‘Telling apart relatives from strangers is crucial in many animal species, helping them to share precious resources or avoid inbreeding. Now it seems that plants can perform the same trick.
Plants have already been shown to compete with others — of their own kind or of another species — when sharing space. For example, they sometimes choose to invest more energy in sprouting roots when they have nearby competition for water and nutrients.
Now, Susan Dudley and Amanda File of McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, have shown that plants grown alongside unrelated neighbours are more competitive than those growing with their siblings — ploughing more energy into growing roots when their neighbours don’t share their genetic stock.’
‘It soon will be a crime in this Cajun-country town to let the waistband of your pants sag too low in public.
Mayor Carol Broussard has said he will sign an ordinance the town council approved this week setting penalties of up to six months in jail and a $500 fine for being caught in pants that show undergarments or certain parts of the body.
Broussard said he has nothing against saggy pants but thinks people who wear them should use discretion. “It’s gotten way out of hand out here,” he said. [..]
Broussard’s advice for people who like their pants to hang low: “Just wear it properly. Cover your vital parts. I mean, if you expose your private parts, you’ll get a fine. If you walk up and your pants drop, you get a fine. They’re better off taking the pants off and just wearing a dress.”‘
‘A teenager with a brown belt in karate used a samurai sword to scare off a burglar who was after his PlayStation 3 video game console.
Last Friday afternoon, Damian Fernandez and his 15-year-old sister, Deanne Fernandez, were home alone at their northwest Miami-Dade County home while their parents were at work when they heard knocking on the front door. Moments later, two men were prying the front door unlocked, prompting Deanne to hide in her closet. [..]
“Once I saw him take off running back, I jumped off my (bunk) bed and I grabbed my sword … and I just waited for him,” he said.
Damian said he lunged at him with his samurai sword, striking him in the chest.
“He freaked out,” Damian said.
The burglar ran out of the house with Damian chasing him down the road. When police arrived, a K-9 officer located the burglar hiding behind a neighbor’s palm tree. The second burglar got away.’
This is from the Britain’s Got Talent TV show. Good job.
(12.0meg Windows media)
see it here »
‘A 16-year-old Sacramento boy spent nearly eight hours on a busy intersection Tuesday holding a sign that read, in part, “I’m stupid.”
On Sunday night, Dominiq Drye, 16, came home from hanging out with some friends. His mother, Christine Drye, said she knew immediately something was wrong. “His eyes were red and glossy,” said Drye. “I knew something wasn’t right.”
Dominiq eventually admitted he had smoked some marijuana. His mother said this wasn’t the first time. “I’ve tried taking things, I’ve tried other punishment. It’s not working,” she said.
So Drye decided to try something different, something extreme. [..]’
‘Decatur police are trying to determine how a one-ton municipal dump truck wound up at the bottom of the Point Mallard Park’s wave pool.
Police said they suspect a maintenance worker could have been responsible for submerging the vehicle in the 8-foot-deep pool at the J. Gilmer Blackburn Aquatic Center. A wrecker service was called in to haul it out of the water.
Officers noticed several garbage bags floating in the water about 5 a.m. Sunday and had to move close to make out the shadowy object at the bottom. They said a gate was open and there were two sets of tire tracks, one leading up a ramp to the wave pool, the other appearing to match a white pickup parked nearby.
Police said an empty beer can, an unidentified vial and a pair of blue swim trunks also were found. The truck could have been driven into the pool as early as 10:30 p.m. Saturday, according to police.’
‘A 45-tonne bowhead whale caught off the Alaskan coast last month had a weapon fragment embedded in its neck that showed it survived a similar hunt – more than a century ago.
Embedded deep under its blubber was a 13-centimetre arrow-shaped projectile that has given researchers insight into the whale’s age, estimated between 115 and 130 years old.
“No other finding has been this precise,” said John Bockstoce, an adjunct curator of the New Bedford Whaling Museum in Massachusetts.
