A man walks into a hotel room with a mongoose, a small leopard and a flamingo
Jack Hanna, flamingo trapped in airport turnstile
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Animal expert Jack Hanna and an 11-month-old flamingo became trapped while trying to squeeze through an airport security turnstile. It took firefighters three hours to finally get the flamingo out.
Hanna, 60, pushed the flamingo's 2-foot-by-3-foot compartment into the turnstile, then continued pushing while straddling the crate. "I was stuck like a worm. My eyes were as big as grapefruits," he said. "I can't describe the feeling in my stomach. I can't move up or down. The bars are on your face."
Hanna joked that the next time he flies through the airport, the biggest animal he'll bring is a gerbil. The Associated Press
The little bit of good taste I have left prevents me from making any gerbil jokes. Hey, how about that Marlin Perkins?
Klatu Barata, uh-oh
Mystery illness strikes after meteorite hits Peruvian village
LIMA (AFP) - Villagers in southern Peru were struck by a mysterious illness after a meteorite made a fiery crash to Earth in their area, regional authorities said Monday. Around midday Saturday, villagers were startled by an explosion and a fireball that many were convinced was an airplane crashing near their remote village, located in the high Andes department of Puno in the Desaguadero region, near the border with Bolivia.
Residents complained of headaches and vomiting brought on by a "strange odor," local health department official Jorge Lopez told Peruvian radio RPP. Seven policemen who went to check on the reports also became ill and had to be given oxygen before being hospitalized, Lopez said. Rescue teams and experts were dispatched to the scene, where the meteorite left a 100-foot-wide (30-meter-wide) and 20-foot-deep (six-meter-deep) crater, said local official Marco Limache. "Boiling water started coming out of the crater and particles of rock and cinders were found nearby. Residents are very concerned," he said.
“We said we come in peace. We didn’t say anything about your health.”
Down at the Eddie Izzard factory, they’re just cranking 'em out.
Brain surgery leaves Yorkshire boy speaking like the Queen
With her nine-year-old son William lying desperately ill in hospital following emergency brain surgery, Ruth McCartney-Moore prayed that she would one day hear his voice again.
But when he did speak weeks later, she was in for a shock.
He had lost his strong Yorkshire accent and was now speaking the Queen's English.
"We noticed that he had started to elongate his vowels in words like 'bath' which he never did before," said Mrs McCartney-Moore, 45, a music teacher from York. "He no longer has short vowel sounds - they are all long. It's bizarre." William was taken to hospital after suffering a fit in March last year.
Doctors discovered he had an abscess on his brain, known as a subdural empyema, which is caused by a rare strain of meningitis. He needed a lifethreatening operation to remove the fluid. Following the operation William, a pupil at Hempland Primary School in York, was in hospital for more than four weeks. He lost the ability to read and write and his memory was also affected.
But remarkably he was able to play the piano and trumpet much better than before.
After he came out of hospital William went on a family holiday to Northumberland with his parents and brothers Alex, 16, and Edward, 15.
"William was playing on the beach," said Mrs McCartney-Moore.
"He suddenly said, 'Look, I've made a sand castle' but really stretched the vowels out, which made him sound really posh.
"We all just stared back at him - we couldn't believe what we had just heard because he had a northern accent before his illness.
"But the strange thing was that he had no idea why we were staring at him - he just thought he was speaking normally."
William has since returned to normal in everything but the way he speaks.
Brain surgeon Paul Eldridge, who works at the specialist Walton Neurological Centre, Liverpool, said it was possible that the infection and abscess had affected the area of the brain which controls language skills, forcing William to learn how to speak again.
(this is London)
Talking like the Queen is caused by an infection? All this time I thought it was inbreeding.
Headline of the morning
Police Question Armless Man In Neighbor's Death
SNELLVILLE, Ga. -- Police questioned an armless man Monday about the death of his neighbor.
Relatives of Charles Keith Teer, 47, claim he died after the armless man head-butted and kicked Teer during a fight.
The two men lived across the street from each other on Pine Street in the Atlanta suburb.
“Paging Dr. Richard Kimble, Dr. Richard Kimble”
It’s good to keep things flexible
Oldest man marks 112th birthday, wants to live "indefinitely"
The world's oldest man, who is celebrating his 112th birthday in south-western Japan, has said he wants to live "indefinitely".
