Global Warming: UK hits 100 degrees for second time since 1659.

“With the mercury expected to approach 100F (37.8C) for only the second time in Britain’s history – but also the second time in under three years – researchers said the unusual heat was entirely consistent with predictions of climate change caused by rising emissions of greenhouses gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2) from power stations, motor transport and, increasingly, aircraft.” – commond

Nude man beats car with pigeon

Two Whaleyville, Va., residents were stunned when a naked man accosted their car in their driveway and began hitting it with their pet pigeon. The couple had just pulled into their driveway Friday night when Juan Lopez, 30, of Virginia Beach, appeared naked and began striking their car with the bird, the Virginian Pilot reported Tuesday.

They fled to a neighbor’s house and called police who found the suspect in nearby woods. A Suffolk, Va., police spokeswoman told the newspaper Lopez was “obviously having some sort of issues that night.”

He had allegedly gotten into the homeowners’ bird cages that held 15 chickens and four pigeons. Four of the birds were killed. Lopez was charged with burglary, destruction of property and larceny of poultry.? – upi

The Next Prez: Six Questions with… Steve Adams

This is a pretty good political pitch for an unknown to become our next president. Meet Steve Adams. The environment has to be one of the top three most important issues in my book, however. Without a planet on which we can survive, not much else matters.

Pentagon Papers Author Daniel Ellsberg Says Government May Have Carried Out 9/11

I don’t think “detention camps for American dissenters” would work: There are over one hundred fifty million of them ( 6 in 10 Americans).

Daniel Ellsberg is a former American military analyst employed by the RAND Corporation who precipitated a national firestorm in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, the US military’s account of activities during the Vietnam War, to The New York Times. The release awakened the American people to a systematic program of organized deception carried out by the Pentagon against the population to continue the Vietnam War.

Daniel Ellsberg, speaking on air to GCN radio host Jack Blood, stated his concerns that criminal elements of the US government were psychologically capable to have carried out 9/11. He warned that within days after a US military strike on Iran that Bush’s handlers would probably stage some type of terror attack in the West to legitimize the new war.

Ellsberg went on to state that another major Reichstag-like state-sponsored attack would be followed by a martial law scenario which might include detention camps for American dissenters. – infowars

100 People Injured, 20 Seriously In Cruise Ship Incident

Was the ship in the Bermuda Triangle? Did it hit something? Was it hit by something? Perhaps it turned sharply to miss something, but how could it have the power and rudders to turn so sharply that it nearly capsizes? Seems unlikely.

Holidaymakers clung on for dear life as their luxury cruiseship came close to capsizing, washing people out of the swimming pool “like a mini-tsunami” and scattering furniture overboard.

The freak roll sent passengers aboard the 113,000-ton Crown Princess flying off their sunloungers and smashed them against the railings. Stairwells and lift shafts became waterfalls as the ship?s four pools emptied over the 15 decks, which were left strewn with broken glass and blood.

The incident happened 11 miles off the east coast of Florida last night. Emergency officials said that 98 people were taken to hospital when the ship docked in Port Canaveral, including a young girl said to have life-threatening injuries. Ironically, the ship?s poolside cinema had been due to screen Titanic hours later.

“The ship just started tipping and it was the most terrifying experience of my life,” said passenger Carol O?Connell. “I actually felt like we were going overboard. People were screaming.” – timesuk

Extra ironic credit: “Martha Stewart christened the Crown Princess last month before it embarked on its maiden voyage…”

Forest fires remobilize fallout from bomb tests

A sensitive instrument installed in the Canadian Arctic to monitor fallout from modern nuclear tests has detected small amounts of radioactive cesium produced by bomb tests decades ago. The material, which during the Cold War was spread across northern latitudes by high-altitude winds, is still being redistributed far and wide by forest fires, researchers say.

Scientists use a worldwide network of sensors to ensure compliance with the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. While some devices are on the lookout for the telltale seismic vibrations generated by nuclear tests, others sniff the air for radioactive fallout …The researchers aren’t sure how the radioactive element makes its way from fallout-tainted soil into the atmosphere. Cesium, a chemical relative of potassium, is readily taken up by plants, so ash derived from wood and leaves could contain traces of the element. Another possibility is that because cesium has a boiling point of 670?C, some of the radioactive atoms may be vaporized from the ground by fires and then condense on airborne ash and soot, says Wotawa.

The cesium-137 lofted during a forest fire is diffusely distributed. “This isn’t a health risk, but it’s interesting,” Wotawa notes. Scientists will have to account for the presence of wildfires when they’re interpreting the readings from radiation sniffers, he says. – sciencenews

Direct lightning strike melts gold cross pendant, girl survives

The last comment where a doctor says “most [people hit by lightning] develop telepathic or psychic abilities” makes me raise a skeptical eyebrow, but the picture seems convincing. I’m sure there is no connection with other stories like this and this. Freaky. The city checks out as real.

“A 16-year-old girl has survived a direct lightning strike. The gold cross pendant on a chain melted and evaporated from the girl?s neck. Marina Motygina from Ekaterinburg in Russia?s Urals went bathing with her friend Anya. She had just got out of water when a thunderstorm broke out, the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily reports. ” – mosnews

The Boy Who Sees with Sound

Here’s a local story that is world class amazing.

“Ask people about Ben Underwood and you’ll hear dozens of stories like this ? about the amazing boy who doesn’t seem to know he’s blind. There’s Ben zooming around on his skateboard outside his home in Sacramento; there he is playing kickball with his buddies. To see him speed down hallways and make sharp turns around corners is to observe a typical teen ? except, that is, for the clicking. Completely blind since the age of 3, after retinal cancer claimed both his eyes (he now wears two prostheses), Ben has learned to perceive and locate objects by making a steady stream of sounds with his tongue, then listening for the echoes as they bounce off the surfaces around him. About as loud as the snapping of fingers, Ben’s clicks tell him what’s ahead: the echoes they produce can be soft (indicating metals), dense (wood) or sharp (glass). Judging by how loud or faint they are, Ben has learned to gauge distances.

The technique is called echolocation, and many species, most notably bats and dolphins, use it to get around. But a 14-year-old boy from Sacramento? While many blind people listen for echoes to some degree, Ben’s ability to navigate in his sightless world is, say experts, extraordinary. “His skills are rare,” says Dan Kish, a blind psychologist and leading teacher of echomobility among the blind. “Ben pushes the limits of human perception.”… on June 25 he took a trip to San Diego’s SeaWorld Adventure Park to swim with dolphins and hear how they use echolocation. Waist-deep in a saltwater pool, he immersed one ear as Sandy, a bottle-nosed dolphin, swam toward him. “Man,” he said, “she clicks fast!”… Bob McMains, supervisor of SeaWorld’s dolphin program, says that in his 23 years there, few people have listened so intently to the sounds the dolphins make. “He’s got a gift with dolphins; he’s truly unique,” says McMains. “I told him, once he’s 18 he’s got a job here anytime.” – peoplemagazine