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2006-11-15 -Short Attention Span Theater-

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Posted by .com 2006-11-15 00:16|| || Front Page|| [11131 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it ...

Wait for it ...

Right then! Was it an African swallow or a European swallow?

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2006-11-15 00:28|| 2006-11-15 00:28|| Front Page Top

#2 And that, dear children, is the reason why red-rumped swallows are rare on the East Coast of Scotland.

Posted by GK 2006-11-15 00:45|| 2006-11-15 00:45|| Front Page Top

#3 Well, you have to know these things when you're a king, you know.

Posted by tzsenator 2006-11-15 00:52|| 2006-11-15 00:52|| Front Page Top

#4 I don't know that!

sproooooing!

Aaaaaauuugh!

/not to the Holy Grail's Bridge of Death

Posted by OldSpook 2006-11-15 01:34|| 2006-11-15 01:34|| Front Page Top

#5 grrr... NOD not NOT.

Posted by OldSpook 2006-11-15 01:35|| 2006-11-15 01:35|| Front Page Top

#6 Global warming is somehow to blame.

Posted by Lou 2006-11-15 01:46|| 2006-11-15 01:46|| Front Page Top

#7 I searched the world over,
And thought I found true love.
You met another
And Phht! you were gone.

/10-point Trophy Buck... Owens

Posted by .com 2006-11-15 01:56|| 2006-11-15 01:56|| Front Page Top

#8 Let me guess: The red-rumped swallow had not paided its required carbon tax?

Posted by 3dc 2006-11-15 02:14|| 2006-11-15 02:14|| Front Page Top

#9 OldSpook, that you are a fan of Monty Python (whom I've seen live - at the Hollywood Bowl), makes everything complete. Not that I thought you weren't, mind you. It's just that knowing this for sure is ever so pleasant.

My left upper appendage sports a hand that grasped the upper-right arm of John Cleese during his "Gannet Ripple on a Stick" sketch. I've yet to wash it since.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2006-11-15 02:50|| 2006-11-15 02:50|| Front Page Top

#10 Well if its stupid enough to turn up to scotland in a red coat , expect to get stuffed

English eventually learnt the lesson but I guess noone told the swallow about dress code in the highlands :)

Posted by MacNails 2006-11-15 05:21|| 2006-11-15 05:21|| Front Page Top

#11 The sparrowhawk, Accipiter nisus, is a large and common predatory native that preys on at least 120 species of small bird as well as on small mammals. The swallow, by contrast, lives on a diet of insects that it catches on the wing.

A clear case of evil carnivore vs. good insectivore (I know, I'm not sure why one hunter is better than the other just because the animals it eats are smaller and have more legs)... and evil won this time. Would it have been more sporting had the foreign invader been eaten by a native swallow instead? What is it about "newspapers of record" and bad writing with exquisite grammar?

Posted by trailing wife 2006-11-15 06:31|| 2006-11-15 06:31|| Front Page Top

#12 "The sparrowhawk, Accipiter nisus, is a large and common predatory native that preys on at least 120 species of small bird as well as on small mammals. The swallow, by contrast, lives on a diet of insects that it catches on the wing."

Why was nobody "horrified" about the helpless insects snuffed out by this foreign invader?

/bunny-hugger mode off

Posted by no mo uro 2006-11-15 06:37|| 2006-11-15 06:37|| Front Page Top

#13 Had anyone of those birdwatchers brought a gun instead of a useless camera this would have not happenned.

How about opening a chapter of the NRA in Scotland?

Posted by JFM">JFM 2006-11-15 07:21|| 2006-11-15 07:21|| Front Page Top

#14 I think birdwatchers who bring guns are called "hunters".

