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THE PSYCHEDELIC CAVES

5/29/2020

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Spelunking is the hobby or practice of exploring caves. Perhaps I’m claustrophobic; the idea of crawling around underground has never made the top of my “To Do” list. It is somewhere around cleaning toilets and root canals, but that's me.

The land forms and interesting geology created by nature are the main attraction of most caves tourists visit, and I do find geology interesting. 
Photo Credit: Karst World-Photo source: copelandfamilyhistory.blogspot.com
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​AS A TOURIST

In my non-spelunking state of mind, I have still visited a number of the famous caverns of the world as a tourist. Much safer and less exhausting. Below are photos (not mine) of formations in the Lechuguilla Cave, Carlsbad caverns, New Mexico.

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        Crystal Chandelier Ballroom                                                            Tall Columns                                                          Atlantis Chamber
           Photo Cedit: NPS/Gavin Newman                            
Photo Source: traveltips.usatoday.com/carlsbad                        Image Credit: David Chailloux
           Photo Source: nps.gov/Lechuguilla cave                                                                                                                       Photo Source: santafenewmexican.com/
“Carlsbad Cavern formed between 4 and 6 million years ago, when water rich in hydrogen sulfide began to seep through cracks in the limestone that was formed hundreds of millions of years earlier by a vast sea that once covered New Mexico. As this water mixed with oxygen-rich rain runoff, the hydrogen sulfide combined with the oxygen to form sulfuric acid, which gradually ate away at the limestone to form the caverns that now exist beneath Carlsbad Caverns National Park.” https://traveltips.usatoday.com/carlsbad-caverns-new-mexico-59759.html
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As you can see, anywhere tourists go, the underground caverns are lighted, some with colors, for safety, ability to see, and visual effect. Some, however, illuminated with a dramatic array of colors, like the Silver Cave, Guilin, China, on the left below. The Chinese really go all out for the carnival effect. When I first looked at some of the photos, I thought the colors were natural (and was amazed), but that appearance is the colored lighting.​
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              Silver Cave, Guilin, China
              Photo Source: https://topyaps.com/top-10-famous-caves-in-the-world/
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              Waitomo Glowworm Caves, New Zealand
              Photo Source: https://fantasticroutes.com/waitomo-glowworm-caves/
The photo on the upper right shows an entrance into the Waitomo Glowworm caves in New Zealand. To visit these caves, we entered in boats from the ocean and went up fairly narrow tunnels like the one above which were lighted ahead of us but unilluminated where the boats were traveling so we could see the glowworms.

When the narrow waterway opened into a great cavern, all the lights were turned off. It is totally black inside and the worms resemble stars on a clear night with no light. Absolutely amazing. Lots of drama without artificial lights.


THE PSYCHADELIC SALT MINE OF YEKATERINBURG, RUSSIA
As I said before, the fascinating thing about natural caves are the geologic rock formations, the culmination of millions of years of land shifting and water flow.

Salt Mines are a whole different experience from exploring natural caves. Salt mines may have been natural caves when the salt deposits were discovered, and they made have contained awesome formations inside, but they have been internally shaped by the way humans and their tools have removed the salt over hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years. The awesomeness of these caverns and tunnels is what the hand of man has revealed of nature’s wonders.​
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The​ salt mines of Yekaterinburg, which are located 650 feet beneath the Russian city (1,000 miles to the east of Moscow), display dizzying surreal swirls and waves of color which are layers of the mineral carnallite, distorted and twisted by tectonic forces over millions of years since it was deposited on the floor of a salty sea.

Carnallite can be yellow and white or even red, blue, or clear. The layers, sometimes containing magnesium and potassium (often used as an ingredient in plant fertilizer), paint rivers of color across the walls of this abandoned salt mine, dating back millions of years to when a salty sea dried up, leaving be-behind the mineral deposits. These had been mined for millennia and then for-
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Old salt mine extraction machine                     gotten until recently rediscovered. 
   Image Credit: Radu Razvan/Shutterstock.com  
  Photo Source: britannica.com/salt-mining            The first photos of the Yekaterinburg mine came to light in 2014 thanks to the                                                                   young Russian explorer-photographer Mikhail Mishainik, who even spent whole
                                                              nights down in mines.

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All image credits: Mikhail Mishainik
All Photo Sources except last:
atlasobscura.com/psychedelic-salt-mines                                                 Photo source: geologypage.com/psychedelic-salt-mine 
Only now, with these incredible photos taken by Mikhail Mishainik in 2014, is the rest of the world able to see this incredible sight. Some authors say it is a subterranean version of China’s stunning rainbow mountains. (The subject for another blog.)

Unfortunately, this site is not accessible to the public, but it may be possible to get a special government permit to enter. Good luck, if you go there. No doubt, at some time in the future, it will become a tourist attraction.
 
