Junior Dispatch

Mushers embark on new route across Alaska as Iditarod begins

geubank — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 04:39:35 +0000

By MARK THIESSEN

Associated Press

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — Iditarod mushers began their 1,000-mile trek across Alaska along a new route Monday after poor trail conditions forced organizers to push the race’s start north, bypassing a mountain range.

Canadian rookie Rob Cooke, who hails from Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, was the first musher to leave Fairbanks as fans looked on from the starting gate and along the expressway.

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race usually kicks off 225 miles south in Willow. But because of a lack of snow this year, officials shifted the entire route around the Alaska Range and an area that left many mushers bruised and bloodied last year.

This is only the second time Fairbanks has hosted the official start; similar low-snow conditions moved the Iditarod there in 2003.

The finish line remains in Nome, on the state’s wind-whipped western coast.

The route change eliminates mountainous terrain and a treacherous gorge. But the race now will be run on about 600 miles of river ice, and that can create a whole new set of obstacles.

Some mushers have hinted the new path might benefit Pete Kaiser, a young musher who recently won an all-river ice sled dog race in southwest Alaska. Kaiser disputed that Monday.

“I don’t see it as an advantage or disadvantage for me or anyone else, really,” he said as he took a break from packing his sled before the race started.

“It’s just another trail through the state, and it’s still a thousand miles, and it’s still through some rugged country,” Kaiser said.

Lance Mackey is running the race with a young dog team and is handling the changes in stride.

The four-time champion said the fact that most of the thousand or so dogs participating in the race have never seen this part of Alaska is “kind of cool.”

“Not a dog in this yard has been on this trail or this race,” Mackey said. “Everybody’s on the same playing field in that aspect.”

The new route reduces the number of checkpoints in the early part of the race, but it adds stops at villages that have never been part of the Iditarod — like tiny Huslia, an Athabascan village of about 300 residents.

Alaska’s fairly warm and snowless winter was caused by the same weather pattern that repeatedly dumped snow on the East Coast. It has made for poor conditions south of the Alaska Range, especially in the area of the Dalzell Gorge, considered the roughest patch for mushers and dogs.

This is where many mushers were injured in crashes last year. Officials said this year’s conditions there are worse.

Four-time champion Martin Buser said the lack of snow in the greater Anchorage area made for a challenging training season.

Buser said he intends to slow his start this year after setting a blistering pace in the early part of last year’s race and then fading back.

“Yeah, I’ll go slower this year, try not to be first at the halfway but try to be first at the finish,” he said.

The 2015 Iditarod features 78 mushers, including 20 rookies and six former champions.

Unlike the festive ceremonial start, which is designed to let fans interact with mushers, the staggered start in Fairbanks is all business for participants.

Racers leave the starting chute in two-minute intervals. The first musher to reach the finish line will pocket $70,000, which is $19,600 more than what defending champion Dallas Seavey received last year because of an increased purse.

This black Lab takes the bus to her dog park

geubank — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 06:04:07 +0000

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SEATTLE — A black Labrador named Eclipse just wants to get to the dog park. So if her owner takes too long finishing his cigarette, and their bus arrives, she climbs aboard solo and rides to her stop — to the delight of fellow Seattle bus passengers.

KOMO-TV reports (http://is.gd/R9Fa86 ) that local radio host Miles Montgomery was amazed to see the pooch get off the bus, without an owner, at a dog park last week.

The dog and her owner, Jeff Young, live right near a bus stop.

In Young’s words, “She’s a bus-riding, sidewalk-walking dog.” Young says his dog sometimes gets on the bus without him, and he catches up with her at the dog park three or four stops away.

Bus riders report she hops onto seats next to strangers, and watches out the window for her stop. Says commuter Tiona Rainwater, “All the bus drivers know her … she makes everybody happy.”

A Metro Transit spokesman said the agency loves that a dog appreciates public transit.

