Sopwith Camel WW1 biplane on NY skyscraper roof

This was found here on Google Sightseeing.

There appears to be a biplane, complete with runway on the roof of 77 Water Street, New York City.

Situated in the heart of the insurance district, 77 Water Street occupies the entire East side frontage of Water Street between Governuer Lane to the North of Old Slip to the South.

The property runs all the way through the block to Front Street on the East, covering approximately 60% of an acre. 77 Water Street is located at the foot of Wall Street.

The biplane on the roof is a sculpture designed by Rudolph de Harak and executed by the sculptor William Tarr in 1969.

The plane is a full-size model of a WW1 Sopwith Camel biplane, complete with runway.

It was put there to amuse inhabitants of surrounding skyscrapers including the World Trade Center before 9-11-01.

Click here to see the rooftop plane on Google Maps where you can zoom in and drag the picture around to see surrounding buildings, etc.

Nash Metropolitan the 1950’s sub-compact car

The Nash Metropolitan was a cute sub-compact car made for Nash Kelvinator by Austin in Birmingham, England from 1954 to 1961.

The lower picture shows an artists painting of the Metropolitan rendered for a magazine advertisement. The artist painted the driver to a smaller scale so the car would appear larger.

The diminutive Metropolitan was smaller than the Volkswagen beetle. The Metropolitan had a wheelbase of only 85-inches. It was powered by a 1.2 liter 4 cylinder engine driving the rear wheels through a 3-speed manual transmission

The cute little Metropolitan was available in 2-door hardtop and 2-door convertible models.

Nash originally intended to name this car NKI Custom (NKI - Nash Kelvinator International) before they settled on Metropolitan.

This little “baby Nash” was often referred to as the tiny car with a long name.

The Nash nameplate was removed from the Metropolitan in 1958 when American Motors decided to drop both the Nash and Hudson names.

Cities tampering with traffic lights to generate revenue

Does your city use red light cameras as “ticket traps” to increase revenue? Some cities do.

The traffic light camera controversy intensifies with the report that some cities are illegally tampering with traffic lights to increase revenue from traffic light cameras.

By using shorter yellow lights in order to issue more traffic tickets, cities are also creating accident hot spots.

If the yellow-light times are set below recognized standards, two things will happen -- traffic tickets will increase and accidents, that otherwise wouldn’t have happened, will increase.

The cities that are using their red light cameras as “ticket traps” are:

1. Chattanooga, Tennessee. The city of Chattanooga was forced refund $8800 in red light cameras tickets issued to motorists trapped by an illegally short yellow time.

2. Dallas, Texas. An investigation by KDFW-TV, a local TV station, found that of the ten cameras that issued the greatest number of tickets in the city, seven were located at intersections where the yellow duration is shorter than the bare minimum recommended by the Texas Department of Transportation.

3. Springfield, Missouri prepared for the installation of a red light camera system in 2007 by slashing the yellow warning time by one second at 105 state-owned intersection signals across the city.

4. Lubbock, Texas. KBCD, a local television station, exposed the city’s short timing of yellow lights at eight of the twelve intersections where the devices were to be installed.

5. Nashville, Tennessee. Even without red light cameras, police in Nashville, Tennessee have been earning hundreds of thousands in revenue by trapping motorists in conventional ticket traps at city intersections with the shortest yellow warning time.

6. Union City, California was caught trapping motorists with a yellow signal time 1.3 seconds below the minimum established by state law. As a result, the city was forced to refund more than $1 million in red light camera fines.

Link

No secret at CBS: show dumped after one episode

Did you watch the first episode of Secret Talents of the Stars?

I missed it too but I don’t think we missed much.

Not sure how many shows they filmed but the series was cancelled after the first episode.

It was to be a reality series intended to showcase the unknown talents of stars.

The first airing Wednesday had former "Star Trek" actor George Takei singing "On the Road Again." Only 4.6 million people tuned in -- and thousands tuned away as the hour continued.

The reality show also had Clint Black doing standup comedy and Mya tap-dancing. Danny Bonaduce is among the celebrities whose secret talents will be kept to himself.

Some of the proposed acts included:

- Wrestler Ric Flair salsa dancing

- Professional boxer Joe Frazier singing R&B

- Actress and model Bridget Marquardt soaring as a trapeze artist with the former masters of Cirque du Soleil

- Singer/actress Mya tap-dancing

- Professional boxer Roy Jones, Jr. rapping

- Actress and former Celebrity Cooking Showdown finalist Cindy Margolis performing magic

- Comedian Ben Stein dancing the jitterbug

Warning: to see Ben Stein (pictured) doing the jitterbug could be nauseating.

