Master photographer makes clear images from splashing water

Luiz Luxvich makes startlingly clear images of splashing water. This master from Rio de Janeiro,

Brazil, has a good presence on flickr, so make sure to checkout the rest of his colorful creations.

(images credit: Luiz Luxvich)

Blog Wars rage in Humboldt County cyberspace! Who holds the high ground?

  As I sipped my coffee this morning while surfing the local blog community I was surprised to see a war being waged.

  WatchPaul's, Rose, was out to expose the Humboldt Herald's Heraldo for his/her use of censorship.

  Rose's repeat volley of an October 2008 thread about Heraldo's habit of suppressing sentences that don't serve his/her needs, greeted visitors of her blog today.

  Apparently, there was a reason to shake Heraldo's cool (thread back by popular demand).

  When I see this type of Internet warfare I can't help cringing. Yes, it makes for a good read, and that's what all blogger's strive for.

  My blog averages about 350 viewers a day, but only a small fraction ever make a comment, and the majority are either national or international visitors. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong.

  Then again, all blogs are not alike. I'm learning this slowly, and it really makes me wonder what each's purpose really is. I suspect that there are people who use blogs to further their own political agenda under the guise of something else.

   Local blogs (as in the area we live in) seem to be very vibrant with news that newspapers couldn't possible come up with. There's some excellent blogs here in Humboldt - and that includes both WatchPaul and Heraldo.

  I'm constantly amazed at the information both come up with. Sometimes I think both blogs have a legion of reporters cruising the highways and byways. If you really want a blog about this area's history (written by someone who grew up here) then check out Ernie's Place.  

  For those who love beautiful photos we have the Redheaded Blackbelt, aka Kym's blog. Another great local photography is Jack Durhham, whose website Rambling Jack's Laboratory is a bike-guided tour through Northern Humboldt. For a Southern Humboldt  insider's viewpoints, we have Erick Kirk's blog SoHum Parlance II.

  By my third cup of coffee, I realized that I didn't have a local blog. Yea, I live here, but you would hardly know it by viewing my posts. I've already admitted -from my 1st post last July- that I'm using my blog to shamelessly promote my newspaper column - As It Stands.

  Now, I'm feeling kinda lonely locally. Maybe I should make more of an effort to get local readership. Yesterday's post about my grandchildren and other family members was probably the closest I've come to commenting on anything local.

  Perhaps I ought to join Humboldt County's Blog Wars. Then again, I would probably get sliced-and-diced by the experienced bloggers out there right now!

  As It Stands, I think I'll just get breakfast now, and stop worrying about the state of my blog.

image via Google Images

Generations of young entrepreneur's exploits are entertaining and educational

                                                                                  By Dave Stancliff
 The other day, two of my grandsons, nine-year-old Haydin, and seven-year-old Roanin,  started a business.
  

Their mom, Jassmine, told me the boys sat down one afternoon - with real eye-to-eye contact - and drew up a partnership to sell some colored glass they had dug up. Apparently a local business, Fire & Light, sends their scrap chunks of glass to a local company that sells an aggregate mix speckled through with the colorful stuff.

After sifting through a pile of this material (location kept secret)  for hours, the boys had collected enough pieces - most of which are about size of small beads - to set up shop. They put up a little stand and offered them to customers for 25 cents. (I’m not clear as to how many pieces the buyer got for his/her quarter.)
      

In no time they were also selling and bartering some of their toys (ones mom approved of), to expand their little enterprise. Alas, as good business starts often find, competition sprang up in the neighborhood! Other little entrepreneurs soon offered toys as well.
       Haydin and Roanin then came up with “friend coupons.” The coupons offered two dollars off any item over three dollars. Eventually all of these venturesome children got together and held swap meets in the neighborhood. I’m still waiting for further reports of their business acumen.
      

 I have some great memories of other family members who jumped into the business world at tender ages. One of my favorites concerned my cousins in Michigan about forty years ago.
      

My Dad had a mining claim in the late 1970s and through the 1980s. It was located in the Lytle Creek area of the San Bernardino mountains, just north of Mt. Baldy. The area had once been the site of a short-lived placer gold frenzy.
     

To keep the claim active, my Dad had to show signs of improvement every year, so he hired  heavy equipment every so often to move things around. He also got regular assay reports on the ore that showed a small amount of gold per ton.
     

  The gold content was never high enough to interest a big organization in the claim. The price of gold on the market during the 1980s went from $589 an ounce (1980-1981), down to $327 an ounce by the end of the decade.
      

Still, Dad’s grandchildren and my brother Steve helped over the years in their spare time. I was too lazy for that kind of hard work, but did go up there now and then and share a small bottle of Irish single-malt with Dad, as I watched the others expand the latest hole in the mountain. My two oldest sons, Richard and Nathan, spent time there, too.
     

