Thursday Afternoon Ramble

Well, it seems that AccuHunch finally got lucky: after 8 hours of globull warmering, we've managed to drop 7 degrees. So, as I begin this post at 3:23, the setting sun is shining through the window, and the skies are mostly clear. We might just get cold tonight, after all. Wonders will never cease!

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In a move that ranks near the top of the list of stunning stupidity for 2009 - although that list grows rapidly larger, this year - another "biological diversity" group steps up:

An environmental group is suing the Environmental Protection Agency, claiming it does not protect polar bears and their Arctic habitat from pesticide contamination.

~ snip ~

She says pesticides approved by EPA are transported by wind and water to the Arctic and reach some of their greatest concentrations in polar bears, which share the top spot in the food chain with humans.

Let me get this straight: polar bears, whose habitat is well north of the Arctic Circle and consists of snow and sea ice, are threatened from EPA-approved pesticides? Wind-blown from . . . where, exactly?

The prevailing winds are out of the west-southwest, which means they'd have to be coming from northwest Alaska and the Pacific Ocean, or perhaps the Chukchi or Beaufort Seas ... and we all know how much active agriculture takes place on the permafrost and open ocean. Or perhaps the jet stream now blows directly from the farm belt to the Arctic Ocean. And maybe the sun comes up in the west.

The polar bears in Alaska are not endangered, but intelligence is.

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Monster-Hunter Dept: "Vampires" have returned to the Aleutian Islands!

UNALASKA, AK (kucb) - Another vampire visited Unalaska last week. Around 10 pm last Wednesday officers arrested a man who claimed to be a vampire and bit his roommate twice on the arm. The two men were arguing when [one] allegedly jumped off his bunk and chomped down on his roommate's appendage. The roommate pushed the alleged vampire away and the two men remained in the same room until public safety officers arrived on the scene. Philemonof was arrested on one count of Assault IV - DV. He was intoxicated at the time of the event and now denies being one of the blood-thirsty undead.

The last vampire appearance in Unalaska was about a year and a half ago when a late night bicyclist claimed the identity.

Another biting incident occurred last week as well . . .

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I'm going to put my feet up & read for awhile; I have the place to myself for a bit, as the daughters went to a movie.

Watch your topknot; keep your nose t' the wind, and your powder dry.*



* Bonus points for the correct reference.