FLASHBACK Nov 22, 2015: An Emotional Dog Rescue Day: Transporting Oscar

We've been working with dog rescues for over 15 years, and this story is one that resonates with me. 9 years ago, this 10-year-old Dachshund was purposely abandoned into a rescue. I was the one who had to meet the Dad, who did not want to give this boy up. But his wife demanded this little Dachshund be dumped because their human child developed an "allergy" to the dog. As I said in 2015, give the girl some Benadryl and deal with it. DOGS are children, too.  I was enraged at the mother of the family for her demands especially watching the father fall apart emotionally handing me the dog for the rescue. At least the dog went to a good home. Bottom line: If you or your kid develop an allergy, there's medication for that. TAKE IT. Don't be cruel to animals. This was 9 years ago, so I'm sure heartbroken little Oscar has since passed. But here's his story from 2015: 

Sunday, November 22, 2015

An Emotional Dog Rescue Day: Transporting Oscar

Oscar, scared in the front seat of our truck

We've been doing dog rescue transports for years and it's only once in a while that we are the emotional first stop when a former pet parent abandons their dog. Saturday, November 21 was one of those days involving a 9 year old mini-Dachshund named Oscar who weighs only 8 pounds.

    I (Rob) did the transport while Tom ran errands so we could get everything accomplished. II met Oscar's dad in the parking lot of a hotel about 40 minutes between where he lived and where we are located. I was the first leg of a transport that would take Oscar to his new home in Rhode Island.
   Oscar's mother and father adopted him as a puppy when he was less than a year old. They raised him. He became part of their family. Then, the parents had a human child. This is a story we hear way too much in rescue.

RIDICULOUS EXCUSES FOR ABANDONMENT COMMONLY INCLUDE:  "I had a baby and the baby has allergies to the dog, OR  I'm afraid the dog will hurt the baby (that's why you should TRAIN your dog and socialize them- but usually they "adopt" infants as their own and protect them), OR the dog is annoyed when the baby punches the dog or pulls the dog's tail (what dog wouldn't be?)"

OSCAR'S FEAR   - This time, the dad, who was obviously bonded with Oscar, was an emotional wreck.  When I met him in the parking lot of the arranged transport place, the dad got out of the car with Oscar, who knew something bad was happening. Dogs know. They sense people's emotions and watch people's actions.  As the dad gave me Oscar to hold, Oscar snapped at me - he was scared He didn't know what was happening to him.  

WHAT DO DOGS THINK WHEN BEING ABANDONED?  Dogs wonder "who is this new person?"  / "Why is this new person taking me away from my dad of 9 years?"  /"What's going to happen to me?" /  "This new person doesn't know anything about how I like to play, sleep, eat..."  /"I'm afraid!" 

SEEING THE BOND WITH HIS DAD - Knowing Oscar was afraid, I let  him sniff me until he settled. Then I held the leash as his dad walked from his car to my truck, putting in Oscar's 2 beds, blankets, container of food, and bag with medical history, etc.  Each time Oscar's dad took a step, Oscar stepped with him. I could tell they were bonded.

WHY WAS HE BEING ABANDONED AFTER 9 YEARS? - The dad said that although he had some allergies to Oscar's short, red, fur, his little girl has allergies, too. I held my tongue, because I have to focus on the dog. ** I wanted to tell the little girl to "deal with it and take benadryl" for 5-6 more years so Oscar could live the rest of his short life out with his only family. But I didn't.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT DOGS, ALLERGIES AND KIDS - It's a fact that if you have a dog in your house and a child is born, the kid may get allergic reactions. HOWEVER, if they're continually exposed to the allergens, they eventually develop antibodies and resistance to the allergens (That's what allergy shots are- they inject the thing you're allergic to, into your bloodstream so you build up immunity to it).

THE EMOTIONAL ENDING - When I saw the dad hug and kiss Oscar goodbye, If I wasn't so emotional I would've been somewhat angry -because it was apparent to me that it really wasn't the dad's decision to let Oscar go. The dad cried and couldn't contain himself. Of course, neither could I. I cried, too. The dad could barely say anything other than "I'm sorry." He got in his car and continued to cry, as I did when I got in my truck. Oscar just stared up at me. This was heartbreaking.

Rob, Oscar and Trudy

THE RIDE TO TRANSPORTER #2 - I drove Oscar to Trudy, who was the second driver in the chain of drivers between Maryland and Rhode Island, where Oscar will live out his senior years with an older couple who previously had a Dachshund named Oscar who passed recently. I played music and talked with Oscar as I drove to meet Trudy. I kept him on the front passenger seat, continually rubbing the fur on his head and back of his neck, calming him (although he was still shaking in fear all the way to the next stop).

