Eat Rats to Solve World Food Crisis

An Indian official says that he has the ultimate answer to solving the world’s food crisis. Vijay Prakash, secretary of the northeastern Indian state of Bihar, wants to put rats on food menus. According to Prakash, regular rat snacks would result in fewer rodents eating grain stocks – plus, you know, rats are packed with protein.  And just look at that photo - doesn’t it make your mouth water?

From Breitbart.com:

Prakash’s plan promotes consumption of rat meat in homes, street stalls, restaurants and even international five-star hotels.

He said he was also holding talks with prestigious hotels outside India to encourage them to put rat meat on their menus, but admitted his scheme had to overcome public prejudice.

“The only issue is how people react to rat meat, but I think it will not be a problem,” he said.

“Some socially deprived people in Bihar have always consumed rat meat. If they can eat rats, why can’t the rest of the people?” he said.

Members of the Mushar community and some other impoverished groups have traditionally eaten rats in India.

Call me crazy, but somehow I just don’t see this catching on in most areas of the world, especially the United States. Something tells me that rat fritters and the rodent filet sandwich would be the least popular items on the McDonald’s menu. We could certainly all benefit from eating a wider variety of foods, but rats are probably not the answer to the food crisis.

But, hey, it’s the Year of the Rat – and as you can see on this National Geographic video, residents of the West African country of Togo have been doing it for ages.

Link [Breitbart] + [YouTube]

PETA Fail: Runs Ad Comparing Greyhound Horror Killing to Animal Slaughterhouse Killing Horror

PETA has done it again.

In a not-so-surprising-for-PETA show of good taste, the animal rights group attempted to run an ad comparing animal slaughter to the brutal murder of Tim McClean, the 22-year-old who was beheaded by Vince Weiguang Li on a Greyhound bus in Winnipeg bound Canadian bus on July 30.

“His struggles and cries are ignored … the man with the knife shows no emotion … the victim is slaughtered and his head cut off … his flesh is eaten,” reads the ad, which can be seen on the organization’s website.

The ad was intended to run in the Portage la Prairie Daily Graphic. The newspaper refused it. Rightly so.

If PETA was intending to make themselves look like insane, insensitive radicals who write heavy-handed copy more befitting of Emily Bronte novels, they’ve succeeded. They’ve done a bang-up job of alienating pretty much everyone. Well done, guys. This was definitely a classy choice.

Link [Globe & Mail]

Slaughterhouse Worker Injured by Falling Dead Cow; Karma Wins Again

A 30-year-old slaughterhouse worker was doing what he does every day – waiting for big dead cows strung up on hooks to come down the line so he could butcher them. But on Monday, one of those dead cows got the last laugh. In an apparent attempt to posthumously exact revenge from one of the humans that robbed it of its life and desecrated its remains, the cow fell off the hook and right on top of the butcher.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Milwaukee Fire Department spokeswoman Tiffany Wynn said the cow fell off the hook and onto the man, hitting him on the shoulder and neck at Cargill Inc., 1915 W. Canal St., just before noon. She said it was a whole cow and the victim was about to butcher it. He suffered moderate but not life-threatening injuries and was taken to Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare-St. Francis hospital for treatment.

Police are investigating how the cow fell on top of the man and determining whether an investigator from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration will have to look at the details of the case as an industrial accident.

Revenge of the Undead Cows! There’s this thing called karma.  In all seriousness, this guy’s life must suck. He stands around wielding a big knife, covered in blood and guts all day and then gets taken out by a giant carcass.

Link [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
Photo credit: PETA via Vegan Outreach

Celebrity Chef Nearly Kills People with Salad

UK celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson made a misstep that might have had some serious repercussions if the magazine printing his quote hadn’t noticed the mistake. Thompson accidentally recommended a deadly plant for use in organic salads. The chef and TV presenter told the magazine “Healthy & Organic Living” that the weed henbane, also called stinking nightshade (yum!), is a delicious addition to summertime meals.

