Tuesday, November 20, 2007

would raid even stop it, or just make it mad?

Scientists find fossil of enormous bug
LONDON - This was a bug you couldn't swat and definitely couldn't step on. British scientists have stumbled across a fossilized claw, part of an ancient sea scorpion, that is of such large proportion it would make the entire creature the biggest bug ever. How big? Bigger than you, and at 8 feet long as big as some Smart cars.

The discovery in 390-million-year-old rocks suggests that spiders, insects, crabs and similar creatures were far larger in the past than previously thought, said Simon Braddy, a University of Bristol paleontologist and one of the study's three authors.

"This is an amazing discovery," he said Tuesday.

"We have known for some time that the fossil record yields monster millipedes, super-sized scorpions, colossal cockroaches, and jumbo dragonflies. But we never realized until now just how big some of these ancient creepy-crawlies were," he said.

The research found a type of sea scorpion that was almost half a yard longer than previous estimates and the largest one ever to have evolved.

The study, published online Tuesday in the Royal Society's journal Biology Letters, means that before this sea scorpion became extinct it was much longer than today's average man is tall.

Prof. Jeorg W. Schneider, a paleontologist at Freiberg Mining Academy in southeastern Germany, said the study provides valuable new information about "the last of the giant scorpions."

Schneider, who was not involved in the study, said these scorpions "were dominant for millions of years because they didn't have natural enemies. Eventually they were wiped out by large fish with jaws and teeth."

Braddy's partner paleontologist Markus Poschmann found the claw fossil several years ago in a quarry near Prum, Germany, that probably had once been an ancient estuary or swamp.

"I was loosening pieces of rock with a hammer and chisel when I suddenly realized there was a dark patch of organic matter on a freshly removed slab. After some cleaning I could identify this as a small part of a large claw," said Poschmann, another author of the study.

"Although I did not know if it was more complete or not, I decided to try and get it out. The pieces had to be cleaned separately, dried, and then glued back together. It was then put into a white plaster jacket to stabilize it," he said.

Eurypterids, or ancient sea scorpions, are believed to be the extinct aquatic ancestors of today's scorpions and possibly all arachnids, a class of joint-legged, invertebrate animals, including spiders, scorpions, mites and ticks.

Braddy said the fossil was from a Jaekelopterus Rhenaniae, a kind of scorpion that lived only in Germany for about 10 million years, about 400 million years ago.

He said some geologists believe that gigantic sea scorpions evolved due to higher levels of oxygen in the atmosphere in the past. Others suspect they evolved in an "arms race" alongside their likely prey, fish that had armor on their outer bodies.

Braddy said the sea scorpions also were cannibals that fought and ate one other, so it helped to be as big as they could be.

"The competition between this scorpion and its prey was probably like a nuclear standoff, an effort to have the biggest weapon," he said. "Hundreds of millions of years ago, these sea scorpions had the upper hand over vertebrates — backboned animals like ourselves."

That competition ended long ago.

But the next time you swat a fly, or squish a spider at home, Braddy said, try to "think about the insects that lived long ago. You wouldn't want to swat one of those."

Saturday, November 17, 2007

do you like to play with... poop? what?!?!

The 25 Most Baffling Toys From Around the World
These are weirdest, most ill-conceived toys from around the globe. If you're about to say that they're "weird" only because of our own xenophobic ignorance of other cultures, well, we have two words for you: Poop toys.

You'll see.

ancient cow-vacuum

Dinosaur found with vacuum-cleaner mouth
Fri Nov 16, 5:44 PM ET

WASHINGTON - A dinosaur with a strange jaw designed to hoover-up food grazed in what is now the Sahara Desert 110 million years ago. Remains of the creature that "flabbergasted" paleontologist Paul Sereno went on display Thursday at the headquarters of the National Geographic Society, where they will remain until March.

Sereno and colleagues recovered, assembled and named the creature — Nigersaurus taqueti — that he said seems to break all the rules, yet still existed.

"The biggest eureka moment was when I was sitting at the desk with this jaw," he said. "I was sitting down just looking at it and saw a groove and ... realized that all the teeth were up front."

It's not normally a good idea to have all the teeth in the front of the jaw — hundreds in this case.

Sure, "it's great for nipping," Sereno said, "but that's not where you want do your food processing."

"That was an amazing moment, we knew we had something no one had ever seen before," Sereno recalled.

Sereno, a National Geographic explorer-in-residence and paleontologist at the University of Chicago, said the first evidence of Nigersaurus was found in the 1990s and now researchers have been able to reconstruct its skull and skeleton.

While Nigersaurus' mouth is shaped like the wide intake slot of a vacuum, it has something lacking in most cleaners — hundreds of tiny, sharp teeth to grind up its food.

The 30-foot-long Nigersaurus had a feather-light skull held close to the ground to graze like an ancient cow. Sereno described it as a younger cousin of the North American dinosaur Diplodicus.

Its broad muzzle contained more than 50 columns of teeth lined up tightly along the front edge of it's jaw. Behind each tooth more were lined up as replacements when one broke off.

Using CT scans the researchers were able study the inside of the animal's skull where the orientation of canals in the organ that helps keep balance disclosed the habitual low pose of the head, they reported.

Nigersaurus also had a backbone consisting of more air than bone.

"The vertebrae are so paper-thin that it is difficult to imagine them coping with the stresses of everyday use — but we know they did it, and they did it well," Jeffrey Wilson, assistant professor at the University of Michigan and an expedition team member, said in a statement.

The dinosaur's anatomy and lifestyle were to be detailed in the Nov. 21 issue of PLoS ONE, the online journal from the Public Library of Science, and in the December issue of National Geographic magazine.

The first bones of Nigersaurus were picked up in Niger in the 1950s by French paleontologists led by Philippe Taquet, but the species was not named at that time. Sereno and his team honored this early work by naming Nigersaurus taqueti after the nation where it was found and the French scientist.

The research was partly funded by National Geographic where, Sereno said, "you can see the hideous jaw elements in person."

ginormous, isn't it?

Incredible Comet Bigger than the Sun
Thu Nov 15, 10:45 AM ET

A comet that has delighted backyard astronomers in recent weeks after an unexpected eruption has now grown larger than the sun.

The sun remains by far the most massive object in the solar system, with an extended influence of particles that reaches all the planets. But the comparatively tiny Comet Holmes has released so much gas and dust that its extended atmosphere, or coma, is larger than the diameter of the sun. The comparison is clear in a new image.

"It continues to expand and is now the largest single object in the solar system," according to astronomers at the University of Hawaii.

The coma's diameter on Nov. 9 was 869,900 miles (1.4 million kilometers), based on measurements by Rachel Stevenson, Jan Kleyna and Pedro Lacerda of the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy. They used observations from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. The sun's diameter, stated differently by various sources and usually rounded to the nearest 100, is about 864,900 miles (1.392 million kilometers).

Separately, a new Hubble Space Telescope photo of the comet reveals an intriguing bow-tie structure around its nucleus.

The comet's coma—mostly microscopic particles—shines by reflecting sunlight.

See for yourself

Holmes is still visible to the naked eye as a fuzzy star anytime after dark, high in the northeast sky. You can find it by using this sky map. It is faintly visible from cities, and from dark country locations is truly remarkable.

"Right now, in a dark sky it appears as a very noticeable circular cloud," said Joe Rao, SPACE.com's Skywatching Columnist. Rao advises looking for the comet this weekend, before the moon becomes more of a factor. The comet will likely diminish in brightness yet remain visible for the next two to three weeks, he said.

"Over the next few weeks and months, the coma and tail are expected to expand even more while the comet will fade as the dust disperses," Stevenson and her colleagues write.

On Monday, Nov. 19, the comet will create a unique skywatching event with its see-through coma, according to the Web site Spaceweather.com: "The comet will glide by the star Mirfak [also called Alpha Persei] and appear to swallow it—a sight not to be missed."

A small telescope will reveal the fuzzy coma. Lacking a long tail characteristic of some great comets, however, Holmes is not the most dramatic object in the sky for casual observers.

Mystery outburst

Nobody knows why Holmes erupted, but it underwent a similar explosive brightening in 1892. The recent display, which began Oct. 24, brought the comet from visual obscurity to being one of the brighter objects in the night sky. It has since dimmed somewhat as the material races outward from the nucleus at roughly 1,100 mph (0.5 km/sec).

The Hawaiian astronomy team writes in a press statement: "This amazing eruption of the comet is produced by dust ejected from a tiny solid nucleus made of ice and rock, only 3.6 kilometers (roughly 2.2 miles) in diameter."

The new image from the Hawaiian observatory also shows a modest tail forming to one side, now just a fuzzy region to the lower-right. That's caused by the pressure of sunlight pushing on the gas and dust of the coma.

But the comet is so far away—149 million miles (240 million kilometers), or about 1.6 times the distance from Earth to the sun—that even Hubble can't resolve its nucleus.

The offset nature of the coma, seen in ground-based images, suggests "a large fragment broke off and subsequently disintegrated into tiny dust particles after moving away from the main nucleus," Hubble astronomers said in a statement today. The comet's distance, plus all the dust, prevent Hubble from seeing any fragments, however.

Monday, October 29, 2007

Friday, October 26, 2007

all he got was three years?

Man jailed for urinating on dying woman

I don't understand, nor do I know quite how to comment on this.

