The Easter weekend begins and there are a couple of stories in the news that deserve further scrutiny from my mentally superior readers.
My regular readers know that I am a canine person. MoMo my Coon Hound is e4 years old and I am too old to ruff house with her so Sue and I adopted a 7 month old Jack Russel as a playmate….that plan worked wonderfully….the ad world needs to replace the “Energizer Bunny” with a Jack Russell….there is more energy in a 7 month old than the “Bunny” could ever possibly muster.
Sorry I got off subject….I recently read an article about the dogs around Chernobyl……
New research has studied hundreds of the free-wheeling dogs that roam the ruins of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and found that exposure to radiation may have made them genetically distinct from other dogs elsewhere in the world.
Following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster on April 26, 1986, around 120,000 people living in the surrounding area and the nearby city of Pripyat were forced to evacuate and abandon their homes. This included many pet dogs who, against all odds, managed to establish a sturdy population that still lives in the irradiated land that surrounds the decaying power plant.
In a new study, scientists looked to gain a deeper understanding of the unusual dog populations living around Chernobyl in light of the harsh environmental contamination that many are exposed to on a daily basis.
With the help of blood samples collected from the stray animals between 2017 and 2019, they genetically analyzed 302 dogs from populations living within the power plant itself, as well as those 15 to 45 kilometers (9.3 to 27.9 miles) from the disaster site.
Are Genes, brain characteristics and intelligence connected?
I am glad you asked.
Intelligence is partly heritable. There are studies that show that certain genetic variations are linked to better performance in intelligence tests. Other studies show that a variety of brain characteristics, such as network efficiency, are related to intelligence. For the first time, researchers have now studied all three parameters—genes, different brain characteristics and behavior—simultaneously. Using gene analyses, magnetic resonance imaging and intelligence tests, the team demonstrated which brain characteristics form the link between genes and behavior.
The results are described by a team around Dorothea Metzen from the Department of Biopsychology at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, and Dr. Erhan Genç, formerly at Ruhr University, now at the Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors in Dortmund (IfADo), in the journal Human Brain Mapping.
In addition to the IfADo and various institutions of Ruhr University, the Humboldt-Universität Berlin, the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim, the Medical School Hamburg and the University of Luxembourg were involved. At Ruhr University, the biopsychology, human genetics and genetic psychology teams cooperated.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-genes-brain-characteristics-intelligence.html
We have a new epidemic sweeping the country….the epidemic of banning books….
Librarians from across the United States released a report showing that pro-censorship groups’ efforts to ban books with LGBTQ+ themes and stories about people of color have driven an unprecedented rise in the number of book challenges, with right-wing organizers pushing library workers to remove works ranging from the dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale to children’s books about foods enjoyed in different cultures.
According to the American Library Association (ALA), a record-breaking 2,571 unique titles were challenged in 2022, a 38% increase from the previous year.
The organization recorded 1,269 demands to censor books from various groups and individuals, compared to 729 challenges counted in 2021.
“Each attempt to ban a book by one of these groups represents a direct attack on every person’s constitutionally protected right to freely choose what books to read and what ideas to explore,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom. “The choice of what to read must be left to the reader or, in the case of children, to parents. That choice does not belong to self-appointed book police.”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/ala-banned-books
Kansas has passed a bill that proves (To me) that the lawmakers are “perverts”…..
Kansas’s GOP is advancing one of the country’s most shocking anti-transgender bills to date.
As Newsweek reported, the state legislature has passed HB 2238, which bans trans athletes from participating on school and college sports teams that align with their gender identity. When asked in a previous legislative session how the bill would be enforced, one of its proponents suggested a mandatory “sports physical,” which would include an inspection of an athlete’s genitals to prove their gender.
Yes, you read that correctly: Anti-trans lawmakers want to subject school-age children to invasive genital exams. It’s even more ludicrous considering there are only three openly trans athletes playing on school sports teams in the entire state.
HB 2238 was previously vetoed by Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, earlier this month. However, the legislature was able to override Kelly’s rejection with a vote. The legislation will now take effect on July 1.
Seriously? Strangers will be able to examine kids genitalia…..and that sounds okay for you?
Like I said “PERVERTS”!
Finally….I watch the happenings in my state of Mississippi and once again we made the top of a list…the most stressed state…..
Need to squeeze one of those stress balls more than you used to? It could have something to do with where you live. WalletHub looked at all 50 states to see which ones were the most afflicted by anxiety and tension, examining more than three dozen metrics across four main categories: stress related to work, family, money, and health and safety. Everything from median income and the average number of hours worked to the amount of sleep people get and separation and divorce rates were taken into account, with Mississippi emerging as the most stressed state in the nation.
Most Stressed
- Mississippi (No. 1 in “Money-Related Stress” category)
- Louisiana
- New Mexico (No. 1 in “Family-Related Stress” category)
- West Virginia
- Nevada
- Arkansas (No. 1 in “Health and Safety-Related Stress” category)
- Alabama
- Kentucky
- Texas
- Oklahoma
That is the best I can do on this Saturday…..Please enjoy your Easter weekend….be well and be safe….
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
In Saner Thought 
I am hoping that the perverts who want to examine children’s genitals as a qualification for engaging in sports in schools are predominately right wing radical nut cases because in my opinion that is the people who would be most interested in examining the genitals of children and any other living thing.
Proves to me just how perverted the party members are….chuq
Why do I think they will only be examining the genitals of ‘real’ girls? This is unspeakable, and would never fly in most civilised countries. I remember the motto, ‘The South Will Rise Again’. Well it has risen as predicted, and the Confederates of the 1860s would be rightly ashamed of them.
Your new Terrier will give Momo a workout, and no mistake.
Best wishes, Pete.
They already spend hours playing…..and it confuses me how these types of people get any votes….maybe the whole party is full of sickos. chuq
Birds of a feather, Chuq, birds of a feather flock together. There is no doubt of it. The whole party is filled with sickos. I had a right wing friend once who was also a sheriff’s deputy who would hop out of bed, grab his gun, run outside in the middle of the night just to respond to an automobile backfiring. He saw a shadow in his bedroom one night and shot a hole through his bedroom wall with his service pistol … and this guy had passed all the tests to become a deputy and was well regarded in his community. I think this nutcase enjoyed stroking the barrel of his pistol almost as much — if not more — than he enjoyed stroking himself. (True Story.)
I say that most5 of these types would pay to carry a gun and wear a badge. Truly a pack of sickos. chuq
I know for sure that most of them probably have homosexual tendencies and that they get erections at the very thought of shooting somebody. I think that when a right winger with a gun shoots somebody they get an enormously-satisfying rush of adrenaline that demands more and more. I think that is where mass shooters come from — the need for that adrenaline rush.
Junkies…..everyone chuq