Smart car maker to unveil tiny pickup truck

 Smart, the Daimler division that produces the super-tiny Smart ForTwo minicar, will unveil a pickup truck version at the Detroit Auto Show in January.

Police saved lives in postal shooting

A heavy police presence at a nearby mall for the holidays and a rapid response by employees helped save lives when a gunman armed with several pistols opened fire at Montgomery's main post office, postal officials said.

SOPA/Protect IP in short

http://americancensorship.org/

Stop Congress From Taking Over The Internet

Stop the Internet Blacklist Legislation

The Internet Blacklist Legislation - known as PROTECT IP Act in the Senate and Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House - is a threatening sequel to last year's COICA Internet censorship bill.  Like its predecessor, this legislation invites Internet security risks, threatens online speech, and hampers Internet innovation. Urge your members of Congress to reject this Internet blacklist campaign in both its forms!

Big media and its allies in Congress are billing the Internet Blacklist Legislation as a new way to prevent online infringement. But innovation and free speech advocates know that this initiative is nothing more than a dangerous wish list that will compromise Internet security while doing little or nothing to encourage creative expression.

As drafted, the legislation would grant the government and private parties unprecedented power to interfere with the Internet's domain name system (DNS). The government would be able to force ISPs and search engines to redirect or dump users' attempts to reach certain websites' URLs. In response, third parties will woo average users to alternative servers that offer access to the entire Internet (not just the newly censored U.S. version), which will create new computer security vulnerabilities as the reliability and universality of the DNS evaporates.

It gets worse: Under SOPA's provisions, service providers (including hosting services) would be under new pressure to monitor and police their users’ activities.  While PROTECT-IP targeted sites “dedicated to infringing activities,” SOPA targets websites that simply don’t do enough to track and police infringement (and it is not at all clear what would be enough).  And it creates new powers to shut down folks who provide tools to help users get access to the Internet the rest of the world sees (not just the “U.S. authorized version”). 

Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has placed a hold on the Senate version of the bill, taking a principled stand against a very dangerous bill. But every Senator and Representative should be opposing the PROTECT IP Act and SOPA. Contact your members of Congress today to speak out!

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New Phase of Water Discovered

Besides vapor, ice and liquid, a fourth form of water may exist,

Asteroid on Track for Close Encounter with Earth

An asteroid four times the length of a football field will pass closer to Earth than the moon when it hurtles through our solar system tomorrow morning.

Economic Growth in U.S., Though Still Modest, Speeds Up

Economic growth in the United States picked up in the third quarter, the Commerce Department said Thursday, in an encouraging sign that the recovery, while still painfully slow, has not stalled.

F-22 Raptor, America's Most Expensive Fighter, Grounded Again After Oxygen Scare

For the second time this year the Air Force has grounded dozens of F-22 Raptors, some of the world's most sophisticated and expensive stealth fighter jets, after another pilot appeared to suffer from a lack of oxygen mid-flight.

Japanese calculates pi to 10 trillion digits

Shigeru Kondo of Iida, Nagano Prefecture, worked with software designed by Northwestern University grad student Alexander Yee, and followed up their 2010 feat of reckoning pi to 5 trillion digits.

Bear Cub in Grocery Store

A bear cub was caught on tape climbing on the produce section of an Alaska grocery store.

Exotic Animals on the Loose in Ohio After Park Owner Found Dead

Dozens of animals escaped from a wild-animal preserve that houses bears, big cats and other beasts, and the owner later was found dead there, said police, who shot several of the animals and urged nearby residents to stay indoors.

Wacky Signs From Occupy Wall Street

The photo editors at ABCNews.com have been covering the Occupy Wall Street protests from day one and combed through thousands of images to find the very best.

Plane Crashes on Florida Turnpike

A single-engine plane crash landed on the Florida Turnpike outside Miami Wednesday, but the cause of the crash remained unclear.

United States Marks 10 years in Afghan War. Was Anything Accomplished?

The nation marks a moment Friday that it never really expected, 10 years of war in Afghanistan. Out of sight and off the minds of millions of Americans, the war is the most prolonged conflict this country has been engaged in since Vietnam.

Steve Jobs dies at 56; Apple's co-founder transformed computers and culture

His legacy of blockbuster products includes the Macintosh, iPod, iPhone and iPad. Meanwhile, Jobs' other firm, Pixar, revolutionized computer animation.

