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BROWNSVILLE, Texas -- A trio of animal-rights protesters didn't find any welcome mat when they stopped at a KFC, but the restaurant manager did turn on the sprinkler system for them. Manager John Olivo turned the sprinklers on full blast to soak the protesters from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals who were standing by the curb. They were campaigning for more humane methods of killing. The protesters, including one in a chicken suit, were followed by a man with a microphone who said he eats beef

Welcome to The Hobbit Hole! Tomorrow we may come this way... First thread: New Zealander builds Hobbit holeSecond thread: The New Hobbit HoleThird thread: The Hobbit Hole III - Journey to the Cross-roads! (Congratulations, we filled it up!) Fourth Thread: The Hobbit Hole IV - The Road Goes Ever On...Fifth Thread: The Hobbit Hole V - Where Many Paths and Errands Meet...Sixth Thread: The Hobbit Hole VI - And Whither Then? I Cannot Say...Seventh Thread: The Hobbit Hole VII - But not yet weary are our feet... Eighth Thread: The Hobbit Hole VIII - Still round the corner we may...

Laksamana.Net - Sumatran tigers, on the brink of extinction due to poaching and rampant illegal logging, killed 18 people in and around a conservation forest in Riau province last year, an official said Monday (10/1/05). The attacks took place in the 150,000-acre Senepis Tiger Conservation Area and in outlying villages, said John Kenedie, head of Riau’s Nature Conservation Office. "In 2004 alone, 18 villagers were killed. Over the past five years, there have been 40 locals who had fallen prey of the Sumatran tigers," he was quoted as saying by state news agency Antara. He said the endangered tigers often...

No matter how you cut it up, eating people is simply wrong - By Barbara Amiel (Filed: 08/12/2003) Not a few modern cannibals in the West have been German and it would be tempting to say, after reading the testimony of self-confessed cannibal Armin Meiwes, now on trial in Kassel, that eating people is a peculiarly German thing to do. But there have been some American and British cannibals, with the odd Russian as well. What may be an EU speciality is that apparently cannibalism is not a crime - though using wooden chopping boards may be. Somehow, one would...

Carnival of the Capitalists Welcome to the first edition of the Carnival of the Capitalists. Modeled after the Carnival of the Vanities, this weekly roundup is intended to be a "Best Of the Blogosphere" for posts covering business, economics, stocks, accounting, taxes, business law, and related topics. More info can be found in my first post on the subject. There are some excellent posts here from some very intelligent people. I hope this eventually gets recognized by the major business news sources because, while bloggers may not always write as well as the pros, I think we can provide a...

A wartime economy, domestic overproduction of grapes and a flood of inexpensive imports have combined to benefit the average wine consumer. A visit to Trader Joe’s underlines this situation. TJ’s tasted and embraced the Charles Shaw label as an exclusive for their 141-store chain, selling at a mere $1.99 in California, where it gained the sobriquet late last year of “Two buck Chuck.” Oregon taxes moved the price to $2.99 locally, where TJ stacks cases of Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Merlot in floor displays that chain-wide have moved some 2 million cases in less than a year. This...

I was brought up vegetarian, and remained that way until relatively recently, when a visit to Paris inspired me to move over to the carnivorous side of the culinary divide. And since then, I've been catching up I've tried pretty much everything from hamburgers to snails to steak tartare. I've found that while chicken and turkey leave my taste buds cold, nothing can beat a medium rare fillet steak, preferably washed down with a glass of red. My life as a vegetarian started when my parents took a trip to Amsterdam. I would have been about six at the time,...

LONDON (Reuters) - Forget the tigers, the elephants and the dancing bears. Cirque du Soleil will never travel the world with performing animals. "We don't agree with the way the animals are dressed to do their tricks. We prefer to give jobs to human beings," said Pierre Parisien from the renowned Quebec troupe that has inspired a circus renaissance around the globe. "They are animals, not performers. They should be in the jungle," the artistic director of the troupe's "Saltimbanco" show told Reuters after its London opening this week. "We do not agree with the way they are trained...

Wednesday, 28 August, 2002, 11:36 GMT 12:36 UK Stars steer clear of summit International stars of film and music have failed to put in expected appearances at the beginning of the World Development Summit in Johannesburg. Leonardo DiCaprio cancelled an appearance despite recently calling on President Bush to travel to the summit. He was due to support a project to save great apes, but has pulled out because of "contractual obligations" in the United States. Thelma and Louise star Susan Sarandon and Star Trek actor Patrick Stewart were among the other celebrities to call upon President Bush to make the...

THE sickening champagne and caviar lifestyle being enjoyed by Earth Summit delegates was exposed yesterday. They are gorging on mountains of lobster, oysters and fillet steak at the Johannesburg conference — aimed at ending FAMINE. As the summit began yesterday, desperate kids in nearby shanty towns queued for water at standpipes. Bigwig politicians among the 60,000 delegates, including Deputy PM John Prescott, also get vintage bubbly and brandy. Taxpayers are footing the £500,000 bill for the 70-strong British party. Friends of the Earth called the extravagance “deplorable”. The head chef of the swanky hotel hosting Earth Summit bigwigs described the...