Monday, February 29, 2016

Saskatoon's weather for Monday: Sunny, but cold

Saskatoon’s weather forecast for Monday calls for sun, but cold temperatures. The high of — 16 C with a 15 kilometre per hour wind will set the wind chill at -33 C. http://thestarphoenix.com

Saturday, February 27, 2016

The Old Tale of a Boiling Frog

                                    African bullfrog - http://i.ytimg.com/ [gardenofeaden.blogspot.ca]
By Anupum Pant
   The Frog in a pot is a very popular anecdote and you probably know about it. Still, if you don’t, it is about a frog that rests easy in a pot of water that is warmed slowly. Frogs normally won’t go into boiling water. They’ll jump out and keep themselves away from very hot water. But, if placed in a tub of water at normal temperature that is being heated slowly, according to the anecdote, they don’t react and end up getting cooked in the boiling water.
   The story is used as a metaphor to tell a cautionary point about life. The moral of the frog story goes something like this – Letting small and seemingly harmless wrongs slip, could kill (or be bad for you).  It basically tells you to not be complacent about minor changes that usually seem harmless, but add up to something big/bad....Read more...

Justin Trudeau, the comedian

Trudeau hints next Governor General may be giant Canada Goose
 by 
OTTAWA - In what is being hailed as a victory for diversity, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has dropped several hints in the last week that the nation’s next head of state may well be a human-sized Canada Goose.
“I have a feeling that I may well be explaining my choice by saying ‘because it’s 2017,’” said Trudeau, when asked who he was considering for the office. ‘It’s important that we have a Governor General who looks like Canada does.”
Trudeau then winked at the audience, before hissing like a goose and flapping his arms...Continue reading...

Justin Trudeau demands ISIS reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20%

 by  Eric Turkienicz
   PARIS – In an impassioned speech at the Paris Climate Summit on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a public demand that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) immediately take steps to reduce production of harmful emissions by 20%.
   “When I withdrew Canadian jets from Syria, I assured the rest of the democratic world that Canada would remain an active participant in the fight against ISIS,” Trudeau began, “and I can see no better way to fight that good fight than by encouraging ISIS to develop environmentally sustainable practices when conducting their terrorist acts.”...
   ...“The line must be drawn here!” Trudeau continued in his fiery speech, “ISIS is a fanatical regime dedicated to the deaths of all its perceived enemies. It is Canada’s role – no – its responsibility to respectfully educate ISIS that if it does not swiftly change their environmental policies, there will be no earth left to murder people on.”
   At press time Trudeau was also hoping to convince Boko Haram to purchase machetes made of recycled metals. Read article here.

Astronaut Scott Kelly's yearlong mission almost over

In this Saturday, March 28, 2015 photo, a Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft launches to the International Space Station carrying Expedition 43 NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian Cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) from the Baikonur, Kazakhstan cosmodrome. As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko are scheduled to return to Earth in March 2016. Photo Credit (NASA/Bill Ingalls) Read here.

Monday, February 22, 2016

A Bible is the only item recovered from burning car

https://twitter.com/lynnannefox13

By Colette Bennett 
   A fiery car crash in Tennessee has yielded an unusual spark of hope -- something many take to be a sign from God.
CNN affiliate WFTV reports that a 2014 Jeep Laredo went up in flames after another car swiped it around 2:30 p.m. Sunday on Tennessee State Route 385 and Ridgeway Road, sending it crashing into a pole. Luckily a brave witness, with the help of a Memphis Police Department official, was able to pull the driver out of the car before it exploded, leaving its insides black and gutted....
 ...The driver is currently recovering at the hospital with non-critical injuries. Read here.
Latest News

A 13-year-old eagle huntress in Mongolia

A photographer who snapped what could be the world's only girl hunting with a golden eagle says watching her work was an amazing sight.

Maria Mena "Monday Morning"

                                     




Maria Mena, “I think for me, my strength is that I dare.”

