EXCLUSIVE: Swift’s IndyCar plan – Racer.com.

My brother (the Aerospace Genius) is quoted, and I genuinely like the designs Swift has put forward (oh, and I’m biased, in case you didn’t pick that up).

Nice article if you’re following the IRL ‘what’s the next chassis’ debate.

London Olympics 2012: Meet Wenlock and Mandeville, drips off the old block | UK news | The Guardian.

Yep, when I think Olympics, I think of amorphous one-eyed cartoon-blobs.  Strong work!

Guerdwich Montimere, a 22-year-old naturalized citizen from Haiti, was arrested Tuesday for posing as a 16-year-old sophomore named Jerry Joseph and attending Permian High School.

After being confronted Tuesday, Montimere, a star basketball player this year at Permian, admitted the deception and was arrested and charged with presenting false identification to a peace officer. Montimere was arrested at Permian and taken to the Ector County Detention Center. At press time he was in a holding cell awaiting booking.

via Permian player is impostor | permian, player, bodytext – Breaking News – Odessa American Online.

Geez.

Funny, as I start typing this, the Sports Radio I’m listening to is talking about this, and brings up that the gals like the star athelete.  Let’s sincerely hope this doesn’t get worse…

HT: Glen in West Texas

My brother, the Aerospace Genius, has written a book!

Here’s just part of the description from his web site:

Think Fast is not about the technology, but about WHY TO use some technologies and avoid others in your quest to WIN races. Think Fast can help any race car driver or race engineer tackle the big challenges and cross the finish line FIRST.
Think Fast is a professional racing industry insider’s detailed description of his unique process that makes racing drivers and race cars faster and work together more effectively. Both driver and car development techniques are covered, including very cost effective approaches to problems faced by every motorsports competitor.

So, if you’re in the market for a how-to go-fast book, here’s the one I recommend (nepotism works).

Available on Amazon.com!

It was the only place I saw Cowboys play home games in my lifetime, and I got to march there in the HS band long, long ago (big stuff when you’re 16).  I have some ‘souvenir’ AstroTurf from the first time they recarpeted the place.

For those who are going to be up that early, the WFAA link to their live streaming web page is here: WFAA.

Here’s the video, via Austin’s KXAN.  Implosion starts about 1:10.

CNN Video:

The roads in DFW are apparently deserted. I’ve never seen all green before during the day.

It’s possible the person who updates the map was watching the game…

Unsurprisingly it’s technical, but excellently explained:

I’ve tucked it below the fold, as it autostarts and that’s annoying.  Also, I’m not smart enough to keep it from autostarting…

Read the rest of this entry »

Another of life’s lessons, i.e., learn from the mistakes of others.

Plaxico Burress, apparently another incredibly gifted athlete with a 10 cent head, shot himself the other day.  Understandably he went to get medical help, and that’s where the weirdness for this lesson started:

* Getting special treatment at New York-Cornell Hospital, where he gave his name as Harris Smith, saying he’d been shot at an Applebee’s restaurant. Nonetheless, hospital workers recognized him as Plaxico Burress, sources said, and the gunshot was not reported, as required by law.
…
The trio was logged in at 2:45 a.m. by a New York-Cornell security guard, according to records reviewed by the police. The facility is connected with The Hospital for Special Surgery – a popular choice among elite athletes, where Burress was once treated himself. He was out about 10 hours later.

Hospital workers recognized Burress and agreed not to report the incident to police, the sources said.

City and state officials plan to interview hospital administrators about the trauma-unit visit and how notification of police was mishandled.

(emphasis added by me)

I wouldn’t relish being the hospital spokesman in this circumstance, but even I could come up with something better than this laffer:

A hospital spokesman, for the second straight day, denied that Burress was treated there.

"There was nobody listed under that name," the spokesman, Bryan Dotson, said.

According to state law, failing to report a gunshot injury to cops is a class A misdemeanor. But when asked about the hospital’s reporting policies, the spokesman said, "I don’t know what the policy and protocol is on that."

You’d better get briefed on it; this isn’t going to go well for a lot of people there.

Best of luck, NY-Cornell.  I suspect you’re going to need it.

I’m late to the party (surprise), but the BBC America series Top Gear is required watching for any car enthusiast.  I laughed out loud.

Inside the Scandal That Rocked the Formula One Racing World is a very well told story of last years’ spy scandal involving McLaren and Ferrari. It makes for good reading whether or not you follow Formula 1.

And, this is a very good weekend for open wheel motor racing: the first combined Indy 500 in years (following the ‘merger of CART and IRL’ and the Monte Carlo Grand Prix.

He and I have something in common, and it’s not athletic ability or being selected to the NFL Pro Bowl Team, but that we grew up in the same city, one block apart, and went to the same schools, Ross Elementary through Permian High School (but different generations, I don’t know him and have never met him).  Still, he’s a class act:

Permian grad sponsors raffle for Pro Bowl trip

By Chris Gove
Odessa American

Roy Williams got some exciting news this week and apparently wants to share the feeling with many others in his hometown.
The Permian High School graduate, who recently completed his third season as a wide receiver for the Detroit Lions, got official word Friday from the NFL that he has been added to the 2007 NFC Pro Bowl team.
Williams finished the season with an NFC-leading 1,310 receiving yards and 82 receptions and will be making the first Pro Bowl appearance of his career. He was named to replace original selection Torry Holt of the St. Louis Rams, who pulled out with an injury.
The Pro Bowl, which is the NFL’s annual all-star game, will be played at 1 p.m. Feb. 10 at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.

Good stuff, but here’s where the Class kicks in:

Williams won’t be making the trip to Hawaii without a little company, however.
He has teamed up with the NFL Man to organize a benefit raffle for the Boys and Girls Club of Odessa, the grand prize of which is a trip for two to the Pro Bowl.
Raffle tickets are $25 each and can be purchased at the NFL Man in Music City Mall from Monday-Jan. 21. The tickets will be available for purchase from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 5-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 3-6 p.m. Jan. 21, with the drawing scheduled for 7 p.m. Jan. 22 at the NFL Man.
All proceeds will benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Odessa, an organization near to Williams’ heart. Three prizes will be given — a Playstation3 to the third-place winner; $1,000 to the second-place winner; and the grand prize of the Pro Bowl trip.
“I was the one who wanted to do this,” said Williams, who will be on hand for the Jan. 22 drawing. “My agent asked me why, but this is for the people of the Permian Basin. There are a lot of football fans here and this will be a chance for them to see the best of the NFL. Hopefully, this is an annual thing and not just this one time.”
The trip to the Pro Bowl will include airfare for two, tickets to the game and three nights of hotel accomodations [sic] in Honolulu.

(emphasis mine)

So, he’s not selling his tickets, he’s organized a raffle to help the Odessa Boys and Girls Club.  I’m entirely impressed.   Now I have to start watching Detroit Lions games, I suppose.  Anything for a fellow former Odessan.

Hat tip to my folks, who have been taking the Odessa American forever, and keep me up to date on the hometown.

Tonight, just prior to the kickoff of the Cowboys game (regionally required viewing) one of our hospitalists stopped by the ED, with the following pronouncement:

“The game’s about to start, so it might take a while for me to call back.”

To which I gave the only reply an ED doc can:

“Okay, call when you can and I’ll tell you how many I admitted to you.”

He called back very quickly, I must say.

For the record, I very much prefer working with hospitalists rather than the olden days of community physicians who admitted their own patients; I don’t have to advocate for a patients’ admission nearly as much with hospitalists versus the private physicians.  (And there are exceptions to every rule; right now I know of two private docs who are wonderful to call: encyclopedic knowledge of their patients and their problems, helpful, etc).  Kudos to my hospitalist colleagues.

via ChampCar.com:

LOVELAND, Colo., Aug. 16, 2006, 4:15 pm EDT – Champ Car World Series driver Cristiano da Matta (#10 RuSPORT Ford-Cosworth / Lola / Bridgestone) has not yet fully regained consciousness, but his condition continues to improve as he recovers from a serious head injury at Theda Clark Medical Center in Neenah, Wisc. …

Champ Car Medical Director Dr. Chris Pinderski flew back to Wisconsin today to monitor the condition of da Matta. The following statement is an update from Pinderski on da Matta’s medical status.

“Cristiano still continues to show daily improvement while in the intensive care unit at Theda Clark Medical Center. His is becoming more alert each day and has been removed from the ventilator that was providing respiratory support since his accident. It is anticipated that he will be transferred from intensive care to a step-down unit in the next 24-48 hours where his recovery will continue.”

Further updates on da Matta’s condition will be issued by RuSPORT as they become available.

…

Since da Matta’s accident on August 3, RuSPORT and Champ Car have received many messages of support for da Matta. In response, RuSPORT also announced that, in lieu of sending flowers and gifts, anyone wishing to express their support for da Matta during his recovery is asked to please make a donation in his name to Hole in the Wall Camps, an official charity of the Champ Car World Series. Donation information can be found by visiting http://www.holeinthewallcamps.org, or by calling 203-562-1203.

There’s a get-well card address in the article, also.

Posted in Sports | 1 Comment »