Oyster Roundup – Bears, Bones and a Brrrricane!
~Thick and fast they came at last, and more, and more, and more!
Enjoy today’s dose of random stuff on the half-shell! Links in the titles.
Brrrrrricane Makes Landfall
The Bering Sea megastorm that made landfall yesterday on the West Coast of Alaska did damage to buildings, caused massive erosion in some areas, and flooding in others. So far, thank goodness, there have been no reports of injury or loss of life. Hardy and sensible coastal Alaskans prepared well, and the Coast Guard rode out the storm with no distress calls to answer. The storm surge is expected to continue today.
Here is a clip of the storm as seen from Little Diomede Island, that place in Alaska where you actually can see Russia. Yesterday, they saw a lot more than that – like the third connex of the day being sucked out to sea. And that backhoe is sitting on what is normally a road. Scary stuff.
Bear Cub YouTube Star Probably Fine
The black bear cub that captured the hearts of the cybernation while simultaneously rendering massive amounts of produce unsellable, is probably doing fine according to Boyd Porter, an Alaska Department of Fish and Game wildlife management biologist. The little fella (the bear, not the biologist) scampered across yards of produce in a Ketchikan grocery store last month, and became a YouTube sensation. After being escorted out the back door by a customer with quick reflexes, the cub was never seen again, unlikely if it had been orphaned or ill, Porter said.
Sweet dreams until spring…
Pants on Fire!
Looks like the American public just bestowed upon Herman Cain the Order of the Flaming Pants. A new poll by Poll Position was conducted Tuesday night, just hours after he held a news conference to vehemently deny the sexual harassment accusations of a growing number of women. He says the allegations are “totally fabricated” and blames the “Democratic Machine”.
What do Americans say? Overall, 43% think Cain is lying, and 38.8% think he is telling the truth. 22.2% have no opinion.
A new poll by Poll Position conducted Tuesday night just hours after presidential contender Herman Cain held a news conference to quell the sexual harassment scandal found that 43% of Americans do not believe Cain when he says the sexual harassment allegations against him are “totally fabricated.”
Women said they did not believe Cain 48%-27%. Men said they did believe Cain 43%-38%.
You can see the details HERE.
One of Cain’s accusers has expressed interest in holding a joint press conference with the other women who have come forward with allegations of harassment.
New Dinosaur Discovery Named After Ross Perot?
A recent discovery at the Colville River, the fossil mecca up near Fairbanks gave an interesting hat tip to former presidential candidate Ross Perot. A brand new species was discovered and named for him. Was some paleontologist a die-hard Perotbot? Or did they just have a good sense of humor? (Perot is a bit of a dinosaur himself at this point). The old bones, discovered by Tony Fiorillo, held some amazing secrets.
Years of research by Fiorillo, curator of the Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, and painstaking reconstruction by Ronald Tykoski, the museum’s chief fossil preparator, confirmed that this was a type of pachyrhinosaurus — a relative of triceratops — that had not been found anywhere else.
“Obviously, it’s a tremendous thrill to have that level of photo-documentation at the moment of discovery. And this enhances it. This is the wildest dream possible,” he said.
They have named the dinosaur species Pachyrhinosaurs perotorum…
So the bones were from a pachyrhinoceras? Rhino —> RINO? Could it be some political Reference? And really, if you think about it, they’re actually RINO DINO bones, so which would it be? My brain was spinning.
Turns out that the expedition was funded in part by Ross Perot, and hence the honor of the name. Not as amusing, but certainly understandable.
Ladies and Gentlemen – I give you the event of the season, the show to end all shows, the Great Alaskan Oil Tax Debate this coming Monday at Noon at the Student Union’s North Cafeteria at the UAA campus!
In this corner, wearing white and current reigning cham-peen of facts and figures – Rep. Les Gara! (*whaaaaaaa! Crowd goes wild noise*) In the other corner, wearing oil, the Deputy Commissioner of Revenue representing Governor for the Big Three – Seanoco Parnellips! Let’s get ready to rummmmble!
Thursdays in the Mud!
Don’t forget to tune in today at 1pm Alaska time (2pm Pacific, 5pm Eastern) for Thursdays in the Mud! I’ll be on the air with Shannyn Moore for my favorite hour of the week (provided I can get out of the driveway through all this snow!) You can tune in to 1020am or 95.5fm in Anchorage, or stream it live at 1020koan.com.
