The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:
You've been trying to get someone to cooperate with you -- to act as respectfully as you know they can.
They may not be living up to your expectations, much less their own.
Your job is to let go of how you believe they should act and just let them be who they are, even if who they are is disappointing.
It's not an easy task, but it's essential to help them finish growing up.

Some of our readers today have been in:

Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Paris, Ile-De-France, France

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Athens, Attiki, Greece

Seoul, Kyonggi-Do Korea

Salerno, Campania, Italy

Swift Current, British Columbia, Canada

Bremen, Bremen, Germany

Oldenburg, Niedersachsen, Germany

Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Brampton, Ontario, Canada

Williams Lake, British Columbia, Canada

as well as Scotland, Sweden, Brazil, and the United States in such cities as Tucson, Flagstaff, Scottsdale, Phoenix and more

Today is Monday, July 5, the 186th day of 2010.

There are 179 days left in the year.

Today In History July 5

Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:

There is none.

Sage Wisdom

Don't let aging get you down ... It's too hard to get back up!

Jerboas - being, well, Jerboas

 

Doing what they do - Upping the Cute Factor

The Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence- what does it actually say?
Very few people in the world know what the Declaration really says and most are not in the United States.
This is especially true for all those wingnuts 'quoting' it while citing the Constitution which is an entirely different document from which they 'quote' citing the Declaration.
It is worth reading and learning and remembering what the declaration actually says.
Because if they knew what it really said those same wingnuts 'quoting' it would shut up and fast.

Here is a reprint of the actual text of the Declaration of Independence:

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Philosoraptor

 

Hummmm, what if 'cat' was spelled D-O-G?!

Would they taste as good.

I wonder.

Alleged Russian spy's mysterious escape

Alleged Russian spy's mysterious escape

Police are trying to figure out how Christopher Robert Metsos eluded capture — and where he went.  

Details 

Also: 

• Case evokes Cold War
• Photos embarrass suspect
• More on the alleged ring

Daily Funny

Yankee Doodle Fun Facts

Spirit of '76 by A.M. Willard

Yankee Doodle went to town,
A-riding on a pony;
He stuck a feather in his hat,
And call it macaroni.
This Fourth of July, amaze your friends with the following Yankee Doodle Fun Facts:
Yankee Doodle, the patriotic song (and state anthem of Connecticut) was originally sung by British military officers to mock the disheveled and disorganized American colonists who fought alongside them during the French and Indian Wars:

Tradition and other more official sources have it that the American version of the song was written, at least in part, by a Dr. Richard Schackburg, a British army surgeon during the French and Indian Wars while at the home of the Van Rensselaer family. Schackburg's lyrics were said to be composed to make fun of the colonials who fought alongside the British troops. (Source)

The Americans took the song (and insult) and turned it around: they were proud to be called Yankees, and Yankee Doodle became a patriotic song.
The origin of the Yankee Doodle is murky, but it is thought to originate in 15th century Holland as a harvesting song that began "Yanker dudel doodle down." The same tune was used for an English nursey rhyme "Lucy Locket."
There are several possible origins of the word "yankee," but I like this one: it's a Indian corruption of "anglais," the French word for English.
Doodle is actually a 17th century word meaning "fool."

The macaroni in the lyric is not pasta - it's actually a pejorative term for a man who dressed in a ridiculously outlandish style. The word came from the Italian word "maccherone" or a boorish fool.

Happy 60th Birthday Fender Telecaster

You know one when you see it: gloriously simple, gracefully contoured, and a byword for how enduring the electric guitar has proved to be.
As a sumptuous new coffee-table book titled Fender: The Golden Age 1946-70 puts it: "It is a simple, no-frills instrument, yet still regarded as one of the finest electric guitars ever produced . . . There are very few mass-produced items that can boast the same uninterrupted lifespan."
In other words, it beggars belief how an object designed six decades ago doesn't look – or, more importantly, sound – kitsch or outdated.
The Telecaster's younger and less elegant sibling, the Stratocaster, tends to go wildly in and out of style, but this guitar remains as unimpeachably cool as ever.

Full Story

The Bridge of (Padlocked) Love

The Bridge of Love in Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia, is a place where young women traditionally go to affirm their ardor for their lovers. A woman will write the name of her beloved on the lock, attach it to the railing, and then toss the key into the river. From a travel website:

If not for the padlocks that cover its railings, you might not even notice the Bridge of Love in the center of Banja. Though it is just one of 15 bridges in Vrnjacka Banja this bridge with a sad story has become the symbol of the city.
Locals tell the story of Relja and Nada, two young lovers who would meet here every night before WWI. Once the war broke out, Relja, who was an officer in the Royal Army, went off to war and never came back. He moved to Greece, married, and forgot all about Nada. Heartbroken, Nada waited for him on the Bridge of Love until her dying day. To avoid reliving Nada’s bitter love story, local love struck girls started coming to the bridge every night to secretly “lock up” their boyfriends’ hearts with padlocks. They did this with the hope of holding on their love for all eternity.

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Falling Hare

Bugs Bunny

Kobe beef farmers worry about cow illness outbreak

Prized for its tender, marbled texture and succulent flavor, Kobe beef is a delicacy that can cost 19,000 yen for a slab of steak at some Japanese restaurants.

Full story

Virtual food causes stress in patients affected by eating disorders

Food presented in a virtual reality (VR) environment causes the same emotional responses as real food. Researchers writing in BioMed Central’s open access journal Annals of General Psychiatry compared the responses of people with anorexia and bulimia, and a control …

Full Story

High BMI linked to proximity to convenience stores

Researchers at the University at Buffalo conducting a neighborhood-scaled exploratory study that tested the association between the food environment, the built environment and women’s body mass index (BMI) have found that women with homes closer to a …

Full Story

Shoe

Holy Fraud

A South Korean professor who claimed he could make tap water into holy water will face fraud charges, police say.

The man, named as Prof Kim, claimed he could digitally capture the elements of holy water from Lourdes, France, that believers say has healing powers.

He had sold devices to more than 5,000 people, making almost 1.7bn won ($1.3m, £870,000).

Eight people, including Prof Kim's wife and brother-in-law, will also be charged.

The famous shrine to the Virgin Mary at Lourdes offers water which some believe has healing powers.

Mr Kim had claimed his ceramic and paper filters, and plastic cards used in water purifiers, had captured those powers for onward transmission.

Full Story

Australian indigenous islanders win marine rights court battle

This is an interesting case because they islanders were not claiming ownership of the ocean but simply to be consulted for future development and formal acceptance of their deep links to the body of water called the Torres Strait.

BBC:

Community elders say it will help to maintain their unique maritime culture and provide economic opportunity.

At the heart of their claim was a call for their spiritual ties to the sea to be formally recognised.

The court's ruling does not grant islanders exclusive rights over the vast area of ocean, nor were they claimed.

More than 200 islands are peppered throughout the Torres Strait.

Its people speak two distinct languages. Their traditional beliefs are based on the sea, the land and the sky, which have been portrayed over thousands of years in a rich array of stories, songs and dances.

WSU researchers use super-high pressures to create super battery

The world’s biggest Roman candle has got nothing on this.

Using super-high pressures similar to those found deep in the Earth or on a giant planet, Washington State University researchers have created a compact, never-before-seen material …

Full Story

A grave in the Libyan desert

"Carefully chosen light and dark stones mark the isolated grave of a herder who died between 5,000 and 3,000 years ago."

A Gigantic Hole In Space

ESA's Herschel infrared space telescope has made an unexpected discovery: a dark hole in space. The hole has provided astronomers with a surprising glimpse into the end of the star-forming process.

A cloud of bright reflective gas known to astronomers as NGC 1999 sits next to a black patch of sky. For most of the 20th century, such black patches have been known to be dense clouds of dust and gas that block light from passing through.

Past Innovation

 

8 Cool Inventions From the Past

Home repairs that are worth the trouble

Home repairs that are worth the trouble

Fixing leaky faucets is just one home improvement guaranteed to save you money.  

Other easy upgrades 

Also: 

• Best-value improvements
• Home repair scams
• How to green your home

Yin and Yang

Today's 'Upping the Cute Factor'

Buddhist funerals for pets

Thai temple offers Buddhist funerals for pets

An orange-robed monk chanted as a teary-eyed, black-clad family prayed quietly in front of a crematorium.

A turn of a phrase

The pot calling the kettle black

Meaning:

The notion of a criticism a person is making of another could equally well apply to themselves.

