2005 Hurricane Season in 60 Seconds

Here is a cool section on the NASA website. They have a couple of links to videos made from compiled, daily satelite images from the 2005 Hurricane season. Be prepared for a wait if you don't have a high speed connection, however, the video is really cool and worth the wait.

How Many Men Does It Take To Screw The Lightbulb?

Apparently just two, and it was an accident.

The main light source of the future will almost surely not be a bulb. It might be a table, a wall, or even a fork.

An accidental discovery announced this week has taken LED lighting to a new level, suggesting it could soon offer a cheaper, longer-lasting alternative to the traditional light bulb. The miniature breakthrough adds to a growing trend that is likely to eventually make Thomas Edison's bright invention obsolete.

I can't wait to stick it to GE. I've spent a fortune on their's and other lightbulbs that don't last.

Is It Christmas Already? U.N. Procurement Scandal: Ties to Saddam and Al Qaeda

Finally, someone does some actual investigative reporting. h/t to Fark for the story link from Fox News. Warning: The story by Claudia Rosett and George Russell of Fox News reads like an Agatha Christy whodunnit and is a little hard at times to keep up with the twists and turns, but the links appear very credible.

NEW YORK — The scandal engulfing the United Nations Procurement Department now appears to be bottomless. It also shows signs of growing more sinister, especially where it involves a mysterious private company called IHC Services, which did big business with the procurement department until it was removed from U.N. rosters in June.

New details of how dark the scandal could prove to be have emerged from the private sale of IHC on June 3, 2005, just as the procurement scandal was about to break. It now appears that while doing business with the U.N., IHC had links both to Saddam Hussein’s old sanctions-busting networks, and to a Liechtenstein-based businessman, Engelbert Schreiber, Jr., known among other things for his ties to a figure designated by the U.N. itself as a financier of Al Qaeda. (more)