CE 22-25

CE 22: Scotland plans circus animal ban
"Animal groups are urging the Scottish Executive to include all wild animals in a ban which would prevent them [from] performing in circuses."

Basically, the Rural Affairs Minister has said that there will soon be an executive movement to exclude certain animals from being allowed to perform. The decision on what animals will actually be included will be left to the public to decide, but ultimately, it is for the animals' welfare and safety. "The ban would be secondary to provisions made in the Animal Health and Welfare Bill."

There are already certain animals that are banned from performing in travelling circuses in England & Wales. A spokesperson for the "The Born Free Foundation" is pleased by this movement because he believes that the frequent traveleing will deprieve the animals from receiving the proper treatment.


CE 23: Nurse murdered 'to satisfy lust'
"A nurse accused of murder denied he used his patients to "satisfy his lust for excitement", a court has heard."

Before actually starting this, the nurse, Benjamin Green is only 25 years old and is being charged with two accounts of murder and 18 counts of GBH (grievous bodily harm). Honestly, my first thought was if he had a lust for excitement, why didn't he just go sky diving? Maybe jumping out of a plane isn't exciting enough? Then he should go hunting, I hear that's exciting.

"In the cross-examination prosecuter Michael Austin-Smith, QC, referred to the case of 77-year-old David Nelson, who was admitted to the hospital with heart trouble but suddenly stopped breathing after appartently being injected by Mr. Green."

"I just panicked. I realized I should not have that syringe on me." --Benjamin Green

Hmm... getting caught in the act with a filled syringe in his pocket?

The trial is still going, but seriously? Come on people.
The only thing he's got going for him is that he's not weird looking.


CE 24: EU Adopts shoe dumping penalties
"The EU has finally adopted duties on shoe imports from China and Vietman in a dispute over alleged dumping of cheap footwear."

Basically, they are trying to correct the damage that the Chinese and Vietnamese shoes have caused because they are so cheap. Because the prices are so low, other companies in other countries, such as in Italty and Portugal are being badly hurt.

"We do not target China and Vietnam's natural competitive advantages, only unfair distortions of trade."

China urges that the EU reconsider because they consider the duties to be unfair. They say that there is no evidence of dumping.

The tariffs will add £1 to the average import price of the footwear of about £6.


CE 25: Greedy wife gets life for murder
"A former prostitute who murdered her elderly husband after finding he was not wealthy has been jailed for life."

She admitted to stabbing him, but said that it was an accident. In reality, she was trying kill herself after having found out that the man she had married was in fact, not the millionarie she was after.

But there is another side to this story. In 2002, she was raped and forced into prostitution. At at London brothel, "she set out to snare Mr. Edwards, who hinted he was a multi-millionaire, the trial was told." Once married, she demanded clothes, cash, and other numerous luxuries. Gwyn Edwards was stabbed to death with a kitchen knife.

No matter how bad her life was, that is no reason to kill a 72 year old man who treated her well until she murdered him.

Impressionist: Edgar Degas

Born on July 19, 1834, Edgar Degas came to be one of the most well-known painters and sculptors of his time. Born Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas, he was the oldest of five children. Degas's father, encouraged his artistic ability and sent him to receive a classical education at the Lycee Louis-le-Grand from 1845 to 1852.

In 1852, what once was a family room, became a studios and under the tutelage of Felix Joseph Barrias, began to focus more on his artwork. In 1855, Degas began to study at the École des Beaux-Arts under Louis Lamothe. Although informative, he found the courses there far too restricting and preferred independent study in the classical tradition. 1859, he opened a studio in Paris and painted portraits and historial subjects. The reasoning for this being that these subjects were what were selling in the market. But, after seven years, in 1866, Degas abandoned the historical genre for many reasons. One was that after meeting Manet, he was introduced and became fond of Manet's style of painting depictions of modern life rather than traditional history or religion.

From the early 1870's until the 1880's, Degas lived in Paris and opened a studio where he concentrated on the themes of modern life, such as dancers, singers, and female nudes. In the 1880's, because his eyesight was beginning to fail, he shifted genres. Instead of painting, he turned his attention to sculpture and pastels, which consequently did not require the artist to have acute eyesight.


In 1908, Degas gave up on art completely and became somewhat of a recluse. He was evicted from his home and although a new studio was found for him to reside in, he never settled there. He instead wandered the streets.
Degas died in Paris on September 27, 1917, leaving behind an entire art studeo filled with art and sculptures that were cast in bronze. He is buried in the Cimetière de Montmartre in Paris, France. He left behind more than 2000 oil paintings and pastels and 150 sculptures.

Degas is especially known for his depiction of ballet dancers and other women. Although he is considered to mainly be a impressionist, some of the works that he has created have classical and realist styles within them.

CE 21: 30 Million Year Old Spiders

Amber Reveals Ecology Of 30 Million Year Old Spiders

"Scientists at The University of Manchester and the Manchester Metropolitan University have carried out the first comparative scientific study of ancient spiders trapped in amber more than 30 millions years ago."

By studying fossilized spiders scientists are able to find things out about spiders dating back to the Cenozoic period. "This is the first time ancient spiders from different parts of the world have been compared on such a large scale." The reason that finding the spiders in amber is so important is that amber not only preserves the spiders themselves, but also parts and information about the area and environments in which they lived.

By studying a spiders from 30 million years ago, scientists are able to study their evolution from then until now, and are also able to possibly, with their comparison skills, predict what they will look like and act like in the future. Because there were 671 spiders compared in the study, they found that the web-spinning spiders found in the Baltic amber were much larger than those in the Dominican amber, but the hunting spiders showed no difference in size. The reasoning? Perhaps the fauna.

In finding the amber, scientists were also able to determine that the amber was "trapping the organisms uniformly."

CE 20: Shoppers can pay by fingerprint

Shoppers Can Pay by Fingerprint

"Suppermarket customers are being offereed the chance to pay for their shopping by using a fingerprint."

"Hello Jetsons, what would you like to purchase today?" Haha, that is the first thing that came to mind upon reading this headline. Three stores in the Oxford area are offering this technology. It is the first of it's kind in Europe. Being able to pay by fingerprint means that customers no longer have to carry around cash or even credit cards. The system is already in the United States and there are 2.5 million shoppers already signed up for it. The only problem with this method of payment is that it may not work for those who have actually worn down their fingerprints through their work. For example, builders, who work so often with their hands, will have slightly worn down their fingerprints. Also, surgeons might have the same problem because they have to wash their hands so often.

Katherine, sorry you can pay by fingerprint. =P

Another problem would be that the retailers might not want to pay for the technology to update their systems. But honestly? This type of technology will be all over the place and they will need to update sooner or later. So oh well!

CE 19: UK beef export ban lifted by EU

UK Beef export ban lifted by EU

Drumroll please, the beef shall be back soon enough folks. Six weeks from March 8th, the ban on being able to export live animals, beef and beef exports will be lifed in about six weeks. The National Farmer's Union is extremely happy to hear this news because over the time that the ban was actually in place, they lost out on the trade of around £675m a year; that is around 1.1751075 billion dollars. Now, multiply that the ten years that this ban has been in place and you have a rather large number on your hands.

I don't know about you but that is definintely a lot of money to lose out on, especially if you are a farmer. The average salary of a farmer, whether it be a vegetable or live stock one, is significantly less than that of everyone else.

"The lifting means that live animals born after 1 August, 1996, beef and beef products made from cattle slaughtered after 15 June 2005 will be able to be exported. The European Commission eased the original ban on 1 August 1999 to allow exports of boneless British beef products from animals aged between six and 30 months to recommence."

Although the ban on exporting beef will be lifted, scientists still suggest that the live cattle remain banned. Environment minister, Margaret Beckett believes that because the British farmers produce high quality beef, the demand will come back once the ban is lifted.

The National Farmers' Union says that the news of the ban being lifted is "the most positive news for the British feef industry in a decade."

CE 18: Make-up offence!

CE 18 - Make-up offence!

HA HA! Too bad Donna Marie Maddock. She was fined £200 (347.72 U.S. dollars) after admitting to careless driving. Actually, she was banned from the road last week for drunk-driving. She was driving with eyeliner in one hand and a compact in the other.
"Magistrates hear that it was an Arrive Alive mobile anti-speeding van, equipped with a camera, that caught Maddock driving her Vauxhall Astra in Ala Road - the road out of Pwllheli towards Abersoch. "

This was actually an unusual case of the police to handle because, they are used to speeders, but she was going 32mph in a 40mph zone. So there was no speeding... but BOTH HANDS WERE OFF THE STEERING WHEEL! CRAZY!

At the time of the offense, she was already serving an 20-month driving ban.