Woman slept on sofa for nine days after a rat moved into her bedroom

A woman petrified of rats who had to spend nine days sleeping on her sofa because one took up residence in her bedroom has blamed the council for not coming to her aid sooner. Mandy Swash was told by Bristol City Council to 'contain' the 'huge rat' in one room and they would come and get rid of it as soon as they could, but then told her that wouldn't be for another nine days.
So since the rat first ran into her bedroom through an open back door, the 48-year-old slept on the sofa with only the clothes that she had in the wash at the time. The rat nipped into her bedroom last weekend, and Ms Swash called Bristol City Council on Monday. "They told me they wouldn't be able to come until the following Wednesday. But then the man said that if I was to contain or trap it in one room then they could come straight away. I did that, I shut the bedroom door on it and called them back. A different man said that I was lucky I was getting someone in a week and a half because sometimes people wait a month. I couldn't believe it," she added.
Attempts by friends and neighbors to get the rat out of the bedroom failed, Ms Swash was too petrified to even open the bedroom door, and couldn't afford to hire a private pest control company to attend her council flat in Horfield. "I'm a clean and tidy person, I'm not a complainer at all because I'm grateful for what I've got and the support I receive," she said. "But I became very unwell, it was the combination of having no sleep, the smell coming out of the bedroom and the stress of it all, it was just horrible. I managed to grab two pillows out of the bedroom and ran. I'm diabetic and disabled and my medication was in there but I wasn't able to go in there and get it. If I opened the bedroom door I was worried it would run into the rest of the flat."
A spokesperson for Bristol City Council explained that the council had no obligation to help Ms Swash at all, and budget cuts had reduced the number of staff working around the city dealing with rats. "The council provides a pest control service for rats, mice and wasps which is available to all residents in Bristol," she said. "At busy times, particularly during the summer people might have to wait up to four weeks before the pest control team is able to deal with the problem. The provision of pest control is not a statutory requirement and due to budget cuts in recent years, the team has diminished in size. This job was booked in for Wednesday 27 July with a follow up on Wednesday 3 August," she added.

Thieves probably inadvertently saved life of dog locked in hot truck

A Chicago pub owner believes a group of thieves who have been preying on the West Town neighborhood, inadvertently saved the life of a dog earlier this week.

A pick-up truck parked near the Irish Nobleman Pub at around 9:15am on Monday, when the temperature was already around 80 degrees. The temperature outside was rising rapidly - and a German shepherd was locked inside the truck. Within 15 minutes, a group of four young men came along.
"They were walking down the street, looking in every car they walked past, and I believe they saw the laptop and smashed the window and took it out," pub owner Declan Morgan said. "I don't believe they knew the dog was in there." Morgan said he thinks the thieves accidentally saved the dog's life by breaking the window.

YouTube link. Full CCTV video of the incident.

The truck's owner returned after about an hour to find his window broken and his laptop gone. "I believe what comes around, goes around," Morgan said. "He didn't think it was a big deal that his dog was in there for an hour. I told him I would've smashed the window if I knew the dog was in there."

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Today in History

1619		The House of Burgesses convenes for the first time at Jamestown, Va.
1787		The French parliament refuses to approve a more equitable land tax.
1799		The French garrison at Mantua, Italy, surrenders to the Austrians.
1864		In an effort to penetrate the Confederate lines around Petersburg, Va. Union troops explode a mine underneath the Confederate trenches but fail to break through. The ensuing action is known as the Battle of the Crater.
1919		Federal troops are called out to put down Chicago race riots.
1938		George Eastman demonstrates his color motion picture process.
1940		A bombing lull ends the first phase of the Battle of Britain.
1960		Over 60,000 Buddhists march in protest against the Diem government in South Vietnam.
1965		President Lyndon Johnson signs the Medicare Bill into law.
1967		General William Westmoreland claims that he is winning the war in Vietnam, but needs more men.
1975		Teamster leader Jimmy Hoffa disappears, last seen coming out of a restaurant in Bloomingfield Hills, Michigan.
1988		King Hussein dissolves Jordan’s Parliament, surrenders Jordan’s claims to the West Bank to the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
1990		Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent forces George Steinbrenner to resign as principal partner of the New York Yankees.
2003		The last of the uniquely shaped “old style” Volkswagen Beetles rolls off the assembly line in Mexico.
2012		Blackout in India as power grid failure leaves 300 million+ without power.

