Disposable Tatoos

Researchers have found a new application for a technique originally developed for pharmaceutical products and other consumer goods. Microencapsulation was originally designed as a way to put a protective capsule around a product that would break down under certain conditions and release the contents in a specific location or at a certain time. Think time-release cold medicine. But what else can you do with the idea?

How about erasable tattoos? Not a temporary tattoo that washes off. A completely permanent tattoo - until you want it gone.

Now scientists at Brown University have made microencapsulated beads filled with dyes. These beads are mixed with a solution to make tattoo ink. Free of heavy metals and other toxins, the ink is safer than conventional products and is easily removed. When you want to wipe "Veronica" or "Jake" off your arm, a single laser treatment breaks the beads, allowing the body to naturally expel the dye trapped inside and bring a formal end to that old fling.

Currently, it takes about six or seven laser treatments to remove a tattoo using traditional inks.

This will be a boon to future generations when they realize that permanently printing the name of a short-lived, one-hit wonder band across the back of your neck is not a career enhancing move. (I saw that recently on a clerk in a store.)

Apples, Trees and Lightning Don’t Mix

Everyone should, one hopes, know that lightning storms and trees do not mix well. The long-standing advice is that standing under or near a tree  during a storm is a bad idea verging on the suicidal. Well, it turns out that it isn't just trees, it's Apples. As in iPods.

BOSTON (Reuters) - Here's a handy tip for joggers: If you think you might get caught in a thunderstorm, leave your music player at home.

Doctors at Vancouver General Hospital in Canada said a 37-year-old jogger wearing an iPod was burned on his chest, neck and face after the man and a nearby tree were struck by lightning in 2005. The burns traced the path of the earphones, they said.

The patient's eardrums were ruptured and the tiny bones in his middle ears were dislocated, the doctors wrote in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine.

The man's jawbone broke in four places and both jaw joints were dislocated, probably because the electric current made his jaw muscles contract violently, Eric Heffernan, Dr. Peter Munk and Dr. Luck Louis wrote in their letter.

The metal in the earphones helped channel the current and cause the injuries, they said.

"Although the use of a device such as an iPod may not increase the chances of being struck by lightning, in this case, the combination of sweat and metal earphones directed the current to, and through, the patient's head," they said.

Who knew apples attract lightning? Probably any earphones in a lightning storm are a really bad idea.

Interesting Ideas

Two items from Real Clear Politics juxtaposed together make an interesting argument. The first on, from the Detroit News makes the point that Representative John Dingell's (D-Michigan) proposal to introduce a carbon tax on all industries that produce energy or energy consuming devices is actually an attempt to stop other lawmakers from posturing on environmental issues by dumping on the auto industry.

Rep. John Dingell is calling the bluff of his fellow lawmakers who love to pander, preen and posture in the name of environmentalism, just as long as it doesn't cost them anything.

The Dearborn Democrat is answering those who demand Congress "do something" about global warming and foreign oil dependence by saying, "Why just do something? Why not do everything?"

In a brilliant political counter move, Dingell is proposing a carbon tax on all industries that burn energy or produce energy-consuming goods, as well as on the consumers who use those products.

In doing so, the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee is forcing his colleagues to prove they're serious about reducing greenhouse gases.

Dingell doesn't really want a widespread energy tax. But neither does he want the automobile industry to bear the full burden of reducing greenhouse gases, and that's the direction Congress has been going.

This is an excellent point. Make the politicians face up to the insane amount of damage to the economy the true believers are trying to force onto America. Let the consumers see the real cost. Then face those same voters in the next election. As the editorial succinctly puts it at the end:

We suspect Dingell is right that once the cost of reducing greenhouse gases starts hitting consumers, they'll be a lot less enthusiastic about hugging the earth.

But whatever the outcome of this proposal, moving the energy debate beyond the auto industry is a welcome development.

Which leads to the next interesting idea, this time from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, written by Bruce Chapman of the Discovery Institute.

But the new think tank study insists that talk radio is "imbalanced" and that the imbalance is due largely to the preferences of large radio conglomerates that are run by middle-aged white men. They demand that the government step in and break up the big radio chains and require as much progressive programming as conservative.

At this point Republicans, perhaps surprisingly, are rubbing their hands and hoping for a fight on the Fairness Doctrine. They think the threats from liberal legislators will backfire, helping to unite and activate the nation's 50 million or so talk radio listeners, most of them conservatives, and get them to the polls.

But the right could be making a mistake. Instead of opposing a new "Fairness Doctrine," perhaps conservatives should embrace it — providing, that is, that the new policy is extended to all media, not just talk radio. (Do I notice some "progressives" throwing down their papers in disgust?)

Let's start with that most public of federal broadcast entities, National Public Radio. Increasingly, its sponsors range from foundations with an ideological ax to grind to law firms and national teachers unions. Conservatives find that stories they care about just don't make it onto NPR schedules. When the rare conservative gets invited to participate on an NPR issues panel, somehow there are two or three liberals facing him, with a liberal host recognizing the speakers.

Next, the new Fairness Doctrine should apply to television, including not just PBS, but also CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN and MSNBC, as well as the FOX channel. When newscasters seek legally required balance on a given issue, let's see if they can be persuaded to find the most articulate conservative — not the most egregious and unpopular — to reply to the liberal voice.

He doesn't stop there. Make the newspapers and magazines meet the same standards of balance. Make the left face the same standards they want to demand of talk radio. Make the media remain neutral. Whoopsie. Bet that won't go over real well, will it? Two interesting ideas, no?

This is an excellent point. Make the politicians face up to the insane amount of damage to the economy the true believers are trying to force onto America. Let the consumers see the real cost. Then face those same voters in the next election. As the editorial succinctly puts it at the end:

We suspect Dingell is right that once the cost of reducing greenhouse gases starts hitting consumers, they'll be a lot less enthusiastic about hugging the earth.

But whatever the outcome of this proposal, moving the energy debate beyond the auto industry is a welcome development.

Which leads to the next interesting idea, this time from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, written by Bruce Chapman of the Discovery Institute.

But the new think tank study insists that talk radio is "imbalanced" and that the imbalance is due largely to the preferences of large radio conglomerates that are run by middle-aged white men. They demand that the government step in and break up the big radio chains and require as much progressive programming as conservative.

At this point Republicans, perhaps surprisingly, are rubbing their hands and hoping for a fight on the Fairness Doctrine. They think the threats from liberal legislators will backfire, helping to unite and activate the nation's 50 million or so talk radio listeners, most of them conservatives, and get them to the polls.

But the right could be making a mistake. Instead of opposing a new "Fairness Doctrine," perhaps conservatives should embrace it — providing, that is, that the new policy is extended to all media, not just talk radio. (Do I notice some "progressives" throwing down their papers in disgust?)

Let's start with that most public of federal broadcast entities, National Public Radio. Increasingly, its sponsors range from foundations with an ideological ax to grind to law firms and national teachers unions. Conservatives find that stories they care about just don't make it onto NPR schedules. When the rare conservative gets invited to participate on an NPR issues panel, somehow there are two or three liberals facing him, with a liberal host recognizing the speakers.

Next, the new Fairness Doctrine should apply to television, including not just PBS, but also CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN and MSNBC, as well as the FOX channel. When newscasters seek legally required balance on a given issue, let's see if they can be persuaded to find the most articulate conservative — not the most egregious and unpopular — to reply to the liberal voice.

He doesn't stop there. Make the newspapers and magazines meet the same standards of balance. Make the left face the same standards they want to demand of talk radio. Make the media remain neutral. Whoopsie. Bet that won't go over real well, will it? Two interesting ideas, no?

“Clear And Convincing Evidence To The Contrary”

“Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood,” Jack Murtha, member of the House of Representatives and unindicted co-conspirator in the ABSCAM case, speaking to the press and declaring US Marines guilty of murder at Haditha, Iraq.

"The government version is unsupported by independent evidence. To believe the government version of facts is to disregard clear and convincing evidence to the contrary." Lt. Col. Paul Ware, Article 32 hearing officer for Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt, advising that the charges regarding Haditha be dropped.

Lt. Col. Ware did more than just recommend dropping the charges here. The wording of that sentence indicates that it is not only that there is insufficient evidence but that the prosecutors are ignoring evidence that points to innocence.

Lady Bird Johnson, RIP

Lady Bird Johnson has died at her home in Austin, Texas. She was 94 years old.

AUSTIN, Texas - Lady Bird Johnson, the former first lady who championed conservation and worked tenaciously for the political career of her husband, former President Lyndon B. Johnson, died Wednesday, a family spokeswoman said. She was 94.

Rest in peace.

Well, It Ain’t Pennies From Heaven

For years now, items have been turning up in the news raving about the high tech, superwhamadyne Japanese toilets. Of course, the occasional unflattering piece has shown up now and again, too. People tend to get cranky when their toilet bursts into flame.

But, nonetheless we here at the Crabitat have decided it is time to order a few of the wonder devices. I mean, there will be a shortage of them soon. As soon as people hear that they are dispensing cash.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Packages containing 10,000 yen (40 pound) bills have been found this week in men's toilets at government offices throughout Japan, baffling officials as to why and who would do them such service.

Most of the bills were accompanied by a hand-written message saying: "Please use them for disciplining," local officials said.

"The first thing that I thought was that someone must have misplaced it so that I have to report it right away," said an official working at the Saitama Prefectural government near Tokyo.

Public broadcaster NHK said cash totalling some 4 million yen had been found in men's rooms at local government offices in 18 prefectures.

That is our kind of litter. (Kind of out of character for the normally hyper-fastidious Japanese, isn't it?)

Fascinating Find

A historian visiting the British Museum to research some of their large collection of Assyrian cuneiform tablets has made a fascinating discovery. Michael Jursa, a scholar from Vienna, has found an inscription that appears to validate the existence of a very minor official detailed in the Old Testament.

Michael Jursa, a visiting professor from Vienna, let out such a cry last Thursday. He had made what has been called the most important find in Biblical archaeology for 100 years, a discovery that supports the view that the historical books of the Old Testament are based on fact.

Searching for Babylonian financial accounts among the tablets, Prof Jursa suddenly came across a name he half remembered - Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, described there in a hand 2,500 years old, as "the chief eunuch" of Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon.

Prof Jursa, an Assyriologist, checked the Old Testament and there in chapter 39 of the Book of Jeremiah, he found, spelled differently, the same name - Nebo-Sarsekim.

Nebo-Sarsekim, according to Jeremiah, was Nebuchadnezzar II's "chief officer" and was with him at the siege of Jerusalem in 587 BC, when the Babylonians overran the city.

From a historical standpoint, such a confirmation of a very minor detail adds credence to the entire text. They wax a little too enthusiastic in the rest of the story, I think, but this certainly is an important historical find. More about cuneiform writing can be found here.

“Giant Badgers Terrorise Iraqi Port City”

Pretty standard headline here at Blue Crab Boulevard, no? Only it isn't ours. It is from the Australian Daily Telegraph. Honest.

THE Iraqi port city of Basra, already prey to a nasty turf war between rival militia factions, has now been gripped by a scary rumour – giant badgers are stalking the streets by night, eating humans.

The animals were allegedly released into the area by British forces.

Local farmers have caught and killed several of the beasts, but this has done nothing to dispel the rumour.

Iraqi scientists have attempted to calm things down. However, the story has spread like wildfire in the streets of the city and the villages round about.

Mushtaq Abdul-Mahdi, director of Basra's veterinary hospital, has inspected the corpses of several badgers and tries to reassure Iraqis that the animals are not a new post-war arrival in the region.

“These animals appeared before the fall of the regime in 1986. They are known as Al-Ghirayri and locally as Al-Girta,” he told AFP. “Talk that this animal was brought by the British forces is incorrect and unscientific.”

Not everybody is convinced.

Now we love a good Animal Uprising™ story around here, so we are fairly miffed at the Daily Mail for horning in on our turf. Media bullies. Anyway, one of the absolute best "witness" interviews in the article:

Sattar Jabbar, a 50-year-old local farmer from Abu Sakhar north of Basra, believes the badger can tackle even large prey.

“I saw it three days ago at night attacking animals. It even ate a cow. It tore the cow up piece by piece. I tried to shoot it with my gun but it ran away into the orchards. I missed it,” he said.

Now considering that the badger in question has been identified as a honey badger or ratel, we can pin down the upper range of the creature's size. They grow to a maximum of about 28 pounds. Even though we have been known to claim some fantastic things in our stories, we would really hesitate to try to sell our readers on the idea that a 28 pound badger took down and ate a 1,000 pound cow. We would have made it a full grown elephant. (We have the mental image of the character played by Lara Flynn Boyle in Men in Black II eating her would be human attacker whole. But we digress.)

Freedom Versus Compulsion

John Stossel writes today about an interview that he conducted with Michael Moore. He methodically picks apart Moore's arguments about government. He also gives a lesson in spotting the insidious presumptions of people like Moore.

I interviewed Michael Moore recently for an upcoming "20/20" special on health care. It's refreshing to interview a leftist who proudly admits he's a leftist. He told me that government should provide "food care" as well as health care and that big government would work if only the right people were in charge.

Moore added, "I watch your show and I know where you are coming from. … "

He knows I defend limited government, so he tried to explain why I was wrong. He began in a revealing way:

"I gotta believe that, even though I know you're very much for the individual determining his own destiny, you also have a heart."

Notice his smuggled premise in the words "even though." In Moore's mind, someone who favors individual freedom doesn't care about his fellow human beings. If I have a heart, it's in spite of my belief in freedom and autonomy for everyone.

Doesn't it stand to reason that someone who wants everyone to be free of tyranny does so partly because he cares about others? Wishing freedom to one's fellow human beings strikes me as a sign of benevolence. But Moore and the left don't see it that way.

Stossel is at his best in this one. I heartily recommend reading the whole thing. Moore makes several points which Stossel easily knocks apart. The point is that the collection of taxes is, as Stossel points out, compulsion. But Stossel freely gives about 25% of his income to charity because charities do a much better job of taking care of the needs of those less fortunate than government does. Compulsory redistribution of wealth will not, as Moore attempts to imply, get you into Heaven. There is no salvation in paying taxes.

Move Over Pamplona

In a bid to get ahead of Pamplona, Spain and its annual running of the bulls (or goring of the tourists as it is sometimes called) Omaha, Nebraska has ratcheted up the pressure. They have staged their own event: the running over of the bulls.

OMAHA, Neb. — All 42 cattle released in a tractor-trailer rollover on Tuesday are dead — either killed in the crash or put down afterward, according to the Nebraska Humane Society.

Live animals ran on the interstate and through neighborhoods after the truck they were in lost control and rolled as the driver headed south on Interstate 680 and turned onto east Interstate 80. Officers had to shoot many of the animals.

The driver, Shon Buermann, was enroute to the Greater Omaha Packing Plant at 33rd and L streets when his load shifted, Omaha police said.

Surrounding roads were closed for hours as crews worked to round up cattle and clean up the mess.

Omaha awaits Pamplona's response.

Flop

NBC released viewing figures for the Live Earth concert coverage it carried over the weekend. To call the figure dismal would be to an understatement. Almost twice as many viewers watched a re-run episode of "Cops" on Fox. In total the goregasm got about 2.8 million viewers. Some 12.3 million watched reruns.

The three-hour prime-time telecast of the event, designed to raise awareness of climate-change issues, drew just 2.8 million viewers to the network. It was the least watched show among the major broadcast networks Saturday night, trailing repeats of Fox's "Cops," which averaged 4.2 million, and "America's Most Wanted" (4.7 million), and ABC's broadcast of the 2001 movie "Monsters, Inc." (3.4 million).

NBC's telecast included live coverage of musical acts at New Jersey's Giants Stadium as well as taped bits from concerts around the globe.

But the news was not all bad for "Live Earth" organizer Al Gore, according to ratings spinmeisters at NBC Universal: 19 million people watched at least six minutes of the concerts that aired throughout the day on its networks NBC, Bravo, CNBC and Telemundo. (Nielsen does not measure ratings for Sundance Channel, which also televised the concert.)

Spinmeister is also an understatement. When a network is touting viewers on other networks as a sign things were not so bad, they were worse than bad.  Real indicator of the disaster: Gore stories have virtually disappeared form the media in the past couple of days, unless they point out the flaccid response Gore got. Nary a hint of a "draft Gore" political story.

Red Mosque Battle Finally Over - Death Toll Unknown

The group of "brave" jihadis using women and children as human shields appear to have finally been captured or killed during an almost two day long battle. Pakistani officials are reporting at least 60 militants are dead. But they are also warning that the toll could be much higher. It is not known how many hostages died. It is known that the pro-taliban head cleric of the mosque is one of the dead.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, July 11 — A commando raid that was expected to be a quick operation to subdue Islamic radicals in the Red Mosque turned into a marathon battle Tuesday and Wednesday, with elite Pakistani forces sweeping through underground bunkers in more than 20 hours of intense combat.

Military officials said the fighting left at least eight commandos and 60 radicals dead — including the firebrand cleric at the center of standoff — but they also suggested the toll might ultimately prove far higher. Among the hundreds of people estimated to be in the mosque when the raid began, only 83 made it out alive, most of them women and children.

Authorities had released no information about the fate of the others as of Wednesday morning, and reporters were barred from visiting local hospitals. Many of the missing were believed to be civilians who had been held hostage.

The Pakistani government and the mosque's pro-Taliban leadership had been locked in a standoff for eight days after a street clash last Tuesday that left more than 20 people dead. Mosque leaders had been provoking the government for months by abducting alleged prostitutes and police officers, and by threatening music store owners. The mosque's clerics, a pair of brothers, said they wanted to create a theocracy in Pakistan based on Islamic law.

I saw an obituary for the dead "fiery" cleric yesterday that essentially said that the man had pushed too hard for the changes he wanted. Not one, single word in it condemned the coward for hiding behind women and children. Not one. Only a very mild disapproval that he had taken the law into his own hands. Not even an admission that what the cleric was doing was criminal and meant to topple a government.