ITEM: Reader Daniel turned us on to this bizarre photo. A little green man with 17 emblazoned on his chest? Yep, sounds like 2009 to me. More:
CHASKA, Minn. (AP)—Tiger Woods will be fined by the PGA Tour for his public criticism of a rules official after winning the Bridgestone Invitational... European Tour chief referee John Paramor told Woods and Harrington they were being timed. Paramor said the final pairing was well behind most of the back nine, but officials gave them time to catch up.
They were still 17 minutes out of position on the 16th tee, when they were put on the clock.
ITEM: Speaking of overpaid athletes, here's the 8/10/09 issue of Sports Illustrated.
ITEM: There was a tragic air crash between a plane and a helicopter in the Hudson River on Saturday- a grim replay of the Flight 1549. The airplane took off from Teterboro Airport, which is on Route 17. The weird thing about is that I saw a near air collision on Friday evening, not so far from Saturday's event. Pretty freaky sync. ITEM: Another air disaster of a kind:
2+8+1+6=17.MINNEAPOLIS – By its sixth hour sitting on a deserted tarmac, Continental Express Flight 2816 had taken on the smell of diapers and an overwhelmed lone toilet.
What should have been a 2 1/2-hour trip from Houston to Minneapolis had moved into its ninth hour, and the 47 passengers on board had burned through the free pretzels and drinks handed out early in their Friday night flight from Houston.
ITEM: Loren Coleman and others gave me the heads up on this weird story from India:
CHANDIGARH - No one knows exactly why it’s happening or how. But in Amloh, a dusty village of about 600 in Haryana's Yamunanagar district, one person has died every 17 days in the last four months. Now, a mortal fear has gripped Amloh, forcing people to go off sex, alcohol and even non-vegetarian food in a bid to purge themselves of what they call a 17-day death curse.ITEM: More horror- a conspiracy behind the brutal murders of the "Parents of 17":
Investigators have linked Mexican organized crime to the murders of the parents of 17, perhaps answering the case's riddle: why was a Florida couple shot at home execution-style?And the devil is also in the details:
“Tice admitted that he was selling cars across the border to be resold in Mexico and those deals were cash, under-the-table transactions.” The grand theft charge against Tice is for allegedly writing more than $17,000 in bad checks last year to Worldco Financial Services, a company owned by the Billings family.ITEM: Not all 17 news has been grim- a reader tells us it was a lucky number for a repeat lottery winner:
Williams, who is single, has worked for almost 17 years ago for Johnson Controls. Before that, he served in the Marines. He said he has been playing Super Kansas Cash, Powerball and other lottery games consistently for 17 years.ITEM: But not so lucky for the Michael Jackson estate:
The Lloyd's of London policy -- taken out by AEG in case Jackson didn't perform his London concerts -- did not cover death related to illegal drug use. According to the policy, obtained by the L.A. Times, "This insurance does not cover any loss directly or indirectly arising out of, contributed, to, by or resulting from ... the illegal possession or illicit taking of drugs and their effects." The policy covered $17.5 million. AEG reportedly claims it's in the hole $30 mil.ITEM: Speaking of 17.5, there's talk of Gil Grissom returning to CSI, since rating have dipped since he left the show. The first show after his departure garnered 17.5 million viewers an 11% dip from the week before.
ITEM: And speaking of dead pop stars, did you know the first Nirvana album cost $606.17 to record? It says so on the sleeve.ITEM: And speaking of Nirvana, how did I not know that New Age hotspot Sedona is on Interstate 17?
ITEM: Finally, speaking of exotic locales, check out 17 Questions, this week with alt-Egyptologist David Rohl.
UPDATE: Hey, guess what's out on DVD today? UPDATE: Oh, you gotta be frickin' kidding me:
A Nasa space telescope has found evidence of a high-speed collision between two burgeoning planets orbiting a young star. Dr Lisse and his team observed a star called HD 172555, which is about 12 million years old and situated about 100 light-years away in the far southern constellation Pavo (the Peacock).2+5+5+5= nevermind.
UPDATE: Jason the Synchromystic Librarian informs us that there's a new exhibit opening in London, Ontario featuring life-sized animated dinosaurs. Guess how many?
