The Weirdest Hurricane Aftermath Video

The weirdest video from the hurricane aftermath has to come from a National Guard unit in Manville, NJ.

Those are National Guard trucks driving UNDER the flood waters. At least they were driving until they started floating under the water and needed a rescue themselves.

The vehicles in question are apparently LMTVs, which stands for “Light Medium Tactical Vehicles.” Officially, they are apparently M1078 Standard Cargo Trucks.

They can fjord waterways and because their exhaust is high up on the trucks, they can handle flood waters, but this is completely out of their league.

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

For some people, the day is marked by watching the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York, football, and overeating.

We've added another tradition.

Watching pumpkins getting chunked.

It started two years ago and now we can't help watch with awe and fascination at how some folks will spend more than $100,000 to build air cannons, trebuchets and catapults and any number of other designs to send a pumpkin towards the magic distance of one mile. No one has ever managed that, but that makes the mystical number all the more special.

Carl Paladino's Halloween Highlights His Lack of Character or Fitness For Higher Office

Carl Paladino was busy visiting Buffalo area watering holes Halloween evening, and among the photos of his appearances, was this most curious one:

What's so odd about that one? Besides the fact that Paladino was apparently inebriated (not a crime, but just not good visuals days out from an election), there's the guy standing behind Paladino getting all chummy for the camera. Was there no one in Paladino's campaign who thought that this would be a bad visual. Who was the guy who thought it was appropriate to wear blackface?

Voters have pretty much decided that Paladino isn't worth their vote, and the latest polls show Andrew Cuomo more than 20 points ahead. This photo is yet another example of why.

Spending Priorities In NYC

How did something like this manage to survive the budget process? Did someone need to tell junkies how to shoot up heroin? This particular budget item cost $32,000 to print up 70,000 flyers telling people how to shoot up heroin safely.

The city spent $32,000 on 70,000 fliers that tell you how to shoot heroin, complete with detailed tips on prepping the dope and injecting it into your arm.

The Health Department handout has outraged New York's top drug prosecutors and abuse experts.

"It's basically step-by-step instruction on how to inject a poison," said John Gilbride, who heads the Drug Enforcement Administration's New York office.

"It's sick," said City Council member Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Queens)

"Foolish," said Columbia University drug researcher and treatment expert Dr. Herbert Kleber.

The 16-page pamphlet features seven comics-like illustrations and offers dope fiends such useful advice as "Warm your body (jump up and down) to show your veins," and "Find the vein before you try to inject."

At a time when the City is scrambling to find the funds to stave off massive cuts to mass transit, including the elimination of free passes for students to get to schools, it would seem that these kinds of nonsensical projects should be axed to not only get the city's budget in order, but to free up revenues for more worthy programs. The Health Department seems to think that this is a worthy expenditure of taxpayer money, and yet all it shows is that there is all too much waste and nonsensical expenditures that encourage bad behavior - such as doing illegal and dangerous drugs.

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

And what would Thanksgiving Day be without some pumpkins?

Especially if they're chunked.

New Jersey does well launching pumpkins at the annual Punkin Chunkin

We saw the tv program last year and were laughing our asses off over how people are trying to find the right device to send a pumpkin as far as possible at a farm in Delaware.

They've used trebuchets, air cannons and just about any other projectile hurling device you can dream up.

A New Jersey team, the Big 10 Inch, won the competition with the longest toss, although it was short of last year's winning effort.

They Should Have Named Him Sue

A German court affirmed two lower courts in finding that a family had the right to name their son Djehad.

German authorities who register births had objected to the name, saying it could be harmful for the child given the associations with Islamic terrorism.

But the court said in a ruling Tuesday that the name's meaning is rooted in the requirement to spread the Muslim faith, although it has recently become linked - especially since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks - with radical Islam.

German law restricts parents from giving their children names that could be interpreted as harmful.

German law, and European law, is littered with restrictions such as this to prevent against hate speech, Nazi propaganda, and the like, and yet the court upheld the ruling allowing the parents to name their son after the jihad, which is their sworn obligation to spread Islam. Also, bear in mind that several of the 9/11 hijackers and other members of al Qaeda lived in Hamburg, Germany prior to coming to the US.

Still, they would have been better off naming the kid Sue.

Death By Chocolate

In this case, it was quite literally death by chocolate. A man fell into a vat of chocolate and died.

The man had been in the melting pot for about 10 minutes by the time crews arrived, and by the time he was pulled out of the chocolate it was too late. He was declared dead shortly after 11 a.m.

The turnout gear of firefighters at the scene were covered with some chocolate, as were the clothes of an obviously distraught co-worker who was being consoled by an EMT. Th at co-worker appeared to have gone into the tank in an attempt to rescue the man who had fallen in.

According to public records, the building is owned by Lyons and Sons, and C & C Cola also does bottling at the facility. It's not clear exactly where the accident happened and how.

Curiously, the man was not identified as Augustus Gloop.

Sanford's Sojourn Smells

What is up with South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford (R)? First, he appeared to have dropped off the planet, and then it was claimed that he was out hiking the Appalachians naked. Ummm... Bizarre, but possible. Definitely not something I'd recommend for someone who had aspirations to seek the White House.

Now, it turns out that he went down to Argentina. Argentina?

The oddball admission came a day after his staff explained his prolonged absence by saying Sanford had been hiking along the Appalachian Trail. They were only off by about 5,000 miles - give or take a sleeping bag or two.

"I wanted to do something exotic," Sanford told The State newspaper, adding that he planned to hike the trail before changing his mind at the last minute.

Sanford, who is married, insisted he went to Buenos Aires alone.

"It's a great city," he said.

The Republican governor hadn't been seen since Thursday. He declined to give further details on his South American trip, saying only that he drove along the city's scenic coastline. Sanford said he needed to recharge his battery after a grueling legislative session.

This report indicates that Sanford's latest statements don't pass the smell test either.

Sanford told The State he was alone on the trip to Argentina. He declined to give any additional details about what he did other than to say he drove along the coastline.

Trying to make such a drive could frustrate a weekend visitor to Argentina. In Buenos Aires, the Avenida Costanera is the only coastal road, and it's less than two miles long. Reaching coastal resorts to the south requires a drive of nearly four hours on an inland highway with views of endless cattle ranches. To the north is a river delta of islands reached only by boat.

Drive along the scenic coastline? If he stayed in Buenos Aires, that would take no more than a few minutes.

What exactly was he doing in Argentina? I don't think anyone knows, even his wife and family.

UPDATE:
Marital infidelity? Go figure.

His presser being held now confirms, and there are conflicting questions over whether his wife knew. I don't think it matters. He's toast.

Who was the other person, and why the trip to Argentina? Who paid for the trip? If the taxpayers paid, we're looking at a bigger scandal. If not, watch him attempt to pull a Spitzer.

Also, he's resigned from the Republican Governors Association. His 2012 chances are done, which is fine by me.

UPDATE:
Video added:


UPDATE:
Ed at Hot Air also notes this is the end of the line, and pulls out a relevant South Park reference.

UPDATE:
Anonymous emailer sends along the following from FoxNews, which can't quite get Sanford's political affiliation correct. He's a Republican.



UPDATE:
The state newspapers have been sitting on the fact that he's been emailing the other woman since December. How they got the emails is unknown. But it is interesting that they chose to sit on the information for as long as they have. Waiting for the right time I guess (perhaps when Sanford decided to run for President?) Sanford's wife tried to forgive, but because of this, a separation is in order.

He has four kids. They're going to suffer all the more for this.

Lingerie Football League Comes To New York

Women in scantily clad uniforms playing football and grappling each other on cable television near you?

What could possibly go wrong.

The league is expanding in to the New York metro region, with a team being formed in New York City called the Majesty.

Here's the league's website, and it's 7 on 7 full contact football.

If there's one complaint, I would say that it's the uniforms, which aren't actually lingerie. It's supposed to be lingerie, and yet the players are wearing bikinis. What is the fun in that? At least some of the players have garters, so there's that.

Another New York City Flyby Cancelled?

I regularly receive notifications from the NotifyNYC system, and they sent out emails earlier this morning announcing that as per the FAA, there would be a military flight near Lower Manhattan this morning between the hours of 10:30 to 11:30 am today.

10:25 am - MON, May 11, 2009
Notify NYC - Notification 10:25am
As per the FAA, the planned military flyover has been cancelled.

10:24 am - MON, May 11, 2009
Notify NYC - Notification
This is a message from Notify NYC. Notification 2 issued 05/11/09 at 10:00am. As per the FAA, the planned military flyover has been cancelled.

10:00 am - MON, May 11, 2009
Notify NYC - Notification 10:00am
As per the FAA,a military plane will fly down and back up the Hudson River between the hours of 10:30 to 11:30 am today.

A second notification was issued about a half hour later saying that the flyby was canceled.

There's no word on the kind of planes that were to be involved or the purpose of this flight.

We do know that the White House and Presidential Wing had prepared for a flyby across the District of Columbia, but that was canceled after the outrage from the New York City metro area flyby.

UPDATE:
Bear in mind that the photo taken and released by the White House of the first flyby is awful. (HT: Gabriel Malor at Ace)

I would have tossed it on the circular file because it simply doesn't meet my own standards for publication. It's muddy, includes distracting reflections, and the bottom right includes part of the canopy of the F-16 chase plane.

Meanwhile, one thing that the photo doesn't contain is the EXIF data, which is commonly found on most digital cameras. Why was that information seemingly purged? Was it taken with a simple point and shoot, and not even a prosumer model? That whole episode still reeks.

UPDATE:
Apparently today's planned flight was to include a US Navy P-3 Orion reconnaissance aircraft flying around 3,000 feet above the Hudson River. It would be substantially higher than the skyscrapers, but still far lower than typical air traffic in the region.

The report indicates that the FAA canned the order, even though it sent out an alert to the City of New York, which itself alerted the public via the NotifyNYC system.

Something doesn't quite make sense, given that the FAA apparently approved the flyby in the first place, but only at the last moment cancelled it. In light of the flyby mess two weeks ago, how was it approved?

Also, what was the purpose of the mission? That goes unmentioned. Curious.

Low Flying Planes Cause Panic and Evacuations in NYC Metro Area

The FAA says that there is nothing to be worried about as a military flight was engaged in low level flight along the Hudson River today. They say it was preplanned photo shoot and local authorities were aware of the flight, although that didn't exactly soothe frayed nerves of those who saw the flight, which appeared to be a plane with the markings and characteristics of Air Force One and a fighter escort.

When the President isn’t on board, that plane wouldn't be called Air Force One but SAM28000 or SAM29000 (the tail number). Only when the President is on board will they change the call signal on the flight. Since the USAF flies the planes, they can call it a military flight. It could be a new crew familiarizing itself with the NYC metro area for later flights to the region.

It's also possible that they were conducting the flight and taking photos for a US Air Force promotion to run at a later date.

UPDATE:
Here's video:



UPDATE:
Don't these guys know not to buzz the tower?! And yes, I know that this was the USAF whereas Top Gun was USN, but on general principle, it might have been to coordinate activities with the people in the NY metro area instead of causing panic and lots of jittery nerves in these parts.



UPDATE:
All this craziness because the White House wanted to update the file photo of Air Force One over some of the nation's famous landmarks. Why exactly is that a good use of our tax dollars? How much fuel did that little jaunt cost? What about the carbon emissions?

The landmarks haven't changed. Neither has the aircraft. There was no need for this. I might have a different take if they were doing a US Air Force commercial involving AF1, but that wasn't the case. This was a needless waste.

Playing With Polar Bears Is Not Such A Great Idea

In Germany, Knut the polar bear still brings the crowds. Not all of them are so obsessed that they have to get into the pen with him though. A woman with serious psychological issues decided to do just that. She apparently didn't understand that getting into a polar bear pen with polar bears that have no problem mauling people to death was not a good idea.

Well, it went as predictably as it could. The woman was mauled and yet was able to be pulled to safety. She suffered serious injuries but is expected to recover.



The polar bears were not hurt and nor will they be punished. The Daily Mail has more photos.

There's a reason that zoos build security fences around the enclosures. It's for your safety.

I Prefer To Drink My Wine From A Glass Thanks

A New York City restaurant has decided to come up with a gimmick to sell their wine.

They're selling it by the bottle.

Baby bottle that is - complete with the nipple.



Only in New York?

Parisian Romance

Because nothing says I love you as much as arranging skulls in the famed Parisian Catacombs in the form of a heart. Happy Valentine's Day!

 

Weird Story of the Day

A pedestrian was struck and killed by a car in Queens. That's not the weird part. The weird part is that another car then struck the body and dragged it for more than an hour and 17 miles before someone finally noticed and got the van to stop.

The corpse's gruesome journey began when the man was hit while trying to cross 108th St. in Corona and did not end until the van driver finally noticed the body in Brighton Beach, police said.

Thinking he smelled something burning, the cargo van's driver pulled over once along the way, but did not discover the body until other motorists flagged him down on Brighton 10th Terrace an hour later, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

"People were signaling him to stop the vehicle," Kelly said. "That's when the body is discovered under his car."

Investigators believe the dead man - whose body was too mangled to immediately identify - was trying to cross 108th St. near 51st Ave., when an SUV driver ran him down just after 6 a.m.

A maroon Chevy van was a few cars behind the SUV and its driver later told detectives he noticed that other vehicles were swerving to avoid something in the road, police sources said.

The van's driver, identified by sources as Manual Gaspar Latuna Sanchez of Corona, thought they were trying to avoid a pothole and kept driving straight ahead - inadvertently picking up the body.

Investigators believe the body got stuck in the van's chassis, so when the driver of the SUV pulled over to call 911 that he hit someone, the victim had already vanished.

Oblivious to the body underneath his van, Sanchez got on the Grand Central Parkway a few blocks away and then drove south on the Van Wyck Expressway and west on the Belt Parkway before exiting in Brighton Beach.

Unbelievable. No charges are expected against either the driver that originally struck the pedestrian or the driver of the van that took the body on the 17 mile joyride stuck to its chassis.

Econut of the Day

A New York City MTA bus driver was assaulted by a woman who complained that the bus she eventually got on was not a hybrid bus.

The frantic passenger who bit a veteran driver's arm was upset that his bus wasn't a hybrid, he said Thursday.

"She came on the bus, and she said she waited more than an hour for a hybrid," said MTA driver Peter Williams, 42. "I said, 'I'm not in control of what bus is assigned to me.'"

Williams, a dad of two who is in the Navy Reserves, plans to take a little time off after Wednesday's bizarre attack on an uptown M104 bus.

The woman, Shelia Bolar, 49, started hollering at Williams soon after she boarded the Broadway bus on the upper West Side.

When her rant was done, she she grabbed his arm.

"Miss, don't touch me while I'm operating the bus," Williams warned Bolar.

At W. 79th St., Williams let passengers off and gestured to a dispatcher he called for help.

"That's when she bit me. ... I couldn't believe it."

Bolar chomped through a jacket, a sweater and a thick shirt, causing a bruise and swelling but not breaking skin.

"She bit through all that," said Williams, still shocked.

And then she fled - but cops nabbed her blocks away. Bolar, who faces assault charges was held without bail, pending a psychiatric exam.

If you are so concerned about the environment, walk. It beats taking the bus for carbon emissions. It would do your body good, and it would avoid entanglements with law enforcement.

The MTA is currently operating about 850 hybrid buses and should have 1,700 hybrid buses by 2010, the largest such fleet in the world. The MTA operates 4,578 buses in 2007.

This Should Make the Law Books

Editors who assemble the hornbooks that law students use in law school are always on the prowl for interesting cases and ones that have interesting ethical and moral dilemmas.

You can bet that they're salivating over the possibility that this case makes it all the way to a decision, and that the case doesn't settle before then.

What's the issue? Well, a couple is seeking a divorce. That's nothing new and matrimonial law books are replete with cases. I don't think any of them have ever included a demand for $1.5 million for the kidney that the husband donated to the wife, who later engaged in adultery.

A Long Island surgeon who dumped his wife after she allegedly had a steamy affair wants her to give back the kidney he lovingly gave her, or fork over the $1.5 million he claims the organ is worth.

"I saved her life and then, to be betrayed like this, is unfathomable. It's incomprehensible," said Dr. Richard Batista, 49.

"I feel humbled and betrayed and disregarded. This divorce is killing me."

Batista, a vascular surgeon at Nassau University Medical Center, claimed his wife left him after getting physical with her physical therapist.

He said the couple married on Aug. 31, 1990, in "a very nice, lavish wedding," but two years later, the relationship began a "slow downward trend."

Since he filed for divorce in 2005, he said, she has made it increasingly difficult for him see their three children.

"The main reason the doctor is doing this is because of how he's been treated in this case," said Dominic Barbara, Batista's lawyer.

They are asking for the $1.5 million as part of the distribution of assets based on a medical expert's estimated value of the kidney.

So, what are the key issues here? Does the doctor have a right to recover the value of the kidney? Was it or was it not a gift?

I tend to think that the court, if it makes it that far, will find that the donated kidney was a gift and it is not to be counted as an asset divisible for distribution purposes. From an ethics standpoint, I think the court would be on shaky grounds if it allows the value of the kidney to be included.

Batista apparently found out that his wife was cheating when he discovered that she was doing the paramour's laundry along with the family's laundry. Ouch! No wonder he wants the money...

Unique Way To Raise and Spend $3 Million

A woman has decided that being single is no fun, but has decided to raise $3 million through an online website so that she can get airtime during the upcoming Super Bowl and make her case known to millions of men who might be watching that she wants someone to marry her.

Amy Borkowsky - who gives her age as somewhere between Carrie and Samantha - is confident she'll up her odds of marriage if she markets herself to an audience of captive, guacamole-gutted football fans.

"Dating is a numbers game," she said. "I need to reach a large pool of guys."

To that end, she has created a Web site, SuperBowlSingleGirl.com, to raise money to reach her multimillion-dollar goal to buy a 30-second shot at love.

So far, she has bagged about a grand, mostly from $10 and $25 donations.

But she is still optimistic.

"I know times are tough," she said. "Even $10 is as appreciated as the bigger ones."

Those who do dig deep - $10,000 or more - will get an invite to the wedding if Borkowsky's scheme lands her at the altar.

She's definitely got moxie, ambition, some business sense, isn't all that bad looking, is a sports fan, and is a shameless self promoter, so what is there not to like guys?

UPDATE:
She's charitable too. Don Surber points out that she's going to donate whatever is raised if she doesn't reach $3 million.

Holy Mango!

A woman in Sweden cut into a mango and quickly realized that swirls and lines on the fruit spelled out the name Allah and Mohammed.

Rubina Sheikh, a Muslim woman residing in Sweden, sliced open a mango and noticed black lines in it that formed the Arabic words "Allah" and "Muhammad," which are holy to Muslims, a local newspaper reported.

"I sliced the fruit into two and noticed that the word 'Allah' was on one half while the word 'Muhammad' was on the other half," Sheikh told the newspaper. "It's a miracle, a sign from Allah."

Ever since word of this wonder got out, Muslims have been flocking to the woman's home in order to see it for themselves. However, a professor at a nearby university who is an expert on Islam says the discovery is not that dramatic.

Well, given that Muslims have seen Allah in ice cream swirls and footwear and boycotted those who produced those products, this is pretty innocent in comparison.

Bark Mitzvah?

Mrs. Lawhawk sends this along. I think this guy has way too much money on his hands, as witnessed by the $10,000 party he threw for his dog.

Money no object, indeed.