[Dhaka Tribune] When Antonia Gradillas and his friends set off for a hike in New Mexico to celebrate a friend's upcoming wedding they were probably expecting a certain amount of craziness -- but certainly not the discovery of a three-million-year-old elephant skull.
The group chanced across the archaeological wonder in Elephant Butte Lake State Park 150 miles from the city of Albuquerque after seeing a tusk sticking out from the ground.
"As we were walking we saw a bone sticking out about one or two inches from the ground," Gradillas, 33, told ABC news. He and his friends started digging and soon uncovered uncovered another tusk, then a row of teeth and a massive cranium
Gradillas suspected that the skull might belong to a woolly mammoth and called a friend who worked in a museum for more advice.
The pair then got in touch with Gary Morgan, a paleontologist with the nearby New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, who rushed to the scene the next day after seeing pictures of the find.
Morgan announced that the skull belonged to a stegomastadon; a prehistoric ancestor of the modern elephant that predated the woolly mammoth and would have lived and roamed in the area some three million years ago. Stegomastadon look very similar to today's elephants but have a more squat and weighty build. The creature stood about nine feet tall and weighed more than six tons, with a pair of tusks that grew as long as 3.5-metres.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/17/2014 00:00 ||
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So, of course, they started drinking out of it...
#3
I've been to parties like that, well, at least I think I've been to parties like that. We were always hiking party fools back in the day, I think, hard to say. Things were different then, it was a long time ago. New Mexico you say? Ah that explains it, they were playing Button, Buttons we need more buttons and heading for the sweat lodge when an elephant skull appeared, suddenly. Wait a minute, New Mexico? is this an old post? Is it near Philmont? These may have been Senior Flying Scouts. Hard to say, I'd have to see the skull.
#5
I was camping in New Mexico one time and found the thorax and part of the wings of a giant dragonfly from the late Cambrian period, impressed in some sandstone. New Mexico has lots of fossils, and no money to do anything about it.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/17/2014 18:39 Comments ||
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New Mexico has lots of fossils, and no money to do anything about it.
Lucky. Most states send theirs to the US Senate
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/17/2014 18:58 Comments ||
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Frank wins! :-D
Posted by: Barbara ||
06/17/2014 19:06 Comments ||
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Energy costs and corn costs going up is what is adding to this. Feed is more expensive, lighting/cooling/transport is more expensive and the vet supplies (thanks to Obamacare duel use tax) is more expensive.
All that adds up to pricing meat and dairy out of more people's diets.
Of course the environmentalists and PETA will be pleased.
#9
These figures are not included when calculating inflation. Can't upset the Rubes, dontchaknow.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/17/2014 16:23 Comments ||
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No need to calculate food costs into inflation figures. The increase in food costs only impact those PAYING for food. The 'payers' generally vote republican anyway, so it's ok to kick them in the arse with higher prices.
#11
It affects (hell effects?) all of us, Besoeker, your SNAP card don't go as far. Allowances will have to be made totals upped and exceptions noted. The price of soft drinks is especially important. Warning link is to Topix. I've seen this with my own augens, at first I assumed massive Church parties. No. Incorrect.
[DAWN] British legislation banning forced marriage came into effect on Monday, with those found guilty of the largely hidden practice facing up to seven years in prison. Maybe they should ban all first cousin marriages, too. And ban marriages for anyone under 14...
The law applies not only within Britannia but also makes it a criminal offence to force a Brit into a marriage abroad, as many youngsters are flown out to weddings in their ancestral homelands, particularly in Pakistain, India and Bangladesh.
Nearly two-thirds of the cases dealt with by the government's Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) relate to Britannia's South Asian communities.
Campaigners welcomed the new laws as a "huge step forward", while the government hopes they will protect potential victims.
A practice wrecking the lives of unknown thousands of British-born youths, forced marriage has been increasingly exposed in the last decade.
"Forced marriage is a tragedy for each and every victim, and its very nature means that many cases go unreported," said Home Secretary Theresa May.
"I am proud to say that the UK is already a world leader in the fight to stamp out this harmful practice with the government's FMU working hard to tackle this terrible practice in the UK and overseas.
"Today's criminalisation is a further move by this government to ensure victims are protected by the law and that they have the confidence, safety and the freedom to choose. "Last year, the FMU dealt with some 1,300 cases, 18 per cent of them men.
Forty per cent of victims were aged 17 or under; three quarters were aged under 22.
