Namaste namaskaarSo finally our quest for Asia has begun After spending almost a week in Goa the feeling is great. Our way to the beaches was a bit rocky one since Kilroy didn't manage to change the destination AND time at the same time since Finnair doesn't fly to Mumbai anymore. The flight was changed to December 2nd and it had gone a month ago. Luckily we got to India thanks to Kentsu a
Monthly Archives: January 2010
The renaissance of Medellin.
Today we decided to visit one of the less afluent areas of Medellin just a few short years ago this area was a cultivation zone for Pablo Escobar's army of assasins. The demise of Escobar and the introduction of the metro cable car system initiated significant social change. The once waring neighbourhoods are now relatively peaceful with the violent death rate dropping from over 6000 in 1994 to
Russian New Years
The crew of the Orvolva put on a Russian New Year's Celebration and later that night there was a costume party...
Back in Hong Kong
Ni hauIrsquom back in China I had a great time in Thailand but I was ready to leave. Irsquom sick of the sight of the sun sea and sand. It has been unbearably hot over the past few days. I have heard that the weather in the UK is really cold so I appreciate that you might find it difficult to emphasise with me Jodie and I are now staying in a hotel in Tseun Wan. We got a fantastic deal on
South Georgia Islands Gold Harbor
Gold Harbor
Kathmandu Swayambunath
Our next stop was Swayambunath temple complex which is also colloquially known as the monkey temple. It was pretty amazing and defintely another 'must see'. It is apparently Kathmandu's most important Buddhist shrine not sure where Boudanath Stupa fits in the rating scale beacuse it would also certainly seem to lay claim to this. Anyway the temple is apparentlyaround 2000 years old.
Day 16 Koh PhaNgan
Day 16 Friday Jan 8 Koh PhaNganWe are now in Koh PhaNgan. Left Koh Samui around 400 pm on late afternoon of Day 15 and we did not get to our hotel until around 600 pm. Once we boarded the ferry about 1 minute later it began pouring rain. Most of the other people were soaking wet. I met three guys from Alaska who were backpacking through Southeast Asia. It was very interesting talking
Pacific Coast
I failed to mention this in the last blog but when we returned from the volcano James was at our hostel. He had taken a number of buses through the border and got into Leon at midday. Today the plan was to make it to a huge beach on the Pacific coast an hour away. We all got our shorts and water and jumped on a chicken bus. Just for those that don't know what a chicken bus is it is an old schoo
Tapah to Tanah RataCameron Highlands
Had a fun breakfast experience at the Chinese place across from my hotel. Just me and about a dozen old Chinese guys. Neatly preplaced on each table were two small triangular shaped dishes wrapped in paper and banana leaf which I recognized as Nasi Lemak. It's a delicious dish of rice cooked in coconut cream and topped with a spicy red saucesambal and roasted peanuts tiny anchovies usually
Day Six Singapore On to KL
Day Six Singapore Twas Passion Down In The Tropics Our last day in Singapore began with packing up and leaving our bags in The Mitraa as we set off to explore Little India and Chinatown. We started by looking at the two temples close to our accommodation.The first Leong San See is a Taoist temple whilst Sakaya Buddha temple was Hindu Buddhist. The latter was built with funds donated by Aww Boon
Trains planes and more damn planes
We made a fairly early start as we had seats on the 9.30am bullet train back to Tokyo so we grabbed a few edible supplies at the station pringles macadamia nuts with crunchy cheese and some green beans that tasted like mushy peas and hopped aboard. The journey was uneventful which is how I like them and Mark managed to grab some better pictures of Mt Fuji.The lack of events ended once we arri
Ticket to ramen
Awoke to a beautifully sunny yet cold day and had a very enjoyable breakfast of green bread that tasted of melons much better than it sounds I promiseWe had a busy schedule planned of sightseeing and shopping so we disappeared straight down the beeping subway cavern. We were heading for Nishiri food market but first we had to traverse the underground mall on route to the subway.Full of Kyoto's
Car owls and sushi belts
This country simply adores dogs and in particular dachshunds. We've seen more in the last week than in a whole year at home. Only minatures ones though I'm afraid mother they wouldn't fit in their handbagsNipped into the Dog Bakery before we left yesterday and Mark managed somehow to prevent me from buying up most of the shop. Left with just some handbaked donut biscuits for the woofer at hom
We have arrived
Hey guysWe're in Singapore We finally got here late last night after lots of kerfuffle.. We were told we werent going to be allowed into the country and would get deported because we didn't have a return ticket which ended up fine.. Then we wandered around Singapore at midnight sweating and very lost when we finally found our hostel we interrupted everyone trying to sleep and couldn't stop gig
CNN’s Jack Cafferty has his own Joe Wilson moment: "Another lie" Mr. Obama
CNN's longtime crumudgeon commentator one year ago (via Newsbusters):
"I like him a lot. I think he's a bright guy...
