What I learned on the internet: the auroras...from space!, dumb parents, mystery tunnels and more!

My mind!  It hurts!

Another interesting few days on the internet.  Up today, we have a cool picture, a dumb parent doing dumb things to his kid, a flashback to an amazing college football game, and a couple of crazy stories from around here in Hamilton, Ontario.  Let's get to it!

The Auroras from Space
Not much to say about this, it's a pic from the International Space Station of the "Southern Lights".  I'll leave the description to the folks at The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth:

"While aurora are generally only visible close to the poles, severe magnetic storms impacting the Earth’s magnetic field can shift them towards the equator. This striking aurora image was taken during a geomagnetic storm that was most likely caused by a coronal mass ejection from the Sun on May 24, 2010. The ISS was located over the Southern Indian Ocean at an altitude of 350 kilometers (220 miles), with the astronaut observer most likely looking towards Antarctica (not visible) and the South Pole."

 And, the pic:

Very cool.



Dumb Parents
Once again, not much description needed.  Parent thinks it's funny to attach a rocket to a kid's loose tooth and decides to film it.  Parenting 101 says "propellant and children's mouths don't mix".  Just because something bad doesn't happen here doesn't mean it's not stupid.





Northwestern vs. Auburn in the Outback Bowl 2010
This isn't anything recent or very old...so it's kind of in the internet's version of purgatory.  So what if it isn't "cool" to post stuff that's either only a few days old or super retro - this video will be posted nonetheless!  If you like college football, sports, or surprise endings, you'll love this recap of an instant Outback Bowl classic (I think that's kind of an oxymoron, but I digress).




Yes I know I suck at formatting clips to fit horizontally in this blog.  Thanks for making me feel worse.


The Local Edition

Part 1
Only in Hamilton.  I've been holding back on posting this for a few weeks.  I don't know why because it makes me laugh every time I read it.  Apparently a guy in downtown Hamilton was trying to steal a phone booth of all things.  From The Spec:

"He was wheeling away a stolen booth, pushing it on a skateboard when an incredulous cop caught up with him near King Street East and Hughson Street about 7 p.m.

Police don't know where the booth came from but say Bell Canada values them at about $1,000 each. A 59-year-old Hamilton man has been charged with theft and possession of property less than $5,000."

First of all - wow.  Secondly, he was 59 years old (!!!1!).  Third, what is a 59-year-old man doing with a skateboard??  Fourth, I really love how the reporter makes a point of declaring that the police don't know where the booth came from.

Way too funny.

Part 2
Hamilton roadwork crews had a bit of a surprise as they dug up the sidewalks of Queen Street North.  What did they find?  Well nothing really at all - unless you count the giant unknown tunnel found under the street!  Once again, from our friends at The Spec:

"The tunnel -- believed to be a remnant of Greening Donald Company Limited -- is about two metres tall, about 21/2 metres wide and around 20 metres long. The top of the tunnel formed the sidewalk on either side of the street and runs across Queen, near Peter Street.

"What they did was they put reinforcing steel in it ... and then they poured concrete around it to make it appear as though it was the sidewalk, which in actual fact it was, but it was also part of the roof structure of the tunnel itself," said Jeff Pidsadny, senior project manager in construction with the city."

On a bit of a depressing note, it's being reported that they're going to fill in the tunnel.  That seems like a perfectly good waste of a tunnel to me.