Weird News

[VisibilityMissing]

Walruses lured to their deaths

Cliff-top refuge from crowded beach also the path to a long fall

By ALEX deMARBAN
Anchorage Daily News

Published: June 26, 2006
Last Modified: June 26, 2006 at 02:28 AM

Federal wildlife biologists have erected a 250-foot-long fence to stop walruses from accidentally plummeting off cliffs to their death on a Bristol Bay beach.

About 30 bulls took the fatal plunge last year, said Rob MacDonald, a biologist with the Togiak National Wildlife Refuge.

More than 150 went over the edge between 1994 and 1996, he said.

The mysterious walk-offs seem to occur only at Cape Peirce, about 120 miles west of Dillingham, where thousands of walruses sometimes gather to rest between meals, MacDonald said.

If too many squeeze onto Maggy Beach, a quarter-mile-long strip of dark-brown sand, dozens may traipse up a chute and onto a grassy plateau, he said. When it's time to feed, the animals seem to beeline for the water, which leads them across the plateau and over a cliff that's up to 150 feet above shore, he said.

Sand dunes used to block the chute, he said. But over time, the 3,000-pound walruses wore away the dunes, with help from the wind, and made their way up the chute.

Last week the biologists planted a $2,500, 3-foot-tall, wooden-slatted fence across the chute, MacDonald said. But it won't be the barricade. It should work like a snow fence, creating sand dunes that pile up to 16 feet high, MacDonald said. That should keep the walruses from straying up to the plateau.

More than 12,000 walrus gathered at Cape Peirce annually in the 1980s, said federal wildlife biologist Joel Garlich-Miller, making it the largest concentration of Pacific walruses in North America at the time.

But the visiting herds dropped sharply for several years, with sometimes only dozens of animals showing up, he said. They may have gone elsewhere, even to Russia.

About 5,500 returned last fall. Yup'ik Natives from the village of Togiak, about 60 miles east, counted 29 carcasses at the cliff's bottom in October and even saw a walrus fall, MacDonald said.

Refuge managers flew to the scene and confirmed the deaths. They inspected the bloated carcasses and herded about 50 walruses off the bluff and back to the beach, said refuge manager Paul Liedberg.

To temporarily deter the animals from waddling up the chute, refuge managers hung blue tarps from MEHTUL fence posts and parachute cord, MacDonald said. The wind-snapping tarps kept the walruses away but didn't work when the weather was calm.

Biologists aren't worried the deaths will make a significant dent in the walrus population, MacDonald said. No one knows the number of Pacific walruses, but the last estimate in 1990 exceeded 200,000, he said. A new count is under way.

The fence was erected because Natives in Bristol Bay want walruses protected -- they hunt them for meat, he said. They also use ivory tusks for artwork.

"The local people don't like to see walrus falling over," said Pete Abraham, an occasional walrus hunter and refuge information technician in Togiak. "It's such a waste, but it's nature's way of doing things."

Villagers eat walrus instead of expensive store-bought food, said Bernice Toyukak, clerk at the Togiak Traditional Council.

Togiak is allowed to take a few walruses every fall at nearby Round Island in the Walrus Islands State Game Sanctuary, biologists said. Those herds also travel to Cape Peirce.

The meat is distributed among the village's 800 or so residents, Toyukak said. Last year, strong winds pushed the walruses away and hunters killed only one, she said. Still, the entire animal down to the skin and flippers was shared, she said: "Most of it went to the elders."

No one is sure why the Cape Peirce walruses fall.

Abraham said the shellfish-loving animals have a strong sense of smell that may lead them over the seaside cliff. They don't see well, which may not help, he added.

"(They) follow their nose -- that's my theory," he said.

It's not suicide, said MacDonald, who's watched videotapes of the falling walruses recorded during the 1990s.

Once the first go over, others follow, many dropping headfirst in a free fall to the ground, he said.

"They land on the rocks below, crush their skull, and end of story," he said.

