I wonder if any one is keeping statistics about the number of unsuspecting ear-bud or headphone wearers who get struck by stuff and die? Are people who fly in a airplane they make themselves in their garage asking for trouble?
I am sorely disappointed to not have found a local source for this piece.
Edward Smith, foreground, pilot of a small plane that crashed Monday evening on Hilton Head Island, SC, walks from his crashed airplane Tuesday, March 16, 2010 on Hilton Head Island, S.C. Smith was piloting the plane Monday evening when it crashed on the beach, killing a man who was jogging near the water. ((AP Photo/Russ Bynum))
Edward Smith, pilot of a small plane that crashed Monday evening on Hilton Head Island, SC, inspects his aircraft Tuesday, March 16, 2010 as it is hoisted onto a trailer for removal from the beach. Smith and his passenger survived the crash, but a man who was jogging on the beach was killed when the the plane struck him. (AP Photo/Russ Bynum)
Beach jogger killed by plane likely never heard it
By RUSS BYNUM and DORIE TURNER – Associated Press Writers | Wednesday, Mar. 17, 2010 | www.thesunnews.com
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — The kit-built single-engine plane was gliding quietly as it came down for an emergency landing on a beach. Pharmaceutical salesman Robert Gary Jones, listening to his iPod while jogging, likely never saw or heard it before the aircraft hit him from behind Monday evening and killed him.
“There’s no noise,” said aviation expert Mary Schiavo, a former inspector general for the National Transportation Safety Board. “So the jogger, with his ear buds in, and the plane without an engine, you’re basically a stealth aircraft. Who would expect to look up?”
The 38-year-old Jones, whose mother said he was serious about nutrition and exercise, especially jogging, was on a business trip to Hilton Head for GlaxoSmithKline. He was looking forward to getting home to the northern Atlanta suburb of Woodstock, Ga., for his daughter’s third birthday Wednesday, Pauline Jones said.
Li’s case is outstanding not only in the record breaking total number of digits but in the fact that he suffers from central polydactyly. More commonly polydactyly results in extra digits next to the little finger. Li’s looking forward to wearing ordinary shoes instead of the slippers he has to wear. He’ll also be able to go outside his home, attend school and hopefully play, fight, dream, learn, work, cry and love like any normal person.
Best wishes to him and his family.
 Little Li contemplates his funky feet. A photo made available on 24 March 2010 shows a six-year-old boy shows his 15 fingers and 16 toes before a surgery to reduce them to the normal number of 10 and 10 at a hospital in Shenyang in northeast Chinas Liaoning province, 19 March 2010. His doctor said the most digits ever reported was 25, and this boy got 31, which is probably the world record. EPA/WAN ZHONG
Photo made available on 24 March 2010 shows a six-year-old boy shows his 15 fingers and 16 toes before a surgery to reduce them to the normal number of 10 and 10 at a hospital in Shenyang in northeast China's Liaoning province, 19 March 2010. His doctor said the most digits ever reported was 25, and this boy got 31, which is probably the world record. EPA/WAN ZHONG
Image ChinaFotoPress/AP
Image ChinaFotoPress/AP
Doesn't the blur effect over Li's eyes look weird? Far freakier than a few extra fingers.
Post surgical photos after the jump.
Doctors remove extra fingers, toes for 6-yr-old
China Daily/Asia News Network | asiaone.com | Mar 25, 2010
CHINA: Shenyang, Liaoning – Li Jinpeng, a 6-year-old boy born with 15 fingers and 16 toes, is happy he will soon be able to wear a normal pair of shoes.
Liu Lichun cares for her son, Li Jinpeng, after a successful operation to remove his extra fingers and toes on Tuesday.
Doctors at the Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University in Shenyang, Liaoning province, successfully removed Li’s additional fingers and toes in a surgical operation that lasted more than five hours on Tuesday.
Before the surgery, Li, the son of migrant workers from Heilongjiang province, was believed to be the world record holder for having the maximum number of fingers and toes.
He is not the least bit sad at losing the record to two Indians, Pranamya Menaria and Devendra Harne, who each have 12 fingers and 13 toes.
Li was happier to hear doctors tell him he would be able to eat with chopsticks in a few months’ time.
Cute cute cute. But the question is, did the farmer and his lady dream this up or is this a very subtle and wonderful viral form of public relations? That guerrilla advertising is tricky and pervasive.
Lady Gaga shows off the look that inspired farmer Nigel Britten, at last week's Brit Awards
The Lady Gaga scarecrow stands proud in its field - with not a single bird in sight
Mr Britten shows off his scarecrow that has proved to be very effective.
Nigel Britten (R) and farm worker Alec Hall carry the Lady Gaga scarecrow to the field
Lady Gaga’s outrageous Brit Awards outfit inspires desperate farmer’s scarecrow
dailymail.co.uk | By Georgina Littlejohn | 25th February 2010
Anyone would be forgiven for thinking Lady Gaga had found herself a new career.
But the outrageous singer hasn’t given up on the pop charts to chase off birds, but has become the inspiration for a farmer’s scarecrow.
Nigel Britten, who is the assistant manager at Whelan Farm, near Warlingham, Surrey, was getting fed up with pigeons munching on his wheat crops and had racked his brains to think of a way to save his livelihood.
Then inspiration came to him and his fiancee as they watched Lady Gaga arrive at last Tuesday night’s Brit Awards.
Mr Britten, 27, said: ‘We were laughing at Lady GaGa’s outfit and that extraordinary wig and talking about how scary she looked.
My fiancee Marti joked that I should make a scarecrow which looked like her. I laughed and then it occurred to me it was actually a very good idea.
‘We’ve been worried about the increasing audacity of birds on our farms for some time. I was tearing my hair out because the pigeons were taking all the corn after planting.
‘We’d used traditional scarecrows but the old ways just don’t seem to work any more, so we have had to become more and more inventive.’
D’oh, the cops rented the truck with their own credit cards-whoops. Otherwise that sounds like a great plan. As the investigation gets deeper it’ll be interesting to find out what these cops planned to do with the $1 million worth of perfume?
Studio of NYPD officer Richard LeBlanca, 25. Two New York City police officers are among eight people charged with robbing about $1 million of perfume from a New Jersey warehouse. Image New York Post.
Eau de ‘rogue cops’
Dopey perfume heist
www.nypost.com | By MURRAY WEISS, KEVIN FASICK and LUKAS I. ALPERT | March 6, 2010 | Additional reporting by Erin Calabrese
It was drawn up like a slick Hollywood heist caper — but the ending was pure Keystone Kops.
A posse made up of two NYPD cops, a retired officer and six other bandits roped in 16 unwitting day laborers and set out for a major score — unloading $1 million in high-end perfumes from a New Jersey warehouse, federal prosecutors said yesterday.
But the plan imploded when the crooked officers used their real IDs to rent trucks used to carry the loot, authorities said.
With over 11,000 jumps under his belt Gerencser could not have had more experience in the sport. He died doing what he loved, I guess. Condolences to the Mr. Gerencser’s friends and family. The condo was vacant and probably part of the glut of overbuilt real estate along our beaches. If that condo had never been built perhaps….
The late Peter Gerencser, skydive enthusiast.
Skydiver Killed After Parachute Fails During Landing Segment Of Flight
By Daniel Guevarra | avstop.com
March 26, 2010 – On Thursday at 11:10 AM, the Port Aransas Police Department received a call reference a skydiver that had landed on and through a condominium roof located at 604 Beach Access Road 1-A in Port Aransas, TX.
Port Aransas Police, Port Aransas EMS, and Port Aransas Fire Department personnel responded to that location and upon arrival observed the victim still alive in the attic suffering from massive injuries sustained during the impact.
In this instance my heart goes out to the neighbors who had for years been saying collectively, “those wild animals that rich guy is keeping in his yard are dangerous, eh.” Mr. Buwalda I think you deserved an end like this.
