A 1998 Jetta sits in Belleville Pond
On Sunday at around 2 AM Samuel T. Richter drove his father’s 1998 Volkswagen Jetta onto Belleville Pond. Reportedly, Richter was able to exit the car onto the ice, and even call his father from within the car before it sank. He then told police about the incident later that morning. Belleville Pond is located within Ryan’s park, North Kingstown Rhode Island, and is a marsh land where many waterfowl live and migrate through, also people hunt there during the fall.
It is quite surprising how far out on the ice he must have drove it. The Projo reported that he drove 143 yards from shore, however that is not quite accurate. I believe what they meant is he drove it 143 yards from the boat ramp area, or from the distant shore. There is some shoreline very close to where he drove it, even though it is a sort of marshy shore with the dry area comprised mostly of the slightly elevated path around the pond.
Apparently after he reported it he was arrested for a warrant over $9 on fine he owed. Unfortunately, for him there is a pretty good potential he could owe quite a bit more now. Reportedly, the tow company that offered to pull the car out wanted $5,000 at first. I am not sure if the same company that made the offer is the one that was working today, and if so that they would be getting quite that much. Especially, considering the insurance company apparently thought the price was rather steep.
Today, the town of North Kingstown decided to go ahead and try to pull the car out of the ice, despite the DEM’s assurance that it would not be a pollution problem, and would be fine until spring. They apparently believe it would be too much of a dangerous curiosity, perhaps attracting others to go out there. So they got Belleville Auto Salvage to try and pull it out with a tow truck. Unfortunately, the only shore near the car is a narrow path, so the tow truck could only get to within about 100 yards of the car. Two men had to be sent out onto the pond, with only a boat and a line for safety, in order to hook up the car.
The car splashes back into the pond as the chain snaps under the strain
They first went out to inspect the car, then they smashed the windows in with a sledge hammer, and placed a harness around the roof. The tow truck then pulled the car slightly over, and of course in the process mangled the roof. They then attached chains around the back axle. After they pulled the car a few more feet the chains snapped.
All in all the whole process took about two hours. I had to leave at that point, but I heard speculation they were going to try to cut it out, and as I left I observed a man walking in the direction of the car with a couple of chain saws.
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Chevy Bumblebee Camaro
The Northeast Auto show is back in Providence this week (well mostly last week). Today is kids day, and they will feature Spider Man between 11am-1:30pm and the Incredible Hulk between 2:30pm-5pm.
The auto show got kicked off to a start on Thursday, and while the auto show this year featured some new concepts there was really nothing all that eye catching to speak of, of course there were a few things such as the usual Lamborghinis and Rolls Royces you might expect to see at an auto show and a few concepts and interesting new models, but nothing really with that wow factor aside from maybe one car i.e. Bumblebee.
Last year there was the Chrysler me 4-12, and the year before that Ford had some interesting Concepts and put on quite a show with their robot.) GM looked to be the only one of the big three that really decided to show us a lot of sporty cars; it looks like they really have a hit with the Bumblebee car, which just seems like a very natural step for them considering the success of the Transformers movies. Both Ford and Chrysler and showed us the Mustang Cobra, and the Dodge Challenger respectively.
One nice thing they are doing this year is they are allowing visitors to test drive a car. However, there are a few rules that have to be followed on a test drive. 1. Obviously all traffic laws. 2. Must test drive some other car before driving a Camaro. 3. You have to pass a breathalyzer test on the spot before you get to drive. You follow those rules and you get to go for a short distance, basically around a city block in a new model car of your choice, and also look cool in a Camaro for a few minutes.
Also quite a few of the companies had hybrids there, but it is really hard to get excited over a hybrid. They really have not brought the hybrids to a performance level yet, they are costly and lower powered and/or heavier, and the real kicker is that baring any extremely drastic gas shortage, it often can take over a decade for the gas saving to really offset the higher initial cost. Don’t get me wrong it is great to be green, but if being green bankrupts us what good is it? Hybrids despite their greater present and production are still quite costly considering what they often.
