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Feel free to contribute any odd, random news you find.
Jellyfish As Big As Sumo Wrestlers Hit Japan
2:09pm UK, Monday November 30, 2009
Kat Higgins, Sky News Online
An invasion of jellyfish the size of sumo wrestlers is throwing the Japanese fishing industry into jeopardy.
The vast stinging creatures have appeared on Japan's Pacific coast after floating from Chinese and Korean waters where they breed every year.
The Echizen jellyfish grow up to 2.2m in diameter and can weigh over 300kg.
Their size means they are capable of ruining fisherman's nets and poisoning and crushing catches.
One fishing boat was even capsized after a mammoth creature got caught in its net.
A local fisherman said: " I have never seen anything this big before."
Much about the jellyfish swarms remains a mystery but some scientists believe global warming and rising sea temperatures may be a factor.
Japan's Meteorological Agency says the waters of the Sea of Japan are warming at a speed three times faster than the global average.
11-30-09 10:07 PM - Smuggler ties 15 lizards to his chest
The annals of unusual animal smuggling attempts got another entry on Friday, when officials arrested a man who strapped 15 live lizards to his chest as he tried to get them through customs at Los Angeles International Airport.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said on Friday that 40-year-old Michael Plank of California was returning from Australia when U.S. Customs agents found two geckos, two monitor lizards and 11 skinks fastened to his body Tuesday.
A lizard, not strapped to a man's chest
Plank has been released on $10,000 (around �6,030) bond and will be arraigned in a federal court on December 21.
Authorities say the lizards' value totals more than $8,500 (about �5,125). All Australian reptiles are strictly regulated and Plank did not have a permit to import them, let alone strap them to his chest.12-02-09 07:04 AM - 700WLW - THE BIG ONE(UPI) - Officials at an Illinois zoo said the facility's gift shops will soon be selling necklace pendants made from dried reindeer dung.
The Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington said the Magical Reindeer Gem necklaces, which go on sale Friday for $15 each, were inspired by tree ornaments made from the same substance that went on sale at the zoo last year, The (Bloomington) Pantagraph reported Tuesday.
"We kept hearing from people who were buying the ornaments, 'Do you have any jewelry?'" said Susie Ohley, spokeswoman for the Miller Park Zoological Society.
"We thought we would make them available for the big shopping day," she said of the launch Friday, the largest shopping day of the year. "It may be silly, but it not only brings in money and support to the zoo, (but) it brings people smiles."
Ohley said the zoo expects to make as much as $16,500 from sales of the ornaments and necklaces during the holiday season.
12-02-09 09:41 AM - Vodka Soon Available in Pill Form
A researcher at a Russian university has developed a powdered form of alcohol that will soon make the consumption of vodka more convenient. From The Times of India:
Russian professor Evgeny Moskalev of Saint Petersburg Technological University has evolved a technique that allows turning alcohol into powder and packing it in pills. The new technique can solidify any kind of alcohol, including whisky, cognac, wine and beer. The new technique can solidify any kind of alcohol, including whisky, cognac, wine and beer.Verily, we live in an age of medical wonders.
�Dry� vodka can be wrapped in paper and carried around in a pocket or a bag. Vodka in form of a pill would come handy at parties when �consumers� would be able to calculate their exact required dosage.12-03-09 01:13 PM - I went to ajc today and this is what I found!
Graphic shows AP-MTV poll results on sexting among teenagers and young adults
Sexting � sharing sexually explicit photos, videos and chat by cell phone or online � is fairly commonplace among young people, despite sometimes grim consequences for those who do it. More than a quarter of young people have been involved in sexting in some form, an Associated Press-MTV poll found.
That includes Sammy, a 16-year-old from the San Francisco Bay Area who asked that his last name not be used.
Sammy said he had shared naked pictures of himself with girlfriends. He also shared naked pictures of someone else that a friend had sent him.
What he didn't realize at the time was that young people across the country � in Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania � have faced charges, in some cases felony charges, for sending nude pictures.
"That's why I probably wouldn't do it again," Sammy said.
Yet, "I just don't see it as that big of a problem, personally."
That was the view of nearly half of those surveyed who have been involved in sexting. The other half said it's a serious problem � and did it anyway. Knowing there might be consequences hasn't stopped them.
