Penguin vs. Orcas.... Smart Bird!!

The penguin is being pursued by several Orcas, who are circling him for the kill. People on a small boat are filming all the action of the chase. Wait til you see what the penguin does to fix his problem! Thanks to a eBay and Facebook friend, Oda, for showing this video off... I love it!!



Yes, I know the music is annoying to some, but it kind of fits the action! lol...

Have a nice day?

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

How could I resist posting this LOLCat? It kind of reminds me of the look I got from one of my cats this morning when I looked out the window on to my back porch. One of the cats was sitting on top of the dryer just staring at the window waiting for me to let her in... lol

I'm Still Alive...

I'm still around, I just haven't been taking the time to sit here and type.. I am still following the news on the various cases I've posted about in the past as well as watching a few other "new" ones. Right now, however, I'm not going to post about crimes, nor am I going to post about my most recent little trip with my Mom and Stepdad to Monterey, nor any of the other things I've been doing in the last few weeks. I am going to simply post a "music video" that a friend posted a link to on Facebook... The song is created entirely from the normal system sounds in Windows 98 and Windows XP... Check it out!

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Update: Scott Malmstrom (July Dead Body Story)

Yesterday's Appeal Democrat had a "Breaking News" story about the murder of Scott Malmstrom. I mentioned him in two posts a couple months ago. Look here and here for the original posts.

So, yesterday afternoon, the Yuba County Sheriff's Department reported that they have arrested a Marysville man on suspicion of homicide in the case of Scott Malmstrom. If you saw/read my previous posts about the dead man, you'll know that he was a registered sex offender. His body was found in a Linda, CA apartment complex after neighbors reported a foul odor coming from Malmstrom's apartment. Anyway, the fellow they arrested is Todd Allen Cole, a 25 year old man who was already in custody at the Yuba County Jail on an unrelated parole hold.

The Appeal Democrat did a little research and found out that this guy, Cole, was arrested by the Yuba City Police Department back in April on suspicion of violating parole, possessing false identification and vandalism, and was booked into Sutter County Jail. He was listed as a Yuba City resident in that arrest. I haven't seen any mention by the paper nor anyone else that states what the original crime was that he was on parole for. The guy is supposed to be arraigned either sometime today or on Monday. Whenever it is, I hope the paper sends a reporter so they can put more info in their story about the crime and about Cole's history.

What I would like answered is;

• What was the original crime he was on parole for?
• What was the parole violation he was picked up for in April?
• When was he released from the Sutter County Jail?
  
• When was he re-arrested for parole violations by the Yuba County law enforcement agencies?
• What was the parole violation he was picked up for by Yuba County law enforcement agencies?
  

And those questions are just for starters!

Malmstrom's sister, Jennifer, has posted comments here a couple times on the story I did on July 29th. The first time, she was asking for anyone with information to come forward and give the info to the investigators. The second time was to tell me and my readers that Cole had been arrested. Jennifer, you may not believe it, but I had just read the story in the paper and copy/pasted it off to a separate document so I could use the information in it to write this post. I apologize to you for not getting this written yesterday. I also saw your comment at the bottom of the Appeal Democrat article. I wasn't aware until reading your comments how many times Cole allegedly stabbed your brother. 17 stab wounds equals a lot of anger in my opinion. It will be interesting to see how this case proceeds and to find out what kind of evidence they have against Cole.

I have to admit that I don't have much sympathy for the victim in this case. He was a sex offender and had his own victims. I do have sympathy for his family, though. The trial is going to be hard on them and I hope they have the strength to make it through the ordeal.

Source: UPDATE: Man arrested for July slaying in Linda

More Fire Images (Updated)

I'm still watching the news about the fires still burning around the state, especially the huge fire in Southern California, the one named "Station Fire". One of the things I'm watching is it's approach to Mount Wilson and the century old observatory there. Mount Wilson also hosts the communication towers for most of the radio and television stations in the Los Angeles basin. I can remember visiting the observatory up on that peak years ago. It has always amazed me that an observatory so near to the smoggy LA basin could get clear views of space. I've felt the same about the Griffith Observatory... Anyway, a really good way to keep track of what is happening up on Mount Wilson is to check in with the web cam that sits on top of the Solar Tower.

