Alright already... it's still 14,411 feet tall.
SURVEY SAYS: Mount Rainier 14,411 feet high -- still
By Mike Archbold, The News Tribune
Mount Rainier is stuck in a rut.
For the third straight time, an expedition sponsored by the Land Surveyor’s Association of Washington found the state’s signature peak to be 14,411 feet high.
The expedition announced its findings Wednesday.
“The new elevation came in at only a few inches different than the previous observations,” said Larry Signani of Sumner, a surveyor and numbers cruncher for the expedition. “The published value will remain at 14,411 feet.”
In 1988 and 1998, the association also sent teams to the summit. Using global positioning system equipment, they calculated its height both times at 14,411 feet -- give or take an inch or two.
That’s one foot higher than the previously accepted height of 14,410 feet.
The newest measurement is within 0.3 feet of the previous two measurements, which also were taken at this time of year.
Vandalism of a permanent marker used to make readings on the summit could account for the slight difference. Someone tried to remove the brass cap from the marker, which team members were forced to pound back in place during last month’s expedition.
Whether the newest measurement will supplant the often-used 14,410 foot measurement is anyone’s guess. Despite the two previous surveys, Mount Rainier National Park still uses the lower height on its web site.
Park Superintendent Dave Uberuaga said Wednesday that with three significant surveys all pointing to 14,411 feet “it may be time for the park to seriously consider making a request to (the U.S. Geological Survey) to change that measurement.
“We have to be accurate and sensitive to data,” he said.
Bob Anderson, a surveyor from Friday Harbor and the lead climber on the expedition, acknowledged the 14,411-foot height isn’t used in some publications but noted the Geological Survey has certified their measurement.
Signani said the Geological Survey measured Rainier in 1956 before GPS was available and came up with 14,410 feet. He later obtained the data from that survey, recalculated it and found a tiny error in a vertical angle. Correcting that error produced a height of 14,411 feet, he said.
Rainier’s height has ranged from 12,330 feet in 1842 to 14,532 in 1897.
The latest expedition wasn’t concerned solely with proving how high the mountain is. It also was a chance to use new digital technology to gather data in a remote location, Anderson said.
GPS technology has changed dramatically since 1988 when the team included more than 140 volunteers using some of the first portable GPS units. Those units weighed over 65 pounds each and could connect with only four GPS satellites. Readings took hours as they waited for the satellites to come overhead.
Signani said a lot of data was gathered in 1988 and finely calculated by top mathematicians. It has held up over the years, he added.
This time the team was only nine surveyors who carried GPS units that weighed two pounds. The devices were able to use more than 45 satellites for tracking.
Anderson said the team spent nearly 24 hours on the summit and took redundant measurements to check accuracy.
Vacationing family's photo captures thief
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/i...F9AA4617-4.jpg
MADISON, Wis. - The camera of a vacationing New Jersey family who posed for a picture in front of the Wisconsin State Capitol captured more than smiles. It also caught a thief in the act.
John Myers, of Bloomfield, N.J., set the self-timer on his camera and hustled into the frame with his wife and two children Saturday. While their backs were turned, someone grabbed their bag, which held Myers' wallet and other items.
After Myers discovered the bag missing, he checked his camera. Sure enough, the image showed a man picking up the bag.
Myers told the Wisconsin State Journal that he showed the photo to officers, who recognized the man.
When officers found him, he was still carrying the bag.
The suspect pleaded not guilty Tuesday to misdemeanor theft.
Perhaps the WRONG way to kill a spider...
By Laura Roberts
Published: 2:28PM BST 31 Aug 2010
Man blows himself up trying to kill a spider
It is not known if the spider survived REUTERS
The 28 year-old suffered severe burns after attacking the arachnid with an aerosol can at his home in Clacton in Essex.
The man was summoned by his wife to deal with a spider she had seen scuttling behind the lavatory on Bank Holiday Monday. Not being able to reach it, the man decided to kill it by spraying it with the can.
However he was unable to see whether it was dead because the bulb in the bathroom light had blown. At this point he turned to a cigarette lighter to illuminate the room, but in the process ignited the gas fumes and caused an explosion.
The blast was so strong it blew the man off his feet and lifted the loft door off its hinges.
He suffered flash burns to his head, legs and torso and was rushed by ambulance to hospital after dousing himself in cold water.
A spokesman for Essex Fire Service said: "It appears the wife had spotted the creepy crawly in the bathroom and asked her husband to capture it.
