Happy Birthday United States of America!!

Take a minute today to revisit the Declaration of Independence at the Library of Congress.

The gentlemen responsible for the Declaration:

Thomas Jefferson-Virginia, John Adams-Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin-Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman-Connecticut, and Robert R. Livingston-New York

What a grand job they did.

Of course, Jefferson and Adams also died this day mere hours apart in 1826--50 years to the day after our nation was born.

Today (2008) HBO will be re-airing the astounding miniseries, "John Adams" in its entirety. If you have the opportunity, I highly, highly recommend you watch it.

It is based on the book by Pulitzer Prize-winner David McCullough and a 30-minute show featuring him precedes the miniseries. Looks like it all begins around 12:30 PM on the East Coast.

In any case, have a happy Fourth and Happy Birthday America!!

Doin' it doggy...

In keeping with the canine theme, the FOX Mothership relates the case of the victimized porno pooches.

Apparently, these Tulsa, OK mutts were to be offed for getting off with a human after the sheriff's department said the dogs looked agressive. Mebbe they were just horny?

Anyway, the undersheriff (now that just sounds dirty) isn't gonna kill 'em, "Because of their status as being victims in this whole thing..."

Yeah, victims like boys who have sex with their teachers.

The best part? The undersheriff,

"His intent is to maintain them until they can be rehabilitated and then to get them adopted by people or organizations who are aware of their background and get a good home for all of them."

Oh, crap..I'm busting a gut laughing at that one. Yep, ol' Fluffy's a good dog, just be careful you don't drop nothing in front of him.

WAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!

One toe over the line

The Fox mothership has this story about a woman's dachshund that, "gnawed off her right big toe while she was asleep."

She is 56 and diabetic--hence the lack of feeling in her toe.

The dog was 1-year-old--was, because of the lack of feeling in her heart.

She had the dog put down, "for the safety of others." (Emphasis mine.)

Yeah, riiight. She was actually afraid that she'd be left without a leg to stand on.

Poor Roscoe.

At least her dogs won't be barkin' now.

Benny Hill, meet Chairman Mao

CNET's Planetary Gear blog has a story about the CHICOM Army demonstrating their prowess on Segways.

They can shoot and scoot--look ma, no hands!--thanks to Dean Kamen's invention. (Photo at the Xinhua site.)

It really looks like something outta Benny Hill or from the mind of Mike Myers.

Of course, this will really give the terrorists pause.

Hydrogen Home

Renewable Energy International is the website (blogged it earlier) of the NJ engineer who is completely off the grid and carbon-neutral by using solar electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.

The hydrogen gets stored in 1,000-gallon tanks until winter when the solar power drops off. He then uses the stored hydrogen to power fuel cells that produce electrical energy, heat, and water.

The water goes back into the cycle.

What isn't mentioned in the video is that he also uses the hydrogen to power his car.

Check out the video.

REI Founder speaking about Renewable Hydrogen technology - video courtesy of New Jersey Network