An old world lies beneath the grass and flowers in the tiny park tucked between the State House and Thomas Edison State College. It's a world of steel furnaces and plating mills, of sloping bluffs and a gurgling creek. And it's a world that was long forgotten as Trenton grew from a Colonial river settlement into New Jersey's capital city. While buried in the past, a bit of that world recently came to light.

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP - "This where it all started. It is where the men of the test platoon took part in an experiment that gave our country the U.S. Airborne," said Patrick Kelly, national president of the 82nd Airborne Division Association.

It appears he left without as much as a goodbye.

After plying the waters between Trenton and Burlington City for five days last week, it appeared Helis, the "Ballpark Beluga," as one Hamilton enthusiast called him, was hightailing it south toward the Atlantic Ocean yesterday.

The most recent sighting put Helis as far south as the Walt Whitman Bridge in Philadelphia, and his intentions seemed set on reaching open water, state officials said.

TRENTON - First, Rosa McCoy called city police to tell them she had spotted a small, white whale in the Delaware River off Lalor Street. They figured she was just blabbering and laughed it off.

Goodguys held their first Vintage Racing Association event in 1989 and embraced the legendary March Meet in '94, adding a points series to the program. Based upon the reaction from many competitors and a bunch of the fans, the fine-tuning of the Goodguys VRA Series in 2005 has matured like a fine whiskey.

PRINCETON BOROUGH - Gillett Griffin's birthday gift to Albert Einstein when he turned 75 in March 1954 - a Bach cantata recording - almost cost him his brief friendship with Einstein.

At first glance, the most notable thing about the Mac mini is its price: $499 (see Best Current Price). But on closer inspection, it's also something of an engineering marvel: a powerful PC that fits inside a tiny, 2.9-pound, 84.5-cubic-inch box. Since the day the Mac mini was announced, we've been bombarded with questions about it, from the general ("How does it work?") to the extremely particular ("Can I install an AirPort Extreme card myself?").

HAMILTON - Federal environmental officials knew employees and neighbors were in danger of asbestos exposure from the W.R. Grace & Co. Zonolite plant here more than 15 years before they did anything about it, a 1985 report reveals.

The report, titled "Exposure Assessment for Asbestos-Contaminated Vermiculite," specifically mentions the Hamilton plant - though it is listed as Trenton - stating that 55 workers and as many as 92,000 residents in the surrounding community were at risk of asbestos exposure.

Wall Township Speedway owners said Monday their decision to sell the 55-year-old Route 34 track to a home builder is based on financial difficulties, but they want drivers and fans to know the raceway is "committed" to the upcoming racing season.

"There's somebody very interested in the property," part-owner Fred Archer said. "There's no doubt. But we're open for the 2005 season, and we're here."

Preparing two shuttles, agency hopes one never leaves ground.

During a search for evidence at the Neverland Valley Ranch, investigators discovered a corpse that has been identified as that of Michael Jackson, Santa Barbara police officials announced Tuesday.

HAMILTON - When Celeste Mott set out with her 3-year-old son Carl to mail a letter to her sister yesterday, she looked forward to visiting the reopened postal distribution center on Route 130 for the first time since Carl was an infant.

HAMILTON - Health studies of the former W.R. Grace plant that processed asbestos-tainted vermiculite ore here for decades have concluded that workers at the plant were exposed to dangerous levels of the fibers and likely exposed their family members by bringing it home on their clothes.

Asbestos-contaminated powder covered neighborhoods
Monday, March 14, 2005

On July 23, 1971, a group of Colonial Lakelands residents awoke to a strange sight for a summer morning in that section of Lawrence. During the night, a fine white powder had settled over their lawns and cars.

Still other former employees said they didn't bother to pick up the yearly chest X-ray reports until they began worrying about their health, because they were assured the dust was harmless, as Curtis Williams of Hightstown, now 76 and breathing with the aid of a respirator, put it.

EPA: Zonolite in 35M homes

The U.S Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that as many as 35 million homes in the United States are insulated with Zonolite, a small light spongy insulation made from vermiculite ore.

