White House apologizes for low-flying plane

A White House official apologized Monday after a low-flying Boeing 747 spotted above the Manhattan skyline frightened workers and residents into evacuating buildings.

The aircraft was a White House plane taking part in a classified, government-sanctioned photo shoot, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

“Last week, I approved a mission over New York. I take responsibility for that decision,” said Louis Caldera, director of the White House Military Office. “While federal authorities took the proper steps to notify state and local authorities in New York and New Jersey, it’s clear that the mission created confusion and disruption.”

Witnesses reported seeing the plane circle over the Upper New York Bay near the Statue of Liberty before flying up the Hudson River. It was accompanied by two F-16s. Video Watch the plane fly over Manhattan

“I was here on 9/11,” said iReporter Tom Kruk, who spotted the plane as he was getting coffee Monday morning and snapped a photo. Kruk called the sight of the aircraft low in the sky “unsettling.”

The incident outraged many New Yorkers, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

“First thing is, I’m annoyed — furious is a better word — that I wasn’t told,” he said, calling the aviation administration’s decision to withhold details about the flight “ridiculous” and “poor judgment.”

“Why the Defense Department wanted to do a photo op right around the site of the World Trade Center defies the imagination,” he said. “Had we known, I would have asked them not to.”

Video: Watch the White House respond to questions about the scare

Linda Garcia-Rose, a social worker who counsels post-traumatic stress disorder patients in an office just three blocks from where the World Trade Center towers once stood, called the flight an “absolute travesty.”

“There was no warning. It looked like the plane was about to come into us,” she said. “I’m a therapist, and I actually had a panic attack.”

via White House apologizes for low-flying plane – CNN.com.

The only “White House plane” of this type I knew about were the two 747’s which, when carrying the president, are called Air Force One.

Since 1990, the presidential fleet has consisted of two specifically configured, highly customized Boeing 747-200B series aircraft—tail numbers 28000 and 29000—with Air Force designation VC-25A. – ef

How many 747s does the White House actually have now… and  how many did they have the day before 9/11?  Did Obama just sent Cheney a little warning?

Passenger Jets may get stealth from study of owls

Noisy aircrafts may soon be turned into havens of tranquillity, courtesy owls.

European plane manufacturer Airbus is performing studies on the night birds to determine how they manage to swoop silently on unsuspecting prey.

What they have found so far is that owls are so quiet because they manipulate airflow by their angle of approach and through the special arrangement of feathers on their legs.

The researchers hope to incorporate such findings into their designs.

Airbus, which makes the A380 ‘superjumbo’ jet, is working on modifications to its landing gear that will mimic the birds.

It believes this could reduce dramatically noise levels on future generations of its aircraft.

Airbus has conducted the research on different types of owls in collaboration with Southampton University’s Airbus Noise Technology Centre.

Models of the birds in flight are made on computers and then refined in wind tunnels.

“The technology we use is like SDHp accelerated evolution,” the Daily Express quoted Doctor Kenji Takeda, one of the senior ¬engin¬eering scientists on the project, as saying.

As part of the cutting-edge research, landing gear structure is moulded so that it has a surface, which imitates some of the peculiar features of owls’ legs.

The innovations have been fed into a European-funded aircraft ¬research programme called Silencer.

via CafeTerra: Noisy aircrafts may soon be turned into havens of tranquillity, courtesy owls.

Clown banned from wearing giant shoes

A clown has been told he cannot wear his giant comedy shoes during his act because they breach health and safety rules.

Valerik Kashkin broke a toe after falling from a high-wire and has been told his size 18s were to blame.

His bosses have now banned the clown – whose routine also includes playing a drum kit, trumpet and double bass at the same time – from using the outsize footwear and ordered him to perform barefoot, instead

via Clown banned from wearing giant shoes | Metro.co.uk.

Scientists Give A Hand(edness) To The Search For Alien Life

Visiting aliens may be the stuff of legend, but if a scientific team working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is right, we may be able to find extraterrestrial life even before it leaves its home planet—by looking for left- (or right-) handed light.

The technique the team has developed for detecting life elsewhere in the universe will not spot aliens directly. Rather, it could allow spaceborne instruments to see a telltale sign that life may have influenced a landscape: a preponderance of molecules that have a certain “chirality,” or handedness. A right-handed molecule has the same composition as its left-handed cousin, but their chemical behavior differs. Because many substances critical to life favor a particular handedness, Thom Germer and his colleagues think chirality might reveal life’s presence at great distances, and have built a device to detect it.

“You don’t want to limit yourself to looking for specific materials like oxygen that Earth creatures use, because that makes assumptions about what life is,” says Germer, a physicist at NIST. “But amino acids, sugars, DNA—each of these substances is either right- or left-handed in every living thing.”

