- Attention all kooks in the greater Manhattan area: If you believe that, among the inherent weirdness seen in and around the five boroughs on a daily basis, you have seen something extraterrestrially odd, you have a friendly voice with which to share your delusions, er, um, visions from another world. That voice is retired computer consultant Joe Capp, who has established a hotline for anyone who claims to have had a close encounter with aliens. The hotline, 347-298-9020, is run by the 68-year-old Capp and is wife from their home in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. Capp has been a believer in alien spaceships and little green men since 1962 after supposedly seeing a UFO while at the beach in Atlantic City. "Two flying discs went right over our heads," he said. "They looked like giant frisbees." The hotline is merely Capp’s latest attempt to carve out a community of kooks who can commiserate over their stories of the weird, an outgrowth of a support group he has been leading at the Skylight Diner in Manhattan since 2007. "I try to give them a perspective," Capp said. "No matter what these are, they're not hurting anyone. If a person says 'I saw a ghost,' I empathize with seeing something that everybody else says is impossible." On that note, Capps may actually be correct. Unless these freaks are out there forcefully trying to indoctrinate others with their message, then the only thing they are hurting is their own credibility and all perceptions of them as relatively normal, sane human beings. Those who attend the support group’s monthly meetings share their alleged flying saucer experiences and express their fears, hopefully as everyone else in the diner silently (and not so silently) mocks and belittles them. Since starting the hotline in February, Capp has received calls reporting about two-dozen sightings around the city, the most seen since that ugly alien bug was trying to flee the soon-to-be-destroyed planet Earth in the first Men in Black movie…………
- In case you missed it, Saturday was a very important day……..assuming you’re a diehard music fan who hasn’t fully embraced the digital music revolution. For those who still love the feel of a vinyl record in their hands and the superior sound quality of vinyl, Record Store Day is always circled on the calendar. The day was important enough for fans to begin lining up outside former White Stripes frontman Jack White's Third Man Records shortly after midnight. White was happy to serve as unofficial master of ceremonies for the occasion, opening the store early and allowing music dorks of all ages to pour in and look for something special to add to their collection. "Record stores are closing all over the place, yet vinyl record sales are the only thing growing in the music industry," White pointed out. "So it's a beautiful thing that everyone can come together and release these special releases, whether they're brand new or old or obscure or never released tracks, whatever they are, it's really cool that people can get out and buy them. I mean look at how many people are here to buy records. That's pretty cool. Very cool." To commemorate Record Store Day, major and minor record labels released more than 300 items exclusive to the day, the fourth year of the celebration meant to inject life into a segment of the music industry that, as White mentioned, is dying off. White himself contributed two 7-inch rereleases of the White Stripes' first singles and the possibility of snagging one of them brought out scores of fans to camp out to camp outside Third Man Records’ Nashville location. Some slept on the street, under trees and anywhere they could find a safe spot. Others brought their own grills and cooked breakfast to warm themselves up after a cold night on the street and by daybreak, the line to get into the store stretched around the block. Even rain and a chilly wind dropped temperatures into the 50s didn’t seem to deter many, although the weather did postpone the Jerry Lee Lewis' concert at White's record store until Sunday. Prior to the postponement, White spoke about Lewis and his impact on music over the years. "This is a guy who he was setting his piano on fire before Hendrix did it," White said. "That shows you how wild the early days of rock 'n' roll were and how important it was, breaking up the cookie cutter sort of clean-cut pop music that was out there at the time. It's just as important today as it was then. He's a founding father and it's incredible to even be able to do something like this." Other special Record Store Day events included a Foo Fighters show at Fingerprints Records in Los Angeles, an appearance by My Morning Jacket at CD Central in Lexington, Ky., the Drive-By Truckers showing up at Plan 9 Music in Charlottesville, Va. and the Del McCoury Band performing with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band in Greenfield, Wis. Say what you will about music dorks being anal over the quality of vinyl and acting like hipsters in extolling its virtues, but no one is holding iTunes Day or Rhapsody Day to bring digital music fans together to share their love of their preferred means of accessing their favorite artists…………
- Let’s not be hasty, Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Just because you discovered 145 bodies in mass graves earlier this month is no reason to go off and fire your head of security. Laying all blame for this ugly and tragic scene at the feet of former army Gen. Ubaldo Ayala Tinoco just seems punitive. Even the state governor has blamed the killings on the Zetas drug cartel and more than 20 suspected cartel members have been arrested in connection with the killings, including the alleged mastermind of the massacre. So why is the government using Tinoco as a scapegoat and replacing him with another former soldier, Capt. Rafael Lomeli Martinez? Because 16 state policemen have also been arrested on suspicion of protecting the criminals, you say? Hmm. Just to play along with this charade, let’s ask the obvious question of what local officials expect Martinez to change. The state governor said Martinez would improve coordination with the army and federal police in the fight against drugs gangs while also combating corruption. The ability to eradicate corruption has to be questioned no matter who is in charge of security, as powerful cartels with deep pockets combined with police officers on meager salaries is always a dangerous mix. Tinoco had his own take on his departure, saying he was stepping down because the state government had failed to provide increased pay and better equipment for the state police. Martinez previously served as head of the Federal Police in Nuevo Leon, another northern border state heavily saturated with drug-related violence. He has already vowed to calm things down in Tamaulipas, which is the scene of a bloody battle between the Zetas and the rival Gulf cartel as they compete for control of drug smuggling routes into the United States. Most of the bodies found in the mass grave are thought to have been abducted from long-distance buses traveling north to the U.S. border. No motive for the killings has been discovered, but the prevailing theory is cartel gunmen may have killed men who refused to join their ranks. Seventy-two bodies of Central and South American migrants were found in the same area last year, so another mass grave in the general vicinity was apparently a tipping point for Tinoco’s tenure as head of security. A potential break in the investigation came on Saturday, when the Mexican navy captured Omar Martin Estrada - a.k.a. "El Kilo" - the suspected leader of the Zetas in San Fernando and alleged mastermind of the killings. Police investigators are working to identify the bodies from the mass grave and cross-checking those results with lists of anyone who has gone missing in the region over the past few months. Overall, the Mexican government says around 35,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderon began deploying troops to fight the cartels in December 2006 and more than 5,000 people have been reported missing. Something tells me that appointing a new head of security won't do much to change any of that…………
- World, your attention please: Here is yet another reason you do not want to be FAT. Along with not dying young from heart disease, a heart attack, diabetes and other girth-related illnesses, along with an improved quality of life, the ability to wear something other than tent-like, concealing clothing and go to the beach without being mistaken for a beached whale, staying away from the big numbers on the scale may also lead to improved memory. According to a study led by John Gunstad of Kent State University, there is a possible link between weight loss and improved memory in patients. The study focused on roughly 150 overweight patients who were split into two groups, with one group receiving gastric bypass surgery, while the other group did not. Before the surgery, researchers tested the cognitive abilities of both groups, focusing on their memory as well as ability to concentrate and their attention span. Amazingly, 12 weeks after the surgery the group that received gastric bypass surgery performed significantly better than those who did not. However, researchers believe that weight loss by other means - diet, exercise or other weight-loss procedures - would produce a similarly positive effect on memory and overall cognitive functioning. Oh, and there’s also the part of the equation in which a person feels better about themselves and their self-image and is able to go through their daily life with more confidence and less embarrassment if they aren’t grossly obese. All in all, let’s chalk this up as reason No. 144,177 to push away from the buffet table, put on your workout clothes and start shedding those excess pounds, America……….
- How close is too close? For the four Air Force pilots accused of flying too close to the ground during a ceremonial flyover before the Iowa-Ohio State football game on Nov. 20, that question has been answered. Maj. Christopher Kopacek, a pilot from Ankeny with the 25th Flying Training Squadron, and his fellow pilots will be disciplined to varying degrees for their roles in the botched flyover. Kopacek violated four codes and plans to leave the Air Force, according to a news release from Vance Air Force Base in Enid, Okla. He was the only one of the four identified publicly, as the other three did not waive their right to privacy. The other three pilots will be punished for their mistakes but their violations and sanctions will not be disclosed, said Vance spokeswoman 1st Lt. Katie Roling. The 71st Flying Training Wing investigated the incident, which involved four T-38 aircraft. The flyover was scheduled to be a typical pregame flyover at a major sporting event, but somehow all four planes ended up flying just 176 feet above the ground as they cleared the stadium. The press box at Kinnick Stadium is 160 feet above ground level and Cedar Rapids Approach Control verified that the aircraft cleared the scoreboard, which is 118 feet above ground level by 58 feet and were 16 feet above the press box, which put them at 176 feet above ground level. How far below acceptable standards is that figure? Try 824 feet, as 1,000 feet is the normal standard for flyovers. Additionally, the flyovers on Nov. 20 occurred at 400 knots, well above the maximum allowable speed of 300 knots for such maneuvers. For some reason, that unnerved many of those in attendance that day and their unrest led to a lot of unhappy Air Force officials. “While I understand that fans attending the game enjoyed the flyover, rules are in place to ensure everyone’s safety,” said Col. Russell Mack, 71st FTW Commander. “We appreciate the opportunity to perform flyovers and thank the University of Iowa for the chance to showcase our abilities. However, this was a serious breach of flight discipline and it was necessary to take administrative action against all of the members involved.” Yeah, there’s really no argument to be made against Mack’s comments. Even Maverick would have considered that flyover risky and pulling that sort of stunt would have gotten anyone kicked out of the Top Gun academy, thereby ending their short-shorts wearing beach volleyball career (if you don’t get the Top Gun reference…..shame on you). The four rules Kopaceck and his three fellow pilots were found to have violated were: flying above the speed of 300 knots below 10,000 feet mean sea level for the practice flyover Nov. 19, 2010, and the actual flyover Nov. 20, 2010; flying over a congested area below 1,000 feet above ground level above the highest obstacle within 2,000 feet of the aircraft; failing to verbally report the flight deviations to a supervisor or commander within 24 hours of the flight deviation and failing to make a detailed written record within 24 hours and making a false official statement to investigators during the course of the investigation. Their punishments will come under Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Vance initiated the investigation on Nov. 24, and all four pilots and two ground controllers were removed from flying status until the investigation was complete. But hey, everyone in attendance that day has a vivid memory they’re unlikely to ever fully shake from their mind…………
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