CERN Measures Faster-Than-Light Particle

So the big news out of CERN this afternoon is the Associated Press report that researchers have clocked a subatomic particle traveling faster than the speed of light.

Half a Second Before Japan Tsunami

Following is an email that was sent to me by one of my friends.  I have not fact checked this, but non-the-less, it is still very cool.

Freed Hikers Discuss Life in Iranian Prison

Freed U.S. hikers Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer told reporters gathered at a New York hotel that they were so isolated in the Iranian prison where they were held for over two years that they didn't know they were being freed until minutes before their release last week.

Shutdown looms as Congress debates spending plan

The standoff continues Monday between the House and the Senate over emergency funding, which is holding up a short-term spending measure to keep government running into the new fiscal year that begins this weekend.

The measure includes additional money to fill the almost depleted emergency aid coffers of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Army Corps of Engineers following Hurricane Irene, Tropical Storm Lee, wildfires and tornadoes so far this year.

House Republicans have passed a bill that cuts spending elsewhere to offset some of the increased disaster relief aid. Democrats oppose offsets for emergency aid, saying disaster relief for Americans in need should be unencumbered. The Democratic-led Senate rejected the House measure on Friday by a 59-36 vote.

The package would fund the government for the first seven weeks of the new fiscal year that starts Saturday.

For the third time in six months, a partial government shutdown is possible if the Republican-led House and Democratic-controlled Senate fail to agree on the short-term spending plan by Friday -- the end of the current fiscal year.

The measure currently under deliberation -- which would keep Washington running through November 18 -- includes critical new disaster funding assistance for states hit hard by Hurricane Irene, Tropical Storm Lee, and a series of recent wildfires and tornadoes.

But Republicans want less disaster aid than their Democratic counterparts, and want to pay for it partly by cutting funding for programs designed to spur clean energy innovation.

The House passed a "common sense measure," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters during the Senate vote. "It's time for the Senate to move."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, announced his intention to push for a new vote Monday on a compromise package incorporating the GOP's lower overall disaster relief spending levels while eliminating any cuts to clean energy programs.

Congressmen and senators need to "cool off for a little bit," Reid said Friday. "There's a compromise here."

"More reasonable heads will prevail," he predicted.

Meanwhile, the agency responsible for doling out disaster relief money -- FEMA -- could run out of funds as soon as Monday, according to Reid.

"If Congress does allow the balance of the Disaster Relief Fund to reach zero, there are laws that govern federal agency operations in the absence of funding," according to a FEMA statement released Friday. "Under law, FEMA would be forced to temporarily shut down disaster recovery and assistance operations, including financial assistance to individuals until Congress appropriated more funds. This would include all past and current FEMA recovery operations."

FEMA spokeswoman Rachel Racusen told CNN Friday that the agency is exploring other funding options as a way to continue providing disaster relief.

The House GOP legislation includes $3.65 billion in new disaster relief funding -- $1 billion in emergency funds available when the bill is enacted and roughly $2.6 billion to be budgeted for those federal response agencies for the 2012 fiscal year that begins October 1.

One key sticking point is that the House bill requires that the $1 billion in immediate disaster funding be offset with $1.5 billion in cuts to a loan program that helps automakers retool their operations to make more fuel-efficient cars. Another $100 million would be cut from an alternative energy loan program that provided funding for the solar panel firm Solyndra, a company that declared bankruptcy late last month despite receiving a $535 million federal guarantee in 2009.

Last week, the Senate passed a spending bill with bipartisan support that would provide $6.9 billion for FEMA and other federal agencies, to be used both for immediate disaster relief as well as in the new fiscal year. The Senate version required no spending offsets.

Democrats have said they will continue to oppose any offsets to counter the emergency spending for natural disasters.

Changes to Netflix

Today Netflix announced via their blogs that there would be changes to their popular business and service.  Here is the exact text that the Co-founder and CEO typed to announce the changes.

Google Doodle Honors Albert Szent-Györgyi, Father of Vitamin C

Did you have a glass of OJ this morning? Maybe you popped a vitamin C pill or some Emergen-C to ward off a cold. But how do we know about the restorative powers of vitamin C? Today's Google doodle might offer some insight.

