2008: April 6th Good News (Standing Alligator a Hit at Japanese Aquarium, 10 Year Old Boy to Climb Mt Kilimanjaro, more...)

Good Evening All,

Here are today's articles. I am in the middle of getting my house hold goods today, so please excuse the short intro. I will point out two interesting articles:
First, is the article about the 10 year old boy who wants to climb Mt Kilimanjaro. I personally think that's awesome! Second is an article about an ebay con man who got caught, after selling an ferrari that didn't exist, to someone over 4 thousand miles away! Way to go police detectives. :)

Hope you enjoy today's articles! See you tomorrow!




Today's Top 5:
1. Standing Alligator Walks into the Hearts of Aquarium Visitors (Mainichi Japan)
2. Suzuki Method Gains Ground in German Violin Teaching (Earth Times)
3. The Tallest Building in the World and Still Growing (Daily Mail)
4. Some of Our Oxygen is Produced by Viruses Infecting Micro-organisms in the Oceans (Science Daily)
5. Ten-year-old to climb Africa's Highest Peak (Independent IE)

Honorable Mention:
1. Young Artisan Keeps Italy's Richness Alive (LA Times)
2. Calif. Con Man Caught by Long Arm of the Law (Staten Island Live)
3. Missing Tahoe Skier Found with Major Injuries (News 10)
4. Snowmobiler Credits Survivorman for His own Survival
5. US House Votes to Spend $50bn Fighting Aids and Helping Orphans in Developing Countries (Buzzle.com)





Today's Top 5:

1. Standing Alligator Walks into the Hearts of Aquarium Visitors
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20080405p2a00m0na031000c.html
April 6, 2008

'Daigoro' the alligator stands up on its back legs as water splashes on it at Marine Plaza Miyajima in Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima Prefecture.HATSUKAICHI, Hiroshima -- An alligator that stands up on its back legs when water is poured on it has become popular with visitors to an aquarium here.
Named "Daigoro," the 80-centimeter-long male alligator was first spotted standing up about two years ago, when water that a keeper poured on plants in his cage splashed on him at Marine Plaza Miyajima in Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima Prefecture.
From this year, Daigoro, a three-year-old dwarf caiman alligator from South America, has been entertaining visitors by performing the stand-up show every noon when a keeper pours water on it.
Miyajima Island, where the aquarium is located, is home to the Itsukushima Shrine that has been registered as a World Heritage site. The number of visitors to the island topped the 3-million mark last year for the first time in a decade.




2. Suzuki Method Gains Ground in German Violin Teaching http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/196997,suzuki-method-gains-ground-in-german-violin-teaching--feature.html
Posted : Sun, 06 Apr 2008 02:12:21 GMT

Cologne, Germany - Shut your eyes as little Lucia Gatzweiler plays the violin and it would be easy to forget she is just 10. From pianissimo to fortissimo, Lucia can span the full dynamic range as she plays Bach, Vivaldi, Paganini and Sibelius.
And she does it all without sheet music. That is the hallmark of the Suzuki method, which is popular in Japan and the United States, but has never gained much traction in the orthodox world of German musical training.
Japanese violinist and educationist Shinichi Suzuki (1898-1998) insisted that one does not need to be a prodigy to play well, and that skills common to most people, combined with hard work, can do the trick.
"Talent," he said, "is not an accident of birth."
"After I found out how to play an A, I figured out how to do the rest of the notes," Lucia explains. "Most of the pieces I play I learn off by heart."
The Suzuki message is not for the casual learner. It takes years of disciplined study. A Suzuki pupil has to invest a huge amount of time in patient practice.
Traditional German methods are also demanding, but are based on learning musical theory from the ground up.
Michaela Zirnbauer, a Suzuki music teacher, explains, "His method is based on the idea that any person, young or old, can learn to play an instrument the same way that a child learns his native language."
Also known as the mother-tongue method, it encourages playing by ear, using CD recordings as a model, and playing in groups.
Observing children, Suzuki became convinced that musical achievement can be taught, just the same as a child learns a language by listening, repeating and remembering in very small steps.
"The pupils develop a technique very quickly this way," explains Zirnbauer. "They also develop a feeling for music."
Suzuki also insisted on pupils adopting Japanese manners, with pupils bowing respectfully before and after lessons, just as learners do in other Japanese-inspired disciplines such as judo.
The method has spread from the violin to the piano and other instruments.
The founder taught himself the violin at the age of 17 and went to Germany at the age of 22 to study violin. Suzuki also met his wife Waltraud in Germany, the Suzuki Association notes on its website.
Despite the method's success in many countries, many German music schools remain highly critical of Suzuki teaching.
"Unlike in the United States, it has not yet achieved the standing which it deserves here in Germany," says Zirnbauer. "Suzuki pupils get sneered at or are accused of being musical illiterates because they cannot read music.
"That's not true at all, because as soon as the children can read books, we begin teaching musical notation too."
A Suzuki teacher's objective is to not to find and train virtuosos, but to raise children to a standard where they can hold their own in town youth orchestras and state competitions.
Lucia Gatzweiler achieved a first place in the North Rhine Westphalia state competitions this year in a mixed strings group formed with two other Suzuki pupils, violinist Mena, 9, and viola player Michael, 11.




3. The Tallest Building in the World and Still Growing
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=557448&in_page_id=1811
Last updated at 15:21pm on 6th April 2008

It is the tallest man-made structure in the world – and it is still growing.
When complete next year the Burj Dubai will stretch half a mile into the sky over the United Arab Emirates, taller than three Canary Wharf towers balanced on top of each other.
Already 2,200ft tall, and the result of 22million man hours of labour, the Burj is the pinnacle of skyscraper engineering.
This £2 billion marvel, designed by American architect Adrian Smith, is packed with technological innovations, including double-decker lifts that can carry 42 people at a record-breaking 40mph to the observation platforms, robotic window-cleaning platforms and a system of pipes to collect condensation from the windows.
It will provide about 15million gallons of water per year – equivalent to nearly 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
The water will be pumped into the site's irrigation system for use on the landscaped areas.
Because of its size – more than 6,000 miles of girders, enough to stretch a quarter of the way round the world, have gone into making its 160 floors – evacuation in a fire could be too slow.
Therefore pressurised air-conditioned refuges to allow heat or fumes to escape are situated on every 25th floor, the stairwells are fireproofed and there is a special lift for firefighting equipment.
The Burj will be the height of luxury. Some of the space will be used for offices but the lower 37 floors will house the world's first Armani Hotel.
There are also 700 private apartments, and residents will be able to swim in an outdoor pool on the side roof of the 78th floor.
The Y-shape plan of the tower, copied from Islamic designs on mosque roofs, maximises views of the Persian Gulf.



4. Some of Our Oxygen is Produced by Viruses Infecting Micro-organisms in the Oceans http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080401200449.htm
ScienceDaily (Apr. 6, 2008)

Some of the oxygen we breathe today is being produced because of viruses infecting micro-organisms in the world's oceans, scientists heard April 2, 2008 at the Society for General Microbiology's 162nd meeting.
About half the world's oxygen is being produced by tiny photosynthesising creatures called phytoplankton in the major oceans. These organisms are also responsible for removing carbon dioxide from our atmosphere and locking it away in their bodies, which sink to the bottom of the ocean when they die, removing it forever and limiting global warming.
"In major parts of the oceans, the micro-organisms responsible for providing oxygen and locking away carbon dioxide are actually single celled bacteria called cyanobacteria," says Professor Nicholas Mann of the University of Warwick. "These organisms, which are so important for making our planet inhabitable, are attacked and infected by a range of different types of viruses."
The researchers have identified the genetic codes of these viruses using molecular techniques and discovered that some of them are responsible for providing the genetic material that codes for key components of photosynthesis machinery.
"It is beginning to become to clear to us that at least a proportion of the oxygen we breathe is a by-product of the bacteria suffering from a virus infection," says Professor Mann. "Instead of being viewed solely as evolutionary bad guys, causing diseases, viruses appear to be of central importance in the planetary process. In fact they may be essential to our survival."
Viruses may also help to spread useful genes for photosynthesis from one strain of bacteria to another.



