 sj |
||
|
||
BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
|
|
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 07 Dec 09 - 10:34 AM As nations attempt to put their energy consumption in order, the need for better ways to store electrical power is becoming apparent: wind and solar power installations don't always provide power when it's most needed. Batteries are one option – although they'll have to improve before they are practical for large-scale storage – but another is converting excess electricity into hydrogen and feeding it through a fuel cell later to generate electricity. Now Vincent Artero at Joseph Fourier University in Grenoble, France, and colleagues have shown that a cheap catalyst could be used to both generate hydrogen to store energy, and also to consume it to extract stored power. Until now, almost all hydrogen-generating catalysts have been made with the expensive metal platinum, making scaling up their use impractical. A platinum-free catalyst for hydrogen formation was developed in 2006, but it required water-free conditions that were incompatible with conventional methods of making the gas. Artero and his colleagues have solved that problem, coating the platinum-free catalyst in a membrane that lets hydrogen ions reach the catalyst, but not water molecules. Gas factory The team attached the catalytic molecules to a carbon nanotube electrode and sealed it in the waterproof membrane. Then they ran an electric current through the electrode and dipped it into dilute sulphuric acid. They found that hydrogen ions from the watery acid solution travelled through the membrane to the catalyst, where they picked up electrons from the circuit to become hydrogen gas. The team also found that the new design can work in reverse, to split up gaseous hydrogen into ions, and release electrons to provide power. "That's useful because the customer would buy just one device [that can both generate and oxidise hydrogen]," says Artero. So far, though, the device can't compete with the power output of a conventional platinum-catalysed fuel cell, although the team haven't yet begun to optimise it for that use. Right direction Earlier this year Fraser Armstrong's team at the University of Oxford showed how a bacterial enzyme – a hydrogenase – could perform a similar role. "The reversibility [shown by the new system] is important, as the system now resembles a hydrogenase," he says. Some people think such enzymes will ultimately provide the best way to make hydrogen. "But their production can hardly be scaled up, and the enzymes require special conditions in terms of humidity, pH and temperature," says Artero, who thinks artificial catalysts will probably be the first to enable wide-scale use of hydrogen to store energy. Journal reference: Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.1179773 |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 25 Nov 09 - 07:44 PM The world's oldest intact computer is turning 60. The CSIRAC - Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research organisation Automatic Computer - is housed in the state's museum and has today been granted heritage listing as part of its birthday celebrations. It is the first computer ever to be made in Australia; the fourth computer ever to be made in the world; and the only first generation computer that remains intact. Museum Victoria's senior curator of information and communication, David Demant, describes himself as the computer's caretaker. He says the CSIRAC represents the beginning of the modern computer age. "It is one of the first computers that started the digital technology revolution, which has completely changed the planet," he said. "The potential of what is happening today was in CSIRAC... you couldn't do the same things back then because it didn't have the power or the memory or whatever, but essentially in principle the structure of computers has remained the same since CSIRAC." Mr Demant says the computer can be explained simply as the first iPod. "You could say that CSIRAC was the first iPod if you like... you would feed in your paper tape and CSIRAC played the music," he said. "And today you have a little chip in which you record your music, you put your recorded music onto the iPod, and the iPod - which is basically a computer - plays your music." The CSIRAC was designed from scratch and hand built in 1949. It was run off paper tape, which Mr Demant says probably now constitutes the worlds oldest software library. "It consisted of nine cabinets, which are about seven foot high and very wide, and there was a console and the computer was driven," he said. "It wasn't automatic like we know today, you actually had to intervene every now and then in running a program and it ran off paper tape... so its output was paper tape and there was no screen as such." Earliest computer games The CSIRAC was used for a range of scientific and industrial purposes including crystallography, electronics, building frame analysis, loan repayments and weather forecasting. In 1951 it generated the world's first computer music and it could also host games. "People were trying to explore its capabilities and they tested everything," Mr Demant said. "In one of the games there was a string of lights on one of the cabinets and the computer had to predict your next move. "So if you moved the light to the left and the computer predicted that you were going to do that it would shift the light to the left, but if it had failed to predict you it would move the light to the right. "They were very simple games, but nevertheless they were games." Mr Demant says Australia's first generation of software programmers were trained on the CSIRAC. "It was the training ground for computer software programmers in Australia," he said. "It was the beginning of the Australian software computer industry because it wasn't just a hardware computer, it produced software as well." Heritage Victoria's director of collections, Elizabeth Triarico, says the CSIRAC is significant historically, scientifically and technologically. "It is the first technology object to be put on our state register which is quite a significant thing in itself," she said. "It is something of very high significance to Australia and not just Victoria." |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Ed T Date: 24 Oct 09 - 04:13 PM Winners of the Ig® Nobel Prize http://improbable.com/ig/winners/#ig2009 |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 24 Oct 09 - 04:11 PM Before you place that online order, watch out for other charges you have to opt out of link It was a cold January evening when Chuck and Peggy Walton of North Richland Hills decided to try out Pizza Hut's new pasta dish and to order it through the company's Web site for home delivery. They gave the pasta mixed reviews. "It was OK for emergency rations — when you're hungry and don't feel like going out or cooking," Peggy Walton said this week. But the ultimate cost — more than $100 as charges accrued in subsequent months from ongoing debits to their checking account — got a definite thumbs down. "I felt stupid because I monitor our checking account regularly for irregular charges because I'm an online shopper," she said. When Chuck Walton placed the order, he had apparently clicked on a loyalty program offered by a Pizza Hut promotional partner, Webloyalty.com. The Waltons say they didn't realize they were enrolled in a discount coupon program at a cost of $12 a month. "I don't know how I missed that for almost nine months," Peggy Walton said of the charges that were listed for "Complete Savings" on her bank statement. The Connecticut-based Webloyalty settled a class-action lawsuit in August that accused it of enrolling customers without their knowledge. Loyalty programs are usually designed to offer discounts, coupons or even cash back to encourage repeat business from Web site customers. But Webloyalty.com operates differently. It is much like the entertainment coupon books that customers buy for a set price and that provide hundreds of dollars in discounts, two-for-one offers and other benefits from participating retailers. In Webloyalty.com's case, customers signed up for a free 30-day trial and got $10 off their next purchase or some other discount at the partner retailer, Pizza Hut in the Waltons' case. Thereafter, they can go to the company's Web site before going out to dinner or the movies, for example, and download coupons for discounted meals or tickets, Webloyalty.com spokeswoman Beth Kitchener said. She said Webloyalty.com takes complaints from customers seriously and does not intentionally deceive them. Its process requires participants to enter their e-mail address twice as verification that they read and understood the offer, Kitchener said. The company also sends seven e-mails during the first month reminding consumers to use the $10 discount and alerting them that the free trial is ending, she said. But its enrollment practices have taken a beating from the Better Business Bureau and a group of enrollees who say their participation in Webloyalty.com programs was unwitting. "The essence of our lawsuit was that consumers were being enrolled in programs without their knowledge," said David George, a lawyer in the Boca Raton, Fla., practice Coughlin, Stoia, Geller, Rudman & Robbins L.L.P., which represented the plaintiffs. The suit covered enrollees in Webloyalty.com programs dating to 2000, George said. Plaintiffs' lawyers said their clients disregarded the company's e-mails as spam or the e-mails were automatically diverted to spam folders. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 21 Oct 09 - 04:46 AM Crime-busting leech goes international Tasmanian police are attracting worldwide attention after using blood from a leech to solve an eight-year-old crime. On Monday, Peter Alec Cannon, 54, pleaded guilty to aggravated armed robbery after he stole money from a 71-year-old woman in September 2001. Police found a blood-filled leech at the crime scene and matched the DNA to Cannon seven years later, when he was arrested on drugs charges. Detective Inspector Mick Johnston says he has been inundated with media attention. "'The Times' of London's the furthest away I've spoken to today about this and a lot of the media attention's been asking me questions about it, but this was a team effort," he said. "None of these things happen because of the actions of one person. I guess we expected some kind of interest, because it is unique, possibly a world first." |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 15 Oct 09 - 03:55 PM LEBANON, Pa. -- Police in central Pennsylvania say they've nabbed a real pothead. They said an officer spotted 29-year-old Cesar Lopez inside a convenience store with a bag of marijuana stuck to his forehead. Investigators said Lopez was seen peering inside his baseball cap early Saturday morning in Lebanon, about 75 miles northwest of Philadelphia. When Lopez looked up, the officer noticed a small plastic bag appearing to contain marijuana stuck to his forehead. Police said the officer peeled the bag off Lopez's forehead and placed him under arrest. He has been charged with drug possession. Police do not know whether Lopez has an attorney. Authorities say the sweatband of a baseball cap is a frequent hiding place for drugs. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 02 Oct 09 - 01:19 PM Isn't the account of the extortion attempt against David Letterman the strangest thing you've heard? A producer of a true crime program was so un-savvy that he wrote out his demands, and then took them to a meeting with an attorney (an officer of the court) present? Geez. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/02/entertainment/main5358649.shtml A CBS News employee has been indicted in an alleged blackmail plot against David Letterman, who was forced to acknowledge sexual relationships with female staffers on his show after the man tried to blackmail him for $2 million, the Manhattan district attorney said Friday. Robert J. "Joe" Halderman, a producer for the true-crime show "48 Hours," was arrested Thursday and indicted on one count of attempted first-degree grand larceny, punishable by five to 15 years upon conviction, District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said. "Our concern here is extortion, and that's what we're focusing on," Morgenthau said. The district attorney's office said Halderman left a letter and other material for Letterman early Sept. 9. He wrote that he needed "to make a large chunk of money" by selling Letterman a screenplay treatment. The letter told Letterman that his world would "collapse around him" when information about his private life was disclosed. He said it would lead to "a ruined reputation" and severe damage to his professional and family life. Letterman immediately contacted his lawyer, who arranged a meeting with Halderman. At the meeting, Halderman demanded $2 million to keep the material secret, the district attorney's office said. After the meeting, Letterman and his lawyer contacted the DA's office and the investigation began. In an extraordinary monologue before millions of viewers, the late-night host admitted that he had sexual relationships with female employees. Letterman said that "this whole thing has been quite scary," but he mixed in jokes while outlining what had happened to him. Read the rest at the link. SRS |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 21 Sep 09 - 02:05 PM Seems to me that a funeral home is not the place to worry about haunting. The people who passed through there died somewhere else, after all. --SRS The Two-Story Conversation Starter WHEN Jean-Marie Grenier was growing up in the Norman village of Rugles, he lived on a street called Rue du Cimetière. On funeral days, women wearing long black veils padded by behind a horse-drawn hearse, a sight that terrified him as a little boy. "Les dames en noir," recalled Mr. Grenier, 56, a sculptor who immigrated to New York in the late 1970s. "I was so afraid." In one of those great coincidences of real estate, Mr. Grenier and his wife, Jane, 50, a promotion and marketing executive at Condé Nast, now live in a sepulchral sort of place on Driggs Avenue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, near McCarren Park. From around 1900 until the mid-'70s, the building operated as the Dekarski Funeral Home, a venerable institution in a neighborhood whose Polish roots remain strong even in the face of what Ms. Grenier describes as "hipster creep." The hit TV show "Six Feet Under" did much to familiarize Americans with the innards of funeral homes. Nevertheless, even some fairly sophisticated people find the idea of living in one more than slightly spooky. At a Valentine's Day party at the Greniers' a few years ago, one guest was so freaked out that he couldn't bear to linger under their roof. "Sitting on the couch, I just felt something," the man confessed nervously to his hosts before fleeing the premises. Almost from the moment they married in 1987, the couple had been real estate gypsies, living first in Mr. Grenier's TriBeCa loft with his roommates ("I told him married people don't have roommates," Ms. Grenier said), then in a Downtown Brooklyn loft that she describes as so enormous "you needed Rollerblades to go to the bathroom." Thirteen years ago, when they were poised to be evicted from a loft on the Lower East Side because the owner wanted the place for his own use, they decided to check out the increasingly desirable Brooklyn waterfront. One day, Mr. Grenier saw a two-line newspaper ad for an apartment on Driggs Avenue that mentioned a lot of open space. The ad made no mention of the building's previous life, and space was what he was after, so he headed off to the broker's office. "I was so excited," Mr. Grenier recalled, his words tumbling out as he described his first sight of the apartment. "I drew a little sketch on a napkin, but my hands were trembling so much, I couldn't do it." That night he couldn't sleep, afraid that someone else would nab the apartment before he and his wife could make their move. In May 1996, the couple rented the ground floor of the two-story structure for $1,575 a month. Nine years later, they paid $940,000 to buy the entire 2,000-square-foot building, which includes a rental apartment on the top floor, where the owners of the funeral home used to live. Despite the wisecracks that visitors invariably make, these days there's nothing particularly creepy about the place. Yet poignant reminders of its earlier life are visible everywhere. The facade, with its three arched doorways of dark wood — one for the bodies, a second for the office and a third for the public — looks so ecclesiastical that Ms. Grenier tells cab drivers to watch for a building that "looks like a church but it's not." The basement where coffins once awaited their final resting place has been converted to a studio where Mr. Grenier produces the sinuous white stoneware that is his trademark (examples can be seen on his Web site, jm-grenier.com). But a dusty corner is jammed with ecclesiastic bric-a-brac, including a small forest of standing aluminum candle holders. The couple's bedroom, where as Ms. Grenier is quick to remind one and all with a meaningful roll of her eyes, they "did the work," looks unremarkable. However, the adjacent bathroom is dominated by a ceramic urinal and a hip bath (why a hip bath, the Greniers have no idea), and was, the couple believe, one of a pair of his-and-hers restrooms. The urinal is Ms. Grenier's single favorite item in the house, although she is also extremely fond of the claw-footed tub that her husband acquired and installed just outside their bedroom so that she can take a proper bath. Echoes of the building's past are especially pervasive in what is now the living room-dining room area. Stained-glass windows, dark wood trim, skylights and Gothic accents like arches serve as a reminder that this was once a pair of viewing chapels where two services could be conducted simultaneously. Or so the Greniers believe; as with the hip bath, sorting out certain details of the building's history can be tricky. The old funeral home office is now a tiny but impressively outfitted kitchen. On one wall hangs a formidable assortment of inky cast-iron skillets; on another is a string of garlic that the Greniers brought back from France, where they have a summer house. The refrigerator is a basic Kenmore model — with a Sub-Zero magnet affixed to one side to add a little class. In the back of the house is what is officially the garden, though thanks to the arrival of a new building literally inches away, the area feels more like an enclosed box. "A Zen garden," Ms. Grenier said. It is surrounded by slats of ipê, a Brazilian hardwood, and home to a single potted philodendron. While the smell of embalming fluid has long since disappeared, she has embraced rather than repressed the building's past, although to be safe she cleansed the place upon arrival by burning sage to encourage "any troubled spirits" to go elsewhere. "I'm very conscious of all the end-of-life moments that had taken place here," she said. "And I wished all the spirits well." That Mr. Grenier, who grew up seeing hearses pass the house of his childhood, now lives in a converted funeral home seems the work of fate. So does the fact that Ms. Grenier, some of whose ancestors came from Poland, has ended up in what has long been the city's premier Polish neighborhood. And she is delighted that many of the artisans who have done work on the Greniers' house are local Polish-Americans. "It feels like kismet," she said. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 16 Sep 09 - 03:54 PM (AP) Three people were arrested on charges of swapping a 5-month-old boy for a downpayment on a used Dodge Intrepid and cash, police said Tuesday. Nicole Uribe, 23, is accused of trading the baby to Jose-Juan Lerma, 47, and his wife, Irene, 27, in exchange for $1,500, $500 which was to be the downpayment, Pueblo police Sgt. Brett Wilson said. Details of the dollar amount were first reported by The Gazette. The asking price for the baby was initially $10,000, but that later dropped, Wilson said quoting an affidavit. Wilson said negotiations were still under way and it was unclear whether future payments on the 2000 car for Uribe were part of the deal. All were arrested on suspicion of felony trafficking in children and were being held at the Pueblo jail under $50,000 bail each. The baby was placed in a foster home, Wilson said. Wilson said he couldn't speculate on the motives for the alleged deal. He said police found the child and arrested Uribe within hours of getting a tip on Monday. The Lermas were arrested on Tuesday. Wilson said all three were Mexican nationals and federal officials had been asked to investigate their immigration status. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 14 Sep 09 - 01:47 PM If at First You Don't Succeed September 2, 2009 Mark Wattson collapsed in agony and had to be rushed by ambulance to a hospital in Swindon, England. Doctors there told him his appendix had burst and they had to take it out. Wattson was angry and confused, since those same National Health Service doctors had operated on him just three weeks earlier to remove his appendix. No one seems sure exactly what they did the first time they cut him open. They did remove his appendix during the second surgery. But the incision became infected and Wattson had to be admitted to the hospital a third time. He says he also lost his job because his boss refused to believe he'd taken off time twice to have his appendix removed. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 07 Sep 09 - 04:29 AM Trapped girls raised alarm on Facebook The South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service (MFS) says it is worrying that two girls lost last night in a stormwater drain raised the alert on a social networking site rather than ringing 000. The 10 and 12-year-old girls updated a Facebook status to say they were lost in a drain on Honeypot Road at Hackham in Adelaide's south. Glenn Benham from the MFS says it was fortunate a young male friend was online at the time and was able to call for help on their behalf. "It is a worry for us because it causes a delay on us being able to rescue the girls," he said. "If they were able to access Facebook from their mobile phones, they could have called 000, so the point being they could have called us directly and we could have got there quicker than relying on someone being online and replying to them and eventually having to call us via 000 anyway." |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Alice Date: 29 Aug 09 - 11:00 PM Gov't to thin wild horses in MT's Pryor Mountains BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- Beginning next week, federal officials plan to thin by more than a third a wild horse herd that roams a mountain range along the Montana-Wyoming border. The Bureau of Land Management wants to reduce the number of adult horses on the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range from 190 to 120 animals. Horse advocates said today that they'll ask a judge to stop the roundup. They say it could end up ruining one of the most genetically pure herds of Spanish colonial horses in the country. The roundup will capture the range's entire population, with 70 adult horses and their foals to be kept for adoption. The remaining horses will be freed. The BLM says the roundup is needed protect the range's ecological balance, which a spokesman for the agency said is threatened by overgrazing. Genetic testing has shown the Pryor herd descends from horses used by Spanish conquistadors during their drive to colonize the American Southwest. The first to arrive in the Pryors were likely brought by Crow or Shoshone Indians in the late 1700s or early 1800s. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 15 Aug 09 - 01:23 AM That's the William S. Burroughs approach to the thread. Makes for interesting reading. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: frogprince Date: 14 Aug 09 - 11:35 PM I'm getting very punchy, and need to go to bed. I just "flipped" the thread, read the Koda story, and then read the two previous posts as comments on it: "Humans will not stop being silly, no matter what..." seemed like a somewhat odd response. But "At least they didn't stretch that train out in one long straight line and expect her to drag it down the aisle!" seemed a lot more so! Nighty night everybody; Dean |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 14 Aug 09 - 08:27 PM awwwwww, how cute click on link to see pics Meet Koda, the little horse who could By News Online's Sarah Collerton Posted Thu Aug 13, 2009 7:00am AEST Updated Thu Aug 13, 2009 12:52pm AEST Koda was born to two normal-size miniature horses at a farm. It is not uncommon for workplaces to have pets. Perhaps a fish or a bird, or at most a dog or cat roaming around the waiting room of a vet's clinic. But the Yarrambat Veterinary Hospital, north of Melbourne, has its very own horse who trots around the surgery, nibbling rubbish in the bins and hanging off whoever he can. But this horse is different from most. At just 35 kilograms and 59 centimetres tall, 12-month-old Koda is said to be Australia's smallest horse. He was born the size of a cat and he is still smaller than some dogs, but what he lacks in size he makes up for with his gigantic personality. Dr Andy Lynch, who runs the clinic, says Koda - a miniature horse with dwarfism - is basking in his newfound celebrity. "He absolutely loves the attention from people, he's just soaking it up," he told ABC News Online. "Everywhere he goes he's instantly recognised and he loves it." Australia's Mr Ed has a jam-packed schedule, with plenty of bookings from local schools and nursing homes as well as a few TV appearances and photo shoots here and there. "He just had a visit from an elderly people's home," Dr Lynch said. "A van came to visit and he walked through the van and they loved him. "He's got a unique nature for a horse of his age. Normal-sized horses at 12 months can just be plain dangerous, but Koda is so trusting, he's fantastic. "His very tiny stature isn't apparent to him, he just regards himself just like any other horse." Health issues But it's not all fun and games for lively little Koda, who has spent much of his short life immobilised and sadly faces an onslaught of ailments. In fact when Dr Lynch first met Koda, he recommended that Koda be put down because of the severity of his health problems. "He had very contorted, buckley limbs that went in all different directions when he tried to stand," Dr Lynch said. "And his face was a little bit misshapen, with quite a dished nose and his nostrils were almost like a pig's snout." But luckily vet nurse Karen Stephenson, 23, saw hope in the little guy and persevered. "I fell in love with him straight away," she told ABC News Online. "Provided he wasn't going to go through too much suffering, I wanted to do whatever I could to give him a chance." Koda, who was born to two normal-size miniature horses at a farm, moved to Ms Stephenson's nearby Kinglake property, where he first came across normal-size horses. "All the larger horses were hesitant at first, but now he's one of them but just the size of a dog," she said. Costly treatment But Koda's need for extensive treatment means he has had to relocate to a small stable at the Yarrambat clinic for now. So far he has had two surgeries because of joint problems. At one stage his leg was in a cast and he faces more operations because his skull is too small for his teeth. But "buoyant" Koda doesn't let the surgeries get him down, Dr Lynch says. "He's very brave and he responds very well to pain relief," he said. The medical costs have so far mounted to $10,000 and Dr Lynch expects Koda will rack up at a bill of at least $30,000 more. "But he's well worth it," Dr Lynch said. Future for Koda And even though Koda's not expected to live a completely normal horse life, there is hope he will be around for at least a decade more. "We would be happy with 10 years, bearing in mind a normal horse lives to 25 years," Dr Lynch said. "We'd be thrilled with 20 years." Dr Lynch says Koda will probably live at the Yarrambat clinic for a few more months at least, but then he will move back to Kinglake to "play with his other horse friends" again. But this popular little horse isn't pining for his equine mates too much; he gets on with humans just as well. "He just loves attention from everyone and he knows he's loved," Dr Lynch said. "In the absence of other horses, we have become his herd and he responds to us like we're horses." And Ms Stephenson even has an idea to cater for "cheeky" Koda's social needs and growing fame. "He needs to go on tour around Australia," she said. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 07 Aug 09 - 11:27 AM Humans will not stop being silly, no matter what... |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 07 Aug 09 - 11:17 AM At least they didn't stretch that train out in one long straight line and expect her to drag it down the aisle! Photo. SRS |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 07 Aug 09 - 01:56 AM Here comes the bride, and 2km-long dress pic here!! A Chinese bride has made a bid for the record books, turning up to her wedding wearing a 2,162-metre-long gown. More than 200 guests took over three hours to unroll Lin Rong's wedding train, which stretched nearly 2.2 kilometres and pin on 9,999 red silk roses for her wedding, Xinhua news agency said. Groom Zhao Peng said he wanted to challenge the current world record of 1,579 metres. "Both the length of the dress and the number of silk roses pinned on the wedding dress can make history, but it doesn't matter whether I can successfully register it on Guinness," the 28-year-old railway worker from northeast Jilin province said. Mr Zhao said he had sent an application to Guinness World Records and would also send a video of his wedding with his 25-year-old school teacher sweetheart. "I do not want a cliche wedding parade or banquet," the groom said, "nor can I afford the extravagance of a hot balloon wedding." But even so, his family was initially not too impressed at the far from frugal 40,000-yuan ($7,000) price tag. "It is a waste of money in my opinion," his mother said. "Though I understand that he wants to show his love on the big day." |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 04 Aug 09 - 02:21 PM On an even grimmer note: " A Massachusetts mother was horrified when she found her 7-month-old child's photo on popular promotions site, Craigslist, advertising his own adoption. MyFOXBoston reports that a stranger alerted Jenni Brennan of Abington, Mass. to the photo, which involved her 7-month-old son, Jake, in an online adoption scam. The ad read: "A CUTE BABY BOY FOR ADOPTION HE IS VERY HEALTHY AND READY FOR ADOPTION FOR MORE YOU COME BACK TO US." Brennan responded to the ad, receiving an email describing her son as Canadian but currently living in an African orphanage. She said the photo was from her family's blog. "I know he wasn't being physically harmed and no one was going to come to our door and try to take him, but I felt like his likeness was being violated," she told MyFOXBoston. She alerted the FBI and attorney general's office to the scam. Yahoo! has also removed the scammer's email addresses." |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 04 Aug 09 - 01:52 PM WEll then, tell her no heart attacks and no knife fights for her! Sorry. Mom's rules. ;>) A |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 04 Aug 09 - 01:05 PM Darn. Moonglow lost her spleen surgically a couple of years ago. It was killing off her red blood cells (spherocytosis). One must always weigh the pros and cons--possible severe liver damage due to a bad jaundice episode, or remove it. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 04 Aug 09 - 11:34 AM "Reporting in the current issue of the journal Science, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School describe studies showing that the spleen is a reservoir for huge numbers of immune cells called monocytes, and that in the event of a serious trauma to the body like a heart attack, gashing wound or microbial invasion, the spleen will disgorge those monocyte multitudes into the bloodstream to tackle the crisis. "The parallel in military terms is a standing army," said Matthias Nahrendorf, an author of the report. "You don't want to have to recruit an entire fighting force from the ground up every time you need it." That researchers are only now discovering a major feature of a rather large organ they have been studying for at least 2,000 years demonstrates yet again that there is nothing so foreign as the place we call home. "Often, if you come across something in the body that seems like a big deal, you think, 'Why didn't anybody check this before?' " Dr. Nahrendorf said. "But the more you learn, the more you realize that we're just scratching on the surface of life. We don't know the whole story about anything." " NYT |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 04 Aug 09 - 01:39 AM So glad to hear they are not silly.! A |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 04 Aug 09 - 01:36 AM An update on the AP story appeared today at Mashable: Associated Press: We Are Not Targeting Bloggers Today, the Associated Press reached out to us to clarify their position on iCopyright (the product they're using to charge for content) and on licensing its content. They explained that the form has never been aimed at bloggers quoting content and that it's unrelated to the controversy surrounding the content registry system, which aims to find what it considers illegitimate use of its content on the web. [snip] We asked for clarification and were referred to AP SVP Jane Seagrave's comments in the Columbia Journalism Review:
You'll find the rest at the top link. SRS |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 02 Aug 09 - 07:06 PM I started this thread so I could put interesting articles in one place, but I also started it with an eye to the attitudes of news content providers toward cut and paste or referrals. Looks like the Associated Press is going to try to crack down on Facebook posting of their stories--not sure how they'll do that, but here is the gist at Mashable.com.