But others do a 180 while sliding off the top, desperately try to stop as if they've made a mistake. It doesn't work, he said.

Some that fall from the shorter cliff faces bounce off the pile of corpses cushioning the ground and make their way to sea, he said.

"We don't know if they're injured," he said.

The fence is an experiment and may not work, said Carl Lunderstadt, deputy refuge manager.

"If a couple thousand (walruses) decide they want to go up the chute, they're going to squish that fence flat," he said.

Daily News reporter Alex deMarban can be reached at ademarban@adn.com or 257-4310.

[VisibilityMissing]

Either, the CTA has rolled out the Pink Line, or they've started advertising Pepto Bismol on the 'El . . .

You decide . . .

[Tom Flapwell]

Oho, this is too much.

Telemarketers: Get Me the President! And a Time-Share!
The federal government has put a secret Homeland Security hot line for the nation's 50 governors on the federal Do Not Call Registry because of telemarketers, USA Today reported. Governors complained that people offering sales of time-shares or phone services were clogging the line, which is meant for instant communications with the federal government in case of a major emergency. "I wonder about the security of that line," Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner said. The problem has been ongoing, governors say; in Wisconsin in 2003, a caller offering phone services called just as U.S. forces began the war in Iraq, Gov. Jim Doyle said.

[Zaaphod]

England may or may not win the World Cup, but their fans are having a whale of a time in Germany.

28 June 2006, Mirror.co.uk
BEER WE GO
Germans fear weii going to drink them dry
By Jeremy Armstrong

ENGLAND's massive army of World Cup fans is drinking Germany dry, it emerged yesterday.

Breweries warned beer could run out before the final because of huge demand from our supporters.

In Nuremberg, organisers revealed 70,000 England fans who flooded the city drank 1.2MILLION pints of beer - an average of 17 pints each.

Astonished bar keeper Herrmann Murr said: "Never have I seen so many drink so much in such little time."

His bar at a fans' tent in the city ran out after they drained all 32 of his 50-litre (11 gallon) barrels.

Herr Murr calculated Britons were shifting beer at a staggering rate of 200 pints per minute.

City official Peter Murrmann said: "The English proved themselves world champs. They practically drank us dry."

In Cologne, where England drew with Sweden, bottles and barrels of the local K?lsch beer ran out because so many English took them to campsites and parties.

Stuttgart bar chiefs said an extra 900,000 pints were sunk last weekend where 60,000 fans partied before and after our 1-0 win over Ecuador.

The Veltins brewery also revealed it has produced a record 418,000 gallons in a bid to keep up with demand.

A spokesman said: "It is incredible how much is being drunk but the hardest thing for the breweries is keeping up with the thirst of the English."

In Dortmund, where most fans for England's Gelsenkirchen clash against Portugal on Saturday are staying, the giant DAB brewery is bracing itself by ferrying in extra supplies to boost production.

[DesertFoxCat]

FAREWELL TO DENTURES - New device can re-grow teeth, bones

Snaggle-toothed hockey players and sugar lovers may soon rejoice as Canadian scientists said on Wednesday they have created the first device able to re-grow teeth and bones.

The researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton filed patents earlier this month in the United States for the tool based on low-intensity pulsed ultrasound technology after testing it on a dozen dental patients in Canada.

"Right now, we plan to use it to fix fractured or diseased teeth, as well as asymmetric jawbones, but it may also help hockey players or children who had their tooth knocked out," Jie Chen, an engineering professor and nanocircuit design expert, told AFP.

Chen helped create the tiny ultrasound machine that gently massages gums and stimulates tooth growth from the root once inserted into a person's mouth, mounted on braces or a remov able plastic crown.

The wireless device, smaller than a pea, must be activated for 20 minutes each day for four months to stimulate growth, he said.

It can also stimulate jawbone growth to fix a person's crooked smile and may eventually allow people to grow taller by stimulating bone growth, Chen said.

Tarek El-Bialy, a new member of the university's dentistry faculty, first tested the low-intensity pulsed ultrasound treatment to repair dental tissue in rabbits in the late 1990s.

His research was published in the American Journal of Ortho dontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics and later presented at the World Federation of Orthodontics in Paris in September 2005.

With the help of Chen and Ying Tsui, another engineering professor, the initial massive handheld device was shrunk to fit inside a person's mouth.

It is still at the prototype stage, but the trio expects to commercialise it within two years, Chen said.

The bigger version has already received approvals from American and Canadian regulatory bodies, he noted.

And in other news, the Hindustan Times has a section called "Life, the Universe and Everything"

[VisibilityMissing]

Jun 30, 2:01 AM EDT

Utah Highway Patrol Chief Cited for DUI

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The commander of the Utah Highway Patrol's drunken driving unit has been cited for driving under the influence of alcohol after crashing his cruiser into a concrete barrier, authorities said Thursday.

Lt. Fred Swain veered off the shoulder of a highway in Draper early last Friday, overcorrected and hit the barrier that separates the lanes, Lt. Doug McCleve said.

Swain said he fell asleep at the wheel, but officers suspected he had been drinking, said Draper police Sgt. Scott Peck. Swain initially refused to submit to a breathalyzer test until two patrol captains talked to him, Peck said.

The test showed that Swain's blood-alcohol level was nearly 0.12 percent, Peck said. Utah's legal limit is 0.08 percent.

Swain was placed on paid administrative leave while the patrol conducts an internal investigation.

Contacted by KSL-TV on Thursday, Swain said it was not in his best interest to comment.

Draper police investigated the incident. It's common for law enforcement agencies to ask another agency to investigate incidents involving their own personnel. Draper is about 19 miles south of Salt Lake City.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nothing could possibly go wrong with this . . .

Jun 29, 5:56 PM EDT

Cannon Practice Upsets Texas Neighborhood

SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Soldiers practicing for Fourth of July festivities aimed World War II-era cannons at nearby homes and cars and fired several loud blanks, upsetting neighbors who complained of ringing ears, shaken homes and frightened pets.

The members of Fort Sam Houston's Honors Platoon usually just pretend to set off the 75 mm Pack howitzers when they practice, post spokesman Phil Reidinger said.

"What possessed them to use the actual blank ammunition, I have no idea," he said.

Maj. Peter Franco, chief of the battalion that oversees the honors platoon, told post officials that "corrective action" was taken after Wednesday's practice, but Reidinger wouldn't say what it was.

"The combination of the close proximity and the direct aiming toward our homes knocked pictures off walls, set off car alarms, caused ringing in the ears of those caught outside, severely distressed animals and created a massive cloud of smoke that we inhaled on this air quality alert day," resident Ronald Ward complained.

The troops moved the five howitzers to within 50 yards of some residences and fired in "rapid succession."

Col. Wendy Martinson, Fort Sam Houston's garrison commander, apologized to residents for "disrupting their quality of life as a result of inappropriate training by soldiers."

[VisibilityMissing]

If the traffic isn't bad enough in my neighborhood . . .

Copter makes emergency landing on S. Side

By Dan P. Blake
Tribune staff reporter
Published June 30, 2006, 3:23 PM CDT

Four Chicago Fire Department members suffered minor injuries today when their helicopter made an emergency landing on the lakefront.

The aircraft, which was carrying two pilots and two department divers, encountered problems around noon and tried to make an emergency landing near 3900 S. Lake Shore Dr., department spokesman Kevin MacGregor said.

The all-male crew suffered minor injuries and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Stroger Hospital of Cook County in good condition. Police spokeswoman Monique Bond said the crew walked away from the crash.

MacGregor said the chopper was responding to a person in need of help in the lake off North Avenue Beach.

