Bank robber James Snell has been caught by police because of the personalised number plate on his BMW car that he used to stake out his target in Cardiff.

Snell drove his car with the registration "J4MES" to set up the £100,000 raid on a Halifax branch.

His gang of four robbers was caught when a witness remembered admiring the distinctive plate on the blue BMW - and gave details to police.

Snell, 26, and his brother Wayne, 34, were traced to their hideaway and found red-handed with more than £30,000 of the cash in bank-notes.

The number plate blunder was revealed when Wayne was jailed for eight years for robbery. James will be sentenced later.

The gang decided to use heavy metal drain covers to smash their way into a Halifax branch in Roath, Cardiff.

They set off in James Snell's BMW to plan the bank heist - including watching the branch and planning their getaway.

But Cardiff Crown Court heard they were spotted by a passer-by who remembered the J4MES number plate because it stood out.

"A witness saw a passenger lean out, lift a drain cover from the road and the car drove off," Prosecutor Tim Evans said.

"Lee Norville, who works for the council's highways department, later identified one of the two covers used to smash the windows at a branch of Halifax as coming from that drain. It is clear their arrogance contributed to their undoing."

Cash was being delivered to the Halifax branch by the security guards just before midnight when the gang struck.

Two Group 4 Securicor workers were refilling the bank's cash machine ready for business the next morning when they were confronted by men dressed in dark clothing and balaclavas.

Two used the drain covers to smash through the glass while a third armed with a bat shouted threats.

The gang took a total of £104,910 - all in £10 and £20 notes. The empty cash boxes were later found dumped in woods.

The car, with its distinctive number plate, was spotted outside a rented home in Whitchurch, Cardiff.

Fellow gang member Carl Campion, 44, of Birmingham, denied robbery but was found guilty and was jailed for 12 years.

The Snell brothers admitted robbery along with accomplice Adam Abbot, 38, of Hyde, Manchester. Abbot and James Snell will be sentenced at a later date.

Judge Gareth Jones said it was a "professional, sophisticated, pre-planned robbery on commercial premises" - and that £70,000 is still missing.

After the case, Detective Inspector Paul Andrews, of South Wales Police, said: "I would like to thank people who contacted us with information including the details of the car number plate."

credited to telegraph.co.uk

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An exotic or unusual pet is like a small part of untamed Nature. For some people, exotics remind them that the world contains millions of species that have evolved free from human intervention.

Take the Madagascar hissing cockroach, for instance. The very name sends chills up the spines of some people. Others, however, will be fascinated at the elaborate rituals these creatures have developed to defend territory, produce offspring, or simply to identify themselves.

You don't need to own a Bengal tiger to own an unusual pet. Unless a person has the right training, time, temperament, finances and home, owning such an animal is extremely ill advised.

The following unusual and exotic pets can be owned throughout the United States, though regulations governing some may be more strict in some areas than others.

Piranhas live up to their Hollywood reputation as vicious fish that will not hesitate to chew off the hand that feeds it. This isn't a pet for the faint of heart – only experienced aquarists should take on the piranha.

Tarantulas, contrary to popular belief, are not usually dangerous or even aggressive. These large, hairy, and frequently beautiful animals are gaining popularity as interesting, low-maintenance pets.

The wallaby is a miniature version of the kangaroo. The Latin name for the wallaby is macropod, which means "Big Foot." They are affectionate, playful and mischievous pets.

The Madagascar hissing cockroach is no ordinary roach. For one thing, it can grow to up to 3 inches long and over an inch wide – not something you would swat with a rolled-up magazine! They are hardy creatures that do not bite, and in fact make great exotic pets for children.

The skunk was once the Rodney Dangerfield of the animal world. But the perception of the skunk is improving as more people adopt these native-born animals as pets.

Sugar gliders are marsupials native to Australia, New Guinea and Indonesia that have been blessed with the ability to glide through the trees in their natural habitats. From a good height, they can take "flights" of more than 150 feet.

The "Pac Man" frog is an apt nickname for the ornery ornate horned frog. Legend says that once it bites, it won't let go until sundown. Just like the computer icon, this frog is ready to gobble everything in its path, and will bite cage mates, siblings, even its human handler.

The hermit crab is, curiously, neither a hermit nor a crab. As a pet, he's quite sociable and does well in groups of his own species. There are about 800 species of hermit crabs and can be found all over the world. However, there are only two species usually found in the pet trade: the purple claw crab and the Ecuadorian crab.

Potbellied pigs were first introduced to the United States from Asia 15 years ago. They are easily trained and have an alert curiosity and affectionate nature. They're smarter than the smartest dogs, and just as appreciative of a good belly-scratch. But prospective owners should be aware that cute piglets can grow to be quite large pigs.

Stick insects are one of the most popular insects to keep as pets. They can hide in plain sight with camouflage that is so perfect they are nearly indistinguishable from the branches of the plants on which they feed.

credited to petplace

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The draw of the same six winning numbers twice in a row in Bulgaria's national lottery was a freak coincidence, officials said Thursday.

Sports Minister Svilen Neikov ordered an investigation after the numbers 4, 15, 23, 24, 35 and 42 were selected, in a different order, by a machine live on television on September 6 and 10. The results caused suspicions of manipulation.

