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Thousands of Blackbirds Fall From Sky Dead
Dan East writes "In a fashion worthy of a King or Hitchcock novel, blackbirds began to fall from the sky dead in Arkansas yesterday. Somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 birds rained down on the small town of Beeb, Arkansas, with no visible trauma. Officials are making wild guesses as to what happened — lightning strike, high-altitude hail, or perhaps trauma from the sound of New Year's fireworks killed them."
FlashForward predicted this!
That is all.
Dog is my co-pilot.
More likely they died of shock when they flew over a CAFO.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concentrated_Animal_Feeding_Operations
Evil people are out to get you.
Hail, lightning, fireworks would have caused said unfound trauma.
Theory: caught in a hellacious wild updraft. Lifted into highest levels of the atmosphere where they suffered insufficient oxygen and/or insufficient pressure -- vessels and or lungs burst.
"Stratigraphically the origin of agriculture and thermonuclear destruction will appear essentially simultaneous" -- Lee
on CNN
Are the events from the show Flashforward coming true?!
Ooh! Ooh! I read that one! It's Stephen King's Under the Dome .
(Quick summary: Some kind of force field is dropped over the town of Chester's Mill, Maine. Lord of the Flies-type microcosm ensues. Good book, I recommend it.)
People, did anyone think to look up in the sky? Contrails, people? Contrails?
It's only after the fact that folks recall strange looking jets and black helicopters.
New World Order, folks, the TSA is just the start.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
through being trapped in storm-associated updrafts. These can rapidly reach high altitudes and cold temperatures (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/594363/thunderstorm/49573/Updrafts-and-downdrafts).
Yeah, so.. does this make sense? I'm not a tornado kind of guy..
"Given the reports of tornadoes and lack of physical evidence of trauma, the most likely scenario is that the birds were asphyxiated inside the low pressure area within a very small tight tornado vortex. Because of the high energy (and thus oxygen consumption) during flight, a flying bird can aspyhixiate in a much shorter time and at much higher pressures than would be required to kill a resting human being."
Maybe the birds realized they were in Arkansas and figured suicide was really the only way out.
Monstar L
Call me Captain Pedantic, but I'd say it pays to punctuate. But then again, I've never had to write headlines under a deadline (I presume), so perhaps I can never know the pressures under which such compromises are made.
The fish that died around there in the same time period were only one species, too.
"Stratigraphically the origin of agriculture and thermonuclear destruction will appear essentially simultaneous" -- Lee
I can't agree with you more. Everybody can see this was caused by Flying Under the Influence, which kills more drunken birds than Dick Cheney with a shotgun. Yes, I say FUI. Their flying licenses ought to be suspended.
or perhaps trauma from the sound of New Year's fireworks killed them.
Oh don't say something like that without proof. Just the fact that such a wild guess was even thrown about is more than enough reason for the animal welfare dickheads to want to ban fireworks outright.
Chicken Little has been vindicated at last!
religious folks gonna love this one. :|
One of the coolest sites, ever: zombo.com
They're pining for the fjords!
Given the fanciful explanations being put forward, I thought I'd add these possibilities which are just as likely:
- Blackbird mob war (explains the trauma too!) ....Variation: A new super race of pigeon decided to whack the competition
- Suicide protest over the abandonment of puppies and kittens over Christmas
- Someone below was constipated for a week after eating some curry and after going off to die on his own in the wilderness managed to pass wind just in time to prevent death from toxic shock. Unfortunately the birds copped the brunt of it.
- Terrorist Blackbird not caught at the Blackbird airport in time because those pesky Blackbirds loved their freedom too much and refused to be irradiated and groped before they travel
- Y2K11 didn't just hit iPads and iPhones. Those poor Blackbirds shouldn't have bought their pacemakers from Apple and believed the "It just works" hype
- An alien witch temporarily transformed them from Blackbirds into Lemmings. When they hit the ground they changed back
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
It was a decent King book, good characters, some interesting mishaps (Suspension of disbelief, but it's a king book). But then the ending was a WTF moment. It was like King had no idea where to end it so he pulled something like BSG did to end their series. Had no idea where it was going so just wrapped it up quick. He made this big deal throughout the book about the dome hitting exactly on the border of the town, a border that is a manmade construct on a map, but then well... he never went anywhere with THAT or why it happened to hit there.
