WhaleHunt
very cool webpage, now that is a Web Master
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Friday, December 14, 2007
"I'm Gonna Become An Aircraft"
(CBS) Jeb Corliss has leaped from buildings and other places in a single bound.
Now, he plans to do it without the aid of a parachute.
Corliss is a base jumper -- a person who jumps from high places -- but until now, using a parachute.
Corliss has made jumps in 16 countries and five contents, more than 1,000 in all, from the likes of the Eiffel Tower and Golden Gate Bridge.
In April 2006, Corliss was arrested after being stopped from making the Empire State Building observation point a jumping point. A judge dismissed various crimes he was charged with, but Corliss was fired as host of the Discovery Channel's "Stunt Junkies."
His latest venture is trying to jump from a helicopter -- without a parachute.
Believe it or not, Corliss isn't alone in that goal. Several other groups around the globe are eyeing it.
Corliss says he'll wear a wing suit, which makes him look like a flying squirrel. He plans to landing on a specially designed runway he designed. It will cost up to $2 million. Once he gets the funding for his project, he says it could take up to four months to actually pull off. He anticipates trying in Las Vegas.
On The Early Show Wednesday, Corliss told co-anchor Julie Chen, "We need to build a runway to land on. Most aircraft with small wings that are traveling very, very fast need to land on runways. So, that's what we need to do.
"There's about five different groups all over the world working on it. So, we're all a little bit secretive about exactly what we're doing.
"But the easiest way to wrap your head around the concept of what's happening is to think of two sports that are happening right now. . . . During the Winter Olympics, you'll see ski jumpers hit giant jumps and get four-to-six seconds of free-fall time, basically before they make contact with the snow again. And the only reason they're capable of doing that without being injured is that they're landing on a slope, you know? So that gives you kind of an idea.
"The wing suit gives us the ability to fly three feet forward for every foot we fall. And that gives us the ability to fly the angle of a slope."
He added, "A wing suit, basically, is fabric that goes between your arms and between your legs and it changes the shape of your body. So you become, in essence, a flying squirrel.
"And I think that's one of the amazing things about human beings is how quickly we can evolve through technology and through using our minds. If you think about a flying squirrel, it took how many hundreds of thousands of years if not millions of years to evolve the ability to jump from a high altitude and land uninjured. That's what makes people so special is that we don't need to morph our bodies, we create technology and then match skill with that technology to actually pull something like this off."
Corliss says he "absolutely" will carry a parachute, just in case: You're always, for safety purposes, you'll have a parachute so you'll have the option if you're not lined up properly or you've been dropped off in the wrong spot, you'll always be able to open a parachute for safety."
He explains that he plans to land on his belly, suggesting, "Imagine an aircraft -- aircraft don't land on their tails, they land on their bellies. That's exactly what I'm gonna become. I'm gonna become an aircraft' I'm gonna be landing on my belly.
"It's not very realistic to have landing gear like an aircraft does, so what we have to do is, our runway is special. Our runway becomes not only a runway but also becomes our landing gear. You have to be able to control that energy once you set down, and that's what we're developing. We're developing the ability to set down and then control the energy."
Why in the world would Corliss try this?
"I wouldn't I'm doing this because I'm a thrill-seeker. I'm a person who has dreams and my life is based on making those dreams come true. And that's what I focus on."
Now, he plans to do it without the aid of a parachute.
Corliss is a base jumper -- a person who jumps from high places -- but until now, using a parachute.
Corliss has made jumps in 16 countries and five contents, more than 1,000 in all, from the likes of the Eiffel Tower and Golden Gate Bridge.
In April 2006, Corliss was arrested after being stopped from making the Empire State Building observation point a jumping point. A judge dismissed various crimes he was charged with, but Corliss was fired as host of the Discovery Channel's "Stunt Junkies."
His latest venture is trying to jump from a helicopter -- without a parachute.
Believe it or not, Corliss isn't alone in that goal. Several other groups around the globe are eyeing it.
Corliss says he'll wear a wing suit, which makes him look like a flying squirrel. He plans to landing on a specially designed runway he designed. It will cost up to $2 million. Once he gets the funding for his project, he says it could take up to four months to actually pull off. He anticipates trying in Las Vegas.
