[PennySerenade]

First bout of 30 degree heat could hit Toronto by the long weekend



TORONTO -- Move over, spring. It's going to be looking and feeling a lot more like summer in the Greater Toronto Area by the end of the week.

Temperatures are on the rise across southern Ontario, with highs forecast in the mid twenties through mid-week. Humidity will start to build, as well.

By Friday or Saturday, Toronto could hit 30 degrees for the first time this year – just in time for the May long weekend and the unofficial start to summer.

Records to beat on those days are around 32 and 31 degrees.

The seasonal average, or "norm" for this time of year is around 20 C.

The month started off on a bit of a cool an unsettled note in Toronto. May 13 was the first time the city had hit 20 degrees since April 10th.

May is now also trending below normal when it comes to rainfall amounts.



So far, Toronto has picked up seven millimeters of rain this month. Normally, the city would collect around 76 mm of rain in May.

Aside from a slight risk of thunderstorms Saturday and Sunday, there is no soaking rain in the forecast this week.

If you're already looking for relief from the heat, temperatures are expected to return to more seasonal values on Victoria Day Monday.

Whoo Hoo! Happy Victoria Day Everyone!

[hija]

The new ‘big five’ was announced



It was gun-toting trophy hunters who coined the phrase the ‘big five’ while stalking the savannahs of Africa. They used it as the collective term for lions, leopards, rhino, Cape buffalo and elephants, which they considered the hardest animals to hunt. The name caught on, now the big five is the highlight of most African safaris.

However, this week a new big five was announced. The idea being to subvert hunting connotations and create a set of species that can be promoted as ambassadors for conservation.

More than 50,000 people voted for the animals they most wanted to shoot – with a camera, not a gun – as part of the New Big Five project. The crowning species (elephant, lion, polar bear, gorilla and tiger) are all listed as either critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable.

Primatologist Dr Jane Goodall said: “These five animals are such beautiful and remarkable species, and are wonderful ambassadors for the world’s wildlife. So many [species] face threats to their survival. If we work together, we can stop this happening.”

[goldie0608]

High schoolers start candy business to fund college education



While they were stuck at home last year during the pandemic, Virginia high school seniors Sithiya Reshmee and Farah Bahr decided to start a candy company — even though they knew nothing about making candy.

"Our first batch of chocolate covered strawberries, it was not good," said Bahr.

The two learned by trial and error.

"We watched a lot of TikTok videos on how to package," said Reshmee. "So TikTok, thank you so much for that."

"It helped us a lot," Bahr added.

The pair didn't just need something to do, they needed money because their parents lost jobs during the pandemic.

"I was definitely thinking about saving up for college," Bahr said. "My parents, they pay for too much."

Fast forward a year and their business, F&R Sweets, is the bomb. The cocoa bomb, that is. It's one of their best-sellers.

"We had this huge order and we only had one, like, mold to make it with. And it was like an order for 50 cocoa bombs and we stayed up till like 1 a.m. making these cocoa bombs," Reshmee said.

They pulled it off, even though they had school and homework.

"I feel accomplished in a way for an 18-year-old. And that's like really big. I feel like I made my parents really proud," Reshmee said.

They each earned enough money to help their families, which may be the sweetest part of it all.

South Carolina angler lands 173-pound spinner shark for state record



A South Carolina woman captured a state record when she landed a spinner shark that weighed in at a staggering 173 pounds, 5 ounces.

Nikki Colwell, 27, a teacher at Berea High School in Greenville County, said she received a certificate this week from Gov. Henry McMaster verifying that the spinner shark she reeled in about 8 miles off the coast of Edisto was a new state record.

Colwell said she had been fishing with her father April 18 when she reeled in the massive shark, and they decided to make the trip to the Charleston Harbor Marina to see if it beat the state record of 171 pounds.

The 7 1/2-foot shark tipped the scales at 173 pounds, 5 ounces.

Colwell said setting a state record is the culmination of a longtime goal.

"Every year I would tell my mom, 'This summer I'm going to catch a record,'" she told the Greenville News.

