Good Afternoon All,
Today's articles are incredibly varied, with no set theme. I would like to point out three articles in particular that may capture your interest. First is the story about the drunken man who decided to swim in crocodile inhabited waters, and was saved because some onlookers called the police. Second is the story about the newly discovered French phonautograph, which has a playable french song, that is 11 years older than Thomas Edison's phonograph. Third is for any Canadians who are readers, as the Canadians have just made Canadian citizenship for international adoptees easier.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy today's posts. I have to go feed the pregnancy, lol. See you tomorrow!
Today's Top 5:
1. Canada: Children Adopted Overseas Now Eligible for Immediate Citizenship (CBC Canada)
2. Zoo Boasts Newborn Baby Tamarins (Denver Post)
3. Police Save 'Drunk Idiot' From Jaws of Crocodile (Telegraph UK)
4. Kidnap Rescue: Ma Spirits Boy out of Korea (New York Post)
5. Japan Plans to Launch Paper Plane from Space (Yahoo News)
Honorable Mention:
1. Famous Amsterdam Brothel to Close (ABC News AU)
2. French Folk Song is 'World's Earliest Recording', Beating Edison by 11 Years (Times UK)
Unpublishable:
United Arab Emirates Names First Female Judge in Conservative Muslim Country (Boston Herald)
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/international/middle_east/view.bg?articleid=1083262&srvc=rss
Thursday, March 27, 2008
© Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Today's Top 5:
1. Canada: Children Adopted Overseas Now Eligible for Immediate Citizenship
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2008/03/27/adopted-children.html
Last Updated: Thursday, March 27, 2008 9:24 AM ET
A 13-month-old Toronto girl has become the first adopted child born abroad to enter Canada as a citizen.
Citizenship Minister Diane Finley presented a teddy bear to the infant when she arrived at Toronto's Pearson Airport on Wednesday, recognizing her as the first child to be allowed into the country under the new rules.
In the past, adopted foreign-born children had to go through two steps to become a citizen: first they'd be processed as permanent residents, then they'd wait three years to become a citizen.
Changes introduced in December mean the children now become citizens as soon as their adoption is complete.
Rory-Adele Chan-Rushton is the first child to apply and become a citizen under the new regulations.
Her parents, Mark Rushton and Angela Chan, say it was important for them to bring home a Canadian child.
"It makes the process so much easier and so much less stressful. The journey, especially for international adoption, is so long, it can take so much time … and to have this at the end of it makes it so much easier for a lot of families," said Chan.
The Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada says about 2,000 foreign-born children are adopted by Canadians every year.
All of those children now have the option of becoming citizens right away.
2. Zoo Boasts Newborn Baby Tamarins
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_8716817
By Demetria Gallegos
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 03/27/2008 12:33:01 PM MDT
The Denver Zoo has two new residents, endangered twin golden lion tamarins who were born March 10.
The babies were born to Rosie and father Siamo, both of whom are taking excellent care of the twins, according to spokeswoman Ana Bowie.
They weighed about 100 grams at birth, about as much as a kiwi fruit. They'll grow to between 400 and 800 grams, which is less than two pounds.
The babies' gender has not yet been determined.
Only about 1,000 remain in the tamarins' native Brazil. The Denver Zoo's tamarinds are part of a species survival plan administered through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
Rosie and Siamo have two older twins, Alex and Annie, who were born last July.
The entire family is on exhibit in the
Emerald Forest area of Primate Panorama.
Demetria Gallegos: 303-954-1683 or
3. Police Save 'Drunk Idiot' From Jaws of Crocodile
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/27/wcroc127.xml
By Nick Squires in Sydney
Last Updated: 1:14pm GMT 27/03/2008
Australian police fired shots at a huge saltwater crocodile to prevent a drunken “idiot” from being eaten alive during an impromptu swim in the sea.
Man said 'wombat rape' led to accent change
The intoxicated swimmer was moments away from being seized by the large saltie after jumping into the water for a bet.
A police officer shot at the animal with his Glock pistol
The 27-year-old man, a miner working on an island off Australia’s north coast, was drinking with a friend when he was dared to swim out to a metal crocodile trap about 70 yards offshore.
“People saw this large crocodile in the water nearby and saw this idiot swimming out towards the croc trap,” said local police commander Colin Smith.
“They called police who got there fairly quickly. It started off 20 metres from him, then closed in to 10 metres and started to pick up pace for the attack.”
As shocked onlookers tried to alert the man to the approaching croc, a police officer started shooting at the animal with his Glock pistol.
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“The first one either hit the croc or put him off because it swam under the water,” said Commander Smith.
