 |
| English: , spanning the Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey, circa 1985 . (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Hudson River swimmer dies during Ironman race
(exercise they said, go swimming they said, it’s good for you....)
FORT LEE, N.J. — An athlete competing in the Ironman U.S. Championship in New York City and New Jersey died Saturday after having a medical problem during the swimming portion of the grueling triathlon, race officials said.
The competitor "experienced distress" during a 2.4-mile swim in the Hudson River at the start of the all-day competition, a publicist for the race organizers said. The course ran along the New Jersey shoreline, just north of the George Washington Bridge.
The swimmer was pulled out of the water and taken to a hospital in nearby Englewood Cliffs, N.J., but did not survive. The organizers said the cause of death is unknown. An autopsy is planned.
New York City police said the contestant was a 43-year-old man. His name has not yet been released.
"On behalf of all of us in the triathlon community, we mourn his death and send our condolences to his family and loved ones," organizers said in a statement.
Contestants in the race followed their swim in the Hudson with a 112-mile bicycle ride through the suburbs, and then a 26.2-mile marathon that finished at Manhattan's Riverside Park.
Jordan Rapp, a winner of multiple Ironman titles, won the race in an unofficial time of 8 hours, 11 minutes and 18 seconds. Mary Beth Ellis was the female winner with a time of 9 hours, 2 minutes and 48 seconds.
Earlier in the week, officials had warned of partially treated sewage that was being discharged into the Hudson River while a broken pipe was fixed upriver in suburban Westchester County. Eventually, the discharge was stanched, and tests were done to determine the race course was safe for swimming, organizers said.
Deaths in triathlon competitions have happened with regularity in recent years, almost always during the swim, and the Hudson River has been particularly dangerous.
Two people died during the swim portion of the Nautica New York City Triathlon last summer. A male competitor also died during the New York City Triathlon in 2008.
After a spate of five deaths around the country in two months last summer, a governing body for the sport, USA Triathlon, created a task force to examine the fatalities.
The swim always comes at the beginning of the triathlon, when athletes are most fresh, but the field is often intensely crowded at that stage of the race. Competitors often report feeling panicked as they bump and thrash for space in sometimes frigid water.
Evangelist Billy Graham in hospital with infection
(not so much a surprise here, the reverend Graham has been battling lung issues for some time now. Just a bit surprised there aren’t more prayer vigils going on about this, how times change)
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — A spokesman for Billy Graham says the 93-year-old evangelist has been admitted to a North Carolina hospital for an infection in his lungs.
A joint statement Sunday from Graham's spokesman and Mission Hospital says Graham was admitted overnight for evaluation and treatment of an infection thought to be bronchitis. The hospital is in Asheville, near his home in Montreat.
Pulmonologist David Pucci says Graham is resting comfortably and his condition is stable. He is receiving antibiotics.
Graham spokesman Larry Ross says the evangelist was able to watch a television feed of his grandson, Will Graham, preaching on Sunday morning.
Graham was hospitalized for pneumonia last November. His staff says the evangelist's health has been good since his release, though he remains at home due to age-related conditions. He is working on a manuscript for an upcoming book.
Belarus KGB summons Swedish teddy bear stunt team
( this is the most amazing headline I’ve read all week, it’s so surreal, airdropped teddy bears, inspired madness)
STOCKHOLM — Belarus' top security agency — the KGB — has summoned a Swedish advertising team for questioning after the group air-dropped hundreds of parachute-wearing teddy bears that carried pro-human rights messages onto the soil of the authoritarian ex-Soviet state. The agency threatens the Swedes with fines or even jail time if they don't show up in 10 days.
The July 4 teddy bear drop by Studio Total infuriated Belarus' autocratic President Alexander Lukashenko, who fired two generals over it. It also may have added stress to already deteriorating diplomatic relations between Stockholm and Minsk. Earlier this month, Belarus effectively expelled Sweden's ambassador and ordered the Nordic state to close its embassy.
The summons, signed by an investigator named P. Tsernavsky and posted on the KGB's website Saturday, says the agency is investigating the "criminal case" of the ad group's "illegal crossing" into Belarusian airspace. The KGB said it wants the Swedes to participate in its "investigative actions" so it can clarify the role each person played and help it decide how to deal with two Belarusian men accused of aiding the Swedes.
One of the Belarusian suspects, a journalism student, was arrested after he posted photos of the teddy bears on his personal website; the other is a real estate agent who is said to have offered the Swedes an apartment when they visited Belarus some time before the stunt.
If the Swedes don't show up within 10 days, the agency said they could face a fine or "correctional work for up to two years, or imprisonment for up to six months."
Studio Total co-founder Tomas Mazetti, who piloted the plane in the teddy bear drop, said he received the summons via email, and that it demands he and two colleagues, Hannah Frey and Per Cromwell, appear.
It's "a bit cute and tragic at the same time," he said. "They just expect us to show up just because they say so."
Mazetti told The Associated Press that the group wants legal advice before deciding what to do, and that the team members would likely demand guarantees that they would not be detained if they showed up. "We have nothing against helping them in their investigation to clarify just how we did it," he said.
He added, however, that the legal proceedings against the two Belarusians were "really sad" and had "no logic." He said political experts have warned that Lukashenko may be using the two Belarusians as pawns to force the Swedes to go to Minsk.
"It's pure blackmail," Mazetti said.
