VIDEO
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Peep of Faith: The Most Heavenly Easter Candy Dioramas
What is it about sugary-sweet marshmallow Peeps that makes us want to violate them, dress up them up and take pictures?Peeps have used their mind-numbing cuteness to take over the Internet with over 200 websites, as well as two Peeps diorama photo contests hosted by the Seattle Times and the Washington Post. They have been the best-selling, non-chocolate Easter candy for a decade, and the amount of Peeps that will be eaten this year, if lined up, would circle the globe.
Full Gallery
Friday, March 21, 2008
March 22nd is "World Water Day" (water makes dogs smell terrible)
The United Nations General Assembly designated 22 March of each year as the World Day for Water by adopting a resolution.This world day for water was to be observed starting in 1993, in conformity with the recommendations of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development contained in chapter 18 (Fresh Water Resources) of Agenda 21.
States were invited to devote the Day to implement the UN recommendations and set up concrete activities as deemed appropriate in the national context.
1.1 billion people lack access to an improved water supply - approximately one in six people on earth.
A person can live weeks without food, but only days without water.
A person needs 4 to 5 gallons of water per day to survive.
Almost two in three people lacking access to clean water live on less $2 a day.
Every 15 seconds, a child dies from a water-related disease.
Horses’ Tails Vandalized by Intruder!
A rare case of vandalism is being labeled as an act of animal cruelty by local officials.At a North Carolina family horse farm, intruders have targeted the Lawrence family’s show horses, hacking into five of the horses’ tails over the past two months.
“It’s a situation that makes no sense,” said Barry Lawrence, owner. “Someone has come onto the property and harvested major sections of the tails of some of our show horses here.”
While the crime seems random, the family believes the thief’s motive was for profit and gain.
“My guess is that it probably has something to do with horse hair jewelry or buck tail fishing lures,” said Lawrence.
But, the crime is costing the family. In the show ring, gauges and chops into a horse’s tail will cause point deductions.
“The impact could be thousands of dollars in lost winnings, if you will, in lost shows,” Lawrence said.
The show ring isn’t the only place the horses’ vandalized tails will have a negative effect. As the summer heat arrives, the horses will be left without an effective way to cool themselves or to swat away biting flies.
“We will have to keep our show horses in the barn and barn feed them, until they regain enough of their tail enough to do that,” said Barry Lawrence.
Depending on breed and diet, a horse’s tail will grow three to four inches a year.
With no other farms being targeted, Rockingham County Sherriff Sam Page said, “To me it sounds like a bit of harassment of something going on.”
According to Sherriff Page, whoever is responsible could face multiple charges, including injury to real property, larceny, trespassing and a misdemeanor in cruelty to animals.
“It’s a cruel thing and again we want to do our part to identify who is causing these problems and bring them to justice,” said Sherriff Page.
VIDEO
Hamster Cam Lives!
Watch live video from Animal Insider on Justin.tv | I have created a new cage for my hamsters! This state of the art cage was build entirely of plexi glass. Now you can see that hamsters better! The back wall has a flat screen mounted on it, so the background can change and display whatever i want. Right now it is showing a NY skyline at night. The camera moves around zooming in on anything the moves! That way viewers can get a closer look at the hamsters when they eat, sleep or run on the wheel! |
Scientists Discover that Moose Antlers Act as Amplifiers
The secret of a moose's exceptional hearing is down to its antlers, apparently. Scientists have discovered that those cool, gnarly things that look so fabulous perched atop the furry freaks act as amplifiers, allowing Mr Moose to be able to hear things up to 2 miles away. Added to the animal's already acute hearing—it's to do with its large ears that rotate in almost every direction, apparently—antlers improve the beast's audio capacities by as much as 19 per cent.
The father-and-son team of George and Peter Bubenik used an artificial moose ear that had been created by TV special effects team, and mounted a pair of antlers on top of it. A microphone and sound meter were placed in the ear canal, and a speaker set up 30 feet from the ear, which was rotated into different positions.
When a sound was played through the speaker (something by The Rasmus springs to mind) the sound meter recorded 59.5 decibels when the ear was facing the source of the sound, and 57.5 decibels when it was facing backwards. But when it was moved into a sideways position, and where the antlers worked as an amp, the level came out at 61 decibels.
Gizmodo
Familys Wins $9K for Dog Shot by Police!