“But it was still headed in the man’s direction and this is when police fired more shots ... to give him time to reach the shore. No one doubts the actions of police saved this fella.”
The drama took place opposite a recreation club off Groote Eylandt, an island in the Gulf of Carpentaria named by Dutch explorers, where in 2005 a British mine manager, Russell Harris, was killed by a 13ft-long crocodile.
Police are considering whether to take disciplinary action against the man, who ignored signs warning of the presence of crocodiles.
“(When he got out of the water) he was intoxicated and argumentative with police,” said Commander Smith.
“He didn’t seem to appreciate that police had probably just saved his life."
An assistant manager at the recreation club, Michael O’Keefe, said the man had a narrow escape.
“I reckon he had one minute to go (before the crocodile attacked him),” Mr O’Keefe said.
“It had started to pick up pace ... I’d yelled to those guys there was a four metre crocodile out there. This guy is an idiot ... he’s not from this planet.”
Growing to a maximum length of around 23ft, saltwater crocodiles are capable of killing large animals such as wild buffalo, feral pigs and horses.
Since being protected from commercial hunting in the early 1970s, their numbers have recovered from a low point of around 5,000.
There are now estimated to be up to 85,000 in the Northern Territory alone, with thousands more in Queensland and Western Australia.
4. Kidnap Rescue: Ma Spirits Boy out of Korea
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03272008/news/regionalnews/kidnap_rescue_103751.htm March 27, 2008
By Philip Messing, Hasani Gittens, and Brigitte Williams-James
Joy at JFK: Kobe Lee rejoices at Kennedy Airport last night with mom Tiffany Rubin and stepdad Chris Rubin. Tiffany, armed with a federal court order, had taken her son away from his dad in South Korea.
March 27, 2008 -- It was a James Bond-like case of international intrigue featuring Interpol, disguises and a freelance ex-CIA agent, but it didn't involve diamonds, state secrets or buxom double agents - just a 7-year-old boy.
Kobe Lee arrived at Kennedy Airport from South Korea last night with mom Tiffany Rubin, seven months after he was kidnapped by his dad.
Rubin's daring mission was orchestrated by two child-rescue groups, the FBI, State Department, Interpol and US Embassy officials in South Korea, sources said.
"I feel good," the shy youngster said at JFK.
His exhausted mom confessed, "I thought I would never see him again - oh my God, it's so amazing!"
Rubin, 30, and Mark Miller of the American Association for Lost Children recounted the heart-pounding scene at Kobe's school before the getaway.
"Tiffany asked to see Kobe," Miller explained. "I was at the end of the stairway, just in case, when she came out with him.
"At a certain point, we were on the street and we had to step it up - we had to put a wig on Kobe."
The trio took a cab, emerging a block from their hotel "just in case someone was tracking us," he added.
It was another tense eight hours before they could leave the country - all while Kobe's dad, Jeffrey Salko, 37, contacted local cops to try to stop the getaway.
Rubin said she'd been nervous during the escape because she stood out "as an African-American woman."
The State Department expedited the boy's visa, officials said.
Kobe had no clothes other than those he was wearing at school when he got on the plane. He arrived at JFK with a T-shirt emblazoned with the name of Miller's group.
"The next step is getting him back in school," said Rubin, a teacher at PS 166 in Queens.
Kobe vanished last August after a visited in New York with Salko - also known as Kang-Shik Lee - who has dual citizenship.
Miller went to federal court and obtained a warrant for her son's return. The rescue group, working with a former CIA agent, got a tip about Kobe's whereabouts and with the help of the US Embassy located his school in February.
Rubin flew to South Korea last Sunday. An employee of the State Department accompanied mom and son on the trip home.
"We plan on throwing the biggest party we can possibly have," said the boy's elated stepfather, Chris Rubin, 34.
"It's great! I'm overjoyed, and I can't wait to get him home to start doing the things we were planning on doing - baseball games and going to wrestling matches. He loves wrestling."
5. Japan Plans to Launch Paper Plane from Space
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080327/sc_afp/japanspacepaperaviation_080327142232
Thu Mar 27, 10:22 AM ET
TOKYO (AFP) - Japan plans to take its art of origami paper folding to outer space, launching a paper plane from the International Space Station to Earth to learn about future spacecraft design.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency this week approved four space experiments, including the paper plane project, with up to 90 million yen (900,000 dollars) earmarked for studies over three years, agency official Hidehiro Akashi said Thursday.
Prototype paper planes, folded in the shape of a US space shuttle, survived a test in a hypersonic wind tunnel in late January at a University of Tokyo laboratory.