Man fought off armed would-be carjackers with high-pressure car wash sprayer

A man who thought he was stopping for a quick car wash ended up fighting back against armed would-be carjackers. Michael Davis says he was washing his car at Oasis in Shreveport, Louisiana, at around 2am on Wednesday when he was approached by a man pointing a gun directly at him demanding his keys and money. "He said 'give me your keys and your money,' and I said 'what'd you say?' and I took the sprayer and just sprayed it right in his face," said Davis.
Davis' dashcam caught it all on video as Davis turned the power washer on the gunman and forced him to flee. Moments later, another man comes into view, appearing to attempt to grab the hose. Davis didn't let up, spraying the second man with the hose before swinging the wand at him. That man can be seen trying one more time to grab at the wand before also fleeing out of frame. "I heard his friend try to run and get my backside so I turned around and sprayed him and hit him and they took off running," recalled Davis,
"The whole situation to me was almost surreal." Through it all, Davis never backed down and never dropped the cigarette out of his mouth, even smiling at one point during an encounter. Now, he's hoping the pair will be caught. "If they would've taken my keys and my money, they probably would have shot me anyway, plus I had my disabled veteran brother in the car, they could've done something to him as well," said Davis. The attempted robbery was over in a matter of seconds and played out like a scene from a movie.

YouTube link.

"I wish it was a fun little acting video or skit or something like that but our lives were really in jeopardy, that's why we called police as soon as we could and got them to come out here and we made a report," expressed Davis. "I wasn't going to give up my car or money to some little thug like that there's just no way." Davis said after he hit the second man with the hose, he yelled that he was going to grab his gun, which he believes is what ultimately scared him away.

U.S. Navy Designates a Ship After Gay Rights Leader Harvey Milk

U.S. Navy Designates a Ship After Gay Rights Leader Harvey Milk

That sound you hear is wingnut heads exploding

Debt Collectors’ Harassment Tactics Are Put On Notice For First Time In 40 Years

The country's consumer watchdog issued brand new regulations to crack down on debt collectors.

Clean Energy Is Booming in Historically Red States

Clean Energy Is Booming in Historically Red States—and It's Splitting Wingnuts Apart

A good thing on two fronts - Better for the environment and destroying the wingnuts!

Koch's Latest Propaganda Disaster

Koch's Latest Propaganda Disaster: Another Academic Sell-Out Sets Off Controversy With Remarks

Over $100,000 ...

Over $100,000: That's How Much Big Finance Rips You Off 

Half of Government Aid Recipients Say They've Never Received Government Aid

Half of Government Aid Recipients Say They've Never Received Government Aid 

Ringleader Of Oregon Occupation Now Trying To Wriggle Out Of Criminal Charges With Crackpot Theories

The criminal trials for the men who tried to lure law enforcement into a standoff on an Oregon nature refuge this winter are getting wacky.

The 911 Call That Prompted Police To Shoot An Unarmed Therapist Pokes Holes In The Police Narrative

"I don't know if it's a gun."

Police Arrest And Strip-Search Man Because They Mistook Doughnut Crumbs For Meth

Krispy Kremes are a hell of a drug.

