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A 1969 Dodge Charger R/T, 440 cu, 727 automatic transmission, hemi orange with roll bar and push bar, side decals, racing wheels.

This “General Lee�? was the #1 stand-by car and used for promotion and exhibition with John Schneider, Tom Wopat (Luke Duke) and George Barris. It can also be seen in the video and DVD by Kid Rock.

One of the most famous cars in television history, “The General Lee�? tore across prime time for seven years. “The General Lee�? was, in fact, one of the main stars of the series, with its trademark long jumps and close and convoluted escapes from the law. Set in Georgia, the “Duke�? boys were a pair of Robin Hood characters in constant conflict with ‘Boss’ Hogg and his bumbling sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane. And who can forget Catherine Bach as Daisy Duke? The Dukes of Hazzard has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity through syndication, and two, made for television movies.

Got $75,000 to 85,000? Click here!

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When a new worm spreads around the world, people want to know if they are protected. How fast is it? How does it spread? A new simulation program developed by Symantec Research Labs not only has the answers, it also provides pictures.

The new Symantec Worm Simulator visually demonstrates how worms spread through the Internet, and how they fare against a custom network and security policy.

On the page you can click on an untrusted executable, for Windows only. How…. appropiate.

On my last visit to the USA, I was lucky enough to spot a Bald Eagle in the wild. It is a truly magnificient creature, and the picture below hurts.

The U.S. Air Force C-130 was flying near Tacoma, Washington when it collided with an bald eagle. The pilot got splattered with blood. The C-130 and eagle landed together, but only the C-130 was still alive.

(two more images here)

I ran this picture a few days ago. Here is a larger version, and more info. Major Mark Bieger, you have my admiration.

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Major Mark Bieger found this little girl after the car bomb that attacked our guys while kids were crowding around. The soldiers here have been angry and sad for two days. They are angry because the terrorists could just as easily have waited a block or two and attacked the patrol away from the kids. Instead, the suicide bomber drove his car and hit the Stryker when about twenty children were jumping up and down and waving at the soldiers. Major Bieger, I had seen him help rescue some of our guys a week earlier during another big attack, took some of our soldiers and rushed this little girl to our hospital. He wanted her to have American surgeons and not to go to the Iraqi hospital. She didn’t make it. I snapped this picture when Major Bieger ran to take her away. He kept stopping to talk with her and hug her.

The soldiers went back to that neighborhood the next day to ask what they could do. The people were very warming and welcomed us into their homes, and many kids were actually running up to say hello and to ask soldiers to shake hands.

Eventually, some insurgents must have realized we were back and started shooting at us. The American soldiers and Iraqi police started engaging the enemy and there was a running gun battle. I saw at least one IP who was shot, but he looked okay and actually smiled at me despite the big bullet hole in his leg. I smiled back.

One thing seems certain; the people in that neighborhood share our feelings about the terrorists. We are going to go back there, and if any terrorists come out, the soldiers hope to find them. Everybody is still very angry that the insurgents attacked us when the kids were around. Their day will come.

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Like a stern father figure, Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales warned Los Angeles high school students last month about the perils of illegally downloading music or movies.

“There are consequences,” he said. “It is unlawful.”

Backing up the threat is another matter. While federal prosecutors have made fighting piracy a top priority, to date they have been reluctant to go after the group the entertainment industry most wants targeted: people who illegally download from hugely popular online file-sharing networks.

“No U.S. attorney wants to be the guy who put a UCLA sophomore in jail for downloading Britney Spears,” said George Washington University law professor Orin Kerr, a former federal high-tech crimes specialist.

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“I think there’s this delicate dance. They’re trying to crack down on piracy without ending up the unpaid enforcement arm of the RIAA or the MPAA,” said attorney Fred von Lohmann of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an advocacy group for civil liberties in cyberspace.

If Hollywood is all fired up about going after downloaders, why haven’t they started suing them? Why are they waiting for the Feds to jump on that grenade? Seems like Hollywood is avoiding suing the downloaders even more than the Feds, afraid of a PR disaster.

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Als Nederland nee zegt tegen de Europese grondwet, is dat “niet goed voor de internationale reputatie van Nederland”. Dat heeft ook nadelen op zakelijk gebied. Premier Balkenende zei dat dinsdag in een interview met RTL.

Balkje, is bangmakerij nou echt het enige wapen in je arsenaal?

