[ozswede]

7,000 cubic metres of clay used to plug a megapothole that had fish living in it

A council in western New South Wales, Australia, has just finished repairing a pothole so big, workers had to build a dam, pump out thousands of litres of water and remove fish and crustaceans in order to repair it.

The 40-metre long and 15-metre wide chasm was carved out around a culvert on the Booligal-Gunbar Road in the Hay Shire Council area during last year's prolonged flood emergency.


A Hay Shire Council worker surveys a massive washout on the Booligal-Gunbar Road.

The plains that cover vast swathes of the region — and are the flattest place in the southern hemisphere — resembled an inland sea during the height of the disaster.

Council operations manager Greg Stewart said the culvert was inundated by flooding in an adjacent creek in November.

"It was like rapids flowing through," Mr Stewart said.

He said crews were finally able to access the site about a month ago.

"We put a survey staff down and it went down two and a half metres initially, so we knew it was going to be big," he said.


Floodwater flowed over Booligal-Gunbar Road for about five months

Mr Stewart said workers built a dam around the hole and then brought in a couple of pumps to remove the water.

"The guys would report back to say how long it was taking and how much water was coming out. The amount of fish and yabbies swimming out, walking out," he said.

"All the guys wanted to work out on that project because it was very unique, something we're not used to."


A number of pumps were used over several days to remove the water.

When the water was gone it was discovered the hole was nine metres deep — meaning the void was almost three times the volume of an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

Council staff and three contract crews were called in to help with the repair job that involved two excavators, five tip trucks and 7,000 cubic metres of clay. "The trucks only hold nine cubic metres," Mr Stewart said.

"We had trucks queuing and [the clay] had to be put in in layers and compacted, it was just a case of dumping 7,000 cubic metres in a hole — so that was a bit time consuming."


The culvert on the Booligal-Gunbar Road is now repaired.

Mr Stewart said there are a number of other washouts on the same road, but the council hoped it would be able to re-open it to four-wheel-drive vehicles before Easter.

Glow-In-The-Dark Demons: Three Newly Discovered Worms Are The Stuff Of Nightmares
Reminiscent of Japanese folkloric creatures, the three new species of worm could reveal new insights into bioluminescence.



Scientists in central Japan have discovered three new species of bioluminescent worms that are eerily reminiscent of creatures from Japanese folklore. These new Polycirrus worms, found in various locations across Japan, have been named after these preternatural beings, as well as a famous Japanese marine biologist.

Bioluminescence is produced by organisms through a chemical reaction known as chemiluminescence. The reaction generates extremely low levels of heat, which has led it to be referred to as “cold light”. The organisms that create this effect do so for a variety of reasons, particularly for attracting potential mates or prey. Some species, such as millipedes and fireflies, also use the light to fend of predators.

However, despite their brilliance, bioluminescent organisms are actually quite rare. At present, scientists have only found around 7,000 such species of organism across the world, and mostly in the ocean. There has been limited research, as there have not been enough specimens available for sufficient classification and comparison.

This rarity makes the discovery of the new demon-worms all the more exciting.

“Our previous research on the luminescence of the genus Polycirrus had established it as a valuable subject for bioluminescence studies,” Naoto Jimi, lead researcher at Nagoya University in Japan, said in a statement. “However, we later discovered what we thought was a single species of Polycirrus was actually three different species.”

Polycirrus are small worms that are usually found in shallow waters – such as rivers and streams, or on the coast – in Japan. They are known for the tentacles they use to sift for food. These tentacles tend to give off a bright blue-violet glow, giving the worms a strange, otherworldly appearance.

As such, Jimi and his team thought it appropriate to name two of the three newly discovered specimens after notable phantasmal beings from Japanese folklore. One worm was named Polycirrus onibi after the will-o'-the-wisp type of yokai – Japanese spirit entity – called a onibi (demon fire), which is believed to lure travelers in remote regions to their doom.

Then there is Polycirrus aoandon, or blue lantern, which is named after a ghost-like yokai that appears as a demonic woman wearing a white kimono with horns and sharp teeth. This creature haunts lanterns, turning their flames blue when they are near.

The final worm, Polycirrus ikeguchii, was named after Shinichiro Ikeguchi, the former director of the Notojima Aquarium.

