Wenger wants you to do one thing: throw out your old knives. Actually, it wants you to do several things: throw out your bike tools, your toiletries, your laser pointer and so on, because you can find all of these instruments in a huge Swiss Army knife, which includes every tool the company makes. Wenger is calling the contraption “Giant Knife Version 1.0.” It debuted with all 85 features and can perform hundreds of functions.




Dennis Pireta, Wenger’s marketing director put it succinctly when he noted, “This is not exactly going to win any awards for lightest, smallest or most efficient tools…” The knife is a brute, weighing 2 pounds, 11 ounces and measuring 8.75 inches. But don’t worry, it has a key ring so you can carry it on a belt loop.

Wenger set the price at $1,200. Each knife must be ordered individually through the company.

Who doesn’t need a cigar cutter next to a bicycle chain rivet setter next to a golf divot repair tool? Wenger is on to something with this everyman’s gadget. It wouldn’t be a knife, though, without a blade, so Wenger put seven in the line-up. And it wouldn’t be Swiss Army unless it came with tweezers and a toothpick. (They’re included, too.)

Here are all 85 tools included in Giant Knife, Version 1.0:

1. 2.5” 60% Serrated locking blade
2. Nail file, nail cleaner
3. Corkscrew
4. Adjustable pliers with wire crimper and cutter
5. Removable screwdriver bit adapter
6. 2.5” Blade for Official World Scout Knife
7. Spring-loaded, locking needle-nose pliers with wire cutter
8. Removable screwdriver bit holder
9. Phillips head screwdriver bit 0
10. Phillips head screwdriver bit 1
11. Phillips head screwdriver bit 2
12. Flat head screwdriver bit 0.5 mm x 3.5 mm
13. Flat head screwdriver bit 0.6 mm x 4.0 mm
14. Flat head screwdriver bit 1.0 mm x 6.5 mm
15. Magnetized recessed bit holder
16. Double-cut wood saw with ruler (inch & cm)
17. Bike chain rivet setter, removable 5m allen wrench, screwdriver for slotted and Phillips head screws
18. Removable tool for adjusting bike spokes, 10m hexagonal key for nuts
19. Removable 4mm curved allen wrench with Phillips head screwdriver
20. Removable 10mm hexagonal key
21. Patented locking Phillips head screwdriver
22. Universal wrench
23. Laser pointer with 300 ft. range
24. 1.65” Clip point utility blade
25. Metal saw, metal file
26. 4 mm allen wrench
27. 2.5” blade
28. Fine metal file with precision screwdriver
29. Double-cut wood saw
30. Cupped cigar cutter with double-honed edges
31. 12/20-Gauge choke tube tool
32. Watch caseback opening tool
33. Snap shackle
34. Telescopic pointer
35. Compass, straight edge, ruler (in./cm)
36. Mineral crystal magnifier with precision screwdriver
37. 2.4” Springless scissors with serrated, self-sharpening design
38. Shortix key
39. Flashlight
40. Fish scaler, hook disgorger, line guide
41. Micro tool holder
42. Micro tool adapter
43. Micro scraper-straight
44. Reamer
45. Fine fork for watch spring bars
46. Pin punch 1.2 mm
47. Pin punch .8 mm
48. Round needle file
49. Removable tool holder with expandable receptacle
50. Removable tool holder
51. Multi-purpose screwdriver
52. Flat Phillips head screwdriver
53. Flat head screwdriver bit 0.5 mm x 3.5 mm
54. Spring loaded, locking flat nose nose-pliers with wire cutter
55. Phillips head screwdriver bit 0
56. Phillips head screwdriver bit 1
57. Phillips head screwdriver bit 2
58. Flat head screwdriver bit 0.5 mm x 3.5 mm
59. Flat head screwdriver bit 0.6 mm x 4.0 mm
60. Flat head screwdriver bit 1.0 mm x 6.5 mm
61. Can opener
62. Phillips head screwdriver
63. 2.5” Clip point blade
64. Golf club face cleaner
65. 2.4” Round tip blade
66. Patented locking screwdriver, cap lifter, can opener
67. Golf shoe spike wrench
68. Golf divot repair tool
69. Micro straight-curved
70. Special tool holder
71. Phillips head screwdriver 1.5mm
72. Screwdriver 1.2 mm
73. Screwdriver .8 mm
74. Mineral crystal magnifier, fork for watch spring bars, small ruler
75. Removable screwdriver bit holder
76. Magnetized recessed bit holder
77. Tire tread gauge
78. Reamer/awl
79. Patented locking screwdriver, cap lifter, wire stripper
80. Special Key
81. Toothpick
82. Tweezers
83. Adapter
84. Key ring
85. Second key ring

If you’re interested in being the coolest Boy Scout on the block, call Wenger at 800-431-2996 to order your own Giant Knife, Version 1.0.

 

I took this picture from the 6th floor of the building I work at....  that's a long ways up for a little fly!

 

While normally rife with ad-laden bytes of blah, this article in InfoWorld hit the nail right on the head...

Enjoy!

Jim


T-Mobile hacker to do time at home

There's an episode of "The Simpsons" where the gluttonous family patron Homer spends a day in Hell and is forced to endure the horrors of the Ironic Punishments Division.

For Homer, that means being force-fed, literally, a roomful of donuts. Yet even as the last few are shoved down his throat into his ridiculously overstuffed body, he politely requests, "More please."

I was reminded of this episode after reading about the punishment handed down Monday to 23-year-old hacker Nicholas Lee Jacobsen. Jacobsen was busted for breaking in to T-Mobile's network in 2003 and accessing private information of about 400 customers, including a Secret Service agent.

Jacobsen's punishment? He must pay T-Mobile $10,000 in damages -- plus he faces a year of home detention.

Hm. Home detention. How will this convicted hacker pass the time? Perhaps a year without Internet access would have been more fitting -- or does that fall under the category of cruel and unusual punishment?

Yes, I'm being just a bit flippant. I'm sure a year at home won't be a walk in the park, and I'd rather see him suffer that than be forced to rot in jail. And to his credit, he did apologize and acknowledge the error of his ways.

U.S. District Judge George King clearly felt that same way, in that he didn't slap Jacobsen with anything close to the maximum sentence for accessing a protected computer: five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Ernesto is heading into the Gulf of Mexico.

Its just a tropical storm right now, but they're estimating that by Monday Morning, it'll be a hurricane.  By Thursday Morning, it might be a major hurricane. 

The worst part of it is... it looks as if New Orleans is once again in the estimated path limits for the storm...  Not too cool if you're from there!  Could this be the finishing blow?






And, since we're on the topic... check out my Tropical Storm page for 2006...

http://www.mypnw.us/Stuff/WX/TropicalStorms/2006/Default.aspx

I don't know if you can make it out in the picture or not -- I can, but I know what I'm looking at, because I saw it in person -- but the Coke Zero is nearly frozen solid, while the Vault and Fresca are just fine.

In fact, every other liquid; milk, bottled water, cans of Diet Coke, pudding, diet root beer, Coke 'Classic', cans of Minute Maid fruit drinks... the list goes on even longer... are all fine.  Cold, but fine.

The ONLY thing frozen in the refridgerator is that one bottle of Coke Zero.  I got to wondering why... what about that drink makes it less resistant to freezing - to include pure water.  Something is making it freeze at a warmer temperature than everything else in the fridge.

Its just plain weird.  Of course, I've been known to ponder on things that are a bit, well, "Off-Center" from "average".

 

I'm not sure who really cares, but the number of planets changed today... its not 9 anymore...

A recent vote by the  International Astronomical Union set the number of planets, officialy, at 8.  Pluto got demoted.

Not everyone is happy about it...

"I'm embarassed for astornomy," said Alan Stern, leader of NASA's New Horizon's mission to Pluto and a scientist at the Southwest Research Institute. "Less than 5 percent of the world's astronomers voted."

Its funny... a few days ago, it looked like the number would go up to 12 -- Pluto's Moon, Charon, and two other bodies were going to make the cut -- but that option, apparently, didn't pan out.

A petition is already circulating around the globe to withdraw the decision... so this isn't over yet! 

Let the haggling Continue!

You can read about it on Space.Com's Website

The local Cement Mixers Union is on strike.  The Puget Sound area is rapidly running out of concrete, which is affecting several construction sites, which have built around the lack of the important material as best they could, but now the many sites are beginning to shut down.

So, during the "high season" for construction, the activity on several projects has ground to a virtual standstill.

Literally MILLIONS of dollars are being wasted - it costs a lot to rent a boom crane - and more than a few construction outfits have voiced concerns about lost resources possibly causing difficutly to keep running - defaulting in the middle of a project would be VERY bad... Bellevue could be left with some very ugly holes.

Even the Light Rail project could be affected.  NWCN reported that if it goes another week, it will begin to delay due dates for several sections of the project, which would cascade along down the line, which could affect the scheduling of other legs of the project - and even other projects.

I drove in earlier this evening, and from the intersection outside the building where I work, the Lincoln Square #2 Tower project sits largely idle... the ironwork is about as far ahead as they can be... decking is needing to be poured, and the central core hasn't moved upwards in almost 3 weeks now.  I'm sure folks are going to be complaining more and more loudly as time goes on... it is a curious thing, though, to watch the sides posture.  One can only wonder just how long the strikes will last.

 

The Shadow Lady got to go to the Yankees Game yesterday. 

You know the one... the game were it was a nail-biter the whole night, with Sexton and Beltre hitting a home run, and with A-Rod both smacking one DEEP and striking out in awesome clumsiness, and with Beltre's awesome slide into second, breaking up the double-play, and letting Ibanez knock him in on the very next at bat...

The one where Beltre hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 9th.

The one that broke the 11 game losing streak, and featured a Mariners Pitcher that had been called up a few hours before the game from AAA Tacoma TO PITCH HIS FIRST MAJOR-LEAGUE GAME - AGAINST THE YANKEES.

The game of the year.

Yep, THAT one.  Not only that, she was a guest of Hyperion, who had a Suite for the game, allowing her to watch the game in style.

Not that I'm jealous or anything!  :-)  She actually had a great time, and got to watch a great game!  I watched it on Fox Sports Net, and enjoyed the game while coding, so I had a good time, too!

 

Here's my "Secret Ingredient" I use at work...

I really like this stuff!  The diet version isn't quite what the 'real deal' is... but its still better than anything you can buy in the Seattle area, that's for SURE!

Do YOU have enough Moxie???

 

Of course you have!  :-)  Dumb question, eh?

I kicked the back of the couch heading to close a window - they were pressure washing the outside of the buildings over the weekend - and really mangled my little toe.  Its a cool shade of purple, and its got a nice swell to it.

Its amazing how such a small portion of your body can affect so many things!  I mean, I have aches and pains... my knees, especially my right one... my shoulders, which have both been dislocated... my back... my jaw... the list goes on... but they're all dull in comparison with the annoyances caused by this tiny affliction.

I'm sitting at work right now, and the way I always sit causes it to hurt, so I have to sit differently.   I went to a family reunion on the Shadow Lady's side, and had to walk and stand on it... not a fun thing!  I tried not to limp, but I'm sure folks noticed.  (A diversion: I thought I knew how big the family was... I had NO IDEA!  I'm In-Lawed into a HUGE family tree!!!)

I'm sure it'll be fine in a few days, but right now... its a HUGE thing... until I look at it... the smallest part of my body, causing far more pain than it should.

Its almost embarrassing.
 

Jamie is gone.

In an effort to beef up their pitching, the Mariners give up their best pitcher.

There's not much, if anything, left of the team that in 2001 won 116 games... seems so long ago - and not only in years!

He heads to a team actually in a playoff hunt... he'll like that, I'm sure.  He has a lot here in Seattle, and I'm sure I'm not the only Mariners fan who will mourn his loss, and shake his head at the Mariners, and their ability to find a way to lose... something that might be a bit easier now.

I'm sure glad I'm a Red Sox fan at heart... otherwise, it'd bother me a lot more than it does now!

Numbers 11: 5  "We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic,  6 but now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna."


This passage, and the message that went with it, really struck me today, and I've been pondering it, so I decided to share it.

Read that passage in Numbers again... "...we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic..."  Intersting.  They had forgotten that they were enslaved, beaten and supressed by their taskmasters (Exodus 5:14, among other places)....  They forgot that the Manna they were complaining about started coming at a time when they had NO food whatsoever, and it fell freely from the sky for them to be nourished. Now, they were grumbling about what God is NOT doing for them... and got to thinking the grass was greener than it really had been.

We're the same way... well, at least I am, I guess.  I complain about things... working too hard, a sore knee, or a stiff back... Unless I remind myself, I tend to forget the situations that God pulled me from to get me to this place, and instead of being grateful for what he has done, I instead complain about Him not doing more.

We need to remember the trials we've gone through, and how God worked to get us through it... that will keep us from thinking there's greener grass someplace else, even in those very situations that God helped us through.  We tend to forget the bad... I remember many a field problem I went through in the Army, and I remember the fun times, often forgetting the long hours I spent in the rain, mud up to my knees, my cold knuckles being rapped repeatedly against the metal of the track trying to fix a broken end connector... but its the "not so good times" that we NEED to remember, so that we can continually appreciate what God has done - and still IS doing - to make our lives better.


I really like it when a sermon keeps me pondering things that that...

I won a bunch of stuff in a drawing at work... it was pretty cool, actually, mostly because I rarely win anything like that.  It was a promotion to a new site at work: http://www.shopsymetra.com/.

The list of my new loot is: A carry bag, a leather portfolio with built-in calculator, a Symetra Shirt, a travel mug, a license plate holder, 4 Carabineer - style flashlights, a golf visor, a set of golf tees, a golf towel, and a pen... All emblazoned with my company's logo.

Pretty cool.

 

Well, the Perseids are done, and that can only mean one thing: I've successfully traversed another orbit of the Sun.  Its my 41st.

Hmmm... a lot has changed in the last year... its been a while when I so looked forward to the next Perseid's event, and the events that are sure to come in between!



Other things that happened today...

Days of rioting ended in LA. 

Operation Starlite begins in Vietnam, a major escalation in the war. 

The First US Spacewalk takes place, while on the same mission that hydrogen fuel cells were first used to generate power. 

The US launched Space Debris Object 1965-067A, now a chunk of space junk tracked by the US Space Objects Registry.

Grumman starts "Operation Scrape", in an effort to lighten the LEM for the upcoming Apollo missions.

The Rolling Stones record a song with Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page in London.

The Red Sox lost to the Orioles 3-1.  

The Seattle Times announced the opening of 25 new stores in Northgate.

Oak Island explorer Bob Restall died searching for the island's answers.

The Great Blackout of 1965 happened a few months later.

I'm not normally one for reading Time Magazine, but when I was sent this in an email, I went to their site, and sure enough, it really was an article in the magazine.  I put the link to the original article at the end. 

Keep an open mind, and enjoy it for what it is... Satire.



Maybe We Should Just Make Mel Happy
Attacking anti-Semitism hasn't gotten us far in 3,000 years.  Its time for some changes
By Joel Stein
August 14, 2006


Most times, when someone spouts off about how awful the Jews are, I blow it off as ignorance. If the guy just got to know us, he would totally dig us. We're funny and warm and smart and totally self-effacing. We send Ben Stiller to Iran for a few weeks, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be opening up Noah's bagel shops in all the strip malls in Tehran. The only problem is that with just 0.02% of the world's population, we can't do nearly as many personal appearances as we'd like. That's why we took over the media.

But Mel Gibson knows us--personally. He's been in Hollywood for more than 20 years, virtually surrounded by Jews. If Mel doesn't like us, maybe it's finally time to stop blaming everyone else for the bigotry and scapegoating and start to look at ourselves.

As the saying goes, If people hate you for 1,000 years, you can blame them; if you're persecuted for 2,000 years, maybe you're unlucky; but if they still want to kill you after 3,000 years, you have to ask yourself if you're doing something wrong.

So we Jews are going to have to make some slight adjustments to get on the world's good side. No more smiting our enslavers with locusts or refusing to convert during Inquisitions or giving ourselves Oscars for Holocaust documentaries. We've got to up our likability, get on people's good sides.

The first thing we have to do is drop the Chosen People™ marketing bit. It's not working. Not only is it not scaring people off as it was designed to do, but it comes off as sort of arrogant. I'm suggesting we change our official slogan to Just One of the Guys™ or the People Who Believe in Most of Your Bible™ or even the People Who, If History Is a Guide, Are Not Among God's Favorites.™ We'll need to get Karl Rove involved.

You know how a lot of Jewish performers change their names so they don't offend anyone with all that Jewishness? Emmanuel Goldberg changed his name to Edward G. Robinson, and Jonathan Leibowitz threw us all off the trail with Jon Stewart. How about if all the rest of the Jews do that too? I'm considering Joe Crockett. I also like the sound of Johnny Slayer. Plus, coming up with 14 million new names will be a kind of WPA project for all the Jewish writers. Because we have to back off the controlling-the-media thing a tad.

We could do ourselves a lot of good by stopping our whole Protocols of the Elders of Zion plan. It's been more than 100 years since the book has been out, and we have yet to come close to our goal of (I'm using the Iranian translation here) "extracting from the hands of the Lord many stars and galaxies." In fact, we have to yet to extract one single star or galaxy. Let's drop it! One of our methods of controlling the universe, according to the book, was to get people hooked on alcohol. And look how that backfired last week.

Also, we need to stop killing other people's messiahs. O.K., it was actually the Romans who killed Jesus, but we were there. And even if it had been us, you'd think the Catholics would thank us, since otherwise they'd have churches today full of statues of a bald old guy clutching his heart in hospice care, and who's showing up every Sunday for that? But still, it's better if we stay far away from any messiahs. Even if a guy clearly isn't the Messiah but is just saying he is--walk away. There's nothing to gain there.

Until Gibson told his arresting officers that "the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world," I didn't realize that was our thing. If it is, let's drop it. I would have thought that the guy who made Braveheart, The Patriot, Gallipoli and When We Were Soldiers and has directed some of the most violent, angry scenes in cinema would love war. But I guess he doesn't.

And most of all, we have to stop this finger wagging at Gibson. Endeavor agent Ari Emanuel has written that no studio should work with him anymore. Bad call. We don't want to get in a battle here. In a popularity contest between Mel Gibson and Jews, it doesn't look good for the Jews. Better we laugh this off, maybe respond with a gibe at the Australians, like how they make simplistic, overly fruit-forward red wines. Then we all have a chuckle and subtly suggest another dead language for him to teach himself for his next movie. We've got to give that guy as much busywork as possible.

LINK TO ARTICLE: http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1223357,00.html

Well, my vacation is over, and now its back to work.  I had a tremendous amount of fun in Iceland, but its somehow comforting to be back in the good old USA, and back into the routine of things...  Hopefully, that's not TOO sad.

