LV Toddler Survives Snake Attack

A Las Vegas toddler was pulled from the jaws of an 18-foot-long, 300 lb snake.

"That was the only thing I was thinking was I need to try and save this kid's life," neighbor Marlo Vinson said. Vinson was the first neighbor in the apartment complex to try and help the toddler's mother free him from the snake's grasp.

"That's when I saw the 3-year-old on his knees with the snake constricted around him," Metro's Sergeant Steve Custer explained. "I've been a police officer for 36 years and I've never seen anything like this ever."

Custer was one of the first officers on scene. "It's the biggest thing I've ever seen, with a big old head and it's angry and it's hissing." - KVBC

Damn.

Bigfoot Found?

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- It’s more than 7-feet tall. Weighs over 500 pounds and walked upright -- three "Bigfoot" seekers, including a Redwood City man, Wednesday claimed they have proof that they have found the body of the elusive creature in the wilds of Georgia.

And on Friday, at a news conference in Palo Alto, they say they will present DNA evidence to prove the carcass of “Rickmat” is that of a bigfoot.

Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer, Georgia residents who lead Bigfoot-tracking expeditions, say they found the body of what appears to be a Bigfoot in the woods of northern Georgia and will join local Bigfoot researcher Tom Biscardi at the news conference, according to Robert Barrows, who is publicizing the event. - KTVU

Bigfoot enthusiasts are very, very skeptical.

Pam Anderson Hates KFC

Here's why:

• The roughly 1 billion chickens killed each year for KFC's buckets are crammed by the tens of thousands into excrement-filled sheds that stink of ammonia fumes.
• The birds’ legs and wings often break because they’re bred to be too top-heavy and because workers carelessly shove them into transport crates and shackles.
• Chickens’ throats are slit and the animals are dropped into tanks of scalding-hot water to remove their feathers, often while they are still conscious and able to feel pain.
• KFC lets frustrated factory-farm and slaughterhouse workers handle live birds, so many of the animals end up being sadistically abused. At a KFC “Supplier of the Year” slaughterhouse in West Virginia, workers were documented tearing the heads off live birds, spitting tobacco into their eyes, spray-painting their faces, and violently stomping on them. This was discovered more than two years after KFC promised PETA that it was taking animal welfare seriously.
• KFC hides behind its Animal Welfare Advisory Council, even though five members of the council have resigned in frustration. One of them, Adele Douglass, told the Chicago Tribune that KFC “never had any meetings. They never asked any advice, and then they touted to the press that they had this animal-welfare advisory committee. I felt like I was being used.” - Courtesy of Kentucky Fried Cruelty

Fall Out Boy is a part of the celebrity haters of K.F.C.. What do I say to that? Eat more KFC!

Ape Rights

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's parliament voiced its support on Wednesday for the rights of great apes to life and freedom in what will apparently be the first time any national legislature has called for such rights for non-humans.

Parliament's environmental committee approved resolutions urging Spain to comply with the Great Apes Project, devised by scientists and philosophers who say our closest genetic relatives deserve rights hitherto limited to humans.

"This is a historic day in the struggle for animal rights and in defense of our evolutionary comrades, which will doubtless go down in the history of humanity," said Pedro Pozas, Spanish director of the Great Apes Project. - Reuters

Doesn't this make you a little sick?

Name A Species After You!

Forget about getting a building named after yourself. The cash-strapped Scripps Institution of Oceanography is offering what might be an even better deal to someone looking to make a mark in history: A rare hydrothermal vent worm will forever be emblazoned with your name if you fork over $50,000.

For those on a smaller budget, a mere $15,000 will land you in the annals of marine biology as the namesake of an orange, speckled nudibranch, also known as a sea slug.
Across the world, “name a species” fundraisers are spreading into a variety of scientific fields. In recent years, donors have vied for the rights to grant names to frog and shark species, among others.

To supporters, naming programs are appropriate ways to raise money and draw attention to science during times of major financial stress. But critics see plenty of potential for abuse.

“There are concerns that profiteering is inappropriate,” says Joe Mendelson, curator of herpetology, the study of reptiles and amphibians, at Zoo Atlanta. “There are people out in the taxonomy community who say as soon as there’s money involved, this is flat-out wrong.” - Christian Science Monitor

Is this wrong or is this wrong?

Young'uns Dumber Than Pidgeons

Scientists there have shown pigeons are better at self-recognition than three-year-old children. The birds can also tell a Van Gogh from a Chagall.

Prof. Shigeru Watanabe of Keio University and a grad student found the pigeons were good at identifying their own mug in a video image. The birds could distinguish between video self-images that showed their movements vs. video images that didn't show their movements. That was even with a 5-7 second delay in the video.

The average three-year-old child has trouble recognizing their self-image with just a two-second delay. - USA Today

Hmmmmmm

Human-Animal Embryo Use

British scientists will be allowed to research devastating diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s using human-animal embryos, after the House of Commons rejected a ban yesterday.

An amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill that would have outlawed the creation of “human admixed embryos” for medical research was defeated in a free vote by a majority of 160, preserving what Gordon Brown regarded as a central element of the legislation.

The Government is braced for defeat today, however, on a separate clause that would scrap the requirement that fertility clinics consider a child’s need for a father before treating patients. MPs will also consider amendments tonight that would cut the legal limit for abortion from 24 weeks to 22 or 20 weeks. - TimesOnline

In the words of Ryan Suh, what is this world turning into?

A hawk? In this town?

A BEAUTIFUL red-tailed hawk drew quite a crowd when it landed on the roof of an SUV in the Daily Item parking lot Monday afternoon to have his lunch.

Isn't that a beauty?