Calculating a whale’s age can be difficult, and is usually gauged by amino acids in the eye lenses. It is rare to find one that has lived more than a century, but experts say the oldest were close to 200 years old.’
Camera footage from a different angle shows Bush taking the watch off himself.
Far less amusing than someone stealing it from his arm.
Followup to White House ends mystery over Bush’s watch.
(1.7meg Flash video)
see it here »
‘In an astounding development that has completely failed to register any attention amongst mainstream U.S. media, China promised to escalate preparations for war in advance of a potential conflict, after President Bush shook hands with a Taiwanese government official yesterday.
Bush shook hands and met with Taiwan’s representative to the United States, Joseph Wu, on Tuesday, during a commemoration for victims of Communism in Washington DC.
In a headline story that aired at 10pm Shanghai time Wednesday night on the Hong Kong based PHTV news channel, Chinese government leaders threatened to plan new war games and heighten military readiness in anticipation of any attempt by the U.S. to defend Taiwan should a Chinese invasion occur, or simply if Taiwan declares its independence.’
‘A 25-year-old Hilton Head Island man is accused of breaking into an apartment and then calling his mom for a ride home from the crime scene.
An alert neighbor heard someone scurrying around in an upstairs apartment at Cordillo Courts, 104 Cordillo Parkway, and followed the pair all the way to New Orleans Road, where a deputy caught up to them, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s report.
Isaac Talavera, Jr., 25, of 26 Forest Cove, was charged with second-degree burglary after officers found 13 pairs of socks, two cell phones, two tank tops, cigarettes, car keys, a watch and vehicle titles stolen from the apartment at 3:52 p.m., Thursday, the report stated.’
‘The Government has warned people to throw away two brands of Chinese-made toothpaste after it was found to contain a toxic chemical.
Chris Pearce, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, said today that two brands of toothpaste, Mr Cool and Excel, were being withdrawn from sale after being found to contain diethylene glycol (DEG).
“However, there could well be other brands that have not yet been identified,” he said.
The chemical, diethylene glycol, is used in antifreeze and as a solvent. The chemical is a central nervous system depressant and potent kidney and liver toxin.
Mr Pearce said no Australian-made toothpaste contained DEG.’
Followup to US warns over Chinese toothpaste.
Make sure your bolts are all tightened up before you go drifting. You think it’d go without saying, but nah.. :)
(4.7meg Windows media)
see it here »
‘An astonishing attempted escape from the police in the Bronx Wednesday morning left a suspect dangling from the side of a high-rise, 23 stories above the ground.
It wasn’t a typical sighting for New Yorkers walking outside or living across from the Soundview apartment tower.
“I started to think, ‘What’s wrong? Is he trying to commit suicide or something?'” said Alex Morales, who, along with his wife Patricia witnessed the suspect’s crazy antics.
But Francisco Correra Jr. wasn’t trying to kill himself. Instead he was trying to escape from police investigating an assault complaint.
“His foot was on the ledge of the window and he was hanging on a childproof bar,” Patricia Morales said.’
‘A boy of six was sent a letter by police urging him to confess to being a career criminal.
Peter Akers was advised to admit any unsolved crimes so he could make a “fresh start”. He was even offered treatment for drugs addiction.
The letter – sent to Peter by mistake – was one of scores of warning messages posted to repeat offenders.
It read: “We are giving the opportunity for you to come forward and notify us of any offences you have committed but have never been dealt with.”
Suggesting a confession might see Peter spared jail, it added: “We will offer all the help and support we can to assist you in making a fresh start.”
Peter, from Derby, could only recall one crime however – stealing sweets from his sister Phoebe, aged nine.’
‘Iran’s parliament on Wednesday voted in favor of a bill that could lead to the death penalty for persons convicted of working in the production of pornographic movies.
With a 148-5 vote in favor and four abstentions, lawmakers present at the Wednesday session of the 290-seat parliament approved that “producers of pornographic works and main elements in their production are considered corrupter of the world and could be sentenced to punishment as corrupter of the world.”
