Fake Air Force One plane courtesy of NY Daily News

JACKSONVILLE — Flipside Florida commemorates the first anniversary of Air Force One’s disastrous  April 27, 2009  flyover of New York City in an ill-conceived public relations photo op. This AF1 commemoration miraculously coincides with an equally disastrous mistake which resulted in wiping out a new post while this old one published instead.  At this time, Flipside Florida would like to thank  the New York Daily Newsfor running the Photoshop AF1 contest in the the first place which allowed for the original post. Most importantly, Flipside Florida would like to thank Jan Korb, Creative Director at Jacksonville-based BroadBased Communications for doing  all of the work.

[Originally published May 3, 2009]

JACKSONVILLE – AIR FORCE ONE infuriated New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on April 27 with a low-flyover of the city, which petrified the entire New York metropolitan area, reported the Daily News of New York.

This in no way deterred Air Force One. The airplane simply refused to Photoshop itself and headed south on Interstate 95.

The customized Boeing 747 bypassed the White House, continuing  through the Delaware tunnel, stopping rush-hour traffic.

Air Force One was next seen over  ”South of the Border” on the North/South Carolina border terrorizing an  RV camp.

A Jacksonville resident reported the plane disrupted a flock of Sea Gulls over Trail Ridge landfill a short while later.

“I was afraid of another ‘Miracle on the Hudson,’” the resident said.

The Miracle on the Hudson refers to a flock of Canadian Geese, which accidentally flew into US Airways Flight 1549 on Jan. 16, forcing an emergency landing of the passenger plane, in which all passengers  miraculously survived.

The next sighting of the plane came from St. Augustine Beach, where a group of surfers anxiously texted and Tweeted reports to  local media.

Air Force One narrowly avoided an imminent crash over the St. Augustine Lighthouse.

NASA officials reported Air Force One landed safely at Cape Canaveral.

Update:  This post was original published on May 3, 2009.  Sorry for the confusion.

Jim Jeroo's twitter-face avatar

This I found out this Wednesday evening past during my visit with him at Downtown Jacksonville’s Art Walk.  Jim Jeroo was displaying his magnificent artistry at the Old (Haydon-Burns*) Library, which is where we left him this past November. At that time, he had tweeted, ” My last US art show 5 Points J’ville, tonite … Come see my art & face!” Any readers not seeing @JimJeroo‘s face then may do so now.

I  personally didn’t see this Wednesday night, but Jim Jeroo relayed a bit of a “color” story with reference to  the all-volunteer 501st Legion Florida Garrison Squad 7 [The 501st Legion is "The World's Definitive Imperial [Star Wars] Costuming  Organization”].

"A Little Short For A Stormtrooper"

The  inspiration for “A Little Short for a Stormtrooper” came from a photo in a pamphlet. It just so happened that the short Stormtrooper was at the Old Library that very evening and recognized herself by the clothes she was wearing in the painting. Her Imperial-costumed Dad wanted to buy her portrait on the spot but Jim Jeroo said, “no”. He wanted the Stormtrooper Dad to have for it  free. They squabbled a bit and finally agreed that if the painting remained unsold by evening’s end, it would have a new home.

This is exactly what happened and now Jim Jeroo is an honorary member of 501st Legion Florida Garrison Squad 7.

Not surprisingly,  I asked Jim Jeroo, “so whad’ya do in London and why did you tweet about your Nan all the time?”

Jim Jeroo was enmeshed in TWO secret projects with a secretive self-described award-winning actor, writer and comedian from Liverpool. One project has something to do with a relatively unknown British Television Network. The other project  is something you can read or just leave on your coffee table for other people to read. Either way, this secret project  might make a tolerable Christmas present.

Fraggle Rock Band

As we already know by sheer “osmosis”, Jim Jeroo is back in Riverside and he lives near 5 Points. Jeroo plans to become “Andy Warhol with bigger hair” and will accomplish this by doing art shows all over the place. Jim Jeroo’s next series of paintings will feature the Sesame Street neighborhood, but you don’t have to wait until Christmas to buy a tolerable one.

p.s.  Nan called this morning with a new phrase she invented about Grandad. Also, she needs a new ice cream scoop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*The Haydon Burns Library in Jacksonville, Florida was named in honor of W. Haydon Burns, who served as Mayor of Jacksonville for 15 years, longest of any person. Burns also served an abbreviated 2-year term as Governor of Florida. The Burns Library replaced the Carnegie library, built in 1905 and designed by Henry John Klutho of New York.

