I wonder if the local weatherman warned people of the falling drunken parrots?
Red-collared lorikeets range from The Kimberly coast to the western margins of the Gulf of Carpentaria (Credit: Mitch Reardon)
Drunken parrots falling from sky
By: John Pickrell/Melissa Leong with AAP | June-4-2010 | www.australiangeographic.com.au
Parrots intoxicated by a mystery substance are dropping out of the sky near Darwin.
SEEMINGLY DRUNKEN AND HUNGOVER parrots are dropping out of the sky in the Northern Territory and experts are at a loss to explain why.
The red-collared lorikeets lose coordination and pass out after eating a mystery food, Lisa Hansen, of the Ark Animal Hospital at Palmerston, near Darwin said on Thursday. Red-collared lorikeets are an NT subspecies of the rainbow lorikeet (Trichoglossus rubritorquis).
“It happens every year around this season, they lose all balance and we find them fallen out of trees and the sky,” she says. “Unless someone intervenes, they can’t fly and will get picked up by predators.”
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.
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.
Thanks to Adam W. for this story. He has a great blog, check it out here.
Not surprisingly tornadoes are being blamed for this unusual happening.
Residents stunned as hundreds of fish fall out of the sky over remote Australian desert town
www.dailymail.co.uk | By Richard Shears | Last updated at 11:41 AM on 02nd March 2010
Residents of a small outback Australian town have been left speechless after fish began falling from the sky.
Hundreds of spangled perch bombarded the 650 residents of Lajamanu, shocking local Christine Balmer, who was walking home when the strange ‘weather’ started.
She said: ‘These fish fell in their hundreds and hundreds all over the place. The locals were running around everywhere picking them up.
‘The fish were all alive when they hit the ground so they would have been alive when they were up there flying around the sky.
‘When I told my family, who live in another part of Australia, about the fish falling from the sky, they thought I’d lost the plot.
‘But no, I haven’t lost my marbles. All I can say is that I’m thankful that it didn’t rain crocodiles!’
Meterologists say the incident was probably caused by a tornado. It is common for tornados to suck up water and fish from rivers and drop them hundreds of miles away.
Mark Kersemakers from the Australian Bureau of Meterology said: ‘Once they get up into the weather system, they are pretty much frozen and, after some time, they are released.’
Lajamanu is located half-way between Darwin and Alice Springs, on the edge of the Tanami Desert.
This is not the first time residents of the small town have experienced fish falling out of the sky.
Resident Les Dillon, 48, said: ‘In the early 1980s I was at the Alice Springs Tavern Hotel and, when I walked out the door, I saw all these little fish, fallen out of the sky.
‘Yes, I had a couple of beers, so none of my friends believed me. I have rung heaps of people to let them know I wasn’t drunk back then. It had really happened!’
Girl loses memory after being hit by falling tortoise
www.austriantimes.at | 22. 07. 09
A Chinese girl was hospitalised after she was hit on the head by a pregnant tortoise.
Cheng Cheng, 12, was walking with her aunt Ling Lang at Chongqing in China when she was struck on the head by the tortoise.
Lang said: “I was walking and suddenly I heard a scream from my niece who was behind me and I looked round to see her lying on the ground covered with blood.
“There was a tortoise lying beside her and I could see it had hit her on the head.”
The owner of a grocery store who witnessed the incident said they saw the girl was hit by a falling black object travelling at speed and fell onto the ground unconscious, and when he ran over he realised the object was a tortoise.
Wonderful coincidence! Good to hear there is still a newsroom out there!
Joshua McKerrow - The Capital A balloon being tested by a contractor for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration drifted into the parking lot of The Capital last week, a day after it was launched from Columbia in Howard County. The balloon and its payload are being tested to use in a program that measures hurricane wind speed, wind direction and barometric pressure in an effort to improve hurricane forecasts.
Sources Say: Story falls from sky
www.hometownannapolis.com | 09/25/09
Reporters sometimes talk about stories that fall into their laps.
This time, the story literally fell on The Capital.
A large white balloon, with plastic-encased electronic devices attached, floated down from the sky last week, landing just outside the newspaper’s lobby.
While some suspected it was a normal weather balloon, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials said the balloon’s payload is a prototype for new technology being tested to more accurately predict the track of hurricanes.
The launch was part of the Weather In-Situ Deployment Optimization Method, or WISDOM, program, though the balloon is not of the small, pyramid-shaped type the program usually uses, said Justyna Nicinska, WISDOM program manager.
The program’s balloons drift at a constant altitude and measure wind speed and direction, as well as barometric pressure, around a hurricane, said Nicinska and Chris Jones, a senior engineer with the contractor that launched the balloon.
