WOW, talk about being creeped out!
This picture went viral in the Internet, and if ya haven't seen it yet ....., its about time you were creeped out too!
"Internet horrified by photo of giant 'Texas Redhead' centipede that feasts on lizards and toads!"
Everything is bigger in Texas, including the insects.
A photo posted on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Facebook page of a giant redheaded centipede, also known as the Texas Redhead, has quickly gone viral.
The giant centipede is pictured on a broom at Garner State Park, and as the name indicates, has a red head, along with a black body. An article published on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website indicates that giant redheaded centipedes can grow up to 8 inches in length. In addition to lizards and toads, the centipedes have been known to prey on rodents and snakes.
It could be worse, as the South American variants are even larger, and can catch bats.
The centipede’s fangs, which are actually modified legs, are used to inject toxin into their prey, and their brightly-colored legs are used to hold prey from getting away.
Giant redheaded centipedes can bite humans, but Texas Parks and Wildlife indicate that the bite is usually mild, about the same as a bee sting, and symptoms subside within a few hours. According to the wildlife agency, a human death from a Texas Redhead has never been recorded.
Texas Parks and Wildlife officials recommend wearing shoes at all times, as giant redhead centipedes generally can be found under rocks or leaves.
http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/weird-news/internet-horrified-photo-giant-texas-redhead-centi/nmrcF/
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A mechanic with a rigged car and an offbeat sense of humor is making people do a double-take as he drives around town.
That’s because Andrew Johnson has altered his Jeep to make it appear as if a skeleton is behind the wheel.The prank started two Halloweens ago, according to WDRB. Johnson bought a Jeep with the steering wheel on the passenger side. He installed a fake steering wheel on the normal driver’s side, and then placed a skeleton in what would typically be the driver’s seat.
(This is another one along the same lines!!!!!)
From a bystander’s perspective, the stunt looks quite real, though Johnson is safely controlling the vehicle from the passenger side.
Johnson says reactions vary from screams to laughter, with some people so fond of the skeleton they’ve named it Mr. Bonz.
While the stunt began as a Halloween prank, the skeleton can be seen with Johnson at other times of the year, and sports a Santa suit for Christmas.
Johnson claims the skeleton has spared him from parking tickets. Ultimately, there’s a more serious lesson to be learned from the wild stunt, with Johnson telling WDRB, “You gotta look around and pay attention or you're gonna miss everything."
http://www.krmg.com/news/news/weird-news/theres-skeleton-driving-jeep-kentucky/nmrdt/
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Andy is dead!
.
This past weekend a number of social media users mourned the (presumed recent) loss of actor Andy Griffith:
.
The only problem was that Andy died three years ago:
.While Griffith’s passing was indeed a loss to legions of his fans, the star of Matlock and The Andy Griffith Show did not die in mid-2015. Griffith left quite a while ago, dying at the age of 86 on 3 July 2012. This was clearly stated in both an image and story that went viral three years after the actor’s death:
Andy Griffith, who brought his signature role as Andy Taylor, sheriff of Mayberry on ‘The Andy Griffith Show’ to TV from 1960 to 1968, died this morning at his longtime home in Dare County, N.C., better known as the Outer Banks. He was 86.
While it’s unclear why this story began to recirculate around social media in 2015, the most likely explanation is that someone misread a post celebrating the anniversary of the actor’s death for a breaking news story.
(Yup, Jesus came back after three days, but it took Andy three years! By the way, Andy was born the same year as my dad, but lived about 15 years longer!)
Read more at http://m.snopes.com/2015/07/05/rip-andy-griffith/#1PHQXbcZ38hUgAKc.99
While it’s unclear why this story began to recirculate around social media in 2015, the most likely explanation is that someone misread a post celebrating the anniversary of the actor’s death for a breaking news story.
(Yup, Jesus came back after three days, but it took Andy three years! By the way, Andy was born the same year as my dad, but lived about 15 years longer!)
Read more at http://m.snopes.com/2015/07/05/rip-andy-griffith/#1PHQXbcZ38hUgAKc.99
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My wife: "The Mrs. Herself," is from Scotland, so I have the Glasgow weather as well as local conditions on my computer ......., and I just noticed that it has been 16 degrees and raining for 52 days now!
