We taste like chicken--or so I've heard. Carolyn Hiler has a gift for making ordinary statements sound creepy.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
You Are What You Eat
We taste like chicken--or so I've heard. Carolyn Hiler has a gift for making ordinary statements sound creepy.
Nuclear Barriers Used to Separate Soccer Fans
Portable
barriers designed to be used during nuclear or biological incidents
were deployed to separate exiting football fans in Devon, UK, after a
match between Plymouth Argyle and Bristol Rovers. A spokesman from Devon and Cornwall Police said it was the first time the force had used them at a game.The story does not mention which team won. Using the barriers in this manner seems like a good idea, to make use of expensive equipment designed for events that might never happen in order to solve everyday problems. More
He said the barriers, which are metal and about 15ft (4.5m) high and 65ft (20m) long, would help them clear fans from the area outside Home Park stadium.
After the match, Acting Supt Brendan Brookshaw, said: "Everything went according to plan with a really good crowd. Just two people were arrested.
"We need to evaluate it fully, but my initial reaction was the barriers were very successful. There was no violence and no disorder in the area where we usually get problems."
One Big Ass Ship
In the 2000 photo above, the Blue Marlin was hired to move the destroyer USS Cole back to the United States after the warship was damaged by Al-Qaeda bomb in Yemen.
A ship that carries a ship (or ships)? Now that's a big ass ship, but the Blue Marlin is actually not the biggest heavy lift ship in the world. That title belongs to Dockwise Vanguard (the company also owns the Blue Marlin), which has 70% larger deck-size than the Blue Marlin.
More about the Blue Marlin over at Wikipedia and Dark Roasted Blend
Huge Semi-Submersible Ships
City of Fright
Paris
If you think the streets of Paris are enchanting, wait till you discover what lurks below.
THEY DUG PARIS
Most visitors to Paris have no idea that beneath the City of Light is a dark labyrinth of branching tunnels and abandoned quarries. Paris sits atop massive limestone and gypsum formations that have been quarried for more than a thousand years. The Romans chiseled the fine-grained limestone into bathhouses and sculptures. The French used it to build thousands of buildings, everything from Notre Dame cathedral and the Louvre Museum to Paris Police Headquarters. As for the gypsum, ever heard of plaster of Paris? That's where it comes from.
When the mining started, the quarries were outside of town, but over the centuries the city spread and so did the quarries. Eventually Paris ended up with a 1,900-acre underground maze that starts about 15 feet below the streets and ends 120 feet underground. Parisians call the multi-level maze gruyère (Swiss cheese), and that's exactly what a cross-section of the ground beneath their feet looks like.
THAT SINKING FEELING
When an entire city ends up on holey ground, things get shaky. Residents got their first glimpse of how unstable their city had become in 1774, when one of the tunnels collapsed, gulping down houses and people along Rue d'Enfer (Hell Street). Parisians panicked, so Louis XVI created the Inspection Generale des Carrieres (quarry inspectors) and appointed architect Charles-Axel Guillaumot as its first chief. He instructed Guillaumot to do three things: 1) find all the empty spaces under Paris, 2) make a map of them, and 3) reinforce any spaces below public streets or below buildings belonging to the king. Personally inspecting the sinkholes to a depth of more than 75 feet, Guillaumot was horrified by what he found and told Louis the truth: "The temples, palaces, houses, and public streets of several parts of Paris and its surroundings are about to sink into giant pits."
MOLD LANG SYNE
That wasn't the only problem in Paris. Thanks to war, famine, and plague, the city's cemeteries were full to overflowing. One frosty February morning in 1788, a homeowner started down to his cellar but was immediately driven back upward by a terrible stench. Egged on by his neighbors (and wearing a vinegar-soaked handkerchief over his nose), he crept back down and found 20 decaying bodies, covered in graveyard mold, bursting through the wall. The graveyards had finally gone beyond their limits.
When an entire city ends up on holey ground, things get shaky. Residents got their first glimpse of how unstable their city had become in 1774, when one of the tunnels collapsed, gulping down houses and people along Rue d'Enfer (Hell Street). Parisians panicked, so Louis XVI created the Inspection Generale des Carrieres (quarry inspectors) and appointed architect Charles-Axel Guillaumot as its first chief. He instructed Guillaumot to do three things: 1) find all the empty spaces under Paris, 2) make a map of them, and 3) reinforce any spaces below public streets or below buildings belonging to the king. Personally inspecting the sinkholes to a depth of more than 75 feet, Guillaumot was horrified by what he found and told Louis the truth: "The temples, palaces, houses, and public streets of several parts of Paris and its surroundings are about to sink into giant pits."
MOLD LANG SYNE
That wasn't the only problem in Paris. Thanks to war, famine, and plague, the city's cemeteries were full to overflowing. One frosty February morning in 1788, a homeowner started down to his cellar but was immediately driven back upward by a terrible stench. Egged on by his neighbors (and wearing a vinegar-soaked handkerchief over his nose), he crept back down and found 20 decaying bodies, covered in graveyard mold, bursting through the wall. The graveyards had finally gone beyond their limits.
But
where others saw a problem, King Louis saw an opportunity. He closed
the cemeteries and had the bones dug up and stacked into the quarries.
Six million skeletons -mounds and stacks of skulls, tibias, femurs, and
spines- turned the chambers into catacombs, an underground boneyard that
became known as "The Empire of the Dead."
CATS IN A MAZE
As Paris grew, the gruyère got even more full of holes. Cults dug crypts. City engineers built aqueducts, sewers, water mains, and tunnels for Métro lines. They dug conduits for telephone and electrical lines, bunkers for shelter during World War II, and garages for underground parking. And at the very bottom: the ancient quarries, their ceilings braced by nothing but limestone pillars and stacked stones.
Of the 180 miles of tunnels maintained by the Inspection Generale des Carrieres (IGC), only one mile -the catacombs- is open to the public. That doesn't stop the cataphiles. After dark, these hardcore cavers scurry down drains and through ventilation shafts. They chisel open manhole covers and sneak through entrances in hospital basements, the cellars of bars, church crypts, and subway tunnels. Why? "At the surface there are too many rules," says one cataphile. "Here we do what we want."
CATS IN A MAZE
As Paris grew, the gruyère got even more full of holes. Cults dug crypts. City engineers built aqueducts, sewers, water mains, and tunnels for Métro lines. They dug conduits for telephone and electrical lines, bunkers for shelter during World War II, and garages for underground parking. And at the very bottom: the ancient quarries, their ceilings braced by nothing but limestone pillars and stacked stones.
Of the 180 miles of tunnels maintained by the Inspection Generale des Carrieres (IGC), only one mile -the catacombs- is open to the public. That doesn't stop the cataphiles. After dark, these hardcore cavers scurry down drains and through ventilation shafts. They chisel open manhole covers and sneak through entrances in hospital basements, the cellars of bars, church crypts, and subway tunnels. Why? "At the surface there are too many rules," says one cataphile. "Here we do what we want."
While preparing an article for National Geographic,
reporter Neil Shea got an inside look at what cataphiles do
underground. Some carry scuba tanks for exploring and mapping abandoned
wells. Some create art, such as a four-foot-high limestone castle
complete with drawbridge, moat, towers, and even a little LEGO soldier
guarding the gate. Other host events: An author and an illustrator
staged a book signing for their graphic novel Le Diable Vert (The Green Devil).
A group of people held a banquet, their candelabra casting shadows
across the stone table as they dipped into cheese fondue and listened to
chamber music. With cataphiles scurrying through the gruyère like mice, the city decided to hire another kind of cat to hunt them down.
ON THE PURR-ROWL
ON THE PURR-ROWL
"We
believe deeply that the catacombs belong to us, and that no one has a
right to take them away," says a longtime cataphile nicknamed Morthicia.
The cataflics disagree. These special cops patrol the maze,
chase offenders from their underground lairs, and hand out fines. That's
business as usual… unless they stumble upon something unexpected.
In 2004, during a training exercise 50 feet below the surface, officers moved a tarp marked "Building site. No access." That triggered a tape recording of dogs barking. "To frighten people off," said an officer. Beyond the barking they found 3,000 square feet of subterranean galleries. In one gallery there was theater seating for 20 (carved into the rock), a full-size movie screen, and projection equipment, along with all kinds of films, from 1950s film noir classics to contemporary thrillers. In another room, they found tables and chairs, and a well-stocked bar. Three days later, they returned with an electrician to trace the wires being used to pirate power and phone service. But the galleries had been stripped; not a bit remained to offer a clue to the culprits. All that was left was a note in the middle of the floor: "Do not try to find us."
