Watercooler Stories

Web cam watches Florence falcons

FLORENCE, Italy, April 4 (UPI) -- Civic and artistic authorities in Italy have set up a Web cam to observe a pair of falcons nesting on a Florence cathedral.

Bird watchers expect the peregrine falcons -- nicknamed Giotto after the famed Florentine painter and Monna Tessa after Italy's first nurse -- to receive the first of their young this month, ANSA, the Italian news agency, reported Tuesday.

The Web cam, which can be accessed at florence.tv, provincia.fi.it and birdcam.it, was put in place to document the gestation of the four eggs, laid March 8 and the young lives of the expected fledglings.

Peregrine falcons were nearly driven to extinction in Italy by pesticides containing DDT until the substance was banned in the 1970s. The birds were spotted soaring over Florence in 1993.

French taking to English gardens

PARIS, April 4 (UPI) -- The French and English often agree to disagree on cultural points, but the manicured, weed-free English garden is catching on in France, and some are not happy.

Sales of gardening tools have jumped 5 percent in France, the Telegraph of London reported. And Henri Delbard, president of the French Horticultural Society, told the newspaper he's unhappy with the development.

"Unfortunately the last 10 years have seen thousands of homeowners following the example of the English," Delbard said. "Domestic gardening has become trendy, and the environment is paying for this. The old-style wild gardens are far better for the environment."

Alain Jouan, an environmental officer in Brittany said the decision was made in his region to simply return to letting weeds grow.

"Protecting creatures like butterflies may seem odd, but it's to protect biodiversity and therefore man," Jouan said.

Author could face fine for pebble theft

DORCHESTER, England, April 4 (UPI) -- A British author who admitted to taking pebbles from a South Coast beach could face a fine of nearly $4,000.

Ian McEwan said he took pebbles from the Dorset beach as part of the research for his latest book, "On Chesil Beach," The Telegraph reported Tuesday.

However, Chesil Beach is protected by the British government as a site of special scientific interest, and hefty fines are imposed for anyone caught taking even a single pebble from the beach.

"Anyone removing pebbles could face a fine of up to £2,000," about $3,950, said educational organizer Hazel Griffiths.

Exercise machines go high-tech

SAN FRANCISCO, April 4 (UPI) -- A health convention in San Francisco was host to a variety of new and unusual exercise machine technologies, including a device similar to "Pac-Man."

A machine displayed by company Motivatrix at the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association convention emulates the popular "Pac-Man" video game by including a video screen on the running machine that depicts a running man fleeing attacking "ghosts," The San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday.

The convention also saw the unveiling of a new line of Nautilus machines that use sophisticated graphics, analytical tools and a Yamaha MP3 player that changes music based on the user's heart rate to enhance the exercise experience, the newspaper reported.

"Definitely, high-tech has helped develop the health club industry," Rosemary Lavery, a spokeswoman for the association, told the Chronicle. "It helps make fitness fun and really make it an overall experience and not just about exercise. Technology helped in terms of music and video and things you can do on machines so that it is about enjoying yourself."