They have successfully tested a rail gun for the US Navy

8 MEGAJOULES OF POWER! The one they plan on fielding will be at an estimated 64 megajoules.

It can shoot 95 miles UP. And has an estimated range of 200 miles, and the projectile will get there in six minutes. A Tomahawk cruise missile takes eight minutes.

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2007/012007/01172007/251373?

HAH! I just saw an error in a TV commercial!

It was for the Visa Check Card, the one from Bank of America (IIRC) where your change is put into a savings account. They showed a card being swiped through a reader, it was one of those cards that have a photo on it. The photo was oriented so that you could see it properly. The problem is that the magnetic stripe is at the top of the card, thus the card was swiped through the reader upside down and would not have been read.

I love my wife!

I have, for pretty much as long as Harry Potter appeared in print, wanted a copy of the British version: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I've always thought that the Sorcerer's Stone was an incredible wimp-out for American audiences.

This morning I got it!

Russ ordered season 2 of Stargate: Atlantis (edit: From Amazon.UK) and got me a copy of HPatPS!

I'm a happy man.

(I know it's not going to be significantly different than HPatSS, but it's the thought that counts.)