Archive | April, 2012

2-headed calf born in Idaho

19 Apr

The calf, though perfectly formed did not survive delivery. This is a wonderful story written by a local paper with great details and interviews with local veterinarians. Local newspapers are treasures.

This two-headed calf born April 10 at the 3-B Livestock ranch in Emmett, Idaho, had no other visible abnormalities. Image Sean Ellis/Capital Press

Two-headed calf born in Emmett
By DIANA BAIRD Messenger Index | Posted: Wednesday, April 18, 2012 4:00 am

A fully formed two-headed black crossbred beef calf was born Tuesday, April 10 at the 3 Bar B Ranch in the Tom’s Cabin area. According to ranch foreman, Teryn Henderson the calf was born in the early morning hours. Henderson and his wife, Aimee, live at the ranch with their seven children and “one on the way.”

Henderson said that they knew the cow was going to deliver that night or early in the morning because she kept turning in circles until late in the evening. Early the next morning, while it was still dark, Henderson went to the barn and noticed that the cow was lying down.

“I knew that things were just not right and went to work to help her out,” Henderson said.

He felt inside to find the head and found two. Thinking there were twins, he tried to find the four front feet. He only found two and knew that something wasn’t right.

Henderson called his neighbor, Doug Brock, who lives a mile down the road, for help to get the calf out. Brock came right over to assist.

A calf puller was used to deliver the calf. When they pulled it out, they saw that the calf had two heads and one body. The calf did not survive.

“I haven’t seen anything like that for about 35 years,” Brock said. “I have seen thousands of cattle born and I’ve never seen a two-headed perfect calf.” There were two necks and two perfectly formed heads.

Veterinarian Carrie Roitt, DVM rushed to the ranch to take care of the cow.

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Dakota Meyer awarded Medal of Honor

16 Apr

Brave doesn’t begin to cover what this guy did.

President Barack Obama awards the Medal of Honor to former Marine Corps Cpl. Dakota Meyers, 23, from Greensburg, Ky., Sept. 15, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. Cpl. Meyers was in Afghanistan's Kunar province in Sept. 2009 when he repeatedly ran through enemy fire to recover the bodies of fellow American troops. He is the first living Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan. Image Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

The following came from http://www.marines.mil

The President of the United States in the name of The Congress takes pleasure in presenting the MEDAL OF HONOR to
CORPORAL DAKOTA L. MEYER
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS
 For service as set forth in the following
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with Marine Embedded Training Team 2-8, Regional Corps Advisory Command 3-7, in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, on 8 September 2009. Corporal Meyer maintained security at a patrol rally point while other members of his team moved on foot with two platoons of Afghan National Army and Border Police into the village of Ganjgal for a pre-dawn meeting with village elders. Moving into the village, the patrol was ambushed by more than 50 enemy fighters firing rocket propelled grenades, mortars, and machine guns from houses and fortified positions on the slopes above. Hearing over the radio that four U.S. team members were cut off, Corporal Meyer seized the initiative. With a fellow Marine driving, Corporal Meyer took the exposed gunner’s position in a gun-truck as they drove down the steeply terraced terrain in a daring attempt to disrupt the enemy attack and locate the trapped U.S. team. Disregarding intense enemy fire now concentrated on their lone vehicle, Corporal Meyer killed a number of enemy fighters with the mounted machine guns and his rifle, some at near point blank range, as he and his driver made three solo trips into the ambush area. During the first two trips, he and his driver evacuated two dozen Afghan soldiers, many of whom were wounded. When one machine gun became inoperable, he directed a return to the rally point to switch to another gun-truck for a third trip into the ambush area where his accurate fire directly supported the remaining U.S. personnel and Afghan soldiers fighting their way out of the ambush. Despite a shrapnel wound to his arm, Corporal Meyer made two more trips into the ambush area in a third gun-truck accompanied by four other Afghan vehicles to recover more wounded Afghan soldiers and search for the missing U.S. team members. Still under heavy enemy fire, he dismounted the vehicle on the fifth trip and moved on foot to locate and recover the bodies of his team members. Corporal Meyer’s daring initiative and bold fighting spirit throughout the 6-hour battle significantly disrupted the enemy’s attack and inspired the members of the combined force to fight on. His unwavering courage and steadfast devotion to his U.S. and Afghan comrades in the face of almost certain death reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.