"There's definitely the invincibility factor that young people feel," said Kathleen Bogle, a sociology professor at La Salle University in Philadelphia and author of the book "Hooking Up: Sex, Dating and Relationships on Campus."
"That's part of the reason why they have a high rate of car accidents and things like that, is they think, 'Oh, well, that will never happen to me,'" Bogle said.
Research shows teenage brains are not quite mature enough to make good decisions consistently. By the mid-teens, the brain's reward centers, the parts involved in emotional arousal, are well-developed, making teens more vulnerable to peer pressure.
But it is not until the early 20s that the brain's frontal cortex, where reasoning connects with emotion, enabling people to weigh consequences, has finished forming.
Beyond feeling invincible, young people also have a much different view of sexual photos that might be posted online, Bogle said. They don't think about the idea that those photos might wind up in the hands of potential employers or college admissions officers, she said.
"Sometimes they think of it as a joke; they have a laugh about it," Bogle said. "In some cases, it's seen as flirtation. They're thinking of it as something far less serious and aren't thinking of it as consequences down the road or who can get hold of this information. They're also not thinking about worst-case scenarios that parents might worry about."
Sexting doesn't stop with teenagers. Young adults are even more likely to have sexted; one-third of them said they had been involved in sexting, compared with about one-quarter of teenagers.
Thelma, a 25-year-old from Natchitoches, La., who didn't want her last name used, said she's been asked more than once to send naked pictures of herself to a man.
"It's just when you're talking to a guy who's interested in you, and you might have a sexual relationship, so they just want to see you naked," she said, adding that she never complied with those requests.
"But with my current boyfriend, I did it on my own; he didn't ask me," she said, adding that she was confident he would keep the image to himself.
Those who sent nude pictures of themselves mostly said they went to a boyfriend, girlfriend or romantic interest.
But 14 percent said they suspect the pictures were shared without permission, and they may be right: Seventeen percent of those who received naked pictures said they passed them along to someone else, often to more than just one person.
Boys were a little more likely than girls to say they received naked pictures or video of someone that had been passed around without the person's consent. Common reasons were that they thought other people would want to see, that they were showing off and that they were bored.
Girls were a little more likely to send pictures of themselves. Yet boys were more likely to say that sexting is "hot," while most girls called it "slutty."
Altogether, 10 percent said they had sent naked pictures of themselves on their cell phone or online.
Criminal charges aren't the worst consequences. In at least two cases, sexting has been linked to suicide. Last year in Cincinnati, 18-year-old Jessica Logan hanged herself after weeks of ridicule at school; she had sent a nude cell phone picture to her boyfriend, and after they broke up, he forwarded the picture to other girls.
And three months ago, 13-year-old Hope Witsell hanged herself, after relentless taunting at her school near Tampa, Fla. She had sent a nude photo of herself to a boy she liked, and another girl used his phone to send the picture to other students who forwarded it along. The St. Petersburg Times first reported on Hope's death this week.
Other teenage suicides have been linked to online bullying, also a subject of the AP-MTV poll. Half of all young people said they have been targets of digital bullying.
That can mean someone wrote something about them on the Internet that was mean or a lie, or someone shared an e-mail or instant message that was supposed to be private. Less often, it can be more serious, such as taking pictures or video of someone in a sexual situation and sharing it with others.
The AP-MTV poll was conducted Sept. 11-22, and involved online interviews with 1,247 teenagers and adults ages 14-24. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.
The poll is part of an MTV campaign, "A Thin Line," aiming to stop the spread of digital abuse.
The survey was conducted by Knowledge Networks, which initially contacted people using traditional telephone and mail polling methods and followed with online interviews. People chosen for the study who had no Internet access were given it for free.12-03-09 03:38 PM - I need this. Like now.Vodka Soon Available in Pill Form
A researcher at a Russian university has developed a powdered form of alcohol that will soon make the consumption of vodka more convenient. From The Times of India:
Russian professor Evgeny Moskalev of Saint Petersburg Technological University has evolved a technique that allows turning alcohol into powder and packing it in pills. The new technique can solidify any kind of alcohol, including whisky, cognac, wine and beer. The new technique can solidify any kind of alcohol, including whisky, cognac, wine and beer.Verily, we live in an age of medical wonders.
�Dry� vodka can be wrapped in paper and carried around in a pocket or a bag. Vodka in form of a pill would come handy at parties when �consumers� would be able to calculate their exact required dosage.12-03-09 04:24 PM - Swine Flu: So Hot Right Now! Cosmo Dishes on the Best Sex Positions to Fight H1N1
Kate Dailey
From Cosmo, December 2009
Laugh if you must, but Cosmopolitan magazine has always been a good steward for public health. For all it's flaws, their not-afraid-to-get-graphic sex coverage has made it easier for women to speak comfortably about sex, be familiar with their bodies, and stay educated about keeping safe while enjoying those 1,003 sex tips guaranteed to make men crazy. (But speaking of flaws, why aren't there more tips on sex guaranteed to make women wild?)
Now, the women's magazine is branching into other aspects of epidemiology: namely swine-flu prevention. In the December issue, Cosmo calls H1N1 "the virus everyone's talking about" (OMG! acute viral nasopharyngitis must be so jealous!), and provides readers with a handy chart on how to stay healthy this holiday season. First tip? Rely on the reverse cowgirl to keep illnesses at bay.
The entire chart is sourced to a CDC spokesperson (not a doctor) and a practicing M.D. And while it's almost a parody of a Cosmo article─we had to send an intern to the newsstand to make sure it was for real─it's not apocryphal. Ridiculous, yes, but not false. The tip about the arm squeeze instead of a bear hug is actually a nice workaround for people trying to avoid germs (or the creepy hugs of in-laws) during the holidays without feeling too antisocial. And there probably is a slightly reduced risk of inhaling airborne H1N1 spores if you are facing away from your partner during sex. (I say probably because the NIH has yet to fund a definitive study on H1N1 as it pertains to the "23 Bedroom-Busting Positions You Need to Try Tonight.")
Of course, the sex tip only works if you decide to forgo all kissing during intercourse, Pretty Woman style. And there's even less of a risk of contracting swine flu if you abstain from sex with your ailing partner together. (Apparently, Cosmo and H1N1 have turned me into an abstinence proponent!) Chances are, your main squeeze will only be out of commission for a week or so. In the meantime, maybe make some chicken soup and stop pressuring him or her for sex, OK?12-04-09 04:21 AM - 'Porn virgins' do not exist, claim scientists
Scientists who tried to launch an indepth study of pornography ran into trouble when they couldn't find any men in their twenties who hadn't watched x-rated material.
Have you been exposed to porn?
University of Montreal researchers wanted to compare the attitudes of non-porn watchers to regular viewers.
But researcher Professor Simon Louis Lajeunesse told the Daily Telegraph they simply couldn't find any.
"We started our research seeking men in their twenties who had never consumed pornography. We couldn't find any," he said.
But, undeterred, the researchers did study the habits of young men who did use porn.
Single young men on average watch porn for 40 minutes three times a week, compared with those in committed relationships who watch it 1.7 times a week for 20 minutes.
Researchers also found that 90 per cent of pornography came from the internet, while 10 per cent came from video stores.
Most men have their first porn experience at 10 but they quickly discard what they found offensive.
As adults, men continued to look for content in tune with their image of sexuality but they rarely consumed pornography as a couple and always choose what they watch.
Prof Lajeunesse said pornography did not have a negative effect on men's sexuality.
"Not one subject had a pathological sexuality. In fact, all of their sexual practices were quite conventional," he said
"Pornography hasn't changed their perception of women or their relationship which they all want as harmonious and fulfilling as possible," he said.12-04-09 09:54 AM - Florida man jailed for rubbing wife with burger
A man was arrested in Florida for allegedly rubbing a burger in his wife's face while they were having an argument.
Burgers: not an effective means of resolving marital disputes
According to authorities in Port St. Lucie, 25-year-old Daniel Boss and his wife started having a row on Thursday night.
Things turned ugly when his wife poured soda over Boss's hamburger - prompting him to retaliate by rubbing the burger in her face and throwing other food at her.
Boss then left, but his wife went to the police station to report the burger attack.
He was arrested a few hours later on a charge of misdemeanor domestic battery.12-07-09 07:58 AM
