Internet-Age innovator Google is taking advantage of an old-time principle to thwart wildfires: goats that will eat almost anything.
Google has brought in about 200 of the grazers to munch fields around its campus in the Northern California city of Mountain View.
California is prone to wild fires as grasses and brush that thrive during the state's brief rainy season turn ominously sere and flammable during parched months. Firefighters consistently advise people to clear brush to create buffer zones bereft of fuel for spreading flames.
"We have some fields that we need to mow occasionally to clear weeds and brush to reduce fire hazard," Google director of real estate and workplace services Dan Hoffman wrote in the company's official blog.
"Instead of using noisy mowers that run on gasoline and pollute the air, we've rented some goats... to do the job for us. They spend roughly a week with us at Google, eating the grass and fertilizing at the same time," Mr Hoffman wrote. "It costs us about the same as mowing, and goats are a lot cuter to watch than lawn mowers." (AFP)
Multi-lingual beggars
Beggars in the Indian capital are eyeing a windfall from tourists during next year's Commonwealth Games and some are learning to ask for alms in foreign languages.
"More than 100,000 foreigners will be in the city during the period," Vijay Babli, reported by Hindustan Times as the leader of over 1,200 beggar families in New Delhi's Rohini's Lal Quarter, told the paper.
"Even if one beggar earns 150-200 rupees per day ($2.50), you can understand the turnover for us," he added.
The multi-sports event is scheduled to be held in October 2010.
An informal academy had been set up in the colony and children are given coaching to beg in foreign languages. Bright children are taught how to say phrases like, 'I am an orphan, I have not eaten for days, I am ill, have no money for medicine, please help me in the name of God'. (Reuters)
Dead women found in London hotel
British police said yesterday they had evacuated a London hotel after the bodies of two women were found inside in what firefighters said was a "chemical incident".
Officers were called to the Costello Palace Hotel in the Finsbury area of north London yesterday morning after the two bodies were discovered.
Firefighters were also called to the hotel and were treating it as a "chemical incident".
A police source said it was believed the incident was a possible suicide involving a noxious substance and there was not thought to be any wider risk to the public. (Reuters)
YouTube 'acts' as midwife
A British man helped deliver his baby son by following clips on YouTube, after his wife went into labour early.
Marc Stephens, a 28-year-old engineer with the Royal Navy, was caught out when his wife Jo went into labour three weeks prematurely at their home in Redruth, southwest England.
He typed "how to deliver a baby" into the Google search engine.
"I didn't even have time to panic. She started complaining of pain around 10.30 pm. I went on Google and watched a couple of clips on YouTube," he said.
After helping her give birth, he rounded up daughters Jasmine, two, Sophie, five and Zoe, six, and the family went by ambulance to the Royal Cornwall Hospital in nearby Truro. Within hours they were back at home, where Mr Stephens was caring for his wife and children, including new-born son Gabriel. (AFP)
Flu fears alter University life
Northeastern University in Boston dropped the traditional handshake for graduating students accepting diplomas, while Cisco Junior College in Texas cancelled its commencement ceremonies altogether.
Fears of the H1N1 flu strain are altering American campus life in dramatic ways after a dozen universities reported probable or confirmed cases of the virus that has killed up to 176 people in Mexico and one in the United States.
School officials say there is good reason for their concern - from the hectic travel schedules of academics who could transport the swine flu virus, to the ever-present risk in densely populated residence halls of flu spreading like wildfire. (Reuters)