Clipmarks | Amergin's clips

Megaherbs flourished in Antarctica

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 09:23:45 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Stephen Pincock

Giant flowers found on Australia and New Zealand's sub-Antarctic islands are probably survivors of lush forests that covered Antarctica before the beginning of the last ice age nearly 2 million years ago, scientists say.

The flowers, known to researchers as megaherbs, grow abundantly on the tiny windswept islands such as the Snares, Auckland and Campbell island groups.

Dr Steve Wagstaff from Landcare Research in New Zealand and his team publish their work online on the Nature Precedings pre-print service.

The researchers were particularly interested in species of giant daisies known as Pleurophyllum.

"They're very large, robust herbaceous plants, with really big, broad leaves," Wagstaff says. "That's really how they got the name megaherbs."

"When you put all this together it looks like this particular group was probably on Antarctica before the last ice age, and that they migrated by stepping stones onto the sub-Antarctic islands," Quinn says.

James Bond fanatic creates underwater car

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 21:33:09 GMT

clipped by: Amergin

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Q would have been proud - 30 years after James Bond disappeared under the waves in a specially adapted Lotus, car designers have done it for real.

Cinema audiences gasped as Roger Moore's 007 took his white Lotus Esprit for a surprise dip to evade the enemy in the film The Spy Who Loved Me.

The "sQuba" will be exhibited at the Geneva Motor Show next month.

These pictures show the €1 million (£750,000) prototype, which can dive to a depth of 10m, in action off the coast of Florida.

The team at his firm Rinspeed replaced the petrol engine with three electric motors, one to power the rear wheels and two for the specially designed propellers. They are capable of taking it to 75mph on land, a more sedate 4mph while cruising in "boat" mode and a positively tranquil 2mph while underwater.

The company also claims that the car is extremely "green" as well, as it is a zero-emission vehicle powered by rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.

Overweight husband crushes wife

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 12:31:05 GMT

clipped by: Amergin
clipper's remarks: Selfish.

Clip Source: www.news.com.au

AN overweight bus driver who crushed his wife by sitting on her has received a five-year jail sentence from a court in Germany.

In evidence the 128kg man acknowledged arguing with his wife before the incident but claimed he had fallen on her by mistake.

His 46-year-old victim later died of her injuries, including 18 broken ribs.

Expert evidence was heard that he must have sat on her for at least two minutes.

The victim died in hospital four weeks after the argument, which took place in central German city of Hildesheim in April 2006.

She was treated there only several days after the incident, with doctors finding just three broken ribs initially and discharging her after failing to read the X-rays properly.

"It was a painful death dragged out over weeks,'' the judge said, adding that the defendant had done nothing to assist his wife."

Shatner: 'I haven't watched Star Trek'

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 08:42:36 GMT

clipped by: Amergin
clipper's remarks: How could you ? NOOOOOO

Clip Source: www.breakingnews.ie

Former 'Star Trek' star William Shatner has not seen the TV show which made him famous.

The 76-year-old refuses to watch himself onscreen because he believes "(he) sucks" at acting in the popular sci-fi series.

He says: "I never watched 'Star Trek' and I have not even seen any of the 'Star Trek' movies. I don't watch them myself. When I direct and have to look at filmed scenes of myself, I suck."

And Shatner regrets failing to lift any memorabilia from his days on set - as the costumes and props are now worth a lot of money.

He adds: "I've kept nothing. Given the choice at the time of having a Star Trek suit or a designer suit, I'd have taken a suit. I should have known better."

Fish 'returns' girl's letter

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 08:35:43 GMT

clipped by: Amergin
clipper's remarks: Shirahige, now a 21-year-old university student, said: "I can't get over the wonder of how the letter survived 15 years. I never expected I'd get a reply this way."

Clip Source: www.news24.com

Tokyo - A letter that a young girl in Japan sent into the sky in a balloon about 15 years ago has been found on a fish hauled from 1, 000m below the Pacific.

A fisherman found the still legible piece of paper sitting on a sticky flatfish in his catch on Thursday, along with a torn-off string and the fragment of a red balloon.

He opened the folded paper, discovering it was a handwritten letter from a six-year-old girl at an elementary school in Kawasaki, 150km away from where the fish was caught off Choshi port.

The sender, Natsumi Shirahige, and her friends released letters as part of events to mark the school's 120th anniversary, which was in 1993.

"Our school is 120 years old... If you pick up this letter, please write to me," the letter reads, listing the school's address.

The 52-year-old fisherman said the letter was a nice surprise.

"I've been in fishing for a long time but this is unbelievable," the smiling man told the Asahi television network.

Men on Motorcycle Steal Woman's Hair

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 08:33:49 GMT

clipped by: Amergin
clipper's remarks: They are a hairs breadth from being captured

Clip Source: apnews.myway.com

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) - Two men on a motorcycle grabbed a woman as she walked to church, pulled out a machete and cut off the waist-length hair she had been growing for two decades, police in Brazil said Thursday.

