News

A fun read. Who says we don't have wild life in New York City? From today's NY Post. http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/63498.htm

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COYOTE IS CAPTURED AFTER HOWLER OF A 'DOG RUN' IN CENTRAL PK.
By LORENA MONGELLI and BILL HOFFMANN
The wily coyote of Central Park was bagged yesterday with a well-aimed shot to the butt - but not before he led cops on a wild-goose chase over hill and dale, disrupted a Robin Williams movie shoot, terrorized a pampered pet pooch and delighted tourists watching the drama unfold.

"This was one very adventurous coyote," said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe after the 35-pound, 1-year-old critter was tranquilized just north of the 79th Street Transverse shortly after 10 a.m.

"Apparently, males start to feel a bit frisky and exploratory at this time of year - and this one made it all the way from somewhere up north to Midtown," Benepe said.

Cops picked up the trail of the coyote - nicknamed Hal, after the Hallett Nature Sanctuary, where he was first spotted Tuesday - just before 8 a.m. yesterday. Witnesses spotted him padding around Heckscher Playground, near the famous carousel.

"He was beautiful - and he was very fast," said parkgoer Suzanne Kelly, 43.

"It started coming toward me and I tried not to make eye contact. I really have bad luck with dogs and I didn't want it to bite me."

Then Hal turned his attentions on another park visitor, who was walking her small, yapping West Highland white terrier - freaking out both master and pet and sending them packing.

Within minutes, dozens of cops fanned out over the area and Hal was on the run again. He barreled several hundred yards southeast to the nature sanctuary near The Pond by Central Park South - where he had previously left little piles of feathers behind after feasting on water fowl.

The coyote then ducked under the "Romantic Bridge," where thousands of newlyweds have their pictures taken, and then climbed some rocks.

"At this point, he seemed more afraid then anything else. You could see he was running scared," a hardhat working in the area told The Post.

Not scared enough to stop him from pausing for a swim, however. Hal leaped into the drink and skillfully dog-paddled for a minute before getting out and shaking himself dry.

He then continued north toward Wollman Rink, where a skating scene for the movie drama "August Rush," starring Williams, Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, was being shot.

As a figure skater gracefully pirouetted before the rolling cameras, Hal mischievously wiggled through the bars of the rink fence and trotted toward the ice.

"Clear the ice! Clear the ice!" cops screamed to the jolted movie crew, as they closed in for the capture.

But crafty Hal launched into stunt-dog mode, taking a stunning leap over an 8-foot fence and racing further north.

The coyote zoomed past the famed statue of hero Alaskan sled dog Balto - as if paying homage to his fellow four-legged adventurer - then to Literary Walk, through The Mall, past The Bandshell and along Bethesda Terrace.

Witnesses spotted Hal zipping along the east shores of The Lake, turning left around the north side of the Loeb Boathouse and heading northwest through the Ramble.

"What excitement here in Central Park!" squealed Pilly Meyer, a tourist from Holland, after Hal dashed by.

"I'm amazed!" added Patricia Lombroso, a correspondent for an Italian newspaper. "If I told someone there was a coyote in Central Park, they would say I was drunk."

Things turned Coyote Ugly for Hal as he reached Belvedere Castle and eagle-eyed park workers flagged down Detectives Philip Tropp and Tracyann Kupinski, of Emergency Service Unit Truck 2.

Hal found himself cornered at the back of the castle and Tropp, seeing a window of opportunity, raised his gun.

"I fired one dart and struck him," he said.

Still, Hal wasn't about to go down without one last try to stay free.

He made his way around the Parks Department building, ran across the 79th Street Transverse and hid behind some pipes by a Fire Department communications substation.

But sleep came fast.

"We waited a few minutes for the [drug] to take effect," Tropp said. "We moved in and noosed it and waited a little longer. Then we caged it."

Hal was taken to the 79th Street maintenance yard, where he was examined by a veterinarian and proclaimed fit and healthy.

"We took his vitals and he's doing fine. He's a young animal and in good shape," said veterinarian Njeri Couse, of the city's Animal Care and Control agency.

In a few weeks, animal-welfare workers will transport him upstate to release him back into the wild.

Benepe said that while Hal was resourceful in staying free for so long, he was no match for New York's Finest.

"They are not only good at fighting international terrorism, they're also very effective when it comes to wild animals," he said.

Mayor Bloomberg said, "Now the question is, can we find a mate for the coyote?"

Hal is the second coyote known to have visited the park in recent years, the first being Otis. He was captured in 1999 and is now a star attraction at the Queens Zoo.

It's not easy for coyotes to make it onto the island of Manhattan, Benepe said.

"You either have to swim or cross a railroad trestle used by Metro-North and Amtrak that runs along the Hudson under the George Washington Bridge and then goes through a very wooded area," he said.

Once Hal got to the park, he apparently feasted on ducks and other birds. Parks workers found little piles of feather.

With more development in nearby rural areas, Hal probably won't be the last wild animal who visits our world-famous park, according to officials.

And that may spur the Parks Department into working with the city Department of Health to develop a protocol, Benepe said.

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

A female teacher is claiming £1m in damages after she was forced to sit in a chair that made flatulent sounds.]

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Constructive dismisal, but I can't help wondering how she was forced.. and why didn't she stand or take another chair, bring her own chair even.

Bristol again.

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Originally Posted by jackyyyy

Constructive dismisal, but I can't help wondering how she was forced.. and why didn't she stand or take another chair, bring her own chair even.

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I was wondering the same thing... Why not take your own chair to the school instead of quitting a well-paid job?

A tortoise that once belonged to British colonial general Clive of India in the 18th Century has died in a zoo in Calcutta. Adwaita, "the only one" in Bengali, was found dead by keepers in Alipore Zoo on Wednesday. His shell cracked some months ago and a wound had developed.

West Bengal officials said records showed Adwaita was at least 150 years old but other evidence pointed to 250.

The shell of Adwaita, an Aldabra tortoise, will now be carbon-dated.

Forestry minister in the West Bengal government, Jogesh Barman said: "Historical records show he was a pet of British general Robert Clive of the East India Company and had spent several years in his sprawling estate before he was brought to the zoo about 130 years ago."

Mr Barman said Adwaita was probably brought from the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean and presented to Clive, an increasing force in the East India Company's military hierarchy.

Aldabra tortoises are found in the four-island Aldabra atoll of the Seychelles, a UN World Heritage Site that now has about 152,000 giant tortoises.

They average about 120kg (265lbs) and are thought the longest-lived of all animals.

The BBC's Amitabha Bhattasali in Calcutta says Adwaita brought in many of the zoo's visitors and when he fell sick for the first time eight years ago with a leg infection a full medical board was instigated to treat him.

The director of the zoo, Subir Chowdhury, said Adwaita's shell would be preserved and kept there.

One zookeeper told the Reuters news agency: "This is a sad day for us. We will miss him very much."

Lord Clive, the son of a Shropshire squire, became a soldier and adventurer who rose through the East India Company.

He won the key Battle of Plassey against the Nawab of Bengal in 1757.

Lord Clive later became an opium addict and committed suicide in 1774 at the age of 49.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4837988.stm

A man with no arms has been caught speeding at 121 km/h (75 mph), according to police in New Zealand. The driver, who used one foot to steer and another to operate the pedals, told officers he was born with no arms but had been driving for years.

The 32-year-old had passengers in the car when he was stopped on a highway near Papamoa in the Bay of Plenty area.

Police fined the unemployed man NZ$170 (£60) and banned him from driving, local media reported.

'Shocked officer'

The driver, whose name has not been published, was going well over the speed limit of 100 km/h (60 mph) when he was stopped by police on Thursday.

Senior Constable Brent Gray approached the driver's window, saw a foot on the dashboard and noticed the seat was reclined.

Mr Gray told colleagues he thought the man had an "attitude", then noticed the driver had no arms.

"He (Mr Gray) was pretty shocked by that, as you would be," acting Senior Sgt Deirdre Lack was quoted as telling local newspaper the Bay of Plenty Times.

The driver told police he had never held a driving licence.

Ms Lack said the motorist had been a danger to fellow drivers because he was breaking the limit.

"Obviously, driving at a speed like that, arms or not, you're just waiting for an accident," she said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/4842634.stm

A rare Beethoven manuscript which includes songs written by Robert Burns has failed to sell at auction.

The 22-page manuscript in Beethoven's own handwriting shows five arrangements for popular Scottish and Irish folk songs.

The music, commissioned by Scottish publisher George Thomson, was expected to fetch between £350,000 and £450,000.

Bidding at Christie's reached £300,000, but the owner was not willing to sell for that amount.

Christie's said it could not reveal the reserve price.

Heated exchanges

It is the most complete manuscript in Beethoven's hand to come to the market for 15 years.

Between 1803 and 1814 Beethoven wrote 126 settings for Thomson, who wanted to popularise Scottish and Irish folk songs in 19th century drawing rooms.

However, the arrangements produced by Beethoven were too complicated for drawing room performers.

Correspondence in the British library suggests Beethoven and Thomson had heated exchanges on the matter, with the composer refusing to simplify the music and also continually haggling on his price.

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Dealing with fingernails, flowers and hair brings happiness at work, according to an annual survey. The study of 1,300 people revealed that beauticians, florists and hairdressers are among the UK's happiest workers.

At the other end of the scale, lawyers, civil servants and pharmacists are the least cheerful.

The City and Guilds study also suggests that skilled workers are more content with their work-life balance than white collar professionals.

One of the secrets to a happiness appears to be the opportunity to socialise while at work. Florists, beauticians and hairdressers all identify meeting new people and feeling appreciated as key to enjoying their working day.

Welcoming the local congregation obviously has the same effect on many members of the clergy, the highest placed professionals, who came second on this year's City and Guilds Happiness Index.

When asked to rate their happiness on a scale of one to ten, the clergy averaged 9.14, just behind beauticians on 9.20.

Index points up

However, the study did show that sitting behind a desk is not all bad, as both vocational workers and professional workers say they are happier in their jobs than they were a year ago.

The Happiness Index is published annually by City and Guilds, the UK's largest vocational awards body, which hands out over a million vocational qualifications each year to craftsmen and skilled workers.

Keith Brooker of City and Guilds said: "It is great to see that workers in all careers are happier than they were last year.

"Given the amount of time we spend in the workplace, finding a career that we are happy with should be everyone's priority."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4849168.stm

More people than ever are asking to be buried or cremated with their mobile phones when they die, say researchers. The trend, which began in South Africa, has now spread to a number of countries, including Ireland, Australia, Ghana, and the US.

Martin Raymond, director of international trend-spotting think-tank, The Future Laboratory said that this had started off "in the realm of the urban myth", but was fast becoming fact.

"You hear about it, the idea that people are being buried with their mobile phones, but you can't really believe it," he told the BBC World Service's Culture Shock programme.

He explained that the first cases of people asking to be buried with their phone originated in Cape Town, where some people's belief in witchcraft meant they feared that "they could fall under a spell, be put to sleep and actually be buried.

"In fact, they were asking for the phones to be put into the coffins with them in case they woke up."

'Limelight funerals'

Mr Raymond said that in Australia the trend was more about affluence.

"People wanted to be buried with the totems that they felt represented their lifestyle," he explained.

"We came across one guy who asked to be buried with his mobile phone and his Blackberry, and also with his laptop."

He added that in many cases, being buried with your phone is part of what he termed limelight funerals, people wanting to be buried like celebrities.

The phone is put in the coffin along with diamonds, jewellery, expensive suits, and gold watches.

In some places, however, the practice has parallels with a much more distant time, as being buried along with one's possessions can be traced to ancient Egypt.

In the days of Tutankhamen it was done because they believed literally that the objects would be available to them in the afterlife.

However, in modern times some people are finding they like the idea of being buried with the things that defined them while they were alive.

"When we looked at this in Chad and Ghana, there was part of that implicit in the burial service - that you were taking things with you that would be useful," Mr Raymond said.

"In Ireland, where we came across this, it was more to do with people being buried with things they liked. One guy we came across was buried with a pack of cigarettes and some matches.

"Another was buried with his favourite teddy bear, given to him by his girlfriend."

Spare battery

In some cases, they are even taking their mobiles into cremation.

"We came across this in places like South Carolina in the US - people were being burned but unknown to the crematorium, they had left the phones in their jackets," Mr Raymond said.

"If you heat a mobile phone battery, it tends to explode, and the first reports were about explosions, and that's how they started noticing this trend."

Some funeral parlours will now arrange for the phone put into the box with the ashes following the cremation.

And one service in South Africa will put a number of batteries in the coffin just in case the dead person wakes up much later and finds their own battery has run out.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4853548.stm

Some of those people are begging to have their graves robbed, honestly...

Late Grateful Dead Leader's Toilet Stolen
Apr 2, 6:39 AM EST


The Associated Press

SONOMA, Calif. -- The long, strange trip continues for Jerry Garcia's toilet. Police say the Grateful Dead leader's commode was stolen recently from a driveway along with three other toilets and a bidet, The Press Democrat newspaper reported Saturday.

Garcia's salmon-colored toilet was the subject of a legal battle before it was finally moved to Sonoma, to await shipment to a Canadian casino.

It's unclear if the toilet was swiped by a wayward Deadhead or a thief remodeling a bathroom. Police have no suspects or leads.

Henry Koltys bought Garcia's Marin County home for $1.39 million in 1997 and removed the toilet and other items he planned to sell to raise money for a charity.

After Koltys sold the house to a friend of the band's, the new owner sued to block the auction. The dispute was resolved last year, and Koltys moved the items to his home in Sonoma, about 40 miles north of San Francisco.

Last month, Koltys sold the Grateful Dead singer's toilet for $2,550 to online casino Goldenpalace.com, which planned to use it as part of a traveling marketing exhibit. The casino is offering a $250 reward for its return.

Henry Koltys said Friday that the toilet once stood in the master bathroom of Garcia, who died in 1995 at age 53. "It would have been his personal head," he said.

The casino has made other unusual purchases in the last year — it paid $25,000 for actor William Shatner's kidney stones and $28,000 for a grilled cheese sandwich that reportedly had the image of the Virgin Mary on it, Koltys said.

Jonathon Lipsin, who worked for Garcia as a gardener and now owns a Northern California record store, said the toilet might appeal to dedicated Deadheads.

"It's a little gross," Lipsin said. "But I could see it at a rock 'n' roll museum, too."

http://http://music.msn.com/music/ar...20133&GT1=7702

Such a lot of fuss over a loo.
:lol:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060405/music_nm/clash_dc

Man held as terrorism suspect over punk song
LONDON (Reuters) - British anti-terrorism detectives escorted a man from a plane after a taxi driver had earlier become suspicious when he started singing along to a track by punk band The Clash, police said Wednesday.

Detectives halted the London-bound flight at Durham Tees Valley Airport in northern England and Harraj Mann, 24, was taken off.

The taxi driver had become worried on the way to the airport because Mann had been singing along to The Clash's 1979 anthem "London Calling," which features the lyrics "Now war is declared -- and battle come down" while other lines warn of a "meltdown expected."

Mann told British newspapers the taxi had been fitted with a music system which allowed him to plug in his MP3 player and he had been playing The Clash, Procol Harum, Led Zeppelin and the Beatles to the driver.

"He didn't like Led Zeppelin or The Clash but I don't think there was any need to tell the police," Mann told the Daily Mirror.

A Durham police spokeswoman said Mann had been released after questioning -- but had missed his flight.

"The report was made with the best of intentions and we wouldn't want to discourage people from contacting us with genuine concerns," she said.




That's it. Next time I see someone listening to Michael Bolton, I'm sicing Interpol on him. Must be a terrorist.

Astronomers have discovered that the planet Uranus has a blue ring - only the second found in the Solar System.

Like the blue ring of Saturn, it probably owes its existence to an accompanying small moon.

Scientists suspect subtle forces acting on dust in the rings allow smaller particles to persist while larger ones are recaptured by the moon.

Smaller particles reflect blue light, giving the ring its distinctive colour, the US team reports in Science.

All other rings - those around Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune - are made up of both large and small particles, making the rings reddish in appearance.

Bright blue

Astronomers have long known that the gas giant Uranus is surrounded by rings of dark particulate matter up to ten metres in diameter.

But last December, two new rings - the planet's twelfth and thirteenth - were discovered using the Hubble Space Telescope.

Schematic view of outermost rings of Saturn (Image: de Pater, Hammel, Gibbard, and Showalter, courtesy of Science magazine)
...and Saturn

Astronomers observed the ring system at infrared wavelengths with the Keck telescope, in Hawaii.

The outermost ring, and its ice-bound moon Mab, could not be observed in infrared light unlike the red inner ring.

A team led by Imke de Pater, professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, found that the ring was bright blue, something of an oddity in planetary terms.

"The blue colour says that this ring is predominantly submicron-sized material, much smaller than the material in most other rings, which appear red," Professor de Pater said.

The tiny particles - less than a thousandth of the width of a human hair - scatter and reflect predominantly blue light, much like the very small molecules in the air that make the Earth's sky blue.

The more common rings are reddish because they also contain many larger particles, which gives the reflected light its colour, and may be made up of reddish material, perhaps from iron.

It appears that the outer blue rings of Saturn and Uranus are strikingly similar, not least because they are both associated with small moons.

Moon dance

"The moon orbits the planet in the ring," Professor de Pater told the BBC News website.

"It is continuously impacted by very tiny particles [micrometeorites]. On a moon that doesn't have any atmosphere these tiny particles impact the moon at high velocity, and throw stuff up into space.

"Because the moon is so small, it escapes the moon and goes into orbit around the planet.

"The smaller particles stay in orbit around the planet but the larger particles smash back into the moon."

The work was carried out in collaboration with Mark Showalter, of the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (Seti) Institute in California; Heidi Hammel, of the Space Science Institute, Colorado; and Seran Gibbard, of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.

The scientists plan to carry out further observations next year, when the faint rings of Uranus will be more visible.

link

Hey Kilted, Congratulations on your 1000th post!

Congratulations, Kilted! :banana:

Burroughs' Former Cabin for Sale on eBay Fri Apr 14, 12:40 AM ET



LAWRENCE, Kan. - It's a 568-square-foot cabin with narrow concrete stairs, outdoor shower and an incinerating toilet in the bedroom — not the first place a home buyer might want to drop nearly $160,000. But what makes the place outside Lawrence special is that it once belonged to Beat Generation writer William S. Burroughs, author of "Naked Lunch" and "Junkie." Burroughs, who died in 1997 in Lawrence, mentioned the cabin in his book "My Education."

Owner Carol Dengel listed the cabin on eBay on March 22 as a collector's item with an asking price of $159,950 and received more than 1,600 hits on her page.

Dengel first came into contact with the cabin in 1999, when she and Diane Fry, an old high school friend from Ottawa, decided to buy a place near Lone Star Lake where they could spend weekends with their families.

"I used to come here as a kid, so I wanted a place near the lake. When we found out who it belonged to we bought it for the asking price right there," Dengel said.

She declined to say what she paid, but the county appraiser lists the current value as $66,100.
More

An ex-Japanese soldier who disappeared after World War II and was officially declared dead in 2000 has turned up alive in Ukraine, officials say. Ishinosuke Uwano was serving with the Japanese Imperial Army in Russia's Sakhalin Island when the war ended. He lost contact with his family in 1958.

The 83-year-old has now reappeared, in Ukraine, where he is married and has a family, Japanese officials say.

He is due to visit Japan for the first time in six decades on Wednesday.

Just six years ago, his family officially registered him as having been killed in the war - and his details were removed from the official family registry.

Because of this, Mr Uwano must "return to Japan technically as a Ukrainian citizen with a Ukraine passport," a government official said.

Mr Uwano is due to visit family members and friends in Iwate, northern Japan, with his son before returning to Ukraine on 28 April, the AFP news agency reports.

The Japanese authorities are now restoring him to the family registry.

Strong interest

Mr Uwano's existence came to light last year after he asked friends in Ukraine to help him contact the Japanese government, which then sent officials to interview him in Kiev.

He was one of thousands of Japanese soldiers and civilians who were left stranded across the Pacific and in parts of China and Russia after the war ended.

Some were kept as prisoners and forced to work as slave labourers, others chose to remain of their own accord.

Why Mr Uwano remained in Russia, and how he ended up in Ukraine, has not been disclosed.

There is still much interest in Japan in the plight of former soldiers who never made it home, the BBC's Chris Hogg in Tokyo says.

Last year, Japanese officials returned empty-handed after going to a remote Philippine village to investigate reports that two former Imperial Army members were hiding there.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/4916294.stm

A method of creating super-nutritious but flatulence-free beans has been developed by scientists. Beans are a cheap and key source of nutrition especially in the developing world, but many people are thought to be put off by anti-social side-effects.

A Venezuelan team says fermenting beans with certain friendly bacteria can cut the amount of wind-causing compounds, and boost beans' nutritional value.

The research appears in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.

Flatulence is caused by bacteria that live in the large intestine breaking down parts of food - such as soluble fibre - that have not been digested higher in the gut

Beans, such as the black bean commonly eaten across Central and Southern America and tested by the team, contain many of these compounds.

Researchers from the Simon Bolivar University in Caracas found that by boosting the natural fermentation process by adding a particular type of bacteria , called Lactobacillus casei (L casei), the amount of these indigestible wind-causing compounds were reduced.

Soluble fibre was reduced by two thirds and the amount of raffinose, another flatulence-causing substance, by 88.6%.

But the amount of insoluble fibre, which is thought to have a beneficial effect on the gut and help the digestive system get rid of toxins, increased by 97.5%.

The team concludes that fermentation involving L casei could decrease flatulence compounds and increase nutritional quality.

They suggest the bacteria is used by the food industry to create better bean products.

