Tonight's Lost is a build-up to next week's season finale. Here are some tasty links while you wait for tonight's ep.

Via Cathy I found Barry's wrap-up of last week's Lost. Like my wife, Barry thinks Claire is dead and that's why we saw her in Jacob's cabin with Christian, who is definitely long dead, but who has appeared as a ghost to his son, Jack. (Christian is also Claire's father, though I'm not sure if that matters.)

From Barry's post I discovered JOpinionated's Lost pages. Great stuff. Remember I mentioned my wife's theory about why Ben couldn't kill Widmore? Check out this theory: "Widmore and Ben are each other's constant and therefore can't kill each other." I don't know if that's right or not, but it's mighty interesting.

Don't miss JOpinionated's profiles:

• Libby/Elizabeth
• Missing Limbs & Time Travel: A LOST Connection? Great stuff
• Smoke Monster
• Michael and Walt
• Charles Widmore
• Juliet Burke
• Sayid
• Mothers of Lost

Bonus! - Previously on Lost, a band that performs musical recaps of Lost episodes:

Gotta Take Your Meds (Jack's Appendectomy Episode)

The baby mama and her southern savior really can’t stand
Miles showing them that Carl’s turned into a man plant
How do you escape (How do you escape ooh...) the whisperings of the deceased,
treat yourself to ample helpings of a medication feast (pop pop pow!)

It was supposed to be a stress-free investment for Florence and Jim Langford. After all, the retired Saskatchewan couple was only looking for a little extra income to supplement their retirement savings.

But today, the Langfords have virtually nothing left to show for their many years of hard work. Their life savings are non-existent. "We farmed, we had cattle, Jim drove a propane truck and I taught school," says Florence Langford. We worked hard for our retirement and we planned it, and it should have been there."

It all started when Florence decided to take an investment course with a company called Whitney Canada. She attended a free seminar that was often advertised on late-night infomercials, and soon found she was paying tens of thousands of dollars for more advanced training.

Whitney Canada claimed it would share the secrets of successful real estate investing, and connect investors with expert 'mentors' who would guide them along the way to financial success.

[...]

To their surprise, the Langfords discovered that the power team had purchased two rental properties for them in the little Ontario town of Hawkesbury, located halfway between Ontario and Quebec, without consulting or discussing the investment with them first. In fact, the couple had never even heard of Hawkesbury before. "Jim and I were phoning, faxing, emailing everyday," says Florence. "We couldn't get any answers."

Then there was more bad news. The Langfords found out that a second mortgage had been put on the houses - and that the $272,000 they had paid for each property was significantly over the market value.

They weren't alone. Dozens of other investors across the country found themselves in the same situation. Ernie Szpivak, a professional appraiser in Hawkesbury, estimates that the properties were likely worth half as much as investors such as the Langfords paid.

I didn't hear about it, but Chris Wage has the pics.

EarthLink Inc. said Tuesday it is pulling the plug on its Wi-Fi network in Philadelphia.

The Atlanta company said it has notified network customers that it will help them find other Internet service providers before terminating their service June 12.

EarthLink (NASDAQ:ELNK) also said it has filed a petition in federal court asking for permission to remove its equipment from Philadelphia street lights and seeking a declaration that its total potential liability is no greater than $1 million.

EarthLink said it had offered to transfer ownership of the entire network to either the city of Philadelphia or Wireless Philadelphia, as well as give them cash and new equipment, but couldn't work out a deal with them after months of negotiations.

My brother has always said he thought Natalie would have red hair. Sometimes her hair does seem to have a reddish tinge, and you can see it a bit in that picture.

One of the things I routinely do to improve digital photos is to use Picasa's Saturate command to boost the color. When I did that to the photo above the red hair really jumped out. This is like the "artist's conception" of Natalie with red hair.

Here's how to enable ClearType font-smoothing. It only takes a second and it makes Windows fonts look 100% better.

