A couple was flying a small plane at 6pm last night when they lost power and crashed near Northern California's Half Moon Bay. They skidded across water and amazingly escaped without injuries. They even managed to take some video of themselves while waiting for their rescue helicopter.

According to NBC:

The plane was one of two reported to be flying together in the area, and the pilot of the second plane reported the crash to air traffic control....

NBC Bay Area reported that the pilot, whom it identified as David Lesh, was able to skip the plane along the surface of the water during the incident. A friend was in the other plane, according to the station.

Unbelievable video from pilot David Lesh, of the moment they see @USCGPacificSW come in for the rescue. His friend was flying near them when they crashed, circled around, and was able to guide USCG to their location. pic.twitter.com/SPdsuJpLpY

— Ian Cull (@NBCian) August 21, 2019

Image: YouTube Read the rest

The Obamas released their first film with Netflix, which started streaming today — a documentary called American Factory.

From Fast Company:

Called American Factory, the documentary follows the events of when a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory in an abandoned General Motors plant in Ohio and hires 2,000 blue-collar American workers to work alongside Chinese immigrants. As France24 explains:

In the new documentary’s early scenes, genuine attempts by the US and Chinese workers to bond with their new colleagues, including fishing and shooting lessons and shared Thanksgiving dinners, appear to bear some fruit.

But as the new Chinese owners become alarmed by heavy financial losses, they fire the American middle managers and increasingly invoke their Chinese replacements’ sense of nationalistic pride to spur harder work, leaving the workforce ever-more divided.

According to Fast Company, the reviews "have been off the charts." And the Obamas have four more films in the works.

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These air mattresses were set up in a grassy Denver area for a four-night "Bed Cinema" event last weekend, but began to charge across the park with the help of a wind gust. Some of them even hopped a fence and made a surprise visit to folks hanging out at a pool.

Via: NBC News

Image: Youtube Read the rest

Since it's illegal to take your dog on a subway in New York if it's not shoved into a "carrier," this man shoved his large dog into a tiny burlap sack, if that's what you can call it. But the conductor doesn't buy it, and bans the creative dog owner from boarding the train.

Saw this guy arguing with an @MTA conductor about bringing his dog on the subway. Dude said the dog’s burlap sack was a bag; conductor said nope, wouldn’t let him on the train. @Gothamist @A_W_Gordon @2AvSagas #NYCSubway pic.twitter.com/qjgN5anKV3

— Will Sabel Courtney (@WillSCourtney) April 7, 2019

So much for over-the-shoulder hammocks.

Via Mashable Read the rest

A 67-year-old retired teacher is working out at the gym in Culver City, California when a red SUV bursts through the glass wall and and shoves his treadmill across the room. Although it looks horrifying, he amazingly survives without any major injuries.

According to Inside Edition:

Moments after the crash, the shoeless driver emerged from the car to see what had happened. She then tried to get back in her SUV, but an off-duty cop who was working out at the gym stepped in. She reportedly told police her brakes failed. When cops arrived on the scene she was not taken into custody and was not charged.

"I got thrown back and I could see the treadmill coming at me and I was afraid of being crushed," the man on the treadmill told Inside Edition. "I rolled to the side and I think that is what saved me." Read the rest

As part of the effort to rescue the 12 boys and their soccer coach from Tham Luang cave last year in Thailand, rescue divers gave the boys "unspecified doses of ketamine," according to CNN.

Via CNN:

According to details of the rescue released in a medical journal Thursday, the boys were given unspecified doses of ketamine, also known as party drug Special K, by the rescue divers as they were taken out of Tham Luang cave.

Reports at the time had suggested that the children, who had been trapped for two weeks, were sedated during the operation, but officials gave few details.

"We had to use the means that could keep the children not to be panicky while we were carrying them out," Thai Navy SEAL commander Rear Adm. Arpakorn Yookongkaew told CNN shortly after the rescue. "Most importantly, they are alive and safe." ...

The medics said ketamine was a good choice to give to the boys, given the risk of hypothermia, as ketamine impairs shivering and is associated with smaller drops in core body temperature.

Image: by Capt. Jessica Tait/Kadena Air Base Read the rest

It is raining trash in the suburbs of Seattle. Or, rather, bald eagles – around 200 of them – are dropping trash into people's yards every day, and the suburbanites are not happy. Read the rest

American tourist, 35-year-old Kimberly Sue, was with a local guide, Jean Paul, and at least two other tourists at Queen Elizabeth National Park yesterday when they were ambushed by four gunmen. Sue and the driver were kidnapped, leaving the other tourists behind.

According to NBC News:

The assailants used one of the victims' cellphones to call authorities and demand $500,000 for their release, police said, adding that they "strongly believe this ransom is the reason behind the kidnap."

Four kidnappers abducted the American and the driver, taking their keys but leaving the vehicle behind, according to police. The others in the vehicle escaped unharmed and later contacted authorities. The government earlier said that four people had escaped the incident.

Police said they have blocked the nearby border in an attempt to corner the kidnappers.

Queen Elizabeth National Park is Uganda's most popular tourist destination, according to their website.

