Jessie

"Wolves in the northern Rockies are more than holding their own, even in the face of increasing hunting pressure in some states. As of December 31, 2014, there were at least at least 1,657 wolves in 282 packs (including 85 breeding pairs) in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which released its annual wolf recovery report this week. That represents a stable and robust population well above the recovery levels identified by in the wolf recovery plan, the USFWS explained in a press release, adding that wolves continue to press westward, with at least 145 wolves in 31 packs (including 13 breeding pairs) were estimated in Oregon and Washington." - Jessie

"Total confirmed depredations by wolves in 2014 included 140 cattle, 172 sheep, 4 dogs, 1 horse, and 1 donkey. Private and state agencies paid $274,885.90 in compensation for wolf-damage to livestock in 2014. And federal, State and Tribal agencies spent about $3,146,006.00 of federal funding for wolf management and research." - Jessie

"The Taipei City Government on Thursday rejected an application by a same-sex couple to sign up for a mass wedding held by the government, saying they did not conform to Civil Code regulations on marriage. The Department of Civil Affairs said the applicants, who go by the nicknames Ray and Hsiao Ting (小丁), do not conform to Civil Code requirements for marriage, as their national identification cards show them both to be female. Article 972 stipulates that an agreement to marry must be made between male and female parties of their own accord." - Jessie

"Taipei is planning a public wedding ceremony later in the year that would be open to all couples, irrespective of gender, in support of civil partnership, according to a statement released by the Office for Gender Equality. Department of Civil Affairs Director Lan Shih-tsung (藍世聰) explained that same-sex couples have been excluded from the mass wedding because there was not enough time to revise regulations that were made public a long time ago, and that Taipei is organizing two wedding events instead." - Jessie

"During the four-month program, the writers in this fellowship will benefit from career mentorship and editorial guidance while also receiving financial support. The learning process must be financially viable for emerging writers if it is intended to open the gates to writers traditionally locked out of opportunities in media. These writers will focus on personal essay writing, cultural reportage, and profiles. During their time in fellowship, writers will be expected to pitch, report, and write with the added benefit of writing workshops, panel discussions with editors and writers from throughout the industry, and assigned readings. Mentorship within the program will focus on teaching writers how to thrive as freelancers as well as on staff at media organizations; this mentorship will hopefully continue well after the fellowship itself is concluded. Ideal candidates for this program will have ambitious ideas and a proven desire to publish work that creates an impact on cultural conversations. The product of the fellowship will be published by BuzzFeed. The writers selected for the fellowship will work with BuzzFeed News’ senior editorial staff and be based in New York. Fellows will receive a stipend of $12,000." - Jessie

"Unusual animal friendships are always adorable, and this friendship between Rupert, a rescued wild fennec fox, and William, a big black cat at the International Primate Rescue shelter in South Africa, is no different. Volunteers at the shelter captured video footage of the two best friends being reunited after spending some time apart. Rupert was hand-raised since he was 4 weeks old with William at his side. Rupert’s clearly very excited to have his friend back at his side!" - Jessie

YAAAAY - Soup in a TARDIS

LOOK HOW HAPPY HE IS!!! - Jessie

"To the uninitiated, a ballerina’s life may seem like a frothy confection of princes, silky pink ribbons and countless curtain calls, all wrapped in tulle. The reality is quite different: hours of practice, day after day, year after year. Nowhere are the results of that effort more evident than at the New York City Ballet, the company founded in 1948 by George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein that is home to some of the best dancers in the world. The troupe, which opens its spring season this month with a festival of Balanchine’s famously stark Black & White ballets and a new staging of current ballet master-in-chief Peter Martins’s “La Sylphide,” counts 93 members in its ranks and hundreds more in its prestigious School of American Ballet. Here, a brief chassé through their world." - Jessie

