The Daily Drift

Ain't that the truth ...!

 

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Today in History

1190		Frederick Barbarossa drowns in a river while leading an army of the Third Crusade.
1692		Bridget Bishop is hanged in Salem, Mass., for witchcraft.
1776		The Continental Congress appoints a committee to write a Declaration of Independence.
1801		Tripoli declares war on the U.S. for refusing to pay tribute.
1854		The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, holds its first graduation.
1861		Dorothea Dix is appointed superintendent of female nurses for the Union army.
1864		At the Battle of Brice's Crossroads in Mississippi, Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest defeats the numerically superior Union troops.
1898		U.S. Marines land in Cuba.
1905		Japan and Russia agree to peace talks brokered by President Theodore Roosevelt.
1909		An SOS signal is transmitted for the first time in an emergency when the Cunard liner SS Slavonia is wrecked off the Azores.
1916		Mecca, under control of the Turks, falls to the Arabs during the Great Arab Revolt.
1920		The Republican convention in Chicago endorses woman suffrage.
1924		The Italian socialist leader Giacomo Matteotti is kidnapped and assassinated by Fascists in Rome.
1925		Tennessee adopts a new biology text book denying the theory of evolution.
1940		The Norwegian army capitulates to the Germans.
1942		Germany razes the town of Lidice, Czechoslovakia and kills more than 1,300 citizens in retribution of the murder of Reinhard Heydrich.
1943		The Allies begin bombing Germany around the clock.
1944		The U.S. VII and V corps, advancing from Normandy's beaches, link up and begin moving inland.
1948		The news that the sound barrier has been broken is finally released to the public by the U.S. Air Force. Chuck Yeager, piloting the rocket airplane X-1, exceeded the speed of sound on October 14, 1947.
1963		Buddhist monk Ngo Quang Duc dies by self immolation in Saigon to protest persecution by the Diem government.
1970		A 15-man group of special forces troops begin training for Operation Kingpin, a POW rescue mission in North Vietnam.
1985		The Israeli army pulls out of Lebanon after 1,099 days of occupation.
1999		Serb forces begin their withdrawl from Kosovo after signing an agreement with the NATO powers.

Non Sequitur

Wingnuts, Let Me Explain the Difference Between the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence

by Allen Clifton

While nearly every wingnut has heard of both, there seems to be a lot of confusion within their ranks about the difference between the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.
First, many wingnuts seem to believe that they’re the same thing.  They’re not.
The Declaration of Independence is essentially just a declaration of war.  Our Constitution, to put it in its simplest terms, is what created our government and outlines the rights to which every American is entitled.
See, when wingnuts claim that our nation is founded on christianity, they often use lines taken from the Declaration of Independence – not our Constitution.
And the reason for that is simple.  The words “christian” or “christianity” don’t appear even once within our Constitution.  Though in the Declaration of Independence there are references to “the creator” and “god.”
So, when wingnuts cite the lines, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator…” or,  “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s god entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation” as evidence that our nation was founded on christianity, all they’re really doing is proving that they don’t know the difference between the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution.
Our Constitution was a complicated process of compromise, debate and ratification between many individuals to comprise exactly what would and wouldn’t be a “right” for all Americans.  In fact, I argue that it’s such a precise document that for the words “christianity” or “christian” to be completely omitted wasn’t by accident – it was by design.  They didn’t want this nation to be ruled by any particular religion.
But I shouldn’t even have to “argue” that, because that’s exactly what our First Amendment states.
Our Declaration of Independence, however, was essentially written by one man, Thomas Jefferson, and is nothing more than a declaration of war by our Founding Fathers with their intent to establish our government.
Which is what led to our Constitution.
So, does our Declaration of Independence have references to god in it?  Absolutely.  But it wasn’t an accident that any mention of christianity was omitted from the final draft of our Constitution.
Though this is clearly a very simple explanation of what each of these documents represents, that was kind of my point.  Because it seems there are far too many wingnuts who clearly don’t seem to understand the basic differences between the two.

Law professor tells senators: If money is speech, outlawing prostitution is unconstitutional

by Eric W. Dolan

An American law professor told senators that outlawing prostitution was a violation of the First Amendment if spending money was a form of free speech.
"Your other point though about money not equaling speech is a critical point for people to understand," American University professor Jamie Raskin said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. "There are lots of forms of purchase and exchange that we criminalize, for example, buying sex. We don't say if someone wants to purchase the services of a prostitute, well that is just an expression of their speech."
In its 1976 Buckley v. Valeo decision, the Supreme Court ruled that limits on political spending violated the First Amendment. The court held that spending money to influence elections was a form of constitutionally protected speech.
The decision was later followed by similar rulings in the Citizens United and McCutcheon cases, further eroding limits on political spending and contributions. The Supreme Court rulings have led to an unprecedented amount of money being spent to influence the outcome of elections.
Raskin noted that even defenders of the Supreme Court rulings have agreed that laws to prohibit outright bribery are constitutional and necessary.
"And it's not clear in their position why," he remarked. "After all, if I just feel very strongly about an issue and I want to give you a thousand dollars or a million dollars to go my way, why shouldn't you be able to accept it?

Bet, they didn't think of that did they

Cronic Denial Syndrome

Wingnut christians and repugican Policies Are Making America Stupid

The preponderance of fundamentalist christians in America are why so many Americans are comparatively unintelligent when it comes to scientific knowledge that drives the epidemic of stupidity …

Intelligence is defined in different ways, but generally it is a human being’s capacity for logic, abstract thought, self-awareness, learning, communication, memory, and problem solving among many other things including emotional knowledge. As one might expect, emotional knowledge is not always related to intelligence, at least not in the traditional sense. Emotion can be counterintuitive to logic, abstract thought, and problem solving, and in fact emotion is a feeling that is the polar opposite of logic and reason, and a primary driver of emotional knowledge is religion. The preponderance of fundamentalist christians in America are why so many Americans are comparatively unintelligent when it comes to scientific knowledge that drives the epidemic of stupidity of Americans subscribing to hazardous repugican policies.

A short while ago, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson said the success and popularity of Fox’s Cosmos was a good sign that science is trending that may have led some to think that maybe America would end its rush to ignorance and anti-intellectualism. Sadly, that is not the case. There are two reasons America, as a nation, is woefully ignorant of the most basic fundamentals of science. First, there is an extremely low level of basic science education in primary and secondary public schools, and second, the rise of fundamental christianity over the past 30 years that Americans have repugican man-god Ronald Reagan to thank for starting.

According to a Gallup poll released last week; “Americans continue to poll more like Iranians or Nigerians than Europeans or Canadians on questions of evolution, scriptural inerrancy, the presence of angels and demons, and so forth.” The poll also revealed that 42% of Americans, obviously fundamentalist christians, still adhere to the creationists’ assertion that Earth, the Universe, and human beings were created in their present form less than 10,000 years ago. In another study conducted for the National Science Foundation, surveys revealed that one-in-five (20% for fundamentalist morons) still believe the Sun revolves around the Earth, cannot fathom that DNA is key to identifying heredity, or that radiation, including from the Sun, has deleterious effects on the human body.

The reason these statistics, and there are many more signaling America as a nation is bible-stupid and getting stupider, are important was best articulated by Susan Jacoby of the “Age of American Unreason.” Jacoby wrote that, “This level of scientific illiteracy provides fertile soil for political appeals based on sheer ignorance.” It is true, and exactly why repugicans are able to convince truly ignorant Americans to support policies against their own self-interests and interests of the United States, such as combating climate change, planning for the future, or spending even one penny on education.

The source of anti-science ignorance is the christian bible that evangelical fundamentalists and many mainstream christians believe is literal universal truths because it was handed to christians by god almighty. Over a third of all Americans believe every word in the bible is absolute truth, and 60% of Americans are waiting for the war of Armageddon to bring about the end of the world. Interestingly, there is as much ignorance of the christian bible as science because the majority of Americans cannot even name the first book of the bible, if they even know how to read. It led Jacoby to ask, “How can citizens understand what creationism means, or make an informed decision about whether it belongs in classrooms, if they cannot even locate the source of the creation story?”

There is a direct correlation to ignorance of science and the importance placed on teaching it in public school where fundamental christianity is an epidemic. In fact, and this is appalling, a University of Texas study revealed that clearly 25% of public school biology teachers believe human beings and dinosaurs coexisted in perfect harmony. It is no wonder that 72% of teabaggers distrust science and scientists, and why they join repugicans crusading to slash funding for education as well as oppose attempts to assuage the devastation of global climate change.

The ignorance epidemic explains their devotion to the repugican cabal’s policies of devaluing, and cutting funding for, public education to make room for tax cuts for the rich, as well as transferring public school funding into private religious and charter (also religious) schools. The bible inspired ignorance is why there is a rush to home school children pushed by idiot christians such as creation scam artist Ken Ham who convinces ignorant christians to pull their children from, and oppose funding for, public schools they claim teach satanic science and not the bible. According to Max Brantely of the Arkansas Times, “the charter school movement is another big part of the problem” because they are free to use curriculum that includes teaching the bible as science and history.

For the past five years, even semi-intelligent Americans have been scratching their collective heads and wondering why so many of their compatriots have dependably voted against their own best interests by supporting repugicans and teabaggers. It is true it has a lot to do with racism, that is undeniable, but it is also due to repugicans pandering to the fundamentalist christian cult actively promoting ignorance-by-bible. The various polls, surveys, and studies revealing that Americans adhering to biblical inerrancy and literalism are fundamentally ignorant of the most basic science on the level of Iran, Afghanistan, and Nigeria verifies that not only are Americans dumb and getting dumber, it is why repugicans predominate in states where the bible is science and science is of the Devil. A little over a week ago, The Street compiled a list of the dumbest states in America and not only were the top ten dominated by repugicans, eight of them were located in the most religious region of the nation. There is a reason there is a monumental intellectual gap between America and the rest of the civilized world and why repugicans control the red states and it is down to the christian delusion; pure and simple. It would be foolish to claim all christians are bible stupid, because they certainly are not. There are christians who are scientists and who do not support repugican policies by voting against their own best interests.

There are also some christians who understand exactly what the bible is; archaic man’s attempt to explain the mysteries of the world as well as frighten superstitious Bronze Age humans and 21st Century American christians into compliance. However, because christianity is the predominate cult in America, if 60% of the population believes Armageddon is near, 42% believe Earth and humans are less than 10,000 years old, 20% believe the Sun revolves around the Earth, and 72% of tea baggers distrust science, then it is safe to say most anti-science christians are stupid and it starts with their primary source of knowledge; the inerrant word of god found in the christian bible. The one they call real science, real history, the real Constitution, and the reason they are a real hazard to America.

Louisiana Lawmakers Act to Become Accessories to Murder

Louisiana lawmakers voted to force abortion doctors to identify themselves on the internet in an effort to scare them off or get them killed…

When any remaining abortion doctors in Louisiana are eventually murdered, each and every member of the Louisiana House and Senate who voted for their new HB 388 law, as well as Bobby Jindal, should be charged as accessories to murder. This law will be requiring doctors, including those in private practice who provide a limited number of abortions, to register with the state. This registration requires doctors to publish their names, addresses, and even photos to the internet. Pushed through the Louisiana Senate with a vote of 34-3, and then the House with a vote of 85-6, HB 388 also closes most of the state’s abortion clinics.

These legislators know that they are purposefully putting the lives of abortion providers at risk by forcing them to publish their identifying information. In the past, in other states, wanted posters with the names and details of abortion providers have been circulated among anti-choice extremists. In these cases, the consequence has been death, such as the murders of Dr. David Gunn and Dr. George Patterson. Too often, the allegedly “pro-life” community either remains silent on these murders or applauds them outright, as Reverend Paul Hill did when he said in the New York Times that the murders of Drs. Gunn and Patterson, “had the desired result.”

As it stands, five years after the murder of Dr. George Tiller, most of these remaining abortion doctors already have to remain in hiding to prevent violent radicals from killing them or their loved ones. They take different routes to work each day. They wear bullet proof vests. Their clinics have armed guards, metal detectors, and the highest levels of security they can afford.

Dr. Cheryl Chastine, the doctor who bravely stepped forward to take Dr. Tiller’s place in Wichita, Kansas, appeared on MSNBC, but in shadow, to share how her life is constantly endangered. Many significant threats, lawsuits, and other forms of intimidation were also used against another potential abortion provider in Kansas in 2011 to the point where one doctor felt she could not continue to practice abortion services, in part for her own safety. Rachel Maddow uncovered another major threat to an Allentown, Pennsylvania clinic.

When Maddow, on June 3^rd, covered Louisiana’s premeditated effort to have abortion providers targeted for murder, she quoted Democratic State Representative Larry Walker of Georgia, who said in 2001,

“Have you heard about these clinics being bombed and these people being shot and if the word goes out this could very well cause that. In fact, I had a leading repugican over here say we’re a right to life, not this kind of thing…How many appendectomy doctors do you know whose clinics have been bombed? Or baby doctors…pediatricians…or heart specialists? Now…let’s be realistic about it. If you take that approach, this is the real thing. If you put out on the Internet that these people are performing abortions, the next thing you know some of these radicals are going to want to shoot ‘em and kill ‘em and bomb ‘em and everything else. It’s going on. It’s the real world.”

Louisiana itself is no stranger to violence against abortion clinics. In 1986, several people were indicted for bombing two clinics and attempting to bomb a third. Again in 1993, a man torched another abortion clinic in Louisiana. People know the consequences of publishing this information.

It is not enough that Louisiana (and so many other states) have already restricted access to abortion to an unprecedented extent. It is not enough that they have assured that low-income women, the women most in need of services, are unable to get them. While the past four years have seen extraordinary overreach on the part of mostly Republican lawmakers in the states regarding abortion restrictions, it has to be noted that nearly every Democratic lawmaker in Louisiana voted right alongside the repugicans on this newest bloodthirsty bill. It is a matter of time before one of two things happens. Either Louisiana lawmakers will get their wish that abortion providers will at least be frightened out of delivering services in the future, or they will get their wish that abortion providers are all murdered. If it’s the latter, or if even one abortion provider is killed as a result of this electronic ‘wanted’ list, all 119 legislators who voted in favor of HB 388 should be charged as accessories to 1^st degree murder when the eventual tragedy (or tragedies) occurs.

Heavily armed sovereign citizen wounds deputy in doomed GA courthouse takeover plot

by Travis Gettys

Authorities shot and killed a sovereign citizen Friday morning outside a Georgia courthouse after he brought weapons and explosives in an attempt to take over the building.
Investigators said Dennis Marx arrived at the Forsyth County Administration Building with an assault rifle, bulletproof vest, smoke grenades, and a gas mask.
Marx also brought water and other supplies, ammunition, zip-tie restraints, and buckets of homemade explosives to the courthouse, said Sheriff Duane Piper.
"He came here with the purpose of occupying the courthouse," Piper said.
He deployed stop sticks at the courthouse entrance to prevent other vehicles from driving closer and opened fire from his vehicle.
Marx was met outside the courthouse by a deputy - who distracted and then fatally shot him through the windshield of the man's SUV.
The deputy, a 30-year veteran, was shot in the knee during the confrontation but was expected to recover.

The Insanity Continues

Misogyny, Guns and their lethal confluence ...

Vodafone exposes secret worldwide network of government wiretaps

by Juliette Garside

Wires allow agencies to listen to or record live conversations, in what privacy campaigners are calling a 'nightmare scenario'
Vodafone, one of the world's largest mobile phone groups, has revealed the existence of secret wires that allow government agencies to listen to all conversations on its networks, saying they are widely used in some of the 29 countries in which it operates in Europe and beyond.
The company has broken its silence on government surveillance in order to push back against the increasingly widespread use of phone and broadband networks to spy on citizens, and will publish its first Law Enforcement Disclosure Report on Friday. At 40,000 words, it is the most comprehensive survey yet of how governments monitor the conversations and whereabouts of their people.
[...]

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.<sup>[1]

Just exactly what part of this do you suppose Congress, the President and the Courts do not understand?</sup>

More

How One Group of Curvy Models Is Changing the Industry From Within

by Lilit Marcus

Inga Eiriksdottir began modeling in her native Iceland when she was just 14 years old. But as her body changed, the modeling industry didn't change along with her. Although she had appeared in campaigns for brands like Dolce & Gabbana and Max Mara and had worked with esteemed fashion photographers including Patrick Demarchelier and Steven Meisel, her agency, Ford Models, switched her over to its plus-size division when she was 21 years old. The 5'10" Eiriksdottir was a size 6 at the time, having started her career as a size 2. Though she saw other models taking extreme measures to stay thin, Eiriksdottir, who is also a trained yoga teacher, refused to put her body through unhealthy regimens in order to be superskinny. When the plus-size division of her modeling agency was shut down last year, Eiriksdottir seized an opportunity to make her own way and to help change the modeling industry.
"I got together with some of the top girls from the division, and we formed our own coalition of models," Eiriksdottir tells Yahoo Shine. "We did a lot of meetings, trying to figure out where we wanted to go with this. We all knew we wanted to make an impact and change the industry so there would be more curvy girls in everything." The group placed an emphasis on beauty campaigns, which are the most lucrative gigs in the industry. Although some plus-size models have begun to have recent success in high-fashion magazines like Vogue and on runways, in the better-paying makeup and hair campaigns, they have been slower to catch on.

Eventually, the five models settled on the word ALDA, which means "wave" in Icelandic, as the name for their new coalition. In addition to trying to get more mainstream jobs for "plus-size" models, they also wanted to educate young women and help boost self-esteem. Today, Eiriksdottir and the group's four other founders — Ashley Graham, Danielle Redman, Julie Henderson, and Marquita Pring — are all signed to IMG Models, which doesn't have a plus-size division and groups all of its models together. ALDA also recently added a charity component its work and held its first fundraising event in New York City in May. The event raised $50,000 for Komera, a Rwandan organization that helps to provide resources and support for girls who want to attend school in the African country.
The transition to model-philanthropist feels natural for Eiriksdottir, now 30, who grew up admiring Christy Turlington, the current Vogue cover star who got a degree in public health and now runs her own maternal health charity. "She's amazingly beautiful, but I love what she's done. I am a yoga teacher as well, so she's someone I am inspired by," explains Eiriksdottir.
Although Eiriksdottir wants to change the modeling industry, she believes that the best way to change the system is from within. "I think the job of modeling is to sell clothes, and there will always be a need for that. There will always be models. We need more size and race diversity in magazines to give women of all shapes and sizes something they can relate to more."

The Unarius Society

America's Wackiest UFO Cult

(Video Link)

You may not know the name Unarius, but most people who grew up in San Diego are familiar with our friendly neighborhood cult because of their zany UFO themed public access shows, their strange visitor’s center and the fact that they’ve been spreading their word of their "interdimensional science of life" since the 1950s.
They were founded in 1954 by Ernest and Ruth Norman, and they refer to themselves as The Unarius Academy of Science, Unarius being an acronym for Universal Articulate Interdimensional Understanding of Science, and if you think the Heaven's Gate crew were nutty wait 'til you get a load of these guys!
Thankfully theirs is a peaceful tribe, and not suicidal, but their story is rather far out, and writer Richard Metzger and Jello Biafra (of Dead Kennedys fame) traveled down to El Cajon, California to find out more about these kooky UFO lovin' folks back in 1992.
This is their story...(cue the Law & Order theme song)

Read more about The Unarius Society over at Dangerous Minds

Man Gives His Dad a '57 Chevy on His 57th Birthday

Mike King of Louisville, Kentucky is unstinting in his praise and respect for his father:

My dad has been everything to me, he is not my biological father but he IS my father. But this man in this video, my DAD my FATHER, was the best thing that ever happened to me and my mom and I hope I can be a fraction of the man that he is.

When Mike was eight years old, he promised his father, Roger King, that he could buy him a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air for his fifty-seventh birthday. He kept that promise and purchased a perfectly restored turquoise blue Bel Air.
It wasn't easy. Mike had to work 60 hour weeks for a few months to earn the money for the car. As you can see from the video below, it was worth it. Roger is overwhelmed with gratitude at this demonstration of love. Watch it, but have a handkerchief handy.

(Video Link)

Random Photos

The Sixteen-Sided House

In the 1790s, Jane and Mary Parminter, two wealthy women from Britain, built a home for themselves near Exmouth, Devon, UK. They named it La Ronde. Departing from the architectural norms of the time, they selected a hexadecagonal design.
It may seem silly, but this actually permitted the sisters to experience more natural sunlight than they might get from a convention design. The sisters could easily move to whatever spot in the house had the best light. To facilitate this movement, they made each room accessible to those adjoining by sliding wooden panels. So it’s possible to walk a complete circuit around the house without going into the central hallway.

It's now open to the public. You can find visitor information here.

Sleep on it

Sleep on it: Suicides skyrocket after midnight

A new study by researchers at Penn Medicine is the […]

Interval Training

Interval training may benefit men more than women

When it comes to reaping benefits of sprint interval training, […]

Superfast Quantum Computing

Discovery opens new path to superfast quantum computing

Researchers at Washington State University have used a super-cold cloud […]

Ziggy

The Dirtiest Rivers In The World

A lot of rivers in the world are filled with industrial and human waste. Sewage, garbage, waste from factories, fertilizers are the common reasons of water pollution everywhere on Earth. And if the city is a big one, the rates can be decreased tremendously, especially in the third word countries.

Here's a list of the dirtiest rivers in the world.

The 'Rock Star' of the Submarine World Just Turned 50

Alvin is a little three-man submarine commissioned for ocean exploration and launched   in June of 1964. It is the only submarine shared by NOAA and the Navy -and it’s still going strong fifty years later!

The little sub has, as of the end of last year, taken 4,678 dives. It has spent 32,611 hours—more than 1,300 days—under the ocean's surface, with an average dive length of nearly seven hours. It has carried 14,025 humans, usually one pilot and two scientists per dive, to comb the ocean floor. It recovered a hydrogen bomb that was lost in the Mediterranean after a mid-air plane collision. It helped to discover previously unknown life forms congregating around hydrothermal vents off the Galapagos Islands. Most recently it helped to document the sub-surface effects of the Deep Water Horizon oil spill. Most famously it explored the wreckage of the Titanic.

Read more about the adventures of the little submarine that just keeps going at the Atlantic.

Ocean Acidification

Modern ocean acidification is outpacing ancient upheaval

Some 56 million years ago, a massive pulse of carbon […]

Daily Comic Relief

Report of man chasing squirrels with a stick led to heroin arrest

Police in Boise, Idaho, responding to a report of a man chasing squirrels led to him facing drug charges.

Boise Police Department officers were called on Wednesday over a report of a man chasing squirrels with a stick. Officers say they arrested 25-year-old Aaron Lehotsky for cruelty to animals, but BPD says officers found two grams of heroin in his possession. Lehotsky was booked into the Ada County Jail on felony trafficking and misdemeanor cruelty to animals and resisting arrest. 

What Led To The Silence Of The Crickets On Kauai?

The silence of the lambs was caused by hungry Hannibal Lecter hosting a dinner party, but what's causing the silence of the crickets on the island of Kauai?
A researcher named Marlene Zuk first noticed the silence of the crickets in 2003, a very noticeable silence compared to when she first started studying the crickets on the island back in 1991, and she knew something was wrong because she continued to see the crickets everywhere despite their vow of silence.
After dissecting a few of the insects she discovered the source of their silence- the male crickets had developed flat wings that didn’t make a sound to avoid being eaten by a parasitic fly.
Here’s more on this interesting evolution to silence:

Zuk’s team discovered that the crickets were targeted by a parasitic fly, whose larvae burrow inside them and devour them alive. The flies finds the crickets by listening out for their songs and they’re so effective that, in the early 90s, they had parasitised a third of the males. In 2002, the cricket population had fallen dramatically, and Zuk thought that they were done for.
But the silent males escaped the attention of the fly. As they bred and spread, they carried the flatwing mutation with them. By 2003, the cricket population had rebounded. And in fewer than 20 generations, they had gone from almost all-singing to almost all-silent. The crickets have become a classic textbook example of rapid evolution.

Trashy Life

Trashy Life: Crayfish Turn Rubbish into a Home

To raccoons, snakes and opossums, crayfish look pretty tasty, and […]

Unusual Dog Defies Odds of Survival

When I first saw this image being passed around, I thought it was Photoshopped, or at least a digital glitch. No, this is Pig, a dog who was born with profound deformities. Pig and her litter mates were found in the woods near Atlanta. Kim Dillenbeck of Helena, Georgia, adopted the puppy named Pig. She is experienced in animal rescue and fostering, and figured she could handle it if the puppy died. Veterinarians did not expect Pig to survive.

At 8 months old, Pig weighs about 15 pounds; her sisters are closer to 35-40 pounds.

"She's not fully grown," Dillenbeck said. "She's still gaining weight. At this point, she has the potential to gain another 20 pounds, and that would probably kill her."

But Pig's veterinarians, Drs. David Fuller and Rachael Hudson at Hope Animal Clinic, say Dillenbeck is doing everything right for Pig.

"Pig doesn't know there's anything wrong with her," Dillenbeck said. And true, that's the way Pig acts. But she has plenty of issues. Dillenbeck said Pig is missing part of her spine; she's missing several ribs. And she has vertebrae that are fused and twisted. Near her neck, her spinal cord splits into two separate cords. Her hips and joints are rotated in the wrong positions.

Yet, Pig runs and is good at standing up on her hind legs, and she is in no obvious pain.

Dillenbeck must carefully supervise Pig’s eating and takes precautions with her health. What does the future hold for this dog? No one knows, as she was not expected to live as long as she already has. See more pictures of Pig, including X-rays, at AL.com.

Mexican police capture hippo found wandering the streets

Mexican police were called to help with an unusual situation early on Thursday morning in Tlajomulco de Zunigaa in the state of Jalisco, when a hippopotamus was seen wandering aimlessly through the streets.

A man who said he kept the animal at his home was not too far away.
The man told police the animal wandered off into the streets when he let it out of its cage for a walk in the park.

YouTube link.

After some coaxing, police surrounded the hippo and guided it into a cage. Officers then arrested the man, who didn't have the documentation to prove he was the owner.

Animal Pictures