The team led by Marisela Granito said: "Given that flatulence is one of the main limiting factors for the consumption of this important foodstuff, the implementation of processes which allow for nutritious and non-flatulence-producing beans to be obtained would be interesting."

'Social concerns'

Dr Frankie Phillips, a nutrition expert and spokeswoman for the British Dietetic Association, said: "This study provides an interesting lead in helping us to overcome some of the less desirable aspects of eating legumes - i.e. flatulence - whilst ensuring that the nutritional benefits from eating them remain.

"On a practical note, some people find that gradually increasing consumption levels of legumes helps, as the body adapts, and others have no symptoms at all.

"I'd suggest trying small portions of legumes as part of a meal and gradually eating larger portions as they can be tolerated."

She said that products existed, mainly in the US, which can help reduce flatulence.

She added: "Despite the obvious social concerns, there is no physiological harm from the flatulence caused by eating beans and other legumes, and considerable nutritional benefits from eating them owing to fibre content as well as a wide range of other nutrients and phytonutrients."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4943486.stm

Now if they could just invent beans that dont make my face bright red andswell up I wont have to buy meat at uni and save some money ...

The judge who presided over the failed Da Vinci Code plagiarism case at London's High Court hid his own secret code in his written judgement. Seemingly random italicised letters were included in the 71-page judgement given by Mr Justice Peter Smith, which apparently spell out a message.

Mr Justice Smith said he would confirm the code if someone broke it.

"I can't discuss the judgement, but I don't see why a judgement should not be a matter of fun," he said.

Italicised letters in the first few pages spell out "Smithy Code", while the following pages also contain marked out letters.

Although he would not be drawn on his code and its meaning, Mr Justice Smith said he would probably confirm it if someone cracked it, which was "not a difficult thing to do".

In March, he presided over a High Court case brought by authors Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, who claimed Dan Brown plagiarised their own historical book for The Da Vinci Code.

But Mr Justice Smith ruled Mr Brown did not substantially copy Mr Baigent and Mr Leigh's work The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, saying it did not have a central theme in the way its authors suggested.

The Da Vinci Code, which has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide, features a number of codes the heroes of the book must crack to solve the mystery.

A much-anticipated movie version of the novel, starring Tom Hanks as historian Robert Langdon, is released on 19 May.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4949488.stm

A code hidden by a judge in his written judgement in the failed Da Vinci Code plagiarism case has been broken. Mr Justice Peter Smith has explained how to crack the code in his 71-page ruling after two newspapers claimed to have solved it.

The message read: "Smithy Code Jackie Fisher who are you Dreadnought."

The judge admires Admiral Jackie Fisher, who developed battleship HMS Dreadnought, which launched in February 1906, 100 years before the case began.

In a statement, Mr Justice Smith said: "The message reveals a significant, but now overlooked event that occurred virtually 100 years to the day of the start of the trial."

"I hate crosswords and do not do Sudoku as I do not have the patience," he said.

He added that the preparation of the code took 40 minutes, with its insertion in the text taking the same length of time.

Mr Justice Smith said a typographical error had been added deliberately to "create further confusion".

Ancient sequence

The Da Vinci Code, which has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide, features a number of codes the heroes of the book must crack to solve the mystery.

Mr Justice Smith had earlier said he intended it as "a matter of fun".

His entry in Who's Who lists him as a fan of Fisher, who is credited with modernising the British navy.

The judge had told The Guardian and The Times that the code was based on the ancient Fibonacci number sequence, which is used by the heroes in Brown's novel.

In March, Mr Justice Smith presided over a High Court case brought by authors Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, who claimed Dan Brown plagiarised their own historical book, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail.

But Mr Justice Smith ruled Mr Brown did not substantially copy Mr Baigent and Mr Leigh's work, saying it did not have a central theme in the way its authors suggested.

A film version of the novel, starring Tom Hanks as historian Robert Langdon, is released on 19 May.

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/enter...nt/4953948.stm

A new breed of "brat bullies" from middle class homes is terrorising the playground because of parents' refusal to say "no", MPs have been warned. Children are going to school believing themselves "little gods", the Commons education select committee heard.

Michele Elliott of Kidscape said the bullies were not thugs but "little Miss Sunshine or little Mr Wonderful".

When confronted by schools many parents also refused to believe their "perfect child" was bullying, she said.

"In addition to children coming from homes where bullying is basically fostered, we found a whole other group of bullies who come from homes where they are so indulged that they go to school and they are little gods," Dr Elliott told the hearing.

"They think that everything just revolves around them. We call them the 'brat bullies'."

Speaking after the committee hearing, psychologist Dr Elliott said this behaviour was often more of a problem among girls than boys.

"They are spoilt by their parents and feel that the world basically owes them, and that the other children should be as in awe of them as their families," she said.

"They expect all the teachers and other kids to kow-tow to them. If they don't, they start to bully the other children.

"The parents of these children are pretty difficult to deal with because they do not see the children in that situation."

Ostracised

David Moore, a senior inspector at Ofsted, said girls tended to be more open about their feelings and gave bullies more ammunition.

He told the committee that girls used "non-verbal communication" to bully each other.

A group of girls would walk up to one of their classmates and deliberately turn away without speaking to her in order to isolate her.

"Nothing is said but that actually diminishes the youngster in their self-esteem and confidence," he said. "It stops them from learning."

He also called for accurate figures on how widespread the problem of bullying was in English schools and for more long-term research into the issue.

Mr Moore also suggested that one way of tackling the problem in schools would be for teachers to warn older bullies that they could face criminal prosecution for intimidating and threatening behaviour.

The Department for Education and Skills said: "Children must know what is right and what is wrong, and that there will be consequences for crossing the line."

Schools had to have anti-bullying policies, and had expert advice as well as "hard-hitting measures" including parenting orders and permanent exclusion.

¿Measures in the Education Bill, including a new legal right to discipline, weekend detentions and fines for parents will send a strong message to pupils and their parents that bullying and failure to take responsibility for tackling it will not be tolerated," he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4758717.stm

A Birmingham shopping centre has beaten off competition from Edinburgh Castle and Tower Bridge to be named one of the UK's favourite landmarks. London landmarks took the top two places, with Big Ben and the London Eye taking first and second place.

The Bullring came third in a survey of which landmark people most wanted to snap, putting Edinburgh Castle fourth.

Entries from Portsmouth, Peterborough, Liverpool and York joined two other London attractions in the top ten.

Top 10 landmarks to photograph

1. The London Eye (completed 1999)
2. Big Ben (1858)
3. Bullring, Birmingham (2003)
4. Edinburgh Castle (1574)
5. 30, St Mary Axe (The Gherkin), London (2004)
6. Peterborough Cathedral (c.1118)
7. Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth (2005)
8. Tower Bridge, London (1893)
9. Royal Liver Building, Liverpool (1911)
10. York Minster (1408)

Birmingham's Bullring has won worldwide acclaim for its distinctive Selfridge's store, which is bespeckled with aluminium discs.

The top ten also features Portsmouth's Spinnaker Tower that opened last year, contrasting with Peterborough's 12th century cathedral.

Darren Peake, marketing manager at Fujifilm, which commissioned the survey, said: "The UK's top ten landmarks highlight the fantastic diversity of architecture and design that is on offer.

"While London is home to a number of modern and historic gems, the top ten features buildings from up and down the country, with fine historic examples of our heritage sitting alongside modern examples of UK innovation."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/w...ds/4762807.stm

Probably the most disturbing medical news I've seen recently.. :cold:

From MySA.com:

Quote:

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"If diseases like AIDS and bird flu scare you, wait until you hear what's next. Doctors are trying to find out what is causing a bizarre and mysterious infection that's surfaced in South Texas.

Morgellons disease is not yet known to kill, but if you were to get it, you might wish you were dead, as the symptoms are horrible.

"These people will have like beads of sweat but it's black, black and tarry," said Ginger Savely, a nurse practioner in Austin who treats a majority of these patients.

Patients get lesions that never heal.

"Sometimes little black specks that come out of the lesions and sometimes little fibers," said Stephanie Bailey, Morgellons patient."

---

see also: http://www.morgellons.org/index.html

That's funny--sounds like a sadistic version of the Plague.

Or aliens taking over Homo sapiens :goof:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Logos

Probably the most disturbing medical news I've seen recently.. :cold:

From MySA.com:



see also: http://www.morgellons.org/index.html

---

Morgellons disease, actually, seems nothing of recent news, having existed for nearly 400 years. Recently, however, it has had a bit of an outbreak, but nothing as severe as malaria, AIDS/HIV, Avian ('bird') flu (which actually has no proof of spreading from human-to-human, but only bird-to-human), West Nile Virus (from which very few people had severe cases, and only in areas of little medical assistance), and SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrom now on the down-low for years).
Morgellons disease itself has had much relation to, in a way, 'chronic' Lyme disease, spread by specific kinds of ticks and other parasites, most commonly found, indeed, in the American midwest. The media will merely exaggerate anything to get coverage, specifically on 'new,' 'amazing,' 'baffling says Dr. X' medical diseases.

The National Geographic Society has been part of an international effort, in collaboration with the Maecenas Foundation for Ancient Art and the Waitt Institute for Historical Discovery, to authenticate, conserve, and translate a 66-page codex, which contains a text called James (also known as First Apocalypse of James), the Letter of Peter to Philip, a fragment of a text that scholars are provisionally calling Book of Allogenes, and the only known surviving copy of the Gospel of Judas.

The Gospel of Judas gives a different view of the relationship between Jesus and Judas, offering new insights into the disciple who betrayed Jesus. Unlike the accounts in the canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, in which Judas is portrayed as a reviled traitor, this newly discovered Gospel portrays Judas as acting at Jesus' request when he hands Jesus over to the authorities.

related NG site

"This article is from the (RED) edition of The Independent, guest-edited for 16 May 2006 by Bono. Half the revenue from the edition will be donated to the Global Fund to Fight Aids."

Bono, Guest Editor: I am a witness. What can I do?

"May I say without guile, I am as sick of messianic rock stars as the next man, woman and child. I am also tired of average work being given extra weight because it's attached to something with real gravitas, like the Aids emergency. So I truly try to tread carefully as I walk over the dreams of dignity under my feet in our work for the terrible beauty that is the continent of Africa. I'm used to the custard pies. I've even learnt to like the taste of them. But before you are tempted to let fly with your understandable invective, allow me to contextualise. Not for the sake of my vanity, but for the sake of people who are depending on you - the reader - to respond to the precariousness of their lives."

http://comment.independent.co.uk/com...icle484978.ece

Bears Eat Monkey in Dutch Zoo
Monday, May 15, 2006

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — Bears killed and ate a monkey in a Dutch zoo in front of horrified visitors, witnesses and the zoo said Monday.

In the incident Sunday at the Beekse Bergen Safari Park, several Sloth bears chased the Barbary macaque into an electric fence, where it was stunned. It recovered and fled onto a wooden structure, where one bear pursued and mauled it to death.

The park confirmed the killing in a statement, saying: "In an area where Sloth bears, great apes and Barbary macaques have coexisted peacefully for a long time, the harmony was temporarily disturbed during opening hours on Sunday.

"Of course the habitats here in the safari park are arranged in such a way that one animal almost never kills another, but they are and remain wild animals," it said.

Witness Marco Berelds posted a detailed report on the incident, including photos, on a Dutch Web site. He said one Sloth bear tried unsuccessfully to shake the monkey loose after it took refuge on the structure, built of crossing horizontal and vertical poles.

Ignoring attempts by keepers to distract it, the bear climbed onto a horizontal pole, and, standing stretched on two legs, "used its sharp canines to pull the macaque, which was shrieking and resisting, from its perch."

The bear then brought the animal to a concrete den, where three bears ate it.

The zoo said it "usually wasn't possible" for keepers to intervene when an animal killed another.

The park plans now to move the Barbary macaques — which are large monkeys but often inaccurately called "Barbary Apes" — to another part of the park, it said.

(source: Fox News

The monkey's have since been moved to another area.

The US military is putting soldiers who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan into its video game in an attempt to put a human face on its operations overseas.

The soldiers' stories are part of a new version of America's Army, a game which is part of its recruitment strategy.

The US military denies that the project is a way of selling an unpopular war to the American public.

Instead the free game is designed to inspire young people by relating the real-life experiences of the troops.

"The majority of the public is not touched by the war," said Major Jason Amerine, who served in Afghanistan and is one of the nine soldiers appearing in the game.

"It is dangerous to have an army overseas fighting and for a public to become so disconnected that they don't realise that we are not automatons over there. We're real people," he told the BBC News website.

'Real heroes'

America's Army was first released in July 2002 and has gone on to become one of the top online games, with seven million registered players.

It taps into the popularity of military and war simulation titles among predominantly young men.


It shows we are not robots, that we're not trained killing machines. We're just people
Matt Zedwick, National Guardsman
It was developed by the Army to simulate combat and life in the military and reach young people for whom video games are a part of everyday life.

In the latest version of the game, called America's Army: Special Forces (Overmatch), the military is adding the experiences of nine soldiers who served in Afghanistan or Iraq.

The title has a so-called real heroes section when players can learn about the real-life troops.

In a virtual recruiting room, gamers can click on a soldier to hear them tell their story. They can also compare their achievements in the game to those of the GIs.

"It gets our stories out there about what the army is doing," said Sergeant Matt Zedwick, who served and was wounded during a tour of duty in Iraq in 2004.

"It is a good communications device to introduce people to what is really going on, rather than what you see on the news."

"It shows we are not robots, that we're not trained killing machines. We're just people," said the 25-year-old who is now studying graphic design at a college in Oregon.

Reaching the public

The US military sees America's Army as an information, rather than as a recruitment, tool.

America's Army screenshot
The game is designed to be as realistic as possible
The latest version was showcased at last week's E3 games expo in Los Angeles and is due to be released in the summer.

It comes at a time of growing unease in the US about the war in Iraq.

And last year, an official US government study warned that the military was falling behind in its effort to recruit troops for combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But the people involved in the title say there is no connection between the new game and America's troubles over its combat operations.

"We're not talking about the war, we're talking about people in the war," insisted Major Amerine, who served in Afghanistan in 2001 during the initial invasion.

"We are not attempting in any way to sell a war to the people, that has nothing to do with our agenda.

"We're trying to create awareness about the people doing the fighting, and that is a very apolitical agenda," said the major who now teaches at West Point.

Toy soldiers

America's Army figures
The figures are intended to be collector's items
As part of "real heroes" campaign, figures of the soldiers featured in the game are to go on sale.

The Army says these are not designed to be toys for children but items for collectors who wish to express their support for the troops.

Seeing themselves as little plastic soldiers is a strange experience for the troops involved.

"It is kinda funny and a little creepy. Unbelievable in a way," said Sergeant Zedwick.

"It is kind of funny to think there are going to be millions of people buying little dolls of you in the stores."


link

Modern teenagers are better behaved than their counterparts of 20 years ago, research suggests. Boys and girls had "less problematic behaviour" involving sex, drugs and drink than teenagers surveyed in 1985.

However, girls in 2005 were likely to smoke and binge drink more than boys and start having sex earlier.

The researchers, Bournemouth University's Professor Colin Pritchard and Richard Williams, surveyed 10 schools along England's south coast.

In 2005 they repeated a 1985 survey of Year 10 and 11 secondary students and compared the results, published in the book Breaking the Cycle of Educational Alienation.

A 30-question survey was answered by pupils aged 14 and 15 and covered truancy, vandalism, theft, fighting, drinking and drugs, the same areas as the 1985 study.

Questions about sex, which were not permitted in 1985, were also included and compared with other research.

In 1985, about 824 pupils responded, with 854 answering it in 2005.

"The good news and, perhaps, unexpected is that the 2005 youngsters have less problematic behaviour than the 1985 cohort and even with the problematic behaviour, drugs, drink and sex, this is still a minority activity," said Prof Pritchard.

"The bad news, however, is that 20 years ago boys drugged, drank, smoked, truanted, stole, vandalised and fought more than girls.

"Today it is very different."

He said the girls smoked and drunk "significantly" more than boys.

Personal relationships

"They truant, steal and fight at similar rates to boys but have started under-aged sex earlier than boys - with 17% of lads in Year 11 having their first sexual intercourse (FSI) whereas 31% of Year 11 girls have had their FSI, indicating they are going with older boys," Prof Pritchard said.

