Monday, September 17, 2012
Two adults arrested in Riverton Walmart assault that injured dozens
Smugglers each swallowed $40,000 in cash
Two men who each ingested about $40,000 (£26,500) before trying to enter
Colombia have been arrested, police have said. The pair were detained
separately during the past week at the international airport in the
Colombian city of Medellin and were on flights arriving from Costa Rica,
according to security officials.
In the past, "mules" have used a similar method to smuggle contraband narcotics out of the country, swallowing packets of drugs worth thousands of pounds for sale in lucrative overseas markets. But authorities said they were unfamiliar with use of the same technique to sneak cash into the country. "This type of money laundering activity is new in Colombia," said Wilson Patino, a regional immigration director based in Antioquia state in northwestern Colombia.
The two suspects, a Colombian and a Venezuelan, were both described as being "heavy-set" whose large stomachs apparently did not have much difficulty accommodating the wad of illicit currency. Officials did not provide details about how the cash was recovered, but did describe how one of suspects came to be arrested. The Colombian man drew the attention of authorities when he appeared to be nervous and agitated while going through airport security.
He was asked to pass through a scanner again and the X-ray revealed numerous unusual items in the abdominal area. These turned out to be about 40 capsules, each containing $1,000, officials said. Authorities believe drug traffickers were behind the unusual plot, although they have not ruled out the involvement of other organized crime syndicates, possibly those engaged in arms or human trafficking.
In the past, "mules" have used a similar method to smuggle contraband narcotics out of the country, swallowing packets of drugs worth thousands of pounds for sale in lucrative overseas markets. But authorities said they were unfamiliar with use of the same technique to sneak cash into the country. "This type of money laundering activity is new in Colombia," said Wilson Patino, a regional immigration director based in Antioquia state in northwestern Colombia.
The two suspects, a Colombian and a Venezuelan, were both described as being "heavy-set" whose large stomachs apparently did not have much difficulty accommodating the wad of illicit currency. Officials did not provide details about how the cash was recovered, but did describe how one of suspects came to be arrested. The Colombian man drew the attention of authorities when he appeared to be nervous and agitated while going through airport security.
He was asked to pass through a scanner again and the X-ray revealed numerous unusual items in the abdominal area. These turned out to be about 40 capsules, each containing $1,000, officials said. Authorities believe drug traffickers were behind the unusual plot, although they have not ruled out the involvement of other organized crime syndicates, possibly those engaged in arms or human trafficking.
Man found with pills, shoes, clothes, cologne and a watch in pants he shares with girlfriend
Byron Harvey of Vero Beach, Florida apparently had a lot going on in his
pants. For starters, Indian River County Sheriff's Office deputies say
he had almost $450 worth of shoes, clothes and other items stuffed in
his trousers.
Additionally, in his pants pocket were a half dozen pills, which Harvey said belonged to his girlfriend who'd been wearing his pants. Harvey, 38, was arrested Sept. 10 after deputies went to a Bealls store in Vero Beach and encountered him in a dressing room. A sergeant heard and smelled Harvey burning plastic packaging off things and saw him jamming stuff in his pants.
Harvey, who also is accused of starting to fight deputies, was wearing shorts and pants. He told a deputy he'd been up for three days "drinking and doing powder and pills." At the jail, deputies found six green pills in Harvey's left front pants pocket. Harvey, who has "thug" tattooed on one arm and "life" on the other, said the pills were his girlfriend's.
He said they were in his pocket because she'd been wearing his pants. Deputies say Bealls officials recovered $449.97 worth of items including shoes, clothes, cologne and a watch that Harvey put in his pants. Harvey was arrested on felony charges including retail theft greater than $300, resisting with violence and possession of controlled substance.
Additionally, in his pants pocket were a half dozen pills, which Harvey said belonged to his girlfriend who'd been wearing his pants. Harvey, 38, was arrested Sept. 10 after deputies went to a Bealls store in Vero Beach and encountered him in a dressing room. A sergeant heard and smelled Harvey burning plastic packaging off things and saw him jamming stuff in his pants.
Harvey, who also is accused of starting to fight deputies, was wearing shorts and pants. He told a deputy he'd been up for three days "drinking and doing powder and pills." At the jail, deputies found six green pills in Harvey's left front pants pocket. Harvey, who has "thug" tattooed on one arm and "life" on the other, said the pills were his girlfriend's.
He said they were in his pocket because she'd been wearing his pants. Deputies say Bealls officials recovered $449.97 worth of items including shoes, clothes, cologne and a watch that Harvey put in his pants. Harvey was arrested on felony charges including retail theft greater than $300, resisting with violence and possession of controlled substance.
Man stole 1.5 tons of hay in attempt to make-up with his girlfriend
A man suspected of stealing 1.5 tons of hay as a make-up gift for his
girlfriend was detained in western Siberia’s Tyumen Region, local police
said on Friday.
The man, who had quarreled with his girlfriend, stole the hay from a neighboring field, loaded it on his truck and took to her house.The man said he hoped that she would forgive him once she saw the gift, police reported.
The man, who had quarreled with his girlfriend, stole the hay from a neighboring field, loaded it on his truck and took to her house.The man said he hoped that she would forgive him once she saw the gift, police reported.
Stress, depression may affect cancer survival
"A sad soul can kill you quicker, far quicker, than a germ," John Steinbeck once wrote.
The weather pushes allergy and asthma miseries to new level.
As
one of the hottest summers ever recorded drew to a close, jay Portnoy
watched patients stream into Children’s Mercy hospital and clinics in Kansas City, Mo., coughing and wheezing with asthma, 20 admissions per
day for the week that started with labor day, he said.
New Robot Turns Solar Panels Into Sunflowers
- Bot-on-rails adjusts angle to sun to boost energy efficiency.
Read more
IBM Scientists Distinguish Individual Molecular Bonds
IBM scientists in Zurich, Switzerland, who captured the first close-up image of a single molecule (a pentacene back in 2009), and the charge distribution of a single molecule, has scored another scientific first: they were able to distinguish chemical bonds in individual molecules using noncontact atomic force microscopy.
"We found two different contrast mechanisms to distinguish bonds. The first one is based on small differences in the force measured above the bonds. We expected this kind of contrast but it was a challenge to resolve," said IBM scientist Leo Gross. "The second contrast mechanism really came as a surprise: Bonds appeared with different lengths in AFM measurements. With the help of ab initio calculations we found that the tilting of the carbon monoxide molecule at the tip apex is the cause of this contrast." [...]More
The individual bonds between carbon atoms in such molecules differ subtly in their length and strength. All the important chemical, electronic, and optical properties of such molecules are related to the differences of bonds in the polyaromatic systems. Now, for the first time, these differences were detected for both individual molecules and bonds. This can increase basic understanding at the level of individual molecules, important for research on novel electronic devices, organic solar cells, and organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). In particular, the relaxation of bonds around defects in graphene as well as the changing of bonds in chemical reactions and in excited states could potentially be studied.
Moondoggle
The Forgotten Opposition to the Apollo Program
The Apollo lunar landings are arguably the greatest achievements in American history. Six times we landed men on the moon and brought them back to Earth. And then, in 1972, we...stopped. We just stopped sending people on this amazing journey. Why?
The answer may lay in part with a fact that has escaped widespread attention. Prior to the first landing in 1969, the Apollo program was unpopular. Alexis Madrigal has an article in The Atlantic summarizing the opposition. He quotes space historian Roger Launius, who wrote:
Consistently throughout the 1960s a majority of Americans did not believe Apollo was worth the cost, with the one exception to this a poll taken at the time of the Apollo 11 lunar landing in July 1969. And consistently throughout the decade 45-60 percent of Americans believed that the government was spending too much onspace, indicative of a lack of commitment to the spaceflight agenda.Opposition among African-Americans was particularly strong:
Many black papers questioned the use of American funds for space research at a time when many African Americans were struggling at the margins of the working class. An editorial in the Los Angeles Sentinel, for example, argued against Apollo in no uncertain terms, saying, "It would appear that the fathers of our nation would allow a few thousand hungry people to die for the lack of a few thousand dollars while they would contaminate the moon and its sterility for the sake of 'progress' and spend billions of dollars in the process, while people are hungry, ill-clothed, poorly educated (if at all)."The famous sociologist Amitai Etzioni wrote Moon-doggle, a book critiquing the program. Among other arguments, Etzioni said that Apollo was wasteful:
The space budget was increased in the five years that followed by more than tenfold while the total American expenditure on research and development did not eve ndouble. Of every three dollars spent on research and development in the United States in 1963, one went for defense, one for space, and the remaining one for all other research purposes, including private industry and medical research.
The Doomed Star Eta Carinae
You're looking at the doomed binary star Eta Carinae which looks like it's exploding. The two lobes are actually hot gaseous matters and dust which are moving outwards at about 1,500,000 mph. Each of those lobes are about the size of our solar system (Eta Carinae itself is about 100 more massive than our own Sun).
First cataloged by astronomer Edmond Halley (of the Halley's Comet fame), Eta Carinae is a very odd star. In the mid 1800s, the star brightened significantly like it was going supernova, but actually, it didn't really explode. Eta Carinae survived though probably not for long.
Astronomers surmise that because of its mass and stage of life, Eta Carianae is expected to explode in a supernova or even hypernova sometime in the future. How soon? Nobody knows. It could be next year or a hundred thousand years from today.
World’s oldest parrot in captivity died after telling owner ‘cheerio’
The world’s oldest domestic parrot has died aged 55 – after squawking
his last word: “Cherrio”. African Grey parrot Tarbu croaked his final
farewell to Nina Morgan, 89, as she made her way to bed. He was so weak
the next morning that he couldn’t manage his usual greeting of “Hello,
my darling” – and dropped dead from his perch. Mrs Morgan believes his
longevity was down to a life of “being spoilt” – from munching his favorite Kit Kats to watching Emmerdale and Coronation Street every
night.
He has lived an eventful life since being rescued from the clutches of a cruel animal trader in Tanzania in 1957 – and was once taken into police custody after going missing. The charismatic parrot was known for being vocal and would shout “Cheerio, bye, see you soon” to Mrs Morgan every time she left the house. He squawked “woof, woof” at dogs and would divebomb on any that entered his home – as well as calling “miaow, miaow” at cats that passed his window.
Tarbu even alerted partially-deaf Mrs Morgan to the doorbell by shouting “cooeee” and her name “Nina”, as she could not hear it ring. Widow Mrs Morgan, who lives alone, said she was “devastated” by the death of her beloved pet, who was her constant companion for 55 years. She said: “He was a very intelligent bird and very clever. We never taught him to talk, he picked everything up.
“The night before he died I went up to bed and he said ‘cheerio’ to me from his cage. It was the last thing that he said. He sounded very weak and I did think ‘oh dear, he is not well’ and had this feeling about it. The next morning he was on the top perch of his cage with both of his wings hanging down. I talked to him as usual and he gave me one or two little squeaks. I went to make a cup of tea and when I came back he was dead at the bottom of the cage. I cried for two days and I just miss him so much.”
He has lived an eventful life since being rescued from the clutches of a cruel animal trader in Tanzania in 1957 – and was once taken into police custody after going missing. The charismatic parrot was known for being vocal and would shout “Cheerio, bye, see you soon” to Mrs Morgan every time she left the house. He squawked “woof, woof” at dogs and would divebomb on any that entered his home – as well as calling “miaow, miaow” at cats that passed his window.
Tarbu even alerted partially-deaf Mrs Morgan to the doorbell by shouting “cooeee” and her name “Nina”, as she could not hear it ring. Widow Mrs Morgan, who lives alone, said she was “devastated” by the death of her beloved pet, who was her constant companion for 55 years. She said: “He was a very intelligent bird and very clever. We never taught him to talk, he picked everything up.
“The night before he died I went up to bed and he said ‘cheerio’ to me from his cage. It was the last thing that he said. He sounded very weak and I did think ‘oh dear, he is not well’ and had this feeling about it. The next morning he was on the top perch of his cage with both of his wings hanging down. I talked to him as usual and he gave me one or two little squeaks. I went to make a cup of tea and when I came back he was dead at the bottom of the cage. I cried for two days and I just miss him so much.”
Bow-tie wearing duck that raised thousands for charity banned for not having a permit
A bow-tie wearing duck that has raised thousands of pounds for charity
has been banned – because he doesn’t have a permit. The bird – called
Star – wears a dickie bow and waddles alongside his owner Barrie Hayman
raising money for sick youngsters. Star and Barrie regularly visit
businesses collecting cash from the public – already raising £6,500 for a
children’s hospice.
But Barrie has now been told by several councils that his sidekick could be deemed ”irritating” and needs a permit. Barrie, of Bideford, Devon, now has to apply 28 days in advance for a single day’s permit – meaning he would only be allowed to collect on one day each month. He said: ”If I was putting into my own pocket, I could understand it, but everything goes to the sick children.
”If a permit covered me for a year and I was able to visit a different town each day, that would be fine, but on this basis I don’t think I can carry on.” Barrie and Star collect on average £200 a day by going into businesses around North and Mid Devon. Star dons a bow tie and Barrie carries a bucket and together the pair have raised £6,500 for Children’s Hospice South West in Fremington, Devon.
But council officials say to be fair to all charities, they must limit how often fundraisers are allowed to collect cash. They also say they have to ensure charity collectors are limited in their efforts to make sure they do not become ”irritating” to the public. But local businesses have slammed the decision and are calling for Star to be allowed to collect money as often as possible.
But Barrie has now been told by several councils that his sidekick could be deemed ”irritating” and needs a permit. Barrie, of Bideford, Devon, now has to apply 28 days in advance for a single day’s permit – meaning he would only be allowed to collect on one day each month. He said: ”If I was putting into my own pocket, I could understand it, but everything goes to the sick children.
”If a permit covered me for a year and I was able to visit a different town each day, that would be fine, but on this basis I don’t think I can carry on.” Barrie and Star collect on average £200 a day by going into businesses around North and Mid Devon. Star dons a bow tie and Barrie carries a bucket and together the pair have raised £6,500 for Children’s Hospice South West in Fremington, Devon.
But council officials say to be fair to all charities, they must limit how often fundraisers are allowed to collect cash. They also say they have to ensure charity collectors are limited in their efforts to make sure they do not become ”irritating” to the public. But local businesses have slammed the decision and are calling for Star to be allowed to collect money as often as possible.
Boy drove off in pick-up truck at 100km/h after his mum said he couldn't have a pet duck
A eight-year-old Australian boy sped off in the family's ute and reached
speeds of up to 100km/h because his mum wouldn't let him have a pet
duck.
West Wyalong Sgt Ken Dale said the boy was from a farm between West Wyalong and Grenfell in the Central West region of New South Wales, but couldn't give too many other details because of the boy's age.
Sgt Dale said the boy's mother phoned police and followed her son as he drove on a public road. Police were told he reached speeds of up to 100km/h (60 mph) before stopping after getting two flat tires. When police arrived at the scene the mother was with her son.
Sgt Dale said the boy was below the age of criminal responsibility and would not be charged. "For an eight-year-old to drive a manual he's done well but he was lucky," Sgt Dale said. Police have given the boy a warning and warned parents not to leave their keys in cars or easy to find places.
West Wyalong Sgt Ken Dale said the boy was from a farm between West Wyalong and Grenfell in the Central West region of New South Wales, but couldn't give too many other details because of the boy's age.
Sgt Dale said the boy's mother phoned police and followed her son as he drove on a public road. Police were told he reached speeds of up to 100km/h (60 mph) before stopping after getting two flat tires. When police arrived at the scene the mother was with her son.
Sgt Dale said the boy was below the age of criminal responsibility and would not be charged. "For an eight-year-old to drive a manual he's done well but he was lucky," Sgt Dale said. Police have given the boy a warning and warned parents not to leave their keys in cars or easy to find places.
Armadillo girdled lizard
The Golden Armadillo Lizard (Cordylus cataphractus) is a lizard endemic to desert areas of southern Africa.
The armadillo girdled lizard can be a light brown to dark brown in coloration depending on the subspecies. The underbelly is yellow with a blackish pattern, especially under the chin. Its size ranges from 16 to 21 cm (6.5 to 8.5 in) in length. It grows up to 12 cms
nout-to-vent length. As adults, they have such a strong bite force, they can break their jaws.
This lizard is relatively common in the pet trade. It can be found in pet stores and it is quite easy to breed in captivity. Wild populations are threatened by collecting for sale in the pet trade.
This lizard is relatively common in the pet trade. It can be found in pet stores and it is quite easy to breed in captivity. Wild populations are threatened by collecting for sale in the pet trade.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
The Daily Drift
They're all the same!
Some of our readers today have been in:
Islamabad, Pakistan
Poznan, Poland
Singapore, Singapore
Kulim, Malaysia
Bangkok, Thailand
Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Ljubljana, Slovenia
London, England
Lagos, Nigeria
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Johannesburg, South Africa
Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Abu Gurayb, Iraq
Kuching, Malaysia
Moscow, Russia
Cape Town, South Africa
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Klang, Malaysia
Osijek, Croatia
Centurion, South Africa
Belize City, Belize
Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Istanbul, Turkey
Shah Alam, Malaysia
Tallinn, Estonia
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
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