Death comes

the hurricane katrina cut a swath of destruction from new orleans to someplace in the southern united states. most of the coverage has centered on new orleans and southern louisiana so the terminus of destruction is not known to me. some people evacuated others stayed. some died because they were convinced that they could 'stick it out' yet again through a storm and other because they didn't have transportation out. the effects of the storm will be felt in the region for a longer period than any news publisher will cover. thus far the death toll is said to be 'in hundreds maybe thousands.'

today another story of death came with its sharp sickle. shia muslims marching as part of a religious festival were trampled to death and jumped to their deaths when rumors of a suicide bomber in the crowd circulated. this wasn't an incident like the americans who wanted the $50 ibooks where only 17 people were hurt. in this case, close to 1,000 people died, according to the last tally i read. this didn't happen over a wide swath of land and didn't come with a weather forcast. it was mostly women, children, and the elderly who died. sticks and stones may break my bones, but words are sure to kill many.

Ta-Da!

this sunday we went to pick up a new addition to our garage, my new (to me) motorcycle.

it is a BMW F650 GS
with all the goodies i want. heated grips, side cases, top case, abs, the key is the same for the bags and ignition, engine guard, hand protectors, tall windshield, acessory socket, and some other misc. stuff.
it rides wonderfully and sits probably shorter than my xt 225. so i definately flat foot it.
we rode out on sat. afternoon to mt. diable state park near san fran. camped on sat night and then picked up the bike sunday morning. we then rode up highway 1 for a little while before turning off and heading through napa and then over to sacramento taking 50 back to reno. it was a long day and i am still tired. but worth it, after all what is work for other than to recover from the weekend?

Jury Scam

i usually find scams reveal themselves fairly easily but this particular scam may catch some off guard. people call claiming you failed to report for jury duty and can be arrested. just in case it starts up in your area, check out snopes. it is a good refresher course in how not get your identity stolen.

motorcycle signals

some of these are a bit to similar to the left turn signal but interesting and pretty good none-the-less. see page 2 of group riding from MSF.

Sounds

this morning, and almost every morning, i hear our cat trot across the carpet. it is a careful, friendly, inquisitive sound that i love to listen to as i wake up.
what sounds do you love?

Coming Through at a Rapid Pace

watch it when you go to the hospital. if you get an MRI don't count on the people in the room to check for loose metal. the magnets in MRI's are very strong but people get complacent and forget things like small amounts of metal. these small and large pieces of ferromagnetic metals end up flying across the room and getting stuck to the magnet. check out this article at NY times and these pictures. i can't believe the government doesn't regulate this better.

Yay! for chemistry

i can't wait until a product is put on the market using this surface tension reduction to get the water between the holes in cloth. i would love to use less electricity to dry my clothes and i imagine the clothes get cleaner too.