Woman accused of beating fiance at prenup party

Woman accused of beating fiance at prenup party


POULSBO, Wash. (AP) -- A Poulsbo woman was jailed after being accused of beating up her fiance at their prenuptial party. Kitsap County sheriff's deputies said the woman's 12-year-old son told her he saw her fiance kissing one of her women friends early Thursday morning.

Deputies said the woman, 31, gave her friends the boot, told her fiance to leave, too, and then started hitting him in the face.

When he left the house, they say, she tackled him football-style, punched him some more, threw his watch into the bushes and broke his glasses.

Responding to a 911 call from her son, deputies arrested the woman for investigation of fourth-degree assault.

Sheriff's Lt. Kathy Collings said the woman was released from jail later Thursday.

There's no word on whether the marriage took place.

BB gun attack brings arrest

BB gun attack brings arrest
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 08/16/2008 01:53:00 AM MDT

Salt Lake City police arrested a 60-year-old man after he allegedly shot a BB gun into a group of six people, including two children, on Wednesday evening, injuring one man. According to an affidavit filed with the Salt Lake County jail, the man, described by witnesses as "very intoxicated," walked out of his apartment and fired a BB rifle into the crowd.
The shot caused only a welt and soreness on one man's arm, but it endangered an 11-year-old and a 2-year-old who were with the group. The man denied firing shots, but police found a BB rifle in his house.
The man was booked into jail and could face charges ranging from aggravated assault to reckless endangerment and public intoxication.

• Video: Spy Cam In Wal-Mart Set To Beam Credit Card Numbers To Thieves

Spy Cam In Wal-Mart Set To Beam Credit Card Numbers To Thieves

Camera In Place For Hour Before Being Noticed

POSTED: 12:08 am EDT August 15, 2008

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A mysterious box with an antenna found hidden inside a Wal-Mart was a planted spy camera set up to beam customer credit card numbers to thieves in the parking lot, police said.

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IMAGES: More strange stories, images

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Officers evacuated the Wal-Mart store located on Turkey Lake Road near Sand Lake Road Thursday night after someone noticed the box wrapped in black tape near a counter.The bomb squad was called to the store and no explosives were found.When officers investigated the box, they found it contained a spy camera set to capture credit card numbers as people used them inside the business.Deputies said the images were apparently beamed to a van in the store's parking lot.The camera was in place for about an hour, Local 6 has learned.Deputies said they were not sure if the thieves were able to get anyone's credit card numbers during the time the box was in place.Surveillance video shows the box being placed on the camera and will be possibly be released Friday.

Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian throws away medal in Olympic hissy fit

While an Olympic medal would be seen by most athletes as the ultimate reward for a lifetime's work, Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian was less than pleased with the bronze he won at the Chinese Agricultural University Gym.

By Andy Hooper and agencies
Last Updated: 10:52AM BST 15 Aug 2008

Previous

1 of 6 Images

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Unwanted: Abrahamian's discarded medal Photo: Reuters

Under the cosh: Andrea Minguzzi gets to grips with the Swede Photo: AP

Head to head: Abrahamian furious at judge Photo: Reuters

Confrontation: Abrahamian blasts judges after defeat Photo: AP

Worthless: Abrahamian looks at his token of defeat Photo: Reuters

You can keep your medal: Abrahamian storms out of presentation ceremony Photo: Getty Images

Abrahamian threw down his 84kg greco-roman bronze in disgust after his shot at gold was ended by a decision denounced by the Swedish coach as "politics".

Abrahamian took the medal from around his neck during the medal ceremony, stepped from the podium and dropped it in the middle of the mat before storming off.

The Swedish wrestler had to be restrained by team-mates earlier as a row erupted with judges over the decision in a semi-final bout with Andrea Minguzzi of Italy, who went on to the take gold.

Abrhamian, who won silver at the Athens 2004 Games, shouted at the referee, then went over to confront judges, angrily throwing off the restraining arm of a team official.

Swedish fans booed loudly as the judges filed out of the arena. Abrahamian said nothing to waiting reporters but whacked an aluminium barricade with his fist as he left the hall.

"It's all politics," said Swedish coach Leo Myllari.

Myllari did not say if he intended to lodge a formal protest over the decision by referee Jean-Marc Petoud of Switzerland, judge Lee Ronald Mackay of Canada, and mat chairman Guillermo Orestes Molina of Cuba.

Other favourites went out in the semi-finals or earlier. Athens 96kg gold medallist Karam Gaber of Egypt failed to make it to the quarter-finals. Aleksey Mishin of Russia, who took Athens gold in the 84kg class, was beaten by Minguzzi.

Ramaz Nozazde of Georgia, who took silver in Athens, succumbed to Marek Svec of the Czech Republic, still fighting at age 35. Svec then lost to Russia's European champion Aslanbek Kushtov, who caught him with a spectacular fall.

In the heavyweight 120kg class, Armenia's Yuri Patrikeev and Dremiel Byers of the United States, both favoured as finalists, failed to go through.

Third donkey found wandering around Tenn. town

DYERSBURG, Tenn. (AP) -- Swallows return to San Juan Capistrano, Calif. Buzzards flock to Hinckley, Ohio. Now, donkeys seem to be ambling into downtown Dyersburg.

When animal control officers captured a young female donkey at Dyersburg Intermediate School on Monday, it marked the third animal of the breed that had been found on the loose in the city in two months.

Animal control officer Barry McCord said the incident came about two months after a mother donkey and her baby were found wandering downtown.

McCord said he thinks hard economic times may be to blame, theorizing people may be turning animals loose.

Owners have not come forward in either case.

McCord said he was called out Wednesday night to tranquilize what he termed a "mean" 2,000-pound bull at the Dyersburg Golf Course.

Its owner had called for help.

AP Photo: Protesters dressed as Tinker Bell and Minnie Mouse wait to be taken away after being...

Slideshow: Protesters dressed as Disney characters arrested

32 protesters arrested outside Disneyland

By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer Fri Aug 15, 3:28 AM ET

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Cinderella, Snow White, Tinkerbell and other fictional fixtures of modern-day childhood were handcuffed, frisked and loaded into police vans Thursday at the culmination of a labor protest that brought a touch of reality to the Happiest Place on Earth.

The arrest of the 32 protesters, many of whom wore costumes representing famous Disney characters, came at the end of an hour-long march to Disneyland's gates from one of three Disney-owned hotels at the center of a labor dispute.

Those who were arrested sat in a circle on a busy intersection outside the park holding hands until they were placed in plastic handcuffs and led to two police vans while hundreds of hotel workers cheered and chanted.

