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A teenager was stunned to find that a baby bat had been curled up inside her bra for five hours - as she was wearing it. Abbie Hawkins, a hotel receptionist, thought her mobile phone was ringing when she felt vibrations coming from her clothes. But she later discovered the tiny creature tucked away in the padded pocket of her underwear. As staff and colleagues crowded around, Miss Hawkins, 19, produced the frightened bat, which was the size of her hand. She said: "Once I realised it was a bat I was shocked, but then I felt quite sorry for...

Summer has barely begun, but Maine residents looking to install wood heating systems this winter may already have waited too long, stove dealers and firewood suppliers say. Stoves that burn firewood are available, but finding the logs will be difficult. Wood pellets are in good supply – for now. But the special stoves that burn them are largely sold out. With home heating oil averaging well above $4 a gallon, many Mainers are desperate to find a more affordable way to stay warm this winter. For households that have done nothing so far, however, lining up a stove and fuel...

Hey Everyone King Vanity thought yall should have a heads up to a fantastic side splitting comedy documentary that is on right now on Showtime. An Inconveinant Truth by Al Gore.

VANCOUVER - Marley the cat dropped 14 storeys out of a window of a high-rise and lived to meow about it. It may have been nature that lured him out, and it was nature that cushioned his fall. Angela Bester had left a window slightly ajar for her one-year-old Scottish Fold domestic cross she named after a favourite singer, Bob Marley, while she took an overnight trip to Whistler. When she returned to her 14th storey condo, she froze. "I saw the window and I knew instantly what had happened and I looked at the (uneaten) food and the water....

After this weekend's barbeques and fireworks displays, you might wonder why some people wind up covered in mosquito welts and others are bite-free. It's not a coincidence. Each person's individual body chemistry determines how many mosquitoes will come calling. According to Joe Conlon, a medical entomologist who advises the American Mosquito Control Association, the insects can detect their targets from nearly 100 feet away. But what are they seeking? Mostly the scent of carbon dioxide and lactic acid, two compounds that indicate to the hematophagous — or blood-sucking — pests that their next landing pad is nearby. (It's worth noting...

Just thought I'd post a thread where the various fireworks laws, regulations, etc. could be posted. National Council on Fireworks Safety Nice links to each State's fireworks laws. Here's their Safety Video Fireworks Classifications Various histories of fireworks....Fireworks.comWikipedia Fireworks entryPyrouniverse.com (lol) History of Fireworks

The smoke lingering in the air after a fireworks show doesn’t just obstruct views of the spectacular pyrotechnics — it’s also toxic for the environment. But it doesn't need to be. Scientists are finding new ways to make the rockets' red glare and bombs bursting in air more eco-friendly. "The problem is, what goes up must come down sometime," said Georg Steinhauser, a licensed pyrotechnician and a chemist at the Vienna University of Technology in Austria. "If you shoot something in the sky, that stuff can't just disappear." Steinhauser and a number of other chemists around the world are developing...

This video is an animation of a deer and rabbit. The rabbit meet the deer in the wild and expresses its thoughts. The voices of this video are, o7jimmy and grandson.

Famed chimp 'Moe' escapes into forest As of Monday, there was still no sign of Moe in the San Bernardino National Forest, but there were plenty of rumors about the missing chimp. Water was running and peanuts were missing at the Gem Ranch on Cajon Boulevard, and a dead chicken was found in the same area where Moe disappeared. Someone even called from Rancho Cucamonga saying there had been a possible Moe sighting in the caller's yard. Amidst the mayhem and the media circus at the scene, animal control officers and those close to Moe continued their search for the...

I live in a land locked area so when I see news like this it makes me jealous. While I get to trek up mountains, carrying my owners lunch and drink on my back, these dogs get to go out and surf. Yeah, that’s right, surf. (This year was the 3rd Annual Loews Coronado Bay Resort Surf Dog Competition at Imperial Beach in California. These canines bring a whole new meaning to the term sea dog.) See last years winner on video...

A teenage girl riding in an all-night bicycle race suffered severe injuries early this morning when a bear attacked her on a trail ... Police officers with shotguns escorted medics into dark woods to retrieve the girl... "She was cut up and bit pretty good," After the mauling, the girl used her cell phone to call 911 but was unable to communicate... Another rider who came along found her sitting on the ground and said she could utter only one word: "Bear." He then used her phone to make another call for help. Sinnott said he didn't arrive in time...

Boat passengers witness shark attack June 28, 2008 CHATHAM — Fourteen passengers on a seal watch boat saw a shark attack and kill a seal yesterday during a cruise to Monomoy Island. The island, which is a national wildlife refuge, is home to hundreds of seals and also a favored feeding ground of several species of sharks. Capt. Bob Littlefield is sure the shark he saw rip a seal in half yesterday afternoon was a great white. "It was a quite a bloody mess," said Littlefield, who has been a captain on Cape Cod for 32 years. Littlefield was steering...

I have never posted a vanity, so I hope I did this correctly - I'd like to propost that every year, June 26 be recognized by lovers of freedom everywhere as "Heller Day." We could all gather our loved ones for a day of target practice and have a barbecue or something. Let's all remember the day that the Supreme Court declared the obvious: we have an individual right to bear arms.

Stuck, lost and hobbled in the German Alps, a quick-thinking Colorado Springs woman hooked her bra to a mountainside supply line, which alerted rescuers to her whereabouts just as they were giving up the search. "We're going to have a party for her every June 19, and give her some new bras," Elana Bruinsma, said Monday morning of her sister, Jessica Bruinsma, 24. The white sports bra has become the talk of the Berchtesgaden area of Germany near the Austria border.

Ladies and gentlemen, as you now know, the DC gun ban is struck down. I'm a DC resident looking to take full advantage of my restored Rights! I've used guns in the past and fired a handgun before, and I'm looking to pick up a good arm. Right now I'm thinking a Glock as this is what law enforcement uses and in case of an incident it's better than the 'unsafe' perception of a single action. Does anyone know a good, reputable dealer in the DC Metro area? Particularly in NOVA?

(You can’t get much happier than a pig in muck, or so we are told. But when this little piggy arrived in the farmyard she showed a marked reluctance to get her trotters dirty. While her six brothers and sisters messed around in the mire, she stayed on the edge shaking. It is thought she might have mysophobia - a fear of dirt.) A pig, fearing dirt. That’s like a dog fearing social interaction, a cat fearing afternoon naps or Rosie O'Donnell fearing an all you can eat buffet. It’s unheard of. (Owners Debbie and Andrew Keeble were at a...

KEYSTONE — One afternoon in mid April, Cindy Adams heard rustling. She knew there was a swamp nearby, so she didn't pay the noise any mind. Then about 4:30 p.m., she looked up and saw what she initially thought were two big German shepherds. A closer look revealed something else. Something unshaven. Something with big ears and a furry tail. "It was the coyotes," she said. Adams didn't know if she should stand still, run or scream. "They just totally ignored me, went off the back end of the property and left," she said. It wasn't Adams the coyotes wanted....

If your owners use mulch in the yard, please have them read the below letter. There’s danger in that there mulch they might be purchasing. Buyer beware. Over the weekend one of our friends experienced a tragedy with one of their dogs and wanted me to pass a special message along to all of our dog loving friends and family. Please tell every dog owner you know. Over the weekend the doting owner of two young lab mixes purchased Cocoa Mulch from

Recent photos of an "uncontacted tribe" of Indians near the Brazil-Peru border have sparked media reports of a hoax, but the organization that released the images defends its claims and actions. The photographs, which showed men painted red and black and aiming arrows skyward, were released in late May by Survival International, a London-based organization that advocates for tribal people worldwide. The release stated that "members of one of the world's last uncontacted tribes have been spotted and photographed from the air," and quoted the Brazilian government photographer saying, "there are some who doubt [the tribe's] existence" as justification for...

