Not the Bill of Rights or the Constitution, but a photograph of President Nixon meeting Elvis. Fuck yeah.

More photos from the event are here >

On 16 December 1960, a United Airlines Flight 826 landing from Chicago and TWA Flight 266 coming from Ohio collided in mid-air and plummeted onto Staten Island and the brownstones of Park Slope.

Debris from the United plane and sections of fuselage pummeled the buildings and sidewalks. One piece falling on the McCaddin Funeral Home, causing embalmed corpses to fly into the air and onto the street. The Pillar of Fire Church was engulfed in flames and the left wing of the plane slashed through the apartment building next door. In the middle of the intersection, the entire tail section fell upright.

128 passengers and six people on the ground were killed in the disaster. via Atlas Obscura >

Sir Edmund Hillary had booked a seat on Flight 826, but missed the flight after arriving too late at O’Hare airport.

There are very few reminders of one of the world’s worst aviation disasters. One woman who moved into Sterling Place in 2002 had frequent nightmares about a plane hitting her apartment. She assumed the dreams were related to 911 until she saw photos of the forgotten crash with her apartment in them.

Newsreel footage of the crash here >

A couple of years ago I made a pact with two different friends that we would do a roadtrip of America (continent) when we finished uni. Life happened and I ended up in Sydney while both of them are now in America, one in Mexico and Rose (above, with friend Livvy who is visiting her) in Vancouver.

I did make it to Hawaii last year which was one of the highlights of my life and is almost America. See: Swimming with a liger of the sea & Hawaii’s whitehose.

There are so many places I want to go in America, but the ones at the top, top the list:

There is nothing in the world I have ever wanted to see more than this phenomenon. I will spend as long as it takes in Alaska or Scandinavia to see the Borealis.

Ok so this is on everyone’s list, that doesn’t make it any less exciting. I often have dreams about being in NYC.

I could happily live in Portland, or Seattle. I think I really like the city because so many bands I love are from there and they all give it great reviews.

My Grandma had a poster of Canada when I was young and I was always fascinated by Nova Scotia, maybe because Anne of Green Gables lives there. Either way it is “hauntingly beautiful”.

There is something fascinating about ghost towns, especially when they are very new and people still live in them. I would like to see Detroit before it is reposed.

Of course there are many more places I would like to see Washington DC, Boston, Lincoln, Wilmington, Vancouver, Toronto etc… What are your top picks for Northern America?

I love it the church looks surreal, anyone know where it is? via >

[Edit] The church = San Diego Mormon Temple

There’s been some controversy over this photo of Spanish Prime Minister’s goth daughters on a political trip to the USA via gawker >

Kinda similar to someone else who else took their fashionably awkward daughter on a  political trip to the USA recently….

I saw this ad in Hawaii, it was weird seeing ads on television as I watch all my news, tv series, movies and also advertising on computers these days. Unfortunately most of the ads which I saw in Hawaii were for constipation medication. This medical ad however caught my attention.

It’s easy for me to have very strong opinions about the medicare reform bill, when I have an interest in American politics and come from a country which is small enough to cover its citizens pretty well.

This ad tells it how it is; people with too much money and power are stopping every day people getting the medical attention they need. Americans with statuses about not wanting to pay for other people health insurance drive me crazy! Don’t they realise that they are the lower to middle class citizens that this bill will help? I don’t know all the answers to health insurance, but I do know that if you believe everything the insurance companies are saying, you should also watch Michael Moore’s ‘Sicko’… and then go out and find some real facts.

Two ads, only blocks away from each other in LA. Guess which one was taken down?

via adrants via latimes.com via howunorginal.com >

The second most awesome (this was the first >) part of our trip to Hawaii was going to Baskin & Robins, the icecream shop where President Obama used to work.

It was hard to imagine the grumpy lady working there that night would ever be the leader of the free world, but it made me a bit giddy to think if I had been a few years earlier Obama would have been standing behind that counter. Politics aside, I love that someone from such a rich history is in the Oval Office.

Today I met this weird creature, half bottle nose dolphin + half false killer whale aptly named a “wholphin”. I honestly didn’t know what to think when I saw it… how does something like this come into being?

Most hybrid animals are sterile but this girl gave birth to three pups, the latest of which is the only one to have survived. I got to jump in a pool and play with her, even ride on her tummy around the pool (holding onto her flippers). James wanted to do that as well but she wouldn’t pick him up until she got a kiss from me. It was pretty awesome. She chuckled heaps in a weird deeper than usual dolphin voice when James tried to give her a kiss. Apparently she’s a bit shy around boys.