moonbuggy

‘Cane toads wiggle their toes to lure their young, then eat them up in an act of cannibalism, Australian researchers say.

They say the young toads move towards the adults, possibly mistaking the wiggling toes for a tasty morsel like an insect.

Instead the youngsters themselves end up as the tasty morsel.

But harnessing this cannibalistic behaviour may have some benefits, at least in Australia where cane toads are an invasive pest.

Scientists say it could be the key to getting cane toads to eat themselves out of existence.’

‘Two Alabama men are in the jail following a brawl straight out of the Middle Ages.

A third man involved in the fight, Pat Tordt, got out of the hospital Saturday night.

The fight was so intense weapons used were scattered some 30 yards down the street where the fight occurred.

The weapons were also something of a curiosity: a battle-axe, sword, and crossbow were among those recovered. [..]

Sgt. DeWayne McCarver of the Huntsville police said the injuries were serious, and the weapons of choice aren’t something police run across everyday.’

A friend of mine has been filming a a whole bunch of gigs lately, and was amused when he came across this little snippet during the video editing.

Apparently, the gig took a decidedly homosexual turn at one point, and neither he nor the band noticed at the time. Quite clear in the audio of the video tho. :)

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‘A British artist who ate a meal of meatballs made from a dead corgi dog in a protest against animal cruelty, says his next project will involve being buried in a box under a mountain of mashed potato.

Performance artist Mark McGowan, 37, said the corgi, which died from natural causes, tasted terrible. [..]

Now McGowan is switching his attention from animals to vegetables. He told Sky News television that his next project would be an interpretation of the work of American illusionist David Blaine.

“I am being buried in a box – a David Blaine type thing – in Dublin underneath a metre of mashed potato,” he said.

He did not explain why.’

Followup to British man eats corgi with Yoko.

‘Combining both intellect and physical prowess is the wonderful world of chess boxing. If you can afford the price of a pair of boxing gloves and the expenditure of a few brain cells, then this is the sport for you. The game, brainchild of Dutch participant Iepe the Joker, consists of six rounds of chess interspersed with five bouts in the ring. Contestants can win either on the board or between the ropes, with either a check-mate or a knockout being the most convincing of victories. However, should the referee deem it necessary, he or she can prematurely finish a bout. Should a participant take too long to move a chess piece due to unconsciousness, for example, the match is similarly ended. In the event of a stalemate, the one with the highest boxing score wins. It is indeed a unique blend of intellectual keenness with physical skill, though veterans of the sport may find one of the two increasingly difficult after a while.’

‘One or two of us have regrettably lost phones in a place or two (I myself lost a Treo 650 and a Cingular 8125 within the first four months of last year) but our friends across the pond literally flush an astounding 850,000 phones down the crapper each year.

850,000. Down the toilet.

Research by SimplySwitch, a company specializing in price comparison and switching carriers, found 4.5 million handsets are lost or damaged in the UK each year. Second to the death by watery grave, 810,000 handsets end up amongst the peanuts and broken hearts at a local pub, 315,000 stay behind for an extra long cab ride, 225,000 keep riding public transportation after their owners leave and 116,000 ended up in some dirty laundry.’

Well, a model 747 anyways. A large model. :)

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‘A virtual land dispute in Second Life will be resolved in federal court after a judge’s ruling. A lawsuit filed in May of 2006 by Pennsylvania attorney Marc Bragg accused Linden Lab and its CEO Philip Rosedale of wrongfully seizing his virtual land and unilaterally shutting down his Second Life account—intellectual property that Bragg says is worth thousands of (real-life) dollars. Linden Lab filed two motions to dismiss the suit, arguing that Bragg came into possession of his land wrongfully, but the Pennsylvania judge denied those motions.

Linden Lab has long maintained that virtual “property” owned by its residents in Second Life belongs to the players. Therefore, things like virtual clothing, buildings, and land all legitimately belong to the residents who created or purchased them, and the burgeoning trade of such is legitimate. Linden Lab sells “land” to residents directly—which translates in real life to server space for the land and things that are built on it—and does so through online auctions. Bragg purchased the land in question through an auction offered by the company, which he argues is the company’s fault for selling it to him if he wasn’t supposed to have it.’

‘Nuclear power stations will be banned in Western Australia by legislation aimed at thwarting the prime minister’s nuclear push, Premier Alan Carpenter says.

Mr Carpenter announced the new legislation at the WA Labor Party state conference.

The legislation will prohibit the construction or operation of a nuclear facility, the transportation of certain material to a nuclear facility site and the connection of nuclear generation works to electricity transmission or distribution systems.

Mr Carpenter said new technology was the answer to climate change challenges not nuclear power.’

‘Hampton Police are trying to unravel a huge mystery. Was there really a gunman at the East Pembroke McDonald’s around 2:30 Monday afternoon?

Around 2:30, police got the call that an armed gunman was inside the fast food restaurant.

Police say a SWAT team freed 12 employees and two customers believed to be held hostage for nearly three hours inside a Hampton McDonald’s by an armed man but never found a gunman.

No one was injured, and police are trying to figure out whether the man somehow got away or perhaps someone had perpetrated a hoax.’

This is what happens when you pass out drunk in a house near a lake.

It’s good to have friends who can help you. :)

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‘A blind athlete was killed by a hit-and-run driver in Florida shortly after his team lost the championship game in a national “goalball” tournament. [..]

John Mulhern, one of Green’s teammates on the Delaware County Blind Sports Organization’s Venom team, said Green had been hanging out with other athletes from the tournament when he went back to his hotel to use the bathroom.

Green apparently made a wrong turn while returning to the party and got lost, Mulhern said. He was on his cell phone with a teammate, who was trying to guide him back, when he was killed.

“The way the highway was there, there was no step-off,” Mulhern said. “The last thing they heard was the drop of his phone.”‘

‘Three Australian businessmen charged with misbehaving on a flight to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are expected to be deported from the country within the next 24 hours.

For the past six weeks the trio had faced the possibility of 14 years’ jail or floggings under Shariah law.

David Evans has instead received a 12 month suspended sentence for using rude language and touching a stewardess on the arm.

Jeremy Snaith has received a six month suspended sentence for drinking alcohol without a permit and using offensive language.

A third Australian, William Sargent, has been acquitted because the prescription drug in his blood stream did not fall under UAE jurisdiction.

The businessmen’s lawyer, Ross Hill, says they are expected to be deported within the next 24 hours.’

Followup to Pair accused of air fracas face desert hell in jail.

‘The logo for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics has been unveiled in a star-studded ceremony in London.

The jagged emblem, based on the date 2012, comes in a series of shades of pink, blue, green and orange and will evolve in the run-up to the Games.

The word London and the Olympic rings are included in the first two digits of the new logo.

“This is the vision at the very heart of our brand,” said London 2012 organising committee chairman Seb Coe.’

The logo is pretty ugly. Someone submitted their own version of a logo which is hilarious and got a bit of exposure on the BBC’s website.

That’s a pretty good effort. :)

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‘A Filipino in a drunken rage hacked dozens of people with a machete, killing 10 and wounding 19.

The killings took place in Gadgaran village on the central island of Samar.

A local police chief said suspect Danny Guades went from house to house before dawn hacking dozens of people, including relatives.

After attacks in two houses, he continued his stabbing spree at another home where villagers were attending a wake for a dead neighbour.’

‘Bradbury still has a lot to say, especially about how people do not understand his most literary work, Fahrenheit 451, published in 1953. It is widely taught in junior high and high schools and is for many students the first time they learn the names Aristotle, Dickens and Tolstoy.

Now, Bradbury has decided to make news about the writing of his iconographic work and what he really meant. Fahrenheit 451 is not, he says firmly, a story about government censorship. Nor was it a response to Senator Joseph McCarthy, whose investigations had already instilled fear and stifled the creativity of thousands.

This, despite the fact that reviews, critiques and essays over the decades say that is precisely what it is all about. Even Bradbury’s authorized biographer, Sam Weller, in The Bradbury Chronicles, refers to Fahrenheit 451 as a book about censorship.

Bradbury, a man living in the creative and industrial center of reality TV and one-hour dramas, says it is, in fact, a story about how television destroys interest in reading literature.’

‘A Japanese policeman distraught by working long hours and weekends for two months stabbed himself in the stomach with a knife to get some time off, police said Monday.

The 44-year-old officer knifed himself at his home in northwestern Japan on May 23, but told police he had been attacked, prompting an attempted murder investigation, Ishikawa prefecture police said in a statement.

Investigators became suspicious of his story after they could not find evidence of anyone who matched the description the officer had given of the supposed attacker, a police spokesman said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.’

Well, I suppose that it seems to work. [shrug]

The video repeats again and again, so you don’t need to watch the whole thing.

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‘Astrophysicists have found a star-like object with a surface temperature just one tenth that of the Sun.

The cold object is known as a brown dwarf: a “failed” star that never achieved the mass required to begin nuclear fusion reactions in its core.

This one – called J0034-00 – is thought to have a surface temperature of just 600-700 Kelvin (up to 430C/800F).

It is the coldest solitary brown dwarf ever seen, according to the British team that discovered it.

This find further tests the boundary between high-mass gas planets and the smallest brown dwarfs. ‘

‘The American interrogator was afraid. Of what and why, he couldn’t say. He was riding the L train in Chicago, and his throat was closing.

In Iraq, when Tony Lagouranis interrogated suspects, fear was his friend, his weapon. He saw it seep, dark and shameful, through the crotch of a man’s pants as a dog closed in, barking. He smelled it in prisoners’ sweat, a smoky odor, like a pot of lentils burning. He had touched fear, too, felt it in their fingers, their chilled skin trembling. [..]

“I tortured people,” said Lagouranis, 37, who was a military intelligence specialist in Iraq from January 2004 until January 2005. “You have to twist your mind up so much to justify doing that.” [..]

For Lagouranis, problems include “a creeping anxiety” on the train, he said. The 45-minute ride to Chicago’s O’Hare airport “kills me.” He feels as if he can’t get out “until they let me out.” Lagouranis’s voice was boyish, but his face was gray. The evening deepened his 5 o’clock shadow and the puffy smudges under his eyes.’

