Walk on the wild side with 7 reptile and amphibian stories

Good Day World!

Today, I’ve been ruminating on reptiles and amphibians in the news.

My favorite story is the one about a man who takes his giant tortoise for a daily walk.  

The saddest story is a mystery about an 11-year-old female humpback whale that had been living in one area her entire life, but washed up ashore dead Wednesday.

The scariest story has to be the shark attacks at Oak Island, North Carolina.

The most inspiring story is about the rescue and release of sea turtles in Lima, Peru. 

One of the oddest stories is about an alligator giving a raccoon a ride as recorded by a family out for a stroll in a national park.

The weirdest is the surprising way Jellyfish put themselves back together.

The strangest story is about an author who poses the question, “Does An Octopus Have A Soul?” The author thinks so.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Donald Trump’s Hair Raising Announcement

                                     Good Day World!

By now you’re aware that Donald Trump is running for president – the jokes have been coming so hard and fast his toupee keeps sliding off after Tuesdays announcement.

That makes a dozen Republicans officially running for a seat in the Oval Office in 2016.

I think it goes without saying that Trump is NOT going to be the last candidate standing for the Republican Party. So what’s his reason for even running?

If you listen to the pundits they’ll tell you Trump’s interest in politics seems aimed at gaining attention, not addressing serious issues. Don’t be surprised when he uses his candidacy to take personal potshots at the other candidates, particularly Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush, instead of discussing policy.

Through repeatedly flirting with presidential runs in the past and now following through, the real estate mogul has become an influential person in national politics.

He's frequently a keynote speaker at Republican events like the Conservative Political Action Conference. He's treated as a serious candidate, appearing on-stage at GOP events before or after people who could in truth be the Republican nominee, like Bush and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

In reality, polls are often simply a test of fame.

Trump has an NBC tv show ("The Apprentice") and a chain of hotels named after him. He is ahead of some other Republican candidates simply because he is better-known. In a one-on-one contest between Trump and Rubio, the former would be trounced, as Republican voters learned more about both men's records and policy stances.

The only thing we can expect from Trump during this presidential campaign is that he’s going to upset apple carts repeatedly – it makes for good ratings.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Martian Confesses: ‘I Only Identify With Humans’

Good Day World!

In the spirit of Rachael Dolezal, and any other creature wannabes, I only identify with humans. Because I’m Martian by birth shouldn’t even be considered a factor, if I say it isn’t.

The fact that my skin is red could have come from constant sunburns. Or, for all you know I’m native American.

So why is everyone making a big deal about how a living thing presents itself? Human or Martian? Black or White? Why so uptight?

All folks here on earth need to know is that I’ve always identified with humans - even when I got strange urges to eat their flesh covered in chocolate - during puberty.

I’ve always identified with middle class humans and the many challenges they face in this world. I’ve always felt their pain – despite the fact Martians don’t feel pain – in my head. My imagination.

I’ve only done positive social things – despite hiding my alienisms – in the last 64 years. As a newspaper editor and publisher, I always stayed neutral, never trying to convince my readers Martians were already living here on earth.

Because I cut all my Martian ties 35 years ago, they don’t exist. It’s kind of complicated, but take my word for it…

Time for me to walk on down the road…      

How Off-The-Cuff Remarks Ruin Careers

  Good Day World!

No one is exempt in the Age of Social Media Madness led by the PC Police.

Nowadays making a politically incorrect joke, or comment, can mean everything you ever stood for will be invalidated. Your career ruined by faceless minions of social justice tweeting and Face Booking you into the realms of a social and financial outcast.

Daring to give an honest opinion on something has become chum for the PC sharks who constantly swim the airways and internet searching for victims.

The latest example of what I’m talking about is Tim Hunt’s story. He’s a well-known Nobel Prize winner who was promoting science education throughout Europe and the world until he ran afoul of “PC Tweeter Police” and “Face Book Judges.”

