Welcome to the Family: Meet Some of the Newly Discovered Species of 2010

Meet the Histiophryne psychedelica. A newly discovered antennariidae, meaning - scary-looking fish that creeps around and eats things. This 'Psychedelic Frogfish' creeps around on it's pectoral fins and feeds mostly on small fish and shrimp Being a lophiiformes, it's scaleless and covered in charming - but deadly - protective mucus.














This seemingly adorable, pokemon-looking slug creature was given the name Aiteng Ater this year after being discovered off of the Gulf of Thailand. This Gastropoda was named after a shadowplay puppet used in Thailand. It's diet consists of mainly insects and lacks gills and a cerata.







Move over, King Kong - there's a new king of the jungle. The Tyrannobdella rex (or, tyrant leech king) likes to crawl up your nasal cavity and gnaw at your brain. This seven-centimeter long beast was discovered this year in the Peruvian Amazon. It's hobbies include climbing inside of your orfaces, enslaving roundworms to do their bidding, sucking your blood and eating your brain! ... I think I prefer King Kong.





That Peruvian brain-eating worm kinda freaks me out, so it's time for some comic relief. This charming new species of bat is referred to as the "Yoda Bat". It was discovered during a scientific expedition to Papua New Guinea and identified as a tube-nosed fruit bat. Might I also add that it was given a very scientific name. The Yoda bat, like other fruit bats, is crucial to it's environment because of the fruit seeds that it... disperses.






Yet another candidate for a new pokemon, this adorable little guy is being temporarily called 'purple octopus'. It was said to be discovered in a"very alien area"(off the coast of Canada, lol) - the validity of this species calls for further speculation and investigation. But, if I may be so bold as to make a suggestion - I believe we should call it Squishysquishius marginatus.





This recently discovered, but speculated monkey - is allergic to rain (and apparently staying alive). The sneezing snub-nosed monkey is currently being poached in Myanmar, leaving conversationalists paralyzed with fear! This monkey's hobbies and interests include eating tiny pieces of grass(rumored), getting eaten by locals and doing Michael Jackson impressions. ... (someone had to say it.) I think the name sneezing snub-nosed monkey is a little bit too vague. I believe that it should obviously be named Michael Jackson in honor of his passing and because of the fact that he loved monkeys almost as much as conversationalists claim to.

The Raging Disease Against North American Bats Seems Endless

 

  You may not know it, but bats make up a fundamental, and mysterious, part of our society. Though they are often unseen, a colony of Little Brown bats can consume many of the insect pests that eat at valuable crops in one night. The Little Brown is the most common species of bat in North America, their diet consisting mostly of mosquitoes, moths, flies, and the like. But a raging epidemic known as the White Nose syndrome has been killing off these insect lovers; the first outbreak was estimated to have occurred in 2006, when a caver reported a number of bats with unusual white fungus on their noses and wings. Since then, the White Nose syndrome has become the ultimate predator for bats across North America.

   When the bats are hibernating in their caves, the fungus starts to spread across their snouts and wings, causing them to wake up before spring. They then flee the cave, searching for prey that is not there. This is why many bats stricken with the disease either die of starvation, or from other bat eating predators. The Tri-color, the endangered Indian and the Northern bat have all just about died out, and Little Browns appear to be headed the same way. While there have been countless attempts to find a cure for White Nose, researchers and biologists are stumped.

  The disease is a remarkably fast spreading one. In just four years (2006-2010), it infected over 116 caves, equaling millions of bats, in seven different states, as well as Canada and the Appalachian mountains.  "One of the biggest problems we're facing is that we don't really know much about bats or this fungus," said Hazel Barton, a British professor of microbiology working at the University of Kentucky. She and her team have concentrated most of their efforts into studying the White Nose syndrome. "But what we do know is everything is stacked against the bats. It's like this disease was tailor made to kill them off in their millions."

