Aquatic animals that use sound to communicate with each other can often imitate other things they hear or sense in the water. Take, for instance, this killer whale who attempts to communicate with a motor boat engine (via CBS News ): And here’s another fascinating animal video… With numbers of sand tiger shark mommies dwindling, scientists have developed an artificial uterus in the lab, which has given birth to live baby sharks. You can see the first one emerge after one minute with the final one at 2:20; the rest of the video gives you a look at the artificial uterus: The scientists from Port Stephens Fisheries Institute who developed this system say it’s only a concept for now. According to Wired , the shark embryos were taken from their euthanized mother that was captured by divers and spent the rest of their term — 18 days — in the artificial shark uterus. The next step for scientists is to see if they can rear embryos from a younger age in the artificial system. But, the researchers also said that artificial systems are more expensive and should not be relied on over traditional conservation plans that would allow more sharks to give natural birth.
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Under the sea: Amazing videos capture whales ‘communicating’ and the birth of sharks
Fascinating – not surprising, and perhaps a bit of off-the-cuff boilerplate praise for some rising stars in the GOP, but fascinating nonetheless, from the good folks at Bearing Drift : Former Massachussets governor and presidential aspirant Mitt Romney was in Virginia Beach yesterday attending a fundraiser at the home of State Sen. Jeff McWaters. Keep reading this post . . .
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Romney-McDonnell? Romney-Christie? Romney-Rubio?
An interesting historical tidbit is that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, while horrific toward his fellow man, had a deep love for dogs. But, what most people likely don’t know is that the evil dictator worked fervently with experts in an attempt to teach canines how to read and speak. In a story that reads as though it came straight from an untrustworthy tabloid, The Telegraph covers newfound research that substantiates this larger-than-life claim. The Telegraph reports : The Germans viewed canines as being almost as intelligent as humans and attempted to build an army of fearsome ‘speaking’ dogs, extraordinary new research shows. Hitler hoped the clever creatures would learn to communicate with their SS masters – and he even had a special dog school set up to teach them to talk. The incredible findings show Nazi officials recruited so-called educated dogs from all over Germany and trained them to speak and tap out signals using their paws. One mutt was said to have uttered the words ‘Mein Fuhrer’ when asked who Adolf Hitler was. Another ‘spoke’ by tapping letters of the alphabet with his paws and was said to have speculated about religion and learnt poetry. Mail Online reminds us that, “Hitler himself had two German Shepherds called Blondi and Bella. He killed Blondi moments before committing suicide in his bunker in 1945.” Seem unbelievable? After years of information collecting and research, academic Dr. Jan Bondeson published these astounding findings in his book “Amazing Dogs: A Cabinet of Canine Curiosities.” Bondeson explains the fascinating fact that the Nazis, despite their disregard for human life, had a distinct element in their “party platform” that required them to bond with nature. He says that, “…they believed a good Nazi should be an animal friend.” The never-ending treasure trove of fascinatingly-disturbing stories and findings surrounding Hitler and his fellow Nazi maniacs never ceases to amaze.
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New Book Claims the Nazis Trained Dogs to Read and Speak During WWII
Ever wonder how cell phones evolved from this… …to this… …to this? Business Insider has a fascinating look at 70 years of cell phone technology. Click here to see the fascinating evolution of the cell phone.
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The evolution of the cell phone
Fascinating: The DCCC is still issuing press releases that cite their “When Are The Jobs” web site, even though the day-counting clock on the web site broke some time ago. March 14: According to the running clock at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s website, http://www.whenarethejobs.com/ , Republicans have done nothing to create jobs for
It's rather fascinating that so many folks are up in arms about Rep. Peter King's hearing on radicalization of American-born Muslims, when the Senate committee with the roughly equivalent jurisdiction held a hearing on Fort Hood that dealt quite a bit with the same topic. Those hearings and the report they generated were largely ignored. Joe Lieberman, of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, unveils the committee's conclusions here: Among the Senate committee report's conclusions : Despite the remarkable work of America's military, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies in preventing individual terrorist attacks, the ideology that inspired 9/11 and other attacks and plots around the world continues to motivate individuals to commit terrorism. The threat is exemplified by Omar Hammami, an American from a typical upbringing in Alabama who now fights for the violent lslamist extremist group al-Shabaab in Somalia and recruits Westerners to its cause in English over the internet. As Hammami said, “they can' t blame it on poverty or any of that stuff . . . They will have to realize that it's an ideology and it's a way of life that makes people change.” . . . The Committee's 2008 staff report concluded that the threat of homegrown terrorism inspired by violent Islamist extremist ideology would increase due to the focused online efforts of that ideology's adherents and how individuals were using the internet to access this propaganda. Indeed, the incidence of homegrown terrorism has increased significantly in the past two years as compared to the years since 9/ 11. From May 2009 to November 2010, there were 22 different homegrown plots, contrasted with 21 such plots from September 2001 to May 2009 . . . Proceeding in the radicalization process from the level of Self-Identification to the levels of Indoctrination and Violence has been made easier by “virtual spiritual sanctioners.'' These individuals provide a false sense of religious justification for an act of terrorism over the internet. Though many individuals around the globe have become purveyors of violent Islamist extremism, a foremost example of a “virtual spiritual sanctioner” is Anwar al-Aulaqi, a U.S.citizen now operating from Yemen. In 2008 , then-Department of Homeland Security Undersecretary for Intelligence and Analysis Charlie Allen stated publicly, “Another example of al-Qaeda reach into the Homeland is U.S. citizen, al Qaeda supporter, and former spiritual leader to three of the September 11th hijackers Anwar al-Aulaqi — who targets U.S. Muslims with radical online lectures encouraging terrorist attacks from his new home in Yemen.” It seems the options for government investigations in this topic are either to be ignored or to be demonized. Jim Geraghty
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The Largely Ignored Prequel to Peter King’s Radicalization Hearing
It's competitive, but not a toss-up . Rasmussen finds Republican John Raese trailing Democrat Joe Manchin in West Virginia's Senate race,
I think in a normal year, the ethical troubles of Charlie Rangel — coupled with the reports of the Sestak and Romanoff job offers and the Cornhusker Kickback, the Louisiana Purchase, and other lingering scandals — could be a potent political message, on par with Democrats' 2006 “culture of corruption.” But this isn't a normal year, and I figure that while voters will not approve of Rangel and the rest, the impact on most races outside the political figures caught directly in scandals will be minimal. The economy and jobs loom too largely in the public's mind; they're worried about how they're going to pay the rent or mortgage and whether their job will be around next year. They may not like Charlie Rangel ignoring the rules everyone else has to follow, but his misdeeds will seem far away compared to those pressing worries, other than the fact that it's further evidence that members of Congress are more interested in helping themselves than helping a troubled country. What's rather fascinating about 2006 in retrospect was how the Democrats persuaded the country that a dramatic change was necessary, even as U.S. economy performed pretty well : The U.S. economy turned in a surprisingly strong performance last year, new data show, growing 3.4 percent despite higher interest rates, high oil prices and the sharpest housing downturn in 15 years. The report from the Commerce Department, showing that economic growth picked up in 2006 from the 3.2 percent growth of 2005, dispelled any lingering doubts about the momentum of the economy going into this year. Many economists predict growth will slow this year, but gone are the recession worries of last summer. “Nothing, other than an external shock, will derail the economy this year,” said Eugenio J. Alem?n, senior economist at Wells Fargo. “The economy's in good shape.” Unemployment and inflation fell last year while wages and salaries rose at their quickest pace in five years, according to a series of recent government reports.
