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n2doc's JournalMan Shot Twice as he Tries to Shoot Caged Raccoon
REDFIELD, Iowa (AP) — A rural Redfield man is being treated for two gunshot wounds after an attempt to shoot a raccoon caught in a live trap backfired.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says 68-year-old Larry Godwin was using a 22-caliber handgun to shoot the caged raccoon at around 11 a.m. Saturday when the bullet ricocheted off the cage and struck him in the lower abdomen on the right side. He dropped the gun and it fired again, shooting him again in about the same spot.
He was taken to Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines by private vehicle.
The DNR says the injuries are not believed to be life threatening.
http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/Man-Shot-Twice-as-he-Tries-to-Shoot-Caged-Raccoon--140429233.html
Guess which city was rated 'best' for cheating on your spouse?
Washington, D.C. best city for cheating, online dating service AshleyMadison.com finds
The site says it has nearly 38,000 members in the nation's capital, more than Chicago, Boston and Dallas
BY BRIAN BROWDE / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Looks like power is the ultimate aphrodisiac after all.
Washington, D.C., where Bill Clinton trysted, Eliot Spitzer cavorted and Anthony Weiner sexted, may be the best place to have an affair, according to AshleyMadison.com, an online dating service for people already in relationships.
The site says it has nearly 38,000 members in the nation's capital, the most per capita among its 13 million user base.
Powerful men and women, particularly those in politics, "are massive risk takers," Noel Biderman, CEO and founder of Ashley Madison, told the Daily News. In some cases, "they're willing to transfer that to risk-taking to their personal lives,” he said.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/washington-best-city-cheating-online-dating-service-ashleymadison-finds-article-1.1028440
Alt Text: Disturbing Science Books for Kids
By Lore Sjöberg
Former astronaut Mike Kelly — I like the phrase “former astronaut,” as if he decided that the astronaut game wasn’t for him and went into real estate instead — is writing a children’s book called Mousetronaut: A Partially True Story.
In it, he tells the tale of a mouse who supposedly enjoyed being in zero gravity, unlike all the other rodents in his cage who clung to the sides of it in pure, searing murine terror.
Ignoring the fact that a “mousetronaut” is technically someone who travels through a mouse, I’m happy that we’re finally seeing stories about lab animals that are at least partially true. Previous children’s favorites like Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH and Monkey Shines: An Experiment in Fear have taken tremendous liberties with the truth. For instance, in Frisby the titular mouse wears a little cape, and in Monkey Shines, the murderous, jealous, mind-reading tufted capuchin makes noises that sound much more like a golden-bellied capuchin.
Let’s hope Mousetronaut is a tremendous success, if not for the children’s sake, then for me personally. I have a series of amusing and edifying children’s books about lab animals in the works.
For example:
Bravebunny, The Rabbit Who Was Probably Somewhat Less Terrified Than the Other Experimental Rabbits
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Control Group
Gaster, The Eyeless Fruit Fly
Are You My Mother, Or Just Chicken Wire Wrapped With Terrycloth?
The Special Amazing Friendship Club: Animals Who Were Launched Into Space and Left to Die
more
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/02/alt-text-science-books-kids/
New fighter jet training stalls, grounding pilots (More problems with the F-35 POS)
By MELISSA NELSON, Associated Press
Monday, February 27, 2012
(02-27) 01:24 PST EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AP) --
The best fighter pilots from the Air Force, Marines and Navy arrived in the Florida Panhandle last year to learn to fly the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the most expensive, most advanced weapons program in U.S. history. They are still waiting.
Concerns about the stealth jets' safety, cost overruns and questions about the entire program's feasibility have delayed the training and left about 35 pilots mostly outside the cockpit. The most the pilots do with the nine F-35s at Eglin Air Force Base is occasionally taxi them and fire up the engines. Otherwise their training is limited to three F-35 flight simulators, classroom work and flights in older-model jets. Only a handful of test pilots get to fly the F-35s.
"The most-frustrated pilot is one who isn't flying at all," said Marine Col. Arthur Tomassetti, vice commander of the fighter wing and a former test pilot for the F-35 prototype.
Built by Lockheed Martin under a 2001 contract, the F-35 is supposed to replace Cold War-era aircraft such as the Air Force's F-16 fighter and the Navy's and Marines' F/A-18 Hornet. It would also be sold to many NATO countries and other U.S. allies.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/02/27/national/a011737S83.DTL
Jerry Brown urges 'reckless' GOP hopefuls to fight on
WASHINGTON - Gov. Jerry Brown doesn't think much of the Republicans running for president, but he encouraged them this morning to keep fighting through the summer nominating convention.
"I certainly think Ron Paul's going to keep going, and why not?" the Democratic governor and former three-time presidential hopeful said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "The campaigns are to illuminate the issues, give voters a real insight into the character of the candidate. So, yeah, I say, keep going all the way."
Brown, in Washington for the winter meeting of the National Governors Association, accused Republicans of making an "extreme move to the right." He said of a match-up between President Barack Obama and any of the Republican candidates, "What we're looking at is a reasonable man versus reckless men."
Brown appeared on the show with Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer. Her state's tough immigration law came up, as did Brown's signature of legislation allowing undocumented immigrant college students to receive public financial aid. But no sparks flew between them.
Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/02/jerry-brown-urges-reckless-gop-presidential-hopefuls-to-fight-on.html#MTRecentEntries#storylink=cpy
Preview of a Forthcoming Supernova
At the turn of the 19th century, the binary star system Eta Carinae was faint and undistinguished. In the first decades of the century, it became brighter and brighter, until, by April 1843, it was the second brightest star in the sky, outshone only by Sirius (which is almost a thousand times closer to Earth). In the years that followed, it gradually dimmed again and by the 20th century was totally invisible to the naked eye.
The star has continued to vary in brightness ever since, and while it is once again visible to the naked eye on a dark night, it has never again come close to its peak of 1843.
The larger of the two stars in the Eta Carinae system is a huge and unstable star that is nearing the end of its life, and the event that the 19th century astronomers observed was a stellar near-death experience. Scientists call these outbursts supernova impostor events, because they appear similar to supernovae but stop just short of destroying their star.
Although 19th century astronomers did not have telescopes powerful enough to see the 1843 outburst in detail, its effects can be studied today. The huge clouds of matter thrown out a century and a half ago, known as the Homunculus Nebula, have been a regular target for Hubble since its launch in 1990. This image, taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys High Resolution Channel is the most detailed yet, and shows how the material from the star was not thrown out in a uniform manner, but forms a huge dumbbell shape.
http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1208a/
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