LONDON - A man who urinated on a disabled woman as she lay dying in the street while his friend filmed the incident was sentenced Friday to three years in prison.

Anthony Anderson, 27, was found guilty of the charge of outraging public decency in the attack on Christine Lakinski, 50, who collapsed in a street in Hartlepool, northeast England, in July.

Lakinski, who had physical and learning disabilities, fell and hit her head while walking home. A post mortem determined she died of pancreatic failure.

Prosecutors said Anderson, who was celebrating his birthday with friends, kicked Lakinski on the foot, poured a bowl of water over her, then urinated on her as a friend filmed the assault on a mobile phone. He also sprayed her with shaving foam in the attack which lasted half an hour.

Prosecuter Sue Jacobs said one of the group shouted "This is YouTube material" during the attack.

The group left Lakinski motionless on the sidewalk and called an ambulance about 20 minutes later after they got ready to go to a nightclub. Paramedics arrived around an hour after Lakinski collapsed and found no sign of life.

Anderson, a former soldier, pleaded guilty last month. At the end of the trial his lawyer, Paul Cleasby, apologized to Lakinski's family on behalf of his client.

"He cannot explain why he did it," Cleasby said.

Judge Peter Fox called the episode "a shockingly sad story."

"You violated this woman in an incredible way and the shocking nature of your acts over a prolonged period of time must mean that a prison sentence of greater length is appropriate in this case," he said in passing the sentence at Teesside Crown Court.

for my 200th post...

I heard on the radio this morning about a new fad people/children are doing. It's called Jenkem.

I won't go into detail about it here other than I am not sure there is anyway to police this recent problem. It's all natural and you don't grow it, you make it.

Here's another link about it.

I am at a loss as to what to say about this other than it just goes to show you what people will do who want to get high. Stupid is as stupid does. Talk about a new low. I would have never thought in a million years that people would actually want to do this. Disgusting doesn't even begin to describe this.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

what i heard on the radio today

On my drive into work I listen to 105.3, but when there are commercials I check out 102.1 and 103.3 for brief moments.
Upon switching over to 102.1, a woman called in and stated that when she got a little tipsy she told her husband, to whom she has been married a whopping 4-5 months, that she is unhappy with the size diamond she currently has and wants a larger one. After confessing what she said, she then mentioned that she discovered her husband's credit limit at the jewelry store is $8,000 and was upset he did not use the majority of it, if not the entire amount. She then boldly claimed that she is worth a larger diamond. All the while, she is making a stereotypical laugh after every sentence and lies by saying she's not materialistic.
I absolutely cannot stand women such as her. Women like her make my blood boil and make it difficult to keep my mouth shut. If I wasn't driving, I'd have called immediately and voiced my opinion on the matter.
Everything she said afterwards became moot as once she stated how selfish and sincerely materialistic she is, she already solidified her character and rendered any further comments on how he allegedly previously said he wanted to upgrade to a larger diamond in the future. If that were true, then there is no need for her to vocalize her disappointment in the size of her current ring.

Friday, October 19, 2007

here's what's wrong with people today?

Couple make burglar clean up at gunpoint
Before you read this, please know that it's the stupid burglar whom I am talking about. Once you read it, you will see what I mean.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - A burglar in Montgomery chose the wrong family to mess with, literally. Adrian and Tiffany McKinnon returned home on Tuesday after a week away to find that thieves had emptied almost everything the family of five owned, Tiffany McKinnon said through tears.

"Tears just rolled down my face as I walked in and saw everything gone and piles of trash all over my home," she said.

Adrian McKinnon sent his wife to see her sister while he inspected the piles left behind. As he walked back into the sunroom, a man walked through the back door straight into him, Tiffany McKinnon told the Montgomery Advertiser in a story Thursday.

"My husband Adrian caught the thief red-handed in our home," she said. "And what is even crazier, the man even had my husband's hat sitting right on his head."

Adrian McKinnon held the suspect, 33-year-old Tajuan Bullock, at gunpoint and told him to sit on the floor until he decided what to do.

"We made this man clean up all the mess he made, piles of stuff, he had thrown out of my drawers and cabinets onto the floor," Tiffany McKinnon said.

When police arrived, Bullock complained about being forced to clean the home at gunpoint.

"This man had the nerve to raise sand about us making him clean up the mess he made in my house," she said. "The police officer laughed at him when he complained and said anybody else would have shot him dead."

Capt. Huey Thornton, a police spokesman, said police arrested Bullock at 2 p.m. Tuesday on burglary and theft charges. He was being held in the Montgomery County Detention Facility on a $30,000 bond.

"The victims were lucky in this case to be able to catch the suspect in the act and hold him until police arrived," Thornton said.


I seriously cannot believe that this idiot, Tajuan Bullock, had the unbelievable nerve of complaining to police about what his victims made him do. The McKinnon's had every single legal right to kill him however they wished and all this punk can do is whine about how they made him clean up the mess he made while breaking the law?!?! If he did that, it might be real difficult for me to not shoot him in the kneecap while the police were standing right there. Honestly, I wouldn't shoot him, but I'd be tempted to literally pound his face in. I am glad to know the officer did laugh at his worthless ass. The only thing I would be concerned with is once this tool got out of prison, that he'd come back for revenge for making him out to be the little punk he is.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

intriguing

Scientists discover rare marine species
MANILA, Philippines - Scientists exploring a deep ocean basin in search of species isolated for millions of years found marine life believed to be previously undiscovered, including a tentacled orange worm and an unusual black jellyfish.

Project leader Dr. Larry Madin said Tuesday that U.S. and Philippine scientists collected about 100 different specimens in a search in the Celebes Sea south of the Philippines.

Madin, of the Massachusetts-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said the sea is at the heart of the "coral triangle" bordered by the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia — a region recognized by scientists as having a high degree of biological diversity.

The deepest part of the Celebes Sea is 16,500 feet. The team was able to explore to a depth of about 9,100 feet using a remotely operated camera.

"This is probably the center where many of the species evolved and spread to other parts of the ocean, so it's going back to the source in many ways," Madin told a group of journalists, government officials, students and U.S. Ambassador Kristie Kenney and her staff.

The project involved the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and National Geographic Magazine in cooperation with the Philippine government, which also provided the exploration ship.

The expedition was made up of more than two dozen scientists and a group from National Geographic, including Emory Kristof, the underwater photographer who was part of the team that found the wreckage of the Titanic in 1985.

The group returned to Manila on Tuesday after spending about two weeks in the Celebes Sea off Tawi-Tawi, the Philippines southernmost provincial archipelago nearly 700 miles south of Manila.

Madin said the specimens they collected included several possibly newly discovered species. One was a sea cucumber that is nearly transparent which could swim by bending its elongated body. Another was a black jellyfish found near the sea floor.

The most striking creature found was a spiny orange-colored worm that had 10 tentacles like a squid, Madin said. "We don't know what it is ... it might be something new," he said.

He said it would take "a few more weeks" of research to determine whether the species are newly discovered. He expects to release a report by early next month.

Madin said the Celebes Sea, being surrounded by islands and shallow reefs, is partially isolated now and may have been more isolated millions of years ago, leading scientists to believe that "there may be groups of organisms that have been contained and kept within" the basin since then.

"That makes it an interesting place to go and look to see what we might find," he said.

Monday, October 15, 2007

amazing

Most complete new giant dinosaur found in Patagonia

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazilian and Argentine paleontologists have discovered the largely complete fossil of a new species of giant dinosaur that roamed what is now northern Patagonia about 80 million years ago.

The herbivorous Futalognkosaurus dukei measured an estimated 105 feet to 112 feet from head to tail and was as high as a four-storey building. It is one of the three biggest dinosaurs yet found in the world.

"It's a new species, it's a new group," Argentine paleontologist Juan Porfiri told a news conference in Rio de Janeiro on Monday.

The find pointed to a new lineage of titanosaurs, with particularly bulky necks, he said.

"Its neck was very big in diameter, strong and huge."

Fossilized remains of an ecosystem from the same Late Cretaceous age, including well-preserved leaves and fish, were also found. The description was published in the latest issue of the annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.

Futalognkosaurus dukei's name is derived from the indigenous Mapuche language meaning "giant chief of the lizards," and the name of U.S. power company Duke Energy Corp, which financed a large part of the excavation in Argentina.

The fossil was 70 percent preserved, which compares to about 10 percent for other giant dinosaur finds in the world.

"It's among the biggest dinosaur finds and the most complete for a giant dinosaur. We have all vertebrae between the first of the neck to the first of the tail, which may allow us to reevaluate other dinosaurs," said Alexander Kellner, a researcher with the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro.

'LOST WORLD'

The dinosaur is part of a series of finds in the area, where the first fossils were discovered in 2000.

"The accumulation of fish and leaf fossils, as well as other dinosaurs around the find, is just something fantastic. Leaves and dinosaurs together is a great rarity," he told Reuters. "It's like a whole lost world for us."

He was referring to "The Lost World" by Arthur Conan Doyle, a classic tale set in a remote part of South America where a scientific expedition finds dinosaurs still roaming an isolated plateau.

Some of the leaves made part of the diet of the titanosaur and other specimens found there. The researchers said the fossilized ecosystem pointed to a warm and humid climate in Patagonia, which had forests during the Late Cretaceous period. The area is steppe-like now and almost bare of vegetation.

