Florida Gulf Swimmer Hit by Pelican, Gets 25 Stitches
TREASURE ISLAND, Fla. An Ohio woman is recovering after a pelican slammed into her face while she was swimming in the Gulf of Mexico.
Debbie Shoemaker of Toledo, Ohio, was swimming Thursday near Treasure Island, a beach community west of St. Petersburg, when she felt something hit her face. The bird's large beak ripped through her cheek, requiring 25 stitches. The 50-year-old housecleaner, who vacations in Florida about twice a year, returned home Friday.
"How was your vacation, Debbie?"
"Don't ask."
Nature has collided with humans in Florida alligators, fish and even stingrays have caused injuries or deaths but local officials say they've never heard of a pelican hitting someone with so much force. An expert surmises the bird was likely nearsightedly diving for fish and hit Shoemaker by accident. The pelican died.
Posted by: bruce ||
05/11/2008 18:27 ||
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#1
HMMMMMMM, well, something kamikazed and bit me in my left ear yesterday - Bee, BumbleBee, Spider??? Ear was painful and swollen for most of the nite -as iff that wasn't enuff, my RIGHT EYE was struck this morning [fly].
IN HONOR OF JENNA BUSH'S NEW NUPTIALS, I'LL JUST BLAME GLOBAL WARMING + NATO ["air attacks" agz Russia], SINCE I CAN'T BLAME MOM = MOTHER'S DAY???
The queen of Sheba's palace at Axum in Ethiopia, purported to once have been the home of the Ark of the Covenant, has been found, archaeologists from the University of Hamburg report.
The Ethiopian queen was the friend and ally of King Solomon of Israel in the 10th century before the Christian era. According to the Bible, in 1 Kings 10, the Queen of Sheba journeyed to Jerusalem after hearing of King Solomon's wisdom to see if what she had heard was true. So impressed was she that she gave large quantities of gold, spices and precious stones to the king of Israel.
"It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom," she said. "However I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes; and indeed the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard. Happy are your men and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom! Blessed be the LORD your God, who delighted in you, setting you on the throne of Israel! Because the LORD has loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, to do justice and righteousness."
Ethiopian tradition claims the Ark, which contained Moses' stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written, was smuggled to Ethiopia by their son Menelek and is still in that country. The Bible makes no mention of Solomon and the queen of Sheba marrying or having a child.
The university said scientists led by Helmut Ziegert had found remains of a 10th-century-B.C. palace at Axum-Dungur under the palace of a later Christian king. There was evidence the early palace had been torn down and realigned to the path of the star Sirius.
The team hypothesizes that Menelek had changed religion and become a worshiper of Sirius while keeping the Ark, described in the Bible as an acacia-wood chest covered with gold. Remains of sacrifices of bullocks were evident around the altar.
The research at Axum, which began in 1999, is aimed at documenting the origins of the Ethiopian state and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The discovery was made in the last 90 days.
"The results we have suggest that a cult of Sothis developed in Ethiopia with the arrival of Judaism and the Ark of the Covenant and continued until 600 AD," the announcement said. Sothis is the ancient Greek name for a star thought to be Sirius. The team said evidence for this included Sirius symbols at the site, the debris of sacrifices and the alignment of sacred buildings to the rising-point of Sirius, the brightest star in the sky.
#1
Fabulous, but why would the Shebans decide to worship Sirius instead of the god of King Solomon, entitled Adonai/Elohim? or sometimes by the literal as Jehova/Yahweh after the Hebrew letters used to spell God's name, even though the actual pronunciation is lost in the mists of history. Finally, the archeologists don't mention any evidence of the Hebrew ark, yet assume it was indeed brought there based on Ethiopian legend that has no counterpart amongst the Jews, as far as I can recall.
Afghan authorities are examining the extent of an unprecedented locust infestation that has prompted local officials in some areas to offer wheat as a reward to residents for killing the insects. Some 300 tonnes of locusts have been killed by people in the northwestern province of Badghis alone in recent weeks, Abdul Ghafar Ahmadi, a senior official from the agriculture ministry, said on Saturday, citing provincial officials. Local officials in Badghis and neighbouring Herat have promised residents 7 kgs of wheat in return for killing 1 kg of locusts, amid a global surge in food prices that has hit Afghanistan hard, Ahmadi said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2008 00:00 ||
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A gang of girls may have used the Internet to make a bomb that killed a British-Pakistani man and destroyed three homes in London in their feud with another teenager, according to a report published in The Times on Saturday.
Former classmates of Charlotte Anderson, 17, are being sought by police after a blast destroyed her flat, an apartment above and two neighbouring cottages in Harrow, northwest London, the report said. Charlotte suffered serious blast injuries and Emad Qureshi, 26, her neighbour, was killed in the explosion at 9.30pm on Wednesday, it added.
Qureshis body was removed from the rubble on Thursday night by firefighters. Originally from Pakistan, the businessman had recently finished a postgraduate degree in computing.
A 26-year-old man, a friend of Mr Qureshi, is receiving treatment in hospital after suffering serious head injuries.
Recipe: Charlotte had dialled 999 that morning to complain that a group of two or three girls outside were threatening her. She later told police that a purple liquid smelling like rotten eggs had been poured through her letterbox between 9am and 11am.
Detectives believe that the blast could have been caused by vapours from methylated spirits or from a high explosive such as methyl ethyl ketone peroxide, which can be made from readily available ingredients using instructions found on the internet.
Area of effect: The explosion damaged homes and offices within a 100-metre radius and 40 people were still unable to return to their homes last night as police began to search the rubble. Friends said that Charlotte had been involved in arguments with other girls about her boyfriend but police said that this was not part of their investigation.
Detective Chief Inspector Colin Sutton said, A strong line of inquiry for us at the moment is the dispute, this call at the address and of course the substance put through the letterbox. There may well be a connection between this liquid and the cause of the explosion that happened. If it were a volatile liquid and in a confined space, it could evaporate into an explosive mixture.
Police believe that Charlotte knows the girls who were causing the disturbance and that they may have gone to the same school or college.
Andrew Haynes, 44, a gravedigger, and his two friends rescued Charlotte after they saw her arm poking through the rubble and heard her screams for help. She is being treated in hospital for severe burns.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2008 00:00 ||
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Gunmen shot dead three Shia community members in Dera Ismail (DI) Khan in suspected sectarian violence on Saturday, police said. The attackers opened fire on a shop in the main bazaar of DI Khan town and fled on a motorbike, local police chief Abdul Ghaffar Qaisarani said.
The shopkeeper, his salesman and a visitor were killed in the attack, Qaisarani told AFP. The dead were members of the Shia community, he added. It might be a sectarian attack. We are investigating the case, another police official said, adding that no arrests had been made. Shops and markets were closed after the incident, residents said.
Around 80 people staged a demonstration outside the local hospital. Chanting slogans against the attackers, they fired shots in the air, police and residents said. The deceased were identified as Mazhar Abbas, Tanveer Abbas and Asghar, Online reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2008 00:00 ||
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Great tit pix at link.
At least one of Britain's birds appears to be coping well as climate change alters the availability of a key food. Researchers found that great tits are laying eggs earlier in the spring than they used to, keeping step with the earlier emergence of caterpillars.
Writing in the journal Science, they point out that the same birds in the Netherlands have not managed to adjust. Understanding why some species in some places are affected more than others by climatic shifts is vital, they say.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) commented that other species are likely to fare much worse than great tits as temperatures rise.
#5
Not so sure about the boobies, but the Puffins have returned to Greenland, OS. Of course, the boffins aren't doing well in England, and may become an endangered species.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/11/2008 18:58 Comments ||
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#6
A number of years ago my wife was doing a literature review for her disertation. In the journal Nature she ran across the following scientific study: Optimum clutch size in Great Tits. True, it was about birds, but you can guess where my mind went.
Posted by: Jim K ||
05/11/2008 20:05 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Afghan authorities are examining the extent of an unprecedented locust infestation that has prompted local officials in some areas to offer wheat as a reward to residents for killing the insects. Some 300 tonnes of locusts have been killed by people in the northwestern province of Badghis alone in recent weeks, Abdul Ghafar Ahmadi, a senior official from the agriculture ministry, said on Saturday, citing provincial officials. Local officials in Badghis and neighbouring Herat have promised residents 7 kgs of wheat in return for killing 1 kg of locusts, amid a global surge in food prices that has hit Afghanistan hard, Ahmadi said.
