It does look a lot like Hitler :lol:

Is it run on gas?

:-k :-"

Just don't take it in the shower.

Focus on the thick part of the handle.

How did turtle shells evolve?



A team of paleontologists has published a new study that provides clues on the early evolution of one of nature’s unique developments: the turtle shell.

Led by Tyler Lyson of Yale University and the Smithsonian Institution, the researchers maintain that a 260-million-year-old reptile from South Africa, Eunotosaurus africanus, is the earliest known version of a turtle, in part because of its distinctive T-shaped ribs. Those ribs, according to the scientists, represent an early step in the evolutionary development of the carapace, the hard, upper part of the shell of today’s turtles.

The team’s findings are published in a paper, “Evolutionary Origin of the Turtle Shell” in Current Biology.

“This is the first real, detailed study of Eunotosaurus and it fills a gap in the turtle fossil record,” said Lyson, who traveled to the Karoo Basin in South Africa to examine specimens in the field and in museums with Gaberiel Bever, an anatomy professor at New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine. “We are the first to thoroughly describe the whole skeleton and we found that Eunotosaurus uniquely shares numerous features with turtles, including development and muscle anatomy.”

Lyson and Bever noted that the origin of the turtle and its shell have been controversial. Scientists disagree on where turtles fit on the tree of life, said Bever, in part because of a disagreement stemming from the lack of clear transitional fossils – those animals whose remains indicate an intermediate state between ancestors and descendants. Bever added that the differences between molecular studies of living animals and anatomical studies of fossils and living animals also contribute to the disputes about turtle origins.

“Our data supports Eunotosaurus as an important link in that evolutionary chain that eventually produced modern turtles,” said Bever, who is also a research associate with the Division of Paleontology in the American Museum of Natural History. “This is an earlier version of the turtle.”

Previously, the oldest known turtle was a 220-million-year-old reptile from China described in 2008. Establishing Eunotosaurus as part of the turtle lineage thus pushes the age of this evolutionary story back another 40 million years.

Interestingly, Eunotosaurus has been known to science since the 19th century, but Bever said its turtle features were either overlooked or dismissed. One reason, he noted, was that the Eunotosaurus did not have a skin containing bones, which scientists long held was a necessary evolutionary step in the development of the turtle shell.

“We were the first to actually include Eunotosaurus in an evolutionary analysis with turtles,” Bever said. “And as soon as we did that, Eunotosaurus was revealed as closely related to everything currently accepted as a turtle.”

However, because Eunotosaurus lacks many of the iconic turtle features, such as the portion of the hard shell covering its belly, or plastron, it will remain a controversial species, at least for now. But Bever maintains that the first steps in an evolutionary transformation are likely to be subtle and that the distinctive ribs are strong evidence that Eunotosaurus is an early chapter in the turtle story.

“This helps fill the morphological gap between a lizard body plan and the highly modified body form found in turtles today,” said Lyson.

This study is part of a larger research project on reptile anatomy and evolution and the team plans to continue to address several related questions. Lyson plans to study turtle respiratory systems and Bever expects to release a study on the evolution of the Eunotosaurus’ skull.

The study’s other authors are: Torsten Scheyer of the Paleontology Institute and Museum in Zurich, and Allison Hsiang and Jacques Gauthier of Yale.


http://machineslikeus.com/news/how-did-turtle-shells-evolve?

Legal recognition for those who don't identify as either 'M' or 'F'

Date
May 31, 2013 - 6:13PM

People who do not identify as male or female have achieved formal legal recognition in Australia for the first time, after the NSW Court of Appeal overturned a ruling that everyone must be listed as a man or a woman with the Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages.

In a landmark decision with major implications for thousands of intersex, androgynous and neuter people across the country, the court on Friday upheld an appeal by Sydney activist 'Norrie' against a decision by the Administrative Decisions Tribunal that people must be officially registered as 'M' or 'F'.

It's not good enough if the law is just for the majority of people

In 2010, Norrie, who identifies as neuter and uses only a first name, became the first in NSW to be neither man nor woman in the eyes of the NSW government when the 52-year-old Sydneysider was given the designation "sex not specified".

But four months later the registry wrote to Norrie, saying that the change was invalid and had been "issued in error".

Norrie subsequently appealed the decision in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. But this was dismissed, with the tribunal declaring that, as a matter of law, the Registry must list someone's sex as either male or female.

Norrie appealed to the Court of Appeal and on Friday, three years later, won a near-total victory. The three-judge appeal panel unanimously declared that "as a matter of construction ... the word sex does not bear a binary meaning of 'male' or 'female'".

"The Appeal Panel erred in law in concluding that it was not open to the Registrar to register Norrie's sex as 'non-specific'," the judges said.

The matter has now been sent back to the Administrative Decisions Tribunal which must decide on a 'sexless' designation for Norrie in the Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages.

Though strictly the decision only applies to those such as Norrie who have had sex affirmation surgery (previously known as sex change surgery), it has potential implications for many others, including babies who are born with ambiguous genetalia, and people who do not identify as male or female despite having physical characteristics of a man or a woman.

"This is the first decision that recognises that 'sex' is not binary - it is not only 'male' or 'female' - and that we should have recognition of that in the law and in our legal documents," one of Norrie's solicitors, Emily Christie from DLA Piper said.

"This sets a precedent. In future, government departments and courts may adopt the reasoning found here."

Norrie said the decision was recognition that not all people were "unambiguously male or female".

"It's not good enough if the law is just for the majority of people," Norrie said.

"We accept that most people are going to be unproblematicly male or female, but the law should include everybody."


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/legal-recognition-for-those-who-dont-identify-as-either-m-or-f-20130531-2ngy4.html#ixzz2UrMhXOw4

An Asian micropenis... poor guy.

Has he worked out what's causing it?

For those that are curious enough:

Holly van Voast in all her, er...glory.

The woman has a screw loose.

No pleasant wishes in copyright battle over 'Happy Birthday to You' song

June 14, 2013 - 9:59AM

Makers of a documentary about the song Happy Birthday to You are suing a major recording company over copyright to the jingle, called the most famous song in the English language.

They are also seeking damages and restitution of more than $5 million in licensing fees collected by Warner/Chappell Music Inc from thousands of people and groups who've paid it licensing fees.

Good Morning To You Productions Corp, which is working on a film tentatively titled Happy Birthday, argues in a lawsuit filed in New York Thursday that the song should be "dedicated to public use and in the public domain".

"More than 120 years after the melody to which the simple lyrics of Happy Birthday to You is set was first published, defendant Warner/Chappell boldly, but wrongfully and unlawfully, insists that it owns the copyright to Happy Birthday to You," the lawsuit states.

Advertisement
The film company filed the lawsuit after having to pay Warner/Chappell a $1500 licensing fee and sign an agreement to use the song in a scene - or face a $150,000 penalty.

The suit asks the court to count thousands of people and groups who've paid Warner/Chappell Music licensing fees as part of a class action and to make the song free to use.

Warner/Chappell, based in Los Angeles, claims exclusive copyright to Happy Birthday to You, which Guinness World Records has called the most famous song in the English language.

The company, whose artists include Aretha Franklin, Barry Gibb, Rob Zombie, Madonna and Michael Jackson, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Good Morning To You Productions argues that evidence dating to 1893 helps show the song's copyright expired around 1921. It says four previous copyrights to the melody of the similar-sounding song Good Morning to All, filed in 1893, 1896, 1899 and 1907, have expired or been forfeited.

The suit says that Warner/Chappell claims the exclusive copyright to the song based on piano arrangements published in 1935 but that the copyright applies only to the piano arraignment and not to the melody or lyrics.

AP



Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/music/no-pleasant-wishes-in-copyright-battle-over-happy-birthday-to-you-song-20130614-2o80j.html#ixzz2WB1W5uqi

Welp...My faith in humanity today is done and dusted.

Whoever came up with this needs to be taken out into the middle of nowhere and shot. Repeatedly.

eyeball licking? wtf :shock:

If I were the judge I'd have dismissed the witness right then and there :lol:

The guy's been working on this for a while now. With the amount of money at his disposal it'd be surprising if he didn't achieve it before the end of his lifetime.

If you've got the time and money and the people committed to development why wouldn't you?

Sounds like something out of Hitchhiker's Guide

Mmmmm

Haha that's a quality quote right there.

That's just fucking retarded. China has to be one of the most unscrupulous nations on earth.

I don't know what I would have done had I not read this piece of fantastic journalism. Breaking the top stories...

I agree with all of her points, personally.

Man forced to marry goat in southern Sudan

Feb 24, 2006 (MALAKAL) — A certain Mr Tombe was caught having an intimate relation with a goat belonging to a Mr Alifi at Hai Malakal — Upper Nile State, southern Sudan — on February 13. Tombe was ordered to pay the goat’s dowry and take the animal as his wife .

Mr Alifi said: "It was around midnight when Tombe came to do his nonsense on my goat, and I was already in bed inside my house. Suddenly , I heard the goat make a loud noise. Immediately, I rushed outside to find Mr Tombe was naked and engaged in a relation with my goat . When I asked him what are you doing there, he fell off the back of the goat, so I captured and tied him up".

Alifi then brought some elders to decide the fate of the goat defiler.

"They said I should not take him to the police , but rather let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife."

Mr Tombe agreed immediately to pay for the goat, and paid half the dowry 150,000 Sudanese dinars up front.