Here's some screen captures from last night and this morning:

This one was taken a little while after sunset. I wish I had thought to capture one the sunset views. Maybe I'll try tonight.

This one was just before I went to bed last night...

And this one is from this morning... So far so good. The fire is close, and unfortunately it's getting closer. I just hope that the observatory survives. It's a piece of history and it's an important facility for the scientists who watch the skies.

Another image I want to share is one that I "borrowed" from twitter. A fellow posted a link to it and said that it was an image that had been uploaded to a local media site. I don't know which site, nor do I know who took it, but it's such a striking photo... When I first saw the image I almost thought it was a CGI (Computer Generated Image) or a painting... What do you think? CGI? Painting? Nope.. It's an honest to goodness photo... Kudos to the photographer, whoever you might be...

~~~

Just a little note here, I haven't stopped watching the news about crimes. Still watching things locally and still watching the national news. I've been keeping up on the Anthony's and what they're all up to, and I still have an alert in google for anything that Phil Spector and his wife do. And lately, I've been watching the news about Jaycee Dugard and her kidnappers, Phillip and Nancy Garrido. I don't know when I'll post about them, but I'm sure I will eventually.

Update:

Just a quick update about the link to the Mount Wilson Observatory web cam that's in the post above; Unfortunately the web server is down now. All the smoke that had been building up close to the web cam on the Solar Tower was from backfires set by firefighters trying to protect the main structures and communication towers. So far, so good. They are burning off the undergrowth and dead pine needles on the ground and keeping the flames out of the trees themselves.

Here are the last three entries from the blog (which is temporarily being hosted elsewhere), the second entry explains why the web cam is down:

1 Sep 09, 2:04 pm PDT - CHARA Site Manager Larry Webster, who left the mountain yesterday morning, has told me that what we see on the TV feeds is exactly what the fire fighters told him they would do to deplete flammables on the ground. Their plan, which they would have implemented earlier had they not been withdrawn, was to start these groundlevel fire and literally walk along with them to keep them controlled. This is why we see no flames. The fires will consume the accumulation of needles from the many pine and fir trees as well as other scrub growth that could flame up and ignite lower limbs that would them permit the blossoming of the entire tree into flames. All the smoke we see is entirely consistent with this procedure. Larry and Dave are both delighted to see what's going on, but I've got to say that seeing smoke next to those domes is very unsettling to me. Still, I know what the fire fighters are now doing is necessary to save the Observatory.

1 Sep 09, 2:15 pm PDT - The Mount Wilson webserver went down moments ago, most likely due to a backfire infiltration of a pull box containing telephone lines that bring us our T1 internet service. All future updates will be posted here.

- The Battalion fire chief on Mount Wilson has just called both Larry and Dave to ask how to turn off the fire alarm up there! His name is Cam Todd and he's a Cal Fire chief with crews from Calaveras County. These are the same fire crews who did such a fantastic job prepping the place over the weekend before they were withdrawn yesterday morning. Chief Todd confirmed that these are indeed backfires and he said his guys are doing a heck of a job and their efforts are going just great!

Incredible Fire Photo

Just had to share this photo of odd fire behavior.. Or maybe not so odd. Fire can create it's own wind and weather patterns... The speed limit sign says 25mph.. How fast do you think the fire is "moving"?

Photo source: LA Times

Traveling Again... Fires... And Losses...

Yesterday, I spent the day with my parents out in the car for a day trip. This time my Step-dad decided on going up to Nevada City for breakfast and then on up the hill to Truckee for window shopping and lunch. When we arrived in Grass Valley on Highway 20, we heard sirens and then saw an ambulance and a fire truck racing up behind us, then we saw off to one side of the road a large column of smoke rising up through the trees. We couldn't see what was burning, and with my folks in the car, I wasn't about to go chasing the smoke with my camera to get photos. Also, we weren't able to get over to the side in traffic so that could step out of the car to get a photo of the column of smoke. So, once the emergency vehicles were clear of us, I took the turn onto Highway 49 so that we could get up to Nevada City.

