Jennifer Viegas

Giant, Multi-topic News Dump

Critter News

General News

Internet Bigfooting

Happy St. Patty’s Day! Have some News!

I’m in a bit of a rush (I should be working either on cleaning out cupboards, doing the dishes, or a Website right now) so I’m just throwing down a list of interesting articles related to today’s holiday (I’m Irish, in case you didn’t know. Well… Irish in addition to a big pile of other stuff…)

Critter News Roundup Vol.3: (Bad) Conservation News…

This was almost a special edition, but then I decided that it would be much better labeled a Critter news roundup because the whole thing DOES have a critter theme. It also, however, has a depressing conservation theme.

  • Switzerland’s Only Bear Killed Amid Threat Fears – FEB 25, 2013 08:30 AM ET // BY AFP
    The bear was “culled” in accordance with the management plan for bears in Switzerland (which i’m going to assume is “No bears aloud”). The bear was going to be a potential danger, but what I don’t understand is why death was the option they decided to try when relocation hadn’t even been experimented with. This was an irresponsible management of a rare animal.
  • Africa ‘Hemmorhaging Elephants’ at Record Rate – MAR 4, 2013 05:00 PM ET // BY JENNIFER VIEGAS
    In the past decade 62% of elephants have been killed for Ivory. The article goes over why the African Forest Elephant might be extinct within the next decade. This important umbrella species needs to be protected to protect other species!
  • 100 Million Sharks Killed Each Year – MAR 5, 2013 05:45 AM ET // BY MEGAN GANNON, LIVE SCIENCE
    Research indicates that 1 in 15 sharks is killed each year by fisheries. As economic prosperity in eastern countries grow the demand for these shark body parts grows. As apex predators sharks are slow breeders and continued fishing at this rate could be disastrous.

News Roundup Special Edition: Underwater Awesome

Another day, another roundup of interesting news. Because I apparently have nothing better to do with my life than read the news.

  • High Tech Helps Protect Whales – FEB 25, 2013 09:40 AM ET // BY AFP
    In an effort to improve human understanding of whales, new tracking devices are being deployed to help us learn what they’re up to and where they go in the ocean.
  • James Cameron Deep-Sea Dive Reveals New Species – FEB 25, 2013 11:00 AM ET // BY DOUGLAS MAIN, OURAMAZINGPLANET
    Last year Cameron and his crew acquired hours of video footage at the bottom of the Pacific ocean.  A student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography UC San Diego suspects there is at least one new species: a Sea Cucumber. Other new finds are coming to light in addition to this one.
  • Lost Continent Discovered Beneath Indian Ocean – FEB 25, 2013 01:15 PM ET // BY TIM WALL
    A sliver of lost land that was once geographically pinned between Madagascar and India (prior to the complete breakup of the continents long ago) was recently discovered by science due to a volcano’s eruption brining bits of the land mass to the surface.
  • Shark Relative Had Buzz Saw Mouth – FEB 26, 2013 07:00 PM ET // BY JENNIFER VIEGAS
    Do I even have to say anything? How about a picture:

shark-relative-had-buzzsaw-mouth-130226-660x433-picture

Prehistoric News Roundup Vol.2

I’ve covered a bunch of bunk type news of late. So I’m going to cover some fun stuff for a bit and get some real news into this blog. Today’s theme is Prehistory.

And, we have a surprise visit from the Evolution vs. Creationism “debate”.

  • Creationism Creeping into Schools – FEB 15, 2013 08:00 AM // DISCOVERY NEWS
    Anti-science is all too common. 5 bills are proposed already. But it’s not just Creationism and Intelligent Design. Now it’s “Academic Freedom” to question things like Stem Cell Research or Climate Change. The bills want to give teachers the right to skip over units required by curriculum in favor of their own personal views.
  • Antiscience bills die in Arizona and Oklahoma – February 26, 2013 // By idoubtit
     Isn’t it shiny when things go so well? Of the 5 mentioned above on the 15th, 2 have lost! This is why you need to watch these cases and make your voices heard in response to them! Hopefully the other three will also get struck down!

News Dump Vol.5

Well… I’m ending up way behind because there have been tons of exciting things to talk about of late. So there’s a series of articles from the last week or so that I really wanted to talk about due to them being interesting, but didn’t find time. At the very least I’m going to share them so that you could read whatever catches your fancy, too.

Critter News Roundup Vol.3

I do love the critters of the world. And they really seem unable to keep themselves out of the news.

  • Japan Whaling On Choppy Seas – FEB 6, 2013 11:08 AM ET // BY KIERAN MULVANEY
    Japan has been whaling “for science” for a long time now, and other nations are finally getting truly sick of it, just like their people are. Australia demanded the removal of Shonan Maru No.2, a Japanese whaling vessel, from their waters in the in the Souther Ocean. They have, apprently, in the past communicated their desires for no whaling in their waters, and this is the first formal public complaint and demand that they have made on the subject. Good on ya’, Austrailia! Even better, New Zealand has joined the legal action they have filed. hopefully they’ll put an end to the “science” whaling that’s being done: Japan has yet to explain why they’re whaling and what research they are preforming.
  • Puppy ‘Klondike’ Born from Frozen Embryo – FEB 5, 2013 02:32 PM ET // BY JENNIFER VIEGAS
    I didn’t realize that this had never been done in dogs, because they’ve done it in cattle and a few other species for so long. There are theories that this technology could be used to increase the numbers of rare breeds, but I’m more interested in the implications for wild canines that are critically endangered, such as the African Wild Dogs.
  • How Smart Is Your Dog? Find Out with ‘Dognition’ – FEB 5, 2013 11:25 AM ET // BY TECHNEWSDAILY
    This is an app. Which personally I have no plans to use. Much like a doting mother, I have no intention learning that either of my babies are anything but brilliant. No, it’s not really a canine IQ test, and chances are I’ll be checking out it when it launches. It’s really a study, wrapped up in an app. Dog owners answer questions about their furry friends.

Year of the Snake

The year of the snake has just come upon us. In celebration, I present some snakes.

pimg-1093546753-208174 This is a Reticulated Python. They’re freakin’ big. At least some of them are. They live in Southeast Asia and are the longest snakes in existence, some growing to be over 28 feet in length! Also: They can eat people if the people aren’t careful.

r8c8auNow we have the Barbados Threadsnake. These guys are freakin’ tiny. All of them. They measure just shy of 4 inches long and were only discovered 4 years go on Barbados. Threadsnakes are pretty damned adorable, IMO.

 

4282956-3x2-940x627Then it’s on to the Inland Taipan. These guys are really freakin’ poisonous. Like, kill everything poisonous. It really shouldn’t be a surprise, though, since the Taipan is from Australia, where I’m pretty sure even the dogs exude deadly substances from their skin.

Inspirations for this article were drawn from: Top 12 Most Amazing Snakes – FEB 8, 2013 12:30 PM ET // BY JENNIFER VIEGAS

News Dump Vol.3

Due to some time constraints right now, I’m doing quick Newsdump posts that will help keep things from getting buried in my box. Expect special posts on both Giant Squids and Bigfoot soon.

News Roundup Vol.3

This roundup has no theme, other than I got the stories on January 31st and wrote about them for today.