Tuesday, January 10, 2012

What happens if voters can’t decide who to pick for president?

Call It What You Want: The Weather Is Sure Weird This Year

        Good Day Humboldt County!

 I’ve lived in Humboldt County since 1979 and have never seen a drier winter. Our local Channel 3 weatherman, Bill Bernard, has made a few comments about this dry spell but hasn’t been giving out any statistics to compare with other years.

I’m pretty sure this will be, and is, a record breaking year for weather here in Humboldt County…and the rest of the world! No shit! Just look at what’s happening nationally:

 

                                               Weird winter weather: Want snow? Head south

Where's winter? If you're in the lower 48 states you might try Midland, Texas. At some 20 inches so far this season -- more than half of that dumped on Monday alone -- it's got more snow than most U.S. cities much farther north.

Take Minneapolis, Minn., at just 10.3 inches of snow so far this season (the norm: 24.9 inches), according to weather.com. Or Chicago, Ill., at just 1.9 inches, when by this time last winter it already had seen nearly 17 inches. Or Buffalo, N.Y., at just 5.5 inches, not the normal 44.4 inches. La Nina was also expected to bring a strong winter to the northern part of the U.S., forecasters predicted last fall. What gives?

Minnesota Public Radio meteorologist Paul Huttner says it's complicated."There may not be one specific reason," he said in a Q&A on the MPR website. "The jet stream has stayed unusually far north in Canada so far this winter. One reason is the so called Arctic Oscillation. It's been in a strong 'positive phase' this year which means stronger westerlies and Pacific air masses for Minnesota" instead of the colder air coming down from the Arctic.

Alaska on alert: towns low on fuel; 95 mph gusts forecast

It's not just the towns of Nome and Cordova struggling through what's been a wicked winter in Alaska; at least two more towns are running low on fuel, and parts of the state face blizzard warnings on Tuesday, with gusts up to 95 mph predicted in the Anchorage area.

A seafaring fuel convoy has been trying to reach Nome but two smaller villages are even closer to running out, the Alaska Daily News reported Tuesday.

"We're running pretty low," said Kobuk Mayor Edward Gooden Jr. The town of some 100 residents was trying to clear its airstrip in hopes that a fuel plane could arrive shortly.

In Anchorage, a blizzard warning was issued Tuesday for the outskirts of Alaska's largest city. Up to 28 inches of snow were predicted through late Tuesday, along with winds from 55 to 70 mph. Anchorage has already seen some 81 inches of snow this season -- double the norm. And it's not just Anchorage.

"Many areas of Alaska are under severe-weather warnings this morning, with blizzard conditions and heavy snow from western Alaska and portions of the Interior all the way to Haines in Southeast," the Anchorage Daily News reported. As accustomed to harsh winters as Alaskans are, this one seems to be taking a toll.

"Is this the winter of Mother Nature's discontent?" asked AlaskaDispatch.com. "Those living in Alaska have to wonder. It's like the poor old gal has gone schizophrenic. There really is no other explanation for the weather extremes witnessed in the north this year."

Time to walk on down the road…

Monday, January 9, 2012

Documentary airs tonight: What ever happened to the billions of dollars sent to Iraq?

It’s hard to believe, but billions of dollars just disappeared…

This is probably one of the greatest financial mysteries of all times. What happened to the tens of billions of dollars the New York Fed sent to Iraq during the war?

CNBC Transcript:

“Our own Eamon Javers is here. He's been following the money trail. He found something quite unusual that happened on the Baghdad-side of the transaction.

Sue, this is an interesting mystery. The money really started here in New Jersey at the New York Fed's compound off of route 17. They shipped it to Andrews Air Force Base. Palettes of cash, billions of dollars loaded onto C-17s and flown to Baghdad.

What we discovered in doing this documentary is all of those flights over the years were net by the same guy on every receiving end of those flights. billions of dollars in cash. And it was his job to handle the cash in Baghdad. His name is Bazel. We had a chance to sit down and talk to him in Dubai. This man is the last known American official to see the cash. He was responsible for transporting the money to the central bank in Baghdad. He agreed to be interviewed if we used only his first name, which is Bazel.

Were you able to resist the temptation to just throw a little off the back of the truck and take some for yourself? Absolutely. There's no temptation there. Why not? I think of myself as in honor of what I do. That is absolutely wrong. So did you take any of the money ever? Never. Never. He claims every shipment under his watch was delivered safely. and he didn't steal the money. But he says he knows what happened to it.

Sue, I don't want to give away the ending there by telling you what did happen to it. That's a cliff hanger. Yeah. The documentary airs tonight at 9:00 eastern time tonight. Everybody will be watching it I know including some who want to get the answer to why is a garbage truck key -- this was the weirdest detail. -- to one part of this story. What he told me is they were getting hit so many times with these convoys, suicide bombers, machine guns going off in Baghdad, he decided at one point he was going to rent a garbage truck -- we have a picture right there. Put $1 billion in the back of that truck, roll it down route Irish, which is the most dangerous road in the world at the time, with a billion dollars in the back and take it to the bank. Because it was so fortified or they wouldn't view it as a target? It's a trash truck. They didn't hit it. They thought it was trash.”

Recall: Mix-up pulls Excedrin, Bufferin, other meds off shelves

This sounds like it’s going to be a headache for a lot of people!

“Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis issued a recall of Excedrin, Bufferin, NoDoz and Gas-X on Sunday, citing concerns that some bottles of the over-the-counter medications contain tablets of other Novartis products — perhaps including the powerful prescription painkillers Percocet, Endocet, Opana and Zydone — or contain tablets that are broken or chipped.
The recalled lots include select bottle sizes of Excedrin and NoDoz with expiration dates of Dec. 20, 2014, or earlier and some bottle sizes of Bufferin and Gas-X with expiration dates of Dec. 20, 2013, or earlier.  Complete information about the recalled lots is available on the
Novartis website. (News source)”

Strange Times: a short walk through the headlines

                                 Good Day Humboldt County!

 I have a few silly stories to share with you today. Believe me, the world’s full of them every day. I decided to start this day with humor and a nod to the slightly strange because it seemed like a good idea.

              Beezow Doo-Doo Zopittybop-Bop-Bop arrested

Authorities in southern Wisconsin are facing a tongue twister thanks to the arrest of Beezow Doo-Doo Zopittybop-Bop-Bop. The unusually named 30-year-old man was in jail Sunday in Madison. Police say he violated his bail conditions from a previous run-in with the law.

   Magpies and bears mourn  North Korea's "Dear Leader"

The passing of North Korean strongman Kim Jong-il has been marked by plunging temperatures, mourning bears and now, according to North Korean state media, by flocks of magpies. Kim, who died in December aged 69 years after 17 years running the world's most reclusive state, was reputed to be able to control the weather, as well as to have scored a miraculous 38 under par round of golf.

"At around 17:30 on December 19, 2011, hundreds of magpies appeared from nowhere and hovered over a statue of President Kim Il Sung on Changdok School campus in Mangyongdae District, clattering as if they were telling him the sad news," state news agency KCNA reported on Monday.

White House hosted “Alice in Wonderland” party

A new book reports that the Obama White House hosted an extravagant "Alice in Wonderland" party in the fall of 2009, designed by director Tim Burton and featuring actor Johnny Depp.

In "The Obamas," New York Times correspondent Jodi Kantor writes that the White House decided to downplay the expensive Halloween party over fears of a public backlash, since it was taking place during the height of the recession.

 

Time to walk on down the road…

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Plugged In: What makes people think they won’t go deaf?

