Abandoned penguin chick thinks glove is its mother

Zoo keepers are fooling an abandoned penguin chick into thinking a black industrial glove is its parent.

Keepers at Living Coasts in Torquay, Devon, are standing in as the tiny chick's parents after it was abandoned before it had even hatched. In order to hand rear the chick, keepers are wearing a home-made penguin glove puppet during its feeds to stop it from becoming used to humans. The puppet is made from a black rubber industrial glove decorated with red eyes and yellow plumes to mimic an adult macaroni penguin.Exhibit manager Clare Rugg said: ''This way contact is kept to a minimum - yes, the chick will hear and see keepers, but it will also see the glove which has the shape and colour of an adult penguin.''

The egg was not incubated by its parents after one of them became ill. It usually takes two birds to look after an egg so it was abandoned. The adult bird has since recovered. Living Coasts director Elaine Hayes said: ''We decided to hand rear because the egg was fertile but would not have survived and there are not many macaroni penguins in the UK.'' The chick is fed every three hours between 8.30am and 8.30pm on a blended mixture of filleted herring, krill, vitamins and water which is warmed and fed to the chick using a syringe.

Senior keeper Lois Rowell said: ''It looks and smells like a pink fish milk shake.'' She added: ''We don't mind the chick becoming familiar with us so long as it knows it's a macaroni penguin and recognises what one looks like, hence the glove.'' Staff are also playing the chick a recording of the sounds of the macaroni penguin group.

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Record number to stay home on 'national sickie day'

A record number of office workers will phone in sick on Monday as post-Christmas blues, the flu outbreak and financial worries cause 375,000 to join in "national sickie day", according to a survey.

The first Monday in February is the day British workers are most likely to ring in sick with wintry weather, credit card bills and a long wait until the next holiday all contributing to the country's malaise. This year a combination of the worst spread of flu in a decade and an increasingly lenient attitude taken by managers mean more staff than ever before could "pulling a sickie".

The cost to the economy in lost work and business opportunities, the cost of salaries and overtime payments, could be more than £32 million, according to business advisers ELAS. As many as 375,000 workers are expected to take the day off, with half of the country's bosses admitting they do not always believe those who phone in sick.

Peter Mooney, head of consultancy at ELAS, said: “With morale at rock bottom thanks to nearly three years of working in a stuttering economy, and with the worst flu outbreak in a decade providing a handy alibi, we expect absenteeism to soar this winter. Meanwhile, more and more bosses have drifted into accepting text messages and emails as confirmation that staff will not be heading into work – making it much easier for staff to get away with taking a duvet day.”

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Cabin crew reveal most unusual customer requests

Some passengers fail to understand why they are prevented from opening the window, while others would like the engines to be "turned down" to reduce the noise. Bemused flyers board aeroplanes expecting to find McDonald's restaurants and massage parlours on board, cabin crew have revealed.

 

The foolish and sometimes bizarre questions asked of flight attendants were disclosed after 3,000 Virgin Atlantic cabin crew members listed the most unusual customer requests they had experienced. Among the most common queries was "Please can you open the window?", from uncomfortable passengers who had failed to appreciate the benefits of a pressurised cabin at 35,000 feet. Other unique questions fielded by Virgin staff included "Could you turn the engines down because they are too noisy?" and "Please can the Captain stop the turbulence?"

The survey of 3,000 cabin crew also laid bare the level of comfort and service some customers expect, with several asking flight attendants "Can you show me to the showers?" One crew member was asked to book a massage for a Barbie doll, while flight attendants were also asked to help a customer locate a missing glass eye. Other customers, who may have overestimated the amount of space on their aircraft, asked: "Can you take my children to the playroom?" and "Is there a McDonald’s onboard?".

Caroline Lynam, customer relations manager at Virgin Atlantic, said: “Virgin Atlantic crew will always go that extra mile to offer our customers the best possible service but there are some requests that even we find somewhat challenging."

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Communist Monopoly 'Queue' to encourage competitive bread buying

It's not quite the perfect fit - the ultimate capitalist board game and left-wing politics - but the creators of the new communist version of Monopoly, Queue, think it could be a big hit.

Officials at the Research Institute in Poland have come up with the concept, which will see players tasked with buying a list of essential items like bread and toilet paper. Rather than try to force other players into bankruptcy, though, Queue will encourage them to line up in an orderly fashion to get into state-owned shops.

Doesn't have quite the same ring to it as building a property empire, does it? Still, the game's creator Karol Madaj believes it will be a valuable educational tool - and fun too... probably.

'The game not only makes players understand shopping in Poland under communism. It also teaches them what queueing is like - something people seem to have forgotten,' he said.

Instead of Chance and Community Chest, players will draw wild cards that can be positive - getting them sent to the front of the queue because of a Communist Party connection - or negative, such as seeing a shop closed down for 'decadence'.

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Eco-friendly mentality has reached a new level in Spain, with one European artist creating a hotel made entirely out of rubbish.

 

While it's  literally a load of garbage, the accommodation does have an message to instil on consumers, as it has been launched as this year's Corona Save the Beach hotel. The five-bedroom building, which has been designed by artist HA Schult, is constructed from 12 tonnes of rubbish, all of which was found littering the beaches around Europe.

Visitors to Madrid will be able to see the Beach Garbage Hotel until January 23rd, with the display period coinciding with a tourism fair being held in the Spanish capital. The aim of the structure is to raise awareness of the plight of beaches and seas around the world, which are increasingly plagued by litter.

HA Schult told AFP news agency: 'I created the Beach Garbage Hotel because the oceans of our planet are the biggest garbage dump.'

Rose Piqueras, a spokesperson for the project, added: 'We wanted to show what our holidays could become if we don't clean our beaches.'

In 2009, it helped save Capocotta beach in Rome and in 2010 the campaign focused on Portman Bat in Murcia, Spain.

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Dive-bombing seagulls close shopping centre after 'attacking customers'

Dive-bombing seagulls have caused half of a shopping centre car park to close because of fears of injuries to customers.

Forget the dead birds falling out of the sky in the US, it's live ones dive-bombing humans that you want to worry about.

Two levels of the Regent Arcade in Cheltenham were shut when the birds, some of which were said to be 60cm (22in) tall, became aggressive.

Shopping centre manager John Forward said the gulls were becoming more and more aggressive, and he claimed it was only a matter of time before they hurt a child.

'If we don't do something about it we are going to have a seagull attacking a child. I'm telling you, it's only a matter of time before this happens. We can't just stick our heads in the sand. If the council wants to treat this seriously and deal with the situation then money has to be invested.'

Hawks could now be used to drive the seagulls away.

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Best responses to annoying telemarketers

Telemarketers have no shame and no regards for the privacy of others. This is no. 1 worst job ever according to recent Washington poll. Instead of being angry, destroy they’re day when they call you

If they start out with, "How are you today?" say, "I'm so glad you asked, because no one these days seems to care, and I have all these problems. My arthritis is acting up, my eyelashes are sore, my dog just died ..."

If they say they're John Doe from XY Company, ask them to spell their name. Then ask them to spell the company name. Then ask them where it is located, how long it has been in business, how many people work there, how they got into this line of work, etc.

This works great if you are male. Telemarketer: "Hi, my name is Judy and I'm with XY Company. " You: Wait for a second and with a real husky voice ask, "What are you wearing?"

Say "No" over and over. Be sure to vary the sound of each one, and keep a rhythmic tempo, even as they are trying to speak. This is most fun if you can do it until they hang up.

After the Telemarketer gives his or her spiel, ask him or her to marry you. When they get all flustered, tell them that you can't just give your credit card number to a complete stranger.

Tell the Telemarketer you are busy at the moment and ask him/her if he/she will give you his/her home phone number so you can call him/her back. When the Telemarketer explains that telemarketers cannot give out their home numbers say, "I guess you don't want anyone bothering you at home, right?" The Telemarketer will agree and you say, "Me either!" Hang up.

Tell them it is dinner time, but ask if they would please hold. Put them on your speaker phone while you continue to eat at your leisure. Smack your food loudly and continue with your dinner conversation.

NOTICE: The above have all been tested and approved for use on telemarketers. No animals were harmed in the testing.

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Looking for a Career as a Witch?

If you are interested in witchcraft and you want to be a professional witch than starting from Saturday Romania is right place for you since they allowed and legalized witchcraft as profession.

Sounds a little Harry Potter’ish! Romania has changed its labor laws to officially recognize witchcraft as a profession, prompting one self-described witch to threaten retaliation.

The move, which went into effect Saturday, is part of the government’s drive to crack down on widespread tax evasion in a country that is in recession. In addition to witches, astrologists, embalmers, valets and driving instructors are now considered by labor law to be working real jobs, making it harder for them to avoid income tax.

For months the measure had been debated, protested by witches and mocked by the media.

On Saturday, a witch called Bratara told Realitate.net, the website of a top TV station, that she plans to cast a spell using black pepper and yeast to create discord in the government.

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German thief deposits loot with victim

Three days after stealing a rare collection of coins, a thief in Germany took them to the bank for safe keeping - and delivered them into the hands of the man he had robbed.

"I don't think the thief was expecting that," said a spokesman for police in the western city of Dortmund.

Soon after the thief made the deposit, a bank worker handling the coins recognised them as the set worth some 50,000 euros (41,000 pounds) that had been stolen from his house.

Police tracked down the 36-year-old suspect and arrested him, securing a haul of other stolen goods in the process.

Taken from: uk.Reuters

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Tourists miss isle after GPS blunder

Two Swedes expecting the golden beaches of the Italian island of Capri got a shock when tourist officials told them they were 650 km (400 miles) off course in the northern town of Carpi, after mistyping the name in their GPS.

"It's hard to understand how they managed it. I mean, Capri is an island," said Giovanni Medici, a spokesman for Carpi regional government, told Reuters Tuesday. "It's the first time something like this has happened."

The middle-aged couple, who were not identified, only discovered their error when they asked staff in the local tourist office Saturday how to drive to the island's famous "Blue Grotto."

"They were surprised, but not angry," Medici said. "They got back in the car and started driving south."

The picturesque island of Capri, famed as a romantic holiday destination, lies in the Gulf of Naples in southern Italy and has been a resort since Roman times.

Carpi is a busy industrial town in the province of Emilia Romagna, at the other end of Italy.

Taken from: Reuters

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