Nazi Gold Train

Nazi Train Full of Gold Rumored to Be Found

Two men, a German and a Pole, claim to have found a 400-500 foot-long train once used by the Nazis.

Health News

Chestnut leaves yield extract that disarms deadly staph bacteria

Leaves of the European chestnut tree contain ingredients with the power to disarm dangerous staph bacteria without boosting its drug resistance, scientists have found. PLOS ONE is publishing the study […]

Blood cleaning devices scrubs toxins, pathogens from the red stuff

A team of scientists at the Wyss Institute last year described the development of a device to treat sepsis that works by mimicking the human spleen. The device cleanses pathogens […]

John Oliver lifted the lid on prosperity gospel pastors ...

... here’s how their IRS enablers make you help pay their way

John Oliver’s segment on televangelist prosperity preachers this week has exposed what some say is a massive system of fraud that is being carried out on vulnerable people with no government enforcement or oversight.

Woman faked her own kidnapping to avoid returning to work

A certified nursing assistant in Panama City, Florida, faked her own kidnapping rather than go back to work, police have said. On Monday officers with the Panama City Police Department responded to a report of a local woman being kidnapped.

The woman left the nursing establishment on a break with her boyfriend and failed to return. A concerned co-worker called the woman to see if she needed a ride back to work and she claimed her boyfriend was holding her against her will and preventing her from returning.
The boyfriend could be heard in the background, telling the female she was not getting out of the car. Two detectives and numerous officers from five different law enforcement agencies worked for several hours on the case. The woman, Beverly F Brooks, 43, and her boyfriend, James Vincent Hill Fennell Jr, 35, were both located in Port St Joe, Florida.
"Brooks was found to be in no distress and admitted that she simply did not want to go back to work and made up the reported incident," officials wrote. Brooks and Fennell were later charged with false report of commission of a crime and booked into the Bay County Jail.

Woman known as 'Kayla Kupcakes' flashed judge in court

A Florida judge was talking to a suspect via closed circuit television when she suddenly lifted her shirt and flashed him.

Susan Surrette, 54, who says she works as an escort and porn star, was arrested for disorderly intoxication.
As Surette, who also goes by the name “Kayla Kupcakes,” was discussing her case with the judge, she lifted her shirt to show apparent bruises from a recent assault.

YouTube link.

After a brief laugh, the judge set her bond at $100 and ordered her to undergo a mental health evaluation.

KKK Member Convicted On Charges Of Making X-Ray Machine To Zap Muslims

KKK Member Convicted On Charges Of Making X-Ray Machine To Zap Muslims

Glendon Scott Crawford was convicted of making a weapon of mass destruction.

Florida college head was carjacked as retaliation for exploiting teen girls

Florida college head was carjacked as retaliation for exploiting teen girls

"When you have a 60-year-old man sending 50 text messages to a 15-year-old, that's not good," Police Chief Mike Chitwood said.

Bad Cops

Philly cop threatens to impound man’s car unless he buys tickets to police fundraiser

"You and your friend got any money to buy these thrill show tickets? Support your police department? Ten bucks each, man," Zagursky tells the driver. 

New Orleans Cop Found Guilty Of Raping Child, Faces Life In Prison

The trial of New Orleans police officer Michael Thomassie ended last Friday afternoon. The jury found him guilty of raping a young girl in October ...

Guilty Of Raping Child

Massive Human Skull Rack

Massive Human Skull Rack Found at Aztec Temple

The recovered skulls feature holes on both sides -- suggesting they had been arranged on wooden poles and displayed.

Deadliest Predators

Forget Sharks, Lions: People Are Deadliest Predators

It’s an animal-kill-animal world, and we are the worst killers of all, according to new research.

Fossil of a four-legged snake

Found... in a museum!

Fossil-hunters have found several extinct snakes with stunted hind legs, and modern boas and pythons still have a pair of little spurs. “But no snake has ever been found with four legs. This is a once-in-a-lifetime discovery.”
Martill called the creature Tetrapodophis: four-legged snake. “This little animal is the Archaeopteryx of the squamate world,” he says. (Squamates are the snakes and lizards.)

This finding has substantial implications regarding the evolution of snakes.  More details at Ed Yong's incomparable Not Exactly Rocket Science blog at National Geographic.

Unwelcome bear broke into bear rescue center

Officials at Appalachian Bear Rescue in Townsend, Tennessee, said they had a tense 24 hours from Tuesday night into Wednesday when an intruder bear made its way into their enclosure area. At the last feeding before sundown on Tuesday night, Head Curator Coy Blair noticed an extra bear in the enclosure where cubs Bobbie Blue, Ridgeway, Marvin, Carter, Noli and Sola are living. The intruder appeared to be an adolescent male, around 150 to 175 pounds.
The bear had got past two sets of fencing, barbed wire, an electric wire and scaled a protective sleeve around a hemlock tree, coming to a rest in its highest branches. “Kind of had some finesse getting in there to be 166 pounds. I do imagine that he got zapped at least once probably by electric, but at that point he probably just dropped right in just eight feet or so,” said Blair. Blair called the Parks Service and TWRA to help. ABR says male bears are not friendly to cubs and if the intruder saw them as competition, he could have done them harm.
There was also a chance the cubs might see the intruder in the same way and initiate a confrontation. “They definitely noticed him. They definitely seemed on edge,” said Blair. “Larger bears like that can definitely hurt them especially if there was some kind of competition between the food source.” Parks officers and curators used paint ball and bean bag guns to encourage the intruder to come down, without success. Humane traps were then set to either capture the intruder or lure the cubs out of harm’s way. Only one cub cooperated. In the early morning, officers were able to sedate the intruder. They measured it, took fur samples and ear tagged it.
It weighted in at 166 pounds. It was released in a location far from ABR. Officials say they do not fault the bear and hope to prevent similar occurrences in the future. Curators believe the bear followed his nose into their enclosure in search of food. “There is something going on right now in the wild. Bears are turning up everywhere. They’re having a very hard time. I’m hopeful that the hard mast will be sufficient enough to care for all the bears, but there’s a good chance it won’t,” said Blair. Appalachian Bear Rescue is a nonprofit group working to black bears that are orphaned, injured or in need of medical care.

Animal News

Only Four Northern White Rhinos Left. Can They Be Saved?

When a northern white rhino died in the Czech Republic recently, it left four remaining -- on the entire planet! Julia explains the science behind how animals are deemed to be extinct or endangered.

Family of Bears Cools Off in NJ Backyard Pool

A family in Rockaway Township, N.J. shoots beyond-adorable video of a family of bears taking over their backyard playthings.

Archerfish Shoots Down Prey with Water Cannon

The archerfish is a sharpshooting threat even to creatures outside of the water.

Sumatran Rhinos Now Extinct in Malaysia

The survival of the species now rests with around 100 rhinos in the wild in Indonesia and nine in captivity.

Drone Video Captures Kayaker Paddling with Blue Whales

Filmmaker Patrick Dykstra's footage highlights the sheer size of the gentle aquatic giants.

Hummingbird's Tongue Works Like a Micropump

The slender hummingbird tongue has been misunderstood for more than 180 years, a new study finds.

Animal Pictures

The Daily Drift

Welcome to the Monday Edition of  Carolina Naturally.

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This blog is one of the things that keep me going. I am always amazed and at 97 that is an accomplishment.

~ Mrs. Ida Jenkins

Today in 79CE Vesuvius blew its top and destroyed Pompeii ...!

 

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Today in History

79
Mount Vesuvius erupts destroying Pompeii, Stabiae, Herculaneum and other smaller settlements.
410
German barbarians sack Rome.
1542
In South America, Gonzalo Pizarro returns to the mouth of the Amazon River after having sailed the length of the great river as far as the Andes Mountains.
1572
Some 50,000 people are put to death in the ‘Massacre of St. Bartholomew’ as Charles IX of France attempts to rid the country of Huguenots.
1780
King Louis XVI abolishes torture as a means to get suspects to confess.
1814 
British troops under General Robert Ross capture Washington, D.C., which they set on fire in retaliation for the American burning of the parliament building in York (Toronto), the capital of Upper Canada.
1847
Charlotte Bronte, using the pseudonym Currer Bell, sends a manuscript of Jane Eyre to her publisher in London.
1869
Cornelius Swarthout of Troy, New York, patents the waffle iron.
1891
Thomas Edison files a patent for the motion picture camera.
1894
Congress passes the first graduated income tax law, which is declared unconstitutional the next year.
1896
Thomas Brooks is shot and killed by an unknown assailant begining a six year feud with the McFarland family.
1912
By an act of Congress, Alaska is given a territorial legislature of two houses.
1942
In the battle of the Eastern Solomons, the third carrier-versus-carrier battle of the war, U.S. naval forces defeat a Japanese force attempting to screen reinforcements for the Guadalcanal fighting.
1948
Edith Mae Irby becomes the first African-American student to attend the University of Arkansas.
1954
Congress outlaws the Communist Party in the United States.
1963
US State Department cables embassy in Saigon that if South Vietnam’s president Ngo Dinh Diem does not remove his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu as his political adviser the US would explore alternative leadership, setting the stage for a coup by ARVN generals.
1975 
The principal leaders of Greece’s 1967 coup—Georgios Papadopoulos, Stylianos Pattakos, and Nikolaos Maarezos—sentenced to death for high treason, later commuted to life in prison.
1981
Mark David Chapman sentenced to 20 years to life for murdering former Beatles band member John Lennon.
1989
Colombian drug lords declare "total and absolute war" on Colombia’s government, booming the offices of two political parties and burning two politicians’ homes.
1989
Baseball commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti bans Pete Rose from baseball for gambling.
1991 
Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union; Ukraine declares its independence from USSR.
1992
Hurricane Andrew makes landfall in Florida. The Category 5 storm, which had already caused extensive damage in the Bahamas, caused $26.5 billion in US damages, caused 65 deaths, and felled 70,000 acres of trees in the Everglades.
1994 
Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) create initial accord regarding partial self-rule for Palestinians living on the West Bank, the Agreement on Preparatory Transfer of Powers and Responsibilities.
2004
Chechnyan suicide bombers blow up two airliners near Moscow, killing 89 passengers.
2006
Pluto is downgraded to a dwarf planet when the International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefines "planet."
2010
The Mexican criminal syndicate Los Zetas kills 72 illegal immigrants from Central and South America in San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico.

Shoe

Here's what the brain of an extremely selfish person looks like

by Tanya Lewis

 Some people are just manipulative jerks. They deceive people for their own benefit, they see others as weak and untrustworthy, and they ignore moral codes.
Psychologists have dubbed these people Machiavellians, after the Italian political philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli, whose book "The Prince" includes many examples of this sort of unsavory character.
Now, a recent study published in the journal Brain and Cognition reveals what goes on in the brains of these social deviants when they're around others who are acting fairly.
Machiavellianism — which is part of the "dark triad" of personality traits, along with narcissism and psychopathy — falls on a spectrum, from low Machs (aka normal people) to high Machs (aka jerks).

Tamas Bereczkei and his colleagues at the University of Pecs in Hungary gave 38 university students (20 men and 18 women) a 20-item questionnaire consisting of short statements about the rules and principles involved in relationships with others. People who scored less than or equal to 88 were defined as low Machs, while those who scored greater than or equal to 114 were defined as high Machs. (You can take a similar test yourself here, but it's on a different scale.)

Twenty-two of the students scored as low Machs and 16 were high Machs.

The trust game

The students played a two-round trust game while their brains were scanned by an MRI machine. The machine measures the amount of blood flowing to different parts of the brain, which corresponds to which parts are most active at one time.

In the first round, a student was given a small sum of real money and allowed to "invest" some portion of it in a trustee (which was actually a computer algorithm). The trustee then returned some of that money to the investor.