TRUDY TRANSPORT - I met Trudy at a predesignated spot and Oscar got more scared all over again. He snapped at first, but then warmed up. He had no idea what was happening to him. Again, it was heartbreaking to see this little guy so frightened. We quickly posed for a picture together, contacted the rescue coordinator that we were 15 minutes early, and I loaded Trudy's car with Oscar's stuff. Again, I got choked up as I watched her drive off. That poor little dog just lost his family today.

THE RESCUE- It was only thanks to Donna at Coast to Coast Dachshund Rescue, that a home was immediately found for Oscar. Thanks to Katie in Virginia who set up the transport and managed to get all of the drivers who volunteered. Thanks to 8 drivers in different states from Maryland to Rhode Island who took time out of their Saturday to bring an innocent, abandoned, scared dog to a new home.

Dog rescue really takes a village, and it takes an emotional toll. However, we do it for the dogs.
People need to know that adopting a dog is the same as adopting a child - it's a LIFETIME commitment.  For more information about Coast to Coast Dachshund Rescue, and for all of the dogs who are looking for a life-time home, visit: www.c2cdr.org. If you can't adopt or foster a dog, please consider making a donation that goes to the veterinary care of all the dogs we save.- Rob

POST TRANSPORT UPDATE: Rescue coordinator, Donna Gerhauser said: First, I want to thank Katie Wehner for pulling together this transport and all of the wonderful people who helped get Oscar to his new home. He is with his new dad who is over the moon in love with Oscar and overwhelmed with gratitude. I know it was sad and confusing for Oscar to leave his family but I really believe that this match was meant to be. Rob, I think that this Oscar was sent by his predecessor to mend his daddy's broken and lonely heart.

Fortunately this story had a happy ending.  

History: November 1883 Railroads create the first time zones

Did you know it was because of railroads, that time zones were created? I did a paper on that topic in college because I thought it was fascinating. Once railroads had been built going east to west in the U.S., people realized because of arrival times, that there needed to be zones. But the first one who came up with that idea was Charles Dowd, a Yale-educated school principal in 1872. It took 11 years to happen. By Nov 18, 1883, the railroads moved forward with the adoption of four U.S. time zones, an idea that had been proposed The time zones, Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific, are still in place today. Today's blog is about that story.

(Image: Union Pacific Railroad) 

Railroads created the first time zones in November 1883

History.com, Nov. 18, 2024 
 

At exactly noon on November 18, American and Canadian railroads began using four continental time zones to end the confusion of dealing with thousands of local times. The bold move was emblematic of the power shared by the railroad companies.

The need for continental time zones stemmed directly from the problems of moving passengers and freight over the thousands of miles of rail line that covered North America by the 1880s. 

Since human beings had first begun keeping track of time, they set their clocks to the local movement of the sun. Even as late as the 1880s, most towns in the U.S. had their own local time, generally based on “high noon,” or the time when the sun was at its highest point in the sky. 

As railroads began to shrink the travel time between cities from days or months to mere hours, however, these local times became a scheduling nightmare. Railroad timetables in major cities listed dozens of different arrival and departure times for the same train, each linked to a different local time zone.

(Image: Union Pacific Railroad) 

Transcontinental Railroad

Efficient rail transportation demanded a more uniform time-keeping system. Rather than turning to the federal governments of the United States and Canada to create a North American system of time zones, the powerful railroad companies took it upon themselves to create a new time code system. The companies agreed to divide the continent into four time zones; the dividing lines adopted were very close to the ones we still use today.

Most Americans and Canadians quickly embraced their new time zones, since railroads were often their lifeblood and main link with the rest of the world. However, it was not until 1918 that Congress officially adopted the railroad time zones and put them under the supervision of the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Rare 'cotton candy' lobster in Saco, Maine!

Maine is all about lobster, and in July, a rare "Cotton Candy Lobster" was discovered in southeastern Maine. 

(Photo: Sea Salt Lobster owner Shawn McEwen said this is the third blue-speckled beauty he has seen in 16 years, noting the millions of lobsters they move each year. Credit: News Center Maine) 

Seafood wholesaler surprised by rare 'cotton candy' lobster in Saco, Maine

NEWS CENTER MAINE, Maria Skillings & Jacob Richards, August 9, 2024

SACO, Maine — Sea Salt Lobster in Saco, a restaurant and wholesale lobster seller, stumbled upon a rare "cotton candy" lobster Friday.

Restaurant owner Shawn McEwen said his team found the colorful guy during their grading process.

