DC : Life imitates art, art imitates life

[Story]

(Reuters) - South Korean scientists said on Wednesday they have created a glowing dog using a cloning technique that could help find cures for human diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, Yonhap news agency reported.

A research team from Seoul National University (SNU) said the genetically modified female beagle, named Tegon and born in 2009, has been found to glow fluorescent green under ultraviolet light if given a doxycycline antibiotic, the report said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/ ... MK20110727

[Story]

Leftover space junk... good plot hook.

A piece of debris from NASA's space shuttle Columbia has been discovered in Texas, eight years after the 2003 disaster that destroyed the spacecraft and killed its seven-astronaut crew during re-entry, NASA officials confirmed today (Aug. 2).
The debris was discovered last week in eastern Texas. It is a round aluminum power reactant storage and distribution tank from Columbia, which disintegrated over Texas as it re-entered Earth's atmosphere near the end of a 16-day science mission.
The tank was discovered in an exposed area of Lake Nacogdoches, in Nacogdoches, Texas, about 160 miles northeast of Houston.
http://news.yahoo.com/debris-space-shut ... 05067.html

By utilizing the same plants that African tribesmen use to poison their arrows, the furry fury known as the African crested rat can incapacitate and even kill predators many times its size, researchers have found.
"This is the first mammal that is borrowing a deadly poison from a plant and slathering it on itself without dying," said study researcher Jonathan Kingdon, of Oxford University in England. "This is an extraordinary thing to have evolved."
Growing up in Africa, Kingdon was frequently exposed to these rats, even keeping one (very cautiously) as a pet. He had heard this animal was poisonous, but it look 30 years for him to figure out how and why this special animal kills and sickens its predators.
http://news.yahoo.com/giant-rat-kills-p ... 02214.html

[Linden]

"This is the first mammal that is borrowing a deadly poison from a plant and slathering it on itself without dying," said study researcher Jonathan Kingdon, of Oxford University in England. "This is an extraordinary thing to have evolved."

Clever blighters these rodents, I've said it before you know. Interesting that we've now got something of a precedent for DC's Super Rats poisoning their crossbow quarrels.

[ReHerakhte]

You know Linden, I'm starting to believe that perhaps you knew something we didn't in regards to rats and super rats

[Linden]

You know Linden, I'm starting to believe that perhaps you knew something we didn't in regards to rats and super rats

I think James Herbert might have got there before me. In my recent reading about 70s Britain, his novel "The Rats" crops up as a near seminal work, and barometer of the times. Have to say for all that it partially inspired my Rat King scenario I always thought it was a ropey load of old grot. Maybe I've been wrong all these years and Herbert is a pulp prophet?

[Morthrai]

Bottles of water used as light bulbs in Manila slums.

[Morthrai]

Have to say for all that it partially inspired my Rat King scenario I always thought it was a ropey load of old grot. Maybe I've been wrong all these years and Herbert is a pulp prophet?

I never thought James Herbert was as good as his reputation would suggest, but he certainly knew how to use it to his advantage. In the 80s he ordered a black Jaguar, only to be told that all the black cars were left-hand drive versions being exported to the USA. Not wanting to drive a white or beige Jag, he hinted that his next book might just involve a car factory in the Midlands.

Within a month he had a shiny UK-spec black Jaguar

[Linden]

I never thought James Herbert was as good as his reputation would suggest, but he certainly knew how to use it to his advantage. In the 80s he ordered a black Jaguar, only to be told that all the black cars were left-hand drive versions being exported to the USA. Not wanting to drive a white or beige Jag, he hinted that his next book might just involve a car factory in the Midlands.

Within a month he had a shiny UK-spec black Jaguar

I've read three or four of his books, the only one I liked was Fluke.

The threat of a horror novel about a car factory in the Midlands is pure Garth Marenghi. Fair play to him getting one over on BL (as it probably was back then) though.

[Story]

The threat of a horror novel about a car factory in the Midlands is pure Garth Marenghi. .

You owe me for the Woodchuck apple cider I just spewed.

Meanwhile, Greater Depression anyone?
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-0 ... uffer.html

[Linden]

Meanwhile, Greater Depression anyone?
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-0 ... uffer.html

Dark Conspiracy world seems to be getting closer day-by-day.

[Story]

Good fodder for artists' imaginations
http://www.gadling.com/2011/08/09/ghost ... d=webmail6

CHICAGO (CBS) — Chicago City Clerk Susana Mendoza wants her staff removed from the basement of City Hall, due to a persistent problem with cockroaches. Mendoza tweeted Monday that it was “time to clean up, move out of the city Clerk’s City Hall basement, and ask the Orkin Man for help.” / She said the insects her staff members have encountered are “Jurassic Park-size roaches.” She has called on Mayor Emmanuel for help moving all of her employees upstairs.

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/08/08/ ... ed-office/

London is reeling from three nights of rioting that's poured hundreds of people into the streets, leaving several local neighborhoods in shambles. One man is dead, dozens injured and arrested. The protests have now spread to other cities, with violence reported in parts of Birmingham, Liverpool and Bristol. Great Britain and other parts of the world are experiencing unrest at a time of global economic uncertainty and stock market volatility. Here's a look at what's happening around the world and how economic downturns are bringing protestors into the streets.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/44073673

[Story]

Skin chips
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id ... _article=1

[Story]

Homeless middle class
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article ... 97,00.html

[Morthrai]

The "other sort" of gnomes might be feeding the economic collapse...

Switzerland starting a currency war?

[Story]

A Bronx woman admitted Tuesday stuffing her dead roommate in a suitcase and ditching him outside an abandoned home - but insisted she did nothing wrong, sources said.

Monique Exum, 36, packed roomie Johnny Davis, 73, up after finding him dead in their Fish Ave. apartment May 31, prosecutors said. She insists she only removed the body to avoid trouble.



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crim ... z1XKPnSyVT