California 'sea serpent' was egg-carrying female

            

This photo released courtesy of the Catalina Island Marine Institute taken on Sunday Oct. 13, 2013 shows the crew of sailing school vessel Tole Mour and Catalina Island Marine Institute instructors holding an 18-foot-long oarfish that was found in the waters of Toyon Bay on Santa Catalina Island, Calif. A marine science instructor snorkeling off the Southern California coast spotted the silvery carcass of the 18-foot-long, serpent-like oarfish. AP/Catalina Island Marine Institute

LOS ANGELES — A 14-foot (4.2-meter) oarfish that washed ashore in Southern California last week was ready to become a mommy.
The serpent-like fish — one of two discovered along the coast last week — was dissected Monday and marine biologists found that the healthy female was ripe to spawn, H.J. Walker of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography said Tuesday.
The silvery fish's 6-foot (1.8-meter)-long ovaries contained hundreds of thousands of eggs that were nearly ready to be released, Walker said.
The fish had lost its tail somehow while alive and it had disc-shaped wounds from cookiecutter sharks, but those injuries wouldn't have been deadly, Walker said.
In fact, it's unclear why the creature died, although Walker said it was possible the deep-water fish came too close to the surface, where it may have been knocked around by waves.
The oarfish washed up on a beach in the San Diego County coastal city of Oceanside on Friday. Several days earlier, a snorkeler found the carcass of an 18-foot (5.4-meter) oarfish off Catalina Island and dragged it to shore with some help.

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The cause of death for the larger fish also remains a mystery.
The rarely seen deep sea-dwelling creatures, which can grow to more than 50 feet (15 meters), may be the inspiration of sea monsters found in literature and throughout history. Photos of the oarfish have circulated widely online, spurring general interest in the mysterious creature but contributing little to scientists' knowledge of the fish.
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Here's a closer look at the oarfish:
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HOW OFTEN DO THEY VENTURE CLOSE TO SHORE?
Oarfish beach themselves around the world. Every so often, one wanders to the Southern California coast.
In 2010, a 12-foot (3.6-meter) oarfish washed ashore in Malibu. The most recent stranding before last week's sightings occurred in 2011 when a 14-foot (4.2-meter) oarfish was found on a beach near the Vandenberg Air Force Base, about 130 miles (210 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles, said Rick Feeney of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
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HOW DID THE TWO OARFISH DIE?
While necropsies — the animal version of an autopsy — were done on the oarfish, the cause of death remains unknown. Scientists said the deaths may forever remain a mystery. The smaller oarfish appeared to be in good health before it died.
Oarfish are thought to be poor swimmers and it's possible that the ones found last week got caught in a current that pushed them to coastal waters, marine experts said.
"If they get disoriented and into the surf zone, they'll probably have trouble maneuvering back out to sea," said Phil Hastings, curator of the marine vertebrate collection at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
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WHY IS SO LITTLE KNOWN ABOUT OARFISH?
Oarfish are highly evolved. They tend to remain quiet in the deep ocean, luring smaller fish toward them.
They are found in tropical waters, generally from around 500 feet (150 meters) to 1,000 feet (300 meters) deep, although some may reach more than 3,000 feet (900 meters) deep. That means scientists don't get many opportunities to study these serpent-like creatures. The dead oarfish that float ashore don't tell the whole story. It's like trying to study deer that end up in the windshield, said Milton Love, a marine biologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
"You wouldn't know much about deer based on roadkill," he said.
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WHAT'S NEXT?
Scientists have dissected the oarfish, preserved some tissue and organs, and plan to send samples to researchers around the world to examine
 

Phivolcs discovers new fault system in Bohol quake

            

 

 Scientists of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology on Tuesday discover the ground rupture in Barangay Anonang, Inabanga, Bohol. 

MANILA, Philippines - State volcanologists who have been hunting for a hidden fault discovered a new fault system in Inabanga town that triggered the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that shook Bohol and killed hundreds.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) on Tuesday noticed ground rupture in Barangay Anunang, Inabanga in the devastated Bohol province that served as a surface representation of a fault underneath.
Phivolcs' started a survey last October 16, the day after the quake hit Central Visayas, to trace where it came from.
Phivolcs research analyst Nolan Evangelista said in a state news report that the ground rupture occurs only once in 100 years.
The new fault is manifested on the surface with the upliftment of the southern part of the ground rupture up to almost three meters, while the northern part remains lower, Evangelista said.
He explained that the layering of the rocks beneath the rupture break during an earthquake, creating a sound similar to an explosion.

