Ain't Complicated

Dirtier Than Most Bathrooms?!

Last evening I heard Mark and Dave (1190 KEX, Portland, OR) talking about this list:

â€œKitchen sinks are dirtier than most bathrooms,â€ says Kelly Reynolds, PhD, an environmental microbiologist at the University of Arizona. There are typically more than 500,000 bacteria per square inch in the drain. In fact, in a recent study, half of the top 10 germiest spots in the home were (gulp!) in the kitchen. That sponge you use to clean the counter? Crawling with bacteria, as are the sinkâ€™s basin and faucet handles.

Read the article to see what to do about your kitchen sink.

And to learn the identity of the other 11 germiest places in America.

Is Your Pilot Sleeping?

These two weren’t!

A pair of commercial pilots fell asleep in the cockpit on their way to Denver in 2004 and sped toward the airport at twice the speed allowed, according to an anonymous report by the captain on a federal safety Web site.

The unnamed pilot of the “red eye” flight said he woke up to frantic calls from air traffic controllers and landed without a problem.

[…]

The pilot said his schedule had been switched to three nights in a row of flying “red eye” flights. The eight-hour Denver- Baltimore round trip returned to Denver after 6 a.m.

On his third overnight flight, the pilot and first officer were sound asleep as they approached Denver International Airport. At 60 miles out, their jet was rushing toward the crowded skies surrounding the airport at Mach .82, or 608 mph, instead of the 287-mph speed required at that point.

The pilot also reported the plane was flying at 35,000 feet, above the restriction of 19,000 feet at that particular crossing point.

“Last 45 mins of flt I fell asleep and so did the FO,” or first officer, according to a one-paragraph report on the incident found on the federal Aviation Safety Reporting System.

“Missed all calls from ATC” (air traffic control) asking why he was ignoring the standards for approaching DIA.

“I woke up, why I don’t know, and heard frantic calls from ATC. . . . I answered ATC and abided by all instructions to get down. Woke FO up.”

He spiraled the jet down to a lower altitude as ordered, then landed “with no further incidents.”

Corrupting the Car

First, “they” made the phone more than something on which to talk with someone else.

Or did “they” start messing with the automobile first?

So, in the Why Can’t a Vehicle Just Take Us from Here to There and Back? department:

An onboard computer that allows passengers to surf the Internet and download music while you drive? A built-in barbecue that folds out of the trunk for tailgate parties?

SEMA 07, the world’s biggest auto accessories exhibition taking place in Las Vegas this week, has shown that the only limit on vehicle-owners wanting to customise their four-wheeled friends appears to be their imagination.

To which I exclaim, “Please, spare us!”

But no . . . .

If Bryan Davis, president of Led Wheels has his way, pedestrians and fellow motorists will soon be able to watch televisions mounted inside the wheel rims of other cars driving by.

Hey, get a life!

And help somebody else get a life. And maybe keep someone else from losing a life. Do motorists need more Fatal Attractions?

Besides, people won’t get away from red lights as quickly because they’re no longer looking at the semaphore, they’re looking at the other person’s WheeRimTV. Or else those contraptions will cause an epidemic of street racing as the viewer engages RocketStart in an effort to catch up to that TV.

But how about this next “jewel” — is it more practical?

A pick-up truck on show featured a giant flat-screen television folding out from the trunk as well as a built-in barbecue grill, emblazoned with the logo of the National Football League.

Sure. But this next one is something I’ve rooted for since I was a teenager (thirty-plus years ago already!).

Other gadgets on show offered a new twist on conventional in-car equipment, most notably an electronic rear-view mirror linked to a camera which offers drivers a panoramic view of the road behind them.

Now there’s something useful. I could really dominate a game of RubberNeck with a mirror like that!

And this “baby” could be so useful (possibly) when squealing away from the traffic light in an effort to see the last of the commercial on that guy’s WheeRimTV:

Among accessories being shown by The Hoffman Group was a device that enables cars to shoot a two-meter flame from the rear exhaust.

~~Think metric!~~

If This Were Mohammed

I saw a product picture in a catalog the other day.

The item is cute.

But sacrilegious. (Relax, though, I have no violent plans.)

Here’s a similar item I found on the Web:

What would the “Arab street” do if this were a comparable Islamic scene including Mohammed?

With Islam expanding as it is, maybe toy makers will tap into that market . . . .

Don’t Forget Them

Gaza Christians fear ‘those more extreme than Hamas’

The kidnapping and killing of Rami Ayyad, manager of the Gaza Strip’s only Christian bookstore, sent shudders through the Palestinian coastal enclave’s tiny Christian community.

Spared by the summer’s fierce factional clashes in which the Islamist Hamas movement seized power by routing their secular Fatah party rivals, Christians began to worry they too might be driven from the volatile coastal strip.

What scares them is a new generation of shadowy extremist movements that have crept from the rubble of a seven-year uprising, months of internal bloodletting and decades of conflict with Israel.

“We are not afraid of Hamas because as a government they are responsible for protecting people,” Ayyad’s brother Ramzi says. “We are afraid of those who are more extreme than Hamas.”

Palestinian Christians number around 75,000 but there are only 2,500 — most of them Greek Orthodox — living in the Gaza Strip among nearly 1.5 million Muslims, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

Gaza has no history of tensions between the two communities and Christians say they are bound to their Muslim neighbours by shared suffering.

“Balances” in Egypt

Twenty five year old Mohammed Ahmed Higazi (L), and his pregnant wife Zeinab, 23, read from the bible August 2 in their home in a Cairo. Higazi who converted from Islam to Christianity has launched a bid to have the change recognized officially in what is believed to be the first such case, he told AFP today. In Egypt, identity cards say whether the bearer is Christian or Muslim, but those who convert to Christianity complain that administrative hurdles prevent them being able to change their official papers

Nigeria Steps Up Security After Militants Kill Christians

Nigeria’s central government will deploy more police to the nation’s troubled state of Kaduna “to fight crime”, after two Christians were reportedly killed there by suspected Muslim militants, BosNewsLife learned Wednesday, October 24.

Prominent Beijing Pastor Beaten Again By Security Forces

Chinese Christians remained concerned Thursday, October 25, about the health situation of a prominent Beijing pastor amid reports he was beaten again by security forces after being discharged from Tiantan Hospital.

Religious literature censorship in Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan continues to maintain severe religious literature censorship, Forum 18 News Service notes. Current examples include two shipments of Jehovah’s Witness literature â€“ one in transit for Tajikistan and one intended for an Uzbek congregation â€“ which have been held for more than a year. Other religious communities, such as Protestants and Muslims, also experience problems. A Protestant, involved in sending literature requested by Christians in Uzbekistan, told Forum 18 that most shipments never arrived. “This was either through postal inefficiency or because it was rejected at Uzbek customs,” the Protestant stated. “So we have given up trying to send literature.” Many who would like to receive literature are afraid of the consequences of being identified by the authorities as Christians, from their receiving literature by post. Uzbek officials are reluctant to discuss the issue, but insist that religious material can only be received after specific approval by the state Religious Affairs Committee. Uzbekistan frequently burns religious literature, including the Bible, confiscated from Muslims, Protestants, Hare Krishna devotees and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Even legally imported literature is confiscated in police raids.

Beware of Emailed PDFs

Update now!

Just this week Adobe patched a major problem with its Acrobat and Reader programs. The issue? Flaws that could allow malicious exploits. Now, it seems hackers are using the precious time between update release and update download to unleash a flood of malicious code.

According to Symantec Corporation, the exploits are still alive and well for the bulk of users yet to update.

This next excerpt is good advice all the time, but especially if you haven’t upgraded:

Symantec warns everyone to avoid YOUR_BILL.pdf and INVOICE.pdf especially, but to also be wary of just about any PDF file arriving via email. Even if your electronic mail program doesn’t identify the file or sender as spammy, making sure you’re well acquainted with the sender (and they like you).

No, I haven’t upgraded yet. I just read the article several minutes ago. And I’m on a dial-up connection of 31.2 Kbps.

Measure 49: A Lesson

A few weeks ago I started seeing signs like these:

The more I saw, the more it seemed the best thing was to approve 49.

Especially since I didn’t see any anti-49 signs.

Finally I noticed one in town.

Then a few started popping up in the country:

So despite my early misimpressions, the issue does have two sides. (No real shock there, of course.)

Monday morning, as I drove by some of the aforementioned signs, I suddenly thought of two Bible verses.

I see now they’re both from Proverbs 18:

“He that is first in his own cause seemeth just; but his neighbour cometh and searcheth him” (verse 17).

“He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him” (verse 13).

So there you are — an important life lesson that far exceeds the importance of Oregon’s Measure 49.

Every story has two sides, so wait to express judgment till you know both sides!

(And even then, be careful.)