Colwell said her next goal is to break the state record for largemouth bass.

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/05/19 ... 621455441/

[stanley123]

Florida girl, 11, who fended off attempted kidnapper, credits slime, ‘Law & Order’ with helping catch suspect



An 11-year-old Florida girl seen on viral video fending off a man who allegedly tried to kidnap her from a bus stop earlier this week has credited toy slime and "Law & Order: SVU" with helping to catch the suspect.

The girl detailed her quick thinking in an interview with the "Today" show on Thursday.

"The man got out of his vehicle holding a knife, came towards me and I tried to run but he caught me," the girl told the outlet.

Video shared by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday shows the girl waiting alone for a school bus in West Pensacola at around 7 a.m. that morning when a white SUV pulls up. A man can be seen jumping out and charging at the girl, who tries to run.

After a brief struggle, the suspect is seen leaving the girl and running back to his vehicle.

At the time the suspect charged her, the girl said she had been playing with homemade blue slime – something she knew she could use as evidence thanks to her favorite TV show, "Law & Order: SVU."

"I was able to get the slime onto his upper arm and a little bit on his lower arm," she said. "I knew that might be better evidence if the cops do find him."

The girl attempted to run away when the suspect exited his vehicle and charged at her. (Escambia County Sheriff’s Office )

Escambia County Sheriff Chip W. Simmons had told reporters at a press conference Tuesday night that the suspect was found with the slime still on his arms.

"The victim at the time of the attempted abduction was playing with blue slime as a toy," Simmons said. "She had blue slime and it was all on her hands. The suspect when we caught him had blue slime all over his own arms."

But it was more than just a TV show and toy slime that helped save the girl, according to Tampa-based martial arts instructor Anthony Kuntz, who told FOX13 Tampa that by fighting back the 11-year-old had "bought enough time to save herself."

"She was such a hard target that this person became afraid, he understood there was a time constraint to be able to take this little girl, so he had to leave," he said.

Jared Paul Stanga, 30, was arrested Tuesday afternoon. Deputies found his arms still covered in blue slime. He was charged with attempted kidnapping of a child under 13, aggravated assault and battery.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/florida-girl-attempted-kidnapper-slime-law-order
_________________________________________________________________________

Mariska Hargitay responds to girl who used tip from 'SVU' to fight off kidnapper
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mariska-hargitay-responds-girl-who-used-tip-svu-fight-kidnapper-n1268030

[lush]

Psychedelic Fungus Causes Cicadas’ Butts to Fall Off and Takes Their Place
May 19, 2021*

• Nature, we love you, but please tone it down a bit with the freakiness.

Fascinating or terrifying times are approaching in several U.S. states, depending on how much you like bugs. Brood X cicadas are about to emerge from the ground.

In case you don’t know what we’re talking about, Brood X is a brood of periodical cicadas in America. These bugs spend 17 years in the ground as nymphs before they emerge as adults to mate.

There are a total of 15 cicada broods in eastern U.S. Out of all of them, Brood X is by far the largest.

That means that billions upon billions of cicadas are about to take flight and blacken the skies. But what these insects don’t realize is that their butts – and they themselves – are in mortal danger.

Allow us to introduce Massospora cicadina. It’s a funky little fungus that parasitizes with gruesome results.

Namely, it makes their butts fall off. And then the fungus replaces it with its own fungal mass.

Or should we say fungal ass? No, we probably shouldn’t.



Butts and Drugs

The Massospora infection in a cicada begins innocently enough. The spores make their way into the cicada’s body, either through food or air.

The horror begins soon after, though. The fungus starts eating away at the cicada’s insides, munching on its tissues until its abdomen cracks.

That’s when its butt falls clean off. This is the fungus’ golden opportunity – it grows a white chunk of spores and deposits it in place of the missing badonkadonk.

Don’t feel too sorry for the cicada, though. It hasn’t even noticed that any of this has happened, because it’s high out of its skull.

You see, the Massospora produces the same chemical that magic mushrooms do, called psilocybin. In humans, psilocybin causes a distorted sense of time and reality, hallucinations, an intense sense of unity with the universe, and increased suggestibility.

So, you can only imagine how the chemical affects cicadas. On top of psilocybin, researchers have even found infected cicadas that had amphetamines in their system.

This cocktail of mind-bending drugs essentially allows the fungus to take full control of the cicada. It becomes a willing, zombified puppet of its new fungal overlord.

‘Gender-bending Zombie Fungus’

But why would the fungus do all this, you ask? For the same reason that the cicadas emerged from the ground – reproduction.

Since the cicada doesn’t understand that it’s infected, it will go on about its usual mating behavior. Of course, without genitals, it can’t carry on its lineage – but the fungus can.

Basically, it’s a fungal STD. Yuck.

“Really what they’re doing is spreading these spores all over the place. It’s a sexually transmitted fungus,” said John Lill, chair of biology and a cicada specialist at George Washington University.

“They engage in normal courtship behavior, yet their abdomen is a big fungal mass. Instead, the attempted copulation results in spreading the fungus even more,” he explained.

Lill says normal courtship behavior, but that’s the case only with female cicadas. The males actually start behaving altogether differently.

Before we get to that, a quick 101 on cicada flirting. The male cicada produces its famous buzzing noise to attract females, who – if receptive to mating – will flick their wings in a specific pattern.

But fungus-infected males don’t only buzz. They also start moving their wings like the females do, which makes them attract both the hottest chicks and the hunkiest dudes of the cicada world.

It’s great for the fungus, because now it can spread to twice as many bugs.

“It’s this gender-bending, death-zombie fungus,” Lill summarized.

All Hail the Worm… All Hail the Worm…

The Massospora infestation in cicadas is nothing new, though. It happens with every cicada emergence, because just like the cicadas, the fungal spores lie dormant before it’s time to get busy.

Neither is Massospora the only parasite that takes over the minds and bodies of bugs. There’s a whole slew of them out there, and all of them are equally creepy.

For example, the kamikaze horsehair worm. This cooked spaghetti-looking thing infests crickets and grasshoppers that have acquired it through infected mayfly or mosquito larvae.

Once the worm is ready to breed, it takes over the cricket’s central nervous system. It forces the insect to find the nearest body of water and hop in – condemning it to drown.

That’s if it has time to drown. As soon as the cricket is in the water, the worm bursts out of its host and squirts its eggs into the water.

Then there’s the green-banded broodsac, another kind of worm with a particularly disgusting name. This little guy, however, takes over snails.

When a snail comes into contact with infected bird poop, the worm enters it and crawls into its eyestalks. This causes a horrific effect.

The eyestalks swell to a grotesque size, become bright green in color, and begin to pulsate and squirm like yummy, yummy caterpillars. The broodsac steers its now-mindless host to a sunny spot high up on a rock or a branch.

It’s just the kind of place any snail in its senses would avoid, because there they will inevitably get eaten by birds. Once inside the bird, the worm reproduces, and the cycle of terror begins anew.

Luckily, there aren’t any mind-altering horrors bothering humans. Now, anyone reading this, go to an open field during the next full moon and stand perfectly still.

It’ll all be fine.

[Fivetide]

Monkey business: Researchers find origins of Florida colony


In this undated photo provided by Deborah Williams, a Vervet monkey is seen in Dania Beach, Fla. Williams, is the lead author of a study that determined where a colony of monkeys that has lived for about 70 years in urban South Florida came from. In 1948 a group of monkeys escaped from the Dania Chimpanzee Farm. Most were captured, but some disappeared into the mangrove swamp. The study determined that 41 descendants live in the area today. (Deborah Williams via AP)

A colony of monkeys has lived for about 70 years in urban South Florida, near jets taking off from a nearby airport and fuel storage tanks.

No one was quite sure where they came from. Until now.

Researchers at Florida Atlantic University say they have traced the colony’s origins to the Dania Chimpanzee Farm. The South Florida SunSentinel reported Wednesday there was a monkey escape from the farm in 1948, with most of the monkeys recaptured. But not all of them.