The Library Project is a multi-purpose development of the building by Main Branch LLC. For additional information on this project, please refer to Flipside Florida’s July 17, 2009 blog post, Brothers in Arms: Mark Rinaman, who is a Main Branch partner and also is a Major in the Florida Army National Guard.

Since Jacksonville’s most eastern border is  the Atlantic Ocean, marine biology is a subject of interest to some. In fact, Jacksonville University is building it’s own Marine Science Research Institute. The completion date is scheduled for August 2010, which isn’t that far into the future in the grand scheme of things (about the time of Talk Like A Pirate Day 2010). The MSRI will be JU’s first “green building”  seeking Silver LEED Certification through the U.S. Green Building Council.

So anyway,  over at Southern Fried Science are those two marine biologists. One calls himself southernfriedscientist, but his name is actually Andrew.

Andrew is a graduate student in North Carolina studying deep sea biology. When not in the lab, he spends his time out on the water, usually swearing at his boat while simultaneously sacrificing some important tool to Poseidon in a desperate attempt to make the motor start. That is, assuming he can get his truck running long enough to actually put the boat in the water.

The other calls himself  WhySharksMatter, but his real name is  David.

David is a graduate student in South Carolina studying shark conservation. He is the author of the upcoming book “Why Sharks Matter: Using New Environmentalism to Show The Economic And Ecological Importance of Sharks, The Threats They Face, and How You Can Help”. His time is divided between educating the public about sharks, spending days at a time at sea playing with sharks, and eating horribly unhealthy foods.

Under what Southern Fried Science calls it’s The Best Marine Invertebrate Blog Posts is posted incredibly useful information, such as Malaria, Bedbugs, Sea Lice, and Sunsets: Can’t We All Just Get Along? ; The Other 95%: Man-Sized Sea Scorpion Fossil Found In Germany ;  or Echinoblog: Giant Green Brittle Stars of DEATH!! When they ATTACK–AGAIN! (this one might be useful  for TLAPD 2010).

dolphins are actually jerks?

Still drifting  along on our deep-sea journey, we find that WSM believes “Dolphins are actually jerks”.  This belief might be offensive to JU because its university’s mascot is a dolphin. He did, however, recieve the 2009 3 Quarks Daily science blogging prize, so JU should overlook the transgression. In the post, The ecological disaster that is dolphin-safe tuna, WSM makes the following observation (among many others):

Tuna is one of the world’s most economically important fisheries, directly employing tens of thousands and feeding millions. The main way that tuna is caught is through purse seines in the Eastern Tropical Pacific. Basically, after a large group of tuna is located, a miles-across purse seine net is closed around them via a group of small boats associated with a large factory ship.  It’s an effective way to catch large amounts of fish for not a lot of money.

WSM’s post explains [why WSM thinks dolphins are jerks]  some environmentalists  (such as Greenpeace)  mean well, but are not always helpful.  This is indicted by the title of the post, which includes the phrase “ecological disaster”.

Mmmm ... Yellow Fin

Yellow Fin image courtesy of Sustainable Sushi

Many restaurants across the country,  even if they’re not solely dedicated to sushi,  serve  seared, rare Ahi [Yellow Fin] tuna.  I think it makes sense to catch as much tuna as possible. (Maybe Ahi wouldn’t be so pricey).

So WSM may be right – dolphins are actually jerks despite a long maritime tradition of respecting dolphins.

[ AVAST ME HEARTIES !! ]

(Hat Tip to Reuters blogger Felix Salmon, who despite all his blathering about economics, occasionally posts hilarious links, which is where I found  Southern Fried Science and associated blogs.

CORRECTION: Hat tip to commenter Doug for rightly pointing out the pink dolphin’s natural habitat. The dolphin shown is not a jerk.  According to Cryptomundo, which is where this image is courtesy of,  the dolphin is an Amazon River Dolphin (or Boto), Inia geoffrensis.

