0 'East River Monster' Is No Mutant

Credit: Youtube

The body of a massive, bony creature was spotted in New York City's East River and dragged onto a beach on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge May 21. Onlookers assumed it was some sort of mutated animal and dubbed it "the East River monster."

Marine biologists, however, knew immediately what they had on their hands.

When the carcass, estimated to be 6 to 7 feet long, was first found, it was believed to be some sort of marine mammal. Photos of the creature were sent to the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation for identification.

"We could tell it was an Atlantic sturgeon right away," Kim Durham, a rescue program director and biologist for the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation in Riverhead, N.Y., told Life's Little Mysteries. "They have bony plates all over their bodies. There's no mistaking a sturgeon."

As for the fish's frightening size, sturgeon have been known to grow up to 12 feet. Although this one was only half that length, Durham described it as "pretty impressive." [Read: Can a Goldfish Really Grow to 30 Pounds?]

This isn't the first monster fish to wash up in the area. In July 2008 the infamous Montauk Monster — a dead, yet-to-be unidentified creature — washed ashore on a Long Island beach near Montauk, N.Y.

And there may be more East River monsters to come. Atlantic sturgeon used to be more common in the East River, but their population has declined over the years due to overfishing, according to Durham. It's possible that their numbers are starting to recover, Durham said, which might explain why the massive fish mysteriously appeared.

Here, a video of onlookers inspecting the East River Monster:

http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/east-river-monster-nyc-sturgeon-1717/



http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/east-river-monster-nyc-sturgeon-1717/

0 The Single Most Important Speech Any American Will Ever Hear. 25/5/11

The Defense Authorization Act or H.R. 1540, aka The Forever War Act of 2012, was overwhelmingly approved by the House of Representatives earlier today on a vote of 322 to 96.

The Senate will now vote on its own version and then the two bills will need to be reconciled before going to Barry Obama for his signature into law.

The law authorizes the United States to use military force anywhere it says there are terrorists, including within the borders of our own country. It represents the largest hand-over of unchecked war authority from Congress to the executive branch in modern American history.

The founders were seriously opposed to handing this much power over to executive, fearing tyranny. If enacted into law, this provision will make Obama a dictator who can wage war without the consent of the American people.

0 Now that's Comedy!!!.

Obama: "note to self....don't try to chink glasses with Madge while she hum's her favourite tune"

0 Drug May Help "Overwrite" Bad Memories

Recalling painful memories while under the influence of the drug metyrapone reduces the brain's ability to re-record the negative emotions associated with them,

according to University of Montreal researchers at the Centre for Studies on Human Stress of Louis-H.Lafontaine Hospital. The team's study challenges the theory that memories cannot be modified once they are stored in the brain.

"Metyrapone is a drug that significantly decreases the levels of cortisol, a stress hormone that is involved in memory recall," explained lead author Marie-France Marin. Manipulating cortisol close to the time of forming new memories can decrease the negative emotions that may be associated with them. "The results show that when we decrease stress hormone levels at the time of recall of a negative event, we can impair the memory for this negative event with a long-lasting effect," said Dr. Sonia Lupien, who directed the research.

Thirty-three men participated in the study, which involved learning a story composed of neutral and negative events. Three days later, they were divided into three groups -- participants in the first group received a single dose of metyrapone, the second received double, while the third were given placebo. They were then asked to remember the story. Their memory performance was then evaluated again four days later, once the drug had cleared out.. "We found that the men in the group who received two doses of metyrapone were impaired when retrieving the negative events of the story, while they showed no impairment recalling the neutral parts of the story," Marin explained. "We were surprised that the decreased memory of negative information was still present once cortisol levels had returned to normal."

The research offers hope to people suffering from syndromes such as post-traumatic stress disorder. "Our findings may help people deal with traumatic events by offering them the opportunity to 'write-over' the emotional part of their memories during therapy," Marin said. One major hurdle, however, is the fact that metyrapone is no longer commercially produced. Nevertheless, the findings are very promising in terms of future clinical treatments. "Other drugs also decrease cortisol levels, and further studies with these compounds will enable us to gain a better understanding of the brain mechanisms involved in the modulation of negative memories."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110526064802.htm 

Could it not then also be misused, to create an army of  "Perfect Killing Machines" for example?

0 Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn Report Shows Taxpayer Money Spent on Robots That Fold Laundry, Shrimp on Treadmills

You've probably heard of shrimp on the barbie, but what about shrimp on a treadmill?

The National Science Foundation has, and it spent $500,000 of taxpayer money researching it. It's not entirely clear what this research hoped to establish.

0 No Remorse: RT caught in Tbilisi brutal dispersal of Georgia protesters

0 'Heavy-handed' police scrambled helicopter to hunt schoolboy whose football broke greenhouse window... and now he faces life-long 'criminal record'

But greenhouse owner says she is glad to see 'justice done'

A schoolboy faces a lifelong 'criminal record' after a police helicopter and riot van were scrambled to hunt him down - when he accidentally kicked a football at a greenhouse.