It’s probably just as well that secret ‘talents’ of celebrities will remain hidden.

Link

Suicide claims two men who shared one heart

This story is about two men who shared the same heart, were married to the same woman and their lives both ended in suicide.

After Terry Cottle killed himself more than 12 years ago, his heart beat on in former Hilton Head Island resident Sonny Graham.

Grateful for the transplant that saved his life, Graham wrote to thank the Cottle family.

Through that correspondence, he met Cheryl Cottle, his donor's widow. Then the unexpected happened -- they fell in love and married.

Earlier this week, the unexpected happened again, when Graham's life ended the same way Terry Cottle's did.

On Tuesday, Graham took his own life at his home in Vidalia, Ga. He was 69.

Last Friday the heart that gave two men life was finally laid to rest.

Link

Vodka Maker Absolut apologizes for ads

An advertising firm in Mexico released an advertisement for Swedish Vodka maker Absolut showing the southwestern U.S. as part of Mexico.

The Absolut vodka company apologized Saturday for an ad campaign depicting the southwestern U.S. as part of Mexico amid angry calls for a boycott by U.S. consumers.



The campaign, which promotes ideal scenarios under the slogan "In an Absolut World," showed a 1830s-era map when Mexico included California, Texas and other southwestern states. Mexico still resents losing that territory in the 1848 Mexican-American War and the fight for Texas independence.

The ads, which ran only in Mexico and have since ended, came as the United States builds up its border security amid an emotional debate over illegal immigration from their southern neighbor.

Link

About that last Clinton - Obama debate

Now that the dust has settled, it’s time to take an objective look at that last debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

It was the first debate between Democratic candidates in recent memory that included tough questions.

The reaction by Democrats was swift and brutal as they showed their outrage toward the moderators (pictured below).



Charlie Gibson is a liberal news anchor for a liberal television network and George Stephanopoulos was once a Clinton insider. How dare they ask tough questions? Tough questions should be reserved for Republican candidates.

Typical of the liberal outrage came from The Boston Globe, The Philadelphia Daily News and The Washington Post -- liberal newspapers all:

The Boston Globe called it “A tawdry affair!” link.

The Philadelphia Daily News said it was “A televised train wreck!” link.

The Washington Post described it as “Shoddy, despicable!” link.

There was no such outrage in the liberal media when MSNBC liberal hack Chris Matthews asked totally immaterial and inappropriate questions during a Republican debate.

US friend Berlusconi returned to power in Italy

Silvio Berlusconi (pictured) won a decisive victory last week in Italy's parliamentary election.

The conservative media billionaire returns to power as premier.

The victory in voting Sunday and Monday by parties supporting the 71- year-old Berlusconi avenged his loss two years ago to a center-left coalition.

Berlusconi once said he agreed with the United States regardless of Washington's position. He calls President Bush a friend, and his return to power is lkely to make relations with Washington warmer, no matter who becomes the next American president.

Berlusconi is the fourth conservative world leader to be elected in the last three years. All four are friends of the United States. All four replaced leaders who had contentious relationships with the U.S.

Angela Merkel defeated Gerhard Schröder as Chancellor of Germany in 2005.

Stephen Harper defeated Paul Martin as prime Minister of Canada in 2006.

Nicolas Sarkozy was elected President of France in 2007 replacing Jacques Chirac who retired.

Link to the Berlusconi story here

Texas prison inmate on Idaho primary ballot

A federal prison inmate in Texas has "conned" his way onto Idaho's May 27th Democratic presidential primary ballot.

Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa says Judd qualified for the ballot by submitting a notarized form and paying the required $1,000 fee.

It's Judd's second presidential bid in Idaho. In 2004, he declared as a write-in candidate for president. That requires only the submission of a declaration. He got no votes.

If you are voting in the Idaho Democratic primary, you can choose between Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama or a Texas federal prison inmate.

Link

Watch Dukes of Hazzard car race in traffic

(click on picture to see video)

In this video an orange '69 Dodge Charger, painted like the General Lee from the Dukes of Hazzard TV series, does a high speed “drift” in city traffic. Don’t try this at home.

