Idle thoughts in the life of an IT Professional that's married with children.

My Profile


Map of Countries I've Visited


Other blogs that I write:

The Wine Spot

WhineSpot (co-hosted)


Other Blogs that I read:

My Life (by Karen)

Carrie's Blog

A Nichol's Worth (Patti)

Points to Ponder

My Life in Paradise
(Curt's Blog)

poopee shmoopee's blog

BostonBlueEyes (Colin's blog)

LQ's Blog, Moo Alex

Simon of Space

Mark's Regular Life

Trucker Bob's Blog



My Current Weather




My favorite saying:

Shared pain is lessened Shared joy is multiplied

 

Post 650
Happy New Years Everyone!

Well, for all those (one) that asked for it, here's my last PodCast of the year!

Happy New Years again to all. Here's hoping that 2006 brings you all, Happiness, Health and Prosperity.
We're going to celebrate the new year with our friends Dave and Tina at home this year. The weather's supposed to be not so nice, so it'll be nice for them to not have to go far. No idea what the menu will be, but my wife has that brand new "finger foods" cookbook that she's pouring over, to look for something new.

Well, I got to play with the newest version of Windows yesterday, named Vista at work. I installed it on a PC, and played with it for a few hours. The user interface takes a bit of getting used to, but it looks pretty slick. I need more time with it, but so far, I'd say it's an improvement over Windows XP. More to come.

Seeing as 2005 is coming to an end, here are the finalists for the 2005 Darwin Awards!

Here then, are the glorious Darwin Award Nominees:

1 - 3 January 2005, St. Maurice, Switzerland

It was the first week of a weapons refresher course, and Swiss Army Grenadier Detachment 20/5 had just finished training with live ammunition. The shooting instructor ordered the soldiers to secure their weapons for a break.


The 24-year-old second lieutenant, in charge of this detachment, decided this would be a good time to demonstrate a knife attack on a soldier. Wielding his bayonet, he leaped toward one of his men, achieving complete surprise.

But earlier that week, the soldiers had been drilled to release the safety catch and ready their guns for firing in the shortest possible time. The surprised soldier, seeing his lieutenant leaping toward him with a knife, snapped off a shot to protect himself from the attack. The lesson could not have been more successful: the soldier had saved himself and protected the rest of the detachment from a surprise attack. The lieutenant might have wished to commend his soldier on his quick action and accurate marksmanship. Unfortunately, he had been killed with one shot.

2 - 15 February 2005, Rushinga, Zimbabwe


The elephants were trampling Christian's maize field, which he planted on an elephant trail of long standing. He had to find a way to fight back! Fortunately, there was an old minefield nearby, on the Zimabwe-Mozambique border. Christian figured a few landmines planted around his field would soon teach the elephants a lesson they would never forget.

Christian may have gotten the idea of using the mines from a couple of incidents that had recently transpired. A local resident had been injured after picking up a landmine while herding cattle the week before. A week before that, another Rushinga man had lost part of his leg after stepping on a landmine. The other villagers saw the writing on the wall, and avoided the landmines.

But Christian realized they were just what he needed! Clearly, these mines could cause great damage to an elephant! He dug up five that had been exposed by recent heavy rains, and began carrying them home.

These unstable mines detonated, killing Christian instantly. Then total number of elephants injured? Zero.

3 - Police in Wichita, Kansas, arrested a 22-year-old man at an airport hotel after he tried to pass two counterfeit $16 bills. When two service station attendants in Ionia, Michigan, refused to hand over the cash to an intoxicated robber, the man threatened to call the police. They still wouldn't give him the money, so the robber called the police -- and was arrested.

4 - A Los Angeles man who later said he was "tired of walking" stole a steamroller and led police on a 5mph chase, until an officer stepped aboard and brought the vehicle to a stop.

5 - A guy wearing pantyhose on his face tried to rob a store in a mall. When the security came, he quickly grabbed a shopping bag and pretended to be shopping, forgetting that he was still wearing the pantyhose. He was captured, and his loot was returned to the store.

What happened in 2005?

