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Man bitten by scorpion on plane flight

Tribune staff reports
Posted March 3 2003, 8:07 AM EST

A 70-year-old man was in good condition early today after being bitten by a
scorpion while in flight to Chicago from Mexico.

“He felt something bite him on the back and right shoulder area several times,”
said Chicago Police spokeswoman Alice Casanova. “He took off his shirt and
discovered a small scorpion.”

The man’s son, who was traveling with him, killed the poisonous insect and
placed it in a plastic bag. The incident happened shortly after midnight.

Upon landing, the man was taken to Resurrection Medical Center, where he was
reported in good condition.

“He said he had no idea how the scorpion got into his clothing,” Casanova said.

The dead insect was turned over to hospital officials.

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB1046476188963467263,00.html?mod=technology_main_whats_new

Amazon Has Approval
To Sell Domain Names

By NICK WINGFIELD
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Amazon.com Inc. has quietly received the go-ahead to begin selling Internet addresses to users who want a piece of cyberspace real estate.

The Seattle-based Internet retailer in early December was accredited as a so-called “domain name registrar,” making Amazon one of about 160 companies and organizations that are permitted to register Internet addresses, or domain names, ending in familiar suffixes like “.com,” “.net” and “.org.” Amazon received accreditation from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or Icann (www.icann.org), the nonprofit group that oversees the administration of Internet addresses.

The development means that Amazon now has permission to register Internet addresses for any individual or business that wants a distinctly-named Web site or e-mail address. Amazon is not currently operating an Internet registrar yet, according to a spokeswoman for Icann, adding that it typically takes newly-accredited registrars several months to begin registering Internet domain names. Amazon was approved to register domain names ending in “.com,” “.net,” “.org,” “.info” and “.biz,” according to the Icann spokeswoman.

An Amazon spokesman declined to confirm that the company received approval to register domain names.

It isn’t immediately apparent how Amazon might incorporate domain-name registrations into its main business of selling books, music and other merchandise. A research report by US Bancorp Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster on Friday speculated that Amazon will offer Internet address registration as a convenience for its online merchant partners. In addition to its core retailing operations, Amazon is increasingly partnering with large retailers such as Target Corp. and Gap Inc. to help them sell goods over the Internet by operating their Web sites or providing traffic. Smaller Web merchants can also sell merchandise through Amazon’s site. Third-party merchants were responsible for 21% of the items sold through the Amazon site in the fourth quarter.

The financial hurdles to becoming an Internet registrar are negligible for a company of Amazon’s size. Icann requires that prospective registrars have at least $70,000 in available capital and $500,000 in commercial liability insurance. Icann charges a $2,500 application fee and $4,000 for the first suffix — such as “.com” — for which an applicant wants to register domain names, plus $500 for each additional suffix. That means Amazon’s fees to become accredited would likely have been around $8,500.

Registrars pay a wholesale fee of around $6 a year for every domain name they register. It is up to registrars to set the prices they charge individuals and businesses to register domain names, with fees ranging from under $8 to $35 a year for each domain name. Registrars are also required to pay Icann a quarterly accreditation fee that amounts to 12 cents a year for each domain name registered through them.

Write to Nick Wingfield at nick.wingfield@wsj.com

Updated February 28, 2003 7:10 p.m. EST

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2295308a10,00.html

Tiger mauls man who scaled fence
28 February 2003
By CHRIS MIRAMS

Horrified school children watched yesterday as a man scaled
a 4.5-metre fence at Wellington Zoo and was mauled by a
tiger.
The 29-year-old Wellington man, who has a history of psychiatric illness, suffered severe cuts to his neck and back.
He was in surgery for several hours last night.
Witnesses said the man told a woman with him what he was going to do, then
climbed the fence around the enclosure where six-year-old male tiger Rokan
was kept.
One witness said the woman “sat on the grass and put her shoes on and kind
of switched off from it” as the man was savaged.
After jumping into the pen, the man is thought to have tried to run, prompting
Rokan to attack him head-on, dragging him about 10 metres along the
fenceline.
Police said the man and his companion were patients of a Wellington Hospital
mental health unit.
Five students, third-formers from Palmerston North’s Freyberg High School in
their second week of secondary schooling, were at the zoo as part of a study of
animal behaviour.
Teacher Sue McIver was the first to raise the alarm when, just before 1pm, she
came across one of the students running from the scene. She sprinted to the
office and staff radioed animal keepers, who were finishing lunch.
Keeper Mark Turner, who has spent 18 years at the zoo and eight years in
charge of the tigers, found what he described as the “worst thing I’ve ever seen
in all my time . . . I’ve heard of things in other zoos that have been bad, but
nothing as bad as this.
“I looked in and saw Rokan sitting over the body with blood all over his face.
My first thought was, `Is this somebody I know? A keeper?’ I recognised it
wasn’t. He was lying on the ground. I thought he was dead.”
Mr Turner radioed for help and repeatedly called to the tiger.
Keepers then used hoses and the sprinkler system to try to drive Rokan away
from the injured man.
Mauritz Basson, life sciences manager at the zoo, fetched a rifle in case the tiger had to be shot. “He (the tiger) was
acting a bit strange and didn’t know what to do or where to go,” Mr Turner said.
The zoo’s female tiger, Cantik, was then moved alongside his cage and used to lure Rokan into a side chute.
Mr Turner went into the pen to check on the man, and was joined by off-duty Otaki policeman Brian Yanko. A visiting
doctor also helped till an ambulance arrived.
“He was bleeding from the neck and back and side,” Mr Turner said.
“We couldn’t see the back wounds initially. We weren’t sure whether to move him, because he was gurgling as his
throat was all punctured.”
The man was lucky he had chosen the male tiger’s cage, as females were more territorial and he would almost
certainly have been killed instantly, Mr Turner said.
Mr Basson said the tiger would not be put down as he had reacted naturally when his territory had been invaded. Mr
Turner said he did not expect any behavioural changes in Rokan as a result of the incident.
The school children had been tended to by Victim Support. A member of the zoo’s staff was trea
ted for shock. Anyone
who saw the attack is being asked to contact the zoo.

http://emazing.com/scorpio.jsp

Scorpio, during this New Millennium, all of us will be forced to take more responsibility for the consequences of our thoughts. More and more, we will see that our thoughts are forms of energy, that “thoughts are things.” We’ll realize they have the power to create an impact upon our physical bodies and upon everyone in our environment. Nowadays, everything is being speeded up. If we have negative thoughts, they will rebound on us much more quickly than in the past.

Today, while the Moon is passing through your 3rd House of “Mental Activity,” promise yourself that you will not hurt yourself today by engaging in negative thinking. Scorpio, you hurt yourself just as much by having negative thoughts about others as you do about yourself. Observe your thinking process more closely. Notice the connection between your negative thoughts and the bad things that seem to “happen” to you for no reason at all. “As a person thinketh, so shall she be.”

- Nolan Myers

‘Magine that!

I’m on alot of mailing lists and while I don’t diss anyone their writing styles; tho I can’t stand ur not alone type abbrieviating; I can’t understand why people can’t figure out the difference between then and than. I’m talking about educated people too. Drives me uppa wall; doncha know.

But then; every thing does. Menopause; maybe?