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Nokia Lumina 920: Most Innovative Smartphone In The World?

September 6, 2012 | More

Let us list the great innovators of our most recent century: In fiction, James Joyce; in popular music, John Lennon; in film, Stanley Kubrick; in pornography, Ron Jeremy; in frozen food, Hot Pockets; in screen savers, the 3D maze with the brick walls that you travel through; in reality television shows, “The Mole” with Anderson [...]
French Alps Shooting: 4 Found Shot Dead In Car Near Chevaline

September 6, 2012 | More

PARIS — Four people were found shot to death on a forest road in the French Alps on Wednesday, their bodies left in and near a car with British license plates, authorities said. A girl discovered at the site with bullet wounds was hospitalized. Police combed the wooded hills around the village of Chevaline into [...]
Costa Rica Earthquake 2012: 7.6 Magnitude Quake Hits Costa Rica

September 6, 2012 | More

CANGREJAL, Costa Rica — A powerful magnitude-7.6 earthquake shook Costa Rica and neighboring countries Wednesday, sending panicked people into the streets and briefly triggering a tsunami alert, but causing little damage. Authorities reported one confirmed death. “When we felt the earthquake, we held onto each other because we kept falling,” said Rosa Pichardo, 45, who [...]
Michael Clarke Duncan Funeral: Public Memorial Service At Forest Lawn Memorial Parks And Mortuaries

September 6, 2012 | More

LOS ANGELES — Michael Clarke Duncan’s life will be celebrated with a public casket viewing and a private service next week. Duncan spokeswoman Joy Fehily said Wednesday that the Oscar-nominated actor’s casket will be on view from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday at the Hall of Liberty at Forest Lawn Memorial Parks and Mortuaries [...]

Fin whale rolls over before passengers in rare event caught on video

tambapress | June 30, 2011 | 0 Comments

Capt. Larry Hartmann had never seen anything like it: typically elusive fin whales swarming the 34-foot boat he was piloting and interacting like playful dolphins as he and four passengers watched in awe. At one point a 60-foot whale rolled over like a puppy just beneath the surface alongside the vessel (see video).

This rare event, involving the world’s second-largest whale species (blue whales are the largest), occurred last week about 10 miles off Dana Point in Orange County, Calif. Fin whales can measure nearly 80 feet long and weigh up to 70 tons.

“It’s so beyond anything you can even imagine,” said Hartmann, a veteran skipper for Dana Wharf Whale Watching. “Typically with fins, it’s three breaths and down they go. Nobody has ever had this happen. No way. It’s impossible.”

Curious vessel approaches involving fin whales are not unheard of, according to American Cetacean Society researcher Alisa Schulman-Janiger. But the type of behavior Hartmann described might make a person think he was referring to much smaller and more gregarious humpback whales.

There were between 6-10 fin whales, each measuring about 60 feet, and at times they’d accelerate as they neared the boat, then dive beneath its hull. At several points he was concerned for the safety of his passengers because a collision appeared imminent, and fin whales have been known to breach.

These particular whales remained beneath the surface, however, though they were very clearly visible. “The family I took out keeps calling me because they still can’t believe what happened,” Hartmann said. “It was so surreal to be out there by ourselves, with no wind and with all of this happening.”