jamotto

Link quote:By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Amid the backdrop of soaring oil and gasoline prices, a sharply divided Senate on Wednesday voted to open the ecologically rich Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling, delivering a major energy policy win for President Bush. The Senate, by a 51-49 vote, rejected an attempt by Democrats and GOP moderates to remove a refuge drilling provision from next year's budget, preventing opponents from using a filibuster ÔÇö a tactic that has blocked repeated past attempts to open the Alaska refuge to oil companies. The action, assuming Congress agrees on a budget, clears the way for approving drilling in the refuge later this year, drilling supporters said. The House has not included a similar provision in its budget, so the issue is still subject to negotiations later this year to resolve the difference. The oil industry has sought for more than two decades to get access to what is believed to be billions of barrels of oil beneath the 1.5 million-acre coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the northern eastern corner of Alaska. Drilling supporters acknowledged after the vote that for refuge development to get final approval Congress must still pass a final budget with the Senate provision included, something Congress was unable to do last year. Still, "this is a big step," said Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who said he had tried for 24 years to open the refuge, but failed because Democrats blocked the effort through filibusters. The budget is immune from a filibuster, meaning drilling supporters will need only a majority ÔÇö not the 60 votes required to break a filibuster ÔÇö to succeed when the issue comes up for final action later this year. Environmentalists have fought such development and argued that despite improved environmental controls a web of pipelines and drilling platforms would harm calving caribou, polar bears and millions of migratory birds that use the coastal plain. Bush has called tapping the reserve's oil a critical part of the nation's energy security and a way to reduce America's reliance on imported oil, which account for more than half of the 20 million barrels of crude use daily. It's "a way to get some additional reserves here at home on the books," Bush said Wednesday. The Alaska refuge could supply as much as 1 million barrels day at peak production, drilling supporters said. But they acknowledge that even if ANWR's oil is tapped, it would have no impact on soaring oil prices and tight supplies. The first lease sales would not be issued until 2007, followed by development seven to 10 years later, Interior Secretary Gale Norton said. "We won't see this oil for 10 years. It will have minimal impact," argued Sen. Maria Cantwell (news, bio, voting record), D-Wash., a co-sponsor of the amendment that would have stripped the arctic refuge provision from the budget document. It is "foolish to say oil development and a wildlife refuge can coexist," she said. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., argued that more oil would be saved if Congress enacted an energy policy focusing on conservation, more efficient cars and trucks and increased reliance on renewable fuels and expanded oil development in the deep-water Gulf where there are significant reserves. "The fact is (drilling in ANWR) is going to be destructive," said Kerry. But drilling proponents argued that modern drilling technology can safeguard the refuge and still tap the likely ÔÇö though not yet certain ÔÇö 10.4 billion barrels of crude in the refuge. The vote Wednesday contrasted with the last time the Senate took up the ANWR drilling issue two years ago. Then, an attempt to include it in the budget was defeated. But drilling supporters gained strength last November when Republicans picked up three additional seats, all senators who favored drilling in the refuge. Opponents of drilling complained that Republicans this time were trying "an end run" by attaching the refuge provisions to the budget, a tactic that would allow the measure to pass with a majority vote. The 19-million-acre refuge was set aside for protection by President Eisenhower in 1960, but Congress in 1980 said its 1.5 million acre coastal plain could be opened to oil development if Congress specifically authorizes it. The House has repeatedly passed measures over the years to allow drilling in ANWR only to see the legislation stalled in the Senate. But last week, the House refused to include an ANWR provision in its budget document, although any differences between the Senate and House versions would likely be resolved in negotiations. Drilling supporters argued that access to the refuge's oil was a matter of national security and that modern drilling technology would protect the region's wildlife. Environmentalists contended that while new technologies have reduced the drilling footprint, ANWR's coastal plain still would contain a spider web of pipelines that would disrupt calving caribou and disturb polar bears, musk oxen and the annual influx of millions of migratory birds.

