My mattress is 10+ years old; I did not buy it myself; and I sleep best on the hardest mattress in the galaxy. Which mine still is, to date. (I once slept on a featherbed + mattress, and woke up with the worst back trouble in the world. Firm + me = happy.)

(Hec will now arrive and make discipline jokes about my back pain.)

My problem is putting the mattress on a futon frame. Those puppies squeak when you move on them. A lot. So, I should be in the market for a bed frame.

Firm + me = happy.)

(Hec will now arrive and make discipline jokes about my back pain.)

My problem is putting the mattress on a futon frame. Those puppies squeak when you move on them. A lot. So, I should be in the market for a bed frame.

I'm sure Hec won't make any jokes, how could anyone make jokes or read extra meanings into statements like those?

The mattresses I have had the best experiences with are not from the big names. I find a local mattress company and go test theirs. much cheaper from my experience.

A cool story about a totally awesome high school science chick: Teen wins $100,000 science scholarship

OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma (AP) -- A 17-year-old girl won a scholarship worth $100,000 for building an inexpensive yet accurate spectrograph that identifies the "fingerprints" of different molecules.

Mary Masterman, a senior at Westmoore High School in Oklahoma City, was named the winner Tuesday of the annual Intel Science Talent Search.

More than 1,700 high school seniors across the nation entered the contest, which is in its 66th year.

Spectrographs, which measure wave lengths, are used in research such as astronomy and medicine and in industry. For example, they can be used as a sensing device to look for explosives or drugs or to help determine how old an art work is through its pigments.

They can cost as much as $100,000, but Masterman's invention -- made of lenses, a laser, aluminum tubing and a camera -- cost less than $1,000, Intel said.

Go her! May she have a brilliant career ahead of her....

Valerie Plame Wilson's Opening Statement

Valerie Plame Wilson's opening statement before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

I suppose the coolest thing about this statement is she strongly asserts she was still undercover when the administration outed her, contrary to a common Republican talking point.

We in the CIA always know that we might be exposed and threatened by foreign enemies. It was a terrible irony that administration officials were the ones who destroyed my cover. Furthermore, testimony in the criminal trial of Vice President Cheney's former Chief of Staff, who has now been convicted of serious crimes, indicates that my exposure arose from purely political motives [...] I feel passionately as an intelligence professional about the creeping, insidious politicizing of our intelligence process. All intelligence professionals are dedicated to the ideal that they would rather be fired on the spot than distort the facts to fit a political view. Any political view or any ideology. As our intelligence agencies go through reorganizations and experience the painful aspects of change, and our country faces profound challenges, injecting partisanship or ideology into the equation makes effective and accurate intelligence that much more difficult to develop. Politics and ideology must be stripped completely from our intelligence services or the consequences will be even more severe than they have been and our country placed in even greater danger. It is imperative for any President to be able to make decisions based on intelligence that is unbiased. The Libby trial and the events leading to the Iraq War highlight the urgent need to restore the highest professional standards to intelligence collection and analysis and the protection of our officers and operations. The Congress has a Constitutional duty to defend our national security and that includes safeguarding our intelligence.

Has anyone here seen Blood Ties the series? I saw an ad for it in a magazine and want to know if it's worth checking out.

I liked the first one. Took some serious liberties with the book, but basically good. I didn’t like the characterization of Henry, and one of the big characters has been swapped out for a pretty goth girl, but I’ll keep watching.

I thought I was the only one, though I can't speak to the liberties taken. I just bought the books this week. Why yes, I am late to the party.

Okay! So apparently a dude was murdered in the building behind ours, and three hot Homicide Detectives came by to question everyone in our apartment building, and I missed it all because I was at the bar.

Wait, that was *recent*? I saw e using the (hilarious) report of it as a sig last night, but hadn't realized that was a recent event.

They can cost as much as $100,000, but Masterman's invention -- made of lenses, a laser, aluminum tubing and a camera -- cost less than $1,000, Intel said.

That is awesome.

This picture didn't turn out as nice as I hoped it would, but it's still kind of neat.

This picture didn't turn out as nice as I hoped it would, but it's still kind of neat.

That's cool.