As we celebrate the 51st anniversary of the first Moon Landing, it bears repeating that it really did happen and that it is the Deniers that are perpetrating an hoax.
The debunking Website Snopes.com has published a list of some of the more persistent false claims, as well as their rebuttal.
https://www.snopes.com/collections/the-moon-landing-collection/
Danny sent a link to a funny youtube video–Always read the fine print!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=vvANy49Kqhw
MonSFFan Josée Bellemare wishes you a Happy Hallowe’en, and sends these links for you enjoyment!
The Halloween That Almost Wasn’t
Mannheim Steamroller / Monster Mash
Halloween light show 2005
Halloween light show 2011
Click here to view photos of the dragon, as well as the downed oak the sculptor used to carve it.
A giant wooden dragon has prompted a police warning to drivers not to slow down to look at it after an accident and numerous near-misses.
The seven-metre (25ft) carving, called Y Ddraig Derw – the oak dragon – looks down on the A5, near Tregarth, Gwynedd.
The 2010 animated mini-series Black Panther is available on YouTube.
I’ve posted the first two episodes here, but if it catches your interest, the rest of the series is easy to find. –CPL
At a White House briefing, a history of the African nation of Wakanda is given. Highlighted are an early story of an attack by another warrior tribe, Captain America’s mission against invading Nazis and his subsequent battle with Black Panther, and the Battle for the Crown where T’Challa becomes the new Black Panther.
Ulysses Klaw recruits a team of villains to take over Wakanda and kill Black Panther; T’Challa spars with Shuri, who is jealous of his new title; Klaw tells the story of a colonial ancestor who tried to conquer Wakanda; T’Challa deals with local issues in Wakanda and expresses his desire to find his father’s killer.
Doctor Who writers, artists, fans launch podcast to benefit gun violence prevention READ ALL ABOUT IT!
BBC Studios is adapting Terry Pratchett’s iconic Discworld books for a six-part TV series READ ALL ABOUT IT!
Over on File 770, Carl Slaughter has rounded up a whole lot of Star Trek news and videos, including the new look of the Federation and Klingon ships. READ ALL ABOUT IT!
The Fermi Paradox–explained by Leeman Kessler posing as a famous astronomer– I recognized the astronomer even before he spoke–will you?? WATCH THE VIDEO
By Catharine Tunney, CBC News Posted: Feb 11, 2018 4:00 AM ET Last Updated: Feb 11, 2018 4:00 AM ET
The all-female marbled crayfish reproduces by cloning — and while it’s a relatively new species, there are already huge populations around the world.
“If you have one animal, essentially, three months later, you will have 200 or 300,” Wolfgang Stein, a neurophysiologist at Illinois State University and one of the researchers on the study, told CBC’s As It Happens.
Female mutant crayfish clones are being sold in Canada, but the government doesn’t think you should own them as pets.
According to a new study published in Nature, Ecology and Evolution, the all-female marbled crayfish reproduces by cloning at a rapid rate, earning it comparisons to the fictional Tribble alien-species on Star Trek.
“If you have one animal, essentially, three months later, you will have 200 or 300,” Wolfgang Stein, a neurophysiologist at Illinois State University and one of the researchers on the study, told CBC’s As It Happens.
‘They’re coming!’: Mutant all-female crayfish are cloning themselves at an incredible rate
Stein said this specific species has only been around for about 25 to 30 years when a female descendant of two slough crayfish inherited an extra set of chromosomes .
And that meant she didn’t need any male crayfish to reproduce.
“The whole species is essentially female,” Stein said.
The population exploded when they became hot commodities in the pet trade, especially among German aquarium hobbyists in the 1990s, said Stein. Now thriving populations are found in Japan, in Madagascar and Europe, prompting the European Union to ban the species from being produced, distributed, or released in the wild.
Illegal to release
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans says there haven’t been any reports of wild marbled crayfish, known as procambarus virginalis, in Canada, but they’re carried by some pet stores and a look around Kijiji.ca shows sellers offering the bizarre animal at cheap prices in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax.
“Within a few months you will have a very large colony of crayfish,” reads one Toronto-area ad.
While there’s nothing illegal about importing the marbled crayfish to Canada, the government is suggesting people don’t own the cloning species.
“Based on what is known about the reproductive behaviour of the marbled crayfish, we do not recommend Canadians keep these animals as pets,” said Becky Cudmore, regional manager with Fisheries and Ocean’s aquatic invasive species program.
“Human release of animals is one of the ways invasive species are introduced and become established in new areas.”
Cudmore said anyone who already owns marbled crayfish should ensure the pet is contained.
“Unauthorized release of any aquatic animal into a waterbody from which they did not originate is illegal under the regulations,” she said.
Stein’s team looked at the island country of Madagascar as a case study for what happens when the crayfish find their way to the wild.
When the species was spotted in Madagascar in 2007 they occupied an area the size of Rhode Island, explained Stein.
“In 2017, they occupy the area the size of Ohio. That’s a hundred-fold increase in just a decade.”
His team warned that the crayfish will have to be monitored to make sure the bubbling marbled crayfish population doesn’t negatively impact other underwater communities.
Brie Edwards, a research scientist at Laurentian University, said more study would be needed to figure out how the marbled crayfish could affect Canada’s ecosystem if it was ever released in the wild.
Since the slough crayfish originates from the southern states, it’s not certain the marbled crayfish could survive in Ontario waters, said Edwards, who also works for the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change.
“The likelihood that establishment would have negative implications for native species or ecosystems requires research and proper risk assessment,” she said.
SPEAR CARRIER. “Remember That Guy Who Speared a Drone At a Ren Faire?” (Reference is to this video.) They made a runestone of his feat.
Someday, an archaeologist will be trying to draw meaning from this stone. If you had never seen a drone, how would you interpret that demonic-looking critter?
Shamelessly snitched from File 770:
HISTORIC FIGURES. The Women of NASA LEGO set goes on sale November 1. The collectible was produced after winning fan approval through the LEGO Ideas website.
Four trailblazing figures from NASA’s history are set to launch as new LEGO minifigures on Nov. 1.
NASA astronauts Sally Ride and Mae Jemison, astronomer Nancy Grace Roman and computer scientist Margaret Hamilton are celebrated for their contributions to space exploration and astronomy in the new LEGO Ideas set, “Women of NASA.” Based on a fan-proposed and supported design, the set includes representations of the four female space pioneers, as well as three LEGO builds that recreate the spacecraft and settings where the women made their mark on space history. “Great for role playing space exploration missions,” LEGO said in a press release announcing the set on Wednesday (Oct. 18). “Explore the professions of some of the groundbreaking women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) with the LEGO Ideas Women of NASA set,” The 231-piece building toy is recommended for ages 10 and older. It will retail for $24.99.