A task force begins meeting in Missouri to discuss reforming eminent domain laws, in the wake of the Supreme Court's Kelo v. New London decision.

Gov. Matt Blunt appointed the task force on June 28, five days after the Supreme Court upheld the condemnation of 15 properties in New London, Conn. That city is trying to make way for a private development including a marina, new residences and shops aimed at economic revitalization.

An NBC News story reports that Iran is apparently smuggling roadside bombs into Iraq.

Intelligence officials believe the high-explosives were shipped into Iraq by the Iranian Revolutionary guard or the terrorist group Hezbollah, but are convinced it could not have happened without the full consent of the Iranian government.

The only way out of this whole terrorism mess may be to go forward. I don't think going back is an option.

Latest case: Greenlighting.

Greenlighting was a roughly three-day-long attempted internet hoax launched by Something Awful users on the evening of July 2, 2005, primarily as references to the greenlighter message board or as postings on said board. The hoax referred to a new sexual practice in which men and women wore green shirts with the collars turned up, and had sexual relations with whomever turned the collars down. In truth, no such sexual practice has taken place on any notable scale. The practice was invented in an attempt to imitate the success of the Toothing hoax of 2004.

Previously on "Don't believe everything you see on the Internet:" Toothing.

Toothing is a media hoax which claimed that Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones or PDAs were being used to arrange sexual encounters.

It appears that toothing started around March 2004, in the form of a fake forum designed by Ste Curran, then Editor at Large at games magazine Edge. On April 4, 2005, the creator of the forum admitted that the whole thing was a hoax.

Toothing was described as the possibility to leverage the ability of a Bluetooth device to 'discover' other enabled devices within a radius of around 30 feet (10 meters). Having discovered another device, the expression toothing? would normally be sent as an initial greeting.

Amusingly, "toothing" was apparently shown on a CSI Miami episode. As if I need another reason to dislike the CSI/Law & Order TV show genre.

Speaking of reasons, story via Reason's Hit and Run

Snuppy puppy.

Woo Suk Hwang of Seoul National University in South Korea cloned two Afghan hounds using the method that produced Dolly the sheep.

Environmental Republican is entertained by the Ohio Congressional special election results:

Paul Hackett--a former Marine in Iraq--ran in the special election in Ohio for the House. Mr. Hackett appealed to the mainstream of his party by calling President Bush a "son of a *censored*" among other classy things. He stuck with this strategy until he figured out that it wouldn't work. Once that reality hit him, he decided to use that "son of a *censored*" Bush in his final, strongly Republican-looking ad.

. . .

By my count, this makes Kos zero for sixteen when backing candidates. If I was a Democrat running in an election, the first thing I would do is call Kos and ask him to never mention my name on his site.

Via Little Green Footballs, who applies the term "Daily Kos Kiss Of Death" to the above noted phenomenon.

BBC story muses about the ethics of using memory suppression drugs to treat Tube bombing victims.

Studies have shown that rats who have learned to fear a tone followed by an electric shock lose that fear if propranolol is administered after the tone starts.

via Reason's Hit and Run.

NASA finally acting like the Shuttle is an experimental spacecraft.

Indeed, the spacewalk suggests that NASA has fundamentally changed the way it looks at the shuttle, seeing it as a truly experimental vehicle.

For years, NASA managers were loath to make this concession. It amounted to an admission of defeat. The shuttle was intended to be an operational vehicle - something that made going into space almost routine.

Twenty-five years and 14 dead astronauts later, NASA finally figures out that the Shuttle is an experimental vehicle. Progress of a sort, I guess.

Mozilla Foundation creates for-profit subsidiary.

Mozilla Foundation has announced the formation of the Mozilla Corporation, a for-profit organization that will handle relations with commercial companies and continue development, distribution and marketing of Firefox and Thunderbird.

Profits from Mozilla Corp are to be plowed back into development efforts of the Foundation.

In Sedalia, Missouri (just down the road), family objects to unwanted house guest.

The family made the discovery Sunday when the ball python slithered out from under the dishwasher. The snakes like warm, humid air, making the dishwasher a perfect place to hide.

Via Fark and KCMO radio.

Scott Ott has been busy the past couple of days:

Bush: Schools Show No Evidence of Intelligent Design

After Ohio, Dems Map 50-State 'Virtual Victory' Plan

S. Koreans Perfect Mass Abortion of Cloned Dogs

Air America Hires Dan Rather as Scandal Spokesman

Bush Orders Congressional Fitness Program

Aw, heck, just go to Scrappleface yourself and be amused, be very amused.