On The Early Show Wednesday, Corliss told co-anchor Julie Chen, "We need to build a runway to land on. Most aircraft with small wings that are traveling very, very fast need to land on runways. So, that's what we need to do.
"There's about five different groups all over the world working on it. So, we're all a little bit secretive about exactly what we're doing.
"But the easiest way to wrap your head around the concept of what's happening is to think of two sports that are happening right now. . . . During the Winter Olympics, you'll see ski jumpers hit giant jumps and get four-to-six seconds of free-fall time, basically before they make contact with the snow again. And the only reason they're capable of doing that without being injured is that they're landing on a slope, you know? So that gives you kind of an idea.
"The wing suit gives us the ability to fly three feet forward for every foot we fall. And that gives us the ability to fly the angle of a slope."
He added, "A wing suit, basically, is fabric that goes between your arms and between your legs and it changes the shape of your body. So you become, in essence, a flying squirrel.
"And I think that's one of the amazing things about human beings is how quickly we can evolve through technology and through using our minds. If you think about a flying squirrel, it took how many hundreds of thousands of years if not millions of years to evolve the ability to jump from a high altitude and land uninjured. That's what makes people so special is that we don't need to morph our bodies, we create technology and then match skill with that technology to actually pull something like this off."
Corliss says he "absolutely" will carry a parachute, just in case: You're always, for safety purposes, you'll have a parachute so you'll have the option if you're not lined up properly or you've been dropped off in the wrong spot, you'll always be able to open a parachute for safety."
He explains that he plans to land on his belly, suggesting, "Imagine an aircraft -- aircraft don't land on their tails, they land on their bellies. That's exactly what I'm gonna become. I'm gonna become an aircraft' I'm gonna be landing on my belly.
"It's not very realistic to have landing gear like an aircraft does, so what we have to do is, our runway is special. Our runway becomes not only a runway but also becomes our landing gear. You have to be able to control that energy once you set down, and that's what we're developing. We're developing the ability to set down and then control the energy."
Why in the world would Corliss try this?
"I wouldn't I'm doing this because I'm a thrill-seeker. I'm a person who has dreams and my life is based on making those dreams come true. And that's what I focus on."
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved
18 Christmas trees you probably won't see at Grandma's
'Tis the holiday season. While not everyone busts out the real or fake tree, it is always a symbol of the beginning of winter and the end of the calendar year. With the latest generation of kids striving to avoid conforming to the traditional ways of Christmas, new ways of showing off that festive cheer have taken the holiday decorations scene by storm. Click through to see 18 Christmas trees that you probably won't find at Grandma's house this holiday season.
Now this is just lazy.
While it may look brown and gold on the outside, this designer tree by Buro North is actually pretty green on the inside. This tree is 80-percent more environmental friendly than pine trees and is constructed by a low-energy production technique. I'm sure it was designed the the odd-look to cater to the outrageous green-freak hippies out there, obviously.
It doesn't surprise me one bit that this is an actual product. Just about every kind of product is available in USB form and there are actually a couple different varieties of USB Christmas trees. This one specifically is available from Thinkgeek for $12.99. It uses fiber optics for the lights. While the USB compatibility is nice for a desk or office, it can go "wireless" with the assistance of a few AAA batteries.
The Dr. Seuss book How the Grinch Stole Christmas is a cult classic of sorts, if cult classics can exist for holiday children's books. You may not be a grinch towards Christmas, but that doesn't mean this icon for Christmas thievery can't be welcomed into a household that appreciates the Seuss. It is available for $20 from Urban Outfitters. This only begs the question, which animated character has a better whimsical tree — the Grinch or Charlie Brown…
Charlie Brown has the lone task of finding a Christmas tree for the school play in A Charlie Brown Christmas. This is the tree that he returns with much to the ridicule of his peers, but those of us watching can easily feel compassion for Charlie and more so his tree that is more than just a red bulb and few limbs. I want to say that I especially like this real version of Chuck's tree because it helps recognize what the true meaning of Christmas, but in reality I just like it because of the minimalist and small design.