Suddenly, literally overnight, he’s reviled as a sexist beast and stripped of most of his positions because of inappropriate comments about women in science.

The inappropriate comments were made at the World Conference of Science Journalists in South Korea last week. So what did the man say that was so horrible?

He said that girls cause trouble in labs because "you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticize them, they cry."

Two things about that comment. He was partly joking, and being serious about a situation that he thinks does exist in the scientific community. He’s experienced it first hand and told his audience that.

So, does that comment completely negate all the man’s work – his Nobel Prize and other achievements? 

Apparently so. Gone is his position with the European Research Council science committee. Gone is his role at the Royal Society. Gone is his honorary post at University College London.

He said Sunday he was fired from the latter, while the university has said only that his resignation was accepted.

Everyone doesn’t think he’s such a monster however.

Athene Donald, a leading physicist who is master of Churchill College at Cambridge University, said Hunt always enthusiastically supported her work when she served for five years as Gender Equality Champion at the university.

"I've spent a lot of time with him and I've never seen any sign of sexism," she told The Associated Press. "He has traveled the world since he got the Nobel Prize, talking to young audiences, male and female, giving so generously, and now he has been ruined."

I agree with Athene. He’s been ruined, and it’s not right.

She said the speed with which news of his comments spread via social media has reinforced for many scientists the dangers of speaking to the press or to the public.

I certainly understand that. What’s really sad is the damage is irreversible.

"We're all of us terrified," she said. "In this media age, when sound bites spread so quickly, an off-the-cuff remark after a lunch in some conference can suddenly result in the fatal destruction of your career."

Media Age Madness is here to stay. Beware.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

 

  

Message to God: An ‘En-Lightning’ Answer Would Be Fine

Dear God,

Just a quick question, and I’ll get out of your hair.

I know you have better things to do, but it would really be nice if you’d explain how you tied the drought in California to abortions?

Where did I hear that?

One of your followers, Assemblywoman Shannon Grove (R) (photo above) said that the state's worst drought in 1,200 years is divine retribution for California providing women with access to abortions.

According to Reality Check, Grove came up with this message from YOU at the California ProLife Legislative Banquet. I wasn’t there, but by all accounts she said YOU brought down this biblical-style vengeance upon the state.

“Texas was in a long period of drought until Governor Perry signed the fetal pain bill,” she told the audience. “It rained that night. Now God has his hold on California.”

Not everyone believes YOU delivered the drought because of abortion access.

As a matter of fact some of her greatest fans basically thanked her for past efforts in Sacramento on behalf of life – but called her comments "absolute lunacy" and made this mock-up of a T-shirt.

I can’t begin to understand why YOU do the things you do, Big Guy, but I’m reasonably sure this political twit hasn’t been speaking for you.

So how about a sign? If it wouldn’t be too showy, lightning on the subject sounds about right! 

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Modern ‘Black Face’ Via Tanning – New Trend?

                                       Good Day World!

Blackish?

Why would someone pretend to belong to another race?

Specifically, why would a white woman claim to be partially black when she’s not? The answer, it seems, is to further her career. This is an odd case, and that’s why I’m sharing it with you.

Rachel Dolezal, built a career as an activist in the black community of Spokane, Washington. A partly black activist. The only problem with that is both of her parents are white.

Her parents said their daughter is as well, providing local media with a birth certificate and childhood photographs of a blonde, fair-skinned Dolezal.

Interviewed Friday on CNN, Lawrence and Ruthanne Dolezal said they were saddened and hurt by their daughter's behavior.

Dolezal has so far dodged questions seeking clarification about her race and ethnicity. But it’s just a matter of time before she has to fess up.

The Psychology of an Ethnic Fraud: Behind Rachel Dolezal’s Invented Persecution

She rose to become the president of the city's branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and also served as an independent mediator for the city's police force.The question is, did she obtain her job through fraudulent means? Neither position required that she be black, but the Coeur d'Alene Press said Dolezal identified herself in application forms as part black, part white and part Indian.