Link quote:A 14-year-old girl was being held without bond for investigation of manslaughter Tuesday while officials investigate her claim that she shot her father to death to help him commit suicide. In denying bond, Magistrate T.J. Cole called the teen a ÔÇ£danger to herself and the community.ÔÇØ SheriffÔÇÖs deputies responded to the home Sunday after a female caller dialed 911 and mentioned the girlÔÇÖs home address before hanging up. Deputies discovered the body of a 56-year-old man in an upstairs bedroom, Lt. Phil West said. The girl, West said, was unemotional when investigators first arrived and she told them her father had taken his own life. The lack of a suicide note and inconsistencies in her story, however, led authorities to suspect she might have been involved. Said she fired gun to ÔÇÿend his sufferingÔÇÖ The girl then acknowledged shooting her father, but only after finding him in pain after he had tried to shoot himself to death. She indicated she shot her father to ÔÇ£end his suffering.ÔÇØ ÔÇ£The thing I find so troubling is even when confronted with a situation like this, by her own admission, she decided to end somebodyÔÇÖs life instead of calling for help,ÔÇØ West said. The names of the man and his daughter werenÔÇÖt released. Neighbors Cathy Miller and Alan Patrick said things never seemed quite right at the house. Patrick said he sometimes heard the man yelling and described him as ÔÇ£obnoxious.ÔÇØ ÔÇ£I certainly wouldnÔÇÖt have wanted to cross him in any way,ÔÇØ he said. Miller described the home as a prison of sorts, saying the girl and her older brother were rarely seen outside after they returned from school on the bus, although the girl once sold her Girl Scout cookies. ÔÇÿI think they lived in fearÔÇÖ ÔÇ£I think they lived in fear,ÔÇØ Miller said. ÔÇ£All I could think of is just that (the girl) had had it.ÔÇØ The father was a self-employed electrician who reportedly divorced from his wife in 2003 before moving with his daughter to Florida last year. They had returned to the Boulder to sell their former home, Miller said. He died of multiple gunshot wounds, but Boulder County Coroner Thomas J. Faure would not discuss the precise number or location of the wounds or reveal whether the man had suffered from any previous health problems. Prosecutors said they had not yet decided whether to charge the teenager as a juvenile or as an adult, and exactly what charges she would face.

Awesome, can't wait.

quote:The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Lance Cpl. Joshua L. Torrence, 20, of Lexington, S.C., died March 14 of wounds received as a result of hostile action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. He was assigned to 2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.Link May you rest in peace...

quote:The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Staff Sgt. Donald D. Griffith, Jr., 29, of Mechanicsville, Iowa, died Mar.11 as a result of hostile action in, Tal Afar, Iraq. Griffith was assigned to 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, Fort Lewis, Wash.Link May you rest in peace...

quote: The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Spc. Nicholas E. Wilson, 21, of Glendale, Ariz., died Mar. 11, in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, while conducting a roving patrol when his military vehicle rolled into a water-filled ditch after the shoulder of the road he was on collapsed. Wilson was assigned to 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Camp Casey, Korea. Link May you rest in peace...

Link quote:By Philip Pullella ROME (Reuters) - A top Catholic cardinal has blasted "The Da Vinci Code" as a "gross and absurd" distortion of history and said Catholic bookstores should take the bestseller off their shelves because it is full of "cheap lies." Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, in an interview with the Milan newspaper Il Giornale, became the highest ranking Italian Churchman to speak out against the book, an international blockbuster that has sold millions of copies. "(It) aims to discredit the Church and its history through gross and absurd manipulations," Bertone, the archbishop of the northern Italian city of Genoa and a close friend of Pope John Paul told the paper in its Monday edition. "This seems like a throwback to the old anti-clerical pamphlets of the 1800s," he said. The central claim of the book, written by American Dan Brown, is that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children. The Bible says Jesus never married, was crucified and rose from the dead. Bertone's comments were significant because until the Pope named him archbishop of Genoa in 2003 he was for years the number two man at the Vatican (news - web sites)'s most powerful department - the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. "You can find that book everywhere and the risk is that many people who read it believe that those fairy tales are real," he said. "I think I have the responsibility to clear things up to unmask the cheap lies contained in books like that." A central storyline of the book is that the Holy Grail is not the cup which Christ is said to have used at the Last Supper but really the bloodline descended from Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Bertone calls this idea "a perversion." Bertone is so incensed about the novel that he will be the key speaker at a roundtable in Genoa Wednesday night attempting to dismantle the book, which also accuses the Church of covering up the female role in Christianity. "I will try to clear things up and help form consciences," the cardinal said. "I think that when faced with affirmations that are so shameful and unfounded, readers who have even a minimum of basic (Christian) formation should react," he said. He said it was "sad" that even Catholic bookstores were selling The Da Vinci Code "for purely economic reasons." One bookstore selling "The Da Vinci Code" is the one in the Gemelli Hospital, a Catholic institution where the Pope spent a total of 28 days in two stints in February and March. In the interview, Bertone firmly rejected the book's claim that the feminine role in Christianity had been suppressed. "This is one of the most vulgar of inventions. The feminine element is present in all the Gospels," Bertone said. Bertone also strongly defended Opus Dei, the conservative Church organization that the book depicts as a ruthless, Machiavellian group that resorts even to murder in its attempt to keep the Church's secrets hidden. The novel is going to reach an even wider audience next year with the release of a film based on the book staring Tom Hanks

