GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Officials say a U.S. team is expected soon in the South American nation of Guyana to probe the crash of a Boeing 737 jetliner that all 163 people aboard survived.
Authorities so far have given little idea about the cause of Saturday's crash. The Caribbean Airlines plane ran off the end of a runway at Guyana's main airport and broke in two. About 30 people had to be treated at a local hospital, including the pilot.
The airline is largely owned by the government of Trinidad and Tobago and its prime minister has visited the crash site. Kamla Persad-Bissessar says she is worried that the accident will hurt tourism to the Caribbean, a region that depends heavily on the industry. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mensa:
I don't know about anybody's IQ, so I can't name names. But there are many (not few) whom I consider of excellent intelligence and wit. It's easy to see by their style of posting and lack of an instinctive need to insult another poster to make themselves feel better.
Frankie, I bet you're actually an OK guy...you just need to take your lumps when they're due and move on. I've made my mistakes in CP and "stood corrected". It's what big boys do, and you'll be better off for it and likely gain a little more respect, if that matters to you.
Of course politically, I think you're a loon. :-) [Reply]
Originally Posted by fan4ever:
Frankie, I bet you're actually an OK guy...you just need to take your lumps when they're due and move on. I've made my mistakes in CP and "stood corrected". It's what big boys do, and you'll be better off for it and likely gain a little more respect, if that matters to you.
I have "stood corrected" many times on this board. But only when I have been wrong. I have never been afraid to admit a mistake here.
Here, I am right to say structural failure can happen mid air and I posted the conditions under which it can happen.
Those who totally close their eyes to all possibilities but their own and those who have not had anything to say about the topic but have participated to insult and make fun are the ones who need to heed your advice. [Reply]
Funny, this is the exact cartoon I emailed to my son when he informed me of his invitation to Mensa. But that was of course in good fun, not out of spite or jealousy. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mensa:
I have "stood corrected" many times on this board. But only when I have been wrong. I have never been afraid to admit a mistake here.
Here, I am right to say structural failure can happen mid air and I posted the conditions under which it can happen.
Those who totally close their eyes to all possibilities but their own and those who have not had anything to say about the topic but have participated to insult and make fun are the ones who need to heed your advice.
Hey, everyone. It's your old brainy pal, Frankie. Here's an article about a plane that wrecked after driving off the runway. I'd like to take this opportunity to warn you that metal fatigue exists. Carry on. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Dartgod:
Are you saying that what happened in the picture in the thread starter could happen in mid air?
I'm saying planes can come apart in mid-air if they are old enough and neglected enough. The rest is a deliberate twist of my words by the regular CP idiots. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mensa:
I'm saying planes can come apart in mid-air if they are old enough and neglected enough. The rest is a deliberate twist of my words by the regular CP idiots.
Yes or no, could what happened to that plane happen in the air? [Reply]
Originally Posted by Scary article that has nothing to do with drowning:
Death of a Crocodile Hunter
Steve Irwin was famous for getting up close and personal with his deadly subjects. He leapt fearlessly on to the backs of man-eating crocodiles, wrestled Komodo Dragons and deftly juggled snakes as they sought to plunge their venomous fangs into his arm or face, all the while keeping up a lively commentary for the cameras of his multimillion-dollar documentary operation. Scratched, bitten and bruised, he would display his wounds like trophies, casually using gaffer tape to bind up a severe bite from a large saltwater crocodile that he had been wrestling in a mangrove swamp. And the Crocodile Hunter understood how his risk-taking made him a cult hero to millions in the 130 countries where his films aired: his fans aped his trademark cry of "Crikey, he nearly got me!" and flocked to his Australia Zoo in Queensland on Australia's east coast.
"Steve Irwin's all pretty interesting on the telly or in the movie and that, but by crikey, it's great when he gets bitten," he once told Australia's ABC television. "Now and again I do get bitten. But I haven't been killed. And it's that, you know, that sense of morbidity that people do have. There's no use sticking your head in the sand and going, 'Oh, no, they're only here because, you know, I talk well.' Nah, man, they wanna see me come unglued."
This morning, at 11am Australian time, things finally came unglued for the 44-year-old as he was shooting a documentary segment on stingrays. Snorkeling on Batt Reef , a stretch of the Great Barrier Reef about 15km from Port Douglas in North Queensland, Irwin happened to swim over a large ray which, startled, whipped its barbed tail upwards into his chest. He died instantly. Veteran marine wildlife documentary maker Ben Cropp, who has spent hundreds of hours filming on Batt Reef, says Irwin had come too close to a bull ray. Citing a colleague who saw footage of the attack, Cropp says Irwin had accidently boxed the animal in, causing it to attack. "It stopped and twisted and threw up its tail with the spike, and it caught him in the chest," says Cropp. "It's a defensive thing. It's like being stabbed with a dirty dagger." Says Cropp: "It's a one-in-a-million thing. I have swum with many rays, and I have only had one do that to me."
Fellow crew members dragged Irwin from the water and began cardio-pulmonary resuscitation while racing their boat Croc One to meet a rescue helicopter. Despite their efforts, he was pronounced dead at Cairns Base Hospital at noon. Outside the hospital his longtime friend and producer John Stainton said, "He died doing what he loves best, and left this world in a happy and peaceful state of mind. He would have said, Crocs rule."
Some in the animal conservation world felt it was perhaps inevitable that this larger-than-life figure would someday take one too many risks. "He had a long history of doing this kind of thing with dangerous animals; some people do these things and get away with it, and other times your number comes up," says Professor Grahame Webb, a crocodile expert who operates a crocodile park in Darwin. "He had huge experience with crocodiles and snakes and reptiles, but stingrays are quite different." Webb, who supports crocodile conservation but had clashed with Irwin over issues to do with sustainable development, believes Irwin had played a significant role in ensuring crocodiles were protected. "Conserving koala bears is easy. When it comes to conserving the nasties like spiders, snakes and crocodiles, and things that kill you and eat you, it's a different story to get people to value those animals. People say, 'What the hell are you conserving them for?' and he made a strong contribution in making people think a lot more about the values of conserving these animals."
Other wildlife conservation groups and experts were quick to pay tribute to Irwin. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals hailed him as a "modern-day Noah." Said RSPCA Queensland chief executive Mark Townend: "His loss will be felt by animal lovers not just in Australia, but all over the world." Queensland Museum director Dr. Ian Galloway described Irwin as "a dedicated naturalist who was actively committed to highlighting the plight of threatened species, and championing the cause of conservation. Steve Irwin was a special person whose energy and enthusiasm encouraged a whole new audience to better understand and become involved in conservation and science. He will be sorely missed." Prime Minister John Howard echoed the sentiments of many of his fellow Australians, saying the country had lost "a wonderful and colorful son."
Irwin is survived by his Oregon-born wife Terri and their children, two-year-old Bob and eight-year-old Bindi Sue.
