February 2, 2012

NJ Camel Predicts Giants Will Win The Super Bowl

Lacey Township, NJ (AP) People use all sorts of ways to try to predict the winner of the Super Bowl: comparing regular season records, judging who looked stronger in the post-season run-up to the big game, or watching the betting lines from Las Vegas oddsmakers.

But the closest thing to a sure thing may come from a camel in New Jersey.

Princess, the star of New Jersey’s Popcorn Park Zoo, has correctly picked the winner of five of the last six Super Bowls. She went 14 and 6 predicting regular season and playoff games this year, and has a lifetime record of 88-51.

Her pick this year: The New York Giants.

The Bactrian camel’s prognostication skills flow from her love of graham crackers. Zoo general manager John Bergmann places a cracker and writes the name of the competing teams on each hand. Whichever hand Princess nibbles from is her pick. On Wednesday, she made her pick with no hesitation at all, predicting bad news for Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, even though the Las Vegas oddsmakers have New England favored by about 3 points.

Her only miscue in the big game was picking the Indianapolis Colts over the New Orleans Saints two years ago, indicating that even camels know it’s generally risky to go against Peyton Manning.

“It started out when a local radio station was looking to have some fun, so they asked Princess who was going to win a particular game each week, and it just took off from there,” Bergmann said. “Now we have guys calling up on Sunday morning wanting to know who Princess has picked that week. One guy even asked if she does lottery numbers.”

Her best season was 2008, when she got 17 out of 22 games right, including correctly picking the Pittsburgh Steelers to win the Super Bowl.

Princess doesn’t do point spreads. But she has nearly mastered the art of picking straight-up winners.

The cunning camel was once the personal pet of heiress Doris Duke, the only child of tobacco and electric energy tycoon James Buchanan Duke.

Doris Duke raised Princess and her sister Babe from youngsters, Bergmann said.

The pair of camels had their own barn, and spent summers at Duke’s Rhode Island estate. During bad weather, they were put up in the solarium.

After Duke’s death in 1993, the camels stayed on her estate in Hillsborough. Babe died several years ago, leaving just Princess.

When Princess’ caretaker was about to retire, the estate offered Princess to Popcorn Park Zoo, which took her in. The zoo cares for abandoned and abused animals.

Researchers Find Cancer
In Ancient Egyptian Mummy

Cairo (AP) A professor from American University in Cairo says discovery of prostate cancer in a 2,200-year-old mummy indicates the disease was caused by genetics, not environment.

The genetics-environment question is key to understanding cancer.

AUC professor Salima Ikram, a member of the team that studied the mummy in Portugal for two years, said Sunday the mummy was of a man who died in his forties.

She said this was the second oldest known case of prostate cancer.

“Living conditions in ancient times were very different; there were no pollutants or modified foods, which leads us to believe that the disease is not necessarily only linked to industrial factors,” she said.

A statement from AUC says the oldest known case came from a 2,700 year-old skeleton of a king in Russia.

Doughnut Swiping Teen To Pay $200 In Fines

Powell, WY (AP) A 19-year-old college student accused of swiping a doughnut in Wyoming is going to be paying a pretty penny for that pastry.

The Northwest Trail reports that Zach O’Dell has agreed to pay a $200 fine, $10 in court costs and 79 cents to cover the cost of the doughnut.

O’Dell was accused of eating the treat in Blair’s Market in Powell on Nov. 28 and leaving without paying for it. He was charged with shoplifting.

Attorney Sandra Kitchen says she has deferred the prosecution, and the charge will be dismissed in six months if O’Dell stays out of trouble.

The Trail reports that O’Dell declined to comment.

The Northwest College student has been studying criminal justice.

It Looks Like A Squashed Cookie...But It’s Not!

London (AP) The Museum of London is displaying a coin found by the River Thames that may have been used nearly 2,000 years ago as a “brothel token” in Roman London.

The bronze coin shows a man and woman in an intimate embrace.

Senior curator Caroline McDonald said Thursday it is impossible to determine precisely what the coin was used for.

She says it is probable brothels existed in London when the coin was in circulation after the Roman invasion of Britain in the 1st Century A.D.

Experts believe the coin was concealed by mud along the river banks for some 2,000 years before it was discovered recently by a man with a metal detector looking for objects near Putney Bridge.

NY Inmate Guilty Of Seeking $890M In Tax Refunds

Syracuse, NY (AP) A jury has convicted a New York prison inmate of falsely filing tax returns seeking $890 million in refunds. Prosecutors say the man filed the bogus returns from 2006 to 2010 while at various state prisons.

They say he even was issued a refund for $327,000 but prison officials intercepted the check and returned it to the Internal Revenue Service, which led the investigation.

The man was convicted Thursday of 11 counts of filing false claims and one count of helping another inmate file bogus returns.

He was serving two to four years for possession of stolen property when he was charged last February. He faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on each count when he’s sentenced in May.

OK, They’ve Thought It Over... And Jesus Can Stay! Yay!

Helena, MT (AP) The U.S. Forest Service says it will re-authorize a permit for a 57-year-old statue of Jesus that had been facing eviction from a northwestern Montana ski resort.

The agency faced a firestorm of criticism from religious groups, the state’s congressman and residents after it decided last fall to boot the Jesus statue from its hillside perch in the trees.

The Forest Service said Tuesday will renew a 10-year special-use permit for the Knights of Columbus Council statue. Service supervisor Chip Weber says the decision took into account that the statue “is important to the community for its historical heritage.”

The agency received more than 90,000 comments on the issue.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation argues the religious statue does not belong on public land.