Thursday, October 10, 2013

Bikers Updates
Other police officers may also be investigated -- perhaps five or six others, whose identities are known, but who may have been riding with the group of motorcyclists at one point or another or may have been present during different parts of these incidents.


Government Shutdown

The shutdown entered its ninth day no end in sight. The Veterans of Foreign Wars, the largest veterans organization in the country, repeated its disgust and said it was “absolutely appalling and nothing short of a travesty that elected officials continue to receive paychecks and benefits while not providing for those who deserve it.”

A senior White House official said that the Defense Department had warned Congress, before it passed a bill to pay the military during the shutdown, that the benefit would be cut off unless it was explicitly addressed.

Asked what he would tell families whose benefits were put on hold by the shutdown, President Obama told NBC affiliate WFLA, "What I say to them is we should have never been there in the first place. "The theory that we should shut down the government as a negotiation tactic should never have been done in the first place and it does a disservice to all the men and women in uniform and all those veterans who sacrificed for our freedom."
With the federal government now partially shut down, many government services and agencies are closed, suspended or otherwise impacted. Below is a list of offices and agencies that are affected. I found food stamps and WIC on the list – Food Stamps will continue for one month and WIC has been cut off. Some states have set aside funds to keep WIC afloat.

Who is Banksy?
Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter.
His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti done in a distinctive stencilling technique. Such artistic works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world.[1]
According to author and graphic designer Tristan Manco and the book Home Sweet Home, Banksy "was born in 1974 and raised in Bristol, England.[3] The son of a photocopier technician, he trained as a butcher but became involved in graffiti during the great Bristol aerosol boom of the late 1980s
Banksy's first film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, billed as "the world's first street art disaster movie," made its debut at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.[9] The film was released in the UK on 5 March 2010.[10] In January 2011, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary for the film.
Graffiti artist Banksy, who recently began a month-long unofficial residency painting the streets of New York, has suggested he may abandon art galleries.
"I started painting on the street because it was the only venue that would give me a show," the British artist told the Village Voice.
"Now I have to keep painting on the street to prove to myself it wasn't a cynical plan," he said.
In a rare interview with the New York publication conducted via email, the self-styled guerilla artist - whose identity remains a secret - appears to regret his commercial success, which has seen celebrities such as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie paying millions of dollars for his artwork.
"Obviously people need to get paid - otherwise you'd only get vandalism made by part-timers and trust-fund kids," said Banksy, who is believed to be former public schoolboy Robin Gunningham.
"But it's complicated, it feels like as soon as you profit from an image you've put on the street, it magically transforms that piece into advertising."
"When graffiti isn't criminal, it loses most of its innocence."
The premise of his new project is to create a new piece of art on the streets of New York, for each day in October.
However, in some quarters at least, his work appears to have been met with hostility. His first piece - entitled The Street Is In Play - which depicted two boys reaching for a spray can inside an official Graffiti is a Crime sign was defaced and painted over in less than 24 hours.
His second and third efforts were met with a similar fate: "I used to think other graffiti writers hated me because I used stencils, but they just hate me."
"I've been learning to make big sculptures out of clay - partly because it's a challenge and partly because after a year in an editing studio I wanted to do something standing up."
"It seems to me the best way to make money out of art is to not even try," said the artist, whose works have been physically cut from the concrete they were painted on and sold at auction all over the world.
"It doesn't take much to be a successful artist - all you need to do is dedicate your entire life to it."

