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Wed, 27 Oct 2021
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Igloo

Spinning ice disc filmed on river near Houghton Lake, Michigan

ice disk
A Michigan woman on a snowmobiling trip captured video of a bizarre phenomenon: a disc of ice slowly rotating on the surface of a river.

Karla S. Dahms posted a video to Facebook showing the strange rotating ice circle she spotted in the Muskegon River, near the city of Houghton Lake.

Dahms said she had never seen anything like the ice disc in the river before.

Researchers determined the ice discs occur when cold air comes in contact with an eddy in the river and the ice forms into a circle, which rotates due to the current it creates by slowly melting.


Cloud Lightning

Lightning strike kills one in Malawi; third such death in the country within a week

lightning
A lightning strike has killed a man in Machinga district .

Police confirmed that Erick Idrissa aged 26 of Kambona Village, Traditional Authority Bwananyambi, Mangochi died suddenly after he was hit by lightning on Friday afternoon.

The deceased went to play football at Namasika Primary School Ground but soon after the match, heavy rains started accompanied by lightning.

He was hit by the lightning while rushing to seek shelter.


Postmortem results from Nainunje Health Centre revealed that the death was due to shock lightning.

Attention

Dead sperm whale discovered beached in Samal, Philippines

Beachgoers and residents gather around a beached whale in Babak, Samal on Saturday, December 17, 2016. The whale was alive Friday night, but died Saturday
© Dean Ortiz
Beachgoers and residents gather around a beached whale in Babak, Samal on Saturday, December 17, 2016. The whale was alive Friday night, but died Saturday
A 37-foot sperm whale washed up in front of a resort along Babak district in the Island Garden City of Samal.

The giant marine mammal was found beached on Friday night, December 16 before dying Saturday.

Cetacean expert Darrell Blatchley, who responded to the beaching, said the whale's carcass will be transported across the Davao Gulf to the Bone Museum in Davao City.

Curious residents and beachgoers gathered around the whale, which was already bleeding by Saturday.

A backhoe was used to slowly drag the whale toward the shore. One netizen shared on Facebook the hauling of the whale.

Black Cat

Bobcat attacks animal control officer near school in Odessa, Texas

bobcat
A scary moment for Bowie Middle School in Odessa, a bobcat was spotted on their campus.

The animal was tranquilized twice after trying to attack an animal control officer and died.

"Our intent was not to kill the bobcat. The intent was to subdue the threat and relocate it," said Cpl. Steve LeSueur of the Odessa Police Department.

Police say they have had bobcat sightings in the past, mainly on the outskirts of town.

"It's not uncommon for them to come into the city limits, especially kind of on the outline areas, especially near Commanche Trail Park and other areas like that," said LeSueur.

"If you do see it in the daytime, like this one was, chances are, it could be rabid," said Midland County Game Warden Patrick Merriman.

Comment: See also: Two hurt in bobcat attack in New Scotland, New York

Woman attacked by bobcat outside her home in Luverne, Alabama

Bobcat attacks woman sitting on a bench in Solvang, California

Massachusetts man attacked by bobcat in his garage


Health

Diver bitten by shark near Perth, Western Australia

Shark attacks
A Scarborough diver recovering from what is believed to be a shark bite claims fishermen gutting fish on the beach are attracting sharks to the area.

Tim Roberts said he had noticed a big increase in the number of sharks and other dangerous sea life, including stingrays, because of the fish tails and guts that wash out to sea after fishermen gut them on shore.

Mr Roberts, 61, was diving 100m offshore on Wednesday when what he believes was a shark punctured his left foot four times through his fin.

"I swam like crazy after I felt that," he said. "I was waiting for the inevitable big bite, but it never happened."

Health

Shark bites man's foot in New Smyrna Beach, Florida

Shark attacks
A 19-year-old New Smyrna Beach man suffered a shark bite to his right foot while surfing, according to a report.

Shane Garthwait said he was floating on his board when he felt a sudden tug on his right foot, which was dangling in the water, according to the questionnaire filled out for the Florida Museum of Natural History with the University of Florida.