The term, “corrupter of the world” is taken from the Quran, the Muslims’ holy book, and ranks among the highest on the scale of an individual’s criminal offenses. Under Iran’s Islamic Penal Code, it carries a death penalty.
The “main elements” referred to in the draft include producers, directors, cameramen and actors involved in making a pornographic video.’
Once again the Japanese are on the cutting edge of science related television.
(8.5meg Window media)
see it here »
‘A Brisbane man bullied for wearing bright yellow thongs to a backyard barbecue stabbed the host in the face before killing one of the guests, a court has heard.
Benjamin Haydn MacRae, 28, used a paring knife to stab neighbours Ian Macdonald and James Croker after being dubbed a “gaylord” by one of the men over his choice of footwear.
Mr Macdonald later died as a result of his injuries. [..]
“Ian Macdonald had suggested on a number of occasions that Benjamin MacRae was a gaylord because of the colour of his thongs. The mood was a good one, but it deteriorated.”‘
‘Feast your eyes on the result of weeks of work using the various remains of over a dozen cars — from 80’s BMW’s to a 1990 Toyota Tercel — it’s the glorious Turbo II Junkyard Boogaloo boombox. For those of you who want the gearhead nitty-gritty, the full “How To” is here. For those who just want to see this baby in all of its radical goodness, below you’ll find some documentation of what the Turbo II is and does …
Ninety-two pounds of plywood and car parts joined together as an homage to the homemade car-battery boomboxes used by first-generation break dancers; if you’ve watched the video above you’ve already got the general idea of the Turbo II Junkyard Boogaloo’s features. Read on and we’ll fill you in on the details [..]’
‘A surgeon amputated a 17-year-old boy’s arm on the Palmetto Expressway after a Saturday morning crash involving a cement truck, police said. Police flew the surgeon in by helicopter after the 8 a.m. wreck in the northbound lanes near South River Drive.
Police said the boy was a passenger in his father’s cement truck and the two were headed for work when his father lost control and the truck flipped on its right side.
Rescuers worked to free the boy without success after the crash, finally determining the only solution was field amputation. A surgeon from the Ryder Trauma Center was flown in and about 50 firefighters worked to get him access to the boy.’
‘A man was cited for drunken driving twice in the same day, by the same officer, and jailed after authorities said he showed up drunk for his arraignment.
Court records said Adam T. Lundgren, 42, was cited for misdemeanor drunken driving after being spotted driving erratically at 5:30 p.m. Monday.
He was later released to a sober friend, but jumped from the friend’s car and returned to downtown Missoula, where he continued drinking, court records said.
At about 10 p.m., Lundgren drove into a bridge railing and started to run away. Witnesses captured him and held him until police arrived.’
‘US President George W Bush put his wristwatch in his pocket while greeting a crowd during his visit to Albania, the White House said Tuesday in an effort to end a two-day long mystery over the disappearance of the timepiece.
Bush was mingling with a very enthusiastic crowd – to put it mildly – in the small Albanian town of Fushe Kruja on Sunday when the saga began. Cameras captured the watch on his arm, but moments later images showed the leader of the free world’s wrist was bare.
Since, various media in Albania and other countries have speculated that someone might have snatched the First Watch, or the president may have lost it. The White House, however, offered a rather boring conclusion to the tale.
“The president put it in his pocket and it returned safely home,” spokesman Tony Snow said.’
(1.2meg Flash video)
see it here »
‘Everybody is using it, but (almost) nobody really knows how it works. Google PageRank is probably one of the most important algorithms ever developed for the Web. With billions of existing pages and millions of pages generated every day, the search issue in the Web is more complex than you probably think it is. PageRank, only one of hundreds of factors used by Google to determine best search results, helps to keep our search clean and efficient. But how is it actually done? How does Google PageRank work, which factors do have an impact on it and which don’t? And what do we really know about PageRank?
In this article we put the facts straight.’
