Good dog. And hooray for a kid getting out of having to do his outdoor chores! Lugging firewood in the cold is a royal pain.
FILE--Angel the golden retriever is shown in a family handout photo. The way Lloyd Forman sees it, his 11-year-old grandson was saved by an Angel. That's the name of the golden retriever who protected young Austin from a charging cougar during a bloody, against-all-odds confrontation Saturday in the tiny British Columbia community of Boston Bar, about 200 kilometres northeast of Vancouver. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Forman Family handout
Angel the golden retriever is shown after a battle with a cougar in Boston Bar, B.C. in this RCMP handout photo. The way Lloyd Forman sees it, his 11-year-old grandson was saved by an Angel. That's the name of the golden retriever who protected young Austin from a charging cougar during a bloody, against-all-odds confrontation Saturday in the tiny British Columbia community of Boston Bar, about 200 kilometres northeast of Vancouver. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-RCMP
A B.C. family’s pet dog is being credited with prevented a potentially deadly attack on a child in the community of Boston Bar
Justine Hunter | Globe and Mail | Sunday, Jan. 03, 2010
Austin Forman was hauling firewood in his backyard on the weekend – one of the 11-year-old’s weekly chores – when his golden retriever, Angel, began acting strange.
“He thought that was kind of cool, she was following him around,” the boy’s father, Jay Forman, recalled Sunday from his home in Boston Bar, B.C., a rural community about 200 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.
“Angel is a year-and-a-half old, she’s like a teenager that has been drinking Starbucks coffee for a week straight, nothing slows her down and she only listens to you about half the time.”
It was already dark on Saturday evening and Austin had little time to react when he discovered the reason for Angel’s strange behaviour. The boy spotted what he first thought was a strange dog emerge from the shadows. Just two metres away, the cat charged at him.
“He was like: Aw, crap, it’s a cougar.”
But Angel was ready – the young dog leapt at the hungry cougar and “took the whack,” Mr. Forman said. The boy escaped inside his home while the two animals battled for several minutes. “The cougar was latched onto her head, you could hear both the dog and the cougar screaming. Then it went silent.”
RCMP Constable Chad Gravelle was less than a minute away from the home when he got an emergency call about a cougar mauling and a child. In the small community, he knows the Forman kids and arrived fearing the worst.
“When I found it was the dog, I was relieved,” he said.
This is not a new story but ANY firsts are durable stories. I appreciate space firsts.
John Grunsfeld, Drew Good, Mike Massimino, Andrew Feustel...STS-125 Mission Specialists, from left, Mike Massimino, Drew Good, Andrew Feustel, and Jon Grunsfeld pose for a photo after leaving the operations and checkout building Monday May 11, 2009 at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The four will handle all the space walks during the mission. Seven astronauts are scheduled to liftoff on a 12-day mission that includes the fifth and final servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
First Tweet From Space by @Astro_Mike
www.digitaljournal.com | May 12, 2009
Today, NASA astronaut Mike Massimino, who is hurtling around the Earth at a top speed of around 8,000 meters per second, sent the first ever “tweet” from space.
On Tuesday, Twitter got even more publicity and achieved another first –the first tweet from space.
NASA Astronaut, Michael J. Massimino has over 235,000 followers on his Twitter account and he is quite possibly the best publicity that NASA has had in a long, long time.
@Astro_Mike’s been twittering since early April and in the lead up to the launch, many wondered if he would have time to tweet once the mission began. Each astronaut has a full day’s tasks scheduled so as not to waste any of the precious minutes available to them while in flight.
The answer came about 24 hours into the flight, when @Astro_Mike issued the following tweet:
From orbit: Launch was awesome!! I am feeling great, working hard, & enjoying the magnificent views, the adventure of a lifetime has begun!
and “Space, the final frontier” for social networking was realized.
NASA itself has its own Twitter account and regularly updates followers about what is happening on the flight as well as other operational happenings.
Trijicon's Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight (ACOG). At the end of the scope's model number is 'JN8:12', a reference to the New Testament book of John, Chapter 8, Verse 12, which reads: 'Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.' ABC News
Contractor to remove Bible references from guns
AP | www.stuff.co.nz | 22/01/2010
A Michigan defence contractor will voluntarily stop stamping references to Bible verses on combat rifle sights made for the US military, a major buyer of the company’s gear.
In a statement released Thursday, Trijicon of Wixom, Michigan, says it is also providing to the armed forces free of charge modification kits to remove the Scripture citations from the telescoping sights already in use. Through multimillion dollar contracts, the Marine Corps and Army have bought more than 300,000 Trijicon sights.
