July 9th, 2007 at 2:49 am
This weeks Theme is Fake
Metallic Beaver – just a little one.
I’m Canadian, eh. When we see a beaver we have to take a photo of it. Even if it’s fake.
We were at an outdoor art exhibition on Saturday when we came across an artist that had created metal sculptures of all kinds of animals. Moose, pigs, frogs, fish, birds and many others.
The sculptures were fantastic. I’m sure I’ll be posting more of them here.
One of the things that I really liked about the sculptures is the fact that they are made out of old metal items like the moose that’s made out of an old oil tank, or the pig that’s made out of an old propane tank. What better way to recycle?
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February 23rd, 2007 at 8:42 pm
Objects made of metal are being stolen by people looking to cash in on the increase in raw metal prices. Church roofs, statues, drain covers and even tweezers have been stolen in the city of Paris.
Thefts of copper, aluminum, zinc and nickel were up 144 percent in France last year.
“We are witnessing a real pillage of companies’ assets,” Colonel Philippe Schneider, who heads a police division that specializes in countering such crime, told reporters.
“Everything can be stolen, everything can be sold — cables, drain covers, sculptures,” Schneider said. “We even had 300 kilograms of tweezers stolen.”
Other targets included plane doors, phone booth floors, car wheel rims, cemetery gates and a church roof made of zinc.
Copper, widely used in construction and industry, became a big target for thieves last year as prices of the metal doubled to $8,800 a tonne at one point due to booming Asia demand.
Schneider said stealing cable from a building site or hijacking trucks loaded with scrap metal could pay more than robbing a cash machine or a bank and was far less risky.
“Stealing 10 tonnes of copper is simple,” he said.
“Alongside the traditional petty thefts are methods typical of organized crime, such as … armed robberies, often by international networks.”
However, the number of incidents reported had dropped around 40 percent since October, partly due to a fall in prices and partly because of police efforts to break up organized gangs, he said.
World copper prices have tumbled over the past few months but remain around 20 percent higher than at the same time last year.
Schneider said thieves often sold metal to recycling companies. However, of the 2,500 to 3,000 recycling firms in France, a maximum of 100 were involved in metals trafficking.
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November 20th, 2006 at 12:30 am
This wasn’t the way this fear of flying class was supposed to end up curing their students fears- but for some this accident worked.
A Fear of flying specialist, lynn Walsey said “It was the best thing that could have happened,” Dr. Walsey’s class – which helps students overcome their terror of commercial aviation – went down in bad weather on the outskirts of Fort Dodge, Iowa.
Shortly after take off the problems began, when both engines aboard Walsey’s airliner flamed out. “No worries there,” Captain Barris Hamilton announced to the jittery fliers. “Planes like ours can glide without incident for fifteen minutes or more.” Hamilton restarted the engines but immediately lost hydraulics to the flight control surfaces. “And the landing gear” said Captain Hamilton. “Fortunately, flights land safely without gear all the time.”
Can you imagine being on this plane as it landed, sparks and metal flying as the jet made a belly landing, skidded from the runway, and finally plowed into a Fort Dodge “Chamber of Horrors” amusement center, where animatronic ghosts leaped at passengers through holes in the fuselage.
Passengers almost unanimously regard the class as a success. “I think it’s safe to say I’m cured,” said one happy student. “I’m really looking forward to my flight home.”
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