The Japanese discovered the secret of turning cows into solar space satellites.

The station is slated to use 4 square kilometers of solar panels to generate 1 gigawatt of power, enough to power 294,000 homes, according to this report from Bloomberg.

Unfortunately, there are an estimated 47 million households in Japan, according to the CIA’s World Factbook.

IN RELATED NEWS –

HTV/H-IIB Successfully Launched!!

“The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) Demonstration Flight aboard the H-IIB Launch Vehicle Test Flight (H-IIB TF1) at 2:01:46 a.m. on September 11, 2009 (Japan Standard Time, JST) from the Tanegashima Space Center. The launch vehicle flew smoothly, and, at about 15 minutes and 6 seconds after liftoff, the separation of the HTV Demonstration Flight was confirmed.”

[The launch is relevant to Jacksonville because NASA is in Cocoa Beach - a couple of hours south on I-95. NASA - TV is linked from JAXA's  Web site.]

Not Space Cows

MEANWHILE –

The Los Angeles Times reported Oct. 13, 1985:

The Soviet Texas:  Cattle Drives, Space Station, Heavy Industry – In the Wild, Wild East, Kazakh Cowboys  Still Ride the Range

LOS ANGELES – The Kazakhs, a Turkic-Mongol people who trace their roots back to the 13th Century, were once nomads who roamed the range with horses and livestock.

The horse still is celebrated in Kazakh folklore and dances. In the big farmers’ market at Alma Ata, horse meat is sold for the equivalent of about $2.10 a pound and mare’s milk, known as kumiss , is also available.

Independent Frontier Spirit

The republic “is something like Texas,” said a Soviet official who has lived in the United States. “They are both places where cowboys and cattle played an important historical role and they both retain a lot of the independent frontier spirit.” …

]]> http://www.flipsideflorida.com/cattle-in-space/feed/ 3 http://www.flipsideflorida.com/pirates-are-ruining-everything/ http://www.flipsideflorida.com/pirates-are-ruining-everything/#comments Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:27:20 +0000 k. a. gardner http://www.flipsideflorida.com/?p=1173 AVAST ME HEARTIES!!

AVAST ME HEARTIES!!

THE PIRATES.-DRAWN BY M. BIARD. HARPER'S WEEKLY 1861

SAVE THE DATE!!   SAVE THE DATE!!

September 19, 2009 is The Original INTERNATIONAL TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!

Apparently, seven years ago Dave Barry [you know, the extremely boring columnist from the Miami Herald] mentioned an amatuer pirate crew who talked like pirates one day a year in one of his columns and then wrote an introduction for the book:

Pirattitude!: So you Wanna Be a Pirate?: Here’s How!

Authors John “Chumbucket” Baur and Mark “Cap’n Slappy” Summers CLAIM they have become an “international PHENOMENEM that shows no sign of letting up”

So if you too want to talk like a pirate on a designated international holiday, you have nine days to practice.

How do know  this USELESS bit of trivia?

I BLAME TWITTER:

RT @FromCarl Pirates? You have 13 days to prepare: http://bit.ly/pirate13 (via @black_von Pirates are all the rage: http://bit.ly/TZEEI )

AND STILL MORE TWITTER PIRACY!!

@ecocomics Economics of Pirates http://bit.ly/Czkzq

UPDATE: Link reference –  The Atlantic/DailyDish/TheHiddenEconomicsofPirates

WILL IT NOT END? A link within another link … !

Steamboats are ruining everything. X MARKS THE SPOT

courtesy Caleb Crain www.steamthing.com

RT @thecapnslappy This is the best I can do to remind people that September 19, 2009 is The Original TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!

The “international phenomenon that shows no sign of letting up”  is only nine days away!

Where there is sea there is pirates

This in no way deterred Air Force One. The airplane simply refused to Photoshop itself and headed south on Interstate 95.

The customized Boeing 747 bypassed the White House, continuing  through the Baltimore tunnel, stopping rush-hour traffic.

Air Force One was next seen over  “South of the Border” on the North/South Carolina border terrorizing an  RV camp.