From Reuters:

Henbane, or Hyoscyamus niger, is toxic and can cause hallucinations, convulsions, vomiting and in extreme cases death.

Worrall Thompson, who was discussing his passion for organic foods, had confused the plant with another of a similar name.

Henbane, a close relative of deadly nightshade, was used by Dr Crippen to kill his wife in 1910, and is thought to have been the main ingredient in the poison Romeo took in Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet.”

Thompson apparently confused henbane with ‘fat hen’, a weed rich in vitamin C. Um, oops.

Link [Reuters]
Photo credit: Flickr user Catsper

Granite Countertops May be Tainted with Uranium

Would you like some cancer with those sweet granite countertops? Granite has been all the rage for the last decade or so, gaining 5% in popularity with each passing year. Homeowners might be getting more than they bargained for when completing kitchen renovations, however. Rice University physics professor W.J. Llope says that some granite countertops contain high levels of uranium which can endanger human health.

From Chron.com:

“Most stones, in terms of radioactivity, are relatively quiet,” Llope said. “But there are a couple I have found that are insanely hot.”

Using a Rice University spectrometer, Llope has examined 55 stones, representing about 25 varieties of granite purchased from Houston-area dealers. Some, he said, could expose homeowners to 100 millirems of radiation — the annual exposure limit set by the Department of Energy for visitors to nuclear labs — in just a few months.

Llope, who said he plans to publish his findings in a peer-reviewed journal, declined to name the most hazardous varieties of granite he has thus far examined. But he said dangerously radioactive varieties include striated granites from Brazil and Namibia.

As many as 1,600 varieties of granite from 64 countries are sold for household use in the United States. None of them is routinely tested for radioactivity.

Scientists are currently being assembled to develop a protocol for testing granite for radioactivity. While the granite industry has grumbled about the findings, saying that competitors selling non-granite products have made a bigger deal out of this than it is, Llope applauds the industry for taking an important first step to protect consumer safety.

In the meantime, homeowners worried about their countertops can get inexpensive radon testing kits from most hardware stores to test the levels in their homes themselves.

Link [Chron.com]
Photo credit: Sinks for Less

Crazy People Base Jumping Off Wind Turbines

Base jumping off wind turbines – I guess it was bound to happen. While some people might think this is totally awesome – dare I say, rad – it makes me want to cling to the ground for dear life. The idea of standing on the top of a wind turbine is enough to squeeze my stomach into painful little knots, let alone the idea of actually jumping off one.

That, my friends, takes some serious balls!

Link [Groovy Green] + [YouTube]

How to Throw Away a Car

Wait, that’s not how you do it?

Link [Bits & Pieces]

Cell Phones Blamed for Fatal Lightning Strikes

Throughout the month of July alone, lightning has killed and injured more than a dozen people according to Russian officials. Three sunbathers and one woman talking on her cell phone while walking along a river were killed, and a representative from local weather observation FOBOS says he believes that the accidents might be connected to increased use of portable electronic devices.  Cell phones and mp3 players are said to be electromagnetic field carriers, therefore making them conductors that would attract lightning.

Shit.  Now in addition to going sterile and getting brain cancer, we have to worry about lightning hitting our cell phones.

Link [InventorSpot]
Photo credit: Flickr user DDFic

The ‘Will it Blend’ Guy Puts New iPhone 3G in the Blender

This gives a new meaning to ‘Apple sauce’. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen this guy’s other ‘Will it Blend’ videos, but he basically takes stuff like tin cans full of pork and beans (like, the entire can) and sticks it in his blender to see if it will work. It’s all part of a viral marketing campaign for Blendtec, and I must say, the blender is obviously pretty powerful. Watch the video below:

So, Mr. Will it Blend, Tom Dickson, stood in line to get a brand new iPhone 3G and dropped that baby in his blender to see what would happen. It was completely obliterated, and when Tom peeled the lid off the blender, a nasty puff of smoke and tiny particles of who knows what wafted in front of his nose. Let’s analyze what was in that toxic burst of air that he just inhaled. How much time will that knock off his life?

