http://www.whosay.com/sofiavergara/photos/228802
nice picture !
Re: Idle Chatter
1487I bit on that a few hours ago.....no pun intended.
Sophia Vergara is a smart and well grounded "chick" and star. My wife had a hard time biting on "Modern Family" when I told her it was a good show.....but she eventually has.
Perhaps my fave couple on that show are the gay guys, though my wife reminds me the daughter of the character played by Julie Bowen is an actress actually dealing with real life kidney disease or something, and the cast of the show rallies to show her in her best.
Re: Idle Chatter
1489Sep 25, 7:36 PM EDT
Human finger in Idaho trout belongs to wakeboarder
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -- A human finger found inside a fish at Idaho's Priest Lake has been traced to a wakeboarder who lost four fingers in an accident more than two months earlier.
Fisherman Nolan Calvin found the finger while he was cleaning the trout he caught Sept. 11. He put it on ice and called the Bonner County, Idaho, sheriff's office, the Spokesman-Review newspaper reported.
Detectives were able to get a fingerprint off the severed digit. They matched it to a fingerprint card for Haans Galassi, 31, of Colbert, Wash., and called him Tuesday morning.
Investigators learned that Galassi lost four fingers from his left hand in a June 21 accident on the same lake where the fish was caught.
"The sheriff called me and told me he had a strange story to tell me," Galassi said Tuesday. "He said that a fisherman was out on Priest Lake, and I pretty much knew exactly what he was going to say at that point.
"I was like: Let me guess, they found my fingers in a fish."
The fish was caught about eight miles from where Galassi had lost his fingers, the sheriff's office said.
Galassi had been on a camping trip at the scenic lake when he decided to go wakeboarding. He told the newspaper his hand got caught in a loop in the towline, and he couldn't pull it out before the line tightened behind the boat that was going to pull him.
When he finally broke free, he didn't feel much pain. But then he looked at his hand.
"I pulled my hand out of the water and it had pretty much lopped off all four fingers," he said. "It was a lot of flesh and bone, not a lot of blood."
He was taken by helicopter to a Spokane hospital.
Galassi has been undergoing therapy twice a week for his injured hand. He still has half of his index and pointer fingers on that hand.
"I can still grip things and grab and hold the steering wheel with it," Galassi said.
The sheriff's office offered to return the finger, but Galassi declined.
"I'm like, `uhhh, I'm good,'" he said.
Detective Sgt. Gary Johnston of the sheriff's office said the agency will keep the digit for a few weeks in case Galassi changes his mind.
"There's still three more, too," Johnston said. "It's hard to say where those are going to end up."
Human finger in Idaho trout belongs to wakeboarder
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -- A human finger found inside a fish at Idaho's Priest Lake has been traced to a wakeboarder who lost four fingers in an accident more than two months earlier.
Fisherman Nolan Calvin found the finger while he was cleaning the trout he caught Sept. 11. He put it on ice and called the Bonner County, Idaho, sheriff's office, the Spokesman-Review newspaper reported.
Detectives were able to get a fingerprint off the severed digit. They matched it to a fingerprint card for Haans Galassi, 31, of Colbert, Wash., and called him Tuesday morning.
Investigators learned that Galassi lost four fingers from his left hand in a June 21 accident on the same lake where the fish was caught.
"The sheriff called me and told me he had a strange story to tell me," Galassi said Tuesday. "He said that a fisherman was out on Priest Lake, and I pretty much knew exactly what he was going to say at that point.
"I was like: Let me guess, they found my fingers in a fish."
The fish was caught about eight miles from where Galassi had lost his fingers, the sheriff's office said.
Galassi had been on a camping trip at the scenic lake when he decided to go wakeboarding. He told the newspaper his hand got caught in a loop in the towline, and he couldn't pull it out before the line tightened behind the boat that was going to pull him.
When he finally broke free, he didn't feel much pain. But then he looked at his hand.
"I pulled my hand out of the water and it had pretty much lopped off all four fingers," he said. "It was a lot of flesh and bone, not a lot of blood."
He was taken by helicopter to a Spokane hospital.
Galassi has been undergoing therapy twice a week for his injured hand. He still has half of his index and pointer fingers on that hand.
"I can still grip things and grab and hold the steering wheel with it," Galassi said.
The sheriff's office offered to return the finger, but Galassi declined.
"I'm like, `uhhh, I'm good,'" he said.
Detective Sgt. Gary Johnston of the sheriff's office said the agency will keep the digit for a few weeks in case Galassi changes his mind.
"There's still three more, too," Johnston said. "It's hard to say where those are going to end up."
Re: Idle Chatter
1490Police: Drunken man on horse arrested after chase
Story Created: Sep 25, 2012 at 4:55 PM America/New_York
BUNNELL, Fla. (AP) - A man was intoxicated while riding his horse as he led police on a half-hour chase through a northeast Florida town, authorities said Tuesday.
Charles Larkin Cowart, 29, was arrested Monday afternoon in the city of Bunnell, about 60 miles south of Jacksonville.
A police officer was responding to a report of "an intoxicated male riding a horse" when he turned on his emergency lights to stop traffic as Cowart crossed the street, according to the charging affidavit. Cowart said he was on his way to his grandmother's house in nearby Flagler Beach, but refused officers' order to dismount and "in an aggressive manner reared the horse back" and took off running.
Officers did not immediately chase after him, the report said, citing the public and the horse's safety. Cowart continued to ride through town, "causing a crowd of people to come out of their homes" and a train to slow down as Cowart crossed over a set of railroad tracks. Police kept their emergency lights on, but did not use their sirens to prevent the horse from being frightened and "potentially making the situation worse."
Cowart ignored several verbal commands to get off the horse, which after more half an hour, became exhausted. Cowart eventually jumped off and took off running. He was captured a short time later. The horse returned to Cowart's family and is doing fine, police said.
Cowart was booked into the Flagler County Jail on charges that included disorderly conduct, resisting arrest without violence and cruelty to animals. He was being held Tuesday on $7,000 bond.
A message was left Tuesday at a phone listing for Cowart in Bunnell, about 60 miles south of Jacksonville. It was not immediately known if he has an attorney.
Cowart was arrested for petit theft on Sept. 9 and on a DUI charge in October 2010. The disposition of those charges wasn't immediately known.
Story Created: Sep 25, 2012 at 4:55 PM America/New_York
BUNNELL, Fla. (AP) - A man was intoxicated while riding his horse as he led police on a half-hour chase through a northeast Florida town, authorities said Tuesday.
Charles Larkin Cowart, 29, was arrested Monday afternoon in the city of Bunnell, about 60 miles south of Jacksonville.
A police officer was responding to a report of "an intoxicated male riding a horse" when he turned on his emergency lights to stop traffic as Cowart crossed the street, according to the charging affidavit. Cowart said he was on his way to his grandmother's house in nearby Flagler Beach, but refused officers' order to dismount and "in an aggressive manner reared the horse back" and took off running.
Officers did not immediately chase after him, the report said, citing the public and the horse's safety. Cowart continued to ride through town, "causing a crowd of people to come out of their homes" and a train to slow down as Cowart crossed over a set of railroad tracks. Police kept their emergency lights on, but did not use their sirens to prevent the horse from being frightened and "potentially making the situation worse."
Cowart ignored several verbal commands to get off the horse, which after more half an hour, became exhausted. Cowart eventually jumped off and took off running. He was captured a short time later. The horse returned to Cowart's family and is doing fine, police said.
Cowart was booked into the Flagler County Jail on charges that included disorderly conduct, resisting arrest without violence and cruelty to animals. He was being held Tuesday on $7,000 bond.
A message was left Tuesday at a phone listing for Cowart in Bunnell, about 60 miles south of Jacksonville. It was not immediately known if he has an attorney.
Cowart was arrested for petit theft on Sept. 9 and on a DUI charge in October 2010. The disposition of those charges wasn't immediately known.
Re: Idle Chatter
1492Andy Williams launched The Osmonds.......he best known Mormons other than the Marriott Family and Mitt Romney.
He lived in Aiken SC for awhile when I was living in South Carolina.
"Moon River" and "Days of Wine and Roses" are two songs no one will ever cover better than Andy Williams originally performed.
If I stilll had an Andy Williams style V-Neck sweater in my wardrobe....and I didn't now live in South Florida, I'd wear it in tribute tomorrow.
He lived in Aiken SC for awhile when I was living in South Carolina.
"Moon River" and "Days of Wine and Roses" are two songs no one will ever cover better than Andy Williams originally performed.
If I stilll had an Andy Williams style V-Neck sweater in my wardrobe....and I didn't now live in South Florida, I'd wear it in tribute tomorrow.
Re: Idle Chatter
1493Actually, in one of these boxes around here or in storage I think I had decided to keep a compilation of Andy Williams Christmas Show special moments for our move from California to Florida. If I find it, I'll play it around here in December.
Re: Idle Chatter
1495Jimmy Hoffa Body Found? Police To Drill Beneath Michigan Home In Search Of Former Teamsters Boss
In what is considered one of America’s most famous cold cases, authorities believe they have come across a solid tip that could lead to the whereabouts of the body of former Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa.
While police believe that the tipster is a credible source of information, radar has also detected an anomaly beneath the ground at a home in Roseville, Mich., Police Chief James Berlin told reporters.
Berlin added that as it is unclear what or who exactly may be buried there, crews will take a core sample and test it for human remains.
Hoffa, an organizer turned figurehead for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters from 1932 to 1975, played a major role in the growth and development of the union, which eventually became the largest single union in the U.S., with more than 1.5 million members during his terms as its leader.
Forced out of the organized labor movement when he was sent to prison in 1967, Hoffa was eventually pardoned by President Richard Nixon in 1971 and released on the condition that he not try to get back into the union movement before 1980.
James R. Hoffa vanished in 1975 and nearly 40 years later remains among America's most famous missing persons.
While the tipster didn't claim Hoffa's body was buried in Roseville, reports indicate that he did tell police the burial happened about the time Hoffa vanished, Berlin said. No information has been released about the source of information.
"It took us a while to get the proper equipment to do what we're going to do. If this is a person, they've been down there for 35 years. What's a few more days?" Berlin said.
Results from the soil testing should be available next week, the chief told CNN Wednesday.
"If they are positive, we will then start excavating," Berlin said.
But, he added, "It could be anybody down there, could be nobody. It could be a dog."
The alleged burial site is under a concrete slab, and the residence is occupied by new homeowners, who've been "cooperative and excellent to police," Berlin said.
In what is considered one of America’s most famous cold cases, authorities believe they have come across a solid tip that could lead to the whereabouts of the body of former Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa.
While police believe that the tipster is a credible source of information, radar has also detected an anomaly beneath the ground at a home in Roseville, Mich., Police Chief James Berlin told reporters.
Berlin added that as it is unclear what or who exactly may be buried there, crews will take a core sample and test it for human remains.
Hoffa, an organizer turned figurehead for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters from 1932 to 1975, played a major role in the growth and development of the union, which eventually became the largest single union in the U.S., with more than 1.5 million members during his terms as its leader.
Forced out of the organized labor movement when he was sent to prison in 1967, Hoffa was eventually pardoned by President Richard Nixon in 1971 and released on the condition that he not try to get back into the union movement before 1980.
James R. Hoffa vanished in 1975 and nearly 40 years later remains among America's most famous missing persons.
While the tipster didn't claim Hoffa's body was buried in Roseville, reports indicate that he did tell police the burial happened about the time Hoffa vanished, Berlin said. No information has been released about the source of information.
"It took us a while to get the proper equipment to do what we're going to do. If this is a person, they've been down there for 35 years. What's a few more days?" Berlin said.
Results from the soil testing should be available next week, the chief told CNN Wednesday.
"If they are positive, we will then start excavating," Berlin said.
But, he added, "It could be anybody down there, could be nobody. It could be a dog."
The alleged burial site is under a concrete slab, and the residence is occupied by new homeowners, who've been "cooperative and excellent to police," Berlin said.
Re: Idle Chatter
1496I had a casual acquaintance in college a few years older than me that made a living for awhile espousing his theories on the demise of Jimmy Hoffa. He went on to write a New York Times "best seller" on the topic. He later penned a book on the involvement of "organized crime" on betting outcomes in NFL games and parlayed that stuff into being "an expert guest" on TV Network news discussion panels.
I knew the guy because he was a connected contemporary of two of my older roommates of those years.
Neither one of them would get in his car with him until he started it as they stood back.
Nope, we did not attend Georgetown or Princeton.
I knew the guy because he was a connected contemporary of two of my older roommates of those years.
Neither one of them would get in his car with him until he started it as they stood back.
Nope, we did not attend Georgetown or Princeton.
Re: Idle Chatter
1497All systems go for Felix Baumgartner's 23-mile-high freefall toward sound barrier
Published October 01, 2012
Associated Press
His blood could boil. His lungs could overinflate. The vessels in his brain could burst. His eyes could hemorrhage.
And, yes, he could break his neck while jumping from a mind-boggling altitude of 23 miles (37 kilometers).
But the risk of a gruesome death has never stopped "Fearless Felix" Baumgartner in all his years of skydiving and skyscraper leaping, and it's not about to now.
Next Monday over New Mexico, he will attempt the highest, fastest free fall in history and try to become the first skydiver to break the sound barrier.
"So many unknowns," Baumgartner says, "but we have solutions to survive."
The 43-year-old former military parachutist from Austria is hoping to reach 690 mph (1,110 kph), or Mach 1, after leaping from his balloon-hoisted capsule over the desert near Roswell.