Researchers believe the carcass of the giant dinosaur, which died of unknown causes, its flesh devoured by predators, was washed into a nearby slow-flowing river, where it created a barrier, accumulating bones and leaves in its structure for many years until all became fossilized.

A fossil of a carnivorous theropod Megaraptor found at the site contained a complete and articulated arm with very large sickle-shaped claws. Previously, similar fragmented bones were interpreted as a foot, researchers said.

The joint Argentine-Brazilian project also works in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, where Kellner said an important find has been made but would be revealed at a later date.

Desert-like areas in Argentina are good for preserving fossils, while they are more difficult to find in the wetter soil in Brazil.

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Gryposaurus monumentensis

Duck-billed dinosaur amazes scientists
SALT LAKE CITY - Scientists are amazed at the chomping ability of a newly described duck-billed dinosaur. The herbivore's powerful jaw, more than 800 teeth and compact skull meant that no leaf, branch or bush would have been safe, they say.

"It really is like the Arnold Schwarzenegger of dinosaurs — it's all pumped up," said Scott Sampson, curator of the Utah Museum of Natural History.

The newly named Gryposaurus monumentensis, or hook-beaked lizard from the monument, was discovered near the Arizona line in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in 2002 by a volunteer at the site. Details about the 75-million-year-old dinosaur, including its name, were published in the Oct. 3 edition of Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

Duck-billed dinosaurs were previously known to have been among the most imposing herbivores, with hundreds of teeth and a body that could knock down trees.

Gryposaurus monumentensis, at least 30 feet long and 10 feet tall with a robust jaw and thick bones, was like a duck-billed dinosaur on steroids, said paleontologist Terry Gates.

"It's basically the Cretaceous version of a weed-whacker," he said. "You have a very formidable herbivore."

Although paleontologists said Wednesday that the dinosaur could eat just about any plant it wanted, scientists still aren't sure what it dined on.

Southern Utah is now a rocky desert with few trees, but 75 million years ago it was a dinosaur haven that looked something like Louisiana today, Gates said.

"It's very humid and wet, with lots of ponds and lots of rivers and creeks flowing through it. It was very lush," he said.

The discovery of new species, including Gryposaurus monumentensis, will help scientists understand more about what the earth was like millions of years ago, he said.

Sampson said fossils of duck-billed dinosaurs once lived throughout the northwestern part of North America. The newly discovered version has a smaller skull that allowed it to apply more force to what it was eating.

"By shortening the skull, you can get more power per bite. The shrinking of the skull and the robustness of the jaw and snout all lead me to think this guy was made to eat," Gates said.

However, the duck-billed dinosaur's teeth and size would not have been much of a defense against area predators such as the tyrannosaur. Scientists also aren't sure if the new dinosaur was a loner or traveled in herds for protection because so few skeletal remains have been found.

It's one of several questions scientists are hoping to answer, along with how and why different species of the duck-billed dinosaur developed.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

is anybody home?

NASA spacecraft finds possible Mars caves
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An orbiting spacecraft has found evidence of what look like seven caves on the slopes of a Martian volcano, the space agency NASA said on Friday.

The Mars Odyssey spacecraft has sent back images of very dark, nearly circular features that appear to be openings to underground spaces.

"They are cooler than the surrounding surface in the day and warmer at night," said Glen Cushing of the U.S. Geological Survey's Astrogeology Team and Northern Arizona University.

"Their thermal behavior is not as steady as large caves on Earth that often maintain a fairly constant temperature, but it is consistent with these being deep holes in the ground."

The holes, which the researchers have nicknamed the "Seven Sisters," are at some of the highest altitudes on the planet, on a volcano named Arsia Mons near Mars' tallest mountain, the researchers report in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

"Whether these are just deep vertical shafts or openings into spacious caverns, they are entries to the subsurface of Mars," said USGS researcher Tim Titus.

"Somewhere on Mars, caves might provide a protected niche for past or current life, or shelter for humans in the future."

But not these caves.

"These are at such extreme altitude, they are poor candidates either for use as human habitation or for having microbial life," Cushing said. "Even if life has ever existed on Mars, it may not have migrated to this height."

Friday, September 21, 2007

Irish defence forces eyed UFOs for 37 years
Thu Sep 20, 5:43 AM ET

DUBLIN (AFP) - Ireland's defence forces maintained a dossier on unidentified flying objects (UFOs) for 37 years, according to details released Thursday under the country's freedom of information laws.

The documents dating back to 1947 that were released to the Irish Times newspaper log a range of strange sightings.

Descriptions of UFOs that were reported range from being like fried eggs to a household iron with fins at the back, according to the newspaper.

An early entry in the file from a shopkeeper and farmer in County Kerry in the southwest of the country in 1947 says he told police he saw a circular object moving "faster than a motor car" through the sky.

"It was flat and was like a big wheel or large plate... the rim was white and it was hollow in the centre."

A spokesman for the defence ministry told the newspaper that since 1984 the UFO dossier was no longer maintained.

The dossier is similar to one compiled by Britain's defence ministry on reports of UFO sightings. Declassified last May, it found that none of the recorded incidents in the last 30 years was actually a flying saucer.

In March this year, France opened its files on UFOS, revealing 1,600 alleged sightings over five decades.

Monday, September 17, 2007

very cool


New bat species discovered in Philippines
MANILA (AFP) - A new species of flying fox or fruit bat has been discovered on an island south of Manila, it was reported Monday.

The orange-coloured bat with a distinctive white-stripped face was discovered in a protected wildlife area on Mindoro Island, the Philippine Star newspaper said quoting the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

The discovery was a result of joint research between the University of Kansas' Biodiversity Research Center and a team from the Comparative Biogeography and Conservation of Philippine Vertebrates (CBCPV), the paper said.

Known as the Mindoro Stripe-Faced Fruitbat for its striking facial features the bat was discovered by accident when it was caught in a net set by the researchers.

One of the Filipino researchers, Jake Esselstyn, told the paper that the bat was found during a survey of mammals, reptiles, and amphibians in Sablayan region on the west coast of the island.

Details of the finding were published last week in the Journal of Mammalogy.

The discovery of the new fruit bat species brings the number of bat species in the Philippines to 74 with 26 unique to the Philippines, the paper said.

just some more cool pics



i hope this sticks

O.J. Simpson ordered held without bail

LAS VEGAS - O.J. Simpson's arrest may be the start of a new legal odyssey for the fallen football star, one that could reopen the possibility of prison time more than a decade after his acquittal on murder charges.

Police arrested Simpson on Sunday, saying he was part of an armed group that burst into a Las Vegas hotel room and snatched memorabilia that documented his storied career.

Simpson said it was merely a confrontation with no guns. He said autographed sports collectibles, his Hall of Fame certificate, a photograph with former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and video from his first wedding were all his, and that they were stolen from him and were about to be fenced by unethical collectors.

Police said they were not sure who owned the memorabilia. But they say the manner in which the goods were taken was under investigation.

"Whether or not the property belonged to Mr. Simpson or not is still in debate," Lt. Clint Nichols said Sunday. "Having said that, the manner in which this property was taken, we have a responsibility to look into that, irregardless of who the property belonged to."

After being whisked away in handcuffs, Simpson was booked at the county jail Sunday night on two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, and conspiracy to commit a crime and burglary with a firearm, police said.

The district attorney said he expected Simpson to ultimately be charged with seven felonies and one gross misdemeanor.

If convicted of the booking charges, Simpson would face up to 30 years in state prison on each robbery count alone.

A judge ordered Simpson be held without bail, Sgt. John Loretto said. A court date was set for Thursday.

Simpson attorney Yale Galanter told The Associated Press late Sunday that he would fight the charges vigorously.

"We believe it is an extremely defensible case based on conflicting witness statements, flip-flopping by witnesses and witnesses making deals with the government to flip," Galanter said.

Simpson was taken away from The Palms hotel-casino by plainclothes officers around 11 a.m. Sunday, a day after the arrest of a golfing buddy who police say accompanied him with a gun in the Thursday night holdup. Handcuffed and wearing a golf shirt and jeans, Simpson was placed in an SUV.

"He was very cooperative, there were no issues," Capt. James Dillon said.

Simpson, 60, told The Associated Press that he did not call the police to help reclaim the items because he has found the police unresponsive to him ever since his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, were slain in 1994.

"The police, since my trouble, have not worked out for me," he said, noting that whenever he has called the police "It just becomes a story about O.J."

Police did not allege that Simpson carried a weapon in the incident.

"We don't have any information to lead us to believe he was armed even based on those charges," Nichols said.

Police said they seized two firearms involved in the robbery along with sports memorabilia, mostly signed by Simpson. They also said they recovered collectible baseballs and Joe Montana cleats at private residences early Sunday after serving three search warrants.

Walter Alexander, 46, of Mesa, Ariz., was arrested Saturday night on two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery and burglary with a deadly weapon. Alexander, who was described as one of Simpson's golfing buddies, was released without bail Saturday night.

"Walter was one of the two subjects who had a gun," Dillon said.

Robert Dennis Rentzer, a Los Angeles lawyer representing Alexander, said he was able to arrange his client's release from custody, but wasn't familiar with the allegations.

Police are seeking four other men: Las Vegas residents Clarence Stewart, 53, and Michael McClinton, 49; Tom Scotto, of unknown age and hometown, and another man who was not identified.

