Archive | June, 2010

Hoagie day to feature mile long hoagie

30 Jun

Wow, a mile long hoagie, that’s a LOT of hoagie but a great way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of hoagie day. Because this is happening in Philadelphia, where the food was born. it’s called a hoagie, not a sub, grinder, po’ boy or submarine sandwich.

Gotta get pics of “Hoagieman in his Hoagie-mobile.”

HOE-ghee.

On June 30th, come check out a hoagie long enough to stretch over a mile down the Parkway (Photo by G. Widman)

Below is the official press release.

Wawa Hoagie Day is Back. . . and Better than Ever
Wawa Welcome America! features the return of ‘Hoagie Day,’ a Rocky Screening and Mayor Michael Nutter proclaiming June 30 officially as ‘Hoagie Heritage Day.’

Wawa, PA. (June 30, 2010) – Wawa today proudly announced that after a 10- year hiatus, Wawa is bringing ‘Hoagie Day’ back to the Welcome America! Celebration to mark its title sponsorship of the festival.

On Wednesday June 30 at 7 p.m., Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter is joining Philadelphia police officers and firefighters, Wawa associates and hoagie-lovers across the city for the most jam-packed and exciting Hoagie Day to date.

Welcome America! is Philadelphia’s July 4th celebration showcasing America’s birthplace over 11 days. Fittingly, this year’s Hoagie Day will be held near the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum to celebrate two of Philadelphia’s most

iconic symbols: the hoagie and Rocky.
Wawa’s 2010 Hoagie Day Celebration will feature a variety of Philadelphia and hoagie-centric activities including the building and serving of a 1 ¼ mile long hoagie, the search for the next Rocky look-alike as part of the Philly @ the Movies Rocky Contest, and a screening of the classic film, Rocky, at the conclusion of the Hoagie Day festivities.

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Man texts bad joke-cops show up

29 Jun

Whoops!

Texting Man Pulls Bank Prank; Police Don’t LOL
Girlfriend didn’t get the joke
By MATT BARTOSIK  |  www.nbcchicago.com |  Dec 18, 2009

When a Crest Hill man texted his girlfriend, he was J/K about a bank robbery, but police weren’t LOL.

Jeremy S. Donaldson, 33, was inside a Harris Bank branch in Joliet just before 1 p.m. on Monday. Outside, his girlfriend sat in the car and waited, wondering what was taking so long.

Donaldson, bored in line, sent her a cell phone message as a prank.

“He sent her a text message saying a man with a gun was inside the bank,” said Deputy Chief Mike Trafton.

But the 36-year-old woman didn’t realize it was supposed to be a joke. Faster than you can say “OMG,” the girlfriend called 911 to report a bank robbery, and several police quickly showed up.

“We take any such report very seriously and had a very heavy police response with many officers rushing to the bank,” said Trafton.

The Joliet police weren’t laughing, and neither was Donaldson. He was arrested on a felony charge of disorderly conduct and booked into the Will County Jail.

His only message now is “BRB.”

The one that got away-$1 million fish story

28 Jun

Betcha they’ll make sure they have a license next time!

On the bright side the gaffe has garnered more press for this story than it would have gotten otherwise. This mammoth of a marlin is a rare thing indeed. Overfishing, pollution, gosh you-name-it and it has greatly reduced the number of very old, very large fish in the sea.

I’m very pleased, that in the end, after 2 lie detector tests, and days of bargaining the fish, the big dead fish got the last laugh.

Boat co-owner Duncan A. Thomasson is dwarfed by his catch, which was 50 pounds heavier than past winners. Photo Credit: Chris Miller/daily News Via Associated Press

Citation angler Andy Thomasson of Richmond, left, and Eric Holmes stand next to their 883-pound blue marlin, which broke the record for the biggest blue marlin in the 52-year history of the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament in Morehead City, N.C., June 14, 2010. (Chris Miller | The Daily News via The Associated Press)

Fishing license dispute costs Virginia team $1 million prize in Outer Banks Big Rock Blue Marlin contest
By Annie Gowen | Washington Post Staff Writer | Thursday, June 24, 2010

After a two-hour struggle with the gigantic fish off North Carolina’s Outer Banks, Alexandria resident Peter Wann pulled with all his strength and the creature emerged from the ocean depths.

He and his four sport fishing teammates could finally see what they had been struggling against — an 883-pound blue marlin spanning 137 inches, the biggest fish any of them had ever seen.

“My eyes were wide,” Wann said of the June 14 catch. “Once it got up, everybody started freaking out, saying, ‘Holy smokes!’ Everybody was so excited.”