"So what we do is we break the lobster down based on size and quality, it's called grading. And so these guys as they were grading lobsters for size came across our new friend here that we are definitely not going to sell or cook," McEwen said. "It will be donated either to the museum or someone that has a private saltwater aquarium."

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/tOAQo3AkKk0?si=b4HVeUw3NrA2iC0M

NEWS CENTER Maine was lucky enough to have a meet and greet with the colorful crustacean, flashing his specks of blue, yellow, and green.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), lobsters can come in many different colors including blue, light yellow, greenish-brown, grey, dusty orange, some calico, and some with spots.

Despite moving millions of lobster per year, McEwen said this is only the third cotton candy lobster he has seen in 16 years of business.

The average lobster size you order in a restaurant is between 1.25 and 1.5 pounds, but this cotton candy cutie was big, weighing in at 2.65 pounds.

Lobstermen must follow strict size and weight guidelines to help protect the lobster population. Lobsters must meet a minimum weight requirement of 1 pound and a maximum of 3-4 pounds, to be sold in Maine, according to lobsteranywhere.com.

"The State of Maine Harvesters were able to catch about 93.7 million lobsters last year out of the state and we rarely see guys like this that are blue," McEwen said. "We believe this was harvested somewhere in the Five Islands area based on where we buy from and the different people we buy from.

Idiot of the Week: Nevada Woman Steals Funds from Slain Officer for Daughter's Wedding and more

This week's idiot is one who is well known to police, not because she supports them but because she's a criminal. She's a former state Assembly and Las Vegas City Council member who was one of the fake GOP electors, too. She just can't stay out of trouble. Now, the "law and order party" candidate has 7 new charges against her for stealing money from a fund to build a statue to a slain police officer. The "law and order party" is once again the "break the law and order" party with this idiot being a prime example. Hopefully, she'll get the 20 years for each of the 7 charges she faces. Here's the idiot's story.

  (Photo: Michele Fiore, a Pahrump, Nev., judge who ran unsuccessfully for state treasurer in 2022,  pleaded not guilty to federal fraud and conspiracy charges. Credit: The Nevada Independent ) 

Nevada Woman Steals Funds from Slain Officer for Daughter's Wedding and more

By KEN RITTER, AP , September 9, 2024

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada Republican who ran unsuccessfully for state treasurer in 2022 pleaded not guilty Monday to two new charges and headed toward trial in two weeks on federal accusations she used funds raised for a statue honoring a slain police officer for political and personal costs, including her daughter’s wedding.

The new charges brought to seven the number of wire fraud and conspiracy counts against Michele Fiore, a former state Assembly and Las Vegas City Council member who has been suspended with pay from her elected position as a justice of the peace in rural Pahrump. Each count carries a possible penalty of 20 years in prison. Fiore had pleaded not guilty July 17 to a five-count criminal indictment.

Fiore and her defense attorney, Michael Sanft, invoked her right to a speedy trial and U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey in Las Vegas said jury selection will begin Sept. 24. Sanft and federal prosecutors Dahoud Askar and Alexander Gottfried told the judge they expect trial can be completed by the second week of October. Askar and Gottfried declined outside court to speak with reporters.

Neither Fiore nor Sanft commented to reporters about the case. They were accompanied by Fiore’s friend, Sigal Chattah, a lawyer and conservative GOP firebrand who lost a bid for state attorney general in 2022 to Aaron Ford, a Democrat.

Chattah also is representing one of six Nevada Republican party members accused of submitting certificates to Congress falsely declaring Donald Trump the winner of the state’s 2020 presidential election. A state judge in Las Vegas dismissed that so-called fake elector case over a venue challenge by attorneys for defendants including state GOP chairman Michael McDonald. Ford is appealing that decision to the state Supreme Court.

Fiore, 54, is a sometimes flamboyant political figure best known for supporting gun ownership and backing states’ rights advocate Cliven Bundy during and after armed standoffs against federal officers in Bunkerville, Nevada, in 2014, and at a national wildlife refuge in Oregon in 2016.

A Good Idea: The Firehouse "Idiot Clause"

A Maine Fire department wants to hold idiots financially accountable for nuisance calls. I think this is overdue and brilliant, especially in tight budgets!  

(Photo: Livermore Falls Fire Department Credit: WGME)  

Maine Fire Department wants to bill so-called 'idiots' for the nuisance calls they cause

by Brad Rogers and Ted Homer, WGME   September 26th 2024 

The Livermore Falls Fire Department wants to change its billing policy to deal with nuisance calls. (WGME) Livermore Falls Fire Department (WGME)

LIVERMORE FALLS (WGME) -- A fire department in Androscoggin County is asking town leaders for the right to bill people under certain circumstances.