The simpsons movie was better, the simpsons episode where they mock the King book and their own movie was funny too.
Pie anyone?
The Oprah Winfrey Network went on the air. Nothing could survive flying through those waves.
Blackbirds? Didn't the military retire those years ago?
Anybody in the vicinity drop unconscious for a while?
Somebody get Joseph Fiennes on this!
Anyone else catch that?
It's obvious what happened: The birds realized they were in Arkansas.
The Internet has given stupid people the resources of intelligent people.
.. She ate beans and farted..
Sorry.
To Terminate, or not to Terminate, that's the question - SCSIROB
How do we know the fall didn't kill them.
Perhaps they all fell from the sky alive, but it was impact with the earth that got them? You people too quick to jump to conclusions - all of you!
. .
maybe they weren'r Y2K+10 complient
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
Wildfire anyone?
The birds were hit by emanations from the Arkansas school system, and promptly forgot how to fly.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
At an improbability of.... Hey thats my phone number!
http://michaelsmith.id.au
if it was fireworks, the birds would be dying in other locations around the US and at other times, such as 4th of July.
This incident took place in a one square mile near the city.
If it's lead poisoning it would have to be high velocity lead poisoning to cause trauma.
It would be interesting to see what is found in a few days and hear about those similar events that occured elsewhere.
Repent, the end is nigh, Elton John and his husband had a child on Christmas day and women dress without modesty in Liechtenstein, therefore we are all DOOOOOOOMED. Especially the fish and the birds in Arkansas, who were all gay and very keen on felching.
I think falling hundreds of feet out of the sky would cause trauma.
Im sure should be pigs in platforms not far from there. Don't drink and play Angry Birds..
I think falling hundreds of feet out of the sky would cause trauma.
Falling hundreds of feet could not cause trauma to the birds. The sudden stop at the end, however, will do the trick.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
Like why are there 4,000-5,000 SR-71 Blackbirds in operation over Arkansas? What do they know that we don't?
Maybe the birds had become angry at some nearby pigs and began launching themselves from catapults.
Maybe it's the rapture, and all the blackbirds ascended to heaven leaving their mortal bodies behind. We should probably find out what god they were worshiping and switch ASAP. Obviously the fish were worshiping the same god too.
Check out the story here
125 miles away, 100,000 fish died and washed up on the Arkansas River. o.O
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/dead-fish-in-arkansas-near-where-100000-blackbirds-dropped-from-sky/story-e6frf7k6-1225981011908?from=public_rss
Truth, Just Us, And Hatred For All Mankind!
I'd say the most likely culprit is a few oversized non-spec firework rockets. Some of the black market and most impressive fireworks are deadlier than AA flak, and release some quite unhealthy heavy metal fumes too.
Alfred Hitchcock did not write novels.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Something smells fishy about this. I suspect fowl play!
alarm didn't go off, birds couldn't afford to get written up again, suicide was the only choice.
Not that I really expect any sort of editorial checking from Slashdot anymore, but the name of the town is Beebee. I should know, I grew up just south of there, and I was in the area over Christmas visiting my family. We left the day before this happened. There were strong thunderstorms the day we left, so that might have been the cause.
Colony collapse disorder has just jumped the species barrier!
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
The question is, did they hit the pigs?
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
This is quite wrong. Humans are omnivores, as are a number of other primates including Capuchins. Tarsiers are obligate carnivores (that is, they *only* eat meat). Chimpanzees even eat other primates.
Python coder | PyQt Applications | Writer
The earthquake cause: (Score:-1)
by Anonymous Coward on 01-03-11 5:23 (#34742840)
HAARP
Are you being paid to discredit HAARP conspiracy theorists, or is it just a hobby?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Where are our claws? Fangs?
