Archive | March, 2011

New close up pictures of planet Mercury

31 Mar

When I first saw this story and these images I assumed it was images of Earth’s moon from NASA’s Mercury missions. Hey editors of the world, help the science minded out with clearer headlines.

The pockmarked planet Mercury. Image JPL.

Date acquired: March 29, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 209877871
Image ID: 65056
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: -53.3°
Center Longitude: 13.0° E
Resolution: 2.7 kilometers/pixel (1.7 miles/pixel)
Scale: Debussy has a diameter of 80 kilometers (50 miles)

Of Interest: Early this morning, at 5:20 am EDT, MESSENGER captured this historic image of Mercury. This image is the first ever obtained from a spacecraft in orbit about the Solar System’s innermost planet. Over the subsequent six hours, MESSENGER acquired an additional 363 images before downlinking some of the data to Earth.

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Bomb squad called to defuse sex toy

31 Mar

Bwa ha ha ha.

The bomb scare turned out to be a false alarm Photo: ALAMY

Russian bomb squad called in to defuse sex toy

www.telegraph.co.uk | 0:45PM GMT 14 Mar 2011

Anti-terrorist bomb squad experts were called to a post office in the northwest of Russia to make safe a package from which a strange ticking sound was coming, local police said on Monday.

They found a vibrator.

The incident took place at Petrozavodsk in the republic of Karelia and followed a call from a postal worker who had identified a suspect package, a police spokeswoman told AFP by phone.

“The post building was ringed by the security forces and people were evacuated,” she said.

“In the package the bomb squad found a vibrator.”

The sex toy had apparently been turned on “by accident”.

Girl Scout cookie assault

30 Mar

Thin mints are the most popular Girl Scout Cookie for a reason.

Hersha Howard

Random image of Thin Mints.


Thin Mint melee lands Naples woman in jail
www.abc-7.com | Feb 21, 2011

NAPLES: A Naples woman was arrested Sunday after deputies say she attacked her roommate over a box of Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies.

Hersha Howard, 31, of 7050 Ambrosia Lane, Apt. #3606, was charged with Aggravated Battery with a Deadly Weapon.

Howard’s roommate, Jasmin Wanke, told deputies she was asleep when Howard burst into her bedroom and accused her of eating the cookies.

Wanke said she gave them to Howard’s kids because they were awake and hungry at 1 a.m., according to a Collier County Sheriff’s Office report.

The women began to argue, then Howard reportedly jumped on top of Wanke and struck her in the face.

The two continued to fight until Wanke’s husband separated them.

When Wanke walked out of the bedroom, Howard grabbed a pair of scissors and began chasing and threatening Wanke, the report said.

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Boy missing much of his brain baffles science

29 Mar

This is truly one for the medical books. For unknown reasons active and cheerful Chase is missing much of his brain.  According to these reports young Chase seems to be well cared for, loved and enjoying life and I hope that never changes.

Click here to watch a video.

Chase Britton has an interesting and rare brain condition.

WNY 3-Year-Old’s Rare Condition Changing Medical Science
Sarah Hopkins | www.wgrz.com | Feb 14, 2011

WILLIAMSVILLE, NY – A slow but steady walk down the hallway might seem like no small accomplishment for a 3-year-old.

But for Chase Britton, it is nothing short of a medical miracle.

Chase giggles and cheers for himself as he walks, as his parents, Heather and David look on.

How far they’ve come.

“We’ve been told an awful lot, by folks who seem to know, or should know, what he should be able to do, and what he’s doing, is not that,” said David.

With each measured step, Chase is changing what top doctors and researchers around the world thought they knew about the brain.

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Cobra missing from zoo

28 Mar

This is not good news. I don’t care how they try to say the public is not in danger, this is crazy bad.

Random image result for Egyptian Cobra

Snake Escape Makes Zoo Squirm
By ANDREW GROSSMAN | Wall Street Journal | MARCH 28, 2011

An Egyptian cobra was still on the loose at the Bronx Zoo Sunday after slithering out of its enclosure Friday afternoon.

Zoo keepers shut down the Reptile House “until further notice” to look for the venomous 20-inch snake. Officials said the cobra’s reclusive nature meant it posed little danger to the public.

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Elizabeth Taylor outlived her NYT obit writer

27 Mar

This is a wonderful footnote to the life of a world famous movie star.

Mel Gussow and Elizabeth Taylor

Taylor Outlived Her Times Obituary Writer by 5 Years
March 23, 2011  |  www.thewrap.com

Elizabeth Taylor’s life was remarkable, her legend enduring.

So enduring, in fact, Taylor outlived the writer of her New York Times obituary — by five years!

Mel Gussow, the bylined writer of the paper’s official obit, died in 2005.

Via a note appended to the version published online: Mel Gussow, the principal writer of this article, died in 2005.

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Yoga not as old nor as Hindu as purported

26 Mar

Ooo snap, “reducing their spiritually rich tradition to mere calisthenics.”

Random yoga image "reducing their spiritually rich tradition to mere calisthenics"

Not as Old as You Think…nor very Hindu either. There is telling evidence to debunk this nationalistic myth
OPEN Magazine-www.openthemagazine.com | February 16, 2011

No one denies that Hinduism’s most sacred and ancient texts, including the Bhagvad Gita, describe different kinds of yogic practices. But what does this ancient and sacred tradition of yoga have to do with what people all around the world do in yoga classes in gyms and fitness centres today?

