US Army Retired

US Army Retired

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Notre Dame bees survive, Dandelion windfall, Time to deregulate pie, Mueller report, Jeopardy, Indoor skydiving, and so much more for April 23. 2018


Bees living on Notre-Dame cathedral roof survive blaze
Ain’t Nature awesome?
Some 200,000 bees living in hives on the roof were initially thought to have perished in the blaze.
However Nicolas Géant, the cathedral's beekeeper, has confirmed that the bees are alive and buzzing.
European bees - unlike other species - stay by their hive after sensing danger, gorging on honey and working to protect their queen.
High temperatures would have posed the biggest risk, but Mr Géant explained that any smoke would have simply intoxicated them.
"Instead of killing them, the carbon dioxide makes them drunk, puts them to sleep," he told AP.

Ben Carson and HUD Are Reportedly About To Shut the Door on Illegals Gaming the System
Didn’t we read about this several weeks ago? What’s taking so long?
According to Section 214 of the Housing and Community Development Act, first passed into law in 1980, most non-citizens were prohibited from applying for and obtaining federal financial housing assistance.
But there are always loopholes!
By virtue of “mixed family” households that include both citizens or eligible non-citizens as well as ineligible illegal aliens, the prohibition has been skirted by some. Consequently, there are illegal aliens that inappropriately receive federal housing subsidies.
Why can’t Congress pass laws with meaning? And why do bureaucrats always have to mess things up with their interpretation of the laws?

The Dandelion Windfall
I have to admit. Until reading this piece, I’d forgotten all about the slightly yellow milk sold in cafes in Bavaria and Austria in the spring. Löwenzahnmilch they called it. I never asked where it came from and, as the locals seemed to think nothing of it, I never asked.
Now, after reading this, I understand.
I grew up in the “Land of Happy Cows” (LOHCs), i.e. the western part of southern Bavaria. In spring, the meadows there are a solid yellow with flowering dandelion plants. They are so abundant that the butter and cheese produced from the cows grazing in those fields develop a decidedly yellow color, caused by the chemical known as “beta-carotene.” It’s related to the orange color-producing substance in carrots, hence its name.
Believe me, after a long winter of having to live on hay from last year’s harvests, when the season turns to spring and the dandelions are blooming, the cows are really happy then. They take to the solidly dandelion-yellow meadows in force and produce plenty of milk that is the source of the then (once again) yellow butter.
For decades, the European Union countries, collectively produced a “butter mountain,” meaning a large excess that could not be consumed there. But this could change soon, when butter turns to rubber (don’t take it literally).
Dandelion rubber?
The author isn’t kidding.

“If Donald Trump isn’t guilty of obstruction of justice, who ever could be?”
A lot of people are asking this and it certainly isn’t the Dims. So, are the Republicans going to get some spine and go after who is really behind all of it?
That’s in the Democrat-controlled House, of course. The Senate is controlled by Republicans, who’ve indicated they plan to look into how the Obama administration handled the Russia probe when it was in their hands, both in terms of preventing election interference from happening and investigating it — including getting surveillance warrants against a Trump campaign official using a dossier that had been assembled as opposition research as evidence.
And here’s what the RNC posted:
“Now that the entire Mueller report has been released, it’s clear how much President Obama and his administration completely dropped the ball on Russia’s interference in the 2016 campaign,” Steve Guest, the GOP’s rapid response director, wrote in a blog post Thursday.
All sorts of rhetoric. Now to see if there’ll be any action.

Pothole saves man’s life
There is so much crazy stuff in this world.
And it’s nice to read stuff like this after all the bad and ridiculous news facing us.
The man’s heart reached 200 beats per minute during the seven-mile 20-minute ride in an ambulance, the report said.
The ambulance hit a pothole and the man’s heartbeat converted to a normal rhythm, medics later told the hospital. The phenomenon is rare, but does happen, said one doctor.
"One way to treat that is with an electrical shock. Classically, you'll see it on television. The paddles, 'Clear' and a big jolt. Turns out, you can do that with a pothole," said Nebraska Medicine’s Dr. Andrew Goldsweig.

Comedian Zelenskiy wins Ukrainian presidential race by landslide
Are people turning away from “professional” politicians? The Ukraine isn’t the only country to see this trend.
Did President Trump set the tone?
Will we see more of it in 2020?
KIEV (Reuters) – Ukraine entered uncharted political waters on Sunday after an exit poll showed a comedian with no political experience and few detailed policies had easily won enough votes to become the next president of a country at war.
The apparent landslide victory of Volodymyr Zelenskiy, 41, is a bitter blow for incumbent Petro Poroshenko who tried to rally Ukrainians around the flag by casting himself as a bulwark against Russian aggression and a champion of Ukrainian identity.
The national exit poll showed Zelenskiy had won 73 percent of the vote with Poroshenko winning just 25 percent.
73 percent!

Russia’s best opera voices sing Ave Maria in touching tribute to gutted Notre Dame

The Mueller Report's Active and Passive Idiots
No matter how hard one tries, there just doesn’t seem to be a way around finding piece after piece about this.
In most cases, it’s comedy at its finest. Something that simply cannot be scripted.
Following the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report by Attorney General William Barr, an unusual television interview was held by former President Obama's director of National Intelligence, James Clapper.  A fantastic phrase came from his mouth: "If there was no active collusion proven, then I think what we have here is a case of passive collusion."
Active versus passive?
Desperation.
In addition to the significant contribution to Orwellian left-wing Newspeak, the terms "active collusion" and "passive collusion" suggest that there is another side to the "collusion."  Which one?  The answer is provided by the Mueller Report (there is also a convenient searchable WikiLeaks version).  Starting on page 144, the Mueller Report begins to resemble a good comedy script.  It turns out that immediately after Trump's victory in the November 8, 2016 elections, the Putin administration was trying to establish contact with the newly elected president by hook or by crook.

You CAN eat green potatoes and mouldy bread
The amount of food thrown away evcry day is staggering.
While this article is UK-based, it still has value for the rest of the world.
Because of arcane rules and regulations, many places toss out good because they have exceeded a “to be sold by” date. And those same rules often bar them from donating them to food banks or charitable entities.
And the rich nations often toss what the poorer nations are begging for.
More than 720 million eggs are needlessly thrown away every year in the UK
Supermarkets have begun to remove best-before dates to tackle the problem
As best-before dates are not about safety but quality unlike the use-by dates
And, this provides a way for you to determine whether your eggs are still fresh.
Want to know if an egg is fresh? Simply put it, uncracked, in a bowl of water.
If it floats it is full of air which suggests it is no longer good to eat.
When eggs start to go off, the contents produce gas. The egg is still good to eat if it stands on one end, above right, at the bottom of the bowl.
If it sinks to the bottom and lies flat on its side, it is very fresh.

Record violence and killings in Mexico in the first quarter: 8.943 murders
And they’re being overrun by the people making their way to our border.
More @ https://en.

It’s finally time to deregulate… pie
Did you know that the government says how many cherries and which kind can be in a commercially sold cherry pie?
And regulations that apply to a specific flavor of French dressing?
The Food and Drug Administration is right out there looking out for your welfare. Doesn't that make you feel safe?
When President Trump was sworn into office he promised that he would be rolling back multiple regulations for every new one that makes it onto the books. Thus far he’s made good on that promise, rolling back suffocating regulations in any number of areas. But now it appears this his people at the FDA are finally ready to tackle the 800-pound gorilla in the room. It’s time to roll back regulations on pie. Frozen cherry pie, to be specific. Oh, and French dressing, too. (Associated Press)
The one regulation they’re looking at that needs to stay on the books is the one covering milk. Currently, the FDA says that milk “must come from a cow.” That sounds right to me. I suppose you can use the word for goat’s milk (or any other animal) so long as you specify the species. But there is no such thing as “soy milk” or “rice milk” or “almond milk.” None of those plants are capable of producing milk.
I look at those containers in the dairy cases that shout soy and almond milk and shake my head.

Catholic Churches being vandalized across the USA
Paris, Sri Lanka.
I tried my best to avoid all that.
But, we have to face the truth.
The war against Christianity is here at home as well.
Boston-area police are investigating a series of attacks on church statues.
In early April a Connecticut church was hit.
In late March, police released surveillance camera images of a vandal who used a baseball bat and rocks to damage windows at Holy Family Catholic Church in Ohio.
On the West Coast, there appears to be a vandal targeting Catholic churches in Pomona Valley. The latest hit was reported in late March at Saint Margaret Mary’s Church in Chino
My wife watched Mass on TV Easter Sunday and I was not surprised to see uniformed police officers standing in the back.
Do we now need armed security to express our faith?

The Aurora Borealis from Above and Below
From Space
From Norway
I have to confess that I have never seen this phenomenon. Just never been that far north. More about this @ http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/imageo/2019/04/15/the-aurora-borealist-seen-from-space-and-the-ground/

The Trump administration just made it harder to travel and send money to Cuba
Turning back the Obozo administrations actions to remove sanctions and boost the post-Castro tyrannical regime.
The Trump administration on Wednesday announced new restrictions on travel to Cuba and on the amount of money Cuban Americans can send to relatives in the country.
Former President Barack Obama eased restrictions on economic activities with Cuba and on travel to the island.
National security adviser John Bolton said the changes are meant to reverse "the disastrous Obama-era policies, and finally end the glamorization of socialism and communism."
The changes will restrict nonfamily travel to Cuba and limit remittances to $1000 per person every three months.

Rooms in a Box
This comes in this:

Has Anyone Been Watching Jeopardy?
I watched Friday, April 19, and shook my head in disbelief. A Las Vegas, self-proclaimed professional gambler, dominated the game. Before Final Jeopardy, he’d amassed $45k. His final bet was $35k and change and he nailed it.
The guy’s won over $800k in 12 appearances.

The Babylon Bee
Al Gore Commemorates Earth Day By Using Private Jet To Write 'Save The Planet' In The Sky @ https://babylonbee.com/news/al-gore-commemorates-earth-day-by-using-private-jet-to-write-save-the-planet-in-the-sky
Obnoxious Snopes Writer Keeps Fact-Checking People's Jokes At Parties @ https://babylonbee.com/news/obnoxious-snopes-writer-keeps-fact-checking-peoples-jokes-at-parties
Indoor skydiving? Here's how it works
We’ve had one of these places here in Vegas for 20-some years. I know some people go their first before trying the real thing.
US and French skydivers swept to victory in a number of events at a global competition - but this is not skydiving as you may know it.
Instead of jumping out of planes thousands of feet up in the air, participants at the 2019 FAI World Indoor Skydiving Championships compete in a wind tunnel.
Competitors are judged on their performance of a series of moves – either pre-determined or artistic – while balanced on a jet of fast-moving air within the wind tunnel.
Routines last for 45 seconds, and the athletes compete either solo, with a partner, or as a team of four.
The US won gold medals in the Formation Skydiving (FS) 8-Way, Vertical Formation Skydiving, and Dynamic 2-Way events.
Meanwhile the French won gold in the Dynamic 4-Way event and the FS 4-Way (Women) competition – delighting the crowd at the Weembi wind tunnel in Lesquin (Lille), France.

Waking up to the Beach Boys' Good Vibrations is more effective than a beeping alarm
Of course it is! But it takes some massive egghead research program to figure it out?
Waking up to the Beach Boys' and The Cure's can prevent morning grogginess
Scientists claim using melodic music to wake up is better than a beeping alarm
Classical music of Beethoven and Antonio Vivaldi can help brain performance
'Sleep inertia' linked to plane and car crashes as drowsy drivers take the wheel

Mixing grass varieties may reduce insect infestations in lawns
In any case, one needs to visit the local nursery and talk to someone who deals with it on a daily basis. I’m sure there are different mixes for different parts of the country.
A simple change in the choice of grass varieties for lawns of St. Augustinegrass could be a key tool for fending off fall armyworm infestations, according to new research. While no single St. Augustinegrass cultivar rises above the rest in resisting infestation, mixing varieties may confer some benefits, as fall armyworms clearly preferred single-cultivar plantings in a series of lab tests.

House Judiciary Committee Issues Subpoena for Former White House Counsel Don McGahn
The White House Counsel is a staff appointee of the President of the United States whose role is to advise the President on all legal issues concerning the President and his Administration.
So, that raises the question in my mind of lawyer/client privilege. In addition, might some of the things he’s asked about fall under Executive Privilege?
McGahn is therefore a central player not just because of his proximity to the president and his central role in the White House, but because ordering someone to lie is a big, bright red line when it comes to obstruction of justice. Now that the Mueller report is out and the onus for any obstruction charge is clearly on Congress, it makes sense that McGahn would be among the Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee’s first calls.
Their desperation is showing.



Posted by Dale Day at 5:08 AM
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