HUALAPAI INDIAN RESERVATION, Ariz. — "JetMan" has soared over the Swiss Alps and rocketed above the English Channel and early today he was given permission to soar over his next target — the Grand Canyon.
Swiss daredevil Yves Rossy was wasting no time, preparing to fly in the next few hours after the Federal Aviation Administration approved plans to use Arizona's scenic wonder as a backdrop for his first U.S. flight in a jet-propelled wing suit.
Washington state has become the first in the nation to ban toxic asphalt sealants made from cancer-causing industrial waste that have been spread over vast swaths of the nation’s cities and suburbs. Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire signed the measure today, making Washington the largest government to ban or restrict coal tar asphalt sealants. Last month, Prior Lake, Minn., joined a growing number of local governments to ban them. The Washington state legislation and Doggett’s drive for a nationwide ban flowed from studies by the U.S. Geological Survey, which showed that components of the toxic sealants are increasing in many waterways, while levels of most pollutants are declining.
Here it is. I'm dead, and this is my last post to my blog. In advance, I asked that once my body finally shut down from the punishments of my cancer, then my family and friends publish this prepared message I wrote — the first part of the process of turning this from an active website to an archive.
If you knew me at all in real life, you probably heard the news already from another source, but however you found out, consider this a confirmation: I was born on June 30, 1969 in Vancouver, Canada, and I died in Burnaby on May 3, 2011, age 41, of complications from stage 4 metastatic colorectal cancer. We all knew this was coming.
That includes my family and friends, and my parents Hilkka and Juergen Karl. My daughters Lauren, age 11, and Marina, who's 13, have known as much as we could tell them since I first found I had cancer. It's become part of their lives, alas.
Miller, of Burnaby, British Columbia, wasn't one to mince words. Those who battle diseases like cancer usually don't, quickly losing any euphemisms about the impact of the illness once it takes hold and starts to ravage the body, and sometimes the mind.
In Miller's case, his mind — and his writing — stayed quite clear until the end.
His father told The Province newspaper in Vancouver, in a story published Thursday, that his son was "proud of his blog and now it is his legacy. It connects him to the world, and to his family, forever. We were there for him, but Derek was comfortable sharing his thoughts with a worldwide community."
Visits to Miller's blog, ThePenMachine, Twitter and Flickr "were so heavy that, despite his planning, those Internet sites kept crashing," noted the newspaper.
In his online bio, Miller talked about the magazines and newspapers he'd written for, and said he started his website in 2000. The last entry in his bio is this: "Late in 2010, I discovered that my cancer is terminal. I expect it will probably kill me sometime in 2011 or early 2012."
But it is not the last entry about his life. That comes in his final posting, and in his words to his wife, Airdrie, and to his daughters:
The world, indeed the whole universe, is a beautiful, astonishing, wondrous place. There is always more to find out. I don't look back and regret anything, and I hope my family can find a way to do the same.
What is true is that I loved them. Lauren and Marina, as you mature and become yourselves over the years, know that I loved you and did my best to be a good father.
Airdrie, you were my best friend and my closest connection. I don't know what we'd have been like without each other, but I think the world would be a poorer place. I loved you deeply, I loved you, I loved you, I loved you.
Alarmed by lawmakers' demands to cut off billions of dollars of U.S. aid after bin Laden was found living in a Pakistani safe house for six years, President Asif Ali Zardari has ordered a full-court press to quell mounting accusations that it helped the al Qaida leader avoid capture.
So Pakistan is paying some unscrupulous US lobbyists to deny it helped bin Laden! It’s enough to make me puke. We’ve been poring billions into Pakistan with the understanding that they were our allies in the search for bin Laden. Pakistan chumped us once, and now they’re going for number two hoping that GREED will pave the way to our lawmaker’s hearts and all will be forgiven.
What gall! Leading this travesty is Mark Siegel, a partner in the Washington lobbying firm of Locke Lord Strategies — which is paid $75,000 a month by the Pakistani government to lie,cheat, or whatever they require. It’ll be interesting to see which senator suddenly sees the light and sides with the Pakistan Dream Team of Locke Lord Strategies, and goes along with the claims that they didn’t know what was happening in their own back yard.
Don’t hesitate to add this lowlife law firm to your shit list of lobbyists without scruples or morals.
Cartoon Via SodaHead
Freegans" and Others Eating More Roadkill
You didn't read the title wrong. It may or may not come as a surprise to you, but people are eating road kill. More road kill. And many of them are doing it partly as an act of conservationism. Many road kill connoisseurs are part of an underground food/consumption movement, known as "freegans," which has been around for a while. Their practices and rules are surprisingly well-established, and in many states regulated by law.
From Food Safety News:
The practice of eating road kill is part of a waste-not, want-not philosophy that drives other people, some of them previously vegans, to scavenge meat ...
People who eat road kill might be hunters who know their way around a dead animal, or people who call themselves freegans, and are used to eating from unregulated sources, like Dumpsters. Some practitioners have written how-to guides, such as the zine quoted in Sandor Ellix Katz's book The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America's Underground Food Movements
I’m really not sure the Lakers have what it takes to return the favor when the series shifts back to Dallas Friday night. The Dallas little men were the story with the shortest guy on the court torching the Lakers in the 4th period. I won’t even mention the little twirps name. He comes off the bench for Dallas though and just had a career night.
The hope of winning 3 championships in a row again are fading. Darkness sets in with long odds like shadows. Can the Lakers foil fate? Can they turn back their grim play and re-emerge as the Once and Future Champion! As a fan I say…anything is possible in the NBA Playoffs! Go Lakers!
After checking out Rick's Acting Demo, please visit REMOTE CONTROL GRANDPA to see pictures, trailers, cast & crew, synopsis and more on this award-wining mirth-filled movie starring Rick St. Charles.
Some readers may recognize Rick from his films, commercials, voice overs for TV and radio projects, and live theatre performances.
GO HERE TO SEE THE ABOVE IN FLASH VISUALS – You can manipulate them (some designs shown above) by clicking on the image and using your cursor to have all kinds of fun while they continually move..and move…and…
I don’t know if it’s just me or what, but this photo appears to be upside down, or the photographer stood on his head while taking the shot.
Workers cleaning the backyard of an empty house Tuesday in Riverside made an unlikely discovery: a World War II-era aerial bomb.
The rusty bomb was found in the 5600 block of Magnolia Avenue, prompting bomb squad officers to seal the area while they inspected the device, according to the Riverside Police Department.
Police described the bomb as "inert" and said it was unclear how long it had been abandoned at the residence or how it got there.
Anyone with information is asked to call Det. James Dana at (951) 351-6024. Story source
Photo: Bomb found in backyard. Credit: Riverside Police Department
A Cuban cigar roller broke his own record on Tuesday by rolling the world's longest cigar, a monster smoke that stretched 268 feet 4 inches (81.8 metres), or most of the length of a football field.
An Austrian deacon is making a special offer at his local supermarkets -- free spiritual guidance and counseling when you pick up your groceries
A New Zealand man struggling with depression cut off his own finger, cooked it with vegetables and ate it, doctors reported in the latest issue of medical journal Australasian Psychiatry. It’s only the eighth identified case of self-cannibalization, and is particularly rare because of the patient’s lack of severe psychosis, the article abstract says.
Talking dog doesn't get any bacon
Speaking of bacon, I’m getting hungry. I think it’s time for breakfast.
See ya down the road…
American College students have a long history of protesting societal grievances. From riots over butter to protests against tuition i...