 

Street dealer ties 89 bags of drugs to his privates

15 Apr

Ewwwww.

Police: Dealer tied 89 bags to penis, peed at the station
Philly.com | April 11, 2012

Folcroft Police Corporal Christopher Eiserman has seen a lot during his 14 years as a cop in Delaware County. An alleged Philly drug dealer standing in the station with 89 bags of dope hanging from his schlong was not one of them. Not until he met Ray Woods Friday night.

“Oh, that guy … ” Eiserman said when I called this afternoon to ask about Woods, 23, a resident of the city’s Eastwick section awaiting his preliminary hearing on drug charges.

Eiserman said another officer was on routine patrol Friday when he pulled Woods over for a broken rear light and found marijuana in his car. When the officer searched Woods before placing him in the police cruiser, he discovered “a large bulge” in the front of his pants, Eiserman said.

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Artist Kuebler makes fabulous freaky fun fakes

14 Apr

Have you ever needed a pinhead? How about a 2 headed banjo player? How about shrunken heads or a feejee mermaid. You need artist Thomas Kuebler, the self proclaimed “Sculptor of the Bizarre” because he creates all of those wonders and so many more.

Go visit his site here. http://www.tskuebler.com/

Image by Thomas Kuebler and from www.tskuebler.com

Image by Thomas Kuebler and from www.tskuebler.com

Image by Thomas Kuebler and from www.tskuebler.com

Image by Thomas Kuebler and from www.tskuebler.com

Image by Thomas Kuebler and from www.tskuebler.com

Image by Thomas Kuebler and from www.tskuebler.com

Why is a rabbit’s foot a lucky charm?

13 Apr

I’ve always wondered about this because as they say, its not very lucky for the rabbit. This is a very long and in depth article.

This lucky rabbit has all four feet.

What Makes a Rabbit’s Foot Lucky?
By Krystal D’Costa  |  scientificamerican.com  |  October 26, 2011

At some point, most of us have likely had a token that we believed would protect us or bring us luck. It could have been a baseball cap, a pair of socks, a key chain, a piece of jewelry, a rock or some other otherwise ordinary object that held deeper meaning for us or offered comfort when we needed it most. I’ve had a variety of tokens, including a Cat’s Eye marble a two-dollar bill and a black stone with the word “Ahoy” engraved on it. The stone is my most recent token—a gift from a friend, it typically finds its way into my pocket or on my person to help me face things that make me nervous.

I’ve never had a rabbit’s foot, though. And while I am willing to accept that carrying one is no stranger than carrying a rock to help things go smoothly, there’s something slightly creepy—to me—about carrying a dead animal’s body part around for luck. Even if it’s artificial. (Though, if it’s not the real thing, is it still lucky? It didn’t go through the “fortune-making” process, after all.)

Do You Have a Fetish?
Lucky charms are in essence fetishes: objects culturally invested with magical properties. But they are also constructed to carry social power as well. Why does one carry a lucky token? Because one believes that fortune is needed in some way. But it might also suggest that the owner of the token is unlucky, or lacks confidence—which is perhaps why our lucky tokens are often small, discrete objects. This is in keeping with the general belief that the owner falsely or overly values such items; they are childish and trivial items that can be readily dismissed by others.[i]

Despite this undercurrent, the behavior persists. So where do lucky tokens get their power from?

Gold locket containing the hair of Marie Antoinette.

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Asian herbal kidney ‘remedy’ causes kidney failure

11 Apr

How could a kidney killer be mistaken for a kidney remedy? Perhaps because of sympathetic medicine. The deep red color of the flower and it’s rounded shape could have been interpreted as kidneyish. “Hmm, looks like kidney, so must be good for the kidney.”

