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blog-heap o' links
LOS
ANGELES -- A mountain lion that wandered into an Altadena neighborhood
was tranquilized Monday and removed by authorities... foxnews.com/ ... 21:56:22
Apes are cultured. Fifty years of research
on gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans has shown they use tools, communicate
and sometimes shake their hands just because it's cool... 
Marine Lance Cpl.
Adam J. Vanalstine, 21, of Superior, Wis., died Feb. 25, from an
improvised explosive device in Ar Ramadi, Iraq. defenselink.mil/ ... 19:01:37Army Sgt. Jessie
Davila, 29, of Greensburg, Kan., died in Baghdad, Iraq, on Feb. 20, when an
improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Davila was assigned to
the Army National Guard. defenselink.mil/ ... 19:01:11Army Staff Sgt.
Curtis T. Howard II, 32, of Ann Arbor, Mich.Army Sgt. Gordon F. Misner II, 23,
of Sparks, Nev.Army Spc. Thomas J. Wilwerth, 21, of Mastic, N.Y. EVERY
day thousands of cats are transported to Guangdong province in southern China.
They are destined not to become the pampered pets of the country’s new
rich, but to be served up at the dinner table. The trade is one that merchants
seem eager to keep out of the public eye in a country where pet shops have
sprung up to meet a growing demand as incomes rise... sciencedaily.com/ ...
03:36:43Though some species of fish around the world's are likely to be
contaminated with mercury, PCBs and other toxins, the benefits of eating
seafood continue to outweigh the risks, a panel of scientists recently said at
the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Jessica Rabbit isn't
welcome in China -- and Michael Jordan shouldn't show up with any of his Looney
Toons pals. In one of the more bizarre orders from China's State Administration
of Radio, Film and Television, TV shows and films featuring
human thesps with animated companions will be banned... news.yahoo.com/ ... 12:17:04A
German court on Thursday convicted a businessman
of insulting Islam by printing the word "Koran" on toilet
paper and offering it to mosques. The 61-year-old man, identified only as
Manfred van H., was given a one-year jail sentence,
suspended for five years, and ordered to complete 300 hours of community
service, a district court in the western German town of Luedinghausen
ruled... worldnetdaily.com/ ... 12:13:45A
community college student in Massachusetts faces possible
disciplinary action for shouting "Remember Chappaquiddick!" during an
on-campus speech by Democrat Sen. Edward Kennedy yesterday... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 12:13:20A Chinese man jailed over
the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests has been released from jail but is severely
mentally ill, his family has said. Yu Dongyue was sentenced to
20 years in jail for throwing paint at a portrait of China's former leader Mao
Zedong. He was freed on Wednesday, after 17 years in prison, but family
members said he did not recognise them and spoke unintelligibly. Human rights
groups have alleged Yu was tortured by guards in prison... mg.co.za/ ... 12:05:12China warned
outspoken Hong Kong Bishop Joseph Zen on Thursday not to mix politics and
religion, after Pope Benedict XVI named him a cardinal... Army Sgt. 1st Class
Amos C. Edwards, Jr., 41, of Savannah, Ga., died in Ar Rutbah, Iraq, on
Feb. 17, from a non-combat related cause. Edwards was assigned to the Army
National Guard. The incident is under investigation. defenselink.mil/ ... 09:53:29Army Cpt. Anthony R.
Garcia, 48, of Fort Worth, Texas, died in Tikrit, Iraq, on Feb. 17, from a
gun shot wound. The incident is under investigation. 
RINGO STARR
lyrics - "Early 1970..." meltingpot.fortunecity.com/ ...
20:00:03Ringo Starr discography [just because I was there...]
AVENAL, Calif.
--Administrators at Avenal State Prison said they will have to kill more than
100 cats that have sneaked in and reproduced inside the facility. The felines
have become a health nuisance for the prison. The state has cited the prison
for unsafe working conditions because of cat urine and feces... Marine Lance Cpl.
Matthew R. Barnes, 20, of West Monroe, La.Marine Cpl.
Rusty L. Washam, 21, of Huntsville, Tenn. Both Marines
died Feb. 14, when a suicide car bomber attacked their vehicle near Al Qa'im,
Iraq. defenselink.mil/ ... 22:13:45Army Cpl.
Andrew J. Kemple, 23, of Cambridge, Minn., died in Tikrit,
Iraq on Feb. 12, when his HMMWV came under small arms fire during combat
operations. Army Spc. Felipe J.