InfoWorld kindly provided us with a breakdown of some of the nastiest materials in the iPhone:

According to Greenpeace, an independent lab tested 18 internal and external components of the iPhone and confirmed the presence of brominated compounds in half the samples, including in the phone’s antenna. A mixture of toxic phthalate esters was found to make up 1.5 per cent of the plastic (PVC) coating of the headphone cables.

“Two of the phthalate plasticisers found at high levels in the headphone cable are classified as ‘toxic to reproduction, category 2′ because of their long-recognized ability to interfere with sexual development in mammals,” said Dr. David Santillo, senior scientist at the Greenpeace Research Laboratories, who coordinated the project and deconstructed the iPhone for analysis. “While they are not prohibited in mobile phones, these phthalates are banned from use in all toys or childcare articles sold in Europe. Apple should eliminate the use of these chemicals from its products range.”

Gross. I hope Tom’s not planning on having any more children. Obviously, most of us are not going to be in a situation where we’ll be inhaling iPhone dust anytime soon, but it still makes you wonder about putting that thing next to your head and mouth every day.

Link [Neatorama] + [InfoWorld]

Thieves Around the U.S. Stealing Manhole Covers

A sign of true desperation: with the U.S. economy sagging, people have started resorting to stealing manhole covers to sell as scrap metal. The price of metal has skyrocketed lately, so thieves around the country have started stealing the 200-lb covers by the hundreds. Funny thing is, for all the effort it likely takes to haul off an iron manhole cover, you can only get $10-$15 each for them.

From USA Today:

“It’s a sign of the times,” says Sgt. Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia, where 28 manhole covers disappeared in April and May. “When the economy gets bad, people start stealing iron.”

It’s the first year he has seen such thefts since he started with the department 16 years ago.

Long Beach has lost more than 80 covers this year. People who have damaged their cars driving over manholes have filed claims with the city, Alsop says.

“Our No. 1 concern” is safety, he says. “A small kid can fall into these holes,” which can be 20 feet deep.

Hey, I guess meth heads gotta get their fix somehow! Seriously though, what’s next? They’re stealing copper wire off construction sites, catalytic converters straight from parked cars all over the place, and now manhole covers. Should I be locking down my metal patio set?

Link [USA Today]
Photo credit: Drugfree.org

Bicyclist Injured After Hitting a Bear in Colorado

Normally, we hear stories about bicyclists having run-ins with vehicles while out on the streets. In this case, however, the obstacle that one cyclist unexpectedly ran into had claws and sharp teeth. Tim Egan, 53, was riding in Boulder, Colorado one afternoon and hit a speed of 45 mph when a bear suddenly appeared in front of him.

From Rocky Mountain News:

This bear looked at me with a look of terror on his face and sort of made a noise,” said Egan. “I looked at him with a look of terror and we went, ‘aaaahhhhh.’”

He cracked some ribs, suffered cuts on his head and had road rash. Egan said he and the bike flipped and flew over the bear, hitting the pavement hard.

The bear ran away after the accident when a deer appeared.

Afterwards, he got back on his bike and pedaled to a hospital.

I guess I’d rather hit a bear than a tree – it’s at least softer – though trees don’t chew on your foot after you hit them.

Link [Rocky Mountain News]
Photo credit Daquella Manera

‘RepRap’ Robot Can Replicate Itself

It’s begun. The robots are taking over – plastic robots, to boot. English researchers have created a robot that can create 3-D replicas of objects like shoes and coat hooks – and can even replicate itself. It’s meant for the average person to have on their desktop, so you can create common plastic items as needed in your own home.

From PC World:

Scientists from the University of Bath in England unveiled an open-source machine that acts like a three-dimensional printer. Instead of printing out documents or pictures on paper, this printer uses blueprints to produce 3-D plastic objects.

The machine has been dubbed RepRap, which is short for replicating rapid-prototyper.

The goal is to eventually build a robot that can produce individual processors and circuit boards so people can build their own computers, according to Zack Smith, director of the RepRap Research Foundation.

Smith explained that unlike a regular printer that uses ink, RepRap heats up plastic and then squeezes it out into a line. The lines are built up into usable forms as they solidify. So far, the robot has made everyday plastic objects, like door handles, sandals and coat hooks. The machine has also successfully copied all of its own structural pieces.

It’ll likely be about 20 years before the robot can fully replicate itself. So, those of us with the sense to realize that giving machines intelligence is a deadly mistake have some time to start preparing.

Seriously though, this machine has the potential to either produce tons of useless plastic junk that will end up polluting the earth – or it could reduce our dependence on China for cheap manufacturing. (Chris DiBona, Google’s Open Source Programs Manager, said “Think of RepRap as China on your desktop”.)

The jury’s still out on how good it would ultimately be for the planet. It certainly seems like it could potentially cause a copyright lawsuit extravaganza as people stopped purchasing everyday items from stores and just created them at home.

Get more details at the RepRap website.

Link [PC World] + [RepRap]

‘Hell on Earth’ in Bangladesh: The Lives of Shipbreakers

There are many moments in life where you realize just how good you have it: you’re clothed, fed, and sheltered, and have a job that doesn’t subject you to constant broken bones, burns, malaria, cholera, dysentery, tuberculosis and great risk of drowning. And that’s enough, isn’t it?

Unfortunately for the shipbreakers in Chittagong, Bangladesh, life is not that good. Every malady I listed is what faces them each day, as they disassemble old, rusting ships sent to India by first-world countries to be sold as scraps. It’s difficult to get to Chittagong – tourists aren’t allowed nearby, and if you try to bring in a camera, you’ll find yourself in jail.

DeviantArt user alexiuss has compiled all of these photographs and the following information on Chittagong, which more closely resembles hell on earth than anything I’ve ever seen.

From the journal entry:

These ShipBreakers scrap the world’s ships with little more than their bare hands.

Despite wretched conditions, they say it is better to work and die than to starve and die.

Using blow torches, sledgehammers, chisels and wedges workers break the mammouth steel behemoths.

Massive slabs of carved up ships, plunge into the water, raising clouds of mist.

After the huge pieces crash into the water like glaciers calving, they are winched onto shore where they are cut up into bite-size pieces weighing hundreds of pounds then lifted and loaded by teams of guys–who sing in rhythm as they walk lock-step carrying the very heavy inch-thick steel plates–onto trucks

These metal scraps are sold (very profitably by the owners who live in huge mansions in town) as scrap metal across the country and Asia (with some reworked into ‘new’ ships).

This ShipBreaking installation exists because of the tide. It is one of those places — like the Bay of Fundy in Canada — where a host of geographical circumstances come together to create exceptionally large differences between the twice-daily high and low tides. Coupled with a soft, shelving beach, the tides at Alang make shipbreaking possible with a minimum of construction. There are no piers or drydocks. Ships are simply run onto the shore, and sometimes even pulled by the ShipBreakers towards their final destination.
ShipBreakers live in hovels built of scrap, with no showers, toilets or latrines. You can see such hovels from space using google map:

Ship breaking is done from 7 AM to 11 PM (same crew) with two half hour breaks and an hour for lunch (supper is eaten after they go home at 11); 14 hours a day, 6-1/2 days a week (off half day Friday for Muslim observations).

Workers in Alang begin stirring around 7:30 a.m.. Some wash from a bucket on the muddy ground outside their huts. Others squat by puddles, dipping toothbrushes in the yellow water and cleaning their teeth. There’s early morning coughing all around.

I don’t know about you, but this sure as hell makes me incredibly grateful that I’m safe and comfortable in my home as a paid blogger. I can’t begin to imagine living such a life as the shipbreakers lead.

Get the whole story on DeviantArt.

