Spiritual women have more sex.

Hey, baby, wanna come over and see my dreamcatcher? From LiveScience:

Is it sexy to be spiritual? New research has found that spirituality has a greater effect on the sex lives of young adults — especially women — than religion, impulsivity, or alcohol.

“I think people have been well aware of the role that religious and spiritual matters play in everyday life for a very long time,” said Jessica Burris, one of the study’s researchers at the University of Kentucky. “But in the research literature, the unique qualities of spirituality — apart from religiousness — are not usually considered.”

According to a research measure known as the Spiritual Transcendence Scale, those qualities are connectedness, universality, and prayer fulfillment. But the data found that of the three, connectedness plays the largest role in spiritual sexuality and leads to more sex with more partners, often without the use of condoms.

“Believing one is intimately tied to other human beings and that interconnectedness and harmony are indispensible may lead one to believe sexual intimacy possesses a divine or transcendent quality in itself,” Burris writes. “In fact, ascribing sacred qualities to sex has been positively associated with positive affective reactions to sex, frequency of sex, and number of sexual partners among university students.”

The study’s participants indeed were university students; 353 undergraduates (61 percent of whom were female) answered a questionnaire that asked them about their alcohol use, impulsivity, religiousness, spirituality, and sexual practices. The statements on spirituality, which were ranked by level of agreement, included “In the quiet of my prayers and/or meditations, I find a sense of wholeness,” and “Although individual people may be difficult, I feel an emotional bond with all of humanity.”

The study found that spiritual men weren’t sexually affected — in fact, their frequency of sex decreased. The researchers figure men might not view spirituality as sexual because they biologically don’t think of sex as a gateway to emotional intimacy.

For women, however, spirituality was the strongest predictor for the number of sexual partners, the frequency of sex, and the tendency to have sex without a condom.

You can turn one pig into 185 products.

From Daily Mail:

When we tuck into a bacon sandwich, few of us wonder what has happened to the other parts of the pig whose life has been sacrificed so we can enjoy a juicy breakfast.

But one inquisitive writer set out to trace where all the body parts of one porker ended up.

Christein Meindertsma, 29, said: 'Like most people, I had little idea of what happens to a pig after it leaves the abattoir so I decided to try to find out. I approached a pig farmer friend who agreed let me follow one of his animals.'

Identified by its yellow ear tag number, 05049, her pig trail ended with her identifying an incredible 185 different uses to which it was put - from the manufacture of sweets and shampoo, to bread, body lotion, beer and bullets.

Christein said: 'I was shocked when I began to find out just how unusual and varied the different uses for a ordinary pig were. It's almost as if these days, a pig is no longer thought of an animal - more like an industrial raw material with a mind-blowing amount of different uses.'

She found that 4.9lbs of her 16st 3lb pig went to making wine gums, while 4.8lbs went into liquorice. In this process, collagen is taken from the pig and is then converted into gelatine. This finds its way into numerous foodstuffs, where it acts as a gelling agent.

University removes zombie attack plan from site.

From Breitbart:

The University of Florida's response plans for a zombie apocalypse are no longer available for public consumption.

UF spokesman Steve Orlando said Friday the university removed a link to a disaster recovery exercise, which detailed how the school could respond to an outbreak of the undead. The link was taken down late Thursday afternoon.

Orlando says officials felt the joke "didn't really belong" on the site, which also included plans for dealing with hurricanes and pandemics.

The exercise lays out the university's response to attacks by "flesh-eating, apparently life impaired individuals." It notes that a zombie outbreak might include "documentation of lots of strange moaning."

Orlando says the employee who wrote the gag wasn't punished.

Africans with albinism hunted for their limbs.

Well, this is awful. From ABC News:

Mariamu Stanford, a soft-spoken, 28-year-old single mother from rural Tanzania, has earned a grim distinction: She's one of only two people with albinism -- a group that has faced discrimination in East Africa -- to survive a brutal attack by those wanting to sell the limbs of albinos on the black market.

In her first interview with American journalists, Stanford greeted ABC News visitors with a shy smile, wearing a short-sleeve blouse that revealed the scars of her ordeal.

Last October, men armed with machetes entered her hut and began cutting at her arms in a gruesome attempt to amputate them, Stanford told ABC News.

"In the middle of the night, a group of men stormed in and said, 'We are going to cut your arm off, and if you scream we'll cut the other arm off,'" she said. "And then they started to chop my right arm off. And because I was screaming, they also started to do the same with the other."

After her attackers fled, it took six full hours for Stanford to get medical treatment. Five months pregnant at the time, she lost both arms and her unborn child.

A devout Christian and member of her church choir, Stanford was caught up in a grisly trade inspired by a renegade set of witch doctors; they claim potions made of the blood, skin or bones of an albino can make people wealthy and bring good luck.

The best approach for avoiding zombies.

Interesting, but it assumes that zombies can't smell or sense live brains. LiveScience may have just doomed us all.

When Woody Harrelson escapes the living dead in "Zombieland", a new movie opening this Friday, should he head for the hills or the mall? A recently published research paper suggests that he's probably better off hiding in the mall to save his delicious brain.

The world is full of things that move in zombie-like fashion, such as particles flowing through a turbulent fluid or the unpredictable price changes of the stock market, so physicists seek insight into this behavior by creating so called "random walking" models.

Physicist Davide Cassi at the Università di Parma in Italy looked at how long an entity hiding in a complex structure could survive if being pursued by predatory random walkers. Cassi's paper, recently published in the journal Physical Review E, is the first to describe a general principle of a prey’s likelihood to survive over time while hiding in an irregular structure.

Though the paper itself does not specifically refer to fleeing from zombies, it describes "the survival probability of immobile targets annihilated by random walkers." The conclusions suggest that the people trapped in a mall in "Dawn of the Dead" may be better off than the folks stuck in a farmhouse in "Night of the Living Dead."

Cassi found that the likelihood of survival when threatened by predatory random walkers is closely related to how complex the prey’s hideout is. The more twists and turns, the safer you'll be. In structures that are highly complex and irregular, the chances of the predator coming into contact with its target shrinks down to almost zero.

Cassi formulates a model to describe the behavior of randomly moving particles as they travel through maze-like networks. He said that his work could apply to a wide variety of situations including the distribution of information through the internet and medicine spreading through the human body.

"There are a lot of applications of these results in a lot of fields of sciences," Cassi said. "The most amazing field of applications of these results are in biology, biochemistry and other organisms."

So remember, when the zombies come, flee to the biggest shopping mall you can find and remember that, using zombie movies as a guide, the undead often win.

850 new species found in Australian outback.

Interestingly, they're all hideous. From Science Daily:

Australian researchers have discovered a huge number of new species of invertebrate animals living in underground water, caves and "micro-caverns" amid the harsh conditions of the Australian outback.

A national team of 18 researchers has discovered 850 new species of invertebrates, which include various insects, small crustaceans, spiders, worms and many others.

The team – led by Professor Andy Austin (University of Adelaide), Dr Steve Cooper (South Australian Museum) and Dr Bill Humphreys (Western Australian Museum) – has conducted a comprehensive four-year survey of underground water, caves and micro-caverns across arid and semi-arid Australia.

"What we've found is that you don't have to go searching in the depths of the ocean to discover new species of invertebrate animals – you just have to look in your own 'back yard'," says Professor Austin from the Australian Center for Evolutionary Biology & Biodiversity at the University of Adelaide.

20 hospitalized after van filled with bees crashes.

There are already plenty of dangers on the road. Must we worry about vans filled with bees? From Breitbart:

ANKARA, Turkey - An official says a van stacked with beehives has crashed into a truck, killing one person and causing the bees to swarm and attack five injured crash victims and their rescuers.

The state-run Anatolia news agency says around 20 people, including medics and police officers who responded to the accident, are being treated in hospitals.

Gov. Ahmet Altinparmak said the accident occurred Monday on a road near the Mediterranean resort of Marmaris.

The private Dogan news agency said beekeepers were rushed in to help rescue the victims.

Dogan video footage showed men in beekeeping clothing placing an injured man on a stretcher amid a swarm of bees.

DNA tests show that Hitler skull is that of a woman.

This can mean only one thing... Hitler was a woman! From News.com.au:

Adolf Hitler may not have died in a bunker after fresh research suggests the skull thought to be the tyrant's was from a woman.

US archaeologist Nick Bellantoni found fragments from the skull believed to be Hitler's were too thin to be from a male, and suspected it was the remains of a much younger woman, The Sun reports.

"The bone seemed very thin - male bone tends to be more robust. It corresponds to a woman between the ages of 20 and 40," Dr Bellantoni said.

DNA tests performed in a US laboratory confirmed the remains could not have belonged to the Nazi leader.

The discovery casts doubt on the exact circumstances of Hitler’s death and could force history books to be rewritten.

