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| Puppet Masters |
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Haaretz
2013-08-06 12:37:00
Two Lebanese nationals accused of plotting attacks against Israeli targets in western Africa say Israeli interrogators identifying as Mossad agents used sleep deprivation, other harsh techniques in questioning. Two Lebanese nationals charged with plotting terror attacks in western Africa told a court in Nigeria on Monday they were interrogated by Mossad agents, AFP reported. Mustapha Fawaz, Abdallah Thahini and Talal Ahmad Roda, allegedly Hezbollah members, were arrested in May after Nigerian police discovered they had amassed a secret weapons stock. The prosecution alleges the three planned attacks on Israeli and Western targets in Nigeria and nearby countries, but they have denied the charges and belonging to Hezbollah, according to AFP. AFP reported that while testifying in court, Fawaz said he was bound and deprived of sleep for days by interrogators who had identified as agents of Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad. Describing their treatment of him as "crude and nasty" Fawaz told the court "they handcuffed my hands behind my back for days. I lost count because they did not allow me to sleep for several days." |
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BBC News
2013-08-06 05:49:00
The US State Department has told citizens and non-emergency government staff to leave Yemen "immediately" due to security threats. It comes after the sudden closure of 20 US embassies and consulates on Sunday. This was prompted by intercepted conversations between two senior al-Qaeda figures, including top leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, US media said. The US earlier said the closures in North Africa and the Middle East were "out of an abundance of caution". 'Extremely high' A global travel alert issued on Tuesday said: "The US Department of State warns US citizens of the high security threat level in Yemen due to terrorist activities and civil unrest. "The department urges US citizens to defer travel to Yemen and those US citizens currently living in Yemen to depart immediately." It added that "the security threat level in Yemen is extremely high". The BBC's Abdullah Ghorab, in Sanaa, says the Yemeni capital has been experiencing unprecedented security measures, with hundreds of armoured military vehicles deployed to secure the presidential palace, vital infrastructural buildings and Western embassies in the capital. |
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Ariel Ben Solomon
Jerusalem Post 2013-08-04 19:25:00
Egyptian army chief in interview says Defense Secretary Hagel calls him almost every day, but Obama has not called. US President Barack Obama appears to have angered supporters of ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, as well as supporters of the army coup that toppled him on July 3. Leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is at the vanguard of the street protests against Morsi's ouster, claim the US supported the coup. Those opposed to the Brotherhood claim Washington has been and still is supporting the Islamists. An example of the vitriol in the country can be seen in a new video clip featuring a song by Egyptian performer Sama Elmasry. Titled "You Obama, Your Father, Mother," it attacks the US president for allegedly preferring Islamic radicals over the army. It has gone viral, with over 160,000 views since last week. The clip features Obama in traditional Islamic dress. Elmasry curses him while mentioning that he had called for former president Hosni Mubarak to leave immediately, seeming to imply that this proved he was pro-Brotherhood. The song also mentions Obama's support for Islamistled Turkey as well as Israel. It is highly nationalistic in tone and ends with a photo of Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led the anti-Morsi coup. In an interview with The Washington Post published on Saturday, Sisi said Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood party had been seeking to restore the Islamic empire. He added that the ousted leader had not acted like a president for all Egyptians, but only for his supporters. |
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Pepe Escobar
When the going gets tough, count on the Ministry of Truth to get going.Asia Times Online 2013-08-05 20:50:00 The end of Ramadan was imminent. The jihadi chattering classes of that fuzzy entity, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), went on overdrive. It was jailbreak galore from Libya to Pakistan via Iraq. And all this in perfect synch with two successive fatwas issued by that perennial bogeyman, former Osama bin Laden sidekick Ayman "Doctor Evil" al-Zawahiri. Imagine a rushed crisis meeting at the highest levels of the Orwellian/Panopticon complex: Instantly, we have the closing, with much fanfare, of plenty of US embassies and consulates in the "Muslim world" and a State Department "worldwide" travel alert - soon expanded by Interpol. Confusion ensues - with many trying to figure out whether backpacking in Thailand or eating fresh caviar in Baku is a surefire way of not being blown up. Instantly, we also have US and Western corporate media falling in love with the Terra Terra Terra meme all over again. And woe to those who think this has anything to do with Islamophobia. You thought that Terra was gone? No, Terra is omnipresent, omniscient, lurking everywhere. Terra Wants You. Trains and boats and planes - you're nowhere safe. Yet the fabulous specific intel unearthed by the Ministry of Truth amounts to some lowlife jihadi boasting on the net that he and his buddies will be doing something nasty someday somewhere in multiple, unspecified locations all across Middle East-Northern Africa (MENA). |
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| Society's Child |
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Paul Suart
Aston Expressway closed while police remove reptile from carriagewayBirmingham Mail, UK 2013-08-02 16:15:00
A five-foot snake caused tailbacks on a busy Birmingham commuter route on Thursday morning. The exotic pet, believed to be a python, was spotted on the city-bound carriageway of the A38(M) Aston Expressway near to Dartmouth Circus at 9am. One lane was temporarily closed while the slithering creature was caught and safely removed from the highway by officers from the Central Motorway Police Group. They are now trying to find out how the roving reptile got there. The lane closure caused further misery for motorists using the busy Expressway to get into Birmingham. | |
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Leicester Mercury
A large snake has been discovered trapped in netting in a back garden pond.2013-08-05 16:05:00 Christine McAdam was in her garden in Aylestone, Leicester, on Friday afternoon when she spotted something in the netting that covers her pond.
She said: "I noticed something caught up in the mesh in my pond and I looked closer and it was a big snake. "It's about two foot long and it's certainly not a grass snake or anything you would expect to find in this country. "I've never seen anything close up like this before and I was scared it would bite me." Christine, 58, enlisted the help of neighbour Rick Wright to cut the net and release the snake. She has been trying to get hold of the RSPCA to take the snake off her hands. She said: "I've been phoning and getting a message that says if you find a fox or snake or anything, just let it go. "But I don't think I should with this one. It's so big. "It's in a plastic box at the bottom of my garden for the moment. "I'm keeping it out of the sun." |
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Donovan Longo
Latin Times 2013-08-06 15:43:00
Imagine walking into your shed on a balmy Florida afternoon and discovering an enormous snake eating a cat's skull. Sounds like the opening scene for SyFy's next disaster movie right? WRONG! This is a real story with a real 100 lbs. snake. Ok, now that you are genuinely shocked, let's discuss what happened. A 14-foot Burmese python was found by a man while he was performing home repairs in Hialeah, Florida. Officials immediately responded to the home and when they entered the shed to assess the snake situation the python was eating a cat's skull. The Miami-Dade Venom Unit also discovered that there was a large amount of molted skin in the shed, leading them to the conclusion that the massive snake had made the shed his makeshift home. "It was very nicely holed up in a shed, it's been there a while," Lt. Lisa Wood, of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Venom Unit, said of the reptile.The discovered python had also solved the mystery of why there had been a large number of disappearances of local cats and rabbits. "Speaking with the neighbors, apparently there's a couple of rabbits and a cat missing from the neighborhood recently so the snake may be to blame for that," Wood added. |
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RIA Novosti
2013-08-06 13:05:00
At least five people were killed and 20 injured when billows of ammonia gas erupted from a fertilizer factory in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk Region, local authorities said Tuesday. The accident occurred that afternoon during maintenance works at the factory, run by mineral fertilizer manufacturer Stirol. According to the company, the leak was caused by a depressurization of a liquid-ammonia pipeline. | |
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Comment: Apparently, it's not the first time something
like this has happened. On 26th of May, 2013 there was a fire in the
same ammonia factory:
More interesting, however, is the fact that one of the largest ever industrial accidents in the U.S. happened at an ammonia facility on the 18th of April in West, Texas. |
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BBC News
2013-08-05 05:36:00
A Spanish child rapist freed from a 30-year-sentence in Morocco last week has been arrested in Spain, officials say. Daniel Galvan Vina, who had been freed as part of a broader royal pardon, was detained in Murcia, police said. Moroccan officials said his release was a mistake, and King Mohammed had been unaware of the nature of his crimes. The king has since sacked the head of prisons and rescinded the pardon. Galvan, was convicted of raping 11 children, aged between four and 15. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison in September 2011. |
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The Huffington Post
2013-08-06 05:17:00
An 11-year-old Indian girl who was reportedly set on fire after resisting an attempted rape died of her injuries Sunday, according to multiple reports. "The minor was admitted with critical burn injuries," SSKM Hospital Superintendent T.K. Ghosh said, according to New Delhi Television. Ghosh added that on Sunday morning, the girl "succumbed to her injuries." According to The Times of India, the attack happened Wednesday, July 31, in Salkia. The victim was reportedly doused in kerosene and set on fire by two men who had attempted to rape her. She had said she recognized the men and had threatened to tell her parents. She suffered burns on 70 percent of her body. |
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Melissa York
Newham Recorder 2013-08-05 15:32:00
Stratford resident Lucy Stafford found the young red deer, whose hind legs have been chopped off, when she took her three-year-old niece to the play area in Chandos Road Gardens for a summer holiday treat. Lucy said: "It completely traumatised my niece. I mean, this is a children's play area, there are loads of children playing around it. "There are flies all over it. I called Newham Council to come and pick it up at 11.05am and this other lady I've been talking to called them at about 7 or 8am. "We put a black plastic bag over it to try and cover it up but now that's just blowing round the park. "It looks to me like someone butchered it, chopped it up, and just dumped it there." |
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The New Zealand Herald
2013-08-06 02:28:00
