More and more species are becoming endangered as the years go by.  It probably would not be a surprise if one day, we hear news about the human race being in danger of disappearing because of what we are doing to the environment.  Sometimes, though, we make the most interesting connections.

Take polar bears and data centers, for example.  They have been the focus of some discussion lately.

How so?

Apparently, the extent of global data center service has reached such proportions that this industry is one of the leading contributors to global warming.  Believe it or not, the Information Age has a negative impact on the environment, and polar bears are being used as a focal figure in the awareness campaign.

Obviously, if global temperatures continue to increase, the polar ice caps will melt, leaving those adorable fuzzy white creatures without a home.  If this happens, of course, the bears just might disappear from the face of the earth.

Data centers are not solely to be held responsible for this issue, though.  While it may be tempting to point fingers at a single industry, everyone has his role to play in the matter.  Emissions from vehicles – both private and public alike – are as much to blame.  Daily activities that may seem benign also contribute to the amount of emissions.  Governments must do their part, and so must individuals.

The bottom line is that more is at stake than the polar bear.  Everyone is responsible for saving the earth.  We need to act now or probably suffer negative consequences in the very near future.

Pilots flying in Scotland last week were treated to a novel warning from air controllers: watch out for a high flying vulture (high flying being a literal description).  Gandalf, a Ruppell’s Vulture “escaped” during an airshow called World of Wings.  The show was being held in Cumbernauld, which is near Glasgow, when Gandalf supposedly caught a warm thermal.  This propelled her high up into the skies, and she was not seen again – for a while.

The “loss” of Gandalf, who has been with World of Wings for six years, prompted civil aviation authorities to warn pilots.  Gandalf is originally from the African continent and has a wingspan of three meters.  This gives the bird lots of flying power.  Believe it or not, this kind of bird can actually fly up to 30,000 feet!  Indeed, this capacity makes the bird a potential threat to airplanes in flight.

There have been many incidents in the past of aircraft colliding with birds.  In many cases, these collisions have caused pilots to opt for an emergency landing.  Remember the commercial airplane that had to land on the Hudson River?

To make things worse, Gandalf’s kind can fly for very long distances, making it difficult to predict where he would end up.  The good news is that the bird has finally been found – at a Falkirk brickworks, interestingly enough.  Experts were worried that the bird might reach as far as the European continent, but their fears were alleviated when Gandalf was spotted.

So if you’re flying anywhere near the area – you’re safe from show vultures now.

Photo credit: Birdfinders

What did he expect anyway? The guy was drunk, however, so I guess he was not thinking at all. AP reports that an Australian man was thrown out of a pub in the northwestern part of the country. The 36-year-old guy then proceeded to scale the barbed wire fence protecting the Broome Crocodile Park.

He wanted to give Fatso, the name of the 16-foot saltwater crocodile, a pat; but he ended up getting more than he bargained for. Why he had to sit on the back of the croc, one can only surmise, but Fatso didn’t like it one bit. He responded quickly by swinging his head back and biting the man on the right leg.

Surprisingly, the crocodile let go of the man’s leg so he was able to escape and managed to scale the fence once again – this time to get the heck out of there. He was quite fortunate to have received only lacerations on his leg (nasty as they are) as saltwater crocodiles are not known for letting go of limbs (or anything for that matter) once they get hold of them.

As for the man, no other information was released about him except that he is a tourist from eastern Australia.

Here’s a tip for you: the next time you see a saltwater crocodile, try to refrain from giving it a pat and sitting on its back, will you?

Eating the meat of dogs is a tradition in certain parts of the world. In China, dog meat is a tradition ingredient in hot pots. With the changes that have occurred over the decades, however, this tradition is in danger.

