I was a science major in school so metric seems pretty natural. I think the problem in the U.S. is that having easily convertible units will turn us into a socialist state.

There should be a word for when you do something that's totally awesome but also a really bad idea.

Woman punches bear to save her dog

It started out as a typical evening for 22-year-old Brooke Collins. She let her dogs out as usual but this time, she said there was a black bear outside who took hold of her dachshund Fudge. She said she feared for her pet’s life and, in an instant, ran over and punched the bear right in the face to make it let go.

“It was all so fast. All I could think about was my dog was going to die,” said Collins.

“It was a stupid thing but I couldn’t help it,” she said. “I know you’re not supposed to do that but I didn’t want my dog to be killed.”

Interesting - if Scientology goes bankrupt in Australia does it effect it elsewhere?

Hee. My favourite quote:

I asked Rinder why Australia, of all the places where Scientology has made a decades long and determined push, has suddenly become so hostile to the church. "They just have a very low tolerance for bullshit. Just as a general rule, Australians tend to be pretty down-to-earth and straightforward and bullshit don't fly," he said.

Sounds like the main impact outside Australia can be:

1. The American church may wind up covering the bill for backpay. They'd still go bankrupt in Oz, though, because they couldn't afford the ongoing wages.

2. This could give European regulators some ideas. This is a concrete issue and European countries tend to have stricter labour laws.

She said she feared for her pet’s life and, in an instant, ran over and punched the bear right in the face to make it let go.

That is totally stupid. And completely awesome.

So, I just got a letter I'm supposed to pass out to students to take home. This letter carefully explains a virus problem our district servers had and that everything has been cleaned and nothing bad happened as a result. I don't quite understand why this letter needs to go home. I mean, the virus didn't impact students or parents in any way and barely impacted most of the staff (the IT staff, of course, spent several days tracking down the source of the virus and cleaning the computers). I feel like I'm missing something.

ChiKat, it sounds like they *hope* nothing bad happened. And are doing CYA just in case they need to say that they notified the community promptly.

We are flooded in. No water near our house, but all the major roads out (like to DH's job) are covered in the stuff. HPF is at school, but her teacher isn't, because of the same stuff. How many cubits makes an ark, again?

ION - Nathan Fillion photobombing makes me very happy. I sure hope I'm in the right thread.

If you're not in the right thread, obviously the flood waters have washed you from the right one.

And, in other news, coming back from the doctor last week I spotted a Hello Kitty umbrella propped up against a lamppost. A little after I got there, a woman and her daughter came by and the little girl was carrying a Hello Kitty umbrella. Is this a trend?

I'm not sure why I have such a Thing about dollar coins, but I do.

In my case, it's because of the number of years of my life I've wasted trying to convince a Coke machine to take a dollar bill.

That is totally stupid. And completely awesome.

This sums up most acts of bravery.

i.e. until you lose your dominant position in the global economy

So next year sometime.

I'd be good switching to points and picas.

Is this a trend?

I suspect Target of deploying more Hello Kitty product.

meara, that's awful about the horrible guy on the plane. This is one of the reasons why I don't talk to people on planes or buses or anything: I'm always a little worried I'll run into one of those crazy folks.

Once, many years ago, I cut someone off in traffic, and I tried to wave an apology, and instead they followed me for a mile out of their way until I stopped for gas, got out, and yelled at me for several minutes. It was really unsettling.

I'm crap at confrontation, unless it's electronic.

ION - Nathan Fillion photobombing makes me very happy.

Looks like it makes him very happy too.

So next year sometime.

Heh. GFC notwithstanding, it'll be a long time before you get knocked off that perch. (Frankly, I think it'll be longer than most commentators seem to think. Your political system is occasionally insane, but it's still far more sustainable than China's.)