Posted by anonymous5089 2006-11-15 07:36|| 2006-11-15 07:36|| Front Page Top

#15 Maybe we could open a dialog with the hawk to try and understand what the sparrow did to warrant being eaten? My guess is the hawk is mearely reacting to a long held anger against the sparrows forefathers. If we could get the hawk to talk it out I'm sure it would come to the realization that we are all birds together on this planet and we can live in harmony as long as we all understand each others needs and honor the good aspects of each species culture. Then it could live peaceably with the sparrow until the hawk starved to death.

Posted by BrerRabbit 2006-11-15 08:41|| 2006-11-15 08:41|| Front Page Top

#16 Accipiter nisus is the species of peace and love.

Posted by mrp 2006-11-15 09:24|| 2006-11-15 09:24|| Front Page Top

#17 I saw one snap up a chipmunk once. If you blinked, you'd have missed it.

Posted by tu3031 2006-11-15 09:27|| 2006-11-15 09:27|| Front Page Top

#18 Its Bush's Fault!

Lets have a full investigation! I want hearings! I want a Special Procecutor! I know Karl Rove is behind this somewhere! I want a Pony!

-- Speaker Pelosi

Those Marines are cold Blooded killers! Look what they did to that Sparrow! I want them brought up on charges! Oooohhhh... money......

--- Congress[man?] Murtha

Posted by CrazyFool 2006-11-15 09:34|| 2006-11-15 09:34|| Front Page Top

#19 Reminds me of the seal(?) the animal rescuers saved and brought back to health. They released it into the sea with much fanfare and a huge gathering. Only to watch in horror as an orca snatched it.

Posted by Pappy 2006-11-15 10:03|| 2006-11-15 10:03|| Front Page Top

#20 Pappy: Which reminds of that exploding whale footage. It doesn't get any better than this, folks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtVSzU20ZGk

Posted by Excalibur 2006-11-15 10:31|| 2006-11-15 10:31|| Front Page Top

#21 Rofl! Oh man, I sure hope mucky doesn't drop by and see this...

Posted by .com 2006-11-15 10:35|| 2006-11-15 10:35|| Front Page Top

#22 Was it carrying a coconut?

Posted by mojo">mojo 2006-11-15 10:37|| 2006-11-15 10:37|| Front Page Top

#23 Why doesn't anyone think of the poor, easily traumatized birdwatchers? Think of all the socialist money spent on therapy damnit!! Won't somebody think of the accountants!

Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader 2006-11-15 11:18|| 2006-11-15 11:18|| Front Page Top

#24 Ya Pappy me too. My two sons, 9 & 11, were watching it and they both were shocked! Then they looked at me, I had no idea what to say through my tears of laughter,then the oldest said "circle of life I guess" and the conversation was over. I about wet my pants laughing. Wish I had taped that scene.

Posted by 49 Pan">49 Pan 2006-11-15 11:23|| 2006-11-15 11:23|| Front Page Top

#25 That exploding whale should stand as a lesson to all red-rumped swallows to wear bomb vests.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2006-11-15 13:36|| 2006-11-15 13:36|| Front Page Top

#26 Wasn't it Mel Blanc that said it best: " You're a chicken, and I'm a chickenhawk." Same principle, the stupid shall be eaten. Undoubtedly a male red-rumped sparrow. " And how do you know that" he asked.
Because the story says the bird took a wrong turn and didn't ask directions.

Posted by USN, ret. 2006-11-15 14:52|| 2006-11-15 14:52|| Front Page Top

#27 ~~Blowing the whale is a stinky dirty game~~
No comment.

Posted by wxjames 2006-11-15 15:18|| 2006-11-15 15:18|| Front Page Top

#28 Something like this happened a while back, except it was an American bird that wandered into Britain and got et. I like birdies n wildlife n such, but:

We had just phoned local birdwatchers to tell them of this rare occurrence. Then we had to ring them back and tell them it had been eaten.

It would take a heart of stone not to laugh at that.

Posted by Angie Schultz 2006-11-15 16:46|| 2006-11-15 16:46|| Front Page Top

23:55 JosephMendiola
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