Archive for the 'Science and Technology' Category
Hundreds watched Friday as a crane lifted a muddy package from a hole in the courthouse lawn: a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere buried to celebrate Oklahoma’s 50 years of statehood.
The wrapped car — a gold-and-white two-door hardtop — appeared brown and red as it came out of the hole.
The car spent the last half-century covered in three layers of protective material and encased in a 12-by-20-foot concrete vault, supposedly tough enough to withstand a nuclear attack.
Excavators found water halfway up on the car’s fenders and evidence that water could have been to the top of the vault at one point, said Art Couch, who is heading up the unearthing project.
The first news of the water crushed event organizers, with some wiping away tears as heavy rain fell.
«It was very disappointing,» said event producer Kelly McElroy. «I think we probably anticipated there would be some water; after 50 years you don’t know what you’re going to get.
The car was placed on a flatbed truck so it could be unwrapped, spruced up and officially unveiled Friday evening at the Tulsa Convention Center. Spectators packed the streets to glimpse its journey.
Whether the car will start was unknown. Those who gathered to watch it being pulled out of the ground did not seem to care.
Also buried with it were 10 gallons of gasoline — in case internal combustion engines became obsolete by 2007 — a case of beer, and the contents of a typical woman’s handbag placed in the glove compartment: 14 bobby pins, a bottle of tranquilizers, a lipstick, a pack of gum, tissues, a pack of cigarettes, matches and $2.43.
There was also a spool of microfilm that recorded the entries of a contest to determine who would win the car: the person who guessed the closest of what Tulsa’s population would be in 2007 — 382,457 — would win.
That person, or his or her heirs, will get the car and a $100 savings account, worth about $1,200 today with interest.
Sources:
PR Inside:
http://www.pr-inside.com/us-state-s-centennial-excavators-find-r154320.htm
MSNBC.com:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19249855/
This cool offering from Sci Fi Channel is first-rate entertainment.
ICE SPIDERS, an original film about over-sized spiders stalking prey at a ski resort. Vitale took time to discuss that new chiller, speaks about some of this year’s recent efforts and also gave iF an exclusive sneak peek at more new original programs that we can look forward to.
Arielle Newman, a cross-country runner at Notre Dame Academy on Staten Island, died after her body absorbed high levels of methyl salicylate, an anti-inflammatory found in sports creams such as Bengay and Icy Hot, the New York City medical examiner said Friday.
A medical examiner blamed the 17-year-old track star’s death on the use of too much muscle cream, the kind used to soothe aching legs after exercise.
The medical examiner’s spokeswoman, Ellen Borakove, said the teen used “topical medication to excess.” She said it was the first time that her office had reported a death from using a sports cream.
Newman, who garnered numerous track awards, died April 13. She had gone to a party the night before, then returned home and spent hours talking with her mother.
Continue Reading »
Arielle Newman Killed by a Toxic Dose of BenGay
Auriga is a northern constellation. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy, and counts as one of the 88 modern constellations. Its brightest star is Capella, which is associated with the mythological she-goat Amalthea. The three stars ε Aurigae, ζ Aurigae and η Aurigae are called Haedi (the Kids).
Auriga is often shown seated and holding a young goat in his arms, represented by the small thin triangle of stars along the right side of the pentangle. These stars are known as “The Kids”. The star at the tip of this triangle is e (epsilon) Aurigae, a huge star 2,000 light years away which, every 27 years, is eclipsed by something even huger — eclipsed for two full years. What it is that blocks this star is a deep mystery.
The brightest star in Auriga is “Capella”. Part of the reason it’s so bright is because it’s pretty close, 45 light years away. That makes it a little less than half the distance to the Hyades cluster. In fact, it is moving in space at the same speed in the same direction as the Hyades, and may be an “outlier” of that group. Another reason it’s so bright is that it is really two stars orbiting one another, too close for us to see in the telescope. Capella is an important star for navigation because it’s among the brightest stars in the sky, and because it’s so far north that you can see it nearly all year round.