First she said I was on the computer too much and she didn't like it. Video Next I try and take the truck for a spin on the mud flats. Nope, she didn't like that either Video After this I figure everything was cool again so I call up my buds to go fishing. Uh, where did the boat go?! video NOOOOOO

quote:Doesn't really sound that funny.The subject no, the method yes.

Change is inevitable, and besides Bugs has been changed more than once already. His personality/attitude was toned down over time.

*update* quote:By DANIEL YEE, Associated Press Writer ATLANTA - The woman held hostage in her apartment by the suspect in Atlanta's courthouse slayings said Sunday that her ordeal began with the man sticking a gun in her side and tying her up, but ended with the weapons on the floor as he let her go to see her young daughter. After hours of talking about the killings, their families and God, Ashley Smith said Brian Nichols "just wanted some normalness to his life." Smith called 911 after she was freed, and police soon surrounded her suburban apartment complex. Nichols, who police say killed three people in the courthouse Friday and a federal agent later, gave up peacefully, waving a white towel in surrender. "I honestly think when I looked at him that he didn't want to do it anymore," Smith, 26, said in a statement to reporters. If he didn't give up, she told him, "Lots more people are probably going get hurt and you're probably going to die." Nichols allegedly overpowered a courthouse deputy escorting him to his rape trial Friday and took the deputy's gun, then entered the courtroom where his trial was being held and killed the presiding judge and court reporter. He also is accused of killing a deputy who tried to stop him outside the courthouse and a federal agent during his flight from authorities. Smith said Nichols, 33, took her hostage in the parking lot outside her apartment when she returned from a store about 2 a.m. "He said, `I'm not going to hurt you if you just do what I say,'" she said. "I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt anybody else." She said Nichols tied her up with masking tape, a curtain and extension cord and told her to sit in the bathroom while he took a shower. "I thought he was going to strangle me," she said. She said as the night wore on, she tried to win his trust. Choking back tears, she said she told Nichols that her husband died four years ago in a stabbing and if he hurt her, her 5-year-old daughter wouldn't have a mother or father. "I told him I was supposed to see my little girl the next morning at 10," Smith said. "I asked him if I could go and he said no." He eventually untied her, and some of the fear lessened as they talked. Nichols told Smith he felt like "he was already dead," but Smith urged him to consider the fact that he was still alive a "miracle." "You're here in my apartment for some reason," she told him, saying he might be destined to be caught and to spread the word of God to fellow prisoners. He eventually put down the guns police say he took when he overwhelmed sheriff's deputies, putting them on the floor and later under a bed. When morning came, Nichols was "overwhelmed" when Smith made him pancakes, she said. They watched television news reports about the slaying and the manhunt for Nichols. "I cannot believe that's me on there," Smith quoted Nichols as saying. Smith said Nichols didn't bring any weapons when he had her help him move a truck he had stolen away from the apartment complex. When Nichols let Smith go, he said he wanted to stay at the apartment for a few more days, but she said she thought he knew she was going to call 911 after she left. Police said they were impressed by the way Smith handled herself. "She acted very cool and levelheaded. We don't normally see that in our profession," said Gwinnett County Police Officer Darren Moloney. "It was an absolutely best case scenario that happened, a complete opposite of what you expected to happen. We were prepared for the worst and got the best." Nichols did not say anything when he was arrested but was "very calm, very compliant with officers' directions to him in securing his arrest. He was very cooperative," Gwinnett County Police Chief Charles Walters said Sunday. Police say Nichols drove a stolen vehicle to the woman's Gwinnett County apartment complex, which he may have picked at random. "The bottom line is that law enforcement had no idea where he was ÔÇö this victim, the community owes a tremendous debt to her because she kept her calm and provided us with the information that ultimately led to the arrest," Walters said. Nichols could appear in federal court as early as Monday to face a charge of possession of a firearm by a person under indictment, the charge authorities are using to keep Nichols in custody while they sort out charging in the slayings, said U.S. Attorney David Nahmias. The Fulton County District Attorney's Office hopes to formally charge Nichols with the new crimes within 30 days, spokesman Erik Friedly said Sunday. Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard still would like to resolve Nichols' interrupted rape retrial, Friedly said. Nichols faced a life sentence if convicted. In that case, Nichols was accused of bursting into his ex-girlfriend's home with a loaded machine gun, binding her with duct tape and sexually assaulting her over three days. Nichols claimed the sex was consensual. However, Nichols' defense attorney for the rape charge said continuing with that case would "seem to be a colossal waste of time and tax money." "Obviously, the rape charge pales in comparison to everything else he is facing," defense attorney Barry Hazen told NBC's "Today" on Sunday. The deputy who was overpowered at the courthouse remained in critical condition Sunday, Grady Memorial Hospital officials said. Although hospital officials initially reported she may have suffered a grazing bullet wound to her forehead, they now believe she was struck on the head, said spokeswoman Denise Simpson.

