Sleepless in Midland

Fox Friday 5-30-14 -- lightening strikes

Each week Sleepless in Midland tries to display some of the Fox Cam photos from the urban wildlife feeding station. I believe Fox Friday is more entertaining when the photos reveal a story played out on the ground, and often the story is the battle between the foxes and the feral cats for the food.

The cats are slightly less afraid of humans than the foxes, so most of the time the cats get to the food first. But not this night. For the first time in a long time, the fox got both of the chicken drumsticks.  Here we are at the urban Serengeti watching the feeding station when along comes a feral cat. I call this one Calico II. The whole episode played out over about a half hour. Timing is everything in the urban jungle.

The cat looks for food at around 9:21pm, or 21:21 on the camera's 24 hour clock display, only to discover an empty plate. At around 21:30 two chicken legs were put out. Old Crooked Tail arrives on the scene and at 21:45 grabs one of the drumsticks. At 21:48 she grabs the other one. Five minutes later the cat comes back only to find the plate empty again. Tough luck puss.

This next set would be rather unremarkable except for one thing. Lightening lit up the sky!

Before, during, and after.  The time span between the first and last shot here is about nine seconds. The fox certainly isn't fazed by a little thunder storm.

That's it for this week. See ya next Fox Friday!

Mexican pot growers are going bankrupt and that makes me happy

So is that racist? No apologies here. That's just the way it is.

We, as out of state observers, hoped with the experiment of legalizing marijuana in states like Colorado and Washington that one result would be that the other, more lethal, drug industry would suffer. The rationale is that the illegal drug dealers might peddle marijuana for recreational use with the hope that customers might be tempted to try something heavier. It was all illegal anyway, so why not try something new? Marijuana was the gateway drug only in that customer had to get involved with a dealer who had more expensive merchandise he would be happy to provide.

With the legalization of marijuana the illegal drug dealer got cut out of the loop along with his inventory of hard drugs. The hope is that the hard drug business all the way back to the Mexican cartels will suffer badly.

Now we learn from Gary North in Illegal Marijuana Market Goes to Pot that marijuana prices on the black market have dropped 75% and that "Pot growers in Mexico are going bankrupt." (Via Liberty Pen.)

That's good news. But that's just the first phase. When the cartels are going bankrupt that would be even better news. Here's the bad news:  The pot farmers have switched to heroin poppies. But if the theory holds, that business will not flourish.

It's a grand experiment, and let's hope it's a successful one.

What color is your weather? Mine's bright red, thanks to NWS map.

WattsUpWithThat.com tells us that the National Weather Service has adjusted its sliding scale so that the nice cool blues and greens on the weather map represent much colder temperatures than the used to. And now the comfortable range between 70F and 80F is yellow and red.

Check out WattsUpWithThat.com for a display of maps and legends from 2008 and 2014 for striking comparisons.

The one above tells the story very succinctly. Notice that the color bar is the same for both years, but the temperature range changes so that the ranges most comfortable to us changed from blue/green to yellow/red.

Looks pretty sneaky, especially when the government is using global warming fears to rally an element of the Democrat constituency. We've seen so many other government agencies used as weapons against political opponents, so it shouldn't be surprising that NOAA has succumbed to pressure to help the party.

However, Mr. Watts explained that the shift wasn't sinister at all but merely a computer caused adjustment because one temperature station during the recording period registered a 110F temperature. Well, OK, that's a plausible explanation. But it is awfully convenient.

Dennis Prager boils it down for recent college grad -- it's good vs bad

Dennis Prager has a talent. He can put a concept into words that anyone can understand. Here's a case in point. In A Young College Grad Calls My Show he describes a conversation he had with the caller.

The caller had trouble reconciling the concept of good and evil with the moralistic ambiguity he was exposed to in college. Here's Prager:

What Jeff said is what I was taught at college. It is heartbreaking to hear how effective left-wing college indoctrination continues to be, with its morally obfuscating concepts such as “too complex.”

The morally obvious fact is that the United States is overwhelmingly a force for good both in the world and within its borders, and Syria is overwhelmingly a force for evil both in the world and within its borders. Yet colleges have taught for at least two generations that such judgments are illegitimate.

If you want to judge whether Sweden or Denmark is better, that’s complex. Or whether Iran or Syria is more evil. That, too, is complex. But between Denmark and Syria, there is no moral complexity.

