Eight-year-old shoots self with Uzi, dies - CNN.com

Eight-year-old shoots self with Uzi, dies - CNN.com

The club said on its Web site that the event, run in conjunction with C.O.P. Firearms and Training, is "all legal and fun." People will be allowed to fire weapons at vehicles, pumpkins and other targets, it said.

My son will not be allowed to attend any such training.

Good stuff on what to do if you lost a bunch of money in stocks..

..like Kerry and I just did..

Your Money - ‘Is My Money Safe?’ and Other Questions to Ask - Question - NYTimes.com

Q. My retirement portfolio has been wrecked by this. How should I respond?

A. Continue to save. Big losses mean you’ll need that much more time, or good news, to bring your balances back to where they need to be for you to retire comfortably. If your employer matches your contributions, this is a great time to take advantage of the largess.

As for whether you should pile into beaten down stocks, no one knows how much further the markets will fall or how long they’ll take to bounce back. But people who move their savings to ultrasafe investments and then leave them there usually miss out on the gains when the markets come back. If you need to do that to sleep at night or avoid stomach ulcers, then do what you have to do. But it may cost you in quality of life come retirement time.

Why high fuel prices are good for us..

I've found several people echoing thoughts I've had about the high fuel prices. My biggest positive is "onshoring" of jobs, where the flow of manufacturing work out of the US might be turning around. Tech jobs can still be off-shored fairly easily though.

What I really don't understand though is, why did the price hike that started after Hurricane Katrina never go down? Who decided it wouldn't?

Hurray For High Gas Prices! - Freakonomics - Opinion - New York Times Blog
High Gas Prices Good for America

There will be oil..

Similar to their recent defeat of steroids' use among MLB players, congress recently solved the oil profiteering ring. Good article on how inept it all really was:The Oilmen Cometh - Forbes.com

What to do? Get a smaller car, move closer to your job and buy oil stocks. Since late May 2004, the average retail price of gasoline in the U.S. has risen from $2.02 per gallon to $3.79 per gallon today, an increase of nearly 87%. In the same period, Exxon's stock price has leapt from $42.60 a share to $92.68 a share late Thursday, an increase of almost 118%.

Subprime mortgages were get rich schemes.

I really like this guy's blog, but particularly found this interesting:
The Giant Pool of Money: Anatomy of the Subprime Mortgage Mess ∞ Get Rich Slowly

Why did the crisis occur? Because all along the financial chain — from bankers to brokers to borrowers to investors — people deluded themselves. They thought they could throw out the old rules of money. They thought they could cut corners to make a quick buck. In short: they were trying to get rich quickly instead of to get rich slowly.

I wonder how many of our other nation's blunders can be attributed to the same cause.

Big Bang or Big Goof? Astronomer Challenges 'Seeds' Proof

Big Bang or Big Goof? Astronomer Verschuur Challenges 'Seeds' Proof

Big Bang or Big Goof? Astronomer Challenges 'Seeds' Proof

Posted by cmwillis at 11:06 AM |

Dennis Haskins is a great guy..

Spoke to UTC students last week and though Shatner-esque, he's really a great guy.

Space Station Computers Still Failing...

Discovery Channel :: News - Space :: Space Station Computers Still Failing

NASA said the engineers tried turning off and on the power between the U.S. and Russian sections before rebooting the computers to test if perhaps a bad connection between the Russian side and a pair of new solar arrays might be the problem. They were still testing that theory Friday morning.

"A power line has a certain magnetic field around it, and that can affect systems near it," said Mike Suffredini, NASA's space station program manager. "This is the leading theory today."

Posted by cmwillis at 1:12 PM |

Mocs News coverage of VT Massacre

I think my students did a particularly good job of covering the Virginia Tech story. Check it out here: Mocs News.

Aurora over Iowa

My Dad used to talk about seeing the Aurora Borealis as a kid in West Tennessee but this looks incredible..

Mocs News podcast

Check out the many improvements to the Mocs News website thanks to Ryan DiGiorgi, webmaster extroidinaire:

New domain: http://www.mocsnews.com
Video podcast available through iTunes and other podcatchers
Smokin' new flash video on the main page - notice the lack of Youtube or Google in the bottom corner. Its all UTC baby!

More to come

Good News for new Orleans

Thought this article was encouraging..

Big question mark over Big Easy - Hurricanes' Aftermath - MSNBC.com

There goes my hero..

These guys are my heroes. As I sat here wondering, Can't we just drive down there and pick people up and move them to other locations, these guys did just that--Drove right through security checkpoints and helped people from the convention center get to Baton Rouge. Why didn't more people do this? Why didn't I?

Guy Shooting at helicopters

You sir, are the stupidest person to ever live. I hope you are held accountable for lives lost to your "brilliance."

FEMA interviews

Not that I'm likely to get one, but if I got an interview with FEMA, I'd like to ask the following:

What is it that you do all day? BECAUSE IT ISN'T PLANNING FOR DISASTERS NOW IS IT!?! What is going on?

Army Corps: What is the holdup? DAM THAT LEVEE!

George Bush: Shut up. Just shut up, please..

Governor Louisianna: Who are you yelling at when you threaten the looters? They don't have TV, they don't have power. Are you trying to impress us??

Media: Thanks for making me feel so useless.

Interest Only Loans

Some friends of ours did this (MSN article) and it makes no sense whatsoever to me. Seems kind of like leasing a house. Don't understand leasing cars either. What makes us think we deserve more than what we can afford? Of course most people can't buy a car or house outright, but do these loans makes us lose grip on reality?

Brian Nichols

I took several attempts to read this, since tears kept pouring down my face..
Ashley Smith's testimony

Blog update

So. Not a lot of time to blog lately. No time for introspection. Overrated anyway.

Lasik was to be tomorrow but got postponed. Will get zapped next month.

Jackson is awesome. Was climbing on my climbing wall tonight, sort of.

Dale and Lisa are home.

Bill has a new website--how is it different again? Still check it religiously though.

Some of my students have a new show.

This guy has a new short film online.

UTC has a new website look.

We got a couple new cameras at the TV Studio.

The Daily Show is politically biased.

I guess that's about it. Oh yeah the elections in Iraq went surprisingly well. Despite boycotters now upset they missed out.

Also, if I had $17 I would buy Colrus this mug.