Original accounts of Hitler’s death said he shot himself in the head in a bunker after taking a cyanide tablet on April 30, 1945 as the Russian army attacked Berlin.

His remains, along with those of his wife Eva Braun, were taken from the bunker, doused in petrol and set ablaze.

A year later, skull fragments were dug up by Russian forces which seemed to confirm Hitler had shot himself in the bunker.

Chinese researchers discover dinosaur with FOUR wings.

From Reuters:

Chinese researchers have unearthed the fossil of a bird-like dinosaur with four wings in northeastern China, which they suggest is a missing link in dinosaurs' evolution into birds.

In a paper in the journal Nature, they said they found the well-preserved fossil of the "Anchiornis huxleyi," which roamed the earth some 160 million years ago, in a geological formation in China's northeastern Liaoning province.

About the size of a chicken, the fossil has a total body length of less than 50cm (20 inches) and a skull about 6cm long, lead researcher Xing Xu at the Chinese Academy of Science in Beijing told Reuters in an email.

"This finding suggests that birds are likely to be descended from a kind of small-sized four-winged dinosaur about 160 million years ago," Xu said.

"It is a link between more typical theropods (dinosaurs which moved around with two rear limbs) and birds. It lived around a time period ... that we expected for birds' ancestor."

In a statement, the researchers said: "Long feathers cover the arms and tail, but also the feet, suggesting that a four-winged stage may have existed in the transition to birds."

Electric unicycle unveiled.

Who needs to walk briskly when you've got an evil robot? From Ananova:

An electric unicycle has been unveiled by Honda which says will revolutionise the way we get around.

The technology used in the U3X 'personal mobility device' has been borrowed from the company's famous Asimo humanoid robot.

An internal balance control means that the experimental unicycle constantly stands upright.

In order to move, a driver simply has to lean in the direction they wish to travel _ forwards, backwards, side-to-side or diagonally.

The device stands 26ins high, weighs just 22lbs and is powered by a lithium ion battery that runs for one hour before needing to be recharged.

As well as a fold out seat it also has two foot rests and it can move at a maximum speed of 3.7mph, described by its designers as a brisk walking pace.

Police, mob force 150 monks out of monastery.

From SFGate.com:

Followers of a world-famous Buddhist teacher say Vietnamese police and an angry mob have forced 150 monks from a monastery in Vietnam's Central Highlands that has been the center of a monthslong standoff.

The Buddhists say an angry mob descended on the site Sunday morning, smashing windows and knocking down doors in an effort to evict followers of Thich Nhat Hanh, an exiled Vietnam-born monk who has sold more than 1 million books in the West and now lives in southern France.

About 230 nuns remained hunkered down inside a dormitory and a courtyard at the Bat Nha monastery in Lam Dong province on Sunday night, said Brother Trung Hai, a close associate of Nhat Hanh's, speaking from the Zen Master's Plum Village monastery in France.

Hai said the mob, which apparently included undercover police, forced about 150 monks from their rooms, beating some of them with sticks. They were herded onto buses, which transported them away from the scene, Hai said.

"We want all the violence to stop," Hai said. "We want to find a peaceful solution."

Vegemite names new spread iSnack 2.0.

Exxxtreme vegemite to the maxxxx!!!! Cowabunga dudes! Fo' shizzle my vegezizzle!!!

It's unlikely there'll be too many happy little Vegemites, given the obscure name attached to the new cheesy version of the Aussie spread.

iSnack 2.0 is the name Kraft Foods chose for the new, creamier recipe of the suburban staple, following a national naming competition which attracted more than 40,000 entries.

The move is a bid by the food conglomerate to align the new product with a younger market -- and the "cool" credentials of Apple's iPod and iPhone.

The product's tag line reads: "iSnack 2.0, because it's the next generation Vegemite."

The new formula, said to combine Vegemite with Kraft cream cheese, is allegedly easier to spread and is milder in taste than the original.

More Veg2K madness here.

Spain liberalizes abortion law.

From BBC News:

Spain's socialist government has formally unveiled plans to liberalise the country's abortion law.

Under the proposal approved by the cabinet, abortion would be made available on demand for the first time.

Girls as young as 16 would be allowed to terminate a pregnancy without parental consent.

Ministers say it is about "rights and respect" for women. The conservative opposition says young people may see abortion as a form of contraception.

Spain's current law allows a pregnancy to be terminated in three circumstances - in the aftermath of a rape, when a foetus shows genetic defects, and when the health of the pregnant woman is at risk.

The government's proposal is that abortion should be made available on demand during the first 14 weeks of a pregnancy.

Roman Polanski arrested for 1977 child rape.

It's about time he served for his crime of writing and directing The Ninth Gate. From Daily Mail:

Roman Polanski was today in custody in Switzerland and facing extradition to the USA in connection with a 32-year-old charge of having sex with an underage girl.

The 76-year-old Oscar-winning director was being held at a police station in Zurich under a 1978 arrest warrant issued in Los Angeles.

Polanski, whose films include Rosemary's Baby and The Pianist, has never faced justice after admitting to sleeping with 13-year-old Samantha Geimer (then Gailey) in 1977 after plying her with sedative drugs and champagne in Hollywood.

Instead he fled to London in 1978, and then on to his home city of Paris, where he has lived and worked ever since, despite legally being an international fugitive.

Under a treaty with the USA, France can refuse to extradite its own citizens even if they face criminal charges.

But on Saturday Mr Polanski made a rare trip abroad to Zurich, where he was today due to pick up a lifetime achievement award at the city’s annual film festival.

Instead detectives approached him as soon as he entered the country, serving him with the 1978 arrest warrant.

‘There was no resistance to the arrest, and all cooperation was offered,’ said a Zurich police spokesman.

Kirk Cameron compares Darwin with Hitler.

What Would Boner Do? From People:

He's used to getting love letters and high-fives as a former teen heartthrob, but onetime Growing Pains actor Kirk Cameron isn't letting the mockery and criticism dissuade him from promoting his controversial project to dispute evolutionary theory.

"Atheism has been on the rise for years now, and the Bible of the atheists is The Origin of Species," Cameron tells PEOPLE. "We have a situation in our country where young people are entering college with a belief in God and exiting with that faith being stripped and shredded. What we want to do is have student make an informed, educated decision before they chuck their faith."

So what is the plan that Cameron, 38, has hatched to supposedly save the souls of freshmen around the country?

He and other creationists have created thousands of editions of Charles Darwin's landmark work explaining evolutionary theory, with a 50-page introduction that picks apart aspects of Darwin's work and try to link it to everything from Nazi eugenics to the scientist's alleged "disdain for women."

[...] But never has he ruffled so many feathers, especially among academics, as he has this week, slamming evolutionary theory as untrue, inherently un-Christian and the driving force behind some of the most horrendous catastrophes of the 20th century, including Adolf Hitler's plan to destroy "inferior races."

"You can see where [Hitler] clearly takes Darwin's ideas to some of their logical conclusions and compares certain races of people to lower evolutionary life forms," Cameron says. "If you take Darwin's theory and extend it to its logical end, it can be used to justify all number of very horrendous things."

The average Briton has slept with 2.8 million people.

From News.com.au:

The average British man or woman has slept with 2.8 million people - albeit indirectly, according to figures released to promote awareness of sexual health.

A British pharmacy chain has launched an online calculator which helps you work out how many partners you have had, in the sense of exposure to risk of sexually transmitted diseases (STIs).

The "Sex Degrees of Separation" ready reckoner tots up the numbers based on your number of partners, then their previous partners, and their former lovers, and so on for six "generations" of partners.

The average British man claims to have actually slept with nine people, while women put the figure at 6.3, giving an average of 7.65.

"When we sleep with someone, we are, in effect, not only sleeping with them, but also their previous partners and their partners' previous partners, and so on," said Clare Kerr, head of sexual health at Lloydspharmacy.

"It's important that people understand how exposed they are to STIs and take appropriate precautions including using condoms and getting themselves checked out where appropriate."

Teacher of the Year charged with molesting 14-year-old.

From the NY Post:

A Bronx high-school dean who was named Teacher of the Year in 2007 yesterday was busted for allegedly molesting a 14-year-old male student.

Johnathan Huff, 40, was charged with forcible touching, endangering the welfare of a child and sex abuse while classes were being held Saturday at the Urban Assembly Academy for History and Citizenship for Young Men, authorities said.

The dean allegedly touched the boy's genitals over his clothes, officials said, adding they learned of the incident Monday in a 911 call.

The school, part of Taft HS, is one of a handful of all-male schools in the city.

FOX News explains how to build a nuclear bomb.

FOX News, aiding and abetting terrorists? Their item here.

Naked mole rats may help cure cancer.

I think cancer is scared of these beasts. From New Scientist:

They might be bald and ugly, but naked mole rats never get cancer. If their trick can be copied it could help humans resist cancer too.

It's almost impossible to culture naked mole rat cells in the lab, which made Andrei Seluanov and Vera Gorbunova from Rochester University, New York, wonder if this might be linked to their ability to resist cancer.

They found that a dilute solution of naked mole rat skin cells did start to proliferate, but stopped once the cells reached a certain, relatively low density. Such "contact inhibition" is also used by human cells to inhibit growth, but cancer bypasses this mechanism so cells keep growing.

The researchers also found that contact inhibition in naked mole rats is controlled by two genes, p16 and p27, while in humans it is primarily controlled by p27. "Naked mole rats have an additional barrier in the way of tumour progression," says Seluanov, who presented the results at the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence meeting in Cambridge, UK, last week.

If this check could be stimulated in humans, it could halt the growth of cancerous tumours.

Military creates hopping-mad robot.

Something wicked this way hops.... From Live Science:

A new hopping robot under development at Boston Dynamics. Although it looks like a little radio-controlled car, it conceals an unusual secret. It can jump over obstacles fifty times its own size. The final version will be able to navigate autonomously and jump over obstacles of 25 feet or more.

“The Precision Urban Hopper is part of a broad effort to bolster the capabilities of troops and special forces engaged in urban combat, giving them new ways to operate unfettered in the urban canyon,” Jon Salton, Sandia National Laboratories program manager, said in a statement.

The demonstrated hopping capability of the robots allows the small unmanned ground vehicles to overcome as many as 30 obstacles that are 40-60 times their own size. Hopping mobility has been shown to be five times more efficient than hovering when traversing obstacles at heights under 33 feet (10 meters), which allows longer station-keeping time for the same amount of fuel.

Coozer-Bits.

Lame: Father loses daughter in card game.

Awesome: FCC pushing for Net Neutrality.

D'oh: ACORN worker actually reported "pimp" and "prostitute" to police.

ZombieWatch: Zombies eat brains for charity. (Video)

Creepy: Man discovers colleague is long-lost brother.

Sad: Ohio couple hit by car, then have their car stolen.

Yipes: Man attacks roommates with sword over soda can.

US church offering polygamy tours.

It's like Disneyland but with forced marriages and sexual assaults. From News.com.au:

Have you ever wondered what it would be like living in a polygamous community? Now you can find out, with members of a US church group now offering travellers “polygamy tours”.

“The Polygamy experience: A guided tour of Colorado City” offers visitors the chance to “learn the story of the US’s largest and most secluded polygamist colony” with a four-hour guided tour of the US towns of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah.

The locals are notoriously uncomfortable with outsiders, with the towns’ practice of plural marriages and history of sexual assault charges, of which the group’s leader Warren Jeffs was convicted two years ago, landing them under the scrutiny of police.

However the tours operators hope to show the public that polygamists are actually peaceful people.

Richard Holm and his brother Heber are among those launching the tour. Richard was exiled from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), which controls both Colorado City and Utah, in 2003, while Heber left the community 35 years ago.

Richard Holm says the four-hour tours will give travellers the chance to ask any questions they may have about polygamy.

Leading conservationist says pandas should die out.

Does this man have no love in his heart?? From News.com.au:

A leading conservationist has called on wildlife groups to leave giant pandas alone and let them die out "with a degree of dignity".

BBC wildlife presenter Chris Packham says it's the pandas own fault that they have not adapted to the modern environment and they are only surviving because of human intervention, the Daily Mail reports.

"Here is a species that, of its own accord, has gone down an evolutionary cul-de-sac," Packham said. "It's not a strong species."

"I reckon we should pull the plug ... let them go, with a degree of dignity."

He said the pandas' "cute" looks and demeanour has caused valuable funding to be diverted from helping animals that have a chance of surviving without human assistance in the future.

His comments were criticised by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which uses a picture of a giant panda as its logo.

WWF conservation science advisor Dr Mark Wright said the comments were "daft" because pandas have adapted to the environment.

"It's like saying the blue whale is in an evolutional cul-de-sac because it lives in the ocean," Dr Wright said.

"Pandas face extinction because of poaching and humans moving into their habitat. If left alone, then they function perfectly well."

Boris Yeltsin tried hailing taxi in his underpants, wanted a pizza.

In Mother Russia, pizza slices YOU! From Ananova:

Boris Yeltsin got so drunk during a US visit he was found outside the White House in his underpants, trying to hail a taxi as he wanted a pizza.

The following night, a guard mistook him for an intruder after the former Russian president was discovered stumbling drunkenly around the basement of the official visitor's residence.

The embarrassing details about the extent of Mr Yeltsin's drinking habits have been revealed by Bill Clinton, reports the Daily Mail.

The former US president made the disclosures to Taylor Branch, a writer and former flatmate, whom he invited to compile a new 'oral history' of the presidency based on 79 taped interviews.

According to excerpts in USA Today of Branch's new book, the 707-page The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History With the President, Mr Clinton kept the tapes of the interview hidden in his sock drawer.

Mr Branch, however, would make his own tape after each interview in which he would immediately record what Mr Clinton had told him.

Mr Yeltsin was reportedly staying at Blair House, the White House guest residence, in 1995 when the Secret Service discovered him standing alone and barely clothed on Pennsylvania Avenue.

The president, who died two years ago, told them in slurring words that he wanted a pizza, wrote Mr Branch.

Jedi may sue Tesco over hood ban.

I love the corporate response from Tesco. From Ananova:

A Jedi church leader is considering legal action after he was asked to leave a supermarket for wearing his hood.

Daniel Jones, 23, from Holyhead in North Wales, who founded the International Church of Jediism, claims Tesco in Bangor victimised him for his beliefs, reports the Daily Post.

He said: "It states in our Jedi doctrination that I can wear headwear. It just covers the back of my head.

"You have a choice of wearing headwear in your home or at work but you have to wear a cover for your head when you are in public."

Daniel, who works in Bangor, said he'd gone to the store to buy something to eat during his lunch-break but was told by staff to leave unless he took his hood off.

"They said: "Take it off and I said: "No, its part of my religion. It's part of my religious right." I gave them a Jedi church business card," he said.

Daniel has now made an official complaint and is seeking legal advice.

"It was discrimination. They were making a joke against me. I was really upset. Nobody should be treated like that," he moaned.

A Tesco spokesperson said: "Jedis are very welcome to shop in our stores although we would ask them to remove their hoods.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda and Luke Skywalker all appeared hoodless without ever going over to the Dark Side and we are only aware of the Emperor as one who never removed his hood."

Barry White has turned shark into love machine.

An aquarium which piped the music of Barry White into a tank to encourage two sharks to breed says the tactic has paid off.

Bosses at the Sea Life London Aquarium say the legendary 'walrus of love' has transformed love shy shark Zorro into a marine love machine.

The therapy has worked so well that staff are now having to warn guests about his frisky behaviour as it is very public, very frequent and looks far from romantic.

"We are absolutely delighted that Zorro is finally getting it together with his intended but the courtship rituals of the zebra shark can appear quite violent and some guests have been a little alarmed," says deputy curator Jamie Oliver.

More here.

Women can't keep secrets for more than two days.

Researchers to also find out if women also really like to buy shoes. By the way, no cure for cancer yet. From Ananova:

The average woman cannot keep a secret for longer than 47 hours, according to a new study.

Researchers found women will typically spill the beans to at least one other person in 47 hours and 15 minutes, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Depending on who the gossip is about, their boyfriend, husband, best friend or mother are the most likely to be the first person they tell.

The study of 3,000 women, aged between 18 and 65, also found that four out of ten admitted they were unable to keep a secret - no matter how personal or confidential.

It also found that alcohol usually gives us a helping hand to blurt out secrets with more than half admitting a glass or two of wine could prompt them to dish the dirt.

Michael Cox, UK Director of Wines of Chile, which commissioned the research to mark Chile's National Day, said: "It's official - women can't keep secrets.

"We were really keen to find out with this survey how many secrets people are told. What we didn't bank on was how quickly these are passed on by those we confide in.

"No matter how precious the piece of information, it's often out in the public domain within 48 hours. That means every single Brit who has confided in a friend should be worried because they don't know where their secret is heading."

Leonard Cohen recovering after collapsing onstage.

Leonard Cohen is the coolest person who has ever lived. Speedy recovery! From HuffPo:

Leonard Cohen is recovering after collapsing onstage while on tour in eastern Spain, his music company said Saturday.

The veteran poet and performer has been released from hospital after suffering from a stomach complaint, Doctor Music Concerts said in a statement.

Cohen was part-way through his song "Bird on the Wire" in Valencia when he fainted, causing the band to stop playing to rush to his aid as concertgoers watched. The concert was stopped.

