Meandering With Millie: adventures and good karma…

Every so often I like to check in with readers and share my “Meandering With Millie” musings…just because it’s fun.

Millie (left) and I, walk every day. If possible. We live in a very beautiful area adjacent to McKinleyville; Dow’s Prairie, where there’s large open fields, trees, and very little traffic. This is nice because cars can be distracting.

There’s great scenery, as we walk down our street and head up Baird Avenue toward the Blueberry Farm. Along the way we have our stops. We visit with the three Shetland ponies, and two donkeys that are on our route. There’s another yard where two big dogs bark playfully every time we walk by (I think they’re males and Millie’s strutting her stuff for them!). 

One of our neighbors hired a professional tree cutter yesterday, and as we walked by today we saw the two really large Coastal Oaks in their yard were gone. I don’t know why, but it made me feel kinda sad. I’m not a nutty “tree-hugger” so don’t get yourself worked up on that account. I do, however appreciate and love all the beautiful landscape around me.

Another one of our regular stops has been to see “Mogli” a male Pug. Lately he’s been acting weird and Millie just walks by him like he’s not there. I don’t know what little “doggie exchange” happened between them (not being a dog whisperer), but it looks like we’ll be scratching that stop off of our walk.

The neighbors are all really nice and wave when we walk by. Their probably thinking “There goes that big galoot with his little Pug...wave and hopefully he’ll keep walking!” But, I don’t know that for sure.

I always feel better after our walk. It’s such a pure and simple way to enjoy one’s self. Especially if you bring a friend along. Millie has been my companion for seven years now. It still amazes me how much I love her. There was a time….but we won’t go into that now gentle reader.

As for good Karma, look at what I found out today: 

“In healthy adults, the hippocampus — a part of the brain important to the formation of memories — begins to atrophy around 55 or 60. (PS – I’m 60!) Now psychologists are suggesting that the hippocampus can be modestly expanded, and memory improved, by nothing more than regular walking. That’s right. I’ve been doing something right all these years.

In a study published on Jan. 31 in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers randomly assigned 120 healthy but sedentary men and women (average age mid-60s) to one of two exercise groups.”

Games On! Look what’s getting popular again…Skee-ball!

While back in New York in the summer of 1969, my high school buddy and I ran across Skee-ball in a bar. To tell the truth, we weren’t very impressed. But I do remember noting how serious players were while competing at it.

Talk about lo-tech…

Now, after decades of decline…it’s BACK!

The game is simple. Players roll light wooden balls up a sloped ramp or lane and try to land them in a series of rubber pockets. The more challenging pockets offer more points.
It's easy entertainment, but the game's popularity peaked decades ago. As the boardwalk culture crumbled, skee-ball slipped out of fashion. Read the Story here.

Notorious Website–4chan - has another user busted by the FBI

I don’t know if you ever heard of this website, but it appears to attract dangerous nuts on missions. This is the latest controversy surrounding the popular site.

Another 4chan devotee, Ali Saad, 19 (left), has been arrested by the FBI, this time for downloading child porn from the notorious web site and posting threats to go on a shooting spree at his Michigan college that would result in dozens of fatalities, The Smoking Gun has learned.

The Saad probe is the latest federal case to involve 4chan and its enthusiasts. Last April, site founder Christopher “Moot” Poole testified as a government witness at the criminal trial of David Kernell, the 4chan user who hacked Sarah Palin’s e-mail account and then posted stolen material on 4chan. Last month, a 4chan user was sentenced for his role in a vicious cyberbullying campaign launched on the site’s “/b/” forum. And at least two ongoing cases involve Poole’s creation--one examining the downloading of child porn by a Navy sailor, and the other probing computer attacks launched against PayPal and other perceived corporate enemies of WikiLeaks. STORY HERE.

Weird Moments in TV History: The Max Headroom Broadcast Signal Intrusion Incident

Not all pirates wear eye patches and talk funny. Some dress up as characters from TV shows, hijack broadcast signals and troll people who are just trying to watch the news.

This is what happened on November 22, 1987. Sports anchor Dan Roan was live on The Nine O’Clock News on WGN in Chicago, narrating video of the day’s football highlights. The picture on the station monitors, as well as any TV tuned to WGN, suddenly began twitching and flickering. Then the clips from the Bears game gave way to static.

