Morning Coffee Monthly Archive

Smart Windows

Smart glass blocks infrared when heat is on

Glass that blocks out heat but not light when a room starts getting excessively warm has been developed by UK scientists.

At most room temperatures the glass lets both visible and infrared light pass through. But above 29°C, a substance coating the glass undergoes a chemical change causing it to block infrared light. This will prevent room from overheating in bright sunshine or if temperatures outside start to soar.

Twin Towers Toy Recalled

MIAMI, Aug. 27, 2004 (AP) Small toys showing an airplane flying into the World Trade Center were packed inside more than 14,000 bags of candy and sent to small groceries around the United States before being recalled. Lisy Corp., the wholesaler that distributed the candy, said Friday that the toys were purchased in bulk from a Miami-based import company.

The toys came in an assortment purchased sight unseen from L&M Import in Miami and included the toys depicting the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the twin towers, whistles and other small toys, said Luis Pedron, Lisy's national sales manager. The invoice said the toy was a plastic swing

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Birth of a Nation

East St. Louis, Illinois ("the inner city without an outer city"), is an impoverished town, so poor that Fred Fredericks, its idealistic mayor, starts off Election Day by collecting the city's trash in his own minivan. But the mayor believes in the power of democracy and rallies his fellow citizens to the polls for the presidential election, only to find hundreds of them turned away for trumped-up reasons. Even sweet old Miss Jackson - not to mention the mayor himself -

is denied the vote because her name turns up on a bogus list of felons. The national election hinges on Illinois's electoral votes and, as a result of the mass disenfranchisement of East St. Louis, a radical right-wing junta led by a dim-witted Texas governor seizes the Oval Office.

Prodded by shady black billionaire and old friend John Roberts, Fredericks devises a radical plan of protest: East St. Louis will secede from the Union.

August 27, 2004

Mirrormask

07:16 PM | Comments (1)

August 22, 2004

OSLO, Norway - Edvard Munch's famous paintings "The Scream," "Madonna" and others were stolen from an art museum Sunday while stunned museum-goers watched armed men threatening the staff at gunpoint as they took the art work to a waiting car. "We don't have all the details on the situation, but we are searching for the suspects in the air and on land," Police Spokesman Kjell Moerk told the public radio network NRK.

Dolly is almost ready for therapy!

Poor Kroko!

YAAAYY! Dolly, the last stuffed animal who needed therapy from Dr. Kindermann, will soon be is now ready to begin the process!

Sehr geehrte Kolleginnen und Kollegen, Ich möchte mich kurz fassen, da mein Flugzeug wartet: Das Schaf Dolly erwartet Ihre therapeutische Hilfe. Die Patienten werden ende November 2004 für die Heimtherapie zur Verfügung stehen.

Dear collegues, Just a short message – my plane is waiting: Dolly is ready. The patients will be available for home-therapy end of November 2004. Mit freundlichen Grüßen, With best regards, Dr. Kindermann

Points for effort

US children 'abandoned in Africa'

Seven US children have been discovered suffering from disease and malnutrition in a Nigerian orphanage.

The children, aged from eight to 16, were reportedly left there by their adoptive mother.

The three boys and four girls were found by a visiting Texas missionary after he heard their accents, reports the Associated Press news agency.

They are now back in their home state of Texas, in the care of the local child protection agency.

Update 8/21 Keeps getting better...

Newspaper: U.S. Knew About Abandoned Kids

U.S. State Department officials learned that seven American children had been abandoned at a Nigerian orphanage but waited more than a week to check on the youths, who were suffering from malnutrition, malaria and typhoid, a newspaper reported Saturday.

Whistleblower follow-up

When he saw the horrific abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, Joe Darby knew he had to blow the whistle. But coming forward would change his life—as well as his family's—forever, and for the worse. Because back in his own community and in the small towns of America, handing over those photos didn't make Joe Darby a hero. It made him a traitor. By Wil S. Hylton

Pink Lagoon

Is there no justice?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Relatives of the U.S. soldier who sounded the alarm about abuse of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison said on Monday the family was living in protective custody because of death threats against them.

"Hitchhiker's" trailer

Don't forget the Perseids!

The ongoing Perseid Meteor Shower should be at its strongest tonight and tomorrow night. Although meteors should be visible all night long, the best time to watch will be between 2:00 AM and dawn each night. In dark, moonless, predawn skies you may see dozens of meteors per hour. Sky enthusiasts in Europe and Asia might see an unusual burst of meteors near 2100 hours UT. Grains of cosmic sand and gravel shed from Comet Swift-Tuttle will streak across the sky as they vaporize during entry into Earth's atmosphere. Tracing the meteor trails backwards, experienced skygazers will find they converge on the constellation Perseus, thus this annual meteor shower's name. Pictured above is a Perseid meteor from 2002 over a rock formation in the US Southwest desert. Shadowing and blurring are caused by the long 10-minute exposure. The brightest Perseids can be seen from anywhere on Earth by monitoring the continuously returning images from the Night Sky Live cameras.

Raiph is Voldemort!

PHWOOAARR, you say?

Cell Phone Justice

JULY 28--Meet Warronnica Harris and Terrell Tolson. The Florida couple got popped this week at a St. Petersburg theater after Harris, 23, allegedly refused to end a cell phone call as the opening credits for "Catwoman" rolled. When an off-duty police officer working at the theater tried to curtail her chat, Harris announced that "she could talk as much as she wanted on her phone," according to this police report. In short order, Tolson, 25, joined in, allegedly telling Officer John Douglas that he would kick the cop's ass. The report quotes Harris as saying she would "hit the cracker in his head." In a bid to subdue the duo (pictured below in mug shots snapped by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office), Douglas blasted them with pepper spray. Harris and Tolson were eventually charged with disorderly conduct--and spared having to sit through another Halle Berry bomb. (3 pages)