TomorrowYesterday

Stranded at the airport? Don’t forget Rule 240 – TODAY: Travel – MSNBC.com
A few years ago, at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, I noticed something strange on the departure boards. American Airlines had three flights scheduled that afternoon from ORD to Boston, and all were apparently operating on time. United, on the other hand, had three flights scheduled from ORD to Boston, but none were operating on time. In fact, all three United flights showed “canceled.”
I smelled a rat. I went to the United counter and asked the reason for the cancellations. “Weather.”
Weather? The airlines couldn’t have it both ways. Either American Airlines pilots were irresponsible, crazy air jockeys who were going to tease the gods and fly into the face of serious storms, or United’s official cancellation reason was a convenient untruth.
I checked the weather in both Chicago and Boston: totally clear.
I went back out to the United gates and informed the counter agents that I knew the weather was fine and also explained that all the American flights were operating without problem. And then I invoked Rule 240 — which states that in the event of any flight delay or cancellation caused by anything other than weather, the airline would fly me on the next available flight — not their next available flight, which might not leave for another 24 hours.
And guess what happened? A lot of United passengers made it to Boston that day — on American.

classic

The Hoarse Race: When Candidates Lose Their Voices – WSJ.com
Some advice from specialists sounds counterintuitive. For example, Dr. Aviv advises that candidates not whisper when they get hoarse because whispering stretches vocal cords. “It’s the worst thing you can do,” he says.
Humming, however, may help. Battling repeated bouts of laryngitis during his 1992 campaign, Mr. Clinton learned to feel vibrations in the middle of his face and nose as he hummed, says James Y. Suen, his longtime otolaryngologist. Speaking from this “mask” area gives people “a better voice when they are hoarse” and reduces strain on vocal cords, the Little Rock, Ark., doctor explains.

interesting

Bloomberg.com: Japan
Japan’s Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba is considering how his Self-Defense Forces could respond to an attack by space aliens while adhering to limits on military action under the country’s war-renouncing Constitution.
Ishiba is the second Cabinet member to profess his belief in unidentified flying objects after Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura suggested on Dec. 18 they are the only explanation for “unexplainable” things like the Nazca Lines, pre-Columbian etchings in the desert south of Lima, Peru.
Ishiba said yesterday a Japanese military response, such as those in the Godzilla movie series, would require legal review and said he is studying ways Japan could deal with an attack. Ishiba said his comments represent a “personal view,” and not Defense Ministry policy, according to the transcript of the press conference published on the ministry’s Web Site.
“There are no grounds for us to deny there are unidentified flying objects and some life-form that controls them,” Ishiba said. “Few discussions have been held on what the legal grounds are” for a military response.
Ishiba said that, if the aliens arrived in Japan in peace, a military response would not be legal under the terms of Japan’s pacifist Constitution. He also said he was concerned about communication difficulties if a UFO landed.
“If they descended, saying `People of the Earth, let’s make friends,’ it would not be considered an urgent, unjust attack on our country,” he said. “How can we convey our intentions if they don’t understand what we are saying?”
Japanese politicians, and the local media’s, recent interest in UFOs stems from a parliamentary question from opposition lawmaker Ryuji Yamane about the government’s policy on UFOs. The government is not doing any UFO research or preparing for a response if UFOs fly over Japan, according to a report by Kyodo News on Dec 18.

hm

Bloomberg.com: Japan
Japan’s Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba is considering how his Self-Defense Forces could respond to an attack by space aliens while adhering to limits on military action under the country’s war-renouncing Constitution.
Ishiba is the second Cabinet member to profess his belief in unidentified flying objects after Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura suggested on Dec. 18 they are the only explanation for “unexplainable” things like the Nazca Lines, pre-Columbian etchings in the desert south of Lima, Peru.
Ishiba said yesterday a Japanese military response, such as those in the Godzilla movie series, would require legal review and said he is studying ways Japan could deal with an attack. Ishiba said his comments represent a “personal view,” and not Defense Ministry policy, according to the transcript of the press conference published on the ministry’s Web Site.

um.

Bloomberg.com: Japan
Japan’s Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba is considering how his Self-Defense Forces could respond to an attack by space aliens while adhering to limits on military action under the country’s war-renouncing Constitution.
Ishiba is the second Cabinet member to profess his belief in unidentified flying objects after Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura suggested on Dec. 18 they are the only explanation for “unexplainable” things like the Nazca Lines, pre-Columbian etchings in the desert south of Lima, Peru.
Ishiba said yesterday a Japanese military response, such as those in the Godzilla movie series, would require legal review and said he is studying ways Japan could deal with an attack. Ishiba said his comments represent a “personal view,” and not Defense Ministry policy, according to the transcript of the press conference published on the ministry’s Web Site.

um.

Wesley Snipes to Go on Trial in Tax Case – New York Times
Wesley Snipes to Go on Trial in Tax Case
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By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON
Published: January 14, 2008
Correction Appended
From 1999 to 2004, the actor Wesley Snipes earned $38 million appearing in more than half a dozen movies, including two sequels to his popular vampire thriller “Blade.”
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Peter Cosgrove / AP File Photo
Actor Wesley Snipes with his press assistant Judy Smith in December 2006. The 45-year-old action star is set to go on trial Monday, Jan. 14, 2008, on tax fraud and conspiracy charges.
The taxes he paid in the same period? Zero.
But unlike other celebrities who find themselves on the wrong side of the Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Snipes has a flamboyant explanation: he argues that he is not actually required to pay taxes.
Mr. Snipes, who is scheduled to go on trial Monday in Ocala, Fla., has become an unlikely public face for the antitax movement, whose members maintain that Americans are not obligated to pay income taxes and that the government extracts taxes from its citizens illegally.

whoa

FBI wiretap cut off for unpaid bill – Yahoo! News
telephone company cut off an FBI international wiretap after the agency failed to pay its bill on time, according to a U.S. government audit released on Thursday.
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The Justice Department’s inspector general faulted the FBI for poor handling of money used in undercover investigations, which it said made the agency vulnerable to theft and mishandled invoices.
It cited the case in which a wiretap under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which governs electronic spying in terrorism and intelligence cases, was disrupted due to an overdue bill.

oops