NASA scrubbed the impending May shuttle launch to replace four low-level sensors in the external fuel tank, a process that will take three weeks. Next launch opportunity is July 1st-19th sometime.

Robert C. Baker, the longtime professor of food science and poultry science at Cornell University died Monday. Baker created dozens of products, including ground poultry and poultry hot dogs, but his most known-for innovations were turkey ham and the chicken nugget.

Fatter bills for hefty hotel guests. A German hotel has started calculating fees according to the weight of the guest. The three-star Ostfriesland hotel in the north German town of Norden charges the equivalent of 34p per kilogram. So a thin man weighing 60 kilos pays just over £20 a night, but a man weighing 100 kilos would be forced to shell out nearly £35. Owner Juergen Heckroth said: “Slim guests live longer and can therefore come more often and that is why we reward them.”

Sony has postponed the PS3’s release from spring. It is now expected before the holiday season, almost a full year after Microsoft’s XBOX 360’s debut. The delay is blamed on the belated finalization of the copy protection technology standard for the Blu-ray Disc drive, a next-generation DVD player that will be included in the PS3. The standardization of digital audio and video technology to connect electronics devices was also late. Sounds technical!

A Mexican couple were recovering separately after a marital spat got out of control and saw them firing guns, throwing knives and hurling homemade bombs, Mexican daily Milenio said on Monday. In scenes taken straight out of hit romantic comedy “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” Juan Espinosa and Irma Contreras fought until their house blew up in a homemade gasoline bomb explosion, Milenio said. Espinosa told reporters he was glad his wife had suffered burns, while Contreras said she was only sorry she had not “hacked off his manhood” during the fight.

To burn through that much money, a person would have to spend over $35 million a day, for life.

After all, how much is a trillion?

It’s the number one followed by 12 zeros. But that doesn’t explain how the US federal government could need to pass a law enabling it to borrow up to $8.965 trillion.

“It’s hard to understand what a trillion is. I don’t know what it is,” confessed Senate Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg, a New Hampshire Republican, this week when debating the government’s staggering fiscal obligations.

It doesn’t help that the standard hand-held calculator comes nowhere close to computing numbers in the trillions. About the best it can do is 99,999,999.

John Nolan, a mathematics professor at American University in Washington, said that a trillion is “not a big number at all” for some theoretical problems. “But in terms of practical numbers it’s just overwhelming.”

So he conjured up a spending spree, something Americans might be able to relate to. “If you spent a million dollars a day for a million days (2,739 years),” you’d hit $1 trillion, Nolan observed.

To burn through $1 trillion in the average American life span of 77 years, you’d have to part with about $35,580,857 and change every day from birth.

Don Albers, associate executive director of the Mathematical Association of America, said to forget about all the fancy numbers. “I don’t think the problem so much is understanding that number as just understanding whether they’ve got more money coming in than is going out,” he said.

And that’s the rub. The federal government has been on a spending binge. Just since 2002, the Republican-controlled Congress has had to hike the Treasury Department’s credit card limit four times, for a total of more than $3 trillion.

Congress can take some comfort in knowing that at this rate, it will take a very long time to exhaust the trillions and spill into the quadrillions. “Let’s hope that they won’t be using that” number ever, Albers said.

Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic has been found dead in his cell at the United Nations war crimes tribunal at The Hague.

An official in the chief prosecutor’s office said Milosevic was found lifeless on his bed around 10 a.m. on Saturday. He apparently had been dead for several hours, the official said.

The tribunal did not say how Milosevic, 64, had died. French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told reporters Milosevic had died of natural causes. An autopsy is planned, along with an inquiry into the death.

Since February 2002, Milosevic had been on trial for war crimes on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity during the violent breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

He suffered a heart condition and high blood pressure, which had repeatedly interrupted his trial. The hearings were entering the final phase, with arguments expected to wrap up within a few months.

Milosevic led Serbia, the dominant Yugoslav republic, into four Balkan wars, including the 1992-95 Bosnia war, in which 200,000 people died.

Ok, so it wasn’t Barks Rootbeer, it was Grouse Mountain, but the end result was still the freakin’ same.

A buddy and I took the day off (let’s call it a perk for the self-employed :-) and decided to hit a local mountain for some weekly winter fun.

Now, before our feet actually touched snow, I should point out this day of frolicking in the white stuff wasn’t all fun and games, nor did it start out or end as planned…

We drove an hour or so from the valley out to Grouse, delayed in hwy traffic (3 accidents), only to realize SOMEONE (not pointing fingers or naming names here) forgot his snazzy snow pants back at my office.

So, newly purchased seasons passes in hand, we packed up and drove an hour back to the valley to pickup his pants, only to realize we had them with us the WHOLE FREAKIN’ TIME (sigh, I just buggin dood, it was funny and I’m just glad it wasn’t me).

