Earth Is About To Enter A 30-Year ‘Mini Ice Age’ As A ‘Solar Minimum’ Grips The Planet
Earth is bracing for a solar minimum: a dormant period in which the Sun radiates less energy or heat at our planet than usual. Scientists have warned that as a result of the Sun’s inactivity, Earth is likely to witness a ‘mini ice age’ that could bring extreme winters and chilly cold storms over the next 30 years.
According to NASA, the Sun will reach its lowest activity in over 200 years in 2020. As it further goes into its natural hibernation phase, Earth will experience extremely cold spells which will trigger food shortages across the planet. The average temperatures could drop as much as one degree Celsius in a period lasting about 12 months. That might not sound a lot but a whole degree fall would have a significant impact on global average temperatures.
Solar minimums are part of the Sun’s natural life cycle and occur once every 11 years. However, 2020’s minimum is going to be a special case. That’s because it marks the start of a rare event known as a Grand Solar Minimum, in which energy emitted from the Sun plummets down even more than usual. These only occur once every 400 years or so.
As per Northumbria University expert Valentina Zharkova, the icy spells and wet summers could be around until 2053, when solar activity picks up again. She told The Sun that the onset of the Grand Solar Minimum is already evident in Canada and Iceland, “We will possibly get big frosts as is happening now in Canada where they see [temperatures] of -50 degree Celsuis.”
The last Grand Solar Minimum, according to the report, was the Maunder Minimum which lasted from 1645 to 1715. The cruel cold decades saw the Thames and Amsterdam canals to freeze from time to time, something which is quite unusual today. This cold spell was likely set off by a number of factors including a slew of massive volcanic eruptions. In the forthcoming GSM, scientists are expecting a shift in the global temperatures caused due to human activity like rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Article via Mashable
Man killed in fireworks accident while celebrating Chiefs’ Super Bowl win
KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) — A Kansas City man was killed Sunday night in a firework accident as he was celebrating the Chiefs’ Super Bowl win.
Police were called to the scene at 9:17 p.m., just after the game ended. They said the man set off commercial-grade fireworks in an improvised mortar at the end of his driveway when one of them exploded.
The victim suffered a catastrophic head injury and was pronounced dead at an area hospital.
The man’s identity has not been released.
Photo Credit: kmov.com
Dying Arizona mom collapses on 4-month-old baby, suffocating him
TEMPE, Ariz. (KPHO/KTVK/CNN) – The sudden death of an Arizona mother became a double tragedy when she fell on her 4-month-old son, suffocating him, according to police.
Flowers, a balloon and stuffed animals formed a memorial outside the Tempe, Arizona, townhome, where 38-year-old Larinique Meadows and her son, 4-month-old Denari Meadows, were found dead Saturday evening.
Investigators believe the mother had a medical emergency. She had been researching chest pains on her phone, but there is no record of her trying to call 911.
“It’s a very, very tragic incident in which we believe that she had some sort of heart condition, heart episode, and then passed away and fell on top of Denari,” said Detective Greg Bacon with Tempe Police.
Denari is believed to have suffocated after his mother fell on him.
Police say the 4-month-old’s father, who works the night shift, was asleep upstairs at the time. He discovered the bodies when he woke up, six hours after the last time he saw Larinique and his son alive.
“This looks like it’s a health-related issue. Father seems to be very hard-working, trying to provide for his family, works nights, ran some errands that morning for the family, specifically for the baby. So, it’s just a very tragic situation, and we mourn for them,” Bacon said.
Police say they don’t suspect foul play.
via: http://fox2now.com/2020/02/04/dying-arizona-mom-collapses-on-4-month-old-baby-suffocating-him/
Photo Credit: fox2now.com
Florida man allegedly hanged veteran’s support dog — because it was barking
A Florida man was arrested for allegedly hanging a veteran’s emotional support dog with an electrical cord — because it was barking, according to new reports.
Robert Leroy Edwards, 38, was renting a room in a Manatee County home belonging to disabled Navy vet Richard Hunt’s adult son when the heart-breaking incident occurred early Wednesday, local media reported.
Midnight, Hunt’s emotional support dog, was also staying on the property — and the man allegedly became enraged at the pooch’s barking and strangled the black lab to death with the cord, WFLA reported.
“[My son] called me hysterical,” Hunt told WFTS. “He said someone is killing Midnight, he is killing Midnight. He is trying to hang her. He’s hanging her.”
Edwards then allegedly woke Hunt’s other son, 16, who was sleeping in the home, and asked the teen to help hide the dog’s remains.
He refused — so Edwards punched him, local authorities told the outlet.
Hunt’s older son walked outside to see what was going on — only to be attacked by Edwards as well, the local sheriff’s office told the news station.