It was the judgment the Smoak family was hoping for, but not the kind they ever wanted to hear.A federal jury awarded James Smoak $9,100 and found Sgt. David Bush guilty of using excessive force against Smoak.
The case stemmed from a traffic stop on New Year’s day in 2003, when the Tennessee Highway Patrol stopped the family on Interstate 40.
Mistaken as robbery suspects the Smoaks were forced out of their vehicle as a patrol car video captured the disturbing events that transpired.
The video shows the family’s pleas of protest that they were just vacationing and passing through on their return trip home to North Carolina.
The Smoaks then plead with the officers to close their car door. Their 55-pound mix breed bulldog, General Patton, was still inside.
“I got a dog in the car and I don’t want him to come out,” James Smoak’s voice is heard on the video.
But in the process, Patton escapes the car and can be scene on the side of the road wagging his tail. In a matter of seconds, a Cookville police officer shot the pet with a shot gun at close range.
Smoak tried to help his dog but he’s forced to the ground and injured by highway patrol Sgt. Bush. General Patton died on the spot and Smoak was lead to a waiting patrol car, crying “you shot my dog, you shot my dog! Oh, my God!”
The federal jury’s verdict settles the issue of excessive force used by Bush of the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
The city of Cookeville compensated the family more than $77,000 for their officer’s actions in a separate lawsuit.
Jerry Andrews, a lieutenant at the time of the incident, was also named in the case, but found not responsible, while Bush was the trooper responsible for handcuffing Smoak.
VIDEO
The Origin of the Easter Bunny!
The Easter Bunny is a rabbit character who brings gifts and candy to children on the Easter holiday.Eggs, like rabbits and hares, are fertility symbols of extreme antiquity; since birds lay eggs and rabbits and hares give birth (to large litters) in the early spring, these became symbols of the rising fertility of the earth at the Vernal Equinox.
In English, the word "Easter" etymologically comes from an ancient pagan goddess of the spring named Eostre, related to German Ostara. According to a popular piece of folklore, Eostre once saved a bird whose wings had frozen during the winter by turning it into a rabbit. Because the rabbit had once been a bird, it could still lay eggs, and that rabbit became the modern Easter Bunny.
The precise origin of the custom of coloring eggs is not known, although it too is ancient; Greeks to this day typically dye their Easter eggs red, the color of blood, in recognition of the renewal of life in springtime (and, later, the blood of the sacrificed Christ). Some also use the color green, in honor of the new foliage emerging after the long "dead" time of winter.
German Protestants wanted to retain the Catholic custom of eating colored eggs for Easter, but did not want to introduce their children to the Catholic rite of fasting. Eggs were forbidden to Catholics during the fast of Lent, which was the reason for the abundance of eggs at Easter time.
The idea of an egg-laying bunny came to the United States in the 18th century. German immigrants in the Pennsylvania Dutch area told their children about the "Osterhas" , sometimes spelled out as "Oschter Haws". "Hase" means "hare", not rabbit, and in Northwest European folklore the "Easter Bunny" indeed is a hare, not a rabbit. According to the legend, only good children received gifts of colored eggs in the nests that they made in their caps and bonnets before Easter.
Wikipedia
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Hercules the Liger!
At just three years old, Hercules already weighs half a ton.He is the unintentional result of two enormous big cats living close together at the Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species, in Miami , Florida , and already dwarfs both his parents.
"Ligers are not something we planned on having,"
said institute owner Dr Bhagavan Antle.
"We have lions and tigers living together in large enclosures and at first we had no idea how well one of the lion boys was getting along with a tiger girl, then lo and behold we had a Liger."
Hercules likes to swim, a feat unheard of among water-fearing lions.On a typical day he will devour 20 lb of meat, usually beef or chicken, and is capable of eating 100 lb at a single setting.
In the wild it is virtually impossible for lions and tigers to mate
Not only are they enemies likely to kill one another.
But incredible though he is, Hercules is not unique.
Ligers have been bred in captivity, deliberately and accidentally,
since shortly before World War II
Today there are believed to be a handful of ligers around the world and a similar number of tigons, the product of a tiger father and lion mother. Tigons are smaller than ligers and take on more physical characteristics of the tiger.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
5. Tiger 
4. Cobra
3. Malayan Pit Viper
2. Camel Spider
1. Krait
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