WhiteBoard News for Friday, December 5, 2003

Carson, California (MSNBC):

A cameraman inside a Goodyear blimp was injured when the airship came loose from its moorings, drifted into a parked truck and nose-dived into a fertilizer pile beside a plant nursery. 

"The plan was to circle around again, but there was not enough power for liftoff, so it got away from the ground crew. The cameraman had a knee injury and was taken to a hospital," said Sgt. Paul Rice of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. No one else aboard the 192-foot-long Spirit of America was injured.

The accident, shortly before 10 p.m. Wednesday, caused a large tear in the front of the blimp and knocked out its gondola's front window, said sheriff's Sgt. John Hocking.

The blimp had nearly landed but "the ground crew wasn't able to secure it on the first approach," Rice said. "The plan was to circle around again, but there was not enough power for liftoff, so it got away from the ground crew."

The blimp ended up about 300 yards from its landing site.

Goodyear spokeswoman Jennifer Arnold said the blimp was returning from shooting a video of the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles during an NBA game.

The company was investigating the accident and cooperating with authorities, she said.

"We're thankful there were no serious injuries," Arnold said.

The Spirit of America has been operating for about a year and is Goodyear's newest blimp. Goodyear operates two other blimps in the United States. 
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North Brunswick, New Jersey (AP):

In less time than it took a North Brunswick patrolman to write a ticket for an unregistered vehicle, the driver got his car registered online Thursday. 

When officer Jason Zier pulled over a 1992 Mazda 626 on Thursday afternoon, the vehicle's registration had expired. By the time he'd finished writing up Sean Leach for the infraction, the car was legal again. 

That's because the 36-year-old Jersey City man had a cell phone, a friend with a computer who he could reach and the foresight to use the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission's online registration service. 

Leach's ingenuity did not save him from getting a ticket, but it did keep him from having his car towed _ and getting socked with the towing bill. 

Zier pulled Leach over on Route 130 after noticing the sticker on his license plate was expired, the Home News Tribune reported for Friday. When Leach told Zier he had not gotten around to renewing his registration, the officer mentioned that drivers can register online, North Brunswick Police Department spokesman Capt. Donald Conry said. 

Leach took the renewal form the commission had sent him from his visor, which contained the access code he needed to renew. While Zier issued the summons and ordered the tow, Leach called a friend who took his credit card number and other information and renewed the registration for him, Conry said. 

When Zier came back with the ticket, Leach told him the car was now registered. The computer inside Zier's patrol car confirmed it. 

"It's immediate," Conry said. 

Zier canceled the tow truck _ no longer needed since it was to tow an unregistered car off the road. 
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London, England (Reuters):

A fossil crustacean whose scientific name is "swimmer with a large penis" is the earliest clear example of a male animal, British researchers reported. 

The 425 million-year-old ancestor of modern water fleas, found in rocks in Britain, is unusually well-preserved, allowing scientists to see it had gills and an advanced circulatory system. 

It shows that ostracodes -- extremely common water-dwelling creatures -- have evolved little in hundreds of millions of years, said David Siveter of the University of Leicester. 

He and colleagues named it Colymbosathon ecplecticos, which means "swimmer with a large penis." 

Siveter, in a telephone interview, said the 0.2-inch creature probably lived on marine shelves, about 500 to 650 feet deep. 

"This crustacean clearly could swim," said Siveter. 

And there was another striking feature, he added. 

"It is certainly the oldest penis in the world, that's for certain." 

He said fossils as old as 520 million years show dimorphism -- differences in anatomy seen between males and females. But there has been contention over which examples may be female and which male. 

"In this case we clearly have a male," he said. 

The fossil, preserved in volcanic ash, is so intact that the gut and even the anus can be clearly seen. 
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Tucson, Arizona (Ananova):

A man who robbed a Salvation Army collector in the US was knocked down by a car as he tried to get away.

Police say Edward Sanders was hit as he ran away with a red kettle collection pot in Tucson, Arizona.

The 40-year-old grabbed the kettle, containing about $70 from Patricia Parra as he pretended to make a donation.

But moments later he was hit by a Honda car. He was arrested at the scene and is being held in Pima County jail on a charge of robbery and criminal damage, says the Arizona Daily Star.

Sgt Dan Snyder commented: "I think God has a poetic sense of justice."
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Sappemeer, The Netherlands (Ananova):

A Dutch teenager who tried to rob a taxi driver was arrested after the cabbie locked him in the boot and drove him to the police station.

The 17-year-old, from Sappemeer, threatened the driver with a knife and demanded money after getting into his cab at Hoogezand railway station.

Without hesitating, the 41-year old cabbie got out of the car, pulled his passenger from the back seat and threw him in the boot.

He then drove straight to the local police station and handed him over to police officers who arrested him, reports the Nu news website.

A police spokesman said: "The cab driver did well. Other people should take him as an example."
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