If "Night at the Museum" had been set somewhere other than New York’s Museum of Natural History, it would be a very different movie. This 2006 blockbuster starring Ben Stiller made hundreds of millions of dollars and, reportedly, boosted museum attendance. But it could have been a much stranger beast. Instead of Teddy Roosevelt and Pocahantas, one night in Philadelphia’s Mutter Museum could've led to a romance between Siamese twin skeletons and the corpse of an obese woman whose fat has turned to soap. At the Venthaven ventriloquist museum, the big laughs could've given way to the scariest "Twilight Zone" episode ever.
World-class museums aside, a lot of people find second-rank museums lacking. At best, they're hermetically sealed repositories of dusty culture; at worst, they're tourist traps teeming with children on field trips. Sometimes, you gotta take a walk on the weirder side.
Doug Kirby, publisher of the book series and Web site Roadside America, has catalogued bizarre museums and other attractions best avoided by elementary school field trips. By heading off the beaten path, he says, “you’ll see amazing things—but just duck your head and make sure your tetanus shot is up-to-date”...
--MSNBC
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Teenager finds bat asleep in bra
A teenager who thought movement in her underwear was caused by her vibrating mobile phone found a bat curled up asleep in her bra.
Abbie Hawkins, 19, of Norwich, had been wearing the bra for five hours when she plucked up the courage to investigate.
When she did, she found a baby bat in padding in her 34FF bra. The hotel receptionist said she was shocked but felt bad for removing the "cuddly" bat. "It looked cosy and comfortable and I was sorry for disturbing it," she said.
She was sitting at her desk at work when she decided to investigate the strange movements in her underwear...
--BBC News
Abbie Hawkins, 19, of Norwich, had been wearing the bra for five hours when she plucked up the courage to investigate.
When she did, she found a baby bat in padding in her 34FF bra. The hotel receptionist said she was shocked but felt bad for removing the "cuddly" bat. "It looked cosy and comfortable and I was sorry for disturbing it," she said.
She was sitting at her desk at work when she decided to investigate the strange movements in her underwear...
--BBC News
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Body's Own 'Cannabis' Is Good For The Skin, Scientists Find
Scientists from Hungary, Germany and the U.K. have discovered that our own body not only makes chemical compounds similar to the active ingredient in marijuana (THC), but these play an important part in maintaining healthy skin.
This finding on "endocannabinoids" just published online in, and scheduled for the October 2008 print issue of, The FASEB Journal could lead to new drugs that treat skin conditions ranging from acne to dry skin, and even skin-related tumors.
"Our preclinical data encourage one to explore whether endocannabinoid system-acting agents can be exploited in the management of common skin disorders," said Tamás Biró, MD, PhD, a senior scientist involved in the research. "It is also suggested that these agents can be efficiently applied locally to the skin in the form of a cream."
Biró and colleagues came to this conclusion by treating cell cultures from human sebaceous glands (the glands that make the oil on our skin) with various concentrations of endocannabinoids (substances produced by the body that are similar to the active ingredient in marijuana)...
--Science Daily
This finding on "endocannabinoids" just published online in, and scheduled for the October 2008 print issue of, The FASEB Journal could lead to new drugs that treat skin conditions ranging from acne to dry skin, and even skin-related tumors.
"Our preclinical data encourage one to explore whether endocannabinoid system-acting agents can be exploited in the management of common skin disorders," said Tamás Biró, MD, PhD, a senior scientist involved in the research. "It is also suggested that these agents can be efficiently applied locally to the skin in the form of a cream."
Biró and colleagues came to this conclusion by treating cell cultures from human sebaceous glands (the glands that make the oil on our skin) with various concentrations of endocannabinoids (substances produced by the body that are similar to the active ingredient in marijuana)...
--Science Daily
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Earth's Cries Recorded in Space
Earth emits an ear-piercing series of chirps and whistles that could be heard by any aliens who might be listening, astronomers have discovered.
The sound is awful, a new recording from space reveals.
Scientists have known about the radiation since the 1970s. It is created high above the planet, where charged particles from the solar wind collide with Earth's magnetic field. It is related to the phenomenon that generates the colorful aurora, or Northern Lights.
The radio waves are blocked by the ionosphere, a charged layer atop our atmosphere, so they do not reach Earth. That's good, because the out-of-this-world radio waves are 10,000 times stronger than even the strongest military signal, the researchers said, and they would overwhelm all radio stations on the planet...
--Yahoo! News
The sound is awful, a new recording from space reveals.
Scientists have known about the radiation since the 1970s. It is created high above the planet, where charged particles from the solar wind collide with Earth's magnetic field. It is related to the phenomenon that generates the colorful aurora, or Northern Lights.
The radio waves are blocked by the ionosphere, a charged layer atop our atmosphere, so they do not reach Earth. That's good, because the out-of-this-world radio waves are 10,000 times stronger than even the strongest military signal, the researchers said, and they would overwhelm all radio stations on the planet...
--Yahoo! News
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Explorers find 1780 British warship in Lake Ontario
A 22-gun British warship that sank during the American Revolution and has long been regarded as one of the "Holy Grail" shipwrecks in the Great Lakes has been discovered at the bottom of Lake Ontario, astonishingly well-preserved in the cold, deep water, explorers announced Friday.
Shipwreck enthusiasts Jim Kennard and Dan Scoville used side-scanning sonar and an unmanned submersible to locate the HMS Ontario, which was lost with barely a trace and as many as 130 people aboard during a gale in 1780.
The 80-foot sloop of war is the oldest shipwreck and the only fully intact British warship ever found in the Great Lakes, Scoville and Kennard said.
"To have a Revolutionary War vessel that's practically intact is unbelievable. It's an archaeological miracle," said Canadian author Arthur Britton Smith, who chronicled the history of the HMS Ontario in a 1997 book, "The Legend of the Lake"...
Yahoo! News
Shipwreck enthusiasts Jim Kennard and Dan Scoville used side-scanning sonar and an unmanned submersible to locate the HMS Ontario, which was lost with barely a trace and as many as 130 people aboard during a gale in 1780.
The 80-foot sloop of war is the oldest shipwreck and the only fully intact British warship ever found in the Great Lakes, Scoville and Kennard said.
"To have a Revolutionary War vessel that's practically intact is unbelievable. It's an archaeological miracle," said Canadian author Arthur Britton Smith, who chronicled the history of the HMS Ontario in a 1997 book, "The Legend of the Lake"...
Yahoo! News
Monday, May 26, 2008
Girl stung by scorpion in Wal-Mart watermelon
One young shopper at a Wal-Mart in West Virginia had to watch out for more than falling prices.
A 12-year-old girl picking up a seedless watermelon from a bin was stung Sunday by a tan, inch-long scorpion that had apparently stowed away in a shipment from Mexico.
Megan Templeton, of Barboursville, was taken to the hospital as a precaution but later released. Her father, William Templeton, said the pain was a little worse than a bee sting.
He initially didn't believe his daughter when she said she had been stung by a scorpion, but then he saw the critter scurry underneath a box. It was captured by Wal-Mart employees...
--USA Today
A 12-year-old girl picking up a seedless watermelon from a bin was stung Sunday by a tan, inch-long scorpion that had apparently stowed away in a shipment from Mexico.
Megan Templeton, of Barboursville, was taken to the hospital as a precaution but later released. Her father, William Templeton, said the pain was a little worse than a bee sting.
He initially didn't believe his daughter when she said she had been stung by a scorpion, but then he saw the critter scurry underneath a box. It was captured by Wal-Mart employees...
--USA Today
Monday, May 05, 2008
Families sue undertakers in body parts scandal
Families who claim the corpses of more than 1,000 relatives were dismembered and sold in an illegal body-parts scandal sued funeral directors and others on Tuesday.
The class action suit represents hundreds of people who claim their relatives' body parts were harvested for medical use without their consent.
It charges seven individuals, and the funeral homes and human tissue services with which they worked, with conspiracy, negligence and the intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The seven were indicted by a grand jury last September and accused of harvesting bones, skin and tendons in unsanitary conditions, and selling them to hospitals with the risk that they could infect patients who received them.
The defendants allegedly made $3.8 million from sale of body parts obtained in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey between February 2004 and September 2005 in an operation that was "ghoulish, greedy, dangerous and criminal," the grand jury's report said.
In all, the scheme took tissue from 1,007 bodies, including 244 from Philadelphia funeral homes...
--Reuters
The class action suit represents hundreds of people who claim their relatives' body parts were harvested for medical use without their consent.
It charges seven individuals, and the funeral homes and human tissue services with which they worked, with conspiracy, negligence and the intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The seven were indicted by a grand jury last September and accused of harvesting bones, skin and tendons in unsanitary conditions, and selling them to hospitals with the risk that they could infect patients who received them.
The defendants allegedly made $3.8 million from sale of body parts obtained in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey between February 2004 and September 2005 in an operation that was "ghoulish, greedy, dangerous and criminal," the grand jury's report said.
In all, the scheme took tissue from 1,007 bodies, including 244 from Philadelphia funeral homes...
--Reuters
Friday, May 02, 2008
Fla. woman finds 8-foot alligator in her kitchen
And some people get jittery about mice in the kitchen.
Authorities say 69-year-old central Florida woman found an 8-foot long alligator prowling in her kitchen late Monday night.
Sandra Frosti says the gator must have pushed through the back porch screen door and then went inside through an open sliding glass door at her home in Oldsmar, just north of Tampa. It then apparently strolled through the living room, down a hall and into the kitchen...
--USA Today
Authorities say 69-year-old central Florida woman found an 8-foot long alligator prowling in her kitchen late Monday night.
Sandra Frosti says the gator must have pushed through the back porch screen door and then went inside through an open sliding glass door at her home in Oldsmar, just north of Tampa. It then apparently strolled through the living room, down a hall and into the kitchen...
--USA Today
Monday, April 07, 2008
Hedgehog used in non-lethal assault
A New Zealand man has been accused of assault with a prickly weapon -- a hedgehog.
Police allege that William Singalargh, 27, picked up the hedgehog and threw it at a 15-year-old boy in the North Island east coast town of Whakatane on February 9.
"It hit the victim in the leg, causing a large, red welt and several puncture marks," police Senior Sgt. Bruce Jenkins said Monday. The teen did not need medical treatment, he added.
Police arrested Singalargh shortly after the incident, and charged him with assault with a weapon -- "namely the hedgehog," Jenkins said.
At a hearing in Whakatane District Court on February 14, Singalargh's lawyer said he intended to plead innocent, The Herald on Sunday newspaper reported. The case is due to resume on April 17. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison, Jenkins said...
--CNN
Police allege that William Singalargh, 27, picked up the hedgehog and threw it at a 15-year-old boy in the North Island east coast town of Whakatane on February 9.
"It hit the victim in the leg, causing a large, red welt and several puncture marks," police Senior Sgt. Bruce Jenkins said Monday. The teen did not need medical treatment, he added.
Police arrested Singalargh shortly after the incident, and charged him with assault with a weapon -- "namely the hedgehog," Jenkins said.
At a hearing in Whakatane District Court on February 14, Singalargh's lawyer said he intended to plead innocent, The Herald on Sunday newspaper reported. The case is due to resume on April 17. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison, Jenkins said...
--CNN
Postal workers attacked by wild turkeys
While rain and snow may not deter the postal service, wild turkeys are a bird of a different feather.
Mara Wilhite, manager of the Hilldale Station Post Office, said wild turkeys have been pestering postal delivery workers in Parkwood Hills, a neighborhood on Madison 's West Side near Owen Conservation Park and home to a number of the large birds.
Between five and 10 large male turkeys, or toms -- apparently a little giddy with the onset of turkey breeding season -- have been bullying postal workers as they make their rounds, pecking at them and even trying to rough them up with the sharp spurs on their legs. One of the birds launched itself through the open door of a mail truck and scratched the driver.
Eric Lobner, regional wildlife program supervisor for the state Department of Natural Resources, is on the case, investigating the turkey gang...
--Madison.com
Mara Wilhite, manager of the Hilldale Station Post Office, said wild turkeys have been pestering postal delivery workers in Parkwood Hills, a neighborhood on Madison 's West Side near Owen Conservation Park and home to a number of the large birds.
Between five and 10 large male turkeys, or toms -- apparently a little giddy with the onset of turkey breeding season -- have been bullying postal workers as they make their rounds, pecking at them and even trying to rough them up with the sharp spurs on their legs. One of the birds launched itself through the open door of a mail truck and scratched the driver.
Eric Lobner, regional wildlife program supervisor for the state Department of Natural Resources, is on the case, investigating the turkey gang...
--Madison.com
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Study: Octopuses kinky creatures of sea
Marine biologists studying wild octopuses have found a kinky and violent society of jealous murders, gender subterfuge and once-in-a-lifetime sex.
The new study by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, who journeyed off the coast of Indonesia found that wild octopuses are far from the shy, unromantic loners their captive brethren appear to be.
The scientists watched the Abdopus aculeatus octopus, which are the size of an orange, for several weeks and published their findings recently in the journal Marine Biology...
--USA Today
The new study by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, who journeyed off the coast of Indonesia found that wild octopuses are far from the shy, unromantic loners their captive brethren appear to be.
The scientists watched the Abdopus aculeatus octopus, which are the size of an orange, for several weeks and published their findings recently in the journal Marine Biology...
--USA Today
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Lovesick swan to be reunited with her paddleboat
Petra the swan has a new home and so does her beloved swan-shaped paddleboat.
In 2006, Petra, a black swan, became so attached to the boat — shaped like an outsized white swan — that she refused to leave its side at a lake near a zoo in the German city of Muenster.
Petra and her paddleboat were taken to the zoo.
Zoo officials finally parted bird and boat last week after Petra settled down with a real white swan and the boat was returned to the lake. But the romance was short-lived. The zoo says that, on Saturday, her new beau flew off and sought out the company of other black swans...
--USA Today
In 2006, Petra, a black swan, became so attached to the boat — shaped like an outsized white swan — that she refused to leave its side at a lake near a zoo in the German city of Muenster.
Petra and her paddleboat were taken to the zoo.
Zoo officials finally parted bird and boat last week after Petra settled down with a real white swan and the boat was returned to the lake. But the romance was short-lived. The zoo says that, on Saturday, her new beau flew off and sought out the company of other black swans...
--USA Today
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Ponytail Helps Save 10-Year-Old Who Fell In Icy Canal
Jazmine Peters, 10, escaped drowning in the historic Portage Canal by the hair on her head.
Cousin Jeff Gjavenis, also 10, grabbed Jazmine's thick ponytail to keep her head above water after she slid off the Ice Age Trail and into the canal Sunday night.
The scene of the incident is well known to the family members. Jazmine's mother, Terri Reilley, grew up with a sister and cousin on the Old Indian Agency House land where her parents have been resident caretakers for decades. The site is where travelers centuries ago portaged canoes between the Wisconsin and Fox rivers and where the canal eventually was built.
Jazmine, Jeff and three other cousins had gone for a walk and went across a bridge to the other side of the canal. That's when Jazmine fell in and her cousins came to the rescue, Jeff holding her head above water with her ponytail and Taylor Weirich pulling her with the strap on her snow pants...
--WISC TV
Cousin Jeff Gjavenis, also 10, grabbed Jazmine's thick ponytail to keep her head above water after she slid off the Ice Age Trail and into the canal Sunday night.
The scene of the incident is well known to the family members. Jazmine's mother, Terri Reilley, grew up with a sister and cousin on the Old Indian Agency House land where her parents have been resident caretakers for decades. The site is where travelers centuries ago portaged canoes between the Wisconsin and Fox rivers and where the canal eventually was built.
Jazmine, Jeff and three other cousins had gone for a walk and went across a bridge to the other side of the canal. That's when Jazmine fell in and her cousins came to the rescue, Jeff holding her head above water with her ponytail and Taylor Weirich pulling her with the strap on her snow pants...
--WISC TV
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Giant marine life found in antarctic waters
Scientists who conducted the most comprehensive survey to date of New Zealand's Antarctic waters were surprised by the size of some specimens found, including jellyfish with 12-foot tentacles and 2-foot-wide starfish.
A 2,000-mile journey through the Ross Sea that ended Thursday has also potentially turned up several new species, including as many as eight new mollusks.
It's "exciting when you come across a new species," said Chris Jones, a fisheries scientist at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "All the fish people go nuts about that — but you have to take it with a grain of salt"...
--MSNBC
A 2,000-mile journey through the Ross Sea that ended Thursday has also potentially turned up several new species, including as many as eight new mollusks.
It's "exciting when you come across a new species," said Chris Jones, a fisheries scientist at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "All the fish people go nuts about that — but you have to take it with a grain of salt"...
--MSNBC
Friday, March 21, 2008
Circus zebras briefly escape in Md.
Three zebras from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus briefly escaped from their downtown venue on Thursday but were quickly corralled by their trainer and two handlers.
The zebras — Mali, Giza and Lima — spotted an open door at the 1st Mariner Arena and dashed into traffic on Hopkins Place, but were rounded up half a block away.
Carrie Coleman, a veterinary technician for the circus, told The Baltimore Sun it was a frightening incident because the animals were in traffic lanes before returning to the sidewalk...
--USA Today
The zebras — Mali, Giza and Lima — spotted an open door at the 1st Mariner Arena and dashed into traffic on Hopkins Place, but were rounded up half a block away.
Carrie Coleman, a veterinary technician for the circus, told The Baltimore Sun it was a frightening incident because the animals were in traffic lanes before returning to the sidewalk...
--USA Today
Friday, March 14, 2008
Wisconsin plant treats wastewater with sugar, molasses
Ingredients better suited for a cookie recipe are being used to treat Janesville's wastewater.
Workers are dumping sugar and molasses into the wastewater at the treatment plant.
Utilities director Dan Lynch said that the ingredients replace chemicals that aren't as friendly to the environment...
--WISC TV.com
Workers are dumping sugar and molasses into the wastewater at the treatment plant.
Utilities director Dan Lynch said that the ingredients replace chemicals that aren't as friendly to the environment...
--WISC TV.com
Airport stops women with human remains in suitcase
Two Italian women carrying luggage containing the remains of a man who died in Brazil 11 years ago were stopped by Munich airport police during a stopover on their journey from Sao Paulo to Naples.
"Airport security spotted the skull and bones when the suitcase was put through the x-ray machine," police spokesman Christian Maier said.
One of the women was the dead man's sister and she explained to surprised officials that it had been her brother's wish to be buried in Italy.
After showing his death certificate, the Italians, aged 63 and 62, were allowed on their next flight to Naples...
--Reuters
"Airport security spotted the skull and bones when the suitcase was put through the x-ray machine," police spokesman Christian Maier said.
One of the women was the dead man's sister and she explained to surprised officials that it had been her brother's wish to be buried in Italy.
After showing his death certificate, the Italians, aged 63 and 62, were allowed on their next flight to Naples...
--Reuters
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Rare white killer whale spotted in Alaska
The white killer whale spotted in Alaska's Aleutian Islands sent researchers and the ship's crew scrambling for their cameras.
The nearly mythic creature was real after all.
"I had heard about this whale, but we had never been able to find it," said Holly Fearnbach, a research biologist with the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle who photographed the rarity. "It was quite neat to find it"...
--MSNBC
The nearly mythic creature was real after all.
"I had heard about this whale, but we had never been able to find it," said Holly Fearnbach, a research biologist with the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle who photographed the rarity. "It was quite neat to find it"...
--MSNBC
Kitten survived in crate from Singapore to Ohio
A scrawny, black and white female kitten has apparently survived a trip across the Pacific Ocean and North America inside a shipping crate.
Cleveland Animal Protective League Executive Director Sharon Harvey says a Cleveland company that received the crate of spooled steel coil Friday found the kitten inside one the spools.
Harvey says the mother cat and other kittens found in the crate were dead. The crate came to Samsel Supply Co. from Singapore. It was sealed Feb. 4 and shipped three days later...
--USA Today
Cleveland Animal Protective League Executive Director Sharon Harvey says a Cleveland company that received the crate of spooled steel coil Friday found the kitten inside one the spools.
Harvey says the mother cat and other kittens found in the crate were dead. The crate came to Samsel Supply Co. from Singapore. It was sealed Feb. 4 and shipped three days later...
--USA Today
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Australia seeking fatter mailmen
ustralia's postal service has increased the maximum weight for mailmen and women by 15 kg (33 pounds) in an attempt to attract more "posties", local media reported on Tuesday.
Australia Post had a weight limit of 90 kgs (198 pounds) for "posties" because its 110cc motorcycles had a safe working limit of 130kg (286 pounds) -- that's 40kg (88 pounds) for letters and up to 90 kgs for mailmen and women fully clothed.
But after talks with motorcycle manufacturer Honda it was agreed the bikes could safely carry a "postie" weighing 105 kgs (231 pounds), said Sydney's the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
But the "posties" will only carry 25 kgs of mail.
The union representing mailmen and women said the 90 kg limit had caused recruitment headaches for Australia Post, but the company denied it had staffing problems...
--Reuters
Australia Post had a weight limit of 90 kgs (198 pounds) for "posties" because its 110cc motorcycles had a safe working limit of 130kg (286 pounds) -- that's 40kg (88 pounds) for letters and up to 90 kgs for mailmen and women fully clothed.
But after talks with motorcycle manufacturer Honda it was agreed the bikes could safely carry a "postie" weighing 105 kgs (231 pounds), said Sydney's the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
But the "posties" will only carry 25 kgs of mail.
The union representing mailmen and women said the 90 kg limit had caused recruitment headaches for Australia Post, but the company denied it had staffing problems...
--Reuters
Bank error in your favor
A New York man who discovered that millions of dollars had mysteriously appeared in his bank account, and withdrew more than $2 million, has been arrested on charges of grand larceny, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
Benjamin Lovell, 48, pleaded innocent on Tuesday to charges that he withdrew money from a Commerce Bank account that had been opened by someone with the same name, prosecutors said.
The account belonged to Woodlawn Trustees Inc, a Delaware property management company, and was listed under the name of its finance director, who is also named Benjamin Lovell, court papers said.
Lovell had just $800 in his own Commerce Bank account when he went to make a deposit, but a teller, mistaking the Woodlawn account for Lovell's personal account, told him that his account contained more than $5 million, prosecutors said...
--Reuters
Benjamin Lovell, 48, pleaded innocent on Tuesday to charges that he withdrew money from a Commerce Bank account that had been opened by someone with the same name, prosecutors said.
The account belonged to Woodlawn Trustees Inc, a Delaware property management company, and was listed under the name of its finance director, who is also named Benjamin Lovell, court papers said.
Lovell had just $800 in his own Commerce Bank account when he went to make a deposit, but a teller, mistaking the Woodlawn account for Lovell's personal account, told him that his account contained more than $5 million, prosecutors said...
--Reuters
Saturday, February 16, 2008
James Bond-style amphibious car launched
OK, so the Swiss have invented a car that runs on land and underwater. But did they REALLY have to make it a convertible?
The sQuba draws comparisons with James Bond's amphibious Lotus Esprit from "The Spy Who Loved Me".
It's called the "sQuba," and conjures up memories of James Bond's amphibious Lotus Esprit from "The Spy Who Loved Me." That fictional vehicle traveled on land and, when chased by bad guys in a helicopter, plunged into the water and became an airtight submarine -- complete with "torpedoes" and "depth charges."
But "Q" isn't responsible for this one.
The concept car -- which unlike Bond's is not armed -- was developed by Swiss designer Rinspeed Inc. and is set to make a splash at the Geneva Auto Show next month...
--CNN
The sQuba draws comparisons with James Bond's amphibious Lotus Esprit from "The Spy Who Loved Me".
It's called the "sQuba," and conjures up memories of James Bond's amphibious Lotus Esprit from "The Spy Who Loved Me." That fictional vehicle traveled on land and, when chased by bad guys in a helicopter, plunged into the water and became an airtight submarine -- complete with "torpedoes" and "depth charges."
But "Q" isn't responsible for this one.
The concept car -- which unlike Bond's is not armed -- was developed by Swiss designer Rinspeed Inc. and is set to make a splash at the Geneva Auto Show next month...
--CNN
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Georgia brewheisters steal 2,600 cases of beer
Sounds like some south Georgia crooks have been stocking up for a big holiday bash.
Thieves took tractor-trailers loaded with beer and swiped the suds twice within the past week, authorities said.
Dougherty County authorities are investigating a report of a missing 53-foot-long trailer that was loaded with more than 2,300 cases of beer. Police said the beer disappeared sometime between Dec. 21 and Thursday...
--USA Today
Thieves took tractor-trailers loaded with beer and swiped the suds twice within the past week, authorities said.
Dougherty County authorities are investigating a report of a missing 53-foot-long trailer that was loaded with more than 2,300 cases of beer. Police said the beer disappeared sometime between Dec. 21 and Thursday...
--USA Today
Tater Tots start blaze in Idaho firehouse
A fire station crew must be a little embarrassed by the way some of this state's famous potatoes got fried.
Boise firefighters returning from a medical call had to turn their hose on the firehouse kitchen after an overheated pan full of Tater Tots melted and set some cabinets ablaze.
The Christmas Eve fire at Station 8 was quickly extinguished, with no injuries. No damage estimate was available...
--USA Today
Boise firefighters returning from a medical call had to turn their hose on the firehouse kitchen after an overheated pan full of Tater Tots melted and set some cabinets ablaze.
The Christmas Eve fire at Station 8 was quickly extinguished, with no injuries. No damage estimate was available...
--USA Today
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Christmas card mailed in 1914 finally arrives
A postcard featuring a color drawing of Santa Claus and a young girl was mailed in 1914, but its journey was slower than Christmas. It just arrived in northwest Kansas.
The Christmas card was dated Dec. 23, 1914, and mailed to Ethel Martin of Oberlin, apparently from her cousins in Alma, Neb.
It's a mystery where it spent most of the last century, Oberlin Postmaster Steve Schultz said. "It's surprising that it never got thrown away," he said. "How someone found it, I don't know."
Ethel Martin is deceased, but Schultz said the post office wanted to get the card to a relative.
That's how the 93-year-old relic ended up with Bernice Martin, Ethel's sister-in-law. She said she believed the card had been found somewhere in Illinois...
--USA Today
The Christmas card was dated Dec. 23, 1914, and mailed to Ethel Martin of Oberlin, apparently from her cousins in Alma, Neb.
It's a mystery where it spent most of the last century, Oberlin Postmaster Steve Schultz said. "It's surprising that it never got thrown away," he said. "How someone found it, I don't know."
Ethel Martin is deceased, but Schultz said the post office wanted to get the card to a relative.
That's how the 93-year-old relic ended up with Bernice Martin, Ethel's sister-in-law. She said she believed the card had been found somewhere in Illinois...
--USA Today
Friday, December 14, 2007
Surfer encounters two sharks, same day
A New Zealand surfer has good reason for feeling once bitten, twice shy after two encounters with sharks on the same day, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
Olivia Hislop was waiting for a wave at a beach near the South Island tourist town of Kaikoura on Sunday when she felt a tug on her board.
She turned around, expecting to see a friend fooling around.
Instead, there was a shark half on top of her board and gnashing its teeth, the Marlborough Express newspaper reported...
--USA Today
Olivia Hislop was waiting for a wave at a beach near the South Island tourist town of Kaikoura on Sunday when she felt a tug on her board.
She turned around, expecting to see a friend fooling around.
Instead, there was a shark half on top of her board and gnashing its teeth, the Marlborough Express newspaper reported...
--USA Today
Thursday, December 13, 2007
South Koreans clone cats that glow in the dark
South Korean scientists have cloned cats by manipulating a fluorescent protein gene, a procedure which could help develop treatments for human genetic diseases, officials said Wednesday.
In a side-effect, the cloned cats glow in the dark when exposed to ultraviolet beams.
A team of scientists led by Kong Il-keun, a cloning expert at Gyeongsang National University, produced three cats possessing altered fluorescence protein (RFP) genes, the Ministry of Science and Technology said.
"It marked the first time in the world that cats with RFP genes have been cloned," the ministry said in a statement.
"The ability to produce cloned cats with the manipulated genes is significant as it could be used for developing treatments for genetic diseases and for reproducing model (cloned) animals suffering from the same diseases as humans," it added...
--Yahoo! News
In a side-effect, the cloned cats glow in the dark when exposed to ultraviolet beams.
A team of scientists led by Kong Il-keun, a cloning expert at Gyeongsang National University, produced three cats possessing altered fluorescence protein (RFP) genes, the Ministry of Science and Technology said.
"It marked the first time in the world that cats with RFP genes have been cloned," the ministry said in a statement.
"The ability to produce cloned cats with the manipulated genes is significant as it could be used for developing treatments for genetic diseases and for reproducing model (cloned) animals suffering from the same diseases as humans," it added...
--Yahoo! News
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
3-year-old boy finds woolly mammoth tooth
Gary Kidd had a pretty good idea that what his 3-year-old grandson had found was no rock, but the tooth of a woolly mammoth. That's because he had found one himself nine years ago.
Kaleb Kidd was chasing squirrels Monday at a family friend's property near La Crosse when he spotted what looked like an unusual rock.
"Grandpa, what's that?" Kaleb asked.
He told his grandson it looked like the tooth of the extinct woolly mammoth.
Next stop was the Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, which confirmed that it was, indeed, the tooth of a mammoth...
--USA Today
Kaleb Kidd was chasing squirrels Monday at a family friend's property near La Crosse when he spotted what looked like an unusual rock.
"Grandpa, what's that?" Kaleb asked.
He told his grandson it looked like the tooth of the extinct woolly mammoth.
Next stop was the Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, which confirmed that it was, indeed, the tooth of a mammoth...
--USA Today
Monday, November 05, 2007
Iowa man recovering after being shot by his dog
A hunter is recovering after he was shot in the leg at close range by his dog, who stepped on his shotgun and tripped the trigger, an official said Tuesday.
James Harris, 37, of Tama, was hit in the calf Saturday, the opening day of pheasant season, said Alan Foster, a spokesman with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
"He had surgery and is doing pretty well," he said. "He took between 100-120 pellets in about a 4-inch circle to his calf"...
--USA Today
James Harris, 37, of Tama, was hit in the calf Saturday, the opening day of pheasant season, said Alan Foster, a spokesman with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
"He had surgery and is doing pretty well," he said. "He took between 100-120 pellets in about a 4-inch circle to his calf"...
--USA Today
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Woman finds live World War II-era bomb
A woman walking her dog Wednesday found a live, World War II-era bomb on a Florida beach, which authorities later detonated.
No one was injured.
Jeannie Emack called local authorities, who determined the roughly 100-pound (45.4-kilogram) bomb was too old and unstable to move. Instead, they evacuated nearly two blocks of homes, while members of the sheriff's Explosive Ordinance Disposal team dug a hole in the sand and detonated the bomb...
--USA Today
No one was injured.
Jeannie Emack called local authorities, who determined the roughly 100-pound (45.4-kilogram) bomb was too old and unstable to move. Instead, they evacuated nearly two blocks of homes, while members of the sheriff's Explosive Ordinance Disposal team dug a hole in the sand and detonated the bomb...
--USA Today
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Chicago highway closed by pig grease
A busy section of highway was closed for seven hours Sunday after a truck tipped over and spilled pig ears, pig feet and grease.
The greasy pig parts created slippery conditions and forced the closure of northbound lanes of the Edens Expressway. The lanes were reopened Sunday afternoon.
A sudden shift in the truck's load caused it to tip onto its side near an entrance ramp in Skokie, according to Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Mike Claffey. The Edens Expressway connects downtown Chicago to its northern suburbs.
No injuries were reported...
--USA Today
The greasy pig parts created slippery conditions and forced the closure of northbound lanes of the Edens Expressway. The lanes were reopened Sunday afternoon.
A sudden shift in the truck's load caused it to tip onto its side near an entrance ramp in Skokie, according to Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Mike Claffey. The Edens Expressway connects downtown Chicago to its northern suburbs.
No injuries were reported...
--USA Today
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Lake disappears suddenly in Chile
Scientists in Chile are investigating the sudden disappearance of a glacial lake in the south of the country.
When park rangers patrolled the area in the Magallanes region in March, the two-hectare (five-acre) lake was its normal size, officials say.
But last month they found a huge dry crater and several stranded chunks of ice that used to float on the water.
One theory is that an earthquake opened up a fissure in the ground, allowing the lake's water to drain through.
"In March we patrolled the area and everything was normal," Juan Jose Romero from Chile's National Forestry Corporation, Conaf, said...
--BBC News
When park rangers patrolled the area in the Magallanes region in March, the two-hectare (five-acre) lake was its normal size, officials say.
But last month they found a huge dry crater and several stranded chunks of ice that used to float on the water.
One theory is that an earthquake opened up a fissure in the ground, allowing the lake's water to drain through.
"In March we patrolled the area and everything was normal," Juan Jose Romero from Chile's National Forestry Corporation, Conaf, said...
--BBC News
"We" the 2-headed snake's long odd life ends
A two-headed snake named “We,” the main attraction at the World Aquarium, has died.
The 8-year-old rat snake died of natural causes during the weekend, said caretaker Leonard Sonnenschein. Most two-headed snakes survive for only a week or two.
“It’s terrible news,” Sonnenschein said. “People come in every day and say: ’I’m here to see the two-headed snake.'"
Sonnenschein said more than a million people have seen We over the years. Children were especially fascinated by the snake, wondering how two heads could coexist on the same body as We sometimes strained to slither in two directions at once.
“These kinds of questions helped spur the science spirit in children,” Sonnenschein said. Sonnenschein said he bought We from a snake breeder in Indiana for $15,000 when the reptile was just a few weeks old...
--MSNBC
The 8-year-old rat snake died of natural causes during the weekend, said caretaker Leonard Sonnenschein. Most two-headed snakes survive for only a week or two.
“It’s terrible news,” Sonnenschein said. “People come in every day and say: ’I’m here to see the two-headed snake.'"
Sonnenschein said more than a million people have seen We over the years. Children were especially fascinated by the snake, wondering how two heads could coexist on the same body as We sometimes strained to slither in two directions at once.
“These kinds of questions helped spur the science spirit in children,” Sonnenschein said. Sonnenschein said he bought We from a snake breeder in Indiana for $15,000 when the reptile was just a few weeks old...
--MSNBC
Monday, May 28, 2007
Awakened man wrestles leopard out of his bed
A man clad only in underwear and a T-shirt wrestled a wild leopard to the floor and pinned it for 20 minutes after the cat leapt through a window of his home and hopped into bed with his sleeping family.
"This kind of thing doesn't happen every day," said 49-year-old Arthur Du Mosch, a nature guide. "I don't know why I did it. I wasn't thinking, I just acted."
Raviv Shapira, who heads the southern district of the Israel Nature and Parks Protection Authority, said a half dozen leopards have been spotted recently near Du Mosch's small community of Kibbutz Sde Boker in the Negev desert in southern Israel, although they rarely threaten humans.
Shapira said it was probably food that lured the big cat. Leopards living near humans are usually too old to hunt in the wild and resort to chasing down domestic dogs and cats for food, he added...
--CNN
"This kind of thing doesn't happen every day," said 49-year-old Arthur Du Mosch, a nature guide. "I don't know why I did it. I wasn't thinking, I just acted."
Raviv Shapira, who heads the southern district of the Israel Nature and Parks Protection Authority, said a half dozen leopards have been spotted recently near Du Mosch's small community of Kibbutz Sde Boker in the Negev desert in southern Israel, although they rarely threaten humans.
Shapira said it was probably food that lured the big cat. Leopards living near humans are usually too old to hunt in the wild and resort to chasing down domestic dogs and cats for food, he added...
--CNN
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Man tries to smuggle 700 snakes on plane
Customs officers at Cairo's airport on Thursday detained a man bound for Saudi Arabia who was trying to smuggle 700 live snakes on a plane, airport authorities said.
The officers were stunned when a passenger, identified as Yahia Rahim Tulba, after being asked to open his carryon bag, told them it contained live snakes.
Tulba opened his bag to show the snakes to the police and asked the officers, who held a safe distance, not to come close. Among the various snakes, hidden in small cloth sacks, were two poisonous cobras...
--USA Today
The officers were stunned when a passenger, identified as Yahia Rahim Tulba, after being asked to open his carryon bag, told them it contained live snakes.
Tulba opened his bag to show the snakes to the police and asked the officers, who held a safe distance, not to come close. Among the various snakes, hidden in small cloth sacks, were two poisonous cobras...
--USA Today
Monday, May 21, 2007
Ancient Coelacanth Caught in Indonesia
An Indonesian fisherman hooked a rare coelacanth, a species once thought as extinct as dinosaurs, and briefly kept the "living fossil" alive in a quarantined pool.
Justinus Lahama caught the four-foot, 110-pound fish early Saturday off Sulawesi island near Bunaken National Marine Park, which has some of the highest marine biodiversity in the world.
The fish died 17 hours later, an extraordinary survival time, marine biologist Lucky Lumingas said Sunday.
"The fish should have died within two hours because this species only lives in deep, cold-sea environment," he said. Lumingas works at the local Sam Ratulangi University, which plans to study the carcass...
--ABC News
Justinus Lahama caught the four-foot, 110-pound fish early Saturday off Sulawesi island near Bunaken National Marine Park, which has some of the highest marine biodiversity in the world.
The fish died 17 hours later, an extraordinary survival time, marine biologist Lucky Lumingas said Sunday.
"The fish should have died within two hours because this species only lives in deep, cold-sea environment," he said. Lumingas works at the local Sam Ratulangi University, which plans to study the carcass...
--ABC News
Thursday, May 17, 2007
School's pet bat tests positive for rabies
Catching a bat in a school basement and keeping it as a classroom pet is a great way to learn — about rabies.
Two staff members at Trinity Lutheran School are getting a weekslong series of rabies shots after a bat kept in a locked terrarium tested positive for the disease.
On May 9, seventh- and eighth-grade teacher Steve Coniglio used a stick and a bucket to capture the bat, which died two days later.
The bat had been displayed in classrooms and students gave it crickets, but Susan Tucker, head teacher at the central Wyoming school, said Coniglio made sure students did not handle the animal.
State and county health officials on Tuesday interviewed all 95 staff members and students at the school and decided that Coniglio and a teaching assistant who cleaned the cage after the bat died needed to be treated as a precaution, said Marty Stensaas, manager for Fremont County Public Health Nursing...
--USA Today
Two staff members at Trinity Lutheran School are getting a weekslong series of rabies shots after a bat kept in a locked terrarium tested positive for the disease.
On May 9, seventh- and eighth-grade teacher Steve Coniglio used a stick and a bucket to capture the bat, which died two days later.
The bat had been displayed in classrooms and students gave it crickets, but Susan Tucker, head teacher at the central Wyoming school, said Coniglio made sure students did not handle the animal.
State and county health officials on Tuesday interviewed all 95 staff members and students at the school and decided that Coniglio and a teaching assistant who cleaned the cage after the bat died needed to be treated as a precaution, said Marty Stensaas, manager for Fremont County Public Health Nursing...
--USA Today
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Study hints that fruit flies have free will
A spark of free will may exist in even the tiny brain of the humble fruit fly, based on new findings that could shed light on the nature and evolution of free will in humans.
Future research delving further into free will could lead to more advanced robots, scientists added. The result, joked neurobiologist Björn Brembs from the Free University Berlin, could be "world robot domination."
"Seriously though," Brembs said that programming robots with aspects of free will "may lead to more realistic and probably even more efficient behavior, which could be decisive in truly autonomous robots needed for planetary exploration"...
--MSNBC
Future research delving further into free will could lead to more advanced robots, scientists added. The result, joked neurobiologist Björn Brembs from the Free University Berlin, could be "world robot domination."
"Seriously though," Brembs said that programming robots with aspects of free will "may lead to more realistic and probably even more efficient behavior, which could be decisive in truly autonomous robots needed for planetary exploration"...
--MSNBC
Baby Bubba's got a Beretta -- and a license
My 10-month-old son has the cutest FOID card.
Howard David Ludwig -- affectionately nicknamed Bubba -- received his state-issued firearm owner's identification card two weeks ago.
The wallet-size card arrived about a month after his dear ol' dad correctly completed the online form and sent in the fee.
As a FOID card holder, baby Bubba can own a firearm, as well as ammunition, in Illinois.
He can also legally transport an unloaded weapon, though he can't yet walk, so that's not an issue.
The plastic card has a picture of Bubba giving a toothless grin in the upper right corner. It includes his name, address and date of birth -- 6/14/2006.
The FOID card lists his height (2 feet, 3 inches) and his weight (20 pounds)...
--Chicago Sun-Times
Howard David Ludwig -- affectionately nicknamed Bubba -- received his state-issued firearm owner's identification card two weeks ago.
The wallet-size card arrived about a month after his dear ol' dad correctly completed the online form and sent in the fee.
As a FOID card holder, baby Bubba can own a firearm, as well as ammunition, in Illinois.
He can also legally transport an unloaded weapon, though he can't yet walk, so that's not an issue.
The plastic card has a picture of Bubba giving a toothless grin in the upper right corner. It includes his name, address and date of birth -- 6/14/2006.
The FOID card lists his height (2 feet, 3 inches) and his weight (20 pounds)...
--Chicago Sun-Times
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Sea lion joins California schoolchildren's walk-a-thon
He has flippers instead of feet — and certainly no sneakers or hiking boots. But that didn't stop a sea lion from joining schoolchildren on a walk-a-thon.
The marine mammal apparently noticed children doing laps Friday morning around a course they had set up at the Marin Country Day School next to the shores of the San Francisco Bay. The 185-pound Steller sea lion waddled ashore, shocking students and teachers.
"He did a whole lap," said Kelly Watson, director of constituent relations and web communications at the private school.
It was the latest brush with humans for the 1-year-old sea lion, called Astro by staffers at the Marin Headlands-based Marine Mammal Center.
Astro's mother abandoned him at Ano Nuevo Island off the San Mateo coast in June, prompting biologists to bottle-feed the pup. They released the adolescent on April 25 with a radio tag...
--USA Today
The marine mammal apparently noticed children doing laps Friday morning around a course they had set up at the Marin Country Day School next to the shores of the San Francisco Bay. The 185-pound Steller sea lion waddled ashore, shocking students and teachers.
"He did a whole lap," said Kelly Watson, director of constituent relations and web communications at the private school.
It was the latest brush with humans for the 1-year-old sea lion, called Astro by staffers at the Marin Headlands-based Marine Mammal Center.
Astro's mother abandoned him at Ano Nuevo Island off the San Mateo coast in June, prompting biologists to bottle-feed the pup. They released the adolescent on April 25 with a radio tag...
--USA Today
Cat survives trip from China to N.C. in crate
After Eric Congdon opened a crate from China and discovered a cat inside, coming up with a name for the furry stowaway was easy.
China the cat had chewed through one of the boxes before it left Shanghai on April 3 and spent at least 35 days on a ship inside the container filled with motorcycle gear.
"I saw something in the container move," Congdon said. "I turned up the headlights on the fork lift to get a better look."
That was when he saw the cat cowering in a corner, weak but still alive. Congdon, owner of Olympia Moto Sports in Hendersonville, said he and a co-worker called the county's animal services when the cat would not let them near...
--USA Today
China the cat had chewed through one of the boxes before it left Shanghai on April 3 and spent at least 35 days on a ship inside the container filled with motorcycle gear.
"I saw something in the container move," Congdon said. "I turned up the headlights on the fork lift to get a better look."
That was when he saw the cat cowering in a corner, weak but still alive. Congdon, owner of Olympia Moto Sports in Hendersonville, said he and a co-worker called the county's animal services when the cat would not let them near...
--USA Today
Missing Big Boy statue found on top of high school
Students arriving at Gahanna Lincoln High School on Monday morning were greeted by a 7-foot statue of a rosy-cheeked lad that was pilfered from a Frisch's Big Boy restaurant.
The 200-pound fiberglass figure of the chubby boy in red and white suspenders was reporting missing Saturday morning from its concrete base, only to turn up on the roof of the school in the Columbus suburb, police said.
Officers believe it may have been a prank by seniors, Gahanna police Lt. Jeffrey Spence said. No arrests had been made.
A school maintenance crew removed the statue with a forklift and returned it to the restaurant, Spence said. The statue, valued at $7,000, was not damaged...
--USA Today
The 200-pound fiberglass figure of the chubby boy in red and white suspenders was reporting missing Saturday morning from its concrete base, only to turn up on the roof of the school in the Columbus suburb, police said.
Officers believe it may have been a prank by seniors, Gahanna police Lt. Jeffrey Spence said. No arrests had been made.
A school maintenance crew removed the statue with a forklift and returned it to the restaurant, Spence said. The statue, valued at $7,000, was not damaged...
--USA Today
Man charged with stealing $250,000 worth of Skittles
A little candy can add up to a rainbow of trouble.
A man caught removing tires from a truck has been charged with stealing the tractor-trailer containing $250,000 worth of Skittles, police said.
Seven pallets of the 28 in the truck are still missing, authorities said. Alan Chavez, 22, has been charged with first-degree felony theft. It was unclear Monday whether he had a lawyer...
--CNN
A man caught removing tires from a truck has been charged with stealing the tractor-trailer containing $250,000 worth of Skittles, police said.
Seven pallets of the 28 in the truck are still missing, authorities said. Alan Chavez, 22, has been charged with first-degree felony theft. It was unclear Monday whether he had a lawyer...