" A judge has dismissed stalking and harassment charges filed against an ice cream truck operator who had been accused of trying to run his rival, Mr. Ding-A-Ling, out of their small New York town. Prosecutors in Fulton County say a judge in Gloversville dismissed the charges against Joshua Malatino this week. Malatino and a co-owner of their Snow Kone Joe ice cream truck business were charged in April 2013 after the driver of a Mr. Ding-a-Ling truck said the two had harassed and stalked him. Officials said Malatino had told the rival operator that he owned the ice cream business in Gloversville, a city of 15,000 located 40 miles northwest of Albany. Malatino said the case led him to be humiliated beyond his hometown because the case made news worldwide." - Jessie

Chuck Berry - Greg GuitarBuster

"The meeting is called to order. Jesus asks Romaine who he is and what he’s doing here. Romaine asks if this is the meeting for Creative. Jesus sayeth upon him no. That’s tomorrow." - Jessie

"'That was harder than Zumba,” says a new voice behind me, as I peel myself off the floor. I have never tried Zumba, but the news is satisfying. I have always enjoyed the notion that ballet is the most challenging of physical endeavours. “If you’re not in pain, you’re not doing it right,” laughs Elaine, a regular in this adult ballet class, clutching her lower back after an attempt at “attitude position”. Meanwhile our teacher, Lizzie, adjusts my hips, my face growing as pink as the walls. I’m used to being touched and pummeled like this, but tonight the class is punishing. We are in the old Courthouse in Penzance, home of the Lockwood-Urban Dance and Theatre School – probably the country’s most westerly temple to the terpsichorean arts. A sign on the door to the studio says “Court Room”, but there is no evidence inside of its judicial past. A wooden barre is attached to two walls. Large mirrors line two more. The only judgments made in this room are on the position of feet, heads and arms." - Jessie

Brian that's amazing! Did you stay with it the whole semester/quarter? I started adult ballet at 26 in a community education course. Depending on where I took classes, my classmates have ranged from 10-year-olds (Kaohsiung) to high school student expats (Beijing) to people in their 60's (Dallas). - Jessie

The Korean postdocs are really fascinated by American culture sometimes. - Jessie

Back when my hubby had a car, he kept everything but the kitchen sink in the trunk. Quite literally, a small kitchen, minus the sink. Toaster oven, double burner hot plate, cookware, dishes, utensils, and a small ice chest. And he used that stuff daily, to avoid eating from the unhealthy menu of nothing but deep fried greasy food, where he worked. - April Russo (FForever!)

"Tampa man Robert Abercrombie, aka Rob Venomous in his professional wrestling life, is going viral after posting video of his unusual tooth-pulling method. He used his Chevy Camaro. Abercrombie told FOX 13 on Wednesday morning that he was looking for a new way to pull his son's second tooth. Jason is 8 years old and was excited about the idea. The uneasy video starts with Abercrombie revving his engine in front his home before he hits the accelerator, pulling the tooth with ease. Robert said it all went smoothly." - Jessie

FLORIDA. - Jessie

I REALLY wish either the kid or the dad would have taken a big ol' Victory swig of Mountain Dew. Also, I think this kind of dental care is mandated by the state. - AHnix (Anna Haro)

I'm just glad he figured out D versus R on the gear shift. - Steve C, Team Marina

"Providence police say they found a large quantity of cocaine paste in some tomato cans hidden in the luggage of a 19-year-old woman. Maj. David Lapatin tells the Providence Journal the woman reported finding the three tomato cans in her luggage on March 23, after returning to South Providence from a weeklong trip to Costa Rica. She told police she did not pack the cans and began getting threatening calls after returning home from someone who wanted them. Police opened them and found the cocaine." - Jessie

o.O - COMPLICATED MR. NOODLE

"If anything, the evidence suggests that the state should spend a lot more on HIV prevention than its $192 million outlay from 2013, says Dr. John Carlo, CEO of AIDS Arms. "You pay a dollar now, you save two dollars in the future," Carlo says. But if the Texas Legislature based its decisions on evidence, then it wouldn't be the Texas Legislature. Rather than increase the $191.4 million in HIV/AIDS prevention proposed for each of the two years covered by the 2016-17 biennial budget, The Texas House actually voted to cut HIV prevention funding by $3 million in the preliminary, two-year budget it passed in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. The money will instead be used to fund abstinence education, which is lovely in theory but, as a mountain of evidence shows, has yet to convince teenagers to stop having sex." - Jessie

