Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 7:43 AM CST
My Quest
For years I've searched the whole world over
I even found a four leaf clover
but vegetation was not my quest
I just wanted to be like all the rest
of the people I see everywhere
with a special friend for whom they care
but I guess I'm just not very lucky
my life is boring and oh so yucky
with nothing but the walls to see
I'm haunted in my reverie
the love that I have stored in me
is enough to make an inland sea
of tears I shed in great profusion
I swear I can't avoid the confusion
of trying so hard to meet a lassie
with curves and oh, that female chassis
what I wouldn't give is not worth saying
for just a little co-ed playing
this single life is just the pits
I gotta get my hands on a couple a tits
Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 9:25 AM CST
My Pledge of Allegiance
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution
of the United States of America,
and to the Democratic Republic
for which it stands and protects.
One nation, indivisible,
with liberty, equality, and justice
for all citizens.
Pledging allegiance to a flag is beyond stupid! The flag doesn't do squat for anybody it's just a pretty piece of cloth. It offers no protections, no rights, no gaurantees, no guidance, nothing! It is nothing more than a symbol. Imparting some sacred holiness to a flag as though it has some spiritual significance is no different than Pledging allegiance to a dollar bill or a pyrimid or the hood emblem of a car.
In the 30's, Germany pledged allegiance to the Swastika. Had they pledged allegiance to their Constitution or whatever they called it instead, they may have avoided being dessimated by a madman.
Posted: Mon Dec 1, 2008 9:55 PM CST
Manmade Ecological Disasters (4)
Ailanthus or "Tree of Heaven"
BACKGROUND
Tree-of-heaven was first introduced to America by a gardener in Philadelphia, PA, in 1784, and by 1840 was commonly available from nurseries. The species was also brought into California mainly by the Chinese who came to California during the goldrush in the mid-1800s. Today it is frequently found in abandoned mining sites there. The history of ailanthus in China is as old as the written language of the country.
HABITAT IN THE UNITED STATES
Tree-of-heaven is a common tree in disturbed urban areas, where it sprouts up just about anywhere, including alleys, sidewalks, parking lots, and streets. The book “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”, by Betty Smith based on the ailanthus tree. Away from cities, it is commonly seen in fields, and along roadsides, fencerows, woodland edges and forest openings. Nationally, ailanthus has become an agricultural pest and may occur as seedlings that pop up by the hundreds in recently planted fields, or as persistent thickets in rocky, untillable areas.
DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES
Tree-of-heaven is widely distributed across the United States, occurring in forty-two states, from Maine to Florida and west to California.
ECOLOGICAL THREAT
Tree-of-heaven is a prolific seed producer, grows rapidly, and can overrun native vegetation. Once established, it can quickly take over a site and form an impenetrable thicket. Ailanthus trees also produces toxins that prevent the establishment of other plant species. The root system is aggressive enough to cause damage to sewers and foundations.
Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 11:47 AM CST
Manmade Ecological Disasters (3)
Killer Bees
The Africanized bee in the western hemisphere descended from 26 Tanzanian queen bees (A. m. scutellata) accidentally released by a replacement bee-keeper in 1957 near Rio Claro, São Paulo State in the southeast of Brazil from hives operated by biologist Warwick E. Kerr, who had interbred honey bees from Europe and southern Africa. Hives containing these particular queens were noted to be especially defensive. Kerr was attempting to breed a strain of bees that would be better adapted to tropical conditions (i.e., more productive) than the European bees used in North America and southern South America. The hives from which the bees were released had special excluder grates which were in place to prevent the larger queen bees from getting out but to allow the drones free access to mate with the queen. Unfortunately, following the accidental release, the African queens eventually mated with local drones, and their descendants have since spread throughout the Americas.
The Africanized hybrid bees have become the preferred type of bee for beekeeping in Central America and in tropical areas of South America because of improved productivity. However, in most areas the Africanized hybrid is initially feared because it tends to retain certain behavioral traits from its African ancestors that make it less desirable for domestic beekeeping. Specifically (as compared with the European bee types), the Africanized bee:
Tends to swarm more frequently.
Is more likely to migrate as part of a seasonal response to lowered food supply.
Is more likely to "abscond"—the entire colony leaves the hive and relocates—in response to repeated intrusions by the beekeeper.
Has greater defensiveness when in a resting swarm.
Lives more often in ground cavities than the European types.
Guards the hive aggressively, with a larger alarm zone around the hive.
Has a higher proportion of "guard" bees within the hive.
Deploys in greater numbers for defense and pursues perceived threats over much longer distances from the hive.
Cannot survive extended periods of forage deprivation, preventing introduction into areas with harsh winters or extremely dry late summers.
