BEGINNERS & SENIORS GUIDE TO COMPUTERS

The House of Representatives is expected to vote, February 1, on an ill-conceived budget reconciliation bill. The National Mental Health Association (NMHA) warns that, if passed, this measure will irreparably tear apart the only safety net for millions of Americans. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) advised congressional leaders late last week of the devastating impact of the bill’s Medicaid cuts. Acknowledging that the human impact could be far deeper, CBO projected that: * 75% of the bill’s Medicaid cuts would harm beneficiaries. * Beneficiaries will carry billions in savings through lost benefits, increasing from roughly 900,000 enrollees sustaining such loss in 2010 to an estimated 1.6 million in 2015. * Most of the reductions in benefits would be for services such as dental, vision, and mental health. * Billions in savings will be achieved by reducing the number of Americans covered by Medicaid and increasing the barriers to coverage. * 60% of those losing coverage w...

Ace Underhill (no, really), an entrepreneur is trying to acquire the rights to the Firefly/Serenity franchise for purposes of mounting a second season to be distributed in alternative media. Underhill told SCI FI Wire that he has contacted Firefly creator Joss Whedon's representatives about starting up a new season of Firefly, which the Fox broadcast network canceled after a single season in 2003. Underhill said in an interview: "If he contacts me and says, 'Hey, we're not interested in Firefly anymore' then I will abandon the project, and essentially it's over at that point. I'm not looking to create a cheap knockoff of the series without Joss' input. So that's not going to happen. ... If he's not going to be involved, then there is no project. There's no point." Underhill added that he has contacted members of the Firefly/Serenity cast and had received a few rate quotes from agents, but he declined to say who. He acknowledged that he...

Japanese Scientists Identify Ear Wax Gene Earwax may not play a prominent part in human history but at least a small role for it has now been found by a team of Japanese researchers. Earwax comes in two types, wet and dry. The wet form predominates in Africa and Europe and the dry form among East Asians, while populations of Southern and Central Asia are roughly half and half. By comparing the DNA of Japanese with each type, the researchers were able to identify the gene that controls which type a person has, they report in the Monday issue of Nature Genetics. They write that earwax type and armpit odor are correlated, since populations with dry earwax tend to sweat less and have little or no body odor, whereas the wet earwax populations sweat more and so may have greater body odor. This could open up a whole Pandora's box of discrimination and harassment: 1. Children devising new ways to torment each other - "oh yeah? your momma has wet ear wax!". 2. New rifts betwee...

Japanese beer maker Asahi plans to give away 5,000 personal bartending robots, each of which can store up to six cans of beer in a refrigerated compartment within its belly. At the push of a button the simple robots will open a can and pour the chilled contents into a glass for a thirsty owner. Hmm...it's the right height. If only it had a flat head and no teeth.

Jack Abramoff ran for student council president at Hawthorne High School in Beverly Hills in 1972. Abramoff got disqualified for exceeding the school's campaign spending limits. He gave out free hot dogs at a party. George Bush is using this as the basis for a new federal program called "No Bribe Left Behind".

Physicists in Singapore have developed a battery that can be powered by human urine. A team at Singapore's Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology developed a paper battery which is designed to be cheap to produce, and use urine as its power charge source. Imagine the uses: recharge your cellphone, mp3 player, digital camera and more just by pissing on them. Recharge your hearing aid by having a friend piss in your ear. During the Christmas season when you need batteries for your kids toys -- tell them to piss off! Perhaps there'd be a new size battery - the P battery.

"Look, it's hard for me to say I didn't have pictures with the guy when I did. And the man contributed to my campaigns...and this needs to be cleared up so the people have confidence in the system." George Bush when asked about Jack Abramoff at press conference January 26, 2006