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Stacey Grijalva — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 21:40:39 GMT

I don't know if it's my computer but your "see with your tongue" link goes to a 404 error at wired.com

Excuse me, your transparency is showing

Will Femia — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 21:56:58 GMT

Thanks Stacey, I was missing an L http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.04/esp.html

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Kate Woodman — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 22:35:12 GMT

Don't know if you'd be interested, but one of the commenters at the make-a-wallet site had a link to the "Just One Club Card" page, which generates the barcodes to allow you to put all your club and grocery cards onto one card. Wow!

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Kate Woodman — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 22:39:09 GMT

Um. It would help if I included the URL, wouldn't it? http://www.justoneclubcard.com/

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Alex, Lawrence, KS — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 22:53:28 GMT

Haha! Who needs X-Ray Specs to see through people's clothes when you can just shine a T-ray flashlight at them?!

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Russell in Maryland — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 22:54:59 GMT

Caution!! The "Flying Imam" link takes you to a hate and obscenity filled right wing page. Also I could not find any evidence on the page that they were "deliberately drawing attention to themselves with weird behavior" nor did I find any evidence presented that it was a staged stunt. Apparently they were doing far less disruptive and disturbing behaviour than I have seen many times by traveling sports teams and conventioneers. One of their offenses was that of praying as a group. This bill legalizes the real harm done by the worst sort of ethnic profiling by any untrained ignorant citizen and leaves the victims powerless to seek redress. Trust the court system; don't second guess on people's constitutional rights.

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Robert, San Diego, CA — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 23:15:49 GMT

Egg Separator? You have two perfectly good egg seperators on the ends of your arms. Sheesh.

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JE, Detroit — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 23:39:58 GMT

About the bookmobile (Hey I had forgotten all about that!): When I was a kid--late 1970's and early 80's--here in Michigan we had that program. So if you're talking about a different state, then it appears the program wasn't limited to your area.

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JE, Detroit — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 23:44:55 GMT

Geez I should learn to put everything in just one post.....anyway, anyone interested in the story about the Imams can read about it here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17874497/

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Will Femia — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 01:54:04 GMT

Robert, but they don't have a nose that makes it looks like dripping boogers. I have a young son to think of.

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Will Femia — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 01:57:35 GMT

JE, I wasn't in Michigan, so yes, it must have been nation wide. We were talking about it around the cube farm and my colleague who grew up in North Carolina also had it. We're wondering if it was a rural program.
Thanks for the link, weird that it would be in the travel section. I'll add an update to the item.

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JE, Detroit — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 03:12:52 GMT

Will, the bookmobile program must not have been limited to only rural areas, because I was living in the inner city (of Saginaw) at the time. Anyway, thanks for the fun memory!

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Dave O'Meara — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 12:24:29 GMT

RE: Bookmobile. We also had that service in 70's-80's in Illinois. I would not call our city of then 80+thousand 30 min from Chicago rural, but we were on the edge.

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Carol Anne Seattle WA — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 13:26:08 GMT

I'm glad that I grew up reading the San Francisco Chronicle when it was a newspaper. Frivolous on occasion, but full of good stuff like Herb Caen's columns. If the newspapers of the world are going to turn into the equivalent of Web fan boards, I'm just glad to be over 60 and leaving this earth soon!

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ANKH — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 14:04:17 GMT

Bookmobile was a nationwide program during the 60s too. I think it was a rural-related program. Here in TN they still have the bookmobile running in certain parts of TN, SW VA and Kentucky. :)

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Michael, Fargo nd — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 15:22:00 GMT

There is some good clarification in the comments of the fryer/fishtank story. Apparently, the fish is just there to prove that it really is water under the oil. The guy spent 10 years developing an oil that doesn't react so violently with water. Not quite as fun but much more practical.

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Cindy W., Redmond, WA — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 17:05:57 GMT

Bookmobiles weren't just rural -- I used one in suburban Minneapolis as a young girl. There are still bookmobiles around, and not just in this country. I believe that they are used for "underserved" populations, which mainly means somewhere that there's no main or branch library building. They are especially important in communities that need help with literacy outreach. The American Library Assc. has a powerpoint presentation on their web site, celebrating 100 years of Bookmobiles. You can find it for download here: http://www.ala.org/ala/olos/outreachresource/paradebookmobiles.htm

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KW — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 22:11:52 GMT

We had the bookmobile in Ft. Lauderdale in the 70s. I recall it just being a summer thing. Not sure what the big deal was in Ft.L., since the library wasn't that far away and the selection must have been slim. I have fond memories of many of the books I read as a kid, but I don't remember getting any of those from the bookmobile. Given the current cultural trends, I think my time would have been better spent reading comic books.

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aj, portland,michigan — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 05:03:36 GMT

Some more clarification on the fryer/fishtank story. One of the commenters on the story knows Japanese and English, and says that as said above, the fish are there just to demonstrate the fact that it really is water. The oil though is no different then any other oil. Water takes time to heat up and turn to steam, having the tank of water under the oil gives the water a place to fall, to cool off and not turn to steam. Therefore there is no explosion.

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Sean, N.Y. — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 03:49:43 GMT

About that fishtank fryer, does anyone know if fish poop floats? That would sort of be a deal breaker for me.

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Viv - Austin Tx — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 17:25:57 GMT

They used to bring one of the Austin Public Library's book mobiles around to the School for the Blind when I was there, but as they only had regular books - no large print, audio or braille books - it was pretty pointless.

Excuse me, your transparency is showing

Steve, Arkansas — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 21:35:20 GMT

Russell, the proposed Act in Congress grants immunity to the fellow travelers that report suspicious behavior, not to the airline or the airport that elects to act on this information. The fellow travelers do not have the authority to deny boarding or take any other action. It is the airline that takes the information and decides whether to act on it. Anyone reporting behavior which they view as suspicious should not be responsible if the airline elects to act on the information. If the behavior is not suspicious, then the airline will not act on it. If they do anyway, they are responsible. Personally, I'm in favor of the airline having as much information as possible on which to base their decison. And if you don't think this was a setup, you're not nearly cynical enough.