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A Sacramento County teenager is bragging about a big accomplishment.

She logged more than 300,000 text messages in one month.

“My friends said, ‘Text your little thumbs off’,” Crystal Wiski said.

“Thank God for free texting,” added her mother, Jacki Wiski.

Jacki Wiski said she just bought the iPhone for her daughter a month ago.

“I get cramps,” Crystal Wiski said of her habit.

Needless to say, it didn’t take long for her to get used to it.

Her mother is amazed by the number of texts.

“Oh my God, that’s unbelievable,” Jacki Wiski said. “She must text while she’s sleeping.”

“I am popular. I can’t help it,” Crystal Wiski added.

To put 303,000 text messages into perspective: that’s more than 10,000 text messages a day, 421 messages an hour and seven texts a minute.

Full Story/Source

Yikes. Hey mom, how’s the family time? Just curious.

Went to my 20th High School Reunion in New Orleans, recently, and thought I’d share some pictures. I wasn’t sure what to expect since I’ve been away for so long and was worried about the town since Katrina hit. There’s no one you speak to that doesn’t have some story of the storm and bad times but the spirit is still there and strong. There are problem areas but there is hope and the city is recovering.

Go John Ehret Patriots and Go New Orleans!

NASA engineers will be holding their breaths Sunday, as a digging robot attempts a precarious landing on Mars’ surface.

NASA’s Phoenix Lander was launched in August and has traveled 122 million miles to Mars. It is a $457 million robotic spacecraft — equipped with a backhoe, cameras and a compact chemistry lab — that will attempt to find out whether the cold, forbidding surface of Mars could once have been warm enough for microbial life to exist on the planet.

Phoenix is scheduled to land Sunday evening at 7:38 p.m. ET. It must first separate from its rocket and then survive a harrowing seven-minute descent at 12,600 mph. It will then slow down to 5 mph to land in one piece on the planet’s unexplored north pole.

Mars has attracted more space missions than the rest of the solar system’s planets, but nearly two-thirds of all Mars missions have failed in some way.

Source

I’ve read or heard somewhere that the 2/3 value is true but the encompasses more than just the American attempts, whereas the American attempts are more of a 50-50 shot, still not the average you’d have high hopes for but better than 33%.

The Miami Dolphins choose Michigan offensive tackle, Jake Long.

Chris Long, a defensive end from Virginia goes to the St. Louis Rams.

Looks to be a “Long” couple of days, good days if your team comes out well in the Draft.

Is it September yet?

If you haven’t seen this video, it’s a horrendous crash from today’s speed qualifying for the Texas Motor Speedway race on Sunday at 2pm Eastern. It’s incredible that Michael was able to walk away from the crash with little to no difficulty. It is amazing how far NASCAR has come in the past years since Dale Earnhardt left us.

Edit:  Follow-up Interview

Updated, 6:45 p.m. | The actor Heath Ledger was found dead this afternoon in an apartment in Manhattan, according to the New York City police. Signs pointed to a suicide or an accidental overdose, police sources said. Mr. Ledger was 28.

At 3:31 p.m., according to the police, a masseuse arrived at the fourth-floor apartment of the building, at 421 Broome Street, between Crosby and Lafayette Streets in SoHo, for an appointment with Mr. Ledger. The masseuse was let in to the home by a housekeeper, who then knocked on the door of the bedroom Mr. Ledger was in. When no one answered, the housekeeper and the masseuse opened the bedroom and found Mr. Ledger naked and unconscious on a bed, with sleeping pills — both prescription medication and nonprescription — on a night table. They moved his body to the floor and attempted to revive him, but he did not respond. They immediately called the authorities.

The police said they did not suspect foul play. Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the office of the city’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Charles S. Hirsch, said that employees of the office were at the apartment and that an autopsy would be conducted on Wednesday. Around 6:30 p.m., city workers rolled Mr. Ledger’s body, in a black body bag on a stretcher, out of the building.

Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s deputy commissioner for public information, initially said that the apartment was owned by the actress Mary-Kate Olsen, but later reversed himself and said that was not the case.

A representative of Ms. Olsen said that the apartment did not belong to the actress. “It is not her apartment,” the representative, Annette Wolf, a publicist for Ms. Olsen, said in a phone interview. “She does not own the apartment. She has never owned the apartment. She and her sister have an apartment in New York City but they are not in this building.”

Heathcliff Andrew Ledger was born April 4, 1979 to Sally Ledger, a French teacher, and Kim Ledger, an engineer. Named after the main characters of Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights.” He and his older sister, Katherine, grew up in Perth, Australia; his parents were divorced when he was about 10. As a student, he joined a local theater company and appeared in a production of “Peter Pan,” which led to his being cast in children’s television programs.

Mr. Ledger’s first Hollywood film was the teenage romantic comedy “10 Things I Hate About You” (1999). He later appeared in romantic-hero roles in films like “A Knight’s Tale” (2001) and “Casanova” (2005).

But the role for which Mr. Ledger was probably best known by American audiences was in “Brokeback Mountain” (2005). The film, based on a short story by Annie Proulx about two cowboys who fall in love, won critical acclaim. Reviewing the film in The New York Times, the critic Stephen Holden wrote, “Mr. Ledger magically and mysteriously disappears beneath the skin of his lean, sinewy character. It is a great screen performance, as good as the best of Marlon Brando and Sean Penn.” Mr. Ledger was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in January 2006.

Mr. Ledger met the actress Michelle Williams while filming ‘’Brokeback Mountain.” The two actors fell into a romance and moved to Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, where their comings and goings were widely noted by the celebrity press. They had a daughter, Matilda Rose, who was born on Oct. 28, 2005. The couple separated last year.

In an interview in London for an article published in November, Mr. Ledger told The New York Times, ‘’I feel like I’m wasting time if I repeat myself.” He said in the interview that he was not proud of his latest role, in Todd Haynes’s “I’m Not There,” in which Mr. Ledger was one of a half-dozen actors depicting the musician Bob Dylan. ‘’I feel the same way about everything I do. The day I say, ‘It’s good’ is the day I should start doing something else,” he said in the interview.

Mr. Ledger had been cast as The Joker in the latest Batman installment, “The Dark Knight,” set to be released this summer.

As news of Mr. Ledger’s death made its way across the Internet, the Police Department issued a fairly terse summary of the death: “ON TUESDAY, 01/22/08, AT APPROXIMATELY 1530 HOURS, IN THE CONFINES OF THE 5 PRECINCT, POLICE RESPONDED TO 421 BROOME STREET AND FOUND A M/W/28 UNCONSCIOUS. THE VICTIM WAS PRONOUNCED DOA AT THE SCENE. M.E.’S OFFICE TO DETERMINE THE CAUSE OF DEATH. INVESTIGATION CONTINUES.”

Calls by The Times to Mara Buxbaum, a publicist for Mr. Ledger, and Steve Alexander, the actor’s agent, were not immediately returned this afternoon.

The building at 421 Broome Street was sold for $4.8 million in 1999 by Ho Hwa Properties Inc. to Red Tulip, L.L.C. Calls to a phone number listed for Junia Hissa Neiva, a Brazilian painter who is listed as an owner of Red Tulip and of the building, went to an answering machine that was full and could not accept new messages.

Julie McIntosh, a hair stylist in a SoHo salon a few doors down from the apartment building said this afternoon that she saw Mr. Ledger once or twice a week and had twice seen him going on walks with his young daughter. “I think it’s really sad,” Ms. McIntosh said. “He’s a really nice guy. He seemed happy.” A month ago, she said, she chatted with Mr. Ledger in front of the salon and asked him, “When are you going to come in and let me wash your hair?” Ms. McIntosh said she believed Mr. Ledger had been living in the area for several months. “He always said hello,” she said.

Outside Ms. Williams’s house in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, this evening, residents expressed shock at Mr. Ledger’s death. Elliott Puckett, an artist who lives in neighborhood, said, “That’s terrible. I used to see them with their dry cleaning and their baby. It’s really sad.”

Emily Ekman, a student who lives in Boerum Hill, said, “I knew Michelle. I’m blown away. I hope she’s O.K. She must be really upset.”

Elise Harris, who lived across the street from Ms. Williams and Mr. Ledger, said, “I’d met them. They were very nice, with their daughter. I think shock is the reaction. I didn’t even know he was on drugs, but that’s the kind of thing you don’t know unless you are in that circle. He was a nice guy, attractive, very friendly.”

A block away, at the Brooklyn Inn, the manager, Jason Furlani, said, “Obviously we’re shocked that it happened. We knew that he was in the neighborhood. I saw him around with his wife and daughter in the neighborhood, just normal folks. It’s a tragedy.”

