PIG GENES IN ORANGE JUICE?

PIG GENES ARE BEING CONSIDERED FOR THE GENETIC MODIFICATION OF ORANGES, TO MAKE THEM MORE RESISTANT TO BUGS

 

Among the contenders in the genetic alteration of the oranges are two vegetables, a virus and pig genes, as well as a synthetic gene, which would be manufactured in a laboratory.

 

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By Christina Sarich, Natural Society

 

Asian jumping lice and a bacteria called C. liberibacter which the lice carry have been devastating Florida’s Orange crops since 2005, but scientists have found a solution! 

 

But do we really want to consume orange juice that contains genetically modified DNA, via pig genes? That’s an actual question consumers will need to ask themselves in light of a recent article in the New York Times piece, “A Race to Save the Orange by Altering its DNA".

 

The jumping lice disease leaves oranges half green and tasting sour, but that citric bitterness might be more than disagreeable if we start eating GMO oranges tainted with pig genes.

 

Tons of pesticides were sprayed to try to keep this bacteria in check, but as the world has observed with multiple studies exposing the over-use of pesticides, this often makes the problem worse.

 

Instead of creating produce that is pest resistant, it is ravaged by superbugs created by a special bacteria in their guts which makes them impervious to the onslaught of Big Ag and Big Pharma chemicals. 

 

We also know that GMO crops are already causing cancer, Spina Bifida via a fungal toxin created by Bt toxins in Round Up, and numerous other birth defects, do we really need to be adding pig genes to our citrus crops? According to Ricke Kress, the president of Southern Gardens Citrus and the man in charge of two and a half million orange trees and a factory that squeezes juice for Tropicana and Florida’s Best, we do. 

 

Among the contenders in the genetic alteration of the oranges are two vegetables, a virus and pig genes, as well as a synthetic gene, which would be manufactured in a laboratory. If these ‘solutions’ gain regulatory approval in as little as two years the public could be consuming pig-gene orange juice. 

Read more -
http://naturalsociety.com/gmo-oranges-soon-contain-pig-genes/#ixzz2jHesoHUT

New York Times extended report - http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/28/science/a-race-to-save-the-orange-by-altering-its-dna.html?_r=0


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REASON WHY GIANT OARFISH WASHED UP ON CALIFORNIA BEACH STILL A MYSTERY

 

Scientists found that one of the oarfish was pregnant, and the other was full of tapeworms. 

 

These animals, who live at a depth of 3000 ft (915 meters), feed on zooplankton and crustaceans.  They are the largest bony fish in the sea and can grow up to 50 ft.

 

Read more and see pictures - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2479631/Mysterious-giant-oarfish-washed-dead-Californian-beach-tapeworms-second-pregnant.html


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Radiation?  Scientists have been speculating whether the alarmingly high radioactive contamination of the Pacific Ocean by the ongoing Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster has something to do with many anomalies occurring to ocean life lately. 

Read the latest about the Fukushima disaster here - http://enenews.com/



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FIREFOX PLUG-IN REVEALS WHO IS TRACKING YOUR SURFING

 

 

Do you know who's tracking your movements online? A plug-in for the Firefox web browser called Lightbeam creates an at-a-glance visualisation showing which third parties want to grab your data.

 

Every time you access a website, numerous companies – website analytics firms, online advertisers or social media buttons – upload cookies to your computer to log which sites you visit and what you do once you are there.

 

Lightbeam is designed to show users exactly what is going on behind the scenes. When you log on to a site, it records every website that your computer is connecting with – often more than just the one you intended to visit.

 

It then creates visualisations, ranging from a list to a clock-like design, displaying the information.

 

"Many people don't understand all of the ways the web works – or all of the pieces of the web or interactions that aren't immediately visible," says Alex Fowler, global privacy and public policy leader at Mozilla, the firm that makes Firefox. "Lightbeam helps us educate users, by shining a light on what we couldn't otherwise see."

Read more - http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24477-firefox-plugin-reveals-who-is-tracking-your-surfing.html#.UnKiWKFraM9

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GRAHAM THE CAT VISITS PET STORE DAILY TO WATCH FISH AND MICE

LIKE A CHILD IN A CANDY STORE.

 

A ginger-and-white tom nicknamed ‘Graham’ has adopted a giant pet shop stuffed with toys, food and fish, as his second home.

 

For the past few months he's been visiting the Pets at Home store in Boston, Lincolnshire, every day – even waiting outside for the doors to open at 9am.

