animals

The Gävlebocken (Gävle Goat) Has Once Again Gone Up In Flames

If you’re looking for the 2012 video of the burning Gävlebocken (Gävle Goat) go here.

This season’s Gävlebocken or Gävle Goat has already burnt to the ground.

The Gävle Goat is a giant version of a traditional Swedish Yule Goat figure made of straw. It is erected each year over a period of two days by a local association called the Southern Merchants in time for the start of advent. The goats have become the subject of a ‘tradition’ of regularly being torched by vandals.

The 13-meter (42+ feet) tall, straw, Christmas goat was set ablaze by arsonists at 2:54 a.m. this morning in Gävle, Sweden. Despite emergency services arriving on the scene within a few minutes nothing remains of the goat but its scorched frame. Currently the Gävlebocken only has a 39% survival rate.

Below is time-lapse video taken from a webcam of this years goat. The webcam is still live if you are interested in having a look at it’s charred remains.

Shark Cam

It’s that getting close to that time of year when the Discovery Channel brings us Shark Week. As a promotional tie in to the weeks worth shark television, a live stream of the Ocean Voyager exhibit at the Georgia Aquarium, the world’s largest aquarium, was created. I like it best full screen.

The 9.5 Olympic pool-sized (that’s 6.3 million gallons) tank was originally built to contain Whale Sharks and is currently hosting the Ocean Voyager exhibit. Aside from the aquarium’s seven shark species (including the whale variety), it also houses the only four captive manta rays in the United States.

The Ill-Fated Gävlebocken (Gävle Goat)

Gavle Goat image from the webcam
Here are the heavily edited highlights from the timeline section of the Gävle Goat article on Wikipedia:

1966 The goat stood until midnight of New Year’s Eve, when it went up in flames.
1968 …it is said that one night a couple made love inside the goat.
1969 The goat was burnt down on New Year’s Eve.
1970 The goat burnt down only six hours after it was assembled.
1972 The goat collapsed because of sabotage.
1974 Burnt.
1976 Ran over by a car.
1978 Again, the goat was kicked to pieces.
1979 The goat was burnt even before it was erected.
1980 Burnt down on Christmas Eve.
1982 Burnt down on Lucia (December 13).
1983 The legs were destroyed.
1984 Burnt down on December 12, the night before Lucia.
1985 Even though the goat was enclosed by a 2 metres (6.6 ft) high metal fence, guarded by Securitas and even soldiers from the Gävle I 14 Infantry Regiment, it was burnt down in January.
1986 The big goat burnt down the night before Christmas Eve.[1]
1987 A heavily fireproofed goat was built. It got burnt down a week before Christmas.[17]
1989 Again, the goat burnt down before it was assembled.
1991 On the morning of Christmas Eve the goat was burnt down.
1992 The goat was burnt down eight days after it was built.
1995 Burnt down on the morning of Christmas Day.
1997 Damaged by fireworks.
1998 Burnt down on 11 December, even though there was a major blizzard.
1999 Burnt down only a couple of hours after it was erected.
2000 Burnt down a couple of days before New Year’s Eve.
2001 Goat set on fire on 23 December by Lawrence Jones, a 51-year-old visitor from Cleveland, Ohio, who spent 18 days in jail and was subsequently convicted and ordered to pay 100,000 Swedish kronor in damages.
2002 The goat received only minor damage.
2003 Burnt down on 12 December.
2004 Burnt on December 21.
2005 Burnt by unknown vandals reportedly dressed as Santa and a gingerbread man by shooting a flaming arrow at the goat at 21:00 on 3 December.
2008 The goat finally succumbed to the flames ignited by an unknown assailant.
2009 An unsuccessful attempt was made to throw the goat into the river the weekend of December 11. On the night of December 23 before 04:00 the goat was set on fire and was burned to the frame, even though it had a thick layer of snow on its back.The goat had two online webcams which were put out of service by a DoS attack, instigated by computer hackers just before the attack.
2010 Both goats survived this year and were dismantled and returned to storage.
2011 Fire-fighters sprayed the goat with water to create a coating of ice in hopes of protecting it from arson. The goat burned down in the early morning of 2 December.

There is once again a webcam for this year’s goat, if you would like to help keep an eye on it. What does the ill-fated goat’s future hold for 2010?

Robins Can Literally See Magnetic Fields

Some birds can literally see magnetic fields. The ability to visualize the Earth’s magnetic field is believed to be linked to the availability of light and it is thought that specialized molecules in the birds’ retinas allow them to literally see the magnetic fields, which appear as patterns of light and shade superimposed over the regular image from light. A new study shows that the internal compass also depends on the birds having clear vision in their right eyes.

Some birds can sense the Earth’s magnetic field and orientate themselves with the ease of a compass needle. This ability is a massive boon for migrating birds, keeping frequent flyers on the straight and narrow. But this incredible sense is closely tied to a more mundane one – vision. Thanks to special molecules in their retinas, birds like the European robins can literally see magnetic fields. The fields appear as patterns of light and shade, or even colour, superimposed onto what they normally see.

Below is what is suspected it would look like to be a robin flying over Frankfurt, Germany at a flight altitude of 200 m above the ground.
Magnetic Vision
Image via Theoretical and Computational Physics Group

Wednesday’s Wonderful World Of Wikipedia: The Mongolian Death Worm

The Mongolian Death Worm is a cryptid reported to exist in the Gobi Desert. It is generally considered a cryptozoological creature, one whose sightings and reports are disputed or unconfirmed. There are a number of extraordinary claims by Mongolian locals (such as the ability of the worm to spew forth a yellow poison that is lethal on contact, and its purported ability to kill at a distance by means of electric discharge). However, there are no known reliable sightings.

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