Friday, September 30, 2011
The Little Planet Full of Surprises
Mercury
Also:
'Hollows' mark Mercury's surface
Nasa's Messenger probe sees great swathes of shallow, rimless depressions on the surface of Mercury
Massive Chinese-Backed Dam on Irrawaddy River Halted by Burma's Government
The Irrawaddy River just south of the proposed dam site, photo: Wikipedia.
One day after Brazil's hotly protested Belo Monte dam is halted by court order, another massive hydropower project is halted, on the other side of the world and by a government not exactly renowned for conservation.In a letter read out in parliament, Burma's president announced the the suspending of construction of the Chinese-backed Myitsone dam on the northern part of the Irrawaddy River.
Article continues: Massive Chinese-Backed Dam on Irrawaddy River Halted by Burma's Government
More on the dam in Brazil:Judge halts work on Amazon dam
Arctic ice shelf nearly gone
Scientists say two ancient Canadian ice shelves shrank drastically this summer, one almost disappearing.
Also: Climate Change Could Shrink Animals
As Temps Rise, Amphibians May Vanish
Frogs and other amphibians will have a hard time finding escape routes from warming environments. Read more
Nestle ad first to pitch at canine customers
Nestle, one of the world's biggest makers of pet food, said on Friday it had launched the first television commercial designed especially for dogs, using a high-frequency tone to grab their attention.
Fox turns tables on hound
In an unusual role reversal, a fox is spotted trailing a beagle in a forest near Montreal.
Also: Bear eats pizza by the slice
Restaurant patrons laugh out loud as they watch a black bear devour a whole pie, one piece at a time.
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Thursday, September 29, 2011
The Daily Drift
The Daily Drift
Today's horoscope says:
Divide and conquer -- that's not only an effective strategy for battle.
It can help you conquer many different conflicts in your life, too.
Separating the good parts of people's personalities from the bad parts will help you argue your case without getting too personal.
Focus on what you like about the people around you, and if you can't come up with anything, then ask yourself why you're so personally invested in this disagreement.
Some of our readers today have been in:
Some of our readers today have been in:
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
London, England, United Kingdom
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Ankara, Ankara, Turkey
Paris, Ile-De- France, France
New Delhi, Delhi, India
Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
London, England, United Kingdom
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Ankara, Ankara, Turkey
Paris, Ile-De- France, France
New Delhi, Delhi, India
Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
as well as Slovakia, Malta, Bulgaria, Israel, Finland, Austria, Norway, Georgia, Mexico, Peru, Kuwait, Serbia, Bangladesh, Latvia, Greece, Scotland, Hong Kong, Denmark, Wales, Iran, Singapore, Poland, Taiwan, Sweden, Afghanistan, Belgium, Tibet, Croatia, Pakistan, Romania, Paraguay, Sudan, Vietnam, Argentina, Cambodia, Egypt, France, Estonia, Puerto Rico, Maldives, Qatar, Brazil, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates, Slovenia, China, Iraq, Ecuador, Nigeria, Colombia, Chile, Honduras, Paupa New Guinea, Moldova, Venezuela, Germany, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Ireland, Czech Republic, Vietnam, Norway, Finland
and in cities across the United States such as Atlanta, Charleston, Miami, Richmond and more.
and in cities across the United States such as Atlanta, Charleston, Miami, Richmond and more.
Today is:
Today is Thursday, September 29, the 272nd day of 2011.
There are 93 days left in the year.
Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:
National Coffee Day.
Don't forget to visit our sister blog!
Today Only
From the "Just for shits and giggles" Department:
Today we posted in a random manner - OK, so most of you thought we did that every day.
No, we actually try to have thematic posts together ... not that we do that well all the time, but we try.
With exception of the traditional opening and closing posts, every thing else today is random.
We should be back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow or something to that effect.
Today we posted in a random manner - OK, so most of you thought we did that every day.
No, we actually try to have thematic posts together ... not that we do that well all the time, but we try.
With exception of the traditional opening and closing posts, every thing else today is random.
We should be back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow or something to that effect.
Woman driver spared lashes
King Abdullah revokes a court-ordered punishment for violating the country's car ban.
Also: U.S. man charged in Pentagon, Capitol explosive plot
U.S. authorities on Wednesday arrested and charged a Massachusetts man with plotting to damage or destroy the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol by using remote-controlled aircraft filled with plastic explosives.
Boy's 1911 grave dug up in Pennsylvania cemetery
The grave of a 12-year-old boy who was hit by a train 100 years ago has been dug up in a Pennsylvania cemetery.
You Can Help Name A Red Panda
The choices and their translations are: Dagan, meaning grain of rice in Hebrew; Connolly meaning fierce in Gaelic; Reid meaning red-haired in Gaelic; Xu (pronounced “shoe”) meaning to snort in Chinese; and Di meaning younger brother in Chinese.Which one would you choose?
Alabama’s Immigration Law
Police To Enforce Parts Of Immigration Law
Police in Alabama are getting ready to enforce what is considered by many as the toughest immigration law in the nation.
Getting tough on people who don't look like citizens: Alabama police to enforce 'strongest' immigration law.Police in Alabama are getting ready to enforce what is considered by many as the toughest immigration law in the United States.
Beginning Thursday, authorities can question people suspected of being in the country illegally and hold them without bond, and officials can check the immigration status of students in public schools, Gov. Robert Bentley said.
Those two key aspects of Alabama's new law were upheld by a federal judge on Wednesday. The governor said parts of the law take effect immediately.
Florida Teen Murder Suspect Says She's a Vampire
A Florida teen murder suspect says she's a vampire and claims to have drunk the blood of her fiance and co-defendant. An 18-year-old Florida girl accused of helping lure a 16-year-old boy into a fatal trap says she's a vampire who has drunk the blood of her boyfriend.
The State Of The Internet 2011
This is the face of the Internet now.
The Origins Of 7 Common Superstitions
Texas Shoplifter Gets Life after Walmart Worker Dies
A Texas man is facing a harsh sentence for a shoplifter. He was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday for stealing a TV from a Walmart valued at around $348 in June 2010.
Origins of Oktoberfest
A horse race celebrating a royal wedding was the big draw at the first festival in 1810.
Also: Bank of America to charge $5 debit card fee
The largest bank in the U.S. will begin charging customers to make debit purchases.
Also: 
Eerie invasion off California coast
Vast numbers of these large, ravenous creatures are making a rare visit from southern waters.
Also: Chariots Discovered in Ancient Chinese Tomb
Photo: Zhang Xiaoli/Xinhua
Albino Hummingbird
It's Just a Huge Solar Flare
Beautiful autumn drives
One route boasts not only blazing fall foliage, but also the aptly named Moose Alley.
Also: Tool-Using Fish Captured on Video
That's one smart fish! An orange-dotted turkfish was captured for the first time on video digging a clam out of the sand, then repeatedly throwing it against a rock to crush it."The animal excavates sand to get the shell out, then swims for a long time to find an appropriate area where it can crack the shell," videographer Giacomo Bernardi, an evolutionary biologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said in a statement. "It requires a lot of forward thinking, because there are a number of steps involved. For a fish, it's a pretty big deal." [...]LiveScience has the story and video clip.
The clam-cracking tuskfish isn't the first fish to be observed using tools. The tuskfish is a kind of reef fish known as wrasse, and these species have been seen using rocks as anvils to crush shellfish. But this is the first time the behavior has been caught on video.
Unique Photos of Sea Life
A photographer builds an aquarium to capture unique, close-up shots of underwater animals.
Also: Planet Getting Too Hot for Chocolate?
Image: Siona Watson via flickr
The world's cocoa supply could be in danger from climate change, according to a new study from the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), which says that prices are likely to skyrocket if preventative measures aren't taken. The report predicts that the expected annual temperature increase of more than two degrees Celsius by 2050 will leave many cocoa-producing areas in West Africa—the source of more than half the world's chocolate—too hot to continue growing the crop. And the report says the decline could begin as soon as 2030.
Martian Life's Last Stand?
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Scientists have found water-bearing deposits on Mars that are out of step with what was happening elsewhere on the planet, raising the prospect that the sites could have hosted Martian life's last stand.Read the rest at Discovery News.
The deposits are a type of clay called smectites, which contain a blend of silica with aluminum, iron or magnesium. They form in the presence of water. [...] The Noctis Labyrinthus smectites are believed to have formed around 2 to 3 billion years ago, possibly providing a haven for life when the rest of the planet dried out.
"It was a surprise to see such young clays that must have formed in a persistent water under neutral conditions," Weitz said. "If there's life on Mars, if it had persisted, this would be a nice place for it, because it does indicate that there was water in this location on the surface at that relatively young age."
Thor Saves Fallen Woman
Colin Heaton and Anne Lewis of Southport, North Carolina, adopted a Pit Bull/Rottweiler mix that had been rescued from a “bad situation.” They named him Thor. The dog has since protected chickens from foxes, coyotes, and even a snake which bit him. Earlier this month, Thor got the chance to rescue a human.Barbara Simmons, 78, fell on the side of the road while checking her mail on a hot day earlier this month.
She said she yelled for help but no one came to her rescue for at least a half hour. Thor, a dog with a heroic name, noticed Simmons and went to check it out.
“He was just so gentle and like, ‘are you okay, are you okay?’” explained Simmons. “It was like somebody asking, ‘are you okay, are you okay?’”
Thor’s owners said he was acting strangely that day, ignoring their commands.
“He ran to this point and he stopped and looked back at my husband and barked at him a couple of times like, ‘I’m not going to listen to you,’ and he took off right around the corner,” said owner Anne Lewis.
Thor led his owners to Simmons nearly a block away. They called for help and the EMT told Lewis that Thor probably saved her life.
Vintage Maps Trace The Meandering Mississippi
For anyone obsessed with beautiful maps, these colorful and informative examples tracking the many paths of the lower Mississippi are a dream come true. The monumental collection was produced in 1944 by Harold N. Fisk, who drew in a rainbow of colors the path of past and current flows as the mighty river changed course and flooded over time.
Greyhound who lost every race turns out to be blind
When Jack Sprat the greyhound came last in every race in which he competed, his owners thought they had a dud. But in fact, he did well to keep up with the pack at all because it turns out Jack is almost completely blind and couldn’t see the rabbit. The hound, who was born in Ireland, was entered into dog races in Wimbledon, London, last year after he hit speeds of 40mph in training.
Despite his disability, Jack can still run 100 meters in just 6.39 seconds. But three-year-old Jack, competing under the name Centurys Gunner, came sixth in both of his races at the Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium. His baffled owner, believing he just wasn't fast enough, retired him and handed him over to the Dogs' Trust in Snetterton, Norfolk, in July this year.
Vets at the animal charity examined Jack and realized a rare condition had left him completely blind in his left eye and with only 20 per cent vision in his right. They diagnosed him with Chorioretinitis, a swelling and irritation of the middle layer of the eye, which is irreparable. Kate Brewster, 27, of the Dogs' Trust, said Jack would have been 'terrified' racing with no vision in his left eye - used by dogs to follow the rabbit.
She said: 'We don't think Jack's racing owner realized the severity of his blindness and it would have been terrifying for him to race because of the noise. He must have followed the other dogs or maybe used his sense of smell to get around the track. He clearly had no way of seeing the rabbit.' The Dogs' Trust is hoping to re-home Jack but recommend that his new owners have children over the age of 11 and don't have small pets he could chase.
Despite his disability, Jack can still run 100 meters in just 6.39 seconds. But three-year-old Jack, competing under the name Centurys Gunner, came sixth in both of his races at the Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium. His baffled owner, believing he just wasn't fast enough, retired him and handed him over to the Dogs' Trust in Snetterton, Norfolk, in July this year.
Photo from SWNS.
Vets at the animal charity examined Jack and realized a rare condition had left him completely blind in his left eye and with only 20 per cent vision in his right. They diagnosed him with Chorioretinitis, a swelling and irritation of the middle layer of the eye, which is irreparable. Kate Brewster, 27, of the Dogs' Trust, said Jack would have been 'terrified' racing with no vision in his left eye - used by dogs to follow the rabbit.
She said: 'We don't think Jack's racing owner realized the severity of his blindness and it would have been terrifying for him to race because of the noise. He must have followed the other dogs or maybe used his sense of smell to get around the track. He clearly had no way of seeing the rabbit.' The Dogs' Trust is hoping to re-home Jack but recommend that his new owners have children over the age of 11 and don't have small pets he could chase.
Hawaiian resort sits empty
This stunning property on Kauai has a world-class spa, plenty of pools, and a $100 million clubhouse.
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