^^^ exactly what Joe said. Even recently there have been several stories about Republican mismanagement without even touching their radical agenda, eg. Patrick says the state hasn't been maintaining public buildings and an Abbott appointed panel rips the Health and Human Services leadership...so who was in charge of those agencies for the past 20 years. - Greg GuitarBuster

"A wrongly colored deer mosaic erected by Nantou County to honor Thao Aborigines has sparked criticism, as the Thao’s founding myth has their guardian as a white deer, instead of the black deer mounted on the installation. However, the county government said that it did not undertake the construction until the Thao community had reviewed the draft design, and the error might be attributed to flaws in the review process. Following an inspection on Tuesday, the government said that it would carry out remedial work — either repainting the deer in white or reconstructing the mosaic based on a corrected draft approved by the Thao people. The contractor is to be held accountable for any expenses incurred during the reconstruction, county government officials said." - Jessie

"The draft design was passed by a Thao community committee before being finalized by the county government, he said. However, the completed mosaic features a black deer instead of a white deer, he said. The members of the committee might have overlooked the mistake in the draft due to old age, and they felt sorry for the neglect, he said. In addition to the recoloring, lettering reading “Tapina” — the prominent Thao community where the mosaic is located — should be added to the existing lettering of “Ita Thao” — meaning “we are human” in the Thao language — to boost the community’s visibility, Shih said. Composed of colored pebbles, the mosaic is mounted on a retaining wall along a slope on the Tapina section of Highway No. 21." - Jessie

"“How did you learn to do all this?!” The ancient Spider-Goddess Llorothaag came to me in a harrowing blood-soaked vision. In exchange for perpetual servitude as her handmaiden, she imparted knowledge of IP subnetting." - Jessie

"“See, that’s the great thing about you, I know I can tell ‘offensive’ jokes around you and you won’t care.” It’s less that I don’t care, and more that I’m keeping up a stoic facade to conceal my elaborate plan for revenge. This plan begins with making fun of you on the Internet." - Soup in a TARDIS

"MONK #1: what usually rides horses like people or– MONK #2: fire" - Jessie

"The National Air and Space Museum has taken 12-year-old humor and done with it what most kids can only aspire to. Yes, they really had someone up on an industrial lift mime cleaning Wonder Woman’s invisible jet and talked about the process of putting it on display. I had myself convinced I’d never use the word “adorkable” to describe something, and then I saw this. They also put out an entire news post about it on their blog with quotes like, “The Museum of Flight had acquired the plane with help from Lieutenant Diana Prince in April 2013. Since then, our curator Bob van der Linden wanted very much to display the plane at the Museum in Washington, DC.”" - Jessie

*dead* at the video of the guy cleaning the invisible jet. - Jessie

His rainbow Mr. Fluffy in the air. =) - Anika

#sillyday - Stephen Mack

"The sergeant responded about 10:40 p.m. Wednesday to a home near Orange City for a possible domestic dispute and met with Michelle Sanford “who was extremely intoxicated,” the report states. The sergeant determined Sanford had not been struck by her boyfriend, but asked if Sanford had somewhere else she could stay and offered to take her there. Sanford, 36, brought clothes and an open beer, which the sergeant advised she could not bring, according to the report. “Why don’t you take your weed with you,” Sanford’s boyfriend, Thomas Laudenslager, 46, said, according to the report. Sanford said she would and asked the sergeant if she could take her weed and smoke a joint at her father’s house, according to the report." - Jessie

"Laudenslager then asked Sanford why she would actually say something that could get her sent to jail, according to the report. “It’s just weed and he might be cool with it,” Sanford said, according to the report." - Jessie

" Crystal O'Connor of Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Indiana, has her finger on the pulse of what gays want at their weddings: pizza. But thanks to her home state's new Religious Freedom Restoration Act, she can deny those carb-loving queers the sauce and cheese that they're just probably going stuff up their butts, anyway." - Jessie

Apparently they were "forced" to close today due to negative press and threats (some of which are being investigated by the police, so maybe they are legit?). They're apparently already considering moving away from both their town asks their state. - Soup in a TARDIS