Today Show
Al Roker, apparently out of sheer high spirits, just did the weather map report completely in pantomime. I could follow it, too! He is really cute. He's my favorite of the Today Show crew.
From Wikipedia on Roker:
Albert Lincoln "Al" Roker, Jr. (born August 20, 1954) is an American television weather forecaster as well as an actor and book author.
Writing with Dick Lochte, Roker began a series of murder mysteries in 2009 that feature Billy Blessing, a celebrity chef turned amateur detective. The second book in the series, The Midnight Show Murders (2010), was nominated for a 2011 Nero Award.[3]
Al Roker was born in Queens, New York,[4] the son of Isabel, of Jamaican descent, and Albert Lincoln Roker, Sr.,[5] a labor relations negotiator, bus driver and dispatcher, of Bahamian descent.[6
Roker initially wanted to be a cartoonist.[5] He was raised Catholic[5] (in the faith of his mother) and graduated from Xavier High School in Manhattan.[7] He worked on several projects as a member of the school's Cartooning & Illustration Club. He attended the State University of New York at Oswego where he double-majored in graphic design and broadcasting/journalism. Roker is the cousin of actress Roxie Roker, who was most notable for her role as Helen Willis on the sitcom The Jeffersons and the mother of popular rock musician Lenny Kravitz.[8]
In 2005, Roker reported from inside Hurricane Wilma.[10] A popular viral video exists on the internet of Roker being swept off his feet by the force of the hurricane and holding on to his cameraman.[10]
Roker is a game show fan, and hosted a week-long segment on Today in honor of five game shows and their hosts. He also appeared as a celebrity player on both Merv Griffin game shows Jeopardy![11] and Wheel of Fortune.[11] In 2008, Roker hosted NBC's Celebrity Family Feud.[12] Roker also substituted Meredith Vieira for a week of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire shows on March 5–9, 2007.[13] Roker also hosted the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Roker also hosts various programs on Food Network,[14] namely, Roker on the Road,[14] and, Tricked-Out Tailgating. He is also the author of several non-fiction books, and an avid barbecue enthusiast.[12]
Roker's wife, his third, is fellow journalist Deborah Roberts,[16] who has reported for both ABC[16] and NBC,[16] meeting Roker when she joined the latter in 1990 as a reporter. Roker has three children.

During the first inaugural parade of President Barack Obama, Al Roker was able to get the "first interview" with the President by removing his Fedora hat and yelling to the walking President to come over. Acknowledging Roker, Obama continued walking along the parade route, telling him "it's warm!"[24]
Roker holds the record for most appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, with over 30. He would often appear on the show as a last-minute replacement if a previously scheduled guest canceled their appearance.[25]
Wikipedia presents a long list of television or film productions in which Roker appeared, either as himself or as a character. His list of contract positions, usually as a weather forecaster, but also interviewing guests and as a guest on the David Letterman show, is lengthy and began in 1978. He has had his own show on two occasions. In 1996 he replaced Willard Scott on the Today Show as weather forecaster and also does interviews and segments.

It's 10:20 AM and the Today Show has degenerated into cooking segments and girl talk now. I'm reading a new book, traveling to Scotland this time, with M. C. Beaton and Hamish Macbeth in Death Of A Witch.

The following clip from Wikipedia concerns the life of “M C Beaton,” or Marion Chesney.
Marion Gibbons, née McChesney (born 1936 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a British popular and prolific writer of romance and mystery novels since 1979. She has written numerous successful historical romance novels under her maiden name, Marion Chesney, including the Travelling Matchmaker and Daughters of Mannerling series. Using the pseudonym M. C. Beaton, she has also written many popular mystery novels, most notably the Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth mystery series. She has also written romance novels under the pseudonyms Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Charlotte Ward, and Sarah Chester.
Marion McChesney was born on 1936 in Glasgow, Scotland, and has worked as a buyer of fiction for a Glasgow bookshop, theatre critic, newspaper reporter and editor. She married Middle East Correspondent Harry Scott Gibbons, they had a son Charles.[1] She had lived in the USA. She divides her time between a cottage in the Cotswolds and Paris.[2]