An investigation found no wrongdoing in the draw or determining the winners, its chairman Konstantin Simeonov said.

"We cannot talk about any manipulation," he said.

The chance of the same six numbers coming up twice in two consecutive rounds was one in more than 4 million but was not impossible, respected mathematician Michail Konstantinov has said.

An unprecedented 18 people guessed all six numbers when they were drawn the second time and each got 10,164 levs ($7,700). Nobody won the top prize the first time.

The lottery organizers say it is impossible to tamper with the lottery machine. The draws take place in the presence of a special committee and is broadcast live on national television which guarantee no cheating, they say.

"This is happening for the first time in the 52-year history of the lottery. We are absolutely stunned to see such a freak coincidence but it did happen," a spokeswoman said.

credited to reuters.com

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A man with a phobia of women has never kissed a girl despite being aged 27.

Neil Dando, from Worthing, West Sussex, suffers from chronic 'loveshyness' – a psychological condition which means he cannot approach a girl without becoming a nervous wreck and suffering extreme anxiety attacks.

He fears his bizarre trauma means he will never be able to develop a serious relationship.

"At work, because it is purely professional, it is fine. It is only when I get attracted to a girl that it really affects me," Mr Dando said.

"There have even been cases when I have pretended to like somebody just to see if I can get over it.

"But the more I talk, the more I start thinking and the same anxiety halts me mid-sentence."

His problem is not a registered condition but was coined by American professor Brian Gilmartin in his 1987 book, 'Shyness and Love: Causes, Consequences and Treatment.'

Mr Dando stumbled across the diagnosis when he was surfing the internet using online messageboards to communicate with other sufferers.

"I picked up a book on the subject which made me realise there were others like me with the same problems," he said.

"I realised I had been foolish spending my life thinking I had just been unlucky and that someone would come along eventually."

Prof Gilmartin claims the condition affects 1.7 million men in the US.

"Shyness inhibits people from assuming a sense of responsibility for their behaviour," he wrote in his book.

"It makes them feel and truly believe they are not in the driver's seat of their own lives and destinies."

credited to telegraph.co.uk

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Six young Americans calling themselves 'Dude Perfect' claim to have videoed themselves sinking the world’s longest basketball shot.

The Texas A&M students who make up ‘Dude Perfect’ posted the astonishing results on YouTube – apparently showing them throwing a basketball from the top tier of a football stadium, and straight into the basket on the far side of the field.

Two videos, one from the thrower’s perspective and one from beneath the basket, seem to back up their claims. So far 3,300,000 people have viewed the videos, including their Dude Perfect: Summer Camp edition.

Video experts say that they are unable to tell where edits have been made.

The six men – previously high school basketball players, now roommates at Texas A&M – say they will sponsor one child through the charity Compassion International for every 100,000 views of their video.

They said: “We are already set to sponsor a few and, for example, if our video hits one million views this semester, the six of us will be sponsoring 10 kids.

“We're really excited about this, and we hope you will help us spread the word so we can sponsor as many kids as possible!”

The six have remained elusive, refusing to give interviews despite increasing media coverage. US breakfast television mainstay Good Morning America devoted an entire segment to asking whether or not their basketball stunts were faked.

credited to telegraph.co.uk and youtube

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It's game over for some police officers who played video games while they raided a convicted drug dealer's home in central Florida.

Surveillance video obtained by WFLA in Tampa caught the officers playing a Nintendo Wii bowling game, with one furiously jumping up and down in celebration. Officials say some of the officers could be disciplined.

Officers with the anti-drug task force had just stormed into the home of the convicted drug dealer, who was already in custody. One Polk County sheriff's detective can be seen taking several breaks from cataloguing evidence so she can bowl frames.

The officers did not know a video camera had been set up in the house before the March raid.

credited to stuff.co.nz and youtube

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The Bible tells us that God created Adam and Eve just a few thousand years ago, by some fundamentalist interpretations. Science informs us that this is mere fiction and that man is a few million years old, and that civilization just tens of thousands of years old. Could it be, however, that conventional science is just as mistaken as the Bible stories? There is a great deal of archeological evidence that the history of life on earth might be far different than what current geological and anthropological texts tell us. Consider these astonishing finds:

The Grooved Spheres

Over the last few decades, miners in South Africa have been digging up mysterious metal spheres. Origin unknown, these spheres measure approximately an inch or so in diameter, and some are etched with three parallel grooves running around the equator. Two types of spheres have been found: one is composed of a solid bluish metal with flecks of white; the other is hollowed out and filled with a spongy white substance. The kicker is that the rock in which they where found is Precambrian - and dated to 2.8 billion years old! Who made them and for what purpose is unknown.

The Dropa Stones

In 1938, an archeological expedition led by Dr. Chi Pu Tei into the Baian-Kara-Ula mountains of China made an astonishing discovery in some caves that had apparently been occupied by some ancient culture. Buried in the dust of ages on the cave floor were hundreds of stone disks. Measuring about nine inches in diameter, each had a circle cut into the center and was etched with a spiral groove, making it look for all the world like some ancient phonograph record some 10,000 to 12,000 years old. The spiral groove, it turns out, is actually composed of tiny hieroglyphics that tell the incredible story of spaceships from some distant world that crash-landed in the mountains. The ships were piloted by people who called themselves the Dropa, and the remains of whose descendents, possibly, were found in the cave.

The Ica Stones

In the 1930s, Dr. Javier Cabrera, a medical doctor, received a gift of a strange stone from a local farmer. Dr. Cabrera was so intrigued that he collected more than 1,100 of these andesite stones, which are estimated to be between 500 and 1,500 years old and have become known collectively as the Ica Stones. The stones bear etchings, many of which are sexually graphic (which was common to the culture); some picture idols and others depict such practices as open-heart surgery and brain transplants. The most astonishing etchings, however, clearly represent dinosaurs - brontosaurs, triceratops (see photo), stegosaurus and pterosaurs. While skeptics consider the Ica Stones a hoax, their authenticity has neither been proved or disproved.

The Antikythera Mechanism

A perplexing artifact was recovered by sponge-divers from a shipwreck in 1900 off the coast of Antikythera, a small island that lies northwest of Crete. The divers brought up from the wreck a great many marble and and bronze statues that had apparently been the ship's cargo. Among the findings was a hunk of corroded bronze that contained some kind of mechanism composed of many gears and wheels. Writing on the case indicated that it was made in 80 B.C., and many experts at first thought it was an astrolabe, an astronomer's tool. An x-ray of the mechanism, however, revealed it to be far more complex, containing a sophisticated system of differential gears. Gearing of this complexity was not known to exist until 1575! It is still unknown who constructed this amazing instrument 2,000 years ago or how the technology was lost.

The Baghdad Battery

Today batteries can be found in any grocery, drug, convenience and department store you come across. Well, here's a battery that's 2,000 years old! Known as the Baghdad Battery, this curiosity was found in the ruins of a Parthian village believed to date back to between 248 B.C. and 226 A.D. The device consists of a 5-1/2-inch high clay vessel inside of which was a copper cylinder held in place by asphalt, and inside of that was an oxidized iron rod. Experts who examined it concluded that the device needed only to be filled with an acid or alkaline liquid to produce an electric charge. It is believed that this ancient battery might have been used for electroplating objects with gold. If so, how was this technology lost... and the battery not rediscovered for another 1,800 years?

The Coso Artifact

While mineral hunting in the mountains of California near Olancha during the winter of 1961, Wallace Lane, Virginia Maxey and Mike Mikesell found a rock, among many others, that they thought was a geode - a good addition for their gem shop. Upon cutting it open, however, Mikesell found an object inside that seemed to be made of white porcelain. In the center was a shaft of shiny metal. Experts estimated that, if this was a geode, it should have taken about 500,000 years for this fossil-encrusted nodule to form, yet the object inside was obviously of sophisticated human manufacture. Further investigation revealed that the porcelain was surround by a hexagonal casing, and an x-ray revealed a tiny spring at one end, like a spark plug. There's a bit of controversy around this artifact, as you can imagine. Some contend that the artifact was not inside a geode at all, but encased in hardened clay. The artifact itself has been identified by experts as a 1920s-era Champion spark plug. Unfortunately, the Coso Artifact has gone missing and cannot be thoroughly examined. Is there a natural explanation for it? Or was it found, as the discoverer claimed, inside a geode? If so, how could a 1920s sparkplug get inside a 500,000-year-old rock?

Ancient Model Aircraft

There are artifacts belonging to ancient Egyptian and Central American cultures that look amazingly like modern-day aircraft. The Egyptian artifact, found in a tomb at Saqquara, Egypt in 1898, is a six-inch wooden object that strongly resembles a model airplane, with fuselage, wings and tail. Experts believe the object is so aerodynamic that it is actually able to glide. The small object discovered in Central America (shown at right), and estimated to be 1,000 years old, is made of gold and could easily be mistaken for a model of a delta-wing aircraft - or even the Space Shuttle. It even features what looks like a pilot's seat.

Giant Stone Balls of Costa Rica

Workmen hacking and burning their way through the dense jungle of Costa Rica to clear an area for banana plantations in the 1930s stumbled upon some incredible objects: dozens of stone balls, many of which were perfectly spherical. They varied in size from as small as a tennis ball to an astonishing 8 feet in diameter and weighing 16 tons! Although the great stone balls are clearly man-made, it is unknown who made them, for what purpose and, most puzzling, how they achieved such spherical precision.

Impossible Fossils

Fossils, as we learned in grade school, appear in rocks that were formed many thousands of years ago. Yet there are a number of fossils that just don't make geological or historical sense. A fossil of a human handprint, for example, was found in limestone estimated to be 110 million years old. What appears to be a fossilized human finger found in the Canadian Arctic also dates back 100 to 110 million years ago. And what appears to be the fossil of a human footprint, possibly wearing a sandal, was found near Delta, Utah in a shale deposit estimated to be 300 million to 600 million years old.