The references to Bible passages raised concerns that the citations break a government rule that bars proselytizing by American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, which are predominantly Muslim countries.
A spokesman for US Central Command initially said the Trijicon sights didn’t violate the ban and compared the citations on the sights to the “In God We Trust” inscription printed on US currency.
On Thursday, however, Army General David Petraeus, Central Command’s top officer, called the practice “disturbing.”
“This is a serious concern to me and the other commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Petraeus told an audience at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
In a statement issued later by the command, Petraeus said that “cultural and religious sensitivities are important considerations in the conduct of military operations.”
New Zealand announced Thursday that they would remove the citations from the sights they have, and Australia, which also uses the sights, is assessing what to do.
Punxsutawney Phil is greeted by a member of the Inner Circle of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club on Tuesday. (Canadian Press)
Whoa, what are the odds of it snowing in PA in February?
Punxsutawney Phil vindicated, snow falls in Pa.
Lebanon Daily News | The Associated Press | 02/03/2010
NEW HOLLAND, Pa.—Maybe Punxsutawney Phil was right.
A day after Phil’s Groundhog Day prediction of six more weeks of winter, a few inches of snow fell across much of eastern Pennsylvania, delaying school and making some roads slick.
The National Weather Service says 3 1/2 inches fell in New Holland, Lancaster County. Between 1 1/2 and 2 inches fell across the Philadelphia region.
Many school districts in central Pennsylvania and east toward the Philadelphia suburbs were delayed Wednesday morning. Philadelphia’s public schools are opening on time.
The most famous groundhog in Pennsylvania had his big day today. Punxsutawney Phil, speaking in Groundhogese to his guardians the Inner Circle, predicted 6 more weeks of winter.
Check out the long video that gives a good idea of the scale and pace of this annual outdoor event. Fans of Phil were lucky as it much warmer this year than it has been in past years in Gobbler’s Knob.
The Inner Circle are well dressed world class bull shitters, with the pomp and dignity one would expect from white guys fluent in Groundhogese.
Phil appears younger, slimmer and smaller than he has in past years.
Groundhog Punxsutawney Phil Sees Shadow–And Long Winter
Groundhog Day 2010 sees Phil’s first text message but a hacked Twitter post.
nationalgeographic.com | February 2, 2010 | Ker Than
Don’t pack away those winter clothes just yet: This morning famed groundhog forecaster Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, meaning winter temperatures in 2010 will continue for six more weeks—if you believe that sort of thing.
“Speaking” to his select group of human handlers, known as the Inner Circle, in Groundhogese, Punxsutawney Phil indicated that he had seen his shadow after emerging from his temporary burrow – a simulated tree stump at the rural site of Gobbler’s Knob in the small town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.
“Phil saw his shadow, so it’s six more weeks of winter,” said Richard Bonds, director of social media for visitpa.com, Pennsylvania’s official tourism Web site.
Punxsutawney Phil: Groundhog Day Rock Star
Tradition has it that if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow on Groundhog Day—always February 2—winter weather will continue for six more weeks across the United States. But if Phil doesn’t see his shadow, then spring temperatures are just around the corner. (See “No Winter by 2105? Study Offers Grim Forecast for U.S.”)
Thousands of revelers converged on Punxsutawney this morning to hear the overweight groundhog’s prediction.
“Groundhog Day is a lot like a rock concert, but the people are better behaved and there’s a groundhog involved,” said Tom Chapin, editor of the Punxsutawney Spirit newspaper.
“There’s music and entertainment, spoofs of game shows, and people shooting T-shirts and Beanie Babies” into the crowd, he said.
This year “immortal” Punxsutawney Phil—supposedly born no later than the 19th century—broadcast his Groundhog Day prediction in some decidedly 21st-century ways.
On the Pennsylvania-tourism Facebook page, Punxsutawney Phil fans responded to his prognostication with lots of “nos” and “boos.” One commenter asked, “Does this forecast count for Europe? In which case I am pushing the dislike button.”
People interested in Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction also had the option of receiving his forecast by text message or through Twitter. Unfortunately, many of the Groundhog Day text messages didn’t go out on time, and the Twitter account for visitpa.com was apparently hacked, so Phil’s forecast wasn’t posted there either, Bonds said.
“Somebody got into our Twitter account. It was compromised,” he said.