"If you're drinking and driving, I think you're an idiot,” Livermore Falls Fire Chief Nathan Guptill said.

Right now, the town of Livermore Falls is considering billing people for the time their firefighters spend on nuisance calls.

Guptill calls it "an idiot clause."

"There's no reason to be behind the wheel drinking and driving or under the influence of anything. So if you do that stuff, I consider you an idiot," Guptill said. "Then, we should be able to bill their insurance company while we are sitting there tying up our resources."

If the town gives the OK, distracted drivers who cause an accident could also have to pay, as well as people with faulty alarm systems.

"And if they don't fix it, and we keep getting repeated calls there, that's what I call a nuisance call," Guptill said. “We have an alarm that goes off in town quite regularly. I'm going to say anywhere from $200 TO $500 every time we go to this call."

The fire chief says many insurance companies already pay for nuisance calls.

Should the town approve this, it will be up to an officer's judgment if someone gets billed.

 Guptill says it could bring in several thousand dollars to the department and serve as a warning, but not everyone agrees with him.

"Whether they go out on a call or don't go out on a call, they're still getting paid. It's our taxes that fund them," Livermore Falls resident Bob Bradley said.

"They respond to calls like that because it's their job,” Livermore Falls resident Donald Chase said. “And if it ends up being a nuisance call, it should be the town that pays for it, regardless."

"If they need that to support the fire department, I say yeah,” Livermore Falls resident Jonathan Dayton said. “Those fellas are doing a lot. They're sacrificing like crazy, you know?"

The fire chief says there are a number of third-party companies who would handle the billing for them for a 10 percent fee. They would get the police report, bill the insurance company and send them a check.

Science! How the elephant got its wrinkles: A look at Elephant Trunks

If you've ever wondered how an elephant's trunk works, now you'll know and it has to do with the wrinkles- thanks to this latest research.

(photo: The wrinkles that allow elephants to flex their trunks appear both before birth and with repeated use.Lena V. Kaufmann) 

How the elephant got its wrinkles

Origin of the famed creases reveals how the trunk became the “most unbelievable grasping organ on the planet”

8 Oct 2024 By Sara Reardon, SCIENCE Magazine

An elephant’s trunk is so much more than a nose. The pachyderms use their prehensile probosces to pick up food, spray water or sand across their backs to cool off, and trumpet warnings to other elephants. Baby elephants even employ their trunks to nurse, sucking up milk and then spraying it into their mouths. “It’s the most unbelievable grasping organ on the planet,” says computational neuroscientist Michael Brecht of the Humboldt University of Berlin.

But why does the trunk —a muscular appendage without any bones —work so well? One key is an elephant’s famed wrinkles, which—on the trunk—act like hands and elbows, Brecht and colleagues report today in Royal Society Open Science. The team also discovered where these wrinkles come from in the first place—and how they help make trunks so versatile.

Elephants are Born with Wrinkled Trunks

When Andrew Schulz, a mechanical engineer and biophysicist at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, started to look at elephant trunks, he assumed their characteristic wrinkles developed over time as the animals used them repeatedly—much like smile lines that form in human faces. But he soon realized that even newborn elephants have wrinkly trunks.

Many baby animals—including humans—are born with random wrinkles because they have too much skin for their body shapes. Baby elephants’ trunk creases, by contrast, are consistently in the same places and form before birth, suggesting they have a specific purpose. “We think these wrinkles are very underrated,” Brecht says. To learn more, Schulz, Brecht, and their colleagues turned to two elephant species, Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) and African elephants (Loxodonta africana), which are known to use their trunks in different ways. 

Difference in Trunks of African and Asian Elephants

African elephants have two tough cartilage “fingers” at the ends of their trunks that allow them to pinch objects. 

Asian elephants, by contrast, have one finger and one bulbous projection that they use to clamp large objects such as melons between their trunks and lower lips.

The researchers examined differences between the species in museum specimens, zoo animals, and photos. Asian elephant trunks, they found, contain more wrinkles: 126 of them, on average, compared with the 83 of African elephants. The extra creases might give the Asian species more flexibility to make up for not having an extra “finger,” Schulz says. In both species, the wrinkles were concentrated at a pivot point, which works like a muscular elbow to allow the trunk to wrap around objects.

