Collector keeps his 29 boa constrictors _ for now

Thomas Cobb lets his young son Daiden hold one of his snakes as he shows off several of his exotic reptile that he keeps in a special basement room of his home, Friday, April 26, 2013 in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. Cobb has been ordered by police to get rid of all but one of his 29 exotic boa constrictor snakes because he doesn?t have an exotic pet permit. (AP Photo/The Deseret News, Scott G. Winterton) SALT LAKE TRIBUNE OUT; MAGS OUT

Thomas Cobb lets his young son Daiden hold one of his snakes as he shows off several of his exotic reptile that he keeps in a special basement room of his home, Friday, April 26, 2013 in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. Cobb has been ordered by police to get rid of all but one of his 29 exotic boa constrictor snakes because he doesn?t have an exotic pet permit. (AP Photo/The Deseret News, Scott G. Winterton) SALT LAKE TRIBUNE OUT; MAGS OUT

Caiden Cobb admires one of his father's snakes, Friday, April 26, 2013 in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. Thomas Cobb has been ordered by police to get rid of all but one of his 29 exotic boa constrictor snakes because he doesn?t have an exotic pet permit. (AP Photo/The Deseret News, Scott G. Winterton) SALT LAKE TRIBUNE OUT; MAGS OUT

Thomas Cobb shows off several of his exotic reptiles that he keeps in a special basement room of his home Friday, April 26, 2013 in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. Cobb has been ordered by police to get rid of all but one of his 29 exotic boa constrictor snakes because he doesn?t have an exotic pet permit. (AP Photo/The Deseret News, Scott G. Winterton) SALT LAKE TRIBUNE OUT; MAGS OUT

Thomas Cobb shows off several of his exotic reptiles that he keeps in a special basement room of his home, Friday, April 26, 2013 in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. Cobb has been ordered by police to get rid of all but one of his 29 exotic boa constrictor snakes because he doesn?t have an exotic pet permit. (AP Photo/The Deseret News, Scott G. Winterton) SALT LAKE TRIBUNE OUT; MAGS OUT

Thomas Cobb shows off several of his exotic reptiles that he keeps in a special basement room of his home Friday, April 26, 2013 in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. Cobb has been ordered by police to get rid of all but one of his 29 exotic boa constrictor snakes because he doesn?t have an exotic pet permit. (AP Photo/The Deseret News, Scott G. Winterton) SALT LAKE TRIBUNE OUT; MAGS OUT

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) ? A Utah snake collector who says his rare boa constrictors are getting a bad rap has won at least a temporary reprieve from an order to remove more than two dozen of the exotic pets from his home.

Cottonwood Heights police cited Thomas Cobb a week ago for failure to have an exotic pet permit and told him he had until Friday to get rid of all but one of his 29 boa constrictors.

Cobb values the snakes at $12,000 apiece and said he spent $100,000 on a special room in his basement with top-of-the-line cages. Some of the snakes are as long as 7 feet. Police officers noted in their report the setup was clean and well-kept.

City council members agreed on Friday to look into the case further after Cobb argued that a local ordinance is confusing.

Cobb got the attention of the council and the mayor after he took his fight against the snake eviction to the Internet and local radio shows. He maintains he's the victim, in part, of the public's distaste for snakes in general.

"We see movies, we see 'Snakes on a Plane,' we see 'Anaconda,' we see these movies where snakes are portrayed as monsters and can eat school buses, and that is not the case," he told The Deseret News (http://tinyurl.com/cajkcvn).

Cobb praised the council for having an open mind.

"I am pleased to find that they are at least willing to take and investigate further rather than make assumptions and going off on maybe their personal belief on snakes and maybe the reptile hobby keeping in general," he said.

Cottonwood Heights police Sgt. Dan Bartlett said a neighbor spotted one of the snakes and called police to Cobb's home last week. He said officers also found 80 rats, which were being kept as food for the snakes.

Cobb was cited for failing to have the permit required when anyone owns more than one exotic pet. He disputes that interpretation and maintains he needs to show only that he can properly care for the snakes, that they do not pose a danger to the public and that he has knowledge of the animals.

Cobb is scheduled to meet again with the council on May 7. He said he has invited all of the council members to his house to see the snakes firsthand, but as of Friday no one had taken him up on the offer.

