Sign of the times:Police turn away summer school registration crowd

Budget cuts in California’s school system have become so severe most schools can’t afford to have summer school. This is only the tip of the iceberg. California politicians could care less about our schools, they’re too busy playing political games.

The turnout to sign up for a free summer session of school caught officials off guard. They should have been prepared for this. Just look at the programs already slashed in the state’s education sector to see where political priorities lie. When we have a generation that can’t read or write it’ll be too late to save our future.

Here’s a sign of the times:

“HAWTHORNE, Calif. (AP) - Police have been forced to turn away a huge, unruly crowd that showed up to register Southern California high school students for 400 free summer school slots.

People began arriving at dawn Monday at Hawthorne's Opportunities for Learning Public Charter Schools.

Police Capt. Keith Kauffman says nearly 100 officers from nine law enforcement agencies were called in Monday morning because the number of students and parents swelled to more than 1,000.

They were peacefully dispersed by about 10:30 a.m.

Many budget-strapped school districts have canceled summer school.

Opportunities for Learning Public Charter area supervisor Jesus Franco tells the Torrance Daily Breeze that he was surprised by the huge turnout. Only about 40 people showed up on last year's opening day of registration.”

photo source

Tuesday ramblings: Mickey and Minnie mouse cartoon controversy and other stuff…

Good Morning Humboldt County!

Have you got you coffee or tea? Let’s enjoy warm beverages this morning while taking a look at the madness in the world around us:

Cartoon of bearded Mickey Mouse with Minnie in a veil causes stir in Egypt

Ultraconservative Muslims don’t have a sense of humor.

An Egyptian Christian telecom mogul has angered Islamic hard-liners by posting an online cartoon of Mickey Mouse with a beard and Minnie in a face veil. The ultraconservative Islamists, known as Salafis, called the cartoon posted by Naguib Sawiris on Twitter a mockery of Islam.

 'Anonymous' hackers declare war on Orlando

The hacker group Anonymous on Monday declared war against the city of Orlando, Florida, over the arrest of people handing out food to homeless people, according to a report in The Washington Post.

Anonymous said it would start "a massive campaign" against Orlando and "city web assets."

It said it would send emails to millions of people in 50 countries asking them to boycott the city.

Man completes 300-mile trip on paddleboard

Bart de Zwart expected to be in more pain after paddling 300 miles from the Big Island to Kauai.

"I'm not even sore," he said Monday morning from his Kauai hotel room, where he slept in a bed after arriving to Kalapaki Beach the night before onboard a stand-up paddleboard.

The 41-year-old Maui man spent five days alone at sea attempting what he believes to be the first-ever solo crossing from the Big Island to Kauai on a standup paddleboard. He was headed to a Kauai clinic Monday to have swollen, infected blisters on his feet checked out. Aside from the blisters and losing about six pounds, he said he felt fine.

Thanks for stopping by. Time for me to head on down the road…

Parting shots: Doobie or not doobie? That is the question, Bard...

The end of another day. Here’s a question to take with you: How many famous writers were stoned while composing their masterpieces? Has anyone kept track?

Some think the Bard of Avon was a loadie. A good argument I suppose for blazing a bowl before composing your great American novel. 

“A South African anthropologist has asked permission to open the graves of William Shakespeare and his family to determine, among other things, what killed the Bard and whether his poems and plays may have been composed under the influence of marijuana.”  Story

Ex-Gov. Blagojevich found guilty of corruption charges

I’ve been wondering why Blago’s trial hasn’t been getting the media’s attention like the Casey Anthony trial has. I guess it’s just not sensational enough for a ravening public.

Once upon a time, a story like this – A state governor trying to sell the President’s old Senate seat - would have been considered sensational. But, we’re all so use to corrupt politicians nowadays that this trial barely got a second-glance from anyone.

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich said he is disappointed and "stunned" after a jury found him guilty on 17 corruption-related charges, including trying to sell or trade President Barack Obama's old Senate seat.

Blagojevich, who had spent two and a half years professing his innocence on reality TV shows and later on the witness stand, faces an undetermined amount of time in prison.

Late night jokes from Sunday night…

Here’s a humorous roundup from last night’s reigning comedians:

Fallon: Airplane designers are planning a high-speed jet that can go from New York to London in one hour. Seriously? How about a jet that can go from the gate to the runway in one hour?

Leno: NBAs Ron Artest is changing his name to Metta World Peace. Not to be outdone, LeBron James is changing his name to Not Michael Jordan.

