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Divers find ancient monkey fossil
By Asiri on July 22nd, 2010 | No Comments

The size of the monkey’s femur bone (far
right) suggested it had “stout legs”

Scientists have examined
fossilised remains of a tiny, extinct monkey that were retrieved from an
underwater cave in the Dominican Republic.

The researchers believe the fossil to be around 3,000 years
old, but say the species itself could be very ancient.

This reveals clues about the origin of primates in the
region.

It also suggests that many ecologically valuable treasures
could be discovered by the unusual field of “underwater palaeontology”.

Dr Alfred Rosenberger from Brooklyn College in New York, US,
led the examination of the creature’s bones, the results of which were
published in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B.

He explained that the bones, which included a skull that was
almost complete, were found by a team of scuba divers who were exploring
an underwater cave in the area.

“It’s miraculous that they even saw it,” he told BBC News.

“When they discovered it, they were fearful the bones were
exposed, so they moved the material to a little nook to protect it.”

Having sought official permission to remove the fossil from
the cave, Dr Rosenberger returned to with the scuba divers to retrieve
it in October of last year.

The divers packed the skeleton into tupperware boxes in order
to bring it safely to the surface.

‘Stout little monkey’

Dr Rosenberger said the monkey - only the second specimen of
the species Antillothrix bernensis ever found - probably
measured about 30cm (12in) from head to toe.

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The divers packed the fragile little
skeleton into tupperware boxes

But the shape of the legs came as a
surprise.

“Its femur or thigh bone was very thick. So it had sort of
stout legs, which is something we didn’t expect.

“We don’t really have any living examples of New World
monkeys that have stout legs like that.”

It’s now possible to reconstruct what
this mysterious animal looked like and how it evolved”

End Quote
Dr Sam Turvey
Zoological Society of London

Dr Rosenberger thinks the creature went extinct
relatively recently.

He said that it may have behaved similarly to a koala bear -
clinging to the trunks of trees, rather than leaping from branch to
branch.

“That’s a very rough analogy, he said.

“But there’s something very interesting about the ecological
niche it inhabited.”

The fossil also adds to evidence that there were several
lineages of primates in the Caribbean, instead of one ancestor that
moved into the region millions of years ago from which all modern
species evolved.

Dr Rosenberger said it was likely that several species
travelled “over the water” to inhabit the island of Hispaniola.

“And even though these particular bones might be relatively
young, we’re pretty sure that the arrival of these animals occurred well
over 10 million years ago.

Scientists believe the creature went
extinct relatively recently, but may have been very ancient

“That’s an exciting part of the story - if you compare the
dental remains of our monkey to other fossils that we know of, we see
strong similarities with Patagonian fossils that are around 15 million
years old.”

Dr Sam Turvey, a researcher from the Zoological Society of
London in the UK, said the discovery emphasised how much we still had to
learn about the “original mammal fauna” of the Caribbean.

“It’s now possible to reconstruct what this mysterious animal
looked like and how it evolved,” he said.

“The Caribbean islands have experienced the world’s highest
level of mammalian extinction over the past 10,000 years.

“With this improved knowledge of a recently extinct species,
it might be possible to understand what caused it to disappear from
Hispaniola.”

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At least 50 dead, 150 injured in West Bengal train accident (Fourth Lead)
By Asiri on July 19th, 2010 | No Comments

Sainthia (West Bengal), July 19 (IANS) At least 50 people were killed and 150 injured after a speeding Sealdah-bound Uttar Banga Express rammed into three coaches of the stationary Bhagalpur-Ranchi Vananchal Express at Sainthia station in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, about 190 km from Kolkata, early Monday, railway authorities said.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee confirmed the 49 deaths, expressed regret, saying she was “sorry to see two incidents (railway accidents) in West Bengal in two months.”

Eastern Railway Chief Public Relations Officer Samir Goswami said the dead included 39 men, eight women and two children. The accident took place around 2.15 a.m., rudely jolting hundreds of sleeping passengers. Among the dead were the driver and assistant driver of the Uttar Banga Express and the guard of the Vananchal Express.

Chief Security Commissioner of Eastern Railway S. Sahoo told IANS: “We fear that more than 50 have died.”

The accident occurred 52 days after the Gyaneshwari Express tragedy in which 148 people died as the Maoist guerillas cut open the pandrol clips ((used to fix the rail to the sleeper) near Jhargram in West Midnapore district. After the Mumbai-bound Gyaneshwari Express derailed May 28, a freight train approaching from the opposite direction rammed into five derailed coaches, resulting in the high casualties.

Bodies from the accident spot have been sent to the district hospital in Suri, the headquarters of Birbhum district, Sainthia Government Railway Police (GRP) sources said.

“About 150 of the injured have been shifted to hospitals in Suri and Sainthia,” Additional Director General of Police (Railways) Dilip Mitra said.

Five medical teams and an accident relief team have reached the spot, authorities said. The site of the accident is 191 km from Howrah on the Bolpur-Rampurhat section of Eastern Railway’s Howrah division.

An Eastern Railway spokesman said the Vananchal Express was at platform 4 when the Uttar Banga Express, coming from New Coochbehar, hit it. The engine of the speeding train ploughed through three coaches of the stationary express from the rear. All three coaches were badly mangled by the severity of the collision with one of the coaches shooting up from the tracks and careening into the footbridge abovc.

Local people were the first to rush in for the rescue as cries of the injured passengers, many of whom had lost their limbs, rent the air.

The authorities, facing allegations of a delayed start to the rescue efforts, were using gas-cutters to cut open the coaches and bring out the dead and rescue the injured.

“We have managed to extricate the bodies from two of the three compartments so far,” Birbhum Police Superintendent Humayun Kabir told IANS.

“Many of the bodies have got pasted in the coaches. We are only managing to extricate body parts, rather than whole bodies,” said a recue worker. “We were sleeping. Suddenly we were awakened by a loud sound. The train was dark. For a few minutes we were dumbfounded. Then I gathered my wits and came out of the train,” said R. N. Ghosh, a passenger of Uttar Banga Express.

“The station was also dark. I saw people running in panic. Then I found that Uttarbanga has hit another train. Three of the rear bogies of this train (Vananchal) were devastated,” he said. Eastern Railway General Manager V.N. Tripathy said an enquiry has been ordered into how both the trains came on to the same line.

Train movement on the down line has been disrupted in the Bolpur-Rampurhat section. The down Malda-Howrah Intercity Express were among several trains cancelled and many trains were stranded on the down line.

A railway official said other than the thee coaches that were hit, the remainder of the Vananchal Express was brought to Burdwan en route to Ranchi. The Uttar Banga Express has been brought to Rampurhat after replacing the damaged engine.

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50 fall ill after gas leaks in Mumbai
By Asiri on July 14th, 2010 | No Comments

Mumbai, July 14 (IANS) At least 50 people, most of them students,
were rushed to a hospital after they fell ill here early Wednesday
following leakage of suspected chlorine gas in a scrap yard in Mumbai,
an official said.
The gas leak was noticed around 4 a.m. when people started complaining
of burning eyes, breathlessness and vomiting sensation, the fire brigade
official said.

The source of the leakage was traced to a scrap yard in the Mumbai
Port Trust premises, adjacent to the L.B.S. College in Sewri in
south-central Mumbai.

As preliminary measures, water was thrown on the gas cylinders stored
in a container in the scrap yard while experts were summoned to deal
with the situation, the official said.

Also, nearly 400 people staying in the vicinity were evacuated. The
condition of the victims admitted to the Sir J.J. Hospital is reported
to be stable.

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Fly your flag
By Asiri on July 12th, 2010 | No Comments

I slept so late today recovering from my jet lag I almost forgot to place my flag outside.

Flying to Australia and traversing the country, gives me an appreciation for liberty no matter what hemisphere you reside in. Aussies have made many contributions to freedom, such as I witnessed with this WWI war memorial in Emerald, QLD:

There is also a WWII memorial just to the right of the photo. Aussies have been side by side with the USA in every world conflict. They are owed thanks on this day as well.

As the founders of our country declared in this document:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

The Declaration justified the independence of the United States by listing colonial grievances against King George III, and by asserting certain natural rights, including a right of revolution.

Like with the colonists, with this blog, the readers, and the publications, I often assert my right of revolution against unreasonable acts of taxation, such as Kerry’s cap and trade bill.

Today, once again Ed Darrell and I are in agreement, and I particularly like the flag on the moon he chose. It is depressing that President Obama has proposed killing the next step in the manned space program, Aries.

So today, take a cue from myself and Ed, no matter whether you are a free market optimist or a tax happy sourpuss, fly your flag. Later today, I’m going to pursue some life, liberty, and happiness, you should too.

UPDATE: Speaking of Ed Darrell and Australians, perhaps some of our readers “down under” might like to educate Ed as to what the 5 stars mean in the logo for the AU Climate Skeptics Party.

I laughed out loud when I read this from Ed’s blog. Not only does he misappropriate the source of the logo, even though all he had to do was click the image on WUWT, he also seems to have no clue as to the reference to why the stars of the “southern cross” is a symbol of Australia. After learning about it with the help of some WUWT commenters, perhaps he’ll make a lesson plan of it for his students.

From Ed’s blog:

==================================

That may explain why Anthony Watts’ logo for his Australian tour shows a kangaroo whose rear end has just been kicked (you can tell by the stars).

In cartoons, stars show where a character has been punched or kicked, right?

No agreement to control greenhouse gases came out of the Copenhagen conference last fall. So-called climate skeptics patted each other on the back, claimed victory, and proceeded to send Christopher Monckton on his Bonnie Lies All Around the World Tour. In cool light of morning, however, the facts can’t be silenced: Warming continues, science shows the extremely high probability that humans cause it, official investigations show that climate scientists who had their e-mails stolen were victims of crime, not perpetrators, and climate skeptics failed to stop warming with their big-dollar, nice-banquet meetings with the Heartland Institute, or anywhere else.

If they are skeptics, they are pretty bad at it, falling like chumps for a story that fourth-grade science project made the case they have failed to make everywhere else, and for the story that one of their comrades was sent a bomb in the mail (it turned out to be a misdirected fuel filter).

No wonder Americans remain concerned about warming.

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Hammerhead Shark
By Asiri on July 10th, 2010 | No Comments

Hammerhead sharks include nine distinct species within Family Sphyrnidae; though these range in size from about three feet to as large as twenty, all are characterized by a flat, hammer-shaped head that is thought to have begotten their name, though the name ‘hammerhead’ was almost entirely due to the members of Family Sphyrnidae’s obsession with hammering.

‘Do you need me to hang that picture for you?’

To paraphrase Mark Twain¹, when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Hammerhead sharks extend this metaphor by showing that when your head is a hammer, you’re going to spend most of your free time thinking of what you can hammer next. Most sharks never (or rarely) sleep to avoid sinking to the bottom of the sea and dying, but hammerheads never sleep because their minds are constantly racing as they contemplate where and when they can hammer next. Even if they start to nod off and finally get some rest, they’ll suddenly wonder if a passing ship might have a loose rivet they could fix and, next thing you know, they’re out of bed and putting in their contacts. Even Ambien doesn’t do anything for them.

‘I couldn’t sleep, so I figured I’d just go practice hammering instead of just lying there driving myself crazy thinking about hammering. Say…you don’t need anything hammered, do you?’

The evolutionary origins of the hammerhead’s cephalic morphology has long been a subject of debate and inquiry, with some scientists proposing that the unique shape functions like a hydrofoil, giving the negatively buoyant hammerheads better swim control; others have suggested that it allows tight maneuvering in pursuit of prey. But pretty much everyone agrees that whatever its origins and proper purpose, a hammerhead would rather be using it to hammer stuff.

‘Want some help assembling that new shelving unit from Ikea?’

Recently, a joint study by the Florida Atlantic University and the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology found that the spacing of the eyes in the hammerhead shape allowed a wider field of vision while enhancing stereoscopicity, which makes it easier to locate something to hammer. Moreover, the team also found that the wider surface area offers enhanced electrosensory capability, which makes for better hunting and also provides a bigger striking surface when a nail is finally located.

‘I think I see…yes…looks like a nail…wait, it’s a piece of seaweed. Oh well, I’d better give it a few whacks just to be on the safe side.’

With proportionally small mouths, hammerheads consume a great deal, including fish, other sharks, stingrays, and octopuses – whatever is quickest so they can get back to hammering. Of the nine species of hammerheads, three (scalloped, great, and smooth hammerheads) are dangerous to humans, though all are considerably more interested in checking your reflexes for you (don’t say no). Some hammerheads are also known to eat their own young, usually as punishment for improperly hammering something.

Like other sharks, hammerheads are nocturnal solitary hunters, but during the daytime they often form massive circling schools, where they compare stories about how much stuff they’ve recently hammered.

‘I drywalled a whole basement the other day. Incredible.’

Hammerheads are also among the few species that can get suntans from prolonged exposure to sunlight, something that happens frequently when they get a much-coveted roofing job for the summer.

Their interest in hammering things is, of course, not the hammerheads’ fault. They’re just dealing with what they have. If their heads were tool belts, they might be more well-balanced. Even better if their heads were a whole garage. But unfortunately, all they have is a hammer, and so hammer stuff they will. So if and when you want to build your kids a tree house, give a hammerhead a call. They’ll be more than happy to help out, at least with the hammering.

GRADE: B-

¹The saying ‘If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail’ is frequently attributed to Mark Twain, though this doesn’t appear anywhere in his writings. It is likely a traditional saying, but it is often formally attributed to Abraham H. Maslow’s book The Psychology of Science (1966). That said, anything witty and at the same time cuttingly accurate probably was first uttered by Mark Twain.

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Crime Topography of San Francisco
By Asiri on July 3rd, 2010 | No Comments
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To my admittedly vague recollection, The Streets of San Francisco was a mid-Seventies tv series very appropriately named after its main character. I was too young to follow any of the cop show’s plot. Until a few moments ago, I didn’t even recall that its stars were a young Michael Douglas partnered with the eternally avuncular Karl Malden. But I do remember the car chases, mainly because they were set on the improbably-angled, gravity-defying streets of San Francisco.

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When I say remember, I exaggerate. Those car chases have melded into a single Generic San Francisco Car Chase, for which you need: several police cruisers, sirens wailing, in hot pursuit of a getaway vehicle (all cars preferably pre 1980); a route down precariously steep streets (rarely up, for obvious speed-related reasons); the cars giving chase in permanent near-collision with the cross-traffic on level avenues and bending their fenders in a constant bump and grind on roads not inclined to accommodate high speeds; and to top it all off, split-second views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz, both parked on the glistening blue waters of the Bay below the city.

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San Francisco’s iconic topography – with grades of up to 31% – is as much a tourist attraction as its cable cars or the sea lions at Fishermans’ Wharf. But the city’s hilliness is more than just ankle-biting eye-candy. Its elevation, mainly in the city’s centre, is responsible for a 20% variance in annual rainfall throughout its eastern and western precincts, with bay-fronted neighbourhoods in the east also significantly less cold, windy and foggy than those facing the ocean.

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These maps present San Franciscan peaks and troughs of a different, less savoury kind. Although the information they convey is as real as the city’s actual orography, these infographics express incidence of crime rather than elevation above sea level. By mimicking cartographic methods of height demarcation, the mapmaker has hit upon a visually very arresting method to frame raw crime statistics in a geographic context.

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These maps were made by Doug McCune, who plotted the 2009 data for eight different types of crime out on a map of San Francisco. Mr McCune produced two map versions for each type of crime, a satellite view and a bird’s eye view. The latter’s more slanted perspective works better for presenting ‘hilliness’.

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Mr McCune goes on to comment on some of the resulting crime topography of San Francisco, which I shall summarize here:
Many maps peak in the Tenderloin District (in the north-east).

Some crime is extremely concentrated (e.g. narcotics), others are more spread out (e.g. vehicle theft);

Prostitution arrests mainly occur around Shotwell Street, one of the frankly quite numerous toponyms in San Francisco that can be interpreted in a lewd manner.

