Haunted by Naked Mole Rats

I am being haunted by Naked Mole Rats...


I wrote about them once before... with pictures...
http://fourpawsandwhiskers.blogspot.com/2009/03/can-only-mother-love-naked-mole-rat.html

Then today I saw an article on them as being the possible secret to eternal youth as they live a long, cancer free life...

What's ugly, has a tail and holds the secret to eternal youth? Meet the naked mole rat...

These East African animals live for 30 years, seven times longer than a normal rat, and they seem to be immune to cancer. 

Researchers at the University of Liverpool have just finished mapping the mole rat’s genome structure for the first time, in the hope of understanding what keeps them so healthy.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2012492/Naked-mole-rat-East-Africa-holds-secret-eternal-youth.html#ixzz1RVcOnevu

I distinctly remember the feeling of mild revulsion, and amusement, when I first saw a picture of one of these... but I really haven;t thought about them again until today. Then tonight on television they showed a picture from Cake Wrecks. if you haven't discovered this site, they feature weird and wonderful cakes and the regular mistakes made in the finished product. 


"When professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong..."

Seriously - A Mole Rat Cake????


If you don't believe me - this is on their Creepy Crawly Cakes Post. Go and see it for yourself. 


Now, I am going to try and forget about them again for a while :)

Haunted by Naked Mole Rats

I am being haunted by Naked Mole Rats...


I wrote about them once before... with pictures...
http://fourpawsandwhiskers.blogspot.com/2009/03/can-only-mother-love-naked-mole-rat.html

Then today I saw an article on them as being the possible secret to eternal youth as they live a long, cancer free life...

What's ugly, has a tail and holds the secret to eternal youth? Meet the naked mole rat...

These East African animals live for 30 years, seven times longer than a normal rat, and they seem to be immune to cancer. 

Researchers at the University of Liverpool have just finished mapping the mole rat’s genome structure for the first time, in the hope of understanding what keeps them so healthy.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2012492/Naked-mole-rat-East-Africa-holds-secret-eternal-youth.html#ixzz1RVcOnevu

I distinctly remember the feeling of mild revulsion, and amusement, when I first saw a picture of one of these... but I really haven;t thought about them again until today. Then tonight on television they showed a picture from Cake Wrecks. if you haven't discovered this site, they feature weird and wonderful cakes and the regular mistakes made in the finished product. 


"When professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong..."

Seriously - A Mole Rat Cake????


If you don't believe me - this is on their Creepy Crawly Cakes Post. Go and see it for yourself. 


Now, I am going to try and forget about them again for a while :)

Bush rats unleashed on Sydney

via stuff.co.nz

Apparently Sydney doesn't have enough rats already... so they are going to release an army of native Bush rats into the city.... to be fair, these are not like the usual sewer dwelling Black rats, and they want them back to redress the balance of the current rat population. Smacks a little of biologic meddling, but it is an interesting idea.
We live on a small piece of water, more broad river than lake, so we see plenty of water rats scurrying along the banks when we walk in the evenings, and often they are foraging in the rubbish bins! It all adds excitement to the dogs' walks as we won't let them chase the ducks, but ratting is sometimes permitted. To be fair they have never caught one!

Personally, I would prefer it if we had squirrels here - I miss them, particularly the red ones. In the UK, the larger American grey squirrels have almost over run the red ones... so nice to read they are working on plans to redress that balance too!
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/Redsquirrel

Posted via web from Fiona's posterous

Bush rats unleashed on Sydney

via stuff.co.nz

Apparently Sydney doesn't have enough rats already... so they are going to release an army of native Bush rats into the city.... to be fair, these are not like the usual sewer dwelling Black rats, and they want them back to redress the balance of the current rat population. Smacks a little of biologic meddling, but it is an interesting idea.
We live on a small piece of water, more broad river than lake, so we see plenty of water rats scurrying along the banks when we walk in the evenings, and often they are foraging in the rubbish bins! It all adds excitement to the dogs' walks as we won't let them chase the ducks, but ratting is sometimes permitted. To be fair they have never caught one!

Personally, I would prefer it if we had squirrels here - I miss them, particularly the red ones. In the UK, the larger American grey squirrels have almost over run the red ones... so nice to read they are working on plans to redress that balance too!
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/Redsquirrel

Posted via web from Fiona's posterous

Rat appreciation - Happy Birthday Ratties

Rats make great pets... they are clean, friendly, intelligent, inquisitive, and they don't smell. Perhaps, sadly, one of the main reasons I hear regularly for them being a good choice; they only live for about three years. Not such good news for the owner, but it suits a lot of parents who do not want to be saddled with their chiildren's cast off pets for life.

But, I know what you are a thinking they are vermin, they are lab animals, and " it's a shame about the tails"! Well, read further....

I have owned guinea pigs regularly; they are delightful, vocal and responsive pets...and they don't kick and scratch, which, to me, put them ahead of rabbits as a choice when it came to selecting my children's pets. Believe me, rats didn't even get a look in for beng chosen in those days, hence depriving them of what would have been wonderful pets. Sorry kids. Along with all their cats and dogs, we also owned and bred lots of mice. My mother will be shuddering at the memories of my breeding mice while still at school as they kept escaping and appearing in the kitchen cupboards... white, tan and obviously mine, not wild ones.. On reflection, I can say that although fun, the mice can smell musty, particularly the males, and when handled, cover your clothes in "eau de mouse" pee...as ours did, until the cats broke into the cage of our last batch and ate them :(... that will teach me for upgrading to a super duper, fab space age mouse hotel....the tunnels fell off and the cats just ate them when they came out. In fact, they probably dislodged the tunnels deliberately.

Rats... no never. Rats... that tail... eeeeeeew - well - that was how I felt for many years... until I started working with them. I initially avoided the rat cages, but one day, the students acquired a particularly fine, pure white one and named her after me. Hmm.. I remember feeling a bit strange about it at the time. I started to look at her admiringly (studiously avoiding the tail) when I went past; until finally managing a careful stroke... eventually getting to the point where I would open the cage and give her a cuddle when no one was looking.... Sweet Fi. Since then I have had a few rats named after me... "Ratafia" perhaps my favourite variation...all of course beautiful and intelligent specimens! The tails don't worry me at all!

These days we can't breed them fast enough for the market demand from people who love our well handled and healthy rat babies...

Zeta

Emily - showing off her lovely markings, and a TAIL:

Babies!!!

So, a here is a celebration from one of my past vet nursing students', Chantal, member of the local Rat Club, posted to celebrate the rat's first birthday.

There was cake for everyone:

and a feast of spaghetti and peas

with a juicy chop

Looks like an idyllic day for the rats...

Happy Birthday ratties..

Bye :)

Rat appreciation - Happy Birthday Ratties

Rats make great pets... they are clean, friendly, intelligent, inquisitive, and they don't smell. Perhaps, sadly, one of the main reasons I hear regularly for them being a good choice; they only live for about three years. Not such good news for the owner, but it suits a lot of parents who do not want to be saddled with their chiildren's cast off pets for life.

But, I know what you are a thinking they are vermin, they are lab animals, and " it's a shame about the tails"! Well, read further....

I have owned guinea pigs regularly; they are delightful, vocal and responsive pets...and they don't kick and scratch, which, to me, put them ahead of rabbits as a choice when it came to selecting my children's pets. Believe me, rats didn't even get a look in for beng chosen in those days, hence depriving them of what would have been wonderful pets. Sorry kids. Along with all their cats and dogs, we also owned and bred lots of mice. My mother will be shuddering at the memories of my breeding mice while still at school as they kept escaping and appearing in the kitchen cupboards... white, tan and obviously mine, not wild ones.. On reflection, I can say that although fun, the mice can smell musty, particularly the males, and when handled, cover your clothes in "eau de mouse" pee...as ours did, until the cats broke into the cage of our last batch and ate them :(... that will teach me for upgrading to a super duper, fab space age mouse hotel....the tunnels fell off and the cats just ate them when they came out. In fact, they probably dislodged the tunnels deliberately.

Rats... no never. Rats... that tail... eeeeeeew - well - that was how I felt for many years... until I started working with them. I initially avoided the rat cages, but one day, the students acquired a particularly fine, pure white one and named her after me. Hmm.. I remember feeling a bit strange about it at the time. I started to look at her admiringly (studiously avoiding the tail) when I went past; until finally managing a careful stroke... eventually getting to the point where I would open the cage and give her a cuddle when no one was looking.... Sweet Fi. Since then I have had a few rats named after me... "Ratafia" perhaps my favourite variation...all of course beautiful and intelligent specimens! The tails don't worry me at all!

These days we can't breed them fast enough for the market demand from people who love our well handled and healthy rat babies...

Zeta

Emily - showing off her lovely markings, and a TAIL:

Babies!!!

So, a here is a celebration from one of my past vet nursing students', Chantal, member of the local Rat Club, posted to celebrate the rat's first birthday.

There was cake for everyone:

and a feast of spaghetti and peas

with a juicy chop

Looks like an idyllic day for the rats...

Happy Birthday ratties..

Bye :)

Bills in Congress Want to "E-Fence" the Internet

Congress to Make Ebay a Rat
Jason Lee Miller
WebPro News





Edward Feulner of the Cato Institute has said that Bills in Congress would turn Ebay and any website that conducts e-commerce into snitches for the government. The bills would force websites to conduct investigations into their customers that come under suspicion.

Jason Lee Miller, WebPro News, has the scoop.

None of the bills, two in the House of Representatives and one in the Senate, is expected to come to a vote before the Congressional recess—they’ve got bigger fish to fry in Bailout Brand oil at the moment—but the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security held a hearing on the subject recently.

The purpose of the legislation is to target organized retail crime, or bands of shoplifters and hustlers hocking ill-gotten goods online, where the National Retail Federation, which has come out aggressively in favor of the legislation, says thieves can sell goods at 70 percent value. Street corners typically only bring 30 percent of the retail value.

The problem was highlighted recently when a New York vendor was busted selling Victoria Secret brassieres on eBay for $25 a pop. They typically sold for between $40 and $80. If you’re wondering why Homeland Security is being dragged in to this, it’s likely because of alleged past connections between organized retail crime syndicates traced to Hezbollah and Hamas.

Naturally, the Internet is to blame.

Though, NetChoice’s Steve DelBianco colorfully compared this logic to blaming the back seats of cars for teenage sex, the NRF’s vice president for loss prevention, Joseph LaRocca, has elevated the problem to the level of addiction to Class A narcotics. At the aforementioned hearing, LaRocca said:

"The Internet seems to be contributing to the creation of a brand new type of retail thief – people who have never stolen before but are lured in by the convenience and anonymity of the Internet. Thieves often tell the same disturbing story: they begin legitimately selling product on eBay and then become hooked by its addictive qualities, the anonymity it provides and the ease with which they gain exposure to millions of customers. When they run out of legitimate merchandise, they begin to steal intermittently, many times for the first time in their life, so they can continue selling online. The thefts then begin to spiral out of control and before they know it they quit their jobs, are recruiting accomplices and are crossing states lines to steal, all so they can support and perpetuate their online selling habit."

Soon you’re likely to see them on A&E’s “Intervention.” Though evidence of the above scenario is lacking, it sounds like Congress is taking this just as seriously as the NRF.

Individually, the bills are: H.R. 6713, the E-Fencing Enforcement Act of 2008, sponsored by subcommittee Chairman Bobby Scott, D-Va.; H.R. 6491, the Organized Retail Crime Act of 2008, sponsored by Representative Brad Ellsworth, D-Ind.; and S. 3434, the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2008, sponsored by Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill.

Congressman Scott’s E-Fencing Enforcement Act mandates that online stores and resellers disclose contact information for high-volume sellers—with sales of $12,000 or more per year or sales of $5,000 or more in any single offering—“to any inquirer with standing under this section.” An “inquirer with standing” is defined as anybody who sends a copy of a signed report made to or received from law enforcement in the past year involving goods matching the description of those offered online after a theft.

Continue reading: Congress to Make Ebay a Rat

The Internet--and Alaska--represent the last frontiers in America. These bills, if passed, would leave Alaska, where the federal government already owns over 60% of Alaska.


by Mondo
image: dbkp
Source: Congress to Make Ebay a Rat