Man accused of peeping through windows while naked

A man from Zephyrhills, Florida, was arrested after he was found lurking around an apartment complex peeping into windows while naked.

At about 2am on Wednesday, police went to Oak Run Apartments, after receiving a report about a naked man peering into windows. Officers found Jesus Ruiz-Aguirre, 21, of Tampa, who was naked.
Ruiz-Aguirre was arrested for loitering and prowling. Other charges are pending. Police said Aguirre could not provide a reason for being in the area naked.
Police said drugs and/or alcohol appeared to be a factor in Ruiz-Aguirre’s behavior. He is listed in the arrest affidavit as a groundskeeper at Wild Things Zoo in Dade City.

Ziggy

Lost Lake is Lost Again Every Year

Lost Lake, near Bend, Oregon, is really only a part-time lake. In the summer, it’s a meadow! Lost Lake is connected to a lava tube that drains the lake annually, but not the same time every year, and not at the same rate. This year, the drainage happened in April and went pretty fast, as you can see in this video from The Bulletin.

(YouTube link)

The drainage stops when the lake is iced up, and the rest of the year, the state of the lake depends on the rate of inflow vs. the rate of drainage. You can read a more comprehensive explanation at mental_floss.

North Sentinel Island

The Island That Rejected Civilization

Tourists have long traveled to many of India's over-1200 islands of scenic beaches, coral reefs, and volcanic diving. And while many of the islands can be traveled to thanks to an agreement with the Indian government, at least one island remains untouched: North Sentinel Island.
It is currently not possible to visit. North Sentinel Island is the home of the Sentinelese, the last small group of surviving indigenous people who have largely rejected contact with modern civilization. Because the Sentinelese people have a history of hostility to outsiders, much is not known about the island beyond a few accounts.

The Pliocene called ...

It wants its CO2 levels back.

Earth just averaged 400 parts per million of carbon dioxide for a full month. Our atmosphere hasn't had this much CO2 in human history, and possibly not since the Pliocene Epoch about 3 million years ago.

Saber-toothed cats like Smilodon thrived during the Pliocene. 

Earth's atmosphere is changing faster than ever before in human history, and it's no secret why. Humans are releasing a flood of greenhouse gases, namely carbon dioxide, into the air by burning fossil fuels. CO2 lingers in the sky for centuries, so once we reach a certain level, we're stuck for a while.

Until recently, our air hadn't contained 400 parts per million of CO2 since long before the dawn of Homo sapiens. It briefly broke 400 ppm in the Arctic in June 2012, but CO2 levels fluctuate with the seasons (due to plant growth), so they soon dipped back into the 390s. Hawaii then saw 400 ppm in May 2013, and again in March 2014. The Mauna Loa Observatory also averaged 400 ppm for all of April 2014.

And now, in yet another miserable milestone, the entire planet has averaged above 400 ppm for a full month. That's according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which reported this week that Earth's average CO2 level was 400.83 ppm during March 2015.

"Reaching 400 parts per million as a global average is a significant milestone," says Pieter Tans, lead scientist of NOAA's Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network. "This marks the fact that humans burning fossil fuels have caused global carbon dioxide concentrations to rise more than 120 parts per million since pre-industrial times. Half of that rise has occurred since 1980."

To put this in perspective, we know (thanks to ice-core samples) that CO2 levels hadn't even flirted with 400 ppm for at least 800,000 years before this century. The history is hazier beyond that, but research suggests CO2 levels haven't been this high since the Pliocene Epoch, which ended about 3 million years ago. Our own species, by comparison, only evolved about 200,000 years ago.

The peaks and valleys in this graph show seasonal variability, but the long-term trend is clear.

"Scientists have come to regard [the Pliocene] as the most recent period in history when the atmosphere's heat-trapping ability was as it is now," explains the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, "and thus as our guide for things to come." (For anyone who isn't aware, CO2 traps solar heat on Earth. There's a long historical link between CO2 and temperature; see more about that here.)

