Sunday, July 31, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
Hitler cat 'overlooked for adoption because of markings'
Staff at an animal charity have named an abandoned kitten "Kitler" - because she bears an uncanny resemblance to the Nazi leader.
9:22AM BST 29 Jul 2011
(The Telegraph) The six-week-old cat - which was abandoned at the roadside - earned the moniker because of her distinctive black moustache.
Staff at Wood Green animal shelter in Godmanchester, Cambs., say they are struggling to find her a loving home because of her unusual markings.
Spokeswoman Tara Dundon said: ''Kitler is an adorable little girl who will make a wonderful addition to the right family. She is really playful and a typical sweet kitten.
''We rehome five and a half thousand animals every year but we cannot find a loving owner for Kitler. We think her unusual markings are putting people off.
''She is not a specific breed and we don't know where her black and white patches came from because we have no idea who her parents are.
''We think Kitler was either dumped by someone who didn't want her or couldn't look after her or she could have been a wild cat who was left by her mother.
''Sadly, Kitler is just one of hundreds of stray cats we take in every year. Last year we took in 1,294 cats and kittens, of which 422 were strays.''
Kitler was found alone and close to death at the side of the A421 near Kempston, Beds., by a member of the public on July 21.
The severely malnourished kitten would have died but recovered her health after receiving food and treatment at the Wood Green animal shelter.
Staff at the centre nicknamed her Kitler after noticing that the black markings on her top lip look like the Nazi leader's moustache.
However, hundreds of people visiting the centre looking for a pet have ignored Kitler and chosen more conventional looking kittens instead.
Woman faces trial for fake testicles
CHARLESTON, South Carolina |
(Reuters) - The police chief of a small South Carolina town will ask a jury to decide if a woman broke the state's obscenity laws by driving a pickup truck with plastic testicles hanging from the back.Bonneau Police Chief Franco Fuda ticketed Virginia Tice, 65, in early July at a local convenience store after spying the adornment dangling from her truck.
South Carolina law considers a bumper sticker, decal or device indecent when it describes, in an offensive way as determined by contemporary community standards, "sexual acts, excretory functions, or parts of the human body."
The offense carries a maximum fine of $445 but no jail time, Fuda said.
"This is certainly not a staple of my ticket writing in Bonneau," the police chief told Reuters on Wednesday.
The Charleston law firm Savage & Savage will represent Tice for free, attorney Scott Bischoff said. The trial had been scheduled for next week but was delayed because the defendant will be out of town.
"She's such a sweet lady and she just says 'I don't want to pay the fine.' We'll let a jury decide whether this is really criminal behavior. I don't want to take away from the importance of free speech, but it's really comical," he said.
Lawmakers in some states have sought to ban the colorful plastic or rubber devices that go by brand names such as Bulls Balls and Truck Nutz.
Fuda said if the fake testicles were a free speech issue, "I don't know what they would be trying to express."
"I went to (a) few websites that said, excuse the expression, 'show your nuts,'" he said. "I didn't see anywhere it said support your local proctologist or farmer."
(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Cynthia Johnston)
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Monkey makes 'pedicuring' tool
(BBC Nature) A crude "pedicure" carried out by a mandrill at Chester Zoo suggests the monkeys are capable of more advanced tool use than previously thought.
They published the findings in the journal Behavioural Processes.
Mandrills are the fifth species of Old World monkey seen deliberately modifying tools...
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Stormtrooper Jacob's Starlight trek
Epic journey ... White knight Stormtrooper Jacob French on day five of his journey for charity. Photo: Getty Images
(The Sydney Morning Herald) He's no Luke Skywalker but this young adventurer is every bit the hero. Rachel Browne reports.
THERE are many obvious disadvantages to walking across Australia wearing full Imperial Stormtrooper garb. But on the bright side, at least Jacob French is unlikely to suffer sunburn as he treks solo across the Nullarbor from Perth to Sydney to raise $50,000 for the Starlight Children's Foundation.
''I have always had this dream to walk across Australia and I thought if I was going to put that much effort into something which would make me happy, I might as well make other people happy on the way,'' the Perth sales assistant said. ''I thought I might as well give people a bit of a chuckle at the same time by doing it in a Stormtrooper suit.''Mr French, 20, started his ''Troopertrek'' on Monday and aims to arrive in Sydney by December. To achieve this, he will need to walk 35 to 40 kilometres a day, five days a week, while pushing his 50 -kilogram trolley of supplies and wearing his 10-kilogram suit, which he bought online
''It does get very hot,'' he said. ''The helmet is not very well ventilated. It's like wearing a bucket on your head. It's not very flexible either, so I'm moving pretty slowly. I had to have it specially trimmed to make it less restrictive.
''I hope to finish [the walk] before the weather gets too much warmer, otherwise I'm just going to get drenched in there.''
Mr French was between the towns of Mandurah and Bunbury, about 150 kilometres south of Perth, when The Sun-Herald spoke to him yesterday. As of last night, he had raised more than $3400.
Jacob French. Photo: Getty Images
''The cars which have passed me have all given me a smile and a wave,'' he said. ''People have been tooting their horns. A lot of people have stopped and asked me what on earth I'm doing, though. They probably think I am a bit of a nutter.''Mr French is part of a group called the 501st Legion, a collective of Star Wars devotees who enjoy dressing up as characters from the films. Last year he dressed in a similar costume for the Run Melbourne half-marathon, which is presented by The Age newspaper.
Mr French's mother, Mandy, said the family was proud of his determination. ''He has a real heart for the kids that Starlight helps and it has been a dream of his to do this for a while.''
h/t Marion
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Scientists: Stinky Sock Smell Helps Fight Malaria
Dutch scientist Dr. Bart Knols first discovered mosquitoes were attracted to foot odor by standing in a dark room naked and examining where he was bitten, said Okumu. But over the following 15 years, researchers struggled to put the knowledge to use...
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