EPA's investigation focused on Libby mine

Six years ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency launched an investigation of what it called a potential `hazard waste emergency' in Libby, Mont., caused by asbestos-tainted vermiculite ore.

Some celebs only get hotter once they're gone, like James Dean and Elvis. . . . . And Einstein.

The 20th-century savant's mustachioed mug and proto-Don King hairdo grace newsstands once again. The United Nations and the scientific community are marking the centennial of Albert Einstein's "miracle year" -he published three revolutionary research papers in 1905 - by decreeing this the "World Year of Physics 2005."

WASHINGTON, DC - Almost a year after the cessation of major combat and a month after the nation's first free democratic elections, President Bush unveiled the coalition forces' strategy for exiting Iraq.

TRENTON - The tomato is on its way to becoming the state's official vegetable - even though it's a fruit.

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) -- Ever since man picked up a rock to kill dinner, hunters have been technology pioneers. These days, they've got more gadgets than ever to choose from.

Heat sensors will spot wounded game in dense brush, remote-controlled cameras can scout game trails. There are motorized duck and deer decoys, electronic duck and coyote calls and even holographic archery sights.

But some of the latest in hunting tech pushes the ethical envelope, and some states are outlawing high-tech innovations that game managers feel give hunters an undue advantage.

A San Antonio entrepreneur recently created an uproar with a Web site, www.live-shot.com , that aims to allow hunters to shoot exotic game animals or feral pigs on his private hunting ranch by remote control, with the click of a mouse, from anywhere in the world.

Two Congressmen this week pledged their support to push decency standards onto cable and satellite television -- areas historically immune to federal decency oversight.

While their announcement has outraged the telecommunications industry and civil libertarians, most observers believe their idea stands little chance of progressing through Congress. More intriguing, however, is the possibility that the cable and satellite indecency news will resurrect the issue of offering consumers a la carte options for selecting cable channels.

A new radio telescope array has been developed by the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute and the University of California at Berkeley that will shed some cosmic noise, and give scientists a better view of one million stars scattered throughout the universe

NASCAR's first surprise-filled journey south of the border finished a lot like those back home, with regulars Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards at the front of the pack.

Truex, who grew up in the Mayetta section of Stafford Township and got his racing start at Wall Stadium, used a planned early pit stop &emdash; and took advantage of a lucky yellow flag that shut the door on two pursuers &emdash; to hang onto the lead over the final 28 laps of the first points-paying NASCAR race outside the United States in a half-century.

NEW HOPE, Pa. - On a clear, cold morning, Betty Orlemann gave a quick lesson on the anatomy of Delaware Canal Lock No. 11.

The lock - essentially an elevator for boats - has just undergone a federally funded $1.3 million historically accurate restoration. Now, relying on the restored mechanics, a lock tender can adjust the water level so a flat-bottomed boat can climb or descend an 8-foot difference in elevation, teaching American history along the way.

The record-setting, privately-built suborbital rocket plane -- SpaceShipOne -- is headed for a landing at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in Washington, D.C.

Designed and built by aerospace engineer, Burt Rutan and his Scaled Composites team in Mojave, California, SpaceShipOne made piloted back-to-back flights last year to snag the $10 million X Prize cash purse.

The Indy Racing League IndyCar Series begins its tenth season of competition this year with 22 cars attempting to qualify for slots in the Toyota Indy 300 on the Homestead-Miami Speedway oval.

There will be plenty of new faces to look at on the grid, as many top drivers have found the League's competition sufficiently intense to jump in.

One of the most anticipated rookie candidates is Danica Patrick, driver of the #16 Argent Mortgage/Pioneer Panoz/Honda/Firestone racer. A two-year Toyota Atlantic Championship contender, Patrick joins 2004 Indianapolis 500 Mile Race winner Buddy Rice and Brazilian veteran Vitor Meira on the three- car Rahal Letterman Racing squad.

