How to Best Spend $4,838,592

I decided to get into ...uh... business. I've got over 100 people working for me doing jobs in the Brox, Queens and Staten Island. We have plans to move into Brooklyn, but all in due time.

A long time ago, there was some shoplifting and then ... street mugging, breaking and entering, grand theft auto, and even a liquor store robbery. Perhaps more than one. It seems years ago. We started a protection racket and then did a museum heist followed by an electronic store robbery. You can't pin any of this on me. I was miles away from the action, just pushing buttons on an iPhone. I nod to cops with a clear conscience. No trouble sleeping.

In Queens, we got there from the Brox, the business moved into liquor smuggling, and then prison breaks. I recall a jewelry store robbery and then we infiltrated a mob base. I figure by that time I had 50 people and I heard that the only way to grow was to knock off a mob member. Well, I'm not saying who pulled the trigger, but I do know an HK PSG1 sniper rifle, and armored suit and a BMW 335 were used for that "mission".

This was followed by bank robbery and hiding illegal goods. Were things getting out of hand? Our ranks kept growing. Was it 75 when we took out the snitch? That is the last thing I recall as I focused on Staten Island. My missions were different, bigger: steal weapons from the mob, sell arms underground, extort local businesses. That burning of the police station may have been an accident, but I'll cop to planting evidence on the mob. Did we bribe police before we manufactured fake money? The payout from bombing the mob's shipment was up to $560,000.

Of course, there was upkeep ($128,900 every hour to run this show) not to mention losing over $1 mil in attacks by other mobs. Do you realize that the upkeep on a flamethrower is $2000, and a chain gun is worse, $3,000 for every 50 minutes of operation. Oh and my two Lamborghini's (which cost $1 mil each), are costing me $10,000 every 50 minutes of operation. How could that be? And how could I be paying $40,000 every 50 minutes to operate an armored limousine? Forget about it.

What I do now is buy real estate. I have 86 street vendors, 55 shacks (don't ask), 43 convenience stores, 16 restaurants, 9 night clubs, 6 luxury condos, and 2 shopping malls. Should I spent $10 mil on a resort hotel? Wait until I have $20 mil for an office tower? $40 mill for a casino? Or even save up $55 mil for an Amusement Park?

I need advice. Do I spend $4,838,592 or put it in the bank? If I do spend it, what should I purchase to get the best return on investment? Here are a few sites that help you figure out your maximum ROI (that's return on investment.):

Real Estate Calculator. Advice: Buy a night club. It will give you $10,000 additional income.


Another Calculator Advice: Buy a night club for $950,000. With my current real estate, I'm missing out on $19,950 income.

I should have been consulting these people all along.

UPDATE: The ROI changes constantly. I purchased the night club and now the advice is to get a shopping mall for $4.8 mil next. Well, I only have $4.2 mil in the bank and not much energy right now. The godfather would do me a favor, but I've had some god advice not to accept any favors from the godfather ... until the end.

Thief steals almost $250,000 via plane's toilet

An ingenious thief swiped almost a quarter million dollars on a flight in the Caribbean after sneaking into the cash-laden cargo hold via the toilet, police said Thursday.

A Brink's security employee placed three sacks of cash containing a total $1.65 million in the hold of the Air Antilles plane before it headed from the French island of Guadeloupe to the Franco-Dutch island of Saint Martin.

The security guard took his seat on the ATR-42 turboprop plane but when the flight landed 40 minutes later it was discovered that $236,809 were missing from the sacks.

Police are seeking a man who complained he felt ill and spent most of the journey in the toilet. In fact, he was removing panels to gain access to the hold in the rear of the plane.

Shortly before landing, the unnamed man -- who was travelling with a woman who appeared concerned about his health - asked a hostess for an ambulance to meet him on the tarmac, witnesses said.

When the ambulance arrived, the man said he felt suddenly better and walked out of the airport without having to go through the normal security checks and disappeared, police said.

