The end of the first full week of 2025…..we have had 3 mass shootings and a dangerous winter storm…..but time moves on and the Dump is due.
Locally–We have had a week of cold weather for us lows in mid 20s and highs in mid 40s to low 50s the average temps for this time of the year 40-65 and these temps are the coldest we have had in at least 5 years.
Personal–nothing much to report.
With all that said….time for a good healthy ‘Dump’…..
I recently read an article about crows and how they can hold grudges…..and now it seems they are not alone….
It’s not just humans who have trouble making amends—Earth’s 20 quadrillion ants aren’t quick to forgive, either.
Ants primarily rely on their fine-tuned olfactory sense to differentiate between the smell of members of their own family (i.e. safe ants) and ants from other colonies. A familiar scent while out foraging, for example, allows a worker ant to know which nearby ants are there to help, and which may be rivals hunting for the same resources. But new research from evolutionary biologists at Germany’s University of Freiburg indicates ants don’t just react in the moment—they retain knowledge of hostile encounters with neighboring enemies, and act accordingly.
According to their study published in Current Biology, scientists conducted two phases of experiments to determine if ants remember bad experiences with other ants, and how it influences their relationships. First, they placed ants into 60 second meet-and-greet scenarios: In one setting, the insects simply encountered some of their nestmates; another situation involved a group interacting with aggressive ants from “Nest A,” while a final group met yet another set of hostile bugs from “Nest B.” This was then repeated once for each group over five consecutive days. From there, scientists examined how the various ant groups subsequently reacted when they encountered the aggressive Nest A ants—either for the first time, once again, or in comparison to Nest B bugs.
https://www.popsci.com/science/ants-grudges/
All those sugary drinks…..I gave up on sugar many years ago….especially soft drinks….seems it was a wise decision on my part….
The consumption of sugary drinks contributed to an estimated 184,000 deaths worldwide in 2010. Just a decade later, that number had nearly doubled. A new study published Monday in Nature Medicine finds sugary drink consumption contributed to 340,000 deaths from Type 2 diabetes and heart disease in 2020. “Regulators and policymakers appropriately respond to tragic deaths, whether an airline crash or terrorism attack, but sugary drinks cause much more death and suffering, yet those deaths don’t move people in the same way because they are hidden,” study co-author Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at Tufts University, tells the New York Times. “That has to change.”
The study, which estimates the burdens attributable to sugar-sweetened beverages in 184 countries, finds the drinks were linked to 2.2 million new cases of Type 2 diabetes (one in 10) and 1.2 million new cases of cardiovascular disease (one in 30), “with a disproportionate share of those cases concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America,” which have been increasingly targeted by soda companies amid declining sales in North America and Europe, per the Times. The beverages contributed to 48% of new diabetes cases in Colombia, almost 33% in Mexico, and 28% in South Africa, per the Guardian. Across sub-Saharan Africa, the drinks contributed to 31% of new diabetes cases and 11% of new heart disease cases.
Sugar-sweetened drinks—including soda, energy drinks, and some juice—cause blood-sugar levels to spike. “Drinking them regularly over time leads to weight gain, insulin resistance and a host of metabolic issues tied to Type 2 diabetes and heart disease,” the Guardian notes. But the low- and middle-income nations where these drinks are heavily marketed and sold are “often less well equipped to deal with the long-term health consequences,” Mozaffarian tells the outlet. “Much more needs to be done, especially in countries in Latin America and Africa where consumption is high and the health consequence severe.” The study does note that consumption in Latin America and the Caribbean is beginning to fall due to soda taxes and better labeling.
Space the final frontier…..we are always looking for a way to get humanity out among the starts and so far it is not going well….but scientist are suggest a new approach….
A team of physicists has outlined a possible way of sending probes deep into interstellar space within a reasonable timescale, using relativistic electron beams.
Space is that annoying combination of “really cool” and “really big”. We can see really awesome stuff going on out there, but unless we come up with ways to significantly improve our propulsion methods, we aren’t going to be taking a look at them any time soon.
Traveling at the speed of Voyager, it would take over 73,000 years to reach our nearest star, Proxima Centauri. Even if we had solid evidence of life on Proxima Centauri b – the planet discovered in Proxima Centauri’s habitable zone – it would be tough to persuade someone to commit their ancestors to travel through space on a generation ship for longer than it took humanity to go from just a few thousand people to 7.674 billion.
In 2016, the long-term project Breakthrough Starshot was set up to figure out a way that we could do the next best thing; send a probe to the Alpha Centauri system, potentially to photograph it before returning to Earth.
So-called sports is getting more ridiculous….there is corn holing, adult Wiffel ball, adult kickball, dodgeball and a bunch of semi-sportslike things with Frizbbies….and now I see there is hobby horsing…..
From time to time you hear the opinion that a Hobby Horse is just a toy and has nothing to do with sport. This is a misconception. Hobby Horsing is a combination of sport, hobby and creative play that has gained widespread attention in recent years.
It may surprise you to learn that Hobby Horsing has a long tradition. It originated in Finland around 2002 and spread to other countries within a few years. In most European countries, it has experienced its greatest development in recent years. We value more than ever the time we spend together in the fresh air and with friends, as well as the promotion of creativity, gymnastics, dedication, responsibility and love for animals.
The development of horses has come a long way. From the early days when Hobby Horses were just a product of home creation, production has evolved into a technologically sophisticated process. The horses are constantly being further developed in order to perfect them and achieve the best sporting performance. In particular, the shape, the weight of the horse, the length and the diameter of the stick have been improved. Each horse is suited to a different discipline. Today, it is common for each competitor to own several Hobby Horses.
https://www.hobby-horse.com/blogs/blog/what-is-hobby-horsing
How long before this is on the sports network, ESPN?
Finally from the ‘Can’t Fix Stupid’ files…..
Police in Australia are looking for a suspect who ended up singed and pantsless after an arson attempt early on Christmas Day. The man—dubbed “Australia’s sloppiest arsonist” by 7news—was seen on CCTV with another man pouring flammable liquid on the front of a fast-food outlet in the Melbourne suburb of Doncaster East. “After setting the liquid alight, one of the offenders also succeeded in setting their pants on fire, forcing them to strip their burning garments as they fled,” Victoria Police said in a Facebook post
Video released by police shows one of the suspects with his pants engulfed in flames, the Guardianreports. He can be seen running with the burning pants caught on his ankle. Police said the suspects fled in a Toyota Tarago driven by a third suspect around 2:40am on Dec. 25. According to 7News, police are “hot on their heels.
This idiot reminds me of the would-be burglar that had to be rescued from a chimney of the house he intended on burglarize….idiots.
That does it for this weekend news dump…..please try to enjoy your weekend and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”