Whether AAD Symonds will be showing off his skills when Virginia Tech visits Miami during the upcoming NCAA football season is anybody's guess.
Monday, August 10, 2015
Miami Athletic Administrator Shows Some Athleticism
The Miami Hurricanes football team, while practicing catching punts, brought in a special guest - their Assistant Athletic Director of Communications, Tom Symonds. After demonstrating some pretty impressive footwork, he hauls in the punt, spikes the football, and sets off a wild celebration by the players. This video comes via ForTheWin:
Whether AAD Symonds will be showing off his skills when Virginia Tech visits Miami during the upcoming NCAA football season is anybody's guess.
Whether AAD Symonds will be showing off his skills when Virginia Tech visits Miami during the upcoming NCAA football season is anybody's guess.
Sunday, August 9, 2015
Frank Gifford 1930-2015
NFL Hall of Famer Frank Gifford, who also had a long career in sports broadcasting, died suddenly today of natural causes at his home in Connecticut, according to a statement from his family. He was 84, just a week shy of what would have been his 85th birthday.
Frank Newton Gifford was born on August 16, 1930 in Santa Monica, California. He attended USC on a football scholarship, before being drafted by the New York Giants, with whom he broke into the NFL in 1952. He played defensive back, running back, wide receiver and occasionally kicker during his career, winning the league's MVP award in 1956. While playing against the Eagles in 1960, Gifford was knocked out by a hit from linebacker Chuck Bednarik. He spent 10 days in the hospital and did not play again until 1962. He quit playing for good after the 1964 season.
Gifford worked as a football broadcaster for CBS before joining ABC's Monday Night Football. At various times, he broadcast the Olympics and several motorcycle jumps by Evel Knievel. He also acted in a number of films.
Gifford was married to the former Kathie Lee Epstein, a well-known TV personality. It was the second marriage for both. He had two children with her, and three others with his first wife, Maxine Avis Ewart.
Read more at NFL(dot)com, the New York Daily News, ABC13, CBS Sports and ESPN.
Frank Newton Gifford was born on August 16, 1930 in Santa Monica, California. He attended USC on a football scholarship, before being drafted by the New York Giants, with whom he broke into the NFL in 1952. He played defensive back, running back, wide receiver and occasionally kicker during his career, winning the league's MVP award in 1956. While playing against the Eagles in 1960, Gifford was knocked out by a hit from linebacker Chuck Bednarik. He spent 10 days in the hospital and did not play again until 1962. He quit playing for good after the 1964 season.
Gifford worked as a football broadcaster for CBS before joining ABC's Monday Night Football. At various times, he broadcast the Olympics and several motorcycle jumps by Evel Knievel. He also acted in a number of films.
Gifford was married to the former Kathie Lee Epstein, a well-known TV personality. It was the second marriage for both. He had two children with her, and three others with his first wife, Maxine Avis Ewart.
Read more at NFL(dot)com, the New York Daily News, ABC13, CBS Sports and ESPN.
Pollution Released By EPA Spreads Downriver
Four days ago, the EPA was trying to clean out an old mine in Colorado, when the crew they were supervising accidentally released wastewater into a nearby stream. While the irony of a government agency dedicated to keeping the environment clean polluting it instead was pretty obvious, I had not bothered to learn the specific location of the mishap. As it turns out, I had visited the affected area two years ago. Now, as reported by the Chicago Tribune, the polluted water continues to spill via Cement Creek into the Animas River, which flows past Silverton and Durango, Colorado, has reached New Mexico, and is headed for Utah. This is because the Animas is a tributary of the San Juan River, which flows past several towns in New Mexico before continuing into Utah and eventually reaching Lake Powell, a reservoir along the Colorado.
Read the full story and take a good look at the pictures.
Read the full story and take a good look at the pictures.
Friday, August 7, 2015
Friday Links
A few stories in the news:
From The Washington Post, a Metro train derailed this morning, and the cause is not yet known.
From Local 15, a Silicon Valley company presents robot room service.
From CBC News, a scientist in Brazil learns the hard way about venomous frogs.
From Science Daily, scientists find evidence of oscillating neutrinos.
From ForTheWin, Alabama football coach Nick Saban is not pleased about his unauthorized biography. (FTW cites two sources for their information.)
From TheStreet, NASA TV will broadcast live the upcoming six-hour spacewalk of two Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station.
From Forward, the move to Israel by Ethiopian Jews might be making them sick.
From GolfNewsNet, Tiger Woods has opened his own restaurant. Whether the menu includes any items once suggested by Fuzzy Zoeller has not yet been determined.
From MSN, the first production run of Honda's new S660 has already sold out.
From BBC News, North Korea is setting up its own time zone. (via, appropriately enough, Time)
From The Washington Times, the White House is downplaying the opposition by Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to the nuclear deal with Iran.
From The Telegraph, suspected Islamic terrorists have killed and kidnapped guests at a hotel in Mali.
From NewsOK, jurors deliberating over whether to sentence Colorado theater shooter James Holmes to death ask to review a crime scene video. UPDATE: The jurors could not agree on the sentence. As a result, Holmes will get life without parole.
From the Los Angeles Times, immigration officials have urged a district judge to reconsider her ruling to release hundreds of detained women and children.
And from Wired, the inanimate objects you should follow on Twitter.
From The Washington Post, a Metro train derailed this morning, and the cause is not yet known.
From Local 15, a Silicon Valley company presents robot room service.
From CBC News, a scientist in Brazil learns the hard way about venomous frogs.
From Science Daily, scientists find evidence of oscillating neutrinos.
From ForTheWin, Alabama football coach Nick Saban is not pleased about his unauthorized biography. (FTW cites two sources for their information.)
From TheStreet, NASA TV will broadcast live the upcoming six-hour spacewalk of two Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station.
From Forward, the move to Israel by Ethiopian Jews might be making them sick.
From GolfNewsNet, Tiger Woods has opened his own restaurant. Whether the menu includes any items once suggested by Fuzzy Zoeller has not yet been determined.
From MSN, the first production run of Honda's new S660 has already sold out.
From BBC News, North Korea is setting up its own time zone. (via, appropriately enough, Time)
From The Washington Times, the White House is downplaying the opposition by Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to the nuclear deal with Iran.
From The Telegraph, suspected Islamic terrorists have killed and kidnapped guests at a hotel in Mali.
From NewsOK, jurors deliberating over whether to sentence Colorado theater shooter James Holmes to death ask to review a crime scene video. UPDATE: The jurors could not agree on the sentence. As a result, Holmes will get life without parole.
From the Los Angeles Times, immigration officials have urged a district judge to reconsider her ruling to release hundreds of detained women and children.
And from Wired, the inanimate objects you should follow on Twitter.
The Death Of Cecil From A Zimbabwean Perspective
In The New York Times, a Zimbabwean studying for his doctorate in the United States gives some perspective about the death of Cecil the lion at the hands of a visiting American hunter, and his opinion on the reaction by Americans. Let's just say that he's not asking for condolences for a lion. I'll provide just one brief quote:
Did all those Americans signing petitions understand that lions actually kill people?
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Sights In Three States
After leaving the Allegheny Portage Railroad NHS in central Pennsylvania, I continued driving north and west toward Lake Erie and into Ohio. I stopped in Conneaut, which occupies the northeast corner of Ohio, to visit their railroad museum. The Conneaut Historical Railroad Museum consists of an old New York Central depot, full of various exhibits, and some larger objects outside. Nickel Plate Road steam locomotive #755 is parked on its own track, along with several railcars.
Here's one side of #755. A metal fence is in front of the other.
On a separate, very short track are these vehicles once used for track inspection and maintenance. Behind the fence are active tracks used by CSX.
In this shot, we can see the track inspection vehicles from their front end. To the left in the shade are a caboose and a yellow hopper car. Behind all these is the east end of the museum building. To the right is an old ball signal, along with the above-mentioned fence and CSX tracks. This site has some good information on early railroad signals such as ball signals.
In front of the rear of the caboose is a scaled-down steam engine.
After my stop in Conneaut, I continued eastward into Pennsylvania and took a brief hike in Erie Bluffs State Park. From a parking lot just off State Highway 5, a trail leads northward toward the lake. The trail approaches these trees, and then passes them on the left.
After a bit of exploration, I found a place where I could see Lake Erie without too many tree branches in the way. Somewhere not far beyond the horizon is Ontario, Canada.
I eventually found my way to the southwest corner of New York. From a rest stop on Interstate 86, which is also NY State Highway 17, this is part of Lake Chautauqua.
I eventually turned southward back into Pennsylvania and toward Maryland. There were and still are some more mountains to cross to get back home.
Monday, August 3, 2015
The Allegheny Portage Railroad
During my younger days, I once read about a canal that went across Pennsylvania, which included a railroad that took canal boats over a mountainous area between two sections of artificial waterway. The Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site near Gallitzin, PA preserves a small section of that railroad, which ran from Hollidaysburg, just south of Altoona, to Johnstown, later known for its tragic flood. The NHS also includes an engine house. In each engine house along the APR, there was a steam engine that pulled ropes attached to railcars on which canal boats rode up and down an inclined section of track. On level sections between the inclines, horses or locomotives pulled the boat-laden cars. This is the east side of the engine house.
These tracks run eastward and downhill from the engine house. In the distance is the Skew Arch Bridge, under which the tracks used to run.
In this closeup of the inclined track, we can see that the rails are made of wood clad with strips of metal.
Inside the engine house, the ropes used to pull the railcars are mounted on wheels, which would have been driven by the steam engine.
In the section of level track west of the engine house, the rails are made of steel and anchored via triangular supports. In the background is the Lemon House, a tavern built by businessman Samuel Lemon.
The Lemon House, as seen from its south side, is three stories tall.
Beyond the west end of the tracks, the old path of the APR can still be seen.
Inside the engine house was a small exhibit, including these replicas of two types of rope used by the APR. The earlier ropes (top) were made of hemp. They were eventually replaced by steel cables (bottom), developed by John Roebling, later known for building suspension bridges. The replicas are chained at one end to the exhibit table. Visitors can thus handle them and get an appreciation of their physical properties.
More information about the APR may be found at Exploring The Offbeaten Path and ExplorePAhistory.
Sunday, August 2, 2015
Sunday Links
Some things in the news:
From NBC Bay Area, in California, San Mateo County will conduct this coming November's election entirely by mail.
From Fox News, the families of two missing teenager boys in Florida have turned to online fundraising to continue searching for them.
From Business Standard, Motorola presents the Moto G.
From Twin Cities(dot)com, Minnesota's first month of having medical marijuana "is a mixed bag".
From CBS Chicago, a daughter of a former Illinois governor remembers the poor condition of her state's Governor's Mansion.
From The Independent, a policeman in Memphis was fatally shot while making a traffic stop. UPDATE: From AOL, the suspect has been identified. He was a passenger in the stopped vehicle.
From Quartz, the Canadian hitchhiking robot, attempting to travel from Boston to San Francisco, survived only as far as Philadelphia, where it was found decapitated.
From The Street, Verizon employees continue to work while their contract is still being negotiated.
From The Chattanoogan, contrary to various Internet stories, the Navy will not charge Lt. Cmdr. Timothy White with any offense relating to the shooting incidents at two military centers.
From USA Today, debris found on the French Island of Reunion, in the Indian Ocean, has been determined not to be part of Flight MH 370.
From ABC News, a teenage girl has died three days after being stabbed at a gay pride parade in Jerusalem.
From The Gateway Pundit, this morning in Las Cruces, New Mexico, bombs explode at two churches.
