- The national rate of newborns suffering from withdrawal rose 330 percent from 2000 to 2009. Read more
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
More Infants Born Addicted to Prescription Drugs
Your medical needs total $15,000 ...
... but your voucher is only worth, say, $5,000. "You're shit outta luck" say the repugicans. That's the privatization way.
Oh, and Democrats ... could you show some fuckin' backbone and start calling social security, etc as "earned benefits?" Cut the crap with the repugican talking point phraseology of "entitlements."
We pay into the program. We earn the right to collect on the benefits of paying into the programs..
In a leaked party platform circulating on the eve of their cabal, repugicans reveal in candid detail how they intend to remake medicare. - More
Oh, and Democrats ... could you show some fuckin' backbone and start calling social security, etc as "earned benefits?" Cut the crap with the repugican talking point phraseology of "entitlements."
We pay into the program. We earn the right to collect on the benefits of paying into the programs..
Thief infected with Ebola from stolen phone
A thief nicked a cell phone from a patient at Kagadi Hospital in
Kibaale District, Uganda. Turns out, the owner had Ebola and the thief
became infected. From The Monitor:
Police detectives began tracking him after he apparently began communicating to his friends using the phone. But as police zeroed in on him, he developed symptoms similar to those of Ebola and sought medication at the hospital. While at hospital he reportedly confessed stealing the phone and has handed it to Kagadi police.
“Kagadi Police Station received that complaint and investigations are underway,” Mr John Ojokuna Elatu, the district police commander confirmed to Sunday Monitor.
How police can obtain your records without a subpoena
Over at Wired News, David Kravets writes about the administrative subpoena,
a nifty legal tool that allows government agents to access sensitive
personal data without court warrants if agents believe the data is
“relevant” to an investigation.
"With a federal official’s signature, banks, hospitals, bookstores, telecommunications companies and even utilities and internet service providers — virtually all businesses — are required to hand over sensitive data on individuals or corporations, as long as a government agent declares the information is relevant to an investigation. Via a wide range of laws, Congress has authorized the government to bypass the Fourth Amendment — the constitutional guard against unreasonable searches and seizures that requires a probable-cause warrant signed by a judge.
GA Murder Case Unveils Bizarre Terror Plot by Soldiers to Overthrow Government
Prosecutors say a murder case against four soldiers in Georgia has
revealed they formed an anarchist militia within the U.S. military with
plans to overthrow the federal government.Israeli court rules US activist Rachel Corrie's death an accident
Man accused of attacking brother with Styrofoam plate
A Florida man was charged with battery after he allegedly hit his brother with a Styrofoam plate.
On Aug. 17 the two brothers and their father were in the dining room of a Fort Walton Beach residence when an argument. According to the father, the spat began when one of the brothers began making disparaging comments about his mother.
During the argument, one brother apparently picked up a Styrofoam plate and swung at his brother, striking him in the face. The victim suffered several small cuts to his cheek and the left side of this face, an Okaloosa County Sheriff's deputy wrote in the arrest report.
The brother was charged with misdemeanor battery and will report to a judge on Sept. 4.
On Aug. 17 the two brothers and their father were in the dining room of a Fort Walton Beach residence when an argument. According to the father, the spat began when one of the brothers began making disparaging comments about his mother.
During the argument, one brother apparently picked up a Styrofoam plate and swung at his brother, striking him in the face. The victim suffered several small cuts to his cheek and the left side of this face, an Okaloosa County Sheriff's deputy wrote in the arrest report.
The brother was charged with misdemeanor battery and will report to a judge on Sept. 4.
Music Idol Causes Women to Swoon
In
the 20th century, we became used to seeing hoards of girls excitedly
screaming over a musician: Frank Sinatra, Elvis, the Beatles ...all the
way to Justin Bieber in the 21st century. But the phenomenon did not
start with Frankie; musician-mania just became better publicized in the
modern era.In the year 1842, five years into the proper Victorian Era, and that's when Lisztomania swept the land. [Hungarian musician Franz] Liszt was 31 years old the year he landed in Berlin. He'd established a new mode of performance — the solo piano recital — and new kinds of non-narrative music that people compared to musical poetry. He also developed a violent playing style that broke strings and sometimes brought down entire pianos. The Berliners were enchanted. At his concerts, they worked themselves up to screaming, fainting ecstasies. Women followed Liszt down the street and picked up his old cigarette stubs, made bracelets from his broken piano strings — and tried to rush him en masse, and pull out or cut locks of his hair. The craze spread outward from there, getting Britons and Italians as Liszt moved around.Read more about Liszt and his fans here.
Sky Garage
Solution: A car lift that brings you car straight into your living room.
Climate Change Killed Egypt's Pyramid Builders
- Pollen and charcoal buried in the Nile Delta 4,200 years ago tell the tale of a drought of Biblical proportions associated with the fall of the pyramid builders. Read more
Weird loud booms in northern California
Mysterious booms are rattling citizens of El Dorado County, California.
Quarry owners require government permission to use explosives. The local
Naval Air Station denies any supersonic flights over the area. Some
have suggested that perhaps wineries are employing propane canons to
scare away birds. From CBS Sacramento:
According to USGS, there aren’t enough seismic stations to pinpoint the exact location. Meanwhile, some say the booms have been around so long and happen so often they barely notice them anymore. Still, others want to solve the mystery.
“I would like to know what it is, yeah. And I’d like to know when it’s going to stop too,” said (Pleasant Valley resident Peter) O’Grady.
It's official: Arctic ice caps smallest on record
Scientists expected
it to happen soon and now, it's happened. The climate change deniers
(also called the repugican cabal) will come up with excuses, just as
they will come up with silly stories about how natural disasters are
messages from god. They're anti-science, anti-learning and as Bill Nye said, they're dangerous for the youth of America.
In the modern industrialized world, it's the US that stands alone in ignorance thanks to the GOP. This has to change.
The Independent:
In the modern industrialized world, it's the US that stands alone in ignorance thanks to the GOP. This has to change.
The Independent:
The news that came yesterday should be, environmental campaigners said, a global wake-up call. The ice cap covering the top of the world is now smaller than it has been at any point since scientists started to measure it precisely from space.
Satellite data released last night show that the sea ice floating on the Arctic Ocean has reached a record low, retreating further than it has done since detailed records began more than 30 years ago.
The US National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado said that the 2007 record was broken on Sunday with two or three weeks of the melt season still remaining, suggesting that this year's sea ice will retreat substantially further than at any time in the satellite era. The snow and ice center said that the surface area of the Arctic Ocean covered by floating sea ice fell to 4.10 million square kilometers (1.58m square miles), which was 70,000 square kilometers below the previous record minimum of 4.17 square kilometers set in September 2007.
The beauty of the night sky
“At the dead hour of the night, when the world is hushed in sleep
and all is still; when there is not a sound to be heard save the dead
beat escapement of the clock, counting with hollow voice the footsteps
of time in ceaseless round, I turn to the Ephemeris and find there, by
calculations made years ago, that when that clock tells a certain hour, a
star which I never saw will be in the field of the telescope for a
moment, flit through and then disappear. The instrument is set; the
moment approaches and is intently awaited—I look—the star mute with
eloquence that gathers sublimity from the silence of the night, comes
smiling and dancing into the field, and at the instant predicted even to
the fraction of a second, it makes its transit and is gone. With
emotions too deep for the organs of speech, the heart swells out with
unutterable anthems; we then see that there is harmony in the heavens
above; and though we cannot hear, we feel the ‘music of the spheres.’” —
Matthew Fontaine Maury, in an 1849 presentation to the Virginia
Historical Society. Maury was superintendent of the U.S. Naval
Observatory.
Read more about Maury and other retro scientists in Caren Cooper's guest posts at the Scientific American blogs.
Video: Yosemite Nature Notes on night skies and light pollution.
Read more about Maury and other retro scientists in Caren Cooper's guest posts at the Scientific American blogs.
Video: Yosemite Nature Notes on night skies and light pollution.
Artificial Universe Created Inside a Supercomputer
- A simulation of our evolving universe is the most accurate yet, producing spiral galaxies not too dissimilar to the Milky Way.
What Is A Black Hole?
With gravity so intense that not even light can escape their surfaces, black holes can teach us about the absolute extremes in the cosmos and the very structure of space itself.
The first recorded human voice transmission from Mars
Snip from statement of Charlie Bolden, NASA Administrator, speaking via broadcast from the Curiosity Rover on the surface of Mars:
"The knowledge we hope to gain from our observation and analysis of
Gale Crater, will tell us much about the possibility of life on Mars as
well as the past and future possibilities for our own planet. Curiosity
will bring benefits to Earth and inspire a new generation of scientists
and explorers, as it prepares the way for a human mission in the not
too distant future."
Curiosity Zooms in on Martian Mountain
- NASA's new Mars rover has returned stunning telephoto views of the layered deposits at the base of Mt. Sharp.
Curiosity rover captures stunning vistas of rugged Mars
NASA's Curiosity rover, giving earthlings a glimpse of its ultimate
target, has beamed back spectacular high-resolution photos of the rugged
foothills of Mount Sharp, showing a khaki-colored landscape marked by
towering hills, gaping canyons and sand dunes reminiscent of the
American southwest, scientists said Monday.A Boy and His Marmot Friends
Four
years ago, Matteo Walch and his family went to the Austrian Alps and made
some quite unusual friends, a colony of marmots! Since then, Matteo has
returned to the same place every year to visit his furry buddies:The family return to visit the colony in Groslocker in the Austrian Alps for two weeks every year.
Matteo’s father Michaela, said: 'Their friendship has lasted for more than four years now.
'He loves those animals and they are not at all afraid of Matteo because he has a feeling towards them and they understand that.
‘We go there every year now for two weeks - it’s amazing to watch the connection between a boy and his animal friends.’
Bigfoot hoaxer killed
Randy Lee Tenley, 44, of Kalispell, Montana was killed yesterday while
reportedly attempting to stage a Bigfoot hoax. Tenley was walking on a
highway wearing a hunter's ghillie suit, likely similar to the one seen
here, when he was struck by two different vehicles driven by teenagers.
From KAJ18.com:
"Man Pulling Off Bigfoot Hoax Killed"
From KAJ18.com:
"Man dressed as Sasquatch hit and killed near Kalispell"Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Jim Schneider says friends of the victim said Tenley was wearing a military-style camouflage ghillie suit in hopes of creating a Bigfoot hoax…
"It's still a crash involving vehicles and a pedestrian. So we're still doing the same investigation, but once we started speaking to parties, then someone involved in it, trying to ascertain exactly what brought that gentleman out to Highway 93 … I would not guess that would motivate anybody to be out on Highway 93," Scheider said.
"Man Pulling Off Bigfoot Hoax Killed"
Entomology
Cancer threatens Tasmanian Devils with extinction by "devil facial tumor disease"
In the last 2 decades, some 85% of wild Tasmanian Devils have been wiped out.
The primary cause isn't poachers or habitat destruction, but a bizarre
kind of *contagious* cancer. "A recent epidemic disease, known as devil
facial tumor disease, has brought an extremely rare, but equally
devastating, set of circumstances together to threaten the devil
population. Facial tumor disease, unlike every form of cancer known to
affect humans, is transferred directly from devil to devil when they
bite each other, which is 'something they do a lot during feeding or
mating.'” Koala paddles across river and climbs aboard passing canoe
Koalas aren't normally known for taking a dip, but one curious creature
on Queensland's Gold Coast wasn't shy about exploring new terrain.
The koala was caught on camera swimming across Burleigh Point and up to a stunned group of local paddlers, joining them in the canoe. Julie Elliott, who filmed the rare encounter, said she and her colleagues from the local Outrigger Canoe Club were amazed when the koala came paddling towards them.
"It took a sip of water and then saw us and obviously decided to come straight over," she said. "Then it started clawing at the boat and we didn't know what to do."
"We were thinking it was going to drown so my mate behind me just grabbed him and put him straight in the boat." The group later released the koala on an embankment at a local golf club where koalas were known to populate the gum trees.
There's a news video, including interview with Ms Elliott, here.
The koala was caught on camera swimming across Burleigh Point and up to a stunned group of local paddlers, joining them in the canoe. Julie Elliott, who filmed the rare encounter, said she and her colleagues from the local Outrigger Canoe Club were amazed when the koala came paddling towards them.
"It took a sip of water and then saw us and obviously decided to come straight over," she said. "Then it started clawing at the boat and we didn't know what to do."
"We were thinking it was going to drown so my mate behind me just grabbed him and put him straight in the boat." The group later released the koala on an embankment at a local golf club where koalas were known to populate the gum trees.
There's a news video, including interview with Ms Elliott, here.
Marine Corps Mascot Promoted under Controversial Circumstances
Chesty XIII* is an enlisted bulldog in the United States Marine Corps and that force's official mascot. His recent promotion from corporal to sergeant was almost aborted after Chesty angrily confronted a golden retriever owned by the Secretary of Defense. It was a major breach of protocol that, according to some Marines, indicated that Chesty wasn't ready to become a sergeant:
Other senior Marines worried about the message promoting Chesty might send. In military chain of command, Bravo is second only to Bo Obama, the president's hypoallergenic Portuguese water dog. The Constitution puts the military under civilian control, and some senior officers thought promoting Chesty might appear insubordinate.*Named after Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Lewis "Chesty" Puller, the most decorated Marine in history.
"The standards in the barracks had lowered," said one senior Marine officer. "The dog didn't really deserve it."
Col. Montanus, who had the dog's fate in his hands, acknowledges that Chesty was wrong to shove his short snout in Bravo's face. "There absolutely was a protocol break," he said. "We don't bark at guests, whether they are human or the canine variety."
Venezuelan Poodle Moth
Is that mothra as a baby? Zoologist Arthur Anker of Brazil's Federal
University snapped this fantastic photo of a Venezuelan poodle moth or
muslin moth in the Gran Sabana region of Venezuela's Canaima National
Park:
It's been compared to a fluffy dog, a Pokemon character and a Power Rangers villain — but whatever it is, the Venezuelan poodle moth has captured the Internet like Mothra in a bad Japanese movie. Now it's up to the experts to figure out exactly where this moth belongs on the tree of life.Alan Boyle of Cosmic Log has more: here
The first thing to emphasize is that the poodle moth is no phony concoction like the jackalope, dogerpillar or chupacabra. Its cute, furry, scary look is totally in line with what's expected for a neotropical ornamental moth. In fact, cryptozoologist Karl Shuker found a similar picture of a white, fuzzy critter known as Diaphora mendica, or muslin moth, a member of the lepidopteran family Arctiidae.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
The Daily Drift
Enough said.
Editor's Note: You may
have noticed we are a tad late in posting today. We had a wonderful day
weather-wise so we took advantage of it.Some of our readers today have been in:
Lahore, Pakistan
Kluang, Malaysia
Makati, Philippines
Puchong, Malaysia
Erbil, Iraq
Athens, Greece
Kuantan, Malaysia
Port-Of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
San Jose, Costa Rica
Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Vienna, Austria
Ankara, Turkey
Jakarta, Indonesia
Moscow, Russia
Cape Town, South Africa
Male, Maldives
Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
Saint Petersburg, Russia
Johannesburg, South Africa
Ampang, Malaysia
Warsaw, Poland
Guayaquil, Ecuador
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Manila, Philippines
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Seremban, Malaysia
Krakow, Poland
Kajang, Malaysia
Don't forget to visit our sister blog!
Today in History
| 1676 | Indian chief King Philip, also known as Metacom, is killed by English soldiers, ending the war between Indians and colonists. | |
| 1862 | Mistakenly believing the Confederate Army to be in retreat, Union General John Pope attacks, beginning the Battle of Groveten. Both sides sustain heavy casualties. | |
| 1914 | Three German cruisers are sunk by ships of the Royal Navy in the Battle of Heligoland Bight, the first major naval battle of World War I. | |
| 1938 | The first degree given to a ventriloquist's dummy is awarded to Charlie McCarthy–Edgar Bergen's wooden partner. The honorary degree, "Master of Innuendo and Snappy Comeback," is presented on radio by Ralph Dennis, the dean of the School of Speech at Northwestern University. | |
| 1941 | The German U-boat U-570 is captured by the British and renamed Graph | |
| 1944 | German forces in Toulon and Marseilles, France, surrender to the Allies. | |
| 1945 | Chinese communist leader Mao Tse-Tung arrives in Chunking to confer with Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek in a futile effort to avert civil war. | |
| 1963 | One of the largest demonstrations in the history of the United States, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, takes place and reaches its climax at the base of the Lincoln Memorial when Dr. Martin Luther King delivers his "I have a dream" speech. | |
| 1965 | The Viet Cong are routed in the Mekong Delta by U.S. forces, with more than 50 killed. |
Musical Notes
Report of massacre near Damascus
The ugly civil war continues to decimate the Syrian population. And repugican candidate Mitt Romney is ready to send in US troops,
despite fatigue among voters for more wars (and expenses from wars.)
It's somewhat understandable on one level due to the horrible violence
inflicted upon the people of Syria by the Assad regime, but what part of
eleven years of war is Romney missing?
Candidate Romney fails to understand that the two primary causes of the budget problems today are the wars and the shrub tax cuts. We can't afford either, yet Romney can't comprehend this important reality. The budget-busting is about those two items, not social programs. As sympathetic as Americans are about the situation in Syria, it's not feasible to keep throwing troops and money at problems for years.
Meanwhile, the crisis in Syria is growing.
The Guardian:
Candidate Romney fails to understand that the two primary causes of the budget problems today are the wars and the shrub tax cuts. We can't afford either, yet Romney can't comprehend this important reality. The budget-busting is about those two items, not social programs. As sympathetic as Americans are about the situation in Syria, it's not feasible to keep throwing troops and money at problems for years.
Meanwhile, the crisis in Syria is growing.
The Guardian:
The Syrian civil war reached new heights of brutality on Sunday with government troops accused of massacring civilians a few miles from Damascus on a weekend which saw one of the worst reported death tolls in 17 months of conflict.
Opposition groups claimed more than 200 bodies had been found in Daraya, a poor Sunni community on the south-west outskirts of the capital, after Syrian troops had stormed the town on Saturday, going door to door in what President Bashar al-Assad's regime described as a counter-terrorism operation. Opposition and human rights activists claimed many of the dead were civilians.
A New York Times employee in Daraya reported seeing "scores of bodies lined up on top of each other in long thin graves moist with mud".
Children die mining the tin for your smartphone
Businessweek publishes a feature on the hazardous work performed by poor people on an island in Indonesia to mine "The Deadly Tin Inside Your Smartphone." Some of them are 15 and under.
Poll: Raise taxes to save Social Security
The program that the repugican cabal wants to destroy remains popular
among Americans. Bizarrely, the repugican cabal views Social Security as an
entitlement despite Americans paying into the system during their
working life. Regardless of what spin we hear from the repugican cabal this week,
it's their mission to destroy Social Security. It's terrifying to think
what would have happened to Social Security in 2008 had the Ryan plan
(which the shrub also attempted in his second junta) been enacted and it was
privatized.
Why do repugicans want to destroy something as popular and important as Social Security?
Why do repugicans want to destroy something as popular and important as Social Security?
Most Americans say go ahead and raise taxes if it will save Social Security benefits for future generations. And raise the retirement age, if you have to.
Both options are preferable to cutting monthly benefits, even for people who are years away from applying for them.
Those are the findings of a new Associated Press-GfK poll on public attitudes toward the nation's largest federal program.
Did you know ...
That Occupy Wall Street has some special plans for the repugicanCabal
About the top 10 raunchiest strip club ads for the repugican cabal in Tampa
That a billboard greets rnc guests: welcome to Tampa, a city run by Democrats
And that Tampa's only gay-owned bath house offers repugicans free admission
About the top 10 raunchiest strip club ads for the repugican cabal in Tampa
That a billboard greets rnc guests: welcome to Tampa, a city run by Democrats
And that Tampa's only gay-owned bath house offers repugicans free admission
Bill Nye on the dangers of creationism
Anarchist militia inside Pentagon planned to kill Obama, overthrow government
Wow.
Good thing the repugican cabal chairman and Mitt Romney aren't constantly telegraphing the crazies that some crazy, socialist black foreigner has taken over their country.
It is interesting that the same religious right hate used against gays - that we're the other, out for your children - is now being used against Democrats generally (that Obama is the other, he's the enemy, be it a secret Soviet socialist or a Muslim extremist - either one is out to literally kill you and destroy your country). It's hate either way. And it sends a clear signal to the crazies that "those people" need to be gotten rid of at all costs, since that is what we do with Soviets (and Islamic terrorists) who have token over the country - we eliminate them at all costs.
Good thing the repugican cabal chairman and Mitt Romney aren't constantly telegraphing the crazies that some crazy, socialist black foreigner has taken over their country.
It is interesting that the same religious right hate used against gays - that we're the other, out for your children - is now being used against Democrats generally (that Obama is the other, he's the enemy, be it a secret Soviet socialist or a Muslim extremist - either one is out to literally kill you and destroy your country). It's hate either way. And it sends a clear signal to the crazies that "those people" need to be gotten rid of at all costs, since that is what we do with Soviets (and Islamic terrorists) who have token over the country - we eliminate them at all costs.
Chris Matthews tells'em RNC chair, Romney are playing race card over birtherism
And if you ever needed to see the face of the repugican cabal - white, male, arrogant and angry in all of its glory - just watch rnc chair Reince Priebus in this video. NBC's Chris Matthews
takes Reince to task for Mitt Romney's birther comments last week.
Of course, it wasn't Romney's first paean to racism.
Watch the entire video, it's only 5 minutes long. For all the criticism the left has laid on Matthews over the years, he takes no BS from Priebus over the repugican cabal's embrace of racism. Watch this. Here's a transcript of the exchange, but it's only one small bit:
Of course, it wasn't Romney's first paean to racism.
Watch the entire video, it's only 5 minutes long. For all the criticism the left has laid on Matthews over the years, he takes no BS from Priebus over the repugican cabal's embrace of racism. Watch this. Here's a transcript of the exchange, but it's only one small bit:
rnc chair Reince Priebus: I think Obama's policies have created the sense that for whatever reason he's looking to guidance, as far as health care is concerned, as far as our spending is concerned, as far as the stimulus packages are concerned, he's looking to Europe for guidance.
Matthews: What?
Priebus: I mean that's the problem...
Matthews: Where do you get this from? This is insane.... What's this have to do with Europe? The foreignization of the guy. You're doing it again now. He's influenced by foreign influences? You're playing that card again.
What's this European thing of yours? What are you up to with this constant [unintelligible] that he's not really domestic?
Priebus: I'm not gonna get into a shouting match with Chris, so you guys can move on.
Matthews: Cuz you're losing.... I'm not gonna sit here and listen to cheap shots about Obama being a foreigner - is the thing you're party's been pushing, Sununu pushed it, everybody's pushing it.
Forbes publishes racist, nativist cover story attacking Obama
The article is from two years ago. Still obnoxious.
Ryan Chittum of The Columbia Journalism Review does a great take down of the barely-coded racist and nativist piece, including the fact that the nativist author of the piece is a foreign-born immigrant who only visited America for the first time when he was 17 - but that let that stop him from accusing Obama of spending time outside of America before he was - what age? - 17!
But hey, he's a repugican, and they don't let facts get in the way of some good hate.
Ryan Chittum of The Columbia Journalism Review does a great take down of the barely-coded racist and nativist piece, including the fact that the nativist author of the piece is a foreign-born immigrant who only visited America for the first time when he was 17 - but that let that stop him from accusing Obama of spending time outside of America before he was - what age? - 17!
But hey, he's a repugican, and they don't let facts get in the way of some good hate.
It’s all here but the birth certificate!Of course, don't forget Romney's ongoing pitch to the nativist crowd and to racists as well - leading up to Romney's embrace of birtherism this past Friday (which is both racist and nativist).
Let’s unpack that stuff a little bit. First of all, D’Souza perpetuates the Cokie Roberts idiocy—that Hawaii is somehow less American than the rest of the U.S. But hey—no problems with Alaska, which came into the Union the same year. Somehow, Sarah Palin always seem to be an examplar of “Real America.” Hmmm.
But D’Souza has some real nerve here: Obama is a native-born American and D’Souza is not. When he says “Here is a man who spent his formative years—the first 17 years of his life—off the American mainland,” he could be referring to himself. According to Wikipedia, anyway, he was born in India in 1961 and never came to the States until 1978. That adds up to about “the first 17 years of his life—off the American mainland.” Somehow the first-seventeen years thing raises questions about Obama’s Americanness but not about D’Souza’s qualifications to question somebody’s degree of native-born Americanness.
This is loathsome stuff. And, again, it’s the cover story of one of the three big mainstream financial magazines.
Isaac will hit the repugican cabal even if it misses
Forbes:
“Imagine the visuals of homes destroyed and peoples lives ruined while the repugicans are having their cabal.” “This will end up being a no-win public relations nightmare for the repugicans even thought the storm itself won’t hit that part of Florida.”
