Good Morning Kossacks and Welcome to Morning Open Thread (MOT)
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Here we go again with the overlooked new stories of the week -- the offbeat, strange and sometimes, downright weird news items that mainstream media tends to ignore. Served up with a few funnies, all designed to get your face in smiling shape for the weekend ;-).
Amazeballs to Zing: new words added to Collins online dictionary
Amazeballs - an expression of enthusiastic approval
Bashtag - a hashtag that is used for critical and abusive comments
Blootered - intoxicated; drunk
Denialist - a person who refuses to accept something that is regarded as an established fact [more commonly known in the US as a "Fox news watcher"
Floordrobe - a pile of clothes left on the floor of a room
Hangry - irritable as a result of feeling hungry
Jog on - go away
Squadoosh - nothing
Zing - a short high-pitched buzzing sound, as of a bullet or vibrating string
Richard III dig: "Strong evidence" bones are lost king
The English king died in 1485 at the battle of Bosworth and was reported to have been pulled from his horse and killed with a blow to the head. The remains show a "cleaved-in skull" as well as spinal abnormalities which would have been consistent with reports of the king's physical appearance.
DNA will be extracted from the bones and tested against descendants of Richard's family.
If their identity is confirmed, Leicester Cathedral said it would work with the Royal Household, and with the Richard III Society, to ensure the remains were treated with dignity and respect and reburied with the appropriate rites and ceremonies of the church.
Travelers arrested after hiding small primates in underwear at Delhi airport
Three United Arab Emirates nationals have been arrested after security guards at India's capital airport found two of the men hiding slender lorises in pouches in their briefs, the BBC reported.
Security guards at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport noticed a bulge in their underwear during a frisk and uncovered the nocturnal, carnivorous primates, according to the BBC report.
Seems these wee little lorises are the latest in exotic pet fads and some experts fear the primates are becoming extinct.
Wiki offers this description:
Slender lorises are small, nocturnal primates found only in the tropical rainforests of Southern India and Sri Lanka. They are able to live in wet and dry forests, as well as lowland and highland forests. They prefer thick, thorny vegetation wherein they can easily escape predators and find the large assortment of insects that is the mainstay of their diet.
Mum shaves numbers into hair of her identical sons' hair so teachers can tell them apart
She took the drastic step before they started elementary school because she was worried the boys would get mixed up.
“Even now, their father can’t tell which one is which.
"Sometimes he punishes the second one for something the third one has done.”
Our car's had a snakedown: Couple finds 16 foot python coiled up in their engine
A couple had an unusual break down when they visited the Kruger National Park in South Africa looking for lions.
As they stopped at one point, a 16ft rock python slithered out of the grass and under their Renault car.
When it did not reappear, Marlene Swart and Leon Swanepoel plucked up the courage to open the bonnet – to find it lying there without a care in the world.
Message found in bottle after 98 years sets world record
The bottle, found east of the Shetland Island off Scotland's northern coast, was among 1,890 released all at one time in a government experiment to map the undercurrents of the seas around Scotland, the BBC reports. Only 315 have been found.
Fisherman Andrew Leaper, skipper of the Copious, found the bottle — which was set adrift in 1914 — in his nets in April.
Inside each bottle, a postcard asks the finder to record details of the discovery and promises a reward of a sixpence, the AP reports. Unfortunately for Leaper, the coin no longer exists.
"Actually, members of Mitt Romney's own party are starting to criticize him for being too vague. When asked if that bothers him, Romney said, 'Maybe.'" –Jimmy Fallon
"Over the weekend Mitt Romney made an appearance at a NASCAR race in Virginia. There was an awkward moment when he asked a NASCAR driver why he didn't just hire a chauffeur." –Conan O'Brien
"Mitt Romney is not backing down from his statement that America's number one foe is Russia. Then he said America's number one band is Duran Duran and the number one movie is 'The Goonies.'" –Conan O'Brien
"Mitt Romney released another ad that features Hispanic voters speaking in Spanish. The ad ends with him saying, 'I'm Mitt Romney, and I have no idea what these people are saying.'" –Conan O'Brien
"Yesterday, Paul Ryan said that he and Mitt Romney won't reveal their tax plan to the public until after the election. Other politicians couldn't believe it. They were like, 'At least do the honorable thing and lie.'" –Jimmy Fallon
"A new poll shows that President Obama has expended his lead over Mitt Romney since the Democratic National Convention. Of course, it didn't help Obama as much as that other event – the Republican National Convention." –Jimmy Fallon