 

A video filmed by staff shows Graham sprawled on the ground in front of the shop's automatic doors as he waits to be let in.

 

Once inside, he wanders over to the till enclosure and opens the staff gate with his paw before jumping on the counter.

Graham can also be seen attempting to claw his way - unsuccessfully - into a rodent enclosure and staring transfixed at a goldfish tank.

 

 

See pictures and video of Graham here - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2480030/VIDEO-Graham-cat-visits-Pets-Home-store-day--paying-particular-attention-mice-fish-sale.html

 

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DISPOSING OF HAZARDOUS WASTE BY TURNING HUMAN SEWAGE INTO COMPOST FOR FOOD CROPS YOU EAT

 

Sewage sludge is “the wet solid cake produced after human, residential and industrial wastes are combined in wastewater treatment plants”.

 

Industrial companies need viable places to dump their waste products, and just as the fertilizer industry has found a market for fluoride waste in drinking water, the waste water industry has created a fertilizer market using sewer sludge as a cheap crop input.

 

The only problem is that the compost made by cities from what is flushed down the toilet may contain residual pharmaceutical drugs, antibiotics, sex hormones and other endocrine disruptors, radiated derivatives from cancer treatments, pathogens, steroids and other excreted compounds that could enter the human body, crops or food chain/environment with total affects unknown.

 

Turning sewage into organic compost has become a booming business ever since ocean and waterway dumping — widely used by municipal waste departments for decades — was banned in 1992. 

 

In addition to human sewage and medical and industrial waste used for “biosolids,” the sludge waste from Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) is widely used to fertilize vegetable crops.

 

The majority of all animal manure, as well as municipal sewage sludge (politely referred to as biosolids–human waste), in this country is spread on conventional crops.

 

While the use of biosolid sludge is banned from USDA certified organic farms, it is increasingly used as an ‘organic’ (as in terms of material, not practices) fertilizer in the smaller-scale movement associated with healthy, homegrown gardens — despite the fact that this adds numerous toxins to the soil.

 

Many have adopted this up-cycled humanure as a green solution that the EPA and several lobbyists say is ‘safe’ for unrestricted use on veggies, industrial farms and more. Natural News termed it “greenwashing” back in 2010. 

 

 

 

Read more - http://www.thedailysheeple.com/eat-sht-human-biosludge-sold-as-organic-compost_102013


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RELATED

DANGEROUS - EVEN LETHAL - BACTERIA FOUND IN COMPOST FOR GARDENING

DAILY  MAIL - Bags of compost may be a significant source of Legionella bacteria, including strains that cause human disease, scientists have said.

http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2013/10/dangerous-even-lethal-bacteria-found-in.html

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God or Gödel - Did computer scientists prove that God exists?

 

Holy Logic: Computer Scientists 'Prove' God Exists

Anything of substance behind that catchy headline, or is it just a red herring?

Two scientists have formalized a theorem regarding the existence of God penned by mathematician Kurt Gödel.

 

But the God angle is somewhat of a red herring -- the real step forward is the example it sets of how computers can make scientific progress simpler.

 

As headlines go, it's certainly an eye-catching one. "Scientists Prove Existence of God," German daily Die Welt wrote last week.

 

But unsurprisingly, there is a rather significant caveat to that claim.

 

Not God but Gödel's theorem

 

In fact, what the researchers in question say they have actually proven is a theorem put forward by renowned Austrian mathematician Kurt Gödel -- and the real news isn't about a Supreme Being, but rather what can now be achieved in scientific fields using superior technology.

 

Even at the time, the argument was not exactly a new one. For centuries, many have tried to use this kind of abstract reasoning to prove the possibility or necessity of the existence of God.

 

But the mathematical model composed by Gödel proposed a proof of the idea. Its theorems and axioms -- assumptions which cannot be proven -- can be expressed as mathematical equations.  And that means they can be proven.

 

Proving God's existence with a MacBook

 

That is where Christoph Benzmüller of Berlin's Free University and his colleague, Bruno Woltzenlogel Paleo of the Technical University in Vienna, come in.

 

Using an ordinary MacBook computer, they have shown that Gödel's proof was correct -- at least on a mathematical level -- by way of higher modal logic.

 

Their initial submission on the arXiv.org research article server is called "Formalization, Mechanization and Automation of Gödel's Proof of God's Existence."

