Bizarre animal stories October 24, 2007
Posted by Jason in News, Pets & Animals.add a comment
Take a look at these three stories that have appeared over the last week.
Nearly 40 elephants came to a village on Friday looking for food. Some found beer, which farmers ferment and keep in plastic and tin drums in their huts, said Sunil Kumar, a state wildlife official.
They got drunk, uprooted a utility pole carrying power lines and were electrocuted in Chandan Nukat, a village nearly 150 miles west of Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya state, Kumar said.
Tony Millar said firefighters told them it was the work of a buck-toothed saboteur that had been gnawing on overhead power lines connected to a transformer directly above the 2006 Toyota Camry.
“The squirrel chewed through the wire, was set on fire, fell down directly to where the car was,” Tony Millar said. “The squirrel, on fire, slid into the engine compartment and blew up the car.
The deputy mayor of the Indian capital Delhi has died a day after being attacked by a horde of wild monkeys.
SS Bajwa suffered serious head injuries when he fell from the first-floor terrace of his home on Saturday morning trying to fight off the monkeys.
Craziness!
Killips to run against Hoekstra October 16, 2007
Posted by Jason in 2008 Elections, News, Politics.1 comment so far
Scott Killips has thrown his name in the ring for Michigan’s 2nd congressional district. Website here.
Perhaps it’s time to start my next election candidates post…
The Haunting 2007! October 3, 2007
Posted by Jason in News.1 comment so far
Once again I’m helping with the Fraternal Order of Police’s haunted house! This time it’s going to be in the city of Newaygo. We’ve been hauling stuff over, putting walls together, painting, and planning all sorts of stuff for the last couple of months. The Haunting of Newaygo opens on Friday so we’re getting down to the wire! Here are the details:
- Open from 7pm-11pm every Friday and Saturday in October (Oct. 5, 6, 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, and 27).
- Located at 212 E. M-82 at the older Dollar World store. See the map at bottom.
- Admission is $5.
- A food wagon will have food and drink for sale.
See the FoP’s website for some more information. If you’re interested in helping out call the number listed there. I might post some teaser pictures later this week if I have time.
Come on down if you’re not too scared. >-}
Wikipedia tracking August 17, 2007
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A graduate student at Caltech has developed a Wikipedia scanner that tracks the IPs left when someone edits a page. The scanner then matches those IPs to the organizations that use them.
Just one more reason not to cite Wikipedia as a source I suppose. See also Wired’s list of edits from the Scanner.
A little late but… December 14, 2006
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…you might be able to see the Northern Lights tonight. From Phil Plait:
Well, Sunspot 930 does not disappoint. It had an eruption the other day, but it was pointed away from us. Today, however, it launched a volley right at us. There was a flare and then a CME, so several billion tons of plasma are headed toward us at a million miles per hour. Don’t be scared, though! Our atmosphere protects us. Furthermore, we get a cool auroral display when this happens, so if you live in northern regions (or southern like Africa, Australia, etc.) you may get an aurora soon.
According to my local news the aurora could extend as far down as my area (southern Michigan). I don’t think I’ve ever personally seen the aurora in Michigan before.
Phil has another post about the Geminid meteor shower which is also happening tonight. Sounds like a good night for stargazing!
Grace Lutheran School to become township hall December 3, 2006
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I have it on good authority that the old Grace Lutheran School building will be turned into the Pipestone Township Hall. The sale actually occurred a while ago from what I know and I just learned a couple days ago that it would be converted into the township hall.
Grace Lutheran is my old elementary school. I had kindergarten in Berrien Springs and then I attended Grace Lutheran from 1-8. It was a very small school with only three classrooms. I don’t think we had more than 50 students there in all the years I attended. According to one of my old class photos, there were 20 students in grades 5-8 in the 1992-1993 school year.
There were originally three teachers and a teachers’ aide when I started there: Mrs. Bell, Mr. Retzlaff, another teacher whose name I can’t remember, and Ms. Hatter, respectively. The unnamed teacher left after a year or two and we were left with two teachers teaching grades K-3 and 4-8 in two rooms if I remember correctly. In case you’re wondering, since I know some fellow graduates of Grace Lutheran read this blog, Mr. Retzlaff is currently the principal and a teacher at Our Redeemer Lutheran School in Madison, Wisconsin and Mrs. Bell (and her husband Pastor Patrick Bell) are at Zion Lutheran Church in Toledo, Ohio.
I finished eighth grade there in 1996. As I recall, class sizes were decreasing almost every year and sometime after I graduated high school and started college Grace Lutheran was closed down (around 2002 I think).
Meteor shower this weekend November 17, 2006
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The Leonid meteor shower will be peaking this weekend at 11:45 PM on Saturday night for the east coast. According to the article there could be outbursts of over 100 meteors per hour! Read the article for more information on the shower and viewing tips.
I recall seeing a fireball break up in the sky during a meteor shower about five years ago. It was multi-colored and broke up into several pieces as it travelled across the sky.
Google buys YouTube October 10, 2006
Posted by Jason in News.1 comment so far
Agent Smith: Do you hear that, Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of inevitability.
The Haunting of Fremont October 4, 2006
Posted by Jason in Life, News.1 comment so far
*Edit* This post is from 2006. If you’re looking for information on the 2007 FoP’s haunted house, then go here.
Do you like haunted houses? Live nearby to Fremont, Michigan? Then you’ll want to visit the haunted house being set up by the Newaygo County Fraternal Order of Police! The scares will begin this Friday around 7:00 pm. Here are some details:
- Dates: October 6-7, 13-14, 19-21, 26-28
- Hours: Dark (about 7) to 11:00 pm
- Location: The Newaygo County Fairgrounds in Fremont
- General Admission is $10, Fast Pass $15
- Free doughnuts!
You can find more details at their website including the address and a map to the fairgrounds.
I highly recommend the FOP’s haunted house. Last year they set it up at the Fremont airport and got tons of good comments. I helped with some of the setup last year and worked inside a couple of nights. This year I helped a little with the setup of one of the scenes and, if I happen to be in Fremont at the right time, I might be working inside again.
I took some pictures during construction so here are a couple of teasers (but not too much!):
They may not look too scary now, but wait until it’s dark, you’re immersed in the atmosphere of the haunted house, and you’ve just walked through a bunch of other scenes.
As the FOP website says: “Come visit us if you dare.”
Jason Felton is a homo sapien in his mid-20s observed to be living in west Michigan. Observations suggest that he spends way too much time on the internet reading blogs, researching family trees, and keeping track of current events in science and politics. Other interests of his include atheism, electronics, religion, and history, among many other things.