Out-of-Place Metal Objects

Humans were not even around 65 million years ago, never mind people who could work metal. So then how does science explain semi-ovoid metallic tubes dug out of 65-million-year-old Cretaceous chalk in France? In 1885, a block of coal was broken open to find a metal cube obviously worked by intelligent hands. In 1912, employees at an electric plant broke apart a large chunk of coal out of which fell an iron pot! A nail was found embedded in a sandstone block from the Mesozoic Era.

credited to about.com

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A Florida woman was today sentenced to a year and a day in prison for keeping her dead mother's body in a bedroom for years while collecting more than $US230,000 in pension benefits, prosecutors said.

Penelope Sharon Jordan, 61, of Sebastian, Florida, pleaded guilty to theft of government funds in June, the US Attorney's Office in Miami said.

Police said when they found the body in a spare bedroom in March, Jordan told them her mother had been dead for at least six years. During the sentencing hearing, evidence indicated that Jordan told her sister their mother had died before December, 2001.

An autopsy on the body found no signs of foul play.

Jordan told the court she concealed her mother's death in order to continue collecting her Social Security and military pension benefits. Over a six-year period she received $US61,415 in Social Security payments and $US176,461 from the military pension.

She was ordered to repay $US237,876 to the government.

credited to news.com.au

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Two Massachusetts Institute of Technology students have developed a program they claim can accurately predict sexual orientation based on a person’s Facebook friends.

“Project Gaydar” scanned the profiles of more than 1,500 Facebook users who identified themselves as gay, straight, or bisexual. Analysis revealed gay men had a higher proportion of homosexual friends than straight men.

The discovery that gay men have gay friends isn’t a surprise. But, using this information, the Gaydar program was applied to 947 men who chose not to identify sexual orientation in their profiles. While the students could not confirm the accuracy of all 947 predictions, they personally knew 10 of the men were homosexuals and the program identified each of these men as gay.

Facebook spokesman Simon Axten addressed the study to the Boston Globe:

In general, it’s not too surprising that someone might make inferences about someone else without knowing that person based on who the person’s friends are. This isn’t specific to Facebook and is entirely possible in the real world as well.

However, the study highlights the power of data-mining social networks. Statistical analysis that would be impossible in the “real world” can reveal more than we choose to disclose in our online profiles.

Do you worry about the loss of privacy online? Or are you happy to reveal a little personal info if that’s what it takes to keep using Facebook?

credited to cnn.com

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Damien, Myra and Carrie are Britain's most feared and mistrusted names, due to superstitious and dark associations.

A poll of 2000 Britons - commissioned by Warner Home Video to publicise the release of television series Supernatural Season 4 - showed the effects of television and fiction on the way that people view names.

Damien topped the poll with nine out of 10 respondents uneasy about the associations with the devil child from the 1970s film The Omen.

Myra, was the next most feared and distrusted name at 83 percent, potentially due to associations with serial killer Myra Hindley, the survey said.

That was followed by two other prominent horror film names Carrie (a 1976 film starring Sissy Spacek), Rosemary (Rosemary's Baby, directed by Roman Polanski) and Judas, who the Bible says betrayed Jesus Christ.

Three quarters of respondents said they would avoid dating someone with the name Damien and 66 percent of women said they were superstitious about naming a child after someone they hated at school or an ex-boyfriend.

More than a third of respondents said they believed that teachers gave higher marks to children with attractive names and 70 percent of people said they would pass judgement about a person's lifestyle and character based on their name.

The top 10 list of superstitious names were:

1) Damien
2) Myra
3) Carrie
4) Rosemary
5) Judas
6) Adolf
7) Pandora
8) Regan
9) Samara
10) Boris

credited to stuff.co.nz

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A mystery creature reportedly beaten to death by a group of teenagers in Panama is the subject of much speculation on the web.

The beast's hairless, rubbery body and revolting features have drawn comparisons with the Montauk Monster, the still-unidentified animal photographed on a New York beach last year.

According to reports in Panama, the teenagers spotted the creature crawling out of a cave while playing in the town of Cerro Azul north of Panama City.

Fearing for the safety as it moved towards them, the youths claim they attacked the beast with sticks before throwing its lifeless body into a pool of water.

They returned later to take pictures of the corpse which were then posted on the website of the Central American country's Telemetro television station.

The images have since bounced around various cryptozoology blogs, with several explanations suggested for what it might have been.

A hooked claw visible in one of the photos has been cited as evidence for the popular theory that the creature was a sloth that somehow lost its hair.

The so-called Montauk Monster provoked intense speculation when photos allegedly taken at the Long Island resort where it was washed up were posted on Gawker, the US gossip website.

It was variously identified as a dead dog, a disused film prop and a marketing stunt, but its remains have never been found.

credited to telegraph.co.uk

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Number 10: Most Middle Eastern countries recognize the following Islamic law: "After having sexual relations with a lamb, it is a mortal sin to eat its flesh."

Number 9: In Lebanon, men are legally allowed to have sex with animals, but the animals must be female. Having sexual relations with a male animal is punishable by death.

Number 8: In Bahrain, a male doctor may legally examine a woman’s genitals, but is forbidden from looking directly at them during the examination. He may only see their reflection in a mirror.

Number 7: Muslims are banned from looking at the genitals of a corpse. This also applies to undertakers; the sex organs of the deceased must be covered with a brick or a piece of wood at all times.

Number 6: The penalty for masturbation in Indonesia is capitation

Number 5: There are men in Guam whose full-time job is to travel the countryside and deflower young virgins, who pay them for the privilege of having sex for the first time. Reason: under Guam law, it is expressly forbidden for virgins to marry.

Number 4: In Hong Kong, a betrayed wife is legally allowed to kill her adulterous husband, but may only do so with her bare hands.

Number 3: Topless saleswomen are legal in Liverpool, England, but only in tropical fish stores.

Number 2: In Santa Cruz, Bolivia it is illegal for a man to have sex with a woman and her daughter at the same time.

And the wierdest law in the world is...

In Cali, Colombia, a woman may only have sex with her husband, and the first time this happens her mother must be in the room to witness the act

credited to buzzle.com

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Mohammed is the most common name for baby boys born in London and three other English regions, official Government figures have shown.

The Islamic name overtook traditional choices like Jack, Thomas and Daniel to become the number one name in the West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber/North West as well as in the capital, in 2008.

The figures emerged in a detailed regional breakdown of figures published last week by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Britain's Daily Telelgraph reported.

When various spellings of the Islamic prophet are added together - including Muhammad, Mohammad, Mohamed and Muhammed - the name is now more than twice as popular in London as the capital's second-ranked boys name, Daniel.

There were 1828 baby boys given the name Mohammed, including varients, in 2008, compared with only 844 who were called Daniel.

London is not the first European capital to see Mohammed become the number one name for baby boys. In Brussels, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Oslo the name has already gained the top slot.

Experts believe that internationally around 15 million people are called Mohammed, making it the most popular male name in the world.

Murtaza Shibli of the Muslim Council of Britain said he was not surprised to find Mohammed had become the most popular boys name in parts of the country.

"People choose it because of their love of the prophet Mohammed, and they believe the name will bring happiness and abundance," he said.

"Also because of its meaning - the praised one. Also there is a belief that if you do name your children Mohammed they will follow the good example of the prophet.

"There are so many spellings because it is an Arabic name and there are different ways of translating it into English."

credited to stuff.co.nz

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Norway's Opera Software released on Wednesday a test version of its new mobile browser, hoping new features, easier usage and new design will protect its No 1 spot in the global mobile browser market. The competition has heated up since Apple's iPhone showed the possiblities of mobile Internet access. Google has entered the market and the Mozilla Foundation is preparing to enter this year.

"The browser is becoming a primary area of focus as manufacturers seek to differentiate devices in a highly competitive market," said Geoff Blaber, analyst with British consultancy CCS Insight.

"The importance of the browser is increasing not only because of the need for a good browsing experience, but also as future mobile content and applications will be increasingly built on top of the browser."

Opera is used for about 25 percent of global Internet traffic from mobiles, followed by Apple with 22 percent and Nokia with 21 percent, according to Web analytics firm StatCounter.

Nokia's share is pretty much flat for 2009, while Opera's is up about 22 percent for the first nine months.

Shares in Opera were 1.4 percent higher at 22.10 crowns by 1012 GMT, outperforming a 0.5 percent rise in the DJ Stoxx European technology index

Opera's new Mini 5 version aims to ease web surfing with speed dial, tabs and a password manager.

"Opera Mini has been the main driver for growth in Opera in the last years. Version 4.2 is old and they need to develop it," said John Strand, CEO of Danish consultancy Strand Consult.

Companies usually release several successive test versions of their browsers so they can incorporate user feedback in a series of improvements before the final launch.

Microsoft launched its latest desktop IE8 browser in March after a year of public beta testing.

Opera sells its browser to many cellphone makers and operators, and consumers can directly download it for free, while the Apple and Nokia browser rankings reflect only their users surfing the Internet.

credited to reuters

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Thirty-nine living relatives of Adolf Hitler have been discovered by a customs official and a journalist who claim to have decoded the Nazi dictator's DNA.

Analysing forgotten cigarette butts in a small village in lower Austria, a used paper serviette in a New York fast food restaurant and the seals of letters sent over 30 years ago from northern France, Marc Vermeeren and Jean-Paul Mulders said they had traced all known living relatives of the Fuehrer for the first time.

As well as three living in America, whose existence has been reported previously, they claim to have tracked down 36 others who still live in the wooded area of Austria where Hitler was born.

Mr Vermeeren, a Belgian customs official, and Mulders, a journalist for Belgian newspaper Het Laaste Nieuws, said three great-grandchildren of Hitler's father, Alois, lived on Long Island, outside New York, under the false name Stuart-Houston. They are descendants who left Germany to escape the Nazis.

Louis and Brian Stuart-Houston share a little wooden house in East Patchogue, where they work as gardeners, while Alexander is a retired psychologist who helps Vietnam veterans.

The Belgians said they had watched them for seven days and nights, following 60-year-old Alexander to a fast-food restaurant where he disposed of a paper serviette after eating fried chicken that they retrieved and later matched with ''DNA of Hitler that we keep in a sealed, armoured chest'', according to Mulders.

The cigarette butts came from Hitler relatives in Austria, they said.

''The American relatives have agreed not to have children to extinguish the saga of Hitler and stop living in fear, but have promised to publish a book before they die,'' said Mulders.

credited to stuff.co.nz

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Coordinates posted to Google's Twitter account could provide clues to the meaning of the company's new crop circle logo

A new post on Google's Twitter feed has provided a clue for web users seeking to uncover the meaning behind the search giant's recent series of UFO-related Google doodles.