There's evil in the world. A person doesn't have to be religious to understand that there are people in the world who will hurt and kill to get what they want. Putting it in terms of good and evil shouldn't be that difficult of a concept, and Prager does it expertly. He concludes on a funny note by saying there's hope for the kid since he listens to Prager's show. (Heh heh.)

Stealth technology to send unreadable emails through NSA radar

Some of us would like to think our emails are personal and private, like the old snail mail was. But that isn't the case. The big email providers in the U.S. like Yahoo and Gmail are not only subject to the demands of National Security Letters and possibly unauthorized snooping by the NSA, but the companies themselves snoop in our emails to use our words against us in a marketing sense, or to use their rationalization, to enhance our online experience.

Not too long ago we talked about Hushmail.com, a Canadian email provider, as a viable alternative to the American email biggies. Now there's another one. This one is located in Switzerland and is called ProtonMail. Here's a writeup about it at Forbes.com titled The Only Email System The NSA Can't Access. (Forbes link via Liberty Pen.)

The problem with secure services like Hushmail and Proton is that their end to end encryption means nothing when your email correspondents still use the American biggies. So emails to those people go right into the databases of Google, Yahoo or whichever service they use. It's a good start, but if the Snowden scandal didn't send those people out looking for more secure email services then there probably isn't much that will.

Adam West gets scoop on Benghazi -- the Americans were there for weapons transfer scheme

Someone could be pulling his leg, but it sounds authentic. It's a version of the story that's been around before, although that really shouldn't add much to its credibility.

One of the many questions that remain unanswered is why were those Americans there. Allen West says the following, among other things, in Exclusive: Confidential source reveals to me what really happened in Benghazi:

And I learned, as I presumed, that there was a covert weapons scheme going on in Libya, Benghazi. We had been supplying radical Islamists with weapons against Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi, effectively supplying the enemy and destabilizing that country. And it seems that there was a CIA weapons buy-back program, the aim of which was to ship the retrieved weapons out of Libya through Turkey, and to the Islamist forces in Syria.

So is this a phony conspiracy theory? Or is this the truth? There are Democrats dedicated to hiding the truth, and it's looking like they had good reason. But Trey Gowdey's select committee should get to the bottom of it in spite of the coverup attempts.

Via westernjournalism.com.

Updated:  For some reason my correction in the title didn't get copied and pasted before I hit "Publish."  That's Allen West not Adam West.  Holy smoking gun, Batman!

Obamacare proponents are hoping they can do as well as the Veterans Administration

The VA was once held up as an example of what government provided healthcare could be. And it probably is a good example. So Obamacare proponents are probably going to double down on fixing the VA problems, although the doctor shortage will be a little bit harder to cure than a shortage of gurneys. (Psst. Ask a Medicare patient about doctor shortages.)

Mark Steyn made the prediction years ago that under a U.S. government healthcare plan citizens would fare no better than they do under the British healthcare plan. The BBC would report on some outrageous outcome directly attributable to accidental or deliberate neglect. The people would react appropriately. But the furor would subside, and then the BBC would provide news reports featuring people who had favorable outcomes and very flattering things to say about the healthcare system. And the underlying problems aren't fixed.  Mr. Steyn said we in the U.S. should anticipate that same thing here.

If he's right, expect to see the msm reporting in the near future about instances in which the VA did an absolutely fantastic job on a patient. We will be expected to judge them by what they did right, not by what they did wrong.

Meanwhile, one of the lessons Obamacare proponents have learned from the VA affair is that they need to be careful about hiding unfavorable numbers. But they already knew that.

Related: Daniel J. Mitchell says some similar things only better at Unofficial Death Panels at the VA Show Where Obamacare Will Lead.

Fox Friday 5-23-14 -- a squirrel on the menu

Every once in a while a dead squirrel will appear on the roadway in good enough shape to make a meal for a fox. And it happened this week, and so raw squirrel was a featured delicacy on the midnight menu.

That black thing is a squirrel carcass. Foxes love 'em. But unfortunately, feral cats do too, and the cat got there first. I'll call this one Calico #2.

Finally Old Crooked Tail arrives on the scene -- too late for supper. The food is usually on the ground about the same time each night, but those ravenous feral cats have figured it out and get there first. The fox gets lucky often enough to keep coming back, fortunately for us.