"He sprayed it first with an aerosol where it was lurking behind the toilet bowl and when that didn't appear to work, he lit up his lighter to spread some light on the situation as the bathroom bulb had blown.
"There was an almighty explosion which blew the man back into his hallway and lifted the hatch on the loft.
"He did exactly the right thing by jumping into the shower and cooling his burns with cold water while his wife raised the alarm."
Firefighters administered emergency first aid at the scene while waiting for ambulance teams to arrive.
A spokesman added: "We're not entirely sure whether the spider got away or not but there was no sign of it at the scene."
Ambulance crews treated the man for burns to his arms, legs and face and breathing difficulties and he was taken to the Colchester General Hospital, in Essex, where he was given pain relief and discharged in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
In June last year Simon Elsey, 40, from Rotherham, suffered severe burns after a can of hairspray exploded at his home. The canister had been left on top of a children's fireguard in front of a lit fire in the sitting room. The blast was so powerful it blew out two window panes and the can was found embedded in the ceiling. Mr Elsey had been asleep in the sitting room at the time and firefighters said he was lucky not to be engulfed in flames.
Hiker shoots himself in the a$$
This town is about 2 hour's drive north of where I live. The poor guy will never live this one down.
Hiker accidentally shoots himself in the rear
updated 8/31/2010 3:31:32 PM ET
WENATCHEE, Wash. — A hiker on Blewett Pass shot himself in the butt when he put a handgun in his back pocket. The Chelan County sheriff's office said the 52-year-old Snohomish man had moved his .40-caliber handgun from its holster to his back pocket Saturday to see if that position would be more comfortable.
The Wenatchee World reported the gun fired the bullet down his left buttock and left leg, coming to rest just above the knee. He was treated at Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee.
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Information from: The Wenatchee World, http://www.wenatcheeworld.com
Man crosses Irish Sea in a bathtub
1 September 2010 Last updated at 15:20 ET
Mervyn Kinkead crosses Irish Sea in a bath
BBC Mervyn salied to Portpatrick in his modified bath
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/i...36_bath4-4.jpg
At an age when many people are thinking about how to get in and out of the bath, Mervyn Kinkead has put his own tub to a use which belies his advancing years.
The 65-year-old from Lisburn has become the first man to cross the Irish Sea in a bath.
With only a relatively minor hiccup along the way, Mervyn covered the 19 nautical miles from Donaghadee across to Portpatrick in about eight hours.
The problem arose when the bath, probably used to being filled, began to take in water about three miles out of Portpatrick.
However it was soon righted, and Mervyn made it across to Scotland shortly before nightfall.
"It all began as a bit of a joke," Mervyn told BBC district reporter Claire Savage.
"Then someone said about doing it for charity so I thought I had better do it."
The adventurous admiral admitted to feeling like a celebrity when a crowd gathered in Portpatrick to herald his damp arrival.
However, his pride in his achievement does not equate to certainty over whether he would repeat the trip.
"I am glad it is all over. I would do it again - well, I would consider doing it again!"
Maybe Microsoft should've used GOOGLE first before ousting this guy... :-)
Xbox blocks W.Va. gamer over town's name: Fort Gay
Sep 8, 1:46 PM (ET)
By VICKI SMITH
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) - Microsoft Corp. and the chief rules enforcer for Xbox Live are apologizing to a small West Virginia town and a 26-year-old gamer accused of violating the online gaming service's code of conduct by publicly declaring he's from Fort Gay - a name the company considered offensive.
The town's name is real. But when Josh Moore tried to tell Seattle-based Microsoft and the enforcement team at Xbox Live, they wouldn't take his word for it. Or Google it. Or check the U.S. Postal Service website for a ZIP code.
Instead, they suspended his gaming privileges for a few days until Moore could convince them the location in his profile, "fort gay WV," wasn't a joke or a slur: It's an actual community of about 800 in Wayne County, along West Virginia's western border with Kentucky.
"At first I thought, 'Wow, somebody's thinking I live in the gayest town in West Virginia or something.' I was mad. ... It makes me feel like they hate gay people," said Moore, an unemployed factory worker who plays shooters like Medal of Honor, Call of Duty and Ghost Recon under the gamertag Joshanboo.
"I'm not even gay, and it makes me feel like they were discriminating," said Moore, who missed a key Search and Destroy competition because of last week's brief suspension. His team lost.
Angry and incredulous, Moore contacted customer service.
"I figured, I'll explain to them, 'Look in my account. Fort Gay is a real place,'" Moore reasoned. But the employee was unreceptive, warning Moore if he put Fort Gay back in his profile, Xbox Live would cancel his account and keep his $12 monthly membership fee, which he'd paid in advance for two years.
"I told him, Google it - 25514!" Moore said, offering up the town's ZIP code. "He said, 'I can't help you.'"
Mayor David Thompson also tried to intervene, but with little success. He told television station WSAZ, which first reported the dispute, that he was informed the city's name didn't matter. The word "gay," he was told, was inappropriate in any context.
"It was so inappropriate for them, they wouldn't even say the word," Thompson told the AP Wednesday. "They said, 'that word.' It's beyond me. That's the name of our town! It's appalling. It's a slap in our face."
Stephen Toulouse, director of policy and enforcement for Xbox Live blamed miscommunication.
"Someone took the phrase 'fort gay WV' and believed that the individual who had that was trying to offend, or trying to use it in a pejorative manner," Toulouse said. "Unfortunately, one of my people agreed with that. ... When it was brought to my attention, we did revoke the suspension."
Complaints, he notes, come to agents with no contextual information, including who the suspected offender is or what games they play. The agent simply looks at the language and determines whether it complies with policy.
The Xbox Live player's contract says users cannot "create a gamertag, avatar or use text in other profile fields that may offend other members," and lists potentially dangerous topics such as drug use, hate speech and racial, ethnic or religious slurs.
Fort Gay has been a community since 1789, when 11 people tried to establish a settlement at the junction of the Tug and Big Sandy rivers, across from what is now Louisa, Ky. It was incorporated as Cassville in 1875 but was simultaneously known as Fort Gay until 1932, when town leaders changed it to the latter for good.
Toulouse said he will contact Moore and apologize. Staying ahead of slang and policing Xbox for offensive is a constant challenge, he said.
"In this very, very specific case, a mistake was made," he said, "and we're going to make it right."
I'm thinking this would clear out an airport like nothing else in the world!!
95 snakes found in burst bag at Malaysia airport
Sep 3, 12:23 AM (ET)
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - A Malaysian man pleaded guilty to wildlife smuggling after his bag bursting with 95 live boa constrictors broke open on a luggage conveyer belt at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, an official said Friday.
Keng Liang "Anson" Wong, 52, who was previously convicted of wildlife trafficking in the United States, was charged Wednesday in a district court with exporting the endangered boas without a permit, said Shamsuddin Osman, an official with Malaysia's wildlife department.
The offense that carries a penalty of up to seven years in prison and a fine, Shamsuddin said.
Wong was arrested Aug. 26 after airport authorities found the boa constrictors, together with a few other snakes and a turtle, when his bag broke open on a luggage conveyor belt. Wong was transiting from Malaysia's northern Penang state to Indonesia's capital Jakarta.
The court will reconvene Monday pending Wong's appointment of a lawyer, Shamsuddin said.
He said the criminal charges involve the boas only, because the other animals are not listed as endangered. All of the animals are alive and under the care of wildlife officials, Shamsuddin said.
A decade ago, Wong was sentenced to almost six years in prison in the U.S. for running an animal-smuggling ring that prosecutors said imported and sold more than 300 protected reptiles native to Asia and Africa from 1996 until Wong's arrest in Mexico in 1998. It is unclear whether he served the full term.
Activists say the illegal wildlife trade used to flourish in Malaysia until the country recently stepped up efforts to crack down on it. In July, Parliament passed a new law to punish poachers and smugglers more severely, but the act has not yet taken effect.
Oops!! And, to add injury to insult, the guy's own mom makes him fess up.
Robber takes off mask a bit too early
Mom sees his face published in U.K. media, makes him turn himself in
MANCHESTER, England — A masked man who robbed a U.K. bookmaker is in jail now because he took off his disguise an instant too early.
After waving a handgun, demanding and receiving a bag of money from a frightened clerk, the man paused as he walked out the door. He then removed his scarf. Security cameras were able to capture a clear picture of his face.
His photograph was published in local media and the Manchester Police published the video on YouTube. His mother recognized him and made him turn himself into police.
Lorenzo Mason, 21, will serve five years in jail for the crime, Sky News reported.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39855633...ws-weird_news/