A blast from the past: a traveler’s tales and free ride

Back in 1985, I was the editor of The Desert Trail newspaper (See banner above). One day, while looking for a feature story, I had the good luck to have the story come to me in the form of a traveling man who stopped by the office.

He came out of the searing sun and into the newspaper’s air-conditioned office to sell trinkets made from aluminum cans. As I watched him talk with Nell, our secretary, I saw news potential in that sunburned scarecrow of a man.

See “As It Stands’ in this Sunday’s Times-Standard. 

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Men are from Mars, Cats are from...

They know where they're from, but they're not telling

Freaky Friday News: Strangest Way to Receive Tons of Marriage Offers

One Way to Get Popular with Ladies: Set out to Walk Around The World in an Iron Mask

“Harry was, to put it mildly, a bit of a rogue, a rascal, a rake, a rapscallion. Born around 1877, Harry soon proved to as wily with his businesses and investments as he'd was with the ladies, the bottle, and the cards – creating for himself a self-indulgently lavish and totally outlandish lifestyle.
But, alas – or so some stories go – Harry's luck deserted him one day and he lost it all on a foolish wager. Facing absolute ruin, Harry had few options – until, that is, the intervention of John Pierpont Morgan and Hugh Cecil Lowther (the 5th Earl of Lonsdale).
What Morgan and Lowther did was offer poor Harry an opportunity to regain his fortune. All Harry had to do was accept another, very possibly, foolish wager.

Harry, you see, had to take a stroll. But not a few dozen, or even hundred, miles... not just across England, or even down and through Europe, or into the Middle East and then China. No, ladies and gentlemen, Harry had to walk all the way around the entire Earth.

Sweet-sounding “kissing bugs’ can take your breath away

Yikes! I’ve been reading all about the bed bug infestation in this country lately. This morning I found out about this disgusting “kissing bug.”

I must have led a sheltered life because I’ve never seen bed bugs, and I’ve never even heard of kissing bugs.

I once heard someone say that when mankind nukes himself off this planet the only survivors will be cockroaches! I have a hunch bed bugs and kissing bugs will be right there with them!

Noel Aleccia writes: “If you thought bed bugs were bad, consider this: Researchers are warning about the dangers of another invasive critter, the so-called “kissing bug,” which strikes at night and bites your face.

PHOTO: Smooch! The adult female kissing bug, known as Triatoma rubida.

Properly known as triatomines, the long-feelered bugs common in the U.S. southwest are known to carry the parasite that causes Chagas disease, a potentially deadly illness with roots in Latin America. Fortunately, cases here have been rare, but that hasn’t deterred the bugs from causing damage. Most recently, they’ve been linked to dangerous allergic reactions in patients who wake up with swollen-shut eyes, itchy welts and blistered skin, struggling to breathe.

A recent study in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases advises doctors to be on the lookout for these severe allergic reactions, which can be as serious as any bee sting in people who are sensitized. In one instance, a 46-year-old woman in the foothills of San Diego woke up scratching her leg and quickly found that she was too weak to walk and short of breath. She had to be rushed to an emergency room and treated for anaphylaxis. Other victims have lost consciousness and had seizures.

The culprit? The small brown blood-suckers attracted by light to human homes. They creep in unnoticed only to emerge at night and use scent and heat to track down humans. The reason they’ve been dubbed “kissing bugs,” is from their common habit of biting the face, which is often exposed during sleep.

Data is sketchy, but researchers at the University of Arizona’s “Kissing Bug Project” report that there were 669 exposures to kissing bugs reported to U.S. poison control centers between 2000 and 2005. They figure the number of love bug bites was actually much higher because of under-reporting.

There’s not much to do about a kissing bug bite, except to avoid it. Pest control is a good idea, experts say. This is one smooch nobody wants to wake up with.”

The top 10 most tattooed cities in America – guess which is Number One?

TotalBeauty.com scoped out the top towns obsessed with getting inked

“To figure out which U.S. cities were the most tattoo-friendly, we perused chat forums and looked up every state in several public directories, including Yellow Pages, Google listings, Tattoo Yellow Pages and AAA Tattoo Directory, to find those with the most listed tattoo and permanent makeup shops. Then we looked up which cities in those states had the most shops listed per capita with populations based on latest U.S. Census numbers. We also took into consideration the city's demographics and whether or not it hosted tattoo conventions, remembering that not all tattoo parlors were listed in the directories. Here are the cities that love ink the most:

Palin’s picks lose primaries – time for ‘Mama Grizzly’ to go into hibernation

Perhaps there is still some sanity out there in the hinterlands. Paying Palin to stump for candidates hasn’t paid-out for the tea baggers and other assorted wackaloons. 

Primary losses blunt Palin's 'Mama Grizzly' claws

“It's been a summer of setbacks for Sarah Palin. Candidate "cubs" endorsed by the Mama Grizzly in Chief have been suffering a recent string of primary election losses.