“We used the names of Japanese yokai, such as onibi and aoandon, for the new species because the hazy violet-blue bioluminescence emitted by the Polycirrus species is strikingly similar to the descriptions of these creatures found in folklore,” said Jimi. “Polycirrus ikeguchii, on the other hand, was described from specimens collected in the Notojima region in Japan. As Shinichi Ikeguchi was the former director of Notojima Aquarium and helped to find the worm, it seemed appropriate to name it after him.”

The researchers now want to learn how the newly discovered worms generate their glow. They hope their findings will deepen our understanding of molecular processes involved in bioluminescence, which could have an impact on the development of new technologies.

“The discovery that all three new species are luminescent has allowed us to link taxonomic and ecological findings and establish research that others can readily apply to the study of luminescent organisms,” said Jimi.

“Understanding these luminescence mechanisms contributes to medical and life science research. Bioluminescence is a treasure trove of interesting and unusual chemistry. We intend to use our findings to deepen our understanding of the molecular nature of this phenomenon and apply this knowledge to the development of new life sciences technologies.”

https://www.iflscience.com/glow-in-the- ... ares-68261

British police find exotic bird perched atop their patrol car




Officers in a British police department were left scratching their heads when they returned to their car and found an exotic bird perched on the blue lights.

Wolverhampton Police said in a Twitter post that officers returned to their parked car Tuesday morning and discovered the colorful avian perched on the blue lights mounted to the patrol cruiser's roof.

The orange, yellow and green bird appears to be a lovebird, a small member of the parrot family native to Africa.

"We are taking good care of him after speaking with the RSPCA official and getting some advice," police tweeted.

The department said it is now trying to locate the apparent flyaway pet's owner.

[Fatima99]

A Dog and Goat Are So Close The Shelter Decides to Only Place Them as a Team



The workers at Wake County Animal Hospital were left scratching their heads when a dog named Felix arrived at their doorstep with a goat named Cinnamon.

Dropped off by animal control who had taken them from a house whose owner had been hospitalized and had no one else who could look after them, they recognized pretty early these two were a special situation when they first tried to separate them.

“Cinnamon was very upset—she was bleating and calling out to the dog,” Jennifer Federico, director of animal services, told the Washington Post. “She was so stressed and frantic that we realized this pair had to be kept together.”

Generally, the shelter doesn’t take in farm animals, and after 10 days they served notice to the previous owner that it was time to come take his animals back. He never did.

At that point, the shelter assumed ownership and needed to print up a very strange adoption notice.

Felix and Cinnamon spent every hour together at the shelter except for when they ate. Cinnamon hates being apart from Felix, but if they ate side by side, the big American bulldog mix would eat all her food.

Cinnamon likes nothing more, says Federico, than cuddling with Felix or romping around in the dog yard even though it’s just astroturf. Felix is capable of spending time away from his goat pal, but when he returns always begins to give Cinnamon a bath with his giant bulldog tongue.

“It’s a weird duo, but it works for them,” Federico said. “Who are we to judge? They obviously love each other.”

The shelter wrote up a Facebook post in an attempt to find a home for the pair, which attracted so much attention they had to pause the comments while they worked with several rescue offers who had farm and facility to provide a good home to what the shelter billed as a “bonded pair.”

[PennySerenade]

Ketchup may seem like an innocent, tasty condiment found in everyone's fridge, but a simple Facebook post that went viral in 2016 unintentionally divided the country, kick-starting Canada's most patriotic food fight.

Known as "The Ketchup War," an ongoing battle between two ketchup brands French's versus Heinz was ignited in this very province, with the people of Leamington, Ontario getting caught up in the dispute.

Back in 2014 before merging with Kraft, Heinz upset a lot of Canadians in the small municipality of Leamington near Windsor, when it sold its processing plant and moved its ketchup operations across the border to the U.S.

After operating for over 100 years as the area's largest employer, the cessation of operations by Heinz left over 740 Canadians out of work.

That's when French's, a brand known for its mustard, swooped in. It saw in 2015 an opportunity to win over a piece of the Canadian market that Heinz previously had a strong grip on.

They began manufacturing ketchup said to be made with only Canadian-grown tomatoes, specifically those grown by Leamington farmers. French's also eventually moved to bottling their ketchup in Canada as well, becoming a 100 per cent Canadian-made product.