DIRT's Big-Block Modifieds Open Coca-Cola 600 Week With May 25 Event at The Dirt Track @ Lowe's Motor Speedway

CONCORD, N.C. (March 1, 2005) - DIRT's big-block modifieds have been selected as the opening act for one of the nation's most historic and prestigious motorsports events, the May 29 Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Indy cars will use a fuel made of grain beginning in 2006, officials from the Indy Racing League confirmed Wednesday.

Ethanol, which is renewable and biodegradable, will be used as a 10 percent mixture with methanol -- a synthetic mixture -- next season and used exclusively in 2007.

HAMILTON - The soil around the former W.R. Grace & Co. factory here that produced attic insulation for decades was contaminated with such high levels of asbestos that federal environmental regulators recently declared it an "imminent and substantial threat" to current workers at the site and the surrounding community.

Asbestos no paper tiger for document shredder - Tuesday, March 08, 2005
By DARRYL R. ISHERWOOD Staff Writer

HAMILTON - It was five years after the previous owners had moved out that Stephen Mandarano's paper shredding company moved into the W.R. Grace insulation plant on Industrial Drive, but the contamination left on the grounds may cost him dearly.

Bill McKibben has an op-ed in today's New York Times that's spot on, in my opinion: the objections to wind power turbines raised by local environmental groups are misguided and fail to consider the big picture.

In an exclusive conversation with TechnologyReview.com, Linspire's Michael Robertson discusses his new music service for Linux users, and the home entertainment hub that goes with it. By Eric Hellweg.

Forget satellite radio. Podcasting is the new hotness, as netizens rush to distribute their audio shows using networked technologies

Sad news has reached us that Flemington Starter Harry Dee passed away on Friday morning, January 21 in a Tampa hospital. His health had been ailing for the past couple of years. 

Mercer County's place in Colonial history and its role in the Revolutionary War are often- and well-told stories. But few realize how a major development in warfare - later to play a historic role in World War II - had its beginnings in Washington Township.

In the summer of 1940, in an open field next to what is now Route 130, the U.S. Army conducted a training experiment that resulted in a whole new tactical movement.

It was the birth of the airborne soldier, who carried with him the flexibility of parachuting, battle ready, behind enemy lines and beyond hostile shores.

Foot soldier's leap of faith leads to parachute school
Sunday, February 13, 2005 - By CURT YESKE Staff Writer

ON Discovery Channel's "Dude Room," the guest house at Emilio Estevez's Malibu home is turned into an aboveground wine cellar, complete with antique barrels, crown molding from a church in India and a mural-size, 300-bottle wine rack. On Lifetime's "Merge," the lush-lipped former soap star Lisa Rinna cuts a painting in two to make armoire doors, working with the designer who calls himself Bobby Trendy. On HGTV's "Generation Renovation," a Colorado couple explain how they turned a 1970's split-level into an 11,000-square-foot log cabin with heated stone floors and a man-made waterfall out back.

These examples barely begin to convey the variety of home makeover shows now spreading rampantly on American television, most of it on cable. Since "Trading Spaces" had its premiere on TLC in September 2000, copycats and variations on the idea have been multiplying like wire hangers in a walk-in closet. ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," which went on the air in December 2003, is a bona fide network hit. The 10-year-old HGTV channel has at least 20 series that fit the definition, among them "Design on a Dime," "Designed to Sell," "Divine Design," "Design Remix," "Date With Design" and the latest, "reDesign," which begins in March. And that doesn't include the landscaping shows.

WASHINGTON, DC -A new videotape of Osama bin Laden broadcast on the Arab satellite news channel Al-Jazeera Monday beseeched Allah to grant all Americans a "crappy Valentine's Day."

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 - In the months before the Sept. 11 attacks, federal aviation officials reviewed dozens of intelligence reports that warned about Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, some of which specifically discussed airline hijackings and suicide operations, according to a previously undisclosed report from the 9/11 commission.

But aviation officials were "lulled into a false sense of security," and "intelligence that indicated a real and growing threat leading up to 9/11 did not stimulate significant increases in security procedures," the commission report concluded.