‘President Vladimir Putin yesterday declared that a new arms race and cold war with the west had begun and announced that Russia would retaliate against US missile defence plans in Europe by pointing its missiles at European cities. [..]

On missile defence, Mr Putin said that if the Bush administration installed elements of a missile shield in eastern Europe, Russia would retaliate by training nuclear missiles on European targets. Russia has not specifically aimed its missiles at Europe since the end of the cold war but, asked if it might do so again if the US missile shield went ahead, Mr Putin said: “Of course we are returning to those times. It is clear that if a part of the US nuclear capability turns up in Europe, and, in the opinion of our military specialists will threaten us, then we are forced to take corresponding steps in response.”

“What will those steps be? Naturally, we will have to have new targets in Europe.”‘

This is a video from the MTV movie awards, with a comedian making fun of Paris Hilton whilst the whole audience laughs. Paris doesn’t look too happy.

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‘China unveiled its first national program aimed at combating global warming on Monday, but it’s modest in scope and offers few firm targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The 62-page report said China is taking steps toward improving energy efficiency over 2005 levels by as much as 20 per cent by the year 2010. It said a top priority was to tackle China’s own environmental problems.

China’s top economic planner said the country will not submit to any outside targets and won’t let its industrial development be hampered by any fight in the West against global warming.

“The consequences of restricting the development of developing nations will be much more serious than the consequences of global warming,” said Ma Kai, the minister heading the National Development and Reform Commission.’

‘A family living in a public toilet in Morocco have spent seven years requesting more hygienic accommodation.

Their pleas fell on deaf ears, and Aze Adine Ould Baja has had to endure the ignominy of having “Sidi toilets” as the official address on his identity papers.

Desperate to do something about their plight, Mr Baja and his wife Khadija Makbout recently went to a local newspaper with their story. [..]

But a few days later the local authorities moved in to block up the toilet’s entrance with cement and concrete.

Mr Baja, his wife and three children now find themselves barred from the only home they had.’

‘The 26-year-old heiress, a symbol of privilege and American celebrity culture, was booked into a Los Angeles County jail early on Monday, a day ahead of her court-ordered deadline, to begin serving a three-week sentence for violating probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case.

She surrendered to authorities in downtown Los Angeles hours after making a surprise appearance at the MTV Movie Awards, and was transferred to the Century Regional Detention Facility in nearby Lynwood, the county sheriff’s department said.

Once there, she was fingerprinted, photographed and issued an ID wristband, orange-colored jail clothing and toiletries, said sheriff’s department Sgt. Diane Hecht in a statement.’

Followup to Paris Hilton gets 45 days in jail.

A compilation of various funny happenings in soccer.

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‘A condemned inmate wants to leave them laughing.

Patrick Knight is collecting jokes and will pick the funniest one for his last statement before he is set to die June 26 for shooting his neighbors, Walter and Mary Werner, to death almost 16 years ago outside Amarillo.

Randall County Sheriff Joel Richardson thinks the whole idea is insensitive. “This tells you a little bit about the guy’s character, anyway,” said Richardson, who was chief deputy at the time of the Werners’ killings and plans to witness Knight’s execution. [..]

Knight acknowledges there’s nothing funny about his execution. [..]

“I’m not trying to say I don’t care what’s going on. I’m about to die. I’m not going to sit here and whine and cry and moan and everything like that when I’m facing the punishment I’ve been given.

“I’m not asking for money. I’m not asking for pen pals or anything like that. All I’m asking for is jokes,” Knight said.’

‘No-rules culture – where teachers gave alcohol to teenagers and students turned up to class drunk and had sex on school camps – has been exposed at a private school in Melbourne’s wealthy eastern suburbs.

A Victorian tribunal has declared Alia College, in the leafy Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn, was a school with an “anarchistic nature” where “anything is allowed and no one is prepared to take responsibility”. [..]

“There was evidence that some teachers had become concerned that students were having sex together and drinking alcohol at school camps,” it said.

“There was other evidence that a teacher had complained that students were coming to afternoon classes drunk, as another teacher was supplying them with alcohol at school. Morgan’s evidence about the provision by the school of alcohol to students was extraordinary. He appears to have done nothing to discipline any teacher for providing alcohol to students. Alcohol was said to be available to students at school functions.”‘

‘The legal front of the US government’s “war on terror” suffered a stunning reversal Monday when military judges threw out prosecution charges against a Canadian-born foot-soldier for Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden’s ex-driver.

The surprise rulings regarding Toronto native Omar Ahmed Khadr, 20, and Yemeni-born Salim Ahmed Hamdan, 36, threatened to torpedo the government’s pursuit of Guantanamo Bay terror suspects through new-look military tribunals.

In both cases, the judges found that they had no jurisdiction to proceed with trials as neither Khadr nor Hamdan had been classified as “unlawful enemy combatants” as required by a 2006 act of Congress.

Murder and other charges levied against Khadr were dismissed by Colonel Peter Brownback. Late in the evening, Navy Captain Keith Allred threw out charges of conspiracy and material support for terrorism against Hamdan.’