Simpson, a Heisman Trophy winner, ex-NFL star and actor, lives near Miami and has been a tabloid staple since his ex-wife and Goldman were killed. Simpson was acquitted of murder charges, but a jury later held him liable for the killings in a wrongful death civil suit. He was ordered to pay $33.5 million.

Goldman's father, Ron Goldman, welcomed the possibility that Simpson could go to prison.

"He's believed for years, decades, that he's entitled to do anything he wants, and the legal system and society has basically agreed with him," Goldman said. "This time, hopefully, he'll get what he deserves. He'll get jail time."

Simpson said auction house owner Tom Riccio called him several weeks ago to say some collectors were selling some of his items. Riccio set up a meeting with collectors under the guise that he had a private collector interested in buying Simpson's items.

Simpson said he was accompanied by men he met at a wedding cocktail party, and they took the collectibles.

"It's like a bad dream," said Alfred Beardsley, one of the memorabilia collectors who was in the hotel room. "I'm sad that O.J. is in custody."

Beardsley said he blames the whole thing on Riccio, who he claims told Simpson that his property was in the room in Las Vegas.

"If they don't charge Riccio I will be very upset. That guy lied to O.J. and got him all pumped up," he said.

Beardsley said the people that should be blamed are Riccio and Mike Gilbert, the former Simpson agent who he alleged stole memorabilia from Simpson.

Simpson's arrest came just days after the Goldman family published a book that Simpson had written under the title, "If I Did It" about how he would have committed the killings of his ex-wife and Goldman had he actually done it.

After a deal for Simpson to publish it fell through, a federal bankruptcy judge awarded the book's rights to the Goldman family, who retitled it "If I Did It: The Confessions of the Killer." During the weekend, the book was the hottest seller in the country, hitting No. 1 on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com.

what an idiot

Man in China dies after three-day Internet session

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese man dropped dead after playing Internet games for three consecutive days, state media said on Monday as China seeks to wean Internet addicts offline.

The man from the southern boomtown of Guangzhou, aged about 30, died on Saturday after being rushed to the hospital from the Internet cafe, local authorities were quoted by the Beijing News as saying.

"Police have ruled out the possibility of suicide," the newspaper said, adding that exhaustion was the most likely cause of death. It did not say what game he was playing.

China, worried about the spread of pornography and politically incorrect content, has banned the opening of new cybercafes this year and issued orders limiting the time Internet users can spend playing online.

In April, President Hu Jintao launched a campaign to rid the Internet of "unhealthy" content and make it a platform for Communist Party doctrine.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

lock her up and throw away the key

Haltom City Mom Allegedly Set 3 Girls On Fire
Sep 15, 2007 4:58 pm US/Central
(CBS 11 News) HALTOM CITY A woman in Haltom City has been accused of setting her three daughters on fire.

The incident took place in their home, located in the 3400 block of Edith Lane. Reports indicate that 29-year-old Alysha Green, the mother, intentionally threw gasoline on her three girls.

All four suffered burns and were rushed to the burn center at Parkland Hospital in Dallas. Two of the burned daughters were transported by air ambulance.

Friends of the family said that the mother was in the process of getting a divorce from her husband, 27-year-old Adam Green.

According to John Flowers, Adam Green's stepfather, Alysha had recently been diagnosed with psychosis and refused to take her medication on some occasions.

Flowers also said that the youngest child may not survive.

Authorities have reportedly responded to the couple's home once before in May 2007 to investigate a domestic violence call. There were no allegations of abuse to the children at that time.

And, something needs to be done about the stepfather since he knew she had not been taking her meds. The only time this woman should be allowed to see her children is when they come visit her while on the other side of the glass. It's for their own safety. And, that will be a possibility given the fact that the youngest may not survive.

Monday, September 10, 2007

BREAKING: It's Official:

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Thanks to two separate Cinematical readers, they informed us that Shia Labeouf apparently announced to the world the official title of Indiana Jones 4 during the MTV Music Video Awards tonight. And, in case you haven't figured it out yet, the title will be Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. This was indeed one of the six titles rumored to be in the running back in August when six names registered by Lucasfilm were leaked online. It also happens to be one of the titles I didn't like so much, mainly because it reminded me of He-Man for the some reason.

Although I wasn't watching the awards show myself (Curb premiere, as well as Giants game on), SpielbergFilms.com is also confirming this to be true. Besides, it would be pretty odd if two random people emailed us the exact same tip ... and lied. And if Shia was fibbing, it's also an odd title to fib about. Regardless, this is what they're going with -- and it seems to mesh with all of the plot speculation, blah blah, about skulls and Gods and pyramids and kingdoms. Personally, I'd rather this be the last bit of info we receive prior to the first teaser for the film. I don't want to know anything except for the fact that this Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will play a major role. Even if I do somewhat expect Skeletor to now be the film's main villain. So what do you think -- good title? Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will arrive in theaters on May 22, 2008.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

amazing

a journey 30 years in the making

I am excited to see what the future holds and what could possibly be out there.

August 20, 2007

PASADENA, Calif. - NASA's two venerable Voyager spacecraft are celebrating three decades of flight as they head toward interstellar space. Their ongoing odysseys mark an unprecedented and historic accomplishment.

Voyager 2 launched on Aug. 20, 1977, and Voyager 1 launched on Sept. 5, 1977. They continue to return information from distances more than three times farther away than Pluto.

"The Voyager mission is a legend in the annals of space exploration. It opened our eyes to the scientific richness of the outer solar system, and it has pioneered the deepest exploration of the sun's domain ever conducted," said Alan Stern, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. "It's a testament to Voyager's designers, builders and operators that both spacecraft continue to deliver important findings more than 25 years after their primary mission to Jupiter and Saturn concluded."

During their first dozen years of flight, the Voyagers made detailed explorations of Jupiter, Saturn, and their moons, and conducted the first explorations of Uranus and Neptune. The Voyagers returned never-before-seen images and scientific data, making fundamental discoveries about the outer planets and their moons. The spacecraft revealed Jupiter's turbulent atmosphere, which includes dozens of interacting hurricane-like storm systems, and erupting volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io. They also showed waves and fine structure in Saturn's icy rings from the tugs of nearby moons.

For the past 18 years, the twin Voyagers have been probing the sun's outer heliosphere and its boundary with interstellar space. Both Voyagers remain healthy and are returning scientific data 30 years after their launches.

Voyager 1 currently is the farthest human-made object, traveling at a distance from the sun of about 15.5 billion kilometers (9.7 billion miles). Voyager 2 is about 12.5 billion kilometers (7.8 billion miles) from the sun. Originally designed as a four-year mission to Jupiter and Saturn, the Voyager tours were extended because of their successful achievements and a rare planetary alignment. The two-planet mission eventually became a four-planet grand tour. After completing that extended mission, the two spacecraft began the task of exploring the outer heliosphere.

"The Voyager mission has opened up our solar system in a way not possible before the Space Age," said Edward Stone, Voyager project scientist at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. "It revealed our neighbors in the outer solar system and showed us how much there is to learn and how diverse the bodies are that share the solar system with our own planet Earth."

In December 2004, Voyager 1 began crossing the solar system's final frontier. Called the heliosheath, this turbulent area, approximately 14 billion kilometers (8.7 billion miles) from the sun, is where the solar wind slows as it crashes into the thin gas that fills the space between stars. Voyager 2 could reach this boundary later this year, putting both Voyagers on their final leg toward interstellar space.

Each spacecraft carries five fully functioning science instruments that study the solar wind, energetic particles, magnetic fields and radio waves as they cruise through this unexplored region of deep space. The spacecraft are too far from the sun to use solar power. They run on less than 300 watts, the amount of power needed to light up a bright light bulb. Their long-lived radioisotope thermoelectric generators provide the power.

"The continued operation of these spacecraft and the flow of data to the scientists is a testament to the skills and dedication of the small operations team," said Ed Massey, Voyager project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Massey oversees a team of nearly a dozen people in the day-to-day Voyager spacecraft operations.

The Voyagers call home via NASA's Deep Space Network, a system of antennas around the world. The spacecraft are so distant that commands from Earth, traveling at light speed, take 14 hours one-way to reach Voyager 1 and 12 hours to reach Voyager 2. Each Voyager logs approximately 1 million miles per day.

Each of the Voyagers carries a golden record that is a time capsule with greetings, images and sounds from Earth. The records also have directions on how to find Earth if the spacecraft is recovered by something or someone.

NASA's latest outer planet exploration mission is New Horizons, which is now well past Jupiter and headed for a historic exploration of the Pluto system in July 2015.

Friday, August 24, 2007

let's hope you're not on the list

Locate Bad Neighbors Before You Move

some of the best news in a long time

Glad to say I did not watch this vomit
LOS ANGELES - Here's news that Fox's series "Anchorwoman" wouldn't want to deliver: It's been canceled after one low-rated airing.

The debut of the reality show about Lauren Jones' attempt to turn herself into a news anchor for a Texas TV station drew an estimated 2.7 million viewers Wednesday, according to preliminary figures from Nielsen Media Research.

That number is about a third of the viewership Fox attracted a week earlier with the finale of its popular "So You Think You Can Dance."

Jones was a Barker Beauty on "The Price Is Right," Miss New York and featured WWE Diva before the series put her into the newsroom of KYTX Channel 19 in Tyler, Texas.

Unaired episodes of "Anchorwoman" will be available on Fox's website through Fox on Demand, the network said Thursday.


