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At the University of Florida, a student was recently penalized for writing “man” instead of “humankind” in a class paper. History major Martin Poirier wrote “Water is a thing prior to man” on a paper for a history class called “History of Water.” “Thoughtful paper, although the writing-mechanics errors are killing you,” Professor Jack Davis wrote at the bottom of the paper. He gave the student a B minus, according to a copy of the essay published in the student news outlet the Daily Nerv. Davis circled “man” and referenced his Writing Mechanics Exercise #20, which draws a distinction between...

After months of negotiation with state officials, a Florida woman has finally received a license allowing her to keep her pet alligator. The gentle gator named Rambo is "like a dog" and loves being petted and going for walks on a leash, according to his owner, Mary Thorn, 55, of Lakeland, Florida. Rambo is ... a local celebrity and has been the star of small shows... for a few charities and organizations... The "trained" gator has even been photographed "riding an ATV" along with her on her motorcycle, Thorn said. But earlier this year, in March, the gator garnered national...

A South Florida man is refusing to back down after fish and wildlife officials informed him the alligator he’s had as a pet for nearly five decades has grown too big to roam in his yard. Whenever David Van Buren is away from his Coconut Grove home, his scaly friend and companion Gwendolyn hides in the yard, occasionally peeking out of his pool.

Two months before an alligator killed a toddler at Walt Disney World, local firefighters were illegally feeding the predators, according to new evidence obtained by the Orlando Sentinel. Officials warned the employees about the dangerous consequences in a series of newly-released emails.Firefighters of Reed Creek Emergency Services, which protects the theme parks, reportedly gave food to two gators living less than a mile away from where 2-year-old Lane Graves died. The illegal feedings caused station employees to worry about their safety because it causes the animals to lose their natural fear of humans. Most Popular In the first email, Reedy...

LAKELAND, Florida - Lakeland police responded to Lake Hunter following a 911 call from fishermen who reported seeing an alligator with a human body in its mouth on Tuesday morning. Police say that the alligator swam away but that they were able to recover the body. According to Lakeland Police spokesperson Sergeant Gary B. Gross, the body appeared to have been in the lake for more than a day and it is unknown if the person was attacked by the alligator. No identification has been made yet on the body which appears to be a male of unknown age. The...

Golfers in Palmetto, Florida, could be forgiven for thinking they had stumbled off the course and into Jurassic Park at the weekend. While playing a typical Sunday game at Buffalo Creek Golf Course, Charles Helms was able to get a video of a monster alligator casually strolling across the course. The dinosaur-like gator looked even bigger when another man came into the frame to take a picture - but apparently he is quite a regular sight in the area.

A Florida woman was fighting Wednesday to keep her 6-foot-long clothes-wearing, motorcycle-riding pet alligator in her home. The 125-pound reptile named Rambo even has a bedroom in Mary Thorn's home in Lakeland. Thorn has had a license for the alligator for 11 years, but the gator recently grew to 6 feet. Wildlife officials say an alligator that size must have 2.5 acres of land. Thorn told the Orlando Sentinel that even if she had land available, Rambo can't be left outdoors because of sensitivity to sunlight. “Everyone will tell you that I treat that animal like a baby,” she said....

The first details on a future landing helicopter dock (LHD) amphibious assault ship for the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) may have emerged on a government website in China. Poster showing an LHD design on CSOC (China Shipbuilding & Offshore International Company) stand during AAD 2014 in South Africa An article published on an official website of the Shanghai communist party mentions a company, Hudong Heavy Machinery Co., LTD (member of CSSC China State Shipbuilding Corporation, the largest shipbuilding group in China) that has been contracted to built "16PC2-6B" diesel engines for a new project of amphibious assault ship. The...

Bill Arnsparger designed the first four Miami Dolphins Super Bowl defenses – the No Name Defense of the three 1970s Super teams and The Killer Bs that carried the 1982 Dolphins into the Super Bowl. Of the first eight Super Bowls, five had defenses with Arnsparger’s fingerprints.

Original title:Marines May Deploy on Foreign Ships, Because U.S.Navy Doesn’t Have Enough The initiative is a stopgap way to deploy Marines aboard ships overseas until more American vessels are available, said Brig. Gen. Norman Cooling, deputy commander, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa. The Marines will be able to respond quickly to evacuate embassies or protect U.S. property and citizens, a need highlighted by the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador. “There’s no substitute for U.S. amphibious” vessels, Cooling said. “We’re looking at other options” in the meantime, he added. The Marines...

Will Muschamp will not return as Florida's coach next season, the school announced Sunday.

Florida Gators fans who own the football team’s 2014 wall calendar received a surprise Tuesday when they turned the page from June to July. That’s because Aaron Hernandez is Mr. July. So how does an alleged murderer end up gracing the month of July in a football calendar? First of all, the Gators say they weren’t in charge of the calendar’s distribution, as it’s a licensed product from Turner Licensing. They also say the approval process for the calendar was during the spring of 2013 — a few months prior to Hernandez’s June arrest for the alleged murder of Odin...

When a man went to the side of his boat to empty a bucket at Australia's Kakadu National Park on Saturday, he was attacked by what police say was a 15.5-foot-long crocodile and vanished, his wife, son, and daughter-in-law unable to save him. Now, the 62-year-old's remains may have been found inside a crocodile. Two of the reptiles were shot yesterday about a mile from the site of the encounter, the AAP reports via the Sydney Morning Herald. "A quantity of human remains was recovered" from one, say police. They have yet to be IDed.

It hasn’t been a great summer for football players from Florida. A current linebacker for the Gators is the latest to find himself on the wrong side of the law. His crime? Barking at a police dog. While police were checking out a disturbance at an after-hours club, Antonio Morrison approached a police vehicle and made a ‘woof-woof’ sound at a canine in the back seat according to the Orlando Sentinel. That was enough to put him behind bars. Morrison was arrested and charged with interfering with police by harassing a police animal and resisting arrest without violence. He was...

We got word yesterday that Tim Tebow had tried to encourage Aaron Hernandez to lead "a good life" while the two were teammates at the University of Florida, but we had no details as to how Tebow tried to keep Hernandez out of trouble. Well, until now. According to Gainesville, Fla. police records obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, Tebow tried to stop Hernandez from getting into a violent bar fight in 2007. Hernandez was a 17-year-old freshman tight end at the time when he punched a bouncer in the head and caused him a broken eardrum. When a police officer...

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Sheriff's deputies found two 5-foot alligators at a marijuana grow site where a man was shot on Monday evening.  Thurston County sheriff's Lt. Greg Elwin said deputies responded to the scene in the Scott Lake area south of Olympia when a man called 911 to say he had shot another man. The shooter told investigators that he fired in self defense, but investigators believe he actually shot the other man during drug buy. The 30-year-old man who was shot was taken to Providence St. Peter Hospital and was expected to recover.  The gunman, identified as 41-year-old...

Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer sent an apology letter to a lesbian and gay advocacy group on campus for his plans to use lavender football jerseys as a form of punishment to players in practice according to 10TV.com and the OSU campus newspaper, The Lantern. The lavender jersey would be given to a player caught "loafing" - or a moment of deceleration - for the second time during a conditioning drill. The concept was created by Ohio State strength and conditioning coach Mickey Marotti. The school will now use a different color.

Call University of Florida football players a bunch of classless trash talkers if you want. Call them dirty if you want. But racist? For using the term "cracker"? That seems a stretch.

Tim Stroh of Hobe Sound has been hunting alligators with his mom and dad for five years. Over the weekend he reeled in the catch of a lifetime. Stroh and his family and a friend were boating in the St. Lucie County Canal when they saw a huge gator just before a bridge. "I've just never seen a gator that big and so close," said Tim. "When I saw how big it was it even intimidated me," added Tim's dad, Steve. With his bass fishing rod he tossed his line and the 800 pound alligator chomped down. Tim has a...

The residents of Fairview Estates in Citrus Hills are on edge. "I'm not frightened, but I'm concerned," said John Hoagland, a homeowner in this Hernando neighborhood. Pat Lisotta, who lives nearby, echoed the tension, "This is very upsetting, it is," she said. "Everybody's just being cautious," said John Littnan. It's all because of what got out of an enclosure in a wooded area nearby. There are eight alligators still on the loose. As Littnan points over the fence near his property, he said, "They came from right here, where you can see the pit that's been made. And they dug...