3dancers     By Dave Stancliff/For The Times-Standard
 The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know. When I research on the internet it’s like walking through the biggest library in the world. Yet with all the resources available online there are still some questions that go unanswered.
Maybe you can help.
 Why do people think they won’t suffer permanent ear damage when they spend hours daily with MP3s blaring directly into their brain? What makes them think after years of use they won’t be reading lips?
Is it because no empirically based studies have warned consumers? No. A recent European Commission review confirmed that listening to personal music players at high volumes over a sustained period of time can lead to permanent hearing damage.
The 2011 European Commission says by 2020 it could be commonplace to see one in ten 30 years olds wearing a hearing device as a result of listening to loud personal music players.
Brian Fligor, a doctor at the Children's Hospital in Boston, explains when volume is increased by three decibels, if you listen for only half as long, it produces the same hearing damage as listening for the full duration at the lower volume. Typically, someone who is exposed to more than 85 decibels of sound for eight hours damages their hearing. 
 Why single out MP3 players? The answer lies in the sheer number of songs MP3 players can hold. Other portable music players only hold one CD or cassette at a time, so people listen for a shorter time. MP3 players can store thousands of songs, resulting in longer use. Also, the earbuds common on MP3 players deliver the sound directly into the ear canal, eliminating other sounds.
 I’ve only touched on a small fragment of the information available that warns people, among other things, not to listen to a MP3 player more than one hour a day, and of the dangers involved when using one daily.
 None of the information seems to make a difference though. I constantly see people of all ages sporting earbuds in public places. Men, women, teenagers, children are plugged in. If everyone does it, it’s all right?
 Part of me wonders if any of the plugged-in set have never seen or heard anything warning them of the dangers of their habit? By some massive coincidence, have they all missed the news report, or study in the newspaper, that might have saved their ears?
  I can remember playing my 8-track tape player as loud as my Craig 10 inch speakers could stand. I didn’t think, or care, about ear damage back then. Everyone played their music loud. The only warning I ever got about playing my music too loud was from cops while cruising around the high school. I admittedly had little common sense back then, and didn’t worry about little things like damaging my hearing.
Am I making excuses for young people who play loud music? Not really. They’re the most likely to abuse their own ear drums. Unfortunately, they’re also the most likely to continue bombarding their ear canals if told to stop. 
In recent years I’ve seen other examples of high tech devices that can be harmful to one’s health. The one that bothers me the most is people who text and drive. More and more states are outlawing the practice, but I can’t help wondering why people think they can operate a car in traffic while typing inane messages on a tiny keyboard? Really?

Are people that stupid? Doe the same people who have MP3s plugged into their skulls text while driving? Does it take a certain type of person to believe they know best regardless of the facts? I’m beginning to think that may be the case. I’m not positive yet.
  I can only think of one other answer to my question: lots of people just don’t have common sense. They may get some as they get older, but by then it may be too late. That could explain a lot. What I thought was stupidity could just be indifference. Being clueless must have it’s merits because MP3 players and earbuds have seamlessly found their way into our culture.
 As It Stands, if you ever think of investing in the stock market you might check out hearing aide manufacturers!

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Have you heard the one about the Congressman and the little girl?

A congressman was seated in first class next to a little girl on an airplane.   He turned to her and said, "Do you want to talk?   Flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger."


The little girl, who had just started to read her book, replied to the total stranger, "What would you want to talk about?"


"Oh, I don't know," said the congressman. "How about global warming, universal health care or stimulus packages?" as he smiled smugly.
"OK," she said. "Those could be interesting topics but let me ask you a question first.  A horse, a cow and a deer all eat the same stuff - grass.  Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty but a horse produces clumps.  Why do you suppose that is?"


The legislator, visibly surprised by the little girl's intelligence, thinks about it and says, "Hmmm, I have no idea."


To which the little girl replies, "Do you really feel qualified to discuss global warming, universal health care or the economy when you don't know crap?" Then she went back to reading her book.

The Standoff: Leo had no intention of saying he was sorry…

Throne for the lion's queen - kiev, Kyyivska

photo source

‘Help! I have plastic cups glued to my head!’ and Zoo plans ‘Adults Only Tour’ for Valentine’s Day

               Good day Humboldt County!

 Today we’re going to talk a stroll down humor lane. People and animals can be really hilarious and I enjoy reporting on the activities of both.

  There’s so many serious stories out there it’s a nice break to read something funny and entertaining. I hope these two stories tickle your funny bone:

 

Man calls 911 after gluing plastic cups to head

A man who "accidentally" glued five plastic cups to his head put in a desperate call to 911 seeking medical attention. But that's just one of the more ridiculous non-emergency calls being highlighted in the Shields region of England. The Shields Gazette has posted a list of the more unusual Northeast Ambulance Service (NEAS) calls the region has recently experienced. The glued cups to the head takes the ribbon, but some of the other contenders include:

- One woman dialed 999 because she had the hiccups

- A rabbit owner called because her pet had a sore leg

- A caller phoned in because a contact lens had become stuck in his eye

It's also worth noting that unlike in America, but perhaps to the delight of Herman Cain, British emergency calls are placed to "999."

