It's day three of the Southern California wildfire disaster, and the skies are choked with black smoke. Martinez describes the scene in a cell phone call to a reporter as he drives to work on an Orange County back road.

Still, despite the dangers and frustrations, life is good. Real good. When you've dodged the reaper's scythe as often as he has, wildfires are wussies.

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The talk from the presidential campaign trail and Lansing has been about the new jobs from emerging industries like alternative fuels and energy efficiency. Michigan alternative energy advocates say many of those "jobs of the future" are already here – and they expect to see more of them.

"Based on our work to attract business investment to the region, we think jobs related to the green industry are very promising in the short term and long term," said John Carroll, executive director of the Detroit Regional Economic Partnership (DREC). "… It's a trend we see continuing, especially as the region diversifies its economy." Why Michigan? Among the state's advantages, Carroll said, is its status as "the brain center" of the world's automotive industry. Because of that, he said, the state "is at the center of the alternative fuel issue for this industry." James Croce, CEO of NextEnergy, a nonprofit devoted to the commercialization of new energy technologies, agreed.

Debate takes on contentious air for U.S. Democrats

Instead of looking directly for a telephone after lying exhausted in the grass for an undetermined time, I walked back to the cottage where the party was being held and requested the help of two friends, my cousin, Joseph Gargan and Phil Markham, and directed them to return immediately to the scene with me — this was sometime after midnight — in order to undertake a new effort to dive down and locate Miss Kopechne. Their strenuous efforts, undertaken at some risk to their own lives also proved futile.

All kinds of scrambled thoughts — all of them confused, some of them irrational, many of them which I cannot recall, and some of which I would not have seriously entertained under normal circumstances — went through my mind during this period. They were reflected in the various inexplicable, inconsistent, and inconclusive things I said and did, including such questions as whether the girl might still be alive somewhere out of that immediate area, whether some awful curse did actually hang over all the Kennedys, whether there was some justifiable reason for me to doubt what has happened and to delay my report, whether somehow the awful weight of this incredible incident might, in some way, pass from my shoulders.

Not-so-funny gales to hit Ted Fest

Father Ted worshippers had better brace themselves this weekend as storm force winds whipping all coastal areas today head west.

Met Éireann says southwesterly gales will gradually veer west and northwest this afternoon with winds, gusting from 80 to 120km/h in exposed areas, expected to reach storm force on coasts.

Of habits and relationships

A fashionable lady, high on charm and social etiquette (habit?) ended her relationship because her lover was in the habit of blowing his nose every morning.

Sugar-coated habit
But over time with uncharacteristic magnanimity, forgiven him for his other harmless habit of passing wind! Ladies, please let us lie under our quilt of quirks! No habit manifests itself more openly than our eating habits. Any dietician will tell you that the body needs about 2000 calories per day to stay healthy. So where do we ration the cheeseburgers, butter naans, samosas, chaats, biryanis and the midnight tubs of ice cream?

It's all clued-in to that great craving called ‘habit'. What's a sweet tooth, if not a sugar-coated habit? Our landscape would be bereft of the ‘walla brothers' (bhel, chaat, pani puri and gola), if it wasn't for our evolved gastronomic habits.

Rumor Control

What we heard: In late October, an internal memo leaked out of EA's Mythic studio that suggested the megapublisher was on the verge of wide-scale layoffs to get "costs in line with revenues." The cost-cutting measure hinted at was subsequently explained away as routine turnover affecting a "small" number of individuals, and was associated with the end of a variety of projects. "Small" turned out to be a relative quantity, considering that EA CFO Warren Jenson said during a recent postearnings conference call that around 350 people of the nearly 8,000 that work for the publisher would be affected by the restructuring plan. The first to be hit by the layoffs turned out to be EA's Chertsey office in the UK, which will be shuttered in the next few months.

Since then, speculation has surfaced about where else EA might make its cuts.

Filed under: NFL

I just recently gotten back from the tournament in Miami, Oklahoma and just got done with one of the hardest practices of my life. But, I think I am good enough to write a blog. Something to Take to Heart Tonight, after practice, I saw this little blonde headed boy that I see around town constantly. You wanna know where I see him everytime? On the basketball court. The kid, being about as mature as you can be at his age. He is probably a 2nd grader, and he walks around town as if he was 15. Something is noticable though everytime I see him. First of all, I have yet to ever see his parents. Secondly, he doesen't seem to be the most lucky kid when it comes to who has the money and who doesen't. Living in a poor family as a kid, I know how that can be. But, everytime I see him around the court, he doesen't normally say a word to me but he will give me a little head nod.

TheStar.com | Sports | Raptor pair effectively combining their skills

We don't really need them to score when they're getting the ball to guys, where they're getting the ball to them," the coach said.

Calderon, meanwhile, returns with another boost of confidence from a successful summer with the Spanish national team, which finished second in the European championships.

Plans hinge on 'Millionaire'

Alexander and Bowker have been tuning in all week for the show's "Wedding Week" to see how other chosen couples have fared.

"We're definitely nervous. When we watched the episodes this week, I was sweating. Even though you know it's going to happen, you just never know what you look like or what you said," Alexander said.

"They call it a hot seat for a reason."

The Yorkville couple recorded the game show every day and watched it "religiously" after work to prepare for the trivia game show, she said.

Although she would not reveal details about the episodes, Alexander noted that host Vieira was "gorgeous, beautiful and so nice," and gave hugs to the couple when it was all over.

The couple plans to wed July 12. They moved to Yorkville in April for job opportunities and a chance to own a home instead of renting in Chicago.

Former Putin Advisor Slams Russian Election as Farce

Not content with making sure there were no genuine presidential contenders allowed to run, the Kremlin has been doing its best to intimidate voters and ensure a high vote for Putin's man. The Kremlin has made sure that there are insufficient numbers of international observers on the ground able to observe the balloting. In fact, there are fewer for this election than the ridiculously small numbers permitted to observe the sham parliamentary elections in December.

"In preparation for Sunday, the Kremlin has hounded, detained, and harassed hundreds of opposition activists and critics. Tens of thousands of troops are being deployed in the streets and squares of Moscow and in other Russian cities. And as the Russian people once again are being robbed of their democratic rights, unconscionable support for Putin has come from overseas - from President George W.

May 2006

(The Euston group formally launched on May 26 in London. Several members have also written op-eds -- see here -- as part of the roll out. Norman Geras, a government professor at the University of Manchester, has been particularly insightful, including this piece in the Guardian:

Though it hasn't garnered much media attention, there has been an interesting fight brewing within the political Left.