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Al Wilson, "The Snake"

 
redjule3

Humans and Neanderthals may have interbred 50,000 years earlier than previously thought

Reconstructions of a Neanderthal man, left, and woman at the Neanderthal museum in Mettmann, Germany. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
 
  One hundred thousand years ago, research suggests, a group of Homo sapiens — isolated from their own kind — came across a group of Neanderthals. The rest, as they say, is history — and the proof of their love affair has just been uncovered in ancient DNA.
   It wasn't long ago that Neanderthals had a universal reputation for being hulking, idiotic cousins — brutal beasts who couldn't outsmart the modern humans we count as our ancestors. But that's been changing: Now we know that Homo neanderthalensis co-existed with Homo sapiens for thousands of years at a time. There's strong evidence that Neanderthals were more like us than we give them credit for, perhaps even producing art, and many of us carry the DNA signatures of generations of interbreeding between neanderthalensis and sapiensAccording to a study published Wednesday in Nature, that interbreeding may have started some 50,000 years earlier than previously assumed...washingtonpost.com

Related:

  Another story about our ancesters  
Some researchers are convinced these skulls are from a hybrid race of super-humans known as the Nephilim. 
Story here>>http://yournewswire.com/dna-results-of-peru-skulls-reveal-non-human-nephilim-origin/

Friday, February 19, 2016

Videos on the Islamic Invasion of Europe


1) Angry Truck Driver vs Migrants at Calais (Eng subtitles)
Ferris

2) The Most Disturbing Video on the Islamic Invasion of Europe You'll Ever See ZebulonWalton

Holocaust survivors watch footage from the day they were freed.


israelvideonetwork.com

   On April 28, 1945, Life Begins Again. Hundreds of survivors from German concentration camps arrive to the harbor of Malmo, Sweden. Now, 70 years later the survivors are watching this archive footage for the very first time and as they discover themselves they re-experience the emotions from this special day.
The award winning documentary by Magnus Gertten about WW2-survivors who found freedom in Sweden in 1945 is now available on DVD and Video on Demand. Get your copy: everyfacehasaname.com/the-film/buy/. [israelvideonetwork.com]

Tennessee lawmakers consider bill that would allow skunks as pets

(Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Imagess)

AJC.com   Lovers of unusual pets may want to set their sights on Tennessee. The state is considering a bill to decriminalize skunks as pets.
On Wednesday, the state Senate voted 27-3 to allow state residents to have domesticated skunks. The state House of Representatives has endorsed the bill but has yet to officially vote on it, according to Nashville Public Radio. Read here.

www.youtube.com

Thursday, February 18, 2016

"It's Hard to Be Humble" by Mac Davis

http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/exhibits/bio/C350

Editorial: Online access to health records welcome, but security a concern




A woman uses her computer keyboard to type while surfing the internet in North Vancouver, B.C., on Wednesday, December, 19, 2012. Digital dissenters known as hacktivists have developed a track record for disruption and attracting attention and are now considered one of the three main groups of attackers online, says security software company Websense.
JONATHAN HAYWARD / Regina Leader~Post
  Regina Leader-Post Editorial Board, Regina Leader~Post

  The province’s plan to allow Saskatchewan residents to access their personal health information online is a welcome opportunity for patient participation, but also a daunting additional security challenge.
    Given the number of alarming past breaches of patient privacy in the electronic health record system — which can currently only be accessed by authorized health-care providers — the potential for more violations of patient privacy will increase once the public is allowed access.
    It is good that the province has launched this venture with a six-month trial for up to 1,000 participants. This test phase will hopefully identify security issues and other problems and provide valuable feedback from patients on potential improvements.
    We are not against the online access idea — far from it. Saskatchewan patients have a right to see their own health records whenever and wherever they choose to access them. And that’s what the Citizen Health Information Portal (CHIP) pilot program promises. From lab results and immunization records to a history of hospital and pharmacy visits, patients will be able to log on from anywhere in the world to view them. If they fall sick while travelling overseas, they’ll be able to share those records with physicians treating them, likely saving valuable time and possible unnecessary tests...
   ... If the pilot project leads to full access for all Saskatchewan residents — and we hope it does — it must be made clear that violations of privacy will be severely dealt with...Continue reading...