Just because they are futuristic inhabitants of the the Halo universe doesn't mean that they don't deserve a little Christmas tree love. Resting atop this traditional Christmas tree is Master Chief's helmet. This is the helmet worn by Halo's hero, and also serves as the holster for the legendary edition of Halo 3. Previously, this helmet had no use rather than a geeky trophy on your video game shelf. Now it can rest atop a traditional Christmas tree protecting the holiday from the Covenant.
Approximately 400 Mountain Dew cans, three months of consumption and four days of construction were put into the Mountain Dew Christmas Tree. It was constructed rather well using a lot of wire and a central PVC pipe. Lights are strung all around the tree and a single two-liter Mountain Dew bottle sits atop being the star on this sugary tree. But what if you are above the age of 20....
The one advantage of the green bottles used by a select number of beer manufacturers is the ability to built giant green towers. Rather than simply stacking the bottles until someone drunkenly dives into the tower lat the end of the night, a little more thought was put into this beer bottle Christmas tree. More than 100 Grolsch bottles were used in the creation of this tree. And surprisingly it stood long enough for a picture to be taken — one would expect the creators to be a little on the wild side.
Palm trees have been used as Christmas trees by those living in warmer clients for quite some time. I'm not too fond of people who do put up palm trees because they're doing so to spite those of us living in colder climates. Also, a palm tree inside? Maybe I should be the one laughing at you!
The geek-style of tree became popular around the IT crowd, which doesn't help out the stereotypes for said crowds at all. The company IT guy usually has all kinds of spare computer equipment laying around which happens to be perfect for a Christmas tree. It's not just computer parts either, all kinds of gadgets can hang from the limb of a Christmas tree with ease.
These may be the most radical Christmas trees featured and they are also the simplest. Treetopia is offering "funky colored" Christmas trees in lemon-lime, pink, purple, red, silver and black. The only reason to get a tree like this: it matches the paint scheme in your house — any other reason and people may begin questioning your sanity.
The main reason you won't find this Christmas tree at Grandma's is because it probably wouldn't fit. This tree deserves some props because it has a nice story this year and it underwent significant technical changes. Every year trees across the country try out for the job of Rockefeller Center tree, American Idol style, with only one getting the cut. This year it was a persistent neighbor who continually submitted a tree that he didn't even own because he just wanted to see it at the Rock. His persistence paid off and the Simon Cowell of tree selection showed up to this obsessive neighbors house and persuaded the owner to let it go. This year the tree is also wrapped in 30,000 LED light, rather than regular lights of years past. This cuts the power usage by 63-percent. After this tree has done its deed, it will be chopped up and distributed to Habitat to Humanity groups worldwide. See, isn't that nice.
I guess I'm too young to know, but apparently back in the 1950s, people were speculating that the future would have metal Christmas trees. It seems they were right, except for the fact that the human race has not depleted the stock of evergreen coniferous trees and companies like Hammacher Schlemmer only sells these kind of tree to mock those bright-eyed individuals from the 1950s.
The Festivus pole is not necessarily a Christmas tree, but a placeholder for the Christmas tree for Festivus, another December holiday. Festivus was invented by Daniel O'Keefe, a writer and editor for Reader's Digest. It was his son by the same name who gave this holiday some life while being a writer for Seinfeld. Even though it was a fictional creation for the Seinfeld episode, many people who converted to celebrating Festivus and an essential part of this holiday is the pole. The pole is used as opposition to the commercialization of the Christmas tree and was not part of the senior O'Keefe's original Festivus celebration. Much to the dismay of Frank Costanza, the fictional Festivus founder in Seinfeld, the pole has become commercialized now that FestivusPoles.com has been born.
The owner and creator of this traditional, yet uniquely adorned Christmas tree, Perler Bead, is a pretty big old school gaming junkie. How do I know? The Super Mario mural on the wall, of course. Not really, it is the Christmas tree that is completely loaded to the brim up with a variety of homemade 8-bit character ornaments from games such as Bubble Bobble, Pac-Man, Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy and more. Bead will also be selling the ornaments soon on a craft site, just in time for Christmas ornaments to hit the storage bin for another year.
