Priceless Lunar Rover Model Saved From Scrap

Last week there was a story in the news about a prototype lunar rover that was inexplicably sold by somebody in Alabama to a scrap yard and apparently destroyed. Yup, a one-of-a-kind 600 pound NASA model of the moon rover that we all remember bounced around over the surface of the moon during the Apollo missions of the late 1960's and early 1970's.

Apparently some retard at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville picked the thing up and sold it to a scrap yard dealer. When word got out last week, there was a massive outpouring of disbelief, but what was done, was done ... at least as far as everybody thought.

But wait! It turns out that the heroic scrap dealer recognized what the thing was and saved the buggy after all. From his picture above, the rover matches the description given by NASA in its investigatory documents. The prototype rover appears to be the same one that is in the smaller insert above being driven by none other than Saturn V rocket scientist Dr. Wernher von Braun.

According to Motherboard magazine, the scrap dealer says, "The man who originally bought it ... bought it at a NASA auction many years ago. NASA just discarded a lot of that stuff back then. When it was brought to my scrap facility, I set it aside because I knew what it was. The unit does exist today. It is not scrapped. I have that unit in storage."

The junkyard owner told Motherboard that he had been planning to sell the rover before Motherboard published its story on Tuesday. He says he still plans to sell the rover. Anyone interested?

Army's NORAD Blimp Breaks Loose Causing Havoc

Here's another fine example of your tax dollars at work! Remember last year we told you about the billion dollar surveillance blimps that our government was planning to launch over Maryland? These things were supposed to protect us from a potential barrage of enemy missiles that might somehow be launched by evil villains presumably lying in wait off the Atlantic coast aimed at Washington or wherever.

Well, they actually did put a couple of the things up in the air and they've been hovering over I-95 northeast of Washington until, yup you guessed it, one of them decided to come loose yesterday morning and meander northward from its mooring base. On the way, it dragged along its 6,700 foot tether line about 150 miles up into Pennsylvania until it unceremoniously came down about four hours later in a densely wooded forest near Moreland Township. 

As the tether line bounced to and fro creating a path of destruction, school teachers herded children into their schools as the line raked across roads, bridges, highways, fields, homes and quite a few power lines causing about 35,000 to lose power in the Bloomsburg, PA area. The military scrambled helicopters and a couple of F-16 fighter jets came for a looksee from the New Jersey National Guard.

The 243-foot-long, helium-filled blimp that weighs about 10,000 pounds came loose from its mooring at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland at 11:54 a.m. according to the Army. No one there has yet been able to explain why it broke free from its mooring. The tether line is supposed to keep these things safely secured to the ground in winds up to 100 mph. But this is our government at work, so you know that when a little rainstorm came through with winds around 45 mph, that was enough to break it loose. And off it went!

The blimp landed in a dense Pennsylvania forest at the top of some trees and the Army fired over 100 shotgun rounds to blow enough holes in the thing to let the last of the remaining helium escape and allow what was left of the $235 million blimp fall to the ground. An Army Chinook helicopter is planned to lift the blimp out of the forest. Local residents said they were thankful that the blimp missed a nearby nuclear power plant when it descended. (I guess so was the rest of the eastern seaboard!)

The $2.7 billion blimp program was recently profiled in a scathing report by the Los Angeles Times describing it as the "quintessential runaway Pentagon project."

Guatemala Elects Comedian As President

In the news today is the stunning decision by the Guatemalan voters to send a former television comedian to the office of president. Jimmy Morales, who has never before held public office, won a landslide victory in Guatemala’s presidential election Sunday by taking a whopping 70% of the votes.

It seems Mr. Morales' platform of "Not Corrupt, Not a Crook" resonated throughout the voting public. According to The New York Times, Guatemala's political system has been "broken" for quite awhile and there has been ongoing corruption at just about every level. 

"With this vote you made me president," said Morales in a short victory statement Sunday night. "The mandate of the people of Guatemala is to fight against the corruption that has consumed us.”

The former Guatemalan president, Otto Pérez Molina is currently in jail on charges that he was involved in a multimillion-dollar customs fraud case. 

Morales' closest opponent in the election, Sandra Torres, wife of another former President Álvaro Colom Caballeros, admitted defeat after it became clear that Morales had won with about 68% of the votes cast. "The people have made their choice," she said.

Numerous street protests have been going on throughout the early part of this year calling for Molina to resign because of the corruption. He did so in September and the election for a new president was held Sunday.

Morales' campaign was heavy on style but light on any solid policy proposals. Many said his campaign headquarters looked more like a television variety show, with a band and dancers, than a politician running for office. Morales' biggest pledge during the campaign was the same as everyone else's, to fight the entrenched corruption that caused Molina to resign. 

The new president rose to fame as a TV actor and comedian, and starred in the Guatemalan TV series Moralejas ("Morals") along with his brother Sammy.

Pro Tip: Don't Steal A Stick If You Can't Drive A Stick
The Huffington Post  |  By David Moye
Email
Posted: 06/19/2015 1:05 pm EDT Updated: 06/19/2015 1:59 pm EDT

Yes, it's happened once again. Something you've read and laughed about every time it occurs and wonder how in the world anyone can be so ... er ... inept? You'd think these people would get a life, but thankfully (at least for us) they don't, and we can sit back and marvel at their stupidity.

Providence, Utah police report that Mr. Alexander Katz, 19, and his girlfriend decided to steal a car. They found one that was sitting all by itself with the keys in the ignition, so they hopped in.

Mr. Katz then apparently looked in vain for the gear selection lever and the usual "D" for "Drive" in a little window somewhere. It just wasn't there. It seems the car was not an automatic but was operated by using what us older folks would call a "stick shift" transmission, something Mr. Katz apparently was not at all familiar with.

Police say that Katz and his girlfriend were able to get the car to go a few yards into a nearby supermarket parking lot but no further, where they jumped out, ran to the gas station next door and called a taxi to pick them up. (I can't help but wonder if the phone had been a dial-type instead of push-button, would Mr. Katz still be there?) 

YOU STOPPED HERE


. in a man tried to steal a car, then had to call a cab after he couldn't figured out how to use a stick shift.

Officers in Logan said they arrested Alexander Katz on Tuesday after the 19-year-old and his underage girlfriend allegedly stole a car with the keys still inside, the Deseret News reports.

Police said Katz' girlfriend knew how to drive a stick and attempted to walk him through the process.


"I'm not 100 percent certain why she doesn't just get around and get in the driver's seat so they can take the car and use it," Police Chief Gary Jensen said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Eventually, the pair ditched the car at a supermarket parking lot in Providence. They fled on foot to a nearby gas station where they called a cab, HJNews.com reports.

When the duo saw police, they ran off again.

Katz's girlfriend was soon arrested. Police said she told them that she and Katz had started the evening looking for Benadryl before deciding to steal a car, according to the website.

Katz was arrested a few hours later after police found him using information he had given the taxi company, according to Newser.

Katz was arrested on suspicion of transferring a stolen vehicle, a second-degree felony, and failure to stop at the command of law enforcement, KSL.com reports. His teenage companion was released to her parents. Her case was transferred to juvenile court.