Yacht is badly damaged.

An Antarctic octopus that spews cold-resistant venom! A giant jellyfish that might have stung up to 100 people! A 40-ton whale that crushes yachts (well, at least one yacht, anyway)! The Web loves weird sea creatures. This past week, there was a lot to love.

Octopus fears no cold
They almost sound like some kind of a cartoon super villain. But not only are they real, they might have something to offer medicine. This past week, researchers discovered four new species of octopus “with venom that works at sub-zero temperatures.” Odd as it sounds, the discovery may have an effect on medical research. A buzzy blog at Discovery.com explains that the different proteins in the venom may lead to developments for pain, allergy, and cancer medications. Web searchers were clearly interested. Almost immediately, Web searches on “antarctic octopus” and “octopus venom” both spewed skyward.

Giant jellyfish stings dozens
On Wednesday, between 50 and 100 beachgoers from New Hampshire were treated for jellyfish stings. Amazingly, they may have all come from the same jellyfish. An article from LiveScience explains that authorities believe that the lion’s mane jellyfish (fancy name: Cyanea capillata) may have done the damage all on its own. Experts remain dubious that just one jellyfish, however huge and angry, could lash out at that many people. But LiveScience explains that “it is in the realm of possibility.” Web lookups for “giant jellyfish” swam their way to a 347% gain for the week.

Whale crashes into yacht
There’s the kind of whale watching, when you sit on your yacht and watch from a distance. And then there’s the up-close kind that Paloma Werner and Ralph Mothes partook in this past week. While sitting on their 10-meter boat, off the coast of South Africa, a 40-ton whale jumped out of the ocean and landed in the middle of their yacht. Not surprisingly, the whale caused significant damage to the vessel, crushing the mast and rigging. But the two sailors were unhurt, as was the whale, who left behind a bit of blubber before sliding back into the sea. Experts believe the whale didn’t know the boat was there, because the engine was off.

Hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico

Tropical Storm Alex intensified by 11 p.m. EDT on June 29 and became the first hurricane of the 2010 Atlantic Ocean Hurricane Season. NASA satellites continue to provide visible, infrared and microwave satellite data to forecasters to help the National Hurricane Center forecast Alex’s intensity and track, and NASA’s Aqua satellite flew over Alex hours before it became a hurricane yesterday.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument that flies aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite is one of those NASA instruments that provide forecasters data. MODIS captured a visible image of Alex on June 29 at 3:35 p.m. EDT as it churned over the Gulf of Mexico, and provided a high resolution image of this large storm’s extent in the Gulf of Mexico.

Now that Alex has become a hurricane, the storm has the title of being the first June hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean since 1995.

A hurricane warning is in effect for the coast of  Texas south of Baffin Bay to the mouth of the Rio Grande and the coast of Mexico from the mouth of the Rio Grande to La Cruz. A tropical storm warning is in effect for the coast of Texas from Baffin Bay to Port Oconnor, and the coast of Mexico south of La Cruz To Cabo Rojo.

At 8 a.m. EDT, Hurricane Alex’s center was closing in on the Mexican and south Texas coasts. Alex’s center was located about 155 miles (250 km) east of La Pesca, Mexico and 220 miles (355 km) southeast of Brownsville, Texas. That puts Alex’s center near latitude 23.4 north and longitude 95.3 west. Alex is moving toward the west-northwest near 7 mph. The National Hurricane Center calls for a “A slow west to west-northwestward motion over the next 24 to 48 hours.”

The Hurricane Center forecast says that on the forecast track the center of Alex will approach the coast of northeastern Mexico or southern Texas by late this afternoon or early evening, and Alex will make landfall in the hurricane warning area late tonight or early Thursday morning.

Maximum sustained winds remain near 80 mph so Alex is a category one hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane wind scale. Additional strengthening is forecast and Alex could become a category two hurricane prior to landfall.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s buoy 42055 located southeast of Alex recently reported sustained winds of 54 mph with a gust of 63 mph.

Smaller hurricanes have higher pressures, and larger hurricanes tend to have lower pressures. Alex is a very large hurricane and has a minimum central pressure near 959 millibars. Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 25 miles from the center and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 200 miles. Flood watches stretch from New Orleans to southern Texas because of the size of Hurricane Alex.

The Lizard Doctor

A woman prepares dead geckos for drying in Siwalan Tegal village in Probolinggo, Indonesia. The reptiles are believed to provide medicinal benefits.

