Duck, Duck, Duck, Goose!

Today's news of Flight 1549 is now all over the Internet. The plane lost its engines shortly after take-off from LaGuardia, and landed in the Hudson River. All passengers and crew were rescued, thanks to the flight's accomplished and valiant pilot, and, of course, to the FDNY and the other boats that made the emergency response.

I join all in expressing gratitude for the miraculous rescue.

It seems that the cause of the engine failure was bird ingestion. Specifically, a flock of Branta canadensis, commonly known as Canada Geese, crossed paths with the aircraft.

The Canada Geese are protected birds under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The problem is that most of the Branta canadensis in the New York area are no longer migratory, but have, for many generations, lived all of their lives here.

And, quite frankly, their numbers are too great for the health of the human population. There is, for example, a flock that congregates at the Courthouse of the New York Supreme Court of Nassau County, and they leave lots of their droppings there. And, within the past 10 years, a flock has taken up residence near the local school, pooping all over the soccer field.

I am not a sport hunter, and those who are would know more about this than I, but one needs all kinds of Federal and State licenses and permits to hunt Branta Canadensis.


According to a New York Daily News sidebar article to the Flight 1549 story,

" For years, Port Authority officials have tangled with animal activists about efforts to cut down the number of geese that live on Rikers Island near LaGuardia. Back in 2004, more than 400 geese were killed. By 2006, the number netted and gassed had dropped to 165. Animal activists have fought the effort, urging officials to find non-lethal methods to manage the population."

Rikers Island, for the untraveled and unread, is a land mass in the East River where the City of New York has located its major prison facilities. Amidst the current great budget deficit, why not use the Rikers Island flock of Branta canadensis to feed the inmates? Surely the culinary-minded can come up with some Canada Goose recipes.

Fitness, Fatness, and Fitting into the Sukkah

We are now amidst the Festival of Sukkot (as briefly mentioned in the prior posting). It has been quite enjoyable to us, for all of the reasons it is enjoyable to everyone everywhere. My one observation thus far involves the social dynamic at the meal.

Specifically, at the first night's meal I was the only nonfatso in our Sukkah, outnumbered three to one. The three fatsos were (1) my wife, (2) our houseguest known in this blog as "He" (discussed here and here), and (3) a fellow attorney, graduate of an Ivy League law school, who has an uncanny knack for getting himself into some strange predicaments in his personal and professional life.

On the other hand, at last night's meal, the Shabbat meal during the Festival, there were six of us in the Sukkah all told, of whom, my wife was the only fatso. In fact, three of the guests (Mom, Dad and 20-something daughter) are tall, and thin as rails.

It was amazing to observe the differences in my wife's food intake when she was in the company of other fatsos, as compared with her food intake when she was outnumbered by nonfatsos. Seems that she ate less food, and healthier foods, when she was not with the other fatsos.

This observation by a non-scientist is obviously not of the quality for publication in some sort of medical journal, but maybe someone would like to do some sort of controlled scientific experiment on the effects of the presence of multiple fatsos on the dining behavior of one another.

Chag Sameach Sukkot

In a few hours the sun will set, and it will be the Festival of Sukkot. I finished building my sukkah within the past 24 hours, and now need to verify that the electrification in the sukkah is properly operational (i.e., the timer is properly working) so the lights go on and off at the proper times.

We have a house guest, namely, "He" as discussed in the post of 31 August. And, sure enough, He stopped by earlier with some pies and other fatso food, which surely will do little to help my wife get to healthy eating habits.

Fortunately, the projected weather seems to be reasonably fair, so my wife will at least get some exercise by walking the mile to shul and back.

In any event, I still have a lot to do, so everyone have a good holiday!

Chag Sameach Sukkot!!