The "News" thread.

[Unorthodox]

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57965997-78/beekeeper-box-died-elder.html.csp

Death of Utah beekeeper called ‘rare occurrence’
Safety » The insects were not the Africanized variety.
By Kathy Stephenson | The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published May 20 2014 07:52 am • Last Updated May 20 2014 09:09 pm
The recent death of a female beekeeper who was stung more than 30 times should not deter Utahns from participating in the hobby, professional beekeepers and agriculture officials said Tuesday.

But the death of 31-year-old April Taylor of Willard demonstrates the importance of being educated about the possible risks of keeping bees in the backyard.

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Photos
(Scott Bauer  |  The Associated Press) 
A beekeeper in Box Elder County died after being stung by bees 30 to 40 times.
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"Beekeeping is still encouraged," said Larry Lewis, spokesman for the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food (UDAF). "The bee population in Utah is down and we need all the bees we can get to help pollinate trees and plants."

Lewis called Taylor’s death "unfortunate" and a "rare occurrence."

On Tuesday, May 13, Taylor was taking care of a beehive in the backyard of her home, when she was stung 30 to 40 times. Her husband Zak Taylor said she had been wearing proper beekeeping gloves and veil and initially seemed fine after being stung.

She went back outside, and when her husband went to check on her, he found her passed out on the ground. She was taken to Ogden Regional Medical Center where she died on Friday, May 16.

Family members believe Taylor may have developed a previously unknown allergic reaction to bee stings.

A graduate of Box Elder High School, Taylor had worked as a licensed hairdresser and was the mother of a young son, according to her obituary. A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, May 21, at Gillies Funeral Chapel, in Brigham City.

Initially, there was concern that the bees that stung Taylor were the aggressive Africanized honey bees. But Lewis said the agriculture department is fairly certain that is these "killer" bees are not in northern Utah.

"Our entomologist is taking samples and will send them to a lab for a definitive answer," he said.

Heard somewhere else the hive had lost it's queen and thus was swarming and pissed off to begin with.   

Bottom line, you get stung that much, you don't wander off alone and be ready to call the ambulance. 

[Unorthodox]

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/26/world/europe/vampire-burial-in-poland-keeps-alive-myth/

CNN) -- Popular literature would have it that the vampire's preferred habitat is Transylvania (or, if you're under 15, the slightly less glamorous Forks, Washington).
But modern day vampire hunters might better focus their attention on a little-known area of northwestern Poland, where earlier this month a suspected vampire grave was exhumed.
 New mystery at Richard III burial site Workers unearth lost cemetery
Slawomir Gorka, who led the dig at a marketplace in the small West Pomeranian town of Kamien Pomorski, told local website kamienskie.info that several unusual aspects of the burial "indicate that it is a vampire burial".
Teeth had been removed, a fragment of rock was inserted in the mouth, and a leg had been staked (presumably to prevent the body rising from the grave).
And this isn't the first time an interment in Poland has been deemed vampiric. Last July, archaeologists uncovered four decapitated skeletons, their heads placed between their legs, at a construction site in Gliwice, southern Poland. Both the Gliwice and Kamien Pomorski graves are estimated to date back to the 16th century.
The burials may sound gruesome, but they are befitting of early medieval Polish folklore's particularly grisly interpretation of the vampire myth.
The stone in the mouth might be to make a supernatural barrier between the worlds of the dead and the living.
Kamil Kajkowski, archaeologist
"Specific to Polish vampires is that they are known for eating their own flesh and burial garments when they rise from the dead," says Titus Hjelm, who convenes a course on vampires for the School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies at University College London. He adds that this may explain the stone placed in the mouth of the skeleton.
Fear of vampires was strong among Eastern Europeans in the medieval period.
Professor Martyn Rady, a colleague of Hjelm's, posits the folk tales spread from Serbia to surrounding countries following a report sent by Austrian military authorities to their superiors in Vienna. It told of a mercenary soldier who had been turned into a vampire and infected his victims, who when exhumed from their own graves were found to have fresh blood in their cavities. The report was intercepted before reaching the Austrian capital and published in newspapers.
The Polish had particular reason to fear vampires rising from their graves, Hjelm explains.
"According to some sources, Poles thought that vampires were born, rather than 'made'," he says. "They were normal people who could live normal lives, not aristocrats living in distant castles. The problems only started when these people died. They could come back to live with their families and even impregnate their wives."

