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my_red_red_lips) wrote,@ 2008-05-15 21:55:00
05-12-08 : news and random self reflection...
Cannibal theory for locust swarms
Scientists say they may have discovered the reason why swarms of locusts are driven to devour such huge quantities of vegetation.
They suggest that locusts combine into swarms because they are frightened of being eaten by each other.
The findings by researchers from the US, UK and Australia were published in the journal Current Biology.
A swarm can contain billions of insects and eat tens of thousands of tonnes of vegetation in a single day.
Sounding like waves of rain, it darkens the desert sky and descends to destroy swathes of food crops.
It is a chilling sight for farmers in many of the world's poorest countries.
Fields are stripped bare. It has a huge impact on food supplies for whole countries.
Seen eating each other
No-one is sure exactly what makes locusts swarm in this way.
They are usually herbivores but scientists have observed them eating each other.
This is when they cannot get hold of enough food when normal supplies start to run short.
Young locusts, which cannot fly, have been seen eating other members of their group.
The new theory suggests that some other locusts start to panic.
Increasing numbers of locusts band together to try to get away from the hungry cannibals chasing behind.
They keep this momentum when they reach the adult phase of their life cycle and take to the air.
The study's authors hope their work will contribute to understanding when, where and why these bands of young locusts form.
This, they say, will be crucial for controlling locust populations and, ultimately, for warding off disasters for people.
Man cuts up car in clamp protest
A man has sawn his car in half with an angle-grinder in protest at it being clamped outside his home.
Ian Taylor, from Tredworth, Glos, said the untaxed Ford Fiesta was parked on his drive with only part of a rear wheel poking out on to the pavement.
The 40-year-old builder said the vehicle was going to be scrapped anyway, but he wanted to make a point.
A spokesman for NCP Services said half of the car was parked on the road and should therefore have been taxed.
'Jobsworths'
Mr Taylor bought the Fiesta for his stepson with the intention of restoring it, but it was beyond economical repair.
"I told [my stepson] not to bother, so we parked it up, we were going to get rid of it. I came home from work the other day and it'd been clamped," he said.
Mr Taylor said he made several efforts to explain that the car had a SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification) certificate verifying it had not been driven on the road and that it had been parked on his drive.
"We tried to talk to [NCP]. I said, 'you're not taking it'. I got my cutter and cut it in half," he said.
"[I'm] happy I got one over on them. They're jobsworths, for the sake of an inch and a half on the path."
James Pritchard, communications manager for NCP Services, said clamping staff had photographs to prove that half the car was on the public pavement.
"We were astonished at the reaction this gentleman had to the fact we put a clamp on his car.
"It was a remarkable incident which highlighted some of the problems my colleagues face while they're doing what is a very important job in ensuring that motorists tax their vehicle," he said.
"And in cutting his car in two, he managed to put both himself at risk and also a number of bystanders - along with ourselves, the police had to be called and the fire brigade, as he set fire to the car while cutting it in two.
"Fortunately, the only damage was done to his car and as far as our people are concerned we stand by what they did."
*I'm glad there was no over-reacting here...
Pelican 'bombs' bather in Florida
A woman required 20 stitches to her face after a pelican crashed into her in the sea off Florida, apparently diving for fish.
The bird, which died in Thursday's collision, ripped a gash in Debbie Shoemaker's face as she bathed near the city of St Petersburg.
The city fire chief said he had never heard of a diving pelican hit a person.
Pelicans grow to up to 30lb (13kg) and can dive from heights of 60 to 70 feet (18 to 21 metres).
Ms Shoemaker, 50, returned home on Friday, the Associated Press reports.
Boy sleeps on as lightning hits
A three-year-old boy has slept through a lightning strike which blew a hole in his bedroom wall.
Elis Roberts's parents found him fast asleep in his room, which was covered in masonry, plaster and dust.
The lightning blew all the light bulbs and electrical equipment in the house and other homes in the Flintshire road as storms hit north Wales.
"We have been so very lucky," said his mother Pat Mulreay, of Edwin Drive, Flint, after Saturday morning's strike.
"It could have been a lot worse."
The lightning hit Edwin Drive at about 0045 BST as many parts of Wales experienced thunder and lightning and some had flash flooding.
The blast, heard throughout the neighbourhood, sent debris all over the bedroom, covered in Liverpool Football Club posters and other memorabilia.
The strike at their dormer bungalow home knocked out their television, video and Sky box, and those in other homes in the street.
Ms Mulreay, who also has a one-year-old baby son Deryn, said she was nodding off when she heard a noise like "a massive explosion."
Initially, she could not make out what it was, and neighbours went out into the street.
It turned out that lightning had hit the gable end of her house and exploded breeze blocks in the wall, leaving a hole high up the wall of Elis' bedroom.
But they found him safe and well, and blissfully unaware of the drama going on around him. "He didn't even wake up," said his mother.
The electrical wiring was intact, but all bulbs and electrical equipment were blown.
Elis's father Iestyn Roberts, a senior team leader at a local food factory, said he was fast asleep when he was woken by a huge bang.
"We both sat up," he said. "I said, 'what the hell was that?' It was all dark."
He found the hole in the wall between the upper stairs and Elis' bedroom.
"The main thing is that everyone was OK," he said. "The firemen were brilliant.
"They checked everything before leaving and even fitted a couple of modern smoke alarms because they said ours, which had been here since before we bought the house, were old."
North Wales Fire and Rescue Service said the strike had not started a fire, but they had ensured that everything in the property was safe.
*This is so obviously something I would also sleep through...speaking of which...sorry I missed your call last night Alisha. I was busy sleeping through every loud noise...Would have been good to talk to you; I needed to round out my drunken Klingele talking. Heh. And you know, not with the kids.
France may breathalyse clubbers
France's cabinet is to hear a proposal to make breathalysers mandatory at late-night clubs and cafes from this summer when it meets on Monday.
The ecology and health ministers are due jointly to present a draft decree that applies to all such establishments remaining open until 0200.
Some 350 cafes and bars in western France have already run trials, Ecology Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said.
The move comes after a weekend of road accidents, some alcohol-related.
The Pentecostal holiday weekend saw at least 17 deaths in seven accidents, AFP news agency reports.
"Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot and I will present a decree to make electronic breathalyser tests obligatory in drinking establishments open until 0200 so that everyone can check their level, their condition upon leaving," Mr Borloo said on the France 2 television channel.
"I hope that by this summer, it will be obligatory in all such places."
In one of the weekend's worst accidents, four people aged between 15 and 26 were killed when the car they were in went off the road near Forbach, in eastern France.
Police said the 36-year-old driver, who survived, had been drinking.
It's become more and more clear to me that I really probably should have been a sociology major...just so you guys know. I've been thinking about how in reality I choose a very strange degree for myself. I've been thinking entirely too much actually. About everything-not necissarly just education. It crossed my mind that I should count out how many major issues have been dive bombing my brain as of late-it's getting full in there. I'm somewhat afraid of the answers. Ha. Not in an emo way either...I'm now realizing that sounds like the beginnings of some sort of long winded emo rant. It's not. Just early morning ranting. If I took every major idea that I have all the way through to completion, I would be the queen of productivity. I guess it's that way for everybody. Dedication is an interesting idea...
Cannibal theory for locust swarms
Scientists say they may have discovered the reason why swarms of locusts are driven to devour such huge quantities of vegetation.
They suggest that locusts combine into swarms because they are frightened of being eaten by each other.
The findings by researchers from the US, UK and Australia were published in the journal Current Biology.
A swarm can contain billions of insects and eat tens of thousands of tonnes of vegetation in a single day.
Sounding like waves of rain, it darkens the desert sky and descends to destroy swathes of food crops.
It is a chilling sight for farmers in many of the world's poorest countries.
Fields are stripped bare. It has a huge impact on food supplies for whole countries.
Seen eating each other
No-one is sure exactly what makes locusts swarm in this way.
They are usually herbivores but scientists have observed them eating each other.
This is when they cannot get hold of enough food when normal supplies start to run short.
Young locusts, which cannot fly, have been seen eating other members of their group.
The new theory suggests that some other locusts start to panic.
Increasing numbers of locusts band together to try to get away from the hungry cannibals chasing behind.
They keep this momentum when they reach the adult phase of their life cycle and take to the air.
The study's authors hope their work will contribute to understanding when, where and why these bands of young locusts form.
This, they say, will be crucial for controlling locust populations and, ultimately, for warding off disasters for people.
Man cuts up car in clamp protest
A man has sawn his car in half with an angle-grinder in protest at it being clamped outside his home.
Ian Taylor, from Tredworth, Glos, said the untaxed Ford Fiesta was parked on his drive with only part of a rear wheel poking out on to the pavement.
The 40-year-old builder said the vehicle was going to be scrapped anyway, but he wanted to make a point.
A spokesman for NCP Services said half of the car was parked on the road and should therefore have been taxed.
'Jobsworths'
Mr Taylor bought the Fiesta for his stepson with the intention of restoring it, but it was beyond economical repair.
"I told [my stepson] not to bother, so we parked it up, we were going to get rid of it. I came home from work the other day and it'd been clamped," he said.
Mr Taylor said he made several efforts to explain that the car had a SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification) certificate verifying it had not been driven on the road and that it had been parked on his drive.
"We tried to talk to [NCP]. I said, 'you're not taking it'. I got my cutter and cut it in half," he said.
"[I'm] happy I got one over on them. They're jobsworths, for the sake of an inch and a half on the path."