The big three did not really have a lot of unique concepts, and the real big push this year seemed to be the green concepts or rather greener tweaks to current models. Amidst all the new cars there was one section up on the nestled up on ballroom level of the Rhode Island Convention Center that had some antique British cars, which were displayed courtesy of the British Motorcars of New England. They were a pleasant delight amongst all the new cars, a throwback to when cars didn’t have big brother monitoring systems built into them. One such system being marketed now by Ford is called the MyKey, which allows “parents” to limit vehicle speed and stereo volumes. Don’t get me wrong, these systems certainly help us, but yet somehow we have that yearning for bygone eras. This is in part why many new cars are often designed with a throwback look. The MyKey would be great used by parents, but as with any technology there is a potential for abuse, especially as the technology progresses.
One type of car that really does seem to make a lot of sense in terms of going green is the fuel cell, however I only saw one fuel cell there, a crossover by GM; the Chevy Equinox.
However, the problem with the fuel cell at this stage is they are still little more than a green marketing gimmick. Back in 2000 it looked as if the technology should have been 10 years away when I saw a fuel cell prototype at Epcot. However, today really affordable fuel cells are still at best another 10 years away. Aside from the production cost of hydrogen fuel and the hurdle of being able to store enough of the lower energy fuel onboard a vehicle; it seems pretty apparent that the biggest hurdle is simply infrastructural development, and there is still a need for some more technological development.
They have simply reached some physical limits, which require in some areas greater technologies, but what they really require is even more innovative thinking about how to use the current technologies in the mean while. One would think that by now they ought to have come up with at least some workable solutions for short commutes, and some sort of mass producing for a cheap fuel cell that gets that price down maybe even enough to encourage more well to do people to purchase fuel cells as a second car short commute car, that is if they were really serious about green at the highest levels in this nation. However, apparently government funding has been cut and in many instances research has reached some dead ends and/or has simply stalled or at least slowed drastically.
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The New England Patriots Practice in the Rain
Thursday July 30, 2009 the New England Patriots kicked off their 2009 training camp. I knew that there was a threat of thunderstorms in the morning, but hoped the rain would hold off. There was only a slight almost comfortable mist at the beginning of camp, and for a while it seemed the storm may hold off until the end of session 1. Yet dark clouds still loomed ominously just to the North of the Stadium as a constant threat of rain during the first hour of came. Then the clouds gradually opened up just after 10:30 AM and within 15-20 minutes it became an all out downpour. The Patriots kept practicing in the rain for as long as possible, despite lightning nearby; eventually after one close strike which shook the stands everyone began to vacate the stands and the Patriots cleared the field shortly thereafter.
The Patriots went back at it for an afternoon session, and the rain held off. I was not there for the afternoon session, but apparently Randy Moss only likes to come out to afternoon practices, for some reason. I guess when you have already proven yourself you can do that; although, Brady doesn’t seem to miss any sessions. I remember calling the stadium back in 2007, unfamiliar with training camp, and asked a question about whether some of the starters would be at training camp; thinking that perhaps once they had proven themselves they were not required to be at training camp, and they told me it was a real practice. I have since come to learn that the pros are not all that different from high school and college in that everyone needs to be there as much as possible. If not for skill development, then for team cohesion; as rookies need to learn from the veterans players as much, if not more so, then from the coaches. I have especially come to see this with the Patriots. So why are some players out more often? I can only hope it is because they have other more pressing commitments such as family or health concerns.
One thing that one must wonder is how the team, especially those players who are there both sessions everyday, is going to fair through this grueling 7 straight day practice schedule. Reports from various news sources are saying the team was starting to show fatigue and moving sluggishly on Saturday. Granted it is only week one, and it is natural for a fatigue to start setting in now, but if it is only day 3 and they are dragging they are really going be hurting next week. They have no day off in sight until at least next Thursday August 6th, at which point I suspect the roster may get a bit smaller.
