This is a story that SCREAMS for attention.   In Michigan a family has been, and continues to be, brutalized by a systemic rot within the school system.   A rot that perpetrates, and unbelievably as it sounds, excuses CHILD RAPE – despite the community outrage.
This just came onto our radar screen.   However, a cursory review shows this storyline has a similar disposition to the Penn State, Sandusky scandal.    The Janczewski’s son was brutally raped over a period exceeding three years (2006-2009) by his middle school math teacher, Neal Erickson.
Years later, in 2012, an anonymous tipster alerted authorities to video and pictures on Child Porn websites of their son and his teacher engaged in oral sex, and worse.

The story is just horrific, vile and made all the more astounding because there is a community of teachers openly supporting the child rapist.   The repeated rape is not an allegation, it has been proven, Neal Erickson has admitted to it, and he has recently been sent to prison.
However, the rapist has supporters – Open and Public supporters.    Supporters who are teachers themselves and who are actively teaching in the same schools.   Supporters who are angry at the Janczewski family for assisting the authorities in filing charges.   And it gets worse – much worse.   The best identifiable summary of the backstory is available HERE.
Here are some of the issues we have identified as being sidelined by the media so far: (more…)

Look at the size of the thumpers on this guy….. 

UK – Mail:  This gigantic rabbit is just a hare under 55 pounds.

Ralph, a 4-year-old Continental Giant from the United Kingdom, reclaimed the Guinness World Record for the largest rabbit — a title he took from a bunny that outweighed him in 2010, according to Fairfax News. (more…)

In A Really Cold Place – With a blinding flash and a booming shock wave, a meteor blazed across the sky over Russia’s Ural Mountains region Friday and exploded with the force of an atomic bomb, injuring more than 1,000 people as it blasted out windows and spread panic in a city of 1 million.

What was it like under that explosion? Watch this next video:

While NASA estimated the meteor was only about the size of a bus and weighed about 7,000 tons, the fireball it produced was dramatic. Video shot by startled residents of the city of Chelyabinsk showed its streaming contrails arcing toward the horizon just after sunrise, looking like something from a world-ending science-fiction movie. (more…)

When I started compiling word pictures of my childhood memories, I realized they were like the mailboxes along the roads and the old barns set back in fields overgrown with weeds that served as landmarks in rural Montana.  

These landmarks told us where we were and how far we had to go.  Sometimes they signaled “home”  and the end of the road.  At other times, barely visible through swirling snow, they told us we had miles to go.  

Money, what little we ever saw, seemed to have an inoffensive presence in everyday life on the farm in the fifties.  This was not a laissez-faire attitude as much as it was a chosen perspective that had both strength and history.

We appreciated what we had and didn’t think much about what we didn’t have.  There was never any connection that I can recall between the amount of money available and the quality of life in our home.

Our Dad specifically trusted God, but he also had an earthy sense of humor about money that was sometimes expressed as “Money isn’t the first thing in life but it’s sure ahead of whatever’s in second place.” (more…)

Introducing the Velociraptor Spider….

(Creepy Stuff)  Scouring the caves of Southwest Oregon, scientists have made the incredible discovery of a fearsome apex predator with massive, sickle claws. No, it’s not the Velociraptor from Jurassic Park: it’s a large spider that is so unique scientists were forced to create a new taxonomic family for it.

“This is something completely new,” lead author of a paper on the species, Charles Griswold with the California Academy of Sciences, told SFGate. “It’s a historic event.”
The discoverers, who published their description paper in the open-access journal Zoo Keys have named the new species Trogloraptor, which translates loosely to “cave robber,” and they have dubbed a new spider family—Trogloraptoridae—to accommodate what they believe is a primitive spider. The full species name is Trogloraptor marchingtoni after one of its discoverers. (more…)

This is about the fourth one this year, and looks bigger than the footlocker dudes’….. Not only do we need bigger cats, but the treehuggers are grouchy at Mr. Watson for killing it.   Like, seriously?
UK SUN – Brian Watson, 67, was photographed displaying the three-foot-long creature, believed to have been a coypu or swamp beaver.  It was spotted by the boyfriend of Mr Watson’s granddaughter while he was cutting grass on a tractor.

Mr Watson said: “I heard him shouting that there was a giant rat so I came running. I managed to grab some wood.  “It wasn’t very fast because it was that big. I think it was about to drop young ones.  “I managed to kill it there and then. I’ve never seen a rat as big.” (more…)

(Monster Catches) Jeremy Wade likes to fish for predators, but knows where less  adventurous anglers should camp and cast.

Whether it’s a kingfisher perched on your rod or a grizzly bear crashing into  the adjacent water, an angler’s memories are about more than just fish.

In the jungles of South America there’s a fish that sends piranhas finning  for cover. It’s the anjumara – the wolf fish. A diver who pulled his knife on  one sustained lacerations and permanent tendon damage to his hand (I saw the  scars). Trio Indians say the anjumara will take on hunting dogs, snakes,  anything in the water.  (read more)

Demanding to redistribute the wealth of hard working birds.

A purple squirrel was found in Jersey Shore, Pa., on Sunday, by Percy and  Connie Emert.  According to Connie Emert, her husband released the purple squirrel back  into the wild Tuesday night.

“We have bird feeders out in our yard, and the squirrels are constantly  into them,” said Jersey Shore resident Connie Emert. “My husband traps them and  then sets them free elsewhere so they don’t get into your bird feeders.” (more…)

PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) – It didn’t take long for one of the largest cats to ever stay at the Oregon Humane Society to find a new home.   The 28-pound feline named Walter arrived at the shelter last week because his former owner’s new landlord doesn’t allow cats. After Walter’s appearance on television newscasts Wednesday, Aaron Betancourth and Colleen Sanders showed up to adopt him Thursday morning.

“He’s very cute, very sweet,” Sanders said. “Obviously, his previous owner loved him, although they loved him maybe in the wrong way. So it’s going to be our job to kind of bring that weight problem down.” (more…)

Scuse me,.. Errr, hey Dad…, what’s this?

New Zealand –  Eight-year-old William MacKenzie, from Blenheim, was in a boat with family in Queen Charlotte Sound fishing for blue cod when he pulled up a 4.4 kilogram (9.8 pound) crayfish [aka. Lobster] on his fishing line. (more…)