A 544-foot-long cargo ship ran aground on a underwater shelf about 600 yards off East Las Olas Boulevard early Friday morning, the Coast Guard said.

The Eastwind ran aground at 2:10 a.m. near the area where ships wait to enter Port Everglades. Large seas and winds as strong as 25 knots made conditions difficult in the ocean overnight.

The grounding occurred at low tide en route in to the port, the Coast Guard said.

A Coast Guard marine inspector flew over the ship to inspect the situation before being lowered to the vessel from a helicopter to oversee response operations.

There was no damage to the ship and its hull was not breached. At this time there are no signs of pollution or any injuries to the crew, a Coast Guard spokeswoman said. The spokeswoman said officers are inspecting the ship. She said no attempt will be made to refloat the Eastwind on the next high tide until the inspection is concluded and the OK given.

A commercial salvage company has been contracted and will be placing pollution response gear in as a precaution. It is also making preparations to refloat the freighter.

The Greek-flagged vessel is carrying bauxite, an ore from which aluminum is extracted, along with paper and steel. It also has approximately 241 tons of heavy fuel oil onboard.

The Eastwind’s last port of call was New Amsterdam, Guyana. Its crew is mostly Greek and Filipino.

Current weather conditions at the scene are six to eight-foot seas with 20-25 knot winds.

The incident is under investigation.

Well…Newtie *is* sort of an Egyptian demi-god thing, y’know. Being a cat and all? Not much of a grim reaper, really, unless you count the odd lizard, roach, Newfie or cricket that finds a way into the house. We’ll chalk that up to poetic license. He does approach silently, and appear from nowhere, like the reaper… though he’s a lot more fun the spend time with.

I’ve got a wee bit of goofy morning recreation playing with the little guy… I sound like a crazy cat person, probably, but the little orange boy always makes me feel good, worth spending time with. I can’t quite put my finger on it… is it because I raised him from a baby? Because he’s a red-furred Libra? Did I just get lucky? Whatever the reason, he’s a sweetie-poop.

Policy Almanac: links to reports, stats on various policy issues, like crime, education, social issues, foreign affairs….lots of subcategories so there is much more here than on first appearance. (via infomaniac)

Gray Pumpkin and Katt will be in town next month. I look forward to maybe seeing them. I wonder how much change has taken place? Plenty for me, that’s to be sure.

Random Disney ºoº Factoid – Donald Duck’s middle name is Fauntleroy.

Created a New LJ feed – dailyaudiobible (Daily Audio bible rss compliments of Adam Curry) – FamilyRadio.org has an audio version of every book and verse of the bible. The speaker is great, and most of the files are < 1 Mb.

Fun Movies from wurzeltod-

EMILIE SIMON – FLOWERS

Immortal Ad Vitam – New York 2095

Newtonian Fluid Vortex.

current music: The Beatles – I Feel Fine

current mood: I feel fine. Maybe even a little naturally stoned (Or just slow to wake.)

Brother didn’t get released today… they didn’t take into account his two most recent charges. After making him, my mother and her husband wait for three hours, it turns out that they were ill-prepared, and rescheduled for an April 2nd hearing. From what I understand, now he wants to take his case to court, rather than plead for 3 years probation.

That would make him an idiot.

Worst-case scenario, he could get up to five years in jail. Best case, of course, would be charges dropped. I think that’s highly unlikely, but what do I know? I wouldn’t roll dice on it.

Either way, we wait a week and see what happens.

Opposing legal advice – One Attorney says to bail him out, get him a residence, and a chance to find a job, that’ll look good when he goes to trial. Another says “if you bail him out, and he runs, it will mean financial ruin for you.” honestly, at this point, I don’t trust him not to run, even if he claims that he’s going to get off not guilty after taking it to trial. I also think that he’s learned nothing from his month in jail.

Anyhow, no dinner out tonight. It was raining rally hard this afternoon too… My umbrella did a nice job keeping my head and left shoulder dry, but the rest of me was soaked to the bone by the time I got home. I did, however, feel better after taking a scalding shower and parking my keister here.

battlecry meme

Brother didn’t get released today… they didn’t take into account his two most recent charges. After making him, my mother and her husband wait for three hours, it turns out that they were ill-prepared, and rescheduled for an April 2nd hearing. From what I understand, now he wants to take his case to court, rather than plead for 3 years probation.

That would make him an idiot.

Worst-case scenario, he could get up to five years in jail. Best case, of course, would be charges dropped. I think that’s highly unlikely, but what do I know? I wouldn’t roll dice on it.

Either way, we wait a week and see what happens.

Opposing legal advice – One Attorney says to bail him out, get him a residence, and a chance to find a job, that’ll look good when he goes to trial. Another says “if you bail him out, and he runs, it will mean financial ruin for you.” honestly, at this point, I don’t trust him not to run, even if he claims that he’s going to get off not guilty after taking it to trial. I also think that he’s learned nothing from his month in jail.

Anyhow, no dinner out tonight. It was raining rally hard this afternoon too… My umbrella did a nice job keeping my head and left shoulder dry, but the rest of me was soaked to the bone by the time I got home. I did, however, feel better after taking a scalding shower and parking my keister here.

battlecry meme

A company has figured out a way to make a table (uh, circular, band, whatever saw recognize flesh and more importantly, stop cutting if it senses it.

http://www.sawstop.com/video.htm

So much for the bitter, angry shop class teacher with the wooden hand.