I must say that I sure was glad my badges still worked, and I was able to log in.  :-)  Unlike my home life, not much changed at work while I was gone.  800 emails from work-related sources, and some questions to catch up on, but nothing too Earth shattering. 

I got held up by a red light right outside the building I work at... so I snapped a shot of it with my phone...

 

So I braved the famous 'svid'... singed sheep's head. 

It actually wasn´t bad, except that it was a bit fatty, and its not served hot... the one I was served looked like it had been set out for a while.  I scraped off the skin, looking for the meat bits.  They tasted pretty good, actually.  I landed on the Jaw muscle, which was fairly large, and went to town.  I was doing great, until I exposed the teeth.  As if the eye wasn´t bad enough.  It was then that I thought I should have gotten what the shadow lady got: Pizza.  I put a napkin over the sheep's head, and went and got some pan fried monk fish... much better!

I took some pictures... I know you´re holding your breath to see them! 

We´re doing great over here... heard about the troubles in England and British Airways... we´re flying on Iceland Air, so hopefully we´ll have a smooth time of it.
 

Hello from Iceland!

We're having a GREAT time here in the land of REALLY long days - the sun comes up at about 3:30, and it sets at about 11:30pm or so... The flight was very nice, and shorter than we thought it would be... it was only 5 hours out of Minneapolis, which was a pretty nice surprise.  The movie was 'how to lose a guy in 10 days', which we got a good kick out of.

We're having a great time so far!  We're both dealing with jet-lag a bit, but its not too bad.  The weather is just how we like it - NOT HOT!  Its rained a bit, but hey, we're from Seattle, so its 'homey'... Yesterday, it was bright and sunny, and we both got sunburned, which is funny when you think about it.

We've went on a couple of trips that we've really enjoyed, travelling to see a light house (big surprise, eh?), a hot sulphurous field that reminded us of Yellowstone, a couple of geysers, the 'blue lagoon' - a HUGE natural mineral hot tub that is AWESOME (we went again today, because we had some time, and its so great), and an incredible waterfall... we've also gotten to visit several museums, watched folks feed the ducks at a central park, saw an incredible church with an 8-story steeple that had an AWESOME view, and we've taken more than 500 pictures so far... we're enjoying ourselves!

We heard the news about the upgrade in the terrorism watch level - its all over 'SkyNews', which is pretty much like CNN Headline news back home... the picture below is the lines in Seattle, taken from NWCN... wow.  We missed all that, but we'll probably be a little delayed coming home.



Hope things are well with everyone!  They'll be TONS of pictures coming soon, I´m sure!

I was sent this in an email, and just HAD to share it... :-)  When I was a kid, I had a bag of popcorn stole from me by one of these guys at Gray Animal Farm, back in Maine...  I don't know the story behind this picture or anything, but I  wouldn't be surprised if there is a family someplace that'll be telling a version of my "popcorn story" for quite some time to come!

 

For a couple years I've been blaming it on lack of sleep, not enough sunshine, too much pressure from my job, earwax build-up, poor blood pressure or anything else I could think of. But now I found out the real reason: I'm tired because I'm overworked.  I saw an article in the paper where there's 1,211,998 people in prisons, and that sealed it up for me.

Here's an explanation....

The population of this country is 273 million.

140 million are retired.

That leaves 133 million to do the work.

There are 85 million in school.

Which leaves 48 million to do the work.

Of this there are 29 million employed by the federal government.

Leaving 19 million to do the work.
2.8 million are in the armed forces preoccupied with fighting the Al
Qaeda.

Which leaves 16.2 million to do the work.

Take from the total the 14.8 million people who work for state government.

And that leaves 1.4 million to do the work.

At any given time there are 188,000 people in hospitals.

Leaving 1,212,000 to do the work.

Now, there are 1,211,998 people in prisons.

That leaves just two people to do the work.

You and me.

And there you are sitting at your computer, reading jokes.

Nice, real nice

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