After serving nearly 30 years as a doorstop for a nuclear
physicist, a hunk of petrified wood has finally been recognized as a
one-of-a-kind find.
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Earth News
The glaciers on the Tibetan plateau -- which provide
freshwater for millions -- are warmer than in the past two millennia.
The 10 Most Important Days in the History of the Universe (according to an astronomer)
1. July 4, 1054 -- Day the Sky Got Brighter
This 2005 NASA's Hubble Space Telescope image of Crab Nebula shows the remnant of star's supernova explosion.July 4th was a significant day long before America started celebrating it. It also marks the first time on record that a new object appeared in the constellation Taurus -- an object so bright it could be seen in the daytime sky. Not surprisingly, people around the world couldn't help but take notice. Chinese astronomers labeled it a "guest star" and noted that, at night, it shone almost four times brighter than Venus. They soon began speculating that its appearance heralded the Emperor at the time, Jen Tsung.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe, the Anasazi Indians of western North America may also have noticed the star. Archeologists believe images carved into Arizona rocks from that era depict the same mysterious phenomenon. But one group of people left no record of having witnessed the "guest star" -- the Europeans. It's speculated they considered it heretical to suggest that anything in the night sky was not eternal.
The Chinese astronomers were right about the object being a star. More specifically, however, it was a star in the process of exploding, otherwise known as a supernova. When stars burst, they are momentarily as bright as a billion stars, so even though the phenomenon had occurred so far away from Earth, its brightness was still immense.
Now known as the Crab Nebula, this supernova remnant is hardly a distant memory. Today, it consists of an expanding shell of gas that's 10 light years across and is moving outward at about 700 miles per second. At its center is a dense remnant called a neutron star, which is about the size of Manhattan in radius and rotates roughly 30 times per second. As a result, the Crab Nebula sends out pulses of radiation that reach the Earth at that same rate. Scientists wondered about the source of this mysterious pulsing when it was first detected in 1968, but they quickly pinned it on the ancient Crab and not, say, alien civilizations trying to contact us.
Astronomical News
Whimsical World-Wide Weed
The Dandelion
The humble dandelion. From your garden to almost the ends of the Earth
this small but conspicuous plant flourishes. Gardeners do not appreciate
its presence, considering it a weed, even though its flowering usually
indicates the beginning of the honey bee season and could be seen as a
welcome sign.Its simplistic looking structure hides a few surprising secrets and its cultural resonance, especially in Europe is strong. Here is a short but sincere homage to one of the small wonders of our botanical world, the dandelion.
Paleontological News
Flock of Ancient 'Butterfly-Headed' Flying Reptiles Discovered
An ancient flying reptile with a bizarre, butterflylike head has been unearthed in Brazil.
The newfound reptile species, Caiuajara dobruskii,
lived about 80 million years ago in an ancient desert oasis. The beast
sported a strange bony crest on its head that looked like the wings of a
butterfly, and had the wingspan needed to take flight at a very young
age.
Hundreds of fossils from the reptile were unearthed in a single bone bed, providing the strongest evidence yet that the flying reptiles were social animals, said study co-author Alexander Kellner, a
paleontologist at the Museu Nacional/Universidade Federal do Rio de
Janeiro in Brazil.
Rare find
Though pterosaur fossils have been unearthed in northern Brazil,
no one knew of pterosaurs fossils in the southern part of the country.
In the 1970s, a farmer named Dobruski and his son discovered a massive
Cretaceous Period bone bed in Cruzeiro do Oeste in southern Brazil, a
region not known for any fossils, Kellner said. The find was forgotten
for decades, and then rediscovered just two years ago. The team dubbed
the reptile Caiuajara dobruskii, after the geologic formation,
called the Caiuá Group, where it was found, as well as the farmer who
discovered the species, Kellner said.
C. dobruskii belonged to a group of winged reptiles known as pterosaurs, which are more commonly known as pterodactyls.
A bone bed filled with with fossils from a new species of pterosaur, Caiuajara dobruskii
Hundreds of bone fragments from the species were crammed in an area of
just 215 square feet (20 square meters). At least 47 individuals — and
possibly hundreds more — were buried at the site. All but a few were
juveniles, though the researchers found everything from youngsters with
wingspans of just 2.1 feet (0.65 m) long to adults with wingspans
reaching 7.71 feet (2.35 m). The fossils weren't crushed, so the 3D
structure of the animals was preserved, the authors wrote in a research
article published today (Aug. 13) in the journal PLOS ONE.
The ancient reptiles' bony crests changed in size and orientation as the pterosaurs grew.
Because the adult skeletal size (other than the head) wasn't much
different from the juveniles', the researchers hypothesized that C. dobruskii was fairly precocious and could fly at a young age, Kellner said.
Water congregation
Based on the sediments in which the bones were found, the area was once
a vast desert with a central oasis nestled between the sand dunes, the
authors wrote in the paper.
Ancient C. dobruskii colonies
may have lived around the lake for long periods of time and died during
periods of drought or during storms. As the creatures died, the
occasional desert storm would wash their remains into the lake, where
the watery burial preserved them indefinitely, the researchers said.
Another possibility is that the pterosaurs stopped at this spot during ancient migrations, though the authors suspect that is less likely.
The bone bed, with its hundreds of individuals in well-dated geological
layers, is some of the strongest evidence yet that the fruit-eating
animals were social, Kellner said.
"This was a flock of pterosaurs," Kellner said.
This finding, in turn, strengthens evidence that other pterosaur
species may have been social as well, the authors wrote in the paper.
Our Microbiome May Be Looking Out for Itself
A number of recent studies have shown that gut bacteria can use these signals to alter the biochemistry of the brain. Compared with ordinary mice, those raised free of germs behave differently in a number of ways. They are more anxious, for example, and have impaired memory.So far, it sounds pretty benign. After all, microbes who live in us depend on our continued well-being, right? So far, research shows that behavior that benefits microbes doesn’t always benefit the host, but when they harm us, we go full-throttle after them. However, knowing about this mechanism may one day lead to humans being able to control what microbes do in our bodies to our benefit. Read more at the New York Times.
Adding certain species of bacteria to a normal mouse’s microbiome can reveal other ways in which they can influence behavior. Some bacteria lower stress levels in the mouse. When scientists sever the nerve relaying signals from the gut to the brain, this stress-reducing effect disappears.
Some experiments suggest that bacteria also can influence the way their hosts eat. Germ-free mice develop more receptors for sweet flavors in their intestines, for example. They also prefer to drink sweeter drinks than normal mice do.
Scientists have also found that bacteria can alter levels of hormones that govern appetite in mice.
Saturday, August 16, 2014
The Daily Drift
Carolina Naturally is read in 200 countries around the world daily.
Honey ... !
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Today in History
| 1513 | Henry VIII of England and Emperor Maximilian defeat the French at Guinegatte, France, in the Battle of the Spurs. | |
| 1777 | France declares a state of bankruptcy. | |
| 1780 | American troops are badly defeated by the British at the Battle of Camden, South Carolina. | |
| 1812 | American General William Hull surrenders Detroit without resistance to a smaller British force under General Issac Brock. | |
| 1858 | U.S. President James Buchanan and Britain's Queen Victoria exchange messages inaugurating the first transatlantic telegraph line. | |
| 1861 | Union and Confederate forces clash near Fredericktown and Kirkville, Missouri. | |
| 1863 | Union General William S. Rosecrans moves his army south from Tullahoma, Tennessee to attack Confederate forces in Chattanooga. | |
| 1896 | Gold is discovered in the Klondike of Canada's Yukon Territory, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush. | |
| 1914 | Liege, Belgium, falls to the German army. | |
| 1945 | Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright, who was taken prisoner by the Japanese on Corregidor on May 6, 1942, is released from a POW camp in Manchuria by U.S. troops. | |
| 1965 | The Watts riots end in south-central Los Angeles after six days. | |
| 1977 | Elvis Presley dies of a heart attack in the upstairs bedroom suite area of his Graceland Mansion in Memphis, Tennessee. | |
| 1984 | The safe of the sunken ocean liner Andrea Doria is opened on TV after three decades, revealing cash and certificates but no other valuables. | |
| 1986 | Sudanese rebels shoot down a Sudanese Airways plane, killing 57 people. | |
| 1987 | Astrological alignment of sun, moon and six planets marks what believers maintain is the dawning of a New Age. | |
| 1988 | IBM introduces artificial intelligence software. | |
| 1990 | Iraq orders 2,500 Americans and 4,000 British nationals in Kuwait to Iraq, in the aftermath of Iraq's invasion of that country. | |
| 2012 | In South Africa police fire on striking mine workers, killing at least 34. |
Despite repugican Attempts To Kill It Social Security Stands Tall On Its 79th Anniversary
Oh, and by the way, Democrats built that. Also,
Democrats built some other things similar to Social Security… like
Medicare and Obamacare.
Yes, Pelosi went there. That was the gist of Leader
Nancy Pelosi’s statement Thursday on the anniversary of Social Security,
a good reminder that Democrats have long advocated for programs for the
people. It was Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) who signed the beloved
Social Security program into law in 1935.
Leader Pelosi noted, “In the nearly eight decades
since its enactment, Social Security has stood as a cornerstone of
economic certainty for millions of America’s seniors and families.
Together with Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, Social
Security provides essential protection for the middle class. But there
continue to be Congressional repugicans who put forward dangerous
proposals to privatize or partially privatize Social Security, which
would rob seniors of the economic security they count on.
“When Democrats created Social Security, we pledged
to defend the right of our nation’s seniors to pursue a life of liberty
and happiness. Democrats have stood by the promise of Social Security
since its inception, and Democrats will continue to protect and
strengthen Social Security for the generations to come.”
On January 17, 1935, FDR explained the Social Security legislation
as something to help protect Americans from the hazards of life, “A
recommendation for legislation to help protect Americans from the
hazards of life.”
His words are especially poignant after the brutal
recession that started in 2007. The Democratic President closed by
saying, “We pay now for the dreadful consequence of economic insecurity –
and dearly. This plan presents a more equitable and infinitely less
expensive means of meeting these costs. We cannot afford to neglect the
plain duty before us.”
This is why Democratic Congressional Campaign
Committee Chairman Steve Israel pledged in a statement today, “House
Democrats will continue to stand fast against repugicans’ efforts to
undermine seniors’ vital lifeline and risk Americans’ retirement
security through privatization. Rather, we must work together to protect
and strengthen Social Security for both today’s seniors and for future
retirees.”
Fortune Magazine
was unimpressed with the repugican idea to “privatize” Social Security
(aka, destroy Social Security). In 2010, when this was yet another hot
campaign issue for the repugican cabal, they pointed out that the stock market has
had “two 50%-plus drops in just over a decade” and you’d think this
“would have shown conclusively the folly of retirees’ having to bet
their eating money on the market.”
Why is privatizing Social Security such a turkey? Because retirees shouldn’t have to depend on the market’s vagaries for survival money. More than half of married couples over 65 and 72% of singles get more than half their income from Social Security, according to the Social Security Administration. For 20% of 65-and-up couples and 41% of singles, Social Security is 90% or more of their income. That isn’t projected to change.
It’s obscene that more media do not call out the
ridiculous repugican idea of a Social Security that is not secure.
Tying “security” to the stock market, especially after the last decade
of two plunging markets under Bush, is an idea that should be laughed
at.
This is not “security”, thus it is not a viable
replacement or “reform” to Social Security. It is a different idea, and
should be proposed properly as such, but then the main goal of
destroying Social Security could not be achieved. Thus, the destroyers
of “security” must keep presenting their idea as a “reform” when it is
in fact a destruction.
Happy Anniversary, Social Security. May you be long funded and protected.
Domestic Terrorist Who Fired on First Responders Claims He Seceded from U.S. and Created ‘Doug-E-Stan’
“Dougie Doug LeGuin” from “Doug-E-Stan”
On Monday afternoon a man from the Dallas area, Douglas Lee LeGuin,
shot at police officers and firefighters with an AK-47 as they were
responding to a fire. Apparently he was at a home in far North Dallas
(not his), threatening a nanny who had refused to let him in. At that
moment a Dallas fire department fire engine drove by, prompting LeGuin
to fire at the engine, hitting it twice.He also apparently shot at police officers as they arrived on scene. When they arrived at the home they found several jars full of liquid and propane tanks. A few had exploded, with LeGuin admitting to shooting at least one.
That’s about as “normal” as the story gets.
Apparently this individual holds extremely anti-government resentment and believed that he could secede from the United States.
And this is where it gets crazy.
In the 911 audio, Mr. LeGuin refers to himself as “Dougie Doug” from the newly formed nation of “Doug-E-Stan.”
I swear, this isn’t a story from The Onion.
He apparently got fed up with this country and believed he could simply form his own. Though I’m not really sure how that factors into him traveling to a random house with propane tanks and an AK-47 assault rifle to threaten a nanny.
He seems like just the kind of guy people like Sarah Palin and Fox News would love. That anti-government gun lover who’s sick and tired of that “oppressive federal government.”
According to Corinth Police Assistant Chief Greg Wilkerson (the suburb of Dallas where he actually lived), LeGuin’s wife called law enforcement officials early Monday afternoon, reporting her husband hadn’t gone to work and she couldn’t locate where he was. She also reported that an AK-47 assault rifle, ammunition and propane tanks were missing from their home.
After initially opening fire on the first responders, he fled into the woods for several hours until he was eventually apprehended.
First reports linked him with a known domestic terrorist group known as the Sovereign Citizens movement. They’re an extremely anti-government group who doesn’t recognize United States authority and believes that local county sheriffs are the most powerful law enforcement officials in the country.
Though as of yet, they haven’t officially linked him to any formal anti-government groups.
This is one of those stories that you feel bad laughing at, but you just can’t help it. This entire situation could have turned out much worse considering this was an armed man with explosives who apparently had no respect for law enforcement.
Luckily he was apprehended and nobody was hurt.
Officials have charged “Dougie Doug from Doug-E-Stan” with seven counts of aggravated assault against a public servant and he’s being held on $350,000 bail.
If Boehner Wants To Sue The President, Obama Can Sue repugicans All Across The Country
If repugicans really want to play the lawsuit game, President Obama should forget John Boehner and sue repugicans nationwide.
President Obama can’t sue John Boehner for what he
has done, or more accurately what he refuses to do in the House, but the
president has another much more powerful tool at his disposal. If John
Boehner wants to sue President Obama as a political stunt, the White
House can up the ante by taking on the repugicans on the very real
issue of gerrymandering.
Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of
Justice have been very active on these issues in the past, but as Thomas
Geoghegan wrote in Politico Magazine, the federal government has the
standing to sue and strike at the very heart of the House repugican
caused gridlock.
Geoghegan explained how the lawsuits would work:
So it’s past time for the Obama administration to rouse itself. If it does file, it should file at least four separate suits in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin and North Carolina, to name a few, all on the same day. Make it a call to battle. And be absolutely sure to sue in my own state of Illinois, where the Democrats did the gerrymandering—just to show fairness. Set a deadline. Issue a statement ahead of time: “Though it’s already prohibited by the Constitution, I call on Congress to pass a law to make gerrymandering of the House illegal. Let’s do it as California does. It has a Citizens Redistricting Commission, selected by the state auditor. No games: Let the people elect the people to the People’s House.”Of course the repugican cabal will say no. Then go straight to court. There is a special federal statute for claims by the United States—use it. The claim of sovereignty—or lack of authority by the states—is just the right legal attack. Maybe under their own state constitutions, states have the power to monkey around with their own state legislative districts. That’s their business. But the Constitution gives them no such power to tip, much less rig, elections to the U.S. House. To be exact, under Article I, sections 2 and 4 of the U.S. Constitution, states have no power to draw district lines or otherwise act with the intent of favoring one class of candidates over another.It’s what lawyers call a case of federal preemption. And just as the United States can sue to stop states that pass their own immigration laws and interfere with the exclusive federal power over immigration, so it can go after any kind of vote-tampering or attempt to influence federal elections.
Geoghegan argued that the White House would likely
win in the Supreme Court because Anthony Kennedy voted against the state
of Arkansas in a 1995 where they tried to term limit their members of
the House of Representatives. Justice Kennedy sided with the majority in
finding that state violated the Qualifications Clause of the
Constitution. Theoretically, the federal government would use the same
Qualifications Clause to sue Red and Blue states that are
gerrymandering.
The repugicans have perfected the dark political art of
gerrymandering, but by filing these suits the Obama administration
could begin the process of ending the gridlock and handing the House of
Representatives back to the American people. If repugicans want to play
the lawsuit game, the White House has an option that could put an end
to do the repugican controlled do nothing House once and for all.
The gerrymandered House districts that protect repugican incumbents must be dismantled, and John Boehner’s lawsuit has
opened the door to the use of a legal weapons of mass repugican
incumbency protection destruction.
Clueless wingnuts Blame Obama for the Militarization of the Police
Wingnuts blame Obama for the militarization of police departments, but the "1033 Program" has been around since 1997. …
Obama hate is in high season, y’all.
Winguts now believe that the President not
only runs local police departments, but is responsible for the overall
militarization of police departments. This makes sense because this
militarization is aimed at the very people who tend to vote Democratic
(Occupy, unions, labor protests and minorities). Wait. No, this doesn’t
make sense. It doesn’t make any sense at all, which is why it is the
perfect wingnut “belief”.
Fear Obama because he’s Hilter!!!!!!!!!!!!! You’ve been warned!!!111!!!!
On planet reality, the militarizing “1033 Program” has been around since 1997.
In 2011, Robert Johnson wrote for Business Insider:
1033 was passed by Congress in 1997 to help law-enforcement fight terrorism and drugs, but despite a 40-year low in violent crime, police are snapping up hardware like never before. While this year’s staggering take topped the charts, next year’s orders are up 400 percent over the same period.
This upswing coincides with an increasingly military-like style of law enforcement most recently seen in the Occupy Wall Street crackdowns.
Guess who passed it? Wait for it… Yes, Congress was
led by repugicans in 1997. The repugicans took over Congress in 1994 with
their “revolution” led by serial projector Newt Gingrich.
So it was very nice of Senator Rand Paul to “borrow” the idea from Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson to stop the militarization
of the police, but that idea won’t pass “GO” without going after the
contractors who sell the equipment, and Rand Paul can’t do that for
obvious reasons. If the Senator were actually going after the moneyed
interests that are feeding this problem across both sides of the aisle,
liberals would be on board. But posing is so fun!
So dies another sad Obama Derangement Syndrome
“belief” (aka, an opinion after it’s been debunked). But if you click
your toes together five times super fast while chanting angrily,
“Thanks, Obama!”, the repugican god will find something to blame POTUS
for before the end of your evening.
Sleep well, patriots.
Paul Krugman exposes libertarianism's "foolish fantasy"
The New York Times columnist says the water contamination crisis in Toledo shows libertarianism's fatal flaw
In his latest column for the New York
Times, best-selling author and award-winning economist Paul Krugman
argues that the water contamination crisis in Toledo, Ohio, is a
case-in-point for why libertarianism is fundamentally flawed, relying as
it does on the "foolish fantasy" of overreaching Big Government."Is libertarian economics at all realistic?" Krugman asks, responding to yet another essay about libertarianism's supposedly imminent takeover of American politics. "The answer is no," he continues. "And the reason can be summed up in one word: phosphorus."
Krugman then turns his eyes toward Toledo, where residents are being discouraged from drinking their water due to phosphorus-caused toxic algae blooms in Lake Eerie. How'd the phosphorus get in there to begin with? Runoff from under-regulated farms.
"The point is that before you rage against unwarranted government interference in your life, you might want to ask why the government is interfering," Krugman writes. "Pollution controls are the simplest example" of justifiable government regulation, Krugman says, but it's hardly alone.
Standard & Poor's cuts Kansas credit rating, citing Brownback tax cuts
Sam Brownback has led
Kansas into a wingnut tax-cut "experiment" with results that could
perhaps be compared to the wingnut "experiment" in Iraq: chaos and
failure to such a dramatic extent that it should rightfully disgrace all
involved and discredit the underlying theories involved for
approximately forever. You know, if we bothered to keep track of those
things.
How bad is it? Bad enough that it's just taken another notch off the state's credit score.
Standard & Poor's Ratings cut the credit score for Kansas to AA from AA+ on Wednesday in another blow to the deep income tax cuts championed by repugican Governor Sam Brownback, who is struggling to keep his post in upcoming elections.
In a report explaining the downgrade, S&P said the Kansas budget is not structurally balanced and described a fiscal situation with very little breathing room. [...]
The agency also has a negative outlook for the state based on more tax cuts scheduled for future years, which it said could further damage the state's finances. It said the state expects receipts to fall by $682.3 million through the end of fiscal 2019 because of the cuts.
This deals another blow to Brownback's election-year insistence that all that economic growth and stability he promised is just around the corner, give or take another Friedman Unit. Don't hold your breath, though, because carting you off to the hospital afterwards might just break the Kansas budget completely.
Standard & Poor's Ratings cut the credit score for Kansas to AA from AA+ on Wednesday in another blow to the deep income tax cuts championed by repugican Governor Sam Brownback, who is struggling to keep his post in upcoming elections.
In a report explaining the downgrade, S&P said the Kansas budget is not structurally balanced and described a fiscal situation with very little breathing room. [...]
The agency also has a negative outlook for the state based on more tax cuts scheduled for future years, which it said could further damage the state's finances. It said the state expects receipts to fall by $682.3 million through the end of fiscal 2019 because of the cuts.
This deals another blow to Brownback's election-year insistence that all that economic growth and stability he promised is just around the corner, give or take another Friedman Unit. Don't hold your breath, though, because carting you off to the hospital afterwards might just break the Kansas budget completely.
Judge Rejects Puny Silicon Valley Wage-Fixing Settlement
We need more judges willing to stand up for the average guy
For years, tech giants like Apple, Google, and
Adobe made secret agreements to avoid hiring rival talent, keeping
salaries artificially suppressed. These companies almost got away with
paying a tiny settlement-but that monetary mea culpa just got shot down.U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh says the paltry payout just isn't enough, given that damages could have run into the billions:
Class members would receive an average of approximately $3,7506 from the instant settlement if the Court were to grant all requested deductions and there were no further opt-outs...The Court finds the total settlement amount falls below the range of reasonableness. The Court is concerned that Class members recover less on a proportional basis from the instant settlement with Remaining Defendants than from the settlement with the Settled Defendants a year ago, despite the fact that the case has progressed consistently in the Class's favor since then.
In other words, the evidence against Apple and company has been so vast, $300 million or so just won't cut it. The trove of emails, conversations, and testimonies unearthed during the suit make it clear that "other Defendants' CEOs maintained the anti-solicitation agreements out of fear of and deference to Mr. [Steve] Jobs."
Judge Koh says damages should not be any less than $380 million-and that still seems pretty light for an intricate conspiracy against employees of some of America's richest firms.
Second Religious Organization Condemns religio-wingnut Extremists
For the second time in two weeks, a religious organization has taken
action and spoken out against religio-wingnut extremists, prominent
political figures, and well-known "religious leaders" …
To bastardize something is to lower its condition or
worth, or to debase something that is supposed to be inherently good
and just. Despite bastardizing the christian religion into a
hate-practicing delusion no better than extremist islamic fanaticism, it is
still considered a mortal sin to utter an unkind word about the
extremist religio-wingnuts no matter how despicable and vile their
actions and speech become. Over the past week, the so-called “christian”
religio-wingnuts openly expressed their version of christian hate toward
gays, women, and medical professionals, and as usual the media,
politicians, or most Americans terrified of violating the prohibition
against condemning hate in jesus christ’s name have remained silent.
However, for the second time in two weeks, a
religious organization has taken action and spoken out against religio-wingnut extremists, prominent political figures, and well-known
“religious leaders” for manipulating christianity “in the name of god”
to advance political and personal agendas of hate. Less than two weeks
ago, Satanists whose faith is in line with jesus christ’s teachings took action
against religio-wingnut extremists on behalf of women being subjected
to “christian” domination. It led one to wonder when mainstream christians would find their voice and defend the faith as their namesake jesus christ taught it. Apparently, a very large and fast-growing group
of christians have had enough of 'christian' extremism and are joining
the war against the purveyors of hate working in jesus christ’s name.
The organization, Faithful America, first took
umbrage at Sarah Palin’s comment at an NRA convention for telling the
audience that “water-boarding is how we baptize terrorists.” Faith America immediately assailed Palin and created a petition condemning her for her comments. They said in part, “This
is what we’ve come to in America: A former candidate for vice-president
can equate torture and holy baptism, and one of the nation’s most
powerful political lobbies erupts into cheers and applause.” The
group is correct; the religio-wingnuts have equated all manner of torture,
hate, and offense with the christian delusion the extremists have
bastardized into a vile movement on par with extremist muslims crusading
through Iraq and Syria.
Yesterday, in response to the news a baptist “man of god” canceled a funeral during a wake for a deceased man after learning he was gay, Faith America petitioned and condemned T.W. Jenkins to “show
Pastor Jenkins, and the media who are covering the story, how many christians are appalled by how he’s misrepresenting our faith and
hurting Julion Evans’s grieving family.” The baptist preacher refused to apologize and doubled-down on religio-wingnut hate and said his “cult plans to continue to stand on the word of god.” Faith America released a statement saying “Jenkins’ actions do not reflect the beliefs of all christians, nor the message of jesus christ.”
In their message to real christians, Faith America wrote “Julie
Atwood was at her son’s wake, standing next to his casket, when she got
the news: The cult was canceling the funeral because her son was gay.
T.W. Jenkins of new hope missionary baptist cult in Tampa,
Florida, told Julie that he’d read in the newspaper obituary that her
son was married to another man and decided that holding the funeral
would be blasphemous.” jesus christ would think otherwise, but as
Faith America noted, Jenkins or his religio-wingnut fanatics do not
reflect the message of jesus christ.
Faith America will also be appalled at catholics and religio-wingnts anti-women’s health agitators in Texas who conducted
training sessions to teach other so-called christians how to stalk
abortion providers and poor women seeking reproductive health services
by recording their license plate numbers, make of car, and visits to
family planning clinics in a “very sophisticated little spreadsheet.” The so-called christians, including the Fort Worth catholic diocese, told trainees the group is “searching”
for one of two remaining OB-GYNs as part of their crusade to track the
identities of abortion-providing doctors. The catholic diocese spokesman
said, “We have been able to identify one in there and we’re still searching for the other.”
According to
the National Abortion Federation, there have been four
abortion-providing doctors killed, along with four more abortion clinic
staffers, in anti-abortion clinic violence as a result of recording,
stalking, and searching for OB-GYNs providing women with legal medical
procedures related to their reproductive health. It is the religio-wingnuts' concept of “christianity.”
During the training, christians are heard celebrating their success at “having
the sidewalk lined with agitators because it turns potential clients
away because they don’t want to drive in when they see our presence
there.” Another christian trainer said “abortionists are feeling the pressure”
from anti-choice groups, and that she was proud to announce she
identified the potential new location of an abortion-providing
ambulatory surgical center in Austin. Yet another christian trainer
boasted that “the ‘poorer ones,’ low-income Texans seeking abortion
care—began going to the local Beaumont, Texas, crisis pregnancy center
because they “didn’t have transportation to access a legal abortion
facility. god is good.”
The executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Texas called the agitation tactics “stalking,” and said “The
anti-abortion harassment tactics outlined in this disturbing training
lead women to seek dangerous alternatives because if they reach a clinic
they must confront the very real threat posed by these anti-abortion agitators.” Even NARAL, a women’s advocacy group is mortified to identify the “anti-abortion activists”
for what they really are; fake christians intent on stalking,
threatening, and harassing doctors and women seeking a legal medical
procedure.
Faith America already has one petition slamming a so-called christian for “bragging about his “christian values,” which include fear-mongering about “homosexual Boy Scout leaders” and “posting the names of abortion providers online so they can be threatened and harassed.”
They will likely be as appalled at the fake christians in Texas
stalking women and medical providers as they were at a baptist preacher
canceling a gay man’s funeral or Sarah Palin claiming torture is akin to holy baptism. Whether any American is a christian or not, they should
take heart that Faithful America is standing up against the religio-wingnuts to ‘reclaim christianity’ from terrorists using jesus’ name as
motivation for vile hate
It is long past time the “real” christians speak out
against the extremist religio-wingnuts for their crusade of hate against
anyone who fails to comply with their bastardized christian edicts. It
should not be left to non-christians such to condemn so-called christians preaching, spreading, and
inciting hatred in jesus christ’s name. For the record, these religio-wingnuts are NOT christians; just hateful
malcontents claiming christianity as their purview to create pain and
misery for the rest of the nation; particularly women and gays. It took
courage for Faith America, and Satanists, to finally speak out and take
action against the terrorists that are the American religio-wingnuts,
because they are no different than muslim extremists terrorizing Syria,
Iraq, and Kurds for failing to comply with their demands.
Habitual offender told judge he goes to prison on purpose so he can study
"All my arrests were intentional, just to study," the self-proclaimed psychology student said. "I went to jail on purpose to study. I came here on purpose. I waited for the police. I waited for the police on all my arrests. I went to jail on purpose, for 13 years of my life." "You went to prison on purpose?" asked an incredulous Hurley. "Incarceration improves your concentration abilities," came the reply.
You can see video of Mr Bontrager's court appearance here or here.
Woman arrested after throwing bricks at father-in-law's windows 'because it was fun'
Cpl. B. Connelly of the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office in Maryland
responded to an address in Leonard town on Saturday for the report of a
property destruction.
Upon his arrival he located Michelle Waro, 43 of Lexington Park walking
from the rear of the residence laughing telling Cpl. Connelly “take me
away because of this”. According to Cpl. Connelly’s statement of
probable cause, the victim was seated in the living room of his
residence and heard a window shatter and observed a brick flying through
the window.
He along with the other victims inside the residence ran into the dining room where there are no windows and called the police. They continued to hear several more windows shatter around the residence and observed his daughter-in-law, Michelle Waro holding a landscaping brick from his flower bed as she continued to throw more bricks.
The suspect shattered a total of 9 windows throughout the house and the windows on two pick-up trucks in the driveway causing an estimated $8,000 worth of damage. Once the defendant was placed under arrest she told Cpl. Connelly “this was fun and they are a bunch of bitches.” Waro was charged with three counts of reckless endangerment and two counts of property destruction over $1,000.
He along with the other victims inside the residence ran into the dining room where there are no windows and called the police. They continued to hear several more windows shatter around the residence and observed his daughter-in-law, Michelle Waro holding a landscaping brick from his flower bed as she continued to throw more bricks.
The suspect shattered a total of 9 windows throughout the house and the windows on two pick-up trucks in the driveway causing an estimated $8,000 worth of damage. Once the defendant was placed under arrest she told Cpl. Connelly “this was fun and they are a bunch of bitches.” Waro was charged with three counts of reckless endangerment and two counts of property destruction over $1,000.
Man arrested after swinging miniature baseball bat at resident during home invasion
A southern Indiana man armed with a miniature Louisville Slugger
baseball bat was arrested early on Monday after a resident in
Bloomington reported a man had attempted to enter the his locked front
door at around 2am.
The man living at the house opened the door and found the man was armed with the small wooden bat.
The resident attempted to run the man off and that is when the man, took a swing at him with the bat. While waiting for police to arrive, the resident reported the man began throwing rocks at him.
Police arrested 31-year-old Anthony Allbritten on
charges of residential entry and intimidation.
Allbritten told police he thought he was entering a friend's home.
Allbritten remains at the Monroe County Jail on a $10,500 bond.
The resident attempted to run the man off and that is when the man, took a swing at him with the bat. While waiting for police to arrive, the resident reported the man began throwing rocks at him.
Police arrested 31-year-old Anthony Allbritten on
charges of residential entry and intimidation.
Allbritten told police he thought he was entering a friend's home.
Allbritten remains at the Monroe County Jail on a $10,500 bond.
Amazing Aerial Tramways Of The World
The first aerial tram was built in 1644 by Adam Wiebe, a Dutch engineer and inventor born in Harlingen. It was used to move soil to build defences. Other mining systems were developed in the 1860s by Hodgson, and Andrew Smith Hallidie. Hallidie went on to perfect a line of mining and people tramways after 1867 in California and Nevada.
Ukivok
The Haunting Alaskan Ghost Village Clinging To An Inhospitable Cliff Face
Clinging precariously to the face of a sheer cliff that overhangs the unforgiving Bering Sea some 40 miles west of Cape Douglas, the enigmatic wooden ruins were once home to several hundred native Inupiat hunter-gatherers known as Aseuluk, or 'people of the sea,'
Top 20 Technological Screw-Ups Of The 20th Century
In a century crammed to bursting with screw-ups, it's difficult to
choose a mere twenty that stand out. Inevitably and unfairly, several
hundred thousand worthy achievements were left out.The people mentioned here had reasons - in many cases very good reasons - for doing what they did. These screw-ups can serve as fodder for thought, argument, or pure, unabashed wonder.
Chianti's origins
The ancestor of Chianti wine may have been found in this
ancient 105-foot-deep well in the Chiantishire region of Tuscany.
The ancestor seeds of Chianti wine were found in an ancient well in Tuscany.
Pyramid-Shaped Tomb Revealed in Japan
The Asahi Shimbun reports that archaeologists excavating a sixth-century A.D. tomb mound in Japan's Nara Prefecture believe it was shaped like a step pyramid. The tomb, which stands more than fifteen feet at its highest, once probably held the remains of the powerful clan leader Soga no Iname, who was the grandfather of three emperors. Previous digs at the site had done little to clarify the construction of the tomb, but Kansai University Archaeological Research Institute researchers were able to expose stone-lined steps that would have given the monument an unusual pyramid-like appearance. “Archaeologists and experts checked to see if there are any similarly structured tombs in Japan, but there is nothing like it," an Asuka municipal official told the Wall Street Journal. "The tomb is unique.” The archaeologists were also able to determine the tomb had a stone-lined moat.
Archaeology News
A 22,000-year-old mastodon skull and tool dredged from the
seafloor in the Chesapeake Bay hints of early settlers in North America.
10 Mysterious Noises That Science Can't Explain
Some sounds just can't be explained. No matter how much we analyze, test
or scrutinize, there are just no answers forthcoming. While the
following sounds
all have theories surrounding them, the lack of conclusive proof has
made them baffling, bizarre mysteries that have fascinated both
scientists and laymen.
Police who responded to report of chicken crossing road unable to determine its intent
On Monday at 5:45 pm, officers from North Precinct in Portland, Oregon,
responded to the report of a chicken crossing Highway 30 in Linnton.
A caller had reported to the non-emergency line that there was a chicken on the highway.
The caller said that the chicken was creating a traffic hazard while trying to cross the road.
Responding officers were unable to locate the chicken and were thus
unable to determine its intent. Fortunately there were no
traffic accidents related to the incident.
The caller said that the chicken was creating a traffic hazard while trying to cross the road.
Lion cub led forest rangers to mother’s dead body at Indian sanctuary
A lion cub has led forest rangers to its mother's corpse in an Indian
sanctuary, an act described by officials as very unusual behavior.
A forest guard, who saw the cub hiding in the bushes, followed it and
went on to discover the body on a nearby hill.
The cub then guarded his mother until the ranger returned with forest
and police officials to remove the carcass.
A post-mortem suggests the lioness died in a fight with other animals,
possibly a herd of water buffalo.
Deputy Conservator of Forests in Gir, Anshuman Sharma, said the cub's behavior was "rare" and "very peculiar" - something he had not
encountered in his many years of watching lions.
Gir in Gujarat state is home to Asiatic lions and, according to the last
census done in 2010, there are 411 lions in the sanctuary.
"On Saturday afternoon, I was patrolling the Tulsi-Shyam range of the
sanctuary when I saw a cub hiding in the bushes," forest guard Rana Mori
said.
Such small cubs are never found alone, they are generally accompanied by
their mother and Mr Mori says he started looking for the lioness.
"I followed the cub which led me to its mother's body lying on a small hillock. The mother was called Rupa [the beautiful one]. It initially looked like she was sleeping, but when it didn't move, I prodded it with my stick. That's when I discovered that the lioness was dead," he said. When Mr Mori returned with a team of officials to remove the carcass, they found the cub still sitting near the body. The lioness, who was about 11 years old, had broken ribs and internal injuries and died from a hemorrhage, Mr Sharma said. Lion expert Yadvendra Dev Jhala of the Wildlife Institute of India said that he had never heard of a similar incident involving a lion cub.
But he says that in Gir there has been very little conflict with humans and "lions generally know their individual guards well". Mr Sharma says lions are known for their social behavior: "They are not like dogs, they won't shake paws or wag tails, but we believe they recognize guards they see every day." Wildlife officials say cubs are totally dependent on their mothers for survival until the age of two-and-a-half to three years. The cub, only 15 months old, is now under the constant observation of forest officials. "Its mother, Rupa, seemed to be a loner who lived and hunted alone, But now that the lioness is gone, we expect the cub to join another group, or another lioness may start looking after it," Mr Sharma said.
"I followed the cub which led me to its mother's body lying on a small hillock. The mother was called Rupa [the beautiful one]. It initially looked like she was sleeping, but when it didn't move, I prodded it with my stick. That's when I discovered that the lioness was dead," he said. When Mr Mori returned with a team of officials to remove the carcass, they found the cub still sitting near the body. The lioness, who was about 11 years old, had broken ribs and internal injuries and died from a hemorrhage, Mr Sharma said. Lion expert Yadvendra Dev Jhala of the Wildlife Institute of India said that he had never heard of a similar incident involving a lion cub.
But he says that in Gir there has been very little conflict with humans and "lions generally know their individual guards well". Mr Sharma says lions are known for their social behavior: "They are not like dogs, they won't shake paws or wag tails, but we believe they recognize guards they see every day." Wildlife officials say cubs are totally dependent on their mothers for survival until the age of two-and-a-half to three years. The cub, only 15 months old, is now under the constant observation of forest officials. "Its mother, Rupa, seemed to be a loner who lived and hunted alone, But now that the lioness is gone, we expect the cub to join another group, or another lioness may start looking after it," Mr Sharma said.
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