Dog-gone it! Canine gets head stuck in wall

California animal rescue officers were called in after an eight-month old German Shepherd dog mysteriously got his head stuck in a wall this week.

Stricken pooch Rebel was found whimpering with his head sticking out one side of the 18-inch thick wall in Desert Hot Springs, east of Los Angeles, while his body remained firmly on the other.

'My initial reaction was, 'Wow, how?d he get in there?' said Riverside County Animal Services Sergeant James Huffman. "And why is there a hole that big in the wall?"

"It was a very odd situation .. It was uncertain if he was chasing another animal, or just curious," he added.

After checking that Rebel could breathe comfortably, Huffman and fellow officer Hector Palafox took up position on either side of the block wall.

"One officer worked the dog?s head from one side of the wall, while the other officer worked the dog?s body on the other side," said a statement by the Department of Animal Services in Riverside County.

Palafox "pushed the dog?s ears back to ensure the dog would not suffer during the rescue attempt," it added, saying that it took 30 minutes and some "minor nudging" to free the trapped canine.

Huffman said Rebel helped a lot. "He let us know if we were pushing too hard - but he kept working right along with us ... You could see his hind legs stiffen to assist in the direction we were going.

"He knew we were there to save him."

After the dazed dog's release, the officers suggested he be kept away from the wall behind a gate, while also advising the owner to put some chicken wire over the unfortunately-sized hole.

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Gran, 103, is 'world's oldest Facebook user'

A 103-year-old grandmother is believed to be the world's oldest Facebook user.

Lillian Lowe, from Tenby in Pembrokeshire, regularly keeps her online friends updated about her life using her iPad.

And being signed up to the social network also enables her to keep track of what her seven grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren are up to.

Mrs Lowe, who is just two months away from her 104th birthday, took the oldest Facebook user title following the death of 104-year-old Ivy Bean in July.

Despite some of the Facebook goings on that would shock many her age, Lillian says she isn't fazed by any of her grandchildren's "antics".

She said: "I have seen a few things over the years, so nothing really shocks me these days anyway."

Mrs Lowe, who logs on several times a week, uses her 47-year-old grandson Steve's iPad but is very keen to get her own.

The retired hotelier and businesswoman says it's "just lovely" to be able to see all the latest photographs and messages from her large family.

She said: "I can recommend it for any grandparents to keep in touch with their family without ringing all the time."

While saying her online habit is "exciting" the cyber centenarian also admitted that it can be a "dreadful waste of time".

She said: "I'm sure there are lots of other things I should be doing rather than playing on a computer."

Source

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Student Finds Time-travelling Coin with Next Year's Date On It

Student Sarah Legg is hoping to make a mint by cashing in on a very unusual 50p coin she has found - with next year's date on it.

17-year-old Sarah of Fareham, Hants, was shocked when she saw the coin marked with the 2011 date stamped on it - which she got in change as she was buying lunch.

Sarah, who is training to be a forensic scientist, was buying lunch at at Fareham College when she spotted the temporal anomaly.

She said: 'I was just getting some food at college and thought the coin looked very shiny, so I took a closer look. I thought I had gone into the future with the markings it had. Where the date it is made was, it said 2011.

'I was a bit shocked to be honest and showed all my friends. It looks like the Royal Mint have made a blunder.'

Sarah hopes to cash in on the find so she can help pay off her University fees.

Coin experts are perplexed by the find, one of 29 designs made by the public for the Royal Mint ahead of the London Olympic Games in 2012.

Coin specialist Rob Davies, of Portsmouth, Hants, said: 'It is very unusual and special and the young girl should keep it. I could not put a price on how much they cost but it is very special.

Royal Mint spokesman Nick Scargill said: 'It is unusual but they are perfectly legal tender. It is very special.

Source

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Emirates Palace Erects $11m Christmas Tree

It holds a total of 181 diamonds, pearls, emeralds, sapphires and other precious stones.

Christmas came in extravagant fashion to the emirate of Abu Dhabi as a glitzy hotel unveiled a bejewelled Christmas tree valued at more than $11 million.

It is the "most expensive Christmas tree ever," with a "value of over $11 million," said Hans Olbertz, general manager of Emirates Palace hotel, at its inauguration.

The 13-metre (40-foot) faux evergreen, located in the gold leaf-bedecked rotunda of the hotel, is decorated with silver and gold bows, ball-shaped ornaments and small white lights.

But the necklaces, earrings and other jewellery draped around the tree's branches are what give it a record value.

It holds a total of 181 diamonds, pearls, emeralds, sapphires and other precious stones, said Khalifa Khouri, owner of Style Gallery, which provided the jewellery.

"The tree itself is about 10,000 dollars," Olbertz said. "The jewellery has a value of over 11 million dollars - I think 11.4, 11.5."

This will probably be an entry into the Guinness book of world records, Olbertz said, adding that Emirates Palace planned to contact the organisation about the tree which is to stay until the end of the year.

The hotel has had a Christmas tree up in previous years, but this year "we said we have to do something different," and the hotel's marketing team hatched the plan, said Olbertz.

The tree is not the first extravagant offering from Emirates Palace - a massive, dome-topped hotel sitting amid fountains and carefully manicured lawns.

The hotel, which bills itself as seven-star, in February introduced a package for a seven-day stay priced at one million dollars.

Takers of the package have a private butler and a chauffeur driven Maybach luxury car at their disposal during their stay, as well as a private jet available for trips to other countries in the region.

And in May, the hotel opened a gold vending machine, becoming the first place outside Germany to install "gold to go, the world's first gold vending machine," said Ex Oriente Lux AG, the German company behind the machine.

source

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Michael Jackson’s Clothes Sell For Millions At Auction

A glove and hat worn by Michael Jackson sold for over $400,000 at auction on Saturday, December 4.

The items, a fedora which sold for $72,000 and a glove which reached $330,000, were part of the star’s wardrobe for his ‘Bad’ tour in 1980s and were sold through Julien’s Auctions as part of their ‘Icons and Idols’ sale.

A jacket signed by the ‘Thriller’ hitmaker, who died from acute Propofol intoxication aged 50 in June 2009, was bought for $96,000.

While the Michael Jackson collection, featuring over 100 items from the star’s life and career including a custom-made costume for his friend and companion Bubbles the chimp – took centre stage at the auction in Beverly Hills, a number of other items generated huge interest at the sale.

Late Beatles legend John Lennon’s gold-braided military jacket – made famous in an iconic 1966 Life magazine photo shoot – reached $240,000, exceeding its estimated word of $150,000 and $200,000.

An X-ray of Albert Einstein’s brain went for $38,750, while a pair of Marilyn Monroe’s empty prescription bottles, sold for $18,750.

Source

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Ancient Egyptian Lake Discovered from Space

American researchers have said they discovered the remnants of a massive lake in Egypt as large as one of the Great Lakes. The discovery of the over 100,000 years old lake was confirmed from space shuttle imagery.

ScienceNews.org reported that the images revealed a lake wider than Lake Erie that once existed a few miles west of the current Nile River.

From the time it first appeared about 250,000 years ago, the lake in Egypt’s Tushka region would have grown and shrunk periodically until finally drying up about 80,000 years ago, researchers say.

Knowing where such ancient bodies of water were located helps archaeologists understand the kind of environment encountered by Homo Sapiens migrating out of Africa, study leader Ted Maxwell, a geologist at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, said in statements to reporters.

“You realize that hey, this place was full of really large lakes when people were wandering into the rest of the world,” he says.

Desert winds have eroded and sands have buried much of the region’s landscape, says Maxine Kleindienst, an anthropologist at the University of Toronto, but planned field studies will search for ancient shorelines suggested by the radar images.

Today Egyptians rely almost exclusively on the Nile and its annual floods for their water.