Cleaners who found bundles of notes in the toilet raised the alarm. The woman travelling with him was questioned in the baggage arrival hall but did not have any of the missing money.

via Thief steals almost $250,000 via plane's toilet - Seven News Queensland.

Man who promoted grill's unhealthy menu dies at 29

A 575-pound man who gained a measure of fame as spokesman for the Heart Attack Grill — a Phoenix-area restaurant that unabashedly touts its unhealthy, high-calorie menu — has died.

Friends of 29-year-old Blair River say he died Tuesday, possibly from contracting pneumonia after a bout with the flu.

Restaurant founder Jon Basso tells The Arizona Republic that River was more than the larger-than-life caricature he portrayed in promoting the restaurant in Chandler, which includes huge hamburgers, milkshakes and fries cooked in lard on its menu.

Basso says River was a creative genius who had been planning to take part in the shooting of a promotional spot called, "Heart Attack Grill: The Musical."

The 6-foot-8 River was an Arizona state heavyweight wrestling champion in 1999.

via kpho

Naked Truth: Man Pulled From Gilbert Manhole

Gilbert firefighters were searching for the naked truth after they rescued a man in the buff who was stuck in a city manhole.

Firefighters said they didn't know if the man uncovered the manhole to climb in, but they did know he didn't have a stitch of clothing on when they pulled him out.

Gilber police said the man left his home Tuesday morning acting strangely. Later that morning, police said they received a call about a man in a neigborhood with erratic behavior.

Officers said they were unable to locate the man until about 11 p.m. when a passer-by called 911 after hearing screams coming from the manhole, according to Capt. Mike Connor of the Gilbert Fire Department.

Connor said the man told firefighters he entered the manhole to rescue children he thought were trapped. Connor said firefighters didn't believe any children were involved.

A police spokesman said the man was under the influence of PCP, marijuana and mushrooms.

The man became stuck about 25 feet into the manhole, Connor said.

The man, who crews said was in his mid-30s, was taken to a local hospital with scrapes and bruises, and Gilbert police were expected to interview the man at the hospital, Connor said.

via Naked Truth: Man Pulled From Gilbert Manhole - Phoenix News Story - KPHO Phoenix.

Time Traveler's Wife might be missing him.

700-year-old mummy found by road workers in east China in excellent condition

These incredible pictures show a 700-year-old mummy, which was discovered by chance - by road workers - in excellent condition in eastern China.

The corpse of the high-ranking woman believed to be from the Ming Dynasty - the ruling power in China between 1368 and 1644 - was stumbled across by a team who were looking to expand a street.

And the mummy, which was found in the city of Taizhou, in the Jiangsu Province, along with two other wooden tombs, offers a fascinating insight into life as it was back then.

Discovered two metres below the road surface, the woman's features - from her head to her shoes - have retained their original condition, and have hardly deteriorated.

When the discovery was made by the road workers, late last month, Chinese archaeologists, from the nearby Museum of Taizhou, were called into excavate the area, the state agency Xinhua News reported.

They were surprised by the remarkably good condition of the woman's skin, hair, eyelashes and face. It was as though she had only recently died.

via 700-year-old mummy found by road workers in east China in excellent condition | Mail Online.

The Tooth About Zinc

From its involvement in a healthy immune system to its role in cell growth, zinc is an essential mineral for the human body. Zinc deficiency is a worldwide problem that affects approximately 4 million people in the U.S. alone.

 

Consumed naturally in the human diet, zinc can be found in food sources, such as beef, yogurt, eggs, and fish. Furthermore, zinc is widely used in dental products, specifically denture adhesives.

 

However, as with any herb, vitamin, or mineral, excess intake of zinc could pose a potential health hazard. Denture wearers are advised to pay special attention to the amount of zinc they consume, according to an article published in the March/April 2011 issue of General Dentistry, the peer-reviewed clinical journal of the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD).

 

“If a patient wears dentures, it is essential that he or she follows the instructions and recommended dosages on the product label,” advises J. A. von Fraunhofer, MSc, PhD, co-author of the article. “Many times, patients will overuse the adhesive and, although it happens rarely, they can ingest toxic levels of zinc, with adverse neurologic effects.”

