Archive for the ‘things humans do’ category

Polar Bear Attack!

April 13, 2009

polar-bear-attack–At the Berlin Zoo on April 11th, a 32-year-old woman who deliberately jumped into the polar bear enclosure was (predictably) mauled by a bear.   The bears did not behave abnormally; the woman did! Keepers were able to extract the woman while holding the bears at bay with poles. The attack occurred near the famous Knut, who was hand raised by a keeper from the time that he was a cub.

It is not known why the woman pulled the dangerous stunt, but she initially appeared to be elated as she swam towards a bear in the enclosure.  The woman underwent surgery for treatment of bite wounds on her arms and legs, but was fortunate overall to have escaped with her life.  Polar bears are not the cuddly creatures that some apparently regard them to be…

Bizarre New Year’s Eve Traditions

January 2, 2009

pwe_ny_eve_walleye_2k_col_12-31_t640–My mother used to eat pickled herring on New Year’s Eve, probably figuring that if she did so, nothing worse would happen to her in the upcoming year.

Some cities and towns drop objects in their town square to mark the arrival of the New Year.  In Port Clinton, Ohio, they drop a 20-ft.-long 600-lb. walleye fish.  In Bethlehem, Pennsylvania they drop a 25-lb. fiberglass version of a marshmellow “Peep.”

The Agony and The Ecstasy…

September 1, 2008

— Permit me a digression.  I went to my first demolition derby last night.  It was both repellent yet oddly fascinating at the same time, kind of like a mummy or Dick Cheney.  The entire experience was reminiscent of the scene in Artificial Intelligence where anti-technology humans smashed and burned functional yet obsolete robots before a gleeful crowd.  Artificial intelligence, however, will never substitute for natural stupidity!  At the price of admission I thought I’d see at least one ejection, but that was not to be.  I did see yesterday’s Cadillacs, Fords, and Chevys in mortal combat.  In the heat of battle so much dirt and smoke was generated that you could barely see the combatants; engine components caught fire, and sheared-off bumpers littered the field.  The assembled crowd of spectators spanned the age range of infancy to old age; redneck knows no bounds, and there are far worse things to be.  It was a very stupid, yet strangely purgative experience, one which perhaps expresses the love/hate relationship that humans have with their cars…

…and to think that they call us animals!