Sources:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/psychedelic-salt-mines
https://weirdrussia.com/2014/06/20/psychedelic-salt-mines-of-yekaterinburg/
http://awesomeplacesonearth.com/surreal-salt-mines-in-yekaterinburg-russia/
https://www.minerals.net/resource/property/color.aspx
https://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-do-rocks-get-their-colors
http://www.geologypage.com/2016/10/psychedelic-salt-mine-russia.html
https://www.nps.gov/cave/learn/photosmultimedia/index.htm
https://traveltips.usatoday.com/carlsbad-caverns-new-mexico-59759.html
 
Image Credit:                                                                                                                                    Image Credit: Mikhail Mishainik
Photo Source: 
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Bears On The Moon

5/22/2020

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I kid you not. Bears are on  the moon, but not the kind of bears you're thinking about.​

MEET MY LITTLE FRIEND
Let me introduce you to a tiny eight-legged microscopic animal which you probably don’t know, or care, anything about … the Tardigrade (also known as moss piglets or water bears because of their stocky bodies and gait).
Image caption: A colored scanning electron micrograph of a tardigrade in moss
Photo Credit: Science Photo Library - Photo source: psbbc.com/news/tardigrade


Water bears aren’t very cute (unless you like really weird things) and, at less than a millimeter, these animals do not make good pets, although they would be easy to care for. Studies show that these small invertebrates originally lived in freshwater environments before adapting to land where they seek out moist habitats such as soil, mosses, leaves and lichen. They are ubiquitous, and live almost everywhere in the world including Antarctica and the deepest oceans.
Water bears are small, cylindrical invertebrates, divided into five segments. The first segment contains the head and the next four each have one pair of unsegmented legs ending (most often) in claws.
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The tardigrade body is covered with a flexible cuticle, which is smooth or covered with gibbosities, spines or plates. Despite being so small, they have a very complicated internal structure. Water bears have a complete digestive system, a well developed nervous system, and an abdominal chain with segmental ganglia. They also have various sensory organs like papilla, chemoreceptors and eyes. Water bears can be dioecious and bisexual.

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◄ A water bear egg, imaged by colored scanning electron micrograph
Photo source: bbc.co.uk/nature/ (
Looks too much like corona virus to me)

                                                                 Image caption: They shouldn't be cute, but we don't make the rules
                                                                 Photo Credit: Getty Images - 
                                                                 Photo Source:
psbbc.com/news/tardigrade.
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In 2007, thanks to the Italian Space Agency Project Biokis, tardigrades became the first earth animal to survive the exposure to space in sub-zero temperatures, solar winds, and an oxygen-deprived space vacuum.
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This is when scientists discovered that tardigrades, in their desiccated state, are exceptionally tolerant of extreme environments, including space. Obviously the toughest animals on earth, this discovery prompted a new level of research on their survival capabilities.

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Drawing Credit: Dave Kellett/ Sheldoncomics.com / color; Beth Morrell
Patreon.com / Sheldoncomics.com
Source: pinterest.com/201395414567139103/

Again in 2011, my little friend traveled into space for a second time on the NASA shuttle Endeavour. Its mission: to help scientists understand more about how this so-called "hardiest animal on Earth" can survive for short periods off it. Tardigrades join other microscopic organisms selected to be part of a project into extreme survival.
I call the tardigrade my little friend because he is a secondary character in a murder mystery I’m writing which takes at the South Pole.

After the tardigrade’s second venture into space, researchers discovered that a tardigrade protein named Dsup binds to chromatin -- DNA inside cells -- and forms a protective cloud against extreme survival threats such as radiation damage. They have also proved vulnerable to excessive heat, which may turn out to be their Achilles’ Heel. They are not indestructible.
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Another notable achievement of water bears was their successful revival and reproduction after being frozen for over 30 years. “A moss sample collected in Antarctica in Nov. 1983, stored at -20°C, was thawed in May 2014. Two individuals and a separate egg retrieved from the thawed sample were revived, thereby providing the longest record of survival for tardigrades as animals or eggs. Subsequently, one of the revived tardigrades and the hatchling repeatedly reproduced after recovering from their long-term cryptobiosis.” sciencedaily.com/releases/2016


BEARS ON THE MOON
Since out last visit with the water bear (which is not really related to any bear-type animal), they have immigrated to the Moon.
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Quite true, although the word immigrate makes it sound like they had a choice. Their presence violates the Outer Space Treaty which provides for, among other things like not putting nuclear weapons in space, not contaminating any environment in space. One hundred and nine countries are party to the agreement and another twenty-three have signed but not yet ratified.

The Arch Mission Foundation
There is a non-profit organization called The Arch Mission Foundation which keeps a "backup" of planet Earth; the archives of human knowledge and species of the plant earths biology the planet's biology, stored and sent out to various solar locations in case of a life-ending event.
​

This was news to me, and I think it is very exciting.

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◄THE SOLAR LIBRARY: TESLA ORBITER (SPACEX, 2018)
Their first mission was launched by SpaceX on the Falcon Heavy Test launch and is now entering an orbit around the Sun for millions of years.  The first books in the Solar Library are Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy.
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LEO LIBRARY: CONSTELLATION 1 (SPACECHAIN, 2018) ►
SpaceChain launched a cubesat containing a live blockchain node into low-Earth orbit. Onboard is a copy of the English Wikipedia in solid-state storage, provided by the Arch Mission Foundation. 

