Events

Via the Economist, a Japan Air Lines 747 sucked a misplaced baggage container into its #1 engine at LAX: To the shock of onlookers – and no doubt the dismay of airline officials and crew on board – the empty baggage cart was sucked into one of the Boeing 747’s four engines, forcing the plane to become grounded and passengers returned back to the terminal. The Times of London has video.

From the New York Observer, some very evil humor: 4. You’re Americans! Who do you think you are? Us? ... 9. Please! For the love of God, I can't take any more of this harsh treatment which does not rise to the level of torture! I couldn't stop laughing and cringing at the same time.

Via Talking Poinst Memo, Mancow lasts six seconds before deciding waterboarding is torture: "If I'd known it was going to be this bad, I never would have done it." As TPM noted, "remember: this was in a controlled setting where the victim knew he wasn't going to be harmed."

Via Cele|bitchy, one more instance of a person confusing fame and infamy: Mary Kay LeTourneau, who was imprisoned as a 34-year-old teacher for raping a sixth-grade student, will host a "Hot for Teacher" night this weekend at a Seattle bar, KOMO-TV and the Associated Press report. "It's turned into sort of a love story," says [Mike Morris, owner of the Fuel Sports Eats & Beats bar]. "I realize it had a sick twist at the beginning, but they're both adults now. They're both married by the state of...

Cold fronts always seem to arrive with more fanfare than warm fronts, even when they don't bring precipitation or even clouds with them. Here's the U.S. situation as of 7pm this evening: Since then, the cold front shown draped over Chicago has moved east, passing over the city at almost exactly 8:35 pm. I know this because I had the windows open so their paint could dry. Some explanation: Because it's critical that the Inner Drive Technology International Data Center not melt, I keep careful watch on...

I'm sweltering in 31°C stickiness at the Inner Drive Technology World Headquarters, because the painter is doing the office windows. Apparently they're much easier to do off the rails than on, and he objected to working around the air conditioner. Tomorrow it'll be 15°C in Chicago, but he's here today, so. So while the IDT International Data Center barely hangs on (servers hate temperatures over 25°C), and while my hot dog pants on the bathroom floor, apparently Kraft Foods and Sara Lee Corp., two...

Probably the last Kyiv photo for now: St. Sofia Cathedral, build in stages starting in 1037. In the courtyard nearby they have a carillon, which every child encountering it needed to smack around. Detail:

It's 28°C in the Inner Drive Technology Worldwide Data Center, and I would put my air conditioners in except that I'll have to take them out tomorrow morning when a painter comes to (finally!) paint some new windows. My servers and I are kind of warm, though. I might cave in the next few minutes here.

I found today's Prime Minister's Questions more entertaining than watching Parker go after geese in the park, and for similar reasons. Every member seemed itching for a fight, and the leaders of both opposition parties called for elections. Well, we'll see; it seems unlikely the government will resign until it has to a year from now. Anyway, this exchange started the fun: [Conservative party leader] Mr. David Cameron: This morning the Prime Minister said that a general election would cause “chaos”. What...

Most Americans probably don't know about the scandal that has ripped through the UK House of Commons. It seems members in all parties stretched their Parliamentary expense reports quite a lot, including in one case a Conservative member, Douglas Hogg, who claimed reimbursement for having his moat cleaned. Hogg subsequently announced he would not stand for re-election. The Daily Telegraph broke the worst of the story a few weeks ago, and yesterday, just after the Metropolitan Police decided that the...