HT to AOSHQ
BLAINE, Wash. -- An 18-year-old man was killed while driving a steamroller at a construction site near Blaine early Tuesday, said police.
Police responded to a construction site in the 8500 block of Semiahmoo Parkway around 12:30 a.m. to find 18-year-old Justin Wydur trapped under the steamroller, said the Whatcom County Sheriffs Office. Wydur was driving up a dirt pile when the steamroller overturned and killed him immediately, said the sheriffs office.
Two 17-year-old boys and Wydur apparently entered the construction site and started up the piece of equipment. Police said the teens may have been drinking. Wydurs parents said the keys to the machine were in the ignition and that the construction site was not fenced in.
Ed and Rachel Wydur said it was a moment of bad judgment. 'They were just boys out looking to have a good time. Not causing trouble, not vandalize things, said Rachel.
Justin had just graduated from high school and his parents said he was a good boy who liked to ride off-road vehicles and hunt.
Work had been stalled at the construction site because of bad weather and the heavy equipment was left behind, reported KIRO 7 Eyewitness News. KIRO 7 called the property owner, Horizon, to ask why the keys were still in the ignition. The person did not want to comment.
Police said the case will be referred to the prosecutors office for possible trespass and illegal use of equipment charges. Of course, the parents are threatening to sue, rather than apologizing for bringing this fool into the world
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/18/2008 09:10 ||
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#1
Couldn't they just peel him off the ground? Like Wyle E. Coyote?
#2
Even though the boys could be charged, Mr. Pancaks's parents would likely win a suit under the "attractive nuisance" concept (like an unfenced swimmng pool).
#3
at AOSHQ - they say it applies only to children, not 18-yr-old adults.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/18/2008 11:02 Comments ||
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#4
"Police said the teens may have been drinking."
"Ed and Rachel Wydur said it was a moment of bad judgment."
Gee. Ya think?
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
06/18/2008 11:47 Comments ||
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#5
the good news is he'll have his owned name special at IHOP, next to Rachel Corrie
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/18/2008 11:59 Comments ||
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#6
All the trains were taken that day so he couldn't do the walk across the track thingy.
BTW-Blaine is a little wide spot in the road kind of place; main industry consists of boarded up businesses and 'last chance for gas before Canada' stations.
the Peace Arch is pretty, however.
Police in Iceland were forced to shoot a polar bear that had apparently travelled several hundred kilometres from Greenland atop an ice floe when the animal charged a group of journalists.
A 12-year-old girl on a farm near the town of Saudarkrokur, on the Skaga fjord, spotted the bear and alerted the authorities.
The bear was the second known to have made the trip across the north Atlantic in just two weeks, broadcaster RUV reported. They were the first such incidents in 20 years in Iceland, which lies just below the Arctic Circle and where polar bears are not native.
In the earlier case, authorities permitted police marksmen to kill the polar bear, sparking protests from environmentalists and animal rights' groups. After the protests, authorities had vowed to capture the second bear and have it shipped in a cage back to Greenland or give it to a zoo. But after the bear charged a group of reporters "in a panic," a police spokesman said they had "no other choice" but to kill it. It's not clear from that last sentence if the bear was in a panic ("Rrrraawwrrrr!") or the reporters were panicking ("It's gonna eat me! Screw conservation; SHOOT IT!")
Posted by: Mike ||
06/18/2008 06:18 ||
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#1
Is Ned from South-Park (He's coming right for us!) now a Journalist?
#4
Since when are journalist listed on the endangered list* and deserve protection?
* Yeah, I know we're trying our best on the internet, but we still have a long way to go till they are reduced to special enclaves like Media and Journalism Departments at universities.
#7
polar bear that tries to eat journalists. And the problem is?
After eating the drug, alcohol, bus_derangement_sydrom, BS and chomkism laden flesh of a journalist the bear would have become crazy and gone in a murderous rampage.
#9
I'd like to purchase two and send them to the NYT with "love"
Posted by: James Carville ||
06/18/2008 10:54 Comments ||
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#10
John Frum: That was my first thought too. I was shocked they didn't let them at least get bitten first.
Posted by: Charles ||
06/18/2008 10:56 Comments ||
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#11
In the earlier case, authorities permitted police marksmen to kill the polar bear, sparking protests from environmentalists and animal rights' groups.
I think a good compromise would be to shoot the environmentalists and animal rights activists and feed them to the polar bears.
Works out for everybody...
#16
That's the problem with living out here on the Left Coast; by the time lunch rolls around so I can get to the Burg, all the good snark is taken.....
The tomato scare that has sickened 170 people and is the worst food scare since the E. coli/spinach outbreak is being blamed by some environmental activists on climate change and the need for more food grown with the help of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
I was interviewing a board member of Food and Water Watch for a feature I am writing, and he positioned the scare as an eco outbreak because with less space to farm, more droughts, and higher costs, GMOs are the logical choice for farmers who want quick crops from less land.
For the record the source of the tomato infection hasnt been determined. The FDA hasnt narrowed its search. But this time of year the most common varieties are red round, red Roma, and red plum tomatoes. They are most likely grown in Florida or Mexico. The agency admits U.S. consumer demand to eat fresh fruits and vegetables year-round - has its job a lot more difficult. And concedes it needs more inspectors overseas. See a good take on this from the San Jose Mercury News here.
Anyway, the source of the E. coli in spinach turned out to be feces on the hoofs of wild boars that traipsed through spinach plants.
The source of tomato infections may turn out to be something as naturally errant as that. But with less room and climate change affecting crops, another outbreak is sure to come. GMO strands can only serve to exacerbate the spread.
So its definitely worth watching where your food and water comes from. And know their source.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/18/2008 17:36 Comments ||
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#9
So MSM-Net News film footage showing Tomato Handlers-Workers using only their bare uncovered hands, putting/throwing into crates and dipping/picking into water troughs, etc., had nuthin' to do wid anything???
#10
A little irradiation will go a long way to end these problems [both produce and activists]. I understand that it does take a bit from the full taste, but doing a 'Japanese Blowfish' meal of death really isn't necessary these days.
THE worlds population is expected to climb to nine billion by the middle of the century, from six and a half billion today, according to the United Nations, and a staggering number of those people are likely to be living in big cities.
A pressing question for developers and urban planners is how to accommodate the growing urban masses, especially in developing countries of Asia and Africa. But one point is clear: The skyscraper will play a central role.
Nearly seven years after the collapse of the World Trade Center in New York portended a pullback from cloud-grazing construction, the world is in the midst of a huge wave of tall building construction, both in number and in size. Some 36 buildings rise more than 300 meters, or roughly 1,000 feet, the threshold generally used to define supertall buildings, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, a nonprofit organization based at the Illinois Institute of Technology. An additional 69 supertalls are under construction, the council estimates.
Some of the most ambitious developments are in the petro-fueled economies of the Middle East and Russia. Among the most anticipated is the $1 billion Burj Dubai, a massive tower being developed by Emaar Properties in the United Arab Emirates. Although it is not yet complete, the tower has already surpassed the current record holder: Taipei 101 in Taiwan.
The final height has been a closely guarded secret, though the Burj Dubais 160-plus floors and spire are expected to reach more than 2,600 feet into the sky when it is completed next year, nearly 1,000 feet more than Taipei 101, which was completed in 2004. To put it in perspective, thats almost an entire Chrysler Building higher.
Not to be outdone, the Saudi Arabian multibillionaire Prince al-Walid bin Talal recently unveiled plans for a mile-high tower near the Red Sea port of Jeddah that, if built, would be twice the height of the Burj Dubai. Some pics at link - warning - NYTimes.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/18/2008 06:46 ||
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#1
Also - One World Trade Center in New York, also known as the Freedom Tower, from Silverstein Properties and designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, comes in at No. 11, at a symbolic 1,776 feet.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/18/2008 6:52 Comments ||
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#2
In 1965, a United Nations report predicted that the world's population would rise to 5.7 billion by 1995. It did.
Yeah, and all these skyscrapers are being built with OUR money. Stupid stupid petroleum addiction.
#3
When I read about these Dubai towers built on sand islands reclaimed from the sea... I just can't get that old spiritual song out of my mind...
The wise man built his house upon the rock.....
#5
The ground transportation for the 160 floor building in Dubai would require complicated and bizarre efforts to service if they really expected they would fill it. Frankly, I think a lot of it will be empty offices.
The proposed Talel tower building would require, in addition to the ground service problem, at least three banks of elevators to get a person to the top. It will also require a huge massively reinforced foundation slab. Finally, it will require the bottom floors to withstand compressive loads that are off the chart.
#6
How many of the units will ever be occupied? I'm thinking in terms of all those empty apartment blocks in Saudi Arabia, where the Bedouin won't live below another family for some reason. There are worse ways to throw away money than for ego.
The residents of a Romanian village knowingly voted in a dead man as their mayor in Sunday's municipal election, preferring him to his living opponent.
Now, there's a popularity contest you don't want to win and you don't want to lose.
Neculai Ivascu, 57, who ran the village for almost two decades, died from liver disease just after voting began -- but still won the election by a margin of 23 votes. A local official said the authorities decided to keep the poll open in case Ivascu's opponent, Gheorghe Dobrescu, won, avoiding the need for a re-run. "I know he died, but I don't want change," a pro-Ivascu villager told Romanian television.
