NEWS LITE : IT'S CHECKER'S LAST (CAB) STAND.New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of City's last Checker cab was sold at auction Saturday for $134,500 - much higher than Sotheby's had estimated for the 21-year-old car. The winner, an anonymous telephone bidder, and losing bidder Andy Murstein were neck and neck until the price got to $110,000, when Murstein quit. ``I'm a little disappointed. It was the last one on the streets,'' said Murstein, whose family has been financing taxi medallions since 1937. ``People love Checkers. The cabs today are sub-par. They have zero leg room and are bumpy.'' As the bidding ended in a round of applause, the cab, complete with a taxi meter and a string of pearls on the dashboard, sat with its engine running outside the auction house. ``We had hoped for around $50,000,'' said C. Hugh Hildesley, executive vice president of Sotheby's. ``I knew it would do well. It's a very romantic thing.'' Its pre-sale estimate was $20,000 to $30,000. All prices include the auction house's commission of 15 percent of the first $50,000 and 10 percent of the rest. Earl Johnson Earl Johnson can refer to any of the following people:
Johnson bought the Checker for $9,000, but says he spent about $100,000 over the years for bolting, welding and other tinkering that kept it road-worthy; the V-8 block engine alone was changed three times. So much for all those Y2K See Y2K problem and Y2K compliant. Y2K - Year 2000 reassurances The city's going to bill you like it's 1899. The Y2K bug Y2K bug or Year 2000 bug or millennium bug Potential problem in computers and computer networks at the beginning of the year 2000. Until the 1990s, most computer programs used only the last two digits to designate the year, the first two digits being found its way into water bills delivered Thursday to about 3,600 customers in West Des Moines, Iowa West Des Moines is a city in Polk, Dallas, and Warren counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 46,403; a special census taken in the spring of 2005 counted 51,744 residents. . Instead of saying payment is due by Jan. 3, 2000, the bills say there will be an extra charge for payments made after Jan. 3, 1900. ``This is a fairly small item that doesn't have anything to do with the delivery of water,'' said Larry Anderson
Anderson said the error occurred because some billing computer software interpreted the ``00'' entered by an employee as 1900, rather than 2000. Dollar amounts are correct on the bills, but Anderson said the city is mailing new statements to customers at the expense of a computer consultant hired to help with Y2K preparations. Despite the billing mix-up, Anderson said customers shouldn't worry about the water supply when the new year arrives. ``We have standby power Standby power, also called Vampire power, refers to the electric power consumed by electronic appliances in a standby mode. A very common "electricity vampire" is a power adaptor built on a plug with no power switch. for the plant and we've bought new control equipment,'' he said. ``They can be assured that the water is going to flow.'' Marathon to cross two Great Lakes Great Lakes, group of five freshwater lakes, central North America, creating a natural border between the United States and Canada and forming the largest body of freshwater in the world, with a combined surface area of c.95,000 sq mi (246,050 sq km). Swimming across one of the Great Lakes isn't enough for Jim Dreyer Jim Dreyer (b. August 16 1963, Grand Rapids, Michigan), also known as 'The Shark', is an ultra marathon athlete, because his swimming accomplishments are often tied in to extensive running and cycling feats. of Byron Center, Mich. Next July, he says, he'll cross two. And to link the swims, he's planning to run a marathon and bike 112 miles. ``I think a little bit of insanity might be able to work for you,'' he said Thursday. Dreyer, 36, said he will enter Lake Erie at Erie, Pa., and swim 26 miles to Long Point, Ontario. Then he plans to run 26.2 miles along the beach before biking 112 miles to Niagara-On-The-Lake on Lake Ontario. From there, he intends to swim 31.6 miles across Lake Ontario to Toronto. All told, it should take 50 to 60 hours, he said. 1,000 will climb for Y2K dawn Some 1,000 climbers are expected to view the dawn of the new year atop Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, a government official said. Tanzanian Tourism and Natural Resources Minister Zakia Meghji, quoted Saturday in the independent Guardian newspaper, said normally 300 climbers, most of them foreign tourists, are at the summit of the 19,443-foot snowcapped mountain on New Year's Day New Year's Day, among ancient peoples the first day of the year frequently corresponded to the vernal or autumnal equinox, or to the summer or winter solstice. In the Middle Ages it was celebrated among Christians usually on Mar. 25. . But this year, she said, about 1,000 were expected. Tour operators said they had 900 confirmed bookings for the five-day climb. Meghji said the larger number of climbers would not hurt the mountain's environment. In November, Tanzanian and German scientists who scaled the volcanic mountain earlier this year said its true height was 10 feet lower than previously recorded. Rising sea levels due to global warming, compression of the mountain over the years and previous measuring errors account for the difference. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Barry Miles Belgorod watches his son Gregory play in the last Checker cab in service in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. . Louis Lanzano/Associated Press |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion