I'm feeling kind of anxious

[Pico and ME]

I'm wondering if shooting was really the humane thing to do. Might there not have been some unforeseen chance for them to survive the flood? Im mean, bison can swim. Of course, I don't know the details, but shooting just seems so final.

[footfootfoot]

Actually, eating them is final.

[infinite monkey]

Death is final.

Almost always.

[footfootfoot]

No, eating dead things is final. We discussed that.

[infinite monkey]

Death is my bread and danger is my butter...wait, that's not right. Danger is my bread...that's not it either. Death and Danger are my various breads and various butters.
[/paraphrasewhat'suptigerlily]

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Pico and ME

I'm wondering if shooting was really the humane thing to do. Might there not have been some unforeseen chance for them to survive the flood? Im mean, bison can swim. Of course, I don't know the details, but shooting just seems so final.

I imagine the zoo keepers did not expect to be shooting the animals they have been taking care of. But when I did go there a couple years ago, the zoo was a dump. Hershey Park is great, but they should close the zoo, it's not up to par IMHO.

HERSHEY, Pa. (WHTM) -

Officials with Hersheypark and ZooAmerica have confirmed the deaths of two bison caused by Wednesday's flooding.

Mindy Bianca, a spokeswoman for Hershey Entertainment and Resorts, said the bison were euthanized when zoo staff were unable to save them from the high water. She said the staff worked very hard and did the best they could under the conditions.

Bianca added that ZooAmerica staff spent the night at the park in order to care for animals that had been rescued.

Neighbors, meanwhile, were saddened and angered by what had happened after many of them said they watched the animals die in the flood waters.

"It looked like the animals were panicking," said one woman who watched the rescue efforts. "The two bison that were in the enclosure, their heads were barely above water and they were panicking."

Bancroft said the workers tried very hard to save the animals.

"The water, of course, kept getting higher and higher and they were just trying to keep their head above water, and at one point they had a rope and they were just trying to hook that around the horn of the bison," she said.

Neighbors insist there were many more deaths than just those of the two bison.

"The coyotes, a lot of them did not make it," said one witness. "A lot of them were standing on the hill. You could hear them crying from our house."

Bianca said the zoo does not have coyotes.

Some people said the park should have planned ahead for the heavy rains.

"I think Hershey should be called on the carpet for this, Jack Bancroft said. "There's no reason that animals should die. I guess it's just a write-off for Hershey."

at-least-2-zooamerica-animals-die-in-hershey-flooding

[infinite monkey]

Coyote deniers.

[Griff]

NYT

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has come under attack by some religious and political leaders for not including clergy members as speakers at Sunday’s official ceremony at ground zero on the 10th anniversary of the attacks.

It is wrong to say the ceremony excludes prayer or clergy members, Mr. Loeser said. Chaplains for the Fire and Police Departments and the Port Authority police often attend, and “we think most people use those moments of silence for reflection and prayer,” he said.

Kudos to Mayor Bloomberg (R) for not letting religious nuts control the commemoration of the attack by religious nuts. Say Michael, do you have time to run for President?

[classicman]

off topic, but glatt's post reminded me of this. The first responders were not invited to the ceremony.
According to Bloomberg, it is focused on the victim's families. really? so because these people didn't die,
they don't get an invite?
{END RANT}

[glatt]

Maybe there wasn't room? There were 2000+ victims. If you figure only 1 family member for each victim, you're already at 2000+ people. Then you figure the VIPs are gonna go. That's like 600-700 people if Congress and key administration people go. So, maybe 3000 potential people? And add the first responders to that and you are up to what, 3500?

The cathedral seats 900 max. Unless you are talking about another ceremony.

[HungLikeJesus]

I agree with classicman - they should only invite the people who died.

[classicman]

They had gone in the past. Did they change the location or something?

[Spexxvet]

Could it be expense? The current climate could get Bloomberg raked over the coals if this thing turns out to be exceptionally expensive.

[glatt]

I don't know where to post this, so it goes here. We were discussing the earthquake a bit in this thread, so it seems appropriate.

Engineers are inspecting the Washington Monument today. I need to go outside and see if I can see anything. They are going to rappel down it inspecting each joint and stone for earthquake damage. I had no idea there was a trap door at the top. It's 555 feet tall, and this dude, while tied off inside, is just holding on to the corner.

[glatt]

So I borrowed that picture above from the web, but this one is my own. I wish I had brought my good camera to work today. In this cell phone shot you can see the little fly speck at the top. That's this dude.