14 Mar 2004
U.S. Plans Targeted Draft for Computer Personnel

Gee, I wonder if this'll apply to the IT folks in Bangalore? Maybe the Army should just offshore it's computer programming needs.

The US Selective Service System is drawing up plans for a 'special skills draft'. There is already a system in place to draft health care personnel, and this system would be expanded in order to 'rapidly register and draft' computer specialists.

(link) [Slashdot]

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

Well, I'm back.

I drove 2985.7 miles in 125 hours. That's an average speed of 23.89 mph, waking, sleeping or eating. Whatever. I'm toast.

I bade farewell to a dear aunt, who was, at times, like a second mom to me when I was growing up. And I did get to renew an acquaintance with my cousins in Florida that had long been allowed to lapse.

To stay awake, I purchased an unabridged audio edition of J.R.R. Tolkien's Silmarillion. I'd never really been able to wade through that one in print: it's a tough read. But on audio it's an entirely different experience. Some things are meant to be read aloud, and this is one of them. It's a total of 16 hours of tape, and I managed to listen to it twice.

I've got a lot of mail (175+, not counting junque and spam) and a lot of news to catch up on - it was a busy week indeed. But no lambs dropped while I was away - glad I didn't miss that! Time to get to reading...

00:00 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

Which Wheat Will Win?

Thank you, Japan! I suspect that you're doing this on the very shakey grounds of potential harm to humans from eating GMO wheat, but your actions will (hopefully) have the effect of saving mankinds oldest cereal crop from genetic decimation.

Japan's refusal to import wheat from a country that has GMO varieties may determine U.S. wheat growers' direction in biotech wheat development. Producers also want to sell to China, which wants the modified grain.

(link) [Wired News]

00:00 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link

Inside the mind of the gay sheep

This is from last Monday, before I left, but I had to post it, even if late. I had absolutely no idea that 8% of rams exhibit a sexual preference for other rams! In my experience, a ram will mount anything that looks vaguely like a ewe: they do have a bit of a reputation for being horny! (sorry ... I had to do it!)

Boffins seek reason for ovine homosexuality

(link) [The Register]

00:00 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link