"Police officers discovered the 22-year-old in a shipyard in Brittany, northern France, giving the dinghy mouth to mouth and heart massage. The would-be-hero believed that the dinghy was a dying person, as reported by The Telegraph, and had even called the emergency services asking for an ambulance to rush to the scene. He told officers that the “victim” was not responding and needed to be saved, adding that he had been carrying out cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to revive him. “He was underneath a boat, on his knees, trying to resuscitate a rubber dinghy,” police told Le Télégramme de Brest newspaper. Police took the lifesaver into custody and, after he was examined by a doctor, placed him overnight in a drunk cell." - Jessie

"To be sure, woman humans could be quite swift; have impressive aim with a dart; spend entire days on their feet processing carcasses into hides, meals and tools; and survive newborn Homo sapien craniums tearing through their bleeding perinea. Heck, over in the Neanderthal camp, boss cave-femmes went hunting and cave-gents made clothes. But, smaller than their male counterparts as a rule, woman humans couldn’t shoulder as many supplies into hunt or drag as much bleeding meat back to camp. While powerful with finesse, endurance and childbearing, they generally weren’t to be called upon for tasks of brutish violence. So, while packing for one fateful, perilous journey into the blowing snow, man humans looked over at you, clutching your upset tummy like the Italian soccer players who would be your descendants. One of them nodded your way and whispered, “Oog isn’t going, is he? He’s a fucking pussy.” Another agreed, “That little bitch is staying here.”" - Jessie

این شوخی ها کهنه شد اقا - alireza6211

"The label on a piece of clothing might reveal something about its provenance, but it hardly tells the whole story. The Canadian Fair Trade Network wanted to change that. To draw attention to people around the world who are working in unsafe conditions, these remarkable ads tell their stories on the labels of clothes they make. Powerful work by from agency Rethink. The label above reads: 100% cotton. Made in Sierra Leone by Tejan. The first few times he coughed up blood he hid it from his family. They couldn't afford medical treatment and he couldn't risk losing his long-time job at the cotton plantation. When he fell into a seizure one day it could no longer be ignored. The diagnosis was pesticide poisoning. The lack of proper protective clothing has left him with leukemia at the age of 34. He has two daughters. One of them starts work at the factory next year. The label doesn't tell the whole story." - Jessie

توی فرفر بهتره فید فارسی ارسال کنی، اگه فارسی نمیتونی تایپ کنی، بیا برو توی بهنویس http://www.behnevis.com فینگلیس بنویس فارسی رو کپی پیست کن :دی - ووووزلا

"Maybe he was trying to catch a roadrunner. A wild coyote was spotted Monday roaming around the roof of a bar in Queens. The animal wandered out a broken window in an abandoned warehouse and strolled on top of the LIC Bar in Hunters Point, according to the blog LIC Post. Brian Porter, the owner of the bar, said that tenants who live above the establishment witnessed the canine outside their windows. “It looked well-fed,” Porter told the site. “It wasn’t a scrawny thing.”" - Jessie

Someone told him drinks were on the house. - Anika

Anika! - t-ra: sentimental gorgon

Well fed eh? Maybe it ate the owners - Mo Kargas

"A Canton woman is accused of stabbing her boyfriend because he ate all of their salsa. Phyllis D. Jefferson, 50, is charged with felonious assault, a second-degree felony, and a misdemeanor count of criminal damaging. She is scheduled for an appearance Monday in Akron Municipal Court. Jefferson complained about 5:30 p.m. to her 61-year-old boyfriend that he was eating all of their salsa, police reports say. She yelled and jammed a pen into the left side of the man's pelvis." - Jessie

Spicy. - Stephen Mack

this is what happens when you mix folk from Akron and Canton together. ;) - ellbeecee

"In the Robin Williams Trust, which was released last Wednesday, Williams not only bequeathed his name, image, signature, and likeness to the Windfall Foundation (a charitable organization set up by Williams’ legal team), but he specifically restricts his publicity rights for 25 years after his death, keeping in mind that advances in technology may create certain uses that we can’t even anticipate right now." - Jessie