 

The fact that formalizing such complicated theorems can be left to computers opens up all kinds of possibilities, Benzmüller told SPIEGEL ONLINE.

 

"It's totally amazing that from this argument led by Gödel, all this stuff can be proven automatically in a few seconds or even less on a standard notebook," he said.

 

Who was Gödel?

 

The name Gödel may not mean much to some, but among scientists he enjoys a reputation similar to the likes of Albert Einstein -- who was a close friend.

 

Born in 1906 in what was then Austria-Hungary and is now the Czech city of Brno, Gödel later studied in Vienna before moving to the United States after World War II broke out to work at Princeton, where Einstein was also based.

 

The first version of this ontological proof is from notes dated around 1941, but it was not until the early 1970s, when Gödel feared that he might die, that it first became public.

 

A catchy headline always helps

 

Now Benzmüller hopes that using such a headline-friendly example can help draw attention to the method.

 

"I didn't know it would create such a huge public interest but (Gödel's ontological proof) was definitely a better example than something inaccessible in mathematics or artificial intelligence," the scientist added. 

 

"It's a very small, crisp thing, because we are just dealing with six axioms in a little theorem. … There might be other things that use similar logic. Can we develop computer systems to check each single step and make sure they are now right?"

 

The scientists, who have been working together since the beginning of the year, believe their work could have many practical applications in areas such as artificial intelligence and the verification of software and hardware.

 

Read more - http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/scientists-use-computer-to-mathematically-prove-goedel-god-theorem-a-928668.html

 

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RUSSIANS BEARING GIFTS - FREE DEVICES FOR G20 SUMMIT DELEGATES WERE BUGGED

 

Mobile phone chargers and USB drives given to foreign delegates at the G20 summit in Russia were ‘Trojan horses’ capable of sending data back to the Kremlin.

 

The devices contained bugs that could apparently capture valuable data from phones and computers.

 

According to reports in the Italian press, the German secret services discovered that the gadgets, given to delegates at the meeting of world leaders in St Petersburg last month, were able to retrieve data for use by the Russian secret services.

 

The G20 conference took place in a climate of great diplomatic tension between Russia and the West.

 

Only weeks before, the Kremlin had granted asylum to fugitive Edward Snowden, wanted for leaking security information about US surveillance to the Guardian.

 

At the same time, the US and France were at loggerheads with Russia over intervention in Syria.

 

The alarm was apparently first raised by EU President Herman Van Rompuy, who was suspicious of the Russians’ gifts. All participating governments were urged to ‘take every possible precaution’.

 

 

Read more - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2478914/Russia-bid-bug-No-10-aides-Trojan-horse-gifts-Free-phone-chargers-USB-drives-G20-summit-plot-tap-secrets.html

 

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THE AWESOME POWER OF RUSSIAN VOLCANOES

 

Photographer captures the incredible power and destruction caused by Russia's highest volcanoes as they erupt

Shots show eruptions from the Shiveluch and Kliuchevskoi volcanoes found on the Russian Kamchatka peninsula

Molecular biologist Dr Roscoe stayed awake for up to 20 hours to capture images of spewing lava

The 10,771 feet Shiveluch volcano erupted in 2009 and has been periodically spewing ash ever since

Kliuchevskoi first erupted in 1697 and several people have been killed by falling lava when attempting to climb it

There are more than 150 volcanoes on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Far East of Russia and up to 30 are active

See pictures here - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2478808/Ash-tonishing-Photographer-captures-incredible-power-destruction-caused-Russias-highest-volcanoes-erupt.html

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RELATED

More articles on volcanoes on this blog - http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/search/label/Volcanoes


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DOOMSDAY VAULT SAVES SEEDS FROM POSSIBLE WORLD DISASTER

NORWAY:  The low temperature and limited supply of oxygen inside the vault prevents the seeds from ageing.

 

The permafrost surrounding the facility helps maintain the low temperature of the seeds should the electricity supply fail.

 

It can withstand a nuclear strike and aims to preserve crops in face of natural disasters and war.

 

Vault was started by conservationist Cary Fowler from the Global Crop Diversity Trust and cost £4million to construct.

See pictures - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2478782/The-doomsday-vault-keeps-seeds-type-agriculture-mankind-relies-disaster-wipes-out.html


RELATED

EXTINCT JUDEAN TREE GROWS FROM TWO-THOUSAND-YEAR-OLD SEEDS
http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2013/10/extinct-judean-tree-grows-from-two.html




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US ORGANIC INDUSTRY SUPPORTS FOOD IMPORTS FROM FUKUSHIMA-CONTAMINATED JAPAN

And you thought the organic industry was your friend!

