Dolphins save swimmers from shark

CNN.com – Dolphins save swimmers from shark – Nov 22, 2004: “Lifesavers Rob Howes, his 15-year-old daughter Niccy, Karina Cooper and Helen Slade were swimming 100 metres (300 feet) off Ocean Beach near Whangarei on New Zealand’s North Island when the dolphins herded them — apparently to protect them from a shark.

‘They started to herd us up, they pushed all four of us together by doing tight circles around us,’ Howes told the New Zealand Press Association (NZPA).

Howes tried to drift away from the group, but two of the bigger dolphins herded him back just as he spotted a three-meter (nine feet) great white shark swimming towards the group.

‘I just recoiled. It was only about 2 meters (6 feet) away from me, the water was crystal clear and it was as clear as the nose on my face,’ Howes said.

‘They had corralled us up to protect us,’ he said.”

Disoriented

at 2:30 AM last night, my dogs started howling.

This in itself is not that unusual, but the lazy things were inside, on the couch, when they did it. Normally they run outside so their howls can be heard by every dog within three miles of the house. Must’ve been an ambulance out on the highway or something.

Well, I got them shushed and by the time I got back to bed I found two children that had been stirred by the noise. I try not to take it personally, but when they climb into our bed their heads point toward mom and their feet toward me. Or more specifically, my face and my crotch (two kids, they got it all covered). No matter how many times I turn them or move them or warn them (“Don’t kick dad in the face, it makes him sad”) they find their way back. Squirmy little monsters.

So, I grabbed my pillow and went to their bed and curled up in the bottom bunk. I have to curl up since it’s a kids bed and not long enough for me (almost, but not quite). The guest bed would have been better but it’s covered in toys and clothes that I haven’t quite put away. Since August.

An hour later I woke up and tried to focus on the digital clock across the room. This isn’t an easy task at any time, since I am extremely nearsighted and don’t usually sleep with my glasses on. But last night it was worse – the clock kept swimming around in circles. Fast, dizzy circles.

It finally occurred to me that I might be a little drunk, since I had a glass of wine while watching Monday Night Football, and had a very empty stomach, since my last meal was on Saturday evening and I threw up all day Sunday and only had a bagel on Monday. And I also might have had two glasses of wine. I think I finally drifted to sleep around 4:00 or 5:00.

Stoopid dogs. I could hear them snoring the whole time.

Mother of God! The cost of a US sandwich!

If the Aussies didn’t think we were nuts before, they do now.

Mother of God! The cost of a US sandwich! – National – www.theage.com.au

This is a subscription so the article will probably only be up for a bit. So here ’tis. And I promise to cut back on my VMGC posts.


A Florida woman who said her 10-year-old grilled cheese sandwich bore the image of the Virgin Mary will be getting a lot more bread after the item sold for $US28,000 ($A35,814) on eBay.

GoldenPalace.com, an online casino, said it had made the winning bid. Company executives said they were willing to spend “as much as it took” to own the half-sandwich with a bite out of it.

“It’s a part of pop culture that’s immediately and widely recognisable,” spokesman Monty Kerr told The Miami Herald. “We knew right away we wanted to have it.”

Photos on eBay show what can be viewed as a woman’s face on the sandwich. GoldenPalace.com chief executive Richard Rowe said he would use the sandwich to raise money for charity.

Mr Kerr and Steve Baker, head of GoldenPalace’s management company, Cyberworld Group, flew to Florida yesterday to make arrangements for the sandwich handover with owner Diana Duyser.

“I would like all people to know that I do believe that this is the Virgin Mary, Mother of God,” said Ms Duyser, a jewellery designer.

The online auction site initially pulled the sale, saying it didn’t post joke items. The page was restored after the company was convinced that Ms Duyser would deliver on the bid, said eBay spokesman Hani Durzy.

Ms Duyser said she took a bite after making the sandwich 10 years ago and saw a face staring back at her. She put the sandwich in a clear plastic box with cotton balls. She said it never went mouldy.