Hoax Forum

Purple Squirrel

2012-02-08T16:28:12+00:00

A purple squirrel was found in Jersey Shore, Pa., on Sunday, by Percy and Connie Emert.

“We have bird feeders out in our yard, and the squirrels are constantly into them,” said Jersey Shore resident Connie Emert. “My husband traps them and then sets them free elsewhere so they don’t get into your bird feeders.”

Emert said she had spotted a purple squirrel on her property but no one believed her.

“I kept telling my husband I saw a purple one out in the yard. ‘Oh sure you did’ he kept telling me,” said Emert. “Well, he checked the trap around noon on Sunday and sure enough, there it was.”

It was a warm and sunny day in Jersey Shore, Pa., on Sunday.

“The squirrel’s been eating peanuts. That’s what we used in the trap,” she continued.

The Emerts currently do not know why the squirrel is purple.

“We have no idea whatsoever. It’s really purple. People think we dyed it, but honestly, we just found it and it was purple.”

The Emerts plan to release the squirrel back into the wild in the next few days.

“We put him in an extra big cage so he has room to run around, and we’ll release him soon. In the meantime, all the neighbors have been by to see him. No one can believe we have a purple squirrel!”

The AccuWeather.com team is currently investigating why this squirrel is purple. Stay with AccuWeather.com for more developments.

Some AccuWeather.com employees have their own theories. Expert Senior Meteorologist Henry Margusity said, “The squirrel could have been looking for somewhere warm and fallen into a port-a-potty or something similar.”

AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Dan Kottlowski has a different idea. “Squirrels get into all kinds of stuff. He could have gotten into some purple ink or purple paint at some point.”

Local squirrel enthusiast Erik Stewart said, “If it has white hair on it at all, it’s probably not dyed. I’ve had multiple squirrels as pets, though, and I’ve certainly never seen a purple one. I’ve seen dark red, light red, gray and brown, but never purple. Also, I’ve tried to dye my dog before, and trust me it didn’t look like this. Though, I’ve only seen a picture, so your guess is as good as mine.”

My favourite quotation from this article is this one,

Also, I’ve tried to dye my dog before, and trust me it didn’t look like this.

Mutant Nuclear Spider?

2012-02-06T17:47:05+00:00

Scientists are investigating a bizarre white cobweb found on nuclear waste - amid fears it could have been made by a ‘mutant’ spider.
In a freakish echo of the Spider-Man comic strip, workers at a U.S nuclear waste facility discovered the growth on uranium last month.
The white ‘string-like’ material - never seen before on nuclear waste - was found among thousands of spent fuel assemblies submerged in deep pools.

LINK

The Glorious Deception

2012-02-04T12:15:28+00:00

I stumbled onto a book called The Glorious Deception at a book store. I didn’t buy it but the link goes to it on Amazon.

From what I read on the description it’s about a Magician who posed as a Chinese male but after his death it was revealed he was really a caucasian. Even then his apparent “real identity” was fraudulent. I’ll wait until after I get a job before I think about buying the book. Has anybody else read it?

From what I can gather even his on stage accidental death seemed suspicious.

Prank by Vermont inmates adorns decals

2012-02-03T21:54:53+00:00

How did an image of a pig — the infamous ’60s-era epithet by protesters for police officers — wind up on a decal used on as many as 30 Vermont State Police cruisers?

State officials Thursday pointed to the failure of the quality assurance office within the Vermont Correctional Industries Print Shop in St. Albans to detect a prisoner-artist’s addition made four years ago to the traditional state police logo. A spot on the shoulder of the cow in the state emblem was modified into a pig.

An investigation has begun into how the computer program was improperly modified to insert the image, Vermont Corrections Commissioner Andy Pallito said.

Vermont Public Safety Commissioner Keith Flynn told the Burlington Free Press Thursday that he became aware of the alteration earlier in the day and has asked Pallito for an explanation.

The story about the pig on the state police emblem was first reported in a copyrighted story on the Burlington Free Press website Thursday afternoon.

State officials attempted to strike a balance between concern over the situation and acknowledgement of the humor involved.

State Senate President Pro Tempore John Campbell, D-Windsor, said he expects people to study the state police cruisers more carefully now.

“It’s going to be ‘Where’s Porky?’ instead of ‘Where’s Waldo?’” said Campbell, who was a police officer in Florida before he became a lawyer.

Major William Sheets, executive officer for the Vermont State Police, said he expects his department also will be more vigilant to inspect ordered items when they arrive.