The helicopter sustained significant damage and came to rest upside down. MacGregor said he did not know the cause of the accident, saying an investigation is underway.

Bond did not know what forced the emergency landing but said the chopper came down in an area that has been used as a landing spot for helicopters.

Police closed Lake Shore Drive between 34th and 47th Streets while emergency responders were on the scene, WGN-TV reported.

The National Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation, a NTSB spokeswoman said.



Rough landing
A Chicago Fire Department helicopter rests on lakefront parkland after making an emergency landing Friday near 39th Street and Lake Shore Drive.
(Tribune photo by Charles Osgood)
June 30, 2006

[Burning Sheep Productions]

Sheez that must've been a bumpy ride.
Wouldn't it be hard to flip a helicopter?

[VisibilityMissing]

Gnomes!!

Italian restaurant finds 6 gnomes on roof

Fri Jun 30, 4:12 PM ET

BENTONVILLE, Ark. - Six garden gnomes arrived atop Poppi's Italian Family Kitchen about the time of the summer solstice -- facing the sunrise -- and the restaurant's owner says it's OK for them to stay.

"We've noticed there's fewer pigeons. We think they're afraid of the gnomes," owner Dan Perryman said Thursday.

Perryman suspects area teenagers placed the gnomes atop the restaurant; no employees have admitted taking part in the prank.

[VisibilityMissing]

Alaska district tries selling school on eBay

Thu Jun 29, 6:38 PM ET

ANCHORAGE (Reuters) - Local officials in the rural Alaskan town of King Cove have put an old school up for sale on eBay, saying they hope to raise $1.8 million (985,000 pounds).

The Aleutians East Borough has put the school in the southwestern Alaska coastal village of 725 people up for sale on the online auction house eBay, hoping a new owner can take advantage of the 43,000-square-foot (3,995-sq-metre) building's location on the waterfront in the midst of Alaska's biggest commercial seafood harvests, officials said.

"We have salmon, halibut, cod, crab, pollock, sablefish that's right outside the front door of the school," said borough spokeswoman Karen Montoya.

The borough hopes to raise $1.8 million by selling off the school, although the eBay listing cites a starting bid of $400,000, Borough Administrator Bob Juettner said.

A new school, located in a less industrialised area of the village, is almost ready for King Cove's 100 or so students, he said.

While many state and local governments have turned to the online auction service to sell surplus property, eBay spokesman Dean Jutilla said he does not know of any other school put up for sale.

"I don't recall off the top of my head. But that doesn't mean it hasn't happened," he said.

A 2003 sale of a surplus Alaska state ferry helped inspire the decision to list the school on eBay, Montoya said.

As of Thursday, no bids had been received, but Montoya remained optimistic. Already, the eBay listing had tallied up more than 500 hits and generated some telephone inquiries from potential buyers, she said.

[VisibilityMissing]

"Oops" the Monkey on the loose!

Jul 3, 9:53 AM EDT

Monkey on the Run in Virginia

ROANOKE, Va. (AP) -- A Japanese monkey aptly named Oops bolted from the Roanoke city zoo, sparking a park-wide shutdown as staff searched the surrounding forest where they could hear her in the trees.

The 20-pound Japanese macaque and her family were being moved from their holding cells to the exhibit for routine feeding and cleaning when she got away Sunday morning, said David Jobe, education curator at Mill Mountain Zoo. She was still on the run Monday morning.

"We hope that because they're active in the daytime, she slept last night and woke up this morning hungry," Jobe said. "We hope to take advantage of a hungry monkey."

At 11, Oops is the youngest of four so-called snow monkeys at the zoo. The furry, light brown monkey with the red face got her name because the others were not supposed to reproduce.

Jobe said he believes she is staying in the forest so she can be in earshot of her family. It's her first trip out of the zoo, and while the staff hadn't seen her since Sunday morning, they heard her throughout the day Sunday as they searched in the forest that surrounds the zoo, he said.

"Part of our concern for her is that it's the first time she's ever been anywhere else and we're sure she's frightened," Jobe said.

The four-acre zoo, which sits on a mountain inside a Roanoke city park, had never had an escape from its grounds in its 55 years until Sunday, Jobe said. At some point while the monkeys were being shifted, either a zoo employee made a mistake or a piece of equipment malfunctioned, Jobe said.

Both the zoo and park were closed on of the busiest weekends of the year for the search. About 75,000 people usually visit the zoo each year.

"Hopefully it will work to our advantage that she escaped alone," Jobe said, adding that if she were with another monkey they would be more apt to explore.

He urged anyone who spots the macaque to call 911 and not try to capture her because she could be dangerous if she feels threatened. Japanese macaques, native to Japan, are typically 2 to 4 feet long and have relatively short tails.

---

On the Net:

http://www.mmzoo.org/

[Niko123000]

I Just saw this on TV, Boston Red Sox Fans prepare to Gawk:

SAUGUS, Mass. -- Charlene Lever says it's the best tip she ever got in her 27 years as a waitress at Hilltop Steak House in Saugus.

And it wasn't cash, either. A party of four left Lever two tickets to a Red Sox game against the Oakland A's next week.

With Fenway Park sold out for the season, Sox tickets are quite a precious commodity in Boston these days.

Lever is a huge Red Sox fan who often bemoans the fact that she has to work when her favorite team is playing on T-V.


Much as she would like to go the game herself, Lever told the Boston Herald that she has decided to give the tickets to her two daughters as birthday presents.

[DesertFoxCat]

More proof against Santa!?

Study: Fat people not more jolly
Research links obesity, depression

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Fat people are not more jolly, according to a study that instead found obesity is strongly linked with depression and other mood disorders.

Whether obesity might cause these problems or is the result of them is not certain, and the research does not provide an answer, but there are theories to support each argument.

Depression often causes people to abandon activities, and some medications used to treat mental illness can cause weight gain. On the other hand, obesity is often seen as a stigma and overweight people often are subject to teasing and other hurtful behavior.

The study of more than 9,000 adults found that mood and anxiety disorders including depression were about 25 percent more common in the obese people studied than in the non-obese. Substance abuse was an exception -- obese people were about 25 percent less likely to abuse drugs or alcohol than slimmer participants.

The results appear in the July issue of Archives of General Psychiatry. The lead author was Dr. Gregory Simon, a researcher with Group Health Cooperative in Seattle, a large nonprofit health plan in the Pacific Northwest.

The results "suggest that the cultural stereotype of the jolly fat person is more a figment of our imagination than a reality," said Dr. Wayne Fenton of the National Institute of Mental Health, which funded the study.

"The take-home message for doctors is to be on the lookout for depression among their patients who are overweight," Fenton said.

The conditions are quite common. About one-third of U.S. adults are obese, and depression affects about 10 percent of the population, or nearly 21 million U.S. adults in a given year.

Previous studies produced conflicting results on whether obesity is linked with mental illness including depression, although a growing body of research suggests there is an association.

This latest study helps resolve the question, said Dr. Susan McElroy, a psychiatry professor at the University of Cincinnati and editor of a textbook on obesity and mental disorders.

"This is a state-of-the-art psychiatric epidemiology study that really confirms that there is, in fact, a relationship," she said.

The study was based on an analysis of a national survey of 9,125 adults who were interviewed to assess mental state. Obesity status was determined using participants' self-reported weight and height measurements.

About one-fourth of all participants were obese. Some 22 percent of obese participants had experienced a mood disorder including depression, compared with 18 percent of the nonobese.

McElroy said the study bolsters previous research suggesting that drug and alcohol abuse are less common in the obese. One reason might be that good-tasting food and substances of abuse both affect the same reward-seeking areas of the brain, McElroy said. Why some people choose food as a mood-regulator and others drugs or alcohol is uncertain, she said.

