Sunday, November 30, 2008
I did not know that
Glenn Miller's 1940 hit "PEnnsylvania 6-5000″ refers to the telephone number of the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York City, where Miller's orchestra often played.
It still works: 212-736-5000 is the hotel's main number.
It still works: 212-736-5000 is the hotel's main number.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Those square-heads really know how to make the alphabet work for 'em
The Icelandic sentence Barbara Ara bar Ara araba bara rabbabara, besides being fun to say, is spelled with only three letters. It means "Barbara, daughter of Ari, brought only rhubarb to Ari the Arab."
Surging shoppers kill New York Wal-Mart worker
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A man working for discount retailer Wal-Mart was killed on Friday in a stampede by frenzied shoppers who broke down doors and surged into a Long Island, New York store, a police spokesman said.
The 34-year-old man was at the entrance of the Valley Stream Wal-Mart store just after it opened at 5 a.m. and was knocked to the ground, the police report said.
The exact cause of death was still to be determined by a medical examiner.
Four shoppers, including a 28-year-old pregnant woman, were also taken to local hospitals for injuries sustained in the incident, police said.
Wal-Mart said it was saddened by the death of the man, who was working for a temporary employment agency serving the retailer, and by the injuries suffered by shoppers.
"The safety and security of our customers and associates is our top priority," the world's largest retailer said in a statement. It said the incident was still under investigation and referred any other inquiries to local police.
New York's largest grocery workers union on Friday urged federal, state and local authorities to investigate what it called "Wal-Mart's failure to provide a safe workplace."
"This incident was avoidable," said Bruce Both, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500. "Where were the safety barriers? Where was security? ... This is not just tragic; it rises to a level of blatant irresponsibility by Wal-Mart."
Wal-Mart said it had added additional internal security, third party security, more store associates and had worked closely with local police.
"We also erected barricades. Despite all of our precautions, this unfortunate event occurred," Hank Mullany, a Wal-Mart senior vice president, said in a statement.
The Friday after America's Thanksgiving holiday is known as Black Friday and is traditionally the busiest retail day of the year, kicking off the Christmas shopping season.
U.S. stores across the country opened early to offer discounts to consumers hit by a contracting economy. Hundreds of shoppers waited in line before dawn at some locations to secure deals on holiday gifts.
(Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa in Washington)
(Reporting by Michele Gershberg; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Anthony Boadle)
via Reuters
Hey, idiots: Next year, try this instead.
The 34-year-old man was at the entrance of the Valley Stream Wal-Mart store just after it opened at 5 a.m. and was knocked to the ground, the police report said.
The exact cause of death was still to be determined by a medical examiner.
Four shoppers, including a 28-year-old pregnant woman, were also taken to local hospitals for injuries sustained in the incident, police said.
Wal-Mart said it was saddened by the death of the man, who was working for a temporary employment agency serving the retailer, and by the injuries suffered by shoppers.
"The safety and security of our customers and associates is our top priority," the world's largest retailer said in a statement. It said the incident was still under investigation and referred any other inquiries to local police.
New York's largest grocery workers union on Friday urged federal, state and local authorities to investigate what it called "Wal-Mart's failure to provide a safe workplace."
"This incident was avoidable," said Bruce Both, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500. "Where were the safety barriers? Where was security? ... This is not just tragic; it rises to a level of blatant irresponsibility by Wal-Mart."
Wal-Mart said it had added additional internal security, third party security, more store associates and had worked closely with local police.
"We also erected barricades. Despite all of our precautions, this unfortunate event occurred," Hank Mullany, a Wal-Mart senior vice president, said in a statement.
The Friday after America's Thanksgiving holiday is known as Black Friday and is traditionally the busiest retail day of the year, kicking off the Christmas shopping season.
U.S. stores across the country opened early to offer discounts to consumers hit by a contracting economy. Hundreds of shoppers waited in line before dawn at some locations to secure deals on holiday gifts.
(Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa in Washington)
(Reporting by Michele Gershberg; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Anthony Boadle)
via Reuters
Hey, idiots: Next year, try this instead.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Elbert Martin
In 1912, there was an assassination attempt on Teddy Roosevelt by John Schrank. He shot Roosevelt in the chest once. The would be assassin was then grabbed by Elbert Martin, who was a stenographer to Roosevelt. Martin wrestled the gun from Schrank, saving Roosevelt's life.
