A Briton accused of hacking into top secret military computers has lost a Law Lords appeal against being extradited to stand trial in the US. Glasgow-born Gary McKinnon could face life in jail if convicted of accessing 97 US military and Nasa computers. He hacked into all of these military computers “searching for evidence of UFO’s” being withheld from the general public by the U.S. Government. If there is life in the Universe, I sure hope it is smarter than what we have here.
I guess it had to happen. Tansgender Bathrooms.
This morning I found a web story about a school in Asia that is now supplying “Transgender Bathrooms” for students. Between the girls’ toilet and the boys’ there is one signposted with a half-man, half-woman figure in blue and red. This is the transsexual toilet, and outside, in front of the mirrors, some decidedly girly-looking teenage boys preen their hair and apply face cream.
So, when the do the dirty deed … Do they stand up or sit down? I Never get all the facts, who, what, where, when and why, first thing they teach you in journalism 101.
The headteacher, (their words not mine, I swear!) Sitisak Sumontha, estimates that in any year between 10% and 20% of his boys consider themselves to be transgender – boys who would rather be girls. “They used to be teased every time they used the boys’ toilets,” he said, “so they started using the girls’ toilets instead. But that made the girls feel uncomfortable. It made these boys unhappy, and started to affect their work.”
I must be weird, all I ever wanted to be was a fireman.
Girls=Boys in Math. Researchers for the National Science Foundation have found that boys and girls now perform equally in standardized math tests. New findings indicate that girls are just as smart as boys when it comes to the subject of math. Which should come as no big surprise to a guy who’s idea of higher education was standing on the top of the Frat House, dressed in a toga and yelling …. “Bring me the virgins to wax my loins!”
More math, just what I need.
Oil prices have dropped to about $125 a barrel this week after reaching a peak of $147.27 earlier this month. Meanwhile, gas prices are still hovering around the $4 mark down just a few cents from an all-time record average of $4.11 two weeks ago.
Why does it seem like gas prices go up faster than they come down? Because they do. Analyses of gasoline economics show that when the price of oil rises, it takes up to four weeks for gas station prices to catch up, with most of the increase taking place within the first two weeks.
But when oil prices sink, it takes up to eight weeks for the savings to be passed along to consumers. The phenomenon is known as “asymmetric price adjustment” or, more informally down in Crawford, Texas, as the, “rockets and feathers principle.”
Think about it … It will come to you.
Supporters of the 2005 Bankruptcy Act said that by punishing “deadbeats” the law would reduce consumers’ borrowing costs. (Curiously that is the statement credit card companies use to describe people who pay their balances on time, deadbeats. They would prefer to have revolving balances, and those are called, revolvers) It has seemingly backfired on them, since this bills’ passage, credit card borrowing costs have risen by as much as 17%. But this is a bankers’ bill, and we all know about bankers.
They are the only people who can understand the principle of ONE TELLER and ELEVEN WINDOWS.
This week a man in Texas complained because the credit card folks charged him a $39 charge for paying his bill two days late, and that they jacked him up 3.5 times on the interest. He said that “they didn’t send him a bill and that is why he was late.” Uh huh, sure. I believe it was Ben Franklin that said, “Those who lend money have a better memory than those who are prone to borrow it.”
Merrill Lynch knows a bit about red ink as well. A mere 10 days after declaring a $4.65 billion second-quarter loss, the investment bank announced another $5.8 billion write down and the need to issue $8.5 billion in new common stock, which will substantially dilute the value of current stock. As the Financial Times disturbingly puts it: “The latest Merrill write-downs raises new questions about whether banks themselves understand the extent of their problems.”
Perhaps Mr. Bush forgot to send them a notice that the economy was in the dumper?
Yeah, that’s it.
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