Many molecules not associated with life exhibit handedness as well. But when organisms reproduce, their offspring possess chiral molecules that have the same handedness as those in their parents’ bodies. As life spreads, the team theorizes, the landscape will eventually have a large amount of molecules that favor one handedness.

“If the surface had just a collection of random chiral molecules, half would go left, half right,” Germer says. “But life’s self-assembly means they all would go one way. It’s hard to imagine a planet’s surface exhibiting handedness without the presence of self assembly, which is an essential component of life.”

Because chiral molecules reflect light in a way that indicates their handedness, the research team built a device to shine light on plant leaves and bacteria, and then detect the polarized reflections from the organisms’ chlorophyll from a short distance away. The device detected chirality from both sources.

via Scientists Give A Hand(edness) To The Search For Alien Life.

Legendary White Pyramid Located in China

The Russian pyramid investigator MaximYakovenko has visited several Chinese pyramid complexes and has finally been able to identify the legendary “White Pyramid” as the Liangshan Mountain, which holds the tomb of Emperor Gaozong. As such, decades of speculation and mystery have finally been answered.

The story of the White Pyramid came about in the 1940s, when eyewitness reports, specifically from pilot James Gaussman, related the presence of an enormous “White Pyramid” near the Chinese city of Xi’an. If true, it was bigger than the Great Pyramid of Giza. The region was off-limits to Western tourists for many decades afterwards and once this restriction was lifted, many pyramids were found, but the gigantic “White Pyramid” was not amongst them. A photograph of what was believed to be the White Pyramid, turned out to be one of a much smaller pyramid near Xi’an.
So what was the White Pyramid? Had someone overestimated the dimensions of a smaller pyramid? The answer is a simple no. The photograph had nothing to do with the original account of the White Pyramid, and this is where the main problem has lain in recent years. The actual White Pyramid is Liangshan Mountain and it is as big as Gaussman and others had claimed it was.

Liangshan Mountain is located in the vicinity of Qiang Xian, a small Chinese town located 80 km to the northwest from Xi’an. In 684 AD, the second emperor of the Tang Dynasty Gaozong was buried at the bottom of the mountain with his wife the Empress Wu. She reigned after Gaozong’s death. When she died in 705 AD, her body was buried near Gaozong’s on Liangshan Mountain. It is the only mausoleum where two Tang monarchs were buried.

Just above is the only pyramid looking image I found when searching google images for Liangshan. Is this the only image that has slipped past the censors? What is this thumbnail an image of?

Another site which had the photo below says:

All the pyramids I know of are situated in the Qin Chuan plains, and differ in size from between 25 to 100 metres in height. All except one, that is. To the north, in the valley of Qin Lin, lies what has become known as the Great White Pyramid. It is immense, approximately 300 metres in height (1000 feet)! I would say this is the mother of all Chinese pyramids.

Returning to the story:

The Qianling mausoleum incorporates 17 attendant tombs, including the tombs of Princess Yongtai, Prince Zhanghuai and Prince Yide. Twenty stone sculptures guard the emperor and his wife from evil spirits and enemies. They line the way to the burial place, guarding it with unusual long swords. Behind the guards there is a reconstructed gate, built from clay, but finished with bricks. Next are two large statues of mythical monsters. Building the mausoleum and the inner chambers was an enormous accomplishment, but my research is primarily focused on the mountain where the emperor was buried, as this is the legendary White Pyramid.

Liangshan is listed as a natural mountain that consists of three peaks. The two southern peaks are approximately the same size, but the northern peak is much taller and bigger. The two southern peaks consist of soil (so-called “central Chinese clay soil”, which is 30% clay, 35% clay elements and almost 40% limestone), but it is the northern peak that is the highest and consists of huge, almost straight stone plates which lie on the clay.
A key account about the “White Pyramid” – though it had not yet received its name at the time – in the vicinity of Xi’an was given by Alfred Schroeder in 1912: “The pyramid is about 1,000 feet high (other descriptions estimate 1,000 to 1,200 feet high) and roughly 1,500 feet at the base, which makes it twice as large as any pyramid in Egypt. The four faces of the structure are oriented with the compass points.” This observation conforms to what we have seen on the ground about Liangshan Mountain: it is a colossal pyramid, with four visible sides, holding the tomb of emperor Gaozong. It is difficult to determine the height of the pyramid. If measured from the platform with the twenty guards, the height is 160 meters; if measured from the base of the pyramid, the height is about 300 meters, or ca. 1,000 feet!
Schroeder also wrote: “Each side of the pyramid was of a different color: the northern side was black, the eastern blue, the southern red and the western side had a tint of white. The flat top of the pyramid was covered with yellow soil (clay).” Why did Schroeder describe each side of the pyramid as having a different color? The answer is the condition of the surface of the pyramid. The northern side of the pyramid is the most damaged by human activity. There are many modern man-made terraces and peasant gardens; therefore this side looks like a long slope of a natural hill. Since this side does not face the sun, the terraces have dark-grey color, conform to what Schroeder referred to as black.
The eastern side is planted by coniferous trees having a tint of blue and green colors. The southern side was also damaged by local inhabitants and revealed the yellowish color of the clay, or for Schroeder, red. The western side of the pyramid is white because it is covered by massive stone blocks, in grey and white colors. It is this side, together with the light yellow of the top, which created the story of “the White Pyramid”.