___

Information from: Deseret News, http://www.deseretnews.com

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2013-05-04-Exotic%20Snake%20Collector-Reprieve/id-201d59ce4ddd4bc18cf9a447a0182668

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Valley Auto Loans Expanding to Offer Bad Credit Auto Loan ...

Posted by BullQuake on Friday, May 3, 2013 ? Leave a Comment?

May 03, 2013 21:07 ET

GREENVILLE, SC?(Marketwired ? May 3, 2013) ? Valley Auto Loans has recently become a well-known name in the bad credit auto loan industry. Over the past few months, hundreds of applicants have had instant financial relief due to the quick approval process supported at Valley Auto Loans. The business specializes in approving auto loans for applicants no matter what their credit score is. Several recent changes to their system have given Valley Auto Loans the unique opportunity to offer instant approval to literally 100% of their applicants. So how does this amazing system work? We answer that question and more below. But perhaps the most exciting new development from Valley Auto Loans is their most recent announcement of their expansion. Valley Auto Loans stated recently that they are vastly broadening their horizons and will now be offering their services to Canada as well as the United States through their new site at http://carloansearch.ca/.

For the first time, Valley Auto Loans? services are available outside the United States. Canadians can now find the same great opportunities and be approved for high quality auto loans no matter what their credit score or credit history is like.

To get your auto loan today visit https://valleyautoloan.com/apply-now2/ or in Canada at https://carloansearch.ca/apply-now2/

The Valley Auto Loans system is nothing short of incredible. Because of this unique system, anyone at all can be approved for an auto loan. Bad credit, good credit, no credit, bankruptcies, all of these factors used to determine what kind of loans were available, if available at all. This is no longer the case when it comes to Valley Auto Loans.

The system begins its work when a potential client submits their application. All applications are immediately processed without discrimination. Valley Auto Loans keeps a massive database of trusted lenders and dealers that all specialize in bad credit loans. This means that the best deals possible are being offered. Valley Auto Loans is dedicated to helping their clients gain financial stability, so they oversee this process to make sure that their clients are being offered high quality loans with low rates, no hidden fees, and that are otherwise perfectly tailored to each applicant?s needs.

About Valley Auto Loans

Valley Auto Loans is the leading auto and cars finance provider in USA and Canada fully dedicated to help its customers acquire national car and auto financing. They design and develop customized no credit auto and car financing, bad and good credit auto and car loans. Voted the best for ?Quality Customer Service; Best National Auto Loans Service? by thousands of people, their finance experts focus in providing its customers information and various tools available for different auto loan offers, help them to choose the best that fits their budget as well as the related eligibility guidelines in detail.

Filed under Automotive ? Tagged with Auto, Canada, credit, Expanding, loan, loans, offer, services, U.S., Valley, well

Source: http://www.bullquake.com/valley-auto-loans-expanding-to-offer-bad-credit-auto-loan-services-in-canada-as-well-as-the-u-s/

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Gerbils strut their stuff at New England pageant

In this Friday, May 3, 2013 photo, Diane Nott, of Elyria, Ohio, holds a gerbil prior to the society's annual New England pageant Saturday, in Bedford, Mass. The small rodents will be judged on body type and color, and will feature agility demonstrations where they must overcome various obstacles and race to the end of the course. (AP Photo/Rodrique Ngowi)

In this Friday, May 3, 2013 photo, Diane Nott, of Elyria, Ohio, holds a gerbil prior to the society's annual New England pageant Saturday, in Bedford, Mass. The small rodents will be judged on body type and color, and will feature agility demonstrations where they must overcome various obstacles and race to the end of the course. (AP Photo/Rodrique Ngowi)

In this Friday, May 3, 2013 photo, Katie Johnson, a gerbil breeder from Milford, Mass., holds a gerbil prior to Saturday's American Gerbil Society's annual New England pageant in Bedford, Mass. The small rodents will be judged on body type and color, and will feature agility demonstrations where they must overcome various obstacles and race to the end of the course. (AP Photo/Rodrique Ngowi)

In this Friday, May 3, 2013 photo, Libby Hanna, president of the American Gerbil Society, holds a gerbil prior to the society's annual New England pageant Saturday in Bedford, Mass. The small rodents will be judged on body type and color, and will feature agility demonstrations where they must overcome various obstacles and race to the end of the course. (AP Photo/Rodrique Ngowi)

BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) ? Ever think your gerbil could do more in life than its cage in your living room will allow?

Dozens of gerbils are scurrying to New England this weekend in the hopes of squeaking out a victory in an annual pageant held by the American Gerbil Society.

The competition in Bedford, Mass., will feature agility demonstrations where the gerbils must overcome various obstacles and race to the end of a course. The small rodents vie for coveted ribbons based on body type and agility.

The show draws gerbil enthusiasts from around the country.

Fourteen-year-old Sarah Kaden from Bordentown, N.J., thinks gerbils have great personalities. She says, "Even though they are so little, they are very different from each other and they smell a lot less than my brother's hamsters."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2013-05-04-Gerbil%20Pageant/id-5abd8a57414b48f2942979c4fe23a4fd

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Orb comes from behind to win Kentucky Derby

Joel Rosario rides Orb during the 139th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/J. David Ake)

Joel Rosario rides Orb during the 139th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/J. David Ake)

Joel Rosario rides Orb reacts after the 139th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Joel Rosario rides Orb during the 139th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Joel Rosario reacts after riding Orb to victory in the 139th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Joel Rosario rides Orb reacts after winning the 139th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs Saturday, May 4, 2013, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) ? Orb was so far behind a wall of horses at the Kentucky Derby that even his jockey wasn't sure he could master the muddy track and make a run for the roses.

"I was really far back," Joel Rosario said. "I said hopefully he can go faster than that. I was saying maybe I was too far back, but it was so easy."

The bay colt made it look that way Saturday, splashing through the slop to win the Derby by 2 1-2 lengths and giving Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey his first victory in the 3-year-old classic.

Long shot Golden Soul was second with Revolutionary third while Normandy Invasion faded to fourth.

Orb, the 5-1 favorite, broke from the No. 16 post and bided his time near the back of the pack early while Palace Malice set a blistering pace in the muck.

Orb was still idling in 16th place a half-mile into the race. On the turn for home, Rosario moved him past 11 horses into striking position in the middle of the track. With a quarter of a mile to go, Orb began picking off the leaders. The only question left was whether he could sustain his momentum on a surface that resembled creamy peanut butter.

"He was very relaxed, it's exactly what I wanted," Rosario said.

When the field turned for home on the cool, overcast afternoon at Churchill Downs, Normandy Invasion had the lead. But Orb was gearing up and prevailed in the deep stretch, carrying Rosario to his first Derby win.

"Perfect trip. I stayed on the outside I don't want to be too wide on the first turn. I was hoping somebody in the middle (of the race) didn't push me wide," he said.

Orb ran the 1? miles in 2:02.89

Orb paid $12.80, $7.40 and $5.40. Golden Soul, a 34-1 shot, returned $38.60 and $19.40 while Revolutionary paid $5.40 to show.

The 62-year-old McGaughey said the victory meant everything to him.

"I'm thrilled to death for (the owners), thrilled to death for the people who put so much time into this horse, and, of course, I'm thrilled to death for me," he said.

Todd Pletcher had a record-tying five runners. Revolutionary was the best of the "Todd Squad," followed by Charming Kitten (ninth), Overanalyze (11th), Palace Malice (12th) and Verrazano (14th).

Goldencents, owned in part by Rick Pitino, coach of Louisville's national basketball champions, finished a 17th. His jockey, Kevin Krigger, was trying to become the first black rider to win the race since 1902.

Rosie Napravnik was also bidding to make history as the first woman jockey to win the world's biggest horse race. She finished fifth aboard Mylute, the highest finish by a female rider.

D. Wayne Lukas, who won the Derby four times and would have been the oldest trainer to saddle a winner, sent out two runners. Oxbow, with three-time Derby winning jockey Gary Stevens aboard, finished sixth. Will Take Charge was eighth.

Lines of Battle from Ireland finished seventh, denying European champion trainer Aidan O'Brien the international victory.

The rain that pelted the track earlier in the day had stopped by the time 19 horses paraded to the post for the 139th Derby.

The crowd of 151,616 must have known something, with a surge of late money sending Orb off as the favorite after Revolutionary owned that position most of the day.

Winning co-owners Stuart Janney and Ogden Mills "Dinny" Phipps scored their first Derby victory. The first cousins are among the sport's blue bloods that include the old-money Whitney and Vanderbilt families.

Being from Lexington, the heart of Kentucky's horse country, McGaughey figured to be a regular Derby participant. But Orb was just his second starter since 1989, when McGaughey watched Easy Goer lose to Sunday Silence.

Orb also was the second Derby starter for both Janney and Phipps, whose previous entries were in 1988 and '89. Their family wealth allows them to race the horses they breed, unlike the majority of current owners who are involved through partnerships that split up the exorbitant costs of the sport.

The cousins' grandfather, Henry Phipps, founded wealth management firm Bessemer Trust in 1907. Janney serves as chairman, while Dinny Phipps is its director. He also chairs The Jockey Club, the sport's governing body that registers thoroughbreds, while Janney is vice chairman.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-05-04-RAC-Kentucky-Derby/id-c1a4875e4b5d45cf9c7432ffb435de69

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Next on Google's list to receive its amazing fiber service is Shawnee, KS.

Next on Google's list to receive its amazing fiber service is Shawnee, KS.

Source: http://gizmodo.com/next-on-googles-list-to-receive-its-amazing-fiber-servi-488300774

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Fossil of great ape sheds light on evolution

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Researchers who unearthed the fossil specimen of an ape skeleton in Spain in 2002 assigned it a new genus and species, Pierolapithecus catalaunicus. They estimated that the ape lived about 11.9 million years ago, arguing that it could be the last common ancestor of modern great apes: chimpanzees, orangutans, bonobos, gorillas and humans. Now, a University of Missouri integrative anatomy expert says the shape of the specimen's pelvis indicates that it lived near the beginning of the great ape evolution, after the lesser apes had started to develop separately but before the great ape species began to diversify.

Ashley Hammond, a Life Sciences Fellow in the MU Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, is the first to examine the pelvis fragments of the early hominid. She used a tabletop laser scanner attached to a turntable to capture detailed surface images of the fossil, which provided her with a 3-D model to compare the Pierolapithecus pelvis anatomy to living species.

Hammond says the ilium, the largest bone in the pelvis, of the Pierolapithecus catalaunicus is wider than that of Proconsul nyanzae, a more primitive ape that lived approximately 18 million years ago. The wider pelvis may be related to the ape's greater lateral balance and stability while moving using its forelimbs. However, the fingers of the Pierolapithecus catalaunicus are unlike those of modern great apes, indicating that great apes may have evolved differently than scientists originally hypothesized.

"Pierolapithecus catalaunicus seemed to use a lot of upright behaviors such as vertical climbing, but not the fully suspensory behaviors we see in great apes alive today," Hammond said. "Today, chimpanzees, orangutans, bonobos and gorillas use forelimb-dominated behaviors to swing below branches, but Pierolapithecus catalaunicus didn't have the long, curved finger bones needed for suspension, so those behaviors evolved more recently."

Hammond suggests researchers continue searching for fossils to further explain the evolution of the great apes in Africa.

"Contrary to popular belief, we're not looking for a missing link," Hammond said. "We have different pieces of the evolutionary puzzle and big gaps between points in time and fossil species. We need to continue fieldwork to identify more fossils and determine how the species are related and how they lived. Ultimately, everything is connected."

The study, "Middle Miocene Pierolapithecus provides a first glimpse into early hominid pelvic morphology," will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Human Evolution. The Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences is in the MU School of Medicine. Co-authors included David Alba from the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain and the University of Turin in Italy, Sergio Alm?cija from Stony Brook University in New York, and Salvador Moy-Sol from the Miquel Crusafont Institute of Catalan Palaeontology at Autonomous University of Barcelona.

###

University of Missouri-Columbia: http://www.missouri.edu

Thanks to University of Missouri-Columbia for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128094/Fossil_of_great_ape_sheds_light_on_evolution

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Gillmor Gang Live 05.03.13 (TCTV)

Gillmor Gang - Robert Scoble, Kevin Marks, Keith Teare, and Steve Gillmor. Recording live today at 1pm Pacific.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/HSC8eil1wSk/

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