- Shout out to all the sea otters out there, because they
just may be doing more than they are given credit for to make the planet a
better place. Courtesy of new research from the University of California Santa Cruz (Go Banana
Slugs!), humans now know that a large population of sea otters could well
reverse one of the principal causes of climate change. This study suggested
that a surge in the sea otter population could reduce sea urchin numbers,
setting off a chain reaction that would reduce the among of carbon dioxide in
the air. “The spreading kelp can absorb as much as 12 times the amount of CO2
from the atmosphere than if it were subject to ravenous sea urchins, the study
finds,” said UC Santa Cruz professor and study leader Chris Winters. “It is significant
because it shows that animals can have a big influence on the carbon cycle.” In
proposing this eviro-twist on the “Butterfly Theory” in which one small change
can cause the dominoes to fall and set off a chain reaction that alters the
course of the universe, Winters and colleague James Estes have obviously opened
themselves up to plenty of ridicule. Their thoery was outlined in a paper
published September 7 in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the
Environment and has already raised a few eyebrows. Wilmers and Estes, a
professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, worked with a team that scoured
40 years of data on otters and kelp bloom from Vancouver Island to the western
edge of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. They learned that otters “undoubtedly have a
strong influence on the cycle of CO2 storage” and found that sea otters have a
positive indirect effect on kelp biomass by preying on sea urchins, a kelp
grazer.” Sea otters in the water means sea urchins have to hide in crevices and
eat kelp scraps, leaving more kelp to sequester CO2 from the atmosphere through
photosynthesis. “Kelp is particularly efficient at sequestering CO2
concentration in the atmosphere has increased 40 percent since the beginning of
the industrial revolution, causing global temperatures to rise,” Winters and
Estes wrote. They admit that relying strictly on sea otters won't solve the
world’s climate crisis, but believe this case is one that illustrates how
managing animal populations can affect ecosystems. With markets established in
Europe and the United States to trade carbon credits and inject an economic
incentive into either reducing CO2 output, Winters and Estes estimate that the
CO2 removed from the atmosphere via the otter-kelp link could be worth between
$205 million and $408 million. It’s something that otter be considered………..
- An apology is in order. Last weekend seemed like it was as
bad as it could possibly be at the weekend box office and that even the
lackluster offerings remaining for the rest of the summer, topping (or
bottoming) those results would be difficult. Clearly, that was wrong. “The
Possession” led a truly uninspiring field of films for the second straight
weekend, winning the battle with a $9.5 million total that wouldn’t be top five
most weekends. Through two weeks, it has earned a measly $33.4 million. It was
just not terrible enough to hold off “Lawless” once again, as Shia LeBouf’s
latest managed $6 million for second place and a two-week total of $23.5
million. Bradley Cooper’s venture away from the “Hangover” world and into the
world of serious drama was a failure as “The Words” opened in third place with
$5 million. Fourth place belonged to “The Expendables 2,” has-been-ing its way
to another $4.8 million to up its cumulative domestic total to $75.4 million
after four weeks. “The Bourne Legacy” finally broke through the $100 million
barrier in domestic earnings, making $4 million to push its overall haul to
$103.7 million. Kid-friendly “ParaNorman” was sixth with $3.8 million to increase its
earnings to $45.1 million through four weeks, just ahead of the $3.7 million
brought in by “The Odd Life of Timothy Green” for its seventh-place finish,
boosting its own four-week tally to $43 million. Will Ferrell’s strong run with
“The Campaign” continued with an eighth-place result and another $3.5 million.
After five weeks, the project has garnered $79.5 million. “The Dark Knight
Rises,” which now has the eighth-highest domestic gross ever, slid to ninth in
its eighth weekend of release and has scared up $437.8 million in domestic
earnings so far. “2016 Obama's America” rounded out the top 10 with $3.3
million and has a modest $26.1 million in nine weeks of release. “Hope Springs”
(No. 11 was the lone movie to drop out from last weekend’s top 10, while “The
Cold Light of Day” (No. 12) failed to crack the top 10 in its debut………..
- If ever the world stops making sense and up seems like
down, water is dry and ice is hot, those in search of something reliable and
consistent need look no further than China. In the world’s largest Communist
hellhole, oppression, censorship and trampling basic human rights are as
consistent as consistency can be. There will always be stories like the one of
a pot-bellied
government official in a tan golf shirt looking at a work of art during a walk
through the Shanghai Exhibition Center, directing a member of his entourage to
make a note of its offensive content and hours later, that work of art being covered
and taken down. The offending artwork was a digitally manipulated photo of
China's legendary Monkey King facing Tiananmen Gate, by Beijing-based artist
Chi Peng. It was one of several works at the SH Contemporary Art Fair deemed
unfit for display by Shanghai's culture police and continued the rich,
infuriating tradition of censorship of political content in the Chinese art
world under Communist Party rule. Gallery owners and artists at SH Contemporary
were warned on Thursday that censorship would be kicked up a notch ahead of a
once-a-decade leadership transition set to take place in Beijing next month.
"It's especially sensitive this year because the 18th Party Congress will
start soon," said a fair organizer who did not want to be identified.
Showing the incredibly arbitrary nature of the process, the offending works
were pulled from the show after initially passing vetting for the fair. Artists
were upset about the decisions and Chi Peng's Monkey King photo, which featured
a massive gorilla and a wall of grey smoke coming from inside the Forbidden
City, was a prime example of the reasons for their anger. The image passed
vetting in Beijing for a show in May and was initially approved for the SH
Contemporary, but on Thursday Steven Harris, director of M97 Gallery, taped
paper over the offending work. The 120,000 yuan ($18,900) image was later taken
down and an empty frame was all that remained. "In China, the winds blow
in different ways at different times and I don't think anyone really knows what
the benchmark is for what's acceptable and what's not. I think that's the
benchmark: you never really know," Harris said. Sadder words have rarely
been spoken………
- God is indeed a merciful power watching over the universe.
Better still, he actually does care about the outcome of sporting events. While
many, even devout people of faith, suggest that the Almighty doesn’t intervene
in the outcome of games, how else can one explain the fact that college
football mercenaries Savannah State
had their world-class annihilation by the No. 6 Florida State Seminoles called
midway through the third quarter because of lightning and thunderstorms
Saturday night? The Tigers, who will make $860,000 for the road drubbings they
have absorbed in their first two games at Okahoma State and Florida State, were
able to leave Tallahassee early thanks to inclement weather that interrupted
the game twice, once late in the first half for 59 minutes and again for 42
minutes before the game was called. Had the game continued and Florida State’s
third-stringers kept hammering Savannah State the way they were, the score
likely would have gone beyond the 55-0 mark it ended at and blown right past
the 70 1/2-point favorite status the Seminoles had for the contest. It may have
even eclipsed the 84-0 curb-stomping they suffered in Stillwater last Saturday
and proved that Savannah State athletic director Sterling Steward’s promise to
continue scheduling such noncompetitive non-conference games for his football
program on an annual basis borders on cruel and unusual punishment for the
coaches and players. He seems to believe $860,000 is worth the dignity and
self-respect of the entire football program. More of that dignity was stripped
away Saturday as Florida State scored on its first seven drives of the game and
officials went to a running clock to end the debacle sooner after the second
weather delay. Florida State associate athletics director Monk Bonasorte
consulted with Seminoles coach Jimbo Fisher, Savannah State coach Steve
Davenport and the game officials on the clock issues and ultimately decided to
call the game. Now that it’s over, Savannah State can cash that massive check
and move closer to meeting its total athletic department budget of $5.1
million………
- Movies have been made detailing their arrogance and
misdeeds, politicians have grilled their chief officers and banks have
supposedly been put on the straight and narrow when it comes to mortgages,
lending and fair financial practices. And if you believe that, there is a huge
swath of free oceanfront property in Nebraska waiting for you to claim it. Of
course the banks are still f’ing up and f’ing good people (and bad ones too)
over. In the small city of Twentynine Palms, Calif., this lesson was recently
hammered home for Alvin and Pat Tjosaas. The Tjosaases resided in a modest home in the
desert, just outside the downtown area. Their home was recently raided and
their possessions taken, but not by a burglar looking to fence their
electronics and jewelry at the nearest pawn shop. The team of thieves who tore
apart their home came from a much more sinister place: their bank. “The deputy
sheriff said, ‘Good news, we know who took (your possessions)… Wells Fargo. Bad
news, your stuff is all gone,” Alvin Tjosaases recalled. Indeed, a crew broke
into the house and seized everything inside after being directed by Wells Fargo
to secure the structure. Why? Because the bank foreclosed on the home because
like so many struggling in down economic times, the Tjosaases fell behind on
their mortgage payments…or so the bank thought. See, there was one small
problem with the theory that these humble people weren't making payments to
address their debt with the bank – they didn’t have a mortgage on the home.
Somehow, a bank official f’ed up and because of that mistake, the couple lost
three generations of memories from a home Alvin Tjosaas, a retired mason, built
with his father when he was a teenager. He and his wife raised their six
children at the home and created scores of memories there. What does a bank give
to people from whom it has taken so much that can never be replaced? A nice,
business-speak corporate apology full of empty words. “We are deeply sorry for
the very personal losses the Tjosaas family suffered as a result of their home
being mistakenly secured,” said Wells Fargo spokesman Alfredo Padilla. “We are
moving quickly to reach out to the family to resolve this unfortunate situation
in an attempt to right this wrong.” Those hollow words have done little to
assuage the suffering of the Tjosaas family. “When you put your heart into
something…it makes me real sad. I’m just glad I have my sweetheart. We’ve been
together a long time,” Alvin Tjosaas said. Too big to fail, but not too big to
stop dicking over the little guy………
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