To study how these wrinkles form, the team gathered two Asian and three African elephant fetuses in museum collections, along with dozens of published photographs or drawings of fetuses at different ages. By lining these up sequentially, the researchers were able to form a visual timeline of prenatal trunk development. Wrinkles, they found, begin to appear as soon as the trunk does—about 20 days into the elephant’s 22-month gestation. Over the next 150 days, the number of wrinkles increases exponentially in both species, doubling every 3 weeks, and concentrates around the pivot point. Asian elephants acquire even more wrinkles later on in development.

The scientists next looked at whether trunk use contributes to additional wrinkle formation, as they originally suspected. Elephants are either left- or right-trunked, meaning they consistently bend the appendage to one side to put food in that side of the mouth. Over time, the researchers found, this bending creates more wrinkles on one side than the other.

Schulz hopes the research will inform work on soft robots used in disaster response. These robots’ joints are controlled by moving hydrostatic pressure around, much like elephant trunks, and their flexible bodies allow them to sneak into small spaces.

Elephants are the ideal model for studying soft joints, Hutchinson says. Although other animals such as primates and elephant seals can inflate organs by pumping blood into them, none of them have the specialized joints and dexterity of elephant trunks. “Elephants are doing their own thing,” he says.  

A Great 500 Page Classic Comics Collection: DC Showcase Presents: Green Arrow, Vol. 1

 If you enjoy superhero comics like I do and / or enjoyed the (2012) Arrow CW TV show that ran 9 seasons, then you know who the Green Arrow is. The character was created in the early 1940s. Recently, I read a 500-plus page compilation of some of his early adventures from the 1950s,1960s and 1970s, which were great. I really enjoyed reading these adventures.  

FIRST APPEARANCE - Green Arrow first appeared in 1941 in issue 73 of More Fun Comics. He was created for DC Comics by writer Mort Weisinger and artist George Papp. In his early days, like Bruce Wayne's Batman was a multimillionaire (now billionaire), Green Arrow's alter ego, Oliver Queen was also a multi-millionaire. Also like Bruce took in ward Dick Grayson (Robin), Oliver took in ward Roy Harper (Speedy) in More Fun Comics issue 74. There were a lot more similarities between Batman and Green Arrow  in the 50s and 60s, like an "Arrowcar," Arrowplane" and "Arrowcave."  

ABOUT THE COLLECTION - DC Showcase presents the Green Arrow and contains over 500 pages of black-and-white Adventures starting in 1958. The book cover is Green Arrow and Speedy's adventures in Adventure Comics, World's finest comics, Justice League of America, and 3 issues of Brave and the Bold appearances as late as 1969. This is a fantastic collection of Green Arrow's earlier Adventures! You'll also read about Arrowette and her first appearance!

ALL THE STORY TITLES -  For the diehards, if you want to know the title of each story from the various issues in Adventure Comics, World's Finest Comics, Justice League of America (issue 4); and 3 issues of Brave and the Bold, here they are:

      : The Green Arrows of the World, Green Arrow vs. the Red Dart, The Case of the Super-Arrows, Five Clues to Danger, The Mystery of the Giant Arrows, Prisoners of Dimension Zero!, The Menace of the Mechanical Octopus, The Green Arrow's Last Stand, The War That Never Ended!, The Unmasked Archers!, The Green Arrow's First Case, The Arrows That Failed, Crimes under Glass, Superboy Meets the Young Green Arrow!, The Arrow Platoon!, The Case of the Green Error Clown, The Green Arrow's Mystery Pupil, Green Arrow's New Partner!, The Battle of the Useless Inventions, The Curse of the Wizard's Arrow!, The Case of the Camouflage King!, The World's Worst Archer!, Have Arrow -- Will Travel!, Challenge of the Phantom Bandit, The Green Arrow Robin Hood!, Alias Chief Magic Bow, The Amateur Arrows!, The Case of the Vanishing Arrows!, The Mighty Mr. Miniature, The Underwater Archers!, The Crimes of the Pneumatic Man, The Green Arrow in King Arthur's Court!, The Comic Book Archer!, The Menace of the Mole Men, The Creature from the Crater, Prisoners of the Giant Bubble, The Sinister Spectrum Man, The Crimes of the Clock King, The Spy in the Arrow-Cave, The Amazing Miss Arrowette, Green Arrow's Alien Ally, The Mighty Arrow Army, The Ape Archer, Doom of the Star Diamond, The Cartoon Archer, The Return of Miss Arrowette, The Man with the Magic Bow, The Deadly Trophy Hunt, The Cop Who Lost His Nerve, The Booby-Trap Bandits, The Man Who Foretold Disaster, The Case of the Crime Specialists, The Man Who Defied Death, Dupe of the Decoy Bandits, Green Arrow's Secret Partner, The Too-Old Hero, The Iron Archer!, The Human Sharks, A Cure for Billy Jones, The Green Arrow Dummy, The Thing in the Arrowcave, The Mystery of the Missing Inventors!, The Magician Boss of the Incas, Wanted -- the Capsule Master!, The Secret Face of Funny-Arrow!, The Land of No Return, The Wrath of the Thunderbird, The Senator's Been Shot!