Studio Total has previously staged attention-grabbing campaigns by burning up stacks of cash and setting up a fake sex-school in Austria. Mazetti said it orchestrated the non-commercial air-drop of the 879 teddy bears to shine a light on Belarus' poor record on human rights and freedom of speech and to embarrass its military, a pillar of Lukashenko's power.
"That's why we did it," Mazetti said. "There are people jailed there just because they've said something."
Lukashenko has ruled Belarus, a nation of 10 million, since 1994, repressing opposition groups and independent news media while preserving a quasi-Soviet economy with about 80 percent of industry in state hands. He has earned the nickname in the West of "Europe's last dictator."
Swedish-Belarusian relations have soured even more in the weeks since the teddy bear drop.
Earlier this month, Belarus said it would not allow the Nordic country's ambassador to Minsk to return to his mission. The Swedes reciprocated by barring entry to the new Belarusian ambassador to Stockholm and asking two junior Belarusian diplomats to leave the country. Lukashenko's regime then ordered the Swedish embassy in Minsk to close.
The United States and the European Union have expressed strong support for Sweden in the dispute.
Swedish authorities have said Belarus is angry over Stockholm's promotion of human rights.
Although the teddy bear drop was not officially cited as a reason for the embassy closure or the barring of Sweden's envoy, Lukashenko was cited Thursday as accusing Swedish diplomats of involvement in the stunt. According to the Interfax news agency, the Belarusian leader said the Swedes should count themselves lucky to have made it home alive.
"They should thank God that our calm people had pity for those pilots," Interfax quoted Lukashenko as saying. "They should pray for our air defense forces, our border guards who spotted them right over the border and pitied them."
Chimp escapes Las Vegas backyard – again
(where else but Vegas would anyone have a chimp in their back yard? And where else would you find multiple chimp rampages?)
LAS VEGAS — Police say a chimpanzee who rampaged through a Las Vegas neighborhood last month made a second escape from her backyard enclosure.
The Las Vegas Sun reports ( http://bit.ly/QSjDpQ) a resident called authorities about 4:50 p.m. Saturday to report CJ, the chimp, broke free from her cage. Las Vegas Metro Police captured her at around 5:30 p.m. after setting up a containment area and targeting her with tranquilizer darts.
On July 12, CJ and her mate Buddy broke free and roamed through their owners' neighborhood, pounding on vehicles and climbing in an unoccupied car. Buddy also jumped on cars.
An officer shot and killed him after police say he veered too closely toward onlookers.
CJ was returned to her owners then, but officials say that won't happen this time.
The Sun reports she was being secured at a local zoo.
Nudist park holds bash to attract younger crowd
( little did I know that nudity had lost popularity, and if the young have lost interest then I worry about the future of this country. There’s just not enough support of nekkidness this could cause the US to fall behind such nudity leaders as Sweden and Tahiti, we cannot allow this proud country to be defeated therefore I encourage each and every one of you to be more naked, encourage your friends to also be more naked, it’ll only help)
LOXAHATCHEE, Fla. — Nudist resorts have a reputation for attracting older adults, but one Florida park is trying to change that.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel ( http://sunsent.nl/RAS2ZV) reports Sunsport Gardens will hold a weekend bash aimed at attracting nudists ages 18 to 30. The Florida Young Naturist's Fourth Annual End of Summer Naked Bash is slated to be a celebration of nudity and body acceptance.
Sunsport Gardens principal shareholder Morley Schloss tells the paper the park has been trying to bring in younger members with lower prices, 24-hour hot tubs and Friday night drum circles.
The gathering at the 40-acre Loxahatchee park is expected to gather several hundred young adults. Nudist resorts around the country have been working to attract a younger crowd.
5 members of Ariz. family get married on same day
MESA, Ariz. — It's a mega wedding day for a Mesa, Ariz., family with five siblings walking down the aisle on the same day.
The East Valley Tribune ( http://bit.ly/P39zqT) reports the five Waldie children all got engaged within a few months of each other.
While trying to plan wedding dates with out-of-state family and guests, dad Doug Waldie suggested they all marry on the same day.
So five of the eight Waldie children got married Friday at a Mormon church in Mesa: 28-year-old Emily, 26-year-old Bradford, 25-year-old Sydney, 24-year-old Walker and 20-year-old Brooke.
Each ceremony was separate, but the reception was scheduled for all five couples Friday night at the Falcon Field Air Force Museum.
Eighteen-year-old Andee Waldie, one of two unmarried sisters, was a bridesmaid for four of the couples.
NJ town considers goats to eat poison ivy
(goatman could not be reached for comment.)
SEASIDE PARK, N.J. — Officials in a New Jersey shore town might use goats from Maryland to rid an environmentally-sensitive area of poison ivy.
Seaside Park can't burn the toxic plant or use chemicals because the patch overlooks Barnegat Bay. The town is considering an alternative.
Officials believe it would cost between $15,000 and $20,000 to use nature's weed eaters.
Councilman Michael Tierney tells the Asbury Park Press ( http://on.app.com/NjtQKL) the cost includes two handlers who come from Maryland to watch over the 15 to 18 goats.
Dawn Yurkiewicz of Stratford Farm in Whiteford, Md., tells the newspaper it might take the entire herd up to three weeks to eat all the poison ivy.
New Jersey environmental officials are worried the goats might also eat rare plants along the bay.
No comments:
Post a Comment