In fact, a long time ago, the entire pyramid was covered by massive white stone plates, even though the core structure of the pyramid is from pressed clay, conform to the other pyramids of Shaanxi province. But these massive plates slipped to the foot of the pyramid, the result of natural forces such as earthquakes and rain. Only on the western side did the plates remain relatively intact. …

via Histories & Mysteries

Your Prius may try to kill you, accelerates by itself, Toyota denies it.

Elizabeth James says her Prius surged out of control near Lawson, Colorado, sending her plunging into a river.

Sometimes the cars accelerate on their own. Sometimes they stop dead. Drivers of the hybrid Prius have discovered they can be an unexpected adventure. … Traffic near the mall was congested but moving, and Riner kept the Prius pegged at 60 mph, constantly looking at the console to manage her fuel consumption.

Suddenly she felt the car hydroplaning out of control, and when she glanced at the speedometer she realized the car had shot up to 84 mph. Riner wasn’t hydroplaning; quite simply, her Prius had accelerated on its own.

She pushed on the brakes but they were dead. Then just as suddenly as the car had taken off, it shut down. The console lit up with warning lights, leaving Riner fighting a stiff steering wheel as she coasted across four lanes of traffic and down an exit ramp.

The car stopped near a PetSmart parking lot, and Riner sat in disbelief, listening to fat raindrops pelt the Prius, wondering if her new car had actually gone crazy.

… Jaded Prius owners say there’s no resolution with Toyota—through their hometown dealer or corporate arbitration—and the company hasn’t lost or settled a single lawsuit concerning “unintended acceleration.” …

Toyota responded to the acceleration problem in 2007 by recalling “faulty floor mats” that the company said could cause the gas pedal to stick. Another explanation from Toyota is simple driver error.

“You get these customers that say, ‘I stood on the brake with all my might and the car just kept on accelerating.’ They’re not stepping on the brake,” says Toyota corporate spokesman Bill Kwong. “People are so under stress right now, people have so much on their minds. With pagers and cell phones and IM, people are just so busy with kids and family and boyfriends and girlfriends. So you’re driving along and the next thing you know you’re two miles down the road and you don’t remember driving, because you’re thinking about something else.”

…

Then there’s Kevin McGuire, who test-drove a Prius one afternoon last fall—a year after the safety recall—at Dorschel Toyota in Rochester, New York.

“There was a wait list to buy one, but they happened to have one in the showroom for me to drive,” he says. “The saleswoman was very knowledgeable on the vehicle, and I was impressed with the car. Everything seemed to be in order.”

The weather was crisp and sunny, and with the saleswoman along for the ride, McGuire drove the Prius away from the city to a hillside road without much traffic. As he recalls the conversation:

“What do you think?” the saleswoman asked.

“I like this feel,” McGuire said.

“Well, go ahead and jump on it and see what you think about the acceleration.”

McGuire stomped on the gas pedal and the Prius zipped forward, but when he took his foot off the accelerator, the car kept going faster. He turned to the saleswoman.

“This is all well and good, but there’s one problem,” McGuire told her.

“What?!”

“It’s not stopping.”

“What?”

“Lookit, we’re still going.”

“Take your foot off the accelerator,” she told him.

“I did!”

“Pull over!”

McGuire hesitated to steer the car off the road, because he was slamming on the brake with all his weight and the Prius wouldn’t stop. Smoke poured from the tires, and finally the car shut down and he pulled to the shoulder.

“She was scared and I was scared, too. We just sat there for a couple of minutes and caught our breath, and then she said, ‘OK, start it up,’” McGuire says. “You could hear the engine rev up, and when I put it in drive—boom! The car took off again.” This time the car died almost immediately and McGuire pulled over again. After starting it a third time, all was OK, and he cautiously drove back to the dealership. The saleswoman asked a technician to look at the Prius.

“Oh, people put in too many floor mats,” the technician said. “So the accelerator gets stuck.”

McGuire responded, “Wait, this is not my car, this is your car. I haven’t done anything. It’s not me, there’s something wrong with this car.” Our reporting found just one person currently in litigation with Toyota concerning unintended acceleration. Art Robinson, the man involved in that 2007 crash, wouldn’t discuss the situation (saying his lawyer has advised him not to), but a Toyota spokeswoman confirmed the lawsuit, declining to comment further.