NORAD tracks when Santa Claus is comin’ to town

geubank — Wed, 24 Dec 2014 04:28:33 +0000

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Volunteers at the North American Aerospace Defense Command are getting ready to monitor Santa Claus as he makes his storybook Christmas Eve flight.

Technology and social media have become an important part of the U.S. and Canadian military tradition, and NORAD Tracks Santa has already attracted a record 1.5 million Facebook “likes.”

The volunteers will spend Wednesday answering phone calls and emails from children and posting updates on the mythical journey to Facebook, Twitter and www.NORADSanta.org .

The 59-year-old program now has a control center at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, and it generates enough statistics, anecdotes and stories to fill a sleigh:

— HOW IT STARTED: A December 1955 newspaper ad invited kids to call Santa, but the phone number it listed was for the Continental Aerospace Defense Command, the predecessor to the North American Aerospace Defense Command. The officers on duty played along and began passing along reports on Santa’s progress.

— HOW IT WORKS: Kids call 877-HI-NORAD or email noradtrackssanta@outlook.com starting at 4 a.m. MST on Christmas Eve. A volunteer checks a big-screen computer monitor and passes along Santa’s location. Updates are posted at noradsanta.org, facebook.com/noradsanta and twitter.com/NoradSanta. Hundreds of volunteers work for 23 hours on the day — and the night — before Christmas.

— SO FAR THIS YEAR: NORAD Tracks Santa had 1.5 million Facebook likes by Monday afternoon and the total was growing by about 100 an hour. Twitter followers stood at 136,000. Initial website visits weren’t available, and the phone lines and email accounts weren’t live yet.

— AND LAST YEAR: The website attracted more than 19.5 million unique visitors in December, the Facebook page drew 1.45 million “likes” and the Twitter feed had 146,000 followers. Volunteers took 117,000 phone calls and answered 9,600 emails. Another 800 inquiries came in via OnStar. The Facebook likes, Twitter followers, phone calls and OnStar questions were all record highs for NORAD Tracks Santa.

— GROWING FAST: Visits to the website, which was launched in 1997, peaked at 22.3 million in 2012 before dropping to about 19.6 million last year. The reason isn’t clear, but Maj. Beth Castro, a NORAD spokeswoman, said the website might not have been able to accommodate all the traffic.

— PHONE CALLS: Phone calls rose from about 74,000 in 2009 to more than 117,000 in 2013.

— SOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook “likes” grew from 1 million in 2011 to 1.45 million last year; Twitter followers were up from 101,000 to more than 146,000.

— NEW THIS YEAR: The website has an animated elf named Radar. “Radar” was the favorite in a vote on Facebook, beating out “DARON,” which is NORAD spelled backward, and “Echo L. Foxtrot,” which uses the military phonetic alphabet to spell out “elf.” NORAD Tracks Santa also has a new mobile version of its website for smartphones.

— WHAT’S NORAD? The joint U.S.-Canada command is responsible for defending the skies and monitoring the sea approaches for both nations. Its control room was originally inside Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs in a shelter designed to withstand a nuclear attack. The control room is now at Peterson Air Force Base, also in Colorado Springs.

Born at the right minute: 10:11 on 12/13/14

geubank — Mon, 15 Dec 2014 04:35:06 +0000

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

At least two U.S. babies have birth times and dates that are easy to remember: 10:11 on 12/13/14.

Above at left, in Cleveland, 7-pound, 14-ounce Hazel Grace was born Saturday morning to Leisha Campbell and Shawn Zimmerman at Cleveland’s Fairview Hospital. Her family already knew she’d be born on Saturday’s special date. They didn’t know she’d get the minute right, too.

“Everyone is telling us we should play the lottery,” Campbell said. “We feel this is a lucky day and are excited to get family photos with Santa.”

Saturday’s Dec. 13, 2014, represented the last sequential calendar date for at least 20 years, if you count Jan. 2, 2034, or 89 years if you choose to wait for Jan. 2, 2103.

Hazel was getting a visit from her three older sisters, Aubree, Adalynn and Josalyn, on Sunday. The family lives in Cleveland.

Meanwhile, in Billings, Montana, the time and date aligned for another baby girl, and the infant’s weight came close to making the event even more unique.

Quincy Kessler, shown above at right, was born at St. Vincent Healthcare in Billings at 10:11 a.m. on 12/13/14.

Even more remarkable, her birth weight, at 7.84 pounds, almost aligned with the other numbers. A fraction of an ounce more, and she would have weighed 7.89 pounds.

The baby is the second daughter born to Trenton and Melida Kessler.

Melida Kessler tells The Billings Gazette (http://bit.ly/1IQ438m ) that nurses in the hospital room noted around 10:05 a.m. that the 10:11 time might work out.

At that point, she says she started to push and Quincy came out at 10:11.

Rocket fans cheer as porta-potty blasts off

geubank — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 04:33:04 +0000

Members of the Michiana Rocketry launch a 10-foot, 450-pound porta-potty, mounted on rocket motors, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2014, from a field in Three Oaks, Mich.(AP Photo/The Herald-Palladium, Don Campbell)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

THREE OAKS, Mich. — Mission accomplished! A group of rocket enthusiasts launched a porta-potty into the sky Saturday in southwestern Michigan. It made an arc and almost landed on a spectator’s pickup truck, 2,000 feet away.

A group of Michiana Rocketry club members planned the project for more than two years. The club is trying to increase awareness of rocketry as a hobby and prove it’s possible to turn a porta-potty into a rocket and launch it successfully.

The Herald Palladium newspaper says liftoff occurred in a soybean field near Three Oaks in Berrien County. About 30 people worked on the rocket, from engineers to sales people who lined up sponsors.

Rocket enthusiast Bob Bycraft says it was carefully planned. He says it wasn’t “barnyard engineering.”

York couple coping with 19 Great Dane puppies

geubank — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 04:22:21 +0000

A couple in York is sharing their home with 22 dogs after their Great Dane, Snowy, gave birth to a litter of 19 puppies about a month ago.

Along with Snowy and the puppies, Brandon and Aimee Terry have Duke, the puppies’ father, and Cleo, a Yorkie.

Time to fill out your wish list

Dispatch staff — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 14:30:10 +0000

Get your wish list to Santa Claus with the help of this awesome coloring page. We suggest you color the tree and decorate with stickers for an extra touch!

Click on the image for a printer friendly version of this drawing, color it and then mail it back to us so we can post it here. Get even more coloring pages at the Junior Dispatch’s COLORING PAGE section!

Competitive eater sets record by eating entire turkey

geubank — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 04:43:57 +0000

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MASHANTUCKET, Conn. — Competitive eater Joey Chestnut has won a turkey-eating contest in Connecticut, setting a record by devouring an entire bird.

Ten contestants vied to see who could eat the most of a 20-pound turkey in a competition Saturday at Foxwoods Resort Casino.

Chestnut ate 9.35 pounds of meat off the bone in 10 minutes. According to Major League Eating, the food equivalent of the NFL, he bested the previous record, which was held by Sonya Thomas, who ate 5.25 pounds of turkey in November 2011.

Chestnut, a San Jose, California, resident who turns 31 on Tuesday, is ranked the top competitive eater in the world.

He took home a $5,000 check after stuffing his face with turkey. The remainder of the $10,000 purse was divided among other contestants.

Minecraft shakes it off

Dispatch staff — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 11:05:58 +0000

“Shake it off” gets a cool Minecraft parody. http://youtu.be/FIQEsSoyzBU

Adoptables at the SPCA

Dispatch staff — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 10:59:49 +0000

Can you convince your parents to let you adopt a cat or dog? http://youtu.be/FCwkt0o3bYc