USDA - United States Department of Agriculture news release:

 

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2013–Earlier today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that the United States and Japan formed a partnership that will recognize the two organic programs as equivalent and allow access to each other's markets.

 

The equivalency arrangement was signed by Anne L. Alonzo, USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Administrator; Ambassador Islam Siddiqui, U.S. Trade Representative Chief Agricultural Negotiator; and Hiroyuki Kobayashi, Director General, Food Safety and Consumer Affairs Bureau.

 

Representatives from the U.S. organic industry—including trade associations and organic producers—praised the U.S.-Japan partnership.

 

"This monumental agreement will further create jobs in the already growing U.S. organic sector, spark additional market growth, and be mutually beneficial to producers both in the United States and Japan and to consumers who choose organic products,"

Read more - http://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDAOC/bulletins/8cbfc5

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In other words, as long as US organic growers see $$$$$$$$$$$ in an expanding market, they disregard the fact that Japanese agricultural products - organic or not - could be heavily contaminated by increasing radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

 

Read the latest from the Fukushima  disaster, now spreading nuclear contamination through North America and the world.

http://enenews.com/category/location/japan

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EXTINCT JUDEAN TREE GROWS FROM TWO-THOUSAND-YEAR-OLD SEEDS

Read March 28, 2015 update to this story
The tree is a big boy now and has had a "child"

JUDEAN DATE PALM TREE GROWN FROM A 2000 YEAR OLD SEED HAS A BABY TREE - The seed was found in Israel, and scientists cultivated the male tree to maturity - This ancient tree now has pollinated a female modern tree and made baby trees
http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2015/03/judean-date-palm-tree-grown-from-2000.html

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SEEDS WERE FROM JUDEAN DATE PALM TREES DRIVEN TO EXTINCTION BY CONQUERORS SINCE 500 AD

 

 

For thousands of years, Judean date palm trees were one of the most recognizable and welcome sights for people living in the Middle East -- widely cultivated throughout the region for their sweet fruit, and for the cool shade they offered from the blazing desert sun. 

 

From its founding some 3,000 years ago, to the dawn of the Common Era, the trees became a staple crop in the Kingdom of Judea, even garnering several shout-outs in the Old Testament. Judean palm trees would come to serve as one of the kingdom's chief symbols of good fortune; King David named his daughter, Tamar, after the plant's name in Hebrew. 

 

By the time the Roman Empire sought to usurp control of the kingdom in 70 AD, broad forests of these trees flourished as a staple crop to the Judean economy -- a fact that made them a prime resource for the invading army to destroy.

Sadly, around the year 500 AD, the once plentiful palm had been completely wiped out, driven to extinction for the sake of conquest. 

 

In the centuries that followed, first-hand knowledge of the tree slipped from memory to legend. Up until recently, that is. 

 

 

How the seeds were found

 

During excavations at the site of Herod the Great's palace in Israel in the early 1960's, archeologists unearthed a small stockpile of seeds stowed in a clay jar dating back 2,000 years.

For the next four decades, the ancient seeds were kept in a drawer at Tel Aviv's Bar-Ilan University. But then, in 2005, botanical researcher Elaine Solowey decided to plant one and see what, if anything, would sprout. 

 

"I assumed the food in the seed would be no good after all that time. How could it be?" said Solowey. She was soon proven wrong. 

 

 

And they sprouted!

 

Amazingly, the multi-millennial seed did indeed sprout -- producing a sapling no one had seen in centuries, becoming the oldest known tree seed to germinate. 

 

Today, the living archeological treasure continues to grow and thrive. In 2011, it even produced its first flower -- a heartening sign that the ancient survivor was eager to reproduce.

 

It has been proposed that the tree be cross-bred with closely related palm types, but it would likely take years for it to begin producing any of its famed fruits.

Meanwhile, Solowey is working to revive other age-old trees from their long dormancy.

 

Source - http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/extinct-tree-grows-anew-after-archaeologists-dig-ancient-seed-stockpile.html

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judean_date_palm

 

 

RELATED

 

History - The ancient kingdoms of Judah and Israel - http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Kingdoms1.html

 

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MERCURY FROM GOLD RUSH ERA FLOWING INTO CALIFORNIA FARMLAND

 

Toxic mercury from the Gold Rush is heading toward America’s food basket.
 

 

How miners used mercury to get their gold

 

When gold was discovered in California in 1849, the miners were confronted with a problem: there were huge amounts of the precious metal in the foothills of the Sierra and the only way to get it out was to blast it out of the soil with high-pressure hoses.

 

The resulting mud containing the gold was run through sluices and mixed with mercury so the gold would settle to the bottom.

 

The miners used high pressure hoses, called monitors, to blast the hillsides, washing the gold-bearing mud into sluices.


Gold Rush miners are long gone, but they left toxic mercury behind.

 

Much of the mercury remained in the sediment. The sediment washed downstream actually forming new river valleys and terraces, the fan.

 

The process dramatically altered the landscape; massive mudslides filled whole valleys.

 

 

Miners' mercury is making its way to the farms

 

The remains of the 19th-century practice are still visible in the area, and the poisonous mercury is now slowly making its way toward the fruit and nut orchards, and the rice fields of California’s lush Central Valley, America’s food basket, according to new research by a team of British and American scientists.

 

 

The study concentrated on California's Yuba Fan

 

The Yuba Fan, built up around the Yuba River that runs out of the Sierra Nevada Mountains north of Sacramento, is not far from California’s verdant wine country.

 

The Yuba fan is totally artificial, created by humans.  The fan contains more than a billion cubic meters of sediment reaching down to the Golden Gate.

 

 

Floods transport mercury to farmland, contaminating food

 

Every time there is a big flood  the mercury in the sediment moves farther down into the valley.


Mercury has already been found in the food supply

 

Mercury taint from the Gold Rush has been found in the food supply in the San Francisco area, but the contamination in the Yuba fan is hundreds of times greater.

 

Scientists believe trees do not absorb mercury so fruits and nuts may be safe, although that has not been tested. There is evidence, however, that rice may be vulnerable.

 

 

Read more - http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/10/28/detritus-from-gold-rush-is-heading-toward-americas-food-basket/?intcmp=latestnews



RELATED

Mercury poisoning -

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1175560-overview

http://www.medicinenet.com/mercury_poisoning/article.htm


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ELEPHANT PAINTS PICTURES OF FLOWERS WITH HER TRUNK

See pictures of Monet, a Thai elephant that paints using her trunk. 

 

The Asian elephant is one of a herd the mighty beasts who while away their days painting at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang, northern Thailand.

 

A video released by website Travel For Kids shows the elephant methodically painting a red-rose bush as awestruck sightseers look on.

 

 

Read more and see pictures - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2476462/Incredible-elephant-probably-paint-you.html

The Asian Elephant Art and Conservation Project - http://www.elephantart.com/catalog/thailand.php

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BRITAIN'S SPECTACULAR AND DESTRUCTIVE STORM

SHUTDOWN!  Trains suspended, flights cancelled, and road bridges shut as 110mph St Jude's Storm brings travel chaos for millions.

See incredible pictures of weather gone wild, spreading destruction over Britain.  High winds, downed trees, huge ocean waves smashing all over the coast.  In the meantime all means of transportation, including air travel, have been disrupted or cancelled altogether.

Read more and see pictures here - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2478056/UK-weather-Trains-suspended-flights-cancelled-roads-shut-90mph-storm-brings-travel-chaos-millions.html

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BREATHTAKINGLY BEAUTIFUL PICTURES BY LONELY PLANET

 

Earth's most beautiful landscapes: Unforgettable photographs capture a new perspective on the world's most magnificent scenes from Bryce Canyon to Big Ben.

 

Natural sites, aerial view of New York City at night, wild animals in their habitat. They are all part of a photographic collection for a book by Lonely Planet.

 

See pictures here - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2476357/Breathtaking-photos-Bryce-Canyon-Big-Ben.html

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FISHERMEN SUSPECTED OF MURDERING SEA LIONS OFF MALIBU COAST

The murder of two sea lions coincides with the start of the squid fishing season.

Some have suggested that the dozens of squid boats that showed up near County Line Beach at the beginning of the month and the death of the sea lions may be related.

Wildlife rescue workers confirmed last week that two sea lions that washed onto the Malibu coast on Oct. 10th and 11th died of gunshot wounds, while a third dead sea lion bore suspicious injuries.

The shooting deaths coincided with the beginning of the squid fishing season on Oct. 1.