The woman, a homemaker whose name was not released, told police she was walking to church when she was assaulted late Tuesday, police officer Antonio Williams da Silva said by telephone from the northeastern city of Aracaju.

Da Silva said the woman told authorities she hadn't cut her hair for 20 years.

"It must have been nearly a meter and half (more than four feet) long," da Silva said.

The robbers cut the woman's hair above her shoulders, he said, apparently with the idea of selling it to be fashioned into a wig.

"A hairpiece that size could cost you as much" as $550, da Silva said.

The woman was not injured, but her assailants could be charged with battery if caught.

Similar attacks have occurred in other Brazilian cities, where the demand for human hair is high.

Assault rap for rough handshake

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 08:28:55 GMT

clipped by: Amergin

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

A Florida lawyer has been charged with assault for over-vigorously shaking the hand of a fellow attorney.

Kathy Brewer Rentas, 49, shook the hand of Assistant US Attorney Jennifer Keene so hard her arm was nearly ripped out of its socket, a court official said.

Moments before, Ms Keene successfully prosecuted Ms Brewer Rentas' husband.

Anthony Rentas was accused of violating the terms of a probation order for supplying cocaine, and sentenced to 90 days of house arrest.

After the hearing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Mrs Brewer Rentas insisted on shaking the prosecuting lawyer's hand.

In shaking it, she nearly floored Ms Keene with the vigour of her hand-action.

Alicia Valle, a spokeswoman for the US Attorney's Office, said assaulting a federal officer was a serious matter and that Mrs Brewer Rentas would be prosecuted "vigorously".

"As a member of the bar, she should know better," she said.

Mrs Brewer Rentas says she did not intend to cause any harm.

Tear Free Onions

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 08:15:53 GMT

clipped by: Amergin
clipper's remarks: You won't see me crying about it.,

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

WELLINGTON (AFP) - Scientists in New Zealand and Japan have created a "tear-free" onion using biotechnology to switch off the gene behind the enzyme that makes us cry, one of the leading researchers said Friday.

The discovery could signal an end to one of cooking's eternal puzzles: why does cutting up a simple onion sting the eyes and trigger teardrops?

Colin Eady, the institute's senior scientist, said the project started in 2002 after Japanese scientists located the gene responsible for producing the agent behind the tears.

Eady said that by stopping sulphur compounds from being converted to the tearing agent and redirecting them into compounds responsible for flavour and health, the process could even improve the taste of the onion.

"We anticipate that the health and flavour profiles will actually be enhanced by what we've done," he said.

"The gene silencing system can also be used to combat virus diseases, and biotechnology in general can help us produce more robust crops."

Blind Golfer Gets Hole-In-One

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 08:11:35 GMT

clipped by: Amergin
clipper's remarks: Talk about a shot in the dark.

Clip Source: news.sky.com

A blind 92-year-old man has stunned his golfing friends by scoring a hole-in-one in Florida.

Leo Fiyalko sunk his 110-yard, five-iron shot on the fifth hole at Cove Cay Country Club.

He has been playing for 60 years, but this was his first hole-in-one.

"I was just trying to put the ball on the green," Mr Fiyalko said.

He used to have a seven handicap, but now he needs help lining up shots and finding his golf balls.

Jean Gehring watched as his friend's ball disappeared up the fairway and into the hole.

"I could tell it went on the green, but when we got up there I didn't see it.

"I looked in the hole and there it was," Mr Gehring said.

Mr Fiyalko's friends at the country club presented him with a plaque to commemorate his feat.

Hey Presto, A Pseudo Castle.

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 08:03:34 GMT

clipped by: Amergin
clipper's remarks: Sneaky, very sneaky.

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Hiding a needle in a haystack is easy enough

But Robert Fidler kept something much bigger concealed among the piles of straw down on his farm... a castle.

Over the course of two years, he managed to secretly – and unlawfully – build the imposing mock Tudor structure in one of his fields, shielded behind a 40ft stack of hay bales covered by a huge tarpaulins.

Once it was finished, he and his family moved in and lived there for four years before finally revealing the development – complete with battlements and cannons – in August 2006.

Mr Fidler claims that because the building has been there for four years with no objections, it is no longer illegal.

But he is under siege from council planners, who say the castle at Honeycrock Farm, Salfords, Redhill, Surrey, will have to be knocked down.

"I can't believe they want to demolish this beautiful house," said 59-year-old Mr Fidler. "To me they are no different than vandals who just want to smash it down."

But neighbours were unimpressed.

Canadian Goosehit by a Meteor, Savaged By a Fox

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 07:54:23 GMT

clipped by: Amergin
clipper's remarks: It was not his day all
right.

Clip Source: www.thesun.co.uk

A GOOSE crashed onto a car after being knocked from the sky by a METEORITE, it was claimed yesterday.

Postman Adrian Mannion was having a morning cuppa with his wife Fiona when they heard the 9lb space rock hit their driveway.

One second later a dazed Canada Goose smashed into their prized Mini’s roof, causing £2,500 damage.

Adrian, 46, of Elstree, Derbys, said yesterday: “We heard two almighty thuds and rushed out to see this large, odd-looking rock next to our Mini – and a very poorly-looking mangled goose on the car roof.

“A flock of Canada Geese were overhead so the falling stone must have hit the poor creature.”

Bizarrely, they said, a fox then dragged away the bird before they could rescue it.

Fiona, 46, said: “It has to be the unluckiest bird ever.

“It survived being knocked out by a meteorite – only to be savaged by a fox.”

The University of Derby is now studying the meteorite – one of only 1,000 asteroid fragments that hit earth each year.

Tags: what's that sound ?

The life-giving power of literature

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 00:26:26 GMT

clipped by: tidbit2
clipper's remarks: I used to get bored out of my brain before I started reading
I could never latch on to it to easily till I found words of wisdom and writing that could be applied to life
also learning about the outside world/universe
through factual writing like national geographic
and the guardian newspaper has really opened a lot of doors for life,conversation,enjoyment and distraction
reading offered answers to the meaning of life and the universe which had seriously distressed me beforehand
the quote from volataire sums it up:
Despite the enormous quantity of books, how few people read! And if one reads profitably, one would realize how much stupid stuff the vulgar herd is content to swallow every day."
— Voltaire
this is particulary true in the days of crappy prime time tv shows
and hyped up media
I also read somewhere about the calming effect good reading material promoting creative thought can have on ones nerves
which I found very true
oh and the source goodreads is awesome
che

Clip Source: www.goodreads.com

"When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young."
— Maya Angelou

"Today a reader, tomorrow a leader."
— Margaret Fuller

"Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body."
— Joseph Addison

"When we read a story, we inhabit it. The covers of the book are like a roof and four walls. What is to happen next will take place within the four walls of the story. And this is possible because the story's voice makes everything its own."
— John Berger

"What makes lovemaking and reading resemble each other most is that within both of them times and spaces open, different from measurable time and space."
— Italo Calvino

"If you believe everything you read, better not read."
— Japanese proverb

if one reads profitably, one would realize how much stupid stuff the vulgar herd is content to swallow every day."

Voltaire

Deer put toe in water, turned into whale

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 01:19:43 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Whales, dolphins and porpoises evolved from a tiny deer-like mammal that adapted to living at sea millions of years ago, a new study says.

These deer-like mammals, which were the forerunners of whales and other cetaceans, stood at the water's edge 48 million years ago before adapting to life at sea

Whales are long suspected to have originated from four-footed mammals called artiodactyls that walked on land in South Asia and gradually adapted to live in the sea.

Evidence to back this comes from fossils of even-toed ungulates, artiodactyls that spread their weight on their third and fourth toes, which date from before the emergence of the whales, and of whale fossils that date from the first 10 million years of whale evolution.

scientist have lacked the missing link

that shows an emphatically close relationship between artiodactyls and cetaceans

They believe the ancestor of cetaceans is Indohyus, a

mammal that looked rather like a miniature deer and lived in water around 48 million years ago

German hairdresser finds Bundesbank plans in bin

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 08:21:02 GMT

clipped by: Amergin

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

BERLIN (Reuters) - A Berlin hairdresser discovered top-secret plans for a safety vault at the Bundesbank's Berlin branch in a bin, the German central bank said on Thursday.

Only four weeks ago, the bank's building in western Berlin was officially opened after renovation work which cost about 150 million euros (108 million pounds).

The hairdresser found detailed drawings of the safety arrangements at the bank, including the location of people detectors, stairwells, grilled gates and measurements with the depth of the vault's floor, reported top-selling newspaper Bild.

"I wanted to throw away my rubbish and I noticed the plastic bag with the building sketches," Bild quoted the 26-year-old male hairdresser as saying. The bin was in a backyard in central Berlin.

A Bundesbank spokeswoman confirmed the Bild report, adding the bank was looking into how the plans could have ended up in a bin. She said she believed it would be impossible for anyone to break into the safety vault.

Tags: plans, bin, security

German ministers say Scientology unconstitutional

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 08:17:00 GMT

clipped by: Amergin

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

BERLIN (Reuters) - German federal and state interior ministers declared the Church of Scientology unconstitutional on Friday, opening the door for a possible ban on the organization.

Federal Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and 16 state interior chiefs agreed "that we do not consider Scientology an organization that is compatible with the constitution," Ehrhart Koerting, Berlin's interior minister and chairman of a ministers' conference in Berlin, told reporters.

Germany does not recognize Scientology as a religion. seeing it as a cult masquerading as a church to make money. Scientologists reject this view.

The government permits the Church of Scientology to operate in Germany as an organization, and in January it opened a six-storey headquarters in the heart of west Berlin.

Earlier this week, a Berlin district set up an office to deal with complaints about Scientology.

Tags: cult, unconstitutional, money makers