Giant African Snail, the invasive threat

The destructive menace has returned to Florida after a lapse of about 30 years. Now they have started the eradication process to rid the area of this invasive species.

It is the Giant African Snail (Lissachatina fulica). This threat was first found in Florida in the 1960s and it took 10 years and $1 million to destroy it. It was reintroduced in 2011 and eradication efforts are currently under way.

The Giant African Snail [GAS] is one of the most damaging snails in the world because it consumes at least 500 types of plants and can cause structural damage to plaster and stucco structures. This snail can also carry a parasitic nematode that can lead to meningitis in humans. GAS also reproduces quickly, producing about 1,200 eggs in a single year.

Officials said they had collected 128,000 of the snails since the start of an aggressive extermination campaign. They can grow as big as rats and devour plants as well as stucco and plaster in a hunt for calcium they need to grow their big shells. In large numbers, the snails can cause extensive structural damage to buildings.

"We see a lot of strange things in Florida and this one makes the top of the list," said Florida agriculture commissioner Adam Putnam. "It is a very serious pest."

Putnam said $6 million had been spent to eradicate the snails, which may have been introduced to Florida by a Miami Santeria group, a religion with West African and Caribbean roots that was found in 2012 to be using the snails in its rituals.

The snails can carry a parasitic rat lungworm that can cause illness in humans, including a form of meningitis, although no such cases have been identified in the United States.

To stamp out the snails, a team of 45 people regularly fans out across Miami, sometimes using rakes and getting down on their hands and knees to hunt for them.

The snail fighters also use bait, chemical treatments and experimental traps to root out the molluscs, helped by phone calls from residents who report sightings.

Joining them soon will be canine detectors, including a Labrador retriever being trained to sniff out the snails.

"They're very good at detecting the giant African land snail," said Richard Gaskalla, the head of plant industry at the Florida agriculture department. "So we're building four-legged technology into this program as quickly as we can."

The snail has no natural predator, but it can give off a strong smell that dogs can be trained to detect.

Giant African Land Snails are native to East Africa.

They grow to 25cm / 10" in length. In countries where they can be legally kept, they can make good pets, as they are relatively low maintenance and fascinating to watch.

A new course on love at Kolkata Presidency University

Now you can study Love at the university level!

Presidency University in Kolkata

This is the latest study course introduced to students at the Presidency University in Kolkata, India.

Named as "Enigma of Love", this new study course on love will deal with its sociological implications and will begin from the next semester in January, said Vice-Chancellor of Presidency University, Malabika Sarkar.

As part of the new interdisciplinary studies program this course will be taught by the University's Sociology Department and also will basically deal with the theoretical aspects of love, he said. The varsity began an initiative July to introduce students to a variety of topics, irrespective of their major subject, becoming the first university in the country to offer interdisciplinary courses. Under this program, science students can get a taste of liberal arts, and those delving into humanities can take up a science subject.

"This is the first such initiative in the country. In the traditional Indian university education system, honours students are required to take up two pass subjects... We have replaced the pass subjects," Prof Somak Raychaudhury, head of the varsity's physics department had said earlier.

The judge was also a comedian

How can a judge become a comedian?

Normally a judge is a serious personality, who has to decide what is right and what is wrong according to the legal norms. According to the image of a judge we have is that he is unable even to smile and look happy.

But Vince Sicari, a Municipal judge in New Jersey can be called an anti-judge if we go by the earlier image. Appearing as Vince August, the 44-year-old lawyer has appeared as a comedian and an actor on network television shows and in New York City comedy clubs and also as a warm-up for comedy central audiences.

He was also a part-time Municipal judge in South Hackensack, where he handled things such as traffic cases and disorderly person's offences. But the Supreme Court did not agree with his dual role and ruled Sicari's acting and comedy career "is incompatible" with judicial conduct codes.

The court noted in its opinion that Sicari's comedy act demeans some people based on religion or national origin and that could cause some to question his impartiality as a judge. Vince Sicari said he tendered his resignation after the high court released a unanimous opinion that said his acting and comedy career is "incompatible" with judicial conduct codes and essentially gave him the choice of doing one or the other.

"I'm not surprised by the result, but I'm very disappointed," Sicari said. "I take great pride in being a judge and to give that up is disappointing."

Sicari appealed the ruling to the state's highest court, which heard arguments in February.

Sicari's attorney, E. Drew Britcher, insisted at the time that his client never cracked wise on the bench and never let on that he moonlighted as a comic.

In his comedy routine, Britcher said, Sicari refrained from jokes about the legal profession and never divulged his judicial job. Sicari, who is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and other professional performers' unions, has said his entertainment work entitles him to health benefits and earns him more than his $13,000-a-year part-time judge salary. He said during the Supreme Court arguments in February that he was equally passionate about both his jobs and reiterated it.

"I've been balancing these professions my entire career," he said. "I have a passion for all of them. If I didn't have a passion, this wouldn't be a Supreme Court case."

Sicari said he would continue practicing law, which the Supreme Court said in its opinion he is entitled to do and which he has done during the time he was a judge.