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In an ethically dubious bid to heighten the zoo experience, Beijing wildlife park organisers have created a restaurant serving their more exotic inhabitants to members of the public.

In plethoric sensory style, zoo patrons devour dishes such as webbed hippopotamus' toes, Deer's penis, and ant soup, while watching the animals' siblings prance about in glass cages in front of them.

The zoo, which has recently drawn controversy from several environmental groups, also displays signs warning not to feed the animals, whilst simultaneously encouraging patrons to eat them.
Ostrich head


Ge Rui, from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, has labelled the zoo's behaviour as "irresponsible", saying that selling exotic caged animals as food stimulates consumption, thus putting more pressure on endangered animals in the wild.

Chang Jiwen, legal expert at the Academy of Social Sciences, states that although the practice is legal, he is stupefied over what he calls a "pleasure seeking rampage of nature's exotic love gardens".

While the restaurant has declined to comment on the matter, it's alleged, by several animal scoffing insiders, that it is currently revising its menu. Meanwhile, zoo explorers can sample additional menu delicacies such as kangaroo tail, crocodile, scorpion, peacock, ostrich egg, and shark fin soup, all ranging from $20 to $200.

Animal cooking video games are also on sale for $4.99.









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Ancient Siberian mammoth bones, dated from 43,000 to 25,000 years old, reveal exactly how these strapping arctic beasts were able to survive in sub zero hunting grounds.

A team of scientists, led by Professor Kevin Campbell from the University of Manitoba in Canada, have been able to use DNA preserved in the bones to bring back the mammal's blood. Blood tests reveal the mammoth used more than their thick woolly sheaths to survive in the harsh frozen realms.

The blood contained a type of anti-freeze, or a genetic adaption in the beast's haemoglobin, which enabled them to subsist at high altitudes whilst using relatively little body heat. In short, these mammoths carried a genetic capability that allowed their blood to literally run cold.
Ancient Wooly Mammoth

Dr Campbell asserted that without this adaption, the mammoths would have had to eat more to replace lost body heat, and with food being scarce during winter, this molecular structure was an obvious advantage.

Furthermore, unlike the modern elephant, which cools itself through its gargantuan ears, the mammoth had both small ears and tail to help preserve its core temperature.

Professor Cooper, Director of the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, and a member of Dr Campbell's team, said they chose haemoglobin as a means to revive information as "normally in animals it is quite sensitive to temperature".

While the news has delighted palaeobiologists across the globe, members of the Underground Jurassic Park Haemoglobin Society (UJPHS) are eating mothballs of despair, claiming this approach was giving new hope to their previously scoffed at amber DNA park revival.

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During a recent micro investigation within the Borneo Jungle, wildlife researchers uncovered previously unidentified species, such as the 'ninja' slug, a lungless frog, and the world's largest stick insect. The species were found in areas bordering Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei in a dense rainforest world.

Adam Tomasek, head of the World Wildlife Fund's Borneo Initiative, said the discoveries reveal the vast wealth of the island's ecosystem, with recent efforts uncovering at least three new species a month. He adds the finds could lead to significant advancements in the cure for cancer and aids.

One such discovery, known as the long tailed 'ninja' slug, reinforces the splendour and diversity the earth has to offer. The slug purportedly fires 'love darts' made of calcium carbonate, that pierce and inject into a mate a hormone that increases its chance of catching the eye, and/or sexual reproduction.
'Ninja' slug

If fallen into the hands of the smarmy bachelor, however, this slug drug could potentially revolutionise the human courtship ritual.

Other, more innocuous discoveries, include a seven-centimetre flat-headed frog, known as Barbourula kalimantanensis, which breaths entirely through its skin instead of lungs. Around the same time, the Phobaeticus chani appeared onto the scientific charts, which is the world's lengthiest stick insect, stretching to a gargantuan length of 36 centimetres long.

While the Borneo jungle contains some of the oldest undisturbed tracts of rainforest on earth, Mr Tomasek admits it's impossible for governments to stop logging and mining in the area, saying that a balance between industrialisation and conservation must be sought if we are to protect this extraordinary wonderland for generations to come.






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Research conducted by Matt Parker, from the School of Mathematical Sciences at the University of London, reveals a rather unusual configuration of Woolworths store locations near Birmingham, England.

In one example, stores from Wolverhampton, Lichfield and Birmingham aligned to display a precise equilateral triangle. Furthermore, Parker found that if the base of the triangle was extended to 173.8 miles, it also linked stores at Conwy and Luton. Despite the line's length, all four stores aligned within 40 metres either side of it, resulting in an accuracy of 0.05%. Astoundingly, Parker found this configuration in over 800 Woolworths stores across England.

In an analogous investigation, researcher, writer and historian, Tom Brooks, found 1,500 prehistoric monuments to be on a grid of Isosceles triangles, all pointing to the next site. This configuration purportedly enabled our ancestors (or otherwise) to travel from site to site with extreme accuracy and ease. This mystery, Brooks' believes, lies with keen mathematicians in the area that existed a millennia before the Greeks invented geometry. He also does not rule out extraterrestrial interference.
Woolworth's

Although the research techniques of both Parker and Brooks have been severely criticised, the significance of the triangle, historically, is no laughing matter.