  How exactly does the syndrome kill the bats? This too is a mystery, though the general theory is that the disease interferes with the hibernation patterns, and attacks their immune system. Never before has there been such a fierce plague against the bats, or so many millions killed in such a short time. Scientists will continue to help the small remaining percent of bats fight off the disease, and hope to find a cure- fast.

The Undemocracy: A Look Inside the American Vote

     When we think of voting machines, whether they be electronic touch screens or punch cards, they're considered mostly to be infallible, a cornerstone of democracy. The public votes, the votes are tallied, and the winners announced. But what really goes on during this process? It turns out that when you do a little digging in the American voting system, the very word 'vote' starts to crumble.
When the Presidential election voting days are over, all electronic votes and all punch card votes are saved and eventually are put through a “master computer”. This computer counts the total number of votes and announces the winning candidates.  There are occasionally recounts but usually they are just for show, and provide inaccurate results.  The surprising side of this is that the software the computers use to calculate the votes is a total secret to all but a few people. Not even the purchasers of the software are allowed to look at the coding, which creates a pretty big question: do these electronic voting machines truly work?


  The answer to this question turned out to be a pretty big no. Bev Harris, the founder of blackboxvoting.org, proved that Diebold Election Systems (now called Premier Election Systems) voting machines are easily hacked. Premier Election Systems voting machines and voting software are widely used across the United States. She discovered and was able to download GEMS source code on an obscure website page, and went on to demonstrate how easy it is to hack into the GEMS central tabulating software on national television in 2005.  Yet, despite this evidence which seems rock solid, there were little repercussions.  The software was tested and apparently "updated" by selected computer programmers, though even further inspection resulted in that no changes had been made to the original software at all.


  In her documentary, Hacking Democracy, Bev and her companions found many bags full of original audit records in the trash at a Volusia County warehouse, and more behind the elections office in the trash. These original records proved to be incomplete, and many more of the audit records were not found. This proved that the vast majority of the American voting system is a flawed and fraudulent one, though many representatives and politicians turned a blind eye to this striking evidence.  One example of the absurd ways the American voting system works is the 2000 Presidential election.  George W. Bush scored a very close win, with 271 electoral votes to Al Gore's 266. There is still much suspicion regarding whether or not Bush was voted as President by the American people or through secrecy and illegal tampering with the voting machines.  To public disappointment, Al Gore did not challenge the vote count like he had said he would prior to the election, and instead congratulated his opponent on the win. Was he bought out by George Bush, or did he simply decide not to pursue the issue? We may never know what changes could have been made for the better of the American people if Al Gore had fought against the final vote count.  This broken wheel of pretended democracy will continue to spin unless American citizens step up and demand change for their nation.

Farmers in the United States: A Vanishing Population

A hundred years ago, it was common for young people to be involved in farming and agriculture, whether it be through working on their parents' farm or getting a job on another. Now, according to the USDA'S Agricultural Census, the number of adults under the age of 35 working on farms has been reduced from around 1.8 million in 1910 to just 118,000. There is expected to be over 500,000 farmers retiring in the next twenty years, which puts heavy expectation on young aspiring farmers.

It is for this reason that Tom Vilsack, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, has put out a message asking for 100,000 new farmers to step up to the field. The last Farm Bill of 2008 (the primary food and agricultural policy tool for the government) contains some mostly unknown elements, like several governmental programs aimed towards young and beginner farmers. One such program is the Beginner Farmer and Rancher Development Program, and there are also direct loans available to farmers as a start up to buying and maintaining their own land. These programs would work out very well if the new farmers knew more about them; many say they have never heard of the programs, aren't qualified for them, or were misinformed.

For those who are seeking a Farm Service Agency (FSA) loan, you might be in for a long struggle. The USDA requires that any farmer applying for a loan must have at least three years of experience working in the agricultural as well as the business environment of a farm. Apparently, this secures a “reasonable prospect of success” for the farmer and/or farm. You must also show that you were more than a “laborer” on the farm by providing bills addressed to them, checks you signed for the farm, or a written statement describing their role on the farm in detail by the farmer you worked for.

The FSA process of acquiring a loan is still painfully slow, and not at all desirable with the competitive prices of buying good farm land. The FSA also doesn't offer pre approval, meaning if you find the perfect piece of land but you don't yet have a loan, even if you are in the process of getting a loan, you can't make a bid on that land. Because of the lack of pre approval, these loans are usually only suitable for those buying from patient sellers and slow real estate markets, and neither of those things are very likely to occur.

Hmong: The Heroes You've Never Heard of

They aided us in the Vietnam war. We abandoned them in the forest.

After the Laotian Civil War, the Hmong were alienated from Asia. Looking for political asylum and a place of their own, they fled to Thailand. Today, most Hmong remain in Asia, but many are scattered throughout the globe in places like Australia, Canada, Argentina, French Guiana and the U.S.

Although often mistaken for Chinese or Vietnamese, the Hmong speak their own language. It is a tone-based language that has a wide range of dialects. When this language is entered into google translate, it is detected as Swedish. The Hmong call this language Hmoob, or Moob.

The Secret Army.

In the early 1960's, the CIA began recruiting Hmong men to help us in the Vietnam war. The Hmong agreed to fight not for us, but for their own freedom. The Hmong felt the threat of the opposing Vietnam forces, and realized there was to be little freedom for them under communist rule. By 1961, the CIA had 9,000 Hmong men to expend where they wished. They mainly stationed the Hmong in Laos because at the time, we had signed a treaty that had forbidden us to fight in Laos. But the opposing communist forces instantaneously violated this agreement and exploited Laos. Some Hmong were used to block the Ho Chi Minh trail which was used by the Vietnamese in Laos as a means of food transportation.

The U.S government basically made a pinky promise with the Hmong. The pinky promise stated that if they fought for us, we would always be there to protect and help them. A promise easily forgotten.

The poorly equipped and trained Hmong continued to fight in Laos under the CIA against dreadful odds. A total of 3,771 Hmong had their lives stolen. The Kennedy administration took notice of this and urged the CIA to recruit more Hmong men.

In 1963, the CIA now had 20,000 Hmong men fighting in Laos. Many were educated and were trained by the CIA to be pilots. The fearless Hmong took to the air and fought vigorously until every single one of them was killed. Their bravery inspired by thirst for freedom seemed to know no bounds. America took advantage of this fact.

An estimated 100,000 Hmong men died while fighting in Laos. Once the war was over and Laos fell to communism, the Hmong tried to escape to Thailand. Un-aided by America, 30,000 men, women and children died - trying to reach safety. The Hmong gave up literally everything to fight for us in Laos. Their homes, their country, their way of life and their families. All for a promise that we forgot to keep.

Finally recognizing the great sacrifice of the Hmong, America began accepting refugees in December, 1975. Today, approximately 250,000 Hmong reside in the United States, while just as many are still living in fear in Laos - residing in jungle camps, still using the artillery that America issued them in Vietnam.

For those still trapped in Laos, every day is like Vietnam.

'If our dream is not big enough to unite us, then people tend to create problems to divide us.'
Hmong proverb.

An Ancient Discovery: The Vegetarian Crocodile

 

     Paleontologists have recently reported that they unearthed some of the first vegetarian crocodile fossils, the bones dating over 80 million years. This kind of crocodile, named Simosuchus clarki, is one of many different crocodile subspecies. It has thick armored skin and a snout too short to be suitable for catching live prey, but perfect for munching on wild vegetation. The crocodile is a short one, only four feet long, with a short tail and a wide body, its hide covered in armored plates.

