[Gross-out alert: This news item is about a form of child abuse you didn't want to know existed.]
Reading this Blaze report...
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/02/07/how-drinking-soda-as-a-punishment-killed-a-5-year-old-girl/
...reminded me of a news item we discussed in 1976 or 1977, I forget, but I remember it was in grade six. Some other horrible person ordered a child to drink water as a punishment. Water only--not soda pop--from an unspecified "bucket" that a younger child was able to carry. At that time things like ice cream and peanut butter were sold in one-quart and one-gallon plastic "buckets" that could be reused around the house for years (we only have one left, but I still use it to pick berries). Anyway, reportedly, the child ingested most of six "buckets" of water and died on the way to the hospital.
Do these gruesome stories indicate that drinking too much soda pop will kill a person faster than drinking too much water will? Sounds reasonable, because soda pop contains a good deal of sodium, and any imbalance between sodium and potassium in the blood (either way) can cause distress; a severe imbalance between those two chemicals (either way) can cause death. Then again, as I recall the story from my childhood may have involved a bigger child.
Either way, note the forty-year time gap. Nobody drinks enough of either water or soda pop to cause death. A sensation of fullness sets in. When people die of what the story from my childhood described as "internal drowning," force can reasonably be suspected.
Showing posts with label Liz Klimas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Liz Klimas. Show all posts
Friday, February 7, 2014
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Saola: An Animal So Rare You Don't Even Know Its Name
Liz Klimas shares photos and a story about the rare, elusive animal known as the saola:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/11/13/this-is-one-of-earths-rarest-mammals-and-its-been-spotted-for-the-first-time-in-more-than-a-decade/
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/11/13/this-is-one-of-earths-rarest-mammals-and-its-been-spotted-for-the-first-time-in-more-than-a-decade/
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Pink Out!
I hadn't planned to do more than plus Liz Klimas' story about the obituary of Mary "Pink" Mullaney:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/09/10/the-awesome-obituary-for-a-woman-nicknamed-pink/
...but the commenters have goaded me to say more. Right. Mary Mullaney was an old lady, and some of her ideas of acts of kindness are sort of quaint. Some are Hallmark-ish; some seem based on the false belief that everybody is or wants to be an extrovert. And then again some are radically brave, and always were, which is why I like them.
I'd like to encourage everybody not to try to make nice in a Hallmark-ish emotion-focussed extroverted way. Smile less. Don't greet people with whom you don't want a real conversation. Don't pretend to be interested when you are bored, or happy when you are sad, or enthusiastic when you can't wait to get out. Apart from being dishonest, cowardly, and servile, those behaviors can cause people to think that they're doing what Jesus (or Buddha) would have done when they're doing the precise opposite. So try this: Respect other adults' right to have lives and thoughts of their own, and not want to waste time repeating polite nothings with you. Act as friendly and supportive toward other people as, in fact, you are. Smile when you are particularly pleased or amused, but never force yourself to smile when you're not.
Pay attention to what is really going on with the people around you. Instead of fawning on the ones who seem most powerful or popular, try to focus on meeting real needs. Get to know the retired people who are afraid of losing their nice house, the working parents who are afraid of losing contact with their children, the young people who are afraid of never being allowed to become independent adults in an overcrowded economy that doesn't have enough full-time job openings to go around. Face the terrifying possibility that the reason why many of these people angrily reject phony smiles and Hallmark-ish platitude just might be that they know, and deep down you know, that you can and should be doing more to make a real difference in their lives.
It's disheartening to read how many people, who sound young and rebellious, and ought to be physically strong and brave, are wimping out. If they invite a homeless person to keep warm in their car while they're in church, the person will steal their car! Rrreally? Well, maybe we need to go back to the ABC's here. All homeless people are not identical. "Pink" presupposed that you have personal relationships with homeless people some of whom you can trust not to steal your car. (She also presupposed that you live in a city where there are a lot of homeless people; I don't.)
I ask these timid young people: How long ago was Hurricane Katrina? I remember that when it seemed as if everyone else in my city neighborhood had an evacuee staying at their house, I wasn't afraid that an evacuee staying with me would do me any harm; I was afraid that I'd lose the money I needed to charge a renter. So I didn't find a renter, lost the money anyway, and probably deserved to. I remember, though, dozens of baby-boomers and even the younger generation signing up to share their homes with as large a family as they could squeeze in, as recently as 2005.
Maybe it's because I'm car-free that I think this trend toward cowardice has been created by the greedhead insurance corporations. They don't want to pay back any of the money they've been squeezing out of you, so they tell you you have to play it safe, assume that the worst thing that could possibly happen--something that's happened maybe ten times in the history of the world--is going to happen any time you have any contact with another person at all. Don't share your car with passengers, even if they're relatives, even if they carried you around on their shoulders when you were a child, because you might have an accident and they might sue you. Don't invite anyone to visit your home. Don't have anything valuable in your home, because you might lose it in a fire. Don't date, marry, have children, or share your home with your parents...because the insurance company might have to pay a little money back.
If it falls for a scam as obvious as that, is it human? How many Blaze readers are zombies and don't know it yet?
No. It's always been true that the majority of people prefer to be nice, a small minority of people are too brain-damaged to have any idea what niceness is, and an even smaller minority of people are vicious and dangerous. At many times in history the chance of a good deed being wasted on evildoers has been greater than it is in these United States today. (Consider all the wars that have taken place between groups that lived close to each other--when people didn't know which side someone was on, or whether someone had even chosen a side, but everyone agreed that it was good to kill people on the other side.) Nevertheless, at all times in history, the people who get beyond the greeting and simpering routine and actually do some good for someone else, regardless of what they might have to fear, have been recognized as the heroes.
In Old Testament days, when people saw and heard strangers approaching, there was some chance that those people were spies or raiders from an enemy tribe. Not only children, but mature people of high social status, were likely to be killed--or kidnapped for use as slaves. Abraham's nephew Lot, and David's wife Abigail, were among those kidnapped along with their whole households. So when rich people went out to offer hospitality to strangers, as Abraham did, or even directed their children to do so, as Laban did with his daughter Rachel, they were displaying real courage. If something went wrong, they could not pick up a phone and ring 911. They were the local law enforcement. Nobody else was going to protect Abraham; if anything they might, like Lot, send someone to beg Abraham to try to protect them. This background information may help us understand why the stories preserved in the Bible are about people who showed courage and courtesy to strangers. That is the kind of people whose stories were considered worth telling.
Later, in New Testament history, we find people who lived in cities that had something in the way of law enforcement. Maybe they are easier for us to relate to. St. James describes churchgoers who were not physically afraid of being attacked by people they met at church, but, more like most of us, were afraid of being bored, or annoyed by different opinions, or continually asked for favors. There was nothing heroic about them, no resemblance to Abraham or Rachel or David. They would try to be seen talking to the rich people in the congregation, and edge away from their poorer, worse dressed fellow believers. They wanted to believe that they were showing Christian love and fellowship to people who were in real need when they said politely, "Depart in peace, may you be warmed and fed." James told those people plainly that they were not helping or showing Christian love. Polite phrases are not enough. If you want to help someone with money problems, you have to give that person food or money or whatever the person needs.
"What if you try to offer a home to someone in need and s/he murders you in your bed that night?" Well, for one thing, at least you'd become famous, because incidents like that are incredibly rare. If you try to offer a home to someone in need, it's much more likely that you'll end up living with a housemate whose company you don't really enjoy, at worst someone who does really rude and obnoxious things like throwing wet towels on the floor for you to pick up (because one of his ancestors was a Brahmin and Brahmins don't hang up their own wet towels). Then you'll feel great relief and satisfaction when he moves out. I've known people in real life who've had that experience, although I've also known people in real life who came to love the people they were trying to help. I don't know anyone who's had the kind of horrible experience cowards like to hold up as an excuse for not trying to help anyone in any meaningful way.
I hear people whine about being afraid to offer help to pedestrians or stranded motorists because they heard about a carjacking once. These people do not buy state lottery tickets because they don't expect they'll ever win enough to get their money back. Yet somebody or other wins a state lottery every day, and years go by in between carjackings.
I hear people whine about being afraid to rent out rooms even though they need the money, being afraid to adopt or foster children even though they want children, being afraid to recommend someone for a job because it might not work out perfectly. I have heard people whine that after buying a house with a fireplace because they were married to a person whose romantic fantasy was to snuggle in front of the fire, they were afraid to light a fire. It makes me wonder exactly what these people are so afraid of. Of death? But if a person is all that much a slave to fear, is the person alive?
Be heroic, Gentle Readers. If you go to church, forget about who shook whose hand a little too warmly; offer a starving student or struggling senior citizen Sunday dinner. If you own a house, share it with people who are in need (whose homelessness is not a symptom of more serious problems). If you drive, share your car. If you have money, choose your causes wisely; personally I believe Christians should spend only enough on ourselves to live frugally, such that in many ways the way I live on $200 a month is similar to the way I lived on $2000 a month. If you are scraping by on a pittance of a pension and can only just afford groceries, it's possible to spend even "just" grocery money mindfully. The world needs fewer people who try to live by actuarial "policies," and more who live by faith.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/09/10/the-awesome-obituary-for-a-woman-nicknamed-pink/
...but the commenters have goaded me to say more. Right. Mary Mullaney was an old lady, and some of her ideas of acts of kindness are sort of quaint. Some are Hallmark-ish; some seem based on the false belief that everybody is or wants to be an extrovert. And then again some are radically brave, and always were, which is why I like them.
I'd like to encourage everybody not to try to make nice in a Hallmark-ish emotion-focussed extroverted way. Smile less. Don't greet people with whom you don't want a real conversation. Don't pretend to be interested when you are bored, or happy when you are sad, or enthusiastic when you can't wait to get out. Apart from being dishonest, cowardly, and servile, those behaviors can cause people to think that they're doing what Jesus (or Buddha) would have done when they're doing the precise opposite. So try this: Respect other adults' right to have lives and thoughts of their own, and not want to waste time repeating polite nothings with you. Act as friendly and supportive toward other people as, in fact, you are. Smile when you are particularly pleased or amused, but never force yourself to smile when you're not.
Pay attention to what is really going on with the people around you. Instead of fawning on the ones who seem most powerful or popular, try to focus on meeting real needs. Get to know the retired people who are afraid of losing their nice house, the working parents who are afraid of losing contact with their children, the young people who are afraid of never being allowed to become independent adults in an overcrowded economy that doesn't have enough full-time job openings to go around. Face the terrifying possibility that the reason why many of these people angrily reject phony smiles and Hallmark-ish platitude just might be that they know, and deep down you know, that you can and should be doing more to make a real difference in their lives.
It's disheartening to read how many people, who sound young and rebellious, and ought to be physically strong and brave, are wimping out. If they invite a homeless person to keep warm in their car while they're in church, the person will steal their car! Rrreally? Well, maybe we need to go back to the ABC's here. All homeless people are not identical. "Pink" presupposed that you have personal relationships with homeless people some of whom you can trust not to steal your car. (She also presupposed that you live in a city where there are a lot of homeless people; I don't.)
I ask these timid young people: How long ago was Hurricane Katrina? I remember that when it seemed as if everyone else in my city neighborhood had an evacuee staying at their house, I wasn't afraid that an evacuee staying with me would do me any harm; I was afraid that I'd lose the money I needed to charge a renter. So I didn't find a renter, lost the money anyway, and probably deserved to. I remember, though, dozens of baby-boomers and even the younger generation signing up to share their homes with as large a family as they could squeeze in, as recently as 2005.
Maybe it's because I'm car-free that I think this trend toward cowardice has been created by the greedhead insurance corporations. They don't want to pay back any of the money they've been squeezing out of you, so they tell you you have to play it safe, assume that the worst thing that could possibly happen--something that's happened maybe ten times in the history of the world--is going to happen any time you have any contact with another person at all. Don't share your car with passengers, even if they're relatives, even if they carried you around on their shoulders when you were a child, because you might have an accident and they might sue you. Don't invite anyone to visit your home. Don't have anything valuable in your home, because you might lose it in a fire. Don't date, marry, have children, or share your home with your parents...because the insurance company might have to pay a little money back.
If it falls for a scam as obvious as that, is it human? How many Blaze readers are zombies and don't know it yet?
No. It's always been true that the majority of people prefer to be nice, a small minority of people are too brain-damaged to have any idea what niceness is, and an even smaller minority of people are vicious and dangerous. At many times in history the chance of a good deed being wasted on evildoers has been greater than it is in these United States today. (Consider all the wars that have taken place between groups that lived close to each other--when people didn't know which side someone was on, or whether someone had even chosen a side, but everyone agreed that it was good to kill people on the other side.) Nevertheless, at all times in history, the people who get beyond the greeting and simpering routine and actually do some good for someone else, regardless of what they might have to fear, have been recognized as the heroes.
In Old Testament days, when people saw and heard strangers approaching, there was some chance that those people were spies or raiders from an enemy tribe. Not only children, but mature people of high social status, were likely to be killed--or kidnapped for use as slaves. Abraham's nephew Lot, and David's wife Abigail, were among those kidnapped along with their whole households. So when rich people went out to offer hospitality to strangers, as Abraham did, or even directed their children to do so, as Laban did with his daughter Rachel, they were displaying real courage. If something went wrong, they could not pick up a phone and ring 911. They were the local law enforcement. Nobody else was going to protect Abraham; if anything they might, like Lot, send someone to beg Abraham to try to protect them. This background information may help us understand why the stories preserved in the Bible are about people who showed courage and courtesy to strangers. That is the kind of people whose stories were considered worth telling.
Later, in New Testament history, we find people who lived in cities that had something in the way of law enforcement. Maybe they are easier for us to relate to. St. James describes churchgoers who were not physically afraid of being attacked by people they met at church, but, more like most of us, were afraid of being bored, or annoyed by different opinions, or continually asked for favors. There was nothing heroic about them, no resemblance to Abraham or Rachel or David. They would try to be seen talking to the rich people in the congregation, and edge away from their poorer, worse dressed fellow believers. They wanted to believe that they were showing Christian love and fellowship to people who were in real need when they said politely, "Depart in peace, may you be warmed and fed." James told those people plainly that they were not helping or showing Christian love. Polite phrases are not enough. If you want to help someone with money problems, you have to give that person food or money or whatever the person needs.
"What if you try to offer a home to someone in need and s/he murders you in your bed that night?" Well, for one thing, at least you'd become famous, because incidents like that are incredibly rare. If you try to offer a home to someone in need, it's much more likely that you'll end up living with a housemate whose company you don't really enjoy, at worst someone who does really rude and obnoxious things like throwing wet towels on the floor for you to pick up (because one of his ancestors was a Brahmin and Brahmins don't hang up their own wet towels). Then you'll feel great relief and satisfaction when he moves out. I've known people in real life who've had that experience, although I've also known people in real life who came to love the people they were trying to help. I don't know anyone who's had the kind of horrible experience cowards like to hold up as an excuse for not trying to help anyone in any meaningful way.
I hear people whine about being afraid to offer help to pedestrians or stranded motorists because they heard about a carjacking once. These people do not buy state lottery tickets because they don't expect they'll ever win enough to get their money back. Yet somebody or other wins a state lottery every day, and years go by in between carjackings.
I hear people whine about being afraid to rent out rooms even though they need the money, being afraid to adopt or foster children even though they want children, being afraid to recommend someone for a job because it might not work out perfectly. I have heard people whine that after buying a house with a fireplace because they were married to a person whose romantic fantasy was to snuggle in front of the fire, they were afraid to light a fire. It makes me wonder exactly what these people are so afraid of. Of death? But if a person is all that much a slave to fear, is the person alive?
Be heroic, Gentle Readers. If you go to church, forget about who shook whose hand a little too warmly; offer a starving student or struggling senior citizen Sunday dinner. If you own a house, share it with people who are in need (whose homelessness is not a symptom of more serious problems). If you drive, share your car. If you have money, choose your causes wisely; personally I believe Christians should spend only enough on ourselves to live frugally, such that in many ways the way I live on $200 a month is similar to the way I lived on $2000 a month. If you are scraping by on a pittance of a pension and can only just afford groceries, it's possible to spend even "just" grocery money mindfully. The world needs fewer people who try to live by actuarial "policies," and more who live by faith.
Monday, September 9, 2013
Phenology: Jobless Drunken Wasps?
Liz Klimas shares a photo as well as the clever description of these fruit-loving insects:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/09/09/theres-a-plague-about-to-hit-the-u-k-and-it-involves-jobless-drunk-wasps-seriously/
The British wasp in the photograph looks very much like a North American wasp that can also be described as drunk and jobless about this time of year. Ours are sometimes called yellowjackets, to distinguish them from wasps of better character. They are bigger than paper wasps and, when slurping up fermented fruit juice, more inclined to sting. They nest in the ground and have been known to fly out in swarms and attack fruit pickers.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/09/09/theres-a-plague-about-to-hit-the-u-k-and-it-involves-jobless-drunk-wasps-seriously/
The British wasp in the photograph looks very much like a North American wasp that can also be described as drunk and jobless about this time of year. Ours are sometimes called yellowjackets, to distinguish them from wasps of better character. They are bigger than paper wasps and, when slurping up fermented fruit juice, more inclined to sting. They nest in the ground and have been known to fly out in swarms and attack fruit pickers.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Kids Show Moves While Returning Phone
These kids earn full points for honesty: they tried to return the lost cell phone right away. But they just had to use the video feature on the phone to show the owner, and thus the world, that in addition to being nice, honest kids they're also skilled skateboarders. Liz Klimas has the heartwarming story, and cool video, here:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/08/21/how-a-lost-phone-and-a-group-of-skateboarders-ended-up-showing-that-kindness-still-exists-in-this-world/
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/08/21/how-a-lost-phone-and-a-group-of-skateboarders-ended-up-showing-that-kindness-still-exists-in-this-world/
Thursday, August 15, 2013
New Animal Species...Discovered, or Documented?
Reporting that new animal species have been discovered may make it sound as if they've just evolved, giving a suggestion of real scientific support to the pseudo-religious faith in macroevolution this web site loves to debunk. As Liz Klimas' story makes clear, however, the adorable furry creature called the olinguito has been around for a long time; it's just looked like a smaller form of a similar fluffball called the olingo, rather than a distinct species.
You will want to see this critter on video. Even if your computer won't play the video, you'll enjoy the still photos.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/08/15/see-the-new-species-that-looks-like-a-cross-between-a-teddy-bear-and-a-house-cat/
You will want to see this critter on video. Even if your computer won't play the video, you'll enjoy the still photos.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/08/15/see-the-new-species-that-looks-like-a-cross-between-a-teddy-bear-and-a-house-cat/
Friday, August 2, 2013
Can a Baby Elephant Wade in an Inflatable Pool?
Whew. Is it time for something cute yet? Liz Klimas shares terribly cute photos and videos of an elephant calf in Fort Worth, Texas, trying to cool off in a child's inflatable wading pool:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/08/02/this-adorable-video-of-a-baby-elephant-playing-in-pool-is-sure-to-make-your-day/
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/08/02/this-adorable-video-of-a-baby-elephant-playing-in-pool-is-sure-to-make-your-day/
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Whales (Probably) Can't Eat Humans, but Do They Know That?
Liz Klimas shares the video of two humpback whales who don't seem to know--or care--that they're about to get a couple of swimmers stuck in their baleen:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/07/23/see-the-scary-moment-two-humpback-whales-nearly-swallow-a-group-of-divers/
Could a whale, or perhaps some other sort of "great fish" (the Hebrew word isn't species-specific), have literally swallowed Jonah? It's extremely unlikely, but of course that's why it would have been such an impressive event if it happened.
Some Bible mavens say that we shouldn't try to read the book of Jonah as literal truth but should accept it as a little comedy about prejudice. That interpretation works. Others say that if we don't believe that the story of Jonah could be literally true, we don't believe that the story of Jesus could be literally true, or that God has any power to change the way the laws of creation work. This web site is not dogmatic. At least I find it easier to believe that Jonah survived 72 literal hours stuck in an air bubble in a whale's baleen, or in the strangely hypo-acidic stomach of an extremely sick fish, or whatever, than to believe that Obamacare could work.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/07/23/see-the-scary-moment-two-humpback-whales-nearly-swallow-a-group-of-divers/
Could a whale, or perhaps some other sort of "great fish" (the Hebrew word isn't species-specific), have literally swallowed Jonah? It's extremely unlikely, but of course that's why it would have been such an impressive event if it happened.
Some Bible mavens say that we shouldn't try to read the book of Jonah as literal truth but should accept it as a little comedy about prejudice. That interpretation works. Others say that if we don't believe that the story of Jonah could be literally true, we don't believe that the story of Jesus could be literally true, or that God has any power to change the way the laws of creation work. This web site is not dogmatic. At least I find it easier to believe that Jonah survived 72 literal hours stuck in an air bubble in a whale's baleen, or in the strangely hypo-acidic stomach of an extremely sick fish, or whatever, than to believe that Obamacare could work.
Monday, July 22, 2013
George Zimmerman's Hero Complex
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/07/22/george-zimmerman-comes-out-of-hiding-to-rescue-someone-in-a-car-accident/
Friday, July 5, 2013
Angry Preacher Video
Some Christians expect ministers to be salesmen, bombarding people with a hard-sell gospel message. Some expect them to be kindergarten teachers, smiling sweetly and repeating the same thing every day of their lives. Some expect them to be drill sergeants, forcefully correcting people who seem to be headed in the wrong direction...and for that sort of Christians, Liz Klimas has a video of what may be the church they've been looking for.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/07/04/baptist-preacher-responds-to-viral-sermon-where-he-told-a-member-hes-not-worth-15-cents/
Gentle Readers, when we go to church, whether collections are taken up during the service (which I find obnoxious) or dropped into a box outside the sanctuary, the amount we put into the box or plate tells the minister what he (or she) is worth to us that day. As a child I used to be given quarters to put into any collection that was being taken up. From adults, more is expected, and if someone who thinks nothing of paying $10 or $15 for a seat in a movie puts small change in the plate at church, I can understand why the minister might feel that that parishioner is not worth fifteen cents.
However: "Will you call one worthless for whom Christ died?"
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/07/04/baptist-preacher-responds-to-viral-sermon-where-he-told-a-member-hes-not-worth-15-cents/
Gentle Readers, when we go to church, whether collections are taken up during the service (which I find obnoxious) or dropped into a box outside the sanctuary, the amount we put into the box or plate tells the minister what he (or she) is worth to us that day. As a child I used to be given quarters to put into any collection that was being taken up. From adults, more is expected, and if someone who thinks nothing of paying $10 or $15 for a seat in a movie puts small change in the plate at church, I can understand why the minister might feel that that parishioner is not worth fifteen cents.
However: "Will you call one worthless for whom Christ died?"
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Sparkling Fourth of July Safety Tips
Liz Klimas finds fresh graphics and an interesting new product for this Fourth of July:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/07/03/those-big-fireworks-are-actually-bombs-why-you-should-brush-up-on-our-4th-of-july-safety-tips/
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/07/03/those-big-fireworks-are-actually-bombs-why-you-should-brush-up-on-our-4th-of-july-safety-tips/
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
A Merely Annoyed Elephant
As Liz Klimas notes, this elephant wasn't "enraged." He was merely annoyed by tourists eavesdropping on a private conversation. Anybody in Washington would understand.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/07/02/how-would-you-react-elephant-caught-on-video-shattering-tourists-window-during-safari/
Top tourist tip for the day: whether it's between animals or people, try not to eavesdrop on a private fight.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/07/02/how-would-you-react-elephant-caught-on-video-shattering-tourists-window-during-safari/
Top tourist tip for the day: whether it's between animals or people, try not to eavesdrop on a private fight.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Phenology: Savage Water Inequities
It's sooo unfaaair. Gate City, Virginia, is having another wet year. Flooded-out small animals from earthworms and wood lice to box turtles and striped skunks are crawling up into people's houses. Trees are ablaze with fire blight. Small lakes are forming in what used to be high, dry ground. Roads become watercourses, cellars become swamps, and yes the human body does grow mildew--it produces misleading allergic-type skin rashes on contact with anything and everything.
Last night I finally did see a moth, species unknown, something small and neutral-colored and probably in the Geometrid family, and this morning I saw three, count them, three whole butterflies: one Spring Azure, one Cabbage White, one Tiger Swallowtail. In normal weather there'd be dozens of them by now.
At the Cat Sanctuary this is the seventh wet year in a row. People in other parts of Scott County don't remember 2006 as a super-soaker summer, but I do.
Meanwhile, out west the dry weather is getting seriously dangerous:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/07/01/deadly-arizona-wildfire-that-killed-19-firefighters-being-blamed-on-global-warming/ (report, containing tweets)
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/015213.html (video, but contains a memorable comment: "In a decent society, firefighters would have yachts and country homes, while bankers would scrape from paycheck to paycheck.")
Detailed report at a long messy web address (Huffington Post).
Note also the inanity of very young people blaming this on global warming, as if there weren't droughts and fires in the Western States when I was younger than they are, or when my grandparents were. What we are seeing are still within the climate norms for the Eastern and Western States. Not fair, and not pleasant, but not a major change from what's happened every few years for as long as anyone remembers.
And yes, people were sending money to victims of climate unpleasantness a hundred years ago...my maternal grandfather didn't completely give up on the West until more like eighty years ago, but he'd coped with droughts and wildfires before 1913. So when you call or e-mail friends in Arizona, Colorado, or California, don't wail about "climate change." Keep up the tradition.
Last night I finally did see a moth, species unknown, something small and neutral-colored and probably in the Geometrid family, and this morning I saw three, count them, three whole butterflies: one Spring Azure, one Cabbage White, one Tiger Swallowtail. In normal weather there'd be dozens of them by now.
At the Cat Sanctuary this is the seventh wet year in a row. People in other parts of Scott County don't remember 2006 as a super-soaker summer, but I do.
Meanwhile, out west the dry weather is getting seriously dangerous:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/07/01/deadly-arizona-wildfire-that-killed-19-firefighters-being-blamed-on-global-warming/ (report, containing tweets)
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/015213.html (video, but contains a memorable comment: "In a decent society, firefighters would have yachts and country homes, while bankers would scrape from paycheck to paycheck.")
Detailed report at a long messy web address (Huffington Post).
Note also the inanity of very young people blaming this on global warming, as if there weren't droughts and fires in the Western States when I was younger than they are, or when my grandparents were. What we are seeing are still within the climate norms for the Eastern and Western States. Not fair, and not pleasant, but not a major change from what's happened every few years for as long as anyone remembers.
And yes, people were sending money to victims of climate unpleasantness a hundred years ago...my maternal grandfather didn't completely give up on the West until more like eighty years ago, but he'd coped with droughts and wildfires before 1913. So when you call or e-mail friends in Arizona, Colorado, or California, don't wail about "climate change." Keep up the tradition.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
How Should Police Recognize Suspects?
Let's hope that the proposed legislation Liz Klimas describes here...
