News!

In academic news, mathematicians at UCLA have found a 13 million-digit prime number.

Whew! That's a relief - I was wondering where I left it.
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In national news, Congress approved an unprecedented $700 billion government bailout of the battered financial industry. This version of the bill included a number of "sweeteners" to induce reluctant members to vote it into law. Here are some of those "sweeteners:"

A tax break for NASCAR racetracks and other motor-sports facilities.
A tax break for rum produced in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Exempting from excise tax certain wooden arrow shafts for use by children.

Good thing I moved my 401K into NASCAR tickets, rum futures and wooden arrows.
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In news from across the pond, a court has suspended the license of a truck driver who careened down a highway while watching episodes of Battlestar Galactica on a laptop computer atop his dashboard.

Yeah, you know I just have to ask - there's a trucker who watches Battlestar Galactica?
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In meteorological, paleontological, and oddly enough, somewhat political news - a homeowner whose beachfront property in Texas was destroyed during Hurricane Ike has found a fossil Columbian mammoth tooth among the debris in her front yard. According to paleontologists, Columbian mammoths were common in North America until about 10,000 years ago.

I'm guessing the mammoth refused to evacuate its beachfront home in 15,473 BC and was killed by Hurricane Ug.

Maybe the other mammoths in its herd expected the government to step in and rebuild their ... whatever Columbian mammoths lived in. Trouble is, it took almost 20,000 years to raise taxes high enough to do it. Meanwhile, mammoths went extinct.
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And that's the news for this week. Tune in next week for further discussion of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, a little talk about a certain Proposition coming up in the November election, and with any luck, more fun news. And maybe some surprises as well. Of course, that would mean posting more than once or twice next week, which would be a surprise in and of itself.

So, congratulations, Neal E. Boyd, even though I was rooting for Nuttin But Stringz or Queen Emily. And Kenley, if you've always had to fight people to get through life, you might want to try and figure out the common denominator in your conflicts. Hint - it's a 3-letter word that can be abbreviated "U."