Drug abuse in rural communities: 'It's everywhere'

 Carbonear and the surrounding area are no different from any other rural part of the province when it comes to dealing with drug abuse, say some recovering addicts and the people who support them. (Heather Barrett/CBC)

By Heather Barrett, CBC News  

Addicts and those who help them say IV drugs are available in every community no matter how big or small

   Underneath the idyllic exteriors of Carbonear and the surrounding communities in Conception Bay North, there are people living with serious drug addiction issues, according to local recovering addicts and the people who work with them.
   Andrea, the mother of a teenager who is battling an addiction to painkillers, said hard drugs are available near the local schools.
   "The drug dealers go in there and wait for the kids to come out on recess and lunch and they can buy whatever they want. The pills and the coke, everything."
   Andrea said her neighbours, who have younger children, have run into signs of illegal drug use.
    "There's a local sliding area, they had their small children out sliding," Andrea said of her neighbours.
   "When they looked at the bottom of the hill, there were dirty syringes and needles in the children's sliding area."
   "I find that opiates are the drug of choice in this area, definitely," said Renee, a woman in her early 20s who is recovering from several years addicted to cocaine and opiates.
    "It breaks my heart to think that IV use has become such a big thing out here. Because once you get into that, your chances of getting out of it are so much lower."...Read more>>http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/drug-abuse-in-rural-communities-it-s-everywhere-1.3417603

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

There’s A Huge Sea Eagle On The Loose In Kent And Dog Owners Are Worried

credit SWNS
 Yahoo News
   An aggressive nine foot sea eagle named Rex is at large in Kent today - and pet owners are being warned to watch out. 
   The hunting eagle, which went missing after a birds of prey demonstration, is capable of carrying off an adult dog weighing up to 13lbs. That’s around the size of an adult Shih Tzu, miniature poodle or Italian Greyhound.,.
 ...A Kent resident, who has a number of Jack Russell terriers, is making sure to keep his pack of small dogs inside, just in case.
   The local, who lives nearby, said: “We’re keeping the dogs inside - last thing I want to have to explain to my wife is why one of the dogs is soaring off into the sunset in the claws of a giant eagle.”...Read complete article here...

Emmylou Harris & The Band, "The last Waltz"

catman916

Thousands of birds make for spectacular sight above Kamloops


Bohemian waxwing.
Image Credit: Keith Williams via Flickr
  KAMLOOPS - If you’ve turned your eyes to the sky in recent weeks you may have noticed a rather large flock of birds flying back and forth over parts of the city, but don’t be alarmed, those birds don’t usually cause much damage and aren’t known as pests.
    The bohemian waxwings, as they are commonly known, often travel in flocks easily numbering into the hundreds, and eat the fruits on trees such as mountain ash and crab apples.
    Local wildlife enthusiast and provincial WildSafe B.C. coordinator Frank Ritcey estimates the flock flying over the Aberdeen area in recent weeks could be at 5,000 birds. He says there are several smaller flocks in and around the Kamloops area and likely came together for the large formations recently seen overhead.
“The smaller flocks will at times join up and then it is very impressive to see,” he says...Read more...


A large flock of bohemian waxwings forms over Aberdeen last week.

Russian Cossack's folk song "Stepan Razin's Dream"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUoEIoFyndo

Russia attacking Isis (videos posted for educational purposes)



   https://www.youtube.com

Canadian women give birth to children of ISIS fighters

Katie Simpson, Ottawa News Bureau Correspondent, CTV National News

    Canadian women are helping to grow the so-called Islamic State.
    According to researchers at the University of Waterloo, three Canadian women have given birth to children of ISIS fighters, while another two are pregnant. The new details are part of a larger study following foreign fighters who flee to Syria and Iraq. The women travelled separately over the past two years, leaving their families back home devastated.
    “They’re quite worried about what is going to happen to their daughter, but also their grandchild,” said Amarnath Amarasingam, a co-lead author of the study. “For most of the parents, I think there’s kind of a double reaction. First they’re kind of happy a grandchild is involved, but at the same time, they’re quite devastated that a child was born into a war zone, to somebody they’ve never met.”...Continue reading... http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canadian-women-give-birth-to-children-of-isis-fighters-1.2779296

