Saturday, October 27, 2007

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Calif. college uses cockroaches as lure

RIVERSIDE, Calif.—Thinking about the University of California, Riverside for college? Then come pet our cockroaches!UC Riverside is using a cockroach petting zoo to attract students and parents to an upcoming recruitment fair. The zoo will include several species, including cockroaches that emit a foul, ammonia-like scent and the famous, palm-sized Madagascar hissing cockroach.Also in plentiful supply: rubber gloves for the squeamish.The Nov. 3 event targets local high school students interested in careers as science teachers or engineers, said Steve Gomez, co-director of The Copernicus Project, one of two campus programs sponsoring the event.It's the second time this year that UC Riverside, which has a well-respected entomology department, has used the cockroach zoo to entice potential recruits."Everybody gets grossed out at first," Gomez said. "But then they find out what uses they have in agriculture, like pest elimination."Gomez said he held the giant Madagascar hissing roach in May and it nearly covered his palm. The bugs seem to enjoy being held, he said."I'm not a big cockroach fan," he said. "I held it for about five seconds and I gladly gave it back."

Monday, October 15, 2007

Suspect in child sex abuse image series identified by INTERPOL, believed to be in Thailand







LYON, France – The man photographed sexually abusing young children in Vietnam and Cambodia (Vico) in images posted on the Internet has been identified following a massive global response to INTERPOL’s appeal and is now believed to be in Thailand. As a result of information provided to INTERPOL by five different sources from three continents, the suspected child abuser labelled 'Vico,' was identified as a man teaching English at a school in South Korea.Within three days of the appeal, working with its National Central Bureaus around the world INTERPOL had also established the suspect's name, nationality, date of birth, passport number, and current and previous places of work.Intense investigative support from authorities in South Korea and the Kingdom of Thailand revealed that the man flew from Seoul to Bangkok International Airport on Thursday, 11 October, with security cameras documenting his arrival at immigration at 15h26. This image is today being made publicly available by INTERPOL as part of police efforts to locate him.'Thailand is at the centre of an international manhunt, and authorities in the country, in co-operation with INTERPOL and police around the world, are hunting him down,' said Secretary General Ronald K. Noble.'The response and contribution we have had from the public has been remarkable, as has the support from the media, which has enabled officers in our specialised unit, our office in Bangkok and police in other member countries to make such remarkable progress in such a short space of time.'We must once again enlist the public’s support, this time to pinpoint Vico’s current location.'Police services and prosecutors in the involved countries are continuing to collect and analyse evidence in order to bring charges against ‘Vico’ as soon as possible.More than 350 people worldwide contacted INTERPOL in response to its appeal for assistance for Operation Vico when it became clear that without the public’s help, the man pictured sexually abusing 12 different young boys in Vietnam and Cambodia in a series of around 200 images could otherwise not be identified.'This case clearly underlines the central role which could only be achieved by INTERPOL with its network of 186 member countries, and also highlights the giant step forward in global communications among INTERPOL members,' added Secretary General Noble.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Cat with different colored eyes


"Look into my eyes, look into my eyes, the eyes, the eyes, not around the eyes, don't look around the eyes, look into my eyes. [click] You're under!" Hey, just kiddin! That was a line from amazing hypnotist character Kenny Craig of the 'Little Britain' award-winning British TV series.Seriously, our two-year-old Saudi kitty above has an eye for colors, we think you will agree. Kitty has one brown eye and one blue eye and is a mixture of Persian and Siamese. And Kitty comes from Riyadh.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Eating insects for food, snacking on crickets, snakes, baby nestling sparrows, mice, scorpion soup






Entomophagy is the habit of eating insects as food. While it is common for many insects, birds and animals to indulge themselves, did you know that people in some parts of the world consider insects a very tasty delicacy?

If you live in Beijing or Bangkok, for example, you might fancy a taste of crickets. Or maybe you would prefer baby nestling sparrows, mice, snakes, or maybe a bowl of scrumptious scorpion soup?

These are all on the menu, as you can see from our pictures here. One man's meat is another man's poison, as they say. So, have a nice day. And enjoy your lunch.Eating insects for food, snacking on crickets, snakes, baby nestling sparrows, mice, scorpion soup