Meteor Almost Smashes Into Norwegian Skydiver

In the summer of 2012, a Norwegian guy named Anders Helstrup decided to go skydiving.

A still from Anders Helstrup's 2012 skydiving video
in which meteor zipped past him during his descent.  

Like many skydivers, he had a camera attached to him to catch the drama of his descent to the ground. Those videos are always fun.

But what was that little black thing that whizzed by him, that thing that was about the size of a softball? That almost hit him?

A bird? More likely something that fell out of an airplane high above him that he didn't see?  He wasn't sure, but it was odd.

His camera caught that thing going by. It looked like a stone. He eventually showed it to geologist Hans Amunsden.

Turns out Helstrup was almost hit by a meteorite. And he was almost the unluckiest person on the planet, as had the meteorite hit Helstrup, it would have sliced him in half.

The chances are super tiny that a meteorite would occupy the same speck of the earth's atmosphere at the same time a skydiver with a camera was occupying that same speck of atmosphere, but there you go.

You can see for yourself the video of this at the bottom of the post.

First, we need to explain things a bit more.

It all seems way to farfetched to be true, but scientists who have studied Helstrup's video say there's no other explanation. It was a meteorite zipping past the camera lens.  This, apparently, is no belated April Fools Day joke.

But don't meteors burn and light up the sky as the enter the earth's atmosphere?

Yup. But after they get down to a certain elevation, the fire goes out and they go into what is called "dark flight."

According to the Norwegian news agency NRK:

"When a meteoroid enters the Earth's atmosphere, it slows down and ionizes molecules around it; it is this blazing track across the sky that is called a meteor.

When the light disappears, the meteorite enters the state called "dark flight;" it then no longer travels at an angle, but falls straight down."

'It has never happened before that a meteorite has been filmed during dark flight; this is the first time in world history,' said Amundsen." (the geologist)

Analysis of the video, which shows part of the rock as a sphere, part of it recently fractured, as a classic meteorite, Amundsen said.

Helstrup and the geologists kept this whole thing hush hush for the past couple of years because they were hunting for the meteor on the ground and didn't want the hunt screwed up.

But so far, they haven't found it, so now they've opened up the search to the public by releasing this information.

Here's the video. It's a report by NRK, and it's in Norwegian so you won't understand what's said, but you'll definitely get the gist, and see the meteor:

Sports Guys Lose Perspective, Say Incredibly Dumb Things About MLB Player's Parenting Decision

Every once in awhile, some rabid sports, not many, but some,  fans lose perspective.

Congratulations to N.Y Mets second baseman
Daniel Murphy, a new dad. His first parenting
success is that he didn't take parenting
advice from clueless sports commentators. 

They riot when their team loses, as if overturning a car makes things all better when their hero fails to score a touchdown.

They get offended when somebody tells them to chill because "it's only a game."

They send trollish death threats to baseball players when they strike out in the bottom of the ninth.

And then you get sports commentators like Mike Francesca who is really, really, REALLY mad at Daniel Murphy, a second baseman for the New York Mets.

In case you haven't heard, Murphy decided it would be a good idea to be with his wife while she gave birth, and missed a couple of games as a result.

Well, that's a high crime in some sports circles. The entitled Francesca, and like minded folks, seem to believe Murphy owes them appearances in the baseball games they want to watch, much more than he owes his wife the courtesy of being there when the couple welcomes a new member of their family.

It's not as if they had to cancel Mets games in Murphy's absence. They carried on without him, as most workplaces do when guys take a few days off from their jobs for paternity leave.

Oh, but in Francesca's world, t's the job of a professional sports players like Murphy to totally blow off their families.

Francesca said: "What are you going to do? I mean you are going to sit there and look at your wife in a hospital bed for two days?... Your wife doesn't need your help the first couple of days you know you're not doing much the first couple day with the baby that was just born."

Except, um, getting to know your new kid? I guess to Francesca, kids are just frilly accessories that the wife wants, but not something for a macho ball player. It's as if Murphy was making a big deal over a cute little black cocktail dress or something. Real men don't want to spend time with their kids, apparently.

For the record, Mets management had no problem with Murphy taking a couple days off for paternity leave. So I guess they're wimps, too. That Murphy missed fewer games than anybody else on the team last year apparently doesn't matter to Francesca.

