Newsworthy but not its own thread worthy

[ghost2509]

No, a French Pole Vaulter Did Not Lose Out on an Olympic Medal Because of His Crotch
People
yahoo.com
julie mazziotta
Aug 4, 2024

FOLLOW UP TO POST ABOVE ^^^^

The internet blamed Anthony Ammirati's "bulge" for ending his Olympic dreams — but the vaulter knocked down the crossbar with another appendage

French pole vaulter Anthony Ammirati won't be moving on to the men's pole vault final at the Paris Olympics — but contrary to speculation, it has nothing to do with his crotch.

Ammirati, 21, went viral on Saturday, Aug. 3 after a video of one of his pole vault attempts made it look like he failed to clear the bar because of his "bulge," which seemed to knock down the crossbar. The theory quickly picked up steam and spread like wildfire on social media and through headlines, but a closer look at the video shows that was not actually the case.

During the jump, Ammirati tries to clear the bar but first hits it with his shins and then his knees. It's already a failed jump, but to add injury (presumably) to insult, Ammirati knocks the bar off fully after he hits it with his crotch.

That jump, though, was not the reason Ammirati won't be competing in the pole vault final on Monday. In pole vault, each athlete gets attempts to make increasingly higher jumps, starting at 5.40 meters. Ammirati made the first two heights — at 5.40 and 5.60 — but in his three attempts at making the next height, 5.70 meters, he was unsuccessful. Nine other men hit the mark and qualified for the final.

So, truly: His bulge was not the cause of his botched Olympic run.

Instead, as expected, Sweden's Armand Duplantis will be the one to beat as he defends his gold from the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Crotch issues have afflicted Olympic pole vaulters before, though. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Japan's Hiroki Ogita also went viral for bulge issues, when his leg, then crotch, then arms took down the crossbar during qualifications.

“I never expected the foreign media to take me down like this,” he wrote in a post on X (then Twitter) after the event, according to BBC. “It’s one thing if it was true, but I have to say I’m pretty devastated that they’d go so far to make something up to mock and ridicule me so much.”

Ogita did add, though, that he found it comical in retrospect.

“Watching again, this is pretty funny, if I say so myself. LOL.”

[Lonewolf]

In upstate NY, dealing with the remnants of Hurricane Debby... just got an estimated 6-8" of rain in the last 2 1/2 hours. Roads flooded.

Ark on back order.

EDIT: Just took a reading... 11" in 2.5 hours.

[ghost2509]

Illinois school worker pleads guilty to stealing $1.5M worth of chicken wings

KLAS
8newsnow.com
Ben Bradley
Aug 11, 2024

HARVEY, Ill. (WGN) — An Illinois woman has pleaded guilty to stealing $1.5 million worth of food, mainly chicken wings, from the school district where she worked.

Vera Liddell was the food service director for Harvey School District 152 near Chicago.

Cook County prosecutors accused her of stealing massive amounts of food meant for take-home meals for students learning remotely during the pandemic.

She allegedly ordered more than 11,000 cases of chicken wings from the school district’s food provider and then picked-up the order in a district cargo van.

“The massive fraud began at the height of COVID during a time when students were not allowed to be physically present in school,” read a proffer presented at Liddell’s bond hearing last year. “Even though the children were learning remotely, the school district continued to provide meals for the students that their families could pick up.”

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office told Nexstar’s WGN that Liddell entered a guilty plea on Friday, August 9, and received a 9-year prison sentence.

The scheme was first uncovered by the district’s business manager during a routine mid-year audit. The manager found the district was $300,000 over its annual food service budget despite only being halfway through the school year, according to prosecutors.

[ghost2509]

Why billions of crabs vanished from the Bering Sea and human diets

Earth
msn.com
Sanjana Gajbhiye
Aug 22, 2024

When you think about beautiful, crisp Alaskan landscapes, you might also picture the bustling activity of the Bering Sea - a hub for seafood like snow crabs. But what if the landscape is changing, and not just visually? In the last few years, billions of crabs disappeared from the Bering Sea and the event has alarmed both fishermen and scientists alike.

Crabs in the Bering Sea

Picture this: we're in 2022. Fishermen cast their nets with the hope of reeling in a rich harvest of crabs, but what they find instead is stark emptiness. A baffling number of crabs have vanished from the waters.

Was this a case of overfishing? Scientists were quick to dismiss the theory. The culprit, they believed, was the surprisingly warm water that sent the crabs' metabolism soaring, leading them to starve to death.

This isn't an isolated incident. The tragic end of these creatures signals a much broader shift taking place in the region. As the Bering Sea experiences a significant warming trend, it is becoming less Arctic and more like sub-Arctic regions.

Science behind the change

The findings we're discussing stem from a recent study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

According to the study, warmer, ice-free conditions in the southeast Bering Sea are now roughly 200 times more likely than before humans started pumping planet-warming fossil fuels into the atmosphere.

To put this into perspective, the Bering Sea ecosystem today is drastically different from what it was within the lifetime of a single snow crab fisherman.

The study's lead author, Michael Litzow, also the director for Alaska's Kodiak lab for NOAA Fisheries, warns that this trend indicates a future with more very warm years, whereas truly Arctic conditions will become sparse.

Decline of snow crabs in the Bering sea

Snow crabs, a cold-water Arctic species, largely flourish in areas where water temperatures hover below 2 degrees Celsius.

An extraordinary heat wave in 2018-2019, however, proved devastating. As warmer waters sped up the crabs' metabolism, the supply of food couldn't keep up, and the crabs starved to death by the billions.

This ecological disaster had a ripple effect, severely distressing Alaska's fishing industry. The snow crab, a commercially valuable species, contributes up to $227 million a year, according to the NOAA study.

Call for adaptation

"How are we going to do business differently as this process gets worse and worse for the snow crab fishery?" Litzow asked, hinting at the urgency to adapt.

While Litzow remains hopeful for a short-term recovery, citing the recent cold conditions and fresh spawning of young snow crabs, he notes, "the odds are for continued poor conditions."

The declining population of Alaskan snow crabs in the Bering Sea is indicative of a wider ecosystem change in the Arctic, as seas warm and ice melts.

The ocean around Alaska is becoming inhospitable for several marine species, including the red king crab and sea lions. On the flip side, warmer waters are attracting new species, which pose a threat to the existing ones.

An ecosystem in flux

One notable event that illustrates the changing ecosystem took place during the 2018-2019 heat wave. Pacific cod, which typically can't survive in the extremely cold habitat of the snow crabs, were able to thrive in the unusually warm waters and they ate a portion of the remaining snow crab population.

Robert Foy, director of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, highlighted that these vast ecosystem changes are presenting "new challenges and opportunities for fisheries science and management."

Despite not being involved with the study, Foy spoke about the current efforts to leverage new technologies like drones and artificial intelligence to better respond to environmental changes and ecological responses.

Climate change bellwether

The gravity of what's happening in the Bering Sea can't be understated. The Arctic region has warmed four times faster than the rest of the planet, with potentially dire consequences.

Litzow referred to the Bering Sea as a "bellwether" for what's to come, a chilling reminder of the impacts of climate change.

Before we conclude, it's crucial to recognize this isn't just a distant environmental issue. It's a matter that directly affects people's livelihoods. It's time we paid more attention to the changes happening in our world.

To the fisherman casting his net in the Bering Sea, or the consumer buying seafood at the market - this isn't just a tale of the changing seas, it's the story of our changing lives.

[ghost2509]

Labor Day leaves Colorado river polluted with painkillers and cocaine

msn.com
Story by Dave Golder
Sept 3, 2024

There could be a hidden cost to rivers from Labor Day revelry, according to the results of a study that found painkillers, cocaine and other pollutants in a Colorado river following a previous year’s bank holiday fallout.

Because while Labor Day encouraged people to take their rafts and inflatable tubes out onto the water for some fun, they’re also doing what people invariably always do when they’re in the open water – having a sneaky, secret pee. And what they’re passing can give scientists a snapshot of what they’ve been putting into their bodies before expelling it.

And it seems that’s not just beer and pizza.

According to The Colorado Sun, a study conducted by the Colorado School of Mines and Johns Hopkins University focused on a 1.5-mile stretch of Clear Creek, a popular spot for tubing and rafting, during Labor Day weekend 2022. The small pilot study found elevated levels of lead, bacteria linked to the human gut, signs of painkillers, signs of cocaine and more in the water.

“You can almost think about it as a fingerprint of the activities that are going on,” said Carsten Prasse, an assistant professor in the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. “What that probably means is that people are peeing in the water, which is not that surprising. We know from swimming pools that people do that all the time.”

However, while that may lift the lid on what certain revellers are getting up to over the holiday weekend, there’s a legal substance that humans are introducing into the water – and not by peeing – that’s of far more ecological concern: suncream.

“Chemical-based sunscreen filters are probably, in my opinion, the more concerning compounds because we know these UV filters can be problematic for aquatic species,” said Prasse.

While the contaminants’ levels returned to normal soon after the holiday weekend, the study raises important questions about the long-term impact of such activities on Colorado’s waterways – and indeed waterways everywhere that humans use for leisure activities. Clear Creek is just one of many rivers facing growing pressures from population increases and recreational use.

[ghost2509]

To beat the heat, an Arizona man offers free water. His HOA is fining him.

The Washington Post
Daniel Wu
September 5, 2024

At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, David Martin took a water cooler and placed it on his driveway in front of his Goodyear, Ariz., home. He filled the cooler with water bottles and ice and told anyone who passed by to take one.

It was just a small gesture to help his neighbors during a hard time, Martin told The Washington Post. He decided to keep it going, and the cooler, with Martin’s offer of free chilled water, has sat outside his garage ever since. His neighbors have gratefully obliged. So have delivery drivers, dog walkers and passersby playing basketball at a park near his house, especially this summer as southern Arizona scorches under a record-breaking heat wave.

The only objection, Martin was stunned to discover, came from his homeowners association.

In April, Martin’s HOA began fining him and his wife for violating an association rule to store items out of view, according to Martin and letters Martin shared with The Post. It increased to hundreds of dollars in the following months. The group, whose complaints were first reported by AZFamily, threatens to continue fining Martin until he removes his water cooler, he said. He refuses to pay.

“I’m doing what I believe in to take care of the community, to show that my family is positive and that we are here if you need us,” Martin, 50, said. “It’s a simple thing. It’s a water cooler.”

The Canyon Trails Unit 4 West Community Association, Martin’s homeowners association, said in a statement that it did not object to Martin providing water but that “the community’s rules do not allow a resident to advertise water bottle distribution from a portable ice chest, located next to their garage that is visible from neighboring property.”

“The Board has diligently worked with the resident so as to allow him to continue making water bottles available, and has simply requested that the portable ice chest be screened from view,” the statement read. “Regrettably, the resident has declined to work with the Association to achieve a mutually agreeable resolution.”

Martin denied that the association had been cooperative in addressing the issue. A manager from FirstService Residential, the property management company used by the association, declined to speak with Martin in late August about the violation, arguing he wasn’t an owner of the home in emails shared with The Post. (Martin’s wife owns their house, according to Arizona property records.)

“As the community’s management partner we continue to work closely with the board to create solutions that will support all of our valued residents while also complying with established association guidelines,” a FirstService Residential spokesperson said in a statement.

The association’s attorney, Javier Delgado, and FirstService Residential did not comment on their correspondence with Martin.

When Martin began offering water outside his home as a neighborly gesture in the spring of 2020, as the pandemic raged, he also set out cleaning supplies and toiletries from grocery stores each morning. His neighbors came by to take what they needed.

“My garage was the local bodega,” Martin said.

The water cooler stayed. In the years since, Martin said he’s gotten to know his neighbors and the delivery drivers who stop by for refreshment. He stacked the cooler on a crate to make it easier for elderly neighbors to use and bought a used freezer from Walmart to freeze the water bottles so he didn’t have to keep buying ice.

In May 2022, Martin’s HOA first told him and his wife that the water cooler violated community rules, he said. He called to complain.

“I requested three things,” Martin said. “I would like a written apology, a public apology and a pallet of water.”

He got one of the three. Martin received a reply apologizing that the violation was sent to him in error, and he thought the case was resolved, he said.

Two years later, the HOA came calling again, with a fine.

The association issued warnings to Martin and his wife in February and March before starting to fine him in April and increasing the fine each month, Martin said. They have been fined $475 as of September, he said.

Martin did not appeal the fines but again contacted the homeowners association to make his case, he said. It did not budge. In August, a FirstService Residential manager told Martin the issue was closed and that fines would continue accruing until he removes the water cooler. The manager recommended Martin obtain legal counsel, according to emails shared with The Post.

The association’s insistence on punishing Martin and his wife for what they view as a harmless act is bewildering, Martin said, not least because of the recent weather. Temperatures in Phoenix hit 100 degrees for the hundredth day in a row on Tuesday, The Post reported. In one of his last exchanges with FirstService Residential, Martin emphasized the hellish conditions that Goodyear, which is about 20 miles from Phoenix, has sweltered under this summer.

“It is one of the reasons I’ve been fighting it as hard as I am,” Martin said to The Post. “ … It’s horrific.”

Martin said he does not plan on moving his water cooler or paying fines, though he is still paying his HOA’s dues. His cooler, still stocked with ice cold water bottles in his driveway, has a new message written on its front in marker: “Please grab a water! Even you HOA.”