Kangaroo escapes animal park with help from boar and fox

Three kangaroos staged a daring escape from a wildlife park near Frankfurt by going under rather than over the fences - thanks to the work of fox and wild boar accomplices.

Skippy, Jack and Mick made it under the first fence of their enclosure by using a hole dug by a fox, said Michael Hoffmann, assistant head of the Hochwildschutzpark Hunsrück west of Frankfurt.

One got stuck there, but two were brave enough to use a hole dug by a wild boar under the exterior fence to make it to freedom. One of the kangaroos remains at large.

The animal poses no danger to the public, stressed Hoffmann. "He's super friendly, super nice. Absolutely no danger at all." Several people nearby have reported seeing the missing kangaroo, but so far he’s managed to stay one jump ahead of officials.

Severe Abnormalities Found In Fukushima Butterflies

Exposure to radioactive material released into the environment has caused mutations in butterflies found in Japan, a study suggests. Scientists found an increase in leg, antennae and wing shape mutations among butterflies collected following the 2011 Fukushima accident. The link between the mutations and the radioactive material was shown by laboratory experiments, they report.

By comparing mutations found on the butterflies collected from the different sites, the team found that areas with greater amounts of radiation in the environment were home to butterflies with much smaller wings and irregularly developed eyes.

This is not a ladybug

(or "ladybird beetle" for that matter)

It's a spider (Paraplectana sp)(additional photo here).  From a gallery of photos illustrating insect and spider camouflage, by Nicky Bay, assembled at The Telegraph.  From the same collection, here's a photo of a beetle that also mimics a ladybird beetle:

The spider and the beetle are exhibiting Batesian mimicry ("where a harmless species has evolved to imitate the warning signals of a harmful species directed at a common predator").

Batesian mimicry is the most commonly known and widely studied of mimicry complexes, such that the word mimicry is often treated as synonymous with Batesian mimicry. There are many other forms however, some very similar in principle, others far separated. Of note, it is often contrasted with Müllerian mimicry, a form of mutually beneficial convergence between two or more harmful species. However, because the mimic may have a degree of protection itself, the distinction is not absolute. It can also be contrasted with functionally different forms of mimicry. Perhaps the sharpest contrast here is with aggressive mimicry, where a predator or parasite mimics a harmless species, avoiding detection and improving its foraging success.

Virus Causes Mad Snake Disease

A rodent-borne virus can infect a large number of snakes before being detected.
Read more

Rattlesnake dance, love or fight?

Brendan Collier knows to be alert for rattlesnakes while pedaling trails in the San Jacinto Mountains.

More

Seahorses

Learn about these strange creatures that are fish shaped like a horse their gestates its babies in the male's body. And better yet, see lovely pictures of seahorses from all over the world at Environmental Graffiti.

Animal Pictures

The Daily Drift

The colorful Grand Canyon

Some of our readers today have been in:

Johannesburg, South Africa

Athens, Greece

Bogota, Colombia

Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Saint Petersburg, Russia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Ankara, Turkey

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Klang, Malaysia

Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei

Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Belgrade, Serbia

Lenina, Russia

Kathmandu, Nepal

Chisinau, Moldova

Manila, Philippines

Seoul, Korea

Cherkasy, Ukraine

Olongapo, Philippines

Amman, Jordan

Hanoi, Vietnam

And in cities across the USA such as:

Anoka

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Today in History

1261		Constantinople falls to Michael VIII of Nicea and his army.
1385		John of Portugal defeats John of Castile at the Battle of Aljubarrota.
1598		Hugh O'Neill, the Earl of Tyrone, leads an Irish force to victory over the British at Battle of Yellow Ford.
1760		Frederick II defeats the Austrians at the Battle of Liegnitz.
1864		The Confederate raider Tallahassee captures six Federal ships off New England.
1872		The first ballot voting in England is conducted.
1914		The Panama Canal opens to traffic.
1935		American comedian and "cowboy philosopher" Will Rogers dies in an airplane accident, along with American aviation pioneer Wiley Post.
1942		The Japanese submarine I-25 departs Japan with a floatplane in its hold which will be assembled upon arriving off the West Coast of the United States, and used to bomb U.S. forests.
1944		American, British and French forces land on the southern coast of France, between Toulon and Cannes, in Operation Dragoon.
1945		Gasoline and fuel oil rationing ends in the United States.
1947		Britain grants independence to India and Pakistan.
1950		Two U.S. divisions are badly mauled by the North Korean Army at the Battle of the Bowling Alley in South Korea, which rages on for five more days.
1969		Over 400,000 young people attend a weekend of rock music at Woodstock, New York.

