By William M. Welch, USA TODAY EDGARTOWN, Mass. — The island where "Jaws" was filmed had a real-life shark scare Thursday, when an unconfirmed sighting of a great white forced the closure of two beaches.
South Beach on Martha's Vineyard was closed for a short time, and swimmers were kept out of the water at State Beach in Edgartown, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation said.
A plane was dispatched to try to confirm the sighting, but no shark was spotted, said Lisa Capone, a spokeswoman for the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
In 1974, Steven Spielberg chose Martha's Vineyard for filming the movie "Jaws," depicting a series of deadly great white attacks in the fictional community of Amity.
Shark attacks are extremely rare in waters off New England, but great whites have been known to occasionally prowl in the region.
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PUNK A$$ Shark IS BACK!!!
By William M. Welch, USA TODAY LOS ANGELES — Sgt. John Lago is cruising the Hollywood Freeway when his radio carries the call of another California Highway Patrol officer who has tried to pull over a motorcyclist, only to see him race off at high speed.
Both troopers give chase, skillfully picking their way through 10 p.m. weeknight traffic at 120 mph. They radio for a helicopter backup, but the aircraft is too far away. In only minutes, tonight's outcome is clear: The rider of the agile, 600cc Honda sportbike has outrun them.
"Bummer," Lago says. "I hate it when we lose a chase because you know the guy's going (to go) on MySpace and brag he outran the cops. It's just going to encourage more knuckleheads."
While the CHP officers often apprehend their targets, tonight's disappointment is all too common for this team. In squad cars and on powerful BMW motorcycles of their own, these officers go after what they regard as a growing problem on the nation's highways — riders of high-performance motorcycles who use public roads for triple-digit speeds or perilous stunts such as riding while standing or on one wheel.
"We're not going to tolerate their behavior," says Lago, himself a motorcycle rider. "They're ruining it for everyone else."
Across the USA, reckless motorcycle "stunters," as the riders like to call themselves, are being targeted as a hazard to themselves and others.
Motorcycle deaths climbed from 3,034 in 2002 to 4,493 in 2006, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The largest 10-year age group of rider fatalities is 20- to 29-year-olds. Though most are not stunters, many states have reported problems with stunters and are proposing laws to deter them.
Florida this month passed legislation to make it illegal for a motorcyclist to lift a wheel off the ground, called a wheelie, or to place license plates on a hinged frame that violators use to flip their tag out of sight and avoid identification. Florida state Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, R-Miami, pushed for the law in response to complaints about bikes speeding at 136 mph, popping wheelies and hiding tags.
In Kansas City, police from several agencies in the region met in June to discuss what to do.
"It's getting worse," Capt. Dek Kruger of the Kansas Highway Patrol told The Kansas City Star. "Aggressive motorcycle driving is an issue throughout the metro area. We're seeing 'em popping wheelies on the interstates and performing stunts on the street."
In Oregon, state police arrested a motorcyclist after a chase in which the biker hit 164 mph — as recorded by a video camera that the motorcyclist had pointed at his own speedometer.
Posted by Andy Morgan on Myspace
So I went to do a rock solid, and I got a little too far away from the bike... here's the results
Here's the X-ray
My femur with the rod in before the crash
My femur with the rod after the crash
Hey everyone,
On friday in Orland, CA I was doing a demo with Shawn Mann and Jesse Jolson. Things were going smooth, until I did a trick called a rock solid, which is where you grab the seat with both hands, let go, then grab back onto the seat to throw yourself back to the bike.
Unfortunately my hands grabbed too low and I grabbed the number plates, I thought that they'd slide up and hook into the airbox and lock into place, but once they slipped past that point, I knew my life was going to change.
I got home from UC Davis hospital on Wednesday, and since then I've been in the most excruciating pain I've ever experienced in my life. If it weren't for my beautiful caring girlfriend Brittney, I don't know how I'd make it through half of a day, let alone a whole day in itself.
I had previously broken my femur in 2005, so I had a titanium rod and 4 screws in my femur, this crash was fierce enough to bend the rod and tweak the screws, rebreaking my femur and breaking my acetabulum. Which basically means I broke my hip. I now have plates in my leg and hip and will eventually have to have a whole hip replacement and will walk with a limp for the rest of my life.
Check out this video and let me know what you think. This crash has and will definately change my life forever.
Rocket man flies on jet-powered wings Former fighter pilot reaches 186 miles an hour during first public flight
Former fighter pilot Yves Rossy, 48, accelerated to 186 miles an hour May 14, 2008, over the Swiss Alps during his first public flight while strapped to his self-made, jet-powered wings.
BEX, Switzerland - Some people go fishing on their day off. Yves Rossy likes to jump out of a small plane with a pair of jet-powered wings and perform figure eights above the Swiss Alps.
Rossy, 48, made his first public flight with his self-made flying contraption in front of the world press Wednesday, after five years of training and many more years of dreaming.
"This flight was absolutely excellent," the former fighter pilot and extreme sports enthusiast said after touching down on an airfield near the eastern shore of Lake Geneva.