Self assured and confident, Mitchell played a business magnate with ease on All My Children.
Mr Mitchell in a 2005 photo.
As an actor and dancer, James Mitchell had a long, varied, successful showbiz career. Until he passed I didn’t realize he had a career in dance or as an Ivy League Arts educator. Nor did I realize he had a long time partner. Condolences to his long time partner, family, peers and friends.
Below is a clip of him dancing.
Below is a clip of him acting.
‘All My Children’ actor James Mitchell dies
By Jo Piazza, Special to CNN | January 25, 2010
(CNN) — James Mitchell, the stage actor and dancer who was best known for portraying wealthy patriarch Palmer Cortlandt on the soap opera “All My Children” for nearly 30 years, died Friday at age 89.
Mitchell died of pneumonia contracted after a years-long battle with pulmonary disease, according to a statement released by ABC.
His final appearance was January 5 for the show’s 40th anniversary episode.
Mitchell had studied drama at Los Angeles City College in California. After receiving a degree, he joined a Los Angeles dance company, where he worked for four years before moving to New York to try starting his own dance company.
As he struggled to make it as a professional dancer, Mitchell appeared in many Broadway productions including “Brigadoon,” “Paint Your Wagon” and “Bloomer Girl.”
He also taught movement for actors at Juilliard, Yale and Drake University in Iowa.
He took on the role of villainous businessman Cortlandt in 1979. He appeared in more than 300 episodes of the soap opera and was a regular on the show until 2008.
Fans expressed their condolences over Twitter and on “All my Children” message boards Monday morning, remembering Mitchell and his character as feisty and legendary.
He is survived by his partner, Albert Wolsky. Memorial services will be at a later date.
A single-engine Cessna aircraft belonging to KYW Newsradio 1060 in Philadelphia made an emergency landing on the NJ Turnpike in Cherry Hill.
Small plane lands on turnpike in Cherry Hill
Peter Mucha | Feb. 1, 2010 | Inquirer Staff Writer
About 6:45 this morning, a small plane, monitoring traffic for local radio and TV stations, made an emergency landing on the New Jersey Turnpike in Cherry Hill.
The Cessna landed safely, and no one was hurt, according to state police in Moorestown.
It landed on the northbound side, about two miles south of Interchange 4, off Route 73. One lane of traffic was getting by as of shortly after 7 a.m., but traffic backed up for miles.
Shortly after 7:30 a.m., the plane was loaded onto the large flatbed of a tow truck and hauled away.
“It was up flying traffic surveillance for us,” said Charlie Yeirauch, regional director for Metro Networks Westwood One, which provides reports to about 30 local radio and TV stations.
Traffic reporter / spotter Mike Lankford was on board, but was not the pilot, Yeirauch said.
The plane took off from Northeast Airport around 6 a.m., and was over the Route 42-Route 55 area in South Jersey when the engine started sputtering the losing power, according to Steven Russell, president of Out of the Blue Inc., which operates the plane every day for Metro.
The pilot told Fox29 the engine lost oil pressure, and oil was visibly leaking from the plane as it was being inspected in a turnpike maintenance yard.
He said he was losing altitude too quickly to make it to another airfield, and had to glide to a landing on the highway.
caption id=”attachment_3472″ align=”alignnone” width=”316″ caption=”Larry Platt performs his rap "Pants on the Ground" outside his home in Atlanta, Thursday,, Jan. 14, 2010 in Atlanta. Platt performed the song during an audition for American Idol. John Bazemore / AP Photo “][/caption]
Larry Platt is the first pop sensation of 2010. The 63 (or 62) year old’s American Idol audition got aired and his performance of his original song “Pants on the Ground,” was a huge sensation.
Now he’s got a record deal, and Brett Favre and his team The Vikings did a “Pants on the Ground” chant after the Minnesota Vikings’ victory over the Dallas Cowboys and even famous people are spoofing the catchy tune.
“Pants on the Ground” is a scathing criticism of youth fashion. On ABC’s The View he explained the inspiration, “I was walking one day…I see a guy with a baby bottle in his mouth, pacifier, with his pants on the ground. That’s what gave me an inspiration.”
Even before his Idol audition, Mr. Platt has had a full and interesting life. At 16 Larry Platt became active in the Civil Rights movement. He worked with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Georgia, organizing sit-ins in the South. During the Bloody Sunday march from Selma, Ala., to Montgomery he was beaten. The Rev. Hosea Williams gave him his nickname, “General,” because of his heroic efforts on behalf of the civil-rights movement.
Because of “his great energy and commitment to equality and the protection of the innocent and for his outstanding service to the Atlanta community and the citizens of Georgia.” The Georgia General Assembly proclaimed Sept. 4, 2001, Larry Platt Day in Atlanta.
Sources for this:
Pants on the Ground’ Keeps Dropping Hits, Jan. 20, 2010, www.cbsnews.com
Arts in Brief, Compiled by DAVE ITZKOFF, January 18, 2010, www.nytimes.com
General Larry Platt: A closer look, Jan 13, 2010, www.usatoday.com
PANTS ON THE GROUND LYRICS
Pants on the ground
Pants on the ground
Lookin’ like a fool with your pants on the ground
With the gold in your mouth
Hat turned sideways
Pants hit the ground
Call yourself a cool cat
Lookin’ like a fool
Walkin’ downtown with your pants on the ground
Get it up, hey!
Get your pants off the ground
Lookin’ like a fool
Walkin’ talkin’ with your pants on the ground.
Get it up, hey!
Get your pants off the ground
Lookin’ like a fool with your pants on the ground
With the murder of Chris Davis, the South Carolina community where Davis lived looks back and reflects on Mr Davis and the Lizardman. This is a thoughtful summation of the Lizardman Phenomenon told from a local perspective.
Photo of Scape Ore Swamp
Photograph depicting a young, 17-year-old Davis standing near the site off Browntown Road where he says he was attacked. From an article, “Bumps in the night?” from July 20, 1988.
Sketch created by Davis of the creature that attacked him.
Cast of Lizardman Tracks
Finding the “founding father” of the Lizard Man
Jun 20, 2009 | www.theitem.com
Since I started working full time at The Item in November 2001, I can personally say that I’ve fielded calls several times from national and even international media looking for images on one of two things, Lee County’s Lizard Man and Pee Wee Gaskins.
Thursday morning on the way to work I was called and told that we had a shooting overnight on DuBose Siding Road. I was tasked with getting a picture of the house where the shooting took place. During my search and communication back with the office I was told that we thought the individual that was shot and killed was Chris Davis. The Item’s Lee County ace reporter Randy Burns had brought up the point that he thought this very well could be the Christopher Davis that had a run in with the Lizard Man. I’m not sure when the connections were made and the fact checking was complete, but in the end, one thing was for sure — this was indeed our man.
As I was preparing to leave this evening I was informed that we were in search of head shot of Mr. Davis.
My initial reaction was, AHA! I had heard our newsroom clerk Sandra Holbert talking about a folder that she inherited when she started working here that contained articles about the Lizard Man. So I went in search of it. I found it along with photograph depicting a young, 17-year-old Davis standing near the site off Browntown Road where he says he was attacked – the article was titled “Bumps in the night?” from July 20, 1988.
To make a long story short, as I scanned in Davis’ photo I began looking and scanning over the various articles that had been amassed in this folder, written during the past 20-plus years. I then kept finding things I thought you, our readers, might be interested in seeing. I was consumed!
I’ve now spent the last two hours – when I was supposed to be finalizing another project for today’s online edition – reading, scanning, making PDFs and retyping excerpts from some of the articles that were written.
Even though Picasso was prolific his works are still precious. I’m glad it wasn’t a Vermeer. I’m reminded of a story, that I don’t have posted here about a man who stumbled at a British museum and destroyed a giant precious vase.
Woman Collides With a Picasso
By CAROL VOGEL; Compiled by RACHEL LEE HARRIS | January 24, 2010 | New York Times
On Friday afternoon a woman taking an adult education class at the Metropolitan Museum of Art accidentally lost her balance and fell into “The Actor,” right, a rare Rose Period Picasso, tearing the canvas about six inches along its lower right-hand corner. Immediately after the accident the painting was taken to the Met’s conservation studio so experts could assess the damage, museum officials said. A statement released by the Met on Sunday afternoon said, “The damage did not occur in the focal point of the composition and the curatorial and conservation staffs fully expect that the repair — which will take place in the coming weeks — will be unobtrusive.” The canvas — about 6 ½ feet by 4 feet — was hanging on the wall of a second-floor gallery with other early Picassos. The museum declined to identify the woman, but said she was not injured. Picasso created the painting, which depicts an itinerant acrobat theatrically posed, during the winter of 1904-5. Museum officials said they expected the repair to be completed in time for “Picasso in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,” an exhibition of some 250 works from its collection opening on April 27.
