Even around Tampa: Florida mailman bitten by snake during his rounds

The 66-year-old was bitten as he put mail inside a mailbox. He told authorities that he shook his arm and thwacked the snake against his car door to break its grip.

It wasn’t a very big Eastern diamondback rattlesnake, so he finished delivering his route before he went to the doctor.

Robert Berner and Brian Grow of BusinessWeek wrote on some other people warning about problems: States warned about impending mortgage crisis

More than five years ago, in April 2003, the attorneys general of two small states traveled to Washington with a stern warning for the nation’s top bank regulator. Sitting in the spacious Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, with its panoramic view of the capital, the AGs from North Carolina and Iowa said lenders were pushing increasingly risky mortgages. Their host, John D. Hawke Jr., expressed skepticism.

Was there anyone not on Wall Street or in Washington who didn’t warn it was going to happen? North Carolina and Iowa are not exactly “socialist” states, so why wasn’t anyone listening? In the article it is explained that the Federal government didn’t just refused to regulate, they prevented the states from doing anything.

The BBC has been staying on top of this and reports that European banks rescue plan agreed

European leaders meeting in Paris have agreed a plan to tackle the banking crisis, saying no big institution will be allowed to fail.

They pledged to guarantee loans between banks until the end of 2009, and said they would put money into them by buying preference shares.
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Position: 16.4 N 37.9 W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement West-Northwest [290°] near 8 mph.
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph.
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 85 miles [140 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1006 mb.

It is 980 miles [1580 km] West of the Cape Verde Islands.

It’s expected to get mugged by the westerlies in a day or so, but it did qualify for a name.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]