The report discloses that the Federal Aviation Administration, despite being focused on risks of hijackings overseas, warned airports in the spring of 2001 that if "the intent of the hijacker is not to exchange hostages for prisoners, but to commit suicide in a spectacular explosion, a domestic hijacking would probably be preferable."

The report takes the F.A.A. to task for failing to pursue domestic security measures that could conceivably have altered the events of Sept. 11, 2001, like toughening airport screening procedures for weapons or expanding the use of on-flight air marshals. The report, completed last August, said officials appeared more concerned with reducing airline congestion, lessening delays, and easing airlines' financial woes than deterring a terrorist attack.

Like people, every car has a story, a little tale about who and where and why. Especially here, where antique, classic and one-of-a-kind wonders coexist in an automotive time warp.

Stroll down period street scenes. Explore decades of intriguing automobiles. Marvel at clothing from long ago. Discover the past on our historic timelines. Let your imagination soar.

The U.S. Green Building Council's Technical and Scientific Advisory Committee (TSAC) has released a public comment draft of its long-awaited report on polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Commissioned to determine "the availability and quality of the evidence as a basis for a reasoned decision about the inclusion of a PVC-related credit in the LEED Rating System," the report's central finding is that "the available evidence does not support a conclusion that PVC is consistently worse than alternative materials on a life-cycle environmental and health basis." The report also discusses data gaps and subject areas which, "if information became available, could alter the results of the analysis." The 120-page, highly technical report includes a six-page executive summary outlining the approach and conclusions.

WASHINGTON -- A $170 million computer system intended to allow the FBI to better manage criminal and terrorism cases will have to be scrapped or require a lot of additional work, the Justice Department's inspector general said Thursday.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Gertrude Walton was recently targeted by the recording industry in a lawsuit that accused her of illegally trading music over the Internet. But Walton died in December after a long illness, and according to her daughter, the 83-year-old hated computers.

More than a month after Walton was buried in Beckley, a group of record companies named her as the sole defendant in a federal lawsuit, claiming she made more than 700 pop, rock and rap songs available for free on the Internet under the screen name "smittenedkitten."

The final words will probably be a little more decorous than "you're fired," but Martha Stewart will soon join Donald Trump in crowning a new generation of young moguls on her own version of "The Apprentice," NBC officials announced yesterday.

The show, which will begin production sometime after Ms. Stewart is released from prison in West Virginia in March and while she remains under house arrest, will feature Ms. Stewart as a less brusque but equally imperious business legend in search of an assistant to help run part of her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. As on Mr. Trump's show, the winner will be awarded a one-year job with a salary of $250,000.

Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey is urging residents to back New Jersey's Do Not Call law and help beat back an effort by telemarketers to have federal regulators overturn portions of the state statute.

"I am adamantly opposed to any attempt to weaken New Jersey's Do Not Call program," Codey said in a statement. "Our law is the toughest in the nation but this threat, pushed for by telemarketers . . . is very real."

New Jersey's law, which took effect in May, is being challenged by the American Teleservices Association, an industry group, which wants the Federal Communications Commission to overturn portions of the statute, saying the state's rules improperly are more strict than federal law and regulations.

The Web site set up by Codey is www.nj.gov/protectdonotcall

The Web site to sign up for the national Do Not Call list is www.donotcall.gov

December 2, 2004 A new Australian research facility called the Visual Information Access Room (VIAR) is at the forefront of the coming revolution in human-digital interaction. The current keyboard, mouse and screen configuration will soon be replaced by digital interfaces that utilise touch, gesture and voice control and seek to integrate seamlessly into our environment. Launched by the National ICT Australia (NICTA), the Sydney laboratory looks like a futuristic office, but is in fact a test facility where sophisticated 3D models of complex systems and innovative ways to interact with complex data quickly will be developed.