Remembering 9/11, A Decade On

The ceremony in Lower Manhattan focuses, as it has in years past, on a three-hour reading of the names of those who perished exactly 10 years ago in the terrorist attacks.

Bush and Obama at Ground Zero to Mark Sept. 11

President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush are at the site of the World Trade Center to mark the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Timeline of 9/11

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were a crossroads for people all across the globe. After that fateful day came and went, political and military policies shifted seismically, affecting, and continuing to affect, people at every level of society. These changes happened not only in the United States but in countries throughout the world. Many of the strongest memories of September 11 are held in the hearts and minds of those directly confronted with the aftermath of the attacks in New York City, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania. Thousands lost family, friends and loved ones in the attacks, which killed around 3,000 people, mostly in downtown Manhattan. The suddenness with which their lives changed made the tragedy that much more unforgettable.

Another Way to Share Randomness Blogs

If you enjoy reading my posts, first, thank you, second, if you want to spread the word about the blogs, there is now another way, via QR codes.  If you don't know what a QR code is, that's OK.  They are fairly new to the US, although they've been around for a while in Japan and parts of Europe.  They are kind of boxy as you can see below that can embed just about anything, the only limitations are that it can only hold 256 characters and there are no phones, that I know of, that have an app preloaded that can read QR codes.  If your running Android, a good app is Barcode Scanner by ZXing Team.  If your running iOS, a good app is QR Reader for iPhone by TapMedia LTD.  I don't have devices that run any other OS but I will be doing research to find good QR code apps for OSes like BlackBerry OS, and WindowsPhone.

The follow QR codes go to Techjunkynews.blogspot.com and random-stuff-on-my-mind.blogspot.com

Google Says Gmail Attack Focused on Iranian Targets

Google said late Sunday that an attack mounted against its Gmail service targeted users primarily located in Iran, although the company has taken steps to block further interception attempts.

As Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) hunt for and collect the weapons that fueledMuammar Qaddafi's war machine, they are quickly learning that some choice pieces of his vast stockpile of mines, mortars, and explosives are missing.

Google Says Gmail Attack Focused on Iranian Targets

Google said late Sunday that an attack mounted against its Gmail service targeted users primarily located in Iran, although the company has taken steps to block further interception attempts.

Hurricane Prompts AT&T, Verizon to Safeguard Wireless Networks

U.S. wireless telephone companies said they are preparing for Hurricane Irene a day after regulators expressed concern that clogged mobile-phone networks slowed emergency calls after this week’s earthquake in Virginia.

Nigeria U.N. office hit by huge bomb

A large explosion struck the United Nations' main office in Nigeria's capital Friday, flattening one wing of the building.

What If Warm Weather Is Causing Wars?

Tempers flaring during heat waves is nothing new, but what does that scale across populations? Can unusually warm weather help cause wars?

Steve Jobs Steps Down as CEO of Apple Inc

Steve Jobs has stepped down as CEO of Apple

The 10 Strangest Things You Can Do With a Smartphone

There’s no question that smartphones are practical tools. With apps that let you do everything from transfer money to find directions, they’re fast becoming indispensable to many Americans. And this is just the beginning: According to a survey published last week, so far only 35 percent of us own one.

Ring of Antimatter Found in Earth's Orbit

The earth has a ring of antimatter encircling it

A 5.9 magnitude earthquake jolted the East Coast, rattling people from Martha's Vineyard to Washington, D.C. to North Carolina, prompting the evacuation of Congressional buildings, slowing rail and air traffic, and taking two nuclear reactors offline.

The earthquake sent people pouring out of office buildings, hospitals, the Pentagon and the State Department. The pillars of the capitol in Washington, D.C. shook. Alarms sounded in the FBI and Department of Justice buildings, and some flooding was reported on an upper floor of the Pentagon as a result of the quake.

Parks and sidewalks in Washington were packed with people who fled their buildings. Police on horseback are keeping people a safe distance from getting too close to the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial.

Officials are inspecting Congressional buildings before members of Congress and their staff can return to their offices.

The quake was felt as far north as New Hampshire and in Martha's Vineyard where President Obama and his family are vacationing. It was felt as far south as South Carolina.

No significant damage or fatalities have been reported. Some injuries have been reported in Washington D.C., the fire department spokesman told the Associated Press. In New York City, the fire department said that they are receiving a surge in calls but have had no serious building damage reported.

Authorities in New York and Washington said cell phone traffic was so heavy that it hampered their ability to respond to emergencies.

The epicenter of the quake was near Mineral, Va., 39 miles from Richmond, Va., and 85 miles from the nation's capital. The quake was .6 miles deep.

According to convertalot.com, a web site which compiles measurements and calculators for a variety of statistics, the magnitude 5.9 earthquake released energy equivalent to the explosion of 10,676 tons of TNT.

The epicenter of the quake is very close to two Dominion Power nuclear power plants, North Anna 1 and 2.

Rare 5.9 East Coast Earthquake

Elizabeth Stuckle, spokesperson for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said that the reactors were "automatically and safely shut down." The plant declared an "unusual event" which is the lowest category of four emergency classifications. Back-up generators automatically kicked in to keep the reactors cool, the NRC said.

Nine other nuclear plants on the East coast declared an "unusual event," but were none shut down.

The East Coast gets earthquakes from time to time, but rarely of a magnitude to make skyscrapers sway.

Paul Segall, a Stanford geophysicist who studies the structure and development of earthquake faults, called today's shaker "a significant earthquake for that part of the world. It could do significant damage."

"I can't remember an event that large on the East Coast," he said.

The tremblor affected travel in the region.

Amtrak said it was running at reduced speed and was checking tracks and terminals for damage. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority said the Metro is moving at 15 miles per hour as inspectors check all tracks.

Officials at Reagan National Airport in Washington and JFK International Airport in New York temporarily halted flights and the control towers at Reagan, JFK and Newark International airports was temporarily evacuated. The delay will cause slow air traffic throughout the region, the Federal Aviation Administration warned.

A woman who works at Mineral Barber Shop in Mineral, Va. said that the inside of her shop is a mess but there doesn't appear to be any major damage outside the town square.

People in the New York Times building on 42nd street in Manhattan said they felt the entire building shift, and watched office furniture move. As the tall buildings in New York swayed, people ran out into the street.

The New York City Criminal Court in lower Manhattan was also evacuated.

The earthquake felt along the eastern corridor follows an earthquake felt Monday in Colorado. That 5.3 magnitude earthquake struck near Trinidad, Colorado.

The United States' Geological Survey said that earthquakes have been felt in the central Virginia area since 1774.

I will continue to post updates as news comes in.  If anyone has any details about the quakes, please feel free to share them.

On the Flimsy Nature of Money

I was reading the Economist today when I was granted a flash, a fleeting glimpse, at insight into the tenuousness hold on reality that we give money.

Hurricane Irene gets stronger, projected as Category 4

A strengthening Hurricane Irene is expected to near the Southeast Florida coast early Friday morning, and a chunk of Broward and Palm Beach counties remain in the storm’s projected path.

At 8 a.m., the National Hurricane Center reported that Irene had sustained winds near 100 mph as it lashed the northern coast of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The Category 2 storm continued to move north-northwest at 10 mph and is expected to make a turn toward the northwest on Wednesday, thrashing the central Bahamas.

Forecasters issued a hurricane watch for the northern coast of Haiti from Le Mole St. Nicholas eastward to the border. Turks and Caucos Islands, the Bahamas and the rest of Haiti are under a hurricane warning.

Over the next few days, forecasters expect the storm to grow more dangerous and damaging, as it intensifies into a major Category 3 hurricane by Thursday afternoon.

At that point, the official forecast track would put Irene — potentially churning 115 mph winds — near Andros Island and about 130 miles southeast of Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Winds extend up to 50 miles outward from the core. The storm could increase to Category 4 strength by Friday.

On Monday, Irene had began to ease away from the northwestern Caribbean, leaving nearly one million people in the dark in Puerto Rico, a billionaire’s mansion torched by lightning in the British Virgin Islands and fears of a dark night of drenching rain and floods across Hispaniola.

Unfortunately, that appeared to be only a warm-up for worse.

South Florida remained in the cone of probability, though trends in computer models suggested the thereat was lessening here and increasing for the Carolinas.

Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman for the hurricane center, said Irene’s projected path paralleling the Florida coast meant that a slight wobble or delay in an expected northward turn could push the powerful core from offshore onto a densely developed shoreline.