So what was the Pliocene like? Here are some key features, according to NASA and Scripps:

• Sea level was about 5 to 40 meters (16 to 131 feet) higher than today.
• Temperatures were 3 to 4 degrees Celsius (5.4 to 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer.
• The poles were even hotter — as much as 10 degrees C (18 degrees F) more than today.

CO2 is a key part of life on Earth, of course, and lots of wildlife flourished during the Pliocene. Fossils suggest forests grew on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic, for example, and savannas spread across what is now North African desert. The problem is that we've built up swaths of fragile human infrastructure in just a few generations, and the abrupt return of a warmer, wetter Pliocene-esque atmosphere is already starting to wreak havoc with civilization.

Extreme weather swings can lead to crop failures and famines, for example, and rising sea levels endanger about 200 million people who live along the planet's coastlines. The Pliocene was prone to "frequent, intense El Niño cycles," according to Scripps, and lacked the significant ocean upwelling that currently supports fisheries along the west coasts of the Americas. Corals also suffered a major extinction at the Pliocene's peak, and an encore of that could threaten an estimated 30 million people worldwide who now rely on coral ecosystems for food and income.

While the Pliocene might be a useful guide, there is a key difference: The Pliocene climate developed slowly over time, and we're reviving it at an unprecedented pace. Species can usually adapt to slow environmental changes, but even we might have trouble keeping up with our own upheaval.

"I think it is likely that all these ecosystem changes could recur, even though the time scales for the Pliocene warmth are different than the present," Scripps geologist Richard Norris said in 2013. "The main lagging indicator is likely to be sea level just because it takes a long time to heat the ocean and a long time to melt ice. But our dumping of heat and CO2 into the ocean is like making investments in a pollution 'bank,' since we can put heat and CO2 in the ocean, but we will only extract the results over the next several thousand years. And we cannot easily withdraw either the heat or the CO2 from the ocean if we actually get our act together and try to limit industrial pollution — the ocean keeps what we put in it."

An artist's rendering of Pliocene wildlife, including a brave beaver standing up to a saber-toothed cat.

There's nothing magical about 400 molecules of CO2 in every 1 million molecules of air — their greenhouse effect is about the same as 399 or 401 ppm. But 400 is a round number, and round numbers are natural milestones, whether it's a 50th birthday, a 500th home run or the 100,000th mile on an odometer. And when it comes to CO2, even a symbolic milestone is important if it can draw more attention to how quickly and dramatically we're changing our planet.

"This milestone is a wake-up call that our actions in response to climate change need to match the persistent rise in CO2," says Erika Podest, a carbon and water-cycle expert at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "Climate change is a threat to life on Earth and we can no longer afford to be spectators."

Newly Discovered 17th Century Document Described Now-Extinct Mauritian Wildlife

by Justine Alford

 

