Saturday, August 23, 2014


News Clips For The Day


Humans Have Created A New Top Predator That Is Taking Over The Northeast
Business Insider
By Jennifer Welsh
August 22, 2014

Humans are no newcomers when it comes to messing around with nature. While we haven't created Frankenstein's monster yet, what we do messes with the natural world. One recent example is the creation of the coywolf — a hybrid of the coyote and the wolf that is also known as the Eastern coyote.

These animals have a completely new genetic make up: Their genes are about 1/4 wolf DNA and 2/3 coyote DNA, the rest is from domesticated dogs. They were created when previously separate wolf and coyote populations merged in the land north of the Great Lakes.

Here's the coyote, which traditionally maxes out at 75 pounds and has pointier features, and readily populates cities:

And this is what a wolf looks like. Wolves, are usually bigger, weighing in at about 100 pounds, and prefer more wild habitats.

While the grey wolf and the coyote are each other's closest living relatives, the two animals separated evolutionarily one to two million years ago. These hybrids have only really emerged en force during the last few decades, as wolves were hunted and forced north and coyotes moved east from the Great Plains.

According to the New York Times' Moises Velazquez-Manoff: "[The coywolf] can be as much as 40 percent larger than the Western coyote, with powerful wolflike jaws; it has also inherited the wolf's more social nature, which allows for pack hunting."

Specifically, this genetic combination of the two animals seems especially well suited to its northern habitat — better suited than either parent species. The wolf genes allow the coyote to take down bigger prey, while the coyote genes let them adapt to cityscapes and other metropolitan areas.

To study the hybrids better, scientists went ahead and made some 50/50 hybrids in the lab, mating female coyotes with male grey wolves. That's not exactly like the wild coywolves, but it's similar. And gives scientists a better idea of how successful a mating between the two species would be. While two pregnancies didn't result in live offspring, one litter created six puppies.

Generally the hybridization of species gives evolution something to work with to deal with tough times. When food is low because of climate change or your habitat is being destroyed by humans, these animals can turn out to be tougher or more adaptable than their parent species (though many aren't and many turn out to be sterile).

So, how did these hybrids come to be? Well, as Velazquez-Manoff writes in the New York Times magazine:
'The emergence of the Eastern coyote, however, shows how human activity can break down the barriers that separate species. Perhaps the most obvious way in which humanity is altering the natural world is through climate change. The Arctic, where its effects are especially evident, is warming between two and four times as fast as the rest of the planet. Spring thaws now arrive weeks earlier; winter freezes come weeks later. Shrubs are invading once-barren tundra. Animals at high latitudes — where related species tend to have diverged more recently and can therefore interbreed more easily — are shifting their ranges in response to rising temperatures and melting sea ice. As they do, they may encounter cousins and hybridize.'



Taylor Mitchell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Taylor Josephine Stephanie Luciow (August 28, 1990 – October 28, 2009),[4] known by her stage name Taylor Mitchell, was a Canadian folk singer-songwriter. She died, aged 19, of injuries inflicted by coyotes that had attacked her while she was walking in Cape Breton Highlands National Park. It was the first recorded fatality from an attack on an adult, and shocked experts.

Description of the attack – At 3.02, the couple, by this time on the access roa to the car park, photographed two coyotes that walked along the road going in the opposite direction. An expert later commented the photos showed the coyotes had an extraordinary lack of fear, with one having what verged on a dominant attitude toward humans. It is believed these coyotes encountered the oncoming Mitchell on the access road several minutes later, when possible screams were reported. A group of four other hikers found personal items on the access road, these are now believed to have been thrown at the coyotes by Mitchell as she retreated back to the head of the trail. On reaching the start of the trail they also found bloodstains and torn pieces of clothing. At 3.27 they reached a washroom,r she had apparently tried to get in to escape from the attack. Mitchell was lying nearby, with a coyote, later identified as the leading one photographed on the access road, standing over her. It was only after repeated charges by the three young men that the coyote could be made to move away from her. She was conscious and able to speak with the rescuers. The coyote remained close by and unafraid, until an officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer arrived and wounded it with a shotgun.[1 The unprecedented attack caused some early speculation that Mitchell may have initiated contact by trying to feed coyotes or by disturbing a den with young. It was also thought wolf crosses, rabid, or immature and starving coyotes might have attacked her. None of these suggestions were borne out by the facts.