5. Ten-year-old to climb Africa's highest peak
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/tenyearold-to-climb-africas-highest-peak-1339805.html
Sunday April 06 2008

An intrepid young explorer from Dublin will soon attempt to become the youngest person ever to climb one of the highest mountains in the world.
And the 10-year-old boy will have none other that the world record holder of the seven summits challenge to accompany him on his trek up Mount Kilimanjaro.
Sean McSharry from Stillorgan, Co Dublin, is the godson of Ian McKeever, who received worldwide acclaim when he climbed each of the continents' highest peaks in the fastest possible time.
On April 24, Sean flies to Africa in the hope of becoming the youngest person to ever climb the snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania -- the highest mountain in Africa at a height of 5,898 metres.
"Last year I got to climb to the top of Carrountohill when I was nine," said Sean. "Ian had just come home from Everest and took me up. I really enjoyed climbing it. I asked my godfather if he thought I could climb any higher. He told me if I really wanted to do it and didn't mind training really, really hard then I could do anything I wanted to, as long as I could see it in my head first."
The youngest person on record to ever reach the summit was Ryan J. Eckert, a 12-year-old American boy living in Nigeria who reached the top at age 12 with his father and older brother on August 16, 2005.
For the past three months Ian has put Sean through his paces in a rigorous training programme, which involves him changing his diet and eating lots of green vegetables, increasing his iron content and cutting out sweets. "They call me the broccoli kid in school," said Sean.
Sean himself has now shaved almost 10 minutes off his climbing times on Camaderry hill in Glendalough, the training ground, which McKeever believes holds the key to his ultimate success or failure.
"If you can climb this hill efficiently then in principal you can climb any mountain in the world," said McKeever.
- Jamie Deasy



Honorable Mentions:

1. Young Artisan Keeps Italy's Richness Alive
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-leather6apr06,1,2712597.story?track=rss
By Christine Spolar, Chicago Tribune 3:44 PM PDT,
April 5, 2008 ROME --

Elisa Nepi knows, with every stitch and soft-leather skin she touches, that she and her family are holding tight to a fast-disappearing art.
She and her father are among the few in this city who still hold the key to a family-run studio for leather craft. Every day, the two sit, with hammer or needle in hand, and pound out a living.
Italy once was known for such handmade leather goods. Today, as Chinese imports flood the market and Chinese immigrants fill factories commissioned by Prada and other designer shops, the Nepis' small shop is a reminder of the back-alley enterprises that once thrived in Rome and Florence.
"There was time when Florence was the place for leather," said Elisa Nepi, 31. "But then people sold all their shops to make big money. They sold those shops to strangers. . . . "That was part of Italy's richness and it's gone."
The store at Via dei Chiavari 39, near the famous fruit-and-flower market of Campo dei Fiori, was born before Nepi was. Her parents, Fulvio and Simonetta, were college students in 1972, landing back home in Rome after a summer vacation on the island of Ibiza.
Wandering one day, they noticed a small olive oil store for rent for the equivalent of $40 a month. On a whim, they plunked down the money and figured that, between sociology classes and study, they could fashion themselves as leather craftsmen.
Within a few months, the young couple realized that their skill could be much more than a hobby.
Fulvio, now 57, spent his time working the natural rawhide leathers wildly popular in the 1970s and selling them on the street. He made his mark stitching what were essentially sturdy lunch-pails for Italian laborers -- bags that turned out to be popular satchels for young foreigners. Thousands of Americans who were trekking through Italy for the first time, in the breakthrough era of cheap airfares, often left with a modest Nepi original for 11,000 lira -- about $10.
The Nepis rented the one storefront and eventually bought the slightly larger one next door. Their store, named Ibiz, evolved as something akin to an extra living room for the Nepis' two children, and a place where neighbors came to chat and passersby could buy an authentic if somewhat predictable leather bag.
Until the day that their daughter Elisa did something totally unpredictable: She failed her university entrance exam.
Suddenly, the young woman who had expected to study physical therapy -- she liked to work with her hands -- had lots of time on her hands. She turned to Ibiz with new purpose. She learned how to tramp the pedals of the store's old sewing machine and master the finer points of stitch. (No simple task there: The 50-year-old, second-hand machine was once owned by a costume maker who stitched sandals and belts for the movie "Ben Hur.") She also embarked on leather-buying trips with her father, who knew the best tanneries in Tuscany.
Nepi soon realized that she loved the work, but she also wondered whether she and the store had a future with leather craft.
Six years ago, Italian women wanted only designer bags. Even sales among young tourists were in decline. Nepi made a deal with her parents: She would take over the store and take on the challenge of trying to survive as a Roman artisan.
The younger Nepi wandered the fashion streets of Rome -- she still walks down and around Via del Corso every Sunday -- and noticed how women of every age relied on handbags. She thought they wanted classics and colors, modern colors that could go from day to night. Bright blue, maybe. Orange, well, why not? Details on an Ibiz handbag had to be distinctive, with bits and pieces of real handiwork, but not overwhelming. Gold chains, she said, were never an option.
The young Nepi followed her father's first idea: good leather would always sell. But the young woman had a keener eye for what makes a high-quality Italian borsa. Supple skins only from Tuscany, which she and her father believe produce the most elegant leather in the world, were a necessity.
The storefront shop expanded into chairs -- made-to-order pieces for the discerning buyer -- even as handbags held priority. Belts, wallets and key chains were salvaged from handbag remainders. Durable cotton thread, nothing else, bound all.
"Every morning, I come in and I check the bags. I think: When people enter the store, what they see is mine," Nepi said.
What they also see is a remarkable display of workmanship. In a city of over-the-top, Ibiz has found a way to produce handbags in brilliant hues -- yellow is a color of this summer -- and of notable quality and value.
Others have noticed. Ibiz now is part of the Japanese shoppers' circuit and listed in top tourist guides. This year, Ibiz rates a mention by some tony American guides, including the discerning Context Travel.
When asked how long she expects the good times to last, Nepi shrugs. She can only vouch for the handbags, and those, she bets, will be around for another generation.




2. Calif. Con Man Caught by Long Arm of the Law
http://www.silive.com/news/
by STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE
Saturday April 05, 2008, 6:58 PM

A California cheat who swindled $25,000 from a Staten Island man during a phony eBay auction will have to pay up -- either with cold, hard cash or prison time.
Chris Miranda, 34, of Santa Rosa, Calif., was arraigned yesterday on charges that he auctioned off a phantom Ferrari sportscar on the popular online site, then refused to deliver after a Huguenot man made a $25,000 downpayment -- figuring police would never travel more than 3,000 miles to arrest him. But the con man may still weasel out of jail time, so long as he pays back the money he stole, Assistant District Attorney Matthew Blum said.
Miranda will plead guilty tomorrow to second-degree grand larceny, a felony punishable by up to 7 years in prison, but if he repays the money that will be dropped to a misdemeanor with no jail time at sentencing, Blum said.
According to police, Miranda sold the 1997 Ferrari 355 Spider for about $63,000 following an October online auction, and promised to ship it as soon as the first $25,000 was deposited in his bank account. Soon after, Miranda began talking his way around the increasingly concerned customer, then ducking phone calls altogether.
When police detectives tracked him down this week, he told them, "I never thought you guys would come all the way out here to arrest me," a spokesman for Daniel M. Donovan's office said. Miranda was arrested and transported back to Staten Island Thursday night, and arraigned yesterday at Stapleton Criminal Court.
Judge Desmond Green ordered bail set at $50,000, which as of last night he had not posted.


3. Missing Tahoe Skier Found with Major Injuries
http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=40354
Written by Jason Kobely, Internet News Producer
4/5/2008 3:45:15 PM

TRUCKEE, California (AP) -- A missing skier was found by searchers Saturday morning at a Lake Tahoe ski resort with massive head injuries apparently suffered the day before when he struck a tree.
Placer County sheriff's Sgt. Robert Dellinger said the 37-year-old New York state man was listed in critical condition at a Reno hospital, where he was not breathing and was on life support.
The skier, whose name wasn't immediately released, was found with a faint pulse in a thickly forested area about 10 yards off a groomed run on the back side of Northstar-at Tahoe.
Dellinger said searchers began looking for him Friday night after a friend reported him missing, but were unable to locate him until Saturday morning because he was hidden behind a tree.
He said the skier was not wearing a helmet at the time.
At least five skiers and snowboarders have been killed this season at Lake Tahoe resorts.