When the Dutch colonized the island of Mauritius back in the 17^th century, sailors brought with them a variety of pets and animals as carry-ons, like cats, rats and monkeys. Unadapted to these new predators, local animals would have been profoundly affected by their introduction. Dodos, for example, were wiped out within just 90 years of the arrival of the Dutch. Unfortunately, there exist few detailed descriptions of the Mauritian ecosystem prior to Dutch occupation, except of settlers jotting down which animals were easiest to catch.
The native wildlife of Mauritius has therefore been somewhat of a mystery to biologists. But thanks to a newly discovered report, scientists have now been able to gain an intriguing insight into past life on the island, which has revealed that it was once home to some truly bizarre, now extinct creatures.
The recently translated and transcribed document was written between the years of 1666-1669 by soldier Johannes Pretorius, who was assigned the role of ziekentrooster, or comforter of the sick. According to the document’s analysis, which has been published in Historical Biology, what he produced is by far the most detailed record of the native animal life on the island discovered to date. Not only that, but he also described the effects of introduced animals, and how they kept now-extinct bird species in captivity.
Although the authors aren’t sure why he ended up creating this wildlife account, lead author Julian Hume told Live Science that his writing style suggests he may have been assigned the job of reporting whether the island would be suitable for permanent colonization, such as describing what animals they could potentially eat.
Alongside spending some time discussing the less exciting animals, such as cattle, deer, goats and pigs, Pretorius provided some fascinating descriptions of the native fauna. For example, he said that the now extinct Broad-billed, or raven, Parrot couldn’t fly, but we know that they were physiologically capable of flying, albeit poorly. It’s likely that this would have ultimately led to their downfall. He also commented on their aggressive nature, describing them as “very bad tempered.” These birds were so feisty, Hume told Live Science, that they would put up a good fight against introduced predators such as macaques and black rats. But their stubborn attitude didn’t end there, as Pretorius wrote that they would also refuse to eat meals when captive, and would rather die than live in captivity.
He also described the Mauritius blue pigeon, which he repeatedly attempted to rear but failed, as having a warty face. That’s interesting, says Hume, because all other closely related species also have warts on the face, yet contemporary illustrations and accounts depict or describe them as smooth-faced.
Another eloquent portrayal was of the Mauritius Red Rail, an also now-extinct flightless bird, which was apparently “unbelievably stupid.” According to Pretorius, it was so stupid that it would actually run towards people if they waved objects at them and made loud noises, and made no attempt to escape the wrath of their sticks. Easy dinner, then, but perhaps not the tastiest; “fatty and greasy,” he notes.
While we’ve showcased some of his amusing writings, this document is actually of great interest because it not only provides the first ecological details of some of the island’s now-extinct birds, it also describes the woes of attempting to survive and grow crops during the time of colonization.

Bear Walks Like A Human

This Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) at the Laos Wildlife Rescue Center likes to walk on his hind legs.

YouTube link

Animal Pictures

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Today in History

1607		English colonists land near the James River in Virginia.
1648		Margaret Jones of Plymouth is found guilty of witchcraft and is sentenced to be hanged.
1779		The War of Bavarian Succession ends.
1846		The United States declares war on Mexico after fighting has already begun.
1861		Britain declares its neutrality in the American Civil War.
1864		The Battle of Resaca commences as Union General Sherman fights towards Atlanta.
1888		Slavery is abolished in Brazil.
1912		The Royal Flying Corps is established in England.
1913		Igor Sikorsky flies the first four-engine aircraft.
1944		Allied forces in Italy break through the German Gustav Line into the Liri Valley.
1958		French troops take control of Algiers.
1968		Peace talks between the United States and North Vietnam begin in Paris.

Naked Is Better

Is Being Naked Better For You?

Naked Gardening Day and World Naked Bike Riding Day are body positive celebrations of nudity -- but are there benefits to being bare according to science?

Life On Food Stamps

What Living on Food Stamps Is Really Like

The food stamp, or SNAP, challenge asks people to live on $4.15 a day, or around $29 a week, but does this present a false picture of what life on food stamps is really like?

The Biggest Cheats

Biggest Cheats in Sports History

Did Tom Brady know or no? Regardless, the deflategate news reminds of other big sports cheats in the past.

The Lasting Effects Of Bullying

Bullying Has Surprisingly Long-lasting Effects

Kids who are bullied are more likely than those who are mistreated by adults to suffer from mental health issues, a new study finds.

