Free Republic

“Pit bull roulette” cost the lives of 38 humans, plus nearly 13,000 dogs, 5,000 cats, and more than 20,000 farmed animals in 2017––and, only two weeks into 2018, has already killed Happy Hound Hotel boarding kennel worker Laura Williams Ray, of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, and three-year-old Rylee Marie Dodge, of Duncan, Oklahoma, along with many dozens of animals. Overall, pit bulls accounted for 68% of the human dog attack deaths in 2017, 88% of the human disfigurements, 92% of the dogs killed by other dogs, 94% of the dogs seriously injured by other dogs, 96% of the cats killed by...

CARTER COUNTY, Okla. -- Officials said a woman was attacked and killed by a neighbor's dogs on Thursday night. Carter County Sheriff Chris Bryant said the victim -- whose name has not yet been released -- was attacked by seven dogs and later died from her injuries. Bryant said the incident happened before 10 p.m. at a residence just east of Ardmore on Banyon Road. He said one of the dogs was a pit bull; the others were medium-sized dogs of other breeds, all with the same owner. "Once we were notified that this female had succumbed to her injuries,...

Sweet potatoes were domesticated thousands of years ago in the Americas. So 18th century European explorers were surprised to find Polynesians had been growing the crop for centuries. New genetic evidence instead suggests that wild precursors to sweet potatoes reached Polynesia at least 100,000 years ago — long before humans inhabited the South Pacific islands, researchers report April 12 in Current Biology. If true, it could also challenge the idea that Polynesian seafarers reached the Americas around the 12th century. For the new study, the researchers analyzed the DNA of 199 specimens taken from sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) and...

“Tu n’abandonnes jamais les tiens, ni au combat, ni dans la vie.” These words grace the back label of Esprit de Corps Grand Cuvée, a Vermentino from Côtes de Provence Sainte–Victoire. It means, “You never abandon your own, not in combat, nor in life.” The phrase references Article VII of the French Foreign Legion’s Code of Honor, which is a hint at the bottle’s unlikely provenance: a retirement home for former legionnaires. Nestled in postcard-perfect vineyards in Provence, the Domaine du Capitaine Danjou winery is the antithesis of abandonment. It provides lodging, purpose, and, most importantly, brotherhood. Leave it to...

The OSBI has found new evidence linking a wind energy group to the political consultant who had a state legislator tracked, The Oklahoman has learned. "It's pretty obvious," Rep. Mark McBride said of the evidence from the subpoenaed phone records of Texas political consultant George C. Shipley. McBride, R-Moore, has blamed the wind industry ever since finding a GPS tracker on his pickup the evening of Dec. 4. He was told about the new evidence Thursday when a special agent from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation reinterviewed him. After going through the phone records, they have matched phone calls...

ONE of Britain’s oldest people has turned 110, saying her long life is thanks to friends...and onions. Daisy Bastin puts her longevity down to the combination, saying: “I am very lucky in my life to have had such loyal friends and to still be in good health.” She added home cooking with fresh onions had helped too. She said: “They keep me going. They’re good for the skin too.” Mrs Bastin, of Glastonbury, Somerset, was born on May 3, 1908, in Devon as one of seven children. She met her husband Alf in 1933 and they were happily married for...

Listen. It's surprisingly good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV1-AjwDJwM

Amy Schumer is recovering after being hospitalized for five days with a “horrible” kidney infection. The “I Feel Pretty” star was supposed to fly to London for the opening of her new movie, but announced in the post that her doctors wouldn’t let her travel.

Fewer than 40 such eggs are held in public collections today (The Buffalo Museum of Science, BSNS Q 257) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ hen humans first arrived on the island of Madagascar around 1500 years ago, they encountered an array of remarkable species that have since gone extinct: gorilla-sized lemurs, giant tortoises, tiny hippos and a huge, long-necked, flightless bird that lumbered through Madagascar’s forests and laid the largest eggs of any known vertebrate, including dinosaurs. The eggs of the Aepyornis, also known as the elephant bird, were a highly valuable food source for Madagascar’s human settlers. With a volume roughly equal to...

Dog rescuers, flush with donations, buy animals from the breeders they scorn An effort that animal rescuers began more than a decade ago to buy dogs for $5 or $10 apiece from commercial breeders has become a nationwide shadow market that today sees some rescuers, fueled by Internet fundraising, paying breeders $5,000 or more for a single dog. The result is a river of rescue donations flowing from avowed dog saviors to the breeders, two groups that have long disparaged each other. The rescuers call many breeders heartless operators of inhumane “puppy mills” and work to ban the sale of...