From the snow emerged a clear picture of the grinning face of Max Headroom, the titular character of a TV show and pitchman for “New Coke.” More accurately, it was man in a Max Headroom mask, standing in front of a swaying sheet of corrugated metal, awash in the sound of a high, harsh buzz.

The airwave hijacking, known in the television business as broadcast signal intrusion, was stopped quickly when WGN on-site engineers switched the modulation of the studio link to an alternate transmitter and less than 30 seconds later, the Max impostor, having said nothing, having hardly moved, was gone. Viewers were brought back to a visibly flustered Dan Roan saying, “Well, if you’re wondering what happened, so am I.”

The weirdness had only begun. About two hours after the first incident, viewers of the local PBS affiliate WTTW were interrupted in the middle of an episode of Doctor Who. In the middle of a scene, the signal pirate made another intrusion. The picture danced for a second and Max was back in front of the twirling metal panel again. The pirate, this time transmitting with audio, launched into a bizarre diatribe. While his words were distorted, viewers clearly made out several bits, including New Coke’s slogan, “Catch the Wave” (while Max holds a Pepsi can); a remark about sports reporter and announcer Chuck Swirsky; “Your love is fading”; humming of the theme song to TV series Clutch Cargo; and as Max held up a glove, “My brother is wearing the other one.”

After the rant, the picture cut to a shot of the pirate’s exposed butt being spanked with a flyswatter by an accomplice wearing a dress, as he cries “They’re coming to get me!” The transmission then cut to black and returned viewers to Doctor Who with a flash of static.

The second intrusion lased about 90 seconds and WTTW was unable to stop it. Unlike WGN, WTTW had no engineers on location at the transmission tower, which sits at the top of what was then the Sears Tower. By the time technicians could begin to take corrective measures, the incident was over. READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE.

Playing by the same rules reduces the differences between humans, chimps and monkeys

You’ve been asked to compete against some of your friends in a game of skill, but you realize something is amiss. They’ve been given precise instructions and details about the game’s mechanics. You’ve been given a couple of pieces and left to figure things out on your own. On this uneven playing field, no one could fairly compare your performance with that of your friends. This seems obvious, but it’s a problem that plagues a lot of research into the behavior of humans and other animals. STORY HERE.

The Super Bowl was boring but I loved this Doritos commercial!

My pug Millie, and I rated this commercial #1! By the way, she things this star pug is a a “hunk.”

As It Stands: 'Ivory Wave' hit's America's shores with stealth and speed

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 02/06/2011 05:34:25 AM PST

Remember the good old days when you used bath salts in your bath to ease those tired muscles? There's a new designer drug now called "bath salts" that's raising concerns around the country. A synthetic amphetamine, these bath salts are a dangerous stimulant that has effects akin to cocaine or meth. At least four deaths have been blamed on the substance as local, state and federal agencies move to ban or control it, according to ConsumerAffairs.com.

The reports began to come in 2010. Little packages labeled bath salts trickled into St. Louis, Missouri, from Great Britain. They contained a new recreational drug that is legal and potentially lethal: "Ivory Wave."

KTVI-FOX2 News reported last October - after months of investigation - that emergency ward doctors were warning the public about a new drug that was poisoning people. "Ivory Wave" turned out to be the forerunner for dozens of brands that have flooded 33 American states. It's currently available at selected head shops and online websites.

 According to the Wall Street Journal (Jan. 22) these bath salts are an emerging menace in the United States." The small packages the bath salts come in are labeled "not for human consumption" - obviously a dodge to get around strict laws governing pharmaceuticals in Britain and America. The true purpose is no secret online. You can find reviews of all kinds of legal highs, including Ivory Wave, on dedicated Internet forums. The toxic stimulants in these so-called bath salts are already known to cause hallucinations, suicidal thoughts, and increased heartbeats. The stimulants are mephedrone and methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV).

The controversial bath salts were outlawed in Louisiana by an emergency order on Jan. 6, after the state's poison center got more than 125 calls in the last three months of 2010 involving exposure to MDPV and mephedrone. Dr. Mark Ryan, director of Louisiana's poison-control center told the Wall Street Journal, "Cathinone, the parent substance of the drugs, comes from a plant grown in East Africa and is regulated." The plant is known as "khat."

Part of the reason why these bath salts have gone under the radar is because they're relatively new. In 2009, there were no reported cases to Poison Control Centers in this country. In 2010, that number jumped to 236. This year alone, we've ready surpassed that with 248 cases. Poison Control Centers in 33 states have reported bath salts poisoning thus far. There have been only a handful of reported cases of bath salt poisoning in California, according to Dr. Rick Gellar, medical director for the California Poison Control System.

Ivory Wave - and it's numerous counterparts - is similar to those designer drugs the DEA temporarily banned for a year last year; K2 and Spice. Designer stimulants are produced in underground laboratories. Other names include, Purple Wave, Vanilla Sky, Snow Leopard, Lunar Wave, Toxic Waste, Ivory Snow, Bliss and Cloud Nine, just to name some of them.

In December 2010, the National Drug Intelligence Center and the American Association of Poison Control centers issued alerts about synthetic stimulants marketed as bath salts. The alert noted how easy it is to get these dangerous designer drugs.

Authorities say their biggest concern is that young people will see designer drugs as safe because so far they aren't illegal. According to a Redwood Toxicology Laboratory report on Jan. 19, " these synthetic stimulants appear to affect users in ways similar to amphetamines and cocaine." The report also note aggression, tachycardia, paranoia and suicide as side effects. It summarizes by stating designer drugs may be acutely toxic.

Synthetic amphetamines are already banned in Europe where 39 deaths have been reportedly related to their usage. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is currently calling for a federal ban on them. Last month Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi issued an emergency order banning the sale or possession of the controversial bath salts.

Despite these actions, I think banning them is a futile effort. We can't stop people from experimenting with new ways to get high. How many products are we willing to ban every time a new designer drug comes up? Continuing knee-jerk reactions in response to this growing threat to public health won't work. History tells us banning substances doesn't stop their use. Take meth for an example.

As It Stands, the answer lies in educating people, especially our youth, about the terrible risks of taking these dangerous new designer drugs.

Websites carrying this column:

Newsdesk International's Blog – International News Stories discussed every day.

http://www.nationalledger.com/ledgerdc/article_272637714.shtml

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ActivePolitics 

SF GATE Home of the San Francisco Chronicle

Examiner San Jose

What do I wear? I’m now officially ordained to perform a 1950s Zombie Wedding in Las Vegas?

My niece asked me to marry her and her partner in Las Vegas this October. So I went online and got ordained by the Universal Life Church in order to comply with her request.

I received this:

“Congratulations! You are now legally ordained for life, though you may relinquish your credentials at any time. AS OF Saturday the 5th of February 2011 YOU HAVE BECOME A MEMBER OF THE PRESTIGIOUS CLERGY. You have earned a title worthy of admiration and respect.

Let it be known on this date that in accordance with the laws of the Universal Life Church Monastery, as ordaining officer, I, Brother Martin, do ordain you into our ministry. From this day forward, you are entitled to all of the rights of an ordained minister. You have the authority to perform marriages, baptisms, and all other ceremonies of the church. You are an independent minister of this church. This is a position that carries with it a burden of responsibility; please respect others and comply with the laws of the land.”

As a member of the Universal Life Church you are granted the ability to:

• Perform marriages, funerals, baptisms, ceremonial rites, and last rites.
• Start your own church, be it brick & mortar or online.
• Absolve others of their sins.
• Use the title Reverend, Minister, Healer, Educator, and more. More info

So…it’s going to be a 1950s Zombie Wedding in OCTOBER and I’m trying to figure out what to wear! Any ideas?

‘Dangerous schizophrenic’ escapee hired to teach at two schools

I think it’s interesting to note that the students didn’t have a problem with their new teacher. They certainly didn’t flick him any shit during his short stay.

MARSEILLE, France (Reuters) – “A mentally ill man from Northern Ireland who once stabbed a work colleague in the neck was hired by a secondary school in France and taught German for nearly a month before his past caught up with him. Lewis Alexander Mawhinney, 26, escaped in November from a psychiatric ward where he had been interned indefinitely and labeled a "dangerous schizophrenic" after he attacked a fellow call center trainee with a knife three years earlier.” STORY HERE.