     David Krause, a paleontologist with Stony Brook University, was part of the team that found the ancient crocodile, and said, “No other crocodile looks as bizarre as this one. Crocodiles evolved into a wide variety of body plans in the Age of Dinosaurs, but this one really looks unusual.”  Six well preserved fossils of these strange crocodiles have been found on the island of Madagascar, the teeth of the crocodiles still intact with the skull. Several South American crocodiles over 65 million years ago also show signs of eating a vegetarian diet rather than the carnivorous way of life of today's crocodiles.

     Simosuchus was first discovered in 2000, but only now is there enough fossil evidence for it to be included in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Many paleontologists around the world are excited by this ancient discovery, some saying that this particular crocodile is an exceptional and unique creature. Its way of life can be most compared to that of an armadillo, hunkering down in forests and plains to munch on grasses. This crocodile will surely be remembered in future discoveries.

Chocolate Slaves: The Real Cost of Your Chocolate Bar

Who doesn't love chocolate? It seems irresistible: the rich, luxurious, sweet cocoa treat can be in some cases addicting. Chocolate is often imported and shipped thousands of miles around the world to land neatly on your local supermarket shelf, waiting for a hungry customer to pick it up and drop it in their shopping basket. But for those of you who don't know, or who have never bothered to find out, where chocolate really comes from, it could be quite a shock.



Cocoa beans are the main component of chocolate, and are harvested in many different tropical areas of the world, like Africa and the Caribbean. The West African country of Cote d'Ivoire, also known as Ivory Coast, is the largest producer of cocoa beans in the world. Ivory Coast alone provides over 43% of the world's cocoa beans, a big number for a small country. While the farmers are doing well, with mass buyers like Nestle and Hershey's, their method of harvesting and producing the cocoa beans is appalling.

Every year, an estimated 200,000 boys between the ages of twelve and sixteen are tricked and lured from neighboring African countries onto Ivory Coast, with false promises of high payment and luxurious gifts. Once they arrive, however, they are being forced to work as slaves under farm owners. These boys receive no pay and are forced to work from dawn till dusk carrying and hauling sacks of cocoa beans on the farms, and receive beatings when they fall or lag in their work. It is truly a horrifying experience, and the fact that these beans are made to produce the sweet snack we all love to eat is almost comical.

There are an estimated 60,000 cocoa farms on Ivory Coast, and the number of slaves working on them grows every day. A freed slave by the name of Aly Diabate told reporters, “Anytime they loaded you with bags of cocoa beans and you fell while carrying them, nobody helped you. Instead they beat you and beat you until you picked it up again.” Aly Diabate was freed from the farm he worked on for eighteen months when a fellow slave managed to escape and alert the authorities. The farmer was arrested and Aly received $180 for his unpaid and torturous work. Unfortunately, there are many other cocoa farms on Ivory Coast where children are living undignified and downtrodden lives, to say the very least. Though Aly was returned to and lives with his family now, the psychological and physical scars still remain.

Tensions Rise Between North and South Korea: A Report on the Live-Fire Drills in Yeonpyeong

North Korea feels that the live-fire drills being held on Yeonpyeong to be an act of provocation, yet numerous South Korean government officials doubt that North Korea will succeed in carrying out their threats.

With the announcement of another live-fire drill by the U.S and South Korea, North Korea threatens to strike the South once again.

The live-fire drill, which would be held on the currently disputed island of Yeonpyeong, entices North Korea to violently lash out. Although many fear this response could prove stronger than last month's shelling, which killed 4, the drill will commence December 18th. Still - the fact that the Yeonpyeong shelling was the first threat put to action by North Korea since the Korean War alarms many.

Neighboring countries like China and Russia quickly took notice of this intensifying dissension. Russia has expressed their deep concern by requisitioning South Korea and the U.S to drop their plans for Yeonpyeong. . The Russian Foreign Ministry voiced their demand to halt the fire-drill before tensions further ascend. Neither nations seem to be heeding their request.

China urges the U.S and other countries/powers to play a constructive role in the feud by encouraging new talks with North Korea.