In 2016, a Facebook post made by an Orillia man named Brian Fernandez that praised French's unexpectedly took off. Shared over a quarter of a million times, Fernandez detailed how Heinz left Canadians out of work, voicing his support for French's instead in the post.

A series of events - including an endorsement from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Loblaws reversing a decision to stop carrying French's due to backlash - led to a wave of free publicity for the brand shortly after.

French's ketchup, which was previously almost unheard of, quickly started outselling Heinz's ketchup 3 to 1. Six years after pulling their operations out of Leamington, Heinz backtracked and announced they would be reopening their Canadian operations, but at that point they had already lost 50 per cent of the market share to French's.

For a deeper look into the story, CBC just released a mini-documentary aptly titled 'The Ketchup War.' The 18-minute short is free to watch on their website and begs the question, are you team Heinz or team French's?

[goldie0608]

All Dogs Have Completely Unique Nose Prints–like Fingerprints–And There’s an App to ID Each Pet



A South Korean startup has developed an AI-based app that scans your dog’s nose print and places it into a crowdsourced database that anyone can access to identify the owner of a lost dog.

It turns out a dog’s noseprints are just as individual as a human’s thumbprint, and the advantage of using it to identify a lost dog over a microchip is that no one has a microchip scanner in their house.

Anyone who has lost track of their cat or dog knows the fear experienced by the thought of never seeing them again. Collar tags and microchips can be ways for good samaritans to help reunite lost animals with their owners, but tags and collars can fall off, while microchips are not accessible for anyone who doesn’t want to drive to the vet office.

The team at Yonsei University has honed their AI to a 99% accuracy, which they’ve now released for free through the Petnow app on marketplaces in South Korea, Spain, and the US.

Pet owners register their dog’s nose print by taking a picture with their smartphone. Cat owners are in luck too, because the algorithm can ID cats by their whole face rather than just a nose.

Once the image is captured, it’s stored in Petnow’s database. Anyone, including those who may come across a lost animal, can take a picture of its nose or face and see if it matches with one on the app—providing an instant set of contact info for the owner.

Because it’s not always easy to for a lost dog to sit still, the app deploys three kinds of AI to identify a noseprint even if the nose is moving about.

With a crowdsourced database as the foundation of the idea, Petnow’s team needs as many people as possible to use the app, and for shelters, vet clinics, and other pet businesses to get the word out.

[Misstee]

He felt the slither of a venomous snake in the cockpit — then turned the plane around

April 5, 20232:55 PM ET
Heard on All Things Considered

By Kate Bartlett


During his flight on Monday, "As I turned to my left and looked down, I could see the head of the snake receding back underneath my seat," pilot Rudolf Erasmus says. "At which point there was a moment of stunned silence, to be brutally honest." He turned the plane around and landed safely at a nearby airport.
Rudolf Erasmus

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Of all the things to go wrong midair in the cockpit of a plane, finding a venomous snake under the pilot's seat must surely be one of the worst scenarios.

So spare a thought for South African pilot Rudolf Erasmus.

"I felt this little cold sensation underneath my shirt where my hip is situated — but basically where you've got your little love handles," he tells NPR.

When he looked down, the pilot was surprised to see a highly venomous Cape cobra under his seat.


Erasmus felt the slithering stowaway as he was piloting a private flight from South Africa's Western Cape to the northeastern town of Nelspruit on Monday.

"As I turned to my left and looked down, I could see the head of the snake receding back underneath my seat," he says. "At which point there was a moment of stunned silence, to be brutally honest."

Erasmus decided to turn the light aircraft around and make an emergency landing at the closest airport of Welkom.

"I then informed my passengers of what was going on... but everybody remained calm," he recounted.



Cape Cobra (Naja nivea), with a head that is hardly set off from the body, reaches a length of up to 5.25 feet and has big eyes with a round pupil. Its bite can kill a person in as little as one hour.
Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty

A Cape cobra bite can kill someone in as little as an hour. Erasmus says his first thoughts were for his passengers.

"I was more afraid of what the snake might do. Luckily it didn't strike anyone, otherwise that would have changed or complicated the whole situation," he says.

