It's sort of like a fancy watch with a see-through dial. The insides are exposed for all to see. When you depress the brake pedal, you can watch the brake caliper grip the disc, then see the rotor heat up and glow. It's wild. Though not exactly cheap (the Atom costs a cool 88 grand), it is somewhat of a bargain among speedy exotics. It can accelerate faster than cars costing 10 times as much (like the Ferrari Enzo), has catlike reflexes and goes from 60 to 0 in the blink of an eye. What more do you want? When I first approached Brammo about purchasing an Atom, the vehicle was only available in the United Kingdom and the company was using a Honda Civic Type R powerplant, which is not available here in the United States. I asked, "What would it take to get an American engine in this thing?" So they replaced the Type R with GM's 2.0-liter Ecotec Stage 3.

Wabasha-Kellogg grad Sanders hopes to break through for NDSU

Eric Sanders doesn't plan on missing nationals this year.The 2003 Wabasha-Kellogg graduate and current senior wrestler for North Dakota State University will be one of the top seeds in the Western Regional Tournament on March 8.
Sanders, who is one of three wrestlers in Minnesota to win five high school state titles, has just one loss in the region and could be the No. 1 seed."He's one of the top two wrestlers in our region," NDSU coach Bucky Maughan said. "I think he has a good shot at winning it or getting second and having a chance at the wild card."Sanders, who wrestles at 133 pounds, is having the best season of his career this year at 21-11, including winning 10 in a row before suffering a loss last weekend. His career record is 72-51."It's my senior year, so I want to do the best I can," Sanders said.

Apptix Launches New Hosted VoIP Programs and Products to Deliver ...

HERNDON, Va. --(Business Wire)-- Apptix (OSE:APP), the premier provider of on-demand business communications solutions for Small and Medium-sized Businesses (SMBs), today introduced a set of new hosted Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) products and programs which will simplify the adoption of premium quality VoIP telephony solutions among SMBs. The new programs are a direct response to demand from Apptix SMB customers for flexible and affordable hosted VoIP services that leverage the latest VoIP technology.

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Asus’ 8.9″ Eee draws crowds at CeBIT

Here in CeBIT 2008, crowds descended on Hannover Germany to see the latest technologies. Germany is certainly a lovely country but there's nothing lovable about the 5.60 Euro per gallon gas prices.

Asus had a massive presence in building 26 which is one of the more popular spots at CeBIT and they managed to draw crowds wanting to get a closer look at the new and improved 8.9″ Asus Eee PC.

You Gotta Sin To Get Saved and Other Assorted Love Songs.

There's some really promising albums coming out soon; it's better than the first signs of spring.

My buddy Rick Koster's bête noir Stephen Malkmus has a new album out called “Real Emotional Trash" with reportedly some prog flourishes.

Coulier becomes 'Mr. Clean'

A priest, a rabbi and Dave Coulier walk into a club.And they all have a good time.No awkward moments, no red faces.Now that is Coulier's kind of place. The comedian who played Joey on the TVshow "Full House" swears it's possible to bring good, clean comedy to the masses.Or, rather, he doesn't swear.Ever. At least not on stage.He's created the CleanGuys of Comedy Tour, and one of its first stops is in Bismarck."We're just firing this up," Coulier said Tuesday from his home in the Los Angeles area. "We're promoting it as anyone can come and listen to this and walk away laughing. We've played some dates to test it out, and the response has been overwhelming."Coulier and comedians Ryan Hamilton and Heath Hyche will perform two shows March 1 at the Belle Mehus Auditorium downtown.He said this tour - not the 192 episodes of "Full House" or the four years hosting "America's Funniest People" on ABC - might be the pinnacle of his career."(They) were both top-20 shows that certainly brought me into the spotlight in front of America," Coulier said.

Christmas party at Pirtleville Fire Department, Dec. 22

The Pirtleville Fire Department will be hosting a Christmas party for kids in the area from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Dec. 22.The event will be held at the station, 404 Irvine.A total of 400 bags of candy will be given away along with refreshments including soda, cake and chips. .

Toll road rejected

A man in an orange shirt frowned in disgust as he walked passed Malecha, a surfer who recently moved to the county from Oahu, Hawaii.About 30 feet away, toll-road opponent Chris Pearson of San Diego and project supporter Robert Ruiz of Riverside, a construction union representative, were debating the merits of the $875 million project."If you don't address the congestion on the (Interstate) 5 freeway now, we'll pay the price 20 years from now," Ruiz told Pearson. Ruiz said the traffic congestion only will get much worse and, with it, the environment, as more car-belched emissions foul the air and aggravate global warming.But Pearson maintained that congestion is going to get worse in any case."I'd rather have people fighting traffic than ruin the beach," he said.Referring to Trestles Beach, which is just west of where the proposed toll road would tie into I-5, Pearson said: "This is one of the best breaks in all of California."Ruiz said there were economic reasons for supporting the project, as well.

I'm the Idiot Who Bought an HD-DVD Player

At Digg, active users have more of a de facto authority over the site's goings-on (though there are persistent rumors that the site has "secret moderators" who delete content). But officially speaking, while the site's algorithm seems to favor devoted users, no individual Digger has the power to unilaterally delete a post.

While both sites effectively function as oligarchies, they are still democratic in one important sense. Digg and Wikipedia's elite users aren't chosen by a corporate board of directors or by divine right. They're the people who participate the most. Despite the fairy tales about the participatory culture of Web 2.0, direct democracy isn't feasible at the scale on which these sites operate. Still, it's curious to note that these sites seem to have the hierarchical structure of the old-guard institutions they've sought to supplant.

Host Color Adds ModX Ajax CMS to Web Hosting Plans

Host Color (http://www.hostcolor.com), a global web hosting provider, announced today it has added MODx, an Ajax based CMS to its web hosting services. The CMS is now part of "PowerTools", companys branded website service package which includes 20 useful software applications. The web hosts customers can activate any of them with a single click in their hosting control panel.

MODx is an open source based content management system (CMS) which allows site owners to organize and control their online content with convenience. Developers say that MODx is 100% buzzword compliant and makes childs play of building content managed sites with validating, accessible CSS layouts - hence Ajax CMS".

"Weve added MODx to hosting plans because it is a truly great tool. Using this CSM anyone can build elegant and functional Web 2.0 site.

IPOWER Joins RatePoint Partner Program

NEEDHAM, Mass. & PHOENIX --(Business Wire)-- RatePoint, the leader in providing businesses with the only comprehensive online reputation management and customer feedback platform available, and IPOWER, Inc. (www.ipower.com), a leading web-site hosting provider for small businesses, today announced a new partnership that will give IPOWER customers access to the RatePoint platform and consumer approval program.

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Hillary Clinton Again Lies about Iraq

Yet suddenly, in January 1998, the Clinton administration decided that it had become an intolerable violation of UN Security Council resolution 687, which called upon Iraq to verify its disarmament, and warned Iraq that the United States - despite the lack of Security Council approval as required - would engage in a sustained bombing campaign against their country if the Iraqis did not allow these inspections of presidential palaces to go ahead. By February, a large-scale U.S. military assault seemed likely. However, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan was able to broker a deal late that month that opened the presidential palaces to UN inspectors, but with an additional diplomatic presence in recognition of the sites' special status.

The disappointment by Clinton administration officials that the bombing campaign would not be able to go ahead as planned was palpable.