DID YOU EVER WONDER IF THEY REALLY RECYCLE THOSE cellphones that get lost or pitched away?  Well, it turns out that they do.

Most of the phones, usually acquired by wireless vendors who take them as trade-ins, are sent to ReCellular, a cellphone recycling facility in Dexter, Michigan. 

They receive about a 1/2 million phones every month and they sort them out into three groups.  About 60% of them are refurbished and sold again.  Some of the rest are cannibalized for parts, and the rest are sent to Sims Recycling Solutions in Chicago.  They take in about 30,000 lbs. of cellphones every month and run them first through a shredder. 

Then the shards are superheated to dissolve the plastic, leaving the metals to be retrieved.  They will gather about $1 worth of precious metals (gold and silver) from each phone.

If you want to know more, Technology Review has a good photo essay showing the entire process from start to finish.  Just click HERE to read it.  (you need a sharp eye to catch the “next page” link in the lower right, so be alert.)

WHILE A DALLAS, TEXAS, AMBULANCE CREW was treating a patient in an apartment building Sunday night, somebody went into their ambulance out front and stole a portable radio and a cellphone.

Meanwhile, back at their station somebody entered the open building and took another portable radio.  Altogether, more than $2,400 worth of propery along with the loss of security by having a 2-way radio in criminal hands.

Dallas Fire Station 11, Oak Lawn

Another Dallas fire station in Oak Lawn had two portables stolen on that same day along with a full set of running gear.  Police are investigating and are not yet certain whether the thefts are related.  But they admit the coincidence of the timing and locations is suspicious in itself.

Fire-Rescue officials are saying that they “will look into taking precautions to prevent such thefts.”

The Dallas Morning News has the REPORT.
Channel 11 has a good video report HERE.

*  In Alberta Province, a Crowsnest Pass ambulance was broadsided by a truck while responding on a call Sunday afternoon.  The ambulance had just passed the truck and then attempted to make a right exit from the highway when the semi-rig, which had never slowed down, plowed into the side of the ambulance.

The driver was treated and released with minor injuries and the medic was airlifted to another hospital with head injuries and is in stable condition.

The Calgary Herald has the STORY.

*  A Knox County, Kentucky, ambulance was involved in a head-on crash Monday night.  While responding with a patient on board, a car coming the opposite direction crossed over the center line and hit the ambulance.

The driver of the car is hospitalized and the three EMT’s on the ambulance were all treated and released.  The patient was not affected by the crash and was flown to another hospital for treatment unrelated to the crash.

WLEX-TV has the STORY.

*  In Christchurch, New Zealand, a non-resident from Hong Kong was sentenced yesterday for crashing into an ambulance last month and causing $17,000 damage.  The alien, Chi Wong, 25, drove through a red light while driving a borrowed car.  He admitted that he had drunk a dozen bottles of alcohol just before the crash.

He was fined $800 and forbidden to drive in New Zealand for a year.  His permit to be in the country expires next month, but he doesn’t have enough money to leave.  Wong expressed a desire to travel to Australia in an attempt to get a job and pay for the damages he caused to the ambulance.

stuff.co has the rest of the STORY.

 
Idaho Statesman photo

A WILDFIRE AT BOISE, IDAHO, HAS DESTROYED 10 HOMES so far and damaged nine more.  The fire began around 7 pm Mountain time in a sagebrush field and was rapidly whipped up by 50 mph winds.  The fire traveled so fast that the people who were threatened by it only had time to dash out of their homes and flee.

Idaho Statesman photo

The Idaho Press-Tribune is reporting this morning:

Boise Fire Chief Dennis Doan said the blaze started as a brush fire on Amity Road during a red flag warning, indicating high winds and high heat make conditions ripe for wildfires.

Flames spread up a ridge and initially ignited six homes before jumping a street to burn several more, Doan said. The blaze spread from roof to roof, ignited trees and shrubbery and burned vehicles parked near the homes.

Fire officials issued a general alarm, calling in all Boise fire personnel. Meridian, Kuna, North Ada County and other area firefighters assisted. As of about 11:15 p.m., 41 fire crews were on the scene. Meridian Police, Ada County Sheriff’s deputies and Idaho State Police assisted Boise Police by taking calls throughout the city.

Idaho Statesman photo 

Within two hours the FD had built two containment lines and they were confident that they had control over it.  More than 50 homes were evacuated in the neighborhood.

The Idaho Statesman also has a good article on the overall firefighting efforts HERE.
The Statesman also has a good 47-picture photo gallery HERE.

KING-TV has this video report:

KTVB has this good 10-minute raw video taken by a home videographer:

 

Do you remember an early Windows program called NetMeeting?  It was first installed on the Windows 95 OS and when I bought my first home personal computer in January 1997, it was on there.

Basically, NetMeeting was designed to be a conferencing utility allowing people in several locations to log in together for a conference call, such as a group of regional offices.  If you logged in on the same channel, everybody could see what you wrote, kind of like a group Yahoo Messenger thing.  And it had a “whiteboard” feature where you could draw a sketch on it and the others could not only see it, but they could add to it or even alter it.

But what made NetMeeting really fascinating for me, and most others, was the public forums.  If you logged in to one of these, your screen name and your location was entered on a page listing everybody who was also online with it.  And, it had excellent sound capability where you could plug in a headset and talk directly to people.  This was back in ‘97, mind you.  Dial-up modems and all that.

So, the procedure would be to scan along the sign-in lists and pick out somebody to talk to (or just wait until somebody clicks on your name and calls you.) and then click.  A telephone bell sound would alert you that someone was calling and then you just talked away.  Suddenly the whole world was right there in your computer room.  You could visit with people from all over and learn about so many different things.  Sure, every now and then you’d get a dud who was as interesting as last week’s newspaper.  But you’d just say “Nice talkin’ to you.” and click off.

Whereas the greatest percentage of contacts were in the U. S. and Canada, Microsoft saw to it that the NetMeeting program got world-wide distribution and before long you could just as easily communicate with people from practically every country in the world.  I made it a point to try and talk to somebody from as many countries as I could.  I even went to the office supply store and got one of those large world maps and started putting stickers on each country that I had “visited.”  I would make a point to ask what they did for a living and then let them tell me what life was like in their town.  That was just soooo interesting.

But alas, Microsoft pulled the plug on the open-forum boards a couple of years later.  I’m guessing it was because they were getting overrun with weirdos and perverts.  But my international cultural exchange program came to an end.  And now, the new Vista OS doesn’t even have NetMeeting installed on it.  That’s because they’ve discontinued it altogether.  Too bad.

But we still have to get this equipment checked out.  I’ll go start the coffee.

A SOLAR-POWERED AIRCRAFT DESIGNED BY A BRITISH company called QinetiQ was successfully flown non-stop for more than three days.

QinetiQ photo

The test flight, carried out in secret by its designers and witnessed by American and British defense officials, took place on July 28 in a secure location in the Mojave desert.  The Zephyr-6, as it is called, stayed aloft for 82 hours and 37 minutes according to the announcement released yesterday.

The ultra-lightweight plane is built from carbon fiber and powered using paper-thin solar panels that are glued to the wings.  The solar energy powers the electric-driven propellers and also stores excess energy in a set of rechargeable lithium-sulphur batteries that keep the engines running at night.

The craft has a 60-ft. wingspan, yet weighs only 66 pounds.  It was launched by a group of runners who got it up to speed.  Then it was guided by remote control up to an altitude of 60,000 ft. where it was switched onto auto-pilot and guided by satellite communication.

The BBC News reports:

The flight was a demonstration for the US military, which is looking for new types of technology to support its troops on the ground. Craft like Zephyr might make ideal platforms for reconnaissance. They could also be used to relay battlefield communications.

Chris Kelleher, from UK defence and research firm QinetiQ, said Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) offer advantages over traditional aircraft and even satellites.

“The principal advantage is persistence - that you would be there all the time,” he told BBC News. “A satellite goes over the same part of the Earth twice a day - and one of those is at night - so it’s only really getting a snapshot of activity. Zephyr would be watching all day.” 