Clearly, you have not looked a primate in the mouth, ever. http://www.google.com/images?q=primate+fangs
Everything I say is a lie. Except that... and that... and that, and that, and that, and that... and that.
Actually, Shakers thought THEY shouldn't have sex; they were a celibate order, like Catholic nuns. They realized most folks should procreate.
They got done in when the state started orphans homes, and they no longer had orphans to raise and recruit from.
- "History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of men" -- Blue Oyster Cult, 'Godzilla'
There's a goddamned good reason this kind of thing doesn't happen very day (no, I don't know what that reason is; I'm trying to make a point here :p). Anybody here ever read Earth by David Brin? No, I'm not suggesting that beams of coherent/concentrated gravitational energy were what took out these birds (and the nearby fish). What I am suggesting is that we be willing to explore various possible explanations, regardless of how far fetched and outlandish they may seem to the properly-indoctrinated, unimaginative philistines that compromise the loudest voices on Slashdot.
Anyone heard of HAARP? Anybody bother to look overhead at any point over the past decade? If so, you might have noticed these so-called "contrails" that remain in the sky for dozens of miles (if not hundreds!) and form into clouds (nevermind that the conditions under which actual contrails form, and the behavior they exhibit, has been observed and well-understood for decades).
Perhaps, if we're going to get at a likely explanation, we need to open up our minds a bit... just a suggestion.
People following a vegetarian diet must eat protein foods that have complementary proteins so that the essential amino acids missing from one protein food can be supplied by another.
What are some examples of complementary proteins?
# Beans and tortillas
# Peanut butter sandwich
# Macaroni and cheese
# Tofu with rice
# Hummus with pita bread
# Chickpeas and rice
Do people following a vegetarian diet need to eat complementary proteins at every meal?
It was once believed that complementary proteins had to be consumed at every meal. We now know that intentional combining at each meal isn't necessary.
Source: http://altmedicine.about.com/cs/dietarytherapy/a/Vegetarian.htm
From my own experience as lacto-ovo veggie for 10 years, lentils provide just as much or more proteins as meat, and eating varied provides you enough of everything. It's not that hard, unless you're the fiery / hunter type who craves food and meat especially. Medically, lacto-ovo vegetarian diet is superior and easy, as long as you don't restrict yourself to pasta, rice or just a few foods, but eat a varied diet.
If you're eating meat, you should question how your bowels look and smell, how much meat is stuck inside there undigested and foul. This is why, when people go veggie, they often smell worse for a good while, until their bodies are cleaned out. You can do bowel cleansing, which every person should do every other year anyways.
Vegan diet (no animal byproducts too) on the other hand. Well, those who follow it seem gray and sickly to me. I don't think it is optimal.
So we may not have to slaughter all those cows after all. Indeed, cows are reveered as holy in India for their usefulness, and many groups of people in that country have been vegetarian for thousands of years.
http://www.debunkingskeptics.com/
You have essentially made the “might makes right” argument. If you want to argue: we should kill because we can kill, then I hope you are prepared to defend yourself against those who would want for your life and property. Lucky for you, modern civilization protects both.
Modern civilization protects no one from other humans (except maybe humans from other countries). It punishes misbehavior when caught. Very few people in danger are protected. Modern civilization does protect us from dangers like predators, prey animals (deer and moose seem to think we're predators and respond by fighting), temperature extremes.
Lastly, humans, like other primates, are herbivores. Only complete dolts suggest we need meat three times daily, or even once weekly (let alone milk, which is intended for infants). Where are our claws? Fangs? You have no built-in mechanisms with which to hunt, kill, render, or even digest the animals you intend to eat without modern tools (which came very late in our evolution).
Built in mechanism: Our legs. Ever beat an opponent in a sport by just out-lasting him? Didn't it feel exhilarating? Before we could use rocks tied to sticks to kill things, we would throw a club at them, then chase them slowly for miles until they passed out from exhaustion, then we'd walk up and club them by hand. All that running takes a lot of calories, and ancient man wasn't in a pasta-making mood.
Regarding digestion, you do realize that humans _can_ metabolize raw meat/fat, but only in small doses? Cooking meat came before modern man (because cooking meat reduces the energy required to digest it, that energy can be applied to the brain).
For anecdotal evidence to this point, look around at the disgustingly obese people all around you.
Anecdotal evidence: I eat mostly meat with some vegis/fruits and occasional grains. I am below 25 BMI, but I bet your anemic vegetarian wireframe doesn't have enough fat to last a drought. Vegetarian lifestyle can't subsist without farming and preservation - modern tools. Ancient humans (pre-farming) would die out during the first winter or drought if they were herbivores.
I live in southeast Arkansas. As a kid we sometimes saw birds do that. Didn't seem to be news then though. We have also had a large fish kill happen up north in the last couple of days. Probably a disease but I do fell like brains for lunch
This is intellectual masturbation.
"Fact."
You probably share more genes with alot of Indians and Africans than with your unrelated neighbour.
All facts and statistics are always abused to suit our own prejudices and preconceptions, even when not intended to, especially then.
If you can't eat vegetarian, you have probably not had the correct vegetarian meal. Many who "go veggie" have absolutely no clue what kinds of food you must eat.
Also, you must take the time for the body to clean itself out. You may feel sick for days, weeks or even months, and then you'll be fine. Drinking alot of water between meals etc helps.
Educate yourself instead. If you personally can't stand it after having tried the real thing, that's fine. Personally, I would have had a hard time if not for friends who went veggie with me over a period of a few years. With friends however, it was fun and empowering. I know not everyone is so lucky.
It seems to me a bit intellectualish to try it yourself for a short time, with no friends and no support. Like learning martial arts from a book. It's not the real thing. If you want an informed opinion about it, you should of course interview a trusted practitioner instead of building your own houses of cards.
http://www.debunkingskeptics.com/
Anything that makes humans behave more like humans and not animals, is good in my book. Our society would've been completely different if not for Christianity (in conjunction with of course Greek and French philosophers).
High ideals can lift us up, or pervert our thinking. The same is true for low ideals. Only mature people are able to see this.
Both believers and sceptics are the worst when they assume a "holier than thou" attitude and think they've all the answers, when often they are stuck on only one side of the coin.
http://www.debunkingskeptics.com/
http://www.bleeding-obvious.co.uk/archive1/butterfly/index.php
–adjective
1. characterized by tenderness, compassion, and sympathy for people and animals, esp. for the suffering or distressed: humane treatment of horses.
2. of or pertaining to humanistic studies.
Origin: orig. stress var. of human, restricted to above senses from 18th century; cf. germane, german
—Related forms
humanely, adverb
humaneness, noun
overhumane, adjective
unhumane, adjective
unhumanely, adverb
unhumaneness, noun
—Can be confused: human, humane (see synonym and pronunciation notes at human).
—Synonyms
1. merciful, kind, kindly, kindhearted, tender, compassionate, gentle, sympathetic; benevolent, benignant, charitable. See human.
—Antonyms
1. brutal.
taken from...dictionary.com (Random House Dictionary). Looking up "human" yields acting out of human nature as a potential synonym... which would mean that they have a surprisingly positive outlook on human nature, but again, this is a point of potential confusion as noted in the dictionary entry on "humane" (note the origin is from a sound alike word ("germane") and likely results from 19th century attitudes centered in humanism (not that these were always kind or merciful but liked to be seen as such at least some of the time apparently).
I'd go further and state that most of the obese people around you (including myself) got that way from eating processed grains and sugars - bread and soda, namely.
I'd lose a shit-ton of weight if I moved to a primarily meat diet.
Also, men are not herbivores. We are omnivores. We don't need fangs and claws because we are tool-users. My claws are rifles and my fangs are a stove. 100 generations ago, my ancestors' claws were spears and their fangs were a cooking fire.
Learn about Photography Basics.
