The Devil Didn’t Make Me Do It …. My Brain Did!

  Good Day Humboldt County!

At some time in your life I’ll wager you heard the words, “I can’t help myself,” when it comes to eating or sex. A new study out talks about how our brain reward center responds to food and sexual cues.

“According to research out of Dartmouth College, in some people, hyperactivation of the nucleus accumbens, a key reward structure buried within the brain's striatum, predicted the eating and sexual behaviors of people.

This suggests one’s ability to say “no” is not just a matter of willpower, but brain wiring. 

The study, published this week in the Journal of Neuroscience, used fMRI brain imaging and pictures depicting food, erotica, landscapes, and people to gauge how the test subjects' accumbens reacted to each stimulus. (The 48 women who completed the study had no idea what it was actually about.)

Bill Kelley, associate professor of Dartmouth's department of psychological and brain sciences, says the study shows that the activation of one brain region proved to be a strong predictor of later behavior, demonstrating that the stronger the “liking” response to a stimulus, the less able we are to “hear” our rational brain saying “no.”

As for the findings, the thought that all people are equally capable of self-control is naïve.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Turning the clock back to the 1950s: "We Add Nuclear Power To Everything."

 Fans of the old, but still wonderful, Road Runner cartoons might remember Wile E. Coyote's favorite one-stop-shop for mayhem: The Acme Company. A clever person – not one of us, alas – once said that Acme's slogan should be "We Add Rockets To Everything."
This, in a kind of round-about way, gets us to the 1950s and the near-obsession that certain engineers had back then with a certain power source. To put it another way, their slogan should have been: "We Add Nuclear Power To Everything."

(images via 1, 2)

In all fairness, at first we thought that reactors have proven – for the most part – to be pretty reliable (we are now re-evaluating this again, in view of recent Japanese disaster). Submarines, commercial power plants, and even monstrous icebreakers have proven that nuclear power can be handy if not essential. But back just a few decades ago there were plans, and even a few terrifying prototypes, that would have made the Coyote green with envy – and the rest of us shudder in terror.

(image via)

Both the US and the Soviet Union had engineers with lofty plans to keep bombers in the air indefinitely by using nuclear power. Most folks, with even a very basic knowledge of how reactors work, would think that was a bit (ahem) risky, but what's even scarier is how far along some of those plans got.

Take, for example, the various projects the US undertook. In one case, arguably the most advanced, they made plans to power a Convair B-36 Peacemaker bomber with a reactor. Scary? Sure, but what's even more so is that they actually flew the plane, with an operational reactor, a total of 47 times.

(Right) Newsweek cover, 1957 - image via)

"Miss Atomic    Bomb", 1957 -

(image via)

It's ironic that -- what with the need to urgently replace our finite and global-warming fossil fuels – that many are suggesting a new look at the power of the atom. We can only hope that we, today, can be as imaginative about it as they used to be back in the 1950s ... and a lot more responsible.
Love and Radiation: (Truly, "Till Death Do Us Part"?)                                   Originally posted here.

Cool frog sitting by the dock at the end of the bay…

It looks like frog posed for this shot. He’s got a pretty stern look going on there don’t you think?

Somebody get this frog a book or a fishing rod, and this scene will be complete.

In a scene straight out of the children's classic "Frog and Toad Are Friends," this guy is just chillin' on a bench, hands resting on his delicious hips, wastin' time Otis Redding-style. And you know what? I bet he's earned it. "He's probably just taking a quick rest on that bench cause he's been hopping around doing frog stuff all day," wrote one YouTube commenter. What else can you say, really? (Source)

Going Bugs on Monday: Let’s see how huge bugs can get to be

                  Good Day Humboldt County!

I got to wondering about big bugs the other day and discovered the 16 largest insects in the world. I’ve seen big big creepy crawlers in Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam, but none of them can touch this group of big bugs.

The little boy on the left is holding a Titan Beetle in French Guiana. They’re also found in Brazil. Interesting fact about the Titan Beetle: The larvae have never been found, but are thought to feed inside wood and may take several years to reach full size before they pupate.

 

You’re looking at the worlds largest Cockroach nestled in this guys hand (photo right). The Giant Burrowing Cockroach can  be found in Australia. These bugs “down under” rate pretty high in my creepy factor index.

  When I was in Southeast Asia I never got the opportunity to see one of these Atlas Moths. In India, Atlas moths are cultivated for their silk. Just look at the size of this moth.

The Elephant Beetle (bottom photo) can be found from Mexico to Venezuela. They have a short lifespan of about three months. Meanwhile they munch on whatever they want!

I have a dozen more big bugs to share with you via the folks at BuzzFeed …

GO HERE

Time for me to walk on down the road…

AS IT STANDS: Americans worry less about pollution in down economy

      

“Only after the last tree has been cut down, Only after the last river has been poisoned, Only after the last fish has been caught, Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.”
- Cree Indian Prophecy
                                                  

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

   Americans are dying every day from polluted air, land, rivers, and oceans. Our food chain is polluted with pesticides, steroids, and hormones. Study after study warns us we can’t keep going on like this. In a twist of irony, Americans' concerns about environmental problems have decreased with the drop in support for various environmental policies and the higher priority currently assigned to economic growth, according to an April 13th Gallup Study (“Worry about U.S. Water, Air Pollution at Historical lows”). The economic downturn has forced Americans to focus more on bread-and-butter economic issues than quality-of-life issues, the study concluded. The future is uncertain. 

   Over 29 percent of America’s bees (located in California and Florida) have vanished and scientists are concerned. It’s been predicted that if we lose our bees, we will only have a few years of food left.
  “One in every three bites of food you eat comes from a plant, or depends on a plant, that was pollinated by an insect, most likely a bee," said Dennis vanEngelsdorp of Penn State University's College of Agricultural Sciences, during a recent Associated Press interview.
   They found a wide variety of pesticides and other chemicals in the hives, but didn’t think any one chemical was strong enough to be lethal. However, they did feel it was possible that some of the chemicals could combine in harmful ways not yet understood.
   "The 98 pesticides and metabolites detected in mixtures up to 214 ppm parts per million in bee pollen alone represent a remarkably high level for toxicants in the brood and adult food of this primary pollinator," Mullin and his colleagues wrote in the journal Public Library of Science-One.

  The run off from factories and air fallout into the oceans have increased the contaminates in our fish so much that the fish oils we purchase for our omega 3 healthy oils, contain traces of mercury, PCBs and dioxins.
  Our soil is getting heavily polluted by toxic materials and dangerous microorganisms, which enter through air, water and the food chain. These soil pollutants come from;Agricultural waste, Industrial waste, Urban waste, and Hazardous waste.
  The biggest offender by far is industrial waste discharged from paper and pulp industries, conventional and atomic power plants, mining and smelting operations, etc.
   A recent pollution concern is that components could fail at the nation’s largest radioactive cleanup site, a first-of-its-kind $12 Billion waste treatment plant in at Hanford in Washington State. It’s designed to last 30 years, another shortsighted solution to a huge problem.
   The Department of Energy began looking into potentially serious flaws at the Hanford Site facility in January. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board wants more tests and analyses to validate the designs for key components of the plant, which is meant to stabilize and contain 56 million gallons of radioactive waste.

  With all this scary information on hand you’d think people would want to be more proactive and cooperative.  We all live on the same planet. Breath the same air. Drink the same water. Common sense would suggest we work together on our common challenges.
   Unfortunately, common sense has taken a back seat to partisan ideologies more concerned with making money by any means possible, than with the public’s safety. No amount of man-made disasters, like the Deep Water Horizon tragedy, seems to stop the money mongers’ pursuit of oil.
   Lobbyists protect our polluters/corporations with massive amounts of money to corrupt politicians who write the laws. There’s no respect for the land. Environmentalists are belittled by right-wing conservatives who serve their money God.
   I’ve heard people compare the fall of the Roman Empire to America’s rapidly crumbling infrastructure, but our downfall will be even more devastating. No kingdoms will rise in its place, because America will be a polluted wasteland, unfit for animal or human habitation for eons to come.
    Until that time comes, thousands of Americans will continue to die every day, victims of politics that protect the polluters. Bit players in a slowing dying civilization that lost it’s way a long time ago.
    Forgive me for painting such a bleak future. I know there are people fighting to correct our numerous pollution problems, but when I read the daily news it seems the bad guys are winning.
    As It Stands, our country’s fate reflects the biblical passage from Galatians 6:7 “… whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.”

Websites carrying this column:

1) Greentemple

2) Medical Discussions

3) Air Pollution

4) Creation Care For Pastors

5) Entomology News

6) Silobreaker

It’s optical illusion time: See ‘The Eclipse of Mars’ …

See a new color you’ve never seen before!!…Well… at least never before on your monitor.

It’s a startling example of how poor the green/cyan element is on TVs and monitors generally. The color you are about to witness is actually true Cyan … a color that is heavily diluted on the vast optical illusions 10 majority of monitors (thanks to color pollution). It’s a pity one needs an optical illusion to demonstrate this, but at least you can see what you’ve been missing ;-) Anyway on with the illusion….

Stare at the white dot in the center of the red circle. The longer – the better (two minutes and you’ll get a much stronger effect). Always try to keep focused on the white dot. It’ll be worth it.
Soon after staring, you’ll start to see a thin rim of light around the edge. Don’t stop staring though yet! Wait another minute – keeping your head perfectly still.

Once you’ve done this, slowly – move your head backwards – making sure to keep your eyes focused on the dot at all times. The circle’s rim will glow brilliantly with true Cyan! Keep on moving your head slowly backwards, and it’ll glow very hot!…

The blue/cyan color chart to the right isn’t part of the illusion, but there to demonstrate that the ultra cyan you have just seen is not in the monitor’s color palette! It should be, but isn’t.
It’s an amazing effect. (source)

Corruption Scandal: Wal-Mart Executives Activities During Mexican Expansion Under Scrutiny By Both Countries

Wal-Mart leadership covered up corruption committed during it’s Mexican expansion in 2005. It’s been a secret until now. The New York Times launched an investigation of Wal-Mart’s growth into Mexico last December after a whistleblower came forward with a lot of information. (See Video here)

“The New York Times obtained hundreds of internal company documents tracing the evolution of Wal-Mart’s 2005 Mexico investigation. The documents show Wal-Mart’s leadership immediately recognized the seriousness of the allegations. Working in secrecy, a small group of executives, including several current members of Wal-Mart’s senior management, kept close tabs on the inquiry.”

From the start Wal-Mart executives decided damage control was more important than fixing the situation. It’s this kind of culture that energized activists to protest against Wal-Mart’s business practices. Look at what their response to the news was: 

Wal-Mart dispatched investigators to Mexico City, and within days they unearthed evidence of widespread bribery. They found a paper trail of hundreds of suspect payments totaling more than $24 million. They also found documents showing that Wal-Mart de Mexico’s top executives not only knew about the payments, but had taken steps to conceal them from Wal-Mart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. In a confidential report to his superiors, Wal-Mart’s lead investigator, a former F.B.I. special agent, summed up their initial findings this way: “There is reasonable suspicion to believe that Mexican and USA laws have been violated.”

The The New York Time examination found credible evidence that bribery played a persistent and significant role in Wal-Mart’s rapid growth in Mexico, where Wal-Mart now employs 209,000 people, making it the country’s largest private employer.”

Why did Wal-Mart do such a stupid thing?

“Under fire from labor critics, worried about press leaks and facing a sagging stock price, Wal-Mart’s leaders recognized that the allegations could have devastating consequences, documents and interviews show. Wal-Mart de Mexico was the company’s brightest success story, pitched to investors as a model for future growth. (Today, one in five Wal-Mart stores is in Mexico.) Confronted with evidence of corruption in Mexico, top Wal-Mart executives focused more on damage control than on rooting out wrongdoing.”

Read the whole story here

Here in Humboldt County, folks are upset because we have a Wal-Mart store about to open at the Bayshore Mall on Broadway, in Eureka. A local blog – The Humboldt Herald – has an article today; Opposition to Wal-Mart universally understood  You might want to stop by and give it a read, just for the comments if nothing else.

No Clowning Around: Some People Have An Irrational Fear Of Clowns

                           Good Day Humboldt County!

Growing up I thought clowns were cool. Especially Bozo the Clown. From what I read recently everyone doesn’t look so kindly at clowns. As a matter of fact some people have coulrophobia (an irrational fear of clowns).

Symptoms of coulrophobia can include sweating, nausea, feelings of dread, fast heartbeat, crying or screaming, and anger at being placed in a situation where a clown is present. It’s not a laughing matter for those with this phobia.

I can’t help wondering if modern day evil clowns like John Wayne Gacy have contributed to people’s fear of clowns. Modern literature like “It,” by Stephen King, has added to the clown’s growing bad reputation. Ronald McDonald even scares some kids. However, before these examples, clowns were already scaring people.

“For those infected with the panic, the monsters typically pounce with mammoth feet as high-pitched, almost-joyful squeals emanate from their frightful noses. Scarier still, these creatures tend to travel in tight clusters, often arriving in the same manner. One teeny-tiny car.

Based on responses to a recent story on the TODAY.com about a 95-year-old clown named "Creeky,” many people harbor the heebie-jeebies for men and women who traipse around in greasepaint, frilly orange wigs and gigantic bowties.” (Read full story here)

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Study claims people with multiple tattoos drink more booze

People with tattoos drink more than their tattoo-less peers, a new study from France suggests.

The researchers asked nearly 3,000 young men and women as they were exiting bars on a Saturday night if they would take a breathalyzer test. Of those who agreed to take it, the researchers found that people with tattoos had consumed more alcohol than those without tattoos, the researchers said.

Previous studies have shown that tattooed individuals are more likely to engage in risky behaviors, such as unprotected sex, theft, violence and alcohol consumption, compared to people without tattoos. (Read story here)

EAT UP: Eyeless shrimp and fish with lesions on today’s menu

I can’t stand seafood. When I see stuff like this (and people eating it) I gotta shake my head and ask if it’s worth it?

        Good Day Humboldt County!

 It’s a sad way for a proud country to end. Poisoned by greed, pollution, and politics. We can’t seem to stop killing ourselves.

It’s like a mass suicide. The evidence of our destruction on this planet is everywhere. This Sunday (4/22), As It Stands talks about how we’ve been shitting in our own back yard for too long! We’re paying a price today.

“Americans worry less about pollution in down economy” is a glance at how desperate Americans have become with a flawed food chain and the other consequences of pollution. Stories of pollution have to be epic – like the Deepwater Horizon spill – to keep the mainstream media’s interest.

Now and then, we get updates like the story below (and video above)…reminders really…that we’re in trouble:  

“Fishermen are pulling more deformed seafood, like eyeless shrimp and fish with lesions, out of the Gulf of Mexico, and suggest that BP's 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill is to blame. Scientists, however, say they are more concerned about the long-term effects on populations of fish, like red snapper and grouper, than on the potential for making human consumers ill.

The Food and Drug Administration has also insisted that seafood from the Gulf is safe. Still, it's hard to feel assured when you see a black-gilled lobster - and realize the black is from contamination and not a Cajun-style preparation.” (Source) 

Related: Long-gone lead factories leave dangerous poisons

Time for me to walk on down the road…