Monday, March 16, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Woman Buys Used Couch, Finds Cat Inside
SPOKANE, Wash. — The mysterious mewing in Vickie Mendenhall's home started about the time she bought a used couch for $27. After days of searching for the source of the noise, she found a very hungry calico cat living in her sofa.
Her boyfriend, Chris Lund, was watching TV on Tuesday night and felt something move inside the couch. He pulled it away from the wall, lifted it up and there was the cat, which apparently crawled through a small hole on the underside.
Mendenhall contacted Value Village, where she bought the couch, but the store had no information on who donated it. So she took the cat to SpokAnimal CARE, the animal shelter where she works, so it could recover, and contacted media outlets in hopes of finding the owner.
Sure enough, Bob Killion of Spokane showed up to claim the cat on Thursday after an acquaintance alerted him to a TV story about it. Killion had donated a couch on Feb. 19, and his 9-year-old cat, Callie, disappeared at about the same time.
Her boyfriend, Chris Lund, was watching TV on Tuesday night and felt something move inside the couch. He pulled it away from the wall, lifted it up and there was the cat, which apparently crawled through a small hole on the underside.
Mendenhall contacted Value Village, where she bought the couch, but the store had no information on who donated it. So she took the cat to SpokAnimal CARE, the animal shelter where she works, so it could recover, and contacted media outlets in hopes of finding the owner.
Sure enough, Bob Killion of Spokane showed up to claim the cat on Thursday after an acquaintance alerted him to a TV story about it. Killion had donated a couch on Feb. 19, and his 9-year-old cat, Callie, disappeared at about the same time.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
The Power of One
At number 2 on the list of the greatest athletes ever to play at the U. C. Berkeley (Cal) is Joe Kapp.
Joe Kapp was a football player. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. One of his coaches, John Ralston, once said that Kapp was the only player he'd ever seen that could start at all 22 positions for his team. As starting quarterback, he lead the Cal Bears to a Rose Bowl, won a Canadian Football League Championship with the British Columbia Lions and lead the Minnesota Vikings to a Super Bowl.
While with the Vikings, he once threw seven touchdown passes in one game, a National Football League record.
Kapp was a great leader. He is known for catchy motivational sayings like "40 for 60" (40 players playing hard for 60 minutes) and "the Bear does not quit, the Bear does not die." (after a miraculous last second Cal win over Stanford in the 1982 Big Game).
He was also very tough. Most quarterbacks try to avoid getting tackled as much as possible. Kapp didn't. Instead, he would try to run over defensive players in order to gain a couple extra yards.
During one game he was asked why he hit an opposing player instead of running out of bounds. Kapp replied, "running out of bounds is for white boys." Joe Kapp is hispanic.
Kapp's stardom never went to his head. He once refused an MVP award because he didn't believe individual awards. He was always a great teammate no matter what the sport. In fact, this story is not about football at all, but how Joe Kapp won a basketball game without playing a single minute.
While at Cal, Kapp played both football and basketball. He wasn't a very good basketball player. In fact, he was, in his own words, "the 12th player on a 12 man team", meaning he rarely got to play. The Cal team, however, was very good.
One of Cal's best players was guy named Earl Robinson.
In 1958, Robinson was one of the few African Americans to be awarded an athletic scholarship at a major American university. In those days, many opposing teams and players were unable to accept this.
During one game, opposing players decided to pick on Robinson. They pushed him, elbowed him and threw racial taunts at him.
Kapp watched this from the bench and fumed. The taunting seemed to affect the whole Cal team. When the first half ended, Cal was far behind.
When the Cal team met in the locker room between halves, Joe Kapp was nowhere to be seen. He had gone to the opposing team's locker room instead.
There, he told the opposing players that he was sick of watching how they were treating Robinson. "Now you have to deal with me," he said, challenging the whole team to a fight, "who wants to go first?"
Nobody answered. In fact, nobody would make eye contact.
When the two teams went back into the gym to warm up for the second half, Kapp didn't shoot around with his teammates. Instead, he stood with arms crossed, glaring at the other team.
Kapp's actions fired up the Cal team. They played the second half with great intensity, came back and won the game.
Afterwards, a reporter asked the Cal coach (the late, great Pete Newell) what he said to motivate the team.
"I didn't have to say anything," said Newell, "Joe Kapp did all of our talking for us."
Joe Kapp was a football player. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. One of his coaches, John Ralston, once said that Kapp was the only player he'd ever seen that could start at all 22 positions for his team. As starting quarterback, he lead the Cal Bears to a Rose Bowl, won a Canadian Football League Championship with the British Columbia Lions and lead the Minnesota Vikings to a Super Bowl.
While with the Vikings, he once threw seven touchdown passes in one game, a National Football League record.
Kapp was a great leader. He is known for catchy motivational sayings like "40 for 60" (40 players playing hard for 60 minutes) and "the Bear does not quit, the Bear does not die." (after a miraculous last second Cal win over Stanford in the 1982 Big Game).
He was also very tough. Most quarterbacks try to avoid getting tackled as much as possible. Kapp didn't. Instead, he would try to run over defensive players in order to gain a couple extra yards.
During one game he was asked why he hit an opposing player instead of running out of bounds. Kapp replied, "running out of bounds is for white boys." Joe Kapp is hispanic.
Kapp's stardom never went to his head. He once refused an MVP award because he didn't believe individual awards. He was always a great teammate no matter what the sport. In fact, this story is not about football at all, but how Joe Kapp won a basketball game without playing a single minute.
While at Cal, Kapp played both football and basketball. He wasn't a very good basketball player. In fact, he was, in his own words, "the 12th player on a 12 man team", meaning he rarely got to play. The Cal team, however, was very good.
One of Cal's best players was guy named Earl Robinson.
In 1958, Robinson was one of the few African Americans to be awarded an athletic scholarship at a major American university. In those days, many opposing teams and players were unable to accept this.
During one game, opposing players decided to pick on Robinson. They pushed him, elbowed him and threw racial taunts at him.
Kapp watched this from the bench and fumed. The taunting seemed to affect the whole Cal team. When the first half ended, Cal was far behind.
When the Cal team met in the locker room between halves, Joe Kapp was nowhere to be seen. He had gone to the opposing team's locker room instead.
There, he told the opposing players that he was sick of watching how they were treating Robinson. "Now you have to deal with me," he said, challenging the whole team to a fight, "who wants to go first?"
Nobody answered. In fact, nobody would make eye contact.
When the two teams went back into the gym to warm up for the second half, Kapp didn't shoot around with his teammates. Instead, he stood with arms crossed, glaring at the other team.
Kapp's actions fired up the Cal team. They played the second half with great intensity, came back and won the game.
Afterwards, a reporter asked the Cal coach (the late, great Pete Newell) what he said to motivate the team.
"I didn't have to say anything," said Newell, "Joe Kapp did all of our talking for us."
Friday, February 13, 2009
The Clarification
Years ago I had a student named Hunter who asked to get a drink of water two or three times everyday. When he wasn't asking to get water, he was asking if he could go to the bathroom. I thought he was just avoiding P.E., but I later found out that he was doing the same thing in the classroom.
The boy went to the doctor. The doctor determined that he had Type 1 Diabetes. Diabetes is a disease of the immune system in which cells that produce a hormone called insulin, die. Without insulin the human body is unable to turn sugar into energy. Two of the most common symptoms of untreated diabetes are dry mouth along with unquenchable thirst and a constant need to use the bathroom. Diabetes is not contagious, has no known cause and, while treatable, no known cure.
Anyway, a few months later, another student, Ashley, also developed diabetes.
Whenever something unusual happens kids will race out to P.E. and try to be the first one to tell me what happened. If kids can't be the first, they'll either repeat what has already been said, or add details.
On the day the kids in Ashley's class learned of her diagnosis, the first group came running out to class shouting: "Mr. T, Ashley has diabetes!"
"Yeah," said a member of the second group, "She got it from Hunter."
"No," I said, "diabetes isn't contagious."
"Right," nodded another student, wisely, "she got it from drinking too much water...."
The boy went to the doctor. The doctor determined that he had Type 1 Diabetes. Diabetes is a disease of the immune system in which cells that produce a hormone called insulin, die. Without insulin the human body is unable to turn sugar into energy. Two of the most common symptoms of untreated diabetes are dry mouth along with unquenchable thirst and a constant need to use the bathroom. Diabetes is not contagious, has no known cause and, while treatable, no known cure.
