Hey, Buddy, wanna buy a warhead?

Missile stockpile defendant sues Halliburton

David Hudak's federal lawsuit, filed October 13 in Albuquerque, also claims that Halliburton, its former Jet Research Center subsidiary and another military contractor, Tennessee-based Accurate Arms Co., sold thousands more of the warheads to others in similar transactions.

The companies should have paid to have the warheads destroyed, as required by their military contracts, the lawsuit contends.

In a statement, Houston-based Halliburton said the 10 years that have passed since the sale of the warheads make the case difficult to investigate. [Emphasis added.]

O America! The clue phone is ringing! Please pick up by Nov 02, 2004. Thank you.

What kind of curse would that be?

Howard Bashman over at How Appealing:

Questioning the proper disposition of the Red Sox curse: In response to my post from late last night titled "The curse is reversed," a reader who once served as law clerk to a Justice on the California Court of Appeal writes: "Semantic appellate law/supernatural phenomena question just for fun: Is a curse like a judgment or order that can be reversed, or more like an injunction or stay that may be lifted?"

OK, given that I'm studying law now, that was really funny. Your mileage may vary.

Holy Fucking Shit!

The Boston Red Sox have just won their first World Series since 1918. Holy jumping crawdads. Wow.

War Crime Suit Against Pres. Bush?

Chile Group Plans Bush Welcome with War Crime Suit

The suit asks local courts to invoke international human rights treaties ratified by both countries and arrest Bush and members of his cabinet for questioning during their visit to Santiago for a summit of Asia Pacific leaders Nov. 19-21.

Hm!

New Species! Homo floresiensis

Aw, now that's just cool.

'Hobbit' joins human family tree

Scientists have discovered a new and tiny species of human that lived in Indonesia at the same time our own ancestors were colonising the world.

Homo erectus may have arrived on Flores about one million years ago, evolving its tiny physique in the isolation provided by the island.

What is surprising about this is that this species must have made it to Flores by boat. Yet building craft for travel on open water is traditionally thought to have been beyond the intellectual abilities of Homo erectus.

The best moments in science are when someone says "Hm, I didn't expect that."

Al-Qaqaa

High explosives 'missing in Iraq'
US plays down loss of explosives

In spring, 2003, almost 350 tons of "key components in plastic explosives", went missing from the al-Qaqaa facility south of Bagdad, Iraq.

"Army experts say the missing explosives -- monitored by UN nuclear watchdog [IAEA] until the March 2003 invasion - could potentially be used to make a detonator for a nuclear bomb or other explosive device."

A metric ton is 1000 kg, and a kilogram is 2.2 pounds. For ease, let's just say 2000 lb. 350 of them. That's 700,000 lb.

"White House spokesman Scott McClellan said there was no risk of nuclear proliferation because of the theft."

Well, la-di-dah. That doesn't really set my mind at ease or anything, because that's still 700,000 pounds of high-explosive-key-components out there. And you know what? It's not nuclear weapons that "insurgents" are using to kill people in Iraq today, or yesterday, or all the days before that we've been doing this, it's just plain ol' bombs. So, excuse me for not feeling relieved.