Octomom Wants You To Neuter Your Pets; Elephant Poop To Be Used As A Power Source

• Today in irony: Nadya Suleman — she of the eight babies — is being paid by PETA to advertise their spay and neuter campaign on her front door.

The sign (pictured left) reads, ”Don’t Let Your Dog or Cat Become an Octomom. Always Spay or Neuter.” (This implies, we hope, some degree of self-awareness.) The banner will remain on Suleman’s door until June 9th; she’s getting $5,000 for the effort. • The mothers of the three American hikers jailed in Iran have announced plans to journey to Iran to visit their children and appeal to the officials for their release. They were met at the airport by envoys from the Swiss Embassy. The hikers, aged 31, 27 and 27, have not yet been charged with any crime, and remain in prison on suspicion of spying. • The woman who reportedly had an affair with Indiana Rep. Mark Souder has resigned from her post as a part-time employee on Souder’s congressional staff. Tracy Jackson worked with Souder on videos that trumpeted the virtues of families values and abstinence. • Roller derby is having something of a moment, with Whip It and all, but the sport has been around for almost 80 years. Roller derbies first sprung up in the 1930s, as a diversion from the woes of the great depression, and it has remained an underground favorite for women ever since. Frank Deford reports on the history of the derby “dolls” – one of whom is an NPR anchor! • The UAE’s women’s soccer team recently made their first appearance in a major tournament, but not everyone is supportive of their gains. Many of the players fear to tell their families that they have joined a sport’s team, while others report harassment from their peers. “Despite the growth in participation rates, the biggest challenges remain legal prohibitions, social stigma and limited opportunity,” said Meghan O. Mahoney, an expert on women’s sports at Northeastern University’s Sport in Society. • A 72-year-old South Carolina woman was booked yesterday into a county jail after she was caught driving over 100 mph across a highway. She told police that she was “late for a hair appointment” and that she knew she had been driving at such a high speed. But leaving aside her reckless behavior (in pursuit of beauty, nonetheless), we’ve gotta say, her mugshot came out rather well. • The Toronto Zoo has an energy solution: a gasification plant, which will convert elephant and rhino dung into electricity and heat. Mad Max, anyone? The zoo produces over 10,000 tons of poop (and other organic waste) per year; by feeding that waste through the biogas plant, bacteria will eat the waste and excrete methane gas. “No other zoo in the world is doing this,” says the head of the zoo’s conservation program. • A recent five-year study from Bangladesh found that using a sari to filter household water can protect against disease like cholera. While the filtering household obviously sees the benefits of cleaner water, their neighbors also have a decreased risk of contracting the disease. Scientists say this may be a sustainable way to improve quality of life for many rural Bangladeshi families. • For the first time, commercials for abortion services will be air on British television. The commercial, which is for the NGO Marie Stopes, will air at 10:10 PM. Cue controversy! •