This is a 7-story tall Christmas tree that is constructed out of 350 artificial trees. It took upwards of 70 people five days to complete this beast. It is even decorated. It's huge, it's amazing, and it can likely hold a ton of presents. The most odd factor about this tree is that it was originally a PR stunt for a Chinese yellow pages company four years ago. Success, it seems.
Much like a lot of the trees on the list, surprisingly, the upside down Christmas tree has a bit of history. It was in the 12th century that Europeans would hang a tree from the ceiling during Christmas time. Nine centuries later that schtick has made it to the United States via this upside down pre-lite tree also available from Hammacher Schlemmer. Another tale has stores preferring these type of trees for displaying ornaments while taking up less floor space. This particular one is free-standing, rather than hanging, but it gets the point across. A heavy base keeps the tree from tipping and if you look at it long enough the tree looks like an ugly tornado.
Pac-Man's second appearance in this list is arguably the best. This very geometric Christmas tree can be found at Nuevos Ministerios in Madrid, Spain and utilizes thousands upon thousands of LEDs to create the three-sided scene. Just check out the video to get a full grasp of how big and amazing it is.
Underwater Hotel: Sleeping with the Fishes
When you picture your perfect seaborne vacation it probably didn’t look as permanent as hanging out with Luca Debrazi. But if you’re dieing for the experience, between cement shoes and $10k a night, I’d take a room at the Hydropolis Underwater Hotel any day.
The idea of building a hotel set in the deep blue isn’t a new one. For years the novelty of undersea accommodations has been battled out, with resorts like the Poseidon Mystery Island in Fiji and the Hydropolis in Dubai trying to take the cake. Yet alas, as it is with most innovative architecture these days, you’ll need to take a trip to Dubai to experience the magic first hand. Even though an official opening date has yet to be announced, they’ve raised the $550 million and have recently overcome ecological concerns during construction.
Although they won’t be amongst the first in undersea restaurants, such as the Ithaa and Red Sea Star - which are both 16 feet below sea level, they’ll be offering a lot more. Along with fine dining in its restaurants and bars, it will also feature a grand ballroom, shopping mall, a cosmetic surgery clinic, and a marine biology lab.
All 220 suites will offer the utmost luxury that would make even Jules Verne blink. That might be because his novel 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea didn’t go so far as to suggest a petal-like retractable roof for open-air events. He also left out the train that will connect you to tunnels in an above land station, where you’ll check-in to your room at 65 feet below sea level.
This may be the first to open, but the designers have plans to open similar underwater projects in several different locations around the globe. Further footage isn’t available as of yet. But if you need a concept video to quench your thirst you can watch this one from its rival, Poseidon in Fiji, which is scheduled for opening in Mid-2008.
Man drinks bottle of Vodka at airport security rather than tossing it
BERLIN (AP) - A man nearly died from alcohol poisoning after quaffing a liter (two pints) of vodka at an airport security check instead of handing it over to comply with new carry-on rules, police said Wednesday. The incident occurred at the Nuremberg airport on Tuesday, where the 64-year-old man was switching planes on his way home to Dresden from a holiday in Egypt. New airport rules prohibit passengers from carrying larger quantities of liquid onto planes, and he was told at a security check he would have to either throw out the bottle of vodka or pay a fee to have his carry-on bag checked as cargo. Instead, he chugged the bottle down—and was quickly unable to stand or otherwise function, police said
Yodlee MoneyCentral
This is amazing. The site will aggregate and display all of your financial accounts securely.
Awesome site for aggregating all your accounts Bank, Investments including 401k, IRA's, 403b's, any of your credit cards, airline rewards programs, utilities, Comcast, your cell phone etc etc.... Every time you login, it will update all the accounts. You can perform Bill pay for any of your accounts right from the site as well.
The Dashboard and expense tracker are amazing.
Security is excellent. In fact, Yodlee powers many of the banks you use for online banking. Takes all the manual process out of budgeting. Even adds your email account to the dashboard. Automatically set up reminders and alerts.
Security is excellent. In fact, Yodlee powers many of the banks you use for online banking. Takes all the manual process out of budgeting. Even adds your email account to the dashboard. Automatically set up reminders and alerts.
Flash Demo:
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Chismillionare's Thursday Recipe of the Week
Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Bacon and Pear
French or Italian loaf bread, sliced
Bacon, cooked
Bartlett pear
Sharp white cheddar cheese (high quality)
Butter, softened and spreadable
1. Heat a cast iron skillet to medium high heat. Layer your sandwich - bread slice, cheese, pear slices, bacon, bread slice. Spread butter over the top of the sandwich. Place the sandwich top side down (butter side down) on the hot pan. Butter the exposed side of the sandwich. Let cook for a minute and then use a metal spatula to turn the sandwich over to its other side.
2 While you are toasting the sandwich on the remaining side, press down on the sandwich with a spatula. Alternatively, you can mimic a panini press (albeit without the ridges) by heating a smaller cast iron pan on a separate burner. Use the weight of this pan to press down on the sandwich from above.
The sandwich is done when the sides are toasted and the cheese is melted. Cut in half and serve.
Chismillionare's new West End spot to check out
Looking for a place after a Bruins or Celts game. Chismillionare's reigning champ was Anthem on Portland St. But Johnnies on the Side looks promising as its replacement. Check them out here:
Could Alzheimer's actually be a form of Diabetes?
-by Catherine Arnst
Scientists have been searching for the cause of Alzheimer's disease for more than 100 years, and during that time, theories about why brain cells are destroyed in the course of the illness have come and gone. One of the newer and more unorthodox theories posits that Alzheimer's may actually be a form of diabetes. Some experts have even taken to calling the brain disease type 3 diabetes, as distinct from the insulin-dependent (type 1) and adult-onset (type 2) varieties of the condition.
The diabetes hypothesis stems from growing evidence that cells in the brains of Alzheimer's victims are resistant to insulin; just as in diabetes, the cells don't respond appropriately to this hormone. As a result, neurons are deprived of glucose, which they need for energy. As the evidence mounts, the type 3 label is gaining currency in Alzheimer's research circles and is drawing attention from the pharmaceutical industry. Pharma companies are testing existing diabetes drugs against Alzheimer's, while startup Acumen Pharmaceuticals, in partnership with Merck (MRK), is focusing on molecules that allow insulin to reach brain cells.
SUGAR-STARVED CELLS
If the fundamental understanding of Alzheimer's disease shifts in this direction, it could have a big impact on GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) floundering diabetes drug, Avandia. Sales have dropped dramatically in recent months over concerns that the drug raises the risk of heart attack and bone disease in diabetics. But last year, a small clinical trial yielded intriguing evidence that Avandia might slow the progress of Alzheimer's. Glaxo is now testing the drug against a placebo on 3,400 Alzheimer's patients, with results expected in 2009.
The link between the two diseases was first made about a decade ago when scientists found accumulations of insulin in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Doctors have long known that patients with diabetes were two to five times more likely to develop the brain-killing illness, but most Alzheimer's patients are not diabetic. Insulin creation in the brain is a separate process from insulin production elsewhere in the body, says Brown University's Dr. Suzanne de la Monte. Thus insulin resistance is separate, too.
De la Monte believes that insulin resistance happens early on in Alzheimer's disease and may be the cause of dementia. That's a radical departure from the mainstream theory that accumulation of a toxic protein called amyloid brings on memory loss and brain cell destruction. De la Monte is a longtime skeptic of the amyloid theory, however, and instead suspects that insulin resistance may be a precursor of amyloid buildup.
A research team led by neurobiologist William L. Klein at Northwestern University came up with more supporting evidence for the type 3 diabetes theory in September, 2007. Klein, a founder of Acumen, discovered that a toxic protein called ADDL damages insulin receptors on the surface of brain cells, rendering them less responsive to the hormone. Klein and Acumen are now searching for antibodies that will counteract this toxin. "I think it's likely that if you block ADDL, you will be able to reverse or prevent Alzheimer's," he says—a bold statement given that no drug has yet been able to do either.
The Alzheimer's-as-diabetes idea is still a long way from being accepted truth. Even Glaxo's head of neuroscience medicine development, Atul Pande, cautions that it may not pan out. If it does, however, he says the outlook for this devastating disease could change dramatically. "Some researchers are suggesting you may be able to detect insulin resistance in the brain as early as age 18," says Pande—and take action to correct iAmerican Gladiators: A Saturday in the Gladiator Arena
December 9, 2007
As you may have heard NBC is bringing back American Gladiators. The revamped version of the classic game show of the early 90s will begin to air on January 6. I wish I would have waited until January 6 for my first chance to see the new Gladiators in action.
