These two little female Tayras were born on 8 August at the Prague Zoo and are being successfully raised by their parents. Tayra babies are very rare. There are only three zoos in Europe who can actually breed this species. These babies are the second in the CZ; in 2011 the Prague Zoo bred them for the very first time in the history of Czech zoos — via ZooBorns
Rarity Unicorn might find dress making easy, but it sure wasn’t easy for me making an automaton of her making a dress. And Opalescence just happily snoozing down there didn’t provide much motivation for me at all! But if the third time’s a charm, this fourth piece in my pony automaton series is simply charming and that’s not just out of my preference for Rarity but simply because she’s the best pony. Did I mention that Rarity is best pony? — via YouTube
Prestashop is arguably the #1 open-source e-Commerce solution on the web. It offers countless features, add-ons, and themes, but its lack of good documentation has given newcomers the perception that it’s unapproachable. In this article, I’ll walk you through the process of building your own custom theme, as well as creating and customizing Prestashop modules.
Prestashop runs on PHP and mySQL, and relies on the Smarty engine for its Templates
(pages). Don’t worry, if you’re not familiar with Smarty. You basically use it to create pages with placeholder sections, and Prestashop fills in the info when the page loads. It’s easy to transition to, if you’ve used something like Handlebars or Underscore templates — via Nettuts+
Elegant Rainbow Skink (Hoskin CJ / Couper PJ /James Cook University)
Australian biologists have discovered two new species of lizards — the Elegant Rainbow Skink (Carlia decora) and the Orange-flanked Rainbow Skink (Carlia rubigo).
Both species are small skinks belonging to the genus Carlia, a diverse group of skinks in tropical Australia,
said Dr Conrad Hoskin of the James Cook University’s School of Marine and Tropical Biology, co-author of a paper reporting the discovery in the journal Zootaxa.
The species names are in reference to the bright colors sported by breeding males of each species; ‘decora’ means ‘beautiful’ in Latin, with males of that species marked with vivid orange and blue, while ‘rubigo’ translates to ‘rust’, referring to the rusty orange color of males of that species
— via redwolf.newsvine.com
Following up on earlier theoretical predictions, MIT researchers have now demonstrated experimentally the existence of a fundamentally new kind of magnetic behaviour, adding to the two previously known states of magnetism.
Ferromagnetism — the simple magnetism of a bar magnet or compass needle — has been known for centuries. In a second type of magnetism, antiferromagnetism, the magnetic fields of the ions within a metal or alloy cancel each other out. In both cases, the materials become magnetic only when cooled below a certain critical temperature. The prediction and discovery of antiferromagnetism — the basis for the read heads in today’s computer hard disks — won Nobel Prizes in physics for Louis Neel in 1970 and for MIT professor emeritus Clifford Shull in 1994.
We’re showing that there is a third fundamental state for magnetism,
says MIT professor of physics Young Lee. The experimental work showing the existence of this new state, called a quantum spin liquid (QSL), is reported this week in the journal Nature, with Lee as the senior author and Tianheng Han, who earned his PhD in physics at MIT earlier this year, as lead author.
The QSL is a solid crystal, but its magnetic state is described as liquid: Unlike the other two kinds of magnetism, the magnetic orientations of the individual particles within it fluctuate constantly, resembling the constant motion of molecules within a true liquid — via redwolf.newsvine.com
In the mid-1980s, journalist Joel Sappell and a colleague began a five-year examination of the Church of Scientology that would ultimately produce a 24-article series. It would also change Sappell’s life in ways both mystifying? and unnerving. Decades later the one-time investigative reporter investigates what happened to him — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Two White Rhinoceros calves — one male and one female — were born just two days apart at the Knowsley Safari Park. On 7 November, female Piglet delivered baby Njiri and on 9 November, baby Thabo was born to 18-year-old Winnie. Both calves were sired by 18-year-old bull Shako. Piglet and Winnie were pregnant for 16 months — via ZooBorns
So your girlfriend likes knitting things and x-mas is coming soon? Making her a beautiful bamboo yarn bowl that keeps the yarn from getting entangled and unrolls the yarn would be a nice option — via instructables.com
Custom action figure maker Popsfartberger is making sure our childhood toy dreams come true one character at a time. He’s on a quest to create an action figure for all the iconic movie characters that have been neglected and while each figure sports a pretty hefty price tag cinephiles are sure to shell out the big bucks for a miniature version of their favourite movie hero — via Neatorama
Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare has announced a root and branch
overhaul of Customs after eight people were charged in connection to an alleged drug ring working out of Sydney airport.
A joint investigation by ABC’s 7.30 and Fairfax has revealed that a cell of suspected corrupt Customs officers has allegedly helped smuggle drugs through Australia’s biggest airport.
This morning Mr Clare announced that eight people, including two Customs employees and a quarantine officer, had been arrested and charged over the importation of drugs following a secret two-year investigation into corruption — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Two 14-week-old Clouded Leopard cubs, Riki-san and Haui-san, were spotted pouncing, climbing and using each other as trampolines in the San Diego Zoo‘s Children’s Zoo nursery. The cubs arrived earlier this week from the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere, where a very successful breeding program has helped to increase the population of this critically endangered species — via ZooBorns
Name: Mako. Blade Length: 4 1/4″. OAL: 9 5/16″. Blade Material: 5160/1075 Ladder Pattern Welded Steel. Handle Material: Green Dyed and Stabilised Brain Coral. Price: $350. Similar available — via deviantART
The pitter patter of little paws can be heard at Denver Zoo‘s Predator Ridge exhibit with the arrival of three Lion cubs from the Royal Family of Qatar. The trio, made up of males, Tsavo and Enzi, and female, Sabi, were born 24 June 2012 and will likely only live at Denver Zoo temporarily until permanent homes are determined — via ZooBorns
The jaws are pinching a .06ct medium-blue natural sapphire. Overall, the profile is low to be comfortable, not too wide and not heavy, but sturdy. This ring is made in sterling silver — via Etsy
A German privacy regulator ordered Facebook to stop enforcing its real name policy because it violates a German law that gives users the right to use nicknames online.
Facebook refused to permit the use of pseudonyms on its platform as required by the German Telemedia Act, Thilo Weichert, privacy commissioner and head of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ULD) Schleswig-Holstein said on Monday. The ULD issued a decree forcing Facebook to start allowing pseudonyms immediately, he said.
This decree is binding,
said Weichert, who added that it is unacceptable that a US portal like Facebook keeps violating German data protection law. To ensure users’ rights and comply with data protection law in general, the real name obligation must be immediately abandoned by Facebook, the ULD said.
The orders were issued on Friday against Facebook USA and Facebook Ireland, which is responsible for all Facebook’s activities outside of the US and Canada — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Watch out, Rupert Murdoch. The Guardian, which has led the way exposing the phone-hacking scandal in the Murdoch empire, is expanding in his own backyard, with a Guardian Australia news operation.
Glamorous deputy editor Katherine Viner, seen as a frontrunner to succeed editor Alan Rusbridger, is set to go to Oz to lead the team — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Wal-Mart longed to build in Elda Pineda’s alfalfa field. It was an ideal location, just off this town’s bustling main entrance and barely a mile from its ancient pyramids, which draw tourists from around the world. With its usual precision, Wal-Mart calculated it would attract 250 customers an hour if only it could put a store in Mrs Pineda’s field.
One major obstacle stood in Wal-Mart’s way.
After years of study, the town’s elected leaders had just approved a new zoning map. The leaders wanted to limit growth near the pyramids, and they considered the town’s main entrance too congested already. As a result, the 2003 zoning map prohibited commercial development on Mrs Pineda’s field, seemingly dooming Wal-Mart’s hopes.
But 30 miles away in Mexico City, at the headquarters of Wal-Mart de Mexico, executives were not about to be thwarted by an unfavourable zoning decision. Instead, records and interviews show, they decided to undo the damage with one well-placed $52,000 bribe.
The plan was simple. The zoning map would not become law until it was published in a government newspaper. So Wal-Mart de Mexico arranged to bribe an official to change the map before it was sent to the newspaper, records and interviews show. Sure enough, when the map was published, the zoning for Mrs Pineda’s field was redrawn to allow Wal-Mart’s store.
Problem solved — via redwolf.newsvine.com
An encrypted World War II message found in a fire place strapped to the remains of a dead carrier pigeon may have been cracked by a Canadian enthusiast.
Gord Young, from Peterborough, in Ontario, says it took him 17 minutes to decypher the message after realising a code book he inherited was the key.
Mr Young says the 1944 note uses a simple World War I code to detail German troop positions in Normandy.
GCHQ says it would be interested to see his findings — via redwolf.newsvine.com
When you start questioning the copyright monopoly, many middlemen and other has-beens start acting offended — as if you have somehow questioned a natural birthright. Nothing is farther from the truth.
The copyright monopoly is not a natural right. It is a government-sanctioned private monopoly, granted under the assumption that no culture would get created if there’s not a profit motive behind it, and that this profit motive can only be realised in a monopolised setting.
Yet, when you question this assumption and this monopoly, some people react with unmitigated angry and fury — as though you have questioned their very right to life. This is puzzling, and it indicates a lack of understanding of what the monopoly is and why it exists.
(People who like liberal capitalism should baulk at government-sanctioned monopoly
. People who lean towards labour values should baulk at private monopoly
. Still, it’s factually true) — via redwolf.newsvine.com
A team of Queensland researchers has found a unique way to help people living with dementia stay in contact with their friends and family.
More and more Australians are being diagnosed with dementia, and for many it can be a very lonely life, particularly if their relatives cannot visit them regularly.
In response the researchers have created a mobile robot with an inbuilt camera, which can be used to set up video calls between people with dementia and their loved ones.
Professor Wendy Moyle from the Dementia Collaborative Research Centre says the giraffe-shaped robot, named Gerry, is designed to facilitate video calls and has been described as Skype on wheels
— via redwolf.newsvine.com
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