The older son then called 911, and Edwards was arrested for battery, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and torture charges — two misdemeanors and a felony.
Deputies later found Midnight’s body hidden inside the family’s boat on the property.
“I can see [Midnight’s] face that last minute,” Hunt told WFTS.
“I can see her struggling, not understanding what’s going on, my heart, I mean, he’s such a scumbag to have done that to her.”
Edwards’ next court date is scheduled for Feb. 21.
“He needs to have the book thrown at him,” Hunt told WFLA. “And if the book’s not heavy enough, we need to find more books. That’s just how I feel about it.”
Photo Credit: Manatee County Sheriff’s Office
Drunk mom left young daughter alone on flight to offer stranger oral sex
A drunk British mom abandoned her 7-year-old daughter on a flight to try to have sex with a stranger who let her drink his duty-free vodka, according to a report.
Louise Whyte, 38, left her “distressed” daughter alone on the jet to Turkey to instead sit with a man who had bought her drinks while they waited to board, the court heard, according to the Manchester Evening News.
She then drank around two-thirds of his 70cl bottle of vodka — a hair smaller than the fifth-of-a-gallon bottles sold in the states — and started trying to kiss and grope him, as he flew with his own 11-year-old son, the hearing was told Monday of last May’s flight.
The mom “repeatedly offered to perform oral sex upon him and was touching his thigh and saying that she would put her jacket over her head,” prosecutor Charlotte Crangle said, according to the report.
“At one point, she started to pull down her own trousers and underwear,” Crangle added.
Whyte was flown back to the UK, where she was arrested on arrival. Her daughter’s father picked up the distressed girl at the airport and had custody during a six-week investigation by social services, the report says.
The mom told cops she had been prescribed diazepam and codeine and was “not aware” they would be so troublesome when mixed with alcohol, the court heard, according to the Evening News.
The male passenger — not being identified because he is a victim of a sex crime — already thought Whyte “appeared a bit tipsy or under the influence of prescription drugs” when he first encountered her at Manchester Airport while she looked for a lost phone, the court heard.
They had “one or two drinks” together at the terminal bar — then she walked over to him on the plane to get the bottle of vodka she knew he had bought in duty-free, the prosecutor explained.
“He became concerned that she was becoming intoxicated and warned her not to become so drunk when she had her daughter to look after,” Crangle, the prosecutor, said, according to the report.
After trying to “appease” her by drinking with her, the man buzzed for stewards for help — with Whyte then propositioning and assaulting him after telling him it was “time for them to go to bed,” the court heard.
Photo Credit: Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd
Woman left ‘physically sick’ after finding menstrual blood stains on new ASOS jumpsuit
A woman has blasted ASOS after a “brand new” jumpsuit she ordered from the website arrived with menstrual blood stains in the crotch.
Roxy Williams, 36, from Cheltenham, England, shared an image of the grim discovery with her 3,000 thousand Twitter followers.
She wrote: “I know people wash new clothes before they wear them but you shouldn’t HAVE to wash them first, unlike this supposedly ‘brand new’ jumpsuit I bought on ASOS. Yes, this is SOMEONE ELSE’S PERIOD BLOOD. And it’s hand-wash only.”
What’s more, Williams only noticed the bloodstains after she put the jumpsuit on — which she’d bought for $52 reduced from $65 in the sale.
“I didn’t expect to have to check it for bodily fluids first, so I put it on Tuesday morning, with the intention of wearing it to work that day,” she told The Sun.
“It’s backless, so I took it off to put another layer on underneath. It was only when it laid inside-out that I saw the bloodstains.
“For a second I thought I must’ve started my period early (I hadn’t!) but on closer inspection, it was very obviously someone else’s dried period blood.”
Unsurprisingly, Williams was horrified by the discovery and said it made her feel “physically sick.”
After tagging ASOS in the tweet, the brand then responded saying they would look into the matter for her.
However, the shopper says it’s been a “nightmare” trying to contact them as they’ve sent her a “string of automated direct messages with conflicting information.”
In a private Twitter conversation, ASOS’ customer service account reassured Williams that they would give her her money back.
“I have since had an actual call back from someone called Vikki in their customer care team promising me a full refund, a discount on another order and they will cover the costs to have it cleaned,” she said.
“But it was like trying to get blood out of a stone to get any real response from ASOS, pun very much intended…!”
Photo Credit: Twitter
New mom has baby taken away after failing drug test — by eating poppy seed bread
An Alabama mother had her newborn baby taken away from her after a drug-test detected traces of opiates in her system — from poppy seed bread she ate a day earlier, according to reports.
Rebecca Hernandez, of Huntsville, was given a drug test after giving birth at Crestwood Medical Center last Tuesday — and her son was swiftly removed after it came back positive for opiates, WAFF reports.
By the time a more official state laboratory test came back Friday stating she was clean, the new mother had lost three days with her new baby.
The original test turned out to be a “false-positive,” a result that Hernandez’s doctor attributed to the poppy seed bread she consumed on Monday, WAFF reports.
“I mean, this is a nightmare for the whole family,” Hernandez told the station through a translator. “You know, a newborn baby, they have to be with the mom. They have to close to the mom.”
The newborn, along with Hernandez’s 13-month-old, were sent to live temporarily with Hernandez’s aunt and uncle, who also had to submit to a drug screening before being granted custody, according to WAFF.
Dr. Yashica Robinson, an obstetrician and gynecologist, is now calling for an end of same-day drug screenings at hospitals, saying staffers should instead rely on laboratory-confirmed tests before contacting social service agencies.
“Screening tests can have what we call false-positive results, where other things can interfere with those results,” Robinson told the station. “You can have a substance that a patient eats, as in this case, like poppy seeds that can make the test positive for opioids.”
Poppy seeds, which are derived from opium poppies, can contain traces of morphine, which can trigger a positive test result.
“I understand everything is a process,” Hernandez told the station Thursday. “I understand everything — I mean, you have to follow rules. But they should’ve done some more research before they decided to call [the Alabama Department of Human Resources].”
A message seeking comment from Crestwood Medical Center was not immediately returned Tuesday. However, the hospital said it was “committed to following the law and regulatory requirements” in a statement to WAFF.
“Our hospital also incorporates patient care practices that are established by credentialed members of our medical staff so as to further ensure safe and quality care for all of our patients,” the statement read.
Photo Credit: WAFF
Scientists discovered a weed compound that may be 30 times more powerful than THC
A newly discovered cannabis compound has been shown in the lab to potentially be 30 times more potent than THC, the most studied psychoactive compound in marijuana. Whether the new cannabinoid, named tetrahydrocannabiphorol, or THCP, will deliver 30 times the high of THC — or any high at all — is unclear.
Italian scientists also discovered a second previously unknown compound they named CBDP. It appears to be a cousin of CBD, the medicinal compound known for its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anticonvulsant activity.
The discoveries were recently published in the journal Nature, Scientific Reports.
Discovering the compounds
The compounds were isolated and identified from the Italian medical cannabis variety known as FM2 using mass spectrometry and metabolomics, processes used to find the basic chemicals of a sample or molecule. The authors assessed the ability of THCP to bind to human cannabinoid receptors found in the endocannabinoid systemby sending the compound to a lab to be tested in a tube.
The endocannabinoid system’s job is to keep our body in homeostasis, or equilibrium, and it regulates everything from sleep to appetite to inflammation to pain and more. When a person smokes marijuana, THC overwhelms the endocannabinoid system, latching on to cannabinoid receptors and interfering with their ability to communicate between neurons.
THCP bound strongly to both receptors — 33 times more than THC does, and 63 times more than another compound called THCV. The finding led the authors to wonder if THCP might explain why some particularly potent cannabis varieties have a stronger effect than can be explained by the presence of THC alone.
“This means that these compounds have higher affinity for the receptors in the human body,” said Dr. Cinzia Citti, lead author of the research and post-doctoral fellow in life sciences at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy. “In cannabis varieties where THC is present in very low concentrations, then we can think that the presence of another, more active cannabinoid can explain those effects.”
The role of alkyl side chains
The alkyl side chain is the driving force behind a cannabinoid’s effects on humans. For most of the nearly 150 cannabis compounds, including THC, the chain is only five atoms long, the authors said. However, THCP has a seven-atom chain, meaning that in its natural form it has surpassed the potency of THC.
A cannabinoid with more than five atoms has never been previously reported as naturally occurring, according to the authors. Additionally, most of them have neither been isolated nor characterized because of how challenging it is. “The challenge is that it can take a long time to isolate, especially with rare sources,” said Dr. Jane Ishmael, associate professor in Oregon State University’s College of Pharmacy. “I get the impression that these products were present in small amounts, so it’s a surprise to find the natural products from a cannabis plant that we’ve known about for a long time.”
Potential effects in humans
CBD has mostly been the focus of studies on the health benefits of cannabis, but because THCP appears to show stronger binding abilities and potency, the authors think there is potential for health benefits. The findings could enable the production of cannabis extracts for targeted physical effects; more testing with the study’s methods could further the discovery and identification of new compounds, the authors said.
“There are other minor cannabinoids and traces in the plant that can be hard to study, but by isolation we can continue to assess the effects they might offer,” Ishmael said. “Historically, many of our medicines have been derived by or inspired by natural products. By having new compounds that bind with very high affinity, that will give scientists a new probe into biological sciences.”