A valley dividing the peaks in the Mission and the Tenderloin is the location of the 101 freeway.
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If only Messrs. Douglas and Malden had known about this back in the day…

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Many thanks to all who sent in these maps (found here on Mr McCune’s blog): Andrew M. Galleni, Geoffrey Engelstein, Brian Kavanaugh, John O’Brien, Jeff Crocombe, Kate Loux, Taed Wynnell, Kelley Ketchmark, Sarah Schoenfeldt, Elise K and Brian Ogilvie.
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Brazilian woman’s rapist sent to 14 days judicial custody
By Asiri on July 1st, 2010 | No Comments

New Delhi, July 1 (IANS) A city court Thursday sent a Delhi resident arrested on charges of raping his 27-year-old Brazilian tenant to 14 days judicial custody.

Baljeet Singh was produced before Metropolitan Magistrate Gagandeep Singh, who asked the jail authorities to present Singh in court July 14.

The victim, a student of mass communications in Noida, was staying in south Delhi’s C.R. Park area since June 19.

She lodged a police complaint June 27 saying her landlord raped her twice June 20-21.

Earlier this year, two men posing as tourist guides in the national capital robbed and raped two Dutch women in Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi.

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Three held with detonators in Tamil Nadu
By Asiri on June 21st, 2010 | No Comments

Chennai, June 21 (IANS) Three people suspected to be supporters of the banned Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were Sunday arrested with thousands of detonators in Tamil Nadu’s Triuchirapalli district, 320 km from here.
According to police, 4,900 ordinary detonators and 430 electric detonators were seized from the three men - Siva, Selvam and Tamizh.

The trio had stayed in Chennai, Tiruchirappalli and Erode without registering themselves as from the island nation, the police said.

The arrests comes four days after a member of LTTE was nabbed by the state police.

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Oil could flow for four more years, admits BP CEO Tony Hayward
By Asiri on June 19th, 2010 | No Comments

BP CEO Tony Hayward told a House hearing on “The Role Of BP In The Deepwater Horizon Explosion And Oil Spill”, on Thursday that oil from the leak could flow for up to four more years.

“The oil reservoir that feeds the well and leak still holds about 2 billion gallons of oil, according to the first public estimate Hayward has given of the size of the undersea oil field,” reports CBS news.

“That means the reservoir is believed to still hold 94 percent to 97 percent of its oil. At the current flow rate, it would take from two years to nearly four years for all the oil to be drained from it.”

http://wjz.com/national/gulf.oil.spill.2.1756686.html

According to the US government, 60,000 barrels a day are already flowing into the Gulf of Mexico from the leak caused by an explosion on the “Deep Horizon” oil rig on April 20th, leased by BP. But scientists such as Steven Wereley from Purdue University estimate as much as 84,000 barrels could be flowing out.

The oil has already reached the Gulf Stream and the powerful ocean currents that can transport it as far as Canada, the Artic, Europe and eventually around the whole world, causing a catastrophe of unprecedented proportions as fish and sea animals die, and the process of evaporation of sea water to form rain is affected.

In addition, tsunamis of 20 to 80 feet could inundate the Gulf of Mexico coast when enough oil has flowed out of the reservoir to normalize the pressure. At that point, it is believed, sea water will be sucked in to the cavity by the ocean pressure. The water will evaporate to steam at the temperatures of 400 degrees centigrade, which are found in the deep sea rock. The steam will expand in volume and could generate enough pressure to blow the Gulf of Mexico sea bed apart, tiggering gigantic tsumani waves that could reach up to 200 miles inland.

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Court dismisses petition against same gotra marriage
By Asiri on June 18th, 2010 | No Comments

New Delhi, June 18 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Friday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking amendment in the law to ban same ‘gotra’ (sub-caste) marriages, calling the petition “a waste of time”.
“You don’t know what is gotra? Which Hindu text prescribes banning of sagotra (same clan) marriage? Why are you wasting the time of the court?” asked the bench.

A vacation bench of Justice S.N. Dhingra and Justice A.K. Pathak asked petitioner Naresh Kadyan to pay a fine for wasting the time of the court and ordered him to withdraw the PIL.

“If you are not able to substantiate your words, then you should not have come before the court,” the bench said.

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