How to go out with a bang, aspirin tied to vision loss, and scientists report new ozone hole over the Arctic

       Good Morning Humboldt County!

C’mon in. Don’t be shy. I’ve got a fresh pot of coffee on and a trio of stories to start your day. Who cares if it’s wet outside? Tip a cup with me and read what’s happening on this fine Monday morning.

U.S. company turns gun lovers' ashes into ammunition

There's something to be said for going out with a bang.

Two Alabama game wardens have devised a smoking send-off for avid hunters and gun enthusiasts. For a small fee, they will turn cremated ashes into ammunition that the deceased's loved ones can fire at will. Since it launched in July Holy Smoke LLC has had only two clients, but founders Thad Holmes and Clem Parnell said they have seen an uptick in prearrangements thanks to word-of-mouth and a recent flurry of international press.

Daily aspirin tied to risk of vision loss:study

Seniors who take aspirin daily are twice as likely to have late stage macular degeneration, an age-related loss of vision, than people who never take the pain reliever, according to a European study.

The data do not show that aspirin causes vision loss. But the findings, published in Opthalmology, are of concern if aspirin somehow exacerbates the eye disorder, given how many seniors take it daily for heart disease.

Scientists report ozone hole over the Arctic for the first time

The high atmosphere over the Arctic lost an unprecedented amount of its protective ozone earlier this year, so much that conditions echoed the infamous ozone hole that forms annually over the opposite side of the planet, the Antarctic, scientists say.

"For the first time, sufficient loss occurred to reasonably be described as an Arctic ozone hole," write researchers in an article released online Sunday by the journal Nature.

Some degree of ozone loss above the Arctic, and the formation of the Antarctic ozone hole, are annual events during the poles' respective winters. They are driven by a combination of cold temperatures and lingering ozone-depleting pollutants. The reactions that convert less reactive chemicals into ozone-destroying ones take place within what is known as the polar vortex, an atmospheric circulation pattern created by the rotation of Earth and by cold temperatures. This past winter and spring saw an unusually strong polar vortex and an unusually long cold period.

Time to walk on down the road…

 

As It Stands: John Wayne - Forgiving an American Icon

                                                                                       By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard
   Vietnam 1970 - I had been in country one week when my squad leader said, “We don’t need any John Waynes in this squad.” Nearly everyone I met during my tour in Vietnam and Cambodia agreed with that sentiment.
   At first, it was hard for me to understand why everyone seemed so down on the Duke.
At nineteen I knew very little about politics. I learned that Wayne used his iconic status to support conservative causes that kept the war going. That included rallying support for the Vietnam War by producing, co-directing, and starring in the critically panned Green Berets in 1968.
   That movie was propaganda, pure and simple. After awhile, I understood why his name had come to represent the establishment and the senseless war we were fighting. I found out there were no heros like the ones in the movies. Just survivors. Most of the Vietnamese I met wanted us to go home. We came to realize we were invaders, not saviors. 
   I never saw anyone cry out, “for God and Country” and charge into enemy bunkers with an M-16 blazing away. That’s not the war I saw. I saw corruption on the South Vietnamese side and the American side. A thriving black market. Master sergeants in supply getting rich. And lots of Americans doing drugs.
   How could my boyhood hero have supported such a massive mistake? Why did he support the government that put us there for no good reason?  What made Marion Mitchell Morrison side with the bad guys?

   While he epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon, he was also known for his conservative political views and for being a hawk on the war. I believe the Duke felt he was patriotic and doing the right thing.
   Time has been kind to the Duke’s memory. A Harris Poll released in January 2011 placed him third among America's favorite film stars, the only deceased star on the list and the only one who appeared in the poll every year since it first began in 1994.
    To millions, he symbolized and communicated American values and ideals. Nothing will ever change that. I’ll always consider him a great actor despite disagreeing with his politics.
    His son, Ethan Wayne, is selling some of his stuff in an auction at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, and also online, Oct. 3-6.   Ethan has such a large collection of his father's movie memorabilia that he decided to open his archives for the auction.

