Potpourri XCII

More vacation progress! Rick Steves.com has finally sent me a detailed itinerary/list of hotels for my stay, along with a list of the people on my tour. This was accompanied by a letter offering packing reminders (map, hotel list, rain coat, flashlight) and a one-page summary/reminder of the itinerary. My tour consists of 24 people: 6 couples, 10 singles (9 women + Bart. My, my). Twenty-five days and counting.

From Martin, a video recommendation.

New from Hu: Another story on orbital fuel depots.

This is just wrong: some idjit is going on trial for groping the cast member playing Minnie Mouse.

Congress appears to be backing down on their attempt to buy more corporate jets for themselves. Good. Maybe if they spend enough time flying commercial aviation, they might learn to fix the Air Traffic Control system.

Jihadists have attacked Pakistan's nuclear facilities at least three times. Times they are a-changin'. The facilities were originally placed to keep them away from the Indians. Unfortunately for Pakistan (and us), the threat now is terrorists from the Northwest, where the facilities are located.

From Melissa: an article from a group boycotting companies like Amazon or Apple/iTunes, which can take away the digital material people purchase. The Amazon issue I understand because the content that was purchased was, in fact, posted illegally. But this is why throwbacks like me prefer CDs, tapes, and similar physical media because then you have something, not just a purchased right to electrons. But then I'm one of those crusty Gen Xers, so what the heck do I know?