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Well folks, this is a combination of being:
1. Young and foolish.
2. Not having developed "critical thinking" skills yet.
3. Booze.
4. Evolution thinning the herd!!!!
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Well folks, this is a combination of being:
1. Young and foolish.
2. Not having developed "critical thinking" skills yet.
3. Booze.
4. Evolution thinning the herd!!!!
A young man who was drinking and celebrating the Fourth of July tried to launch a firework off the top of his head, fatally injuring himself, U.S. authorities said Sunday.
Devon Staples and his friends had been drinking and setting off fireworks Saturday night in the backyard of a friend's home in the small eastern Maine city of Calais, said Stephen McCausland, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety. Staples, 22, of Calais, placed a fireworks mortar tube on his head and set it off, he said.
The firework exploded, killing Staples instantly, McCausland said.
Of course, some kids were luckier and just got a burned asshole!
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Dear Readers:
There is a big debate going on here in London about "Rapid Transit" as well as all the hoopla in T.O. about subways, etc. etc ........,. and since my kids live in Vancouver, I hear about their transit woes as well!
SO!
Inadequate public transit has become as Canadian as maple syrup, and cities are struggling to find affordable solutions.
Metro Vancouver took a novel crack at the problem last week with a plebiscite on a 0.5 per cent sale tax hike that would have covered the region's $7.5-billion share in a massive 10-year transit strategy.
Voters resoundingly rejected the plan, with nearly 62 per cent of the 759,696 ballots cast for the 'No' side. It was a stunning defeat for the proposal's backers in an area in need of new transit infrastructure to serve a growing population but without any way of paying for it in the foreseeable future.
For critics, Canada's transit woes have been exacerbated by the politicization of infrastructure projects and a pervasive car-centric mentality engrained in our institutions.
Federal and provincial funding for new public transit projects has long been sporadic and without any clear direction, leaving municipalities to shoulder most of the burden, says Todd Litman, director of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute.
As well, he says, much of the funding that has been made available supported infrastructure for drivers, a vestige of 20th century approaches to urban planning.
"There was this consensus that the majority of transportation planning and funding should be oriented toward accommodating more cars," Litman says, adding that there is clearly growing demand for alternatives, particularly public transit, and policy has largely failed to reflect that.
"What it boils down to is that it's much easier for local governments to get funding for a highway improvement or new bridge than it is for a public transit project, even if public transit is the more rational investment."
And it being an election year in Canada, the Conservatives have obliged some of the demands of big city mayors seeking support for transit initiatives.
For example, in June it was announced that Ottawa will contribute $2.6B, about one third of the total cost, to Toronto Mayor John Tory's SmartTrack plan — welcome news in a city that is said to lose an estimated $11 billion in economic activity each year due to crippling congestion.
But political wrangling has stifled smart transit planning in Canadian cities says Murtaza Haider, an associate professor at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University.
"Just look at the Conservatives right now. There's an election on the horizon and if somebody proposed a transit system based on flying monkeys and it happened to serve a contested area, they'd help fund it," he says, only half-jokingly.
"The result is that often we are not supporting the transit we need, but projects that advance electoral alliances and political gains."
Haider argues that Toronto's Sheppard subway line is an example of how politics can play too large a role in how we design and ultimately build transit projects. Completed in 2002 after years of delays and cost overruns, the 5.5 km stretch of track was largely championed by a small coalition of politicians hoping to curry favour from voters in an area that was, at the time, a relatively sparsely populated patch of suburbia.
Density has increased around the line since its unveiling, but ridership has not lived up to projections. Two of the city's major streetcar routes — the King and Spadina — have higher daily ridership but cost far less to operate.
It's a cautionary tale of what happens when politics trumps effective planning, Haider says, adding that "there are examples of these kinds of mistakes all across the country."
"The future is abstract, it's way down the road. We have no idea what thirty years from now, for example, is going to look like," says David Moscrop, a lecturer in the department of political science at UBC whose research focuses on the intersection of cognitive science and democracy.
"It just seems too far removed from our daily experience."
Moscrop argues that our inability to think on long time scales hampers decisions around public transit. These effects were likely on display during Metro Vancouver's transit plebiscite.
The plan included a laundry list of projects, like a new east-west subway line, new light rail, a new ferry and a replacement bridge across the Fraser River, among others things, aimed at connecting people to job centres and reducing the area's infamous traffic congestion over at least ten years.