Part of the AP's plan is to charge for use of its articles if you quote 5 words or more. They signed a deal with iCopyright in April to accomplish this goal. iCopyright is a widget that handles not only print and email, but republishing as well. Well the widget's starting to get some attention, if only for the jaw-dropping starting price the AP is charging for quoting its stories: $2.50 per word. If this is the case, then though I'll miss it, this, and the previous thread, are eligible to be deleted, of Mudcat is approached. And I'll make a point of linking and paraphrasing more, especially if it is AP stuff. I should say that for what it's worth, I think the fair use provision of the copyright law won't let AP get so exclusive about it's content. SRS |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 31 Jul 09 - 03:44 PM It's an animals sorta day: "England (ChattahBox) - The buses in Devon has an unusual passenger to transport, who has been frequenting the lines on a daily basis. Casper the cat has been catching the 10:55 AM bus line every morning for four years, hopping on, the moment the doors open, and sitting in the back seat. He rides the line to the end of the route, and then gets off back at his stop, his round trip lasting about an hour. "Casper has always disappeared for hours at a time but I never understood where he was going," his owner, Susan Finden, tells The Telegraph. "I called him Casper because he had a habit of vanishing like a ghost. But then some of the drivers told me he had been catching the bus. I couldn't believe it at first, but it explains a lot. He loves people and we have a bus stop right outside our house so that must be how he got started - just following everyone on. "I used to catch the odd bus too so maybe he saw me and got curious what I was doing." The bus drivers are so used to seeing old Casper that they have put a notice up in their main headquarters, alerting all driver to look after the furry passenger." Chattahbox |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 31 Jul 09 - 03:36 PM "The image of cows as placid, gentle creatures is a city slicker's fantasy, judging from an article published on Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which reports that about 20 people a year are killed by cows in the United States. In some cases, the cows actually attack humans—ramming them, knocking them down, goring them, trampling them and kicking them in the head—resulting in fatal injuries to the head and chest. Mother cows, like other animals, can be fiercely protective of their young, and dairy bulls, the report notes, are "especially possessive of their herd and occasionally disrupt feeding, cleaning, and milking routines." The article, in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, discusses 21 cases in which people were killed by cattle from 2003 to 2007 in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. In 16 cases, "the animal was deemed to have purposefully struck the victim," the report states. In 5 other cases, people were crushed against walls or by gates shoved by the cattle. Ten of the attacks were by bulls, 6 by cows and 5 by "multiple cattle." A third of the deaths were caused by animals that had been aggressive in the past. ..." (NYT) |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 31 Jul 09 - 02:41 PM Perhaps the zebra was protesting being mistaken for a horse of a different color. A |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 31 Jul 09 - 12:38 PM He seems to be a zebra of a different stripe, doesn't he? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 31 Jul 09 - 11:45 AM Joe Windscheffel, a linebacker/safety for NCAA Division II power Pittsburg State, was working on a farm near Lawrence for the summer. To paint a fence along a pasture line, he had to move four zebras. The three females complied, but the male got overaggressive (typical), charged him and bit his arm. The zebra dragged the 6-foot-2, 225-pound man until two fellow farmhands came to his aid. He's left with a compound fracture "You only see zebras on television getting eaten by lions, but they are stronger than they look," Windscheffel told the Pittsburg Morning Sun. "It was just a freak deal." |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 30 Jul 09 - 04:25 PM IT is bizarre that Charles Manson, having been behind bars for FORTY years, is a household name. A |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 30 Jul 09 - 02:42 PM Jailhouse Rock?: Charles Manson Reaches out to Phil Spector I suppose this IS music news, but it is the most bizarre thing around. Jailhouse Rock?: Charles Manson Reaches Out to Phil Spector When Rock Daily reported last month that famed producer and convicted murderer Phil Spector was being moved to Corcoran, California's California Substance Abuse and Treatment Facility, we noted that neighboring Corcoran State Prison is the home of musician and infamous Helter Skelter cult leader Charlie Manson. Apparently the proximity generated a creative spark: According to the New York Post's Page Six, Manson reached out to the "Wall of Sound" producer seeking a behind-bars musical meet-up. Earlier this year, Spector was found guilty of second-degree murder in a retrial of the death of actress Lana Clarkson and sentenced to 19 years to life in prison. Manson was convicted of murder and conspiracy in 1971. "A guard brought Philip a note from Manson, who said he wanted him to come over to his [lockup]. He said he considers Philip the greatest producer who ever lived," Spector's wife Rachelle — a colorful personality who often bickered with the judge during Phil's murder trials — told Page Six. "It was creepy. Philip didn't respond." Added Spector's publicist Hal Lifson, "I think Manson wants to glean some musical advice from Phil, who was a '60s music god with his 'Wall of Sound.' But Phil's like, 'I used to pick up the phone and it was John Lennon or Celine Dion or Tina Turner, and now Charles Manson is trying to get a hold of me!' " In related news, to mark the 40th anniversary of the Manson family murders, the History Channel will air a two-hour special titled Manson on September 7th, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The broadcast will feature the first interview in 20 years with Linda Kasabian, a member of the Manson Family who served as the driver during the Tate-LaBianca murders in 1969. Kasabian later served as a witness for the prosecution. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 29 Jul 09 - 04:17 AM Orphaned gnomes sent to foster homes About 1,500 garden gnomes have been saved from the scrapheap. The collection of small cement people was left behind after the death of an elderly Cootamundra woman, with the new owners of her property not keen on keeping them hanging around. But a solicitor acting for the deceased estate in southern NSW contacted the Australian Gnome Convention seeking advice on how to dispose of the garden ornaments. The convention, established by the Lower Blue Mountains Rotary Club, is held annually in Glenbrook, west of Sydney, and has become the spiritual home for Australia's gnomes. Convention organiser and "gnome master" David Cook said he did not hesitate in organising a rescue party. "We didn't want to see them put in a skip and taken to the tip and all smashed up," Mr Cook said. The four-member rescue team joined with Cootamundra locals, working for almost four hours to load "every square inch" of two vehicles and a trailer. The gnomes will be fostered out to various locations across the Blue Mountains but will be reunited next Australia Day for the sixth annual Australian Gnome Convention. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 29 Jul 09 - 12:32 AM Now that is the pits. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 28 Jul 09 - 12:47 PM (Der Spiegel): Man Falls off Balcony in Cherry Stone Spitting Competition The determination to spit a cherry stone further than his friends almost killed a German man at the weekend when he fell off his balcony in the process, police said. A German man eager to win an informal cherry stone spitting contest made the mistake of taking an excessively long run-up and inadvertently hurled himself off his balcony, police said. "He appears to have developed too much momentum," police in the western town of Rodgau said in a statement. "He lost his balance on the balcony railing and plunged down." The man injured his hip and was taken to hospital where he is recovering from his exertions. It's unclear if he won the competition. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 20 Jul 09 - 01:48 PM Man Stole More Than 1,000 Used Men's Underpants |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 16 Jul 09 - 10:27 AM I heard an interview with him yesterday. His son suggested if they'd had that kind of money they could have bought season tickets to attend the Yankees games. His father responded that with that kind of money they could have purchase the Yankees team. . . can't find it in a scan of a few NPR programs. But it's out there. SRS |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 16 Jul 09 - 09:44 AM MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) -- A New Hampshire man says he swiped his debit card at a gas station to buy a pack of cigarettes and was charged over 23 quadrillion dollars. Josh Muszynski (Moo-SIN'-ski) checked his account online a few hours later and saw the 17-digit number -- a stunning $23,148,855,308,184,500 (twenty-three quadrillion, one hundred forty-eight trillion, eight hundred fifty-five billion, three hundred eight million, one hundred eighty-four thousand, five hundred dollars). Muszynski says he spent two hours on the phone with Bank of America trying to sort out the string of numbers and the $15 overdraft fee. The bank corrected the error the next day. Bank of America tells WMUR-TV only the card issuer, Visa, could answer questions. Visa, in turn, referred questions to the bank. ------ |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 15 Jul 09 - 11:57 PM The news has been so bizarre of late this thread has hardly been necessary. Maybe things will relax so we can get back to enjoying obscure little items. (Probably not--I just heard that Michael Jackson's death is being ruled a homicide. . . ) SRS |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 15 Jul 09 - 08:40 PM Man fixing airbed blows up apartment A German man has blown up his apartment while trying to fix his leaky air mattress, his city's fire brigade said. The man, 45, from Duesseldorf in Germany's west, used tyre-repair solvent to plug a hole in his airbed and left it overnight. It blew up when he went to inflate it the next day. "A spark from the electric air pump ignited it," a fire brigade spokesman said. The blast pushed his living-room wall into the building's stairwell and caused extensive damage to walls, windows and furniture. Fire fighters evacuated the 12-apartment building and a neighbouring housing block while they checked for structural damage. The man suffered burns on his arms, while a three-year-old girl suffered first-degree burns. -Reuters |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 13 Jul 09 - 12:38 PM The biggest solar energy project in the world is about to get off the drawing board. And leading German firm, Siemens, is just one of around a dozen organizations getting behind Desertec. SPIEGEL asked Siemens CEO Peter Löscher about his company's role in the project. Top companies lined up on Monday to get behind the world's most ambitious solar energy project. They signed a memorandum of understanding in Munich to set up the Desertec Industrial Initiative which involves what is being called a "solar technology belt" across the Middle East and North Africa, with a huge undersea "super grid" then delivering the power back to Europe. The CEO of Siemens AG, Peter Löscher, believes Europe is on the brink of anew era in energy production. The aim of the €400 billion ($560 billion) project is to provide carbon-free energy that could supply up to 20 percent of European energy needs by 2050. At first the Desertec project, which arose out of a feasibility study commissioned by the German Ministry of the Environment, looked as though it might not get much further than the drawing board because of its hefty price tag. But a consortium of some of Europe's heaviest financial hitters has come together to raise the required funds. Among others both governmental and non-governmental, this includes Deutsche Bank, energy giants RWE and E.ON, major insurer Munich Re and electro-engineering leader Siemens. ... |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Bee-dubya-ell Date: 06 Jul 09 - 10:17 PM Well, if those Aussie folks would just send Chongo an airline ticket and a case of hootch, he'd solve both those mysteries for 'em. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 06 Jul 09 - 08:10 PM ALso in ABC News for AUstralia: "Police are looking for 30 crocodiles believed to have been stolen from a crocodile farm near Darwin. Some of the saltwater crocodiles, which were taken from the Jenamba Crocodile Farm at Fogg Dam, are up to one metre long. Farm manager Manual Cabrall says an audit yesterday revealed about 30 of the animals, which are used for skin and meat, to be missing. He thinks they may have been taken to southern states, where he says live crocodiles can fetch up to $1000 each on the black market." |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 06 Jul 09 - 08:02 PM 700yo child's skull washes up in Sydney Police are looking for the owner of a 700-year-old human skull found washed up on Sydney's Northern Beaches. The child's skull was found on September 12 last year at the Basin, north of Mona Vale Beach. Investigators enlisted the help of anthropologists at New Zealand's University of Waikato, who used radiocarbon dating to conclude the skull was about 700 years old. The experts concluded the skull belonged to a child between four and six years old, who was not Indigenous. Northern Beaches detectives say the skull probably belongs to a private collector, a museum or a research facility. ---------------- Story as reported in Sept Unlocking secrets of the skull found on Mona Vale beach THERE is no name. The age is unclear. Police are not even sure what gender the child was nor how long he or she has been dead. These are just some of the mysteries forensic experts hope to answer as they conduct various tests on a skull that was found after being washed up on Mona Vale beach. As Glebe Coroner's Court began its investigations yesterday, a spokeswoman said: "The person could have been a missing person who has been in the water for a while. We don't even know if it's Australian. Police Media Release Archive Police seek owner of human skull - Northern Beaches |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: heric Date: 02 Jul 09 - 03:32 PM oh you're right same online deal. drats novelty is wearing off. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 02 Jul 09 - 01:41 PM I think you can do that here in the U.S. also. It's a special software program and you print them from home. SRS |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: heric Date: 02 Jul 09 - 12:42 PM You can upload photos to the Canada Postal Service and make custom stamps how cool is that? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 25 Jun 09 - 01:26 PM Nice story, but it does indeed sound like it's time to separate the dogs and cats. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 25 Jun 09 - 12:23 PM Miracle adoption Full story here. The Harveys regard the entire saga of the white tigers and their canine foster mom as little less than a miracle. Last year, as gas prices soared and the economy soured, they watched attendance at the zoo dwindle alarmingly, along with their income. They decided to give themselves until Aug. 1, 2008, for things to turn around. If they didn't, they saw no alternative to closing the park. That's when a white Bengal tiger they had gave birth to the triplets. Within 15 hours, she abandoned the helpless cubs. The "tiger teens" adopted by a golden retriever are still young enough to play with a ball — but they're getting too big to play with their surrogate mom. Isabella was just a year old and was in the process of weaning her first litter of two pups. The Harveys decided to see if Izzy, as they call the dog, could be a surrogate mother for the tigers. The cubs took to her and thrived on Izzy's milk. The story of the dog who adopted three tigers quickly spread. On Aug. 1, the deadline for either saving or closing the zoo, the Harveys, Isabella and the cubs found themselves on the TODAY show. Hearts melted at the cute cubs and the gentle canine. People flocked to Caney to see them. The zoo was saved. ... |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 22 Jun 09 - 11:15 AM Jeffersonville attorney Larry Wilder found asleep in trash can City attorney was walked home, but no arrest made By DAVID A. MANN David.Mann@newsandtribune.com Jeffersonville attorney Larry Wilder was found asleep by police in his neighbor's overturned city garbage can Wednesday morning, after neighbors called police when they woke to find their trash strewn on the ground and a man inside the receptacle. Jeffersonville Police Chief Tim Deeringer said Wilder was cooperative when police arrived at the home on Elk Pointe Boulevard and was able to walk back to his home — next door. Wilder's son and daughter, both adults, were home and able to take care of him from there, Deeringer said. No arrest was made as a result of the incident. "There was no crime committed," Deeringer said. Although police records describe Wilder as "10-47" — police code for intoxicated — upon officers' arrival, no breath alcohol or sobriety test was administered. It's an officer's discretion on what actions to take in such situations, the chief said. Typically, if someone is that close to their home, they would just be escorted to their residence. Police records show that officers arrived on the scene just before 7 a.m. Wednesday. A neighbor, Roberta Embry, said her husband found Wilder inside the can when walking out of the house that morning. "He (Wilder) took all the trash out and laid it (the trash can) on its side," she said. Embry said she did not notice any drinking at Wilder's residence the night before, but said her husband had. Her husband declined to comment on the situation when called by a reporter. Wilder represents the Jeffersonville City Council and has acted as the city's attorney on several high profile cases, including the legal wrangling regarding the city's annexation. He recently presented arguments before the Indiana Court of Appeals in an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit against Jeffersonville over a ban on sex offenders in city parks. In 2008, he was the highest paid of Jeffersonville's six city attorneys, receiving $107,000 in tax dollars. That's four times more than the next highest-paid city attorney. He's also attorney for the Greater Clark County Schools system, as well as operating his own private practice, located on Court Avenue in Jeffersonville. Jeffersonville City Councilman Ron Grooms said the incident was "an embarrassment." |