Click to embiggen

Herbal ‘remedy’ may trigger widespread kidney failure
By Dan Vergano  |  USA TODAY  |  April 8, 2011

Kidney stones. Snakebites. Head wounds. To the ancients, a weed called birthwort was a wonder drug that treated them all, and more.

Medical detectives, however, are finding that the ancient remedy likely has caused centuries of kidney failure and cancer, as well as being the culprit in a widespread syndrome of kidney disease in some parts of the world.

“The big clue was the plant itself,” says pharmacologist Arthur Grollman of Stony Brook (N.Y.) University. “Once it was appreciated that it contained a potent kidney toxin and human carcinogen, we could get to the bottom of things.”

Grollman and colleagues have unraveled a genetic signature left behind by birthwort in cases of cancers and kidney failure, as reported in the March journal ofKidney International. And in upcoming work, they report signs that use of the drug in Chinese medicines may be responsible for Taiwan’s sky-high rate of kidney disease.

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Easter Bunny arrested for theft

10 Apr

While researching the “Easter bunny arrested for drugs story” I stumbled on this story of a sticky fingered Easter Bunny from a while back.

Justin Medema. Image Jason Lea

Mentor Police Arrest Easter Bunny On Theft Charge
Justin Medema was arrested on a felony theft warrant after he finished pretending to be the Easter Bunny at a local retirement home
By Jason Lea | www.mentor.patch.com | April 2, 2012

Mentor Police officers arrested a man who was pretending to be the Easter Bunny Saturday.

Police were looking for 27-year-old Justin Medema because he is suspected of shoplifting more than a $1,000 worth of DVDs from Sams Club, Mentor Police Sgt. Michael Majernik said.

Mentor Municipal Court issued a warrant for Medema’s arrest. Officers then found out that he was working as the Easter Bunny at Heartland of Mentor, a retirement home, Majernik said.

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Mall’s Easter Bunny arrested for drug posession

9 Apr

The Easter Bunny at the Mall is usually a pretty laid back animal who does most of their work while seated. What the heck could he have doing on break that was so “suspicious?”

Joshua Lee Bolling was arrested while working as Easter Bunny at the Piedmont Mall in Danville, Virginia. Image Police Handout/© Danville Police Department

 

Easter Bunny arrested in Danville mall
By: GoDanRiver Staff  |  Richmond Times-Dispatch  |  April 07, 2012

It wasn’t exactly the scene parents picture when taking their children to see the Easter Bunny.

Instead of hopping down the bunny trail, a man dressed as the Easter Bunny was escorted away by police Friday at Piedmont Mall.

Joshua Lee Bolling, 24, donning the costume of the cuddly critter, was charged with illegally possessing prescription narcotics, according to a news release from the Danville Police Department.

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Rare bunny accidentally killed at own press conference

8 Apr

 There is some irony in this bunnies death. It is worth pointing out that earless bunnies are not that rare.

The future had looked so bright for tiny Til, a baby rabbit born without ears three weeks ago in a small zoo in Limbach-Oberfrohna in Saxony, eastern Germany. Earless rabbits are very rare, and that factor combined with his cuteness would surely have made him a media celebrity, especially in Germany, which has a history of worshipping furry baby animals. Image dapd

Rare Bunny With No Ears Crushed by Cameraman
www.spiegel.de  |  03/14/2012

A baby rabbit born with no ears was being filmed by a news team when the cameraman stepped on him by mistake on Wednesday. The bunny didn’t suffer, said the distraught director of the zoo in Germany who had hoped to turn the rare rabbit into a media star.

Victim of the Media
A baby rabbit born with no ears was being filmed by a news team when the cameraman stepped on him by mistake on Wednesday. The bunny didn’t suffer, said the distraught director of the zoo in Germany who had hoped to turn the rare rabbit into a media star.

Info
The future had looked so bright for tiny Til, a baby rabbit born without ears three weeks ago in a small zoo in Limbach-Oberfrohna in Saxony, eastern Germany. Earless rabbits are very rare, and that factor combined with his cuteness would surely have made him a media celebrity, especially in Germany, which has a history of worshipping furry baby animals.

