Chicken post of the day

.............

and then you have books about those who care for chickens:

CHicken post of the day

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headsup from DarkRoastedBlend

Stories below the fold

Lord Elgin stole a lot of the statues etc from the Greek Parthenon, so if you want to see them, they re in London (and the Greeks want them back).

But one dirty little secret is that a lot of the stuff he bought sank.

So has this ship been found?

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StrategyPage reports on Colombia, which after settling with FARC is still facing drug gangs. But the real news is that they are thriving, while Venezuela is going bust.

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the real modern Nazis wear white coast. NDY activist explains...

I have seen this, alas. And it will get worse as the decision will be made by cost conscious bureaucrats instead of families or doctors who know the patient.

The problem we docs face: there is a subtle line between non treatment because you think the patient is better off dead, vs deciding less invasive treatment when aggressive care means a low benefit/high side effect ratio. Often families think "more is better", when often less aggressive therapy is better for the patient.

But often deciding on less aggressive treatment that would save the patient's life would quickly morphs to "no treatment", which is the danger of having a DNR order on the chart, which is often interpreted by staff or others as "don't do anything he's better off dead".



But now we see pushback: Texas seeking to make a law that doctors can't write a DNR order without the patient's permission.

it might have been better just to keep the Hippocratic oath, but modern medical ethicists have been trying to destroy that oath since I was in medical school, because it forbids abortion, euthanasia, sleeping with patients, putting the patient's needs over the "needs" of society, and insists on privacy.

Modern oaths let you do all these things and still be considered "ethical".

Sigh.
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airport type body screening in LA's subways is the way of the future.

huh? LA has subways? Who wudda thot?

but there have been threats to subways by AlQaeda, and of course there are always crazies around.

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the mathematics of golf.

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Uber kerfluffle in Manila.

Don't ask me: We still use "tricycles" here (motorcycles with side cars)

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the real worry here is an outbreak of birdflu.

No human cases yet but 200 thousand birds will have to be "culled" in Pampanga.

one wonders how it got introduced, since we are not on major wildbird migration routes, but the article notes:

He said the authorities suspect the virus could have been spread by migratory birds or from smuggled poultry products.

San Luis, about 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of Manila, is close to the Candaba swamps, a major way station and destination for migratory birds who move out of the Asian mainland during winter.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-08-philippines-declares-h5-bird-flu.html#jCp

 --update here.

Sigh. This is not good: already our chicken industry is marginal due to cheap imports, and now this. Note: we used to do this, until a typhoon destroyed our chicken houses (luckily between "grows" so no chickens were killed).

The gov't will supervise the "culls", but the real danger is that some people will decide to illegally sell the sick chickens to locals, and people will start to die.

Sigh..

and for those who think "free range" chickens are safer, , well, not true. They still can catch flu from migrating birds... and modern chicken farming allows poor people  in modern day mega cities to be able to afford to buy eggs and chickens to prevent malnutrition.

Love in the Henhouse

quote of the day comes from Mrs. Beaton's Book of Household management:

sec. 947)

If the cock should, by any accident, get killed, considerable delicacy is required in introducing a new one. The hens may mope, and refuse to associate with their new husband, clustering in corners, and making odious comparisons between him and the departed

and in honor of St Patrick's day:

alternative lyrics here.

The WAGD post of the day

China is fighting a possible bird flu epidemic, says the NYTimes

As of Friday, health officials confirmed eight deaths and 77 diagnosed cases just in February, according to Xinhua, the state news agency. Last month, 192 people in China learned they had the virus, and 79 of them died, according to official numbers released on Tuesday. The strain, H7N9, is an avian influenza virus that can infemt people who come in close contact with infected live or newly killed birds.

like previous outbreaks, it is confined to people who caught the disease from handling chickens.

The real danger starts if the virus mutates another step to spread person to person... some suspect this caused the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918, that killed more people than World War I....

but the various birdflu viruses can decimate the poultry farms, and there have been outbreaks all over the world. The virus is spread via migrating birds and luckily for us the Philippines does not have a lot of migrating bird.

The big worry is that someone will kill and export the infected chickens and spread the disease to people.

NYT2015 article on the potential threat of Bird flu to the poultry industry... discussing how it has hurt chicken and poultry raising farmers in the USA.

Iraq has been deeply hit last year with the problem, for example, as have other countries.

one reason may be that if a chicken farm is infected, the entire flock will get it. And chicken farms are alas monoculture chickens, limited to a few breeds. One way to protect chickens is keep the chickens indoors and use ventillation fans.

and the bad news for all those yuppies who love their back yard chickens: Beware of bird flu if migrating birds mingle with your chickens... this is why Jakarta banned chickens (actually fighting cocks) inside city limits a couple years ago.

there also has been some work to find chickens resistant to influenza: this would include cross breeding with traditional breeds, and also GMO chickens.

Chickens and eggs are a cheap source of protein, and the chicken farming business has spread all over the world.

Here is Eng. Hamid with an example of how to raise chickens... he runs a teaching farm in Iran...

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this is not the only agricultural business hit by disease:

and recently there has been anoutbreak of footandmouth disease in Korea, that affects cattle LINK

during the last asian outbreak, we had to walk on a specialized mat in the airport just in case our shoes had the virus riding on the soles.

Chicken post of the day

AnEccentric Culinary history webpage had an article about the history of Chicken farms in California... there were backyard chickens, but San Francisco actually imported most of their eggs.

(until the ) late 1870s. ... the demand for fresh eggs was largely satisfied (to the extent it could be) by importing eggs from great distances, or by seabird eggs, gathered from the giant (but fast declining) colony of murres that roosted on the Farallon Islands, 30 miles due west of San Francisco.

No local source of chicken feed made it hard for mass production of eggs:

chicken feed was so expensive that Boston eggs, shipped around the Horn, and murre eggs from the Farallones were cheaper than hen’s eggs after the cost of feed.

? Bad chicken feed leading to disease that wiped out the chickens.

the American Menu has the story of importing food via clipper ships.


And ten there was this: collecting eggs from seabird nesting sites on islands nearby.

Wikipedia article here.

The Egg War is the name given to an 1863 conflict between rival egging companies on the Farallon Islands, 25 miles off San Francisco. It was the culmination of several years of tension between the Pacific Egg Company (also known as the Farallon Egg Company), which claimed the right to collect the eggs on the islands, and several rival firms. The resulting violence claimed two lives, but left the Egg Company in sole control of the islands' eggs. Its victory was short lived; the company sold the rights to use the islands in the late 1870s and the federal government removed all egging companies from the islands in 1881.

A website on the seabirds of Farralon Islands

Common Murre

Common Murre is the most abundant breeding seabird in northern and central California.  They nest in very dense colonies on slopes and cliffs.  This species can dive to depths of 100 feet and stay under water for more than one minute.  The deepest dive recorded for the Common Murre was 550 feet.  Murres incubate their one egg with their feet holding the egg in place.

more HERE.

Chicken post of the day

Rooster Trump!


the UKTelegraph reports that a Chinese mall erected a statue of Rooster Trump (and is selling Rooster Trump merchandise) to celebrate the Year of the Rooster.

VCG via GettyImages

this year it is the year of the rooster 

Rooster is almost the epitome of fidelity and punctuality. For ancestors who had no alarm clocks, the crowing was significant, as it could awaken people to get up and start to work. In Chinese culture, another symbolic meaning of chicken carries is exorcising evil spirits.

of course, in Asia, rooster also means a fighting cock, nothing to be messed with.

And this years element is metal, so it is the year of the metal Rooster.

As Roosters are already of a Metal sign, this Rooster carries a double metal element – this means that they are extra steely, determined and hardworking in their goals. Carrying great focus, he will impress others with his passion towards work, drive and high ideals, which he will see right through to the end....
..The Metal element can make this metal Rooster inflexible, obstinate and downright arrogant. He can become over-analytical, picking on everything from work, to family to relationships – even if there is nothing wrong. He holds on very strongly to his opinion, becoming very closed to the views of others. With his headstrong impulses, he will bully his way forward, crowing at the top of his voice until everyone else has no choice but to give in to him.

and this story was in the news lasts week:

Last month China's People's Daily tweeted out an image of a bird with Trump-like hair:

 Follow

People's Daily,China 

✔@PDChina

Meet the pheasant-elect: Bird sporting 'Donald Trump's hairstyle' soars to internet fame in China http://bit.ly/2frXVfK 

5:58 AM - 15 Nov 2016

ChickenMan!

All this talk on poultry reminds one of the famous superhero: Benton Harbor.

Giant Chicken sighting

“Hahn/Cock" debuted in London in 2013. (Copyright EPA/ANDY RAIN, courtesy of the National Gallery of Art)

Well not really a giant Chicken, but a giant cock...i.e. the Hahn/Cock, as in  rooster. Sighted in it's new nest by Professor Mary Beard, of Roman fame.

He gazes off the terrace, more or less in the direction of the Capitol -- as if, we couldn't help thinking, he was making a comment on the current political scene. Come on Washington DC, wake up!

or maybe it's a symbol of the flashy, boastful new President who is willing to attack anyone getting into his way while he struts his stuff, and lives in a house surrounded by beautiful chicks.... place favorite pro or anti Trump metaphor here...

The National Gallery has borrowed the Hahn/Cock rooster from the UK.

"The relocation of this enigmatic monument from its original site in Trafalgar Square will add a surprising blast of color to one corner of the National Mall, while stimulating fascinating conversations about scale, context, nationality, and representation," said Harry Cooper, the gallery's curator and head of modern art, in a release. Renovations of the National Gallery of Art's 35-year-old East Building began three years ago, and are finally coming an end. Hahn/Cock will be the most grandiose work overlooking Pennsylvania Avenue in the museum's new outdoor sculpture garden, which can also be used for people-watching on high with built-in seating.

Chicken post of the day

Scientists grow dinosaur leg on chicken.



headsup DaveBarry

reminds me of this Asimov short story...

Chicken post of the day

I'm getting too serious

So let me link to Improbable research, on the scientist who figured out how T Rex and his buddies really walked.

The Clinic published an interview [in Spanish] with Bruno Rossi, who (together with colleagues) was awarded the 2015 Ig Nobel Prize for biology, for observing that when you attach a weighted stick to the rear end of a chicken, the chicken then walks in a manner similar to that in which dinosaurs are thought to have walked.

original article HERE.

Chicken post of the day

image credit Vimeo

it looks like a chicken but it's actually a dove:

Daniel Alamsjah revealed that he was working in Jakarta when he suddenly received a divine message from God to build a prayer room in the form of a dove.

ViaThePresurfer

Your government keeping you safe

Well, Homeland security couldn't be bothered to check up on students who the Russians warned them were terrorists planning to bomb the Boston Marathon last year, but don't worry: They will keep you safe from...chocolate easter eggs.

They can't get Mexican illegals or Dagestani terrorists en route to blow up the Boston Marathon, but they could, if only those guys made the mistake of traveling with a Kinder egg.

Mark Steyn reports how in a previous trip he ran into trouble:

"Oh, just some Easter eggs," I said, breezily - and instantly regretted it.
The hitherto somewhat somnolent agent sprang visibly alert. "Easter eggs?" he said, with a palpable menace in his voice.
"Not Kinder eggs," I replied, trying very hard not to roll my eyes. "Just regular home-made Québécois Easter chocolate."
He de-bristled, and waved us through. "Close call, Dad," said my daughter.
Indeed. I'd smuggle in a dirty nuke before I'd risk another Kinder egg in the car. Three Easters ago, the United States Government gave me a delightful seasonal gift of a Department of Homeland Security "Custody Receipt for Seized Property and Evidence". Late the previous night, crossing the self-same Quebec/Vermont border posr, my children had had two boxes of "Kinder Eggs" ("Est. Dom. Value $7.50″) confiscated by Customs & Border Protection.

Insomnia download of the day

Ten hours of the clucking chicken singing the chicken song....

The Chicken post of the day

 the Running Chicken Nebula:

Credit: ESO

This new image from the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope shows the Running Chicken Nebula, a cloud of gas and newborn stars that lies around 6,500 light-years away from us in the constellation of Centaurus

more HERE.

Text like a pirate

;

LINK

Always check the map

 

from SavageChicken

Stuff below the fold

Time to catch up on the newsletters in my email box.
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The drought in the US has already made soy and corn prices skyrocket, and is having a ripple effect. This article is about poultry raisers in Brazil asking for gov't help...

"The increases in grain costs have already reached 70% this year.

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 related article: US crop conditions will affect poultry outlook

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apparently there is an EPA (US gov't mandate) to use corn for fuel...the poutry and meat raising organizations in the US are asking this rule to be waived so more corn can go to animal feed etc.

The RFS requires 13.2 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol to be produced in 2012 and 13.8 billion gallons in 2013, amounts that will use about 4.7 billion and 4.9 billion bushels, respectively, of the nation’s corn. Some agricultural forecasters now are estimating that  11.8 billion bushels of corn will be harvested this year – about 13 billion were harvested in 2011 – meaning corn-ethanol production will use about four of every 10 bushels.

The RFS has “directly affected the supply and cost of feed in major agricultural sectors of this country, causing the type of economic harm that justifies issuance of an RFS waiver,” said the coalition in its petition.

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 If  you have money you don't know what to do with, send a donation to Hesperian books to send one of their books to village health workers and teachers.

their most widely read one is "Where there is no Doctor", and if you are a survivalist, you might want to download it for free.

So why not just send these folks a 30 dollar tablet computer and read the free ebook? Brownouts...you can read a paper book even when the battery is dead. During the prolonged brownout during our typhoon last year, the local grocery store had outlets for folks to recharge their cellphones (we have a generator).

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Wild Computing: Devices from the early 1900's

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Glowing wallpaper? Scientists invent glowing LED's.on paper..I suspect the first use will be for greeting cards, but when was the last time you used snailmail?....

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why most of those Nigerian scammers aren't Nigerian at all...

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If they make guns illegal, only the felons will have guns.

Change that saying to "only the geeks will have guns that they print out on their 3D printer".

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Why does a meeting of Orthodox Jews in a New Jersey stadium require as much security as the Super Bowl?

Because He Who Must Not Be Named might attack them?

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Why new technology might not be pushing health care costs up:
partly because docs are using the "conservative" approach (treat the patient, not the scan).

but also because:

But the main reason growth slowed is because of new insurance arrangements. These include larger deductibles: the percentage of employees with a deductible of at least $1,000 grew from 10 percent in 2006 to 27 percent in 2010.

• 
  
• Also, there’s an increased use of ‘prior authorization’ in insurance, which requires doctors to conform to guidelines about the appropriateness of medical treatments

Yes, you won't get the MRI unless a bureaucrat okays it.

On the other hand, I was once sued because supposedly I didn't order an experimental test which could only be done 600 miles away from my small town at one University hospital in California, and missed a cancer that was so rare that there were only six cases in the medical literature.

No liability reform for docs yet, though: The lawyers give lots of money to politicians to prevent that from happening, even though the AMA says it is a priority.

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I normally get Fundraising letters from Obama via Democrats abroad, of which I am a member, in a private email account.
But now I'm getting similar emails in another account that I only use for "on line" stuff (for posting comments on line, but mainly for newsletters: I try to keep these things out of my private email account).

Are they spamming? It's also the email I use for Facebook, so I wonder if they stole it from there....

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 Maeve Binchy, the novelist, has passed away.

A lady who gave hours of pleasure to ordinary folks.

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Just for nice