Halsey Taylor is one of the leading manufacturers of drinking fountains today. Company founder Halsey W. Taylor invented the non-squirting drinking fountain. In 1896, Taylor's father died from typhoid fever. This illness is principally spread through contaminated drinking water. Several years later, while working as a plant superintendent for the Packard Motor Car Company, Taylor realized numerous workers were becoming sick with dysentery. He believed contaminated drinking water was the chief reason for the spreading illness. Taylor determined to develop a drinking fountain that was sanitary and would not contribute to the spreading of various illnesses. By 1912, he had...

Trey Willison, a cannabis farmer in Eugene, first started worrying last May about there being too much marijuana in Oregon. He had sold all his “clone” plants to other growers, who were using them to cultivate yet more marijuana. “You start doing the math on that and it just didn’t make sense how people could be growing that many plants,” Willison said. Fast-forward nearly a year and Oregon does indeed have a glut of marijuana; there are over 1m lb of usable but unsold marijuana, according to the state tracking system. That’s more than 128m “eighths” of weed, and almost...

We are at the Florida county level, trying to fight a land purchase by an electric utility, to install acres of solar panels, on pristine hilltops and highest land in Florida. 350 acres. My posting is to solicit any freeper input as in has this happened in your area of the world. Our group wants to limit the solar farm to the lower elevation land areas, between the hillsides. What we are up against is corrupt politicians. State Senator Wilt Simpson bought this pastureland in 2016, after the county passed restrictions on housing development. He seems to have gotten fantastic...

[Photo: courtesy of Kraft Heinz] _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ As if our nation weren’t polarized enough, a new condiment is threatening to divide us even further: On Wednesday, Heinz announced potential plans to bring “mayochup” into the world. It’s half ketchup, half mayonnaise, and if you ask some people, 100% wrong. The food-processing company announced Thursday it’s contemplating selling the new product, provided it garners enough interest. It launched a public poll on Twitter, asking Americans to make the hard decision for them: “Want #mayochup in stores? 500,000 votes for yes and we’ll release it to you saucy Americans.” The reaction is mixed....

A Japanese variety of sweet potato Pixabay _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ At some point, sweet potatoes crossed the Pacific. This much we know. As for the rest—How? When? Why?—we’re just not sure. Or, to be more clear, some people are sure they’re sure, and others disagree. Sweet potatoes have been at the center of a massive archaeological debate for many decades now, and a new paper in Current Biology has only stoked the flames. It uses genetic data from sweet potatoes and their relatives to establish a phylogenetic tree of their evolution, thereby demonstrating that the tubers existed in Polynesia before humans lived...

The OKC Thunder has issued a statement condemning the comments ... "We find the term used by Brian Davis on our broadcast last night to be highly inappropriate and offensive." "We’ve discussed it with the announcer and let him know that. He assures us it was not meant in any sort of offensive or derogatory manner and he apologizes." "Nonetheless, he’s been told the use of that term in any manner is unacceptable." An NBA game announcer is in hot water after saying Russell Westbrook was playing so well Wednesday night ... he was "out of his cotton-picking mind." Dude....

The small intestine, where most vitamins and other micronutrients are digested and absorbed. Credit: Wikimedia Commons ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Although the vast majority of research on the gut microbiome has focused on bacteria in the large intestine, a new study—one of a few to concentrate on microbes in the upper gastrointestinal tract—shows how the typical calorie-dense western diet can induce expansion of microbes that promote the digestion and absorption of high-fat foods. Several studies have shown that these bacteria can multiply within 24 to 48 hours in the small bowel in response to consumption of high-fat foods. The findings from this...

Globalisation and increased movement between countries and continents means movement of agricultural pests is becoming more common. Global trade means global pests. Credit: CSIRO __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ CSIRO scientists have confirmed the hybridisation of two of the world's major pest species, into a new and improved mega-pest. One of the pests, the cotton bollworm, is widespread in Africa, Asia and Europe and causes damage to over 100 crops, including corn, cotton, tomato and soybean. The damage and controlling the pest costs billions of dollars a year. It is extremely mobile and has developed resistance to all pesticides used against it. The other...

WASHINGTON — Horse meat production won’t resume in the U.S. anytime soon, a victory for animal-rights advocates under the spending bill signed last week by President Donald Trump. The $1.3 trillion spending deal, which funds the government through September, renewed the country’s horse slaughter ban. Just months ago, animal-rights activists feared the ban could be in jeopardy. The measure includes language that prohibits the U.S. Department of Agriculture from spending money on inspecting horse slaughter facilities. Without inspections, horse slaughter plants can’t operate, so they’ll remain closed as they have for more than a decade. “I think we’re all kind...

PHOENIX — What's the difference between a Grade A egg and one that's labeled Grade AA? Pretty soon it could be as much as three weeks. The state Senate this week gave final approval to legislation that allows Grade A eggs to remain available for sale for up to 45 days after they were packed. That's nearly twice as long as currently permitted. In fact, the cartons for these eggs won't use terms like "sell by'' or "buy thru'' — the language in the current law. Instead they will be marked "best by'' or "use by.'' Consumers who want to...