No-Stab Knives

Is this really necessary? In the UK, knives are being sold to deter people from stabbing one another. John Cornock, an industrial designer, invented these utensils that are claimed to make it "almost impossible" to stab someone to death with them. Maybe. But couldn't someone still cut you up with the sharp edge?

These are expected to sell at a price point of around £40-50. If you are really concerned about someone in your household stabbing you to death with your kitchen knives, maybe you should rethink your choice of housemates.

Bad Time for Continental Airlines

Houston-based Continental Airlines just can't seem to catch a break lately. Pilot error crashes a commuter partner plane in Buffalo, killing all on board; three children sent to wrong cities in the last week or so, and now a pilot died today during the flight of a Boeing 777 with 247 passengers on board. The flight originated in Brussels. A backup pilot took over on the flight deck for Captain Craig Lenell, who quietly died of a heart attack during the flight. Lenell, who was 60 years old, had been with the airline for 32 years.

The plane landed safely at Newark.

The Best Laid Plans of Maus & Men . . .

From the You Can't Make This Stuff Up Department comes this story from Stuttgart, Germany. It seems that 29-year-old Demetrius Soupolos and his wife, a former beauty queen, badly wanted a child. Despite their best efforts, Mr. & Mrs. Soupolos could not conceive.

After medical examinations, the doctor determined that poor Demetrius was sterile. Their neighbor, Frank Maus, had two kids and a resemblance to Demetrius, so the couple hired Maus to impregnate Traute Soupolos. The agreement was three attempts a week for six months in exchange for Maus being paid 2000 Euros. After a while, Mrs. Maus began to complain, but Frank assured her it was "just for the money".

After six months and 72 attempts at impregnation, all with no success, Demetrius insisted his friend get a medical exam. The test results showed that Maus was also incapable of fathering children. This resulted in Mrs. Maus confessing that the couple's two kids were not fathered by Frank.

Now, poor Demetrius is suing Frank to get his money back. Frank says he never promised a successful impregnation, but only that he would try his hardest (note: I am trying hard myself to resist the obvious joke here).

Dumb Criminals in Colorado

Two Denver-area young women may need to reconsider if a life of crime is a good career move for them. It appears that they do not have the brain power to be a success in that field of endeavor.

KUSA-DT reports that the two teens went into a used-clothing consignment shop in the Denver suburb of Lone Tree and started tossing clothes into a basket on the floor. They then took off in a waiting getaway truck.

Now you first have to consider if it is worth it to steal used clothes. Why not hit the nearby Park Meadows Mall which has Macy's & Nordstrom? But the next part is what should make these girls reconsider their career choice. It turns out that one of them gave the store owner her name and cell phone number on a form to have the store sell some of her used clothing. Police merely had to give her a call.

CLICK HERE to view the KUSA report.

No Fun Allowed!

The administration at Bonny Eagle High School in Maine denied a graduating senior his diploma. What did the young hoodlum do to have such a thing happen. After all, he was in his cap and gown, attending the graduation ceremony with his classmates, and was called up on the stage to receive the diploma that culminated his achievement. What disruptive misbehavior would result in such a penalty.

He blew his mom a kiss. That's it!

The school administration says he broke the rules, so was sent back to his seat without the coveted certificate. They said that they don't want to have a repeat of the infamous silly string incident that disrupted the ceremony a while back. "Four years ago we had some issues with silly string and beach balls," said sourpuss Superintendent of Schools, Suzanne Lukas.

Bill Maher on President Obama

Bill Maher made some critical commentary on President Obama on his HBO show, Real Time with Bill Maher. As much as I wish I could disagree, I do not. President Obama has a rare chance to bring real reform to health care, and instead he is leaving the crooked insurance companies as part of the solution. He has the chance to reform the fraud in the banking industry, but it has become business as usual for the banking giants. The spending of tax dollars to incentivize people to trade in their gas guzzling old cars for new, more efficient models, and reinvigorate demand for new automobiles has no provision to limit the program to American-made vehicles.

I agree with Maher that this is NOT what I voted for. I have been willing to give the President the chance to get things going before being overly critical. The ridiculous right is doing a great job of that. However, there is no guarantee that his party will retain its strong majority in the Congress after the elections next year. As the old adage goes, "it's time to make hay while the sun shines". NOW is the time to enact the key components of the platform he ran on. Forget bipartisanship. As Maher points out, maybe Obama needs to get a little of Bush's attitude...my way or no way.

Mr. President, don't forget what you promised...change we can believe in. We put you in office to effect that change. If you prove to just be another overpromising and underdelivering politician, you had better enjoy your job, as you could be a one-term president. You have the goodwill of most of the country. You have proven to be the hardest working man to get the job in a long time. But working hard isn't enough. You have to remember why you are there.

Unlike loudmouth Rush Limbaugh, I and most people want to see you succeed. It's time to quit compromising away your platform, when you don't have to. Perhaps instead of getting some Bush attitude, you should channel Larry the Cable Guy and just "Git 'Er Done!"

Meteorite Boy

A 14-year-old German boy had an extremely rare event happen to him. Gerrit Blank was struck by a meteorite! The space rock was travelling at 30,000 miles per hour, and hit his hand before creating a crater in the ground a foot across.

