blog-heap o' links
Three homesick
crocodiles in Australia have shocked experts by returning hundreds of
kilometres back to their homes after being relocated... 
NORRISTOWN,
Pa... A pet store has bought a two-headed turtle from a collector and plans to
keep it on display... 2-month-old turtle... fits on a silver dollar... two
heads sticking out from opposite ends of its shell, along with a pair of front
feet on each side. But there is just one set of back feet and one tail...
apparently healthy... hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:08:55Oxygen,
key to life on Earth today, began to appear on the planet millions of years
earlier than scientists had thought... An analysis of a deep rock core from
Australia indicates the presence of at least some oxygen 50 million to 100
million years before the great change when the life-giving element began rising
to today's levels... Previously, the earliest indications of oxygen had been
from between 2.3 billion and 2.4 billion years ago when the "Great Oxidation
Event" occurred. The cause of the event is still not known, but before that the
atmosphere was dominated by methane and ammonia. Today oxygen makes up about 21
percent of the atmosphere... hosted.ap.org/ ...
10:08:07...mammoth hair seems to be an excellent source of
well-preserved DNA... The DNA collected from the hair is much cleaner and much
less damaged than that from other parts of the mammoths... keratin, the hard
covering of hair, could protect the DNA. Hair also can more easily be cleaned
of contaminants such as bacteria... Learning the DNA sequence does not mean
that the ancient animal can be cloned or somehow resurrected, Schuster said,
adding "this is science fiction..." [today...] 
Two Indianapolis brothers are facing charges
in connection with a marijuana-growing operation that Sheriff Bud Gray
described as perhaps the largest ever uncovered in Hancock County... [Agents
of PuriTalibaNazi religious taboo enforcement] seized 198 marijuana plants,
36 growing lights, a truck and other items... "This (bust) was just a great
opportunity for our agencies (Hancock County and IMPD) to work together..." the
two men could face a maximum of eight years in prison and $10,000 in fines...
drugpolicy.org/ ... 10:07:38According to recently released statistics
from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), marijuana arrests reached an
all-time high last year. This news comes despite a rise in violent crime for
the second consecutive year... Eighty-nine percent of those charges were merely
for simple possession. This begs the question:
shouldn’t law enforcement
focus on the rising violent crime rate instead of wasting precious resources
and manpower going after people for marijuana?.. Close to 100 million
Americans—including more than half of those between the ages of 18 and
50—have tried marijuana at least once. Military and police recruiters
often have no choice but to ignore past marijuana use by job seekers. In fact,
the FBI recently announced it is changing its policy of not hiring people with
a history of marijuana or other illegal drug use because the policy
disqualifies so many people the agency cannot fill needed positions... ap.google.com/ ... 10:06:26PITTSBURG, Calif... Three
men have been charged with murdering... Rex Farrance, 59... a senior editor for
PC World magazine... on Jan. 9... in what police said was an attempt to steal
marijuana that the victim's son grew in their home for medical use... dailynexus.com/ ... 10:05:33The largest recorded marijuana bust in Santa
Barbara County history took place this past Tuesday, when the Sheriff’s
Dept. discovered over 100,000 plants on a private ranch near Lompoc...
40,000 plants were removed Tuesday and 45,000 plants were
removed yesterday. Today, officers will begin exhuming plants from the other
side of the highway... could add 50,000 plants to the total... All together,
the busted marijuana grove has an estimated value of close to $160 million...
The second largest marijuana bust in the county occurred earlier this
summer... 61,000 marijuana plants... A 3 1/2-foot
alligator has been captured walking along a Long Island roadway... hosted.ap.org/ ... 23:11:26The
main section of Malaysia's largest aquarium has been shut after about 600 fish
died mysteriously, possibly because of deliberate poisoning... 
Navy Petty Officer
Second Class Charles Luke Milam, 26, of Littleton, Colo., died September
25, while conducting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Milam
was a hospital corpsman assigned to 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion,
Camp Lejeune, N.C. For further information related to this release, contact
Navy Public Affairs at (703) 697-5342. defenselink.mil/ ... 23:02:58Army Staff Sgt.
Zachary B. Tomczak, 24, of Huron, S.D., died Sept. 25, in Baghdad, Iraq,
of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms fire. He
was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 325th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat
Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C. defenselink.mil/ ... 23:02:20Army Cpl. Anthony
K. Bento, 23, of San Diego, died Sept. 24, in Bayji, Iraq, of wounds
suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms fire. He was
assigned to the 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade
Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C. defenselink.mil/ ... 23:01:46Army Staff Sgt.
