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While the act of cannonballing into a pool and getting all your friends wet is a popular tradition at some parties, one doesn’t generally think of it as a serious sporting event.  In Germany, however, this act of diving in an irregular manner has grown to such levels that it is now a serious competitive event featuring its own championships.  It’s called Splash Diving to many, but some still refer to it by its less-polite name of Arschebombe, or “ass bombing.”

The goal of the sport is to make as big a splash as possible.  From Germany, it has spread in popularity to many other countries, some of them setting up their own regional events.  In particular, the UK, Switzerland and the Philippines boast some of the best splash divers in the world.  But the cream of the crop still assembles in Germany, in the city of Hamburg each year to prove their superiority.

There are few rules to splash diving.  The diver jumps into a pool, either from a 30-foot diving board or another, much higher, position at just under 100 feet.  Victory is based on how big of a splash is made and extra points are given for style.  “Style” is this case means doing flips, twists and other diving stunts as well as not showing the pain once you’ve hit the water butt first.

Like any sport, splash diving has its own selection of preferred techniques.  The competitions are freestyle, so each person is welcome to bring whatever they have to the table if they think it will gain them a victory.  There are even workshops and lectures organized to teach people about splash diving, including the best ways to execute a good dive.

This is one sporting event that concentrates on the fun of the competition as opposed to grace and poise.  It’s all about making a huge impact, and it looks like splash diving will be making even more of an impact world-wide as people learn about and begin to take part in this unique German tradition.

The post-Halloween “Haunted Coliseum Party” in Long Island was supposed to include sets by Otto Knows, Alesso and Sebastian Ingrosso. However, Alesso only got 20 minutes into his set and Ingrosso never got a chance to perform. Why? The police, multiple underage drinkers and the attempt to land a helicopter on the grounds of the coliseum were the three main reasons.

The party, which was promoted by Lou B Industries an established (and by all accounts reputable) Long Island promoter, was open to concert-goers of all ages. According to Haunted Coliseum Party’s Facebook page, the ideal age was 16, but no ID was required resulting in concert-goers as young as 14. The promoter has also said that minors showed up to the event already intoxicated and that no one was serving alcohol to them at the venue.

The police were called out to the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum to deal with the underage drinkers with the result being that the event was cut short.  There have been rumors about shootings and stabbings similar to occurrences that marred Swedish House Mafia events in the summer; however, the police have said they have no knowledge of any such violence occurring at this event.

The failed event might have ended with the drunks being taken away and the Coliseum being prematurely emptied had it not been complicated by helicopter pilot, Michael Croissant, who attempted to land in the vicinity of the coliseum despite the pedestrians there. He was arrested and charged with reckless endangerment in addition to having his helicopter seized.

The Haunted Coliseum Party shutdown led to a stream of angry complaints delivered via Facebook. Concert-goers criticized the promoter's ineffective security measures. 

This year saw many advances in the realm of LGBT rights across the world.  Here in the United States our election brought forth gains in three states: Maryland, Washington and Maine.  Meanwhile, across the Atlantic Ocean, Spain was also doing their part to ensure that same-sex couples maintained all the rights afforded to opposite-sex couples.  After seven years of tenuous existence, the gay-rights laws of the country were cemented via a ruling from the country’s Constitutional Court.

Laws regarding same-sex marriage rights were passed in Spain way back in 2005, but it was as a result of the struggle of one particular political party.  When their opponents took control, they immediately made moves to challenge the law and get it repealed.  Their argument was a familiar one - that their constitution defines marriage as between a man and a woman only.  But the courts in Spain rejected their appeal, so the law is allowed to stay.

Getting that initial law passed was a long-fought struggle in a country that is predominantly Roman Catholic.  But the people of Spain spoke out, deciding that equality and rights were more important than religious beliefs and dogma. 

With this challenge to their decision overcome, it will make it that much harder for future administrations to impose their own religious ideals upon the legal system.  So same-sex couples in Spain are now able to rest a little more securely, knowing that their world is not likely to be turned upside-down because of someone’s political whim.

Since 2005, Spain has seen more than 22,000 same-sex marriages and will no doubt see many more in the future.  With any luck, we can follow their example here in the U.S. and stop this pointless struggle to secure obvious human rights.

The spade-toothed beaked whale has, for some time, been little more than a 15-foot long mystery of the ocean.  As the world’s rarest whale, scientists knew very little about it other than what they could glean from various skull fragments found over the last 125 years.  It wasn’t until two years ago, in December of 2010, that they first saw more than bones.  A mother and a calf washed up on the shores of a New Zealand beach and opened up a whole new chance to study the creature.

At first, those who found the whale remains thought they were from a different species entirely - Gray’s beaked whales.  This led to the remains being buried and nearly forgotten.  Luckily, New Zealand has a program that tracks all the whales that wash up on their shores.  So, some six months later, a bit of DNA testing surprised a few scientists and led to the discovery that the bodies were indeed something much different.

The researchers who discovered the DNA were so blown away that they tested and retested hundreds of samples, just to make sure they were really looking at what they thought they were.  After confirming, the bodies were retrieved, albeit in a state with much less flesh on the bones.

Still, now that there is at least some biology to go with the previously faceless whale, scientists can study them in more depth.  The skeletons can be reconstructed and from there the muscles and other tissues of the whales can be discerned.  This may lead to information about how the whales live, what they eat and maybe even provide a few clues as to where they might be hiding.

Being able to get information on such an elusive species is a golden opportunity for those who study whales.  It’s a good thing New Zealand is paying attention, or this discovery may have slipped through the cracks and left us to wonder for another 100 years or more.