Just a few weeks ago my beloved dog Sandy came to the end of a long and debilitating struggle with kidney failure. My wife and I did everything we could to prolong her life and make her happy and comfortable, but none of us can cheat death, and eventually it was upon us.

One of the most difficult decisions of my life came when I was forced to choose to euthanize my faithful companion of more than a decade. It was compounded by a feeling of guilt – not that I had acted too soon, but that perhaps I had waited too long out of grief and a sense of personal loss. I remember wishing for days that she could tell me if it was worth living, or if she merely wished she could die.

When we finally had our vet come to the house and put her to rest it was a traumatic experience for the family, yet the death was so quite, fast and peaceful that not only did it remove any feeling of lingering doubt that we had done the right thing, but it made me consider my own mortality and caused me to realize that ultimately I would rather be able to go like this, than be imprisoned in a body stricken with ailments, waiting for death to take me.

Well, this is the situation that Sir Edward Downes, and his wife of 54 years, Lady Joan, found themselves in. And luckily for them, they were able to make the decision to leave this world on their own terms. I only wish that we had the freedom to choose for our selves here in the USA.
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I think this guy’s shirt says it all…

There is nothing like instilling a little fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) to help sell a product… or a consulting service!

Some young guys in L.A. garnered some serious attention when they told ABC News that they could hack cell phones of the rich and famous. And this short video is the result of that claim.
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This is an old clip of a study of the effects of LSD on combat troops. It appears to be from around the 1940’s, and I don’t have any clue where it came from originally. But its mildly amusing to see a bunch of highly trained killing machines walking around aimlessly and falling over laughing.

LSD is typically delivered orally, usually on a sugar cube or in some sort of food product, so I’m guessing they were trying to determine how they could weaponize it by contaminating an enemy’s water supply or food supply. One surefire way to win is to make the other side not care if they fight any longer!
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Can someone please tell me why the Russians are taunting the British by flying bomber/reconnaissance planes to the border of British airspace?

With relations between Russia and Britain deteriorating, the number of incidents in which Russia’s submarines have been found close to British shores or in contact with Royal Navy warships has also risen, reports said yesterday. London’s Daily Telegraph said there was a suggestion Russia could be testing the West’s air detection systems and response times.

Diplomatic tensions between London and Moscow — already stretched by the murder in London of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko — intensified as the Bear bombers headed towards Britain. It was the first time Russian bombers had threatened to penetrate British airspace since President Vladimir Putin indicated, with no little chutzpah, that he had ordered his bomber force to resume long-range patrols around the world.

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There are a few curse words in this one, but it’s exceedingly amusing anyway! This clip comes from a UK TV show called Balls of Steel.

There is a guy in the UK who’s invented his own game called “Urban Sprinting”. Basically the deal is that he’s got a device that I’m assuming he can turn on which will set off the alarms at retail stores that are designed to catch shoplifters.

Do you see where I’m going with this yet? Yep, he doesn’t steal anything, but he sets off the alarms and then runs to get the security guards to chase him! As far as he’s concerned the game doesn’t end until he’s able to get to a hamburger joint and order a burger.
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Wow, Panoramas.dk is one of the greatest sites I’ve ever come across. It features a number of three dimensional panoramas which allow you to virtually look around a given space. This is a technology that can only flourish on the Web since you cannot move around inside a static photograph.

There are virtual reality panoramas of the Eiffel Tower, Carnival in Rio, a Camel Carts in Bikaner India, a human Zoo, an ariel view of Sydney Australia and even the Apollo Moon Landings.

The site can be a little difficult to navigate so I compiled the following list of several I enjoyed.
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Hi kids. Today’s art lesson comes in the form of England’s most popular and well known graffiti artist. How popular is he? Well, two men were actually convicted in a UK court for defacing one of his works. That’s right. He tagged a building, they covered it up, and they went to jail!

Banksy is no street thug. He is a serious artist that happens to have an addiction to spray painting his art in public places. His art features striking and humorous images occasionally combined with slogans. The message is usually anti-war, anti-capitalist, anti-establishment or pro-freedom.
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Over in the UK there is a 650 foot long earth sculpture of a running horse called Sultan the Pit Pony. It’s an amazing piece of work, and it’s perfect for viewing three dimensionally in Google Earth.

If you don’t yet have it installed, use my Google Pack link to get it, then just follow this link to open Sultan in Google Earth.
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The US National Cancer Institute team in Bethesda, MD has successfully completed the first successful gene therapy treatment to rid a human of cancer.

For Mark Origer, 53, the treatment completely eliminated his skin cancer and another tumor on his liver shrunk enough that it could be removed surgically.
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Fascinating night time time lapse photography of traffic on a busy London highway.
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I don’t mean for this to sound insensitive, but… Great! Now every moron that decides to scribble a bomb threat on a napkin and leave it on a plane can ensure that the aviation industry cowers to their prank.
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