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More than 30 stranded whales rescued in New Zealand
A pod of more than 30 pilot whales were rescued after being stranded on Ruakākā Beach near Whangārei in northern New Zealand on Sunday, officials say. The rescue effort was spearheaded by the local Māori group, Patuharakeke, who were joined by authorities and other members of the public.

The whales were refloated by lifting them on sheets. Patuharakeke read more

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Awesome Bridge Swings Back and Forth to Allow Boats to Pass Over Long-Divided Scottish River
It’s one of the world’s first large “double-leaf swing bridges,” to use the proper term, which opens to allow boat traffic to pass by swinging each half of the bridge like the paddles in a pinball machine.

The local port read more

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Endless Honking of Waymo’s Driverless Taxis Wakes a Neighborhood
In late July, Waymo rented a parking lot outside two San Francisco apartment buildings for its vehicles to idle in. Then came the noise.

The driverless vehicles, made by the California-based company Waymo, began to appear in a lot near Ms. Tung’s apartment building in late July. Waymo had rented it for the read more

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Eclipse across North America: The total solar eclipse that swept across Mexico, the United States and Canada has completed a spectacular journey over continental North America.
An estimated 32 million people were in the path of totality and a total solar eclipse could be visible in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, read more

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An international team of scientists may have found more than 100 new species, during a mission to explore seamounts off the coast of Chile. These creatures who look like they come from a sci-fi novel call the 1,800-mile-long Salas y Gómez Ridge home.

Seamounts are large underwater mountains that are often formed by volcanic activity and can be found in every ocean basin on Earth. They are a critical read more

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San Francisco’s Lunar New Year parade celebrates the Year of the Dragon (Video)
Amid the loud pops of firecrackers, thousands of people gathered as dozens of floats rolled from Market and Second streets on a balmy Saturday to celebrate the Year of the Dragon.

San Francisco’s Lunar New Year parade, the largest one outside read more

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Tony Bennett, legendary singer and master of the American songbook, dies at 96 “I’ve never worked a day in my life,” Tony Bennett told USA TODAY in 2011, “because I love what I do.” The great singer cited that bit of Confucian wisdom often. In a career spanning more than six decades, Bennett conveyed that joy and read more

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Cockatoos can not only use tools, they can carry whole toolkits to trickier jobs, study shows
(CNN)The ability to solve problems with multiple tools is a rare talent in the animal kingdom, but according to new research, cockatoos are the first birds on the block to carry and use a tool kit to suit their needs.

Using 10 Goffin’s cockatoos, researchers from read more

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You probably wouldn’t win a staring contest with it, though you’d be hard pressed to look away. Taller than a mailbox, with an eight-foot wingspan, the shoebill is quite a kick to observe! This hefty bird with its lesson-in-gray plumage is endemic to swamps and wetlands of Central and East Africa. Solitary in nature, even when paired with another, the birds like their space and will feed at opposite ends of their read more

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House panel passes 9/11 victims fund bill a day after Jon Stewart’s testimony June 2019 – The House Judiciary Committee unanimously passed a bill which would permanently reauthorize the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund Wednesday, the day after comedian Jon Stewart gave impassioned testimony read more

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Sea turns red with blood as 1,428 dolphins killed in ‘largest ever’ Faroe Islands hunt
1,428 Atlantic white-sided dolphins were slaughtered in the bay of Skálabotnur on Sunday. Shocking pictures have emerged of scores of hookfin porpoises washed up on the shores of the self-governing Danish archipelago, many of read more

First Blue Angels pilots. From left to right: Lieutenant Al Taddeo, Solo; Lieutenant (junior grade) Gale Stouse, Spare; Lieutenant Commander R.M. Voris, Leader; Lieutenant Maurice Wickendoll, Right Wing; Lieutenant Mel Cassidy, Left Wing.
April 28, 2020: elite flight demonstration squadrons, the Navy’s Blue Angels and the Air Force’s Thunderbirds, gave a salute to health care workers and others on the front lines in the fight against coronavirus

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It’s common knowledge that there are few things in this world more enjoyable than the sight of a small dachshund balancing random household objects on its adorable little head – Harlso the Balancing Hound, with his slightly baffled expression and penchant for balancing even the most unexpected of objects (occasionally while in costume)…

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Photo courtesy pawculture.com