According to NBC's Today, another sports announcer, Boomer Eliason was equally appalled with Murphy.

Eliason said Murphy should have insisted his wife have a C-section before the season started.  "Quite frankly, I would've said 'C-section before the season starts. I need to be at opening day. I'm sorry, this what makes our money, this is how we're going to live our life. This is going to give our child every opportunity to be a success in life. I'll be able to afford any college I want to send my kid to because I'm a baseball player," Eliason said.

Or, the kid will be a total failure because his father keeps abandoning him to play ball. And who says Murphy wouldn't make his salary as a baseball player even if he takes two lousy days off? Geez!

UPDATE: Eliason later apologized for his remarks, giving what seems to me some sincere remarks. And he reached out to the Mets to apolhgize to Murphy, which is a good thing.

Obviously, most people don't agree with over the hill jocks like Francesca. An unscientific "Today Show" poll said Murphy did the right thing by taking a couple days off to be with his wife.

Yes, Francesca, Major League Baseball is important and lots of money is involved. But no, nobody owes you time on the baseball diamond.

Stick to sports, will ya, fellas? Because your parenting advice really, really sucks.

Every Obnoxious Corporate Ad Cliche in One Video Will Make You Laugh and Groan

Hat tip to Shay Totten via Twitter for this video that encapsulates every stupid cliche you've ever seen in all those ads that say what a great company Corporation X or whatever is.

I swear, every corporation in America just
reruns this parody ad and calls it their special
message about how special their special
corporation is.  

"This is a Generic Brand Video" is written by Kendra Eash for McSweeney's Internet Tendency. All the video clips are from the stock footage source dissolve.com

Or, as Adweek put it, the ad is "everything you hate about advertising in one fake video that's almost too real.

The fake ad really did have my eyes rolling as I recognized all the other ads I've seen from Corporate America. Gawd, do any of these companies, and their ad agencies, have just one single original idea?

Of course it's cheaper just to crank out the same old same old. But, hint: It's not making me like your company any better and it's making me less likely, not more likely, to buy your products and services.

But here's the video, and you'll recognize every moment from other commercials, and you'll laugh:

Shaved Ice From Hockey Rinks? Too Bad April Fools Idea Can't Be Done

A frosty treat made from shavings stirred up
by the Zamboni machines at hockey rinks?  

Every year on April 1, the public relations department at the University of Vermont issues a press release telling the world about its latest (fake) bright idea.

This year, they tell us all the ice the Zambonis shave from the hockey arena in Gutterson Field House will be converted to shaved ice treats for fans.

From UVM's press release:

"Catamount Ice, a frozen dessert that developers liken to Hawaiian shaved ice or the ever-popular Sno Cone, will be made with repurposed ice shavings 'harvested' by the Gutterson rink Zamboni machines...."

The idea was purported thought of by Connor Daley, the president of the Student Government Association, who thought the pile of ice shavings outside the arena was wasteful and contributed to unwanted stresses on the area's stormwater drainage system.

Instead of flavoring the ice with familiar things like grape or orange, they'd get invasive species tormenting the Vermont environment, like purple loosestrife or wild chervill or sea lamprey as flavors for the ice. (That way we could pull up the invasives and put them to good use)

And maybe the sweat, blood and whatnot from the hockey players would add some flavor, too.

I wish I thought of this when I was bemoaning all the snow on the ground in March. Gather up the snow clogging my property, dump food coloring and flavoring onto it, throw it in a freezer truck and sell it as a nutritious, organic frosty treat to unsuspecting southern Californians.

Oh well, maybe next year.

April Fool "Prank" That Wasn't: More Fine Dining With The Homeless

A couple weeks ago,  I featured an Internet prankster who "pranked" homeless people by pretending to be a waiter in a decent restaurant and served them nice meals.    

Homeless people are served filet mignon
by professional waiters in Glendale, Calif.  

Today, I found an even better one along those lines. Greg Benson, a comedian known on line as pulling off cell phone prank videos, decided to do something a little different.

He went to the Ascencia Shelter, a place for the homeless in Glendale, California. He and his team converted the institutional style lunch room into something close to a 5-star restaurant.

Benson got chef Jesse Brune and his staff to come in and make a very tasty, high end meal.  Some musicians set up in a corner and played some nice classical music.

