June 2007 Archives

28 June 2007

Please cover those

Anger over Polish breast montage (BBC News)

German politicians have condemned a computer generated photo of Poland's leaders sucking the German Chancellor Angela Merkel's bare breasts.

The image appears on the cover of the Polish weekly Wprost, and is titled "Stepmother of Europe".

A Polish council overseeing ethics in the media said the montage overstepped "the limits of good taste".

Tension between the neighbouring countries has been building following last week's European Union summit.

The mocked up image shows Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his twin brother, President Lech Kaczynski, nuzzling at Ms Merkel's chest.

I would say this is something that we really don't want to see, but the humorless left would probably want to stage a global Boobiethon or some such to show their solidarity with the poor oppressed woman!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/28/07 14:17 | Other | Technorati | Comments (3)

Not a "sports" injury you see every day

Arthritic jaw could sideline Japanese eating champ (AP)

TOKYO: Japanese eating champion Takeru Kobayashi is being treated for an arthritic jaw that could douse his hopes for taking a seventh straight title at the annual Independence Day hot dog eating competition on Coney Island.

Last year, the 165-pound (75-kilogram) champion won his sixth straight Yellow Mustard Belt at the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest by devouring a then-world record 53 3/4 frankfurters in 12 minutes.

A California man broke the record earlier this month by chomping down more than 59 franks in 12 minutes.

But earlier this week, Kobayashi, 29, said on his Web site blog that his "jaw has abandoned the frontline" during his training for this year's July 4 event.

"Already I can't open my jaws more than just a little bit," he wrote. "There's no pain only if I open my mouth about enough for one finger. More than that is painful and I can't open it."

A specialist diagnosed him with arthritis of the jaw, he wrote.

"To tell the truth, I'm desperate about healing completely before the July 4 contest," he said, adding that he had begun receiving treatment at a hospital and from a chiropractor.

I don't even know what to say.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/28/07 14:02 | Other | Technorati | Comments (0)

20 June 2007

Priest + Drinks = Sudden Acceleration!

Priest arrested for DWI after crashing into restaurant (KXAN.com)

Six people are hurt and a priest is under arrest, all because of a chaotic scene at a Bastrop County restaurant. A pickup truck plowed through the wall just before 7 p.m. Monday.

It happened at La Cabana Restaurant on Highway 71, just outside Smithville. Now, Father Karel Fink is facing a drunk-driving charge.

"It was like an explosion," said crash victim Christie Mick.

Police said Fink, 61, drove his truck while intoxicated into a crowded Mexican restaurant.

[snip]

"He was coming in to have dinner, and he came in to have dinner," said La Cabaña Owner Gina Chronis.
Chronis caught the whole incident on her security cameras.

"Instead of hitting the brakes, he hit the accelerator and came right through our wall," said Chronis.

The result: another case of Sudden Acceleration!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/20/07 23:03 | Other | Technorati | Comments (2)

A Craptastic first day!

Time Warner officially made the switch to Comcast in Houston yesterday.

In my neighborhood, we were treated to a complete afternoon service outage (TV and internet) of three hours.

Later in the evening, we were treated to another service outage of at least a couple of hours (it was out when I went to bed).

Today, the service is back -- sort of. The picture is snowy (nearly unwatchable on lower channels) and my 5 M down cable internet is running about 1 M down, sometimes.

The Comcast customer service lady tells me there were service issues in my neighborhood last night. While she's very nice, I already knew there were service issues in my neighborhood last night. And today! I've got a snowy screen and slow internet pipe. Those are issues. :)

She scheduled a Sunday service appointment, and thanked me "for choosing Time Warner Cable." Err, I thought they were Comcast? Weird. All of that required 20 minutes.

Anyway, I'm home and a bit under the weather today, so I guess the whole Craptastic experience fits well. :)

UPDATE: The Dish Network installer who was supposed to be here yesterday actually showed up today, and the system is working brilliantly. Firing Comcast should solve the video problem. The internet service has returned to higher speeds, so that's good news.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/20/07 10:53 | Houston | Technorati | Comments (2)

17 June 2007

Misunderstood

Cockroaches are helpful, just misunderstood (Eric Berger, Houston Chronicle)

Toby Keith says he's misunderstood (John Gerome, AP)

Insert your own punchline.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/17/07 22:46 | Other | Technorati | Comments (0)

16 June 2007

Chicago weekend

Photos have been posted.

Nachos at US Cellular Field

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/16/07 23:09 | Other | Technorati | Comments (0)

13 June 2007

It's Craptastic!

Comcast is getting ready officially to take over as the new cable provider in Houston.

For the past couple of weeks, they apparently have been tweaking the service in my neighborhood.

That means that several times per day, cable and internet service go out completely for a few minutes at a time.

It's happened about a dozen times today. That's not good, since I'm working from home and need the internet.

It's also not good because lately, the television picture seems to have degraded. Badly.

This is unfortunate, as Time Warner service has been great for the two years I've lived here in Midtown (although your mileage with TWC may vary).

It looks like I'll definitely be switching to Dish Network shortly for television, and maybe to DSL for internet (I'd rather have the higher speed of cable, but I'll take slower speeds for more reliable service).

So far, the experience with Comcast has been Craptastic! Losers.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/13/07 12:31 | Houston | Technorati | Comments (3)

12 June 2007

Uh oh - 3

Car plows into west Houston restaurant (Carolyn Campbell, KHOU-11 News)

Owners of a west Houston restaurant have some major cleaning up to do after a car plowed through its storefront.

It happened around 8 p.m. at the Ashiana Indian Restaurant and Banquet Room at Dairy Ashford and Briar Forest.

A driver was pulling into the restaurant when, instead of hitting the brake, the driver may have hit the gas. Witnesses said the car suddenly lunged forward, crashing right into the banquet room.

Fortunately that section of the restaurant was closed, so no one was sitting nearby. The car hit an office wall and a door inside the restaurant.

There is not much information about the elderly driver except that he was not harmed.

It sounds like a case of Sudden Acceleration Syndrome.

The problem is bad right now!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/12/07 13:46 | Other | Technorati | Comments (2)

11 June 2007

Uh oh - 2

Driver with cast on leg accidentally slams into restaurant (KTRK-13 News)

A Golden Corral restaurant on Houston's south side is in need of some major repairs.

A car slammed into the building on the South Loop near Main yesterday evening. Six people inside had to go to the hospital.

"It sounded like if you have a bus tub full of dishes crash to the floor," said eyewitness Angela Jackson. "I was like, 'No that's not some dishes. That sound like a car'. Me and my aunt jumped up and started walking over there."

Investigators say the driver of the car accidentally hit the accelerator with the cast that's around his leg.

Sudden acceleration syndrome via a cast! That's one I haven't seen before.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/11/07 22:27 | Other | Technorati | Comments (0)

Uh oh

One killed when car falls from parking garage (KHOU-11 News)

A car is reported to have driven off an upper level of a downtown Houston parking garage. Police sources said the male driver of the car was killed.

The incident occurred at the Houston House Apartments near Fannin and Leeland. Video from Air 11 shows a hold in the wall of the garage's upper levels where apparently the car punched through and fell several stories before landing upside down on a roof below.

11 News has crews on scene. More details as they become available.

We just drove by this and wondered what the commotion was.

I'm betting that sudden acceleration syndrome could be involved.

UPDATE: Here's some info from Chron.com.

"It appears the vehicle was backing into a parking space," said Houston police Sgt. L. Lefler, accident investigation supervisor, "The driver lost control, crashed through the wall and fell 41 feet to the building below."

It sounds like sudden acceleration to me.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/11/07 20:23 | Other | Technorati | Comments (0)

Back

We got back late last night from a quick weekend trip to Chicago with friends.

Quick thoughts:

US Cellular Field (New Comiskey) is a pretty nice place to watch baseball, and Sox fans are a hoot.

The Astros won the two games we attended (Fri and Sat) despite all sorts of curious decisions from CrapIron (actually, he got tossed fairly early in Friday's game, which probably helped the Astros win a close game).

Wrigleyville is a neat area, even when the Cubs are on the road.

Seeing "Mr. White Sox" Minnie Minoso using the kitchen of a Wrigleyville bar to fix himself some dinner was unexpected.

The Hancock observation deck is pretty cool.

The Chicago Blues Festival attracts a LOT of people (but we only had time for a token appearance).

That's about it. Photos to follow on the flickr page at some point.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/11/07 09:32 | Other | Technorati | Comments (1)

07 June 2007

Why not make them play football?

China orders chubby children to waltz (Telegraph)

China's education ministry has published plans to make the country's children take up dancing to combat obesity.

The ministry says it has designed seven "group dances" that will appeal to youngsters of all ages.

Under the proposals, middle-high school pupils - the equivalent of our sixth-formers - will be forced to learn to waltz.

[snip]

The dance lessons would be in addition to regular physical exercise classes, which are already compulsory in Chinese schools. The ministry said it intends to send out videos so that teachers can learn the dances first.

Waltzing?

They couldn't go for a sport of some sort?

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/07/07 14:13 | Other | Technorati | Comments (2)

Sudden acceleration in Dallas

Elderly couple crashes car through Golden Corral (AP)

Five people were injured Monday when an elderly man trying to park in a handicap spot instead drove his Cadillac into the dining room of a buffet restaurant, officials said.

The wife of the driver and four customers were taken to area hospitals, said Dallas police spokesman Lt. Vernon Hale.

[snip]

The driver and his wife appeared to be in their 70s or 80s, police spokeswoman Sr. Cpl. Donna Hernandez said. It was too soon to say whether the driver would be charged with a crime.

"He hit the accelerator instead of the brake and drove clear through the restaurant," she said.

Hitting the break instead of the accelerator often results in sudden acceleration -- and mayhem.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/07/07 09:51 | Other | Technorati | Comments (1)

03 June 2007

Photos

I just posted some Float Trip photos here.

And a darkish/blurry shot of the Ringwalds from Friday.

It's been a pretty mellow weekend.

Necessary recharging before Sox/Astros and the Chicago Blues Festival next weekend!

UPDATE: The group Float Trip Flickr page is here.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/03/07 20:07 | Other | Technorati | Comments (9)

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