Trail Ridge landfill courtesy of Jan Korb and Photoshop

A Jacksonville resident reported the plane disrupted a flock of Sea Gulls over Trail Ridge landfill a short while later.

“I was afraid of another ‘Miracle on the Hudson,’” the resident said.

The Miracle on the Hudson refers to a flock of Canadian Geese, which accidentally flew into US Airways Flight 1549 on Jan. 16, forcing an emergency landing of the passenger plane, in which all passengers  miraculously survived.

Air Force One at St. Augustine Beach Light House courtesy GoUSBeaches.com, Photo Shop and Jan Korb.

The next sighting of the plane came from St. Augustine Beach, where a group of surfers anxiously texted and  Twittered reports to  local media.

NASA officials reported Air Force One landed safely at Cape Canaveral.

– k. a. gardner

The Castillo de San Marcos as witnessed by Jan Korb and Photoshop

The ethics of political flip-flops.

The piece was published by the Florida Times-Union, or at least, by jacksonville.com.

The ethics of political flip-flops, is subtitled:

Crist raises questions in changing position on gambling issue

… That all depends on whether the shift is in policy or principle, said Gary Dorrien,  professor of social ethics at Union Theological Seminary and professor of religion at Columbia University.

“When you throw principle overboard in the name of expedience … it seems opportunistic,” Dorrien said. “You’ve just sold out, and I think that is deadly in politics.”

Dorrien said he is unfamiliar with the Florida situation but said gambling is considered a moral and ethical issue to many voters. “In that context, he may have crossed the line there,” Dorrien said of Crist.

(That’s true -  Questions have been raised).

Some questions are easily answered  by picking up the phone and calling Gary Bitner, spokesperson for the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

Understandably, Bitner said he was surprised by TONE of the article.

Bitner is interested in sharing with the media any questions pertaining to The Seminole Compact Accords.

In fact, Bitner and two tribal council members visited the Times-Union’s editorial board in March 2009 to answer any questions pertaining to the compact.

To be fair, Jeff Brumley covers the religion beat for Metro, while Mike Clark is  Editorial Page editor, so they may not have discussed the “ethics of political flip-flops” between themselves.

Bitner said the current compact has a long history, beginning with the federal 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

Bitner also mentioned Govs. Lawton Chiles and Jeb Bush.

It’s easy to locate the April 22 memorandum issued through the Governor’s Press Office to “interested media.”

Included in this memo are the following:

· Statement from Governor Charlie Crist

· Statements from the Seminole Tribe of Florida Representatives

· What Floridians can expect as a result of the Compact Accords

· The Seminole Compact Accords Timeline

NOTABLE:

NOVEMBER 5 2007: Secretary of the Interior notifies State and the Tribe that he will issue procedures authorizing the Tribe to conduct Class III gaming if a compact is not submitted for approval by November 15, 2007.

Asked if the Seminole Compact Accords would have any affect on – or to – Northeast Florida, Bitner said, “no.”

(Unless one considers Orlando relevant to Northeast Florida.)

The Seminole Tribe of Florida's Hard Rock Cafe

The Seminole Tribe of Florida in 2007 bought Orlando-based Hark Rock Cafe International, Inc., Bitner said,  for $965 million, employing approximately 30,000 worldwide.

The Seminole Tribe of Florida currently employs more than 2,000 non-Indians and purchases more than $24 million dollars in goods and services from more than 850 Florida vendors a year. In addition, the Tribe pays $3.5 million in federal payroll taxes, according to its Web site.

REGARDLESS of one’s position on the Seminole Compact Accords, POLITICAL FLIP-FLOPPERY seems an unusual story angle for a state financial and  budgetary issue

… which “expediently” leaves Gov. Crist between a Rock and a Hard place!

– k.a. gardner

SO FAR …

Jacksonville, Fla. (July 28, 2008) – City of Jacksonville, Landfill Energy Systems, and Waste Management. JEA will purchase from

courtesy of Landfill Energy Systems

Landfill Energy Systems the power generated from methane, the landfill gas.  …

Bill Owen, vice president of Landfill Energy Systems (LES) said, “We’re very excited about building one of Florida’s largest landfill gas-to-energy plants right here in Jacksonville. This project is unique in that it involves many parties working together to achieve a common goal of creating an environmentally beneficial project for the citizens of Jacksonville. JEA, the City of Jacksonville, Waste Management and LES are working together to make this project a success.”