Do female foxes spray their dining rooms? That appears to be what's happening here.

Here she is giving us a nice side view and then the back view. For the longest time I thought the tail went straight down, but as you can see in the photos, it curves around, then down.

Well, that's it for this week's Fox Friday. I hope you enjoy seeing these creatures as much as I do.

How to solve the West Texas Prairie Chicken problem

Radical environmentalist have wanted to shut down the fossil fuel industry in the U.S. for years. And one incremental approach to their goal is to find some critter living on oil rich land and try to get it declared endangered or at least threatened. The Lesser Prairie Chicken falls in that category.

Well, here's a solution. Sell the little birds to the state of Illinois. Prairie Chickens are endangered in Illinois, so the state has been flying them by plane from Kansas to Illinois. The Illinois Watchdog says this:

“Illinois is the Prairie State and prairie chickens are an endangered species here, so we thought it would be a good idea to bring them back,” said Scott Simpson, site manager for Prairie Ridge State Natural Area in Newton, Ill.

The feds are chipping in $337,000 toward the program and the state will pay $117,000. Some of the cost to state government may be offset by private fundraising done by the Audubon Society, Simpson said.

That puts the total cost of the program at $455,000 for the next three years. ...

So far this year, the state has relocated 50 cocks and 41 hens. That puts the cost of the program at $1,166 per bird.

There you go. If they'll pay the freight, let them have the West Texas prairie chickens. The birds get relocated out of this drought stricken god forsaken region, and the oil industry gets to stay in business. It's win win.

Via Moonbattery.com.

Midland, Texas, city council can't resist meddling in local businesses

The news came to us last night via CBS7.com that the Midland, Texas, city council voted unanimously to implement new, harsher, regulations for pay day lenders.

It's true that American citizens and their governments at every level are too much in love with debt for their own good. But a city level regulation on an already heavily regulated industry seem like overkill. This is a matter for the state, and just because it makes council members feel good doesn't make it good for either the lender or the borrower.

But here's the worst part from the above linked article:

[City mayor Jerry] Morales says the city expects and is prepared for any litigation.

If he and the others who voted for this could be held individually liable for the legal fees and any damages resulting from an adverse verdict there's no way they would have voted for it. Ah, but that's the joy of government. You not only get to meddle in the economy and pile on regulations for businesses not in favor, but it's other people's money at risk.

Jury duty - voir dire weeded out conservatives in personal injury case

Jury duty is something we all would prefer not to have to do, but after it's over with we're glad we did it. Kind of like a bowel movement.

For the past two mornings I've reported for duty at the appointed time, marched off to a court room, and sat through lawyers' drills to weed out anyone not inherently favorable toward their cases, and got weeded out.

If you listen closely to the lawyers in the voir dire -- you really have to listen closely because they quiz you -- you can figure out what they're looking for in a juror.

For example, yesterday morning in a voir dire for a personal injury trial jury the plaintiff's lawyer asked an interesting question. "Does anyone listen to talk radio?" Talk radio is the one form of media dominated by conservatives. And it's a good guess that people who listen to talk radio are more likely than not conservative. There are a couple of forms of conservatism, but the one the lawyer sought to identify was fiscal conservatism, or to frame it in another way, stinginess.

Those people who raised their hands probably got struck. Because what a plaintiff's lawyer wants is a juror who is generous. And here, "generous" doesn't mean donating time or money to churches or non-profits. It means generous with other people's money. But since he was trying to identify panel members to strike, he tried to identify the conservatives. To ask "Who watches MSNBC?" would have been way too obvious.

Obama fights dirty in efforts to shut down gun sellers

One of the more despicable things governments do is meddle in business to pick winners and losers. It's one thing to make conditions favorable for some business, but to deliberately try to hurt businesses is an ugly side of government that we shouldn't have to experience.

In the case of the Obama administration, it's entire industries that gets targeted for failure. It's the gun industry. For example, Washington Times tells the story: ‘High risk’ label from feds puts gun sellers in banks’ crosshairs, hurts business.

A Justice Department representative said the agency is conducting several investigations that aim to hold accountable banks “who are knowingly assisting fraudulent merchants who harm consumers.”

