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#1201 Postby TexasStooge » Wed Apr 05, 2006 8:30 pm

Teen takes car on 300-mile test drive

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A test drive meant more than just a spin around the block for a New Zealand teen-ager who took a car he was considering buying on a 312-mile drive.

Police in Timaru, about 62 miles southwest of Christchurch, said the 16-year-old boy returned the car after taking it on the lengthy test drive over the weekend.

The boy will not face any charges as the owner did not stipulate any conditions for the test drive, police said on Wednesday.
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#1202 Postby TexasStooge » Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:24 am

Flint heads were Neolithic tooth drill of choice

LONDON, England (Reuters) - Long before the invention of electric drills and anesthesia early humans drilled teeth to treat decay, according to research published Wednesday.

But in the absence of modern metal tools the Neolithic drill of choice 9,000 years ago was a flint head, according to Roberto Macchiarelli, of the University of Poitiers in France.

While excavating in Pakistan, Macchiarelli and a team of international scientists found drilled molars from nine adults discovered in a grave that date from 7,500 to 9,000 years ago.

"These findings provide evidence for a long tradition of a type of proto-dentistry in an early farming culture," Macchiarelli said in a report in the journal Nature.

The four females, two males and three people whose gender was unknown had a total of 11 drilled teeth. One had three drilled teeth and another had a tooth that had been drilled twice.

"Four teeth show signs of decay associated with the hole, indicating that the intervention in some cases could have been therapeutic or palliative," he added.

Some type of filling may have been used but the researchers said there is no remaining evidence to confirm it. Drilling teeth seems to have continued for 1,500 years in the area before stopping, according to the scientists.

"Presumably, the know-how originally developed by skilled artisans for bead production was successfully transferred to drilling teeth in a form of proto-dentistry," said Macchiarelli.
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#1203 Postby TexasStooge » Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:25 am

'Karate kids' rescued after Japan mountain quest

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) - Three Singaporeans were found safe Thursday after getting lost on what they said was a mission to find a legendary karate expert on a snowy mountainside in Japan.

One of the three men told police in Hirosaki, near the northern tip of Japan's main island, that they had come to Japan after his dying father, a martial arts expert, had ordered them to seek out the karate teacher, TV Asahi said on its Web site.

"Japan looked so small on the world map that we thought we would be able to find him straight away," one of the group, aged between 25 and 50, was quoted as saying.

All three were dressed in light clothing and huddling in an abandoned car when they were rescued from the slopes of 1,600-meter (5,249-ft) Mount Iwaki in the early hours of the morning after calling for help on a mobile phone, a police spokesman said. "Neither police nor local people know of anyone running karate classes in this area," the spokesman added.
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#1204 Postby TexasStooge » Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:26 am

What the well-dressed dog is wearing

By Claudia Parsons

NEW YORK (Reuters) - From a Chihuahua in a white Marilyn Monroe dress to a bulldog in a purple net tutu, the dogs of New York today are as well dressed as their owners.

At a dog fashion show this week at one of New York's hottest clubs, waiters circled the room with glass bowls of dog food as well-groomed young people sipped cocktails and their dogs sniffed out new friends at the bar.

Preparations for the show, which raised money for an animal rescue center, were as chaotic as any fashion event, with some new problems.

"There's a lot more barking and a lot more interesting smells," said actress Stella Keitel, daughter of actor Harvey Keitel. Stella Keitel was among those walking with the canine models on the catwalk. "I'm definitely watching where I step."

Pet fashions are big business, with major retailers such as Target producing lines of clothing and accessories and boutique stores opening in swanky districts of New York.

According to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, 63 percent of U.S. households own a pet and total spending on pets -- including food, vet care, services and products such as fashion -- was around $35.9 billion in 2005.

The Animal Fair magazine show drew a parade of socialites, reality TV stars, models and B-list actors with their pets -- mostly lap dogs with a few retrievers and collies.

Model Beth Ostrosky brought Bianca, an English bulldog belonging to her boyfriend, radio shock jock Howard Stern.

"Animals are people, especially dogs, they're part of the family," Ostrosky said, admiring Bianca's purple net outfit which was coordinated with her own Nicole Miller silk dress.

"Quite frankly it was supposed to be a skirt but it kept sliding off her so we decided to make it a collar," she added.

Another dog -- a tiny Chihuahua -- was sporting a white 1950s dress inspired by an outfit immortalized because Marilyn Monroe was wearing it when a subway up draft sent the flared skirt flying up around her shoulders.

Some of the audience brought their dogs too.

Stephanie Warren came with her miniature schnauzer Minerva and the two were wearing matching gray and pink wool ponchos.

Warren said she takes Minerva everywhere and that they frequently wear matching outfits.

"I hope I'm not being ridiculed," she said. "We even have some of the same jewelry I've had made.

"I've taken her to a wedding before," she added. "I had got divorced and I didn't have a date so I took her."

Stylist Kristine Karam had a cocktail in one hand as her dog Minuda peered out of a bag under her other arm.

"She wouldn't wear a hat but she has a beautiful blue cashmere turtleneck and she has a beautiful strand of pearls," Karam said of Minuda, who was unadorned on this occasion.

Susie Essman, an actress who appears in the comedy "Curb Your Enthusiasm," wore a black and floral dress while her dog, a Shih Tzu named Sumo, wore a matching coat.

"He doesn't normally wear the same stuff as me," Essman said. "It's fun for an event but to walk down the street, I think I would feel a little ridiculous."
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#1205 Postby TexasStooge » Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:26 am

Students lack basic financial knowledge?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. high school seniors continue to struggle with personal finance basics, according to a study unveiled on Wednesday at the Federal Reserve by a nonprofit financial education group.

The study tested 5,775 12th graders in 37 states on issues such as whether stocks or bonds have higher long-term returns (stocks do), whether they have to pay taxes on interest earned on savings accounts (they do), and whether they would keep their health insurance if their parents lost their jobs (they would not).

Only 14 percent said stocks were likely to have higher returns, just 23 percent realized that interest on savings accounts may be taxable and only 40 percent understood that they could lose their health insurance if their parents became jobless.

The average score for the survey was 52.4 percent -- a failing grade in most U.S. schools. Surveys in 2004, 2002 and 2000 also yielded scores in the 50-percent range.

"What we are looking at are students who by any educational standards are flunking the test of their financial lives," said Lewis Mandell, a professor of finance at the State University of New York in Buffalo, who conducted the study for the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy.

The results come despite stepped-up financial education efforts as Congress dismantles boundaries between banks and investment firms and as financial companies offer a broader array of products to consumers.

"It is clear that students don't appear to be learning or retaining those things that are needed for making important financial decisions in their own interest," he said.

The survey was sponsored by the Merrill Lynch Foundation, the philanthropic arm of investment bank Merrill Lynch.
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#1206 Postby TexasStooge » Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:27 am

'Brokeback Mountain' banned in anti-gay move

By John Marquis

NASSAU, Bahamas (Reuters) - The Bahamas has banned the gay cowboy movie "Brokeback Mountain," triggering a new controversy over the island chain's reputation for homophobia.

Gay rights groups and other critics called on the Plays and Films Control Board to think again, so far to no avail.

"I cannot understand denying people the right to make their own choices," said theater director Phillip Burrows.

The award-winning 2005 film about two cowboys who fall in love got the thumbs-down from the control board after a request for it to be banned from the Bahamas Christian Council, which has been involved in previous anti-gay action.

The ban does not come as a surprise to Bahamians.

Last September, Miss Teen Bahamas was stripped of her title after she admitted to being a lesbian.

Four years ago, employees walked off the job at an isolated resort cay in the Bahamas after a shipload of gays arrived. The disgusted workers described carnal scenes on the beach as "like Sodom and Gomorrah" and refused to work until they had gone.

In 2004, Christian groups led a protest against the Norwegian Dawn cruise ship, which had docked with 1,600 gay passengers.

Rallied by the Save the Bahamas Initiative, which maintains that family values are undermined by gay couples, hundreds of demonstrators waved banners saying, "If you're gay, stay away," and "Even animals have more sense than homosexuals."

The 2004 protest did not repeat the violence of 1998, when lesbian couples were chased off Bay Street, Nassau's main shopping thoroughfare, by furious protesters and the mooring ropes of a visiting gay cruise ship were tossed into the sea.

In its 2005 Country Report, the State Department criticized the Bahamas government for actively promoting opposition to homosexuality.

"Although homosexual relations between consenting adults are legal, there was no legislation to address the human rights concerns of homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals or trans-gendered persons," said the report, released last month.

A gay rights organization, the Rainbow Alliance, has called for tolerance and last year opened an office in Nassau.

"We hope this will become a center for social change," said member Helen Klonaris.
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#1207 Postby TexasStooge » Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:28 am

Lula talks sports with Brazilian astronaut

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva likened the nation's first astronaut on Wednesday to late Formula 1 champion Ayrton Senna and told him to come home soon to support his local soccer team.

"When you left on the space trip, you reminded me of Ayrton Senna waving the national flag," Lula told Marcos Pontes in a live link-up with the International Space Station.

Lula is famous for his allusions to sports in speeches -- always welcome in soccer-crazed Brazil.

Waving the Brazilian flag after a winning finish was Senna's trademark. The three-time Formula 1 world champion, who is still considered a national hero in Latin America's largest country, died in a racing accident in 1994.

"In few moments of Brazil's history have we been so proud of a Brazilian as we are of you," said Lula, adding that while some in Brazil accused his government of spending too much on the space mission, it was an important step for the nation. Brazil paid about $10 million for Pontes' trip.

Pontes, an Air Force pilot, took a Brazilian flag and a national soccer team shirt with him to the station when he arrived there on Saturday with a Russian-U.S. crew aboard a Russian-made Soyuz spacecraft. The flag was on the wall behind him during the conversation with Lula.

"We are looking forward to your return. Certainly you'll go to Brasilia and then to Bauru because your team, Noroeste, is not faring very well," Lula said as Pontes laughed. Pontes is from Bauru in Sao Paulo state and the town's team is third in the Sao Paulo state championship.

Pontes is due to return to Earth on Saturday after a short mission with the outgoing Russian-U.S. crew.

He is conducting several experiments in orbit, including one designed by 12- and 13-year-old Brazilian students to study the effects of weightlessness on plant germination.
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#1208 Postby TexasStooge » Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:30 am

Famous One-Eyed Kitten to Go on Display

GRANBY, N.Y. (AP) - The one-eyed, noseless kitten that inspired an international debate last year over whether it was a hoax is coming to a new museum of oddities in central New York.

The museum founder, who believes in creationism, said the kitten is meant to launch another debate about how science and religion intersect.

The Oregon woman who owned the kitten said she turned down Ripley's Believe it or Not! and sold the remains to John Adolfi of Granby because she liked his religious reasons for wanting them.

"We didn't want Cy becoming a joke or part of a personal collection," Traci Allen said. "But John was so heartfelt, you could tell he was genuine and sincere."

Adolfi would not say how much he paid for the kitten, named Cy, for Cyclops. He said he plans to have it embalmed Wednesday at a local funeral home.

The kitten died in December, a day after being born. Veterinarians in Oregon said it suffered from a rare disorder called holoprosencephaly.

Cy will be displayed in a glass jar in the Lost World Museum, which Adolfi hopes to open in nearby Phoenix this fall.

Other exhibits will include giant plants and eggs, deformed animal remains and archaeological finds, Adolfi said.
___

Information from: The Post-Standard
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#1209 Postby TexasStooge » Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:31 am

Man Upset With Penile Work Pleads Guilty

PHILADELPHIA, Penn. (AP) - A man pleaded guilty to weapons of mass destruction charges for sending a mail bomb to a Chicago surgeon he said botched his penile enlargement surgery, though his attorney questioned whether the charges fit the offense.

Brett R. Steidler, 25, of Reamstown, Lancaster County, mailed the explosive device in February 2005 because he was "extremely unhappy with the results" of the $8,000 surgery, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams said in court filings.

But Steidler alerted authorities before the bomb arrived and it was retrieved from the mail and disarmed. His attorney, Luis A. Ortiz, said Steidler is mentally ill and noted the difference between the roughly 2-year sentence for mailing a letter bomb and the 4- to 8-year sentence for using a weapon of mass destruction.

