POTG Seven Stories: Odds and Ends - Friday Very Late Night Edition

We have been doing basically the same thing with our morning links for four years at POTG and will experiment with some other formats, features, and timing as a change over the next few weeks. We appreciate any comments or feedback, either positive or negative. As always, thanks for reading.

1. Breaking news from the ASP Tour in San Francisco
... After celebrating his unprecedented eleventh world championship, Kelly Slater has been told that the surfing ruling body admitted that they goofed up their calculations and he will still need to win another heat in San Francisco or at Pipeline in Hawaii at the final tour stop to actually capture the title. Wow, just wow!
2. While we were in Florida this week, we found a very unique free three hour tour (not on the USS Minnow a la "Gilligan's Island) that is given by the U.S. Air Force. It is a tour of the entire Cape Canaveral air station which includes over 30 launch platforms, dating back to the late 1940's, and six that are still in use today. In contrast to paying $50 to go to the Kennedy Space Center, this one is free and the volunteer tour guides are retired military guys that worked on the base 50 years ago and hung out with the original astronauts. Go here to sign up for a free tour. Here is a weak effort at a "virtual tour" on the Internet of some of the things that are far more interesting in person.
3. Also, we visited the Mel Fisher branch museum in Sebastian, Florida to look at part of the treasures from the numerous salvage operations that they have conducted off the Florida coast. I bought the wife a pendant that included silver and gold that was recovered from the shipwreck of the Atocha in 1622, just 130 years after Columbus allegedly discovered America. If you are looking for a unique present for the holidays, this may be it.
4. As a person that is missing parts of two fingers, who used to work at a meat-packing house (for a day and a half, unrelated to the missing fingers), this video of a table saw that knows how to distinguish your finger from everything else is truly amazing.
5. If you have ever been to Moab, Utah, especially around Dead Horse Point State Park, where they filmed the dramatic ending to "Thelma and Louise", you saw some impressive tailings ponds that were florescent aqua in color. Those ponds were Uranium wastes that have been there for years and recently were being removed to a safer spot 29 miles to the north in Crescent Junction. A new contract may slow the project and allow more waste to leach into the Colorado River.
6. The AP has issued new guidelines for its employees and how they should Tweet that has received a ton of backlash.
7. There is no question that Tom Petty (with or without the Heartbreakers) is one of my top five favorite bands. This band, The Gallery, that found me on YouTube, is actually very Tom Petty-esque and I really liked this song, right from the first hearing. The Heartbreakers or Mudcrutch could really knock this one out of the park.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass