright grants to get his business off the ground and to help finance his version of the American dream.

You Can Have Your Cake And Eat It To

Since this is June and Berks County the latest in lowering the price of weddings.

GRANDVILLE, Mich., June 13, 2007 - For the budget-minded bride and groom, here's an idea: rent a fake wedding cake. The idea is to have an elegant, multitiered pretend cake for show while serving guests slices from a real but inexpensive sheet cake. The inside of a faux wedding cake crafted by Fun Cakes contains mostly plastic foam, with a secret spot reserved for a slice of real cake to be shared by the bride and groom. More

Final Straw

Now senior citizens have to sell they yard.

Senior Citizen Center Yard Sale
Friday June 15th and Saturday June 16th
7am - 1pm Rain Or Shine

324 West Walnut Street
Kutztown

All proceeds benefit Northeastern Berks Senior Citizens

An Idea Whose Time Has Come

No! Bad Senate! Stay out of the amnesty!

From IMAO

The Senate is going to try and pass an amnesty bill again much like the dog is going to keep getting into the trash no matter how much you beat him the last time. That's no good. We have to get it in all the Senators' head that there is no touching amnesty until border security is taken care of. So what we need is someone in the Senate to smack the other Senators on the nose every time they stare at the trash bring up amnesty.

Now, I'm not familiar with Senate rules, but can someone make it his job to yell at the Senators anytime they stray from border security to amnesty?

SENATOR: We need to welcome our undocumented citizens and...

TRAINER: That doesn't sound like that's about border security. No amnesty crap until you handle border security.

SENATOR: Excuse me, but I'm a U.S. Senator, and immigrants...

TRAINER: You're still not talking about border security.

SENATOR: Hey, the...

TRAINER: I swear, the next words out of your mouth better be either "fence," "border patrol," or "land mines" or you're going to be spitting teeth!

He may need to physically strike some of the Senators, so he'll have to check the Senate rules on that. If whoever reads the rules says that's not allowed, he may have to physically strike that guy too.

I've always said politics could use more hitting.

On To The State Championship

Through four scoreless innings Monday night at Patriots Park, Brandywine Heights was struggling to get its offense in gear.

A couple of bunts and a bases-clearing double by Alex Najpauer later, the Bullets were on their way back to Shippensburg.

Najpauer’s three-run double keyed a five-run fifth and the undefeated Bullets overcame a shaky sixth inning to defeat Northwestern Lehigh 8-3 in a PIAA Class AA semifinal game.

The victory sends the Bullets (28-0) to the Class AA state championship game for the second time in three years, Friday at 10 a.m. at Shippensburg. More

Strange Maps

If you are a map junky you will love the site Strange Maps. Their latest is an economic map comparing US states with countries. In order to really see how large the US economy is the GDP* of each state is compared to the GDP of countries. California GDP is equivalent to France and Pennsylvania GDP is very similar to the Netherlands.

*Gross Domestic Product(GDP): GDP = consumption + investment + government spending + (exports – imports)

Don't Forget

The season for the softball team continues today with the next victim to be Northwestern at Pates Park. $6.00 admission. For Directions

Ms Emily Goes To The Movies

Review by Emily Trosprel
10th Grade?BHHS
Senior Entertainment Editor

Ocean’s Thirteen

To those who appreciated the effortless cool of heist-flick Ocean's Eleven and felt let down by the lively yet self-indulgent Ocean's Twelve (Did that movie even have a plot?), there are three reasons to love the third installment, Ocean's Thirteen. First and most importantly, it's back to glitzy Las Vegas for the setting. Thankfully the crew got out of Europe, for please, these guys were born for Vegas. Secondly, the villain is played by none other than Al Pacino. Enough said. Finally, with director Steven Soderbergh having admitted not taking Twelve too seriously and promising to return to the top of his game with Thirteen, how could it not turn out sensational? In a dark, under-construction office of a nearly completed Las Vegas casino and hotel, owner Willie Bank (Al Pacino) double-crosses partner Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould) and cuts him out of ownership in the hotel. When poor, gullible Reuben realizes the betrayal, he suffers a heart attack and is left to die by Bank. Of course, Reuben doesn't die, and he's got friends. Ten of them in fact. Ten friends who had knocked off three casinos in Ocean's Eleven and paid it all back in Twelve. Now they're back on the strip with a painstaking plan to make Bank's hotel's grand opening a fiasco. Step one: orchestrate a Vegas vacation out of everyone's nightmares for the hotel critic (David Paymer, credited in the movie as "The V.U.P." or Very Unimportant Guest). Step two: Rig the casino in any and all ways possible to make everyone a winner,everyone except Willie Bank. Step three: Sit back, throw a few dice at the tables and watch their revenge in action. Of course, when the plan runs into some obstacles, it will take more than Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and Rusty Ryan's (Brad Pitt) crew to pull a job on the strip's flashiest new monstrosity. Two more will do the trick; it'll take thirteen.