The government has proposed jail time for people who are caught eating dog meat. The bill has been proposed in alignment with animal rights. Included in the bill’s coverage is cat meat. People who are charged and found guilty can go to jail for up to 15 days. A fine of around $700 is also part of the penalty. Businesses that are found guilty of serving dishes with dog meat or cat meat in them can also be charged under the provisions of the bill. The fine for businesses ranges from 14,000 USD to 73,000 USD.

As expected, this move has stirred up controversy. Pet lovers have taken up for the cause, while others say that the ban is quite unrealistic. On the one hand, some people see the cruelty in certain practices. One such practice is beating the animal (dogs in particular) to death. This is done to force the blood into the meat, making it tastier and richer. On the other hand, some people value the tradition of consuming the meat of cats and dogs. They think that the move to ban such meat is akin to throwing away part of the people’s history and culture.

It’s definitely a delicate situation, and I am glad I do not have to make the decision about it.

No one in his right mind would do this, right? Well, think again! This guy from Lansing, Michigan wanted his 15 minutes of fame, so he stuffed these icky creatures into his mouth.

Sean Murphy, a pet store employee, decided to make a go for a Guinness World Record and put not one, but 16, cockroaches in his mouth. Mind you, they weren’t any ordinary roaches. In fact, they were Madagascar hissing cockroaches. According to Wikipedia, the Madagascar hissing cockroach is:

“also known as the hissing roach or simply hisser, is one of the largest species of cockroach, reaching 2–3 inches (5-8cm) at maturity. They are from the island of Madagascar off the African coast, where they can be found in rotting logs.

Unlike most cockroaches, they are wingless. They are excellent climbers and can scale smooth glass.”

So Sean Murphy got 16 of some of the biggest roaches in the world! He said that each of the roaches were at the very least, 2 ½ inches long. He initially tried for 12 roaches, but he just kept adding one more until he got all 16 in. While the feat has been documented, Guinness says that they still have to verify Murphy’s stunt. Until that has been done, amazing (and disgusting) as it may be, he is not a world record holder yet. He remains undaunted, though, and says that next year, he will be going for 20 roaches in his mouth – alive, hissing, and all!

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Hotdog eating contests are not out of the ordinary. Indeed, people take off their hats to the amazing men and women who can chow down almost a hundred hotdogs in one go. But have you ever heard of an inter-species hotdog bun eating contest?

Now I don’t know what possessed the people behind the event but they organized a hotdog bun eating contest between three elephants and three humans at Coney Island in Brooklyn. The elephants, named Bunny, Susie, and Minnie ate a total of 505 buns in a mere six minutes. On the other hand, the three humans, Eric “Badlands” Cooper, Juliet Lee, and Tim “Gravy” Brown, downed a mere 143 buns in the same span of time.

All the elephants are in the 40s. The humans are all well known in the world of eating contests. Cooper is a subway conductor from New York City and is the world champion in corned beef hash eating. Lee is the world cranberry sauce eating champion, and Brown holds the distinction of eating 8.47 pounds of blueberry pie in 8 minutes. Oh, and he did it hands free, by the way.

I doubt that the elephants knew the reputations of the people they were up against. Even if they did, they probably wouldn’t have been fazed. They probably wouldn’t even care. With a collective weight of about 9 tons, the elephants definitely had the advantage over the humans who weighed a total of about 500 pounds.

Are you one of the countless people wearing those facial masks when going out in public? If you work at an airport or a similar transportation hub, you just might be. Or maybe you live near the border with Mexico and you also feel the need to protect yourself.

Well, do it as much as you want to – it can only do you good anyway. However, if the World Health Organization is to be believed, the outbreak of swine flu, or H1N1 virus, may not be as serious as we all think it is. According to the Los Angeles Times, scientists are actually saying that this strain of the flu virus is actually mild; at least when compared to previous epidemics. This should be a good thing as a lot of people are panicking regarding the possibility of a widespread epidemic. After all, some people have died because of it already, so this is really understandable.

