Thursday, July 22, 2010

 

Global Warming Alert

More proof that maybe we do not know as much as we thought and that we don't have as much control as we thought over the atmosphere.


Hundreds of dead penguins dot Brazil's beaches

SAO PAULO – Hundreds of penguins that apparently starved to death are washing up on the beaches of Brazil, worrying scientists who are still investigating what's causing them to die.
About 500 of the black-and-white birds have been found just in the last 10 days on Peruibe, Praia Grande and Itanhaem beaches in Sao Paulo state, said Thiago do Nascimento, a biologist at the Peruibe Aquarium.
Most were Magellan penguins migrating north from Argentina, Chile and the Falkland Islands in search of food in warmer waters.
Many are not finding it: Autopsies done on several birds revealed their stomachs were entirely empty — indicating they likely starved to death, Nascimento said.
Scientists are investigating whether strong currents and colder-than-normal waters have hurt populations of the species that make up the penguins' diet, or whether human activity may be playing a role.
"Overfishing may have made the fish and squid scarcer," Nascimento said.
Nascimento said it's common for penguins to swim north this time of year. Inevitably, some get lost along the way or die from hunger or exhaustion, and end up on the Brazilian coast far from home.
But not in such numbers — Nascimento said about 100 to 150 live penguins show up on the beach in an average year, and only 10 or so are dead.
"What worries us this year," he said, "is the absurdly high number of penguins that have appeared dead in a short period of time."
You read that correctly folks.  Colder than normal waters may have played a role in the Penguins starving to death.  So I guess the polar ice caps are not in danger of coming to a boil any time in the next 20 minutes so maybe we will survive as a species for a little while longer.
The headline here could have just as easily said, Hundreds of penguins wash up on shore, Scientists have no clue why.

Monday, July 12, 2010

 

Obama's selective modesty

I got this from Face Book, where a friend had "Liked" it.  Interesting stuff.

The Jerusalem Post



Friday, July 02, 2010

 

Welfare State Coming Home to Roost.

Amazing that nobody was reporting this before the Health Care Bill was passed and signed.  Not really a big shock though to those of us that knew it was going to be a mess.  First insurance premiums are skyrocketing in response to the new law and now the report that one of the things that supporters said would get better is going to actually get worse.


Health overhaul may mean longer ER waits, crowding

In this May 27, 2010 photo, a patient is transferred to Hope Children's Hospital from Advocate Trinity Hospital's emergency room in Chicago. EmergencyAP – In this May 27, 2010 photo, a patient is transferred to Hope Children's Hospital from Advocate Trinity …
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CHICAGO – Emergency rooms, the only choice for patients who can't find care elsewhere, may grow even more crowded with longer wait times under the nation's new health law.
That might come as a surprise to those who thought getting 32 million more people covered by health insurance would ease ER crowding. It would seem these patients would be able to get routine health care by visiting a doctor's office, as most of the insured do.
But it's not that simple. Consider:
_There's already a shortage of front-line family physicians in some places and experts think that will get worse.
_People without insurance aren't the ones filling up the nation's emergency rooms. Far from it. The uninsured are no more likely to use ERs than people with private insurance, perhaps because they're wary of huge bills.
_The biggest users of emergency rooms by far are Medicaid recipients. And the new health insurance law will increase their ranks by about 16 million. Medicaid is the state and federal program for low-income families and the disabled. And many family doctors limit the number of Medicaid patients they take because of low government reimbursements.

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