Free Republic

Nearly 30,000 pigs have died from African swine fever (ASF) in Indonesia's North Sumatra province as of Dec. 15, causing millions of dollars of economic losses as authorities try to quarantine the areas affected, officials said on Wednesday. The Agriculture Ministry has declared an outbreak of the highly contagious virus in the country and said it is contained only in some parts of North Sumatra, minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo told reporters. "Very serious handling is being carried out, including isolating those areas," Limpo said. Fadjar Sumping Tjatur Rassa, director of animal health at the Agriculture Ministry, said that ASF has...

Permanent land grabs On November 19 it became official. Both major political parties endorse a forever expanding federal estate. Keep in mind the feds own 29 percent of all the land in the U.S. and 90 percent of what they own is in the Western States. In addition, the four federal land management agencies have a total of $19.3 billion in deferred maintenance. In other words, they can’t maintain what they already own. So what occurred on November 19? The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources passed a bill to permanently and fully fund the Land and Water...

It's time for the Department of Agriculture to adopt strict rule as France has done on its products such as champagne. Today's environment of calling any white juice "milk" or plant based products "meat" has gone too far. The line is getting blurred further as cells of cows and fish are being replicated in tanks and being sold as the "real" thing. We need to protect our farmers.

Earlier this year, US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the British Geological Survey (BGS) were forced to update the World Magnetic Model a year ahead of schedule due to the speed with which the magnetic north pole is shifting out of the Canadian Arctic and toward Russia’s Siberia. The BGS and the US National Centers for Environmental Information has released a new update to the World Magnetic Model this week, confirming that the magnetic north pole, whose coordinates are crucial for the navigation systems used by governments, militaries and a slew of civilian applications, is continuing its push toward...

Daily observations of the number of sunspots since 1 January 1900 according to Solar Influences Data Analysis Center (SIDC). The thin blue line indicates the daily sunspot number, while the dark blue line indicates the running annual average. The recent low sunspot activity is clearly reflected in the recent low values for the total solar irradiance. Data source: WDC-SILSO, Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels. Last day shown: 31 October 2019. Last diagram update: 1 November 2019. [Courtesy climate4you.com] *Deep solar minimum on the verge of an historic milestone* Overview The sun is currently in the midst of a deep solar...

Senator Elizabeth Warren envisions a future where our cars don’t run on gas but on the algae growing in our seas. That’s according to her “Blue New Deal” proposal out Tuesday that’s essentially a Green New Deal for the oceans. And what goes in our cars is only one quick example of the ways she would transform our relationship with the sea if she wins the presidency. This idea of a Blue New Deal has been floated earlier this year. But Warren, whose array of comprehensive climate plans is really quite impressive, is the only presidential candidate so far to...

One of my favorite family traditions on Thanksgiving is the morning Crap Game. No....wait....that’s Halloween. On Thanksgiving we break the bones of the old bird. Grandma can’t be with us this year as she’s in India hunting tigers or something, so we’ll probably just break Uncle Steve’s little finger instead. Just kidding. We’ll break his index finger. No. We will pull apart the turkey’s wishbone. I am told that this tradition originated with the Romans. They would sit around trying to guess what was under each other’s togas. Contrary to current thought, there were only two choices......a sword or a...

NEW ORLEANS -- Self-reported monthly or more frequent marijuana use had a significant association with tinnitus, according to a retrospective analysis of a national database. Marijuana users were almost 20 times more likely to report having tinnitus within the past month as compared with nonusers. An extensive multivariable analysis confirmed marijuana use at least once a month as an independent predictor of tinnitus, as reported here at the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation meeting. "The findings do not suggest marijuana alleviates tinnitus," said Z. Jason Qian, MD, of Stanford University in California. "In fact, the findings suggest...

While obesity is primarily associated with weight gain, a new study suggests it triggers inflammation in the nervous system that could damage important regions of the brain. Developments in MRI, like diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), a technique that tracks the diffusion of water along the brain's signal-carrying white matter tracts, have enabled researchers to study this damage directly. "Brain changes were found in obese adolescents related to regions responsible for control of appetite, emotions and cognitive functions," said study co-author Pamela Bertolazzi from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil. The World Health Organisation (WTO) data indicates the number of...

Denmark announced Monday a plan to speed up its battle against greenhouse gases, targeting nitrogen emissions due to farming, in a decision criticised by the agricultural industry. New rules targeting nitrogen aim “to guarantee a reduction of 3,500 tonnes in 2020,” a year earlier than promised by the previous government, the environment and food ministry said in a statement. The measure is part of wider government plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70 percent by 2030. Denmark estimates that between 48,000 and 54,000 tonnes of nitrogen are emitted as a result of agriculture each year. The national farmers’ federation...

An international team of scientists at NASA have found sugar molecules on two different meteorites, the agency announced on Nov. 19. The new discovery adds to the growing list of biologically important compounds that have been found in meteorites and supports the theory that chemical reactions in asteroids can play an important role in creating and supporting life, the space agency said in a statement. Researchers said they discovered “ribose and other bio-essential sugars” in the extraterrestrial rock, adding that ribose is a “crucial component of RNA (ribonucleic acid)”—essential for the regulation and expression of genes. “In much of modern...

Kentwood, LA Trainman Killed by Falling Cow, Mar 1902 Submitted by Greg Eichelberger KILLED BY FALLING COW Animal Thrown from Track by Chicago Limited Mortally Wounds Oliver McVeigh Special to The New York Times NEW ORLEANS, La., March 16 — Of all strange deaths recorded in this part of the country for many a day, the fate met by Oliver McVeigh, a builder, in Kentwood, La., yesterday morning, is strangest. McVeigh was at work on the new depot there. The Chicago Limited, southbound and running at a terrific speed, struck a cow just opposite the station. The cow was instantly...

Turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie, all the scents of Thanksgiving food will have your family rushing to the table, even your pets. Per owners may be feel tempted to treat their pets to some of the leftover but Dr. Michael Mongue with Pace Veterinary Clinic said you really will do more harm than good if you feed them human food. "Their physiology is different, a dog is not a small human or a regular size human and the way they digest food and their whole system is different than humans," said Dr. Mongue. Many of the foods we enjoy can...

We have a lot of politics to stress us out. A lot of corrupt government. A lot of bad people. Now and then it is nice to just retreat and hope they leave us alone for a few more years. Shot this video this past week at our ranch in SE Oklahoma. The music with the video is "He Looked Beyond My Fault, And Saw My Need". Probably we all need to do a little of that. A young lady named Stephanie Banta sang on the sound track and played the fiddle. I played the rest of the instruments. Music...

Toyota has showcased its second-generation Mirai, a concept car coming in 2021. Toyota says the Mirai could run on the hydrogen from one cow's poop for a year. The company is currently building its first manure-powered fueling station in California. The Mirai's success depends on reliable fuel cell infrastructure. ================================================================================== Toyota has debuted a complete redesign of its Mirai concept vehicle, which would run on hydrogen fuel cells. Speaking at the 2019 Tokyo Motor Show, the company's chief technology officer, Shigeki Terashi, wanted to make clear how revolutionary the car's technology could be, so he chose an unorthodox example of...

A two-headed snake broke into a farmer's yard in Shenzhou, N China's Hebei, and escaped later. Have you ever seen any "fantastic beasts" in your life? pic.twitter.com/YKzU0IUdji— People's Daily, China (@PDChina) October 23, 2019 Oct. 24 (UPI) -- A Chinese farmer shared video of a rare find -- a two-headed snake that he captured on his property before it later escaped. The farmer in Shenzhou, Hebei Province, said he found a snake with two heads slithering around his yard and captured it to show to his family and neighbors. Video captured by the farmer shows the snake contained in a...

There's a better way to get rid of them. This man took matters into his own hands and put fire to what appears to be an ant nest in his backyard. Not surprisingly, this didn't go well. He blew up more than just ants in this DIY-gone-wrong (though luckily no humans—or dogs—were injured). To correctly get rid of those pesky ants, we've got a Popular Mechanics guide. When those irritating little ants start showing up in the house, raiding the kitchen for crumbs and making cozy homes in your walls, the natural reaction is to set an ant trap or...

A new cotton plant that was genetically engineered to produce an edible seed has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Photo courtesy of Cotton Incorporated EVANSVILLE, Ind., Oct. 23 (UPI) -- The cotton industry hopes to launch a new market for a genetically modified cotton plant whose seeds are edible for humans. The push comes after the Food and Drug Administration OK'd the modified plant for human consumption in late September. Cotton groups called it a historic decision -- one that could change the industry forever and potentially help feed millions of people. "The humanitarian aspect of...

Greedy killer monkeys were found to be catching and gobbling up large rats in Malaysia. Shocked scientists uncovered the rat-catching macaques on palm oil plantations – and say the hungry predators could be used as pest control. The southern pig-tailed macaques were typically thought to chow down on fruit. They would also hunt for meaty prey sometimes, but generally only small lizards and birds. Now scientists have confirmed that these monkeys are also regularly snatching and devouring large rats.

Oct. 22 (UPI) -- Employees at a Kentucky zoo rounded up a quartet of emus that escaped from an Amish farm and went wandering near a busy highway. Mick McGill, animal management director at the Kentucky Down Under Adventure Zoo, said phone calls started coming in about 3 p.m. from drivers who spotted the emus wandering loose near the L&N Turnpike in Horse Cave. McGill said he and his head zookeeper, Harley White, did a quick check to make sure the emus didn't belong to the zoo, and soon determined the large birds had escaped from a nearby Amish farm....