A myth that will not die: Archaeologists examine the skeleton in Kamien Pomorski.
This may account for the precautions taken during burial. Hjelm adds the notion of vampires being creatures of the night only appeared relatively recently in the 1922 film "Nosferatu".
However, some experts warn against presuming all such unconventional burials were because of a fear of vampires.
Kamil Kajkowski, an archaeologist with the West-Cassubian Museum in Bytów, northern Poland, admits a number of strange medieval mortuary practices have been discovered during digs in Poland, the most common being those where the body is in the prone position, decapitated, or covered with stones. But the idea is these burials may just as well represent punishment for criminals rather than suspected vampires.
Specific to Polish vampires is that they are known for eating their own flesh and burial garments when they rise from the dead.
Titus Hjelm, University College London
That said, Kajkowski concedes the most recent discovery "is certainly unusual".
"The pierced thigh-bone and a stone inside the mouth clearly indicate that a range of atypical practices with ritual undertones were performed," he says. "(The stone) might reflect the desire to create some kind of supernatural 'barrier' between the dead and the world of the living."
Such peculiar last rites are not confined to medieval Poland. Kajkowski says the last recorded instance of this kind of deviant burial was in 1913. As with the skeletons found in Gliwice last year, the head had been cut off and placed by the legs. "Perhaps such a placement of the head ensured the dead would not be able to 'reach it' and put it back on his neck," he suggests.
Vampiric or not, the strange range of historical graves in Poland indicate the country held deep beliefs around the ritualistic burial of certain citizens. Leszek Gardela, from the Institute of Archaeology at the University of Rzeszów, is currently working on a research project into the phenomenon.
"Unusual mortuary practices have fascinated Polish scholars since the 1950s (when the first were discovered)," she says. "But so far they remain unknown to a wider international audience. It is high time to change this."

Couple ok pics in the story, good skull.  Trying to find a better pic of the thigh bones. 

[Unorthodox]

Can't find an actual news article, but there's been quite a little stir locally.  EXTREMELY LOCALLY. 

Tiny town (population ~1000) which I sit on the border of has a small cemetery, maybe 100-200 plots, total.  Well, one of the older graves had one of the little fences around it that were common in the 19th century, which the groundskeeper decided to remove.  The family is pissed, and I don't personally blame them. 

[gwillybj]

BBC News | News from Elsewhere
Finland: Typing Takes Over as Handwriting Lessons End
21 November 2014 Last updated at 10:25 ET

Finnish students will no longer be taught handwriting at school, with typing lessons taking its place, it's reported.

Learning joined-up writing, often in fountain pen in the UK, is almost a rite of passage for primary school students. But Finland is moving into the digital age by ditching the ink in favour of keyboards, the Savon Sanomat newspaper reports. From autumn 2016, students won't have to learn cursive handwriting or calligraphy, but will instead be taught typing skills, the report says. "Fluent typing skills are an important national competence," says Minna Harmanen from the National Board of Education. The switch will be a major cultural change, Ms Harmanen says, but typing is more relevant to everyday life.

There are some concerns that the move could disadvantage children who don't have a computer at home, or schools where there aren't enough computers to go around. But many people have welcomed the move. "For most teachers it's sufficient that upper case and lower case letters can be distinguished," says Susanna Huhta, deputy chairwoman of the Association of Native Language Teachers. However, she points out that handwriting helps children to develop fine motor skills and brain function, and suggests handwriting classes could be replaced by handicrafts and drawing. Social media users also see the positives, with one user on the Etela-Saimaa website saying: "Handwriting is a totally useless skill. Maybe not as useless as compulsory Swedish, but coming pretty close to it."

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-30146160

[Geo]

The author clearly isn't from the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland.

[Unorthodox]

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/dec/03/100-brains-go-missing-from-university

The University of Texas at Austin is missing about 100 brains — about half of the specimens the university had in a collection preserved in jars of formaldehyde.

One of the missing brains is believed to have come from clock tower sniper Charles Whitman.

“We think somebody may have taken the brains but we don’t know at all for sure,” psychology Professor Tim Schallert, co-curator of the collection, told the Austin American-Statesman.

His co-curator, psychology Professor Lawrence Cormack, said: “It’s entirely possible word got around among undergraduates and people started swiping them for living rooms or Halloween pranks.”

The Austin State Hospital had transferred the brains to the university about 28 years ago under a “temporary possession” agreement. Schallert said his psychology lab had room for only 100 brains, so the rest were moved to the basement of the university’s Animal Resources Center.

“They are no longer in the basement,” Cormack said.

The university said in a statement that it would investigate “the circumstances surrounding this collection since it came here nearly 30 years ago” and that it was “committed to treating the brain specimens with respect”. It says the remaining brain specimens on campus are used “as a teaching tool and carefully curated by faculty”.

The university’s agreement with the hospital required the school to remove any data that might identify the person from whom the brain came. However Schallert said Whitman’s brain likely was part of the collection.

“It would make sense it would be in this group. We can’t find that brain,” he said.

Whitman’s 1966 rampage, which culminated at the University of Texas, killed 16 people, including his mother and wife. Eleven of the victims were fatally shot by Whitman who had barricaded himself on the observation deck of the University of Texas Tower before he was killed by police.

The 100 remaining brains at the school had been moved to the Norman Hackerman Building, where they were being scanned with high-resolution resonance imaging equipment, Cormack said.

“These MRI images will be both useful teaching and research tools. It keeps the brains intact,” he told the newspaper.

I hope there's an army of Frankenstein monsters about to rise up. 

[Rusty Edge]

I was thinking zombie Thanksgiving.

[Buster's Uncle]

TurFranken?

[Geo]

Turingstein?

[Unorthodox]

Klaatu Verata Nikto!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/at-dog-meat-festival-chinese-town-chows-down-despite-outcry/article25052642/

For many residents of China’s southern town of Yulin, the peak of summer is the perfect time to get together with family and friends – and consume copious amounts of dog meat.

Yulin restaurateurs held an annual dog-meat festival Monday despite international criticism of the event as cruel and unhygienic. The Yulin government distanced itself from the festival and announced new restrictions, but eateries reached by telephone reported brisk business during the event.

(Read more: Rage against Yulin, but let's be honest about our animal cruelty)

(Watch: Tensions mount over dog-meat festival)



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What happens to the dogs?

As many as 10,000 dogs, many of them stolen pets, are slaughtered for the festival – which ostensibly marks the summer solstice – held deep inside the largely rural and poor Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.


 
Dogs for sale are kept in a cage in Dashichang dog market. (Kim Kyung-hoon/Reuters) 
Cooked dogs are displayed at a vendor’s stall in Yulin on June 22. (Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images) 
A boy looks at a bowl of dog meat as his family has a gathering to eat dog meat and lychees. (Kim Kyung-hoon/Reuters) 
A group of friends toast over a dog meat dish, shown at middle. (Kim Kyung-hoon/Reuters)

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China’s dog debate

Dog is eaten in some parts of China but is not a common dish. Owning dogs as pets, once looked down upon as a decadent bourgeois habit, was discouraged under early Communist Party rule. Eating dog meat, however, is traditional during the summer and good for your health at the hottest time of the year, supporters say. “It’s healthy, just like raising pigs or chickens, it’s fine,” said Teng Jianyi, as he tucked into a dog dish with some friends.

But dog ownership has become increasingly popular among the Chinese public, especially the urban middle class, which has started to fight what it sees as barbarous abuse of man’s best friend. Animal-rights activists say the Yulin festival has no cultural value and was merely invented to drum up business.

While many Chinese have signed online petitions seeking a ban on the festival, others take a more direct approach. Last year, Yang Xiaoyun made the headlines after spending 150,000 yuan ($29,544 Canadian) to rescue about 350 dogs. Yang, who comes from northern China, has returned this year with funds raised from around the country, but she would not say exactly how much. She hoped to set up a home for the rescued dogs near Yulin, she said, undeterred by the prospect of any hostility there.

 
Yang Xiaoyun, left, sits next to a cage of dogs that she purchased from dog vendors to rescue them from meat dealers ahead of the Yulin festival on June 21. (Kim Kyung-hoon/Reuters)


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What the government says

Apparently concerned about the adverse publicity, the local government disavows any ties to the event, issuing a statement saying it did not officially sponsor or promote the festival. It said authorities would tightly control public order and punish any incidents of stealing or poisoning dogs. Traders would no longer be permitted to slaughter dogs in public, place carcasses on display or serve meals outdoors, it said.

Despite such restrictions, restaurant owners said the festival continued to attract enthusiasts for the dish. “Eating dog meat is a local tradition, it has nothing to do with the local government,” said a receptionist at the Longmen Dog Meat Restaurant reached by phone.



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What critics say

Celebrities such as British comedian Ricky Gervais and Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen have called for an end to the festival, and more than three million people have signed petitions protesting it, according to Shareeza Bhola, communications manager for change.org.

Dear Morons, stopping the #YulinDogMeatFestival is less to do with them being dogs & more to do with them being tortured and skinned alive.

— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) June 17, 2015
On Monday, a group of about 25 animal rights activists briefly unfurled banners in front of the city government office, demanding an end to the festival, but they were quickly hustled away by unidentified men.

Iffn people wants me to track down the video of dem dogs bein skinned alive, I will do so.  It's nightmare fuel on a serious level.  I also left out the pics above in case there were some sensitive folk here. 



THAT SAID:  I have absolutely no problem with this. 

"It's not about them being dogs" 

I call BS.  It's about the cute wittel puppies.  There is nothing clean or neat about how any of your meat is prepared, why outrage against any one variety?  Anyone that thinks the cow/pig/foul they are eating was disposed of so much more cleanly is deluding themselves. 

[Geo]

There's a reason I keep my meat consumption to a minimum throughout the year.
Of course, during my bi-annual meat fasting, fish is a more common dish on my platter.

[Unorthodox]

Fish.  Excellent example.  Where's the outrage over them being disemboweled alive?  Or suffocated?  Or sometimes just cooked alive? 

[Buster's Uncle]

Fish not cuddly.  Simple as that, ain't it?

[Geo]

There's simply something fishy about the human uncanny zone.

[Buster's Uncle]