Charles Dickens and Mesmerism!

Charles Dickens and mesmerism played a crucial role in 1849 when John Leech, the illustrator for A Christmas Carol, was injured. Dickens rushed to his aid, offering a unique form of help that the doctors couldn’t provide. Here's the fascinating story from CharlesDickensInfo: 

Charles Dickens and Mesmerism

Oct 10, 2024 CharlesDickensInfo.com

In 1849 John Leech, the illustrator for A Christmas Carol, was injured. The accident left Leech with concussion-like symptoms that wouldn’t disappear despite all the work of his doctors.

(Image: Charles Dickens, author and proponent of mesmerism photographed in 1858. Wikimedia)

Leech was in a great deal of pain and unable to rest. Dickens heard of the incident and rushed to his friend’s aid. Within a few days Leech’s condition had significantly improved. What could Dickens do that the doctors couldn’t?

Dickens helped his friend via the use of mesmerism.

What is Mesmerism?

The History of Mesmerism Mesmerism was developed by Franz Anton Mesmer. It used hypnotic trances to heal people.

Mesmerism attracted practitioners and audiences, with its peak between 1780 and 1850. The technique usually involved some social role-playing where the mesmerizer would make suggestions to his clients who eventually became absolutely “mesmerized” by him in some sort of hypnosis-like trance.

In 1838 Dickens attended several lectures on the subject including some by John Elliotson.

(Image right: John Leech John Leech was an illustrator who provided the images for “A Christmas Carol." Credit: Charles Dickens Info.com) 

Elliotson was the professor of clinical medicine who introduced the stethoscope to England. He also had campaigned against corrupt medical practices. Despite his many accomplishments Elliotson was forced to resign his teaching position in 1839 because of a scandal regarding mesmerism.

Despite the controversy Dickens was a believer in mesmerism. Elliotson taught Dickens the technique and it quickly became apparent that Dickens was skilled in this area.

Initially Dickens mesmerized family and friends just for fun or to help with minor illnesses. However, in late 1844 he took on a more serious case, that of Madame de la Rue.

Charles Dickens and Madame de la Rue 

Augusta de la Rue suffered from extreme anxiety. It was so profound that it caused noticeable facial tics or spasms. Dickens was eager to help and during the next few months he treated her frequently.

(Image left: A mesmerism session captured on a 1794 graphic print. Wikimedia) 

The treatments were effective. After a month Madame de la Rue showed much improvement. She was able to sleep and night and visibly looked more relaxed.

Once the physical symptoms of Madame de la Rue eased, Dickens became interested in their underlying causes.

Their sessions began to focus more on Madame de la Rue’s dreams, hallucinations and thoughts. She spoke of being pursued by a “phantom”. Their sessions became almost like those of a therapist and a patient.

Eventually Dickens’s wife, Catherine, became uncomfortable with the frequency of the sessions and Dickens’s fascination with Madame de la Rue’s condition.

What Really Happened? 

The exact workings of mesmerism remain a mystery. It might have functioned like a tranquilizer, promoting rest and relaxation. While we may never fully understand its mechanisms, the improvements in the health of both Leech and de la Rue after Dickens’s treatments suggest that there was indeed something beneficial at play.

MAINE Tornadoes in Maine? It happens more often than you might think

If you think there are no tornadoes in Maine, you would be wrong! Although there are not many each year, they do happen. Not only from severe thunderstorms, but any landfalling or near landfalling tropical storm or hurricane can generate them. Between 1950 and 1990, there were 74 tornadoes in Maine. You may also remember 2017, when several tornadoes touched down in Maine. On July 1, 2017, the National Weather Service in Gray issued 7 tornado warnings in New Hampshire and western Maine. Tornadoes happen more often in Maine than you might think. Here's the story from WGME-TV, Portland, Maine.

(Image of  7 Tornado warnings from  July 1, 2017. Credit: National Weather Service, Grey, Maine) 

Maine averages a couple of tornadoes every year

WGME , ABC -TV Channel 8, Portland, Maine

Maine is hardly tornado alley, but tornadoes are not uncommon in the state. In fact, Maine has, on average, two tornadoes every year.

In recent history, most of those tornadoes have been in the southwestern and central parts of the state

Peak tornado activity in northern New England is between June and August, but tornadoes have occurred as early as May and as late as November. Most tornadoes occur between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. and have an average forward speed of about 30 mph.

Between 1950 and 1990, there were 74 tornadoes in Maine. You may also remember 2017, when several tornadoes touched down in Maine.

On July 1, 2017, the National Weather Service in Gray issued 7 tornado warnings in New Hampshire and western Maine. At least five actual tornadoes were confirmed, causing significant property damage and minor injuries.

(Photo: NWS said  the Aug. 14, 2019 tornado was categorized as EF1, with winds whipping up to a maximum of 90 miles per hour. touched down in Kossuth Township in Washington County, near the New Brunswick border. Photo by David Coffin)

Until that day, the office had never issued more than 6 tornado warnings in an entire year. The Gray office issued 6 tornado warnings each in 2009, 2010 and 2014.

Until July 1, 2017 the most tornado warnings issued in a single day by the Gray office was 5 on June 1, 2011.

Due to the usual short life-span of tornadoes in northern New England, there is often little, if any, advance warning. Tornadoes in New England generally touch down and then lift off the ground very quickly.

Most tornadoes in Maine are also on the low end of the EF scale, but can still cause damage and be dangerous.

Idiots of the Week: Jan. 6 Rioter who attacked police & 55% of voters

People are still going to prison for their participation in the Insurrection of January 6, 2024. At least this idiot realized she was duped to follow a criminal to do criminal deeds. Of course, her prison stay and the others who killed police officers on Jan 6, will be wiped out because of the SPECIAL IDIOTS OF THE WEEK: 55% of Americans who just elected a Fascist Felon as President, and who calls these criminals "good people" and "Patriots." Here's the story of the one idiot.

Jan. 6 Rioter who attacked police: I was ‘duped’ by Trump’s lies

A Jan. 6 rioter put her trust in Donald Trump, but she was "duped." Now she's headed to a prison cell as he moves closer to the White House.

Oct. 22, 2024,By Steve Benen, NBC

Dana Jean Bell went to Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2021, and assaulted countless police officers. We know this for certain because she was captured on camera committing her crimes, to which she ultimately pleaded guilty. Last week, a federal district court judge sentenced Bell to 17 months in prison.

What struck me as especially notable about these developments, however, was what the defendant and her lawyer said ahead of her sentencing. NBC News reported:

Bell, according to her defense team, believed it was “her civil and patriotic duty to answer Trump’s call” on Jan. 6. But they say she has now seen the light. In a psychiatric evaluation her lawyer filed in court, a doctor said Bell now realizes she was “duped” by “President Donald Trump’s lies and manipulation” and “has also come to realize former President Trump did lose the 2020 election and he has used all of his followers including herself for his own gain.”

“Dana regrets ever having responded to Trump’s call,” her lawyer added.

The timing of this story stood out for me. The former president — whose career seemingly ended on Jan. 6 — has spent years trying to rewrite the story of the insurrectionist riot, and those efforts are ongoing. As recently as last week, for example, the Republican candidate compared Jan. 6 criminals to victims of Japanese internment camps.

The same day, the GOP nominee also amplified a conspiracy theory that “the government staged a riot to cover up the fact that they certified a fraudulent election.”

A day earlier, Trump told a Univision town hall audience that there was “nothing done wrong” during the assault on the Capitol, while using the word “we” in reference to the insurrectionist rioters who attacked at his behest.

But as Trump moves closer to a possible return to the White House, it’s Dana Jean Bell who’s moving to a federal penitentiary. The man who lied will likely be rewarded with millions of votes, while the woman who was “duped” by those lies will be an inmate in a prison cell.

Over the weekend of Oct 19, 2024, after Trump defended Jan. 6 as a “day of love,” the Democratic campaign released an ad called, “The Oath I Took,” featuring former Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell slamming the former president’s radical and dangerous tactics.

Hero of the Week: My Friend Rich the MD Fireman/EMT

 Yesterday I received a note from my friend Rich in Maryland, who has recently become a firefighter and EMT (after a lot of training). He's already been helping others in his first year.  He is my hero of the week. He used to be a barista at Starbucks and wanted to do something more for the world, so he went into training. What an incredible guy. Today's blog is about the message he sent, and and it is so incredibly moving and powerful.  

Rich said: "I had someone on my ambulance over the summer that was quite unwell. Saw them on Tuesday, at the grocery store, looking at soups. I didn’t say hi, but it was an amazing site to me- that my hands are starting to return people to their ordinary lives."

He's also humble, too. I told him he is a hero to me, and he replied, "Thanks, but I see it as another job, it just has powerful outcomes."

THAT is a HERO

My friend Brice in Kentucky does the same, and he's another personal hero of mine. You'll read about him in a future post.

Eye Opening Look at What's coming: How Project 2025 Will Work

Project 2025 will be the guidebook for the next Administration, and it's what 55% of Americans voted for.  Read the summaries below and see how you will be affected. This includes Medicaid, Medicare, Healthcare, and Prescription Drug Prices. Outlawing and criminalizing abortions, monitoring pregnancies, and banning birth control. Removing LGBTQ rights.  Drastic effects on the Justice Dept, Education Dept, Dept of Commerce and eliminating the National Weather Service. (I'm a meteorologist, and that's just asinine).  Replacing government employees with political loyalists. 

Project 2025 Is Here - What it Means 

The 920-page document lays out a detailed far-right vision for Trump’s return to the White House. Here is what Project 2025 says about major policy issues — and what it could mean for the next four years.

Weather Forecasting 

• Gut  NOAA, the parent agency of the  National Weather Service & National Hurricane Center.
• Dismantle NOAA and eliminate climate change information 
• Eliminate federal forecasting which is critical to emergency response operations.

Health Care -  The 2025 Purpose: to reduce the federal government’s role in healthcare  

• MEDICARE - In 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act gave the federal government power to negotiate directly with high-cost drug manufacturers for Medicare. Project 2025 will Remove that ability, so prices will rise.  
• MEDICAID (73 million low-income Americans rely on to pay medical expenses). Project 2025 would limit federal funding and ease rules for how states run their versions.
• LESS AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE - Adverse changes to the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. Millions of low-income Americans would have a harder time paying for medical care, if they could get it at all.
• ABORTION NOT ALLOWED- Denying all abortions, including preventing abortion medications.

PROJECT 2025 to create a national backdoor abortion ban by invoking the Comstock Act — a 150-year-old law.  Trump could circumvent Congress and enact a ban on abortion pills in all 50 states using this archaic law.

• Banning abortion pills by revoking the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone
• Allowing hospitals to deny emergency or life-saving abortion care
• Establishing an abortion surveillance system that monitors some pregnancies. Project 2025 would punish physicians
• women are criminalized for pregnancy outcomes like miscarriage and stillbirth.

NO SEX ED, CONTRACEPTION, BIRTH CONTROL, IVF - 

• Dismantle sex education, 
• ban emergency contraception, eliminate birth controls  
•  jeopardize access to fertility treatments like in vitro fertilization. 

REMOVAL OF LGBTQ+ RIGHTS

• Project 2025 undermines the rights of same-sex married couples, denies the existence of trans people, and makes it more difficult for LGBTQ+ Americans to access health care and other services. 
• Project 2025 says being transgender should be outlawed. 
• Under Project 2025, the newly named Department of Life would be required to take a “biblically based” stance that families consist of a married mother and father, and the agency would make it easier for religious adoption and foster care services to refuse to work with LGBTQ+ couples. 
• Project 2025 recommends reversing  LGBTQ+ workplace protections & discrimination. 

Executions 

• During the final six months of Trump’s presidency, his administration rushed to execute 13 people 
• Execute every prisoner on federal death row, currently 40 people.
• Expand use of the federal death penalty to non-homicide crimes, including violence and sexual abuse of children.  

Government Agencies 

• Purge the government of civil servants who aren’t loyal to him.
• In his first term, Trump signed executive order that would create a category called “Schedule F” in the federal workforce. The classification strips employment protections for civil servants  (It was repealed under Biden)
• Potentially leading to tens of thousands of federal workers losing their jobs — and being replaced by Trump loyalists 
• Censoring science 
• “We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected,” Vought said in a 2023 speech reported by ProPublica  

The Justice Department 

•  Allows federal prosecutors to intervene in local prosecutors’ cases, sidestepping district attorneys  
• Gutting regulatory powers and oversight by administrative government.
• Use the Dept of Justice to go after people who have prosecuted Trump. 
• Commute or pardon Jan. 6 rioters  
• Jail his adversaries.

Education 

• Eliminate the Department of Education 
• End funding for low-income schools and programs for students with disabilities. 
• End protections of students from discrimination based on race, sex and gender identity.  
• No longer provide funding for education programs.  

Public Lands 

• Granting extractive industries near unfettered access to federally managed acres  
• Dismantles existing protected landscapes
• Eliminates protecting endangered species. 
• Repeals the Antiquities Act, the landmark 1906 law that 18 presidents have used to designate more than 160 national monuments.