SEAGULL FACTS & FASCINATION • A company golf driving range was opened for employees of Smith and Wesson in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1984. It had to close in short order when flocks of seagulls mistook the white golf balls for edible clams. The gulls picked up the balls and dropped them from heights, bombarding executives, motorists, and innocent bystanders with falling golf balls.
Grand Cities Games Presents
• When an estimated 7,000 seagulls took up residence at the Monmouth County landfill in New Jersey, officials decided to drive them away by using trained falcons to hunt them. The entire flock of seagulls subsequently vacated the landfill, and moved into a local neighborhood. They roosted on rooftops and bombarded the vicinity with poop, often hitting pedestrians. The falcons were removed from the landfill after officials decided it was best to have 7,000 seagulls pooping in a landfill than pooping in a subdivision.
FREE COMIC BOOK DAY
Grand Cities Games
120 N. Wash. St. Grand Forks
701-775-8602
20% OFF Exp.
GRAPHIC NOVELS Nov.15 2014
• The smallest gull species in most of North America is called the Bonaparte’s gull, named after Charles Lucien Bonaparte, a nephew of Napoleon, who was a leading ornithologist in the 1800s. This is only one of a very few species of gull that prefers to nest in trees.
Please Recycle this copy of Tidbits. Share it with a Friend.
MOMENTS IN TIME • On Oct. 11, 1809, explorer Meriwether Lewis dies under mysterious circumstances at Grinder's Tavern in Tennessee. Most historians have concluded that Lewis' death was a suicide brought on by depression over financial worries, but some believe he was murdered, possibly by the tavern owner.
The History Channel
motor and rope pulled the chassis past workers and parts, cutting the man-hours required to complete one "Model T" from 12-1/2 hours to six.
• On Oct. 6, 1926, Yankee slugger Babe Ruth hits a record three homers against the St. Louis Cardinals in the fourth game of the World Series. In 1928, in another • On Oct. 12, 1810, when Bavar- Yanks-Cards World Series, Ruth ian Crown Prince Louis marries, the tied his own record, knocking three citizens of Munich are invited to at- more pitches out of the same park. tend the festivities. The decision to • On Oct. 9, 1940, during the Battle repeat the festivities the next year of Britain, the German Luftwaffe gave rise to the tradition of the an- launches a heavy nighttime raid nual Oktoberfest. Today, more on London, and a bomb pierces than 1 million gallons of beer are the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral, consumed annually at Oktoberfest. destroying the High Altar. The ca• On Oct. 8, 1869, future auto inven- thedral had been built, destroyed tor and mechanic Frank Duryea is and rebuilt many times over the born. Duryea was the first automo- years beginning in 604 A.D. The bile driver on the American road. current cathedral dates from 1710. In 1893, his Duryea Motor Wagon • On Oct. 10, 1973, Spiro Agnew made its first successful trip, 600 becomes the first U.S. vice president yards down his street in Springfield, to resign in disgrace. He pleaded no Mass., before the transmission blew. contest to a charge of income-tax • On Oct. 7, 1913, for the first time, evasion in exchange for dropping Henry Ford's entire Michigan au- charges of political corruption, which tomobile factory is run on a con- included his practice of accepting tinuously moving assembly line. A bribes even while vice president. © 2014 King Features Synd., Inc.
• The lava gull has adapted to volcanic islands and is black from bill to wingtip. The swallow-tailed gull, native to the Galapagos Islands, is actually nocturnal—which is far from the norm. This bird often specializes in hunting squid, swooping down in the moonlight to capture its prey. • The California gull has a unique way of catching alkali flies which congregate in dense clusters along the shores of salty lakes in the Great Basin. It starts at one end of a huge raft of flies sitting on the beach and runs through the flies with its head down and bill open, snapping up flies.