The Yes side was endorsed by most of the local mayors involved and student, labour and environmental organizations. But the No camp, headed by the B.C. branch of the Canadian Taxpayer's Federation, mounted a fierce campaign that shifted the focus toward the region's much maligned transit authority, TransLink, and its alleged mishandling of taxpayer dollars.
"Cognitively speaking, it's easier for people to focus on one smaller issue like TransLink than consider a huge question with far reaching, long-term consequences," Moscrop says.
"Unfortunately it's kind of a disaster for policy making."
Metro Vancouver took a novel crack at the problem last week with a plebiscite on a 0.5 per cent sale tax hike that would have covered the region's $7.5-billion share in a massive 10-year transit strategy.
Voters resoundingly rejected the plan, with nearly 62 per cent of the 759,696 ballots cast for the 'No' side. It was a stunning defeat for the proposal's backers in an area in need of new transit infrastructure to serve a growing population but without any way of paying for it in the foreseeable future.
- ANALYSIS | Transit referendum: A question that should never have been asked?
- Better urban design could add years to your life
- Canada's underfunded cities beg government to fix crisis
Federal and provincial funding for new public transit projects has long been sporadic and without any clear direction, leaving municipalities to shoulder most of the burden, says Todd Litman, director of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute.
As well, he says, much of the funding that has been made available supported infrastructure for drivers, a vestige of 20th century approaches to urban planning.
"There was this consensus that the majority of transportation planning and funding should be oriented toward accommodating more cars," Litman says, adding that there is clearly growing demand for alternatives, particularly public transit, and policy has largely failed to reflect that.
"What it boils down to is that it's much easier for local governments to get funding for a highway improvement or new bridge than it is for a public transit project, even if public transit is the more rational investment."
Transit for political gain
There are some signs of hope on the horizon for cities, however. Beginning in 2017, there will be $1B annually earmarked in the federal budget for regional transit projects.For example, in June it was announced that Ottawa will contribute $2.6B, about one third of the total cost, to Toronto Mayor John Tory's SmartTrack plan — welcome news in a city that is said to lose an estimated $11 billion in economic activity each year due to crippling congestion.
Amid growing pressure from big city leaders for new infrastructure cash, Stephen Harper's government has earmarked $1B annually for public transit projects starting in 2017. The NDP and Liberals are also promising new funding as well. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)
"Just look at the Conservatives right now. There's an election on the horizon and if somebody proposed a transit system based on flying monkeys and it happened to serve a contested area, they'd help fund it," he says, only half-jokingly.
"The result is that often we are not supporting the transit we need, but projects that advance electoral alliances and political gains."
Haider argues that Toronto's Sheppard subway line is an example of how politics can play too large a role in how we design and ultimately build transit projects. Completed in 2002 after years of delays and cost overruns, the 5.5 km stretch of track was largely championed by a small coalition of politicians hoping to curry favour from voters in an area that was, at the time, a relatively sparsely populated patch of suburbia.
It's a cautionary tale of what happens when politics trumps effective planning, Haider says, adding that "there are examples of these kinds of mistakes all across the country."
'The future is abstract'
Like most infrastructure, constructing new public transit comes with a hefty price tag and the benefits can take years to materialize. Consequently, even the best projects can be a tough sell to the public."The future is abstract, it's way down the road. We have no idea what thirty years from now, for example, is going to look like," says David Moscrop, a lecturer in the department of political science at UBC whose research focuses on the intersection of cognitive science and democracy.
"It just seems too far removed from our daily experience."
Moscrop argues that our inability to think on long time scales hampers decisions around public transit. These effects were likely on display during Metro Vancouver's transit plebiscite.
The plan included a laundry list of projects, like a new east-west subway line, new light rail, a new ferry and a replacement bridge across the Fraser River, among others things, aimed at connecting people to job centres and reducing the area's infamous traffic congestion over at least ten years.
"Cognitively speaking, it's easier for people to focus on one smaller issue like TransLink than consider a huge question with far reaching, long-term consequences," Moscrop says.
"Unfortunately it's kind of a disaster for policy making."
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/why-canada-has-fallen-so-far-behind-on-public-transit-1.3137415?cmp=rss
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