Would you believe 3,145 miles on a single gallon of gas -- it sounds impossible!

Here's a secret: you don't really need funky alternative fuels or an electric motor to trim your energy consumption on the road. Sometimes all it takes is a little ingenuity. A team of Canadian engineering students won the annual Supermileage race in Michigan with its 80-lb. carbon-fiber Mark V, which can travel 3,145 miles on a single gallon of gas. That's thanks to details like a curved underbody, an ultra-fuel-efficient 54-cc engine and a driver who understands why the turtle beat the hare. The catch? You have to drive lying down, and the windows don't open.

The Changing Horizon

Storm clouds blow over downtown Los Angeles as clearer skies appear on the horizon.
(Luis Sinco / LAT)

John Muir Loved the Sierras and Saved Yosemite

John Muir (April 21, 1838 – December 24, 1914) was one of the first modern conservationists. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, and wildlife, especially in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, were read by millions and are still popular today. His direct activism helped to save the Yosemite Valley and other wilderness areas. The Sierra Club, which he founded, is now one of the most important conservation organizations in the United States. His writings and philosophy strongly influenced the formation of the modern environmental movement.

As the public held it's breath . . .

In 1986, the once-notorious Lexington Hotel in Chicago received a visitor, in the person of Geraldo Rivera, along with a camera crew. A record audience watched as the long-sealed vault of racketeer, Al Capone was opened during a much-hyped TV special. Guess what? All that Geraldo found were broken bottles and no trace that Capone and his gang had ever stashed anything there.

ANNIE "shines" like the top of the Chrysler building.

The Broadway musical, Annie, opened at the Alvin Theatre in New York City in 1977. Andrea McArdle was a shining star in the title role. Annie continued on the Great White Way until January 2, 1983.

"The One, The Only . . .Groucho"

In 1949, the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for Broadcasting was presented to You Bet Your Life star, “The one, the only, Groucho Marx.” This was the first time the honor had been awarded to a comedian.

The European Capital of Culture

In hopes of scaring away pigeons, the English city of Liverpool is introducing mechanical falcons that squawk and flap their wings.

The pesky pigeons, which feast on junk food and then foul the city center with droppings, are an embarrassment to Liverpool, chosen as next year's European Capital of Culture.

Workers spend hours daily scraping up droppings at a cost of about $320,000 a year, the City Council said. It is buying 10 Robops, short for robotic bird of prey, for about $4,000 each. Two have been installed.

The city had weighed several options, including introducing live falcons (like the one above).

Can you find 6 cougars here ??

Hidden Image Stereograms Are A Challenge

Tips on Parallel-Viewing: Looking Through A Solid Object
To do parallel-viewing, you must aim your eyes through the image and into the distance. The problem is there's a solid object in the way -- a computer monitor or a book or something! How do you look through a solid object?! Well, generally, we look directly at what we want to see and leave the X-ray vision to Superman. In this case, we've got to develop our own superpowers.

Suggestion: imagine you are looking through a window.

In the image above, see if you can find the three interlocking rings.

Harold Lloyd in "Safety Last"

1893 - Harold Lloyd was born on this day in 1893. The comedian actor starred in: For Heaven’s Sake, Slapstick, Feet First, Safety Last, The Sin of Harold Diddlebock. He died Mar 8, 1971.

"Those Were The Days"

Your Hit Parade, starring Kay Thompson, Charles Carlyle, Gogo DeLys and Johnny Hanser, was first broadcast on radio this night in 1935. A youngster named Frank Sinatra would later be part of the program as a featured vocalist. Your Hit Parade stayed on the radio airwaves for 24 years.
Snooky Lanson (seen here on the right) would later host the program when it made the transition from radio to TV. Other long-time regulars on the TV version were (left to right): Russell Arms, Gisele MacKenzie and Dorothy Collins. They were the lucky ones who got to present the top seven songs each week.

Since many songs stayed on the list for weeks on end, these vocalists had to invent new ways to present the hit parade. On April 24, 1959, Your Hit Parade died. The regulars just didn’t fit with the new rock ’n’ roll hits. Imagine, if you can, Snooky Lanson singing Hound Dog.

The original title of the radio show was, Lucky Strike Hit Parade, sponsored by, you guessed it, Lucky Strike cigarettes. The cigarette company continued to sponsor the TV show (those were the days when cigarette companies sponsored lots of TV shows); and the opening theme song was Be Happy, Go Lucky.

A Fitting Tribute to a Great Man

American sculptor Daniel Chester French was born in Exeter, New Hampshire on April 20, 1850. His colossal seated figure of Abraham Lincoln presides over the Lincoln Memorial.