He will have only a pressurized suit and helmet for protection as he tries to go supersonic 65 years after Chuck Yeager, flying an experimental rocket plane, became the first human to go faster than the speed of sound.
Doctors, engineers and others on Baumgartner's Red Bull-sponsored team have spent as much as five years studying the risks and believe they have done everything possible to bring him back alive. He has tested out his suit and capsule in two dress rehearsals, jumping from 15 miles (24 kilometers) in March and 18 miles (29 kilometers) in July.
Baumgartner will be more than three times higher than the cruising altitude of jetliners when he hops, bunny-style, out of the capsule and into a near-vacuum where there is barely any oxygen and less than 1 percent of the air pressure on Earth.
If all goes well, he will reach the speed of sound in about half a minute at an altitude of around 100,000 feet (30,480 meters). Then he will start to slow as the atmosphere gets denser, and after five minutes of free fall, he will pull his main parachute. The entire descent should last 15 to 20 minutes.
He will be rigged with cameras that will provide a live broadcast of the jump via the Internet, meaning countless viewers could end up witnessing a horrific accident.
Baumgartner is insistent on going live with his flight.
"We want to share that with the world," he says. "It's like landing on the moon. Why was that live?"
His team of experts -- including the current record-holder from a half-century ago, Joe Kittinger, now 84 -- will convene inside a NASA-style Mission Control in the wee hours Monday for the liftoff of the helium balloon at sunrise.
"All the things that can happen are varying degrees of bad," offers Baumgartner's top medical man, Dr. Jonathan Clark, a former NASA flight surgeon.
Clark was married to space shuttle astronaut Laurel Clark, who was killed aboard Columbia while it was returning to Earth in 2003, and he has dedicated himself to improving astronauts' chances of survival in a high-altitude disaster.
NASA is paying close attention, eager to improve its spacecraft and spacesuits for emergency escape, but is merely an observer; the energy drink maker is footing the bill and will not say how much it is costing.
The No. 1 fear is a breach of Baumgartner's suit.
If it breaks open -- if, say, he bangs into the capsule while jumping or supersonic shock waves batter him -- potentially lethal bubbles could form in his bodily fluids. That's what's known as boiling blood. A Soviet military officer died in 1962 after jumping from a balloon at 86,000 feet (26,213 meters); the visor of his helmet hit the gondola and cracked.
During the descent, the temperature could be as low as minus -70. (-56 Celsius). Baumgartner's suit will be all he has between his body and the extreme cold.
Then there's the risk of a flat spin, in which Baumgartner loses control of his body during the free fall and starts spinning. A long, fast spin, if left unchecked, could turn his eyeballs into blood-soaked, reddish-purple orbs, and he could be left temporarily blind. Also, a massive blood clot could form in his brain.
A small stabilizing chute will automatically deploy if he goes into a flat spin and blacks out or otherwise becomes incapacitated. He also has an emergency chute that will automatically deploy if he is unable to pull the cord on his main chute.
Baumgartner's team has a plan for every contingency but one: If the balloon ruptures shortly after liftoff because of a gust of wind or something else, the capsule will come crashing down with him inside. He won't have time to blow the hatch and bail out.
"I have every expectation that he'll come through this successfully based on our analysis," Clark says, "but you know, it still is an unknown."
Kittinger leapt from an open gondola on Aug. 16, 1960, from an altitude of 19.5 miles (31.4 kilometers) and reached 614 mph (988 kph), or Mach 0.9 -- records that stand to this day. He was a captain in the Air Force, and the military's Excelsior project was a test bed for America's young space program.
Kittinger has been Baumgartner's mentor, signing on with this new project after decades of refusing others' requests.
Fearless Felix insists he would not attempt the jump if the odds were against him.
"I think they underestimate the skills of a skydiver," says Baumgartner, who has made more than 2,500 jumps from planes, helicopters, landmarks and skyscrapers, with no serious injuries.
If he makes it back in one piece, Baumgartner plans on settling down with his girlfriend and flying helicopters in the U.S. and Austria, performing mountain rescues and firefighting.
"After this," he promises, "I'm going to retire because I've been successfully doing things for the last 25 years and I'm still alive."
Published October 01, 2012
Associated Press
His blood could boil. His lungs could overinflate. The vessels in his brain could burst. His eyes could hemorrhage.
And, yes, he could break his neck while jumping from a mind-boggling altitude of 23 miles (37 kilometers).
But the risk of a gruesome death has never stopped "Fearless Felix" Baumgartner in all his years of skydiving and skyscraper leaping, and it's not about to now.
Next Monday over New Mexico, he will attempt the highest, fastest free fall in history and try to become the first skydiver to break the sound barrier.