Notes from the Internet on Hamish Macbeth's pet, a domesticated “wildcat,” taken from the BBC article and from Wikipedia:
Wildcat
One of the ancestors of our pet cats, wildcats are thought to be the most abundant cat species across their range, which stretches from Western Europe to India. They are very rare in the UK however, with fewer than 400 remaining in the Scottish Highlands. Human encroachment on their habitat and interbreeding with domestic cats has reduced numbers and replaced the pure genetic line. Thousands of wildcats were killed as pests by farmers and gamekeepers in the 1800s and 1900s. Wildcats feed mainly on rodents, but also hunt other larger mammals, birds, lizards, frogs and fish. They sometimes scavenge and cache prey, returning to it later.
Scientific name: Felis silvestris
Rank: Species
Common names:
European wild cat,
Wild-cat
From Wikipedia:
This article is about the Old World wildcat
The wildcat (Felis silvestris) is a small cat found throughout most of Africa, Europe, and southwest and central Asia into India, China, and Mongolia. Because of its wide range, it is classed by the IUCN as Least Concern. However, crossbreeding with housecats is extensive and has occurred throughout almost the entirety of the species' range.[2]
The wildcat shows a high degree of geographic variation. Asiatic subspecies have spotted, isabelline coats, African subspecies have sandy-grey fur with banded legs and red-backed ears, and European wildcats resemble heavily built striped tabbies with bushy tails, white chins and throats. All subspecies are generally larger than house cats, with longer legs and more robust bodies.[4] The actual number of subspecies is still debated, with some organisations recognising 22,[1] while others recognise only four, including the Chinese mountain cat, which was previously considered a species in its own right.[2]
Genetic, morphological and archaeological evidence suggests that the housecat was domesticated from the African wildcat, probably 9,000-10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent region of the Near East, coincident with the rise of agriculture and the need to protect harvests from grain-eating rodents. This domestication probably occurred when grain was yielded from the Agricultural Revolution onwards, which was stored in granaries that attracted rodents, which in turn attracted cats.[3]
In 1778, Johann von Schreber first described the European wildcat under the scientific name Felis (catus) silvestris.[5] In subsequent decades, several naturalists and explorers described wildcats from European, African and Asian countries. The taxonomist Pocock reviewed wildcat skins collected in the British Museum, and in 1951 designated three Felis bieti subspecies from Eastern Asia, seven Felis silvestris subspecies from Europe to Asia Minor, and 25 Felis lybica subspecies from Africa, and West to Central Asia.[6]
The earliest evidence of wildcat domestication comes from a 9,500 years old Neolithic grave excavated in Shillourokambos, Cyprus, that contained the skeletons, laid close to one another, of both a human and a cat.[40][41][42] This discovery, combined with genetic studies, suggest that cats were probably domesticated in the Middle East, in the Fertile Crescent around the time of the development of agriculture and then they were brought to Cyprus and Egypt.[43]
Despite thousands of years of domestication, there is very little difference between the housecat and its wild ancestor, as its breeding has been more subject to natural selection imposed by its environment, rather than artificial selection by humans.[25] The wildcat subspecies that gave rise to the housecat is most likely the African wildcat, based on genetics,[3] morphology,[24][25] and behaviour. The African wildcat lacks the sharply defined dorsal stripe present in its European counterpart, a trait which corresponds with the coat patterns found in striped tabbies. Also, like the African wildcat, the housecat's tail is usually thin, rather than thick and bushy like the European wildcat's.[44] In contrast to European wildcats, which are notoriously difficult to tame,[24][45] hand-reared African wildcats behave almost exactly like domestic tabbies, but are more intolerant of other cats, and almost invariably drive away their siblings, mates, and grown kittens.[46] Further evidence of an African origin for the housecat is present in the African wildcat's growth; like housecat kittens, African wildcat kittens undergo rapid physical development during the first two weeks of life. In contrast, European wildcat kittens develop much more slowly.[47] The baculi of European domestic cats bear closer resemblance to those of local, rather than African wildcats, thus indicating that crossbreeding between housecats and wildcats of European origin has been extensive.[46]
The species size varies according to Bergmann's rule, with the largest specimens occurring in cool, northern areas of Europe (such as Scotland and Scandinavia) and of Middle Asia (such as Mongolia, Manchuria and Siberia).[50] Males measure 43 to 91 cm (17 to 36 in) in body length, 23 to 40 cm (9.1 to 16 in) in tail length, and normally weigh 5 to 8 kg (11 to 18 lb). Females are slightly smaller, measuring 40 to 77 cm (16 to 30 in) in body length and 18 to 35 cm (7.1 to 14 in) in tail length, and weighing 3 to 5 kg (6.6 to 11 lb).[49][51]
The wildcat is a largely solitary animal, except during the breeding period. The size of its home range varies according to terrain, the availability of food, habitat quality, and the age structure of the population. Male and female ranges overlap, though core areas within territories are avoided by other cats.
The wildcat does not dig its own burrows, instead sheltering in the hollows of old or fallen trees, rock fissures, and the abandoned nests or earths of other animals (heron nests, and abandoned fox or badger earths in Europe,[57] and abandoned fennec dens in Africa[58]). When threatened, a wildcat with a den will retreat into it, rather than climb trees. When taking residence in a tree hollow, the wildcat selects one low to the ground. Dens in rocks or burrows are lined with dry grasses and bird feathers. Dens in tree hollows usually contain enough sawdust to make lining unnecessary. During flea infestations, the wildcat leaves its den in favour of another. During winter, when snowfall prevents the wildcat from travelling long distances, it remains within its den more than usual.[57]
The diet of wildcats in Great Britain varies geographically; in eastern Scotland, lagomorphs make up 70% of their diet, while in the west, 47% consists of small rodents.
In Celtic mythology, the wildcat was associated with rites of divination and Otherwordly encounters. Although cats are not prominent in Insular Celtic tradition (as housecats were not introduced to the British Isles until the Mediaeval period), there are images of deity heads with cat-like ears, including that of the Irish figure of Cairbre Caitchenn (Cairbre Cat-Head), who was said to have been the ancestor of one Irish tribe.[82] Fables of the Cat Sìth, a fairy creature described as resembling a large white-chested black cat, are thought to have been inspired by the Kellas cat, itself thought to be a free ranging wildcat-houscat crossbreed.[83]
The wildcat is considered an icon of the Scottish wilderness, and has been used in clan heraldry since the 13th century.[83] The Picts venerated wildcats, having probably named Caithness (Land of the Cats) after them. According to the foundation myth of the Catti tribe, their ancestors were attacked by wildcats upon landing in Scotland. Their ferocity impressed the Catti so much, that the wildcat became their symbol.[85] A thousand years later, the progenitors of Clan Sutherland, equally impressed, adopted the wildcat on their family crest.[12][85] The Chief of Clan Sutherland bears the title Morair Chat (Great Man of the Cats). The Clan Chattan Association (also known as the Clan of Cats) is made up of 12 different clans, the majority of which display the wildcat on their badges.[12][83]