Some of those tunnels went straight down. There was always the risk of running across rattle snakes, scorpions, and other nasty little critters. As far as I can remember, no one ever got bitten by a snake while working there.
     

  During this period, my cousins (who were about the ages Haydin and Roanin are now) came up with their business enterprise in school. They sold stock to their classmates, offering shares in grandpa’s mine!
      

 When my uncle Harold told me, I thought it was pretty funny, but apparently the school didn’t. The boys got suspended for a week. I was amazed that they knew what stocks were. Of course, I don’t compare their larceny to my grandsons’ business venture. They at least gave people something for their money.
        

I’ve kinda lost touch with those cousins but wouldn’t be surprised if they became stock traders. They weren’t afraid to take risks with other people’s money! Surely a must for anyone playing on Wall Street.
       

I wish I could tell you I was a great little entrepreneur in my youth. My approach was to gamble. We’d flip coins and call odd or even. Sometimes we threw coins up against a wall, and the coin that fell closest to the wall won.
      

There was even a period during junior high when I carried dice in my pocket and gambled with my buddies in the school bathroom. I lost interest in gambling when I was in the military, after watching near deadly encounters during card games. Recently my interest in gambling has returned and I play those quarter slot machines, while on a strict monthly allowance.
        

To be an entrepreneur, you can’t be afraid to gamble sometimes. Gambling, however, is a sure way to lose money. Starting your own business, provided you have a good plan and plenty of seed money, offers better odds for success.
      

 As It Stands, I enjoy stories of successful entrepreneurs of all ages, especially in this down economy.
                                                                

Today's As It Stands: Let's just say no to prescription drug commercials on television

The television brings us commercials on prescription drugs that we can not go out and buy ourselves.

A doctor has to prescribe them. So why do the makers of Flomax and other drugs bother advertising on television? Because they know you will see something that you think you need and you'll ask your doctor for it.

The subtle hidden messages in these commercials hypnotize viewers into wanting them. See today's As It Stands in the Times-Standard on prescription drug commercials. 

Image via Google Images

Remember the movie 'Outbreak?' There's a real monkey on the loose somewhere in Oregon carrying a virus that could harm people!

In a case of fiction blurring into reality, we have a Japanese Macaque monkey who escaped from his handlers and is carrying a potentially human-threatening virus! They say truth is often stranger than fiction, and I think there's something to that.

In the movie Outbreak a White-fronted Capuchin monkey passes on the deadly Motaba virus and it ends up in a fictional little northern California town - Cedar Creek - which was actually filmed in Ferndale,  Humboldt County.

The movie was released in 1995 and starred Dustin Hoffman, Morgan Freeman, Donald Sutherland, and Cuba Gooding Jr., just to name some of the good actors in it. 

In this short press release by the Associated Press, they note that the "monkey's are too fast to catch." Say what? This seems to get stranger by the day. There's a virus-carrying monkey on the prowl...

Today's story from AP: 

Officials say three monkeys on the loose at the Oregon National Primate Research Center are hanging out near "corrals" on the campus, but the whereabouts of a fourth are unknown.

They are among nine who escaped Friday when a keeper left their cage unlocked. Five were recaptured.

Jim Newman, an Oregon Health & Science University spokesman, said today that veterinarians are watching the three Japanese Macaque monkeys, hoping they will be lured into cages baited with apples.

He says the missing monkey is believed to be on or near the Beaverton campus.

The monkeys are too fast to catch. They generally retreat from humans but if threatened, they could bite. One carries a virus that could harm people.

Monkey Image via www.peopleandwildlife.org.uk/newsimages/Japan

City-wide urban apocalyptic art in Copenhagen brings worldwide visitors

An apocalyptic show and a guided bus tour will be provided for those wanting to check out the "Radiant Copenhagen" - a future version of Copenhagen (meaning alternative realities created through eye-catching contemporary art)

Click here to go to the Radiant Copenhagen site and see some more wonders.

 

How can this happen? Baby food formulas contaminated by rocket fuel!

My question is how did the traces of this rocket fuel come to be in baby food! It's troublesome to me to see the CDC won't name the affected brands of baby formula.

From the Associated Press this morning...

Traces of a chemical used in rocket fuel were found in samples of powdered baby formula, and could exceed what's considered a safe dose for adults if mixed with water also contaminated with the ingredient, a government study has found.

The study by scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked for the chemical, perchlorate, in different brands of powdered baby formula. It was published last month, but the Environmental Working Group issued a press release Thursday drawing attention to it.

The chemical has turned up in several cities' drinking water supplies. It can occur naturally, but most perchlorate contamination has been tied to defense and aerospace sites.

No tests have ever shown the chemical caused health problems, but scientists have said significant amounts of perchlorate can affect thyroid function. The thyroid helps set the body's metabolism. Thyroid problems can impact fetal and infant brain development.

Read the rest of the story here.

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/

World leaders all agree on measures to protect the global economy

  

FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS TODAY...

   "World leaders pledged $1.1 trillion in loans and guarantees to struggling countries and agreed Thursday to crack down on tax havens and hedge funds — but failed to reach sweeping accord on more stimulus spending to attack the global economic decline.

    At the end of a highly anticipated one-day gathering, leaders of the Group of 20 nations said they would upgrade an existing financial forum to serve as an early warning monitor to flag problems in the global financial system.

   They did not, however, satisfy U.S. and British calls for new stimulus measures. Nor did European politicians get their goal of a global financial super regulator.

The leaders did bridge several gaps between the United States and some European nations over how far to regulate the market and how to curb the excesses that sparked the global economic crisis.

Read the whole story here. Image via www.pbs.org/.../business/0402_g20.jpg

 

 

G20 Pledges New IMF Aid, Passes on Stimulus Moves

G20 leaders took big steps toward reforming a "failed regulatory system" that helped create the global economic crisis, President Barack Obama said after the summit concluded in London Thursday.

FROM THE ONLINE NEWS HOUR...

The G20 leaders pledged an additional $1.1 trillion in financing to the International Monetary Fund and other global financial institutions and announced plans to regulate tax havens and hedge funds as part of the final statement to emerge from the emergency summit.

Read more here.

Text and Audio: Obama's News Conference

Read the Final Communique from the G20 Meeting [PDF]

Photos From the London Summit's Flickr Stream

Laughing man swallows scissors but still survives his stupidity!

Just when you think you've done some stupid things in your life there comes along a guy who picks his teeth with scissors; easily surpassing your worst moments!

Incredible X ray of scissors stuck in man's throat - plus more pics of amazing X rays

By Mirror.co.uk

A Chinese man that used a pair of small scissors as a toothpick ended up with them stuck in his oesophagus and with the sharp top angling up to his epiglottis after they slipped as he laughed.

"He had a big laugh on hearing a joke from a friend, and unexpectedly the scissors slipped inside his throat," said his wife.

The man tried to get the 9cm long and 4cm wide scissors out by coughing hard, but as the situation worsened, he was forced to go to a local hospital in Putian, Fujian province.

Using a whole body anaesthetic may have relaxed the throat muscles and allowed the scissors slip even deeper, so the hospital applied local anaesthetic and blood vessel forceps to remove the stuck scissors.

"The whole surgery took around 30 minutes. Luckily Lin does not have much of a wound inside his throat," said Doctor Chen.

Click here to see the X ray of six-inch spike stuck in a man's head and more amazing x rays.

X-Ray image via Mirror.co.uk

Links to April Fools pranks around the news today...

By Saeed Ahmed/CNN

"If you happen to browse upon a news story that's too odd to be true Wednesday, hold your outrage and check the calendar.

It's April Fools' Day -- when media outlets around the world take a break from the serious business of delivering news and play fast and furious with the facts.

No one quite knows when the practice began, but any journalist will point to what is undoubtedly the biggest hoax that any reputable news establishment ever pulled: A 1957 BBC report that said, thanks to a mild winter and the elimination of the spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop.

The segment was accompanied by pictures of farmers pulling strands of spaghetti from trees -- and prompted hundreds of viewers to call in, wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti trees.

Read the rest here.

While not as elaborate, the pranks that media outlets harvested this year have been quite rich:

The Guardian in London ran a story Wednesday announcing that, after 188 years as a print publication, it will become the first newspaper to deliver news exclusively via Twitter.

Twitter, a micro-blogging site, allows users to post updates that are 140 characters long. In keeping with the limitation, the newspaper said it had undertaken a mammoth project to retool the newspaper's entire archive.

A Lebanese newspaper ran a caricature last year (shown above) of two opposition leaders hugging in light of April Fools' Day. Image via Getty Images

 

New X-Ray Vision at airports sees right through your clothing!

Do you remember those ads in comic books back in the 60s when they advertised X-Ray vision glasses? I wonder how many little boys like me believed them and were disappointed when they didn't reveal what was underneath girls clothing! Well, the latest techno advance has solved the problem of strip searches without people taking their clothes off.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) passed out this undated handout image showing a composite of 4 separate scans, a female in the left two and a male in the right two, from a whole body scan machine, or millimeter wave machine being used at a security check point at the Salt Lake International Airport in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The new machine developed by New York based L3 Communications has been in use for over two weeks by passengers and takes a whole body scan penetrating clothing. This was a pilot program by the TSA to test the machines in a live setting for the first time at Salt Lake International Airport.

Reuters Photo