Everybody's working on the weekend - 09 February 2008

Happy 150th birthday to the first library in the Washington territory. There was a celebration, with cookies, and cake, and strange-tasting punch. And lots of children putting stickers on bookmarks, too. All told, it’s all good.

So, onward to the news. Scott Ritter of Truthdig makes some very not-pretty predictions for Iraq in the coming year. Not to mention that the right to a swift trial is being bogged down because the government has so many secret things in use when trying prisoners at Gitmo.

Any nuclear deterrence that the United States has in mine with regard to Iran, well, now there are two power plants to have to keep track of. And with Russia making a lot of noises about how the United States and Russia are entering a new arms race, and it looks like tension over nuclear materials is still going to remain dangerously high.

In other international affairs, London's Camden market burned today. No possible causes yet mentioned, according to this article, so no idea as to whether it’s an accident or deliberate.

Caucuses and primaries today in the United States, so more delegates awarded, but the superdelegates are really the focus now for the Democrats. Speaking of our political candidates, Ron Paul's finally thrown in the towel. About time. On the Democratic side, while Bill Clinton said he never inhaled, Barack Obama freely admits he used drugs in his past . Not in a potentially addictive way, it looks like, but he at least has the stones to admit he used.

Yahoo has said they will reject Microsoft's takeover bid. Not only would there be antitrust issues, I’m not sure Yahoo wants to have their services annexed into the latest versions of Microsoft’s wares.

In a development of an earlier story, the AP reports an accusation that nearly $1 billion USD was funneled through accounts at Oral Roberts University inappropriately, an accusation the university denies.

Those who cannot survive without their diet of sitcoms and shows, there's a tentative deal on the Hollywood writer's strike. Your long wait may soon be over.

Kite-driven ship completes Germany-to-Venezuela trip. Cargo ships, freighters, and possibly even cruise ships could be kitted with kites so as to reduce engine power requirements, assuming the wind is strong enough to help the ship along. Over in Japan, though, the space agency JAXA is attempting to build a system that collects solar power from space and beams the power to receivers on Terra. Space-fed power. Wonder if they could include a band for wi-fi.

Nebraska discards electric chair as viable means of execution. Good, we’re past the point of the electric chair now. Still a ways to go, though, for those who want the death penalty sent away completely.

The Stupid File tonight contains someone who bragged about his arson, with pictures taken of the event, on the GameFAQs forums. The people alerted the local news and the police. The kid was arrested and has been charged. Something even more stupid, however, comes out of the offices of Fixed Noise, labeling John McCain a Democrat on-screen. Mr. Olbermann pointed out that Fixed Noise tends to start “accidentally” mislabeling the affiliations of politicians they don’t like. So I wonder if we’ll be seeing more of the democratic D next to Mr. McCain’s name in the future. If it happens again, perhaps Mr. McCain will have the option to level The Torch at someone and watch them crispify for their misdeeds.

The following line of reasoning certainly qualifies as stupid - a professor is being accused of running a piracy ring, with the aim of supporting al-Qaeda. Sounds like the FBI believes the idea that those who pirate are terrorists. And with certain EOs and laws on the books, with that kind of accusation, all sorts of assets could be seized as being used to aid terror. Not a pretty picture, and the logic is really rather strange. Pirate movies... to support terrorists? I would think they’d be more inclined to line their own pockets.

Oh, and the FBI appears to have deputized private businesses to act as additional eyes and ears, and are extending them special information and privileges for their services. And, in case of martial law, although it was presented more as an inevitability, they have authorization to protect their infrastructure with deadly force as needed.

An old item is being trotted out again - video games increase aggression, desensitize kids to real violence, according to research from Iowa State University, Kansas State University, and the NIH. Of course, there’s nobody saying they’ve linked the two together scientifically, but the implications are fairly clear. Not related to that study, as far as I know, the United Kingdom is going to begin enforcing a classification system on games - it will become illegal to sell games to those underneath their rating. So, even more now than before, kids will get older siblings, friends, and parents to buy their games for them.

Next to last, the Art Department turns in a stellar performance with the gallery of the NSS Space Settlement Art Contest entries. So if anyone needs some new future-style wallpapers, here might be a good place to look.

Last for tonight, we get Cracked and show off the six cutest animals that can still destroy you. Thanks, greyweirdo, for such a cute, cheerful ARAAARAGHGETITOFFME!

Short amounts tonight - 10 Feburary 2008

Short work shift today - went by pretty quickly, and with enough volume of customers to make it an interesting day. And now, vegetative time, after the news. Not a whole lot in the n00s segment, but still enough to provide a daily fix, hopefully.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis has delivered a new laboratory module to the International Space Station. Installation of the lab is delayed until Monday while a crewmember slated to spacewalk recovers from a non-serious medical condition.

A United States Army sniper accused of killing an Iraqi and planting evidence on him has been convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison. The sniper admitted to doing the act, which made the case easier, and so the justice system works in this case.

The United Kingdom's athletes are going to be asked to stay mum about China's political positions, human rights record, or treatment of Tibetans when they travel to Beijing for the Olympics later this year. Using the Olympic stage as a soapbox has possibilities both for good and for ill, depending on how much the focus shifts toward or away from those athletes that choose to speak their minds on things if they wish to do so.

Continuing in the Chinese theme, the United States claims that the Chinese government is financing well-coordinated attempts to break into United States government and private-sector computer networks

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is current inoperative, thanks to not having sufficient members to operate, and having its renewal law stalled in the Senate. It’s unknown when the bills might go through and people get appointed - and Consumerist would like actual consumer advocated to be sitting on the board, of course. This sort of thing seems to follow a standard pattern with Democrats - elected to end the war, they instead surrendered to Mr. Bush's whims on just about everything.

Austin Cline, at the General’s, decries the use of "I was following government lawyers' advice" as an excuse for doing illegal things, and worries about the precedents being set by the Bush Administration for building a true unitary executive. Electing someone willing to dismantle the power structures that Mr. Bush has set up is something that the populace should take as a priority.

Significantly more hysterical and less fact-based, Cinnamon Stillwell is worried about textbooks that don't paint Islam as a violent religion appearing in California schools. That Cinnamon is willing to say flat out that “Islamists” are “jihadists” and only considers the violent aspects of jihad dismisses her objection as credible. It would be like saying that all “Christians” are “Crusaders” and only considering the violent and loud aspects of the religion, like the Inquisition and Fred Phelps, as what every Christian is. Or that the Creationists who are seeking footholds in Europe are what all Christians are

Admittedly, that the question as to whether someone can convert back to Christianity from Islam requires a court ruling in Egypt means that there is some work to be done in integrating and pulling forward ideas of Islam into the 21st century, but that progress is being made.

Next to last for tonight, concept drawings of New Yorkers living in blimps above the city in the case of a disaster. I don’t know if we could build blimps big enough to house and commerce and all the things that New Yorkers would need.

Last for tonight, our Many Uses of Nintendo Wii file shows us that the Nintendo Wii is being used for physical therapy exercises.