The incident has drawn comparisons to the cult 2006 film Snakes on a Plane, in which an FBI agent played by Samuel L. Jackson lets loose an expletive-laden tirade when he discovers the plane he's on is full of venomous snakes.

Erasmus says he'd seen the movie some time ago and the tirade was playing out inside his own head. "That's how I felt at some point," he says, laughing.

Erasmus has been praised by South African civil aviation commissioner Poppy Khosa, who called him "a hero" and said he "saved all lives on board."

Since landing, however, the snake has not been found. It seems to have boarded (and disembarked, everyone hopes) on its own.

Forget ‘Gone With the Wind’ — these are the movies that really could use trigger warnings



Trigger Warning: This is a column about trigger warnings.

Our coddling culture of celebrating weakness is perilously close to letting the above sentence become a serious, totally real, non-satirical norm.

Take the latest label that was just added before Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 novel “Gone With The Wind.”

It says that the old book, which was made into a huge 1939 movie, amounts to a “romanticization of a shocking era in our history and the horrors of slavery.”

Um, duh! It’s a Civil War story that’s pro-Confederacy.

A more useful trigger warning I’d throw in front of “Gone With The Wind,” however, is: “This book is 1,472 pages long.”

In fact, books, movies and TV shows almost never begin with a trigger warning that could actually help me make a decision. Here are some I’d like to see.

Trigger Warning: You will never be able to afford this beautiful home

Every flippin’ Nancy Meyers movie (“It’s Complicated,” “Something’s Gotta Give,” “The Holiday”) has a stunningly gorgeous Hamptons or California home where wealthy, relaxed Ina Garten-types drink red wine on beige couches that miraculously never stain. I won’t ever have one of these marvelous manses — and I am triggered!

Trigger Warning: This cruel film depicts an unrealistic number of days off

In “Dirty Dancing,” a family stays at a 1960s Catskills resort so long that their youngest daughter becomes a professional mambo dancer. How did Jerry Orbach land this Loch Ness Monster of vacation packages? Why do I envy a fictional doctor in a cabin?

Trigger Warning: Jar Jar Binks may enrage you

“Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” is a highly enjoyable movie … if you get up and leave the room whenever Jar Jar Binks is onscreen. The dumb face, that annoying voice. “Okie day”?!?

Trigger Warning: Some parts of this book should have been snipped

Prince Harry’s unhinged memoir “Spare” was not just a barn-burning tome of off-the-charts entitlement and reckless family betrayal — it was also gross. The rogue royal decided to reveal that he’s circumcised and said that his boarding school pals knew each other’s privates status. “We called it Roundheads vs. Cavaliers,” he writes. Spare ME!

Trigger Warning: Tom Hanks does this weird thing with his voice

What the fresh hell was Tom Hanks doing with that loony Colonel Parker voice in Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis”?

Trigger Warning: This film is unbearably boring and you will have to pretend to love it at dinner parties

“Nomadland,” “Roma,” “The Power of the Dog” — so many hours could have been saved with a single helpful sentence.

Trigger Warning: These characters only eat in the hotel restaurant

A bunch of wealthy sex-obsessives schlep off to Sicily in Season 2 of “The White Lotus.” Do these lucky losers dine on frutti di mare by the sea? Do they hop around and cheat on their spouses at homey trattorias? Nah — they almost always eat at the damn resort restaurant. Triggered.

Trigger Warning: This film contains a dog death — whoops, sorry, spoiler alert!

When I go to an Owen Wilson comedy — he’s Dupree for, God’s sake! — the ending of “Marley & Me” is not what I am in the mood for.

Trigger Warning: You are about to commit six years of your life to a show with a horrible ending

If only this message had blazed across my screen before the incredible 2004 pilot of ABC’s “Lost.”

https://nypost.com/2023/04/03/i-hate-tr ... be-useful/

[lush]

Naked Man Arrested After Stealing a School Bus to Transport a Dead Deer
April 5, 2023*

• We’re not sure if we could’ve made this story up if we tried.

You ever hear a story that makes you go, “Yeah, that happened in Florida”? There’s that delicate mixture of bizarre, scary, and utterly unhinged that just screams Florida.

Here’s an example. A man steals a school bus, leads the police on a multi-county chase, and is eventually arrested naked. And there’s a dead deer in the back of the bus for some reason.