“It is fair to say the quality control will be improved at the Corrections Department and at the Vermont State Police,” Sheets said.

Pallito said initial indications are that a computer program at the Northwest State Correctional Facility was modified in 2008. In 2009, an order for the 16-inch decals was sent to state police.

He said the corrections employee, who was not named, inspects print work before it leaves the St. Albans prison. He said the person accepting delivery for state police also failed to detect the change.

The real flag:

And what they got:

Rolling Stone article - One town’s war on g a y teens

2012-02-03T14:35:37+00:00

I was blocked form posting this due to the stupidly sensitive forum software. I guess that is indicative of the programmer’s fears about discussing ‘taboo’ subjects such as homosexuality.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/one-towns-war-on-g ay-teens-20120202

You’ll have to take out the space in the word g a y for the link to work.

It is depressing to see this kind of thing is still happening in what is supposed to be a developed country. I guess that as long as religion is around this kind of medieval mindset will exist as well. Shocking and disgusting is a mild way of putting the situation.

Russian Drill Nears 14-Million-Year-Old Antarctic Lake

2012-02-02T17:56:15+00:00

After 20 years of drilling, a team of Russian researchers is close to breaching the prehistoric Lake Vostok, which has been trapped deep beneath Antarctica for the last 14 million years.

Vostok is the largest in a sub-glacial web of more than 200 lakes that are hidden 4 km beneath the ice. Some of the lakes formed when the continent was much warmer and still connected to Australia.

The lakes are rich in oxygen (making them oligotrophic), with levels of the element some 50 times higher than what would be found in your typical freshwater lake. The high gas concentration is thought to be because of the enormous weight and pressure of the continental ice cap.

If life exists in Vostok, it will have to be an extremophile — a life form that has adapted to survive in extreme environments. The organism would have to withstand high pressure, constant cold, low nutrient input, high oxygen concentration and an absence of sunlight.

The conditions in Lake Vostok are thought to be similar to the conditions on Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s tiny moon Enceladus. In June, NASA probe Cassini found the best evidence yet for a massive saltwater reservoir beneath the icy surface of Enceladus. This all means that finding life in the inhospitable depths of Vostok would strengthen the case for life in the outer solar system.

Back on planet Earth, the team at Vostok are running short on time. Antarctica’s summer will soon end and the researchers need to leave their remote base while they still can. Temperatures will drop as low as -80C, grounding planes and trapping the team.

They missed their chance last year. “Time is short, however. It’s possible that the drillers won’t be able to reach the water before the end of the current Antarctic summer, and they’ll need to wait another year before the process can continue,” we wrote in January 2011. The drill halted in February.

Meanwhile, Russian engineers are planning to venture into the lake itself, with swimming robots. In the Antarctic summer of 2012 to 2013, they plan to send a robot into the lake to collect water samples and sediments from the bottom. An environmental assessment of the plan will be submitted at the Antarctic Treaty’s consultative meeting in May 2012.

Source

Dutch mentally handicapped children loose their savings in bankruptcy scandal

2012-02-01T18:29:25+00:00

It is hidden away in the dutch newspapers and I only found an english article on it on an Omani website.
Of all places.

It´s a disgusting situation.

The first thought of the year 2012, at least the one I can recollect, came when I opened the door to my garden in order to feed the chickens. Most of us, after waking up, do have some morning rituals which we do them half-sleeping.

I was struck in the face by a spring-like warm breeze and I wondered: ‘Thirteen degrees Celsius on January 1’ Normally it’s freezing in the midst of the European winter, but this time, as meteorologists measured the temperatures, the month of December has been hotter than March.

The second thought came while I was reading the morning newspaper a few minutes later - another hit in the face. What shocked me wasn’t something on the front page, nor was it on page 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or even 7. No, it was on page 8, hidden away in the midst of an article! I had to read it twice, and by then I knew I was fully awake.

The article was about the bankruptcy of ‘Zonnehuizen’ an institute for mentally challenged people. In all, 2,300 nurses and care-giving employees for a total of 800 mentally challenged people had suddenly become jobless; not to mention the financial damage to suppliers and related hospitality and other services. That, in itself, was awful to read, but it still wasn’t the reason to have me wide awake.

It has been mentioned many times before in the newspapers in recent weeks that ‘massive mismanagement’ had destroyed the good-old institute Zonnehuizen, governed and owned by Anthroposophist (a modest and respected Christian-related group) throughout The Netherlands. The loss due to the management crisis and closure of the institute is about 20 million euro at least, but the matter which finally stirred me was in some paragraphs further on.