The trail was closed to the public after the incident. One coyote nearby was shot by a warden a few hours later after it behaved aggressively. The remaining coyotes living around the trail, believed to number five, were observed by a Parks Canada team before a organised hunt took place that accounted for a further six, making a total of seven coyotes destroyed on or near to the Skyline trail. Of these, three were conclusively linked with the attack by forensic means. One of the three was the dominant lead coyote on the access road; coat markings in the photographs identified its carcass. This same animal was the one found standing over Mitchell; some pellets in the carcass were found to be from when it had been shotgunned at the scene by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer.


[14][15] The unprecedented attack caused some early speculation that Mitchell may have initiated contact by trying to feed coyotes or by disturbing a den with young; these suggestions were contradicted by forensic examination and the season. It was also thought wolf crosses, rabid, or immature and starving coyotes might have attacked her. None of the suggestions were borne out by the actual circumstances or the carcasses of the three proven attacker coyotes, which were scientifically examined. Dr. Brent Patterson of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, concluded the animals were eastern coyotes.[17][18]"[18][19] An least one expert who farmilarised himself with all the known facts concluded that the coyotes involved had simply lost all fear of humans, and as a result had treated Mitchell as prey.[1 Mitchell's death was an unprecedented case of coyotes preying on an adult, and caused reassessment among experts of the potential for evolution of coyote behaviour in an environment where they face no hostility from humans.[2




“Mitchell's death was an unprecedented case of coyotes preying on an adult, and caused reassessment among experts of the potential for evolution of coyote behaviour in an environment where they face no hostility from humans.” [2 This story goes along with increasing predator incursions into human occupied areas over the last ten or so years, as seen in the news. There is no question that it can be dangerous. Human activities are frequently destructive of animal environments, and the warming of the arctic is also affecting the range of wolves. “Animals at high latitudes — where related species tend to have diverged more recently and can therefore interbreed more easily — are shifting their ranges in response to rising temperatures and melting sea ice. As they do, they may encounter cousins and hybridize.”'

Meanwhile, familiarity with humans is increasing, notably in the Canadian national park of the Wikipedia article, and the larger and more wolflike coyotes are no longer as afraid of humans. They also have very probably simply inherited a greater tendency to consider adult humans to be prey, as do wolves. Hunting these coyotes would probably help make them afraid again, but it also might end in their extinction. How humans respond to them should definitely be changed – stop taking pictures of them, getting too close and trying to feed them. Treat them like you should a bear – give them plenty of space and don't provoke them.





Ferguson resident: "No jobs, no peace, period"
By MARK STRASSMANN CBS NEWS August 22, 2014, 8:07 PM

The National Guard began pulling out of Ferguson, Mo. Friday.

It was quiet again Friday night with eight arrests.

The grand jury investigating the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black man, by a white police officer, Darren Wilson, will meet again next Wednesday to hear more evidence.

CBS News learned Friday the panel is made up of six white men, three white women, one black man and two black women.

The funeral for Michael Brown, who was 18, will be held Monday.

Lesley McSpadden, Brown's mother, grieved Friday where her son was killed.

Twenty feet away, were three neighborhood protestors -- Donny, Tray and Luciano, all in their early 20s.

"I'm tired of being looked at as another species, like we ain't even human," said Donny.
They say Ferguson stores were burned and looted for a reason.

"I don't condone it, I understand why they doing it. Throwing stuff at the police, because they're throwing stuff at us," said Luciano.

Tray said he wanted to loot. "I wanted to go, but I held my ground."

