New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced a $4 billion plan to rebuild LaGuardia Airport, the smallest of the three major airports serving the area of New York City. The announcement came at a luncheon with Vice President Joe Biden was in attendance. Biden had previously likened the airport to a "third world" facility. The reconstruction of LaGuardia is part of a larger plan under which John F. Kennedy International Airport, Stewart Airport and Republic Airport on Long Island will receive improvements.
This plan reminds me of something that happened near where I live about 25 years ago. One morning, a friend of mine drove past a gas station, which had a sign that said "Closed For Remodeling". That afternoon, when drove past the same place, the gas station had been completely demolished. A new gas station was then built where the old one had been. LaGuardia Airport appears headed to a similar fate.
Read more at CNBC, The Verge and ABC News.
Monday, July 27, 2015
Monday Links
As the workweek starts, here's some things going on:
From MyFoxChicago, orders for durable goods increased by 3.4% in June.
From Reuters, 4-Teva will drop their bid to buy Mylan and instead will acquire Allergan.
From The Washington Post, physicist Stephen Hawking has signed up for his first AMA on Reddit.
From Yahoo News, an attack on a police station in northern India leaves 10 people dead.
From Market Watch, Disney's Ant-Man beats out Sony's Pixels at the box office.
From The World Post, the "far-right" mayor of Ozd, Hungary cracks down in the local Roma.
From KTVN, on Reno city call, the LGBT flag temporarily replaces the American flag. (via The Daily Caller)
Wired presents a woman who, you might say, lives up to the site's name.
From Fox News, President Obama (D) responds to comments by former Governor Mike Huckabee (R).
From WFMZ, the U.S. State Department issues a report on human trafficking.
From the New York Daily News, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves a new cholesterol-lowering drug.
From ABC News, a campground in central California is evacuated because of a wildfire.
From Pioneer News, scientists in Switzerland and Germany solve the mystery of "hair ice".
From The Independent, police in Cleveland pepper spray a crowd of people at a Black Lives Matter gathering in order to remove an intoxicated 14-year-old.
From the New York Post, a Virginia man is taken into custody after a fatal stabbing at a church service in Maryland.
From The Tablet and the "better late than never" department, the German Protestant Church apologizes for the destruction of Catholic religious images during the Reformation.
From USA Today, stocks and oil prices fall after a plunge in the Chinese stock market.
And from The Christian Science Monitor, photos and video of Pluto.
From MyFoxChicago, orders for durable goods increased by 3.4% in June.
From Reuters, 4-Teva will drop their bid to buy Mylan and instead will acquire Allergan.
From The Washington Post, physicist Stephen Hawking has signed up for his first AMA on Reddit.
From Yahoo News, an attack on a police station in northern India leaves 10 people dead.
From Market Watch, Disney's Ant-Man beats out Sony's Pixels at the box office.
From The World Post, the "far-right" mayor of Ozd, Hungary cracks down in the local Roma.
From KTVN, on Reno city call, the LGBT flag temporarily replaces the American flag. (via The Daily Caller)
Wired presents a woman who, you might say, lives up to the site's name.
From Fox News, President Obama (D) responds to comments by former Governor Mike Huckabee (R).
From WFMZ, the U.S. State Department issues a report on human trafficking.
From the New York Daily News, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves a new cholesterol-lowering drug.
From ABC News, a campground in central California is evacuated because of a wildfire.
From Pioneer News, scientists in Switzerland and Germany solve the mystery of "hair ice".
From The Independent, police in Cleveland pepper spray a crowd of people at a Black Lives Matter gathering in order to remove an intoxicated 14-year-old.
From the New York Post, a Virginia man is taken into custody after a fatal stabbing at a church service in Maryland.
From The Tablet and the "better late than never" department, the German Protestant Church apologizes for the destruction of Catholic religious images during the Reformation.
From USA Today, stocks and oil prices fall after a plunge in the Chinese stock market.
And from The Christian Science Monitor, photos and video of Pluto.
Saturday, July 25, 2015
A Few Random Musings #5
It's about time for another Random Musings post, especially since recent events have given me plenty to think about.
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I cannot help but think that in a sane world, Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner would be pitied, and Rachel Dolezal would be laughed at and then ignored.
George Zimmerman, the noted "white Hispanic", may have had a black Peruvian great grandfather. If so, it would make him both blacker than Rachel Dolezal and more Native American than Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), and no more white than President Obama. These would all be strange distinctions for someone held up as an example of white racism against blacks.
As a traditional Christian, it's not so much that I oppose "gay marriage", but that I find the very concept nonsensical, since the traditional definition of marriage has included the element of being based on a heterosexual relationship.
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I cannot help but think that in a sane world, Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner would be pitied, and Rachel Dolezal would be laughed at and then ignored.
