The Lighter Side of the News

[Buster's Uncle]

The other day I saw a video of a bear family more or less 'chasing' tourists at some bridge in Yellowstone Park, with a guy in the background yelling "RUN" over and over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OrnHISGqi0&feature=player_embedded

[Unorthodox]

The tourists actually handled that totally wrong.  I'll be there in a few weeks, hopefully the bears are still out and about.


Now, frankly drunken hatchet men, I say let Darwin do his job.

[Geo]

The other day I saw a video of a bear family more or less 'chasing' tourists at some bridge in Yellowstone Park, with a guy in the background yelling "RUN" over and over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OrnHISGqi0&feature=player_embedded

Yeah, that's the one.
The advice in the accompanying article I read was to slowly back away, or keep unobtrusive.

[gwillybj]

Stolen car returned to South African owner after 22 years
Reuters
August 5, 2015 2:16 PM

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A South African man has been reunited with his car 22 years after it was stolen, thanks to a dogged police investigator.

Pretoria businessman Derick Goosen got a surprising call from warrant officer Kwakwa Ntokola two weeks ago about a gray 1988 Toyota Corolla, the Afrikaans newspaper Beeld reported.

Goosen had reported the car stolen back in 1993 but it turned up only last year when police seized a vehicle at a roadblock in the northern province of Limpopo after noticing that its engine number had been scratched off.

Ntokola, "a true policeman", then managed to reconstruct the number and eventually traced the owner to Pretoria, police Colonel Ronel Otto told Reuters.

"I'm going to wash it and drive around in it," Goosen told the Afrikaans. "Everything inside is still in perfect order. I can't believe it."

(Reporting by TJ Strydom; Editing by Mark Heinrich)


http://news.yahoo.com/stolen-car-returned-south-african-owner-22-years-181649808.html

[Unorthodox]

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/wasp-turns-spider-into-web-building-zombie-slave-before-killing-it/

By/ ​Elizabeth Palermo/ Livescience.com/ August 7, 2015, 10:18 AM/
Wasp turns spider into web-building zombie slave before killing it

 
A wasp larva kills its spider host once the host has completed its web-building tasks.
/Keizo Takasuka
/ Shares / 22
Tweets /Stumble /Email More + Like a mindless zombie controlled by a menacing overlord, the spider scampers back and forth, reinforcing its silky web. Not long from now, the subservient arachnid will be dead, its web transformed into a shelter for the spawn of the creature that once controlled it, according to a new study.

No, this isn't science fiction; it's the somewhat terrifying (but very real) tale of the orb-weaving spider Cyclosa argenteoalba and the parasitic wasp Reclinervellus nielseni, two species that carry out a strange relationship in Hyogo prefecture, Japan.

Together, the wasp and the spider provide a perfect example of host manipulation -- an ecological process in which one species (the parasite) and its young (the parasitoids) manipulate the behaviors of another species (the host) to their advantage. [Zombie Animals: 5 Real-Life Cases of Body-Snatching]

Just how a parasite turns its host into a zombielike slave varies from species to species, and sometimes, researchers aren't sure what the mechanism is that makes a host do its parasite's bidding. That's the case for the orb-weaving spider and parasitic wasp of Japan. Researchers in that country want to find out how R. nielseni controls C. argenteoalba. Does it use a neurotoxin, or perhaps some kind of hormone?

But to solve that mystery, scientists first need to answer another question: What, exactly, does the wasp make the spider do?

Walking dead

The manipulative relationship between the wasp and the spider begins when a female wasp attacks the orb weaver in its web. She deposits her egg onto the back of the spider's abdomen but doesn't kill it. Firmly attached to the spider, the egg develops into a larva, which eventually does kill its host, but not before the spider serves it as a slave throughout the early stages of development, said Keizo Takasuka, a postdoctoral fellow at Kobe University's Graduate School of Agricultural Science in Japan and lead author of a new study exploring the relationship between R. nielseni and the orb weaver. [Watch the Zombie Slave Spider Do the Wasp's Bidding (Video)]

Over the past several years, Takasuka has headed to the Shinto shrines of Hyogo prefecture to collect spiders enslaved by the parasitic larvae of R. nielseni.


Parasitic wasp larvae on spider host

/Keizo Takasuka

"I looked for already-parasitized spiders in shrines ... because the spiders prefer to construct webs particularly in artificial structures and stone materials," Takasuka told Live Science in an email. He's not sure why the spiders prefer the shrines, but he said these arachnids can also be found in other habitats.

In the lab, Takasuka and his colleagues observed the behaviors of the parasitized spiders -- mainly the precise way in which the arachnids built their webs -- and then compared this behavior with that of orb-weaving spiders that weren't controlled by parasitoids.

The zombie slave spiders tended to build a particular kind of web, one that was quite different from the webs created by parasitoid-free spiders, the researchers found. First, the parasite-ridden spiders took apart their old webs (some even abandoned them altogether), and then they started building new ones that resembled the web an orb weaver would build if it were about to molt, or shed its exoskeleton (something spiders do in order to grow).

Meet the soul-sucking dementor wasp
Rest in peace

Known as a "resting" web, the pre-molting web is distinct from the spiral-shaped web the spider usually weaves to catch prey. When molting, the spider is soft-bodied, vulnerable and unable to eat. So it stays huddled in the center of the resting web, which has no "capture" areas to snag prey but is instead outfitted with fibrous thread decorations (FTDs), which are strands of silk meant to make the web stand out. [Goliath Birdeater: Images of a Colossal Spider]

You might think that spiders would want to keep their webs inconspicuous, but a molting spider's web is under constant threat from flying birds and other, larger animals. If the web is visible to these animals, they will be less likely to crash into it, and the spider will be more likely to survive the molting process. With that in mind, the spider adorns its home with extra strands of ultraviolet (UV) light-reflecting silk, which passersby are not likely to miss.

The resting web, a safe haven during times of transformation, is the perfect place for a wasp larva to transition into the pupal phase (the stage of transformation in which the insect envelopes itself in a cocoon). An orb weaver's resting web can keep its occupant safe for about two days, which is how long it typically takes the spider to molt. But a web that lasts only two days isn't going to cut it for R. nielseni, which needs to remain ensconced in the spider's web for at least 10 days once it has wrapped itself up in a cocoon.




"[The] cocoon web has to endure falling debris, the elements and animal strikes for a long time -- at least four to five times longer than [a] resting web," Takasuka said.

That's why R. nielseni doesn't just direct its host to build a resting web; it instructs the spider to build a superstrong resting web, one chock-full of reinforced threads that hold the web -- and the wasp-filled cocoon at its center -- in place for long stretches of time, the researchers found.

Using a tensile machine, Takasuka and his colleagues tested the breaking forces (how much force a material can handle before breaking) of the radius and frame silks used to construct a so-called "cocoon" web and found that they were at least 2.7 times greater than the breaking forces of the silks that made up both the orb and the resting webs of C. argenteoalba.

Horrifying hormones

When a zombie spider is finished doing its parasitoid's bidding, it returns to the center of the web, but its ordeal is far from over. With its UV light-reflecting, reinforced shelter in place, the wasp larva no longer needs the spider, so it slaughters it. After chucking the spider's corpse off the web, the larva spins itself a comfy cocoon and hunkers down for nearly two weeks to complete its metamorphosis.

The parasitic wasp's ability to manipulate its host in such a specific and subtle way is not unique. In Costa Rica, another parasitic wasp, Hymenoepimecis argyraphaga, ups the horror by depositing its eggs inside of its host arachnid (Plesiometa argyra), which builds a cocoon-worthy web before being consumed from the inside out by larvae.

And, in Brazil (as well as other countries), there are fungi that infect many species of ants, turning these insects into a host of zombies. The ants climb to the highest point they can find and then die as fungal stalks shoot through their skulls, dispersing the fungus' spores into the wind.

In the case of the fungi-entranced ants, scientists know that the fungi actually release a cocktail of chemicals into the ants' brains, inducing them to do the fungi's bidding. But entomologists are still actively studying the ways that wasps and other insect parasites might control their hosts.

The peacock spider's adorable dance moves will captivate you
Takasuka suspects that, in the case of R. nielseni and C. argenteoalba, the mechanism controlling the spider's web-strengthening preferences is somehow related to the hormone that is naturally released in the spider just before molting. This hormone is what motivates the spider to start building a resting nest. In the near future, Takasuka hopes to study the chemicals present in the larvae to determine how those chemicals might be related to the resting-web hormone and others.

The researchers' study was published Aug. 5 in The Journal of Experimental Biology.

.

[Rusty Edge]

That was an interesting zombie story. Before they raised the hormone hypothesis, I was thinking..
Zombies are about brain eating.... Maybe the wasp selectively eats a portion of the spider brain and performs a lobotomy.


Guess not.

[gwillybj]

How Close Are We To Computers That Think Like Humans? - DNews
by DNews 2:14 mins
Computers can do a lot, but when will they be able to think like humans?

http://news.yahoo.com/video/close-computers-think-humans-dnews-210000659.html

I'm not as concerned about whether they will [think like] humans as I am about whether they will then [like] humans.

[gwillybj]

Pig OK after flying out of trailer going 65 mph on highway
Associated Press
August 20, 2015 11:14 PM

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — Maybe pigs can fly.