New Hampshire, Illinois, and Oregon texting bans go into effect in 2010, making 19 states that have current laws prohibiting the practice. Texting includes internet use, email, and sending or receiving text messages while operating a motor vehicle.

Inattentive driving has always been a safety concern, but it seems that texting is being blamed for the vast majority of accidents. Applying make-up, eating, shaving, smoking, using audio and video equipment, laptop computers, and GPS systems certainly plays an important role in distracting drivers, but several state governments are attempting to put the entire blame on hand held wireless devices merely because of their widespread use.

Laws covering inattentive driving are already on the books. Do Americas really need more big government intrusion into their personal lives that deal with texting and driving when a properly administered simple driver awareness program would suffice?

Tracking202 Acquisition

Boosting its global reach as well as its position in the affiliate marketing arena, multichannel marketing service Bloosky Interactive has acquired PPC analytics firm Tracking202 and its subsidiaries in an all-cash transaction.

Tracking202’s technology and 22,000-plus member base will be integrated with Bloosky’s agency functions. Tracking202’s executive team will stay on to build the company’s services with the added resources of Bloosky, and the company will continue to operate from San Francisco.

“Bloosky’s vendors and partners are the ones who will reap the greatest reward from this acquisition,” said Bloosky CEO Matt Cook. “Our relationships and broad-based reach will translate into high-volume response rates, sustainable revenue and high-quality customer transactions.”

This is Bloosky’s fifth acquisition in the last two years.

A full blown teenage trend.

US teens ages 13 - 17.

Teens are still developing their communication habits. So why is texting a teen trend? It’s efficient, and it’s private. Teens can text silently in a car’s back seat or in the family room without parents listening in on the conversation. The texts might be coded — maybe a simple emoticon or a LOL (laugh out loud), but it’s a way for young people to maintain a connection throughout the school day.

Not that teens are the only texters. About 65% of adults send or receive texts as well. Texting is convenient, fast and doesn’t require full attention.

“We must recognize the ineffectiveness of our current policy and deal with the Cuba regime in a way that enhances US interests,” Senator Lugar says.

President Obama promised a new look at the US policy on Cuba, including easing travel restrictions.

While he believes the embargo is an “inducement” for change in Cuba.

Senator Lugar, the senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and very influential in US politics, says Washington’s policies towards Havana have been ineffective.

“After 47 years… the unilateral embargo on Cuba has failed to achieve its stated purpose of ‘bringing democracy to the Cuban people’,” he says.

“It may have been used as a foil by the regime to demand further sacrifices from Cuba’s impoverished people.”

Senator Lugar’s views are contained in a report that was drawn up by a member of his staff and was due to be released on Monday.

“By directing policy toward an unlikely scenario of a short-term democratic transition on the island and rejecting most tools of diplomatic engagement, the US is left as a powerless bystander, watching events unfold at a distance,” the report says.

It stops short of calling for the trade embargo to be lifted and does urge:

* an end to restrictions imposed during the Bush administration on travel and remittances to Cuba
* reinstituting formal co-operation on migration and tackling drug-trafficking
* allowing Cuba to buy US agricultural products on credit.

In Moscow – U.S. and Russian officials traded shots Thursday over who was to blame for a huge satellite collision this week that sent speeding clouds of debris into space, threatening other unmanned spacecraft in nearby orbits.

The smashup 500 miles (800 kilometers) over Siberia on Tuesday involved a derelict Russian spacecraft designed for military communications and a working satellite owned by U.S.-based Iridium, which served commercial customers as well as the U.S. Department of Defense.

A prominent Russian space expert suggested NASA fell down on the job by not warning of the collision. But U.S. space experts said the Russian has the wrong agency.

The U.S. military tracks the 18,000 objects in orbit, monitoring only certain threats because it lacks the resources to do everything, said Maj. Regina Winchester, spokeswoman for U.S. Strategic Command, which oversees the military’s Space Surveillance Network.

Iridium spokeswoman Elizabeth Mailander said the company can move any of its 65 satellites out of the way if it gets a precise warning ahead of a crash. Such a warning was not made Tuesday, Mailander said.

But the company has never redirected a satellite before because the warnings they get aren’t precise enough and there are just too many satellites to be constantly rejiggering their orbit, she said.

“Ours was where it was supposed to be and it was functioning,” Mailander said. She said Iridium hasn’t talked with Russian space officials.

