Gay pride
IN THE jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight. But who is he sleeping next to? That is the thought troubling Ezekiel Mutua, chief executive of the Kenya Film Classification Board, after the Nairobi News reported two maned lions in the Maasai Mara had been spotted in an intimate embrace, raising speculation that Kenya is host to a pair of gay lions.
Mutua 鈥� who has been campaigning against depictions of homosexuality since his appointment in 2015, wants action. Previous targets include children鈥檚 cartoons Adventure Time and Hey Arnold!, both of which were banned because of their perceived gay .
鈥淗arrison Ford hits out: 鈥淭oday鈥檚 greatest threat is not climate change, not pollution, not flood or fire. It鈥檚 that we鈥檝e got people in charge of important shit who don鈥檛 believe in science鈥濃��
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Mutua told the Nairobi News that the lions needed to be isolated, and if possible, 鈥渁 PhD study into this bizarre behaviour鈥� carried out. The lions鈥� actions, he said, could have been learned by observing gay men 鈥渂ehaving badly鈥� within the park, but also through demonic possession. He was certain, however, that it was not through watching films 鈥� and contested that policing the behaviour of lions was beyond the remit of the film board, which is a shame, as we expect many would have rather enjoyed watching him attempt to break up a pair of coital lions.
It鈥檚 still not known if the two lions really were both males 鈥� females sometimes do grow manes 鈥� but such behaviour isn鈥檛 unheard of between male lions. Fortunately, with all the problems Kenya鈥檚 big cats face, the moral police won鈥檛 yet be .
Royal flush
STAYING on the savannah: greater efforts are needed to counter the impact of human activity on the natural world, Prince William has told attendees of the Tusk conservation gala. A growing population 鈥減uts wildlife and habitat under enormous pressure鈥� said the prince, who is expecting his third child.
The avid pheasant shooter added 鈥渨e are going to have to work much harder, and think much deeper, if we are to ensure that human beings and the other species of animal with which we share this planet can continue to co-exist鈥�.
Ahoy there
OUR readers have been mulling over the possible origin of a strange, eight-legged structure pulled out of the surf in Rhode Island (30 September). 鈥淭he item looks like the remains of a sea anchor,鈥� writes Colin Gordon. 鈥淭hese are used to stabilise a vessel during a storm, preventing it turning broadside and being swamped by heavy seas.鈥� Perhaps it didn鈥檛 do what it said on the tin. Has anybody waded in to check for the rest of the ship?
Dry conditions
鈥淩EADING your note concerning the universal smoking ban reminded me of a notice I recently saw at an M6 service station,鈥� says Michael Littlewood. The sign 鈥� a familiar sight to British drivers 鈥揹eclares that 鈥淎lcohol purchased in this motorway service area cannot be consumed inside or outside the premises.鈥�
Feedback notes that an addendum on the sign reads 鈥淭hank you for your co-operation鈥�. A little presumptuous perhaps, as we鈥檙e not sure how thirsty travellers could do anything but fail to comply with this message.
Shock and ore
PREVIOUSLY we discussed the ins and (mostly) outs of re-gifting a pacemaker (7 October). 鈥淚n your discussion, you missed the problem attached to cremations,鈥� says Derek Morris. 鈥淲hen my pacemaker was fitted, I was told it would have to be removed because it could explode and damage the kiln.鈥�
Derek says with 30,000 odd pacemakers fitted in the UK every year, there could be money in melting down and recycling the metals within. This is probably also true, Feedback thinks, for more substantial implants like metal hips, and in these austere times, it won鈥檛 be long before the government introduces some kind of scrappage scheme for elderly relatives.
Ruff justice
WE鈥橵E heard of legal eagles, but canine counsellors is a new one. The US Lousiana Supreme Court has heard an appeal from a defendant who claims police ignored his request for a lawyer.
According to court documents, Warren Demesme told officers 鈥淚 know that I didn鈥檛 do it, so why don鈥檛 you just give me a lawyer dog cause this is not what鈥檚 up.鈥�
Under existing law, police can continue an interrogation if the request for a lawyer is stated 鈥渁mbiguously鈥� 鈥� which in this case, would mean that officers believed Demesme was asking for a four-legged attorney. And yet, the court voted 6-1 to deny Demesme鈥檚 appeal.
Precision attack
ANY Bluetooth-enabled phone or device may be vulnerable to the BlueBorne cyberattack, Stuart Neilson reads in the latest issue of Linux Format magazine. It warns readers that 鈥渄evices that haven鈥檛 been recently updated could be compromised by an attack from within 32 feet or 9753.6 millimetres.鈥�
鈥淭he problem,鈥� says Stuart 鈥渋s in knowing which way to move that extra 0.1 millimetre when you can鈥檛 see from where the cyberattack originates鈥�.
Quantified self
SOME serious calorie counting: Peter Mabey鈥檚 latest blood test returns a glucose reading of 5.7000000000000002 mMol/L. He says this test has him pegged 鈥渄own to the very last molecule, and beyond!鈥