--CNN
Monday, May 14, 2007
Knoxville Zoo displays albino alligator
This white alligator has it made in the shade. Without an alligator's normal dark camouflaging color, the new inhabitant at the Knoxville Zoo would not live long while exposed to predators or the sun.
In an exhibit made to look like the Louisiana bayou with tree stumps and hanging moss, the 12-year-old American alligator spent one recent afternoon basking under a heat lamp beside a warm pool with one claw lazily dipped in the water. If outside, her skin would burn in the sun.
An albino gene makes the alligator's skin white and her eyes pinkish, and the rare find creates a popular exhibit at zoos around the country.
The exhibit in Knoxville — marketed with the slogan "Look in Dem Eyes" in reference to a legend that good luck will follow those who see the animal — will last through Labor Day...
--USA Today
Friday, May 11, 2007
Brawl breaks out in Boston Pops audience
Concert-goers, and even Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart, were caught off-guard when a fight broke out on opening night at usually sedate Symphony Hall.
Television video of the fight Wednesday night showed two men struggling in the balcony — one with his shirt pulled off — as several people stood around them.
Lockhart briefly halted the performance, which featured singer-songwriter Ben Folds, while the men were escorted out.
Witnesses said they heard a scream from the balcony, and the sound of chairs falling, then a second scream as the fight escalated...
--USA Today
Television video of the fight Wednesday night showed two men struggling in the balcony — one with his shirt pulled off — as several people stood around them.
Lockhart briefly halted the performance, which featured singer-songwriter Ben Folds, while the men were escorted out.
Witnesses said they heard a scream from the balcony, and the sound of chairs falling, then a second scream as the fight escalated...
--USA Today
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Monkeys, capybaras are zoo's odd couple
They're Japan's odd couple.
Capybaras and squirrel monkeys, unlikely neighbors in the wild, are living in the same enclosure at a zoo outside Tokyo and so far, they're loving it.
The monkeys ride on the capybara's backs and kiss the world's largest rodents, who tolerate their tricks. But in the wild, their paths do not cross -- capybara's live on river banks while the monkeys live in forests.
Keepers at the Tobu zoo said it took the capybaras years to tolerate the monkeys...
--Yahoo! News
Capybaras and squirrel monkeys, unlikely neighbors in the wild, are living in the same enclosure at a zoo outside Tokyo and so far, they're loving it.
The monkeys ride on the capybara's backs and kiss the world's largest rodents, who tolerate their tricks. But in the wild, their paths do not cross -- capybara's live on river banks while the monkeys live in forests.
Keepers at the Tobu zoo said it took the capybaras years to tolerate the monkeys...
--Yahoo! News
Vandalized elevator fights back
Two young Norwegian vandals overlooked a small but crucial detail when they started smashing up a train station elevator: They were inside it.
And the elevator at the Lillestroem Train Station, north of Oslo, appeared to be the vengeful sort, sealing its doors and holding the two for the police.
“Vandalism is always sad, but a lot of people do see the humor in this,” Ellen Svendsvoll, of the National Rail Administration, said Monday. “They got what was coming to them”...
--MSNBC
And the elevator at the Lillestroem Train Station, north of Oslo, appeared to be the vengeful sort, sealing its doors and holding the two for the police.
“Vandalism is always sad, but a lot of people do see the humor in this,” Ellen Svendsvoll, of the National Rail Administration, said Monday. “They got what was coming to them”...
--MSNBC
Woman hopes for treasure, finds dynamite
Lori Artman thought she'd uncovered a fortune when she found an old wooden box partially buried in her backyard.
But there was no hidden loot in the box -- just dynamite.
"We were hoping for money, a buried treasure," Artman said. "Instead we just had a crazy day with the bomb squad."
The box was found Friday when Artman, her boyfriend and her nephew were inspecting the fence around her property in Buffalo Township, about 25 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
They called police, who summoned the Allegheny County bomb squad...
--CNN
Canada Post cowed by "very threatening cat"
Canada's postal system has stopped delivering mail to a home in Winnipeg, Manitoba, after a mail carrier was scared away by a "very threatening cat," the Winnipeg Free Press said on Friday.
A Canada Post spokeswoman said the agency was concerned about the safety of its carriers, although it hoped for an amicable solution to its dispute with cat-owner John Samborski.
"The letter carrier who delivers mail there ... was brought up on a farm, she is very comfortable with animals," spokewoman Kathi Neal told the newspaper. "Apparently this is a very threatening cat"...
--Reuters
Welsh operators keep it English
Telephone operators in Wales are being told not to greet callers in the country's native tongue because the language may damage vocal chords.
Union officials say operators who speak primarily English could cause harm to their vocal chords if forced by bosses to offer a traditional "bore da" -- which translates as "good morning" -- or "prynhawn da" -- good afternoon -- to callers, The Times of London reported Tuesday.
The unions were successful in getting the greetings banned in the Vale of Glamorgan council, where officials justified the move by saying it goes along with the Health and Safety Executive's recommendation that call center workers limit their phone time to preserve their vocal chords...
--UPI
Union officials say operators who speak primarily English could cause harm to their vocal chords if forced by bosses to offer a traditional "bore da" -- which translates as "good morning" -- or "prynhawn da" -- good afternoon -- to callers, The Times of London reported Tuesday.
The unions were successful in getting the greetings banned in the Vale of Glamorgan council, where officials justified the move by saying it goes along with the Health and Safety Executive's recommendation that call center workers limit their phone time to preserve their vocal chords...
--UPI
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Student attacked by giraffe at Lithuanian zoo
Climbing into a giraffe's cage at the local zoo seemed a good idea after a few drinks.
But the prank went wrong when the 1.3 ton animal flew into a rage and attacked the three student trespassers at a zoo in Lithuania on Monday night.
Ruta Greiciute, a 22-year-old student at Kaunas Technology University, was hospitalized with a broken collar bone and nose after the nine-year-old male giraffe, named Solut, attacked her.
The other students survived the incident unscathed...
South Korea county cans award for drinking workers
On second thought, maybe it was not a good idea to give an award for drinking to local government officials.
The South Korean county of Koesan has decided it will discontinue giving out its "Drinking Culture Prize" after being flooded with complaints that the award promotes drunkenness among municipal employees and encouraged binge drinking.
A county official said Wednesday the public misunderstood the intention of the award, which was meant to recognize government workers who go out to local restaurants and bars to meet citizens and hear what they have to say.
"I guess it was our mistake that the purpose was misinterpreted," said the official, who asked not to be named...
--ReutersRice Krispies? Actually, spiders in boy's ear
'They were walking on my eardrums,' 9-year-old from Oregon says
These guys weren’t exactly Snap, Crackle and Pop.What began as a faint popping in a 9-year-old boy’s ear — “like Rice Krispies” — ended up as an earache, and the doctor’s diagnosis was that a pair of spiders made a home in the ear.
“They were walking on my eardrums,” Jesse Courtney said.
One of the spiders was still alive after the doctor flushed the fourth-grader’s left ear canal. His mother, Diane Courtney, said her son insisted he kept hearing a faint popping in his ear — “like Rice Krispies.”Dr. David Irvine said it looked like the boy had something in his ear when he examined him.
When he irrigated the ear, the first spider came out, dead. The other spider took a second dousing before it emerged, still alive. Both were about the size of a pencil eraser...
MSNBCFriday, May 04, 2007
Woman gets smallpox-vaccine virus via sex
Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describe the case of a woman who developed a genital infection after having sexual contact with a military serviceman who had been recently vaccinated against smallpox.
The infection was from the vaccinia virus, the type of virus contained in the smallpox vaccine. Vaccinia is closely related but less virulent than the smallpox virus, variola, and usually results in just a localized infection.
The case, described in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, involved an otherwise healthy woman who was seen at a public health clinic in Alaska last year for painful vaginal tears that were not the result of violence or abuse. The woman reported having a new sexual partner in the days preceding the clinic visit...
--MSNBC
The infection was from the vaccinia virus, the type of virus contained in the smallpox vaccine. Vaccinia is closely related but less virulent than the smallpox virus, variola, and usually results in just a localized infection.
The case, described in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, involved an otherwise healthy woman who was seen at a public health clinic in Alaska last year for painful vaginal tears that were not the result of violence or abuse. The woman reported having a new sexual partner in the days preceding the clinic visit...
--MSNBC
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Lawyer sues dry cleaners for $65 million over pants
The Chungs, immigrants from South Korea, realized their American dream when they opened their dry-cleaning business seven years ago in the nation's capital. For the past two years, however, they've been dealing with the nightmare of litigation: a $65 million lawsuit over a pair of missing pants.
Jin Nam Chung, Ki Chung and their son, Soo Chung, are so disheartened that they're considering moving back to Seoul, said their attorney, Chris Manning, who spoke on their behalf.
"They're out a lot of money, but more importantly, incredibly disenchanted with the system," Manning said. "This has destroyed their lives."
The lawsuit was filed by a District of Columbia administrative hearings judge, Roy Pearson, who has been representing himself in the case...
--CBS News
Jin Nam Chung, Ki Chung and their son, Soo Chung, are so disheartened that they're considering moving back to Seoul, said their attorney, Chris Manning, who spoke on their behalf.
"They're out a lot of money, but more importantly, incredibly disenchanted with the system," Manning said. "This has destroyed their lives."
The lawsuit was filed by a District of Columbia administrative hearings judge, Roy Pearson, who has been representing himself in the case...
--CBS News
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Snakes invade Nepal Maoist camps, rattle leader
Hundreds of snakes have invaded camps housing Nepal's former Maoist fighters, infuriating their top leader, the state-run RSS news agency said Wednesday.
Maoist chief Prachanda accused the government of ignoring the maintenance of the camps, set up under a peace deal in November that ended a decade-old civil war in which thousands of people died.
"More than 700 snakes have been killed in a cantonment," RSS quoted Prachanda as saying...
--Reuters
Maoist chief Prachanda accused the government of ignoring the maintenance of the camps, set up under a peace deal in November that ended a decade-old civil war in which thousands of people died.
"More than 700 snakes have been killed in a cantonment," RSS quoted Prachanda as saying...
--Reuters
Illegally parked alligator snarls Texas traffic
All it takes is one illegally parked troublemaker to tie up freeway traffic — especially if it's an 8-foot alligator sprawled across the pavement.
"I don't remember any of this in the academy," police Officer Albert Silva said of the traffic jam early Sunday. "As far as I know, there's no procedure on this other than: 'Don't get bit."'
Police car sirens didn't persuade the big reptile to budge off Loop 410.
Police threw orange traffic cones at the gator, but it just snapped at the cones and flung them away.
The gator even assaulted a police car, biting a chunk out of its bumper...
--USA Today
"I don't remember any of this in the academy," police Officer Albert Silva said of the traffic jam early Sunday. "As far as I know, there's no procedure on this other than: 'Don't get bit."'
Police car sirens didn't persuade the big reptile to budge off Loop 410.
Police threw orange traffic cones at the gator, but it just snapped at the cones and flung them away.
The gator even assaulted a police car, biting a chunk out of its bumper...
--USA Today
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Man accused of stealing 26 cars to see girlfriend
Whenever Antonio Moreno wanted to see his girlfriend, police say, he'd jump in a car and drive right over.
But there was a problem. The 26 cars Moreno jumped into all belonged to someone else, according to authorities who arrested the 31-year-old near his Inglewood home on Wednesday. They said he was behind the wheel of a 1987 Toyota Camry when they found him.
Since January, police said, Moreno had been stealing Toyota Camrys and Nissan Sentras by using a simple device that starts Japanese cars of a certain age. Acting on a tip, members of a regional auto-theft task force took him into custody.
Some cars were stolen in Inglewood and abandoned in Santa Barbara, police said, while others were taken from Santa Barbara...
--USA Today
But there was a problem. The 26 cars Moreno jumped into all belonged to someone else, according to authorities who arrested the 31-year-old near his Inglewood home on Wednesday. They said he was behind the wheel of a 1987 Toyota Camry when they found him.
Since January, police said, Moreno had been stealing Toyota Camrys and Nissan Sentras by using a simple device that starts Japanese cars of a certain age. Acting on a tip, members of a regional auto-theft task force took him into custody.
Some cars were stolen in Inglewood and abandoned in Santa Barbara, police said, while others were taken from Santa Barbara...
--USA Today
Waterfowl wage genital warfare
A sexual arms race waged with twisted genitals has been discovered in waterfowl.
The genitalia of the females of these species have at times apparently evolved to make it harder for males to successfully impregnate them, according to new findings that shed light on the eternal war of the sexes.
Most birds lack phalluses, organs like human penises. Waterfowl are among the just 3 percent of all living bird species that retain the grooved phallus found in their reptilian ancestors.
Male waterfowl are especially unusual in that their phallus length varies greatly among different species, ranging from a half-inch to more than 15 inches long. They also display a remarkable level of diversity how elaborate they are, ranging from smooth to covered with spines and grooves.
Scientists had speculated that male waterfowl evolved longer phalluses to give them a competitive edge over those not as well-endowed when it came to successfully fertilizing females...
--MSNBC
The genitalia of the females of these species have at times apparently evolved to make it harder for males to successfully impregnate them, according to new findings that shed light on the eternal war of the sexes.
Most birds lack phalluses, organs like human penises. Waterfowl are among the just 3 percent of all living bird species that retain the grooved phallus found in their reptilian ancestors.
Male waterfowl are especially unusual in that their phallus length varies greatly among different species, ranging from a half-inch to more than 15 inches long. They also display a remarkable level of diversity how elaborate they are, ranging from smooth to covered with spines and grooves.
Scientists had speculated that male waterfowl evolved longer phalluses to give them a competitive edge over those not as well-endowed when it came to successfully fertilizing females...
--MSNBC
Monday, April 30, 2007
Mind-reading toys could revolutionize play
SAN JOSE - A convincing twin of Darth Vader stalks the beige cubicles of a Silicon Valley office, complete with ominous black mask, cape and light saber.
But this is no chintzy Halloween costume. It’s a prototype, years in the making, of a toy that incorporates brain wave-reading technology.
Behind the mask is a sensor that touches the user’s forehead and reads the brain’s electrical signals, then sends them to a wireless receiver inside the saber, which lights up when the user is concentrating. The player maintains focus by channeling thoughts on any fixed mental image, or thinking specifically about keeping the light sword on. When the mind wanders, the wand goes dark.
Engineers at NeuroSky Inc. have big plans for brain wave-reading toys and video games. They say the simple Darth Vader game — a relatively crude biofeedback device cloaked in gimmicky garb — portends the coming of more sophisticated devices that could revolutionize the way people play...
--MSNBC
But this is no chintzy Halloween costume. It’s a prototype, years in the making, of a toy that incorporates brain wave-reading technology.
Behind the mask is a sensor that touches the user’s forehead and reads the brain’s electrical signals, then sends them to a wireless receiver inside the saber, which lights up when the user is concentrating. The player maintains focus by channeling thoughts on any fixed mental image, or thinking specifically about keeping the light sword on. When the mind wanders, the wand goes dark.
Engineers at NeuroSky Inc. have big plans for brain wave-reading toys and video games. They say the simple Darth Vader game — a relatively crude biofeedback device cloaked in gimmicky garb — portends the coming of more sophisticated devices that could revolutionize the way people play...
--MSNBC
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Genetic Discrimination Ban Clears House; Senate OK Expected
If legislation passed Wednesday by the House of Representatives becomes law, it will be illegal to deny a job or health insurance on the basis of a person's genetic makeup.
With more links drawn between genetic profiles and disease predispositions every day, supporters of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act say the bill will ease patients' worries of being singled out for faulty genes.
“GINA will do more than stamp out a new form of discrimination,” said Louise Slaughter (D-New York) who introduced the bill. “It will allow us to realize the tremendous potential of genetic research without jeopardizing one of the most fundamental privacies that can be imagined.”
Such discrimination is rare, but supporters of the bill worry that as genetic testing becomes common and scientists chart the complex links between genes and health, profiling might also increase...
WiredFriday, April 27, 2007
Quake brings WWII PT boat up from ocean floor
Wreckage from a World War II torpedo boat was tossed up from the sea in the Solomon Islands after a powerful 8.1 earthquake hit the area in early April, an official said Friday.
Jay Waura of the National Disaster Management Office said the explosive-laden boat was exposed when reefs were pushed up three meters (10 feet) above sea level by the April 2 quake, which caused a devastating tsunami in the western Solomon Islands that killed 52 people.
The Solomons' coastline is still littered with decaying military wrecks from World War II, including the torpedo patrol boat commanded by U.S. President John F. Kennedy...
--CNN
Jay Waura of the National Disaster Management Office said the explosive-laden boat was exposed when reefs were pushed up three meters (10 feet) above sea level by the April 2 quake, which caused a devastating tsunami in the western Solomon Islands that killed 52 people.
The Solomons' coastline is still littered with decaying military wrecks from World War II, including the torpedo patrol boat commanded by U.S. President John F. Kennedy...
--CNN
Mammoth bones loom over Paris sale
For sale: a mammoth skeleton, a 150-kilogram meteorite and a kind of giant pearl formed in the stomachs of certain animals.
Christie's auction house in Paris is hosting an unusual auction of paleontological curiosities, including several prehistoric mammals. The sale takes place Monday.
Bidders interested in buying the star specimen — a 15,000-year-old Siberian mammoth dubbed "The President" — will need at least $199,000. And a lot of floor space: Tusks and all, it's 12.5 feet high and 16 feet long.
Skeletons of a 10,000-year-old, 13.5-foot-long rhinoceros and a 7.5-foot-high cave bear are also going under the hammer...
--USA Today
Christie's auction house in Paris is hosting an unusual auction of paleontological curiosities, including several prehistoric mammals. The sale takes place Monday.
Bidders interested in buying the star specimen — a 15,000-year-old Siberian mammoth dubbed "The President" — will need at least $199,000. And a lot of floor space: Tusks and all, it's 12.5 feet high and 16 feet long.
Skeletons of a 10,000-year-old, 13.5-foot-long rhinoceros and a 7.5-foot-high cave bear are also going under the hammer...
--USA Today
Pregnant cow runs riot across German city
A pregnant cow being chased by police and firefighters caused 25,000 euros (US$33,900) of damage on a three-hour rampage through the German city of Hanover.
Uschi escaped from a farm late Monday and became increasingly violent as she encountered shocked drivers and pedestrians in the city.
Pursued by the farmer, television camera crews and 30 police and firefighters, the Charolais cow lashed out at cars, benches, garden fences and whatever else got in her way during the 5-kilometer chase, authorities said...
--MSNBC
Uschi escaped from a farm late Monday and became increasingly violent as she encountered shocked drivers and pedestrians in the city.
Pursued by the farmer, television camera crews and 30 police and firefighters, the Charolais cow lashed out at cars, benches, garden fences and whatever else got in her way during the 5-kilometer chase, authorities said...
--MSNBC
Two arrested for highway fistfight
State troopers in Minneapolis arrested two women engaged in a fistfight in the middle of rush hour traffic on a freeway.
The women had been riding in the same vehicle before getting out to fight in the center lane of Interstate 694 at during Wednesday's evening rush hour, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
A third person from their vehicle, a man, was not arrested...
--UPI
The women had been riding in the same vehicle before getting out to fight in the center lane of Interstate 694 at during Wednesday's evening rush hour, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
A third person from their vehicle, a man, was not arrested...
--UPI
Drunk deposits horse in bank for night
A German man called on his bank for an unusual service when he was too tired and drunk to go home -- he bedded down there for the night with his horse.
The man, identified as Wolfgang H. by German media, went to sleep next to cash machines in the local branch of the Mittelbrandenburgische Sparkasse in Wiesenburg southwest of Berlin after unsaddling his horse Sammy and closing the door.
A spokeswoman for the bank said that aside from an undesirable deposit made by his horse inside the building, the 40-year-old account holder had not breached any house rules...
Hugh Grant arrested over "baked beans attack"
LONDON (Reuters) - Hugh Grant has been arrested and questioned by police after a photographer accused the actor of attacking him with a tub of baked beans.
Photographer Ian Whittaker told the Daily Star tabloid that he and Grant, 46, clashed near the home of the "Four Weddings and a Funeral" star.
Whittaker said Grant abused and kicked him on Tuesday before lobbing the beans. The paper printed photos of Grant with a plastic tub of food raised over his head.
Grant's lawyers Schillings said an incident had taken place and was now under investigation. His agent in the United States said he had no official statement at this stage and London representatives could not be immediately reached for comment...
--Reuters
Photographer Ian Whittaker told the Daily Star tabloid that he and Grant, 46, clashed near the home of the "Four Weddings and a Funeral" star.
Whittaker said Grant abused and kicked him on Tuesday before lobbing the beans. The paper printed photos of Grant with a plastic tub of food raised over his head.
Grant's lawyers Schillings said an incident had taken place and was now under investigation. His agent in the United States said he had no official statement at this stage and London representatives could not be immediately reached for comment...
--Reuters
Flagellation ritual exposes Filipinos to rabies
More than a hundred men in the Philippines may have contracted rabies after taking part in a self-flagellation ritual to mark Good Friday, doctors and local authorities said on Thursday.
A health alert was issued after a man who took part in the traditional ceremony – where participants slash their backs with knifes before flaying themselves with bamboo whips – died from the virus on 11 April.
Mario Morales, the mayor of Mabalacat in Pampanga province north of Manila, told local media that Eduardo Sese may have contaminated up to 100 people who shared knives to cut themselves. He was bitten by an infected dog in February 2007.
The government doctor in Pampanga, Maria Clara Aquino, said vaccines had been given to 103 people who could have been exposed...
--New Scientist
A health alert was issued after a man who took part in the traditional ceremony – where participants slash their backs with knifes before flaying themselves with bamboo whips – died from the virus on 11 April.
Mario Morales, the mayor of Mabalacat in Pampanga province north of Manila, told local media that Eduardo Sese may have contaminated up to 100 people who shared knives to cut themselves. He was bitten by an infected dog in February 2007.
The government doctor in Pampanga, Maria Clara Aquino, said vaccines had been given to 103 people who could have been exposed...
--New Scientist
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
New 'super-Earth' found in space
Astronomers have found the most Earth-like planet outside our Solar System to date, a world which could have water running on its surface.
The planet orbits the faint star Gliese 581, which is 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra.
Scientists made the discovery using the Eso 3.6m Telescope in Chile.
They say the benign temperatures on the planet mean any water there could exist in liquid form, and this raises the chances it could also harbour life...
--BBC News
The planet orbits the faint star Gliese 581, which is 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra.
Scientists made the discovery using the Eso 3.6m Telescope in Chile.
They say the benign temperatures on the planet mean any water there could exist in liquid form, and this raises the chances it could also harbour life...
