Humber rock art mystery solved

When Peter Riedel looks at a riverbed, he sees a puzzle in the rocky surface.Riedel, 48, is the Toronto photographer responsible for the mysterious rock statues that appeared in the Humber River near the Old Mill this weekend.People who live in the area thought it was the work of engineering students or anonymous urban artists. A story about the mysteryappeared in Tuesday’s paper.“It was a real thrill to see it in the paper,” Riedel, 48, said at his home Tuesday. “It was a nice way to wake up with a coffee.”Riedel waded into the Humber River on Sunday afternoon and balanced rocks for four hours, with a crowd of about 30 watching on shore. He made 30 formations, each within 10 minutes. Some have the look of an inukshuk; another looks remarkably like an egret that visits the river. (“That’s my favourite one,” Riedel said.)

Tuesday afternoon, Riedel returned to talk about his work and fix a few pieces that had toppled in the wind. A crowd had gathered to take photos, not realizing the artist was in their midst.

“Are they glued?” Ingrid Hovesen asked her husband. “Does he just pick up any old stone?”

Riedel hears both questions a lot.

“There’s a centre of gravity, an invisible spine where it will stay in place. You just have to jiggle it around until it’s standing on its own,” he said. “Over time you get a really good feel for matching rock surfaces and counter balancing.” ...

via Humber rock art mystery solved - thestar.com.

Ask a Scientist: Why Is Urine Yellow?

Answer: Of the three types of cone cells in your retina, the medium and long ones respond the most and tell your brain "yellow" in reaction to the 570 nm reflected light which reaches your eye because the urobilins in urine does not absorb that wavelength of light.

The yellow color in urine is due to chemicals called urobilins. Urobilin is a chemical formed, eventually, from the breakdown of the hemoglobin in your blood.

Hemoglobin in the blood is what transports oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body (i.e. the tissues) where it releases the oxygen for cell use.

You start with a heme group (left), then remove the iron (Fe) and you end up with urobilin (right).  When your urine contains many urobilins, it's more yellow, and when it's low on urobilins, it is more clear.

There are a few steps in between.

[ Bilirubin is the breakdown product of the heme part of hemoglobin from worn-out red blood cells.  Urobilinogen is a colourless product of bilirubin reduction. It is formed in the intestines by bacterial action. Urobilin is produced when Urobilinogen is oxidized by intestinal bacteria; it can also be produced when urobilinogen is exposed to the environment upon urination, resulting in its oxidation to urobilin. Most bilirubin is partly broken down in the liver, stored in the gall bladder, broken down some more in the intestines, [some of] its metabolites remain in the bloodstream to be extracted by the kidneys where, converted to urobilins, it gives urine that familiar yellow tint. ... These same yellow chemicals also cause the yellow color of jaundice and of bruises, both of which result when more hemoglobin than usual is being broken down and/or the processing of its breakdown products by the liver is not able to keep up.   - Science In Action: Why Is Urine Yellow? ]

Urobilin is produced when Urobilinogen is oxidized by intestinal bacteria; it can also be produced when urobilinogen is exposed to the environment upon urination, resulting in its oxidation to urobilin. - Wikipedia

Our blood is amazing. Ethan Siegel on science blogs says, "there are about 30 trillion red blood cells in the human body, meaning you are both destroying (and making) new red blood cells at a rate of around 2.7 million cells per second. What's more, is that every red blood cell has about 270 million hemoglobin molecules in it, with each one capable of carrying four oxygen molecules (and having four heme groups)."

If your urine is dark yellow, you probably are not drinking enough water.  See the hydration scale. Um, I think you are supposed to squint at it, because if my urine had those little dots I'd freak out.

The colors we see are the result of our eyes and brains responding to different wavelengths of light.

Isaac Newton discovered that white light splits into its component colors when passed through a prism.  You see a rainbow of colors, but, you can put those colors back together and get white light if you pass them through another prism that bends the light back together.

Light is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength that is visible to the human eye (in a range from about 380 or 400 nanometres to about 760 or 780 nm). Visible yellow light has a wavelength of about 570 nanometers.  Urine is yellow not because urobilin emits 570 nm light, but that it absorbs light better that is not in the yellow range.

You see yellow because your retina's color opponent mechanism sends a signal up your optic nerve that, in the battle between yellow and blue, yellow has won.

Metagenomic symbiosis between bacterial and viral pathogens in autoimmune disease

Here is some great cutting edge information about autoimmune disease.  It seems that there are many more microbes in our bodies than anyone ever knew.

A couple weeks ago, I gave a presentation at the International Congress on Autoimmunity in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The talk was about successive infection and how viruses and bacteria can work together to cause an autoimmune disease state.



Amy Proal graduated from Georgetown University in 2005 with a degree in biology. While at Georgetown, she wrote her senior thesis on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and the Marshall Protocol.

A 4 dimensional shape and my sighting of an other dimensional vanishing bicycle

This thing is really fun. Try to follow one corner.

Admit it. You can’t take your eyes off this object. This is a tesseract and as such is a 4 dimensional shape. Wait, though. We only live in three dimensions, don’t we? So although this object is beautiful, hypnotising almost – what on earth is it and what is it doing here, confounding our lovely three dimensions with its impertinent fourth? Strictly speaking, what you can see above is a two dimensional projection of a three dimensional simulation of a four dimensional tesseract, that’s what

...Think of the space with which you are familiar. Put simply; think of the ways in which you can move. There is left to right, forwards and backwards. Finally there is up and down. Three ways, three dimensions. You can pinpoint your location by working out your coordinates in those three directions.

...When you go to the fourth dimension (cue Twilight Zone music) you have another direction. That direction is (wait for it) at right angles to each and every one of the three original directions. If your head just exploded, don’t worry. That is quite a normal reaction. Just take it from me that the math works.

via Daily Grail Frontpage | TDG - Science, Magick, Myth and History.

Tonight while driving I saw a bicycle rider with one arm out of the corner of my eye. As I turned to look at it, the moving contraption fold into itself and disappeared.

That, of course, is impossible, so, my brain promptly told me that I did not see what I had just seen.

And when I got to a computer, I saw the above  on The Daily Grail blog.  What I saw folded up and vanished something like this. Anyone else ever see something like this? I assume it is an eye/brain malfunction after staring at a computer all day, but it would be a lot more interesting if it was something real.

Some people believe that there is another world all around us and that four dimensional creatures can just fold in and out.  This, along with eye-strain, may explain many unusual things. Of course, there is zero evidence for other dimensional beings and plenty for perceptual malfunctions.

It is more fun to think that when there is a CME hitting the earth the multi-dimensional beings get those fold-able bicycles out and visit us.

This morning around 0855 UT, Earth orbiting satellites detected a C3-class solar flare. The origin of the blast was sunspot 1092. At about the same time, an enormous magnetic filament stretching across the sun’s northern hemisphere erupted… In short, we have just witnessed a complex global eruption involving almost the entire Earth-facing side of the sun. A coronal mass ejection (CME) produced by the event is heading directly for Earth. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras when it arrives on or about August 3rd. - spaceweather

Jonas, 32, sewed up his own leg after ER wait

A 32-year-old took the needle into his hands when he tired of the wait at Sundsvall hospital in northern Sweden and sewed up the cut in his leg himself. The man was later reported to the police for his impromptu handiwork."It took such a long time," the man told the local Sundsvall Tidning daily.

The man incurred the deep cut when he sliced his leg on the sharp edge of a kitchen stove while he was renovating at home.

"I first went to the health clinic, but it was closed. So I rang the medical help line and they told me that it shouldn't be closed, so I went to emergency and sat there," the man named only as Jonas told the newspaper.

After an hour-long wait in a treatment room, he lost patience and proceeded to sew up his own wound.

"They had set out a needle and thread and so I decided to take the matter into my hands," he said.

But hospital staff were not as impressed by his initiative and have reported the man on suspicion of arbitrary conduct for having used hospital equipment without authorization.

While Jonas admitted to the newspaper that he has no prior experience of sewing up himself he sought to play down the fuss that his handiwork has caused, arguing that "through the ages people have always sewn themselves up".

via Jonas, 32, sewed up his own leg after ER wait - The Local.

"Suspicion of arbitrary conduct?!"  Control freak alert. That such an infraction would even exist is the invention of a madman. Life itself is the result of arbitrary conduct!

In any case, sewing up a cut is rational behavior as it protects your wound from becoming infected... although I'm not sure how clean that needle was... but he may have sterilized it with a match first.

The hospital staff is guilty of no conduct. Probably understaffed, which means the hospital administrators are guilty of miserly conduct.

Scientist: A universe could exist inside every black hole

Using an adaptation of Einstein's general theory of relativity, Nikodem Poplawski, of Indiana University, Bloomington, analysed the theoretical motion of particles entering a black hole.

He concluded that it was possible for a whole new universe to exist inside every black hole, which could mean that our own universe could be inside a black hole as well.

"Maybe the huge black holes at the centre of the Milky Way and other galaxies are bridges to different universes," he told New Scientist.

Explaining his theory in the journal Physics Letters B, he said he used the Einstein-Cartan-Kibble-Sciama (ECKS) theory of gravity, in his analysis to account for the angular momentum of particles in a black hole. Doing this it made it possible to calculate a quality of space-time called torsion, a property believed to repel gravity.

He says instead of matter reaching infinite density in a black hole called "singularities" in Einstein's theory of relativity - the behaviour of the space-time acts more like a spring being compressed with matter rebounding and expanding continuously.

Dr Poplawski explains that this "bounce-back" effect is caused by the torsion of space-time having a repulsive force against the gargantuan strength of gravity in a black hole.

Dr Poplawski also claims that this recoiling effect could be what has led to our expanding universe that we observe today and could explain why our universe is flat, homogeneous and isotropic without needing cosmic inflation.

It is hard to see how we could test whether or not Dr Poplawski's theory is correct; the force of gravity in black holes is such that nothing can escape, so no information about what is going on inside one can ever reach us.

However, according to Dr Poplawski, if we were living in a spinning black hole then the spin would transfer to the space-time inside, meaning the universe would have a preferred direction - something we would be able to measure. Such a preferred direction could be related to the observed imbalance of matter and anti-matter in the universe and could explain the oscillation of neutrinos.

via A universe could exist 'inside every black hole,' claims scientist - Telegraph.

I've got a universe in my head. Found it there last Wednesday.  The inhabitants ... yes, I hear them... request that I refrain from sneezing.

Generating energy from ocean waters off Hawaii

Researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa say that the Leeward side of Hawaiian Islands may be ideal for future ocean-based renewable energy plants that would use seawater from the oceans' depths to drive massive heat engines and produce steady amounts of renewable energy.

The technology, referred to as Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC), is described in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, which is published by the American Institute of Physics (AIP).

It involves placing a heat engine between warm water collected at the ocean's surface and cold water pumped from the deep ocean. Like a ball rolling downhill, heat flows from the warm reservoir to the cool one. The greater the temperature difference, the stronger the flow of heat that can be used to do useful work such as spinning a turbine and generating electricity.

The history of OTEC dates back more than a half century. However, the technology has never taken off -- largely because of the relatively low cost of oil and other fossil fuels. But if there are any places on Earth where large OTEC facilities would be most cost competitive, it is where the ocean temperature differentials are the greatest.

Analyzing data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Oceanographic Data Center, the University of Hawaii's Gérard Nihous says that the warm-cold temperature differential is about one degree Celsius greater on the leeward (western) side of the Hawaiian Islands than that on the windward (eastern) side.

This small difference translates to 15 percent more power for an OTEC plant, says Nihous, whose theoretical work focuses on driving down cost and increasing efficiency of future facilities, the biggest hurdles to bringing the technology to the mainstream.

"Testing that was done in the 1980s clearly demonstrates the feasibility of this technology," he says. "Now it's just a matter of paying for it."

via Generating energy from ocean waters off Hawaii.

It is never too late to start using earth-friendly ways of extracting energy.... If we can't get fusion working I vote for building a Dyson Sphere around the sun. Done in small steps, it might start paying off right away.

Disrupted circadian rhythm may cause triglycerides to rise

When the circadian rhythm gets thrown off, it could come with an unexpected side effect: high triglycerides. The discovery, based on studies in mice with a "broken clock," helps to explain the normal rise and fall in triglycerides, which happens at about the same time each day, according to researchers who report their findings in the August issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication.

"We show that the normal up and down [of triglycerides] is lost in clock mutants," said M. Mahmood Hussain of SUNY Downstate Medical Center. "They have high triglycerides all the time." An elevated triglyceride level is a risk factor for atherosclerosis and heart disease.

Several biological, physiological, and behavioral activities show a characteristic recurrence with 24-hour intervals attuned to sunrise and sunset, the researchers explained. That circadian rhythm is driven by the interaction of so-called clock genes.

In normal mice, plasma triglycerides double or triple over the course of the day, reaching their lowest point at night when the nocturnal animals eat and are most active, the new report shows. In clock mutants, triglyceride levels don't change; rather, they stay high all the time.

The researchers delved further into the mechanism linking the animal's internal clocks to triglycerides. They found that a core component of the circadian circuitry—a protein known as CLOCK—controls levels of another protein (called microsomal triglyceride transfer protein, or MTP) that helps to ferry triglycerides through the bloodstream. That control takes place via yet another transcription factor.