The ancient lakes, Maxwell says, suggest that such flooding was already a fixture a quarter million years ago.

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Family shares home with 80 exotic animals

Alan and Heather Hewitt live with an amazing menagerie of 80 exotic creatures, reports The Sun.

The family runs a sanctuary and a rescue home and there are about 20 snakes, 15 reptiles, 25 mammals - plus assorted birds and invertebrates living in the house.

The couple boasts a 'collection' comprising 35 different species.
They include two monitor lizards, six bearded dragons, four boa constrictors, two pythons, two giant tortoises, a cane toad, four tarantula spiders, various rodents, an African grey parrot, two meerkats, two racoons and a Skunk, according to the daily.

Source

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MySpace seeks mojo with a new design and new features

MySpace hаѕ hаԁ trουbƖе staying relevant аѕ Facebook’s user base continues tο grow. Bυt wіth іtѕ latest update, thе News Corp.-owned social network іѕ trying tο see іf іt саn regain аt Ɩеаѕt ѕοmе οf іtѕ past glory wіth social entertainment targeted toward Generation Y.

MySpace’s nеw site design іѕ intended tο hеƖр Gen Y users find a “broad array οf programming, including originals, exclusives, аnԁ content frοm around thе Web.” Thе company іѕ аƖѕο encouraging users tο share thеіr interests οn thеіr profiles, аѕ well аѕ “connect” tο others whο share those interests.

MySpace Mojo

Once users log іn tο thеіr accounts, thе nеw MySpace welcome page wіƖƖ ԁіѕрƖау entertainment content thеу mіɡht Ɩіkе based οn thе site’s understanding οf thеіr interests. Thе goal, MySpace ѕаіԁ, іѕ tο “сrеаtе a unique, contextually relevant discovery experience.”

Tο achieve thаt goal, thе company hаѕ released several “products” tο ɡеt people tο thе content thеу really care аbουt.

One οf those products, called Topics, connects MySpace users tο over 20,000 “entertainment-focused, dynamic pages.” Those pages feature content οn entertainment topics frοm a number sites, including MTV, Thе Village Voice, аnԁ Thе Nеw York Times. In addition, MySpace hаѕ сrеаtеԁ “Content Hubs” thаt zero іn οn movies, television shows, οr celebrities. Each hub wіƖƖ feature articles аnԁ related content tο thе hub’s focus. Thе company plans tο offer games, comedy, sports, аnԁ fashion hubs “іn thе coming months.”

Tο keep users connected whіƖе οn thе ɡο, MySpace аƖѕο plans tο launch a mobile version οf thе site іn thе near future. A MySpace app fοr thе iPhone аnԁ Android handsets wіƖƖ bе released “later thіѕ year.”

MySpace nеw features

In аn attempt tο tailor thе MySpace experience tο thе user, thе site wіƖƖ now feature a personalized stream thаt displays content frοm асrοѕѕ thе site thаt thе user іѕ mοѕt ƖіkеƖу tο care аbουt based οn thеіr habits whіƖе using MySpace. In addition, MySpace іѕ adding a Recommendations feature, whісh lists ѕοmе topics users mіɡht want tο consider delving іntο οr fans thеу mіɡht want tο connect wіth. MySpace ѕаіԁ thаt іtѕ recommendations engine іѕ powered bу “algorithms thаt learn thе type οf content a user views, listens tο, οr watches, аnԁ frοm whοm οr whеrе thеу discovered іt.”

Finally, MySpace hаѕ added a trending topics feature tο hеƖр users find out whаt music аnԁ videos wеrе recently added tο thе site. A “Mу Stuff” tab іn thе user’s profile wіƖƖ ԁіѕрƖау аƖƖ thе content thе respective person personally uploaded tο thе site.

In addition tο a complete site overhaul, MySpace hаѕ changed іtѕ logo. Thе logo now includes a bracket thаt, according tο MySpace, “represents a space whеrе people саn express themselves, enabling users tο personalize thе logo аnԁ mаkе іt thеіr οwn–јυѕt аѕ thеу саn throughout MySpace.”