The rest disappeared into a mangrove swamp, where their descendants live today. The FAU team said the colony currently numbers about 41.

The FAU researchers traced the monkeys’ genetics and concluded they were brought to Florida from Africa. The monkeys were sold mainly for medical and military research.

One thing is certain: Residents of the Dania Beach area where the monkeys live are extremely protective of them.

“The community still loves them,” said Deborah “Missy” Williams, lead author of the study, who is in the FAU Biological Sciences Department. “They care for them. They want them protected.”

Williams has founded the Dania Beach Vervet Project to protect them and is trying to raise money to buy land to serve as a sanctuary.

[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
FRIDAY MAY 21
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 -5)
2:00 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]

A fin-tastic find! Dolphin with dazzling WHITE skin leaves whale watchers stunned after making a rare appearance off Southern California

The white dolphin was spotted among a pod of 40 Risso's dolphins
It remains unclear whether it's a true albino or whether it has leucism
The crew said they had only encountered the dolphin twice before, once last summer and once in 2017

A dolphin with dazzling white skin left whale watchers stunned when it made a rare appearance off the Southern California coast.

The creature was spotted among a pod of 40 Risso's dolphins by the crew of a wildlife-watching vessel.

It remains unclear whether the dolphin is a true albino or whether it has leucism – a catch-all term for a variety of conditions which cause animals to lose colour.


A dolphin with dazzling white skin left whale watchers stunned when it made a rare appearance off the coast of Southern California

Jessica Roame, education manager at Newport Coastal Adventure, which operates the vessel, said: 'Crew members made an incredible and rare sighting.

'Their boat discovered a pod of 40 Risso's dolphins just three miles off Laguna Beach. Among this group of dolphins was a stunning white adult.'

She continued: 'Risso's dolphins are born dark grey and tend to lighten up as they age.


The creature was spotted among a pod of 40 Risso's dolphins by the crew of a wildlife-watching vessel

'This is due, in part, to the many scratches they receive from the teeth of other Risso's dolphins – which is typical social behaviour.

'It's also do to with with the scarring from the beaks and tentacles of squid, which is their main food source.

'However our white Risso's dolphin was completely unique in colour!'

In photos and videos of the sighting, the dolphin is seen as a ghostly white presence among its darker peers.

Its colour evokes the deathly white sperm whale of literary legend, Moby Dick.

Sperm whales and Risso's dolphins are closely related, both being cetaceans.


In photos of the sighting, the dolphin is seen as a ghostly white presence among its darker peers

However its unclear whether the dolphin is a true albino like Moby Dick, or whether it has leucism – a catch-all term for a variety of conditions which cause animals to lose colour.

'While it's unknown if the dolphin is a true albino or if it may be leucistic, it certainly stands out from the other normally-coloured Risso's dolphins, and is easily spotted on the water,' said Jessica.

The crew said they had only encountered the dolphin twice before, once last summer and once in 2017.

Risso's dolphins can grow up to 13 feet long and typically travel in groups of up to 50, though sometimes 'super-pods' can form incorporating thousands of individuals.

They have an estimated lifespan of at least 35 years.

Newport Coastal Adventure runs daily whale and wildlife watching tours of the Southern California coast all year round.

Source with a video

Gujarat Govt Officer Said He Can’t Come To Office As He Is Vishnu's Avatar

In another bizarre episode of ‘this happens only in India’, a government official from Gujarat has claimed that he is Kalki, the tenth incarnation of Lord Vishnu, and won’t be able to come to office as he is conducting a ‘penance’ to ‘change the global conscience’.

He also said that due to his penance, the country is getting good rains. Rameshchandra Fefar is a superintendent engineer with the Sardar Sarovar Punarvasvat Agency (SSPA), and was recently served with a show-cause notice.

To which, he said, “Even if you don’t believe, I am indeed the tenth incarnation of Lord Vishnu and I will prove it in coming days. I realized that I am Kalki Avatar when I was in my office in March 2010. Since then, I am having divine powers.”

Fefar is in his late 50s and stated that he couldn’t come to the office as he is extremely busy with penance.

The two-page reply also stated, “I am doing penance at home by entering into the fifth dimension to change the global conscience....I can’t do such penance sitting in office.”

He claimed that due to his ongoing penance, India is getting good rainfall for the last 19 years.

He said, the SSPA should decide, “whether it’s more important for the agency to make me sit in the office and do time pass or do some concrete work to save the country from drought. Just because I am Kalki Avatar, India got good rains.”

As per the notice, Fefar only attended his Vadodara office for 16 days during the last eight months.

The notice read as, “Such unauthorized absence does not suit a gazetted officer. Work of the agency is getting hampered because of your absence.”

However, we all know what Fefar replied after the notice came.

https://www.mensxp.com/social-hits/news ... ataar.html

[Fatima99]

You Can Get Paid £140,000 A Year To Warm Beds



So the saying goes, do something you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life. Or something like that.

Well, one thing that unites us all, no matter our political affiliations, our football teams or even our favoured condiment (ketchup), is the love we share for beds.

So if you're looking for a new career, how about becoming an official bed warmer?

The average salary for this fairly cushy number is an incredible $200,000 (£144,000) per year.

This might be one of the most bizarre jobs of all - not just because it's unusual, but also you could pay far less for a hot water bottle or electric blanket.

So yes, a 'bed warmer' does exactly what it says on the tin. Apparently, some people will shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars to get someone to warm their bed up for them.

Obviously this varies depending on the location, company and experience - but even so, imagine if your job was to lay down in a bed?!

But it's not the only interesting job going out there.

Let's have a look at some of the other career choices on offer:

Online Dating Writer

Average pay: $24 (£17) per hour

Ever wondered why Tinder doesn't work for you? Maybe it's your profile...

Just kidding, whoever gets to be with you is a lucky, lucky person. Nonetheless, if you're worried your profile isn't up to scratch, turns out there are people whose primary job is to write them for others.

If that sounds like your ideal job, it pays well and the positions are from home. Who knew Cupid was a freelancer?

Professional Mourner

Average pay: $100,000 (£71,800) per year

According to CheatSheet, some people stand in as mourners for funerals while others might be bridesmaids who would have been.

Reckon you could do that? Then you'd be in for a fair bit of pocket.

Hippotherapist

Average pay: $31 (£22) per hour

Surprisingly, this job has nothing to do with hippos - it's actually about riding horses.

Also known as 'equine-assisted therapy', this practice, as noted by WikiPedia, involves a variety of treatments that comprise activities with horses and other equines to help people with physical and mental health.

So as well as helping people to recover and getting to hang out with horses, you'll earn a pretty penny along the way. Win, win, win!
Veterinary Acupuncturist

Average pay: $35 (£25) per hour

Acupuncturists, listen up - your jobs apply to animals too.

Hippos, horses, herrings etc. - they get the same benefits from the treatment as humans do.

Who knew?

"You would use needles, tools and techniques such as massages, blood-moving approaches, frequency approaches and polarity devices," says Indeed.

"This job requires you to have training and certification in acupuncture. A love for animals is also important for succeeding in the role."

Pool Technician

Average pay: $37,440 (£27,000) per year

Definitely not the highest salary on this list, but imagine making that much money for cleaning someone's swimming pool?

Iopool points out that pool services cost, on average, two times more than it would to do it yourself.

You could easily sort it on your own, but many people choose to get someone else in to do the job. And they're more than happy to fork out a decent amount of cash in the process.

Golf Ball Retrieval

Average pay: $100,000 (£72,000) per year

Even if you find golf really boring, you wouldn't be so disinterested if you found out how much 'golf ball retrievers' earned.

Imagine earning 100k each year for jumping into ponds and recovering balls for people who didn't quite hit their target?

Boring, sure - but the money would leave you straight on course to realising your dreams.
Computer Hacker

Average pay: $115,000 (£83,000) per year

Most people have a bad view of computer hackers, but actually they are super smart and necessary in the right situation.

For instance, they can be useful when testing the security of software, aka they can help ensure no 'real' hackers have access to a company's network.

Obviously this is the kind of role where you need quite recognised skills, alongside a degree in some sort of technological field.

Reckon you fit the bill? Well then you could be in for a decent wage.

Colour Expert

Average pay: $18-$23 (£13-£17) per hour

What might be most surprising about this job is that you don't even need a college degree - just training.

As outlined by Indeed: "A colour expert is a job where you use colour psychology, trends, statistics and theory to suggest the best colours for homes, company buildings, brand logos and more."

It makes sense that it helps if you're a creative person.

Master Marijuana Extractor

Average pay: $50,135-$84,465 (£36,100-£61,000) per year

The weed industry is having a moment, and so are the people who are in it.

In fact, being a so-called master marijuana extractor could earn you some big bucks.

Still not sure what the job entails? It's basically the cannabis version of being a brewer - those who hold this title process weed and hemp to create oils, concentrates and edibles.

You'll have to hold a degree in a related field, so if this sounds like your dream job, might be time to get applying!

[prokroustis]

Big cat 'spotted' in Wales 'at least four foot tall and covered 50 metres in five seconds'

A BIG CAT is thought to have been spotted in a North Wales village, marking the latest sighting of a creature not commonly found in Britain.

The suspected big cat was filmed on April 9 and reported to Puma Watch North Wales. There has been a rising number of similar sightings across England and Wales in recent months.

Daniel, who believes he saw the beast in Frodsham on Tarvin Road one night in April, described it as “very dark brown or grey".

His report said: “About 100m in the distance I saw a large animal at least four foot [tall].

“I stopped to try and get more of a look through the bush clearing, but me stopping seemed to make it alert and it was so quickly aware, it very smoothly ran off back into the forest behind uphill.


“The run was very cat-like as I own a cat myself, but it covered about 50 metres in five to 10 seconds very efficiently without breaking a sweat.”



On March 18, Chris Bebbington shared footage from motion-activated CCTV in his garden.

The camera overlooked a paddock in Cheshire.

He and his wife Wendy triggered the camera while working after Mr Bebbington discovered a dead chicken in the middle of the field.

The footage shows a mysterious black animal carrying the chicken in its mouth.

Three seconds in, it enters from the top right before dropping it and sprinting across the paddock.


Big cat news: It followed CCTV footage in Cheshire showing a beast carrying a dead chicken

According to LeaderLive, Mr Bebbington said he thought the dead chicken was “a bit of rubbish that was blown over”.

He added: “I was intrigued by how big it was and also how it moved - it moves slowly and then all of a sudden goes really, really quickly.

“I think that, whatever it was, for the first part of the run it had the chicken in its mouth.

“A fox set the camera off about a week later. You couldn't see it very well but it moved very differently from this animal.”

Tony Jones, founder of Puma Watch Wales, says Cheshire is becoming a hot spot for big cat sightings.

He recently set up an interactive map using OpenStreetMap to show where big cats have been reported in North Wales, Cheshire and Shropshire.

He added: "Multiple sightings have also occurred in Chester in recent months, including when a similar animal was caught on camera in Chester Meadows and when one animal was spotted twice in the same night behind Asda.

"Cheshire Police announced they were investigating whether 'a larger predator' was responsible for a series of sheep killings, saying that 'a large, black-cat type animal' had been spotted nearby.

"Big cats such as pumas are solitary with a hunting range of dozens of miles."

Mr Jones went on to claim: "They’re mostly spotted in Snowdonia and the Clwydian hills but reports of sightings in urban locations some distance from these areas are becoming more frequent."

https://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/14 ... -watch-ont

'The Eternal Couple': Photographer Captures Magical Photo Of Leopard Couple

A photographer in Kabini had been tracking these beautiful cats for a while and found that they were a couple.



Photographer Mithun Hunugund specializes in big cats. And his most popular photo is of Saaya and Cleopatra.

This is what he wrote about them.

