In Other News

[Broken_Erika]

Attacked owl rescued by fishing crew 100 miles out to sea

A long-eared owl shocked crew on board a fishing boat over 100 miles off the north coast of Scotland.

The bird was rescued by a crew member who spotted it being attacked by seagulls.

It suffered minor injuries but was cared for by the team on board Peterhead-registered Benarkle II for the rest of their trip.

It is believed the owl had been blown off its normal course before landing on the boat.

The Benarkle II crew said the poorly creature perked up a great deal after being "beefed up" with some chopped steak.

• The latest headlines from Scotland

After returning to harbour, the owl was handed over to the Huntly Falconry Centre who said it was very unusual for it to have been so far from land.

Crew members said the bird appeared on board the trawler in the middle of their trip last week - and seemed perfectly happy once it had settled into its new surroundings.

A social media post from the team added: "[It] was starting to become used to the comings and goings of crew in the wheelhouse, even letting him out to stretch his wings.

"Although getting an unwilling owl to go back into his temporary home isn't the easiest of operations!"

Once the trawler returned to Peterhead, the owl was taken to the Huntly Falconry Centre to fully recover.

John Barrie, who owns the centre, said: "The owl is just tired after the journey.

"They'd fed it up on the boat, and we'll do the same here.

"It just needs a bit of beef on it.

"It'll be here for a week or two then released back into the wild."

Mr Barrie said the bird was over 100 miles out from the coast.

He added: "It wasn't in its own environment, it must've just got blown off course.

"These same guys brought in a hobby falcon a couple years ago and it was about 400 miles out.

"It's funny that that's twice they've brought in a bird. There's obviously someone on board who knows about birds."

Long-eared owls are known for their distinct white eyebrows and striking bright orange eyes.

Despite being called the long-eared owl, the tufts on its head aren't actually ears at all.

The large head feathers are simply used to make it look bigger when the bird is alarmed.

They are said to be the most nocturnal of all the owls.

The breed looks deceptively long and thin while flying, but is usually no larger than a woodpigeon.

And they traditionally prefer dense coniferous woodlands to being at sea.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-63425826

[BeBMan]

Bees ‘count’ from left to right, study finds

Latest finding adds to theory that animals, including humans, naturally arrange things in a certain order, even without being able to count

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/27/bees-count-from-left-to-right-study-finds

[BeBMan]

Oh deer...

[Broken_Erika]

Sometimes the journey of many miles ends very badly

Deer swims all the way to P.E.I. only to be struck by transport truck

Diane Griffin was about to cross the Confederation Bridge on her way to New Brunswick on Tuesday when she pulled off to the side of the road to take a phone call.

Then, as she looked out her windshield, she thought she saw a white-tailed deer come up over the bank and graze in the grass.

Could it be? Deer are not native to P.E.I.

How did it get here? Should she hang up and call the authorities?

The intrigue then turned to shock.

"All of a sudden right in front of me it dashed across the road onto the pavement and a big transfer truck was coming off of the bridge and just, smuck. The poor deer was killed instantly."

Officials with P.E.I.'s Department of Fish and Wildlife believe the deer is the first to successfully swim across the Northumberland Strait.

"There are no known white-tailed deer on P.E.I. but they are common in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia," the department said in an email to CBC.

"We have occasionally collected dead deer on South Shore beaches that were presumed to have drowned."

The deer was brought to the Atlantic Veterinary College. Due to the condition of the animal after the collision, little information could be obtained, but officials believe the deer was only on P.E.I. a short time before it was killed.

Griffin, a retired senator from P.E.I., said the incident "kept me awake" during the rest of her trip.

"We're not used to seeing them. It's when we go over to the New Brunswick side of the Confederation Bridge that most of us start to get more cautious about worrying about deer or moose," she said.

"So it was very intriguing to even see the deer here to start with, but to see it hit such an end so suddenly was a pretty powerful thing to have happened."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-deer-confederation-bridge-killed-1.6630296

[Stantroll]

https://www.euronews.com/2022/09/13/rakto-mladic-convicted-bosnian-serb-war-criminal-is-in-poor-health-says-his-son

Zlad - Anti-Pope

[Stantroll]

https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p08v2cjz/how-the-swedes-survive-without-small-talk

[BeBMan]

Best pic from that article:

[Broken_Erika]

Philippines: Student 'anti-cheating' exam hats go viral


Images of students wearing so-called "anti-cheating hats" during college exams have gone viral on social media in the Philippines, sparking amusement.

Students at one college in Legazpi City were asked to wear headgear that would prevent them peeking at others' papers.

Many responded by creating homemade contraptions out of cardboard, egg boxes and other recycled materials.

Their tutor told the BBC she had been looking for a "fun way" to ensure "integrity and honesty" in her classes.

Mary Joy Mandane-Ortiz, a professor of mechanical engineering at Bicol University College of Engineering, said the idea had been "really effective".

It was implemented for recent mid-term exams, which were sat by hundreds of students at the college in the third week of October.

Prof Mandane-Ortiz said her initial request had been for students to make a "simple" design out of paper.

She was inspired by a technique reportedly used in Thailand some years previously.

In 2013, an image went viral appearing to show a room of university students in Bangkok taking test papers while wearing "ear flaps" - sheets of paper stuck to either side of their head to obscure their vision.

Prof Mandane-Ortiz said her engineers-in-training took the idea and ran with it - in some cases innovating complex headgear in "just five minutes" with any junk they found lying around.

Others donned hats, helmets or Halloween masks to fulfil the brief.

A string of the professor's Facebook posts - showing the youngsters wearing their elaborate creations - garnered thousands of likes in a matter of days, and attracted coverage from Filipino media outlets.

They also reportedly inspired schools and universities in other parts of the country to encourage their own students to put together anti-cheating headwear.

Prof Mandane-Ortiz said her tutees performed better this year, having been motivated by the strict examination conditions to study extra hard.

Many of them finished their tests early, she added - and nobody was caught cheating this year.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63363473

[Uncle Sparky]

That man narrowly avoided being in deep doo doo...

[PLATO]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63304390

Wow. That's a pisser

[Broken_Erika]

Japan heritage worker backs car into oldest toilet at Kyoto temple


A man whose job it is to help preserve Japan's cultural heritage has accidentally smashed his car into the country's oldest toilet at a centuries-old Buddhist temple.

The communal loo at Tofukuji in Kyoto dates back to the 15th century and is designated an important cultural asset.

Its ancient door was ruined after the employee hit the gas without realising the car was in reverse, police said.

No one was injured and the actual latrines inside remained intact.

The unnamed man, who works at the Kyoto Heritage Preservation called police soon after the crash, telling them he had crashed into the temple. He was said to be visiting the temple on business, according to the Sankei Shimbun newspaper.

A photo in the newspaper showed what appeared to be the car after it drove into the toilet's 700-year-old wooden door and pillars.

Toshio Ishikawa, director of the Tofukuji Research Institute, was "stunned" by the scale of the accident.

Another official said that although the damage is repairable, restoring the outhouse to its original state would require "lots of work".

• Japan to lift restrictions on foreign tourists
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The unused communal toilet - known as tōsu - was built in the first half of the Muromachi period (1336-1573) and is located inside Tofukuji temple.

It's nicknamed the "hyakusecchin", which means 100-person toilet, as it was used by more than 100 trainee monks at the temple practicing religious self-discipline, the newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported.

The paper describes it as a structure containing a stone row holding around 20 circular holes.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63304390

[BeBMan]

In totally other news the Bibs turned 100 today. Gratz.

[Jon Miller]

Beyond meat is OK, but I can't eat a lot of it. It is better than some of the standard stuff... but I actually like the black bean burgers (which I don't see around as much now, unfortunately) and falafel burgers better. I also can eat them more often, even if I am really hungry I am not eating a second beyond meat burger in a sitting.

JM

[EPW]

Beyond meat is pretty good, but it's better just to eat a whole food plant-based diet and cut out the substitutes.

[pchang]

Beyond Meat is based on pea protein. My wife says it tastes like peas and won't buy it.