Also, tonight is the taping of the second episode of season three of Moore Up North! Join Shannyn and company at the Taproot on Spenard Road at 5:15 for great conversation, great yam fries, and more fun than should be allowed on a Thursday night!
WOW…just WOW. Where does it all end?
My ex-FIL’s sister sent me an e-mail showing one of five new Danish ships Walmart has commisioned to haul junk from China to California. The Emma Maersk-1302 feet long.207 feet beam,holds 15000 containers,123,200 tons of freight,cruises at 31 knots.crosses Pacific in five days,has a bridge 10 stories high,11 cranes can unload simultaneously and unload entire ship in less than two hours,costs 145,000,000 plus and returns to China with empty cargo containers. Walmart imports 91% of their junk from China and we send nothing back. These ships are too wide to go through the Suez or Panama Canals. Plus it only has a crew of 13 for the entire ship.
cutest little baby bear evah! when my sis worked in alaska a couple summers ago, one bigger bear came through the open front door and sat confusedly in the living room. it left by itself, but i wonder how often that happens?
Someone please explain to me why Little Diomede isn’t a winter vacation destination for the rich and famous!
Everyone knows that GOP stands for Guild Of Pantsonfire! Cain fits right in.
not until he swears allegiance to White race will he ever fit in.
oops. i put this on OT maybe better off here:
bubblesNo Gravatar says:
November 10, 2011 at 12:58 PM
dear Mudflatters, Mudpups, Hushpuppies et al.
i hangs my head in shame. i forgot the debate that happened last night somewhere (i forget where) between the glorious candidates of what used to be known as the Grand Old Party. i was celebrating Ohio and Mississippi and various other places from the night before and i was obviously not in my right mind or in any mind whatsoevah. so there was no viewing of said debates by me nor it seems by any of you.
never mind. the whole thing was captured and commented on by others. others whose sober and correct commentary is known throughout the civilized world. so without further ado i give you:
http://wonkette.com/455923/liveblogging-the-we-all-hate-herman-cain-now-gop-debate#idc-cover
OT I know but couldn’t resist. There’s a blog I read that covers Illinois politics called Capitol Fax. It is really well reported and well written and gets down in the weeds about the nuts and bolts of politics, the legisture and politicians.
Our General Assembly is in its annual overtime session and rapid developments are keeping the proprietor of the blog busy so he threw out an easy thread asking what were people’s favorite non-Illinois blogs. Lots of the usual suspects were mentioned: NYT, Washington Post, The Economist.the National Review, Real Clear Politics, etc…….
There was an entry from “olddog” (who I haven’t seen before) who listed: Most informative: James Fallows at the Atlantic (with the url) and “Most fun/quirkiest – The Mudflats “Tiptoeing through the muck of Alaska Politics” and the url.
Loved it! AKM if you get an odd influx of hits from Illinois today you’ll know where they came from.
Mike Tyson does a brilliant Herman Cain…watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXLmP4phO3Y&feature=player_embedded
Oops…this is the same video that BigPete posted above.
check it out, Cain’s new website explaining how he’s been done wrong by all those mean women.
http://www.caintruth.com/
Cue music:
Hmmmmmm! He was their man,
But he done them wrong!
I wonder if Sarah Palin will finally admit that she can see global warming (climate change) from her house?
Someday, I’ll be in the big city to catch a taping of Moore Up North…
It is well worth it 🙂 We have gotten to catch a few tapings when in the big city on other business. Meeting any number of interesting people and of course ‘the panel’ is sure to get your brain cells pumping!!
Amazing that the two big burly cops with heavy duty gloves let the barehanded (no pun intended) customer handle that pesky bear cub!! Maybe they thought if they ‘touched it’ they’d have to keep it….But, now that the bear knows where to go to get attention, maybe he’ll revisit the scene of the crime in the spring when he wakes up hungry!!
It was a lot better for the people of northwest Alaska when the water was frozen this time of year. Now, with the warming ocean, the winter blizzards throw water in to the mix creating hurricanes. I am afraid this is a harbinger of things to come.
Herbie:: Fully Loaded
~for every woman who has accused him there’s 1000 who know him and haven’t.
~his wife doesn’t believe he would do that king of stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXLmP4phO3Y