Woman claims Verizon Wireless caused her to have a heart attack

Angela Hawkins called Verizon Wireless last year to straighten out a problem with her bill. The grandmother of four hoped to talk to a helpful customer service representative. Instead, according to a lawsuit, the rep and her supervisor treated Hawkins rudely and threatened to have her arrested. She claims the supervisor wrongly accused her of threatening to kill everyone in the call centre and caused her to have a heart attack. "I was just blindsided," Hawkins said. "What a horrible thing to accuse someone of." Hawkins sued Verizon Wireless on Wednesday for $2.35 million, claiming both negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Hawkins, 53, of Chesapeake, Virginia, said she called to ask for help with another Verizon Wireless representative's promise of a $60 account credit made several weeks before. During the Nov. 19 call, Hawkins spoke to a female customer service representative for at least 20 minutes. The 4-foot, 10-inch woman said she never raised her voice or threatened the rep because she's "not that type of person." The rep eventually suggested Hawkins speak with her supervisor. Hawkins waited on hold for several minutes, the lawsuit said. When the supervisor came on the line, the lawsuit said, he indicated that Hawkins had threatened his employee and that he was calling the police. Hawkins said she was shocked anyone would say something like that about her. She felt lightheaded and quickly got off the phone and sat on her couch.

She talked to her husband about what happened and checked her blinds several times in anticipation of police cars. Jeffrey Brooke, Hawkins' attorney, said the threat of arrest really shook his client. "She had visions of SWAT guys breaking her door down and putting her in leg shackles," he said. Hawkins said the supervisor called back about two hours later and apologized for the "miscommunication." "That was his word," she said. The supervisor explained he had listened to a recording of the original call and determined she had not threatened anyone, according to Hawkins. She said the supervisor didn't mention the $60 credit, and she didn't press the matter. "I'd already had a horrible experience," she said. "I wasn't going to subject myself to that again." The day after the call, Hawkins went to her doctor. She said an EKG revealed she'd had a heart attack.
Hawkins said her doctor personally drove her to a hospital, where she underwent surgery to place a stent in one of her arteries. She said she spent four days in the hospital. Hawkins said she had high cholesterol but no history of heart problems before the call. "She was in good health," Brooke said, noting that she took a stress test in 2013 and passed. "It was all found to be in good working order." Brooke said the hospital trip cost more than $60,000. Plus, he said, Hawkins will require special medication for the rest of her life at a cost of about $120,000. Hawkins said this is the first lawsuit she's been a party to. "I'm not one who believes in suing," she said. But Hawkins said she's seeking more than her $60 credit. She wants Verizon to realise "the representative did a wrong... a horrible wrong." "It's one thing to say I can't help you," Brooke said. "It's another thing to say I'm calling the police." A spokesman for Verizon Wireless declined to comment on the lawsuit filed in Chesapeake Circuit Court, citing the pending litigation.

Woman surprised to find cocaine in granola bar

The San Antonio Police Department has confirmed narcotics detectives are investigating how a small bag of cocaine ended up inside the wrapper of a granola bar eaten by a local woman. "It's a somewhat disturbing case," Sgt. Javier Salazar said. "You think of a child getting a hold of a package that's got interesting symbols on it, dollar signs in this case, and ingesting something like cocaine that could have a possibly dangerous effect, maybe even deadly on a child," added Salazar.

Cynthia Rodriguez reported the incident to SAPD on March 18, after the bag of cocaine fell from the wrapper of a Nature Valley granola bar. Rodriguez said she originally thought she won a prize. She called Nature Valley and a company representative told her to report the incident to her local police department. Rodriguez said an officer and a detective first tested the substance to see if it was heroin. The detective then tested it for cocaine. "He tried for cocaine and they both looked at each other and he goes 'oh my goodness, its high quality cocaine,'" said Rodriguez.
SAPD took the drugs, the wrapper and the box the granola bars came in as evidence. Salazar said detectives are trying to determine at what point the cocaine got inside the wrapper. "We're not sure if this was something added on purpose or if it was something that may have fallen out of someone's pocket on the assembly line," said Salazar. General Mills, the company that owns the Nature Valley brand, released a written statement on Wednesday: "We referred this to the police department in March, and are confident this did not happen in our facility."

YouTube link.

When pressed for answers about why company officials feel this way, spokesperson Mike Siemienas said granola bars move quickly along its factory assembly lines and that it would be "difficult" for someone to place drugs inside a wrapper. Rodriguez said she's thankful one of her 11 grandchildren, three of whom live at her home, did not find the bag. "What if they thought it was sugar?" asked Rodriguez. Rodriguez said she was given several boxes of Nature Valley bars along with other snack products from a person who hands them out at as samples at San Antonio area stores. She said the larger box, the granola bar box and the wrapper itself did not appear to have been opened at any point before she got the products.

Machete-wielding man who tried to steal lawn chairs fought off by woman with garden hoe

A man from Bingham, Maine, was arrested on Sunday after allegedly threatening a woman with a machete when she confronted him as he was allegedly stealing lawn chairs from her property. Dwight Nathan Hart, 64, is charged with criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and criminal trespassing, according to Chief Deputy James Ross of the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office. The woman, whose name was not released, told police that she saw a pickup truck pull into her yard at around 6:15pm, Ross said.

“A male got out, who was Mr. Hart, and he started taking her lawn chairs,” Ross said. He said the woman confronted Hart with a garden hoe and told him to put the chairs down. The two did not know each other, Ross said. They got into an argument. When the woman went to take the chairs out of the back of the truck, Hart pulled a large machete out of the truck and started swinging at her, Ross said. “He actually hit the hoe several times,” Ross said.
“The deputy actually saw machete marks on the hoe handle.” The woman was able to take the chairs back and Hart left, but not before the woman wrote down his license plate number and gave a description of the vehicle to police, Ross said. Deputy Wilfred Dodge of the sheriff’s office responded to the call and was able to locate Hart at his residence. Dodge was assisted by other members of the sheriff’s office and the Maine State Police.
There were no serious injuries, although Ross said the woman did hit Hart with the hoe handle. Ross said the property was posted against trespassing, and Hart admitted to having seen a “No Trespassing” sign. “I don’t know what prompted him to take the chairs, whether it was a crime of opportunity or something else,” Ross said. “The victim said she had never seen him before.” Hart is being held at the Somerset County Jail on $500 cash bail.

Bangladeshi authorities use signs in 'sacred' Arabic to deter men from peeing in public

Authorities in Bangladesh appear to be winning the battle to stop men from urinating in public by putting up signs in Arabic, which is regarded by Muslim Bengalis as a sacred language.
Although most Bengalis are not even able to read Arabic, the recent decision of the Religious Affairs Ministry to put up signs telling people not to pee in public seems to be working. Arabic is sacred because it is the language the Koran is written in. Similar signs in the Bengali language were having little effect.
A spokesmen for the religious affairs ministry said the campaign had been a success. “We took the initiative to erase the warnings in Bangla language against urinating in public and instead wrote the same message in Arabic, you can see the result yourself – it appears to be a successful campaign so far,” he said.

YouTube link.

But it has received harsh criticism from Fariduddin Masud, a well-known cleric, who said it was running the image of Arabic. “Nobody has the right to use the language of the Koran for such a campaign. The people of the country respect Arabic but that does not mean that we’ll tolerate the use of Arabic to stop people from urinating [at street corners],” the cleric said.

Greece vs, Turkey

Why Greece and Turkey Are Fighting Over Cyprus

Since 1974 Cyprus has been divided in two: One part is ethnically Greek, while the other is Turkish. However, there are signs that the two sides may reunite soon. So why is Cyprus divided?

Captain Kidd's Treasure

Possible Captain Kidd Treasure Found off Madagascar

Marine archaeologist Barry Clifford says he has discovered silver treasure from the infamous 17th-century Scottish pirate William Kidd.

Roman Temples and Medieval Secrets

Ransacked Roman Temple Has Hidden Medieval Secrets

Until now, little was known about Hosn Niha, a Roman-Byzantine village located in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon.

Clear-Cutting Romania

Logging Threatens One of Europe's Last Virgin Forests

by Nils Klawitter

One of Europe's most beautiful forest areas is disappearing piece by piece in Romania's Carpathian Mountains. Some of the logging is illegal. The wood is then sold to make flooring or heating pellets that are sold in Germany and other countries.  More

Cerbera odollam

The "suicide tree"

The plant, whose scientific name is Cerbera odollam, is as infamous as it is ubiquitous in Kerala, India, where it grows wild along the southwestern coast. The thin-branched, flowering tree bears a deadly harvest: a softball-sized fruit with seeds so toxic they can stop a heart. In the 19th century in Madagascar, where the tree is also found, thousands of people per year died after consuming the seed in “trials by ordeal” believed to determine whether they were guilty of witchcraft or other crimes. And a 2004 study found that it’s responsible for roughly a death per week in Kerala, most of them suicides. Researchers believe that more people have taken their own life using othalanga than any other plant in the world. More information at the link, but I had to go to Wikipedia to find the pharmacologic basis of the toxicity:

The kernels of C. odollam contain cerberin, a potent cardenolide glycoside belonging to the cardiac glycoside family of toxins that includes digoxin. The poison blocks the calcium ion channels in heart muscle, causing disruption of the heart beat. This is most often fatal. Cerberin is difficult to detect in autopsies and its taste can be masked with strong spices. Therefore it is often used in homicide and suicide in India...
The seeds also have a long history as a poison in Madagascar. The poison was responsible for the death of 2% of the population (3000 people per year, 50,000 per generation) of the central province of Madagascar. The belief in the genuineness and accuracy of trial by ordeal using this poison was so strongly held among all, that innocent people suspected of an offense did not hesitate to subject themselves to it; some even showed eagerness to subject themselves to the test. On one occasion over 6000 people died in a single ordeal.

The toxin is therefore similar to the one incorporated into the bodies of Monarch butterfly caterpillars when they feed on milkweed.
And I'd bet it's been used for lots of murders.

Mixing With Andromeda

Our Galaxy Could be Mixing With Andromeda's Supersized Halo

The Andromeda galaxy, the nearest spiral galaxy to our Milky Way, is sporting a massive halo of hot gas spanning a million light-years into intergalactic space.

Mom of the Year?

Mom of the Year? Mother Spider Feeds Self to Babies

A desert spider lets her young eat her from the inside out as soon as they're born. Now that's dedication.

Carrying The Young

Ways Animal Moms Carry Their Young: Photos

'Baby on board' takes on a whole new meaning for these super moms, who may carry anywhere from one to hundreds of babies on their backs.

Man and his dog are suing energy company over exploding manhole

A man who was hit in the head by an exploding manhole cover in Park Slope, New York, while he was walking his dog is suing Con Edison - and he's named his beloved pet as a plaintiff. Salvatore Grillo, 71, says the utility is to blame for an explosion that sent a cast iron manhole cover sailing into his head on Feb. 2, 2015, according to a lawsuit filed last week in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

Grillo suffered permanent "serious personal injuries" from the explosion and so did his dog, a black Lab named Abby, according to the lawsuit. The dog sustained multiple wounds, including singed fur and paws, the lawsuit alleges. Abby also suffered psychological damage that left her afraid to leave home, according to the lawsuit. The blast sent the manhole cover about 25 feet into the air and shattered windows in a nearby apartment building.
Abby was so spooked by the eruption that she ran into Prospect Park and was found about an hour later at a pharmacy. The dog was taken to Sean Casey Animal Rescue, which tracked down her relieved owners. Casey said that Abby's paws and nails were torn up from her run. Bloody paw pads are visible in a photo of the dog taken that day. The Feb. 2 manhole fire in Park Slope was one of hundreds that erupted on streets in New York last winter, when salt in melting snow seeped underground and damaged wires, sparking the blazes.

Grillo's lawsuit claims Con Ed was negligent in part because it failed to prevent wiring from eroding, didn't install a manhole cover that "would not fly during underground vault explosions," and didn't warn the public to stay away from the potential threat. There are 250,000 manholes in New York City, a Con Ed spokesman said. The covers are typically about 2 feet wide and can weigh up to 260 pounds, but most are lighter, the spokesman said. A spokesman for Con Ed declined to comment because the litigation is ongoing.

