The fence was too high to see over, but the NSA saw a little gap in the planks, so they looked through to see what was going on.

One of us poked them in the eye with a stick, then we all started shouting, “14…14…14…”.

Had to go for work, and knew the town from previous visits. But I decided to invite the gf to spend Friday night and have a full Saturday in Cervantes’ home town. We ended up spending two nights, had a blast.

The “new” town sucks, but the old one is magical. One of Europe’s oldest university towns, full of 16th century buildings, and a combination of provincial/agricultural simpleness and the Renaissance. Also, the Roman town of Complutum and perhaps the best archaelogical musuem I’ve seen, good food, and a bar where a Rumanian DJ mixes everything from ACDC to ZZ Top in the town’s main street.

We booked a room in a hotel 20 meters from Cervantes’ house. Lovely spot at 50€ a night, not far from the main square. Tranquility – a much-needed rest for us.

Anyhow, if anyone ever comes to Madrid, I strongly suggest spenfing a night in Alcalá de Henares – you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

https://www.google.es/search?q=alcala+de+henares&client=firefox-a&hs=tFi&rls=org.mozilla:es-ES:official&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=SUa-UfWYIYaJ7AaYs4CYBg&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=855

Only One Big Telecom CEO Refused To Cave To The NSA … And He’s Been In Jail For 4 Years

Nacchio alleged that the government stopped offering the company lucrative contracts after Qwest refused to cooperate with a National Security Agency surveillance program in February 2001.

NO ONE should be OK with this.

Lobby Congress NOW! Repeal the so-called “Patriot Act” and the AUMF!

http://www.defensenews.com/article/20121216/DEFREG02/312160002/Cyber-8217-s-Next-Chapter-Penetrating-Sealed-Networks

Cyber’s Next Chapter: Penetrating Sealed Networks
Dec. 16, 2012 – 12:47PM |

By ZACHARY FRYER-BIGGS |

Not long ago, if your computer network was cut off from the Internet, devoid of wireless routers and hunkered behind locked doors, you were safe.

But not anymore.

Several U.S. industry and military labs are improving the deciphering of the 1s and 0s that traverse these carefully guarded networks, and finding ways to inject data and infect systems with destructive viruses — “jumping the gap” into an ironclad network.

- Meaning, if you are targetted by the NSA, they have the ability to PUT things into your computer and claim that it is yours, without using your WiFi.

Full article following.

Well my basic hypothesis was that trees improve people’s health. And if that’s true, then killing 100 million of them in 10 years should have an effect. So if we take away these 100 million trees, does the health of humans suffer? We found that it does.

Researchers have shown this in other ways in the past. There’s been some famous research showing that people recover faster from surgery and take fewer drugs if their hospital room has a view of trees. Other research — including some of my own — has shown that mothers with more trees around their homes are less likely to have underweight babies. It’s been shown that if you put people in a natural environment, it can reduce their blood pressure, heart rate and other measures of stress. Obviously we also know that trees can improve air quality. And that’s why I looked at these two causes of death. I didn’t look at pancreatic cancer or something like that. I looked at cardiovascular disease and respiratory disease because both can be affected by air quality and stress.

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

Sorry for the drive-by post, but I’ll be mostly out of commission for at least another week, and thought it better to post this than keep it to myself.

Anyone want to come in August to see the 150th anniversary of Quantrill’s raid on Lawrence?

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2013/jun/09/lawhorns-lawrence-hidden-survivors-quantrills-raid/
Lawhorn’s Lawrence: The hidden survivors of Quantrill’s Raid