Saturday morning I got up early and headed down to the Sony lot to be a member of the Gladiator audience. I gave up on sleeping in for a little walk down memory lane. In hindsight, I could have really used the sleep.
Our day started with a short drive from my place over to the lot at 10:30 am. There are no cell phones, cameras, iPods or knives allowed inside. These rules not only got in the way of my plans of shanking a Gladiator while listening to my workout mix on shuffle but also required us to walk all the way back to our car to drop off our cell phones before entering the lot. We were then directed to take another long walk, this time to an empty sound stage. The empty sound stage served as a holding area for us while we waited to enter "Gladiator Arena" better known as Stage 30.
Commercial for the new American Gladiators
The first difference between the new Gladiators and old Gladiators is very apparent from our first step in the stage, I mean arena. This time around there's water. Original Gladiators: no water. New Gladiators: water.
The arena was split into two, on one side an event called something like "Hit and Run" was set up which consisted of a suspension bridge over a pool of water, the other side was set up for "Powerball" which looks exactly like it looked back in the day. The water event was going to be our first event of the day and we unfortunately were sitting on the "Powerball" side. We were going to have to watch on the big screen.
After a lengthy setup we were graced with the presence of the male Gladiators. Massive men in spandex striking poses as their names are announced really gets a rise out of the audience, which is made up of about 50% kids, 40% mid to late 20s guys and 10% scumbags. No more Nitro or Gemini, we now have Gladiators named Wolf, Justice, Mayhem and Titan (they brought that name back). The Gladiators stand on top of podiums while holding a giant ball on a string hanging from the rafters which they will swing at the contestants who will attempt to run across the bridge without falling in the water.
Shouted over the PA, we hear directions given to these muscle-bound freaks of nature. The director says things like, "Howl for me, Wolf," and "More posing, Justice" and my personal favorite - "Look menacingly while you stare at your balls" (he was referring to the giant balls that were swinging from the rafters, I hope).
Co-host Laila Ali shoots an interview with the male contestants prior to the event. Six takes later we are ready to roll. Like her dad, Laila was great with her fists. Her dad was also a great showman with great charm when the cameras rolled. Like I said, Laila was great with her fists so let's just move on.
Actual competition time was about 30 seconds. The time it took to tape was about 45 minutes. That's the magic of television.
The comedian who had the tough task of working the audience in between all of the action got the crowd in a frenzy when he introduced our other co-host, Hulk Hogan. The Hulkster has a really big house and a lot of cars thanks to his ability to talk on the microphone in front of a large audience and it showed. Unlike his counterpart, Hogan can really work a crowd even when he is saying things like "Gladiator maniacs" and "our beautiful Gladiators." There are a lot of adjectives that would fit the female Gladiators, but beautiful isn't really one of them. Where are the writers when you need them? Oh right.
The female Gladiators go by names of Venom, Crush, Siren (that was another old school name that brought back) and Helga, who fittingly, was a mountain of a woman with long blond pigtails. The original Gladiator girls had names that actually sounded feminine like Lace and Sunny. I can't imagine bringing a girl named Crush home to mom, but that's just me.
The female contestants lasted much longer on the bridge than the men did. Total time of actual competition was two minutes, the amount of time it took to tape was also about 45 minutes. After an hour and a half of watching production assistants preparing the "Powerball" arena (we felt for the kids who had the tasks of counting balls, vacuuming the turf and dusting the goals) we were excited to see the action come our way. We were going to be just a few feet away from Gladiators tackling contestants. "Powerball" was always my favorite event as a kid watching it on TV.
Thanks to the production staff of American Gladiators, TV is the only way I will get to see "Powerball." Those great seats we had for the event were taken away from us. An audience coordinator came over to our section and let us know that our row and the row in front of us was going to need to move. A bunch of us asked the coordinator "Where are we going?" but she had nothing for us. She knew, she just wanted to avoid being yelled at by the angry college aged guys who were sitting in front us. We were being brought to the other side of the arena, where the first event was taped. Once again we were going to be left to watch on the big screen while our side of the arena would be left vacant. That was enough for us. We decided to find a side door and get the hell out of there.
I am not upset about the events that took place at this taping, I have been to tapings before and I understand that it pretty much sucks to be an audience member. I had low expectations
I'm not upset but I am offended. Was our section not attractive enough to be on camera? The girl sitting next to us was wearing a Confederate flag doo-rag, maybe they wanted to make sure the show didn't offend anyone so they just moved her entire section off camera, I don't know. Will having our section off-camera increase the show's ratings a half-point? I have watched pretty much every episode of the original Gladiators and do not remember saying, "Boy, that audience looks great."
Until I hear an explanation from an American Gladiators crew member I will continue to feel offended. That doesn't mean I won't give the show a shot and watch when it premieres on January 6, there won't be anything else on TV anyways.
Access Hollywood's preview of American Gladiators
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Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Ken Block and his Subaru Impreza WRX STI Showing Everyone Up
Ken Block Co-Owner of DC Shoes was featured in this months December issue of Snowboarder Magazine, Check out the Press Release. *Read all the way at the bottom we added in a video of Ken busting a 170 foot gap in the desert.
SUBARU DRIVER KEN BLOCK FEATURED JUMPING HIS RALLY CAR ON THE COVER OF SNOWBOARDER MAGAZINE AND IN THE NEW DC SNOWBOARD VIDEO
Subaru Rally Team USA driver Ken Block and his Monster Energy Subaru Impreza WRX STI rally car have landed on the cover of the December issue of Snowboarder Magazine, hitting newsstands this week. The cover shot features Block getting airborne in his Subaru at New Zealand’s Snow Park Resort with DC Shoes pro-snowboarder Torstein Hargmo flying alongside the car on his snowboard.
Block, an avid snowboarder and co-founder of DC Shoes, recently brought his Subaru to the snowboard park at New Zealand’s Snow Park Resort to join the DC Snowboard Team for a multi-day session that combined filming, snowboarding, and driving for a unique experience captured for DC’s second full-length snowboarding video, Mtn.Lab 1.5. Along with the cover shot there is a multi-page feature full of photos from the session and a double sided pull-out poster featuring two more photos of Block’s rally car catching air in the park.
Block had the impetus for hitting the snow with his Subaru rally car after successfully jumping it 171 ft. for the Discovery Channel show Stunt Junkies late in 2006. After several attempts to set up a snow jump in the USA, the opportunity came together in New Zealand and Ken Block joined the DC Snowboard team as they filmed at Snow Park Resort in New Zealand’s South Island.
“After I completed the Stunt Junkies jump last winter, I started kicking around the idea of trying a jump out on the snow,” explained Block. “I’ve been a snowboarder for a long time and have loved driving in the snow since I first got behind the wheel. It was always a dream of mine to take a rally car to a ski resort and really see what I could do with it. I started talking with Mtn.Lab 1.5 Director Pierre Wikberg and some of the guys from the DC Snow Team and we decided to film it for the snow video and see what would come out of the idea.”
Block and the team of DC snowboarders filmed together in the Snow Park Resort’s main park on several obstacles and the crew built a 55ft tow-in kicker on flat ground to create a unique playground for the rally car and snowboarders alike. Block towed the snowboarders into several park obstacles behind his Monster Energy Subaru Impreza WRX STI rally car which was equipped with spiked ice tires from BFGoodrich Tires. Block then successfully jumped his car over 70 feet, with the snowboarders jumping beside him, creating epic photo sequences, one of which is featured on the cover of Snowboarder Magazine.
“All in all I’m really stoked on how well it went,” said Ken. “In all the experiences I’ve ever had, it truly was one of the most fun things I’ve ever done.”
Video of the entire rally car/snowboarder session will be featured in DC’s Mtn.Lab 1.5 set to release on DVD early November 2007. Additional video clips will also appear in Travis Pastrana’s next DVD, Nitro Circus 5 ‘Thrillbillies’, which will release in late November 2007.
Here is a link to a brief history of DC as well as the Team Riders Section of Subaru
Video Ken Block 170 ft Gap
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