A federal appeals court Friday threw out the 22-year sentence imposed on Algerian Ahmed Ressam for plotting to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on the eve of the millennium.

The three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to U.S. District Court in Seattle to recalculate a sentence for his conviction on nine felony counts. It was the second time the appellate court has scrapped Ressam's sentence.

'Millennium bomber' sentence tossed out by US court

Charles Weever Cushman, amateur photographer and Indiana University alumnus, bequeathed approximately 14,500 Kodachrome color slides to his alma mater. The photographs in this collection bridge a thirty-two year span from 1938 to 1969, during which time he extensively documented the United States as well as other countries.

Check out the highlights. And for other samples, see here.

Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection

Cloud Computing. Delivered.

RightScale provides a platform and expertise that enable companies to create scalable web applications running on Amazon’s Web Services that are reliable, easy to manage, and cost less. Amazon has created a new model of computing with EC2, S3, and SQS. RightScale lets you harness that power while keeping your focus on what matters most—your own core application.

RightScale is your easy to use portal to Amazon’s Web Services. It is the only end-to-end management platform for AWS that includes everything you need to get a scalable, reliable, performance web application up and running quickly. With RightScale you’ll save time, and breathe easier knowing that your deployment follows best practices.

* Dashboard – manage, maintain, and monitor all AWS activities
* Manager for MySQL– manage replicated MySQL setups
* RightSite – load balancing and DNS for scalable web sites
* Auto-Scaling – automatically scale the number of virtual servers up and down
* RightScripts – dynamic configuration of virtual servers on boot
* Deployments – launch and manage multi-server systems

Key Features of RightScale

1. Do one thing at a time.
2. Know the problem.
3. Learn to listen.
4. Learn to ask questions.
5. Distinguish sense from nonsense.
6. Accept change as inevitable.
7. Admit mistakes.
8. Say it simple.
9. Be calm.
10. Smile.

From the archive:

Benjamin Franklin's 13 Virtues:

It was about this time I conceived the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection.

For this purpose I therefore contrived the following method.

Powell's Rules:

Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.

Rumsfeld's Rules, including this one, from H.L. Mencken:

For every human problem there is a solution that is simple, neat and wrong.

How to Work Better

Dirt and its upmarket cousins offer a glimpse of how rising energy prices have caused inflation in the grittier corners of the consumer culture.

Pricier dirt is what consumers want, says Bob LaGasse, executive director of the Manassas-based Mulch and Soil Council, which represents soil and mulch producers nationwide. "People have less time. So their garden projects have changed over time. Convenience, time-saving factors, less mess," he said. They want high-performance dirt, so charged with organic nutrients you could serve it as an appetizer.

From the archive:

To be sure, time marches on.

Yet for many Californians, the looming demise of the "time lady," as she's come to be known, marks the end of a more genteel era, when we all had time to share.

Inflation Gets Right Down to the Real Nitty-Gritty

Armstrong and Miller genius work on why texting won't let you swear.

(pnsfw for language)

History of Predictive Text Swearing

Inventoried By: Elonka Dunin

One of my latest obsessions, is Lego. I've been building all kinds of robots and remote-control devices. Also, when sick with the flu or something, I've found that I really enjoy just picking a set at random, and working through the instruction manual, step by step to make something fun.

This site, peeron.com, is an amazing resource for Lego-enthusiasts. You can:
* Search on any set, and get a list of all the pieces in that set
* Learn all the locations where you can buy the set, new or used
* Search on any piece name or number
* Click on any piece, and see all the sets that contain that piece
* Learn the prices from various resellers (international) if you want to purchase a particular piece, sorted by color
* Maintain a database of every set that you own, which you can customize plus or minus if you lose pieces or add a few here and there
* Download set inventories or your own piece database to your own computer (where you can review it in programs such as partscatalog.exe)
* And, perhaps coolest of all, once you have your own parts database on the site, you can then click on any other Lego set that you're interested in, and then ask, "Do I have the parts already to build this?" and it'll run the compare and tell you what you already have, what you have, but is in the wrong color, and what you still need to obtain.

I've been helping out with the site as a volunteer. For example, one of the "Mars Mission" sets, ETX Alien Infiltrator, didn't have an inventory yet, so I compiled it offline, and then uploaded it to the site. For which I get "inventoried" credit at the bottom of the page. :) Now I just wish I had a camera to take a closeup picture of the unique pieces in that set!

In Legomaniac happiness,

Elonka :)

Lego hobbyist site: Peeron.com

To celebrate the coming launch of Dawn of War II we’ve teamed up with Games Workshop to recreate a life-sized replica of the Rhino Space Marine transport vehicle from the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

An integral part of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, the Space Marine transport unit is renowned on the battlefield. With its signature arches and armoured skirts protecting the tracks it strikes an imposing figure both in Dawn of War and the table top game.

But what would this look like in real life? Let’s find out! Over the next four weeks we’re going to be converting a real tank into the infamous tabletop icon.

THQ UK - News Centre - News - Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War II - Rhino Diary 1

Theirs was a New York love, a checkered taxi ride burning rubber, and like the city their passion was open 24/7, steam rising from their bodies like slick streets exhaling warm, moist, white breath through manhole covers stamped "Forged by DeLaney Bros., Piscataway, N.J."

The Bulwer-Lytton 2008 Results

Rattle wrote:

My Prius turned 1337 during it's third tank of gas. It's therefore (3)1337.

Yes, I did try to take a pictures while driving exactly 3 mph, but it was blurry.

How that for k-lame? Beat that!

LOL :)

I will have to dig up my odometer pictures. Yes, I have pictures of 31337 and 44100 from my Civic. I hit 31337 sometime in early 2006 and had the camera ready.

I see your k-lame and raise you one!

RE: Rattle's Prius hits (3)1337