Cat Chases Bear Up Tree

“That’s Jack the cat protecting his owners yard in West Milford, New Jersey from a visiting black bear. When the bear first came into the yard Jack went after him and scared him up a tree. After fifteen minutes the bear finally got the balls to come back down, only to be chased up another tree minutes later. Finally, worried for the safety of their 15-pound-pussy Jack’s owners called him back into the house and the bear went away.” – washpost, gotham

Faucets Change Color Based on Water Temp

This is shaping up to be the century of new lighting. (The enlightenment?!) New LEDs are changing everything from street lights and billboards, to even the basic home water faucet. Here is a faucet design called the Light Delight from Equa System in Italy that lights up the water based on the temperature. Blue water is cold, red is hot and orange is juuusssst right. – realtech

Data Theft at Nuclear Agency Went Unreported for 9 Months

A computer hacker stole sensitive information on 1,500 people working for the nuclear-weapons unit of the Energy Department, but neither the theft victims nor high officials were notified for nine months, administration officials acknowledged on Friday at a Congressional hearing.The theft, at a National Nuclear Security Administration center in Albuquerque, involved names, Social Security numbers, birth dates and information on where the people worked and their security clearances.

The leak, on the heels of a much larger breach in the Veterans Affairs Department, is sure to raise new alarms about government’s cybersecurity and may provide Democrats more grist to attack the competence of the Bush administration. – nyt

Rare giraffe-like animal spotted

Conservationists say they have found conclusive proof of the existence of a rare giraffe-like creature in the wild in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Experts from the conservation group WWF say they came across 17 okapi tracks in the Virunga National Park.

Despite its zebra-like markings, the okapi is related to the giraffe.

The region in the eastern DRC has been battered by years of conflict. The last time the shy forest-dwelling creature was spotted in the park was in 1959. – bbc