Forty Photos Of The Oval Office Apple Bowl

Since January 2009, there's a big wooden bowl of apples in the Oval Office. Its steadfast presence is kind of soothing.

Prehistoric Shark Species Found in Arizona

The remains of several new toothy shark species are found in the desert state.  
Read more

Romney visits struggling Iowa farmer ...

... who's a multimillionaire with an in-home art gallery

As ThinkProgress notes, the guy isn't exactly every man.

Yes, according to the Des Moines Register, Koethe owns 54 soy and corn farms. And that’s just one of his jobs.

In previous reports on his activity over the years from the Des Moines Register, Koethe is also a described as a millionaire, a real estate mogul, and a former concert promoter who booked acts like Slipknot at his 24,000 square foot event center.

Making this farmer’s life that much different from the average person, Koethe lives in a spaceship house. It might not have a car elevator like Romney’s planned home, but it’s got its own car wash bay and recreation center.

Even better, check out these photos of the poor farmer's home from the SF Chronicle (these are a few, they have more):

A modest home for ma and pa to rest after
spending a day feeding the pigs.

It figures that the only farmer Mitt Romney knows
has an art gallery in his home.

And I Quote

Poll: Voters were more excited with Sarah Palin as VP

Yikes. And folks hated her.

A new survey indicates that a great many Americans aren't enamored with the guy who wants them spending their golden years subsisting on Ramen noodles and strenuously networking to land jobs as Wal-mart greeters.

Ariel Edwards-Levy: "Americans' initial reaction to Paul Ryan is decidedly lukewarm, with more rating his selection for vice president as negative than positive, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll taken after the announcement.

Ryan's ratings were less positive than those for any other vice presidential pick polled on by Gallup since 2000, including Sarah Palin, Joe Biden and Dick Cheney. The only other recent vice presidential selection to gain net negative ratings was Dan Quayle, in 1988.

UPDATE: USA Today has more:

In a nationwide survey taken Sunday, 39% of registered voters call repugican contender Mitt Romney's selection of Ryan "excellent" or "pretty good" while 45% rate it as "only fair" or "poor." Sixteen percent have no opinion.

That's the most tepid reception for a running mate since 1988, when then-vice president George H.W. Bush picked Quayle, an Indiana senator who immediately ran into questions about his draft history during the Vietnam War and whether he was prepared for the presidency.

Is Paul Ryan palling around with terrorists?

He will be in just one month when he attends the hate-group founded Value Voters Summit.  See, here's Ryan right next to the (former) terrorist Kamal Saleem (the asterisk means their attendance is confirmed):

Mitt Romney is in the same row as the (former) terrorist, but Paul Ryan is smack dab right next to him.

Now, you might ask yourself why a "former" terrorist isn't spending some time in Gitmo instead of heading to a religious right hate summit.  (Because he might be a fraud - but hey Paul Ryan agreed to speak at the conference of a known hate group, so he gets to explain, not us). But that's not really important. What's important is that Paul Ryan is on a Web site next to a guy who allegedly came to the US to kill us all.

So, first we find out that Paul Ryan's biggest inspiration in life isn't god, but instead a woman who devoted her life to killing god.  Now he's apparently palling around with (former) terrorists.  This guy might turn out to be more fun than Sarah Palin!

The Truth Hurts

Ryan says we should take away Romney's tax shelters

Want to talk Awkward ... Look at Romney's face while Ryan is saying this.

RYAN: What we're saying is, take away the tax shelters that are uniquely enjoyed by people in the top tax brackets so they can't shelter as much money from taxation, should lower tax rates for everybody to make America more competitive.

Ryan confirms he turned over "several" years of tax returns to Romney

Paul Ryan confirms on 60 Minutes that Mitt Romney made him turn over more years of tax returns, to vet him as a possible VP, than Romney will turn over to the American people, so we can vet him as a possible president. Romney turned over 1.5 years worth of returns. Ryan was asked to turn over "several" years, which usually means 3 or more.
It's brazen and arrogant, and tone deaf, of Romney.  What's particularly galling is that Romney is more worried about Ryan's gaffe-factor than he is about his own qualifications for the presidency.  The gaffe-factor must be avoided at all costs, thus the several years of returns - but Romney's qualifications, not so important, just a year's complete returns is fine.

Paul Ryan as sassy man-child

Matt Taibbi's great observation about Paul Ryan, repugican clone writ large.

Paul Ryan, the repugican party’s latest entrant in the seemingly endless series of young, prickish, over-coiffed, anal-retentive deficit Robespierres they’ve sent to the political center stage in the last decade or so, has come out with his new budget plan. All of these smug little jerks look alike to me – from Ralph Reed to Eric Cantor to Jeb Hensarling to Rand Paul and now to Ryan, they all look like overgrown kids who got nipple-twisted in the halls in high school, worked as Applebee’s shift managers in college, and are now taking revenge on the world as grownups by defunding hospice care and student loans and Sesame Street. They all look like they sleep with their ties on, and keep their feet in dress socks when doing their bi-monthly duty with their wives.

Every few years or so, the repugicans trot out one of these little whippersnappers, who offer proposals to hack away at the federal budget. Each successive whippersnapper inevitably tries, rhetorically, to out-mean the previous one, and their proposals are inevitably couched as the boldest and most ambitious deficit-reduction plans ever seen. Each time, we are told that these plans mark the end of the budgetary reign of terror long ago imposed by the entitlement system begun by FDR and furthered by LBJ.

Never mind that each time the repugicans actually come into power, federal deficit spending explodes and these whippersnappers somehow never get around to touching Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. The key is that for the many years before that moment of truth, before these buffoons actually get a chance to put their money where their lipless little mouths are, they will stomp their feet and scream about how entitlements are bringing us to the edge of apocalypse.

He didn't build it ...

How socialism helped Paul Ryan go to college

It's not really "socialism," but then again, considering the wide definition that Republicans like Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney use for "socialism" - anything a Democrat embraces - the word is apt.

More specifically, what Ryan and Romney actually mean by "socialism" is any government program that helps someone. This is why Ryan is so determined to dismantle Social Security (which he wants to privatize) and Medicare (which he wants to replace with a voucher system, meaning, you get to fend for yourself against private insurance companies that will charge you a few thousand dollars a month for really bad insurance).

What's interesting, therefore, is the news that Social Security helped Paul Ryan go to college and make him the man he is today (which is perhaps a justification for getting rid of it). Via Raw Story:

From the age of 16, when his 55-year-old father died of a heart attack, until he was 18, Ryan received Social Security payments, which, according to a lengthy profile in WI Magazine, he put away for college. The eventual budget czar attended Miami University in Ohio to earn a B.A. in economics and political science, and landed a congressional internship as a junior.

So Paul Ryan benefited from the largesse of big liberal government. Government that he now wants to take away from the rest of us.

Did you know ...

About Superpacs and unlimited outside spending in the 2012 election

The 10 reasons why Ryan is worse for Romney than Palin was for McCain

The Multiple Sclerosis Society doesn't like Romney's plans for MS patients

Is Mitt Romney an idiot savant?

Or just an idiot?

That Paul Ryan compares Latinos to animals, decries "anchor babies"

The Romney-Ryan budget punishes the middle class according to independent economists

 ***

Oh, and  the Chik-Fil-A fiasco is about more than just marriage

Non Sequitur

Bain Capital buys profitable American plant, ships it to China; soon-to-be-jobless workers train their overseas replacements

In the Guardian, Paul Harris reports from Freeport, IL, where a profitable, competitive auto-parts plant has been bought out by Bain Capital, who have literally shipped the factory to China, and who have extended the "kindness" to the American workers who will lose their jobs of a few extra weeks' worth of work training their Chinese replacements. Mitt Romney owns millions of dollars' worth of equity in the Bain fund that is shipping good jobs overseas, and stands to make a tidy profit from this.

"I understand business needs to make a profit. But this product has always made a ton of money. It's just that they think it is not enough money. They are greedy," said Tom Gaulraupp, who has put in 33 years at the plant and is facing the prospect of becoming jobless at the age of 54.
Mark Shreck, a 36-year-old father-of-three, confessed he was one of the few workers not surprised at the layoffs, as this is the second time his job has moved to China. "I feel this is what companies do nowadays," he said. Freeport mayor George Gaulrapp
The Freeport workers have appealed to Bain and Romney to save their plant. The local town council, several Illinois politicians and the state's Democratic governor have all rallied to their cause. "This company is competitive globally. They make a profit here. But Bain Capital decided to squeeze it a little further. That is not what capitalism is meant to be about," said Freeport mayor George Gaulrapp, 52, pictured.
The anger towards Bain and Romney is palpable. Romney has become the target for the emotions of a community who built lives based on the idea of a steady manufacturing job: a concept out of place in the sort of fluid buy-and-sell world from which Bain prospers. "I didn't have a clue what Bain was before this happened," said Cheryl Randecker, 52. "Now when I hear Romney speak it makes me sick to my stomach."

'I'm sick to my stomach': anger grows in Illinois at Bain's latest outsourcing plan

Animation teacher faces the sack for refusing to push "unnecessary, expensive" textbooks at hedge-fund invested Art Institute of California

Mike Tracy teaches at the Art Institute of California—Orange County, but not for long. In a note on his Facebook page, Tracy explains that AIC-OC (whose parent company, EDMC, is 41 percent owned by Goldman Sachs) has told him he'll be fired if he doesn't agree to sell a quota of expensive and, in his opinion, unnecessary e-textbooks. Here's the note Tracy posted:

As many of you know, I have been in a dispute with our school, the Art Institutes, for some months now, over their policy of mandatory e-textbooks in classes where their inclusion seems arbitrary, inappropriate and completely motivated by profit. In July I asked the US Department of Education, the California Bureau of Private Postsecondary Education and WASC (our accrediting agency) to look into my concerns. Since that time, the school and its parent company EDMC have escalated the pressure on me to select a book for a class I teach that I don’t think requires one.
Today, the President of the school, Greg Marick, presented me with an ultimatum; either choose a book by Tuesday, Aug 14th or the company will terminate my employment for insubordination. My response, of course, is that I will not change my mind on this issue and that I’m determined to resist the policy however I can. I think this means that, as of this week, I will no longer be teaching at AI.
I want you, my students and colleagues to know that it has been my great honor and privilege to have worked with you over the last 11 years, and that I will miss the opportunity to work for you and with you. I have enjoyed my time as a teacher very much, but it appears as though it is now time to move on. Furthermore, you can count on me to continue the struggle that I have instigated on this issue, if only from the outside. Although it ain't over till it’s over, it looks like a 99.5% deal, barring an 11th hour change of heart by the corporation, which would surprise me.

Here's a petition from Tracy's colleagues and present and past students, asking the administration to reconsider its position.
Animation Teacher Faces Termination For Refusing To Sell His Students Unnecessary Books

Classics

Insurance company defends policy holder's killer in court

Comedian Matt Fisher says: "On June 19, 2010, my sister was driving in Baltimore when her car was struck by another car and she was killed. The other driver had run a red light and hit my sister as she crossed the intersection on the green light… At the trial, the guy who killed my sister was defended by Progressive’s legal team. If you are insured by Progressive, and they owe you money, they will defend your killer in court in order to not pay you your policy."

Shooting at Texas A&M

Because it wouldn't be America without some mindless gun violence at a place frequented by young people.

Three people were killed Monday after a gunman exchanged fire with police near Texas A&M University's College Station campus. The dead included: the shooter, a police constable and a civilian.

Local police said that a handful of others had been taken to the hospital for treatment, including at least one other law enforcement official.

Time for another Romney fundraiser with NRA chief Wayne LaPierre.

Man Swims to JFK Airport

A man whose jet ski failed swam to JFK Airport, evading its $100 million, state-of-the art security system.  

More

Random Celebrity Photo

The other Olympics

You may be one of those people who prefer the Winter Games to the Summer Games because the skating, sledding, and skiing all come with a risk of a slip and fall. You may have even avoided all the sunshine and brotherhood of the Olympics television coverage. For you, The Guardian has a gallery of images featuring the slips, falls, and screwups of the London Olympics. Warning: contains faceplants, falling horses, and one bloody face. More

The 2012 Olympics: Year of U.S. Women

U.S. women set the gold standard, both literally and figuratively, at the Olympics this year, providing an example for other countries.

Read more

Women-only city planned for Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is to build a new city exclusively for women. The Gulf kingdom is working on the narrow junction between strict Sharia law and the aspirations of active females who wish to pursue their own careers. ­The new plan is to combine women’s desire to work in the modern age and provide a job environment that would go hand-in-hand with the country’s Sharia law. The Saudi Industrial Property Authority (Modon) has been charged to lead the country into a new era. The ambitious mono-city is now being designed with construction to begin next year.

The municipality in the Eastern city of Hafuf is expected to attract 500 million riyals (£84m, $133m) in investments and it will create around 5,000 jobs in the textiles, pharmaceuticals and food processing industries. There will be women-run firms and production lines for women. Saudi Sharia law does allow women to work, given that her essential duties of homemaking should not be neglected. But in reality around 15 per cent of women are represented in the workforce, according to some estimates. The Modon plan shadows the government’s desire for women to play a more important role in the development of the country.

"I'm sure that women can demonstrate their efficiency in many aspects and clarify the industries that best suit their interests, their nature and their ability," Modon’s deputy director-general, Saleh Al-Rasheed, said. Saudi’s existing industrial cities already have factories owned by women, as well as companies that employ a small portion of the female population. Apart from Hafuf, the Saudis are developing more women-only projects. “We are now working on a second industrial city for women,” said Saleh Al Rasheed. “We have plans to establish a number of women-only industries in various parts of the kingdom.”

The kingdom’s rampant desire to boost its citizen workforce participation and change the women’s unemployment rate is also changing the retail landscape. The state is attempting to replace foreign salespeople with Saudi women in its female apparel shops. This summer, women started replacing sales staff in cosmetics and perfume shops, only half a year after they replaced male sales staff in lingerie stores. By the end of the year, women plan to replace their gender counterparts in stores selling abayas, the traditional black cloak worn by women. But despite the degree of emancipation, women's rights in Saudi Arabia are still defined by Islam and lack basic freedoms found in many Western cultures.

Health and safety officials ban statue's 'dangerous' arms

A planned new statue of the Jolly Fisherman, mascot of Skegness, has been criticized as “ugly” after it was redesigned due to health and safety concerns. For more than 100 years he has been greeting visitors to the seaside with his arms outstretched in welcome.
But now the Jolly Fisherman, the mascot of Skegness since 1908, has been ordered to adopt a less exuberant pose - on “health and safety” grounds. The design for a new statue on the town’s station plaza portrays the fisherman with his arms clamped by his sides, holding a beach ball and patting a seal pup.

Council chiefs said the change was necessary to prevent children swinging on the arms, getting hurt and claiming compensation. But they have agreed to reconsider the design after critics called it “ugly” and compared it to Buddha or a gargoyle. Mark Anderson, the mayor of Skegness, said: “We don’t want people to make a farce of our logo and our town, and this to me is a farce.”

Anita Ruffle, a senior manager at Lincolnshire county council, said: “We are trying to keep his arms in because we did feel there was the issue of health and safety.” A council spokesman said the aim was to avoid a design which would “entice children or whoever to swing on the arms of the statue, which might lead to some claims”.

There's a news video here.

It's the environment stupid

From (un)Happy, Texas - where the water ran out. - in the Texas panhandle town of happy, main street is entirely abandoned, save for the happy state bank. locals told me it’s been that way for decades, ever since they “ran out of water.” more accurately, the farmers irrigated so much the aquifer level fell below a level affordable enough to pump.

Drought in Colorado and nationally will lead to higher food prices. - coming soon to a grocery store near you: higher prices. pervasive drought in Colorado and much of the rest of the nation means more than just brown lawns and dried-up gardens. crops are stunted, and prices are rising

Drought taps out some water wells around St. Louis. - for months, farmers have been forced to drill deeper wells to water parched crops and feed livestock. but in recent weeks, homeowners across the state have reported that they can't perform basic tasks such as doing laundry or washing dishes, let alone even think about watering their flower beds

In Texas, water may be free, but it's not forever. - since there's not a whole lot of water falling from the sky, much of the farm belt is looking underground to local aquifers. but here's the thing about that: a new study in the journal "nature" says 20 percent of the world's aquifers are being over-exploited, including those in Texas 

U.S. drought exposes “hydro-illogical” water management. - the historic drought withering much of the united states this summer has revealed a need for strategies to better manage water supplies that could remain under severe pressure both this year and in the longer term

Mystery Rock Shelf Floating in Pacific

Floating pumice rocks are covering an area larger than Israel in the South Pacific.
Read more

A Timeline Of Future Events

While some predictions of science fiction have come to pass, if we were to compile a calendar of future events based on speculative fiction, we would run some hazards - not least the natural reluctance of authors to affix specific dates to their imaginings.

By leaving their dates murky, writers allow their predictions the possibility of eventually coming true. Looking forward to science fiction dates that have yet to come, here are some dates to put on your future calendar.

Pools In The Sky

Dubai, Melbourne, Zambia, and Bali are among the places with the most impressive cantilevered or otherwise exceptionally suspended water-based workout/hangout venues. If the Holiday Inn Shanghai Pudong Kangqiao's swimming pool is to be believed, people aren't content with lounging on inflatable creatures in their backyard pool anymore. They want a truly unique - and dizzying - experience.

Iceberg Tsunami

Jens Møller, together with his uncle and an Australian tourist went to see a glacier just north of Ilulissat in Greenland. While filming from their boat, a large chunk of the glacier slid into the ocean and began making a large wave.

YouTube link

Hey, it's raining

The natural sound of rain can be very relaxing.

Get the rest you deserve by listening to the sounds of rain.

Caravanserai

The Staging Posts Of The Desert

There were once thousands of caravanserai, staging posts for the weary traveler, dotted throughout Asia, North Africa and the South-Eastern parts of Europe. The Silk Road, an important and extensive trans-continental network of routes, was dotted with them. Many still survive, but more are abandoned and slowly turning to dust.

WWII "war sand" on the beaches of Normandy

As much as four percent of the sand on the beaches of Normandy consists of shrapnel left over from D-Day. In a post about this at BLDGBLOG, Geoff Manaugh references a book called "Sand: The Never-Ending Story." The book is about the science and culture of sand, from the ocean floor to Mars. Written by geologist Michael Welland, it sounds like a fascinating read!

Retro Photo

Old time Trainmen of the Southern Railway

Fire Ants and Technical Chaos

(YouTube link)

Fire ants are the geeks of the insect world. They seek out technology, particularly electric gadgets. And they have super powers, such as the ability to survive being cooked in a microwave oven. Don't believe me? Watch this clip from the BBC program Supernatural – The Unseen Power of Animals

The Honeypot Ant

Photo: Greg Hume/Wikipedia

It's a scene straight out of a sci-fi movie: a lair of ants with huge, swollen abdomen used as living food storage. But that, Neatoramanauts, is not science fiction. It's science fact!
Meet the honeypot ant, which belly can expand to the size of grapes as worker ants keep on feeding it "honey" (such as sugary extracts from oak galls, nectaror even liquids from the body of preys). During tough times, the honeypot ant will regurgitate honey to feed its colony.
These honeypot ants are so valuable that rival ant colonies often try to kidnap them, and they're so tasty that Australian Aboriginal people like to eat them like candies! Yum!

Photo via National Geographic Photography Facebook page

Giant Squid Eye

Photo: Christine Dell'Amore

That blob in a jar used to belong to a giant squid. That's right, you're looking at the eyeball of a giant squid looking right back at you!
Chris Mah of the National Museum of Natural History's Department of Invertebrate Zoology gave the tour:

The largest invertebrate, giant squid—along with their kin the colossal squid—also have the largest eyes in the animal kingdom, which measure some 10 inches (25 centimeters) wide. The massive organs allow them to detect objects—like a hungry sperm whale—in the ocean depths. Peering close into the jar, the eyeball didn’t look all that different than ours, white with a round black pupil at the center.

Christine Dell'Amore of National Geographic News has the post: here

Shark vs. Octopus

When a shark and octopus meet on the field of battle, who walks... er... swims away?  

Read more

Animal Pictures

The Daily Drift

'Nuff Said!

Some of our readers today have been in:

Amman, Jordan

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Cherkasy, Ukraine

Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei

Waterloo, Canada

Kota, Kinabalu, Malaysia

Manila, Philippines

Klang, Malaysia

Cape Town, Malaysia

Hanoi, Vietnam

Bayan Lepas, Malaysia

Olongapo, Philippines

Miri, Malaysia

Bryansk, Russia

Istanbul, Turkey

Lenina, Russia

Seoul, Korea

Ankara, Turkey

Kuantan, Malaysia

Chisinau, Moldova

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

Today in History

1457		The first book ever printed is published by a German astrologer named Faust. He is thrown in jail while trying to sell books in Paris. Authorities concluded that all the identical books meant Faust had dealt with the devil.
1559		Spanish explorer de Luna enters Pensacola Bay, Florida.
1605		The Popham expedition reaches the Sagadahoc River in present-day Maine and settles there.
1756		French commander Louis Montcalm takes Fort Oswego, New England, from the British.
1793		Republican troops in France lay siege to the city of Lyons.
1900		The European allies enter Beijing, relieving their besieged legations from the Chinese Boxers.
1917		The Chinese Parliament declares war on the Central Powers.
1942		Dwight D. Eisenhower is named the Anglo-American commander for Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa.
1945		Japan announces its unconditional surrender in World War II.
1947		Pakistan becomes an independent country.
1973		The United States ends the "secret" bombing of Cambodia.

Editorial Comment

Today's edition of  CN is abbreviated due to the editor and staff do have a life any today is a fun day

We'll be back to our regularly scheduled mayhem tomorrow.

Child's tennis rackets destroyed by airport security after ‘weapon’ fear

A father was left dumbfounded when his child’s tennis rackets were seized by airport security staff. Richard Chew, from Meanwood, West Yorkshire, packed two Dunlop child’s rackets in his hand luggage for a trip to Majorca before staff at Leeds Bradford Airport confiscated them, claiming that they could be used as weapons. The 46-year-old claims he was told that there was a chance that he could use them to knock a steward or stewardess unconscious with them.

The father of two said: “I support everything that’s done to make our skies safe but looking at the size and weight of what are little more than toys suggests that common sense flew out of the window that day. He added: “I was saddened on several fronts but managed to refrain from a John McEnroe-style outburst.” Richard was traveling with his nine-year-old stepson, Will, to visit the youngster’s mother Vicky, bask in the sun and play a few games of tennis.

But borders staff told him they would have to hand over the rackets or pay £40 to go back through security and get them on board but the flight was due to set off in minutes. Now Richard is appealing for the airport to stop destroying the hundreds of items it seizes every year and either auction them or donate them to charity. Richard said: “This would be a real positive force in trying to contribute some good back into the community as they must seize hundreds of items carried in good faith that don’t meet the baggage restrictions test.

“It seems a crying shame to me that these are ending up in landfill and are not being used for good.” He said that in Pennsylvania in the US in 2004, the airport there raised $120,000 in its first year from confiscated items auctioned off on eBay, which was then plowed back into the community. A spokeswoman for Leeds Bradford Airport said: “Government legislation dictates what can and cannot be used as hand luggage. All UK airports are mandated to adhere to government legislation, compliance in this matter is frequently audited.”

Police investigate golf ball hate crime

Police are trying to figure out who’s responsible for smashing a car window with a golf ball covered in hate speech. About 150 people were inside Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Saturday afternoon.

They were celebrating Pastor Anita Hill’s installation as the regional director of a specialized ministry that reaches out to gay, lesbian and transgender congregants. Hill is an openly gay pastor in the E.L.C.A. (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America). After the service, Robert Paddock found a golf ball in his car with gay slurs written on it.

“It’s one thing to have your opinion – you may not accept this – but when you go out and damage people’s property, that’s another thing,” said Paddock. “It’s not changing anything by doing an act like that. It’s simply vandalism.” Emily Eastwood, the executive director of Lutherans for Full Participation, says they ball will be kept as a reminder.

“The St. Paul P.D. came, and they made a police report and documented the evidence. They said we could have the ball if we wanted it, they didn’t need it. So it’s going to live on my desk as a sign of the work we still have to do,” said Eastwood. There is a golf course across the street, but police say it’s impossible for the ball found in the car to have been an accidental hit.

Fighting factory girls fought with meat floss and dried meat

Two female co-workers at a meat processing plant in Fujian, eastern China, got into a food fight on the production line over who was the fairest of them all—and the argument spiraled so out of control that their colleagues had to call the police.

It all started when 22-year-old Xin, learned that her friend, 20-year-old Zhang, had landed a bigger financial loan from the factory than she had. "I was angry with her after I found out that she managed to borrow more money from the company than me," Xin confessed. The fight broke out when Zhang took a dig at Xin's skin tone. "You look darker lately,” she told Xin, who said, "When she made fun of me and said I was dark, I got mad and lost my mind."

At first the ladies sparred verbally. "You don't look any fairer!" Xin said. "Fairer than you!" Zhang replied. And that's when all hell broke loose. Xin grabbed a fist full of meat floss from the manufacturing line and threw it in Zhang's face. Zhang retaliated by throwing a bunch of dried meat back at Xin. And then they really went for each other, which got so bad that police had to come in and break them up.

Baogai police force, from China's Fujian province, later let the girls off without charge but gave them a stern warning. Like other Asian countries, China's vanity market has been flooded by skin whitening products. Millions of women are being influenced by advertisements that push these lightening skin care items as the ultimate in modern beauty.

Woman's missing finger and thumb grew back in phantom form

A woman born missing a finger and a thumb has grown them back – albeit as part of a phantom limb. This extraordinary occurrence shows that our brain contains a fully functional map of our body image, regardless of what our limbs actually look like. The woman, RN, was born with just three fingers on her right hand.

Aged 18, RN had the hand amputated after a car accident. She later began to feel that her missing limb was still present, and developed a "phantom" hand. "But here's the interesting thing," says Paul McGeoch at the University of California, San Diego. "Her phantom hand didn't have three digits, it had five." RN was aware of a full complement of fingers, but her phantom thumb and index finger were less than half the usual length.

With training using a mirror box trick – a tool that creates the visual illusion of two hands – McGeoch and V.S Ramachandran, also at San Diego, managed to extend her short phantom finger and thumb to normal length. McGeoch says this study indicates that there is a hardwired representation in the brain of what the body should look like, regardless of how it actually appears in real life. It shows us more about the balance between the external and innate representations of a limb, he says.

"The presence of the deformed hand was suppressing the brain's innate representation of her fingers which is why they appeared shorter, but after the hand was removed and the inhibition taken away, the innate representation kicks in again." Matthew Longo at Birkbeck, University of London, says it is a fascinating case study. "It contributes to a growing literature suggesting that our conscious experience of our body is, at least in part, dependent on the intrinsic organization of the brain, rather than a result of experience."

Man threw key lime pie in wife's face during argument over whether it was fruit or not

An elected public works commissioner in Greer, South Carolina, threw key lime pie at his wife during a fight and was later arrested. Greer police officers were called to the home of Perry Williams, 51, after his wife called 911 twice.

Officers said when they arrived, Williams' wife had blood under her nose and was covered with key lime pie. When police asked her what happened, she told police they had argued about whether key lime pie was a fruit or not, when some of it fell on Williams. He then became angry, throwing the pie at his wife. Police said there was pie all over the floor in the living room and in the dining room.

Williams' wife told officers there had been domestic violence incidents in the past but she had never reported it. After officers took her statement, police said she did not want to press charges, but they told her it was in the state's hands because of apparent physical injuries - a bloody nose and a scratch on her face.

She then ripped up the statement she had made and repeatedly told police it was a mistake she called them. Williams turned himself in and was charged with criminal domestic violence. He was released from jail on bond. Williams was elected to the board of Greer commissioners in May 2009.

Man opts to save the surprise in his M&Ms

It’s something Russ Cole of Lexington Park, Maryland, does two to three times a week. The configuration manager for Sabre Systems stops by a vending machine at the building where he works at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, and he puts in the coins to buy a bag of peanut M&Ms. He says the yellow bag of multicolored candies are the most popular item in that machine. And he’s one of the reasons why.

Cole is one of those people who has a system as to how he eats M&Ms. He’s not one who casually pops the candy into his mouth. He’s a divider. After sorting all the colors into their respective groups, “I get rid of brown first, then yellows, reds, oranges, blues and lastly, green, my favorite color,” Cole explained. But on Tuesday last week, Cole got a surprise in his afternoon treat. He poured out the M&Ms and discovered one that didn’t fit in his traditional M&M-eating system. The bag included a white M&M.

It was a bright spot in his day, he said. “I am not the luckiest of people, but there was something about seeing that white M&M fall out of the pack that was like better than the prize in a Cracker Jack box,” he said. “If something puts a smile on your face to think about, you know it is too good to eat it.” Although others have suggested he put the albino M&M on eBay, Cole is saving the find in his freezer. “It makes me smile,” he said.

Erin Cole, his wife, contacted Mars, the company that makes M&Ms, to report the white candy. “Apparently, they are pretty rare,” she said. The Mars representative took down the location where the albino M&M was purchased, the bag’s lot number, time of purchase and said they would report the information to three departments. In addition, the representative said they will send Cole coupons for more M&Ms. Cole said he plans to put the bonus M&Ms out next to the water cooler at work so everyone can celebrate.

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