*Skipping forward in time, when we got back to Yuba City and my parents home, I got on their computer to look up some information and found that the smoke was saw in Grass Valley was a fully involved apartment building. Two people were injured and about 13 were left homeless. (Source of photo and information: The Union) One of the injured was a woman who was apparently in the apartment where the fire started. She suffered burns and injuries from exploding oxygen tanks. I haven't been able to find information on how she is this morning. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

After breakfast in Nevada City, we traveled on up to Truckee and spent a few hours wandering around the town, window shopping and enjoying the cooler weather. There are a lot of very interesting little shops and lots of friendly shopkeepers. After wandering through the shops and having a little lunch (No comment on the lunch nor the restaurant we ate at beyond the fact that I doubt if we'll be going back there.. lol), we headed back down I80 towards home. I'd say about half-way down from the summit, I saw flashing lights in the rear view mirror, and it wasn't a cop. It was a fire vehicle (Not a fire engine, it was a supervisor vehicle. An SUV type.) and he literally flew past us and we lost sight of him rather quickly. A couple miles after we lost sight of him, we saw off in the distance between the trees a very large column of smoke billowing up. It was nearly impossible to tell at that point where the fire was because the road twists and turns so much. We got a few more glimpses of the growing column of smoke as we traveled down the highway. And we saw a lot more fire vehicles, engines, crew trucks and supervisors. As we got near Applegate, the color of the smoke suddenly turned from the brown/tan color of a brush or wildland fire to thick black smoke. We knew then that there were structures involved. And from the amount of smoke, we thought there a lot of buildings involved.

After we got off I80, we drove down near the town of Lincoln so we could get a clear view of the smoke and stopped so that I could get out of the car to take a couple photos. In the photo to the left, you can see the thick, dark color of the smoke. At this point we were less than 10 miles (as the crow flies) from the fire. In the next photo, you can see a wide shot of how the smoke was "laying down" and being blown to the north. Even during the few moments we were stopped alongside the road while I took those few photos, we saw another fire truck go by with lights and sirens.

*Skipping forward in time again to us looking up the fire information on the computer at my folk's house, we found out that the smoke we'd been watching on our way down from Donner Pass was the "49er Fire" in the northern part of the city of Auburn. And the black smoke we saw was coming from 50 to 60 structures that were being destroyed. Businesses and residences both. I haven't seen a full official count of structures lost yet. There are still a lot of trucks and firefighters out on the fire this morning, and the last I saw, the fire is still just 60% contained.

The rest of the drive home was uneventful, thank goodness. We unloaded our goodies from Truckee and sorted things out and watched some of the news coverage of the fire in Auburn. I headed for home then, but on the way, I decided to stop and take one more photo looking back towards Auburn and that column of smoke. I picked a spot where the highway climbs up a levee on the Sutter Bypass and pulled off to the side of the road. At this point, all you can see of that black column of smoke we saw earlier is a smudge against the horizon because of the haze in the valley.

The latest information from the CalFire website says that the 49er fire has burned 275 acres (Down from the 500 acres the news stations were reporting yesterday due to more accurate mapping of the fire today.) The CalFire website is also reporting that 60 structures were either damaged or destroyed.

More information, videos and photos from the 49er fire in Auburn can be found in these links:
KCRA3
News10.net
CBS13/CW31
Fox40 News

In other fire news, the Station fire near Los Angeles doubled in size overnight to 85,750 acres burned. And it took the lives of two Los Angeles County Fire Department firefighters yesterday.

The official release about the deaths of the firefighters is here:

Firefighter Line of Duty Deaths

It is with our deepest regret to inform you the media of the Line Of Duty Deaths for Fire Captain Tedmund "Ted" Hall and Firefighter Specialist Arnaldo "Arnie" Quinones. These two members tragically lost their lives when the where overran by a fast moving fire which approached Fire Camp 16 on the "Station Fire" Incident.

Fire Captain Tedmund "Ted" Hall was 47 years of age and was a member of the Los Angeles County Fire Department for 26 years and lived in San Bernardino County, California. Firefighter Specialist Arnaldo "Arnie" Quinones was 35 years of Age, and was a member of the Los Angeles County Fire department for 8 years and lived in Palmdale, California.

Funeral arrangements are pending and information relating to services will be made available in the near future.

For additional information, please contact Captain Mike Brown, Public Information Officer at (323) 881-2413.

I've said many times that firefighters are heroes. We have two more fallen heroes now. Please say a little prayer or have a good thought or two for these two heroes as well as for their families, friends and co-workers.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today issued the following statement after two Los Angeles County firefighters died while fighting the Station fire:

“Our hearts are heavy as we are tragically reminded of the sacrifices our firefighters and their families make daily to keep us safe. This is a devastating day for firefighters everywhere and Maria and I join all Californians in expressing our gratitude and sadness. Our hearts go out to their loved ones.”

The other blog that I post on has information as well: California Fire News

~~

So many firefighters out there on all of the fires that are threatening people, homes and wildlands. Please take a few minutes today and think of the thousands of men and women who choose to protect you and yours.

A few thoughts about anonymous comments...

My blog suddenly has gotten a lot of attention because of a post from last December about a photo of Rachelle Spector posing with a gun. I'm not going to speculate about what has suddenly drawn people to that photo. (Over 300 visitors clicked into the blog just to look at that stupid photo since Thursday!) It has also generated some comments that I guess were supposed to be insulting towards me. Idiotic comments, for the most part and were good for a laugh before I deleted them. I've added one last comment to that particular post and I will repeat what I put in the comment here because it pertains to all of the insulting comments from people who don't like what has been written on my blog.

I don't know why this particular post has attracted so much attention in the past few days. The post is OLD, people! Csn't you read the date on the post? Why on earth are people just NOW finding this post and sending insulting comments to me about it? If you want to insult someone, try emailing Rachelle. After all, it was HER photo posing with a GUN that started things.

I personally don't care if this post or her photo offends her or her husband's groupies. If she had any brains at all, she would never had someone take a photo of her with a gun DURING HER HUSBAND'S MURDER TRIAL.

To all the anonymous commenters who object to this post or any other post I have on this blog. Don't bother trying to insult me or anyone else on this blog in an idiotic comment such as the ones I deleted today. The comment moderation has been enabled for quite a while now and it will stay that way for a while longer. If the garbage keeps coming in, the next thing that will happen is that the ability to post anonymously will be GONE.. Got it?

The thought of having to censor the comments on my blog is disturbing to me. But then having anonymous idiots jumping in and posting insults to me or any of the other readers of my blog is even more disturbing. I never had any problems with the anonymous posters until I posted about Rachelle Spector. Even the previous posts I wrote about Phil Spector didn't get the attention from the sick idiots that apparently follow Rachelle around. So, just in case one of Rachelle and Phil's groupies read this post, pass the word. Rachelle nor her or her husband's groupies can NOT going to scare me into removing her photo, nor are they going to make me stop posting to my blog.

If any readers object that strongly to my writings, my opinions or my sense of humor so much that they feel compelled to write a stupid insulting comment complaining about what I have written or how I've written something, I suggest that you just click on through to another blog somewhere and stop coming back to mine and trying to insult me in more comments that will not be published. If you think your ideas are so much better than mine, then start your own damn blog. Got it?

Finally, I apologize to the readers of my blog that don't complain and insult in a comment... It seems that it's the childish actions of a few that always ruin things for the many......... I'm sorry, folks.. I really am.