The Daily Drift

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Today in History

1523   Gustav Vasa becomes king of Sweden.  
1641   Spain loses Portugal.  
1674   Sivaji crowns himself King of India.  
1813   The United States invasion of Canada is halted at Stony Creek, Ontario.  
1862   The city of Memphis surrenders to the Union navy after an intense naval engagement on the Mississippi River.  
1865   Confederate raider Wiliam Quantrill dies from a wound received while escaping a Union patrol near Taylorsville, Kentucky.
1918   U.S. Marines enter combat at the Battle of Belleau Wood.  
1924   The German Reichstag accepts the Dawes Plan, an American plan to help Germany pay off its war debts. 1930   Frozen foods are sold commercially for the first time.  
1934   President Franklin Roosevelt signs the Securities Exchange Act, establishing the Securities and Exchange Commission.  
1941   The U.S. government authorizes the seizure of foreign ships in U.S. ports.  
1944   D-Day: Operation Overlord lands 400,000 Allied American, British, and Canadian troops on the beaches of Normandy in German-occupied France.  
1961   Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung, one of the founders of modern psychiatry, dies.  
1966   African American James Meridith is shot and wounded while on a solo march in Mississippi to promote voter registration among blacks.  
1982   Israel invades southern Lebanon.   
1985   The body of Nazi war criminal Dr. Josef Mengele is located and exhumed near Sao Paolo, Brazil. 

Non Sequitur

Did you know ...

That 1.2 billion of the world's people still don't have electricity

About why won't power tool companies build table saws that don't cut off fingers?

That medicaid expansion can save states loads of money. too bad some governors won't support it

That Texas tea party leader admits: "the repugican cabal doesn't want black people to vote"

California wants an end to taxpayer subsidy for WalMart

The State of California is considering legislation that would fine businesses $6,000 per employee who has to turn to Medical, the state's version of Medicaid. The bill is especially targeted at WalMart, which notoriously counsels its employees to use food stamps and other social programs to make up for the shortfall between the wage it pays and the minimum cost of staying alive:

The amount of the fine is no coincidence.
A report released last week by the Democratic staff of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, estimates that the cost of Wal-Mart’s failure to adequately pay its employees could total about $5,815 per employee each and every year of employment.
“Accurate and timely data on Wal-Mart’s wage and employment practices is not always readily available. However, occasional releases of demographic data from public assistance programs can provide useful windows into the scope of taxpayer subsidization of Wal-Mart. After analyzing data released by Wisconsin’s Medicaid program, the Democratic staff of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce estimates that a single 300- person Wal-Mart Supercenter store in Wisconsin likely costs taxpayers at least $904,542 per year and could cost taxpayers up to $1,744,590 per year – about $5,815 per employee.”

California To Wal-Mart: Enough! No More Taxpayer Subsidized Profits For You

Why the FBI's plan to require weak security in all American technology is a terrible, terrible idea

Bruce Schneier's editorial on CALEA-II is right on. In case you missed it, CALEA II is the FBI's proposal to require all American computers, mobile devices, operating systems, email programs, browsers, etc, to have weak security so that they can eavesdrop on them (as a side note, a CALEA-II rule would almost certainly require a ban on free/open source software, since code that can be modified is code that can have the FBI back-doors removed).

The FBI believes it can have it both ways: that it can open systems to its eavesdropping, but keep them secure from anyone else's eavesdropping. That's just not possible. It's impossible to build a communications system that allows the FBI surreptitious access but doesn't allow similar access by others. When it comes to security, we have two options: We can build our systems to be as secure as possible from eavesdropping, or we can deliberately weaken their security. We have to choose one or the other.
This is an old debate, and one we've been through many times. The NSA even has a name for it: the equities issue. In the 1980s, the equities debate was about export control of cryptography. The government deliberately weakened U.S. cryptography products because it didn't want foreign groups to have access to secure systems. Two things resulted: fewer Internet products with cryptography, to the insecurity of everybody, and a vibrant foreign security industry based on the unofficial slogan "Don't buy the U.S. stuff -- it's lousy."
In 1994, the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act mandated that U.S. companies build eavesdropping capabilities into phone switches. These were sold internationally; some countries liked having the ability to spy on their citizens. Of course, so did criminals, and there were public scandals in Greece (2005) and Italy (2006) as a result.
In 2012, we learned that every phone switch sold to the Department of Defense had security vulnerabilities in its surveillance system. And just this May, we learned that Chinese hackers breached Google's system for providing surveillance data for the FBI.

The Problems with CALEA-II

The repugicans Say Chris Christie Is Dead To Them After He Opts For Special Election

The repugicans are livid at Gov. Chris Christie for opting to hold a special election instead of appointing a repugican to fill Frank Lautenberg’s Senate seat. GOPers are saying Christie is politically dead to them.
The repugican reaction to Chris Christie decision to listen to the will of the people of his state was immediate outrage.
Deadbeat dad, and former congressman, Joe Walsh tweeted:
The National Journal summed up the repugican reaction to Christie’s decision, “That did little to mollify repugicans with a stake in retaking the Senate next year. While none wanted to be quoted publicly, all dripped with disdain for Christie’s decision, calling it self-serving. And several pointed to the fact that holding an extra election one month earlier could cost the state about $25 million–a price tag that could dent his image as a fiscal hawk. ‘I think this ends his 2016 chances. It’s year after year with this guy,’ complained one senior repugican official.”
Over at the Free Republic one exchange summed up how the rank and file seem to be taking the news that at least one repugican still believes in democracy (all names removed):

Commenter # 1: I know Governor Christie. Nice guy. But if there was any thought of voting for him in 2016 after the media anoints him as Hillary’s opponent, that is now gone.
I would sooner write in Lautenberg for President. Both are dead to me.
Commenter # 2: You sir, are a liar. No acting governor would do something so contrary to their political parties best interest and the interest of the people who elected him. Your glossing over his betrayal by saying he is a “nice guy”, just gives cover to the support he has offered to the fraud in the White House.

The repugicans are outraged at Chris Christie because he decided that the people should have a voice in this decision. Christie said, “There’s no political purpose. The political purpose is to give the people a voice. The issues facing the United States Senate are too important not to have an elected representative making those decisions.”
Sen. Lautenberg’s unfortunate passing put Gov. Christie in a difficult political position. If he appointed a repugican, he would have been ignoring the will of the voters in his state. He also would have unilaterally flipped a Senate seat. Neither of these outcomes are good for a guy with his eyes on 2016. If Christie would have decided to appoint a Democrat, he would have set the Democrats up to keep the seat in 2014. Christie’s decision was very political in the respect that he managed to keep Cory Booker off the November ballot by scheduling the special election for October.
Christie is no saint here, but he did the right thing for himself and the people of his state. He is going to get to pad his victory margin in November without Booker on the ballot, and the people of New Jersey will get to choose their next senator.
Christie may be dead to some in the repugican cabal, but those same people have been calling him a RINO ever since he hugged Obama. Gov. Christie isn’t a liberal, or a RINO. He is just a repugican who is trying to stay in the center because he wants to run for president in 2016.
However, there may not be any room in the repugican cabal for a repugican like Christie. It seems that if you aren’t ignoring or stepping on the will of the people, you aren’t a real repugican.

This just in ... repugican obstructionism holding America back.

From The Progress Report - a newsletter from Think Progress

Unprecedented

New Battle Against Senate repugican Obstruction

The Federal Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit is the second most powerful court in the nation after the Supreme Court. It often gets the last word on a wide variety of regulations, including those on Wall Street and polluters like oil companies and utilities, as well as on labor and national security matters. It doesn’t matter if we pass Obamacare or Dodd-Frank or unions work hard to win new protections for workers if the D.C. Circuit simply strikes down our accomplishments later.

Despite its evident importance, more than a quarter of the seats on the D.C. Circuit are sitting empty today – one since 2005. Today, President Obama set about fixing that. He nominated three highly-qualified individuals to fill the remaining three vacancies. These are vacancies the president noted that the Constitution compels him to fill — and vacancies which were filled during the shrub junta when the court had its full 11 members.

Senate repugicans have something else in mind: simply abolishing these seats altogether in order to prevent the president from filling them in order to give this important court more balance. (The D.C. Circuit’s main judges are currently split 4-4 in terms of whether they were appointed by a Democratic or repugican president; however, semi-retired judges who still hear cases were overwhelmingly appointed by repugicans and give the court overall a strongly wingnut bent.)

Never mind the fact that the the U.S. Judicial Conference (headed by Chief Justice Roberts) has suggested additional judgeships – not fewer – for courts nationwide, and just two months ago said that the D.C. Circuit needs all 11 seats.

As the president said today, this partisan plan to shrink the D.C. Circuit “makes no sense” and is a “blatant political move” by Senate repugicans.

What’s more, Senate repugicans are also currently holding up other important nominees, including those to head the Department of Labor, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

It’s looking as if July is setting up to be an important showdown over whether repugicans are allowed to continue with their unprecedented level of partisan obstruction or whether Senate Majority Leader Reid invokes the so-called “nuclear options,” the elimination of the filibuster for some or all nominations (but not legislation).

Here’s the facts:

President Obama’s judges have waited, on average three times as long as shrub’s judges to get confirmation votes, only to eventually be confirmed – most of them unanimously.

One academic measure of obstruction and delay finds the level for Obama’s appeals court nominees to be “the highest that’s ever been recorded.“

“President Obama is the only one of the five most recent Presidents for whom, during his first term, both the average and median waiting time from nomination to confirmation for circuit and district court nominees was greater than half a calendar year (i.e., more than 182 days).”

Both the shrub and President Clinton managed to significantly decrease the number of judicial vacancies during their first terms — by nearly 2/3 in the case of the shrub. By contrast, vacancies have increased by almost 50 percent under President Obama, partly due to direct obstruction and partly due to senatorial foot-dragging in terms of helping the administration select federal district court nominees from their home states.

President Obama is the only president since Woodrow Wilson to go a full four year term without getting a single judge confirmed to the D.C. Circuit.

Another tea party covernor Crashes and Burns

Rick Snyder Trails Democrat in Michigan 

Not only is Rick Snyder one of the most unpopular governors in the country, but he is trailing his Democratic opponent Mark Schauer, 42%-38%.
According to PPP, Gov. Snyder continues to be one of the most unpopular governors in the country. His disapproval rating (52%) is 12 points higher than his approval rating (40%). Snyder’s approval rating with Independents is just 40%, and his disapproval is 51%. Snyder’s biggest problem is that Democrats disapprove of him more (78%) than repugicans approve of him (68%). Snyder is still being hurt by the right to work legislation that he rammed through. By a margin of 50%-40% those surveyed oppose right to work. The repugicans in the state legislature also have a 59% unfavorable rating, and respondents supported raising the minimum wage to $10 an hour by a margin of 49%-43%.
For the last six months, the polling in Michigan has been consistent. Rick Snyder’s disapproval ratings are high, and voters are angry about the right to work legislation.
Before the 2010 election Snyder led with Independents 58%-18%. Today he trails Mark Schauer with Independents 39%-37%. The governor has see his Democratic support dip from 17% to 10%, and his repugican support drop from 82% to 75%. The unpopularity of the governor and his fellow repugicans in the state legislature could be setting up a potential Michigan Democratic wave in 2014. Governorships in Michigan and Pennsylvania fell into repugican hands because Democrats did not show up in large enough numbers in 2010.
Rick Scott in Florida looks like a dead man walking. Tom Corbett is right behind him in Pennsylvania. Things aren’t quite that bad for Rick Snyder yet, but he is in serious trouble. Snyder won by 19 points in 2010. He trails by four points today. A 23 point negative swing is a sign of a governor who the voters are ready to throw out of office. Snyder’s term has been a disaster for the state of Michigan. From emergency managers to gutting public education to right to work, Snyder has pursued a right wing agenda that goes against the wishes of the majority in the state.
If Michigan’s Democrats come out to vote on Election Day, Rick Snyder will be one unemployed nerd.

'The repugican cabal doesn’t want black people to vote'

  So says Texas tea party leader

Oops.  Honestly can be a terrible thing.  A Texas tea party leader admitted recently what most of us already knew, the repugican cabal doesn’t want African-Americans to vote.When asked at a meeting of Texas repugicans “what can repugicans do to get black people to vote,” a Texas Tea Party leader, Ken Emanuelson, gave the following answer:

“I’m going to be real honest with you, the repugican cabal doesn’t want black people to vote if they’re going to vote 9-to-1 for Democrats.”

Ruh roh.

The tea party, for all of its short years, already has a long history of racism.  Remember when tea party protesters spat on civil rights hero Rep. John Lewis and called him the n-word?  Or tea party darling Rand Paul’s opposition to the Civil Rights Act?  Or just the other day when a tea party leader, and former repugican cabal chair in Texas, accused repugican anti-tax activist Grover Norquist of being a stealth muslim because he has a beard?
Not that the repugican cabal is any better (and honestly, let’s stop the facade of pretending that the tea party is anything more than a group of wingnut repugicans). The repugican cabal has its own checkered past of trying to impede the black vote, especially in the south.  And in recent years, the repugican cabal has doubled up its effort to disenfranchise voters from all walks of life:

As the nation gears up for the 2012 presidential election, repugican officials have launched an unprecedented, centrally coordinated campaign to suppress the elements of the Democratic vote that elected Barack Obama in 2008. Just as Dixiecrats once used poll taxes and literacy tests to bar black Southerners from voting, a new crop of repugican governors and state legislators has passed a series of seemingly disconnected measures that could prevent millions of students, minorities, immigrants, ex-convicts and the elderly from casting ballots. “What has happened this year is the most significant setback to voting rights in this country in a century,” says Judith Browne-Dianis, who monitors barriers to voting as co-director of the Advancement Project, a civil rights organization based in Washington, D.C.repugicans have long tried to drive Democratic voters away from the polls. “I don’t want everybody to vote,” the insane wingnut agitator Paul Weyrich told a gathering of evangelical leaders in 1980. “As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.” But since the 2010 election, thanks to a wingnut agitator group founded by Weyrich, the repugican cabal’s effort to disrupt voting rights has been more widespread and effective than ever. In a systematic campaign orchestrated by the American Legislative Exchange Council – and funded in part by David and Charles Koch, the billionaire brothers who bankrolled the Tea Party – 38 states introduced legislation this year designed to impede voters at every step of the electoral process.

We’ve seen repugican cabal voter suppression in countless states.  Ohio was one, just this past November.  Arizona is another, where the repugican cabal is challenging the Voting Rights Act itself.  That’s the repugicans’ ultimate goal in all of this, taking down the Voting Rights Act, which was put in place specifically because racists didn’t want blacks to vote.
But it’s not just African-Americans they’re targeting, repugicans are also trying to stop college kids from voting, since college kids tend to vote Democratic.  And even on the issue of voting rights for felons, when we see movement on the repugican side, it’s done in a way that’s only half sincere.
The repugican cabal has a long history of voter suppression, so it’s no surprise that they still want to suppress the black vote in 2013.  It is surprising, however, that they’d actually admit it.

The truth hurts

Father who named son Adolf Hitler dressed as Nazi for family court hearing

A man who gave his children Nazi-inspired names dressed up in full fascist regalia on Monday as he appeared in court seeking to secure visitation rights to his youngest son. Heath Campbell – father of Adolf Hitler Campbell, 7, JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, 6, Honzlynn Jeannie Campbell, 5, and Heinrich Hons Campbell, 18 months – donned a German Nazi uniform for the hearing in Flemington, New Jersey.

The 40-year-old, who also sports a large swastika tattoo on his neck, was appearing before the court in a bid to win the rights to see Heinrich Hons, who was taken into care by social services shortly after his birth in November 2011. Heinrich's elder siblings had already been taken into care in 2009.

"I'm going to tell the judge, I love my children. I wanna be a father, let me be it," Heath Campbell said shortly before the hearing. Campbell rejected claims by social workers that he had been violent towards his children in the past. "Let me prove to the world that I am a good father," he said. "I've never abused my children, I only name my children and I don't think it's right anymore.

YouTube link.

"Basically, what they're saying is because of my beliefs and I'm a Nazi, that us people don't have any constitutional rights to fight for our children." Asked whether dressing up as a Nazi was likely to help his case, Campbell was confident it would not be held against him: "If they're good judges and they're good people, they'll look within, not what's on the outside."

Police officer charged with impersonating a police officer

A police constable from Upland, Pennsylvania, is facing court charges he impersonated a police officer while confronting a double-parked neighbor.

Robert Dugan, 47, allegedly verbally accosted a woman who double-parked a car outside her home on April 6.

Police say the woman told them Dugan yelled obscenities at her from his car to the point that his face was turning red. Dugan is a full-time patrolman with the Delaware County Park Police and was elected to a six-year term as constable in 2009.

He allegedly said that he was an Upland Borough police officer and that if the woman didn’t move her car, he would cite her and arrest her. After a preliminary hearing Dugan was held for court on charges of impersonating a police officer, two counts of harassment and disorderly conduct. His formal arraignment will be on June 26.

Drowning without a sound

Drowning, in real life, doesn't look or sound the way it does on TV. It's not loud. It's not thrashy. And it can happen just a few feet away from you without you even noticing. At Slate, Mario Vittone explains the Instinctive Drowning Response — a physiological knee-jerk reaction that pretty much prevents all the signs and signals most of us look for in order to identify a person in the water who needs help. 

Veggies, Foodies, Sperm and Chocolate

Eat Vegetarian, Live Longer?

Giving up meat leads to a longer life and fewer cases of heart disease, diabetes and kidney failure.

First Foodies Expanded Diet 3.5 Million Years Ago

Humans developed more adventurous tastes nearly 4 million years ago, but why?

Can Sperm Act as a Natural Superfood?

Some female animals consume male ejaculate, using the nutrients to fuel their own bodies as well as their eggs.

DNA Map Leads to Abundant, Tasty Chocolate

A map of a particularly delicious variety of cacao plant's DNA could lead to more abundant, high-quality chocolate.

Freaks & Errors

Collectors Weekly published an interview with Chicago-based documentarian Mark Cwiakala, who grew up surrounded by the stamps collected by his father and grandfather. Mark never collected, but eight years ago, he teamed with executive producer Jonathan Singer to go on a globetrotting journey, cameras in hand, to find out what exactly made stamps so irresistible to so many philatelists.

Interviewees in Freaks & Errors: A Rare Collection will include the usual complement of wealthy middle-aged men who are just a tad kooky, as well as atypical collectors such as 30-something singer and actress Jackie Tohn, tennis star Maria Sharapova, and Chicago Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg.

Eight Quirky Houses Around The World

With today's growing suburban culture, it's extremely common to see cookie-cutter houses and less-than-creative designs and colors. Amidst these uniformity, there are still a handful of exotic and unique dwellings scattered around the world - ranging from cave houses to gnome huts.

Their quirkiness adds a little bit of spice to our surroundings, and a touch of creativity to our world. For curious travelers, these houses not only make for interesting places to visit but also memorable holiday homes.

The Sun Will Not Set on the British Empire for At Least Thousands of Years

At its height in the early Twentieth Century, the British Empire spanned a fourth of the world. That is why it was said that the sun never set on the Empire: it was always sunny in at least one part of Britain's possessions.
Except for a few Overseas Territories--mostly small islands--Britain has departed from its empire. Can it still be said that the sun never sets on it? According to Randall Munroe of xkcd, yes.
The biggest daylight coverage is provided by the Pitcairn Islands in the south Pacific Ocean. Those islands will experience a solar eclipse in April of 2342. Will the sun finally set on Britain on that date, assuming that it retains its current territory? No:

Luckily for the Empire, the eclipse happens at a time when the Sun is over the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean. Those areas won't see a total eclipse; the Sun will even still be shining in London.
In fact, no total eclipse for the next thousand years will pass over the Pitcairn Islands at the right time of day to end the streak. If the UK keeps its current territories and borders, it can stretch out the daylight for a long, long time.
But not forever. Eventually—many millennia in the future—an eclipse will come for the island, and the Sun will finally set on the British Empire.

More

Archaeology News

Ancient Ball Player Statue Found in Mexico

A thousand-year-old statue found in Guerrero depicts a ball player of a yet-to-be deciphered ancient game.

Earliest Evidence of French Winemaking Discovered

Press is the first evidence for winemaking on French soil.

Evolution doesn't like you

Oh, sure, you've got those great opposable thumbs, complex culture, and the ability to walk on two legs. But don't let those facts lull you into thinking that evolution is on your side. It's not. It's not really on anybody's side. Which is why the same process that produces super-smart, super-creative apes (like us) is also responsible for helping cockroaches evade our attempts to murder them. 

Earth News

Why Oklahoma's Deadly Twister Was Widest Ever

The tornado that struck near the Oklahoma City suburb of El Reno on May 31 has been upgraded to an EF5 strength.

LA Pollution Is Losing Its Sting

An 'eye-stinging' air pollutant in Los Angeles is decreasing due to stricter vehicle emissions standards in Southern California and the United States.

Greenhouse Gas Grows Greener Deserts

Deserts and other arid regions have grown eleven percent greener over the past three decades.

New Jersey Shore Under Oceanic Assault

Today the ocean is lapping at the Jersey shore at triple the rate seen in the past 2,000 years.

A Blast of a Find: 12 New Alaskan Volcanoes

In Alaska, scores of volcanoes and strange lava flows have escaped scrutiny for decades, shrouded by lush forests and hidden under bobbing coastlines.

A 102-Year-Old Transport Ship Sprouts A Floating Forest

 

Homebush Bay in Sydney, Australia is home to the remnants of a ship-breaking yard that operated during the mid 20th-century. Large watercraft that outlived their usefulness were towed to Homebush Bay and dismantled to salvage any components that could be reused or sold for scrap.

One such ship was the SS Ayrfield, built in 1911 as a steam collier that was later used during WWII as a transport ship. In 1972 it was brought to Homebush Bay to be dismantled, but operations at the ship-breaking yard subsequently ceased and the Ayrfield was left behind. But this century-old transport ship would be transformed by time into a floating forest, a peculiar home for trees and other vegetation that have since sprouted over the last few decades.

Best Ultraviolet Map of the Nearest Galaxies Now Revealed

Best Ultraviolet Map of the Nearest Galaxies Now Revealed

The most detailed ultraviolet light surveys ever made of the two major galaxies that are closest to our own Milky Way, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, have been created by astronomers at NASA and [...]

Astronomical News

Hubble Captures Huge Explosion on Faraway Star

Astronomers get a rare look at an enormous stellar eruption.

Astronaut Captures 2 Volcanoes in Single Orbit

An Italian astronaut snaps stunning photos of two active volcanoes in one orbit. 

Dying Space Rock: Asteroid-Comet Hybrid Discovered

Observations by Hubble have revealed the true nature of a mysterious object lurking in the asteroid belt.

Watching the Sun Rip into Planets' Atmospheres

The JAXA telescope due to be launched later this year will watch with x-ray eyes to see how the solar wind eats away at the atmospheres of our neighboring planets. 

Proxima Centauri to Bend Starlight for Planet Hunt

Scientists looking for planets around the star nearest to the solar system will soon get a helping hand from Mother Nature.

There's a Hole in the Sun!

A coronal hole has rotated across the face of the sun, sending high-speed plasma our way.

Armstrong's Accent May Have Hid 'a' in Moon Quote

New research sheds light on the moon quote controversy.

Orphaned one-week-old foal sleeps with teddy bear

An orphaned week-old foal sleeps soundly in the lap of its new surrogate mum – a jumbo teddy bear. Breeze the bay pony was found abandoned on Dartmoor National Park just a few hours after his birth. Unable to find his mother, the tiny foundling was stumbling hopelessly around the hillside trying to suckle other mares.

By the time rescuers from a local equine sanctuary arrived Breeze had collapsed in a state of severe shock and dehydration. But after being nursed back to health over the following days he was missing one vital thing – a mum to cuddle and snuggle up to. Staff at the Devon-based Mare and Foal Sanctuary knew just the answer to comfort the lonely newborn – a four foot teddy they have named Buttons.

YouTube link.

Sanctuary executive director Syra Bowden said: “Sadly, little Breeze hasn’t got his mum around to keep him company. Although his carers here at the sanctuary work around the clock to look after him, it’s not quite the same. As a result, we always give our orphaned foals a giant cuddly toy as a companion. They’re just like human babies in the way it provides them with comfort”.

Breeze was found on May 24 by a Dartmoor farmer who was unable to locate his mother. He is now being nursed 24 hours a day by a dedicated team of carers at the sanctuary’s Honeysuckle Farm in Newton Abbot, Devon. Syra said Breeze is making real progress – buoyed by his cuddly new companion.

Red crab migration on Christmas Island

Photographer James D Morgan chronicled the annual migration of the red crabs across Christmas Island for Australian Geographic, documenting the amazing swarms of adorable scuttlers as they rush to the sea in order to reproduce:

The mass migration is headed by the males, quickly followed by the females. The crabs spend several painstaking weeks scuttling to the ocean, which can be as far as 9 km away.
Along the way they face numerous hazards. While the locals do the best as they can, according to ranger Max Orchard each year up to half a million crabs never return from their perilous journey. Many of these casualties fall under the wheels of vehicles as they attempt to traverse local roads, while others are attacked by yellow crazy ants.
Once the males arrive at the sea, they dig special burrows, where mating takes place once the females arrive. After the deed is done, the males begin the arduous journey back inland while the females remain in the burrows for about two weeks, laying eggs and waiting for them to develop. The eggs are held in a brood pouch – located between the female crab's abdomen and thorax – which can each hold as many as 100,000 eggs.
When the time is right, just before dawn at high tide, the egg-laden females descend to the waterline to release their eggs, a process that can occur over several nights.

March of the Christmas Island crabs 

With global warming, will iguanas grow as big as Komodo dragons?

With global warming, will iguanas grow as big as Komodo dragons?

Why don’t plant-eating lizards like iguanas grow as large as meat-eating lizards, such as the humongous 10-foot-long, 150-pound Komodo dragons? A recent discovery at the University of California, Berkeley, shows that at least some herbivorous [...]

Why swarming evolved offers tantalizing clues on how intelligence developed

Why swarming evolved offers tantalizing clues on how intelligence developed

Many animals – from locusts to fish – live in groups and swarm, but scientists aren’t sure why or how this behavior evolved. Now a multidisciplinary team of Michigan State University scientists has used a [...]

Animal News

OCD Dogs and Humans Share Same Brain Abnormalities

Dogs with obsessive compulsive disorder exhibit nearly the same brain abnormalities of humans who have OCD.

How Do Killer Bees Kill?

Africanized honeybees, aka killer bees, are easily alarmed and then can overwhelm their targets with thousands of stings.

Squid Squashed by Acidic Oceans

Calamari may become a rare dish on the menu of both human restaurants and the Earth's marine food chain due to ocean acidification's effects on squid.

Warming Ocean Puts Puffins in Peril

Atlantic puffins along the eastern seaboard have been dying of starvation. Is climate change to blame?

Animal Pictures