Matlock's post over in Lolorado reminded me that some things may have actually happened in Delaware recently.
But first some follow up: 495 is fully open now and has been for a number of weeks. They actually almost totally met their estimated open date of Labor Day weekend. The southbound lanes were finished and opened first the week before Labor Day and the norhtbound lanes followed soon after.
Alright, on to new news.
Governor Markell was not twitter hacked.
Quote:
Gov. Jack Markell caused a stir Thursday on Twitter when a tweet posted on his account promoting an education event instead linked to a suggestive photo of an Estonian model.
A member of Markell's staff sent out the tweet during an event at Warner Elementary in Wilmington about 10:30 a.m., distracting from the governor's announcement to direct $5 million to low-performing schools.
It included a link to the photo and was deleted 17 minutes later, according to the website Politwoops, which archives tweets posted then deleted by politicians.
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I'm not hip with any local scenes so I don't know how truly scandalous this was. My morning radio show (which is out of Philadelphia) talked about it briefly, but otherwise I haven't seen any repercussions or fallout from it. Though the subject of the accidental tweet may have been harassed unduly but she weathered it like a bamf saying this:
Quote:
"There was a 4-year-old innocent candid/selfie of me that was accidentally posted & deleted by a politician today," she wrote on Facebook. "I was wondering why I was being contacted by reporters. Instances like this make me consider cutting ties from all social networks. I have no personal association with any politicians."
And after receiving twitter messages, some critical, from others who saw Markell's post, the woman responded: "I don't deserve to have my integrity or that of anyone I know questioned because of a stranger's error."
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In less than lighter news,
a professor at the UofD (go blue hens) sounds like a conspiracy whackadoo.
Quote:
And now, in what may plant further seeds of mistrust and suspicion, a major Liberian newspaper, the Daily Observer, has published an article by a Liberian-born faculty member of a U.S. university implying the epidemic is the result of bioterrorism experiments conducted by the United States Department of Defense, among others.
And while some commenting on the article were critical, the number who praised it was telling. “They are using” Ebola, wrote one, “for culling the world population mainly Africa for the…purpose of gaining control of the Africans resources criminally.”
The piece purports to describe scientific findings from various “reports,” which are not cited in detail, and even references the bestselling thriller, “The Hot Zone.”
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I read The Hot Zone many years ago. I liked it enough, thought I preferred the more fictional work The Cobra Event. (Caution: Some disturbing descriptions in that book.)
And now back to entertainment:
Former Mythbusters Tory and Kari to host Discovery/Science channels Punkin Chunckin event.
Punkin Chunkin is a bit of a redneck festival that used to be held in Sussex County. A bunch of people get together and see how far they can throw pumpkins. The big draw are the giant contraptions they build to toss the Halloween squashes as far as they can. The event has been bought and moved to Dover and will now be held somewhere behind Dover Downs Speedway. I've looked at a map and guesstimated how far the pumpkins can fly and it should make the events interesting.
Quote:
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Science Channel and Discovery Channel coverage of Punkin Chunkin has helped boost the profile of the contest with each passing year. Even though the event originated in 1986, Punkin Chunkin plays like an unofficial Mythbusters festival since it aligns with the tropes of the contraption-creation weird-science series. Byron, Belleci and fellow departing Mythbuster Grant Imahara have hosted the networks’ coverage of the event for the last three years. Since last month’s departure announcement, fan have clamored for their return to Mythbusters, and Discovery recently pledged they were going to try and find other projects for them.
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My first thought was that it would be my chance to meet a couple of somewhat famous people and gush a bit at them. But I'll probably just end up avoiding the event because I'm really lazy.