The Eternal Couple

"Saaya and Cleopatra have been courting since 4 years now and whenever they are together it’s a sight to behold. The forest comes alive as they trot nonchalantly in his fabled kingdom. Usually in the courting pairs generally it is the Male who takes charge and moves around with the female following close behind. But with this couple it was definitely Cleo who was in charge while the Panther followed.

This was shot on a surreal winter morning when a single Deer alarm led me to this breathtaking sight."

https://www.sunnyskyz.com/blog/3280/-Th ... ard-Couple

[PennySerenade]

Toronto to build new downtown park in surface lot on Richmond Street as part of wider redevelopment



TORONTO -- The city has announced a series of interconnected moves that will allow it to relocate a downtown fire station and use the sale of the land that it stands on to help pay for a much needed new park nearby.

The plan, which was announced by Mayor John Tory during a virtual press conference on Friday morning, will see the city relocate the fire station that currently stands at 260 Adelaide Street into the south-facing podium of Metro Hall.

It will then sell the land that the fire station stands on to a developer, which plans to build a new high-rise residential building on the site that will include 196 affordable units alongside 456 market-rate units.


The proceeds from that sale will, in turn, help the city cover an estimated $62 million in costs related to the relocation of the fire station and a wider development planned for the area that will include the creation of a new 2,245 square metre park in a surface lot at 229 Richmond Street that it acquired back in 2019.

The city is also planning to create a new three-level, 144-space underground parking lot beneath the park that will be operated by the Toronto Parking Authority. That will cost more than $16 million but will also be covered by the proceeds from the sale of 260 Adelaide Street.

“Prior to the formation of CreateTO (the city’s real estate division) one of two things would have happened: the existing fire station might have just been torn down and rebuilt with a new fire station on that site or it would have just been sold to the highest price for somebody and developed and that would have been that and the opportunity to really put together a package of things that are going to be an immense benefit on a whole bunch of fronts across city life would have been missed out on,” Tory said during the press conference.

“This is a multiple win project that is imaginative, it is sensible and it is good city building and that is something to celebrate.”

Tory said that the fire station at 260 Adelaide Street was at the end of its life-cycle and would have needed to be overhauled in the near future if the city had opted to keep it.

By unlocking the value of that site the city will now be able to pay for a new “state-of-the-art” fire station in Metro Hall that carries an estimated cost of $7.35 million.



The developer, meanwhile, will pay for the construction of the new park in exchange for zoning exemptions, otherwise known as Section 37 contributions. Tory said the developer has also agreed to include a new EMS post as part of the new high-rise at no cost to the city as well as 10,000 square feet of community space.

“We are taking a surface level parking lot and turning that into a new relocated state-of-the-art fire station, a new paramedic post, 196 new units of affordable housing, a significant park in King-Spadina which is the fastest growing neighbourhood in all of North America, an enhanced childcare facility, 10,000 square feet of community space and below ground parking lot,” he said. “To make this even better unlocking the capital value of the Adelaide Street site will fund the majority of this work including a portion of the acquisition cost of the Richmond Street property.”

According to a staff report, the fire station will be relocated by the latter half of 2024.

It is not clear when the new park will be in place.

The announcement comes just days after the city’s plan to build a 21-acre park above a series of downtown rail tracks was dealt a massive blow when a provincial tribunal sided with a developer that intends to build a mixed-use community on the site.

Tory reiterated his disappointment with that decision during Friday’s news conference, calling it a “decision by an unelected board of people who substituted their judgement for the city government.”

“There is not enough parkland now given the number of people moving downtown. And the fact we have all these people living downtown is a huge plus, it is a huge plus that attracts people here from around the world. But we haven’t done everything we need to do on parkland and I am determined to make sure we do that,” he said.

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An orchestra was revived after 66 years



Live music has been one of the biggest casualties of the pandemic. But there was a glimmer of good news for the sector this week with the announcement that the Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra (YSO) is to be brought back to life after 66 years.

The YSO is being revived to support musicians in northern England as the country emerges from lockdown. The orchestra was originally established in Leeds in 1947, but disbanded eight years later.

Conductor Ben Crick told the BBC that its return could help to support struggling artists in the north and provide a “cultural voice for Yorkshire”.