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Phivolcs Director Renato Solidum had said that the 7.2-magnitude ground shaking has an energy equivalent to around 32 Hiroshima atomic bombs.
As of posting time, over 190 people were discovered dead at the aftermath of the quake, mostly in Bohol  and others in Cebu. The quake also destroyed centuries-old national treasures estimated to cost over P100 million to rehabilitate.
Local residents, meanwhile, discovered sinkholes in several towns as ground surface caved in.
Mines and Geosciences Bureau acting directoR Leo Jasareño said that areas in Bohol, known to be lying on limestones, are likely to have sinkholes after an intense ground activity.
"Ang sinkhole (ay lumalabas kapag) nabubuo ang butas sa ilalim ng lupa dahil nandun ang limestone," he said in a television interview

Executed Salesian brother beatified in Hungary

 

Salesian monks attend a mass celebrated to beatify Istvan Sandor, a Hungarian martyr monk of the Roman Catholic order of the Salesians of Don Bosco, in St. Stephen Square in front of St. Stephen Cathedral in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2013. Sandor was hanged June 8, 1953, by the communist regime after being convicted in a show trial of treason and conspiring against the state. The Catholic church recognizes him as a martyr. The indictment against Sandor and several others claimed that they wanted to bring down the communist regime and hoped for the victory of the United States in a new war. On the cathedral at left is a portrait of Sandor. (AP Photo/MTI, Attila Kovacs)

BUDAPEST — A brother from the Catholic order of the Salesians of Don Bosco was beatified yesterday, 60 years after he was executed by Hungary's communist regime.
Thousands of people filled St. Stephen's Square for Istvan Sandor's beatification ceremony. Sandor was hanged June 8, 1953, after being convicted in a show trial of treason and conspiring against the state. The Catholic church recognizes him as a martyr.
The indictment against Sandor and several others claimed that they wanted to bring down the communist regime and hoped for a US victory in a new war.
Cardinal Peter Erdo, archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, emphasized the strength of Sandor's vocation and his dedication to youth.
"We celebrate in him the hero who was true to his calling as a Salesian brother, even at the cost of his life," Erdo said in his sermon during the beatification mass outside St. Stephen's Basilica. "We respect in him the exceptional laborer who taught youth the love of work."
"We stand deeply moved before the victim of a show trial who was tortured, sentenced to death and executed based on false testimony."

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Born in 1914 and a printer by profession, Sandor served in the Hungarian army during World War II, delaying his wish to join the Salesians. After the war, during which he was briefly an American prisoner, he became a mentor to young men under his care at the order's print shop.
Sandor continued his educational work even after most of Hungary's religious orders were dissolved in 1950. His superiors advised him to escape from Hungary, but he assumed a false identity and worked at a chemicals factory until he was found out and arrested in July 1952 by the AVH, the regime's secret police.

Senate committee defers endorsement of DTI budget

MANILA, Philippines - The Senate committee on finance has deferred the endorsement of the proposed P3.9-billion budget of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for 2014 following the discovery of a P548-million lump sum item.
Senator Sergio Osmeña III, one of the committee vice chairmen, said the P548 million for the promotion of anti-poverty programs in every town of the country is a new item in the DTI budget.
“I am questioning this because I do not understand how this will be implemented if you’re going to give just P1 million or P2 million to every municipality,” he said.
Lump sum items in the budgets of the different government agencies have become a sensitive topic amid reports on the misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund of legislators.
“If they put it that way then we might as well give this to the Department of the Interior and Local Government. We have to refine that concept,” Osmeña said.
Osmeña, meanwhile, said he was encouraged by the DTI’s expansion of the “One Town, One Project” concept in promoting the goods of different local government units.

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With the clustering of towns, the project would become several towns, one or two projects.
“That is a very good concept. I have long pushed for the concept of clustering, which has been an immensely successful concept in many countries, particularly in Japan,” Osmeña said.
He said Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV would also raise several items he wants the DTI to consider in promoting small and medium enterprises in the country in the next budget hearing of the DTI.

                                      

20 dead, 57 hurt in Quezon smashup

The wreckage of a passenger bus lies by the roadside following the eight-vehicle smashup that left at least 20 dead in Atimonan, Quezon yesterday morning. BERNARDO BATUIGAS

ATIMONAN, Quezon, Philippines – Twenty passengers, including three children, were killed while 57 others were injured in a multiple vehicle collision along the Diversion Road in barangay Sta. Catalina here early yesterday.
Chief Superintendent Jesus Gatchalian, Calabarzon police director, said the driver of a 10-wheeler truck with license plate RMK 220 lost control when the vehicle suffered mechanical trouble, ramming a Bicol-bound Superlines bus with body number 441.
This prompted the driver of the Superlines bus to lose control and jump over to the opposite lane.
It was at this time that the bus smashed into six other vehicles bound for Manila, including an Isarog bus (TYX-985), DLTB bus (UYA 669), three trucks and a jeepney.
Police said the 10-wheeler truck, which was loaded with poultry and hog feeds, was descending a steep, wet and winding road when its propeller shaft gave way, prompting it to hit the Superlines bus.
The driver of the Superlines bus, Albert Nava, is now detained at the Atimonan jail.

