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Ahh well Im not really great on details :blush: all I know was a place in cairo they had some wild dogs or possibly dingos and quite a few babies were killed. Or so the story goes then again after peopl left one rich guy bought up all the land very cheaply and built a golf course.
Wild dogs is a completely another matter, if we remember correctly.
Wild dogs don't fear humans and are actually even more dangerous than wolves.
While bears don't eat humans for food, they are quite unpredictable and should be avoided at all costs. What may seem as to a human as not being provocative to a bear, bears will interpret things very differently.Quote:
Originally Posted by Taliesin
Wolves are mostly shy when it comes to people.
I don't know anything about lynxes.
If you're slim, don't think you can get away with not exercising - you still risk heart problems if you don't hit the gym, a study suggests. The London-based team measured the levels of heart-clogging cholesterol (LDL) in 37 lean exercisers, 46 lean and 28 obese non-exercisers.
They found lean exercisers had good LDL levels, but those in lean and obese non-exercisers were higher and similar.
The study is published in the International Journal of Obesity.
It concluded that exercisers were fitter and leaner than those who were sedentary, and had a better chance of not developing cardiovascular disease.
Dr Gary O'Donovan, exercise physiologist at Brunel University, said: "Many people, especially slim people believe that they only benefit that can be achieved from exercising is weight-loss.
"This is not the case. Our study suggests that slim people need to exercise as much as others in order to stay healthy and keep LDL cholesterol in check."
Dr O'Donovan said he devised the study to look at how exercise affected a person's health profile.
It was already known that aerobic fitness was amongst the most reliable measure of health now and in the future and that those who did well in fitness tests were likely to live around five years longer, he added.
For the study he divided his 113 non-smoking men aged 30 to 45, with similar socio-economic profiles, into three groups - lean exercisers, lean non-exercisers and obese exercisers.
Obesity was classed as a person with a waist of more than 100cms, measured at the narrowest point.
Heart health
An exerciser was someone who took regular cardiovascular exercise, such as running or cycling, three times a week or more.
Dr O'Donovan suggested that, because the profiles of the men were the same, it was a reasonable assumption that the differences in cholesterol results were linked to whether the person exercised or not.
He added: "The benefits of exercise are not just about maintaining a normal weight.
"There's some quite convincing research that shows that habitual exercisers live a little longer."
Dr Charmaine Griffiths, spokesperson for the British Heart Foundation (BHF) said exercise was essential in maintaining a healthy heart - no matter what your body shape.
"We know that for some people a low fat diet can help keep their cholesterol level low, whilst for some their blood cholesterol stays high no matter how thin they are.
'Fat fit'
"We can all take steps towards a healthier heart by eating a balanced diet and taking at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity five times a week."
Dr O'Donovan now wants to look at the bad cholesterol levels of obese exercisers - the so-called "fat fit".
If such a study found that LDL-cholesterol was similar in obese exercisers and lean exercisers, it would suggest that habitual exercise lowers heart disease risk independent of body fat.
Dr O'Donovan says: "We have started looking for volunteers to take part in the next phase of the study.
"Basically, we're looking for the Jason Leonard's of the world - men who regularly exercise but have a large frame!"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4778274.stm
Author Margaret Atwood has invented a remote-controlled pen which allows her to sign books for her fans from thousands of miles away. Autographs are signed on an electronic pad while Atwood chats to a fan via a video link.
Seconds later two metal arms holding a pen reproduce the signature in the fan's book.
Atwood, 66, invented the LongPen after tiring of travelling round the world on book tours.
"You cannot be in five countries at the same time. But you can be in five countries at the same time with the LongPen," said Atwood.
The pen had its first public outing at the London Book Fair after a technical hitch delayed the demonstration by a few minutes.
The Canadian author signed her new short story collection, The Tent, for Nigel Newton, chief executive of her publisher Bloomsbury.
In another part of the exhibition, the message appeared via the LongPen in Mr Newton's copy: "For Nigel, with best wishes, Margaret Atwood."
