9/21: How do you lose 1,200 laptops in 5 years?

Thursday night, Sept 21, 2006

1) Website
2) General
3) Space/Ocean Headlines
4) Quiz
5) Radio
6) Reviews
7) Issue Notes

1) Website

http://www.storewars.org/flash/index.html

This is a Star Wars movie made with vegetables. ‘Cuke’ Skywalker and Obi Wan ‘Canoli’ battle the Dark Side of the ‘Farm.’ The field will always be with you.

And in horror stories:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060922/ap_on_go_ot/
missing_laptops

Commerce department has lost 1200 laptops since 2001. How incompetent is that?


2) General
Okay, I’ve moved general up to second place!

The headline from the New Scientist webfeed read: Rich nations put something rotten in Africa.

It’s all about toxic sludge that was dumped in Abidjan in the Ivory Coast a couple of weeks ago, which has killed a few people and stunk up the place...

In the first place, of course, the action was despicable. If the city didn’t have safe places for this toxic dump, it shouldn’t have been dumped. But it’s not “rich nations” that are doing this. It’s oil tanker companies...

But it’s like everything else, I guess. Wealthier nations won’t let toxic sludge be dumped in their countries, and have the lawyers to stop it, whereas the poorer nations need the money, but can’t construct the facilities to ensure the stuff is safely disposed of. Again - the oil tanker companies, the companies doing the dumping - should be the ones to build these facilities and held accountable if they’re defective.

A headline I saw just now (and the link is above) is that the Commerce Department has lost 1200 laptops since 2001. The amount of incompetence that is rife in the bureaucracy of America is simply frightening. We’re the richest country on Earth, with the best laws (if only they’d be properly enforced) with the most potential, but we’re blowing it...carelessness, stupidity, whatever ya wanna call it.

3) Space/Ocean Headlines

Note how many space headlines as opposed to ocean headlines...is it cuz space is higher profile or is nothing going on in the oceans??

Space
Atlantis fires engines for the journey home
Returning Home: Shuttle Atlantis Lands Safely After Successful Flight
Shuttle Lands at Kennedy Space Center
Iranian born Ansari makes Iranians and Americans proud
Mars Probes Continue to Unlock Planet's Mysteries
Atlantis’ success paves way for Europe, Japan missions
Mars Face Makeover: Controversial Formation Observed from New Angles
BLOG: Countdown Begins for First New Mexico Spaceport Launch
NASA Chief: After Atlantis, an 'Awesome' Task of ISS Assembly
Hubble Spots 500 Galaxies in Early Universe
Atlantis Astronauts Happy to be Home After Tough Mission
Space shuttle with Canadian astronaut on board returns to Earth
Conspiracy theorists must face the truth of Mars hill
Private Space Habitat Could Launch by 2010

Oceans
Turbulent times means krill help climate

4) Quiz

Where do cruise ships dump their waste? Or for that matter, naval ships for any country you care to name?

5) Radio
Lots of good stuff on BBC Radio 7, but no sci fi. Doctor Who, Journey Into Space and Jefferson 37 episodes from the weekend still available.

6) Reviews
Still hanging fire

7) Issue Notes
Finished one Star Trek article. Finished cleaning up my archives. Got another Sam Moskowitz book from the library on the history of First Fandom...