Flight Explorer Snapshot
Air Traffic Snapshots – See a bird’s eyeview of flights over US airports
See cool snapshots of commerical flights in air or over the busiest airports. Browse through our snapshots for information on each snapshot or click on the picture on the left.
PSL detectives resign over racist remarks
PORT ST. LUCIE — The special investigations unit that busted 65 marijuana grow houses earlier this year was all but gone today after three detectives resigned and two were suspended for playing racist and vulgar phrases through their department computers.
Using an online program that repeats words aloud, three of the five Port St. Lucie police detectives typed in racial slurs such as “tar baby,” “yard ape” and “spearchucker.”
The internal affairs report says the five men spent nearly their entire work days Dec. 6 and 7 on a Web site called Monk-e-mail, which is part of CareerBuilder.com. The site has an option called “text to speech” which lets users type in messages that a monkey repeats aloud.
Exotic Dancers Spray on Latex Coverings – Forbes.com
Under Alabama’s strict law regulating exotic dancers, any skin that would normally be covered by a modest bikini must be swathed in an opaque covering. But the law doesn’t specify what kind of material must be used, so, in the legal sense, a nylon swimsuit and spray-on latex are virtually the same.
“You can get it that matches your skin color,” said Patterson. “The only thing I hear from the girls is that it can be kind of irritating.
1 Missing Climber’s Body Found in China | World Latest | Guardian Unlimited
A follow up on the top female climber reported missing in an earlier post.
The body was found at the 17,390-foot level on Genie Mountain, also known as Genyen Peak, not far from the Sichuan border with Tibet. The mountain is 20,354 feet high.
Unlike the case of the missing climbers on Mount Hood in Oregon, the search had been complicated because the two did not leave detailed plans and rescuers initially did not even know which province in southwestern China to search.
But a clue to their whereabouts emerged several days ago, when rescue workers found a driver who had dropped the pair off near the mountain on Nov. 11.
Boskoff and Fowler told him they would climb the mountain and that he could meet them on Nov. 24 so they could pick up their bags, but they did not show up.
Boskoff ascended six of the world’s peaks over 26,000 feet, including Mount Everest. She owned Mountain Madness, a Seattle adventure travel company.
Chess Player Banned 10 Years For Cheating With Bluetooth, Computer – News by InformationWeek
An Indian chess player was banned Tuesday from competition for 10 years after he was caught using a Bluetooth headset sewn into a cap earlier this month to get help from a computer.
The All India Chess Federation slapped the 10-year sanction on Umakant Sharma, who had been using a Bluetooth device stitched into a cap he typically pulled down over his ears. According to the federation, Sharma’s accomplices relayed moves made by a computer chess program to him via the Bluetooth headset. Bharat Singh Chauhan, the AICF treasurer, showed the cap and Bluetooth device at a meeting convened Tuesday that decided Sharma’s punishment.
Sharma was found out during a random check at a New Delhi tournament Dec. 4; he had been seeded second in the tournament.
Too Many Technicalities « Metamorphosis
Blog of a Muslim Biologist, who became an atheist. Here he describes the minute technicalities that must be performed before prayer 5 times a day.
Growing up Muslim, I was taught the mechanics of everyday Muslim prayer and life. By mechanics, I mean, exactly how many times to wash your right hand before your left hand, etc. And if you screwed it up, God wouldn’t acknowledge your prayer!
I had molvies (Imams, Priests, etc.) drill this into my head. If it had been one molvie, I would’ve dismissed it as a freak instance; but it was every teacher, Pakistani and non Pakistani. How many times to pray, exactly when to pray, and what direction to pray. You have to face Mecca, or your prayer will not be accepted. Oh, it’s 2 minutes past Asr prayer…it’s too late. Continue reading “Too Many Technicalities to Pray”
the things we miss along the way
Photography has taught me a lot. It has helped me to notice life. To realize that there is beauty in the mundane. That art is everywhere waiting for someone to notice. That the marrow of life lies in the alleys and forgotten corners of our own homes as we rush by everyday on our way to work and bed.
Study: Overcoming Allergies Possible – Forbes.com
Allergies to pollen and other environmental triggers often are treated with shots called immunotherapy. A series of injections containing small amounts of the allergen builds up patients’ tolerance, reducing or even eliminating symptoms in many people.
Shots proved too dangerous for food allergy. So Burks and colleagues at Duke and the University of Arkansas developed an oral immunotherapy.
Here’s how it worked: First, youngsters spent a day at the Duke hospital swallowing minuscule but increasing doses of either an egg powder egg or a defatted peanut flour, depending on their allergy. They started at 1/3,000th of a peanut or about 1/1,000th of an egg, increasing the amount until the child broke out in hives or had some other reaction. Continue reading “Overcoming Allergies Possible”
‘Santa Claus does not exist’ school tells stunned kids | News | This is London
A primary school has been accused of spoiling Christmas for pupils after a lesson telling them that Santa Claus does not exist.Children as young as nine were told that only ‘small children believe in Father Christmas’.
The blunder came after the Year 5 pupils were given seasonal worksheets containing various festive classroom exercises. One began by informing the children that ‘many small children believe in Father Christmas’. It then went on to explain that thousands of letters sent by these children to Santa every year are actually answered by the Post Office.
APOD: 2006 December 18 – Aurora Over Iowa
Last Thursday evening, stars were not the only lights in Iowa skies. Spectacular northern lights also shone from the heavens, extending across the midwestern USA and other locations not often graced with auroral displays. The wide-ranging auroral activity was triggered as a large solar flare – an energetic cloud of particles blasted outward from the Sun a few days earlier – collided with planet Earth’s magnetosphere. Alerted to conditions ripe for aurora, photographer Stan Richard recorded this apparition over Saylorville Lake, near Des Moines, Iowa, USA. While the colorful rays seem to end just above the water, they are actually at altitudes of 100 kilometers or more.
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