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◄THE LUNAR LIBRARY: GENESIS (SPACEIL 2019)
The first major installation of the Lunar Library is a 30 million page archive(viewable under a microscope) that flew on the SpaceIL Beresheet Moon lander, in 2019: It is now believed to be intact on the Moon.
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THE LUNAR LIBRARY: PEREGRINE (ASTROBOTIC, 2021) ►
The Arch Mission Foundation is delivering the second installment in the Lunar Library,™ containing additional content, in an upcoming mission with Astrobotic to the lunar surface.

An Unfortunate Crash Landing
“On April 11, 2019, an Israeli lander named after the Hebrew word for “Genesis” attempted to mark a new beginning for space exploration by becoming the first privately funded spacecraft to touch down on the moon. Built by the Israeli nonprofit SpaceIL, the Beresheet lander tried to softly land within Mare Serenitatis, a vast volcanic basin on the moon's northern near side - but as it made its descent, the spacecraft's main engine failed. Engineers reset the spacecraft but lost communications, and the 330-pound lander ultimately crashed.”
nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/


Along with the second installment of the library and some equipment, the Beresheet carried human DNA and
dehydrated tardigrades - some in amber and some stuck on tape. It is believe that all the contents of the lander survived the crash, which means there are now dehydrated tardigrades on the moon which could probably be revived with the introduction of some water.

So the water bears are there, shriveled into tiny balls and in a state of deep suspended animation that resembles death, waiting. In the meantime, SpaceIL has violated the Outer Space Treaty.
​
I predict that the tardigrade has a bright future in research for years to come.
Just sayin’

□

Sources:
https://www.archmission.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Space_Treaty
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160216104552.htm
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200113104203.htm
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191001102207.htm
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160328101622.htm
htt://www.psbbc.com/news/newsbeat-49265125

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/04/spaceil-beresheet-first-privately-funded-israeli-spacecraft-crash-lands-on-moon/
https://www.americanscientist.org/article/tardigrades
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/12855775
http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/feature/tardigrades/1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/201395414567139103/
https://elifesciences.org/digests/47682/how-tardigrades-survive-the-extreme
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Emotional Support Animals

5/15/2020

1 Comment

 
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​IN THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT
I don’t believe that most reasonable people in this age of enlightenment would object to a physically handicapped person having a trained service animal. I don’t believe they would object to that person traveling on public transportation, airplanes, or taking them into public places and stores. People understand, pretty much, that disabled people have the same rights as anyone else, and that socially we all have an obligation to protect the most vulnerable members of our society.


So why has this become an issue worthy of many articles and opinions on the internet?
[That’s a naïve question, and I apologize. I can’t get used to the idea that many people want to not only share but force others to listen to their opinions and personal information with everyone in the world … and they do it over the internet. My bad. I suppose in that respect I’m a dinosaur.]

Regardless, for a segment of the population this scenario has become an issue that I was unaware of until I ran onto it researching something else and found it intriguing.

FIGURATIVELY AND LITERALLY, THEY’RE DIFFERENT ANIMALS
To discuss this issue, we have to understand that there are two distinct, but related, legal definitions involved.

Service Animals
Under Titles II and III of the American Disabilities Act (ADC) service animals are defined as dogs, and now miniature horses under certain circumstances, “that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties.”

Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. There is no legal requirement that they be registered, but registration can save a lot of misery and discontent.

   Photo Source: pawswithacause.org

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The person with the disability should be trained to work with and control the dog and, as I understand it, is legally responsible for the dog’s / horse’s behavior. The animal must be leashed but can go anywhere the general public can go, and legally cannot be asked to leave. The operator of a public facility can ask only two questions about the animal:
     1. Is the dog/miniature horse required because of a disability? and
     2. What is the work the animal is trained to perform?
Proof cannot be required by the operator, but in California if you falsely claim service animal status, it’s a misdemeanor subject to a fine up to $1,000 or six months in prison.
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Emotional Support Animals
An emotional support animal (ESA) is one that provides comfort or a sense of relief to a person with an emotional or psychological condition. They are not trained to perform specific tasks or provide their owners with any service other than soothing their symptoms. As such, they’re not considered service animals. Dogs and miniature horses whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.

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An Emotional Support Animal is usually a dog or cat but can be any species, whether it’s a dog, a peacock, or a pig. Health professionals claim animal therapy provides great benefits to people suffering from emotional or psychological disorders, and there is a body of scientific proof to support that. Qualifying ailments include but are not limited to anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, panic attacks and fear or phobias.

I absolutely support that. My cat Roxy helped me through a rough patch and was a great               Roxy                         comfort when I was feeling pretty low.

Those who wish to have emotional support animals and want to take those animals with them to public places must have a prescription by a licensed mental health professional. After receiving this, any animal that meets the guidelines for legal emotional support animals can be registered as such.
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However, your legal right to take emotional support animals in public places is dependent on state laws. California law allows persons with disabilities to bring trained service dogs or psychiatric service dog, but not emotional support animals, to all public places.

SO WHAT’S THE PROBLEM, BIG GUY?
Assuming that most people are rational and are not out to cause disabled people grief for no reason, what’s got your panties in a twist?

Allergies
The first is the issue of allergies. Allergies to cats and/or dogs do not distinguish between service animals or emotional support animals, and some allergies are severe enough to be life threatening.
         Photo source: youtube.com/anaphylaxis
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In many places, such as a restaurant, mall, or library, it is possible to make accommodations to keep the animal apart from the person with allergies, but it usually requires the understanding and cooperation of the employees making the accommodation. On a public bus at rush hour, a crowded airplane, or at the Department of Motor Vehicles where one is required to wait with a zillion other strangers for four hours, not so much. Not only is making an accommodation less possible, the employees involved often demonstrate little sympathy.

Legally, allergies and fear of dogs are not valid reasons for denying access or refusing service to people needing service animals.

Variety of animals
The good old days of only dogs and cats is a thing of the past. Now people have every species under the sun as emotional support animals. Without debating the value and importance of the support provided, the variety sets the stage for further problems in tight spaces. A snake may sooth your fear of flying, but could make the person sitting next to you on the plane very uncomfortable.

Misrepresentation of Emotional Support Animals as an Excuse
A study conducted in 2017 on the public perception of service animals and ESAs states, “As assistance animals become more prevalent in society, there appears to be a parallel increase in the frequency of allegations of misrepresentation or fraudulent representation of animals as assistance animals.”

healthline.com/health-news/emotional-support-animals                                                                         Photo Credit: Petar Petrov/AP - Photo Source: oddee.com 

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Passing your pet off as an ESA just because you want to travel with it, is not doing any favors for those people who truly need this kind of emotional support. People who are either frightened or annoyed by the tarantula next to them may complain or become a “naysayer” about the entire issue. If the pet has to travel, let it spend a few hours in the storage compartment for animals.

The two tarantulas that escaped on an Air Transat Flight to Canada in 2016, were not truly Emotional Support Animals and may have done some emotional damage to other passengers.


On the other hand, the average person is not qualified to assess if another person is physically or mentally handicapped or what that handicap might be, and unwarranted complains are also filed.

Inadequate Training and/or Control of the Animal
Another problem is certified service and ESA animals which are not adequately trained or controlled.

Even though service animals are supposed to be trained, often the training is not provided by a qualified professional. Also, the owner may not have adequate control of the animal. Service animals must be on a leash or some similar restraint, but occasionally service animals attack other people. Sometimes the dog is trying to protect the owner from an action or sound it perceives as threatening; sometimes the owner just doesn’t have control of the dog. (I didn’t find any incidents of mini-horses attacking bystanders.)

There is no training requirement for a certified ESA, which ups the ante as the variety of such animals expands. People are less familiar with how non-traditional animals may react to outside stimulus.

Housing
Another point of conflict relates to housing, particularly but not exclusively, rentals. Any situation where limitation on animals or type of animal can become an issue. The relationship between renter-owner is clear, but also regarding purchase there are condominium rules and subdivision CC&Rs which may address animals. These situations fall under the auspices of housing discrimination.

“An emotional support animal is a type of assistance animal that is recognized as a "reasonable accommodation" for a person with a disability under the federal Fair Housing Act (FHAct, 42 U.S.C.A. 3601 et seq.). The assistance animal is not a pet according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). HUD is the agency that oversees the FHAct and investigates claims of housing discrimination.” https://www.animallaw.info/article/faqs-emotional-support-animals

Housing is a complicated issue. I am simply pointing out that if you have a dispute regarding housing and Service or ESA animals, you need to get into details which I can’t address here. If you are an owner renting out a house, condo, or apartment, you need to be aware of this.


WHAT IS YOU FAVORITE NON-TRADITIONAL ESA?

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Daisy - She was kicked off a Frontier Airlines. She had a reservation but owner hadn’t declared animal was a squirrel. The flight was delayed 2 hours. PhotoSource: thesun.co.uk/travel

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​Dexter the performing peacock
Credit: thejetsettv / Bored Panda. Source:dailymail.co.uk/emotional-support-pets

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Photo Credit: Devinn Zeller / Bored Panda. Photo source: dailymail.co.uk/emotional-support-pets
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Hog Kicked off US Airways for defecating in the aisle and howling. Photo Credit: IamBremmer /Bored Panda
Photo source: dailymail.co.uk/emotional-support-pets
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Ronica Froese and mini-horse, Fred. Photo Credit: Reuters
Photo Source: marketwatch.com/emotional-support-animals

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Green serpent dropped from the overhead luggage compartment during Aeromexico flight.
Photo Credit: Indalecio Medina 
Photo Source: oddee.com

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Publicity photo - the four Koalas actually traveled in climate-controlled containers in cargo.
Photo Credit: Qantas Airways
Photo Source: oddee.com

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Photo Credit: Bored Panda
PhotoSource: thesun.co.uk/travel

WHOSE RIGHTS ARE MORE IMPORTANT?
The whole debate relates to whose individual rights take precedence when there is a conflict.