Police appeal after town hit by spate of female mannequin thefts

Police in Belleville, Ontario, Canada, are asking the public to help solve a spate of thefts of female mannequins from downtown store fronts, including one case in which a $160 prom dress was torn off the mannequin and left behind. Police say 11 mannequins, all female, have been stolen since May, during five break and enters and one attempted break and enter at three different locations. In each of the five break-ins, police said only female mannequins have been taken.
It began on Mother's Day weekend with a failed attempt to get into Simple Elegance, boutique owner Dawn ODell said. "The glass on the front door was broke. Not broke quite all the way through but it was shattered but still intact," she said. Police came to investigate but the window was not repaired right away, and when ODell got to work on Monday morning she found the break-in job had been finished and two female mannequins missing from the display window. "One mannequin had a $160 prom dress on. They ripped it off and threw it on the floor and just took the mannequin," she said.
"The second mannequin had a dress on it, a $60 dress, and they left the dress on that one and took the mannequin. And that's it. There was no attempt made to get to the cash register, to the merchandise in the store, or anything." Her store on Front Street was hit again on June 23, with the theft of two more mannequins, one in a bikini, the other in a dress. ODell said the thefts of mannequins and their clothes have set her back approximately $600. She said police told her: "It looks to be somebody has a fetish for mannequins." Mannequins have been stolen from two other stores, according to police.

Another store on Front Street was broken into overnight on May 13 and one mannequin was stolen. ​The latest two break-ins occurred at a business on North Front Street. On July 14 at 2:30am the store's front door window was smashed and two display mannequins were stolen, police said. On Sunday, July 24 the front door window of the same business was again smashed and four female torso mannequins were stolen. ​Police could not be reached for comment on the motivation or possible suspects in the crime, but have asked for the public's help in the case. Anyone with information is asked to contact Belleville Police.

Naked man caught in car park with seven grams of cocaine hidden under his foreskin jailed

A man who hid a packet of cocaine under his foreskin while naked in the car park of Homebase has appeared in court. Joshua Hare was shouting and making a nuisance of himself at around 8.30am, prompting concerned passers-by to call police, a court heard.
Officers arrived at the DIY megastore in Salisbury, Wiltshire, where they struggled with the 24-year-old before he was arrested and taken to hospital. On Tuesday at Swindon Magistrates Court, he pleaded guilty to being in possession of 7.2 grams of cocaine on June 17. He also admitted failing to surrender to bail. Prosecutor Keith Ballinger described how the wrap had “emerged” from Hare’s private parts.
The substance was later tested and confirmed to be cocaine, but in interview Hare declined to comment. He was last in court in May for aggravated taking of a vehicle without consent and was given a suspended sentence. Hare, who is homeless, and changed his surname from Jordan-Hare by deed poll, was represented by Nick Redhead. Mr Redhead told the court Hare had a “troubled background” and problems with drugs and alcohol.
Hare was admitted to intensive care earlier this year after he fell ill with kidney failure in police custody. Mr Redhead appealed to the magistrates to take this into account when sentencing. “He fell into a coma and thought he was going to die,” Mr Redhead said. “He is a high risk of killing himself if he continues to misuse alcohol. He has managed to stay away from alcohol pretty much.” Bench chairman Mary Holland said by breaching his suspended sentence, Hare left magistrates with “no option” but to jail him for 12 weeks. Hare was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £115.

Man allegedly threatened former roommate with sword in dispute over ownership of pizza rolls

Police arrested Travis Vartorella, 21, on an aggravated menacing charge following a confrontation in his apartment in Norwalk, Ohio, on Sunday afternoon.
According to a Norwalk Police Department report, Vartorella “pulled a sword” on Trystan Mesenburg, 20, a former roommate who had returned to the residence to retrieve some of his belongings.Mesenburg told officers that after arriving at the darkened apartment with his girlfriend, they began gathering up his items.
“As soon as I grabbed my bag of pizza rolls,” Mesenburg told police, Vartorella “came out from around the corner” with a three-foot sword. With the weapon in his hands, Vartorella claimed ownership of the frozen treats and demanded that Mesenburg “leave his f*cking pizza rolls alone”, police say. Mesenburg and his girlfriend fled the apartment and dialed 911. Responding officers noted that the couple were “visibly shaken” as they recounted their confrontation with Vartorella.
Officers subsequently arrested Vartorella and seized four “edged weapons” from his bedroom closet, including a six-foot samurai sword, a machete, and the sword he was holding when he confronted Mesenburg. Vartorella was charged with aggravated menacing, a misdemeanor, and booked into the Huron County jail, from which he was later released on bond. Mesenburg and his girlfriend both secured temporary protection orders against Vartorella.

Man arrested after threatening bouncer with spear before throwing batarang at police

Police arrested a man on Capitol Hill in Seattle on Monday after he threatened a bouncer with a homemade spear and threw a batarang at officers as they pursued him.

Police were called to a Capitol Hill bar at around 6:30pm after a man with a knife attached to a metal pole reportedly swung the improvised spear at a bar employee.
The man fled the scene, but officers Benjamin Timbs and Walker Dickson chased after him. At one point during the pursuit, officers witnessed the man throw something towards a police SUV.

A short time later, after catching up to the 23-year-old suspect, officers discovered the object the man had thrown was a “a sharp, black Batman-style throwing star,” which had embedded in the lower front end of the vehicle. Officers booked the man into the King County Jail for felony assault and are also requesting additional weapons and obstruction charges.

Scientists Find Mystery Purple Blob At The Bottom Of Ocean

The unmanned sea rover Nautilus discovered an unidentified purple orb stunning scientists. After sampling, it began to unfold to reveal two distinct lobes. Currently scientists are thinking the purple orb is a pleurobranch, a nudibranch relative.

YouTube link

Suspected DUI crash led to bee attack

Police in Laurel County, Kentucky, say a car crash led to two people inside the vehicle being attacked by a swarm of bees from a disturbed hive. "I just had got done feeding my chickens, watering them and stuff, and I walked back to my house there to get my phone so I could play a video game on it," said Gary Lee Anderson, who lives on Patton Spur Road where the incident happened.
"And all of a sudden I heard a big 'boom,' and I looked back out my door and the electric pole fell and the lines were falling. And the GeoTracker was sideways into the fence." Then the people inside the car, who investigators identified as Noah Elkins, 36, of East Bernstadt, and Priscilla Simpson, 35, of Dry Ridge, got a big surprise. "He didn't know it, but he found out, that there was a hive of bees there," said Deputy Gilbert Acciardo with the Laurel County Sheriff's Office, "and he had disturbed them."
"And the guy came out, screaming and squalling, and running around about like a chicken with its head cut off," Anderson said. Then Anderson says they ran up the road, grabbed a hose outside his home and started trying to spray off the bees. "I told him, 'You need to get out of that water,'" Anderson said, "but I didn't know he was getting eat up by bees, I thought he was just high." Deputies say Elkins and Simpson were under the influence. Simpson told them that she and Elkins had taken several drugs, including Suboxone, neurotin and Klonopin.

YouTube link.

Investigators said they had driven down the road looking for a place to swim. "That girl in that little bikini, she had little red dots all over her," Anderson said. Even Anderson was stung while he was out there. Elkins and Simpson were taken to the hospital for treatment for injuries from the crash and for "numerous" bee stings, deputies said. Elkins was cited for driving under the influence, as well as other traffic violations. Simpson was charged with public intoxication. Investigators have called it an unusual case.

Life Is Hell for Most Egg-Laying Chickens in the U.S.

Life Is Hell for Most Egg-Laying Chickens in the U.S.—but the Growing Cage-Free Movement Is Changing That

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The Daily Drift

Welcome to Today's Edition of  
Carolina Naturally

Who knew ...! 

 

Carolina Naturally is read in 210 countries around the world daily.   

  
Garfield's favorite meal ... !

Today is - Lasagna Day

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Today in History

• 1588 The Battle of Gravelines - Spanish Armada damaged & scattered by the English fleet
• 1848 Irish Potato Famine: Tipperary Revolt - an unsuccessful nationalist revolt against British rule put down by police
• 1905 US Secretary of State William Howard Taft makes secret agreement with Japanese Prime Minister Katsura agreeing to Japanese free rein in Korea in return for non-interference with the US in the Philippines
• 1921 Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party
• 1949 Moscow ends the blockade of West Berlin

Ice Bucket Challenge Leads to Significant Gene Discovery

Remember the Ice Bucket Challenge of 2014? It was a viral sensation, designed to raise awareness of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) and donations to the ALS Association. Seeing people dump buckets of ice over their heads was fun, but awareness campaigns often don’t lead to significant donations. This one did, to the tune of $115 million in a six week period! The association assigned funds raised by the Ice Bucket Challenge to Project MinE, an effort to sequence the genes of 15,000 people, which required the participation of scientists all over the world. That research has identified a new gene that contributes to ALS.