MEANWHILE …

Cash for Gas

Mar 1, 2009 -Phoenix-based Republic Services has sold the right to purchase landfill gas from its Hickory Ridge Landfill in Conley, Ga., to Global Energy Systems (GES), Summerville, S.C.

“Republic is very excited to add this project to our portfolio of more than 80 landfill-gas-to-energy projects,” said Bill Held, senior director of renewable energy for Republic, in a press release.

TO ADD TO THE CONFUSION …

IStockAnalyst on March 13, 2009, reported that the Florida Times-Union’s Tia Mitchell’s on March 13 reported:

Landfill Trash to Light Up City JEA Would Convert Trail Ridge Methane into a Renewable Energy Source.

... The city [COJ] has received nearly $1 million under the agreement [with LES] and will receive $193,500 for the next 22 years under the contract terms.

OUR NEXT CHAPTER … Trail Ridge Biomass War!

– k. a. gardner

bowden.jpg 396 x 494 px Image may be subject to copyright. http://floridastate.scout.com/2/213664.html

NORTHEAST FLORIDA – This past weekend, which dates were Sat. Morning, April 4, 2009 through  Sun. Evening, April 5, 2009, Florida’s First Coast awoke to a contradictory (only in the) Florida Times-Union (Morris Publishing Group) mess. The leading story in Sports featured who-else-but  Gene Frenette. His sources said Driscoll, 44, is the favorite for the Osprey’s top job.

Basketball coach?

Stale news!

NCAA Final Four in Ford Field was already wondering who would be in the Top 2. As usual, any news of FSU was buried on page C-4, with no mention of Wed., April 8, 2009′s baseball game at the Sun’s Baseball Stadium against the Ospreys.

James Lamar Rhodes (born May 13, 1927 in Matthews, Alabama) was an outfielder with a 7 year career from 1952-1957, 1959. He played for the New York Giants and San Francisco Giants, both of the National League. Of him, the great manager Leo Durocher said "a buffoon is a drunk on a hitting spree." In the 1954 season, he was often used as a pinch-hitter for Monte Irvin, and came through with an incredible number of clutch hits. -wiki image courtesy grandstandsports.com

Over in Metro, in a featured LETTERS FROM READERS, DAVID CARTES, director, Institute for Energy Systems, Economics and Sustainability, Florida State University, Tallahassee,  sincerely hoped that “Sen. Jim King’s Communications, Energy and Public Utilities Committee deliver[ed] a clean energy strategy and not simply a renewable portfolio standard.”

However, as we’ll read the very next day, which was Sunday, Sen. Jim King wants to be [revealed by Ron Littlepage]  state university chancellor, a job the boss of the Ospreys already has!

Cartes had already said on Sat. that “Any business person will tell you that no successful business venture can start without a business plan, and energy is big business.”

But  Ron Littlepage insisted on political intrigue — he accused Republicans of believing in global warming and a generally-abominable energy policy.

As usual, the intrigue will continue on Florida’s First Coast because Duval County Mayor Jake Godbold, 1978–1987, just had to mention the Trail Ridge Landfill before the City Council meeting on Thurs.

JOHN PEMBERTON--The Times-Union--3/23/07--State-of-the art electronics and a nimble boat is the newest member of the JFRD. Former Mayor Jake Godbold finally has something named after him. A 50-foot fireboat numbered Marine 1. The new fireboat will be christened on Sunday with a display of it's capabilites for the public to see. The all aluminum boat will go 3 times as fast as the other boats and floats in 1/3 the water. Built in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, the construction took 6-months. With a top speed near 50 mph with 2 C18 Cat engines deliver 1700 HP and power for a 10 KW generator. 4 nozzles spray 6,500 gallons per minute. (The Florida Times-Union, John Pemberton)

But …

Morris Publishing Group wasn’t even paying attention because  the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal awoke to find itself as a fledgling settlement and had become a weekly newspaper.

– k. a. gardner

image courtesy of photobucket.com