From the New York Post, a teenage girl in New York City wonders why she was given a diploma that she didn't deserve. She herself wrote the NYP article.
From The Guardian, hundreds of Confederate flag supports rally at Stone Mountain.
From Yahoo News, the EPA's Clean Power Plan faces legal scrutiny.
From the New York Daily News, the U.S. Coast Guard rescues a man who had been treading water for 4 hours, 44 miles off the coast of New Jersey.
From NBC Chicago, the body of a 20-year-old woman has been recovered two days after she and some friends went for a swim in Lake Michigan.
From CBS News, a wildfire north of San Francisco continues to spread.
From The Register, an asteroid known as "Space Peanut" just flew within 4.5 million miles of the earth.
And from Contract Music, a look at the musical career of British singer Cilla Black, who passed away at her home in Spain.
From NBC Bay Area, in California, San Mateo County will conduct this coming November's election entirely by mail.
From Fox News, the families of two missing teenager boys in Florida have turned to online fundraising to continue searching for them.
From Business Standard, Motorola presents the Moto G.
From Twin Cities(dot)com, Minnesota's first month of having medical marijuana "is a mixed bag".
From CBS Chicago, a daughter of a former Illinois governor remembers the poor condition of her state's Governor's Mansion.
From The Independent, a policeman in Memphis was fatally shot while making a traffic stop. UPDATE: From AOL, the suspect has been identified. He was a passenger in the stopped vehicle.
From Quartz, the Canadian hitchhiking robot, attempting to travel from Boston to San Francisco, survived only as far as Philadelphia, where it was found decapitated.
From The Street, Verizon employees continue to work while their contract is still being negotiated.
From The Chattanoogan, contrary to various Internet stories, the Navy will not charge Lt. Cmdr. Timothy White with any offense relating to the shooting incidents at two military centers.
From USA Today, debris found on the French Island of Reunion, in the Indian Ocean, has been determined not to be part of Flight MH 370.
From ABC News, a teenage girl has died three days after being stabbed at a gay pride parade in Jerusalem.
From The Gateway Pundit, this morning in Las Cruces, New Mexico, bombs explode at two churches.
From the New York Post, a teenage girl in New York City wonders why she was given a diploma that she didn't deserve. She herself wrote the NYP article.
From The Guardian, hundreds of Confederate flag supports rally at Stone Mountain.
From Yahoo News, the EPA's Clean Power Plan faces legal scrutiny.
From the New York Daily News, the U.S. Coast Guard rescues a man who had been treading water for 4 hours, 44 miles off the coast of New Jersey.
From NBC Chicago, the body of a 20-year-old woman has been recovered two days after she and some friends went for a swim in Lake Michigan.
From CBS News, a wildfire north of San Francisco continues to spread.
From The Register, an asteroid known as "Space Peanut" just flew within 4.5 million miles of the earth.
And from Contract Music, a look at the musical career of British singer Cilla Black, who passed away at her home in Spain.
Saturday, August 1, 2015
"Obama's Son" Causes Bomb Scare
A man in Chicago has been charged with felony disorderly conduct for causing a bomb scare near President Obama's home in Chicago. After being arrested, he also ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device. The suspect, Marquez Hassell, 20, claimed to be Obama's son.
I'd say that either teh stoopid or teh crazy is strong with this one. Read more at the Chicago Sun-Times, CBS Chicago, the Chicago Tribune and WGN.
I'd say that either teh stoopid or teh crazy is strong with this one. Read more at the Chicago Sun-Times, CBS Chicago, the Chicago Tribune and WGN.
Friday, July 31, 2015
Capitol Barricade 1 - Car 0
Just before 9:00 a.m. this morning, a car crashed into the south barricade of the U.S. Capitol building, and went no farther. The driver was taken into custody and the car towed away. Whether the crash was deliberate or accidental has not yet been determined.
Read more at WJLA, WTOP, The Washington Post and CNN.
Read more at WJLA, WTOP, The Washington Post and CNN.
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