Shortly after a retired couple moved into the rental house next door about two years ago, Price said the wife came over "a few times" to ask that the Prices keep their four dogs inside the house until 9 a.m. because the retirees liked to sleep late.

"We're trying to keep them in until 8," Price said. "I think the city ordinance says 7."

One Sunday morning a few weeks ago, the dogs "were going nuts" about something outside, and not long after that the Prices got the ticket from animal control officials. They've not paid it yet and have a court date for Thursday, Price said.


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Since the Prices' yard sign went up, local police and a city council member have come by to ask them to take it down. But the sign is not illegal, and James Price said he and his wife are waiting on the neighbors to make a move.

"He just needs to back off a little bit about the dogs," Price said of the man next door. "He's being ridiculous. Now I'd like him to pay my $121 fine. All he had to do was come over (to talk to us), but he chose not to do that."

http://www.sfgate.com/homes/article/House-for-sale-by-owner-because-my-neighbors-a-dou-6444496.php

The agony caused by just one piece of plastic thrown into the sea: Turtle writhes in pain as a drinking straw is pulled from its nose by ocean researchers

Male Olive Ridley sea turtle was discovered by researchers in Costa Rica
Group thought the foreign object was a parasitic worm before its removal
Turtle struggled against researchers as straw was pulled free with pliers
Its air passage was later disinfected with iodine before group released it



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3197604/The-agony-caused-just-one-piece-plastic-thrown-sea-Turtle-writhes-pain-drinking-straw-pulled-nose-ocean-researchers.html#ixzz3ipA09ckD

More than 135 million Americans, or 56%, say they haven't taken a vacation in the last 12 months, compared to 126 million Americans, or 52%, who reported going without a vacation for a year in 2014, according to a telephone survey of 1,000 Americans.

Another 15% of those surveyed said they haven't been on vacation in seven to 12 months and 10% said it has been four to six months, with 16% saying they have been on vacation within the last three months, according to the survey.


A vacation was defined in the survey as a week off of work to a place at least 100 miles away from home.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-12-months-without-a-vacation-20150813-story.html

Blight, old clothes and a Danish fugitive: Inside cities' fight against donation bins


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When Ithey first started popping up around town, the colorful metal collection bins for donated shoes and clothing didn't cause much of a stir in Stanton.

And then they multiplied.

"Within a year, they were all over the city, specifically on Beach Boulevard," said City Manager James Box, whose Orange County municipality is among many in Southern California that have seen a proliferation of the receptacles in recent years.

With the bins have come blight and other problems, local officials say, not to mention a rash of complaints about overflowing drop boxes that often attract jettisoned mattresses, broken furniture and piles of garbage. Dozens of cities, including Stanton, have passed laws in the last couple of years to ban them.
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In an April decision with far-reaching ramifications, federal appellate judges in a Michigan lawsuit deemed the bins a form of constitutionally protected speech. The ruling already has spurred cities there and in California to start replacing their bans with laws that will permit the ubiquitous boxes but regulate them.

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-planetaid-bins-20150814-story.html
http://www.yourwestvalley.com/surprise/article_80c8fc3c-e3c7-11e4-9566-2b8cbc67a9bd.html?mode=jqm

http://www.sfgate.com/world/article/Dentist-smiles-over-illegal-bear-kill-in-new-6444790.php



show the world's most hated dentist flashing his pearly whites over the carcass of a hulking black bear during an illegal hunt in Wisconsin nine years ago.
ABC News obtained the photos of trophy hunter Walter Palmer through a Freedom of Information Act request from Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources.

Source: the independent

It’s the debate that has long divided animal lovers. Now scientists have confirmed that cats really are better than dogs – at least from an evolutionary perspective.

A groundbreaking study of 2,000 ancient fossils reveals that felids – the cat family – have historically been much better at surviving than the “canid” dog clan, and often at the latter’s expense.

