The helicopters were following the chase from the air.

Freaky and sad.

Reporters who knew them covering the story and then starting to cry. At that point they (of course) would cut away to anchors.

It's been on TV for hours (as of this writing) non-stop on all Phoenix stations. They are (were) all streaming it on the web.

I cry at the drop of a hat, so I've cried on and off watching this. I almost never watch the news (I get it online) so I didn't know who these people were but it's still sad nevertheless.

More later

Links: http://www.abc15.com (Channel 15  - had 2 of the 4 victims)
          http://azfamily.com  (Channel 3 - had 2 of the 4 victims)
         
          http://www.azcentral.com (Phoenix News site)

I just happened upon a news story that I apparently overlooked. It's now 3 months old, but it's still fascinating.

Perhaps you know that sinking feeling when a single keystroke accidentally destroys hours of work. Now imagine wiping out a disk drive containing information for an account worth $38 billion (€29 billion). That is what happened to a computer technician reformatting a disk drive at the Alaska Department of Revenue. While doing routine maintenance work, the technician accidentally deleted applicant information for an oil-funded account — one of Alaska residents' biggest perks — and mistakenly reformatted the backup drive, as well....

[the full story]

The whole story can be read here.

I've always had mixed feelings about Imus. I feel the same way about him as I do Howard Stern.  They both "cross the line" every so often, but I otherwise ejoyed listenig to them. I'm not a "fan" of either and rarely listened to them, but did every so often.

On the other hand, my opinion of Imus has been changing over the past few years.  I keep weird hours so I saw his show on MSNBC every so often (It starts in the middle of the night here with the time difference) and I found myself getting annoyed with him more often. Not just because of his insults but he just comes across to me as "high paid trailer trash".  He's a hick. I'm not into hicks.

That combined with a number of his "over the top" insults began to change my opinion of him. But this latest fiasco (the Rutgers Women's Basketball team insults) was the "straw that broke the camels back"  It was flat-out racist, period. I have zero tolerance for racism.

At first MSNBC said his show would be "suspended" for two weeks (they didn't mention anything about his pay though) and I thought that was bullsiht.

I admire NBC management for changing it's mind and canceling the simulcast.  I was most impressed with how they were most concerned with the rest of the employees of NBC and the example they were setting.  The "suspension" was bullshit and I'm sure management got an earfull from the employees.

I was reading up on Imus on Wikipedia today and was reminded of his success, charity work and his 1989 induction into the Radio Hall of Fame.

Whie his accomplisments are admirable, his racism is just the opposite.  As far as I'm concenred, it "cancels out" the successes.

I hope WFAN follows suit. Imus doesn't belong on the air, anywhere.

seriously considered them once.

I'm now rather glad I never went through with it.

From the stranger than fiction dept....

With shovels, AOL looks for retribution

Internet company to dig for gold at home of spammer's parents

Tuesday, August 15, 2006; Posted: 8:38 p.m. EDT (00:38 GMT)

WASHINGTON, D.C., USA (AP) -- AOL is preparing to dig for buried gold and platinum on property in Massachusetts owned by the parents of a man it sued for sending millions of unwanted spam e-mails to its customers.

AOL said Tuesday it intends to search for gold and platinum bars the company suspects are hidden near the home of Davis Wolfgang Hawke's parents on two acres in Medfield, Massachusetts. The family said it will fight in court to oppose AOL's plans.......AO

[Click here for the full story]