The protesters were arrested on a misdemeanor count of failure to obey a police officer and two traffic infractions, said Sgt. Rick Martinez of the Anaheim police. They were cited and released, Sgt. Chris Schneider said.

Bewildered tourists in Disney T-shirts and caps, some pushing strollers, filed past the commotion and gawked at the costumed picketers getting hauled away. The protest shut down a major thoroughfare outside Disneyland and California Adventure for nearly an hour.

"It's changing my opinion of Disneyland," said tourist Amanda Kosato, who was visiting from north of Melbourne, Australia. "Taking away entitlements stinks."

The dispute involves about 2,300 maids, bell hops, cooks and dishwashers at three Disney-owned hotels: the Paradise Pier, the Grand Californian and the Disneyland Hotel.

The workers' contract expired in February and their union says Disney's latest proposal makes health care unaffordable for hundreds of employees and creates an unfair two-tier wage system. The union also says Disney wants to create a new category of part-time employees who would receive greatly reduced benefits.

"The other hotels around the area all have health care that is provided by the boss and have been able to get wage increases," said Ada Briceno, president of Unite Here Local 681, which represents the workers.

"At the other hotels in the same classification, for the same work, the workers get paid $2 to $3 an hour more."

Disney spokeswoman Lisa Haines said Disney and the union are in negotiations and nothing has been finalized. She said workers have protested 14 times but sat down to negotiate only 11 times in the past six months.

"Clearly we're disappointed that Unite Here Local 681 has spent more time protesting," she said. "Publicity stunts are not productive and are extremely disruptive to the resort district."

Before the arrests, the picketers marched and chanted outside Paradise Pier, holding signs that read, "Disney is unfaithful," and "Mickey, shame on you." They were joined by community activists and religious leaders from local churches.

Luz Vasquez, who works in the bakery at Disneyland Hotel, said she can't afford to lose many of her benefits. She said it's already hard to care for her three grandchildren and aging mother while earning $14.32 an hour.

"Disneyland is being unfair with us because we're fighting for our health care and they're trying to take it away," said Vasquez, 45. "They're trying to cut our hours and take away our seniority."

Co-worker Diane Dominguez, 50, said she was worried about losing health care because of the heavy labor involved in lifting mattresses, moving furniture and making dozens of beds a day. She also said rising prices and the cost of gas were eating into her salary of $11.11 an hour.

"The most important is health care. We need that and they want to take it away," she said.

At the heart of the issue is a free health care plan that has been provided to Disney hotel workers through a trust fund that Disney and other unionized hotels in the area pay into.

Briceno said that in exchange for the free medical plan, union members agreed in previous contracts to a lower wage for hotel workers in the first three years of their employment.

But Disney now wants to eliminate the free health plan for new hires and wants to create a new class of workers who put in less than 30 hours a week, said Briceno. Those part-time workers would receive no sick or vacation pay and not be given holidays, she said.

The company also wants to increase the number of hours full-time employees must work before qualifying for the health plan, she said.

"At the end of the day what it means is that workers are going to be priced out of health care," she said.

Haines said the majority of other employees at Disneyland pay for a share of their health plan, even though the resort shoulders about 75 percent of the overall cost. She said it's important to negotiate a contract that's fair to those other unions, too.

"We do remain hopeful that we can reach an agreement that's both fair and equitable, providing that union leadership is reasonable and realistic in its approach," Haines said.

(CORRECTS spelling of Briceno's first name to Ada, sted Ava.)

House in Detroit Sells for $1

Wednesday, August 13, 2008
House in Detroit Sells for $1

In what might be considered a new low for the housing market, a home in Detroit sold for $1.

The home, located at 8111 Traverse Street, close to the Detroit City Airport, was foreclosed upon last summer, after it was purchased for $65,000 in 2006, according to an article in The Detroit News.

The bank was so eager to sell the foreclosed property, it lowered the price to $1 in a final attempt to find a buyer. According to the newspaper, 14 days after the property was listed for $1, a local woman purchased the house as “an investment property." The property taxes will run the new owner $3,900, in 2009.

At the time of sale, the home had been stripped of its siding, fence, light fixtures, copper plumbing—even the kitchen sink had been taken. Boards that were used to board up the windows were also stolen and used to board up a house down the street, according to The Detroit News.

Jewel thieves' $1 million haul

Jewel thieves' $1 million haul

By Greg Stolz

August 13, 2008 07:30pm

TOMAHAWK-wielding bandits who smashed their way into an exclusive Gold Coast jewellery boutique escaped with more than $1 million worth of designer jewels.

The two identically-dressed, balaclava-clad robbers struck high-profile Gold Coast jeweller John Calleija's store at upmarket Main Beach shopping centre Marina Mirage last night.

They used tomahawks to smash their way into the shop where they plundered some of its most expensive items, including gold and diamond necklaces, rings and bracelets, in what police said was one of Queensland's biggest jewellery heists.

Mr Calleija and female staff were trapped inside the store for more than an hour after the robbery by locked security doors. They were freed by firemen using pneumatic cutting equipment.

Senior-Sergeant Peter Gray, of Surfers Paradise CIB, said the staff were also menaced with a handgun in the highly professional robbery.

He said the robbers struck at the 'prime time' of 5.45pm as Mr Calleija and his staff were locking up and the shopping centre was undergoing major renovations.

They used tomahawks to smash the front door and glass display cases, and also robbed valuable jewels from the safe.

'They were only in there a matter of minutes. They knew exactly what they were looking for and had obviously 'cased' the premises prior to the robbery," Sen-Sgt Gray said.

"They've had a set plan and they were in and out with the jewellery. It was pretty dramatic for the staff - obviously they were in fear."

The robbers almost certainly had a ready market for the stolen jewels, Sen-Sgt Gray said.

"It's certainly up there with the biggest robberies we've had," he said.

The robbers fled on foot across a footbridge linking Marina Mirage to the Sheraton Mirage hotel before escaping in a stolen blue Subaru WRX which was last seen heading towards Southport.

Sen-Sgt Gray said the boutique's security camera system was recently upgraded and had captured excellent images of the offenders.

They are described as being aged in their mid-20s and were of athletic appearance. They were wearing balaclavas, ski gloves, blue 'hoodies' grey track pants with yellow stripes and white runners.

Sen-Sgt Gray appealed for anyone who may have seen the blue Subaru speeding out of Main Beach to contact police.

Julia Child once worked for U.S. spy agency, files show

Julia Child once worked for U.S. spy agency, files show
By BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE and RANDY HERSCHAFT Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Before Julia Child became known to the world as a leading chef, she admitted at least one failing when applying for a job as a spy: impulsiveness.

At 28 as an advertising manager at W&J Sloane furniture store in Beverly Hills, Calif., Child clashed with new store managers and left her job abruptly.

"I made a tactical error and was out," she explained in a handwritten note attached to her application to join the Office of Strategic Services, a World War II-era spy agency. "However, I learned a lot about advertising and wish I had been older and more experienced so that I could have handled the situation, as it was a most interesting position."

Child was not yet married and was applying for the job under her maiden name, McWilliams, according to previously top-secret records released by the National Archives today. She was hired in the summer of 1942 for clerical work with the intelligence agency and later worked directly for OSS Director William Donovan, the personnel records show.

Details about Child's background and nearly 24,000 other OSS employees are revealed in the newly released documents, withheld from public view as classified records for decades by the CIA.

The 750,000 documents identify the vast spy network managed by the OSS, which later became the CIA. President Franklin Roosevelt created the OSS, the country's first centralized intelligence operation.

The OSS files offer details about other agents, including Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg, major league catcher Moe Berg, historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and film actor Sterling Hayden.

Other notables identified in the files include John Hemingway, son of author Ernest Hemingway; Kermit Roosevelt, son of President Theodore Roosevelt; and Miles Copeland, father of Stewart Copeland, drummer for the band The Police.

Some of those like Child on the list have been identified previously as having worked for the OSS, but their personnel records never have been available before. Those records would show why they were hired, jobs they were assigned to and perhaps even missions they pursued while working for the agency.

The release of the OSS personnel files unmasks one of the last secrets from the short-lived wartime intelligence agency, which for the most part was later folded into the CIA after President Truman disbanded it in 1945.

"I think it's terrific," said Elizabeth McIntosh, 93, a former OSS agent now living in Woodbridge, Va. "They've finally, after all these years, they've gotten the names out. All of these people had been told never to mention they were with the OSS."

The CIA long resisted releasing the records. But a former CIA director, William Casey, himself an OSS veteran, cleared the way for transfer of millions of OSS documents to the National Archives when he took over the spy agency in 1981. The personnel files are the latest documents to be made public.

Information about OSS involvement was so guarded that relatives often could not confirm a family member's work with the group.

Walter Mess, who handled covert OSS operations in Poland and North Africa, said he kept quiet for more than 50 years, only recently telling his wife of 62 years about his OSS activity.

"I was told to keep my mouth shut," said Mess, now 93 and living in Falls Church, Va.

The files provide new information even for those most familiar with the agency. Charles Pinck, president of the OSS Society created by former OSS agents and their relatives, said the nearly 24,000 employees included in the archives far exceed previous estimates of 13,000.

The newly released documents will clarify these and other issues, said William Cunliffe, an archivist who has worked extensively with the OSS records at the National Archives.

"We're saying the OSS was a lot bigger than they were saying," he said.

Bigfoot Body Found In Georgia?

Bigfoot Body Found In Georgia?
13 08 2008

Holy Moly. Apparently they have found a body of what is called the Georgia Gorilla.

BIGFOOT BODY FOUND - EVIDENCE AND DNA DETAILS TO BE PRESENTED AT A PRESS CONFERENCE ON FRIDAY, AUGUST 15th

FROM 12 N00N TO 1:00PM AT THE CABANA HOTEL-PALO ALTO IN PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA

A body that may very well be the body of the creature commonly known as “Bigfoot” has been found in the woods in northern Georgia.

DNA evidence and photo evidence of the creature will be presented in a press conference on Friday, August 15th from 12 Noon to 1:00pm at the Cabana Hotel-Palo Alto at 4290 El Camino Real in Palo Alto, California, 94306. The press conference will not be open to the public. It will only be open to credentialed members of the press.

I am a credentialed member of the press. Damn, somebody buy me an airline ticket STAT!

Big Stupid Tommy and I will not be available on Friday in statewide celebration of the event.

Telemarketers told to believe in America or don't call

THE RED, WHITE AND BLUE
'If you do not speak English, please hang up'
Telemarketers told to believe in America or don't call

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Posted: August 12, 2008
9:25 pm Eastern

© 2008 WorldNetDaily

Courtesy WNEP-TV

Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5642 in Montrose, Pa., has a message for the many telemarketers that call its answering machine: Speak English.

Those who call the post when no one's around to answer the telephone will be greeted by a pleasant, female voice on the answering machine saying, "Hi, you've reached the Montrose VFW, Post 5642. We are an English-speaking, American establishment. If you do not speak English or believe in America, please hang up."

The one-story, white VFW post is a popular gathering point for veterans along Pennsylvania's Route 706, according to a WNEP-TV report. According to its post commander, the VFW's phone number is also a popular target of telemarketers, many of whom speak in broken English.

"We are living in America," Post Commander John Miner told WNEP. "We should be able to speak English."

Some in the community have called that message racist and unconstitutional.

Miner, however, says the post has used the message for several months without complaint. He has no intention of changing it.

"So you're sticking to your guns?" a WNEP reporter asked him.

Miner answered, "We're veterans."

Reporters from WNEP sought community reaction to the message.

Teresa Artohofer of Montrose said the VFW post's message contradicts the Constitution's protection of free speech.

"Does it say English speech? It just says freedom of speech. No where in there does it say freedom of English speech. It just says, freedom of speech," Arthofer said.

Helen Warner told WNEP that if her grandparents had to learn English to live in America, modern immigrants should too.

"What do I think? I agree. If you're going to be in America, speak English," Warner said.

The VFW, whose website claims the group includes 2.2 million members in approximately 8,100 posts worldwide, was chartered by Congress in 1936 but remains a non-profit organization funded by individual contributions and is not a government entity.

Ten years ago the VFW passed Resolution 303, to "urge Congress to enact legislation mandating English as the official language" of the United States.

Olive Garden Mortified By Playboy Bunny's Endorsement

Hilary Lewis | Aug 13, 2008 1:52 PM

Thanks, but no thanks. Playboy bunny and star of E!'s The Girls Next Door, Kendra Wilkinson, is an outspoken supporter of the Olive Garden. One problem: she's not being paid, and they'd rather not have her endorsement.

WSJ: Kendra Wilkinson, a Playboy cover model, television star and one of Hugh Hefner's three live-in girlfriends, professes deep love for the Olive Garden Italian restaurant chain.

The feeling isn't mutual.

To the consternation of Olive Garden's marketers, who have spent millions crafting the franchise's family-friendly image, the 23-year-old adult-entertainment star and aspiring real-estate mogul repeatedly uses her spotlight to rave about its midprice eateries. Ms. Wilkinson hoists Olive Garden doggie bags in the air and extols its chicken parmigiana. She once scandalized European diners by declaring the Olive Garden preferable to any restaurants in Italy...

Earlier this year, buoyed by her starring role on "The Girls Next Door," a highly rated reality show that follows the lives of Mr. Hefner's girlfriends, Ms. Wilkinson launched a modeling competition for attractive Olive Garden waitresses. The prize: a nude Playboy pictorial. Ms. Wilkinson took the contestants' photographs herself..

Starbucks is also subject to "rogue" endorsements from celebs photographed carrying their coffee cups in magazines. And in 2003 Playboy ran a similar "Women of Starbucks," spread. And look how the coffee chain is doing now!

Crime-ridden Arkansas town expands 24-hour curfew

HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. (AP) -- Officers armed with military rifles have been stopping and questioning passers-by in a neighborhood plagued by violence that's been under a 24-hour curfew for a week.

On Tuesday, the Helena-West Helena City Council voted 9-0 to allow police to expand that program into any area of the city, despite a warning from a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas that the police stops were unconstitutional.

Police Chief Fred Fielder said the patrols have netted 32 arrests since they began last week in a 10-block neighborhood in this small town on the banks of the Mississippi River long troubled by poverty. The council said those living in the city want the random shootings and drug-fueled violence to stop, no matter what the cost.

"Now if somebody wants to sue us, they have an option to sue, but I'm fairly certain that a judge will see it the way the way the citizens see it here," Mayor James Valley said. "The citizens deserve peace, that some infringement on constitutional rights is OK and we have not violated anything as far as the Constitution."

The area under curfew, in what used to be a West Helena neighborhood, sits among abandoned homes and occupied residences in disrepair.

White signs on large blue barrels warn those passing by that the area remains under curfew by order of Mayor James Valley. The order was scheduled to end at 3 p.m. Tuesday, but Valley said the city council's vote would allow police to have the same powers across Helena-West Helena.

Among the curfew operation's arrests, 10 came from felony charges, including the arrest of two people carrying both drugs and weapons, Fielder said. The police chief said the officers in the field carry military-style M-16 or M-4 rifles, some equipped with laser sights. Other officers carry short-barrel shotguns. Many dealing crack cocaine and marijuana in the city carry pistols and AK-47 assault rifles, he said.

"We've had people call us, expressing concern for their children," Fielder said. "They had to sleep on the floor, because of stray bullets."

Fielder said officers had not arrested anyone for violating the curfew, only questioned people about why they were outside. Those without good answers or acting nervously get additional attention, Fielder said.

However, such stops likely violate residents' constitutional rights to freely assemble and protections against unreasonable police searches, said Holly Dickson, a lawyer for the ACLU of Arkansas who addressed the council at its packed Tuesday meeting. Because of that, Dickson said any convictions coming from the arrests likely would be overturned.

"The residents of these high-crime areas are already victims," she said. "They're victims of what are happening in the neighborhoods, they're victims of fear. But for them to be subject to unlawful stops and questioning ... that is not going to ultimately going to help this situation."

The council rejected Dickson's claims, at one point questioning the Little Rock-based attorney if she'd live in a neighborhood they described as under siege by wild gunfire and gangs.

"As far as I'm concerned, at 3 o'clock in the morning, nobody has any business being on the street, except the law," Councilman Eugene "Red" Johnson said. "Anyone out at 3 o'clock shouldn't be out on the street, unless you're going to the hospital."

The curfew is the second under the mayor's watch since the rival cities of Helena and West Helena merged in 2006. That year, Valley set a nightly citywide curfew after a rash of burglaries and other thefts.

Police in Hartford, Conn., began enforcing a nightly curfew for youths after recent violence, including a weekend shooting that killed a man and wounded six young people.

Helena-West Helena, with 15,000 residents at the edge of Arkansas' eastern rice fields and farmland, is in one of the nation's poorest regions, trailing even parts of Appalachia in its standard of living.

In the curfew area, those inside the homes in the watch area peered out of door cracks Tuesday as police cruisers passed. They closed the doors afterward.

Is it time to embrace the e-book?

Is it time to embrace the e-book?

Please leave me some comments on this article! I don't often ask, but I could use your advice on this issue.
Maybe it's time for me to dig deep behing, coach cushions, under coaches and count stacks of change towards getting a Kindle(?) or what do you suggest, PLEASE.

Could printed pages one day be a thing of the past?

When electronic books first came onto the market, some thought it spelt the end for the printed page.

But following a flurry of headlines, and prophesies of doom from the publishing industry, the revolution in downloadable literature failed to materialise.

However, despite scepticism from some technology experts that the tactile satisfaction of the paper book has not been successfully replicated, it now seems that the e-book is starting to take off.

The Amazon "kindle" e-book sold out in the United States within a few hours on its first run. Bookseller Borders' iLiad e-book is selling well and the much-hyped Sony Reader is due out in September.

"It has been spoken about for a long time but things are actually starting to happen," says Julie Howkins, head of e-commerce at Borders.

"Publishers are beginning to think seriously about their e-book strategy."

'Books breed overnight'

Two literary professionals put the e-book to the test over the last few weeks, with surprisingly positive results.

"You forget about the technology if the story is good," says author Naomi Alderman.

"It just becomes invisible."

Kathryn Hughes, Professor of Life Writing at University of East Anglia admitted that she was quite happy to take her e-book to bed with her.

What is more, it solves the problem of holiday reading when after the first week all you have left is "a battered copy of Vogue from three months ago and something on sale in the local boutique, written in German."

Now you can just nip down to the local internet connection and top up your reading.

While Hughes admits that "there is a visceral quality that you miss with an old book", it is the question of space that pleases her most.

"I find that my books breed overnight," she says.

"I can control my environment now. I'm not going to live in this ever-expanding library."

What is slowing the take off of the e-book, says Alderman, is that the book has become a "celebrity object".

"People are fetishising the paper book, they are fetishising literature," she says.

It is not an iPod moment for books Julie Howkins, Borders

But with over 25,000 classic books, whose copyright has run out, available for download from the website Project Gutenburg, Alderman is emphatic about the impact e-books will eventually have.

"They represent a democratisation of literature even more important than the public library," she says.

No substitute

But before you start a bonfire on your bookshelves, a word of caution.

While in the US there are an increasing number of new books available online, publishers in the UK have been slow to release their books in an electronic format.

E-book readers are still expensive and there is no agreement in the industry over a single format for downloads.

"It is not an iPod moment for books," says Julie Howkins.

"The devices are coming on the market, but there still isn't a great deal of content.

"It will be a considerable time before e-books compete with the paper book."

Even the most gadget savvy experts are sceptical about an e-book revolution.

Patrick Goss, editor of technology website TechRadar.com says that the new devices are certainly exciting and may well be useful in certain circumstances - searching text books and saving space in your luggage, for example.

But they are still no substitute for the real thing, he says.

"The book is the most perfect use of technology humanity has ever invented.

"They are cheap to mass produce, contain a huge amount of easily accessible data and all you need to use them is a small amount of light."

"There is a real tactile pleasure in reading books that you just don't get reading from a screen."

Paper-free future?

A sigh of relief then for fans of paper and print, for now at least. But there is no telling how people's reading habits will change in the future.

"The younger generation have spent their formative years reading from screens. We don't really know how they are going to react," says Goss.

What is more, he says that there is no telling how far the technology is going to advance.

"It is perfectly conceivable that in the future we could have something that looks like a book, feels like a book, reads like a book and with separate paper-thin pages like a book, but which uses e-ink instead of the normal kind."

Robots learn to move themselves

Simulated characters that learn to use their limbs

Researchers in Leipzig have demonstrated software designed for robots that allows them to "learn" to move through trial and error.

The software mimics the interconnected sensing and processing of a brain in a so-called "neural network".

Armed with such a network, the simulated creatures start to explore.

In video demonstrations, a simulated dog learns to jump over a fence, and a humanoid learns how to get upright, as well as do back flips

Newborn baby

The simulated human learnt to do back flips

Ralf Der at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences has also applied the software to simulated animals and humans.

The only input to the network is the types of motion that the robot can achieve; in the case of a humanoid, there are 15 joints and the angles through which they can move. No information about the robot's environment is given.

The network then sends out signals to move in a particular way, and predicts where it should end up, based on that movement.

If it encounters an obstacle such as itself, a wall or the floor, the prediction is wrong, and the robot tries different moves, learning about itself and its environment as it does so.

"In the beginning, we just drop a robot into a space. But they don't know anything, so they don't do anything," Professor Der said. The neural network eventually picks up on electronic noise, which causes small motions.

It eventually tries larger motions as it learns about its range of movement. "It's like a newborn baby—it doesn't know anything but tries motions that are natural for its body. Half an hour later, it's rolling and jumping," Professor Der said.

Autonomous

I call it a plug-and-play brain Professor Der

This approach is far more flexible than traditional programming, in which movements are painstakingly planned out in a well-defined space. As conditions change, so can the robot's behaviour.

Moreover, the software can be used with any kind of robot, and Professor Der has tried the system on simple wheeled systems. "I call it a plug-and-play brain," he said.

"The classic thing in robotics is 'bring this' or 'play this chess game and win'—the task is given," says Daniel Polani of the University of Hertfordshire. "Ralf Der's system is only defined by what it perceives and does, but there's no goal. It's a very good approach."

For now, the network learns behaviours such as how to stand up, but promptly forgets them. Der and his colleagues are working to create a long-term memory, so that when the robot finds itself in similar situations, it knows what to do.

He will present the video demonstrations at the Artificial Life XI conference in Winchester this week.

Roman temple found under church

Archaeologists say the temple once had a decorated facade

Israeli archaeologists have uncovered the ruins of a Roman temple beneath the foundations of a church.

The building, which dates to the second century AD, was found during an excavation at Zippori, the capital of Galilee during the Roman period.

The temple walls were plundered in ancient times and little more than its foundations now remain.

Coins minted in the town suggest Roman gods Zeus and Tyche may have been worshipped at the site.

The building is located south of the "decumanus" (colonnaded street) which ran east to west through the town and served as the main thoroughfare in Roman and Byzantine times.

It was discovered during a dig led by Professor Zeev Weiss from the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Religious life

The 24m by 12m (79 by 39ft) temple was located within a walled courtyard and once had a decorated facade.

No evidence remains of rituals once carried out at the site, but some Roman coins minted in Diocaesarea (Zippori), depict a temple to Zeus and Tyche.

Coins depict a temple to Roman gods Zeus and Tyche

Exactly when the building ceased to function is still unclear. A large church, the remains of which were uncovered by the excavation team during previous seasons, was built over the temple during the Byzantine period.

Team members said the discovery would shed light on religious life in the city.

During this summer's excavation, Professor Weiss and his colleagues partially excavated a monumental building north of the decumanus.

Its role is not yet known, although its nature and size indicate that it served an important role.

A courtyard with a well-preserved stone pavement of rectangular slabs was uncovered in the centre of the building.

Unknown function

On top of these, archaeologists found a pile of columns and capitals that had collapsed - probably as a result of an earthquake. These showed traces of decorative work applied in stucco.

The columns of one building were probably destroyed in a quake

Two of the rooms in this building were also decorated with colourful, geometrical mosaics.

Zippori was a thriving urban centre in Roman and Byzantine times.

The first archaeological digs there were begun by an American team in 1930.

Excavations since 1990, mostly carried out by the Hebrew University, have revealed a well planned city that hosted a basilical hall, bath houses, a theatre, two churches, and a synagogue.

The site is one of the most important for mosaics in the eastern Roman empire. More than 40 mosaics have been found dating from the 3rd to 5th Centuries AD.

Giant 3,300 Lbs Stingray Caught by Local Fisherman

Giant 3,300 Lbs Stingray Caught by Local Fisherman

Early in the morning around 2:00am a fishing boat near Hainan Sanya in China caught what is likely to be one of the largest stingrays ever caught.

Casting nets, the fishermen caught a 3,300 lbs Stingray, which took about 3 hours to pull back into the boat. The net was strong enough to hold the huge fish, but the struggle cause the stingray to die.

The stingray measured about 16 1/2 foot in width.

The fishermen tied the stingray to the back of the boat and dragged it back to their dock. It remained in perfect condition even though it was dead for many hours.

The fisherman was able to sell the stingray for around $1,500 since they have a high commercial value.

Stingray’s liver can be made into fish oil, the bones and intestines are used in medical fish powder, and the meat is a delicacy in most restaurants.

City Considers Burials In Egg Cartons, Wicker Baskets

Colorado Springs To Consider 'Green Burials'

POSTED: 7:06 am MDT August 11, 2008

UPDATED: 11:05 am MDT August 11, 2008

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The Colorado Springs City Council is considering a proposal to offer "green burials" at the city's two cemeteries. The burials would consist of bodies being put in bags, wicker baskets or egg-carton boxes. City officials said the approach would be less expensive than traditional burials. According to the proposal, the city would also cut its costs because such burials would require no watering or sprinkler systems for the plots and minimal mowing. The proposal is being considered Monday as council members try to build new product lines and services for the Evergreen and Fairview cemeteries.

City officials said the cemeteries would need $3.5 million in equipment and improvements.

6-legged deer

6-legged deer

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 10th, 2008 at 12:01 am and is filed under Animals

• Video: Gabrielle Enright Reports On Burger King Bath

Teen Takes Bath At Xenia Burger King

Becky Grimes, Special Projects Manager/Web Manager

POSTED: 5:33 pm EDT August 11, 2008

UPDATED: 6:12 am EDT August 12, 2008

XENIA, Ohio -- An unbelievable video is now showing on myspace and now on whiotv.com.A teenager celebrated his birthday by taking a bath in the utility sink at the Burger King in Xenia.Greene County Health Commissioner Mark McDonnell was emailed the video and is now using it as evidence.In the video, the teenager dumps water on himself using a bucket marked with the words, "sanitary solution." But McDonnell said this sink is used to clean utensils and there is nothing sanitary about what this teenager did.McDonnell said, "Any bacteria on his skin could have been deposited giving people food poisoning." And to make matters worse, the person recording the video allegedly told the Burger King manager what was happening, but she continued to count cash.Burger King Corp. was notified of the incident Monday, and is cooperating fully with the health department.

.RAW VIDEO: Teen Takes Bath At Burger King

Burger King Corp. said, "We have sanitized the sink and have disposed of all other kitchen tools and utensils that were used during the incident. We have also taken appropriate corrective action on the employees that were involved in this video.Additionally, the remaining staff at this restaurant is being retrained in health and sanitation procedures."

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Police: 'Cult' Starved Toddler Who Wouldn't Say 'Amen'

BALTIMORE — A toddler whose remains were found inside a suitcase in Philadelphia this spring was starved to death by members of a religious cult, including his mother, in part because he refused to say "amen" after meals, police said.

Ria Ramkissoon, the mother of Javon Thompson, was charged Sunday with first-degree murder in the boy's death, and Baltimore police said Monday that three other members of a group called 1 Mind Ministries have also been charged with first-degree murder. Police and Ramkissoon's family say the group is a cult.

Members did not seek medical care for Javon when he stopped breathing, and the boy died in his mother's arms, according to court documents that described police interviews with a confidential informant and two children. He would have been about 19 months old when police say adults stopped feeding him in December 2006.

Ramkissoon, 21, was being held Monday in the psychiatric ward of Baltimore's Central Booking and Intake Center, and a bail review was postponed until Tuesday. Her public defender declined comment.

The three other people charged in Javon's death — Queen Antoinette, 40, also known as Toni Ellsberry or Toni Sloan; Marcus Cobbs, 21; and Trevia Williams, who turns 21 Tuesday — were already in custody. They were arrested in May in New York City on warrants charging them with failure to appear in court in Baltimore. Those charges stemmed from a scuffle with police in a child custody dispute

No one answered the phone Monday afternoon in the office of a public defender assigned to Antoinette, Cobbs and Williams.

A fifth alleged cult member, Steven Bynum, has been charged in a warrant with first-degree murder and remains at large, police said Monday. He was believed to be in New York.

Ramkissoon's family said she should not be held responsible for her son's death.

"She had no control over that situation at all," her stepfather, Craig Newton, said Monday.

Ramkissoon's mother, Seeta Khadan-Newton, told The (Baltimore) Sun on Sunday that it wasn't her daughter's decision not to feed the boy.

"My daughter was a victim, just like my grandson," Khadan-Newton said. "Somebody made that decision to not feed that child, and my daughter had to follow instructions."

Members of 1 Mind Ministries wore all white, swore off medical care and referred to some members with titles including queen and princess, according to court documents. The group was also accused of insisting that a pregnant woman give birth without access to doctors.

Ramkissoon joined 1 Mind Ministries after Javon was born. Ramkissoon's mother last saw her in April 2006; she later sued for custody of her grandson, writing in a letter to a judge that "the cult leaders" were preventing her from contacting her daughter.

The documents show police interviewed two school-age children who had been part of the group but were taken away from members by Philadelphia police. The children told investigators that members stopped feeding Javon in December 2006, in part because the boy refused to say "amen" after dinner. Members also viewed Javon as "a demon."

Another unnamed informant told police that after Javon died, Antoinette left the boy's body in a room for more than a week, claiming "God was going to raise Javon from the dead," the documents show.

Afterward, Antoinette burned the boy's clothing and a mattress and placed his body in a green suitcase, which she would periodically open and spray with disinfectant to mask the odor, police claim in the court documents.

In early 2007, the group members left Baltimore for Philadelphia. They left the green suitcase and other luggage inside a shed belonging to a man they befriended while there, police said, and then relocated to Brooklyn, N.Y.

Police recovered the suitcase in April after they got a tip from the confidential informant. The remains of a small child were inside. DNA tests are pending to confirm the boy's identity.

The 2008 Perseid Meteor Shower - August 12

The 2008 Perseid Meteor Shower - August 12

Published on Jul 22, 2008 - 10:51:17 AM

By: Dr. Tony Phillips, Science@NASA

July 22, 2008 - Mark your calendar: The 2008 Perseid meteor shower peaks on August 12th and it should be a good show.

"The time to look is during the dark hours before dawn on Tuesday, August 12th," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center. "There should be plenty of meteors--perhaps one or two every minute."

The source of the shower is Comet Swift-Tuttle. Although the comet is far away, currently located beyond the orbit of Uranus, a trail of debris from the comet stretches all the way back to Earth. Crossing the trail in August, Earth will be pelted by specks of comet dust hitting the atmosphere at 132,000 mph. At that speed, even a flimsy speck of dust makes a vivid streak of light when it disintegrates--a meteor! Because, Swift-Tuttle's meteors streak out of the constellation Perseus, they are called "Perseids."

(Note: In the narrative that follows, all times are local. For instance, 9:00 pm means 9:00 pm in your time zone, where you live. )

Serious meteor hunters will begin their watch early, on Monday evening, August 11th, around 9 pm when Perseus first rises in the northeast. This is the time to look for Perseid Earthgrazers--meteors that approach from the horizon and skim the atmosphere overhead like a stone skipping across the surface of a pond.

The eastern sky viewed during the hours before sunrise on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2008.

"Earthgrazers are long, slow and colorful; they are among the most beautiful of meteors," says Cooke. He cautions that an hour of watching may net only a few of these at most, but seeing even one can make the whole night worthwhile.

A warm summer night. Bright meteors skipping overhead. And the peak is yet to come. What could be better?

The answer lies halfway up the southern sky: Jupiter and the gibbous Moon converge on August 11th and 12th for a close encounter in the constellation Sagittarius: sky map. It's a grand sight visible even from light-polluted cities.