The research finds that cats have played a significant role in making 40 dog species extinct, outcompeting them for scarce food supplies because they are generally more effective hunters. But researchers found no evidence that dogs have wiped out a single cat species.

The dog family – which includes the wolves from which today’s domesticated dogs are descended – originated in North America about 40 million years ago and reached a maximum diversity around 20 million years later, when there were more than 30 species on the continent. At that point, the cat family arrived from Asia.

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Dr Silvestro says it is unclear exactly why, when times were tough, the cats were able to see off dogs so comprehensively. But he believed it could be something to do with the retractable claws that ancient cats have passed down to their domesticated descendants, but which dogs don’t have.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/cats-vs-dogs-scientists-confirm-that-felines-are-better-from-an-evolutionary-perspective-10454590.html

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AUSTRALIA — A young man’s close encounter with a whale in Australia is caught on video… And now it’s gone viral.

The gentle giant approached several fisherman for help in Sydney’s middle harbor. Close encounters don’t get much closer than this.

It was a once in a lifetime opportunity for selfies. But then the boaters realized that this friendly giant appeared to be asking for a favor.

A plastic bag and fishing line was stuck near the whale’s mouth. One boater tried to remove it.

Then the whale came to young fisherman Ivan Iskenderian.

The Southern right whale rolled around, swam below them, even scared them a little, until the plastic bag was close enough for Ivan to tear free.

“That’s what he wanted all the while long,” a fisherman said.

http://kdvr.com/2015/08/13/fisherman-help-desperate-whale-remove-trash-in-close-encounter/

Donald Trump Calls Bernie Sanders 'Weak' For Letting Black Lives Matter Activists Talk
"Believe me, that's not going to happen to Trump."


"That showed such weakness," Donald Trump said of Bernie Sanders' encounter with Black Lives Matter.

Donald Trump took on Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Tuesday, scorning the Democratic presidential candidate as "weak" for allowing Black Lives Matter activists to take over the mic during a speech this past weekend.

"That would never happen to me," the GOP presidential candidate told a crowd of some 2,800 supporters in Michigan. "I thought that was disgusting," he added. "That showed such weakness, the way he was taken away by two young women -- the microphone. They just took the whole place over."

While Trump saw one likeness between himself and Sanders -- "He's getting the biggest crowds and I'm getting the biggest crowds." -- the real estate mogul repeated that he wouldn't have stepped back and let the women talk. "Believe me," he said, "that's not going to happen to Trump."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-bernie-sanders-weak_55cb5d21e4b0923c12bec487

http://img.huffingtonpost.com//asset/crop_297_23_2703_1697,scalefit_630_noupscale/55cb5d9d1700006e00567496.jpeg

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/13/politics/ben-carson-aborted-fetuses-research/index.html

There’s actually a very good reason: It’s because people do care about electability. They just don’t care about it yet.

Witness this new poll showing Sanders leading Clinton in New Hampshire. The poll, from Franklin Pierce University, shows just 7 percent of people say being the most electable is their top criterion. On the GOP side, just 3 percent says it's their top criterion. In both parties, about six in 10 emphasize the issues, first and foremost.

Similarly, last month’s national Washington Post-ABC News poll showed picking a candidate who “has the best chance of winning” was the top priority for just 3 percent Republican- and Demcoratic-leaning voters. 3 percent!

So it’s not-so-surprising to see a candidate like Sanders (or Trump) rise to the top.

Voters are actually pretty smart in that they know these guys probably can't win. A June Monmouth poll showed 59 percent of Democratic voters said Sanders would have a worse chance than Clinton; only 13 percent thought he'd have a better chance. A CBS News poll last month, meanwhile, showed 78 percent of Democratic voters said Clinton was their most electable candidate, while just 5 percent said that of Sanders. That's even as 17 percent supported Sanders.

So clearly, even his supporters know the deal. They just don't care -- at this stage.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/08/13/the-one-big-reason-neither-donald-trump-nor-bernie-sanders-can-keep-this-up/