I know we have quite a few students that visit Olyblog.  Microsoft just launched a new program to give students professional-level developer and design tools at no charge!

Microsoft DreamSpark

Who can get this right now?
We are kicking this off in 11 countries/regions, giving DreamSpark to millions of students in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, China, Germany, France, Finland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Belgium. If you are not residing in one of the countries listed keep checking back, we will be adding more countries throughout the year.

Does that mean that I might not get in?
Possibly, if you are not residing in one of the countries listed, not attending an accredited university or not a member of one of the student organizations that we're connected with. But keep checking back, as we're working on adding more ways to verify your student status all the time.

What do I have to do to get this software?  Not much really, just select a product and follow the steps below.

I got to this from one of my fave blogs, Bitten, where they passed me along to Dot Earth where they ask the question, Can People Have Meat and a Planet too?

The gist of the matter is there's a group out there, New Harvest, working on in vitro meat. From their site:

"New Harvest is a nonprofit research organization working to develop new meat substitutes, including cultured meat — meat produced in vitro, in a cell culture, rather than from an animal.

Because meat substitutes are produced under controlled conditions impossible to maintain in traditional animal farms, they can be safer, more nutritious, less polluting, and more humane than conventional meat."

I know there are those on Olyblog who eschew the chewing of flesh for ethical reasons. I wonder if a product like this were readily available would they object to it?

I was trying to get one scheduled for this week, but my timely applicaton got lost in some shuffle.  I now have one confirmed for Monday, May 5 between noon and four pm.  They would only allow rides between 7 am and 5pm, so I get to miss out on the real fun stuff :-)

Lt. Wilson knows me too well, the application approval told me to leave my gun at home :-p

I originally set this up to provide some interesting content for Olyblog.  OB will still get a good story out of it and pics, and I'll put more on my blog.

Given as I have about 3 weeks on this, I would like readers to tell me what they want to see from a ride along report posted on Olyblog.  I'm sure 4 hours will give me plenty to put here and on my website. 

Pictures are a given.  

I know what I want out of this, but since here and elsewhere I write for a broader audience I'm open for ideas.  

I have no firm idea who I will be riding with either, it could be a single officer or it could be several,plus I may have the chance to talk with officers at the station. 

In keeping with the spirt of archetypes, my experience of Enuma Elish's accompaniment of Metropolis at the OFS Capitol Theater will be in the form of a blog poem...bloem? poog? Yeah, here's my poog (with a mere two mouseovers).

Come take part in planning this years Olympia May Day Celebration. This years events will be held in solidarity with workers world wide and focus on supporting undocumented workers and soldiers in and out of the military.

If you have something that you would like to bring to the table, join us every Tuesday at Last Word Books on 4th Avenue from 6pm to 8pm. We will be hashing out our plans and preparing for the celebration.

If you can't make and would like to help out e-mail olymayday08@gmail.com.

It was no surprise to me that when Duckhugger arrived at the party he'd brought his special Tarot deck. He's been after me to play an ancient card game with them since '06.

Apparently, before Tarot decks were used for pop fortune telling they were used for this game played by nobility.

In place of the Fool, this deck has The Excuse, 'an un-numbered card that in some variations excuses the player from following suit or playing a trump, and in others acts as the strongest trump.'

In the Italian this card was called "Individual Foolishness" while the one we know as "The World" is called "Collective Foolishness". It features multiple clowns that become military troops in the reverse.

One day, Duckhugger called the Radio 8-Ball to ask about spreading this game. In a way I found it the ultimate irony: music and cards had switched places as oracle.

We bring the track, but you build the racer... Race for Speed, or Race for Style!

Special awards for creativity!

Valuable Prizes:

• Trophies and Glory!
• Your name announced over the PA!
• Fastest 3 racers overall will be awarded actual trophies and bragging rights

Awards will also be given for such things as Cutest, Most Industrial, Sexiest, Most Bling, and whatever other categories we make up on the spot. (Bribery is always an option.)

Location: In front of Olympia Salvage in downtown Olympia (On Olympia Avenue, one block from the Transit Center)

More

Members of the community are encouraged to build your own racers to "compete" in the races, which will be held in our back yard Saturday, April 26th!

This sounds so fun, both to create, compete, and to watch. Get the story through Olympia Salvage and info and guidelines at Hazard Factory.