To all, a very Happy New Year! We must remember that every new beginning has a spark that can be ignited and turned into something far more incredible than we ever believed possible.
For Mary who misses her beloved Patches so much, a beautiful story about love…
The smile that says rescued Mely the orangutan loves her new home.
Three months ago, she was in shackles, with a chain clamped around her neck and desperation in her eyes.
After being neglected and held captive for 15 years, Mely the orangutan struggled to walk, climb or feed herself. But what a difference 12 weeks – and the generosity of Daily Mail readers – makes.
Now, playing happily in her nest and eating fruit and leaves, the look on Mely’s face clearly shows she is enjoying every moment of her new life after being rescued from a riverside shack in Borneo.
‘Mely’s personality is so sweet I never would have guessed she came from such a horrific background. She always comes over to say hello, and she is incredibly gentle.
‘Mely got to do so many things for the first time here, like touch the hand of another orangutan, climb higher than one metre off the ground, and sleep in a bed of leaves.’
New beginnings. Hope for a joyous year. H/T Nom
Beauty contest for goats begins in Saudi Arabia.
Riyadh-A beauty competition for goats began on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia, as part of an auction bringing together traders and herders in the holy Muslim city of Mecca.
Auction supervisor Fawzi al-Subhi said that over 170 animals are competing for the coveted title ‘most beautiful goat.’ He expects the winner to be sold for at least 18,000 dollars.
According to al-Shams newspaper, the four-legged contestants are purebred Hijazi goats, a distinct breed named after the province in which Mecca is located.
Pastoralists and their flocks still roam the Hijaz region and other parts of the oil-rich Arabian kingdom.
So they say.
H/T WZ
What do you think?
Lone Police Officer in Mexican Border Town Remains Missing.
The lone police officer in the Mexican border village of Guadalupe remained missing on Tuesday, five days after reportedly being abducted by gunmen who stormed her home.
Erika Gandara, 28, was the Mexican village’s entire police force in the farming communities in the valley of Juarez, the El Paso Times reports.
A spokesman for the Chihuahua state attorney general’s office told the newspaper on Monday that authorities were aware of the incident involving Gandara, but there was still no official report of the kidnapping. Arturo Sandoval, a spokesman for prosecutors in northern Chihuahua state, said a search has begun for Gandara, who hasn’t been since seen Dec. 23.
Sandoval said Tuesday that the search started as a missing-person case.
Especially, not one from someone that could have been his grandmother.
Kevin Funderburk, a 25-year-old degenerate, decided he was badly in need of a woman. But he was unable to obtain one by the usual means — a problem common to the degenerate species. So he knocked on a 71-year-old woman’s door, claiming to be homeless with nowhere to go…
What ensues next what nothing short of typical creep behavior. The lady of the house was not going to have any of that.
Let’s just say that the little punk took a nasty ass whupping.
Details.
“When we arrived, he was unconscious and lying in his own vomit in the back of the house,” Moore said. “He was in the hospital in Wichita over the weekend and they stapled his scalp.”
As you can well imagine, Kevin might think twice about ever trying this stunt on any woman again. Let alone a wiser, and older woman.
The woman, whose name has not been revealed, called the police. What police found when they got there was an unconscious Funderburk lying in his own vomit in the back of the house.
According to reports the feisty woman was injured, but there are no details as to the extent of her injuries.
Funderburk was jailed on $55,200 bond on suspicion of attempted rape, aggravated battery, criminal restraint and criminal damage to property.
Just in case you are wondering what caused all the damage? The weapon of choice was a heavy culinary instrument known as a frying pan.
Oh, Kevin is no saint because he has done this before. Come to my house turd, and see what a pack of dogs does to that mug of yours. There won’t be any breeding parts left to create another one of you.
Merry Christmas to all. I am blessed because you come over to chat. I know, I know…we don’t always agree…and? I learn from you, you teach me to look at another perspective. It is another vantage point. Thank you for making me laugh as well. For that, words cannot express how grateful I am to you.
No matter where you are or who you are, have a very Merry Christmas.
The Aleutian Islands are an arc of of volcanic islands that connect the continents of North America and Asia. This windswept, barren environment is almost devoid of trees, yet one the Aleutians claims to be home to a US National Forest, albeit the smallest country, and one that is yet to be officially recognized by the Department of the Interior. Adak National Forest consists of exactly 33 pine trees, huddled together and out of place in the vast treeless landscape.
It is in fact unnatural, the remnant of an unsuccessful army experiment. During WWII the Japanese Imperial Army occupied the two westernmost Aleutian Islands. In order to boost defenses, the US military decided to build an airbase at Adak. At the height of operations it was home to over 6,000 American servicemen, who suffered through miserable weather of almost constant snow, sleet, rain, fog and mud.
Army General Buckner thought that planting some Christmas trees might cheer up his troops. A formal tree planting program was undertaken from 1943 through 1945. Unfortunately, even the most sturdy pines couldn’t withstand the harsh Aleutian climate. At one point, there was only a single tree left. It was at this time that the sign that reads “You are now ENTERING and LEAVING The ADAK NATIONAL FOREST” was placed here on a whim by soldiers in the early 1960s.
However, fifty years later, either by some freak twist of micro-climate, or through human intervention some thirty three pine trees have managed to survive the harsh climate forming a very small forest. The two large surviving groves are located in the sheltered ravines of Nurse Creek and Hospital Creek.
Apparently the fact that the trees were originally planted for Christmas has not been not totally forgotten by the local Aleutians, who decorate the whole forest every December.
via Adak “National Forest” located in Adak Island, Adak Airport, Alaska, US. H/T to IOTW who seem to find these gems.