Conan: Egypt's military is Facebook polling for the country’s next leader. So, congratulations to Egypt's new leader, President Betty White.
Leno: Newt Gingrich’s campaign staff quit last week. Then his finance staff. He was going to quit the race, but his speechwriter quit too.

Fallon: A new study finds most Americans will have to work into their 70s and 80s to afford retirement. But then they'll have plenty of time to enjoy their golden year.

Letterman: Miss California won the Miss USA contest. Now the race is on to find the naked pictures.

Leno: Hugh Hefner is so depressed over his canceled wedding to Crystal Harris. They found him in the closed garage sitting on his Rascal scooter with the motor running.
Conan: NBC apologizes for deleting the words “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance in its U.S. Open coverage.  NBC is also sorry that Brian Williams ended the Nightly News with “Hail Satan!”Letterman: Rory McIlroy won $1.4 million at the US Open. Congratulations. Once again, the money had to be borrowed from the Chinese Open.

Leno: You probably saw President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner had their big golf match. You know what Obama's handicap is? Joe Biden.

Leno: Interesting political news tonight: Our entire studio audience used to work for Newt Gingrich. Everyone has resigned.

Fallon: Researchers in Brazil have discovered an Amazon tribe that’s never made contact with the outside world. Which can only mean they’re using iPhones.

Leno: Al Gore publicly attacks President Obama for taking no bold action on global warming and not fighting hard enough to pass new legislation in Congress. Then the girl behind the counter said, 'Sir, can you please just pay for your ice cream and go?'

Fallon: Justin Bieber and President Obama both in New York tonight. Traffic gridlock with the most powerful man in the world and right down the street President Obama.

Leno: A new survey says the U.S. is the funniest country in the world and Germany is the least funny. Gee, imagine coming in behind that laugh riot land of Iran.

Conan: Apple founder Steve Jobs plans a new state-of-the-art corporate headquarters. Then in six months he’ll replace it with a slightly thinner headquarters with a crappy camera.

Conan: The Florida Marlins new manager Jack McKeon is 80-years-old. That makes him the oldest man working in baseball and the youngest man working in Florida.

Source

Manic Monday: the Dodgers go bankrupt and other stuff…

Good Morning Humboldt County!

Pull up a chair and have a cup of coffee or team with me as we take a quick glance at what’s happening in the world around us:

The Dodgers file for bankruptcy

A mere three days before the payroll comes due — payroll that Frank McCourt can’t meet — the Dodgers have filed for bankruptcy, reports Richard Sandomir. With that, the legal game begins.

Michael Jackson 'Thriller' jacket sells for $1.8 million

A famed black-and-red calfskin jacket that Michael Jackson wore in the classic "Thriller" video has sold at auction for $1.8 million. I don’t know who these people are that can pay a king’s ransom for stuff like this.

Just a couple days ago the only known existing photo of Billy The Kid sold for $2 million dollars. That’s a lot of cash for just a photo.

We may be in a prolonged recession…but that’s not stopping the super rich from changing their costly collecting habits. This outrageous waste of money is par for the course when your rich and bored.

Nebraska nuclear plant safe despite flooding, officials say

Floodwater seeping into the turbine building at a nuclear power plant near Omaha on the banks of the Missouri River is not a safety risk, officials said Monday.

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Coming Next Sunday in As It Stands – “Oh say Can You See – a Nuclear Free Country?”

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Omaha Public Power District spokesman Jeff Hanson said that seepage was expected at the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station and that pumps were handling the problem.

Flooding remains a concern all along the Missouri because of massive amounts of water the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has released from upstream reservoirs. The river is expected to rise as much as 5 to 7 feet above flood stage in much of Nebraska and Iowa and as much as 10 feet over flood stage in parts of Missouri.

It’s time to get on with the day. Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you again soon. Time for me to head on down the road…

As It Stands: Why global warming is such a controversial subject

By Dave Stancliff/For The Times-Standard

Posted: 06/26/2011 02:40:17 AM PDT

This year in particular I've heard a lot of talk about global warming because of all the natural disasters world wide. Tsunamis, tornados, volcanoes, earthquakes, record flooding, and record freezing temperatures have been almost biblical in their frequency and destruction.

So what's going on? Some say the Earth is heating up rapidly because of man-made pollution penetrating the ozone. Others say the Earth is just having its natural good and bad cycles (in terms of human habitation).

In fact, a Gallup Poll in March claimed 51 percent of Americans worry about global warming. I'd say that shows how divided we are on this controversial issue.

The idea that mankind could negatively affect the climate by using fossil fuels is not new. The first talk of global warming goes back to 1896. A Swedish scientist, Svante Arrhenius, first suggested the idea. He proposed a direct relationship between carbon dioxide concentrations and temperature.

No one seemed concerned enough about the possible danger to the planet to pursue Arrhenius' research until 70 years later. Scientists showed a renewed interest in the earth's climate in the 1970s and 1980s.

Lead researchers in the early 1970s discovered that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) broke down into elementary chlorine in the presence of UV light emitted by the sun. CFCs were widely used as refrigerants, propellants (in aerosol applications) and solvents.

They also found a single molecule of elementary chlorine could destroy over 100,000 ozone (03) molecules. This discovery led to a worldwide ban on CFCs by the late 1990s (see Ozone Science: The Facts behind the Phaseout).

During this two decade period scientists thought the world was cooling. That theory gave way to the opposite one of global warming in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1988, global governments formed an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

In 1999, Indian climatologist Syed Hasnain speculated that the Himalayan glaciers would “vanish within 40 years as a result of global warming.” Fred Pearce, a reporter for The New Scientist magazine, quoted Hasnain's contention.

 Like a good journalist, Pearce noted that Hasnain cautioned his data was speculative, hadn't been published and wasn't peer reviewed. The interview would have faded into history, but was revived in 2001 when the IPCC used it to show a millennium of relatively stable global-average temperatures followed by a sharp increase in the 20th century.

Apparently ignoring Hasnain's warning that the report wasn't properly vetted, it was cited again in 2005 in a report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The report was a lobbying and fundraising tool.

This misuse of the Hasnain interview opened the door for a faulty foundation to be laid by the IPCC. They took Hasnain's untested speculation without doing any fact checking and ran with it. If they had checked it out, I suspect they never would not have quoted it once more in a 2007 report claiming “glaciers in the Himalayas are receding faster than those in any other part of the world.”

Throw in Climategate, when IPCC emails revealed discussions by leading IPCC scientists about how to exclude dissidents and skeptics from the body's report-writing processes and you can see why so many people don't believe in global warming. Protecting false science didn't give the IPCC much credibility.

Despite some doubtful information, there is also credible information on the effects of fossil fuels on the environment. To read more, I recommend the following: an article “Global Warming” which ran Jan. 13, 2011, in the New York Post; NASA's Earth Observatory website; and ScienceDaily.com.

 Our two-party system is divided over the credibility of global warming caused by fossil fuels. The Republicans feel they have to deny any facts supporting fossil fuel as a cause of global warming to protect Big Oil. The Democrats feel they're hitting the high road because they side with the environmentalist agenda, even though they too have a habit of skipping uncomfortable facts that don't support their contentions.

Whatever you want to call it, the Earth is experiencing drastic changes. Islands sink as sea levels rise. Instead of denying what we know to be true, that ancient glaciers are thawing, and temperatures are rising rapidly in areas that were cooler in recent history, we should unite in an effort to deal with what we can see, and prepare ourselves for climatic changes that surely lie ahead.

As It Stands, I hope the subject will transcend politics someday, and we still have time to take the appropriate actions for future generations.

WEBSITES CARRYING THIS COLUMN:

Doing It Green -

The Daily Jabber

Global Warming Cycles

Earth Global Warming

Is Hobie Call the most fit man in the world? Some think he is…

The "Death Race," a 24-hour obstacle-course competition that began Saturday in Vermont, is advertised as so difficult it "will make giving birth seem like a walk in the park."

Typically, fewer than a quarter of participants are able to finish, The Wall Street Journal reported today.

This year's 200 competitors were set to include accomplished triathletes, military special forces and a person who has been called the "world's fittest man."

The race's organizers, though, were focused on Hobie Call, a 34-year-old father of five who installs air conditioning for a living.

When Call learned that owners of a series of obstacle-course races were offering a $100,000 prize to anyone who can win 14 of them in the US this year, he announced he was going to pull off a sweep.

"I didn't believe him," said Joe De Sena, co-founder of the Death Race. "There just are not that many people who have that drive."

But so far, Call has won six in a row. Now, the race owners are intent on stopping him, saying that if he wins Saturday's Death Race, they will give $20,000 to anyone who can beat him in the future.

The Death Race is part of a circuit of obstacle-course competitions in the US, Canada and the UK known as "Spartan Races." They are as frustrating as they are physically grueling. Details of each Spartan Race course are kept secret so competitors cannot specifically train for them.