 

The optimal use of denture adhesive involves placing a thin film or a series of dots across the denture surface, which will ensure that a patient is not overusing the adhesive. A single tube should last three to 10 weeks with daily use, although actual usage depends on the number of applications per day.

 

“An ill-fitting denture is one reason that a patient could be overusing adhesive,” says AGD spokesperson Manuel A. Cordero, DDS, MAGD. “With age, your mouth will continue to change as the bone under your denture shrinks or recedes. If the denture doesn’t fit correctly, the patient tends to use more adhesive to try to get the denture to stay in place.”

 

To maintain a proper fit over time, patients should be evaluated by a dentist every six months.

 

“Abusing denture adhesive could cause nausea, stomachache, and mouth irritation,” says Dr. Cordero. “Over time, toxic levels of zinc could cause a copper deficiency, which has been linked to neurological damage.”

 

Currently, the FDA has issued no warnings regarding the use of denture adhesives, but patients should limit their usage of adhesive in accordance with the manufacturers’ instructions and speak with their dentist if they have additional questions or concerns. ...

via AGD - The Tooth About Zinc.

Probing atomic chicken wire

Under the scanning tunneling microscope, graphene reveals its honeycomb structure made up of rings of carbon atom, visible as small hexagons. The larger hexagons result from an interference process occurring between the graphene and the underlying boron nitride.

Daniel Stolte

Graphene – a sheet of carbon atoms linked in a hexagonal, chicken wire structure – holds great promise for microelectronics. Only one atom thick and highly conductive, graphene may one day replace conventional silicon microchips, making devices smaller, faster and more energy-efficient.

In addition to potential applications in integrated circuits, solar cells, miniaturized bio devices and gas molecule sensors, the material has attracted the attention of physicists for its unique properties in conducting electricity on an atomic level.

Otherwise known as pencil "lead," graphene has very little resistance and allows electrons to behave as massless particles like photons, or light particles, while traveling through the hexagonal grid at very high speeds.

The study of the physical properties and potential applications of graphene, however, has suffered from a lack of suitable carrier materials that can support a flat graphene layer while not interfering with its electrical properties.

Researchers in the University of Arizona's physics department along with collaborators from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the National Materials Science Institute in Japan have now taken an important step forward toward overcoming those obstacles.

They found that by placing the graphene layer on a material almost identical in structure, instead of the commonly used silicon oxide found in microchips, they could significantly improve its electronic properties.

Substituting silicon wafers with boron nitride, a graphene-like structure consisting of boron and nitrogen atoms in place of the carbon atoms, the group was the first to measure the topography and electrical properties of the resulting smooth graphene layer with atomic resolution.

The results are published in the advance online publication of Nature Materials.

"Structurally, boron nitride is basically the same as graphene, but electronically, it's completely different," said Brian LeRoy, an assistant professor of physics and senior author of the study. "Graphene is a conductor, boron nitride is an insulator."

"We want our graphene to sit on something insulating, because we are interested in studying the properties of the graphene alone. For example, if you want to measure its resistance, and you put it on metal, you're just going to measure the resistance of the metal because it's going to conduct better than the graphene."

Unlike silicon, which is traditionally used in electronics applications, graphene is a single sheet of atoms, making it a promising candidate in the quest for ever smaller electronic devices. Think going from a paperback to a credit card.

"It's as small as you can shrink it down," LeRoy said. "It's a single layer, you'll never get half a layer or something like that. You could say graphene is the ultimate in making it small, yet it 's still a good conductor." ...

via Probing atomic chicken wire.

Human stem cells transformed into key neurons lost in Alzheimer's

Northwestern Medicine researchers for the first time have transformed a human embryonic stem cell into a critical type of neuron that dies early in Alzheimer's disease and is a major cause of memory loss.

This new ability to reprogram stem cells and grow a limitless supply of the human neurons will enable a rapid wave of drug testing for Alzheimer's disease, allow researchers to study why the neurons die and could potentially lead to transplanting the new neurons into people with Alzheimer's.