In the end, election authorities gave the post to the runner-up, but some villagers and Ivascu's party, the powerful opposition Social Democrat Party (PSD), have called for a new vote.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
Heck, Missouri elected a dead Senatorial candidate. Then they [the Donks] ignored the words of their own state constitution and appointed the widow to the seat.
Posted by: Grenter Protector of the Geats4975 ||
06/18/2008 11:35 Comments ||
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Finally! A candidate the dead can vote for who truly speaks to their issues. Perhaps his corpse could be reclassified as "Democrat" and shipped to Washington state or Chicago?
#4
Well, I think we've identified the problem with Goebel's sales. It appears that a major portion of their market disappeared when the American military pulled stakes and redeployed. Heh.
"I saw four regiments of the middle guard, conducted by the Emperor, arriving. With these troops, he wished to renew the attack, and penetrate the centre of the enemy. He ordered me to lead them on; generals, officers and soldiers all displayed the greatest intrepidity; but this body of troops was too weak to resist, for a long time, the forces opposed to it by the enemy, and it was soon necessary to renounce the hope which this attack had, for a few moments, inspired."
—Marshall Ney
Posted by: Mike ||
06/18/2008 08:14 ||
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Napoleon's greatest mistake: not having had Ney shot. It was Ney stupidity who allowed tha Russian Army not be destroyed at Borodino. It was Ney's indiscpline who allowed Blucher to escape from Ligny. It was Ney's mix of stupidity and indiscipline who allowed Wellington to hold until Prussian's arrival. After that instead to use the reserve as a bulwark buying time for the rallying of troops who had panicked, he tried to get a heroic death leading it oved forward, was usrprised in marching order by the Prussina cavalry and had the reserve dispersed and so it happenned that an armmy of one hundred tousand men was unable to resist three orb four thousand (at most) Pruisiian horseme: bevcause every onbe who truied to stand and shoot back was instantly surrounded and killed, how differnet it would have been if instead of individuals the pockets of resistance had been hundreds or thousands. But Ney had spent the reserve to play hero.
Hanibal's weakness was being unable to exploit victory, Napoleon's weakeness was being unable to promote the right people: those generals and Marshalls "made" by him (instead of being legacies of the Republic) were uniformly very, very brave but not most of them were not very bright.
#2
Ah, JFM, if he had only had Davout to pursue the Prussians with his usual vigor after Ligny, instead of ensconcing him back in Paris to run the war ministry, and switched the assignements of Soult and Suchet, who was a far better administrator in the absence created by the death of Berthier, the story would have been even more interesting.
#3
I'll freely admit that when I'm playing Napoleonic miniatures, I root for the French (unless there are Highlanders on the table, in which case I default to my Scots ancestry).
The last big game I played in was a full recreation of Waterloo. I got stuck with the Dutch-Belgian militia. They came under artillery fire and failed their morale check, leaving a trail of discarded muskets and wooden shoes as they raced off the table.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/18/2008 12:42 Comments ||
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JFM totally agree about Ney. He committed one of the biggest head-up-a** acts in the history of warfare.
(VOI) Security forces arrested three people accused of breaking into a priest's house, and committing an armed robbery taking funds and pieces of gold, a security source from Telkef suburb (north of Mosul) said on Tuesday. 'Security forces (Asaish) arrested three persons who broke into the house of the priest Father Sabah Boliss Kmora, in Telkef suburb (15 km north of Mosul) on Monday evening, and stole amounts of money and gold,' the source told Aswat al-Iraq Voices of Iraq (VOI) on condition of anonymity. 'The three accused were admitted to Telkef court, and they confessed to the charges,' he added.
With its Christian majority, Telkef suburb is considered one of the safest places in Ninewa province.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2008 00:00 ||
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Gold was likely ciboria and chalice for Eucharist.
Rockwell Collins, through newly-acquired Athena Technologies, has completed a successful flight test of a significantly damaged unmanned F/A-18 subscale model air vehicle. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) sponsored the flight demonstrations held this spring at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland.
During the first flight test, nearly half of the airplane's right wing was ejected to simulate battle damage and in-flight failure. During the second flight, almost 60 percent of the airplane's right wing was ejected.
Upon ejecting the wing section during both flights, Rockwell Collins' Automatic Supervisory Adaptive Control (ASAC) technology reacted to the airplane's new vehicle configuration, automatically regained baseline performance, continued to fly the plane, and then autonomously landed it using internal Inertial Navigation System/Global Positioning System (INS/GPS) reference only.
The flight test campaign followed a similar successful DARPA sponsored demonstration in April 2007, during which an aileron was ejected in-flight from the unmanned subscale F/A-18.
#4
IIRC, there was a video a few months ago of an Israeli pilot who landed an F-15 with most of one wing gone. He knew he had been damaged in a midair collision, but didn't realize how badly the plane was hurt. He said that if he had known how bad the damage was, he would have ejected immediately.
So it can be done. Just not easily.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
06/18/2008 13:28 Comments ||
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Mojo - I'll tell you one set of pilots that could stay in the air with 60% gone: A-10 Drivers.
Hawg Pilots and their rides are tougher than hell, and are the last "stick and rudder" combat pilots left in the USAF.
#6
See REDDIT > SARAH CONNER HAS FINALLY FAILED - THE BRITISH HAVE DEVELOPED/INVENTED [and Deployed] SKYNET [Satellites].
CORSICANT RISING > all we need next are EM TOWERS, FLOATING/LOW-ORBIT BATTLE STATIONS, and PAN-GLOBAL EM GRIDS.............. + BABE FROM "FIFTH ELEMENT" LEARNING TO USE A LIGHT-SABER [or Two]???
Arizona will join roughly a dozen states that have vowed not to participate in federal plans for a uniform standard on state-issued driver's licenses and identification cards. On Tuesday, Gov. Janet Napolitano signed a measure, House Bill 2677, barring Arizona's compliance with the Real ID program. In so doing, she called it an unfunded federal mandate that would stick states such as Arizona with a multibillion-dollar bill for the cost to develop and implement the series of new fraud-proof identification cards.
HB 2677 is a rare recent example of broad, bipartisan agreement at the state Capitol, with the Democratic governor and GOP-led Legislature finding common ground in their opposition to Real ID.
Some of that opposition is grounded in concerns about privacy and government advancement toward a national identification card. For Napolitano, the biggest issue is related to Real ID's costs for the states.
In a letter explaining her support for HB 2677, Napolitano cited a White House estimate that Real ID would cost at least $4 billion to implement. But thus far, she said, the federal government has only appropriated $90 million to help Arizona and other states offset those costs. 'My support of the Real ID Act is, and has always been, contingent upon adequate federal funding,' Napolitano wrote Tuesday. 'Absent that, the Real ID Act becomes just another unfunded federal mandate.'
U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Laura Keehner disputed the characterization, saying states have access to hundreds of millions in federal grants to help pay for Real ID implementation.
Arizona and other states that have taken a stand against Real ID now are on a collision course with the federal government. The program was approved by Congress in 2005 as part of a package of post-9/11 security recommendations. While state compliance is voluntary, individuals will be required by the end of 2009 to carry identification that meets Real ID standards in order to board commercial flights or enter federal buildings. That provision still stands, Keehner said, adding, 'The rules are clear.'
Dan Pochoda, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, scoffed at the suggestion that millions of Americans would be barred from air travel or federal buildings because of the standoff between the states and federal government. His organization has been a vocal opponent of Real ID because of concerns about privacy and government intrusion. Said Pochoda, 'I can guarantee that 25 percent of airline travelers will not be banned from the purchasing of airline tickets in 2009.'
#2
'I can guarantee that 25 percent of airline travelers will not be banned from the purchasing of airline tickets in 2009.'
As things are going, I suspect 25% of potential airline travelers won't be able to pay the airline body weight fee for traveling 4th class, strapped to the wings.
#4
In so doing, she called it an unfunded federal mandate that would stick states such as Arizona with a multibillion-dollar bill for the cost to develop and implement the series of new fraud-proof identification cards.
I understand about unfunded federal mandates but just cannot believe that it would be a multibillion dollar proposition in Arizona. Just cannot believe that is anything other than the most despicable type of political hyperbole. But, apart from that, how much money would the state save if they didn't have to educate, incarcerate and hospitalize illegal aliens?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
06/18/2008 12:02 Comments ||
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And the ACLU concern about privacy is 100% pure, unadulterated red herring. Between the Social Security Administration and the IRS they already know where you live, where you work and how much money you make. They know more about the car you drive than you do. So what difference does a Real ID make?
But the question isn't what difference a Real ID makes. The question is: What are they trying to hide?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
06/18/2008 12:11 Comments ||
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#7
But while the Feds cannot fund this, the DHS can fund the new and improved TSA uniform badges that resemble real poolece badges so the sheeple will comply better.
goto: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2008-06-15-tsa-badges_N.htm
#8
You know, 38 or so of the States had no trouble implementing the Real ID law. I suspect the Dems in the other States are upset at the disenfranchisement of two of their prime voting blocs, the illegals and the dead.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Arizona will join roughly a dozen states that have vowed not to participate in federal plans for a uniform standard on state-issued driver's licenses and identification cards. On Tuesday, Gov. Janet Napolitano signed a measure, House Bill 2677, barring Arizona's compliance with the Real ID program. In so doing, she called it an unfunded federal mandate that would stick states such as Arizona with a multibillion-dollar bill for the cost to develop and implement the series of new fraud-proof identification cards.