A video showing Cohen kneeling down several times during the performance and then keeling over sideways during a saxophone solo has been placed on YouTube on the Web by a fan.

The Canadian-born musician, who will be 75 years-old on Monday, was taken in an ambulance to the Nueve de Octubre hospital in Valencia but released early Saturday, Barcelona-based Doctor Music Concerts said.

Monkey pushes woman off cliff.

From News.com.au:

A monkey has pushed a woman off a cliff.

The woman, 60-year-old Zhou Juchang, made the claim after winding up at the bottom of a seven-metre rockface, fracturing her hip and breaking three ribs.

Now she’s suing her travel agent, who organised her trip into China’s Chengdu Wildlife Park.

The monkey allegedly flew into a rage when the woman refused to hand over the bag of monkey food which her tour guide recommended she buy.

A spokesman for the park said the woman’s mistake was showing fear.

“If you show fear a monkey will bully you,” he told London’s Metro.

Teen birth rates higher in highly religious states.

I have a theory that religion and sex are equally popular in states where there's nothing else to do. From LiveScience:

U.S. states whose residents have more conservative religious beliefs on average tend to have higher rates of teenagers giving birth, a new study suggests.

The relationship could be due to the fact that communities with such religious beliefs (a literal interpretation of the Bible, for instance) may frown upon contraception, researchers say. If that same culture isn't successfully discouraging teen sex, the pregnancy and birth rates rise.

Mississippi topped the list for conservative religious beliefs and teen birth rates, according to the study results, which will be detailed in a forthcoming issue of the journal Reproductive Health.

However, the results don't say anything about cause and effect, though study researcher Joseph Strayhorn of Drexel University College of Medicine and University of Pittsburgh offers a speculation of the most probable explanation: "We conjecture that religious communities in the U.S. are more successful in discouraging the use of contraception among their teenagers than they are in discouraging sexual intercourse itself."

Insane killer escapes on field trip to county fair.

From Raw Story:

In an Associated Press story entitled "Insane killer escapes on field trip to county fair," the wire service reports, "Authorities have put out a statewide alert for a mentally ill killer who escaped during a hospital field trip to a county fair, leading to fears that he'll become more unstable and potentially dangerous the longer he is on the loose with no medication."

"Sgt. Dave Reagan of the Spokane County sheriff's office says Phillip Arnold Paul remained at large Friday and officials believe he's headed to Sunnyside, the town where his parents live," the AP story adds.

Media reports indicate wide incredulity from local residents and officials that an "insane killer" [...] was allowed to go to the fair in the first place.

Police firearms instructor accidentally guns down civilian during a classroom demonstration.

From Daily Mail:

A police firearms instructor accidentally gunned down a civilian worker during a classroom demonstration after failing a training course, a court heard.

PC David Micklethwaite, 52, blasted telephone operator Keith Tilbury at point blank range after mistakenly loading a live round into a 'Dirty Harry' style .44 Magnum revolver.

The victim was taken to hospital where doctors performed life-saving surgery on his bowel and kidney.

Mr Tilbury, 51, did not regain consciousness for 12 days, and has never returned to work.

Micklethwaite, a firearms instructor with Thames Valley Police, faces a massive fine after admitting breaching Health and Safety laws.

He shot Mr Tilbury while attempting to show civilian recruits how the chamber spins in a Magnum made famous by Clint Eastwood.

JRR Tolkien trained as British spy.

Elvish or.... Nazispeak?!! From the Telegraph:

Tolkien, one of his generation's most respected linguists, was ''earmarked'' to crack Nazi codes in the event that Germany declared war.

Intelligence chiefs singled him and a 'cadre' of other intellectuals to work at Bletchley Park, the codebreaking centre in Buckinghamshire.

Its staff - which included Alan Turing, the gay codebreaker - would later decipher the 'impenetrable' Enigma machines.

This saved Britain from German conquest by allowing the Navy to intercept and destroy Hitler's U-Boats.

According to previously unseen records, Tolkien trained with the top-secret Government Code and Cypher School (GCCS).

He spent three days at their London HQ in March 1939 - six months before the outbreak of the Second World War and just 18 months after the publication of his first book, The Hobbit.

But although he was ''keen'', Tolkien - a professor of English literature at Oxford University - declined a £500-a-year offer to become a full-time recruit.

The reasons behind his decision are not known.

But he went on to write the Lord of the Rings trilogy, one of the most popular and influential works in 20th-Century literature.

5 popular zombie survival tactics... that will get you killed!

Great article from Cracked on why everything we know about zombie survival is wrong. Must-read.

Everybody has a zombie contingency plan. A unique and ingenious stratagem they've spent hours contemplating that ensures they and their loved ones will stay alive in the event of a zombie apocalypse. The only problem? You've got the exact same essential plan as everybody else: go raid the gun store, get out of the cities as fast as possible, find a sturdy base to fortify and hole up in, use a melee weapon whenever possible to conserve ammo and--if the worst does come to pass and you find yourself facing down a crowd of the undead--take your time, aim carefully and make every shot a head shot.

Jesus, you're not going to last five minutes. Here's why.

Runner forced to take gender test is a woman... and a man.

Missed this one, which was sent in by Coozer-Phile Duff. From NY Daily News:

Tests show that controversial runner Caster Semenya is a woman ...and a man!

The 18-year-old South African champ has no womb or ovaries and her testosterone levels are more than three times higher than those of a normal female, according to reports.

The tests, ordered by The International Association of Athletics Federations after Semenya's 800-meter victory in the World Championships, determined she's a hermaphrodite - having both male and female organs.

Semenya could be stripped of the gold medal she won in Berlin last month and her competitive future is in limbo, according to Australia's Daily Telegraph.

The athletics governing body is also expected to advise her to have surgery to fix the potentially deadly condition, the paper reported. The IAAF would not comment on the results that have yet to be released.

According to a source with knowledge of the IAAF tests, Semenya has internal testes - the male sexual organs that produce testosterone.

Testosterone is a hormone responsible for building muscles and for producing body hair and a deep voice.

Confirmation of the test results is sure to stoke the controversy that erupted after the university student's sensational track triumph.

She has been embraced in her home country - where she was declared "our girl" - and appeared on a magazine cover after a feminine makeover.

"God made me the way I am and I accept myself. I am who I am and I'm proud of myself," she told You Magazine, which ran a photo spread.

Schoolchildren vote 13-1 to slaughter lamb.

From News.com.au:

A group of schoolchildren who reared a lamb from birth and named it Marcus have overridden objections by parents and rights activists and voted to send the animal to slaughter.

Marcus the six-month-old lamb has now been culled, the head teacher of the primary school in Kent confirmed yesterday, after the school's council - a 14-member group of children aged six to 11 - voted 13-1 to have him killed.

The decision has provoked fury among animal-loving celebrities, animal and human rights campaigners and the parents of some of the children, and led to threats against Lydd primary school and its teachers, according to a member of staff.

About 250 children at the school take part in a program designed to teach them about rearing and breeding animals.

The educational farm was started this year, with Marcus being hand-fed by the children.

[...] Despite that, the school said there had been overwhelming support among the children, the staff and most of the parents to have Marcus - a castrated male who could not have been used for breeding - sent to the slaughterhouse.

But opponents branded it heartless and cruel, with animal rights campaigners asking why Marcus could not have been used to teach the children about wool, and human rights campaigners worried about the emotional impact of Marcus's death on the children.

Student fells intruder with samurai sword.

From CBS News:

Baltimore police say a Johns Hopkins University undergraduate student armed with a samurai sword killed an intruder he discovered in his garage.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi says campus security and an off-duty city officer responding to a call for a suspicious person heard screams to call police around 1:20 a.m. Tuesday in the 300 block of University Parkway.

Guglielmi says the student told a man he found inside his garage to leave and the man accosted him. That's when Guglielmi says the student defended himself, cutting off the man's hand and causing a severe laceration to his upper body.

He says the man died on the scene, but police are not yet releasing his name.

Police are interviewing the student and his three roommates and are talking to prosecutors about whether to file charges.

Spineless Senate cuts funding for ACORN after bad publicity.

ACORN helps hundreds of thousands of low-income Americans find affordable housing, an increasing need in this economy. Gosh, wonder why right-wingers would do anything to derail a nonprofit that works to improve living conditions and voter engagement in low-income and minority neighborhoods..... From a gleeful FOX:

The Senate voted Monday to block the Housing and Urban Development Department from giving grants to ACORN, a community organization under fire in several voter-registration fraud cases.

The 83-7 vote would deny housing and community grant funding to ACORN, which stands for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

The action came as the group is suffering from bad publicity after a duo of conservative activists posing as a prostitute and her pimp released hidden-camera videos in which ACORN employees in Baltimore gave advice on house-buying and how to account on tax forms for the woman's income. Two other videos, aired on the FOX News Channel, depict similar situations in ACORN offices in Brooklyn and Washington, D.C.