Authorities in northern Colorado say a 250-pound porker escaped relatively unscathed when it flew out of a trailer that was being pulled at about 65 mph on Interstate 25.

The Fort Collins Coloradoan reports (http://goo.gl/RxdXaM ) the pig fell out of the trailer west of Windsor on Thursday morning and took refuge under a tractor-trailer that had pulled up on the scene.

Colorado State Patrol Trooper G.A. Villavicencio says he has dealt with sheep and cows on roadways, but never pigs.

Sheriff's deputies and road workers pulled the pig from under the truck by its hind legs. After a little squealing, it was checked out by a vet and returned to its owner.

The pig suffered some road rash to its ears and snout but was otherwise unhurt.

___

Information from: Fort Collins Coloradoan, http://www.coloradoan.com

http://news.yahoo.com/pig-ok-flying-trailer-going-65-mph-highway-031407860.html

[Unorthodox]

Zombies are about brain eating....

How woefully inadequate your zombie education is.

Go read (or if you must, watch) The Serpent and the Rainbow.

[gwillybj]

2 homeless pythons given to Vermont man headed to sanctuary
Associated Press By WILSON RING
August 25, 2015



NORTH CLARENDON, Vt. (AP) — Two giant southeast Asian pythons that were rescued by a long-time snake collector and were turned over to state game wardens are headed to a sanctuary.

The larger of the two reticulated pythons picked up Tuesday by experts from the Massachusetts-based Rainforest Reptile Shows with help from three Vermont game wardens was a female between 17 and 18 feet long, weighing about 220 pounds. A slightly smaller male was about 15 feet long and weighed about 150 pounds.

The snake collector, Pat Howard, said after the snakes had been loaded into plastic tubs for their trip to Massachusetts that he's "smart enough to realize that snake is bigger than I can safely take care of."

"Come feeding time is the most dangerous time to be around a snake," said Howard, who has kept snakes for decades and has almost two dozen smaller snakes in his North Clarendon home. "That's when anything goes, and you certainly want to be out of the way. A snake that size got ahold of you, if you didn't have any help with you, you're a goner."

The reticulated python, named for the geometric patterns on its skin, is one of the largest snake species in the world. It can reach almost 30 feet long and weigh 350 pounds.

Howard, who does educational programs with some of his snakes and sets up a booth at the Vermont State Fair in Rutland, said he got the pythons on Sunday from a New York man who couldn't keep them. He called the bigger one "humongous." He knew he didn't have the permits to keep them so on Monday he called state game wardens.

Howard said many species of exotic snakes can be bought inexpensively when they are small. People frequently call him when they can no longer take care of them.

Vermont Game Warden Chad Barrett, who handles exotic wildlife, said the two pythons were probably the biggest exotic snakes his agency has had to deal with. He praised Howard for promptly turning the giant snakes over to the proper authorities.

"This one went very smoothly," he said.

The Rainforest Reptile Shows, based in Beverly, Massachusetts, does educational and entertainment programs with snakes and other reptiles. It also will take homeless snakes, said Rainforest snake expert Mack Ralbovsky, who drove to Vermont on Tuesday with co-worker EmmaLee Eng to take the snakes back to Massachusetts.
http://news.yahoo.com/2-homeless-pythons-given-vermont-man-head-sanctuary-201417051.html

[gwillybj]

Fate of 1,404 bottles of rare wine rests with Pennsylvania judge
Reuters By David DeKok
August 25, 2015
By David DeKok

HARRISBURG, Pa. (Reuters) - The fate of 1,404 bottles of rare wine seized from a private collector under Pennsylvania's strict liquor laws hangs on a judge's ruling next week on a loophole that may allow hospital "use" of forfeited liquor.

The wine was confiscated in 2014 under a Pennsylvania law that limits nearly all alcoholic beverage sales to its chain of state liquor stores, none of which sells rare vintages.

It was among a cache of 2,447 bottles with an estimated value of at least $125,000 that Pennsylvania State Police seized from Arthur Goldman, a lawyer in Malvern, Pennsylvania.

Chester County Hospital in the Philadelphia suburb of West Chester filed a court petition on Friday seeking custody of the wine, which it hopes to resell for charity under an obscure provision of state law that allows forfeited liquor "to be delivered to a hospital for its use."

Goldman, who admitted selling the wine to private enthusiasts, received a form of probation aimed at eventually clearing his record.

State police moved ahead with plans to destroy the confiscated wine, which had been placed in an evidence room in Philadelphia.

That possibility horrified wine enthusiasts and even the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, which urged a solution that would preserve the wine that it said included "rare and hard-to-obtain vintages."

A week ago, Goldman reached a settlement with state police allowing him to reclaim 1,043 bottles of the forfeited wine. The remaining 1,404 bottles are being sought by the hospital.

Goldman and his lawyers, while praising the settlement, would not answer questions about it.

Never before has forfeited liquor been turned over to a third party, Trooper Adam Reed, a state police spokesman, said on Tuesday.

Chester County Judge Edward Griffin will decide on Sept. 3 whether state law intended hospital wine donations to be only for medicinal purposes, or whether the hospital can legally resell the bottles for charity.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Peter Cooney)
http://news.yahoo.com/fate-1-404-bottles-rare-wine-rests-pennsylvania-214621654.html

[Rusty Edge]

I have no sympathy for a Pennsylvania attorney who had such blatant disregard for the law. Almost 2500 bottles?
Disbar him.

[gwillybj]

Naked, body-painted bicyclists ride through Philadelphia
Associated Press - August 29, 2015

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Thousands of bicyclists in various stages of undress have pedaled their way around the city to promote fuel conservation and positive body image.

The Philly Naked Bike Ride on Saturday featured people sporting masks, underwear, body paint, glitter or nothing at all. A lot of riders wore just their shoes.

Debbie Kaighn, who was riding in the popular annual event for the third time, wore shoes, socks and body paint. On her front were streaks and splashes of yellow and green paint, and on her back was the message "Live free, ride nude."

"I'm a naturist, and I believe in body freedom," she said. "And I'm also a cyclist."

The 12-mile ride through the City of Brotherly Love is among many related to the World Naked Bike Ride movement. Riders on the twisting course wheeled through University City, around the Rittenhouse Square park, down to City Hall and through Chinatown. Giddy crowds cheered them on while shooting photos and videos on their cellphones.

Ed Blanton traveled from Arlington, Virginia, to ride nude in the Philly event for the fourth time "because I'm a bicyclist and it's fun."

He wore just a sign on his back: "The earth is the Lord's."

"I like to get this message out," he said before hopping gingerly onto his bike and riding off.

Other riders supported assorted causes, including breast cancer research. One had painted on his back, "Burn fat, not oil."

This is the seventh year of the Philly Naked Bike Ride, which draws about 3,000 participants. Organizers say they hope the event encourages people to bike more and to embrace nudity as a normal and enjoyable part of life.

[gwillybj]

What is a Fire Rainbow?

A fire rainbow is caused by ice! It looks like rainbow flames in the sky! However, it is actually sunlight reflected off of ice crystals, like a normal rainbow is sunlight reflecting off of raindrops.



Technically, a fire rainbow is the bottom of a Circumhorizontal arc or an ice halo. The cold icy upper atmosphere reflects sunlight or bright moonlight.Sometimes it just forms a ring or arc of bright light, although the light sometimes forms a straight line (a sun pillar) or bright spots (sun dogs).

However, if the viewers’ angle is just right, the light is broken into a rainbow of colors. It can look like an upside down rainbow in the sky or, if smeared by icy clouds, multi-colored flames.

For a wonderful hour this month, rainbow lights danced in the skies over the Isle of Palms South Carolina—an island just outside of Charleston.



Ice hockey isn’t the only miracle on ice—an ice halo with sun dogs and a sun pillar. Source: Gabor Szilasi, Wikipedia.

So yes, it's summer and the skies are filled with hot air. But sometimes when you look up, you see wonders!
http://www.almanac.com/blog/weather-blog/fire-rainbows-and-fire-tornadoes

[gwillybj]

The Number of Trees on Earth May Surprise You
ABC News
By ALYSSA NEWCOMB
September 3, 2015



How many trees are there on Earth? It's the ultimate estimation game, but a group of Yale researchers believe they have arrived at the most precise answer yet.

There are 3.04 trillion trees on Earth -- nearly eight times as many as was previously thought, according to the study, which was released in the journal Nature. Scientists who worked on the study relied on satellite imagery, forest inventories and supercomputers to help map the number of trees on Earth down to the square-kilometer level.

That's approximately 422 trees for every person on Earth.

"Trees are among the most prominent and critical organisms on Earth, yet we are only recently beginning to comprehend their global extent and distribution," Thomas Crowther, a postdoctoral fellow at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and lead author of the study, said in a statement.

The latest count shatters a previous estimate of 400 billion trees worldwide, a number that was arrived at using satellite imagery and estimates of forest area but with no ground-level information.

While Crowther and his team said they were surprised to be dealing with a number in the trillions, it wasn't all good news for Earth's ecosystems. The team estimated the total number of trees has declined 46 percent since the dawn of human civilization, with an estimated 15 billion trees being cut down each year.
http://news.yahoo.com/number-trees-earth-may-surprise-194021857--abc-news-tech.html