But as the exhausted and elated teammates steamed back to shore — certain that their catch would win the grand prize of nearly $1 million in the annual Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament — they began checking to make sure the paperwork was in order. Wann’s heart sank when he read the rule book. He thought the entire boat was licensed to compete. Turns out, all individuals had to have a valid state fishing license. Even Wann, the hired first mate.

His mind raced. He had a license at one time, hadn’t he? Heart in his throat, he logged onto the state’s Web site as soon as the boat was in wireless range.

Then big, bad news: His license had long expired.

“I looked at it, and I was like, [expletive],” recalled Wann, 22, a George Washington University senior who is studying mechanical engineering.

Wann renewed it wirelessly and hoped for the best. That was at 5:51 p.m. The team had reeled in the fish at 3:16 p.m.

Eight days, two lie detector tests, and hours of scrutiny and agonizing deliberation later, tournament officials made their decision. They would not be awarding the prize to Wann and his teammates from the boat Citation.

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Last surviving Ziegfeld girl dies at 106

27 Jun

What a great life!

Obituary: Doris Eaton Travis, 106, was a chorus girl in the Ziegfeld Follies
By Adam Bernstein  |  Washington Post Staff Writer  |  Thursday, May 13, 2010

Doris Eaton Travis, who died May 11 at age 106, traversed one of the longest and more inspiring careers in show business. On stage since childhood, she was the youngest chorus girl ever hired in the Ziegfeld Follies, a popular theatrical spectacle of the early 20th century designed to “glorify the American girl.”

By the time of her death from an aneurysm at a hospital in Commerce, Mich., Mrs. Travis was the last surviving chorus girl from the Follies, according to Ziegfeld archivist Nils Hanson. He said Mrs. Travis’s death “marks the end of the Ziegfeld golden era of Broadway.”

An American counterpart to the Folies Bergre in Paris, the original Ziegfeld Follies ran from 1907 to 1931 and featured some of the top entertainers of the day, including W.C. Fields and Will Rogers. It introduced songs by Irving Berlin and other leading pop composers.

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‘Menstruating ghost’ film stirs controversy

26 Jun

Sexploitation knows no national boundaries.

‘Menstruating ghost’ film stirs controversy
By Adam Gartrell in Jakarta  |  From: AAP  |  February 04, 2010  | www.news.com.au

A NEW Indonesian horror movie about a menstruating ghost has the country’s clerics up in arms.

Hantu Puncak Datang Bulan – The Menstruating Ghost of Puncak – opened in Jakarta today ahead of a planned national run.

But it’s become the latest in a long line of films to fall foul of the Indonesian Council of Ulemas, or MUI.

The religious body has prohibited Muslims from watching the film because of its sexual and violent content.

“The film is filled with pornography, which indulges the libido and, based on our research, it contains violence,” the MUI’s Amirsyah Tambunan told Kompas.com.

“We urge the LSF to use its power to stop the movie from being screened because it could damage the nation’s morals.”

The trailer for the film, available on YouTube, shows several scenes of young female star Andi Soraya in various stages of undress.

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2010 award winning illusion

25 Jun

Well done. The construction is impeccable.

‘Impossible motion’ trick wins Illusion Contest
11 May 2010  |  by James Urquhart  |  www.newscientist.com

A gravity-defying illusion has won the 2010 Best Illusion of the Year Contest, held yesterday in Naples, Florida.

The visual trick involves a 3D construction of four slopes that appear to extend downwards away from a common centre (see video). When wooden balls are placed on the slopes, however, they bizarrely roll upwards as if a magnet is pulling them.

But the “Impossible Motion” illusion, created by Kokichi Sugihara of the Meiji Institute for Advanced Study of Mathematical Sciences in Kawasaki, Japan, is soon dispelled when it’s viewed from a different perspective – each slope is actually sloping downwards towards a common centre.

We’re fooled because we make the assumption that each supporting column of the object is vertical, and that the longest column in the centre is the highest. But in reality, the columns and slopes are angled to create the illusion.

World’s oldest shoes discovered in Armenia

24 Jun

World’s Oldest Leather Shoe Found—Stunningly Preserved
“Astonishingly modern” shoe preserved by sheep dung and dryness.
Kate Ravilious for National Geographic News  |  June 9, 2010

A Manolo Blahnik it isn’t.

Still, the world’s oldest known leather shoe, revealed Wednesday, struck one of the world’s best known shoe designers as shockingly au courant. “It is astonishing,” Blahnik said via email, “how much this shoe resembles a modern shoe!”

Stuffed with grass, perhaps as an insulator or an early shoe tree, the 5,500-year-old moccasin-like shoe was found exceptionally well preserved—thanks to a surfeit of sheep dung—during a recent dig in an Armenian cave.

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Volunteer in charity groin wax nearly loses a testicle

23 Jun

Articles are a bit vague on where exactly Mr Cooper was injured but one can use their imagination if he opted for the ‘back, sack and crack’ and it was his ‘inner thigh’ that lost the 8 inches of skin. Fair skinned people should be waxed (and tan) with great care.

He seems like such a nice guy, too. Get well soon Joe!

Volunteer in charity groin wax nearly loses a testicle
By Daily Mail Reporter  |  16th June 2010

A man who took part in a charity groin wax was rushed to hospital after it nearly ripped off his testicle.

Builder Joe Cooper, 24, agreed to a ‘back, sack and crack’ to raise money for his local hospital.

But he ended up needing medical treatment himself when a wax strip tore off his flesh and missed his right testicle by half an inch.

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Yankees clarify Lady Gaga’s access

22 Jun

What great publicity for Lady Gaga and for the Yankees.

Click an image to view it larger.


Yanks clarify Lady Gaga’s access
By Andrew Marchand | ESPNNewYork.com | June 21, 2010

NEW YORK — Lady Gaga is still welcome at Yankee Stadium, but just not in the clubhouse. Especially not after a loss.

“She’s not banned,” New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman said on Sunday afternoon. “Celebrities aren’t banned. If Michael Jordan showed up here he would have access [to the clubhouse], but not after a loss.”

Following the Yankees’ loss to the New York Mets on Friday night, Lady Gaga talked her way past security and into the Yankees’ clubhouse. She reportedly met with some players, including Robinson Cano. The media, which is supposed to be allowed into the clubhouse 10 minutes after the final pitch, was held out.

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Drunken parrots falling from sky

21 Jun

I wonder if the local weatherman warned people of the falling drunken parrots?

Red-collared lorikeets range from The Kimberly coast to the western margins of the Gulf of Carpentaria (Credit: Mitch Reardon)

Drunken parrots falling from sky
By: John Pickrell/Melissa Leong with AAP | June-4-2010  |  www.australiangeographic.com.au

Parrots intoxicated by a mystery substance are dropping out of the sky near Darwin.

SEEMINGLY DRUNKEN AND HUNGOVER parrots are dropping out of the sky in the Northern Territory and experts are at a loss to explain why.

The red-collared lorikeets lose coordination and pass out after eating a mystery food, Lisa Hansen, of the Ark Animal Hospital at Palmerston, near Darwin said on Thursday. Red-collared lorikeets are an NT subspecies of the rainbow lorikeet (Trichoglossus rubritorquis).

“It happens every year around this season, they lose all balance and we find them fallen out of trees and the sky,” she says. “Unless someone intervenes, they can’t fly and will get picked up by predators.”

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Hangover molecule discovered in brain

20 Jun

Perfect post for a summer Sunday morning. Isn’t science wonderful? Makes me wonder how the research in to stupidity and impulsiveness is going.

Random image of someone about to have a hangover. Even though it could be a staged image it's better than the standard man with an ice bag on his head.


Scientists determine brain molecule that causes hangovers
BY Tracy Miller  |  DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER |  May 11th 2010, 1:11 PM  |  www.nydailynews.com

Barflies, meet your worst enemy: the neuropeptide.

The brain-signalling molecule has been determined by scientists as the source of hangovers, according to a study from the University of Southampton School of Biological Sciences.

From studying worms – whose simple brains are similar in makeup to the human brain – the scientists were able to see how alcohol affects signalling in the brain, triggering withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety, agitation and seizures, according to LiveScience.

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Nine-year-old gives birth in China

19 Jun

Happy Father’s Day!

The only good news is “In Songyuan, sex with a child under the age of 14 attracts a mandatory rape conviction and jail sentence.”  Sources at the hospital say it is “Not known how she had become pregnant” which makes me seriously wonder about medical education in China. The only thing worse than this 9 year old giving birth is the last sentence that mentions the 5 year old Peruvian girl.

At this time I would like to revel in my cultural imperialism and do a superiority dance. I live in a culture that will not let elementary school girls who’ve been raped and impregnated carry to term and I’m damn glad of it.

Nine-year-old gives birth: report
February 4, 2010  |  www.smh.com.au

A nine-year-old girl has reportedly become one of the world’s youngest mothers after giving birth to a baby boy in China.

The girl, from Songyuan, in China’s north-east, was taken to hospital in nearby Changchun when she was 8½ months pregnant, the Daily Mail reported.

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