The Republicans' 2008 vice presidential nominee promised a pack of "mama grizzly" candidates would rise up and defeat Democrats in this November's elections. But office-seekers she supported in Kansas, Wyoming and Washington state lost their primaries despite her high-profile endorsements. And Karen Handel lost her runoff contest for Georgia governor a day after sharing an Atlanta stage with Palin.”

Cannibalism still practiced: human trafficker jailed for trying to sell albino man

Kenyan sentenced to 9 years in prison for trying to make a deal with Tanzanian witchdoctors

Just what does an Albino in Tanzania cost the local witch doctor? Try $263,000! The sickening thing is what happens to the poor Albino when he/she is sold:

Excerpt:

“The victims' blood and body parts are used for potions. Witchdoctors tell their clients that the body parts will bring them luck in love, life and business.”

PHOTO - Children take a break in January 2009 in a recreational hall at the Mitindo Primary School, which has become a rare sanctuary for albino children in Tanzania.

Technorati Tags: tanzanian witchdoctors,albinos,human trafficing

Green and Clueless: even people who want to ‘Save The Planet’ have no idea what they’re doing.

People’s apathy, ignorance, and selfishness contribute to ignorance of all things green.

Excerpt:

“You could practically hear a collective groan from enviros across the world yesterday, when The New York Times reported on city apartment dwellers who leave their air conditioning running for days and days when they are not even home: with “utilities included” in their rent, these model citizens don’t pay for it, and they want to walk into a nice cool room when they get back from vacation or just a tough, hot slog from the subway. So much for all those 50 Things You Can Do books, magazine articles, and Web sites, all of which patiently explain that it would be really, really helpful if we didn’t run appliances when we’re not using them. Apparently, that message—which green groups have been disseminating for at least 20 years—can’t hold a candle to people’s apathy, ignorance, and selfishness.”

Column Feedback on Atrazine – it’s being used here in Humboldt County says reader

I got a lot of interesting feedback on this Atrazine threatens public health like another Agent Orange column from last Sunday. At last count, 10 web sites picked it up. Among the emails I received, this one from a reader (whose identity I’m protecting) was the most interesting…and controversial.

So, how about it fellow Humboldters? Were you aware that Atrazine and other nasty chemicals (see list below) were/are being used here? Why hasn’t this raised anyone’s hackles? What’s up? Is this an issue the mainstream press up here wants to avoid? Hmmmmm….anyone?

“Hello Dave,

Are you aware that Green Diamond is spraying Atrazine, Imazapyr and 2,4D (actual AO component) in our watersheds, according to the recent Econews. Green Diamond clearcut logs broad swaths of the Mad River watershed, the source of our drinking water.

And that PL sprayed 7000 gal (or lbs) of Atrazine in 2008 in the lower Eel, before they fled in bankruptcy, according to CATS?
Atrazine is a potent endocrine disruptor according to professor Tyrone Hayes, who was booted from the manufacturer's  Atrazine review committee because he proved that vanishingly small concentrations feminized frogs (30 X below that allowed by EPA for drinking water and 120 X lower than the 12 ppb threshold for aquatic life). Atrazine drifts, persists in water from 167 days to 31 years, and contaminates rainwater as well as ground and surface waters. It is banned in many countries.

Imazapyr is super-potent (meaning miniscule, virtually undetectable, concentrations interrupt plant development), with a neurotoxic breakdown product, which can cause a disease resembling Huntington's chorea, (which killed Woody Guthrie), and a host of other bad effects in a variety of species.

2,4D is one part of AO, is highly water-soluble, can last over 5 years in clay soils, crosses the blood-brain and placental barriers, is absorbed through the skin, can cause birth defects and lymphoma, feminizes many species, affects various endocrine organs, and is contaminated with dioxin.
There has been no effective monitoring for these or their toxic breakdown products.
Green Diamond has no business using any of these in our watersheds.
Thanks for your article.”

In addition:

Humboldt County 2008

Atrazine ... 8,449 pounds

2,4-D, ISOOCTYL ESTER ... 3,912 : THE MOST WATER SOLUBLE

Imazapyr ... 2,497

TRICLOPYR, BUTOXYETHYL ESTER ... 4,705

Also, under "outdoor flowers":

CHLOROPICRIN 3,675

CHLOROTHALONIL 1,158

1,3-DICHLOROPROPENE 6,471

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Rare double quake blamed for deadly South Pacific tsunami

I was thinking about our recent earthquake (4.5 off shore of Eureka) which most people didn’t even notice.

It hit at 5 a.m. and people just slept through it. It seems to me, with each one of these mini quakes we experience we’re getting a step closer to something bigger.

The fact is, researchers have barely scratched the surface when it comes to predicting earthquakes. Every time Mother Earth rocks and rolls, it’s a signal that serious shit could (and some day will) rock our worlds forever!

Temblors occurred along separate fault lines and ruptured differently

“The deadly tsunami that pounded several South Pacific islands last year was spawned by not one but two monstrous earthquakes, surprising new research reveals.

”Initially, it was thought that a single powerful magnitude-8.1 jolt triggered the tsunami last Sept. 29 that killed nearly 200 people in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga.