Making Ripples: post-corporate adventures in Floyd County Virginia

Scientists in a tizzy over cows lining up in pastures.

As we drive into town, we have noticed that cows seem to align themselves in different ways in different pastures. Some of you with real cow experience may be able to add some sense to this highly technical discussion by people who have probably never seen a cow close up.

Magnetic cow findings cause row among Google Earth researchers

November 15, 2011 by Bob Yirka  

(PhysOrg.com) -- Sometimes, scientists hard at work in their field, come across findings that they cannot explain, and instead of simply writing a paper describing what they’ve seen, they instead choose to write a paper describing what they think their observations have shown. Case in point, back in 2008, a group of guys with Biology and wildlife backgrounds were apparently sitting around looking at pictures taken by Google Earth, when they noticed that there seemed to be a pattern in the way some cows in a pasture aligned themselves. After looking at more pictures, a larger pattern began to emerge. Oddly enough, the cows seemed to be aligning themselves with the Earth’s magnetic field lines. The group, led by Hynek Burda wrote up a paper describing what they’d found and had it published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Later, the team did additional research and found that no such kinds of lining up occurred around power lines which they thought might disrupt the cow’s ability to sense magnetic fields.

When the paper came out, it was followed by a bit of media noise, some of which poked a little bit of fun at the whole idea. Others responded that cows lining up is nothing new, they do it to get the best angle on the sun to help keep warm, or to avoid a cold wind. But to do it based on the Earth’s magnetic field, seemed, well, a little out there.

AttackWatch

Please help Big Brother keep tabs on those who would depose him.

 

 

Our Nanny State is hard at work saving us from selling bunnies

How long before the government busybodies start doing the same in Floyd? Read the whole thing. Forwarded from Andrew Breitbart's Big Government

Family Facing $4 Million in Fines for Selling Bunnies

by Bob McCarty

John Dollarhite and his wife Judy of tiny Nixa, Mo., have been told by the USDA that, by Monday, they must pay a fine exceeding $90,000. If they don’t pay that fine, they could face additional fines of almost $4 million. Why? Because they sold more than $500 worth of bunnies — $4,600 worth to be exact — in a single calendar year.

About six years ago, the Dollarhites wanted to teach their young teenage son responsibility and the value of the dollar. So they rescued a pair of rabbits — one male and one female — and those rabbits did what rabbits do; they reproduced. Before long, things were literally hopping on the three-acre homestead 30 miles south of Springfield, and Dollarvalue Rabbitry was launched as more of a hobby than a business.

“We’d sell ‘em for 10 or 15 dollars a piece,” John said during a phone interview Tuesday afternoon, comparing the venture to a kid running a lemonade stand. In addition, they set up a web site and posted a “Rabbits for Sale” sign in their front yard. Most customers, however, came via word of mouth.

In the early stages, some of the bunnies were raised and sold for their meat. Much further down the road, John said, they determined it more profitable to sell live bunnies at four weeks old than to feed bunnies for 12 weeks and then sell them as meat.

“We started becoming the go-to people” for rabbits in the Springfield area, John said. “If you wanted a rabbit, you’d go to Dollarvalue Rabbitry.” He added that the family even made the local television news just before Easter in 2008 for a report about the care and feeding of “Easter bunnies.”

Initially, the Dollarhites sold the large, white, pink-eyed variety of rabbits. Eventually, however, they switched to selling a couple of different varieties of miniature rabbits, the mating pairs of which were purchased from breeders across the state. Not only did their “show-quality” miniatures reproduce well, but they ate less and seemed to be more popular with theme park visitors and retail buyers.

During the summer of 2009, the Dollarhites bought the rabbitry from their son who had grown tired of managing it. They paid him what he asked for it, $200. Things kept growing, however, and the Dollarhite’s landed a pair of big accounts in 2009.

A well-known Branson theme park, Silver Dollar City, asked the Dollarhites to have them provide four-week-old bunnies per week to their petting zoo May through September. When the bunnies turned six weeks old, they were sold to park visitors. The Springfield location of a national pet store chain, Petland, purchased rabbits from the Dollarhites as well.

In the fall of 2009, the theme park deliveries ended for the year and the Dollarhites scaled back their operation. At about the same time, the folks at Petland asked the Dollarhites to raise guinea pigs that the store would purchase from them. No big deal.

By the year’s end, the Dollarhites had moved approximately 440 rabbits and grossed about $4,600 for a profit of approximately $200 — enough, John said, to provide the family “pocket money” to do things such as eat out at Red Lobster once in a while. That was better than the loss they experienced in 2008.

Then some unexpected matters began demanding their attention.

Bush mountain bikes with Wounded Warriors

Re-posted from The Right Scoop on Apr 26, 2011 in Politics

George W. Bush is going on a 12 mile mountain bike in Texas with soldiers who were wounded in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan to help raise awareness for Wounded Warriors.

http://bit.ly/lHSUWZ

What a class act:

Looks like it's payback time at the Church of Scientology

I have been following the slave labor stories leaking out of the Church of Scientology for some time and it looks like the lid is finally coming off the cesspool. 19-year-old Daniel Montalvo is filing suit against the church for violation of child labor laws

Daniel Montalvo had been brought up in Scientology from the age of 6 but had made a dramatic break for freedom -- only to be thrown in jail by the LA Sheriff's Office on behalf of revenge-minded Church of Scientology executives.

Here is the latest twist in this story from the Village Voice: ( The Village Voice website is crashing due to the number of hits)

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Daniel Montalvo Hits Scientology With Stunning Child Labor Lawsuits

By Tony Ortega, Sat., Mar. 5 2011 @ 10:49AM

 

Last October we told you the dramatic story of young Daniel Montalvo, a 19-year-old who had been brought up in Scientology but had made a dramatic break for freedom -- only to be thrown in jail by the LA Sheriff's Office on behalf of revenge-minded Scientologists.