Benson dressed up in a tuxedo, and as homeless people arrived expecting the usual donated meal, he welcomed them as if he were a maitre d greeting valued customers who had reserved a table for the evening.

Brune whipped up a top shelf filet mignon and a dessert that was to die for.

What I like about this "prank" is that it was about respect. When we go out to a decent restaurant, the staff (hopefully!) treats us with respect. Why not be deferential to the homeless who come in for a meal?

I honestly don't think most homeless people choose to be in their situation, and maybe if you offer a little respect, it'll give them hope they can get out of circumstances they're in. And if they do, we're all better off, right?

Yeah, that's a little pollyanish, but what the hell, it's still plausible.

I was actually quite moved by the video of this "prank" and you this might warrant a Kleenex alert for you. Watch:

Glenn Beck Gives Tutorial On How To Get Sued For Defamation

In the days after the Boston Marathon bombings a year ago, Glenn Beck kept telling us that it wasn't just the two Tsarnaev brothers that were involved, no sir!

A Saudi man is suing Glenn Beck for defamation
because Beck said the man had a major role in the
Boston Marathon bombing.
Except the guy didn't. Whoopsie.  

There's always a conspiracy to uncover, at least in Beck's mind, and he figured it out. There was a young man named Abdulrahman Alharbi, 20, a Saudi national, who was at the marathon that day.

Alherbi was injured in the attack. He was also a Saudi, as we said, and the FBI interviewed. I guess if you're Middle Eastern and near a bombing, you're automatically guilty.

Of course, the FBI and other authorities interviewed pretty much everybody who was near that explosion, so it's no surprise they talked with Alharbi.

But, authorities quickly concluded he had nothing to do with the terror attack, other than get injured by it.

But Beck is, or at least was, unconvinced. I guess if the authorities sometimes lie to us, that means they ALWAYS lie to us.

Beck had these things to say about Alharbi. And they are dark. And according to the Washington Post, and an explosion of media outlets today, Beck is the subject of a big defamation suit because Beck's provocative allegations are apparently completely untrue.

Here's what he had to say about Alherbi, in the days after the attack:

"We know who this Saudi national is....We know who this man is and, listen to me carefully, we know he s a very bad, bad, bad man."

He also said the U.S. "tagged" Alharbi as a "proven terrorist." Alharbi was also al Qaeda's "control agent and "money man" for the attacks, at least in Beck's, um, active mind, says the Washington Post

All this I'm sure was fun for Beck, who got to lecture to his rabid followers how smart he was to sniff this guy out, and how the government is covering things up because, oh, who KNOWS?!!?

Of course, all this bullcrap didn't exactly help Alharbi's life any. In his lawsuit, he says that a number of people, and I imagine many of them are Beck's most enthusiastic fans, calling him a child murderer, a terrorist.

I imagine Alharbi worries one of these lunatics might try to kill him.

Look, I'm all for people having the ability to express opinions about others, negative or otherwise. But really, there does need to be some limits. Did Beck know his allegations were false and just kept at it anyway, because it was good for ratings?

Or did he really believe this bullcrap, because he wanted to believe it? Maybe he has some sort of weird Messiah complex, I have no idea.

If you are going to make allegations that are going to wreck somebody's life, especially if you don't make it clear you're just speculating, that you're presenting fiction as fact, you need to be accountable.

So I'm glad Beck is getting sued. I hope Alharbi wins a pile of money.

Of course, if Alharbi does win, Beck will probably just say it's a vast conspiracy against him.

Whatever.

Dreams of Summer: A Really Cool Firefly Time Lapse Video

Summer will eventually get here, it is alleged, and that will bring out those warm, lazy nights when we sit outside and watch fireflies.

One of photographer Vincent Brady's awesome
firefly images.  

Photographer Vincent Brady did that, night after night in Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri and in Michigan last summer.  The result is the wonderful video you'll see at the bottom of this post.

Brady writes on Facebook:

"I was pretty strung out on fireflies through the hot and humid evenings. Though actually it was a great summer to be cruising Lake of the Ozarks on the pontoon boat under the stars while the firefly disco was absolutely raging. They are just so darn awesom and highly photogenic.

The light of the fireflies is inspiring, wondrous and just simply amazing. It's hard to do them justice trying to capture the magic with a camera, but I tried."

And succeeded.

Music in the video was specially made by Brady's friend Brandon McCoy. 

Heres the awesome video: