Solar fireworks might be heading our way for the 4th

How about that? Just in time to celebrate 4th of July…why does that seem kinda scary?

At 10:43 UT time on July 2, 2012 a M5.6-class solar flare erupted from Active Region 1515. It peaked at 10:52 UT.
A Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) accompanied the solar flare and hurled a cloud of plasma into Space. In the last segment it can be seen that part of the CME is being pulled back to the surface. It did not have the escape velocity of 384 miles per second needed to continue its journey. In comparison; it takes 7 miles per second escape velocity to leave Earth. Coronal rain has long been a mystery. It's not surprising that plasma should fall back to the Sun. After all, the sun's gravity is powerful. (source) Credit: NASA SDO

Studies show coffee's perks: Five reasons to keep on slurping your java

It’s not like I need an excuse to drink coffee. I start every morning off with the steaming stuff. Have for forty years now. Still, it’s nice to read about the benefits that come from indulging in my caffeine addiction! 

Besides the caffeine boost and the rich, roasted flavor, coffee has been shown in studies to provide other health benefits, like preventing diabetes and warding off certain cancers.If you are a regular coffee drinker, here are five reasons to be glad:

1. Protects against breast cancer

Women who drink five or more cups of coffee a day are 57 percent less likely to develop estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer than women who drink less than a cup a day, according to a study published this month in the journal Breast Cancer Research.

In this study of 2,818 women with breast cancer and 3,111 women without, researchers found that coffee seemed to protect against only this particular kind of breast cancer, and not estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer or triple negative breast cancer.

2. Wards off stroke

Drinking at least one cup of coffee a day could ward off stroke , according to a study published in March in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Swedish researchers analyzed the coffee-drinking habits and health histories of 34,670 women for 10 years, and found that women who drank one or more cups of coffee a day were 25 percent less likely to have a stroke than the women who drank less than a cup of coffee a day. Even though the finding was in women, researchers said coffee would likely have the same effect for men, too.

3. Reduces risk of diabetes

Having four cups of coffee a day can slash a woman's risk of Type 2 diabetes by 56 percent, according to a study published in January in the journal Diabetes.

In the study of 359 women with diabetes and 359 healthy women, researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, found that the more coffee the women drank, the less likely they were to have diabetes. The effect likely has to do with coffee's ability to raise levels of sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) in the blood. High blood levels of SHBG are associated with a decreased risk of Type 2 diabetes, according to the study.

4. Improves brain function

Coffee can also improve brain function in mice, according to a 2010 study in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

In that study, researchers gave caffeinated coffee to mice that were engineered to develop Alzheimer's disease. The mice that were given coffee either had the disease progression slow, or the disease never developed at all. The finding suggests coffee could be a treatment for people with Alzheimer's disease, those researchers said.

5. Reduces prostate cancer risk

Regular coffee intake (either caffeinated or decaffeinated) is associated with a decreased risk of deadly prostate cancer, according to a study published today (May 17) in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

In the study of 47,911 men, 5,035 of whom had prostate cancer and 642 of whom had fatal or advanced cases, researchers found that men who drank the most coffee a day (six or more cups) had a nearly 20 percent lower risk of developing prostate cancer than those who drank the least coffee a day.

That association is even higher for lethal prostate cancer — the men who drank the most coffee a day had a 60 percent decreased risk of developing the disease, according to the study. And even drinking one to three cups of coffee a day was associated with a 30 percent lower risk of lethal prostate cancer , the study said.

(article source)

What’s wrong with this picture? Chicago gun buyback raises money for NRA kids' gun camp

       Good Day Humboldt County!

If there’s anyone with conflicted feelings about guns it’s me.

As a combat veteran I know what guns can do. Growing up in neighborhoods more like war zones, also showed me what guns can do.

Members of NRA sponsored “Guns Save Lives” in Champaign, Ill. 

I have two sons who are card-carrying NRA members, but we don’t totally see eye-to eye on how available they should be. I disagree with the NRA because they won’t consider any changes to gun laws that would make the public safer. The NRA’s ultimate lobby power has stopped any meaningful gun reform in this country for decades.

The latest year for which detailed statistics are available (from the FBI) - there were 12,996 murders in the US. Of those, 8,775 were caused by firearms.

The United States leads the world's richest nations in gun deaths -- murders, suicides, and accidental deaths due to guns - according to a study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the International Journal of Epidemiology.

As many as one-half of American households have a gun, and each day, nearly 30 children are injured or killed by firearms in the United States - most from guns owned by the child's family or friends, according to a C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health.

Knowing these statistics, and many more, I firmly believe we need more gun laws to control sales and usage. We also need more education in the schools about the danger of guns. Gangsters and criminals of all sorts and ages have no problem getting guns no matter where they live in America.

What’s wrong with that picture? And what’s wrong with the following picture? …   

“Chicago’s firearm buyback program, titled “Don’t kill a dream, save a life,” aims to get dangerous weapons off the street. But a pro-gun rights group gleefully says it used the program to turn in “non-firing junk” to raise money for a National Rifle Association youth shooting camp.

Guns Save Life, based in Champaign, Ill., three hours south of Chicago, turned in dozens of guns and BB guns it had collected – “rusty scrap metal,” the group called the load – taking home $6,240.

Police spokeswoman Melissa Stratton was not amused, according to the Sun-Times. “It’s unfortunate that this group is abusing a program intended to increase the safety of our communities,” Stratton said.”

Time for me to walk on down the road…

AS IT STANDS: Move over, ‘Pawn Stars’: Meet the pot stars!

         By Dave Stancliff/For The Times-Standard 
   Reality TV filmmakers will tramp around the hills of Mendocino county this fall, documenting marijuana eradication teams as they bust pot farmers.
 How exciting. When California Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP) and local law enforcement come together in their annual waste of taxpayer’s dollars, the rest of the nation can watch (between beer and Tequila commercials) all the action.
 Residents of Mendocino County can thank Studio Lambert, a reality television film group which has produced such gems as Wife Swap and Undercover Boss.  Not exactly highbrow TV productions, primarily designed for drooling idiots who actually believe the shows are unscripted.
I shouldn’t have to explain how reality TV programs work. They’ve been around too long for you not to know the formula. Mix just enough reality in with scripted drama to please even the most violent fans.
Cops was one of the first reality shows. The film crews rode along with patrol officers and filmed what happened on their watch. Looking back at that first attempt, the episodes were dull by comparison with what’s offered today in reality TV.
  According to an article in the Press Democrat (June 19) Mendocino County will allow the filmmakers access to all the fun this fall. Sheriff Tom Allman and his team of Merry Marijuana Marauders will show the world how tough they are on marijuana growers who break the law, by cooperating with a film studio looking for ratings.

  Studio Lambert producers have hit the jack pot. When the six one-hour segments hit the airwaves next year, they will appeal to a growing number of tokers (numerous polls show over 50 percent of Americans think pot should be legal) who’ll watch out of morbid curiosity, if nothing else.
 Can’t you just hear the backround music in each segment? “Bud Boys, bud boys, whatcha gonna do when the raiders get you?”
Sheriff Allman, a good man by all reports, hopes this reality show will slow down people wanting to illegally grow in his county. In his interview with the Press Democrat, he brought up how a reality show had helped State Fish and Game’s efforts to reduce abalone poaching on the coast.
 All well and good. Marijuana however, is more plentiful than abalone and searching for illegal pot gardens is a lot more difficult due to the vast area and other factors involved. For instance, abalone poachers rarely pack guns. And, as far as I know, no cartels are involved in abalone poaching.
Where am I going with this? Do the stakes get higher now that the Mendocino Marijuana Marauders will be celebrities?
How times have changed. They (law enforcement) used to wear masks with their military looking gear which gave them a pretty fearsome appearance. Like terrorists actually.

I imagine that won’t fly now. Not only will TV viewers see the raiders happy little faces grinning for photo ops, but each one will have to assume a roll. You know, like Austin “Chumlee” Russell in the reality series Pawn Stars?
Sheriff Allman could take on the personality of Richard Benjamin’s “Old Man” who is the co-owner of the pawn shop. The possibilities are endless.
   I am concerned that some of the “actors” involved might get a bit carried away for the camera and while looking like Rambo’s twin, may decide to take down a few rascally growers for ratings. Like I said, the possibilities are endless.
I think the idea of county governments using reality TV to help solve their problems is so novel that it deserves spin offs. For example, American Restoration is a spin off from Pawn Stars.

