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n2doc's JournalAnger as report exposes kitten experiments at top universities
Animal campaigners have reacted angrily to reports that top UK universities had been performing “repulsive” experiments on lab test cats and kittens.
According to claims outlined in a report by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) the animals were paralysed, had their skulls cracked open and had electrodes stuck on their brains, ribs and spines in a series of treatments designed to help scientists understand the human body better.
In some experiments, it was claimed kittens were raised in “complete darkness”, while others had their eyelid stitched closed to analyse problems surrounding ‘lazy eye’. Other cats had their lungs deliberately collapsed and were given paralysing drugs to stop them from moving during the procedures.
A document seen by Mail Online listed ten universities that allegedly carried out the controversial practices including University College London, Cardiff University and the University of Glasgow.
more
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/anger-as-report-exposes-kitten-experiments-at-top-universities-9474017.html
Study finds pot farms draining streams dry in Northern California
By JASON DEAREN | The Associated Press
San Francisco • Some drought-stricken rivers and streams in Northern California’s coastal forests are being polluted and sucked dry by water-guzzling medical marijuana farms, wildlife officials say — an issue that has spurred at least one county to try to outlaw personal grows.
State fish and wildlife officials say much of the marijuana being grown in northern counties under the state’s medical pot law is not being used for legal, personal use, but for sale both in California and states where pot is still illegal.
This demand is fueling backyard and larger-scale pot farming, especially in remote Lake, Humboldt and Mendocino counties on the densely forested North Coast, officials said.
"People are coming in, denuding the hillsides, damming the creeks and mixing in fertilizers that are not allowed in the U.S. into our watersheds," said Denise Rushing, a Lake County supervisor who supports an ordinance essentially banning outdoor grows in populated areas.
more
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/world/58015292-68/pot-marijuana-state-medical.html.csp
2 Wisconsin Girls Stab Friend 19 Times in Planned Attack
Police in Waukesha, Wisconsin, say two 12-year-old girls lured a friend into a wooded area where one girl held her down and the other stabbed the victim 19 times.
The victim, also 12, survived the attack and police say her condition is stable.
Authorities said the two suspects had planned to kill the victim for several months before attacking her Saturday. Police say both suspects had an interest in a website containing stories of death and horror.
Both suspects were friends with the victim, police said.
Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/2-Girls-Stab-Friend-19-Times-in-Planned-Attack-261535661.html
Obama’s climate change regulations are less ambitious than what Republicans were proposing in 2008
by Ezra Klein
McCain's plan would have limited emissions not just from power plants, but also from transportation, manufacturing, and commercial businesses. It sought to bring total US emissions 66 percent below 2005 levels by 2050. It wasn't quite as ambitious as the cap-and-trade plan Obama proposed (here's a good comparison, if you're interested), but it was a real effort to deal with an urgent problem.
Three months later, Sarah Palin accepted McCain's invitation to join the ticket — which meant running on is cap-and-trade plan. Then, at the September convention, the Republican Party officially endorsed the McCain/Palin ticket, which still included a cap-and-trade plan. When Gwen Ifill asked Sarah Palin whether she supported capping carbon emissions, Palin's answer left no room for confusion: "I do," she replied.
In May 2008, Sen. John McCain traveled to Portland, Oregon, and delivered a speech that no Republican presidential candidate would consider giving today.
It doesn't matter "whether we call it 'climate change' or 'global warming,'" McCain warned. "Among environmental dangers it is surely the most serious of all." McCain went on to propose a cap-and-trade plan far more aggressive than the power-plant rules the Obama administration is announcing today.
more
http://www.vox.com/2014/6/2/5770506/remember-when-the-gop-believed-in-climate-change
Detroit's creditors want entire art museum collection to be fair game
Creditors in Detroit’s municipal bankruptcy have engineered a new appraisal aimed at putting the Detroit Institute of Arts' entire collection in play as a possible chip to maximize the amount the city will be obligated to ante up for debt repayment.
The Detroit News reports that, at some creditors’ behest, the city’s bankruptcy managers have begun trying to place a value on the museum’s entire 66,000-piece collection. That’s quite an escalation from a previous appraisal of only about 1,700 works that the DIA had bought with city funds.
