John Travolta's Dogs Killed Tragically at Maine Airport

John Travolta

Tuesday May 18, 2010 10:45 AM EDT Maine: John Travolta's Dogs were struck and killed at Bangor International Airport in Maine on Thursday, shortly after he and members of his family landed there.

The dogs were both on leashes while being walked, and were making their way to some grass when they were hit by an airport service truck.

"At approximately 1 a.m. on Thursday, May 13, 2010, an airplane carrying members of the John Travolta family landed at BIA. While there, two small dogs were taken for a walk by someone who is not a family member. An airport service pickup truck was approaching the airplane to service the airplane and did not see the dogs. Unfortunately, the dogs were struck and killed. The airport is investigating the accident.

Airport Director Rebecca Hupp deeply regretted the incident and told "Clearly, this is an unfortunate accident. Our deepest sympathies are with the family.” 

Travolta and Preston have one other child.

Somali Pirates Sentenced To Death By Yemeni Court

 Somali pirates sit behind bars at the courtroom of

a state security court in Sanaa September 29, 2009

Tue May 18, 9:30 am ET, DUBAI:   For hijacking a Yemeni oil tanker in April 2009, killing one Yemeni crew member and leaving another missing a Yemeni court sentenced six Somali pirates to death, the Defense Ministry informed Tuesday. Six other pirates were also sentenced to 10 years in prison in the hijacking, which also wounded four crew members of the "Qana" ship that was heading to the port of Aden. Six other pirates were sentenced to 10 years in prison in the hijacking, which also wounded four crew members of the "Qana" ship that was heading to the port of Aden. In recent days, heavily armed Somali pirates have made tens of millions of dollars in ransoms by hijacking ships in the Indian Ocean and the strategic Gulf of Aden, through which an estimated 7 percent of world oil consumption passes.

Part of Tuesday's ruling by a criminal court requires the convicted pirates to pay the company that owns the hijacked vessel, Masafi Aden, a sum of 2 million Yemen riyals ($9,200)  (US$ 1=217.00 Yemen Riyal). The Defense Ministry's online newspaper said the court would require Masafi Aden to pay a certain portion of the reparations to the Yemeni victims' families.

Somali piracy attacks have been on the rise in recent months, naval officials say, and their range is widening as pirates adapt to international efforts to thwart them.

Bret Michaels Poison Lead Singer Recovering After Suffering A Massive Brain Haemorrhage

Saturday, 24 April 2010: According to the latest news, the 47-year-old “Rock of Love” and “Celebrity Apprentice” reality star Bret Michaels, the Poison rocker is awake and under a stable condition now.

Amber Lake, the Season 2 winner of “Rock of Love” assured Bret’s friends and relatives that he is conscious and under a stable condition. Michaels was rushed to the hospital on Thursday night due to a massive brain hemorrhage.

The reality TV star was in critical condition after suffering from a massive subarachnoid hemorrhage and was kept in the intensive care unit. Michaels is also diabetic and had an emergency appendectomy on April 12 in San Antonio.

While he was in good spirits, Michaels also revealed just how serious his condition was before the surgery.

“I have played concerts with broken bones, extremely low blood sugars, the flu, colds, and all kinds of things before. I tend to try to perform at all costs. But, I knew I was really sick this time when I started throwing up that morning and didn’t stop all day. I just didn’t realize how bad it was,” he continued. “After the (surgery), they told me that if I had gone onstage like I wanted to, it likely would have ruptured and I could have died. Not good.”

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu withdrawals loyality to USA

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu withdrawals loyality to USA  and made it clear that the Prime Minister should not make concessions to the US for construction of 1600 new apartments for Jewish housing in East Jerusalem. There has been a flurry of diplomatic activity in and around Israel in recent days as part of an attempt to resume the peace talks.

Saint Patrick's Day Clebration on March 17th

 

It is a public holiday on the island of Ireland; including Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, as well as in Newfoundland and Labrador and in Montserrat. It is also widely celebrated by the Irish diaspora, especially in places such as Great Britain, Canada, the United States, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and Montserrat, among others.

