Well, the seller of the helium/bag kit got arrested, didn't she?

Did we know this was brewing?

NYT NEWS ALERT: John Edwards Is Indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in Campaign Funds Case, the A.P. Reports

Well, the seller of the helium/bag kit got arrested, didn't she?

Really?

Anyway, I thought some people were just buying their own helium and plastic bags.

Maybe they'll start to restrict sales of helium, so only people who need it for their vocations could buy it. Then when people want to euthanize themselves, a friend or family member will say, "Hey, I know this clown...."

Man, I'll take a cupcake over a bomb any day.

Everything is all official now, I'm be starting my new job in a bit more than a week. The offer was even better than I was expecting it to be. The commute is longer than I like, but everything about it is great and I wouldn't mind at all moving closer as I really like the area.

Yay Gud!

ION, World's smallest Klein bottle

Awww....

This Klein bottle on Etsy measures just one and a quarter inches tall! I don't know if it's actually the world's smallest, but it's believable and it's totally adorable, AND it comes in its own little gift wrapped package.

Did we know this was brewing?

There have been leaks that this was coming for a while now.

Maybe they'll start to restrict sales of helium,

Isn't the helium supply running a bit low anyhow? I've read that if someone does actually make a cargo airship like I see drawings of every so often, that hydrogen is probably the lifting agent they'd have to use because of helium supplies.

Something interesting I learned in researching my current novel is that the buoyancy of helium is very close to that of hydrogen. I would've guessed that the greater atomic weight would make hydrogen a lot more effective as a lifting agent, but it's not the case.

The John Edwards thing has been in the news quite a bit, with the real question whether they were going to settle or indict. There's a good article explaining it here: [link]

eta: Congratulations, Gud! Where is the job, says the person who visits Overland Park every couple of years?

Isn't the helium supply running a bit low anyhow?

Yeah. There may be big shortages in 20-30 years, IIRC.

Also, did you read about the idea that we could harvest Helium-3 from the clouds of Uranus in order to get enough to fuel a starship? They would use hot-air balloons in Uranus's atmosphere, as there's too much helium in the upper atmosphere for a helium or hydrogen balloon to work.

Congratulations, Gud! Where is the job, says the person who visits Overland Park every couple of years?

It's in Lawrence. I really like Lawrence so the idea of moving is fairly appealing. For the moment I'll probably commute and start stocking up on cash.

We didn't have much debt before, but with most of my severance left plus the stock options I had to dump, we'll be able to pay off all of it plus have more savings that before I got laid off. That'll make saving money even easier. Our only debt will be the mortgage which is only 44,000 of principal. Of course, our cars are pretty old but they should still be good for another 2-3 years before thinking about replacing one.