The pogo stick was invented in 1918 and hasn't changed much since- until now. The Flybar 1200 is like a pogo Stick on steroids, and was built to support the weight, strength, and demands of a world-class athlete. Fit co-ordinated humans can jump higher than five feet and people have been known to get nearly 8 feet of air using the aircraft-grade aluminium Flybar. Manufactured by the same company that invented the pogo stick, the "mobile exercise and stunt bar" uses an elastomeric spring system (12 big rubber bands to you) to capture and release energy and the springing feels similar to a trampoline in operation. As the elastomeric system is adjustable, the Flybar 1200 can be adjusted to accommodate riders of varying ages, weight and skill levels.

It's been 33 years since Nolan Bushnell debuted Pong, the first commercially successful video game, and in spite of the predictions, society has not collapsed. In fact, video games have become a fact of everyday life. The video-game industry has continued to grow, becoming as viable and pervasive an entertainment habit as music or movies.

December 3, 2004 Humankind has dreamed of flight since ancient times, but until now most attempts to fly by flapping wings, either using human muscle or mechanical power, have failed. Over 500 years ago, Leonardo da Vinci conceptualised a self powered flying machine that would achieve both lift and thrust with flapping wings alone and named it the "ornithopter". Now, hot on the heels of the 100th Anniversary of the Wright Brothers pioneering air flight and the recent X Prize won by Burt Rutan for civilian, privately funded space flight, a team of scientists, engineers, and historians in Toronto have taken on the challenge to make Leonardo's orinthopter dream a reality.

December 9, 2004 Convenience is the name of the game with the Hov Pod, the latest hovercraft design for marine leisure and commercial usage. Large enough to carry three adults, the Hov Pod offers a full hovercraft experience, riding on cushioned air over land and water without any of the hassles of more complicated craft. With a top speed of 60 km/h on the water, a maximum weight of 250 kg and a retail price of UK 16.500 pounds, the Hov Pod is designed for the hobbyist who likes to go anywhere in style.

WHOEVER said "technology marches on" must have been kidding. Technology doesn't march; it sprints, dashes and zooms.

That relentless pace renders our storage media obsolete with appalling speed:51Ú4-inch floppies, Zip disks or whatever. And with the debut of each new storage format, millions of important files, photos, music and video have to be rescued from the last one.

Philip Johnson, at once the elder statesman and the enfant terrible of American architecture, died Tuesday at the compound surrounding the Glass House, the celebrated residence he built for himself in New Canaan, Conn. He was 98.

His death was disclosed by David Whitney, his companion of 45 years.

Often considered the dean of American architects, Mr. Johnson was known less for his individual buildings than for the sheer force of his presence on the architectural scene, which he served as a combination godfather, gadfly, scholar, patron, critic, curator and cheerleader. His 90th birthday, in July 1996, was marked by symposiums, lectures, an outpouring of essays in his honor and back-to-back dinners at two venerable New York institutions he had played a major role in creating: the Museum of Modern Art, whose department of architecture and design he joined in 1930, and the Four Seasons restaurant, which he designed as part of the Seagram Building in 1958.

Sulfur dioxide soot emissions from PSEG's power plant on Duck Island in Hamilton jumped almost 50 percent from 1995 to 2003, a report released yesterday by an environmental group shows.

Since its inception in 1993, media coverage of Wing Bowl has grown to the point where every one of the major Philadelphia television stations has been at the event. The ABC, CBS and FOX affiliates all aired live reports from the event during their morning news. Features on the event have appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News as well as a host of newspapers in the surrounding counties. The event has been featured on ESPN and the syndicated television shows Reel TV and the Montel Williams Show. Segments on Wing Bowl have appeared on TV newscasts in cities throughout the country. Several Wing Bowl contestants, including "El Wingador" even competed in Fox's " Glutton Bowl in the spring of 2002.

Former Philadelphia Mayor and current Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell has attended and presented the winner with a "Liberty Bell" trophy at Wing Bowls II, III, IV and VI. Other dignitaries who have made appearances at Wing Bowl include former heavyweight boxer Randall "Tex" Cobb, Former 76ers President Pat Croce, Philles Manager Larry Bowa, U.S. Senator Arlen Specter and more! Plus, Major League baseball umpire, Eric Gregg has been the "Commissioner" of Wing Bowl since its second year.

http://www.610wip.com/wingbowl/

Cute is not a word that should be used when describing a computer. Computers should be fast, capable and customizable. They should not be coupled with the sorts of words that you would use to describe a puppy.