On another note, scientists are also saying that developing a swine flu vaccine could take some time. The Voice of America reports:

The World Health Organization says several laboratories around the world are developing a vaccination against swine influenza A-H1N1. The organization has raised its alert to level five, just below declaring the flu virus outbreak to be a pandemic. The process of vaccine development can take months.

By this time, this current strain could very well be gone and we might be facing a different strain in the future. In the meantime, we just need to be wary and try to keep healthy.

How many times have you wondered whether Santa’s reindeers are male or female? I am sure that if you have not thought about it lately, you wondered about it at least once when you were a child. We may never know the answer for sure but scientists over at Texas A&M University are trying their best to figure out the gender of the reindeer.

The Associated Press ran a story yesterday:

“Santa’s reindeers were really females, most likely,” said Alice Blue-McLendon, a veterinary medicine professor specializing in deer who cites the depictions of Santa’s helpers with antlers as the primary evidence. It turns out reindeer grow antlers regardless of gender, and most bulls typically shed their fuzzy protrusions before Christmas.

But Santa’s sleigh helpers might also be castrated males, known as steers, said Greg Finstad, who manages the Reindeer Research Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Young steers finish shedding their antlers in February and March, just as non-expecting females do. Bulls generally lose theirs before Christmas, while expectant mothers retain their antlers until calves are birthed in the spring. This allows them to protect food resources through harsh weather and to have enough for developing fetuses, he said.

Sledders most often use steers because they maintain their body condition throughout the winter, he said. Bulls are tuckered out from rutting season when they mate with as many as a dozen females in the months leading up to December. That leaves them depleted and too lean to pull a sleigh or sled through heavy snows, Finstad said.

Alright, but I really cannot see anyone naming their daughter Rudolph.

As much as I love Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, am an advocate of breastfeeding, and staunchly oppose animal abuse, I was quite stupefied when I saw an article on the Associated Press about the animal rights advocacy group PETA, asking the ice cream kings to use breast milk to replace cow in producing their ice cream.

Tracy Reiman, executive vice president of PETA, argued the dairy products have been linked to juvenile diabetes, allergies and obesity, saying:

“If Ben and Jerry’s replaced the cow’s milk in its ice cream with breast milk, your customers — and cows — would reap the benefits”

Ashley Byrne, a campaign coordinator for PETA added:

“We’re aware this idea is somewhat absurd, and that putting it into practice is a stretch. At the time same, it’s pretty absurd for us to be drinking the milk of cows…”

Its not surprising that the folks at Ben and Jerry’s responded without much enthusiasm. I just can’t help feeling that the PETA people are not doing a favour for themselves or their worthy cause by making statements like this. You don’t need to do a nationwide poll to find out what people (aside from babies) will think of this – and thats creepy, I’m afraid.

Whether or not its absurd for humans to be drinking the milk of cows is not really the issue. Its what generations of us have been used to. Besides, what I find more important is the logistical problems it would face – it takes 12 lbs or 1 1/2 gallons of milk to make a gallon of ice cream. When I was nursing, it took at least half an hour to express 6 or 7 oz. Can you imagine how long poor Mothers would have to be strapped to pumping machines just to meet the demand? Thats an even scarier thought.

They are known as man’s best friend and studies show that they are one of the best ways to get into better health. Having a dog improves ones mental and physical health. Study shows dog owners are in better health than being a cat owner.

The study conducted by Dr. Deborah Wells of Queen’s University, Belfast shows that people with dogs tend to have lower levels of cholesterol and blood pressure. This may be due to the regular exercise they get from walking their pet. She writes that dog owners also appear to experience fewer ailments both those that are minor and those that are more serious.

Dogs in fact seem to lower ones stress levels which is why dog owners recover more swiftly from heart disease. It’s also true that having a dog means that you have a constant, loyal companion that you can talk with about anything - just don’t expect an answer back.
Dogs generally increase ones social contact as well. Usually the more good looking and friendly the dog, the more people will approach to admire your pet and in the process, make friends.