One Giant Leap

Click to Enlarge

.

Firefight Over the Red, White and Blue

Firefighter suspended for refusing to peel American flag sticker from locker
Chester, Pa., firefighter James Krapf wants to know what's wrong with Old Glory. The 11-year veteran was suspended without pay Thursday after he refused to peel a sticker of the American flag from his locker.
"It's pride…it's a matter of pride," Krapf said.
A new department rule mandates that all stickers and statements – union, cartoon and political – be stripped from lockers after several offensive and racist images showed up in the firehouse. But Krapf figured the red, white and blue was safe.
It seems he was wrong.
"The chief came out and said 'You have to remove your stickers,' I said 'No disrespect chief, but I'm not taking the flag off,'" Krapf recounted. He says the officer then asked him to leave.
Fire Commissioner James Johnson, who served in the Marine Corps, vows the symbolism of the decal is not the issue.
"We wear the American flag on our uniform…it's flying outside that station," he said. "It is not about the American flag or patriotism."
But Krapf refuses to give up and he's not alone. The firefighters union plans to negotiate with the department on the issue.
"We applaud Jim Krapf because these colors don't run," said union president Landrum.
Krapf, who was turned away from the station again Friday, plans to stand his ground. "It's the American flag, we should be able to fly it wherever we want…I don’t believe its offensive to anyone," he said.
The issue and Krapf's fate is scheduled to be discussed at a meeting on Monday.

.

Under Surveillance

.

Creation: Different Approaches

Click to Enlarge

.

Cool Optical Illusion

Just Watch This!

.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Kayleigh Crimmins

A six-year-old Virginia girl loves dogs so much she raised money to buy five bullet-proof vests for the Newport News K-9 division.
Kayleigh Crimmins got the cash by selling her toys on Craigslist. She received a standing ovation from the city council at their meeting.
Her mother said this is just the beginning for Kayleigh.
"I think she's determined. I think she loves dogs," Lee Crimmins said. "And there's no end to this. She's made that very clear."
The young girl also sells toys donated by friends, t-shirts and stickers.
Crimmins has made similar donations to K-9 forces in Maryland and North Carolina.
Some of her donations have gone towards other safety equipment for police dogs, including a heat alarm for patrol cars that alerts officers to rising temperatures that could be hazardous for their canine partners.
.

The departure of USS New York

Under the threat of rain and a veil of security, the USS New York will leave the New Orleans area Tuesday morning after more than three years of construction at Avondale, feted by what organizers hope will be thousands of people gathered along the Mississippi River to see the ship off.
The USS New York will leave Avondale on Tuesday at bout 7 a.m., and officials are asking people to line the banks of the Mississippi River to give the ship a New Orleans-style sendoff. The ship—, whose bow stem contains about 7 1/2 tons of steel from the World Trade Center, felled during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — also will receive two 21-gun salutes during its trek from Northrop Grumman’s Avondale shipyard to the Gulf of Mexico.
The USS New York will head to its namesake city, where it will be commissioned Nov. 7. Then it will move to its homeport of Norfolk, Va.
The ship departs Avondale at 7 a.m. with a Coast Guard escort.
When it passes the city of Gretna, around 7:45 a.m., it will be greeted by a police honor guard and emergency vehicles, which will flash their lights in honor of the 343 firefighters and police officers who died in the World Trade Center. That event will take place at the Riverfront Amphitheater.
The ship is expected to pass by Woldenburg Park around 8:15 a.m., where organizers hope it will be greeted by thousands. About 3,000 flags will be distributed, organizers said.
..

Japanese restaurant's unusual rule:

At this cafe, you get what the person before you ordered. The next person gets what you ordered.
What a wonderful, bizarre idea (especially if you ignore the unresolved question of what the first customer of the day receives.) When you order, say, an ice cream and coffee, you pay for them and find a seat. In a few minutes, you're called to the counter where you pick up, you guessed it, not an ice cream and coffee. You receive whatever the person before you in line ordered.
So what's to keep people from ordering an inexpensive item and hoping the person before them was a high-roller? Well, I guess shame.
Also, the cafe has a few rules. Among them:
Treat the next person. What to treat them with? It's your choice.
No buying twice in a row.
Please enjoy what you get, even if you hate it. (If you really, really hate it, quietly give it to another while saying, "It's my treat...")
.

Boy brings bull to school for show your pet day

The seven-year-old farmer’s son brought his 16-month-old champion Charolais, called Hallbankgate Dragon, to show off to classmates at Hallbankgate School, near Brampton.
The school’s acting head teacher Chris Thompson said: “Two pupils from class one and two are pulled out of the hat each week to be a VIP, who can wear their own clothes, are introduced to visitors to the school, and they are entitled to bring in their most precious possession, and this is Thomas’s.
“We had the vicar’s dog, and a couple of guinea pigs, but I don’t know how anybody is going to beat this unless they have an elephant.”
Pupils from the school were invited to look at Dragon, who has won a series of top prizes at this year’s county shows, while Thomas and his parents Ian and Sophie Bell answered their questions about the animal.
Thomas said: “I brought him in because I could show off his trophies.
“I thought about bringing in Tilly, our puppy, but it would have tried to bite everyone and the bull was safer.”
Unfortunately, Dragon couldn’t be brought into the classroom, so the children went out to look at the beast, which is likely to continue growing and could reach around one-and-a-half tons, on the village green.
Mum Sophie added: “The children were very excited. The school secretary said normally they issue consent forms to leave the school premises and struggle to get them back, but this time they had all the forms in straight away.”
.

Scaredy Cat

.