According to a paper published today in Nature Genetics, researchers part of Project MinE’s global gene sequencing effort, funded by The ALS Association through ALS Ice Bucket Challenge donations, have identified a new ALS gene, NEK1, which now ranks among the most common genes that contribute to the disease, providing scientists with another potential target for therapy development. This was the largest-ever study of familial (inherited) ALS, involved contributions from over 80 researchers in 11 countries, and was led by John Landers, Ph.D., of University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Mass. and Jan Veldink, Ph.D., of University Medical Center Utrecht, in The Netherlands.

The ALS Association’s latest awareness campaign is called Every Drop Adds Up, which is a salute to the success of the Ice Bucket Challenge.

10 Amazing Uses for Swim Noodles

You pick up a bunch of swim noodles, or pool noodles, and throw them in the pool. The kids will use them to stay afloat and hit each other. But if you play with your kids, you can show them how versatile these things really are! For example, you can use them as light and portable construction materials for your backyard obstacle course:

Even for parents that are not very crafty or good with tools can make this simple but fun outdoor activity set. The only materials you need are about 40 swim noodles, 3 rolls of duct tape, some yard stakes (less than 20), and soccer balls.
Create a tunnel crawling course by pushing a yard stake into the ground, placing a swim noodle over it (through the hole in the center of the swim noodle), ending the swim noodle to form a semi-circle, then pushing another yard stake into the ground and placing the other end of the swim noodle over it. Make several of these and voila! Your tunnel crawl course is complete.

You can read instructions for several other components of your obstacle course, plus other handy uses for swim noodles at Housely.

The Color-Changing Lake

Lake Urmia in Iran is suffering the fate of many lakes, and is shrinking. One factor is drought, and the other is all the water that is diverted for agriculture. As the lake shrinks, it becomes saltier, and that is causing it to actually change color during the year. NASA’s Aqua satellite captured the image on the left on April 23, and the image on the right on July 18. Rains and snowmelt bring fresh water to the lake in spring, but by July, that starts to change.

The fresh water in the spring drives salinity levels down, but the lake generally becomes saltier as summer heat and dryness take hold. That’s when the microorganisms show their colors, too. Careful sampling of the water would be required to determine which organisms transformed the lake in 2016, but scientists say there are likely two main groups of organisms involved: a family of algae called Dunaliella and an archaic family of bacteria known as Halobacteriaceae.
“Previous research suggests that Dunaliella salina is responsible for reddening of Lake Urmia,” explained Mohammad Tourian, a scientist at the University of Stuttgart. “In the marine environment, Dunaliella salina appears green; however, in conditions of high salinity and light intensity, the microalgae turns red due to the production of protective carotenoids in the cells.”

Read more about how Lake Uremia changes at NASA’s Earth Observatory.

America Has Got One Serious Case of Amnesia

America Has Got One Serious Case of Amnesia

The Confederate Town in Upstate New York

We read about various conflicted communities in which the locals did not side with the rest of their state during the Civil War, but Town Line, New York, was a puzzling outlier. This town is nowhere near the South- it’s near the Canadian border, just east of Buffalo. There weren’t any slaves or slaveholders there. The citizenry was almost entirely German immigrants. But for some reason, they voted in 1861 to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy.

According to New York: A Guide to the Empire State (Federal Writers’ Project, 1940), the dissenting minority referred to the town as a “nest of Copperheads,” threatening them with arrest under charges of sedition and even lynching. Nonetheless, according to oral history, at least five members of newly-Confederate Town Line headed south to join the Army of Northern Virginia, even as twenty residents stayed put and fought for the Union Army.

There are few records about Town Line’s secession, and the names of those who voted for it were not recorded. Add to that the fact that the federal government dealt with Town Line mainly by ignoring it, and you’ve set up somewhat of a historical mystery. Read about the New York community that joined the Confederacy at Atlas Obscura.

