The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Odds & Ends
No plan for aliens
BERLIN (AP) » The German government says it has made no preparations for the possibility that aliens might land in the European country.
In a response to questions from opposition Green Party lawmaker Dieter Janecek, the government said “there are no protocols or plans for a possible first contact with alien life.”
Justifying that stance, the government added it believes “a first contact on German territory is extremely unlikely, based on today’s scientific knowledge.” Janecek linked the government’s responses to a media article Saturday.
Separately, German news agency dpa reported Saturday the classic children’s book “The Little Prince” has been translated into Klingon — the fictitious language of the eponymous space race in the science fiction franchise “Star Trek.”
Dpa quoted Saarbruecken-based translator Lieven L. Litaer as saying the book, titled “ta’puq mach,” will be published in October.
Corpse flower blooms
SAN MARINO, CALIF. (AP) » Visitors were flocking to the Huntington Library in Southern California on Friday to get a whiff of a socalled corpse flower, known for the rotten stench it releases when it blooms.
The flower, nicknamed “Stink,” began blooming unexpectedly on Thursday night, Huntington spokeswoman Lisa Blackburn said.
“We thought we had a few more days to go. But it was ready, and it was pretty spectacular,” she said. “The great thing about these flowers is they’re so unusual-looking and have this reputation for smelling really bad. It gets all kinds of people really interested in botanical science. It’s just a charismatic plant.”
Corpse flowers typically take 15 years to reach a mature blooming size, and blooms usually only last 24 hours.
The foul odor the plants emit attracts insects for pollination. The plants don’t emit the foul odor until they bloom.
“It smelled like rotting meat or decaying rats or gym socks,” said Brandon Tam, an orchid specialist at the Huntington.
The scent decreased on Friday afternoon as the flower started to close back up. “But if you are close enough, you’ll be able to get a little whiff of it,” Tamsaid.
“Stink” is the sixth corpse flower to bloomat the institution in suburban SanMarino. The last was on Aug. 23, 2014.
The plant is one of the three corpse f lowers expected to bloom within the next week. The two other flowers, nicknamed “Stunk” and “Stank,” should bloom in the next few days, Blackburn said.
“This is the first time the Huntington is going to bloom total of three in one season, which is quite rare,” Tam said. “It is a surprise to see we have three all at once.”
TheHuntington is seeing more visitors than normal. More than 500 Huntington members flocked to the Huntington Library to view the blooming on Thursday night, Tam said.
“I’ve known about the corpse f lower since the first time I saw it in 2009. So every time I hear about it about to bloom, I want to come and see it,” visitor Jeannette Hollyday said.
Baby boom
MESA, ARIZ. (AP) » A baby boomis brewing at a suburban Arizona hospital where 16 intensive care nurses recently discovered they are all pregnant.
The nurses at Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa outside Phoenix joked Friday they thought there was something in the water when it became clear they were all expecting babies between October and January.
Nurse Rochelle Sherman, nearly eight months along, said: “I don’t think we realized just how many of us were pregnant until we started a Facebook group.”
Nurse Jolene Garrow joked, “We all formulated this plan to have the holidays off!”
Garrow said that as their pregnancies have progressed, the patients have begun noticing that most of the nurses around themare expecting. One patient insisted on touching her belly the night before, she said.
Garrow added that their non-pregnant colleagues have been great at helping with patients they should not be exposed to because of conditions or treatments that are potentially dangerous for expectant women, such as tuberculosis or shingles or chemotherapy because of the radiation.
But Ashley Adkins worried that the other nurses are getting tired of their pregnancy-focused conversations.
“They just roll their eyes!” she laughed. “More baby talk!”
Hospital officials noted that the Banner medical center chain has a pool of floating nurses that should ensure shifts are covered when their ICUnursing specialists begin taking their 12-week maternity leaves starting in the fall.
The nurses said their colleagues are throwing a group baby shower next week.
The hospital on Friday gave the women one-piece rompers reading, “Relax! Mymomis a Banner nurse!”
Bear trapped in car
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CALIF. (AP) » A Northern California deputy fired several beanbag rounds into a back car window to free a trapped bear that had likely been searching for snacks.
El Dorado County Sheriff’s spokesman Anthony Prencipe said Thursday that officers were called after the bear was seen rummaging through a Honda Civic in South Lake Tahoe.
In a video, the caller says the bear did not seem very happy and that it looked huge.
The deputy says that he was going to try to break out the back window. After several shots, the window breaks open and the bear romps out and into the woods.
Prencipe said it’s safer to open a vehicle remotely than get close to a scared bear.
The sheriff’s office posted on Facebook that bears can open doors.