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Monday, September 04, 2006

---Steve Irwin Dies, Al Qaeda Says Stuff, Annan Rebuffed, A380 Takes Off, ESA Lunar Smackdown 

My Way News[AP] - Stingray Kills 'Crocodile Hunter' Irwin
Tragically, Steve Irwin finally seems to have run out of luck, or Providence. After years of jumping on crocodiles, wrestling boas, and generally taking every kind of risk available with all kinds of deadly wildlife, at 44 years old, and he was barbed through the heart by an relatively innocuous stingray.
FOXNews.com - Stingrays Poisonous, but Rarely Kill Humans
When we went to Grand Isle, Louisiana with an Ichtyology class from LSU back in the 1970’s, we were told to drag our feet on the bottom when walking through the surf to avoid stepping on a stingray hiding on the bottom. We were told that if you brush one with your foot, it will generally just startle and swim away, but if you step on it and pin it to the bottom, it will instinctively flick its tail up and barb you. I’ve never heard of a stingray fatality--- I remember horror stories (as told to a bunch of impressionable graduate students) of searing pain and severe secondary infections resulting in muscle wasting , but death?!


Al Qaeda Says Stuff
FOXNews.com [AP] - Al Qaeda No. 2 Releases Tape Inviting Americans to Convert to Islam
I also seem to remember
, waaaay back in the 1980’s, that there was a minor media-induced scandal when then-President Ronald Reagan supposedly sent a copy of the Bible to leaders in Iran. It was short-lived, lasting only long enough for the towering intellectual giants of the news in those days to ridicule the senile old guy for such a laughable gesture.
Now there’s this
...hellish, baby-murdering thugs spewing about Islam, terrorism, and the war. The towering intellectual giants of the news in our time just can’t shut up about it---we have to have all the details of what was said, hushed speculation about whether it represents a “threat”, day after day after day. We can only hope that Tom Cruise will say something even stupider to distract them, and maybe cause a little variety.
[Did you notice? The "American" terrorist cleverly used a "Monopoly" metaphor to show how cleverly "American" he is? It was evidently enough to impress the press for several days.]

My Way News[AP] - Annan Snubbed, Ignored in Iran Meeting
You know, in the best of all possible worlds, maybe even Kofi Annan will finally have to admit that Iran isn’t really taking this very seriously. Naaaaah.

FOXNews.com [AP]- Airbus Superjumbo Jet Takes Test Flight
The Airbus A380 “superjumbo”, which dwarfs the 747, made a flight recently while fully populated with volunteer test passengers. The company continues to suffer business setbacks, management shakeups, and delays.
FOXNews.com [AP]- Airbus Acknowledges Fuselage Problems
The rumors of structural problems with the A380 continue, and the company admits to making undisclosed structural changes to the aft fuselage. As mentioned here earlier, some Airbus aircraft have had a disturbing tendency to lose their composite fin/rudder structures in flight.

Lunar smackdown
FL Today Space: European mooncraft yields rich data
The ESA SMART-1 spacecraft ended its mission by hitting the Lunar surface really hard. The flash of the impact explosion was seen by Earth-based telescopes.


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