Coffee and Provocation

A Drone and Sausage Rescue

A Jack Russell Terrier and Whippet mix named Millie was rescued from the tidal mudflats near the coastal waters of Havant with the help of a drone dangling Aldi sausages.

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CDC Bans Adoption of Stray Dogs from 100 Countries

The move comes after discovering falsified rabies vaccination certificates for some incoming animals sourced from countries where new variants of rabies may be occuring.

Old Bay Seasoning and the Holocaust

Maryland and Old Bay Seasoning are joined at the hip, so it was a surprise to me to learn this stuff is not older than World War II and has a holocaust survivor back story.

My Friend the Octopus

"The octopus, when you get right down to it, is essentially a marine snail that evolved the brainpower of a raccoon."

The Slave Population of the Confederate States

The demographics of the Confederate States of America is interesting. While only 4-9 percent of the free population owned slaves, 20 to 49 percent of free families owned slaves. Slaves as a percentage of the total population ranged from 35 to 45 percent.

Sidney Poitier's Old House is Now a Hunting Resort

Sidney Poitier recently died, and while reading up on him I noticed that he and his family lived in Pleasantville, New York. A little Googling, and I came across an article on his home purchase in 1961 -- a twelve-room Tudor house on a seven-acre site in a neighborhood of large estates. A little more Googling and I find that the house is now "Stuyvesant Manor" and "the proud lodging facility of Stuyvesant Outdoor Adventures."  The web site describes it as "Nestled on over 70 picturesque acres in the historic Hudson Valley Region of upstate New York... Formerly the home of Hollywood Icon Sidney Poitier and his family, the newly renovated Stuyvesant Manor is the perfect place to host your outdoor excursion, corporate retreat or family getaway." Apparently Stuyvesant Outdoor Adventures is a pay-to-shoot place offering shooting of deer, coyotes, stocked pheasants, turkey, waterfowl and small game. And yes, at least some of this is canned hunting (there's a "bird tower that hosts "continental style tower shoots").

The Cure for Baldness?

Scientists are growing human hair on mice by manipulating stem cells. 

Martin Luther King Was Not Trying to Comfort White Folks

From Michael Harriot; "Although in death he became one of the most revered figures in US history, for the entirety of the 39 years that King lived and breathed, there wasn’t a single day when the majority of white Americans approved of him."

The Largest Fish Nursery in the World

Under the Weddell Sea, Ice Fish nests pockmark the seafloor around every 10 inches in all directions and covering an area of 93 square miles. There are an estimated 60 million nests, each holding at estimated 1,700 eggs, and each nest tended by a parent.