Garcia Villareal, 26, of Burke, Va., died at Washington Hospital Center in
Washington, D.C., on Feb. 12, of injuries sustained in Ramadi, Iraq on Feb. 9,
when his tent caught fire. The incident is under investigation. defenselink.mil/ ... 15:51:46Marine Lance Cpl.
Michael S. Probst, 26, of Irvine, Calif., died Feb. 14 from an
improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations near Abu Ghraib,
Iraq. Marine Pfc. Matthew
L. Bertolino, 20, of Hampstead, N.H., died Feb. 9, when the vehicle he was
traveling in was involved in a rollover while operating as part of a combat
patrol near Jalalabad, Afghanistan. The accident is currently under
investigation. defenselink.mil/ ... 21:20:12Marine Cpl. Brandon
S. Schuck, 21, of Safford, Ariz., died Feb. 6 from an improvised explosive
device while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in Baghdadi,
Iraq.Marine
N.C. Pfc. Jacob D. Spann, 21, of Columbus, Ohio, died Feb. 6 from wounds
sustained as a result of an improvised explosive device while conducting combat
operations against enemy forces in Hit, Iraq.Marine N.C. Lance Cpl. Steven L.
Phillips, 27, of Chesapeake, Va., died Feb. 7 from a non-hostile vehicle
accident while conducting combat operations against enemy forces near Al Qaim,
Iraq. The accident is under investigation. defenselink.mil/ ... 21:19:09Army Spc. Roberto L.
Martinez Salazar, 21, of Long Beach, Calif., died in Mosul, Iraq on Feb. 4,
when an improvised explosive device detonated near his up-armored HMMWV during
patrol operations. defenselink.mil/ ... 00:04:48Army Spc. Allen D.
Kokesh Jr., 21, of Yankton, S. D., died at Brooke Army Medical Center in
San Antonio, Texas, on Feb. 7 of injuries sustained in Baghdad, Iraq, on Dec. 4
when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV. Kokesh was
assigned to the Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 147th Field Artillery,
Yankton, S. D. defenselink.mil/ ... 00:03:04Marine Cpl. Brandon
S. Schuck, 21, of Safford, Ariz., died Feb. 6 from an improvised explosive
device while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in Baghdadi,
Iraq.Marine
Pfc. Jacob D. Spann, 21, of Columbus, Ohio, died Feb. 6 from wounds
sustained as a result of an improvised explosive device while conducting combat
operations against enemy forces in Hit, Iraq.Marine Lance Cpl. Steven L.
Phillips, 27, of Chesapeake, Va., died Feb. 7 from a non-hostile vehicle
accident while conducting combat operations against enemy forces near Al Qaim,
Iraq. The accident is under investigation. defenselink.mil/ ... 00:01:19Army Spc. Roberto L.
Martinez Salazar, 21, of Long Beach, Calif., died in Mosul, Iraq on Feb. 4,
when an improvised explosive device detonated near his up-armored HMMWV during
patrol operations. Army Spc. Sergio A.
Mercedes Saez, 23, of New York, N.Y., died in Baghdad, Iraq on Feb. 5, when
the HMMWV in which he was riding accidentally rolled over into a canal. The
incident is under investigation. defenselink.mil/ ... 10:22:01Army Staff Sgt.
Christopher R. Morningstar, 27, of San Antonio, TexasArmy Sgt. Jeremiah J.
Boehmer, 22, of Parkston, S.D. Army Spc. Jesse M.
Zamora, 22, of Las Cruces, N.M., died in Bayji, Iraq, on Feb. 3, when an
improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV. defenselink.mil/ ... 18:43:51Army Sgt. 1st Class
Lance S. Cornett, 33, of London, Ky., died in the vicinity of Ar Ramadi,
Iraq, on Feb. 3, of injuries sustained earlier that day while engaging enemy
forces. defenselink.mil/ ... 18:43:29Army 1st. Lt. Simon
T. Cox, Jr., 30, of Texas, died in Taji, Iraq, on Feb. 2, when an
improvised explosive device detonated near his M2A3 Bradley. 
abcnews.go.com/ ...
08:49:54Syrians set fire to the Danish and Norwegian embassies on
Saturday as protests over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.... Iran... said it
was reviewing trade ties with countries that have published such caricatures...
no one was hurt as the embassy was closed... Demonstrators also set the
Norwegian embassy ablaze... Police fired teargas to disperse protesters there
and also used water hoses to hold back others from storming the French embassy.
Riot police were deployed to protect the U.S. mission... [I guess they were
all just anxious to PROVE THE CARTOONIST RIGHT!] "The principle of
diplomatic relations is that diplomats can work safely and the fact that this
has been broken is extremely serious," Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr
Stoere told a news conference in Oslo... 
A 6.5-foot saltwater
crocodile leapt out of a roadside culvert and slammed into the side of a
passing car... Army 1st Lt. Garrison
C. Avery, 23, of Lincoln, Neb.Army Spc. Marlon A. Bustamante, 25, of Corona,
N.Y.Army Pfc.
Caesar S. Viglienzone, 21, of Santa Rosa, Calif. Army Spc. Walter B.
Howard, II, 35, of Rochester, Mich., died in Balad, Iraq, on Feb. 2, of
injuries sustained earlier that day in Ashraf, Iraq, when an improvised
explosive device detonated near his M1 Abrams tank. defenselink.mil/ ... 23:41:22Marine Pfc. Sean T.
Cardelli, 20, of Downers Grove, Ill., died Feb. 1 from enemy small arms
fire while conducting combat operations near Fallujah, Iraq. defenselink.mil/ ... 23:40:40Army Spc. Anthony C.
Owens, 21, of Conway, S.C., died in Baghdad, Iraq, on Feb. 1, when his unit
was attacked by enemy forces using grenades and small arms fire. defenselink.mil/ ... 23:40:11Army Pfc. Scott A.
Messer, 26, of Ashland, Ky., died in Ashraf, Iraq, on Feb. 2, when his
HMMWV accidentally rolled over during convoy operations. The incident is under
investigation. 
A giant owl
was captured yesterday after terrorising a tranquil village in a spate of
attacks on dogs... at least five dogs have been repeatedly targeted by the
European eagle owl... an amateur falconer, was able to cast a net over the huge
bird of prey and catch it... Earlier in the day, 84-year-old Jack Simmons had
to wade in with a broom handle to fend off the bird, which has a wingspan of
more than 5ft, after it swooped from a roof and tried to grab Heidi, his
13-year-old miniature wire-haired dachshund... The bird is believed to have
escaped from an aviary, although the BBC reported in November that a few eagle
owls were now breeding in the wild for the first time in centuries... abcnews.go.com/ ... 11:07:31"We think we have traced
the origin of the spread of the amphibian chytrid fungus to the 'frog'
pregnancy test for women, which was widely used from the 1930s to the 1960s..."
The African clawed frog itself shows no clinical symptoms of the disease, which
means it is the perfect vector: a carrier which does not die from the fungus...
Bessy the Burmese python is
recovering in an animal shelter after spending two weeks dodging searchers and
an infrared camera in a 57,000-square-foot apartment complex... 
The reputation that elephants have for never forgetting has been
given a chilling new twist by experts who believe that a generation of
pachiderms may taking revenge on humans for the breakdown of elephant society.
The New Scientist reports today that elephants appear to be attacking human
settlements as vengeance for years of abuse by people... equivalent of
post-traumatic stress disorder... Many herds lost their matriarch and had to
make do with inexperienced "teenage mothers". Combined with a lack of older
bulls, this appears to have created a generation of "teenage delinquent"
elephants... 
Bowling Green, Ky... Western
Kentucky University fraternity party early Thursday... police officers found...
a live goat stuffed into a storage room... with no food or water, standing in
its own urine and feces... Officials aren't sure why the goat was in the
storage room and don't know how long the goat had been held captive. Some of
the students told police the goat was going to be used in a hazing ritual... as
a prank, to make some pledges think they would have to have sex with it... The
fraternity has been ordered to stop all activities during an investigation...
Peter Benchley, whose
novel "Jaws" terrorized millions of swimmers even as the author himself became
an advocate for the conservation of sharks, has died at age 65...
Meat from whales caught
under Japan's "research" programme is so abundant that it is being sold as pet
food... 
Two passenger planes of Macedonia's national carrier MAT were
stacked above Skopje airport until a pack of stray dogs could be cleared from
the runway to let them land safely... 
saved her brother's
exotic chicken, Boo Boo, by administering "mouth-to-beak" resuscitation on the
fowl after it was found floating face down in the family's pond... said she was
pleased to find that the bird she saved was an "exotic," and not just an
ordinary chicken...