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Russia to Stop Giving Free Trips to US Astronauts

Russian Space Agency said on Tuesday it will stop giving free space trips to U.S. astronauts. The agency chief Anatoly Perminov quoted by Reiters said they “will put U.S. astronauts into orbit only on a commercial basis” from 2006.

Russia has been servicing the International Space Station alone for almost two years since the crash of the U.S. Columbia shuttle. The United States has often funded Russian cosmonauts’ trips to the station on its shuttles and since the tragedy Russia has done the same for U.S. astronauts.

A spokesman of the Russian agency quoted by Reuters said Perminov will go to the United States early next year with a proposal. It says, the United States would write off debts of man-hours that Russia owes for work carried out on the station in exchange for Russia launching its astronauts. NASA officials have not commented this information yet.

U.S. officials have said Shuttle flights could resume in May, an event Russia is keenly awaiting. “At the beginning of next year I will go to America to personally make sure that the preparation for the resumption of Shuttle flights is going according to plan,” Perminov said.

Cruel coincidence befalls UPS driver

So the other day a UPS driver in New Hampshire was on his way to the Cheshire Medical Center in Keene to deliver some much-needed parts for a piece of medical equipment when he got into a crash. He suffered a head injury and was taken by ambulance to the very same hospital he was headed to, but they weren’t able to do any of the tests they needed because the brain scan machine was broken—and the parts needed to fix it were sitting in his wrecked truck on the highway. If only there were some word to describe situations like these…

So I left work on Friday, and made my way down to Weschester to visit with Lilli and Jake for the weekend. Jake wanted to go to the Intrepid, and far be it from me to deny myself the opportunity to talk about the Navy. I let him check out my cruise book in the car on the ride down, and was attacked by about a bajillion questions, usually starting with, "Drew, when the ship is at war..." or "Drew when the ship is at battle..." It was a really fun day followed by Dim Sum, and Peking Duck, which I'd never had before, but am now a fan of. The rest of the weekend wasn't boring either, but doesn't get mentioned here. Shhhhh it's a secret, and something about my inner voice.

By Theresa Howard, USA TODAY

Gillette (G) will announce Thursday its strategy to go after a bigger cut of the women's shaving market this spring, including two new products in its successful Venus line and - in an unusual move in personal care products - equality with similar men's products in price.

The company will roll out a battery-powered Venus Vibrance shaver, similar to its men's M3Power, that sends little vibrations to the skin to raise the hair for a closer shave. It also will add Venus disposables.

What with Chaunuka around the corner, me driving all over the freaking New England area, and all the Mass-holes who drive like they're team has won 26 World Championships, I am adding this to my wish list.

Nov 30th 2002 at the Four Seasons Hotel in NYC, my Mother married Hank Karen, who has proved to be a great Husband, and mentor! Congratulations to the both of you!

Ever woken up one morning with a raging hangover that was promptly worsened by the memory of the drunken cell phone call to the ex at 3 a.m.?

If the memory is not painful enough, the aftermath--potentially involving apologies, restraining orders, a "friendly visit" from the ex's new partner (who is probably either a black belt in Zen Do Kai or a leading underworld figure) and sundry other humiliations--adds to the agony.

Amid the flurry of capped plans, bundling and discounting characterizing the pre-Christmas mobile marketplace, Australia's Virgin Mobile has sought to differentiate itself with a service tailored to help people avoid making those embarrassing drunken calls.

A survey of 409 people by Virgin Mobile, a joint venture of The Virgin Group and Optus, found 95 percent made drunken phone calls. Of those calls, 30 percent were to ex-partners, 19 percent to current partners, and 36 percent to other people, including their bosses.

The company said that, beginning Wednesday, Virgin Mobile customers could dial 333 plus a phone number they don't want to call when drunk. Virgin Mobile would--for a 25-cent fee--stop all calls to that number by blacklisting it until 6 a.m. the following day.

The move comes amid an intensifying price war between mobile players to secure customers, exemplified Tuesday by a flurry of announcements. Virgin is launching a new AU$45 (about $35.00) monthly cap that includes up to AU$200 (about $155) worth of mobile services, while rival Vodafone also launched a new AU$49 (about $38.00) cap that would allow customers to use up to AU$230 (about $178.00) worth of services.

For its part, Optus touted a service allowing its customers to call overseas on their mobiles for the cost of a local call.

Iain Ferguson of ZDNet Australia reported from Sydney.

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