A repugican tea party Senate contender calls Hurricane Isaac a blessing
Sunday afternoon in Tampa, repugican Senate candidate from Texas, Ted Cruz
(r-Texas), a tea party favorite, spoke at a faith & freedom coven event. Here's a transcript of the relevant portions, and here's the audio:
"You know, we have so many things to be thankful for, so many blessings — including even, we can be thankful for Hurricane Isaac. If nothing else, it kept Joe Biden away. (*applause*) I'm thrilled the rnc is gonna be paying to put Joe Biden on a national tour (*laughter*), because he truly is a wonderful spokesman for what this administration represents."
[five minutes omitted]
"There is a tidal wave coming. (*applause*) You know, a tidal wave often follows hurricanes (*applause*), and in November a tidal wave is coming."
FYI
An just in case you don't think wingnuts are insane - watch this:
Doctor attacked for not forcing 10-year-old mentally ill rape victim to birth child fathered by her uncle.
Doctor attacked for not forcing 10-year-old mentally ill rape victim to birth child fathered by her uncle.
Paul Ryan Said Something That Should Force Him Off the Ticket, But You Probably Didn't Hear About It
Last week, Paul Ryan gave an interview in which, defending his position that there should be no excuses for abortion, he referred to rape as a "method of conception."
Wow, right? Talk about a benign euphemism. Rape -- RAPE! -- is now a "method of conception." You know, like love-making, just without the love.
There could be no greater testament to the utter abdication of responsibility by what passes for a "news" media in America in 2012 than that, despite the grotesquerie of this cavalierly callous comment, chances are better than good that this is the first you're hearing of it.
Here, watch it -- and try to figure out why this has gotten NO MAINSTREAM MEDIA play (not even here at the Huffington Post) despite it being, to my mind, a far more offensive remark than Todd Akin's imbecilic blurt of last weekend. What, are we tired of stupid remarks about rape now, so Ryan gets a free pass?
According to the man who would be the proverbial heartbeat away from the White House, and who in any event would -- given Romney's utter hollowness -- have an inordinate influence on the judicial appointments that will determine how much freedom our children get to live under, RAPE = "METHOD OF CONCEPTION." And yet, unless you're a frequenter of one of a dozen or so lefty blogs -- or my friend on Facebook -- you probably knew nothing about it.
I truly despair for the country my 14-year-old daughter is inheriting. That a remark this intensely revealing of the danger posed by this ticket can go basically unreported is as nauseating to me as the quote itself.
A repugican Senate candidate from PA says pregnancy from rape is just like having kid of out wedlock
The repugican candidate for US Senate from Pennsylvania, Tom Smith,
compares pregnancy resulting from rape and having a baby out of wedlock.
He says that getting pregnant from being raped is "similar" to getting
pregnant from being raped. And his daughter had a child out of
wedlock, and he dealt with it, so women who get raped can deal with
having their kids too, cuz his daughter dealt with it.
Just wow. And there's video,
Just wow. And there's video,
Swing state female voters: Romney "out of step" on women's health issues
It's difficult to imagine why any woman would want to vote
for a repugican these days. There will be a price to pay in November
for their war on women.
The Hill:
The Hill:
The survey, conducted by Hart Research Associates, lends credence to Democrats' argument that the presumptive repugican presidential nominee is on the wrong end of a steep gender gap, largely because of his opposition to abortion rights and his positions on issues such as contraception.
By a 20-point margin, women surveyed in the Planned Parenthood Action Fund poll said Romney is "out of step" on women's issues. That number increased as women heard "specific information about Romney's on-the-record statements about women's preventive and reproductive health," the Hart polling memo says.
After hearing those descriptions, 64 percent of respondents said Romney is out of step.
Four years ago the nation was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer
And interesting double-whammy from former Florida repugican
Governor Charlie Crist and former repugican presidential candidate Ron Paul.
Neither of whom is terribly thrilled with Mitt Romney.
First Crist, who makes a valid point many have forgotten:
Four years ago we all had terminal financial cancer. We were on the verge of another Great Depression, financial death. And President Obama came in and stopped it from happening.
Now, has the patient fully recovered yet? No.
Did we feel better four years ago, just as we were diagnosed but the disease hadn't yet caused any real damage? Yup.
But America is a lot like the patient who underwent chemo. You feel like garbage, but that doesn't mean you were better off when you had cancer but hadn't yet felt the full brunt of the disease.
Then again, Faux is the repugican cabal propaganda organ. And the repugican cabal has never trusted the American people with the truth, because truth has a Democratic bias. So, repugicans have said things such as claiming, falsely, that the stimulus created unemployment because we had a stimulus and unemployment still went up (ignoring the obvious point that the increase in unemployment could have been cut in half by the stimulus (which is the convention wisdom)). So, I understand why Van Susteren is parroting repugican talking points, but as always, they're a convenient untruth.
And now Ron Paul, from the NYT:
First Crist, who makes a valid point many have forgotten:
We often remind ourselves to learn the lessons of the past, lest we risk repeating its mistakes. Yet nearly as often, our short-term memory fails us. Many have already forgotten how deep and daunting our shared crisis was in the winter of 2009, as President Obama was inaugurated. It was no ordinary challenge, and the president served as the nation's calm through a historically turbulent storm.What Crist wrote matters, because it counters the latest repugican talking point, dutifully parroted by Faux's Greta Van Sustern on ABC's This Week this morning:
The president's response was swift, smart and farsighted. He kept his compass pointed due north and relentlessly focused on saving jobs, creating more and helping the many who felt trapped beneath the house of cards that had collapsed upon them.
VAN SUSTEREN: [T]he flip side is, President Obama has now had almost four years. And frankly, if you aren't better off -- we know his economic strategy. And if you don't think it worked, if it didn't make your life better -- it doesn't matter whether you find someone sort of warm and fuzzy that you like, you're like, OK, well let's try something else.Ah yes, the old "are you better off now than you were for years ago."
Four years ago we all had terminal financial cancer. We were on the verge of another Great Depression, financial death. And President Obama came in and stopped it from happening.
Now, has the patient fully recovered yet? No.
Did we feel better four years ago, just as we were diagnosed but the disease hadn't yet caused any real damage? Yup.
But America is a lot like the patient who underwent chemo. You feel like garbage, but that doesn't mean you were better off when you had cancer but hadn't yet felt the full brunt of the disease.
Then again, Faux is the repugican cabal propaganda organ. And the repugican cabal has never trusted the American people with the truth, because truth has a Democratic bias. So, repugicans have said things such as claiming, falsely, that the stimulus created unemployment because we had a stimulus and unemployment still went up (ignoring the obvious point that the increase in unemployment could have been cut in half by the stimulus (which is the convention wisdom)). So, I understand why Van Susteren is parroting repugican talking points, but as always, they're a convenient untruth.