Tomoji Tanabe, who was born in 1895, says avoiding alcohol is the secret of his longevity. He drinks milk, does not smoke, keeps a diary and reads the newspaper daily.
He was declared the oldest man in January by Guinness World Records after the death of Emiliano Mercado Del Toro, of Puerto Rico, at 115.
Mr Tanabe received 100,000 yen ($900, £440) and flowers from the local mayor in the town of Miyakonojo.
"I want to live indefinitely. I don't want to die," he said as he marked his birthday, Kyodo News agency reported.
Japan is said to have the largest population of centenarians in the world, with some 30,000 citizens aged 100 and over.(BBC)
If he wasn't in that wacky tontine he might have given up long ago.
You know, that tragedy about the Greek tailor: Euripidees, Imendadees
Ancient Greek Amphitheater: Why You Can Hear From Back Row
Science Daily — As the ancient Greeks were placing the last few stones on the magnificent theater at Epidaurus in the fourth century B.C., they couldn’t have known that they had unwittingly created a sophisticated acoustic filter. But when audiences in the back row were able to hear music and voices with amazing clarity (well before any theater had the luxury of a sound system), the Greeks must have known that they had done something very right because they made many attempts to duplicate Epidaurus’ design, but never with the same success.
The research, done by acoustician and ultrasonics expert Nico Declercq, an assistant professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Georgia Tech Lorraine in France, and Cindy Dekeyser, an engineer who is fascinated by the history of ancient Greece, appears in the April issue of the Journal of the Acoustics Society of America.
While many experts speculated on the possible causes for Epidaurus’ acoustics, few guessed that the seats themselves were the secret of its acoustics success. There were theories that the site’s wind — which blows primarily from the stage to the audience — was the cause, while others credited masks that may have acted as primitive loudspeakers or the rhythm of Greek speech. Other more technical theories took into account the slope of the seat rows.
So that’s where Dr. Moreau’s island is
Disgraced cloning scientist flees to Thailand
Disgraced South Korean cloning scientist Hwang Woo-Suk has fled to Thailand to escape controversy and continue his research, associates said Tuesday.
Hwang and some 10 other researchers have been in Thailand for two months, focusing on research into the cloning of pet animals and the production of stemcells that could be used for cell treatment, they said.
The South Korean government banned Hwang from research using human eggs after his claims that he created the first human stem cells through cloning were ruled to be bogus last year.
Hwang was stripped of all government honours and funds, including his title of "Supreme Scientist," after Seoul National University concluded that his claims -- first made public in a 2004 science journal -- were fake.
"Dr. Hwang and his team moved into Thailand to continue with their study free from ethical controversy over their research here," said Park Se-Pill, also a cloning scientist, told AFP.
Hwang's former lawyer, Lee Geon-Haeng, confirmed Hwang and his team had been in Thailand for the past two months.
Aside from the cloning of pets, Hwang's team has also been working on "trans-species" cloning in which, for example, human DNA are inserted into eggs of a cow to produce hybrid embryos.
From this embryos, stemcells could be produced for cell treatment to cure chronic and difficult diseases such as Alzheimer's and diabetes.
South Korea's law on bioethics prohibits the production of hybrid embryos amid continuing controversy over whether research into hybrid embryos should be permitted as well.
Late last year, Hwang and his team made a quiet comeback to research and opened a new laboratory outside Seoul.
Hwang remains on trial for embezzlement and fake research but has insisted in court that he could still prove he created the first cloned human stem cells.
He claimed to have paved the way for treatment of incurable diseases by creating stem cells through cloning which would not be rejected when inserted into a patient's body.
But his successes could not be repeated by others, a key test for the scientific method. (AFP)
Dr. Moreau: What is the law?
Sayer of the Law: Not to eat meat, that is the law. Are we not men?
Beasts (in unison): Are we not men?
Dr. Moreau: What is the law?
Sayer of the Law: Not to go on all fours, that is the law. Are we not men?
Beasts (in unison): Are we not men?
Dr. Moreau: What is the law?
Sayer of the Law: Not to spill blood, that is the law. Are we not men?
Beasts (in unison): Are we not men?
(The Island of Lost Souls)
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