Link [DeviantArt]

Gross Olympic Souvenir: Goldfish in a Key Ring

If you were going to fly to China to attend the Olympics this summer, what kind of souvenir would you want to bring home? A t-shirt, a framed photograph? How about a plastic bag full of murky water and a decaying goldfish to attach to your key ring? Sounds like such a wonderful way to remember your great Chinese vacation.

From InventorSpot:

A plastic bag with a picture of Huan Huan, one of the cartoon mascots of the Games, on the outside. And inside: a live goldfish. The bag is part of a plastic key ring. According to the Telegraph story, the bags are sealed, so the fish live in a small pool of water, with little access to air, and no food whatsoever. The goldfish key rings are, of course, not a piece of official Olympic merchandise.

The story quotes a spokesperson from the United Kingdom’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals calling the key chains a gimmick which “show no respect for the animals at all,” though there’s no record of the story on the RSPCA’s web site. A manufacturer of the key chains could not be identified. This could mean the entire thing is a hoax, although there is a picture here of something that looks like a live goldfish in a tiny plastic bag.

A lot of people seem to think it’s a hoax, and we sure hope it is. A few months driving around with that thing on your keys and you’d be sure to end up with rotting fish remains all over your lap at some point or another.

Link [InventorSpot]

Student Group Eats a Cat in the Name of Animal Welfare

A group of students in Denmark have had their Facebook profiles suspended after uploading a video of them eating a cat. The students planned the cat-eating performance as a way to call attention to the plight of food animals such as pigs and cows. The reaction from the community wasn’t what they had hoped for; animal rights organizations are attacking the group for the act, calling it inhumane.

From The Copenhagen Post:

Before ending up on the students’ plates, the main course lived a life as a feral cat. It had been shot by a farmer trying to control the number of cats on his land.

In addition to the 30 pictures that have now been removed from Facebook, the group’s profile also included a recipe for a dish called ‘litter box’.

According to the group, the cat was killed humanely and prepared by a professional chef. They said they had received a few raised eyebrows when plans of their meal slipped out, but were nevertheless surprised by people’s reactions and were ‘disappointed’ that the profile was no longer accessible.

‘We wanted people to think about what it was they were putting in their mouths,’ said Laura Bøge Mortensen, a group member and the editor of Citat, a student magazine that carried an article about the meal.

‘It’s hypocritical for us to spend thousands of kroner on our pets, yet buy the cheapest pork from Netto that comes from pigs that have lived a horrid life. And just why is it that it’s worse to eat a cat than a pig?’

I see their point; I am an animal rights advocate myself, and if it weren’t for my husband, I’d be a certifiable crazy cat lady. I can’t imagine ever eating a cat, but I would never eat a pig, cow, chicken or other animal deemed ‘acceptable’ by society, either - and I do think there’s a big disconnect between how we view treatment of domestic animals vs. animals traditionally raised for food. I think their act of protest is a very gutsy, but in the end a bit too much like a PETA stunt - plus, it doesn’t take into account the fact that millions of cats suffer worldwide due to overpopulation.

If you’re wondering what the cat tasted like, the students described it as “a little like chicken, with an aftertaste of fur. Slightly chewy.” Mmm!

Link [Copenhagen Post]
Photo credit: Flickr user allygirl520

Dumped Corpses Give Sharks a Taste for Human Flesh

Experts believe that a pack of bull sharks in Mexico is intentionally targeting humans, after recent attacks have killed two surfers and injured another. A fourth swimmer is missing. The deadly 10-ft long sharks may have developed a taste for human flesh after feasting on corpses dumped by the mob. There are enough dead bodies ‘swimming with the fishes’ to cause sharks to crave people?

From The Sun:

The beach at Zihuantanejo – near Acapulco and popular with British tourists – had not previously recorded a shark incident in more than 30 years.

And, with an annual average of only four fatal shark attacks globally, the fact that two people have died along the same stretch of coast within weeks has astonished international experts.

The Zihuantanejo deaths come halfway through what is already turning into a bumper year for shark attacks.

