Posts by D. H. McKee

The Mushroom House

The Mushroom House, located in Whistler, Canada was first devised in the late 1970s. Zube, the artist/creator, has spent 22 years developing, creating and re-creating this haven and work of art.
The Mushroom House is now fully grown. We invite you in, to explore and to enjoy. Take your time.
The interior design is based on the anatomy of a tree. All aspects of the d�cor reflect this motif, from the womblike hues of the Jacuzzi room in the 'roots' to the vivid leaf greens on the walls in the 'canopy'.
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Pictures of old Motorhomes

Nothing sexier than an old motorhome....
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Linux SmartPhone

A Chinese company based in Shanghai named "E28" has quietly been selling Linux-based smartphones in China since August, and today launched its Linux device in Hong Kong. The company also claims to be in talks with US and European companies to bring the device to those regions, according to one source.
Japan, where cellular provider NTT DoCoMo recently adopted Linux for its 3G phones, represents another possible market for the E28 phone.
E28's E2800 smart phone sells for about $600, and targets business users, offering PDA functions, touch-screen, handwriting recognition, a camera, and memory expansion to 512MB through an SD memory card.
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Fruitcakes not welcome on Canadian flights

Holiday travellers are being advised to forget the fruitcake as carry-on luggage if they want to avoid delays when boarding planes over the holiday season.
The head of the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority said Tuesday about 500,000 prohibited items have been intercepted at Canada's 89 airports during the past six months.
Jacques Duchesneau said the public still isn't aware of what is allowed on board.
He said a lot of scissors and Swiss Army knives are still being confiscated along with toy guns, ice skates and flammable liquids in aerosol cans.
Duchesneau noted even fruitcakes will be X-rayed because they're dense and could hide a weapon.

Shanghai to harass illegal advertisers

China's largest city plans to hound people sticking up illegal flyers with new software that repeatedly calls numbers placed on the ads, an official newspaper reported Friday.
The computer phone harassment is the latest tactic in the battle to curb unsightly ads that festoon walls, lampposts, phone booths and virtually every other public surface in the city.
Numbers will be called every two hours over the first two days with a message ordering the person whose phone it is to appear to pay a fine and remove the ads, the Shanghai Daily said.

Meth smuggled in greeting card

A woman soaked paper with methamphetamine, fashioned it to look like a greeting card and sent it to a federal jail inmate who then cut it into pieces for sale to other inmates, investigators said.
Kristina Landry, 23, of Everett, was arrested at her home, where authorities found a small amount of methamphetamine, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court.

Sinus Headache

Got one of those lousy sinus colds yesterday. Feels like I’ve got my head caught between the thighs of some...

Canada may cut aid to Iraq in response to the U.S. snub

U.S. President George W. Bush is grateful for help in the war on terrorism and is "working" to include Canada in lucrative rebuilding projects in Iraq, he said in a farewell phone call to retiring Prime Minister Jean Chr�tien.
"He thanked me for what we're doing in Afghanistan and for the offer of money in the reconstruction of Iraq," Chr�tien told a news conference today.
"As for the news in the newspapers stating that Canada would be excluded from economic activities in Iraq, the president assured me that this was not the case, and that he would be taking action," Chr�tien said in French.
"And so I thanked him.
"We are still good friends."
The United States announced this week that countries which did not support the U.S.-led war in Iraq last spring, including Canada, would not be allowed to bid on reconstruction contracts worth $18 billion.
But Chr�tien said Bush called today and "he was telling me basically not to worry."

Bush prevents non-coalition contracts from Iraq reconstruction

United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan has called on the US government to open up the bidding process for reconstruction contracts in Iraq to all countries, not just to those that supported the US-led war.
But US President George W Bush has ignored the call, saying contracts awarded should reflect troops on the ground.
The 26 contracts worth $25 billion will only be open to countries contributing forces to Iraq, such as Spain, Poland and Australia.

Novell’s Linux Battleplan

Novell will begin its local Linux drive with nationwide seminars for partners and customers early next year to educate and train its channel in SuSE Linux.
Its acquisition of SuSE Linux is expected to be approved by February.
The vendor had plans to stage introductory Linux seminars around this time, Novell's manager of partner relationships, Steve Martin, said.
"It'll be one of the biggest things we do next year, if not the biggest," he said.
"Nothing's official yet, but we'll have an introductory seminar to Linux which will be free for partners and potential partners, and then sales and technical training," Martin said.
"The key thing is we'll be exposing them to Linux. We'll be showing them how to implement Linux solutions and how to position themselves in the Linux space."
He said Novell's US operation was currently developing SuSE training courses.