Let’s translate the few sentences literally: “A consortium of banks, led by ABN-Amro appeared to have secured its financial interests already in early July 2011 by putting a mortgage of 70 million euro on all the property of the care giving community for physically and mentally challenged people. The assets contain capital real estate and terrain in areas like for example Zeist.”

Now, let’s do some closer reading. Zeist is a village in the heart of The Netherlands, it is located in a wealthy forested area full of historical real estate with monumental villas, immense gardens and giant domains. In fact most of these precious buildings used to house the mentally challenged are located in prized places.

So, why was this entire situation this researched thoroughly? How come there is no debate about how a consortium led by a nationalised bank like ABN-Amro is capitalising on a bankruptcy of a care, health and educational community for challenged people?

The ultimate mismanagement of the board of Zonnehuizen is said to have led to a loss of capital of 20 million euro. This loss was created within just two years. While six months ago, the bank consortium apparently had enough information to secure the assets.

The picture is crystal clear: Bankers still allow themselves to earn banker bonuses. Bankers rarely provide people or companies loans or credit during the ongoing financial crisis, and many people who want to buy a house these days can’t do so because they can’t get a mortgage at the bank.

But at the same time bankers are the first ones to save their money (or even earn large profits on the secured assets) when a whole care-giving group is going bankrupt.

Let’s hope investigative journalists will dig into this story. Of course it’s not yet clear if it’s a case of outright robbery, but there are enough questions to answer and there are enough interests to reveal. Even when the bank consortium has operated legally, one might ask about the subject of morality. Haven’t banks any social and economic responsibility towards the mentally and physically challenged, and also towards the suddenly unemployed employees?

It’s not sure yet if Zonnehuizen will be taken over by another company which can pay the employees and take care of the disabled. Although no one is expecting that the disabled will be left alone, the whole matter is serious enough for a political debate. When such a debate will take place in not known due to the Christmas holidays; the Dutch Parliament is on a break until January 23. Indeed, the moment to go for bankruptcy seems to have been carefully chosen. The Dutch people at this time have only the holidays to think about.

Source

What doesn´t really comes clear out of the story is that the bank now wants thw saving money of the children too.
The total amount the banks are hoping to get of the kids is a measle 150.000 euros..

But what can you say? Those bonusses have to come from somewere.

Dutch article

31 january 1961: Ham the first Mercury astronaut

2012-01-31T19:03:22+00:00

His story and his Wiki entry. An on YouTube ofcourse.

More weird stuff from the sky

2012-01-30T03:47:10+00:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-16203214

Keresley residents mystified by apple shower

Residents of Coventry have been left mystified after hundreds of apples fell from the sky over their homes.

People in the Keresley area of the city said the fruit came raining down at about 19:00 GMT on Monday, hitting passing vehicles.

Parish councillor Sandra Camwell said the apple storm lasted a few minutes and was the second occurrence of its kind in a fortnight.

Weather experts said winds could have carried the apples from an orchard.

Ms Camwell said there had been no reported injuries and only minor damage to a handful of cars.

Dave Meakins, 63, who lives near the junction of Kelmscote Road and Keresley Road, said he had found dozens of apples in his garden.

Many more were scattered across the road and found in gutters.

Westerly wind

“At first I thought it was kids, but there were too many apples and they were crushed as if they’d fallen from a great height,” he said.

Mr Meakins said some of the apples were large, like cooking apples.

Prof Robert Kerr, an expert in atmospheric modelling at the University of Warwick, said it was possible the apples were lifted from a nearby orchard by the wind and released over the junction.

And Charles Powell, forecaster for the Met Office, said it was “not impossible” that strong winds lifted the apples and carried them over Keresley.

“It’s not the first instance I’ve heard of this happening,” he said.

Large gusts

He added: “It was a fairly moderate westerly wind (in Coventry) much of the day but during the afternoon there was a weather front approaching and it looks as if the wind increased for a time.

“It looks as if it was fairly strong wind as that band of cloud and rain went through.

“The wind increased rapidly. When a cold front goes through in many instances wind can increase rapidly and you see localised events with fairly large gusts and rapid changes in wind direction.”

Allen Hogan, the owner of Hogan’s Cider in Alcester, 30 miles away, said there were no apples obviously missing from his orchards.

In Keresley itself Ms Camwell said there was only a small number of fruit trees. She said she believed the apples could have fallen from a passing aircraft.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-16754531

Bournemouth resident mystified by ‘blue sphere shower’

A man in Dorset has been left mystified after tiny blue spheres fell from the sky into his garden.

Steve Hornsby from Bournemouth said the 3cm diameter balls came raining down late on Thursday afternoon during a hail storm.

He found about a dozen of the balls in his garden. He said: “[They’re] difficult to pick up, I had to get a spoon and flick them into a jam jar.”

The Met Office said the jelly-like substance was “not meteorological”.

Mr Hornsby, a former aircraft engineer, said: “The sky went a really dark yellow colour.

“As I walked outside to go to the garage there was an instant hail storm for a few seconds and I thought, ‘what’s that in the grass’?”

‘No smell’

Walking around his garden he found many more blue spheres were scattered across the grass.

He said: “The have an exterior shell with a softer inner but have no smell, aren’t sticky and do not melt.”

Mr Hornsby said he was keeping the balls in his fridge while he tried to find out what they were.

Josie Pegg, an applied science research assistant at Bournemouth University, speculated that the apparently strange phenomena might be “marine invertebrate eggs”.

“These have been implicated in previous ‘strange goo’ incidents,” she said. “I’d have thought it’s a little early for spawning but I suppose we’ve had a very mild winter.

“The transmission of eggs on birds’ feet is well documented and I guess if a bird was caught out in a storm this could be the cause.”

Do seconds matter?

2012-01-28T23:37:28+00:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16597191

Time experts debate whether to abolish the leap second

The future of the world’s time is being debated at a meeting in Switzerland.

Experts at the International Telecommunication Union are deciding whether to abolish the leap second.

This is an extra second that is added every few years to keep time measured by atomic clocks in sync with the time based on the Earth’s rotation.

Countries such as the United States, France and Germany want to lose the leap second, but the UK, along with China and Canada, wants it to stay.

Bad timing

The proposal to eliminate leap seconds will be discussed on Thursday afternoon at the Radiocommunication Assembly meeting in Geneva.

If agreement amongst the 200 member states cannot be found, the issue will go to a vote.

Ron Beard, chairman of the ITU’s working party on the leap second, said: “This is not a technical issue, it is more a diplomatic one.”

The world’s timescale, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), is based on the time measured by atomic clocks, which use the incredibly regular vibrations in atoms to count the seconds.

But these clocks are so accurate, they put our former timekeeper - our planet - to shame.

The Earth speeds up and slows down as it spins, which means that while one rotation is one day, some days end up being a few milliseconds longer or shorter than others.

As a result, leap seconds were established in 1972 to keep the time told by atomic clocks and the Earth’s time in phase.

They are added once the International Earth Rotation Service, which monitors the Earth’s activity, has found that the two have drifted out of time by 0.9 seconds.

Six months’ notice is given for these incremental additions.

But those seeking to abolish the leap second say these one-second jumps are becoming increasingly problematic for navigation and telecommunication systems that require a continuous time reference.

These include satellite navigation, financial services, the internet, flight control and power systems, among others.

Dr Felicitas Arias, director of the time department at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) in Paris, said: “When leap seconds were defined, this was a request from maritime navigation - and today maritime navigation can use other ways to access rotational time.

“So there is no more real need for that synchronisation with a leap second.”

However, those who want to keep leap seconds say that the difficulties they cause are not enough to justify abolishing them.

Out of synch

Peter Whibberley, senior research scientist in time and frequency at the National Physical Laboratory, in Teddington, UK, said: “A decision to stop using leap seconds to keep UTC aligned with mean solar time would be perhaps the most fundamental change to timekeeping for hundreds of years.

“For the first time, civil time worldwide would be based purely on man-made clocks and no longer tied closely to the Earth’s rotation.”

This could cause some long-term problems.

Over decades, the difference between Earth-based time and atomic clock time would amount to a few minutes, but over 500 years, they would be out by an hour. Over millennia, the discrepancy would grow even more.

The British Science Minister David Willetts said: “The UK position is that we should stick to the current system used throughout the world.

“Without leap seconds we will eventually lose the link between time and people’s everyday experience of day and night.”

This is not the first time that leap seconds have been brought to the time community’s attention.

In 2005, the US proposed that the leap second should be abolished, and replaced with a leap hour, but this failed to be passed by the ITU’s members.

This time though, if the decision does come to a vote, a 70% majority will be required in favour of the proposal, for these one second adjustments to go.

If this does happen, the ITU says that leap seconds would be eliminated from 1 January 2018.