ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The trappers who caught and killed a giant rattlesnake in St. Johns County said the snake was 7 feet 3 inches long.Experts said it’s one of the biggest rattlesnakes they’ve ever seen.The rattlesnake slithered its way into Tuscany Village, a St. Augustine townhouse community, over the weekend.
If that snake was 7’3″ long, then I’m an M1 Abrams tank.
Look at the photos. An e-mail circulating around the internet (thanks, Chris!) states the snake was 15-feet long. I’m not so sure. But I’d posit the estimator was off by more than just a few feet.
Look at the thickness of the snake at its greatest point as compared to the deputy taking the photo in the top illustration. The snake appears to be roughly as thick as the thigh of the officer. The entire length of the snake is not seen in the top photograph — and, as you can see, the snake is curved towards the bottom.
That snake is easily longer than the deputy in the top photograph. And not just by a foot or so. Further, the second photo doesn’t even detail the full length of the creature. Fifteen feet? I don’t think so. But it’s clearly, in my opinion, longer than a mere seven feet.
One strike from that monster would kill a child in a matter of minutes, and kill an adult human. My guess is: you would not walk away from that snake’s bite, no matter how much antivenin pumped into you. The head and, thusly, the venom glands are simply too big.
Another reason that, along with heat and humidity and hurricanes and rampant pythons: you can keep Florida. Thanks but no thanks.
I think the Jaguars have nice uniforms. Does that help?
You were the last of a Great Generation, not only in football but in history.
For those too young to know, George Blanda #16 was the Oakland Raider backup quarterback to Kenny “The Snake” Stabler and Daryle Lamonica in the 70s.
With this addendum point: Blanda served in not only the #2 QB position, but he was also the team’s kicker. And well into his 40s. He played up to age 48. In fact, he served 26 years in the NFL — completely unheard-of today! When at the QB position, he was sacked like everyone else. Yet he came back year after year after year — when the rules were much less stringent for sacking and hitting, in a dual position!
ALAMEDA, Calif. — George Blanda, the seemingly ageless Hall of Fame quarterback and kicker whose 26-year career was best remembered for a remarkable run of late-game theatrics with the Oakland Raiders, has died. He was 83.
The Raiders confirmed the death Monday and issued a statement saying “we are deeply saddened by the passing of the great George Blanda. George was a brave Raider and a close personal friend of Raiders owner Al Davis.”
Blanda retired a month shy of his 49th birthday before the 1976 season, playing longer than anyone else in pro football history. He spent 10 seasons with the Chicago Bears, part of one with the Baltimore Colts, seven with the Houston Oilers and his final nine with the Raiders.
He scored 2,002 points in his career, a pro football record at the time of his retirement, kicking 335 field goals and 943 extra points, running for nine touchdowns and throwing for 236 more.
But it was a five-game stretch for Oakland in 1970 that is the lasting imprint from his career. As a 43-year-old, Blanda led the Raiders to four wins and one tie with late touchdown passes or field goals.
Later that season, he became the oldest quarterback to play in a championship game, throwing two touchdown passes and kicking a field goal in Oakland’s 27-17 loss to Baltimore in the AFC title game. His performance that season earned him The Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year.
The dude, clearly, had balls made of steel.
Blanda was one of the new league’s many prolific passers, throwing for 19,149 yards and 165 touchdowns in seven seasons for the Oilers. He was the AFL Player of the Year in 1961, holds AFL single-game passing record of 464 yards on Oct. 29, 1961, against Buffalo, and was chosen the league’s all-time kicker.
Blanda called all the plays as was common back then, and further stepped out when kicks were required.
Blanda threw for 26,920 yards in his career and held the pro football record with 277 interceptions until Brett Favre passed him in 2007. He retired with the most points in history before the total was topped by several players in recent years.
“It certainly doesn’t bother me,” Blanda said about losing the scoring record. “The one record I was happy to get rid of was the one for the most interceptions, when Brett Favre got that one.”
George Blanda was a gentleman’s gentleman.
And embodied class upon class.