quote:Originally posted by LostInSpace: Actually, it could have been worse. Mcdee's could have easily outsourced to INDIA. Can you imagine. Well if this takes off you might end up seeing that.

Thanks, for providing the Jane's Group link Zane. It should make for good reading.

Link quote:LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - McDonald's Corp. wants to outsource your neighborhood drive-through. The world's largest fast-food chain said on Thursday it is looking into using remote call centers to take customer orders in an effort to improve service at its drive-throughs. "If you're in L.A.... and you hear a person with a North Dakota accent taking your order, you'll know what we're up to," McDonald's Chief Executive Jim Skinner told analysts at the Bear Stearns Retail, Restaurants & Apparel Conference in New York. Call center professionals with "very strong communication skills" could help boost order accuracy and ultimately speed up the time it takes customers to get in and out of the drive-throughs, the company said. McDonald's-->

Link quote:HYDERABAD, India (Reuters) - Tax defaulters in southern India are being forced to face the music after city authorities hired drummers to play non-stop outside their homes until they pay up. After many residents ignored repeated demands to settle overdue property taxes. authorities in a city in Andhra Pradesh state have sent 20 groups of drummers to play outside offenders' houses for the past week. "They put up a spectacle outside the houses of defaulters, draw them out and explain their dues to them and the need to clear it at the earliest," said T.S.R. Anjaneyulu, municipal commissioner of Rajahmundry city. "They don't stop until people agree to clear the dues." The city, owed a total of 50 million rupees ($1.15 million), had been at its wits' end after sops like waiving interest and penalties had failed to recover the arrears. The new method seems to be working, though. One week of incessant drumming has cleared 18 percent of the backlog.

quote:The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Spc. Matthew A. Koch, 23, of West Henrietta, N.Y. died Mar. 9 in Taji, Iraq, from injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Koch was assigned to the 70th Engineer Battalion, Fort Riley, Kan.Link May you rest in peace...

quote:The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sgt. Seth K. Garceau, 27, of Oelwein, Iowa, died March 4 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, of injuries sustained in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, on Feb. 27 when an improvised explosive device detonated near his military vehicle. Garceau was assigned to the Army National GuardÔÇÖs 224th Engineer Battalion, 155th Brigade Combat Team, Fairfield, Iowa.Link May you rest in peace...

Link quote:SAN ANTONIO, United States (AFP) - Hunting wild animals is nothing new in Texas. But a new company called Live-Shot.com has added a modern, controversial twist to the primal desire to kill: Internet hunting. Now anyone with a computer and a modem can log on and fire real weapons. Howard Giles did it a few weeks ago, becoming the first known Internet hunter to bag a wild hog by remote control. Giles was sitting behind his computer in San Antonio. The pig was munching on corn about 50 miles away in the Texas Hill country. "He was a beast," said Giles. "I felt like I was there." Though Texans wear their love of guns and hunting proudly, the idea of Internet hunting has generated plenty of criticism. A Republican representative in the Texas Legislature, Todd Smith, himself an occasional hunter, has offered a bill to ban the practice. "I don't think we should be able to kill God's creatures with the click of a mouse," Smith said. "I think hunters are offended by the concept, much less non-hunters." Wildlife authorities have already taken steps to ban the killing of any native species by remote control, but they cannot ban the Internet slaughter of imported exotic game, including the kind of feral hog that Giles killed. Several other states are already moving to head off Internet hunting in the event that Internet entrepreneurs try to introduce their own remote control slaughters. And the Humane Society of the United States is calling on Congress to make it illegal across the country. "What started as a depraved idea has apparently become a sickening reality," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society. "This is a snuff film scenario in which animals will be senselessly killed for the voyeuristic pleasure of someone sitting at a keyboard. It is pay-per-view slaughter. This remotely delivered cruelty should be shut down and outlawed immediately." John Lockwood, owner of Live-Shot.com, does not see what the fuss is all about. He says that what his company offers is not much different from the traditional guided hunt. He notes that there is always somebody at the ranch where the remotely controlled equipment is set up. And he said the animals are not penned up. "They're just as free ranging as on any other ranch," he said. For now, most visitors to Live-shot.com have been shooting not at live animals but at paper targets and balloons. More than 350 people from as far away as France and Australia are paying 15 dollars a month and six dollars each time they fire off 10 rounds from a .22 caliber rifle. Hunters also have to pay 300 dollars for a two-hour session, and obtain a Texas hunting permit. That, too, can be gotten over the Internet. Shipping and processing the meat, or any taxidermy, costs extra. The remote control hunters and target shooters can see the action through two cameras. They control the rifle with four arrows and pull the trigger by remote control by clicking on a "fire" button. Lockwood has scheduled another hunt in early April. That's when Dale Hagberg of Indiana, paralyzed and bed-ridden, will try to kill a wild animal for the first time since he was injured in a diving accident nearly 20 years ago. "I was an avid hunter before I got hurt," Hagberg said. "I've missed it ever since."

quote:The law requires that defendants on trial not be handcuffed as they enter the courtroom, to make sure the sight of cuffs doesn't unfairly influence the jury. There is nothing stupid about this law. However, in this case he had already attempted to bring two shanks to the court room that in my opinion is more than enough to make the law not applicable to him.

Link quote:By HARRY WEBER, Associated Press Writer ATLANTA - A man being escorted into court for his rape trial Friday stole a deputy's gun, killed the judge and two other people and carjacked a reporter's vehicle to escape, setting off a massive manhunt and creating widespread chaos across Atlanta, police said. Hundreds of officers in cruisers and helicopters swarmed the area in the search of the suspect, identified as 33-year-old Brian Nichols. The former computer technician had been on trial for rape, burglary and other charges stemming from an August incident involving an ex-girlfriend. The rampage led to chaos around the city, with schools, restaurants and office buildings locking down amid fears that the suspect might strike again. Nichols' mug shot was plastered all over TV screens, and highway message boards issued descriptions of the stolen vehicle. "Mr. Nichols is considered armed and extremely dangerous and should not be approached," Fulton County Sheriff Myron Freeman said. "We are not going to rest until we find him." Nichols got the gun by overpowering the female deputy while he was being led down a corridor in the Fulton County Courthouse, Assistant Police Chief Alan Dreher said. After shooting the deputy in the face, the suspect then went to the courtroom, held about a dozen people at bay for a short time and shot and killed the judge and a court reporter, he said. Another deputy was later killed outside the Atlanta courthouse when he confronted the suspect, Dreher said. The deputy shot while leading Nichols to court survived, but details about her condition were not immediately known. Authorities said Nichols then pistol-whipped a reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, stole his green 1997 Honda Accord and sped away. "When he had the gun in my face, you start to think, `How can I stay alive.' I thought this was a routine carjack. I didn't know two people other were killed," said Don O'Briant, a features writer for the paper. Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor confirmed that Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes and his court reporter were among the dead. The shootings occurred after the judge and prosecutors had requested extra security for deputies after investigators found a shank in each of Nichols' shoes Thursday, prosecutor Gayle Abramson said. She said Nichols apparently fashioned the shanks from a door knob. Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said he did not know what exactly was done in the way of stepped-up security, but said the deputies were receptive to their request. Dreher said that there were no other officers other than the female deputy assisting with taking Nichols to court. The law requires that defendants on trial not be handcuffed as they enter the courtroom, to make sure the sight of cuffs doesn't unfairly influence the jury. The shootings occurred shortly after 9 a.m. Friday ÔÇö the fourth day of Nichols' trial. Nichols had been facing a re-trial on charges of rape, sodomy, burglary, and false imprisonment, among others, after his earlier trial ended in a hung jury a week ago. "I think he probably realized ... he might be convicted this time, he might not have a chance to walk out," Howard said. "We believe he came here with the intent to make sure that didn't happen." In the rape case, Nichols was accused of bursting into his ex-girlfriend's home, binding her with duct tape and sexually assaulting her over three days. Howard said Nichols brought a loaded machine gun into the home and a cooler with food in case he was hungry. Nichols, who had been jailed for the last six months, had faced a possible life prison sentence if convicted for rape. Nichols' last known job was working as a computer technician for a subsidiary of Atlanta-based shipping giant UPS. Company spokesman Norm Black says Nichols joined the unit in March 2004 and left in September 2004, which was when he was arrested. More than 100 state troopers and officers from several agencies, including the FBI (news - web sites), were assisting in the search, but there were few leads, said G.D. Stiles, a Fulton County deputy chief. Offers of help from officers on their days off were pouring in. Telephone and e-mail requests for comment to Nichols' attorney, Barry M. Hazen, were not immediately returned Friday. Barnes was known for his personable approach to justice and his sense of humor, and members of Georgia's legal community expressed shock by the news. Among the recent cases that Barnes handled was the sentencing of Atlanta Thrashers player Dany Heatley, who pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in the death of a teammate. Barnes, 64, also drew national attention last month when he approved a plea deal that required a mother of seven who pleaded guilty to killing her 5-week-old daughter to have a medical procedure that would prevent her from having more children. "We're shook to the core," said Linda Dreyer, a longtime employee in the court administrator's office who knew Barnes. "This is a profound shock. It's so unthinkable, it's like a 9-11 at the courthouse," said fellow Judge Craig Schwall. James Bailey, a juror at Nichols' trial, said the jury was not in the courtroom at the time of the shooting. He said Nichols had made him and other jurors nervous. "Every time he looked up, he was staring at you," Bailey said.

What? I don't have a console.

Link quote:The Guts of the Next Box CPU - Xenon's CPU has three 3.0 GHz PowerPC cores. Each core is capable of two instructions per cycle and has an L1 cache with 32 KB for data and 32 KB for instructions. The three cores share 1 MB of L2 cache. Alpha 2 developer kits currently have two cores instead of three. GPU - Xenon's GPU is a generation beyond the ATI X800. Its clock speed is 500 MHz and it supports Shader 3.0. Developers are currently working with an alpha 2 GPU. Beta GPU units are expected by May and the final GPU is slated for a summer release. The final GPU will be more powerful than anything on the market today; in game terms, it would handle a game like Half-Life 2 with ease. System Memory - Xenon will have 256 MB of system RAM. Keep in mind that this number should not be equated to typical PC RAM. The Xbox has 64 MB of system RAM and is a very capable machine. Optical Drive - As many have speculated, Xenon will not use Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. Games will come on dual-layer DVD-9 discs. While the media is the same as that of the current Xbox, the usable space on each disc is up to 7 GB. The drive is slated to run at 12X. Memory Units - Xenon will use 64 MB to 1,024 MB memory cards. 8 MB is reserved for system use, leaving a 56 MB to 1,016 MB for user data. Hard Drive - As many have speculated, Xenon's hard drive is optional. 2 GB of the drive will be used as game cache. The final drive size is still being determined. Camera - Xenon will have a USB 2.0 camera. It's capable of 1.2 megapixel still shots and VGA video. Photos can be used in-game and for gamer profiles. The camera can also be used for video chat. It's unknown if the Xenon camera will allow for EyeToy-like gameplay. Developers are currently using a simulated camera driver. Sound Chip - Xenon does not have an audio chip in the traditional sense. Decompression is handled by hardware, while the rest of the chores are handled by software. DirectSound3D has been dropped in favor of X3DAudio. The former was deemed too inflexible.

Link quote:Warren Spector resurfaces at Junction Point Veteran game designer emerges with a new game and a new shop, apparently named after an aborted MMORPG. Saying he's back "to shake things up," Warren Spector, the famed game designer, has reemerged from the shadows to reveal his latest endeavor. Although he claims it's "a little early" for full disclosure, Spector is talking up details of his new development shop, Junction Point Studios, at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. The former studio head of Deus Ex-developer Ion Storm told GameSpot today that the staff of Austin, Texas-based Junction Point Studios is already hard at work. The company has started preliminary development on a "fantasy" title created by Spector, who worked at Dungeons and Dragons creator TSR in the 1980s. Although Spector said the title was rapidly evolving, he did not give any indication about what specific subgenre the game would fall under or what platforms it would be released for. However, a clue to Junction Point's current project may lie in Spector's past. One of his coworkers while working at TSR was one Allen Varney, who cowrote a module for the cult sci-fi role-playing game Paranoia with Spector. According to Varney's online resume, he also handled "principal design" on a game called "Junction Point" while at Looking Glass Studios (then Looking Glass Technologies) at the same time as Spector. Varney describes the game as "[a] massively multiplayer fantasy role-playing game, changed in midstream to a single-player science-fiction role-playing game," which was canceled in 1997. Another connection to the old Junction Point game comes in the form of Art Min. A former project director at Ion Storm, Min also worked with Spector at Looking Glass while Junction Point was being developed. Now Min holds the position of executive vice president at Junction Point Studios, heading up a staff of 12 mostly ex-Ion Storm staffers. When speaking to GameSpot, Spector was optimistic and seemed ready to tangle once again with the game industry. However, when pressed on details on Junction Point's debut, he preferred to stay mum, only suggesting that new ideas were percolating behind the scenes. He also refused to answer questions on the studio's business model, leaving the door open for a conventional collaboration with a publisher or a self-published MMORPG. Spector is taking part in two GDC sessions this week. The first one, "Why Isn't the Game Industry Making Interactive Stories," is scheduled for Thursday at 2:30pm PST, while the second one, "Burning Down the House: Game Developers Rant" is slated for Friday, also at 2:30pm PST. GDC is currently under way at the Moscone Convention Center in central San Francisco.

Link quote:At least 27 elementary school children died and another 100 were hospitalized after eating a snack of cassava ÔÇö a root thatÔÇÖs poisonous if not prepared correctly ÔÇö during morning recess Wednesday in the southern Philippines, officials said. Francisca Doliente, said her 9-year-old niece Arve Tamor was given some of the deep-fried caramelized cassava by a classmate who bought it from a regular vendor outside the San Jose school. ÔÇ£Her friend is gone. She died,ÔÇØ Doliente told The Associated Press, adding that her niece was undergoing treatment. The roots of the cassava plant, a major crop in Southeast Asia and other parts of the world, are rich in protein, minerals and vitamins A, B and C. However, it is poisonous without proper preparation. Eaten raw, the human digestive system will convert part of it into cyanide. Even two cassava roots contain a fatal dose. ÔÇ£Some said they took only two bites because it tasted bitter and the effects were felt five to 10 minutes later,ÔÇØ said Dr. Harold Garcia of Garcia Memorial Provincial Hospital in the nearby town of Talibon, where 47 patients were taken. The victims suffered severe stomach pain, then vomiting and diarrhea. They were taken to at least four hospitals near the school in Mabini, a town on Bohol island, about 380 miles southeast of Manila. Mabini Mayor Stephen Rances said 27 students were confirmed dead. Treatment was delayed because the nearest hospital was 20 miles away. Grace Vallente, 26, said her 7-year-old nephew Noel died en route to the hospital and that her 9-year-old niece Roselle was undergoing treatment. ÔÇ£There are many parents here,ÔÇØ she said from L.G. Cotamura Community Hospital in BoholÔÇÖs Ubay town. ÔÇ£The kids who died are lined up on beds. EverybodyÔÇÖs grief-stricken.ÔÇØ Dr. Leta Cutamora confirmed 14 dead at the hospital and 35 others admitted for treatment. Dr. Nenita Po, chief of the government-run Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital, said 13 were brought there, including the 68-year-old woman who prepared the food with another woman. Two girls, ages 7 and 8, died. A specimen of the cassava was taken for inspection at the local Crime Laboratory Group.

quote:Originally posted by DocHoliday: Ah, so the gamma radiation isn't that innocent.It's the Alpha and Beta particles that are dangerous when inhaled.