October 8th, 2009, 2:09 pm by Dave
Okay, this is the weirdest story of the year…by far. Former baseball great and hall-of-famer, Ted Williams now lies at Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Arizona, a cryonics company that freezes human remains with the hope that those remains can one day be brought back to life.
A former Alcor employee has written a book in which he alleges that he witnessed several bizarre acts while he was working there. Among them is one in which Ted William’s corpse was mistakenly decapitated. When a freezer malfunctioned, they moved his head into another vessel to lower its temperature again. In order to keep the head upright, they placed it upside down onto a tuna can and added liquid nitrogen . After two or three days, they removed the frozen head but the tuna can was stuck to the top.
At that point, a technician (a term I would use loosely!) grabbed a monkey wrench and took a swing at the can, missed it but hit the head. He then took a second swing hitting the can and sending it sailing across the room.
Alcor, the cryonics company, is denying the allegations. The book’s author is calling for an investigation. As for me, I’m thinking about being cremated when I die.
Posted in: Headlines • Random Thoughts | 2 Comments »
September 21st, 2009, 1:55 pm by Dave
My wife and I had the distinct honor of attending the Air Force Ball at Beale this past Friday evening. A seasoned chaplain was the featured speaker. In his address he mentioned that the men of the Air Force, “Ol’ Blue”, are protecting our skies each and every day; day and night. They monitor everything above us and abroad; they fly reconnaissance missions across enemy lines and they patrol the skies over our nation 24/7. It’s where they excel. So while we’re at work, play or sleep, we can rest assured there are airmen watching over us and protecting us from any threat; foreign or domestic. They maintain air command and are truly our guardians. We really shouldn’t take that for granted. I felt humbled as I listened. I felt proud to be amongst them. Sometimes I forget about the extreme dedication, the important tasks and the danger that fulfills the daily lives of our military troops.. Do you?
Posted in: Community • Random Thoughts | 3 Comments »
July 29th, 2009, 11:16 am by Dave
If you read my profile in the A-D several weeks back, you know I’m a die-hard Cubs fan since birth. The Cubs are fighting over first place in their division with their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals. Life can’t be any better for Cubs fans right now, except if Harry Caray was still in the broadcast booth at the beautiful confines known as Wrigley Field in Chicago. Harry became legendary in Chicago as the Cubs announcer ironically having broadcast St. Louis Cards games for years earlier in his career, not to mention the Chicago White Sox, the South side enemy of Cub fans.
I’m certain Harry’s a happy guy sitting with the likes of Babe Ruth and Bill Veeck enjoying a cold Budweiser and rooting for the Cubs in baseball heaven. I imagine that it looks a lot like Wrigley Field.
Here’s a little glimpse back at Harry. Philosophizing on getting old, he always said, “Live it up, the meter’s running. If you don’t have fun while you’re here, then it’s your fault. You only get to do this once.” I’m going to take his advice. After all, this is the year for the Cubs!
Posted in: Headlines • Random Thoughts | 2 Comments »
July 13th, 2009, 2:47 pm by Dave
As I have stated on occasion, the Appeal-Democrat remains a profitable company, although our profit margins have shrunk during the past 2-3 years. This has not come without pain and many difficult decisions were made to reduce our expenses in order to survive. The Orange County Register, the largest newspaper owned by our parent company, Freedom Communications, also remains profitable. Freedom’s biggest problem is that it can’t pay off the mounting “credit card” debt due to a decline in ad revenue and the escalating interest on its loans. I’m extrememly confident that we are in a good position to be successful in a bad economic situation. Here’s a Q & A interview with Freedom’s Interim CEO that provides a snapshot of where Freedom is today and where we hope to emerge tomorrow.
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