Bigfoot sightings to move down as Facebook finally targets fake news, boosts fact-checkers

 Facebook is taking new measures to curb the spread of fake news on its huge and influential social network, focusing on the “worst of the worst” offenders and partnering with outside fact-checkers to sort honest news reports from made-up stories that play to people’s passions and preconceived notions.

Fake news stories touch on a broad range of subjects, from unproven cancer cures to celebrity hoaxes and backyard Bigfoot sightings. But fake political stories have drawn attention because of the possibility that they influenced public perceptions and could have swayed the U.S. presidential election. There have been other dangerous real-world consequences. A fake story about a child sex ring at a Washington, D.C., pizza joint prompted a man to fire an assault rifle inside the restaurant, Comet Ping Pong.

“We do believe that we have an obligation to combat -Read More

TIGER PROTECTOR

That Thing With Feathers Trapped in Amber? It Was a Dinosaur Tail

While most paleontologists dig up prehistoric bones from the ground, Lida Xing hunts for fossils in the amber markets of Myanmar. In 2015, he made a remarkable find: Trapped in what looked like golden glass was the feathered tail of a dinosaur.

Along with the primitive plumage, the 99-million-year-old amber also preserved soft tissue and eight complete vertebrae. The tail bones indicated that the specimen belonged to a dinosaur that was not a prehistoric bird and also provided researchers with insight into the evolution of feathers.

“This is the first time that skeletal material from a dinosaur has been found in amber,” Dr. Xing, who is a paleontologist at China University of Geosciences in Beijing, said in an email. He and his colleagues published their findings Thursday in the journal Current Biology.

After performing a CT scan and microscopic analysis, Dr. Xing and his colleagues realized that the feathers did not belong to a bird because the specimen’s tail vertebrae were not fused into a rod, as they are in modern birds. The feathers most likely belonged to a baby nonavian theropod, meaning it looked more similar to a velociraptor or Tyrannosaurus rex than -Read More

Historians and scientists create digital images of Scots king

Scientists and historians believe they have created digital images of what could be the head of Robert the Bruce.

It is reconstructed from the cast of a human skull held by the Hunterian Museum with the realistic images coming from historians at the University of Glasgow and craniofacial experts at Liverpool John Moores University.

Robert Bruce, was no stranger to the battle field, with the the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 the fight he is most well known for, when he won independence for Scotland.

He was the King of Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329 at the age of 54.

Historians believe that Bruce suffered from an unidentified ailment, most likely leprosy, and the the -Read More and see video of images

Paris wages war on rodent infestation

 Both Nadine Mahe des Portes and the rat panicked when she inadvertently stepped on it on her walk back from work through Paris.

“I heard a terrible squeak,” the property agent recalled with a shudder. “I thought I’d stepped on a child’s toy or something.”

When Parisians are literally tripping over rats on the sidewalk, it is clear that the City of Light has a problem. Professional exterminators with decades on the job struggle to recall infestations as impressive — perhaps that should be repulsive — as those now forcing the closure of Paris parks, where squirmy clumps of rats brazenly feed in broad daylight, looking like they own the place.

On Friday, City Hall threw open one of the closed parks, the Tour Saint-Jacques square a block from the Seine, to show journalists its latest anti-rat drive. The park in the heart of the city is only a short walk from the Pompidou art museum. Two Japanese tourists searching for Notre Dame cathedral, also just minutes away, thankfully didn’t notice the rats in bushes just in front of them when th-Read More

School forced to sell advertising space to pay for urgent repairs

A PRIMARY school has been reduced to selling advertising space in order to try and fund essential repairs.

Carden Primary School in Brighton has applied for planning permission for advertising banners it has put up along it’s perimeter fencing.

The school said the revenue would be used to pay to replace the fencing which had become “dangerous and unfit for purpose” having failed to secure public money for the repairs.

Unions said the move was symptomatic of a crisis in school funding.

School staff said banners up to 30 metres long would be used to promote local banners and would not advertise any products deemed detrimental to children.

As well as paying for school repairs, funds will also be used towards extra-curricular activities for children.

The plans have been greeted with large support from residents with 26 letters of support sent to the council and just seven of objection.-Read More

PEE-BACK TIME

CIVIC chiefs are fighting back against revellers who damage ancient city walls by peeing on them.

The sandstone has been covered with liquid-repellent clear paint, which causes urine to bounce back leaving footwear and clothing soaked.A video showing a bearded “hipster” getting “pee-back” is being promoted via social media, beers mats and posters.

The famous walls were built by the Romans around 70AD in Chester.

Cllr Karen Shore, the council’s cabinet member for environment, said: “Most party-goers will enjoy the festive season and respect our beautiful city.Read More

Are giraffes an endangered species?

Researchers are working to get a more accurate count of the giraffe population but describe all giraffes in all parts of the African continent as either decreasing in number or unstable. The declining numbers are due largely to poaching, habitat loss, human population growth and degradation of the giraffe's habitat. Two subspecies of giraffe have populations of less than 250 animals, including the West African giraffe and the Nubian giraffe. Around half of the giraffes in Africa today are Masai giraffes.-Read More

Memory Test.

On Wednesday 7-12-2016  i had to go to a medical centre based in Barnstaple,Devon, to do a memory test .After  going to wrong  place on 4 occasions  due to place had similar street and place name finally arrived at a tatty looking building . I awaited in the waiting room until summoned by the doctor who preceded to take me to a room to for my very intensive memory test that lasted 1 and half hours and i was mental drained afterwards.I am not complaining as wish to known what is happening to my brain at the moment .

Old School Ways.

Some may say i am a bit old fashioned as i try to stick to what some call old school ways.Here is a list-1-Always say please and thank you. 2 -Treat others others as you expect them to treat you , 3 ,Be as gentleman ie open doors ,give up seat on bus when can,get items down from shelve if asked,let someone in queue if only has couple of items, 4- Try to walk away from a fight as violence solves nothing,sounds uncool but thats me folks.

Joy for birdwatchers as rare duksy thrush spotted in British village

Twitchers are flocking to the Duke of Devonshire's famous country seat to catch sight of the long-distance wanderer from the Far East.

By rights, the striking dusky thrush - a distant relative of our blackbird - should have been wintering in China or Vietnam.

Somehow, the bird with its distinctive brown speckled plumage and dazzling eye-markings, migrated in the opposite direction and arrived in the picturesque Derbyshire village of Beeley.-Read More

Forgotten Tablets.

No not the computing kind but tablets you take for your health conditions ,also known as pills.I often forget tablets and think i will be o.k but the next day my health goes downhill and if i forget main morning ones my health goes down badly.

Bed Socks.

Yes the time has come when i have succumbed to the dark side ,wearing bed socks to bed .Due to recent cold spell i had to make this decision with my wife,Enid,influence to start wearing said bed socks to bed.How sad am i but lest feet toasty .

Ice Bucket Challenge.

No not any old ice bucket but the one that launched the self soaking challenge.The ice bucket challenge raised  40 million for charity and is now on show in the Smithsonian Museum,Washington D.c ,America.

Discover some of history's forgotten facts

Was your old high school history teacher wrong?

You can’t imagine so; she taught you all about World Wars I and II, America’s past, and British history. But could you have missed something? What don’t you know? Was your high school history teacher wrong or, as in “When Churchill Slaughtered Sheep and Stalin Robbed a Bank” by Giles Milton, was history merely hidden?

Say you’re looking in your cupboard for a plate, when you stumble across a china cup you’ve never seen before. Something similar happened to Giles Milton while he was researching one thing and found something else. History, he learned, is full of those little “historical nuggets.”

Take, for instance, when Winston Churchill explored the possibility of using biological weapons against the Nazis. He couldn’t, of course, experiment on humans, so he tried his methods on sheep. What happened affected an island off the coast of Scotland for the next 45 years.

And then there’s the Chevalier d’Eon, who was very much involved in espionage and politics for several countries in the late 1700s. As much as the Chevalier changed jobs, gender was also scandalously changed until few knew the truth. The Chevalier finally had herself legally declared female by French courts; it was only when she died that the truth was finally revealed.-Read More

me mark explaining current problem with brain

scenes from the Arctic - polar bear filmed by Robert pearson

information-the bear is from his trip to the Arctic the above penguins are from the Antarctic his on the ship IOFFE which does all the trips completly russian crew and take the Franklin route im flying out to LA sunday but when i get back il post more story line for you if you look up ocean 1 which is who he works for you will see they contribute to all Arctic documentrys.

scenes from the Antarctic filmed by Robert pearson

information-the bear is from his trip to the Arctic the above penguins are from the Antarctic his on the ship IOFFE which does all the trips completly russian crew and take the Franklin route im flying out to LA sunday but when i get back il post more story line for you if you look up ocean 1 which is who he works for you will see they contribute to all Arctic documentrys.

Stange object

The eerie dome was spotted by a dog walker over fields in the small village of Tremeirchion yesterday morning at 8am.

Hannah Blandford, 33, had been with her pet in the village when she came across the white spectacle in the sky.

The 33-year-old told The Sun: ‘I couldn’t believe how perfectly dome shaped it was, it looked amazing, so I had to take a photo. I’d never seen anything like it before, it was really quite ....
http://metro.co.uk/2016/12/04/rare-ufo-like-fog-dome-appears-in-sky-as-temperatures-drop-to-4c-6300419/

Ghosts

If you  think  about  it  you can hear and see  ghosts  everyday, madness  you may think .But  in a way we do when we watch an old film or tv show that has a departed  star in it or listen to a record of a singer long gone is that not a ghost.