In the news

[rainforests1]

Sacramento and areas nearby are apparently going through horrendous water shortages this year:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/02/07/the-emptying-of-northern-california-reservoirs/

 

[Moll Flanders]

BBC News - Prince William goes hunting a day before wildlife plea

 

[thefadedone]

http://www.webpronews.com/rice-recall-mars-inc-recalls-uncle-bens-infused-rice-products-2014-02

Well this should be interesting. I currently have Time Warner, but I have had Comcast in the past. I've had issues with both of them.

 

[beancounter]

BBC News - Prince William goes hunting a day before wildlife plea

Today children, we will learn two new words. Can you say "cognitive dissonance"?....

 

[Blobbenstein]

I think the only hope for elephants might be if they gradually evolve so they don't grow tusks, which I remember someone proposing years ago. That might happen as the tusked elephants are picked off, leaving elephants with a mutation where the tusks don't grow.

 

[Second Summer]

I think the only hope for elephants might be if they gradually evolve so they don't grow tusks, which I remember someone proposing years ago. That might happen as the tusked elephants are picked off, leaving elephants with a mutation where the tusks don't grow.

I would be surprised if evolution worked fast enough for this to have any effect before it's too late. A better hope might be for an improved version of the bird flu virus, or the Black Death making a surprise return.

 

[Amy SF]

http://www.webpronews.com/rice-recall-mars-inc-recalls-uncle-bens-infused-rice-products-2014-02

Well this should be interesting. I currently have Time Warner, but I have had Comcast in the past. I've had issues with both of them.

I also have TWC, and I'm hating them more and more. I'm thinking of switching to Verizon FIOS, but I don't know if they're any better.

 

[Blobbenstein]

I would be surprised if evolution worked fast enough for this to have any effect before it's too late. A better hope might be for an improved version of the bird flu virus, or the Black Death making a surprise return.

well the elephant numbers might have to go well down first, but the remaining tuskless elephants could repopulate.....maybe genetic engineering could make the tusk gene dormant.

 

[Mischief]

I would be surprised if evolution worked fast enough for this to have any effect before it's too late. A better hope might be for an improved version of the bird flu virus, or the Black Death making a surprise return.

Agreed. They only have a couple off generations left.

 

[Blobbenstein]

yes, but it's only a matter of making one part of the gene dormant, not a whole thousands of generations of small changes, and I think that could happen quite quickly.

 

[Blobbenstein]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/180301.stm

An increasing number of elephants have no tusks, according to a survey.
Research at the Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda, showed that 15% of female elephants and 9% of males in the park were born without tusks.

In 1930 the figure for both male and female elephants was only 1%.

 

[KLS52]

http://www.webpronews.com/rice-recall-mars-inc-recalls-uncle-bens-infused-rice-products-2014-02

Well this should be interesting. I currently have Time Warner, but I have had Comcast in the past. I've had issues with both of them.

Is this link supposed to be about Time Warner and Comcast because when i click it, it is the Uncle Ben's rice recall...I will do a search since I have Comcast. I haven't had any real issues to speak of... Other than the fact that they are expensive.

 

[kazyeeqen]

yes, but it's only a matter of making one part of the gene dormant, not a whole thousands of generations of small changes, and I think that could happen quite quickly.

Elephants are slow reproducers, like us. It really couldn't happen all that quickly. It would necessarily take decades.

 

[Snowcone]

Is this link supposed to be about Time Warner and Comcast because when i click it, it is the Uncle Ben's rice recall...I will do a search since I have Comcast. I haven't had any real issues to speak of... Other than the fact that they are expensive.

Comcast is buying Time Warner

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/02/13/276214088/reports-comcast-to-buy-time-warner

 

[Mischief]

Elephants are slow reproducers, like us. It really couldn't happen all that quickly. It would necessarily take decades.

Even slower. The gestation period for an African elephant is 640 days, for an Asian elephant, 645 days. They only give birth every 4-5 years, starting at age 14-15.

 

[kazyeeqen]

Yeah I know, but the even though the gestation period is longer, their generations probably end up being shorter than ours since we have birth control and wait to reproduce and whatnot.

 

[das_nut]

I would be surprised if evolution worked fast enough for this to have any effect before it's too late. A better hope might be for an improved version of the bird flu virus, or the Black Death making a surprise return.

If you're betting that the survivors in a world where the infrastructure has collapsed are not willing to slaughter the remaining elephants for a quick meal, I'd think you'd lose that bet.

Rich people can afford to care about wildlife. Poor, starving people cannot.

 

[das_nut]

Ex-NYPD cop and convicted rapist Michael Pena is calling his 75-year prison sentence for the rape of Lydia Cuomo “politically motivated” and an “injustice.”

- Filming Cops

Let's see: This man used a gun in the commission of a rape, holding it to the victim's head, threatening to kill them. It seems to me he should be off the streets for a very long time, even if he is a first time offender. He was one trigger pull away from killing someone.

 

[KLS52]

Awesome! But probably because it's not me.
http://gma.yahoo.com/shocking-surpr...-triplets-193701526--abc-news-topstories.html

 

[Blobbenstein]

Awesome! But probably because it's not me.
http://gma.yahoo.com/shocking-surpr...-triplets-193701526--abc-news-topstories.html

They should have called the forth girl Heidi.