The paper will be published March 4 in the journal Stem Cells.

These critical neurons, called basal forebrain cholinergic neurons, help the hippocampus retrieve memories in the brain. In early Alzheimer's, the ability to retrieve memories is lost, not the memories themselves. There is a relatively small population of these neurons in the brain, and their loss has a swift and devastating effect on the ability to remember.

"Now that we have learned how to make these cells, we can study them in a tissue culture dish and figure out what we can do to prevent them from dying," said senior study author Jack Kessler, M.D., chair of neurology and the Davee Professor of Stem Cell Biology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a physician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

The lead author of the paper is Christopher Bissonnette, a former doctoral student in neurology who labored for six years in Kessler's lab to crack the genetic code of the stem cells to produce the neurons. His research was motivated by his grandfather's death from Alzheimer's.

"This technique to produce the neurons allows for an almost infinite number of these cells to be grown in labs, allowing other scientists the ability to study why this one population of cells selectively dies in Alzheimer's disease," Bissonnette said.

The ability to make the cells also means researchers can quickly test thousands of different drugs to see which ones may keep the cells alive when they are in a challenging environment. This rapid testing technique is called high-throughput screening. ...

via Human stem cells transformed into key neurons lost in Alzheimer's.

Can you predict your mate will cheat by their voice?

When choosing a partner, women believe the lower the man's voice, the more likely he's going to cheat. Conversely, men think a woman with a higher voice is more likely to be unfaithful, researchers have found.

The study, published in the latest edition of the online journal Evolutionary Psychology is the first to examine the link between voice pitch and perceived infidelity and offers insight into the evolution of the human voice and how we choose our mates.

"In terms of sexual strategy, we found that men and women will use voice pitch as a warning sign of future betrayal. So the more attractive the voice—a higher pitch for women and lower pitch for men—the more likely the chances he or she will cheat," says Jillian O'Connor, a graduate student in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour at McMaster University and lead author of the study.

"Infidelity is costly with the emotional impact, financial costs and potential loss of the family unit. But this suggests that through the evolutionary process, we have learned ways to avoid partners who may be unfaithful as a protection mechanism," she says.

Participants in the study were asked to listen to two versions of recorded clips from a male voice and a female voice, which were electronically manipulated to be both higher and lower in pitch. They were then asked which one, from each pair, was more likely to cheat sexually on their romantic partner.

"The reason voice pitch influences perceptions of cheating is likely due to the relationship between pitch, hormones and infidelity," explains David Feinberg, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour and advisor on the study. "Men with higher testosterone levels have lower pitched voices, and women with higher estrogen levels have higher pitched voices. High levels of these hormones are associated with adulterous behaviour and our findings indicate individuals are somewhat aware of the link and may use this in their search for a romantic partner."

via Can you predict your mate will cheat by their voice?.

The better off sleep better

The employed and self-employed enjoy much better sleep than those out of work, according to Understanding Society, the world’s largest longitudinal household study. Those who are unemployed are over 40 per cent more likely to report difficulty staying asleep than those in employment (having controlled for age and gender differences). However, job satisfaction affects the quality of sleep with 33 per cent of the most dissatisfied employees report poor sleep quality compared to only 18 per cent of the most satisfied.

Analysis of the early data from Understanding Society based on 14,000 UK households found that overall the best sleep was reported by people with higher levels of education and by married people. The type of work a person does also impacts on sleep, with those in routine occupations reporting worse sleep than those in professional occupations.

Professor Sara Arber at the University of Surrey who analysed the findings said: "Given the links between sleep, social and economic circumstances and poor health found in this and other surveys, health promotion campaigns should be open to the possibility that the increased incidence of sleep problems among the disadvantaged in society may be one factor leading to their poorer health."

via ESRC | The Economic and Social Research Council | The better off sleep better.

 

Married people sleep better?

