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Outdoors (General/Chat)

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  • Man’s death shows the enticing beauty — and deadly power — of Yellowstone’s colorful hot springs

    06/09/2016 1:09:08 PM PDT · by Gamecock · 104 replies
    Washington Post ^ | June 9 2016 | Katie Mettler
    <p>Colin Scott and his sister, Sable, came Tuesday for the mesmerizing hot springs, a favorite sightseeing stop for millions of tourists each year at Yellowstone National Park, in Wyoming, where mineral deposits tint crystal-clear pools of steaming water brilliant shades of blue, green, orange and yellow.</p>
  • Massive New Monument Found in Petra

    06/09/2016 9:25:36 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 25 replies
    nationalgeographic.com ^ | 06-08-2016 | By Kristin Romey
    An overhead image of the monument photographed from a drone, and a detail overlay of the surface features in which the image is rotated 90 degrees clockwise. Photograph by I. LaBianca (Left) and Photograph by I. LaBianca; graphics by J. Blanzy (Right) ============================================================================================== Satellites and drones helped reveal huge ceremonial platform near the ancient city’s center. An enormous monument has been hiding in plain sight at the World Heritage site of Petra, according to a study recently published in the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. Archaeologists Sarah Parcak, a National Geographic fellow, and Christopher Tuttle, executive director...
  • 101 years ago this week, Teddy Roosevelt made history in Louisiana

    06/08/2016 3:06:55 PM PDT · by BBell · 9 replies
    NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune ^ | 6/8/16 | Mike Scott, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
    It was on an earlier trip to the Mississippi Delta during which Teddy Roosevelt's actions would spawn what would become easily his most well-known legacy -- that would be, for better or worse, the introduction of the Teddy bear -- when he famously refused to shoot a captive black bear while hunting in Mississippi in 1902. But some 13 years later, in June 1915, the then-ex-president made a follow-up trip to Louisiana that, while nowhere nearly as well known, or as oft repeated, as that apocryphal Teddy bear tale, proved him to be ten times the sportsman."He was clad in...
  • Three Southend beaches to BAN BIKINIS this summer in ‘cultural’ trial (Overstimulated Refugees)

    06/07/2016 8:40:59 PM PDT · by ghosthost · 68 replies
    Southend News Network ^ | 6-2-2016 | Chief Reporter
    Tourism chiefs in Southend On Sea have announced that three beaches on the seafront will run a trial this summer where ladies will be asked to cover up while sunbathing. According to an email that has been seen by Southend News Network, these so-called ‘Modesty Beach Areas’ will be set up to attract visitors from all over the UK who may be uncomfortable with the sight of ‘excessive bare female skin’ for a number of either cultural or religious reasons.
  • Supervolcanoes like Yellowstone may have been more active in the past

    06/04/2016 11:13:08 AM PDT · by JimSEA · 22 replies
    National Science Foundation ^ | 6/2/2016 | Carol Frost, Davin Bagdonas
    Magma located under areas that include the Yellowstone region and the western margin of North and South America can erupt violently, spewing vast quantities of ash into the air, followed by slower flows of glassy, viscous magma. [A] new study by University of Wyoming researchers suggests scientists can go back to the past to study present-day solidified magma chambers where the erosion has removed overlying rock, exposing granite underpinnings. One such large granite body, the 2.62 billion-year-old Wyoming batholith, extends more than 125 miles across central Wyoming. University of Wyoming earth scientist Davin Bagdonas traversed the Granite, Shirley and Laramie...
  • Cruise ship Infinity slams into Ketchikan dock

    06/03/2016 10:46:57 PM PDT · by gettinolder · 38 replies
    vanity ^ | 06/03/16 | myself
    Linking to a YouTube video showing Cruise ship Infinity slamming into berth 3 Ketchikan Alaska. I use the float adjacent to pick up clients from here till September (fishing charter) My wife left work less than hour before collision and could hit this berth with a rock from her office. We had high winds today gusting 40 knots plus. You can see thrusters in full on mode and I understand pilot/captain attempted to drop anchor. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fEPNfLmcUO0
  • Worker Buries Boss With Dirt Using Front-End Loader: Report

    06/03/2016 3:14:44 PM PDT · by nickcarraway · 25 replies
    NBC Miami ^ | Jun 3, 2016
    A construction worker has been arrested after authorities say he buried his boss in dirt using a front-end loader. Citing an arrest report, the Orlando Sentinel reports 32-year-old Erick Cox of Sanford was charged Wednesday with aggravated battery. Man Accused of Taking Pricey Ring From Boca Bathroom Witnesses say Cox was arguing with 57-year-old Perry Byrd of Orlando at a construction site in DeBary when Cox dumped two loads of dirt onto Byrd, pinning him to the ground. The report says Cox then began hitting Byrd in the head with a 6-foot aluminum level. Byrd was knocked unconscious and sustained...
  • Lawyers: Appalachian Trail was client's 'road to redemption'

    06/03/2016 12:42:10 PM PDT · by DUMBGRUNT · 13 replies
    WLWT5 ^ | 3 June 2016
    Attorneys for a Kentucky accountant who embezzled $8.7 million before going on the run said Friday that hiking the Appalachian Trail for six years as a fugitive put him on "the road to redemption."... His attorneys say he has no criminal past, is remorseful and has spent years contemplating his wrongdoing on the popular trail that winds more than 2,000 miles from Georgia to Maine.
  • Coast Guard to investigate after schoolchildren rescued from boat that sank in Chesapeake Bay

    06/03/2016 8:21:51 AM PDT · by the OlLine Rebel · 9 replies
    Baltimore Sun ^ | 6/2/16 | Scott Dance & Luke Broadwater
    Coast Guard officials are investigating what caused a boat carrying schoolchildren to sink Wednesday evening after it struck something submerged near a former Navy bombing test site in the Chesapeake Bay.
  • Victim Battered With American Flag (No Hate Charges for Burka-Clad muslim)

    06/03/2016 5:39:02 AM PDT · by ghosthost · 26 replies
    Smoking Gun ^ | 6-2-2016 | Staff
    Arno told police that Ibrahim--whose eyes were only visible--walked up to her mailbox and “pulled the flag out of it.” Armed with the flag--which was attached to a four-foot long PVC pipe--Ibrahim then advanced on Arno “in a threatening manner swinging the post and flag at her, hitting her with it,” according to a Lawrenceville Police Department report. As Arno’s two children sought to help their mother, Ibrahim “was able to get one of her shoes off” and struck Arno’s teenage daughter in the head. A neighbor subsequently “entered the fight” and was “able to help hold the suspect until...
  • Dog Chained to Front Porch of Texas Home Rescued from Flood [by a news crew]

    06/02/2016 6:25:59 PM PDT · by Daffynition · 70 replies
    5NBCDFW ^ | June 2, 2016 | staff reporter
    A dog chained to a front porch was the latest to be evacuated from flooded areas in Texas as rain continues to fall around the state. A KPRC-TV news crew (from Houston) stepped in to help rescue a dog who was chained to the front porch of a home in Fort Bend County.
  • Woman Learns The Hard Way Not To Approach An Elk For A Selfie

    06/01/2016 5:09:05 PM PDT · by Gamecock · 36 replies
    The Dodo ^ | 6.1.2016 | Stephen Messenger
    Wild animals aren't here for our own vain amusement — just ask this lady who learned that lesson the hard way. Or, better yet, ask the elk who taught her. (On second thought, you should probably keep your distance.) Jody Tibbitts, who works as wildlife guide in Yellowstone National Park, recently caught on video the exact reason why visitors are told not to get too close to the animals who live there. In the short clip, a woman with her phone in hand is seen approaching a rather imposing looking elk who's just hanging out in the brush. (Video at...
  • The documentary that proves the Yeti exists. Almost certainly

    06/01/2016 9:35:47 AM PDT · by nickcarraway · 14 replies
    The Guardian ^ | Wednesday 1 June 2016 | Filipa Jodelka
    It’s a myth that has endured for centuries, but is the creature claptrap, a polar bear hybrid – or an Aryan uber-hominid the Nazis were sent off to seek? Meet the Yeti huntersYetis! The myth has endured for centuries, but despite its longevity, there are really only two sides of the debate you can sit on. In the boringly scientific camp: those who believe that all sightings come from gassed idiots who don’t know nature when they see it. In the other, fantastical unsolved mysteries camp, are those with more of a swivel-eyed crypto-conspiracy angle. The latter sort of claptrap...
  • Scientists crack mystery of shrimp packing such a punch it can split your thumb