No one has any idea yet how many pieces of space junk were generated by the collision or how big they might be. But the crash scattered space junk in orbits 300 to 800 miles (500 to 1,300 kilometers) above Earth, according to Maj.-Gen. Alexander Yakushin, chief of staff for the Russian military’s Space Forces.

Igor Lisov, a prominent Russian space expert, said Thursday he did not understand why NASA’s debris experts and Iridium had failed to prevent the collision, since the Iridium satellite was active and its orbit could be adjusted.

“It could have been a computer failure or a human error,” he said. “It also could be that they only were paying attention to smaller debris and ignoring the defunct satellites.”

But that job belongs to the U.S. Department of Defense’s Space Surveillance Network, which was created with NASA’s help.

The network’s top priority is protecting astronauts — warning if there is a threat to the international space station or manned spacecraft. And it gives NASA precise warnings for about a dozen satellites that could be maneuvered out of the way, something that happens once in a while, Johnson said.

There are 800 to 1,000 active satellites in orbit and about 17,000 pieces of debris and dead satellites, like the Russian one, that can’t be controlled, he said. The U.S. space tracking network doesn’t have the resources to warn all satellite operators of every possible close call, Johnson and Winchester said.

“It’s unfortunate that we cannot predict all of the collisions all of the time,” said Winchester.

A private Web site, named Socrates, does give daily risk of crash warnings for satellites and Iridium, with 65 satellites, frequently is in the top 10 daily risks, Johnson said. However, the Iridium satellite wasn’t on Tuesday’s warning list, he said.

Lisov said the debris may threaten a large number of earth-tracking and weather satellites in similar orbits.

“There is a quite a lot of satellites in nearby orbits,” he told The Associated Press. “The other 65 Iridium satellites in similar orbits will face the most serious risk, and there numerous earth-tracking and weather satellites in nearby orbits. Fragments may trigger a chain of collisions.”

Both the U.S. surveillance network and Russian Space Forces are tracking the debris, believed to be traveling at speeds of around 200 meters — or about 660 feet — per second.

NASA said it would take weeks to know the full magnitude of the crash, but both NASA and Russia’s Roscosmos agencies said there was little risk to the international space station and its three crew members.

Russian Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin noted the station’s orbit has been adjusted in the past to dodge space debris.

The space junk also is unlikely to pose a threat to the space shuttle set to launch Feb. 22 with seven astronauts, U.S. officials said, although that issue will be reviewed.

The Iridium orbiter weighed 1,235 pounds (560 kilograms), and the decommissioned Kosmos-2251 military communications craft weighed nearly a ton. The Kosmos was launched in 1993 and went out of service two years later in 1995, Yakushin said.

Some Soviet-built, nuclear-powered satellites long out of action in higher orbits may also be vulnerable to collisions, Lisov said. If one of them collides with the debris, the radioactive fallout would pose no threat to Earth, he said, but its speeding wreckage could multiply the hazard to other satellites.

Iridium said the loss of the satellite was causing brief, occasional outages in its service and it expected to fix the problem by Friday. The Bethesda, Maryland-based company said it expected to replace the lost satellite with one of its eight in-orbit spares within 30 days.

The replacement cost for an Iridium satellite is between $50 million and $100 million, including the launch, said John Higginbotham, chief executive of Integral Systems Inc., which runs ground support systems for satellites.

George Obama was arrested in Nairobi with one joint of marijuana, according to police chief Joshua Omokulongolo:

“He is not a drug peddler. But it is illegal, it is a banned substance,” he said. Mr Obama has denied the allegations.

George Obama, who is in his 20s, is due in court on Monday.

“They took me from my home,” George Obama told reporters in Nairobi from his jail cell. ” I don’t know why they are charging me.”

The US president and George Obama share the same father, only meeting each other briefly.

George Obama  stated that he has only met his famous half-brother twice and in their second meeting:”It was very brief, we spoke for just a few minutes. It was like meeting a complete stranger.”

George Obama is studying to be a mechanic,while working with a local youth group in Huruma, an area in Nairobi where he lives with his extended family.

He is the youngest of his father’s seven children and was born six months after his father died in a car crash in 1982.

Many of the new president’s Kenyan relatives went to Washington for his inauguration in January, his half brother George Obama did not.

In his book ” Dreams From My Father “the president described his half brother “George, as a ” handsome, round headed boy with a wary gaze.