Missing Frame shows UFO hoax

Via Phantoms and Monsters blog.  A nice catch. What if it is real and it was watching the camera ... and blinked off for one frame just to cast doubt. ;-)

Single frame before the truck passes in front of the camera



Immediately after the truck (at the right of the frame) passes by camera

Has anyone translated what they are saying? I'd run or drive to where something seemed to fall to the ground, filming all the way. Wonder why they didn't do that?

Mexican tycoon opens his art

THE world's richest man, telecom tycoon Carlos Slim, is opening a museum in Mexico City where he plans to share his vast collection of fine art and collectables with the public without charging visitors an admission fee.

The billionaire, whose fortune was estimated at $US53.5 billion by Forbes magazine last year, topping Microsoft founder Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett, has named the Soumaya Museum after his late wife.

It will open on March 29 and display a rotating selection of Mr Slim's 66,000 artworks, including pieces by Mexican artists such as Diego Rivera and Rufino Tamayo, as well as European masters.

Mr Slim is said to especially admire Auguste Rodin, and his collection of the French sculptor's work is one of the largest outside France.

Designed by Mr Slim's architect son-in-law, Fernando Romero, the six-storey, anvil-shaped building cuts a dramatic arc through the skyline of the capital's upmarket Polanco district. About 16,000 aluminium panels make up the museum's bending exterior, reflecting sunlight on to broad stairs leading to the entrance.

Inside, the Soumaya features 117,000 square metres of exhibition space in six halls.

One hall will house Mr Slim's collection of coins, bills, gold and silver, displayed for the first time. ...

Mr Slim, 71, is the son of a Lebanese-born merchant whose retail, telecom, manufacturing and construction companies dominate Mexico's commercial landscape.

via Mexican tycoon opens his art.

Aging, interrupted

The current pace of population aging is without parallel in human history but surprisingly little is known about the human aging process, because lifespans of eight decades or more make it difficult to study. Now, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have replicated premature aging in the lab, allowing them to study aging-related disease in a dish.

In the February 23, 2011 advance online edition of the journal Nature, Juan Carlos Izpisúa Belmonte, Ph.D. a professor in the Salk Institute's Gene Expression Laboratory, and his team report that they have successfully generated induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells from skin cells obtained from patients with Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome—who age eight to 10 times faster than the rest of us—and differentiated them into smooth muscle cells displaying the telltale signs of vascular aging.

"The slow progression and complexity of the aging process makes it very hard to study the pathogenesis of cardiovascular and other aging-related disorders," says Izpisúa Belmonte. "Having a human model of accelerated aging will facilitate the development of treatments and possibly a cure for Progeria and give us new insights into how we age. It may also help prevent or treat heart disease in the general aging population."

Progeria's striking features resemble the aging process put on fast-forward and afflicted people rarely live beyond 13 years. Almost all of the patients die from complications of arteriosclerosis—the clogging or hardening of arteries or blood vessels caused by plaques—which leads to heart attack and stroke.

Scientists are particularly interested in Progeria in the hopes that it might reveal clues to the normal human aging process. However, the disease is exceedingly rare and only 64 children living with progeria are known making access to patients very difficult.

Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome is caused by a single point mutation in the gene encoding lamin A, which forms a protein scaffold on the inner edge of the nucleus that helps maintain chromatin structure and organize nuclear processes such as RNA and DNA synthesis. The mutation creates an alternative splice site that leads to the production of a truncated version of the protein known as progerin. Unlike the full-length protein, progerin does not properly integrate into the nuclear lamina, which disrupts the nuclear scaffold and causes a host of problems.

"There is also evidence that defective lamin A accumulates during the normal aging process via the sporadic use of the alternative splice site, " explains Izpisua Belmonte. "Therefore we are very keen on using our in vitro iPS cell-based model to identify new aging markers and explore other aspects of human premature and physiological aging."

Compared to normal skin fibroblasts, cells from Progeria patients have misshapen nuclei and a range of other nuclear defects, including a disorganized nuclear lamina, loss of super-condensed DNA, telomere shortening and genomic instability. Yet, despite their "old" appearance and characteristics, these cells could be readily converted into iPS cells.

