What Happens in Vegas: Ford Pickup Truck Smashes Through Stratosphere!

No, it didn't rocket into space, it crashed into the lobby of The Stratosphere Hotel & Casino, and thankfully not into the tower itself. Still, it had to be exciting. And though it is good news that nobody was injured, it may not say much about the crowd coming in and out of the place.

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Truck barrels through Stratosphere front entrance
 

Ford tough! Image from source, Las Vegas Sun

In what officials believe is the first such incident at the hotel, a vehicle crashed through the glass doors at the front entrance of the Stratosphere tonight at 8. Witnesses said the vehicle, a silver Ford F-150 pickup, entered the valet facing Las Vegas Boulevard, veered hard to the right and through the entrance, causing a loud crash and taking out two sets of the glass doors (four total) before braking on the marble floor inside the casino. There were no injuries reported. . .

Read more at: Las Vegas Sun

Derailed Train Was Going Much Too Fast Around Corner

Image from source, TalkingPointsMemo

Since I've been down with the flu, I haven't kept up with the news like usual. Of course, since this was a holiday weekend, news was low on my agenda anyway. But what news I did get seemed either deeply weird (Paul Walker dying in a fiery high-speed car crash) or came with a dash of deja vu. The tragic commuter train crash, in particular, seems to have happened before. The "going too fast around the corner" bit even seems like the same reason. Maybe the flu moved me through time or something?

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NTSB: Derailed Metro-North Train Entered 30 MPH Curve At 82 MPH

The National Transportation Safety Board said Monday that a Metro-North train that derailed in New York this weekend leaving four people dead and more than 60 others injured entered a 30 mile per hour curve at approximately 82 miles per hour, citing a recovered black box from the crash site. . .

Read more at: Talking Points Memo

What Happens in Vegas: Sign Worker Falls 130 Feet from MGM Sign

Ouch! As a sign maker (and occasional installer), one who has done a lot of work over the years with the company in question, this one hits a little close to home. And it makes my recent (non-work related) fall of one foot look rather trivial. I'm glad this guy survived, and I hope he fully recovers. But I'd love to see video of that fall.

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Worker in Serious Condition after 130-Foot Fall from Marquee
8 News NOW


A worker is recovering after falling more than 100 feet while working on the MGM Grand marquee Wednesday morning. . . .

Read more at: 8NewsNow

What Happens in Vegas: Cirque du Soleil Performer Dies in Fall at KA

Ugh. Immediate reaction to the news was just an "oof" moment to me. It's something that is at once sad, and completely understandable. Circus performers perform death-defying acts for a living, and sometimes there is a mistake. It doesn't make it less sad, this reality. Nor does it help with the trauma felt by the performer's friends, the people in the crowd who witnessed it, or anyone involved with the show (or family of shows). But it is important to put this into context. As with air shows, and race cars, and many other thrill-providing entertainment exhibitions, occasionally--and thankfully rarely--someone is going to get hurt or die.

I've never seen KA, though I have watched other Cirque du Soleil shows, such as Mystère, Zarkana and Michael Jackson Immortal. All of them contained amazing, thrilling--and clearly death-defying--stunts. Part of the amazement is in the fact that it looks so dangerous. Now we know, if we didn't already, that the threat is very real.

Image from source, Las Vegas Sun

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Cirque du Soleil artist killed in fall from stage during ‘Ka’ at MGM Grand

Sarah Guyard-Guillot, an artist in "Ka" at MGM Grand and a mother of two children ages 8 and 5, was killed Saturday night after a fall from the show's stage at MGM Grand. The Clark County Coroner's Office said this afternoon that Guyard-Guillot, 31, was pronounced dead at 11:43 p.m. Saturday at University Medical Center.

Read more: LasVegasSun

What Happens in Vegas: Sen. Harry Reid OK After Multi-Car Wreck

Image from 8NewsNow

Glad to hear the Senator is okay. Sounds like it could have been much worse. Hang in there, Harry!

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Sen. Reid in Good Condition Following Crash

. . .Initial reports had Reid being taken to the hospital by members of his security detail. The apparent chain-reaction crash happened about 1 p.m. north of Sahara Avenue and involved six cars, including two Las Vegas police vehicles, two civilian vehicle and two Capitol Police vehicles. . .