"You shouldn't group this guy with people who drive truck loads of explosives to buildings or gather anthrax or do things for political reasons," Ortiz said. Sentencing is scheduled July 7 before U.S. District Judge Lawrence F. Stengel.
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#1210 Postby TexasStooge » Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:34 am

Expert Says Hard Liquor Helps Houseplants

By WILLIAM KATES, Associated Press Writer

ITHACA, N.Y. - For home gardeners who don't want their flowers to tip over, a Cornell University horticulturist thinks he has the answer: Get the flowers a little tipsy with some hard liquor.

Giving some plants diluted alcohol — whiskey, vodka, gin or tequila — stunts the growth of a plant's leaves and stems but doesn't affect the blossoms, said William Miller, director of Cornell's Flower Bulb Research Program.

Miller reported his findings in the April issue of HortTechnology, a peer-reviewed journal of horticulture.

"I've heard of using alcohol for lots of things ... but never for dwarfing plants," said Charlie Nardozzi, a senior horticulturist with the National Gardening Association, a Vermont-based organization that promotes plant-based education.

"It sounded weird when I first heard about it, but our members say it works. I'm going to try it next year, just for curiosity," Nardozzi added.

Miller's study focused on paperwhite narcissus and other daffodils but he's also had promising results with tulips.

"I think with a little jiggering — no pun intended — the method will work for tulips, though I think it will not be as simple as with paperwhites," he said.

Miller began his investigation last year after receiving a call from The New York Times about a reader who had written to the garden editor claiming that gin had prevented some paperwhite narcissi from growing too tall and floppy and asked if it was because of some "essential oil" in the gin.

Intrigued that diluted alcohol might act as a growth retardant, Miller began conducting experiments with ethanol. Because hard liquor is easier for consumers to obtain, he switched to alcohol and began trying different kinds, including dry gin, unflavored vodka, whiskey, white rum, gold tequila, mint schnapps, red and white wine and pale lager beer, on paperwhites.

The beer and wine did not work, likely because of their sugar content, he said.

"While solutions greater than 10 percent alcohol were toxic, solutions between 4 and 6 percent alcohol stunted the paperwhites effectively," said Miller. "When the liquor is properly used, the paperwhites we tested were stunted by 30 to 50 percent, but their flowers were as large, fragrant and long-lasting as usual."

Any economic benefits, at least directly, are slight, he said. Commercial horticulturists already have other growth-control methods for large-scale production. But for home gardeners, the gain is in terms of product quality. According to the NGA, 83 percent of all U.S. households participate in some type of indoor or outdoor gardening activity.

Miller, however, said he could envision profitable marketing schemes emerging from the study.

"Maybe, instead of charging $1 for a bulb. You can market that $1 bulb with a mini bottle of Tanqueray, insert a little card with some history and instructions, put it in a fancy package and charge $10 for it."

Miller isn't sure why the alcohol stunts plant growth but he has three theories that he is exploring.

_Growth is caused when plant cells absorb water and expand. The alcohol could be injuring the plant roots, preventing the roots from absorbing the water as efficiently.

_When alcohol is mixed with the water, the plant has to use more of its growing energy to extract the water from the solution.

_The plant uses its growing energy to rid itself of the alcohol it has absorbed.

Miller will be working this spring to see if a little booze works for amaryllis and such vegetables as tomatoes and peppers.

Imagine, he joked, you may be able to grow your own Bloody Mary.
___

On the Net: National Gardening Association
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#1211 Postby TexasStooge » Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:36 am

Judge Compromises in Canine Custody Case

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Every dog has his day, but a standard poodle named Zena had her day in court in Shelby County as the center of disputed ownership case.

Divorcing couple Lisa and John Roberts tried to mediate the issue, but couldn't come to a compromise over who would take their dog, so Judge Robert Childers had to step in Tuesday.

Animals are considered property under Tennessee law, so neither owner could be assigned primary custody over the 5-year-old dog or have visitation rights as in a custody case.

After an hour-long hearing, Childers gave split decision, allowing John to take Zena during the week and Lisa to have the dog on the weekends.

"It's like what a Solomon decision might do," said attorney Joe Duncan, who represents John Roberts. "The parties just felt so strongly about this issue that it was very difficult for them to give in, and that's what judges are for."

Dorothy Pounders, attorney for the wife, recalled a similar Memphis case about five years ago involving two golden retrievers. That resulted in another split possession.

She also said there was a Jackson case about the children's pet pig, but that was resolved through mediation.

"They didn't have to litigate the pig," Pounders said.
___

Information from: The Commercial Appeal
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#1212 Postby TexasStooge » Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:37 am

Alleged Castrator Had Medical Experience

WAYNESVILLE, N.C. (AP) - The man at the center of an investigation into castrations at a sadomasochistic "dungeon" spent 23 years working at a Veterans Administration medical center in Kansas, according to federal officials.

Richard Sciara, 61, worked as a physician's assistant at the Colmery-O'Neil VA Medical Center in Topeka, Kan., from February 1976 to June 1999. He did not have a medical license, officials told the Asheville Citizen-Times, because one was not required at the time he started working for the VA.

Investigators believe Sciara and two other men castrated at least six men at a home in rural southern Haywood County. The men are charged with castration without malice, conspiracy and with practicing medicine without a license.

Investigators have said they believe Sciara and the other two men — Michael Mendez, 60, and Danny Carroll Reeves, 49 — were lovers involved in master-slave relationships; at the time of their arrest last week, Sciara was advertising on the Web for more men to add to his "stable of slaves."

District Attorney Michael Bonfoey said Tuesday the state plans to present details of statements the three men made to investigators at a probable cause hearing scheduled for April 12.

The three men are represented by court-appointed lawyers.
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Information from: The Asheville Citizen-Times
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#1213 Postby TexasStooge » Thu Apr 06, 2006 11:45 am

Pupils ticketed for talking in class

By MACIE JEPSON / WFAA ABC 8

GRAPEVINE, Texas — A Winfree Academy Charter School student is headed to court for breaking the law—a law your child very well could have broken today.

Jonathan Nash talked in class.

His level of disruption is being debated, but one thing is certain: Texas law has little wiggle room when you find someone willing to throw that part of the book at you.

Nash, 17, was suspended from school earlier this year for having a visible cell phone in his pocket.

Now he's in trouble again.

"I think someone asked me for something or something like that. It isn't like I was having a conversation. It's quick, two or three things said and I went back to work," he said.

Then it was off to the principal's office for talking in class.

The offense is documented on the ticket later issued by a Grapevine police officer.

"How do they write tickets to children who are talking class?" asked Mark Doherty, Nash's legal guardian.

According to state law, the offense is a Class C misdemeanor defined as efforts to "disrupt the conduct of classes" by "emitting noise of an intensity that prevents or hinders classroom instruction."

That's what fellow student Tanya Gaught admittedly did. She said she started the whole thing.

"It was pretty loud, there were echoes," she said.

Gaught's actions stirred up the class. She and five other students—including Nash—were removed. Eventually, a security officer called police.

"In that particular situation, he determined that it would best. It wasn't a situation that was extraordinarily violent," said Melody Chalkley, superintendent of Winfree Academy.

The school's code of conduct says students can be ticketed for "level two" behavior—being disrespectful or directing profanity, offensive or abusive language to others.

The other students paid fines, but Nash plans to fight his charge in court next week.
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#1214 Postby TexasStooge » Thu Apr 06, 2006 11:46 am

Did a public intoxication raid go too far?

By BYRON HARRIS / WFAA ABC 8

The Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission has been accused of being heavy handed during Dallas raids last month, however charges of over-reaching don't begin there.

An operation at Cedar Creek Lake last summer still has people fuming after they said TABC officers threw people in jail based simply on their opinion. Some also said the TABC broke their own rules in the process.

The incident occurred on a Friday night in the small town of Seven Points last July when TABC agents, fire marshals and local police cracked a mellow mood with a public intoxication raid at Rita's Club, Walker's Landing, the First and Last and Cedar Isle.

Over several hours, in a sweep of nearly every bar and private club in Gun Barrel City and Seven Points, TABC officers and local police arrested 25 people.