   Among the items to be offered are the actor's Golden globe for True Grit  — with an estimated value of $50,000 — one of his eye patches from the movie, plus 400 other costumes, scripts, personal documents and awards, according to a story in the LA Times (9/7).
    Ethan Wayne said he believes his dad still resonates with fans around the world not only because of his movies "but he was also liked personally. People knew he was the same kind of guy off screen as he was on screen. You can sense that about him. He never got bogged down with the darker side of his life."

   Some hold Wayne in contempt for the paradox between his early actions - he never went into the military - and his rampant patriotism in later decades. His widow suggested he was that way because he felt guilty and not because he was a hypocrite.
  You know what? I’ve forgave him a long time ago. I’m beyond those bad old days when the Duke wore a Black hat instead of his customary White one. I have no problem watching a re-run of  him in Stage Coach , The Searchers, The High and Mighty, The Flying Tigers, or the Shootist. Wayne played the lead in 142 of his film appearances. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen every film he ever made.

    It’s easier now for me to go back to my childhood days when the Duke ruled the cinema. If I could afford it, I would attend the auction and buy a piece of his memorabilia.
I once worked as a security guard at a gated community where he and his wife Pilar lived in Newport Beach (1974) and I saw him there regularly.
   Those memories serve me well. He was easy to talk with. We had many interesting conversations, him in his non-descript Ford station wagon, and me standing there in a rent-a-cop uniform at the main gate. He treated me with respect when he learned I was a Vietnam veteran. One day, when I told him I was getting married, he gave me a cigar and wished me the best of luck.  
    As It Stands, I wonder what that cigar would have sold for at the auction?

Websites carrying this column:

#1 All About Movies #2 Cigar Headlines #3 Cambopedia #4 Famous Dead #5 Hip-Hop newswire 

#6 PAIRSonnalités # 7 NewsNow/ World News-Asia, Vietnam #8 ACT Cambodia  #9  http://www.khmermidi.com/

10 Examples of Incredible Starry Night Sky Photography, and a How-To Video

Wild Horses Monument in Washington  Go Here for the rest of the photos and the video.

This 11 year old is so good at football he’s being penalized

In the continuing attempt to make this country as soft as possible, there’s now the “Madre Hill” rule.

Meet 11-year-old running back, Demias Jimerson, who plays in Arkansas’ Wilson Intermediate League. Jimerson is so good that the league implemented a little known rule named after Arkansas Razorbacks great, Madre Hill. If a player has already scored three touchdowns and his team has a 14-point lead, then he’s banned from the endzone. This is the first time the rule was trotted out since coming up with it. What a message to the kid; “Don’t be too good now…wouldn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.”

My question is if Jimerson gets close to the goal line, is he supposed to fall down and do snow angels or is there some kind of invisible fence that will shock him and prevent him from scoring? I mean c’mon man!

What’s this world coming to?

Some people say that Stetson Graves was too young for his first rifle

Some people said Stetson Graves was too young to have a rifle, but the Tri-County Moose Service Center #2613 – who gave him the 17-caliber Marlin rifle - said that was a bunch of crap!

In other related news, the NRA petitioned for a waiver on the age limit for hunting licenses siting examples of early starters like Stetson Graves.

photo source

Feds to offer mother of all garage sales, kids find dad 6 days after accident, and man regains some sight with new drug

Good Morning Humboldt County!

Step right in, pull up a chair, and have a cup of coffee with me. Have I got a garage sale for you! Plus, two stories about lucky people. Enjoy:

Beachside fixer-upper among offerings in $22 billion federal garage sale

Like Americans trying to raise quick cash by unloading their unwanted goods, the federal government is considering a novel way to reduce the deficit: holding the equivalent of a garage sale.

Among the listings: Plum Island, N.Y.(photo), off the North Fork of Long Island, which the government has already begun marketing as 840 acres of "sandy shoreline, beautiful views and a harbor." As former home to the federal Animal Disease Center, it may need a bit of "biohazard remediation," making it a real fixer-upper.

Six days after cliff plunge, kids find dad

A 67-year-old man found alive days after his car plunged 200 feet off a mountain road built a makeshift camp, ate leaves and drank water from a nearby creek to survive, his daughter said.

After several days of radio silence from their dad, David Lavau's kids reported him missing to police. As rescue workers conducted an official search for the missing man, the Lavaus set out on thier own.

The family members were the ones who located David Lavau at the bottom of a ravine in the Angeles National Forest in California Thursday. Photo - Los Angeles County firefighters in Angeles National Forest, north of Castaic, Calif., after two vehicles plunged 200 feet down the canyon below.

 Blind parachuter regains some sight with experimental drug

Mike Scholes was training for a freefall parachute jump five years ago when his vision began to fail.

“I went for an eye test at the optician, and on the way to pick up my glasses five days later, I nearly crashed the car,” says the 58-year-old adventure junkie from Lindfield in West Sussex, United Kingdom.

Within days and without warning, he had lost most of the sight in his left eye. “This meant an abrupt change in my life,” Scholes says. “I had a very successful hot air balloon business, and I had to stop flying. I had to sell my cars as I could no longer drive.”

After seven months of screening — including CT and MRI scans, X-rays and a spinal tap — a DNA test detected Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy, an inherited condition that causes people who can see normally to lose sight in one eye. Months later, they lose sight in the other eye — for Scholes, this happened around the time of his diagnosis. At that point, he couldn’t see in an increasingly large area in the center of both eyes. Colors gradually disappeared, until he could only make out hues of blue.

Time to walk on down the road…

Strange Art - Scraping away the Skin on Skull nickels

 

The term “Hobo Nickel” describes any small-denomination coin (though, normally soft nickels) that people carve to create miniature reliefs of…well, all sorts of things. It started sometime in the 18th century but continues to this day; There’s even an entire society dedicated to the art of nickel carving. Go here to see more examples of this unusual art form.

While walking through the Redwoods Claire was horrified to find out that all trees are not created equally

photo source

National Coffee Day, Mr. Penguins dream, and Pizza Parlor Policies

Good Morning Humboldt County!

It’s that time again when we share some hot coffee and stories to start the day. I’m glad you could stop by. Don’t forget to check out the locations where you could find some free coffee below.

National Coffee Day Freebies and Deals

Today is an important day for caffeine addicts across the country. It's National Coffee Day! Celebrate the wonders of the buzz-bearing-brew with, what else, a free (or at least dirt cheap) cup of coffee from one of the establishments who are honoring the day. Here is a list of places to choose from.

Belgium's "Mr Penguin" dreams of Antarctic funeral

Belgian pensioner Alfred David dreams one day he'll find eternal rest in the icy waters somewhere near Antarctica, dressed in his penguin suit and laid out in a coffin decorated with penguins.

The 79-year-old "Monsieur Pingouin" (Mr Penguin), as he is known to locals in his Brussels neighborhood, dons his favorite hooded black-and-white penguin costume as he looks back at more than 40 years of obsession.

"My ultimate dream is to be buried in a deep ocean close to where penguins live," David told Reuters.

Insurance broker launches pizza parlor policy

In the specialized world of insurance, this one takes the cake -- or perhaps the pie -- a new policy called "SLICE" specifically designed to protect the owners of pizza parlors.

California insurance brokerage EPIC Programs Group said late Wednesday the "Safety, Loss Control, Insurance, Coverage, Expertise" program would address liabilities pizza parlor owners face from their delivery drivers.

The program, available in 40 states, includes mandatory driver training and other risk control measures. EPIC said the program was being underwritten by an unnamed insurer that specializes in auto coverage.

Time to walk on down the road…

Chill Out: Man in Ice Cream Cone Costume Mistaken for KKK Protester

This guy – unlike his employer who’s from Puerto Rico – has probably heard of the KKK, but didn’t think his ice cream cone suit looked like a klansman (or didn’t care). I know these are hard times and people will do whatever for money. That outfit must have been uncomfortably warm under the Florida sun.

An ice cream shop in Florida (where?) was hoping that he would drive more business into the store.

But apparently the pointy white hood bore too strong a resemblance to a Ku Klux Klan uniform and some people got upset. The owner, who's from a Caribbean island, told the local newspaper she had never heard of the white supremacist group.                                              news source & photo