In the second round, the investor became the trustee, and vice versa. Now, the student received an investment, and had the choice of how much to give back to the investor.

An offer was considered "fair" if the return was the same amount as the first player's offer, give or take 10%. An unfair offer returned only 30% of the original offer, give or take 10%.

When the high Machs received a fair offer in the first round, they returned an unfair offer, whereas the low Machs returned fair offers with fair offers of their own.

What a selfish brain looks like

High Machs exhibited higher brain activity in certain areas when their partner made a fair return offer, as opposed to an unfair offer.

Specifically, they had increased activity in two parts of their brain: The anterior dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a region thought to be involved in suppressing emotional responses, and the inferior frontal gyrus, an area responsible for evaluating social behavior and cooperation, as shown below.

Those who scored high on the Machiavellian scale also earned more money in the game than their less manipulative colleagues, the researchers found.

The researchers think the reason the high Machs has these spikes in brain activity was because they had to use more mental energy to respond to their partner's cooperative behavior (in order to take advantage of it).

These findings agree with previous studies that show Machiavellians act in their own self-interest and manipulate others for personal gain.

Future studies will be needed to understand how Machiavellians control their emotions and what brain structures are involved in their cold and calculating behavior, the researchers reported.

Pessimism Is Good For You

The constant admonitions to “think positive!” aren’t as useful in achieving your goals as we once thought. Of course, fatalism isn’t much help, either. But tempering one’s optimism with a real-world dose of pessimism may do the trick.

(YouTube link)

The Science of Us from New York magazine presents the psychological research showing that positive thinking can get in the way of getting where we want to be. 

Breast Milk Soap

It's the perfect gift for any occasion: breast milk soap.

Ah, human breast milk! You can make just about anything with it, including cheese, jewelry, ice cream, and lollipops.
Hand soap made from breast milk is becoming a stylish luxury product in China. The craze can be traced back to a woman named Qi in Wuhan, which is in central China. As a new mother, she produced more milk than her baby could consume. So she stocked up 10 liters of it, bought a soap making kit off the internet, and produced a line of fancy soaps under the brand Ena's Soap. The Daily Mail reports:

There are currently close to 1,000 online outlets in China selling either breast milk soaps or soap-making kits.
Many of the breast milk soaps are shaped into flowers, hearts and Hello Kitty.
Ms Qi says that the soaps not only mark the first time a woman becomes a mother but is also a nice gift for friends.
A recipient of the gift, named only as Ms Ding, said: 'This is the most unique gift I've ever seen'.

Nurse Saves Her Own Legs After Crash

Stacie Reis doesn’t remember the accident she had when driving home from visiting her grandfather in the hospital. All she knew was that she woke up a half-hour later in her upside-down car at the bottom of a ravine. Her phone had no service. Reis is a nurse, and knew she had to perform first aid as best she could, because it might be some time before she was found.

"I don't remember what happened," said Reis from Vancouver General Hospital, six weeks after the July 4 accident that left her with two broken legs, a broken pelvis, a broken sternum, multiple rib and spine fractures and feet that bore mostly broken bones.
In the minutes after she became conscious, she knew it was bad. Both legs twisted awkwardly to the left at the knee.
"The way they were pinned, it wasn't natural," she said. "The nurse in me was like, 'You need to straighten these out otherwise you're going to cut off your blood supply, you'll lose your legs."
So she did.

A group of Reis’ friends found her at 8 the next morning, 14 hours after the crash. Emergency services soon followed. Reis remembers hearing someone say her legs would have to be amputated, but doctors later said that her actions in straightening out her legs, no matter how painful, likely saved them. Reis has undergone several surgeries and is looking forward to the day she can walk again.

Peaceful protest led to fish and chip shop being barricaded with wall of fridges

The owners of a fish and chip shop in Maidstone, Kent, were surprised after arriving at the premises to open up on Tuesday morning and finding it had been barricaded with a wall of fridges. Big Ben's Fish & Grill was left inaccessible by the barricade of around 20 fridges which mysteriously popped up overnight. Kevin Wildeman and Paul Stone of neighboring white goods firm Extra Mile have claimed responsibility for the prank, which they say was a peaceful protest about their forthcoming eviction.
The landlord of the property, who also owns the fish and chip shop, had asked them to leave on Tuesday. But rather than go quietly, the two spent 40 minutes that morning creating the wall of fridges as part of a demonstration. Richard Phillips, who works for the landlord, said the tenants of Clutter Box and Extra Mile had breached their contract on numerous occasions and would be evicted. He added: "I'm disgusted at what they've done, this isn't a prank."

Mr Stone, who spoke on behalf of Extra Mile as his business partner Mr Wildeman was asleep following a busy night of fridge gutting, said they were being forced to leave the property for no reason. He added the prank was a response to Big Ben's asking its customers to park on the forecourt of Clutter Box. Mr Stone said: "There's no malice in it, we spent 40 minutes bolting the fridges together but didn't want to cause any damage to the property.

YouTube link.

"We're being pushed out of our business and this was the best way of showing the landlord we can't be bullied." He added: "You could say revenge is a dish best served cold." An environment team from Maidstone Borough Council was soon on the scene to inspect the barrier and the police were also called. Soon after the council team arrived Mr Stone set about dismantling the white goods wall. The owner of the fish and chip shop did not wish to comment on the situation.

Nestle Pays A Whopping $524 For 27 Million Gallons Of California’s Most Precious Resource

How they’re exploiting a loophole at the expense of fragile ecosystems for less than what an average Californian pays for half a year of water bills will sicken you.

Read more 

Religious Bigots Lose More Ground As Illinois Bans Abusive, Anti-Gay Practice

Religious bigots are shedding big crocodile tears tonight as Illinois turns its back on one of their most abusive practices.

Read more 

Tennessee Pisses Off Wingnuts By Recognizing … Divorce Equality?

A small change in a Tennessee court form has caused something of a meltdown among wingnuts.

Read more

Kansas Wingnut Fires State Employee For Not Being Obsessed With Worshiping dog

A woman in Kansas is raising hell after the Republican-misled Secretary of State’s office fired her because she was deemed not religious enough.

Read more

Worker who stormed out of store after colleague said 'good morning' loses unfair dismissal claim

A worker at a Pak'n Save supermarket walked out of a store in Auckland, New Zealand, after a colleague said "good morning" to him, following an agreement the two men would not speak to each other in the workplace. The arrangement, which supermarket bosses reluctantly agreed to, was put in place after the second man wrote "I am gay" on the first man's name badge. Jacob Abiar resigned from Pak'n Save Glen Innes in September 2013 following the disagreement, saying the supermarket chain had failed to prevent him being harassed at work. Mr Abiar, who had been working at the supermarket since 2011, "took umbrage" that Mobin Ansorali greeted him as he arrived for work on the morning of September 18. Mr Ansorali said it was the same greeting he had given to other staff and customers who walked into the store that day.

But Mr Abiar claimed it was an example of him being subjected to racial abuse and harassment at work, and he resigned saying Pak'n Save was not serious about solving his difficulties with Mr Ansorali. He took his complaint to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA). However, the authority sided with his former employer, and praised the supermarket for its efforts to resolve the dispute between the two men and to keep them both employed. It said accusations of racism and harassment "were not substantiated" during its investigation. "Pak'n Save is a multicultural workplace employing some 34 different nationalities. It is sensitive to cultural and language issues and proactively takes steps to ensure that all employees feel comfortable, welcome and supported in the workplace," the ERA said in its determination. It noted that both Mr Abiar and Mr Ansorali "come from troubled backgrounds", and said it was "satisfied that Pak'n Save was sensitive to that, so wished to support both of them to integrate into their new life in New Zealand". The two men appeared to have a poor relationship from the start, resulting from Mr Ansorali's "teasing" of Mr Abiar.