"It ain't no black and white thing. It's a police against the people thing," Said Luciano. "It ain't black and white because there are white people out here with us."

Donny and Trey are working musicians. Luciano's going to technical school, but they've all had run-ins with the law.

In Ferguson, the unemployment rate for black men between ages 20 and 24 is 46 percent.

"If they don't come and restore these neighborhoods for these people, like, we have to travel miles to go to Wal-mart and to get gas and stuff like that, when they used to be right here in the community. For people who stay here there's going to be hell to pay," said Luciano.

The men said it isn't easy to make a living in St. Louis. There are a lot of frustrations; that is one of them.

"That's why people [are] looting, it's cause they can't get no jobs," said Tray.

John Bonds, a former local gang member, now acts as a bridge between protestors and police. He says the real issue is opportunity.

"They know how to paint, they know how to cut grass, they can clean, they can vacuum, tear down the ones that don't need to be there... give us those jobs, set it up to and we can do," said Bonds.

No jobs, no peace?

"No jobs, no peace, period," said Bonds.

All four men told CBS News that they're looking for a hand up not a handout. They all said anyone of them could have been Brown.




"'I'm tired of being looked at as another species, like we ain't even human,' said Donny. They say Ferguson stores were burned and looted for a reason. … In Ferguson, the unemployment rate for black men between ages 20 and 24 is 46 percent. 'If they don't come and restore these neighborhoods for these people, like, we have to travel miles to go to Wal-mart and to get gas and stuff like that, when they used to be right here in the community. For people who stay here there's going to be hell to pay,' said Luciano. The men said it isn't easy to make a living in St. Louis. There are a lot of frustrations; that is one of them.... John Bonds, a former local gang member, now acts as a bridge between protesters and police. He says the real issue is opportunity.... 'No jobs, no peace, period' said Bonds. All four men told CBS News that they're looking for a hand up not a handout. They all said anyone of them could have been Brown.”

Poverty and joblessness are usually at the bottom of the matter when rioting and looting happen. It is also true, though, that personal abuse of non-white people by police officers – and by the dominant class in general, which in this case happens to be white people – causes long, slowly percolating anger to fester. "I'm tired of being looked at as another species, like we ain't even human," said the protestor named Donny. Many in the South and West especially, but in the holier than thou North as well, have acquiesced in the matter of having to work with blacks, go to school with them and simply to interact peacefully on the street, but the whites have held on to their anger at what they see as being displaced. Time was in the South in some places that black people were required to step off the sidewalk and let white people pass by. A black could be beaten up for not doing that. Whites and blacks never went to church together or ate in the same restaurant together. Blacks endured having epithets cast at them in passing, and heaven help a black kid if he flirted with a white girl. Blacks weren't even supposed to look a white person in the eye. This lack of communication and mutual respect causes the evil that still lives today between blacks and whites. It's not just the policing style. All people need to forgive each other and move beyond these things. I hope I live to see that happen.




Harry Reid apologizes for cracking jokes about Asians
By JAKE MILLER CBS NEWS August 22, 2014, 1:56 PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., apologized Friday after cracking several jokes about Asian-Americans during a speech on Thursday before the Las Vegas Asian Chamber of Commerce.

"My comments were in extremely poor taste and I apologize," Reid said in a statement emailed to CBS News. "Sometimes I say the wrong thing."

In his speech on Thursday, Reid quipped, "The Asian population is so productive. I don't think you're smarter than anybody else, but you have convinced a lot of us you are."

He later added, "One problem I've had today is keeping my Wongs straight."

The remarks were captured on video and posted online by America Rising, a Republican opposition research group.

It wasn't the first time the 74-year-old Reid has been forced into damage control after some racially-tinged remarks sparked controversy. In the 2008 election chronicle "Game Change," Reid described then-Sen. Barack Obama as "light-skinned" and lacking a "negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."

After the book was published and the remarks went public, Reid said he regretted his poor choice of words.




“The remarks were captured on video and posted online by America Rising, a Republican opposition research group.... In the 2008 election chronicle 'Game Change,' Reid described then-Sen. Barack Obama as'light-skinned' and lacking a 'negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.'” I doubt if Harry Reid is actually biased against other races, but he is unaware that some are offended by direct mentions of the differences. He said “'Sometimes I say the wrong thing.'" It was unwise of him to say these things in front of a large group of Asian businessmen. It is interesting, though, that the comments were recorded by a Republican “opposition research group.” They are apparently going around to Democratic speaking engagements and making recordings. This truly is a war.




Teacher suspended after Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin lesson – CBS
By CRIMESIDER STAFF AP  August 22, 2014, 12:44 PM

SELMA, Ala. - An Alabama teacher was suspended without pay after being accused of having sixth-grade students re-enact the deadly police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and the Trayvon Martin killing in Florida.

The Selma Times-Journal quoted Dallas County School Superintendent Don Willingham as saying the social studies teacher used poor judgment during a lesson on current events.

School officials haven't identified the teacher, who works at Brantley Elementary School.

Administrators were alerted to the Ferguson re-enactment this week after the mother of a student in the class posted a complaint on Facebook. The Missouri city has been a hotbed of protests since a police officer fatally shot unarmed black teenager Michael Brown.

Willingham said his investigation showed the teacher told students to research and re-enact a current event of their choosing. The students picked the killings of Brown and Trayvon Martin, who was fatally shot by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in 2012, he said.

Students used paper guns and bullets, and students portraying victims fell on pillows, he said.

Willingham said the teacher "made a mistake" in judgment by having students re-enact the shootings.

"There are consequences that we have for it, but that does not change our opinion of her as a teacher," he said.

It's not clear exactly how the shootings were re-enacted since the exact circumstances of each death are in question. Willingham said students told him they were giggling and laughing during the reenactment.

Willingham declined to reveal the length of the suspension, but he said the school anticipates the teacher returning to the classroom.

"We are looking forward to her return," Willingham said. "We're excited about the rest of the school year."




“Administrators were alerted to the Ferguson re-enactment this week after the mother of a student in the class posted a complaint on Facebook. The Missouri city has been a hotbed of protests since a police officer fatally shot unarmed black teenager Michael Brown. Willingham said his investigation showed the teacher told students to research and re-enact a current event of their choosing. The students picked the killings of Brown and Trayvon Martin, who was fatally shot by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in 2012, he said..... "There are consequences that we have for it, but that does not change our opinion of her as a teacher," he said. It's not clear exactly how the shootings were re-enacted since the exact circumstances of each death are in question. Willingham said students told him they were giggling and laughing during the reenactment. Willingham declined to reveal the length of the suspension, but he said the school anticipates the teacher returning to the classroom.”

It looks as though this teacher, unnamed, failed to veto a plan made by the students on what to reenact, rather than purposely trying to have a controversial lesson for a group who may have been too immature for the subject. The article said the students were giggling during the reenactment, which is a sign that they were uncomfortable and possibly feeling mischievous. They were not learning any valuable lessons. Having the kids bring in news articles on the stories would probably have been more informative. An eruption of emotion is not the same thing as learning new information. Sixth graders are old enough to read the news, and to have a discussion comparing and contrasting police responses in various cases. A group report from good sources would have been less likely to cause racial animus than a dramatic presentation. The teacher hasn't been fired, though, which is a good thing. One of my favorite American history teachers from high school had us to regularly bring in news articles to discuss in class. It really improved my ability to look at social issues and politics, and was ever so interesting. Maybe that's why I love the news even today.







3D-printed vertebra used in spine surgery
CBS NEWS August 22, 2014, 5:27 PM

Surgeons in Beijing, China, have successfully implanted an artificial, 3D-printed vertebra replacement in a young boy with bone cancer. They say it is the first time such a procedure has ever been done.

During a five-hour operation, the doctors first removed the tumor located in the second vertebra of 12-year-old Minghao's neck and replaced it with the 3D-printed implant between the first and third vertebrae, CCTV.com reported earlier this month.

"This is the first use of a 3D-printed vertebra as an implant for orthopedic spine surgery in the world," said Dr. Liu Zhongjun, the director of orthopedics at No. 3 Hospital, Peking University, who performed the surgery.

The boy was playing football when he headed the ball and injured his neck, and it was later confirmed that he had a tumor, Minghao's mother said.

Prior to the surgery, the patient had been lying in the orthopedics ward for more than two months, and he could occasionally stand up, but only for a few minutes.

Normally, a diseased axis would be replaced by a standardized, hollow titanium tube, Liu told Reuters.

"Using existing technology, the patient's head needs to be framed with pins after surgery," as his head cannot touch the bed when he is resting for at least three months, he explained. "But with 3D printing technology, we can simulate the shape of the vertebra, which is much stronger and more convenient than traditional methods."

Five days after the surgery, Minghao still could not speak and had to use a writing board to communicate. However, doctors said at the time that he was in a good physical condition and they expected him to make a strong recovery.




"This is the first use of a 3D-printed vertebra as an implant for orthopedic spine surgery in the world," said Dr. Liu Zhongjun, the director of orthopedics at No. 3 Hospital, Peking University, who performed the surgery.... 'Using existing technology, the patient's head needs to be framed with pins after surgery,' as his head cannot touch the bed when he is resting for at least three months, he explained. 'But with 3D printing technology, we can simulate the shape of the vertebra, which is much stronger and more convenient than traditional methods.'

3D printing technology really is miraculous. When I first heard about it on the news I was first startled, then a little scared, and then when I understood how it works, I was just happy. This use for replacing a bone in a living human. Like so many medical advances that I have seen, this is another miraculous advance. See the following article on printing organs. I think they have been grown in the lab already. I remember seeing the unlikely photo of a mouse with a human ear growing out of its back.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/03/tech/innovation/3-d-printing-human-organs/

The next frontier in 3-D printing: Human organs – CNN
By Brandon Griggs
April 3, 2014

(CNN) -- The emerging process of 3-D printing, which uses computer-created digital models to create real-world objects, has produced everything from toys to jewelry to food.

Soon, however, 3-D printers may be spitting out something far more complex, and controversial: human organs.

For years now, medical researchers have been reproducing human cells in laboratories by hand to create blood vessels, urine tubes, skin tissue and other living body parts. But engineering full organs, with their complicated cell structures, is much more difficult.

Enter 3-D printers, which because of their precise process can reproduce the vascular systems required to make organs viable. Scientists are already using the machines to print tiny strips of organ tissue. And while printing whole human organs for surgical transplants is still years away, the technology is rapidly developing.

"The mechanical process isn't all that complicated. The tricky part is the materials, which are biological in nature," said Mike Titsch, editor-in-chief of 3D Printer World, which covers the industry. "It isn't like 3-D printing plastic or metal. Plastic doesn't die if you leave it sitting on an open-air shelf at room temperature for too long."




Even Police Body Cameras Can Lose Sight Of The Truth – NPR
by MARTIN KASTE
August 23, 2014

Ferguson, Mo., found a degree of civic calm this week after days and nights of angry clashes between protestors and the police.

Now the city is working to restore trust with residents after a white police officer fatally shot black teenager Michael Brown on Aug. 9. City leaders and residents say one way to do that might be to equip police with personal video cameras.

"All the cops have to have body cameras and dashboard cameras," says resident Alonzo Bond, "so everybody can be accountable."

Earlier this week, the city of Ferguson said it was "exploring" the possibility of buying dashboard cameras and body cameras for its police department. And Ferguson is not alone. Around the country, body-worn cameras have become the go-to technology for troubled police departments.

Police chiefs are just as enthusiastic about the cameras as police reformers, sharing a belief that the cameras can resolve disputes by recording what really happens.

"Everybody's got their version of a story, but when it's on tape, it's on tape," says Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, president of the Police Executive Research Forum. "It is what it is."