The Senate's move would mean that ACORN would not be able to win HUD grants for programs such as counseling low-income people on how to get mortgages and for fair housing education and outreach.

Former GOP lawmaker charged with murder.

Clearly, this is ACORN's fault. From Huffington Post:

Lexington police charged former Kentucky lawmaker Steve Nunn with murder Monday in the death of his ex-girlfriend.

Nunn, 56, was also charged with violation of a protective order. Lexington police said warrants were served on Nunn after he was taken Monday to the Hart County jail.

Nunn had been under guard at The Medical Center of Bowling Green since Friday, the same day Amanda Ross, 29, a Department of Insurance employee, was shot to death outside her Lexington town house.

Authorities found Nunn hours after the shooting at the Cosby cemetery in Hart County with what appeared to be self-inflicted wrist wounds. Nunn's father, former Gov. Louie Nunn, and mother are buried in the cemetery.

Nunn also faces six counts of wanton endangerment for allegedly brandishing a .38-caliber handgun when he was found at the cemetery, about 95 miles southwest of the scene of the shooting.

Nunn ran unsuccessfully for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2003. He lost a bid for re-election to the state House in 2006 after 15 years as a state representative.

He returned to state government in 2007 as deputy secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, but was put on administrative leave in February after being charged with domestic violence for allegedly striking Ross. He resigned in March.

Scientists create flying mice.

Soar, my children, soar! Bust out of your cages and wreak your revenge!!

Scientists have now levitated mice using magnetic fields.

Other researchers have made live frogs and grasshoppers float in mid-air before, but such research with mice, being closer biologically to humans, could help in studies to counteract bone loss due to reduced gravity over long spans of time, as might be expected in deep space missions or on the surfaces of other planets.

Scientists working on behalf of NASA built a device to simulate variable levels of gravity. It consists of a superconducting magnet that generates a field powerful enough to levitate the water inside living animals, with a space inside warm enough at room temperature and large enough at 2.6 inches wide (6.6 cm) for tiny creatures to float comfortably in during experiments.

The researchers first levitated a young mouse, just three-week-old and weighing 10 grams. It appeared agitated and disoriented, seemingly trying to hold on to something.

"It actually kicked around and started to spin, and without friction, it could spin faster and faster, and we think that made it even more disoriented," said researcher Yuanming Liu, a physicist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. They decided to mildly sedate the next mouse they levitated, which seemed content with floating.

More here.

Dogs were domesticated for meat.

Interesting article submitted by Coozer-Phile Larissa (a cat lover). From Live Science:

These days, it may seem dogs became house-trained to fit into stylish bags and wear diamond-studded collars. But a new genetic study puts forth a less refined explanation: Wolves may have first been domesticated in southern China for their meat, as reported in a New York Times article.

The study, using samples of so-called mitochondrial DNA from dogs around the world, showed all dogs belonged to one lineage, indicating a single domestication event. (If wolves were domesticated in various regions, the team would expect to find more than one lineage.)

They found the highest genetic diversity in dogs from southern China, suggesting this region was the point of origin as a species tends to lose diversity as it spreads. The results, published last week in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, also suggest such domestication occurred about 11,000 to 14,000 years ago, a time when hunter-gatherers first settled down in China's communities.

Study researcher Peter Savolainen of the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm said the wolves probably domesticated themselves when they started scavenging around garbage dumps in these human settlements. Later, humans likely bred the dogs for their meat, he suggested. In fact, scientists have found dog bones with cut marks, supporting the dog-meat claim.

Suspect returns to robbed home to ask victim out on date.

I guess he stole everything but her heart... From Breitbart:

Ohio police say a suspect in a robbery was arrested when he returned to the home about two hours later to ask the victim out on a date.

Police say 20-year-old Stephfon Bennett was among three men who robbed a couple late Sunday.

Columbus police Sgt. Sean Laird says the woman recognized Bennett as one of the robbers when he returned to ask her out. She had a relative call police.

Police say Bennett was arrested in front of the home. He was arraigned Tuesday on a charge of aggravated robbery and was being held in the Franklin County jail on $100,000 bail.

Bed sharing bad for health, relationships.

From BBC:

Couples should consider sleeping apart for the good of their health and relationship, say experts.

Sleep specialist Dr Neil Stanley told the British Science Festival how bed sharing can cause rows over snoring and duvet-hogging and robs precious sleep.

One study found that, on average, couples suffered 50% more sleep disturbances if they shared a bed.

Dr Stanley, who sleeps separately from his wife, points out that historically we were never meant to share our beds.

He said the modern tradition of the marital bed only began with the industrial revolution, when people moving to overcrowded towns and cities found themselves short of living space.

Women have sex out of boredom, bribery for chores.

From News.com.au:

For every woman expecting the earth to move, there are two with more practical motives.

From relieving boredom, to keeping the peace or curing a headache, women have sex for many reasons but romance and passion come rather low on the list, a new book has revealed.

One woman even admitted to having sex just so her husband would put the rubbish out.

"Research has shown most men find most women at least somewhat sexually attractive, whereas most women do not find most men sexually attractive at all," Why Women Have Sex authors Cindy Meston and David Buss said.

Having apparently discounted physical attraction, the 1000 women interviewed by the Texas University professors gave a huge range of reasons for sleeping with a man.

One said she did it for a spiritual experience, proclaiming: "It's the closest thing to God."

But mostly the explanations were far more mundane, with 84 per cent admitting to having sex just to ensure a quiet life or to bargain for household chores. One woman said: "I have sex to relieve the boredom because it's easier than fighting. Plus it gives me something to do."

Coozer-Bits.

Some stuff from the past few days I forgot to put up..

Sad: Wolf hunting now legal in US.

Duh: Imprisoning innocent people starting to get costly for Texas.

Yipes: NYC synagogue arms and trains itself to take on terrorists.

Science: Lasers turn light into sound.

Sad: Lenny Dykstra so bad off, he's stealing his own stuff.

D'oh: In other Mutts news, Jerry Koosman gets 6 months for tax evasion.

Awesome: Large thighs may protect heart.

Creepy: UK to be invaded by moth that thinks it's a hummingbird.

Zombie Watch: Human brain could be replicated in 10 years.

Arctic temperatures are warmest in 2,000 years.

From LiveScience:

Arctic air temperatures in the 1990s were the warmest in the last 2,000 years and were a result of rising greenhouse gas levels, a new study concludes.

The findings, detailed in the Sept. 4 issue of the journal Science, also suggest that if it weren’t for these manmade pollutants, temperatures around the North Pole would actually be cooling as a result of natural climate patterns.

"This result is particularly important because the Arctic, perhaps more than any other region on Earth, is facing dramatic impacts from climate change," said study team member David Schneider of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). "This study provides us with a long-term record that reveals how greenhouse gases from human activities are overwhelming the Arctic's natural climate system."

UFO filmed for 40 minutes by Chinese scientists.

From Daily Mail:

Could this finally be it - 40 minutes of undisputed proof that we are not alone?

Scientists at the Purple Mountain Observatory in Nanjing, China believe it is a real possibility that this footage of an unidentified flying object is the evidence we have all been waiting for.

They have confirmed 40 minutes of footage of the object was captured during this summer's solar eclipse - and that research has already started on a year-long investigation to find out what it is.

And the scientists were not the only ones to capture the walnut-shaped object on camera.

The clear, daylight sighting occurred over Deqing in Guandong Province. Dozens of students claimed to have seen the object sailing through the air during a rooftop observation of the July 22 solar eclipse.

At least nine of the students photographed it, producing such incredible images as those here.

Japan's new first lady claims she's been to Venus.

This is actually pretty normal for Japan. From Ananova:

Japan's new first lady claims she has visited Venus - and met Tom Cruise in a previous life.

Miyuki Hatoyama, 66, a former dancer, believes she was abducted by aliens as she slept one night 20 years ago, then whisked off into space.

She told the story in a book entitled Very Strange Things I've Encountered, reports The Guardian.

"While my body was asleep, I think my soul rode on a triangular-shaped UFO and went to Venus. It was a very beautiful place, and it was very green," she wrote.

By coincidence, Miyuki's husband, Japan's new prime minister Yukio Hatoyama, has been nicknamed 'the Alien' by his parliamentary colleagues for his otherworldly manner and prominent eyes.

Hatoyama appears unruffled by his wife's idiosyncrasies, saying: "I feel relieved when I get home. She is like an energy-refuelling base."

Teens film sex act, fearing Large Hadron Collider doomsday.

Maybe they thought it was called the Large Hardon Collider? From News.com.au:

High school students allegedly filmed sex acts while believing that the Large Hadron Collider was about to end the world.