For a movie that throws the audience into the action immediately with no preamble, it still takes half an hour for the film to start to warm up. That can be forgiven as there's still an hour and a half for Ocean's Thirteen to dazzle. Dazzle it does, carried along by star power not to be matched in any other blockbuster this summer. All of the old crew are back, minus the unmissed Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones who's presence is dismissed within the first five minutes ("It's not their fight."). Newcomers to the series (though not to Ocean's crew; they're the villains of course) are Al Pacino along with the sole woman of the cast, Ellen Barkin as his right hand. Hilarity ensues when Matt Damon playing Linus, a member of the crew of thieves, tries to seduce Barkin armed with pheromone laden cologne and an elongated prosthetic nose. While not strictly a special effects movie, Ocean's Thirteen nevertheless does have its fair share, and Bank's hotel is a marvel of towering, spiraling glass. As could be expected, cinematography captures Las Vegas in all its glittering glamor, perhaps not realistically, but it heightens the film all the same.

Sorry Spidey, Shrek, and Captain Jack, but for sheer style, substance, and revelry, Ocean's Thirteen is the reigning summer threequel, at least until The Bourne Ultimatum in August.

Three out of four stars for Ocean's 13.

Teaching The IPod Generation

From Andrew Ferguson Land of Lincoln: Adventures in Abe's America on his visit to the new museum of the war criminal Abe Lincoln in Springfield, IL:

Though genuine artifacts would be scattered here and there, these wouldn't be ordinary exhibits. They would constitute an 'immersive visitor experience.' From the first, immersive was a crucial word for the museum's boosters, replacing interactive as the reigning cliche. Immersive is interactive, only more so — interactive squared. If your target audience is a school boy who arrives at the museum having only moments before detached himself from the ear buds of his iPod and stashed the Game Boy in his backpack, you had better offer him an immersive experience quick, before he nods off from lack of stimulation. For the curator, the intractable problem of the era is distraction, the inability of museumgoers to attend to their surroundings. And total immersion, emotionally engineered, is the answer: exhibits that overpower you, displays you walk through and participate in, filled with music and sounds to alter your mood, lit in ways to startle or soothe, studded with objects you can reach out and fondle. It is the same principle that says the surest way to get someone wet is to drown him.

Why Pets Runaway

California may become the only U.S. state to require the sterilization of pets under a bill passed by the state Assembly, pitting dog and cat lovers against animal rights activists.
...
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has not taken a position on the bill and will not disclose whether his two dogs have been spayed or neutered, said spokesman Aaron McLear: “He doesn’t want to get into the personal lives of Sarge and Spunky.”

Fearless Prediction

The candidates for President won't be any of the people currently running. These two will come out later and sweep their party's nomination going away. Remember you heard it here first.

“My bipolar kid loves me and hates me.”

A proposed bumper sticker from two moms tired of hearing about the "perfect children" of others.

Massachusetts sisters Gina Gallagher and Patricia Konjoian, both moms, have had enough of perpetuating perfection. In fact, they are likely to wear T-shirts that read: “Shut Up About ... Your Perfect Kid!” It also is the title of their new self-published book.

“They’re the mothers and fathers of the perfect kids. We’ve all seen and heard from them,” they write. “They are in our cities and towns. On the soccer fields. At swimming lessons. Behind the bulletproof glass at ballet class. You know them — the ones who drone on and on about how smart, athletic, gifted and talented their children are. Blah, blah, blah.”

The duo are on the front lines of what they describe as “the movement of imperfection.” Gallagher and Konjoian set out to give a voice to parents of children with conditions such as attention deficit disorder, bipolar disorder, Down syndrome and autism who think their kids are pretty neat, too.

Great Non-PC Ad

You don't see many advertisments these days that combine the joys of a good smoke and being a sniper. Back in Feb. 1938 views was a bit different. Makes you wonder what ads of today will be looked on in horror in 2076.

Life Hacks

If you work with or married to an addict to productivity porn good way to drive them crazy thanks to Marc Andressen.

Let's start with a bang: don't keep a schedule.

He's crazy, you say!

I'm totally serious. If you pull it off -- and in many structured jobs, you simply can't -- this simple tip alone can make a huge difference in productivity.

By not keeping a schedule, I mean: refuse to commit to meetings, appointments, or activities at any set time in any future day.

As a result, you can always work on whatever is most important or most interesting, at any time.

Want to spend all day writing a research report? Do it!

Want to spend all day coding? Do it!

Want to spend all day at the cafe down the street reading a book on personal productivity? Do it!

When someone emails or calls to say, "Let's meet on Tuesday at 3", the appropriate response is: "I'm not keeping a schedule for 2007, so I can't commit to that, but give me a call on Tuesday at 2:45 and if I'm available, I'll meet with you."

Or, if it's important, say, "You know what, let's meet right now."

Clearly this only works if you can get away with it. If you have a structured job, a structured job environment, or you're a CEO, it will be hard to pull off.

But if you can do it, it's really liberating, and will lead to far higher productivity than almost any other tactic you can try.

This idea comes from a wonderful book called

A Perfect Mess, which explains how not keeping a schedule has been key to Arnold Schwarzenegger's success as a movie star, politician, and businessman over the last 20 years.

Want to meet with Arnold? Sure, drop on by. He'll see you if he can. But you might want to call first. Sorry, he doesn't schedule appointments in advance.

As a result, for 20 years he has been free to work on whatever is most important in his life at any time.

Those of you in California may recall how, once Arnold decided to run for Governor, he went into a blaze of action and activity that resulted in a landslide victory. The book attributes this in part to the fact that his schedule was completely clear and he could spend all day, every day on his new political career, without having to worry about distractions or commitments.

If you have at any point in your life lived a relatively structured existence -- probably due to some kind of job with regular office hours, meetings, and the like -- you will know that there is nothing more liberating than looking at your calendar and seeing nothing but free time for weeks ahead to work on the most important things in whatever order you want.

Another Softball Victory

The girls won tonight in Lyons 5-1.

Grow Your Own Furniture

Forget about IKEA if you have a little time and some dirt you can grow your own chairs.

We're # 185

From a survey done by the Pittsburgh Business Times school district rankings based on three years of PSSA test results in reading, math and writing. Two districts are not shown because they do not have a high school. No details on the formula used but looks like one weighted to the Pittsburgh area.

Upper St. Clair (Allegheney Co.) #1
...
Wyomissing 53
Wilson 92
Twin Valley 100
Boyertown 121
Exeter 124
Kutztown 132
Schuylkill Valley 134
Oley Valley 165
Fleetwood 181
Brandywine Heights 185
Daniel Boone 209
Governor Mifflin 229
Muhlenberg 255
Conrad Weiser 277
Tulpehocken 306
Hamburg 324
Antietam 401
Reading 486
...
Harrisburg City Schools (Dauphin Co.) #498

I Want To Be The Edumacation President

Who is Tom morrow and why does he need a new job?

Speaking to Silicon Valley technology business leaders in California. Her podium, at the Applied Technologies University campus in Santa ClaraShe quickly let her audience of some 150 Silicon Valley CEO's know that she was the hi-technology presidential candidate".

However, Ms Clinton clearly failed to impress upon them that she was the high-quality grammatical candidate.

And while they focus on new jobs for tomorrow, perhaps they should all concentrate on correct spelling for today.

Lower Your Carbon Footprint

Take the first step by making Blackie your home page

Another Season Another District Championship

Brandywine Heights continues to put the ball in play and is rewarded with a victory over Boiling Springs and its second 3-AA softball championship in three years.

The Stealth Candidate

Fred Thompson now appears to be the stealth candidate for the Republican nomination. IMAO has compiled some interest Thompson facts for people that want to know about the real Fred Thompson.

AWESOME FACTS ABOUT FRED THOMPSON

* Fred Thompson has on multiple occasions pronounced "nuclear" correctly.

* Fred Thompson once stood on our south border and glared at Mexico. There was no illegal immigration for a month.

* Fred Thompson often fills in for Paul Harvey and Batman.

* Physicists say nothing can escape a black hole or Fred Thompson.

* Why does Iran want nukes? Fear of Fred Thompson.

* Though Fred Thompson left the Senate in 2003, Harry Reid still hasn't stopped wetting his pants.

* Only two things can kill Superman: Kryptonite and Fred Thompson.

* Every night, Osama checks under his bed for Fred Thompson.

* Fred Thompson is a prime number.

* Actual cause of global warming? Fred Thompson's burning rage.

* Fred Thompson appears human size because he is actually standing a million miles away.

* Not only does Fred Thompson cut taxes, he cuts tax collectors.

* According to Sura 8 verse 65 of the Koran, Allah told the Prophet Muhammad, "O Prophet! Urge the believers to war; if there are twenty patient ones of you they shall overcome two hundred, and if there are a hundred of you they shall overcome a thousand of those who disbelieve... but if you're up against Fred Thompson, you're totally screwed and I can't help you."

Some of these facts may just be urban legend.