"It was something like you would see on 'Cops,'" said Nita Walker, club owner. "It was like they had committed several murders in the bar. It was like a TAC force busting through."

The sting, like most, had two parts. The TABC often sends an undercover officer into a bar fifteen minutes to an hour before enforcement officers arrive. The undercover officer observes the patrons for signs of intoxication like red eyes, slurred speech and declining motor skills. Whether a person is or is not intoxicated is based on the officer's judgment.

Although TABC officers receive some classroom training on how to recognize public intoxication at headquarters in Austin, the agency has no training film on the subject.

"In the 20 years that I've been in law enforcement, public intoxication has been subjective," said Sonja Pendergast. "It has been up to the officer."

Many felt the July raid was too aggressive and unjust.

"To come in and take somebody outright because they had two beers [or] three beers, I feel like that's an injustice," Eldon Campbell.

What happened at Cedar Creek is in dispute.

Some of those charged said the TABC officer who arrested them had no visible badge and did not identify himself, but he said he did.

Some of those arrested said they were not given a field sobriety test of motor skills, while officers said tests were administered.

Those arrested also said they were not given a breathalyzer, and officer said a breathalyzer was offered but refused.

But it turns out, blood alcohol level is irrelevant in public intoxication cases because public intoxication is based solely on the judgment of the officer.

While motor vehicle officers routinely videotape DWI arrests, TABC officers do not and many don't even have cameras.

Public intoxication is a Class C misdemeanor, which is a crime too small for most district attorneys to prosecute.

In 2004, TABC made 2,055 public intoxication arrests and charged 113 bartenders for over serving patrons.

The agency does not have complete statistics for 2005 because it said it lost the numbers.

Last year, the TABC got a budget increase. It hired 60 new officers and increased its enforcement of public intoxication.

TABC officers said most of the people they arrest are so intoxicated there is little doubt they're endangering themselves. The officers said they are saving lives.

Down in Cedar Creek, bar owners said customers are afraid to come in since last year and their business is down 25 percent.
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#1215 Postby TexasStooge » Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:39 pm

Beaver Goes to College to Get New Teeth

PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) - If a beaver needed dental work, where would it go? In this case, a beaver who lost her four front teeth in an encounter with a car has been checked into Washington State University's Veterinary Teaching Hospital to recuperate.

The 41-pound animal, nicknamed Bailey, lost her chewing teeth when struck by a car last week near Lewiston, Idaho, about 30 miles southeast of Pullman. A retired Idaho Fish and Game agent brought the injured beaver to the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine.

Nickol Finch, the veterinarian who heads the veterinary hospital's Exotics and Wildlife Department, said the beaver's prognosis is good, and treatment will be to let nature take its course as her choppers grow back.

"Her four front teeth are expected to grow back in about three months, and she should be able to be released into the wild without any problems," Finch said.

A beaver's front teeth grow continually throughout its life and require constant gnawing to keep them at a healthy length. Beavers in the wild usually eat the bark of poplar, willow, birch and maple trees, using the wood for their dams.

So what does a beaver without teeth eat?

"Since she doesn't have her incisors, we've been feeding her salad greens, applesauce and vegetable-based baby foods," Finch said by e-mail Wednesday. "She's not eating much on her own, doesn't recognize what we have as a food source, so we've been syringe-feeding her."

Once the bumps and bruises she suffered from the encounter with the car are healed in a few weeks, Bailey will be taken to a wildlife rehabilitation facility for long-term care and eventual release near where she was found, Finch said.

Meanwhile, Bailey is recuperating by spending time swimming in a hydrotherapy sink.
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#1216 Postby TexasStooge » Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:39 pm

Flint heads were Neolithic tooth drill of choice

LONDON, England (Reuters) - Long before the invention of electric drills and anesthesia early humans drilled teeth to treat decay, according to research published Wednesday.

But in the absence of modern metal tools the Neolithic drill of choice 9,000 years ago was a flint head, according to Roberto Macchiarelli, of the University of Poitiers in France.

While excavating in Pakistan, Macchiarelli and a team of international scientists found drilled molars from nine adults discovered in a grave that date from 7,500 to 9,000 years ago.

"These findings provide evidence for a long tradition of a type of proto-dentistry in an early farming culture," Macchiarelli said in a report in the journal Nature.

The four females, two males and three people whose gender was unknown had a total of 11 drilled teeth. One had three drilled teeth and another had a tooth that had been drilled twice.

"Four teeth show signs of decay associated with the hole, indicating that the intervention in some cases could have been therapeutic or palliative," he added.

Some type of filling may have been used but the researchers said there is no remaining evidence to confirm it. Drilling teeth seems to have continued for 1,500 years in the area before stopping, according to the scientists.

"Presumably, the know-how originally developed by skilled artisans for bead production was successfully transferred to drilling teeth in a form of proto-dentistry," said Macchiarelli.
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#1217 Postby TexasStooge » Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:40 pm

School Nightmare: Toilets Stop Working

ABILENE, Texas (AP) - An elementary school's worst nightmare came true earlier this week when the toilets stopped working. Faced with about 600 wriggling, squirming youngsters, Bonham Elementary officials on Wednesday morning bused them to nearby schools that offered the use of their restrooms.

For three hours, teachers took their classes in shifts to the other campuses while the city's utilities crew repaired a water main break that caused the problem, said Bonham's principal, Diane Rose.

Each grade was gone for about 30 minutes, and by the time each group was due for another restroom break the water was once again running — and toilets flushing — at Bonham, she said.

Surprisingly, the day was accident free, she said.

"In an emergency, we had restrooms and knew we could flush later," Rose said.

She praised the city crews for their quick work and lauded the teachers for handling the matter with as little disruption to students' learning as possible.

"It was just like a little field trip," she said.
_____

Information from: Abilene Reporter News
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#1218 Postby TexasStooge » Fri Apr 07, 2006 7:18 am

"Monster rabbit" targets vegetable patch

LONDON, England (Reuters) - It sounds like a job for Wallace and Gromit.

A "monster" rabbit has apparently been rampaging through vegetable patches in a small village in northern England, ripping up leeks, munching turnips and infuriating local gardeners.

In an uncanny resemblance to the plot of the hit animated film "Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit," angry horticulturists in Felton, near Newcastle, have now mounted an armed guard to protect their prized cabbages and parsnips.

"They call it the monster. It's very big -- it's nearly the size of a dog," said Joan Smith, whose son Jeff owns one of the plots under attack.

"It's eating everything, all the vegetables," she told Reuters. "They are trying to shoot it. They go along hoping to catch it but I think it's too crafty."

In the "Wallace" film, which topped both the U.S. and UK box office charts and in March won an Oscar for best animated feature film, the plasticine heroes battle a mutant rabbit bent on destroying their home town's annual Giant Vegetable Contest.

Those who say they have witnessed Felton's black and brown monster describe it as a cross between a rabbit and a hare with one ear bigger than the other.

Its antics came to public attention when Jeff Smith, 63, raised it as an issue with the local parish council.

"He came along to pay the annual fee for the allotment (vegetable patch) and he said 'ooh we've got this big cross between a hare and a rabbit,'" the council's clerk Lisa Hamlin told Reuters.

Smith himself has described it as a "brute" which had left huge pawprints.

"This is no ordinary rabbit. We are dealing with a monster," he was quoted by newspapers as saying.

"It is absolutely massive. The first time I saw it I thought to myself 'What the hell is that?'

"We have two lads here with guns who are trying to shoot it, but it is very clever."
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#1219 Postby TexasStooge » Fri Apr 07, 2006 7:21 am

Viruses "trained" to build tiny batteries

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers trying to make tiny machines have turned to the power of nature, engineering a virus to attract metals and then using it to build minute wires for microscopic batteries.

The resulting nanowires can be used in minuscule lithium ion battery electrodes, which in turn would be used to power very small machines, the researchers report in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

The international team of researchers, led by a group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, used the M13 virus, a simple and easily manipulated virus.

"We use viruses to synthesise and assemble nanowires of cobalt oxide at room temperature," the researchers wrote.

They modified the M13 virus' genes so its outside layer, or coat, would bind with certain metal ions. They incubated the virus in a cobalt chloride solution so that cobalt oxide crystals mineralised uniformly along its length.

They added a bit of gold for the desired electrical effects.

Viruses cannot reproduce on their own but must be grown in cells -- in this case, bacteria. They inject their genetic material and then the cells pump out copies of the virus.

The viruses formed orderly layers, the researchers reported.

The resulting nanowires worked as positive electrodes for battery electrodes, the researchers said.

They hope to build batteries that range from the size of a grain of rice up to the size of existing hearing-aid batteries.

Each virus, and thus each wire, is only 6 manometers -- 6 billionths of a metre -- in diameter, and 880 manometers long, the researchers said.

"We have previously used viruses to assemble semiconductor and magnetic nanowires," the researchers wrote.
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#1220 Postby TexasStooge » Fri Apr 07, 2006 8:48 am

Tame Playboy sparks excitement in Muslim Indonesia

By Jerry Norton

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Playboy magazine may no longer rate on the sexual cutting edge in some places, but the first edition in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, caused a stir Friday.

Although the pictures inside showed less skin than U.S. issues 50 years ago, copies were being passed from desk to desk in Jakarta offices, high demand was reported, and newspapers and broadcasters dwelt at length on the Indonesian issue.

A leader of one militant Islamic group threatened to use force, if necessary, to get the magazine withdrawn.

Like the iconic original, the Indonesian Playboy included a serious interview, in-depth articles and color pictures of women, including a fold-out. But no nipples were exposed in the photos, let alone anything approaching full nudity.

"I didn't see any surprising thing in this magazine. It depends on how people interpret it. For me, no problem," Alex, a white-collar worker who did not want to give his full name, told Reuters Television.

A 40-year-old housewife, Maya, disapproved. "Surely it is against the new anti-pornography law," she said.

Condemnation also came from Chamammah Soeratno, head of the women's wing of major Muslim moderate group Muhammadiyah.

"Everyone knows it's a pornographic magazine. The first edition may not have any nudity. That's a very clever move by the publishers," she told Reuters.

Indonesia's parliament is debating a law to significantly tighten control of media as well as public behavior in an effort to reduce what its proponents see as pornography.

THREAT TO EDITORS

Indonesia has many magazines on news stands that go further than the new Playboy in the sexual content of their articles and at least as far in their pictures.

In fact, magazine and newspaper agent Azis, 41, told Reuters Playboy was not different enough from an existing upscale Indonesian men's magazine, Matra.

But even months ago the Playboy image and its Western origin had sparked protests at the mere news of plans for the Indonesian edition, despite promises of a tame version.

Around 85 percent of Indonesia's 220 million people follow Islam. Although most are moderates, there is a growing tendency toward showing Islamic identity and conservative attitudes.

The government is officially secular and tolerant of other religions, and pressure to make laws more in line with orthodox beliefs has been a regular source of controversy in recent years.

Some militant groups have taken things into their own hands on occasion by, for example, attacking unlicensed churches and bars selling alcohol during the Muslim fasting period.

"I am afraid to sell the first edition because it has been reported that the Islamic organizations would be on alert," said newsstand owner Ronni, 30, who operates near the headquarters of a hardline Muslim group, the Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI).

Tubagus Sidiq, a senior leader of FPI, told Reuters: "FPI opposes (Playboy) in whatever form."

"According to our commitment, if they don't withdraw it then we will act in our own way, the forceful way. Our crew will clearly hound the editors ... We even oppose the name Playboy."

The government took a different view.

"The laws that we can use in this case (are) whether there is a publication that violates decency. So, we need to check the content first. Just using the name is insufficient to ban it," Information Minister Sofyan Djalil told reporters.

Bambang Kuncoko, a national police spokesman, said at a news conference that "the public should follow the law and must not take arbitrary actions. If that happens, the police will absolutely take legal actions."

Late Friday afternoon about 20 FPI protesters, outnumbered by journalists covering them, showed up at the Playboy publishers offices, and local news radio said a representative team met with the magazine's editors.

Despite regular campaigns against pornography, many sidewalk vendors in Indonesia stock sexually explicit movies and the country has a flourishing sex industry.

Founded in 1953, Playboy has about 20 editions around the world that cater to local tastes.
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