Although, any discussion with North Korea always ends in the same way - a threat or conflict of nuclear weapons. Several analysts believe North Korea uses their nuclear weapon-oriented threats to possess the upper hand in economic and aid based discussions.


If these provoking actions taken by South Korea and other nations continue or even increase, it is feared that North Korea will begin testing their nuclear weapons, long-ranged missiles and could even initiate a third atomic test.

Now we can only wait to see what happens December 18th through the 21st. A possible scenario includes North Korea dispatching special forces to South Korean waters for investigation or quite possibly another shelling.

The Holocaust in Africa

Ever since the recent rise of religions like Islam and Christianity in Africa, the condemnation of homosexuals has been intensifying with each passing day.

Priests all over the continent have been holding sermons to educate the public on homosexuals. These "educating" sermons teach the public that homosexuals are filthy, disease-infested animals that threaten their every day lives. It is taught that homosexuals deliberately defy god and therefore should not be tolerated within their society.

This alienation has both encouraged and influenced negative actions towards African homosexuals. Gays and Lesbians residing in Africa have undergone alienation and torture. Their rights to health-care have been revoked and countless have been murdered.

Countries such as Uganda have been processing a bill that would result in death penalties for alleged homosexual couples and a 50 year to life sentence in jail for reported homosexual activity. These punishments can be compared to someone who has been convicted of murder in the U.S. A Judge in Malawi has motioned for a 14 year hard-labor camp sentence for alleged homosexuals and Africans who have been accused of committing suspicious or homosexual acts. There are hate-crimes against gays reported daily in Zimbabwe and Senegal. The president of Gambia has motioned to expel all homosexuals from the country.

Priests are often known to hold exorcisms for gays, hoping to cure them. Many African men and women have admitted to undergoing these exorcisms in hopes of being cured. Many are forced to. Many do not want to. But these men and women, who previously identified as homosexuals, now claim that they have indeed been cured. Although, it is hard to tell who is "cured" and who is just speaking out of fear. After all... a so-called "cured" homosexual gets to lead a normal, unprejudiced life.

Gay-rights activists in the West have shown their support by donating money to homosexual communities in need.
These efforts have made prejudice, anti-gay Africans take notice of our culture. American gays are also regularly brought up in the negative sermons held by priests. We are now being portrayed as a culture who allows this god-defying evil to run rampant through our country. What could this mean for our relations with Africa in the future? What could this mean for the future of Africa itself?


"If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed." -Adolf Hitler

New Meningitis Vaccines Introduced in Uganda

     Uganda is one of the many small countries in Africa that we often don't hear much about. The total population is just over 32,000,000 and surrounded by other countries on all four sides: in the east by Kenya, south by Tanzania, north by Sudan, and the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This area is sometimes called the “meningitis belt”, or simply the belt, because this area as well as others are where meningitis is known to be most deadly.



Photo (c) Francesco Zizzola of children in Uganda.

     Though Uganda has never faced any major problems with disease in the past, in 2007 the death toll due to meningitis raised up to 110 deaths in the West Nile area, with over 2,500 reportedly infected. Many schools, disco halls and markets were closed because of the high risk of infection, and churches had to limit services in order to slow down the spread of disease. It is surprising, therefore, that only recently it was announced by the President that the West African region is procuring and giving out vaccines that are capable of preventing and stopping the virus.

     According to New Vision Online, a Uganda newspaper, Dr. Asuman Lukwago, the health ministry's acting secretary, stated, “We always assess the threat before procuring any vaccine. However, we don't always carry out routine vaccinations since meningitis attacks are not common in the country.” These vaccines, dubbed the MenAfriVac, cost less than 50 US cents per dose, and are a safe and cheap remedy for one of the biggest and most widely spread viruses.

     Though it is unusual for the major A epidemics to occur (usually once every 7-14 years) it is estimated over 450 million people are at risk for catching this deadly virus across the African continent. These tightly knit African countries have suffered epidemics for over 100 years that have destroyed many lives, and it is a relief to many that a ready vaccine will soon be arriving.

The BP Oil Spill: What Really Went Down


At 9:45pm on April 20^th, 2010, the vast and towering Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, killing 11 men and marking the beginning of one of the biggest oil spills in the history of the US. The cause of the explosion? To put it simply, the cause was bad planning, ignorance, and a utter disregard for safety standards. After the oil rig 

Photo (c) Leanne Sarco.
Oil washed ashore on Grand Isle's last natural beach.



burned for over 24 hours and then sank into the Gulf of Mexico, the Obama Administration, BP and Transocean, the owner of the rig, all considered it to be an unpreventable disaster. But the truth is that had BP taken the steps necessary to make sure that there was a working blowout preventer and their safety procedures secure, there may not have ever been a Deepwater Horizon oil spill. 

As the April days after the oil spill turned into May, the estimations of how much oil would actually be spewed from the 5,000 foot pipe on the bottom of the ocean grew larger and larger. The second week of the oil spill, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that their scientists believed over 5,000 barrels would be spilled into the Gulf waters per day until the well was capped. This remained the government's estimate until May 1^st, 2010. Dr. Ian MacDonald, an oceanographer, said that he estimated the flow rate to be up to 26,500 barrels per day. But soon it became clear that the actual amount of oil spilling from the bottom of the ocean was far, far more.

Soon after this estimate was made, a layer of oil could be seen clearly on the surface of the Gulf, spreading out from the site of the explosion as though an invisible hand was pouring a tar onto the ocean. BP and the Obama Administration seemed remarkably lax as the oil crept further and further towards shore, making only feeble attempts to hire fishermen as well as Coast Guard employees to set up booms and oil catching nets along the waters close to shore. But the number of people working on setting up these booms are remarkably small and the bags of oil dragged ashore and put into toxic waste dumps is even smaller. As the oil grew into the hundreds of thousands of gallons, it is obvious that there is more than just the ocean at stake.



As the balmy summer days stretched by, thick oil began to wash up on the Louisiana and Alabama shorelines, despite the unsuccessful booms that were laid out “strategically” across the waters. BP was quick to give up any semblance of taking the blame as it was now clear that the ocean was peril, instead pointing their fingers at Transocean and Hamilton, the owner of the rig and the cementing company who had made the cement casings for the oil rig. The result was a lot of public confusion and even more dreadful news for the Gulf coast wildlife.



Pelicans, hermit crabs, fish, seagulls, sea turtles: they're all by now in mortal danger, and they seemed to realize it. In Grand Isle, Louisiana, the visible oil started small but soon ballooned along the shoreline, with vast patches of foul smelling oil coating the sand. Pelicans landed in the water, skimming for fish, but are soon bogged down by the oil that swamps their wings. Fish swam under the thick oil layer but are surrounded by drops of floating oil, and soon perish from lack of oxygen. Hermit crabs washed up on shore, so completely covered in oil that their shells are caked with it. Why isn't anyone doing anything about this? Is no one taking action? Huge machines and tons of BP workers appeared on shore, with flashing lights and a big complex that was lit up night and day, but still not much seemed to be getting done.



On July 18^th, 2010, the oil spill was permanently capped, and a huge sigh of relief seemed to go up throughout the nation. But though the oil stopped flowing, the final estimate made on August 5^th, 2010, was that over 4,435,290 barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf. That's right, over 4 million barrels of oil. Even now, December 16^th, 7 months and 26 days after the oil spill, it's still not even nearly gone. There is still so much oil out there, that scientists predict it will take decades before it is totally gone and for the hundreds of wild animals killed from the oil to recover. The US is finally suing BP for the first time today for their actions, but they are not suing Hamilton, Transocean or Carmen, companies who also share some blame for the oil spill. It will take more than a just few billion dollars to totally fix this mess.