It came to a head in January 2012 when Mr Ansorali wrote, 'I am gay', on Mr Abiar's name badge. Mr Abiar, who is not gay, was "very upset about this", the authority said. He complained to management, who issued Mr Ansorali with a final written warning and ordered him to apologise to Mr Abiar. The pair were then separated at Mr Abiar's request, with Mr Abiar relocated to the grocery department, and Mr Ansorali remaining in the produce department. An agreement was also reached that they would not speak to each other to avoid further issues. The ERA noted that Pak'n Save "found that undesirable in terms of collegial workplace relations", but nevertheless agreed to it in order to "ensure workplace harmony". No further issues arose until the September 2013 incident, when Mr Ansorali greeted Mr Abiar as he arrived for work. Mr Abiar then left work without telling anyone, and when he was contacted by his manager he was described as "highly agitated and clearly very upset". He refused to return to work, and said he was "so angry that if he came back into work he would get a knife and 'kill' Mr Ansorali, so it was better for him to stay away", the ERA recorded.
His managers tried to persuade him to return, saying he was considered a good worker and the supermarket "did not want to lose him". A formal investigation also took place into all the allegations Mr Abiar set out in a subsequent letter. But, he did not return to work. Authority member Rachel Larmer said she was satisfied that he resigned voluntarily, and that "Pak'n Save did not fundamentally breach a duty to Mr Abiar". Nor did it engage in a concerted course of conduct designed to induce Mr Abiar's resignation. Quite the contrary," Ms Larmer said. "Pak n Save made it very clear to Mr Abiar that it considered that he was a valued employee ... and it is clear from the evidence that Pak'n Save took steps to address Mr Abiar's concerns and to encourage him to return to work." Ms Larmer added: "Although I realise Mr Abiar does not agree with me, my objective view based on the evidence I heard is that Pak'n Save did support Mr Abiar in the workplace and it did take concerns he raised seriously. I consider that Mr Abiar was ill-disposed to Mr Ansorali because of what had occurred in January 2012. Mr Abiar therefore took umbrage when he was greeted by Mr Ansorali in September 2013, so decided he wanted to resign." His claim of unjustified dismissal was rejected.

Disabled Man Sentenced To Be Hung To Death In His Wheelchair

Disabled Man Sentenced To Be Hung To Death In His Wheelchair

A paraplegic man is facing death by hanging, in his wheelchair, as he is unable to mount the execution platform. Abdul Basit was found guilty of murder...

Sandra Bland’s Jail Cell ‘Suicide’ Prompts Investigations Into Police Custody Deaths

At least they are making a move to do something about these suspicious jail cell “suicides.” Maybe Sandra Bland didn’t die in vain after all.

Read more 

Man arrested after leaving trail of small pencil-drawn penises in IKEA

A man found an unconventional way to pass the time during a vist to an IKEA store. A 31-year old man from Aalborg, Denmark, was convicted for an act of vandalism on Tuesday.

On a visit to the local IKEA in Aalborg, the man had taken one of the store’s wooden pencils and proceeded to casually stroll through the store drawing small penises on the walls and pieces of furniture on display. “He drew up to 30 penises on walls and shelves around the warehouse,” Rikke Poulsen from the North Jutland police said.
IKEA staff eventually caught up with the vandal who had left the trail of crudely drawn genitalia in his wake and reported him to the police. Once caught, the man denied that he was responsible for all the drawings, and that his curious crime was inspired by having seen someone else do it first.
“The man has admitted to being behind these drawings, but not as many as 30. He has no prior convictions and he has explained that he did it because he had seen similar drawings in IKEA. He has regretted his actions, but that doesn’t change the fact that he has still committed vandalism,” Poulsen said. The man received a suspended sentence of 20 days.

Man who told police officer his name was Fuck You cited for providing false information

An intoxicated man in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, was cited for providing a police officer with a false name after claiming his name was Fuck You. According to a police report, officers were dispatched to a home at around 3:40am on July 26 on a report that Daniel Danielson, 24, was intoxicated and lying in a random front yard after banging on the front door.