At least three teenagers from a Brisbane state high school are being investigated by police for allegedly filming sex acts on a mobile phone and distributing it to other students, the Courier-Mail reports.

Two students aged between 13 and 15 performed the sex acts in the toilets during school hours several months ago.

The incident occurred after the launch of the particle accelerator ring, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which some dubbed a "doomsday device", sources told The Courier-Mail.

It is understood the girl wanted to lose her virginity to the boy - believing that the world was about to end.

Another student filmed the sex acts on his mobile phone without the girl's knowledge and then circulated it around the school and the wider community via bluetooth.

Rush might return in 2010.

ZOMG! From Noisecreep:

Rush fans take note -- the legendary progressive rock band could be back on the road with a new album in 2010. The trio would love to work again with Nick Raskulinecz, who co-produced the last studio album, 'Snakes & Arrows,' but he'll have to hang on a bit longer.

"I think Nick calls the office once a week," laughs guitarist Alex Lifeson, "just to make sure we're still planning on getting back to work at some point."

Lifeson, lead singer-bassist Geddy Lee and drummer/lyricist Neil Peart played 120 shows behind 'Snakes & Arrows' and "were pretty beat by the end of it," says Lifeson. "We'd been working constantly for the last eight years or so, and really needed a break, and decided to take a year off. We're sort of coming to the end of that period.

"Neil and his wife had a baby just a couple of weeks ago, so he's asked if we can just wait a little bit until he gets settled and see how he feels about getting back to work or when to get back to work. So we're sort of playing it open right now."

Lifeson says he's been doing a little writing at home in Toronto, "just getting myself back into the groove again with recording and stuff like that. I would guess that sometime in the early fall we would get back together and start writing again, and then hopefully by next summer, we'd be ready to tour."

Trivia: MuchMusic launched 25 years ago with Rush's "The Enemy Within."

Experience to extremes! From CTV:

It was Aug. 31, 1984, when J.D. Roberts, his hair styled in a bushy mullet, and Christopher Ward -- sporting pleated pants, a shiny grey jacket and a goofy smile -- introduced "Canada's first 24-hour music channel" with the help of some decidedly low-budget special effects and the promise of upcoming videos by the Spoons, Human League and Culture Club.

Yes, it's been nearly 25 years since MuchMusic launched with Rush's "The Enemy Within," followed by an interview with singer Geddy Lee and a Day One playlist that also included the Fixx, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Yes and Slade.

OK, so maybe one or two of those bands didn't exactly stand the test of time. [WTF?! --Coozer] But hey, in those early days, no one really thought the upstart station would ever survive for 25 years of scrutiny anyway.

"I didn't think about it lasting 25 minutes," Ward told The Canadian Press in a telephone interview.

"Maybe because it was so overwhelming and so new, we weren't thinking about what it was going to become. It was just trying to keep it as entertaining as possible in the moment."

A quarter-century later, those moments -- created spontaneously, with no scripts to speak of -- have left an indelible impact on those who grew up basking in Much's glow, the music fans who curated self-recorded VHS cassette compilations and scribbled down the names of tunes played during the station's countdown of top videos.

Egg industry tosses millions of alive baby male chicks into grinders.

I had no idea about this. Must Read:

An animal rights group publicized a video Tuesday showing unwanted chicks being tossed alive into a grinder at an Iowa plant and accused egg hatcheries of being "perhaps the cruelest industry" in the world.

The undercover video was shot by Chicago-based Mercy for Animals at a hatchery in Spencer, Iowa, over a two-week period in May and June. The video was first obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

"We have to ask ourselves if these were puppies and kittens being dropped into grinders, would we find that acceptable?" asked Nathan Runkle, the group's executive director, at a news conference in Des Moines. "I don't think that most people would."

The group said that tossing male chicks, which have little value because they can't lay eggs or be raised quickly enough to be raised profitably for meat, into grinders is common industry practice. United Egg Producers, a trade group for U.S. egg farmers, confirmed that.

The hatchery is owned by West Des Moines-based Hy-Line North America and is one of many operations in Iowa, the nation's leading egg producer.

The video, shot with a hidden camera and microphone by a Mercy for Animals employee who got a job at the plant, shows a Hy-Line worker sorting through a conveyor belt of chirping chicks, flipping some of them into a chute like a poker dealer flips cards.

These chicks, which a narrator says are males, are then shown being dropped alive into a grinding machine.

In other parts of the video, a chick is shown dying on the factory floor amid a heap of egg shells after falling through a sorting machine. Another chick, also still alive, is seen lying on the floor after getting scalded by a wash cycle, according to the video narrator.

Hy-Line said the video "appears to show an inappropriate action and violation of our animal welfare policies," referring to chicks on the factory floor.

But the company also noted that "instantaneous euthanasia" — a reference to killing of male chicks by the grinder — is a standard practice supported by the animal veterinary and scientific community.

Company spokesman Tom Jorgensen said Tuesday an investigation was continuing, and once it's completed the company would release more information.

Runkle acknowledged that his group's ultimate goal was to get people to stop eating eggs. He said he believe many would refuse to eat eggs if they knew what happened to male chicks.

"The egg industry is perhaps the cruelest industry on the face of the planet," Runkle said.

Mercy for Animals also sent letters to the nation's 50 largest grocery store chains, including Walmart, Whole Foods, Safeway, Harris Teeter and Trader Joe's, asking them to include a label on egg cartons that says, "Warning: Male chicks are ground-up alive by the egg industry."

A spokesman for United Egg Producers called the proposal "almost a joke." Spokesman Mitch Head said Mercy for Animals had no credible authority, as well as questionable motives. "This is a group which espouses no egg consumption by anyone — so that is clearly their motive."

Mercy for Animals estimated 200 million male chicks are killed a year, which the United Egg Producers also confirmed.

"There is, unfortunately, no way to breed eggs that only produce female hens," Head said. "If someone has a need for 200 million male chicks, we're happy to provide them to anyone who wants them. But we can find no market, no need."

Using a grinder, Head said, "is the most instantaneous way to euthanize chicks."

There is no federal law that ensures the humane euthanasia of animals on farms or hatcheries, according to Jonathan Lovvorn, vice president and chief counsel of the Humane Society of the United States.

The Humane Society also says that virtually all egg farms, even those that sell cage-free eggs, get their hens from hatcheries that kill their male chicks.

Hy-Line says on its Web site that its Iowa facility produces 33.4 million chicks. Based on that figure, Mercy for Animals estimates a similar number of male chicks are killed at the facility each year. Hy-Line did not comment on that estimate.

Runkle, of Mercy for Animals, said most people would be shocked to learn that 200 million chicks are killed a year.

"Is this justifiable just for cheap eggs?" he said.

As to more humane alternatives to disposing of male chicks, Runkle said the whole system is inherently flawed.

"The entire industrial hatchery system subjects these birds to stress, fear and pain from the first day," he said.

Slow Russian customs officials kill over 4,000 rare, exotic fish.

From Gadling, courtesy of JenK.

Slow Russian customs officials accidentally killed over 4000 tropical fish when they failed to clear a cargo shipment in a timely manner.

The shipment weighed in at 18 tons, and was scheduled for delivery to the new Sochi Discovery World aquarium, the largest in the country.

The shipment cost just under half a million Dollars, and had been sent from China. The head of the aquarium went on record to day that the loss was an "atrocity unseen anywhere else in the world".

Temperatures in the black sea resort of Sochi were in the 80's, and even though tropical fish enjoy warmer waters, the hot sun warmed things up too much for the fish to survive. You'll be hearing a lot more of Sochi in coming years, as they are hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Nun goes on booze-fueled car rampage.

Jeez, even the nuns on Long Island drive drunk. Damn that delicious blood of Christ! From NY Post:

A Long Island nun's bad habit has her in trouble with police -- who say she guzzled half a bottle of gin and went on a wild ride that nearly killed a group of children, officials said.

Sister Lauren Hanley, 68, of the St. Frances de Chantal Church in Wantagh, is going to have to say a lot of Hail Marys to make up for her allegedly booze-fueled hell ride Tuesday.

Authorities say she narrowly missed a group of kids, sideswiped parked cars and finally plowed into a tree.

The naughty nun registered a 0.18 blood-alcohol level on a breath test -- more than twice the legal limit of 0.08, prosecutors said.

"They teach us about drinking and driving in school, and to see a nun do it is surprising," said 11-year-old Alex Stein. The Catholic schoolboy said he had to run for his life when Hanley drove a 2006 Toyota Corolla owned by the Sisters of St. Joseph up onto his lawn.

Paris mayoral feud blocks street.

This sounds like something out of a Dr. Seuss book. From BBC:

There has been traffic chaos in two Paris suburbs after their feuding mayors declared the same busy road one-way, but in opposite directions.

