President Bush has approved a plan by the Pentagon to use a Navy missile to shoot down the defunct spy satellite that has been falling from orbit since late January. Originally, the National Security Council considered letting the satellite re-enter the earth’s atmosphere on its own accord, betting on the fact that whatever small chunks weren’t burnt to a crisp would land harmlessly in an ocean or unpopulated area. Turns out, they don’t want to take that chance. “This is all about trying to reduce the danger to human beings,” Deputy National Security Adviser James Jeffrey said in an AP story. I’d bet that its also about the fact that this is a spy satellite after all, and they can’t have that top-secret equipment, no matter how crispy, fall into the wrong hands.

No specific date has been set, yet it is probable that the window of opportunity to blast the satellite before it enters the atmosphere will be within the next two weeks. My hope is that they will let us know when to expect the “PEW! PEW! PEW!” action so we can all grab our lawn chairs and enjoy the fireworks.

The Associated Press: US Plans to Shoot Down Broken Satellite

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On Tuesday February 12th, the United States Senate approved a bill that provides immunity to telecommunications companies that helped the government with its controversial warrantless wiretapping program. From the Chicago Tribune:

The Senate legislation would allow government agents in certain circumstances to monitor communications without first obtaining a warrant.

Most controversially, the Senate version contains a provision that grants such large telecommunications companies as AT&T and Verizon retroactive civil immunity for allegedly cooperating with the NSA after Sept. 11. About 40 lawsuits have been filed against the companies alleging violations of wiretapping and privacy laws.

Here is a link to the official voting record. YEAs=31, NAYs=67, Not Voting=2. Voting “Nay” is in support of providing immunity.

For you Campaign 2008 watchers, here’s how the candidate senators voted:
Clinton (D-NY): Not Voting
McCain (R-AZ): Nay
Obama (D-IL): Yea

The bill, comprised of amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, now goes to the House for a potential showdown with the White House. The House version offers no protection for the telecom industry and more restrictions on the government’s power. The president has threatened to veto the bill unless it is close to the Senate version.

[Chicago Tribune - Senate OKs eavesdropping bill with immunity for telecoms]

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“What I Killed Today” is a blog belonging to a veterinary technician who documents every animal they euthanize from day to day. Some posts are rather blunt, simply stating the what and why. Yet many are enough to make a grown man cry, such as:

Saturday, December 08, 2007
a 16 year old pomeranian. the family was present in the room. they were wearing very formal clothes, all black, as if they were attending a funeral. i tried not to make anything of it but, during their grieving, they stated that they were actually on their way to a funeral for a friend who had died - a 44 year old woman with a nine year old daughter. they were sobbing, i cried as well and felt no need to hide my tears. the dog wimpered with the injection and tried to fight it a bit. then he laid down and rested.

I found this post, the only one accompanied by a photo, especially haunting:

Monday, August 01, 2005
Barn owl with a broken femur. It held the mask in place with its good foot as I anesthetized it.

whatikilledtoday.blogspot.com [via BoingBoing]

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After much tribulation, Petco.com refunded me for my 300+ dead mealworms.

The tribulation came in when trying to contact the Petco.com “Customer Support.” Contact forms found on Petco.com, which idiotically limit your complaint to only 1500 characters, once submitted, apparently get delivered to Pluto, because I received no response. Fed up with the contact forms, I went searching for an actual physical email address. Naturally, none exist anywhere on Petco.com. The email listed on my packing slip, cs@orders.petco.com, turned out to be invalid. Finally, I found through Google references to orders@petco.com, decided to give it a shot, and finally got through to someone.

So, hey Petco, thanks for living up to the Live Food 100% guarantee and giving me a refund, but if you’re not going to check your website form submissions, how about listing some email address on your site? Woof.

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If you’ve ever wondered what 300 dead waxworms look like, today is your lucky day!

I recently ordered, for the first and now last time, live reptile food (waxworms, specifically) directly from Petco.com. You see, my pet box turtle loves eating the things. In fact, she will eat nothing else. I regularly buy waxworms from the Petco brick-and-mortar stores where a container of 50, which lasts about a week, goes for about $6.00. Online they sell them in containers of 500 for $20.00 + $8.00 shipping. I did the math, found a 10% off coupon from RetailMeNot, and the 500 container seemed like a deal, so I ordered them.