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Allah’s Sword of Terror

 This essay is copied with permission. Thomas
by Raymond Ibrahim  
   The first time I heard about Khalid bin al-Walid—the 7th century Muslim jihadi affectionately known in Islamic history as “The Sword of Allah”—was when I was in college researching for my MA thesis on the Battle of Yarmuk, when the Muslims, under Khalid’s generalship, defeated the Byzantines in 636, opening the way for the historic Islamic conquests.
    Nearly a decade and a half later, Khalid, that jihadi par excellence, has come to personify a dichotomy for me—how the jihad is understood in the West and how it really is: officially, Western academia, media, and politicians portray it as defensive war to protect Muslim honor and territory; in reality, however, jihad is all too often little more than a byword to justify the most primitive and barbaric passions of its potential recruits and practitioners.
    Based on the English language sources I perused in college, Khalid was a heroic, no-nonsense kind of jihadi—fierce but fair, stern but just.  He was the champion of the Apostasy Wars, when he slaughtered countless Arabs for trying to leave Islam after the death of Muhammad.
     Modern day Muslims writing about Khalid—see for example Pakistani army lieutenant-general A.I Akram’s The Sword of Allah—had naught but praise for him, the scourge of infidels and apostates.
     But as years went by, I came across more arcane and Arabic sources telling of the “darker side” of The Sword—a depraved and sadistic side.
     For example, only recently I came across a video of a modern-day Egyptian Salafi explaining how Khalid raped Layla, the wife of Malik bin Nuwayra—but only after he severed her husband’s head, lit it on fire, and cooked his dinner on it.
     Khalid was recalled and questioned by the caliph—not because he killed and dined on an apostate’s head and “married” his wife, but because some believed that Malik was still Muslim, not an apostate to be treated so, and that Khalid killed him on the accusation of apostasy only as a pretext to take possession of his wife, whose beauty was renowned.
     In the words of Ibn Kathir’s authoritative historical tome, The Beginning and the End (al-bidaya we al-nihaya), “And he [Khalid] ordered his [Malik’s] head and he combined it with two stones and cooked a pot over them.  And Khalid ate from it that night to terrify the apostate Arab tribes and others.  And it was said that Malik’s hair created such a blaze that the meat was so thoroughly cooked.”
    More eye-opening is the way the videotaped Egyptian cleric recounts this whole narrative with awe and admiration—boasting, for example, how that when Khalid entered the caliph’s tent for questioning he was “wearing armor all soaked and rusted from blood [of his enemies], with arrows sticking out of his turban."
    As for the near-cannibalistic meal that the Sword of Allah ate, the cleric complained that “People wonder how our lord Khalid could have eaten from such meat?  Oh yes—he ate from it! Our lord Khalid had a very strong character, a great appetite, and everything!  All to terrorize the desert Arabs [apostates].  The matter requires determination; these matters require strength—terrorism.”
     Of course, all this accords with the Koran’s many commands to “strike terror” into the hearts of disbelievers, be they born infidels or apostates (see Koran 3:151, 8:12, 8:60).
     Now, let us fast-forward to the modern era’s “Arab Spring” and U.S. support for “freedom-fighters” trying to “liberate” Syria (the official, Western narrative of the jihad), and let us reflect on its true nature—from a jihadi (ironically named “Khalid”) biting into the heart of a soldier (and thus striking terror into the hearts of Assad’s “apostate” regime) to Islamic clerics justifying rape and prostitution to gratify the many swords of Allah.
    And at last, let us understand that the heartbeat of the jihad—sex, violence, and rapine—has scarcely changed in nearly fourteen centuries.  http://www.raymondibrahim.com/2014/03/16/allahs-sword-of-terror/

What is Cabin Fever?