Patrick Balkany, the conservative mayor of Levallois-Perret, initially made the D909 one-way to reduce the amount of commuter traffic through his district.

But Gilles Catoire, the Socialist mayor of neighbouring Clichy-la-Garenne, said this increased congestion in his area.

He made his section of the road one-way in the opposite direction.

With the contradictory road-signs in place, the unsurprising result was gridlock, prompting the deployment of municipal and national police to direct traffic away from the area.

"What Clichy has done is not a long-term solution, but it is a response to a unilateral decision by the town of Levallois," Clichy's deputy mayor, Alain Fournier, was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.

But Mr Balkany insisted: "The mayor of Clichy has taken a position that is unreasonable and is hurting his own constituents."

Thousands of motorists pass between the two suburbs each day on their way into and out of the French capital.

Chubby Hubby supports gay marriage.

My all-time favorite ice cream has just turned gay. Which is apropos since I've popped many a chubby over Chubby Hubby. From Huffington Post:

To show support for a new Vermont law legalizing gay marriage, the iconic ice cream maker Ben & Jerry's has renamed its popular "Chubby Hubby" flavor. The new flavor, which Ben & Jerry's is producing in partnership with Freedom To Marry, will be called "Hubby Hubby."

For the next 30 days, Hubby Hubby will be available across Vermont. The product's packaging will feature two men in tuxedos getting married. Here's the Boston Herald:

"In the meantime, a wedding-themed Ben & Jerry's truck will hand out free "Hubby Hubby" across Vermont today. Scheduled stops include the Vermont Capitol, where lawmakers passed a gay-marriage law that takes effect today. Ben & Jerry's six Vermont ice cream parlors also plan to sell special "Hubby Hubby" sundaes during September."

Israel's wealthiest woman claims to see the future.

From a skeptical Washington Post:

[...] But the biggest jolt comes from the woman in the executive chair: Arison -- billionaire ($2.7 by Forbes's most recent estimate), perhaps the richest woman in the Middle East, a major force in Israeli philanthropy -- claims that she can see the future.

This is much bigger than a parlor trick. In her new book published this summer in Israel, the 51-year-old Miami native says she felt the Indonesian tsunami sweeping over the land two months before it happened and sensed Hurricane Katrina pummeling New Orleans. In an interview, Arison says she also "saw the writing on the wall" before the global economic crash. Reading about Arison's extrasensory perception makes you ache for a heads-up, maybe a blog entry or a tweet or a phone call to Brownie or Greenspan or somebody who might have helped.

Arison explains that she has finally dropped the fear that has held her back from doing more about what she has perceived. Armed with the insight gained through work with Florida-based psychiatrist Brian Weiss, a proponent of regression therapy and the exploration of (take your pick) deep memories or past lives, she says she is ready to go public with her visions and bring together her spiritual and business goals.

Coolio gives performance at deli for free food.

Big deal, I'd sing to a crowd for a seven-layer burrito and a can of Bud. From Exclaim News, and thanks to Dan F.:

Oh how the mighty have fallen. Take, for example, rapper Coolio, who once sat perched upon the top of the world with hits like “Gangsta’s Paradise” and “Fantastic Voyage” but is now enjoying the life of a C-list celeb. Earlier this year, he was arrested for possession of crack cocaine and a crack pipe, and if that wasn’t bad enough, it’s been revealed that Coolio recently performed at a deli, who paid him partially in chicken.

According to a report from TimesCall [via The Daily Swarm], Coolio recently performed at a restaurant called the Deli Zone in Longmont, CO.

As Deli Zone owner Jeremy King explains, his hope was that the rapper would help turn his restaurant into a reputable venue. “My hope is that Coolio is going to give us some recognition,” said Jeremy King. “I’m hoping to get a cool reputation as a cool place to come see music.”

What made it even better for the restaurant, however, was Coolio’s meagre demands. Allegedly, Coolio only asked for “$3,000, a bucket of chicken and a bottle of Patrón (he likes the Silver variety).” Maybe he does weddings too!

Cellphones cause brain tumors, says new report.

Telecom is the new tobacco. Article here, and download the report here (PDF).

A new report, "Cellphones and Brain Tumors: 15 Reasons for Concern, Science, Spin and the Truth Behind Interphone," was released today by a collaborative of international EMF activists. Groups affiliated with the report include Powerwatch and the Radiation Research Trust in the U.K., and in the U.S., EMR Policy Institute, ElectromagenticHealth.org and The Peoples Initiative Foundation.

The exposé discusses research on cellphones and brain tumors and concludes:

- There is a risk of brain tumors from cellphone use;
- Telecom funded studies underestimate the risk of brain tumors, and;
- Children have larger risks than adults for brain tumors.

This report, sent to government leaders and media today, details eleven design flaws of the 13-country, Telecom-funded Interphone study. The Interphone study, begun in 1999, was intended to determine the risks of brain tumors, but its full publication has been held up for years. Components of this study published to date reveal what the authors call a 'systemic-skew', greatly underestimating brain tumor risk.

The design flaws include categorizing subjects who used portable phones (which emit the same microwave radiation as cellphones,) as 'unexposed'; exclusion of many types of brain tumors; exclusion of people who had died, or were too ill to be interviewed, as a consequence of their brain tumor; and exclusion of children and young adults, who are more vulnerable.

Disney to buy Marvel.

This is of course awful, except for a possible Iron Man vs. Wall-E match-up. From CNN:

The Walt Disney Co. announced Monday that it has agreed to purchase comic book and action hero company Marvel Entertainment for about $4 billion.

The deal pairs a comic book publisher that just recently began to produce its own movies with one of the largest international media companies in the world.

"This is perfect from a strategic perspective," Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger told CNNMoney.com. "This treasure trove of over 5,000 characters offers Disney the ability to do what we do best."

On a conference call with investors, Iger said the deal will allow Disney to sell Marvel's vast array of characters and properties across different media platforms and in many more markets. For instance, Iger said that Disney's Pixar animation unit was excited about the opportunities that a Marvel acquisition could yield.

"Spider-Man will appear in 'A Bug's Life' sequel," joked Barclays Capital analyst Anthony DiClemente.

The deal would give Disney some content that appeals more to boys, a market it has been looking to develop, Iger said. Disney XD, a television station and video game unit, already had a deal with Marvel to use some of the comic book company's action heroes in its content.

"Disney is the perfect home for Marvel's fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses," said Marvel Chief Executive Ike Perlmutter. "This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney's tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world."

Club goer beats self up, blames bouncer.

From NY Post:

A Queens man claimed a bouncer bloodied him when he got tossed from a strip club -- but a surveillance camera there told a different tale.

Khuram Murtaza, 34, called cops after he was tossed out of the Rouge Gentleman's Club, on 58th Street near 55th Avenue, shortly before 1 a.m. Tuesday.

When cops arrived at the Maspeth club, his face was bloody and bruised and he claimed the bouncer had beaten him, sources said.

The bouncer, however, claimed he didn't hit the man and provided proof from the club's surveillance video, the sources said.

Cops viewed the video and it clearly showed Murtaza smashing his face against a car, cutting his own nose, according to court papers.

Murtaza was charged with falsely reporting an incident, said a spokeswoman for Queens DA Richard Brown.

If blood is red, why are veins blue?

I always wondered this, even before I became a sexy vampire. From Live Science:

Blood is red when it has oxygen in it. Without oxygen, it turns blue. So here's what happens:

The heart pumps blood to your lungs to pick up oxygen. The oxygen-rich blood is then pumped out to your body through your arteries. It's red at this point.

From your arteries, the blood flows through tiny blood vessels called capillaries, where it gives up its oxygen to the body's tissues. Your lips have a lot of these capillaries, which is why they're red.

Your blood, now exhausted of its oxygen and turning blue, then returns to your heart through your veins.

Iraq horrifically torturing, killing gay people.

Awful. From Gay City News:

In a 67-page report released on August 17, Human Rights Watch (HRW) — the most prestigious international human rights watchdog organization — has detailed an intensive “sexual cleansing” campaign of murder, torture, kidnapping, beatings, and blackmail carried out against those perceived to be gay in Iraq.

The report, entitled “They Want Us Exterminated: Murder, Torture, Sexual Orientation and Gender in Iraq,” is based on interviews recently conducted by an HRW team in Iraq with more than 50 men who identified as gay, as well as with doctors, journalists, United Nations aid officials, and others.

It says doctors and morgue attendants routinely see horrifically mutilated bodies of gay men. HRW said doctors have confirmed an earlier Gay City News report of men being killed by having their anuses glued shut before being force-fed laxatives, causing painful and slow death.

