March 19, 2003

The FBI announced that uncover agents recovered a copy of the US Bill of Rights in a sting operation this week. The copy which was made in 1791, for the new state of North Carolina on orders of President George Washington had been stolen from a North Carolina courthouse in 1865. The Bill of Rights is important and so are the words of the Declaration of Independence that were ignored for too long: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. 10:08:23 PM

Writing in the New York Times’ Technology section, David Pogue likes the speed and battery life of laptops with the newly introduced Centrino chips but notes that the 802.11b wireless capabities of these machines cannot be upgraded. 9:51:56 PM

Nick Stam of ExtremeTech writes another article detailing yet more troubles and decisions during his quest for a high definition television. 9:51:32 PM

Unlikely, but makes you think Since Canada is maintaining a pair of frigates in the Persian Gulf as part of an anti-terror taskforce but not participating in the war against Iraq, would they just ignore people or ships attacking American targets if they identify themselves as Iraqi? 9:51:14 PM

Canada’s Sea King helicopters are not the only naval based aircraft that are nearing the end of their lifespans. Introduced over 30 years ago, the US Navy’s F-14 Tomcat may be flying its last missions during the up coming war. An article in the Virginian-Pilot Online ( via GlobalSecurity.org) notes that mechanics spend thirty-three hours working on Tomcats for every hour the fighter jet is in the air versus less then twenty for the newer F-18 Hornet while Canada’s Sea Kings require about forty. The amount of work the Hornets need is interesting since few if any articles on the Sea Kings compare the amount of work to maintain the Sea Kings to the amount of work required on other naval aircraft. 9:50:36 PM

Real weapons inspections will begin soon. 12:21:52 AM

Salon.com looks at the masses of Law and Order watchers and the draw of it and its spin-offs. The biggest statistic, one in ten Americans, watches three episodes a week. It took many years and a brief flirtation with Law and Order: SVU and later Law and Order: CI but I think my Law and Order days are over. I cannot watch a whole episode anymore, instead I’m a CSI: Crime Scene Investigation fan from day one. I even watch CSI: Miami. 12:04:20 AM