There's no getting around it though -- the Mac mini is adorable. And if all you need from a computer are good looks, Apple's newest machine certainly fits the bill. But Apple's core market, those creative types who work with power-hungry graphics and sound programs, are likely to find the 1.25GHz G4 processor, 256MB of RAM, and 167 MHz system sluggish and skimpy.

That, and the Mac mini's budget $499 price climbs quickly when you add the essential mouse, monitor and keyboard along with the requisite RAM upgrade. 

But it's not likely to suffer the same fate as Apple's now-discontinued Cube, which was merely a trophy computer, nor will it be relegated to underpowered cute "starter" machine status like the iMac.

The very thing that makes the Mac mini so endearing -- its tiny 6.5 inches wide by 6.5 inches deep by 2 inches high and less than 3 pounds form factor -- in combination with the very stable, extremely hackable and scriptable OS X makes it the perfect portable brain.

But to get the most out of the Mac mini, users need to -- yes -- think different. Banish any thoughts of desktop use from your mind. Here are a baker's dozen ways to put the Mac mini to work:

Postcards can be used to tell a story and nowhere is that story more prominent than with the automotive industry. Companies printed photographs of their cars in postcard format to distribute to customers (and young children) as an economical way to promote the new models. These postcards could then be mailed to family and friends and further advertise the company's product. Who wouldn't respond to this young woman enjoying her bright red Playboy Convertible.

There's one in almost every American household: a shoebox stuffed with faded snapshots of days gone by, the kids' baby pictures, the ugly dress you wore to the prom, innumerable views of the Grand Canyon, the college roommate passed out drunk. Americans have been filling such shoeboxes for generations, and now, thanks to the delete button on digital cameras, this widespread custom is coming to an end.

For more than 100 years, ever since the introduction of the Kodak handheld film camera, ordinary Americans have taken pictures of themselves, forming a massive archive of the individual and collective histories of a nation. Everything - the perfect pictures and the imperfect pictures, the ones in which eyes are closed, the frame askew, the pose unflattering, the image blurred - all of them went into photo albums and shoeboxes, to be laughed at or puzzled over later by families seeking memories or anthropologists seeking insight about a culture.

So what will future anthropologists think when they look back on our pictures (assuming there are any) from the dawn of the digital era? Will they wonder, "Why do all these people look so good?" (Related story: Get the most out of digital)

Hasbro to introduce "Darth Tater" ahead of Episode III.

IN televised sports, the cameras know no bounds. They are embedded in the dirt in front of home plate in baseball, hanging from the goal pipes in hockey, perched above the rim in basketball.

"What you see visually in sports coverage is a constant attempt to get more intimate, to bring the viewer closer to the action," said Ed Goren, president and executive producer of Fox Sports.

But for intimacy combined with panache, nothing can match the mobile aerial cameras used at football games. In these systems, a camera suspended from a cat's cradle of ropes hovers a dozen feet or more above the field, behind the offense. It can move as a play develops, following the blockers down the field on a kickoff, say, or a running back as he plunges through the line.

Mix rat cells and silicon chips and what do you get?

Evidently something real damn scary.

A naked cartoon butt was edited by Fox out of fear a "real" cartoon butt would prompt an investigation and fine from the FCC.

The Dream That Has Persisted For 100 Years

Unreal Aircraft features unique and unusual aircraft like twin-fuselage Mustangs, Canadian flying saucers, gravity-defying VTOL airplanes and even personal rocket packs.

Promotional film for the controversial Chevrolet Corvair.

Also on this page, click on "Keywords: Automobiles: Advertising"

Henry Ortlieb, the owner of Ortlieb's Brewery and Grille at Sunnybrook Ballroom and one of the more controversial figures on Philadelphia's modern day craft brewing scene, died on July 4 while vacationing in Costa Rica. He was 56.