Religious Wingnuts: Your Wish Has Come True Because I am Dead

I'm offended.

I thought you were Bob O'H......

Where on earth (or beyond earth) did you get that image? Yikes! Whatever happened to "love your neighbor" and mercy and all that?

As soon as I heard the news, this was the first stop--had to check on Grrl...

But when I heard it was birdstrike, I knew you must be safe. Professional courtesy, and all...

EyeNoU - I think you've just offended both of us....

I'm not sure if I'm offended... but to be sure, that guy in the flames is prolly a whole lot warmer then them what got fished from that plane in the water.

Now to more important questions...

Has anybody identified which mystery bird caused the crash?

Media is reporting a flock of geese, which would be consistent with both the geography and the loss of both engines.

the rumor mill sez they be canada geese.

apparently, the engine caught fire -- they could smell flame-broiled goose on their way into the river.

I can only imagine the smell of burnt, diced feathers.... eeeeeewwwww...

glad you weren't on board, how's the arm?

considering the blog traffic that such a story would generate, i am actually disappointed i wasn't on board (as is my landlord), although i'd be furious if my new laptop and my digital camera were ruined in that iceberg-cold water (and yes, NYC was miserably cold and snowy before i left today!).

my arm is alright, although i am somewhat concerned that i might have broken the ulna in two places rather than just one. but the good news is that i've met PalMD today and he is a hot d00d, so maybe i'll let him look at my cruelly misshapen arm -- i hear that some guys actually like that kind of thing.

Nice link, I like it.

HELL is for those who hate Christ, those who are unbelievers, fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, abusers of themselves with mankind, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortioners

Hmmm...god is love. Best not be effeminate, though.

( I will refrain from comment on the "abusers" part.

"the rumor mill sez they be canada geese."

Why do Americans always blame Canada when something happens?

HI Grrlscientist:
You missed out on free Pâté de foie gras though!

Why do Americans always blame Canada when something happens?

Because we know how envious you are of our high-priced medical system, pot prohibition, heterosexual-only marriage laws, southern-border "security" fence, and other cultural advantages you'd glom for yourselves in a Newfie minute if we ever let our guard down.

Grrl - pls let yr new doodfriend look at your wing with one of those x-machines!

Lucky you. It's awfully cold where I am. But looking at the pic gave me an idea--there's the solution to the energy problem. It's free, it's fun, & it's endless.

Hey, we all know that Christians who spend their whole lives helping the poor and then die in plane crashes go to hell. So Grrlscientist is pretty lucky.

In other news, I'm a bit disturbed that the first thing I thought of when reading this post was this Jack Chick tract:
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0041/0041_01.asp

Why do Americans always blame Canada when something happens?

Because Canadians are so polite they'll apologize for things Americans did themselves.

Can't remember which comedian it was who had the sketch about birdstrike (think it was Eddie Izzard) but it was hilarious. He noted how the term suggests that it's a malevolent act by the birds as if they see this giant competitor for their airspace and initiate a suicide mission to take it down :)

"idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, abusers of themselves with mankind, thieves, "

Actually a bit of a translation issue there. The origional is in greek, and the words translated as 'effeminate, abuses of themselves with mankind' are, well, lost. Noone knows what they mean. Their derivation and placement after 'adulterers' suggests something sexual though, so earlier translators made a wild guess it should be a reference to homosexuality. Everyone since then just copied the earlier assumption.

Don't get your hopes up though - the Leviticus verse isn't at all ambiguous in translation or wording. This just means one fewer anti-gay verse than is often assumed, there are still plenty more.

On an unrelated subject... the identification of the birds will be a while. When a bird goes through a jet engine, the usual method of identification is to send the remains to a suitable institution (The Smithsonian will do it) for microscopic examination of the feather fragments - there isn't enough remaining of the remains for any other means of species identification.

So, hell looks like piss poor photoshopping? The horror!

Grrl, Hopefully you'll let PalMD can fix your arm.

To Suricou Raven, couldn't they do a DNA analysis rather than having to examine the feather remnants?
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The pilot should be commended on his exceptional skill, bravery and cool head in such a situation, a lot of people owe him their lives (either side of the river as well as on the plane). The plane designers and builders also deserve praise.

The latest word is that the crash is due to a bird strike.

It was caused by a strike? ****ed unions, ruining everything.

HI:
Yes, the DNA remains of the bird(s) involved (technically called SNARGE) will probably be sent to the Smithsonian for identification. The woman who usually does this is Carla Dove (yes, that's her real name!).

You don't need DNA to identify the bird species. I'm far from expert, and I can identify a whole lot of species from just a couple of feathers (thanks to Cooper's Hawks in my neighborhood).

And I do believe you can ID any species when you look at a feather fragment under the microscope.
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I agree, the pilot should be commended for keeping his wits about him and ditching the plane well. But, it's his job, it's what he was trained to do, he's supposed to ditch it right. I would expect as much from anyone who takes it upon themselves to pilot aircraft.

I remember a takeoff from O Hare in 727. Still on the ground, high speed. A flight of alleged Canadian geese were coming from the right, low level, starting to cross runway. Goose One must have spotted us and called 'break right'. The whole formation started a turn. Man did they pull some Gs. Wingtips straight up. As we passed I was looking at their bellies with gear tucked tight. No hits. Good flight leader.