But is it? Howard Wasserman, a law professor at Florida International University who has written about police cameras, says lawyers are starting to discover what any college film student could have told them: Recorded images are not neutral.

"How the camera is held, the angle at which the camera is held, is the camera sort of panning, is the camera held steady — all of that affects the perception of what you see," Wasserman says.

He says in court, video — even if it's fragmentary or confusing — has the potential of becoming the star of the show. "The problem that I think we get into is the assumption that the video shows all, so we can disregard all the other evidence that's not the video," Wasserman says.

The other big concern with police videos is control. In New Orleans, where all patrol officers started wearing the cameras this spring, the department has given officers mixed signals about when to press the record button, says Susan Hutson, the city's independent police monitor.

"We saw the department was struggling with that a little bit, trying to make sure that officers knew when they can turn it off and when they can't," Hutson says.

Even when an officer willfully refuses to record, it's not a fireable offense in New Orleans. Then there's the potential for technical glitches, which has long been an issue with the dashboard cameras. They frequently malfunction, and one of Hutson's staffers says it's "suspicious" how often the cameras seem to fail to record at crucial moments — a complaint heard in other cities.

Finally, there's the matter of the 30-second buffer. When an officer presses record, the camera saves the 30 seconds of images that led up to that moment, but not the audio. The manufacturer designed the buffer to protect the privacy of police officers — and to appeal to resistant police unions — but it also means the cameras may miss crucial noises or words that trigger an incident. Wasserman thinks that's a mistake.

"I think if we're going to do this, we need to do it right," he says. "If anybody's privacy is going to be compromised, it ought to be the government officials who are wielding the power in all of these encounters."

He says that's another argument for more video recording by civilians to fill in the gaps of what "really happened" — now that that's increasingly decided by what's captured on camera.







'"It is what it is.' But is it? Howard Wasserman, a law professor at Florida International University who has written about police cameras, says lawyers are starting to discover what any college film student could have told them: Recorded images are not neutral.... 'How the camera is held, the angle at which the camera is held, is the camera sort of panning, is the camera held steady — all of that affects the perception of what you see,' Wasserman says.... 'The problem that I think we get into is the assumption that the video shows all, so we can disregard all the other evidence that's not the video,' Wasserman says.... The other big concern with police videos is control. In New Orleans, where all patrol officers started wearing the cameras this spring, the department has given officers mixed signals about when to press the record button, says Susan Hutson, the city's independent police monitor.... 'We saw the department was struggling with that a little bit, trying to make sure that officers knew when they can turn it off and when they can't,' Hutson says. Even when an officer willfully refuses to record, it's not a fireable offense in New Orleans.... Finally,there's the matter of the 30-second buffer. When an officer presses record, the camera saves the 30 seconds of images that led up to that moment, but not the audio.... The manufacturer designed the buffer to protect the privacy of police officers — and to appeal to resistant police unions — but it also means the cameras may miss crucial noises or words that trigger an incident. Wasserman thinks that's a mistake.

This is a disturbing story. It still all boils down to the willingness of police to do a fair and truthful job of policing, which, unfortunately is the whole problem already. According to the account of New Orleans police, the officers are not required to photograph the whole incident –they have an option as to when to start and stop the recording. That's bad police department supervision. It's still better to have the cameras than not, but police have to use them for the cause of justice, and not for CYA purposes.

An officer in Wilson's position has a choice as to whether to fatally shoot a man whose only crime was to walk down the middle of the road, unless both Johnson and the unseen witness were lying. If Brown and Johnson did try to take the officer's weapon that does totally change the issue. Failing to get out of the road directly was irritating, yes, but harmless. Morally speaking, Wilson should have let Brown go if he was truly running away; but according to witnesses, Brown was actually facing the officer and bending down to get down on the ground. He started to run, yes, but then turned around, put up his arms and was trying to yield. That's how a bullet happened to hit the top of his head. It looks like an officer temper tantrum to me.