From the desk of Hawk

[Adios]

Yeah. I'm going to guess the woman who threw the acid isn't pretty.

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

Or she mistook the victim for someone else. Or she's just a freakin' nutbag.

[Adios]

How it works: Virtusphere consists of a 10-foot hollow sphere, which is placed on a
special platform that allows the sphere to rotate freely in any direction according to
the user's steps. Wearing a wireless, head-mounted
display the user is able to walk and run being immersed into virtual environment.
The movement by the user is replicated within the virtual environment. The same
hardware set can be used for different applications by changing only the software
applications.

http://www.virtusphere.com/

A gamers dream?

[Adios]

Smoke More, Drink Up! Russian Finance Minister Asks Russians to Help Solve Social Problems

    Russia's finance minister Alexei Kudrin urged citizens Wednesday to smoke and drink more to help lift tax revenues for spending on social services.

    "If you smoke a pack of cigarettes, that means you are giving more to help solve social problems such as boosting demographics, developing other social services and upholding birth rates," Kudrin said, quoted by the Interfax news agency.

    "People should understand: Those who drink, those who smoke are doing more to help the state," he said.

    The advice came as the Russian government announced plans to raise excise duty on alcohol and cigarettes.


Finally! Honesty! 

http://deathby1000papercuts.com/2010/09/smoke-more-drink-up-russian-finance-minister-asks-russians-to-help-solve-social-problems/comment-page-1/

[Adios]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/09/04/new.zealand.quake.aftermath/index.html?hpt=T2

Officials declared a state of emergency Saturday after a powerful predawn earthquake struck near Christchurch, New Zealand, sending people into the streets as windows exploded, water mains broke and buildings crumbled.

How are our down under people doing?

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Smoke More, Drink Up! Russian Finance Minister Asks Russians to Help Solve Social Problems

    Russia's finance minister Alexei Kudrin urged citizens Wednesday to smoke and drink more to help lift tax revenues for spending on social services.

    "If you smoke a pack of cigarettes, that means you are giving more to help solve social problems such as boosting demographics, developing other social services and upholding birth rates," Kudrin said, quoted by the Interfax news agency.

    "People should understand: Those who drink, those who smoke are doing more to help the state," he said.

    The advice came as the Russian government announced plans to raise excise duty on alcohol and cigarettes.


Finally! Honesty! 

http://deathby1000papercuts.com/2010/09/smoke-more-drink-up-russian-finance-minister-asks-russians-to-help-solve-social-problems/comment-page-1/

Mutually beneficial. Your average Russian, who probably has an alcohol problem anyway, based on what some of my Russian immigrant friends have told me, now has governmental endorsement to indulge in their vice for the good of the state. The state gets a population too busy getting drunk to do anything they would disapprove of, other than your average shenanigans that give the police something to do and the doctors to treat. Plus, like they said, taxes.

[Adios]

A pair of illegal immigration ordinances in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, were ruled unconstitutional Thursday by a federal appeals court.

In 2006, Hazleton passed the Illegal Immigration Relief Act Ordinance, which would have fined landlords who rented to undocumented immigrants and would have penalized companies that employed them.

Under another law, tenants would have had to prove they were citizens or lawful residents, register with the city and pay for a rental permit in order to receive an occupancy permit.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/09/09/pennsylvania.immigration.case/index.html?hpt=T2

The city has declared they will take this all the way to the Supreme Court. Like they would even sit on this.