...I'm pulling for the guy. I like him. I think he's terrific."
Jack Cafferty today (also from NB), commenting on Obama's decision not to allow C-SPAN cameras to cover the behind closed doors health care deliberations:
"President Obama hasn’t even made a token effort to keep his campaign promises of more openness and transparency in government. It was all just another lie..."
[I hope] "the voters remember some of this crap when the midterm elections roll around later this year."
Ironically, Cafferty ranted against the "decline of civil discourse in this country," back in September when Congressman Joe Wilson shouted out "You lie," to Obama during a Presidential address in the House chambers, on health care.
Wrote Cafferty in a Cafferty File column, Sept. 10:
A Republican congressman from South Carolina made a complete fool of himself during a presidential address to a joint session of Congress last night, and in the process confirmed a lot of what the American public can't stand about politicians...this was pretty low - even with our reduced expectations for our lawmakers.
Though, Cafferty did concede that Wilson might have had a point on coverage for illegal aliens.
Five Democrats switch to Republican in one small County in Texas
Obama's Hard Left Agenda in DC pushes them over
From Eric Dondero:
Cherokee County is located deep in the heart of East Texas. It is a County full of a rich history, from the original Texas pioneers to America's Civil War. The population is roughly 46,000. The County seat is Jacksonville, but also includes the towns of Rusk and Gallatin, and is considered suburban Tyler.
The County is part of a growing trend of rural southern Democrats who have ties to that Party dating back to the Civil War, bolting to the Republican Party.
From the Jacksonville Daily Progress, Jan. 6:
Five Cherokee County politicians have changed parties in the last 60 days.
And all five are incumbents seeking to once again win their government positions.
From the local state representative to county-level seats, they have left behind the Obama-led Democrats and joined the Republican side of the aisle.
“It’s never happened in Cherokee County,” said Cherokee County Republican Chair Josie Schoolcraft. She said in her 12 years of involvement in county politics, there has never been such a high number of political party defectors.
“I attribute it to what’s going on in Washington, D.C.,” Schoolcraft said of the exodus of Dems to the GOP. “East Texas has always been conservative. From what they (the people who switched parties) tell me, the Democratic Party went off and left them because of their liberal agenda. The Democratic Party isn’t a conservative party at all anymore.”
Texas Democrats... "a series of setbacks..."
Some of the Switchers cited Property Rights, Gun Control, Death Penalty and Illegal Immigration as some of the reasons for their Switch.
One of the Switchers, Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Brenda Dominy, specifically mentioned Obama as the cause of her leaving the Democrats.
She sais President Barack Obama's leadership does cause her concern, also.
“I don’t agree with a lot of the Democrats’ views and takes on things,” she said. “I might be more conservative than I thought, but the agenda the Democrats have, I find I’m not in agreement with..." she said.
Also switching a County Commissioner, and the County Surveyor.
Concludes assistant editor Lauren LaFleur:
Although Texas Democrats have been trying to work their way back into statewide political contention for a decade (Republicans have held all statewide offices since 1999 and both chambers of the Legislature since 2003), the party has suffered a series of setbacks to their strong position on the national front.
CONFIRMED! Libertarian Party beats Democrat Party in Texas Election filings 2010
Battle for Number Two Spot pits Liberty forces vs. Liberty foes
From Eric Dondero:
We reported on Tuesday, that it appeared that the Libertarian Party may actually have more candidates on the ballot for state legislature in Texas than the State's Number Two Party, the Democrats. We even asked, could the Libertarian Party replace the Democrats as the Number Two Party in the Nation's Number Two Biggest State?
Results for legislature are still not in. But there's a pretty good indication that the LP is beating the Dems on two other highly important fronts: Congress and Statewide offices.
Just breaking late last night from Texas's Number One political blog (which is stridently Pro-Democrat), Burnt Orange:
Texas has always been a strong state for the Libertarian Party and this year they are proving that there is no stopping their growth in the Lone Star State, filing a record breaking 193 candidates for office. While the Libertarians do not have primaries (they have nominating conventions), they have filed candidates for every single statewide office and every single congressional district. That's something the Democratic Party has failed to accomplish for multiple cycles now, including this year where it skipped the Comptrollers office, a couple statewide judicial seats, and over a half dozen congressional seats.
Another Democrat blog, Booman Tribune wimpered:
The filing date closed for federal offices in Texas yesterday and the Democrats left seven Republican-held house seats uncontested. That is no good... We should not be seeing things like this.
Of course, Republicans may not rejoice at the prospect of all these 3rd party candidates taking away potential votes from the GOP. However, the other consideration is the momentum lost by the Democrats knowing that they're starting to show signs of sinking below a minor party in Texas.
Three libertarian-leaning Republicans for Congress given good odds at GOP pick-ups by Pro-Democrat site
Allen West, Frank Guinta and Ryan Frazier, Tea Party Patriots likely heading to Congress
From Eric Dondero:
The rabidly Pro-Democrat news site FiredogLake by Jane Hamscher, has an unusually blunt analysis of most likely Dem losses for 2010, resulting from votes for ObamaCare. The most vulnerable Democrat identified by FiredogLake - Rep. Vic Snyder, in Arkansas 2nd District. Two Ohio seats are then identified as most likely to go Republican - Cincy area 01 with GOPer Steve Chabot, and OH 15 with Steve Shivers running on the GOP ticket. Then coming in at Number 4 is a longtime favorite of libertarian Republicans, Allen West who lost 55 to 45% in 2008.
Writes FDL:
4.FL-22 Allen West ran against Klein last time and lost decisively, but he has now turned into a good fundraiser with a national profile after this video. His ability to get himself national TV attention on Fox means he’ll probably be able to reach the district’s high percentage of seniors this time around. SCORE: 7
Next libertarian-leaner coming in at #9 is the very outspoken and sometimes even quirky Tea Party Patriot, Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta of the Live Free or Die State:
9.NH-01 Carol Shea-Porter vowed to vote against any bill that does not have a public option, so she looks to piss off both liberals AND conservatives with a “yes” vote. Frank Guinta has raised $236,164 against her, which is pretty prodigious. SCORE: 6
Finally, there's Aurora City Councilman and Tea Party Patriot Ryan Frasier. Note - Frasier was originally in the race for the US Senate seat but switched to Congress. Continuing:
19.CO-07: Perlmutter is facing libertarian Ryan Frasier, who has raised $213,857. Same top-of-ticket problem as Salazar. WILD CARD
Hamscher also lists another seat in Colorado, two in Arizona, two in California, another one in Florida, Virginia, Georgia and Texas as possible pick-ups for the GOP.
Male Cleaner Fish Punish Females Who Piss off The Boss Fish | 80beats
Cleaner fish have a pretty good little business going. These select species of small underwater inhabitants set up “cleaning stations” where they eat parasites and dead tissue off larger fish. Sure, it might not be a gourmet meal, but in exchange for the service the large fish don’t eat the cleaners.
In some cases a pair of fish work in tandem, and a new study has found that males will punish their female partners if the females go overboard and eat more of the client than they should. While the research shows that fish, like people, can be aggrieved on behalf of a third party, don’t be too impressed with the males’ altruism—they get plenty out of the deal.
For a study in Science, researchers looked at the fish Labroides dimidiatus, whose females usually play by the rules of the cleaning business. But the females can sometimes be too greedy and “bite the flesh of the fish they are cleaning in a bid to get to the mucus, which is more tasty than the parasites on the surface,” researcher Redouan Bshary found. The male fishes, which are bigger in size, would then step in to chase the females away [AFP].
To simulate and examine this aquatic arrangement in the lab, Bshary’s team set out a plate that took the place of the “client” fish. It featured the options of fish flakes and prawns for the cleaner fish to eat—the flakes as a stand-in for the parasites the fish are supposed to eat, and the prawns acting as the more desirable mucus. However, the researchers took away the plate if any of the fish ate a prawn (as if the client were to swim away). They saw that the male cleaner fish — even in this unfamiliar lab setting — would punish, or chase away, the female fish if the females ate a prawn [LiveScience].
Why so serious, male fish? On the one hand, it’s just good business. If the females eat the client fish’s mucus, researchers say, it scurries off, and the cleaner fish team loses a customer. But there’s more to it than that: The males are really just cutthroat capitalists, looking out for themselves at their partners’ expense. “The male’s dinner leaves if the female cheats,” explained lead scientist Nichola Raihani from the The Zoological Society of London. “By punishing cheating females, the males are not really sticking up for the clients but are making sure that they get a decent meal” [BBC News].
Altruistic or not, it’s hard to fault the males for keeping up appearances. A Nature study back in 2006 suggested that client fish are choosy shoppers, spying on cleaner fish to see who runs the best service. With all the cheating going on, they’d be fools not to. Not only do cleaners cheat their clients and go for the mucus, but there are also impostor cleaners—fish that mimic the appearance of cleaners to capitalize on that whole “not getting eaten” thing.
Related Content:
80beats: DNA Scanner Proves That NYC Sushi Contains Endangered Bluefin Tuna
Discoblog: Was This Fish the Inspiration for Alien?
DISCOVER: The Most Important Fish in the Sea
Image: Richard Smith
The Humane Way to Kill Invasive Cane Toads: Skull Smashing? | Discoblog
Australia has a cane toad problem. The little leapers are devastating the Aussie ecosystem (Australia has no native toads). They’re gobbling up native insects and poising any animal that attempts to prey on them. One group thought they had a humane way to stop the toads’ spread—suffocate captured toads by putting them in bags filled with carbon dioxide. But now government officials are saying “not so fast,” and have declared that kill method inhumane. From The Scientist:
The Kimberley Toad Busters (KTB) have been using carbon dioxide exposure to euthanize the toads for five years, successfully eliminating more than half a million pests. But last year, after the cane toad populations made their way into Western Australia (WA), the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) — a department of the WA government — announced that they would not support the use of CO2 until further trials had been done, leaving the KTB nearly weaponless against the rapidly spreading invasion just as the first major wet season rains are starting to fall.
So what does the DEC suggest as a humane way to kill the invasive toads? The agency requests that the Toad Busters use blunt trauma for brain destruction.
Guess it’s time for the Toad Busters to break out their whacking sticks.
Related Content:
Discoblog: Some Animals Need to be More Endangered
Discoblog: Crocs Chow Down on Invasive Toads, Instantly Regret It
Discoblog: To Fight Croc-Killing Toads, Australians Turn to “Cane Toad Golf”
Image: flickr / Sam Fraser-Smith