"This is as interesting as it is rare, as celebrities don’t generally do this. While they might restrict certain uses (like not allowing their likenesses to be used in conjunction with specific products), placing a time limit on usage is unheard of. However, it seems that for Williams, protecting his family and ensuring that his likeness would be used in support of causes he cared about came first. A class act until the very end." - Jessie

"Selfies, by definition, aren't selfless. But now, in California, you can do some good for the environment, not just for yourself, by snapping a pic along the coastline. Gyro San Francisco has created a campaign called "Check the Coast" that encourages people to make a checkmark sign while taking a selfie at the shore, and then include #CheckTheCoast and CheckTheCoast.org when posting it. This is intended to raise awareness of a special box on California tax forms that you can check to make a donation to the California Coastal Commission." - Jessie

"Lucky Dog desperately needs help packing the store’s books, music and movies. I went Sunday and spent a couple of hours helping out, and they are nowhere near close to being ready. THOUSANDS of books still need to be boxed and labeled. That’s where you come in: Today and tomorrow, for every half hour you spend boxing books, they’ll give you a $5 credit, to be used that day or at one of their other locations, Lucky Dog at 10801 Garland Road in Dallas, or Paperbacks Plus, 108 E. Davis in Mesquite. You can help pack books at the Oak Cliff store till 9 p.m. tonight, and from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesday." - Jessie

For those in the DFW area. - Jessie

They found a new location in Oak Cliff. 911 W. Jefferson https://www.facebook.com/LuckyDo... - Greg GuitarBuster

"Good news for fans for My Neighbour Totoro, the Japanese Studio Ghibli’s cult-anime film: Totoro (with his umbrella, of course) has arrived at a bus stop in Dali, Taichung—rather than his signature Catbus station. Taken from one of the most memorable scenes in the history of Japanese anime, and arguably animation history, this instantly recognizable character was built by an amateur craftsman, Lin Hsiao-yin. Using waste metals and unused materials, Lin turned the unwanted into a most-wanted artwork in Taichung in just two months. The whole Totoro figure cost less than NT$6,000. What comes to this three-meter high Totoro is not its yellow Catbus but a huge crowd. Many visitors come for this life-size toy, dropping in on the Japanese cafés nearby that sell interesting light snacks and drinks, from cute latte art to teddy-bear toast." - Jessie

AWWWWW - Soup in a TARDIS

So good. - Stephen Mack

"Praise be to the casting gods, because Bill Heder in a Roald Dahl film is perfection. If this was going to be an animated film, we'd say to just have all the non-BFG giants voiced by him. Deadline reports that Heder is joining the Steven Spielberg-helmed film as one of the giants. Spoiler alert: All of them except the titular Big Friendly Giant are human-eating bad guys. Part of the plot revolves the BFG (Mark Rylance) and a young girl named Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) convincing world leaders that something needs to be done about the danger they pose." - Jessie

Looks like they meant Bill Hader. - Jessie

"Administrator Teresa Morris told The Akron Beacon Journal (http://bit.ly/1x0K3x3) that the residents were clearly having fun the morning the photos were taken. "The residents were like 20-year-olds — giggling, and having the time of their lives," Morris said. "I do not believe the elderly should just sit around staring at each other. I want a fun environment where I challenge them and they challenge me." Money from the $12 calendars goes toward a fund providing shoes for children in the local schools in the city of Barberton." - Jessie

"TAYLOR SWIFT, I salute you. Not for your snappy songs and sartorial flair, although these are all fine things. I applaud you for the fact that you have almost single-handedly skewered the myth of the owner of the feline as a tragic, rejected “crazy cat lady.” Ms. Swift regularly poses with, and posts about, her two Scottish fold cats — Meredith Grey and Olivia Benson — with unabashed pride. She posts their pictures on Instagram and has been featured in commercials where she is swarmed by fluffy cats, all the while still managing to somehow remain desirable. “It is a daily struggle,” she tweeted, “to not buy more cats.” The longstanding, irrational bias against cats stems from archaic views about women. Their owners are more likely to be single women than single men — according to the American Pet Products Association, 11 percent of cats live with single women but only 2 percent live with single men — and so they have become addendums to the spinster stereotype." - Jessie