Classic Florida, right?

Except it’s not. This thing happened in Pennsylvania.

Yeah, the location is the part of that story that we made up. Everything else actually happened.

Maybe Florida is spreading northwards.




The Bus (and the Deer)

The bizarre incident happened on April 4. Around 7 a.m. on the day, the Carroll Township Police Department (CTPD) received a phone call about a stolen school bus, the department said in a statement.

Got to start your outlandish rampage early, you know?

According to the caller, they had spotted a bus the Gettysburg PA State Police had reported as stolen earlier that morning. The suspected bus thief was identified as one Tony Saunders, 24.

Eyewitness reports state that Saunders had entered a school bus parking in the early hours of the morning. They also said he had been hauling a dead deer at the time.

Where he got the deer, no one knows. We’re not sure we want to know.

Anyway, Saunders somehow managed to pry open one of the buses and dragged the deer carcass inside. He then hopped into the driver’s seat and took off.


The Chase

After CTPD was alerted about the bus, officers on patrol also saw the vehicle. They began a pursuit but it soon became clear that Saunders may not have known how to operate the bus.

“Officers observed that the lights on the bus were turning on and off intermittently,” the CTPD said.

However, the details of the bus matched the vehicle that had been reported as stolen. So, at least the cops knew they were after the right vehicle.

What followed has a prolonged chase that crossed multiple counties. During the chase, Saunders reportedly engaged in multiple risky stunts.

At one point, officers attempted to perform a traffic stop to bring the bus to a halt. Saunders appeared to comply at first, but hopped lanes and pulled away as soon as an opportunity presented itself.

He then continued along a highway, “winding in and out of traffic lanes.” After some time, Saunders took the bus off the highway by driving over a berm, nearly tipping the heavy vehicle over in the process.

The chase continued a while longer as Saunders steered his bus into a nearby neighborhood. Finally, though, he stopped the vehicle and got out.

And then he took off running.


The Naked Runner



As Saunders got off the bus, some locals happened to spot him. Then again, it’s probably kind of hard to miss a school bus plowing through your neighborhood.

They gave the police a description of Saunders’ appearance and clothing before they began to chase after him. However, he must’ve somehow realized that, because he began to strip off his clothing as he ran.

“As [Saunders] fled from Police, he led them through parking lots and busy traffic areas which had vehicles entering and exiting businesses,” the CTPD reported.

All the while, Saunders kept throwing off more and more clothes until he was sprinting along buck-naked. Yet, his mad dash for freedom couldn’t last.

Eventually, the cops cornered Saunders and he surrendered.


The Questions

We’re certain the cops had plenty of questions first Saunders after arresting him. Some of them probably included “What the hell?” and “Why?”

Being surprisingly cooperative, Saunders shed some light on the motives of his actions. He admitted to stealing the school bus — after he had crashed the BMW earlier in the morning.

We couldn’t find out whether that was his own car or another stolen vehicle.

But what about the dead deer? Well, Saunders had a good reason for having it.

He was going to take it home to use as fertilizer for his garden. He didn’t explain where he found the carcass, at least based on police reports.

The man has now been charged with one count of fleeing from a police officer, one count of receiving stolen property, 18 counts of resisting arrest, and 75 counts of reckless driving.

No, but seriously. Where did he get the deer?

[johngriffen]

I sometimes get REALLY DEPRESSED reviewing the news these days.
It's always about a global pandemic threatening life as we know it,
protests around the world, stupid politicians, natural disasters,
or some other really bad story.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Welcome to The mobi weekly news magazine
IN OTHER NEWS
THURSDAY APRIL 6
What is it?
Here is your chance to become an "ACE REPORTER" for our weekly news magazine.
It is your job to fine weird, funny or "good feel" stories from around the world and share them with our readers in our weekly magazine

How do you play?
Just post a story that you have come across that made you smile, laugh, feel good...
BUT NOTHING DEPRESSING

EXAMPLE POST

​Naked sunbather chases wild boar through park after it steals his laptop bag

A naked sunbather was seen chasing wild boar through a park after it stole his laptop bag.
Amusing photographs from Germany show the man running after the animal to try and claim the plastic bag back.
But the cheeky boar and its two piglets appear to be too quick for the sunbather, who can't keep up with their speedy little trotters.
As the incident unfolds, groups of friends and family sat on the grass watch on and laugh.
Heads are seen turning in surprise and amusement in the hilarious photographs.
The incident happened at Teufelssee Lake - a bathing spot in the Grunwell Forest in Berlin, Germany.

Rules:
Each Edition of IN OTHER NEWS will be open for 7 days...
You can post as many stories as you like, but you will only get paid for One Story in any 24 hour period
So in other words, you can only earn WRZ$ once a day.
Each news day will start when I post announcing it
OR at:
9:00 AM CHICAGO TIME (UTC -6)
3:00 PM GMT (UTC -0)
on those days I space out and forget to post or can't due to Real Life
Stories may be accompanied with images - but No big images, please! 800x800 pixels wide maximum
Videos are allowed, but please keep them short, and post a short summary for those that don't like to click on videos
No Duplicate stories - Where a post has been edited resulting in duplicates, then the last one in time gets disallowed.
And please limit this to reasonably family friendly stories

Reward:
Each news story posted that I feel is acceptable (must be a real story, too few words or simply a headline are not considered acceptable) will earn you 50 WRZ$
If you post multiple stories on any given day, you will only earn 50 WRZ$ for the first story of the Day
All payments will be made at THE END of the weekly news cycle.
Special Bonus - Each week I will award "The Pulitzer Prize" for the best story of the week
The weekly winner of the "The Pulitzer Prize" will receive a 100 WRZ$ bonus
It's just my personal opinion, so my judgement is final

So help bring GOOD news to the members of mobi, and join our reporting team...

IN OTHER NEWS

[ozswede]

Couple who called cops on their own cannabis farm ordered to pay back £100k

A cannabis grower accidentally grassed herself up to the police after calling them about her missing husband.

Carmen Lodge, 59, reported her missing husband, Jason Lodge, 51, saying she was concerned about his mental state.

Little did she know, her fears would end up costing her £100,000 after officers arrived at her "large and professional" drugs farm in the garage of her home in Cottage Lane, Ormskirk in Lancashire.


Jason and Carmen Lodge were told they couldn't even get their fabricated stories straight

When police officers arrived at their property, shortly before 6pm, she asked them to return in an hour, making them suspicious of her intentions. Later, the police insisted on checking the property and discovered 30 plants, along with growing equipment in the garage.


Police officers grew suspicious when Lodge asked them to return a little later

Mrs Lodge then confessed there was a larger grow in the cellar, and led the officers to a further 150 plants.

The electricity had been bypassed and Mr Lodge's fingerprints were found on the equipment.

However, in April 2023, almost three years later Jason Lodge attempted to tell Judge Richard Gioserano he was forced to look after the plants, however the judge dismissed his claims as "nonsense."

He said: "The two of you couldn't even come up with the same nonsense because you couldn't get your stories straight."


A hapless couple unknowingly called police officers at their 'large and professional' drugs farm

In October 2021, Jason Lodge was handed a two year prison sentence, suspended for two years and his wife was handed a 12 month community order. Police experts concluded the plants had an estimated yield valued at between £84,000 and £125,000.

The pair returned to Preston Crown Court on Friday March 31, 2023, for a Proceeds of Crime hearing. Mr Lodge was ordered to pay back £53,807.34 and Mrs Lodge must repay £52,743.62.

[goldie0608]

Critically-Endangered Amur Leopard Twins Born at San Diego Zoo: ‘A Glimmer of Hope’



San Diego zookeepers welcomed the birth of 2 Amur leopard cubs into the world in what is a huge success for the captive breeding of one of the rarest cats in the world.

Born on March 28th, the cubs were monitored by remote cameras while they became acquainted with their new world, and their mom Sitka.

“We are absolutely thrilled with the progress made by the cubs,” said Gaylene Thomas, a wildlife care manager at the San Diego Zoo. “They have grown so much, and have already started showcasing their unique personalities. The cubs will get their first full veterinary exam soon, and we will know more, including their sex.”

There are fewer than 200 Amur leopards in the world. The Siberian natives have, however, been either increasing in number since 2007, or hovering around the same small number that conservationists have become simply better at locating them.