James Pritchard, communications manager for NCP Services, said clamping staff had photographs to prove that half the car was on the public pavement.
"We were astonished at the reaction this gentleman had to the fact we put a clamp on his car.
"It was a remarkable incident which highlighted some of the problems my colleagues face while they're doing what is a very important job in ensuring that motorists tax their vehicle," he said.
"And in cutting his car in two, he managed to put both himself at risk and also a number of bystanders - along with ourselves, the police had to be called and the fire brigade, as he set fire to the car while cutting it in two.
"Fortunately, the only damage was done to his car and as far as our people are concerned we stand by what they did."
*I'm glad there was no over-reacting here...
Pelican 'bombs' bather in Florida
A woman required 20 stitches to her face after a pelican crashed into her in the sea off Florida, apparently diving for fish.
The bird, which died in Thursday's collision, ripped a gash in Debbie Shoemaker's face as she bathed near the city of St Petersburg.
The city fire chief said he had never heard of a diving pelican hit a person.
Pelicans grow to up to 30lb (13kg) and can dive from heights of 60 to 70 feet (18 to 21 metres).
Ms Shoemaker, 50, returned home on Friday, the Associated Press reports.
Boy sleeps on as lightning hits
A three-year-old boy has slept through a lightning strike which blew a hole in his bedroom wall.
Elis Roberts's parents found him fast asleep in his room, which was covered in masonry, plaster and dust.
The lightning blew all the light bulbs and electrical equipment in the house and other homes in the Flintshire road as storms hit north Wales.
"We have been so very lucky," said his mother Pat Mulreay, of Edwin Drive, Flint, after Saturday morning's strike.
"It could have been a lot worse."
The lightning hit Edwin Drive at about 0045 BST as many parts of Wales experienced thunder and lightning and some had flash flooding.
The blast, heard throughout the neighbourhood, sent debris all over the bedroom, covered in Liverpool Football Club posters and other memorabilia.
The strike at their dormer bungalow home knocked out their television, video and Sky box, and those in other homes in the street.
Ms Mulreay, who also has a one-year-old baby son Deryn, said she was nodding off when she heard a noise like "a massive explosion."
Initially, she could not make out what it was, and neighbours went out into the street.
It turned out that lightning had hit the gable end of her house and exploded breeze blocks in the wall, leaving a hole high up the wall of Elis' bedroom.
But they found him safe and well, and blissfully unaware of the drama going on around him. "He didn't even wake up," said his mother.
The electrical wiring was intact, but all bulbs and electrical equipment were blown.
Elis's father Iestyn Roberts, a senior team leader at a local food factory, said he was fast asleep when he was woken by a huge bang.
"We both sat up," he said. "I said, 'what the hell was that?' It was all dark."
He found the hole in the wall between the upper stairs and Elis' bedroom.
"The main thing is that everyone was OK," he said. "The firemen were brilliant.
"They checked everything before leaving and even fitted a couple of modern smoke alarms because they said ours, which had been here since before we bought the house, were old."
North Wales Fire and Rescue Service said the strike had not started a fire, but they had ensured that everything in the property was safe.
*This is so obviously something I would also sleep through...speaking of which...sorry I missed your call last night Alisha. I was busy sleeping through every loud noise...Would have been good to talk to you; I needed to round out my drunken Klingele talking. Heh. And you know, not with the kids.
France may breathalyse clubbers
France's cabinet is to hear a proposal to make breathalysers mandatory at late-night clubs and cafes from this summer when it meets on Monday.
The ecology and health ministers are due jointly to present a draft decree that applies to all such establishments remaining open until 0200.
Some 350 cafes and bars in western France have already run trials, Ecology Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said.
The move comes after a weekend of road accidents, some alcohol-related.
The Pentecostal holiday weekend saw at least 17 deaths in seven accidents, AFP news agency reports.
"Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot and I will present a decree to make electronic breathalyser tests obligatory in drinking establishments open until 0200 so that everyone can check their level, their condition upon leaving," Mr Borloo said on the France 2 television channel.
"I hope that by this summer, it will be obligatory in all such places."
In one of the weekend's worst accidents, four people aged between 15 and 26 were killed when the car they were in went off the road near Forbach, in eastern France.
Police said the 36-year-old driver, who survived, had been drinking.
It's become more and more clear to me that I really probably should have been a sociology major...just so you guys know. I've been thinking about how in reality I choose a very strange degree for myself. I've been thinking entirely too much actually. About everything-not necissarly just education. It crossed my mind that I should count out how many major issues have been dive bombing my brain as of late-it's getting full in there. I'm somewhat afraid of the answers. Ha. Not in an emo way either...I'm now realizing that sounds like the beginnings of some sort of long winded emo rant. It's not. Just early morning ranting. If I took every major idea that I have all the way through to completion, I would be the queen of productivity. I guess it's that way for everybody. Dedication is an interesting idea...
