Tuesday 26 April 2011

Wild parakeet birds could be culled before their population runs 'out of control'


Parakeets living wild in Britain could be culled because they pose a threat to native wildlife and are damaging food crops. 

The green, yellow and grey birds are originally from South America but are living wild in the south of England after being released from captivity in the 90s. 
But conservationists have called on the animals to be rehomed rather than shot.
Only 100 to 150 of the 30cm tall bird live in the UK, mainly in the Home Counties, but the decision has been taken to exterminate them.

A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: 'Control work is being carried out as part of a Defra initiative to counter the potential threat monk parakeets pose to critical national infrastructure, crops and native British wildlife.

'This invasive species has caused significant damage in other countries through nesting and feeding activity and we are taking action now to prevent this happening in the UK.'
But a spokesman for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds told the Daily Telegraph: 'They (parakeets) have the potential to expand rapidly and could pose a threat to agriculture and public safety because of the nests causing structural problems to the electricity supply.
'But we do not believe they should be shot.'

Rapidly expanding: Parakeets originate from South America but large numbers live in south England after birds were released from captivity in the 1990s
Rapidly expanding: Parakeets originate from South America but large numbers live in south England after birds were released from captivity in the 1990s

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1380273/UK-parakeets-culled-population-runs-control.html#ixzz1KcrStnN1

Monday 25 April 2011

Behind the scenes travelogue to holy Mountain Athos


"60 Minutes" producer Michael Karzis is the perfect tour guide to take you behind the scenes on the show's Mt. Athos story. Karzis is the son of Greek immigrants and speaks Greek. Those things surely helped as he and fellow producer Harry Radliffe tried to get permission to film a "60 Minutes" story on the otherworldly Mt. Athos, a self-governed peninsula in Greece that's home to 20 monasteries and some 2,000 monks.
But getting permission was no easy task. "The parliament that exists there, the holy community, is the only parliament on the face of the Earth that has been continually in session since the 10th century," says Karzis. "And these are the guys we were looking to get permission from to shoot on Mount Athos."
The Holy Community turned down requests from "60 Minutes." "They said, 'Thank you very much but, get in line,' Karzis recalls. "I mean, the BBC's been knocking on the door for 40 years, the French, the Germans, they've all wanted to come."
They then appealed to the powerful abbots who run individual monasteries on Mt. Athos and finally had a breakthrough.
Watch part one and part two of Bob Simon's report.
"We just built trust," says Karzis. "And they understood that we would do our best to distill the essence of monastic life, the beauty of the place, and what makes Mt. Athos unique in this world."
Once Karzis and Radliffe got their invitation, many more challenges were to come, as you'll learn in this "60 Minutes Overtime" travelogue. It's located in Europe, but Mt. Athos is remarkably difficult to access. The peninsula is only reachable by boat and the surrounding seas can be rough. It's believed that the Virgin Mary herself was shipwrecked there, which is just one of the many things that makes Mt. Athos so sacred to the monks and the thousands of pilgrims who visit each year.
The "60 Minutes" team was also stranded on Mt. Athos when heavy seas hit after the two-week shoot ended. Now back in New York, Karzis and Radliffe still seem moved by their time on the stunning mountain. If you're interested in visiting Mt. Athos as a pilgrim, these "60 Minutes" videos are arguably the best visual record ever created and the best place to start your research.
If you're a woman, these videos may be the only way you'll ever see Mt. Athos. No women allowed.

Wednesday 20 April 2011

Marijuana Day : Where Did 420 Come From?


April 20 is the favorite day of the year for marijuana smokers -- after all, it is 4/20, and 420 is code for pot. But where did it come from?
There are many theories as to why 420 came to represent pot. Some say it is from a Bible verse. Others say it was police code for pot possession. Or the number of active chemicals in marijuana. Teatime in Holland? How about Hitler's birthday?
None of these theories is correct.
The real story is actually quite simple -- a group of five students at San Rafael High School in California who called themselves the Waldos would meet outside the school at 4:20 every day to smoke pot.