The Telegraph reports that the boy said:

"At first I just saw a large ball of light, and then I suddenly felt a pain in my hand. Then a split second after that there was an enormous bang like a crash of thunder."

The young man went on . . .

"The noise that came after the flash of light was so loud that my ears were ringing for hours afterwards. When it hit me it knocked me flying and then was still going fast enough to bury itself into the road."

Obviously Gerrit's scar will give him a lifelong reminder of a close encounter with the extraterrestrial rock.

Hail & High Water

Two hours ago, it was a beautiful sunny day. But all of a sudden, the sky got dark as night, sirens started going off, and marble-sized hail pelted us for about 30 minutes. I have never heard such a noise as the roof was being pounded and the wind and lightning was running rampant. It turns out that multiple funnel clouds are dropping all around us, and we are under a tornado warning.

It got so noisy and loud that Molly the Dog and I went to the basement for a few minutes during the worst of it. Here's hoping that this won't cause problems with my mother-in-law's flight in to Denver from Pittsburgh this afternoon.

I don't ever get scared of storms, but all the noise of this one did get my pulse racing a bit! I also hope the roof is okay. I suppose we shall find out.

Working on the B&O Railroad

The lovely spouse comes from a long line of railroad workers. Her father and paternal grandfather both were lifetime employees of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. As it turns out, her dad's maternal grandfather was also a railroad man.

In looking through some of the old photos we have, are a couple of pictures taken trackside along the B&O. These are in the railroad yard in Grafton, West Virginia in the late 19th or early 20th Century.

In both cases, the man on the right is the Lovely Spouse's great grandpa. I have no idea who the other man is. The B&O Railroad played an important part in the economy of the state of West Virginia, as it hauled the state's major natural resource, coal. I know railroad labor is very hard work, but if given the choice between that or working in a coal mine, I would definitely opt for the railroad.

In the second picture, the car on the left has a huge crane attached to it. Apparently it is used to load and unload the flat car to its right. It is also interesting that the flat car appears to be made of wood.

It is very interesting to look at old photos like this. It brings to life the people who came before us. We can see in their faces that although they lived in a very different time, they are not much different than we are. They worked to provide for their families, strugged to keep it all together, and although the technology of the age was not what we have today, we are not really different than they were.

It is too bad that photography is less than 200 years old. Wouldn't it be interesting to see pictures from the medival period, or perhaps from the Roman Empire or the Ming Dynasty? As usual, you may click on the photos to "biggify" them.

WTBO Sign

WTBO sign overlooking the city of Cumberland, Maryland

Hollywood has its iconic sign on a hill overlooking the town. So too, does Cumberland, Maryland. In Cumberland's instance, the sign is on the grounds of radio station WTBO. That station, as I have mentioned before, is the first commercial radio job I had back in 1973. At night, the sign's neon face sequentially lights up each letter.

I took this photo on a trip through Cumberland in 1995. Downtown is situated in the distance just out of the shot to the left. The view here is facing to the north. The tallest mountain in the distance is on the north side of town, and is named Wills Mountain, most of which is situated in the state of Pennsylvania, but which does come into Maryland at Cumberland. At the Maryland end of Wills Mountain is a pass; through the mountains where the old National Pike ran through the Appalachians. It is known as The Narrows, and the road today is US 40.

Chattanooga 1966

Here is yet another old photo I came across today. I took this with a cheap little box camera using 620 Kodacolor film. The photo has seen better days since it was damaged in a flood, but at least it is still viewable. What you see here is the view from Point Park on Lookout Mountain near Rock City. You are looking basically toward the north at the Tennessee River and the city of Chattanooga.

The freeway making the big, sweeping "S" curve along the river is Interstate 24. The interchange in the center of the picture is where US 27 peels away and heads north.

This picture was taken back in 1966, so that would make me 13 years old at the time. Hard to believe my oldest grandson is about to turn 14 this week!

Camping at Lake Livingston - 1970s Style

While shuffling through some old photographs, I found a stack from the late 1970s that brought back memories of a very fun time. My buddy, Dempsey, and I took several days off and went camping. We borrowed my dad's canvas tent (yep, a lot heavier than today's nylon tents), loaded up some pots and pans, sleeping bags, food, and fishing gear, and spent several days at Wolf Creek Park on the shores of Lake Livingston in southeast Texas near the town of Cold Spring.

The first picture is me and my fishing pole in front of the tent. The second picture is Dempsey washing the dishes. As I recall, we made some kind of a silly bet, and the loser had to wash the pots and dishes from our next meal. I cannot remember what the bet was about, but there may have been a card game involved. I decided to capture the result on film for posterity's sake.

We had a great time, fishing and hiking during the daylight hours, and sitting by the campfire, or playing cards by the light of the Coleman lantern during the evening.

The third photo is one of me, about 30 years younger than I am now. I appear to be sitting by the campfire, watching over a pot of beans or chili. In the background, you can see Lake Livingston.

I also recall that had we been dependent on our success as fishermen, Dempsey and I would have likely starved to death. If we caught any fish at all, they were way too small to feed us, so they got tossed back in the lake.