This is the first information I have ever read on the ancestry of modern house cats. Domestication started in Africa, but by the Middle Ages had traveled to Europe. The species is so close that they interbreed with house cats frequently. They were attracted to human sites in Africa when people started planting grain and storing it, thus attracting rats which attracted cats. I have often thought that house cats are not very far from a wild animal in their nature. They happen to be tidy in their bathroom habits, so they make good house pets. The Wikipedia article had a listing of sounds that the wild cats make, and some of them are different from those of house cats, so they have at least one basic wild trait, but the difficulty in keeping domestic cats from hunting is a sign of their wild heritage. Also, Wikipedia said that the African wildcats are more easily domesticated than those in Scotland.

I don't know what I used to do without Wikipedia and other Internet sources for information. I would just skip over questions that I had in reading if the dictionary didn't provide enough information. I'm finding that mystery novels provide lots of new information in many cases, if I stop and check it out. In this case, there are Scottish words to check out.

“teuchter” –
Teuchter (/ˈtjuːxtər/[1][2] or /ˈtʃuːxtər/[2]) is a Lowland Scots word originally used to describe a Scottish Highlander, in particular a Gaelic-speaking Highlander.[3] Like most such cultural epithets, it can be seen as offensive, but is often seen as amusing by the speaker. The term is contemptuous, essentially describing someone seen to be uncouth and rural.[2][

Bovril, from Wikipedia:
Bovril is the trademarked name of a thick, salty meat extract, developed in the 1870s by John Lawson Johnston and sold in a distinctive, bulbous jar. It is made in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, owned and distributed by Unilever UK.
Bovril can be made into a drink by diluting with hot water, or less commonly with milk.[1] It can also be used as a flavouring for soups, stews or porridge, or spread on bread, especially toast, rather like Marmite.
The first part of the product's name comes from Latin bos meaning "ox" or "cow". Johnston took the -vril suffix from Bulwer-Lytton's then-popular "lost race" novel The Coming Race (1870), whose plot revolves around a superior race of people, the Vril-ya, who derive their powers from an electromagnetic substance named "Vril".[2][3]

haver
1. Scot and northern English dialect to talk nonsense; babble. n. (usually plural) Scot nonsense. [of unknown origin].

bampot
1. bampot n. a crazy person; a fool or dolt. Etymological Note: Most likely a form of barmpot