Source

Say it isn’t so. A first-person shooter contributing to someone acting heroically and possibly saving a life? This can’t be. All I have heard from the media lately is how video games make you want to go on rampages. In this case, though, as long as the story is confirmed to be true, someone finds himself acting heroically because of what he learned in a video game. Sadly, you won’t hear about this on the evening news. If it bleeds, it leads. IMHO, a good deed should lead but I guess there just isn’t room for anything else with all the Britney Spears drama. Way to be, Paxton Galvanek. We salute you!

Silver Spring, MD (January 17, 2008) – A longtime America’s Army player became a first responder at a tragic car accident last November by employing life saving techniques he learned by playing the America’s Army game. Twenty-eight year old Paxton Galvanek was able to evaluate and treat the victims at the scene. Paxton credited the combat medic training he completed in the popular America’s Army online PC game with teaching him the critical skills he needed to react appropriately in this crisis situation. This is the second time an America’s Army player has reported successfully using medical skills learned through playing the game to respond in a life-threatening situation.

In order to assume the role of combat medic in the America’s Army game, players must go through virtual medical training classes based on the actual training that real Soldiers receive. The creators of America’s Army developed the training scenarios with young adults in mind, recognizing their need to be able to respond in emergency situations. Through the game, players learn to evaluate and prioritize casualties, control bleeding, recognize and treat shock, and administer aid when victims are not breathing.

“Because of the training he received in America’s Army’s virtual classroom, Mr. Galvanek had mastered the basics of first aid and had the confidence to take appropriate action when others might do nothing. He took the initiative to assess the situation, prioritize actions and apply the correct procedures,” said Colonel Casey Wardynski, America’s Army Project Director. “Paxton is a true hero. We are pleased to have played a role in providing the lifesaving training that he employed so successfully at the scene.”

After the incident, Galvanek wrote the America’s Army team to thank them for including the medical training in the game. He said, “I have received no prior medical training and can honestly say that because of the training and presentations within America’s Army, I was able to help and possibly save the injured men. As I look back on the events of that day, the training that I received in the America’s Army video game keeps coming to mind.”

“I remember vividly in section four of the game’s medic training, during the field medic scenarios, I had to evaluate the situation and place priority on the more critically wounded. In the case of this accident, I evaluated the situation and placed priority on the driver of the car who had missing fingers. I then recalled that in section two of the medic training, I learned about controlled bleeding. I noticed that the wounded man had severe bleeding that he could not control. I used a towel as a dressing and asked the man to hold the towel on his wound and to raise his hand above his head to lessen the blood flow which allowed me to evaluate his other injuries which included a cut on his head,” said Galvanek.

Galvanek’s Story:

On November 23, 2007, Galvanek was driving West-bound on I-40 in North Carolina with his family. About 25 miles south of Raleigh he witnessed an SUV on the east-bound lanes lose control of the vehicle and flip about five times. While his wife called 911, he stopped his vehicle and ran across the highway to the scene of the accident.

Assuming the role of first responder, he quickly assessed the situation and found two victims in the smoking vehicle. Needing to extract them quickly, he helped the passenger out of the truck and noticed he had minor cuts and injuries. He told the man to stay clear of the smoking car and quickly went to the driver’s side where he located a wounded man. He pulled the driver to safety on the side of the road.

Galvanek immediately noticed the man had lost two fingers in the accident and was bleeding profusely. The victim had also suffered head trauma. Galvanek located a towel, put pressure on the man’s hand, and instructed him to sit down and elevate his hand above his head while pressing the towel against his lost fingers. Galvanek then attended to his head cut and determined that injury was not as serious as his hand.

Roughly five minutes later, an Army Soldier in plain clothing arrived on the scene of the accident and informed Galvanek that he was medically trained and could take over until the paramedics arrived. He looked over the injured men and told Galvanek that he had done a great job. Once the Soldier assured Galvanek that the two men were in stable condition and there was nothing more he could do to assist until the paramedics arrived, Galvanek left the scene and continued on his journey.

Paxton Galvanek: The game developers really put some time and thought into the medic training portion of the game and for that I only wanted to thank them. It’s funny how we pick up bit of training and education in our lifetime, I am only thankful that I had the opportunity to help the lives of these men. I would hope that someone would do the same for me and my family if I was in the same situation. Thank you all!

America’s Army Forum Thread

Randydeluxe Jordan of the popular World of Warcraft podcast The Instance, looks at a unique personalized item available with Shane McWilliams, Program Manager of the XPS M1730 WoW Edition development team (off camera).