Sahara and Alexa are the best of mates, but they have a very unconventional friendship. That is because Sahara is cheetah and Alexa is a giant Anatolian Shepherd guard dog. Destroying the notion that cats and dogs can only be the best of enemies, these two residents of Cincinnati Zoo in the US have been old muckers since they were both barely two months old. Both seven years old now, Alexa and Sahara were raised together as part of a conservation programme at the zoo designed to help ensure Sahara's African cousins survival in the wild. Linda Castaneda, 31, who...

One thing that always strikes me about so many of my "fellow" cyclists that Roenfeldt is apparently not cognizant of, is how rude and arrogant cyclists tend to be. I mostly ride the metro area's extensive trails and paths and I try to extend every courtesy to others. I rarely encounter fellow cyclists with the same view, though. Rather, I see them rocketing silently out of darkened underpasses causing elderly strollers to leap into the brush alongside the path and rushing in silence up behind unsuspecting families with pets and small children, never uttering a word of warning From my...

WASHINGTON - Droughts will get drier, storms will get stormier and floods will get deeper with a warming climate across North America, U.S. government experts said in a report billed as the first continental assessment of extreme events.

For your lunchtime reading and viewing: Popular Mechanics editor-in-chief James Meigs was kind enough to send an advance copy of the magazine’s July 2008 issue. I can’t put it down. The cover story is about an amazing Coast Guard rescue effort in March, when the Alaska Ranger ship sank.Read all about it and watch video here.As an aside, the Coast Guard cutter Munro is named after Coast Guard signalman and Medal of Honor recipient Douglas Munro, whose bravery I wrote about while working at the Seattle Times and recounted here. Amazing stories of heroism, then and now.Go Coast Guard!

On Father's Day last Sunday afternoon, a Chilmark police officer pumped several bullets into a wild male turkey he feared was a threat to public safety. Chilmark patrolman Jeff Day and Special Police Officer Matthew Gebo responded to a call at 12:26 pm from two people who said the bird attacked them as they tried to deliver rental baby equipment. The turkey, however, happened to be "Tom," a bird familiar to next-door neighbors Jonathan Haar and his wife, Linda, who had been feeding him since he was an orphaned chick. According to a police report, Mr. Haar's protest over the...

I plan to buy my wife a GPS in the $400 to $500 range. Any suggestions?

The next Northern Hemisphere ride is June 7th 2008. Some rides go ahead rain or shine, but some cities have a backup date just in case the weather is not good for them on that day. There are some rides held on different dates - Chicago, Brussels, London, Seattle, Thessaloniki, Denver, and Toronto. The following is a list of World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR) upcoming events around the world. You can also browse the list of rides in other formats:

After years of stomping around the grizzly haunts of the wildest coast of North America without a serious bear encounter, forester Rick Rogers never imagined the first and only close call of his life would come in an Anchorage park visited by thousands of people. SNIP . . . He thought his maximum heart rate was 180. He later looked at the monitor and realized he'd hit 193.

This animation is to reveal how demoralizing it must be to wildlife in hunting season’s first day.

A peregrine falcon named Cielo has died after the 2-month-old bird likely crashed into San Jose City Hall where she and her family have been living on a ledge. She is believed to have died late Monday night or early Tuesday morning after being driven to an animal hospital that specializes in birds on Monday morning. Cielo's siblings, Meyye and Mercury, are alive and well. In fact, her sister and brother, respectively, are flying about, and expected to leave the nest - literally - sometime this summer. The falcon family has drawn widespread interest from bird watchers throughout the world...

Bridgeport police say they arrested a city man after he ordered his pet to attack two officers. Lucky for them that 9-foot-long pythons aren't very obedient. Rodriguez and his pet were both taken away: Rodriguez to jail on a $10,000 bond, and the albino python ...

Along the Emerald Coast, it's fairly common to see dolphins, manta rays, sea turtles and other marine animals. But manatees cause more of a stir. That's why Niceville veterinarian Jenny Fortune and her husband were slow to identify what was swimming between them in hip-deep water near Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou State Park recently. "I'm looking at it, going ‘Oh my God, what is it?' " Fortune said. "These things are giant. Your brain just doesn't compute." She said they first thought it might be a large manta ray. They quickly realized that the creature wasn't flat, but very, very...

