Man sets mouse on fire, mouse sets house on fire

I couldn’t stop laughing when I read this.

Vengeful mouse torches house in NM

FORT SUMNER, New Mexico (AP) — A mouse got its revenge against a homeowner who tried to dispose of it in a pile of burning leaves. The blazing creature ran back to the man’s house and set it on fire.

Luciano Mares, 81, of Fort Sumner said he caught the mouse inside his house and wanted to get rid of it.

“I had some leaves burning outside, so I threw it in the fire, and the mouse was on fire and ran back at the house,” Mares said from a motel room Saturday.

Village Fire Chief Juan Chavez said the burning mouse ran to just beneath a window, and the flames spread up from there and throughout the house.

No one was hurt inside, but the home and everything in it was destroyed.

Unseasonably dry and windy conditions have charred more than 53,000 acres and destroyed 10 homes in southeastern New Mexico in recent weeks.

“I’ve seen numerous house fires,” village Fire Department Capt. Jim Lyssy said, “but nothing as unique as this one.”

I do feel bad for the old guy. He’s 81, and now homeless. Perhaps someone would be willing to buy the rights to his story. It would make one heck of a broadway musical.

“Tookie” Williams

I read an excellent article in the Christian Science Monitor and several blogs over the past couple of weeks concerning the Tookie Williams execution, scheduled about four hours from now. For those living under a rock, Stanley “Tookie” Williams is the latest pet of liberal celebrities who oppose the death penalty. Williams was a co-founder of the Crips, the notorious CA gang responsible for many deaths over the past two decades, who was sentenced to death for killing four people for a couple of hundred dollars. During his stay in prison, Williams claims to have reformed, having written a handfull of children’s books teaching the dangers of the gang lifestyle. For this, Tookie and his many supporters feel that he should not be sentenced to death.

There has never been any doubt about Williams’ guilt. He has had dozens of appeals, and every one has confirmed his guilt. He has never admited guilt, or shown any remorse or regret for his actions. He has apologized and been remorseful for his role in the gang, but has refused to “name names” for fear of being labeled a snitch. If he wanted to be taken seriously, why wouldn’t he do this?

And what about his victim’s families? Since when do we focus our mercy on those who commit cold-blooded murder? If the liberals were simply looking for a case that represents the ineffectiveness of the death penalty, you chose the wrong one. So he “reformed.” So he wrote some children’s books. So he’s devoted what’s left of his life to keeping kids out of gangs. So what? That’s what he should do! If he has truly reformed and is remorseful for what he has done, he should want to do this, regardless of whether he gets something out of it.

If he truly wanted his sentence commuted, he should have reached out not only to the youth in gangs, but also to the victims’ families. Even if he truly believed that he didn’t commit the crime, he would be able to find in himself a way to reach out to them and understand their pain. He would have some understanding of how him “being a snitch” could prevent more families from going through the same pain that these families have for the past two decades. That’s what a truly reformed person would do.

I will say an extra prayer tonight for Mr. Williams.

Michelle Malkin and La Shawn Barber also discuss this.

“It was because of the boys”

My alma mater has started to segregate classes. Apparently Mr. Boarman thinks that the reason that intelligent women choose not to enroll in computer science classes is because they are intimidated by boys.

What happened to good ol’ fashioned lack of interest?

While I believe that there is some truth to the claims in the article, that many women are intimidated by men in computer science, it is also true of women in ALL sciences. NCSSM is a school for dorks like me who, despite their gender, have a genuine interest in math and science. Its a place where you’re supposed to feel challenged, you’re supposed to feel dumb sometimes, because you know that in the end, you’ll be much more prepared for college and beyond than your home school classmates. If these women who supposedly have an interest in computer science can’t handle being in a male-dominated high school course, how on earth are they going to handle being in the real world, where it will be very possible that they’ll be the only females employed? What are they going to do if they decide to major in CS down the road? Will they expect accomodations for it once they go to UNC or wherever? Unless this class intends to teach skills that will allow them to adjust in the real world, it is not going to help them once they break out of the flaming diaper.

Why don’t they also have segregated art classes for people who aren’t good at it? If I could’ve enrolled in Ceramics for Dummies, I wouldn’t have felt so embarrassed about showing my work at the end of the semester. Heck, the SOLE REASON that I’m not majoring in ceramics RIGHT NOW is because I was intimidated by all of the artsy fartsy people at NCSSM.

This may sound odd coming from an NCSSM alum who went on to a single sex school, but if I had the choice between enrolling in the NC School of Science and Math and the NC School of Science and Math for women, I would have chosen the former in a heartbeat.

Harriet Miers nominated to replace Justice O’Connor

And the republicans are in an uproar? This can’t be good.

Apparently, democrats placed her on the “no filibuster” list. In fact, it was allegedly Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid who ‘urged the administration to consider’ Miers. Which means Pres. Bush is trying to avoid a fight.

From the Dep’t of State:

“President Bush on November 17 named Harriet Miers as White House counsel, a position she will hold upon the Senate confirmation of Alberto Gonzales current White House counsel — as U.S. Attorney General. Most recently, Miers served as Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary. Prior to that, she was Co-Managing Partner at Locke Liddell & Sapp, LLP. Previously, she was President of Locke, Purnell, Rain & Harrell, where she worked from 1972 until 1999. From 1995 until 2000, she was chair of the Texas Lottery Commission. In 1992, Harriet became the first woman president of the Texas State Bar, and in 1985 she became the first woman president of the Dallas Bar Association. She also served as a Member-At-Large on the Dallas City Council. Harriet received both her undergraduate and law degrees from Southern Methodist University.”

We’ll see how this turns out. She could be a good pick. I’ll leave it to the political buffs to pull out everything that is known about her at lightning speed.

Note to self: Don’t apply to any schools in NJ

Apparently a lab in NJ has somehow managed to lose a bunch of mice infected with the bubonic plague.

Anyhow, speaking of grad school, I’ve narrowed down my list to the following schools/programs:

University of Cincinnati, Chemistry
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, biochemistry
University of Arizona, BCP
Penn State, biochemistry
University of Virginia, BMBMG

Plus or minus a few shoe-in schools. My top choices right now are U of Arizona and U of Cincinnati, so if I get into either of those, I’ll be happy.

Women Priests

Nine women to be ordained priests in Canada, including one American

(In a related story, in a move not sanctioned by the US government, I have appointed myself as a US Senator)

I will revisit this issue later!

Think different.

CNN is reporting that iPods are to blame for the recent increase in crime on the NY subway system. Darn those iPods! iPod blamed for spike in subway crime Of course, it would be wrong to blame criminals for the increase in crime ….after all, the iPod made them do it.