Showing Tag: "al" (Show all posts)

Microfossils Reveal Armor

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Wednesday, June 8, 2011,
It was announced on June 8 in the scientific journal Geology that paleontologists examining rock samples from a 2007 dig on the Alaska-Yukon border have found microorganisms dating back over 700 million years ago.  The tiny animals, called Characodictyons, are only 20 microns in length, about one-fifth the width of a human hair, but they are extremely complex-looking thanks to a surprising trait.  They are covered with their own mineral coating that features spikes and toothlike protuberances...
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Largest Fossil Spider Found

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Thursday, April 21, 2011,
Paleontologists reported today that they have discovered the largest fossil spider ever found.  Of course, that's a relative term since the 165 million year old arachnid had a body one inch wide with 2 and a half inch legs.  The spider was an early version of the Nephila family, more commonly known as a Golden Orb spider, which today uses its large netlike webs to capture birds and bats.  Most Nephilas today live in tropical climates, so it's safe to assume this prehistoric spider did the sam...
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Killer Storm Makes Australian Landfall

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Wednesday, February 2, 2011, In : Weather 
Just a little after midnight Thursday, local time, cyclone Yasi made landfall in Mission Beach, Queensland State, Australia, adding even more grief to a country already devastated by recent flooding.  At least 90,000 homes lost power already as the monster storm moved inland, where it's expected to rage on for at least two days before breaking up.  The Bureau of Meteorology warns that at least 28 inches of rain could fall in a few hours, and when combined with the fact that Yasi is striking a...
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Australian Flooding Reaches Brisbane

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Wednesday, January 12, 2011,
The torrential rains that have plagued Australia since last November have left devastation in their wake as rivers overflowed their banks across much of that country's northwestern region.  Yet another monster storm over the past few days has caused the Brisbane River to send a 26 foot wall of water, which government officials have dubbed an "inland instant tsunami", through the city of Toowoomba, killing twelve people.  The flood waters have begun to enter Brisbane itself, and yesterday resi...
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Rare Moon Show Tonight

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Monday, December 20, 2010, In : Science 
The total lunar eclipse tonight is such a rare event that it hasn't happened in 372 years.  Sure, we've had lunar eclipses aplenty in the past few centuries, but this eclipse happens on the winter solstice (summer solstice if you live south of the equator), which hasn't happened since 1638.  The eclipse will begin at half past midnight on the east coast, 9:30 PM in the west.  The actual total eclipse will occur at 3:17 AM Eastern, 12:17 AM Pacific, and at that time, a minor meteor shower will...
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Walking Dead Plays Safe On Season Finale

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Monday, December 6, 2010, In : Television 
  The alternate episode that would have brought massive controversy to the season finale of AMC's breakout hit "The Walking Dead", as reported on the Mohawk Radio Show last week, was not used last night.  The network opted for the originally filmed episode, and this may possibly reflect on the fact that the show's head writer fired the entire scripting staff last week (because they didn't want to do this storyline?).  The alternate show would have revealed the fact that we currently have a pl...
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Stars Launch Idiotic Digital Death For Charity

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Wednesday, December 1, 2010, In : Celebrities 
Nikki Sixx, Alicia Keys, Ryan Seacrest, and other Hollywood and music celebrities all have way too much money for their own good, but they have yet one more thing in common.  They are all so much out of touch with regular people that they have signed on for a "digital death" campaign.  While the campaign is for a good cause, it strikes a sour note with many people.  The stars have all agreed to stay off social networking sites until $1 million is raised for the AIDS charity Keep A Child Alive...
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FDA Attacks New Drink Craze

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Thursday, November 18, 2010, In : Health and Beauty 
The latest drink fad is extremely dangerous, according to the Food and Drug Administration, because you can't feel its effects affecting your body.  We're talking about the slew of alcoholic, caffeinated energy drinks that are so popular on college campuses and with underage drinkers.  These drinks, sold under such names as Four Loko and Joose, give a double whammy to its consumers so potentionally bad that the FDA has sent warnings to the four major manufacturers, giving them 15 days to eith...
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"Walking Dead" Success May Relate to Its Hidden Message

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Wednesday, November 10, 2010, In : Television 
When you run a show like this, you never know who you'll talk to when you open up your instant messenger during the program.  During Monday's show I had the opportunity to talk to a person who said he was part of the production staff of the show "The Walking Dead".  AMC scored a hit with this comic book adaptation.  On the Halloween premiere, it drew 5.3 million viewers, a new cable TV record, and last Sunday's second episode attracted an audience of 4.7 million, a never-before seen retention...
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Nepal Opens World's Highest 3G Hot Spot

