Monday, May 11, 2009

Good Morning

What's so good about, you woke me up just to tell me that?

Just 1-day-old

Wood Duck hatchlings must take a frightening leap of faith to their mother.
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Parrot endangers 1000 jobs in Australia

A parrot is about to cost 1000 workers their jobs because the Federal Government in New South Wales has ordered a timber industry to be shut down to protect the bird.The unprecedented government intervention will see the jobs cut within days. Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett's department issued a stop-work order to the New South Wales Government 10 days ago, a move the industry claims could wipe out the entire town of Deniliquin in the state's south. The Opposition says the move is overkill and has branded Mr Garrett a "warbling twit".
"There are a lot of them out there," Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt said of the parrots. "As one person put it to me this morning, you've got the warbling twit protecting the green leak parrot but sacrificing 1000 jobs."The Environment Department ordered New South Wales cease all clear felling of red gum in the Central Murray Darling region - timber used mainly for firewood and railway sleepers - due to concerns over the future of the parrot. Sometimes referred to as the green leek parrot, the social bird nests in the hollows of the red gums and is nationally listed as vulnerable.
With news video.
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Eye in the sky

Criminals may be used to looking over their shoulders for police, but a new crime-fighting tool introduced in Florida means they will now also be looking above their heads.
Officers in the town of Palm Bay are being sent aloft on motorized paragliders to act as spies in the sky, in a first-of-its-kind mission code named Operation Soar.
Suspended beneath parachutes wearing lawnmower-style motors on their backs, they will patrol the skies looking for burglars, car thieves and missing children, equipped with radios, cameras and GPS navigation systems.
The seats of their unconventional aircraft have been specially bulletproofed and the officers have standby parachutes, to protect against criminals who may be tempted to use them for target practice.
The paraglider patrol idea was hatched after hopes of launching unmanned drones to conduct aerial surveillance over Palm Bay were shot down by the Federal Aviation Administration, due to safety fears.
"Our agency is pretty innovative, we like to think out of the box and experiment with new ideas. The more we fly these paragliders, the more uses we'll find for them," said Lieutenant Joe Eakins.
The $25,000 gas-powered machines, purchased using proceeds from the sale of criminal assets, can fly at speeds up to 63mph and at altitudes anywhere between two inches off the ground and 18,000ft.
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Indian village with 250 sets of twins

Doctors are trying to unravel the mystery of an Indian village boasting 250 sets of twins born to just 2,000 families.
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6-year-old saves grandma

Brave six-year-old Karen Lewis has been thanked by her grandmother for saving her life after picking up vital warning signs that she was having a stroke – because of an advert on TV.
The youngster, from Shrewsbury, knew immediately from the look on her beloved nanna’s face that something was not right. She ran to a neighbors’s house for assistance before calling 999 for help. Disabled Heather Lewis, 63, was on the stairs of her home in Grinshill Drive, Shrewsbury, when she suddenly was unable to lift her arms. Her speech began to slur and her face drooped to one side.
Luckily for her granddaughter Karen was close by and realized what was happening. As Mrs Lewis’s daughter Cheryl , who is also disabled, and husband Des struggled to get her down the stairs, Karen ran immediately outside to call for assistance from a neighbor. Then, she ran back to the house to start dialling 999 for an ambulance.
Mrs Lewis paid tribute to her "little star" and said she owed the six-year-old her life. She said: "I went dizzy and I started to fall. My daughter managed to grab me. My granddaughter said ‘nanny stay still I think you’re like the TV advert, you need an ambulance’.
"If it wasn’t for Karen I don’t think I would be here now. I am really proud of her. I think she has saved my life. She’s so brave and she’s a little star."
The grandmother said she was also grateful to the TV advert which describes the tell-tale signs of a stroke and what to do; which are facial weakness, arm weakness, speech problems and time to call 999. They are remembered under the shorthand abbreviation FAST.
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