Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer was arrested in Japan on Tuesday.  I used to play a lot of chess.  That was pretty much all I did in high school and the first year or so of college.  Bobby Fischer won the world championship in '72 (I think) when I very much into the game.  I feel a fair amount of attachment to him for what he did for chess.  It makes me sad to read stuff like the following:

Mr. Fischer's legal troubles date back to 1992 when he emerged from hiding to play a highly publicized match against Russian Boris Spassky in Yugoslavia, then at war with Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Mr. Fischer won the competition, earning a prize of more than $3 million, but he was indicted by a U.S. federal grand jury for violating United Nations sanctions against Yugoslavia by playing the match there.

...

"I think the U.S. is not going to exist much longer," Mr. Fischer said. "I think everybody is going to be surprised at just how soon the U.S. collapses and the U.S. becomes history."

In other such interviews, Mr. Fischer has praised the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.

Barb and I were talking the other day about how famous people are often strange.  She was reading a book on John Lennon and asked, “Does becoming famous make people strange or is it that only strange people become famous?”  My answer was, “I don't know.  But my hypothesis is that in order to be famous most people will have to be 'different' in some way.  Smarter, greater motivation, extrodinary talent, something like that.  Whatever it is that made them different may also have a tendency to make them strange.  And of course there are a fair number of examples of people that appear to be 'nice' and manage to handle fame fairly well.  But you are correct, it does seem like there is some sort of correlation.”

Bobby Fischer is possibly the greatest chess player that has ever lived and it's possible that whatever it was that made him such a good player also made him more than a little bit strange.

Read the complete story here.  But the bottom line is:

A new book written by a former FBI consultant claims that al-Qaida not only has obtained nuclear devices, but also likely has them in the U.S. and will detonate them in the near future.

...

Williams claims that al-Qaida has been planning a spectacular nuclear attack using six or seven suitcase nuclear bombs that would be detonated simulantaneously in U.S. cities.

Ground zero would likely be Washington D.C. and the major population centers.

Sleep well.

Here is the complete story, but the opening paragraph pretty much sums it up:

Mexico's attorney general has taken the unusual step of having an "anti-kidnap" chip stuck in his arm and then making the fact public - thereby ensuring that anyone lifting señor Rafael Macedo de la Concha will be certain to remove said limb at their earliest convenience.

RFID implants in humans for security purposes are counterproductive.  As pointed out in the article the only thing they might be good for is rapid identification of the bodies.

I donate blood on a fairly regular basis and almost never have any problems. A couple of donations ago I was approached by someone recruiting for platelet donors. They asked to take a sample of my blood for testing, I agreed, and they called me back a few weeks later to say I was a good candidate. Last night I did my first donation. Barb wants it to be my last.

I'm pretty sure the person doing my poking and running my machine was fairly new at this. Even though the needles are smaller than those used when donating blood when she put the first one in my right arm it hurt quite a bit more than it usually does when donating blood. After a few seconds it felt better and we proceeded. The one in the other arm went fine. As soon as she started up the machine I felt a sharp pain in my right arm. I informed them and she stopped the machine and had this "deer in the headlights" look on her face. Another person came over and looked at my right arm and said the needle had missed my vein. The second person offered to let me go home or she could use a different vein. I said go ahead and use the second vein. That seemed to go fine for a few minutes then I started sweating profusely and my stomach and head started feeling funny. I told my attendant and she had the same expression but seemed to know what to do. She turned off the machine again then she and the other person pulled the blanket off my lap and legs (most people get cold during the procedure), put cold packs on my forehead and neck, and asked me to take deep breaths. The one who knew what she was doing explained that the pain from the improper needle insertion caused this reaction from my body. The body drops the blood pressure in an attempt to reduce the risk of "bleeding out". The good thing is that this usually only happens once, after recover in a few minutes it is very unlikely to happen again. I asked if it was mild "shock" but she said it wasn't, just a drop in blood pressure. I'm not so certain. I suspect it was shock. The symptoms all seem consistent. Anyway, after a few minutes I started feeling better and they restarted the machine. They had told me to boost my calcium input prior to donating and I drank extra milk. But they insisted I needed to take calcium supplements because the anti-coagulants would bind with the calcium in my blood and since calcium is used in nerve conduction I would start having symptoms such as tingling in my lips and generally have problems. I took the supplements they offered but a few minutes after sweating session I started the tingling in my lips. I reported it and the one who knew what she was doing said the machine had just gotten up to full speed and that was the reason I was just experiencing it. She adjusted the machine and the symptoms subsided some. Two and a half hours after I came in I was done and they removed the needles and put bandages on my wounds.

As I drove back to the house I did not feel normal. It wasn't the light headed feeling I sometimes feel after donating blood, it was different. I was tired and drained. My mind wasn't working up to full capacity either. I wasn't as alert and aware of things. I was glad I only had to drive a mile or so. I drank another large glass of milk and went straight to bed.

I'm feeling much better today. I hope my aerobics class goes okay tonight. Blood donation makes my aerobics rougher. I probably will donate once more to see if thing go better if they don't it will be my last donation of platelets. My next blood donation is next Tuesday.

This was the geocache we placed near Dworshak lake on Sunday.  It has the nickname of Elk Creek Cliff.

I recommend boat access but I suspect it wouldn't be all that difficult by road with the last 1/4 mile or so walking through some brush.  It's probably 150 yards of walking through trees and brush even by boat.

Piewacket, our 18 year-old cat, was gone for a couple days and came home Saturday night.  He was in bad shape.  He hasn't been well for some time but came home gaunt and limping.  He would drink but not eat.  Barb and Nancy took him to the vet today and had him “put to sleep“.

More vehicle problems too.  Barb's Jeep was barely running by the time she got to work today so she turned around and came back.  She made it back okay.  Martin's Auto Service fixed it for her.  Said it was the spark plugs.  They gave it a tune up and Barb has a vehicle again so she can work--as soon as she has recovered from the loss of Piewacket.

Saturday we picked up Xenia at camp and brought her home.  She survived but it was tough for a few days.  They didn't pick up on her being a vegatarian (despite the fact that we told them three different ways).  She survived on green salad for several days before finally asking for more food.  See her stories and pictures for more detail.

Sunday Barb and I took her brother and his grandson on a boat ride on Dworshak.  We found a geocache and we placed a geocache there while we were at it.

The AP reported last night

Off-duty and retired police officers would have the right to carry concealed weapons in any state under legislation the Senate approved by voice vote Wednesday and sent to the president.

The bill, passed by the House last month, would override some states' prohibitions on carrying concealed firearms. Many states do not recognize other states' concealed weapons permits.

The President is expected to sign it.  Although this isn't everything I want to see (every free and sane person, every place, should be able to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves and other innocent people) it is a good first step.  The anti-gun people have a difficult time articulating effective opposition to it and as more and more people carry these type of defensive tools it becomes more and more difficult for the general population to understand why some people start foaming at the mouth at people being allowed to use the best tools for the job of self-defense.  One step at a time.  That's how we got here and that is the best way to get back to where we belong.

Sunday Barb and I dropped Xenia off at Ross Point Camp where our little witch risked being burned at the stake or being drown.  We continuted on to Missoula where we spent the night.  Monday we hiked around Lolo Hot Springs then continued on to Jerry Johnson Hot Springs.  It is about a mile from the road and it was a nice walk through the woods to it.  We took a few pictures with my new digital camera which generally turned out well.

Kim is moving out this weekend.  She's not 18 yet but we co-signed her lease on an apartment in Moscow.  She will have two roommates and they will have a two bedroom apartment to share.  She is taking the old sofa we were going to throw away and one of them will sleep on the hide-a-bed.  It comes not a moment too soon for some of the others in the family.  Xenia wrote me a long email and attached eight pictures (with circles and arrows) explaining why it was no longer tolerable for Kim and her friends to be hanging out at our place.

Also related to Kim is that a couple weeks ago I checked the oil in the pickup and found it did not touch the dipstick.  I told her she should not start it until it was filled.  I checked it a couple days later after she had driven it and it still didn't touch the dipstick.  I told her she was done driving the pickup for a while and disabled it so she couldn't start it even if she wanted too.  I filled it up with oil and enable it last weekend.  But it had a knock in the engine.  Kim drove it a little bit the other day and it came home with a very bad knock.  It's done.  That's two vehicles she has totaled.