Thе nеw MySpace, whісh іѕ currently іn beta, іѕ rolled out from October 27th. It wіƖƖ bе available tο еνеrу user bу thе еnԁ οf November.

Source

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Google To Test 1Gbps Internet At Stanford's Campus

Earlier in the year, Google made clear that they wanted to get in the business of providing Internet service, not just service search on the Internet. A ton of cities made their case to Google in order to be selected for one of the first rollouts, but Google has still yet to make their decision on that. In fact, an update today provided by the company states that they're hoping to have that community or communities selected by the end of the year.

But you won't have to wait that long to start hearing reports about how great (or not so great) Google's fiber-based ISP is. That's because the company has landed a deal with Stanford University that will make it available to the university’s Residential Subdivision, a group of approximately 850 faculty- and staff-owned homes on campus. Through the trial, Google plans to offer Internet at speeds of up to 1Gbps, with plans to start breaking ground early next year.

Google's goal is to build to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people, but this trial will help them ensure that they're actually ready to take it outside of beta. Stanford's campus is close to Google's campus, and that was a big part of the choice. Google will be able to receive feedback from just across town and tweak things quickly in order to make improvements.

Source 

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The Most Disgusting iPhone Charger Ever

Want to lay eyes on the most disgusting iPhone charger you’ve ever seen in your life? Don’t take my word for it, hit play on the video above and behold the Umbilical Cord iPhone Charger. Note how the cord pulsates and moves as the charger delivers nutrients, er, I mean power to your iPhone.

Credit for this piece of double-take gadgetry goes to Japanese artist Mio I-zawa. Quite honestly, I’m not sure whether to ask him ‘WHY!?’, or just leave this as is, and tell myself I’ll never look at that video again.

Unfortunately I can’t tell you if this is available for purchase or not, as I was turned-off just enough to not want to know much more about the darn thing. However, if you’re curious as a cat, you can check out Mio’s website for some more, shall we say, ‘interesting’ works.




Source

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Hackers Break Microsoft's Kinect Security

A few days after Microsoft launched its Kinect motion-sensing game system, hackers seem to have broken the security behind Kinect.

On the day Kinect went on sale, Adafruit Industries, an open source hardware developer, announced a $1,000 bounty for the first person or group to develop an open source driver for Microsoft's Kinect. One of Adaruit's leaders, Make magazine Senior Editor Phillip Torrone, told CNET, "Adafruit is hoping someone will figure out how to use Kinect in education, robotics, or 'fun outside the Xbox.' We think First Robotics could use this. We think educators could use this. Look at all the cool stuff people did with the Wii remote." Adafruit is also led by MIT Media lab alumni Limor Fried, but it was Torrone who told CNET, "It's amazing hardware that shouldn't just be locked up for Xbox 360. Its 'radar camera' being able to get video and distance as a sensor input from commodity hardware is huge."

Kinect allows gamers to play motion-sensing games without any game controller. It has a $149 price tag as an add-on for the Xbox 360 video game. It is rumored that Microsoft plans to use Kinect-like technology, such as motion sensing capabilities, in a future Windows release. Microsoft was not even slightly pleased about the bounty offer.

The Big M emailed CNET this response. "Microsoft does not condone the modification of its products. With Kinect, Microsoft built in numerous hardware and software safeguards designed to reduce the chances of product tampering. Microsoft will continue to make advances in these types of safeguards and work closely with law enforcement and product safety groups to keep Kinect tamper-resistant."

That answer from Microsoft prompted Adafruit to jump the bounty to $2,000 for an open source driver for Kinect. All of this happened on November 4th, but today, November 7th, Gizmodo reports that Microsoft Kinect has allegedly already been hacked.

AlexP at NUI Group forums posted, "First test of controlling the Kinect from a PC. Outlook looks good for other sensors of the device." Here is the video of "The Kinect Robot aka Johnny 5 is alive!"



The video seems to show that the hacker has taken control of the security behind Kinect, moving it up and down via PC control. This may be the first step toward building a complete driver for Kinect. The poster seemed optimistic about getting the other sensors, such as body recognition said, to work.

Besides Kinect's security seeming to have been compromised, Kinect users are sharing some their silly experiences. One day after Kinect went on sale, writer Phil Villarreal posted, "A public service announcement: Do not under any circumstances play Kinect Sports Volleyball at 1:30 a.m. while standing under a ceiling fan with a dangling chain for a light switch. You could conceivably spike it into your year-old amazing TV, causing it to die with a rainbow LCD teardrop dripping down from the impact wound."

From a privacy standpoint, one gamer discovered the drawbacks to oversharing via naked gaming and Kinect's ability to take pictures during the game. GamePron reported on a gamer who had rude awakening while playing Kinect-enabled Dance Central.

Source

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Live Crab Vending Machine in China

Yes, it's true: an entrepreneur in Nanjing, China, has stocked a vending machine with Shanghai Hairy Crabs. The delicacy (if anything with "hairy" in its name could be a delicacy) is kept at 5° Celsius, where it hibernates until it is sold for ¥120-600 (between $1.40 and $7.30), which is apparently a thirty percent markdown from retail. Even the Japanese media seem to find this one peculiar -- and this is a country that sells liquor, pornography, and Maine lobsters in its vending machines. See it for yourself in the video after the break.

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Village asks to be wiped from Google's map

A day after a small town became the first in Germany to welcome Google's controversial Street View service with open arms and cake, a tiny northern village responded Wednesday with a resounding Nein.

The hamlet of Parum, population 70, has come together to sign a petition addressed to Federal Data Protection Officer Peter Schaar to get the village wiped off the Street View map, due to be rolled out by the end of the year.

If this does not work, all 25 households intend to apply individually to Google to have their houses pixellated, a special concession the US Internet giant made in Germany, sensitive to privacy issues for historical reasons.

"Parum is a no-Google village," retired teacher Wilhelm Meier, who lives in the tiny farming community, told news agency AFP.

Street View, which allows users to "walk" through towns and cities using photos taken by specially equipped vehicles, is already online in around 20 countries but ran into fevered opposition in Germany.

As a special concession to these concerns, Google allowed people to "opt out" of the service, promising to pixellate their house. The firm announced on October 21 that nearly a quarter of a million Germans had done this.

Although Germans are avid users of Street View images from other countries, the planned roll-out here caused alarm in a country especially sensitive to privacy concerns due to the gross abuses under the Nazi and communist regimes.

On Tuesday, Google launched its disputed Street View service in the small town of Oberstaufen in Bavaria, southern Germany.

Delighted their tourist-dependent town was the first in Germany to be visible on the navigation service, the townsfolk even baked a brightly coloured cake proclaiming "Welcome Google."

Google plans to roll out the service for Germany's 20 largest cities later this year, including Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich and Hamburg.

thelocal.de

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Harry Potter blamed for India's disappearing owls

Harry Potter has been blamed for the dwindling number of wild owls in India, according to the country’s Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh.

Mr Ramesh said the craze for Harry Potter in India had led to an increase in people buying owls from illegal bird traders.

"Following Harry Potter, there seems to be a strange fascination even among the urban middle classes for presenting their children with owls," Mr Ramesh told the BBC.

A report by conservation group Traffic suggested tough measures should be put in place to protect owls from an upcoming Hindu festival – Diwali - because thousands of owls are sacrificed on Hindu "auspicious occasions".

The author of the report, Abrar Ahmed, decided to investigate the owl trade after being asked to get a white owl for a boy's Harry Potter-themed 10th birthday.

"This was probably one of the strangest demands made to me as an ornithologist," he wrote.

Mr Ahmed found that endangered owls are being caught, traded or sacrificed in black magic rituals, while others are killed for medicine.

