Animal News
The bobcat seen above climbed a 40-foot-tall cactus in Arizona to hide from a mountain lion. In typical feline “I did this on purpose” fashion, the bobcat stayed perched on top of the prickly plant for several hours before climbing back down. A hiker even captured video of the big cat napping on top of the cactus. So on our list of “places cats can fall asleep” we’ll have to add “on a cactus” right next to “literally everywhere else”.
Meanwhile in Germany, 15-year-old Regina Mayer from Bavaria wanted to show jump horses but her family couldn’t afford a horse. No, she didn’t whine about it in a YouTube webcam video. Instead she used carrots and sugar as treats while training a cow to behave like a horse. The cow can now respond to the commands “go”, “stand”, and “gallop” and can clear homemade jumps up to three feet tall. Mayer named the cow Luna, another word for moon. We see what you did there.
Net Neutrality Update
Last December the FCC created new rules prohibiting broadband providers from discriminating against certain types of web traffic or blocking lawful uses of the internet. Now the House of Representatives, wanting to make sure we absolutely know they’re for sale to the highest bidder, have passed H.J. Res. 37 to block the FCC’s net neutrality rules. The resolution is unlikely to pass in the Senate and the White House has already issued a statement (.pdf) saying they oppose the resolution “which would undermine a fundamental part of the Nation’s Internet and innovation strategy—an enforceable and effective policy for keeping the Internet free and open.” As for our own opinion on this issue, we’d just like to acknowl–[PLEASE INSERT QUARTER FOR ADDITIONAL NON-PREFERRED WEBSITE BANDWIDTH]
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- Bobcat chills on top of a 40-foot-tall cactus, like ya do. (video at Arbroath)
- Teenager’s family can’t afford a horse, so she trained a cow to show jump, as one does. (Spiegel, video at VancouverSun)
- U.S. House of Representatives passes anti-net neutrality resolution, are a bunch of jerks. (ArsTechnica, Engadget)
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- Remember when the guerilla art group Voina (“War”) in Russia painted a 65 meter (~213 ft) penis on a bascule bridge which would face the Federal Security Services (successor of the KGB) building when raised? The vandalism has just earned them an Innovation prize for visual art which also comes with a prize purse of about $14,200 sponsored in part by Russia’s Ministry of Culture. The money will come in handy for their legal defense: if convicted of hooliganism, the leaders of Voina could face up to seven years in prison. (Nerdcore)
- Group-buying daily deals site LivingSocial has just raised $400 million, pegging their company value at more than $2 billion. They’re the closest competition of Groupon, who — for comparison — raised $950 million in January and turned down a $6 billion buyout offer from Google. (Mashable)
- NDM-1, a gene which causes several common bacteria to become resistant to powerful antibiotics, has become widespread in the water supply of Delhi, India. The Indian government responded to the study by threatening the scientists involved. Well, that’ll fix it. (Guardian)
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- No wonder we’re using cows as show jumpers; beef consumption has dropped significantly since 1976 according to this chart which you can also use to scare any uppity chickens. And believe you me, there are plenty of uppity chickens who need to be given the business. (NYTimes)
- Back in December a poll found only 21% of likely voters in the U.S. supported net neutrality. Problem is the questions were ridiculously biased, asking people if they supported “more government regulation or more free market competition” and if they think the FCC should regulate the internet. Since when is it “free market competition” to throttle bandwidth based on kickbacks, something net neutrality laws would prevent? (CrunchGear)
- A Harvard professor and two grad students analyzed all 64,033 press releases sent by U.S. senators between 2005 and 2007. They found that 27% of the releases were used to “taunt” opposing members of the Senate. Most of the bratty, unproductive taunting was done by Senators in a district where there was little likelihood of their party being voted out of office. Anyone who’s ever watched these overgrown children bickering on C-SPAN probably thinks 27% sounds like a lowball estimate. (WashingtonPost)
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