Anyway, a few months later, another student, Ashley, also developed diabetes.
Whenever something unusual happens kids will race out to P.E. and try to be the first one to tell me what happened. If kids can't be the first, they'll either repeat what has already been said, or add details.
On the day the kids in Ashley's class learned of her diagnosis, the first group came running out to class shouting: "Mr. T, Ashley has diabetes!"
"Yeah," said a member of the second group, "She got it from Hunter."
"No," I said, "diabetes isn't contagious."
"Right," nodded another student, wisely, "she got it from drinking too much water...."
Friday, February 6, 2009
Controversial Construction Halted, Again
MILL VALLEY, CA, February 8, 2108:
Odd Discovery Forces Construction of Megatower to Stop
Since its inception, the 110 story Blithedale megatower has been plagued by controversy over such things as its location, proposed use, non-human labor force and quality of construction. Protests on site have delayed the start of the project for months. Now, just weeks after construction finally began, the project has been delayed again. This time the delay was caused, not by a protest, but by a discovery.
On Tuesday, an excavation droid clearing space for the building's foundation uncovered a trove of artifacts. In accordance with Marin Megalopolis Historical Preservation laws, this brought construction to an immediate stop. Construction will resume once the artifacts are examined and removed.
A preliminary examination by an archeologist suggests that the artifacts are food carriers of a type once commonly used by primary school students. This is not surprising, give the site's former use as a school.
While some of the objects are made of aluminum, most of the artifacts appear to be made of nylon and polycarbonate, man-made products derived from petroleum. This indicates that they were from the late 20th or early 21st centuries, when oil was still plentiful and before the discovery of cold fusion and hydrogen synthesis. This too, is no surprise, for "plastics", the name given to the petrochemicals use to make these artifacts, are not biodegradable and are known to last for centuries.
What makes this discovery interesting is the fact that all of the artifacts, enough for 10 or 11 people, have the word "Colburn" handwritten on them.
"We can't quite figure out what this means," said the archeologist, "back in those days, the average family had 2 kids. We've found so many things labeled Colburn that it isn't likely that these artifacts all belonged to kids from one family."
"Perhaps there was once an extended family of Colburns here," he continued, "maybe one adult Colburn moved here and liked it enough to convince brothers and sisters to join them and all of their kids went to school here at the same time. We'll never know, of course, but it's fun to speculate."
All photos of the artifacts were taken in situ (in the positions in which they were found).
Odd Discovery Forces Construction of Megatower to Stop
Since its inception, the 110 story Blithedale megatower has been plagued by controversy over such things as its location, proposed use, non-human labor force and quality of construction. Protests on site have delayed the start of the project for months. Now, just weeks after construction finally began, the project has been delayed again. This time the delay was caused, not by a protest, but by a discovery.
On Tuesday, an excavation droid clearing space for the building's foundation uncovered a trove of artifacts. In accordance with Marin Megalopolis Historical Preservation laws, this brought construction to an immediate stop. Construction will resume once the artifacts are examined and removed.
A preliminary examination by an archeologist suggests that the artifacts are food carriers of a type once commonly used by primary school students. This is not surprising, give the site's former use as a school.
While some of the objects are made of aluminum, most of the artifacts appear to be made of nylon and polycarbonate, man-made products derived from petroleum. This indicates that they were from the late 20th or early 21st centuries, when oil was still plentiful and before the discovery of cold fusion and hydrogen synthesis. This too, is no surprise, for "plastics", the name given to the petrochemicals use to make these artifacts, are not biodegradable and are known to last for centuries.
What makes this discovery interesting is the fact that all of the artifacts, enough for 10 or 11 people, have the word "Colburn" handwritten on them.
"We can't quite figure out what this means," said the archeologist, "back in those days, the average family had 2 kids. We've found so many things labeled Colburn that it isn't likely that these artifacts all belonged to kids from one family."
"Perhaps there was once an extended family of Colburns here," he continued, "maybe one adult Colburn moved here and liked it enough to convince brothers and sisters to join them and all of their kids went to school here at the same time. We'll never know, of course, but it's fun to speculate."
All photos of the artifacts were taken in situ (in the positions in which they were found).
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