    06/01/2016 7:20:55 AM PDT · by DUMBGRUNT · 16 replies
    washington post ^ | 1 June 2016 | Ben Guarino
    Fishermen call the animals “thumb-splitters” — at least one man has had a finger amputated after a mantis shrimp strike — and a blow from the crustacean’s truncheon can crack a pane of stock aquarium glass... The mantis shrimp, only distantly related to the species you would find covered in tempura batter, come in two types, which marine biologists divide into “spearers” or “smashers.” The spearers impale prey with a javelin strike of a pointed claw, whereas the smashers use their fist-like appendages to pop the shells of their food. Smashers, and their shrimply hammers — technically known as dactyl...
  • Amid deadly floods, Texas' Brazos River crests at record 54 feet

    05/31/2016 9:19:33 PM PDT · by fella · 15 replies
    cbsnews ^ | 31 May 2016
    Residents of some rural southeastern Texas counties were bracing for more flooding Tuesday along a river that had reached a record-high crest just two years after it had run dry in places because of drought. The National Weather Service said the Brazos River crested at nearly 54 feet Tuesday in Fort Bend County, which is just southwest of Houston and home to many suburbs. That eclipsed the previous record by three feet and exceeded levels reached in 1994, when extensive flooding caused major damage. An area that's no stranger to flooding has still found itself overwhelmed,
  • Tiny Hummingbirds Can Fly a Long, Long Way

    05/31/2016 12:38:20 PM PDT · by nickcarraway · 65 replies
    Science News ^ | SARAH ZIELINSKI
    Sometimes it’s surprising to discover how little we know about common plants or animals. Consider the ruby-throated hummingbird. If you live in the eastern half of Canada or the United States and have spotted a hummingbird hovering around a feeder in the backyard in summer, this is the bird you saw. But while scientists have documented many of the feeding and mating behaviors of the birds and that the birds migrate south to Central America and Cuba, there are still plenty of mysteries, such as whether the birds go the long way through Mexico when they migrate or whether they...
  • South Florida officers find 2 alligators eating human body

    05/31/2016 7:06:31 AM PDT · by george76 · 32 replies
    NBC4i ^ | May 31, 2016
    Davie Police Capt. Dale Engle says the body found Sunday in Southwest Ranches, about 20 miles west of Fort Lauderdale, appears to have been at the location for a long time. Engle says officers were able to scare the alligators away from the body but the two lingered as officers tried to recover the body.
  • "Misbehaving" boy disappears in forest after parents abandon him

    05/30/2016 9:08:48 AM PDT · by BenLurkin · 29 replies
    CBS ^ | 05/30/2016
    Hokkaido police said the parents initially told authorities that their son had disappeared while they were picking wild vegetables, but then admitted they made him get out of the car and then left him behind "as discipline." Police said the father returned to the site a few minutes later but the boy was gone. The parents told police that they were punishing the boy for throwing rocks at people and cars while playing at a river earlier in the day, according to Japanese media. The boy's father said in an interview with public broadcaster NHK and other TV stations that...
  • Vet Intern Discovers Tick on Dog’s Ear Moments Before Euthanization

    05/30/2016 7:18:12 AM PDT · by dennisw · 31 replies
    breitbart ^ | 2016/05/24/ | Jerome Hudson
    Dr. Stone was eventually able to determine that Ollie’s sickness was caused by a very rare condition called tick paralysis........... A 10-year-old dog named Ollie is alive today thanks to a Portland, Oregon-based DoveLewis Animal Hospital intern who found a tick hidden in his ear, moments before the veterinarian was to euthanise the sick dog. Ollie’s owners, Al and Joelle, decided to put the dog to sleep after noticing his rapidly failing health after returning home from a trip to the Umpqua River, according to a statement from DoveLewis Animal Hospital. “We were at a complete loss,” said Al, the...
  • A planet 1,200 light-years away is a good prospect for a habitable world

    05/29/2016 11:03:46 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 35 replies
    www.sciencedaily.com ^ | May 27, 2016 | Source: University of California - Los Angeles
    An artist's conception of Kepler-62f, a planet in the 'habitable zone' of a star located about 1,200 light-years from Earth. Credit: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle ========================================================================================================================= A distant planet known as Kepler-62f could be habitable, a team of astronomers reports. The planet, which is about 1,200 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Lyra, is approximately 40 percent larger than Earth. At that size, Kepler-62f is within the range of planets that are likely to be rocky and possibly could have oceans, said Aomawa Shields, the study's lead author and a National Science Foundation astronomy and astrophysics postdoctoral fellow...