The shark, which Garthwait didn't get a good look at, left a 1½ inch cut on the top of Garthwait's right foot, a half-inch cut on the back of his ankle and some bruising on his foot, according to the report.

Garthwait said he'd been surfing south of the Jetty for about an hour when he was bit Sunday afternoon and had seen two sharks swimming in the area prior, according to the report.

Garthwait declined treatment and said his father, a nurse, would look at the wound later, according to the report.

Fish

Mass fish deaths under investigation at Lake Tutira, New Zealand

Dead eels at Lake Tutira this week. Hawke's Bay Regional Council is investigating.
© Stevie Smitd/HBRC
Dead eels at Lake Tutira this week. Hawke's Bay Regional Council is investigating.
Another fish kill at troubled Lake Tutira in Hawke's Bay has authorities concerned.

About 20 dead or dying eels were found, and there were reports this week of dead trout at the lake, about 40 kilometres north on Napier.

It is the second time this year that a major die-off has been detected.


In January, trout and eels died en masse in an event thought to be linked to low levels of dissolved oxygen in the lake's surface water.

"Fish kills have not been uncommon. However, the occurrence of two large fish kills in two consecutive years is unusual and of particular concern," Hawke's Bay Regional Council said on Thursday.

Another victim at Lake Tutira this week.
© Stevie Smitd/HBRC
Another victim at Lake Tutira this week.

Bizarro Earth

Minor tsunami 'threat' after 7.9 magnitude quake hits off Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea earthquake map
© earthquake.usgs.gov
A powerful earthquake, initially measured at magnitude 8.0, has hit east of Papua New Guinea, according to the US Geological Survey. The tremor prompted New Zealand's Civil Defense to issue a tsunami warning, which was soon canceled.

"Widespread hazardous tsunami waves are possible," the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) said in a message after the quake, which struck the New Ireland region of Papua New Guinea at a depth of 73 km.

The tsunami waves are forecast to reach one to three meters above the tide level along some coasts of the archipelago in the South West Pacific region.

Snowflake

Rare snow storm drops 13 inches in Oregon, brings Portland to a complete standstill

Portland snowstorm
© twitter/@oregondot


Jammed traffic pictured during the snow storm in Portland on Wednesday
A rare snow storm brought Oregon's largest city to a halt, with thousands of vehicles barely able to move on Portland streets and on one of its main highways.

Commuters began leaving work early on Wednesday, hoping to beat the storm.

But they quickly found themselves on streets that were clogged with traffic that was inching along on snow-slick streets.

Cars fish-tailed, spun out, and collided. Motorists, some with their kids in their cars, who had made scant progress tried to keep their patience.

After more than three hours of waiting, some abandoned their vehicles and started walking.

Others hoped they wouldn't run out of gas.

Kimberly Wrolstad had been stuck on Interstate 5 heading to Tigard for about 90 minutes on Wednesday afternoon.

'It's frustrating,' she said. 'I don't know what's going on. I don't know if there are accidents. I know some of the trucks are having difficulties.'

Some drivers in Portland took to twitter to voice their frustrations about the clogged traffic.

'I've been stuck in snow traffic for over an hour & maps says it's going to take 2 more hours to get home,' Twitter user Cortney wrote on Wednesday amid the snow storm.

Attention

Signs and Portents: Woman delivers two-headed baby in Nigeria

Two-Headed Baby
A woman delivered a two-headed baby on Tuesday at a hospital in Ogudu on the outskirts of Lagos.

The baby was delivered around 6:30pm on Tuesday through an elective cesarean section by doctors at Med-In Specialist Hospital, Osogbo Street, The Nation reports.

The mother, surgeon and nurses were shocked to discover the anomaly, as various scans underwent in the course of the pregnancy indicated a set of twins.

According to one of the nurses who was in the delivery room, they had prepared two cots for each of the twins but were shocked when they saw that they were conjoined.

"This is the first time I am seeing anything like this. I have watched it in movies but seeing it in real life was such an experience for me. Thankfully, the surgeon ensured that they survived," said the nurse.

The baby was resuscitated and then transferred to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) for advance care on Wednesday.