"The sacrifice of owls on auspicious occasions appears to be a regular practice and [there could be] a possible increase in trade and sacrifices around Diwali," the Imperilled Custodians of the Night report says.

Harry Potter publishers Bloomsbury declined to comment on the BBC report.

telegraph.co.uk

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Biggest GoldFish In The World Found

Yes its looks like a giant goldfish, but in fact it is a 30 pound koi carp. The fish was caught in a lake in France by angler Raphael Biagini, surprisingly it only took him 10 minutes to get the fish out of the water. The fish weighs the equivalent of your average 3 year old child, the fish is the biggest of its type ever caught in the wild.

At the moment a picture of the fish is being viewed across the world on You Tube. The fish was caught a few months ago.

Many people believe the picture to be a hoax, they have been quick to point out that the angler is holding the fish in the same manner you would hold a 10 pound fish not a 30 pound fish. They also said that the fish looks to big just to weigh only 30 pounds. They all believe that the photo was enhanced using computer software. The experts have said that the color and size would not be exceeding normal limits for the breed of fish.

Maybe it is just another fishy story, whether the fish is a hoax or not whatever the outcome it has brought a few smiles to the world, and especially to the world of angling.

After the picture was taken Biagini, returned the World’s Biggest Goldfish to the Lake.

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Husband Finds Photos of Wife Having Sex With the Family Dog

We can all agree that Cornelia Gragg possesses the looks and the raw sexuality that could burn a hole in the atmosphere. Though she's married, surely she could find legions of frisky suitors around her home in Greenwood, Arkansas. But she's too much woman for mere man...

Which is why she expanded her carnality to other species, namely her dog. And just to have some keepsakes of her venture into canine love, she decided to take pictures that she could keep on her computer.

Though they may have provided Cornelia with fond memories, her husband wasn't too pleased when he discovered them on their home computer. They indicated she'd been having sex with the family dog over a four-month period, from April to July, when hubby made his alarming discovery.

There's no word if he confronted his wife over her preference for four-legged lovers. But there is word that he took the pictures to police, seeing as how he now found himself married to a degenerate.

But by the time police came looking, Cornelia had taken it on the lam. She's now wanted for misdemeanor bestiality and defiling Arkansas state statutes by not sexing up her cousin instead.

truecrimereport.com

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Man likely shot himself while sleepwalking

Police said a Boulder man who told police he woke up to a "bang" and realized he suffered a gunshot wound to his knee likely shot himself while sleepwalking. The Daily Camera reported that 63-year-old Sanford Rothman told investigators he had no clear recollection of the incident. No one else was in Rothman's home at the time.

Boulder police Sgt. Paul Reichenback said that Rothman keeps a 9 mm handgun near his bed and takes presciption medication for pain. Police said no alcohol or illegal drugs played a role in the incident.

Rothman was treated at a hospital and released.

emirates247.com

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FIFA World Cup 2010 Predictor - Paul the Octopus Died

Paul the Octopus, the cephalopod who became a global sensation after successfully predicting matches at the World Cup, has died peacefully in his sleep aged two.

Stefan Porwoll, general manager of the Oberhausen Sea Life centre in Germany - where Paul made his predictions - confirmed the news.

"He died last night, a peaceful and natural death," Porwoll said.

Paul, who was born in January 2008 in Weymouth, correctly predicted the winner of all seven of Germany's matches at this summer's World Cup in South Africa. He then correctly chose Spain over the Netherlands before the final.

Paul made his predictions by choosing between two feed boxes which bore the flags of the two nations involved in the next match.

Time and again his predictions came true, transforming him into a global sensation who attracted big-money transfer offers after the tournament.

Yet the Oberhausen Sea Life centre insisted on keeping their star attraction - and are now devastated at the news of his passing.

"We all loved him and we will all truly miss him," added Porwoll

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Mayan prophecy pegged to wrong year?