Tom Brady hands the ball off to Laurence Maroney during practice on Thursday
Tom Brady is of course back, as I said he has not missed a practice, and is looking better than most of the quarterbacks out there, despite his injury. He is still wearing his knee brace, and is working himself back into shape slowly, and appears at this point as if he will be ready to go, although it is not entirely clear how much the knee may still be bothering him. The rumors that the Patriots may be interested in Michael Vick seem much more farfetched, especially after yesterday’s signing of Cleo Lemon giving the team 5 quarterbacks on their roster, which they will need to get down to 3 by the end of preseason. It will be interesting to see if the Patriots can keep Brady healthy and/or find a good backup so they can get back on top of the NFL and bring home another championship this year.
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Tags: camp, injury, knee, Laurence Maroney, new england patriots, pats, qb, tom brady, training camp
This fragment of the Moon's surface was carried to Earth by the Apollo 11 crew. It was given to Rhode Island along with a small state flag that was carried to the Moon and back..
As Promised I have photographed the Moon rocks at the Rhode Island State House. They will be on display until Friday. When viewing the rocks (if you can call them that) initially what strikes you is just how small and unimpressive they are. It is incredible how small they are and how they look as if they have just been tucked away in a dark room somewhere collecting dust.
Similarly Buzz Aldrin when he reached the Moon was struck by the “magnificent desolation” of the lunar surface. The Moon in itself is desolate, and even filled with daunting terrain especially the far side which has a battered, densely cratered appearance with few maria. Also he was also stuck with the “velvet luminosity” of the sky. This symbolically makes a lot of sense as the Moon is fully dependent upon the Sun in order to provide light; without the Sun’s glory reflecting on the Moon it cannot shine. It is solely dependent on the Sun’s light for its “velvet luminosity”. Reaching the Moon represents the pinnacle of human accomplishment, and yet in many ways it has been wholly disappointing in accomplishing the goals of leading mankind to a greater peace and harmony and unity in human endeavor.
Granted it has brought us some pretty impressive technology; however the space program has also left us with some pretty hefty bills to pay in a time of mounting national deficits, so there is somewhat of a balance to maintain there. One must also wonder why it takes the hope of reaching the cosmos to drive us on to greater achievement. Perhaps there is something to be said for being more heavenly minded and reaping earthly good simply as a mere by product, but of course not so much so that we dare presume we can reach God through our endeavors. There is also the sense that we must continue to fight for greater achievement, we reached the Moon right at the height of the Cold War. Is that just by chance or is it perhaps because the times of greatest struggle drives us on to the greatest good!
Moon rocks along with the Rhode Island state flag, which was carried to the Moon and back by the crew of Apollo 11.
I want to leave with this quote, which I found on a NASA website: British astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle stated, “Once a photograph of the Earth, taken from outside, is available – once the sheer isolation of the Earth becomes known – a new idea as powerful as any in history will be let loose.”
What might that idea be? I would venture that the new idea ought to be a deeper sense that we are nothing apart from God; that we are ultimately insignificant and isolated in this vast universe and only God can free us.
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Photograph from the most recent Lunar Eclipse, which occurred on February 20, 2008
Today 40 years ago in 1969 the Apollo 11 crew landed on the moon. The crewmembers were Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, command module pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot. Neil Armstrong is probably the most famous as the first man to walk on the moon, and of course everyone knows of Buzz Aldrin, who is first man to pee on the moon. That is no joke also, It was put out there by National Geographic. Michael Collins is of course forgotten most of the time because he was the behind the scenes guy who had to stay with the command module.
An oblique view of the lunar farside photographed from the Apollo 11 spacecraft in lunar orbit, looking southwest. The large crater in the center of the picture is International Astronomical Union crater (IAU) no. 308, which is located at 179 degrees east longitude and 5.5 degrees south latitude. IAU crater no. 308 has a diameter of about 50 statute miles. The ruggted terrain seen here is typical of the farside of the Moon.
There are moon rocks on display at the Rhode Island State House through Friday from 8:30am-4:30pm, to commemorate this accomplishment. However, they are so tiny that I think I may need my macro lens just to try and get a decent shot of them, of course I could also try to get a nice composition of them with the flag. Moon rocks today are considered priceless, although Russia has sold moon pebbles for $442,500 at Sotheby’s in 1993. Also some were put up for sale about 6 years back that were given as a retirement gift to Mr. Healy, an engineer at NASA’s Lunar Receiving Laboratory who worked on the Apollo missions and who died over a decade ago.