Z service stations are trialling an invisible liquid "DNA" they hope will deter would-be robbers and improve safety for staff and customers. In a statement released today, Z said it would be the country's first service station to use the SelectaDNA Spray technology which it is trialling at a number of sites. The new state-of-the-art security system enables would-be robbers to be invisibly "tagged" and therefore identifiable to police, the statement said. The technology being used is not to identify stolen products, as has been the case in recent police-led "Safe as Houses" projects, but would identify the robber by using a high-tech spray unit installed at the doors that is activated automatically in the event of a robbery or after-hours burglary. Highly visible warning signage is placed on the doors to alert would-be robbers of its presence, however, once there has been a security breach it is impossible to leave the scene without being sprayed with a fine DNA-laced mist. Z said the DNA solution - unique to each location - stays on the skin for up to 10 days and glows blue under ultraviolet light. The DNA within the solution provides police with a link between offender and crime scene. |
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Sam Clench
Sama Elmasry's anti-Obama music video is a special kind of crazy. The
Egyptian belly dancer, actress and singer is obviously unhappy with
President Barack Obama's foreign policy.News.com.au 2013-08-05 21:57:00 She's put together an... interesting music video, which portrays Obama as dead terrorist Osama bin Laden and a diaper-clad baby, among other things. Elmasry accuses Obama of joining forces with "the terrorists", repeatedly telling him "our army is very strong". "Hey Obama, you are stupid, bad man," Elmasry sings. "You want us to release Morsi. Stop this or I will stab you." At this point, Elmasry brandishes a sword at an image of Obama. The clip isn't exactly subtle.
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RT
2013-08-05 18:25:00
Mexican drug cartels are hiring US military personnel to carry out murders. In exchange for cash or drugs, some American servicemen are working as hit men or teaching gangsters their skills. Drug cartels have recruited American servicemen for years, paying them thousands of dollars to assassinate government informants, ousted cartel members, and other enemies of the group, law enforcement experts told Fox News. "There has been a persistent gang problem in the military for the past six to eight years," said Fred Burton, vice president for STRATFOR Global Intelligence. "...It is quite worrisome to have individuals with specialized military training and combat experience being associated with the cartels." As of April 2011, the FBI National Gang Intelligence Center identified members of at least 53 gangs that have served in or are affiliated with the US military. The NDIC has also noted a rise in gang-related violence and activity along the US-Mexican border. In one case, Michael Apodaca, a 22-year-old private first-class stationed at Fort Bliss, Tx., accepted a $5,000 offer by the Juarez Cartel to kill Jose Daniel Gonzalez-Galeana, a cartel member who was secretly working as an informant for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Apodaca, who was 18 years old when he was recruited, fatally shot the informant in May 2009, but was caught by authorities and last week sentenced to life in prison. In another case, Kevin Corley, a 29-year-old Army first lieutenant stationed at Fort Carson, Colo., conspired to commit a murder-for-hire for the Los Zetas drug cartel in November 2012. He was promised $50,000 and five kilograms of cocaine to conduct a drug raid and contract killing at a ranch near Laredo. He was required to bring his own team of assassins. |
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Rob Williams
The Independent, UK 2013-08-05 21:33:00
Thames Water has found a 15 tonne bus-sized lump of rotting food and sanitary wipes in the drains beneath a road in Kingston, South West London. The congealed mushy deposit, dubbed a 'fatberg' by the authority, is thought to be the largest ever found in Britain. The blockage, which if left untreated could have led to sewage flooding homes, streets and businesses, was discovered after residents in nearby buildings complained that they couldn't flush their toilets. The water authority subsequently discovered the 'fatberg' through CCTV investigation. Gordon Hailwood, waste contracts supervisor for Thames Water said: "While we've removed greater volumes of fat from under central London in the past, we've never seen a single, congealed lump of lard this big clogging our sewers before. |
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The Toronto Sun
2013-08-05 15:30:00
Campbellton -- Two young boys who were at a sleepover in an apartment above an exotic pet store in Campbellton, N.B., were killed by a large African python that got loose early Monday. The python escaped from the Reptile Ocean exotic pet store and killed the children, reportedly five and seven years old, who were found at 6:30 a.m. According to deputy mayor Ian Comeau, the snake escaped and slithered through the ventilation system to the residence above where the children had spent the night. Well before the tragedy, an online petition was asking for Reptile Ocean to be shut down. |
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Candace M. Giove
NY Post 2013-08-04 05:51:00
It's a human kennel. Less than a 10-minute walk from Soho is the Sun Bright Hotel - where men pay $10 a night to live in tiny cells bounded by chicken wire. It's a single-room-occupancy hotel that has been operating since the late 19th century and where today men live side by side in filth. "It was horrible - like an animal shelter," a first responder, recently summoned to the hotel, told The Post. "I picked up a suit on the wall and roaches fell out," the rescuer said, "hundreds of them." Nestled on the edge of Chinatown between the Bowery and Elizabeth Street, the hotel on Hester Street is minutes from Balthazar, where the $135 côte de boeuf for two would cover half a month's rent at the Sun Bright. Only men are allowed in the units on the third and fourth floors, the hotel's most hellish. The accommodations there measure 7 by 5 feet, smaller than the average 8-by-10 solitary-confinement cell in a state prison. Roaches, bedbugs, fleas and other vermin infest the building. Hot hallways reek of rotting trash, sweat and urine. "They keep all the garbage all on this floor," lamented John Arkue, a disabled construction worker who has lived on the third floor for 15 years. "Sometimes the garbage sits here. Like on a Saturday, we don't put the garbage out." |
