Check it:

Personal-computer kingpins Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp. are throwing their support to a next-generation data-storage format known as HD-DVD, countering the recent momentum of a rival format called Blu-ray. Intel and Microsoft were believed to be leaning toward the HD-DVD camp, which is backed by Toshiba Corp. and others, but hadn’t formally stated their intentions.

The announcement adds more confusion to a bitterly contested battle over the technology behind the next generation of DVD players and discs, and points to a sharp split in the PC industry. PC makers Apple Computer Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc. have previously joined Sony Corp. and others in supporting Blu-ray.

They’re trying to get a standard established. But I think this battle is long from over. Particularly because Apple has nothing to gain by seeing it resolved.

Read more here.

Until it becomes dinner:

TOURCOING, France — Christian Dhalluin, a butcher in this rural French hamlet near the Belgian border, dropped some ground meat into a bowl and mixed it with a spicy mayonnaise sauce to make his specialty: American horse meat tartare.

“I love America,” said Mr. Dhalluin. “The horse meat from the U.S. is the best in the world.”

Some Americans would be distressed to hear that. A vocal antislaughter movement argues that horses have a special place in American culture and history and should not be killed for food. Activists have spurred an energetic but uphill effort in Congress to shut down the last three horse slaughterhouses in the U.S. All are Belgian-owned and supply butchers around the world.

A U.S. ban would mean that Mr. Dhalluin would no longer be able to buy the meat that vaulted him to a gold medal in a recent culinary contest for “best sausage in the category of garlic.”

Bastards! These are animal rights activists who oppose the eating of ANY meat. Why we should indulge the likes of them is beyond me, especially when horse meat is so delicious…

Read more here.

Previously: Horse Meat.

Check it:

An Australian man built up a 40,000-volt charge of static electricity in his clothes as he walked, leaving a trail of scorched carpet and molten plastic and forcing firefighters to evacuate a building.

Frank Clewer, who was wearing a woolen shirt and a synthetic nylon jacket, was oblivious to the growing electrical current that was building up as his clothes rubbed together.

When he walked into a building in the country town of Warrnambool in the southern state of Victoria Thursday, the electrical charge ignited the carpet.

“It sounded almost like a firecracker,” Clewer told Australian radio Friday.

Now if only they could hook up his suit to his cell phone as a charger.

Read more here.

It’s International Talk Like A Pirate Day!

Well, shiver me timbers.

So I decided to start playing Warcraft again. So what?

Growing Bulge.

Apple makes it’s big announcement today:

Apple yesterday again refused to discuss the event. Motorola spokeswoman Jennifer Weyrauch also declined to comment on it, but added that Motorola would make a major announcement this evening in New York, relating to the music industry. In yet another hint that something is afoot, Cingular spokesman Marty Nee said his company will make an announcement today at 1:30 Eastern time, approximately the same time Apple will unveil its product.

I will certainly be unable to blog the event live. But I’m sure you know where to find news about any Apple announcement, such as at Apple.com.

Read more here.

Nerd TV is up and running. Andy Hertzfeld is the first to be interviewed. Check it out.

Where they have a town called fucking:

Tourists are causing a lot of anxiety — and are costing money — to a tiny village where signs keep disappearing. What do the signs read? “Welcome to Fucking, Austria.” Pronounced “fooking,” the little hamlet of Fucking is named after the man who founded the village in the 6th century. His name? Focko. The town sign has been stolen seven times in the last few months. With signs costing several hundred dollars apiece, much of the tiny town’s budget is being spent replacing the signs, says Siegfried Hoeppel, the Mayor of Fucking. He went on to express his hope that further thefts will be avoided through the use of increased concrete and . . . bigger screws.

Read Scopes.

Don’t know if this is real or not, but here’s an on the ground report from New Orleans (and a pretty violent one at that):

Night comes as a repeat of the other nights. The helicopters still circle the sky. Gunshots can be heard in the distance. Some of which was of the automatic flavor. Around 2 AM we see someone leaving a house carrying a television. I can’t believe I’m witnessing a TW cliche IRL. I chuckle to my self inside. We inform the guy to put the televison down and raise his hands. He puts the televisondown and then reaches for something in his pockets. We open fire. He goes down with 5 shots to the chest. We check his pocket and claim his 9mm el cheapo brand pistol for our arsenal. He’s then loaded on to the back of a pickup truck and hualed off to the main street that divdes his nieghborhood from ours. We dump him on the neutral ground to serve as a warning for other would be theives.

Read the whole thing here.