Next we grabbed a bite to eat and headed back to Grouse on what seemed like another hour and a half trip (2 more accidents for christ sake). All this by 3pm and FINALLY ready to TRAM up to our impending day’s events.

The day passed, fun was had and all was finally according to plan, until…

…our last run of the evening; lights were on, path was lit (but for some reason, my goggles don’t highlight those sneaky moguls in the dark — who woulda thunk?) and I am flyin’ full-force down the hardpacked, icy run when WHAMMO… I flew forward at a pretty good clip (keep in mind here folks, I weigh 200lbs and stand 6′5″ tall).

What buffered my landing you ask?

What took the brunt of the kinetic force propelling my mass rapidly into the frozen earth?

Ma face!

More specifically, my uppa’ lip. 5 mins later and naucious from staring at a bloody pool of my own spit (and, well… blood) while on all fours (any visualizers out there???), I picked my sick and exhausted ass up and boarded the rest of the way down the slope.

Good times! Now where’s my mommy (inserts thumb into mouth)?

Luna, the Vancouver Island killer whale with a reputation for loving human contact, has been killed after getting too close to a tugboat’s propellers.

The whale got caught in the propellers of the Vancouver-based tugboat General Jackson in Nootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island on Friday morning.

David Wiwchar, the managing editor of of the Ha-Shilth-sa newspaper, says the tug had arrived in the sound in bad weather, pulling a large log-dumping barge.

He says Luna was familiar with the General Jackson and went out to meet it, and “got sucked into the propellers, and was killed immediately.”

“We have been told that the skipper is greatly distressed,” said DFO spokesperson Lara Sloan.
“The tug was idling – it is assumed that Luna was doing what he usually does and that is playing around the propellers.”

“There’s really no blame,” said Department of Fisheries and Oceans scientist Dr. John Ford, referring to the fact Luna loved playing with boats of any kind.

Actor Lloyd Bridges, who starred in the pioneering television series “Sea Hunt” died Tuesday at age 85. He was the father of actors Beau and Jeff Bridges.

Bridges began his film career as an actor in westerns in 1941.

Among his best-known screen performances was in the 1952 classic “High Noon” as the calculating deputy sheriff who refuses to aid the sheriff played by Gary Cooper.

Bridges was born in San Leandro, Calif., on Jan. 15, 1913. He studied political science at the University of California at Los Angeles, but then went to Broadway where he made his debut in a modern-dress version of “Othello.”
From Broadway, he went to Hollywood where he became a fixture in western films. His rugged appearance helped him build a career at first in westerns and later in science fiction and action films.

In the “Airplane” series of comedy movies in the early 1990s, Bridges played a gruff air traffic controller trying to guide endangered planes to safe landings, while smoking up a storm and drinking himself into oblivion.

Hank was talkin’ the other day about wanting to change his last name because of the immediately recognizable association to his family’s past criminal activity. He is tired of being ID’d as a [LAST NAME OMITTED] and tied to past offenses he wasn’t even a part of!

So, it occurred to me, “Why not throw up a webpoll and let other people choose his impending last name?”

Not that anything will come of this, but its fun nonetheless. Note the webpoll to your right —->

Jug

P.S. Betcha can’t guess what my vote is (snazzy wink)?

PISCES
~~~~~~
Great kisser. Very high sex appeal. Awesome in bed. Eager to learn.

LIBRA
~~~~~
Caring. Smart. Center of attention. Too sexy, damn it. Very high sex appeal. Has the last word. Extremely weird, but in a good way.

CAPRICORN
~~~~~~~~~
Very gentle. Nice. Love is one of a kind. Silly and fun! Have own unique sexiness. Most caring person you will ever meet! Great in bed.

AQUARIUS
~~~~~~~~
Sassy. Intelligent. Really sexy. Predicts future. Silly. Irresistable, awesome kisser. Great talker. Caring.

ARIES
~~~~~
Trustworthy. Sexy. Rare to find. Loves being in long relationships. Extremely energetic. Great in bed, the best lovers in the world.

TAURUS (this is my fav, wink wink)
~~~~~~
Outgoing. Spontanious. No one to fuck with. Have own unique sexiness. Unpredictable. Erotic. Funny. Addictive. Take you on trips to the moon in bed.

LEO
~~~
Aggressive. freak in bed. loves being in long relationships. Likes to give a good fight for what they want. Extremly outgoing. Outstanding kisser.

VIRGO
~~~~~
Great talker. Extremely sexy. Love is one of a kind. Faithful and trustworthy. Always horny. Always gets what he or she wants. Laid back.

SCORPIO
~~~~~~~
Dominant in relationships. Sexy. Horny. Freak in bed. Always wants the last word. Loud. Caring. Intelligent. Very good kisser.

SAGITTARIUS
~~~~~~~~~~~
Sexy. Talkative. Energetic. Addictive. Most erotic. Freak in bed. Great kisser. Not one to mess with. Always gets what they want.