The pen's next venture will be to deliver autographs in copies of The Tent for fans in New York and Guelph, Ontario.
The idea for the LongPen came after Atwood signed for a package on an electronic pad.
"I thought my signature was whizzing through the air and landing somewhere else, and I thought as I was crawling through the night on another maniacal book tour, wouldn't it be great if I could sign a book like that?
"It turns out they don't work that way. But I asked some technically-minded people if such a thing was possible, and they said it was."
The gadget will be leased out to publishers for one-off signing events and tours.
Impersonal
"This creates the possibility of an entirely new book promotion event that will inject new life into the marketing of books and authors' relationship with their readers," said Nigel Newton.
Dajan Papic of Atwood's Serbian publisher, Laguna, said the device could help bring international authors - albeit virtually - to his small country.
"We are not always in a position to invite international authors and pay their costs," he said.
But some had concerns that it might end the personal contact between author and reader.
"I might do it if she wasn't in the same room," said Jeff Doorn, a small-press author who queued up at the book fair to have Atwood sign his book in person.
"But it's nice to have the personal touch," he added.
The pen can also be used to sign hockeysticks and the project director Matthew Gibson is working on getting it to sign basketballs.
Atwood's novels include The Handmaid's Tale, Alias Grace and The Blind Assassin.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4778962.stm
Ok, first an apology for posting another story related to violence in Glasgow. I am quite sure you are all bored of reading them.
The plastic idea is sensible, & anyone who has had a bottle smashed on their head will be able to tell you it hurts a hell of a lot less if the glass shatters. So this is also good but the number of people injured when those tempered glasses smash into a million pieces will be huge. Time to stick to the plastic.Quote:
Late night revellers are being served drinks in plastic or toughened glasses on the first weekend of a glass ban in Glasgow's city centre and west end.
About 90 clubs and pubs with 0300 licences are now subject to the policy, which aims to reduce glass attacks.
Latest figures show police recorded 59 attempted murders or serious assaults with glass in the 12 months to November 2005 in both areas.
The city's licensing board will extend the ban to pubs in June.
For the moment, the ban only applies to nightclubs and "superpubs".
About 70 clubs have switched to plastic and "tempered" or toughened glass, which shatters into small pieces when it breaks.
A further 21 "superpubs" with late night entertainment licenses have made the switch.
Some venues selling fine wine and champagne have been granted exemptions.
'Not killjoys'
Malcolm Cunning, vice convener of Glasgow's Licensing Board, said: "We are implementing the ban as a measure to ensure customers have a pleasant and safe environment.
"The quality of plastic and toughened glass has improved enormously.
"We are not killjoys, the trade and suppliers are expecting it to become the norm.
"All premises are quite willingly taking part."
He added: "It may be slightly more difficult to introduce in pubs."
Police figures for November 2004 to November 2005 show the majority of people attacked were under the age of 35.
In one case, a man was stabbed in the neck with the stem of a glass.
He fell onto a table where two off-duty surgeons saved his life.
The cost of the switch to the licensed trade is put at up to £10,000 per venue.
Eddie Tobin, chairman of the Bar Entertainment and Dance Association, said: "The nightclubs largely adopted and embraced the policy before its introduction and the vast majority are supportive.
"The only concern is the board acts reasonably in terms of exemptions and so far I have no complaints."
He added: "I defy anyone to tell me the difference between tempered glass and the real thing."
Bars in Greater Glasgow have until 31 January, 2007 to comply with the scheme as a condition of their licence.
link
A parent has spoken of his anger after his wife had to go to their daughter's school to put a plaster on when staff said they were not allowed to. Julie Scott, 38, was called by staff at Uphill Primary School near Weston-super-Mare, after her daughter Emily, 9, cut her finger.
The school said strict guidelines meant they were not allowed to give plasters.
The head says the school is to review their interpretation to make sure they take a "common sense approach".
Mrs Scott travelled the short distance to the school, bandaged up her daughter's finger and left a box of plasters by her desk in case of ny "further mishaps".
Staff at the school told Mrs Scott that local council guidelines meant they were unable to put the sticking plaster on Emily's cut finger.
But Emily's father Kevan, 39, criticised the guidelines.
He said: "The whole saga is absolutely ridiculous. My daughter had a tiny cut and I just cannot see the reason why a plaster couldn't be put on her finger by the staff.
"I am not criticising the school at all which has always been great. The staff I've spoken to there think the rule is stupid also.
"When my wife went in to put the plaster on Emily's finger the teachers were apologising to her for having to come in.
"It's a ludicrous guideline that the school seem to have been given, people should be men not mice."
Judgement call
North Somerset Council stated that their guidelines have been interpreted incorrectly.
A council spokesman said: "We provide broad guidelines for first aid in schools and there is no mention of using plasters.
"Each child joining a school has to produce a medical declaration which includes allergies and therefore it is down to the school to use its judgement about whether it is appropriate to use plasters or not.
"This case highlights that we perhaps need to re-issue guidelines to schools to clarify the issue," he said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/4796486.stm
A family from the Mescalero Apache tribe is suing the producers of a Steven Spielberg TV series for cutting their daughter's hair for the show. The family said the hair of Christina Ponce, aged eight, was cut without regard for their tribal customs.
"It's part of our culture not to cut a girl's hair until her Coming of Age ceremony," her father Danny Ponce said.
"The only ones allowed to do that are the parents." His daughter had been acting in mini-series Into the West.
Mr Ponce added that "nobody asked for permission" before a stylist cut Christina's hair. He said he had filed his claim in the US District Court in Albuquerque.
His legal papers, which seek $250,000 (£142,000) for emotional distress and $75,000 (£43,000) in damages, named Turner Films Inc and the unknown stylist as defendants.
A Turner Films spokeswoman said the company did not comment on pending litigation.
Into the West is executive produced by Spielberg and is based on the novel by Max McCoy.
It explores the expansion of the American West through the eyes of two families - one white, the other native American.
According to legal papers filed by Mr Ponce, Christina responded through her parents last March to an open casting call for work on Into the West.
'Like a boy'
She attended a three-day shoot near Carrizozo, New Mexico.
Her hair was cut by a stylist to "make her look more 'Indian' and like a male Indian child because the movie casting call failed to produce sufficient young male extras of Indian heritage", the papers state.
The Mescalero tradition forbids cutting a girl's hair as she approaches puberty, in preparation for a sacred Coming of Age ceremony that requires her hair to reach her waist.
Mr Ponce said that before it was cut, his daughter's hair fell midway down her back.
"It was cut very short above her ears. She looked like a boy," he said.
New Mexico governor Bill Richardson has increased state efforts to attract the film industry there in recent years.
Mr Ponce said that, while he welcomed this, film-makers from outside the state should try to be more culturally sensitive.
"Just because you're wealthy, you don't do something without checking first," he said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4820582.stm
It's reaching the point where you can't chew gum without getting sued.
A female teacher is claiming £1m in damages after she was forced to sit in a chair that made flatulent sounds.
Sue Storer, 48, told an industrial tribunal she was constantly apologising to children, parents and teachers about the rude noises which emanated from her chair every time she moved.
But the school refused to replace the chair, she claimed.
A year later two male deputy heads got new executive chairs.
"It was very embarrassing to sit on," she told the tribunal.
"I asked for a chair that didn't make these very embarrassing farting sounds."
The divorcee claims the the chair problem was just one example of sexist behaviour that undermined her position at Bedminster Down secondary school in Bristol.
She quit her £48,000 a year job last year and is claiming constructive dismissal and sex discrimination.
http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0...515063,00.html
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
Quote:
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.
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Scheherazade
Bristol again.
I was wondering the same thing... Why not take your own chair to the school instead of quitting a well-paid job?Quote:
Originally Posted by jackyyyy
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