Kevin R. Brown, 38, of Harrah, Okla., died Sept. 25 in
Muqdadiyah, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device
detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to the 6th Squadron, 9th Cavalry
Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
Chicken jerky products for dogs may be making some pets
ill... FDA... said it has not been able to identify any contaminant or a
definitive cause for the reported illnesses... hosted.ap.org/ ... 21:47:41The
coach of Oklahoma City's minor-league hockey team helped prevent a possible
stampede of Belgian horses at the Oklahoma State Fair by biting one of the
animals on its ear... "That's how you stymie a horse," he said. "You bite as
hard as you can, and it won't move..." 
A badly injured whale
which became trapped in a sea loch off Lewis has died... bottle-nosed whale
became beached in Loch Roag... was severely underweight... seven-tonne creature
appeared to have died of natural causes... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 09:54:59
A Californian man has
been charged with using his false leg to smuggle three endangered iguanas from
a nature reserve in Fiji to the United States... Army Sgt. 1st Class
Matthew D. Blaskowski, 27, of Levering, Mich., died Sept. 23 in
Asadabad, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit
using small arms fire during combat operations. He was assigned to the 2nd
Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat
Team, Vicenza, Italy. defenselink.mil/ ... 00:50:13Army Spc. David
L. Watson, 29, of Newport, Ark., died Sept. 22 in Baqubah, Iraq, of
injuries suffered from a non-combat related accident. He was assigned to the
2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division
(Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, Wash. The circumstances surrounding
the incident are under investigation. defenselink.mil/ ... 00:49:58Army Spc. Joshua
H. Reeves, 26, of Watkinsville, Ga., died Sept. 22 in Baghdad, Iraq, of
wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.
He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade
Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan. A
neighbor who read an article in the newspaper about marijuana grow houses
tipped off the Sheriff's Office about a North Port home that fit the
description... salem-news.com/ ... 10:23:16Two men were arrested this
weekend, after members of the Lincoln Interagency Narcotics Team and the
Lincoln Interagency Special Weapons and Tactics Team found them cultivating
23 marijuana plants on private timber property
near Siletz, Oregon... the Lincoln Interagency Narcotics Team is continuing the
investigation... [What would these "officers" be doing if they had to be
dealing with genuine and valid police matters instead of religious taboo
enforcement?] eagletribune.com/ ... 10:21:58Police have charged two
Dracut men with growing marijuana plants in Deer Jump Reservation along the
Merrimack River... 21 plants... street value of $50,000
to $60,000... "It was labor intensive trying to find out where the grows
were..." [Another fine waste of taxpayer dollars and police hours...]
dailybulletin.com/ ... 10:20:55Mayor sees complexities of pot... He can go
back and forth like this for hours... "I don't think anyone would want a
society where the majority of people lead unproductive lives and don't
contribute to society ... smoking pot all day or smoking opium all day long,"
he said. "On the other hand, if people like having a drink at the end of the
day or socializing with friends, going on a wine-tasting tour in Northern
California - I don't think there's any harm in that. ... Is there a role for
marijuana in that? Maybe there is. There seems to be. There's a lot of people
who smoke on a recreational basis. I'm not so rigid that I think we need to
stop people from having fun..." alternet.org/ ... 10:19:17Automatic weapons. Check.
Helicopters. Check. Dogs. Check. Bulletproof vests. Check. You may not buy the
government's characterization of its campaign against medical marijuana
patients as a "war on drugs," but increasingly violent, militaristic tactics in
recent months offer a troubling glimpse into the federal law enforcement
community's mentality: To them,
this is war... By all accounts, Naulls ran his collectives with exemplary
scrupulousness. He maintained strict dress codes and professional standards for
all employees. He paid state taxes on the dispensaries -- amounting to several
hundred thousand dollars a year -- even when loose tax regulations allowed
other dispensary owners to slip through the cracks. Profits from the
dispensaries went to local and national cancer organizations. Nevertheless, at
5:50 a.m., July 17, Naulls' home and businesses were invaded by DEA agents
armed with shotguns, automatic rifles -- even helicopters. They seized
everything he owned: his businesses, his property, all of his accounts. But
that wasn't the worst of it. County child protective services came along on the
raid and took Naulls' three daughters, aged 1 to 5, and charged him and his
wife with child endangerment. They weren't even accused of breaking any state
laws... Instead of calling it a war, perhaps there's a more accurate phrase to
describe what we've witnessed from federal law enforcement this summer. How
does "pogrom on medical marijuana patients" sound?.. salem-news.com/ ... 00:48:36The largest marijuana
seizure in Benton County history is much larger than officials initially
thought... "After an exhaustive count that took three days, the Sheriff’s
Office says 7,951 total marijuana plants were seized in the September 20th
raid..." [AREN'T YOU GLAD YOUR TAX DOLLARS AND POLICE EFFORTS ARE GOING TO
THESE INCREDIBLY INSIPID EFFORTS?] billingsgazette.net/ ...
00:47:14California man... arrested at the Greyhound bus station in Billings
when a police dog alerted officers to more than 3 pounds of marijuana in his
luggage... five plastic bags... about 3.4 pounds... starbeacon.com/ ... 00:46:16Two
Geneva teenagers claim they don’t own the car they were driving early
Sunday morning, or the
marijuana cigarette
police found in the vehicle... stopthedrugwar.org/ ...
00:45:31A Marijuana User Gets Arrested Every
38 Seconds in America... Durham and Raleigh...
officers stopped a 30-foot box truck with Canadian plates... found 227 pounds
of "high-grade Canadian marijuana" with a street value of approximately $1.5
million. The pot was packaged in 63 boxes... [four arrested...]
Three
men were taken into custody after a traffic stop on Interstate 70 yielded 15
pounds of marijuana... 900chml.com/ ... 12:14:01Undercover officers
managed to determine that would-be drug buyers were giving $25 payments to a
man in the park, who would then direct them to the hotdog stand to pick up
their dope... kob.com/ ... 12:13:30U.S. Border Patrol agents have seized more
than 1,600 pounds of marijuana from a stolen pickup truck in southwestern New
Mexico... macleans.ca/ ... 12:12:57History
hasn't been kind to cannabis, a researcher at Dalhousie University lamented
last year. The drug is one of the most used worldwide, but misconceptions about
its therapeutic potential and safety continue. More research is on the way, but
marijuana's true rehabilitation could come from, of all things, a new diet drug
that works by deactivating the same therapeutic neural network in our bodies
that marijuana activates... you have your own cannabis infrastructure, a grid
of nerve receptors that changes your experience of pain, sleep and appetite. We
all make our own natural cannabinoids, marijuana-like chemical compounds...
researchers found the synthetic compound rimonabant, a cannabinoid blocker. (It
switches off the same neural network that our own cannabinoids and marijuana
turn on.) So long as you stay on it, the drug reduces appetite, blood sugar,
waist size and weight (by about five per cent), while it raises HDL ("good")
cholesterol... will limit prescribing it to fighting diabetes and
cardiovascular disease... bbsnews.net/ ... 12:11:3089% of Marijuana Arrests were
for Possession exceeding Arrests for All Vioelent Crimes
Combined... Collier deputies have
arrested a man and seized $240,000 worth of marijuana plants they found growing
in his house in Golden Gate Estates. This is the second grow-house bust in a
week... 240 marijuana plants... blog.wired.com/ ... 12:10:00The
Washington state legislature wants to know exactly what a 60-day supply of
medical marijuana is... [Once you get the gov't involved, the wheedling
never ends. REPEAL! REPEAL! COMPLETE AND UTTER REPEEEEAAALLLL!!!]
...Animal rights
activists campaigning to get Pan, a 26-year-old chimpanzee, legally declared a
person vowed Thursday to take their challenge to Austria's Supreme Court after
a lower court threw out their latest appeal... "It is astounding how all the
courts try to evade the question of personhood of a chimp as much as they
can..." [um...] 
A
pet rabbit named Sugar Bunny was stolen from a preschool... fliers protesting
circus animal acts were left in its empty cage... The fliers bore the names of
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Northwest Animal Rights
Network... "Somebody stoled him... I'm sad..." 
A special effects technician
working on the new Batman film was killed when a vehicle he was in crashed
while on a stunt test run... The victim was on a camera truck which was
following a stunt vehicle, believed to have been the Batmobile... died when the
truck he was in struck a tree following a test run...