Heroes of the Week: ARL and Fall River Animal Control Rescue Trapped kitten

All it takes to be a hero is to pay attention, and get help for someone who needs it- human or animal. This week's heroes are the unknown people who heard a trapped kitten and the Animal Rescue League of Boston and Fall River Animal Control who saved the little one.

( Photo: A kitten was rescued from under a boardwalk in Fall River this week. Wharf is expected to be up for adoption in the next week. Animal Rescue League of Boston)

Trapped kitten rescued from beneath boardwalk in Fall River, Mass.

By Lindsay Shachnow, Boston com, July 30, 2024

A 9-week-old kitten was rescued this week after finding itself at the bottom of a steep embankment below a boardwalk in Fall River.

A couple was walking near the Cove Restaurant and Marina when they heard the kitten meowing and called for assistance, according to the Animal Rescue League of Boston.

The ARL of Boston Field Services Department responded, finding the kitten, now named Wharf, curled up on a rock.

“The kitten was about 20 feet below the boardwalk,” the ARL wrote in a statement. “The steeply sloped and rocky area was not accessible without risk of injury, and the fear was the kitten would run and hide if responders attempted to come down to his level.”

Instead, the ARL and Fall River Animal Control lowered a humane cat trap down, using food to tempt Wharf to enter it.

After about 40 minutes, the rescuers successfully secured Wharf for transport to ARL’s Boston Animal Care and Adoption Center and gave the kitten a veterinary exam.

Aside from being “ravenously hungry and frightened” Wharf was found to be in “good overall health.”

“ARL wishes to thank the Good Samaritans who reported the wayward kitten, and Fall River Animal Control for their assistance in rescuing this adventurous animal,” the ARL wrote.

Enjoyable Dog Mystery: Smoky Mountain Tracks: A Raine Stockton Dog Mystery

 I love mystery books, and our local library was having an on-line sale for books they wanted to move from the shelves, so I looked for mysteries. The combination of dogs and mysteries is a no-brainer for me, because they are 2 of my favorite things in life. So, I picked up and enjoyed "Smoky Mountain Tracks: A Raine Stockton Dog Mystery," by Donna Ball. 

It's about a part-time USDA Forest Service employee who has a dog kennel on the side and trains dogs to track for missing people.  I really enjoyed the book and the characters and look forward to reading another. 

I went looking for the rest of the series online, and what I found troubled me. It appears that once the author became famous with this series, her publisher more than doubled the price of her books from $6.99 to $17.00! That's crazy. As an author of 11 books myself, I can understand upping the price to $10 for a paperback, but not almost tripling the cost of the books, especially with all the mysteries available. I'm disappointed at the cost, so I won't be buying any others. But if you can find a used copy, get one and read it. You'll like it. 

ABOUT THE STORY: This first title in an all-new mystery series introduces North Carolina dog trainer Roane Stockton. Once a search-and-rescue volunteer with her dog, Cisco, Roane stopped after a tragic loss. Now, she reluctantly returns to help find a kidnapped woman taken deep into the wilderness. Original. This description may be from another edition of this product.

Sign Up Now! Rob's Adult Ed. Paranormal Courses for SCAE, Sanford, Maine

 NEW! Fall 2024 Class season announced at Sanford Community Adult Education / Rob Gutro’s Paranormal Courses

9/12/24   -   Pets and the Afterllife

9/19/24   -   Ghosts of the Bird Cage Theatre:  On a Medium’s Vacation

9/26/24   -   Ghosts of England:  A Medium’s Vacation Encounters

10/03/24   -  4 Haunts! Inspired Ghost Tracking Investigates Historic Places

10/10/24   -  Signs from Departed Loved Ones

11/07/24   -  Ghosts of Ireland on a Medium’s Vacation

11/14/24   -  Ghosts of the Belmont Mansion

11/21/24   -   A Double Murder Ghost Investigation 

12/05/24   -  Paranormal Cases from Inspired Ghost Tracking

12/12/24   -  Kindred Spirits:  An Amazing Spirit Treasure Hunt and How Mediumship Works12/19/24   -  Holiday Presentation – Ghosts and Spirits of Christmas Past and Present

Sanford Community Adult Education

668 Main Street • Sanford, ME 04073 • 207-490-5145 • AdultEd@sanford.org

https://sanford.maineadulted.org

3 Same Day Florida Headlines: The Rich vs. the Poor in the Sunshine State

The headlines in the Miami Herald newspaper on the same day were a blunt reminder about the serious discrepancy between the rich and the poor. On July 23, 2024 a Miami billionaire paid 44 Million to get a fossil, while hospitals are facing bankruptcy and Florida's working households struggle. It's a good argument for raising the taxes on the wealthy to at least to the rate where they stood before Trump cut them  7 years ago.  Here's the story 

 

This Miami billionaire just spent $44.6 million on the ‘most valuable fossil ever sold’ 

   Billionaire Ken Griffin recently bought dinosaur bones for $44.6 million. The Citadel CEO is now the proud owner of “Apex,” a 150-million-year-old stegosaurus that sold July 17, 2024 at Sotheby's New York in a record-breaking deal.

VS. 1) Florida’s working households are struggling. Are state leaders doing enough? “There is no reasonable, logical excuse for people living in this state to be in this situation,” said Karen Woodall, a lobbyist for the Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy.

2) Is bankruptcy affecting healthcare at these Miami-area hospitals?

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Reminder about Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts: Fortunately, Trump's tax cuts for people making over $400,000 should end on schedule. The 2017 law’s provisions primarily benefiting high-income households are costly and do not trickle down. They should all end in 2025. (Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)  **Make sure they do, by keeping him from returning to office. 

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SIDE NOTE;  Trump's Tax cuts helped cut taxes paid by millionaires and billionaires, like Ken Griffin. So, it's no surprise that he can afford  44 Million for a dinosaur fossil... and no surprise that he and other millionaires and billionaires are funding Trump's White House bid again. 

Invention! New in-vehicle AI algorithm can spot drunk drivers

There are good and bad parts of Artificial Intelligence (AI), as there are with everything. However, today's blog is about a GOOD Aspect of AI and how it can be used to get drunk drivers off the road and stop them from endangering lives.

(Image: https://www.muhealth.org/our-stories/ways-prevent-drinking-and-driving) 

New in-vehicle AI algorithm can spot drunk drivers by constantly scanning their faces for signs of intoxication

By Drew Turney LIVE SCIENCE, July 15, 2024

An in-vehicle camera can continuously watch you for signs of intoxication, with a new AI algorithm pinpointing your level of drunkenness with a 75% accuracy.

The computers built into cars could one day tell if a driver is drunk simply by looking at their facial features, researchers say. By constantly "watching" the driver for typical signs of inebriation, it could even reduce drunk driving accidents.

The project, outlined in a paper published April 9 as part of an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and Computer Vision Foundation (CVF) conference, gives in-car computing systems the power to assess the driver's intoxication level as soon as they get in — with 75% accuracy.

It goes beyond existing computer-aided methods that rely on observable behaviors like steering patterns, pedal usage and vehicle speed. Those data points can only be collected and processed when the vehicle has been moving for an extended period.

(Photo: Police say a Maine man who was allegedly driving drunk with his 6-year-old son and caused a deadly crash in Bristol on New Year’s Eve, 2021 has now been charged with manslaughter. Credit: Lincoln County Sheriff's Office)

The new project uses a single color camera that watches for variables like gaze direction and head position. The overall system can also incorporate 3D and infrared footage of the driver's face and rearview videos showing driver posture, alongside steering interactions, event logs, and screen recordings of driving behavior.

"Our system has the capability to identify intoxication levels at the beginning of a drive, allowing for the potential prevention of impaired drivers from being on the road," Ensiyeh Keshtkaran, a doctoral student at Edith Cowan University, Australia, who contributed to the project, said in a statement.

She added that because the software fits seamlessly into the digital architectures of smart vehicles — like eye tracking and driver monitoring systems — it makes it easy to migrate to environments like a smartphone.

For now, the finding represents a major leap forward because it can identify intoxication levels before the car even moves. That could usher in a future in which smart cars won't start with a drunk driver behind the wheel — or they could even alert the authorities if a driver is too intoxicated.

A Fun Trade Paperback: Two-Gun Kid Vol 2 B&W Readers Edition!

 I've always been fascinated by the U.S. Old West, and even wrote a book about my experiences in Tombstone, Arizona, called "Ghosts of the Bird Cage Theatre on  a Medium's Vacation." In it, I also revealed I had a past life experience from that town, so no surprise I like westerns. Put that theme together with Comic books and I'm sold. Today's blog will give you my review of this cool book! 

Recently I learned that a publisher called Gwandanaland Comics reprinted Timely Comics (now owned by Marvel Comics)Two-Gun Kid comics from Issues 6-10 in black and white (paperback). Apparently, Marvel Comics forgot to go back and trademark it, so these issues went into the Public Domain, and this publisher found out.

Two-Gun Kid: Volume 2 B&Q Readers Collection was really enjoyable.  5 of 5 stars!

WHO IS TWO-GUN KID? The Two-Gun Kid is the name of two Western fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first, Clay Harder, was introduced in a 1948 comic from Marvel predecessor Timely Comics.

In addition to the lead character there were also a couple of others including Rawhide Kid, and Blaze Carson.  This 214 page trade paperback also reprints the pages of Advertisements from the late 1940s, which are cool in themselves to look at!! In various issues of Two-Gun kid in the 1940s there were also 2 paged typed stories of westerns, which are also enjoyable. 

Fun at the Boston "Wicked Comic-con!"

Boston held its comiccon the weekend of August 10 and 11, and I've been wanting to go for years. Now that I live back in New England it happened! My friend Dave (whom I've known since high school) and I both enjoy comics so we met up in Boston. It was a HUGE comic con!! We were there most of the day. 

(Photo: Rob and Dave outside the Boston Wicked Comic con) 

SWAG - They had tee shirts for $10 and free cloth bags, stickers and a comic con pin, so I got one of each. I have been collecting comics since the 1970s, and lost a LOT of them after moving out of Massachusetts when I was in my 20s, so I'm trying to recollect them. Comic cons are the BEST places to go to find vintage comics.

(Photo: The tee shirt I had to get!) 

COSTUMES -  Normally I got in a costume, but this was my first venture to Boston, so I wanted to feel it out. Dave and I went on the second day, Sunday, so it was the day after the costume event. Next year, I may come in costume. I did run into several costumed people. One guy was dressed as a wolf in a Wolverine Xmen costume. Another guy was dressed in a maid's outfit. There were several Star Wars characters, too. 

(Photo: The guy dressed as a wolf in a Wolverine outfit was really difficult to see in this photo. Credit: R.G.) 

LUNCH WAS SCARCE - We noticed that there were no food vendors, which is odd for a big comic con. The event was held in the Westin Hotel, Boston seaport, and there was one upscale restaurant, and a Starbucks. UGH. Dave got a pastry and I had a protein bar I had packed. Weird. Next year, I'll pack a lunch! :) 

(Photo: Rob and Dave stopped for a lunch break between the many hours of exploring the event!)

GREAT FOR COMIC COLLECTORS - I was looking for comics like Weird Western Tales, Superman, Superman Family, the Rawhide Kid, Weird War, Detective Comics, and Ghosts to name a few. I managed to find some of all of these to help fill in my missing issues. The search continues to the next comic con! 

INTERESTING SELLERS- Some of the sellers were guys like me who have been collecting for decades. They bought a table at the Con, and were selling some of their collection, to buy other things. That gives ME and idea... 

BOSTON SUBWAY MADNESS - It's been decades since I've been on the Boston Subway, so I didn't even know about the "Silver Line."  I parked at Wonderland station (the northernmost station to NH/ME) and took the blue line to the orange line to the red line to the silver line to get to the hotel with the comic con. On the way back I took the Silver to the Blue line, thinking it would save time, but the stops were odd, and I missed mine, so I had to wait for another Silver Line "train/bus" to go all the way back. Now I get it. :( 

Idiots of the Week: 2 Women Put Mealworms in DNC Food at the Convention

 This weekend's idiots are just vicious, hateful women who were seen dropping mealworms on food during a Democratic National Convention breakfast, causing one person to get very sick. Fortunately, others noticed them and didn't eat the food. But what in the hell kind of deplorable, evil, twisted people do things like that? Obviously it's people who support Trump. This is not what Americans should be. Here's the story.

Mealworms possibly dropped on tables at Chicago hotel hosting DNC delegates breakfast

Associated Press August 22, 2024

CHICAGO (AP) — Mealworms may have sickened at least one person at a Chicago hotel event earlier this week during the Democratic National Convention, the city’s police superintendent said Thursday.

While the investigation by Chicago police and the FBI continues, Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said clues point toward people putting mealworms on tables.

“I’m not sure that those were maggots,” Snelling said Thursday when asked about the possibility of insects dropped on various tables. “There was sawdust, so they were probably mealworms. They look the same. But that’s still under investigation.”

Mealworms are common insects that have wormlike, yellow-to-brown colored bodies. They are the larval form of the mealworm beetle. Maggots are similar in appearance, but soft-bodied with white to transparent color. They are the larval stage of flies.

Multiple suspects, all women, entered the Fairmont Chicago, which was hosting a breakfast for delegates at the DNC and began placing “unknown objects” onto tables with food before leaving the area at around 6:45 a.m. Wednesday, police said.

