A fitting end

It has taken almost 70 years but June 13 2007, Frank L White, the man widely believed to be the smiling chef on the Cream of Wheat boxes finally received a fitting gravemarker. White died in 1938 and since that time, only a small concrete marker with no name has marked his final resting place.

Jesse Lasorda, a family researcher from Lansing MI, started the campaign to put the granite marker bearing White's name and an etching taken from the man depicted on the Cream of Wheat box. White lived the last 20 years of his life in the city of Leslie MI, population 2,000, and when he died Feb 15 1938, the Leslie-Republican described him as a "famous chef" who had "posed for an advertisement of a well-known breakfast food."

"Everyone deserves a headstone," Lasorda told the Lansing State Journal.

Through his research, Lasorda found that White was born in about 1867 in Barbados, came to the United States in 1875 and became a U S citizen in 1890. The chef depicted on the box was photographed around 1900 while working in a Chicago restaurant and his name was not recorded officially. White was a chef, traveled a lot and was about the right age as the model. He also told his neighbors that he was the Cream of Wheat model and the story of his posing for the picture was widely known in Leslie MI as reported at the time of his death.

Lasorda's research and campaign has led to a very fitting monument to a man who is a well known part of our history.

What sturgeon general's warning

On Sunday, June 10 2007, Tara Spears, 32 of Bell FL discovered the hard way what a collision can do to you. She was the passenger in an 18-foot Checkmate boat just north of Rock Bluff on the Suwannee River when the incident occured. The boat was traveling at a moderate speed according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials when she was knocked unconscious by a flying fish.

Spears became the second woman to have been injured by a collision with a leaping sturgeon on the river in recent months. She was taken to the hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries but that wasn't the case for Sharon Touchton, 50, of St Petersburg FL on March 31 2007. Touchton was near the town of Suwannee with a group of personal watercraft enthusiasts and was traveling approximately 25-30 mph right before her collision. Her husband was the first to find her floating injured and not breathing and she was taken by helicopter to Shands at the University of Florida in Gainesville for her numerous, serious injuries. She had a ruptured spleen and surgeons reattached three of her fingers but she lost a pinkie finger and a tooth in the accident.

Touchton was only able to tell investigators something about a big fish when she was able to finally talk, while Spears had several witnesses to her episode of "when big fish fly" incident. Karen Parker with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said that the problems with leaping sturgeon came to a head last year with 10 people being injured by the large, prehistoric looking fish.

Sturgeon can grow up to 8 feet long, weigh up to 200 pounds and get their prehistoric look from the thick, hard plates that grow along their back. These plates are believed to be what caused the serious injuries to Touchton in her collision. The Gulf sturgeon migrate each year into the Suwannee River in March to spawn and stay until fall before returning to the Gulf. Researchers have found no solid reason as to why the fish leap but there has been a suggestion that with water levels lowered in drought conditions, there is a lot less river for the fish and watercraft to share.

Was this another case of a plot to remove women from boating on the Suwannee River, a chance meeting with the fickle fish of fate or just a case of not reading the sturgeon general's safety message at the boat ramp?

Moby Dick?

Last month, a 49 foot, 50-ton bowhead whale was caught off the coast of Alaska under the renewed hunting quota for the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission. Whales have always been a prominent food source for Alaskans and the 255 whales that may be harvested by 10 Alaskan villages over the next 5 years is carefully monitored by the International Whaling Commission.

What makes this whale different from others caught, is what was found in the blubber. A 3 1/2 inch arrow shaped projectile was buried deep in a non-lethal location and has shown researchers not only that this whale was between 115 and 130 years old but that he survived his first encounter with a bomb lance. The lance exploded and probably injured the whale but not so seriously that it would prevent him from living another 100 years.

The bomb lance fragment found, lodged in a bone between the whale's neck and shoulder was most likely manufactured in New Bedford MA, a major whaling center at that time according to John Bockstoce, an adjunct curator of the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

The whale was probably shot the first time with a heavy shoulder gun around 1890, a far different era than now. If it were born in 1877 as estimated, Rutherford B Hayes was sworn into office then, federal Reconstruction troops had withdrawn from the south and Thomas Edison revealed the phonograph to the nation. Although experts say that it is rare to find a whale that has lived more than a century, the oldest have been closer to 200 years old.

A particular point of interest to Bockstoce is the notches carved into the head of the arrow used in that hunt. It is a traditional way for the Alaskan hunters to verify ownership of the whale when caught. After it is analyzed, the fragment will be displayed at the Inupiat Heritage Center in Barrow Alaska. Maybe further research will reveal if there are living relatives of the original unsuccessful hunter.

Should have given up when the flowers didn't work

Justin Turner of New Britain CT had high hopes of winning his ex girlfriend back it seems. On the morning of May 30 2007 he called her nine times trying to convince her to take him back. Unfortunately, this didn't seem to work and Justin chose a different tact in order to convince her of his love for her.

He allegedly went to her house, kicked in the screen door, took her car keys and drove off with her car. After a brief police chase, he crashed her car and was finally arrested in West Hartford CT. I am not sure of the motivation for taking her car for a drive, maybe he just wanted to have the oil changed for her as a token of his love.

It may come as a big surprise to Turner though, that no woman I have ever known would have thought.......

"Originally, I wanted to stay broken up with my ex, but now that he's broken into my house, stolen my car and crashed it during a police chase, I'm back in love!"

Just a suggestion Justin, flowers and candy probably would have been a better choice and if she still said no, there is always the game to watch this weekend.

Born free

It's not the "Thrilla in Manilla" but the video shot by Dave Budzinski and posted on YouTube has become one of the hottest uploads in web history that doesn't include a naked famous person or politicians with "foot in mouth" disease. The over 8 minute clip shot in Krugar National Park in South Africa plays out as a three-act action thriller that could rival any of Superman's film feats.

Act one begins with the wiley lions waiting for their next meal to wander close. They pounce and grab a baby cape buffalo which usually is about the end of the story there as the herd scatters and runs. It isn't an instant take-down as the baby struggles to get free and backs part way into the water. Then it turns into an illegal tag-team move as a pair of crocodiles grab his rear legs.

Act two continues to follow the valient struggles of our little meal on the go buffalo as the law of averages put it's chances at 40% on becoming the loser in a tug of war for dinner. It is no surprise that the herd has left the baby to fight on it's own and save their own hide with those kinds of numbers.

As we are still on the edge of our seats, popcorn in hand, cheering on the David and Goliath battle, the baby has managed to free it's legs but still has the lions clinging to it's neck...... determined to make him a meal. In the distance you can almost hear the music start to play and then a group of adult cape buffalos, storm into the scene and drive off the lions, freeing the baby.

We are left with the image of the herd making off into the distance, baby in tow. His legs aren't broken and he isn't bleeding terribly so in our "disney mindset", baby is off into the sunset where it will grow up to be a wise and highly influential member of the cape buffalo community. As with all superhero stories........ don't mess with the baby or you mess with the whole herd sometimes.

Stealth driving

There are many choices for getting home after an evening of drinking. Some are practical, some rely on luck. When faced with the prospect of having too much to drink some obvious choices would be:

1. Crawl into your car and sleep it off.
2. Try to convince them to let you stay propped up in the booth and offer to help sweep the place in the morning when they wake you.
3. Call a cab ( I know, too practical)
4. Call a buddy to pick you up and never let you live down getting sick down the side of his car at 65 mph.
Or lastly, you could drive home very carefully, using caution and maybe any police that are nearby will not notice you.

This last choice may have worked for Colin R Lang, 24 of Middlefield CT if he hadn't tried to roll past an officer with a severely damaged front end, a broken windshield, deployed airbags and two flat tires. He admitted being intoxicated, failed the sobriety test and was charged with DUI. I'm wondering what tipped the officer off, since it almost seems as though he wasn't really trying to hide anything.

It has to be good, it's expensive

Starbuck's is so passe now, the discerning coffee connoisseur has Kopi Luwak, a specially brewed coffee to enjoy. Not only is it the newest, best thing but the beans themselves cost an average of $120 a pound so it must be good.

You should know though, before you go running to your local specialty coffee shop, it's the processing that drives up the price of these beans. Kopi Luwak is brewed from beans that are eaten by Sumatran civet cats, partially digested ( I'm not quite sure how "partially" is managed ) and then pooped out. Looking at the price on average and that works out roughly to $8 a cup and $112 goes to the trusted employees who pick through the poop looking for those "special" beans.

A simple word of warning before you rush out to grab a can of store brand coffee, intending to employ your cat in your new found business...... the coffee's distinct taste reportedly comes from a scent gland found only in civet cats, not found in Fluffy, your household cat.

Drink up and enjoy!