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• Position: Ted Van Kirk; new robot that runs on meat; hostage lesson plan; other current events - Brief Article

Navigator Bombs on Apology

From the Philadelphia Inquirer on Ted "Dutch" Van Kirk, navigator of the plane that dropped the, first atomic bomb on Hiroshima: Noting that more people would have died in a longer war than the 140,000 people killed by the bomb, Van Kirk says: Everybody keeps trying to get me down on my knees to cry about it and say I am sorry and everything. None of us ever have. Nobody ever had any second thoughts about it.'"

Mechanical Meat

From a Reuters on-line report datelined London on a new robot that runs on meat: "Dubbed Chew Chew the `gastrobot,' a twelve-wheeled, train-like robot runs on a microbial fuel cell, which breaks down food with bacteria and converts it into electrical energy, according to a report in New Scientist magazine.... `The ideal fuel in terms of energy gain is meat. Vegetation is not nearly as nutritious,' [inventor Stuart] Wilkinson said."

High School Hold-Up

From the on-line edition of The Baltimore Sun on a staged hostage-taking inside a classroom at Perry Hall High School: "Sandy Caslin, who teaches a juvenile justice class, worked up the hostage lesson plan with School Resource Officer Gregory Klein and Officer Joseph Conger.... Conger entered Caslin's classroom, grabbed her by the neck, and pointed an unloaded service revolver at the ceiling.... Caslin's students, who did not know the attack was a fake, were surprised by the intruder. `The kids reacted the way anyone would,' said Charles A. Herndon, the school's spokesman. `There was certainly some anxiety, and they were very concerned.'"

Artificial Artifacts

From a Reuters on-line report datelined Tokyo on archaeologist Shinichi Fujimura, who `planted eight stoneware pieces at an excavation site and claimed the stoneware dated back to an early stage of the Stone Age.... Initially, it enhanced his reputation among his peers as having `a god's hands' for his ability to find artifacts."

Able Applicants Only

From the on-line edition of Ragged Edge magazine on a help-wanted sign spotted in San Jose, California: "The sign for the Le Boulanger restaurant chain reads, `Help us. We need able-bodied people willing to work!'"

Helping Out the Homeless, I

From an on-line Associated Press report datelined Riverside, California, on a...