HURRICANE KATRINA
Hurricane Katrina killed more than 1,300 people in five states. It ravaged the Mississippi Gulf coast and set off flooding that submerged 80 percent of New Orleans, forcing the largest urban islocation in U.S. history.

PAPAL TRANSITION
John Paul II's death marked the passing of the first non-Italian pope in 455 years and ended a 26-year pontificate, third-longest in history.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany became the new pope and promptly waived the normal waiting period so John Paul could swiftly be considered for sainthood.

IRAQ
News from Iraq ranged from a devastating wave of suicide bombings, to Iraqis voting for new leaders and thrashing out differences on a new constitution.
The U.S. military death toll surpassed 2,000. President Bush estimated the Iraqi death toll at 30,000, but he insisted U.S. forces would stay until Iraqi troops could contain insurgents on their own.

SUPREME COURT
There were two openings on the Supreme Court due to Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement and Chief Justice William Rehnquist's death.
John Roberts was smoothly confirmed to succeed Rehnquist, but President Bush's next nominee, Harriet Miers, had to bow out amid conservative complaints.
The right liked the next choice, Samuel Alito, but he could face tough Democratic opposition at confirmation hearings in January.

OIL PRICES
Crude oil prices hit an all-time peak of almost $71 a barrel in August before subsiding.
Costly gasoline prompted some motorists to rethink their driving habits.
The beleaguered U.S. airline industry had to spend $9 billion more on jet fuel in 2005 than in 2004.

LONDON BOMBINGS
Attacks on three rush-hour subway trains and a bus killed 56 people on July 7, including four bombers with ties to Islamic militants.
Authorities said three of the alleged bombers were born in Britain to immigrant parents from Pakistan; the fourth was from Jamaica.

ASIAN QUAKE
A massive earthquake near the Pakistan-India border killed more than 87,000, and left more than 3 million homeless.

TERRI SCHIAVO
A family feud escalated into a wrenching national debate as the husband of brain-damaged Terri Schiavo struggled and finally succeeded in getting clearance to remove the feeding tube that had kept her alive for 15 years.

CIA LEAK
Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, was indicted as a special prosecutor investigated the Bush administration's leaking of Valerie Plame's CIA status to the news media in 2003.

Tom Cruise jumped on a couch on the Oprah Winfrey show, making a complete ass of himself.
To make sure EVERYONE knows he's an ass, he calls Matt Laur an idiot for thinking mental health is a real medical problem.

People saw God/Jesus/the Virgin Mary.. etc in every imaginable piece of food.

Famous people that died in 2005:

Don Adams (Sorry about that Chief!, Missed it by that much!)
Eddie Albert (best known for Green Acres, and a big screen actor before that)
Leon Askin (General Burkhalter from Hogans Heroes)
Anne Bancroft
Barbara Bel Geddes (JR's mother on Dallas)
Johnny Carson
Johnnie Cochran
Ossie Davis
John DeLorean (Car Builder extraordinaire)
Bob Denver (Gilligan)
James Doohan (Scotty... beam me up)
Dana Elcar (McGuyver's boss)
Frank Gorshin (The Riddler, fantastic actor)
Peter Jennings
Pope John Paul II
Arthur Miller (Playwright)
Robert Moog (invented the synthesizer)
Pat Morita (Mr. Miyagi)
Rosa Parks
Richard Pryor
Prince Rainier of Monaco
Nipsey Russell
Debralee Scott
Dr. Gene Scott (Eccentric televangelist) here's one I didn't know died!
Lane Smith (Perry White on Superman)
Hunter S. Thompson
Luther Vandross
Paul Winchell (ventriloquist)

Farewell 2005.. you took many good ones with you...

On to the news:

Britney eager to get knocked up again, thinks another baby will smooth over things with Cletus

And from my podcast:
Man gets car stuck in mud, puts toolbox on accelerator and gets out to push. Hilarity ensues

Meanwhile, in Stockholm... Princess Madeleine is still hot (safe for work)

And now... My BOTD's!

And because there's always room for one more...

There may not be a blog on Monday people.. have a great weekend and New Years Eve!

posted by Dave at Friday, December 30, 2005