The Cellar - Weird News

The Cellar (http://cellar.org/index.php)

- Current Events (http://cellar.org/forumdisplay.php?f=4)

- - Weird News (http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=16997)

How exactly did lightning kill 323 reindeer in Norway?

Not a lot of info, don't get your hopes up.

I wonder how many got away? You can see the extent of the lethal shock with all of them in a neat circle.

I'm not sure I'd want my reindeer pre-cooked.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gravdigr (Post 967843)

Not a lot of info, don't get your hopes up.

It was completely explained.

Quote:

... most are being killed by the ground current. First, there’s a direct strike ... that hits the tree or maybe the ground nearby. The energy then spreads along the ground surface, ...

Lightning goes up one leg and down another. Animals are more vulnerable because their legs are spread out more, so the ground currents travel more easily in their bodies.

Same principle also explains why an adjacent power strip does not protect electronics.

I just figured the reindeer were being emotional children...

85% of problems are directly traceable to Santa.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gravdigr (Post 967949)

I just figured the reindeer were being emotional children...

Clearly they were only having a tantrum.

Too bad DanaC doesn't live here. We may have a developing career field for her in academia. It's off to a rocky start though:

Quote:

The government is hiring people to grow marijuana, but no one wants the job

Saying you grow marijuana "for research" sounds like an excuse an 18-year-old college student would give to campus security. But the Drug Enforcement Administration is looking for candidates to do just that.

The agency is reportedly recruiting people to grow marijuana for federally sanctioned research in the US.

In August, the DEA sent waves of hope through the medical marijuana community when it announced it would finally allow new institutions to obtain grow licenses. There's just one problem: The DEA has no takers.

Health news site STAT contacted almost a dozen agriculture schools last month and found that not one was interested or planned to apply for registration with the DEA.

STAT put in calls to universities from coast to coast, including schools in pot-friendly states, such as the University of California – Davis, Colorado State University, and Oregon State University, which offers a sociology class on "marijuana policy in the 21st century."

Other schools that were contacted include Cornell University, Virginia Tech, University of Vermont, Michigan State University, and Purdue University.

STAT's Andrew Joseph learned from speaking with researchers that many are wary of the costs associated with opening a cultivation facility. Construction alone could set growers back millions of dollars, according to an attorney who formerly coordinated Illinois' medical marijuana program.

Growers must also show evidence they have security measures in place to keep the marijuana safe from prying hands, which adds to the expenditures.

The DEA has also implied*it's not looking for candidates with*"previous experience handling controlled substances," regardless of marijuana's legal status in the state where they reside. The disclaimer is enough to scare away applicants who have dabbled in cultivating pot.

Until now, the University of Mississippi has cornered the market on marijuana manufacturing.

Over four decades ago, the DEA teamed up with the University of Mississippi to grow weed legally and distribute it for federally authorized studies. Because of this monopoly, scientists had to wait years to get their hands on research-grade drugs that meet their specifications. Allowing more universities to grow means there will be more strains available for study.

The DEA's move to open its application process clears a major hurdle for researchers wanting to build evidence in support of the plant's medicinal use. Now the agency just needs volunteers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gravdigr (Post 967949)

I just figured the reindeer were being emotional children...

Quote:

Originally Posted by tw (Post 968051)

Clearly they were only having a tantrum.

British woman accidentally dials Massachusetts police to report crash in England

Quote:

British woman accidentally dials Massachusetts police to report crash in England

A British woman trying to report a car crash to police mistakenly dialed authorities in Barnstable, Massachusetts, instead of police Barnstaple, England.

The call went on for more than two minutes before the dispatcher and caller realized they were in different countries, according to audio of the call.

The woman called to report a car crash on Muddiford Road on Thursday, and struggled to describe the area to the confused police officer.

A British woman trying to report a car crash to police mistakenly dialed authorities in Barnstable, Massachusetts, instead of police Barnstaple, England.

The call went on for more than two minutes before the dispatcher and caller realized they were in different countries, according to audio of the call.

The woman called to report a car crash on Muddiford Road on Thursday, and struggled to describe the area to the confused police officer.

Barnstable Police Officer Mark McWilliams said he didn't know the area the woman was talking about, and suddenly they realized the error.

The caller laughed and said, "you can't help me then."

McWilliams joked back, saying "Yeah, our response is going to be about six hours."

It was not immediately clear if Barnstaple police responded to the crash the woman called about.

Audio of the call + article here: Masslive.

Since this report surfaced over here, more information has emerged which rather dilutes the weirdness factor:

Quote:

"My friends asked Cortana and the phone number came up so I pressed it and that's how I was speaking to police in Massachusetts."

Barnstable, Massachusetts is twinned with the north Devon town.

BBC Report

Yeah, that qualifies as weird, alright.

And now we've gotten to the heart of the centralized or outsourced emergency call center controversy.

Thank God for the War on Drugs.

I bet the people of Thurmont, Maryland feel a lot safer now...

Undercover operation, in which officer worked at Burger King, netted 5 grams of marijuana, 2 pills

Almost two months of undercover work to get those couple grams of drugs off the street.

The most expensive war ever. :rolleyes: