Save this Bear

Absolutely Shameful

The national media should be ashamed of itself for fueling the Jennifer Wilbanks story. To recap, Ms. Wilbanks was to be married today, but disappeared earlier this week. Because Ms. Wilbanks is a rich, white suburban woman, CNN took this story and ran with it. Was she kidnapped? Was she alive or dead? Who would have done such a thing? (Oh, come on, if this was a poor black woman, do you really think CNN would be carrying the story 24/7?)

She turned up today, safe and sound in New Mexico. What gives? Well, as it turns out, Ms. Wilbanks simply got cold feet and ran. At least that's the public version of the story. Surely there is a backstory. I just don't know what it is.

Update: Ms. Wilbanks committed a few crimes, including lying to police, in this case. I wonder if she'll be charged. Of course, she ought to be.

The Natives are Restless

I'm blogging today from Dallas, Texas. This morning, I turned on the TV and was flipping channels when I happened upon the local Fox station. They were showing video of W's and the Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah's stroll, hand in hand, through the wildflowers at his ranch. Over this video, the station was playing irate calls from Texans (presumably) fuming about what they characterized as pandering by Bush. The words "sickened" and "pathetic" floated out of my hotel room TV's speaker. One caller reminded us that the vast majority of the 9/11 hijackers and OBL are Saudis.

Obviously these facts, and the fact of the Bush family's tight relationship with the Saudis, are not new. A fat slob told us this last summer. I wonder why people here in Texas are so pissed off about it now?

Two Days 'til Tiger

And the stories are pouring in. And there are even comparisons to Longhorn, Microsoft's operating system scheduled for release in mid-2006, which will mimic many of Tiger's features.

A380 takes off

The Airbus A380 "Super Jumbo" flew its maiden flight today in France. The double-decked, ultra-large capacity plane is Airbus' first direct competitor to Boeing's 747. Airbus is banking on this plane, which appeals to airlines that make long-haul, high-volume trips between large hub airports, like Singapore or Emarites.

Boeing is taking a different tack, with its 787 Dreamliner. In contast to the A380, the 787 has a lower capacity, but still sports long range capability. This type of plane is ideal for airlines that use a decentralized system or aren't banking on six or seven hundred passengers on a single flight. Air India and Air Canada have recently announced orders for the 787.

My New Favorite Place

I think I've found my new favorite place, the Pole of Inaccessibility.



I wonder if anybody has ever been there.  Apparently, the only things left there are a building and, appropriately, a statue of Lenin.

Plug for The Housing Bubble Blog

I want to recommend adding Ben Jones' oft-updated The Housing Bubble Blog to you. This post is pretty typical of the insight Jones brings. Take a look at the linked financials for the three homebuilders, especially the year-over-year inventory numbers. It's a bit scary.

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Yankee-bear-napping

Can anybody save this bear?

Useless Plastic Men

Tomi's $17 PodBrix are utterly useless but totally cute miniature figures that you can attach to your iPod headphone cable. Really. That's it. That's all they do. Nothing else. Nothing.

Soy Vodka

A couple of nights ago, I was in the Warren and Sarah, the friendly bartendress, offered me a free drink made with 3 Vodka. This vodka is made from soy, rather than potatoes or other grains. It wasn't bad. But I'm a Bourbon man, not a Vodka man, so what do I know?

Here's what I want to know: is it kosher for Passover like potato vodka?

MicroNet miniMate

Over at Mac HTPC, they're blogging about the Micronet miniMate, a device that supplements the Mac mini by adding a bigger hard drive and a USB 2.0/FireWire hub. All of this is built into a form factor that apes the mini. From the publicity photos, the combination looks quite nice.



Although, let me make one comment to MicroNet: lose the S-Video-like power plug. I have a couple of FireWire enclosures that have this type of plug for power and they make a terrible connection. What ever happened to the mail socket and female plug that used to be standard in computers?