British man loses 17th-century violin on train

A retired shipping consultant took a train from London to Bedwyn (about 70 miles west of London). Only thing is, 67-year-old Rob Napier left his $390,000 violin on the train.

The violin was made by master Venetian craftsman Matteo Goffriller in 1698.

Napier said the violin belonged to his mother, who died in 2006. A professional violinist, she bought the Goffriller from a dealer in 1945.

She said later she had wanted a fine instrument to match the quality of those played by her colleagues in the well-known Ebsworth String Quartet, an all-female group, Napier said.

A reward of up to 10,000 pounds (about US$20,000; euro12,000) was being offered for the instrument's recovery, he said.

Link

Zealotry: the real inconvenient truth

Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth has enraged some who claim it is inaccurate propaganda.

If the film is fact, why does Mr. Gore (pictured) refuse to debate any part of the movie? Also, why does Mr. Gore ban the media from his lectures on the environment?

The quotes below are from an article in the Daily Mail (found at the link below) claiming that zealotry over global warming could damage our Earth far more than climate change.

Over the past half-century, we have become used to planetary scares. In the late Sixties, we were told of a population explosion that would lead to global starvation.

Then, a little later, we were warned the world was running out of natural resources. By the Seventies, when global temperatures began to dip, many eminent scientists warned us that we faced a new Ice Age.

But the latest scare, global warming, has engaged the political and opinion-forming classes to a greater extent than any of these.

Link

Homeless man no longer up a tree

A homeless Seattle man living in a treehouse gets a new home just before his eviction.

David "Squirrelman" Csaky has been living in living in a treehouse.

For two years, Csaky, 52, has lived about 30 feet above the ground in a 300-square-foot self-made platform, accessible by a ladder counterweighted with sandbags on pulleys on city land.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer photos by Joshua Trujillo

Csaky outfitted the treehouse with a tent, wood stove, three chairs, shelves and a counter with an unplumbed sink. His pets include Lucky, a rat; Rainbow, a ferret; and Tilt, a squirrel.

He was lately threatened with eviction because the treehouse is a health and safety concern.

Neiboors found a 22-foot RV for Csaky to move into and are looking for a place to park the trailer.

Link

Ernie Haase & Signature Sound Quartet

Ernie Haase & Signature Sound Quartet
along with the Gaither Vocal Band
Sing Sweet, Sweet Sprit

(click on picture to see video)

She drove drunk on way to Bible study class

Police said a Fremont, New Hampshire woman drove drunk on way to Sunday morning Bible study class.

Mary Lou Kohlhofer failed to negotiate a Dunkin' Donuts drive-through and crashed into a fence doing considerable damage to her car. She was arrested on a charge of aggravated driving while intoxicated.

Arresting officer Rochelle Jones said the aggravated charge was levied because after Kohlhofer displayed signs of intoxication during a field sobriety test, she agreed to take a Breathalyzer test and her blood alcohol concentration was above the .16 threshold for the more-serious aggravated charge. Jones said Kohlhofer "was above the legal limit" and admitted she drank wine before driving.

Link

Hillary’s Kerry-itis

(click on cartoon to enlarge)

Judge throws out part of Dan Rather lawsuit against CBS

Dan Rather’s lawsuit against CBS received a setback Thursday.

A Manhattan judge has dismissed portions of a lawsuit Dan Rather (pictured) has filed against CBS and Viacom.

A lawyer for the defendants, lead outside counsel James Quinn, said the judge's ruling eliminated Rather's core complaints of fraud and breach of good faith and fair dealing.

Mr Quinn said the ruling was a great victory for them and all that's left for Dan Rather is a garden variety contract dispute.

CBS said in a statement: "We are gratified that the court has dismissed the majority of Mr. Rather’s claims.”

Dan Rather filed the suit against CBS shortly after he was fired as news anchor at CBS.

It all started when Rather narrated the September 2004 report that claimed President Bush skirted some of his duties during his National Guard service.

CBS determined the story was neither fair nor accurate.

Link

Fish oils offer Alzheimer's disease hope

Researchers at Aberdeen University in Scotland found that individuals whose diets are high in omega-3 oils do better in mental tests than those without the oils in their diets.

Is this the breakthrough against Alzheimer's disease that medical experts have been looking for?

The Aberdeen University researchers also found a genetic link that explains why some fish oil studies have been inconclusive in the past.

More here.

Driver blames speeding on bad Oreo dunk

Prosecutors learned in court this week that 28-year-old Justin Vonkummer of Millerton, N.Y
had been charged with speeding and driving under a suspended license - not driving under the influence, as a clerk had mistakenly noted in the court records.

A state trooper who stopped the 1993 BMW last fall says its driver, 28-year-old Justin Vonkummer of Millerton, N.Y., blamed his driving problems on an errant Oreo.

Vonkummer told the trooper that an Oreo had just slipped from his fingers as he dunked it in a cup of milk, and that he was trying to fish it out when he lost control of his car.

Link

Burglar played dead at funeral home

With no valuables or cash, the funeral home wondered why anyone would break in during the night.

The funeral home is located in Burjassot, a small town just outside Valencia, Spain.

The burglar tried to fool police by playing dead while lying on a table but two things gave him away. He wore grungy clothes rather than a dress suit. It was his breathing, however, that really gave him away.

Link

All in the Family: Hillary brothers’ profit from Bill’s pardons

A Boston Globe article, at the first link below, says

Hillary Rodham Clinton's brothers, Hugh and Tony, have received payments from four people who obtained pardons or commutations from President Bill Clinton.

Carlos Vignali Jr. (Commutation of sentence)

1995 Convicted in Minneapolis for moving 800 pounds of cocaine.

2001 Commutation granted for time served with a special condition of drug testing during supervised release.

Almon Glenn Braswell (Pardon)

1983 Convicted of mail fraud and perjury about a baldness treatment.

2001 Pardoned.

Hugh Rodham (pictured below with Bill Clinton) returned the $400,000 he received from Vignali and Braswell, after being asked to do so by his family.

Edgar and Vonna Jo Gregory (Pardons)
1982 Bank fraud convictions. Reversed by an appeals court in 1984, largely on technical grounds, and then both pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and misapplication of bank funds. Both received probationary sentences.

2000 Pardoned.

Tony Rodham allegedly received $107,000 in loans as compensation for securing the pardons.

An ABC article, at the second link below, wonders if the Clinton’s repaid these amounts on behalf of the Rodham brothers. Then, instead of calling them gifts, the amounts were set up as interest free loans.

That would solve the puzzle of the interest income shown as paid to the Clinton’s by family members on their recently released income tax returns.

The article explains how the IRS imputes interest on such loans that the lender must include on the tax return.

This information probably would have been ignored while the Clinton’s were still in favor with the media. The Clinton’s get no favors from the press now that Barack Obama is the current media ‘super star.’

Link to the Boston Globe article here.

The ABC News article is here.

Subprime housing crisis hits McMansion country

It appears that the U.S. housing crisis has come to McMansion country.

Million-dollar fixer-upper for sale: five bedrooms, four baths, three-car garage, cavernous living room. Big holes above fireplace where flat-screen TV used to hang.

Just as the foreclosure crisis has hollowed out poorer neighborhoods, "for sale" signs are sprouting in upscale developments so new they don't show up on GPS navigation screens.

The crisis has hit especially hard here in Loudoun County, Virginia, where upscale developments have supplanted horse farms over the past fifteen years.

The county has also ranked as one of the nation's fastest growing in recent years as developers built thousands of super-sized, amenity-laden houses to keep pace with the booming high-tech economy.

Without lenders willing to deal in over assertive mortgages, large numbers of foreclosures would not be a problem -- especially McMansion foreclosures.

These houses are sometimes nicknamed "McMansions," disparaging both their extravagance and their look of mass production -- like hamburgers from a McDonald's restaurant.

Link

Hillary’s glass house

(click on cartoon to enlarge)

2 Chinese men arrested with infrared cameras at LAX

Two Chinese men were arrested as they attempting to board a plane to Beijing, China with nearly a dozen sensitive infrared cameras in their luggage.

The men had been in the United States for about a week.

Ten of the cameras, which measure about 2 inches square and cost about $5,000 each, were found in the men's checked luggage. It appeared they split the shipment up between them.

The cameras have both commercial and military uses but they are very expensive, highly sensitive. They're not something you could buy off the shelf.

Link

Ford Fab 1 from the film Thunderbirds revisited

The DVD movie by Universal Pictures called Thunderbirds is based on the Thunderbirds TV series. I didn’t see any of the TV series episodes and I have not seen the DVD movie. However, after looking at the awesome methods of transportation on various web sites, it should be worth the cost of the DVD just to see the travel action.

One of the stars of the
movie Thunderbirds

What intrigued me most was the pink car with two sets of front wheels. Ford helped by providing design and technical support in the design of the car called FAB 1. It is more than a car. It can act as a boat on water and can also fly. Short wings “sprout” from the lower sides and the trunk lid slides back to reveal a jet engine.

More photos of FAB 1

The movie is set in the year 2010 hence the futuristic designs and capabilities of the transportation vehicles. FAB 1, the car/boat/aircraft, is surely one of the stars of the movie. This awesome pink vehicle is the personal transportation of London Agent, Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward played by Sophia Myles. The car will probably upstage the people using it in the movie.

Click here for more information.

No honor in their Honor Code

Students at the University of Texas at San Antonio wanted an honor code that discouraged cheating and plagiarizing.

Only one problem -- the wording in their honor code draft appears to exactly match another school's code — without proper attribution.

The student currently in charge of the honor code project said it was an oversight, but cheating experts say it illustrates a sloppiness among Internet-era students who don't know how to cite sources properly and think of their computers as cut-and-paste machines.

More of the story here.

Home made half size panzer tank shoots paintballs

A Kettering University student built a half-sized panzer tank powered by a diesel engine.

(click on picture to see video)

The tank is outfitted with a functional air cannon that shoots painballs.

Link

This spy device is a digital “fly on the wall”

A digital intruder spy camera (upper picture) by Swann Communications has a Digital Private Eye™ video camera and time-lapse recorder with motion trigger.

The manufacturer says:

Position the camera at your front door or hallway, then simply plug in your SD Memory Card, power cable or 9V battery then watch the camera go to work! You can use up to a 1GB on your SD Memory Card, which takes up to 30,000 images.

This covert surveillance device is motion activation and can take pictures at set intervals.

Maxwell Smart, agent 86 (lower picture), would have given up his shoe-phone for this device in a heart-beat.

Link

Little diversity in the university classroom

Students lack true diversity as public universities limit students' exposure to conservative ideas. The article at the link below refers to universities in Missouri. However, it also mirrors the situation found in many other universities in many other parts of the country.

Missouri universities, especially Missouri State and Drury, lack true diversity. Students are not exposed to diverse viewpoints because of a huge liberal bias.

Students are far more likely to be taught by liberal professors, read textbooks written by liberal authors and attend liberal guest lectures. Exposure to conservative views is limited to a handful of conservative professors, guest speakers and outside readings.

Link.

Bill Clinton: time to chill out

(click on picture to enlarge)

Boy in trouble for his point-and-shoot camera

A 14-year-old student in Connecticut has been accused of rigging a camera so that it could deliver an electrical shock.

Police say the boy modified the camera using instructions from the Internet. He brought the device to school but a teacher intervened before he could use it.

School Resource Officer Kyle Strunjo says the makeshift device is potentially capable of giving someone a 600-volt shock.

The boy has been charged with possession of a dangerous weapon on school grounds, attempted assault and breach of peace.

Link

The on-again off-again cell phone scare is back on

Mobile phone radiation warnings have come and gone over the last several years. As soon as a cell phone warning is reported, another expert will tell us cell phones are safe after all.

The latest scare is more dire than most. An article from the UK warns that the use of mobile phones can be more dangerous than smoking.

Complacency on the part of cell phone users is the natural result of on-again off-again warnings. Medical professionals have cried wolf too many times to be taken seriously.

Link

Clumsy boxer can’t get in or out of the ring

(click on picture to see video)

Anything to eat in your refrigerator?

Even though we usually know what’s in our refrigerators (after all, we bought the stuff didn’t we?) we always seem to open the door and stare inside for long minutes searching for something good to eat.

Most of us bend to our thrifty side and dutifully put every leftover scrap in the fridge for later use knowing full well that much of it will just get tossed later.

Do you put leftovers in opaque containers? We did it that way for several years - until we realized that opaque refrigerator containers almost guarantee that the contents will never be used. How often do people open every container to check what’s inside?


At our house we make more efficient use of leftovers since we started using glass containers even though we still occasionally find something that looks like a high school science project gone bad.

And how about the outside of your fridge? Does it look like a bulletin board at a community center? Most do.

Show me the fridge without magnets and notes plastered on the door and I’ll show you the eighth wonder of the world!

The link here has comments from people all around the world saying what they have in their refrigerators.

…note: the photos above were not taken in our kitchen…

Strong words about the Amnesty Bill

Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner has voiced his strong opinion against the Amnesty Bill working its way through congress.

Click on the picture below to hear CNN’s Lou Dobbs explain just what will happen if the bill passes in its present form.

(click on Lou Dobbs picture to see video)
Pretty scary stuff, but this is what most Democrats in Washington have been trying to pass.

This bill is liberalism at its worst!

Truckers threaten to strike

The cost of diesel fuel is taking its toll as truckers threaten to strike.

With diesel at almost four dollars a gallon, it costs the average owner-operator $1,200 to fill up every one thousand miles.

Owner-operator truckers are planning to stop driving in hopes of driving fuel prices down.

They have been talking about striking April 15 - shutting down for 48 hours.

Two days doesn’t sound like much but it will be long enough to empty many grocery store shelves and create other temporary shortages that will call attention to the owner-operator drivers plight caused by high fuel prices.

Link

Message in bottle drifts 1,735 miles since 1986

A plastic bottle was found by a beachcomber along the Bearing Sea in western Alaska.

There was a note inside from an elementary school student in a suburb of Seattle.

The note was placed in the bottle and set afloat in 1986 and had traveled 1,735 miles before it was found

The bottle was part of a fourth-grade school project. The notes were typed and the students only added their names and signed them. A friend carried the bottles on his boat and dropped them in the ocean in 1986.

Link

You’ve got mail

In an attempt to block “junk mail” in Vermont, a state legislator created a firestorm he didn’t expect.

Chris Pearson, a state legislator in Vermont, had a sense that the people were with him when he proposed a bill last November to allow residents to block junk mail.

He got media attention, radio interview requests and e-mails from constituents eager to stop the credit card offers, furniture catalogues and store fliers that increasingly clog their mailboxes.

Then came the pushback from the postmasters, who told Pearson and other lawmakers that "standard" mail, the post office's name for junk mail, has become the lifeblood of the U.S. Postal Service and that jobs depend on it.

Sure junk mail is a nuisance but if banned, many people would be out of work including a lot of postal service workers.

If the postal service didn’t have the revenue generated by junk mail, our first class postage rates would go through the roof.

Banning junk mail would end many advertising agency jobs. It would also put many printers out of work.

The next time we are tempted to grumble about the junk mail in our mail boxes, we should think of all the jobs that would be lost by banning junk mail as the nearsighted Vermont congressman proposed.

Link

Satellite data: Beijing pollution capital of world

The pictures here were taken in Beijing China which has become the unofficial pollution capitol of the world.

As it gears up to host the 2008 Olympic Games Beijing has been awarded an unwelcome new accolade: the air pollution capital of the world.

Satellite data has revealed that the city is one of the worst environmental victims of China's spectacular economic growth, which has brought with it air pollution levels that are blamed for more than 400,000 premature deaths a year.

According to the European Space Agency, Beijing and its neighboring northeast Chinese provinces have the planet's worst levels of nitrogen dioxide, which can cause fatal damage to the lungs.

China is the world's second-largest producer of greenhouse gases, and the World Bank has warned it is home to 16 of the planet's 20 most air-polluted cities.

Link

Female teachers arrested for fistfight in front of students

Richland County (South Carolina) deputies arrested two middle school teachers (pictured) who got into a fist-fight in front of students over a personal matter.

Investigators say the original incident happened in the hallway of St. Andrews Middle School between two female eighth-grade teachers on Thursday, March 14.

Sheriff Leon Lott said 30-year-old Tawana Horton of Columbia and 28-year-old Cambrella Pickney of Columbia got into a physical altercation in the hallway, after the teachers "bumped into each other."

The resource officer says "an ongoing personal dispute" can be blamed for the reason the teachers were fighting, but he didn't elaborate on what the dispute regarded.

Link

Easter

Ernie Haase and Signature Sound quartet

Ernie Haase and Signature Sound quartet along with the Gaither vocal band sing “He Touched Me”



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A bit of Southern Gospel Music history:

Ernie Haase sang tenor for the Cathedrals from 1990 until the group retired in 1999. Ernie then formed his Signature Sound Quartet.

Glen Payne (on left) was lead singer for the Cathedrals from 1963 to 1999. George Younce (on right) was the Cathedrals bass singer from 1963 to 1999.

Liver cancer claimed the life of Glen Payne in October, 1999.

George Younce suffered from heart trouble as well as kidney failure, and was on dialysis during the last years of his life. He passed away in April 2005.