"So many unknowns," Baumgartner says, "but we have solutions to survive."
The 43-year-old former military parachutist from Austria is hoping to reach 690 mph (1,110 kph), or Mach 1, after leaping from his balloon-hoisted capsule over the desert near Roswell.
He will have only a pressurized suit and helmet for protection as he tries to go supersonic 65 years after Chuck Yeager, flying an experimental rocket plane, became the first human to go faster than the speed of sound.
Doctors, engineers and others on Baumgartner's Red Bull-sponsored team have spent as much as five years studying the risks and believe they have done everything possible to bring him back alive. He has tested out his suit and capsule in two dress rehearsals, jumping from 15 miles (24 kilometers) in March and 18 miles (29 kilometers) in July.
Baumgartner will be more than three times higher than the cruising altitude of jetliners when he hops, bunny-style, out of the capsule and into a near-vacuum where there is barely any oxygen and less than 1 percent of the air pressure on Earth.
If all goes well, he will reach the speed of sound in about half a minute at an altitude of around 100,000 feet (30,480 meters). Then he will start to slow as the atmosphere gets denser, and after five minutes of free fall, he will pull his main parachute. The entire descent should last 15 to 20 minutes.
He will be rigged with cameras that will provide a live broadcast of the jump via the Internet, meaning countless viewers could end up witnessing a horrific accident.
Baumgartner is insistent on going live with his flight.
"We want to share that with the world," he says. "It's like landing on the moon. Why was that live?"
His team of experts -- including the current record-holder from a half-century ago, Joe Kittinger, now 84 -- will convene inside a NASA-style Mission Control in the wee hours Monday for the liftoff of the helium balloon at sunrise.
"All the things that can happen are varying degrees of bad," offers Baumgartner's top medical man, Dr. Jonathan Clark, a former NASA flight surgeon.
Clark was married to space shuttle astronaut Laurel Clark, who was killed aboard Columbia while it was returning to Earth in 2003, and he has dedicated himself to improving astronauts' chances of survival in a high-altitude disaster.
NASA is paying close attention, eager to improve its spacecraft and spacesuits for emergency escape, but is merely an observer; the energy drink maker is footing the bill and will not say how much it is costing.
The No. 1 fear is a breach of Baumgartner's suit.
If it breaks open -- if, say, he bangs into the capsule while jumping or supersonic shock waves batter him -- potentially lethal bubbles could form in his bodily fluids. That's what's known as boiling blood. A Soviet military officer died in 1962 after jumping from a balloon at 86,000 feet (26,213 meters); the visor of his helmet hit the gondola and cracked.
During the descent, the temperature could be as low as minus -70. (-56 Celsius). Baumgartner's suit will be all he has between his body and the extreme cold.
Then there's the risk of a flat spin, in which Baumgartner loses control of his body during the free fall and starts spinning. A long, fast spin, if left unchecked, could turn his eyeballs into blood-soaked, reddish-purple orbs, and he could be left temporarily blind. Also, a massive blood clot could form in his brain.
A small stabilizing chute will automatically deploy if he goes into a flat spin and blacks out or otherwise becomes incapacitated. He also has an emergency chute that will automatically deploy if he is unable to pull the cord on his main chute.
Baumgartner's team has a plan for every contingency but one: If the balloon ruptures shortly after liftoff because of a gust of wind or something else, the capsule will come crashing down with him inside. He won't have time to blow the hatch and bail out.
"I have every expectation that he'll come through this successfully based on our analysis," Clark says, "but you know, it still is an unknown."
Kittinger leapt from an open gondola on Aug. 16, 1960, from an altitude of 19.5 miles (31.4 kilometers) and reached 614 mph (988 kph), or Mach 0.9 -- records that stand to this day. He was a captain in the Air Force, and the military's Excelsior project was a test bed for America's young space program.
Kittinger has been Baumgartner's mentor, signing on with this new project after decades of refusing others' requests.
Fearless Felix insists he would not attempt the jump if the odds were against him.
"I think they underestimate the skills of a skydiver," says Baumgartner, who has made more than 2,500 jumps from planes, helicopters, landmarks and skyscrapers, with no serious injuries.
If he makes it back in one piece, Baumgartner plans on settling down with his girlfriend and flying helicopters in the U.S. and Austria, performing mountain rescues and firefighting.
"After this," he promises, "I'm going to retire because I've been successfully doing things for the last 25 years and I'm still alive."
Re: Idle Chatter
1499Tuesday is the day for Felix Baumgartner (delayed one day b/c of weather):
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... ds-newsxml
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... ds-newsxml