Sarah Palin trys to cast herself in Reagan mold during event celebrating the 100th anniversary of Reagan's birth

“During a banquet at the Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara, Palin skewered Obama's recent State of the Union address. She suggested that his call to "win the future" through innovation and new investments in clean energy and other research was simply an attempt to increase government spending.” STORY HERE.

Great.  An idiot who wants to be president quoting a dead conservative icon.  Everybody knows she's a moron.  I hope that the Republicans nominate Palin.

What fun everyone will have watching her campaign.  Just to get primed I looked back at the Palin stats....She doesn't read the paper, she doesn't write any of her own material,  she quit her only elected position leaving her constituents in a lurch, she posted a map with gun sight crosshairs targeting Gabby Giffords...and stupidly declared "don't retreat, reload". She removed her gun sight targeting map after Giffords and friends were shot, but not before putting her foot in her mouth again. 

She works for the Fox News right wing propaganda machine owned and operated by some Australian super rich guy.  Why would anyone want this bumbling buffoon at the helm of America? What we need is a brilliant, dedicated-non-quitter who can rally fellow leaders and the people and take action for the betterment of us all. 

Slash the defense budget by at least half. Bring home 90% of military personnel stationed outside of US borders.  Stop wasting money on pointless space travel and focus on improving the water supply, delivering healthy food, developing green energy. and making ours the best educational system in the world.  On the other hand if gun toting is most important to you pick Palin.

Winter not bad enough? How about exploding manholes

“Record snowfall is turning the city's mean streets even meaner, with 65 manholes exploding or catching fire since New Years, a utility spokesman said on Friday.”

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

On January 18, manhole fires forces evacuations of homes in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx

Record snowfall is turning the city's mean streets even meaner, with 65 manholes exploding or catching fire since New Years, a utility spokesman said on Friday.

With snow piled six feet high for the past month, huge ice chunks raining down on congested intersections and street corners turned into frigid wading pools, flying manhole covers are yet another symptom of winter's wrath.

Story here.

"Reverse Arctic Oscillation"- Frigid U.S., warm Arctic

Weird weather shows 'why we've got to realize the Arctic is important,' expert says

“While much of the U.S. is seeing a wicked winter, the Arctic is going through just the opposite: January saw the least amount of sea ice for that month on record, plus the region's air temperatures are way above normal. So experts are asking themselves: are these two events intertwined?

La Nina, the naturally occurring (i.e., not manmade) ocean cycle, is certainly a factor in terms of the precipitation coming off the Gulf of Mexico that's colliding with the cold Arctic air. But what's rare is the Arctic air moving so far south and in several rounds this winter.

It's well documented that the Arctic has been warming much faster than other parts of the world in recent years, and many experts tie that to manmade emissions of greenhouse gases that trap heat.” Story here.

This map by the National Snow and Ice Data Center shows the extent of Arctic sea ice in January, and how it compares to the 1979-2010 median (purple line).

Talk like your sweetie? What that says about your relationship

This study really strikes a true note for me. My wife and I would score well in the language-matching category. Sometimes it even goes beyond that, and one of us will say what the other was just about to! We like to kid around and say “great minds think alike!” Now, according to this study talking alike is another good indicator of compatibility.

Emily Taffel-Schaper and her husband, Fritz Schaper (left), say they often find themselves accidentally channeling the other when they speak. (And aside from a shared speaking style, the two clearly have a shared love for acting goofy for the camera.)

Study examines the grammatical structures of pairs' speech styles

“In one experiment, 40 men and 40 women (whose average age was 19) volunteered to take part in a speed-dating study. The volunteers went on as many as 12 four-minute speed dates, each of which was audio- and video-recorded. Researchers then transcribed the conversations, and ran it through a computerized text analysis program, which calculates the number of those "function words." Within a day after the speed dates, the participants were asked whether they would want to see each of their dates again — and those pairs who scored higher in the language-matching analysis were more likely to say they wanted to see each other again.”

And the definitive hangover cure is ... plain old coffee and aspirin, actually

Some people swear by bacon. Or Red Bull. Or a big bacon cheeseburger with fries -- the greasier the better. 

“Thanks to new research out of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, though, we now know the exact cause of the hangover headache and the Absolut … er … absolute best way to get rid of them. (And no, it’s not a hair of the dog that bit you.)

Turns out, the scientifically-proven best hangover cure may be plain old coffee and aspirin.” STORY HERE.

Australian researchers claim parrots tend to be "left handed"

It’s stories like this that make me wonder what researchers are thinking?

What earthly good is it for people to know why parrots tend to be left handed clawed?

Try as I might, I haven’t come up with the answer yet.

“Parrots, like humans, choose to use one side of their body more than the other, with more of them left handed -- or, more precisely, left footed than anything else.

Some species even try out both before deciding on one side.

Australian researchers found that virtually all the parrots they studied prefer to use either their left eye and left foot, or right eye and right foot.” Story here.

Tension builds as states seek to copy Arizona immigration law

Measures introduced in at least 15 states; some pose dilemma for high-profile Republicans

At least 15 state legislatures are considering measures modeled after provisions of SB1070 that made Arizona the first state to allow police to question the immigration status of anyone they suspect is in the country illegally. The list does not include Wyoming, where a House committee this week killed a bill that would have allowed police to check the immigration status of anyone who is stopped for another violation. (Includes measures that had formally been introduced as of Feb. 2.)

"It's a huge problem," said Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant of Mississippi, where the state Senate last month became the first state legislative chamber to pass a bill modeled on the Arizona measure.

• California
The Assembly is considering a measure that would require police to question the immigration status of anyone they suspect is in the country illegally.

• Colorado
The House is considering a measure that would allow police to question the immigration status of anyone they suspect is in the country illegally. The Senate is considering a measure that would require them to.

GO HERE TO READ THE REST

Something you should know: U.S. cities with the worst drinking water

If you live in Pensacola, Fla., you may want to invest in a water purifier

“In fact, some organizations and state environmental agencies that collect and analyze water data say the level of chemicals in some Americans' drinking water not only exceeds recommended health guideline but the pollutants even exceed the limits set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the national legal authority in these matters.” STORY

PHOTO - Texas conducted 22,083 water quality tests between 2004 and 2007 on Houston's water supply, and found 18 chemicals that exceeded federal and state health levels

Rewards for Rebellion: Tiny Nation and Crown for Life

You gotta love Casley’s spirit! This is my kind of guy.

“At 40 years, Hutt River is the oldest micronation in Australia, sprawling over 18,500 acres of farmland in this dusty, windswept slice of Western Australia. Back then, angered about a government quota on wheat, Leonard Casley, now 85 and still the leader, took his land and broke away from the rest of Australia. The apparent secession gave birth not only to this principality but, tapping into Australia’s convict history and an enduring popular disdain for central authority, also inspired a proliferation of new micronations across the country.” Full Story Here. 

PHOTO - Leonard Casley has been leading the oldest micronation in Australia, Hutt River, since its creation on 18,500 acres of farmland in 1970. Nori Onishi/The New York Times

Powerful Santa Ana winds overturn trucks; lanes of I-15 closed in Inland Empire

I’m reminded of the bad old days when I lived down in the Palm Springs area and had to drive on Interstate 10 every day. If it wasn’t dust storms, it was the high winds! Then there was the sheer volume of traffic…agghhhhh…I don’t know how I handled it for so long. Now I live in paradise (as far as I’m concerned).

Those dreaded and powerful Santa Ana winds were causing major problems in the Inland Empire on this morning, toppling big rigs and causing officials to close a portion of two freeways.
The California Highway Patrol reported that lanes of the Interstate 15 at Interstate 10 were closed because of overturned trucks. Story Here.

Punxsutawney Phil sees no shadow, predicts early spring

Prophetic groundhog has seen his shadow 98 times, hasn't seen it 16 times since 1887

The world's most famous groundhog predicted an early spring Wednesday, but wasn't willing to go out on a limb to forecast whether the nearby Pittsburgh Steelers will win Sunday's Super Bowl.

Punxsutawney Phil emerged just after dawn on Groundhog Day to make his 125th annual weather forecast in front of a smaller-than-usual crowd who braved muddy, icy conditions to hear his handlers reveal that he had not seen his shadow.