By  
   If you are claustrophobic, then you surely know what cabin fever is; the reaction of being claustrophobic in closed rooms, especially when a person is alone or isolated for a long period of time, is termed as cabin fever. The person, who suffers from this problem, is often irritated, especially when he is alone. The worst thing is that such an individual does not even know that he is going through such an issue. Cabin fever is also used as a term for lack of intercourse. Otherwise, it is considered to be claustrophobic reaction for being in an isolated or closed in area. When one is on an exploration, one feels very isolated from mainstream life and feels lonely and deserted. This causes cabin fever.
   Winter depression is also known as “cabin fever” and very closely associated with people who do not have anything to do for long hours suffer from this disorder. For example, those who go on explorations face this problem. One suffers from this condition during the winter times as many remain indoors for long hours on account of heavy snowfall outside. Some of the top cabin fever symptoms includes sleeplessness, boredom and irritability...Continue reading...

Lindi Ortega, "Someday Soon"

Lindi OrtegaLindi Ortega

The women that sacrifice everything to keep Israel safe

Israel Women in the IDF

http://www.israelvideonetwork.com

#Syria: Tweets on Twitter

https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Syria%20&src=typd 

Monday, February 15, 2016

Bessie Smith, "Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out" (1929)

RagtimeDorianHenry

Birds and trees in danger, in England

1) Feral parakeets taking over London, prompting concerns they'll push out native birds

An increasingly common silhouette in British trees, ring-necked parakeets, pictured here in Kensington Gardens in central London, eat a varied diet of nuts, seeds, berries and the occasional household scrap. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)  Read here.

 

 2) ‘Phony peach’: the disease that threatens to devastate Britain’s trees and plants 

 

Xylella fastidiosa can cause leaf scorch. Photograph: Alamy 
   
   It has caused severe damage to plants and trees in the US and southern Europe and now there are fears it is heading this way. With experts warning that it could make the devastating ash dieback disease seem like “a walk in the park”, the UK is on red alert for signs that Xylella fastidiosa has entered the country.
   First confirmed in Europe three years ago when it ran rampant across olive plantations in southern Italy, a subspecies of Xylella has since been detected in southern France, where it has destroyed vines and lavender plants, and in Corsica. Xylella fastidiosa has also been found in both South and North America where it is commonly referred to as “phony peach disease” and where it has caused severe damage to citrus and coffee plantations. In New Jersey it has attacked more than a third of the state’s urban trees...Read more>>http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/feb/14/uk-alert-phony-peach-disease


Samsung warns customers not to discuss personal information in front of smart TVs

THE WEEK:
   Samsung has confirmed that its "smart TV" sets are listening to customers' every word, and the company is warning customers not to speak about personal information while near the TV sets.
   The company revealed that the voice activation feature on its smart TVs will capture all nearby conversations. The TV sets can share the information, including sensitive data, with Samsung as well as third-party services.
   The news comes after Shane Harris at The Daily Beast pointed out a troubling line in Samsung's privacy policy: "Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party."...Continue reading...

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Happy Valentine's Day

A Red, Red Rose

By Robert Burns

O my Luve is like a red, red rose
   That’s newly sprung in June;
O my Luve is like the melody
   That’s sweetly played in tune.

So fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
   So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
   Till a’ the seas gang dry.

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
   And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;
I will love thee still, my dear,
   While the sands o’ life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only luve!
   And fare thee weel awhile!
And I will come again, my luve,
   Though it were ten thousand mile. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173068

Saturday, February 13, 2016

The laws of nature make life on other planets inevitable — according to this groundbreaking theory

 Group of aliens arrives in UFO (Shutterstock)
 
   According to theoretical physicist and super-genius Stephen Hawking, “The human race is just a chemical scum on a moderate-sized planet orbiting round a very average star in the outer suburb of one among a hundred billion galaxies.” Indeed, to most modern scientists we are nothing more than an entirely random ‘happy accident’ that likely would not occur if we were to rewind the tape of the universe and play it again. But what if that is completely wrong? What if life is not simply a statistical anomaly, but instead an inevitable consequence of the laws of physics and chemistry?
   A new theory of the origin of life, based firmly on well-defined physics principles, provides hefty support for the notion that biological life is a “cosmic imperative”. In other words, organic life had to eventually emerge. If such a theory were true, it would mean that it is very likely that life is widespread throughout the universe...Continue reading...
12mulligan

Albatross: World's Oldest Known Bird Welcomes 40th Chick


 Wisdom’s newly hatched chick, Kukini. (Photo : Kiah Walker/USFWS Volunteer)
      A Laysan albatross named Wisdom, the world's oldest banded bird, has hatched what could be her 40th chick. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) reported that the bird, who is at least 65 years old, and her mate welcomed Kukini, Hawaiian for "messenger," into the world on Feb. 1.
     "Wisdom is an iconic symbol of inspiration and hope," Robert Peyton, Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge manager, said in a statement.  "From a scientific perspective, albatrosses are a critical indicator species for the world's oceans that sustain millions of human beings as well."
     Wisdom returns to her nest at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the Pacific Ocean every year.  Her mate Goo had been on the nest since Jan. 20 when he took over incubation duties while Wisdom headed out to sea to collect food.         Wisdom was first banded by ornithologist Chandler Robbins in 1956 as part of a project with the U.S. Geological Survey. She has "nested consecutively" at the refuge since then, according to FWS.
     Generally, albatrosses live from 40 to 60 years and can breed annually with their monogamous, lifelong partners, which are only replaced after death or disappearance. At 65, Wisdom has survived several mates...Continue reading...

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Reason no deterrent to barbaric enemies

Les MacPherson, Saskatoon StarPhoenix:
   For a world leader, Justin Trudeau is astonishingly naive. His remarks the other day on Canada’s new role on the sidelines in the war against ISIS sounded more like what you would expect from a beauty pageant contestant. He stopped just short of asking why can’t we all just get along.
What he did say was almost as troubling.
   “The lethal enemy of barbarism isn’t hatred,” pronounced the prime minister, “it’s reason.”
   I don’t know if he took questions, but it might have been illuminating to ask for a single example, in all of recorded human history, where reason prevailed over barbarity. I can’t think of one...Continue reading...

ISIS has 'made and deployed chemical weapons', says US intelligence official

ALEXANDRA SIMS | The Independent:
   
ISIS has succeeded in making and deploying chemical agents in the Middle East, a US intelligence official has said.

Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, said "sulphur mustard" has been used in an alleged ISIS attack in Syria and there are "numerous allegations" of Isis' use of chemical weapons in both Syria and Iraq.

In a report accompanying Mr Clapper's testimony on Capitol Hill before the Senate Armed Services on Tuesday he states: "We asses that non-state actors in the region are... using chemicals as a means of warfare."... >>http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/ISIS-has-made-and-deployed-chemical-weapons-says-US-intelligence-official/articleshow/50934491.cms?from=mdr

ISIS To Strike The West Using Chemical Weapons? http://www.socialmemegenerator.com/blog/isis-to-strike-the-west-using-chemical-weapons/

Indian Eagle Owl chick born at the Scottish Owl Centre

VIDEO: This owl chick born at the Scottish Owl Centre: Video here.

Robert Burns (1759 - 1796) 'To A Mouse'

Robert Burns by Iain McIntosh © Scottish Poetry Library
















Scottish Poetry Library : If ever a poet understood the character of his nation, he was Robert Burns. The language he was most fluent in wasn’t so much Scots or English – it was the language of the heart. All too human in his personal life, he carried that humanity over onto the page. Nothing was too small or too large to escape his notice, from a mouse in the mud to God in his heavens. A poet for all seasons, Burns speaks to all, soul to soul...www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poets/robert-burns

Robert Burns 'To A Mouse'

Peigi McCann-

 

'To A Mouse', Lyrics: On Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough, November, 1785.

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

James Taylor, "Fire and Rain"

[cutecatgifs.com]                                                                                    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOIo4lEpsPY

Will the Security Fence Soon Encircle All of Israel?

