h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Gor Blimey, strike a light, the new Royal Baby may not be a Cockney, bleedin liberty, she's only been and gorn somewhere up norf, would you Adam and Eve it, the old Queen Mum would turn in her grave, marry commoners that's what 'appens, Gord save us. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-baby/11548505/Royal-baby-why-it-may-not-be-a-Londoner.html

The International Secret Intelligence Service felt pressure to drop the ISIS name as well so they merged with the CIA.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/10/13/archer_and_isis_parting_ways_fx_show_moves_sterling_archer_to_cia.html

The key bit with the name change in Oxford is rushed over:
'Recruiting students, including from the Middle East, had become more difficult with the Isis name'
If each Middle East student pays tuition fees of, I'm guessing, over £10k per year, putting them off is a serious dent in your pocket...

<BB<

Any prospective student that would be put off by the name ISIS, a name which the terror organization itself reputes, may not be an ideal student anyway.

There are probably students who've boiled the choice down to two equal institutions and are looking for that one, last straw determining factor to base the final decisions. They might well then decide that the following might not look good on their CV:

2015 – 2018 – ISIS

<BB<

I hope that other institution isn't the National Anglo-Mediterranean and Baltic Language Academy.

I sometimes wonder what's going to kill me when my time is up in this world.

Falling down a hole is fast becoming a serious candidate:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-32431623

Some people will fall down holes no matter how many barriers or obstacles may lie in their path.

http://youtu.be/JIMov8jzjEE

http://metro.co.uk/2015/04/21/woman-with-agoraphobia-goes-outside-and-falls-down-manhole-5159187/

You need outdoor expertise to be safe from falling down holes. No sniggering at the back there!

PP.

Audi drivers, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-32605972

A possible plan to relocate 1000 orphaned white rhinos to South Texas... not to roam the country side, but to be treated basically as pets.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/daily-post/4-percent-africas-rhinos-might-relocate-south-texas

Nice find Grim!

Seeing as I do a lot of reading/research and write about conservation and endangered creatures in my books, I actually have a view on this.

Firstly, in 2012 there were 668 rhinos killed by poachers. So the 1000 they're thinking of bringing over to Texas is less than are killed every two years, almost two a day, or two and a half percent of the population a year. Given the increasing rate of poaching, and the decreasing rate of births, it's forecast that the deaths will outnumber the births in about two to three years time.

So, given that background, the species is very much on the endangered list and looking at extinction in our lifetimes. Now, given all that and rereading the article it doesn't seem that daft an idea, if it's a start of something larger.

Let's face it, people who take unusual animals as pets tend to be very focussed on them. You just have to look at Crufts to see how serious some people are. In a way, what's being proposed isn't too dissimilar from rearing and breeding horses. Texas has the land, it has the climate, and it has the ranchers who're used to having horses running around in fields. If this is done in a similar way, then we could see white rhino being kept like horses.

We don't have wild horses any more, and that's a shame. But at least we do have horses, in not many more years we may well not have rhino.

If we have Crufts for Rhinos in twenty years time, it will all have been worth it.

Since there is no medical benefit to be had from it, what does it say about the sort of people who, in purchasing rhino horn, chooses to ignore the impending extinction of the rhino? Is there a quack medicine available to treat them for such a crippling case of ignorance?

Having them relocated to ranches in Texas also means they'll have armed guards.

That said, in the comments for this article on Reddit, it didn't take long for another couple of Texans to discuss the idea of breeding them for "exotic hunting". There are several ranches in that part of Texas that specialize in offering what is often referred to as "canned hunts". If you only look at the numbers of these animals, then you can make an argument that these programs increase their populations. It's a very popular view among hunters, that their "sport" is good for animal population control.

Obviously, if rhinos are brought over here and put in the care of private ranch owners, there will need to be some economic incentive for them to do so. That's just the way things are done. I'd hope they wouldn't be used for hunting, but rather something more like safari parks, a chance to see these creatures up close. There are a few such exotic ranches in Texas as well.


As to the crippling ignorance of those who use their horn for medicinal purposes, that will need a re-education of the huge populations in Asia. There is some hope. Younger generations in China and other Asian countries are more aware of the plight of rhinos, elephants and other endangered creatures and are less likely to purchase related products. But that's mostly among the urban populations. It will take a huge campaign to reach the rural populations and it will also take serious efforts on the part of the governments to really put an end to billion dollar businesses, rather than the lip service they've typically responded with.

What do rhinos taste like?

Time to put your hard hats on...
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/may/07/russias-progress-spacecraft-set-to-crash-to-earth-within-24-hours

Oddly enough, like a mixture of passenger pigeon and Tasmanian wolf.

Would developing a market for rhino meat help ensure species survival?

"Would developing a market for rhino meat help ensure species survival?"

Are you guys reading my next book?