One man's dream is another man's nightmare

The angles and curves of Duane Hagadone’s 64,000-square-foot home in Palm Desert are meant to mimic the mountain ridge. The original plan had called for the home to be half this size. So far this "dream" has cost $30 million.
(Don Bartletti / LAT)

Hallmark Greetings for That Special Occasion

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I 've always wanted to have

someone to hold,

someone to love.

After having met you ..

I ' ve changed my mind.

-------------------------------------- -------------

I must admit, you brought Religion into my life.

I never believed in Hell until I met you.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////

As the days go by, I think of how lucky I am...

That you ' re not here to ruin it for me.

####################################################

Congratulations on your promotion.

Before you go...

Would you like to take this knife out of my back?

You ' ll probably need it again.

*****************************************************

When we were together,

you always said you ' d die for me.

Now that we ' ve broken up,

I think it ' s time you kept your promise.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////

Looking back over the years

that we ' ve been together,

I can ' t help but wonder...

"What the hell was I thinking?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Friendly Confines

Wrigley Field is a baseball stadium in Chicago that has served as the home ballpark of the Chicago Cubs since 1916. It was built in 1914 as Weeghman Park for the Chicago Federal League baseball team, the Chicago Whales. It was also the home of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League from 1921-1970.
Located in the residential neighborhood of Lakeview, Wrigley Field sits on an asymmetric block bounded by Clark and Addison Streets and Waveland and Sheffield Avenues. The area surrounding the ballpark contains bars, restaurants and other establishments and is typically referred to as Wrigleyville. The ballpark's mailing address, as many fans of The Blues Brothers know, is 1060 W. Addison Street. During Cubs games, Cubs fans will often stand outside the park on Waveland Avenue, waiting for home runs balls hit over the wall and out of the park. (However, as a tradition, Cubs fans inside and sometimes even outside the park will promptly throw any home run ball hit by an opposing player back onto the field of play, a ritual depicted in the 1993 film Rookie of the Year.)

Wrigley Field is nicknamed The Friendly Confines, a phrase popularized by "Mr. Cub", Hall of Famer Ernie Banks. Since 2006, its capacity has been 41,118, making Wrigley Field the fourth-smallest and most actively used ballpark in 2006. It is the second oldest active major league ballpark (behind Fenway Park), and the only remaining Federal League park. When opened in 1914, Wrigley Field had a seating capacity of 14,000 and cost $250,000 to build.

The First Detective Story Was Published in 1841

Edgar Allen Poe's story, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, first appears in Graham's Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine. The tale is generally considered to be the first detective story.

The story describes the extraordinary "analytical power" used by Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin to solve a series of murders in Paris. Like the later Sherlock Holmes stories, the tale is narrated by the detective's roommate.

Following the publication of Poe's story, detective stories began to grow into novels and English novelist Wilkie Collins published a detective novel, The Moonstone, in 1868. In Collins' story, the methodical Sergeant Cuff searches for the criminal who stole a sacred Indian moonstone. The novel includes several features of the typical modern mystery, including red herrings, false alibis, and climactic scenes.

The greatest fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes, first appeared in 1887, in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel A Study in Scarlet. The cozy English mystery novel became popularized with Agatha Christie's Miss Marple series in the 1920s, when other detectives like Lord Peter Wimsey and Ellery Queen were also becoming popular. In the 1930s, sometimes called the golden age of detective stories, the noir detective novel became the mainstay of writers like Dashiell Hammet, Raymond Chandler, and Mickey Spillane. Tough female detectives such as Kinsey Millhone and V.I. Warshawski became popular in the 1980s.

Cutting-edge Urban Living

Loft life in Los Angeles is both edgy and comfortable -- a hybrid style of urban living.

"Excuse me, Folks . . ."

In 1985, a Central Regional High School student, Al Leiter, used a blazing 85-mph fastball to strike out 32 batters on the way to a 0-0 tie! The game, played in Berkeley Township, NJ, was called after 13 innings. Leiter’s effort was just five short of the record set in 1971. When asked about the game being called at that time, Leiter looked at reporters and said, “Darn. Excuse me, folks, I have to go screw my arm back in place...”

"Carousel" and John Raitt

1945 - The musical Carousel, based on Molnar’s Liliom, opened at the Majestic Theatre in New York City. John Raitt and Jan Clayton starred in the show which ran for 890 performances. Music was by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein.

"Sex" Lands Mae West in Jail

In 1927, Mae West was sentenced to 10 days in jail for obscenity. She had written, produced, and directed Sex, a Broadway play about a gigolo, which the courts condemned for its scandalous content. She continued writing plays and battling censors and finally scored a Broadway success with her 1928 play, Diamond Lil. West went on to become a Hollywood star and one of the most highly paid women in the United States.