Organizers force racers to do just about anything, including crawl through muddy troughs covered in barbed wire, jump through flames, solve puzzles, chop wood, carry water and learn Greek. It also helps to be very fast.

The Death Race, the longest of the Spartan races, usually covers 45 miles. It lasts at least 24 hours, but has gone on for as long as 72. (Participants will not know exactly how long until it's over; they are given instructions during the race.)

"It emulates life," said De Sena. "Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong."

In February, Call left the suburbs of Salt Lake City in a 10-year-old Dodge Caravan and drove 11 hours to Temecula, Calif., to compete in his first Spartan Race. Call, who has the fastest known time for lunging a mile (24 minutes, 56 seconds) and has run marathons, thought it would make for a fun vacation. He packed his own food and slept in his car. The next day, he blew away his competition in a race that involved climbing a slippery wall, running through flames and solving one side of a Rubik's Cube.

Since then, Call has gone to extraordinary lengths to win six Spartan Races in a row. He sold his TV, he said, to buy a plane ticket to a race in Austin. Thanks to a cult following, fans and competitors helped cover some expenses and offered up their hotel rooms so he does not have to sleep in his car.

Race organizers are looking for someone to defeat him. De Sena, an institutional trader, said he invested his life savings in the series and will have to pay $100,000 out of his own pocket if Call reaches the goal.

"We were told we should get insurance," he said. "We laughed and said no one could do this."

Spartan Race staffer Jason Rita has been charged with finding the perfect athlete to beat Call. He has asked everyone from mixed martial-arts studios to the Navy SEALs to send someone. All have declined. In one race, Call nearly lost when he was asked to drag bricks using a rope. A competitor caught up to him, but Call out-sprinted him to the finish.

Call looks nothing like the hulking Spartans in the Hollywood film "300." He has the stature of a distance runner, wears glasses and has a quick smile.

"I don't have that rough look, but when it comes time for the race, I have that rough mentality," he said.

He said runners do not have the upper-body strength to beat him, and the buff guys are too slow.

"It's my combination of strength and speed," he says. "Good luck finding somebody."

story source       Google Images

NY passes gay marriage bill, treasure found, and man hides in toilet

Good Morning Humboldt County!

Grab a cup of Joe and take a load off this morning. There’s always something happening of interest. For example:

Cuomo signs NY gay-marriage bill

Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed New York's gay marriage bill into law late Friday, paving the way for what is expected to be a crush of gay weddings starting in 30 days.

New York will become the sixth state where gay couples can wed and the biggest by far.

I have a niece who is going to be glad to hear this news.

 $500,000 emerald ring — and it's a real treasure

Salvors searching for a sunken 17th-century Spanish galleon said they found a gold and emerald ring with a rectangular cut stone estimated at 10 karats while diving 35 miles west of Key West Thursday.

They say they believe it is from the Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which sank off the Florida Keys during a 1622 hurricane.

The ring was found by divers from Mel Fisher's Treasures, who were looking for the sterncastle of the Atocha.

Colorado Toilet Tank Arrestee Is A Wannabe New Age Pornographer

The man arrested for hiding in a toilet tank at a Colorado yoga festival is a New Age transient who aspires to operate a “spiritual porn site” and describes himself as a “worshipper” of women.

Luke Chrisco, 30, was arrested recently and charged with hiding inside a toilet tank at the Hanuman Yoga Festival in Boulder. A woman about to use the toilet, cops reported, noticed “movement in the tank” and alerted a man who spotted the feces-covered suspect “hiding inside the tank.

Time for me to head on down the road…

We can thank this moron from Texas for blocking federal legalization of marijuana!

It seems that the opinion of one good-old-boy Congressman from Texas outweighs yours. Meet the asshole who is making sure the failed War on Drugs never ends:

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), also known for his anti-immigrant policies, has said his House Judiciary panel will not consider the Barney Frank/Ron Paul bill. Period.

Now, we all know that this half-wit Texan already has his mind made up, so maybe there’s not much we can do about that. HOWEVER. What we CAN do is to make every single day of the rest of his life an occasion upon which he was reminded of his rank stupidity.

(Information and photo source here)

Here’s Rep. Lamar Smith’s contact info. Let him know what you think of the fact that he is now, by his own choice, the man responsible for continuing marijuana prohibition in the United States.

You can get started by emailing Lamar (click here), but this “man of the people’s” website makes you put in your zip code to do so (handy way to reduce citizen input), so you’re going to need to be from the 21st Congressional District of Texas to do that.

Meanwhile, you can call and write his offices: Washington, DC Office
2409 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 - ph: 202-225-4236 fax: 202-225-8628
8:30 am- 6:00 pm EST, or

San Antonio District Office -1100 NE Loop 410, Suite 640 San Antonio - TX 78209 ph: 210-821-5024
fax: 210-821-5947 8:00 am- 5:00 pm M-F

Kerrville District Office
301 Junction Highway, Suite 346C Kerrville, TX - 78029 ph: 830-896-0154 fax: 830-896-0168
8:00 am- 12:00 pm M-Th

Austin District Office
3532 Bee Cave Road, Suite 100 - Austin, TX 78746 - ph: 512-306-0439 fax: 512-306-0427
8:00 am-1:00 pm M-Th

As It Stands turns back the clock to 2009 when I warned readers about suspected cell phone health risks

 The subject of harmful effects from using cell phones has recently been in the news. Two years ago I wrote about them and got a divided response; some people thought I was crazy, and others agreed problems could exist.

Has anything changed since I wrote this column? Sadly, there’s very little progress to report.

On March 31st of this year CNN reported radiation from cell phones can possibly cause cancer, according to the World Health Organization. The agency now lists mobile phone use in the same "carcinogenic hazard" category as lead, engine exhaust and chloroform.

June 7, 2009

   By Dave Stancliff/For The Times-Standard

It always troubles me when people get sick, or even die, from a product that hasn't been thoroughly tested.

You see that kind of thing often in the pharmaceutical market. Big companies are more concerned about releasing new products to make a profit than they are about the long-term effects these products may have.
Despite the Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) efforts, the practice of releasing products to the public before their long-term effects have been thoroughly studied, continues to this day.
Take cell phones for example. The FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) is supposed to make sure that radiation-emitting products, such as microwave ovens, TV sets, cell phones, and laser products meet radiation standards.
According to the CDRH Website (www.fda.gov) “the center monitors devices throughout the product life cycle, including a nationwide post-market surveillance system.” If that's the case, why are the FDA's only studies relatively short term, with absolutely no data available on the consequences of childhood exposure to cell phones?
The majority of published data has been concentrated on a small number of outcomes, especially brain tumors and leukemia. Recently, there have been some studies of residential exposure to radio and television, that have focused on leukemia.
There have also been studies of cell phone users, particularly for brain tumors and less often cancers or other symptoms. These studies have shown no consistent or convincing evidence of adverse health effects from radio frequency field (RFs) exposure, according to the FDA. Not everyone agrees.
Critics of these limited studies point out that they are too deficient to rule out an association. The fact is that very little is known about new technologies using RFs. There haven't been any definitive population studies, but other statistics indicate concerns about cell phones being dangerous to one's health.
Recent statistics show that more than 30 percent of children under 13 years of age in the U.S. own their own cell phones. One-out-of-two American teenagers have their own cell phones. By next year, even more of those populations will get cell phones.
Why? Cell phones are getting cheaper every day. We like being connected to our children at all times. and, let's face it, a cell phone is nice to have in case of an emergency. Warning signals can be seen in current studies that indicate negative effects from electromagnetic fields and radio frequency radiation.
The head of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Dr. Ronald B. Herberman, recently told reporters there is a clear possibility of a direct relationship between cell phones use and the risk of cancer.
Worldwide, health researchers are taking a harder look into the adverse effects of constant cell phone use. International findings suggest that, if nothing is done about the matter, we may see an epidemic of brain cancer among the planet's youth.
Studies have shown significant correlation between electromagnetic radiation on our cells and our DNA. These studies also show that children are at the greatest risk to radiation damage because their brains are still developing and skulls are very thin.
Evidence is building that shows extreme low frequency (ELF) waves may not only be related to cancer, but may speed up the aging process, increase anxiety, depression, anger, and irritability.
A study by Dr. Neil Cherry, of Lincoln University in New Zealand, suggests that exposure to ELF waves alters calcium ions in our cells. Dr. Cherry's contention is that cell phone use may alter the delicate melatonin/serotonin balance in the brain, which would explain mood disorders and sleep problems.
I could cite other studies, but I hope you get my point. The FDA is lagging behind in studying adverse cell phones effects. So we won't hear from them soon, if ever. Until more is known about prolonged cell phone usage, we should encourage young people to use them less often or not hold them as close to their ears. I know that's easier said than done.
But what if your child comes down with brain cancer some day? Then it will be too late to do anything. At least now you can err on the side of caution.
As It Stands, technology brings benefits, but it also can bring grief if we don't fully understand it.

 image source #1    image source #2    Image source #3