George Younce was Ernie Haase’s father-in-law.

High-tech 4-in-one Murphy computer bed

Short on space? This may be for you.

Think of it as a computer desk, dining room table, couch and bed all in one compact piece of furniture that takes up very little floor space.

This high-tech Murphy bed et all is offered by FlyingBeds of Denver, Colorado. They also offer a TwirlyBed.

Link

Bone conduction 'earphones'

How about these stereo headphones that transmit sound vibrations through users skull bones rather than their eardrums?

They don't actually produce sound and don't go in your ear so they are not earphones. Does that make them bonephones?

More information can be found here.

Padded lampposts to protect distracted cell users

Padded lampposts are being installed as a trial in London to protect inattentive pedestrians.

A study found that one in ten people have hurt themselves while texting with their eyes focused on their mobile phones.

If successful, the concept will be rolled out in Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool.

Link

Wi-Fi at Denver airport blocks many web sites

Denver International Airport offers free Wi-Fi service for travelers. However, if you want to browse Vanity Fair magazine, you’re out of luck. You'll have to buy it at the newsstand because DIA's Internet filter blocks Vanity Fair as "provocative."

When attempting to log on to the controversial web site BoingBoing, using Microsoft Vista, a warning will appear on your screen saying, “This program has known computability issues.” Needless to say BoingBoing is also blocked at Denver International Airport.

They say they're using prudent judgment in a public, family-friendly atmosphere

Critics say the airport is using the same technology used by repressive regimes in Sudan and Kuwait.

Link

Obama's first change as president

(click on cartoon to enlarge)

Corbin Sparrow: mini car or scooter?

This is the Corbin “Personal Transportation Module”. In other words, it is a mini car/scooter that instead of getting into you have the feeling of putting it on like a garment.

2001 Corbin Sparrow
The 2001 Sparrow is a 900-pound vehicle with two wheels in front and one wheel in back. It is about the length of a Honda Valkyrie. Its one-piece monocoque construction fiberglass body encloses four batteries up front, “where an engine might otherwise be, a solo cockpit with four more batteries under the seat, and a windowless, trunkless, skirted rear end”.

The Corbin parked with motorcycles
“Drive 60 mph for 60 minutes, then re-charge (wait 6 hours at 110 volt sockets, wait 2 hours at 220 volt sockets) and do it again. Buy no gasoline. No need for tune-ups or oil changes. No need to sit in traffic jams because the Sparrow qualifies for the diamond lanes." How cool is that?

Cockpit of the Sparrow
Price is reported to be in the $12,000 - $13,000 range. Made in Hollister, California by Corbin-Pacific Inc. More information here and here.

Confusing ship propulsion terms

When a sailing ship arrived in port, it was announced by saying, she sailed into port.

The arrival of a steamship was announced by saying, she steamed into port.

The arrival of a modern ship, powered by diesel or gas turbine engines, is never announced by saying, she dieseled into port or she turbined into port. No, of course not. Dieseled or turbined just don’t seem to have the allure of sailed or steamed. Besides, I don’t think dieseled or turbined are even words found in a dictionary.

Why don’t we just say, she pulled into port? Well, actually, sometimes we do but more often it’s sailed or steamed.

I found the following picture and caption on the Internet:

The Royal Caribbean Cruise ship Explorer of the Seas steamed upriver on its way to State Pier in New London this morning.

Since the cruise ship Explorer of the Seas is powered by gas turbine engines, why did they say she steamed upriver?

It must be that we just can’t be logical and nautical at the same time.

Colbert explains the history of ATT&T

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For Sale, Saddam’s yacht: rocket launcher and submarine included

At the link below, the Rocky Mountain News reports that a unique yacht is for sale

A palatial pleasure yacht with swimming pools, opulent salons and, should the winds of war blow, a rocket launcher and mini-submarine.



The sale of the 269-foot Ocean Breeze [pictured], built for Saddam Hussein and docked on the French Riviera, could be thwarted, however, if Iraq can prove it belongs to someone in the late dictator's entourage — and now, therefore, to the government in Baghdad.

The yacht was built in 1981 and was originally named Qadisiyah Saddam. It was stored in Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port of Jiddah in 1986. The Yacht has been renamed Ocean Breeze and is now in the harbor at Nice, on the French Riviera.

The yacht has an asking price of Euro 23.5 million (US $34 million).

Link