It's a good news/bad news situation for believers in the 2012 Mayan apocalypse. The good news is that the Mayan "Long Count" calendar may not end on Dec. 21, 2012 (and, by extension, the world may not end along with it). The bad news for prophecy believers? If the calendar doesn't end in December 2012, no one knows when it actually will - or if it has already.

A new critique, published as a chapter in the new textbook "Calendars and Years II: Astronomy and Time in the Ancient and Medieval World" (Oxbow Books, 2010), argues that the accepted conversions of dates from Mayan to the modern calendar may be off by as much as 50 or 100 years. That would throw the supposed and overhyped 2012 apocalypse off by decades and cast into doubt the dates of historical Mayan events. (The doomsday worries are based on the fact that the Mayan calendar ends in 2012, much as our year ends on Dec. 31.)

The Mayan calendar was converted to today's Gregorian calendar using a calculation called the GMT constant, named for the last initials of three early Mayanist researchers. Much of the work emphasized dates recovered from colonial documents that were written in the Mayan language in the Latin alphabet, according to the chapter's author, Gerardo Aldana, University of California, Santa Barbara professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies.

Later, the GMT constant was bolstered by American linguist and anthropologist Floyd Lounsbury, who used data in the Dresden Codex Venus Table, a Mayan calendar and almanac that charts dates relative to the movements of Venus.

"He took the position that his work removed the last obstacle to fully accepting the GMT constant," Aldana said in a statement. "Others took his work even further, suggesting that he had proven the GMT constant to be correct."

But according to Aldana, Lounsbury's evidence is far from irrefutable.

"If the Venus Table cannot be used to prove the FMT as Lounsbury suggests, its acceptance depends on the reliability of the corroborating data," he said. That historical data, he said, is less reliable than the Table itself, causing the argument for the GMT constant to fall "like a stack of cards."

Aldana doesn't have any answers as to what the correct calendar conversion might be, preferring to focus on why the current interpretation may be wrong. Looks like end-of-the-world theorists may need to find another ancient calendar on which to pin their apocalyptic hopes.

yahoo.com

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Bored lottery winner drank himself to death

A father-of-two who won £9 million on the lottery was so 'bored' after he gave up his job as a baker he drank himself to death.

Keith Gough, 58, of Bridgnorth, Shropshire, was thought to be penniless when he died in March after suffering a heart attack brought on by drinking and stress, the Daily Mail reported. 

“read more” But he had actually left nearly £800,000 in his will, it emerged last week.

Gough and his wife Louise won £9m in 2005 and splashed out on a top-of-the-range BMW, racehorses and an executive box at Aston Villa Football Club.

But the couple, who were married for 27 years, separated two years later after Gough quit his job and began drinking heavily out of 'boredom'.

He moved to Cheshire where he rented a £1m home and hired a chauffeur and a gardener on annual salaries of £25,000 and £15,000 respectively.

But he blew a fortune on gambling and was duped out of more than £700,000 by conman James Prince, who persuaded him to invest in bogus business schemes.

He met the fraudster while he was being treated for alcohol dependency in the Priory rehabilitation clinic in Birmingham.

Prince, 37, was jailed for three years and four months at Chester Crown Court in June last year after he admitted fraud and money laundering.

Probate records released last week reveal that Mr Gough, a father-of-two, left an estate of £1,286,820, reduced after liabilities to £783,802.

Mr Gough claimed in an interview last year that his life had been 'ruined' by his lottery win.

He said: 'Without routine in my life I started to spend, spend, spend. In the end I was just bored.

'Before the win all I would drink was some wine with a meal. I used to be popular but I've driven away all my friends. I don't trust anyone any more.

'When I see someone going in to a newsagent, I advise them not to buy a lottery ticket.'

emirates247.com

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Adriana Lima reveals her $2m diamond bra

Supermodel Adriana Lima brought part of New York to a standstill yesterday, by arriving at a lingerie store wearing a $2m bra.

Lima was modelling the Victoria's Secret 'Bombshell fantasy' bra -- also dubbed the bling-bra -- at their store in Soho.