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Paul Farhi
The Washington Post 2013-08-05 18:12:00
The Washington Post Co. agreed Monday to sell its flagship newspaper to Amazon.com founder and chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos, ending the Graham family's stewardship of one of America's leading news organizations after four generations. Bezos, whose entrepreneurship has made him one of the world's richest men, will pay $250 million in cash for The Post and affiliated publications to The Washington Post Co., which owns the newspaper and other businesses. Seattle-based Amazon will have no role in the purchase; Bezos himself will buy the news organization and become its sole owner when the sale is completed, probably within 60 days. The Post Co. will get a new, still-undecided name and continue as a publicly traded company without The Post. |
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| Secret History |
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The Siberian Times
2013-08-04 13:18:00
The Denisova Cave in the Altai region has given up another riveting secret to modern science, this time equine, say researchers from Novosibirsk. The mitochondrial genome of a 50,000-year-old horse has been deciphered in the prehistoric bolt-hole where scientists previously discovered the remains of a now-extinct subspecies of humans who coexisted with the Neanderthals. Experts at the Novosibirsk-based Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, part of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Scientists, are uncertain so far whether the horses were hunted for game or represent 'an early attempt at equine domestication'. If further research establishes it to be the latter, it would pre-date the earliest known domestication of horses, in Kazakhstan, by more than 44,000 years. The cave is one of the world's most precious sites for research on early man - see our previous stories here. It was famously the site of the discovery of Woman X, whose remains showed her to belong to a subspecies that branched out from Neanderthals around 640,000 years ago. |
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| Science & Technology |
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Lisa Grossman
New Scientist 2013-07-15 22:57:00
Neptune has a new moon, and its existence is an enigma. The object, known for now as S/2004 N1, is the first Neptunian moon to be found in a decade. Its diminutive size raises questions as to how it survived the chaos thought to have created the giant planet's other moons. The faint moon was discovered in archived images from the Hubble Space Telescope. Mark Showalter of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, was poring over pictures of Neptune taken in 2009 to study segments of its rings. The rings around our outermost planet are too faint to see without taking very long-exposure pictures. However, the rings orbit so fast that taking one long shot would smear them across the frame. Showalter and colleagues gathered multiple shorter-exposure images and developed a technique to digitally rewind the orbits to the same point in time. Then they could stack several images on top of each other to reveal details of the rings. "I got nice pictures of the arcs, which was my main purpose, but I also got this little extra dot that I was not expecting to see," says Showalter. Stacking eight to 10 images together allowed the moon to show up plain as day, he says. When he went back and repeated the process using Hubble pictures taken in 2004, the moon was still there and moving as expected. |
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The Siberian Times
2013-08-04 12:56:00
Now sizeable chunks of this cosmic guest are to be pulled out of Lake Chebarkul, in Chelyabinsk region, where they fell in February this year. They will give scientists a special insight into the space rock that so suddenly and dramatically struck Western Siberia. A large lump of meteorite - perhaps the biggest - is reported resting in silt some 50 metres from the spot it made an icy hole in the murky lake. 'The operation will be held in the muddy waters of the lake in conditions of zero visibility,' reported Itar-Tass, citing Alexander Galich, the regional minister of radiation and ecological security. |
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Anthony Watts
We've been watching the progress on the WUWT solar reference page in this plot from Dr. Leif Svalgaard:WattsUpWithThat 2013-08-05 03:13:00
Now, NASA has decided to call the flip (see video below). Something big is about to happen on the sun. According to measurements from NASA-supported observatories, the sun's vast magnetic field is about to flip. "It looks like we're no more than 3 to 4 months away from a complete field reversal," says solar physicist Todd Hoeksema of Stanford University. "This change will have ripple effects throughout the solar system." |
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The Daily Telegraph, Australia
Aussie divers have captured rare images of a creature dubbed the unicorn of the sea in the depths of the ocean.2013-08-05 22:03:00 The Pyrostremma spinosum, or pyrosome, sea creature is so rare it was dubbed the unicorn and can grow up to 30 metres long - the equivalent of two double-decker buses laid end-to-end. Its hollow, translucent, cylindrical body is made up of thousands of tiny clones called zooids that pull water through its tubes and feed on plankton before pushing the filtered water back out.
The zooids are each connected by tissue and move as one inside the pyrosome's tube structure and each zooid is a few millimetres in size. Also called a sea squirt, the pyrosomes are classed as pelagic, which means they are free-swimming and live in open water rather than near land. |
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Domain-B
2013-08-05 21:48:00
Research at the University of Liverpool has found that variations in the length of day over periods of between one and 10 years are caused by processes in the Earth's core. The Earth rotates once per day, but the length of this day varies. A year, 300 million years ago, lasted about 450 days and a day would last about 21 hours. As a result of the slowing down of the Earth's rotation the length of day has increased. The rotation of the earth on its axis, however, is affected by a number of other factors - for example, the force of the wind against mountain ranges changes the length of the day by plus or minus a millisecond over a period of a year. Professor Richard Holme, from the School of Environmental Sciences, studied the variations and fluctuations in the length of day over a one to 10 year period between 1962 and 2012. The study took account of the effects on the Earth's rotation of atmospheric and oceanic processes to produce a model of the variations in the length of day on time scales longer than a year. |
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The Asian Age
2013-08-05 21:43:00
Researchers claim to have discovered the elusive impact crater of the meteor that triggered the biggest extinction ever, around 252.3 million years ago. While the idea that an impact caused the Permian extinction has been around for a while, what's been missing is a suitable crater to confirm it, researchers said. Researcher Eric Tohver from the University of Western Australia believe he has found the impact crater which reveals though the trigger was the same, the details are significantly different. In 2012, Tohver redated an impact structure that straddles the border of the states of Mato Grosso and Goias in Brazil, called the Araguainha crater, to 254.7m years. Previous estimates had suggested Araguainha was 10m years younger, but Tohver has put it within geological distance of the extinction date. The Chicxulub crater in Mexico, is 180km in diameter while the Araguainha is 40 kilometres across and was thought to be too small to have caused the chain reaction which brought about such mass extinction. |
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| Earth Changes |
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Bagish K Jha
The Times of India 2013-08-06 14:44:00
Indore: Even as India is striving hard to save the big cats, the country has lost fifty tigers so far this year against 72 tiger deaths in 2012. Heading the list is Karnataka with the loss of 13 tigers till now, followed by eight in Maharashtra, seven in Uttarakhand and five in Madhya Pradesh. Out of the five tiger deaths in Madhya Pradesh, two are from Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, two from Pench Tiger Reserve and one from Katni forest division. National Tiger Conservation Authourity (NTCA) DIG, SP Yadav on Wednesday said, every tiger in the country is under threat from poaching. Under the new protocol issued by NTCA on tiger mortality, cause of every tiger death will be considered as due to poaching, till the time state government proves it otherwise with proper evidence. Earlier there was trend among states to hide exact cause of the death. Now rules have been changed so as to highlight the actual cause of tiger deaths. The NTCA directions will bring in more transparency in the post-mortem process. |
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US Geological Survey
2013-08-06 13:01:00
Event Time 2013-08-06 17:21:58 UTC 2013-08-07 04:21:58 UTC+11:00 at epicenter Location 16.880°S 167.401°E depth=31.2km (19.4mi) Nearby Cities 84km (52mi) S of Lakatoro, Vanuatu 136km (85mi) NW of Port-Vila, Vanuatu 151km (94mi) S of Luganville, Vanuatu 447km (278mi) N of We, New Caledonia 591km (367mi) N of Dumbea, New Caledonia Technical Details |
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Lee-Ann Richards
Hundreds of birds have died at Harrow Lodge Park after the hot weather caused a potent outbreak of botulism in the lake.Romford Recorder, UK 2013-07-26 09:17:00
Lawrence Howes, a volunteer from the Swan Sanctuary, a charity that cares for swans and waterfowl, said that it was the "worst outbreak" he had ever seen in the Hornchurch park. He added: "It has happened before, but this one is particularly potent. "I have never known it this bad in Harrow Lodge Park." The volunteers at the park have been scooping up dead ducks since the beginning of the week. The swans have also been affected by the bacteria and today the volunteers noticed that the disease had killed three cygnets. Resident Patricia Dowsett said: "It is heart breaking. "It is so sad to see those innocent creatures dying helplessly." Lawrence added: "It is really terrible. "This normally affects the ducks, but it has taken the lives of three cygnets." Botulism is a disease in lakes produced by botulinum bacterium. It is caused when air temperatures rise and water and oxygen levels drop. |
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Melissa Breyer
Huffington Post 2013-07-30 04:38:00
SumPity the young lobster. In addition to keeping a watchful eye out for the regular motley crew of predators, they now need to watch out for mom and dad as well. Although lobsters have been known to assault and eat each other in captivity - not a surprising reaction given the conditions - marine biologists have recently observed an unprecedented degree of lobster cannibalism taking place in the wild. Noah Oppenheim, a biologist studying the New England marine ecosystem, was the first to record the new development by setting up a camera trap using a young lobster as bait, reports The Independent. When the same kind of experiments were conducted 20 years ago, other fish would feed on the bait; now, it's adult lobsters that are swooping in and making mincemeat of their young. After repeated experiments, scientists concluded that juvenile lobsters were 90 percent more likely to be attacked and eaten by adult lobsters than by any other type of fish.mary |
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Nelson Wyatt
The Globe and Mail, Canada 2013-08-05 17:16:00
A section of a downtown commercial street swallowed a backhoe on Monday as city crews were getting ready to repair a leaky water main. The backhoe had started to chip at asphalt near the corner of Ste-Catherine and Guy streets when the ground crumbled beneath it and the heavy machine tumbled in. The driver of the backhoe was not injured but was taken to hospital to be checked out as a precaution, city officials said. Emilie Miskdjian, a spokeswoman for the Ville-Marie borough, said the city was alerted to the possible water leak on the weekend. She said preliminary indications were that the leak caused the problem but more inspections needed to be done to find the exact cause. |
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Stuff.co.nz
2013-08-06 00:36:00
Mt Tongariro is under a watching brief after a series of small earthquakes was detected under the volcano over the past two weeks. GNS Science duty volcanologist Michael Rosenberg said the quakes were not connected to the ongoing flurry of seismic activity centred in the Cook Strait and the tremors were no cause for ''undue alarm.'' Fewer than 10 quakes, all under magnitude 1.5, have been recorded on a handful of seismic monitors and are too small to be pinpointed. ''The reason we're paying attention is because of their location and we don't see quakes there very often,'' Rosenberg said. The volcano erupted for the first time in a century at the Te Maari craters in August last year, followed by another eruption in November and scientists warn the craters could still erupt with little or no warning. |
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Zachary T. Sampson
Tampa Bay Times 2013-08-02 17:28:00
Dunedin - Mike Weight was strolling the beach at Honeymoon Island about noon Wednesday when he saw something weird. A black line appeared against the bright blue sky, shooting down from a cloud into the gulf. "At first I thought it was an optical illusion because it was like a dark piece of sky with a light sky background," Weight said. "You could see through it." Maybe it's a waterspout, he thought. That theory faded quickly. This was no funnel cloud. Confused, the 73-year-old Clearwater resident pulled out his phone and took a couple of pictures. He emailed them to the Times, attached with a note. "Any idea what this was?" |
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Tia Ghose
LiveScience 2013-08-05 14:07:00
A tsunami that struck the UK in 2011 was caused by a storm roiling the ocean hundreds of miles away, a new study confirms. The "meteotsunami" (or weather-induced tsunami) of June 27, 2011, caused swells on a normally calm estuary on a sunny day, left some people knee-deep in water and made other people's hair stand on end in southwest England. Scientists suspected that a storm was to blame for the bizarre waves, but the new study, published in the June issue of the journal Weather, confirms it. "As far as Britain is concerned this is the first time that a meteotsunami has been recorded," said study co-author David Tappin, a marine geologist at the British Geological Survey. |
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| Fire in the Sky |
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Ellie Zolfagharifard
The Daily Mail 2013-08-05 18:22:00
A 'graveyard of comets' has been found by astronomers in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. And, to the surprise of astronomers, a number of comets in this graveyard have come back to life after being dormant for what could have been thousands or even millions of years. The findings, by a Colombian team, contradict the long-standing view that the main asteroid belt was once populated by thousands of comets which ultimately burned out as they aged. |
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Richard Bruinsma
Sunshine Coast Ddaily 2013-08-05 21:20:00
Experts believe a mysterious bright light in the sky north of Noosa was probably caused by the sun's light on a jet's contrail. The phenomenon appeared to be soaring across the sky for at least 20 minutes, just after sunset on Sunday. Owen Bennedick, of Wappa Falls Observatory, said it was likely to be an atmospheric event, as a meteor usually lasted a maximum five seconds. He added that the presence of any comets at the time would have been well documented. |
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| Health & Wellness |
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Paleohacks Blog
2013-08-06 10:51:00
One of the most popular threads was started by Morgan, who asked, "What are the smartest anti-paleo arguments? And our responses to them?" Her question got 39 responses and 8000 views! The most popular answer was from Paleo_Rob, with the question or possible argument against Paleo being: "Is the paleo diet sustainable on a global scale?" There are many other questions you may face. They may have to do with nutrition, such as "But the Food Guide says to eat grains, how can you ignore that?" Yet another anti-Paleo argument is the fact that there are cultures which subsist on large amounts of grains or soy, yet enjoy extremely long lives. | |
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Comment: For additional information on how to refute anti paleo arguments read the following articles:
The paleo diet explained Have you heard about the Paleo diet? Paleo Diet: Smart Eating or Latest Fad? The Paleo Diet and Politics A Real Paleo Diet - Grassfed Meat, Fat, and Organ Meats The Paleo Diet: Should You Eat Like a "Caveman"? Paleo Diet Works: High Fat Diet reverses the Overloaded,Under-fuelled Condition - A case study New fad diet? 1960s research papers on benefits of eating Paleo rediscovered |
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Joe Martino
Global autism rates are on the rise and many are beginning to ask
questions about how they can best treat or remedy symptoms to increase
quality of life overall. In one particular case, a young boy by the name
of Ethan Fox began showing strong signs of Autism recovery when his
diet was changed to no longer include gluten and dairy. The parents of
Ethan acted on the advice of Dr. Kenneth Bock who is an autism
specialist and author of 'Healing The New Childhood Epidemics. Autism, ADHD, Asthma and Allergies.' It
is believed that changing an autistic child's diet to no longer include
gluten and dairy can assist 60% of children with autism.Collective Evolution 2013-06-30 07:31:00 The video below covers the story in detail so be sure to check it out for more information on this specific case.
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Nancy Appleton PhD
WakeUpWorld 2012-06-25 07:23:00
Excerpted from Suicide by Sugar. 1. Sugar can suppress the immune system. 2. Sugar upsets the mineral relationships in the body. 3. Sugar can cause hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children. 4. Sugar can produce a significant rise in triglycerides. 5. Sugar contributes to the reduction in defense against bacterial infection (infectious diseases). 6. Sugar causes a loss of tissue elasticity and function, the more sugar you eat the more elasticity and function you lose. 7. Sugar reduces high-density lipoproteins. 8. Sugar leads to chromium deficiency. 9. Sugar leads to cancer of the ovaries. 10. Sugar can increase fasting levels of glucose. 11. Sugar causes copper deficiency. 12. Sugar interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium. 13. Sugar may make eyes more vulnerable to age-related macular degeneration. 14. Sugar raises the level of a neurotransmitters: dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. 15. Sugar can cause hypoglycemia. 16. Sugar can produce an acidic digestive tract. 17. Sugar can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline levels in children. 18. Sugar malabsorption is frequent in patients with functional bowel disease. 19. Sugar can cause premature aging. |
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Bahar Gholipour
LiveScience 2013-08-05 14:29:00
Taking one type of high blood pressure medication might increase women's risk of breast cancer, a new study suggests. The researchers found women in the study who had been taking calcium-channel blockers to treat high blood pressure for more than 10 years were 2.5 times more likely to have breast cancer, compared with women who did not use blood pressure medication, or who used other types. "While the results are intriguing, we really need to wait until we see confirmatory studies before we make any kind of recommendations," said study researcher Dr. Christopher Li, an epidemiologist and breast cancer researcher at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. "People should absolutely not stop taking their medication," Li said. About 1,900 women with breast cancer participated in the study, as well as about 850 women with no cancer who served as the control group. The researchers didn't find a link between an increased breast cancer risk and other types of high blood pressure medications, such as beta-blockers ordiuretics, according to the study published today (August 5) in the Journal of the American Medical Association. |
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| Science of the Spirit |
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Anna Mikulak
Working at a clean and prim desk may promote healthy eating, generosity,
and conventionality, according to new research. But, the research also
shows that a messy desk may confer its own benefits, promoting creative
thinking and stimulating new ideas.Association for Psychological Science 2013-08-06 04:27:00 The new studies, conducted by psychological scientist Kathleen Vohs and her fellow researchers at the University of Minnesota are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. "Prior work has found that a clean setting leads people to do good things: Not engage in crime, not litter, and show more generosity," Vohs explains. "We found, however, that you can get really valuable outcomes from being in a messy setting." In the first of several experiments, participants were asked to fill out some questionnaires in an office. Some completed the task in a clean and orderly office, while others did so in an unkempt one - papers were strewn about, and office supplies were cluttered here and there. Afterward, the participants were presented with the opportunity to donate to a charity, and they were allowed to take a snack of chocolate or an apple on their way out. Being in a clean room seemed to encourage people to do what was expected of them, Vohs explains. Compared with participants in the messy room, they donated more of their own money to charity and were more likely to choose the apple over the candy bar. |
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Robin Turner
Wales Online, UK 2013-08-05 21:37:00
