Frequent-Flier Cashes in Miles for Space Trip
LONDON, England (AP) - September 30, 2006 - The closest that Alan Watts came to experiencing outer space was on a theme park ride -- now the British businessman has traded his multitude of frequent-flier miles for a real journey 75 miles (120 kilometers) above Earth, he said Thursday.

Atlanta Named Worst City For Sleeping
(AP) ATLANTA Atlanta has been the named the worst city for sleeping, according to a pharmaceutical company-funded report. The Big Peach was the pits in a ranking based on survey data and on factors that deprived people of sleep like commute times, divorce and unemployment rates.

Robert Frost poem discovered by U.S. student
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A poem by one of America's best-loved poets, Robert Frost, has been discovered 88 years after it was handwritten in the front of a book and will be published next week.

Police, magistrates condemn on-the-spot fines plan
LONDON (Reuters) - Police and legal representatives denounced proposals being considered by the government to issue on-the-spot fines to offenders for a range of serious crimes such as assault or theft.

Election law keeps son who killed mom free
Adriano Saddi Lima Oliveira told police he paid 40,000 reais ($18,433) to hitmen who killed his mother Marisa, a real estate tycoon, several months ago, a police investigator told local TV. Oliveira told police his mother was squandering his inheritance going out with her boyfriend.
Police wanted to arrest him but were unable to do so because of a law that prohibits anybody from being arrested five days before and two days after an election, unless they are caught in the act of committing a crime.

Software Uncovers 'A' In Armstrong's Moon Quote
An Australian computer programmer says he found the missing "a" from Armstrong's famous first words from the moon in 1969, when the world heard the phrase, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

S.C. official: Sterilize bad parents
CHARLESTON, S.C. - A City Council member, reacting to a video store holdup believed to have been carried out by children, says parents who can't properly care for their kids should be sterilized.

Alien Cow Abduction
Website dedicated to the accurate accounting of alien cow abductions.

Nostalgia Central
40 Things That Only Happen In Movies

Monty Python's Silly Walk Generator
Create and play back your own silly walk.

Ms End User License Agreement
This gives a magnifying glass to let you see what you are really allowing when you agree to the MS License.

Zefrank Blog
This video shows how you can incorporate your true feelings into emails.

Talking Dog

A salesman was driving down the road one day when he saw a sign: "Talking Dog For Sale." He followed the arrow to a small farmhouse and got out to investigate. He was met on the porch by an old farmer in a rocking chair with an old hound at his feet.

"Does that dog really talk?" asked the salesman.

"Yep" was the farmer's simple reply.

"Do you really talk?" the salesman jokingly asked the dog.

"Yep." replied the dog.

"WOW!" exclaimed the salesman, "That's Incredible! What's your story, dog?"

The hound cleared his throat and began his tale: "Well, when they first discovered I could talk, the C.I.A. was greatly interested. They hired me to go overseas meetings with the President and the Ambassadors. When my V.I.P. had to go to the restroom or leave the room, my job was to sit around and see what the other leaders said behind his back. I was able to retrive information this way that nobody else could have gotten. That got kinda boring, so I eventually moved on to the Bomb Squad. I sniffed out some huge drug busts, found and diffused a few bombs, and saved a lot of lives. But alas, dogs age faster than humans, so eventually I just retired and made my way here to the farm to settle down and have some puppies."

The salesman was awestruck. "What an amazing tale, how much do you want for such an incredible dog?"

The old farmer just looked disgusted and said: "Ten Dollars."

Reaching for his wallet already, the salesman had to ask: "10 bucks? Why so little for such an amazing animal?"

The farmer just chuckled and said: " 'Cause he's a goddamn liar, he never did any of that shit!"

331 BC - Greek Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela.

959 - Edgar the Peaceable becomes king of all England.

965 - John XIII becomes Pope.

1788 - Nguyen Hue declares himself emperor of Vietnam.

1791 - First session of the French Legislative Assembly.

1795 - Belgium is conquered by France.

1800 - Spain cedes Louisiana to France via the Treaty of San Ildefonso.

1811 - The first steamboat to sail the Mississippi River arrives in New Orleans, Louisiana.

1814 - Opening of the Congress of Vienna, intended to redraw the Europe's political map after the defeat of Napoleon the previous spring.

1827 - The Russian army under Ivan Paskevich storms Yerevan, ending a millennium of Muslim domination in Armenia.

1829 - South African College is founded in Cape Town, South Africa; later to separate into the University of Cape Town and the South African College Schools.

1843 - News of the World began publication in London.

1847 - German inventor and industrialist Werner von Siemens founds Siemens AG & Halske.

1854 - The watch company founded in 1850 in Roxbury by Aaron Lufkin Dennison relocates to Waltham, Massachusetts, to become the Waltham Watch Company, a pioneer in the American System of Watch Manufacturing.

1869 - Austria issues the world's first postcards.

1880 - John Philip Sousa becomes leader of the United States Marine Corps Band.

1880 - First electric lamp factory opened by Thomas Edison.

1885 - United States begins special-delivery mail service.

1886 - The U.S. mint in Carson City, Nevada, closes.

1887 - Balochistan conquered by the British Empire.

1890 - The Yosemite National Park is established by the U.S. Congress.

1891 - In the U.S. state of California, Stanford University opens its doors.

1894 - First meeting of The Owl Club of Cape Town.

1898 - Czar Nicholas II expels Jews from major Russian cities.

1898 - The Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration is founded under the name k.u.k. Exportakademie.

1903 - Baseball: The Boston Americans play the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first game of the modern World Series.

1905 - František Pavlík is killed in a demonstration in Prague, inspiring Leoš Janác(ek to the piano composition 1. X. 1905.

1908 - Ford introduces the Model T car.

1910 - A large bomb destroys the Los Angeles Times building in downtown Los Angeles, California, killing 21.

1918 - World War I: Arab forces under T. E. Lawrence (aka "Lawrence of Arabia") capture Damascus.

1928 - The Soviet Union introduces its first Five-Year Plan.

1931 - The George Washington Bridge linking New Jersey and New York opens.

1931 - The original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel is opened in New York.

1936 - Francisco Franco is named head of the Nationalist government of Spain.

1938 - Germany annexes the Sudetenland.

1939 - After a one-month Siege of Warsaw, hostile forces entered the city.

1940 - The Pennsylvania Turnpike, often considered the first superhighway in the United States, opens to traffic.

1942 - USS Grouper torpedoes Lisbon Maru not knowing she was carrying British PoWs from Hong Kong

1943 - World War II: Naples falls to Allied soldiers.

1946 - Nazi leaders sentenced at Nuremberg Trials.

1949 - The People's Republic of China is declared by Mao Zedong.

1957 - First appearance of "In God We Trust" on U.S. paper currency.

1958 - NASA created to replace NACA.

1960 - Cyprus gains its independence from the United Kingdom.

1960 - Nigeria gains independence from the United Kingdom.

1961 - East and West Cameroon merge as Federal Republic of Cameroon.

1961 - Baseball: Roger Maris sets new record for most home runs in a single season with 61, surpassing Babe Ruth's previous mark of 60.

1962 - Johnny Carson begins a 30-year run as the host of The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson at NBC.

1963 - California State Board of Education created.

1964 - The Free Speech Movement is launched on the campus of University of California, Berkeley.

1964 - Japanese Shinkansen ("bullet trains") begin high-speed rail service from Tokyo to Osaka.

1965 - Apostasia, a political move in Greece designed by the former King of Greece Constantine II and executed by a group of politicians (led by the later PM of Greece Constantine Mitsotakis) who have betrayed and overthrown the Prime Minister George Papandreou in Greece in favour of the formerly King of Greece.

1965 - General Suharto crushes an attempted coup in Indonesia.

1968 - The Guyanese government takes over the British Guiana Broadcasting Service (BGBS).

1969 - The Concorde supersonic transport plane breaks the sound barrier for the first time.

1971 - Walt Disney World opens near Orlando, Florida, United States.

1975 - The Seychelles gain internal self-government. The Ellice Islands split from Gilbert Islands and take the name Tuvalu. Thrilla in Manila: Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in a boxing match in Manila, Philippines.

1977 - Brazilian soccer star Pelé retires.

1978 - The Voltaic Revolutionary Communist Party is founded.

1979 - The United States returns sovereignty of the Panama canal to Panama.

1979 - Activision founded

1982 - Helmut Kohl replaces Helmut Schmidt as Chancellor of Germany through a Constructive Vote of No Confidence.

1982 - EPCOT Center opens at Walt Disney World in Florida, United States.

1983 - Horizons opens at EPCOT Center, Walt Disney World in Florida, United States.

1985 - The Israeli air force bombs PLO Headquarters in Tunis.

1988 - Mikhail Gorbachev is named head of the Supreme Soviet.

1992 - Cartoon Network debuts.

1993 - Polly Klaas is kidnapped by Richard Allen Davis during a slumber party at her Petaluma, California, home; Davis will be sentenced to death for her murdering Klaas.

2001 - Victoria Beckham's debut solo album is released.

2004 - Baseball: Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki makes his 258th hit of the season, breaking George Sisler's 84-year-old single-season record.

2005 - Almost exactly three years after a similar event, a bombing kills 23 people in Bali.