To date, more than 100 counties in Texas, 6 in New Mexico, 14 in Arizona, 1 in Nevada, and 3 counties in California have reported Africanized honey bees. AHB continue the northward expansion of their territories by swarming, the process by which bee colonies replicate.
In May of 1991, Jesus Diaz became the first person to be attacked by AHB in the U.S. while mowing a lawn in the border city of Brownsville, Texas. Diaz suffered 18 stings and was treated at a local hospital.
On July 15, 1993, 82-year-old Lino Lopez became the first person to die in the U.S. from Africanized honey bee stings. He was stung more than 40 times while trying to remove a colony from a wall in an abandoned building on his ranch near Harlingen, Texas.
Arizona's first human fatality from Africanized Bees occurred in October, 1993 when 88-year-old Apache Junction woman disturbed a large Africanized honey bee colony in an abandoned building on her property and was stung numerous times.
Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 11:18 AM CST
Manmade Ecological Disasters (2)
Gypsy Moth In North America
E. Leopold Trouvelot, Perpetrator of our Problem
Etienne Leopold Trouvelot was born on Dec. 26, 1827 in Aisne, France. He fled France during the coup d'etat in 1852 and settled in Medford, Massachusetts, a working-class suburb of Boston. He lived with his wife and family in his house at 27 Myrtle St. in Medford.
Trouvelot made a living as an artist, painting mostly portraits, but he had an amateur interest in entomology. His main interest was in identifying native silkworms that might be used for silk production. (L. Trouvelot(1867) The American Silk Worm. American Naturalist, Vol. 1, No. 1., pp.30-38) The exact reasons or circumstances are unknown, but in the late 1860's he returned from a trip to France with some gypsy moth egg masses. He was apparently culturing them on trees in back of his house when some of the larvae escaped. Trouvelot understood the potential magnitude of this accident and notified local entomologists but no action was taken.
After this accident, Trouvelot apparently lost interest in entomology and became interested in Astronomy. He became famous for his illustrations of astronomical details of the sun and of Venus and was eventually given a faculty position at Harvard University in Astronomy. A crater on the moon was named in honor of Trouvelot and he won the French Academy's Valz prize for his astronomical research.
In 1882 Trouvelot returned to live in France; the timing of this move coincided with the appearance of the first gypsy moth outbreak on his street. Trouvelot Died in 1895.
As the outbreak on Trouvelot's street continued to grow in size, residents of the Boston area became increasingly alarmed about the gypsy moth problem. In 1889 the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture began a campaign to eradicate the gypsy moth. The methods used during the program ranged from manual removal of egg masses, burning infested forests and application of primitive insecticides. Despite the expenditure of considerable money and effort, the gypsy moth infestation continued to expand in size and by 1900 the effort to eradicate this insect was abandoned.....more
Rest of story and Some incredible photos here:
http://www.fs.fed.us/ne/morgantown/4557/gmoth/trouvelot/
Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 10:43 AM CST
Manmade Ecological Disasters
These days, Kazakhstan has more to worry about than the odd British comedian. Somewhat more pressing is the overwhelming ecological and public health crisis that is (or was) the Aral Sea, which the nation shares with supposed arch-rival Uzbekistan. The Aral has been shrinking dramatically throughout much of the twentieth century — with dire consequences. Once the world’s fourth-largest lake, it’s now little more than a salty, toxic puddle.
In 1918, the Soviets decided they wanted to farm the arid desert surrounding the Aral, and diverted much of its riverflow to do so. Thanks to this new irrigation, Uzbekistan became one of the world’s largest producers of cotton, but they would pay a heavy price. Irrigation canals weren’t waterproofed, and as much as 70% of the water was wasted or evaporated before it made it to the fields. Between 1960 and today, the Aral shrunk by nearly 80%, as the region’s dependence on the Aral’s water increased steadily. As the water levels dropped, the salinity of the water that remained increased, making it dangerous to drink. Miles upon miles of newly-exposed seabed were thick with salt deposits and the desiccated remnants of a century of pollutants dumped into the water, which were picked up by the wind and became toxic dust-clouds that today blow across large swaths of Central Asia. Cancer rates in the region have risen dramatically, and it’s feared that many have suffered genetic damage.
As the Sea has disappeared, so have jobs, as harbor towns which once thrived on the fishing trade became dry-docks miles from the shore. What’s more, in 1990s it was discovered that an abandoned Soviet army base on an island in the center of the Sea had been used as a testing- and dumping-ground for massive amounts of bio- and pathogenic weapons, include anthrax, which is now buried.
Despite all this, Uzbekistan’s government denies that it has a major health crisis on its hands, and continues growing water-hungry, pollutant-laden cotton while the sea shrinks and its citizens sicken. Whistling past the graveyard? We’ll let these amazing/horrific photographs tell the story.
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/3073