Strange Stories

[Gardez]

Biologists Observe Gorillas Using Tools

Thursday, September 29, 2005
For the first time, biologists have documented gorillas in the wild using simple tools, such as poking a stick in a swampy pool of water to check its depth.

Until now, scientists had seen gorillas use tools only in captivity. Among the great apes, tool use in the wild was thought to be a survival skill reserved for smaller chimpanzees and orangutans.

"This is a truly astounding discovery," he said in a statement. "Tool usage in wild apes provides us with valuable insights into the evolution of our own species and the abilities of other species."

Other scientists said the observations were important, but not surprising.

Breuer's observations were made late last year in a marshy clearing called Mbeli Baia located in Nouabale-Ndoki National Park where monitoring has been ongoing since February 1995.

The first instance was observed last October when a female gorilla (nicknamed Leah by scientists) attempted to wade through a pool of water created by elephants, but found herself waist deep after only a few steps. Climbing out of the pool, she retrieved a branch from a dead tree and used the stick to test the depth of the water.

In November, a second female gorilla (named Efi) used a detached tree trunk to support herself with one hand while digging for herbs with the other hand. She also used the tree trunk as a bridge to cross a muddy patch of ground.

Details of the findings are being published in the online journal PLoS (Public Library of Science) Biology. Video of the gorillas will be broadcast Saturday on the PBS program "Wild Chronicles."

Fairly or not, gorillas have been considered less capable than other great apes, in part because they have not been as extensively studied.

Chimps, for example, have been continuously observed in the field for 40 years since Jane Goodall launched her landmark study at Gombe Stream in Tanzania. They have become stars of television documentaries and glossy magazine articles, displaying their extensive of use of rocks to break open hard-shelled nuts and sticks to "fish" termites from mounds.

In contrast, gorillas are much larger, stronger and slower.

"Chimps are portrayed as the super-ape and gorillas are the big brutes in the forest," said Richard Carroll, a primate expert and director of the Africa program at the World Wildlife Fund in Washington, D.C. He has conducted gorilla field studies since 1980. He did not contribute to Breuer's report.

"Gorillas are very intelligent, but they don't have to be as delicate as chimps - they can just smash open the termite nest," said Carroll, who a decade ago reported observing gorillas using sticks to ward off attacking leopards.

"New studies like this show that especially lowland gorillas are very chimplike in their abilities," he said.

Carroll said the new study was made possible by the establishment of protected parks in Congo by agreements between conservation groups, international agencies and the government. The populations of gorillas and other great apes are severely imperiled by logging, hunting and outbreaks of the Ebola virus. And, civil war in Congo has made field science dangerous for years.

"It's a tribute to conservation efforts that allow people to sit and observe and not be in fear of their lives," he said.

[Gardez]

Eviction Escape: Man Flees, Pig Attacks

Thursday, September 29, 2005
BOULDER CREEK, Calif. - A man and his pet wild pig facing eviction from their Boulder Creek home have eluded authorities - the man by running into the woods, and the pig by attacking deputies.

Santa Cruz County Sheriff's deputies have tried numerous times to evict Christian Canabou from his home, but he always flees when they arrive, authorities said.

Canabou has now been ordered by animal control officials to evict the pig - a 200-pounder named Kate. He was given until 10 p.m. Thursday to remove the animal from the property, where neighbors have complained it has become a nuisance.

But getting Canabou and the pig to leave hasn't been an easy task.

"The pig, and I don't know her name, is aggressive," sheriff's Sgt. Fred Plageman said. "It seems to be a domesticated pig, and on past occasions it has chased deputies around and chewed up part of a patrol car."

[Gardez]

Huge 'star-quake' rocks Milky Way


Astronomers say they have been stunned by the amount of energy released in a star explosion on the far side of our galaxy, 50,000 light-years away.


The blast occurred on the surface of an exotic kind of star - a super-magnetic neutron star called SGR 1806-20.

If the explosion had been within just 10 light-years, Earth could have suffered a m@ss extinction, it is said.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime event

Dr Rob Fender, Southampton University
"We figure that it's probably the biggest explosion observed by humans within our galaxy since Johannes Kepler saw his supernova in 1604," Dr Rob Fender, of Southampton University, UK, told the BBC News website.

One calculation has the giant flare on SGR 1806-20 unleashing about 10,000 trillion trillion trillion watts.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime event. We have observed an object only 20km across, on the other side of our galaxy, releasing more energy in a 10th of a second than the Sun emits in 100,000 years," said Dr Fender.

Fast turn

The event overwhelmed detectors on space-borne telescopes, such as the recently launched Swift observatory.

This facility was put above the Earth to detect and analyse gamma-ray bursts - very intense but fleeting flashes of radiation.


Swift moved quickly to track down the source of the gamma-rays
Twenty institutes from around the world have joined the investigation and two teams are to report their findings in a forthcoming issue of the journal Nature.

The light detected from the giant flare was far brighter in gamma-rays than visible light or X-rays.

Research teams say the event can be traced to the magnetar SGR 1806-20.

This remarkable super-dense object is a neutron star - it is composed entirely of neutrons and is the remnant collapsed core of a once giant star.

Now, though, this remnant is just 20km across and spins so fast it completes one revolution every 7.5 seconds.

"It has this super-strong magnetic field and this produces some kind of structure which has undergone a rearrangement - it's an event that is sometimes characterised as a 'star-quake', a neutron star equivalent of an earthquake," explained Dr Fender.

"It's the only possible way we can think of releasing so much energy."

[Gardez]

Warm Teddy Bear Helps Nab Robbery Suspect

Friday, September 30, 2005
MANNING, S.C. - A warm teddy bear helped lead Clarendon County deputies to a man wanted for an armed robbery and carjacking.

Officers went to a Manning home Wednesday night after received a tip Gregory L. Mouzon was inside.

One of the investigators saw a pile of clothes in a closet and picked up a teddy bear on top that was unusually warm, Chief Deputy Joe Bradham said.

Other officers, including Investigator Tommy Burgess, started picking up the clothes and found Mouzon underneath the pile.

Mouzon "stuck his head up and said, 'Hello, Mr. Burgess,'" Bradham said.

Deputies had been looking for Mouzon for about 18 hours since he went into a gas station, robbed the clerk, then carjacked a 1996 Ford Taurus from an acquaintance who had driven him to the store, authorities said.

[louie93]

that is strange

somone call agents mulder and scully
lol

[Gardez]

Bar Made From Arctic Ice Opens in London

Friday, September 30, 2005
LONDON - A chilly bit of Scandinavia is coming to the heart of London's West End Saturday with the opening of Absolut Icebar, a bar made entirely out of ice right down to the art on the walls and the gl@sses for the drinks.

Situated next to the accompanying but room temperature Below Zero restaurant, the bar is kept at minus 23 fahrenheit year round. For a cover charge of 12 pounds ($22.20), patrons are given a thermal cape, thick gloves and a gl@ss made out of ice before entering the second of two airtight doors designed to keep heat out.

"It's an experience rather than a traditional bar. We feel we're really offering something different," said Anette Eli@sson, manager of market communications for V&S Absolut Spirits vodka company, which is opening the bar with partner company Icehotel.

The Stockholm-based franchise launched the first Icebar in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden, in 1994 within Icehotel, where visitors stay in the comfort of a warm sleeping bag in an icy room. Since then, Icebar locations in Stockholm, Sweden and Milan, Italy, have been met with success, prompting a fourth permanent location in London.

"This is where trends come from, so that's why London was important to us," Agnetha Lund, director of Icebar International, said.

Bar patrons who would like a warm meal will find European cuisine and lounge-style seating at Below Zero restaurant next door. Fred Olsson, managing director, said the menu features dishes that can be shared among friends.

All the ice for the bar is imported from the Torne River in the north of Sweden, where the pure water and river freezing process make the finished product "crystal clear," according to Lund.

The entire venue will be redesigned and rebuilt every six months, because the ice will gradually melt with daily use and the body heat of the crowds, Lund said. Icebar commissions artists to sculpt the decor on site, and opening day art includes a floor-to-ceiling vodka bottle and partial human figures along the walls.

The 10,764-square-foot bar has a capacity for 60 people. Pre-booking for one of the 45-minute time slots is a must.

[louie93]

maybe the agents from the 4400 need to sort this out

[Gardez]

Man Breaks Display Case to Read Rare Book

Sunday, October 2, 2005
MADISON, Wis. - A man smashed a display case at the Wisconsin Historical Society to steal a Revolutionary War-era book worth $5,000, authorities say.

Matthew Brooke, 26, was charged Friday with felony theft of library materials and criminal damage to property. He went to the Historical Society on Thursday, according to a criminal complaint, and smashed the window on a second-floor antique display case with his elbow. He allegedly swiped the "Pennsylvania Evening Post" from inside the case.

The book is a collection of the newspaper's issues dating from January to April 1777.

A police officer found the book stuck in the waistband of Brooke's pants, the complaint said. Brooke told detectives he took the book because he wanted to read a story on page 106 about a historical figure named William Hill.

[louie93]

maybe veronica mars could help
she's private eye

[JB]

LOL

[Gardez]

Space Tourist Says Trip Worth Millions

Tuesday, October 4, 2005
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A rich entrepreneur scientist who bought his own ticket to the international space station said from orbit Tuesday that the trip was worth the millions of dollars he paid, and his only fear on launch day was not going.

"I'm having a great time. I mean, this is a dream come true," Gregory Olsen said at a news conference broadcast from the space station.

"This is my fourth day and I'm really enjoying it," he added. "Just to look out and see the Earth from about 230 miles up is just great."

The best part, Olsen said, is "just being here." As for the reported $20 million he paid for the 10-day trip, "It's like the price and value argument. This is something I wanted to do, I love doing, so to me, yes, it's worth the money."

With his launch aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket on Saturday from Kazakhstan, Olsen became the world's third paying space tourist. He made his fortune with Sensors Unlimited Inc. of Princeton, N.J., a company that makes devices for fiber-optic communications and infrared imaging. He is chairman of the board of directors and a co-founder.

Olsen said he was not afraid during liftoff.

In fact, "as soon as that rocket launched, I was the most relaxed I've been in two years. I've had some ups and downs on this thing," the 60-year-old said, referring to his lengthy delay in flying for unspecified medical reasons.

"The only thing I was nervous about was maybe I wasn't going to go. And once I felt that rocket push off from the ground, I just felt that sense of relief and joy. The Russian Space Agency has a great safety record and they're great at space, and with a crew like this, how could you go wrong?"

He said he has not suffered any of the typical space motion sickness.

Olsen arrived at the space station Monday with NASA astronaut William McArthur and Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev, who will spend the next six months aboard the orbiting complex. The scientist, who holds a doctorate, will return to Earth early next week with astronaut John Phillips and cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, who have been in orbit since April.

Phillips said he can't wait to devour "a hot steaming pizza and a big cold mug of beer," once he's back on Earth. Krikalev said a good cup of coffee, and fresh fruit and vegetables, sound good to him.

California money manager Dennis Tito visited the space station in 2001 and South African Internet entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth in 2002, in similar deals negotiated with Russian space officials.

[Gardez]

Bush Considers Military Role in Flu Fight

Tuesday, October 4, 2005
WASHINGTON - President Bush, stirring debate on the worrisome possibility of a bird flu pandemic, suggested dispatching American troops to enforce quarantines in any areas with outbreaks of the killer virus.

Bush @sserted aggressive action could be needed to prevent a potentially crippling U.S. outbreak of a bird flu strain that is sweeping through Asian poultry and causing experts to fear it could become the next deadly pandemic. Citing concern that state and local authorities might be unable to contain and deal with such an outbreak, Bush asked Congress to give him the authority to call in the military.

The president has already indicated he wants to give the armed forces the lead responsibility for conducting search-and-rescue operations and sending in supplies after m@ssive natural disasters and terrorist attacks - a notion that could require a change in law and that even some in the Pentagon have reacted to skeptically. The idea raised the startling-to-some image of soldiers cordoning off communities hit by disease.

"The president ought to have all ... @ssets on the table to be able to deal with something this significant," Bush said during a 55 minute question-and-answer session with reporters in the sun-splashed Rose Garden.

Dr. Irwin Redlener, @ssociate dean of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and director of its National Center for Disaster Preparedness, called the president's suggestion an "extraordinarily draconian measure" that would be unnecessary if the nation had built the capability for rapid vaccine production, ensured a large supply of anti-virals like Tamiflu, and not allowed the degradation of the public health system.

"The translation of this is martial law in the United States," Redlener said.

It was the president's first full-fledged news conference in over four months, as the White House hopes to regain momentum lost amid sky-high gasoline prices, a rising death roll in Iraq, and a flawed response to Hurricane Katrina. Bush has seen a small rise in his approval ratings, but they remain near the lowest of his presidency.

Despite the polls and recent grumbling about his performance from some Republicans, Bush insisted he still had "plenty" of political capital that he would spend getting lawmakers to go along with his proposed budget cuts, Iraq strategy, proposals to add to U.S. oil refining capacity and desire for a reauthorization of the anti-terror Patriot Act.

He called for quick confirmation of his nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court.

On Katrina, Bush said the federal effort to help evacuees and local communities remains uneven.

He praised his administration's success at handing out $2,000 in immediate cash @ssistance to some storm victims and in resolving bureaucratic hurdles that had impeded the removal of the Gulf Coast's huge debris piles. But he said the government could "probably do a better job" arranging for temporary housing for displaced people and needed to be up to the task of retraining people to fill new jobs.

Responding to fiscal conservatives' sticker shock at the costs of rebuilding the Gulf Coast, Bush called for "even deeper reductions in the mandatory spending programs than are already planned" to pay for it.

On other topics:

-Bush said the White House has begun the search for a replacement for Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan, who retires in January, but he hasn't seen names yet.

-He acknowledged the public had a "diminished appetite" for overhauling Social Security, a top priority earlier this year that was in trouble before Katrina hit and has nearly completely fallen off Congress' radar since then.

-Bush said he was "disappointed, frankly, in the vote I got in the African-American community" in November after trying hard to bring it up from the 9 percent he got in 2000. Bush won 11 percent of the black vote in 2004, and the poor federal response to Katrina's mostly poor and black victims has led many to question Republicans' hopes of doing better next time.

-Citing the investigation into the leak of a CIA agent's identity that has two White House officials as its focus, Bush declined to say if he would fire anyone indicted in the probe, or whether he has discussed the case with the two officials.

Bush signed an executive order in April adding pandemic influenza to the government's list of communicable diseases for which a quarantine is authorized.

The key question he introduced into the debate Tuesday was who would control it: the states that by law now have the main responsibility for containing an outbreak within their borders, or the federal government, which typically has been in charge of keeping diseases from entering the country.

White House spokesman Trent Duffy said the president envisioned possible military control of the quarantine process only "in the most extreme circumstances" and when state and local resources are overwhelmed.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the military hasn't be asked to develop such a plan. But he noted the military's capabilities, with mobile medical units and hospital ships and the ability to create field hospitals quickly.

Avian flu has killed or led to the slaughter of millions of birds, mostly in Asia but in parts of Europe, too.

It has killed about 60 people, mostly poultry workers. So far it doesn't spread easily from person to person. If that changes - and flu viruses mutate regularly - there could be a worldwide outbreak.

[louie93]

i wonder if faith and buffy could help
or angel investigations

[Gardez]

Sounds like the work of Wolfram & Hart.

[Gardez]

Saturday, October 8, 2005
PRIMM, Nev. - A gang of souped-up, driverless robotic vehicles rolled across 132 miles of rugged desert and mountains in the Mojave Desert on Saturday, competing for a $2 million prize in a Pentagon-sponsored race.

Bolting first out of the gate this year at dawn was a customized red Hummer built by Carnegie Mellon University, which took off at a brisk pace, disappearing into the desert at 20 mph while blaring its fire sirens. Two weeks ago, the team got a scare when the vehicle, dubbed H1ghlander, rolled over on its roof during practice after hitting a rock.

Trailing H1ghlander was Stanford University's Volkswagen SUV, which completed four flawless laps around the California Speedway during a qualifying trial last week.

Carnegie Mellon's other entry, a military Humvee called Sandstorm, ran third. Sandstorm was the best performer in last year's robot race despite traveling only 7 1/2 miles.

No one won that competition. The much-hyped robot race ended without a winner when all the self-navigating vehicles broke down shortly after leaving the starting gate.

On Saturday, five vehicles out of the 23 entries - including three converted SUVs, an all-terrain vehicle and a military light strike vehicle - were knocked out within the first hour due to sensor problems. But all of the disqualified vehicles covered more of the course than Sandstorm last year, race officials said.

The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, made the course harder this year and doubled the taxpayer-funded prize to spur innovation and development of remote control-free robots that could be used in the battlefield.

The unmanned vehicles, ranging from a military Humvee to a behemoth six-wheel truck, must use their computer brains and sensing devices to follow a programmed route and avoid hitting obstacles that may doom their chances.

Early Saturday, teams were given a CD-ROM with GPS coordinates that chart the exact route. The all-day race, which starts and ends in the casino town of Primm, spans the Mojave Desert on the Nevada side.

Vehicles have to drive on rough, winding desert roads and dry lake beds filled with overhanging brush and man-made obstacles. The machines also must traverse a narrow 1.3-mile mountain p@ss with a steep drop-off and go through three tunnels designed to knock out their GPS signals.

The robots will bolt from the starting gate at staggered times followed by a chase car. Vehicles must average 15 to 20 mph to finish in time.

To qualify, vehicles competed in a weeklong trial at the California Speedway outside of Los Angeles where they had to zip through a 2.5-mile bumpy track littered with hay bales, traffic cones and junk cars. All 23 finalists completed the course at least once.

This year's field was more competitive. Even before Saturday's race, many teams tested their vehicles in parts of the Southwest desert under race-like conditions including some that practiced on last year's course from Barstow, Calif., to Primm.

The vehicles were tricked out with the latest sensors, lasers, cameras and radar that feed information to several onboard computers. This, in turn, helps vehicles make intelligent decisions such as distinguishing a dangerous boulder from a tumbleweed and calculating whether a chasm is too deep to cross.

To ensure safety, a judge in the chase vehicle could pause a robot during the race, stopping the 10-hour clock without penalty. The judge also could press a kill switch if the robot was headed toward danger, ending its chances of winning.

The so-called Grand Challenge race is part of the Pentagon's effort to cut the risk of casualties by fulfilling a congressional mandate to have a third of all military ground vehicles unmanned by 2015.

The military currently has a small fleet of autonomous ground vehicles stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the machines are remotely controlled by a soldier who usually rides in the same convoy. The Pentagon wants to eliminate the human factor and use self-thinking robotic vehicles to ferry supplies in war zones.

[louie93]

i think scully and mulder could pull this off

[Gardez]

Robber Pays for Coffee With Stolen Money

Friday, October 7, 2005
MEDFORD, Ore. - Police are looking for a man who robbed a coffee stand and paid for his cup of java with some of the money he had just stolen.

Police said the man rode his bicycle up to the stand just before 7 a.m. on Thursday and ordered a coffee. He then told the female employee that he had a gun and demanded money.

The attendant handed over an undisclosed amount of cash. Before he left, the man paid for the coffee with the money just handed to him.

The man is described as white, in his mid 20s wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a black beanie cap.

[Gardez]

BTW Nice pics Louie.

:-)

zzzzzzzSMGzzzzzzzz

[JB]

Yeah cool but why did you change?

[Gardez]

Fan Catches Two of Astros' Home Run Balls

Monday, October 10, 2005
HOUSTON - Shaun Dean made two big catches from his spot in the stands during the record-setting, 18-inning Game 4 between the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros.

He caught both Lance Berkman's grand slam and Chris Burke's series-winning homer Sunday, which gave Houston a 7-6 victory and ended the longest postseason game in baseball history.

"I never caught one in a game before," said Dean, 25, of Porter.

Berkman's eighth-inning homer was toward Dean, who was sitting in the second row of the boxes above the left-field wall at Minute Maid Park.

"It came right at me," he said in a story in Monday's online edition of the Houston Chronicle. "I just reached over and caught it."

The second catch, which came about three hours later, was a little bit harder to make. He said the ball "came more toward my father-in-law, and he just leaned over and I reached down and caught it."

Dean, comptroller at Joslin Construction, said he probably would give Burke's home run ball to the player because it made history.

Dean said that as he left the park, people were congratulating him.

"I had several people say I should buy a lottery ticket or go to Vegas," he said.