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/19/surprising-nyc-council-bill-could-ban-cops-from-identifying-suspects-based-on-simple-descriptors-such-as-race-gender-and-age/
...was meant to ban cops from generally classifying whole demographic groups as suspects, which is reasonable, rather than using the descriptions of individual suspects who've committed crimes that have been given by witnesses.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/19/surprising-nyc-council-bill-could-ban-cops-from-identifying-suspects-based-on-simple-descriptors-such-as-race-gender-and-age/
...was meant to ban cops from generally classifying whole demographic groups as suspects, which is reasonable, rather than using the descriptions of individual suspects who've committed crimes that have been given by witnesses.
Monday, June 17, 2013
Bloomberg Wants New Yorkers to Compost
Few if any New Yorkers have room for a compost heap, but that's not stopping Mayor "Busybody" Bloomberg from demanding that they ship their food scraps to a composting site...
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/17/mayor-bloomberg-strikes-again-and-this-time-hes-trying-to-regulate-trash/
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/17/mayor-bloomberg-strikes-again-and-this-time-hes-trying-to-regulate-trash/
The Closest View of Mercury Yet
Liz Klimas shares the most close-up photo of Mercury it's been possible to take:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/17/get-a-look-at-the-planet-mercury-as-youve-never-seen-it-before/
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/17/get-a-look-at-the-planet-mercury-as-youve-never-seen-it-before/
Friday, June 14, 2013
Flying Bicycles
Liz Klimas shares pictures of two prototype bicycles that fly. Flying a bicycle isn't only for E.T. any more...
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/14/bikes-that-can-fly-its-no-longer-a-thing-of-the-future/
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/14/bikes-that-can-fly-its-no-longer-a-thing-of-the-future/
Companies Don't Want to Spy on You, But They Do
Liz Klimas reports:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/14/thousands-of-companies-now-reported-to-be-giving-up-your-data-but-are-they-being-forced-to-do-it-by-law/
The bottom line is at the end of the article. If corporations that ask you for personal information are trying to keep that information out of anyone else's hands, it's only because they want you to trust them with more personal information.
As always, this web site recommends: (1) Never tell any electronic device anything that you would really object to having printed in a newspaper...even if it were titled The Leavenworth Lifers' Letter.
(2) Never give identity and contact information to a private company. Do business as "Cash Customer." Some of the businesses that are really trying to "protect" information that might be useful for law enforcement purposes are also trying to sell that information...for a better price.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/14/thousands-of-companies-now-reported-to-be-giving-up-your-data-but-are-they-being-forced-to-do-it-by-law/
The bottom line is at the end of the article. If corporations that ask you for personal information are trying to keep that information out of anyone else's hands, it's only because they want you to trust them with more personal information.
As always, this web site recommends: (1) Never tell any electronic device anything that you would really object to having printed in a newspaper...even if it were titled The Leavenworth Lifers' Letter.
(2) Never give identity and contact information to a private company. Do business as "Cash Customer." Some of the businesses that are really trying to "protect" information that might be useful for law enforcement purposes are also trying to sell that information...for a better price.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
The House to Go with the Shelter
In Oklahoma, Liz Klimas reports on a 94-year-old who built the tornado shelter in which neighbors huddled while last week's storms destroyed their homes. Although one younger neighbor plans to rebuild, where Nancy Davis will go while the house that goes with her tornado shelter is being rebuilt remains undisclosed.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/05/22/the-heartbreaking-story-of-the-94-year-old-woman-who-lost-home-to-tornado-for-a-second-time/
The comments are worth reading; scroll down till you find Tbarr.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/05/22/the-heartbreaking-story-of-the-94-year-old-woman-who-lost-home-to-tornado-for-a-second-time/
The comments are worth reading; scroll down till you find Tbarr.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Baby Anteater in Greenwich
Thanks to Liz Klimas for sharing the link to a whole gallery of anteater photos:
http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/article/A-special-delivery-in-northern-Greenwich-4523955.php
http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/article/A-special-delivery-in-northern-Greenwich-4523955.php
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