"The reprogramming process erased all nuclear and epigenetic defects and the rejuvenated pluripotent cells looked and acted like perfectly normal healthy cells," says first author Guang-Hui Liu, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher in the Belmonte lab.

Since lamin A is only expressed in differentiated cells but is absent from embryonic stem cells, he wondered whether iPS cells produce lamin A and/or progerin, which should follow the same expression pattern as lamin A. In his experiments, he couldn't detect either one. "The biological clock is reset in these cells because lamin A is silenced," explains Liu.

As soon as the Salk researchers differentiated Progeria-derived iPS cells, progerin expression was reactivated. "This reversible suppression of progerin expression by reprogramming and subsequent reactivation during differentiation, provides a unique model system to study human premature aging pathologies," says Izpisúa Belmonte....

via Aging, interrupted.

Those familiar with the Roswell story have no doubt heard the idea that children with Progeria could have been used by the government to perpetuate the myth of aliens.  I know of no evidence for this theory, but there is an otherworldly aura about those who have this unfortunate disease. I hope the research above can find a cure for them... and perhaps for the rest of us in time as well.

Small Nuclear War Could Reverse Global Warming for Years?

Even a regional nuclear war could spark "unprecedented" global cooling and reduce rainfall for years, according to U.S. government computer models.

Widespread famine and disease would likely follow, experts speculate.

During the Cold War a nuclear exchange between superpowers—such as the one feared for years between the United States and the former Soviet Union—was predicted to cause a "nuclear winter."

In that scenario hundreds of nuclear explosions spark huge fires, whose smoke, dust, and ash blot out the sun for weeks amid a backdrop of dangerous radiation levels. Much of humanity eventually dies of starvation and disease.

Today, with the United States the only standing superpower, nuclear winter is little more than a nightmare. But nuclear war remains a very real threat—for instance, between developing-world nuclear powers, such as India and Pakistan.

To see what climate effects such a regional nuclear conflict might have, scientists from NASA and other institutions modeled a war involving a hundred Hiroshima-level bombs, each packing the equivalent of 15,000 tons of TNT—just 0.03 percent of the world's current nuclear arsenal.  ...

The researchers predicted the resulting fires would kick up roughly five million metric tons of black carbon into the upper part of the troposphere, the lowest layer of the Earth's atmosphere.

In NASA climate models, this carbon then absorbed solar heat and, like a hot-air balloon, quickly lofted even higher, where the soot would take much longer to clear from the sky.

The global cooling caused by these high carbon clouds wouldn't be as catastrophic as a superpower-versus-superpower nuclear winter, but "the effects would still be regarded as leading to unprecedented climate change," research physical scientist Luke Oman said during a press briefing Friday at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C.

Earth is currently in a long-term warming trend. After a regional nuclear war, though, average global temperatures would drop by 2.25 degrees F (1.25 degrees C) for two to three years afterward, the models suggest.

At the extreme, the tropics, Europe, Asia, and Alaska would cool by 5.4 to 7.2 degrees F (3 to 4 degrees C), according to the models. Parts of the Arctic and Antarctic would actually warm a bit, due to shifted wind and ocean-circulation patterns, the researchers said.

After ten years, average global temperatures would still be 0.9 degree F (0.5 degree C) lower than before the nuclear war, the models predict. ...

"The main message from our work," NASA's Oman said, "would be that even a regional nuclear conflict would have global consequences."

via Small Nuclear War Could Reverse Global Warming for Years?.

I once took a wrong turn, thanks to selecting "alternate routes" on my GPS while on a trip in another state. It was at night and I  drove by what I'm pretty sure was a US nuclear missile parked on the side of the road. It was some kind of missile anyway... it was huge... on a truck somewhat like the one above.  Don't ask me where or when. I wouldn't say even if I knew. I don't remember. It was out in the middle of nowhere, years ago, on a road that was only a dotted line on my map.  Ominous. That's what it was.

