Tokyo crows build nests out of coat hangers

The birds especially crows in Tokyo, the capital city of Japan is a busy metropolis, find it hard to get twigs to build their nests as there are no trees and shrubs around. As they are known to be highly intelligent birds have started to build their nests out of coat hangers they steal from people's homes.

Crows make use of pretty much anything they find lying around to build their hardy nests. House Crows generally build crude structures, made of interlocking twigs gathered from surrounding trees and shrubs. They weave the twigs together with little pieces of metallic wire that strengthen the nest structure. In some nests, the clever crows incorporate knotted lengths of thick plastic instead.

As twigs and other natural materials are hard to come by in the busy metropolis, the crows settle for the next best thing, and that seems to be coat hangers. It is not only one nest but it looks like a jungle of coat hanger nests in Tokyo.

Sometimes the crows build their hanger nests on the power lines. This could cause huge power blackouts, especially during mating season. So the Kyushu Electric power company actually has 'crow patrols' that search for and destroy hanger nests on their power grid.

Stuck in the 1940s

High-tech gadgets, modern appliances even the internet are out! 35-year-old Ben Sansum prefers the old world charm of the 1940s.

Living in a small four-room Victoria cottage in Godmanchester in Cambridgeshire,UK,surrounded by furniture and appliances that are all from the forties or older, Sansum even adopts a 1940s-style dress code.

He has filled almost every corner of his period house with old objects that look as good as new.Right from an Aga cooker that heats a large white kettle,to the several tea tins and boxes of war time food stacked up on his shelves,everything in his house as a reminder of the good times. He makes his tea in a period kettle and serves them in 1940s tea cups.

Ben's strange interest in the forties began at the age of 12, when his Great Uncle Stan gave him a 1940s radio. "I guess I was always the funny boy at school that had this strange interest," he said. "Gradually, as I grew older, I loved the music and the fashion. I'm 35 now, my parents probably think I've grown out of it, but I will always live by this now. I know I will never grow out of it. I shall probably die living like this. But that's fine, because I'm ensuring that their way of life isn't forgotten."

"I couldn't live in a modern house now with modern interiors," Ben admitted. "I like this period, I like the community spirit. I don't want to glorify the war, I like all the things that took people's minds away from the war, the music and the fashions and the cars. Things were British-made and built to last."

According to Ben, the 'heart of the house' is the Victorian range in the kitchen. It's from the 1890s, fully restored and in perfect working condition. "It's marvellous, I use it all the time in winter, it's fantastic. Endless supply of hot water, great fun. But hard work - blacking the range every day is filthy." He also loves his Victorian age master bedroom. "It's more Victorian up here, because in the thirties visitors used the best room, so it's the best where you have all your art décor and modern stuff," Ben explained. "But the older part of the house where the visitors wouldn't see, you have all the hand-me-downs, the Victorian furniture."

Ben inherited most of his collectibles from his relatives, but he's worked hard to hunt down some of the great pieces of furniture in the house. The 1930s three-piece suit that he now uses as décor, and his set of flying ducks, came from a nearby house. Some pieces aren't originals, but well-made replicas of things that were used in the forties. He uses an Ewbank carpet sweeper to keep his lounge spotless, and he even has an original lavatory in an old outhouse in the garden. There's also a gas mask ready for use in case of an air raid, like they had during the war in the forties.

But some of the things in the house are so old, they don't work very well any more. Like the old-style telephone that Ben can only use to receive calls. He has to plug in a modern set when he wants to make a call. And he does admit to a few modern conveniences that are well-hidden in the period house.

Interestingly, Ben is in a relationship, but he doesn't share his home with his partner.

"I think years ago, I used to hope that one day I'd have someone live with me and be sort of compatible. But I think my interest is so extreme that my partner has a modern house and I have a period house. So we have a house each, it's great, because not everyone wants to live like that. I appreciate that."

One of the things Ben loves most about his house is the location. "The view outside the window hasn't changed for actually a thousand years. It's a pity about the modern traffic, can't do much about that."

Public toilet exclusively for dogs

El Vendrell, a small town in north-western Spain has invented a unique solution to deal with dog waste - a canine public toilet.

Public toilets for dogs sound like a great idea, especially in towns like El Vendrell where pet owners can be fined up to €750 for neglecting to pick up their dogs' waste. Larger cities such as Barcelona and Madrid have fines running as high as €1,500. Authorities in the town of Colmenar Viejo had actually hired a private detective in April to catch owners who didn't follow the rules.

The public toilet is the brainchild of dog-lover Enric Girona, who has spent over ten years observing and photographing dogs. Through his work, he recognised the need for a toilet for dogs, so he set about creating one himself. "Over the years, I've seen that if you train and raise dogs well, these animals can be just like humans," he said.

Girona invented several variants of the toilet, modifying each one as he learned more and more about dog behaviour. The present version of the urinal, for example, doesn't clean itself perfectly when flushing, because need to pick the odour so they are lured to the toilet.

He also had the location in mind while designing these toilets, so they'd naturally blend into surroundings such as parks and other public places.

"You can't have something that clashes with the setting," he pointed out. "The design was done with the concept of being attractive."

Some pet owners are quite happy with the solution, as long as it's free. "I am in favour of it, if the mayor does not use this device to charge more taxes, then that's fine," said one. "But if we have to charge more for pensioners who are fed up with bills and fees, that does not seem right."