In car GPS does NOT negate using your in head BRAINS!!!!

"It's hard to understand how these things can happen," said Maximilian Maurer, spokesman for the German motoring club ADAC.

"It's not as if people are driving in a tank with only a small slit to see out. You'd think they have their own eyes and brains engaged to make decisions and not rely on the satnav. I used to think satnavs were 'idiot-proof', but perhaps not."

I've had GPS in my car for over 2 years now. I don't know that I will ever get a car without NAV again. That said though, common sense is still required. My GPS is not 100% accurate - never has been. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE exercise common sense and thought when using a NAV system.

Drivers obeying directions given by a sultry satnav voice have crashed into rivers, construction sites and roadside toilets in Germany, and had similar accidents in Britain.

In October a 53-year-old German, obeying his satnav's command "Turn right now!" jerked the wheel over and crashed into a roadside toilet hut 30 metres (yards) before the crossing he was meant to take, causing 2,000 euros ($2,600) damage.

A few weeks earlier, an 80-year-old motorist also followed his satnav instead of common sense and ignored a "closed for construction" sign on a Hamburg motorway. He hit a pile of sand at high speed but was not hurt.

"I just thought the navigation system knew a shortcut," Volker Heinemann was quoted as telling a local newspaper. His car had to be towed away.

In southern England a 29-year-old woman survived unscathed after misreading her satnav and driving the wrong way on a motorway near Portsmouth at nearly 120 km (75 miles) per hour, according to a local newspaper.

When stopped after 22 km of dodging oncoming traffic, she told police she had only followed the satnav orders.

$16.5 billion in Bonuses!!!!!

Note below... Average emloyee will get $622,000. $622,000!!!!! I don't know if every employee qualifies; Receptionists? Mail Room? If so, there's going to be a lot of money being spent shortly. Even if it's more select than that, that's a ton of cash for someone not expecting it. It's a crap-ton of cash for someone who is expecting it. It's an appauling number on one hand, but mostly because none of it comes to me. If I were getting that bonus, it would of course not be appauling - it would be most appropriate. :o)

From ABC NY - A big, big bonus at Goldman Sachs

(New York - WABC, December 13, 2006) - Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs will set a record this year when it comes to paying bonuses.
It is giving out $16.5 billion. Some top executives are expected to get a whopping $100 million dollars.

They are the highest paid people in one of the world's richest cities, and they're about to make even more.

After a year of record profits on Wall Street, investment banks are dividing up the winnings. Goldman Sachs is reportedly leading the way:

• Average worker at Goldman will take home $622,000 this year
• Senior administrators will get $5 to 10 million dollars
• Senior executives and traders get $10 to 20 million each
• Company CEO and department heads get $25 million
• Top traders will get $50 million and more
  

"The reason they're making so much money for themselves is because they're making so much money for their firms ... You can debate all day whether it's fair or unfair but they're being compensated as a portion of what they're making," Neil Weinberg, of Forbes Magazine, said.

The bonuses help fuel the city's economy through income taxes and sales taxes. Everyone from luxury car dealers to jewelers will feel it.
But economists say Wall Street's richest drive up the cost of living in New York and widen the gap between the rich and everyone else.

Serenity NOW!!!

From MSNBC and The Today Show is what looks like a ridiculous phone. I've not seen it in person, so I can't say if I would even want one - aside from its $1,275 price - but it looks interesting to say the least. It's a cell phone from Bang & Olufsen in conjunction with Samsung.

Nonetheless, as a "gadget guy", this is definitely something I want to see in person. Buy? Unlikely. Touch and feel? Definitely.

Bang & Olufsen “Serene” Phone
The Danish company Bang & Olufsen has become famous for its electronics design, but not in the way many might assume — the sound of their stereos and phones is excellent, but the design of the box the tech comes in is even more distinctive. The new collaboration between B&O and the huge Korean cell phone maker Samsung is designed to go against the recent trend toward complexity. The pricey but beautiful “Serene” has clean lines which are meant to remind users of the ancient rooflines of Asian farm houses. Some truly novel features — the phone opens with a smooth, relaxing, battery assisted motor around an aluminum hinge and closes softly, too. A simple, uncomplicated trackwheel helps you navigate through the phone’s features. B&O claims “the best sound and speech recognition ever heard in a cell phone.” ($1,275 at bang-olufsen.com)

Mom has son arrested for allegedly playing with present before Christmas

Okay, so while I don't agree with her actions to teach her son a lesson of responsibility, I have to at least applaud her intentions. Too many parents, in my humble opinion (IMHO), let their kids get away with too much just fluffing it off as "a phase" or "part of growing up". While there is some validity to that, too many parents, again, IMHO, fall back on that excuse because it is easier than following through on what is often harder - not always letting yours kids do what they want.

I admit, we don't have kids - one day we hope to - so it is easy for me to comment since I don't have the task/joy of raising a child or children everyday. So I do admit it is easy for me to comment looking through my rose colored glasses. Even still, I found this interesting.

COLUMBIA, S.C. - A fed-up mother had her 12-year-old son arrested for allegedly rummaging through his great-grandmother's things and playing with his Christmas present early.......

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16064380/

Woman jailed for injecting nephew with heroin

From MSNBC.com - I could see getting high with the15-year-old, but the 12-year-old?

JUST KIDDING! Seriously, what is wrong with people????? Is eight years in prison really long enough?

MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. - A suburban Detroit woman who admitted injecting heroin into her 12-year-old nephew and giving him and her 15-year-old niece heroin and cocaine was sentenced to eight years in prison.......

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15967737/