Origin:

This phrase originates in Cervantes' Don Quixote, or at least in Thomas Shelton's 1620 translation - Cervantes Saavedra's History of Don Quixote:

"You are like what is said that the frying-pan said to the kettle, 'Avant, black-browes'."

The first person who is recorded as using the phrase in English was William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, in his Some fruits of solitude, 1693:

"For a Covetous Man to inveigh against Prodigality... is for the Pot to call the Kettle black."

Shakespeare had previously expressed a similar notion in a line in Troilus and Cressida, 1606:

"The raven chides blackness."

Another way to think of this phrase is to listen to a repugican rant and rave about (or in the case of the British ... a Tory ranting and raving)

I don't think so ...

I don't think so ...

Need something to chew on

 

Need something to chew on

Mexico's drug war heats up near Arizona border

Very few residents dare to drive on one of the roads out of this watering-hole for migrants, fearing they will be stopped at gunpoint.

Full story

It should be noted that is on the Mexican side of the border the area on the American side of the border is one of the safest regions on the planet despite what the wingnuts are howling.

How banks aided drug traffic

Wachovia admitted that it didn't do enough to monitor and report suspected money laundering by Mexican cartels

Just before sunset on April 10, 2006, a DC-9 jet landed at the international airport in the port city of Ciudad del Carmen, 500 miles east of Mexico City. As soldiers approached the plane, the crew tried to shoo them away, saying there was a dangerous oil leak. The troops grew suspicious and searched the jet.
They found 128 black suitcases, packed with 5.7 tons of cocaine, valued at $100 million. Law enforcement officials also discovered something else.
The smugglers had bought the DC-9 with laundered funds they transferred through two of the biggest banks in the U.S.: Wachovia and Bank of America.

Full Story

BP's Oil Spill Continues

BP and US Coast Guard ban all media access to spill, boom, cleanup sites and workers ...



New modeling of BP's Gulf of Mexico catastrophe shows Florida Keys, Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas are probably going to get oiled ...

BP's Oil Spill Threatens Underwater Treasures

Oil spill threatens underwater treasures

Sinking crude may halt expeditions into the Gulf's barnacled world of pirate ships and WWII wrecks.

See photos 

Also: 

• Map of the oil spill
• BP looks for investors
• U.S. taking over website

Glenn Beck defends the Minutemen: 'Zero! None! No violent episodes from the Minutemen!' Oh really?

David Neiwert posted this over at Crooks and Liars:

I guess some people are noticing that we're seeing a spike in vigilante violence on the border, largely associated with white "Minuteman" patrols. Rep. Pete Stark fired back at one of the Minutemen at a public meeting last week, and it stirred Glenn Beck's ire:

REP. PETE STARK (D-CA): The Minutemen want to have something to say? Who are you going kill today?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who are we going to kill today?
STARK: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would just like to know — actually, American citizens are being killed right now. That's what's going on.
STARK: That's right.

This really set Beck off:

Let me just clear up a few of the stark raving lies here. Even though Stark has some sort of minutemen shoot everybody on sight smear campaign going on, the fact is there has never been a border shooting involving a Minuteman, not one! Zero! None!
No violent episodes from the Minutemen. I mean, this guy doesn't let a single fact get in his way.

We have a "single fact" or two for Glenn Beck, though, that might kind of get the way of his claim.
Indeed, we'd like Glenn Beck to meet someone.
Her name was Brisenia Flores. She was nine years old and lived near the border with her parents and sister outside the town of Arivaca, Arizona. On May 30 of last year, a woman named Shawna Forde, who led an offshoot unit of Minutemen who ran armed border patrols for patriotic "fun". Forde's gang had decided to go "operational," which meant they concocted a scheme to raid drug smugglers and take their money and drugs and use it to finance a border race war and "start a revolution against the government". They mistakenly chose the Flores home, which had neither money nor drugs; first they shot the father in the head and wounded the mother, and then, while she pleaded for her life, they shot Brisenia in cold blood. (Her sister, fortunately, was sleeping over at a friend's.)
You can listen to the wounded mother's 911 call here:

It's not as if Shawna Forde was a renegade Minuteman, either, though she did run an offshoot (which is how the majority of Minutemen are organizing these days, the large national organizations having gone kaput). Indeed, Forde served as a spokesperson for FAIR and was closely involved with Minutemen leader Jim Gilchrist right up to the time of her arrest. (In fact, we're going to learn at her trial this fall just how close -- including whether or not Gilchrist tipped her off that federal authorities were looking for her).
That's just one incident. Others are beginning to manifest themselves even now.
Maybe if Glenn Beck were a little better informed about just what his pet Minutemen have been up to, he might avoid these kinds of mistakes. But we doubt it.

What could trigger a double-dip recession

Listening to repugicans definitely will!

What could trigger a double-dip recession

If even one of these conditions gets worse, it could send the fragile economy reeling again.

Troubling signs 

Also: 

• Double-dip recession
• When hiring will return
• Get your nest egg ready

On The Job

On The Job

The best U.S. cities for salary growth

Wages for people with degrees are increasing in some cities by up to 15%.

Median pay of $73,800 in one location 

Also: 

• Cost of living calculator
• Cross-country job hunting
• Find a job near you

It's The Economy Stupid

It's The Economy Stupid

Retail giants thriving despite downturn

Best Buy was among the top 10 money-making retail chains in 2009's brutal economy.

Who's the biggest? 

Also: 

• Retailers on the ropes
• Wal-Mart executive leaves
• Fourth of July sales

Ziggy

Car flops that became collectibles

Car flops that became collectibles

The Edsel may be the biggest dud in automotive history, but it can now fetch more than $100,000.

More gems 

Also: 

• History of the Edsel
• Flying cars coming soon
• Research latest models

Simple ways to burn more calories

5 simple ways to burn more calories

Lifting weights can help your body burn calories faster for up to 39 hours.  

The upside of frequent snacks 

Also: 

• Calorie counters
• Brothers lose 280 pounds
• Natural metabolism boosts

Culinary DeLites

Culinary DeLites

Low-calorie thirst quenchers

Enjoy delicious, refreshing summer drinks without pouring on extra calories. 

Low-sugar lemonade you'll love 

Also: 

• Star-spangled recipes
• Healthier picnic foods
• Summer's best fat-burner

Unusual ways to stay cool this summer

Unusual ways to stay cool this summer

Use these tips to beat the heat all summer long without running up your electric bill.  

Why spicy food works 

Also: 

• Lower your electric bill
• The safest sunscreens
• Savor your summer

I Am The Walrus

The Beatles

Jabberwocky

Literary culture in the comic pages

Couple warned over allowing children to cycle to school alone

Oliver and Gillian Schonrock let their daughter, eight, and son, five, cycle a mile unsupervised from their home in Dulwich, south London, to Alleyn’s junior school. They believe cycling to school is good for their children’s independence and self-confidence. But other parents and the headmaster have said it is irresponsible. The children’s route takes them along a sidewalk beside roads busy with traffic on the school run. At about the halfway mark they cross a relatively busy road where a lollipop lady is on duty. On the return journey they are supervised by one of the parents or their nanny.

Mrs Schonrock said she was “confident that the benefits to our children far outweigh the potential risk from `stranger danger’, road traffic accidents and other factors.” Mark O’Donnell, headmaster of Alleyn’s junior school said that the school was under an obligation to consider the children’s safety. “If a school feels a child in their care is at risk, they have a legal responsibility to notify the local authority,” he said. “Is an eight-year-old responsible enough to come to school with a five-year-old and take responsibility when it comes to crossing busy roads? Or what would happen if the five-year-old has a tantrum?”

Last week the Schonrocks met the headmaster and said they were told that unless they supervised the journey in both directions they would be referred to children’s services. The couple said they did not blame the school so much as the rules on child protection. “The question is do the government have the right to put an obligation on schools to not allow any level of risk whatsoever?” asked Mrs Schonrock, who grew up in Kent and from the age of four took the bus to school with her six-year-old sister.

She said she and her husband had gradually exposed their children to taking greater responsibility and risks and the result was children who “we have been told are well adjusted, mature and independent for their respective ages.” Mr Schonrock, who walked alone to school as a boy in Germany, and cycled to swimming club from the age of six, said: “We wanted to recreate the simple freedom of our childhood. Like everybody else our age, we spent a lot more time with our friends playing in the streets or parks without parental supervision and without our parents becoming unduly worried.” He added: “These days children live such regimented lives. They can do nothing unless it’s planned beforehand.”

French Maid Dancing

 

Maid Dancing

Were you expecting something different?

Artificial reef will allow deceased to sleep with the fishes

new take on the old mafia euphemism about sleeping with the fishes is planned off the Dorset coast, where the ashes of the sea-loving departed will soon be encased in concrete balls to nuzzle with the lobsters in an artificial offshore reef. The proposal, given planning permission by the county council this week and approved by the Crown Estate, which owns the seabed, will see a kilometer-square area off Ringstead Bay near Portland given over to a series of reefs which will include at least one decommissioned navy ship, possibly HMS Southampton, the type 42 destroyer laid off last year, for divers to explore.

One of the reefs, a mile offshore, will contain so-called bereavement balls – meter-high, dome-shaped, interlocking concrete structures in which the ashes of those who have been cremated can be sealed as an alternative to being scattered at sea. The balls will have holes bored in them to shelter growing lobsters and in due course, it is hoped, shoals of fish such as cod and whiting. Each ball will have a memorial plaque and relatives will have the satisfaction of knowing exactly where their loved one's ashes lie: they will be able to watch from a neighboring boat as the ball is sunk. The adventurous will be able to dive to see the site and others are promised pictures every year to show how the reef is developing.

Neville Copperthwaite, project coordinator for the Wreck to Reef group planning the £6.5m site, said: "We came up with the idea of bereavement balls from people scattering ashes on the water, but this is better because relatives will know where they are. There will be somewhere for them to return to – it will be like a headstone under the water. It's a lovely idea and so important for people who have a love for the sea. If they are divers themselves they can visit the actual site whenever they like, or we will take video footage of it each year so families can see how the reef is developing. For each person buried, we plan to hold a ceremony with their family and friends with a minister on a boat. Almost straight away, we should see the reef and wrecks being transformed with living creatures."

The burial scheme is intended to subsidise the reef project, which will be administered by a consortium of local fishermen, diving organisations, residents and businesses. It has been partly prompted by the loss of trade following the successful creation of a diving reef around the wreck of HMS Scylla off Whitesand Bay in Cornwall five years ago. Although bereavement balls have been tried elsewhere in the world, they have never been deployed in Britain before and costings have still to be worked out. Building is expected to get under way next year and 6,000 young lobsters will be nipping into the site to set up home.

Deep sea dog

Russian teaches dachshund to scuba

Any dachshund owner knows the feisty breed rarely backs off from a challenge, but one in Russia is taking that reputation to new heights - or depths.
The dog named Boniface is learning how to scuba dive.
Owner Sergei Gorbunov, a professional diver in the Pacific Coast city of Vladivostok had a diving suit complete with helmet made for the dog and is teaching him the tricks of the trade.

Full story

B.C.

TV Hat

Yep, now it's official ... I've seen everything

No matter where you are or what you are supposed to be doing, you can be watching TV!

Block out everyone around you and stay in your own little world with the TV Hat! 

Now there’s no reason to ever turn away from your personal video experience, whether you are at work, in your car, or at the beach! 

As a commenter at Metafilter said, “a feed bag for your eyes”!  

Full Story

'Slippers' help crane chick with curled toes walk

A baby African Crowned Crane is walking tall after carers fitted it with bright green slippers - to straighten its curled toes. The tiny hand-reared chick was born with a slight defect which meant toes on both feet were not developing as they should.

Keepers at Paradise Park in Hayle, Cornwall, fitted the slippers in a bid to 'straighten things out' - and now the one inch high rare bird is walking tall. Curator David Woolcock said: ''For the first few days we put small bandages on the chicks toes as they were slightly curled, and this just helped straightened things out.

Photo from SWNS.

''The chick is doing very well and is currently off show, although can sometimes be seen on the grass in front of Glanmor House at the centre of the park as keepers take the chick for a walk to help strengthen those legs.'' The tiny crane is being hand-reared at the centre amid fears it would not be looked after by its mother.

It is currently being regularly exercised to strengthen its underdeveloped legs and will be weaned in late August, when it will be introduced to other cranes. The chick is expected to grow to over four feet in height in just a few months and will have a high protein diet, including mealworms.

California homeowner finds naked man asleep on sofa

A San Diego resident awoke to a shocking discovery: a naked stranger passed out on his downstairs sofa

Full story