According to The Huntington Post, in the fall of 1971 the Waldos got word of an untended garden of marijuana. They agreed to meet at 4:20 one day to begin the search.
"We would remind each other in the hallways we were supposed to meet up at 4:20. It originally started out 4:20-Louis and we eventually dropped the Louis," Waldo Steve, who didn't want to give his real name, toldThe Huffington Post in 2009.
They searched for weeks for the crops. "We'd meet at 4:20 and get in my old '66 Chevy Impala and, of course, we'd smoke instantly and smoke all the way out to Pt. Reyes and smoke the entire time we were out there. We did it week after week," says Steve. "We never actually found the patch."
But a new term was born. "I could say to one of my friends, I'd go, 420, and it was telepathic. He would know if I was saying, 'Hey, do you wanna go smoke some?' Or, 'Do you have any?' Or, 'Are you stoned right now?' It was kind of telepathic just from the way you said it," Steve says. "Our teachers didn't know what we were talking about. Our parents didn't know what we were talking about."
But how did it spread beyond this group? Well, the Waldo's had connections to the Grateful Dead through other friends, and the group sometimes hung out with them in the hippie paradise of Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco. They used the term there, and it quickly spread throughout the community, and eventually beyond.
So there you have it -- the origin of a term that is now known worldwide.

Tuesday 19 April 2011

Taoiseach will warmly welcome Queen Elizabeth


QUEEN ELIZABETH’S visit to Ireland next month will be of major historic significance and will be “warmly welcomed by the vast majority” of Irish people, Taoiseach Enda Kenny told British prime minister David Cameron yesterday.
Mr Kenny said the programme had been “well thought out”. He said it was “very sensitive and the fact that she intends to visit the Garden of Remembrance and the Islandbridge memorial speaks for itself and history and tradition on both sides”.
Welcoming Mr Kenny to Downing Street, Mr Cameron said he believed the Queen’s visit was “going to be a great moment for both our countries and I’m excited about coming to join in on that as well”.
Mr Kenny said that Ireland was looking “forward indeed to the [Queen’s] coming – one of the few countries that she hasn’t had the opportunity to visit is the 26 counties during her long reign”.
Questioned about the fact that the visit begins on the anniversary of the Dublin-Monaghan 1974 bombings, Mr Kenny said he had reminded Mr Cameron “that obviously there may be a small measure of protest arising from that”.
However, he appeared to rule out calling on the British, as he has been asked to do by families of the victims, to open up intelligence files that were not available to the Barron Inquiry, which investigated both atrocities. “We also made the point that we don’t want a situation where you have endless, open-ended inquiries [but] that there are a great number of sensitive issues that need to be very carefully considered,” said Mr Kenny.
The two men discussed the recent killing of PSNI constable Ronan Kerr by dissident republicans, with Mr Cameron saying he believed that co-operation between the PSNI and the Garda Síochána had “never been better”.
“We need to work on that and make sure that continues to be the case. I think the response of everyone – North and South – to the terrible murder of the police officer recently has been extremely positive and we will continue to work together,” said Mr Cameron.

Monday 18 April 2011

Fans gather at the Boston Marathon


The buzz has already begun on Boylston Street as the Boston Marathon is officially underway. Fans peppered the streets of the Back Bay early on this chilly morning to get a jump on the prime views of the finish line.
It was a brisk 45 degrees with a 17 mile-per-hour wind blowing down Boylston at 9:20, but temperatures are quickly on the rise.
Croney family
"This is normal weather for us," said the head of the Croney family (right) that traveled from Cornwall, Ontario, to see 44-year-old Rick Croney run in his first Boston Marathon. "We got out here at 8 a.m. to get a good spot, and we hope to catch him as he crosses the line."
A couple of women from the Pittsburgh area met randomly on the street and locked into a good position to see their husbands finish the run.
Fast friends from Pittsburgh
"We just met by chance, and now I have a new friend," said Libby Prather (left) who came in from Meadville, Pa., to see 45-year-old Ross Prather turn the corner at Hereford Street.
Gail Stairs (right) from Greensburgh, Pa., came in from Steeler country to see her husband, 57-year-old Roger Stairs, complete the course as a first-time qualifier.
"I've been wearing my Penguins shirt, and my Pirates hat all weekend, too," Stairs said. "But the people around here have been very nice."