4. Snowmobiler Credits Survivorman for His own Survival
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2008/04/04/survivor-man.html
Last Updated: Friday, April 4, 2008 3:19 PM CT

A Winnipeg man who was lost in the northern Manitoba bush for four days said a reality television show and a pair of eagles helped him reach safety.
Back with relatives at the Lake St. Martin reserve, Christopher Traverse told CBC News on Thursday he thought he would die while lost in the woods.
"The last night I worried because I was already going on the fourth night. I was getting worried that I wasn't going to make it … and I came out," he told CBC News.
Traverse emerged from the bush on Wednesday at the side of a highway, and flagged down a bus.
He had been missing since March 28, when he got lost while returning to the reserve about three hours north of Winnipeg from a fishing trip with his uncle.
He took a wrong turn and his snowmobile ran out of gas.
Traverse trudged through waist-deep snow for 13 hours a day with no food, no water and no matches.
The scenario reminded him of the reality television show Survivorman, and Traverse took inspiration from the show's star, Canadian Les Stroud. On the program, broadcast in Canada on the Outdoor Life Network, Stroud spends seven days in various remote and rugged locations with no food, shelter or water.
One episode begins with Stroud stuck in the Arctic with a broken-down snowmobile. He dismantles the machine, cutting the seat apart to make goggles, and using the windshield for shelter.
Drank snowDuring his own ordeal, Traverse climbed the spruce trees to help keep his bearings and stay on track, and built shelters from them when he stopped to rest. He drank snow, using his body to warm the liquid before consuming it.
"The thought of him laying in the bush, it almost killed me," said his mom, Loretta Traverse, who thanked the Creator for leading her son home. "I cried every night. I prayed."
Christopher Traverse said a pair of eagles circled morning and night, and he was pretty sure it was the same pair he saw at the community health centre in Lake St. Martin after being checked over.
His family plans to go back and recover the snowmobile and take pictures of his makeshift shelters. Christopher offered to go along but his mom said, "No way."
Stroud told the Winnipeg Sun he was impressed by Traverse's story and hopes to speak with him about the adventure.



5. US House Votes to Spend $50bn Fighting Aids and Helping Orphans in Developing Countries
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/187350.html
3 April 2008
Bill goes further than the White House had asked however Senate opposition will come from both parties America could more than triple spending to fight Aids in Africa and around the world after the House of Representatives voted in favor of committing $50bn in funding.
The bill, passed on Wednesday by a 308-166 vote, goes further than the White House had demanded in channeling funds to help those with Aids and children left orphaned by the disease.
In the waning months of the Bush White House, the campaign against Aids could stand out as one of the most successful foreign policy initiatives of his presidency. Michael Gerson, a former speech writer for Bush, has called it the most successful foreign aid program since the Marshall plan.
However, it faces opposition in the Senate from fiscal conservatives - who are alarmed at the $50bn price tag - as well as Democrats opposed to funneling money for Aids programs through faith-based groups.
At first the bill appears to deliver a defeat to one of the hallowed principles of Bush and social conservatives, that abstinence programs be at the forefront of the fight against Aids.
Bush's first Aids initiative, which called for $15bn over five years, had mandated that a third of all funds go towards abstinence programs.
The bill approved on Wednesday drops that requirement - although it requires notification to Congress if the funding is not evenly allocated for programs encouraging single people to abstain from sex before marriage and to remain faithful after they are married.
That has worried some women's organizations, who are concerned that the net effect could funnel more cash - not less - into abstinence programs.
"The reporting requirement in practice, in the field, means that people are likely to believe that they have to put more money - not less - into abstinence only and fidelity programs," said Adrienne Germain, president of the International Women's Health Coalition.
Other organizations are pushing for more funds to be devoted to family planning programs.
The White House estimates that the current program, launched by Bush in 2003, has paid for Aids testing, counseling and treatment with retro viral drugs for more than 1.4 million people in a dozen countries in sub-Saharan Africa as well as Vietnam, Guyana and Haiti.
The bill passed by the house would broaden the scope of the program, chanelling funds towards providing food aid and clean drinking water to Aids patients and micro credit to women who are widowed by the disease.
It would also extend $5bn to the fight against malaria and $4bn to boost the action against tuberculosis. More countries would also be covered, especially in the Caribbean region.