Upon arrival, the man was “obviously intoxicated as he was slurring his speech, he had bloodshot, watery eyes, and an odor of an alcoholic beverage was also emitting from him,” the report said. Danielson first told the officers his name was Dennis Robin, then when an officer asked him what his first name was he looked up at him and stated, “my first name is Fuck You.”
Officers spoke to the homeowner who said “I don’t know him, and I’ve never seen him before, but he was digging in my trailer that has trash in it.” The police report said the officer then grabbed Danielson to put him in the back of a squad car, “at which time Officer Shaver stated that Daniel had wet shorts as he had urinated in his pants.”
While en route to Ramsey County Detox, Danielson leaned over to his left as he was talking and vomited on the driver’s side of the back seat. Police then chose to take him to Regions Hospital instead due to his “extreme intoxication.” The officer then issued Danielson a citation for “giving a peace officer a false name”.

Perry the Corpse Flower

Titan Arum (Amorphophallus titanum), also known as the Corpse Flower, is the biggest unbranched flower in the world. It also smells like rotting meat, which is where it got its nickname. It takes years to come into bloom. Would you like to see one bloom without having to experience the smell? 

(YouTube link)

This Corpse Flower is named Perry T. Titan, and it lives at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. This time-lapse video was taken over 45 days as the plant grew from a corm to its full flower in the fall of 2013. The accompanying music is, appropriately enough, “Dance of the Flowers” from The Nutcracker Suite.

Cat that attends school issued with student body card

Like many members of the student body at Leland High School in San Jose, California, Bubba is a social animal. He attends sporting events, hangs out on campus with his buddies and has a Facebook page dedicated to his exploits. But unlike most who have been issued a Leland student body card, Bubba can roam the school's halls freely during class. And if he wants to be excused, he doesn't have to raise his paw; he just meows. "He's really loud," says Amber Marienthal, whose family adopted Bubba the cat in 2009. The family initially tried to make Bubba an indoor cat, but he let them know loudly and often that he was unhappy in his confinement.

Their home sits behind both Leland and Bret Harte Middle School, and Bubba became a frequent visitor to both campuses. Marienthal says she still gets calls from staff and students who see him on campus and think he's lost. Bubba is known and loved by many at both schools, as his 600-plus Facebook followers attest. "The students at Bret Harte petitioned to have a statue erected in his honor," Marienthal says, adding that their petition was denied. Both of Marienthal's sons attended Bret Harte and are now at Leland. She says Bubba started hanging out on campus about a year before her oldest son Matthew, who just started his sophomore year at Leland, entered sixth grade at the middle school.
And she says the cat is likely to stay in school even after both of "his boys" graduate. "He's more there for everyone," she adds. Marienthal says she's received no complaints from staff or students at either school about Bubba prowling the campuses. Her main worry is that Bubba has come close to shaving off one of his nine lives on several occasions. She's seen him lay down on Leland's football field in the middle of practice and wait for one of the players to pet him. "He's really social and he has no fear," Marienthal says. "I'm surprised he's still around." While he usually makes it home at night, Bubba did have a scare when he wandered onto the Leland campus during registration last month and accidentally got locked inside a classroom for 36 hours.

Luckily, a security guard heard him meowing and set him free. Since Bubba meanders freely in and out of classrooms, teachers have learned how to deal with his presence. "One teacher made the mistake of buying treats for him," Marienthal recalls, which led Bubba to sit by his classroom door and wait to be fed. "Bubba would meow for treats. [The teacher] got sick of the noise." While Bubba's supporters managed to get a student body card issued for him for the new school year, Marienthal says she'd like to see her cat included in another important campus activity. "We'd love it if they let him do cap and gown in 2017," she says. Meanwhile, Bubba has developed attendance habits that students may want to emulate. "He waits for school to start, and he doesn't come home until all the sports are done," Marienthal says. "As long as he's alive, I think he'll hang out at the school."

Animal Pictures