The Twitter message simply reads: "51.327629, -0.5616088", and links to an image of the crop circle logo on the Google homepage, showing the letter "L" being abducted by a flying saucer.

Web sleuths have found that the string of numbers is actually the latitude and longitude for Woodham Road in Woking, Surrey, sparking intense speculation about what the message could mean.

Diabolik posted one theory on Twitter: "The War of the Worlds (1898), by H. G. Wells, based in Horsell Common north of Woking, was an early science fiction novel which describes an invasion of England by aliens from Mars. It is one of the earliest and best-known depictions of an alien invasion."

"H.G. Wells birthday is Sept 21. This is a 'lead-up' as was Sept 5th logo," tweeted Joshgjohnson.

Another Twitter user, Rajeshshenoy, noted that on this day in 1985, a family in Surrey spotted two large, flying saucer-shaped objects in the sky.

The crop circle doodle has appeared online 10 days after Google revealed a new logo showing a flying saucer hovering over the word "Google", and "abducting" the letter "O" in the ship's tractor beam.

Today's doodle, which is currently only visible on Google's UK homepage, has been dismissed by some internet users as a publicity stunt for an upcoming film, while others believe the "abducted" letters will spell out the name of a new Google product or service.

Google has refused to comment on the rumours and speculation, saying only that the mystery of the doodles would be revealed
"in time". It also confirmed that its doodles were never used for commercial advertising, exploding the myth that the doodles could in some way be related to a film release.

credited to telegraph.co.uk

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10. Police Sheriffs and Patrol Officers

Deaths per 100,000 workers: 21.4

Total deaths: 143

What they do: Police pursue and apprehend criminals. A large proportion of their time is spent writing reports and maintaining records of incidents. Most police officers patrol their jurisdictions and investigate any suspicious activity they notice.

Dangers: In addition to the obvious dangers of confrontations with criminals, police officers and detectives must always be alert and prepared to deal with a variety of other threatening situations. Many law enforcement officers witness death and suffering resulting from accidents and criminal behavior. In addition to the physical rigors of the job, a career in law enforcement could take a toll on their private lives.

9. Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors

Deaths per 100,000 workers: 22.8

Total deaths: 18

What they do: There are two basic types of collector: Operators use heavy machinery to move construction materials around factories or construction sites. Laborers typically handle materials manually and feed material into machines.

Dangers: Some work is done at great heights, occasionally in extreme weather. Workers are often exposed to fumes and hazardous materials that can affect their respiratory systems. Safety has increased over the years thanks to improvements in equipment.

8. Drivers (truckers and salespeople)

Deaths per 100,000 workers: 26.2

Total deaths: 908

What they do: Travel the nation's roads to deliver goods and make sales calls.

Dangers: On an absolute basis (as opposed to a per capita basis), highway fatalities are the No. 1 killer of people on the job. The majority of accidents stem from tired drivers veering off the road, rather than multi-car accidents.

7. Electrical Power Line Installers and Repairers

Deaths per 100,000 workers: 29.1

Total deaths: 30

What they do: Install and repair lines and polls that deliver electrical power to homes and businesses.

Dangers: Power lines are typically located higher up than phone and cable lines. Dangers include both slip and falls from high altitude and electrocution risk from high voltage lines.

6. Roofers

Deaths per 100,000 workers: 29.4

Total deaths: 79

What they do: Repair and install roofs for commercial and residential buildings, usually working with tar, asphalt or gravel.

Dangers: The most common causes of injury or death are slip and falls from roofs, ladders or scaffolds. Heat-related illness can also occur on hot days.

5. Farmers and Ranchers

Deaths per 100,000 workers: 38.4

Total deaths: 285

What they do: Owners or leasers of farmland who grow and cultivate crops or livestock.

Dangers: Many farmers' duties include operating heavy machinery, the biggest sources of hazards on the job.

4. Iron and Steel Workers

Deaths per 100,000 workers: 45.5

Total deaths: 40

What they do: Place iron or steel girders, columns and other construction materials to form buildings, bridges and other structures.

Dangers: Most work at great heights, with the greatest cause of injury or death coming from falls. The majority wear harnesses and most job sites provide safety nets.

3. Pilots and Flight Engineers

Deaths per 100,000 workers: 66.7

Total deaths 82

What they do: Pilots and co-pilots fly planes and helicopters for transporting passengers or cargo, or for crop dusting, seed spreading or other tasks. Flight engineers assist pilots by monitoring instruments.

Dangers: Full crashes are relatively rare. Conditions and risks are most acute for test pilots, who check equipment for new, experimental plans, and crop dusters, who are exposed to toxins and sometimes lack a regular landing strip. Helicopter pilots often engage in dangerous rescue.

2. Loggers

Deaths per 100,000 workers: 86.4

Total deaths: 76

What they do: Cut down trees with hand-held power chain saws or mobile felling machines. They use tree harvesters to fell the trees, shear the limbs off tees, cut logs, drive tractors and transport logs from the felling site in the woods to the log landing area. They also operate grapple loaders, which lift and load logs into trucks.