In an implicit rebuke to the Bush administration, McCain will say in remarks prepared for delivery at the Vestas Wind Energy Training Facility in Portland, Oregon. "I will not shirk the mantle of leadership that the United States bears. I will not permit eight long years to pass without serious action on serious challenges." Referring to the Kyoto Protocols on greenhouse gas emissions the U.S. never signed, McCain added "I will not accept the same dead-end of failed diplomacy that claimed Kyoto."

"We stand warned by serious and credible scientists across the world that time is short and the dangers are great," McCain will say. ""The most relevant question now is whether our own government is equal to the challenge."

Wunnerful. Now that even NPR notices lower temperatures the Republican presidential candidate is promising to do something (translation: spend taxpayer's money) about a problem that may very well not exist.

Sam White got hooked on the U.S. Civil War early, digging up rusting bullets and military buttons in the battle-scarred earth of his hometown.

As an adult, he crisscrossed the Virginia countryside in search of wartime relics - 19-century weapons, battle flags, even artillery shells buried in the red clay. He sometimes put on diving gear to feel for treasures hidden in the black muck of river bottoms.

But in February, White's hobby cost him his life: A cannonball he was restoring exploded, killing him in his driveway.

More than 140 years after the end of the war the pitted the North against the South over slavery, the cannonball was still powerful enough to send a chunk of shrapnel through the front porch of a house a quarter-mile from White's home in the leafy Richmond suburb of Chester, Virginia.

White's death shook the close-knit fraternity of relic collectors and raised concerns about the dangers of other Civil War munitions that lay buried beneath old battlefields. Explosives experts said the fatal blast defied extraordinary odds.

Via The High Road, where folks note that ancient blackpowder firearms sometimes contain perfectly viable charges capable of killing a person. Respect firearms and follow the four rules even on seemingly historical weapons.

Credits: I ganked that from this guy who ganked it from that guy.

After 83 years, one of Cumberland Avenue's most beloved buildings - the University of Tennessee's Sophronia Strong Hall - has bid farewell to all of its women.

With the end of spring semester, the last students moved out Wednesday, marking the last day as a women's dormitory for the landmark structure at the northwest corner of 16th Street.

Plans are to renovate and convert the building into instructional and laboratory space for the Department of Anthropology, which now uses part of Neyland Stadium.

That's too bad. I have fond memories of that place. I dated a gal who lived in Strong Hall, and I always thought they had the best cafeteria on campus. The babes in the cafeteria were a bonus.

For Mother's Day (hi, moms!) I wanted to make my wife and our moms a print of a picture from the day Natalie was born. I knew you could send pictures over the Internet to a photo lab, but I had never tried it. With Mother's Day approaching I gave it a shot.

In Picasa I chose "Order Prints and Products" from the Create menu. Up came lots of options, from local print centers to remote printing companies that required shipping. The local options were CVS, Walgreen's and Wal-Mart. I chose Walgreen's for the quick in-and-out factor. (After sending in the order I realized I should have sent the prints to Wal-Mart so I could have bought a frame at the same time. D'oh!)

I had to install a Firefox plug-in to upload the pictures, but that was easy. The Walgreen's interface was slightly confusing. I uploaded one picture and wanted to upload others, but couldn't figure out how - the "Add More Pictures" link was for adding additional prints of the same picture, not actually adding more photos. I eventually erased the album, created a new one, and uploaded all of the pictures I wanted in one pass.

Walgreen's promises printing within an hour, and the prints were ready when I arrived. When I got home I discovered Walgreen's had sent me an email when printing was complete. The actual print time was less than 30 minutes.

The prints look great, and the price was reasonable. 4x6 prints are $0.19, 5x7 prints are $1.59 or $1.00 each for two or more, and 8x10 prints are $2.99 or $2.50 for two or more. At prices like that I don't think we'll ever get around to using our HP photo printer.

This slipped my mind because I was going to be on vacation, but it's tonight. My allergies and sinus infection are back, so I won't be able to make it.