‘A new report puts Google in last place when it comes to privacy protection. Despite recent moves to anonymize server logs and other pro-privacy gestures, Privacy International called the company “an endemic threat to privacy.”
Only Google earned the dismal “black” color bar from the group, which has just issued a report on Internet privacy that took six months to assemble [..]. The current report is preliminary; final results will be released in September.
The report rated top Internet companies on privacy issues and distilled the various results into a single color bar. Microsoft was two ranks up from Google, earning a curry-colored “serious lapses” rating. Amazon scored one level higher with its yellow “notable lapses” rank, and eBay did even better, earning a coveted blue bar. No company earned a top mark, however.’
‘The Church of England today asked entertainment giant Sony to apologise and contribute a large donation for featuring a prominent British cathedral in a violent video game.
Church officials had earlier accused Sony of using the historic interior of Manchester Cathedral, where memorials for gun crime victims have been held, as the backdrop for parts of the new Playstation 3 game, Resistance: Fall of Man without permission.
David Marshall, the cathedral’s spokesman, said the church had received many emails supporting its stance and added that officials were set to meet tomorrow to discuss further action against Sony.’
‘China said Monday it was investigating the sale of fake blood protein, a potentially dangerous and widespread practice that underscores the country’s problems with product safety.
State media reported one death from use of the counterfeits, but authorities have not said whether anyone has fallen ill.
A shortage of albumin, a blood protein that chronically ill people often lack, triggered a countrywide investigation in March into whether fakes were being sold, China Central Television said.
The report centred on an inquiry in the northeastern province of Jilin, where 59 hospitals and pharmacies were sold more than 2,000 bottles of counterfeit blood protein. It did not say what the products were made of, but said they could “make a patient’s condition worsen and could cause death.”‘
‘An Australian man who didn’t notice he lost part of a finger in a bar fight has had the missing digit re-attached.
A Sydney police spokesman said the man left the pub after being involved in a fight and was walking down the street before realizing the top knuckle of his ring finger was missing.
Inspector Mark Kellert told The Sydney Morning Herald the 42-year-old man went to a nearby hospital while the missing finger was located in the pub’s bathroom. The body part taken to the hospital where doctors later re-attached it.
Kellert said no arrests had been made although “police are continuing their inquiries.”‘
‘More than a million animals, including elephants, buffaloes, ostriches, lions, giraffes and a rare type of stork, have been unexpectedly seen living and migrating across Southern Sudan, where no surveys of wildlife had been conducted for the past 25 years due to civil war in the region.
Decades of war wrought significant damage to the region, along with excessive hunting, desertification of the land and periodic droughts, so wildlife numbers were declining in the stricken country. Based on observations in other war-torn nations, conservationists thought the wildlife in Southern Sudan would be wiped out, but it wasn’t.
Officials told scientists they had seen herds of animals in the region.
“Although we were telling people that wildlife was still present in southern Sudan, nobody believed us,” said Maj. Gen. Alfred Akwoch, undersecretary of the Ministry of the Environment, Wildlife Conservation and Tourism for the government of Southern Sudan.’
‘Chicago Attorneys for a man who says he was beaten by a Chicago Fire Department paramedic two years ago released a videotape Monday that shows the man cowering as he takes blows to his face.
Other Fire Department personnel allegedly stood and watched throughout the beating, which happened in July 2005 outside Roseland Community Hospital.
The paramedic on the tape was reportedly upset that Robert Cole, 43 — who had called for an ambulance after feeling dizzy — changed his mind on the way to the hospital and decided he didn’t want medical attention.’
(2.6meg Flash video)
see it here »
‘A woman today recalled her “shock and embarrassment” at being flashed on a crowded train by a man she later identified as a senior judge.
As she glanced down at the bottom of her newspaper she noticed the “very kind looking” gentleman had exposed himself.
The woman spotted the man on four separate occasions on the rush-hour trip from Raynes Park, south-west London, to Waterloo, and later identified him by video as Lord Justice Richards, one of Britain’s most senior judges.’