No doubt they'll need to do some kind of necropsy to find out what is really going on here. But I have to say that I found the "they died of fright from fireworks" to be almost laughably unconvincing. I hunt a lot, and almost exclusively for ducks and geese. Most recently, over the week between Christmas and New Years, I participated in a couple large group hunts, in which up to seven of us were in a field for geese. As you might expect, this activity involved quite a lot of banging away with large and very loud shotguns. And while a number of geese did drop dead, in every case it was due to actually getting shot. I've also hunted with blackbirds around, and they didn't drop dead from fright when I shot either - they just flew away.
Again, no doubt tests are going to have to be done to find out what happened. But the idea that blackbirds are such delicate flowers that hearing loud noises is enough to kill them? I don't think so.
Not sure where you live, but it does seem to be the case that blackbirds behave differently depending on where they live:
More at Wikipedia.
For what it's worth, I've seen these things in huge flocks in winter. The rest of the year they're fairly solitary.
Cooking meat came before modern man (because cooking meat reduces the energy required to digest it, that energy can be applied to the brain).
Now then, this explains a thing or two about the radical vegetable advocates shitting all over this discussion!
Erm, apparently there was physical trauma (see here and here). They're still guessing, but leaning towards stress from fireworks, although lightening or hail haven't been ruled out.
This is far from the first time anything like this has been recorded.
Saying Android is a family of phones is akin to saying Linux is a family of PCs.
Prey do not spend their entire lives in miserable conditions, drugged-up on antibiotics, before they are killed by their predators.
Have you ever seen an insct in a spider web?
In the process, we are rapidly consuming natural resources for minimal gain
And which natural resources would that be? Cows eat hay, and hay is 100% renewable.
Onl a complete dolt would think that humans are naturally herbivores; we're not. Cows and other herbivores don't have canine teeth, but carnivores (like dogs and cats) and omnivores (like pigs and humans) do.
For anecdotal evidence to this point, look around at the disgustingly obese people all around you.
That's because for most of human history, food was scarce. It no longer is. Sorry, but you've been fooled by fools, fool.
Free Martian Whores!
Arkansas is no different than any other place in the U.S. You can find rednecks, hicks, and hillbillies, as well as intelligent, educated, even wealthy people in every state in the Union. It's just silly to make "Arkansaw" jokes; not even funny. Urban Arkansas is like urban anywhere, and rural Arkansas is like rural anywhere.
At least try to be creative.
"Those who consume the bulk of goods are those who make them. We must never forget this secret of our prosperity."
The culprit proved to be train shipments of lead carbonate that were uncovered combined with windy weather that made the lead airborne. Might be worth checking the dead birds for lead poisoning. "The Report concluded that the deaths of the 9500 native birds in December 2006 and March 2007 resulted from lead poisoning from Magellan Metals lead carbonate concentrate which had been handled by the Esperance Port Authority from April 2005 until March 2007. A quarter of the children under 5 years of age that were tested showed a blood lead level over 5 g/dL. Whilst this is not as high as other communities affected by lead pollution, it certainly shows an impact from lead contamination."
A little girl walks into the Ladies room in a seafood restaurant.
When someone farts, she says "Mama is that you."
The up lifting winds in a tornado may have caused this. It's just like thunderstorms with rain falling which ascend and descend many times. Depending what latitude either rain or snow will fall to ground.
Since there was more than one species, and as well other birds not in the exact same proximity to the fireworks, etc. I would guess that what killed them was toxic clouds, either from industrial chimneys or other noxius gases. The birds could not fly above or below and therefore expired from gas poisoning.
Leslie Satenstein Montreal Quebec Canada
no, they got that way by ingesting too many calories.
No exceptions.
Careful primarily meat diet has other problems. Eat right, eat balanced.
What you need to do is simple, doing it is hard as hell because we are wired to eat when we can, and these days baby, we can eat anytime.
Nothing is more appalling to me then the idea of a 4th meal, but I'll be damned if that doesn't sound delicious and midnight.
And why the hell is cereal so damn good at midnight?
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
We're saying the same things - processed grains (bread, pasta) and sugars (soda, candy, snack cakes) are very calorie-dense. If you sit down and eat ribeye until you're full, and the person beside you eats Little Debbies until they're full, the person beside you is going to be consuming a shit ton more calories than you are.
Meat is not the cause of obesity.
Learn about Photography Basics.
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1932290&cid=34749168 See you there, backup your bullshit - , troll.
APK
P.S.=> What am I saying? He won't show & prove his statements, trollish though they are + without any substance... he'll run, like every troll does, when confronted... apk
Ha ha ha. If I had the mod points I'd mod you funny. I thought you were taking on Bruce Schnier, whipped him already have you? I don't think you'd even try - despite your boast "I'd take him on, on HOSTS files & layered security's effectiveness, ANY DAY OF THE WEEK!"
Follow me all you like (in the virtual world) but I'm not going to be your "best pal" you sick fuck ;-p
Cue the "got no life" ad hominem" hyprocrisy - like I'm stalking you (from in front).
Regarding digestion, you do realize that humans _can_ metabolize raw meat/fat, but only in small doses? Cooking meat came before modern man (because cooking meat reduces the energy required to digest it, that energy can be applied to the brain).
A source for that information would be interesting. Do the Inuit count?
bet your anemic vegetarian wireframe doesn't have enough fat to last a drought.
I'll take your bet (very low fat layer, above average weight - though I *do* eat fish, yabbies, eggs, and some dairy). If elephants, rhinos, and hippos could bet they might too.
All that running takes a lot of calories,
(Hmmm, Cliff Young?)Why run at all? And why bark when you've got a pack of dogs?
ancient man wasn't in a pasta-making mood.
Pasta - well not exactly. Plenty of evidence around my place of early man - the most commonly seen ones are grain grinding bowls.... hunter gathers were mostly nomadic, meaning they moved according to where the food was, not aimlessly wandering. I suspect no-meat diets came much later in our development - when transfer of the protein rich foods from the equatorial regions to areas of high density human habitation away from the coast. Jared Diamond has written a series of interesting theories on how the origins of different food sources affected early societies. Most of early mans food sources would have been fruit, veg, grain, seafood and small game. In PNG traditional society (which isn't coastal) the main protein source is still not meat.
Ancient humans (pre-farming) would die out during the first winter or drought if they were herbivores.
I'm tempted to look for a pun about nuts :-D
Pre-farming doesn't mean pre-gathering. Grains, achenes, and filberts were an important part of the diet in many parts of the world (pre-farming).
Much of this discussion in this thread is like those silly shows where arm-chair enthusiasts try to rebuild ancient wonders and "prove" it impossible for modern man to recreate - and conveniently overlook the fact that none of those building feats are lost. I.e. people are theorizing about whether people "could have" eaten or done things - that people "do" do right now.
Never forget that we humans can not just adapt our surrounding - we are also very adaptable. One of the failing of some of the arguments made in the meat vs veg part of these threads is that mostly meat diets were/are a reality (Masai, Boers, etc) but pure vegetarians are a figment of modern (western) mans philosophies. In "real" life (away from health food shops, and dietary philosophers) veg means - no red meat - but rats, frogs, fish, birds, shellfish and insects are fair game. Mmmm grasshopper pizza - delicious, nutritious, high calorie, and so easy to get a feed from! :-)
Lastly, Bill "Superfoot" Wallace used to say (something like) - as long as you exercise a lot and drink plenty of water - it doesn't really matter what you eat.
We're saying the same things - processed grains (bread, pasta) and sugars (soda, candy, snack cakes) are very calorie-dense. If you sit down and eat ribeye until you're full, and the person beside you eats Little Debbies until they're full, the person beside you is going to be consuming a shit ton more calories than you are.
Meat is not the cause of obesity.
Insufficient exercise *and* over-eating is the 'cause of obesity. Half an hour of "light" exercise a day is not fitness. Exercise of more than a continuous hour a day - every day - leads to a raised metabolic rate even when not exercising. Few jobs (if any) in the modern western world give you an hour of continuously raised heart beat a day. Most football players are not as fit as our many of our ancestors were a hundred years ago - or as much of the world (so called third) is now.
APK, I’m considering going to the police. Those allegations are libelous and I suggest you back off.
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
Unexpected Branch to Fishkill