Apparently, hours after Robinson purchased his used 2005 Prius in Tacoma, the car began to handle funny, and as he was driving back to the dealership, the car took off. Robinson stomped on the brake and the emergency brake, but the car wouldn’t slow down. He exited the freeway and shot through an intersection safely, but then lost control and drove through a convenience store. Robinson escaped before the Prius and the building burst into flames.

via Seattle News – The Flip Side of the Perfect Prius – page 1.

Holy Crap. I need a Chevy Volt or something. If this happens to you in a Prius, try tapping the cruise control, even though it is not on.

ConsumerAffairs.

com has collected complaints from Toyota Prius owners regarding throttle control. One, a new Prius with 600 miles on the odometer, accelerated wildly while the owner was attempting to merge onto a busy interstate. On another occasion, the traction control system (itself another problem reported on the site) kicked in and the car accelerated. A third time the car refused to slow after passing another car. One Prius owner, an engineer, discovered that tapping the lever that disengages the cruise control solved the problem– even though the cruise control system was already turned off. Toyota denies any mechanical or software problem exists. They suggest that a wadded carpet may have caused a sticky go-pedal. - autospies

Don’t Taze Me Bro, Military Version: Man kills 2 deputies after being stunned

Two deputies killed by a soldier they were trying arrest for beating his wife exchanged multiple rounds with the man who began shooting while on the ground after he was shocked with a stun gun, authorities said Sunday, a day after the men were killed.

“When that Taser released after five seconds, he came up shooting,” Interim Okaloosa County Sheriff Edward Spooner said. “He went from just being disagreeable to using deadly force in a matter of seconds. It was a very aggressive move with a concealed weapon on his part.”

Spooner said that between 30 and 40 rounds were exchanged between Cartwright and the two deputies. Investigators were working to determine the extent of 28-year-old Joshua Cartwright’s military and militia weapons training, Spooner said. Cartwright was killed by deputies in a neighboring county after he fled a shooting range parking lot near Crestview where he killed deputies Burt Lopez and Warren “Skip” York.

Cartwright’s truck flipped on its side after the tires were punctured by spikes at a roadblock.

“When he had his crash, the truck flipped upside down, nose first and he came out of the backside of the truck firing immediately and using the truck for cover,” Spooner said. Investigators say Cartwright and deputies exchanged about 60 rounds in 30 to 40 seconds before he was shot and killed. They are awaiting autopsy results to determine whether either of the slain deputies struck Cartwright before they died.

Destiny Harder lived next door to the Cartwrights at their Fort Walton Beach apartment complex.

Harder said she was often disturbed by their loud arguments and had banged on the wall between the two apartments Saturday morning after she was awakened by their fighting.

via The Associated Press: Sheriff: Man killed 2 deputies after being stunned.

I don’t know if he saw combat or not, but I figure in Cartwright mind’s, what he did was self defense. He was physically attacked so he responded with deadly force.

Tasers do kill some people. They are extremely painful. One tased reporter described the 50,000 volt jolt this way: , “It’s like having nail guns applied to your hands and feet while you’re being dunked in a vat of boiling water.”

Police need better tools. How about we develop non-painful ways to immobilize people!? Nets, glue, foam, etc. How about a gun that makes people relax, feel happy and laugh?!

While feeling bad for the slain police, some consider Cartwright a hero who would not simply submit to the physical abuse of being electrocuted. He paid with his life for not submitting to authority. Was it worth it Joshua? Tragic.

The problem is, things can escalate quickly. The charge “resisting arrest” is highly abused. Why do Police seem amazed that people “resist” having a knee on their head, in their backs, or having their arms twisted up behind them until they are yelling in pain? Resisting arrest in many cases is really just being human and attempting to avoid pain caused by a hyped up cop. Like, no shit(!), if you hurt someone, they will resist being hurt. And then comes the taser.  And then the guns. Total lack of understanding that the cops can cause the escalation which they then respond to with increasing force.

Some times it seems like just a power trip. Even an innocent harmless women who does not resist at can be taken to jail, then pinned down in a cell, video taped, and completely stripped by multiple female and male officers with no consequences. I know 98 lb woman who had a similar “attack” on her happen in the form of a “forced blood draw” after a supposed DUI stop. The emotional trauma you get from being gang forced to do anything is similar to a rape.

Any cop(s) taking physical control of a person when the person is not a CLEAR threat to him/herself or others is violating that person’s human right to be treated with dignity.

As I’ve said before, I have a cop in my family, and I have a great respect for the job they do.  We usually only hear about the bad cops, not the majority, who every day are making good decisions, keeping the peace, and risking their lives to keep citizens safe from people like Cartwright who have a screw loose for one reason or another.