Tuesday, January 16, 2018

A car accident involving the car occupants and a dentist’s office happened on Sunday night in Santa Ana, California. A white Nissan sedan which was apparently driving too fast hit the raised concrete median on the road, after which it was launched into the air, slamming straight into the wall of the second floor of a two-story dental practice building, where the car got wedged.

According to the police, the car approached from a side street. The room of the dental office penetrated by the sedan was used as a storage space. A fire department crane was used to extract the vehicle from the building, which took several hours.

There were two people in the sedan. One of them managed to escape from the hanging vehicle on his own, while the other one remained trapped inside it for over an hour. They were both hospitalized with minor injuries, according to the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA). According to the police, the driver of the car admitted narcotics use, and after toxicology tests the case is to be submitted to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

The moment of the accident was captured by surveillance video from a bus which the car narrowly missed when becoming airborne.

According to OCFA spokesperson Captain Stephen Horner, there was a small fire after the crash, which was extinguished quickly.

A compilation of brief news reports for Monday, March 26, 2012.

In lieu of the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) turning 80 this year, they have decided to release a collection of historic audio and visual content under a Creative Commons free license for use on Wikipedia and for use by the public. Project officer Liam Wyatt hopes that “this release from the Australian public broadcaster will be the beginning of an ongoing relationship with the Wikimedia projects and the Wikimedia community, and encourage other broadcasters – especially those that are publicly funded – to join us.”

Sources

• Paul Sawers. “ABC becomes the first Aussie broadcaster to donate footage to Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons” — The Next Web, March 26, 2012
• Kylie Pappalardo. “ABC releases landmark archival film footage under Creative Commons” — Creative Commons Australia, March 26, 2012

Another aftershock has rattled central Virginia last night. The 3.1-magnitude earthquake was focused around Mineral, Virginia which served as the epicenter for an August 2011 earthquake that was strong enough to damage American landmarks in Washington, D.C. like the Washington Monument. It was felt as far away as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Charlotte, North Carolina. As of press time, no damage was reported.

Sources

• Associated Press. “Aftershocks from 2011 quake continue in Va, 3.1-magnitude reported 8 miles from epicenter” — Washington Post, March 26, 2012
• Benjamin R. Freed. “Virginia Rattled by Yet Another Earthquake” — DCist, March 26, 2012

Central Chile experienced two earthquakes within 24 hours. Saturday morning, at 4:28 a.m., a magnitude 5.1 earthquake shook Santiago. No injuries or damages were reported. A second earthquake, of 7.1-magnitude, took place on Sunday, at 6:37 p.m. in Maule, which is approximately 219 kilometers south-south-west of Santiago. As of this report, no injuries or major damages have been reported. Coastal evacuations are being promoted by authorities, however, the Chilean Navy is doubtful of a tsunami.

Sources

• “News of the Day From Across the Globe” — Chronicle News Services, March 25, 2012
• Eva Vergara. “Chile Earthquake 2012: 7.2 Magnitude Quake Strikes Country” — Huffington Post, March 25, 2012
• “Magnitude 7.1 – MAULE, CHILE” — United States Geological Survey, March 25, 2012

American pro golfer Tiger Woods has secured his first PGA Tour win in 30 months, winning at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, Florida. This makes his seventh Arnold Palmer Invitational. Woods beat runner up Graeme McDowell, posting a score of two-under 70. “Tiger’s back,” stated Jay Busbee of Yahoo! Sports.

Sources

• “Tiger Woods earns first PGA win since 2009” — CNN, March 25, 2012
• Jay Busbee. “Tiger Woods returns to winning ways at long last with victory at Bay Hill” — Yahoo! Sports, March 25, 2012

Leung Chun-ying was declared the new Chief Executive of Hong Kong today. He won 689 out of 1,193 election committee votes. Pro-democracy protests took place throughout the weekend, including the protestors waiting for the election committee upon their arrival at the convention center to cast their votes. The demonstrators also attempted to storm the convention center, and when election results were announced the police used pepper spray to ward off the protestors. Demonstration organizer Avery Ng describes Hong Kong as not being a “true democracy,” with other protestors believing that Hong Kong would never gain the right to vote, which would be given to them by China.

Sources

• Kevin Drew. “Tensions Remain After Hong Kong Election” — New York Times, March 25, 2012
• Natasha Khan. “Hong Kong Police Use Spray as Protesters Try to Storm Poll Site” — Bloomberg, March 25, 2012

Friday, December 30, 2005

The Colorado College Tigers beat the Spartans of Michigan State University in men’s ice hockey on Friday, for the title of champions of the 41st annual Great Lakes Invitational ice hockey tournament at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

The Tigers, the team chosen to be invited into the tournament and appearing for the first time since 1965 in the tournament, led with a 5-0 lead during the second period, after which Michigan State switched goalies. The Spartans put freshmen Jeff Lerg into net, replacing Dominic Vicari, who was earlier given a penalty for his contact with a member of Colorado’s team in front of the net. Michigan State junior Tyler Howells scored two goals during the second period, and Colorado student Brett Sterling made the Tiger’s final goal for the night.

Colorado College took first place in the invitational, and Michigan State ended in second place, after their previous win over Michigan Tech at a score of 3-2. The Tigers previously beat the University of Michigan on Thursday, at a score of 6-1.

Meanwhile, the University of Michigan beat GLI co-sponsor Michigan Tech University with a score of 5-3 for a third place finish in the invitational earlier in the day.

With 2 minutes remaining in the third period, the University of Michigan went one up over Michigan Tech, breaking the 3-3 tie. Michigan Tech pulled their goalie with one minute remaining to gain a man advantage, but the strategy failed and allowed the University of Michigan to get another goal resulting in the final 5-3 score.

The game secured the third place position in the invitational for University of Michigan, and fourth place for Michigan Tech.

The final standings in the tournament are:

1. Colorado College
2. Michigan State University
3. University of Michigan
4. Michigan Tech

Friday, November 30, 2012

Qatari non-profit organization Gulf Organization for Research and Development (GORD) launched a low emissions car at the 2012 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 18) in Doha. The car was designed and developed in Qatar.

Revealed during a press conference at the Qatar National Convention Centre, the car in addition to an internal combustion engine, includes an automotive thermoelectric generator designed to capture waste heat to produce hydrogen. GORD expects the heat waste collecting system to be compatible with any gasoline or compressed natural gas car.

GORD chairman Dr Al-Horr summarised the key concepts of the invention in a statement saying, “Our car produces electricity at no cost by capturing thermal waste energy, reducing costs and eliminating the need for an external source of electricity. Also, bulky compressed-hydrogen cylinders are a thing of the past, as our concept accomplishes the production of hydrogen by using water through fuel cells integrated within the car.”

Most of the energy in Qatari vehicle comes from the the car’s gasoline tank, supplemented by a thin film photo-voltaic panel on the roof. Normally in a combustion engine, chemical energy stored in a fuel, such as gasoline, is converted into heat energy through combustion. This heat energy is then converted into mechanical energy, manifested as an increase in pressure in the combustion chamber due to the kinetic energy of the combustion gases. The kinetic energy of these combustion gases are then converted into work; because of the inefficiencies in converting chemical energy into useful work, internal combustion engines have a theoretical maximum effiecincy of 37% (with what is achievable in day to day applications being about half of this). Of the chemical energy in the consumed fuel used by an internal combustion engine 40% is dissipated as waste heat. However, the Qatari vehicle uses a thermoelectric generator to convert this waste heat into electricity. Such generators are used in space vehicles, and produce electricity when thermoelectric materials are subjected to a temperature gradient, the greater the gradient the greater the amount of electrcity produced. In the GORD vehicle the electricity produced is used to electrolyse potable water to produce hydrogen which can be introduced into the vehicle’s existing fuel system.

The researchers showed that the heat waste collection engine caused a decrease in the car’s emissions, including a decrease of carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide emissions by more than 50%, the fuel efficiency increasing by 20%. On its website, GORD said that the heat waste collector engine is universal, “Any car can be adapted to accommodate the system as it doesn’t alter any electro-mechanical systems”.

Saturday, December 11, 2004

VIENNA –Doctors from the Rudolfinerhaus clinic in Vienna say “there is no doubt” Ukrainian opposition leader Victor Yushchenko was poisoned with Dioxin.

Yushchenko’s body had about 1,000 times more than the normal concentration of the toxin. It is unknown if there were any other poisons in his system.

Although it has not yet been proven that the poisoning was deliberate, doctors suspect it was. “We suspect a cause triggered by a third party,” said Michael Zimpfer, head doctor at the Rudolfinerhaus clinic. He suggested the poison may have been administered orally, through food or drink.

Today’s announcements are a follow-up of an earlier press conference, where Dr. Korpan that there were three hypotheses under consideration, one of them involving dioxin. He did not reveal what the other two hypotheses were. Dr. Michael Zimpfer, director of the Rudolfinerhaus clinic emphasized that time there was no proof yet to specify the substance causing the illness.

Yushchenko left Kiev on Friday (2004-10-12) for further examination in Vienna. When Yushchenko fell ill on October 6th, Ukrainian doctors had initially diagnosed food poisoning, leading to speculation that he had been poisoned deliberately. The illness has disfigured Yushchenko’s body and face which doctors say could take up to two years to heal.

He fell seriously ill on the September 6th, during his presidential campaign. Yushchenko was taken to the Rudolfinerhaus clinic of Vienna, where he stayed for four days under Dr. Korpan’s care. He was diagnosed with “acute pancreatitis, accompanied by interstitial edematous changes.” These symptoms were said to be due to “a serious viral infection and chemical substances which are not normally found in food products” as his campaign officials put it. In laymans terms, he developed an infection in the pancreas and got a bad skin condition that disfigured his face with cysts and lesions. The skin condition has similarities with the chloracne associated with dioxin posioning according to a British toxicologist John Henry.

• Viktor Yushchenko (left) as he appeared in July 2004 and (right) as he appeared in November after the poisoning(Gleb Garanich/Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

Earlier, doctor Nikolai Korpan of Rudolfinerhaus clinic confirmed today that the illness of Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko was caused by an attempt to kill him.