Company Works To Bring "Old Fort Laramie" Back To Life In 3D

An Orinda, CA firm using 3D Laser technology to scan historic sites and "bring them back to life" is currently in the field in Wyoming and capturing the physical imprint of one of the West's most significant structures - old Fort Laramie.

Founded in 1849 when the U.S. Army, then a ragtag collection of scouts, frontiersman and adventurers led by a few "regulars," bought a former fur trader's outpost called "Fort John" and began to build a military settlement along the Oregon Trail.

Contrary to popular misconception and Hollywood B-movies, the fort was never walled nor did it have turreted blockhouses for Indians to scale and set fire to. It relied on its garrison and field pieces to keep "hostiles" at bay - until 1854, at least, when a detachment of soldiers was lured out of the fort and killed by Plains Indians upset by the intrusion of emmigrants then flooding into the West.

Now, 160 years later, CyArk of Orinda, CA is tracing the footsteps of cavalry soldiers, fortune seekers, settlers, and Mormons fleeing persecution in the East and taking painstaking 3D "portraits" of the old fort and environs to digitally preserve the Fort Laramie National Historic Site.

Working in partnership with the National Park Service, CyArk hopes to provide more accurate documentation of one of the last vestiges of the Old West for future use by conservators, researchers, the NPS staff, and the public.

No Buyer For Samson The T-Rex - Yet

Sampson, a fossilized Tyrannosaurus Rex with a great pedigree, failed to sell today and was brought in, though auctioneers Bonhams & Butterfields say they'll find a good home for the "Thunder Lizard" soon.

A number of institutions and individuals have expressed interest in the old bag of bones, which Bonhams hoped would bring $6 million when it went up for bid today in Las Vegas.

High bid today was $3.7 million.

Paleontologists say 170 bones discovered 17 years ago in South Dakota represent more than half the skeleton of a 40-foot-long, 7 ton dinosaur that lived 66 million years ago.

A similar fossil sold for $8.3 million in 1997.

Ultimate Home Defense Weapon - The Katana, Hopkins Student Kills Burglar With Sword

Beautiful. Lethal. We love and collect them - the old ones crafted with love and honored by time.

But today a student at Hopkins University used a katana - and probably not one of those late-night Home Shopping Crappo Models - in a to-the-death fight with a burglar. He won.

Antiqueswest is reminded of a tale told by a Pacific War veteran of WWII, who talked about securing a Marine fighting position overrun the night before by Japanese forces and finding an officer's longsword cleaved neatly into the cooling jacket of a .30 caliber machine gun.

The awesome striking power of these swords came into play in the 21st Century early this morning, when a student named John P. (we won't use his last name) confronted a burglar who had just broken into his student housing for the second time in two days.

Apparently the burglar, who has a lengthy record, charged the student who struck a defensive blow that tore into the man's torso and almost completely severed his right hand. The man died of exanguanation as Baltimore Northern Police District officers responded to the scene.

It appears he had burgled the same residence a day earlier.

Antique Dealer Uses Craigslist - And Regrets It

We're not big believers in the "big box" online sales components called Ebay and Craigslist.

Friends left Ebay in droves when their rates climbed and their vetting process slid and now no one we know uses it unless they want a cheap knockoff Tiffany bracelet or rebel belt buckle.

So when those same friends suggested Craigslist as a free alternative to the Ebay/Paypal money machine we thought: "What the heck..."

We posted a saddle. A nice old highback with some history, and kept the description informative and straightforward. We weren't prepared for the response - which was heavy - or the tenor of the replies, which were just this side of insane.

We can't tell you what the first reply said, it was incredibly profane and disconnected. For an instant we considered writing something like "please take your meds" but then saw little sense in that and said nothing.

That didn't stop them. Three Nigerian wire-transfer scammers tried next, promising to send a check they had "mistakenly" cut for three times the price of the saddle if I would wire the difference to them in Lagos. This is pretty much the oldest scam in the book and I was going to ignore them, too, until one guy - probably sitting in his shorts and flip-flops in an internet cafe in Lagos - pushed it and asked when the wired funds would arrive.

We told him to come by the San Francisco field office of the FBI, International Fraud Division (no such thing) and we would personally hand over the money. That resulted in the following email message:

"*uck You You Stupid American Fool."

Then there were the Craigslist "experts." These are people who feel free to weigh in on your post, telling you where you've misidentified your item and how you're a moron for posting it at the suggested price. Oh, and by the way, they'll by it for $25.

We've since heard there are some frustrated individuals out there who like to string sellers along, asking seemingly pertinent questions and attempting to draw them into a meeting to consummate the transaction - and then not show up.

Lovely people.

It Wasn't Us... We Only Fire Our Cannons At Dusk

Well, and at the neighborhood rowdies, of course... but only grape and never solid shot.

It seems a Pennsylvania history buff accidentally fired a 2-pound cannonball through the wall of his neighbor's home yesterday.

William Maser, 54, fired a cannonball Wednesday evening outside his home in Georges Township that ricocheted and hit a house 400 yards away.

The cannonball, about two inches in diameter, smashed through a window and a wall before landing in a closet. Authorities say nobody was hurt.

State police charged Maser with reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct.

No one answered the phone Friday at Maser's home. He tells WPXI-TV recreating 19th century cannons is a longtime hobby. He says he is sorry and he will stop shooting them on his property, about 35 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.