The Daily Menagerie

Doggy Style

2009-12-03T00:45:00.000+02:00

Classic onion story They say it best, so I won't say more than the title:
Greyhound Now Offering Direct Service From Kansas To L.A. Porn Director's Driveway

40,000 ecstasy pills (part 2)

2009-12-03T00:14:00.003+02:00

Great report by the doctor that treated the man who took 40,000 ecstasy pills. Basic message: don't take 40,000 ecstasy pills. At the height of his usage he was taking an incredible 25 Es a day! Which actually more than Dangerous Dave takes before driving the bus (see here). Thanks to "Tuomas" for sending the article.

Korea Ender

2009-12-03T00:09:00.003+02:00

The BBC reports the first person in Korea has been convicted of racism. I thought it was only a European thing of putting people in jail for what they say (in terms of racism, North Korea is obviously a leader for jailing other talk). The man jailed shouted "Arab! Arab!" at an Indian professor, apparently confusing him for someone from the middle east. Ironically the professor responded by saying "Why's that Chinaman shouting at me".

Hammer Time

2009-12-03T00:05:00.003+02:00

An article on BBC about my hammer heads have such unusual shaped heads. It's to get better depth perception to making hunting easier. They didn't mention having a head shaped like a hammer might be a disadvantage in sneaking up on anybody. Also, they talk about shining lasers the shark to see when it responds. That must be trippy, even for a shark, swimming a long and then suddenly there are colorful lines through the water.

Aurous Sax

2009-12-02T23:50:00.004+02:00

A treasure hunter found some Anglo-Saxon treasure, so says the BBC. In fact quite a lot of treasure, the final value, to be split 50/50 between the finder and land owner is £3.285M. The hundreds of gold and silver coins and jewelry will be bought by the state in the UK. Check out the photos of some of the stuff in the link. Using a metal detector to find treasure sounds like ti could be fun (you find treasure) but I imagine its probably soul crushingly boring, punctuated with back breaking work to dig up bottle caps. That said, the UK treasure law is pretty awesome I think. The state has first right to buy what is found, though it must be at market price. The money is split 50/50 between finder and landowner. This way people have little incentive to steal. I've read in Italy and Greece, where legally the state owns anything found, people never report finds so the archeology and the material itself is lost. Wikipedia has a good article on treasure trove laws.

Plan Jettisoned

2009-11-29T10:31:00.004+02:00

According to the BBC (which yet again was the only news organization with decent footage of an event, i looked for somewhere else just to vary my sources) Jetpack Man, Yves Rossy, has failed in his bid to cross from Africa to Europe, over the Straight of Gibraltar, with a jetpack strapped to his back. Great interview afterwards, where he let's us know (unintentionally) he's not just a dreamer, he's a poet, or at least that's how his stilted English comes across with a French accent.

Tiring Environmental Crusade

2009-11-29T10:15:00.002+02:00

An article on the BBC writes the EU Commission is to bring in standard labeling on car tires across the EU. Similar to the labels Europeans will be familiar with on consumer electronics, with A (green) to G (red) labeling. The labels assess safety, noise but also interestingly fuel consumption. The article states changing tired would be like taking 1.3 million cars of the road in Europe. Whilst it's brilliant steps are being made to help consumers choose better products (that can really help the environment), it's depressing that it has taken so long to happen. All of the above qualities would be desirable even if we weren't facing catastrophic climate change. I read a good article about that somewhere, will try and find it, but it basically asked why, if many of the things that we need to do to fight climate change are in themselves desirable (energy efficiency), is it not already happening. Basically, humans have limited information, many companies have little competition and so don't have incentives to become more efficient, and the issue of low hanging fruit, that companies will choose the easiest ways to increase revenue/lower costs first and that many energy efficiency projects take time to show yields. Will try and find article. In the mean time, use Ecofont!

Grandma pulling Gs

2009-11-29T03:20:00.002+02:00

The BBC writes that Indian President Pratibha Patil, aged 74, has taken a ride in one of the country's jet fighters. Besides the fact she is apparently the oldest women to fly in a jet fighter, so claim Indian officials, I liked her quotes. Seemingly unable to avoid sounding like a grandma: "I was familiarised with the manoeuvring of the aircraft which has a very sophisticated way of handling it". Yes it is a jet fighter.

I did it for Science, again.

2009-11-28T19:56:00.004+02:00

I'm becoming a fan, here's some more I Did it for Science I liked:
Remote-Control Panties*
Pornstar Office Christmas Party**
Being Gay for the Night

Previously, I posted some other stories I like here.

*To elaborate a little on this one, it was amazing. The women wore vibrating panties which react to noise around the women, increasing the vibration with greater noise. Thus: "Waiting on the platform, I didn't even have to look out at the tracks to know the train was coming — I could feel it from blocks away. It was like being clairvoyant; my vagina could predict the future."
**"As with all Christmas parties, different elements seemed to cling together. The north side of the room was occupied by hitters, slappers, spankers and people being tied up and generally bothered. On the south side were those whose primary concern seemed to be how much of their limbs they could fit into another human being."

Now you CIA it, now you don't.

2009-11-28T19:02:00.003+02:00

The BBC writes the CIA, as part of the increasingly infamous MK-ULTRA (see the new film "Men Who Stare at Goats"), hired a magician to teach their operatives tricks of the trade. The book that came out of this, clearly named in a time before PR consciousness ("The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception"), teaches operatives how to spike someone's drink whilst lighting a cigarette, tie your shoe laces to send messages and so on. It's worth mentioning the MK-ULTRA programme, about which more and more is coming to light, is at times both humorous and disturbing. Humorous when you consider the CIA seriously attempted psychic abilities as plausible, disturbing when you consider they used men at brothels to test the effect of LSD (without the subjects permission or knowledge), in one cases giving a man LSD for 79 days (again, without his knowledge or informing him what was happening to him).

Empty Words

2009-11-28T18:36:00.002+02:00

I like the idea of Ecofont, a group that has released their own environmentally font, called Ecofont, which reduces the amount of ink needed to print a document by about 20%. The idea being to save money and the environment. The font "works" because it is made up of tiny circles, giving the letters a solid look but with less ink. I actually quite like how the font looks. I intend to start using it, and you should to!

Moose Loose by Lake Hus

2009-11-28T18:26:00.004+02:00

A man in Sweden has been cleared of murdering his wife after it emerged a moose had actually been the guilty party, explains the BBC. The man had found his wife dead by their lake side home and immediately been arrested on suspicion of murder and then held for ten days. He was released when moose fur and saliva were found on her body. It is believed the moose may have been drunk on fermenting apples. One thing though. How exactly did the police think he did the crime? Presumably she had been charged with antlers and bitten. I imagine the antlers did the fatal damaged. I kind of imagine antler impalement leaves a mark. A bit different than say a bullet wound or stab wound. If the police did think he did the crime, imagine what they thought of him. I picture the interegration. "Listen you sick fuck, we know what you did, you charged her with a dead moose didn't you?"

(Jail) Song Bird

2009-11-28T18:21:00.003+02:00

The BBC writes several men in London have been convicted of using a rap song to intimidate witnesses in a real criminal case (a murder). At the risk of sounding inappropriate, the lyrics actually made me chuckle:
"I can't wait for the snitch to drop, I still show up at his wake just to see him off'"
The two men involved were jailed to 4 years and 2 1/2 for their roles in the crime.

Power Sander

2009-11-28T10:10:00.003+02:00

Amazing Ukrainian sand artist Kseniya Simonova in action. She became famous after a clip of her on Ukraine's got Talent (apparently they can do more than vegetable soup and making tragic history) became an internet sensation. I hadn't seen sand art before, the affect is pretty awesome.

The Third Rice

2009-11-28T09:31:00.002+02:00

According to that old chesnut, the BBC, copies of Mein Kampf are flying of shelves (or out of street vendors' hands) in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka. It looks like many Bangladeshis, seemingly unaware of their position within the new Aryan social order, have taken a shine to Hitler's calling-it-like-it-is, no-nonsense, straight-from-the-hip, plans to capture their country and enslave its entire population to serve greater Germany. I particularly like the quote from BBC that "Last week, Mein Kampf did unusually well because many bought the book to give it away as an Eid present". Happy Eid!

Vanuatu Vacancy

2009-11-28T09:21:00.003+02:00

Beyond physical isolation and rising sea levels, Vanuatu is facing a new problem reports news.com.au (yeah, I think that's their name, not just their address). Prime Minister Edward Natapei has lost his parliamentary seat over a paperwork error. After missing three consecutive sessions of parliament with out giving the speaker a note from his mum (OK, a note explaining why), according to Vanuatan law (that most ancient of judicial traditions) he must lose his seat. The prime minister was said to be rushing back to Vanuatu (to hell with icebergs) whilst furious debate has broke out on the island.

Partygate (crash)

2009-11-28T08:59:00.002+02:00

So, last Tuesday, as widely reported, a Washington couple decided to gatecrash Obama's reception for the visiting Indian premier Manmohan Singh. After arriving and posing for photos, including with Obama, they then went to have cocktails in the East Wing. It's known at no point were they thrown out, but how they could have had a seat at dinner is bizarre. These things are planed in advance, both for food and wine, but also for who sit next to who. It's obviously not just possible (is it?) to pull up a couple of chairs and share with your neighbour. A later article suggests the secret service is now considering criminal charges. Quite what for it's not clear. Is gatecrashing where you just walk up and say "let me in" illegal?

Beer Boggles (the mind)

2009-11-27T19:54:00.004+02:00

A Scottish (where else?) brewery, BrewDog, has released a beer weighing in at 32%, much to the horror of the Alcohol Focus Scotland (whose members no doubt felt like having a drink after hearing this would soon be hitting the streets). According to the BBC BrewDog previously released an 18% beer called "Tokyo", for which they were branded "irresponsible" (I'm not sure because the beer has 18% or for making any association with Japanese drinking culture), so they rather amusingly followed that beer with one called "Nanny State", which is described as a "low alcohol" beer (which by their standards might be 12%). The new beer's name? Tactical Nuclear Penguin, the first two words of which bring to mind some sort of nuclear weapon, whilst the third seems to be there as a non sequitur.

The English Patient

2009-11-27T19:52:00.001+02:00

A rather drab article about the firing of a hospital boss in the UK comes alive towards the end when they start to list the problems inspectors found with the hospital. I kid you not:

The inspectors saw:

• Floors and curtains stained with blood

• Blood-splattered on trays used to carry equipment

• Badly soiled mattresses in the A&E department with stains soaked through to the foam filling

• Items that should only be used once still in use

• Equipment in the resuscitation room that was past the use-by date

• A children's blood pressure cuff heavily stained with blood

• Suction machines contaminated with fluid inside and out, with what looked like mould growing on the equipment

Man Eating Lions Apparently on Diet

2009-11-27T19:42:00.003+02:00

The (relatively) famous man eating lions that plagued railway construction in Kenya in the late 1800s may not have been as insatiable as many believed. The Railway Gazette writes analysis of the isotopes found in the fur of the skins shows what the lions were eating (or not) before they died. One probably ate 3.5 humans and the other 8.1. This is somewhat less than the 135 deaths attributed to the lions at the time. If you wish, you can read more on this topic in the delightfully named 'Co-operation and individuality among man-eating lions' by J D Yeakel published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Because it matters.

Fresh Balls

2009-11-27T19:38:00.001+02:00

I'm rarely speechless. I really don't know what else to say. Here.

Witches in Saudi

2009-11-27T19:31:00.005+02:00

Saudi Arabia has a witch problem, at least according to the religious courts there, according to the BBC. A man, Ali Sibat, in Lebanon who hosts a TV show giving out psychic advice has been arrested whilst performing his pilgrimage to Mecca. Apparently the authorities see no irony in arresting a man for witchcraft who has just traveled thousands of kilometers and taken days out of his schedule in order to demonstrate the fact he believes in Allah.

Magnetic Heat Shield

2009-11-26T17:03:00.003+02:00

Kind of cool concept outlined on FlightGlobal. When space craft reenter the atmosphere the friction, and resulting heat, requires heat shields to protect the craft. Scientists are working on the idea of creating a magnetic shield that will repel the atoms of the air away from the craft thus avoiding friction and the need for shields. Big implications for safety (the last shuttle was lost after hot atmospheric gases breached its heat shield) and for easy of access to space (huge weight savings and great design freedom).
It is hoped the concept will be tested in the next decade, with a launch three years after approval (which is yet to be given).

Plane strikes Goose

2009-11-26T16:57:00.003+02:00

More from FlightGlobal, about a Frontier Airlines jet had hit a flock of geese. The safety board's investigation found that the Airbus A319 had hit 6 or 7 geese, damaging both engines. The airliner landed without problem, using the left engine as the right engine had shut down. What I like is the rather placid language the safety board uses in saying passengers saw "...fireballs being ejected from the engine". I somewhat imagine looking out the window and seeing huge fireballs being blasted out the back of your plane's engines might inspire rather stronger language.

Toilet Trouble on the way to Hong Kong

2009-11-26T16:49:00.003+02:00

Cathay Pacific has been in news, as their entire long-haul airbus fleet has toilet trouble. Seriously, despite the fact they are licenced to fly hundreds of people thousands of kilometers, they have had such bad toilet trouble they have had to divert a flight from Riyadh bound for Hong Kong, to Mumbai. All ten toilets had stopped working! On other occasions passengers were bumped from flights after they realized they could not maintain the 80 passengers to 1 toilet ratio the airline requires of itself. Their spokeswomen seemed in a combative mood according to the BBC's article;
blaming passengers she said:
"You would be amazed what we find in the pipes when we clean the system - not just face towels but medicine bottles, socks, items of clothing and even children's stuffed toys,"