photo credit: EMS_EMT

Another reason to consider a dog a man’s best friend! British scientists believe that dogs have demonstrated a capacity for human empathy because dogs find human yawns contagious! This was a trait (the contagious yawn phenomena) that was previously only attributed to humans and chimpanzees, according to MSNBC. Dogs are apparently highly sensitive to human yawns.

Writing in the journal Biology Letters, Atsushi Senju and colleagues at London’s Birkbeck College said this behavior showed dogs were skilled at reading human social cues and “may relate to their capacity for empathy.”

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The brigade-sized combat aviation unit known as Task Force 34 has 2,700-plus National Guards troops from the states of Minnesota, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, New York, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia and Oklahoma.

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“It was important for me to use the round stones found in West Virginia rivers, which have been accentuated by the steel wire which creates lines,” he added. “It can be viewed as a vertical topographical map. Geology, abstraction, design and symbolism all tie into the work. The lines of steel are the tributaries of streams within the mountains.”

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Cummings, who played at WVU from 1996-99, makes his debut with the team on Aug. 1-4 when the U.S. squad plays four exhibition games against Canada. The team enters Olympic competition in Beijing, China, on Aug. 13-23.

Cummings is expected to help the U.S. team get its second gold medal in the sport. Cummings won’t have another chance four years from now: Even though baseball has been a medal sport in the Olympics five times, including this year’s games, it won’t be reappearing at the next summer Olympics, as it has been voted out (at least for that year) by the International Olympic Committee.

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My Earth-based twin is also practicing so engineers can see what works best. This might be my chance to use the “rasp” to drill into the ice 03:28 PM July 08, 2008

@ZorkFox In fact, the rovers have 2 Earth-based twins (1 each) in a testbed at JPL. They practice tricky moves before Spirit & Oppy have to. 04:49 PM July 08, 2008

@sleh, Yes I can see Jupiter from here! Saturn’s also in view (from Earth too) so I can wave to my buddy @CassiniSaturn (a Twitter newbie). 10:52 PM July 11, 2008

Shaved ice anyone? Today I’m using a rasp to make and collect ice shavings. Then watch to see how fast shavings sublimate: http://is.gd/UoW 05:30 PM July 15, 2008

Test rasping of ice yestersol went great. Ice shavings showed little change over hours - good news for sending later samples to instruments. about 22 hours ago

Good Q @aar0nh. I’m not a life detection mission. I’m looking for clues (organics, minerals, history of water) to determine habitability. about 13 hours ago

By habitability, I mean determine if area could ever support life, past or present.Future missions could go to these zones to look for life about 12 hours ago

Last Q/A for now. @williamsmith Next Mars rover (Mars Science Lab) launches in ‘09. Being built at JPL, it’s huge (and has a laser). Cool. about 11 hours ago

Check it out, it’s well worth viewing, and great for science geeks.

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photo credit: pingnews.com

It seems Irish government is a bit soft when it comes to punishing Atomic bombers.

According to Inderpendent.ie, an Irish news source, Irish Legislature has recently redrafted a 2006 Bill designed to punish anyone found guilty of detonating a nuclear bomb. Many Irish officials are outraged that the draft still includes provisions that an offender be punished with just a year in prison or fined €5,000.

The original Bill was widely mocked for its provision that in certain cases, the district court may try the person charged with that offence “summarily”, which theoretically raised the prospect of the Probation Act being applied to first-time nuclear terrorists.

Amazingly the same enabling clause was kept in the draft legislation when it was revived for the current session.

Only now has the Government conceded to opposition insistence that treating a nuclear explosion as a minor offence could make this country a laughing stock.

My question is, are there second-offense nuclear terrorists? Sheesh.

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West Virginia Public Theatre is performing West Side Story at the CAC now through Sunday, July 13.

Enjoy Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet transported to modern-day New York City, where two young lovers are caught between rival street gangs, the American Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks.

For more information, visit their website or call 1-877-999-9878.

The settlement was reached on the night that Rodriguez was supposed to submit non-redacted term sheets he signed with Michigan that had previously been blacked out.

“It’s a case that should have settled a long time ago and could have settled a long time ago. It’s in the best interest of everyone to resolve it,” Flaherty told the AP.

WVU lawyers felt the pressure to settle was in part due to a lawsuit filed by WVU in a Michigan court, asking to allow the deposition of both Michigan athletic director Bill Martin and President Mary Sue Coleman.

Exactly when and how Rodriguez will pay has not yet been disclosed. It may be that Michigan will pay part of the amount.

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UPDATE

WVU’s News and Information Services has disclosed on WVU Today a timetable for payments:

Officials said terms of the full value settlement agreement include a timetable for payments, with the first payment of $2.5 million due by the end of July, and the remaining $1.5 million to be paid in three equal installments (January 2010, January 2011 and January 2012). There will be no further legal action or claims.

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I started with the obvious: “What’s the number-one rule for meeting women in bars?”

“There are no rules,” he said. “Just don’t be a dick.”

Don’t be a dick. That was going to look great on the cover.

I don’t agree with all of bartender Andrew’s reluctantly given tips, but his general message of “Women know what you’re up to, and don’t think they don’t” is a pretty good one. Of course, he belies that message with instructions on how to play games, but the idea that your follow-up conversation counts more than your opening line and that women know if you’re prowling are good pieces of advice. Yeah, and don’t be a dick.

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The cult film, Boondock Saints, has had a following of loyal fans (including the Reds) since its release in 2000. (If you have yet to see it, pick up a copy!) Until this past May, lovers of the movie waited patiently for the sign of a sequel.

According the official movie fan website, writer/director Troy Duffy has recently started pre-production on such a sequel, entitled “All Saints Day.” Filming will begin on Aug. 25 and the fan site promises weekly streaming video from the set. Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus are returning to play the MacManus brothers.