What Caught My Eye Today

Iraq - The chairman of the House Armed Service Committee commenting on a collaborative report by 16 U.S. spy agencies says it "demonstrates that the situation in Iraq is indeed dire and deteriorating." Dude, you needed a report to figure this out?

Iraq and Afghanistan - The Bush administration will ask for another $100 billion for military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan this year and seek $145 billion for 2008, a senior administration official said Friday. This new request brings total appropriations for 2007 to $170 billion. Here's what we could have blown that money on instead:

- 109 billion cups of Starbucks coffee or...
- 54.8 billion Big Macs or...
- 1.4 million Porsche 911s or...
- 850 Boeing 747s or...
- 100 Space Shuttles or...
- almost 2 International Space Stations or...
- Peru

Global Warming - According to a United Nations panel consisting of more than 2500 scientists, mankind is to blame for global warming. The findings conclude that it is 'more likely than not' that greenhouse gases have made tropical cyclones more intense. For those skeptics out there, see my next observation...

Central Florida Storms - Early Friday morning, the deadiest combination of thunderstorms and tornados to hit Florida in nearly a decade destroyed hundreds of homes and killed 19 people or more.

Coffee - Consumer Reports magazine had trained tasters sample a medium cup of black coffee from McDonald’s, Burger King, Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks. And the winner was...McDonalds. Here are some of the reviews:

- McDonald's: "decent and moderately strong...with no flaws."
- Burger King: "looked like coffee but tasted more like hot water."
- Dunkin' Donuts: "weak and watery....with no oomph."
- Starbucks: "strong but burnt and bitter enough to make your eyes water instead of open."

Harry Potter - In a follow up to yesterday's posting, Amazon.com reported generating more than 1.5 million pre-orders for Book 7 on Thursday. It took two and a half weeks for Book 6 to generate the same number of pre-orders.

Did You Know? - Heard this little tidbit on the radio today. The busiest traffic interchange in the U.S. is the 101/405 Interchange in Los Angeles. Next time you get that question playing Trivial Pursuit, you'll be prepared.