Raising the flag on Iwo Jima
V.J. Day Times Square
Lunch atop a skyscraper
Bed-In
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Odd suggestions
Last week I came across an article on the "funniest suggestions from Google Suggest." For those that don't know, Google Suggest is the feature that gives you real-time suggestions for search queries as you type them. I posted my favorite examples below.
Source: The Daily Telegraph
Source: The Daily Telegraph
Monday, September 21, 2009
A list of my car accidents
DAMAGE: Moderate
FAULT: Their fault
DESCRIPTION: I was broadsided in the middle of an intersection by a woman who ran a red light. Even though she admitted it was her fault at the time, she later changed her story and it was deemed my fault because I was 16 and it was her word against mine. The side of my car was smashed in pretty bad.
DAMAGE: Severe
FAULT: My fault
DESCRIPTION: I peeled out at a stop sign and lost control of the vehicle. The car jumped the curb and I landed in a construction site (where the living room would have been if the house was completed).
DAMAGE: Mild
FAULT: My fault
DESCRIPTION: I rear ended a guy outside of my high school Grad Night event. He was cool and didn't report it to his insurance.
DAMAGE: Moderate
FAULT: Their fault
DESCRIPTION: I was driving in Tahoe and some crazy lady ran into the side of my car when I was trying to change lanes. She then got out of the car and screamed at me in the snow, saying she was going to call her husband so he could come down and "kick my ass." I told her to "bring it on" and she chickened out.
DAMAGE: Moderate
FAULT: My fault (kind of)
DESCRIPTION: I was following my friend's sister's boyfriend in the days before cell phones and if I lost him I would have been completely lost in the snow. He was going 90 mph in a blizzard and I was racing to keep up. I hit a patch of snow on the road and spun my grandparent's van around about 270 degrees and ended up three feet away from falling off a cliff. The car wouldn't start and had to be towed. The upside? My brother and I got to stay in a hotel in Tahoe that night and party it up.
DAMAGE: Mild
FAULT: My fault
DESCRIPTION: I somehow got myself stuck in a parking lot with high walls and couldn't get out without scraping the side of my car. Think "Austin Powers" only with a lot more cursing.
DAMAGE: Severe
FAULT: Jack Daniel's
DESCRIPTION: I ran over a hobo in an abandoned train yard. This may sound bad to some of you but the hobo came from out of nowhere and in my defense I was really, really drunk.
Okay so I made the last one up. Just making sure you were still paying attention. Moving on. . . .
DAMAGE: Moderate
FAULT: My fault (kind of)
DESCRIPTION: I ran a stop sign in a parking lot outside of my dorm and got hit by some douche. I know it was my fault but this guy was going like 30 mph and wasn't paying attention to what he was doing. Also, since when are you supposed to obey stop signs in parking lots?
DAMAGE: Moderate
FAULT: My fault
DESCRIPTION: I had just signed a lease on an apartment and I was excited. Too excited, apparently to notice the pole next to my parked car. I backed out quick at an angle and completely ruined the side of my car.
DAMAGE: Severe
FAULT: My fault (kind of)
DESCRIPTION: Somebody two cars in front of me decided to slam on their breaks to turn into a farmer's market for some impulse vegetable shopping. I slammed on my breaks but it was too late. I was driving my brother's truck and I completely smashed in the entire front of it. (Sorry bro!)
DAMAGE: Moderate
FAULT: My fault
DESCRIPTION: I backed a rental car into an apartment call box. After fleeing the scene I realized that I had been seen, so I had to come back and face the music.
DAMAGE: Mild
FAULT: Their fault
DESCRIPTION: I was in one of those In-N-Out's that have two drive-thru windows. An employee needed to walk across the drive-thru lane to get some supplies and my car was blocking the door. I backed my car up for him and as I did the side-view mirror of my car caught on the drive-thru window and broke off. The guy was a total dick and immediately went on the defensive even though I didn't say anything to him. He panicked and said that he never asked me to back up and that he wasn't going to pay for the damage. I wasn't expecting anything like that but he could have at least apologized for the fact that my car got messed up and/or offered to give me a free fries or something. It's a good thing their burgers are so damn good or I would have never gone back.
FAULT: Their fault
DESCRIPTION: I was broadsided in the middle of an intersection by a woman who ran a red light. Even though she admitted it was her fault at the time, she later changed her story and it was deemed my fault because I was 16 and it was her word against mine. The side of my car was smashed in pretty bad.
DAMAGE: Severe
FAULT: My fault
DESCRIPTION: I peeled out at a stop sign and lost control of the vehicle. The car jumped the curb and I landed in a construction site (where the living room would have been if the house was completed).
DAMAGE: Mild
FAULT: My fault
DESCRIPTION: I rear ended a guy outside of my high school Grad Night event. He was cool and didn't report it to his insurance.
DAMAGE: Moderate
FAULT: Their fault
DESCRIPTION: I was driving in Tahoe and some crazy lady ran into the side of my car when I was trying to change lanes. She then got out of the car and screamed at me in the snow, saying she was going to call her husband so he could come down and "kick my ass." I told her to "bring it on" and she chickened out.
DAMAGE: Moderate
FAULT: My fault (kind of)
DESCRIPTION: I was following my friend's sister's boyfriend in the days before cell phones and if I lost him I would have been completely lost in the snow. He was going 90 mph in a blizzard and I was racing to keep up. I hit a patch of snow on the road and spun my grandparent's van around about 270 degrees and ended up three feet away from falling off a cliff. The car wouldn't start and had to be towed. The upside? My brother and I got to stay in a hotel in Tahoe that night and party it up.
DAMAGE: Mild
FAULT: My fault
DESCRIPTION: I somehow got myself stuck in a parking lot with high walls and couldn't get out without scraping the side of my car. Think "Austin Powers" only with a lot more cursing.
DAMAGE: Severe
FAULT: Jack Daniel's
DESCRIPTION: I ran over a hobo in an abandoned train yard. This may sound bad to some of you but the hobo came from out of nowhere and in my defense I was really, really drunk.
Okay so I made the last one up. Just making sure you were still paying attention. Moving on. . . .
DAMAGE: Moderate
FAULT: My fault (kind of)
DESCRIPTION: I ran a stop sign in a parking lot outside of my dorm and got hit by some douche. I know it was my fault but this guy was going like 30 mph and wasn't paying attention to what he was doing. Also, since when are you supposed to obey stop signs in parking lots?
DAMAGE: Moderate
FAULT: My fault
DESCRIPTION: I had just signed a lease on an apartment and I was excited. Too excited, apparently to notice the pole next to my parked car. I backed out quick at an angle and completely ruined the side of my car.
DAMAGE: Severe
FAULT: My fault (kind of)
DESCRIPTION: Somebody two cars in front of me decided to slam on their breaks to turn into a farmer's market for some impulse vegetable shopping. I slammed on my breaks but it was too late. I was driving my brother's truck and I completely smashed in the entire front of it. (Sorry bro!)
DAMAGE: Moderate
FAULT: My fault
DESCRIPTION: I backed a rental car into an apartment call box. After fleeing the scene I realized that I had been seen, so I had to come back and face the music.
DAMAGE: Mild
FAULT: Their fault
DESCRIPTION: I was in one of those In-N-Out's that have two drive-thru windows. An employee needed to walk across the drive-thru lane to get some supplies and my car was blocking the door. I backed my car up for him and as I did the side-view mirror of my car caught on the drive-thru window and broke off. The guy was a total dick and immediately went on the defensive even though I didn't say anything to him. He panicked and said that he never asked me to back up and that he wasn't going to pay for the damage. I wasn't expecting anything like that but he could have at least apologized for the fact that my car got messed up and/or offered to give me a free fries or something. It's a good thing their burgers are so damn good or I would have never gone back.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Way to go, Killer!
SC teen bags 10-foot alligator with a crossbow
Associated Press - September 17, 2009
A 16-year-old girl has bagged a 10-foot alligator in a South Carolina swamp.
In the middle of the night. With a crossbow.
The State newspaper in Columbia reported that Cammie Colin won one of 1,000 lottery slots for the state's annual public alligator harvest. Hunters are required to use a crossbow or a harpoon.
Cammie was the only person in her group authorized to shoot the 353-pound gator. The Lexington resident was with a guide, her father, an uncle and her brother in an 18-foot boat early Sunday in the headwaters of Lake Marion.
They have 40 pounds of alligator steak in the freezer now.
Cammie says most of her teachers are using her new nickname, "Killer."
Associated Press - September 17, 2009
A 16-year-old girl has bagged a 10-foot alligator in a South Carolina swamp.
In the middle of the night. With a crossbow.
The State newspaper in Columbia reported that Cammie Colin won one of 1,000 lottery slots for the state's annual public alligator harvest. Hunters are required to use a crossbow or a harpoon.
Cammie was the only person in her group authorized to shoot the 353-pound gator. The Lexington resident was with a guide, her father, an uncle and her brother in an 18-foot boat early Sunday in the headwaters of Lake Marion.
They have 40 pounds of alligator steak in the freezer now.
Cammie says most of her teachers are using her new nickname, "Killer."
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
The weirdest animals on Earth
The Daily Telegraph (a London paper) has published a list of "The weirdest animals on Planet Earth." Here are some of my favorites.
The long eared jerboa is a nocturnal mouse-like rodent found in the deserts of China and Mongolia. It has a long tail, long legs and extremely large ears. Being such a rare creature, it is in danger of extinction.
The blobfish is a gelatinous mass with a density slightly less than that of the water it occupies. This helps it maintain buoyancy. Hovering just above the sea-floor, the blobfish gobbles edible matter that floats past it.
The aye-aye shares a lot in common with the woodpecker - it taps trees to find grubs. When food is located it uses its rodent-like teeth to gnaw a hole, then digs them out with its long middle finger.
Leafy seadragons are covered with leaf-like appendages, making them remarkably camouflaged. Found in Australia, they inhabit calm, cold water and have been protected by the government since 1982.
The shoebill is a very large bird found in tropical swamps of eastern Africa. It stands at an average of four feet with a wingspan of over seven feet. The species was only discovered by ornithologists in the 19th century.
The most distinctive trait of the proboscis monkey is the male's large protruding nose. It has been suggested that the female proboscis monkey prefers big-nosed males.
The star-nosed mole's snout has 22 fleshy tentacles that are used to identify food by touch. Often found in North America, it lives in wet lowland areas and eats small invertebrates, aquatic insects, worms and molluscs.
The long eared jerboa is a nocturnal mouse-like rodent found in the deserts of China and Mongolia. It has a long tail, long legs and extremely large ears. Being such a rare creature, it is in danger of extinction.
The blobfish is a gelatinous mass with a density slightly less than that of the water it occupies. This helps it maintain buoyancy. Hovering just above the sea-floor, the blobfish gobbles edible matter that floats past it.
The aye-aye shares a lot in common with the woodpecker - it taps trees to find grubs. When food is located it uses its rodent-like teeth to gnaw a hole, then digs them out with its long middle finger.
Leafy seadragons are covered with leaf-like appendages, making them remarkably camouflaged. Found in Australia, they inhabit calm, cold water and have been protected by the government since 1982.
The shoebill is a very large bird found in tropical swamps of eastern Africa. It stands at an average of four feet with a wingspan of over seven feet. The species was only discovered by ornithologists in the 19th century.
The most distinctive trait of the proboscis monkey is the male's large protruding nose. It has been suggested that the female proboscis monkey prefers big-nosed males.
The star-nosed mole's snout has 22 fleshy tentacles that are used to identify food by touch. Often found in North America, it lives in wet lowland areas and eats small invertebrates, aquatic insects, worms and molluscs.
Friday, September 04, 2009
Thursday, September 03, 2009
A neat idea
"Putpockets" give a little extra cash
Reuters - August 19, 2009
Visitors to London always have to be on the look out for pickpockets, but now there's another, more positive phenomenon on the loose -- putpockets.
Aware that people are suffering in the economic crisis, 20 former pickpockets have turned over a new leaf and are now trawling London's tourist sites slipping money back into unsuspecting pockets.
Anything from 5 pounds ($8) to 20 pound notes is being surreptitiously deposited in unguarded pockets or open handbags in Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden and other busy spots.
The initiative, which runs until the end of August in London before being rolled out countrywide, is being funded by a broadbrand provider, which says it wants to brighten up people's lives in unusual ways.
"It feels good to give something back for a change -- and Britons certainly need it in the current economic climate," said Chris Fitch, a former pickpocket who now heads TalkTalk's putpocketing initiative.
"Every time I put money back in someone's pocket, I feel less guilty about the fact I spent many years taking it out."
London's police have been briefed about the plan, which will see at least 100,000 pounds given away.
Reuters - August 19, 2009
Visitors to London always have to be on the look out for pickpockets, but now there's another, more positive phenomenon on the loose -- putpockets.
Aware that people are suffering in the economic crisis, 20 former pickpockets have turned over a new leaf and are now trawling London's tourist sites slipping money back into unsuspecting pockets.
Anything from 5 pounds ($8) to 20 pound notes is being surreptitiously deposited in unguarded pockets or open handbags in Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden and other busy spots.
The initiative, which runs until the end of August in London before being rolled out countrywide, is being funded by a broadbrand provider, which says it wants to brighten up people's lives in unusual ways.
"It feels good to give something back for a change -- and Britons certainly need it in the current economic climate," said Chris Fitch, a former pickpocket who now heads TalkTalk's putpocketing initiative.
"Every time I put money back in someone's pocket, I feel less guilty about the fact I spent many years taking it out."
London's police have been briefed about the plan, which will see at least 100,000 pounds given away.
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