Zihuantanejo is now gripped by fear. Police have been guarding beaches and signs warn against going into the water.

Local businessmen, worried the deaths will devastate the tourist industry, hired fishermen to kill the sharks.

We sense another ‘Jaws’ script being written at this very moment…

Link [The Sun] via [Frost Fire Zoo]

Poison Cane Toad Survives 40 Minutes in a Dog’s Stomach

Cane toads are tough little mofos. After being swallowed whole by a dog, a cane toad managed to stay alive in the dog’s stomach for 40 minutes before it was vomited up. Amazingly, the dog, owned by Darwin rugby league star Jackson Crews, survived too – poison cane toads usually kill even large animals that try to eat them.

From Environmental Graffiti:

Usually when under attack, cane frogs release deadly toxins, which could easily kill large dogs. Crews phoned the animal hospital seconds after understanding the problem and was instructed to bring the dog immediately. Once there, doctors gave the dog some substances that made it vomit. On the first attempt, nothing came out except for stomach churned pie and pasties. However, the vets persisted and on the second attempt, the toad was released.

The best part is that the vets kept the toad afterward and named it ‘Spew’.

Cane toads, natives of Central and South America, were introduced to Australia in an attempt at pest control, which failed miserably. They’ve become a bane of Australian farmers, who are frustrated by their domestic animals and livestock dying from contact with the toads. As a result, Australians have resorted to some desperate measures to get rid of the creatures, including killing them to make disgusting cane toad change purses like the one pictured above.

Link [Environmental Graffiti] + [Wikipedia]
Photo credit: Wikipedia

California Woman Starts Fires to Protest Gas Prices

Talk about getting hot about high gas prices (forgive me, that was a terrible pun). One woman in California is so irate, she decided that setting fire to two gas station bathrooms – and, inexplicably, a Starbucks – was the best way to ‘take a stand’ against rising gas prices that are putting a pinch on Americans’ wallets.

InsideBayArea.com has it:

Police received a report at 10 a.m. about a woman using a fireplace log and lighter to burn the restroom of an Arco gas station at Camino Tassajara and Tassajara Ranch Drive in Danville, Williams said. A gas station clerk put out the fire and then called police.

Soon after, police received a report of another restroom fire, this time at a Chevron station at Crow Canyon Road and Camino Tassajara. A fireplace log again was used and a woman matching the description of the suspect in the Arco case was reported in the area, Williams said.

A third call came soon after, when a restroom was reported on fire at the Starbucks, at 11000 Crow Canyon Rd.

No structural damage occurred in any of the restrooms, Williams said.

Craig was spotted by a Danville police sergeant at a nearby McDonald’s restaurant. She had eight logs with her, Williams said.

Apparently, she woke up in the morning and thought, ‘what can I do about high gas prices? Oooh, I know! Where are my arson supplies?’ It must have been funny for the people who were sitting near her in McDonalds before the cops came in, wondering what the hell this crazy lady was doing with eight fireplace logs.

*Note: Drew Barrymore was not involved in this particular incident.

Link [InsideBayArea]

Man Claims Pot was for Composting, Not Smoking

File this under incredibly creative excuses: an Iowa man told police that recycling was all he had in mind when he was found to be the proud owner of a large quantity of marijuana. I mean, why bother pulling the old “It’s not mine!” or “I thought it was oregano!” when you can at least come up with something entertaining that will get your name in the news.

The Jackson Sun has it:

A complaint by the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office says the 30-year-old man told police in Iowa City that he planned to turn several large bags of marijuana into compost.

Officers report the bags he had when he was arrested early Saturday held a “gallon” or more of marijuana each.

The complaint says officers didn’t buy the compost story. The suspect remained in jail Sunday without posting $14,000 bail on a charge of possessing marijuana with intent to distribute.

I’m going to remember that next time I uh, know somebody who knows somebody who has what might be something like pot. Especially if they have several GALLONS of it. Jesus. Puff, puff, compost!

Link [Jackson Sun]
Photo credit: Flickr user r0bz

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