Giant rats with poisonous hair, cops try to defuse ‘neck collar’ bomb on teen, and ‘Death star’ debunked

Good Morning Humboldt County!

I see the smell of my fine virtual coffee has got your attention this morning. Good to see you. Have a cup with me as the sun rises and a new day begins. Today we have:

Giant rats that kill predators with poisonous hair

By utilizing the same plants that African tribesmen use to poison their arrows, the furry fury known as the African crested rat can incapacitate and even kill predators many times its size, researchers have found.

"This is the first mammal that is borrowing a deadly poison from a plant and slathering it on itself without dying," said study researcher Jonathan Kingdon, of Oxford University in England. "This is an extraordinary thing to have evolved."

Poison from this tree bark has been used by hunters to take down large prey, like elephants, for thousands of years. "Evolution has mimicked something that hunters do," Kingdon said. "It [the crested rat] is borrowing from the plant just as the hunters are borrowing from the very same plant."

Cops rush to defuse bomb strapped to teen's neck

UPDATE: It wasn’t a real bomb around the girls neck."The offender went to a lot of trouble for a particular reason, but what that reason was, police are still working to determine," Murdoch said. Story

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“Australian police were trying to defuse an explosive device strapped to an 18-year-old girl's body in a wealthy neighborhood of Sydney on Wednesday, according to local reports.

Police said they did not know how the "collar bomb" had been strapped to the teen's neck, but it was understood that she did not put it there herself, according to The Daily Telegraph.

The Daily Telegraph reported that police believe a ransom note was attached to the girl, who is part of one of Sydney's richest families.”

2012 Watch: 'Death Star' debunked

Doomsayers have been wringing their hands for years over the possibility that an unseen companion to our sun periodically diverts a hail of comets toward Earth, sparking mass extinctions like cosmic clockwork. Now an astronomer has shown that the evidence for such a cycle in the flux of comets or asteroids doesn't actually exist.

The research is the latest knock against claims that the dark companion, nicknamed Nemesis or the "Death Star," might be out to get us in 2012.

Like many other 2012 myths, the Nemesis hypothesis had a smidgen of scientific research behind it. Back in 1984, paleontologists proposed that there seemed to be a 27 million-year cycle of extinctions that may have had an extraterrestrial cause. The prime suspect was a hypothetical brown dwarf or red dwarf that disrupted the orbits of comets on the solar system's fringe and sent them screaming earthward.

Crime fighting in Idaho: police tell man to stop wearing bunny suit

Okay. There was this guy...

“Police in Idaho Falls said on Tuesday they have told a 34-year-old man to stop wearing a bunny suit in public after residents complained that he has been frightening children.”

C’mon…nothing scary about a Bunny Suit. What’s all the fuss about? Just look at this guy’s smile.

“Police warned Idaho Falls resident William Falkingham after a woman said she saw him dressed in the costume, peeking at her young son from behind a tree and pointing his finger like a gun, according to a police report.”

Ooops! Looks a little over the top, but let’s not jump to conclusions. He was just using his finger. Let’s see what else the article has to say.

“An investigation of the sighting led officers to question other neighbors, "who expressed that they were greatly disturbed by Falkingham and his bunny suit," the report said. He also occasionally wears a tutu with the bunny suit, according to his neighbors.”

A tutu? That just doesn’t go with Peter Rabbit. What was the guy thinking? A rabbit in a tutu? No! No!

“Falkingham told police that while he "enjoys wearing the suit," he understood their concerns, and that he could be cited as a public nuisance for that type of behavior.”

Whewwwww…I feel better. I don’t know about you but that tutu killed the whole effect! He understands he could get in trouble if he does it again. Really? Why do I think we’ll be hearing from William again?

Attention dieters! Your starving brain cells are fighting back!

Finally! I found out why I can’t slim down. Why my mid-range bulge won’t deflate despite past attempts to downsize it.  

After all of these years of failed diets I’ve discovered my own brain was thwarting my dieting attempts with “feed me” signals! Sneaky, sneaky. “I could have been a loser!”

 

According to new research, when dieters cut calories their starving brain cells fight back!!!

It makes perfect sense to me. The question is, “Why should I even try now?”

 

 

image source

The last of the lamprey, avoid sunburn by drinking wine, and Thais practice death to get new start on life

Good Morning Humboldt County!

Awww the aroma of freshly brewed virtual coffee. The songs of the early birds in the growing light…another day in paradise! Pull up a chair and have a cup with me if you don’t have anything better to do. This is an interesting world we live in:

Last of the lamprey: NW tribes drive effort to save primitive fish

As long as American Indians have lived in the Pacific Northwest, they have looked to a jawless, eel-like fish for food. Tribes once harvested the lamprey from rivers throughout the Columbia Basin, which stretches from the Oregon coast up into Canada. But with dozens of hydroelectric dams in the way, the fish has followed the path of the buffalo — from a food staple of a people to a curiosity.

Drink wine, don't get sunburned

Important health tip for the summer: Drink more wine! A better protection against harmful sunburns might be a healthy dose of SPF sauvignon blanc, suggests a new Spanish study.

A compound found in grapes or grape derivatives may protect skin cells from skin-damaging ultraviolet radiation, report researchers from the University of Barcelona and the Spanish National Research Council. The flavonoids found in grapes work to halt the chemical reaction that kills skin cells and causes sun damage.Previously, vino has also been found to fight Alzheimer's, ward off prostate cancer and even prevent cavities. I’ll drink to that!

To start life afresh, Thais "practice" death

For those facing a run of bad luck and wanting to start things over, one Thai temple has an unusual solution: "rehearse" death with a mock funeral, including lying down in a coffin.

Pram Manee temple in Nakorn Nayok province, 107 km northeast of Bangkok, holds two of the rituals every day: at exactly 9:09 a.m. (2:09 a.m. British time) and 1:09 p.m., since the number nine is believed by Thais to bring good luck.

Time to walk on down the road…

Reflections on the night…

Night is dark

Hiding in pain
Night is quiet

But trouble remains
Night is still for those 

suffering…

Night delivers dawn
Dawn delivers day

Day delivers hope

Dave

On God, and not jumping to conclusions...

If people ask me if I believe in God, I say “Yes I do.”
If you ask me what my religion is I’m going to say I don’t have one. I don’t belong to any organized religion.I see them all as paths to one true God (for lack of a better description), but prefer my own direct path.I believe in an omniscient entity with no name. No gender. No political affiliation.
I say God, because I haven’t found a better word that describes absolute power over all the many universes and planets. God’s design is beyond my mere mortal thoughts and imagination.
Sometimes dreams and visions blur into a twilight state and God gives me a message. It always takes time to understand the message. Sometimes I jump to conclusions and panic myself. Like this morning.
A sentence haunted my sleep. A question in the dark. “Is your house in order?” Several long dead relatives asked me that question throughout the night, but would say no more when I called out their names.
I woke at 4:30 a.m. to the barking of my pug  Millie. I led her downstairs and to the backdoor. As she did her thing in the darkness, I stood by the door waiting and wondering what the question meant.
I tried going back to bed afterwards, but the question picked at my brain like a Raven in a cornfield. Was I going to die soon? Is that what was going to happen? Didn’t that question insinuate my time would soon be up? Maybe today? Maybe tomorrow? I felt a sense of panic.
I got on my computer and posted on my blog (below), trying to divert myself. Trying to mentally put my fingers in my ears and go “blah, blah, blah…” at that stalking question.
I always refused to be afraid of death because I accepted it as an inevitable part of being a mere mortal. No one gets out alive right? No use in beating that fact down with talk of being immortal.
When I go for a walk my spirit soars and I see God everywhere. Conversations take place with every step and I open myself to the entire universe . I allow the beauty around me to soak in as I tromp down the road having my personal visions and revelations.
My walk this morning centered me as it always does, and I’ve came away from it with the answer to the question, “Do you have your house in order.” The answer is no, there’s something I need to do that I’ve been putting off for far too long. Not a will either. I have one of those.
The upshot is, I don’t think I’m going to die soon and the question was a prompt from a powerful friend to take care of something.
As It Stands, I’m sorry that I can’t share what the answer was with you, but suffice to say…I’m going to have a good day! I hope you do too.

Skyjacking mystery may be solved, a look at wacky fair food, and a veterans museum battles for survival

Good Morning Humboldt County!

The coffee pot is on, so grab a cup and let’s wander through news items that have nothing to to with the contrived debt crisis.Those fools have dominated the news enough.

