- Something stinks in Old Lyme, Ct., and it’s not
difficult to determine the origin of the stench. No, there isn’t a challenge in
finding the source of the small when thousands of dead fish are populating the
bodies of water around your town. Residents have reported thousands of the
lifeless aquatic creatures floating in the waters of various lakes and ponds
around town and environmental officials are on the case. Sadly, it does not
appear that there is any type of sinister explanation forthcoming, as investigators
believe it was a natural occurrence.
Eschewing the possibility that it could be a harbinger of an alien invasion or
some sort of worldwide environmental disaster, the Connecticut Department of
Energy and Environmental Protection said the glut of dead fish was the result
of a cold shock. "Striped bass exposed to sudden change in
temperature," explained Dave Simpson, director of DEEP Fisheries.
"What we had a couple of weeks ago during that cold snap in very shallow
water, simply they had no place to retreat to." Bummer. Striped bass who
are trapped in cold water and can't make their way to deeper, warmer seas,
leaving them dead in the water – insert rim shot here – is not a particularly
enticing story. Neither is the sight of striped bass lining the banks and the
marsh near the Black Hall River Friday, two weeks after the state experienced that
deep freeze. What’s the plan for cleaning up the mess? "There have been a
lot of birds taking advantage of the situation," Simpson said. "Lots
and lots of seagulls, even bald eagles and raccoons." Ah yes, allowing
nature to be nature’s Shop Vac. Solid idea and the fish that aren’t eaten will
simply be left to decay………..
- Chimps, like angry New Yorkers stuck in Manhattan traffic,
apparently use
gestures to communicate with one another while pursing a specific goal. According
to researchers from Georgia State University, chimps are able to use gestures
when they need to communicate important aspects relating to a task they are working
on. The Georgia State team studied two language-trained chimps as they
interacted with a human experimenter in a task that required them to coordinate
with each other to find a hidden piece of food. Study collaborator Dr. Anna
Roberts pointed to the findings as evidence relating to the
evolutionary past of language. "The use of gestures to coordinate joint
activities such as finding food may have been an important building block in
the evolution of language," Roberts said. In the exercise, the two chimps
and human had to work with each other to find the hidden food in a large
outdoor range. None of the three knew the location of the food, forcing them to
work together well and share their knowledge to find it. "It allows the
chimpanzees to communicate information in the manner of their choosing, but
also requires them to initiate and to persist in communication," Dr.
Charles Menzel, a senior research scientist at GSU's Language Research Center,
said. "The chimpanzees used gestures to recruit the assistance of an
otherwise uninformed person and to direct the person to hidden objects 10 or
more meters away. By using gestures to successfully find their food, the chimps
proved how well they can remember and communicate about their environment……..
- It was not a good week for the NFL in two distinct areas:
members of the New York Jets behaving themselves in public and NFLers trying to
navigate the stressful world of air travel. The fun began Thursday when news broke that Jets tight end was
arrested in November and charged with possession of synthetic marijuana after
police questioned him when a shopper at Target allegedly saw Winslow masturbating
in his car with two open containers….of Vaseline inside. Having one of his
league’s players spotted rubbing one out in a retail store parking lot while
high on synthetic chron probably isn't what NFL commissioner Roger Goodell
wants to see drawing headlines in the days leading up to conference
championship weekend. The good news is that Winslow had company. His former
teammate, Jets quarterback Geno Smith was dumped from a Los Angeles-to-Fort
Lauderdale, Fla. Friday afternoon for a trip home because he had a run-in with
an air waitress who demanded that he take his headphones out of his ears for
takeoff. According to Sgt. Belinda Nettles, the public information officer at
Los Angeles International Airport, the altercation ensued when a Virgin America
air waitress asked Smith to remove his headphones and Smith ignored her. When
the air waitress unplugged Smith's headphones and tossed them aside, she
reportedly told the quarterback he was a "threat" and asked him to
leave the plane. Smith was not arrested and no incident report was filed, but
being thrown off a flight for any reason is a bad look. Photos and video of
Smith speaking to police officers at the gate and walking out of the terminal
appeared online moments after the incident and yet, Smith did not have the
worst airport experience of any NFL player that day. That honor belongs to Cleveland
Browns wide receiver Davone Bess, who was arrested in Florida on charges of
assaulting a law enforcement officer at an airport. According to Broward
Sheriff's Office records, Bess was spotted acting erratically walking through
the concourse at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport. This tends to
freak people out, so a police officer approached Bess. The officer noted that Bess
seemed to be "under the influence of an unknown narcotic” and when the
officer confronted him, Bess reportedly got into a fighting stance. When said
officer took out his baton and crack Bess in the knee, the receiver seemed
impervious to the effccts. He instead took off his shirt and assumed an
aggressive posture. The incident ended predictably, with Bess charged with
simple assault on an officer, resisting arrest without violence and disorderly
conduct. All of this came one day after Bess posted a photo on his Twitter page
of a small package containing what appeared to be marijuana. Yes, quite a week
for NFL players trying to live in the real world……..
- Sh*t blows up and someone gots to take the blame. For
example…a bomb blows up at an anti-government protest in Thailand, killing on
and injuring 37, and both sides rush to blame one another for the incident. Protestors
quickly pointed the finger at The Man and the government just as quickly
intimated that the incident may have
been set up by the protest movement itself. People’s Democratic Reform
Committee (PDRC) leader Suthep Thaugsuban delivered a fiery speech after the
blast in which he blamed the caretaker government of Yingluck Shinawatra for
the grenade attack and vowed to escalate his anti-government rallies. In
return, police asked pointed questions about the incident, nothing that protesters
made a last-minute change in their march route and blocked police and reporters
from entering a building near the attack scene where they say they found a
stash of weapons. In the immediate aftermath of the explosions, protestors were
seen pursuing the attacker into the deserted building. Military police searched
the building with PDRC guards and outside, police were heckled and shouted down
by protestors. Police are commonly thought of as pro-Thaskin, which the
military takes the other side in the battle. Rumors that some military officers
had cooperated with the PDRC in setting up the attack quickly spread via social
media, but none of those allegations have been confirmed. Suthep denied he was
behind the attack, saying “I am not that kind [of person]. I don’t kill my own
supporters.” He did cash in one a golden chance to label the prime minister as “a
demon” and suggest that something sinister was afoot………
- Two of Nashville’s favorite musicians may be working on an
album together. Jack White is the busiest man in rock and roll, with a record
label, solo career, multiple side projects and innumerable collaborations always
in the works, and he just might be teaming up with legendary rocker Neil Young on an album of
covers. Multiple sources have confirmed that the duo have finished the album,
which is said to include songs by their favorite songwriters. There are several
reports of Young recording an album at Jack White's Third Man studios in
Nashville and a few days ago, White said he was working on two different
albums. "I'm producing two records this month, and finishing them,"
he wrote in an online chat. "One of them is mine." The other one was
left as a question mark initially, but that question seems destined to be
answered by a project that includes such iconic tracks as Bob Dylan's “Blowin'
In The Wind,” Tim Hardin's “Reason To Believe,” Gordon Lightfoot's “Early
Morning Rain” and Ivory Joe Hunter's “Since I Met You Baby.” White is extremely
well-respected in Nashville and working with an outspoken, highly political
rock star such as Young could produce interesting results. White’s recent
offerings have included his debut solo album and a new single with one of his
bands, The Dead Weather. Young, having wrapped up whatever he and White
were working on together, is busy doing his usual political sermonizing by
touring at a series of benefit concerts in opposition to the Alberta tar sands. If and when
the White-Young duet album becomes a reality, the blend of rootsy rock and roll
and new takes on old favorites should be interesting………
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