Source: http://www.boston.com/sports/marathon/blog/2011/04/fans_gather_at_the_boston_mara.html

Friday 15 April 2011

Mugstar feature on Record Store Day


Liverpool band Mugstar feature on a special compilation released for international Record Store Day 2011.
The rock band's cover of ZZ Tops 'I Got The Six' was recorded for the 'I'm So Convoluted' LP.
The limited edition release is only available in independent record shops on Record Store Day on Saturday 16 April.
Record Store Day is a global event which celebrates the culture of independent record shops.
Jason Stoll of Mugstar said: "We love doing limited records like this as we get the chance to do something a little different.
"It is great to be a part of a world wide day for music and hopefully Record Store Day will encourage people to continue to buy vinyl records."
Customer loyalty
Probe RecordsProbe Records will host an in-store gig to mark Record Store Day
Record Store Day was started in 2007 in America and grew to include independent outlets across the world.
Probe Records and 3B Records in Liverpool will mark the day with special in-store events.
Probe's Bob Parker said, "Record Store Day really took off in Probe last year. It really surprised us.
"We've had bands emailing us asking if they can bring their records in. And that's on top of the 150 other titles that we have ordered.
"It would seem as though it's more important to celebrate Record Shops now than it was ten years ago, and that's great because it reminds people that we are here."
Ashli Todd, manager of Spillers Records in Cardiff, said to be the oldest record shop in the world, said that Record Shop Day is a celebration of loyal customers in an increasingly tough market.
"One of the most important things about Record Store Day is about celebrating what's unique about us," she told the BBC.
"The fact that you can self-release things in here and it doesn't matter if you're doing it off your own back or through a big distributor.
"Hundreds of independent record shops have closed and so there really is a sense for the rest of us on Record Store Day that we have made it through another year."

Thursday 14 April 2011

Catherine Zeta-Jones Sheds Light on Bipolar Disorder


The revelation that the seemingly unshakable actress Catherine Zeta-Jones has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder illustrates the hallmarks of the disease: it can strike at any time in a person's life and is often brought on by prolonged stressed.
Zeta-Jones, 41, fell victim to the disorder's wild mood swings after her husband Michael Douglas went through a high-profile battle with stage IV throat cancer and then endured a court fight with Douglas' first wife over proceeds from the "Wall Street" movie sequel.
Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depressive illness, is a mental illness characterized by mood swings between the two psychological pulls of depression and euphoria.
"It can start at any time in a person's life and it's a lifelong illness," Dr. Igor Galynker, director of the Family Center for Bipolar Disorder at Beth Israel Medical Center told ABC News OnCall.
Zeta-Jones is said to have been diagnosed with bipolar II, which is a form of the disorder which is characterized by longer low periods.
Stress is one common trigger for bipolar disorder, according to the National Institutes of Mental Health. The condition can also be spotted if someone has a prolonged feeling of agitation, trouble sleeping, major changes in appetite, and thoughts of suicide.
Zeta-Jones has had plenty of stress over the past year. Last year, Douglas, 66, the father of Zeta-Jones' two children, was diagnosed with stage IV throat cancer. While Douglas announced in January that he was cancer free, he and Zeta-Jones have more recently had to battle Douglas' first wife, Diandra, who is suing Douglas for a portion of the royalties from his movie, "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps."



Wednesday 13 April 2011

Hosni Mubarak in the Hospital


HP Main - Dickey Mubarak
Sean Gallup / Getty Images
In a macabre turn of events, ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been hospitalized in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Mubarak, who was thrown from office in a massive uprising, was being questioned on corruption and embezzlement charges when he reportedly suffered a heart attack

Protesters are outside the hospital—one had a sign reading "Here is the butcher." As for the investigation, the prosecutor didn’t outline exactly what the charges are, and Mubarak’s sons Alaa and Gamal have also been summoned, and his assets in several countries around the world have been frozen and are under investigation.