Dangers: Highly concentrated in Alaska and Maine, loggers are susceptible to high winds, falling branches and hidden roots or vines that present great risks around chain saws and other heavy equipment.

1. Fishers and related workers

Deaths per 100,000 workers: 111.8

Total deaths: 38

What they do: Work on commercial boats. Fishers catch fish and other aquatic animals to sell as food, animal feed, bait and other uses.

Dangers: Commercial fishers work in all kinds of weather, often hundreds of miles from shore with no help readily available. Crew members risk falling on slippery decks, which can result in serious injuries or even going overboard. There are also potential hazards of malfunctioning fishing gear and becoming entangled in large nets.

credited to forbes.com

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At least it will be easy to remember their birthdays. An Arkansas couple welcomed a new baby girl into their lives Wednesday - giving her the birthdate of 09-09-09.

Andy and Alison Miller's newest daughter Molly Reid will come home to sister Campbell, who was born on August 8, 2008, or 08-08-08.

The coincidences don't stop there. Molly Reid has nine letters to her name, while Campbell has eight.

The Millers don't appear poised to go for a third child on 10-10-10.

Alison Miller tells Rogers, Ark. television station KHOG that she and her husband are going to take a rest.

credited to stuff.co.nz

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A millionaire in northern China paid 4 million yuan (NZ$832,000) for a dog and ordered 30 luxury cars to come to the airport to greet her and the animal.

The woman and her black Tibetan mastiff flew into Xian, capital of Shaanxi province, a report on popular news portal sohu.com said.

Thirty black Mercedes-Benz cars drove to the airport on Wednesday to pick up the pair, who had arrived from the Tibetan-populated province of Qinghai in China's north-west.

The number of millionaires in China is steadily growing.

credited to stuff.co.nz

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A new survey reveals just how far and how fast global warming is altering the Arctic.

When the summer sea ice goes, the Arctic will lose the ivory gull, Pacific walrus, ringed seal, hooded seal, narwhal and polar bear—all animals that rely on the ice for foraging, reproduction or as refuge from predators. And the sea ice is going, faster and faster: In the past 30 years, minimum sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean has declined by 45,000 square kilometers annually*—an area twice the size of New Jersey is lost each year.

"Sea ice is like rainforest in the tropics. There are species that can't live without it," says ecologist Eric Post of The Pennsylvania State University, lead author of a paper in the September 11 Science that lays out a broad review of climate change's impact on the Arctic. "It's melting earlier, freezing up later, the contiguous extent is diminishing, and it's happening faster than anyone expected it to happen 10 years ago."

As a wrap-up of ecological studies conducted during the Fourth International Polar Year, Post and a slew of colleagues surveyed the state of the Arctic and found it to be not good, thanks to climate change. "We looked at plants and animals: vascular and nonvascular plants, migratory and nonmigratory animals, vertebrates and invertebrates, saltwater and freshwater, on the land or in the air—everything is changing," Post says. "It doesn't really matter where you look in the Arctic. Things are changing fast."

Rapid change is coming even for animals once thought to be relatively immune, such as caribou. Whereas the nonmigratory population of the animals on the Norwegian Svalbard Islands is burgeoning thanks to more winter snowmelt exposing a greater abundance of plant life for foraging, caribou in other parts of the Arctic are suffering. In spring, plants are blooming earlier in the year thanks to warmer early spring temperatures, but caribou are still calving at the same time, meaning calves are born after most of the food is available, and therefore fewer of them survive.

"I had no idea caribou could be on the brink of collapse. They seemed to have all the right traits to adapt," Post says. "Now they're of critical concern."

Particularly to the peoples of the Arctic who, in many cases, rely on hunting caribou or other animals to survive. "If you talk to the Inuit people in Greenland, they are suffering consequences for something they haven't contributed to themselves," Post notes. "We're taking away elements of a lifestyle that has worked for them for thousands of years. If somebody was doing that to us, don't you think we'd be upset?"

But the list of effects do not stop with the loss of a way of life and sea ice or the mismatch between spring blooms and caribou birthing: red foxes are replacing Arctic foxes farther and farther north; snow cover is diminishing; early spring rains now wash away seal dens, exposing pups; unusually warm periods in winter kill off Arctic plants and they do not rebound the following summer; and lemming and vole populations have crashed and remained at low levels for nearly a decade without recovering, among others. "There's been such a decline in snow cover that it affects [rodent] survival," Post says. "It means that species like snowy owls and Arctic foxes that are dependent on finding rodents will also suffer."

This is all happening with an increasing temperature of just one degree Celsius over the past century. In the next 100 years, the Arctic might warm as much as 6 degrees Celsius according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. "If it were to get to three degrees [Celsius] warmer on average, the Arctic would be a thing of the past," Post says. "Polar bears, long winters of snow, sea ice cover—it wouldn't be the case anymore."

Instead the Arctic might become more like the boreal forests of Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia and Siberia—vast stands of spruce trees that do not support the unique Arctic flora and fauna.

The problem confronting Arctic species is not the warming itself, of course; there have been similar episodes in Earth's history, such as the warming during the transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene epochs. It is the speed with which the greenhouse gases from fossil fuel burning are warming the globe. "The rate of change is so fast now," Post says. "It's about whether it's getting warmer over several decades or one decade. For a long-lived species there's no chance to keep up, no chance for evolution to keep up."

For his part, Post is hoping that the world will begin to treat Arctic biodiversity as worthy of conservation, more like tropical biodiversity, for example. After all, the Arctic is actually abundant with unique species and ecosystems, not a lifeless, white wasteland.

Post's report is not all bad news: Arctic warming has begun to promote the spread of trees and shrubs farther north, and the growth of these plants can lock up more carbon dioxide as they flourish.

Unfortunately, the warmth is also permitting the northward march of insect pests like the winter moth, which defoliates trees and shrubs and reduces the overall carbon sequestration. Plus, the advance of shrubs is affecting ecosystems, promoting more microbial activity in the soil and, ultimately, the release of methane—another greenhouse gas that traps 25 times as much heat as carbon dioxide over 100 years in the atmosphere.

In other words, warmth—and big changes for the Arctic—will keep coming. "Even if we restrict carbon emissions, it will get warmer," Post says, thanks to the greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere and feedback effects like the loss of sunlight-reflecting sea ice and snow cover. "That doesn't mean we shouldn't curb emissions. It's a matter of damage control.... We might be losing the Arctic as we know it but we need to do everything we can to make sure the problem doesn't spread."

credited to scientificamerican.com

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Depending on an individual’s perspective, some sports outside professional leagues can be classified as weird. North Americans aren’t too fond of cricket and even a few South Americans haven’t even heard of hockey.

The following sports go beyond the boundaries of unusual sports when it comes to rules and equipment.

1. The Ultimate Test: Man v.s. Horse

If you thought the sport had anything to do with strength, then you’re wrong. The annual Man Versus Horse Marathon requires stamina and agility. Taking place in the Welsh town of Llanwrtyd Wells, the marathon puts human contestants up against mounted horse contestants.

The event started in 1980, when a landlord decided to hold the event after hearing two men arguing about whether or not an individual could beat a horse in a cross country race.

2. Where Love Is The Key To Success

First introduced in Finland, wife carrying is an actual sport where male competitors race while carrying a female teammate. The objective is for the male to carry the female through a special obstacle course in the fastest time. Major competitions are held in Sonkajarvi, Finland, Monona, Wisconsin and in Marquette, Michigan.

3. Going For A Different Kind Of Swim

Even though it does seem kind of gross, bog snorkelling is a sporting event where competitors swim in a water-filled trench cut through a peat bog. Competitors must wear snorkels and flippers and can only complete the course by swimming with their flippers and not using traditional swimming techniques.

The World Bog Snorkelling Championships take place every August Bank Holiday in a dense peat bog near Llanwrtyd Wells, in Wales.

4. Putting Your Toe To Good Use

A popular activity for children, toe wrestling is now a competitive sport. The World Toe Wrestling Competition first started at a pub in Derbyshire, UK in 1976. Locals thought it would be a great idea to hold a competition where individuals lock toes together and force their opponent’s foot to the ground. The organizers applied in 1997 to get the sport included in the Olympics, but unfortunately, it was not accepted.

5. Another Use For Those Fists Of Steel

Despite not being well-renowned in the media, fistball is an old sport that’s practiced all over the world. Like tennis and volleyball, the purpose of the sport is to hit the ball with your fist or arm and place it in the opponent’s half where they won’t get to it. After passing the net, the ball may be contacted up to three times (bounces are allowed) by the five players on each team.

The sport is played indoors and outdoors and is featured in The World Games.

6. Taking Underwater Sports To The Next Level

Octopush (also known as underwater hockey) is a non-contact sport where two teams compete to maneuver a puck across the bottom of a swimming pool and into “goals”. Just like hockey but underwater, the game has actually become popular in countries like the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa.

7. Reinventing A Childhood Sport

Even though it’s not entirely unusual, the fact that there is a kickball league is fun, yet weird. The popular playground game has now become a competitive sport with the creation of the World Adult Kickball Association.

8. Combining Brains And Brawn

If you’re looking for a sport that combines using your strength as well as intelligence, then chess boxing is for you. The sport is a combination of boxing and chess with the different games alternating after each round. A match between two individuals lasts up to eleven rounds, starting with a four minute chess round and followed by two minutes of boxing.

The sport is governed by the World Chess Boxing Organization whose motto is:

“Fighting is done in the ring and wars are waged on the board”

9. Finding Out Who's Faster: You Or Cheese

Cheese rolling is probably one of the simplest sports out there. From the top of hill, a round of Double Gloucester cheese is rolled and competitors chase after it. The first individual across the finish line at the bottom of the hill wins (the cheese of course).

Competitors aim to catch the rolling cheese but this rarely happens as it has a one second head start and can reach speeds up to 112 km/hr. In 1997, the cheese took a wrong turn down the hill and accidentally injured a spectator.

10. Putting Testosterone To Good Use

Facial hair can certainly make a man more masculine, but a competition? The World Beard And Moustache Championships is a biennial competition where men show off their extraordinary beards and moustaches. Categories include Dali moustache, goatee and full beard freestyle.

If only the competitors played in rock bands.

credited to inventorspot.com

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