"Metabolic syndrome and obesity are major metabolic disorders characterized by high plasma lipid concentrations," the researchers conclude. "Plasma lipids are tightly controlled by mechanisms regulating their production and clearance. Here, we show that light-entrained mechanisms involving clock genes also play a role in regulating plasma triglyceride."

If the findings in mice can be extrapolated to humans, it suggests that the effects of drugs designed to lower triglyceride levels by acting on MTP might depend on when they are taken each day, the researchers said.

"The dose needed may vary depending on the time of day," Hussain said. "Now we can start to think about [the role of] drug timing in controlling disease states."

The findings also suggest that activities that disrupt the circadian rhythm—staying up until 2:00 a.m. or traveling overseas—might come with real consequences for lipid metabolism, he added.

via Disrupted circadian rhythm may cause triglycerides to rise.

Yet another reason to try to get to sleep before 2:30 AM.

I have very noisy neighbors. When I approached a loud group of college kids at 3AM recently, a guy said, "Is it worth getting knifed over?"

I ignored him and told them they need to go inside and close the door because it was 3 AM.  Even if someone is being really tough, if you address them like a teacher would address an unruly class, with a somewhat pained expression since they really should know better as if you and they both know that you are being extremely tolerant by bothering to spell it out for them respectfully, and that you understand it must be difficult being mildly retarded, they respond. And they did. Then after the group started to move inside, I asked the guy, very calmly, as if I was asking what time it was, "Did you just threaten to knife me?".

"Oh, no. no." he said moving off.

"Okay. " I said looking at him with incredulous pity before taking my elevated triglycerides off to count some sheep.

Prison for the Mad Rover Lovin' Heligrabber

A man has been sentenced to a year in prison for endangering the safety of an aircraft when he grabbed a helicopter as it took off in Bristol.

Bristol Crown Court was told Houshang Jafari, 58, became "extremely angry" after the helicopter landed near his flat, causing debris to hit his car.

The court heard how Jafari grabbed one of its skid bars as the pilot tried to take off with four passengers on board.

The pilot managed to take off safely despite Jafari's actions last March. ...

Sentencing Jafari, Judge Michael Roach said it was a "deliberate and much more a reckless and dangerous act" and, despite the fact he was a business and family man, he had "no choice" other than to send him to prison.

The court had previously heard Dr Blockland had landed close to Dower House to pick up two passengers.

Jafari was said to have become angry when the private aircraft blew debris at his Range Rover.

He approached the helicopter, threw a bag of rubbish at its nose and then kicked it.

As the pilot tried to take off, Jafari grabbed the skid bar as it was about 6ft (1.83m) off the ground.

This caused the helicopter to lurch to the right. An eyewitness told the court the aircraft narrowly missed nearby houses as it "swerved around" and "flew erratically" away.

Pictures of the incident taken by another resident of Dower House were shown to the court.

via BBC News - Helicopter grabber's actions 'defy belief'.

Do you ever give yourself awards? You should. I'd like to nominate my title for this entry as 'Best Blog Post Title' in the crime category.  Much more fun to say than "Helicopter grabber's actions 'defy belief'", don't you think?

The new Nessie? Mystery 'sea creature' spotted off British coast

The fish were apparently so terrified they beached themselves just seconds later.

The 'animal' was at first dismissed as a sea turtle but experts say its long neck and reptile-like head - as well as the fact it was chasing fish - contradict this theory

The creature was spotted off the Devon coast at Saltern Cove, Paignton, by locals who reported a sighting of what they thought was a turtle.

But pictures taken by one of the baffled witnesses, Gill Pearce, reveal the neck of the greenish-brown beast with the reptile-like head is far too long for it to be a turtle.

Mrs Pearce, who took the photo on July 27, reported her sighting to the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) where it was studied by sea life experts.

Claire Fischer from the MCS said: 'Gill Pearce spotted the creature about 20 metres from the bay at Saltern Cove, near Goodrington.

'It was observed at about 15.30 on 27 July but by the time she had got her camera it had moved further out.

'She spotted it following a shoal of fish which beached themselves in Saltern Cove.

'The creature remained in the sea, then went out again and followed the shoal - this indicates it's not a turtle as they only eat jellyfish.

'We would love to know if other people have seen anything like this in the same area and can help clear up the mystery.'

via The new Nessie? Mystery 'sea creature' spotted off British coast | Mail Online.

As you can see, one of the natural defenses evolved by the Greater Paignton Sea Worm is the powerful hyperdistortomatic blur field which keeps it from being photographed.

Nissan to pump breathable Vitamin C into its cars to help moisturise the skin

New Nissan cars will pump Vitamin C into the vehicle to moisturise the driver's skin, the firm has announced.

The Japanese manufacturer also plans to install anti-collision technology to its vehicles which will automatically detect if there is a risk a pedestrian might be hit.

The system involves a camera display and an alarm that buzzes when a pedestrian is too close to the car when the driver is parking, starting his car or cruising at low speeds.

If it detects a pedestrian it will automatically raise the accelerator pedal and begin to break while beeping.

Nissan claims that it will be able to prevent collision when at speeds up to 40 miles per hour.

The new cars will be equipped with highly concentrated Plasmacluster Ions - developed by Sharp - that will help keep the skin naturally moisturised.

Plasmacluster Ions help reduce airborne bacteria and mold levels, help to deactivate ticks and microbe allergens in the air, and control odours, the firm claims.

The system will also be able to detect various other bad smells - such as from animals and factories - and will automatically switch the ventilation on if required.

The group is also looking to install 'friendly' speedometers that will remind you of wedding anniversary dates or birthdays.

Second Image: The interior of the Nissan 'Leaf' electric car which is due to be go on sale later this year

Nissan's hybrid FUGA car is already using the 'Forest AC' air conditioning system which is designed to recreate 'the refreshing breezes, temperature, humidity and aroma of natural forests'.

'We want drivers to feel that they are healthier staying in the car instead of on the outside,' a Nissan engineer said.

Nissan cars will also come with heated seats that incorporate NASA research to enable better blood circulation and reduce the chances of back pain during long drives.

The seats will heat the legs and buttocks first as they are the places which make the biggest difference to how warm you feel and will holds the driver's backbone in a 'near zero gravity position'.via Nissan to pump breathable Vitamin C into its cars to help moisturise the skin | Mail Online.

This is the first I've heard of breathable Vitamin C. Has anyone tried it? I love Vitamin C, but acidic lungs don't sound like a good thing... perhaps it is buffered.

British scientists find the world's sixth-largest river... at the bottom of the sea

Immense rivers that dwarf the Thames have been found at the bottom of the ocean by British scientists.

Like those on land, the submarine waterways carve out channels, tributaries, flood plains, rapids and even waterfalls.

One river, discovered underneath the Black Sea, is up to 115ft deep in places and more than half a mile wide.

If found on land, scientists estimate the so-far unnamed waterway  would be the world's sixth largest river in terms of the amount of water flowing through it.

The flow – carrying highly salty water and sediment - is 350 times greater than the Thames, according to a Leeds University team who used a robotic submarine to scan the seabed near Turkey.

The undersea river - the only active one to have been found so far - stems from salty water spilling through the Bosphorus Strait from the Mediterranean into the Black Sea, where the water has a lower salt content.

This causes the dense water from the Mediterranean to flow like a river along the sea bed, carving a channel and deep banks.

The discovery could help explain how life manages to survive in the deep ocean far out to sea away from the nutrient rich waters that are found close to land, as the rivers carry sediment and nutrients with them

Dr Dan Parsons, who led a team from the university's school of earth and environment, told the Sunday Telegraph: ‘The water in the channels is denser than the surrounding seawater because it has higher salinity and is carrying so much sediment.

via British scientists find the world's sixth-largest river... at the bottom of the sea | Mail Online.

What do you think they should name it?

Researchers discover fossil of human older than Tabon Man

Move over, Tabon Man. Callao Man is here.

Evidence has emerged that the islands comprising the Philippines could have been inhabited by humans more than a dozen millennia before the so-called Tabon Man of Palawan, long thought to be the archipelago’s earliest human remains.

A team of archaeologists led by Dr. Armand Mijares of the University of the Philippines-Diliman has confirmed that a foot bone they discovered in Callao Cave in Cagayan province was at least 67,000 years old. Tabon Man’s remains were a relatively young 50,000 years old. “So far this could be the earliest human fossil found in the Asia-Pacific region. The presence of humans in Luzon shows these early humans already possessed knowledge of seacraft-making in this early period," Mijares told GMANews.TV in an exclusive interview conducted by email in between archaeological digs.

Mijares acknowledged being “shocked and elated" at the discovery, adding that it was something people in his field dream of. “I am a Pleistocene Archaeologist and our efforts are meant to unravel the deep past," he said.

His team’s findings were recently published in the scholarly journal Human Evolution, but the actual discovery of the bone occurred in 2007.

However, it was not clear then just how old the fossil was. Mijares said they were able to approximate its age through a method called “uranium-series dating."

via Researchers discover fossil of human older than Tabon Man - Nation - GMANews.TV - Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs - Latest Philippine News.

Grizzly kills and eats camper, Polar bear drags camper from tent 130ft by head

A terrified camper was attacked in his tent by a polar bear and dragged by his head across 130ft of rocks and ice.

Sebastian Plur Nilssen, 22, was resting during a kayak expedition around the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard when the bear struck.

As Nilssen was carried off screaming, his expedition partner, Ludvig Fjeld, 22, grabbed a rifle and fired four shots, killing the bear.

A rescue helicopter arrived at the scene within two hours.

Nilssen, from Fredrikstad, Norway, remained conscious throughout the ordeal last Thursday.

He was airlifted to hospital, where he underwent surgery on lacerations to his chest, head and neck.

A hospital spokeswoman said his injuries were not life-threatening.

Svalbard officials said the quick actions of fjeld, from Sarpsborg, Norway, almost certainly saved the life of his colleague.

The two men had previously said they were aware there could be 'a whole lot' of polar bears in Svalbard but hoped to avoid using firearms to keep them at bay.

It remains unclear why the polar bear went on the attack, with some experts speculating that it was either hungry or merely curious.

Polar bears are protected under Norway's strict conservation laws and are allowed to be shot only in self-defence. experts say it is getting harder for polar bears to find food in the area.

via Polar bear attacks camper in his tent and drags him 130ft by his head | Mail Online.

The grizzly bears in Montana are also going on the attack.

A grizzly bear was euthanized Friday after a DNA test determined that it mauled three campers -- one of them fatally -- in a remote area of Montana, an attack that has perplexed wildlife experts.

"We just can't figure it out," said Ron Aasheim, a spokesman for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. "It doesn't make any sense."

All the food in the campground was stored properly in bear-proof containers; the attack was unprovoked; the bear had no history of attacking humans, Aasheim said. "It's a head scratcher."

The incident unfolded around 2 a.m. Wednesday, when a caller to the Park County Sheriff's Department said someone had been bitten in Soda Butte Campgrounds outside Yellowstone National Park.

"My daughter's boyfriend got bit by a bear just a little bit ago; there's another lady down there that's screaming," the caller to 911 told police.

When parks officials showed up, they "found a dead man, partially consumed, 25 feet from his tent," Aasheim said.

The body was identified as Kevin Kammer, from Grand Rapids, Michigan, who had been on a solo fishing trip, Aasheim said. Reached at the family's house, Kammer's son said he did not want to discuss the matter. ...

via CNN

FWP Warden Capt. Sam Sheppard said Thursday that officials are confident they captured the offending bear.

Sheppard describes the attacks as highly unusual and predatory, as opposed to an attack in which a sow might be protecting her cubs from a perceived threat. Officials have said the sow in this incident will be killed. State and federal wildlife officials will determine the fate of the cubs. Sheppard says they are unlikely to be returned to the wild.

Howard said Kammer "used to give fly fishing lessons. It was kind of a dream of his to be able to go fly fishing in Montana because it's beautiful fly fishing country. I know he was very excited to go on this trip."

Kammer was "devoted to his family and children. That's what he did. That was his life...were his children."

Palmer told 24 Hour News 8 he sends his condolences to Kammer's family. "This fellow was doing everything right and it's a heartbreaking and tragic accident." - via woodtv

I love camping, but I'd like to avoid any head scratchers ... or head draggers.

Firefox 4 Arrives, 2nd beta

The second beta release of the next version of Firefox is now available.

... Keep in mind, this is a pre-release version of the browser, and it may not be entirely stable. But it should be stable enough for daily use, and it will give you a heads up on all the new goodies coming in Firefox 4 when it’s officially released this fall.

Tuesday’s release has a number of new features, including support for CSS 3 transitions, better handling of retained layers on pages and a new feature in the add-ons manager that confirms when an add-on has been installed. There are also the requisite performance boosts and stability improvements, so if you’re running beta 1, definitely consider upgrading.

The feature sure to generate the most chatter is something new for Mac OS X users: a new tabs-on-top interface. Windows users got the tabs-on-top look as the default interface in beta 1 earlier this month. With beta 2, the change arrives on Macs. The new beta also enables App Tabs, a similar concept that lets you miniaturize the tabs for common web apps — e-mail, your calendar or other apps you use multiple times a day — and store them in the tab bar for quick access.

The move to tabs-on-top is a growing trend among browser vendors. It was popularized by Google Chrome, which has shipped with top tabs as the default since its birth two years ago. Reaction has been mixed — Opera now puts the tabs on top, and Safari tried the same thing in a beta release thing before abandoning it. And there are some within the Firefox user community who fear Mozilla is making the switch just to chase the latest design fad. ...

via Second Beta Release of Firefox 4 Arrives | Webmonkey | Wired.com.

Try it yourself: Get Firefox 4, Beta.  Here is a short list of what's new:

• Firefox 4 Beta 2 is available in 24 languages.


• Tabs are now on top by default on Windows and OSX - Linux will be changing when the theme has been modified to support the change.


• You can turn any tab into an "App Tab" by right-clicking on it and selecting "Make into App Tab" from the context menu.


• Web developers can animate content using CSS Transitions.


• Responsiveness and scrolling improvements from the new retained layers layout system.


• JavaScript speed improvements due to engine optimizations.


• Changes to how XPCOM components are registered in order to help startup time and process separation.

Recommendation: Wait for more plug-in support. Many plug-ins do not yet work with FF4, including download helpers, pdf managers, and others.

An Apartment Made Entirely of Cardboard

“Casa de Karton” is the name of Don Lucho’s project where he has built an apartment using carton and paper. The apartment has all the furniture and other items that a kitchen or a bedroom is expected to have. Being in these “carton rooms” will make you feel like you’re a part of a drawing.



Beside the house he has also made a car wreck out of carton, and placed it on the street so it looks realistic.

In similarity to this project, another artist made a key card hotel in New York using 200 000 card keys.

An Apartment Made Entirely of Cardboard.

Video: Giant crab spider gives birth to itself

Time-lapse video of the giant crab spider discarding it's old shell.

Just think if people could do this....

ATM machine attacked with fire

I just saw this. There were several cops and fire engines near a burned ATM on my university campus. Was someone thinking they could burn their way into an ATM? The machine was still working correctly after the fire was put out. Update: This happened at 5:35 AM according to the KCRA news team I spoke to in person. The burned ATM belonged to Bank of America. The Golden One ATM was also attacked, but with much less damage. It seems someone threw a bottle with gasoline or something at the machines. I'm wondering if the cameras on these operate continuously or just during a transaction.

Researcher detained at U.S. border, questioned about Wikileaks

LAS VEGAS -- A security researcher involved with the Wikileaks Web site was detained by U.S. agents at the border for three hours and questioned about the controversial whistleblower project as he entered the country on Thursday to attend a hacker conference, sources said on Saturday.

He was also approached by two FBI agents at the Defcon conference after his presentation on Saturday afternoon about the Tor Project.

Jacob Appelbaum, a Seattle-based programmer for the online privacy protection project called Tor, arrived at the Newark, New Jersey, airport from Holland flight Thursday morning when he was pulled aside by customs and border protection agents who told him he was randomly selected for a security search, according to the sources familiar with the matter who asked to remain anonymous.

Appelbaum, a U.S. citizen, was taken into a room, frisked and his bag was searched. Receipts from his bag were photocopied and his laptop was inspected but it's not clear in what manner, the sources said. Officials from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Army then told him he was not under arrest but was being detained, the sources said. They asked questions about Wikileaks, asked for his opinions about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and asked where Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is, but he declined to comment without a lawyer present, according to the sources. He was not permitted to make a phone call, they said.

After about three hours, Appelbaum was given his laptop back but the agents kept his three mobile phones, sources said.

Asked for comment, Appelbaum declined to talk to CNET. However, he made reference to his phone getting seized to Defcon attendees. Following a question-and-answer session after his talk on the Tor Project Appelbaum was asked by an attendee for his phone number. He replied "that phone was seized."

Shortly thereafter two casually dressed men identified themselves as FBI agents and asked to talk to him.

"We'd like to chat for a few minutes," one of the men said, adding "we thought you might not want to." Appelbaum asked them if they were aware of "what happened to me?" and one of them replied "Yes, that's why we're here."

"I don't have anything to say," Appelbaum told them. One of the agents said they were interested in hearing if "human rights" being "trampled" and said "sometimes it's nice to have a conversation to flesh things out."

Marcia Hofmann, an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, was in the room and asked if the agents were at the event in an official capacity or for personal reasons. "A little of both," one of the said.

Appelbaum asked when his equipment would be returned and one of them said "We aren't involved in that; we have no idea," and walked away when Appelbaum declined to talk further.

The agents declined to identify themselves to CNET. They said they were attending the conference and declined to talk further.

Appelbaum is a hacker and security researcher who co-founded the Noisebridge hacker space in San Francisco's Mission district. He's also worked to bypass the security of "smart" parking meters, unearth flaws in Web security certificates, and discover a novel way to bypass hard drive encryption. ...

via Researcher detained at U.S. border, questioned about Wikileaks | InSecurity Complex - CNET News.

Solution: be as boring as possible. If you are too interesting your stuff will be taken. This is not cool.

Here's how to protest: Generate a whole bunch of random files with the this Dummy File Creator tool. Replace the Sample Batch List.txt text with something like this:

C:\Test\hacking.avi    1565421    0
C:\Test\passwor.wmv    7156422    0
C:\Test\hacktrick.flv  1108454    0
C:\Test\2393.flv       4223018    1
C:\Test\4govt.flv      1079571    1
C:\Test\stolendocs.avi    1564424    0
C:\Test\6wikikeaks.pdf    2166422    0
C:\Test\tricksDefon.pdf   1108454    0
C:\Test\realXfiles.flv    8243011    1
C:\Test\6759.flv      1088576    1

Results:



Next encrypt several duplicate multi-GB hard drives and store the random junk files you created using something like http://www.truecrypt.org/, so if they are ever seized at your home or at an airport you will have the last laugh. Great use for failing hard drives. Video tape yourself doing this step by step so you have evidence that rather than being a mad genius, you just have a very weird sense of humor.

Did secret government radar cause the UFO crash at Roswell?

I have an interest in the Roswell story for several reasons. A few years ago, after getting some "inside information" I traveled to Roswell with a reporter and checked this out for myself. Years later, Roswell researcher Anthony Bragalia contacted me and corroborated what I'd discovered. I'm still not convinced aliens are the answer, but I'm convinced that some believe there were credible eye-witnesses who saw aliens. Aliens, our government, Russians, Germans, some other government, whatever you believe, here is a possible answer for what caused the crash near what was at the time, the only place in the world with an atom bomb: experimental radar.

HOW THE ROSWELL CRASH HAPPENED by Anthony Bragalia

... Many rightly wonder why an ET vehicle with the ability to traverse light years through the cosmos would arrive all the way to Earth - only to crash in New Mexico. How is it that an interplanetary people with such advanced aerial technology could come to such grief on the July-baked desert floor?

... Little known is that the US Government at that time had maintained an interconnected "beyond the fence" radar network. This secret network had served two purposes. It had helped to protect White Sands Proving Ground, Sandia National Lab and Los Alamos National Lab from aerial intrusion. It was also used for the "far-field" tracking of missiles launched from White Sands. Errant V-2's as early as May of 1947 had crashed their way to Mexico. There was no way that wayward rocket launches could ever get into the hands of civilians or foreign nationals. And our national laboratories needed to be protected from any possible foreign strikes from the air. This covert "outside the fence" radar program helped to provide maximum coverage as it monitored these vitally important skies.

Some of these radar facilities were mobile, highly experimental and lacked more exact "control" of beam path and range. Some of their designs did not have the quality to "contain the energy" as more permanent installations did. If such radar beams played a role in the crash, the radar operators likely did not know that the radar had helped to bring down the craft. The radar was not meant to be used as a weapon. It was an unwitting and non-offensive event. Otherwise, military would surely have gotten to the craft before civilians Mack Brazel and Dee Proctor did- and they would not have had to have been alerted by Brazel to the crash.

The radar project involved highly-classified radar installations that were located at remote off-sites. Towers and arrays were sometimes even sited on private property. Area ranchers and locals knew of the existence of these radar installations (usually hidden in wooded or hilly areas) but said nothing out of a sense of patriotic duty and perhaps through financial inducements. This is a little discussed piece of post WWII history - even by military historians.

Such radar systems were found in places like tiny El Vado, NM. One was called "The Continental Divide." There was a radar station located just north of US 60 about 45 miles west of Socorro. Another site was a radar tower on the road to the spread of NM rancher Marvin Ake, 10 miles south of State Rd. 60 between Magdelena and Datil. Yet another was near Oscura Park, some miles just outside of White Sands itself.

Given how we know that UFOs are reported to be able to disrupt our cars, TVs and radios through their emanated frequencies and radiations - isn't it possible that the reverse could be true? Could our technology have (in some as yet unknown way) affected their technology? According to a treatise entitled "Electromagnetic Compatibility": "After World War II the military became increasingly concerned with the effects of nuclear electromagnetic pulse (NEMP), lightning strike and even high-powered radar beams on mobile vehicles of all kinds and especially on aircraft electrical systems."

Could a unique and dynamic interplay of lightning, powerful radar beams and the ET craft's own generated energy field have in some way brought it down?  ... - link