"All 999 calls are treated as an emergency. That means a call-taker has to go through a series of questions to establish the facts of an incident," said a NEAS spokesperson. "Handling requests which are clearly not an emergency means a call-handler is tied up, when they could be dispatching an ambulance to someone genuinely in need." The NEAS said they received nearly 1,200 emergency calls on "Black Eye Friday," a 20 percent increase over the usual caller traffic. The NEAS has been publicizing the non-emergency calls to help educate the public on when it is appropriate to request immediate medical assistance.

Pittsburgh Zoo hosting “Adults Only” Valentines Day event

The Pittsburgh Zoo is hosting a Valentines Day dinner that promises to reveal "the intimate secrets of exotic animal mating." It sounds like the ideal romantic date! As the zoo's website explains:

Join us for dinner, cocktails, and an adults-only presentation by Henry Kacprzyk, who will reveal the intimate secrets of exotic animal mating. From the most violent mating battles to the subtlest courting rituals, learn how the animals of land, sea, and air find love in the wild.

It's a little like the lyrics to Cole Porter's classic song "Let's Do It" come to life: "And that's why birds do it, bees do it. Even educated fleas do it.
Let's do it, let's fall in love."

And though love itself may not cost a thing, tickets to see these lascivious lions are $75. The amorous animalistic display also comes fast on the heels (or hoofs) of the news that animals are far better at detecting human intent than previously thought. Still, one needn't carry out advanced zoological research--or possess an animal's native intuition-- to deduce the intentions of couples showing up on Valentines Day to study animal mating routines up close.                                                                                             Via 961Kiss.com

Friday, January 6, 2012

New Marijuana study focuses on effects of THC and CBDs

Smoking marijuana can mean different things to different people -- for some, anxiety and paranoia can set in, while others mellow out.

Now, a unique brain scan study suggests two ingredients in pot may work independently to achieve these effects.

British scientists who watched the effects of the two marijuana ingredients -- Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) -- on the brains of 15 young men say the research shows how the drug can either ease or agitate the mind.

"People have polarized views about marijuana," said study lead author Dr. Sagnik Bhattacharyya, a researcher in the department of psychosis studies at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London. "Some consider it to be essentially harmless but potentially useful as a treatment in a number of medical conditions, and others link it to potentially severe public health consequences in terms of mental health. This study explains why the truth is somewhere in between."

The findings were published in the January issue of Archives of General Psychiatry. According to Bhattacharyya's team, it's long been noted that cannabis can prompt the onset of psychotic symptoms, such as paranoia and/or delusional thinking, among otherwise healthy people.

"A number of studies have (also) clearly shown that regular marijuana or cannabis use in vulnerable individuals is associated with increased risk of developing psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia, where one loses contact with reality," Bhattacharyya said.

Just how this occurs in the brain wasn't understood. In the new study, the researchers used functional MRI brain imaging on 15 healthy men, roughly 27 years old on average and described as "occasional cannabis users."

On three occasions under fMRI monitoring, the men received one of three identical-looking gelatin capsules: one containing 10 milligrams (mg) of the marijuana ingredient THC (deemed to be a "modest" dose); another containing 600 mg of CBD; and a third filled with flour.

Testing was conducted in a highly controlled and monitored environment, in which no marijuana was actually smoked.The fMRI scans (which track brain activity in real time) were conducted one and two hours after capsule administration. During the scans, the men engaged in simple visual-cognition tasks (such as pressing buttons to reflect the direction of a series of flashing arrows). Psychopathological assessments were conducted throughout the brain imaging process.

The team found that THC and CBD appeared to affect the brain in different and opposite ways. Ingesting THC brought about irregular activity in two regions of the brain (the striatum and the lateral prefrontal cortex) that are key to the way people perceive their surroundings. THC seemed to boost the brain's responses to otherwise insignificant stimuli, while reducing response to what would typically be seen as significant or salient.

In other words, under the influence of THC, healthy individuals might give far more importance to details in their environment than they would have without the chemical in their brain.

THC also prompted a significant uptick in paranoid and delusional thinking, the authors said, and the more that "normal" brain responses were set off-kilter, the more severe the paranoid or even psychotic reaction.

The effect of the other main pot ingredient, CBD, was nearly the opposite, however. Ingesting the CBD capsule appeared to prompt brain activity linked to appropriate responses to significant stimuli in the environment, the team reported.

According to Bhattacharyya, this suggests that, on balance, marijuana may play both a good and bad role in the context of psychosis. The study also suggests that CBD, at least, may "have potential use for the treatment of psychosis," he said, even as marijuana's other principle ingredient, THC, raises the risk for developing psychotic complications.

Dr. Joseph Coyle, a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at Harvard Medical School in Boston, said the current work goes a long way toward "connecting all the dots" when it comes to understanding the marijuana experience.

"What we're talking about here is the kind of perception, in this case prompted by marijuana, that leads a person to think that other people who are just talking in the subway are all actually talking about him," he noted. "Or people who are just tipping their hat for no reason are actually doing so specifically about him. And so this paper strikes me as important, because it actually looks at this kind of increased anxiety and increased hyper-alertness which are major factors in psychosis -- and then finds out what's going on in the brain among people who experience them.

"So I think this provides another brick in the foundation when talking about direct causality," he said. "It links the psychological state marijuana brings about with a specific psychophysical response in the brain. And that's very, very interesting."

There's more on marijuana at the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse .

Article Sources: Sagnik Bhattacharyya, M.D, Ph.D., department of psychosis studies, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London; Joseph Coyle, M.D, Eben S. Draper professor of psychiatry and neuroscience, Harvard Medical School, Boston; January 2012, Archives of General Psychiatry

Reports of legendary 'Oily Man' monster terrorize Malaysia

Around Christmas, something unusual was seen in Malaysia, and it wasn't Santa Claus. Residents of the Kampung district of Melaka were alarmed over reports of the orang minyak (Malay for "oily man"), a bizarre monster said to abduct young women by night throughout Malaysia. The creature has been occasionally sighted for decades, but never captured.

According to a report in Malaysian newspaper The Star, there were multiple sightings over the Christmas holidays. One eyewitness saw it "crawling up the stairs of the house, just like Spider-man. When it reached the top it suddenly jumped onto the roof. I don't think a human could do that. It then just disappeared. ... We can laugh and joke about it, but this is serious. All the families here have young girls."

No matter if the orang minyak is implausible, it's feared in many places throughout Malaysia. Villagers don't trust police to protect them and have instead taken to the streets on citizen patrol, armed with machetes, to seek out the monster.

The orang minyak is only one of many similar mythical beasts in the region. There's also the orang ekor (the "tailed man," a race of men and women who have tails); the orang gadang (the "big man," a 10-foot-tall beast with long hair), and the orang bati (the "flying man," a creature that stands about 5 feet tall, has black, leathery wings, and allegedly makes its home in dormant volcanoes).

While these creatures are rooted in myth and folklore, some people argue that the orang minyak is not a creature of folklore but instead a real, but unverified, monster akin to Bigfoot. According to Michael Newton in his "Encyclopedia of Cryptozology: A Global Guide" (McFarland and Co., 2005) the orang minyak "is an aggressive unknown hominid or primate reported from peninsular Malaysia. Natives of the region claim that this large, hairy biped attacks rural villages by night and carries off young women." It's not clear what he (or she — they can't all be males if there's a thriving population of them) does with these young women, but it's probably not pleasant.

By far the best known of all these is the orang pendek, or "short man," that has been reported in the forests of Sumatra. This pot-bellied creature is said to stand between 2 and 5 feet tall and range in color from yellow to dark black. Some believe that the hard evidence for the orang pendek is far better than for Bigfoot or the orang minyak, though that's not saying much.  (article source)

Blog Beak Until Presidential Election is Over

I finally hit the wall today. I can't think of what to say about all of the madness going on in this country right now. I'm a writer...