Valkyre

Ever Get the Feeling You're Being Watched?

So, I'm out moving the sprinkler. I move it over a patch of grass, under one of our pine trees, when I get an urge to look up into the branches. And then I spot her. A Mourning Dove looking down at me. She didn't seem afraid. I guess she knew she was out of harms way. She waited there long enough for me to get my camera and get these shots. While I was snapping away, I could hear her mate calling to her. She flew off soon after. It was nice to bring out the camera and use it. It seems I've been too busy to snap anything lately.

Two Down, One to Go

We need a Triple Crown winner. I think I figured out why people are so desperate for one. We need good news! The economy is screwed, the war in Iraq and all the depressing shit that the news brings to us every day. We need some good news. A horse finally winning the Triple Crown, after 30 years, I think would bring a little light into people's day. I hope Big Brown can do it.

Article here

Big Brown one step from history after running away to Preakness victory

His commanding 51/4-length win sends him to the Belmont with a clear shot at the Triple Crown.

By Larry Stewart, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

May 18, 2008

BALTIMORE -- For the last two weeks after the Eight Belles tragedy at the Kentucky Derby, horse racing has been examined, dissected and criticized.

But on a mostly clear, sunny afternoon Saturday before a crowd of 112,222 at Pimlico Race Course, the sport hit a high point as it was proved that, any way you want to color it, Big Brown is a superstar.

Alleged MySpace 'cyber-bully' indicted in teen's suicide

I posted several entries, awhile back, about Megan Meier:

Some People Aren't Fit to Live in Society

An Update to the Megan Meier Story

They Keep Trying

She was the 13 year old girl who thought she was chatting with a boy on MySpace. He turned out to be the mother, of a friend, that Megan had had a falling out with. She was baiting Megan to see if she was trash talking her daughter. Eventually, "the boy" turned on Megan. And, she committed suicide. There was an outcry. A lot of people couldn't get over the fact that the woman, behind the ruse, might get away with it. Well, in the last entry, it said that the L.A. County Grand Jury was looking into charging her with defrauding MySpace. Well, they came through and she' been indicted:

Article here

Alleged MySpace 'cyber-bully' indicted in teen's suicide

A federal grand jury in L.A. accuses Missouri resident Lori Drew of using the social networking website to torment the girl into thinking she was being dumped by a boy.

By Scott Glover, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

A federal grand jury in Los Angeles today indicted a woman of fraudulently using a MySpace.com account to "cyber-bully" a Missouri teenager who later hanged herself because she believed she was being rejected by a 16-year-old boy she met on the social networking website.

Lori Drew, 49, of O'Fallon, Mo., faces three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization to obtain information to inflict emotional distress on the girl and one count of conspiracy.

The case set off a national furor when it was revealed that 13-year-old Megan Meier was the victim of a hoax perpetrated by Drew, who was the mother of one of the girl's former friends.

Authorities in Missouri investigated Meier's October 2006 death but declined to file charges against Drew, saying they were unable to find a statute under which to pursue a criminal case.

Earlier this year, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles launched a grand jury investigation aimed at determining whether Drew or others defrauded Beverly Hills-based MySpace by providing false information to the website.

As word leaked out that an indictment was pending today, Megan's father, Ron Meier, said he welcomed any attempt to hold someone accountable.

"I don't know who is actually is going to end up paying for what happened to our daughter. I just want some justice after all this time," Meier said. "For the first time in as long as I can remember, I actually have hope."

Drew's attorney, H. Dean Steward, said he plans to wage a vigorous defense, suggesting that prosecutors in Los Angeles were overstepping their jurisdiction.

"There are a lot of issues we are going to need to raise, including why it's happening in Los Angeles," Steward said. "It seems like a Missouri case no matter how you cut it."

Times staff writer P.J. Huffstutter contributed to this report.

How To Tell That Your Dog Has Been on Your Computer

Look closely at the name for this particular bookmark. Looks a lot like someone was pressing down on the same keys. Someone with four legs and a tail. We went to the Outback tonight. It was a belated Mother's Day dinner. I wanted to see if I could still make online reservations. That option was no longer available. When I left, for dinner, I left the computer on opened to the website. Came home to find that one of the dogs had been up on my computer desk and hit the key combo to save as a bookmark and then was leaning on the other keys to give it it's ridiculous long name. I also noticed some items, that were one my desk, were on the floor. I don't know which of the four dogs was up on my desk. I suspect Pepper. She will jump up here looking for food sometimes. But Violet, the Jack Russell Terrier, has been known to look for crumbs in the keyboard too. Innocent until proven guilty I guess.