Since March 2006, Gay City News has reported, in a series of articles, on the anti-gay murder campaign by fundamentalist death squads targeting Iraqi LGBT people. The HRW report confirms the deaths of hundreds of Iraqi sexual and gender dissidents in the wake of the security chaos created by the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, but it is largely focused on the changing face of the sexual cleansing campaign, which has intensified greatly since the beginning of this year.

Typical of the heartrending testimonies gathered by HRW is that from one man, identified as Hamid, 35, who developed a speech impediment and went into hiding after the murder of his lover of ten years. Speaking through tears to HRW just three weeks after his partner’s murder, Hamid said: “They came to take my partner at his parents’ home. Four armed men barged into the house, masked and wearing black. They asked for him by name; they insulted him and took him in front of his parents. All that, I heard about later from his family. He was found in the neighborhood the day after. They had thrown his corpse in the garbage. His genitals were cut off and a piece of his throat was ripped out.”

Hamid continued, “Since then, I’ve been unable to speak properly. I feel as if my life is pointless now. I don’t have friends other than those you see; for years it has just been my boyfriend and myself in that little bubble, by ourselves. I have no family now — I cannot go back to them. I have a death warrant on me. I feel the best thing to do is just to kill myself. In Iraq, murderers and thieves are respected more than gay people.”

Mexico City bans plastic bags.

From last week, but forgot to post it. What's interesting is how more progressive and proactive places like India and China are than the US in this area. From CNN:

Mexico City's thousands of stores went green Wednesday, as amended ordinances on solid waste now outlaw businesses from giving out thin plastic bags that are not biodegradable.

The law affects all stores, production facilities and service providers within the Federal District, which encompasses the city limits. Nearly 9 million people live inside the district and another 10 million reside in surrounding communities that make up greater Mexico City.

Mexico City becomes the second large metropolitan area in the Western Hemisphere to outlaw the bags. San Francisco in March 2007 enacted an ordinance that gave supermarkets six months and large chain pharmacies about a year to phase out the bags. Los Angeles is set to impose a ban if the state of California does not enact a statewide 25-cent fee per bag by July.

About 90 percent of the bags used in the United States are not recycled.

Bans and other restrictions on plastic bags are in place in several countries.

China has adopted a strict limit, reducing litter and eliminating the use of 40 billion bags, the World Watch Institute said, citing government estimates. Although compliance has been spotty, violation of the law carries a possible fine of 10,000 yuan ($1,463), World Watch said.

In Tanzania, selling the bags carries a maximum six-month jail sentence and a fine of 1.5 million shilling ($1,137).

Mumbai, India, outlawed the bags in 2000 and cities in Australia, Italy, South Africa and Taiwan have imposed bans or surcharges. Ireland reported cutting use of the bags by 90 percent after imposing a fee on each one.

Robot cats purrrrfect for killing us all.

From Yahoo! News circa last week:

Robot cats and other man-made companions could help Britain's elderly, according to a report by the Royal Academy of Engineering. The report recommends that autonomous devices could provide a variety of different services to older people, ranging from basic companionship to medical monitoring. Devices with the appropriate sensors could act as fire detectors, or flash lights when doorbells or phones ring.

"This is not constrained by the technological possibility of it so much as by the desire to do it -- and that is bound up with all sorts of social factors," said Professor Will Stewart of Southampton University, who contributed to the report, speaking to Reuters.

"It is not a complete replacement for your kid calling you once a week. What you want is continuous attention and that is very difficult," said Stewart.

Maybe older Brits could start with the Dream Cat Venus, an autonomous robotic feline that is already available for about $110 in Japan.

I'm also interested in how the right device could extend the companionship offered by an organic pet. Consider Huggable, a robotic teddy bear developed by MIT that seems to fit the bill specified by the Royal Academy of Engineering. It has full-body sensors for electric field, temperature and force, inertial measurement unit, cameras embedded in the eyes and microphones in the ears.

If you think that this is a rather science-fictional scenario, you're right. In Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? robotic pets are routinely used by most people.

Nixon gave Ted Kennedy bodyguards -- to spy on his personal life.

From the Guardian via Truthout:

Washington - Richard Nixon considered Ted Kennedy such a threat that he tried to catch him cheating on his wife, even ordering aides to plant secret service bodyguards to spy on the senator's behaviour.

"Do you have anybody in the secret service that you can get to?" the US president asked his aide John Ehrlichman in a stark series of Oval Office conversations about Kennedy before the 1972 election. "Yeah, yeah," Ehrlichman replied.

"Plant one," Nixon said. "Plant two guys on him. This could be very useful."

Nixon made clear that the secret service protection afforded Kennedy before the 1972 election would be rescinded after. Then, said the president, "if he gets shot, it's too damn bad". His aides disdainfully referred to Kennedy supporters as "super-swinger jet-set types".

Tape recordings from the Nixon White House betray a preoccupation with the Kennedy mystique and how that might be used against the Republican president by the last surviving brother, who died on Tuesday aged 77. Nixon wanted a sharp and private eye kept on Kennedy's movements after the Chappaquiddick scandal, hoping to catch him with a woman other than his wife, Joan.

Nixon's men had investigators tail Kennedy on a Hawaii vacation and when he was at his Martha's Vineyard haunts.

Mortified, they told Nixon that Joan Kennedy wanted to wear "hot pants" to a White House function until her husband talked her out of it. But Ted's behaviour? In the aftermath of his scandal he was careful not to step out of line, the tapes suggest.

Thai woman jailed for 18 for "royal slur."

From Raw Story:

A Thai court Friday convicted and sentenced a female “Red Shirt” protester to 18 years in prison for insulting the country’s revered monarchy during anti-government rallies, an official said.

Daranee Charncherngsilapakul, 46, a hardcore supporter of Thailand’s ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, was found guilty of making speeches that were insulting to the Thai royal family.

The judge at Bangkok’s main criminal court said her speeches at Sanam Luang park in the capital during three pro-Thaksin rallies in June and July last year were against the law of lese majeste, the court official told AFP.

“The court convicted the defendant on three counts and sentenced her for six years on each count,” she said.

“Although the defendant testified that she did not intend to insult the monarchy or make the public believe her, she could not escape her wrongdoing,” the verdict said.

Lese majeste — insulting the monarchy — is a serious charge in Thailand. Anyone can file a complaint, and police are duty-bound to investigate it in a country where the king is treated with almost religious adulation.

Ultra rare tiger dismembered at zoo, sold on black market.

Leave it to JenK for the really sad, disturbing global news. (Thanks!) Sad item!

In a shocking case that has zoologists baffled, an ultra rare Sumatran tiger was killed and dismembered at a zoo in Indonesia. There are only 400 of the critically endangered tigers left in the wild--but that's not even the most appalling part of the story.

Well, it might be, but this is pretty despicable, too: just over 5 years ago, the Zoological Society of London had used this particular tiger to help train Indonesian veterinarians and zoologists. And one of those very veterinarians may be responsible for killing it, skinning it, dismembering it, and putting it up for sale on the black market.

US military deaths in Iraq War at 4,335.

Just a reminder that we still have young people dying everyday in an unnecessary war. From ABC News:

As of Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009, at least 4,335 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The figure includes nine military civilians killed in action. At least 3,466 military personnel died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.

[...] The British military has reported 179 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 21; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, seven; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia and Georgia, three each; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand and Romania, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan and South Korea, one death each.

Is the next GOP obsession zombie attacks?

From Raw Story:

MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann took a leap into fantasy politics on Tuesday, suggesting that the current Republican obsession with health care reform creating “death panels” could easily lead into an all-out panic over zombies.

[...] At the same time, conservative radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh has begun describing supporters of health care reform as zombies. “They are having to send out multiple e-mails, war rooms, websites to instruct their brain-dead zombies on how to go out and show support for this abomination!” Limbaugh wrote recently. “It’s the Night of the Living Dead, in the daytime! Obama zombies marching around with little instructions and pamphlets and manuals.”

“The evidence is all around us,” Olbermann concluded, “and it’s hungry for our brains.” He then turned to former Saturday Night Live writer Max Brooks, known as “the Studs Terkel of zombie journalism.”

“Could we see the GOP using the zombie defense against Democrats?” Olbermann asked.

“If they did it would be counterproductive,” Brooks replied, “because Republicans would like a zombie outbreak.”

“During a zombie outbreak society would collapse,” Brooks explained. “The government would implode. We would all have to retreat to our homes surrounded by our guns. Sounds pretty right-wing to me.”

“This is in lockstep with the Republican strategy,” continued Brooks. “Right now, zombies are hot, they’re hip, they’re now — especially among young people. So what do Republicans do when something is hot and hip and now among young people? They attack it.”

Olbermann, however, got in the last word, suggesting yet another reason why Republicans might look favorably on a zombie attack. “If the zombies are looking for brains, they’ll only eat the Democrats.”