This ancient symbol's association with mystique is seen in the Egyptian pyramid, the Star of David, and the anarchy symbol (to name but a few). It is also used to represent the trinity in The Two Babylons, and part of the tetractys figure used by the Pythagoreans. And in today's hustle and bustle, the triangle makes an undeniably handsome give way sign.

While many may laugh at Brooks and Parker's findings, conspiracy theorists, pagans and mystery ponderers may find it prudent to keep one eye on Woolworths store activity.



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Ocean-bound on a synthetic organic adventure, bank heir David de Rothschild and two grandchildren of the late Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl (of Kon-Tiki fame), have set sail across the wild seas on a bed of recycled plastic bottles.

The mission, which is an environmental statement opposing the mass of waste found in our oceans, is currently heading for the Line Islands, 2090 kilometres south of Hawaii. Mr Rothschild had the idea to put together 12,000 discarded plastic bottles to form his catamaran, the Plastiki, to send a message to people about what he calls "inefficient design" as opposed to 'waste'.

Oceanographer, Charles Moore, who is a forerunning anti-oceanic waste advocate, says the Pacific is literally littered with trash, with one 'island' of plastic stretching for 1600 kilometres. It is a sad fact, that in many parts of the ocean, plastic waste accounts for 90 - 95% of the world's oceanic debris.
Plastiki

Timothy Ragen, Executive Director of the US Marine Mammal Commission, says each year oceanic trash kills thousands of aquatic life, including seals and turtles, as well as coral reefs.

In formulating its crusade against these worldly ills, the Plastiki allegedly took a year to shape its 12,000 bottles to make it a sea worthy vessel. Now, well on its way, the Plastiki has two hulls, five sails, and travels at a speed (on average) of five knots an hour. Even the hull is made out of PET (recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate), used primarily in making plastic bottles. The Plastiki also uses only wind, solar and pedal power to move, and captures rainwater for the crews' showers.

This oceanic environmental waste ambassador is also alleged to be growing bok choy, kale and chard in a hydroponic garden on deck, while posting regular updates on its website, as well as conducting school classes via skype when possible. The crew are also logging the GPS coordinates of the trash it finds along the way.

While the Plastiki has generally been applauded for its environmental efforts, the Aquatic Gardeners Association (AGA) are purportedly alarmed at the on deck garden's non comital approach to any one particular element.







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For years, Scientists such as Richard Dawkins have heralded Darwin's theory of evolution as the single most significant breakthrough in scientific evolutionary thinking. However, today, it seems, perspective on the way life came about is beginning to take a huge shift. At least in some large circles.

An experiment conducted by Swedish scientists on the evolutionary behaviour of chickens is one just example leading empirical science towards an alternative viewpoint on natural selection


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Scientists are fascinated at the similarities between hallucinogenic experiences and profound revelations that have come from mystics and meditative grandmasters throughout the ages.

Retired clinical psychologist, Clark Martin, is well versed in modern approaches to depression. However, after anti-depressants failed to help him overcome cancer, Dr Martin turned to an experiment at John Hopkins Medical School, involving psilocybin, the cerebral stimulant found in mushrooms


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In an outlandish Icelandic escapade, a man who calls himself 'bad temper' has been caught drenching cars and houses belonging to the wealthy with buckets of red paint.

The targets have included a number of CEO's, as well as business tycoons Hannes Smarason and Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson


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One of law enforcement's more cockamamie crackdowns has seen 66 year old Pet shop owner Joan Higgins electronically tagged, imprisoned in her own home and fined AU $1640 for selling a goldfish to an underaged child.

Mrs Higgins' son, 47 year old Mark, was also fined, after the pair were victims of a covert operation on their shop, Major Pets. The store had been under surveillance after it allegedly sold a gerbil to an autistic youngster, who later plunged the unfortunate creature into a scalding hot cup of coffee


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In an originally defensive move entirely devoid of music, the Indian military may have just found the ultimate secret weapon, a diabolically hot chilli pepper.

Defence researchers believe the Bhut Jolokia pepper, rated in the Guinness World Records as the hottest chilli, can be utilised to smoke out terrorists through its extreme pungency


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One hundred meters below the Earth's surface on the Franco-Swiss border, scientists have been engaged in arguably the most colossal scientific experiment the earth has ever seen.

The $10.2 billion project aims to discover the origins of the universe derived from the Big Bang, by recreating conditions of the 13.7 billion year old scenario using a high powered collision of sub-atomic particles


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The politicians tale is one of woe and
A litany of promises written in sand
He journeys upon the election trail


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Banker, rhymes with. . .

December 31st 2006 03:21
Here’s a little tale for all you who love to hate bankers. My mother, who is eightyfive, thought she would send me some money for Christmas. Well, mothers do that sort of thing. She, being worried that the money should arrive for Christmas, went to a company called TravelEx, whose motto is “World Wide Money”, and bought a bank draft on the National Australia Bank. You know, one of those little, oh so people friendly, business’s that post record profits every year. Yeah that’s the one. And shame on you, you really shouldn’t know those kinds of words.

Well, as luck would have it the bank draft arrived in time to do some Christmas shopping. It really is nice to know that the wife and kids would have some presents under the tree. And there might even be enough left over so I could buy a new pair of work pants


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