WTF ... Our Government is Broken

How in the world could this be legal? Our government does not have our best interests in mind only that of the large corporations. It is illegal for a company to make sure it's product is safe for its customers. Mindboggling.

A federal appeals court says the government can prohibit meat packers from testing their animals for mad cow disease.

Because the Agriculture Department tests only a small percentage of cows for the deadly disease, Kansas meatpacker Creekstone Farms Premium Beef wants to test all of its cows. The government says it can't.

Larger meat companies worry that if Creekstone is allowed to perform the test and advertise its meat as safe, they could be forced to do the expensive test, too.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday overturned a lower court ruling that would have cleared the way for the testing. The appeals court said restricting the test is within the scope of the government's authority.

Via dailykos

Photo by Flickr user Maggie Osterberg used under a Creative Commons License

White shark 2008

Thought I had posted this and then realized that I had not, but the Monterey Bay Aquarium has a new white shark on exhibit.

For only the fourth time since 2004, Monterey Bay Aquarium has a young white shark in the Outer Bay exhibit. The shark--a 4 ½ foot-long female, weighing 55 ½ pounds—arrived on August 27, and will remain with us as long as her health is good and she’s small enough for us to handle safely when it’s time to return her to the wild.

1 month until Openeing

The Steinhart Aquarium in Golden Gate Park reopens one month from today. Getting really excited.

Photo by Flickr user drquimbo used under a Creative Commons License.

Shark Sighting

Stinson Beach is closed until Friday due to a shark sighting.

A surfer who previously worked as a National Park Service lifeguard spotted a shark, 8 to 10 feet long, about 125 yards offshore at 7 p.m. Sunday, said park spokesman Rich Weideman. The shark, possibly a great white, was north of the beach's main lifeguard tower.

Photo by Flickr user Scott the Hobo used under a Creative Commons license.

Huh?

Very little in this story makes sense (10ft?, sure it wasn't bigger) but a reminder to handle larger snakes with someone else around.

A college student working the night shift at a Venezuelan zoo is dead after letting a 10-foot python out of its enclosure.

Javier Hernandez manages the small zoo at Caracas' General Francisco de Miranda Park. He said Monday that 29-year-old Erick Arrieta violated park rules by letting the Asian python out early Saturday.

The biology major was found strangled to death, with a snake bite on his left wrist.

The python turned up down the hall.

Photo by Flickr user Tambako the Jaguar used under a Creative Commons lisence.

Bigfoot Fraud

It was a rubber costume.

On August 16th, 2008 the freezer containing the alleged corpse arrived with the Searching For Bigfoot Team. I arrived on location at 6PM to provide initial verification examination, biohazard control and consult for security measures at the location. At that time the ice was being thawed slowly without aid, to prevent any decomposition of the alleged corpse. We estimated that the freezer and its contents weighed over 1500 pounds and it would take several days or longer to thaw completely.

On August 17th, 2008 Searching for Bigfoot Team Director of Field Operations, TJ Biscardi and myself, were up early to discover that some hair was now exposed. I extracted some from the alleged corpse and examined it and had some concerns. Bob Schmalzbach arrived and concurred. We burned said sample and said hair sample melted into a ball uncharacteristic of hair.

At that time we contacted Mr. Biscardi who gave us permission to begin an expedited melting process. We set up a salamander heater to heat the freezer. Within one hour we were able to see the partially exposed head, as I was now able to touch it, I was able to feel that it seemed mostly firm, but unusually hollow in one small section. This was yet another ominous sign. Within the next hour of thaw, a break appeared up near the feet area. As the team and I began examining this area near the feet, I observed the foot which looked unnatural, reached in and confirmed it was a rubber foot.

At that point we immediately contacted, Tom Biscardi and advised him of the situation and he began to take action on his end. Later that day, Tom Biscardi informed us that both Matthew Whitton and Ricky Dyer admitted it was a costume. They reportedly agreed to sign a promissory note and admission of what they had done, and set a meeting in their hotel room in California for 8AM on August 17th, 2008.

At that time I drew up the documents for Mr. Biscardi. On August 17th, 2008 Tom Biscardi went to the hotel where Dyer and Whitton were staying and found that they had left. At this time action is being instigated against the perpetrators of this fraud. Tom Biscardi asked us to contact you, the press, and share all that we have discovered.

The motives behind this fraud are still unknown at this time. It is still unclear why Whitton who, being a police officer for the Clayton County Police Department in Georgia got up before the world and lied and was complicit in a scheme to defraud in a felonious manner.

Photo by Flickr user sinosplice used under a Creative Commons License

Gerrardanthus macrorhiza

AKA Bigfoot in honor of our dead bigfoot in the Georgian freezer (or maybe costume with pig guts thrown on it). Photos taken by me, but this awesome species can be yours at Cactus Jungle here in Berkeley, Ca.

Fluid Physics

Damn cool video.

Via C00lstuff
h/t Ryan G.

Bats in Peril

Some bad news for bats. Seems global climate change may be mucking with their breeding schedules and leading to a lack of food.

The other hot topic is bats colliding with wind turbines. As we try to move towards more reliable energy sources things like bats and birds are going to need to come into account when designing and placing wind farms. Bats are an important predator of insects such as disease carrying mosquitoes and important pollinators.

However, the bat officer expected one of the issues to be discussed at next week's symposium in Cluj-Napoca, Transylvania, in Romania would be wind turbines.

On the agenda is a presentation on wind farms in mountain areas of Portugal.

Ms Youngman said: "Wind farms were a hot topic at the last symposium.

"In Germany, there are turbines above forests and the mortality rate of bats has been found to be high.

"In Scotland, it was thought to be less of a problem because turbines tend to be in wide open spaces where bats are less likely to be."

ht Xian

Photo by Flickr user shewhopaints used under a Creative Commons license

More Bigfoot.

cnn.com is linking to the story now with a picture. (the photo is copyrighted and not for use under any circumstances without paying; BOO to that!) I don't know. It is looking a little fake. The hair just looks like a stuffed animal and it is not decomposed at all. They still claim to have DNA evidence and to have seen other live Bigfoot where they found this body. This should easily be proven a hoax if it is.

The carcass of the furry half-man, half-ape is 7 feet, 7 inches tall and weighs more than 500 pounds, they say. However, the two are not disclosing the exact location of their discovery in order to protect the remaining creatures.

Tom Nelson, chairman of the biology department at North Georgia College and State University in Dahlonega, said he's "pretty skeptical" the world will feast its eyes on a new species Friday.

"That would certainly rock mammalogy," joked Nelson, who specializes in the study of mammals. "I see a research grant in my future."

Whitton and Dyer plan to unveil what they say is DNA and photo evidence of the discovery in Palo Alto, California, in conjunction with a group called Searching for Bigfoot Inc.

The Stupid it burns

I am not sure there is anything to say except Rep. Sali is a Grade-A moron.

Congressman Sali informed us that a solution to the high price of gasoline was to make petroleum from “all those trees in our forests.” … He continued by saying there “could be up to 40 barrels of oil” in a single tree.

40 barrels of oil in every tree .... maybe if you wait a few million years. I am going to go ahead and give this one the "comedy" label too.

Photo by me. Henry Cowell Redwood Forest.

How many arms does an Octopus have?

Did you guess 8?

Well you are wrong. According to a new study they have six arms .... and two legs.

One can assume that the front six tentacles have the function of arms, and that the back two take over the function of legs," said Sea Life biologist Oliver Walenciak.

Unlike humans and some other animals, most octopuses did not appear to be left-handed or right-handed. Those that were suffered from eye problems on their less-favoured side.

"People have always assumed that octopuses coordinate their ... gripping behaviour through visual data. That seems to be true. When one eye is weak, another side of arms is favoured," said Walenciak.

Photo by Flickr user Erica Simone used under a Creative Commons license

Chupacobra

Injured dog or Chupacobra captured on Police Video Cam? Watch and you decide.

h/t Xian

Finally some good news!

A week or so late on this one, but an extra 150,000 Western Lowland Gorillas were found to exist. This more than doubles the known population of this subspecies of gorilla in the wild. Rare that we get good wildlife news.

"We knew there were apes there, we just had no idea how many," said WCS's Emma Stokes, one of the lead researchers in the two-year project.

The gorillas have thrived thanks to their remoteness from human settlements, food-rich habitats, and two decades of conservation efforts in one of the world's poorest countries, Stokes said.

Photo by Flickr user ecov ottos used with permission.

Welcome Back

Okay ... we are back on to blogging for sure. Promise this time.

I am still doing the posting but doing it under my initials (JK) instead of eastbayvivarium just so I don't have to sign in and out of different gmail accounts.

Photo by Flickr user Laura B used under a Creative Commons License.

BigFoot.

Is it real? Who knows but exciting to think it might be. We should find out on Friday if the press conference really happens. They claim to finally have a body and DNA evidence. Northern California Bigfoot enthusiasts are going to be bummed if they are beat by some Georgians.

Photo by Flickr user Chiceaux used under a Creative Commons license