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Flying penguins found by BBC programme

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 04:38:13 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

The BBC will today screen remarkable footage of penguins flying as part of its new natural history series, Miracles of Evolution.

Camera crews discovered a colony of Adélie penguins while filming on King George Island, some 750 miles south of the Falkland Islands.

The programme is being presented by ex-Monty Python star Terry Jones, who said: "We'd been watching the penguins and filming them for days, without a hint of what was to come.

"But then the weather took a turn for the worse. It was quite amazing. Rather than getting together in a huddle to protect themselves from the cold, they did something quite unexpected, that no other penguins can do."

BBC1 viewers will see the penguins not only take flight from the Antarctic wastes, but fly thousands of miles to the Amazonian rainforest to find winter sun.

"Not only does it create a vivid and emotional experience for the viewer, it also illustrates just how bold and simple Darwin's idea of natural selection was."

Tags: nature, animals, penguins, bbc, evolution, april fools

John McCain trades jokes with Letterman

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 04:09:08 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

Republican presidential candidate John McCain good-naturedly sparred with David Letterman on Tuesday night’s “Late Show.”

During his monologue, Letterman joked that the Arizona senator reminded him of “the guy at the hardware store who makes the keys” and “the guy who can’t stop talking about how well his tomatoes are doing.”

“You think that stuff’s pretty funny, don’t you?” McCain asked, then added: “Well, you look like a guy whose laptop would be seized by the authorities.”

McCain also said the host resembled the guy caught smuggling reptiles in his pants, to which Letterman replied, “Don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it.”

The candidate also likened Letterman to the manager of a creepy motel, the guy who enjoys watching his swim trunks inflate in a hot tub and the guy about whom neighbors later say, “He mostly kept to himself.”

Tags: politics, humor, tv, television, mccain

Scientists: Kids Have Supernatural Ability

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 04:04:29 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: abcnews.go.com

The sight of small blonde girls watching television is guaranteed to strike fear into the heart of anyone who has watched the movie Poltergeist.

We're right to be terrified, say physicists. Children generate poltergeist activity by channelling energy into the quantum mechanical vacuum.

The researchers note that poltergeist encounters have been reported around the world and across different cultures, but tend to have one thing in common.

"Poltergeist disturbances often occur in the neighbourhood of a pubescent child or a young woman," the authors note in their paper.

So Brovetto and Maxia have come up with a mechanism to explain just how these women and children create such havoc. Like so many problems that arise in adolescence, puberty gets the blame.

Brovetto and Maxia hypothesise that the changes in the brain that occur at puberty involve fluctuations in electron activity that, in rare cases, can create disturbances up to a few metres around the outside of the brain.

Tags: psychic, children, girls, energy, brain, adolescence

Chelsea says Lewinsky scandal is off limits, is she right?

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 01:04:25 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com

For the second time in two weeks, Chelsea Clinton has been asked a question about the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

The student yesterday defended asking the question saying, “I feel that it is our business because he was president at the time.”

Yesterday’s encounter followed a similar one at Butler University last week when a student asked the former First Daughter whether the Lewinsky scandal had hurt her mother’s reputation. Again Chelsea responded with, “I don’t think that is any of your business.”

While campaigning for her mother Chelsea has refused to answer questions from the press as well.

Here’s my question to you: Chelsea Clinton says the Lewinsky scandal is none of the public’s business. Is she right?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

Tags: politics, clinton, scandal, campaign, public

Clinton challenges Obama to bowl-off

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 01:03:09 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton walked somberly into a press conference Tuesday and stood before microphones. Reporters tensed, sensing something big might was afoot.

The tension grew. Reporters shifted in their seats. Was she dropping out of the race?

April Fools!

"Today, I am challenging Senator Obama to a bowl-off," Clinton said, provoking relieved laughs from the assembled scribes.

Clinton carried on, making reference to Obama's disastrous outing at a Pennsylvania bowling alley Saturday.

"It is time for his campaign to get out of the gutter and allow all the pins to be counted. I'm prepared to play this game all the way to the tenth frame. When this game is over, the American people will know that when that phone rings at 3 a.m., they'll have a president ready to bowl on day one."

Tags: politics, humor, obama, clinton, april fools