“The stakes are high because it would take just a slight shift in the track to the left to make a dramatic change in the impact of the storm in a hugely populated area,’’ he said.

The impact could be serious wherever Irene makes landfall. With little but warm water and favorable winds in its path, forecasters expected the storm to steadily intensify. Along with gusts and heavy rains, Irene also will be pushing a five- to eight-foot storm surge into the southeastern Bahamas that could reach seven to 11 feet by the time it reaches the Central Bahamas.

Even as a tropical storm, Irene proved damaging. There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries in the northwestern Caribbean, but its passage across Puerto Rico plunged half the island into darkness.

Things began returning to normal in Puerto Rico late in the day, with San Juan’s major shopping mall reopening, but dozens of roads remained impassable and several communities were flooded or cut off. At least three rivers had burst their banks. The Plata River was most worrisome, authorities said.

“As long as it is still raining in the mountains, we’re still worried,” Gov. Luis Fortuño told El Nuevo Día newspaper.

Puerto Rico Emergency operations director Mauricio Rivera told The Miami Herald that by late Monday afternoon, more than half the island still had no electricity and 28 percent of the population was without running water. The island of Vieques remained completely without power.

“I call what we had an ‘almost-hurricane,’ ” Rivera said. “It brought a lot of rain, a lot of wind, and quite a few electrical poles fell and so did trees. The situation is returning to normal. It’s raining, but mostly just drizzling.’’

Still, callers bombarded local radio stations with complaints, reiterating that the island would not be prepared for a stronger storm.

“Every time two drops fall, we’re left without electricity,” a caller told Radio Isla. “And I’m talking about Guaynabo City, not some rural countryside.”

South Florida airports reported 26 cancellations due to the hurricane.

In the British Virgin Islands, billionaire Richard Branson, the flamboyant owner of Virgin Air, reported that his luxury home went up in flames during Irene’s passage, forcing actress Kate Winslet and about 20 other guests to flee.

Branson, reported the blaze and posted photos on his personal blog, citing a lightning strike as the tropical storm raked Necker Island around 4 a.m. Monday. None of the 20 guests were hurt, he said, and Winslet, an Oscar-winner who became a star with her appearance in the 1997 movie Titanic, pitched in to help his 90-year-old mother evacuate.

Though Irene’s jog northwest put its strongest winds and heaviest rains off the coast of Hispaniola, the Dominican Republic and Haiti still were bracing for heavy rains along the north region, with three to six inches projected and more in spots, but also hoping that Irene’s jog north would limit potentially deadly flooding and mudslides.

In Haiti, the greatest threat wasn’t in the capital city filled with some 600,000 earthquake refugees but in the northern region where past storms have triggered flooding and mudslides that have killed thousands.

"In the coming days, we can have flooding throughout Haiti," Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste, the head of the Civil Protection Department said.

"Let’s fight so we can save lives. Let’s take precautions."

Flooding also could worsen the country’s cholera epidemic, which has already left 6,000 Haitians dead.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/23/2371014_p2/hurricane-irene-lashing-northern.html#ixzz1Vr4Nnv6e

Tobacco Companies Sue over Graphic Warning Labels

Faced with putting graphic anti-smoking images on their packs and cartons, tobacco companies have filed suit to overturn the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) new requirements on the marketing of cigarettes.

London Rioting

British Home Secretary Theresa May says the number of people arrested in rioting in London has reached 215.

May says 27 people have been charged so far in the unrest and looting that has stretched over three days. Police said 35 police officers were injured.

Historic Downgrade of US

If you haven't heard, Standard & Poor's (S&P) downgraded the US's credit rating for the first time ever from AAA to AA+ last week.  What does this really mean though?

Feds Will Probe Whether News Corp Hacked 9/11 Victims' Phones - ABC News

Feds Will Probe Whether News Corp Hacked 9/11 Victims' Phones - ABC News

ESA's Gaia camera packs 1 billion pixels

How big is the image sensor on your camera? 5 megapixels? 8? 16? It hardly matters, because the European Space Agency is about to make you feel very inadequate.

Cyprus: Navy chief Killed in Blast

The head of Cyprus' navy, Andreas Ioannides, was among 12 people killed when seized containers of gunpowder exploded its main base.

The commander of the Evangelos Florakis base, Lambros Lambrou, also died.

