Soxy

All this is making me hungary for some homemade corn tortillas. Mmmmmm. Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Link (NYT, Registration required) It should be interesting to see how this plays out.At the general convention they are also electing a new Presiding Bishop (who is really head of the Episcopal church), so it will be interesting to see what direction the church heads to.

So, I might have to teach a different course this summer than what I've been prepping. Yikes.

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ May 5, 2006 -> 10:56 AM) So what will eventually happen with this fin? Will it eventually fall over, or will this be a new way to get to the moon soon? I imagine when there's the next eruption it will all topple over or something

6 + 6 + 06 The signs are all around you.

I guess they'll just let anyone in the billionaire club. :rolly Lame.

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ May 2, 2006 -> 10:05 PM) How old are you Rex? The original "Renegade" had a much more "intense" and energy filled vocal performance. There was no attitude at all from Chris. Excuse me? You don't count staring into the camera with a constipated look as intense? Oh, wait me neither. . . Like I said on pseudo-soxtalk. I'm over Chris. I think the last two standing will be Taylor and Chris.

Vote for the Worst's new pick. . .

Link (Trib Article) Man executed on disproven evidence, experts say By Maurice Possley Tribune staff reporter Published May 2, 2006, 10:00 AM CDT Four of the nation's top arson experts have concluded that the state of Texas executed a man in 2004 based on scientifically invalid evidence, and they called for an official re-investigation of the case. In a report scheduled for release Tuesday morning, the experts, assembled by the Innocence Project, a non-profit organization responsible for scores of exonerations, concluded that the conviction and 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham for the arson-murders of his three daughters was based on interpretations by fire investigators that have been scientifically disproved. The experts were asked to perform an independent review of the evidence following an investigation by the Tribune that showed Willingham had been found guilty on arson theories that have been repudiated by scientific advances. In fact, many of the theories were simply lore that had been handed down by several generations of arson investigators who relied upon what they were told. The report's conclusions match the findings of the Tribune, published in December 2004. The newspaper began investigating the Willingham case following an October 2004 series, "Forensics Under the Microscope," which examined the use of forensics in the courtroom, including the continued use of disproved arson theories to obtain convictions. In strong language harshly critical of the investigation of the 1991 fire in Corsicana, located southeast of Dallas, the report said evidence examined in the Willingham case and "relied upon by fire investigators" was the type of evidence "routinely created by accidental fires." Since the death penalty was reinstated in the United States in 1976, 1,020 men and women have been executed, with more than one-third {ndash} 362 -- in Texas. Although more than 100 people have been released from death row in the United States during that same time, there has been no official conclusion by any government authority that an innocent person has been executed. The arson report singled out the testimony at Willingham's trial of Manuel Vasquez, a deputy Texas state fire marshal, who said he found numerous indicators in the debris that he interpreted as evidence Willingham intentionally set the fire. "Each and every one of the 'indicators' listed by Mr. Vasquez means absolutely nothing …, " the report states. The report is scheduled to be unveiled at a 10 a.m. news conference in the state capital in Texas, attended by Barry Scheck, co-founder and director of the Innocence Project, as well as some of the report's authors and relatives of Willingham. Scheck plans to turn over the report to the Texas Forensic Science Commission and request that the commission open an investigation of the prosecution of Willingham. The commission was created in 2005 to investigate allegations of "professional negligence or misconduct that would substantially affect the integrity of the results of a forensic analysis." In addition to the Willingham case, the report examined the arson prosecution of Ernest Ray Willis, who was charged with the arson-murders of two women in Iraan, Texas, on June 11, 1986. In 2004 -- a few months after Willingham was executed -- Willis, who was facing the death penalty in a retrial of his case, was released and the case dismissed after arson experts concluded there was no evidence the fire was intentionally set. The report assessing the two cases notes that even though the interpretations of the physical evidence in the Willis case were the same as in the Willingham case, authorities in Texas have declined to say that Willingham was wrongly convicted and executed. The report said the "disparity of the outcomes in these two cases warrants a closer inspection." Two days before Christmas in 1991, Willingham's wife left their house to pay bills and to shop for Christmas gifts for their 1-year-old twins, Karmon and Kameron, and their 2-year-old daughter, Amber. Willingham testified that he was awakened about an hour later by Amber's cries for help and found the house full of smoke. Willingham escaped, but the children did not. At Willingham's trial, Vasquez and Corsicana assistant fire chief Doug Fogg testified that the fire was deliberately set and pointed to numerous "indicators" as proof. One of those indicators was "crazed glass," a phenomena they said was caused by a fire that burned so hot and so fast that it could only have been caused by an accelerant. But the new report notes that scientific testing has established that crazed glass can be caused by the act of spraying water on hot glass; in effect, the act of extinguishing a fire was being used to prove that the fire was an arson. When he was strapped to the gurney to be executed, Willingham said, "I am an innocent man, convicted of a crime I did not commit." The report urges authorities to examine other cases as well. "To the extent that there are still investigators in Texas and elsewhere, who [misinterpret fires], there will continue to be serious miscarriages of justice." "In the cases of individuals already convicted using what is now known to be bad science [or no science], the courts should treat the 'new' knowledge as 'newly discovered evidence,' " the report states. "It was resistance to this concept that allowed the state to execute Mr. Willingham, even though it was known that the evidence used to convict him was invalid." One of the four authors of the report, John Lentini, a private fire investigator who first examined the Willingham case at the request of the Tribune, is a leading proponent of grounding arson investigation in proven science. The report by him and the other experts calls upon the criminal justice system to require arson investigators to have backgrounds in the science of fire, and asks that criminal defense lawyers be afforded funds to hire independent fire investigators. It also urges that participants in the justice system, particularly prosecutors, who decide whether to bring charges, be educated about scientific advances in fire investigation. "There is no crime other than homicide by arson for which a person can be sent to death row based on the unsupported opinion of someone who received all of his training 'on the job,' " the report states.