39 Facts about the Middle Ages

(YouTube link)

We love to study the Middle Ages because Europe a few hundred years ago was such a weird and busy place. You’ve got the fall of the Roman Empire, early written English, the plague, crusaders and conquerers, myths and legends, and the stuff that we use for our fantasy pop culture these days. John Green gives us some fascinating tidbits to add to our store of knowledge about the Middle Ages, in the latest episode of the mental_floss List Show. 

Controversy over puppet chef making haggis with a condom wrapping

Parents in Sweden have complained after they sat down with their children to watch a television program only to watch a puppet character use a condom to make the Scottish delicacy haggis. The Scots dish is traditionally made from sheep's innards minced with onion, oatmeal and spices and wrapped inside the animal's stomach, although these days artificial skin is normally used.

But a children's television show took culinary creativity to a whole new level when the host, a puppet chef of French descent named Bon, instead decided to stuff the meat and juices in a condom. Explaining in the video that he does not have an animal stomach at hand, he reaches for a handbag, saying: "Grandma usually has things in her bag… perhaps there's something we can use. Balloons! That will work just as well."
Except what he attaches to the sausage-style haggis machine is clearly not a balloon, but a condom. "I'm watching Bon who is today making haggis and is using a CONDOM as a balloon because there wasn't a sheep's stomach. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?? Disgusting, unethical and highly inappropriate," one furious viewer said. SVT's head of children's television, Johanna Gårdare, defended the condom haggis. "It's of course unfortunate if our content upsets the viewers, whether it's the target group or their parents. The purpose in this case was to entertain.
"I understand if you don't appreciate this kind of humor, but I can't see that it's inappropriate by definition to show a picture of a condom in a humorous show aimed at children in middle school," she said, adding that she had only received three complaints from parents. Asked if she was surprised by the reactions, she said: "Sometimes you get very surprised by what upsets people, because different things upset different people. Our intention is never to upset parents, but to entertain and deliver good content for the children (and parents). In my experience all content that touches at all on the area of sex gets more reactions than other content, so for that reason I'm not surprised."
You can watch the video clip here.

Scientists Think Cockroach Milk Could Be the Superfood of the Future

Got milk? That's good! It'll keep you strong and healthy. But you probably got it from a cow or a goat. For a new treat, try cockroach milk.
Cockroaches aren't mammals, so what they secrete isn't, technically speaking, milk. But that's what scientists are calling diploptera punctate, which is a protein crystal that roaches feed their live young. Researchers say that it's good for humans to eat. Science Alert reports:

"The crystals are like a complete food - they have proteins, fats and sugars. If you look into the protein sequences, they have all the essential amino acids," said Sanchari Banerjee, one of the team, in an interview with the Times of India.
Not only is the milk a dense source of calories and nutrients, it’s also time released. As the protein in the milk is digested, the crystal releases more protein at an equivalent rate to continue the digestion.
"It’s time-released food," said Subramanian Ramaswamy, who led the project. "if you need food that is calorifically high, that is time released and food that is complete. This is it."

Milking individual cockroaches is a chore, though. So Banerjee's research team is working on a way to artificially duplicate the roach milk production process in a laboratory setting. Sadly, it will be a while before you see roach milk on grocery store shelves.

This Woman Is Being Sued for $67,000 Because She Found a New Job

This Woman Is Being Sued for $67,000 Because She Found a New Job

Prominent Feminist Writer Drops off Social Media After Rape Threat Against Her 5-Year-Old Daughter

Prominent Feminist Writer Drops off Social Media After Rape Threat Against Her 5-Year-Old Daughter

The Upsetting Reason My Young Yoga Students Think I Should Be Married

The Upsetting Reason My Young Yoga Students Think I Should Be Married

Man who led police on 42-mile chase said he was too scared, high and drunk to stop

A driver led police officers in Boone County, Kentucky, on a 42-mile high-speed chase early on Friday.