The bra is encrusted with more than 3,000 cut white diamonds, light blue sapphires and oval-shaped topazes, all hand-set in 18 karat white gold.

Designed by Damiani it has a total carat weight of 142ct and the pattern is meant to be based on swirling stars and constellations.

Apparently 29-year-old Lima was also wearing a blue satin gown at the promotional event… we can't sae we noticed.

The bra took more than a thousand hours to create and will also appear on the runway at the 2010 Victoria Secret annual fashion show.

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"Dr. Death" sells human body parts online

The move has provoked strong condemnation from German churches which accuse him of degrading human dignity.

A whole body from www.plastination-products.com costs about 70,000 euros ($97,400), torsos start at 55,644 euros and heads come in at around 22,000 euros each — excluding postage and packaging.

For those on a tighter budget, transparent body slices are available from 115 euros each.

But these real body parts — which have undergone plastination, a process which replaces water and fat with plastic for preservation purposes — are not available to everyone.
Only “qualified users” who can provide written proof that they intend to use the parts for research, teaching or medical purposes can place an order.

Interested parties who do not fall into this category can buy reproductions of the real body parts — so-called “Anatomy Glass,” which the shop’s website describes as “high resolution acrylic glass prints of the original body slices.”

Jewellery crafted from animal corpses, including necklaces made from horse slices, wristbands made from giraffe tails and earrings made from bull penises, is also available to the general public.

The online shop has outraged leading members of Germany’s religious community. In a joint statement, Protestant regional bishop Ulrich Fischer and Catholic archbishop Robert Zollitsch condemned the online body shop, which they said was “breaking a taboo.”

Zollitsch said “human dignity is sacrosanct — even after death — so the human body shouldn’t be degraded and made into an object of spectacle, or a stock of spare parts.”

They said that “Germany must not be allowed to become a hub of the corpse trade.”

Von Hagens, 65, is no stranger to controversy. A public autopsy he performed in front of a live audience in 2002 was televised and caused a public outrage, as did his 2004 tour through Germany with his Body Worlds exhibitions.

canoe.ca

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Austria's first 'bionic' man dies in car crash

 The car mechanic lost both his arms when he climbed a high-voltage electricity pylon as a dare.

An Austrian man who became the first person outside the US to wear thought-powered "bionic" arms has died from injuries sustained in a car crash, the hospital where he was treated said.

Doctors at the Medical University of Graz said they switched off the life support machines of Christian Kandlbauer on Friday night after determining he was clinically brain dead.

Kandlbauer, who would have turned 23 next month, sustained severe head injuries when the specially modified car he was driving served off the road in the south east of Austria and crashed into a tree on October 19.

The cause of the accident is not yet known, particularly whether the neurally-controlled arm-prostheses he had been fitted with might have played a role.

Kandlbauer, a car mechanic from the south-eastern province of Styria, lost both his arms in September 2005 when he climbed a high-voltage electricity pylon as a dare.

Doctors fitted him with a prototype bionic arm for research purposes two years later and he became the first person outside the US to wear such high-tech prosthesis for everyday use in January 2009.

Just 10 months later, Kandlbauer passed his driving test and was given a specially-adapted Subaru. He returned to work as a warehouse clerk with his former employer.

"One of my first goals was a driving licence," he wrote on his homepage.

A trip to Australia and getting his own flat were among his other dreams.

"I love driving. My licence has given me back my independence," he wrote, saying his motto was: "Don't live for others, live for yourself!"

Otto Bock HealthCare GmbH, the German medical technology company which developed and built his bionic arms, paid tribute to Kandlbauer on its website.

The company said in a statement it was deeply shaken and in mourning for a man who had become their friend over the years of their partnership.

Kandlbauer "accepted his fate in a manner that commanded great respect from all of us. The courage to face life and the firm belief in living as part of society were his constant companions," the statement said.

Kandlbauer was a "pioneer of a technology that will permit many people to resume their everyday lives”.

emirates247.com

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