It's just too bad that bandwidth will be wasted on the remaining un-aired episodes. Don't watch them, please. It's all about yet another woman trying to get by on just her looks alone. IMO, she is not attractive at all. Looks like another unintelligent, leather-faced, 1/4"-thick make-up wearing, grammatically-challenged, gold-digger. Those women are a dime a dozen. Give me someone with half a brain, who isn't all about being an attention whore, that can read and write correctly, and I will show you a woman of substance and character.
Yet another awful thing about Texas. No wonder Texas has such a bad reputation. This is the 2nd largest state, yet we excel at not only doing things bad, but the degree at which bad things happen here cannot be touched. The magnitude of the mistakes that happen here are the largest. "Anchorwoman" just solidifies this and adds to the list.

Atlanta should also ban

That stupid punk, Michael Vick
ATLANTA - Michael Vick's father said he asked his son to give up dogfighting, or to at least put property used in the venture in the names of others to avoid being implicated, according to a report in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Also Thursday night, a report on ESPN.com cited an unidentified ESPN source saying Vick will not admit to killing dogs or gambling on dogfights when he enters a guilty plea in a Richmond, Va., federal court Monday.

ESPN reported that Vick's defense team met with federal attorneys Thursday afternoon to determine the "summary of facts" to which Vick will plead. But ESPN's source said Vick maintains he never killed dogs and never gambled on a dog fight. The source told ESPN the Atlanta Falcons quarterback will plead guilty to the charge of interstate commerce for the purpose of dogfighting.

On Monday, Vick agreed to plead guilty Monday in the federal dogfighting case in Richmond. He faces up to five years in prison and the possible end of his football career. Three co-defendants already pleaded guilty and were expected to testify against Vick if the case went to trial. In addition, a Virginia prosecutor is considering bringing state charges against Vick.

In The Journal-Constitution report posted on the newspaper's Web site Thursday night, Michael Boddie, who is estranged from Vick and the quarterback's mother, also said some time around 2001 his son staged dogfights in the garage of the family home in Newport News, Va.

Boddie told the newspaper Vick kept fighting dogs in the family's backyard, including dogs that were "bit up, chewed up, exhausted." Boddie claimed to have nursed the dogs back to health.

The indictment against Vick does not mention the parents' former home in Newport News.

In the report, Boddie dismissed the idea that Vick's longtime friends were the main instigators of the dogfighting operation.

"I wish people would stop sugarcoating it," Boddie told The Journal-Constitution. "This is Mike's thing. And he knows it ... likes it, and he has the capital to have a set up like that."

The report said Boddie and the Atlanta Falcons quarterback have had a volatile relationship for years and that his son has refused to speak with him directly for the last 2 1/2 half months.

Boddie, 45, lives in an apartment his son has paid the rent on for the last three years. Vick, who has a $130 million contract with the Falcons, also gives him a couple of hundred dollars every week or two, the father told the newspaper.

In the report, Boddie also said he asked Vick for $1 million, spread out over 12 years, Vick declined, the father said. Recently, Boddie asked Vick, through an assistant, for $700,000 to live on.

Atlanta considers???

Atlanta considers banning baggy pants
ATLANTA - Baggy pants that show boxer shorts or thongs would be illegal under a proposed amendment to Atlanta's indecency laws. The amendment, sponsored by city councilman C.T. Martin, states that sagging pants are an "epidemic" that is becoming a "major concern" around the country.

"Little children see it and want to adopt it, thinking it's the in thing," Martin said Wednesday. "I don't want young people thinking that half-dressing is the way to go. I want them to think about their future."

The proposed ordinance would also bar women from showing the strap of a thong beneath their pants. They would also be prohibited from wearing jogging bras in public or show a bra strap, said Debbie Seagraves, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia.

The proposed ordinance states that "the indecent exposure of his or her undergarments" would be unlawful in a public place. It would go in the same portion of the city code that outlaws sex in public and the exposure or fondling of genitals.

The penalty would be a fine in an amount to be determined, Martin said.

But Seagraves said any legislation that creates a dress code would not survive a court challenge. She said the law could not be enforced in a nondiscriminatory way because it targets something that came out of the black youth culture.

"This is a racial profiling bill that promotes and establishes a framework for an additional type of racial profiling," Seagraves said.

Martin, who is black, said he plans to hold public hearings and vet the proposal through churches, civil rights groups and neighborhood organizations. The proposal will get its first public airing next Tuesday in the City Council's Public Safety Committee.

"The purpose of the paper is to generate some conversation to see if we can find a solution," Martin said. "It will be like all the discussions we've had around the value of the hip-hop culture. We know there are First Amendment issues ... and some will say I'm just trying to put young black men in jail, but it's going to be fines."

Makeda Johnson, an Atlanta mother of a 14-year-old girl, said she is glad Martin introduced the proposal. She does not want to see a law against clothing, but said she thinks teenagers are sending a message with a way of dressing that is based in jailhouse behavior.

Atlanta would not be the first city to take on sagging pants.

Earlier this year, the town council in Delcambre, La., passed an ordinance that carries a fine of up to $500 or six months in jail for exposing underwear in public. Several other municipalities and parish governments in Louisiana have enacted similar laws in recent months.

Friday, August 17, 2007

more parents who hate their baby

What can you name your child?
A New Zealand couple blocked from naming their baby 4Real have instead settled on Superman. So what are the rules on naming children in the UK?

Apple, Brooklyn, Zowie, Fifi Trixibelle... celebrity offspring have often ended up with more colourful entries on their birth certificates than us mere mortals.

But British parents hoping to bestow elaborate, unusual or just plain bizarre names to their children may find it easier than those in other countries.

The UK's rules on baby names are among the most liberal in the world. A spokesman for the General Register Office says there are no restrictions on parents - except for exceptional cases, such as a name which could be deemed offensive, when an official could refuse to register it. He refused to divulge if there had been any such cases.

But there have been two children named Superman in the UK since 1984, along with six boys named Gandalf and 29 Gazzas, according to figures released last year by the genealogy website findmypast.com. There are even 36 Arsenals of both sexes.

Nor is there anything to stop an adult exchanging his or her given name for something more subversive - hence Professor Perri 6, of Nottingham Trent University.

New Zealand, like the UK, has few controls on the names parents can choose, but Pat and Sheena Wheaton were banned from registering their son as 4Real as names beginning with numbers are forbidden. He's now Superman instead.

The Kiwi authorities are more relaxed than their counterparts in Sweden, where in 2003 a couple were prevented from naming their son Staalman, the Swedish title for the comic book Man of Steel.

Banned names

And the likes of Denmark, Spain, Germany and Argentina all publish lists of acceptable names from which new mothers and fathers must choose.

In Portugal, the Ministry of Justice's website includes 39 pages of officially-sanctioned names and 41 pages of those which are banned. Included in the latter group are Lolita, Maradona and Mona Lisa. But Portugal is being lobbied to repeal its controls, and four years ago, Norway replaced its own list with a ban on swear and sex words, illnesses and negative names.

But not everyone is convinced that the trend for non-traditional nomenclature is good for children.

Professor Helen Petrie, from the University of York, has studied the psychological effects of having an unusual name.

"I found that people with unusual names had a really hard time, particularly when they were children," she says.

"They described getting teased and how traumatic it could be - because all children want to fit in. But when they became adults, they are often glad that they have something to help them stand out from the crowd.

"People with very common names sometimes feel that they aren't unique enough. So I think there's a happy medium to be struck."

why do parents hate their children?

Chinese couple tried to name baby "@"
BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese couple tried to name their baby "@", claiming the character used in e-mail addresses echoed their love for the child, an official trying to whip the national language into line said on Thursday.

The unusual name stands out especially in Chinese, which has no alphabet and instead uses tens of thousands of multi-stroke characters to represent words.

"The whole world uses it to write e-mail, and translated into Chinese it means 'love him'," the father explained, according to the deputy chief of the State Language Commission Li Yuming.

While the "@" simple is familiar to Chinese e-mail users, they often use the English word "at" to sound it out -- which with a drawn out "T" sounds something like "ai ta", or "love him", to Mandarin speakers.

Li told a news conference on the state of the language that the name was an extreme example of people's increasingly adventurous approach to Chinese, as commercialisation and the Internet break down conventions.

Another couple tried to give their child a name that rendered into English sounds like "King Osrina."

Li did not say if officials accepted the "@" name. But earlier this year the government announced a ban on names using Arabic numerals, foreign languages and symbols that do not belong to Chinese minority languages.

Sixty million Chinese faced the problem that their names use ancient characters so obscure that computers cannot recognise them and even fluent speakers were left scratching their heads, said Li, according to a transcript of the briefing on the government Web site (www.gov.cn).

One of them was the former Premier Zhu Rongji, whose name had a rare "rong" character that gave newspaper editors headaches.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

H-D 2008 VRSCDX Night Rod Special

Yes, if I owned a motorcycle, if I was man enough, this is what I would get. Oh yeah, and if I had the money...