The idea behind the more limited appraisal was that there would be fewer legal barriers to selling off art that was bought with public money.
The city likely would have to jump through considerably more complicated hoops to sell works donated by private collectors, or bought with donors’ money. Sales could be stymied if the gifts were made under the condition that only the DIA could own or sell the art it had thus acquired.
more
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-detroit-institute-of-arts-city-bankruptcy-20140530-story.html
Neighbor pulls gun on dad teaching daughter to ride bike
A man is accused of pulling a gun on a neighbor who was teaching his 7-year-old daughter how to ride a bike in Rosemount.
Gary Drake, 61, is facing second-degree assault and terroristic threat charges after he pointed a shotgun at his neighbor and threatened to kill him on May 25, according to a criminal complaint.
The complaint says:
The father said Drake didn’t own the street. Drake appeared to get angrier, and then went inside his home. As the father and daughter were making their way away from Drake’s house, he came back outside with a shotgun and threatened to kill the father.
Drake’s wife came outside and pulled the gun away and physically dragged Drake inside. Drake went outside again and told the father he was going to kill him.
more
http://bringmethenews.com/2014/06/02/neighbor-pulls-gun-on-dad-teaching-daughter-to-ride-bike/
Thai coup protesters have adopted the Hunger Games’ three-fingered salute
At demonstrations against Thailand’s military government continued this weekend, protesters unveiled their newest tactic: Appropriating the three-fingered salute from the Hunger Games, which the movies’ downtrodden citizens use as a silent rebuke to their dystopian government.
Ever since the Thai military seized power last month, protesters have been using social media to organize hit-and-run demonstrations in Bangkok, and on Sunday they made a last-minute change of venue, gathering at the downtown shopping district’s Terminal 21 mall. They were opposed by hundreds of soldiers and police, who have mobilized at possible protest sites around the city to pre-empt large-scale demonstrations. At least four people were arrested, including one woman who was dragged into a taxi by undercover police after giving the three-finger salute.
Thais are avid consumers of pop culture, including the Hunger Games movies, so it’s not surprising that they have chosen to use the salute favored by cinematic heroine Katniss Everdeen. Adding to the cultural mash-up, protesters on Sunday said the three fingers stand for liberty, brotherhood, and equality—a slogan associated with the French Revolution that is now the official motto of France.
more
http://qz.com/215631/thai-coup-protesters-have-adopted-the-hunger-games-three-fingered-salute/
Anybody use "Kindle First"?
Amazon has "The Fracking King" for free this month. Looks interesting
200 tons of illegally caught Atlantic bluefin tuna show how we’re driving these fish to extinction
By Gwynn Guilford
Atlantic bluefin tuna is tasty. So tasty, in fact, that the fish is also endangered. There are now only half the number of Atlantic bluefin tuna in the sea that there were in 1970. That’s despite rules set by governments around the world that have restricted tuna fishing, with the goal of leaving enough of them in the sea to reproduce faster than they’re being caught.
But the Atlantic bluefin tuna population refuses to bounce back—and it may be continuing to dwindle. Here’s one clue as to why: In the last year, authorities have seized at least 186 tonnes (205 tons) of illegally caught bluefin tuna in Italy, Spain and Tunisia, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts and MedReAct.org, a Mediterranean-focused conservation group.
In other words, fishermen are catching way more tuna than they’re supposed to. That’s making it near-impossible for regulators to revive the Atlantic bluefin tuna population, which is bad news for conservationists and also threatens the legal fishing business, says Pew’s Amanda Nickson.
So valuable is this fish—it’s the optimal species for the prized delicacy of fatty tuna sushi (a.k.a. toro or maguro)—that fishermen will go to great lengths to catch them, the report reveals. For instance, one operation that Italian authorities busted in March was smuggling nearly 38 tonnes of illegal tuna (link in Italian), worth €300,000 ($402,000).
more (graphic image of fish butchering)
http://qz.com/215118/200-tons-of-illegally-caught-atlantic-bluefin-tuna-show-how-were-driving-these-fish-to-extinction/
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