Granted, I would be too chicken to dare the thing, but the logic seems pretty sound. Saw listens to the electrical properties of what’s being cut (i.e. sends a charge out to the saw and registers what comes back). Wood doesn’t hold on to a charge but flesh does. (via str8bloggin)

addendum… of course, some psycho robot intelligence is going to reverse the process, only allowing humans to be pulped, while preserving handy wood resources.

KILLDOZER 2004!! http://www.cs.rochester.edu/u/brown/290/slugbot.html
=====

The New windows gimp is much more stable, and has a few more nifty effects. It’s a nice compliment to my PSP.

Me Morphing into Kellwood’s Sam-head

random Scotto thought: Do people who cross the street in countries where the cars drive on the left side of the road have the kids look right-left-right instead of left-right-left before crossing?

Didn’t get around to seeing Dawn of the Dead Last night… I’m going to try and go see it with Dave on Friday. I owe him a movie, and it’ll be nice to have someone to compare/contrast with.

palm doodles done yesterday during lunch –

The Frog-guy in his mask… he took a bit of a hit in his left froggy-eye. The perils of superhero combat!

some colored blobs

Calliope Fest is this weekend – http://www.calliopefest.com/

Over 25 Musical Acts – Art & Crafts – Activities

Located at Young Circle, Hollywood, FL

Yes, I’ll admit it… I like Lisa Loeb’s stuff.

I like it when the weather’s cool, not too humid, with a little breeze. If I were living in a region further to the North, I’d suspect snow or a storm of some kind. The air isn’t oceanic, but has a slight tinge of ozone to it.

The sky is gray, but there’s a rip where the sunlight is just pouring through, and makes a lovely JHVH / Moses movie moment.

I’m still getting follow up posts to the Roanoke entry from two years ago –

http://www.livejournal.com/users/scottobear/1133625.html

Apparently, there is still quite a disagreement about how things went down in that region, at least with one fellow who keeps coming back. I look forward to perusing his book and seeing how his tale varies from other folks. (The tribe itself seems to support the research done, but perhaps a genetic test of some of the tribe is in order to set the record straight for any dissenters.)

Since we’re on the subject –

herecomedajudge pointed me to a nifty City of Heroes link –

http://au.geocities.com/boxhead6177/freelancer.htm

There seems to be a nice collection of material.

I like it when the weather’s cool, not too humid, with a little breeze. If I were living in a region further to the North, I’d suspect snow or a storm of some kind. The air isn’t oceanic, but has a slight tinge of ozone to it.

The sky is gray, but there’s a rip where the sunlight is just pouring through, and makes a lovely JHVH / Moses movie moment.

I’m still getting follow up posts to the Roanoke entry from two years ago –

http://www.livejournal.com/users/scottobear/1133625.html

Apparently, there is still quite a disagreement about how things went down in that region, at least with one fellow who keeps coming back. I look forward to perusing his book and seeing how his tale varies from other folks. (The tribe itself seems to support the research done, but perhaps a genetic test of some of the tribe is in order to set the record straight for any dissenters.)

Since we’re on the subject –

herecomedajudge pointed me to a nifty City of Heroes link –

http://au.geocities.com/boxhead6177/freelancer.htm

There seems to be a nice collection of material.

Making another offer on the Astor condo. Deal sweeteners include me taking on the closing costs (about another $2k), and buy as is with the right to inspect. There really isn’t much to inspect except for appliances and A/C units. Anything major is under the maint of the building.

Hmm… none of my LJ replies are making it back to me… will they be lost, or will they come flooding en masse sometime later? I’ve noticed that some folks have had that error in the past, but it hasn’t been a problem for me in years. Funny, thing… thinking of LJ issues in yearly terms.

GIMP pre-2.0 for windows is out now! thanks for this info, ldy!!

Waxy is a smart feller… The temptation to goof off at work got harder to resist. Text games via IM: Remember those old Infocom games? Zork, Planetfall, Adventure, etc. Now you can play them on AIM, even save games!

‘Chimp Head’- Animatronic Mask Oh, man… I think the teeth need a little more carnivore appeal, but it’s pretty awesome. (via)

a year ago – cool chemical reactions, pronunciation query, gael returns , and a pic of newt.

two years ago – Happy chats, urban ruins links, some website renewal ideas, old icons. I forgot about this one… I was rather fond of the effect.)

three years ago – Baron Munchausen, computer needs fixifying, Coconut song, Oscar Picks, Crayola Crayon color timeline

Just received a call from bro’s atty, the state has offered him 3 yrs probation
in the district he intends to live. He will have to check in with his probation
officer once a week and not be able to leave that county without permission.
Absolutely no alcohol or drugs, if he stays clean and out of trouble he can ask
for early termination after 1 1/2 years. He will be taken from the jail for the
hearing and back before being released later in the day. He will stay at the
mother’s place until he has washed his things and has the truck packed to head
out. I’ll join bro and mother for dinner Thursday night.

We’ll see how it goes.

=====