The Linkage for Dec. 31st
Here’s a quick look at what I was reading online from Dec. 28th to Dec. 31st:
China, Vietnam resolve land border dispute
After years of work, negotiators from China and Vietnam unexpectedly announced an agreement that finally defined the 800+ mile border between the two countries.
Tags: china vietnam
Texas vanity plate database
If you've got a lot of time on your hands, it's interesting to browse through.
Tags: texas society automobile
Argentine builders find 250-year old Spanish galleon
Construction workers in Argentina have unearthed a colonial-era Spanish ship believed to be 250 years old. Two large jars found inside the ship seem to indicate that it had transported olive oil.
Tags: history argentina
24th leap second tacked onto end of 2008
Clocks around the world will add an extra second for the first time since 2005 in an effort to synchronize atomic clocks with the slowing rotation of the earth. But the real nugget in this article is the existence of the International Earth Rotation Service – how do I get a job with that outfit?
Tags: science time earth
Microsoft finds new, exciting way to fail very publicly
Over the past 24 hours, numerous Microsoft Zune owners have reported that their mp3 players have suddenly stopped working. Following on the heels of Vista backlash and the massive security hole in IE, it's a fitting end to a miserable year for the company. If there's a silver lining for the folks in Redmond, at least it happened AFTER Christmas.
Tags: technology business microsoft
NFL screws around with its totally irrelevant all-star game
All all-star games are giant, irrelevant, blatant money-grabs that no one cares about, but the NFL's Pro Bowl is the least relevant of all. Nobody watches it, none of the players want to play in it and there's not much the league can do about it. Moving it into the dead week before Super Bowl and bringing it back to the mainland won't change that.
Tags: football nfl
A&M baseball ranked 9th in preseason poll
Defending Big 12 champs Texas A&M has been ranked #9 in Collegiate Baseball's preseason poll. Of course, preseason polls are useless, but it's still nice to get a mention.
Tags: baseball tamu aggie_baseball
Beer spill closes road near my old house… again…
I guess it's just one of the hazards of living a stone's throw away from a major brewery, but a beer spill has once again shut down the interstate right next to our old house in Colorado. It never happened when we lived there.
Tags: colorado
Is the world’s oldest tortoise an impostor?
A giant tortoise that has been dubbed the world's oldest living creature may actually be an impostor, living under an assumed identity. We need top people working on this immediately.
Tags: animals st_helena
Incoming EU president doesn’t like the EU
Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic, will become the next president of the European Union in January. One small problem – Klaus can't stand the EU and what he believes it stands for. This could be fun.
Tags: politics eu czech_republic
Festive goat goes up in flames again
Sometimes you just have to ask yourself: is it really worth all this trouble to have a giant straw goat around Christmas?
Tags: funny crime sweden holidays
Russians still have a soft spot for Stalin
Former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin came in third in a poll held by a TV station to find the greatest Russian. (Aleksandr Nevsky came in first.) Guess the pendulum of government-mandated opinion has swung back again.
Tags: history cold_war russia world_war_2
Houston hospital to remove Clemens’ name
I can understand the desire to distance themselves from all of the publicity surrounding the train wreck that Roger Clemens has become, but the guy DID give them $3 million. Are they giving that back? Or is it just his name that's no good there any more?
Tags: baseball steroids health astros houston
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