The Fighting Maltese Falcon

A danger is menacing all of England. No, not terrorism. Pigeons. After failed attempts to prevent pigeons from overruning British town squares, authorities have turned to unleashing Robotic Birds of Prey, or Robops for short, according to the Popular Science Blog. But Wired thinks the current Robop design is too tame, arguing they should have been equipped with "sidewinders and lasers". Gizmodo says the current unarmed model costs $3,700, but may help Liverpool save on the 88 man-hours it spends shoveling pigeon-droppings daily.

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London Mayor Ken Livingstone, or "Red Ken" as he is known for his ideology, has finally found an enemy he can hate. The PETA Files writes:

It's difficult to say exactly why London Mayor Ken Livingstone hates pigeons with such a virulent passion. Perhaps he was bitten by a pigeon as a young child, or harassed by gangs of pigeon bullies as a schoolboy, but whatever the reason for it, his "war on pigeons" is well known in London, and his various attempts to poison and starve them out of his city have earned him the nickname of "Ken 'The Killer' Livingstone." OK, whatever, I made that nickname up, but you get the point. One last little tidbit about Ken Livingstone before I get to the actual point of this post (which is robotic peregrine falcons): In 2001, when Ken the Killer was at a news conference in Washington, an animal activist made international headlines by dousing him with a pitcher of water and shouting: "Your plan to poison pigeons is all wet. Mayor Livingstone starves pigeons to death."

You can't make this stuff up.