Sophont

Press releases - Police Department - City of Kent, Washington : "Death caused by exploding lava lamp ruled accidental Kent, WA - November 29, 2004 At about 8:00 p.m., Sunday, November 28, 2004, an Auburn couple found their 24 year old son dead in his south Kent trailer home. Kent Police Detectives examined the scene. It appeared that something had exploded on the stove top sending shards and splinters of glass in all directions. Remnants of a lava lamp were found around the kitchen area. It is believed that for some unknown reason the deceased placed a lava lamp on the stove top to heat it up which led to the explosion of the fluid container part of the lava lamp. The deceased has several lacerations and one large shard of glass embedded in his chest. The young man talked to this father on the phone about 9:00 a.m. Sunday. His parents were called by his girlfriend about 7:30 pm when she had not been able to contact him all day. His parents drove from their home in A

CNN.com : "LONDON, England (Reuters) -- A group of former London state school children who sang on Pink Floyd's 1979 classic 'Another Brick In The Wall' have lodged a claim for unpaid royalties. Twenty-three teenage pupils from Islington Green School secretly recorded vocals for the track, which became an anthem for children with the chorus 'We don't need no education.' On hearing the song, the headmistress banned the pupils from appearing on television or video -- leaving them no evidence and making it harder for them to claim royalties -- and the local school authority described the lyrics as 'scandalous.' The album sold over 12 million copies and the single became No. 1 in Britain and America. Royalties expert Peter Rowan told Reuters he was appealing to a music royalties' society on behalf of a former pupil and was working with other members of the class. He said he was still trying to contact the majority of the group. 'T

Which File Extension are You?

is a toll-free number you can dial to find out who your long distance carrier is. You'll get a recorded message telling you the name of your long distance company. It's a good idea to check it occasionally, to make sure you haven't been slammed.

CNET News.com : "Dean Kamen designed his Segway transporter to serve as a cheap, clean and flexible form of urban transit, not as a platform for traversing national parks and encountering wildlife. But that hasn't stopped former vacuum cleaner salesman Josh Caldwell, 27, who has put the Segway to perhaps its most grueling test yet by piloting the scooter across the length of the United States. His journey concluded in Boston on Tuesday, a little more than three months after he and a small support crew started out from Seattle with a single Segway scooter, more than a dozen spare batteries, one loyal dog and a Jeep Cherokee filled with filmmaking gear to document the trip." The "America at 10mph" project, hatched by Caldwell and buddy Hunter Weeks, began as something between a joke and a dare but quickly turned into a serious expedition to see America in a new way. Caldwell and Weeks plan to produce a documentary film from footage shot during the trip,

Police taser 12 year old truant girl A Miami-Dade police officer used a Taser to stop an unarmed, 12-year-old girl who was running away from him after she was caught skipping school, police acknowledged Friday night. The incident happened Nov. 5, just over two weeks after other Miami-Dade officers used a stun gun to restrain a first-grader. In that case, police said the 6-year-old boy was holding a shard of glass and threatening to cut himself. Police Director Bobby Parker defended the decision to shock the boy because he could have seriously hurt himself. But Parker said Friday that he could not defend the decision to shock the fleeing 12-year-old, who was apparently drunk. ''Under the circumstances, we thought that he should not have used the Taser,'' Parker said referring to the officer. ``It's likely that discipline will be forthcoming.'' According to the incident report: Officer William Nelson responded to an anonymous complaint that some

Steve K. D. Eichel, Ph.D., ABPP "After many months, I've finally been pushed to finish this article on questionable credentialing in hypnosis and 'psychotherapy.' A reporter from a major magazine wrote to 'Dr. Zoe D. Katze' for input on an article she was writing on hypnosis for childbirthing. She had stumbled across Dr. Zoe's name on the American Association of Professional Hypnotherapists' website. I had to tell her the truth. Dr. Zoe D. Katze, Ph.D., C.Ht., DAPA, is a cat. In fact, she is my cat. Those familiar with basic German have probably already enjoyed a laugh. 'Zoe Die Katze' literally translates to 'Zoe the cat.' Dr. Katze's credentials look impressive. She is certified by three major hypnotherapy associations, having met their 'strict training requirements' and having had her background thoroughly reviewed. She holds a Diplomate in psychotherapy from an association that claims to promote the

Subject: Pissed Off Jews Yasser Arafat died yesterday in a Paris hospital. You just know that somewhere in Israel, there is a circle of pissed off Mossad agents sitting around, shaking their heads and saying 'Forty years we've been after that guy! Forty years and all is took was the fucking French health care system!'

helping to build a world without hunger : "Here are a few local recipes from locust-affected countries. Please send us yours! Tinjiya (Tswana recipe): remove the wings and hindlegs of the locusts, and boil in a little water until soft. Add salt, if desired, and a little fat and fry until brown. Serve with cooked, dried mealies (corn). Sikonyane (Swazi recipe): prepare embers and roast the whole locust on the embers. Remove head, wings, and legs, in other words, only the breast part is eaten. The South Sotho people use locusts especially as food for travellers. The heads and last joint of the hindlegs are broken off and the rest laid on the coals to roast. The roasted locusts are ground on a grinding stone to a fine powder. This powder can be kept for long periods of time and is taken along on a journey. Dried locusts are also prepared for the winter months. The legs, when dried, are especially relished for their pleasant taste. Cambodia: take several dozen locust adul

metaquotes: If this isn't already here, it should be : "From editinggod: So, yesterday, i was feeling a little dejected from the results of the election as I stepped on the bus. Following me, was a class of small children around first or second grade. This entire class took up most of the bus, so I sat at the back with a few of the kids. There were two boys who were back there, and one of the boys was taunting the other one 'You like boys, you like boys!' The boy who was being taunted pouted and then glared, 'My GRAMMA says it's okay to like BOYS.' What? Way to go, Gramma! And then a bunch of other kids got caught up in the conversation. I thought they were going to be picking on the boy too, but no, they joined his side! 'My uncle likes boys!' 'My sister likes girls.' 'My uncle likes boys and his boyfriend brings me COOKIES!' and so on and so on. The teacher just smiled and sat back, letting them handle it. At that moment, even if j

Craig Westover : "To better understand the current flu vaccine shortage and the dangers of proposed policy changes for the way Americans purchase medication, it’s necessary to understand a bit about vaccine production and pricing. Unlike pills, vaccines are developed using virus and bacteria cultures, which don’t grow on demand. Adding more people on a production line can’t shorten delivery times any more than nine women working together can have a baby in one month. A vaccine has an 8-12 month production cycle. Add to the mix a regulatory approval process, and the production to shipping cycle for a vaccine might run from 11 to 16 months or longer. Current production methods are not responsive to changing market conditions. “Unbelievable technology” is available, but high implementation cost and low profit make it uneconomical to implement. Why the low profit on vaccines? Consider a policy like the 1993 Vaccines for Children (VFC) program. (VFC is similar to the prescript