The Spokane Spokesman Review reported she told them: "I feel like I owe my executive committee a conversation."

"That question is not as easy as it seems," she said after being contacted at Eastern Washington University, where she is a part-time professor in the Africana Studies Program.

"There's a lot of complexities … and I don't know that everyone would understand that."

And she broke off an interview with a local TV reporter when he asked her point blank: "Are you African American?"

Apparently, at some point in her life, Dolezal decided her race was a liability and broke off contact with her parents. Then she went on to become a “black activist.”

What bothers me about this story is that this woman based her career upon a lie.

Reports covering the question of Dolezal’s identity went viral Thursday, after the City of Spokane announced that it was investigating whether she had lied in identifying herself as African-American on her application to serve on the city’s police oversight commission, according to the ABC affiliate.

Time for me to walk on down the road..

 

Deja Vue: Sending Troops to Train a Foreign Army is How the S**t Starts!

Good Day World!

You know something’s seriously screwed up when our government can’t learn from history’s lessons.

Wise men learn from their mistakes. It’s apparent we don’t have wise people in Congress, or the White House, for that matter.

Now: 2015 Iraq

President Barack Obama ordered the deployment of up to 450 more U.S. troops to Iraq on Wednesday to advise and assist local forces in an effort to reverse the recent gains of the Islamic State.

Under the plan, the United States will open a fifth training site in Iraq, with the goal of integrating Iraqi Security Forces and Sunni fighters. The immediate objective is to retake the city of Ramadi, seized by the Islamic State last month.

Yawn…sound familiar?

Then: 1961 South Vietnam

“Following a meeting between President John F. Kennedy and South Vietnam envoy Nguyen Dinh Thuan, an agreement is reached for direct training and combat supervision of Vietnamese troops by U.S. instructors.

South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem had earlier asked Kennedy to send additional U.S. troops to train the South Vietnamese Army. U.S. advisers had been serving in Vietnam since 1955 as part of the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group.

There would be only 900 U.S. military personnel in South Vietnam at the end of 1961, but in accordance with President Kennedy’s pledge to provide American military assistance to South Vietnam, the number of U.S. personnel rose to 3,200 by the end of 1962.” source History Channel

For those who are too young to remember our senseless war with the Vietnamese people, I can tell you it was a costly mistake engineered by Chicken Hawks in Washington.

Iraq has become the USA’s new deadly tar baby, sinking us further into debt and costing lives on all sides.

What is the end game? Is there even one? I doubt it.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

 

Pardon me, but I’m never flying in an airplane again!

Editor’s Note: I won’t be posting anything tomorrow – Friday June 12th – because I’m going to my grandson’s 8th grade graduation. Check out some of my most popular posts and past newspaper columns on the right side of this page.

Good Day World!

I’m not going to launch into a long litany of news reports detailing airline accidents. If you haven’t kept up with them that’s up to you.

I’m not even going to talk about pilots who decide to commit suicide and take planes down with them.

No.

But I am going to tell you about the two final straws that broke the proverbial camel’s back and made me swear off flying.

Because I’m a curious person, I like to keep up with little things – like safe air travel for instance.

THE FIRST REASON

A recent Department of Homeland Security report found investigators could sneak fake bombs and weaponry through security with a 95 percent success rate! If that doesn’t scare the hell out of you, I applaud your cool.

THE SECOND REASON

Homeland Security Inspector General John Roth presented lawmakers with his new report that found TSA failed to detect at least 73 people with links to terrorism who were hired by US airports.

If that doesn’t send a chill though your body, then you’re REAL cool.

Anyone who knows me, or has read my columns where I discuss why I hate flying, knows I’m a chicken when it comes to flight! I’ll even cluck for you if necessary.

