Evolution war still rages 200 years after Darwin's birth

Two centuries after Charles Darwin's birth on Feb. 12, 1809 , people still argue passionately about his theory of evolution.

Was Darwin right? Should schoolchildren be exposed to contrary views in science class? These two controversies continue to rage, partly because both sides are evenly matched.

Most scientists and courts that have ruled on the matter say that overwhelming evidence backs Darwin's explanation of the origin and evolution of species, including humans, by natural selection.

Many people, especially religious and social conservatives, strongly disagree.

Among them are ``creationists,'' who take literally the Genesis story that God created the world and mankind in six days no more than 10,000 years ago. Others support ``intelligent design,'' the idea that life is too complex to have arisen without a supernatural ``designer," presumably God.

Public opinion surveys consistently have shown that Americans are deeply divided over evolution. The most recent Gallup poll on the issue, in June 2007 , found that 49 percent of those surveyed said they believed in evolution and 48 percent said they didn't. Those percentages have stayed almost even for at least 25 years.

Gallup found a political angle to the split. Two-thirds of Republicans rejected Darwin's theory, while majorities of Democrats and political independents accepted it.

A Harris poll published last December found that more people believe in a devil, hell and angels than in evolution.

The controversy is most acute in the public schools, where conservatives want evolution banished from science classes or at least described as ``a theory, not a fact.''

Darwin's supporters counter that to scientists a theory isn't just a guess or a hypothesis but a widely accepted explanation of natural events supported by the best available evidence.

At a hearing last week before Texas' State Board of Education , scientists and social conservatives exchanged fiery arguments over a rule that requires science textbooks to cover ``the strengths and weaknesses'' of evolutionary theory.

Darwin critics control seven of the 15 seats on the board and have the support of Republican Gov. Rick Perry . The chairman of the board, Don McLeroy , a dentist, is a creationist who believes that the Earth is only thousands of years old, not billions as most scientists think. The board will decide the issue in March.

Louisiana's State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education adopted guidelines Jan. 15 that allow teachers to use ``supplemental materials'' that aren't in regular textbooks about ``controversial'' subjects such as evolution and global warming.

Louisiana's new rules ``ensure the state's teachers their right to teach the scientific evidence both for and against Darwinian evolution,'' according to the Discovery Institute , the headquarters of the intelligent design movement in Seattle .

``We fully expect to see the Discovery Institute's book, `Explore Evolution,' popping up in school districts across the state,'' Barbara Forrest , a Darwin supporter in Hammond, La. , told Science magazine .

The Louisiana school board also eliminated language that had banned the teaching of creationism or intelligent design, saying that the ban is unnecessary.

``The creationists got what they wanted,'' said Patsye Peebles , a retired Louisiana science teacher.

The opposition to the Discovery Institute is led by the National Center for Science Education , a pro-Darwin research center based in Oakland, Calif.

The center contends that intelligent design is a subtle way to introduce religion into science education, which the courts consistently have declared unconstitutional.

``The phrase `strengths and weaknesses' has been spread nationally as a slogan to bring creationism in through the back door,'' center executive director Eugenie Scott told the Texas school board.

Similar proposals are pending or expected in Alabama , Arkansas , Florida , Georgia , Michigan , Missouri , Oklahoma and South Carolina , according to Glenn Branch, the deputy director of the National Center for Science Education .

``In a typical year, NCSE will be monitoring about 80 episodes of creationist activity in the United States and abroad,'' Branch said.

``This issue isn't going away,'' John West , a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute , wrote in an e-mail to his allies last May. ``Although Darwinists are doing their best to shut down and intimidate anyone who raises questions about neo-Darwinism, we still have free speech, and they can't prevent people from hearing about the debate in the public arena, no matter how hard they try.''

The theory of evolution itself is evolving. Since Darwin's day, researchers have acquired powerful tools that revealed DNA's role in passing inheritance from generation to generation, something Darwin knew nothing about.

Around the middle of the 20th century, this led to the ``Modern Synthesis,'' a major updating of evolutionary theory to accommodate new information. Many biologists are suggesting still another revision, which some call ``Modern Synthesis 2.0.''

For example, Darwin described evolution as the growth of a tree, the ``Tree of Life. '' The tree began with a single, original organism at the root, with myriad species branching off from the trunk.

Biologists increasingly say that evolution resembles a web or a bush rather than a tree. Microbes constantly swap DNA. Hybrid plants and animals cross species lines, blurring sharp lines between species.