Researchers at Swansea University have found that the human brain is equipped with its own version of a GPS, helping people understand their location in an unfamiliar environment. Our brains are equipped with their own version of a global positioning system (GPS), according to exciting new research by an academic at Swansea University. Dr Christoph Weidermann of the University's College of Human and Health Sciences has helped identify a new type of cell in the brain. It helps people keep in mind their relative location while navigating an unfamiliar environment. The cells are thought to give people "spatial memory" and they were discovered by examining the brains of neurosurgery patient volunteers. The discovery may be able to help scientists working to beat Alzheimer's Disease. Dr Weidemann was part of a team which has identified "grid cells," which derive their name from the triangular grid pattern in which the cells activate during navigation. The work is being published in the latest edition of Nature Neuroscience. Dr Weidemann said: "The newly discovered cell is distinct among brain cells because its activation represents multiple spatial locations. |
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Brett Smith
RedOrbit 2013-08-05 20:57:00
From driving across country to graduating from college, long-term goals are often difficult to stay focused on when an immediate reward isn't within sight. A team of researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle and MIT has recently discovered new details on how the brain is able to stay focused until these long-term goals are achieved, according to a report in the journal Nature. The joint team's research builds on previous studies that have linked the neurotransmitter dopamine to the brain's reward system. While most previous studies have involved looking at dopamine with respect to an immediate reward, the new study found increasing levels of dopamine as laboratory rats approached an expected reward after delayed gratification. To measure levels of dopamine in the rats' brains, the team used a system developed by UW behavioral scientist Paul Phillips called fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) that involves small, implanted electrodes that continuously record dopamine concentration by looking for its electrochemical signature. "We adapted the FSCV method so that we could measure dopamine at up to four different sites in the brain simultaneously, as animals moved freely through the maze," said co-author Mark Howe, currently a post-doctoral neurobiologist at Northwestern University. "Each probe measures the concentration of extracellular dopamine within a tiny volume of brain tissue, and probably reflects the activity of thousands of nerve terminals." |
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| High Strangeness |
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Daily Echo, UK
2013-08-05 10:49:00
Could these lights be proof of an extra-terrestrial visit to Dorset? Echo reader Mark Lichtensteiger snapped the pictures when he stopped at the beauty spot overlooking Zig Zag Hill. He said: "At first I thought it was some sort of helicopter display or formation but when the lights disappeared there was absolutely nothing there. "They came back on and then kept flashing on and off, all at different times. "There must have been five or six lights, which were all stationary in the sky." Mr Lichtensteiger, of Gillingham, said he was 'baffled' by what the lights could have been. "I've asked a few people, and even checked it out with the Army, but no one seems to know. "It does fuel your imagination a bit." He added that the lights, which were sighted at the beauty spot near Shaftesbury, attracted a lot of attention from passers-by, who stopped to have a look. |
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| Don't Panic! Lighten Up! |
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Tara Brady
Lucy Watkins, 14, was admiring the dolphin with her family in DevonThe Daily Mail, UK 2013-08-06 10:15:00 Mammal jumped out of the water and placed fish near to the teenager At first they didn't know whether to take the cod but dolphin reappeared with its own dinner - a seabass The family gratefully scooped up the cod and took it home for tea A family watching a dolphin from their boat were shocked when it dropped them off a cod supper for dinner. The group were enjoying watching the mammal frolic in the water when it suddenly dived down and caught the cod before placing it near to Lucy Watkins, 14. The dolphin then then resurfaced and began nudging the fish towards the stunned teenager.
Lucy and her grandparents wondered whether they should pick up the fish in case the dolphin wanted it for tea. But the dolphin then appeared seconds later with his own fish, this time a seabass, and began tucking in. |
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Laurel Conrad
The Daily Caller 2013-08-02 21:11:00
When a nine-year-old boy found himself separated from his group while running a 5k, he turned to the marine beside him and asked, "Sir, will you please run with me?' A heart-warming photograph captured what happened next, when 19-year-old Lance Corporal Myles Kerr dropped back in the race in order to cross the finish line with the boy, reports the Daily Mail.
The young boy, Boden Fuchs, finished the race at 34.53 minutes. Kerr finished five seconds behind him, long after his fellow marines had completed the run. The photograph has gone viral on Facebook, accumulating over 200,000 likes and 45,000 shares. A follower asked him if the boy was happy as he cross the line. According to Kerr's Twitter response, the boy "still has a big smile on his face today." Kerr also posted on his Twitter account that "The parents of the little boy I ran with gave me $100 gift card to Grey Gables Restaurant #godbless." Daily Caller reached out to Kerr, who agreed to do an interview. Unfortunately, Kerr's Twitter account was deleted hours later, and he did not respond to further requests for comment. |
