A U.S. Marine drinks cobra blood during a jungle survival exercise with the Thai Navy as part of the “Cobra Gold 2011” joint military exercise, at a military base in Chon Buri Province, February 13, 2011. More than 13,000 armed forces personnel representing Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and United States are taking part in the exercises, which occur every year in Thailand. © Sukree Sukplang (Reuters)
Thank you, but I’ll stick with Bacardi and Coke for now.
Filed under News
“I was a severely conservative governor.”
– Mitt Romney responding to criticism of his health care plan while governor of the severely blue state of Massachusetts
You can always grab people’s attention by using the word “severe” in a sentence. It shows you really, really, really mean it!
Filed under News
Former tribal chairwoman Bonita Cleveland is a leader in the Quileute Tribe. | Tony Overman/The Olympian/MCT
Congress has signed off on a plan that will transfer 785 acres of federal parkland along the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Washington state to the tiny Quileute Indian tribe, a move aimed at protecting the tribe’s safety in case a tsunami strikes.
The tribe is perhaps best known for its role in Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” novels, which resulted in subsequent films. According to the tribe’s legend, a wandering transformer changed the Quileutes from wolves. The story inspired Meyer’s writings and one of her characters, Jacob Black, and draws many “Twilight” fans to visit the reservation.
Filed under News
Damage from the May 22 Joplin tornado
An unprecedented number of tornadoes, fires, storms, hurricanes and floods contributed to a record 14 weather and climate disasters in 2011, making it a year with the most number of natural calamities exceeding $1 billion: 14. The previous record had been 9 in 2008. The costliest year on record is 2005, which incurred $160 billion. Most of that was due to Hurricane Katrina with $143.9 billion. Actual dollar estimates of some 2011 disasters are still being tabulated, so the numbers could change. But so far, total damage estimates put the figure at $55 billion. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, half of the year’s billion-dollar events were tornadoes; 6 of those at the EF5 level, the highest on the Enhanced Fujita scale. The tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri on May 22, for example, cost $2.8 billion and killed 161 people. It was the deadliest single tornado strike in the U.S. since modern record-keeping began. But, that was just 1 of more than 850 confirmed tornadoes in 2011 with a total cost of $28.7 billion and 551 fatalities.
Texas, Arizona and New México saw the worst wildfires in 2011, with 3 million+; 500,000 and 150,000 acres burned, respectively. The year ended with 84% of the Southern plains in some stage of drought.
The U.S. escaped the wrath of several tropical storms and hurricanes (usually the deadliest and most expensive disasters) that formed in the Atlantic. But, Hurricane Irene pounded the Northeast with heavy rains; while Tropical Storm Lee did the same to the Gulf Coast, from Louisiana to the Florida panhandle.
Last year may have just been a fluke from a climatological standpoint, so scientists can’t be certain if this is a new trend. Instruments used to track weather systems have become more refined in recent years. Regardless, it’s still fascinating – and frightening – not knowing what to expect in years to come.
Damage from Hurricane Irene on Route 100 in Killington, VT.
Filed under News
This mounted human head is just one of eight forgotten but stunningly preserved 19th-century Italian mummies whose secrets of preservation have only recently been unraveled. Working in the town of Salò, anatomist Giovan Battista Rini (1795 – 1856) preserved corpses and body parts by bathing them in a cocktail of mercury and other heavy metals, according to new chemical analyses and CT scans. I think this is how presidential candidates feel (and sometimes look) after the campaign is done.
Photo: Dario Piombino-Mascali, EURAC, and Clinical Anatomy/Wiley
Filed under News
“We have this fantasy that our interests and the interests of the super rich are the same. Like somehow the rich will eventually get so full they’ll explode. And, the candy will rain down on the rest of us – like there’s some kind of piñata of benevolence. But, here’s the thing about a piñata: it doesn’t open on its own. You have to beat it with a stick.”
– Bill Maher, The Tonight Show, February 15, 2012
Filed under News
It’s bad enough there are always people who feel they know what’s best for everyone else. The current debate in Congress over birth control is testament to that. But, as a fiction writer, I know all artists will offend someone somewhere at some point in time. In 1964, Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously stated that he couldn’t define obscenity, “[B]ut I know it when I see it.” If obscenity or offensive material is purely subjective, then how can free speech and a free press conflict with community standards? I guess it depends on whose standards you’re talking about. Personally, I don’t feel that nudity or sexuality is necessarily obscene. But, I find violence offensive. It seems most Americans feel the opposite. Yet, I think when artists start censoring themselves to placate the masses – or worst, an oppressive totalitarian regime – then the true spirit of creativity has been butchered. In years past, writers and poets in the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc nations lived in fear that their own works could be not just professional, but personal suicide. Now, China is in the spotlight, as its writers are subjected to growing levels of censorship in a country that is increasingly becoming a major player on the global stage.
Filed under News
This is 1 reason why I left the Catholic Church some 20 years ago and why I don’t vote Republican.
Filed under News
The all-male gallery of religious leaders called to testify before the Congressional committee. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) – one of the most conservative members of the House – insisted there weren’t any qualified women on the list. Listening to these men whine how the proposed birth control plan violates their religious beliefs reminds me of old White southerners complaining that civil rights legislation offends their constitutional values. Who cares? When basic human rights and religious freedom conflict, human rights needs to go first.
Filed under News
Chief Writing Wolf 