The Daily Drift

Look out the window once in a while ...

Some of our readers today have been in:

Ankara Turkey

Makati, Philippines

Cape Town, South Africa

Carthage, Tunisia

Warsaw, Poland

Slough, England

George Town, Malaysia

Addia Ababa, Ethiopia

Klang, Malaysia

Moscow, Russia

Centurion, South Africa

Belgrade, Serbia

Istanbul Turkey

Panama City, Panama

Athens, Greece

Abu Dhabi, United Arab, Emirates

Kulim, Malaysia

Colombo, Sri Lanka

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Vancouver, Canada

Sampaloc, Philippines

Poznan, Poland

Lima, Peru

Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Katowice, Poland

Bangi, Malaysia

Islamabad, Pakistan

Gdynia, Poland

Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Tunis, Tunisia

Caracas, Venezuela

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

Today in History

1758		James Abercromby is replaced as supreme commander of British forces after his defeat by French commander the Marquis of Montcalm at Fort Ticonderoga during the French and Indian War.
1759		Quebec surrenders to the British after a battle which sees the deaths of both James Wolfe and Louis Montcalm, the British and French commanders.
1793		George Washington lays the foundation stone for the U.S. Capitol.
1830		Tom Thumb, the first locomotive built in the United States, loses a nine-mile race in Maryland to a horse.
1850		Congress passes the second Fugitive Slave Bill into law (the first was enacted in 1793), requiring the return of escaped slaves to their owners.
1862		After waiting all day for a Union attack which never came at Antietam, Confederate General Robert E. Lee begins a retreat out of Maryland and back to Virginia.
1863		Union cavalry troops clash with a group of Confederates at Chickamauga Creek.
1874		The Nebraska Relief and Aid Society is formed to help farmers whose crops were destroyed by grasshoppers swarming throughout the American West.
1911		Russian Premier Piotr Stolypin dies four days after being shot at the Kiev opera house by socialist lawyer Dimitri Bogroff.
1914		The Irish Home Rule Bill becomes law, but is delayed until after World War I.
1929		Charles Lindbergh takes off on a 10,000 mile air tour of South America.
1934		The League of Nations admits the Soviet Union.
1939		A German U-boat sinks the British aircraft carrier Courageous, killing 500 people.
1948		Margaret Chase Smith becomes the first woman elected to the Senate without completing another senator's term when she defeats Democratic opponent Adrian Scolten. Smith is also the only woman to be elected to and serve in both houses of Congress.
1960		Two thousand cheer Castro's arrival in New York for the United Nations session.
1964		U.S. destroyers fire on hostile targets in Vietnam.
1980		Cosmonaut Arnoldo Tamayo, a Cuban, becomes the first black to be sent on a mission in space.

Non Sequitur

Did you know ...

That Florida's voter purge caught exactly one non-citizen voter (a Canadian)

That $30 million in maple syrup was stolen from Canada's strategic maple reserves

That it's Occupy Wall Street's one year anniversary

Here Wal-Mart workers expose truth about working there

Here's a brief history of teachers' strikes in America

Here's 15 really strange movie credits

And I Quote

New 65 year study shows tax cuts do not lead to economic growth

This will be shocking news for the repugicans, though it shouldn't be. The US has had higher growth rates during times of much higher taxes but somehow that is always glossed over by the tax cut proponents.
Even Mitt Romney himself proves how little tax rates are connected to employment creation investments. The man hasn't worked in years and has paid no more than 14% in taxes yet we don't see him setting up new businesses with the extra income. He fails his own test on tax breaks.

Let the repugican tax spin begin.

Analysis of six decades of data found that top tax rates "have had little association with saving, investment, or productivity growth." However, the study found that reductions of capital gains taxes and top marginal rate taxes have led to greater income inequality. Past studies cited in the report have suggested that a broad-based tax rate reduction can have "a small to modest, positive effect on economic growth" or "no effect on economic growth."

Well into the 1950s, the top marginal tax rate was above 90%. Today it's 35%. But both real GDP and real per capita GDP were growing more than twice as fast in the 1950s as in the 2000s. At the same time, the average tax rate paid by the top tenth of a percent fell from about 50% to 25% in the last 60 years, while their share of income increased from 4.2% in 1945 to 12.3% before the recession.

Romney says his mere presence will bring back the American economy

The Bishop speaks.

The Daily Dish latches on to another part of the now infamous secret video of Mitt Romney telling rich donors earlier this year that the 47% of Americans who support Barack Obama are all welfare queens who don't have jobs, and don't want jobs.

"My own view is that if we win on November 6th, there will be a great deal of optimism about the future of this country. We'll see capital come back and we'll see — without actually doing anything — we'll actually get a boost in the economy."

Not too full of ourselves, are we?

There's almost a religious self-importance to Romney's comments.  Capital will come back (does he mean business will start to invest more?) simply because the Great Romney has spoken.

This is why Mitt Romney doesn't have any specifics to his policies.  He doesn't think he needs specifics.  He quite seriously believes that he has some magical powerful to simply bring unemployment down to 4% again.

He doesn't need a plan. He's the messiah.

What a pathetically disturbing view of one's self.

What an idiot

Romney: Obama voters "pay no taxes," "believe they're victims," don't "care for their lives"

UPDATE: Romney campaign appears to stand by Romney's statement that half of America, and all Democrats, are welfare queens. In a statement just released by the Romney campaign, no clarification was given - they simply just reiterated their concerns that too many Americans are sucking at the federal teat.

"Mitt Romney wants to help all Americans struggling in the Obama economy. As the governor has made clear all year, he is concerned about the growing number of people who are dependent on the federal government, including the record number of people who are on food stamps, nearly one in six Americans in poverty, and the 23 million Americans who are struggling to find work. Mitt Romney's plan creates 12 million new jobs in four years, grows the economy and moves Americans off of government dependency and into jobs." – Gail Gitcho, Romney Campaign Communications Director

Actually, what Romney said was that half of Americans suck off the federal teat, and they like it because they're lazy, don't have jobs, and don't want jobs. And "my job is not to worry about those people."

Romney is basically standing by his incredibly offensive statement about half the country.

UPDATE: The Obama campaign has weighed in:

"It’s hard to serve as president for all Americans when you’ve disdainfully written off half the nation.”

And there's video of it (see below).

I've been noticing some folks on Twitter and Facebook not quite getting it. Romney wasn't talking about just "poor people." He was talking about every single Democrat in America. He specifically said he's talking about the 47% of Americans who would support the President no matter what - i.e., Democrats across the board. The only people he's excluding are independents and Republicans.

Romney was suggesting that all Democrats are poor, minority, don't have a job, and don't want one. It was racist, bigoted, and insulting to probably ten different groups of Americans in twenty different ways.  It's bad enough that he thinks minorities are lazy slobs, but to then suggest that the Democratic party is made up 100% of lazy slobs.  It's unbelievably contemptuous.

Great find from David Corn at Mother Jones, and there's video. This is from earlier this year, and was secretly recorded at a Romney big money fundraiser.

There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax.

Romney went on: "[M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

I pay my taxes, you jerk.  Have you paid yours?  What an incredibly obnoxious thing to say by a man who refuses to release his own tax returns when insiders are claiming that he hasn't paid taxes in ten years.

What a pompous, arrogant, elitist, jerk.

And there's video.

UPDATE: Carl Kerstann comments:

I was supporting the Green Party but after coughing up a much higher tax rate than Romney pays this comment really ticked me off. This ass cannot be allowed to win, go Obama.

Romney stands by comments that half the country is worthless "victims"

Unless the President does something incredibly stupid, this campaign is over.
Mitt Romney tonight is standing by his comments, revealed earlier in a secretly recorded via taken at a high-dollar fundraiser, in which the repugican candidate said that half of America - Obama voters - pay no taxes, believe they are victims, don't care for their lives.

Here's a prime snippet from the press conference, above, in which Romney stands by his idiotic comments:

"It's a message which I'm gonna carry, and continue to carry, which is, look, the President's approach is attractive to people who are not paying taxes because frankly my discussion about lowering taxes isn't as attractive to them, and therefore I'm [not] likely to draw them into my campaign as effectively as those who were in the middle. This is really a discussion about, about the political process of winning the election."

So once again Mitt Romney reiterates that the reason voters don't like his policies is because they're not paying enough taxes (guess what he's doing to you after he's election, then) - well, actually, they're not paying any taxes at all, he claims.  What an astoundingly idiotic and offensive thing to claim.  That those of who don't like this man's candidacy simply aren't paying our fair share of taxes.

Romney's right, I'm paying less in taxes today than I did three years ago.  That's because I'm making a lot less money today than I did three years ago.  And it's 1130 at night and I'm still working, so I don't appreciate being called lazy by the repugican presidential candidate.

Mitt Romney really has a propensity, a predilection really, to double down on stupid.

Remember how, after issuing that insane press release trying to take partisan advantage of the death of a State Department official last week (at the time we didn't know it was the ambassador), Romney then went on national TV the next morning, with a back drop intended to look like the White House, and stuck his foot in it even more.

It's a dilemma of his own making.  One of Romney's chief attack points against the President is the lie that the President has apologized for America around the world.  The fact checkers say this isn't true.  But Romney has so cornered himself in on the "no apologies" meme that he can't now apologize himself.

And Romney's own "no apologies" tour is running smack into Romney's other propensity for arrogance, which usually leads to insult.  Whether it's your freshly baked cookies that Romney doesn't approve of, or your entire nation, that inner sphincter that tells someone to STFU just doesn't work in Mitt Romney's case.

And it's leading to a lot of fun, and embarrassment, and a presidential campaign going down in flames.

He does it again ...

It's Christmas in September!

Some people were expecting an October Surprise from the repugicans.  But we never thought Mitt Romney would give it to us in September!

By now you may have heard that Mitt Romney ended his race for the presidency last night.  Well, not officially.  But the race is all but over.  Anyone who gives this man a dime after last night's fiasco, truly doesn't care about a return on their investment.

You see, last night we learned, from a secret video, that Mitt Romney had told some high-paying donors that half of America is worthless, lazy people who don't pay taxes, don't have a job, and don't really want one.

"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax.

Romney went on: "[M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

Then, in case you didn't get the message the first time, Romney reiterated his key point, that Democrats don't pay taxes.

"It's a message which I'm gonna carry, and continue to carry, which is, look, the President's approach is attractive to people who are not paying taxes because frankly my discussion about lowering taxes isn't as attractive to them, and therefore I'm [not] likely to draw them into my campaign as effectively as those who were in the middle. This is really a discussion about, about the political process of winning the election."

And if that weren't clear enough, rnc Chair Reince Priebus, always good for adding insult to injury, said Romney's words were "on message." So the entire repugican cabal is now embracing Mitt Romney's claim that half of the American people are jobless and lazy and see themselves as victims.

Nice job, Reince. I think I see ripples of impact for the House and Senate races ("The chair of the Republican party says you're lazy and you don't pay enough in taxes...").

The reaction from the media was swift, and damning.

Josh Barro of Bloomberg, "Today Mitt Romney Lost the Election."

CNN's Jim Acosta ‏@jimacostacnn
Shorter Romney statement... no apologies.

AP's Kasie Hunt ‏@kasie
Category of Americans who don't pay federal income taxes: U.S. troops serving in combatzones.

TIME's Mark Halperin ‏@MarkHalperin
Many of us have seen pols pander to donors in closed events. I've heard my share Rs+Ds. Never anything this damaging however.

CNN/Daily Beast's @HowardKurtz
Romney on the 47 percent seems a stereotype of an unsympathetic venture capitalist--going to be hard to overcome among non-base voters.

CNBC/NYT's @JohnJHarwood
Ex-GWBush ad-maker McKinnon: Romney fund-raiser tape "potentially crippling"

@JohnJHarwood
Dem pollster Garin on Romney fund-raiser tape: "Reinforces impression he's mistake/prone & arrogant. would be better off if he apologized"

Things are getting so bad, this piece of satire by Andy Borowitz may not be so far off from the truth.

In what his campaign described today as a bold strategy to insure victory in the Presidential contest, repugican nominee Mitt Romney will undergo a procedure to have his mouth wired shut until Tuesday, November 6th.

Romney aide infighting begins, they're talking to the press!

And let the games begin. When the ship starts sinking, the rats start talking to the media (to mix my metaphors). The article reads like an election postmortem. I was waiting for these stories to begin - where insiders start talking about other insiders to deflect the blame for losing the election. I just didn't think they'd start this early.

This article is very good news for our side.

The Daily Beast's spin on this echoes mine:

Just eight days before the most important speech of Mitt Romney's campaign, his top strategist, Stuart Stevens, junked it and created a new one for the repugican national cabal. Politico reports on escalating instability within the Romney campaign that is pushing Obama into an early lead, especially after the disastrous rnc. "The hasty process resulted in a colossal oversight: Romney did not include a salute to troops serving in war zones, and did not mention Al Qaeda or Afghanistan, putting him on the defensive on national security just as the Middle East was about to erupt," Politico reports. Stevens seems to have taken on too much and the results could be disastrous for the campaign.

This is very bad for Romney. At some point, big donors are going to stop giving big bucks to a candidate who's going to lose. In any venture, you stop throwing good money after bad.

From Politico, first we learn of how they scrapped Romney's speech 8 days before the convention, and started anew, which totally screwed things up:

The hasty process resulted in a colossal oversight: Romney did not include a salute to troops serving in war zones, and did not mention Al Qaeda or Afghanistan, putting him on the defensive on national security just as the Middle East was about to erupt. It was also very light on policy specifics, much to the chagrin of conservatives who were certain the addition of Ryan and inclusion of Wehner meant a real battle of ideas was about to begin.

The damage had been compounded when, in compressing the program from four days to three because of a hurricane delay, convention organizers had scrapped a planned remote appearance by Romney and veterans that was to be fed live into the Tampa hall from a speech he was giving to an American Legion convention in Indiana. With the salute-the-troops tribute out, the assumption was Romney would pay tribute to them in the speech. He didn’t.

The convention finale was undermined even further by Eastwood’s rambling comedy routine, which became the only glimpse that many swing voters got of the repugican show. Eastwood had been added to the program after chatting with Romney at a fundraiser in Idaho just weeks before the convention.

Romney Campaign "Disastrous"

Says intern-killer Joe Scarborough

Add Joe Scarborough to the list of repugicans who are upset with how Romney is running his campaign.

“How can it be that this man who turned around countless businesses, saved the 2002 Olympics, and ran
Democratic Massachusetts like a pro is the head of such a disastrous campaign?” Scarborough writes.

He cites a litany of errors by the scum-sucking, bottom-dweller.

• Who was responsible for burying his convention video behind the bumbling bluster of Clint Eastwood?
• Who told Romney to issue a political broadside against the commander-in-chief the day after a U.S. ambassador was murdered?
• And who decided that Romney would use his general election campaign to stand for absolutely nothing?  

As for the debt, “when it comes to balancing the budget, Mr. Romney has no plan,” Scarborough writes.
And as for defense spending, “all Mitt Romney can do is promise bigger budgets and longer wars.”

More

Looking, Very Closely, for Voter Fraud

Wingnut Groups Focus on Registration in Swing States 

It might as well be Harry Potter’s invisible Knight Bus, because no one can prove it exists.

The bus has been repeatedly cited by True the Vote, a national group focused on voter fraud. Catherine Engelbrecht, the group’s leader, told a gathering in July about buses carrying dozens of voters showing up at polling places during the recent Wisconsin recall election.

More

***

What is funny is that of the infinitesimal number of persons committing 'voter fraud' that has been found it has been a wingnut committing the fraud ... curious now isn't it?

That moment before the pain begins ...

... first you say it - then you do it!

Hey, repugicans you know that wooden log you nominated for your candidate ...

The Unknown Story Of The Black Cyclone

Marshall Taylor (1878 - 1932) was an American cyclist who won the world 1 mile track cycling championship in 1899 after setting numerous world records and overcoming racial discrimination. Taylor was the first African-American athlete to achieve the level of world champion.

Marshall Taylor was just a teenager when he turned professional and began winning races on the world stage, and President Theodore Roosevelt became one of his greatest admirers. Nicknamed 'the Black Cyclone,' he would burst to fame as the world champion of his sport.

But Taylor's crossing of the color line was not without complication, especially in the United States, where he often had no choice but to ride ahead of his white competitors to avoid being pulled or jostled from his bicycle at high speeds.

Bloody Antietam

150 Years Ago  

The battle of Antietam, which occurred on Sept. 17, 1862, is often overshadowed by Gettysburg, but it was the bloodiest one-day battle in American history.  

Read more

 

Ghost Towns Of The Pacific Northwest

Bordeaux, Washington

For 60 years the logging town of Bordeaux, Washington prospered because it was located in the heart of Capital Forest where towering fir and cedar trees provided beams for buildings, spars for sailing ships and shingles for roofs. The 120 ft. straight, clear spars went to Maine to provide the masts for the fast clipper ships.

Mumby cedar shingles were prized in the Midwest as the best quality for homes and businesses. After 100 years or more, the warehouses of Seattle and Tacoma are now offices and upscale restaurants with the original, massive, open beams milled from forest giants that once were common, but now are protected.

Royals Lost and Never Found

Richard III isn't the only royal to have vanished from history.
Read more

Mystery Spheres on Mars Baffle Scientists

The mysterious geological formations seem to be crunchy on the outside and softer in the middle. Read more

If Google yanks "Innocence of Muslims," will it lose its DMCA Safe Harbor?

Robert Cringely speculates on the reasoning behind Google's decision to continue hosting the controversial "Innocence of Muslims" clip despite a request from the State Department to remove it. Cringely believes that Google worries that if it were to begin removing videos, it would lose access to the "Safe Harbor" defense of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which exempts it from liability for copyright violations by its users, provided that it does not police the users' uploads (except to ensure compliance with its terms of service). Thus if Google were to begin removing videos from US view on non-copyright/non-terms-of-service grounds, it could be liable for $150,000 copyright fines for every infringing video in the YouTube collection.
Muhammad v. YouTube

Woman found alive after 5 days in freezer may have climbed in due to bad weather

An Oklahoma woman who was found alive in a chest-type deep freezer may have climbed in due to bad weather. Theresa Christian, 59, was last seen over the weekend. Her son found her on Wednesday morning in a large freezer at her Tulsa apartment and called police.

"Apparently family members had reported her missing since Saturday and they finally got her son in who recognized immediately that there was no way she could have left the residence willingly without her purse and other belongings and left her TV on."

"So they started searching the house and neighbours said possibly she thought maybe there was tornado coming but their sure why or how she got there but her son heard a moan coming from the area of the freezer and opened up and discovered her sitting inside," said Cpl. Daisy Vallely with the Tulsa Police Department.

YouTube link.

Family members say Christian is scared of storms and may have climbed into the freezer for safety. She was taken to the hospital in serious condition with frostbite. Police do not suspect foul play.

'Anonymous' Spokesman Barrett Brown Arrested After Bizarre Video Meltdown

"In an interview with Defense Technology International [March 1], prominent Anonymous front man Barrett Brown alluded to the significance of the HB Gary hacking in the movement." - Mandy Nagy , Breitbart.com, "FBI Bust, Aided by 'Anonymous' Snitch, Reveals Left-Hacker Alliance," March 9, 2012 "I got to find out, thanks to a hack - thanks to another ...

More

Man arrested for counterfeit money scheme

By Elisabeth Arriero

Milton McKnight

Rowan County Sheriff’s officers arrested a man last week for using counterfeit money on multiple occasions to purchase auto parts.
Authorities charged Milton McKnight with 4 counts of obtaining property by false pretense on September 12.
The sheriff’s office began its investigation in early August after Matlock’s Used Cars and Parts in Cleveland and LKQ Auto Parts in Salisbury reported receiving counterfeit $50 and $100 dollar bills on several occasions.
During the investigation, Detective C. Brown determined the bills were coming from Knight’s Auto in Charlotte.
The sheriff’s office worked with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police as well as the U.S. Secret Service to determine that McKnight would call and order parts from the Rowan County business and pay with counterfeit cash.
After a search warrant was obtained for McKnight’s house and business, investigators found counterfeit money on McKnight that matched the bills passed in Rowan County. They also found counterfeit money at his house.
McKnight was arrested and placed in the Mecklenburg County Jail under $15,000 secured bond.

Swedish police search for thief who robbed drunk man on rail tracks and left him to be run over by train

Instead of helping a man who had passed out on a subway track in Stockholm, a passer-by chose to rob the unconscious victim before leaving him to be run over by a train. “This shows an unusual ruthlessness,” said Peter Brottman of the South Stockholm police. The victim, referred to in the Swedish media as Johnny, 38, was returning home after a drunken night out on the town with his friends when he fell down on the tracks at Sandsborg metro station south of Stockholm. Shortly thereafter he was robbed of all his valuables and left on the tracks before being run over by an oncoming train.

Despite sustaining serious injuries, Johnny nevertheless survived the accident, as only five metres of the train actually ran him over. “He had amazing luck, really. The train came from the other direction and the driver managed to see him and pull the emergency brakes,” Brottman said. The incident, which occurred early on Sunday morning, was caught by security cameras. Police are hoping that someone might be able to identify the perpetrator from the security camera footage.

Image from here. (With additional video).

The man jumped down on the tracks, got back up again, and exited the turnstiles. “He pocketed a wallet, a mobile phone and a gold chain. Then he jumped back up on the platform and just walked away. He didn’t call the emergency services or notify the ticket collector at the station“ said Peter Brottman. Johnny is still being treated in hospital. Half of his left foot has been amputated and his right knee has been damaged to a point where he’ll need a prosthetic in future. However, based on the footage, police have classified the incident as aggravated theft.

YouTube link.

“We are classifying it as aggravated theft rather than robbery, as the latter implies that the perpetrator threatens or renders his victim in a state of powerlessness and we didn’t see anything like that. The person who was drunk had achieved that state of powerlessness himself," said Östman. That the perpetrator didn’t try to assist the helpless man on the tracks or call emergency services is not something he could be charged for. “There is no law that says he has to take action,” said Östman. Johnny’s partner Louise is still in shock from what has happened. “I have cried, cried and cried. When I heard what had happened I was angry, sad and full of hatred. I was shocked that anyone could leave a person on the track to die," she said.

Daily Comic Relief

"There is wisdom in a raven's head."

"There is wisdom in a raven's head." - Gaelic Proverb

In England, tombstones are sometimes called "ravenstones".

Prophesy states that as long as Ravens live at the Tower of London, the kingdom is safe.

Folklore of the Hebrides tells that giving a newborn his first drink from the skull of a raven will give the child wisdom and the power of prophesy.

Because King Arthur lived on in the form of a raven, in Corwall it is considered very unlucky to kill one.
"To have a raven's knowledge" is an Irish proverb meaning to have a seer's supernatural powers. The raven is considered to be one of the oldest and wisest of all animals.

Ravens were the favorite bird of the god Lludd, the Celtic god of artists and artisans. He was said to have two ravens to attend to all of his needs (similar to Odin and his ravens).

The Scottish Goddess of winter, The Cailleach, sometimes appears as a raven. A touch from her is said to bring death.

Among the Irish Celts, the raven was associated with the Triple Goddess, the Morrigan, who took the shape of a raven over battlefields while acting as "Chooser of the Slain" and the protector of warriors.

The raven is also intimately associated with Morgan le Fay.

Irish and Scots Bean Sidhes (Banshees) can take the form of ravens. Their calls from over the roof of a dwelling was considered to be an omen of death for the occupants.

Are You Smarter Than a Chimp?

This chimp can get a peanut out of the bottom of this plastic tube with only the items in his cage. Could you have solved this puzzle? Read more

This question does not apply to repugicans - the answer for you is NO.

Hyenas Are As Bright As Primates

They were depicted as slobbering, slow-witted beasts by Disney in the hit movie The Lion King, but hyenas are far more intelligent than they have been given credit for. New research has revealed the African carnivores are adept at solving problems and can even 'count.' Scientists now believe the animals may have intelligence levels that match some primates.

Hyenas, which are highly social, have been found to assess the size of a competing pack which is invading their territory, by listening to their calls. They will only confront the intruders if the 'count' shows they have a numerical advantage.

Giant panda gives birth to cub at National Zoo

The National Zoo's female giant panda has given birth to a cub following five consecutive pseudopregnancies in as many years. Mei Xiang gave birth Sunday at 10:46 p.m., the zoo said. The staff can hear the cub, but has yet to see it because Mei Xiang has built a large nest in her den.

More

Baby Giant Panda Born at D.C. Zoo

The cub is the second born to Mei Xiang and Tian Tian as the result of artificial insemination. Read more

Auction Off that Dino Poop!

When a package shows up from a seller, these auctioneers have to decide what to do with the unusual contents. Read more

The Inhabitants of the White Sea

This summer the White Sea was filled with jelly-fish. A jelly-fish has 24 eyes and its body consists of water for 95%. As soon as the creature comes to the coast in a wave it dies getting dried in the sun without water. The photos below were taken during a small excursion into the world of the beautiful creatures.  More

Shark 'Rescues' Man Lost At Sea For 15 Weeks

After 15 weeks drifting at sea, sleeping next to his dead brother-in-law, a man is edged to safety by a most unlikely ally.

 More

Students rescue koala from mineshaft

A koala has been rescued from down a mineshaft twice by Victorian university students after the unlucky creature fell back down the hole on its first bid for freedom.

The third-year University of Ballarat students were on an excursion in the Victorian goldfields for an outdoor education class recently when they walked past the mineshaft and saw the koala trapped down the 4.5m hole. In an attempt to save the exhausted creature, they lowered a branch down so it could climb up to safety.

The koala managed to climb up the long branch but when it got to the top, it tried to leap to another tree and missed. It plummeted down to the bottom of the shaft, prompting horrified shrieks and gasps from the students.

YouTube link.

The koala seemed to recover quickly and managed to climb back up the branch to safety, choosing not to jump to another tree this time. The University of Ballarat Outdoor Education department suspects it may have been trapped down the shaft for days.

Dogs rescued after being trapped in deep ravine for two days

Two dogs who became trapped for two days in a deep ravine after chasing badgers near Naantali in south-western Finland were recovered after a six and a half hour rescue operation.

A friend of the owner of the dogs said 10-year-old Daphne the dachshund was recovering well, whilst the younger of the two, 4-year-old Ester, was still deeply traumatised.

Video. There are more photos here.

Sloths Catching ZZZ's at Costa Rican Sanctuary

Sloths in Costa Rica are getting help shaking off their lazy bear image.  
Read more

Orangutan's cancer treatment similar to humans

In this Sept. 5, 2012 photo, Jungle Island volunteer Linda Jacobs comforts Peanut, one of the orangutans from a private zoo, as a group of medical professionals gather over the medical table for R-CHOP therapy, a combination of drugs used in chemotherapy to treat her aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma in Miami.
More

Badger cull plan 'crazy scheme'

Badger cull plan 'crazy scheme'

The scientist whose research is being cited by the government to justify its plan to cull badgers in England has described the scheme as "crazy".

• Court battle on badger cull fails
• Badger culls likely to go ahead Watch
• Bid to block badger cull denied
• First badger cull license issued

Animal Pictures