Seriously folks, flying is getting scarier every day. When reports like these two are released it makes a person wonder when – not if – the next plane tragedy will occur.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

I saw my first flying saucer yesterday – kinda disappointing

“But who shall dwell in these worlds if they be inhabited? . . .
Are we or they Lords of the World? 
And how are all things made for man?”

Kepler (quoted in The Anatomy of Melancholy)

                                   Good Day World!

I almost conceded that I would never see a flying saucer.

Then I saw one!

But here’s the kicker…instead of aliens piloting the flying saucer I saw, it was powered by remote control and NASA scientists were responsible.

It’s called the Low Density Supersonic Decelerator. LDSD for short.

After nearly a week of weather-related delays, NASA has sent up a rocket-powered "flying saucer" to test technologies that could someday help get heavy payloads to Mars.

That’s right. Not only are humans replacing aliens in modern space craft but we’re going to Mars – instead of the aliens coming here. Oh, the humanity! What would have Orson Wells thought?

It’s a stunning reverse of the War of the Worlds. Humans invade Mars. Heck, we’re already planning on colonizing Mars but we have to conquer it first.

Seriously folks, I have to tell you I wasn’t too impressed by the video above showing the inaugural launch of the LDSD.

It sucks the drama right out of the long-imagined flying saucer flight watching the LDSD being towed up into the atmosphere by a giant balloon.

At some point the rockets kick in and it takes off on it’s own power, but the moment has been spoiled. The damn thing looks silly!

Okay, okay. I’ll cut the brains at NASA some slack and admit their flying saucer (when it’s not being towed by a balloon) looks like something out of the War of the Worlds.

If you’re into following the progress of the LDSD you’ll find updates on NASA's LDSD blog and the @NASA_Technology Twitter feed.

Time for me to walk on down the road….

 

 

Did Nude Romp in the Mountains Cause an Earthquake?

This undated photo shows Mount Kinabalu, South East Asia's highest peak, in East Malaysia's state of Sabah. AFP via Getty Images

                                                      Good Day World!

If I’ve learned anything in my life, it’s not to judge other’s beliefs. No matter how screwy I think they are.

For example, did you ever see Joe Versus the Volcano?

It’s a 1990 American romantic comedy film starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

In an nutshell, a wealthy industrialist named Samuel Graynamore unexpectedly makes Joe (the main character) who thinks he’s dying, a proposition. He wants to mine "bubaru",a mineral essential for the manufacturing of superconductors.

One problem: the natives believe that the fire god of the volcano on their island must be appeased by a voluntary human sacrifice once every century, but none of the Waponis are willing to volunteer this time around.

They need a volunteer. That’s where Joe comes in. In the end he jumps into the volcano – with his girlfriend – but they get blown out to sea where they are quickly rescued. The end.

Here’s a true story that just recently happened.

Malaysian Tribes Blame Quake on Tourists' Nude Photos on Mount Kinabalu

Malaysian tribal leaders blame a group of Western tourists for triggering a deadly earthquake by taking naked photos of themselves on a sacred mountain, a local official told NBC News on Monday.

Tribal and political leaders across the state of Sabah have called for the arrest of the 10 tourists after they allegedly stripped on Mount Kinabalu last month, said Masidi Manjun, the state's tourism, culture and environment minister.

On Friday, one week after the group allegedly took the naked photos and posted them on social media, a 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck 5 miles south of the 13,500-foot summit on Malaysian Borneo. Sixteen people were killed, and more than 100 climbers were trapped for a time on the mountain.

The Kadazan-Dusun tribe believe that the "disrespectful" actions of the tourists were responsible for triggering the earthquake, Manjun said.

Unlike in Joe Versus the Volcano, this story is no comedy.

The belief among the natives is that the souls of the departed will rest on the mountain before the day of judgment.

Stay tuned to see what happens to these crazy tourists who decided to frolic naked on their sacred mountain. It’s their turn for judgment.

Time for me to walk on down the road…