Race-inspired detailing meets shades of black metal that would make night herself jealous. Orange pinstripes around the slotted disc wheels; 240-millimeters worth of rubber in the rear. Mesh screen covers foreshadow the kind of performance that keeps the faint of heart behind locked doors. The liquid-cooled Revolution® engine gets an upgrade to 1,250-cubic-centimeters for 2008. That's 125 horses beneath your seat, harnessed via a new slipper clutch. Also new this year on all VRSC™ models: optional ABS brakes to supplement the standard Brembo® brake setup. You've got a five-gallon fuel tank and a perimeter frame like nothing else on two wheels.
Manufacturer: Harley-Davidson®
Year: 2008
Model: VRSCDX Night Rod® Special
Vehicle Type: VRSC™
Price: $16,695
Color: Two-tone Vivid Black / Mirage Orange Pearl
Miles: 3
Engine: Liquid-cooled, Revolution®, 60° V-twin
Displacement: 76.3 ci (1,250 cc)
Bore x Stroke: 4.13 x 2.83 in. (105 x 72 mm)
Compression Ratio: 11.5:1
Torque: 85 ft. lbs. (115.3 Nm) @ 7,000 rpm
Fuel System: Electronic Sequential Port Fuel Injection (ESPFI)
Exhaust: Brushed, straight-shot exhaust with dual mufflers, black end caps, shield
Horsepower: 125 hp @ 8,250 rpm
Transmission: 5-speed
Clutch: Multi-plate with diaphragm spring in oil bath
Final Drive: Carbon-fiber belt
Length: 94.4 in. (2,460 mm)
Wheelbase: 67.2 in. (1,706.9 mm)
Seat Height: Laden: 25.2 in. (640.1 mm)
Unladen: 26.3 in. (668 mm)
Ground Clearance: 4.2 in. (106.7 mm)
Dry Weight: 643 lbs. (291.7 kg)
Fuel Capacity: 5 gal. (18.9 l)
Brakes: 4-piston front and rear
Tires: Front: 120/70ZR-19 60W
Rear: 240/40R-18 79V
Rake: 34°
Trail: 4.5 in. (114.3 mm)

2008 H-D VRSCDX Night Rod Special

Yes, if I owned a motorcycle, if I was man enough, this is what I would get. Oh yeah, that and if I had the money...



Friday, August 10, 2007

is this really news worthy?

Seriously. Who gives a flip about some worthless actress's estranged parents getting a divorce.
Then, it makes news that some guy signed on to do a movie of one of the most worthless TV shows ever created. Really? Are you kidding me? When will crap like this cease to exist? Oh, that's right- never. As long as there is an inkling of an audience out there who has such poor taste in shows that promote being a whore (two, actually) and sleeping with more than their fare share of men in some city, there will always be vomit that is regurgitated upon society. Hey Matthew, how many years did you have to watch many guys do your wife? And now, you get to watch it all happen in a movie theater. Where's Max Dugan when you need his old ass?
Given the choice of either painfully enduring sitting through that movie or getting an ingrown toenail removed, I will gladly take the medical procedure of having an ingrown toenail removed than sit through the sheer agony of that movie. I'd rather watch 'The Village' than sit through that city-sex movie. Heck, since I have healthy toenails, I'd rather have the same medical procedure done to remove one of my good toenails than sit through that big screen fecal matter.

Everyone's got an opinion and this is mine, and this is my blog. Don't like it? Too bad. Don't flatter yourself. Deal with it. Get over it. Go do your own damn blog, ass.

Dang. I kinda went off on a tangent there, so I edited some stuff out that was unnecessary to the post. Sorry about that. Must. Stay. Focused.

say it isn't so

India may have just 1,500 tigers, say wildlife experts
NEW DELHI (AFP) - India may have just 1,300 to 1,500 tigers left -- less than half of the number believed to exist five years ago -- conservationists say.

The final results of a state-by-state census are expected in December but at a conservation meeting during the week, a noted Indian tiger expert put the number of the cats left in the country at 1,500 or fewer.

"The indications are that the present tiger population in India is between 1,300 and 1,500," said conservationist Valmik Thapar in New Delhi on Friday.

Thapar said both wildlife experts and government officials were in agreement on the figure, a sharp drop from the 3,700 tigers believed to live in India in 2002.

An Indian government official at the meeting would only call the number an "indication."

"It's a preliminary indication," Ravindra B. Lal, a senior wildlife official, told AFP on Saturday.

"It cannot be called an official figure. The population estimation is still going on."

Other wildlife experts, however, said the final figure from the new tally, which uses technology such as camera traps rather than relying on pug marks (paw prints) as past surveys did, was likely to be close to the one given by Thapar.

"I'd give you the same figure," Ravi Singh, head of WWF India, told AFP on Saturday. "These are based on the government's estimates. You can attach a fair value to them. They are reasonably accurate."

Experts have warned that because of the changes in methodology it is not possible to make a direct comparison between the old and new estimates but said it was still possible to note a sharp decline in the tiger population.

"What is important to understand is that the tiger is decreasing in particular areas," said Samir Sinha, head of the India branch of wildlife trade monitoring group TRAFFIC.

"Tigers are largely now being consigned only to protected areas. They are being hit in a big way. It is a huge cause of alarm."

A partial survey released in May after more than half of India's 28 sanctuaries had been studied by the Wildlife Institute of India, which is conducting the census, estimated there were only about 500 tigers in those areas.

The sanctuary tiger population was about 1,500 in 2002, according to official figures. The rest were in the wild.

Poaching has decimated the population of the big cat but urbanisation and lost of forest cover are also to blame.

Tiger parts are used in traditional Chinese medicines, although international trade has been banned since 1993.

Conservationists have long complained that many Indian forestry posts lie vacant, while the staff that do exist have little in the way of funds, making them no match for poachers.

"People are prepared to risk their lives to kill tigers and we still haven't filled vacancies in our forestry department," said Thapar.

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday called on states to hire more "frontline" forest staff to protect the big cat.

Indian official Lal said India was setting up regional offices for a new wildlife crime control bureau but cautioned conservationists not to get their hopes up.

"We are doing it at the fastest speed," he said at the meeting.

"But we should not be too optimistic that once we have a wildlife crime bureau wildlife crime will stop."

some good news

New species of bat, frogs found in Congo forests
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Six new species, including a bat and two frogs, have been discovered in Democratic Republic of the Congo in an eastern area off limits to scientists for decades because of violence, a wildlife group said on Tuesday.

The New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society said researchers conducted a survey of a remote forested region just west of Lake Tanganyika between January and March.

"If we can find six new species in such a short period it makes you wonder what else is out there," said researcher Andrew Plumptre.

The new species discovered were a bat, a rodent, two shrews and two frogs.

Aid agencies estimate around 4 million Congolese have been killed in fighting or by related hunger and disease since the outbreak of the country's 1998-2003 war, in which six foreign armies joined in fighting over its huge mineral riches.

Despite a 2003 peace deal and the country's first free elections in more than 40 years being held last year, militia fighting continues in parts of the east.

"In spite of the conflict and related degradation in the area, the survey team found that some 1,000 square kilometers have remained intact, from the shores of Lake Tanganyika up to elevations of 2,725 meters above sea level," a statement said.

It said the area had been off limits to scientists since 1960 because of instability. The team also included researchers from the Field Museum in Chicago, the National Centre of Research and Science in Lwiro and the World Wildlife Fund.

The statement said the forest was extremely rich in biodiversity, containing a large number of chimpanzees, buffalo, elephants, leopards and monkeys.

Around 10 percent of the plant samples collected have yet to be identified.

"Given the findings with the vertebrates, it is likely that some of the plants will represent new species as well," said Ben Kirunda of the group's botanical team.

The researchers said they met village leaders who were mostly supportive of making the region a protected area.

"Since few people live there, it would be relatively easy to create a park while supporting the livelihoods of people who live in the landscape," said James Deutsch, director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Africa Program.

Democratic Republic of the Congo's wildlife, particularly mountain gorillas in the Virunga National Park, was a significant tourist attraction before the 1998-2003 war.

The conflict devastated the east of the vast central African country, triggering a humanitarian disaster that has displaced millions of people.

way to go, jerk-asses

China's white dolphin likely extinct
SHANGHAI (AFP) - China's rapid industrialisation has likely made extinct a species of fresh water dolphin that had been on Earth for over 20 million years, Chinese and British biologists said Wednesday.

Scientists from China, Japan, Britain and the United States failed to find the white dolphin, known as the baiji, during a six-week search of its natural habitat in the Yangtze river last year.

"This result means the baiji is likely extinct," Wang Ding, co-author of the survey and one of the world's leading experts on the species, told AFP.

The dolphin was a victim of devastating pollution, illegal fishing and heavy cargo traffic on the Yangtze, Wang said.

The findings mean the baiji is likely the first mammal to become extinct in more than 50 years. It is the cousin of the bottlenose dolphin, which is also on the critically endangered list.

Wang, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, emphasised that not all hope was lost for the dolphin, which had made its home along the lower reaches of China's now heavily polluted Yangtze River for more than 20 million years.

"We are not saying the baiji is already gone," he said.

But he lamented that further searches this year had failed to find any sign of the dolphin.

Wang said that a letter written by the survey team had been published in the latest issue of the Royal Society Biology Letters journal in Britain to confirm the dolphin was believed to be extinct.

The baiji, identifiable by its long, teeth-filled snout and low dorsal fin, was last officially sighted more than two years ago.

The last confirmed count by a research team was conducted in 1997, when just 13 were recorded.

Up to 5,000 baiji were believed to have lived in the Yangtze less than a century ago, according to the baiji.org website, which was established by a range of international conservation groups.

"The decline in the baiji population has been caused by extreme human pressure on its freshwater habitat," the website said, blaming illegal fishing and massive discharges of industrial and agricultural waste into the river.

