Retired businessman and amateur scientist Tom Kaye said his team of amateur investigators have conducted experiments with money in the Columbia River to try to reconstruct the path taken by some of the cash taken by the hijacker, who called himself D.B. Cooper, The Oregonian reported Friday.
'The money is the only path to what happened to him after he left the plane,' he said.
Cooper hijacked a 1971 Northwest Airlines flight from Portland to Seattle. He released the plane's passengers in Seattle, demanded $200,000 and ordered the plane to fly to Mexico City. The hijacker jumped out with the money and two parachutes somewhere over southwest Washington."
When Mr Saunders got out of his car, the policeman told him: 'Laughing while driving a car can be an offence.'"
Ahumada said he didn't think the occupants of the apartment were home. So, to save the pooch, Ahumada mobilized emergency response services to assist him with the rescue effort. Two patrol cars, one fire engine and one animal control vehicle responded to the scene."
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
'The Killer Inside Me' is a crime thriller based on a 1952 pulp novel by Oklahoma-born author Jim Thompson. The film will be directed by Michael Winterbottom, an award-winning British filmmaker best known for helming 'A Mighty Heart' and 'Jude.'"
Via Sarah Weinman from Twitter.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
In screenplays for such movies as “Tender Mercies,” “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Trip to Bountiful,” and in plays like “The Young Man From Atlanta” and his nine-play cycle “The Orphans’ Home,” Mr. Foote depicted the way ordinary people shoulder the ordinary burdens of life, finding drama in the resilience by which they carry on in the face of change, economic hardship, disappointment, loss and death. His work earned him a Pulitzer Prize and two Academy Awards."
The pride of Wharton, Texas, and a great writer. I'm very sorry to hear the news.
Mystery readers at least have a couple of magazines devoted just to the art of the short story, other publications that include a story or two in each issue as well as the several anthologies published each year. There’s also several online publications that include short stories."
Creative Paper attracted worldwide interest for its 'roo-poo' paper in 2005.
Darren Simpson from Creative Paper says the paper is green or gold depending on the time of year the droppings are harvested."
'I refused to turn off the car until he said please. He didn't. And he has the gun, I guess, so he sprayed me,' said Desiderio Fortunato, a Coquitlam, B.C., resident who frequently crosses the border to visit his second home in the state of Washington. 'Is that illegal in the United States, asking an officer to be polite?'"
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
When you get right down to it, is there any reason at all to have DST? I'd love to have someone give me one that's logical and proves it's necessary or a good thing. As it is, I think we're just sheeping along, allowing the government to mess with our circadian rhythms with out protest.
The only person I know who resisted was my grandmother, God rest her soul, who refused to change her clocks. She let the world go on DST, and she stayed on Central Standard Time.
A couple of states opt out (Hawaii, Arizona). I wish Texas would.
San Antonio: Singer Phil Collins said his life now revolves around the Alamo.
Collins is in town, set to appear at local events commemorating the anniversary of the siege and battle of the Alamo. Though he's mulling the idea of recording a tribute cover album of 1960s songs, he said he's making the Alamo “my main thing” as a collector, history buff and possible author.
“Basically, now I've stopped being Phil Collins the singer. This has become what I do,” he said Monday, standing beside a 13-foot-by-15-foot model of the 1836 Alamo compound that will open to the public this week.
Collins, who is British, said he has “hundreds” of cannonballs, documents and other artifacts from the Alamo, possibly the largest private collection anywhere, in the basement of his home in Switzerland. He said he's collaborating with artist Gary Zaboly on a book about his collection.
His most prized item is a receipt signed by Alamo commander William Barret Travis for 32 head of cattle used to feed the Alamo defenders.
In 1985, the writing team of Ann and Evan Maxwell began a series about a private-eye named Fiddler and his ex-wife, Fiora. Eventually the series totaled nine books, the first of which was Just Another Day in Paradise. The series was a big hit with both readers and reviewers, but it's been out of print for years. Now, David Thompson at Busted Flush Press is bringing back some of the books, which is going to make a lot of readers happy.
Fiddler soon finds out that the mess is much worse than it first appeared, and it involves the KGB, the FBI, U. S. Customs, and even a bunch of tough Vietnamese. The plot is of the Silicon Valley variety. The McGuffin is a high-tech machine that the Russians need and that no one wants them to have. But the Russians, in the form of Volker, Fiora's lover and a memorable villain, wind up with Fiora. Volker will kill her if he doesn't get the machine.
Fiddler is tough, resourceful, and competent. Fiora is beautiful and smart. Maxwell keeps turning up the tension, and the book doesn't pause for breath. If you're not acquainted with the series, this is a great time to change that. If you remember it fondly, now you can read it again in a good-looking trade paperback edition. Check it out.
The math-buffs' holiday, which only occurs nine times each century, falls on Tuesday — 3/3/09 (for the mathematically challenged, three is the square root of nine).
'These days are like calendar comets, you wait and wait and wait for them, then they brighten up your day — and poof — they're gone,' said Ron Gordon, a Redwood City teacher who started a contest meant to get people excited about the event.
The winner gets, of course, $339 for having the biggest Square Root Day event.
Gordon's daughter even set up a Facebook page — one of a half-dozen or so dedicated to the holiday — and hundreds of people had signed up with plans to celebrate in some way. Celebrations are as varied: Some cut root vegetables into squares, others make food in the shape of a square root symbol."
One in 26 Louisiana adults is under correctional control, if probation and parole are included, the group found."
Shane Scully is apparently booted out of the LAPD for so many serious indiscretions that it's hard to count them all. The next thing you know, he's hired to work for the department in Haven Park, a small incorporated city within Los Angeles. It's the dirtiest department you'll ever read about with the crookedest cops you can imagine. Scully seems to take to the graft like a natural.
Cannell tells his story in stripped-down prose that carries things along at warp speed. There's not a lot of time for reflection and angst; just pure storytelling. Check it out when you're in the mood for something fast, furious, and fun.