Image: by Cody Pope - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link Read the rest

Here's an interview – or maybe a screen test, as it says on YouTube – of Bruce Lee from 1965. He was 24 at the time, with intelligence, high charisma and a sense of humor as he talks about majoring in philosophy, having a baby (Brandon), his time spent in Hong Kong, and, of course, his thoughts on martial arts. And then he demonstrates some Kung Fu moves, which, even while wearing a suit in a formal setting, is so fast he become a blur. No wonder he became the international star that he was.

Via Reddit Read the rest

Democrat Bill McLeod became a civil court judge in Harris County, TX less than three months ago. Then yesterday he accidentally resigned, thanks to a stupid online post he made, in which he announced his intention of running for state supreme court. The new judge apparently wasn't aware that the Texas constitution doesn't allow for such announcements from a judge and leads to automatic resignation.

According to Reuters:

Article 16, Section 65, of the state’s constitution says that a judge’s announcement of candidacy for another office “shall constitute an automatic resignation of the office then held.”

The county attorney’s office will present the matter to county commissioners next Tuesday, First Assistant County Attorney Robert Soard said in a phone interview on Tuesday. County commissioners, who can appoint replacements, may decide to keep McLeod in office until there is a special election, KHOU 11 reported.

Read the rest

One lucky fellow flying from Lithuania to Italy had a Boeing 737-800 all to himself. Read the rest

I'm not a Las Vegas fan, but I wish I could plop myself at the Bellagio hotel for just four minutes one night this week to watch their Game of Thrones water show, which began last night. It looks spectacular.

From Las Vegas Review Journal:

A medley of the theme for HBO’s “Game of Thrones” and the song “Winter Is Here” from the show premiered at Bellagio Fountains water show on the Las Vegas Strip on Sunday night. The new number will run at 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. daily, in rotation through April 13.

The final season of Game of Thrones premieres April 14th. Read the rest

Tourists in Iceland were frolicking near a lagoon that is accessible only with a guide, when part of a glacier broke off, causing them to make a run for it. According to YouTube, the person filming said, "This area is only accessible with mountain guides and everybody shown in the video had been previously instructed to immediately leave the beach if a calving occurs...Due to the sheer size and proximity it was a bit of a close call but everybody was safe and stayed dry.”

It doesn't look like a "close call" when watching it on video, but the rolling waves it caused are amazing. Read the rest

Sgaawaay K'uuna, or Edge of the Knife, is the first feature film to portray the Haida – a group of people from Haida Gwaii, aka the Queen Charlotte Islands (off the west coast of Canada's British Columbia). It's also the first film in which the characters speak entirely in Haida, a language which only 20 people in the world speak fluently (even though the Haida population is a few thousand, according to The Guardian). The actors had to learn the language in order to understand their lines.

Via The Guardian:

The film, set on Haida Gwaii in the 19th century, is based on an old Haida myth about a man who survives an accident at sea, only to become so weakened that he is taken over by supernatural beings.

It is part of a wider push to preserve the Haida language, including a new dictionary and recordings of local voices.

Edenshaw said Haida uses a lot of “guttural sounds and glottal stops” and that actors needed to learn it because it differs from English, let alone other languages: “When you upspeak to denote a question in English, that doesn’t exist in Haida. There is an upspeak, but the questioning portion … appears in the middle of the sentence.”

That was among the details that his cast of non-Haida speakers had to learn over many months before the shoot.

The film will be released in April. Read the rest

Maryland attorney Rashad James, who happens to be black, was packing up his things after a day at Harford County District Court when he says a sheriff's deputy detained him, thinking James was just pretending to be a lawyer. The deputy called the attorney by his client's name, and when James informed the deputy that he was in fact the attorney, the deputy didn't believe him. Even after Rashad showed him ID, the deputy did not believe him. The deputy then called his supervisor.

According to WBALTV:

After successfully getting an expungement for a client who was not there, a sheriff's deputy stopped him in the courtroom and began questioning if he was really a lawyer or impersonating one.

"After the hearing, that's when I encountered the officer who incorrectly called me by the name of the client. I stated that I was not the client, that I was, in fact, the client's attorney," James said.

The deputy then asked for identification, James says he showed his driver's license.

The officer apparently wanted more verification since James didn't have his state bar card or business cards, which he is not required to carry. He had the officer call his supervisor.

"If Mr. James were white, this would not have happened," said Chelsea Crawford, James' second attorney.

And via News Channel 5 :

An attorney representing James believes that if he was white, the officer would not have doubted that he was an attorney, would not have questioned his identity and would not have detained him after seeing his driver’s license.

A man drank a Power Natural High Energy Drink SX, a product made in Zambia, and got more energy than he bargained for. He ended up with a six-hour erection. Turns out the drink contained Viagra. Read the rest

How did humans' "oldest rivals," the grey wolves (canis lupus), become our slobbering, shoe-chewing, bone-fetching, protective best friends? TED-Ed brings us this brief history that shows how wolves evolved into French Bulldogs, German Shepherds, Shiba Inus, Toy Poodles, and the rest of the canine lot. Read the rest