Since that time, we've kept in touch with Daniel and the actor Jason Beghe, whose Malibu ranch has been Montalvo's protective sanctuary as Scientology continued to send private eyes and process servers at him.

Warning - Spokeo has your personal data spread out for all to see

A friend just sent me an email to warn me about a new kind of search engine and suggested that I look myself up on it. It freaked me out that so much personal information was so readily available.

It is Spokeo.com and if you are on it you can kiss your privacy good bye. You enter you name and you may find more information about your relationships, your home, your income, and your exact location than you will feel comfortable with.

Here is an example of what your basic information might look like if your name was Bart Simpson.


Here is what another Bart Simpson's house looks like with more information than you would expect to see.

Important Letters from General Petraeus

Michael Yon has forwarded two recent letters from General Petraeus about his assumption of command in Afghanistan today, July 4, 2010. I do not expect these letters to surface in mainstream media for weeks, if ever.

Here is Michael's email:

Happy July 4th!

As you know, we have a war on.  Please take a few minutes to read these two important letters that just came from General David Petraeus in Afghanistan.

Having observed General Petraeus in action over the past five years, General Petraeus has my full confidence and support.

LETTERS

--
Very Respectfully,
Michael Yon

Construction accident gets rapid response in Floyd County Virginia

Ralph Poff, of Floyd, VA, fell from a construction lift yesterday while working on the roof of our neighbor's house on Silverleaf Lane. He reportedly fell about 15 feet to the ground and was rendered unconscious by the impact.

We first became aware of the accident when a medical helicopter started circling over our house and made preparations to land in a field near this neighboring house.

In a very short period of time there were four teams of emergency service personnel and a Carilion Life-Guard medical helicopter team working to resuscitate Ralph and prepare him for transport to the Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

It appeared to be a well coordinated effort involving a lot of people and several vehicles. Once Ralph was prepared for transport, he was loaded into an ambulance and driven to the helicopter which was waiting on the crest of a hill beyond the construction site.

He was unloaded from the ambulance and carried to the helicopter where he was loaded into the rear hatch which can be seen under the tail rotor. The helicopter took off a few minutes later and  flew off toward Roanoke.

 The accident had occurred about 1:30 pm and the medical personnel were working on him until about 2:30 when he was loaded into the Carilion Clinic Life-Guard emergency medical helicopter and carried off to the Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

The presence of the helicopter was a huge stroke of luck. It was returning from the site of a private plane crash in Roanoke when the call went out for the Carilion Clinic Ambulance to come to the construction site. The helicopter followed the ambulance from Roanoke to the construction site in Floyd and as a result probably saved an hour of transport time in getting Ralph to the hospital.

The speed of response by all concerned probably contributed to keeping the accident from becoming a fatality. We later learned that Ralph had broken his back in the fall.

We hope for his early recovery and are very thankful for the emergency medical personnel and volunteers who come to our rescue in Floyd.

[click on images to enlarge]

Into Thine Hand I Commit My Spirit

Michael Yon has written a solemn and touching tribute to a memorial erected by soldiers in Afghanistan:

Arghandab, Afghanistan
New Year's Eve, 2009

On this small base surrounded by a mixture of enemy and friendly territory, a memorial has been erected just next to the Chapel.  Inside the tepee are 21 photos of 21 soldiers killed during the first months of a year-long tour of duty.  The fallen will belong forever to the honor rolls of the 1-17th Infantry Battalion, 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, and they will join the sacred list of names of those who have given their lives in service of the United States of America.

Read the rest...

British Ministry of Defence cancels Michael Yon's embed

Michael Yon has the greatest respect for the troops he embeds with and does an incredible job of communicating their bravery and resourcefulness in the face of hardship and constant danger. Not since Ernie Pyle has there been a war correspondent who was as respected by the fighting men he wrote about.

The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) canceled Michael Yon's embed after yesterday's dispatch.  I think this will be a blow to the troops he lived with and wrote about.

Please read "Bad Medicine" and see for yourself what the life of a British soldier in Afghanistan is like.

Michael really identified with the troops and gave us real insight on their views and what they face in this war. This statement from a British soldier is an indication of the trust that they have in him:

Finally, Axle said, “You Yanks are great.  You like to hear stories about us smashin’ the Taliban but people at home want to know how much we miss our families.”  We both chuckled,

The MoD may have been upset with Michael's frank assessment of conditions and his no-nonsense reporting. On the other hand, it might have been comments like these two that upset the MoD.

From David:

I can't help but think your dispatches should be required reading for all politicians in Washington, London, and other allied capitals so they can draw upon a realistic inside narrative to the nature of this fight when pondering national security policy.

From Cara Sims:

Quite frankly up until Michael joined the 2nd Rifles in Helmand Province I didn’t think about the British soldiers and their contribution to the Afghan War. But daily through his words and pictures I grew to value and hold your troops in high warm regard.

I, and the thousands of people in the U.S. who read Michaels DISPATCHES, learned to respect and honor your troops in Afghanistan. We’ve wept over their deaths and prayed for their families, we rejoiced in their survival from horrendous wounds, and thanked God for them.

They have become our heroes along with our own troops.
Michael Yon has given a face and voice to the British soldiers and their amazing efforts.
I don’t know why you have chosen to silence that voice or remove those faces.

If you believe what he wrote today Bad Medicine[24 August 2009] diminished our regard and respect for the soldiers of the 2nd Rifles you are wrong.

And you are wrong to take this precious contact Americans have with the British Soldiers in Afghanistan away.

I am sure that we will hear more about this.