The defence minister and military chief have resigned over the incident, which officials said occurred after a bush fire ignited the explosives.

A government spokesman has said a recent meeting concluded that safety at the site needed to be improved.

But the recommendations had not yet been implemented, he added.

The comments came after Ioannides' son said senior officials had repeatedly ignored his warnings about the condition of the containers.

'Biblical dimensions'

More than 90 containers of gunpowder had been kept in the open at the Evangelos Florakis base since they were confiscated by the Cypriot authorities from a ship intercepted in 2009 sailing from Iran to Syria in violation of United Nations sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Early on Monday, firefighters were called to tackle a small fire in the storage area. At 0550 (0250 GMT), there was a massive explosion.

Click to play

Greek newspaper photographer Stephanos Kouratzis describes the impact of the blast

The blast killed Mr Ioannides and Mr Lambrou, as well as four other navy personnel and six firefighters, a police and military statement said. Sixty-two people were wounded, two of them seriously.

The shockwave destroyed the walls of two multi-storey buildings on the base, and generator buildings and fuel tanks at the nearby Vassilikos power plant. Debris was blown as far as 3km (2 miles) from the base and hundreds of trees were flattened.

Nearly all the windows in the village of Zygi were blown out, while roof tiles were torn off and windows broken in the village of Mari.

"My tractor jumped about half a metre in the air," farmer Nicos Aspros told the Reuters news agency. "There isn't a house in the community which hasn't been damaged."

Commerce Minister Antonis Paschalides said the damage to the power station, which produces 60% of the country's electricity, was a "tragedy of Biblical dimensions".

The blast caused widespread power cuts, and the electricity authority has warned that the plant will not immediately come back online.

Government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said there was no risk of further explosions, and that foreign experts would be called in to help the police and armed forces, the National Guard, investigate the incident.

The government had declared three days of official mourning, and the state would pay for the funerals of the victims, he added.

Asked about reports that navy commanders had expressed concerns over the safety of the gunpowder storage area, Mr Stefanou said officials had met last week at the defence ministry to discuss the matter.

"Decisions were taken on protecting the material, but unfortunately this was not possible as time ran out," he added.

Earlier, Ioannides' son told CyBC television that his father had warned that the gunpowder containers had been had become "warped" because they had remained exposed to the elements since being confiscated.

Mari's community leader, Nicos Asprou, told reporters that the community had not been told gunpowder was being stored at the base.

President Demetris Christofias meanwhile accepted the resignations of Defence Minister Costas Papacostas and National Guard chief of staff, Petros Tsalikidis. They will remain in post until replacements are named.

"I want to express my sympathy and condolences to the families of the people who died while selflessly performing their duty," Mr Christofias said. "The material damage can be repaired, but lives do not come back."

Independent South Sudan "Free at last"

Tens of thousands of South Sudanese danced and cheered as their new nation declared independence on Saturday, a hard-won separation from the north that still leaves simmering issues of disputed borders and oil payments unresolved.

President Obama not giving up on Debt Deal

President Barack Obama hasn't given up on getting congressional leaders to accept a $4 trillion debt reduction deal that Republicans have rejected for its tax increases and Democrats dislike for its cuts to programs for seniors and the poor, administration officials said hours before talks resumed Sunday.

Hianus Somewhat Over

I'm really sorry that I haven't been very good about publishing on a regular basis this summer.  I have been away at camps and on vacations.  I will try to get back on a regular schedule.  I will not be publishing the last week of July and into the first week of August because I will be overseas on a business trip.  I am working on a twitter feed as a supplement to my blogs.  I will keep you all posted on the progress.  Thank you for continuing to be loyal even though I haven't had much content up.

South Sudan Celebrates First Independence Day

South Sudan's overjoyed population chanted "Oyaay!" as it's nationhood was made official in a proclamation ceremony full of pomp and circumstance.

Baidu CEO and Bill Gates Take On Smoking

In the latest sign of philanthropy's spread among China's wealthy, Baidu Inc.'s Robin Li joined Bill Gates Saturday to announce a campaign to combat smoking in China.

The Current Tally of Countries from which People Have Visited Randomness

United States 718 Singapore 27 Denmark 25 United Kingdom 20 Malaysia 20 Germany 15 Bangladesh 11 Canada 8 Russia 8 Spain 6