Animal Pictures

The Daily Drift

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Today in History

1588   King Henry III flees Paris after Henry of Guise triumphantly enters the city.  
1641   The chief advisor to Charles I, Thomas Wentworth, is beheaded in the Tower of London  
1780   Charleston, South Carolina falls to British forces.  
1851   The Tule River War ends.  
1863   With a victory at the Battle of Raymond, Mississippi, Union General Ulysses S. Grant closes in on Vicksburg.  
1864   Union General Benjamin Butler attacks Drewry's Bluff on the James River.
1865   The last land battle of the Civil war occurs at Palmito Ranch, Texas. It is a Confederate victory.  
1881   Tunisia, in North Africa become a French protectorate.  
1885   In the Battle of Batoche, French Canadians rebel against the Canadian government.  
1926   The Airship Norge becomes the first vessel to fly over the North Pole.  
1932   The body of Charles Lindbergh's baby is found.  
1935   Alcoholics Anonymous is founded in Akron, Ohio by "Bill W.," a stockbroker, and "Dr. Bob S.," a heart surgeon.  
1940   The Nazi conquest of France begins with the crossing Muese River.  
1942   The Soviet Army launches its first major offensive of the war, taking Kharkov in the eastern Ukraine.    
1943   Axis forces in North Africa surrender.
1949   The Berlin Blockade ends.  
1969   Viet Cong sappers try unsuccessfully to overrun Landing Zone Snoopy in Vietnam.
1975   The U.S. merchant ship Mayaguez is seized by Cambodian forces.

Spectacular Sunrise At Lake Bled In Slovenia

Check out more photos here.

Vigilantes locales luchan cárteles

How Vigilantes Are Fighting the Mexican Cartels

In Mexico cartels are kidnapping scores of innocent people. With no help from the government, the latest incident in Cocula, prompted armed locals to set out and find their abducted neighbors.

U.S. troops stealing millions of dollars

Charboneau contributed to thefts by U.S. military personnel of at least $15 million worth of fuel since the start of the U.S. war in Afghanistan. And eventually she became one of at least 115 enlisted personnel and military officers convicted since 2005 of committing theft, bribery, and contract rigging crimes valued at $52 million during their deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a comprehensive tally of court records by the Center for Public Integrity...
Additional crimes by military personnel are still under investigation, and some court records remain partly under seal. The magnitude of additional losses from fraud, waste, and abuse by contractors, civilians, and allied foreign soldiers in Afghanistan has never been tallied, but officials probing such crimes say the total is in the billions of dollars... those who investigate and prosecute military wrongdoing say the convictions so far constitute a small portion of the crimes they think were committed by U.S. military personnel in the two countries...
So far, officers account for approximately four-fifths of the value of the fraud committed by military personnel in Iraq, while in Afghanistan, the ratio was flipped, with enlistees accounting for roughly the same portion, according to the Center’s tally. The reasons for the difference are unclear. But Sopko said he expects more officers to be investigated for misconduct in Afghanistan as the U.S. military mission there continues, so the ratio could change. Soldiers who had little or no prior criminal history, like Charboneau, say the circumstances of their deployments made stealing with impunity look easy, and so they made decisions that to their surprise eventually brought them prison sentences ranging from three months to more than 17 years... More depressing reading at the Center for Public Integrity.

Skeletons of the Past

Helping Europe's War Dead Find a Final Resting Place

by Alexander Smoltczyk

With excavations of Europe's killing fields still unearthing the mortal remains of thousands of fallen soldiers, World War II still isn't over for the people who find them, identify them and give them a proper burial.  More

Non Sequitur

The Disastrous Pitfalls of Abstinence-Only Sex Ed

Abstinence-Only Sex Ed Reveals Pitfalls

Not teaching teenagers the proper use of birth control doesn't prevent them from having sex; it creates a serious public health issue.

Chocolate "Fat bloom"

An article at Chemistry Matters explains that chocolate tastes better if it is kept in a refrigerator.
This is all to do with a phenomenon known as polymorphism, which is the ability for a solid to exist in more than one crystal structure. Each crystal structure is called a polymorph, and each polymorph has its own set of distinct properties. The main ingredient in chocolate, cocoa butter, has six polymorphs which can be distinguished between each other by measuring their melting points...
...at room temperature, the fatty molecules in polymorph V have enough energy to slowly (days/weeks scale) convert to polymorph VI. This transformation in in the crystal structure is facilitated by the vibrational energy stored in the molecules which allow the molecules to wriggle about and realign with each other. This can be stopped by keeping your chocolate in a cool, dark place... Next the "fat bloom" is described

The change in crystal structure is usually accompanied by something called ‘fat bloom,’ which is where the chocolate begins to look dusty, and pale spots appear on the surface... It’s off putting, but still safe to eat. It happens because of partial melting in the solid which cases the fats within it to rise to the surface.

Burning Trash

Why Don't We Burn Our Trash?

Sweden is able to recycle 99 percent of their trash, some of which they burn. Why isn't this practiced in the United States?

Why Cheat?

Why Do People Cheat?

A cheating scandal involving teachers raises questions about what motivates people to cut corners and whether anyone is immune.

Fracking chemicals detected in drinking water

An analysis of drinking water sampled from three homes in Bradford County, Pa., revealed traces of a compound commonly found in Marcellus Shale drilling fluids, according to a study published on Monday.
The paper, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, addresses a longstanding question about potential risks to underground drinking water from the drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The authors suggested a chain of events by which the drilling chemical ended up in a homeowner’s water supply.
“This is the first case published with a complete story showing organic compounds attributed to shale gas development found in a homeowner’s well,” said Susan Brantley, one of the study’s authors and a geoscientist from Pennsylvania State University. You couldn't ask for the results to be in a more scientifically rigorous publication.  An industry spokesman offered the expected meaningless rebuttal:

"...saying that it provided no proof that the chemical came from a nearby well."

More at the New York Times.

Water Power and Volcanic Eruptions

Massive Volcanic Eruptions Powered By Water

Lots of water leads oceanic crust to melt, giving some volcanoes the potential to erupt explosively.

'Suicide Tree'

'Suicide Tree' Fruit Leads to Indian Teen's Death

One teenage girl died and three others were in critical condition after consuming fruit from a tree.

"Hollow Heart" watermelon

Hollow heart can happen due to poor pollination causing the watermelon to develop cracks internally. Cutting a watermelon, affected with hollow heart, across the body will reveal a well defined structure that may surprise those who aren’t familiar with the condition. Hollow heart is not a disease and the internal cracking has no negative impact on the watermelon’s taste or quality, and is entirely safe to consume.  Many more pictures at Amusing Planet.

"Human-shaped" mushrooms

A newly discovered species of fungus with an uncanny resemblance to little humans has been found on the roadside in Norfolk.
With fleshy heads, arms and legs, the mushrooms, discovered by Jonathan Revett in Cockley Cley, Norfolk have just been classified as a new species... The mushrooms have been named as geastrum britannicum to reflect them being unique to the UK.

Brain Evolution

Ancient Brain Shows How Animals Evolved Heads

Which came first: heads or brains? One of the oldest brains ever discovered is helping to answer that question and more.

Just Like Jenga Blocks

Fire Ants Build Tunnels Like Jenga Blocks

The micro mechanics behind the fire ants' keen tunneling ability could be tapped for designing search-and-rescue robots.

Matching Hormones

Dogs' Hormones Adjust to Match Those of Owners

Dogs connect so deeply to people that their hormones synchronize with ours.

Animal Pictures