In any case, a 2021 camera-trap survey recorded 110 individuals in a large transboundary area of Siberia between Russia and China, nicknamed Land of the Leopard, near the Amur River from which they derive their name. This is 60 more than a similar survey done around 8 years earlier.

The San Diego newborns have no names yet, but they represent the third litter born in captivity. The San Diego Zoo’s membership within the global Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Amur Leopard Species Survival Plan has allowed them to do a lot of conservation work out in Siberia, which the zoo claims has increased the numbers of Amur leopards by 50% over the past decade as mentioned before.

“This is a monumental achievement, proving that conservation works and our vision to build a world where all life thrives can be realized. We only need to maintain the course, and ultimately, we will succeed,” they added.

It’s unlikely these little ones will ever see their homeland in Siberia—the logistics and risks would be daunting. Furthermore, growing up in San Diego, one of the finest year-round climates in the US with food available every day, is a far cry from the frozen mountains of Eastern Russia where a leopard might go four days without eating.

Their job is to hold down the genetic fort, so to speak, and inspire visitors to the zoo who might be inclined to take action on behalf of a beautiful cat they will likely never see in the wild, native to a nation thousands of miles away.

California firefighters rescue dog stuck in car engine



Firefighters in California came to the rescue of a small dog that climbed into the engine of a car and became stuck.

The Lodi Fire Department said a couple stopped to try to catch a dog they spotted running loose on a busy street, but the spooked canine fled under their vehicle and climbed up into the engine compartment.

"Crews used jacks and stabilization devices to secure the vehicle and then dismantled part of the engine until they were able to free her," the department said in an Instagram post.

The dog was taken back to Station 1 for a bath before being transferred to Lodi Animal Services.

The department said the dog is now at the city's shelter waiting to be claimed by an owner.

Winning...
Mathematician reveals how you can increase your chance to win the lottery



Garibaldi advised that picking sequential numbers could be the route that helps players’ chances, though he joked saying it won’t actually “increase your odds of winning.”

“So many sequential numbers help you not share the jackpot, which is good.”

Florida man Richard Lustig won the lottery 4 times in his hometown for $1,038,499.92 by picking sequential numbers.

In Lustig’s book, “Learn How to Increase Your Chances of Winning the Lottery”, ranked #3 on Amazon’s self-help book list in 2013, he breaks down his sequential-numbers method that can be used for any type of lottery game (scratch-off tickets or number games) in any country or state.

Lustig also re-invested his lottery earnings back into the lottery to buy more tickets — using his “golden sequential” strategy.

Another method Garibaldi revealed for hitting the lottery was to pick numbers in the four-digit, six-way box scheme.

“You’re gonna bet on a four-digit number with repeated digits, like 1122, or 1212, and if you bet a six-way box, it bets all the six possible ways of writing a number with two ones in it and two twos in it,” he shared.

“And if you do that, your odds of winning are 1/1667, and in most states, if you hit that, if you win that bet, you will win $800 which means you gotta go to a lottery office.”
What do you think? Post a comment.

Garibaldi said it isn’t a recipe for making money but it’s a recipe for “getting to that lottery office with the least amount of effort.”

The expert also noted that choosing tickets in the states that sell the fewest could help a player out as well.

https://nypost.com/2023/04/06/mathemati ... e-lottery/

[HogwartsExpress]

Human bones find turns out to be toy pirate skeleton with parrot




A pile of human bones reported to police turned out to be a toy model of Captain Hook - complete with his trusty pet parrot and a hook for a hand.

A member of the public reported the "suspicious incident" in the Long Eaton area of Derbyshire on Wednesday.

Police said one of its "brave" officers - who had a bone to pick - found the discovery was of a more humerus nature.

A picture of the toy skeleton, which was missing an arm and its bottom half, was shared by police on Facebook.

The Long Eaton Police safer neighbourhood team (SNT) said it was "always better to be safe than sorry", and urged the public to "report any suspicious incident".

A spokesperson for Derbyshire Police later added: "The force was called by a concerned member of the public who reported they had found what appeared to be a human skeleton in a bush in their garden.

"Due to the nature of what had been called into the force, an officer attended the home, where it was found that the skeleton was in fact a plastic toy pirate skeleton.

"The call was made in good faith and officers left the toy to be disposed of by the homeowner."

src: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-derbyshire-65201349