Another collection of random thoughts and observations. A little more pissed off this time around.

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This is news to me, but not good news. Apparently, not only are cell phone call records being sold but one can also buy the actual location of where the call was made from. Either these companies will have to be shut down, or there is going to a be whole new market for a cell phone maker who can encrypt or destory such information at the call center. A company that doesn’t keep (or sell) records will become very popular, I’d think.

Here’s the article. We don’t need terrorists to threaten our security. Legally-operating businesses seem to be doing a good job of that already.

If you use cell phone service from Cingular, Sprint or T-Mobile, you may be interested to know that anyone with Internet access and $80-$110 on a credit card can pull your phone records. All they need is your cell phone number.

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In the category of wasting time and money, we have a not-surprising DNA study conducted on Thoroughbreds. It concluded that all Thoroughbreds were descended from three stallions and about twenty-five mares. The study also concluded that one of the stallions was the most influential.

Okay, perhaps if you’re not a horse-person, this is news. It doesn’t take much research on Thoroughbreds to discover that the breed was indeed founded by the breeding of the Byerley Turk, the Godolphin Barb and the Darley Arabian to a select group of mares. It also doesn’t take much research to discover that although he had a book written about him, the Godolphin Barb isn’t considered as influential as the other two. Almost all children interested in horses find out these facts with just a little bit of reading since these foundation stallions are repeated in nearly every equine reference book. Add the fact that every purebred horse’s bloodlines are carefully recorded at birth, and you understand why I consider this research a waste of time and money.

Fortunately, it was funded by a private foundation and not public grant money. Still, it was an awful lot of effort to tell the world something that was already quite well known. Next up: a study to discover why horses like grain.