The squid also attract hunters such as sea lions. Sea lions and other mammals are protected under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Fishermen are allowed to use nonlethal means, such as firecracker-like “seal bombs,” to scare hunters away from their nets, but not bullets. Critics allege it happens anyway.

Donna Collins, a seasonal worker for California State Parks, said she commonly heard gunshots and saw flashes of light from squid boats when she stopped at County Line Beach last winter while on patrol.

She usually stopped at County Line around 11 p.m., she said.  “These were definitely gunshots. And it had happened several times,” Collins said. “I contacted the Coast Guard… They said they’d had several complaints about it as well. They said they were going to do their own investigation. We never heard anything about that particular incident.”

Read more - http://www.malibutimes.com/news/article_66d837ec-3ba9-11e3-ac12-0019bb2963f4.html


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RELATED

OTTER SHOT MULTIPLE TIMES AND BLINDED IN VANCOUVER - FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE

NO SUSPECTS YET, BUT HE MAY HAVE BEEN SHOT BY SOMEONE WHO SAW HIM AS COMPETITION FOR SHELLFISH HARVESTING.

 

The otter named Pirate is still in critical condition and under the care of Vancouver Aquarium specialists.

 

Pirate was shot all over his face and is now blind.  His prognosis is still guarded.  He is eating, but whether he is euthanized or not will depend on what the Vancouver Aquarium considers "quality of life". 

 

Read more - http://www.vancouversun.com/travel/otter+prognosis+critical+after+being+shot+near+Tofino/9068976/story.html

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FAMOUS NEW YORK CITY SUBWAY KITTENS FIND HOME

Remember that not long ago the New York City subway had to be shut down to save kittens who were wandering along the tracks?  They made worldwide news.

 

Now the kittens have found a home.

 

A married couple from Brooklyn Heights has adopted the four month old kittens, named Arthur and August.

 

The kittens shut down nearly 10 km of track on August 29th after they were spotted wandering in the subway system.

 

The New York police department sent officers to the scene for crowd control as trains stopped running for about 90 minutes.

 

Animal Care and Control of NYC say the kittens were sheltered for about two months before they were eligible for adoption.

 

A spokesman says one was underweight and both needed to be socialized.

 

He says they got a lot of inquiries and applications to adopt them, but Katherine and Keith Lubeley really impressed the adoption counselors.

 
See video and pictures of the kittens - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2475260/Kittens-stopped-New-York-City-subway-new-home.html

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Here is last summer's report of the subway shut down because of the adorable kittens

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/kittens-shut-subway-service-45-minutes-article-1.1440740

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FUKUSHIMA DISASTER - JAPAN'S SOLUTION: JUST MUZZLE THE MEDIA

 

(Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government is planning a state secrets act that critics say could curtail public access to information on a wide range of issues, including tensions with China and the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

 

The new law would dramatically expand the definition of official secrets and journalists convicted under it could be jailed for up to five years.

 

Abe says the new law, a draft of which was approved by his cabinet on Friday and should be passed by parliament in the current session, is vital to his plan to set up a U.S.-style National Security Council to oversee security policies and coordinate among ministries.

 

Criticism of the new law

 

Critics see parallels between the new law and Abe's drive to revise Japan's U.S.-drafted, post-war constitution to stress citizen's duties over civil rights, part of a conservative agenda that includes a stronger military and recasting Japan's wartime history with a less apologetic tone.

 

"There is a demand by the established political forces for greater control over the people," said Lawrence Repeta, a law professor at Meiji University. "This fits with the notion that the state should have broad authority to act in secret."

 

Legal and media experts say the law, which would impose harsh penalties on those who leak secrets or try to obtain them, is too broad and vague, making it impossible to predict what would come under its umbrella. The lack of an independent review process leaves wide latitude for abuse, they say.

 

"Basically, this bill raises the possibility that the kind of information about which the public should be informed is kept secret eternally," Tadaaki Muto, a lawyer and member of a task force on the bill at the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, told Reuters.

 

Read more - http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/25/us-japan-secrecy-idUSBRE99N1EC20131025

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WALL OF ROCK RISES FROM THE GROUND AFTER EARTHQUAKE, REVEALING NEW FAULT

PHILIPPINES - As the magnitude 7.2 earthquake ended on Oct. 15, residents of Sitio Kumayot in Barangay Anonang heard an explosive sound like a thunderclap.

 

Villagers watched in horrified disbelief as the ground cracked open and, with smoke and the stench of sulphur spreading, one side started to rise. 

 

The rock face, about three meters high and two kilometers long, raised fears among villagers that more cracks would appear on the ground and swallow them up.

 

Scientists, who may declare a 300-meter permanent danger zone around the fault, described the appearance of the ground rupture as a “eureka” moment in their search for what they have long suspected was an active earthquake fault in the area.

Read more - http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2013/10/24/wall-of-rock-rises-out-of-the-ground-in-the-philippines-new-fault-triggered-large-quake/

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MYSTERIOUS NOISE IN BRITISH TOWN BLAMED ON MATING FISH

 

A mysterious hum has been keeping people in Hampshire awake all night, and scientists have said there could be something fishy about it.

 

The noise “pulsates” through homes, forcing some residents of Hythe near Southampton to evacuate the area just to get a good night’s sleep.

 

People have complained to their local council, and the blame has been put on everything from heavy industry to the large cargo ships coming in at Southampton Docks – some residents have even gone to the doctor thinking they had tinnitus.

 

Scientists now think that the noise is being caused by fish, competing to out-hum one another as part of an unusual mating ritual.

Male Midshipman fish let out a deep, resonating drone which attracts females and acts as a challenge to other males.

 

They are nocturnal creatures, but once they get going can keep up the distracting hum all night.

Unfortunately for the residents of Hythe, the noise created by the Midshipman is of such a low frequency and long wavelength that it can carry through the ground, walls, and into homes.

 

This is not the first time fish have been blamed for keeping people up at night – a number of US cities suffer their droning on a regular basis. 

But it was a problem which stumped various authorities in Southampton, including the National Oceanography Centre based there.

Read more - http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/mysterious-hum-keeping-people-up-all-night-could-be-mating-fish-8900747.html



RELATED


WILD AND LOUD GUINEA PIG ORGIES?

 

German court orders university to silence raucous guinea pigs which kept neighbours up all night with 'wild orgies'

 

Guinea pigs live together in large outdoor cage at Muenster University

Homeowners said they cannot sleep because of their wild-sex sessions

Thirteen male and female specimens live together in a large outdoor cage at Muenster University in north-west Germany

However, following complaints from nearby homeowners who said they cannot sleep because of the noise of their wild-sex sessions, they were this week the subject of a hearing in the city's Administrative Court.

Read more - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2395752/German-court-orders-university-silence-raucous-guinea-pigs-kept-neighbours-night-wild-orgies.html

SEVEN MINUTE VIDEO-MAP SHOWING ALL NUCLEAR BOMBS EVER EXPLODED - ALL 2056 OF THEM

Since the U.S unleashed the first nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki back in 1945 there have been a staggering 2056 nuclear tests recorded worldwide.

 

It took almost a year until the next substantial tests took place but by the mid-50s and 60s, nuclear experiments were being recorded across the globe on almost a monthly basis.

 

To demonstrate the scale and development of this technology, Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto has plotted all these explosions that took place from 1945 up to 1998 in a time-lapse video map.Hashimoto started the project in 2003 and told Wired he created it with the goal of showing 'the fear and folly of nuclear weapons.'

Read more and see video here
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2475008/The-rise-nuclear-bombs-Amazing-time-lapse-map-reveals-2-053-WMDs-exploded-just-50-years.html

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THE CARDONA SALT MOUNTAIN AND TUNNEL

 

The Cardona Salt Mountain in Spain is a huge geologic formation made almost entirely of the world's favorite edible mineral.

 

Formed two million years ago when low-density salt was pushed up through the much harder materials surrounding it, the Cardona Salt Mountain is one of the largest domes of its kind in the world, and unique in Europe.

 

While small amounts of other minerals pervade the savory hill, the salt pile would have a near translucent quality if not for the thin layer of reddish clay coating the exterior.

 

The significance of the mountain was recognized as early as the middle ages when Romans began exploiting the mountain for its salt, which began to bolster the young Cardonian economy.

 

With the invention of industrial mining techniques, a mine was built into the side of the mountain and a thriving facility formed at its base as excavators dragged enormous amounts of potash (water-soluble) salt from the innards of the hill. 

 

In addition to the mineral export, the locals of Cardona began making salt sculptures to sell and invented a number of hard, salty pastries unique to the area.

 

Read more and see picture gallery of this amazing cave -  http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cardona-salt-mountain

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