Balkenende verwacht dat veel mensen dit zullen inzien naar mate ze meer over de grondwet vernemen. “Als je meer weet wordt de neiging om ja te stemmen groter.”

Goh, wat gek dan dat alle peilingen het tegendeel laten zien…

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Minister Peijs van Verkeer wil de files op de ringwegen rond grote steden bestrijden door langere files te laten ontstaan op de wegen die ernaartoe leiden. Hierdoor wordt het verkeer op de ringwegen gedoseerd toegelaten, waardoor daar een betere doorstroming ontstaat.

Peijs heeft dat aan de Tweede Kamer geschreven. Rijkswaterstaat experimenteert op een aantal knelpunten met deze methode, die inhoudt dat op de toegangswegen naar de ring rijstroken tijdens de spits tijdelijk worden afgesloten. De proeven vinden onder meer plaats bij Amsterdam (A9/A2) en Utrecht (A2/A7).

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The US is losing billions of dollars as international tourists are deterred from visiting the US because of a tarnished image overseas and more bureaucratic visa policies, travel industry leaders have warned.

“It’s an economic imperative to address these problems,” said Roger Dow, chief executive of the Travel Industry Association of America, tourism’s main trade body, which concluded its annual convention this weekend in New York.

Mr Dow stressed that tourism contributed to a positive perception of the US, which spread across to business. “If we don’t address these issues in tourism, the long-term impact for American brands Coca-Cola, General Motors, McDonald’s could be very damaging,” he said.

The plea echoed that of other industry trade organisations which say bureaucratic visa procedures and stringent security after the September 11 terrorist attacks have deterred business travellers and foreign students. “The idea has gotten out that we’ve pulled in the welcome mat,” said Rick Webster, the association’s director of government affairs.

The number of international visitors last year rose 12 per cent, compared to 2003, to 46.1m, according to the US Commerce Department. They spent $93.7bn, or 17 per cent more than their counterparts the previous year. However, US market share of foreign visitors is still down 38 per cent since 1992, according to the TIA. The number of global travellers has grown by 2 per cent to 770m since 2000, but US market share has not kept pace. “Our piece of the pie has shrunk by 5m visitors,” said Mr Dow.

The weak US dollar has boosted the number of international visitors, but given favourable currency rates for many foreigners, those numbers should be far higher.

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President Bush is used to taking center stage, even when sharing the dais with other presidents in their own countries.

That made for some awkward moments at a news conference Saturday with Bush and the leaders of three Baltic republics. Host President Vaira Vike-Freiberga of Latvia invited her counterparts from Lithuania and Estonia to make opening statements, but forgot Bush before opening it up to reporters’ questions.

Bush interjected, and she demurred to her high-profile visitor.

“I think maybe somebody from across the ocean should be given a chance to make a statement, as well,” she said, drawing laughs from Bush and the reporters.

After Bush finished, Vike-Freiberga then explained that they would take four questions — one for each president. Again, Bush tried to interrupt, saying, “Or you can have all four questions to me,” knowing that foreign reporters usually want to use the opportunity to probe the U.S. president.

Vike-Freiberga ignored the remark as she called on a Latvian journalist, and Bush threw his arms up and looked to help from aides offstage. The Latvian journalist said he would prefer to question the U.S. leader, and Bush responded, “Yeah, I thought that might be the case.”

And as he predicted, all four questions were for him.

I can see how he thinks Bolton is a diplomat…

What do you do if you’re a politician and no company wants to buy you anymore?

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DeLay’s prowess in fundraising, for instance, was always a pillar of his power in the House. Lining up a corporate aircraft to ferry him to an event was usually arranged with a single phone call. These days, Republican officials report that they are having trouble finding available aircraft — as businesses fret that DeLay may be radioactive.

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Blue-chip companies are sponsoring more than TV shows and golf tournaments to promote their products: They are inadvertently underwriting computer spyware too.

Larry Ingram found that out last month after spyware infested computers owned by Minnesota’s Hennepin County. The uninvited software spewed ads for such companies as car maker Mercedes-Benz and online travel agency Travelocity.com.

Ingram, who oversees security for the county’s 11,000 computers, said those companies might have relied – perhaps unknowingly – on unscrupulous advertising middlemen.

But the software that invaded Hennepin County penetrated more than 500 other workplaces. Those spyware ads hint at how much of the cyber-world’s latest plague is financed in part by well-known companies.