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Cal Bears Examiner: No pressure for Cal Bears - thanks to the so-called 'expe...
So Saturday morning, in anticipation of the game, I'm driving around getting supplies for the home opener and listening to Fox Sports radio. One of the pundits on the radio continues to annoy me, and I just know this guy has never been anywhere west of the Mississippi. He keeps saying,... So Saturday morning, in anticipation of the game, I'm driving around getting supplies for the home opener and listening to Fox Sp... more
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NASA: Warning, space debris showers!
"NASA says it destroyed an unmanned suborbital rocket shortly after a failed launch early this morning from an island off the Virginia coast.
There were no injuries or property damage, according to a NASA statement, but the agency warned that debris from the explosion could be hazardous.
NASA believes most of the wreckage fell into the Atlantic Ocean off Wallops Island.
'NASA is very disappointed in this failure but has directed its focus on protecting public safety and conducting a comprehensive investigation to identify the root cause,' the space agency said in a statement."
For the people in Wallops Island: here is how a rocket debris cloud looks like.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070226.html "NASA says it destroyed an unmanned suborbital rocket shortly after a failed launch early this morning from an island off the Vir... more -
Campaign Update 08/20/08
Barack Obama's veep pick materializing, John McCain's blogger apologizing, Michael Bloomberg and Ron Paul ballotizing.
CAMPAIGN UPDATE knows that election news and weird jokes go together like a popped-collar meathead and a vacant-eyed blonde. Created by Mark Ganek and Brett Erlich, Campaign Update strives to be the dumbest smart show on television.
Bookmark us and check us out every weekday at current.com/campaignupdate. Barack Obama's veep pick materializing, John McCain's blogger apologizing, Michael Bloomberg and Ron Paul ballotizing. ... more -
Bloomberg set to be on presidential ballot in Virginia
On Friday, under the radar, the Independent Green Party of Virginia successfully gathered enough signatures to put New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's name on the presidential ballot. On Friday, under the radar, the Independent Green Party of Virginia successfully gathered enough signatures to put New York City Mayor... more
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Ellie St. John introduces films at the Richmond, VA 48 Hour Film Project
Byrd Theatre, Carytown, Richmond, VA, July 26, 2008
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Cigarette taxes are up -- so is smuggling
When Maryland doubled the cigarette tax to $2 a pack, some residents may have found a reason to quit. Smugglers, on the other hand, seem to have found a motive to step up their activities.
Since the tax increase took effect in January, agents with the Maryland Comptroller's Office have seized more than 46,000 packs of contraband cigarettes - smokes brought illegally across state lines. That's a nearly four-fold increase from about 13,000 packs seized over the same period in 2007.
And in the largest bust so far this year, agents confiscated nearly 8,000 cigarette packs after stopping a man driving a Chevrolet Astro van on Interstate 495 this month.
State officials say they would be hard-pressed to blame the sharp rise in smuggled smokes solely on higher taxes, but they suspect that the levy is a factor. Maryland has one of the highest tobacco taxes in the nation; neighboring states have some of the lowest.
Virginia's levy, for instance, is 30 cents a pack. That means a carton in the Old Dominion is $17 cheaper than in the Old Line State, creating an opportunity for smugglers to make a quick buck by selling out-of-state cigarettes here.
"It's just become even more profitable for smugglers now," said Jeffrey A. Kelly, director of the comptroller's field enforcement division, adding that his agents on surveillance duty also have spotted more Maryland residents in Virginia buying cigarettes. When Maryland doubled the cigarette tax to $2 a pack, some residents may have found a reason to quit. Smugglers, on the other hand, se... more -
Michelle Obama's military strategy
Amanda McBreen's 82-year-old father is a World War II veteran who's in danger of losing his house to pay for long-term care. Her 80-year-old mother-in-law is in the hospital with a broken leg. McBreen is house-hunting in Norfolk, Va., while her Marine Corps husband meets with his superiors at the Joint Central Command to get details on what may be his ninth military deployment. Where? They don't know yet. That's part of the problem.
Smoothing her hands over her brightly colored miniskirt, McBreen sits on a small stage with a handful of other military wives, some local political leaders, more than 50 television, print, Internet and radio reporters and Michelle Obama.
The wife of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is holding a round table here at Old Dominion University - in the heart of conservative America, just down the road from the world's largest U.S. Navy base, in a state that last supported a Democrat for president in 1964. But this year, Virginia may be up for grabs, and the Democrats are pushing hard.
It's difficult to overemphasize the appeal that the presumptive Republican candidate, John McCain, may have in this part of the state. The ex-Navy pilot and bona fide war hero should be a natural to win this military stronghold. But the Obama campaign believes it may be able to sway the hearts and pocketbooks of the military families living on base.
Democrats have already made headway with a very popular Democratic governor. And if the party could somehow flip Virginia from red to blue in the presidential election, well, it would be a major coup.
That's why Michelle is sitting onstage in Norfolk, and that's why the event features almost more media members than military wives - Obama may be listening to military spouses, but she's being seen by all of Virginia.
"Washington has talked a very good game about family values, but Barack believes that we have to have policies that actually value families, especially our military families," she says, and with that she holds up a slick, square, navy blue brochure.
"Today I've brought along copies of a new brochure that we put together that talks about Barack's plan for supporting military families. See?" She squints at the blue square she's holding aloft, "It's pretty, isn't it? And it's for Virginia, too."
The audience cheers at the shout-out and the disarming way Obama seems to be both part of, and apart from, her campaign machine.
It could be tough for Michelle to connect to these military women. She is, after all, a Harvard-educated lawyer and Princeton grad. But listening to stories of missing medical paperwork and moving from base to base, Obama seems less Ivy League businesswoman and more mother and wife, a woman whose husband's job is consuming her entire life.
It has been a long, hot summer for Michelle. First, the man who baptized her two children and officiated at her wedding, pastor Jeremiah Wright, found he liked hearing himself talk about black America more than he wanted a black American to become president. Then came the scuffle over her statement about being proud of America. (The actual line was: "For the first time in my adult life, I'm proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback." Conservative pundits focused on the first bit and ignored the second.) New York Times Op-Ed columnist Maureen Dowd complained that Obama's jokes about her husband's snoring were no way to the keep the campaign's "Camelot mystique."
So Michelle tried to do the first lady thing. She gamely put on a sundress and made chitchat with the women of the daytime talk show "The View."
But just as the campaign's image of a softer Obama began to take hold, the now infamous New Yorker cartoon cover portrayed her "fist-bumping" her husband, sporting an Afro, a scowl and an AK-47.
(Link for full article) Amanda McBreen's 82-year-old father is a World War II veteran who's in danger of losing his house to pay for long-term care.... more -
Building A Dream
A vietnam vet finds peace in his later years in the mountains of Virginia.
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FOOTNOTES (48 Hour Film Project Richmond, VA 2008)
West Grace Productions just wrapped up 2008s 48 Hour Film Project in Richmond, VA. Each team has 48 hours to write, shoot, edit, compose a short film, no longer than 7 minutes. Teams select genres at random.
Our genre was "Road Movie".
Each of the 36 teams have the same elements:
Character: Sylvester or Sylvia Barlow, a classical musician
Line of Dialogue: "Tell me, What's the difference?"
Prop: something with feathers
Our film is called, FOOTNOTES It is about a classical musician in search for inspiration. West Grace Productions just wrapped up 2008s 48 Hour Film Project in Richmond, VA. Each team has 48 hours to write, shoot, edit, compo... more -
Graffiti inspired & informed art from Virginian Shawn Huddleston
A pretty amazing and ever evolving body of work can be seen here at the website of Shawn Huddleston. A unique mix of graffiti inspired characters and text over a washed out background make Shawn's work very stand alone.
http://current.com/items/89144702_artist_shawn_huddlest... A pretty amazing and ever evolving body of work can be seen here at the website of Shawn Huddleston. A unique mix of graffiti inspired... more -
Dead man screaming, part 1
Behind the scenes of the LionHeart Film Works production at the 48 Hour Film Project, Richmond, VA, July 12, 2008
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Dead man screaming, part 2
Behind the scenes of the LionHeart Film Works production at the 48 Hour Film Project, Richmond, VA, July 12, 2008
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Special effects sequence during the 48 Hour Film Project
Speedy, a LionHeart FilmWorks special effects technician, turns on a television during the 48 Hour Film Project in Richmond, VA, July 19, 2008 Speedy, a LionHeart FilmWorks special effects technician, turns on a television during the 48 Hour Film Project in Richmond, VA, July ... more
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Get Your Next Pedicure From a Fish!
"A novel type of pedicure involving live fish which chomp away at dead skin is catching on at a Virginia beauty salon."
Read the full article. It's great. "A novel type of pedicure involving live fish which chomp away at dead skin is catching on at a Virginia beauty salon." ... more -
Frozen beer on a stick now legal
A restaurant in the US has just been granted permission to sell frozen beer on a stick.
The summer-time favourite was invented by Chef, Frank Morales, at the Rustico Restaurant in Alexandria, Virginia, when he accidently froze his cherry-flavoured beer in the freezer and soon realised it was a tasty treat. A restaurant in the US has just been granted permission to sell frozen beer on a stick. ... more -
Pretending Trees performance workshop 2
Sponsored by Yellow House at the Firehouse Theatre, Richmond, VA June 2, 2008
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Pretending Trees performance workshop
Sponsored by Yellow House at the Firehouse Theatre, Richmond, VA June 2, 2008
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1812 Overture, part 2
The Richmond Concert Band, 2008 Fourth of July celebration, Dogwood Dell, Byrd Park, Richmond, VA
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1812 Overture
Richmond Concert Band, 2008 Fourth of July celebration, Dogwood Dell, Byrd Park, Richmond, VA
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Introduction to the 1812 Overture
Richmond Concert Band, 2008 Fourth of July celebration, Dogwood Dell, Byrd Park, Richmond, VA
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