"We seem unable to contemplate the thought of a woman enjoying the sweet company of a cat, without assuming it is a hallmark of a sad single existence. The words woman and cat don’t conjure up thoughts of a glamorous fast life, but pajamas, Chinese takeout, bowls of Ben & Jerry’s, couches and DVDs. The words associated with cat lady on Urban Dictionary, for example, include: “lame,” “forever alone,” “spinster,” “ice cream” and “smelly.” Nice. A man and his dog, on the other hand, are icons of independence, freedom and adventure. Granted, this is partly because dogs tend to be happier accompanying you to places outside your own house. But Ms. Swift takes Meredith out in Manhattan and the singer Kesha takes her cat on airplane flights. Must female cat owners constantly have their sanity questioned simply because they like to coexist with purring fur balls? This is not a tired cat-versus-dog debate. Everyone loves dogs. Even if they do, say, eat the feces of other animals, howl at ambulances, delight in bottom-sniffing and even — like my old Labrador — eat jellyfish until their faces are numb. (Is there anything a Labrador won’t eat?) It should be pointed out that many men also love cats. Ernest Hemingway was mad about polydactyl, or six-toed cats, and kittens played with Winston Churchill’s newspaper as he read, and sat alongside him during meals. Ricky Gervais frequently tweets about his cat, Ollie; he even aspires to the cat-lady life, telling HBO: “My evening usually consists of sitting on the couch in my pajamas from 6 p.m. with the cat on my lap watching trash TV.” Ricky, you may join the sisterhood." - Jessie

"Cat men and women, we have the numbers. There are now roughly 95.6 million cats in America, compared to 83.3 million dogs. We also have science on our side. Studies have shown that cat owners are less likely than those who have never owned a cat to die of cardiovascular disease, and pet owners have a decreased risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Researchers from Miami University and Saint Louis University found “pet owners had greater self-esteem, were more physically fit, tended to be less lonely, were more conscientious, were more extroverted, tended to be less fearful and tended to be less preoccupied than non-owners.” Less lonely, happier, fitter. Pets don’t indicate mental illness; they seem to aid in recovery from it. Ms. Swift, who faces a constant barrage of questions about boyfriends and being single, mocked the cat lady stereotype to a reporter, joking that if she does not find a man by 30, she will naturally be scared, housebound and “surrounded by cats. So many cats, they’ve divided themselves up into armies and she wanders around lint-rolling the couch that no one’s going to sit on because she’s afraid to have people over...” Yeah, right. This generation of young female celebrities is refusing to be portrayed as on a perpetual, sad manhunt. Asked at an event what she looked for in a man, Rihanna tartly and perfectly responded: “I’m not looking for a man. Let’s start there.” Katy Perry told Rolling Stone that she would happily have a child on her own: “I don’t need a dude.” Ms. Swift has become defined by her posse of female friends — as well as her feline companions. Part of the appeal of cats is that they are independent and discerning. They have few needs. They come to you when they want; you can’t force them, or cajole them. They can be fiercely affectionate. They are gloriously indifferent. Cats don’t pretend to like you, and don’t care if you like them. Let’s start there." - Jessie

THE STRUGGLE IS REAL - Soup in a TARDIS

"A 34-year-old Myrtle Beach woman has been charged with attempted murder and unlawful neglect of a child after allegedly trying to hit a man with a car during an argument over a cinnamon bun, while a teenager was in the passenger seat, according to a police report." - Jessie

A cinnamon bun is below my car rampaging threshold. Perhaps a large piece of apple pie with an even larger scoop of vanilla ice cream would do it. - Todd Hoff

"Hello Kitty fans, are you sitting down? Because this news is major. There's already a Hello Kitty-themed coffee shop in Seoul, South Korea, and the US will finally get its own this Summer. The lucky location: Orange County, CA, according to LAist, which got the scoop while touring the new Hello Kitty Cafe mobile truck at the first ever Hello Kitty Con. There, Hello Kitty Cafe's managing partner Allan Tea said that everything from the food to the decor will star the famous Sanrio character." - Jessie

smh - Anne Bouey