Twittering sparrows are actually swapping insults
London: The twittering of sparrows can be uplifting for those who are feeling low, but mind you, the birds are actually swapping insults.
Their cheerful sounds have a lot of similarities with rappers’ profane bragging and is all about impressing females and proving their masculinity.
Their ‘singing’ performances become louder and more aggressive in a bid to outdo rivals, says a study conducted by Canadian researchers, the journal Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology reports.
Janet Lapierre, from the University of Western Ontario, who led the study, said song-sharing, which involves males singing only their ‘greatest hits,’ is “an aggressive behaviour akin to flinging insults back and forth,” according to the Daily Mail.
Sparrows living in more competitive environments are more likely to perform aggressively. This was like trying harder to prove themselves in a tough neighbourhood, said the researchers.
Those living in less competitive environments are more likely to sing their own songs rather than compete with other males by singing the same songs as them, the study added. (IANS)
Road sign mocks Chinese police
Beijing: An English translation of a road sign in China made the police a laughing stock.
The police in Shangrao, a city in Jiangxi province, wanted to say “Call police if you have any trouble”, but the road sign in English actually said: “Difficult to find police.”
A snapshot was posted on Weibo.com and it attracted hundreds of comments, reported Shanghai Daily citing the Modern Express.
Some were of the opinion that the translation was actually true since police are hard to find when needed.
The translation was subsequently corrected. (IANS)
British boy hangs himself after watching movie
London: An eight-year-old British boy hanged himself after he saw “ritualistic suicide” scenes in a samurai movie, a media report said.
Lewis McGlynn was watching the Tom Cruise-starrer The Last Samurai, after which his father discovered him hanging from his bedroom door, the Daily Mail reported.
His family tried to resuscitate him but he was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly afterwards.
An investigation found out that Lewis had a large number of movie DVDs in his room that belonged to his older brother, but his parents did not stop him from watching them.
He also had a habit of playing out scenes in films, the probe found.
Lewis was found unconscious at his home in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, in January by his father.
His mother told a court that hours before his death Lewis had found a rope that was used to tie a snowman Christmas decoration. He used it as a whip pretending to be movie character “Indiana Jones”.
His father said The Last Samurai was playing on his son’s television when he found him. The 2003 film contains gory samurai customs including seppuku, a suicide ritual by disembowelment. In one scene a man stabs himself in the stomach with a knife before he is beheaded by another man. (IANS)
BBC presenter dies after taking party drug
London: A 53-year-old award-winning radio presenter and music composer for BBC died of a heart attack after taking an illegal party drug called “Meow Meow”, a media report said.
George Webley was found struggling for breath at his home by his wife. He suffered a massive heart attack and was pronounced dead when paramedics arrived, the Daily Mail reported.
Webley had a history of heart trouble but the autopsy report revealed the death was caused by the banned drug.
The drug was outlawed in April 2010 after it was linked with a series of deaths.
Webley was a guitarist and pianist as a teenager who played in bands before moving to the London recording scene. He also worked on advertising jingles.
In the 1990s, he became a leading composer of television theme tunes.
Webley began a radio career in the mid-1990s and in 2002 won a gold Sony Award for best music presenter for his show on BBC Three Counties Radio, which covers Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire.
In 2006, he moved to BBC London 94.9 and hosted a popular late night show. (IANS)
Woman still can’t reconcile to fall of Berlin Wall
Berlin: Brigitte Heinrich, a teacher in east Berlin, witnessed the beginning of the Berlin Wall Aug 13, 1961. Fifty years later, the former East German resident still doesn’t communicate with whom she calls “Western” Germans.
The concrete wall on the border between eastern and western Berlin lasted from 1961 to 1989.
“There are a lot of sociable western Germans. Once I spoke to a delegation whose members were asking a lot of questions, they were really interested. However, there are a lot of other people who don’t want to have any contact with us at all,” Heinrich said.
Heinrich was born and grew up in Klein-Glienicke on the outskirts of Berlin.
The area was closed off by the wall, beyond which lay West Berlin.
Entry was possible only via gates in the Berlin Wall or via the Glienicke Bridge, the scene of many famous spy-swaps between East and West.
“Construction of the wall really started back in 1949 when the GDR (East Germany) was established. The border line was drawn already at this time. We shouldn’t have crossed the demarcation line but actually we could reach West Berlin from any point. Then the barbed wire was stretched out in 1961,” Heinrich said.
“We lived right near the lake, my father and I had often visited relatives who lived on Pheasant Island. It was forbidden to keep a boat when the wall was built. Our arbor near the lake and clothes lines were moved away, our storehouse was demolished which was terrible for one who had been living here for 20 years,” Heinrich recalls.
Visitors could only enter Klein-Glienicke with special identity documents or local registration. Heinrich had to go a long way around to reach the centre of the city where she studied.
“I came home late in the evening and woke up very early. I never got to the university on time,” Heinrich said with a smile.
The wall was not entirely successful in keeping the inhabitants of Klein-Glienicke inside. A tunnel was dug in a house in the area and one of Heinrich’s students crossed the border by simply leaning a ladder against the wall. (IANS)
Military video game to be commercialised
Beijing: People will be able to play from next year a combat video game developed by China’s military, a media report said.
The online combat game has been developed to train soldiers and it will become available to the public in 2012, its developer said.
Wuxi Giant Interactive Group said they had got authorisation from the People’s Liberation Army to commercialise the game, Shanghai Daily cited the PLA Daily as reporting.
The video game began to be used as a training tool for Chinese soldiers and officers in June. (IANS)