  In a move that will cheer up lovers of vehicles that can travel on both water and (very flat) land, students at a German engineering university have built a one-person hovercraft that uses an air thrust system to move and steer.Folks over at the Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences use a pneumatic propeller that pushes air through two channels. Each of the channels has a pair of flaps that behave like the thrust-reversing system of a turbo-drive to help a user easily maneuver left or right, go in reverse, and brake.The way the project is set up hints that...

A&M research seeks a birth control pill for the multiplying animals. By Michael Graczyk ASSOCIATED PRESS Friday, June 13, 2008 GILMER — Broad areas of grazing land at Pete Gipson's farm bear plow-like scars. But it's no out-of-control machine that's left disjointed ruts and holes amid long grass ripped from the earth. He and other ranchers and farmers in Texas and the South are waging an uphill battle against herds of voracious feral hogs. The beasts, up to 3 feet tall and 400 pounds, devour feed intended for livestock and tear up pastures at his 300-acre Red Cap Farms in...

Another in an occasional series of great state parks. Ricketts Glen is a fairly large state park west of Scranton and Wilkes-Barre; apparently chock-full of waterfalls (24 named on the Falls Trail). Here's a couple: This one's called Ganoga Falls; nice change-of-pace with black-and-white. At 94 feet, it's the tallest in the park. Nice small picture, no name given. Could be the same fall as the one below it (Murray Reynolds Falls). Murray Reynolds Falls: This last one was also taken at Ricketts Glen, not a waterfall, and it's 1/4 size (click for full-size). Nice desktop candidate.

Bird populations are down due to harsh winters, drought. Biologists say spring weather and nesting success are crucial for them to recover.and they may take years to rise Southwest Idaho's chukar population has taken a dive in the last two years due to harsh winters and drought, and it might take that many years for populations to recover even under improved weather and nesting conditions. That's the word from Idaho Department of Fish and Game biologist Andy Ogden. This could be a pivotal year for chukars because they typically live only two years. A high proportion of Idaho's chukars are...

Bo (woof) In Commentary: How do you know you’re having a bad day? When you’re on vacation in Australia, and you stop to do your business and then this happens to you. Fortunately it happened to a human and not a canine, but even I feel embarrassed for this guy. ( A ROADSIDE toilet stop ended in pain, embarrassment and almost death for a tourist when a highly venomous snake bit the end of his penis. The deadly brown snake slithered between his legs and lunged at his manhood as he crouched on a roadside near Laura, 300km northwest of...

Wyoming officials confirm fifth case of plague found in mountain lions Friday, June 6, 2008 4:51 PM MDT Mountain lion hunters, the owners of domestic cats and others who may come in contact with mountain lions in Wyoming and other Western states are urged to protect themselves and their animals against plague. “Plague was confirmed in a mountain lion found dead in mid-April by a landowner in rural Johnson County,” said Todd Cornish, an associate professor in the University of Wyoming College of Agriculture's Department of Veterinary Sciences. Cornish said this is the fifth case of plague confirmed in mountain...

A man from B.C.'s Interior not only survived being mauled by a grizzly — he killed the bear as well. John Shorter, 38, was hiking near Dease Lake in Northern B.C. Tuesday when he said he smelled a bear in the area. "I heard a woofing sound, turned, seen a grizz coming at me. I managed to get my rifle up and get one round into the chest.… At that point he got on top of me, obviously, and took me down," Shorter said. "He proceeded to try to maul me in the back of the scalp and on the...

Best show on TV starts tonight...The Ice Road Truckers are back for a new challenge: Killer storms, monster loads, and this year, they're on the Arctic Ocean!!!

Black day of 1780 caused by distant wildfires, MU experts sayCOLUMBIA, Mo. – At noon, it was black as night. It was May 19, 1780 and some people in New England thought judgment day was at hand. Accounts of that day, which became known as 'New England's Dark Day,' include mentions of midday meals by candlelight, night birds coming out to sing, flowers folding their petals,and strange behavior from animals. The mystery of this day has been solved by researchers at the University of Missouri who say evidence from tree rings reveals massive wildfires as the likely cause, one of...