Courtesy of Israelnn.com
    Prime Minister Netanyahu tours construction of security fence along eastern border with Jordan, stresses Israel must 'defend itself from wild beasts.'...Continue reading...
ILTV ISRAEL DAILY

The End of the Merkel Era - The New York Times

Angela Merkel. Credit Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters

BERLIN — THE next few weeks will most likely determine the future of Germany’s approach to the refugee crisis — and perhaps the future of the country itself.
   There are two important dates coming up: a European Union summit meeting on Feb. 18 and 19, which represents Chancellor Angela Merkel’s last chance to win over the rest of Europe to her open-door refugee policy, followed by elections in three federal states in Germany on March 13, which will offer an implicit referendum on Ms. Merkel’s political course...Continue reading...

Zika virus: All we know (and don’t know) so far about the disease

Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in a laboratory at the University of El Salvador. 
  
The Globe and Mail Last updated:

THE BASICS: WHAT IS ZIKA?

   Zika is a flavivirus, related to dengue, that was first identified in rhesus monkeys in Uganda in 1947 and in humans five years later. It’s communicated mainly by mosquitoes, particularly the species Aedes aegypti. The World Health Organization has declared a recent outbreak in the Americas to be a global health emergency... Read here.>>http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/zika-virus-all-we-know-and-dont-know-about-thedisease/article28645383/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com

See also...Have Israeli Researchers Found a Cure for the Zika Virus? 

Birds of prey are starting fires DELIBERATELY: Kites and falcons are 'intentionally dropping smouldering twigs' to smoke out mice and insects in Australia

At least two birds of prey - black kites and the brown falcon - swoop on burning twigs and embers and carry them (pictured) to unburnt parts of the bush where they are thought to deliberately start bushfires, according to witnesses.  They then capture large insects, frogs and animals rushing to escape...Read more>>http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3439042/Birds-prey-starting-fires-DELIBERATELY-Brown-falcon-dropped-smouldering-twigs-Australian-bush-smoke-mice-insects-say-researchers.html

Russians have built the perfect apocalypse survival vehicle


   Someday, civilization will collapse. It is with that knowledge that a group of Russians — who might know more than most about the perils of that collapse — have built the Sherp. It's an all-terrain vehicle that can easily climb over barriers more than 2 feet high. Water is no obstacle, making it truly all-terrain. Oh, and it can be yours for less than $70,000...Read here, videos... Alex Rudoi

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Cinderella performing Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)


Howling Against the Moon: The Last Wolves of Ireland

The man followed the tracks through the snow. His hound sniffed eagerly, almost pulling the leash from the man’s grasp. The wolf was not far ahead of them.
Through a break in the clouds a full moon appeared momentarily.
The man shivered and shook his shoulder, allowing the strap of his gun to come loose.
He released the hound and raised the barrel pointing it towards the furthest trees.
From the darkness of the woods came a terrible howl.
Was that my dog or the wolf, the man wondered, slowly stepping into the shadow of the forest...Read here:http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/howling-against-moon-last-wolves-ireland-005297#ixzz3ze5x4HNu


Don't be steal'n from this Swedish girl

Monday, February 8, 2016

Janis: Little Girl Blue – a force of nature

Observer film critic:
 Janis Joplin in 1970. Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives 
  
   There’s a disturbingly poignant interlude in this vibrant examination of the singer’s short life, when Janis Joplin returns to her home town of Port Arthur, Texas, to attend a 10-year high-school class reunion. Having suffered many hurts in her youth as a bullied outsider, the now hugely successful star seems set for a triumphant homecoming. Yet filmed interviews find her awkward and uncertain, still prey to the uncertainties of failing to fit in.
   It’s a theme that runs throughout Amy J Berg’s empathetic documentary; the dichotomy of a woman who gave the male rock’n’roll establishment a punchy run for their money (she could drink, sing and party most of them under the table) but who still retained the “little girl” fears flagged up in the title...Read more>>http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/feb/07/janis-little-girl-blue-review

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Photographer really ticks off an eagle.....update

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3963662
  
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