Vacation Fun! (w/pic)

This is where I spent part of my afternoon this Fourth of July holiday--the coin operated laundry, or, as the sign says, COI_ L__NDR_! Also, I spent a good part of the afternoon mowing my Mother's back yard. In a light rain. 

Edjumakashun

From FARK.com:

Toyota building new plant in Canada despite massive subsidy offers from American states. Reason: southern Americans too dumb and illiterate to train; need directions in pictorial form.

FARK entry links to this article:

He [Gerry Fedchun, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association] said Nissan and Honda have encountered difficulties getting new plants up to full production in recent years in Mississippi and Alabama due to an untrained - and often illiterate - workforce. In Alabama, trainers had to use "pictorials" to teach some illiterate workers how to use high-tech plant equipment.

Smuggling

FOX News is carrying an Associated Press story, on the Internet, which deals with how easy it is to smuggle people into the United States.

A restaurateur in this border city [Tijuana, Mexico] ran another business smuggling Lebanese compatriots into the United States, some with connections to Hezbollah. A Sept. 11 commission staff report called him the only "human smuggler with suspected links to terrorists" convicted in the United States. But he is not unique, according to an Associated Press investigation based on government and court records and scores of interviews.

Supremes

For Independence Day, Supreme Court Slams Founders

Reflection (w/pic)

Originally uploaded by stereoleo.

Found this interesting photograph on flickr, today. I really like the composition.

Boffins create zombie dogs

Today, I found a truly bizarre news story at news.com.au. As a matter of fact, it was so bizarre that I don't know if it is a genuine news article, or if it is some sort of parody. Anyway, here is an excerpt:

Scientists have created eerie zombie dogs, reanimating the canines after several hours of clinical death in attempts to develop suspended animation for humans.

US scientists have succeeded in reviving the dogs after three hours of clinical death, paving the way for trials on humans within years.

Pittsburgh's Safar Centre for Resuscitation Research has developed a technique in which subject's veins are drained of blood and filled with an ice-cold salt solution.

The animals are considered scientifically dead, as they stop breathing and have no heartbeat or brain activity.

But three hours later, their blood is replaced and the zombie dogs are brought back to life with an electric shock.

History of the Arab Peoples ...

... is a book that I own. Here is a description of the book from the inside flap of the dust jacket:

Despite the turmoil of Arab nationalism and fundamentalism, Middle Eastern wars, and oil crises, the history of the Arab world has been little known and poorly understood in the West. One reason may be that, for more than half a century, there has been no up-to-date single-volume work that chronicles the story of Arab civilization--until now.

Albert Hourani, distinguished historian and interpreter, has written a masterwork--a panoramic view encompassing twelve centuries of Arab history and culture. He looks at all sides of this rich and venerable civilization: the beauty of the Alhambra and the great mosques, the importance attached to education, the achievements of Arab science--but also internal conflicts, wide-spread poverty, the role of women, and the contemporary Palestinian question.

Hourani describes how the new religion of Islam created a far-flung Arab Muslim world that embraces lands reaching from the shores of the Atlantic to Iraq and the Indian Ocean. Each has its own geographical features and historical traditions, yet certain themes and experiences are common to all: the rise and spread of Islam, the growth of the Ottoman Empire, the expansion of European trade and empire, and in the last decades, the challenge of Islamic resurgence and integration into a new kind of world. He provides a clear and comprehensive interpretation of the paths of the Muslim religion, its divisions, its authority and traditions, its current contradictory powers to unite and to divide.

It is available on-line from Amazon.com. The paperback edition is only $11.55, plus shipping.

Mona Charen: A must read

Mona Charen's latest column, "A must read," is about Dr. Thomas Sowell.

Let's say, just for the sake of argument, that there are some intelligent people out there who have never read anything by Thomas Sowell. (I know, I know, the chances are remote, but work with me here.) They've never enjoyed his fascinating excursion into group traits in "Ethnic America," nor his penetrating analysis of what has gone wrong with the schools in "Inside American Education," nor his brilliant dissection of the inevitable pitfalls of regulation in "Knowledge and Decisions." There is hope. His new volume, "Black Rednecks and White Liberals," offers a taste of some of his earlier work as well as a cornucopia of new insights. Indeed, the new book is so clarifying and so wise that even experienced Sowell readers will find much that is new.

Garbage (w/pic)

I live on a busy street; therefore, a lot of junk ends up in the front yard. This is just an example.

What a face! (w/pic)

Every morning, when I get to work, I get a cup of coffee. Then, a draw a face on it. Later in the day, when I get cappuccino at a convenience store, the picture makes it obvious that I brought my own cup, and, therefore, I am charged the "refill" rate, which is less = I save money!