  The next one could be about rampant corruption among local politicians in rural counties. Or, wait! How about Homeless in Humboldt with a colorful cast of local characters?
Or, Mendocino Movers featuring a family that has been in the Moving and Storage business for generations. It could tie in with another popular reality show, Storage Wars.
  Or they could film Secrets in  Siskiyou County, where old settler families could tell stories about all the usage they had for cannabis crops back in the day when it was legal.
As It Stands, the possibility this reality TV production will discourage marijuana growers is about as likely as Chumlee taking over the Pawn Shop!

                                       Here’s some websites that have picked this column up:

1) Celebrity Wire - http://www.celebritywire.org/move-over-pawn-stars-meet-the-pot-stars-times-standard

2) News Now. Net - Life & Style Drugs & Alcohol Cannabis

3) Mendocino Newswire - http://www.topix.com/wire/city/mendocino-ca

4) Drug Sense - http://www.drugsense.org/cms/

5) TV DECK Eureka Most Viewed - http://eureka.tvdeck.com/

6) Who Talking? - http://whotalking.com/pawn+stars

A look at local pot dispensary crackdowns by feds who flout the law

ARCATA, Calif. — Faced with growing chaos in the state’s medical marijuana industry, this city in Northern California passed an ordinance in 2008 that meticulously detailed, over 11 pages, how the drug could be grown and sold here.

Humboldt Medical Supply, a dispensary here in Humboldt County regarded as a law-abiding model that has given free cannabis to elderly patients, became the first to obtain a permit in 2010. The Sai Center, whose owner has a history of flouting city regulations and was described by the mayor as running his business “purely for profit,” was rejected last year.

Humboldt Medical quickly closed shop after federal prosecutors began shuttering hundreds of dispensaries in October in one of the biggest crackdowns on medical marijuana since its legalization in California in 1996. The Sai Center’s owner moved locations and has defied the authorities by continuing to operate, most recently out of his mother’s house. City officials, afraid of becoming targets themselves of the prosecutors, have suspended the applications of two other dispensaries that were expected to be approved.

“We feel the federal government’s actions have had a very negative effect,” said Mayor Michael Winkler. “We’re very upset with their actions.” Read the rest here.

This article, "Cities Balk as Federal Law on Marijuana Is Enforced," first appeared in The New York Times.

AS IT STANDS: It’s all about respect: Children only learn by example

 “I grow old learning something new everyday.”

– Solon Athenian statesman and poet, 630-560 BC
                                                By Dave Stancliff
  Once, not so long ago, seniors were universally respected and in many cases revered. Their advice, coming from many years of experience, was considered necessary in making important decisions for the community.
  An old African proverb that says "When an old man dies, a library burns to the ground," is spot on. Since the start of so-called civilization, each generation has looked to the last to avoid mistakes and build upon successes. 
  A Sage’s wisdom, earned through reflection and experience, is a common denominator in all the cultures of the world. Old men’s and women’s words have been revered by countless societies, filling volumes of books for later generations. That respect is slipping away. In the 21st Century, seniors are seen as barnacles on the Social Security system, and disrespected by younger people in countless ways. A recent news story illustrates my point.
  An elderly bus monitor, Karen Klein who had to keep working to make ends meet, was treated with such contempt and disrespect by a group of middle school students that it shocked the entire country. Videos of the incident taken by three students went viral on the internet within 24 hours.
  The response; outrage over the disrespect shown by the foul-mouth children was instant and passionate. Over a million people asked the same question, “How could these children treat an adult, especially a senior, with such cruelty and outright contempt?”
  One sympathetic man, Max Sidorov of Toronto, Canada, started a vacation and retirement fund for her on a fund raising website. At last count, over $667,000 had been raised. Klein’s story brought  such national interest that she was invited to appear on the Today Show. Somewhat flustered over her new found fame, she made it clear she didn’t want to press charges against the children. The school however suspended four seventh-grade boys for one year for bullying the bus monitor.

  Displaying her wisdom, Klein suggested parents should pay more attention to teaching their children some manners. Civility has become another casualty in our fast-paced society, she suggested. Her point is well taken; if parents don’t set a good example, how can they expect their children to be civil in public? 
  I’m not going to mince words; the importance of parents playing a more active role in their children’s lives can’t be underestimated. Without a foundation of respect for others, especially seniors, children will be rudderless in this violent world.
  Without guidelines, children model after the numerous examples of rudeness they see on TV and in movies. They become increasingly anti-social. They lack morals and the ability to live peacefully with others. 
  Despite my observations thus far, I think there’s still hope. The current recession has reversed a societal trend of children moving out of the house. It’s more common now for the generations to live together. Extended families have become a financial necessity. Grown children with families of their own have been forced to move back in with elderly parents. The result is a situation somewhat similar to American society before the Industrial Age. 
  Today, young children are taken care of by grandparents while their parents work. This  daily exposure to their elders is bringing family units closer together again. Seniors take on a new relevance. We’re witnessing the return of the extended family in America. In some ways it’s ironic. 
   In this day and age, many grandparents have to raise their grandchildren, for myriad reasons. Many children are raised by step parents or other relatives, who have to assume parental roles. The need for good role models has never been greater. Respecting elders is a start to maintaining a civil society, but respecting everyone should be the ultimate goal.
   As It Stands, I was taught to obey the Golden Rule, “Do unto others, as you would have them to do unto you.”

Texting in the News – Editorial views that amuse …

 

source for cartoons

Victim of Swatting? SWAT team raids wrong house

Imagine you're sitting at home, comfortable on the couch, watching the Food Network, when all of a sudden a heavily armed SWAT team breaks down your door and storms into your living room.

That's what happened to 18-year-old Stephanie Milan, who was watching TV in her family's Evansville, Ind., home last Thursday (June 22), when a team of police officers broke down her storm door — the front door was already open — and tossed a flash-bang stun grenade into the room. Turns out, however, that the SWAT team had the address wrong. (source)

Scum of the Week: Shawn Sullivan, child molestor on two continents protected by Brits

The sorry-assed individual shown here, Shawn Sullivan, 43, is being protected by the British who won’t send him back to the states where he committed sexual crimes against children because they think our law might be too tough on him!

No really. They’d rather let him stay there and molest little girls in London. He was convicted of sexually assaulting two 12-year-old girls in Ireland, as he ran from justice. The guy is a serial scumbag.

Perhaps it’s just as well that he stay in England. They can pay the expenses for convicting him of his sex crimes, then letting him out after a short sentence, and repeating the whole process again.

Who knows how long he’ll drain their system, incurring expenses for British tax payers for years to come? Blimey! Someone’s got to be balmy to let this predator prey on any society!

In the news today: 

“Minnesota prosecutors' efforts to have a convicted sexual predator brought to trial in the United States were thwarted on Thursday when Britain's High Court dropped extradition proceedings, saying the U.S. hadn't guaranteed the suspect would be kept out a program some deem draconian.

Sullivan, is accused of molesting two girls and raping a third in the 1990s in Minnesota. Sullivan fled the United States and eventually ended up in London, where authorities caught up to him two years ago.

Sullivan escaped to Ireland as prosecutors prepared to file charges in the U.S., and while staying there was convicted of sexually assaulting two 12-year-old girls. Sullivan, a dual U.S.-Irish citizen, moved to London using an Irish passport that spelled his last name in Gaelic as "O'Suilleabhain."  (source)

Counter Culture: A Look Back at the ‘Weather Underground’ and Protesting War

There were a lot of radical groups in the 70s but the Weather Underground was among the most extreme.

      Good Day Humboldt County!

With my first child on the way in 1975, I turned away from the counter culture that I lived in, and started going “straight.”

Went back to college, got a degree and a career, and fully sold out to the establishment. For a while. Played the career game. Now my children are grown up and I’m retired and have slipped back to my hippie ways actively questioning our government and the corrupt politicians we thoughtlessly vote into office every term! I would like to point out that I wasn’t anywhere near as extreme as the people associated with the “Weather Underground.” I just wanted people to know that Vietnam veterans were being poisoned by Agent Orange back in the early 70s when the military and chemical companies denied it was hazardous to human health.   

“What is it like being an underground revolutionary, with fantasies of grandeur, dreaming of a better tomorrow? In 1975, the Weather Underground, a militant faction of the Students for a Democratic Society attempting to overthrow U.S. imperialism, were fugitives in hiding. Filmmakers Emile de Antonio, Haskell Wexler and Mary Lampson spoke to members of group (who were concealed from the camera by sheets and mirrors to interesting effect). Much of footage - in the above video - which revealed too much was burned, and the film and negatives were subsequently subpoenaed by the FBI for use in their mission to capture the Weathermen.” (source)

Time for me to walk on down the road…