London's mayor says he is making good on his promise to return London's iconic open-backed Routemaster bus to the British capital.
The traditional Routemaster had an open platform at the back, enabling passengers to get on and off quickly.
It was phased out three years ago in favor of boxy-looking double-deckers deemed safer and more accessible.
But the Routemaster was widely loved and Mayor Boris Johnson said Friday that winning open-backed designs for its successor have been chosen.
He says the new buses could be in service by 2011.
Johnson's opponents say there is no point in bringing back buses that were only recently withdrawn for being impractical.
"Nostalgia doesn't get people to work on time," London Assembly member Val Shawcross said.
(There's a party-pooper in every crowd)
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Hot gold lands Michigan postal worker in hot water
A Detroit-area postal worker has been charged with stealing gold from the mail after he tried to pawn his treasure to the shop that had shipped it.
The postal worker sold the gold on November 7th to G&S Brokers pawn shop for $320. Authorities told The Detroit News that jeweler James Zelinske recognized the gold because he had melted and mailed it to a business in Ann Arbor.
Zelinske had insured the parcel of gold for $1,000.
The postal worker has been charged with embezzling mail from the Mount Clemens post office. He appeared Thursday in federal court in Detroit.The Worst Ballot Challenge Of All
From the "Why is this idiot even breathing" Department:
With today's meeting of the Minnesota state canvassing board, it's become painfully clear that Norm Coleman's big problem is that his ballot challenges are made up almost entirely of brazenly frivolous attempts to get votes for Al Franken thrown out.
With today's meeting of the Minnesota state canvassing board, it's become painfully clear that Norm Coleman's big problem is that his ballot challenges are made up almost entirely of brazenly frivolous attempts to get votes for Al Franken thrown out.
But now we're at the point where all those challenges are resolved - in other words, he can't hide behind these tricks anymore.
This one might be the worst of all. The Coleman campaign tried to get a vote for Franken thrown out because the voter had written on the ballot. What'd they write?
Thank you for counting my vote!
Is there anything more that needs to be said?
It goes in cycles
The readers of Carolina Naturally are from every corner of the globe, but they tend to follow a few patterns.
Today and for the last few days readers east of the Mississippi in the USA have dominated the numbers domestically, whereas just a few weeks ago it was the state of California that had the big numbers.
World-wide readers follow patterns as well with the battle between Scandinavia and Far East Asia for the big numbers almost a slugfest some days, however Europe and Southwest Asia aren't slacking off either.
What is really encouraging is the increasing numbers from Sub-Saharan Africa, the numbers have always been strong in North Africa.
Today and for the last few days readers east of the Mississippi in the USA have dominated the numbers domestically, whereas just a few weeks ago it was the state of California that had the big numbers.
World-wide readers follow patterns as well with the battle between Scandinavia and Far East Asia for the big numbers almost a slugfest some days, however Europe and Southwest Asia aren't slacking off either.
What is really encouraging is the increasing numbers from Sub-Saharan Africa, the numbers have always been strong in North Africa.
If you'd like to smell like Burger King ...
Looking to beef up your mojo this holiday season?
Burger King Corp. may have just the thing. The home of the Whopper has launched a new men's body spray called "Flame." The company describes the spray as "the scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat."
The fragrance is on sale at New York City retailer Ricky's NYC in stores and online for a limited time for $3.99.
Burger King is marketing the product through a Web site featuring a photo of its King character reclining fireside and naked but for an animal fur strategically placed to not offend.
The marketing ploy is the latest in a string of viral ad campaigns by the company. Burger King is also in the midst of its Whopper Virgins campaign that features an taste test with fast-food "virgins" pitting the Whopper against McDonald's Corp.'s Big Mac.
*****
Has anyone else seen the way passed ridiculous sign as ways back? Obviously the folks at Burger King missed it!
69 rabbits discovered in 1-bedroom apartment
It's Christmastime, not Easter, but the DuPage County Animal Care and Control Center in Wheaton, Illinois, has some rabbits available for adoption - 69 of them, to be exact. All of them were found recently in a one-bedroom apartment.
Officials said the domesticated Dutch rabbits that were discovered during a recent eviction, and the female tenant told animal control workers her financial situation had overwhelmed her.
Authorities would not identify the woman nor the location of her apartment.
