musicians kicking the bucket

The media makes such a fuss speculating about the causes of death for musicians like Michael Jackson and now Mozart. You'd think specifying the precise way they went was more sensational than what they left to us.

A California vegan on the FBI's most wanted list? It seems a bit ridiculous for both parties involved, although I do have to admit this vegan gives us veggies a pretty bad name.

Our media really reports significant news these days. The residents of Obama, Japan believe it, glasses and all.

There went 27,000 marijuana plants down the drain in Sonoma. Woops.

A whopping 5% of electricity in the US now goes to phantom power -- the power sucked by your plugged in gadgets and even power strips even when you're not using the energy. The only solution currently is to unplug your power strip every night. Perhaps in the long run some inventor will come up with a solution that more people can deal with. But for the moment please unplug before you sleep and don't leave your gadgets on sleep mode.

From dad -- The scary side of fog: 100-car pileups.

If you're looking for a harrowing real-life scare this Halloween, look no further than the moving experience of four firefighters who narrowly escaped death in the SoCal inferno.

The most original way I've ever encountered to talk about education.

Why do I crave chocolate? It's the bacteria living in my stomach. I have to feed them what they want. Seriously. Although I wonder why they get hungrier when I'm stressed.

After reading this NYT article on a visit to Darjeeling, I really want to go on a tea vacation. Like wine tasting but in the Indian mountains with prayer flags flying and more modest accommodations.

A horrible tunnel fire occurred in LA. One of my biggest road nightmares since watching What Dreams May Come.

Alix Bryan has completed her journey around the US in the shape of a peace sign, after riding 11,000 miles (almost the distance from the North to the South pole) on a little scooter. Read about her message at her blog.

Anyone think of asking Twombly whether the lipstick on his painting in France is an improvement or really worth a 2 million euro lawsuit?

I guess the problem of "big babies" is widespread...

In other news, biofuel from cows. My favorite line is "To date no viable method has been devised to capture this gas as it erupts from either end of the cow."

Saffron Revolution?

The latest census gives interesting information about the immigrant population of the US, and it does not distinguish between citizens and illegal immigrants. To nobody's surprise, "California led the nation in immigrants, at 27 percent of the state's population, and in people who spoke a foreign language at home, at 43 percent." 43% even surprises me, although I suppose my being in the other 57% might not have given me a very good perspective.

Speaking of illegal immigrants, here's another sad story, made even more grimace-worthy by the fact that federal prosecutors offered him a deal: He could take $10,000 of the original cash seized ($59,000 he'd made from 11 years of dishwashing to buy land and build a house for his mother and sisters in Guatemala), plus $9,000 in donations (only a fraction of what's been donated) from legions of sympathetic supporters as long as he didn't talk publicly and left the country immediately.

The news that beats all for me, however, is the dramatic political unrest and violent suppression of protest in Burma. The first article I read about isolated pockets of protest earlier this month dismissed the events as feeble. This seemed strange to me; protesters putting themselves on the line probably wouldn't do so if an underground movement hadn't already formed that would eventually build on what they were doing. Otherwise why protest at this point in history? Shore up your resources for real results.

Well, it has turned into something major. Wikipedia in its new role as current events mirror offers some highlights in choppy prose: "As of 22 September 2007, the Buddhist monks have withdrawn spiritual services from all military personnel in a symbolic move that is seen as very powerful in such a deeply religious country as Myanmar.... On September 24, 20,000 monks and nuns led 30,000 people in a protest march from the golden Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, past the offices of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party... On Saturday, monks marched to greet Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest. On Sunday, about 150 nuns joined the marchers. By this time, the marchers' numbers had swelled to 100,000 protesters."

Now the government has cut public internet access, making outside perceptions of what might be going on even darker. Protesters, students, journalists shot at close range, bodies piled in the streets... When will someone, anyone, overthrow the junta and bring a successful end to the so-called Saffron Revolution? And where did it get that name?

And who in the world has been vandalizing the Wikipedia article on Myanmar?

Think practicing is repetitive? Be glad you're not the woman in a Chinese toy inspection facility whose job is to stick a plastic spoon in a baby doll's mouth 10,000 times to test for unsafe wear and tear.

Anyone for wine tasting in Oklahoma or South Dakota? The number of wineries in the US has more than doubled since 2000.

Looks, I'm in the news!

Despite the heinous exchange rate of 2 bucks to the pound, I did luck out in buying my Belgian chocolate before major price hikes. Quelle disastre!

In Cali, a house made of straw will spare you air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter, allow you to have European deep-set windows and doors, and it won't kill you during the Big One.

Cute and vaguely novel, but otherwise, what's the point of recording to your iPod?

Front yard lawns? I want one!

Germans Hack At Forest of Signs Distracting Drivers

Germany's vast excess of traffic signs: The funniest news I've read in ages.

stop the road rage!

I'd heard of a cyclist in New Haven shot by a driver with a BB gun, but it never occurred to me that the people who keep our roads driveable (for god's sake) are victims of the same kind of impertinence to the point at which roads are shut down for their safety.