More details about the giant fossil snake I posted about a few days ago
Fossils from northeastern Colombia reveal the biggest snake ever discovered: a behemoth that stretched 42 to 45 feet long, reaching more than 2,500 pounds.
"This thing weighs more than a bison and is longer than a city bus," enthused snake expert Jack Conrad of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, who was familiar with the find.
"It could easily eat something the size of a cow. A human would just be toast immediately."
"If it tried to enter my office to eat me, it would have a hard time squeezing through the door," paleontologist Jason Head of the University of Toronto Missisauga, said.
Actually, the beast probably munched on ancient relatives of crocodiles in its rainforest home some 58 million to 60 million years ago, he said.
Head is senior author of a report on the find in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.
(The same issue carries another significant report from the distant past. Scientists said they'd found the oldest known evidence of animal life, remnants of steroids produced by sponges more than 635 million years ago in Oman.)
The discoverers of the snake named it Titanoboa cerrejonensis.
That means "titanic boa from Cerrejon," the region where it was found.While related to modern boa constrictors, it behaved more like an anaconda and spent almost all its time in the water, Head said.
It could slither on land as well as swim.
Conrad, who wasn't involved in the discovery, called the find "just unbelievable.... It mocks your preconceptions about how big a snake can get."
Titanoboa breaks the record for snake length by about 11 feet, surpassing a creature that lived about 40 million years ago in Egypt, Head said.
Among living snake species, the record holder is an individual python measured at about 30 feet long, which is some 12 to 15 feet shorter than typical Titanoboas, said study co-author Jonathan Bloch.
The beast was revealed in early 2007 at the University of Florida's Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville.
Bones collected at a huge open-pit coal mine in Colombia were being unpacked, said Bloch, the museum's curator of vertebrate paleontology.
Graduate students unwrapping the fossils "realized they were looking at the bones of a snake.
Not only a snake, but a really big snake."
So they quickly consulted the skeleton of a 17-foot anaconda for comparison.
A backbone from that creature is about the size of a silver dollar, Bloch said, while a backbone from Titanoboa is "the size of a large Florida grapefruit."
So far the scientists have found about 180 fossils of backbone and ribs that came from about two dozen individual snakes, and now they hope to go back to Colombia to find parts of the skull, Bloch said.
Titanoboa's size gives clues about its environment.
A snake's size is related to how warm its environment is.
The fossils suggest equatorial temperatures in its day were significantly warmer than they are now, during a time when the world as a whole was warmer.
So equatorial temperatures apparently rose along with the global levels, in contrast to the competing hypothesis that they would not go up much, Head noted.
"It's a leap" to apply the conditions of the past to modern climate change, Head said.
But given that, the finding still has "some potentially scary implications for what we're doing to the climate today," he said.
The finding suggest the equatorial regions will warm up along with the planet, he said.
"We won't have giant snakes, however, because we are removing most of their habitats by development and deforestation" in equatorial regions, he said.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
56-year-old becomes 1st woman to swim Atlantic
Jennifer Figge pressed her toes into the Caribbean sand, exhilarated and exhausted as she touched land this week for the first time in almost a month.
Reaching a beach in Trinidad, she became the first woman on record to swim across the Atlantic Ocean - a dream she'd had since the early 1960s, when a stormy trans-Atlantic flight got her thinking she could don a life vest and swim the rest of the way if needed.
The 56-year-old left the Cape Verde Islands off Africa's western coast on Jan. 12, swimming about 2,100 miles through strong winds and waves of up to 30 feet.She now plans to swim from Trinidad to the British Virgin Islands, ending her odyssey at the Bitter End Yacht Club in late February.
Reaching a beach in Trinidad, she became the first woman on record to swim across the Atlantic Ocean - a dream she'd had since the early 1960s, when a stormy trans-Atlantic flight got her thinking she could don a life vest and swim the rest of the way if needed.
The 56-year-old left the Cape Verde Islands off Africa's western coast on Jan. 12, swimming about 2,100 miles through strong winds and waves of up to 30 feet.She now plans to swim from Trinidad to the British Virgin Islands, ending her odyssey at the Bitter End Yacht Club in late February.
Car found in garage gets big bucks at auction
A car abandoned in a garage in Britain for half a century sold at an auction in Paris for euro3.4 million Friday.
The 1937 Bugatti Type 57S went on the block at Bonhams' Retromobile car show and sale in Paris.
It was sold on behalf of the family of its last owner, Dr Harold Carr.
The orthopedic surgeon drove the car for several years, but in the early 1960s it was parked in his garage in Gosforth, near Newcastle in northern England, where it remained for nearly 50 years until his death in 2007.
Bugatti once represented the height of motoring achievement.
The supercar was so ahead of its time it could go up to 130 mph when most other cars topped out about 50 mph.
This particular car is especially valuable because it was originally owned by Earl Howe, a prominent British race car driver, and because its original equipment is intact, so it can restored without relying on replacement parts.
Bonham's said a European collector bought the car.
The company founded in 1909 by Ettore Bugatti collapsed in the 1940s after a long string of racing victories.
We're on our way
Checking the numbers and Carolina Naturally is 752,492 places out of the number 1 spot as blogs are rated by Technorati.
We have an "Authority" rating of 7 while the numero uno has a rating of 29,914.
Those numbers might sound a bit disheartening, but in reality they aren't that bad.
Just a few days ago we had a rating of 1 and were well over double the number farther away from number one - in fact nearly triple.
In fact we moved up 300 or so places since last night.
At this pace we might become the number one blog sometime in the year 3010 give or take a few days.
We have an "Authority" rating of 7 while the numero uno has a rating of 29,914.
Those numbers might sound a bit disheartening, but in reality they aren't that bad.
Just a few days ago we had a rating of 1 and were well over double the number farther away from number one - in fact nearly triple.
In fact we moved up 300 or so places since last night.
At this pace we might become the number one blog sometime in the year 3010 give or take a few days.
Dying on the streets
As health care costs rise and medicaid rates lag behind, nursing and boarding homes are forcing out sick, elderly and frail residents in what advocates say is a growing trend
There is no official data exist on eviction counts, but discharge complaints have climbed to record highs.Remember ... to paraphrase a damned good quotation - 'What ye do unto the least of these ye do also unto me'.
While this is from the christian text it is a far older philosophy ... one that most conveniently give lip service to or outright ignore completely and it always comes back to bite them in the end (yes, and that end as well)!
Read more about this here
Few crime victims helped by 2000 visa law
A 2000 federal law promised visas to illegal immigrants who were crime victims if they came out of the shadows to help police catch their attackers.
More than 13,000 people took the government's offer but so far only 65 - just 0.5 percent - have gotten their reward.
The figures, provided by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, outrage immigrant advocates.
They say the problem with the so-called "crime victim visa" has been twofold: The government took years to come up with rules, and now that they're in place many law enforcement agencies are reluctant to provide the required written support so victims can apply.
"There's no rational reason why it should take the federal government eight years to implement a law other than there's a callous disregard for the rights of crime victims Congress intended to benefit for cooperating with law enforcement," said Peter Schey, executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law in Los Angeles.
Lawmakers created the visa to encourage illegal immigrants to report crimes such as rape, torture and domestic violence without fear of deportation, and to help law enforcement crack down on violent crime.
It took more than six years (until 2007) for the agency to set the rules, although immigrants could apply before then and could stay in the U.S. if their cases appeared to fit the criteria.
The number of visas is capped at 10,000 per year.
According to the most recent statistics, only 85 had even been processed by the end of 2008 - 65 were approved and 20 denied.
More than 13,000 people took the government's offer but so far only 65 - just 0.5 percent - have gotten their reward.
The figures, provided by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, outrage immigrant advocates.
They say the problem with the so-called "crime victim visa" has been twofold: The government took years to come up with rules, and now that they're in place many law enforcement agencies are reluctant to provide the required written support so victims can apply.
"There's no rational reason why it should take the federal government eight years to implement a law other than there's a callous disregard for the rights of crime victims Congress intended to benefit for cooperating with law enforcement," said Peter Schey, executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law in Los Angeles.
Lawmakers created the visa to encourage illegal immigrants to report crimes such as rape, torture and domestic violence without fear of deportation, and to help law enforcement crack down on violent crime.
It took more than six years (until 2007) for the agency to set the rules, although immigrants could apply before then and could stay in the U.S. if their cases appeared to fit the criteria.
The number of visas is capped at 10,000 per year.
According to the most recent statistics, only 85 had even been processed by the end of 2008 - 65 were approved and 20 denied.
Saturday Jam
This week's Saturday Jam includes:
Must Have Been Love
Roxette
Mommas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To be Cowboys
The Highwaymen
(Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson)
(Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson)
Fire On The Mountain
The Marshall Tucker Band
(some good ol'Carolina Boys)
(some good ol'Carolina Boys)
Atomic Dog
George Clinton
(another good ol'Carolina boy, by the way)
(another good ol'Carolina boy, by the way)
Fernando
ABBA
(performing on Spanish TV on the La Noche De Lina Morgan show)
(performing on Spanish TV on the La Noche De Lina Morgan show)
Artist of famed Obama poster arrested in Boston
In a clear case of attempted intimidation by corporate interests and their lackeys the Boston police:
Police in Boston say the artist famous for his "Hope" posters of President Obama has been arrested on outstanding warrants.
Shepard Fairey was in Boston on Friday for his new exhibit at the Institute of Contemporary Art.
Police Officer James Kenneally says the department had January 24th warrants alleging the Los Angeles artist tagged property with graffiti.
Fairey's Obama image has been sold on thousands of stickers and posters. It is the subject of a copyright dispute with The Associated Press.
Fairey argues that his use of the AP photo is protected by "fair use," which allows exceptions to copyright laws.
Just 'who' swore out the January 24th warrant (whose timing mirrors the AP copyright claims - how odd is that?!). That information should prove be every interesting when it is entered in the public record.
Police in Boston say the artist famous for his "Hope" posters of President Obama has been arrested on outstanding warrants.
Shepard Fairey was in Boston on Friday for his new exhibit at the Institute of Contemporary Art.
Police Officer James Kenneally says the department had January 24th warrants alleging the Los Angeles artist tagged property with graffiti.
Fairey's Obama image has been sold on thousands of stickers and posters. It is the subject of a copyright dispute with The Associated Press.
Fairey argues that his use of the AP photo is protected by "fair use," which allows exceptions to copyright laws.
*****
Just 'who' swore out the January 24th warrant (whose timing mirrors the AP copyright claims - how odd is that?!). That information should prove be every interesting when it is entered in the public record.
Robber offers crash victim hush money
Dumb Crook News:
In Stockton, California a suspected bank robber is behind bars after a woman whose car he hit during the getaway declined a share of the booty to keep quiet. According to investigators, a 46-year-old man walked into a branch of Bank of the West at noon Thursday and handed an employee a note demanding money.
Investigators said the man fled with the cash, but a few minutes later collided with another car. The driver told police that the man explained he had just robbed a bank and offered her a share of the take to keep quiet.
The woman called police. The man was arrested on suspicion of robbery.
*****
Crooks really are dumb.
Don't let the bedbugs bite
Well in Pennsylvania they are.
University has 21st case of bedbugs this year
Gannon University officials in Erie, Pennsylvania moved five students out of school apartments and into a hotel because of bedbugs, the 21st time this school year the nocturnal insect has been found in a campus dormitory or apartment.
The school had a bedbug outbreak in 2003 during which several students suffered bites from the bloodsucking insects and the rashes that result. The university thought it had the problem licked until the outbreaks began again this school year.
The university is having an exterminator spray the rooms and officials are laundering the students' clothes and bedding. The school said it had spent "hundreds of thousands" of dollars battling its bedbug problem.
*****
Man, Pennsylvania is having it rough - a firebug(s) in the east and bedbugs in the west!
Somebody must not like Pennsylvania too much right now.
Man reported for loud music accused of threats
Some people don't like music ...
Police said a Manchester, New Hampshire, man threatened to slit his neighbors' throats after they reported him for playing loud music. A 32-year-old man was charged with three counts of criminal threatening and two of criminal mischief after he admitted punching a hole in the neighbors' wall.
Police said they gave him a noise ticket early Friday, but the neighbors called officers back about a half hour later. Investigators said the man went to the neighbors' apartment to apologize, but things didn't work out well. The neighbors reported the man began yelling, pulled out a pocket knife and threatened to slit their throats.
Milkman delivered more than milk
A British prosecutor says an elderly milkman supplied customers with cannabis as well as bottles of milk.
Robert Holding, 72, delivered marijuana as he made his daily rounds in the town of Burnely, in northwestern England.
Prosecutor Sarah Statham said Friday that Holding offered the drug to elderly customers suffering from aches and pain. She says the customers left Holding notes on their doorsteps to order the drug.
According to Britain's dairy industry, around 1.5 million British homes have milk delivered by a milkman. Deliveries have declined over the last 20 years.
Holding pleaded guilty to supplying the drug and was given suspended jail sentence of 36 months.
President Obama's Weekly Address
REMARKS OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
WEEKLY ADDRESS
The White House
Saturday, February 7, 2009
WEEKLY ADDRESS
The White House
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Yesterday began with some devastating news with regard to our economic crisis. But I'm pleased to say it ended on a more positive note.
In the morning, we received yet another round of alarming employment figures – the worst in more than 30 years. Another 600,000 jobs were lost in January. We've now lost more than 3.6 million jobs since this recession began.
But by the evening, Democrats and Republicans came together in the Senate and responded appropriately to the urgency this moment demands.
In the midst of our greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, the American people were hoping that Congress would begin to confront the great challenges we face. That was, after all, what last November's election was all about.
Legislation of such magnitude deserves the scrutiny that it's received over the last month, and it will receive more in the days to come. But we can't afford to make perfect the enemy of the absolutely necessary. The scale and scope of this plan is right. And the time for action is now.
Because if we don't move swiftly to put this plan in motion, our economic crisis could become a national catastrophe. Millions of Americans will lose their jobs, their homes, and their health care. Millions more will have to put their dreams on hold.
Let's be clear: We can't expect relief from the tired old theories that, in eight short years, doubled the national debt, threw our economy into a tailspin, and led us into this mess in the first place. We can't rely on a losing formula that offers only tax cuts as the answer to all our problems while ignoring our fundamental economic challenges – the crushing cost of health care or the inadequate state of so many schools; our addiction to foreign oil or our crumbling roads, bridges, and levees.
The American people know that our challenges are great. They don't expect Democratic solutions or Republican solutions – they expect American solutions.
From the beginning, this recovery plan has had at its core a simple idea: Let's put Americans to work doing the work America needs done. It will save or create more than 3 million jobs over the next two years, all across the country – 16,000 in Maine, nearly 80,000 in Indiana – almost all of them in the private sector, and all of them jobs that help us recover today, and prosper tomorrow.
Jobs that upgrade classrooms and laboratories in 10,000 schools nationwide – at least 485 in Florida alone – and train an army of teachers in math and science.
Jobs that modernize our health care system, not only saving us billions of dollars, but countless lives.
Jobs that construct a smart electric grid, connect every corner of the country to the information superhighway, double our capacity to generate renewable energy, and grow the economy of tomorrow.
Jobs that rebuild our crumbling roads, bridges and levees and dams, so that the tragedies of New Orleans and Minneapolis never happen again.
It includes immediate tax relief for our struggling middle class in places like Ohio, where 4.5 million workers will receive a tax cut of up to $1,000. It protects health insurance and provides unemployment insurance for those who've lost their jobs. And it helps our states and communities avoid painful tax hikes or layoffs for our teachers, nurses, and first responders.
That's what is at stake with this plan: putting Americans back to work, creating transformative economic change, and making a down payment on the American Dream that serves our children and our children's children for generations to come.
Americans across this country are struggling, and they are watching to see if we're equal to the task before us. Let's show them that we are. And let's do whatever it takes to keep the promise of America alive in our time.
Thank you.
The Britsh are coming ...
A hacked electronic highway sign in northwestern Texas carried an international message not seen much in centuries on this side of the pond.
The sign Friday briefly flashed: "OMG The British R coming. They R watching you."
KCBD-TV reports the electronic sign was in a construction area in southwest Lubbock.
The Texas Department of Transportation says the mobile sign belongs to a contractor.
A statement from Austin Bridge & Road says someone "with a questionable sense of humor" accessed the password on the message board.
The company says its portable sign that was hacked has since been removed, since a permanent exit sign has now been installed, and locks have been added to the portable version.
No word yet on the culprits.
Fifty tickets ... In One Day!
Folks, Elvis has left the vehicle.
A man was arrested on more than 50 traffic citations - all in one day. Police said Elvis Alonzo Barrett, 46, fled from police trying to stop him for a traffic violation Thursday morning. Police said he ran through red lights, crashed into another car and a fence. Police said they found crack cocaine and a crack pipe in his car.
A man was arrested on more than 50 traffic citations - all in one day. Police said Elvis Alonzo Barrett, 46, fled from police trying to stop him for a traffic violation Thursday morning. Police said he ran through red lights, crashed into another car and a fence. Police said they found crack cocaine and a crack pipe in his car.
Barrett faces several charges, including fleeing and eluding and reckless driving.
He was also issued more than 50 traffic citations on charges including speeding, running red lights, and not wearing a seat belt.
Police said Barrett has a lengthy criminal history and his driver license was suspended.
*****
If he doesn't hold the record for the most tickets in one day I'd hate to see the one who does!?
There's a firebug in Pennsylvania
... as the 23rd arson of 2009 declared in the Coatesville area.
Investigators in southeastern Pennsylvania have declared the 23rd arson of the year in the urban region that includes the Philadelphia suburb of Coatesville.
Federal investigators say the latest blaze destroyed a mobile home just outside Coatesville late yesterday and they now say the blaze was arson.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says there have been 18 cases of arson in the city of Coatesville and five in the surrounding area since January 1, 2009.
There were 15 arson blazes in the city last year.Investigators have not made any arrests.
The Coatesville police chief announced Friday that a curfew now requires everyone under the age of 18 to be off the streets by 8 p.m.
The city's curfew had been 10 p.m
*****
I don't know if this is the work of a pyromaniac getting his jollies off on a massive scale or a professional burner working on some nefarious 'urban renewal' scheme for some vested interests - but it is a very dangerous game they are playing, either way.
It couldn't happen to a 'nicer' guy
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp (home of Faux News) has reported a $6.4-billion loss in the second quarter of its fiscal year and we are overjoyed that the purveyor of hate and lies is losing his money - let him lose all of it.
More details here.
Repugicans still at it
The repugicans are still trying to screw this country over. Have a look at what they are demanding to be cut from the stimulus package so that the economy is further recessed rather than turned around ...
Latest Cuts To The Stimulus Package: Head Start, Child Nutrition, Food Stamps, Public Transit
Recession exposes holes in jobless benefit system
The government safety net designed to protect laid-off workers from financial catastrophe is falling short, leaving nearly half the 11.6 million jobless Americans without unemployment benefits.
Read the rest here.
$9 Million ATM Scam
A global flashmob of ATM thieves netted $9 million in fraud against ATMs in 49 cities around the world.
The person in the photo is believed to be one of the "cashers," low-level players, in a scheme devised from some mastermind -- a dangerous computer hacker or hacking ring authorities fear could strike again.
Here's how it all came down, according to information from the FBI and law enforcement sources:
The computer system for a company called RBS WorldPay was hacked. One service of the company is the ability for employers to pay employees with the money going directly to a card, called payroll cards, a lot like a debit card that can be used in any ATM. The hacker was able to infiltrate the supposedly secure system and steal the information necessary to duplicate or clone people's ATM cards.
"We've never seen one this well coordinated," the FBI said.
Then shortly after midnight Eastern Time on November 8, 2008 the FBI believes that dozens of the so-called cashers were used in a coordinated attack of ATM machines around the world.
"Over 130 different ATM machines in 49 cities worldwide were accessed in a 30-minute period on November 8th," Agents Rice said. "So you can get an idea of the number of people involved in this and the scope of the operation."
And I Quote
He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill.
Our antagonist is our helper.
~ Edmund Burke
Our antagonist is our helper.
~ Edmund Burke
And, boy, do they ever ... antagonize that is.
Our Readers
Some of today's readers are in:
Modling, Neiderosterreich, Austria
Eindhoven, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands
Ulsan, Ulsan-Gwangyoksi, Republic of Korea
Ringgold, Georgia, United States
Barbarton, Ohio, United States
Modling, Neiderosterreich, Austria
Eindhoven, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands
Ulsan, Ulsan-Gwangyoksi, Republic of Korea
Ringgold, Georgia, United States
Barbarton, Ohio, United States
Daily Horoscope
Today's horoscope says:
Be very careful what you say.
That is good advice and I always do.
Be very careful what you say.
That is good advice and I always do.
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