March-April 2013 News Factoids

Two new studies in the journal Science conclude that wild bees, such as the American bumblebee, seem to be disappearing in the Midwest in an alarming manner. There are 4,000 species of wild bees in America and 49 of them are bumblebees. Scientists suspect a combination of disease and parasites for the dwindling of both wild and domesticated bees. Another recent article purports that half of the commercial bee colonies in America disappeared in 2012.

Funniest movie premise in a long time: Disney announced the animated "Planes", a spin-off from "Cars"; the main character is an airplane named Dusty who dreams of winning the pylon air races but is 'crippled by an extreme fear of heights'!

The Federal sequester of 2013 cuts 10,000 teaching jobs, 70,000 spots for preschoolers in Head Start, $43 million for food programs for seniors, $35 million for local fire departments, and access to nutrition assistance for over half a million women and their families. {Thank a Republican, huh?}

ANOTHER BRILLIANT IDEA: Since I have set up a store at Cafe Press to sell hats with the Working Minds logo, I can also design t-shirts whenever I have a couple of hours with nothing to do. The new idea is a t-shirt that has small lettering on the back "this t-shirt intentionally left blank" {hee hee hee}. Second idea, weeks later: KEEP CALM AND KARAOKE - but t-shirts and such are already available.

DROUGHT, ANYONE? Spring seems to be here already (in early March), local temperatures are 70s in the daytime and 40s at night, with only ONE day of snow this winter. (I live at precisely 5000 feet elevation.)

White Americans are five times more likely to commit suicide with a gun than to be shot by someone else. But for each Afro-American who uses a gun to take his/her life, five others are shot to death by other people. – Washington Post

The last automobile dealer in the town of Tucumcari, New Mexico closed in April; Interstate Automotive employed 13 people. (The three car dealers in Belén, New Mexico closed or moved in 2009.)

Spent the day in the waiting room at the Chevy dealer watching TV which was very educational. Learned from "C.S.I." that if you are going to shoot somebody, a cat makes a very good silencer. (LMAO!)

Somebody should write a country-western song with the title
"Tears On My Mousepad (Since You De-friended Me)".

Anonymous Collective April 2013 video
'We Will No Longer Tolerate The Sleep of The Masses' [6:57] at YouTube
Copyright 2013 by G.E. Nordell, all rights reserved