“The balloon and payload that landed in your parking lot is a prototype for the 2009 version,” Jones said in an e-mail.
It was launched from Columbia in Howard County the night before, and apparently failed shortly afterward, landing on a house in the Annapolis area first, then drifting to The Capital later, Jones said. Researchers were able to track the balloon via a satellite link that transmitted the information to the base station and displayed its position on Google Earth, he said.
The WISDOM program’s goal is to improve hurricane-track predictions in the three- to seven-day period before landfall, Nicinska said. The balloons are typically launched several days before a storm makes landfall, she said.
This year, it has been more difficult to get the necessary data because of the small number of hurricanes, Nicinska said. But scientists said they hope they can move from the research stage to the operations stage in five or six years, she said.
I have no proof at all, but I suspect (shamefully I say hope) a lil old lady with a recently diminished retirement nest egg gave him just a weeeeee push. The other equally likely option was that it was entirely an accident, and Mr Vellanti tripped over his enormous bulging wallet.
Apologies for negative editorializing. The staff here holds financial gurus in low regard and considers them greedy opportunists, carpetbaggers and con men in fine tailored suits. Perhaps the religion of Islam was on to something when it made MONEY LENDING a sin.
Hedge fund CEO dies in fall off escalator
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J | AP | September 28, 2009
Atlantic City police are investigating how a hedge fund executive fell to his death from an escalator.
James Vellanti is the second man in two years to plunge from an escalator at The Pier Shops at Caesars.
Police were called to the mall, which is connected to the casino by a sky bridge, at 12:01 a.m. Sunday.
Vellanti lived in Clinton and was chief operating officer for the hedge fund JNF Asset Management LLC in New York. His age was not available.
Frank Gilbert Jr. fell about 40 feet after witnesses said the 25-year-old sat on the escalator’s handrail on Aug. 9, 2008. He died of head injuries.
What came first the rain of tadpoles or the rain of frogs? A rain of frogs, or tadpoles is a quintessential fortean event.
For more info on this story, and recent rains of similar aquatic creatures in Japan go to the pink tentacle blog where I got the images shown below.
Tadpole rain, Hiroshima prefecture, June 15 Image www.pinktentacle.com
Tadpoles on car windshield, Ishikawa prefecture, June 4. Image www.pinktentacle.com
Sky ‘rains tadpoles’ over Japan
The sky has been raining tadpoles over a coastal region in Japan, according to reports. By Danielle Demetriou in Tokyo | 10 Jun 2009 | www.telegraph.co.uk
Residents, officials and scientists have been baffled by the apparent downpour of tadpoles in central Japan’s Ishikawa Prefecture.
Clouds of dead tadpoles appear to have fallen from the sky in a series of episodes in a number of cities in the region since the start of the month.
In one incident, a 55-year-old man who was caught in a tadpole downpour described hearing a strange sound in the parking lot of a civic centre in the city of Nanao.
Upon further exploration, he found more than 100 dead tadpoles covering the windshields of cars in an area measuring 10 square metres.
Dead tadpole downpours were also reported by local officials 48 hours later in the city of Hakusan in the same prefecture.
The raining down of small creatures such as frogs and fish is a rare meteorological phenomenon that is reported from time to time across the world.
Scientists have widely attributed the surreal raining of animals to strong winds, storms and water sprouts sucking up creatures before depositing them further inland.
However, this explanation has not satisfied meteorologists in the Ishikawa region.
Officials at Kanazawa Local Meteorological Observatory told local media that they were unsure how the tadpoles had arrived as there had been no reports of strong winds at the time.
Another scientific explanation for raining animals relates to birds carrying the small creatures before dropping them as they fly overland.
However, dismissing this theory, a researcher at the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology in Abiko told Kyodo news: “Crows eat tadpoles but if these were spat out (by the birds), a wider area should have been covered
What a great story with a happy ending. Since Mr Bennett had left his house looking for the very well he got stuck in, I can’t help but think as he fell he thought, “looks like I found that damn well.”
Mr. Robert Bennett
Bob Bennett, 84, poses for a photo with his rescurers after he was found alive and unharmed in a dry well on his sprawling property in the remote community of Benson Lake, B.C. He spent four days trapped in the well. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ho-RCMP
Bob Bennett, 84, was trapped down this eight foot well shaft for four days before being rescued by Port Alice RCMP. June 25, 2009. (RCMP handout photo)
Elderly man survives four days in well by soaking up moisture with tissue
By THE CANADIAN PRESS – Jun 25, 2009
BENSON LAKE, B.C. — An 84-year-old man survived four days trapped inside a dry well by soaking up moisture with a tissue and sucking on it – and keeping his sense of humour intact despite his ordeal.
Bob Bennett had been walking on his property, in the remote Northern Vancouver Island community of Benson Lake, where he was looking for a well that he fell into, said his friend Barry Christenson.
“It wasn’t the Hilton,” laughed Christenson, who alerted police to Bennett’s disappearance.
“He stepped on the wooden cover and it basically disintegrated under him and he fell in and couldn’t get out.”
Christenson, who lives in nearby Port Hardy, sometimes doesn’t see his longtime friend for weeks at a time, but Bennett told him earlier that he would be in town within a few days.
“So this just didn’t sit right with me that he hadn’t shown up.”
Wow, what a wonderful and amazing story. Tough kid.
The baby's fall on Friday, May 15, 2009 was broken by these shrubs at the base of this apartment building at 1300 Mississauga Valley Blvd. Image from CTV.ca
Mississauga toddler survives eight-story drop
By Chelsea Murray, National Post | May 15, 2009 | network.nationalpost.com
A toddler has survived an eight-storey fall from a Mississauga high-rise, Peel police said.
The boy fell from his mother’s arms today from a building at 1300 Mississauga Valley Boulevard.
“He had been in his mother’s arms on the balcony and he started wriggle to the point where she lost her grip on him,” said Cst. Marlene Murphy.
Peel police said the boy landed on some dense shrubbery directly below the balcony, and suffered from scratches and a broken nose, but remains in hospital for observation.
‘‘The shrubs essentially broke his fall, and that’s what essentially saved his life,’’ Const. J.P. Valade told CP24.
Rami Kandil, 14, was walking out of the building when he heard people screaming and saw the toddler’s grandfather searching through the bushes.
“I came down and he was searching through the bushes, then right when he grabbed the kid, that’s when he started crying,” said Rami, whose mother owns Danuta Cleaning Services, based in the same high-rise. “I’m guessing he was in shock or something.”
A group of people gathered around the boy — whose face was bleeding — looking “shook” and “in shock,” he added. “They were yelling like crazy too.”
Cst. Murphy said they’ve determined the fall was “a dreadful accident.”
Poor Mr Smith. According to news accounts he was a good guy, didn’t drink, didn’t smoke, and had recently been involved in a very bad car accident. Today while working a temp job at a cocoa processing plant, he slipped and fell into a vat of melting chocolate. The 8 foot tall vat had a 4 foot opening at the top thru which he was putting cocoa to be melted before he fell. The industrial vat was equipped with large agitator blades and Mr Smith was fatally injured by them before a co-worker could reach the emergency shut off.
Contrary to some reports the cocoa was at 120 degrees, not boiling, as cocoa butter will melt at close to body temperature. Several of his co-workers struggled in vain to free Mr. Smith and news outlets show images of several grief stricken men covered in chocolate. Obviously in anguish many of them smoked cigarettes.
Deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Mr Smith. Industrial accidents are so often tragic.
I stumbled on this story as a stub on philly.com at about 11 am today. First google news search I did gave me 2 hits, the last google news search I did there were close to 400 hits.
I don’t like the lighthearted tone many outlets are taking with this story. Mr Smith wasn’t doing anything silly, he was only working. Hot chocolate was his job. David Carradine and Michael Jackson however were both up to major “mayhem and foolishness” as they shuffled off their mortal coils and CAN and SHOULD be laughed at.
An employee of Lyon & Sons in Camden, New Jersey died after falling into a vat of hot chocolate on Wednesday, July 8, 2009. Shown is an employee of the chocolate factory with his shirt and shorts covered in chocolate. The man declined to give his name when asked. (Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer/Philly.com)
The plant in Camden, NJ.
Colleague at chocolate factory tried to save the victim (credit: Fox News)
The late Mr. Vincent Smith II.
The late Mr. Vincent Smith II.
A worker is comforted by emergency crews following yesterday's accident
Firecrews and other staff were left covered in chocolate after going to Mr Smith's rescue
Mixing vat for chocolate similar to the one Mr Smith was working with.
Image from wxyz.com
Worker dies after fall into chocolate
Philly.com | By Matthew Spolar, Inquirer Staff Writer | Posted on Wed, Jul. 8, 2009
A temp worker at a Camden chocolate processing plant died this morning after he fell into an eight-foot vat that was mixing and melting chocolate to be used in Hershey’s candy.
Vincent Smith II, 29, of Camden, was standing atop a platform and tossing blocks of solid, raw chocolate into the tank, Jason Laughlin, spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, said. Read more…
