Academia, Animals, Environment, Science

Scientists Find 35,000 Walrus Stranded In Alaska Due To Receding Ice Flows

Walrus_alaska

This extraordinary picture from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has many scientists worried as the latest sign of climate change. These are estimated 35,000 pacific walrus ashore on a beach in north-west Alaska. As mammals, walrus cannot swim indefinitely so they use their tusks to “haul out,” or pull themselves onto an ice floe or rocks. However, the loss of sea ice has left them effectively stranded.

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Academia, Animals, Science

Awkward Insect Moments: Scientists Discover That Offspring Of Flies Can Resemble The Previous Sexual Partner Of The Mother Rather Than The Actual Father

220px-Musca_domestica_PortraitThis must make for some awkward moments at fly delivery rooms: “Look Honey he has your first lover’s eyes!”

Researchers at the University of New South Wales have confirmed a new form of non-genetic inheritance in flies. The research found that offspring can resemble a mother’s previous sexual partner of flies rather than the actual father. The size of offspring was determined not by the actual father but the previous sexual partner of the mother. It is an fascinating example of telegony, which dates back to ancient Greece and was once discredited under modern genetic theories.

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Academia, Bizarre, Criminal law

Wunderkind: Ohio State Student Stripped Of Full Scholarship After Football Stunt

Anthony_WunderOfficials have informed Ohio State student Anthony J. Wunder, 21, that he will be stripped of his full scholarship as a result of his running on to the field in the second quarter of the game between the Buckeyes and the Cincinnati Bearcats. The incident went viral with pictures of assistant Buckeyes coach (and former OSU linebacker) Anthony Schlegel tackling Wunder. It appears that linebackers never truly forget their techniques or training.

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Bizarre, Society

“Don’t Be Late And End Up In A Crate”: Airport Company Uses Man’s Death To Pitch Its Services

Doré_-_StyxI just saw this on Reddit and had to share it. A company issued a report of the death of a man at O’Hare airport, but it turns out that the company was using the death as a hook for more business. The company notes “[t]here could be many reasons for the cause of this man’s death but based on the story one possible reason could be stress. The process of arriving to the airport and boarding the plane can be very stressful.” The solution? The company of course. ParkSleepFly, which appears to be working on a new slogan: “Use Us Or Die.”

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International, Military, Politics, Society

The Obama Administration Finally Pressures Afghanistan To Allow Almost 10,000 Troops To Remain In Country

200px-Non_Commissioned_Officers_of_the_Afghan_National_ArmyWhile the outgoing Afghan President continues to denounce the United States and praise China and Iran, the Obama Administration has been pressuring Afghanis to allow it to keep roughly 10,000 troops in the country with the obvious commitment to spend billions and billions more on the war. The agreement has now bee signed. This is being heralded as a long-awaited success for the Administration – a curious achievement for those who want us out of the country and money spent on badly needed domestic programs of education, science, and infrastructure.

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Bizarre, International, Military, Politics

Killing Them With Kindness? Iraqi Pilots Drop Emergency Food and Ammunition . . . To Islamic State Militants

280px-AirdropcloseJan18haiti_editedIraqi pilots are rechecking their coordinate calculations after they mistakenly dropped food, water and ammunition to Islamic State militants rather than besieged Iraqi forces fighting the militants. It is the latest blunder by a military that, despite billions and billions in U.S. training and equipment, continues to face regular desertions and defeats in the field.

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Environment, International, Science

The Quiet Chernobyl: NASA Releases Shocking Pictures Of The Loss Of The Aral Sea

1412079277000-aralThese pictures from NASA are being called “the quiet Chernobyl.” It is the Aral Sea as seen in 2000 and as seen this year. The massive decline of water levels is particularly evident from the black line showing the shoreline in the 1960s. In the United States and other cities, the world is facing a water crisis that is being given relatively low amount of attention. However, pictures like these show vividly our self-destructive impact on the environment.

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International, Politics, Religion, Society

“Goodbye, Dear Mum”: Rayhaneh Jabbari Prepares For Execution (Updated)

eg2vZynW_400x400Over international protests, according to some new sites, Iran has already executed Rayhaneh Jabbari, 26. However, Fox News is reporting that the execution has been delayed. Jabbari claimed that a former Iranian Intelligence Ministry employee tried to rape her and that she stabbed in him the shoulder to escape. Despite the fact that a drink given to her was found to contain a date rape drug, the Iranian officials still wanted her hanged and they have now carried out their intent. As she was being led away to be hanged, a guard showed mercy and gave her his phone to type a final message to her mother. Her reported message below is poignant and tragic as a final goodbye to her mother. [Update: there are both reports that the execution has occurred and that the execution has been delayed. Amnesty is reporting that the execution is “imminent.”]

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Criminal law, Religion, Society

Fatal Attraction: Oklahoma Faces Two Cases Of Men Who Allegedly Advocated Beheading Women As Justified Under Islam

Muriithi-300x300nolen-facebook-twoWe have been discussing the alarming and baffling migration of Muslim men and women from the West to join the blood-soaked Islamic State or ISIS forces as they behead and murder their way through captured territories. While the vast majority of Muslims are disgusted by ISIS, the chilling reality is that there is a large portion of people who do not just support but long to behead and torture other people. Oklahoma is facing precisely that reality in two cases involving Muslim men who appear to identify with ISIS and relish the concept of beheading people in the name of Islam. It is a fatal attraction that may explain the thousands flocking from the West to the ranks of the Islamic State.

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Criminal law, Society

Former Teacher Is Re-Sentenced For Statutory Rape With Increase From 31 Days To 10 Years In Jail

article-2591197-1CA6073F00000578-778_306x423cherice-moralez-montana-rape-g-todd-baugh-cnn_296Stacey Dean Rambold, 55, is heading back to jail after his resentencing as a sex offender. After a light sentence of just 31 days in jail for the statutory rape of Cherice Moralez, 14, Rambold was given a sentence of 15 years in prison. Moralez committed suicide in 2010 before the case went to trial.

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Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Politics, Religion

Iran Executes Man For “Innovations” On Religion And Insulting Job

220px-Bonnat021966909_278774508978953_6179710600367701004_nVarious media outlets are reporting the latest outrage from Sharia courts. Iranian authorities have reportedly executed Mohsen Amir-Aslani, 37, for allegedly “insulting” the prophet Jonah and accused him of committing adultery. For that exercise of free speech and freedom of religion, a Sharia court had him hanged.

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Criminal law, Lawyering, Politics, Society

The Best Defense? Pennsylvania Blames Prison Employee For Her Own Rape By Inmate

1411663301223_wps_10_Omar_Best_Best_was_convicIt appears that the Uber Taxi driver discussed today is not the only person who is reportedly using the “she asked for it” defense to sexual assault. The Pennsylvania attorney general’s office is blaming a former state prison clerk for her own rape in litigation against the prison. The 24-year-old typist was working at the state prison at Rockview in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania in 2013 when she was choked unconscious and raped for 27 minutes by Omar Best, an image convicted three times previously of sex-related crimes. Worse yet, Best had been transferred from a different state prison for assaulting a female assistant but the prison still allowed him unsupervised visits with female employees.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Religion, Society

Forever Young: Student Protest BYU Ban on Beards

200px-BYU_Medallion_Logo.svg175px-Brigham_Young_by_Charles_William_CarterThere is an interesting protest growing on the campus of Brigham Young University where students are opposing a rule imposed by the school. The subject of the protests is rather unique. No it is not a war protest or some other usual campus cause. It is facial hair. The university has banned beards, a curious rule to be sure for a school named after Brigham Young who would have been banned from campus due to his facial hair.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, International

The Uber Cultural Defense: Driver Reportedly Insists That Woman “Asked For” Groping Due To Her Dress

botros09Uber taxi driver Ramy Botros has a curious defense after he allegedly put his hand down the shirt of a 25-year-old female customer: she was asking for it and in Egypt such assaults are considered justified for women wearing such outfits. This of course was in Orlando, but that did not seem to matter in this rather curious use of the cultural defense, something that I have discussed earlier.

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Animals, Environment, International

Needs More Cow Bell? Not In Switzerland Apparently

Screen Shot 2014-09-29 at 8.19.08 AM 1It appears that Christopher Walken’s advice of “more cow bell” works more for Blue Öyster Cult is no longer good for diary farmers in Switzerland. The iconic sounds of cows in the pasture with bells around their necks could soon be banned due to research showing that it is harming the hearing of the bovine. The choice is curtailing a pleasant tourist experience or herds of deaf cows.

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