George Zimmerman, the noted "white Hispanic", may have had a black Peruvian great grandfather. If so, it would make him both blacker than Rachel Dolezal and more Native American than Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), and no more white than President Obama. These would all be strange distinctions for someone held up as an example of white racism against blacks.
As a traditional Christian, it's not so much that I oppose "gay marriage", but that I find the very concept nonsensical, since the traditional definition of marriage has included the element of being based on a heterosexual relationship.
Friday, July 24, 2015
Music Break - Songs From My Younger Days
Here are some songs I enjoyed back when I was a Littlefoot. I guess you could call most of these "bubble gum", but I still like them anyway.
One of the first songs I ever heard on the radio was Snoopy Vs. the Red Baron by The Royal Guardsmen. Snoopy, in case anyone out there doesn't know, is a cartoon dog in the comic strip Peanuts and a series of TV movies inspired thereby. With his vivid imagination, Snoopy creates several alter-egos, including the World War I Flying Ace, who faces his nemesis the Red Baron in aerial combat. The Baron is inspired by the real-life Manfred von Richtofen, the German ace who shot down 80 Allied pilots in the First World War. In these fantasy sequences, Snoopy's doghouse becomes the Flying Ace's sopwith camel. In the TV special It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, we see Snoopy flying off to fight the Red Baron, only to be shot down and stranded behind enemy lines. These dogfights, if you'll pardon the pun, appear to be the inspiration for the song. There are many YouTube videos which include the song, but I found one that combines the song with footage from the TV movie, thus showing how the movie would have incorporated the song, and then finishes with some live footage of The Royal Guardsmen.
One of the first songs I ever heard on the radio was Snoopy Vs. the Red Baron by The Royal Guardsmen. Snoopy, in case anyone out there doesn't know, is a cartoon dog in the comic strip Peanuts and a series of TV movies inspired thereby. With his vivid imagination, Snoopy creates several alter-egos, including the World War I Flying Ace, who faces his nemesis the Red Baron in aerial combat. The Baron is inspired by the real-life Manfred von Richtofen, the German ace who shot down 80 Allied pilots in the First World War. In these fantasy sequences, Snoopy's doghouse becomes the Flying Ace's sopwith camel. In the TV special It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, we see Snoopy flying off to fight the Red Baron, only to be shot down and stranded behind enemy lines. These dogfights, if you'll pardon the pun, appear to be the inspiration for the song. There are many YouTube videos which include the song, but I found one that combines the song with footage from the TV movie, thus showing how the movie would have incorporated the song, and then finishes with some live footage of The Royal Guardsmen.
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Man Shoots People In Louisiana Theater
Around 8:00 p.m. this evening, an armed man opened fire in a theater in Lafayette, Louisiana. There are reports of one victim being killed, and the shooter killing himself. Six or eight others are reported as injured. The gunman has been described as an "older white man".
This incident is tragically similar to what happened three years ago in a theater in Colorado. The man responsible for that shooting spree has recently been convicted.
Read more at KATC, KLFY and The Advertiser. Since this story has recently broken, its details will probably not be fully known for a while.
UPDATE: The shooter has been identified as John Russel Houser, 59, of Phenix City, Alabama. A second victim is reported to have died.
This incident is tragically similar to what happened three years ago in a theater in Colorado. The man responsible for that shooting spree has recently been convicted.
Read more at KATC, KLFY and The Advertiser. Since this story has recently broken, its details will probably not be fully known for a while.
UPDATE: The shooter has been identified as John Russel Houser, 59, of Phenix City, Alabama. A second victim is reported to have died.
NASA Discovers Earth-Like Planet Orbiting Sun-Like Star
NASA scientists have discovered a planet so similar to Earth that it's being called Earth's "older, bigger cousin" and even "Earth 2.0". The planet, designated Kepler-452b, orbits a star that is slightly larger than our sun, and in the same spectral class, at a distance 5% greater than the distance between Earth and the sun, with an orbital period of 385 (Earth) days. Kepler-452b is classified as a "Super Earth" because its radius is 1.6 times that of Earth. NASA believes that the planet is rocky, which would give it a surface gravity of about twice that of Earth, and that the planet and its star are 6 billion years old, and thus 1.5 billion years older than our solar system. The Kepler 452 system is located about 1400 lightyears away.
Read more at BBC News, the Daily Mail, NBC News and Yahoo Tech.
Read more at BBC News, the Daily Mail, NBC News and Yahoo Tech.
Marine Veteran To Run 160 Miles
In Washington, Marine Corps veteran Bridget Guerrero is running 160 miles to honor fallen servicewomen. From Runner's World:
Bridget Guerrero, 47, is no stranger to serving others. Beginning on Thursday, July 23, the Marine Corps veteran will run 160 miles to honor the 160 servicewomen who have lost their lives since September 11, 2001. Her plan is to cover 40 miles a day to finish on July 26.
Guerrero, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps for 13 years as well as the Department of Homeland Security, is running on behalf of Valor Run, a nonprofit organization that honors U.S. military women through running. The organization was founded by U.S. Navy Captain Nancy Lacore, a former classmate of Guerrero's, who served in Afghanistan from 2011 to 2012.According to RW, Guerrero ran her first marathon at age 15. Like the Energizer Bunny, she keeps going and going and going. Read the full story, and also look at the picture. Her T-shirt says "Valor knows no gender." Neither does this blog's "Badass" label.
Fire Burns In Harpers Ferry
A fire broke out in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia at around 3:15 this morning. Three buildings and a shed were destroyed. Several businesses were located in the buildings. The nearby MARC commuter railroad station was closed, so that the firefighters could use its parking lot.
Read more at The Washington Post, WUSA, WTOP and WJLA.
Read more at The Washington Post, WUSA, WTOP and WJLA.
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Wednesday Links
Once again in the middle of the week, here's a bit of what's going on:
From Fox News, in the United Kingdom, a Muslim delivery driver has been charged with plotting against the American military and trying to join ISIS.
Also from Fox News, a contractor for Maryland's "initially flawed" health care website has agreed to repay the state $45 million.
From CNN, the city of Ferguson, Missouri has hired a black interim police chief.
From KORN, a police officer in Hayward, California is shot and killed during a traffic stop. (via Twitchy)
From The Hill, the arguably most obnoxious Republican presidential candidate plans to visit the border between Texas and Mexico.
From Townhall, a certain obnoxious Democratic presidential candidate is not doing too well in Quinnipiac polls in Colorado, Iowa and Virginia.
From CNBC, the National Retail Federation has revised their 2015 U.S. retail sales forecast downward.
From USA Today, improved ties with the United States will force Cuban 20-somethings to brace for change.
From The Washington Post and the "driver's worst nightmare" department, in an experiment, an SUV gets hacked.
From National Review, the recent nuclear agreement with Iran includes two side deals that will not be shared with Congress, the American people, or other nations.
From BBC News, scientists have discovered similarities in DNA between Native Americans in the Amazon basin and the indigenous peoples of Australia and Melanesia.
From Investor's Business Daily, Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina uses the Planned Parenthood exposé video to assert that Hillary Clinton (D) has extremist positions on abortion.
From Bloomberg, Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio says that the man he wants to replace "has no class".
From The Washington Free Beacon, New York City's comptroller disagrees with Mayor Bill de Blasio's plan to allow only 200 new Uber licenses each year.
From the New York Post, the father of Kate Steinle, who was allegedly killed by an illegal alien, speaks to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
And from Mashable, Australian youngsters brace for the new varieties of Parrot MiniDrones.
From Fox News, in the United Kingdom, a Muslim delivery driver has been charged with plotting against the American military and trying to join ISIS.
Also from Fox News, a contractor for Maryland's "initially flawed" health care website has agreed to repay the state $45 million.
From CNN, the city of Ferguson, Missouri has hired a black interim police chief.
From KORN, a police officer in Hayward, California is shot and killed during a traffic stop. (via Twitchy)
From The Hill, the arguably most obnoxious Republican presidential candidate plans to visit the border between Texas and Mexico.
From Townhall, a certain obnoxious Democratic presidential candidate is not doing too well in Quinnipiac polls in Colorado, Iowa and Virginia.
From CNBC, the National Retail Federation has revised their 2015 U.S. retail sales forecast downward.
From USA Today, improved ties with the United States will force Cuban 20-somethings to brace for change.
From The Washington Post and the "driver's worst nightmare" department, in an experiment, an SUV gets hacked.
From National Review, the recent nuclear agreement with Iran includes two side deals that will not be shared with Congress, the American people, or other nations.
From BBC News, scientists have discovered similarities in DNA between Native Americans in the Amazon basin and the indigenous peoples of Australia and Melanesia.
From Investor's Business Daily, Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina uses the Planned Parenthood exposé video to assert that Hillary Clinton (D) has extremist positions on abortion.
From Bloomberg, Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio says that the man he wants to replace "has no class".
From The Washington Free Beacon, New York City's comptroller disagrees with Mayor Bill de Blasio's plan to allow only 200 new Uber licenses each year.
From the New York Post, the father of Kate Steinle, who was allegedly killed by an illegal alien, speaks to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
And from Mashable, Australian youngsters brace for the new varieties of Parrot MiniDrones.
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Rod Blagojevich Partially Wins Appeal
A federal appeals court in Chicago has overturned 5 of the 18 counts against former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (D), along with his 14-year sentence. He had been convicted of the 18 counts in two trials. Prosecutors have the option of retrying Blagojevich on the 5 counts or dropping them. This does not mean that he will be released from prison any time soon, only that the length of his sentence can be reconsidered.
Read more at the Chicago Tribune, WGN, CBS Chicago and Fox 6 Now.
Read more at the Chicago Tribune, WGN, CBS Chicago and Fox 6 Now.
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