Article via CNN
Mom of Rutgers U. freshman killed by train sues school, fraternity where he was partying
The mother of a Rutgers University student who was struck and killed by a train after leaving a fraternity party in 2017 has filed a wrongful death suit against the university, the police department, and the fraternity.
Claudia Patterson, the mother of freshman Kenneth Patterson, filed suit in Superior Court of Middlesex County in Dec. 2019, saying that Theta Delta Chi, the fraternity that threw the party, was under disciplinary action, and Rutgers should have known they were serving alcohol anyway.
A university spokesperson declined to comment on the pending litigation, but said Rutgers cooperated with the Amtrak Police Department during the investigation.
“The University was deeply saddened by the death of Kenneth Patterson and offered our condolences to his family and counseling services to our students affected by this tragic loss,” Neal Buccino said in a statement sent to NJ Advance Media.
Patterson, a native of Rockaway, was killed the night of Theta Delta Chi’s TDXmas party on Dec. 9, 2017, the suit says. He was drunk when he left the Huntington Street frat house, and was later struck and killed by an Amtrak train trying to walk back to his dorm room, a friend told the Daily Record.
Theta Delta Chi was under sanctions not to hold any parties or fraternity related events at the time, the suit says, but it’s not clear why. The fraternity did not return NJ Advance Media’s request for comment.
The fraternity “acted with complete disregard for the safety of others” in giving alcohol to underage students, the suit says. It also alleges that Rutgers failed in their duty to oversee fraternity events on campus.
In addition to the lawsuit, the Patterson family has launched the “Justice for KJP” initiative on social media, looking for more information on what happened between the time Kenneth Patterson left the party and his death.
“We still have no answers but you have great friends who celebrate your beautiful, vibrant life with us. I miss you every day and hope one day we find out the real story,” Claudia Patterson wrote on the second anniversary of his death.
Article via NJ
Cancer patient gets 10 months in jail for shoplifting $110 in groceries
A Pennsylvania woman with advanced-stage ovarian cancer has been sentenced to at least 10 months behind bars for stealing nearly $110 worth of groceries — prompting a Twitter tirade from the state’s lieutenant governor.
Ashley Menser, 36, was sentenced last week by Lebanon County Judge Samuel A. Kline to 10 months to 7 years in jail — after pleading guilty to shoplifting $109.63 worth of merchandise from a Weis Markets in 2018, the Patriot-News reported.
She made off with makeup, hair dye, a candle and a “Super Skinny Serum” product, the paper reported.
In a Twitter thread, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman urged Kline to “err on the side of mercy” — arguing that Menser had an oncology appointment on the same day as her sentencing.
“Release her immediately and allow the medical evaluation that was scheduled at @PennStHershey on the 22nd,” he wrote. “I’ll personally deliver a check to the @WeisMarkets today she shoplifted from for $110.”
“Simply let her doctor evaluate her condition and that be the basis for moving forward,” he continued. “As draconian it is to imprison someone for nearly 10 months over shoplifting $109, that’s a different discussion. It’s not controversial to allow an immediate unbiased medical evaluation determine the just path forward.”
But Lebanon County District Attorney Pier Hess Graf shot back at Fetterman, saying that the pol “found it appropriate to criticize the court and the victim,” according to a statement obtained by the Patriot-News.
“He failed to mention in any of his tweets, however, the extensive prior record of the defendant, her drug abuse, or the fact that her sentencing ranges — as set forth by the legislature — call for jail time,” Graf wrote.
Graf argued that Menser had pleaded “open,” meaning that the court can decide the sentence it deems appropriate.
Menser’s attorneys have requested house arrest so she could continue to receive medical treatment, the paper reported. Her parents argued that corrections staff have neglected the woman’s treatment in the week she’s been behind bars.
But Graf pointed to a 2019 document submitted by Menser’s own attorney, indicating that she had refused treatment at some point.
“The court rejected the notion of house arrest given the defendant’s extensive prior criminal record and the circumstance of the current offense,” the district attorney wrote.
Fetterman said he is standing behind his tweets — although he never intended to stir up such a strong reaction.
“I’m not going to get into a shoving match with the district attorney,” he told WPMT-TV. “I am just suggesting that they [err] on the side of compassion and allow this woman to see her doctor.”
“This is not public enemy number one. This is not Hannibal [Lecter] that they have to, you know, wheel out in a catcher’s mask and in a gurney,” the lieutenant governor added, referring to the “Silence of the Lambs” antagonist. “This is an addict.”
It was not immediately clear whether Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf would use his pardon power to clear Menser.
Photo Credit: nypost.com