Apparently it’s not okay to send West Virginia’s governor five free laptops. What a world! Governor Joe Manchin’s office got a nice four-pack of Compaq laptops earlier this month, followed a week later by a fifth machine from HP. The only problem was that nobody in his office ordered them or paid for them.

For safety reasons, the computers were never even turned on and the state police are now involved. Curiously, HP confirmed that the computers were ordered online but wouldn’t tell state officials who ordered them.

According to the West Virginia Gazette, “State Police will look into whether any other state agency has been charged for the equipment.” However, all five laptops were addressed directly to “Gov. Joe Manchin” at his office’s official address.

And then there’s the fact that officials in Vermont and Wyoming “received similar unsolicited orders,” according to Computerworld, which prompted the FBI to get involved. HP is now saying that it’s “aware that fraudulent state government orders recently have been placed for small amounts of HP equipment” and that “HP took prompt corrective action to address the fraudulent orders and is working with law enforcement personnel on a criminal investigation.”

The big question now is: what, if anything, is on those laptops? Some believe it could be malware or viruses intended to gain access to government networks. Security consultant Steve Santorelli told Computerworld, “What is a netbook? $700? You send five of them; you’re dropping three grand, and say you get into the Congressional e-mail system. How valuable would that be?”

The bigger question: where is this guy shopping for $700 netbooks?

Maybe someday a human will walk on Mars. The last couple of generations has always told their children that they will be the ones to do it, but we’re still stuck on this planet. Anyway, 6 crazy Ruskies just emerged from a 1970’s Soviet-era testing facility after spending 105 days in isolation to simulate the voyage to Mars. I don’t know why some random Russian government agency spent so much money conducting this probably expensive experiment though. Don’t they get the reality TV show Big Brother over there?

All they had to do is turn on the crappy show Big Brother to find out what happens to people when they are isolated from the outside world and stuck with each other. They fight, throw food, and sleep around. That’s it. Money saved.

I’m mean, this test sounds just like the show.

They are locked in a wacky environment,

The interiors had hatches similar to a submarine’s and were paneled in faux wood according to Soviet style of the 1970s, when the structure was originally built for space-related experiments.

that’s equipped with everything needed to survive.

Common facilities included a gym and a small garden, and the modules were equipped with the new European and Russian exercise and training equipment for biomedical research. The crew also specially prepared meals and used toilets closely resembling those on the space station.

Plus, communication with the outside is limited.

They had no television or Internet and their only link to the outside world was communications with the experiment’s controllers — who also monitored them via TV cameras — and an internal e-mail system. Communications with the outside world had 20-minute delays to imitate a real space flight.

And just like the real Big Brother, they fight and sometimes fool around.

The experiment was the second for the institute, whose previous effort in 1999 ended in scandal when a Canadian woman complained of being forcibly kissed by a Russian captain and said that two Russian crew members had a fist fight that left blood splattered on the walls.

And who says that watching TV doesn’t teach you anything?

[Photo credit: AP]