I realistically didn’t expect to receive all 500 of the little buggers perfectly unharmed. However, a box filled with miniature death is not what I had in mind. After sorting out the survivors, I would say at least 60% arrived in black, sticky clumps, which you see in the above image filled 2 plastic containers near to the brim. The smell was hardly describable, it could only be equated to what one would imagine how 300 miniature rotting human corpses would smell.

Needless to say, I am one peeved consumer. I’ve currently got a Customer Service request into Petco.com regarding this, and you’d better believe I sent them this image to enjoy as well. I’ll keep everyone updated.*

*as if we had any readers…
…but if we do, let us know your online ordering horror stories in the comments!

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Video: In March 2007, Gever Tulley, founder of the Tinkering School, gave a presentation at TED University on five dangerous things every parent should let their kids do. “Allowing kids the freedom to explore, he says, will make them stronger and smarter and actually safer.”

I don’t have kids but I look forward to being the crazy uncle who lets my nephew do all of these crazy things. Is 12-months-old too young to drive a car? Don’t tell my sister.

Gever Tulley: 5 dangerous things you should let your kids do (video)
[via BoingBoing]

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Convert and save your favorite YouTube videos, or supposedly any online video, to a wide variety of playable video files for use on your computer, media player or mobile device with the website Movavi. While you’re at it, you can upload your own video files that need converting to another file type, without any software to install or complicated settings to remember.

The site is clean, simple and ad free, as the only product Movavi is pushing is their own suite of desktop video utilities. You can convert up to 5 files or 100mb at a time, with a max time of 10 minutes each, and it even gives you the option to merge all of your files into one seamless video file. Simply enter the YouTube URL links or upload files, choose your output format, enter your email and click “convert!” (I would recommend using your junk email address, as its unknown how Movavi archives or shares it.) Leave your browser window open for a brief ‘converting’ progress bar for each of the videos, and then they’ll email you a link to where you can download the finished results!

File output formats include:
• AVI format, Xvid (.avi)
• Mpeg-4 format (.mp4)
• MPEG-2 format, DVD Quality, PAL (.mpeg)
• MPEG-2 format, DVD Quality, NTSC (.mpeg)
• iPod video, 320×240 (.mp4)
• iPod 5G video, 640×480 (.mp4)
• iPhone video (.mp4)
• PSP video (.mp4)

I converted three YouTube videos to iPhone video, which took about ten minutes to wait through the ‘converting’ progress bars, then received the download link in about 30 minutes. The files play flawlessly on my iPod Touch so I can recommend Movavi to anyone who has been looking for a way to save online video on their local machine or convert for use on their mobile device.

Movavi Online Video Converter [via Lifehacker]

UPDATE: Upon closer inspection, the video files did not play flawlessly, or at all, on my iPod Touch. They required an additional, lengthy “Convert for iPod” from within iTunes. So, I would look elsewhere for converting local video for your mobile device, but Movavi still has my thumbs-up for a no-hassle way to get your grubby hands on your favorite YouTube videos.

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The video above is a version of a game I recently discovered called Crayon Physics, which you can download here. And I highly recommend doing so indeed.The goal of the game is very simple: get the ball to where the star (or stars) are. To do so you’ll have do draw paths, overcome obstacles and bump the ball along its merry quest.

The download is a short prototype version of the in-progress Crayon Physics Deluxe, which is shown in the video. Despite the short gameplay of the prototype, each level is a workout for your mind, and you are rewarded at the end with a platform to play around with the physics in this crayon world.

Let us know how you do in the comments!

Crayon Physics by Kloonigames [via Gizmodo]

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Everyone’s favorite little digital planet, Google Earth, recently received an update including new layers to display real-time weather information, including radar, clouds and forecasts. I, along with most everyone else it seems, has been wondering what took so long.

Although I didn’t find it right away, this update also includes looped radar and cloud animations. You can find it by clicking the “Information” tab under the Weather grouping, which offers links to download the 24-hour cloud animation or 6-hour radar animation. I’ve noticed these animations aren’t as fluid or high resolution as can be found directly on Weather.com, but its a good feature I hope they eventually refine.

Either way, this should make your Google Earth flight simulator adventures all the more realistic!

Google Earth 

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“Maria” by DeviantART user Ben Camberos (~kungfumonkey)

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