blog-heap o' links
The fossil
remains of a land-bound reptile described as a possible "missing link" between
prehistoric and modern-day crocodiles were displayed to the public for the
first time on Thursday... foxnews.com/ ... 23:09:51Danish researchers have
concluded that all blue-eyed people share a common ancestor, presumably someone
who lived 6,000 to 10,000 years ago... "Originally, we all had brown eyes...
But a genetic mutation affecting the OCA2 gene in our chromosomes resulted in
the creation of a 'switch,' which literally 'turned off' the ability to produce
brown eyes..." 
Every autumn and winter, hunters from this craggy
Japanese fishing village corral thousands of dolphins into a tiny, isolated
cove and kill them for meat and fertilizer, turning the water red with their
blood. And every year, foreign animal rights protesters converge on the town,
interfering with the slaughter... Now, Japan's dolphin hunters face a new,
powerful opponent: mercury contamination... 
Japanese researchers have implanted a small camera inside
a mouse's brain to see how memory is formed... 
Students at Brookfield
High School said it was "a day like any other" earlier this month when two
sophomores from the school were arrested for conspiring to sell marijuana on
school property... chicagotribune.com/ ...
11:56:35Cook
County sheriff's police arrested a Texas man after confiscating more than
$450,000 in marijuana from a rental truck he was driving... network.nationalpost.com/ ...
11:56:10A
woman newly widowed by her common-law husband’s sudden death was further
set back when the responding paramedics discovered an alleged grow-op in her
home, and she was arrested by police... chicagotribune.com/ ...
11:55:37The
Cicero police commander accused of having a burned marijuana cigarette and a
bag of marijuana in his car after being stopped last weekend on Chicago's South
Side is scheduled to take a drug test Thursday that could determine his future
at the Police Department... mercurynews.com/ ... 11:55:13The Berkeley City Council unanimously passed
a plan this week to help get medical marijuana to patients if the Drug
Enforcement Administration raids and shuts down any of the city-permitted
dispensaries... 
Former President Bill Clinton was in Denver, Colorado,
stumping for his wife yesterday... "We just have to slow down our economy and
cut back our greenhouse gas emissions 'cause we have to save the planet for our
grandchildren..." At a time that the nation is worried about a recession is
that really the characterization his wife would want him making? "Slow down our
economy"?.. reason.com/ ... 22:52:10
The Washington Times reports that Barack Obama, who told an
audience of college students when he was running for the U.S. Senate in 2004
that he favored decriminalizing marijuana, still holds that position, although
he opposes complete legalization...
[MINCING SPINELESS JELLYFISH!] blogs.abcnews.com/ ...
11:08:58
"I think whatever he said which was certainly
never intended to cause any kind of offense to anyone," Clinton said, "if it
did give offenses then I take responsibility and I’m sorry about
that."
High winds downed trees, cut power and moved vehicles
across much of the state Tuesday and reportedly killed two people at a mobile
home park in Southern Indiana... Most of the damage appeared to be caused by
straight-line winds but tornadoes may have touched down in isolated areas...
cbs2chicago.com/ ...
09:48:17CHICAGO... At this time on Tuesday morning... Temperatures
ranged from 47 to 50 degrees... in blew a winter storm that began with
whipping, blowing snow, followed by a drop of nearly 50 degrees in a matter of
hours... temperature at 5 a.m. was -1 at O'Hare International Airport, 0 and
Midway International Airport, and 3 degrees downtown... A golf course in
tropical Australia has a new water hazard: a crocodile that took up residence
in a lake at the 14th hole... posed no "significant threat" to people...
EUGENE, Ore... Jan 29... The chickens had no intention of
crossing the road. Instead, they came crashing off a trailer, in crates,
leaving feathers and carcasses on a mile-long stretch of Interstate 5... Three
drivers reported hitting crates. Some of the fowl died inside, others on the
highway or in the snow-filled ditches... "A lot of trucks running up and down
I-5 dump their loads.... We've cleaned up chickens before. We've chased cows
and sheep and horses off the road. It happens more often than you'd think..."
hosted.ap.org/ ... 08:58:41GRAND
JUNCTION, Colo... drunken driver crashed through a fence at a small airport and
drove onto a runway before getting stuck atop electrical equipment...
The
number of chinook salmon returning to California's Central Valley has reached a
near-record low, pointing to an "unprecedented collapse" that could lead to
severe restrictions on West Coast salmon fishing this year... WHEN
THEY OUTLAW MARIJUANA, ONLY THE POTHEADS WILL HAVE POT... marijuana ID card. In
2001 he was hired as an administrator–not a pilot or school bus
driver–by Raging Wire Telecommunications. Ross informed Raging Wire of his
use of medical marijuana from the beginning, and presented his ID card before
taking his drug test. A week later, when the test came back positive for trace
amounts of marijuana, Raging Wire fired Ross. This is the latest installment in
the comedy of errors that passes for drug policy in the state of California and
the US as a whole... the-signal.com/ ...
10:15:46Sheriff's deputies raided an upscale Tesoro del Valle home
Tuesday - confiscating more than 1,000
marijuana plants
including some with names like "Big Bud" and "Beastie Boom" - after a neighbor
walking his dog tipped them to an odor wafting from the residence... news.google.com/ ... 10:14:51Meanwhile, at Farm
Snyfontein near Keetmanshoop in Karas, a man and a woman were arrested after
they were found in possession of 7parcels of
cannibis weighing 2
thousand, 3 hundred and 65 kilogrammes, last week... 
Army Maj. Alan G.
Rogers, 40, of Hampton, Fla., died Jan. 27 of wounds suffered when an
improvised explosive device detonated while he was conducting a dismounted
patrol in Baghdad, Iraq. He was assigned to the Military Transition Team, 1st
Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan. defenselink.mil/ ... 11:32:03Army Staff Sgt.
Robert J. Wilson, 28, of Boynton Beach, Fla., died Jan. 26
of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated while he was
conducting a dismounted patrol in Baghdad, Iraq. He was assigned to the 1st
Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne
Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky. Rival Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and
Barack Obama came within a foot of one another just before President Bush's
State of the Union speech Monday night and managed not to acknowledge each
other... A doorkeeper, caught in that highly awkward dance, cringes in the
photo that captures the moment... washingtonpost.com/ ...
11:02:38The political and social legacy of the late president --
Camelot, the Big Myth, the story of American royalty, a sense of Americans
being awestruck by themselves -- was gift-wrapped by the Kennedy family
yesterday and given to Sen. Barack Obama, a political gift with remarkable and
remarkably strange baggage... "Over the years, I've been deeply moved by the
people who've told me they wish they could feel inspired and hopeful about
America the way people did when my father was president," Caroline Kennedy told
a cheering throng of students at American University. "This longing is even
more profound today. Fortunately, there is one candidate who offers that same
sense of hope and inspiration, and I am proud to endorse Senator Barack Obama
for president..." Bay of Pigs! Marilyn! No need to mention these sorts of
things today... media.newsbusters.org/ ...
10:59:56HARRY SMITH: When you see that enthusiasm [for Obama] though,
and when you see the generational change that seems to be taking place before
our eyes, does it make you at all fearful?Edward Kennedy may have thrown his political weight behind
Democrat Barack Obama in the White House race, but he says that doesn't mean he
harbors ill feelings toward his old friends, Hillary and Bill Clinton...
joint is equivalent
to 20 cigarettes in terms of lung cancer risk, scientists in New Zealand have
found, as they warned of an "epidemic" of lung cancers linked to cannabis...
[an epidemic which for SOME reason just hasn't shown up in the last FORTY
YEARS of cannabis puffing! Another study "proving" what the PuriTalibaNazis
want to prove, as trustworthy as a USSR history book!] scientists said
cannabis could be expected to harm the airways more
than tobacco as its smoke contained twice the level of carcinogens... [Note
the weasel words that say nothing. This has all been studied before!]
marijuana in a man's
car after they pulled him over for throwing bottles at a truck... [Was he
just naturally stupid [Answer: Yes], or was he smokin' that mythical extra-good
pot only the PuriTalibaNazi Tyranny propagandists seem to know about?]
hosted.ap.org/ ... 09:25:34Thieves
in Malaysia stole an adult cow, squeezed it into the back seat of a car and
drove off with it, but abandoned the animal when the getaway vehicle crashed
into a tree... The cow, injured in the crash, was slaughtered by villagers...
hosted.ap.org/ ...
09:21:15CHERRYVILLE, N.C... unsuccessful robber... dropped a .45-caliber
handgun in front of Gasland USA on Sunday. The gun hit the ground and went
off... shot himself in the foot... 
...If the adult entertainment industry has its way,
Americans will soon get a choice of free porn on cell phones -- or at least
some photographs of good-looking girls in bikinis. Unlike in Europe, mobile
porn has yet to take off in North America as carriers have been afraid of
offending political and religious groups and parents concerned about children
being exposed to adult content... 
Bats are dying off by the
thousands as they hibernate in caves and mines around New York and Vermont,
sending researchers scrambling to find the cause of mysterious condition dubbed
"white nose syndrome..." for the white circle of fungus found around the noses
of affected bats... Up to 11,000 bats were found dead last winter and many more
are showing signs illness this winter. One hard-hit cave went from more than
15,000 bats two years ago to 1,500 now... For some unknown reason, the bats
deplete their fat reserves and die months before they would normally emerge
from hibernation... 
...Virginia Beach home... a dog, a bird, and three cats...
100 live ferrets... most of them suffering from dehydration and malnutrition...
frozen bodies of 89 ferrets, a cat, a rat and an otter... Sixty-one of the live
ferrets had to be euthanized... 
President Bush plopped himself into a chair between two
former prisoners... and asked to hear how their lives had changed. But first,
he wanted them to know something about him: "I understand addiction... and I
understand how a changed heart can help you deal with addiction.... Addiction
is hard to overcome.... As you might remember, I drank too much at one time in
my life. I understand faith-based programs. I understand that sometimes you can
find the inspiration from a higher power to solve an addiction problem..."
Chameleons... change colour for a variety of purposes -
communication, camouflage and temperature control... "[Our research] suggests
that chameleons 
After more than 50 years of leading his Transcendental
Meditation movement, the one-time Indian guru to the Beatles has retreated into
near-silence and turned over daily management of his global network to aides...
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is thought to be 91 and is losing the strength to keep
up...