``We understand evolution pretty well,'' said W. Ford Doolittle , a Darwin supporter and biologist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia . ``It's just that it's more complex than Darwin imagined.''

Source

PULLMAN: SWAT team called in to search WSU fraternity

The Pullman Police Department called in members of the regional SWAT team to execute a search warrant at a Washington State University fraternity Wednesday night.

Police responded to the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity shortly before 8:30 p.m. after receiving reports that members of the house located at 500 NE Colorado St. were furnishing alcohol to minors. When they arrived on scene, Pullman Cmdr. Chris Tennant said police found a crowd of intoxicated individuals playing with air soft guns.

An observing sergeant was notified that illegal substances were in a red Honda parked on the street. He flashed his light in the car and found a bong and bag of marijuana lying on the backseat floorboards, Tennant said.

A search warrant for the car was provided by the Whitman County District Court, and another warrant was granted for the house when the owner of the vehicle was later identified as a member of the fraternity.

Tennant said with four Pullman police officers and two from the Washington State University Police Department on scene, more law enforcement was needed to search the three-story house.

The regional SWAT team — made up of officers from the PPD, WSUPD and Whitman County Sheriff’s Office — were alerted shortly before midnight.

“We activated the SWAT team not because we needed special weapons and tactics, we just needed the bodies,” Tennant said.

Tennant said no one was hurt during the search, and no arrests were made. Officers did find marijuana, bongs and pipes in the house. He expects misdemeanor possession or unlawful use of drug paraphernalia charges to be filed against several individuals as the investigation continues.

Though no one present at the fraternity party was taken in to custody, a bystander, WSU student Ronald D. Gaydeski, 25, was cited for obstructing an officer.

Source

SWAT raid for underage drinking at Washington State University
by J.D. Tuccille, Civil Liberties Examiner

Last week, at a Washington State University frat house, a SWAT team was called in to respond to reports of underage drinking. Wait. Did I just write that? Indeed, I did. Let me rephrase that. Paramilitary police officers trained for high-risk, violent confrontations were dispatched to arrest college students who were a year or three younger than the current legal age for drinking alcoholic beverages.

Ah-ha! Drugs and guns!

But airsoft guns are toys. They shoot little plastic pellets and are used the same way paintball guns are used, for combat games.

As for "a bong and bag of marijuana" ... Oh, c'mon. It's grass. Yes, it's illegal (though it shouldn't be), but calling in the heavy weapons to address that particular legal transgression is a major overreaction.

Tennant of the Pullman PD insists, "We activated the SWAT team not because we needed special weapons and tactics, we just needed the bodies.”

But bodies could well have been the end result. When SWAT teams were originally developed in Los Angeles (see page 100 of this LAPD report (PDF)) they were intended to address "riots," "the sniper," "political assassins" and "urban guerrilla warfare." Their training "to successfully combat urban violence" makes them not-so-logical a choice for breaking up a kegger. Well, not unless you really want to break up the keg -- with machine-gun fire. Sending SWAT in to control "a crowd of intoxicated individuals playing with air soft guns" makes you wonder if somebody in the command structure of Pullman PD has a brother in the coffin business.

No, that's not just a morbid joke. The use of a SWAT team to arrest Salvatore Culosi, a 37-year-old optometrist, for sports gambling (the plague of this troubled land) resulted in the shooting death of Culosi. (Fairfax County, Virginia, uses SWAT "for most search warrants").

Police detective Jarrod Shivers was killed by panicked homeowner Ryan Frederick during a misfired SWAT raid that turned up a baggie of marijuana. (Frederick, who enjoys widespread community support, is now on trial.)

Tarika Wilson was killed and her one-year-old son lost a finger when a SWAT officer opened fire on the cowering woman during a drug raid in Lima, Ohio.

A Minneapolis SWAT team engaged in a shootout with a homeowner after barging into the wrong address.

And, of course, Berwyn Heights, Maryland, Mayor Cheye Calvo's two dogs were killed when a SWAT team raided his home after he accepted delivery of a package of marijuana brought to his door by police officers. Calvo was cleared of any wrongdoing, but has yet to receive an apology.

SWAT teams and enforcement of laws against nonviolent activities are two things that don't go so well together. Unless, that is, you think downing a beer a few months before your 21st birthday should carry the death penalty.

Source

Swat teams have no business being called in for routine calls. Their training and mindset are such that it takes very little to trigger the honed in militaristic tendencies - it's why they are swat members in the first place. Dangerous and stupid.

Religious nuts in Texas seek to ban book about book banning! (2:45)



Wow.

Alton Verm - " God's name in vain in there is the number one reason and then there's no reason for it being writ."

Your stupid is making my head hurt. Go away.

NEW Heineken Commercial (0:32)...

Teen Fools Police Into Thinking He Was A Cop



Chicago police are trying to figure out how a 14-year-old boy duped them into thinking he was an officer.

The teen walked into a police station Sunday and managed to get an assignment patrolling in a squad car for five hours before somebody figured out he's a kid.

Deputy Superintendent Daniel Dugan says the boy looks old for his age, and notes that he didn't have a gun, didn't issue any tickets and didn't drive the squad car. Officers only discovered the ruse after the boy's patrol with an actual officer ended and they noticed his uniform lacked a star that's part of the regulation uniform.

Police are not identifying the boy because of his age and say he really had no "ill intent" and was motivated by wanting to be an officer.

Still, he's being charged as a juvenile with impersonating an officer.

Source

JUST PLANE DESPICABLE
'RESCUED' CITI BUYING $50M JET

Beleaguered Citigroup is upgrading its mile-high club with a brand-new $50 million corporate jet - only this time, it's the taxpayers who are getting screwed.

Even though the bank's stock is as cheap as a gallon of gas and it's burning through a $45 billion taxpayer-funded rescue, the airhead execs pushed through the purchase of a new Dassault Falcon 7X, according to a source familiar with the deal.

The French-made luxury jet seats up to 12 in a plush interior with leather seats, sofas and a customizable entertainment center, according to Dassault's sales literature. It can cruise 5,950 miles before refueling and has a top speed of 559 mph.

There are just nine of these top-of-the-line models in the United States, with Dassault's European factory churning out three to four 7Xs a month.

Citigroup decided to get its new wings two years ago, when the financial-services giant was flush with cash, but it still intends to take possession of the jet this year despite its current woes, the source said.

"Why should I help you when what you write will be used to the detriment of our company?" replied Bill McNamee, head of CitiFlight Inc., the subsidiary that manages Citigroup's corporate fleet, when asked to comment about the new 7X.

"What relevance does it have but to hurt my company?"

It's not uncommon for large companies to pay a deposit on a new plane then cancel the order before delivery, according to a source in the corporate aviation business.

Citigroup execs are also quietly trying to unload two of their older Dassault 900EXs.

Those jets, nearly 10 years old, are worth an estimated $27 million each. They were still listed for sale yesterday on the Web site of Citigroup's aviation broker, Aviation Professionals.

A company representative said she would not comment on "brokering both sides of the deal" when asked about the incoming Falcon 7X.

The Dassaults are part of CitiFlight's Gulf Sierra fleet, which includes the two Falcon 900EXs, tail numbers N399GS and N588GS, currently for sale. FAA records show Citigroup reserved a new tail number, N488GS, possibly for the incoming 7X on Nov. 10 last year.

A woman answering the phone at CitiFlight's private hangar in White Plains said she was "not authorized to release information" about the new jet.

Dassault's US sales office declined to comment.

Citigroup spokesman Stephen Cohen declined to comment.

Source

How not to talk to the police (2:10)
(NSFW language)

So, before we get started, this post is nsfw, as is the site. But, I think it's important. Stifling the voices on the fringes just because you don't agree is a close minded thing to do. We lost a voice. Sure, I don't like every one of their shirts. But I think it should be their right to make them and offer them for sale.

Thanks, you marginally retarded holier than thou kneejerk Oprah generation crybabies.

The nancification of America continues.... One of my favourite sites, Tshirthell.com is closing it's doors.

Below is the letter from the boss...

I'm done. I'm finished. I can't take the stupidity anymore, so I'm leaving and I'm taking my website with me. As of Tuesday, Feb 10, 2009, T-Shirt Hell will be no more.

No, I'm not selling out to some douchebag corporate entity. No, we're not being sued by any of the over 40 companies that have sent us cease and desists over the years. No, I'm not going to jail (yet) and no, it's not because of the economy. Although, the recent dip in sales certainly does make the idea easier to accept, even though we still sell over 3000 shirts a week.

I started this company in June of 2001, nearly 8 years ago, with the intention of producing the best satirical, the most controversial, the funniest t-shirts on the internet. Generally speaking, I feel I've accomplished that and am satisfied with what we've put out. I made a shitload of dough along the way. I've done cocaine off the better body parts of supermodels. I've even raped and killed a mountain panda in the hills of Shaanxi. But these perks are besides the point.

I just don't feel like dealing with idiots anymore. I'll give you an example of the kind of misguided morons we deal with on a regular basis at T-Shirt Hell. We released a new shirt a couple weeks ago that says "It's not gay if you beat them up afterwards". I will not explain the irony or the social commentary of the slogan because anyone with half a brain should be able to handle that on their own. Problem is, we've been besieged with emails from angry people complaining about the "fact" that the shirt is hate speech or that we're promoting gay bashing and should take it down immediately.

Comments like:
"I can't even believe people buy this shit. Do you realize your supporting a hate crime? That makes you feel better about yourself? Wow you need a life. We're all human beings and you can't except it."
and
"It's Not Gay:If You Beat Them Up After"?? That is highly inappropriate and very very morally wrong. I will be advising everyone I know to avoid buying anything from your site until shirts like this are removed. In this world people are fighting for equality and a chance to be themselves without fear of being beat up because of who they are, yet here is an established website promoting hate and violence. You all should be ashamed of yourselves."

Now, I can't say I'm surprised we're getting hate mail from people who have nothing better to do than to start half-assed campaigns because of their lazy, just enough passion for an email, ideals towards a misguided cause. It happened when we did our first really controversial shirt, "The School Shootings Tour", it happened when we did our "What About All The Good Things Hitler Did" shirt, it happened when we did our "Arrest Black Babies Before They Become Criminals" shirt (boy did it happen then). It used to happen all the time when we did more social commentary and didn't give a fuck about what anyone thought and did shirts that did not leave anyone out. Unfortunately, as a concern for the safety of my employees, we don't push the envelope as much anymore...and I can't say I feel good about having caved in.

Anyway, rather than cater to the masses, I'm just going to stop making shirts. It's not enjoyable anymore and I have enough money to move on to something more rewarding. Maybe I'll start my own hooker farm or maybe I'll practice sleeping. Whatever I decide to do, it will be better than this.

Attention any venture capitalists or independent investors/business assholes who are about to inquire about purchasing T-Shirt Hell. Don't. You won't do the company justice and I won't take that chance. I'm putting it to sleep. It's over.

That's right, I'm crazy. I'm pulling the plug on a company I could have sold for millions. Why in the fucking world would I do something so stupid? Because I can. I don't care about money. This is the way I've always done things...my way.

So, to all the kickass motherfuckers who supported us and REALLY got what we were trying to do, thank you (no, not you, you racist idiots who thought we actually had racist intentions and no, not you, you dumb as a stump fucks who just think any shirt with the word "fuck" on it is as right as rain). Thanks to all the people who contributed to my vice fund and at the same time helped make a funny statement about the world today.

As a final farewell, I'm going to bring back some of the top selling Worse Than Hell shirts as a fuck you to those who forced me to remove them. To those who are offended by them and to those who think I'm racist, promoting rape, a nazi, homophobic or just the world's biggest asshole...well, at least you think I'm something, which means I've achieved what I wanted.

Thanks to Gary, Mika, Jacob, Greg, Bob, the black lady who writes our newsletter, and to everyone else who was part of T-Shirt Hell. Time to move on to even greater things. I'll miss you (by miss, I mean, it's going to suck not being able to give you my excellent reach arounds when you least expect them).

Fuck you,

-Sunshine Megatron

Go buy a shirt....

Tshirthell.com

More random pic dump stuff....

She could have been the President.

We catch traffic wardens on video as they fake parking tickets

CHEATING parking wardens have been caught on video in a corrupt scam—brazenly dishing out false tickets to INNOCENT motorists then shamelessly FAKING photos as back-up “proof”.

Our investigators filmed them last week ticketing a LEGALLY parked motor and FABRICATING the “evidence”.

After being alerted to the scam by a reader, we parked our car on Thursday in a bay where the parking- warning sign is missing.

There is a thin 10ft- high black kerbside pole —but without the sign, wardens CANNOT legally issue tickets to any vehicle there.

Minutes later a patrolling warden stopped and tapped in the car’s registration number on his handheld machine.

Then he slapped an £80 parking ticket on the windscreen.

Next he took out a digital camera and photographed both the car and the ticket.

Finally he walked to ANOTHER bay 30 yards across the street and blatantly took a picture of the parking warning sign THERE.

Our team reported: “He took the picture by shooting upwards into the sky. That way there’s no background, and it’s difficult to tell it’s actually a different bay.”

Just 24 hours earlier we filmed a different warden pulling the same scam. This time, after ticketing our car, he wandered 40 YARDS along the road to snap another parking warning sign. In both cases the dodgy pictures, which were taken in Westminster, central London, were beamed to the local council, to be stored as “proof” that the car was wrongly parked.

Both incidents happened AFTER News of the World alerted Westminster Council to the dodgy goings on.

Our investigation started when parking campaigner Barrie Segal was ticketed 13 TIMES in two months by the council.

Barrie, founder of the website appealnow.com, first spotted there was no warning sign on the pole in the Bryanston Street bay last year.

Yet every time he parked there during the next eight weeks he was hit with a ticket—and each one backed up with a fake picture.

Then he had numerous threats to pay the £80 fine—which would be cut to £40 if he coughed up within two weeks. Barrie said: “There has been blatant faking of evidence to try to prove I was parked illegally.

“What the wardens are doing here is actually against the law.”

He went on: “The council’s followed the tickets up with more notices and even bailiffs’ letters. It’s scandalous bullying that would force most people to cough up.

“But this one bay is just the tip of the iceberg. This is happening all over the country, and motorists who have done nothing wrong are paying because they don’t realise.”

Both Westminster Council and the company employing the parking wardens, NCP Services, admitted parking tickets were wrongly issued and said attendants had been removed from duty pending an investigation.

NCP Services spokesman Tim Cowen insisted wardens were not on commission, saying: “There is no incentive to us to issue these unenforceable tickets.”

Source with video.

Free Monty Python Videos on Youtube Lead to 23,000% DVD Sale Increase

Mashable is now reporting on a staggering increase of Monty Python DVDs sold on Amazon soon after the Python crew made some of their their more popular material free on Youtube. And by staggering, I mean 23,000% worth. Mashable notes that Monty Python’s DVDs climbed to the #2 spot on Amazon’s Movie’s and TV Bestseller List, and you don’t have to be a genius to follow that the sales were probably influenced by the Amazon links found on all of their Youtube clips.

When launching their massive Youtube effort, Monty Python made their intentions fairly clear:

“We’re letting you see absolutely everything for free. So there! But we want something in return. None of your driveling, mindless comments. Instead, we want you to click on the links, buy our movies & TV shows and soften our pain and disgust at being ripped off all these years.”

With this news, it seems their “crazy plan” was a success—and why wouldn’t it be? After all, most of their sketch material is tailor made for the typical Youtube viewer, and it’s not as if they would have been better served by a traditional television marketing campaign.

While I’m glad that the Monty Python crew is getting richer (they certainly deserve it), I’m more interested in what this massive success spells for the entertainment industry. Could it be, despite all of the RIAA and MPAA’s clamoring about piracy killing their business, that free and less restrictive content is actually the answer to their woes? We’ve seen other entertainment artists have similar success with free content, and it seems the music industry is finally wising up to DRM-free music, so it’s not as if the possibility is altogether foreign.

Wired’s Chris Anderson argues this point in a recent cover story, and I would have to agree with him. At this point offering a certain amount of content for free (as we see on Hulu, Last.FM, and countless other sites and services) seems like one of the best ways to convince consumers to actually pay for media.

All of this points to a simple, yet seemingly elusive, fact: Treating your consumers like criminals may not be the best way to convince them to buy your shit. Just sayin.

Source

Not a good day....

Teen goalie designs pads to trick shots

While daydreaming in his high school chemistry class, hockey goaltender Trevor Leahy began to think about the opposing forwards who buzz around him when Pingree School hits the ice.

What are they looking for, he asked himself.

Open net.

But why does he wear dark blue pads that let shooters zero in on a target?

Using computer skills he learned in a graphic design class at the private school in South Hamilton, Leahy sketched out new leg pads that blend into the goal netting behind him. He wanted pads, a trapper, and a blocker that are white with a raised double-stitched design, just like the goal. He applied for a design patent and had them custom-made by a Canada-based pad maker.

"When the shooter comes down and only has a split second to shoot the puck, they're looking for net," said Leahy, a senior from Hampton, N.H., who grew up in Byfield. "If you put the net on the pad, they'll shoot at the pad instead of the goal."

Since the days when Boston Bruins' goaltender Gerry Cheevers started inking stitches onto his mask each time the equipment protected his face, many goalies have expressed their individuality with designs and paintings on their mask or other pieces of equipment. But Leahy's design - essentially a camouflage for a goal that is 4 feet high and 6 feet wide - has hockey players and coaches amazed and impressed.