And now Ron Paul, from the NYT:
Mr. Paul, in an interview, said convention planners had offered him an opportunity to speak under two conditions: that he deliver remarks vetted by the Romney campaign, and that he give a full-fledged endorsement of Mr. Romney. He declined.Ha!
“It wouldn’t be my speech,” Mr. Paul said. “That would undo everything I’ve done in the last 30 years. I don’t fully endorse him for president.”
Uninsured comic artist with cancer draws the moment she opens first big medical bill
Chicago-based comic artist Laura Park (@llaurappark) was recently diagnosed with thyroid cancer. She underwent surgery in June, and illustrated the moment she opened the first big bill in July.
I know that feel, bro. I know that feel.
Autism is more than a parasite deficiency
The New York Times Sunday Review had an article this week linking autism with the hygiene hypothesis. Written by Moises Velasquez-Manoff, the piece is part of the Times' opinion coverage, not reported news. It was also one of those sort of stories that comes across as highly persuasive ... until you start looking at the details. About halfway through reading it yesterday, it occurred to me that Velasquez-Manoff was making a lot of big statements—"perhaps 1/3 of autism, and very likely more, looks like a type of inflammatory disease", for example—without citing the sources to back those statements up.
That's easy to do when you're writing a relatively short article summarizing the contents of a much bigger book, as Velasquez-Manoff seems to be doing here. But the problems go deeper than that, according to biologist and science writer Emily Willingham. In a must-read blog post, she goes through the NYT piece and points out many flaws in argument and detail. The main problem, though, is a pretty simple one: Moises Velasquez-Manoff presents what seems to be a largely speculative hypothesis as sure-fire truth. To make that case as persuasive as it is, he leaves out lots of evidence that doesn't match up with his thesis.
First, he appears to describe autism as a “parallel epidemic” with autoimmune diseases, even though a careful review of the literature shows that there likely isn’t an “epidemic” of autism. I'm also having trouble finding any data to confirm an epidemic of autoimmune diseases (he provides no sourcing), although I find that incidence rates in general seem to go up with improvements in diagnostic tools, a scenario that is common with application of new technologies in many diseases and disorders. Without that parallel or even confirmation of either "epidemic," his carefully constructed, fragile “if that, then this” scenario suffers from that point on.Willingham's basic point: There is an atmosphere of desperation and panic surrounding autism, which has lead some parents to try a range of risky interventions in the hopes of "curing" it. Given that, maybe it's irresponsible to claim that a hypothetical factor in autism is the absolute cause. Especially when the proposed treatment—intentional infection with parasitic whipworms—comes with its own downsides, including growth retardation in children, anemia, and even rectal prolapse.
...Velasquez-Manoff then asks, “What has happened to the modern immune system?” and goes on to assert that the concepts underlying the “hygiene hypothesis” also underlie autism and correlations between autism and maternal autoimmune disorders or asthma. An “evolutionary answer,” he says, is that we are no longer sufficiently riddled with parasites and microbes (we actually still have our microbes), so our immune system, twiddling its presumably heroic thumbs, casts its roving eye elsewhere--i.e., on ourselves. See, people who still live with parasites, he says, “don’t suffer from inflammatory diseases as much as we do” (italics mine). “We,” I assume, being the clean people of the western world. No sources given, and that assertion does not dovetail with, for example, what we know about asthma rates in Latin America (really high) versus Western Europe (not so high), although in places where things like leprosy, parasitic worm infections that include river blindness, and nasty bacterial eye infections are high, type 1 diabetes is low. Raise your hand if you're willing to make that tradeoff. And then he says, “Autism also follows this pattern” and “seems to be less prevalent in the developing world.”
... when you’re dealing with intestinal parasites and their friends, you and your government may not really have the time to go around carefully diagnosing developmental disorders. I suffered through his unsourced dismissal of epidemiologists who say as much, and I just about had a coronary when he cited “at least one (unnamed) Western doctor” (the best kind, you know) who had found autism was “nearly nonexistent” in a Cambodian population “rife with parasites and acute infections.” Um… if, as Velasquez-Manoff seems to argue, maternal infection sets the stage for maternal immune dysfunction and presumably autism, how is it that a population rife with acute infections evades autism? He doesn’t ever name the “Western doctor,” but autism does exist in Cambodia, and while we’re at it, here are a few other things Cambodian children must endure because they’ve got this great “evolutionary”-based existence that 'protects' them against autism.
Read the New York Times op-ed
Read the rest of Emily Willingham's response
Curiosity Mars Rover descent footage interpolated from 4fps to 25fps
[Video Link] This is a magnificent thing.
YouTuber hahahaspam
explains, "This is the Curiosity Mars Rover descent footage
interpolated from ~4 frames per second to 25 frames per second. It is
playing back in real time. This took me 4 days straight to put together,
so I hope you enjoy it! Music: Kevin Macleod."Ten Unusual Spas for Alternative Tranquility
Flavorwire has compiled a collection of wonderful places to relax, unwind, and take in the scenery while you release the stress of your life. There are spas set up in boats, mountaintops, islands, jungles, and other neat spots all over the world -even under the ocean! Me, I'd want to try out this hot springs spa called The Blue Lagoon in the lava fields of Grindavik in Iceland. How about you? More
A Heat Stroke of Genius
Khakis
The
British Army's fancy scarlet tunic looked sharp, but was agonizingly
uncomfortable in the heat. The soldier's warm-weather option was a
dazzling white uniform -spiffy but impractical for daily use. How to
solve the problem?JUST WILD ABOUT HARRY
Legend has it that a British colonial officer dabbled with the idea of creating his own lightweight, light-colored clothing to wear while he was stationed in India. What began as an off-duty ensemble evolved into military attire when it proved to be more comfortable and sensible than the existing uniform.
That
officer was Lieutenant Harry Lumsden, the son of a British colonal.
After schooling in England and Scotland, by age 17 Lumsden was serving
in the infantry in India. In 1846, when he was just 25, he was tapped for the duty that would lead to his greatest claim to fame.Serving in Peshawar in what was then northwestern India (now Pakistan on the Afghanistan border), Lumsden was given the task of forming the Corps of Guides, a new regiment of infantry and cavalry soldiers. The 300 handpicked men were to serve as guides and scouts as well as fighting forces. Irregular cavalry regiments such as the Corps of Guides were allowed to wear what they wanted, within reason. Lumsden had an idea about what that should be. He'd been experimenting with loose-fitting cotton garments patterned after the local men's attire and dyed a muddy tan color, which hid the dirt and made the wearer less conspicuous in the dusty landscape of the battlefield. Locals dubbed the duds khaki, from the Hindi and Urdu word khak, meaning dust. Fellow British soldiers started calling the Corps of Guides the "mudlarks" because of the muddy color of their uniforms.
DUSTING OFF SOME FACTS ABOUT KHAKIS
Lumsden achieved that characteristic mud color by dunking the fabric in mud. In another version of the tale, he took his clothes to the local bazaar and had them colored with a dye made from the local mazari palm. When khaki caught on, Lumsden tried unsuccessfully to obtain drab uniform fabric from England. So he had the dying done locally, either by soldiers themselves or by civilians. While other regiments scoffed at the mudlarks initially, they soon adopted khaki as well, especially during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, which took place primarily during the summer months. Even then, the troops were left to color their own garments using mazari, coffee, tea, or even tobacco juice.
Fortunately, the rise of khaki uniforms coincided with the growth of the textile industry and the use of synthetic dyes. Khaki wasn't the first synthetic dye color developed in England -that distinction goes to aniline purple, better known as mauve, which was patented in 1856- but a patent for khaki dye was registered in England in 1884. It wasn't long before the British discovered it made more economic sense to import dye from Germany (which was leapfrogging ahead of other nations in the synthetic dye game). And that's where thing became awkward: By World War I, the British army was importing all the khaki dye for its uniforms from Germany, whom it happened to be fighting in the Great War. Color them embarrassed. (Before Americans start feeling smug, consider this: about 90 percent of the khaki dye used for U.S. uniforms in World War II was produced by the General Aniline and Film Corporation -better known as GAF- a German-owned company until the U.S. seized it in 1942.)
DRESS FOR SUCCESSThe U.S. military began wearing khaki during the Spanish-American War of 1898, but it didn't work for all purposes. In Guadalcanal's tropical jungles during World War II, khaki was deemed too conspicuous, so Army and Marine combat troops were issued green twill fatigues that blended better with their surroundings. The same was true for ground troops in the Vietnam War.
Of all the branches of the U.S. military, the Navy may have the closest association with khaki. It was first worn by Navy aviators in 1912, and a short time later, regulations required that ships carry enough khaki dye for "two suits of clothing for each man of the landing force," so the men could dye their "undress" white uniforms "when, in the opinion of the commanding officer, it is advisable to do so." (Generally, that would be when white uniforms would be dangerously obvious to the enemy, or when they became unduly soiled.) Khaki uniforms became standard issue for sumariners in 1931, but khaki is best known as naval officer's attire, so much so that the word "khaki" became a euphemism for "officer."
KHAKI COMES HOME
It
didn't take long for military-style khaki to become a fashion statement
on the home front. After the Second Boer War in South Africa, which
ended in 1902, shops in England began showing khaki clothing and
accessories for dapper Victorian gents, who liked its sportsmanlike,
heroic connotations. In America, the hard-wearing khaki that served U.S.
soldiers so well in World War I was adapted for Depression-era civilian
work clothing. In the 1940s, movie stars like Katherine Hepburn and
John Wayne wore khakis on-screen and off; in the 1950s, khakis were
standard issue for young American males, from the Leave It To Beaver boys to James Dean.In spite of changing fashion trends, khaki hung on in civilian life, with a reputation that ranged from conservative or square in the late 1960s and early 1970s, to preppy in the early 1980s, to fashionable in the mid-1980s, when the Levis Dockers brand was introduced and the rise of casual Fridays for office workers made khaki sales skyrocket.
Meanwhile,
the miltary's endorsement of khaki continues. In July 2008, the U.S.
Navy introduced a new khaki dress uniform inspired by the dress khakis
worn from World War II through the Vietnam War, which officers may wear
in place of formal dress blues, dress whites, or service khakis. And a
new service uniform was introduced for enlisted personnel, with a khaki
shirt and black trousers. The idea, Navy spokepeople explain, is to
reduce the number of uniforms a sailor has to carry when deployed.
Whites are fine for the tropics, and dress blues work well for cooler
climates, but khaki goes with everything, everywhere -and that's the
point.
A Day In Pompeii
August 24, 79 AD. The day started like any other day.
An animated film depicting the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.
Drought and Fire
Severe summer drought recalls damaging dust bowl days. - Over the past six weeks, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has
designated 1,821 counties in 35 states as disaster areas, at least 1,692
of them due to drought. the agency is calling it the worst drought in
more than 50 years.
Is it too late to defuse the danger of megafires? - Forests in the southwest have become a fuel stockpile. a century of U.S. forest service policy of quashing all fires has allowed forests to become overgrown, and now a warming climate is making the problem worse. Scientists are trying to defuse these green time bombs. is it too late?
Is it too late to defuse the danger of megafires? - Forests in the southwest have become a fuel stockpile. a century of U.S. forest service policy of quashing all fires has allowed forests to become overgrown, and now a warming climate is making the problem worse. Scientists are trying to defuse these green time bombs. is it too late?
Red Dust Devil
A man in Brazil captures an incredible orange dust devil. The funnel's hue was caused by clay in the area's soil.
Is There A Limit To How Tall Buildings Can Get?
Will this race ever stop? Not in the foreseeable future, at least. But there has to be some sort of end point, some highest possible height that a building can reach. There will eventually be a world's tallest building that is unbeatably the tallest, because there has to be an upper limit.
Why Does Inhaling Helium Make Your Voice Squeaky?
Instead, it affects a much more mysterious property of the sound, called 'timbre.' Rather than chirping high notes like Tweety Bird, you start quacking words like Donald Duck. Why does your voice get that reedy tone?
How Images Were Manipulated Before Photoshop
The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art is hosting an exhibition made up of 200 photos which were altered or manipulated in some way between 1840 and 1900, well before the advent of digital image manipulation via programs like Photoshop.
They should have called the exhibition Ye Olde Way To Shoppe A Photo!
More
Microscopic scale measures mass of single molecule
This is a microscopic scale that can measure the mass of a single molecule. The scale was manufactured with the same semiconductor fabrication technology used to make computer chips. From Smithsonian:
As described in a paper published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, the tiny apparatus is built around a bridge-like structure that vibrates at a specific frequency based on the mass of the molecule on top of it. By precisely tracking the vibrating frequency of the bridge, they can determine the exact mass of the molecule.
Schoolboy rich after finding piece of whale vomit
A schoolboy has stumbled across a rare piece of whale vomit which could
be worth £40,000. Officially called ambergris, the substance is highly
sought after and is used to prolong the scent of perfume. Eight-year-old
Charlie Naysmith made the discovery at Hengistbury Head near
Bournemouth in Dorset, much to the amazement of his parents.
His find doesn’t look very exciting and most people would probably walk straight past it, mistaking it for a stone. But Charlie was curious enough to pick it up and, after a bit of research, he and his family discovered it is worth between £10,000 and £40,000. Charlie, of Station Road, Christchurch, is a pupil of St Katharine’s school in Southbourne and has been on nature walks with his class in the area.
He is now trying to decide what to do with it and quite fancies using the profits to build a house for animals. His dad, Alex, said: “He is into nature and is really interested in it. We have discovered it is quite rare and are waiting for some more information from marine biology experts.” The piece of ambergris, which weighs 600 grams, could have been floating in the sea for decades before being washed up on the beach.
The family has been told it is unlikely that more ambergris will be found in the same area. Ambergris is a waxy substance from the intestines of a sperm whale, which is used to prolong the scent of perfume. It initially has a foul smell but after years of floating on the ocean, exposure to sun and salt turn it into a smooth lump of compact rock which feels waxy and has a sweet smell.
His find doesn’t look very exciting and most people would probably walk straight past it, mistaking it for a stone. But Charlie was curious enough to pick it up and, after a bit of research, he and his family discovered it is worth between £10,000 and £40,000. Charlie, of Station Road, Christchurch, is a pupil of St Katharine’s school in Southbourne and has been on nature walks with his class in the area.
He is now trying to decide what to do with it and quite fancies using the profits to build a house for animals. His dad, Alex, said: “He is into nature and is really interested in it. We have discovered it is quite rare and are waiting for some more information from marine biology experts.” The piece of ambergris, which weighs 600 grams, could have been floating in the sea for decades before being washed up on the beach.
The family has been told it is unlikely that more ambergris will be found in the same area. Ambergris is a waxy substance from the intestines of a sperm whale, which is used to prolong the scent of perfume. It initially has a foul smell but after years of floating on the ocean, exposure to sun and salt turn it into a smooth lump of compact rock which feels waxy and has a sweet smell.
Nepalese man shot son dead after mistaking him for monkey
A farmer in southern Nepal mistook his son for a monkey trying to steal
his crops and shot the 12-year-old dead, police said on Sunday. Chitra
Bahadur Pulami had been climbing a tree to chase away macaques that had
become a nuisance to the family.
But his father Gupta Bahadur, 55, spotted the boy and opened fire, wrongly believing him to be one of the animals. "The son was hiding in a tree at their farm to chase away monkeys that used to come searching for food in the maize field," said Arun Poudel, deputy superintendent of police in the remote Arghakhanchi district
"The son died on the spot after Gupta Bahadur mistakenly thought there was a monkey in the tree and opened fire. Our preliminary investigation shows that the father was unaware that his son had gone to the maize field to chase the monkeys. Both Gupta Bahadur and the gun that he used in shooting his son are now under the custody of the police."
The three species of monkey native to Nepal, the rhesus and Assamese macaque and the common langur, are considered sacred and farmers normally try to scare them away from their crops without injuring the animals. "I realized my mistake only when my son fell down and got stuck in one of the tree's branches," the farmer told police.
But his father Gupta Bahadur, 55, spotted the boy and opened fire, wrongly believing him to be one of the animals. "The son was hiding in a tree at their farm to chase away monkeys that used to come searching for food in the maize field," said Arun Poudel, deputy superintendent of police in the remote Arghakhanchi district
"The son died on the spot after Gupta Bahadur mistakenly thought there was a monkey in the tree and opened fire. Our preliminary investigation shows that the father was unaware that his son had gone to the maize field to chase the monkeys. Both Gupta Bahadur and the gun that he used in shooting his son are now under the custody of the police."
The three species of monkey native to Nepal, the rhesus and Assamese macaque and the common langur, are considered sacred and farmers normally try to scare them away from their crops without injuring the animals. "I realized my mistake only when my son fell down and got stuck in one of the tree's branches," the farmer told police.
Man on toilet break bitten by crocodile
An Indonesian construction worker was bitten by a crocodile during a
toilet break by a river in Malaysian Borneo, but fought off the huge
reptile and escaped with his life.
Pai punched the two-meter (6.5-foot) crocodile in the eye after it bit him while he squatted, just above his right buttock, and despite being in incredible pain and soaked in blood managed to summon help. The attack happened early on Friday, when the 32-year-old decided to take his chances by the river in Sarawak state despite knowing it was infested with crocodiles.
Pai, who works at a nearby construction site, had just finished relieving himself under a bridge when the animal bit him from behind. "Fortune favored me when the crocodile let go after I punched it in the eye," he said. "After being freed from the jaws of the crocodile, I found extraordinary strength to run and call for help even though my waist was extremely painful."
Pai, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, was taken to Sarawak General Hospital with bites to his waist and hip area. He also suffered puncture wounds on the left side of his ribs. His condition is not critical.
Pai punched the two-meter (6.5-foot) crocodile in the eye after it bit him while he squatted, just above his right buttock, and despite being in incredible pain and soaked in blood managed to summon help. The attack happened early on Friday, when the 32-year-old decided to take his chances by the river in Sarawak state despite knowing it was infested with crocodiles.
Pai, who works at a nearby construction site, had just finished relieving himself under a bridge when the animal bit him from behind. "Fortune favored me when the crocodile let go after I punched it in the eye," he said. "After being freed from the jaws of the crocodile, I found extraordinary strength to run and call for help even though my waist was extremely painful."
Pai, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, was taken to Sarawak General Hospital with bites to his waist and hip area. He also suffered puncture wounds on the left side of his ribs. His condition is not critical.
Jumping Stick Insect Looks Like a Sci-Fi Character
Alex Wild took this photo of an Apioscelis jumping stick
insect in the Jatun Sacha reserve, Napo, Ecuador, that looks straight
out of a sci-fi movie.
Beautiful jellyfish photography
Alexander Semenov's lovely photos make jellyfish look completely amazing—masses of ethereal tissue surrounded by thousands of strands of iridescent embroidery floss.
This shot is part of a series of photos taken in the deep, dark, cold waters of the Arctic Circle.
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