Patrick Hogan: August 2008 Archives

It's protest season in Denver as the DNC begins to wind up into full gear. You see a lot of activists protesting around the convention; anti-war, anti-abortion, anti-bird porn....what?

A pair of tongue-in-cheek (tongue-in-beak?) protesters shouted out anti-bird- watching chants along the 16th Street Mall and handed out leaflets decrying the fact that bird watchers "shamelessly, blatantly observe God's defenseless creatures mating." No pro-birding counterprotesters rose to the challenge.

I don't know, I know some bird-watchers who are pretty enthusiastic about their hobby. I wouldn't want to mess with them.

You don't hear about this sort of thing happening very often, and when it does happen, you're never too certain whether to laugh or just feel uncomfortable. The Fire Department heads out to put out a fire, and while they're gone the station house goes up in flames.

A fire call during a thunderstorm probably helped to save the De Queen, Ark., fire station Saturday afternoon.

The De Queen Fire Department received a call at 2:30 p.m. Saturday about a burning telephone pole or an electrical fire on Ballard Street.

A firefighter arrived at the station and when he opened the doors, smoke came out of the building, said De Queen Fire Marshal Dennis Pruitt.

"One of the firemen (Bryan Hodges) called me and said the place was full of smoke. I thought he was joshing me. He said, 'we've got a fire at the fire station,'" said Pruit

Despite the irony of the situation, it looks like quick thinking kept this from turning into a real mess.

Think it's pretty hot out? It could be worse, you could be in Bulgaria, and be this guy's horse.

A man rides a horse in the sea at the end of a hot day in the Bulgarian seaside village of Sinemorets, east of the capital Sofia, Thursday, Aug. 21. 2008. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)

I guess this goes to show that no matter what our energy sources are, people will always drive faster than they are supposed to. A blogger in Falls Church, Virginia is reporting that a city council there got to test drive the Honda Clarity, the first production model car to use hydrogen fuel cells. Unfortunately, he had a little too much fun with it.

Dan took the alternative energy vehicle for a spin out at Haines Point where he was promptly stopped by a Park Police officer after being clocked going three times the posted speed limit.

Well, at least now we know the car's got a bit of oomph under the hood ... assuming that's where its engine is.

We had a bit of a break in posting there, but be sure to tune in tomorrow as we'll resume posting weird and wild news from around the globe.

JetBlue is offering free trips to people in New York. Whereto? John F. Kennedy Airport. You have to get there yourself, but once you're there you can enjoy free parking and lunch as you go through security, have your bags checked and then wait for a flight to nowhere.

New York-based JetBlue is looking for 1,000 of its frequent flyers to show up at JFK on August 23 to check bags given to them by the airline, go through security and wait at the assigned gate for their imaginary "flight".

In return, the airline is promising unspecified "giveaways", free parking and lunch.

All the hassle of flying without actually going anywhere!

When you're in trouble, you call 911, right? Well, serious trouble. Life-threatening trouble. Not trouble like this guy.

A second Florida man has been arrested on charges of making false 911 calls in as many days. An arrest report says 47-year-old Carlos Gutierrez was at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino early Monday and called 911 to say the slot machine stole his money. The report says Gutierrez left the casino to place a second 911 call to say the same thing.

Well, yeah, the slot machine did steal his money, but he was more than happy to give it away.