This is you and me every night, Thomas...lol!!!

Riot police raid birthday barbecue for 'all-night' Facebook tag


Four cars, van, helicopter storm 15-guest cookout

By Austin Modine • Get more from this author

Posted in Odds and Sods, 17th July 2009 17:44 GMT


Riot police stormed a man's 30th birthday barbecue for 15 guests because it was advertised as an "all-night" party on Facebook.

Four police cars, a riot van, and a force helicopter were dispatched to a privately-owned field in a small village near Sowton, Devon in the UK on Saturday, ordering the party shut down or everyone would be arrested.

Andrew Poole, a coach driver from Sowton, said his birthday barbecue was busted up before they even had a chance to plug the music in, reports the BBC.

"What effectively the police did was come in and stop 15 people eating burgers," Poole said.

The event was shuttered under section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which grants police powers to remove persons attending or preparing for a "rave" (defined as playing amplified music "wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats," during the night).

Poole said it was about 4pm when eight officers with camouflage pants and body armor jumped out of their vehicles and ordered everyone out about an hour into the party.

He claims his party was advertised on Facebook as an "all-night" affair in case his guests wanted to stay the night.

A police spokeswoman told the BBC the helicopter was deployed for less than 20 minutes, costing about £200.

"The decision to close down a rave or illegal music festival is not taken lightly," she said.

"On this occasion, we were extremely concerned how the event had been advertised on the internet as an all-night party and it was therefore necessary to take the appropriate steps."

The spokeswoman added if the party hadn't been stormed the officers, riot police and accompanying helicopter, "far more resources would have been used to police the event and there would have been considerable disruption to neighbouring properties." ®



http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/17/police_raid_birthday_barbecue_facebook_invitation/

I'm working on a thesis called "Being in the Right Place at the Right Time." And I'm using Hulk Hogan as a case study.

I respect what Hogan did for the wrestling business, but he was a paper champion who was grossly overprotected by promoters and limped his way to every title he ever won without ever working hard. He was handed virtually everything he accomplished, as opposed to twenty hard working wrestlers I could name off the top of my head who never won the WWF World title because Hogan always held it.

Look, these are the facts: Back in '77, "Superstar" Billy Graham was the WWWF World champion, and the guy Vince McMahon Jr wanted to build the company around. Problem is, McMahon didn't have much say in the matter; his father still owned the company, and Daddy McMahon was old-school...He wanted Bob Backlund, a wrestler with an amateur background, as long-term champion. Thus Graham, whose great charisma and limited wrestling ability (plus the roided physique) made him directly comparable to Hogan, dropped the title, in spite of the fact that he was the superior draw. In other words, Graham would have made the company more money than Backlund with a long title reign.

Fast forward to 1984, two years after Vince Jr assumed control of the WWF. McMahon, still envisioning old dreams, hired Hogan to fill the role that might have been Graham's if his father was a bit less old-fashioned. In other words, Hogan was in the right time, right place. If Vince Jr had been in control of the company in '77, Graham would have likely had his 5-year run with the belt, and Vince probably would have introduced the changes that were made in the industry through the ensuing years through the "Superstar." In which case, Hogan would have no longer appeared distinct. As uniqueness and distinction (as in an indelible quality that makes a wrestler stand out) are important aspects of any main event wrestler, Hogan most likely would not have beaten the Iron Sheik at the Garden in 1984, and therefore would not have gone on to have the career he had.

Put Hogan in a shoot with your average professional wrestler, even your average wrestler without an amateur background, and Hogan would have gotten his @$$ kicked in short order. Due to his limited ring skill, Hogan in his prime, would not fare too well in an environment in which the matches are shoots, as opposed to works.

Sorry, man.

Power Your Car With Pee

* By Ben Mack Email Author
* July 17, 2009 |
* 2:10 pm |
* Categories: Alt Fuel

A scientist at Ohio University has developed a catalyst capable of extracting hydrogen from urine. That’s right. Urine. Now you can fill one tank while draining another.

Garardine Botte claims the device uses significantly less energy than is needed to extract hydrogen from water and says it could power hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in the near future. Her electrolyzer uses a nickel-based electrode to extract hydrogen from urea (NH2)2CO, the main component in urine. Hydrogen is less tightly bound to the nitrogen in urea than to the oxygen in water, so the electrolyzer needs just 0.37 volts across the cell to oxidize the urea, according to Botte. That’s less than half the amount of energy in an AA battery and considerably less than the 1.23 volts needed to split water.

One of hydrogen’s biggest stumbling blocks to use as an alternative fuel is the amount of energy needed to produce it. And then there’s the matter of distributing it. Botte says her gadget eliminates such problems because it’s small enough to integrate into an automobile. Urine is also readily available — your body produces two to three liters of it each day, and it is the most abundant form of waste on the planet. We could treat waste water while fueling our cars.

“Urea is the same stuff we use to fertilize our flower beds. It’s a solid that dissolves in water and is therefore easy to move,” Botte told Wired.com. “An electrolyzer built into a car would eliminate the need for a hydrogen storage tank, and with the right partnership, I believe we could have pee-powered cars capable of 60 miles per gallon on the road within a year.”

Botte’s current electrolyzer prototype is about the size of a pair of CD jewel cases and can produce up to 500 milliwatts of power. That’s pretty small, but Ohio University has patented the technology and Botte says it could be scaled up to power hybrid and electric vehicles or anything else running on electricity.

“We are currently working on the chemistry of the electrolyzer,” she said. “The next step is the engineering, which should flow just fine. It would involve increasing the size of the electrolyzer, making it more efficient and testing its long-term stability.”

She says the cost of developing the technology for conventional cars would all depend on what’s powering the car. The electrolyzer would have to pull energy from a power source like a battery in order to produce hydrogen for a fuel cell. Botte also is examining how the electrolyzer could draw the power it needs from a solar panel. Hooking it up to a rooftop solar panel — like the one on the 2010 Toyota Prius — could increase efficiency as much as 40 percent, she said.

Botte hasn’t gotten much in the way of federal funding for the project, though she is working with the Department of Defense to develop electrolyzer technology for military use.

“Years ago, the army pushed to develop hydrogen technology in order to eliminate the use of noisy generators when out in the field or in order to deal with what’s called the ’silent camp problem,’” Botte said. “The problem they were running into out in the desert was access to large amounts of clean water. The electrolyzer, however, eliminates the need for clean water other than drinking water and to transport fuel to remote areas.”

Oh I'm doubly sure! *Gives you a wink* So what's it going to be, Tiger?

Thomas, you always know how to make me smile!

((DW))