This is the tiger that killed Mr Buwalda. All photos taken at Southwold Township, Ontario home of Norm Buwalda on Monday, June 14, 2004. DEREK RUTTAN at lfpress.cm.
Stalking behavior?All photos taken at Southwold Township, Ontario home of Norm Buwalda on Monday, June 14, 2004. DEREK RUTTAN at lfpress.cm.
Lovely home. All photos taken at Southwold Township, Ontario home of Norm Buwalda on Monday, June 14, 2004. DEREK RUTTAN at lfpress.cm.
The late Mr. Buwalda
Man mauled to death by pet tiger
January 11, 2010 | CBC News | www.cbc.ca
A 66-year-old man was mauled to death by a pet tiger that he kept on his property in southwestern Ontario, provincial police said Sunday.
Ontario Provincial Police were dispatched to a property in Southwold, about 28 kilometres southwest of London, which was known to be home to exotic animals.
Norman Buwalda, who spent years battling with neighbours to keep wild animals on his property, was attacked and killed by the 295-kilogram tiger when he entered the animal’s cage to feed it, Ontario Provincial Police Const. Troy Carlson said.
“We don’t know what actually took place because no one witnessed it, but the tiger ended up attacking him and killing him,” he said.
Recently Sandra Bullock thanked her husband, Jesse James, profusely during her Oscar acceptance speech. For some reason, the Oscar win prompted one of Jesse James’ former mistresses, tattoo model Michelle “Bombshell” McGee to come forward with details of her affair with Jesse James.
Tabloids are rife with coverage of the divide between Bullock and her husband and other bad behavior Jesse James has engaged in. From a visual standpoint this coverage pales in comparison to photos of Michelle “Bombshell” McGee.
According to various internet sources, the heavily tattooed McGee was raised Amish. She has 2 children. She works as a tattoo model and “web cam girl.” Court papers filed by an ex allege she is “bi-polar.” She allegedly has white power views and tattoos to match.
She has a very visible W and P inked on the back of her legs, she says it stands for “wet pussy” others say it’s for “white power.” Radaronline.com says she has a swastika on or above her mons, and shows a swastika tattoo in an inset, but not “in context” so to speak. Her former nanny says “She had the number ‘8’ inked on the back of each of her legs and ‘88’ is supposed to signify ‘HH’ or ‘Heil Hitler!’ for the white supremacists.”
In all the photos I’ve seen of her, I haven’t seen the swastika and guess she may have had it covered. She was a spokeswoman for ANGRY WHITE GIRL fashions, but was recently dropped. The same former nanny calls her a compulsive liar.
Michelle “Bombshell” McGee epitomizes the heavily tattooed, and fake boob look that has become very popular in some circles. Personally after having seen Gary Dracula, tattooed man made famous by Diane Arbus, in his twilight years, facial tattoos don’t age well. It will be interesting to see what a crepey inked decolletage and an inked turkey gobbler neck look like and if fake boobs sag.
To view full size images of these thumbnails, click.
Sick Turtle Checks Self Into Hospital
www.treehugger.com | by Josh Peterson | 04. 5.09 | Travel & Nature
A 73-pound loggerhead turtle materialized in the waters near the Turtle Hospital in Marathon, Florida on March 29. Loggerhead turtles are not common in the harbor. When hospital personnel first spied the turtle, they assumed it had gotten lost. After further examination, the staff observed that the sea-bound reptile had large barnacles on its shell and appeared to be emaciated, both signs of poor health. Hospital workers sprang into action. Dinghies were deployed and nets were wielded. For nearly an hour, there was no sign of the turtle.
The Seasick (Septic) Sea Turtle
When the turtle finally surfaced after 45 minutes, it was dragged into the boat and taken to the hospital. The turtle, a female, was dubbed Kincaid. Her blood work revealed that she was septic. After a few weeks of antibiotics and treatment, Kincaid should make a full recovery. You can check for updates on her status at the Turtle Hospital’s blog.
From Turtle Hospital blog:
This was by far the easiest rescue to date! If there was ever a case for evolution… this would seem to be evidence like no other – a sick animal arriving at the hospital on its own! Of course, we could only wish this were true.
In general pets like bulls, chimps, or tarantulas are more dangerous than hamsters, parakeets or cats. Since the same bull had attacked Mr Weinhold and broken his ribs last year, Mr Weinhold knew the animal was dangerous but he had great affection for the one-ton bulll and no doubt great respect for it’s strength.
Condolences to the Mr Weinhold’s friends and family during this very difficult time.
Shame on every news outlet that reports this story as MAN KILLED BY OWN BULL, that is sloppy editing.
Reading Eagle: Tim Leedy The 1-ton bull that officials believe killed his owner at the South Heidelberg Township farm Sunday where the attack occurred. Image from The Reading Eagle.
Mr Ricky Weinhold. Image from lancasteronline.com
Bull attacks, kills owner at South Heidelberg Township farm
By Michelle Park | Reading Eagle | 3/1/2010
A Reinholds man found dead Sunday at a South Heidelberg Township farm was killed by a 1-ton bull he kept as a pet, officials in the Berks County coroner’s office said.
Ricky D. Weinhold, 52, died of multiple injuries Saturday – a day before his 53rd birthday – at the farm at 370 Mill Road near the Lancaster County line, officials said.
The 1-ton bull that officials believe killed his owner at the South Heidelberg Township farm Sunday where the attack occurred.
The coroner’s office ruled the death an accident.
All of Weinhold’s injuries apparently were inflicted by the hooves and head of a bull, Chief Deputy Coroner Charles E. Sweitzer Jr. said.
Sweitzer said it was the first bull-related death he could recall in his 28 years working in the coroner’s office.
Dale A. Zimmerman, whose father, David, owns the property, said he discovered Weinhold’s body in an outdoor pen late Sunday morning after he returned from a trip.
Monkey see. Monkey do. Thanks to Elizabeth of Bigteaparty.com for tipping me off to this story.
Ai Ai, a 26-year-old chimpanzee, enjoys a cigarette after a meal in her glass enclosure at the zoo in Xian, in central China's Shaanxi province, in this August 2005 file photo. A Russian chimpanzee has been sent to rehab by zookeepers to cure the smoking and beer-drinking habits he has picked up, a popular daily reported on Friday.
Boozy ape sent to rehab
Reuters | February 26, 2010
MOSCOW – A Russian chimpanzee has been sent to rehab by zookeepers to cure the smoking and beer-drinking habits he has picked up, a popular daily reported on Friday. An ex-performer, Zhora became aggressive at his circus and was transferred to a zoo in the southern Russian city of Rostov, where he fathered several baby chimps, learned to draw with markers and picked up his two vices.
“The beer and cigarettes were ruining him. He would pester passers-by for booze,” the Komsomolskaya Pravda paper said.
It added he has now been transferred to the city of Kazan, about 800 km (500 miles) east of Moscow, for rehabilitation treatment.
It is available to women one week after they’ve gotten a Brazilian wax. According to BellaSugar, for $60, the spa’s estheticians will cleanse the vulva with anti-bacterial body wash and witch hazel, exfoliate, pluck out ingrown hairs, apply “an anti-freckle, anti-acne, or calming mask,†and then a lightening cream.
Though this service sounds like something engineered to make woman feel inferior about their non pampered part it’s actually a much needed post wax service. Shaving and waxing one’s fun parts often results in discomfort as one’s hair regrows. The amount of discomfort is in direct relation to how thick a person’s hair is and uh, chafing. If not properly taken care of the defoliated parts can take on a red, raised, bumpy appearance with puss filled ingrown hairs. This means in a few short weeks one can go from jungle bush, to Brazilian baby smooth porn star to red-rough creeping crud.
So don’t hate the Vagacial, it’s a spa providing the exact same “after wax” care that savvy women have been providing themselves at home for quite some time.