U.S. military officials say that the goal that they expect to reach before long is to have a plane that can stay aloft in one location for five years.

You can read more about this amazing aircraft HERE.

The BBC has also prepared this video report:

GASOLINE THEFTS ARE ABUNDANT THESE DAYS and we have to keep that fact in mind every day.  Early Monday morning a passer-by in Kansas City, Kansas, spotted a fire ongoing in the Legends Suzuki auto dealership and phoned in the alarm.

KCTV

The KCK Fire Dept. responded and cut their way through the security gate, then they found at least 10 vehicles burning in the new car lot.  Investigators have found five plastic gas containers scattered around the immediate area and are focusing on an accidental fire starting while thieves were draining gasoline from the parked cars.

The thieves fled the scene quickly when the fire started, leaving the gas cans behind.  Investigators are hoping that they also left their pictures behind as they study the surveillance tapes today.

KCTV Ch. 5 has this video report:

HANNOVER, GERMANY, FIREFIGHTERS HAD A MESS on their hands last Monday the 19th.  A car had stopped to repair a flat tire and another auto stopped to assist.  While there, a police car with two officers in it pulled up behind the cars and put its blue lights and warning blinkers on.

The tire change was completed and everybody was back in their vehicles, ready to pull back onto the roadway and continue their journeys.  Just at that moment a 7½-ton refrigerated truck came along and plowed into the rear of the police car and driving all three cars into a heap.

The truck ended up on its side resting on one of the cars.  The police officer that was driving their car was completely mashed and trapped in the vehicle.  The Feuerwehr (fire dept.) arrived and went to work with their “jaws of life” tool and extricated everybody.

There were a total of nine people trapped altogether, including three children.  The driver of the police car had to be flown by helicopter to the hospital where he died the next day.  The 59-yr.-old truck driver is still in the hospital with serious injuries and is facing charges for negligent homicide.

A fire dept. photographer has posted about a dozen more photos of the incident on Flickr HERE.
The Hannover Neue Presse has the STORY.

A 46-YR.-OLD SOUTH CAROLINA WOMAN who bills herself as the European Psychic was shot in her salon Saturday night by an unknown assailant who then stole her car.

This could be bad for business.  The Charleston Post and Courier has the details HERE.

WHEN THE MOUNT PENN FIRE COMPANY in Berks County, Pennsylvania, solicited bids for a new ladder truck, the best offer was for $808,000.  That was more than they could afford, so they went to step 2.

Looking on eBay they found a 1992 Seagrave aerial that had been retired from the Cincinnati FD and put in a bid of $12,000 for it.  They won the auction and have arranged to have a new engine installed and then it will be refurbished at the Seagrave factory in Wisconsin.  They say that when it is delivered in January they will be getting “a like-new (aerial) for less than $250,000.”

So what’s wrong with the truck they have now?

The Patriot-News has the full STORY.
Mount Penn Fire Co. WEBSITE.

TWO BERALILLO COUNTY, NEW MEXICO, FIREFIGHTERS were injured yesterday in a failed rescue attempt at a house fire.

The duplex home just south of Albuquerque started burning early Sunday morning.  Rita Marquez was trapped inside and started screaming, waking her neighbors.  He son tried to break into the house to get to her, but was unable to because of the intense fire that had taken over the house.

When the FD arrived they initiated a rescue attempt, but were unable to save the woman.  Two BCFD firefighters were slightly burned in an unsuccessful attempt to get to her.

KOB-TV has this video report:

IF YOU’RE GOING TO CRASH AND BURN, then you might as well use a fire hydrant to stage your crash.  That’s what happened in Long Island, New York, Sunday afternoon when a 14-yr.-old boy took his older brother’s car for a joyride.

While big brother was taking a shower after giving the car a good wash, the boy snatched the car keys and jumped into the 1999 Suzuki along with 5 of his pals, all of whom were under 16.  They didn’t get too far, though.

After tearing out of the driveway, he went around the corner and slammed into a fire hydrant, coming to rest against a tree where the car erupted in flames.

All six children managed to get out of the car, but five of them needed to be transported to the hospital, two seriously injured.

Newsday had all the details HERE.