Another Dem Enters 2010 Congressional Race

Add another name to the list of Democrats looking to unseat GOP incumbent Dean Heller in Nevada's 2nd District.  According to a photo essay in the Pahrump Valley Times, Paul Reeves is starting a campaign.  His is the fourth picture, though we're betting many of you may find it hard to scroll past the second pic (it's okay, it took us a couple minutes too).  Once you do arrive, you may want to jump over to Reeves' campaign site at Democracy for America to see what he stands for.

New Dem May Challenge Heller in 2010

Molly Ball is reporting that Cindy Trigg may not be the only Democrat looking to take on NV-2 incumbent Congressman Dean Heller.  Current Nevada Board of Regents member Jack Schofield is pondering a run.  He even has a website of sort up (though the domain name is owned by a Las Vegas company, 62030 Media, which seems to exist to sell links in directories with "the" in the title). 

One snag in the plan, though not a legal one, is Schofield actually doesn't live in District 2.  He's in Shelley Berkley's district.  I suspect Trigg and others will remind Washoe county voters of that little fact an umpteenth number of times.

How To Estimate Your FICO Score Without Paying or Joining Those Free Trials

While one can access their credit report free, well once a year per bureau, the all-important FICO score remains a pay-per-play deal.  There are those free trials which allow you access, but forget to cancel in the appropriate time frame and you are on the hook for a monthly bill or an annual one like the $89.95 myFICO charges.

But if an estimate is good enough for you, try Bankrate.com's FICO tool.  It's the myFICO calculator except without the cost (though they do have some "exclusive" offers to ignore at the end).  What makes the tool especially useful is the ability to see how changing certain variables (e.g., percentage of credit used, how many cards, etc.) can affect your final score.

H1N1 Swine Flu Google Map

Just in case you start getting nervous about a sniffle or two, take a look at this Google Map of the current cases of H1N1 Swine Flu and relax a bit.

Update 4/30/09:  Since this is a map set up by an individual, not Google the company, its accuracy is based on the actual individual updating it.  That said, there has been a case of H1N1 flu here in Reno that appeared yesterday and isn't on the map.   For more accurate info check the official CDC site or Google's Flu Trend chart (which covers all types of flu cases)


View H1N1 Swine Flu in a larger map

The i-wood, Now with Blazing 3B Technology

For Luddites everywhere, or those just sick of waiting for someone to finish texting about the lunch you are suppose to be sharing, we introduce the i-wood 3B.  And for only $10.

With our exclusive 3B* technology, fast connection speeds, support for those of us who live in reality, and our all new applications, i-wood is the all-in-one solution you have been looking for. It will help you redefine your relationships with people by showing them how truly irritating they, and their portable devices, have become.

*3 Bamboo 

Attend Yale and MIT Courses for Free

Who says you need to drop $50k a year to attend classes at MIT or Yale.  Thanks to open courses, video and the internet, anyone can attend a class lecture whenever they want to, for free.  Of course, there's no actual college credit given but the learning experience is the same.

Go to the OpenCourseware Consortium for a list of participating universities from all over the world (including MIT, Cal-Berkeley and John Hopkins) and Open Yale Courses for the Ivy Leaguer's offerings.

Lady GaGa, North Korea, Detroit and Gibbons Divorce on Today

If you are like me you probably bookmark stories left and right with good intentions of posting about them later.  But soon you find you have a bunch just sitting around and you're too lazy to make a full post about them, or realize they are not worthy of a full post, or both.  So do you delete them, or dump them in a catch-all post of things you once thought were interesting?  We'll dump.

• I suspect this will appeal to only one reader, but Lady Gaga had a rough day over on The Consumerist last week.  Check out the multiple corrections at the bottom.
• A trip through North Korea.  Notice the emptiness of it all. Make sure to read the rest of the posts (train 1, train 2, Pyongyang, Arirang and the DMZ.)
• And speaking of emptiness, this beautiful photo essay of the ruins of Detroit.
• And, finally, Jim Gibbons' divorce makes the Today Show, complete with the requisite gambling puns and a clip featuring Kathleen Turner throwing something.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Area Church Turns to Sex to Boost Members

Imagine receiving the below postcard in your mail box.  And then imagine realizing it came from the Summit Christian Church in Sparks!  Are they that hard up for members?

Heller's Mailer Misfires on Prevention

With all the pork fat oozing from virtually every bill passed in the name of "stimulus" lately it shouldn't be that difficult to pick some real doozies.  And in Dean Heller's recent mailing to Nevada voters he hits a few of the more egregious ones (e.g., $300 million for golf carts, those AIG bonuses, etc.).  But then he includes the following:

$3 billion for Prevention & Wellness Programs, including $335 million for STD Education and Prevention

While this statement might stike a chord with the more zealous religious crowd, what percentage of Nevada or America, for that matter, do they represent anymore?  Who is going to say "Prevention & Wellness Programs" are bad things, or preventing syphillis and the clap is a waste?  Virtually no one.  Granted some will quibble with the price tag, and that's valid, but most are going to wonder what the hell Heller is complaining about.  Whoever put this together dropped the ball.