If you consistently tell her the truth (that he's a douche who will never leave his wife) she will either 1.) Believe you and break up with him or (more likely) 2.) Stop talking about it with you. It seems like the harshest way to go, but she's living a lie and at some point lies always get found out.

QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Apr 27, 2006 -> 02:42 PM) Tip: if you walk into a bathroom and see another guy standing at a urinal, don't ask 'hey, what's up? oooops. . .

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Apr 26, 2006 -> 09:45 AM) Ooo, did anybody see Fox New last night? Which judges or whoever are no longer speaking. I told my wife I was betting Simon and the drunk seal. She thinks Ryan and Simon. Ryan and Paula, allegedly

QUOTE(juddling @ Apr 25, 2006 -> 10:27 PM) Besides....is it normal to be handed politcal tapes after a spin class??? Besides...who goes to the gym to hear political talk from their instructors? I think in some aerobic classes it's not unusual to get to know the other people in the class and your instructor. If that class usually would joke around about politics and (perhaps) Bushisms, well, it's not that surprising. I mean, an hour and a half of sitting on a stationary bike isn't particularly exciting, sometimes you just talk to people to kill the time/boredom/soreness.

A very dull and uninspiring week of songs. Ish. Bottom three: I'm thinking it will be the ladies. I think it will be Paris going home.

QUOTE(samclemens @ Apr 25, 2006 -> 08:45 PM) http://www.drudgereport.com/flash5.htm what is it with high school teachers and gym instructers? i dont know anyone that goes to a spinning lesson to hear the teachers personal politics. why cant these people focus on actually doing their job, instead of vilifying the president all the time? TEACH YOUR CLASS So, just leave and ask for your money back. You pay for the spin class, if the instructor is being a dick you leave get your money back and switch your membership.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Apr 25, 2006 -> 08:13 AM) I agree with both of you. If I had a way to commute via mass transit, I would be all over that option. But I don't, especially in Dallas where EVERYTHING is 30 miles from where you are. How does that happen? I've been saying ever since I got back from Europe we need their public transportation system. Clean, fast and efficient. I believe that if there was a system available that was also convienent, people would use it.

Wow! Awesome, congrats on a personal best and all the money you raised for a nice charity!

Linkage Md. Boy Held in Deaths of Mother, Brother By KRISTEN WYATT, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 14 minutes ago DISTRICT HEIGHTS, Md. - A 12-year-old boy described by a neighbor as having a volatile temper appeared in juvenile court Monday on two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his mother and younger brother. The victims were found beaten and stabbed to death Sunday morning in the family's apartment outside Washington. Police said they found a metal bar, the kind normally used to secure a car's steering wheel to prevent theft, believed to have been used in the killings. The boy, too young to face homicide charges as an adult in Maryland, appeared at his hearing via closed-circuit television from a juvenile detention center. Judge Melanie M. Shaw Geter ordered he remain in custody until his next hearing, set for May 15. His name was not released because of his age. The boy's mother, Katrina Denise Powe, 31, and 9-year-old brother, Mystery Toma Hillian, were found dead around 11 a.m. Sunday after Prince George's County police were called to the apartment. Detectives interviewed the 12-year-old and arrested him there, said Cpl. Clinton Copeland. He did not know if the boy or someone else had called police. Prosecutors said the boy's father was on his way to Maryland from North Carolina. At 12, the defendant is believed to be one of the youngest ever charged with homicide in Maryland. If found responsible for the deaths, the boy could be held until he is 21, said Deputy State's Attorney Patricia Smoot. "It's certainly tragic and we'll be looking at all the facts involved," Smoot said, adding, "It's incredibly unusual to have a homicide where there's someone as young as 12 involved. I'm incredibly stunned." Neighbors said the older boy often watched his younger brother but was known in the neighborhood for having a temper. "If he got into an argument or something, like with other kids, he would kind of explode, and like go off," Azalia Taylor told WRC-TV. Other neighbors remembered the two boys playing football on a grass quadrangle in the center of the complex of three-story apartment buildings just inside the Capital Beltway. Balloons and a bouquet of flowers on Monday marked the building where the family lived. "It's just devastating," said Barbara Addison, 53, a resident of the garden apartments who said her grandson played with Mystery. "He was a nice kid."

Surf away! Judge: Web-Surfing Worker Can't Be Fired 55 minutes ago NEW YORK - Saying surfing the web is equivalent to reading a newspaper or talking on the phone, an administrative law judge has suggested that only a reprimand is appropriate as punishment for a city worker accused of failing to heed warnings to stay off the Internet. Administrative Law Judge John Spooner reached his decision in the case of Toquir Choudhri, a 14-year veteran of the Department of Education who had been accused of ignoring supervisors who told him to stop browsing the Internet at work. The ruling came after Mayor Michael Bloomberg fired a worker in the city's legislative office in Albany earlier this year after he saw the man playing a game of solitaire on his computer. In his decision, Spooner wrote: "It should be observed that the Internet has become the modern equivalent of a telephone or a daily newspaper, providing a combination of communication and information that most employees use as frequently in their personal lives as for their work." He added: "For this reason, city agencies permit workers to use a telephone for personal calls, so long as this does not interfere with their overall work performance. Many agencies apply the same standard to the use of the Internet for personal purposes." Spooner dispensed the lightest possible punishment on Choudhri, a reprimand, after a search of Choudhri's computer files revealed he had visited several news and travel sites. Martin Druyan, Choudhri's lawyer, called the ruling "very reasonable."

QUOTE(Be Good @ Apr 22, 2006 -> 05:34 PM) Well respected Cat or Dog Both! New York or LA?

Batgirl linked to the Cheat!!!!!

Have a super adventurous birthday!!!!! Happy happy!!!!

I'm not thrilled about it, but I only have to fill up every other week (good gas mileage and I don't drive much). I think it was pretty inevitable that gas prices would some day reach this much (since that's how it is pretty much everywhere else). So I can't say I'm shocked. I do hope, though, that this will be a major impetus to get more public transportation up and running. But I would now (more than usual) like to profess my deep and enduring love to my Toyota Corolla.

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Apr 22, 2006 -> 10:09 AM) Hmmmm, tough one. Great body. (but are wel talking me having a great imagination...or the other person? Oh hell, I have to stick with what I have posted, the wife is as smart as a whip, but she has no imagination or creativity in anything, and she gladly admits it) Pearls Before Swine or Get Fuzzy. Readers of them will get it. Hmmm, I love them both. But I'm a pet girl, so I'm going to go with Get Fuzzy. Big dogs or little dogs?

QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Apr 21, 2006 -> 10:36 AM) I don't know if you guys come across many of them, but downtown there are a lot of panhandlers. Do you ever give them money? Never? sometimes? always? If sometimes, how do you determine when? Funny my mom story: she never gives money to pan handlers. But one day she saw a guy with a dog, and a sign in front of the dog that read: If there is no dog behind this sign, I ate him. She gave him a few bucks.