The FDIC had previously categorized gun retailers as “high risk.” So the banks, ever wary of the power of government regulators, are dumping their gun business customers.

The government fights dirty. Exhibit A: "Operation Choke Point.".

Progressives who think this is a good thing really shouldn't be so gleeful. If there's ever any real justice at the Department of Justice someday they'll target the people behind those fraudulent "green" companies that soak up largess.

Have you been attacked by Godzilla? Call this lawyer.

This is one of the funniest lawyer ad parodies I've seen since the SNL ads for sufferers of bystander trauma.

If you've been attacked by the monster Godzilla, call Jorge Rivers. You may be entitled to money. Know why Godzilla doesn't wear clothes? Because Rivers sued the pants off him!

Youtube link.

Actually, this looks more like a case for the unfrozen caveman lawyer.

How corrupted is the federal bureaucracy?

Some people are fundamentally incorruptible.
Some are corruptible but never had the opportunity.
Others have been exposed to corruption so long it is merely part of the job.

Those of us out here in flyover country are astonished to hear about the corruption in the federal bureaucracy. It's the IRS, it's the VA, it's the CDC, it's the Census Bureau. Is it everywhere? Notice that those who used "conspiracy theory" as a way to demean an idea have gone silent. It's no longer a theory but a possibility that can't be easily dismissed.

The movie "Serpico" was on a cable channel the other night, and in that movie an honest cop is transferred to a division corrupted through and through. The problem is he's the only detective in the unit who won't take the money. He becomes a pariah. It took a tremendous amount of courage to stick to his guns under such duress from his peers. And that courage is what sets him apart from the ordinary person.

One suspects that the typical bureaucrat doesn't have that kind of courage, especially in an environment where the inspector general force has been gutted.

At this point it's reasonable to believe that where there's an incentive in the federal government to meet numbers or to satisfy high profile Democrats then there will be corruption. As for a fix, a top to bottom overhaul might do it. But with the political clout of the bureaucracy and a natural resistance to outside scrutiny that seems difficult. We have arrived in Venezuela.

But there's always hope. Perhaps some conservative/libertarian leader will come alone who, like Obama, will sweep people off their feet, but who, unlike Obama, will sweep the rot away.

Woman shooter fires S&W 500 with one hand

The Smith & Wesson 500 is one powerful looking handgun on video. This Youtuber filmed herself shooting one with one hand. Here's the youtube video link.

The most impressive part starts at about the 00:38 mark where we see a close up profile of the forearm and gun in slow motion as it fires. The lady's *jangly jewelry blocks the view, but if what we see is real, the space between the hand and the forearm got seriously compressed for a few milliseconds.

*Not actually jewelry, more likely multiple commemorative wristbands.

Fox Friday 5-16-14 -- the foxes were well fed this week

All of the photos in this series were taken on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning within a period of about two hours.

She's looking, she finds it, she's off! That's a chicken leg she's carrying away in that last photo.

But wait, there's more. About 40 minutes later she comes back looking for the second drumstick.

She comes creeping back. She finds the second one. And she's gone.

A few hours later we see something completely different. It's almost as if we're seeing an optical illusion.

Two foxes approach from opposite directions and converge at the same spot. It's as if we're seeing a mirror image from the side.

Finally, Old Crooked Tail surveys the scene.  "All is well, my children."

Til next Fox Friday.

National Science Foundation doing trade group work

Listeners to local radio stations during the off-peak hours here in Midland, Texas, get to hear a lot of those ads paid for with taxpayer money. And while they probably shouldn't be used to judge all government spending, they do provide a glimpse into the thinking behind the process.

For example, there's an advertisement from the National Science Foundation explaining the results of a study. Researchers have determined that caffeine can improve a person's memory for as long as 24 hours.

Links: Johns Hopkins University press release; National Science Foundation press release.

Was this a good use of taxpayer money? The findings are interesting, but they won't cure cancer. And the whole project sounds as if it might have been more appropriate for a coffee trade group to fund than for taxpayers. Worse, maybe it was the trade group lobbyists who finagled the NSF grant.

So as a person lies in bed wishing for sleep, he/she can thank the caffeine consumed that day for being able to dredge up all those memories.