MIAMI, June 7 (UPI) -- Snake bite victims in the United States tend to be young men who have had too much to drink, an expert says. Dr. Jeffrey Bernstein of the Florida Poison Information Center at the University of Miami told The Washington Post most bites by venomous snakes occur because of human stupidity. Most people are bitten when trying to pick up or kill snakes. "The majority of patients are male. The majority are intoxicated," Bernstein said. "And two-thirds of bites we see in this country are upper extremity, so someone picked the snake up. The majority of...

Officials at the Isle of Palms ordered everyone out of the water because of a dangerous animal. But it wasn't a shark this time. Instead, wildlife officials ended up trapping a two-metre-long American crocodile in the surf ... the crocodile likely escaped or was released by someone who illegally brought it from its normal habitat in southern Florida. But Bennett says it is possible the crocodile could have swum up the coast.

Last night's two hotel guests relaxing in a hot tub in Ouray looked up to find there was another guest in the tub- a bear. The hotel says the bear was just inches away from one guest. Both the guest and the bear got the scare of their lives, the guest screamed and the bear ran and dove into the swimming pool. The Bear made his escape after swimming across the pool The Ouray Police Department says five to six bears have roaming the streets. Even walking down Main Street during the day.

Five European divers battled a komodo dragon during 36 hours stranded on an Indonesian island reserve for the deadly reptiles after getting caught in strong currents.

After five years of futile efforts to find or confirm sightings of any Caribbean monk seals — even just one — the U.S. government on Friday announced that the species is officially extinct and the only seal to vanish due to human causes.

A mountain lion attacking a small animal was spotted by students living near Gerhart Hall on the Bethany University campus in Scotts Valley Monday night, the second such sighting in as many days... Students reported seeing the cougar on both Sunday and Monday nights... Students are also being advised to avoid jogging or walking alone during the early morning hours or at dusk to avoid coming into contact with a mountain lion.

Menemsha charter captain Scott McDowell made his first trip of the season Sunday. Scott was at the helm of his new boat, a 35-foot Duffy he named the Lauren C in honor of his daughter. A memorable line from "Jaws" came to my mind after I received a telephone call Tuesday from Scott. I remembered the part in the movie when the police chief played by Roy Scheider gets his first glimpse of the shark. He turns to Quint and says, "You're gonna need a bigger boat." Scott said he was between Dogfish bar and Gay Head when a large...

MOBILE — Joshua Mullen just wanted to kill the bees swarming around his utility shed. When Mullen, 26, walked away from the gasoline-soaked towels he was using, he heard a "whoosh" and turned around to see the shed in flames that spread to his rented home and wound up causing some $80,000 in damage. "There were no injuries, unless you count the bees," Mobile Fire-Rescue spokesman Steve Huffman said. Huffman said the fire appears to have started when the pilot light of a hot-water heater in the shed ignited fumes from the gas. Mullen, who rented the home after his...

It is Daisy’s policy to only sell directly, via phone order or internet order, to persons 21 years of age or older who complete and submit this affidavit of age. You must already have an affidavit on file or complete one now in order for us to be able to process your order. State statutes and/or local ordinances prohibit the sale and possession of air guns, CO2 guns and slingshots in some areas. We are unable to ship airguns into Chicago, Morton Grove, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Bronx, Brooklyn, Long Island City, Manhattan, Queens, New York City and Staten Island. Persons in...

Surprisingly, nothing smells about this story… (A woman turning heads by taking her pet skunk for a walk on a lead has been told by a council that it may have to go, BBC Scotland can reveal. Hannah Chapman, 23, takes de-scented Ichi for walks in Aberdeen. People have been stopping her to take pictures of the unusual sight in the Rosemount area of the city. An Aberdeen City Council spokeswoman said Hannah did not have permission to keep a skunk in her council flat but should get in touch.) I think it should be pretty easy for the council...