Flock of geese cause plane to bail into Hudson River

… WTF.

A US Airways plane was down in the Hudson River on Thursday after attempting to take off from LaGuardia Airport, officials said.

US Airways Flight 1549, an Airbus A320, was headed to Charlotte, North Carolina, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

A passenger said he was “pretty sure” everybody on the plane got out.

“Somehow, the plane stayed afloat and we were all able to get on a raft,” said the passenger, Alberto Panero. “It’s just incredible now that everyone’s still alive.”

A New Jersey State Police source told CNN the pilot radioed to air traffic controllers that he had experienced a bird strike — when a bird or flock of birds is sucked into the jet engine — and declared an emergency.  Watch footage of plane in water »

FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown also said preliminary information indicates a bird strike. The plane was in the air for about three minutes before it went down, the FAA said.

U.S. Coast Guard units were responding, and a ferry on site was dropping life jackets into the water.

The New York Times, citing a local TV station, reported that the aircraft had 146 passengers and 5 crew members aboard.

The pilot tried to return to the airport when the plane fell into the Hudson, the Times reported. The Times said it was below 20 degrees in New York at the time the plane went down.

A couple of minutes after takeoff, “we just heard a loud bang,” Panero said.

“The plane shook a bit and … you could smell smoke and fire and immediately the plane started turning,” Panero said. “All of a sudden, the captain came on and said, ‘Brace for landing,’ and that’s when we knew we were going down.”

The plane approached the water at a gradual angle and made a big splash, according to a witness watching from an office building.

“It wasn’t going particularly fast. It was a slow contact with the water that it made,” said the witness, Ben Vonklemperer.

“It appeared not to have landing gear engaged. This was bigger than a puddle-jumper or sea plane. It was a silver aircraft and it basically just hit the water,” Vonklemperer added.

An Airbus A320 can hold a maximum of 179 passengers and a flight crew of two, depending on the configuration.

I don’t even have a suitable witty remark right now. Just… WTF?

1234567890

For the geek in me, this is pretty cool: On February 13, 2009 at 23:31:30 UTC, the Unix time will reach 1234567890 seconds.

[Thanks Hector!]

Photoshop adbusting in Berlin

This is a very public way of proving that no matter how pretty a celebrity is, there was a lot of work that went into making sure they look perfect. It’s a pretty cool site – scroll down to see this picture and others.

I shall call him… LegoBlago

Thanks to whats4lunch for their brilliant observation

Women of the world mourn

Johnny Depp is getting married in April to his girlfriend of 10-years, and mother of his two children, Vanessa Paradis. 

Go ahead and wipe away the tears. There’s no shame in it.

“Why DO you live here?”

We could easily adapt this article in the Chicago Tribune for Vermont.

I’ll be damned.

It actually happened – the iPhone is officially for sale in Vermont.

The AT&T stores in Vermont: Burlington Town Center; 344 Dorset St., South Burlington; 101 Pearl St., Essex Junction; 89 Main St., Montpelier; 238 South Main St., Rutland; Diamond Run Mall, Rutland; Highgate Shopping Plaza, St. Albans; 121 Connor Way, Williston; 896 Putney Road, Brattleboro; and 135 Hannaford Square, Bennington.

I apologize to… well, whoever, for doubting you.

Now I just gotta figure out how to afford the gigantic fee to cancel my contract with Verizon, buy the iPhone, pay for the plan…

Obama yourself!

Hop on the Obamafying train. 

Are the only members Trump and Gates?

I mean, really? A LinkedIn/Facebook for rich people? Oy vey. As my coworker Joe put it, “Just what we need in an economic downturn”.

[Thanks to Joe for pointing out this oddity]

Yummyummy in my tummy

Thanks to Dave’s mother’s generousity, I got myself a nice, hot White Chocolate Mocha on this frigid, FRIGID morning to keep me warm and going. Yumyumyum.