the rix mix

JACKSON, N.J. - At 128 mph and a little more than 45 stories tall, the Kingda Ka roller coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure gives riders quite a thrill. That is, when it's working. Kingda Ka launches riders forward horizontally from a standstill to 128 mph in 3.5 seconds, then upward 456 feet at a 90-degree angle. At the top, the train slows almost to a stop, then plummets back to earth. The ride is over in about 50 seconds.

You could not get me on this thing. I had to be shamed by two preteen girls into riding the small single loop coaster in Wildwood.

Art teacher in hot water over topless photos.
School where teacher worked was attended by Bush daughters.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Until they found the topless photos, Austin High School officials considered Tamara Hoover an excellent art teacher with a knack for helping students find their creativity.

Austen Clements, one of Hoover's students, noted that many artists have nude pictures, including Georgia O'Keeffe. "If Georgia O'Keeffe wanted to teach at Austin High, I don't think they'd say, 'No, you have nude pictures online,"' Clements said.

Nope. They wouldn't have hired O'Keeffe to teach in Texas, then or now. For that matter, I doubt if either Allen Ginsberg or Amiri Baraka would have been welcomed in Jersey's Poets In the Schools program.

Labels: culture