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Friday, October 29, 2010, In : Technology 
Nepal, south Asia's poorest nation, just took a gigantic step in the world of communications.  NCell, a company owned jointly by local investors and telecom provider TeliaSonera, just installed a new 3G facility 17,388 feet up the slope of Mount Everest and today made the highest-based video call in the world from that location.  What this means is that climbers will now be able to keep up with their families as they ascend the world's tallest peak or even call for help using a regular cell p...
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Nuns Auctioning Off Rare Baseball Card

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Wednesday, October 27, 2010, In : People 
An unusual donation will be very helpful to a group of nuns and their ministries.  The brother of a member of the School Sisters of Notre Dame in Baltimore left all his possessions to the religious order when he died earlier this year, and his lawyer informed the nuns that part of this donation was a very rare and much-desired baseball card picturing Pittsburgh Pirate shortstop Honus Wagner.  Wagner played 18 seasons and was one of the original Baseball Hall of Fame inductees.  The card was p...
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New Zealand Protests Unions, Backs Jackson

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Monday, October 25, 2010, In : Movies 
New Zealanders love their movies, love Peter Jackson, and have sided with Jackson against film-related trade unions who were protesting working conditions for the shooting of a proposed two-film series about Hobbits.  Jackson filmed the original Lord of the Rings trilogy in New Zealand, but when the unions gave Jackson a hard time this time around, he declared that he would take his production off the island nation.  When New Zealanders made their displeasure known, the unions backed down, an...
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Apocalypse? Maybe Not

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Wednesday, October 20, 2010, In : Archeology 
Doom mongers and scientists who have been telling us about the Mayan calendar and the upcoming apocalypse in 2012 may have to cool their heels a while longer.  According to a new book titled "Calendars and Years II: Astronomy and Time In the Ancient and Medieval World", scientists used a Latin formula to convert the Mayan calendar, and that formula lost something in the translation.  The book's author reveals that the Latin and Mayan calendars are a bit out of sync, which means that our calcu...
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Some Chilean Miners Willing to Break Silence

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Monday, October 18, 2010, In : People 
While the Chilean miners who were rescued last week after 69 days of being trapped under ground have a pact of silence about their ordeal so they can get the best deal for their story as a group, at least two of them differ.  Jorge Gallegiullas says the pact is non-binding and he'd be willing to talk for the right price.  Another of the group, Mario Sepulveda, gave an interview to England's Mail yesterday without revealing too much.  He merely rebuled rumors that the men had sex while they we...
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Wal-Mart Strategy Backfires

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Wednesday, October 13, 2010, In : Business 
Anything bad that happens to Wal-Mart is good news, and this one had me rolling on the floor.  Earlier this year, the retailing giant passed a series of large price cuts, known in Wal-Martese as "rollbacks".  Wally M hoped that this would generate a higher customer count in stores, and it did, but not with the expected results.  Savvy shoppers walked in, bought the "rollback" items, then went on to their regular stores for the rest of their grocery shopping, leaving Wal-Mart bleeding heavily....
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The Never-Changing Burger

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Wednesday, October 13, 2010, In : Food 
Artist and photographer Sally Davies took on a challenge from a friend who claimed that any hamburger would rot and mold within two or three days of being left out in the open.  Davies tok that bet and started what is now called The Happy Meal Project.  She bought a McDonald's Happy Meal and left it on a kitchen counter back in April.  Now, almost six months later, the burger has yet to even grow mold.  She says the Happy Meal stopped emitting any odors after 24 hours and is now as hard as a ...
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Supreme Court Tackling Funeral Protest Case, Gingerly

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Thursday, October 7, 2010, In : People 
Question of the day: does a parent's pain (physical or mental) override someone else's right to "free speech"?  The Supreme Court started looking at that today in the case of Albert Snyder.  You may recall that Snyder's son was killed in Iraq, and that at his funeral, protesters from Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas parked themselves across the street from the cemetary and protested the event with chants and signs that read "God Hates America" and "Thank God For Dead Soldiers".  They loudly ...
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Can't Sing the National Anthem Right? It's Jail For You

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Thursday, October 7, 2010, In : Politics 
That's the word out of the Philippines, where the lower house of government just voted unanimously (196 to 0) to enact a bill that would prevent people from doing their own version of the national anthem, "Lupang Hinirang" (Beloved Land), and doing other "unpatriotic acts".  The senate is getting ready to vote on that same law before the end of the week.  The bill's majority author, Salvador Escudero, says he's tired of artists and singers changing the beat, melody, and even words in the nati...
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U.K. Scraps "No Touch" School Rule

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Monday, October 4, 2010, In : World News 
In what will prove to be extremely beneficial for education, British Education Secretary Michael Gove said he is going to abolish the "no touch" rules that prevent teachers from restraining and comforting children.  Gove told reporters that while "I don't believe you should be able to hit children, I do believe that teachers need to know they can physically restrain children, they can interpose themselves between two children that may be causing trouble and they can remove them from the class...
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TV Commercials to Get Quieter--By Law

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Friday, October 1, 2010, In : Television 
Late last night as we go to press, the senate passed a bill to make sure those TV commercials don't jolt you out of your sleep.  Called the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act, it says that commercials will have to be broadcast at the same level as the show they're in.  The bill makes the FCC adapt these regulations within a year of the bill's passing, and enforce them within a year after that.  Charles Shumer (D-NY), one of the bill's co-sponsors, stated "TV viewers shoul...
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Whales Beach Themselves in New Zealand

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Wednesday, September 22, 2010, In : Animals 
New Zealand has the dubious distinction of being a popular place for whale beachings, with its history of such occurances dating back to 1840.  Pilot whales are the ones that this happens to most often, and scientists say this is because New Zealand is on the animals' migration route, but truthfully, these same scientists actually don't have any idea why whales beach themselves.  Now, for the second time in a month, pilot whales have wound up on the shore at Spirits Bay.  An 80 member pod of ...
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Wal-Mart's Latest Competition Killing Strategy

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Tuesday, September 21, 2010, In : Business 
Everyone knows, or at least has heard, that Wal-Mart is the greatest enemy of retailing across the globe.  They try to throttle the competition, are now planning their own cell phone service, and have even tried to open their own banks so they can control your money from the time you're paid to when they've got it all.  Their latest ploy is now under way as the giant company is aggressively buying up small urban properties, about 20,000 square feet each, in urban areas for the creation of "ba...
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Extremely Rare Animal Captured, Dies

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Friday, September 17, 2010, In : Animals 
One of the world's rarest animals was recently captured, but unfortunately died while in captivity. Members of a small village in Laos caught a soala, a gazelle-like creature with a grayish coat and lond horns, and photographed it a few days before it died.  It was the first photo of a soala taken since one triggered an automatic camera in 1999.  No scientist has ever seen one of these elusive creatures in the wild, and the species is considered critically endangered, with possibly only a few...
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Space Tourism To Remain Costly

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Friday, September 17, 2010, In : Technology 
Space tourism may be just around he corner, according to Boeing executives, but their just announced partnership with Space Adventures Ltd. is unlikely to bring prices down.  It currently costs about $35 million to go in space via the seats Space Adventures is selling aboard Russian built Soyuz craft, and Boeing doesn't have any ships built yet.  The proposed craft, called CST-100, won't even be ready until 2015.  Once they are availale, the CST-100 will have one advantage.  The time spent on...
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Australia Hopes Oprah Helps Tourism

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Wednesday, September 15, 2010, In : Celebrities 
Oprah Winfrey's announcement on the opening show of her 25th season that she would take all 300 of her audience members to Australia wasn't exactly welcome in the Land Down Under.  The Aussie federal government and the state of New South Wales are footing part of the bill to the tune of three million dollars, and many people think that with the country's current economy, it's a waste.  The Australian Tourism Minister, however, believes that this could be money well spent since Oprah's show is...
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New Zealand Earthquake Worse Than Thought

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Monday, September 6, 2010, In : Earthquakes 
That 7.1 quake that struck New Zealand over the weekend continues to bring more problems to theis island nation that's been struggling to break out of an 18 month recession.  Officials have revealed that as many as 100,000 buildings out of 160,000 have suffered some sort of structural damage, and as many as 80 aftershocks, some as big as 5.4, have continued to rock the area.  Many roads and railroad lines have been broken and twisted out of shape, and over parts of the affected area, the temb...
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Pepsi and War Can't Be Friends

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Friday, September 3, 2010, In : Business 
Funk band War and PepsiCo just can't be friends.  Some of the band's original members are suing Pepsi for over $10 million, saying that the soft drink company never negotiated with them to use their song "Why Can't We Be Friends" in its commercial for Pepsi MAX.  Naturally, Pepsi says the suit has no merit, stating that "Pepsi has a long history of partnering with iconic celebrities and musicians, and we value our relationship with the music and entertainment industry".  The statement doesn't...
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Hogan Cleared For U.S. Return

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Friday, September 3, 2010, In : Celebrities 
The conflict between the Australian Taxation Board and Paul Hogan has taken a turn for the better.  Early this morning, both parties reached an agreement that will allow the "Crocodile Dundee" actor to return to America.  The tax office claims that Hogan used offshore banks to conceal earnings he made after his low budget film became an international hit in 1986, but he says he did nothing illegal.  The total amount owed remains a mystery, although some speculation exists on it, because both ...
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Miranda Lambert Gets 9 Nominations

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Wednesday, September 1, 2010, In : Music 
Country singer Miranda Lambert definitely has something to smile about this morning as it was announced that she was nominated for nine CMA awards, the most ever for a female.  Others who were nominated for multiple awards include Lady Antebellum with five, Lambert's new fiance Blake Shelton with four, and the Zac Brown Band, also with four.  Miranda's total fell one short of the record 10 by Alan Jackson in 2002.  The only other artist to get nine nominations is Merle Haggard, so Lambert is ...
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Plastic Bags Can Stay, For Now At Least

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Wednesday, September 1, 2010, In : Politics 
California's legislature had a long night on August 31 as just before midnight it rejected a measure brought before it to ban the use of plastic shopping bags.  Part of the conflict involved a heated debate over how much California wants to control people's personal choices.  Already on the books in the state are such laws as forcing the caloric content of food to be displayed prominently and the banning of soft drink vending machines on school grounds.  Part of this proposed plastic bag ban ...
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Care For A Testicle?

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Monday, August 30, 2010, In : World News 
You say you love unusual food?  Then this may be just what the doctor ordered.  The seventh annual Testicle Cooking Championship is currently going on in Serbia's city of Ozrem.  Local chef Ljubomr Erovic is the organizer of this offbeat festival that features both old and new recipes derived from the, well, scrotum.  In the Balkans, testicles are believed to accentuate a man's libido, and in Serbia they are commonly called "white kidneys".  High on the list this year are boar, camel, ostrich...
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Crocodile Dundee Stuck In Australia

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Wednesday, August 25, 2010, In : Celebrities 
Paul Hogan, known to millions as Crocodile Dundee from his movies, is being prevented from leaving Australia.  The America-based Aussie returned to Sydney last Friday for the funeral of his 101-year old mother, and as soon as he landed, the Australian Taxation Office slapped him with a departure prohibition order until he either pays or makes arrangements to pay back taxes on his income.  The ATO says that Hogan had income of $37.6 million from movie royalties that he invested in offshore tax...
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Obama Signs Border Security Bill

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Friday, August 13, 2010, In : Politics 
President Obama signed a $600 million border security bill this morning in the Oval Office with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano at his side.  If there ever was a more clueless couple in this world, I've yet to hear about it.  The bill calls for hiring 1,000 new Border Patrol Agents and more Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again.  We don't need more Border Patrol agents.  We need armed guards sitting atop a 30 foot wall betwe...
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Ice Island Threat To Shipping, Oil Rigs

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Wednesday, August 11, 2010, In : Icebergs 
A huge chunk of the Petersen Glacier has broken off in Greenland and is heading south, believed to be a victim of global warming.  This ice island, three times the size of Manhattan, may be heading for the Canadian shore of Newfoundland, where there are numerous oil rigs.  If such a massive piece of ice moves into that area, the danger of yet another massive oil spill is a possibility.  This is the same area where an iceberg sank the Titanic in 1912.  To further emphasize the size of this ice...
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Patricia Neal Dies of Cancer

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Monday, August 9, 2010, In : Celebrities 
Award-winning actress Patricia Neal passed away after battling lung cancer on August 8.  She died at her home in Edgartown, Massachussetts, surrounded by her family, at age 84.  She was born in Kentucky but grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee.  She made her first major motion picture appearance in 1949's "Fountainhead" and co-starred in the 1951 science fiction masterpiece "The Day The Earth Stood Still".  She won the Academy Award as best actress playing opposite Paul Newman in "Hud" in 1963.  L...
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Toyota Rebounding From Problems

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Wednesday, August 4, 2010, In : Business 
Toyota is recovering very nicely, thank you, from its financial troubles over the last year, bolstered by two events.  First off, a general global recovery is now stimulating the economy, and secondly, a report has surfaced recently that revealed a lot of the so-called defects that resulted in accidents were driver-induced and not mechanical defects, in truth attempts by people to squeeze money out of a company that has it.  Toyota posted a $2.2 billion profit for its latest quarter, and expe...
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Arizona Immigration Law Working Ahead of Implementation

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Monday, July 26, 2010, In : Politics 
Even before the new Arizona immigration law goes into effect, it's having the desired results.  It's estimated that over 100,000 illegal immigrants have fled the state over the last few weeks.  This past weekend, Hispanic residents in Phoenix and Tuscon were holding sidewalk sales to turn their belongings into cash that they intend to use to leave Arizona.  Unfortunately for California, a large portion of illegals say they intend to move to San Francisco and Orange County's Santa Ana, both kn...
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Al Jarreau Hospitalized in France

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Friday, July 23, 2010, In : Music 
Grammy-winning jazz singer Al Jarreau was rushed to the hospital before a concert in France today when he began having problems breathing.  Mr. Jarreau's British agent blamed the high altitude of Barcelonnette, in the Alps, for the 70-year old's condition.  He was rushed to a hospital with an intensive care unit in nearby Gap and was listed in critical condition, although by press time he had been taken off assisted breathing and was showing some improvement.  Doctors were still unsure of the...
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Romantic Comedies Harmful, Survey Says

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Wednesday, July 21, 2010, In : Movies 
Romantic comedies are harmful to your marriage, at least according to an Australian survey.  The poll, released by Warner Home Video to mark the release of the film "Valentine's Day" on DVD, states that almost half the people who took the survey said that the happy endings in romantic comedies have ruined their view of an ideal relationship.  One in four people said they are now expected to know what their partner is thinking.  One in five said these movies made their partners expect gifts an...
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Extinct Marsupial Fossils Found In Outback

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Friday, July 16, 2010, In : Paleontology 
After thoroughly studying the site for several years, paleontologists in Australia revealed yesterday that they have found a large cave in the Outback filled with a rare find.  Fossilized remains, many of them complete skeletons of 15-million-year old marsupials known as Nimbadons, were recovered.  Nimbadons were a sheep-sized animal with many features similar to wombats, such as large claws most likely used to climb trees.  The highlight of the fossil find was that quite a few of them showed...
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Arizona Law Gets Support From Other States

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Thursday, July 15, 2010, In : Politics 
The new Arizona immigration law that President Obama is trying to squash is gaining support by leaps and bounds.  Cities and counties across the U.S. are voting to back the western desert state, much to the chagrin of those who are here illegally, and now a powerful group of entire states is lining up in Arizona's corner.  Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox filed a legal brief on July 14 on behalf of his state and partners Alabama, Florida, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota...
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New Dinosaur Named During Beer Drinking

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Friday, July 9, 2010, In : Paleontology 
What do you name a new dinosaur unlike anything else ever seen before?  Usually, dinos are named after some trait of their body or their discoverer with a handle that's hard to say.  Nicholas Longrich, a paleontologist at Yale University, found a new species in Canada and wanted a unique name to match the creature's unusual feature, so he met a few fellow scientists over a few beers and they bantered possibilities.  Longrich jokingly mentioned "mojoceratops" and all conversation stopped as th...
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Southern California Tossed By Quake

Posted by ChiefJack Hawk on Thursday, July 8, 2010, In : Earthquakes 
It was a warm afternoon and an idyllic setting, but the quiet was shattered on Wednesday in Southern California by a moderately strong earthquake that was felt in most of the area.  The temblor hit at 4:53 PM, and most people reported a similar experience.  A rumbling  was heard, followed by a wavy motion which lasted ten to fifteen seconds.  The event was centered about 28 miles south of Palm Springs, near the San Diego County town of Borrego Springs.  The US Geological Survey initially repo...
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About Chief Jack


Chief Jack Hawk Chief Jack has hosted The Mohawk Radio Show since August 1969. He is a champion for the cause of Indie artists, and many Indies have had great success since having their music played on the station. He is a Mohawk chief who played with a Canadian band for about 10 years. He publishes articles under the name Jacques Boulerice for Yahoo! Voices and is working on a new movie script.

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