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Senior Superintendent Ronaldo Ylagan, Quezon police director, told The STAR in a phone interview that all the fatalities died on the spot.
“Most of the fatalities were passengers of Superlines because it was the first vehicle that the 10-wheeler truck hit,” Ylagan said.
Probers said the Diversion Road is considered an accident-prone area.
Twelve of the fatalities were identified as Nexter Camacho, Ma. Theresa Diezmo, Perfecto Zano, Henry Malaluan, Ronie Villeja (Camarines Sur), Noe Nunez, Danilo Espencilla (Camarines Norte), Michael Villamor (Rosario, Batangas), Ibn Rajick Muksan II (Oriental Mindoro), Rene Jimenez, Jodelyn Consuelo and John Omar Talicol.
Eight other casualties, among them three children, remained unidentified as of press time.
Meanwhile, the 57 passengers who were injured were brought to the Doña Marta Memorial Hospital and Emil Joahna Hospital in Atimonan and to the Gumaca District Hospital and other hospitals in Lucena City for treatment. Eleven of those injured were children.
In an interview with radio station dzMM, survivor Jason Villanueva said he was able to escape from one of the buses through a broken window.
“The rescuers could not enter the bus to get the victims. There were many passengers who were crying inside the bus but I also saw several who were already dead,” he said.
Probers said officials and representatives of the Superlines bus company promised to cooperate in the investigation and provide assistance to the victims

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At Facebook, Zuckerberg still orders teams into lockdown (sort of)

At the annual Y Combinator startup school event, the Facebook CEO revealed that a tradition from the early days of his social network persists to this day, within the bounds of the law.

Zuckerberg spent his time with Y Combinator founder Paul Graham at the organizations' annual startup school event.

(Credit: Nick Statt/CNET)

CUPERTINO Calif. -- In the early days of Facebook, when schools with competing services would get the jump on the burgeoning social network with a unique feature or interesting addition, the company would go into what CEO Mark Zuckerberg called lockdown, where the team wouldn't leave the house until the problem was addressed. It still persists to this day, within reason.
Facebook doesn't lock people in the office, but it comes "as close to that as we can legally get," Zuckerberg said to an eruption from the crowd.

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Zuckerberg spent his time with Y Combinator founder Paul Graham at the organizations' annual startup school event riffing in his well-rehearsed off-the-cuff interview style. It's a fry cry from just a few years ago, when he'd sometimes sweat under pressure.
When at ease, Zuckerberg even conceded to the influence of "The Social Network" film with regard to the early ingredients that formed Facebook. For instance, he began his interview in typical fashion, mentioning his desire to connect people and the things he enjoys building that provide insight into that pursuit.
That was when Graham interjected, "You mean FaceSmash?" Zuckerberg then relaxed, letting slip a jab at the David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin film. "That stupid movie...," he began, before the crowd erupted and drowned out the last few words of his sentence.
"About the only thing I got from FaceSmash was I met my wife from it," Zuckerberg revealed.
After creating the female student comparison Web site at Harvard, which was glorified by "The Social Network" and controversially employed in its script as a retaliation against an ex-girlfriend, Zuckerberg says that what actually happened was that all of his friends and family were convinced he'd get thrown out of school.
"My friends were just completely positive I was going to get kicked out," he said, so they threw him a party where he would meet Priscilla Chan.
Zuckerberg reiterated that prior to Facebook and FaceSmash, he was already creating social Web sites that were getting thousands of visitors within Harvard, like one that let you peruse other students' past and current classes and one to compare annotations on classical artwork.
The conversation meandered, and Graham questioned Zuckerberg about his management style and how he'd changed over the years.
"They say more Americans are afraid of public speaking than death," Zuckerberg recounted, comparing the experience to what it was like learning how to manage an immensely fast-growing company without any prior experience. "So throw yourself in," he added. "You get over it."

2 rob suspects shot dead – over P40

Superintendent Victor Pagulayan points to an orange bag lying near the bodies of two suspected robbers killed in a shootout with police officers at the corner of Lantawan and Geraya streets in Barangay Doña Imelda, Quezon City Friday night. BERNARDO BATUIGAS

MANILA, Philippines - Two men were killed in a gun battle with policemen after they reportedly took a woman’s bag, which contained only P40, in Quezon City Friday night.
Mary Joy Calimag, 30, who works as a security guard, identified the two slain suspects as the same persons who robbed her at past 7 p.m. in Barangay Doña Imelda, said Quezon City Police District (QCPD) director Chief Superintendent Richard Albano.
Investigators have yet to identify the two suspects who were slain in an encounter with policemen from the QCPD Station 11 after the robbery.
Policemen recovered from the suspects Calimag’s orange bag – which contained P40 and identification cards – and two .38 caliber revolvers that they used.
Calimag, who resides in the area, said she was walking home when she saw the suspects, who looked like they were fixing their motorcycle.
When she was about to pass by them, one of the suspects pulled out a gun and pointed it at her face. The suspects then took her bag then fled the area on their motorcycle.

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Policemen patrolling the area noticed the commotion and ran after the suspects. They cornered the suspects and told them to surrender.
The suspects started firing at the policemen, forcing the latter to retaliate.