Jeremy Carf, 37, from Aurora, Indiana, led officers from five different law enforcement agencies for 50 minutes to Corinth, Kentucky. During the pursuit, speeds varied between 40 and 90 miles per hour, deputies said. Authorities tried using “stop sticks” twice, but they were not successful.
While they were driving through Williamstown, Carf called the Boone County Dispatch and said he was scared to stop because he was high, drunk and just broke up with his girlfriend, deputies said. The dispatcher was able to convince him to stop near to Corinth.
Carf was charged with speeding, reckless driving, DUI, fleeing or evading, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, operating on suspended or revoked license and a Boone County flagrant non-support arrest warrant. He was being held in the Boone County Detention Center.

$3million lottery winner invested money in crystal meth enterprise

A man who won $3 million on a scratch-off lottery game last year in Waycross, Georgia, invested all of his winnings in a crystal meth trafficking ring, federal prosecutors say.

Ronnie Music, Jr, 45, plead guilty to federal drug trafficking and firearm charges during a plea hearing last week. Evidence presented in the case suggested Music worked with a group to gain access to and distribute methamphetamine throughout Georgia.
Some of Music's conspirators were caught trying to sell about 11 pounds of crystal meth, valued at more than $500,000. Music was revealed as the supplier during the investigation. Agents seized over $1 million worth of methamphetamine, a large cache of firearms, thousands of rounds of ammunition, multiple vehicles, and over $600,000 in cash.
"Defendant Music decided to test his luck by sinking millions of dollars of lottery winnings into the purchase and sale of crystal meth," United States Attorney Ed Tarver said in a press release. "As a result of his unsound investment strategy, Music now faces decades in a federal prison."

Fisherman had unexpected encounter with a snarling badger that jumped into his boat

A man from Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, had an unexpected encounter with a snarling badger while fishing in the middle of a lake. Ron Lancour was alone in his boat on Sheridan Lake, enjoying a peaceful day fishing, when a fully-grown badger suddenly jumped on board.

"He was telling me to get out of that boat, because he was coming in there. I guess he was tired of swimming," Lancour said. "I grabbed my net. With the handle I tried to poke him back into the water, but he was gaining ground on me." Lancour said he then fought off the badger three more times with a wooden oar before he was able to push it back into the lake.
But the persistent badger then jumped back into the boat from a different side, and Lancour had to fight it off again. "I knew that I had to stun him somehow. I certainly didn't want to hit him across the head and kill him, they are a protected species in British Columbia," he said. Lancour says he finally managed to escape by speeding away from the animal.
Badgers are extremely rare in British Columbia. According to Parks Canada, there are only about 200 of them left in the province. A Badgers in British Columbia spokesperson said badgers are proficient swimmers, often crossing bodies of water to seek prey and explore new territory. According to the group, badgers are not particularly aggressive, unless they're out in the open.

Public warned not to approach ostrich family on the loose

A family of ostriches is on the loose around a village in East Ayrshire, Scotland. The Scottish SPCA said there had been several sightings of the adult bird in Patna last week. They have advised members of the public not to approach the adult ostrich which will be protective of its young and could become "extremely aggressive" if it believes it is being challenged.
It is unclear where the ostriches have escaped from. Animal Rescue Officer Alistair Hill said: "Anyone in the area who spots the ostrich or its young should call us as soon as possible so we can keep an eye on where these birds are.
"We are warning members of the public not to approach the adult ostrich and to especially avoid approaching its young as ostriches can be very protective and can become extremely aggressive."

Bull popped into high street bank during Spanish festival

Traditionally, it's china shops that fear a mighty bull entering the premises.

But one bull entered a different kind of establishment during the annual bull run at a festival in Cheste, Valencia, Spain.
The half ton beast took a break from chasing revelers to slip inside the door of a Bankia branch.

YouTube link. Additional YouTube video.

Several runners followed the bull into the building and held the door open so it could emerge onto the street and continue on its way.

Baby Owls Go for a Swim

The Snowy Owl family on the North Slope of Alaska needs to move toward a new home. Daddy Owl has already scouted out a new place to live. Since the baby owls can't fly yet, they have to walk. And when they get to a river, they have no choice but to swim across it.
As this scene from Nature illustrates, they're quite good at it! Even without swimming lessons, the baby owls figure out how to row across the water with their wings.

(Video Link)

Animal Pictures