Tom Clarke, 15, was horrified when he miskicked the ball and it looped over a garden fence and smashed a greenhouse window pane.

Just 30 minutes later, a police helicopter was spotted hovering above the house using thermal imaging cameras to search for him.

Two patrol cars and a riot van were also dispatched to search nearby gardens in Chalgrove, Oxfordshire, on foot.

A pair of uniformed officers eventually tracked Tom down and he apologised to the greenhouse owner.

But days later, Thames Valley Police sent a letter to Tom's father telling him his youngster had 'accepted responsibility for criminal damage'.

Police said the incident was not a conviction but would be informally 'recorded for future reference' and could count against him by future employers carrying out extensive CRB checks.

Tom may now be considered unsuitable for jobs involving children and young people when he applies for work in the future.

The letter also warned Tom he could face an ASBO if his 'behaviour does not improve'.

However the owner of the greenhouse, Bobby Cellar, 67, said she was happy to see 'justice done'.

She said: 'I've had enough. Someone could have been in the greenhouse at the time and got hurt. 

'In my mind it's criminal damage and that's the law, I just wanted to see justice done.'

Yesterday, Tom's furious father, bus driver Darrin, 42, branded the police reaction 'extremely heavy-handed'.

He said: 'Tom is a good lad, he's never been in trouble with the police or at school and he works hard.

'Now he's been told his future work life is at risk because of a stupid accident playing football. It's extremely heavy-handed.

'The police helicopter was about 20ft above the ground and I saw a riot van circling the area along with two patrol cars.

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1390578/Police-scrambled-helicopter-hunt-Tom-Clarke-football-broke-greenhouse-window.html#ixzz1NNWReCUj

0 MASS SEA SNAIL KILL Thousands Of Dead Snails Wash Ashore In Bangladesh

0 Barack gets car stuck at Dublin Embassy May 23rd 2011

0 Peter Schiff on Judge Nap's Show - The IMF Should be Abolished

0 Iceland's Grimsvotn volcano erupts

Ash from a massive plume of smoke from an eruption of Iceland's most active volcano could spread south to parts of Europe next week, but experts on Sunday still hoped the impact on air travel would be limited.

 

The eruption at Grimsvotn has so far hit only Iceland, where the civil aviation authority said the prospects for re-opening the main international airport on Monday were not good.

A thick cloud of ash blocked out the daylight at towns and villages at the foot of the glacier where the volcano lies and covered cars and buildings.

The eruption was much stronger than the one at a volcano further south last year which closed European airspace and halted transatlantic flights, due to worries particles could get into engines and cause accidents.

Iceland's meteorological office said the plume from Grimsvotn, which last exploded in 2004, had fallen to 10 to 15 km in height from a peak of 25 km (16 miles).

Europe's air traffic control organization warned on its website of a possible spread.

"Ash cloud is expected to reach North Scotland on Tuesday 24th May. If volcanic emissions continue with same intensity, cloud might reach west French airspace and north Spain on Thursday 26th May," it said in a traffic bulletin.

Others said the impact on air travel this time would be more limited as winds were more favorable, the content of the plume was heavier therefore less likely to spread and authorities now had a higher tolerance for ash levels.

"It could lead to some disruption, but only for a very limited time and only over a very limited area," said University of Iceland Professor of Geophysics Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson.

"We see some signs that the power is declining a bit, but it is still quite powerful," Gudmundsson said, adding that the eruption was the most violent at the volcano since 1873.

Icelandair, the main airline on the island, stopped flights on Sunday and said on its website the halt could continue on Monday. It said 6,000 passengers had been affected by cancellations so far.

BLACK AS NIGHT

Gudmundsson said the wind direction was different this year, meaning the ash was falling mainly around Iceland. "But also very importantly the rules that apply today and the models are very different. The tolerance is much higher," he said.

Dave Mcgarvie, volcanologist at Britain's Open University, agreed. He said any ash which reached Britain would be less than last year and added that experience gained since the 2010 eruption would lead to less disruption.

In emailed comments, he said "minor re-routing" should enable aircraft to avoid zones where ash is concentrated.

The new eruption at Grimsvotn, which last exploded in 2004, sent up a huge bubbling mass of ash and smoke, which seeped above the clouds high over the North Atlantic island.

Grimsvotn lies under the Vatnajokull glacier in southeast Iceland, the largest glacier in Europe.

Areas to the south of glacier have been covered in thick layers of ash and the sun was blocked out for several hours.

"It was like night is during the winter," said Benedikt Larusson, speaking in the town of Kirkjubaejarklaustur.

"Now it is a little bit better. Now I can see about 100 metres, but before it was about 1 meter."