For a while the beautiful Moon will interfere with the Perseids, lunar glare wiping out all but the brightest meteors. Yin-yang. The situation reverses itself at 2 am on Tuesday morning, August 12th, when the Moon sets and leaves behind a dark sky for the Perseids. The shower will surge into the darkness, peppering the sky with dozens and perhaps hundreds of meteors until dawn.

For maximum effect, "get away from city lights," Cooke advises. The brightest Perseids can be seen from cities, he allows, but the greater flurry of faint, delicate meteors is visible only from the countryside. (Scouts, this is a good time to go camping.)

The Perseids are coming. Enjoy the show!

Meltdown In The Arctic Is Speeding Up

Meltdown In The Arctic Is Speeding Up
Scientists warn that the North Pole could be free of ice in just five years’ time instead of 60

by Robin McKie

Ice at the North Pole melted at an unprecedented rate last week, with leading scientists warning that the Arctic could be ice-free in summer by 2013.

Satellite images show that ice caps started to disintegrate dramatically several days ago as storms over Alaska’s Beaufort Sea began sucking streams of warm air into the Arctic.

As a result, scientists say that the disappearance of sea ice at the North Pole could exceed last year’s record loss. More than a million square kilometres melted over the summer of 2007 as global warming tightened its grip on the Arctic. But such destruction could now be matched, or even topped, this year.

‘It is a neck-and-neck race between 2007 and this year over the issue of ice loss,’ said Mark Serreze, of the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Boulder, Colorado. ‘We thought Arctic ice cover might recover after last year’s unprecedented melting - and indeed the picture didn’t look too bad last month. Cover was significantly below normal, but at least it was up on last year.

‘But the Beaufort Sea storms triggered steep ice losses and it now looks as if it will be a very close call indeed whether 2007 or 2008 is the worst year on record for ice cover over the Arctic. We will only find out when the cover reaches its minimum in mid-September.’

This startling loss of Arctic sea ice has major meteorological, environmental and ecological implications. The region acts like a giant refrigerator that has a strong effect on the northern hemisphere’s meteorology. Without its cooling influence, weather patterns will be badly disrupted, including storms set to sweep over Britain.

At the same time, creatures such as polar bears and seals - which use sea ice for hunting and resting - face major threats. Similarly, coastlines will no longer be insulated by ice from wave damage and will suffer erosion, as is already happening in Alaska.

Other environmental changes are likely to follow. Without sea ice to bolster them, land ice - including glaciers - could topple into the ocean and raise global sea levels, threatening many low-lying areas, including Bangladesh and scores of Pacific islands. In addition, the disappearance of reflective ice over the Arctic means that solar radiation would no longer be bounced back into space, thus heating the planet even further.

On top of these issues, there are fears that water released by the melting caps will disrupt the Gulf Stream, while an ice-free Arctic in summer offers new opportunities for oil and gas drilling there - and for political disputes over territorial rights.

What really unsettles scientists, however, is their inability to forecast precisely what is happening in the Arctic, the part of the world most vulnerable to the effects of global warming. ‘When we did the first climate change computer models, we thought the Arctic’s summer ice cover would last until around 2070,’ said Professor Peter Wadhams of Cambridge University. ‘It is now clear we did not understand how thin the ice cap had already become - for Arctic ice cover has since been disappearing at ever increasing rates. Every few years we have to revise our estimates downwards. Now the most detailed computer models suggest the Arctic’s summer ice is going to last for only a few more years - and given what we have seen happen last week, I think they are probably correct.’

The most important of these computer studies of ice cover was carried out a few months ago by Professor Wieslaw Maslowski of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Using US navy supercomputers, his team produced a forecast which indicated that by 2013 there will be no ice in the Arctic - other than a few outcrops on islands near Greenland and Canada - between mid-July and mid-September.

‘It does not really matter whether 2007 or 2008 is the worst year on record for Arctic ice,’ Maslowski said. ‘The crucial point is that ice is clearly not building up enough over winter to restore cover and that when you combine current estimates of ice thickness with the extent of the ice cap, you get a very clear indication that the Arctic is going to be ice-free in summer in five years. And when that happens, there will be consequences.’

This point was backed by Serreze. ‘The trouble is that sea ice is now disappearing from the Arctic faster than our ability to develop new computer models and to understand what is happening there. We always knew it would be the first region on Earth to feel the impact of climate change, but not at anything like this speed. What is happening now indicates that global warming is occurring far earlier than any of us expected.

Part of Olympic display altered in broadcast

Some aerial footage of fireworks digitally created months in advance

NBC

The Beijing Times reported that part of the elaborate Olympic opening ceremonies display broadcast to the world were actually done digitally in 3-D computer graphics.

Fireworks over the Olympics pyrotechnics erupted when it was learned that part of the elaborate display broadcast to the world in the opening ceremony was altered, done digitally in 3-D computer graphics.

While the dramatic fireworks display actually happened as portrayed on television, members of the Beijing Olympic Committee said it was necessary to replace live video with computer-generated imagery because the city’s hazy, smoggy skies made it too difficult to see, according to The Beijing Times, which first reported the story.

Committee members also said they were concerned that the helicopter pilot who would have flown overhead to film the fireworks would have been “at risk by making him try to follow the firework route,” according to a quote from a committee member reported in a Daily Telegraph story.

NBC broadcasters Matt Lauer and Bob Costas made mention of the alteration as it aired.

"You’re looking at a cinematic device employed by Zhang Yimou here," Lauer said. "This is actually almost animation. A footstep a second, 29 in all, to signify the 29 Olympiads."

Costas responded, "We said earlier that aspects of this Opening Ceremony are almost like cinema in real time. Well this is quite literally cinematic."

It took planners almost a year to create the 55-second sequence which appeared to be more than two dozen footprints amidst fireworks in the sky, said Gao Xiaolong, head of the visual effects team for the ceremony, in the Daily Telegraph story.

Even those at the city’s new Bird’s Nest National Stadium, where the Olympics are being held, viewed the computer-generated footage from their seats as they watched on the stadium’s giant television screens, said Britain’s Sky News in a story.

“Stunned viewers thought they were watching the string of fireworks filmed from above by a helicopter,” said SkyNews.com. “ But in reality they were watching a 3-D graphics sequence that took almost a year to produce.”

There were some real fireworks going on outside the stadium. But the footprint display was “inserted into the coverage electronically at exactly the right moment,” the Daily Telegraph said.

“Meticulous efforts were made to ensure the sequence was as unnoticeable as possible,” the newspaper reported Xiaolong as saying. “They sought advice from the Beijing meteorological office as to how to recreate the hazy effects of Beijing’s smog at night, and inserted a slight camera shake effect to simulate the idea that it was filmed from a helicopter.”

Slide show Emotional Moments Olympians experience a world-record-breaking day 3. more photos

“Seeing how it worked out, it was still a bit too bright compared to the actual fireworks,” Xiaolong said in comments that appeared in the Daily Telegraph. “But most of the audience thought it was filmed live — so that was mission accomplished.”

Because the only organization in control of all Olympics footage is Beijing Olympic Broadcasting, the feed went out to everyone broadcasting the event, including NBC, which has exclusive rights in the United States to show the games. NBC's online coverage is being delivered by the MSN Network, NBCOlympics.com on MSN. (Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)

During Friday night’s opening ceremony, the network averaged 34.2 million viewers, making it the biggest television event since the Super Bowl, according to the Associated Press.

The network has been criticized itself for the 12-hour tape delay in showing the opening ceremonies, which it did because of the time difference between China and the United States, driving some viewers to other Web sites around the world to see the event live.

Bees join hunt for serial killers

By Jennifer Carpenter Science reporter, BBC News

The team's bees were identified with small numbers

The way bumblebees search for food could help detectives hunt down serial killers, scientists believe.

Just as bees forage some distance away from their hives, so murderers avoid killing near their homes, says the University of London team.

This "geographic profiling" works so well in bees, the scientists say future experiments on the animals could now be fed back to improve crime-solving.

The team's work is reported in the Royal Society journal Interface.

"We're really hopeful that we can improve the model for criminology," Dr Nigel Raine, from Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL), told BBC News.

Understanding how bees are recruited to flowers is much easier than understanding the complex thoughts of a serial murderer Dr Nigel Raine

The scientist is working with colleagues Steve Le Comber and Kim Rossmo, a former detective in the US, to tag bees with tiny coloured numbers and follow them from their nests to flower patches.

The researchers' analysis describes how bees create a "buffer zone" around their hive where they will not forage, to reduce the risk of predators and parasites locating the nest. It turns out that this pattern of behaviour is similar to the geographic profile of criminals stalking their victims.

"Most murders happen close to the killer's home, but not in the area directly surrounding a criminal's house, where crimes are less likely to be committed because of the fear of getting caught by someone they know," Dr Raine explained.

Food importance

Understanding the geographic profiles of animals is interesting to biologists as it helps them predict the locations of important feeding grounds, and knowing these areas will inform more effective conservation measures.

This approach works well for very different creatures, from bees and bats to great white sharks.

Advertisement

How bee foraging can help police

But what is more unusual is that models used to describe bee foraging can be applied back to human behaviour, the researchers say.

Instead of using information about the distribution of flowers visited by bees to explain the insects' behaviour, criminologists' models will use details about crime scenes, robbery locations, abandoned cars, even dead bodies, to hone the search for a suspect.

"Bees have much simpler brains and so understanding how bees are recruited to flowers is much easier than understanding the complex thoughts of a serial murderer," Dr Raine said.

More broadly, the London-based team hopes its work will lead to a better understanding of how one of the most familiar animals in nature goes about its daily business.

"Bees are hugely important to ecosystems and also important to humans," Dr Raine told BBC News.

"Bees' pollination 'services' account for about one in three mouthfuls of food that we eat as humans. They pollinate a huge diversity of our fruit and vegetable crops.

"If we don't know how bees forage then we don't really understand pollination, and that is quite detrimental to how we feed ourselves; which is becoming an increasing problem with bigger populations."

Dr Raine's team is also using tiny Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags - the same technology used to track stock in warehouses or supermarkets - to monitor the movements of bees.

The miniature tags are glued to the backs of the insects to record their movements in and out of the hive.

The team has also been attaching radio tags to find out more about bee behaviour.

view Videos about this article:

Bees join hunt for serial killers

By Jennifer Carpenter Science reporter, BBC News

The team's bees were identified with small numbers

The way bumblebees search for food could help detectives hunt down serial killers, scientists believe.

Just as bees forage some distance away from their hives, so murderers avoid killing near their homes, says the University of London team.

This "geographic profiling" works so well in bees, the scientists say future experiments on the animals could now be fed back to improve crime-solving.

The team's work is reported in the Royal Society journal Interface.

"We're really hopeful that we can improve the model for criminology," Dr Nigel Raine, from Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL), told BBC News.

Understanding how bees are recruited to flowers is much easier than understanding the complex thoughts of a serial murderer Dr Nigel Raine

The scientist is working with colleagues Steve Le Comber and Kim Rossmo, a former detective in the US, to tag bees with tiny coloured numbers and follow them from their nests to flower patches.

The researchers' analysis describes how bees create a "buffer zone" around their hive where they will not forage, to reduce the risk of predators and parasites locating the nest. It turns out that this pattern of behaviour is similar to the geographic profile of criminals stalking their victims.

"Most murders happen close to the killer's home, but not in the area directly surrounding a criminal's house, where crimes are less likely to be committed because of the fear of getting caught by someone they know," Dr Raine explained.

Food importance

Understanding the geographic profiles of animals is interesting to biologists as it helps them predict the locations of important feeding grounds, and knowing these areas will inform more effective conservation measures.

This approach works well for very different creatures, from bees and bats to great white sharks.

Advertisement

How bee foraging can help police

But what is more unusual is that models used to describe bee foraging can be applied back to human behaviour, the researchers say.

Instead of using information about the distribution of flowers visited by bees to explain the insects' behaviour, criminologists' models will use details about crime scenes, robbery locations, abandoned cars, even dead bodies, to hone the search for a suspect.

"Bees have much simpler brains and so understanding how bees are recruited to flowers is much easier than understanding the complex thoughts of a serial murderer," Dr Raine said.

More broadly, the London-based team hopes its work will lead to a better understanding of how one of the most familiar animals in nature goes about its daily business.

"Bees are hugely important to ecosystems and also important to humans," Dr Raine told BBC News.

"Bees' pollination 'services' account for about one in three mouthfuls of food that we eat as humans. They pollinate a huge diversity of our fruit and vegetable crops.

"If we don't know how bees forage then we don't really understand pollination, and that is quite detrimental to how we feed ourselves; which is becoming an increasing problem with bigger populations."

Dr Raine's team is also using tiny Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags - the same technology used to track stock in warehouses or supermarkets - to monitor the movements of bees.

The miniature tags are glued to the backs of the insects to record their movements in and out of the hive.

The team has also been attaching radio tags to find out more about bee behaviour.

View Videos about this article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7531391.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7532965.stm