Indiana delegate Karen Tallian, a retired state senator, said two women hiding in a bathroom "ran out and threw maggots into the breakfast buffet," per USA Today.

One person who ingested the food was treated by medical personnel and released at the scene, according to Chicago police.

Hero of the Week: Commuter train Engineer Ignacio Barillas Calls Crew to Save Stuck Dog on Tracks

An observant commuter rail engineer contacted a commuter rail crew to quickly save a dog stuck on train tracks near Lowell, Massachusetts.  Here's the story of the hero of the week and his crew. 

Commuter train Engineer Ignacio Barillas Calls Crew to Save Stuck Dog on Tracks 

 By Abby Patkin, Boston Com, July 30, 2024

A lucky dog found in a precarious position on the commuter rail tracks near Lowell got a rescue — and a free ride — from an eagle-eyed Keolis engineer and the train’s quick-thinking crew earlier this month.

Engineer Ignacio Barillas told Boston.com he was heading inbound from Lowell the evening of July 18 when he spotted a dog stuck on the opposite tracks, struggling to free itself.

“I knew that wasn’t right, and I also knew that there was an outbound train heading towards Lowell that I always cross paths with every day,” said Barillas, who has worked for Keolis since 2019.

He stopped the train and notified the commuter rail dispatcher so the crew could launch a rescue mission. Once the coast was clear, the train’s conductor and assistant conductor hopped off and freed the dog.

(The rescued dog sits safely aboard a commuter train. Courtesy Photo/Keolis Crew) 

“The dog was stuck around one of the spikes in the rails, and there was no way the dog would have been able to get out of there on its own,” Barillas recalled.

The conductor and assistant conductor brought the pup onboard while Barillas provided dispatchers with an update. The train continued on its way, and an animal control officer met the crew at North Billerica Station to take custody of the dog.

Billerica & Tewksbury Animal Control did not respond to a request for comment but later released a statement saying the dog had broken his cable runner, got loose from his home near the tracks, and became tangled. The dog was returned to its owner, according to animal control officials.

For Barillas, leaping into action was an obvious choice.

“I just felt like we did the right thing, and I would do it 100 times again,” said Barillas, who has two dogs himself.

He added: “Just knowing that we saved that dog from being hit by a train was all that mattered to me.”

Remember 90s Country Singer Billy Dean? He's got a great new song out

I'm a country music fan of the 60s through the 90s, and Billy Dean was one of my favorites. He had awesome hits like "Only Here for a Little While," "Billy the Kid," "Somewhere in my Broken Heart" and more. He stopped recording for a long time, and recently (well, 2 years ago), he put out a collaborative Jimmy Buffet-like duet with Country singer Paul Overstreet. The results are today's video blog. It's really a Great song! 

The Rest Of It's Mine | Billy Dean featuring Paul Overstreet VIDEO LINK: https://youtu.be/f8MEdu4BD0c?si=q-Glpc5DPGE0abFY VIDEO:

DISCOVERY! Dinosaur with giant, horned headpiece named after iconic Norse god

 Here's a story about the discovery of a "new" dinosaur -well, one that wasn't known about before that roamed the earth 78 million years ago. 

(Image: The horned dinosaur Lokiceratops rangiformis inhabited the wetlands of what is now Montana 78 million years ago.FABRIZIO LAVEZZI/EVOLUTIONSMUSEET, KNUTHENBORG) 

Newfound dinosaur with giant, horned headpiece named after iconic Norse god 

  By Harry Baker LIVE SCIENCE, June 21, 2024 

Paleontologists have named a newly unearthed dinosaur after the Norse god Loki due to a striking similarity between its horns and the deity's regal headpiece, as it was depicted in recent superhero films and television shows.

 The researchers identified the species based on the partial remains of a skull unearthed in 2019 at the Judith River Formation in Montana's Badlands, around 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from the U.S.-Canada border.

About 78 million years ago, a peculiar-looking dinosaur roamed the swamps and wetlands of what is now Montana. The huge plant eater boasted a splendid frill on its head, topped with spikes and two large horns which curved downward like blades. Two more horns jutted out from above its eyes. The dinosaur, described for the first time today in PeerJ, is so distinctive that researchers have declared it a new species and given it a name: Lokiceratops rangiformis, after the blade-wielding Norse god Loki.

(Image: The reconstructed skull of Lokiceratops rangiformis is now on display at the Museum of Evolution in Maribo, Denmark.MUSEUM OF EVOLUTION/MARIBO DENMARK) 

The species belongs to the clade Ceratopsia — a group of herbivorous horned dinosaurs, including Triceratops, that is renowned for its members' large bony head plates, or frills, and long, pointed horns.

However, L. rangiformis, which was likely around 22 feet (6.7 meters) long and weighed 5.5 tons (5 metric tons), "pushes the envelope on bizarre ceratopsian headgear" to extremes never seen before, study co-lead author Joseph Sertich, a paleontologist at Colorado State University, said in a statement.

L. rangiformis had a massive frill that was adorned with a pair of flattened, curvy horns at the top, in addition to the standard lance-like horns protruding from above its eyes. The frill horns are the largest ever seen in any ceratopsian. The unique headgear inspired the scientists to name the dinosaur's genus Lokiceratops in honor of the Norse trickster god Loki, who is often depicted wearing a helmet with similarly ornate horns — especially in modern comic-book portrayals by Marvel.

The newfound species also had a third pair of asymmetrical horns at the top of its frill, which earned it the species name rangiformis, meaning "looks like caribou" in Latin, because caribous (Rangifer tarandus) also have antlers that are longer on one side of their head than the other.

The dinosaur's skull also notably lacks a nose horn, a feature most other ceratopsians possess, including Triceratops.

A Good Kids Book: "Ghost Pets" by Steve Burt

 Last month we visited a "craft fair" in southeastern Maine and I came across a local author selling his series of books for kids (ages 6-10). One of his books was called "Ghost Pets" in his  "Recipes for Adventure" series, so I bought it.  

As a Pet Medium, myself, who communicates with pets who have passed, I was intrigued!    The characters were fun and the story made you want to read more to unravel the mystery.   As a medium, I would instead refer to the "ghost" pets as "spirits," because they crossed over and came back to earth to help with their pet parent (ghosts are earthbound).

    I really enjoyed this book! The characters of Chuck, Emma and Angela each stood out with their own fun personalities, and I loved the mystery! If you have kids and they are intrigued by ghosts or pets, this is a great book for them! We have neighbors with kids that age, and I know they'll enjoy it.

The characters were fun and the story made you want to read more to unravel the mystery. Although as a medium, I would call the "ghost pets" spirits, because they crossed over and came back to earth to help with their pet parent, I really enjoyed this book! Chuck, Emma and Angela each stood out with their own fun personalities, and I loved the mystery! If you have kids and they are intrigued by ghosts or pets, this is a great book for them! 

ABOUT THE BOOK: Book #3 in Steve Burt's Recipe for Adventure series of chapter books for 6-10 year-olds. GHOST PETS

Can Dead Pets Reappear as Ghosts?Why would they?What would the need to communicate and to whom?
And why to kids?
A bunch of middle-schoolers show up at an ancient cemetery for a full-moon pizza party. Chuck doesn't want to go past the front gates because of a dream--something about ghost pets. Lifelong best friends Emma and Angela stand with him and the three leave the group, which is when a Recipe for Adventure kit appears, drawing them into a mystery. Is it safe to trust two dead pets' ghosts? To lead them where, and for what purpose?

DISCOVERY: Lion Man: The oldest known evidence of religious belief in the world

Have you heard about The Löwenmensch figurine, also called the Lion-man of Hohlenstein-Stadel? It's a prehistoric ivory sculpture discovered in Hohlenstein-Stadel, a German cave, part of the Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura UNESCO World Heritage Site, in 1939. The German name, Löwenmensch, meaning "lion-person" or "lion-human", is used most frequently because it was discovered and is exhibited in Germany.  Now, there's thought that it's the earliest-ever known religion. Today's blog is about that story.  

Lion Man: The oldest known evidence of religious belief in the world 

 By Jennifer Nalewicki July 13, 2024 Live Science

Discovered inside a cave, the ivory statuette depicts a human and a lion.

A statuette that's part human, part lion 

The statuette depicts a human and a lion and was found inside a cave in Germany. 

(Image credit: The Museum Ulm (Museum der Stadt Ulm)

Name: Lion Man What it is: An ivory statuette depicting a half-human, half-lion 

Where it was found: Inside the dark chamber of a cave in Germany in 1939. 

When it was made: 40,000 years ago

What it tells us about the past: Carved out of a mammoth tusk, the 12-inch-tall (31 centimeters) artifact would have been difficult to make. In fact, when researchers conducted an experiment years later using ice age tools, including pieces of flint, they determined it would have taken the artisan approximately 400 hours to complete, according to the British Museum.

Since this would have been a lot of time dedicated to creating a single piece — especially living in the harsh conditions caused by the ice age — researchers think that the carving was likely used for ceremonial purposes. That conclusion is buttressed by wear patterns found on the body, which show that the item was passed around from person to person. Therefore, the artifact is considered the oldest known evidence of religious belief in the world.

For years, Lion Man was considered the oldest depiction of a therianthrope, or a part-human, part-animal figure. Therianthrope are "evidence for the ability to imagine the existence of a supernatural being, something that does not exist in real life," Adam Brumm, an archaeologist at Griffith University in Australia, previously told Live Science. But now, newly dated rock art in a cave in Indonesia shows an even older therianthrope, showing that humans conceived of human-animal mashups around 51,200 years old.

The cave where the Lion Man statuette was found was also littered with perforated arctic fox teeth and reindeer antlers, suggesting that the cave was used as a place to conduct rituals.

MORE ABOUT THE LION MAN: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion-man   

Enjoyed A Haunted Walk in York, Maine and a Lighthouse Ghost

 Earlier this month, we enjoyed a ghost walk in the town of York, Maine. My friend Steven from Manchester, NH told me about it and we joined him, our friend David and others. Today's blog is about York, the tour, origin of tombstones, and a ghost story about the ghost who haunts nearby Boon Island!   

Photo: The tour guide, dressed in the black robe and sandals with white hair and a long beard explains to the group of 30 or more people the rules of the tour. Credit: R.G.) 

ABOUT YORK - It is a HUGE Tourist town. There are a lot of souvenir shops, restaurants and amusements.  Situated beside the Atlantic Ocean on the Gulf of Maine, York is a well-known summer resort town. It is home to three 18-hole golf clubs, four sandy beaches, and Mount Agamenticus.  The population in the 2020 census was 13,723. In the summer that number must reach 4 or 5 times that! 

OUR TOUR GUIDE -  The tour was led by "The Madman of York,"  a very animated and funny older man with a long white beard, dressed in a black robe. He was full of funny, quirky historic trivia and several ghost stories. To me, he had the voice of one of the muppet characters, like Grover. :)  Which made it all the more entertaining.                                                                  DEVIL WAGONS- He called cars "Devil wagons" and had the group do funny gestures everytime one passed while we were walking the tour. 
 (Photo: My friend Steven from Manchester who told me about the ghost walk, joins me for a picture together. Credit: R.G)HOW TOMBSTONES CAME TO BE - Here's something appropriate for a ghost tour... The Madman of York told us the origin of tombstones, so I looked it up and it's true: The tradition of using tombstones, also known as headstones, gravestones, or markers, may date back to the Neolithic and Bronze ages, around 3,000–6,000 years ago. Early tombstones were often large prehistoric stones, called megaliths, that marked burial chambers instead of individual graves. They were sometimes made of wood or rocks, and placed on gravesites in early religions to prevent the dead from rising.   It wasn't until the 1600s that they became common in cemeteries. 

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Boon Island's Lighthouse Ghost - This is a story that appeared in Seacoast Online in October 2013. Click Link to see original article

Six miles off the coast of York, the Boon Island lighthouse can be found on a rocky island in the sea. According to William O. Thomson, the Kennebunk author of 26 books including "Stories and Legends Along the Maine Coast," the story begins sometime in the 1840s when a young lighthouse keeper, Luke Bright, brought his new wife, Katherine, to the island to live.

The couple was married only a short time, Thomson said, when December brought a howling nor'easter to the island. Despite the danger to himself, Luke Bright decided he needed to make his way from the house to the light tower to light the light so any ships out in the storm would be guided safely to shore.

"He tied a rope to his waist and went out in the storm," Thomson said. "He was trying to secure the bolt in the tower when he slipped into the ocean and drowned."

His widow, Katherine, dragged Luke's body back to the tower and sat with her dead husband.

"She held his hand," Thomson said. "And she kept the light going for five days, climbing 164 steps each time. Finally, the lantern went out because she had run out of fuel."

(Photo:  Boon Island Lighthouse, 9 miles off the Maine coast of York Beach. Station Established: 1811, First Lit: 1855, still operational. Credit: U.S. Coast Guard) 

Once the people on land realized the light had gone out, a fisherman rowed out to the island to check on the Brights. They found Luke dead and Katherine beside him in the freezing cold tower.

"It was 10 below in the tower," Thomson said. "She died a short time later."

It wasn't, however, the last people heard from Katherine.

"Keepers on the island reported hearing a woman's voice," Thomson said. "It cries, 'Luke'."

On dark nights, keepers have also reported strange things.

"They hear a knock on the door," Thomson said. "When they go out, they see an apparition in the form of a woman. It floats away to the tower."  

Several keepers have reported that when they were unable to get back to the island to light the light, someone's done it for them and foghorns have also gone off by themselves. 

 (Photo, some of the crowd on the ghost tour, including our friend David, second from left. Credit: R.G.) 

HISTORICAL INFO ABOUT BOON LIGHT:  Researched and written by Melissa Buckler, a volunteer through the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society.

• Boon Island is an inhospitable piece of land about 9 miles from the coast of York, Maine. The first lighthouse on Boon Island was a 50 foot wooden tower built in 1799. It lasted five years before a storm destroyed it.
• A stone day beacon was erected to replace the wooden tower. It was used until 1811 when a new tower was built. At this time the station was officially established. The tower was only 32 feet above sea level and was destroyed in a storm in 1832.
• Finally a tower that could stand the storms of the Atlantic was built. A stone 133 foot tower was built in 1855. The tower is 25 feet in diameter at the base and 12 feet at the top. It is the tallest lighthouse in New England from base to tip but it is not the highest light above sea level. A new keeper’s dwelling was also built at this time. 
• In 1899 the keeper’s house was basically rebuilt and a second story was added

Idiot of the Week: Shelby Busch Said She’d ‘Lynch’ Election Official

This week's idiot is Shelby Busch, a Top politician in Arizona's Maricopa County, who called for lynching the election official who is responsible for certifying votes and because the last election didn't go for Trump, she clearly said she would murder him by hanging. This woman, who claims to be a Christian, wants to murder an innocent man for doing his job, when the outcome doesn't suit her insanity.

Top Maricopa County GOP Official Said She’d ‘Lynch’ Election Official 

AZ Family June 26, 2024 

 PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A new viral video shows Shelby Busch, one of the leaders of the Maricopa County GOP, saying she’d lynch Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer.

video: https://youtu.be/AnEYtFuMi5Q?si=kc31uoM_QN--mlqc

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It’s not the first time Richer has faced threats or verbal insults from his own party. Over the past two years, Richer has received numerous death threats related to the last election.

Since the 2022 election, several men have been sentenced or indicted for threatening the county’s top election official. Richer said that kind of language has no place in politics

“If lynching is in your vocabulary you need to have a heart to heart with yourself,” Richer said. “That shouldn’t be in your vocabulary given the history of that term and it shouldn’t be on your vocabulary to say about anyone you with whom you disagree.”

We contacted the state GOP for comment but haven’t heard back.

Given the history of verbal abuse and threats he’s received from his party, Richer also said he was not going to vote this year for Donald Trump, Who has accused Richer of wrongdoing and pushed unsubstantiated claims that the elections have been rigged.

Richer’s comments followed the final debate before early voting starts next week.

Current state lawmaker Justin Heap and information technology management expert Don Hiatt are also running for county recorder. Unlike his opponents, Richer was the only candidate on stage who stated that the 2020 and 2022 elections were not stolen.

Busch responded to a request for comment from Arizona’s Family. She said: “Everyone knows I don’t like Richer. The statement was a joke and was said in jest. I do not condone and would never condone violence against anyone.”

The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Phoenix and the ADL Desert also released a statement saying that they are appalled by these vile comments against Richer, who is Jewish.

“We urge Ms. Busch to retract and apologize, and the Maricopa County Republican Party to stand against such rhetoric,” the groups said.

Hero of the Week: Remembering Mass. State Police K-9, Bijou

This week's hero is a memorial tribute to a special dog who worked as a K9 for the Massachusetts State Police, and whom recently passed after a brief retirement.

Remembering Mass. State Police K-9, Bijou 

Massachusetts State Police, July 29, 2024

Bijou came to the Massachusetts State Police from Guiding Eyes for the Blind on January 27, 2017.

While with the State Police, she worked as an accelerant detection K9 for the Fire and Explosion Investigation Section. During her time as a member of that office, she responded to hundreds of fires. Bijou’s hard work and dedication to her duty resulted in multiple arson arrests.

She also impacted the lives of many people as a great companion and friend to everyone she met. Bijou touched the lives of many, and we thank her for her dedicated service.

Bijou was born May 5, 2015. She retired from the Mass. State Police on October 22, 2023.

 She turned nine years old in May and on July 29, K9 Bijou passed away surrounded by her family. She will be greatly missed. Free time Bijou, Rest in peace.

Discovery! 3D chromosomes in frozen mammoths may help resurrect the beasts

Using genetic science to bring back Mammoths has been something that's been talked about for about a decade as far as I remember. Now, the discovery of a frozen Mammoth hide that contains hair and skin, may have the DNA needed to make that happen! That's the subject of today's blog. 

 (Image: Valerii Plotnikov and Dan Fisher are examining skin after it was excavated from permafrost. Chromosomes and their structure were preserved in the skin of this 52,000-year-old Siberian mammoth.LOVE DALÉN/STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY)

 

Stunning 3D chromosomes in frozen mammoths may help resurrect the beasts 

“New type of fossil” found in 52,000-year-old carcass

11 JUL 202411:00 AM ETBYRICHARD STONE, Science / A version of this story appeared in Science, Vol 385, Issue 6705.

The first sign that Erez Lieberman Aiden and his team were onto something special was the ice age beast’s hairdo. Woolly mammoth hides that froze, thawed, and refroze tend to go bald. 

But the mammoth that had perished some 52,000 years ago in Siberia had retained a tangle of chestnut-brown hair over much of its body, suggesting it had stayed frozen since the animal died.

The closer the scientists peered, the more wonders they beheld. A microscope revealed the mammoth’s hair follicles. Looking even closer, they saw loops of chromatin—the DNA and proteins that make up chromosomes—preserved in a glasslike state in which the molecules are packed tightly.

From that exquisite slab of skin, the researchers assembled the mammoth’s genome and the 3D architecture of its chromosomes. The structure closely resembles that of modern elephants and showed the genome in action, revealing clues to which genes were active in mammoth skin, as Aiden, director of the Center for Genome Architecture at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), and colleagues report in the 11 July issue of Cell. “This is a fantastic result that has the potential to become a real milestone,” says Michael Hofreiter, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Potsdam who was not involved in the study.

Knowing the structure of the mammoth genome may put wind in the sails of controversial efforts to resurrect the beast. More generally, Hofreiter says, the results could “move research on extinct species forward in ways we long wanted.” “The next big forefront in the field will come from novel chemistry to unlock deeper time fossils,” older than 1 million years, adds Hendrik Poinar, an evolutionary geneticist at McMaster University who also was not involved in the study.

Chromatin glass, or “chromoglass,” as the researchers call it, can form in tissues that have been desiccated like beef jerky, says co-author Marc Martí-Renom, a structural geneticist at the Spanish National Center for Genomic Analysis (CNAG). “We believe dehydration is the key element here,” not temperature, he says. Such desiccation may have occurred in other remains in Siberia’s vast permafrost meat locker, and perhaps in nonfrozen remains such as Egyptian mummies.

(Image; The Woolly Mammoth. Credit: U.S. National Park Service) 

HUNT FOR MAMMOTH CHROMOSOMES

The hunt for long-lost chromosomes began a decade ago, when Aiden, along with BCM’s Olga Dudchenko and Tom Gilbert of the University of Copenhagen, sought to apply to ancient DNA a technique called Hi-C that Aiden had helped pioneer. Hi-C offers a way to sequence genomes in 3D. 

Love Dalén, an evolutionary geneticist at the Centre for Palaeogenetics in Stockholm,  studied a chestnut-haired mammoth that Russian scientists excavated in Siberia in 2018. The team also studied samples from another mammoth, which has been hailed as the best preserved specimen ever: a young female nicknamed Yuka, found near the Laptev Sea in 2010 by local Yukagirs. Together the two mammoths revealed “a new type of fossil,” that preserves 3D structure and long strings of DNA, Aiden says: “Fossil chromosomes that span a million–fold more sequence than typical ancient DNA fragments.”

The results confirm that mammoths, like modern elephants, had 28 chromosomes. The genomes have “nearly identical” structures, Gilbert says. “Boring for us, but great for the de-extinction people.” For example, the biotech firm Colossal Biosciences is planning to splice quintessential mammoth genes into the elephant genome—a task made easier by the kissing-cousin chromosomes—and then use modern elephants as surrogate mothers to give birth to a mammothlike creature.

What’s more, genome architecture “tells you a heck of a lot about function,” Aiden says. “We can figure out which genes were active, and which were inactive.” That’s because chromosomes are segregated into different neighborhoods for active and inactive genes—compartments still discernible after 52,000 years. Aiden’s team inferred the expression of genes linked to hair follicle development was altered in mammoth skin compared with elephant skin. 

BOTTOM LINE

For mammoth buffs, the prospects for hearing that magnificent ice age beast bellow have grown a little brighter.