CHEESY PARISEE
In 2004, during a training exercise 50 feet below the surface, officers moved a tarp marked "Building site. No access." That triggered a tape recording of dogs barking. "To frighten people off," said an officer. Beyond the barking they found 3,000 square feet of subterranean galleries. In one gallery there was theater seating for 20 (carved into the rock), a full-size movie screen, and projection equipment, along with all kinds of films, from 1950s film noir classics to contemporary thrillers. In another room, they found tables and chairs, and a well-stocked bar. Three days later, they returned with an electrician to trace the wires being used to pirate power and phone service. But the galleries had been stripped; not a bit remained to offer a clue to the culprits. All that was left was a note in the middle of the floor: "Do not try to find us."
CHEESY PARISEE
A group calling itself "La Mexicaine De Perforation"
later claimed responsibility for the theater. "There are a dozen more
where that one came from," said Patrick Saletta, a photographer who
documents the urban underground. "You guys have no idea what's down
there." Perhaps not, but here's something they do know:
Inspector Guillaumot's 18th-century warning is still valid. In 1961 the
maze swallowed an entire south side neighborhood. Small collapses happen
every year, yet Parisians seem unconcerned. They have the IGC -still
vigilant more than 200 years after its founding- to keep the City of
Light from falling into the gruyère.
The Shattered Remains Of Afghanistan's Versailles
The first Afghan ruler who endeavored to modernize Afghanistan on a western model, Amanullah Khan, was eventually forced to flee his own country. His once opulent palaces are now testimony to the conflict and violence which have dogged this complex country for more than a century.
The New York City Farm Colony
In
1829, the government established a colony on 300 acres of woodland on
Staten Island in New York. The poor, the disabled, and the mentally ill
were taken there to raise crops and earn their keep -which they did,
until the population aged and it became an old folks home. It was only
closed in 1975. That's where the history of the site takes a more
sinister turn.Crime had been present on and around the grounds since the 1920s, when a seven-year-old boy disappeared from the woods after being seen walking with an elderly man. The nearby Willowbrook State School had a troubled history for much of its life as an institution for the developmentally disabled. A famous 1972 exposé revealed the children at Willowbrook lying naked on the floor, smeared in their own feces, with one attendant for every 50 kids. And then, in the 70s and 80s, children started disappearing.But that's not all. The buildings and grounds are the site of urban legends of ghosts, criminals, and satan worshipers. It's also a party place. Legally off-limits, the site is accessible and popular for drug users, graffiti artists, urban explorers, and paintball enthusiasts. Add to that the disintegration of the neglected structures and the encroaching forest, and the New York City Farm Colony is now a site to see, which you can at Atlas Obscura.
Many of them disabled, local kids would disappear from family homes, most never to be found again. Jennifer Schweiger, a 12-year-old with Down’s syndrome, disappeared on July 9, 1987, during what was intended as a short walk, to be found 35 days later in a shallow grave on the grounds of the Farm Colony. Andre Rand, once an orderly of the colony, was blamed for the series of murders. It was rumored he lived in the tunnels under the decaying hospital, and his campsites were found on the grounds of the property.
The Gorge at Watkins Glen
The Science Behind Bigfoot and Other Monsters
Daniel Loxton is a writer at Skeptic magazine. Donald R. Prothero is a paleontologist. They got together and wrote the new book Abominable Science! Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids,
which may be a disappointment for people who buy it for the title
alone. National Geographic News has an interview with both authors. A
sample:All the cryptids that you discuss in the book – Bigfoot, the Yeti, the Loch Ness Monster, Mokele Mbembe – are very similar to things that exist or existed in the past: bears, primates, plesiosaurs, sauropods. Why the similarity?The authors also discuss the phrase "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" at NatGeo News .
DL: In some cases I think it's because they are the same. Bears are often associated with ogres or wildmen in folklore because they're pretty humanlike. Once that folklore is underway, you have the opportunity for people to make these misidentification errors where they see a bear and think it might be a bigfoot.
DP: These animals look like something familiar to us because the myths grow around whatever we've already just seen. Daniel pointed out in the book that the Mokele Mbembe myth emerged right about the time that large sauropod skeletons were first mounted in New York City and illustrated by people like Charles R. Knight. Then lo and behold, someone starts reporting one in the Congo, where it doesn't have any history prior to that.