On a related note, Fox News reports that the NSF has funded "a climate change-themed theatrical production" to the tune of $700,000. The NSF needs to drink a few cups of coffee so maybe they'll remember that they're supposed to be funding scientific research.

John Conyers trips over law designed to protect incumbents

At first blush it looks a little unfair that John Conyers was bumped off his Michigan district's primary ballot over some technicality. See Conyers vows legal fight to remain on ballot.

Apparently, some of the individuals his staff hired to collect the signatures required to get him on the ballot weren't registered voters. As a result, over half of the signatures were tossed out. A requirement that signature collectors be registered voters seems unnecessary. But someone wanted that rule badly enough to get it into law. And the only reason would be to keep people off the ballot. It was an incumbent protection law.

So it's ironic that Conyers got snared in a law designed to protect people like him. It's kinda funny, too.

If she wanted something done, Michelle's plea to Bring back girls should be directed at Putin not Obama

Michelle Obama famously advertised her hashtag sign about the kidnapped Nigerian girls. But her message seemed to be aimed at her husband, and that demonstrated a bad case of misdirection. Just to be on the safe side, she had an underling make a *second sign for the only world leader who can throw his weight around without fear of hashtags:

Vladimir Putin was unavailable for comment.

*The second sign says "Bring back our girls" in Bing Translator Russian.

Dems hesitate on Benghazi hearing -- they must not have another Elijah Cummings

The Benghazi hearing is promising to be a revealing one, that is, if enough witnesses don't take the 5th and tell the truth. But at the moment Democrats are still wavering on whether to add some members to the committee.

If they don't, they will have missed a good opportunity. Elijah Cummings, as boisterous as a mob defense lawyer, certainly stole the spotlight at the IRS hearing. But then came the news that he had put forth some of his own anti-tea party instructions to the IRS in the beginning days of the IRS misbehavior. Nevertheless, he did what he aimed to do at the hearing -- redirect the focus and shift the blame.

So that's what Democrats need for the Benghazi hearing. They're still waffling on whether to put some Democrats on the committee, so they must not have found anyone willing to be the Benghazi hearing Elijah Cummings. Can't say that I blame anyone for not wanting that role.

Hashtagers to the rescue in spite of bad track record - remember Joseph Kony

We've been hearing about all the hashtags and such for the girls who were allegedly kidnapped by Boco Harem. It brings to mind the terrorist Joseph Kony and his own history of abducting kids. See previously on these pages: That Kony 2012 video about the viral video  that as of a moment ago has received 99 million hits.

Everyone who donated their dollars because of that video got their money's worth -- they felt good about themselves for, oh, a long time.

But having the cool kids supporting your cause couldn't mean much when all they're after is a feel good moment. When they need another fix they take up the next high profile cause.

The Joseph Kony video made the movie makers tons of money. Never mind that Kony is still on the loose. And presumably the only thing different is that the kidnapped kids have aged two years, if they're still alive.

So to all those celebrities and others who have picked up this latest popular cause, nice work. Mission accomplished. You demonstrated to the world that you are a good person in the only way you know how.

Meanwhile, as Mark Steyn notes: "Boko Haram, the girls' kidnappers, don't strike me as social media types." Joseph Kony certainly wasn't.

Congress waking up to EMP threat

William R. Forstchen's book "One Second After" opened a lot of eyes to the effect an EMP would have on life as we know it. The prospect of an 80% to 90% mortality rate within a year is a sobering thought. But these days electricity is a commodity almost as important as the things it provides: water, food, and medicine to name a few.

So it's somewhat reassuring that Congress is holding hearings on the subject. Elizabeth Harrington at Freebeacon.com writes about it in Hearing: Electric Grid Vulnerable to EMP. Here's an excerpt quoting one of the participating representatives:

“Some would say it’s low probability, but the damage that could be caused in the event of an EMP attack, both by the sun, a solar event, or a man-made attack, would be catastrophic,” said Rep. Michael McCaul (R., Texas). “We talk a lot about a nuclear bomb in Manhattan, and cybersecurity threat to the power grid in the Northeast, and all of these things would actually probably pale in comparison to the devastation that an EMP attack could perpetrate on Americans.”

McCaul's opening address can be seen at this YouTube link.

Hardening the civilian grid will be expensive, and those expenses will jack up our electricity bills. But it's money well spent.

Fox Friday 5-9-14 -- A tale of two tails

While the humans sleep the urban foxes prowl. The darkness of night is their cover, their camouflage, the silent keeper of their secrets. But the Fox Cam doesn't keep secrets, and each night we get to watch the nocturnal creatures scavenge the Bone Yard -- the feeding station at an undisclosed urban location.

There's one I call "Old Crooked Tail" because of the distinguishing crook of the tail. Another one I call "Swoop" because of the long swooping tail. But as soon as I get one named a series of photos taken seconds apart will show a fox producing both tail formations. And it leads one to suspect that all these appearances are by the same fox. But then on a rare occasion more than one fox will appear in a frame, so it's back to the search for some tail-tell distinction.

For starters this week, take a look at the two photos below and spot the difference.

It's the time stamp. The fox is in almost the exact same spot and position in each photo, but the second photo was taken about 31 hours after than the first. I think we have to assume it's the same fox in both. And look a that beautiful, curved "S" shaped tail. Could that be Swoop? Maybe.

Swoop walked off stage and then came back five minutes later. But wait a minute.

That's not Swoop, that's Old Crooked Tail. Maybe they travel together but keep enough distance that they don't appear in the same frame. Or maybe it's the same fox, and the tail look isn't a distinguishing mark after all.

Oh well.  If we watch long enough maybe we'll get an answer.  Til next time.

P.S. There was an interesting set from Sunday night in which Black Cat had his face buried in chicken leg, looked hard right, then took off like a rocket. An hour later the fox arrived, moved in on the chicken, looked hard right, and took off like a rocket. Something was going on off camera, but the animals weren't talking. Maybe if we have a slow week in the future I'll post that set.

One, count em, one layoff due to sequester

We would never predicted this had we trusted Democrats' tearful forecasts about how devastating the sequester was going to be. But here it is: Sequester Resulted in One Layoff.

Tom Coburn is on the case:

“The American people deserve to know the truth, especially if it suggests politicians’ favorite programs can endure far more in budget cuts than sequestration imposed,” Coburn said.

Coburn will be missed once he leaves the Senate. Until then we can appreciate his work on behalf of taxpayers.

Meanwhile, I have to sympathize with that one person who got laid off. What a stigma. Of all the boondoggling, gold bricking, and outright wastefulness taking place at the bureaucracy, that one person took the whole burden of punishment.

Buck should stop with president

Harry Truman made the famous remark which called the exact location of the buck stopping point. Some took it to heart, and the CEO at Target just got the ax for presiding over the corporation when hackers hit.

Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon followed Harry's proposal, but they were the only presidents. For the most part, the buck always stops somewhere down below. Now it's true that Kathleen Sebelius got the ax for the botched Obamacare computer system roll out. But the whole insurance company overhaul still has some very major flaws. And the one person most responsible, Barack Obama, is floating above it all, unattached to any of Obamacare's consequences, intended and unintended. But he had good intentions. And good intentions are all that matter in the church of progressivism.

Maybe more realistic voters will send President Obama a powerful message in the Midterm elections this year. And if there is any justice in this world, voters will send his party a very strong message in 2016.  And the buck will finally reach a stopping point.

Target CEO botched it and resigned -- buck stopped there

From what we were told after the fact, there were things Target should have been reasonably expected to do to prevent the sort of attack it experienced last December.

And consequentially some top level heads have rolled. The company undoubtedly worked hard to control the damage and fortify its system. But it's significant that people at the top got the pink slip. The buck stopped there.

The title to the above linked article is Target CEO resigns, latest executive fallout from card breach at Naked Security by the author, Chester Wisniewski who is rather harsh in his assessment of Target. Also at Naked Security from Lisa Vaas is Target CIO Beth Jacob resigns in breach aftermath which contains the observation that the company had been advised by an analyst to undertake a security review. Then this:

We don't know if the review actually happened, or whether it was lost in the cacophony of warnings security teams and government agencies constantly put forth.

That's a twist on the narrative. With everyone covering his/her own tail, they get a "cacophony of warnings." Distinguishing the good ones from the bad ones and deciding which ones should get the attention is probably a monumental task. It can't be an easy job to be CIO or CEO. That's why they get the big bucks, until it stops.

Let's say something good about nicotine

There was a time when it was cool to smoke cigarettes. But even then smokers under a certain age had to hide under the bleachers to get a puff. All grown up, now they huddle outside of buildings, having been banished from the office place and held in slightly higher regard than heroin addicts.

Among the things that nicotine does to the body is impair the immune system. And cigarette smoking requires the user to suck smoke and tar into his/her lungs. Throw those things together, and the high incidence of smoking related cancers shouldn't be that surprising.

However, there are some conditions affecting some of us that are caused by an over active immune system. Something triggers the immune system to go on the war path, and failing to find the offender, it attacks the host. I couldn't name all of those conditions, but people with them know what they are.

Physicians prescribe all sorts of drugs to alleviate the symptoms. And some physicians want to prescribe the powerful drugs that are supposed to prevent transplant recipients' immune systems from destroying their new organs.

A perfectly functioning immune system is in delicate balance. So obviously, it's a tricky thing to fine tune.

Along comes a new delivery system for nicotine: e-cigs. Electronic cigarettes were unheard of by most non-smokers until just recently. Now they're everywhere. What-are-they and how-to videos are all over YouTube. And search engine results are filled with products and reviews.

They're a blessing to smokers. But for non-smokers who suffer from some condition caused by an out-of-balance immune system, they're a miracle drug. If only the FDA doesn't regulate them out of existence.

Related: Nicotine, the Wonder Drug? Subhead: This notorious stimulant may enhance learning and help treat Parkinson's, schizophrenia and other neurological diseases.

Gun club visits surged -- in Sweden!

This is rather fascinating. In peaceful Sweden visits to the nation's only gun club have soared since the club opened in 2007. That's according to Swedish gun club sees surge in client numbers, and here's an interesting quote:

Since The Target was set up in 2007, it has seen an almost four-fold increase in customers. They welcomed 3,000 visitors in their first year of business, a number that reached 15,000 in 2013.

(Four-fold? I've always had trouble with the metric system.)

Recreational shooting is a fun sport, and the search for a satisfactory means of self defense is a strong urge, right up there with food, clothing, shelter, sex, and coffee. Unfortunately, guns are tightly restricted in Sweden. Here's another quote:

Joining a shooting club is a prerequisite to owning a gun in Sweden. Before a person can file a gun ownership licence application with the police, he or she needs to have been a member for at least six months. In Stockholm County alone, the number of applications climbed from 12,051 to 15,974 in just three years.

"It is very strict and hard to get a weapon license in Sweden," points out Amnebring, who says the club has so far helped 90 members get a licence.

Ouch. 90 out of 16,000 isn't that good. It's hard to picture a socialist country with the civil liberties enjoyed here in the U.S., but the movement does seem to have momentum. Anyway, happy shooting, Swedes.

Yahoo no longer honors users' request not to track

Now that's not very nice. Mega email provider Yahoo isn't honoring users' requests not to track them. To log into Yahoo mail the user has to accept cookies. And after logging out a tiny little notice appears on the page.

Do Not Track is no longer enabled on Yahoo. Your experience is now personalized. More info.

Here's a screen shot:

The "More info" page goes to their privacy page which basically says they'll use your personal info for marketing purposes or to satisfy law enforcement requests. Doesn't the NSA tap their data anyway? That seems to be what the Snowden documents said.

In any event, giving them the benefit of the doubt on that, it's still rude to track customers when they've asked you not to.

Fox Friday 5-2-14

Some nights nothing happens in the Bone Yard - the undisclosed location of the Fox Cam and feeding station. But on other nights a little drama plays out. So to give you a sense of the lives of nocturnal scavengers, here are some scenes from one night this week, the night of 4/25/14.

The foxes don't linger like the cats do, and this entire scenario takes place in less than two minutes. The black feral cat was having a leisurely meal on a chicken carcass. Then ...

Black Cat hears fox and skedaddles. Old Crooked Tail enters the frame.

Fox finds the chicken carcass and grabs it.

And she's gone. Black Cat comes back, but the food's all gone. We started and ended with the cat who usually gets there first and gets a belly full before the foxes arrive, if they arrive at all. But the cat is just an unintended beneficiary of this enterprise. The only way to feed the foxes is to get the cat so fat she'll leave some for the foxes.

Anyway, on behalf of Fox Friday and the urban wildlife of Midland, Texas, see ya next time!