Other rare species that live in the Yangtze, such as the Chinese sturgeon and the finless porpoise, are also in danger of extinction.

The British-based zoologist who also worked on the six-week search meanwhile said the loss of the Yangste dolphin was a huge blow.

"The loss of such a unique and charismatic species is a shocking tragedy," said co-author Sam Turvey of the Zoological Society of London.

"The Yangtze River dolphin was a remarkable mammal that separated from all other species over 20 million years ago."

International environmental group WWF has warned that river dolphins are key indicators of a river's health and of the availability of clean water for people living on its banks.

"River dolphins are the watchdogs of the water," said Jamie Pittock, head of WWF's Global Freshwater Programme in a recent alert over their fate.

"The high levels of toxic pollutants accumulating in their bodies are a stark warning of poor water quality. This is a problem for both dolphins and the people dependent on these rivers," he added.

Turvey added: "This extinction represents the disappearance of a complete branch of the evolutionary tree of life and emphasises that we have yet to take full responsibility in our role as guardians of the planet."

Saturday, August 04, 2007

more blade runner info

confirmed with Warner that both the Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD editions will feature ALL FIVE VERSIONS of the film in actual 1080p video, but the extras (the documentary, deleted scenes, etc) will all be in standard definition.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Co-defendant: Vick financed dogfighting
1 hour, 7 minutes ago

RICHMOND, Va. - One of Michael Vick's co-defendants pleaded guilty Monday to his role in a dogfighting conspiracy he says was financed almost entirely by the Atlanta Falcons quarterback.

As part of a plea agreement, Tony Taylor pledged to fully cooperate with the government in its prosecution of Vick and two other men accused of running an interstate dogfighting enterprise known as "Bad Newz Kennels" on Vick's property in rural Surry County.

"The 'Bad Newz Kennels' operation and gambling monies were almost exclusively funded by Vick," a summary of facts supporting the plea agreement and signed by Taylor states.

The plea deal requires Taylor to testify against Vick and his two remaining co-defendants if called upon to do so. Taylor cannot get a stiffer sentence or face any new charges based on any new information he provides, according to terms of the agreement.

Additional charges are possible, however, against Vick and the other two. Federal prosecutors have said a superseding indictment will be issued in August.

Vick's lead attorney, Billy Martin, did not immediately return a phone message.

Taylor, 34, of Hampton, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activities, and conspiring to sponsor a dog in an animal fighting venture.

Vick pleaded not guilty to the same charges last week and said in a written statement that he looked forward to "clearing my good name." He also pleaded with the public to resist a rush to judgment.

The gruesome details outlined in the July 17 indictment have fueled public protests against Vick and prompted the suspension of some of his lucrative endorsement deals. Also, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has barred Vick from the Falcons' training camp.

The summary of facts signed by Taylor supports the indictment's claims that the dogfighting ring executed underperforming dogs by drowning, hanging and other brutal means. Taylor admitted shooting one dog and electrocuting another when they did not perform well in test fights in the summer of 2002.

Vick, 27, attended several dogfights in Virginia and other states with his partners, according to the statement. Prosecutors claim the fights offered purses as high as $26,000.

Taylor, who will be sentenced Dec. 14, said he was not promised any specific sentence in return for his cooperation with the government.

He faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, although federal sentencing guidelines likely will call for less. The range will be determined by the court's probation office, but the judge can depart from that range if he finds aggravating or mitigating circumstances.

Taylor and his attorney, Stephen A. Hudgins of Newport News, declined to answer reporters' questions as they left the federal courthouse. Prosecutors also would not comment.

During the hearing, Taylor spoke only in response to routine yes-or-no questions from U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson. He answered "Yes" when the judge asked if he had agreed to cooperate with the government.

Taylor acknowledged in the summary of facts that he found the property that Vick purchased in 2001 for $30,000 for development into a dogfighting compound. Taylor says he maintained and trained the dogs for about three years, using his share of winnings — which were split among the partners — for living expenses.

He left the operation after a falling out with co-defendant Quanis L. Phillips and others in September 2004, according to the statement of facts.

Vick and Purnell A. Peace, 35, of Virginia Beach, and Phillips, 28, of Atlanta, are scheduled for trial Nov. 26. They remain free without bond.



Vick said he looked forward to clearing his good name. Yeah, we'll see what happens in court. Then we'll decide if your name is still good or if you're nothing but a worthless liar, or if you're just worthless like your punk-ass younger brother.

Monday, July 30, 2007

mush! mush! mush! fly! fly! fly! we'll enjoy it while it lasts


"Simpsons Movie" rules foreign box office

Reuters
Sun Jul 29, 11:29 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Duplicating its No. 1 debut in North America, "The Simpsons Movie" opened on top internationally over the weekend, grossing an estimated $96 million from 71 territories.

The Fox TV franchise, which has run 18 seasons and some 400 episodes, proved to be a No. 1 attraction as a feature film in just about every market it played, according to Paul Hanneman, co-president of 20th Century Fox International. Its worldwide box office total stands at $167.9 million.

Opening weekend tallies of "Simpsons" in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay set film industry records. In Finland, it registered the biggest opening weekend ever for an animation title, as well as setting opening-weekend records for Fox in Bolivia, Puerto Rico and Venezuela.

The film's biggest single market was the U.K., where Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie hauled away an estimated $27.8 million. "The Simpsons" stands as Fox's second-biggest U.K. opening ever, after 2005's "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith."

In Germany, "Simpsons" drew an estimated $14.2 million, the third-biggest market opening for an animation title. In Australia, the tally was $10.7 million, which Hanneman believed was the biggest market opening ever for an animation title.

The debut in France provided an estimated $9.3 million. The Spain bow, also Fox's second-biggest on record after "Sith," came in at $9.7 million.

Hanneman noted that "Simpsons" opened in eight of the top 15 international markets on the weekend, with playdates in the remaining top markets spread out over August and September.

After two weekends at No. 1, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" slipped to No. 2 with $50 million from 59 markets; its total stands at $450 million. Britain leads the way with $76.4 million, followd by Germany with $45.7 million.

Finishing third was "Transformers," which took in $42 million from 48 markets. Its overseas total stands at $246.5 million. By far, the biggest of the five new markets for "Transformers" was the U.K., where it bowed to an estimated $16.6 million.

In fourth place was "Ratatouille," which charmed $10 million from 18 territories, led by Japan with $4.2 million and South Korea with $2 million. Openings in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Holland, Hong Kong and Taiwan are scheduled through the coming week.

No. 5 was "Die Hard 4," with $8.5 million from 51 markets. Released domestically as "Live Free or Die Hard," the film has earned $175 million internationally, with a slew of key overseas markets to play in August through October.

Other foreign totals: "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," $644.5 million; "Shrek the Third," $397.5 million; "Mr. Bean's Holiday" (which bows domestically on August 24), $186 million; "Ocean's Thirteen," $159.3 million; and "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," $110 million.

bwaaa-hahahahaha!

Homer Rakes in the D'oh; Lindsay Doesn't
Sun Jul 29, 11:11 AM ET

Los Angeles (E! Online) - The latest season of The Simpsons was solid. The opening weekend of The Simpsons Movie was huge.

Lindsay Lohan's new movie wasn't. Solid, huge or much of anything.

That Lohan's new vehicle sputtered was no surprise. That Homer and Marge's new set of wheels got off to such a fast start wasn't, either.

The much-marketed, well-reviewed Simpsons Movie socked away $71.9 million, dominating the weekend box-office competition, per Exhibitor Relations Co. estimates Sunday.

The performance marked the third-biggest opening for an animated movie, behind Shrek the Third and Shrek 2, and, for those who love minutia within minutia, the all-time biggest opening for a traditional, 2D-animated movie. (The Shreks of the world are considered works of new-fangled 3D animation.)

An even-more offbeat, but perhaps more telling factoid: If every current viewer of the ultra-long-running Fox comedy (it averaged 8.9 million devotees last season) bought a movie ticket this weekend (at, say, 2006's average price of $6.55), The Simpsons Movie "only" would have grossed $58.3 million.

A Fox executive didn't argue that The Simpsons Movie drew in fans beyond The Simpsons TV show.

"I think there's no question of that," Chris Aronson, Fox senior vice president of distribution, said on Sunday. "...What we found is we had extraordinary family play."

The way Aronson sees it, The Simpsons Movie also tapped into the franchise's large well of lapsed Simpsons fans--people who watched the TV series in 1996, say, but not 2006.

"Eighteen years is a long time to watch a TV series," Aronson said.

Springfield's finest--Homer, Marge and jaundiced charges--have been TV stars on Fox since 1989--or 1987, if you count their early, formative years as fillers on The Tracey Ullman Show. The Simpsons is due to embark on its 19th season this fall.

The success of The Simpsons Movie meant a demotion for last weekend's champ, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (second place, $19.1 million; $71.6 million overall). Still, the Adam Sandler-Kevin James comedy held up better than most in these short-attention-span days, with business down only 44 percent this weekend from last.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (third place, $17.1 million; $241.8 million overall), Hairspray (fourth place, $15.6 million; $59.3 million overall) and Transformers (sixth place, $11.5 million; $284.6 million overall) each added to its respective take with another eight-digit weekend.

