Freak Accident

[marvin4239]

Wow talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. this story came from MSN news.

MARATHON: Officials say a Michigan woman died after a stingray jumped out of the water and struck her in the upper body in the Florida Keys.

Wildlife officials say the spotted eagle ray hit the 55-year-old woman in the face or neck while she was in a boat with her family Thursday in Marathon. Her name and hometown aren't being released yet.

Officials say it's not clear whether the animal's barb struck her, or if the impact killed her.

Authorities say the spotted-eagle ray weighed about 75 pounds.

Spotted eagle rays can grow up to 17 feet in length, weigh up to 500 pounds and have a wingspan of up to 10 feet.

Wildlife officials say it's not unusual for the animal to jump into the air, but it is rare for them to collide with something.

"They can jump pretty high. I can't tell you how many feet - but they do jump high," said Joanne Adams of Florida Fish and Wildlife. "We see the sting rays jumping out there a lot. They are big, but usually they just jump and go about their business."

But she says if the ray is pursued, it will defend itself - even if that means leaving the water.

"If you do see one jumping, watch it from afar, enjoy it, but don't get up on it. God forbid, something like this would ever happen again," said Adams.

The animals are not aggressive and use the venomous tip at the end of their tail as a defense mechanism

[thataway]

This has been in the news (I suspect national, since it was Fox and Headline both) for several days in Florida. The force of the Eagle Ray hitting the lady's head was the cause of death; there was no barb penetration.

[T.R. Bauer]

Over the years I have had one 5 pound silver salmon jump into my open air skiff style boat while cruising at around 20 knots. It hit harder than heck and crashed into the metal 6 gallon gas can sitting on the floor and died nearly instantly. It it would have jumped a half second later it could have hit me. Clearly it would have knocked me out; perhaps way more. I can not imagine getting hit by something that big going 20-35 mph. What a way to go.

[iggy]

Sometimes it is 'just your time', and sometimes it is 'not your time'.

1. In Seattle years ago a guy was driving through a new (then) I-5 tunnel to the I-405 floating bridge. It was winter, the drainage system malfunctioned, and a 60-lb piece of ice fell through his windshield. He never knew what hit him.

Poor guy; apparently, it was his time to go.

2. In contrast, at a research conference about 20 years ago I heard a presentation about a medical-physiology expedition to Mt. Everest. On a descent from the summit one of the climbers slipped and started to fall. Purely by chance (?!) his hand punched through the snow . . . . . , and he found himself gripping a fixed rope that had been left in place several years earlier by another party! This gave him a chance to dig in, regain his footing, and continue the descent safely.

Apparently, it was not his time to go! (I don't believe they mentioned how many extra pairs of shorts the Sherpas had hauled up for them.)

-->> Related to these anecdotes is an old made-for-TV play on PBS called "Steam Bath" starring Bill Bixby and Valerie Perrine. (Controversial -- the first (brief) nudity ever shown on 'educational' TV.)

A group of strangers unexpectedly find themselves together in a steam bath, and it slowly begins to dawn on them that they might have just died . . . .

"Hmmm, What's the last thing you remember?"

"You don't suppose . . ?"

"What? "

"No! That's absurd! Are you out of your mind? How'd we end up in a steam bath, of all places? Do you see any pearly gates around here?"

While waiting to learn their 'final destination', God visits occasionally. They see him looking down and orchestrating a variety of scenarios below.

"See that Good Samaritan -- the guy who stopped to help the older lady change her tire? Have that drunk drop his cigarette and swerve onto the shoulder as he comes around the corner."

"See that woman sunbathing on her boat? Have that sting ray jump out of the water . . . . "

Steam Bath disappeared from the face of the earth for about 30 years, but recently appeared again on DVD. It sounds off the wall, but it is hilarious, philosophical, and thought-provoking, all at the same time.

Highly recommended if you can find it. (Netflix; Amazon).

(I don't mean to make light of the recent situation. OTOH, there's freak accidents, and then there's freak accidents. This one is way out there . . )

iggy

[Larry K]

She was from Pigeon, Michigan - it is in the upper west part of the thumb

See link ttp://www.wxyz.com/mostpopular/story.aspx?content_id=a63b1a96-d613-43b5-a9b9-9ebb65be53d0

For news report

Larry K

4 weeks to lunch (spring in Michigan can't come soon enough)