Some submit that 1976 contained the Greatest Raider Nation ever, as Blanda played with:
– John Madden as Coach; – Ken Stabler as quarterback; – Daryle Lamonica as quarterback; – Fred Biletnikoff; – Ben Davidson; too awesome and too bad; – Jack Tatum at Safety (now passed); – Center Jim Otto, 00; – Linebacker Ted Hendricks – “The Stork” – Art Shell on OT; (future coach twice) – Gene Upshaw on guard; (and NFLPA president) – John Matuszak on DL; – Otis Sistrunk on DL; – Phil Villapiano at LB; – Willie Brown at CB;
God bless you, George Blanda.
You were the best that the Greatest Generation had to offer.
My dad loved to watch you play because you were about his age and you refused to go down to injuries or age or events. He rooted for you because you were he and he was you. You took the fight back to the enemy and didn’t make excuses or hold out for wages.
You have earned your rest.
You played longer than any other person in pro football history.
If no one else does, I honor you. Because I watched you play live. You gave Life your All.
John Kitzhaber, a Demorat candidate for governor of Oregon, attended a candidates’ event on Thursday night, September 23rd in Portland — at the Emmanuel Temple Church.
The article that I have linked in the prior sentence is penned by an individual, Jeff Mapes of The Oregonian, who writes:
The event at Emmanuel Temple Church in North Portland was sponsored by the Urban League and the African American Alliance and streamed live on KOIN TV’s web site. Event organizers said they made it clear at the start of the event that only KOIN would be allowed to film the event.
A series of questions: was this a public event or a private event? Was attendance strictly limited and closed to the public, or was it open to the public? Were attendees to sign an contract, a LOA, a non-disclosure statement, a paper acknowledging a no-video policy? Was this policy posted publicly prior to any and all entrance points, and made clear in advance? Was money demanded for attendance? The creators of the video indicate the venue was public. I suspect that is true. To continue:
However, the edited video shows that the activist continued to tape the event after he had been told to stop. “I’m sorry, sir, this is my First Amendment right to film this event,” the activist told one volunteer who asked him to stop. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to keep filming.”
Words have meanings. Isn’t it interesting how Mr Mapes terms someone with a video camera at a political event an “activist.” So there you have it. Where Leftists and Demorats are concerned, you are an “activist” if you dare to video events in a public venue.
To Mr Mapes: what law or codicil was broken by filming the event? Give me a specific section, a body of law, sir, that the person who created the video is in violation thereof.
What might you think would have happened had the roles been reversed and a, say, “liberal” videographer attended a Republican event and the events unfolded as above?
I posit: fodder for Leftists for, at least, a few weeks — splayed over the predominant DEM/MSM media over and over and over, wouldn’t you suspect?
As with all good and effective betrayals, it appears to have come from within and not without.
Mark Williams, most excellent Sacramento radio talk show host for many years (see my sidebar blogroll under California Links) believes that the TEA Party Patriots have been sold out by Fornicalia attorney Mark Meckler.
The problem with Mark Williams is that, like myself, he tends to be truthful and refuses to couch his words in euphemisms or PC buzzwords/ -phrases. He is as blunt as he is cutting-edge and insightful.
Now, new information seems to indicate that the TEA Party Patriots are being “sold” to an unidentified individual. For a million dollars. With the understanding that the Patriots’ membership individual informational lists will be included.
As previously reported, national Tea Party Patriots (TPP) leader Mark Meckler has secured an anonymous “donor” to finance Meckler’s buyout of the organization in what amounts to a hostile take over. Meckler has said that the money will go to the TPP local chapters but in a MarkTalk.com exclusive I can now reveal that the money will only be given to local chapters that turn the names and personal information of their entire membership over to Mr. Meckler.
On its face — given, not knowing all the miniscule details — this transaction tends to stink in a remarkable fashion.
There are HUGE questions to be asked here.
And, of course, there is more to the story. I intend to find out what is happening here.
I am sending an e-mail to Mr Williams so that he may be able to explain the necessary chronology and the inferences and outcomes. On any level imaginable, this does not look, sound or feel proper, moral or ethical.
Again, at first blush, it appears the TEA Party Patriots’ organization has been hijacked by an individual with ties to the Left and with possession of a massive amount of personal information which could be provided, at leisure, to concerns directly opposite those of persons who signed up for the organization at its outset.
In two words: potential betrayal. Or as convoluted as Charles Lutwidge Dodgson?
I try to acquire larfs wherever I can find them, and this cat video would have made me pass an horrific carbonated beverage through my nose had I been drinking one.