Six Weird Animal Facts Illustrated by ChaosLife
If you've always wanted to learn more about animals but don't actually like reading, then you'll love this great series of illustrations by A. Stiffler and K. Copeland of ChaosLife. With any luck, they'll add more images to this small 6 part series called Nature Is Magic.
Rescued Kitten Infected Girl With Rare Virus
In a cat rescue gone wrong, a teenager was left with a large,
open wound, which took multiple doctors several weeks to determine the
cause.
Bus-Sized Reptile Terrorized Prehistoric Sealife
A well-preserved fossil reveals that mosasaurs evolved to become super toothy, sleek, shark-like and speedy.
What a whopper!
Record 741-pound gator caught in Mississippi
by Dylan Stableford
An alligator hunting record in Mississippi was broken for the third time in a week, wildlife officials there say, after the state's heaviest gator was caught.
A 13-foot, 6.5-inch gator weighing 741.5 pounds was taken by Dalco Turner of Gluckstadt, Miss., on Sunday morning on the Mississippi River near Port Gibson. It took Turner and two other hunters an hour to finally snare him.
"He broke three lines, and I had the only hook that stayed in him the whole time," Turner told the Clarion-Ledger.
It almost didn't happen. "We passed it by the first time," he said. "We really didn’t think he was big enough to go after."
Turner's record catch came a week after the state record for heaviest gator was broken twice within hours.
On Sept. 1, a 723.5-pound gator was caught by Beth Trammell in a canal near Redwood, Miss., according to MSNewsNow.com, breaking the previous state record of 697.5 pounds.
But Trammell's record was short-lived. An hour after the record was certified, Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks’ Alligator Program coordinator Ricky Flynt processed a record 727-pound gator that was snared by Dustin Bockman, a UPS driver from Vickburg, Miss., who took the 13-foot, 4.5-inch gator in the Mississippi River near Big Black River.
"He broke all the lines we could put in him," Bockman told "Gulf Live." "Finally put a snare on him and got him up high enough and put a shot on him. All in all probably took us four and a half hours to catch him from the first time we saw him.
"We're going to cook it for sure," Bockman added. "There's plenty for me and everybody else."
Both Trammell and Bockman's catches fell short of the state record for length. In 2008, a 13-foot, 6.5-inch gator was caught on the Pascagoula River.
That record stood until Turner's massive catch, which tied the mark.
"Having a state record for an alligator in Mississippi is a lot like living in a glass house," Brian Albert Broom wrote in the Clarion-Ledger. "It’s going to get broken."
Mississippi, though, has nothing on Texas. According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, a record 800-pound alligator was caught during a public hunt in May. The 14-foot, 3-inch gator was estimated to be between 30 to 50 years old.
A 13-foot, 6.5-inch gator weighing 741.5 pounds was taken by Dalco Turner of Gluckstadt, Miss., on Sunday morning on the Mississippi River near Port Gibson. It took Turner and two other hunters an hour to finally snare him.
"He broke three lines, and I had the only hook that stayed in him the whole time," Turner told the Clarion-Ledger.
It almost didn't happen. "We passed it by the first time," he said. "We really didn’t think he was big enough to go after."
Turner's record catch came a week after the state record for heaviest gator was broken twice within hours.
On Sept. 1, a 723.5-pound gator was caught by Beth Trammell in a canal near Redwood, Miss., according to MSNewsNow.com, breaking the previous state record of 697.5 pounds.
But Trammell's record was short-lived. An hour after the record was certified, Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks’ Alligator Program coordinator Ricky Flynt processed a record 727-pound gator that was snared by Dustin Bockman, a UPS driver from Vickburg, Miss., who took the 13-foot, 4.5-inch gator in the Mississippi River near Big Black River.
"He broke all the lines we could put in him," Bockman told "Gulf Live." "Finally put a snare on him and got him up high enough and put a shot on him. All in all probably took us four and a half hours to catch him from the first time we saw him.
"We're going to cook it for sure," Bockman added. "There's plenty for me and everybody else."
Both Trammell and Bockman's catches fell short of the state record for length. In 2008, a 13-foot, 6.5-inch gator was caught on the Pascagoula River.
That record stood until Turner's massive catch, which tied the mark.
"Having a state record for an alligator in Mississippi is a lot like living in a glass house," Brian Albert Broom wrote in the Clarion-Ledger. "It’s going to get broken."
Mississippi, though, has nothing on Texas. According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, a record 800-pound alligator was caught during a public hunt in May. The 14-foot, 3-inch gator was estimated to be between 30 to 50 years old.
Whales Get Sunburned, Too
Turns out whales like to spend time under the sun, too. But
just like some people, some whales are getting way too much sun, and
it's causing them serious problems. Anthony discusses what's going on
and what, if anything, can be done.
Moose caught on camera vandalizing school
A moose, probably upset by its own reflection, smashed through the glass doors of a Norwegian school at the weekend.
When students at the Risil secondary school in Vestby, southeast of Oslo, found broken glass on Monday morning, security cameras showed the perpetrator was not a delinquent teenager.
"The janitor looked through the surveillance tape, hoping to identify the thug who did this, but was shocked when he saw that the damage was done by a moose and her two calves," school principal Solveig Eid said.
Eid believes the elk must have seen her own reflection in the glass door and charged towards it. A Norwegian moose can be as tall as two meters (6 ft) and weigh as much as 400 kg (880 lb).
When students at the Risil secondary school in Vestby, southeast of Oslo, found broken glass on Monday morning, security cameras showed the perpetrator was not a delinquent teenager.
Eid believes the elk must have seen her own reflection in the glass door and charged towards it. A Norwegian moose can be as tall as two meters (6 ft) and weigh as much as 400 kg (880 lb).
The Látrabjarg Bird Cliffs
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
The Daily Drift
Carolina Naturally is read in 193 countries around the world daily.
Now, that's an Odd Duck ... !
Today is Odd Day
Today is Odd Day
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Today in History
| 1297 | Scots under William Wallace defeat the English at Stirling Bridge. | |
| 1695 | Imperial troops under Eugene of Savoy defeat the Turks at the Battle of Zenta. | |
| 1709 | John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, wins the bloodiest battle of the 18th century at great cost, against the French at Malplaquet. | |
| 1740 | The first mention of an African American doctor or dentist in the colonies is made in the Pennsylvania Gazette. | |
| 1777 | General George Washington and his troops are defeated by the British under General Sir William Howe at the Battle of Brandywine in Pennsylvania. | |
| 1786 | The Convention of Annapolis opens with the aim of revising the articles of confederation. | |
| 1802 | Piedmont, Italy, is annexed by France. | |
| 1814 | U.S. forces led by Thomas Macdonough route the British fleet on Lake Champlain. | |
| 1847 | Stephen Foster's "Oh! Susanna" is first performed in a saloon in Pittsburgh. | |
| 1850 | Soprano opera singer Jenny Lind, the "Swedish Nightingale," makes her American debut at New York's Castle Garden Theater. | |
| 1864 | A 10-day truce is declared between generals Sherman and Hood so civilians may leave Atlanta, Georgia. | |
| 1857 | Indians incited by Mormon John D. Lee kill 120 California-bound settlers in the Mountain Meadows Massacre. | |
| 1904 | The battleship Connecticut, launched in New York, introduces a new era in naval construction. | |
| 1916 | The "Star Spangled Banner" is sung at the beginning of a baseball game for the first time in Cooperstown, New York. | |
| 1944 | American troops enter Luxembourg. | |
| 1962 | Thurgood Marshall is appointed a judge of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. | |
| 1965 | The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) arrives in South Vietnam and is stationed at An Khe. | |
| 1974 | Haile Selassie I is deposed from the Ethiopian throne. | |
| 2001 | In an unprecedented, highly coordinated attack, terrorists hijack four U.S. passenger airliners, flying two into the World Trade Center towers in New York and one into the Pentagon, killing thousands. The fourth airliner, headed toward Washington likely to strike the White House or Capitol, is crashed just over 100 miles away in Pennsylvania after passengers storm the cockpit and overtake the hijackers. | |
| 2005 | Israel completes its unilateral disengagement of all Israeli civilians and military from the Gaza Strip. | |
| 2007 | Russia detonates a nano-bomb; dubbed the "Father of All Bombs," it is the largest non-nuclear weapon developed to date. | |
| 2012 | US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, attacked and burned down; 4 Americans were killed including the US ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens. |
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