It’s typical for an individual to think about their own rights as more important than the other person’s. There is no formula for balancing them. Our laws make an attempt to do so, but there are always arguments pro and con.

Why are my allergies less important? Why do I have to sit next to a cat for hours when I’m allergic to it, so another person can fly to Chicago without putting their pet with the cargo? Well, maybe it’s because he is a veteran, wounded in action, who suffers from PTSD and having his cat with him is the only way he can tolerate being on an airplane, and he’s going to his mother’s funeral in Chicago. Or maybe that ESA is the tarantula we were talking about before. What then?

Although this is actually a complicated issue and its resolution would require time and effort for the benefit of a relatively small segment of the population, the government should get together with the airlines, health professionals, and other affected industries, and revisit the rules. They may have made sense at one time but things have changed.
Just sayin’.
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Sources:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-7469717/The-strange-emotional-support-pets-people-brought-plane.html
https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/9943454/weird-animals-emotional-support-plane-kangaroo/
https://equalrightscenter.org/nontraditional-emotional-support-animals/
https://www.bustle.com/p/how-do-emotional-support-animals-help-people-7-benefits-of-esas-9002611
https://www.animallaw.info/article/faqs-emotional-support-animals
https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/news/everything-about-emotional-support-animals/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_support_animal
https://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/an_uptick_in_service_animals_on_airplanes_is_sparking_controversy
https://www.nsarco.com/esa-registration-and-your-legal-rights.html
https://thegate.boardingarea.com/support-animals-versus-allergies-go/
https://thegate.boardingarea.com/service-animals-or-emotional-support-animals-pig-continues-debate/
https://www.oddee.com/item_99962.aspx
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/20/pets-allowed
https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/emotional-support-animals-planes-flights-peacocks-marmoset-horse-a8190576.html
https://abcnews.go.com/US/airlines-crack-emotional-support-animals-plane-cabins/story?id=56791124
https://www.latimes.com/travel/story/2020-02-29/letters-readers-emotional-support-animal-planes
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/finally-signs-of-a-crackdown-on-emotional-support-animals-on-airplanes-2020-03-02
http://www.amazing-service-dogs.com/do-i-qualify-for-a-service-dog/
https://www.ada.gov/service_animals_2010.htm
https://www.pawswithacause.org/what-we-do/assistance-dogs/service-dogs/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/emotional-support-squirrel-daughter-of-woman-escorted-off-plane-speaks-out-frontier-airlines-flight-incident-2018-10-11/

Photos:
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/things-that-fly-by-plane-pigs-mini-horses-cats-and-dogs-138543.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/emotional-support-squirrel-daughter-of-woman-escorted-off-plane-speaks-out-frontier-airlines-flight-incident-2018-10-11/
https://www.animallaw.info/article/faqs-emotional-support-animals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs_nUiEC9fA

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1 Comment

when It Rains Frogs and Pigs Fly

5/8/2020

1 Comment

 
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YEAH, THAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN PIGS FLY
When you get that response to a suggestion or comment, you can be sure the speaker does not believe what you are saying is even possible.              ▼    Photo source: abcnews.go.com/pigs-fly  ▼

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Real pigs can’t fly. We have visual proof they can’t fly commercial, either. The young lady in the picture was put off a US Airways flight out of Connecticut the plane with her emotional-support pig because, according to American Airlines, the parent company of US Airways, “the pig became disruptive, and the woman was asked to leave.” Actually, the pig defecated in the aisle and then began to howl. 

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YEAH, THAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN IT RAINS FROGS
You’re likely to get this response to the same suggestion or comment, but in this case the speaker is incorrect. It can, and occasionally does rain frogs … and fish and other things. 

Throughout history records document eye-witness reports of fish, frogs, and other small living things falling from the sky either “like rain” or “in the rain.” Even if you leave out Exodus, “documented” tales of raining fish and frogs are reported by Roman naturalist, Pliny The Elder, as far back as the first century AD. No doubt the phenomenon, however rare, has been around since ancient times.
​                                                                                                                          
Passover Greeting Card - Drawing: C.McCoy
                                                                                                                                                                            Photo source: amazon.com/NobleWorks-Raining

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More recent reports include French soldiers, in 1794, reporting toads falling from the sky during heavy rain in Lille, France. Live lizards pelted Montreal, Canada, in 1857. It rained frogs in Kansas City in 1873. A hail of frozen frogs was reported in Dubugue, Iowa in 1882. Winnipeg was blessed with a rain of black ants during a thunderstorm in 1895. Moose Jaw got a downpour of fish and rain in 1903.

In July of 1901, Minneapolis, Minnesota, suffered a frog downpour. A newspaper reported: “When the storm was at its highest…there appeared as if descending directly from the sky a huge green mass. Then followed a peculiar patter, unlike that of rain or hail. When the storm abated the people found, three inches deep and covering an area of more than four blocks, a collection of a most striking variety of frogs…so thick in some places [that] travel was impossible.” weirdhistorian.com/raining-cats-and-dogs-is-one-thing-but-frogs-and-fish/

According to Julia Layton, science.howstuffworks.com, the frequency of such events has been increasing. “For unknown reasons, Britain appears to be especially susceptible in recent years. The cause of frog rain in general is less mysterious, although still a bit of a brow-furrower at times. It's also just as gross as many of us imagine. That final scene in the 1999 film Magnolia, which left most movie goers jaw-droppingly disgusted and a little impressed, is apparently a pretty accurate portrayal of the phenomenon, according to newspaper accounts.”

THE SCIENCE OF NON-AQUEOUS RAIN
There is a fairly understandable scientific explanation for this weird weather event which is related to watery tornados or waterspouts -- essentially whirlwinds that pick up water. These are usually caused by the high-pressure system preceding a severe thunderstorm.

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Photo Credit: Patricia Vazquez, Myshot - Photo Source: nationalgeographic.org/waterspout  ►

 ◄ Photo credit: Harald Richter (Public Domain) NSSL of NOAA
Photo Source: en.wikipedia.org/Tornado

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 ​
First of all, remember that frogs, lizards, insects, and fish can weigh only a few ounces, and these storms are very powerful. They rip off roofs and pick up cars and trucks.

Second, the center of the waterspout is a low-pressure tunnel within a high-pressure cone and picks up light objects. Since these are formed over large bodies of water, they suck up water and low-weight water creatures. Items carried in the vortex can be carried over land as the storm moves. The same thing happens with a land-based tornado, which can pick up water and creatures from lakes, ponds, and other water sources. Professor Ernest Agee from Purdue University says, “I’ve seen small ponds literally emptied of their water by a passing tornado. So, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for frogs (or other living things) to ‘rain’ from the skies” (loc.gov/everyday-mysteries)
​
So actually, a storm can pick up anything if it is strong enough, and things can get carried for even hundreds of miles in the vortex, so you don’t need to be near a frog pond to get frogs in your rain. The most common living, non-aqueous item to “rain” is fish, since most water spouts form over the ocean. Birds are not uncommon victims, particularly during migrations. Blackbirds fell from the sky in Beebe, Arkansas, in 2010.

Writer Julia Layton’s description of what happens when the critters land, is worth repeating.
“But it's when the frogs, fish and other water animals hit the ground that things really get gross. It's unlikely they survive the journey, what with the speeding low-pressure vortex and the impact once that vortex dissolves. Usually, the frogs die, although it's unclear when exactly that happens -- during the trip or as a result of the fall. However, sometimes the frogs luck out. When it rained frogs in a small town in Serbia in 2005, people walked outside after the storm to see their streets blanketed in frogs trying to hop their way back to water.”
 
RECENT INCIDENTS
Ancient happenings are always subject to skepticism. Very little can be “proved” about what happened in the ancient past. From the medieval period we have more unreliable legends and pieces of art work depicting the phenomenon.
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1557 wood cutting – Artist Unknown
Photo source: weirdhistorian.com/raining-frogs


When I searched for more recent events, I found many mentioned, but not many photographs. That makes sense, since these circumstances are localized and unpredictable. Unless you’re there with a camera for some other purpose, it is likely you’d lose the opportunity. Wikipedia has a list of reported occurrences. I’ve repeated only a few below, mostly reported in the US.
Raining fish in Northern Argentina – 1989▼ Photo source: leahsweather.wordpress.com/2012

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Fish
● Knighton, Powys, Wales, 18 August 2004
● Kerala State, India, February 12, 2008
● Bhanwad, Jamnagar, India, October 24, 2009
● Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 9 September 2016
● Dire Dawa, Ethiopia, 20 January 2016
● Mexico, Tamaulipas, Tampico, 26 September 2017
● Oroville, California, 16 May 2017
● Jaffna, Sri Lanka, 7 November 2017
● New Jersey, USA, 7 April 2020


​Frogs
● Calgary Canada, August 4, 1921
● Odzaci, Siberia,  June 4, 2005
● Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, June 2009 (occurrences reported throughout the month)
● Rákóczifalva, Hungary, 18–20 June 2010 (twice)
● Cabo Polonio, Uruguay, Since 2011 (twice)


THE MIRACLE OF LLUVIA DE PECES
Residents of Yoro, Honduras have only one claim to fame. They insist that every year they have a Rain of Fish. Some years it occurs more than once, but always after a violent storm. After such a storm, residents fill the streets carrying baskets and collect sardine-like fish from the ground. The fish that are said to fall as rain are not indigenous to the local area.  The Hondurans see it as a miracle and a blessing, since this is essentially a poor area and the only time they have fish to eat.
Photo source: allthatsinteresting.com/fish ▼                                                       Photo source: www.youtube.com/  ▼

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Picture

The story sounded fishy to me. The first thing I noticed in the photographs is that all the fish are on the street, and none on the sidewalks, plus the fish look bigger than sardine-like, whatever that means. Nevertheless, the town folk insist it’s real and not a hoax or a benevolent fish-donor who waits for the first big storm in May or June. I didn’t find any documents or articles that assert this is not a real meteorological event.

In 1970 a team from National Geographic, already on assignment in the area, were able to examine the grounded fish after a big storm. The fish turned out to be completely blind, so scientists suggested that they must live in underground caves or rivers where they are unexposed to light and that the flooding after a heavy rain forces them to the surface. Another possibility was a waterspout from the Atlantic ocean about a hundred miles away carries them there.

Since the real reason for the phenomenon hasn’t been pinned down by scientists, it must not matter to anyone except the residents of Yoro. Although the legend of the first recorded fish rain occurred in 1855, in 1996 the locals organized a festival which is now an annual event which takes place after the first big rain in the spring.

MY ADVICE – ALWAYS CARRY AN UMBRELLA AND A CAMERA IN THE RAIN.
□
Sources:
https://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/climate-weather/storms/rain-frog.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_of_animals
https://globalnews.ca/news/4371433/calgary-raining-frogs/
https://www.loc.gov/everyday-mysteries/item/can-it-rain-frogs-fish-and-other-objects/
https://www.popsci.com/weirdest-weather-ever/
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/laughingindisbelief/2017/08/america-copes-raining-frogs-bloody-red-waterways/
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2011/may/26/weather-watch-raining-frogs
https://www.livescience.com/44760-raining-frogs.html
https://www.weirdhistorian.com/raining-cats-and-dogs-is-one-thing-but-frogs-and-fish/
https://www.news24.com/SciTech/News/Its-raining-frogs-in-Serbia-20050607
https://commonplacefacts.wordpress.com/2016/01/19/todays-forecast-cloudy-with-a-chance-of-amphibians/
https://leahsweather.wordpress.com/2012/11/28/seriously-there-really-is-such-a-thing-as-non-aqueous-rain/
https://abcnews.go.com/US/proof-pigs-fly/story?id=27222136
https://allthatsinteresting.com/fish-rain-lluvia-de-peces
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF3ub0bpneI
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lluvia_de_Peces
Further reading
Chandler, Barb. "Froggy weather." Weatherwise, v. 57, Jan./Feb. 2004: 42.
Christian, Spencer, and Antonia Felix. Can it really rain frogs?: the world's strangest weather events. New York, Wiley, 1997. 121 p. (Juvenile)
Corliss, William. Tornados, dark days, anomalous precipitation, and related weather phenomena: a catalog of geophysical anomalies. Glen Arm, MD, Sourcebook Project, c1983. 196 p.
Dennis, Jerry. It's raining frogs and fishes: four seasons of natural phenomena and oddities of the sky. New York, HarperCollins, c1992. 323 p.
Englebert, Phillis. The complete weather resource. Detroit, UXL, c1997-2000. 4 v.
"Frogs fall from the sky." Herald sun, Melbourne, Australia, June 8, 2005. p. 2.

1 Comment

THE EPITOME OF HYPOCRISY

5/1/2020

0 Comments

 
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A SIGN OF THE TIMES
My husband asked me to buy him a washable facemask. We have the other type, but he wanted something more permanent that we could launder.

​No problem. The news media has been focusing heavily on the “new normal” and into the foreseeable future face masks are part of that discussion. Maybe he should get several.

As I was searching on-line, I simply looked up the product. Wow! In the blink of an eye, or at least in the blink of two months confined to my house, everything had changed. In addition to finding these ▼ on Amazon.com:

I also found these: ▼

THE NEW NORMAL
The news media and the medical profession have hinted or straight out said that the new normal will include wearing masks to carry on everyday living, at least until a reliable vaccine has been found for Covid-19. We can get used to seeing them in grocery stores and restaurants.
Photo source: marketwatch.com/masks    Photo source: wsj.com/face-mask         Photo source: nytimes.com/2020/

FASHION TREND OF THE FUTURE
Since some enterprising humans never miss an opportunity, already the “fashion face mask” is making appearances at the Paris, London, and New York Fashion Weeks -- the big events of the fashion year – as the “must have” fashion accessory of the season.
​
Whether or not masks prove to protect people from exposure to Covid-19, once the trend hits the couture fashion market, you can be sure they will be around for a few years … even if their prophylactic value is zilch.


    Photo Credit: Christian Vierig/Getty Images                  Photo credit: Getty Images                                  Photo Credit: Getty Images for NYFW: The Shows     Photo source: hollywoodreporter.com/paris                 Photo source: sbs.com.au/niqab-banned            Photo Source: nypost.com/face-masks 
Photo Credit: Getty Images for NYFW: The Shows       Photo source: cosmopolitan.in/masks latest fashion accessory
Photo Source: nypost.com/face-masks

                                     
LET’S GET TO THE HYPOCRICY PART
There is nothing hypocritical about wearing a face mask, voluntarily or by order. Nobody wants to get sick, a most people don’t want to make others sick.

Here’s the thing. It wasn’t more than a couple of years ago that the US and countries in Europe were considering or passing laws to prohibit Muslin women (or men) to cover their faces. Muslim women following their religious beliefs were told that c
overing the face interfered with the communication necessary in an open society and couldn’t be allowed for security and identification reasons. In some countries where these laws were enacted, Muslim women were arrested and fined for covering their faces. Now, all of a sudden, there is nothing wrong with it. Here are some of the headlines and statements from among many in the news.

● 2016
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-13038095
On 6 December 2016, Chancellor Angela Merkel said the wearing of “full-faced veils should be prohibited” in Germany "wherever it is legally possible". This statement was made after Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere made a proposal in August, 2016, to outlaw the burka - or any full-face veil - in public buildings.

● 2017
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/opinion/quebec-veil-ban.html
Quebec’s Anti-Muslim Ban on the Veil
By Martin Patriquin - Nov. 8, 2017
This article discusses that Quebec, in 2017, put a ban on wearing face coverings by anyone giving or receiving a public service must do so without a covered face for “security or identification reasons.”

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-13038095

The Islamic Veil across Europe
May 31, 2018
Article reports that Austria’s ruling coalition agreed in January 2017 to prohibit full-face veils (niqab and burka) in public spaces such as courts and schools, with the law coming in to force in October the same year. The government said at the time it was considering a more general ban on state employees wearing the headscarf and other religious symbols. The coalition said that “full-face veils in public stood in the way of "open communication", which it said was fundamental to an "open society".

● 2019
https://www.economist.com/erasmus/2019/07/10/
Western governments are telling Muslim women not to cover up
By Erasmus - Jul 10th 2019

France enacted a face mask law in 2010. This article indicates that France regulates religious apparel, and religion generally, “in a stricter way than any other democracy. The summer of 2016 was a torrid one for that country’s beaches, as many local authorities decreed bans on the burkini, a full-body swimsuit favored by some Muslim women. After weeks of nasty seaside scenes, the country’s highest administrative court ruled that the bans were an unacceptable curb on liberty.” Not about masks, but you get the idea.

Excuse me, but to my way of thinking, what’s happening right now is the epitome of hypocrisy. And I’m not the only one to notice.
​
Samuel Leighton-Dore (sbs.com.au/face-masks  – March 10, 2020) writes, “ Social media users have pointed to the trend of face masks at Paris Fashion Week as evidence of hypocrisy from French leaders, after France became the first European country to impose a ban on full-face veils in public areas back in 2011."

I’m sure there are valid reasons why law enforcement and others want (and should) limit masks at certain types of events, but it should include all masks, face coverings, and face painting no matter who you are. Better minds than mine have debated this matter for a long time, and will continue to do so.

My only point in writing this is to point out how quickly society (human beings, if you choose) will drop one fear-opinion-prejudice in favor of something else we find more threatening. We ought to be able to admit that to ourselves.


WHICH OF THESE DO YOU FIND MOST THREATENING?

​
Photo Credit: Estrop/Getty Images - Marine Serre Fashion Collection                                         Photo Credit: Kat, Creative Commons BY-NC 2.0 (cropped)
 Photo Source: insider.com/marine-serre masks                                                                             Photo Source: unu.edu/publications/prejudice 
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Masked demonstrators-Montreal-May Day Protest 2016     Police SWAT Team Leader-full gear                                                       Covid-19 Symbol               Photo Credit: The Canadian Press/Graham Hughes          Photo source: https://wallpapersafari.com/w/zg4f0o
Photo Source: theepochtimes.com/mask-laws

To quote Namira Islam Anani@namirari
​
“And here I was told covering your face was objectively offensive and a security threat.”


Just Sayin’.
 
Sources:
https://unu.edu/publications/articles/confronting-prejudice-against-muslim-women-in-the-west.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-mask_law
https://www.alamogordonews.com/story/news/local/holloman/2020/01/13/air-force-commissions-first-female-muslim-chaplain/4454664002/
https://nypost.com/2020/02/14/face-masks-are-must-have-accessory-of-london-fashion-week-amid-coronavirus-panic/
https://theconversation.com/muslim-women-who-cover-their-faces-find-greater-acceptance-among-coronavirus-masks-nobody-is-giving-me-dirty-looks-136021
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/opinion/quebec-veil-ban.html
https://www.aclu.org/other/discrimination-against-muslim-women-fact-sheet
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-13038095
https://www.economist.com/erasmus/2019/07/10/western-governments-are-telling-muslim-women-not-to-cover-up
https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/countries-that-ban-burkha-hijab-niqab-1514673-2019-05-02
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbes-personal-shopper/2020/04/20/these-face-masks-can-help-stop-the-spread-of-the-coronavirus-and-theyre-available-right-now/#11402de33936
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/fashion-brand-debuts-face-masks-at-paris-fashion-week-coronavirus-1281590
https://nocamels.com/2020/04/israel-fashion-accessories-face-masks-coronavirus/
Photos only:
https://www.shape.com/fitness/gear/face-mask-running-coronavirus
https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-it-time-to-wear-a-face-mask-11585855788
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/should-all-americans-be-wearing-face-masks-to-protect-against-coronavirus-these-scientists-say-yes-2020-03-31
https://wallpapersafari.com/w/zg4f0oa
https://www.amaliah.com/post/57037/french-niqab-ban-cardi-b-niqab-and-french-montana-niqabis-in-video


 


0 Comments

    Author R. Ann Siracusa

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