04 Dec 2009
North Korea admits drastic currency reform, is silent on protests

If they're protesting in the streets in North Korea, it's pretty bad indeed. Could this be the beginning of the end of the Hermit Kingdom?

Reports of protest, violence emerged from North Korea after a drastic currency reform that sets an exchange rate of 1,000 old to 1 new . A North Korean paper in Japan confirmed the reform.

(link) [Christian Science Monitor]

Update:Here's the BBC's take.

20:40 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

Scientists think 'killer petunias' should join the ranks of carnivorous plants

Well that explains it: our missing barn cats! I told Lorraine to stick to marigolds!

Scientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and the Natural History Museum believe that carnivorous behavior in plants is far more widespread than previously thought, with many commonly grown plants -- such as petunias -- at least part way to being "meat eaters." A review paper, Murderous plants: Victorian Gothic, Darwin and modern insights into vegetable carnivory, is published today, December 4, 2009, in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.

(link) [EurekAlert!]

20:38 /Humor | 0 comments | permanent link