--BBC News
Friday, April 20, 2007
Miss Mexico modifies dress after outcry
Miss Mexico is toning down her Miss Universe pageant dress — not because it’s too slinky or low-cut, but because its bullet-studded belt and images of hangings from a 1920s uprising have outraged Mexicans.
The floor-length dress is accented with crosses, scapulars and a sketch of a man facing a firing squad. Designers who helped select the dress from among 30 entries argued it represented the nation’s culture and history, especially since Mexico City is hosting the pageant in May.
Cut from a traditional natural cotton called manta, the dress depicts scenes from the 1926-1929 Cristero war, an uprising by Roman Catholic rebels against Mexico’s secular government, which was imposing fiercely anti-clerical laws. Tens of thousands of people died...
--MSNBC
The floor-length dress is accented with crosses, scapulars and a sketch of a man facing a firing squad. Designers who helped select the dress from among 30 entries argued it represented the nation’s culture and history, especially since Mexico City is hosting the pageant in May.
Cut from a traditional natural cotton called manta, the dress depicts scenes from the 1926-1929 Cristero war, an uprising by Roman Catholic rebels against Mexico’s secular government, which was imposing fiercely anti-clerical laws. Tens of thousands of people died...
--MSNBC
Colombia truck crashes, spills cocaine
A truck loaded with cocaine flipped after taking a curve too fast, spilling nearly a ton of the drug across a Colombian highway.
Police said the drugs were hidden in the truck’s walls and roof, which ripped open Thursday when the vehicle overturned in Medellin, 155 miles north of the capital, Bogota.
The driver escaped injury but was quickly arrested...
--MSNBC
Police said the drugs were hidden in the truck’s walls and roof, which ripped open Thursday when the vehicle overturned in Medellin, 155 miles north of the capital, Bogota.
The driver escaped injury but was quickly arrested...
--MSNBC
Woman Finds WWII Grenade in Potatoes
A woman in a town near Naples got an unwelcome surprise when she bought a sack of potatoes at a nearby market, put them into water to peel and discovered one of them was a hand grenade apparently left over from World War II.
Olga Mauriello had put the potatoes in a vat of water and had just begun peeling them Tuesday when she found the explosive, covered in dirt, police said Wednesday.
An alarmed Mauriello, 74, called neighbors, who in turn called police...
--ABC News
Olga Mauriello had put the potatoes in a vat of water and had just begun peeling them Tuesday when she found the explosive, covered in dirt, police said Wednesday.
An alarmed Mauriello, 74, called neighbors, who in turn called police...
--ABC News
Sea lion attacks 13-year-old surfing off Australian coast
A sea lion leaped out of the sea and attacked a 13-year-old girl as she surfed behind a speedboat off Australia's west coast, a newspaper reported Sunday.
A marine scientist said the attack by the sea lion, which can grow to more than 880 pounds in weight but usually stay away from humans, was bizarre and that the sea lion may have been trying to play with the girl.
Ella Murphy had her jaw broken and lost three teeth after the sea lion attacked her on Friday as she was being towed on a surfboard behind a speedboat at Lancelin, a town 80 miles north of the Western Australia state capital of Perth, The Sunday Times newspaper reported...
--USA Today
A marine scientist said the attack by the sea lion, which can grow to more than 880 pounds in weight but usually stay away from humans, was bizarre and that the sea lion may have been trying to play with the girl.
Ella Murphy had her jaw broken and lost three teeth after the sea lion attacked her on Friday as she was being towed on a surfboard behind a speedboat at Lancelin, a town 80 miles north of the Western Australia state capital of Perth, The Sunday Times newspaper reported...
--USA Today
Winnie the Pooh causes bomb scare
A man who went to a Missouri post office to pick up a novelty phone he ordered over the Internet was alarmed that the package was ticking; it subsequently created a bomb scare.
It turned out that the phone — shaped like Winnie the Pooh — had a feature the customer did not know about: An incoming call causes Winnie's head to spin, and the feature apparently had been activated during shipping.
The ticking that prompted evacuation of the Wright City post office Thursday morning was Winnie's head repeatedly hitting the side of the package, Missouri Highway Patrol spokeswoman Cpl. Julie Scerine said...
--USA Today
It turned out that the phone — shaped like Winnie the Pooh — had a feature the customer did not know about: An incoming call causes Winnie's head to spin, and the feature apparently had been activated during shipping.
The ticking that prompted evacuation of the Wright City post office Thursday morning was Winnie's head repeatedly hitting the side of the package, Missouri Highway Patrol spokeswoman Cpl. Julie Scerine said...
--USA Today
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Hungarian motorway blocked by escaping rabbits
Hungary's busiest highway, connecting Budapest with the Austrian capital Vienna, was closed early on Monday after a truck carrying rabbits crashed, letting 5,000 of the animals loose on the road, police said...
--Reuters
--Reuters
3 Central American nations ban self-styled Antichrist
Three Central American governments have banned a man claiming to be the Antichrist from entering their countries, outraged by his inflammatory preaching against the Catholic Church and organized religion.
El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala have banned Jose de Jesus Miranda, who heads a cult-like movement with sermons televised from Miami to dozens of mostly Latin American nations and wants to join followers at a rally next week in Guatemala.
A former heroin addict who was briefly imprisoned as a youth in his native Puerto Rico, Miranda, 60, talks openly in a video on his Web site about how he loved cocaine and dreamed of working in a Colombian drug lab.
He has the number 666 identifying the Antichrist tattooed on his arm but says he is Jesus Christ reborn on Earth, arguing Saint Paul's teachings show this is what Antichrist means...
--Reuters
El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala have banned Jose de Jesus Miranda, who heads a cult-like movement with sermons televised from Miami to dozens of mostly Latin American nations and wants to join followers at a rally next week in Guatemala.
A former heroin addict who was briefly imprisoned as a youth in his native Puerto Rico, Miranda, 60, talks openly in a video on his Web site about how he loved cocaine and dreamed of working in a Colombian drug lab.
He has the number 666 identifying the Antichrist tattooed on his arm but says he is Jesus Christ reborn on Earth, arguing Saint Paul's teachings show this is what Antichrist means...
--Reuters
Horses may be drugged for Stones gig
BELGRADE (Reuters) - Preparations to sedate as many as 300 horses stabled at Belgrade's racecourse to keep them calm during a Rolling Stones concert have enraged Serb animal lovers who are lobbying to have the gig moved to another venue.
The concert is expected to draw more than 100,000 people to the Hippodrome, Belgrade's largest fenced space. The horses will be only a few metres from the stage.
"Horses differ, the same as people. Some are more nervous, more skittish," said hostler Jovanka Prelic. "If they get too nervous or start to panic during the concert, they'll get sedatives"...
--Reuters
The concert is expected to draw more than 100,000 people to the Hippodrome, Belgrade's largest fenced space. The horses will be only a few metres from the stage.
"Horses differ, the same as people. Some are more nervous, more skittish," said hostler Jovanka Prelic. "If they get too nervous or start to panic during the concert, they'll get sedatives"...
--Reuters
Semi driver checks on doughnuts, crashes
MINOT, N.D. - A semi driver whose truck rolled on its side, dumping a load of specialty sunflower seeds, says it happened when he tried to check on a couple of doughnuts.
Merv Bontrager of Milo said he looked away briefly from an off-ramp on which he was driving Tuesday morning and ended up rolling his rig on the southeast edge of Minot.
It seemed to happen in slow motion, he said.
"I just looked down briefly on the floor where I had thrown a couple of doughnuts I was going to eat later, to see where they had landed," Bontrager said...
--Yahoo! News
Merv Bontrager of Milo said he looked away briefly from an off-ramp on which he was driving Tuesday morning and ended up rolling his rig on the southeast edge of Minot.
It seemed to happen in slow motion, he said.
"I just looked down briefly on the floor where I had thrown a couple of doughnuts I was going to eat later, to see where they had landed," Bontrager said...
--Yahoo! News
Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
Scientists claim radiation from handsets are to blame for mysterious 'colony collapse' of bees
It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail.
They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some bee-keepers claimed that the phenomenon - which started in the US, then spread to continental Europe - was beginning to hit Britain as well.
The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up...
--The Independent
It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail.
They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some bee-keepers claimed that the phenomenon - which started in the US, then spread to continental Europe - was beginning to hit Britain as well.
The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up...
--The Independent
Creepy-crawly robot to mend a broken heart
A device that sounds like a 21st-century version of a medicinal leech may soon be set loose inside the chests of heart patients. Resembling a robotic caterpillar, it will crawl across the surface of their beating heart, delivering treatment without the need for major surgery.
The device, called HeartLander, can be inserted using minimally invasive keyhole surgery. Once in place, it will attach itself to the heart and begin inching its way across the outside of the organ, injecting drugs or attaching medical devices. In tests on live pigs, the HeartLander has fitted pacemaker leads and injected dye into the heart. This video shows the latest prototype creeping over the surface of a beating model heart (2.1MB, mpg format).
The 20-millimetre-long robot has two suckers for feet, each pierced with 20 holes connected to a vacuum line, which hold it onto the outside of the heart. By moving its two body segments back and forth relative to one another it can crawl across the heart at up to 18 centimetres per minute. This back-and-forth movement is generated by pushing and pulling wires that run back to motors outside the patient's body. The robot is being developed by Cameron Riviere and colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...--New Scientist
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Young whale found in New York harbor
NEW YORK - Marine biologists were standing watch on Tuesday over a young whale that lost its way in New York harbor and nearly wandered into a narrow waterway notorious for industrial pollution.
The animal, described as a juvenile minke whale about 15 feet long, was cruising around Gowanus Bay, the outlet from the mile-long Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. It appeared to be in good health and not distressed, said Kim Durham, rescue program director for the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation.
The foundation, based in Riverhead, N.Y., specializes in cases involving whales, dolphins, seals and sea turtles.
Durham and other experts were dispatched to the scene after the whale was spotted early Tuesday. A television news helicopter videotaped it leaping out of the water, a behavioral trait common to whales of the baleen species...
--Yahoo! News
The animal, described as a juvenile minke whale about 15 feet long, was cruising around Gowanus Bay, the outlet from the mile-long Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. It appeared to be in good health and not distressed, said Kim Durham, rescue program director for the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation.
The foundation, based in Riverhead, N.Y., specializes in cases involving whales, dolphins, seals and sea turtles.
Durham and other experts were dispatched to the scene after the whale was spotted early Tuesday. A television news helicopter videotaped it leaping out of the water, a behavioral trait common to whales of the baleen species...
--Yahoo! News
Drought uncovers Australia's drowned town
ADAMINABY, Australia (AFP) - Australia's worst drought in a century has uncovered a town deliberately flooded 50 years ago as part of a massive hydro-electricity scheme, stirring painful memories for former residents.
Adaminaby, a small farming town nestled in the Snowy Mountains on the border between New South Wales and Victoria states, was submerged under 30 metres (98.5 feet) of water in 1957 when the local valley was dammed to form the man-made Lake Eucumbene.
The settlement was never expected to be seen again but the severity of the drought has evaporated most of the lake, bringing it back to the surface.
"We couldn't believe it when the old streets started to reappear," said Leigh Stewart, a local history buff who grew up in the old town and once ran a shop there.
"It brought back a lot of memories, I can still see in my mind's eye how the town was," he adds, gesturing around the muddy wreckage of what was once his family home...
--Yahoo! News
Adaminaby, a small farming town nestled in the Snowy Mountains on the border between New South Wales and Victoria states, was submerged under 30 metres (98.5 feet) of water in 1957 when the local valley was dammed to form the man-made Lake Eucumbene.
The settlement was never expected to be seen again but the severity of the drought has evaporated most of the lake, bringing it back to the surface.
"We couldn't believe it when the old streets started to reappear," said Leigh Stewart, a local history buff who grew up in the old town and once ran a shop there.
"It brought back a lot of memories, I can still see in my mind's eye how the town was," he adds, gesturing around the muddy wreckage of what was once his family home...
--Yahoo! News
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Woman arrested for shoplifting blames crime on irritable bowel syndrome
A woman arrested for shoplifting has blamed the crime on irritable bowel syndrome, authorities said. Helen Gallo, 61, of Clearwater, was arrested Sunday after allegedly shoplifting from a Cape Coral grocery store, The Daily Breeze of Cape Coral reported.
Gallo reportedly told authorities that she could not wait in line because she has irritable bowel syndrome, according to the newspaper...
--ABC News
Gallo reportedly told authorities that she could not wait in line because she has irritable bowel syndrome, according to the newspaper...
--ABC News
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Runaway mouse delays flight
HANOI (Reuters) - A small white mouse running around a Boeing 777 delayed a Vietnam Airlines flight to Tokyo for more than fours, newspapers reported Monday.
A passenger saw the mouse on the aircraft, which had arrived in Hanoi from the central city of Danang at 10 p.m. Saturday and was scheduled to continue to Japan.
"Technicians were sent to seek and kill the mouse on the Boeing and this task lasted for over four hours," according to one report in the online newspaper VietnamNet www.vnn.vn.
The report and others in state-run newspapers said the passengers went to a hotel and luggage was removed during the search for the mouse...
--Reuters
A passenger saw the mouse on the aircraft, which had arrived in Hanoi from the central city of Danang at 10 p.m. Saturday and was scheduled to continue to Japan.
"Technicians were sent to seek and kill the mouse on the Boeing and this task lasted for over four hours," according to one report in the online newspaper VietnamNet www.vnn.vn.
The report and others in state-run newspapers said the passengers went to a hotel and luggage was removed during the search for the mouse...
--Reuters
90 year old 60-lb. rockfish caught in Alaska
A commercial fishing boat hauled in what may have been one of the oldest creatures in Alaska -- a giant rockfish estimated to be about a century old.
The 44-inch, 60-pound female shortraker rockfish was caught last month by the catcher-processor Kodiak Enterprise as it trawled for pollock 2,100 feet below the surface, south of the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea.
The Seattle-based vessel, owned by Trident Seafoods, pulled up an estimated 75 tons of pollock and 10 bright-orange rockfish.
Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle measured, photographed and documented the fish. They removed an ear bone, the otolith, which contains growth rings similar to rings in the trunks of trees.
They estimate the rockfish was 90 to 115 years old...
--CNN
The 44-inch, 60-pound female shortraker rockfish was caught last month by the catcher-processor Kodiak Enterprise as it trawled for pollock 2,100 feet below the surface, south of the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea.
The Seattle-based vessel, owned by Trident Seafoods, pulled up an estimated 75 tons of pollock and 10 bright-orange rockfish.
Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle measured, photographed and documented the fish. They removed an ear bone, the otolith, which contains growth rings similar to rings in the trunks of trees.
They estimate the rockfish was 90 to 115 years old...
--CNN
Border cops recover 1,000 stolen wedding gowns
U.S. border police found 1,000 wedding gowns stolen from a cancer charity and crammed into a truck trying to get into Mexico, federal authorities said on Tuesday.
The donated dresses were on their way to Los Angeles to a fundraiser for the Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation in November when they were stolen in Scottsdale, Arizona, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency said.
Inspectors in southern Arizona recovered the dresses late last week when they inspected a tractor trailer that had been denied entry to Nogales, Mexico, by Mexican customs officials...
--Reuters
The donated dresses were on their way to Los Angeles to a fundraiser for the Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation in November when they were stolen in Scottsdale, Arizona, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency said.
Inspectors in southern Arizona recovered the dresses late last week when they inspected a tractor trailer that had been denied entry to Nogales, Mexico, by Mexican customs officials...
--Reuters
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Mystery cat takes regular bus to the shops
Bus drivers have nicknamed a white cat Macavity after it has started using the No 331 several mornings a week.
The feline, which has a purple collar, gets onto the busy Walsall to Wolverhampton bus at the same stop most mornings - he then jumps off at the next stop 400m down the road, near a fish and chip shop.
The cat was nicknamed Macavity after the mystery cat in T.S Elliot's poem. He gets on the bus in front of a row of 1950s semi-detached houses and jumps off at a row of shops down the road which include a fish and chip shop...
--Daily Mail
The feline, which has a purple collar, gets onto the busy Walsall to Wolverhampton bus at the same stop most mornings - he then jumps off at the next stop 400m down the road, near a fish and chip shop.
The cat was nicknamed Macavity after the mystery cat in T.S Elliot's poem. He gets on the bus in front of a row of 1950s semi-detached houses and jumps off at a row of shops down the road which include a fish and chip shop...
--Daily Mail
Experts open dolphin 'chat line' in Florida
A marine mammal rehabilitation facility opened a dolphin "chat line" of sorts Saturday, hoping to teach a deaf dolphin's unborn calf to communicate.
Castaway, as the stranded Atlantic bottlenose dolphin is named, has been recovering at the Marine Mammal Conservancy since Jan. 30. A battery of tests has confirmed she is deaf.
Dolphins need to hear echoes of sounds they produce to find food, socialize and defend themselves against predators...
--ABC News
Castaway, as the stranded Atlantic bottlenose dolphin is named, has been recovering at the Marine Mammal Conservancy since Jan. 30. A battery of tests has confirmed she is deaf.
Dolphins need to hear echoes of sounds they produce to find food, socialize and defend themselves against predators...
--ABC News
Thursday, April 05, 2007
$17K found under old NJ slot machines
It's the casino equivalent of reaching under your couch cushions and finding a buck or so in loose change.
Only the take at the former Sands Casino Hotel topped $17,000 worth of coins that fell under or around slot machines over the past three decades.
The casino was closed last November and will be torn down later this year to make way for a new gambling hall. The 2,350 machines had not been moved in the 26 years the Sands operated in Atlantic City, so workers removing them expected to find some stray cash.
Just how much, however, was a surprise. It was $17,193.34, to be exact...
ABC NewsRichards says father comment a joke
Keith Richards may never have met a drug he didn't like, but on Wednesday the Rolling Stones guitarist denied mixing his father's ashes with cocaine and snorting the ghoulish concoction.
The 63-year-old rocker caused an international uproar on Tuesday when newspaper New Musical Express quoted him as saying: "The strangest thing I've tried to snort? My father. I snorted my father. He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow ... . It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive."
The 63-year-old rocker caused an international uproar on Tuesday when newspaper New Musical Express quoted him as saying: "The strangest thing I've tried to snort? My father. I snorted my father. He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow ... . It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive."
Richards, known for his death-defying appetite for drugs, said in a statement on his band's Web site, rollingstones.com, that "the complete story (was) lost in the usual slanting"...
Yahoo! NewsRare striped rabbit spotted in Indonesia
One of the world's rarest rabbits has been captured on camera in Indonesia's rainforests for only the third time ever, a leading conservation group said on Thursday.
The Sumatran striped rabbit -- a little over a foot long and chalk coloured with dark brown stripes -- is critically endangered and was last photographed in the Bukit Barisan Park in 2000, the World Conservation Society (WCF) said in a statement.
The Sumatran striped rabbit -- a little over a foot long and chalk coloured with dark brown stripes -- is critically endangered and was last photographed in the Bukit Barisan Park in 2000, the World Conservation Society (WCF) said in a statement.
A programme manager at WCF's Indonesian office, Nick Brickle, said the rabbit was photographed in a forest in south Sumatra at the end of January.
"It is a nocturnal animal. Other than that, we do not know more about it," Brickle told Reuters, describing it as about 30 cm (12 inches) long and similar in size to a small cat...
Yahoo! NewsLost dog found four years later, 1,100 miles from home
A Boston terrier named Mickey who disappeared four years ago from his suburban Kansas City backyard was found in Montana and reunited with his owners this week.
Cher Jarosz and her daughter Kari Mitchell thought they had lost Mickey forever -- until they received a call from an animal shelter last week 1,100 miles away in Billings, Montana.
A microchip on Mickey helped the Billings Animal Shelter return him...--CNN
Falling woman saved by pile of human waste
A Chinese woman survived a plunge from a sixth-floor balcony thanks to a convenient pile of excrement which broke her fall, local media said.
The accident happened when the woman was hanging out laundry on Monday in Nanjing, capital of the eastern province of Jiangsu, the Kuaibao tabloid said on its Web site (www.kuaibao.net).
"Workers happened to be emptying the building's septic tank, which had not been tended for a long time and had regularly blocked sewage pipes," the newspaper said...
ReutersCoyote captured in Loop to be set free
Animal wanders into downtown Quiznos
A coyote that wandered into a Loop sandwich shop and took a seat in the beverage cooler will be set free today.The uninvited guest may have been looking for food when it wandered into the Quiznos sandwich shop on east Adams near Wabash. That sent all the customers out the restaurant's front door, which was apparently open because of the warm weather.
Animal control took the coyote away about 40 minutes later. The coyote will be released at the Flint Creek Wildlife Rehab Center near Barrington, a large, fenced-in area where he and other transplanted urban coyotes can roam the limited prairie -- without benefit of a nearby Quiznos...
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Monkey flees zoo, attacks bus passenger
MEXICO CITY - A spider monkey that escaped from a Mexico City zoo boarded a bus and attacked a passenger, Red Cross officials said Tuesday. The monkey got on the bus at about 11 p.m. Monday after escaping from the San Juan de Aragon Zoo, Red Cross spokesman Jair Martinez said. Zoo officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
The animal sat next to the bus driver for almost an hour as he drove through the city, and scratched and bit a 20-year-old female passenger when she tried to hold it, the Mexican news agency Notimex said...
Yahoo! NewsKeith Richards admits snorting father's ashes
Keith Richards has acknowledged consuming a raft of illegal substances in his time, but this may top them all. In comments published Tuesday, the 63-year-old Rolling Stones guitarist said he had snorted his father's ashes mixed with cocaine.
"The strangest thing I've tried to snort? My father. I snorted my father," Richards was quoted as saying by British music magazine NME.
"He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn't have cared," he said. "... It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive"...
Yahoo! NewsMonday, April 02, 2007
Rubber sidewalks flex their muscle in Poynette, Wisconsin
Environmentally Friendly Sidewalks Save Trees
Poynette, Wis. -- Village officials in Poynette are bouncing with pride with their groundbreaking move to save some of the city's oldest trees.Tree-lined streets are majestic and beautiful, but they come at a cost, WISC-TV reported."What was happening was the roots further down were lifting the soil and that was lifting the concrete," said Poynette Village Commissioner Dennis Lynn.
It's a problem faced along many urban streets: older trees breaking through sidewalks and causing dangerous obstacles for walkers...
--WISC TV
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Swan's true love waits at the docks
MUNSTER, March 31 (UPI) -- It looks like it will be another long summer for a swan smitten with a pedal boat in northern Germany.
The lovestruck swan known as Black Petra by the locals around Aasee was apparently "imprinted" with the boat, which is shaped like a swan, and spent last summer swooning after it to the delight of visitors.
Scientists said poor Petra apparently bonded to the first moving object she saw upon hatching, which turned out to be the bobbing boat rather than her mother...
--UPI
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