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Posted: 02-11-2009 10:51 Post subject:

Japanese fishing trawler sunk by giant jellyfish
A 10-ton fishing boat has been sunk by gigantic jellyfish off eastern Japan.
By Julian Ryall in Tokyo
Published: 7:00AM GMT 02 Nov 2009

The trawler, the Diasan Shinsho-maru, capsized off Chiba`as its three-man crew was trying to haul in a net containing dozens of huge Nomura's jellyfish.

Each of the jellyfish can weigh up to 200 kg and waters around Japan have been inundated with the creatures this year. Experts believe weather and water conditions in the breeding grounds, off the coast of China, have been ideal for the jellyfish in recent months.

The crew of the fishing boat was thrown into the sea when the vessel capsized, but the three men were rescued by another trawler, according to the Mainichi newspaper. The local Coast Guard office reported that the weather was clear and the sea was calm at the time of the accident.

One of the largest jellyfish in the world, the species can grow up to 2 meters in diameter. The last time Japan was invaded on a similar scale, in the summer of 2005, the jellyfish damaged nets, rendered fish inedible with their toxic stings and even caused injuries to fishermen.

Relatively little is known about Nomura's jellyfish, such as why some years see thousands of the creatures floating across the Sea of Japan on the Tsushima Current, but last year there were virtually no sightings. In 2007, there were 15,500 reports of damage to fishing equipment caused by the creatures.

Experts believe that one contributing factor to the jellyfish becoming more frequent visitors to Japanese waters may be a decline in the number of predators, which include sea turtles and certain species of fish.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/6483758/Japanese-fishing-trawler-sunk-by-giant-jellyfish.html

Posted: 02-11-2009 19:48 Post subject:

F%$k! That would make a good horror film. Scripted by Daily Mail journos.

Posted: 02-11-2009 22:15 Post subject:

Maybe they can use Baroness Thatcher as the body double Twisted Evil

Posted: 06-11-2009 13:01 Post subject:

WTF, but in a Very Happy

way!

‘World’s shortest flight’ can ferry pupils to school in less than a minute
Melanie Reid

Some children moan about having to get a bus to school. Six teenagers on a remote Scottish island, however, have the rather more exciting prospect of going to school by plane on what is believed to be the world’s shortest commercial flight.

The journey from Papa Westray to Westray in the Orkney Islands takes 96 seconds, covering a distance of just over a mile. With a tail wind, it can take as little as 47 seconds. Normally the teenagers go by ferry but when the vessel was taken out of service for refurbishment, Loganair, an airline company, stepped in and offered to fly them to Westray Junior High.

Holly Crocker, Leanne Cursiter, Solan and Cassia Dodman, Shane Hourston and Rowan Pierce, all aged 13-14, will be flown to and from school until the end of the year when the ferry, the Golden Mariana, is scheduled to return, Loganair said.

Papa Westray has a population of 70 and no secondary school. Westray, home to more than 600 residents, has about 70 pupils enrolled at the junior high and nine full-time teachers. The school provides education to Standard Grade level. The six teenagers from Papa Westray take the flight every Tuesday morning, stay with host families for two nights and then catch a return flight on Thursday after school. Pupils from either island choosing to study for their Highers must travel to Kirkwall, the capital of Orkney.

Loganair, which operates the eight-seater service in an Islander plane, has changed its schedule to ensure that the children get to school on time. The company said that the flight was the shortest in the world and with favourable tail winds could be over in less than a minute. The distance is shorter than the length of the main runway at Edinburgh Airport. Shocked

etc...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6905210.ece

Posted: 06-11-2009 16:10 Post subject:

I hope they don´t make them check in an hour before the flight.

Posted: 06-11-2009 20:21 Post subject:

China to auction Olympics condoms

When the Olympics hosted by Beijing ended, a collector snapped up the 5,000 condoms left over from the 100,000 distributed free to athletes.

The collection has now been put up for a one-off auction, with a starting price of one yuan ($0.15; £0.08 ) each.

Each condom wrapper carries the motto of the Beijing Games - faster, higher, stronger - in English and Chinese. Very Happy

The sale will also feature other Olympics memorabilia, the China Daily newspaper reported.

The entire lot of 5,000 must be purchased by one buyer at the Exceptional Auction of China Sport Collection on 29 November.

"The move is to grab more attention from the public to promote the awareness of safe sex and the prevention of HIV/Aids," said Guo Lei of the Sport Collection of China Collector Association, the auction's host.

Condoms have been handed out to Olympic athletes since Barcelona hosted the Games in 1992.

Some potential buyers might be reluctant to bid for the condoms but being married might help, said Mr Guo.

"Although anyone married should be interested for their practical use, some people will be too shy to bid for the condoms," the paper quoted him as saying.

The owner of the condoms, sport memorabilia collector Zhao Xiaokai, is also selling a torch autographed by Brazilian football legend Pele and a Chinese medicine case from the 1936 Games.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8345961.stm

Posted: 07-11-2009 00:14 Post subject:

For a TV version of this thread, watch Russell Howard:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00nqd64/Russell_Howards_Good_News_Episode_3/

You'll find several themes that have been posted on FTMB! Cool

Posted: 07-11-2009 00:30 Post subject:

Wicker Man fans will rejoice in the names of those pupils on the shortest flight:

Holly Crocker, Leanne Cursiter, Solan and Cassia Dodman, Shane Hourston and Rowan Pierce

Smile

Posted: 07-11-2009 16:07 Post subject:

Unwanted: The police mugshot so hated by man on the run that he sent one he liked better
By Luke Salkeld
Last updated at 1:22 AM on 07th November 2009

As a wanted man, you might expect Matthew Maynard to be somewhat camera shy.
But when his local paper published a mugshot of the 23-year-old in an attempt to track him down, he decided it didn't show his best side.
So he provided a replacement. And if that wasn't cheeky enough, he posed for the new photograph standing next to a police van. Very Happy

Maynard is being hunted by police investigating a house burglary. Detectives sent the mugshot to local media in Swansea as part of a public appeal.
When the picture appeared in the South Wales Evening Post, Maynard sent the paper a replacement photo of himself standing in front of a police van wearing luminous leggings and a policeman-like black jacket - which was then printed on the front page.

Yesterday officers at South Wales Police thanked him for helping their campaign.
One said: 'He is a berk. He thinks he is being clever by showing off like this - but we'll have him in soon now.
'Everyone in Swansea will know what he looks like now. What an idiot!'

South Wales Police issued the original mugshot as part of a major swoop which saw 81 arrests in 48 hours for crimes including robbery, burglary, assault, possession of drugs and fraud.
Four of the suspects were picked up within hours - but Maynard is one of four still on the run and is wanted for a house raid in Mount Pleasant, Swansea.

Acting Chief Inspector Nigel Whitehouse, who led the operation, said: 'We hope that now many more people will know what he looks like and give us information which can lead to his arrest.
'But if he has any sense at all then he should just give himself up to us.'
Spencer Feeney, editor of the South Wales Evening Post, said yesterday: 'We believed we were carrying out a public service by using his picture first time and even more so by using his new one on our front page.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1225756/Burglar-sends-photo-run-didnt-like-official-police-mugshot.html#ixzz0WB7gvBM3

Posted: 08-11-2009 18:24 Post subject:

Posted: 09-11-2009 14:53 Post subject:

The Mail has better stuff to print - like this!

A shrine to a squirrel: Town's 'Diana style' show of grief for dead albino rodent
By Daniel Bates
Last updated at 3:25 AM on 09th November 2009

Beside the grave lie gifts, flowers and heartfelt messages, some in verse. A tribute page on the social networking site Facebook has attracted more than 250 members.

And the cause of this remarkable outpouring of grief? Albi the albino squirrel is no more.
Albi, also known as Snowy or Percy, fell foul of a hit-and-run driver outside the churchyard where he used to live and play in Dorking, Surrey.

Dozens of tearful mourners have made the pilgrimage to his grave in a flower bed and turned it into a shrine to their 'light that has gone out'.

Cards, flowers and bags of nuts surround the small wooden cross which marks the spot where his body lies.

One message reads: 'Bye my beautiful albino squirrel. Miss you. I will always remember you forever. Rest in peace. Love you.'

Another reads: 'We can't believe you've gone little friend. 'Everyone loved to see you running in the churchyard with your fellow – but grey – squirrels. We will not forget you.'

One mourner has brought a bathroom tile to the grave on which is scratched the words: 'Albi no more.'
And a poem on a card laments his 'untimely death' at the hands of an 'evil driver'.

Only one in 100,000 squirrels is an albino. Since he appeared about two years ago Albi had become such a celebrity that his fans would wear white squirrel costumes at fancy-dress parties. Rolling Eyes

After his death the Dorking Advertiser printed a tribute feature where readers were invited to send in their pictures of him.

Lou Gardey was one of the first on the scene following the accident. She buried Albi in St Martin's churchyard so he could 'have some dignity'.
'Someone had just run over him and left him lying in the road,' she said. 'I went to get a bag for him and borrowed a spade.

'We made a little grave for him with a little wooden cross. He was so special – I thought he was something out of a fairy tale.
'The children adored him and there were always squeals of delight when they spotted him. It was like a little fantasy land to walk through the churchyard and see this gorgeous creature.
'We all gave him nuts and food and now it is as if a little light has gone out. It is very sad and has taken some magic away from our lives, which we all need.'

Elaine Wilson, 49, said: 'I went with the lady and we found someone with a spade and we took him off the road.

'Just as we were burying him a woman with two children walked past and said, "We might see him". I felt bad telling her the news.'

However, Dorking is not unanimous in its grief. Some of the comments on the Facebook site suggested the squirrel was to blame for jaywalking, with one, from 'Kevin', saying: 'He should have joined the Tufty Club and learned the Green Cross Code.' Twisted Evil

And a friend of a woman visiting the grave remarked: 'Everyone's getting worked up about this, but I don't understand it. It's like the squirrel was Princess Diana or something.
'A few elderly people have been knocked down and killed by cars just down the road and you don't see a shrine for them.'

