Today is turning into TED day apparently. Two seconds after my last post, I came across this, bringing a little more depth and detail to my most popular post ever.
Have a look at this astonishing undersea life. Who says something needs to be alien to be so bizarre? Well worth the few minutes it takes to watch.
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These aliens didn't come from outer space though.
A mini-van full of illegals rear-ended a Homeland Security SUV this morning on I-10...The 11 illegal immigrants inside the van were taken into custody by ICE.
Oops.
As if they themselves can't figure it out. Let's look at the details.
Faster than a speeding bullet — and bigger than a Wal-Mart.
That's how residents near the west Texas town of Stephenville described an object they spotted in the sky one night last week.
Dozens of people — including a pilot and a police officer — said a UFO hovered over the farming community for about five minutes last Tuesday before streaking away
...the UFO sped away at more than 3,000 mph, followed by two fighter jets that were hopelessly outmaneuvered. Allen said it took the aircraft just a few seconds to cross a section of sky that it takes him 20 minutes to fly in his Cessna.
On the surface, that's a pretty standard UFO report. And also in standard fashion, the Air Force does their best to make a pilot, a cop, and dozens of witnesses look stupid by coming up with an explanation like:
[Military officials] said the residents are letting their imaginations run wild and passed it off as an optical illusion. They said it was likely nothing more than a reflection of sunlight on two airliners.
Officials at a nearby air force base also said their fighter pilots didn't chase down anything that night.
Because cops and pilots are prone to mistakes like that right? Well, apparently the military is prone to little mistakes too.
Initially:
Maj. Karl Lewis, a spokesman for the 301st Fighter Wing at the Joint Reserve Base Naval Air Station in Fort Worth, said no F-16s or other aircraft from his base were in the area the night of Jan. 8
Officials at the region's two Air Force bases — Dyess in Abilene and Sheppard in Wichita Falls — also said none of their aircraft were in the area last week.
Under the headline "Military now says planes flying in area of UFO reports" the story has changed to:
10 F-16 fighter jets were training in the Stephenville area the night dozens of residents reported seeing a UFO.
Although Air Force Reserve officials at the Joint Reserve Base Naval Air Station in Fort Worth initially said none of their planes were in the area Jan. 8, they said today that they had made a mistake and wanted to set the record straight "in the interest of public awareness."
Who are you going to believe? A pilot, police officer and large numbers of independent witnesses who actually saw the 'mile-wide object' or multiple 'officials' from at least THREE military bases who all 'made a mistake' about having TEN fighter jets in a particular area on a particular night?
Sources: NPR / Houston Chronicle / AP /Defensetech
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Apparently, this is what happens when you have a video camera with an FPS rate equal to the rotor speed of a helicopter. Pretty damned cool if you ask me.
http://view.break.com/295948 - Watch more free videos
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One one hand, this is an interesting possibility, but I still think it's an encroachment on personal rights.
Next year in California, state regulators are likely to have the emergency power to control individual thermostats, sending temperatures up or down through a radio-controlled device that will be required in new or substantially modified houses and buildings to manage electricity shortages.
The changes would allow utilities to adjust customers' preset temperatures when the price of electricity is soaring. Customers could override the utilities' suggested temperatures. But in emergencies, the utilities could override customers' wishes.
I'm not a Californian, so I'm not going to speak definitively on this one. I can certainly see the benefits, but there's just something about it being potentially 'mandated' that doesn't sit well with me.
"This is an outrage," one Californian said ..."We need to build new facilities to handle the growth in this state, not become Big Brother to the citizens of California."
Any Californians out there care to comment?
It is a machine. Machines break. It was bound to happen eventually, and today it did. Turning on my laptop this morning I was stunned to discover that my wireless adapter was no longer functional. Flicking the switch on and off did nothing. Updating the driver did nothing. In fact, nothing did anything except raise my blood pressure and get me a wee bit riled up, as I do love my wireless.
After calming down a bit, I realized I've still got some warranty remaining and there's even a recall out on this exact laptop for that specific issue, so no harm no foul. I just went out and plunked down some coin for a Linksys USB adapter to tide me over.
The real test however, is how I handle my precious lappie being gone for several weeks as it revisits the land of its birth. The mysterious and magical wonderland known as HP.
I will miss you, Compaq old friend. Fare thee well, and come home soon.