Center executive director Kerry Vinkler called it a typical pet-hoarding situation, but she said all the rabbits but one were in good shape when they were found.
Vinkler estimates the oldest rabbits to be about 18 months old and said Dutch rabbits have a life span of eight to 12 years.
Want a retired space shuttle? They're up for grabs
NASA's soon-to-be-retired space shuttles are up for grabs.
The space agency said Wednesday it's looking for ideas on where and how best to display its space shuttles once they stop flying in a few years.
It's put out a call to schools, science museums and "other appropriate organizations" that might be interested in showcasing one of the three remaining shuttles.
Beware: NASA estimates it will cost about $42 million to get each shuttle ready and get it where it needs to go, and the final tab could end up much more.
The estimate includes $6 million to ferry the spaceship atop a modified jumbo jet to the closest major airport.
But the price could skyrocket depending on how far the display site is from the airport.
Only indoor, climate-controlled displays will be considered.
"The orbiters will not be disassembled for transportation or storage," NASA insists in its nine-page request for information.
One space shuttle appears headed to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington.
The remaining two would be placed in storage at Kennedy Space Center until their final homes are decided.
If a space shuttle is too pricey, NASA is offering some of its shuttle main engines for anywhere between $400,000 and $800,000, not counting shipping costs.
The space shuttles, so you know, will not come with any main engines.
NASA plans to retire Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavor by Sept. 30, 2010, in keeping with the shrub's calling for a return by astronauts to the moon by 2020.
A transition team set up by President Barack Obama is reviewing all the options, however, including the possibility of keeping the shuttles flying beyond 2010.If that happens, then all space shuttle deals are off.
The space agency said Wednesday it's looking for ideas on where and how best to display its space shuttles once they stop flying in a few years.
It's put out a call to schools, science museums and "other appropriate organizations" that might be interested in showcasing one of the three remaining shuttles.
Beware: NASA estimates it will cost about $42 million to get each shuttle ready and get it where it needs to go, and the final tab could end up much more.
The estimate includes $6 million to ferry the spaceship atop a modified jumbo jet to the closest major airport.
But the price could skyrocket depending on how far the display site is from the airport.
Only indoor, climate-controlled displays will be considered.
"The orbiters will not be disassembled for transportation or storage," NASA insists in its nine-page request for information.
One space shuttle appears headed to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington.
The remaining two would be placed in storage at Kennedy Space Center until their final homes are decided.
If a space shuttle is too pricey, NASA is offering some of its shuttle main engines for anywhere between $400,000 and $800,000, not counting shipping costs.
The space shuttles, so you know, will not come with any main engines.
NASA plans to retire Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavor by Sept. 30, 2010, in keeping with the shrub's calling for a return by astronauts to the moon by 2020.
A transition team set up by President Barack Obama is reviewing all the options, however, including the possibility of keeping the shuttles flying beyond 2010.If that happens, then all space shuttle deals are off.
Another Isolated Incident
And if you thought it was only in China where the guilty convict the innocent take a gander at this:
From The Agitator:
From The Agitator:
Another Isolated Incident
But not a drug raid. A prostitution raid.
It was a little before 8 at night when the breaker went out at Emily Milburn’s home in Galveston. She was busy preparing her children for school the next day, so she asked her 12-year-old daughter, Dymond, to pop outside and turn the switch back on.
As Dymond headed toward the breaker, a blue van drove up and three men jumped out rushing toward her. One of them grabbed her saying, “You’re a prostitute. You’re coming with me.”
Dymond grabbed onto a tree and started screaming, “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.” One of the men covered her mouth. Two of the men beat her about the face and throat.
As it turned out, the three men were plain-clothed Galveston police officers who had been called to the area regarding three white prostitutes soliciting a white man and a black drug dealer.
All this is according to a lawsuit filed in Galveston federal court by Milburn against the officers. The lawsuit alleges that the officers thought Dymond, an African-American, was a hooker due to the “tight shorts” she was wearing, despite not fitting the racial description of any of the female suspects. The police went to the wrong house, two blocks away from the area of the reported illegal activity…
So you’d think that after the police figured out they had the wrong house, they’d apologize, and possibly even compensate the girl and her family. According to the lawsuit, you’d be wrong:
After the incident, Dymond was hospitalized and suffered black eyes as well as throat and ear drum injuries.