Shamrock was being used by Saint Patrick to explain the Holy Trinity 

 The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit)

 

One of his teaching methods included using the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) to the Irish people. After nearly thirty years of teaching and spreading God's word he died on 17 March, 461 AD, and was buried at Downpatrick,

Saint Patrick is also the patron saint of engineers.

How Saint Patrick's Day Being Observed: Attending mass or service, attending parades, attending céilithe, wearing shamrocks, wearing green.

Parades in Common in USA:

Many parades are held to celebrate the holiday all through USA and other parts of the world. The longest-running of these are:

Boston, Massachusetts, since 1737

New York City, since 1762

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since 1771

Morristown, New Jersey, since 1780

New Orleans, Louisiana, since 1809

Buffalo, New York, since 1811

Savannah, Georgia, since 1813

Carbondale, Pennsylvania, since 1833

New Haven, Connecticut, since 1842

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, since 1843

Chicago, Illinois, since 1843

Saint Paul, Minnesota, since 1851

San Francisco, California, since 1852

Scranton, Pennsylvania, since 1862

Cleveland, Ohio, since 1867

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, since 1869

Kansas City, Missouri, since 1873

Butte, Montana, since 1882

Rolla, Missouri, since 1909

Rarest Flower in the World Blooms

 

 

It's one of the (if not the) rarest flower in the world: the Middlemist's Red exists in only two known locations: a greenhouse in the UK, and a garden in New Zealand. Imported to Britain two hundred years ago from China, back when flowers where a luxury item, it has since been exterminated in its original homeland. And now the Middlemist is blooming again--nice looking flower, right?

It's one of the (if not the) rarest flower in the world: the Middlemist's Red exists in only two known locations: a greenhouse in the UK, and a garden in New Zealand. Imported to Britain two hundred years ago from China, back when flowers where a luxury item, it has since been exterminated in its original homeland. And now the Middlemist is blooming again--nice looking flower, right?

 

The flower is in bloom for the next couple of weeks, and will be the star attraction at the reopening of the Chiswick House, the BBC reports.

The flower gets its name from the gardener John Middlemist, who first brought it back from China in 1804. 

 

And though there are only two known instances of this flower in the world, it's widely believed to be a possibility that there are still some being kept in gardens around the UK, unbeknownst to the gardener--it was once sold directly to the public.

All-black Penguin Exist In Nature

King Penguins are notorious for their prim, tuxedoed appearance -- but a recently discovered all-black penguin on the island of South Georgia near Antarctica seems unafraid to defy convention. In what has been described as a "one in a zillion kind of mutation," biologists say that the animal has lost control of its pigmentation, an occurrence that is extremely rare. Other than the penguin's monochromatic outfit, the animal appears to be perfectly healthy -- and then some. "Look at the size of those legs," said one scientist, "It's an absolute monster."

The under-dressed penguin was photographed by Andrew Evans of National Geographic. As the picture circulated, some biologists were taken aback -- including Dr. Allan Baker of the University of Toronto. His first response was disbelief:

Wow. That looks so bizarre I can't even believe it. Wow.

While multicolored birds will often show some variation, Dr. Baker explains that what makes this all-black King Penguin so rare is that the bird's melanin deposits have occurred where they are typically not present -- enough so that no light feathers even checker the bird's normally white chest.

Melanism is merely the dark pigmentation of skin, fur -- or in this case, feathers. The unique trait derives from increased melanin in the body. Genes may play a role, but so might other factors. While melanism is common in many different animal species (e.g., Washington D.C. is famous for its melanistic squirrels), the trait is extremely rare in penguins. All-black penguins are so rare there is practically no research on the subject -- biologists guess that perhaps one in every quarter million of penguins shows evidence of at least partial melanism, whereas the penguin we saw appears to be almost entirely (if not entirely) melanistic.

Whether or not the all-black look catches on in the penguin fashion world, it's nice to see someone dressing-down for once.