Mother-of-four Juliet Grant, 33, added: 'I think it is a bit over the top and I was surprised to see so many tributes. At the end of the day, it is just a squirrel.'

A Surrey Police spokesman said they were not looking for anybody in relation to Albi's death. Cool

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1226203/A-shrine-squirrel-Towns-Diana-style-grief-dead-albino-rodent.html#ixzz0WMW0a6If

Posted: 09-11-2009 15:05 Post subject:

Posted: 09-11-2009 15:21 Post subject:

Posted: 15-11-2009 14:13 Post subject:

Insult to the English Language? Disunited Kingdom? I dunno, so I'll park this here: Cool

Walcome tae the Scottish Pairlament wabsite: The internet guide to Holyrood translated into 'Rab C Nesbitt' dialect
By Simon Walters
Last updated at 10:17 PM on 14th November 2009

To a handful of proud Scots, it is a valuable guide to Scottish politics, using the language of their forefathers before the country was taken over by Sassenachs who forced them to speak the Queen’s English.
But to English sceptics it may sound as though Rab C Nesbitt actor Gregor Fisher, who played the shambolic Glaswegian alcoholic in the Nineties television sitcom, has been given a taxpayers’ grant to write his own political manifesto.

A row erupted last night over public funds spent on the new internet handbook produced by the Scottish Parliament which uses the little-used Scots dialect.
Scholars disagree whether Scots is a genuine dialect or a language – and some claim only a ‘few thousand’ Scots speak it properly.
Yet anyone reading sections of the Scottish Parliament’s website would be forgiven for thinking that no one in Scotland speaks English any more.
The website even offers an option to translate content into Scots – and a bizarre apology that Holyrood staff cannot yet deal with calls from members of the public in Scots.

The handbook is part of an £800,000 overhaul of the Scottish Parliament’s website, designed to make it ‘more accessible to people whose first language is not English’.

Visitors on the Scottish dialect section of the website are met with the message: ‘Walcome tae the Scottish Pairlament wabsite.’
They are then directed to a guide on the workings of Holyrood, translated into the Scots dialect, which includes a reference to First Minister Alex Salmond as the ‘First Meenister’.

It declares: ‘Ye hae mony weys tae mak yir views kent [known] whan ye hae strang feelins aboot issues. This leaflet will help ye finn oot mair aboot the Pairlament and weys tae involve yirsel in its wark.’
It continues: ‘Ye can cam and veesit the exhibition, tak a guidit tour or hae a shot at the bairns [children’s] quiz.’ It also explains that the Scottish Parliament ‘maks laws and taks decisions that affects mony aspects o yir life . . . devolvit [devolved] maitters. Thon [that] includes: Fermin, forestry and fishin; schuils and skeels; hoosin; sport and the erts.’
The Scottish Parliament is ‘made up o 129 Memmers o the Scottish Pairlament the people o Scotland hes electit, hes the pouer tae re-set income tax up or doon by up tae 3 pence in the pund and hauds the Scottish Government tae accoont.

‘It owresees sindry public bodies and maks decisions aboot public spendin. Ilkane [everyone] is representit by 8 MSPs; yin [one] for the constituency they bide in and 7 for the braider [broader] region.’
The 12-page guide lists the regions of Scotland, including ‘Hielands and Isles; the Nor east; Glesga and Sooth o Scotland’.

The Scots resemblance to English is no coincidence: it is based on Anglo-Saxon English, though with its own dialect, mixed with French, German, Dutch and Gaelic, Scotland’s official ‘native’ language. As a dialect, Scots went out of fashion after Scotland merged with England in 1707.

The ruling class took English elocution lessons and Scots – sometimes referred to as ‘Lallans’ or ‘Scottis’ – continued mainly among the working classes, which may be why some call it slang.
By the Forties, Scotland’s own Education Department said Scots was ‘not the language of educated people anywhere’.
However, following the recent revival in Scottish nationalism, it has made a modest comeback, with some teachers in Scotland encouraging schoolchildren to write ‘as it sounds in your head’ – as opposed to standard English.

The Scottish Nationalist-led Scottish Executive says official government literature in Scots is needed to ‘prevent discrimination’.
It has spent millions of pounds promoting Gaelic, the ancient Scottish language descended from Old Irish.
A Scottish Parliament spokesman said: ‘For historical and cultural reasons, we recognise the use of Scots.’

But Scottish Conservative education spokeswoman and MSP Liz Smith said: ‘This is a language spoken by a few thousand people at most.
When budgets are tight, I would question why public money is being spent on promoting the Scots language when more funds are needed in classrooms across the country.
‘I can understand the need to preserve the Gaelic language – but, sadly, this seems like another exercise to keep the PC lobby happy.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1227837/Walcome-tae-Scottish-Pairlament-wabsite-The-internet-guide-Holyrood--translated-Scots-dialect.html#ixzz0WvR0XuRO