First published at 01:12 UTC on March 28th, 2019.
The Invasive Species We Can Blame On Shakespeare
There are 200 million European starlings in North America, and they are a menace
If you live in North America, you probably recognize European starlings, those little black birds with white polka dot…
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The Invasive Species We Can Blame On Shakespeare
There are 200 million European starlings in North America, and they are a menace
If you live in North America, you probably recognize European starlings, those little black birds with white polka dots that chirp and chatter and, in the winter, hang out in flocks of thousands. There are 200 million of these birds on the continent, and they can be found as far north as Alaska and as far south as Mexico. Numerous though they are, starlings are actually non-native invasive species. And we can blame Shakespeare for their arrival in America.
Steven Marche explains in How Shakespeare Changed Everything:
On March 6, 1890, a New York pharmaceutical manufacturer name Eugene Schieffelin brought natural disaster into the heart of completely without meaning to. Through the morning snow, which congealed at times to sleet, sixty starlings, imported at great expense from Europe, accompanied Schieffelin on the ride from his country house into Central Park—the noisy, dirty fulfillment of his plan to introduce every bird mentioned by Shakespeare into North America
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-invasive-species-we-can-blame-on-shakespeare-95506437/
New drunk driving test allows police to administer breathalyzers without reasonable suspicion
Alberta RCMP hope new rules that allow them to demand a breath sample from any driver they pull over will deter drunk drivers from getting on the road.
The mandatory alcohol screening that comes into effect on Dec. 18 means officers can approach every car they pull over with a portable Breathalyzer for screening.
RCMP traffic services Supt. Gary Graham and Sgt. Brent Robinson, an impaired driving specialist with the RCMP traffic unit, demonstrated the test Monday at K Division headquarters.
Graham said on Dec. 1, RCMP officers took part in National Impaired Driving Enforcement Day. Out of the 11,895 vehicles checked by the Alberta RCMP on that day, 23 charges were laid..
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