Reports: FBI has 'good' lead in 40-year-old 'D.B. Cooper' skyjacking mystery

Forty years after parachuting into folklore, the mysterious skyjacker identified as D.B. Cooper may soon be identified.

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 Let’s take a look at America's wacky fair foods

  Cotton candy, corn dogs and candied apples once ruled the midway at the local fair, but visitors now want food that's exotic — as long as it's on a stick, or more importantly, fried. From health-defying anomalies like fried dough injected with Pepsi to squirm-inducing chocolate-dipped scorpions, the new sideshow is food.

Photo:When state fairgoers tired of the iconic rib eye steak sandwich, the Indiana Beef Cattle Association invented the hot beef sundae, layered with mashed potatoes, marinated beef, gravy, cheese, corn "sprinkles" and a cherry (tomato).

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Chicago museum of veterans' art battles for survival

Joe Fornelli (photo right) knows the art of survival.

In 1965, when he was 22, the Chicago native was drafted and sent to Vietnam, where he served in an army helicopter unit.

"So many crazy things happened, people getting killed or wounded or burned," Fornelli said. "You never get over it."

He found solace in art. One time he used instant coffee and water to paint the realities of war.

Fornelli and his fellow veteran artists find themselves in the midst of another battle -- to save their beloved National Veterans Art Museum in Chicago, which is struggling.The museum houses more than 2,000 pieces of art by veterans from World War II to the current conflicts in the Middle East.

Time to walk on down the road…

As It Stands: The Last Crusade: Will extreme intolerance finally result in Armageddon?

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 07/31/2011 02:40:21 AM PDT

The dangerously widening gap between Christianity and Islam is reminiscent of the crusades of old, but on a scale never before seen.

We're instantly connected by advanced technology, unlike medieval times when information traveled slowly. Today, a holy man/leader calling for jihad instantly reaches millions of devout Muslims. Something their medieval predecessors couldn't have dreamed of.

The thing that hasn't changed with these two religions is their intolerance of one another. Extremists, disguised as fundamentalists, still call for each other's blood.

The result: people like Andres Behring Breivik (right), a Norwegian and self-described Christian Fundamentalist crusader, slaughters 76 people in Norway in the name of God, the right wing political party and racial purity.

 According to a Reuters report, Breivik said, “I explained to God that unless he wanted the Marxist-Islamist alliance and the certain Islamic takeover of Europe to completely annihilate European Christendom within the next hundred years, he must ensure that the warriors fighting for the preservation of European Christendom prevail.”

The European press is full of stories about opposition to Muslim immigrants who bring their customs and beliefs. The concern about Muslim globalization has become a prime political issue in Europe. Right-wing political parties are gaining followers who see multiculturalism as a threat to their way of life.

The entire world has become the hunting ground for al-Qaida and other extremist Muslims. Its founder and, until recently, leader (now deceased), Osama bin Laden, formally declared war against the West when he attacked the twin towers in New York City on 9/11/01.

Since then, distrust of all Muslims has become commonplace in America and the West. Because of Muslim religious fanatics, we don't just see a Christian backlash against Islam but a national concern about our security. American lives have been forever altered because of religious fanatics.

We've resorted to intense security and have lost some of our basic Constitutional freedoms with the passage of the Patriot Act, a direct response to extreme Islamic attempts to murder innocent people.

Norwegian investigators are looking at a 1,500-page manifesto in which Breivik vowed “brutal and breathtaking operations” in order to stop “the ongoing Islamic Colonization of Europe,” according to the Reuters report. Analysts say the manifesto was inspired by heated rhetoric from groups in the United States -- some of which are quoted directly.

Robert Spencer, the co-founder of Stop the Islamization of America, is cited more than 50 times in Breivik's manifesto.

Worldwide, religion has become increasingly prominent in politics, and it contributes to the polarization of political parties. The Middle East is a prime example, as the Jews and Arabs have never managed a real peace thanks to extremists. America is not exempt from this divisive phenomenon.

Why are Muslim leaders so strangely silent when Muslim extremists attack innocent people throughout the world in the name of Allah? I ask the same question of Christians who don't denounce extremist brethren like Florida pastor Terry Jones, who calls on God to help him rid America of Muslims.

The monumental irony, at least to me, is that both religions could live side by side if they just practiced what they preach. Both say they believe in an omniscient God that tells them how important the power of love is, yet they reject it in their daily lives. Each religion promotes peace but has prominent members who don't practice it. Instead, violent extremists from both sides are calling for crusades.

The historic crusades were geographically confined compared to the modern version, which covers the entire planet. Every atrocity committed today by these crazed religious killers seems worse than the last.

There's no sure-fire way to put an end to this religious war. Technology has presented us with wonders that have become weapons for extremists. From the Internet to smart phones, we've opened a technological Pandora's Box.

In this country, our Constitution guarantees separation between religion and state, but you wouldn't know it when you see how some of our leaders blatantly use religion to harvest votes.

If we can't stop this modern crusade in its tracks, we can at least slow it down and perhaps eventually turn the tide. We must not allow religious extremists to take over political parties. It's not too late to fight this dangerous crusader philosophy, which has the East and West on the brink of Armageddon.

As It Stands, mixing politics and religion was never a good idea, and the proof is all around us.

Websites carrying this column

#1 When does the world end? #2 Romafilosofia #3 Interceder #4 Waterintel #5 God’s Vacation

Predictions from world's top film prognosticator

Science fiction is where the future happens first, and that puts futurist Syd Mead at least two steps ahead of the rest of us.

The 78-year-old conceptual artist may be best known for designing the flying-cop-car-patrolled Los Angeles streetscapes in "Blade Runner," but he also dreamed up the original light cycles in "Tron," the Marine-transport starship in "Aliens" and visions of a class-stratified, off-Earth world for Neill Blomkamp’s highly anticipated March 2013 feature "Elysium." Here, Mead makes predictions for what we might one day see in film, in real life, or both.

Lightweight exoskeletons - Pointing to new electroactive polymers that contract powerfully and predictably when exposed to a charge, Mead foresees an era of lightweight human exoskeletons. Such strap-on limb supports could strengthen soldiers and help the elderly and the paralyzed. "These new materials are better than hydraulics or electric motors," he explains, "because they have a directional axis to pull and push, much like muscles do. So they’re very efficient, and more like a sheath than a bulky cylinder. That’s going to change the world."

Also Predicted: Hands-free highways, Printable replacement organs, Swappable car bodies, and Covert bank warfare.

What people are saying about this contrived debt crisis

I’ve got to hand it to the assholes/politicians ruining our economy while they play partisan games at the expense of the American middle class; they’ve got a lot of people shook up. Not just here in the U.S., but worldwide.

I hope they’re proud of themselves. They’ve proven to be the biggest collection of corporate crook lovers ever to screw up the House of Representatives AND the Senate at the same time! It’s an all-time low for Democracy. A minority has polarized the majority. Our system has failed. The world can see what’s happening better than the morons who are sinking the system.

I have one question for you: “Do you plan on backing new Tea Partyers to assure maximum damage to our entire democratic system in the future?”

I’d like to think voters will remember what the Tea Party has done here and will prevent their uncompromising climb to power in the years ahead.

Troops ask amid debt crisis: Will we get paid?

There’s global concern over US debt ceiling disagreement.

The Associated Press interviewed people across the country and found that, whatever their political leanings, frustration about the debt debate itself was the most commonly held view. Voters do not know how the debt showdown got to this point, at the brink, just days away from the United States being unable to pay all its bills.

Bob Krogman, a 60 year-old Air Force veteran who survived three helicopter crashes over North Vietnam standing outside the St. Louis VA Medical Center:

"Politicians care about themselves, and that's the way it's always been since I was in the military. I'm furious. I hate them.”

Denise Cox, 47, of Ohioville, PA, a western Pennsylvania nursing home worker:

"On both sides of the aisle, they all claim to be so smart. So how did we get to this point? It didn't happen overnight. All of these supposedly intelligent people brought us to this point, and now they are scrambling to see who they can take money from."

Robert Lydon, a pipefitter from Cohasset, Mass interviewed at Post Office Square, surrounded by banks and investment firms in Boston's financial district:

"They're fiddling while Rome is burning.They're playing to their egos and not thinking about the regular person on the street like me."

Miranda Ledouceur, 28 Woonsocket, R.I. resident:

"If they don't fix this there will be a lot of people on the street.Things are bad enough already."