There’s a new start-up search engine, Cuil, that they would like people to pronounce “cool” or possibly “kewl” but despite claims to the contrary, it does not solve any of my search needs currently.

It provides results with a graphic and more text than Google, in a three column format, but the results are not what I was looking for.

I’ll wait a week and try again.  Maybe they need more time to gather their sites.

David Klepper, Topeka correspondent, Kansas City Star looks at local reaction: Rules force many in Chapman, Kan., to rebuild without basements

CHAPMAN, Kan. | Tell a town of Kansas tornado survivors that they can’t have a basement? Amy Bemis has a word for talk like that.

“Insane,” she says.

Like most residents of Chapman, Kan., Bemis huddled in her basement the night of June 11, when a tornado destroyed scores of homes in this town of 1,250.

Recovery efforts are in full swing, and residents say they will remake Chapman better than it was before.

But the efforts to rebuild the community now face an obstacle townspeople did not expect: Federal reconstruction rules are forcing many residents to rebuild without the basements that sheltered them through the storm.

[Read more →]

A video oldie from Jerry Lee Lewis.

CNN says Earthquake rocks Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) — A magnitude-5.8 earthquake has struck just east of Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The quake’s epicenter was about 2 miles southwest of Chino Hills and about 5 miles southeast of Diamond Bar, the USGS said. Chino Hills is about 30 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

The center was about 7.6 miles deep. In general, earthquakes centered closer to the Earth’s surface produce stronger shaking and can cause more damage than those further underground.

Actually the USGS says it was a 5.4 but the aftershocks continue. You know there are going to be aftershocks, so you tense up waiting for them.

I’m not overly fond of videos, but this is just too righteous for the news [on many levels].

CNN’s breaking story: Grand jury indicts Alaska senator

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens was charged Tuesday with making false statements after a wide-ranging probe into ties between an energy company and lawmakers in his home state, according to a federal indictment.

In a 28-page indictment from a federal grand jury, Stevens was charged with seven counts of making false statements on his Senate financial disclosure forms.

The indictment says Stevens “schemed to conceal” the fact that Alaska’s Veco Energy paid for hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of work on his home.

This is one of the many reasons the Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve shouldn’t be opened – these people just can’t control their greed.