The study found the relationship between obesity and mental illness was equally strong in men and women, contrasting with some previous research that found a more robust link in women.

That's one lucky cat!

Wood chipper can't kill Florida kitten

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., July 5 (UPI) -- A South Florida kitten accidentally fed through a wood chipper is bent out of shape, but will be looking for a new home in a few weeks.

Maury Swee of Boca Raton, who runs a no-kill shelter called the 10th Life Sanctuary, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel he got a call from a woman on June 20 saying a kitten had been asleep in a wood chipper that was turned on by workers.

Swee rushed the orange and white animal to veterinarian Salvatore Zeitlin in West Palm Beach.

He has performed three surgeries on the male kitten, which had a broken neck, a damaged right eye and badly broken front legs.

However, the kitten is getting around on casts, and the eye appears to be functioning, although his head will be permanently tilted to the right. The best news, Zeitlin said, was the cat is wolfing down solid food.

"I think his food bill is going to be more than his surgery bill," Zeitlin said.

After about two more weeks, Swee said a special home will be sought for the feisty kitten, who is now known as Chipper.

[VisibilityMissing]

HORSE!! MOOOOOOOOSE!!

Published: Tuesday, July 04, 2006

1 man injured in bizarre accidents
Horse, moose hit and killed

MARQUETTE ? A Baraga man was listed in fair condition at Marquette General Hospital Monday evening following an unusual series of accidents in Baraga County early Sunday morning. The accidents involved three separate collisions ? two with a horse and one with a moose.

According to officials from the Baraga County Sheriff's Department, Billy McEwen, 25, was westbound in a 1992 Chevy Lumina on Skanee Road outside of L'Anse at about 1:15 a.m. Sunday when a riderless horse belonging to a local resident ran in front of his vehicle.

McEwen's vehicle struck the horse, which crushed the car's roof and took out the windshield, police said. McEwen was taken to Baraga County Memorial Hospital in L'Anse for treatment of his injuries before being transported to MGH.

McEwen's two-year-old son was also in the vehicle, but was not injured, police said.

While being transferred to MGH, the ambulance carrying McEwen struck and killed a moose near Tioga Creek on U.S. 41 in Covington Township, police said. The ambulance sustained damage but was able to continue to the hospital, police said. No one inside the ambulance was injured as a result of the collision.

Several minutes after McEwen struck the horse, a 1992 Ford pickup truck driven by 21-year-old L'Anse resident Chris Cavanaugh also struck the horse, which had been laying dead in the middle of the road, police said. According to police, Cavanaugh's vehicle rolled over before coming to rest on its side.

Neither Cavanaugh nor his passenger, 21-year-old Noah Besley of L'Anse, were injured in the accident.The series of accidents remain under investigation.

[Loeln]

http://tinyurl.com/kozet

EVANS - Little Jacqueline Castillo woke up early Saturday morning to a blood-covered stranger hovering over her bed. Instead of being scared, she said she was mad.

"Because he can't put blood in our house, that's why," Jacqueline said. So, the 5-year-old, who stands less than four feet tall, escorted the burglar to the back door and told him, "Get out of the house."

Police say the burglar was an intoxicated 17-year-old who had tried to get in at least two other homes. Investigators say he found an unlocked window at the Castillo house and climbed in, rifling through drawers in several bedrooms while Jacqueline's brother, mother, and grandmother slept.

A neighbor who heard the burglar at his home, called 9-1-1. Police then followed the trail of blood to Jacqueline's home and were in the backyard when she kicked the burglar out. She said, "When I opened the door, the cop was there."

"I think it was very brave of her," said Felix Castillo, her older brother. Felix says he is not surprised, because even though she looks sweet, "She messes with me. She's tough and she doesn't leave me alone," Felix said.

Police are still trying to figure out why the 17-year-old was covered in someone else's blood. Investigators are calling her their "Little Trooper."

Jacqueline's brother said, "She's like a scaring machine."