//beconfused

George Carlin passes away at 71. George Cardin is one of my favorite comedians, he shall be missed.

George Carlin - Voting

US comic George Carlin dies at 71: report

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Irreverent US comedian George Carlin, who became known as a voice of the 1970s counterculture and was one of the country’s best known funny men, died on Sunday aged 71, US media reported.

The Grammy award winner, whose career spanned five decades, died of heart failure, his publicist Jeff Abraham told the New York Times.

Carlin had a history of heart problems and passed away in Santa Monica, California after checking into the hospital with chest pains.

He won four Grammy Awards, including one for his 1972 comedy recording “FM & AM,” in which he combined his older, more conventional material that entertained audiences in the 1950s and 60s, with his new, edgier and more controversial style.

Gray-bearded and often dressed in black casual attire, Carlin frequently admitted to drug use and shocked 1970s audiences with his hit “Seven Words That Can Never Be Said on Television.” (Source: AFP)

Airline Announcements-George Carlin 1/2

It’s official already. Obama has 2,156 delegates today. He needs to have 2,118. He officially wins the delegate race to become the Democratic nominee to go against John McCain.

Obama: I will be the Democratic nominee

In what he called a “defining moment for our nation,” Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday became the first African-American to head the ticket of a major political party.

“Tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another — a journey that will bring a new and better day to America,” he said.

“Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States.” (Source: CNN)

Clinton ends with 1,923 delegates.

Ontario high school junior Daniel Burd wanted to try to figure out if there was a way to get plastic bags to decompose faster. As it stands, it takes thousands of years for the wasteful objects to disintegrate. But by using bacteria, he figured out how to make it happen in a mere three months.

WCI student isolates microbe that lunches on plastic bags

Daniel Burd’s project won the top prize at the Canada-Wide Science Fair in Ottawa. He came back with a long list of awards, including a $10,000 prize, a $20,000 scholarship, and recognition that he has found a practical way to help the environment.

He knew plastic does eventually degrade, and figured microorganisms must be behind it. His goal was to isolate the microorganisms that can break down plastic — not an easy task because they don’t exist in high numbers in nature.

read more | digg story

Well, today on odd world, there’s a Japanese man calling toll-free line to hear woman’s voice and yes it’s automated. Kinda sad in a way but it somehow suggests how easily contented this man can be. Just listening to a voice only?

Japan man stalks toll-free line to hear woman’s voice

TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese man was arrested for calling a food company’s toll-free number 500 times in 16 months because he wanted to hear the woman’s voice on the automated tape, police said on Monday.

The 38-year-old plumber, who was arrested on Sunday, made 3,100 hours worth of free calls to the company, costing it almost 4 million yen (19,500 pounds) in phone bills, a police spokesman in Takasaki, northwest of Tokyo, said.

“He gets excited by the woman’s voice on the guidance tape,” the spokesman said, adding that the voice sounded normal to the detective who was involved in the investigation.

The food company asked for its name to be withheld. The spokesman said police are investigating if the man placed an excessive number of calls to any other firms.

(Source: Reuters)

I hope he’s okay. He’s disruptive in a way, but he sure has patience. I keep pressing ‘0′ when I hear automated tapes on phones.

The quake was the largest the region has seen for over a generation. It was so strong, even countries like Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong felt the shake.

Many people are now calling the Chinese Earthquake Test Centers “useless”, as they were unable to even detect the earthquake before it happened. When they finally announced the earthquake had occured, it was 12 minutes after the disaster, and 2 minutes after the US had announced a large earthquake in China. (Source: WeirdAsiaNews)

Many people are now calling the Chinese Earthquake Test Centers “useless”, as they were unable to even detect the earthquake before it happened. And why is that so? Chinese Earthquake Test Centers uses these:

(Chinese Siesmograph from Eastern Han Dynasty. Credit: Wikipedia)

Ball got stuck in dragon mouth. Well, on a side note, earthquake predictions are tough work.

This is just a little shocking:

Driver kills dog, then sues owners for damage

DULUTH, Minn. - The driver of a 1997 Honda Civic that struck and killed a dog near Cloquet is suing the dog’s owners for damage done to his vehicle.

Jeffery Ely was driving on the night of Jan. 4 when Fester, a miniature pinscher, squeezed past owner Nikki Munthe as she was letting in her other dog and ran out onto the road. Ely’s car struck Fester, killing the 13-pound dog instantly.

Now Ely is suing the Munthes for about $1,100 for damage to his car, time he had to take off from his two jobs to get the car repaired, and court fees.

Ely said he feels sorry for the Munthes’ loss but, as a dog owner himself, feels that they must be responsible for their pets’ actions.

Munthe said she has always been worried about the busy road the family lives on.

The Munthes have filed a $2,400 countersuit against Ely for the cost to buy Fester, the time they had to take off work for court appearances, and the cost of buying a dog to replace Fester. (Source: MSNBC News)

I wonder what would all these lawsuits achieve. The cost of getting a lawyer probably made the whole suit not worth it already.

Microsoft withdraws Yahoo! bid! One of the rare news where I can put two exclamation marks instead of one.

Microsoft Withdraws Its Bid for Yahoo

The about-face followed a meeting on Saturday morning in Seattle between Microsoft’s chief executive, Steven A. Ballmer, and Yahoo’s chief and co-founder, Jerry Yang, according to a person familiar with the talks.

At the meeting, which also included Yahoo’s other founder, David Filo, and a Microsoft president who oversees its online unit, Kevin Johnson, Mr. Ballmer increased Microsoft’s offer to $33 a share, or a total of about $47.5 billion, from $29.40 a share. Mr. Yang told Mr. Ballmer that Yahoo would not accept an offer below $37 a share, this person said.

“Despite our best efforts, including raising our bid by roughly $5 billion, Yahoo has not moved toward accepting our offer,” Mr. Ballmer said in a statement. “After careful consideration, we believe the economics demanded by Yahoo do not make sense for us, and it is in the best interests of Microsoft stockholders, employees and other stakeholders to withdraw our proposal.”

Microsoft’s decision to walk away casts a cloud of uncertainty over Yahoo and its shareholders. The breakdown in the talks is likely to send Yahoo’s shares plunging, and Mr. Yang and his team will have to decide how to placate investors. (Source: NYTimes)

I think this is good news for Microsoft shareholders. Yahoo isn’t that worth the money to purchase, plus Microsoft has the technology, they just need to work out their visitor numbers. For Yahoo!, it perhaps it a good thing too, but I just kinda have a bad feeling that Yahoo! won’t be doing too well in the coming months to come.