GEMINI
~~~~~~
Spontanious. Horny. High sex appeal. Rare to find. Kinky. Loves being in long relationships.

CANCER
~~~~~~
Nice. Trust worthy. Very good in bed. Fighter. Lover. Great kissers. Very sexy. High sex appeal they know what they want. Fights for what they want.

Darren McGavin was painting a movie set in 1945 when he learned of an opening for a small role in the show, climbed off his ladder, and returned through Columbia’s front gates to land the part.

The husky, tough-talking performer went on to become one of the busiest actors in television and film, starring in five TV series, including “Mike Hammer,” and endearing holiday audiences with his role as the grouchy dad in the 1983 comedy classic “A Christmas Story.”

McGavin, 83, died Saturday of natural causes at a Los Angeles-area hospital with his family at his side, said his son Bogart McGavin.

McGavin also had leading roles in TV’s “Riverboat” and cult favorite “Kolchak: The Night Stalker.” Among his memorable portrayals was U.S. Army Gen. George Patton in the 1979 TV biography “Ike.”

Despite his busy career in television, McGavin was awarded only one Emmy: in 1990 for an appearance as Candice Bergen’s opinionated father in an episode of “Murphy Brown.”

He lacked the prominence in films he enjoyed in television, but he registered strongly in featured roles such as the young artist in Venice in “Summertime,” David Lean’s 1955 film with Katharine Hepburn and Rosanno Brazzi; Frank Sinatra’s crafty drug supplier in “The Man with the Golden Arm” (1955); Jerry Lewis’s parole officer in “The Delicate Delinquent” (1957); and the gambler Gus Sands in 1984’s “The Natural” that starred Robert Redford.

He also starred alongside Don Knotts, who died Friday night, in the 1976 family comedy “No Deposit, No Return.”

Throughout his television career, McGavin gained a reputation as a curmudgeon willing to bad-mouth his series and combat studio bosses.

McGavin starred in the private eye series “Mike Hammer” in the 1950s. In 1968 he told a reporter: “Hammer was a dummy. I made 72 of those shows, and I thought it was a comedy. In fact, I played it camp. He was the kind of guy who would’ve waved the flag for [Alabama Gov.] George Wallace.”

He is survived by his four children — York, Megan, Bridget and Bogart — from a previous marriage to Melanie York McGavin, Bogart McGavin said. McGavin was separated from his second wife, Kathy Brown, he said.

The mutton-chopped actor best known as the beer-obsessed spokesman for Alexander Keith’s has been arrested in Toronto for allegedly downloading child pornography.

Robert Norman Smith, 40, turned himself in at Toronto Police’s 53 Division yesterday following an undercover investigation that resulted in a search warrant being executed at his residence on Tuesday.

Reached yesterday, Mr. Smith’s agent said she had no comment and would no longer represent Mr. Smith.

Toronto Police Constable Scott Purches said officers seized a quantity of images — he would not say how many — from the actor’s computer that depicted “prepubescent children engaged in sexual activity.”

The pictures featured children younger than 12 participating in vaginal, anal and oral sex with adults, he said. “These are child abuse pictures.”

Most of the images showcased young girls, Const. Purches said.

However, Const. Purches could not rule out that some of the photos may include boys.

In recent years, Mr. Smith has portrayed an over-the-top beer lover in a series of commercials for Alexander Keith’s India Pale Ale.

Most of the spots feature the actor sporting a thick, grey wool sweater and kilt while warning other bar patrons in an exaggerated Scottish brogue that they should not spill a drop of their Alexander Keith’s ale.

Labatt Breweries of Canada, which owns the Alexander Keith’s label, said yesterday it would drop the spots featuring Mr. Smith once it confirms he has been charged.

“We are surprised to learn of these charges,” spokesman James Villeneuve said in a statement released after the story was reported on Global News Hour last night.

“Clearly, we have decided not to run any future television commercials featuring this actor until this information is confirmed.”

“If it is confirmed that this is the actor in question, our commercials and any further association with him will be terminated.”

A neighbour in Mr. Smith’s upscale neighbourhood near the intersection of Yonge Street and Lawrence Avenue said the actor had two small children.

Besides singing the praises on TV of a beer his character calls “the pride of Nova Scotia,” Mr. Smith has also appeared in such Hollywood films as Cinderella Man, which starred Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger, and Pushing Tin, which featured Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton.

He also acted with the Second City comedy team based in Toronto.

Mr. Smith, who was released on $25,000 bail after a court appearance yesterday, is charged with two counts of possessing child pornography and one count of making child pornography available.

Const. Purches, who helped conduct the search of Mr. Smith’s residence on Tuesday but was not present when he turned himself in, said he learned of the accused’s fame while watching the news.

“It was a very big surprise,” he said.

Asked what kind of beer Mr. Smith keeps in his home, the officer said: “Come to think of it, there was Keith’s and Corona.”