Three weeks later, according to the lawsuit, police went to Dymond’s school, where she was an honor student, and arrested her for assaulting a public servant. Griffin says the allegations stem from when Dymond fought back against the three men who were trying to take her from her home. The case went to trial, but the judge declared it a mistrial on the first day, says Griffin. The new trial is set for February.
I have a call into the Galveston district attorney and with Dymond Milburn’s lawyer. We’re going on a press account of one side of a lawsuit, here. So it’s possible—and I would hope—that there are some important details missing.
Otherwise, a police mistake leads to an innocent 12-year-old getting violently snatched up and roughed up by a group of plainclothes cops jumping out of a van . . . and they charge her for resisting?
*****
Makes you proud doesn't it ... to live in a country where the gestapo can attack and brutalize a child and then prosecute the child for the bruises her face caused on their fists!
Makes you proud doesn't it ... to live in a country where the gestapo can attack and brutalize a child and then prosecute the child for the bruises her face caused on their fists!
Doctor finds foot growing in brain of infant
A pediatric brain surgeon Colorado Springs, Colorado was operating on a 3-day-old baby and found a foot growing in his brain.
"The foot literally popped out of the brain," Grabb told TheDenverChannel Wednesday.The appendage threatened the newborn's life.
When [Dr. Paul] Grabb performed the life-saving surgery at Memorial Hospital for Children in Colorado Springs, he was in for another surprise: he also found what appeared to be parts of an intestine in the folds of the infant's tiny brain, in addition to another developing foot, hand and thigh.
And I Quote
"This is a farewell kiss, dog."
~ currently the most famous man in the world, Iraqi television journalist
Muthathar al Zaidi, after throwing his shoes at the shrub.
Muthathar al Zaidi, after throwing his shoes at the shrub.
Marijuana “epidemic” shows Japan’s drug allergy
From Reuters:
First a sumo wrestler, then an actor, now students at elite universities and a tennis player — the list of people caught using marijuana has sparked fears of reefer madness in Japan.
More than 2,000 people were arrested on dope charges between January and October this year, a 19 percent increase on the same period last year, according to the National Police Agency.
“(The) increase in marijuana abusers, as well as tightening regulations, are both factors that pushed up the number of arrests,” Shingo Katsuno, vice president and an expert on Japan’s drug issues at Hyogo University of Teacher Education, told Reuters in a telephone interview.
“Japan is now highly interested in the issue because it is spreading in places like colleges, where it hardly existed before,” he added.
Read more from Marijuana “epidemic” shows Japan’s drug allergy
The guilty convict the innocent in China
A Chinese lawyer who defended residents forcibly evicted from their homes to make way for development was sentenced to two years in prison for obstructing official duties, her husband said.
Ni Yulan, 47, was arrested in April for allegedly assaulting a worker who along with police was trying to demolish her family's house in an old neighborhood in central Beijing, her husband Dong Jiqin said.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said it was Ni who was assaulted when one of the workers hit her on the head with a brick.
Dong said his wife was sentenced to two years in prison at a 2 1/2-hour, closed-door trial.
Getting hit in the head by a brick and sent to jail for 'assaulting' the brick! And the Chinese wonder why they are laughed at worldwide!
Ni Yulan, 47, was arrested in April for allegedly assaulting a worker who along with police was trying to demolish her family's house in an old neighborhood in central Beijing, her husband Dong Jiqin said.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said it was Ni who was assaulted when one of the workers hit her on the head with a brick.
Dong said his wife was sentenced to two years in prison at a 2 1/2-hour, closed-door trial.
*****
Getting hit in the head by a brick and sent to jail for 'assaulting' the brick! And the Chinese wonder why they are laughed at worldwide!
That's a lot
The San Ysidro border station is now the busiest on earth.
It looked fairly busy even in 1925 with 4 or 5 lanes of cars lined.
Today, it has 24 lanes of northbound traffic for those traveling from Tijuana to San Diego and another 6 southbound lanes for those going the other way.
Every day up to 50,000 vehicles pass through this gate, plus another 25,000 people on foot, and that's just into the United States ...
It looked fairly busy even in 1925 with 4 or 5 lanes of cars lined.
Today, it has 24 lanes of northbound traffic for those traveling from Tijuana to San Diego and another 6 southbound lanes for those going the other way.
Every day up to 50,000 vehicles pass through this gate, plus another 25,000 people on foot, and that's just into the United States ...
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