3D printers create edible objects

An engineering lab and a culinary school have teamed up to construct novel edible objects with 3D printers that use pureed foods in place of ink.

Miniature space shuttles made of ground scallops and cheese are among the masterpieces that had already been made using 3D food printers designed by the computational synthesis laboratory at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

The lab is collaborating with the New York City-based French Culinary Institute to make new edible creations through a project called fab@home.

"It lets you do complex geometries with food that you could never do by hand," said Jeffrey Lipton, a researcher and graduate student at the lab.

"So far, we've printed everything from chocolate, cheese and hummus to scallops, turkey, and celery," Lipton told CBC Radio's Spark in an interview that aired Sunday.

Pastes made of different foods are squirted from nozzles inside the box-like printer, which carefully controls their position at all times.

"The process is pretty simple," Lipton said. "Just as ... your 2D printer puts droplets of ink onto a page to create an image, this draws lines of material on top of each other to create a 3D object." ...

via 3D printers create edible objects - Technology & Science - CBC News.

Oregon man wakes up to find dog ate 3 of his toes

A diabetic Oregon man with no feeling in his feet woke up to find his dog had eaten part of his right foot, including three toes.

The Roseburg News-Review reports that the 61-year-old man, whose name was not disclosed by police, was in serious condition after calling 911 at about 3 a.m. on Tuesday.

The man told emergency responders that he fell asleep on his couch and woke up to find pieces of his foot missing.

Roseburg veterinarian Alan Ross says that the dog may have been trying to rid his owner of dead tissue, and says he may have been attracted to the foot if it were infected or gangrenous.

Ross says the dog doesn't need corrective action because it wasn't "acting out of meanness."

via Oregon man wakes up to find dog ate 3 of his toes - Boston.com.

Earth is heading for sixth mass extinction 'that will eradicate 75% of life'

Earth may be on the brink of a sixth mass extinction on the scale of the apocalyptic event that wiped out the dinosaurs, a study claims.

The researchers say that unless action is taken now to reverse the harmful effects of human activity on eco-systems, a full-blown mass extinction could occur within a few centuries.

Recovery from such an event, which could eradicate more than three-quarters of all life on Earth, may then take millions of years.

Only five previous mass extinctions have occurred in the last 540million years.

They are classified as the Ordovician event (443million years ago); the Devonian event (359million years ago); the Permian event (251million years ago); the Triassic event (200million years ago) and the Cretaceous event (65million years ago).

The last mass extinction, thought to have been triggered by a meteor impact in Mexico, was marked by the loss of 76 per cent of species including the dinosaurs.

A new study of mammal populations raises the alarming prospect of a sixth mass extinction, this one a direct result of the effect humans are having on the planet.

Scientists in the U.S. compared extinction rates from the fossil record with the speed at which mammals are vanishing today.

Within the past 500 years, it is estimated that at least 80 species of mammals have become extinct out of a starting total of 5,570 species.

This compares with an average extinction rate for mammals of less than two species disappearing every million years. ...

via Earth is heading for sixth mass extinction 'that will eradicate 75% of life' | Mail Online.

You Saw an Eastern Cougar? No You Didn't

Federal wildlife biologists have declared the eastern cougar to be extinct.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has concluded there are no longer any wild populations of mountain lions in the eastern United States. Researchers believe the subspecies has probably been extinct since the 1930s.

Wednesday's declaration paves the way for the eastern cougar to be removed from the endangered species list.

There have been numerous sightings of mountain lions from Maine to South Carolina. But the wildlife service contends those cougars were either escaped or released captives, or came from the West or from South America.

The agency's decision to declare the eastern cougar extinct does not affect the status of the Florida panther, another endangered wildcat.

In other news, the Philadelphia area has been named the most toxic in the country.

via You Saw a Mountain Lion? No You Didn't - Local News - Philadelphia, PA - msnbc.com.

New Zombie-Ant Fungi Found

The world just got a little weirder: Scientists have identified four new species of brain-controlling fungi that turn ants into zombies that do the parasite's bidding before it kills them.

Identified from samples collected at two sites in Brazil's tropical rain forest, each of the four species specializes in controlling a different species of carpenter ant.

The original zombie-ant fungus, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, was first identified in 1865, and it seems to exist around the world. [Mind-Controlling Parasites Date Back Millions of Years]

"So we knew, right off the bat, there was a range of other species within that," said study researcher David Hughes, an entomologist at Pennsylvania State University. "I think it will turn out to be in the hundreds."

Once it infects an ant, the fungus uses as-yet-unidentified chemicals to control the ant's behavior, Hughes told LiveScience. It directs the ant to leave its colony (a very un-ant-like thing to do) and bite down on the underside of a leaf — the ant's soon-to-be resting place. Once it is killed by the fungus, the ant remains anchored in place, thanks to its death grip on the leaf.

Ultimately, the fungus produces a long stalk that protrudes from the ant's head, shooting spores out in the hopes of infecting other ants. Two of the four newly discovered species also sprouted smaller stalks elsewhere, including from the victim's feet and lower leg joints – the equivalent of knees.

The spores of the four species also had distinct features and germination processes.

Hughes is concerned that one of the four fungus species, O. camponoti-novogranadensis, may not be around for much longer. During their visits to Brazil, Hughes and his colleagues saw that the high-elevation site where the species was found had become markedly drier and hotter. Hughes attributed the change in conditions at the Parque Estadual de Itacolomi, which is near the World Heritage Site Ouro Preto, to global warming.

The ants can survive this shift in the local climate, but "the fungus can't," he said. "What we think we will see is the extinction event of the fungus we just managed to describe." (Hughes said fungi are essential aquatic organisms living in terrestrial environments, making them extra-sensitive to a drying climate.) ...

via New Zombie-Ant Fungi Found - Yahoo! News.

The great UFO hoax

Back in 1967 a group of students strategically placed UFOs across the country. Two 'landed' in Kent.  ... 1967 was a huge year for UFO sightings in the UK and a group of engineer apprentices at the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough decided to make the headlines.

Through meticulous planning they created a fleet of UFOs and planted them on the same line, the same distance apart, across the country from the Bristol Channel to the Kent coast. In Kent, one 'landed' on a golf course in Bromley and another on the Isle of Sheppey both to be found by members of the public.

The discoveries caused quite a stir and even Ministry of Defence was alerted before it was realised that the whole thing was an elaborate hoax. Here is some BBC archive footage of a Kent 'space ship' as it is being inspected by the authorities:

via BBC - Kent - History - The great UFO hoax.

A "war of the worlds" rag week hoax by aircraft engineering apprentices was treated as a real alien invasion of Britain – for a few hours at least, according to newly released Ministry of Defence files. The army's southern command, four police forces, bomb disposal units, RAF helicopters and the MoD's intelligence branch were all mobilised in the early hours of Monday 4 September 1967 to meet the threat.

They went into action after the police and RAF were flooded with calls from the public reporting the discovery of six small "flying saucers" in locations in a perfect line across southern England from Sheppey to the Bristol Channel. It was not until a Scotland Yard bomb disposal squad with orders to check one of the objects with portable X-ray equipment arrived at Bromley police station, south London, that the hoax was uncovered – the Ever Ready batteries were a bit of a giveaway.

Another of the "saucers" was sent to be examined by Home Office scientists at Aldermaston and a third was inspected by the chief designer of the guided weapons division of the British Aircraft Corporation. One saucer which was found at Chippenham, Wiltshire, was blown up in a controlled explosion. The Whitehall papers released at the National Archives show that within Whitehall the "1967 flying saucer hoax" was regarded at the MoD as an "obviously very successful practical joke". ....

via Alien invasion hoax fooled MoD, archive papers reveal | World news | The Guardian.

Are these articles purposely vague and frustrating? Who did the hoax being reported? How did they do it? What materials did they use? What did people see? Did they fly or where they all found on the ground? What is "rag week"? Who found the objects? Where are the interviews with the people from the time? What were the consequences for the hoaxers? Lets have some reporting.