Tuesday 12 April 2011

Fort Sumter: How Civil War Began With a Bloodless Battle


Photo: Fort Sumter in its peaceful, pre-war setting.
Shown in peacetime, South Carolina's Fort Sumter would see the first shots of the Civil War 150 years ago.
Image Courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Photo: Author Mark Jenkins
Historian Mark Collins Jenkins. Photograph by Mark Thiessen, NGS.
Mark Collins Jenkins
for National Geographic News
Updated April 12, 2011
During the winter of 1860-61, the citizens of Charleston (map),South Carolina, were so sure that no war would follow their recent move to secede from the United States of America that the fiery editor of the Charleston Mercury supposedly vowed to eat the bodies of all who might be slain as a result.
Not to be outdone, former U.S. Senator James Chesnut, Jr., promised to drink any blood spilled. After all, "a lady's thimble," as a common saying had it, "will hold all the blood that will be shed."
Fort Sumter in First Line of Defense
Fort Sumter was only one in a series of imposing masonry fortresses, decades in the building, which studded the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts from Maine to Texas.
The nation's single biggest public expenditure and traditionally its first lines of defense, these symbols of sovereignty once carried an aura of impregnability—from without, if not from within.
During the four months leading up to Lincoln's Inauguration, the seceding states, one after another, seized federal forts, arsenals, and customs houses within their borders.
Civil War Inevitable?
On March 4, 1861, Lincoln was inaugurated, promising the seceding states that he would use force only "to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places" belonging to the federal government.
The stage was set for the inevitable showdown.
As of March, only four Southern forts were still under federal control. Two of them, Forts Taylor and Jefferson, were remote way stations in the Florida Keys. They would remain in government hands, useful as prisons and coaling stations throughout the four years of the coming Civil War.
Though the plight of both garrisons remained in the public eye, Fort Pickens stood to the outside of Pensacola Bay, while Fort Sumter was positioned in the middle of Charleston Harbor, surrounded by hostile batteries. Sumter, therefore, became a symbol of contested sovereignty.
Neither the new President nor the new Confederacy could afford to lose face by surrendering the Charleston fort. The only question was, who would shoot first?
In early January the South Carolinians had actually done so, turning away theStar of the West, a federal supply ship, with gunfire. But those were more or less warning shots that kicked up plumes of spray but caused no damage.
The Battle of Fort Sumter
As March turned to April, Lincoln, having dispatched another relief fleet to supply the beleaguered and increasingly hungry garrison, was willing to shoot his way through if need be.
Lincoln soon thought better of it, however, instead informing the rebellious Southerners that the fleet would carry only supplies into Sumter. The warships would remain outside the harbor.
An hour later a signaling shot curved high in the sky and burst directly over the fort. A cacophonous barrage erupted, as 43 guns and mortars opened up on Sumter.
The pyrotechnic uproar had soon summoned all Charleston to the rooftops, where the citizens spent a sleepless night, watching the arcs of mortar shells. They spent the following day deafened by the din, peering through the smoke.
As the smoke cleared the toll of battle was taken, and it amounted to one mule. Not a single person had been killed (though one man soon died in an accidental explosion). The South had indeed won the contest over that symbol of sovereignty without spilling enough blood to fill a thimble.
Or had it?
Fort Sumter Battle a "Bolt From the Sky"
By firing first, the Confederates had allowed Lincoln to claim the high ground. On April 15, some 75,000 Union loyalists volunteered to help "repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union."

Monday 11 April 2011

Jenn Sterger : Set to speak about Favre

Jenn Sterger, the former New York Jets hostess involved in the Brett Favre "sexting" scandal, will give her first interview since the incident to George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America this week, USA Today reported. The two-part interview will air on Tuesday and Wednesday.


Sterger has maintained a low profile since October when the story broke that Favre had sent her lewd voice messages and photographs while both were working for the Jets in 2008.

Jenn Sterger








































































Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/119582669.html#ixzz1JCkvfftL
Watch sports videos you won't find anywhere else

Saturday 9 April 2011

Watch Animoto Videos Via AirPlay and Apple TV On Your TV


Animoto, the video slideshow creation service which allows consumers to make professional quality videos, announced the integration with Apple AirPlay, giving users the ability to watch their videos on their TV.
Thus, videos created with Animoto that exist on an iPod, iPad, or iPhone, can now be played on a television at the click of a mouse using AirPlay. According to Brad Jefferson, the CEO of Animoto, “Animoto videos have always looked great on a big-screen TV and now it’s one-click easy for families to enjoy their Animoto videos on their home televisions without messing with wires or requiring a DVD Player.”
Jefferson goes on to say, “In less time than it takes to pop popcorn, you can now create a professional-looking Animoto video from photos on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch and play it for your family on your TV.”
The AirPlay functionality has been made very simple for consumers to utilize. They first need to update their iOs to version 4.3 and check that their applications for Animoto and Apple TV are in sync with the up to date versions.
The user will then hit the AirPlay icon, which will display in the bottom right of the video player, to show a list of devices they can utilize to play their videos. They will then simply select the TV option.
The TV viewing can be accessed through the iPad and Animoto iPhone applications as well as through the usage of mobile Safari via the iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad.