Weird things you have read about. Page 40
That is impressive.
Bloody Strongbow idiots'll have someone's eye out!
Quote: DaButt @ December 20 2008, 12:15 AM GMTMy parents visited several European cities about a decade ago and they compiled a ranking system based on the amount of dog poop on the streets. London came out on top of the pile (pun intended) while Rome had the most poop. Paris was close behind.
When I was growing up in the 1980s, there would always be dog shit on the streets. Back then, it would be left so long, that it would go hard and white. One time I was breakdancing on the grass opposite my house, and I got some all over my clothes, as I was doing a "windmill". Another thing that I remember in the 1980s was packs of dogs roaming the streets. I remember my mum telling me not to look them in the eye, because they considered that to be a threat.
Common sense would have been to check for any such mess before getting down on the ground in any way whatsoever. 
Quote: Aaron @ December 21 2008, 6:58 PM GMTCommon sense would have been to check for any such mess before getting down on the ground in any way whatsoever.
Common sense would have been not to breakdance in the street for fear of getting beat up.
Quote: Ned1984 @ December 21 2008, 10:13 PM GMTCommon sense would have been not to breakdance in the street for fear of getting beat up.
You obviousy didn't grow up in the 1980s.
Quote: catskillz @ December 21 2008, 10:47 PM GMTYou obviousy didn't grow up in the 1980s.
I did, well kind of. I spent my first 6 years in the 1980s but I guess nothing is different in your first 6 years no matter what decade you grow up in. You are always going to eat things you shouldn't, pick things up that would now make you barf and soil yourself on occasion.
Quote: Ned1984 @ December 21 2008, 10:13 PM GMTCommon sense would have been not to breakdance in the street for fear of getting beat up.
Octopuses give eight thumbs up for high-def TV
Sharing a movie with an insensitive eight-armed animal may not be every woman's perfect date.
Renata Pronk did it for science, and made two significant discoveries.
Her unsettling news for Christmas revellers preparing to tuck into seafood platters is that octopuses can watch television and understand at least some of what they see. Discriminating viewers, however, they enjoy only high-definition programs.
In a second finding, the Macquarie University marine biology researcher resolved a long scientific debate, discovering that octopuses, despite their intelligence, lack individual personalities.
"Octopuses," Miss Pronk said, "are very smart. I have seen my octopuses open Vegemite jars by unscrewing the lid. They can find their way through mazes to reach food rewards at the end.
"And they can learn simple puzzles", recognising that symbols, such as squares or circles, mean food is available.
"The definition of personality," she said, "is having repetition in your responses, for example, being consistently bold, or consistently shy, or consistently aggressive."
To resolve the debate she collected 32 common Sydney, or gloomy, octopuses from Chowder Bay, near Mosman, and showed them a series of three-minute videos screened on a monitor in front of their tank.
One video featured a crab, an octopus delicacy.
A second starred another octopus, while a third had a "novel object" they would not have seen: a plastic bottle swinging on a string.
Miss Pronk then watched each octopus for any consistent response pattern, such as boldness or aggression.
When the crab movie was screened "they jetted straight over to the monitor and tried to attack it", she said, adding that was strong evidence they knew they were watching food.
When the octopus movie was screened some became aggressive while others changed their skin camouflage or "would go and hide in a corner, moving as far away as possible".
On viewing the swinging bottle, some puffed themselves up, just in case the object was a threat, while others paid no attention.
But significantly, when the experiment was repeated over several days, she found no consistent response from any octopus. Such random responses implied octopuses have no individual personalities.
She suspected previous efforts to show movies to octopuses failed because their sophisticated eyes were too fast for the 24-frame per second format of standard-definition video.
"They would have seen it as a series of still pictures," said Miss Pronk, who had success using high-definition, operating at 50 frames per second.
She confessed that her work made it difficult to dine on octopus. "I know how smart they are. They are beautiful animals."
Awwwwww!
! Awww!