Children of parents who smoke were four times more likely to start smoking themselves and twice as likely to steal, get into fights and become sexually active at an early age, the research showed.

Figures indicated they are also more than twice as likely to take drugs and/or binge drink.

"It is not that smoking causes the student's behaviour, but it reflects something of their personal, family and social relationships," said Prof Pritchard.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4994538.stm

Heavy metal monsters Lordi have been hailed as heroes in their home country after scoring Finland's first ever Eurovision Song Contest victory. President Tarja Halonen congratulated the band in a telegram after their song Hard Rock Hallelujah won in Athens.

Hundreds of people celebrated in the streets of Helsinki, honking car horns, waving flags and singing Lordi's song.

Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat proclaimed: "It's official: Hell has frozen over. Finland has won."

The band won the Eurovision public vote after singing their heavy rock anthem dressed in horror costumes and accompanied by pyrotechnics.

Many people in Finland had feared Lordi would flop and damage the country's reputation.

But they have now become national icons and Culture Minister Tanja Karpela said Lordi's victory proved Finnish music could be successful abroad.

One fan, Erkki Turunen, said Finland won "because it put on a genuine show".

"This wasn't some sort of rubbish. This was really cool," he said.

Another person on the Helsinki streets, Nina Laisi, said: "I don't claim to be a rock fan, and it's not my favourite music, but I admire these guys."

'Humiliation'

Helsingin Sanomat wrote: "Years of humiliation, frustration, and 'zero points' were wiped away as the Finnish entry blew everyone off the stage in Athens.

"When the United Kingdom voters gave Finland 12 points, one knew somehow that nothing would ever be quite the same again."

The Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) said Lordi returned from Athens on Sunday and would meet the press on Monday.

But TV cameras will not be admitted because the band do not allow themselves to be filmed without their monster outfits.

They will stage a public celebration in Helsinki on Friday.

Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said the government would hep finance the contest when it comes to Finland next year.

"There are quite a few of us listeners of heavy and rock music, and for once there was the possibility to vote for a piece that differed from the general Eurovision line," he said.

UK disappointment

Lordi amassed 292 points in the public vote - 44 ahead of Russia's Dima Bilan.

But UK rapper Daz Sampson could only manage to come 19th out of 24 countries with his song Teenage Life.

"There were some very good songs in it this year," he said. "I thought mine was one of them - obviously Europe didn't agree."

The contest attracted an average of 8.2 million viewers in the UK on BBC One on Saturday, according to unofficial overnight figures.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5002798.stm

I wonder if this had anything to do with their victory :D

Personally, I like to think it was a fair victory! :)

I thought Daz was rubbish, absaloute rubbish not worth even 12th place. Now my personal fav was the lot that tried to brain wash the voters Lithuania I think.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nightshade

I thought Daz was rubbish, absaloute rubbish not worth even 12th place. Now my personal fav was the lot that tried to brain wash the voters Lithuania I think.

---

I am still laughing at that comment, "Hell has frozen over". I could not help think of KISS when I saw them, and I agree about Daz. Isn't that a soap powder?

yupp Daz the soap you can belive in... great adverts though :D :p
anyway the only thing that makes watching Eurovision fun is listening to Terry Wogan get into his grumpy act.

Report: Ozone Hole May Disappear by 2050

TOKYO - The ozone hole over the Antarctic is likely to begin contracting in the future and may disappear by 2050 because of a reduction in the release of chlorofluorocarbons and other ozone-depleting gases, according to a team of Japanese scientists.

The findings are based on a series of numerical simulations carried out by Eiji Akiyoshi of the National Institute for Environmental Studies, near Tokyo, using projected emissions of chlorofluorocarbons and other gases blamed for the ozone hole.

According to a report posted Friday on the institute's Web site, the hole is at its largest now but is likely to gradually start contracting around 2020 and disappear by around 2050.

The team's findings are in line with research by other scientists.

Some, however, have suggested the hole won't heal until much later because old refrigerators and air-conditioning systems — many in the United States and Canada — are still releasing ozone-killing chemicals. Both countries curbed those chemicals in newer products.

Satellites and ground stations have been monitoring the ozone hole over the South Pole since its discovery in the 1980s.

Chlorofluorocarbon levels in the earth's atmosphere have been declining since the mid-1990s due to international efforts to reduce emissions.

source

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5009250.stm

"The web should remain neutral and resist attempts to fragment it into different services, web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee has said."

{snip}

"The British scientist developed the web in 1989 as an academic tool to allow scientists to share data. Since then it has exploded into every area of life."

Comic book heroine Batwoman is to make a comeback as a "lipstick lesbian" who moonlights as a crime fighter, a DC Comics spokesman has confirmed. Batwoman - real name Kathy Kane - will appear in 52, a year-long DC Comics publication that began this month.

In her latest incarnation, she is a rich socialite who has a romantic history with another 52 character, ex-police detective Renee Montoya.

52 will be published in the UK as a graphic novel by Titan Books in 2007.

The series is set in a world in which established superheroes like Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman no longer play a part.

Reinvention

The new-look Batwoman is just one of a wave of ethnically and sexually diverse characters entering the DC Comics universe.

Others include Mexican teenager Blue Beetle - who replaces the character's previous white incarnation - and the Great Ten, a government-sponsored team of Chinese superheroes.

Regular characters Firestorm and The Atom, meanwhile, have been reinvented as black and Asian heroes respectively.

The characters are part of a wider effort to broaden the make-up of comic-book creations in line with society as a whole.

Batwoman, who first appeared in July 1956, has not been seen since September 1979 when she was killed by the League of Assassins and the Bronze Tiger.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5030518.stm