Saturday, October 25, 2008
And Almost Everywhere: Indefatigable Car Thieves...
A motor-car lock which will be simple and thief-proof would be an invention which would appeal to motorists just now, and the wonder is that some such device has not already been included in the regular equipment of some make of car. It may be true that in some cities the removal of the starting...
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Friday, October 24, 2008
And in Australia: Tourist Killer Sentenced to Stud Farm...
A killer is going to get away with it. A 4.5 m long crocodile [that’s 14 ¾ ft to our Americans], believed to have eaten tourist Arthur Brooker last month, cannot be put down since such large reptiles are protected by state laws. Nor can it be put on display in a zoo with a sign boasting of its...
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Thursday, October 23, 2008
And in France: It’s Alive!
For decades scientists have argued about the life status of viruses. Researchers at the University of the Mediterranean on Marseille, France, and their colleagues have discovered that viruses can fall ill through infection by other viruses. The finding, published online by Nature, August 6, provides...
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Tuesday, October 21, 2008
And in New York (and Britain): Bad Taste – Banksy’s Animal Art...
In a New York City gallery show, the British graffiti artist manipulates common animal related images in gross-out ways. A pair of Chicken McNuggets, mounted on chicken feet, peck at a tub of dipping sauce; wieners writhe and twist in their buns and leopard lounging on a tree turns out to be a coat...
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Monday, October 20, 2008
And in Virginia: A Bad Tactical Error...
In Jonesville, VA, a man was arrested after attracting a lot of attention by parking his Hummer, with Michigan plates, outside a county welfare office while he went inside to apply for benefits. Police ran a quick check on the vehicle, says the Washington Post, and discovered that it had been...
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Sunday, October 19, 2008
And Almost Everywhere: Wanna be a Star Gazer?
Starting tomorrow and for the next two weeks you can join thousands of citizen-scientists in The Great World Wide Star Count, a participatory way to gauge light pollution in your neighbourhood. This website explains how to spot the constellation Cygnus and estimate its brightness. Thousands of such...
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Friday, October 17, 2008
And in Canada: An MP Bride, a Crossbow, two Caribou and a Wedding Dress...
When Ontario Tory MP [that’s Member of Parliament, not Military Police] Helena Guergis needed to relax during the campaign she grabbed her crossbow and hit the range at the Wolf’s Den in her riding with her father, Karam Guergis (an excellent hunter, who once killed two caribou with one bullet.)...
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Thursday, October 16, 2008
And Almost Everywhere: Talk to Teens, Live Longer...
“Youth is a wonderful thing,” George Bernard Shaw once said. “What a crime to waste it on children.” Humor aside, recent research suggests that youthful energy may not be “wasted” after all. Through social interaction alone, the youthful can pass some of their vigor on to the elderly, improving the...
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Wednesday, October 15, 2008
And in Japan: The Tao of Poop...
In 1945 Japan was still a pit latrine and paper culture. Now it makes the most advanced toilets in the world: devices that check blood pressure, play music, suck smelly ions [remember that term for future use: ‘smelly ions’] from the atmosphere, heat their seats and put them back down (an...
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Tuesday, October 14, 2008
And in Australia: Save Water, Shower with Your Suit...
Australian Wool Innovation Ltd. Has created ‘MerinoFresh’, a wool business suit you can clean overnight by wearing it in the shower. If you feel silly, you can also hang it on a hanger in the shower. Whatever approach, its inventors say that exposing the suit to 40 degree C water removes smog,...
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