You are hereArchive - May 2009
Archive - May 2009
Humor & Fun: Office Chair Racing, 70 participants race downhill & over ramps. Helmets required. Many chairs didn't make it to en
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The German Office Chair Racing Championship was held in Bad Koenig-Zell, Germany, on Saturday, April 25, 2009. Seventy participants took a chance and brought their office chair out into the sunshine and put it through its paces. The race down Odenwaelder street was mainly downhill and involved starting on a steep ramp and racing over another ramp.
The only uniform rule was a crash helmet, which many participants needed. Dozens of racers fell off their chairs, and many chairs didn't make it to the end of the 170-meter race.
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Photos courtesy of demonicious.com
Original Source: Cave News and Reuters (with video)
Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor.- Sholom Aleichem
Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor.
72 years ago today, iconic Golden Gate Bridge finished construction ahead of schedule & $1.3 million under budget
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The iconic Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, turned 72 years old on Wednesday. The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the most beautiful, and most photographed, bridges in the world. Its 4,200 foot long main suspension span was a world record that stood for 27 years. It is still the second longest in the United States after the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge which links Staten Island to Brooklyn in New York. The bridge's two towers rise 746 feet making them 191 feet taller than the Washington Monument.
Before the bridge was built, people used ferries to travel between San Francisco and Marin. Many wanted to build a bridge to connect San Francisco to Marin County. San Francisco was the largest American city still served primarily by ferry boats. Because it did not have a permanent link with communities around the bay, the city’s growth rate was below the national average. Many experts said that a bridge couldn’t be built across the 6,700 ft (2,042 m) strait. It had strong, swirling tides and currents, with water 500 ft (150 m) in depth at the center of the channel, and almost constant winds of 60 mph (97 km/h). Experts said that ferocious winds and blinding fogs would prevent construction and operation.
Billy the Goat - Lance Corporal William Windsor - retires as Royal Welsh Regiment mascot with full military honors
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From his gleaming headplate to his immaculately groomed whiskers, Lance Corporal William Windsor looked every inch the proud old soldier as he left camp for the last time yesterday. He has seen service overseas, met royalty and led every battalion parade, but after eight years on the job, it is time for William Windsor to retire. But unlike other old soldiers, this veteran will be spending his final days in a zoo - because he is the regimental goat, better known as Billy.
His send-off came with full military pomp and ceremony - befitting-his lifetime's service with the 1st Battalion the Royal Welsh. Cheering comrades lined the route from his pen to the trailer waiting to take him to the Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire, where the Army veteran informally known as Billy the Goat will spend his honorable retirement.
None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm. - Henry David Thoreau
None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Surf Lifesaving: voluntary lifeguard services & competitive surf sport originated in Australia, expanding globally
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Surf lifesaving originated in Australia in 1906 in response to drownings at local beaches in Sydney. It comprises key aspects of voluntary lifeguard services and competitive surf sport and has expanded globally to other countries including New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, and the United States. Such groups became necessary following the relaxing of laws prohibiting daylight bathing on Australian beaches. Volunteer groups of men were trained in lifesaving methods and patrolled the beaches as lifesavers looking after public safety.
Nearly carless suburb of Vauban, Germany an example of "smart planning" - separating suburban life from auto use
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VAUBAN, Germany - Residents of this upscale community are suburban pioneers, going where few soccer moms or commuting executives have ever gone before: they have given up their cars.
Street parking, driveways and home garages are generally forbidden in this experimental new district on the outskirts of Freiburg, near the French and Swiss borders. Vauban’s streets are completely “car-free” - except the main thoroughfare, where the tram to downtown Freiburg runs, and a few streets on one edge of the community. Car ownership is allowed, but there are only two places to park — large garages at the edge of the development, where a car-owner buys a space, for $40,000, along with a home. As a result, 70 percent of Vauban’s families do not own cars, and 57 percent sold a car to move here. Vauban, completed in 2006, is an example of a growing trend in Europe, the United States and elsewhere to separate suburban life from auto use, as a component of a movement called “smart planning.”
Photo: green reflections - photographer reflected in seaweeds at green fuel plant in Le Vigeant, southern France
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A photographer is reflected in micro seaweeds in a basin at the Seche environmental plant in Le Vigeant, southern France. Seche Environnement, which specializes in the treatment and storage for all types of non-radioactive waste, produces green fuel from seaweeds.
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Photos courtesy of Alain Jocard/AFP/Getty Images
Original Source: Times Online
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