Read more at: 8NewsNow

Japanese Nuclear Plant May Have Suffered "Melt Through"

"Yes, most of the nuclear waste went into the ocean.
No, no. Not all Japanese movie monsters came from the sea. Most, not all."
Image from source, Guardian UK

Isn't that what you call a China Syndrome? Except in Japan, you'd probably have to call it something else. Anyway, wasn't this supposed to be a little more. . .I don't know. . .dramatic? Jack Lemmon and Jane Fonda were so animated about it in the movie. And this is more like, "Yeah, oopsie, we had a couple of melt downs. Maybe melt-throughs. So sorry. No, no, we don't know what we're going to do about it." And hey! That wonderful conservative Governor Chris Christie wants a nuclear plant for New Jersey! What the hell, he already looks like Godzilla.

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Fukushima nuclear plant may have suffered 'melt-through', Japan admits

Molten nuclear fuel in three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant is likely to have burned through pressure vessels, not just the cores, Japan has said in a report in which it also acknowledges it was unprepared for an accident of the severity of Fukushima. . .

Read more at: Guardian UK

New Toy: Samsung Transform Android Phone

This morning, I got about a quarter mile from home, and realized I had my phone pouch, but not my phone. I thought about turning around to get it, but decided I really didn't need it. So, on to work I went. Shortly after I arrived at my desk, I got a call from The Other Half. Though I'd noticed him loading the washing machine before I left, I did not realize that my Samsung Rant telephone was in the pocket of the pants he was loading in there! D'oh!
To top off the inconvenience of drowning my phone, we're off to Mt. Charleston for the weekend, starting Friday afternoon. It is possible that the phone could be rescued (friends say put it in a baggie of rice), but probably not. Anyway, it's over two years old, and has an insufferable internet connection that is almost useless. We were only holding on to our phones because we were holding out for news of the iPhone 5 on Verizon or AT&T, and we wanted to see that shake out before we signed a two year contract. Our little accident made waiting impossible.

So, we hit the Sprint store, about 15 minutes before they closed. We checked out a phone that Stupid Monkey Planet recently acquired and liked, and it was only $29.95. But my eye wandered to a $99.95 jobbie that had a slide-out keyboard, and a touch screen. I fiddled with the on-screen only one, and found my thumbs messed up a lot. So, I went for the more expensive one. And for now, we only upgraded mine. Since there is a $10 surcharge for the extra super-duper data package (mandatory with the phone), we thought we'd find out how much we like it before we turn over the whole shebang.

So far, I think the phone is pretty nifty. It's iPhone-ish, from what I've seen. There are loads of apps from Android. It easily synchs with my Google ID. It jumped on my home network with no effort. But as a phone? That's the vexing part! I'm still having trouble quickly figuring out how to answer and hang up. I've accidentally called people twice already. But overall, I think I'm really going to dig it. And it will quell my iPhone lust for at least 6-12 months. I figure by the time my two years are up, they'll be on the iPhone 7 anyway. Updates should they become worthy1

What To Do With Body Parts That Fall Off

Image from source, CNN

My friend Stupid Monkey Planet passed this story to me, and I couldn't resist posting it. Besides being very interesting, it's also very good to know what to do in this situation.  Nobody plans to get a tooth knocked out, a finger (or worse) chopped off, or--gahhhhhh--have their eyeball leave its orbit.  So read the piece below, and file it away somewhere in your head. Just in case.

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What to do when body parts fall off

Jim Beaty was renovating his Seattle, Washington, home one day when he went to cut a 16-foot piece of siding in the garage. He turned to talk to his son, Eric, and the electric saw went out of control and cut his fingers. . .

Read more at: CNN

Michael Jackson's Pepsi Accident on Video

Yeah, I'm late to the party on this one, and this is posted all over the inter-tubes. But not everyone who reads my blog reads the ones I do, so I thought I'd go ahead and post this. I remember vividly (could it really be 25 years ago?) when this happened, but we never actually got to see it before. It wasn't just a little thing, as you'll see if you watch. I'm surprised it took him so long to realize what was going on.

Wild Hit and Run Accident Caught on Tape

I just found this at AmericaBlog, and it's startling--a bit graphic, so be warned--and a fascinating character study. A jaywalking man gets hit by a car that seems to come from nowhere alongside a second car that isn't where it should be either.

What I find even stranger than the crash--and the despicable desertion of the drivers--is that this man is lying unconscious in the middle of a busy road, and people largely go about their lives, walking on down the street. A motorcyclist looks like he's turning around to help, and then just keeps going. Once again, it is kind of graphic, but remember, the guy didn't die if that helps.



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Video shows bystanders ignoring hit-and-run victim

. . .The chilling scene — captured on video by a streetlight surveillance camera — has touched off a round of soul-searching in Hartford, with the capital city's biggest newspaper blaring "SO INHUMANE" on the front page and the police chief lamenting: "We no longer have a moral compass. . ."

Read more at: Yahoo! News