Scientists claim moon rocks are several billions years old, however they have no real way to know for sure, is all they can do is guess that the uranium has always decanted at a steady rate based on recent data. Moon rocks are valuable mostly simple because of their rarity and novelty (they are valuable to scientists also for knowledge that can be gleaned). They are for the most part no different than earth rocks except they lack iron and other heavy metals.
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John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band
Yesterday went well at the South County Hot Air Balloon Festival, although like most days this summer rain was an ever looming threat. Fortunately, there was no heavy rain during the festival, just a a little lite drizzle which started to become heavy shortly thereafter. The balloons were able to go up for some tethered rides, but there was not much of a balloon glow at dust.
The John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band played with no problems. The John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band has actually been coming to the festival for quite a long time. They seem to really enjoy playing and they even bring up the children for a song or two towards the end of their performance. They play rain or shy, since they are under a tent (although I imagine severe thunderstorms, like we had last night, might stop them). The rain is mostly just a problem for the audience; for those out in the field there very is little cover. At this very moment Saturday’s events are moving into full swing, so head on down. The good news is that it is predicted to be sunny later in the day, although there is potential for a morning storm. Remember also there is a $10 admission and $3 for children 14 and under (which they say is supposedly a tax write off, for all the underemployed or unemployed out there; because it all goes to charity)
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It is once again time for the South County Hot Air Balloon Festival. The weather looks good so far, although there is a risk of a thunder storm later. The balloon festival which is in its 31st year is sponsored by the Wakefield Rotary Club. It typically offers many options well beyond just the Hot Air Balloons including: pony rides, rock climbing, pig racing, kites, music by John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, and some carnival rides.
The balloon festival is located just past the URI Ryan Center on the athletic fields, which are right off of route 138. The gates open at 4pm today, although the biggest day is usally Saturday today will also provide opportunities to see the balloons at dust, which is probably one of the biggest highlight of the event. Saturday and Sunday they will open at 5:30 AM and go till 7:00 PM with the balloon glow and fireworks afterwards on Saturday, see the full schedule:here
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Pennsylvania artist John Cheer stands next to some of his art work. His website is: www.cheerclaystudio.com
The Wickford Art Festival, Rhode Island’s Premier Art Festival featuring hundreds of artists, happened this past weekend. This along with the Amica Ironman 70.3 or half triathlon on Sunday (not sure why they are simply called it an Ironman 70.3. I guess it sounds better then half), and 3,000 soccer games in South Kingstown occurred over the weekend. The Ironman ran right up through the Wickford area, just a few blocks away from the Art Festival. This made Sunday morning travel to the Art Festival very difficult.
Some more unique mediums used by artists at the festival
The Art festival which is in its 47th year featured about 250 artists each each with a white canvas booth of about 10ft x 10ft from where they hang painting, photographs, clay, or other artwork. Some were able to also set up additional displays in grass or sidewalk areas around their booths. The festival usually draws a considerable crowd and this year was no exception, while the crowd was smaller it was still a healthy 45,000 people give or take. From talking with different artists it is hard to make a good profit from the art festival. I talked with about 2 or 3 photographers and only one of them said they were making a good able to making a living solely from their photography. The one who said she was making a living from her photographer had some very exotic photographs, one which I commented that it looked like it was just out of a movie was actually of temple that had been featured in Tomb Raider. She also did very some interesting photographs of some monks and just really draw you into the ancient land and culture. You can she her photos at Zimphotography.com Two other photographers who I talked with had a number of beach scenes, one having more local shots, and another having a lot of West Coast landscapes, both of them echoed the sentiment that it is very difficult to make a profit form their work. Their work was very good, but of mostly American landscapes. I suppose the term starving artist was not coined for nothing.
There were also a number of artists who worked in many other unique mediums. One such man I talked with was John Cheer (picture on the top of the page). He had some very interesting things which really caught my eye. He works with a type of clay and makes these interesting things which look like sting rays and lobsters kind of, some of them also reminded me of horseshoe crabs. His website is Cheerclaystudio.com
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Fireworks Over the North Kingstown Town Beach Last Year
Happy 4th of July everyone! Today is a day which marks freedom not only in America, but all across the world. This is especially so in many countries which have been structured on American democracy. Honduras, for example had small personal fireworks in a number of areas on the 4th of July when I was down there back in 2000; despite not having their independence day until September 15th. This year they may regrettably have fireworks of another sort; with the tensions surrounding the recent coup democracy now hangs in the balance there.
Also, here in the United States we have recently experienced an attack on our freedoms right here in Rhode Island with a new law designed to evoke taxation without representation, by forcing out of state companies to collect state sales tax through affiliates. Affiliates actually sell nothing and have no insider knowledge,beyond that of an educated consumer, of the products and companies which they promote; they simply have a referral relationship with an advertiser. As a result of this new law I have now simply been dropped from both Amazon Associates, and the B&H Photo Affiliate program. I hate to bring the destruction of democracy to mind on a day wherein which we should be celebrating democracy, but that is the reality of it. Democracy is under heavy attack today around the world and at home.
Of course the History Channel was running the usual pre 4th of July specials yesterday propounding Masonic conspiracy theories and focusing on the secrecy of modern fraternities such as Skull and Bones. They also mentioned some cosmic alignments which occur on the fourth of July. Apparently their is Egyptian mythology around the lining up of the dog star Sirius with the sun and earth. Somehow this is supposed to actually effect events on earth, although I am not sure exactly how, and know that God gave us the stars never to mark things, but that depending on the stars when we have God is unwise. Now to end on a positive we still have a lot of freedoms in this country and while our sagging economy may be putting a damper on some fireworks displays this year, we have a symbol of freedom (well as long as you don’t buy too much of the History Channel’s conspiracy theories on that) the Statue of Liberty reopening for people to go up to the crown today. Lastly the weather looks good so far, with only a 20% chance of a thunderstorm.
July 4th Alignment
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The Black Daggers had to go through all the preparations for a jump just in case, but they knew the chances of jumping were going to be slim to none when they got on the plane. So being the adrenaline junkie types they are the flight basically put them to sleep. For me being used to flying commercial, on the rare occasions I do fly, I could feel the G-forces from the heavy banking, which to me were somewhat uncomfortable for sleeping.
Sadly the 2009 Rhode Island National Guard Open House and Air Show is now over. The Air Show went very well, and as usual attracted large crowds of up to 60,000+ people. Sunday got off to a somewhat drowsy start (literally). They were scheduled to have the Black Daggers perform the opening jump at 10:00am, but the ceiling height (flight ceiling is a term used by aviators to refer to: “the height above the earth’s surface of the lowest layer that is reported as broken or overcast; or, if the sky is totally obscured, the vertical visibility shall be the ceiling.”) was too low, only about 500 ft or so. Despite the low ceiling height the jump plane a C-23 Sherpa, often described as a Scion with wings was given the go ahead to go up as a “weather-bird”.
The Black Daggers were loaded just in case the weather improved, but we all knew the chances were slim that the weather would improve in time for the jump. So for the Black Daggers, who being sky divers that undoubtedly strive on adrenaline rush; it was an opportunity for a little cat nap. For someone like me who has does not fly much, and usually commercial on the rare occasions I do, the ride was rough with very heavy banking. It was not rough turbulence wise, but you could certainly feel an increase in the g-forces pushing on you, which would had made it a very difficult for me to sleep.
Gradually throughout the morning the ceiling height began to rise as much of the low layer cloud cover started to burn off and move out. While the Snowbirds and Blue Angels only did the low shows in the afternoon it was still high enough for most all of the planes to go up and put on very a good performance. The main thing they needed to cut were some of move where the jets fly straight up into the sky, in order show off the thrust to weight ratio, and some of the higher loops became more horizontal.
So there you have it the 2009 Rhode Island National Guard Open House and Air Show (aka Quonset Air Show) has continues the proud tradition started back in 1991, featuring some of the world’s top performs and the latest and greatest aircraft, attracting media from at least as far away as England and generating much support for the Rhode Island Charities.
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Tags: Air Show, black daggers, blue angels, low show, plane, quonset, sherpa, show, snowbirds
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