The prototypes, some seven centimetres (2.8 inches) long and five centimetres (two inches) wide, went through Mach-7 speeds and temperatures up to 200 degrees Celsius (392 degrees Fahrenheit), according to the Japan Origami Airplane Association which initiated the project.
The conditions were close to what paper planes, which will be drawn back to Earth by gravity, could confront upon re-entering the atmosphere from space, the association said on its website.
The project got a boost after the association found paper that was chemically treated to be extremely heat resistant.
"Even after the chemical treatment, paper remains paper and it can be used for origami," said Shinji Suzuki, a professor at the University of Tokyo's department of aeronautics and astronautics who cooperated in the project.
"The paper plane's return from space will give us tips about designing new spacecrafts," he said.
Japan has an increasingly ambitious space programme. The US space shuttle Endeavour returned Thursday Tokyo time after beginning to set up Japan's first space laboratory.
"The biggest problem is that we cannot predict where the plane will touch down if it manages to return. That's because the plane will be blown away by wind after entering the troposphere," Suzuki said.
"We are considering attaching a tiny transmitter. But if the paper plane gets heavier, it can't escape heating up due to air resistance," he said.
"In its initial flight, we may write on the paper of the plane in different languages, 'please let us know when you find this.'"
Honorable Mentions:
1. Famous Amsterdam Brothel to Close
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/28/2201234.htm
Posted 6 hours 53 minutes ago
(Current Time 4:20pm CST, 27 March 2008)
Amsterdam's infamous Yab Yum brothel has lost an appeal against the city's decision to close the sex club as part of a crackdown on organised crime in the prostitution industry.
The city of Amsterdam said its complaints commission had upheld a decision to deny the brothel a new licence because of fears it would be used to commit crimes.
"The doors of the Amsterdam sex club will therefore stay closed," it said in a statement.
Calling itself the world's most exclusive men's club, the Yab Yum has denied allegations that it is in the hands of the Hells Angels biker gang and said it would seek damages from the city after it was forced to close in January.
Located in a grand house on an Amsterdam canal, Yab Yum charged visitors a 70 euro entry fee and much more for caviar, champagne and the services of its hostesses.
In December, the city of Amsterdam announced plans to clean up its "red light" district to fight forced prostitution, money laundering and drug abuse.
It has withdrawn permits from dozens of sex businesses it accuses of links with organised crime.
2. French Folk Song is 'World's Earliest Recording', Beating Edison by 11 Years
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article3633837.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=797093
March 27, 2008
Philippe Naughton
American researchers have pieced together a 10-second audio clip of a French folk song which they believe is the oldest recognisable recording of the human voice.
The recording appears to be of a young woman singing a couple of phrases from the 18th century folk song Au Clair de la Lune. It was made in 1860 by Edouard Leon Scott de Martinville, a Parisian typesetter and librarian, on a Heath Robinson-style device he called a "phonautograph".
But in successfully playing back the clip, the team from the University of California's Berkeley Lab, may have robbed their compatriot Thomas Edison of the honour long accorded him as the first man to successfully record sound.
Edison's recording of himself reciting 'Mary had a little lamb', recorded on a tinfoil cylinder and no longer playable, dates from 1877. The first playable recording is thought to be from a performance of a Handel oratorio at Crystal Palace in 1888.
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The French clip was posted today on the website of The New York Times, which reported that it will be played in public for the first time tomorrow at Stanford University.
Scott's phonoautograph had a barrel-shaped horn attached to a hog's bristle stylus which etched sound waves onto sheets of smoke-blackened paper.
The New York Times reported that Scott never intended them to be played back but saw them as merely a visual representation of sound. It said that when Edison unveiled his phonograph, which was designed to play back its recordings, the Frenchman even accused him of misusing the technology.
The recording was discovered earlier this month at the French Academy of Sciences by David Gioavannoni, an "audio historian" who led the effort to find Scott's original "phonoautograms".
Mr Giovannoni had found earlier recordings at a Paris patent office, dating back as early as 1857 but he told the newspaper that his "eureka moment" came when he found the immaculately preserved 1860 recording on a sheet of rag paper measuring nine inches by 29 inches.
"It was pristine," Mr Giovannoni said. "The sound waves were remarkably clear and clean."
Mr Giovannoni sent scans of the recording to the Berkeley Lab where they were painstakingly converted into sound by scientists using technology designed to salvage historic recordings.
That technology allows the voice of a young French woman, recorded in Paris in the months before Abraham Lincoln's inauguration as President of the United States, to be heard again.
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