Officials fear the number of victims coming forward is just the tip of the iceberg.
Meanwhile charities say few leaders with influence in their communities are prepared to take a stand, for fear of losing their support base.
The cases related to 74 different countries, although 43 per cent were linked to Pakistain, 11 per cent to India and 10 per cent to Bangladesh.
Other countries with multiple cases included Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, Nigeria, Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... , Yemen, Iran and Tunisia.
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children said children as young as 12 had contacted them about forced marriage, with the numbers calling up two-thirds in the last year.
The charity's Ash Chand called the new law "a huge step forward which we hope will deter those plotting against their own children.
"Many young people who call our ChildLine service about this issue are frightened, concerned and feel control of their lives is being wrenched from them. "
Posted by: Fred ||
06/17/2014 00:00 ||
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If convicted 7 years in prison will cost the British taxpayers a lot of money. Since many who practice forced marriages are first generation immigrants, deportation (without right of reinstatement) would be cheaper and more effective disincentive.
[Iran Press TV] A Ukrainian delegation is set to travel to Hungarian capital Budapest in attempt to purchase gas from European firms.
Who will get it from .. wait for it .. Russia...
Andriy Kobolev, chief executive of Ukrainian state gas company Naftogaz, said the delegation will travel to Budapest on Tuesday after Russia cut off gas supplies to Kiev.
"European companies are ready to provide gas to Ukraine. They have offered gas at a good price of $320" per 1,000 cubic meters," he added.
Kobolev also said that Naftogaz is currently a client of German group RWE and French firm Gaz de La Belle France.
"We also have offers coming from other similarly large companies," he said.
Alexey Miller, chief executive of Russia's state-run energy giant Gazprom, has said that it would be illegal for European firms to sell gas imports from Russia to Ukraine.
Totally illegal, you betcha...
Russia turned off the gas to Ukraine on Monday as a deadline for Kiev to settle its debts passed without a payment.
Kiev has refused to pay for natural gas upfront as a protest to Russia's decision in April to almost double former gas prices. Gazprom raised the price of gas for Ukrainian consumers to USD 485 per 1,000 cubic meters from USD 268 for the first quarter of 2014.
Ukraine says Kremlin increased the price after former Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych, was ousted in February. Kiev calls the move politically motivated, but Russian authorities reject the claim
Posted by: Fred ||
06/17/2014 00:00 ||
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If I'm doing my math right, last month I paid for my natural gas at a rate of $372/1000 cubic meters, that was the retail price & included all the taxes & other charges added on to the basic cost of natural gas.
[DAWN] LAHORE: The Shahdara police claim to have tossed in the slammer Book 'im, Mahmoud! three constables who were involved in looting valuables from the passengers coming to their home from abroad at the Lahore Airport on Sunday.
Police uniforms, booty and illegal weapons have been recovered.
According to a blurb a police team was constituted to arrest the suspects. The team on the basis of information received from the victims arrested Muhammad Adeel, Kaleem Irshad and Ali Akbar who during investigation disclosed that they were police constables and committed robberies after duty hours.
They also confessed to depriving more than 17 citizens of cash and other valuables.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/17/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] LAHORE: As electricity shortfall surges to 3,400MW on Sunday, the distribution companies (DISCOs) have resorted to implement a six-to-ten-hour loadshedding schedule across the country.
According to a report of the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC), the total power generation and demand on Sunday (at 12:30pm) was 14,000MW and 17,400MW, respectively, that forced the DISCOs to carry out 6 to 10 hours loadshedding. "The generation includes 5,240MW, 2,070MW and 6,690MW received by the national grid through hydel, thermal and IPPs (Independent Power Producers), respectively," the report added.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pond, the enormous newt was trying to decide if Gloria was edible... people in major cities of the country, mainly Lahore, continued facing massive loadshedding, besides problems like tripping and low voltage with fluctuation.
To save their appliances from the impact of low voltage and power fluctuations, many in Lahore have no other option but to buy stabilizers.
"Since our air-conditioner was not working under these conditions, we recently purchased a power stabiliser," says Imran, a resident of Johar Town.
According to the Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) Chief Executive Officer Rao Zameerud Din, the loadshedding in the city has been reduced to six hours due to effective monitoring of the grid stations' operations.
"We have devised an effective monitoring mechanism under which everything, right from the quota of megawatts received from the national grid through NTDC to their distribution through grid stations is being watched. This has caused reduction in loadshedding," he claimed while talking to Dawn.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/17/2014 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
