Smoking Orangutan

Markozen.com Animals, Offbeat

BBC

Indonesia zoo condemned over smoking orangutan

smoke

Animal rights activists have condemned staff at a zoo where an orangutan was filmed smoking.

A visitor flicked a cigarette into the enclosure at Bandung zoo, and Odon, 22, picked it up and started puffing. Footage of the incident has gone viral.

Zoo staff said the incident was regrettable, and that the guard may have been taking a break at the time.

Indonesia has one of the highest smoking rates in the world and a bad record of animal protection.

“There’s actually a sign”

A zoo spokesperson said there are measures in place to prevent exactly this from happening.

“There’s actually a sign at the location which says visitors are not allowed to give food and cigarettes to the animals,” said spokesperson Sulhan.

Penguin ‘Supercolony’ Found in Antarctica

Markozen.com Nature

Time

Scientists have discovered a previously unknown “supercolony” of more than 1.5 million rare penguins on an island located off the Antarctic Peninsula. The researchers from Stony Brook University discovered the enormous colony of Adelie Penguins after analyzing satellite imagery of the island. The population of Adelie Penguins had been previously thought to be in decline.

I Think Spaced Based Aliens Are Checking On Us

Markozen.com Paranormal

A morning news team in Milwaukee were left almost speechless when a live shot of the city skyline showed a strange collection of odd flying objects.

The weird scene occurred on Tuesday morning before dawn as the anchors for WITI in Wisconsin were transitioning between segments and the program showed the usually-standard live look over the city.

However, in this particular instance, one of the newscasters noticed something amiss, asking “are those fireworks” as a series of anomalies swirled around in the sky.

The live broadcast then went silent as the anchors attempted to decipher what they were watching with the same newscaster wondering if they were seeing aliens.

“It’s getting weirder by the second,” exclaimed another anchor who asked aloud, “are we rolling on that?”

As one can imagine, the clip generated a considerable amount of interest among UFO enthusiasts both for the strange nature of the anomalies as well as the venue in which the video was filmed.

Fortunately, though, a subsequent investigation into the matter by the TV station turned up what appears to be the source for the ‘flying saucers.’

It appears that the objects were, in fact, just seagulls that appeared to be illuminated by light reflecting off of their white feathers.

While further video evidence suggests that the ‘bird theory’ is correct, the remarkable moment for the morning team is a good indication that, should an alien invasion ever actually occur, they’d be just as mystified as the rest of us.

Vatican Increases Exorcism Training

Markozen.com Religiousness

demonic

In response to an unsettling increase in demand for exorcisms in Italy, the Vatican has announced plans for a new course to better train priests to perform the practice.

The week-long event to be held in April was detailed by Italian priest and exorcist Benigno Palilla in an interview with Vatican Radio.

According to Palilla, requests for exorcisms from the Church have skyrocketed in Italy over the last few years with experts estimating an astounding 500,000 such cases being reported.

Although the priest acknowledged that not all of these events are genuinely connected to an actual possession, he cautioned that the jaw-dropping number of exorcisms indicated that there is some sort of sinister surge happening.

As to what may be behind this spike, Palilla pointed to the popularity of fortune tellers, tarot card readers and other soothsaying mystics in Italy.

He warned that partaking in such ‘sorcery’ unwittingly “opens the door to the devil and possession.”

Additionally, Palilla expressed concern that the whopping number of exorcism cases in the country has led to inexperienced priests being enlisted to perform the ritual.

Calling for a proverbial apprenticeship for exorcists, he lamented that the phenomenon of possession is often verboten during the process of preparing for the priesthood, leaving newcomers overwhelmed when they are called to confront the issue.

By holding this new course on the subject later this year, Palilla hopes to strip away some of the sensationalism surrounding exorcisms and better prepare priests for the various cases they may encounter.

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What is behind all this is the Vatican trying to scare people back to the pews. The church is losing believers en masse. Another attempt to get more money in the collection baskets.

dc9

Memorable Images from The Pyeonchang Games

Markozen.com Sports

The Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, which ended on Sunday, yielded 102 gold medals in 16 days.

The Olympic stadium is seen in an aerial shot during the closing ceremonyImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES

The closing ceremony was a colourful event, complete with drones depicting the official mascot, a white tiger named Soohorang, with white lights (below).

Artists perform as yellow and red lines of light follow behind themImage copyrightREUTERS
Team Great Britain athletes walk holding flags and recording on their phonesImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionTeam Great Britain walked in the Parade of Athletes, with snowboarding bronze medallist Billy Morgan holding the Great Britain flag
Red fireworks explore over a crowded Olympic stadiumImage copyrightREUTERS
Figures gather around a giant projected logo of the Beijing 2022 OlympicsImage copyrightREUTERS
Image captionThe upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics were advertised in style

We take a look at some of the best pictures taken by sports photographers during the Games.

Four male skaters race each other with the Olympic rings image seen in the ice beneath themImage copyrightREUTERS
Image captionSkaters race in the Men’s Mass Start semi-final
Ice skater Anna Duskova spins in the hair horizontally as her partner Martin Bidar looks up at herImage copyrightREUTERS
Image captionAnna Duskova and Martin Bidar of Czech Republic in action during the Pair Skating competition
Shaun White hugs a friend in celebrationImage copyrightREUTERS
Image captionShaun White (right) of the US hugs a friend as he wins gold at the Men’s Halfpipe
Team Sweden hug each other in celebrationImage copyrightREUTERS
Image captionTeam Sweden celebrate their curling win against South Korea
Dawid Kubacki is seen on skis in mid-airImage copyrightREUTERS
Image captionDawid Kubacki of Poland competes at the Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre
Skater Nathan Chen is seen with arms outstretched with coloured Olympic signs in the ice beneath himImage copyrightREUTERS
Image captionUS skater Nathan Chen performs
A South Korea fan smiles with logos on her faceImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionA South Korea fan shows her support for her team
Nicola Tumolero and Riccardo Bugari seen on the ice, one with arms outstretched, the other sitting on the iceImage copyrightREUTERS
Image captionSkaters Nicola Tumolero and Riccardo Bugari of Italy fall after a final
Phoebe Staenz lying on the groundImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionPhoebe Staenz of Switzerland scores a goal against South Korea
Magnus Nedregotten slides along the ice whilst CurlingImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionMagnus Nedregotten of Norway in action during a curling event
Yura Min and Alexander Gamelin perform their routine with Yura's arms outstretchedImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionFigure skaters Yura Min and Alexander Gamelin of Korea perform
Adam Rippon spins on the iceImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionAdam Rippon spins during a figure skating event
Kaori Sakamoto holds her ice skate up to her head whilst competingImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionKaori Sakamoto of Japan competes in a Single Free Skating event
Thomas Bing lies in the snow whilst looking at the cameraImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionThomas Bing of Germany lies on the snow during a cross-country quarterfinal
North Korean cheerleaders hold unification flagsImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionNorth Korean cheerleaders hold unification flags
Lizzy Yarnold competesImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionLizzy Yarnold of Great Britain slides during the Women’s Skeleton