"We have given him the goat, and as far as we know , they are still together", Mr Alifi concluded.

(Juba Post/ST)


http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article14249

That's HILARIOUS.

Old birthday cards, useless gadgets - Britons can't part with their junk

Britain is a country of hoarders, unable to let go of unneeded paperwork, old VHS tapes, defunct currency and outdated gadgets, research has found.
Almost three quarters (73%) of people admit to having a drawer full of miscellaneous junk at home, with more than half (52%) describing their homes as “cluttered”.

The hardest thing to throw out, it seems, is paperwork we no longer have a use for, with 47% of homes inexplicably stockpiling it.

Old mobile phone chargers have also proved hard to part with, as 43% say they have failed to bin them.

Other items might be held on to for more sentimental reasons, as more than a third (39%) like to keep their old birthday cards.

Old clothes and shoes that will never again be worn are failing to make it to the charity shop meanwhile, instead taking up space in already packed homes.


The study or home office is the most likely site of this unwanted mess, according to the survey of 1,000 homeowners by RatedPeople.com.

Nearly one in four people hoard their junk in these rooms, although 38% insist they would like to use their space more effectively.

James Woodham from St James Design said: “Spring cleaning tends to remind us just how much stuff we have managed to accumulate. So now is a good time to turn our minds to better storage solutions to help reduce the amount of tidying and cleaning.”

Tariq Dag Khan from RatedPeople.com added: “De-cluttering your home could also provide inspiration for other home improvement projects; you’ll be amazed at the possibilities of what you can do with the extra space in your home, once you’re able to see it.”

:: The top clutter being stockpiled in Britain’s houses, with the percentage of homes stockpiling these items:

1 Unneeded paperwork 47%

2 Old mobile phone chargers 43%

3 Old gadgets 39%

4 Old birthday cards 39%

5 VHS tapes 36%

6 Old shoes 34%

7 Bags of old clothes 27%

8 Unwanted gifts that we feel guilty about throwing out 27%

9 Old currency (e.g. Greek drachma) 23%

10 Old kitchen utensils 23%

White man's skull has Australians scratching heads
Published July 01, 2013
AFP

A centuries-old skull found in northern New South Wales in late 2011, in Canberra. The skull of a white man is raising questions about whether Captain James Cook really was the first European to land on the country's east coast. (AFP)

SYDNEY (AFP) – The centuries-old skull of a white man found in Australia is raising questions about whether Captain James Cook really was the first European to land on the country's east coast.
The skull was found in northern New South Wales in late 2011, and police initially prepared themselves for a gruesome murder investigation.
But scientific testing revealed that not only was it much older than expected, but possibly belonged to a white man born around 1650, well before Englishman Cook reached the eastern seaboard on the Endeavour in 1770.
"The DNA determined the skull was a male," Detective Sergeant John Williamson told The Daily Telegraph.
"And the anthropologist report states the skull is that of a Caucasoid aged anywhere from 28 to 65."
Australian National University expert Stewart Fallon, who carbon-dated the skull, pulling some collagen from the bone as well as the enamel on a tooth, said he was at first shocked at the age of the relic.
"We didn't know how old this one was, we assumed at first that it was going to be a very young sample," he told AFP.
"When we first did it we weren't really thinking about people coming to Australia and things like until we started to look at the dates and say, 'Oh, that's becoming intriguing'."
He said the test used was quite accurate for dates after 1950 but for earlier samples it was more difficult, and the two samples yielded different dates -- though both were within the error range.
"Using them (the dates) together we can do some modelling as to what we expect the calendar age to be ... and the way it works out by using those two dates is that we get about an 80 percent probability that the person was born somewhere around the 1650s and died somewhere between 1660 and 1700," Fallon said.
He said there was a 20 percent probability the skull, which was found well-preserved and intact but without any other remains near the Manning River, belonged to someone born between 1780 to 1790 who died between 1805 and 1810.
Historians were cautious.
"Before we rewrite the history of European settlement we have to consider a number of issues, particularly the circumstances of the discovery," archaeologist Adam Ford told the Telegraph.
"The fact the skull is in good condition and found alone could easily point to it coming from a private collection and skulls were very popular with collectors in the 19th century."
Cassie Mercer, editor of Australia And New Zealand Inside History, said the skull "could be an incredible find".
"I guess it's a very exciting find because it could open up a whole lot of avenues of history that we haven't been able to explore before," she told AFP.
Dutch explorers made the earliest European landings in Cape York in Australia's far north and western Australia in the 1600s.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/07/01/white-man-skull-has-australians-scratching-heads/?test=latestnews#ixzz2XnOt4Kae

15 years!? Almost as lenient as Australia's punishment.

Wow, that's fucked up. Does anyone remember those videos of those 3 Ukranian kids murdering people?

Yeah, Russia's justice system is fucked.