Things in the news

Historic Vic police raid on Hells Angels - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

As if the cops were going to claim failure after spending so much money on the raids. 60 properties and they found nothing! Reckon the bikies have a mole in the police?

 

RIP Scott. One of my heroes. I revered all of the original Mercury 7 astronauts. These guys were the Beatles. Ticker tape parades, celebrity status, the best we had to offer. Great time to grow up. I wanted to go into space.

Astronaut Scott Carpenter dies - CNN.com

 

This is a very sad and tragic story.

From July 2012
Maria De Villota sustains 'life-threatening injuries' testing Marussia Formula One car - Telegraph

As she pulled into her pit area her car suddenly accelerated into the back of a truck. She was nearly decapitated and was fortunate to only lose an eye.



The accident obviously ended her racing aspirations however she recovered, was recently married.

She passed away last night supposedly of natural causes. I will not be surprised if the cause of death is a blood clot or bleeding on the brain due to the accident. She had been also experiencing severe migraines. Medication may also be a factor.

She was in Seville to present her book "Life is a Gift" at "What Really Matters" a conference to inspire and teach young people about universal human matters.

María de Villota: former F1 test driver found dead in Seville hotel | Sport | theguardian.com

RIP Maria

 

Brad Haddin OK after poke in the eye from teammate

Haha. Our cricket team hasn't had much to celebrate lately, they've forgotten how. The footage is all over our morning shows.
There is a brief clip if you follow the link

 

We all suck compared to Washington Wizard's latest first round draft pick. And I mean that not in a basketball way, but in a general humanity way.

Otto Porter’s class act - The Washington Post

I've bought homeless people food before - but few enough times that I'm embarrassed by the number - but I've never done what Otto Porter, Jr. did. This is a man with character in a city with very little of the same. This is a man who is my new favorite NBA player, regardless of the team.

How did we learn about this? Someone happened by, saw what happened and wrote a letter to the editor.

 

The gadget that can tell you how many calories are in your dinner just by scanning.

*Tellspec contains a spectrometer to analyse the chemical compounds in food
*The keyring-sized device can also list allergens, chemicals, nutrients and ingredients in food - as well as the caloriesIts *Canadian creators hope to raise funds via crowdsourcing site Indiegogo for the £180 gadget, which can even scan food through plastic

Read more: Tellspec: Future of dieting? Gadget tells you how many calories are in your dinner by scanning | Mail Online Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

 

It's not really news, but it was entertaining...
Elmo LIVE from New York - Sunrise

They interviewed Elmo from Sesame Street on Sunrise this morning and he started teasing Sam when she asked about the alphabet. It's at about 2mins 30sec

 

Big fish.

Monster Oarfish, 18 Feet Long, Called ‘Discovery of a Lifetime’ - ABC News

 

14 Spectacular But Ominous Photos Of The Bushfire Sky Over Sydney

14 Spectacular But Ominous Photos Of The Bushfire Sky Over Sydney | Business Insider Australia

Bushfire indicator;
Current Fires and Incidents - NSW Rural Fire Service

I've got one friend living on the edge of these fires, literally only a couple of kms away. They have to keep watching the winds & are ready to evacuate. I also have another who only graduated from firefighter school a few months ago, she is in the thick of it right now.
I hope they are both still alright, I spoke to them last night.
Anyone from the TFP nearby?
They are already calling it the worst NSW bushfires in decades

 

NSW bushfires: firefighters brace for Wednesday as forecast worsens | smh.com.au

Our bushfires in NSW are still burning merrily. The count this morning was 56 individual fires and 12 of them are still uncontained.
The weather forecast for today is "smoky" and it's going to be hot and windy this week.

 

So where will we be in another 25 years?

Sobering.

Look How Quickly the U.S. Got Fat (1985-2010 Animated Map) - James Hamblin - The Atlantic



It's all the fault of those damned addictive Oreos.

 

Pub Owner Cautioned Over Free Beer

Catho Pub Owner Cautioned After Giving Free Beer To Firefighters Fighting NSW Bushfires | News

Ha. I saw some of the comments on fb this morning. Aussies get angry if someone is denied beer!

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And for something other than the bushfires...

Prime Minister Tony Abbott's gay sister Christine Forster engaged | News.com.au
I'm interested to see how this affects (effects?) Mr Abbotts policies. Same sex marriage is still illegal in Australia, although Tasmania tried to change the law recently and the ACT is trying tomorrow
ACT makes eleventh-hour changes to same-sex marriage laws - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

it finally rained here in Sydney. So a little reprieve for the gallant fire fighters out there. you deserved it.

one day i hope to be like this guy..except my time wont be a sub 3.

Doug Kurtis Gets His 200th Career Sub-3:00 Marathon | Runner's World & Running Times
Doug Kurtis Gets His 200th Career Sub-3:00 Marathon

Kurtis runs 2:59:03 in Detroit at age 61.
By
Peter Gambaccini;
Published October 21, 2013

Doug Kurtis achieved his goal Sunday of running breaking 3:00 in 200 marathons. His 200th, a 2:59:03, came at the Detroit Free Press Marathon, which Kurtis, now 61, won six straight times from 1987 and 1992.

 

They Did it!

ACT passes same sex marriage bill | canberratimes.com.au

It will probably still get swatted down in the High Court. But it still passed.

 

It's kind of dusty in here. Sorry.

 

Japan says space cannon to be fired at asteroid is on track after successful test - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

American network NBC publishes map showing the whole of Australia is on fire. Oops | News.com.au

American network NBC publishes map showing the whole of Australia is on fire. ​

And in other news, 98 per cent of Americans have been declared effectively braindead. Source: Supplied
AMERICA, the nation which gave the world 307 Nobel laureates, has today shown that its media is about as smart as one of its famously dopey teen beauty pageant contestants.
In a bizarre map produced by NBC News, pretty much the whole of Australia is depicted as being ablaze this week.
You might have thought the bushfires of the past week have been confined largely to New South Wales, but noooo. Not according to NBC they're not.
According to NBC, pretty much the entire country is on fire, including vast swathes of Cape York, the entire Darwin region, and vast portions of Western Australia's Great Sandy Desert where you'd be lucky to find two blades of grass to rub together.
Now, it turns out there may be an explanation for what appears to be a major cartographical catastrophe.
In all likelihood, NBC has taken the image from a Geoscience Australia product calledSentinel. Sentinel is a national bushfire monitoring system which uses satellite data to enable emergency service managers and other users to identify fire locations across Australia.
At any given time, the map will show hazard reduction burns, bushfires which pose no threat to life or property, plus of course much more serious bushfires like the ones we've seen this week.
That's the mistake which NBC appears to have made. They've taken every fire on the Sentinel map and assumed they are all part of the current emergency.
They've also more or less assumed that the whole of Australia is NSW, which is disturbing given the network spent pretty much the whole of the Sydney Olympics camped on the Opera House steps. You'd think they'd have picked up a little Australian geography during their extended stay.
Then again, perhaps they thought they were in Austria all along. Or maybe all those kangaroos hopping down George Street left them a little muddled or something.