Darren Stomp, the custom pad maker from Kingsville, Ontario, who designed Leahy's equipment, has had other goaltenders ask him to add orange and black tiger stripes and other designs. But those changes were cosmetic. "It might be the most clever idea," Stomp said. "I don't think there's any question it will work, although to what degree depends on the shooter and the situation."

So far, Leahy has logged two shutouts with the pads. In practice, two of Pingree's top scorers say, the illusion is particularly effective when there's a scramble in front of the net and they need to shoot quickly.

"When you're in close and you don't have a lot of time to think, it does catch your eye, and you do shoot toward it sometimes," said Matt MacDonald, a cocaptain from Byfield.

Both MacDonald and senior Tony Sardo of Gloucester say they have fired the puck directly into Leahy's pads. The illusion diminishes if they are farther from the net, with more time to shoot.

"I've never seen anything like them," Sardo said of the pads.

Not everyone is as sold on the theory. In the locker room after a recent 4-3 overtime loss, players from Dexter School of Brookline said that they barely noticed the design on the pads and that it didn't attract their attention - or their shots.

"I noticed it, but just thought it was a design on the pads," said senior forward Robert Lerro. "It just looked like squares."

John Gardner, the longtime hockey coach at Avon Old Farms School in Connecticut and president of the New England Prep School Ice Hockey Association, said the association has received no complaints about the pads. The association follows National Collegiate Athletic Association rules, he said, and regulations regarding goalie pads are basically confined to the size of the equipment and not the design.

"It's a novel idea," said Gardner.

Leahy applied for the design patent last February, and it is pending. He and his mother, Judie, flew to Canada and met with Stomp on Oct. 13 to discuss ideas for implementing the design. He received the pads Nov. 29, and began using them in practice and then in games.

At the Pingree Holiday Tournament in late December, Leahy backstopped Pingree to two shutouts in one day - a 1-0 win over Northwood School from Lake Placid in the morning and a 3-0 win over Kents Hill School of Maine that night. For the season he has a goals-against average under 2.00, and he has had some memorable nights with more than 40 saves against some of the prep school elite teams.

Longtime Pingree coach Buddy Taft won't give all the credit to the pads - the 5-foot-6-inch Leahy is very quick and has worked on his game, he says - but thinks the theory Leahy used to develop the pads has merit.

"It all makes sense," he said. "I'm not sure if there's any effective way to test their success, but he's played pretty well."

Leahy wrote a paper about the process as part of his application to the University of New Hampshire (the paper referenced Darwinism and creatures that adapt to their habitat via camouflage), and received notice of early acceptance. He has also applied to Northeastern, Providence College, Emerson College, and Boston University.

"We really encourage our kids to think outside of the box," Taft said. "Trevor is a good example of that."

Exactly what will happen to the pads after this season is unclear. Leahy said he would like to play hockey in college, probably at the club level, and wants to market the idea.

"It would definitely be cool to get it out there and get other guys in the future wearing it," he said.

Source

Inside Programmable Road Signs

This is the ADDCO
portable sign. Today, you see what is on the inside, and how they are programmed to display important information.

*** WARNING YOU SHOULD NEVER TAMPER WITH THESE SIGNS ***


1. The access panel on the sign is generally protected by a small lock, but often are left unprotected. Upon opening the access panel you can see the display electronics.

2. The black control pad is attached by a curly cord, with a keyboard on the face.

3. Programming is as simple as scrolling down the menu selection to “Instant Text”. Type whatever you want to display, Hit Enter to submit. You can now either throw it up on the sign by selecting “Run w/out save” or you can add more pages to it by selecting “Add page”

** HACKER TIPS ** Should it will ask you for a password. Try “DOTS”, the default password.

In all likelihood, the crew will not have changed it. However if they did, never fear. Hold “Control” and “Shift” and while holding, enter “DIPY”. This will reset the sign and reset the password to “DOTS” in the process. You’re in!

Source

Never lose battery power again
with the nPower™ PEG
(Personal Energy Generator)


The nPower™ PEG is an environmentally friendly, portable way to recharge your handheld electronic devices including your cell phone, MP3 player, PDA, digital camera, and GPS.

nPower™ provides you never-ending security, communication, and entertainment when you need it most; while you are on the go. The power is in you!



More power than you can shake a stick at...


Site

Some cool shots from the Paris-Dakar Rally taken from both Red Bull's site and the Boston-Globe's "Big Picture" archives....