No Reservations, the Catherine Zeta-Jones-Aaron Eckhart romantic kitchen comedy, did better than its lousy reviews might have portended. This is not to say the movie did well, but with an $11.8 million opening (fifth place), it did about as much (or little) as romantic comedies of any setting are doing this year. Its debut was smaller than Music and Lyrics's and Because I Said So's; it was bigger than License to Wed's.

Speaking of License to Wed, there's not much to say. In its fourth weekend, the Robin Williams experience fell out of the Top 10 ($1.3 million), having huffed and puffed all the way to a $41.7 million cumulative haul.

Also falling out of the Top 10: 1408 ($1.2 million, per Box Office Mojo), which leaves after a respectable, six-week, $70 million-grossing run; Knocked Up ($1.2 million), which leaves after an admirable, nine-week, $145.1 million-grossing run; and, Evan Almighty ($1.1 million; $96.3 million overall), which leaves before anyone can make anymore snide remarks at its expensive expense.

In a couple of days or so, I Know Who Killed Me will like, Evan Almighty, have slipped from sight. But for now, the Lohan thriller is fair game.

Opening three days after its star was busted for DUI and cocaine possession a grand sum of 11 days after checking out rehab, the movie "grossed" $3.4 million (ninth place), the weakest debut of Lohan's nearly 10-year film career, save for 2006's Bobby, which opened at only two theaters, according to Box Office Mojo stats.

Lohan's bad box-office run began last year with the, as it turned out, the inaptly titled comedy Just My Luck, and coincided with bad press concerning her off-screen bouts of dehydration and other maladies.

If it'll make Lohan feel any better, I Know Who Killed Me did manage to fend off the new comedy Who's Your Caddy? (10th place, $2.9 million), which all things considered did very well for a movie that somebody decided, after careful consideration, to name Who's Your Caddy?

On the art-house scene, the new Queen Latifah-narrated documentary Artic Tale ($20,555 at four theaters) was no March of the Penguins, which scooted off with $137,492 also at just four theaters in 2005, per Box Office Mojo.

A much bigger draw was the Iraq War doc No End in Sight ($31,500 at two theaters), which sold more tickets, per site, than any movie other than The Simpsons Movie.

For one weekend, at least, Homer couldn't lose.

Here's a rundown of the top 10 films based on Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

• The Simpsons Movie, $71.9 million • I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, $19.1 million • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, $17.1 million • Hairspray, $15.6 million • No Reservations, $11.8 million • Transformers, $11.5 million • Ratatouille, $7.2 million • Live Free or Die Hard, $5.4 million • I Know Who Killed Me, $3.4 million • Who's Your Caddy?, $2.9 million

listings

1. "The Simpsons Movie," $71.9 million. (This will probably fall out of the top 5 next week. Hopefully it won't kill the series.)

2. "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry," $19.1 million.

3. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," $17.1 million. (It's gotta hurt that something as weak as Chuck & Larry beat this out. Fans must be in an uproar at Comic-Con- haha!!!)

4. "Hairspray," $15.6 million.

5. "No Reservations," $11.8 million. (Are you serious? What a joke. I guess she needed to get away from her father/husband?)

6. "Transformers," $11.5 million.

7. "Ratatouille," $7.2 million.

8. "Live Free or Die Hard," $5.4 million.

9. "I Know Who Killed Me," $3.4 million. (Really? Someone thought this was a good idea? Lohan's new movie one of the worst of the year )

10. "Who's Your Caddy," $2.9 million. (Why was this movie even made? I would guess it was made just as a filler movie? "We have to spend this money or else we won't get our budget for next year. I know, let's make some crap!" And there you have it. The birth of crap. "Who's Your Caddy?" hits one in the rough)

it will drop far down the list next weekend

'The Simpsons Movie' earns big D'oh!

Sun Jul 29, 10:53 PM ET

LOS ANGELES - Woo Hoo! "The Simpsons Movie" turned doughnuts into dollars over the weekend, raking in $71.9 million to debut as the top movie this week.

The big screen tale of the lovable, if dysfunctional, family rolled over the competition, sending last week's top movie, Universal Studio's "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry," into second place with $19 million, a 44 percent drop.

"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," from Warner Bros., fell to third place with $17.1 million, a 48 percent drop from last week. The film has grossed $242 million domestically after three weeks in theaters.

"Homer's odyssey paid off," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

The film, which featured the antics of yellow-hued Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie and a host of motley characters, grossed an average of $18,320 on 3,922 screens across the country and also opened strongly in 70 foreign markets.

"We are ecstatic," said Chris Aronson, senior vice president for distribution at 20th Century Fox. "It far exceeded even the most optimistic of expectations."

The hand-drawn movie had the fifth best opening weekend of the year, beating such notable contenders as "Transformers," from Paramount, "Ghost Rider," from Sony Pictures and the computer-animated "Ratatouille," from The Walt Disney Co. and Pixar Animation Studios.

"It's unprecedented to have the longest-running sitcom of all time still on the air and have it also be the number one movie in theaters," Dergarabedian said.

Dergarabedian praised the film's marketing campaign, which included dressing a number of 7-Eleven stores around the country as Kwik-E-Marts, the fictional convenience stores selling such Simpsons' favorites as Buzz Cola and Squishees.

The debut was good news for Fox, which also has done well this year with top-grossing films "Live Free or Die Hard" and "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer."

The long-awaited film version of the Fox Television show played well across the country and with all age brackets, Fox said Sunday, giving the distributor hope that it will hold its own against next week's big opener, "The Bourne Ultimatum," from Universal.

The stellar debut of "The Simpsons Movie" helped propel the summer box office take. This week's top-12 films grossed $168.6 million, up a whopping 45 percent from the top 12 last year, which included "Miami Vice" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

The weekend's other debuts made the top 10, but lagged far behind "The Simpsons Movie."

"No Reservations," the Warner Bros. romantic comedy starring Catherine Zeta-Jones as a gourmet chef, earned $11.8 million.

"I Know Who Killed Me," a Sony Pictures/Tri-Star thriller starring Lindsay Lohan, debuted in 9th place with a paltry $3.4 million.

"Who's Your Caddy," from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, grossed $2.9 million.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

two months ago and we are just now hearing about it?

Scientists excited by Indonesian-caught coelacanth
Sat Jul 28, 11:06 PM ET

MANADO, Indonesia (AFP) - Two months ago Indonesian fisherman Justinus Lahama caught a fish so exceptional that an international team of scientists rushed here to investigate.

French experts equipped with sonar and GPS asked Lahama to reconstruct, in his dugout canoe, exactly what it was he did that enabled him to catch a rare coelacanth fish, an awkward-swimming species among the world's oldest.

Last May 19, Lahama and his son Delvy manoevred their frail canoe into the Malalayang river, on the outskirts of Manado, on northern Sulawesi island. Like any other morning, they rowed out to sea and fished within 200 metres (yards) of the beach.

"I very quickly unrolled the usual trawl line with three hooks, about 110 metres (yards) long, and at the end of three minutes, I felt a large catch," Lahama recounts.

The pull was strong: "I had painful arms -- I felt such a resistance, I thought that I was pulling up a piece of coral."

After 30 minutes of effort under the searing tropical sun, he finally saw a fish swishing at a depth of about 20 metres (65 feet).

"The sea was very calm this day. There was no wind, no clouds, no current. The water was very clear. The fish let itself be drawn in from there," he says.

He thought he was dreaming, he said, when he saw the creature at the end of his line.

"It was an enormous fish. It had phosphorescent green eyes and legs. If I had pulled it up during the night, I would have been afraid and I would have thrown it back in," he exclaims.

Coelacanths, closely related to lungfish, usually live at depths of 200-1,000 metres (656-3,200 feet). They can grow up to two metres (6.5 feet) in length and weigh as much as 91 kilogrammes (200 pounds).

Lahama, 48, has fished since he was 10 years old, like his father and his grandfather before him. But he was unlikely to have ever run into this "living fossil" species, as scientists have dubbed the enigmatic fish.

Lahama's catch, 1.3 metres long and weighing 50 kilograms (110 pounds) was only the second ever captured alive in Asia. The first was caught in 1998, also off Manado.

That catch astonished ichtyologists, who until then had been convinced that the last coelacanths were found only off eastern Africa, mainly in the Commoros archipelago. They had been thought to have died out around the time dinosaurs became extinct, until one was found there in 1938.

Their fossil records date back more than 360 million years and suggest that the fish has changed little over that period.

Lahama, who had never even heard of the fish, initially thought of selling his white-spotted catch.

"Considering his weight, I said to myself, this will fetch a good price."

Returning to port, he showed it off to the most senior fisherman, who became alarmed.

"It is a fish which has legs -- it should be given back to the water. It will bring us misfortune," he told him. But the unsuperstitious Lahama decided to keep it.

After spending 30 minutes out of water, the fish, still alive, was placed in a netted pool in front of a restaurant at the edge of the sea. It survived for 17 hours.

The local fisheries authorities filmed the fish swimming in the metre-deep pool, capturing invaluable images as the species had only previously been recorded in caves at great depths.

Once dead, the fish was frozen.

After the fisherman was interviewed, French, Japanese and Indonesian scientists working with the French Institute for Development and Research carried out an autopsy on the coelacanth. Genetic analysis is to follow.

The site of capture, so close to the beach and from a depth of 105 metres, had intrigued the scientists. Does the Indonesian coelacanth live in shallower waters than its cousin in the Commoros?

Lahama's fish is to be preserved and will be displayed in a museum in Manado.