But then fate struck. Til was meant to be presented to the press at a news conference on Thursday and the zoo had invited a TV camera team to film him lolloping about happily ahead of the big day. Here is what happened next in the words of Uwe Dempewolf, the director of the zoo, who was still shaken when SPIEGEL ONLINE telephoned him on Wednesday afternoon.

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“Jew pond” to get a new name

7 Apr

No matter what your viewpoint about this name reading this article reveals some very interesting points of view about the name.

The pond formerly known as Jew Pond

Residents of New Hampshire town of Mont Vernon decide to rename Jew Pond in 104-33 vote
‘People are too sensitive today,’ says resident who was not in favor of changing name
www.nydailynews.com | Wednesday, March 14, 2012

 

MONT VERNON, N.H. – Residents of a rural New Hampshire town voted Tuesday night to rename a fishing and skating spot that’s been called Jew Pond since the 1920s.

The 104-33 vote allows the board of selectmen to ask the U.S. Board of Geographic Names to officially change the Jew Pond moniker, which appears on a 1968 map but not on any town signs.

Residents debated the issue at a meeting Tuesday, with some urging that the name be changed and others saying it should be kept.

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Sincere Olive Garden review gets more than million clicks

6 Apr

The sincere review Ms. Hagerty did for her local Olive Garden is a huge hit on the internet, getting more than 1 million clicks. In the article below Ad age points out one of the ironies of contemporary media-the paper that published the review didn’t necessarily profit from the publicity.

Marilyn Hagerty’s Olive Garden Review Breaks Million-Click Barrier (and Google Analytics)
But the Paper She Writes for Isn’t Necessarily Getting Rich Off the Craze
Matthew Creamer Published  |  http://adage.com  |  March 16, 2012

Folks at the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald are certain that Marilyn Hagerty’s gone-viral review of the local Olive Garden has now received more than a million page views.

That’s what the paper’s internal article counter says, at least. They’d likely have corroboration from Google Analytics — but it broke amid the deluge of traffic to the 85-year-old food writer’s masterpiece of polite restaurant criticism.

As of Wednesday, the article had received over 850,000 clicks, with 183,000 of them coming on Tuesday alone, according to Google Analytics. But yesterday the number went to zero, a clear indication that something went haywire in the analytics tool. After all, interest has far from abated as Ms. Hagerty becomes a multimedia star. With appearances on “Piers Morgan,” “Today” and “The Early Show” to keep the momentum strong, it’s safe to say that by now, the “Eatbeat” column is easily in seven-figure territory.

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Sincere Olive Garden review immensely popular

5 Apr

Much contemporary food writing borders on science fiction with lemon grass infusions, plenty of pork belly, breakfast radishes, and deconstructed dishes. I feel that is the reason Ms. Hagerty’s sincere review of a local Olive Garden is popular. It is also a reminder that while urban food writers are sipping small batch bourbons and nibbling on head cheese tapas the vast majority of American’s have far fewer dining choices.

Marilyn Hagerty writes for the Grand Forks Herald


 

THE EATBEAT: Long-awaited Olive Garden receives warm welcome
Marilyn Hagerty  |  www.grandforksherald.com  |  March 07, 2012

After a lengthy wait for Olive Garden to open in Grand Forks, the lines were long in February. The novelty is slowly wearing off, but the steady following attests the warm welcome.

My first visit to Olive Garden was during midafternoon, so I could be sure to get in. After a late breakfast, I figured a late lunch would be fashionable.

The place is impressive. It’s fashioned in Tuscan farmhouse style with a welcoming entryway. There is seating for those who are waiting.

My booth was near the kitchen, and I watched the waiters in white shirts, ties, black trousers and aprons adorned with gold-colored towels. They were busy at midday, punching in orders and carrying out bread and pasta.

It had been a few years since I ate at the older Olive Garden in Fargo, so I studied the two manageable menus offering appetizers, soups and salads, grilled sandwiches, pizza, classic dishes, chicken and seafood and filled pastas.

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