To most Indians, such questions are nothing less than sacrilegious. Yoga is for them what apple pie and motherhood are for Americans: a living symbol of their way of life.

Indians tend to affirm their claims on yoga by trotting out the familiar icons of the ‘5,000-year-old Vedic tradition,’ which supposedly stretches from the Pashupati seal of the (actually very unVedic) Indus Valley civilisation to the Bhagvad Gita and the venerable Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Yoga, Indians like to solemnly declare, is ‘eternal’ and ‘timeless’ and all the great yoga masters, from Swami Vivekananda to BKS Iyengar to Baba Ramdev of our own time, have only restored or reinstituted an ancient practice. It is also commonplace to hear Indians—even those who are not particularly spiritual themselves—blame Americans and other ‘decadent’ Westerners for reducing their spiritually rich tradition to mere calisthenics.

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World’s loudest cat?

25 Mar

Wow, that is one loud cat.

Deafening: Smokey the cat's purrs average an astonishing 80 decibels - more than THREE times louder than most cats

Record breaker: Owner Ruth Adams has submitted an application for Smokey's piercing purrs to the Guinness World Records

Is this the loudest cat in the world? Meet Smokey whose purr is as noisy as a Boeing 737
By Andrew Levy  |  www.dailymail.co.uk  |  22nd February 2011

For cat lovers, there is nothing more soothing than the sound of their pet purring with contentment.

But when Smokey kicks off, it’s time to reach for the ear plugs.

The sound she produces can reach an incredible 92 decibels – the same as you’d experience watching a Boeing 737 coming in to land.

Even from five feet away the level is 80 decibels, the same as a car passing 25ft away. Most cats produce around 25 decibels.

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REDNECK, the religion

24 Mar

What a wonderful story. I particularly enjoy his charge “engaging in a lewd and lascivious act with a minor.” One wonders if he was related to the minor? Oh wait, I am confusing hillbilly with redneck.

Thanks to the marvy Elizabeth of bigteaparty.com for sharing this link with me.

Joshua Lee Joehlin, practicing Redneck

In Some Parts Of The U.S. “Redneck” Is Actually Considered A Religion
www.thesmokinggun.com/buster  |  February 23, 2011

While certainly no experts on spiritual matters, until today we were unaware of the existence of a religion being practiced in the South.

As seen in the above excerpt from a Bradenton (Florida) Police Department report, suspect Joshua Lee Joehlin told cops that he is a member of the “Redneck” faith.

Joehlin, a 20-year-old Texan, was busted early Sunday morning on a felony charge of engaging in a lewd and lascivious act with a minor. Joehlin, pictured at left, is being held in the Manatee County jail in lieu of $10,000 bond.

Tiger kills lion at Turkish zoo

23 Mar

A truly epic battle.

The video clip showing a similar battle is from the old, but well known Clyde Beatty film The Big Cage.

A Real Lion vs Tiger Fight  – Tigress kills lion.

Tiger kills lion with one swipe at Turkish zoo
Bengal tiger reportedly stuck paw through gap, severed lion’s jugular vein
3/8/2011 | www.msnbc.msn.com

ANKARA, Turkey — A Turkish zoo says a tiger severed a lion’s jugular vein when it stuck its paw through a narrow gap in a door dividing their cages.

The zoo in the Turkish capital of Ankara issued a statement Monday to deny media reports that the tiger bent iron bars to attack the lion and tear it into pieces in the attack on Sept. 4.

It said the tiger had squeezed its front leg through the door, and in a single stroke left the lion dying in a pool of blood.

It was not clear why the death of one of the three lions in the zoo was publicized so late.

Six tigers remain in an enclosure at the zoo, which insists that it is safe for visitors.

Cop stops truck full of naked people

22 Mar

Hey, sometimes it happens.

Best random image I could find for naked person and pick up truck.

Nebraska deputy stops pickup truck full of naked people
siouxcityjournal.com  |  February 24, 2011 4:00 pm

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lancaster County authorities say a deputy investigating a suspicious vehicle near Lincoln got a surprise when he stopped a pickup truck — all four people inside were naked.

The Lincoln Journal Star says the deputy stopped the truck early last Saturday. The sheriff’s office says the deputy noticed a strong smell of alcohol as he approached the truck. In the bed, he found clothes. In the truck were two men and two women, all naked.

The driver, Nickolus Borgman, of Denton, was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving and other violations. The others weren’t cited.

Nebraska’s online court system doesn’t list an attorney for Borgman. Court records show he was released from jail on $40,000 bond. An online search shows no phone listing for him in the Denton area.

Bear toots car horn, goes on joyride

20 Mar

Leave food in your car in bear country and this is what happens.

Sorry the video has a commercial in the start, but its worth it.

Bear Toots Horn, Takes Car On Short Joyride
DAN ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer  |  Jul 23, 2010

A bear got into an empty car, honked the horn and then sent it rolling 125 feet into a thicket, with the bear still inside, a Colorado family said.

Seventeen-year-old Ben Story said he and his family were asleep in their Larkspur home, 30 miles south of Denver, when the bear managed to open the unlocked door of his 2008 Toyota Corolla early Friday and climbed inside.

A peanut butter sandwich left on the back seat is probably what attracted the bear, Story said.

It’s not unusual for bears to open unlocked doors to cars and houses in search of food, said Tyler Baskfield, a spokesman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife.

“It happens all the time,” he said. “They’re very smart.”

Once inside, the bear must have knocked the shifter on the automatic transmission into neutral, sending the car rolling backward down the inclined driveway and into the thicket, Story said.

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