During a boring meeting today I came across this pretty cool (and long) article about the Galileo Orbiter including a fascinating explanation of the reason that scientists have decided to plummet the craft through the atmosphere of Jupiter basically incinerating it.

While reading this I was suddenly concerned with a scientific query that I didn’t have an answer for: how can we blow hot and cold air from the same set of lungs? The answer is explained in this hot and cold breath experiment.

Granted, Sherman Austin is not the clearest pixel on the plasma screen, but his treatment by the FBI is simply evil. Because he facilitated on his website another person publishing a pamphlet with instructions on building simple bombs (and advocated their use against the current government), Sherman will spend a year in jail and then be banned from associating with people who publish any anti-government speech. Even worse the actual author of the material has not been arrested.

Bumbling idiots or a misguided anti-free-speech police force? The FBI is a very scary joke at times.

Y’all know me. I’m happiest when the folks in Washington aren’t doing much that’s going to cost you and me money, and make it harder for people to get jobs. It’s also my opinion that the BCS is about the stupidest thing the NCAA’s ever done. If the NCAA truly wants to crown a nat’l champion, cut the regular season down to 10 games, pick the top 16 teams, and run December as a four round, single elimination championship. And leave the bowls alone. Cotton Bowl could now be the Big 12 championship. Rose Bowl – Pac 10 vs Big 10. Leave them with some character.

But our elected officials spent your and my money to trot the folks at the NCAA out to Washington today and hold congressional hearings on the BCS. Please thank Rep. James Sensenbrenner, (R-Wis.), for his wise stewardship of the public’s time and money.

(Kelly, just for the conspiracy theorist in you – D’ya think that there may be a correlation between this and the NFL kickoff in DC tonight? Maybe a little ‘expenses paid’ trip for those testifying?)

Page 2’s running a bit today on the Best Sports Day of the year. And, despite all the hype surrounding the NFL, which I am looking forward to, I’m extremely pleased to see that Page 2 and the plurality of fans are sticking with the true winner, day 1 (and 2) of the Men’s NCAA Basketball tourney.

Sure, baseball’s got the president and tons of local celebrities throwing out first pitches. The NFL, bucking years of doing nothing, is throwing a party to match the Superbowl as bookends on the season. The NBA and the NFL, thank goodness, don’t do a whole lot.

But the NCAA’s are amazing. 16 games a day that mean the end of the season for 32 teams over two days. A week’s buildup as everyone who’s ever contemplated setting foot on a college campus fills out brackets and coughs up sawbucks and Jacksons for the office/bar/Sunday School pool. Noon Eastern until midnight Pacific, nothing but hoops. Then they do the whole thing again on Friday.

I love it. If the ACLU ever gets serious about ending Good Friday and Christmas as federal holidays, I’d propose making the first two days of the NCAA’s a national holiday much like Thanksgiving. With Dickie Vitale as it’s patron saint. Yeah, baby.

I ran across an ad for Right Hand Diamonds the other day, and stared at it for a full 2 minutes. If you haven’t seen one yet they’re really pure brilliance, and are creating quite a buzz in the ad world.

The tag line: “Women of the world, raise your right hand.”

I’m not quite the target market (left hand diamond, and all), but clearly, these ads are meant to be empowering in a “I am woman, see my diamond sparkle” kind of way. I am, after all, a working woman with disposable income, and god dammit I shouldn’t have to wait for some silly man to buy me shiny things.

My co-workers have been playing with©“Nerf”:http://www.hasbro.com/nerf/?CFID=16535812&CFTOKEN=33657302 guns around the office and I realize I am behind the curve in Nerf gun technology. Marketingly known as Nerf Blasters, you are probably aware of the large format Ball Blaster and the multi-dart Airtech 4000 but did you know about the miniature guns known as Secret Strike ? and did you know about the truly awesome Sonic Micro Darts that make a really cool whistling noise when shot?