I love this story. First, the kid meant no harm and no one was hurt. Second, this news story has a punchline, he was “practicing for his driving test.” Thirdly, I’ve almost done a similar thing.
Once day while running errands in my gritty city, I saw a city bus pull up to a stop, the door open and the driver walk out of the bus and walk into a RINKY DINKY DONUTS, which is a giggle in itself. The door to the bus was left open. The bus was running. I stood there, staring, a Siren song luring me. The Queen Mother of practical jokes was pracitally handed to me. My thoughts must have been very obvious, a woman walking down the street, wearing a bus driver uniform looked at me and she said, “Don’t do it.” I laughed.
“But come on, when am I gonna have the chance again. I wouldn’t go far. It’s the best practical joke EVER” She looked at me very sternly and I wracked my brains for ways for me to get a picture of me driving a bus but my cell phone didn’t have a camera. That left me with the kindness of strangers. I glanced at the passengers on the bus. They looked strange, but not very kind.
“It is very illegal. You’d get in a lot of trouble.” This lady was not a practical joker at all. “It’s not worth it.” My shoulders sagged. “And besides, you couldn’t” I cocked my head and listened harder. “There’s a special switch the driver has to activate, so you wouldn’t get anywhere, anyway.”
For a brief minute longer I stood there picturing myself behind the wheel of the bus, waving at people and smiling as I drove a few blocks down the road. My hair is fluttering because I left the door open. The old Asian ladies were yelling at me, but I didn’t care, I was so happy, very happy and I was pulling the best prank I ever pulled, the day I drove a city bus.
So back to the news story-if you watch the TV footage, at the end they mention the safety switch. In this case it either wasn’t on or the kid was able to bypass it.
Looking back now. Who the heck was that lady! Where did she come from? Is my Guardian Angel a black transit worker about my age and build? Hmmm.
8 images above from WPVI.com
Police: Disabled teen crashes stolen SEPTA bus
By DAVID HENRY | Wednesday, March 17, 2010 | 6abc.com UPPER DARBY, Pa. – March 17, 2010 (WPVI) — Police say a mentally disabled 16-year-old boy stole a bus in suburban Philadelphia and hit more than a dozen parked cars before being apprehended.
The bus crashed in a parking lot in the 7100 block of West Chester Pike in Upper Darby
Officials tell Action News that the bus was sitting idle at the SEPTA Victory District facility, located adjacent to the SEPTA 69th Street terminal. At around 11:25 a.m., a 16-year-old boy jumped into the driver seat of the bus and drove off.
The bus rammed two SUVs as it exited the Victory District lot, then hit two cars on Victory Avenue before turning onto West Chester Pike. That’s when the bus was spotted by two undercover officers. They activated the lights and sirens on the police cruiser and gave chase.
The chase came to an end when the bus veered into a parking lot near the Elizabeth Manor Apartments near West Chester Pike and Victory Avenue. It plowed down the middle of a row of parked cars, only stopping when it hit a utility pole.
A total of 19 cars were damaged or destroyed.
No one was injured, but it was a close call for one family. Tranesha Mosley was one of the people sitting in an SUV that was hit. Mosley, her 2-year-old daughter, 18-year-old daughter and her sister could only watch as the out-of-control bus came their way.
“We just braced ourselves because he just turned into the parking lot and started hitting all of the cars,” Mosley said.
The teen was arrested at the scene, and police say he is mentally disabled. As he was taken into custody the teen reportedly told officers that he was practicing for his driver’s license.
Action News has learned the teen left a West Philadelphia group home for mentally challenged individuals earlier in the morning.
Transit officials say there were no passengers on the bus at the time.
SEPTA is now conducting its own investigation. Buses in the yard are supposed to be turned off, with the keys removed, when they are parked.
“Whether it was on, we don’t know the answer to that. This is all still under investigation,” said Richard Maloney of SEPTA.
All of the damaged cars were towed away from the scene, and Action News was there as one driver came to the lot to discover his car missing.