Roosevelt, bleeding, and shot in the chest, went ahead and gave his complete speech, and then went to the hospital. The letter in the photograph is Roosevelt's speech, and shows the hole from the bullet passing through it.
It really is my perfect job
Conductor: Stand clear of the doors. You are delaying service. (pause, then impatiently) Stand clear of the doors! You are delaying service! (pause) I will come back there and stab you if you do not get out of the doorway.
--Uptown 1 Train
Automated announcer: The next stop is 59th Street.
(people flee the train)
Conductor: The next stop on this train will be 14th Street, Union Square. Not 59th Street. ...you people take this train every day. You should know better than that, now come on!
--Uptown 4 Train
Via Overheard in New York
--Uptown 1 Train
Automated announcer: The next stop is 59th Street.
(people flee the train)
Conductor: The next stop on this train will be 14th Street, Union Square. Not 59th Street. ...you people take this train every day. You should know better than that, now come on!
--Uptown 4 Train
Via Overheard in New York
Thursday, November 27, 2008
It's all about respect
Soldier #1: Sir, are you going to do anything while on leave?
Lieutenant, sitting in the one shady spot in the blazing heat: Yeah, I think me and my cousin are going to get some fuckin beers, get all smashed, go out and get tattoos. It's gonna be cool shit. Grab some brews, bitches...way cool.
Soldier #2, walking up: Yeah? Are you going to get a tattoo of a penis on your forehead, dickhead?
(shocked silence)
Lieutenant (thoughtful): Naw...fuck that.
Iraq
Overheard by: TK- soldier#3 almost peed stopping from laughing
Lieutenant, sitting in the one shady spot in the blazing heat: Yeah, I think me and my cousin are going to get some fuckin beers, get all smashed, go out and get tattoos. It's gonna be cool shit. Grab some brews, bitches...way cool.
Soldier #2, walking up: Yeah? Are you going to get a tattoo of a penis on your forehead, dickhead?
(shocked silence)
Lieutenant (thoughtful): Naw...fuck that.
Iraq
Overheard by: TK- soldier#3 almost peed stopping from laughing
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
The Demon core
On Aug. 21, 1945, physicist Harry Daghlian accidentally dropped a brick of tungsten carbide into a plutonium bomb core at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The mass went critical, and Daghlian died of radiation sickness.
Exactly nine months later, physicist Louis Slotin was conducting an experiment on the same mass of plutonium when his screwdriver slipped and the mass again went critical. He too died of radiation sickness.
The mass became known as "the demon core."
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
London’s Heart Hospital teamed up with the extremely talented visual effects studio, Glassworks, to create HeartWorks, the most anatomically accurate 3D beating human heart.
The massive project was led by a team of three cardiac anesthesiologists at London’s Heart Hospital who were dissapointed with the absence of an accurate model of the heart to use for teaching transesophageal echocardiography (cardiac ultrasound). The procedure provides important details on the condition of a patient’s heart prior to undergoing heart surgery. It entails passing an ultrasound probe through the patients mouth and down into the esophagus. The ultrasound signal has to pass through the esophageal wall to get to the heart, which is just millimeters away.
More here, with links to the Heartworks site.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Single-Celled Giant Upends Early Evolution
Nov. 20, 2008 -- Slowly rolling across the ocean floor, a humble single-celled creature is poised to revolutionize our understanding of how complex life evolved on Earth.
A distant relative of microscopic amoebas, the grape-sized Gromia sphaerica was discovered once before, lying motionless at the bottom of the Arabian Sea. But when Mikhail Matz of the University of Texas at Austin and a group of researchers stumbled across a group of G. sphaerica off the coast of the Bahamas, the creatures were leaving trails behind them up to 50 centimeters (20 inches) long in the mud.
from Discovery News
A distant relative of microscopic amoebas, the grape-sized Gromia sphaerica was discovered once before, lying motionless at the bottom of the Arabian Sea. But when Mikhail Matz of the University of Texas at Austin and a group of researchers stumbled across a group of G. sphaerica off the coast of the Bahamas, the creatures were leaving trails behind them up to 50 centimeters (20 inches) long in the mud.
from Discovery News
Vampire killing kit
A complete and authentic vampire killing kit — made around 1800 and complete with stakes, mirrors, a gun with silver bullets, crosses, a Bible, holy water, candles and even garlic, all housed in a American walnut case with a carved cross on top — attained $14,850 in the Jimmy Pippen estate sale by Stevens October 3–4 in the new Natchez Convention Center.
From here
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
I don't remember this happening in Chicago
Conductor: Hey, partner, can we go? (static) We can't? Why the heck not? Hey, moron, get your ass in here! You're holding up a bunch of wonderful people! Wonderful New York commuters who don't need this kind of fucking bullshit at 3 on a Friday afternoon! (static) Yes, you! Keep pointing at yourself and my answer will keep being... Yes, it's you! Goddammit, get in the fucking train! I hate dealing with this! (long pause) You know what, make a decision: either cram your Rosie O'Donnell ass in or get the fuck out! Oh, look, he's in! (slow, sarcastic applause) Partner, we can bounce up on out of here now.
--1 Train
Overheard In New York, of course
--1 Train
Overheard In New York, of course
Weather seen on Dwarf Planet
Strange weather on the icy dwarf planet Eris could be causing changes that scientists are now seeing at the methane-ice surface of this distant object in our solar system.
Eris is the largest known solar-system object beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is larger than Pluto, with a diameter of ranging somewhere between about 1,490 miles and 1,860 miles (2,400 km and 3,000 km).
A team of researchers examined data on Eris collected from the MMT Observatory in Arizona. They specifically looked at concentrations of methane ice based on light-reflection and absorption information.
Their results show possibly nitrogen ice mixed in with the methane ice covering Eris' surface. And the relative amount of nitrogen ice increases with depth into the ice, they found.
More from Space.com
Eris is the largest known solar-system object beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is larger than Pluto, with a diameter of ranging somewhere between about 1,490 miles and 1,860 miles (2,400 km and 3,000 km).
A team of researchers examined data on Eris collected from the MMT Observatory in Arizona. They specifically looked at concentrations of methane ice based on light-reflection and absorption information.
Their results show possibly nitrogen ice mixed in with the methane ice covering Eris' surface. And the relative amount of nitrogen ice increases with depth into the ice, they found.
More from Space.com
Say "goodnight", Gracie
Married: Moses Alexander, aged 93, to Mrs. Frances Tompkins, aged 105. They were married in Bath, Steuben county, N. Y., June 11, 1831. They were both taken out of bed dead the following morning.
– The Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society, 1938
Via Futility Closet
– The Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society, 1938
Via Futility Closet
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
It all becomes clear
(CNN) — Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said that even though his party didn’t win the presidential election, he has at least one thing to be happy about.
“I can get back into the bedroom, so there's the big advantage,” the California governor said Sunday on CNN’s “Late Edition.”...
...Schwarzenegger said his wife has been “gloating now for these last few days” and running around the house with a life-size cutout of Obama saying, “We won.”
From CNN
So, do all women taunt men with life size stand-ups of their nemesis?
“I can get back into the bedroom, so there's the big advantage,” the California governor said Sunday on CNN’s “Late Edition.”...
...Schwarzenegger said his wife has been “gloating now for these last few days” and running around the house with a life-size cutout of Obama saying, “We won.”
From CNN
So, do all women taunt men with life size stand-ups of their nemesis?
Monday, November 10, 2008
Human Brain Tissue Made From Stem Cells
Nov. 6, 2008 -- Japanese researchers said Thursday they had created functioning human brain tissues from stem cells, a world first that has raised new hopes for the treatment of disease.
Stem cells taken from human embryos have been used to form tissues of the cerebral cortex, the supreme control tower of the brain, according to researchers at the government-backed research institute Riken.
From Discovery News
Stem cells taken from human embryos have been used to form tissues of the cerebral cortex, the supreme control tower of the brain, according to researchers at the government-backed research institute Riken.
From Discovery News
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Saturday, November 1, 2008
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