Border Patrol Closes Friendship Park

Now this is how you promote Peace, Love and Understanding - I tell you?!

The top U.S. Border Patrol official in San Diego says he closed a half-acre oceanfront plaza on California's border with Mexico to enhance security.

The Border Patrol is tearing up concrete at Friendship Park, a plaza that sits on a bluff where throngs once gathered on both sides of the border to chat through a chain-link fence.

Mike Fisher, the Border Patrol's San Diego sector chief, says that some people have used holes in the fence to pass drugs and immigration documents for impostors.

The Border Patrol is replacing the plaza with a dirt road, sandwiched between fences, that will be off-limits to the public.

So much for friendship then!

Chronic fatigue syndrome linked to childhood trauma

Childhood trauma, including sexual abuse, emotional abuse and emotional neglect, was linked to a six-fold risk increase for chronic fatigue syndrome in adults, in a study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Read the rest here.

Amazing solar-powered fridge invented by British student in a potting shed helps poverty-stricken Africans

It's the kind of simple yet brilliant invention that would have the tycoons of Dragons' Den salivating with excitement.

Not only is the fridge solar powered, it can also be built from household materials - making it ideal for the Third World.

Emily Cummins, 21, came up with the idea while working on a school project in her grandfather's potting shed. The fridge is now improving the lives of thousands of poverty-stricken Africans.

Read the rest here.

New study suggests winter babies face socioeconomic disadvantages

Many of us may often feel that we've been born under an unlucky sign. Now, new research by a pair of University of Notre Dame economists suggests that some of us are, in fact, born in an unlucky season.

Read the rest here.

HDTV on hold?

The incoming Obama administration has asked Congress to delay the conversion from analog to digital television.

Why?

Because, like everything else in the cabal, the converter box program was poorly planned, and they're out of funds for those rabbit-ear boxes.

Read more in TV Guide.

How to save a life

The Fray

SAY WHAT?!

"We’ve had a count, we’ve had a recount, we’ve had a recount of the recount.
It’s been three weeks since the election and it’s time for Gore to be a statesman and give it up."
-- Mitch the Bitch (r-Ky.), Nov 27, 2000

"The race in Minnesota is not over. It’s well-established in the Senate: The way you get sworn in and the way you get seated is to show up with an election certificate. And that is determined under Minnesota law."
-- Mitch the Bitch (r-Ky.), January 6, 2009

In case Mitch the Bitch and Norm Cloeman (yes, I know the spelling) need reminding - it has been two months and Franken HAS been certified the winner as opposed to three weeks and the shrub NOT being certified ... then again reality has never been a strong suit of the repugicans now has it?

And I Quote

"It's important not to live in the bubble.
So you've got to be open to outside information, particularly criticism.
I'll tell you, I very rarely read good press and I often read bad press,
not because I agree with it but because I want to get a sense of are there areas where I'm falling short and I can do better."

~ Barack Obama

Yes Pecan

Vermont ice cream company, Ben & Jerry's, is wasting no time ringing in the leadership changes in Washington, D.C., by renaming its butter pecan flavor "Yes pecan" in its scoop shops for the month of January, honoring the uniting theme of "Yes, we can" as a message celebrating America's opportunity for positive change, the company announced in a news release.

From Newsday

Psychic Warfare from 1981-2008

Over at Brainsturbator they have the following piece ... makes for an unusual read.

Psychic Warfare from 1981-2008

The year I was born, in 1981, the US Government decided magick was real. Well, the “US Government” is of course an abstraction—specifically, Congressional Research Service was commissioned to do a report on psychic phenomena and offered the following conclusion:

“Recent experiments in remote viewing and other studies in parapsychology suggest that there exists an ‘interconnectiveness’ of the human mind with other minds and with matter. This interconnectiveness would appear to be functional in nature and amplified by intent and emotion.”

That sounds like a pretty accurate description of magick to me. Score one for the weirdos, right?

Of course, I don’t expect you to believe that. Ignore any claims that wouldn’t get made outside a college-level physics textbook. There is no need to believe in non-human or “extra-dimensional” intelligence, no need to believe in telekinesis, no need to believe in any of the claims made by the magick community. They are merely designing rituals to alter their perception and experiencing self-generated hallucinations.

The illusion of moving images is a puzzle that humans have cracked to great success, and by flashing sequential photographs at 24 frames per second or more, we get to watch movies—windows back in time. Humans have even learned to “fake” three-dimensional objects with holographic technology.

Read the rest at Brainsturbator

Pelicans fall out of sky from Mexico to Oregon

No it's not a joke of some kind ...

“Pelicans suffering from a mysterious malady are crashing into cars and boats, wandering along roadways and turning up dead by the hundreds across the West Coast, from southern Oregon to Baja California, Mexico, bird-rescue workers say. Weak, disoriented birds are huddling in people’s yards or being struck by cars. More than 100 have been rescued along the California coast, according to the International Bird Rescue Research Center in San Pedro.

Hundreds of birds, disoriented or dead, have been observed across the West Coast. “One pelican actually hit a car in Los Angeles,” said Rebecca Dmytryk of Wildrescue, a bird-rescue operation. “One pelican hit a boat in Monterey. While some of the symptoms resemble those associated with domoic-acid poisoning — an ocean toxin that sometimes affects sea birds and mammals — other symptoms do not. Domoic acid also apparently has not been found in significant amounts offshore, although more tests are needed.

Rescuers are wondering whether the illness is caused by a virus, or even by contaminants washed into the ocean after recent fires across Southern California. Many of the birds also have swollen feet.”

Read more in the The Seattle Times.

Arctic melt 20 years ahead of climate models

New Scientist reports that the Arctic could become ice-free during summers by 2030.

At the time, researchers including Mark Serreze of National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado claimed that the Arctic had reached a "tipping point" - a dramatic and irreversible slide towards ice-free conditions.

As the summer melting season finished up this year, they waited with bated breath to see how much, if any, ice would survive.

4.67 million square kilometres remained at the end of September. A positive interpretation says that the Arctic defied the apocalyptic prophecies by recovering slightly, thanks to a pattern of colder and windier weather.

But Serreze is sticking to the idea that we have reached a point of no return.

"If you look over the past five years, you see an acceleration of ice loss," says Serreze. Though 2008 did not beat the record set by 2007, it is still the second-lowest amount on record, below the record lows of 2002 and 2005.

Arctic melt 20 years ahead of climate models

The whistling orangutan

Bonnie is an orangutan who has taught herself how to whistle. Her imitation of a human caretaker is providing scientists with new insight into social learning and the evolution of speech. It's the first time that a non-human primate has been documented mimicking another species' sound without training. Bonnie lives at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park. Her unique talent is discussed in a new paper in the journal Primates by researchers from the Great Ape Trust and their colleagues. The Great Ape Trust site also has video of Bonnie whistling away.

From the Great Ape Trust:

Scientists have long known that orangutans copy physical movements of humans, but Bonnie’s whistling indicates that the learning capacities of orangutans and other great apes in the auditory domain might be more flexible than previously believed, (Great Ape Trust researcher Serge) Wich said. The behavior goes against the argument that orangutans have no control over their vocalizations and the sounds are purely emotional – that is, an involuntary response to stimuli such as predators.

Bonnie appears to whistle for the sake of making a sound rather than to receive a food reward or some other incentive. If asked to whistle, she is likely to oblige, another indication to scientists that she makes the sound voluntarily.

"Orangutan’s spontaneous whistling opens new chapter in study of evolution of speech"

Joel Stein: "Nut allergies -- a Yuppie invention"

Joel Stein wrote an opinion piece for the LA Times alleging that nut allergies are, by and large, a Yuppie invention.

Your kid doesn't have an allergy to nuts. Your kid has a parent who needs to feel special. Your kid also spends recess running and screaming, "No! Stop! Don't rub my head with peanut butter!"

Yes, a tiny number of kids have severe peanut allergies that cause anaphylactic shock, and all their teachers should be warned, handed EpiPens and given a really expensive gift at Christmas. But unless you're a character on "Heroes," genes don't mutate fast enough to have caused an 18% increase in childhood food allergies between 1997 and 2007. And genes certainly don't cause 25% of parents to believe that their kids have food allergies, when 4% do. Yuppiedom does.

I think he is a bit off in his assessments. Granted there are those who are just as he describes and there is nothing to their little darlings 'allergies', save what is in their fevered imaginations.
There are, however, those to whom an allergy to nuts is a very real and a fatal allergic reaction waiting to happen if they are not careful.

Read the rest of his opinion - Nut allergies -- a Yuppie invention

Rare 'dinky' bird migrates to US for first time

Birders with binoculars and cameras are flocking to a remote state park in Texas in search of a small yellow-chested bird that apparently crossed the U.S. border for the first time from its high-mountain habitat to the south.
At 5 inches with beige and yellow markings, the pine flycatcher doesn't look like much, but its unprecedented migration from Mexico and Guatemala is exciting birders all over the country.

"It's not a thrilling bird visually.
It's thrilling because it's a first U.S. record," said Wes Biggs, who flew to Choke Canyon State Park from Orlando, Fla., to catch a glimpse.

The bird, which appears to be alone, was first spotted last month and as recently as today.
The sightings have been confirmed by photographs and recordings of its chirping.
The bird, with a solitary nature, usually stays at high elevations but has made its winter home in the low Texas scrub-land about 200 miles north of its usual habitat.

Question of the Day

Why do those that are forever attacking others are always accusing the ones they attack of attacking them?

A truly historic moment

Wiley Coyote catches Road Runner

Conquistador

Procol Harum

Our readers

So far today readers in:

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have stopped in for a visit here at Carolina Naturally.

Has to be an oversight

Obama is set to host a press conference with incoming Democratic National Committee chair Tim Kaine in what will ostensibly mark the beginning of a new era for the party and the committee. noticeably absent from the affair will be the individual who symbolized the old regime.

Former governor Howard Dean is not on the list of attendees for the event, a noticeable nonattendance for someone largely credited with revitalizing the Democratic party ranks and contributing -- whether politically or through his 50-state strategy - to major electoral gains.

Read more here

French teens charged in attack on Jewish girl

A juvenile court judge filed preliminary charges against four French teenagers accused of attacking a Jewish girl, a judicial official said Friday, amid tensions around Europe over the fighting in Gaza.

Three of the four teenagers are accused of violence with a religious or ethnic motive, and the fourth is accused of failing to prevent a crime, the official said.

The four defendants - aged between 13 and 15 - are not in custody but are under judicial supervision.

Under French law, preliminary charges allow for further investigation before a magistrate determines whether to send the case to trial.

The teenagers are accused of making anti-Semitic insults toward the 14-year-old girl, pushing her to the ground and kicking her as she was leaving school in the northern Paris suburb of Villiers-le-Bel.

*****

This is but one of the cases of the affects and effect of the ongoing violence in Gaza and elsewhere.

This has got to stop!

All 'sides' are wrong in this.

Not so long ago this same report could have been written with only altering two words: Muslim for Jewish and Anti-Muslim for Anti-Semitic.

That is the real crime here!

Another moment in time ...

Hey, for a brief moment there, Carolina Naturally had a PageRank of 8 out of 10 ... Woo woo!

Thank you , Mrs., Calabash, wherever you are.

Genocide judges reject corruption claims

Cambodian judges today denied that they paid kickbacks to government officials to secure jobs on a genocide tribunal to try former Khmer Rouge leaders.

The judges were responding to a complaint filed by lawyers for Nuon Chea, one of five former senior Khmer Rouge leaders due to be tried by the U.N.-backed tribunal for crimes against humanity and other offenses.

The dispute could further delay the tribunal's much-postponed first trial, which was slated to begin early this year.

The tribunal is tasked with seeking justice for the atrocities committed by the ultra-communist regime, whose radical policies caused an estimated 1.7 million deaths during its four years in power in the 1970s.

Many Cambodians are frustrated that the Khmer Rouge leaders have still not been tried three decades after the regime fell in 1979, and fear the aging and infirm defendants could die before they face justice.

Cambodian politics and disagreements between the government and the U.N. delayed the establishment of the tribunal for years.

Disputes over procedure - and allegations of corruption - have held up the tribunal as well.

And I Quote

He not busy being born is busy dying.

~ Robert Zimmerman aka Bob Dylan

The truth about job hunting in 2009

2009's arrival prompts a lot of questions: Will the economy get worse before it gets better? Will companies lay off more people? Can I still find a new job?

Find out the rest here.

This is CareerBuilder, so how much 'truth' there is, is dependent on your perspective of CareerBuilder.

Ace in the hole

Woody Woodpecker

Palin says she's been exploited by Couric and Fey

From the "Cry me a river" Department:

Alaska governor Sarah Palin says CBS News anchor Katie Couric and comic actress Tina Fey have been "exploiting" her.

Palin also is questioning whether Caroline Kennedy is getting better treatment from the news media in her quest for a Senate seat than Palin herself received as repugican John McCain's running mate.

Palin reflected on her campaign for national office in an interview this week with wing-nut radio hate-show host and propagandist John Ziegler.

Clips are posted on YouTube.

Palin gave Couric a rare interview at the beginning of her campaign, and Fey frequently impersonated Palin on "Saturday Night Live."

Palin says she thinks there may be a "class issue" involved in the press coverage of Kennedy and her own bid for office.

*****

Damn, right it is a "class issue" - Kennedy has it and she doesn't.

As to her assertion the press has been kind to Caroline Kennedy - she must not be reading all those newspapers like she did during the campaign, then.

Taylor's son faces 147 years for overseas torture

From the "Anyone else find this as just slightly hypocritical" Department:

The son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor could be sentenced to as many as 147 years in prison for his involvement in brutal slayings and torture while commanding an elite paramilitary force in Liberia.

Charles McArthur Emmanuel was convicted in October in a Miami federal court in the first test of a 1994 U.S. law that allows authorities to prosecute atrocities committed overseas.

His sentencing hearing is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. today.

Emmanuel is a U.S. citizen also known as Chuckie Taylor.

Prosecutors said the 31-year-old was involved in killings and torture in Liberia during his father's presidency from 1997 to 2003.

*****

And this from a government who had committed the very same atrocities?!

Editor's Note: The elder Taylor is on trial on war crimes charges at a United Nations tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands .