Electric Eels

    Electric eels generate electricity using organs composed of modified muscle cells called electrocytes that are arranged like stacks of batteries, with each cell generating a small electric charge. When triggered, these cells discharge, creating an electrical shock. 

    There isn't a specific voltage that is lethal to humans, but voltages above 50 volts can be dangerous and potentially lethal, especially with alternating current. Several factors, including current, duration body resistance and the path of the current influence the severity of the shock. 

    A Taser works by overwhelming the nerves that control the muscles, causing them to involuntarily contract. A Taser delivers 19 high-voltage pulses per second while an electric eel can produce 400 pulses per second. 

    Being shocked by a single electric eel can cause muscle spasms, intense pain and temporary paralysis in the affected area. In some cases, the shock can be severe enough to cause involuntary muscle contractions, making it difficult to swim which can lead to drowning. While a single shock is not usually lethal to healthy adults, multiple shocks can cause respiratory or heart failure. 

    The electric eel has a slender, snake-like body and flattened head. Its thick, scaleless skin is generally dark gray to brown and its underside is a yellow-orange. 

    Three specialized electric organs make up about 80 percent of its body. The electric organs create strong and weak electric charges, which are utilized for defense, hunting, communication and navigation. Electric eels grow to lengths of 6 to 8 feet. 

    The electric eel is widely distributed across northern South America. Its range spans across Brazil, the Guianas, Suriname, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. 

    They inhabit the quiet, slow-moving waters of ox-bow lakes, a crescent-shaped lake formed when a meandering river cuts off a bend, creating a separate, U-shaped body of water. These lakes are a common feature in areas with rivers that have extensive meandering They also inhabit streams, pools and flooded forests of the Amazon and Orinoco Rivers, preferring side channels but also living further inland. 

    Water efficiently conducts electricity, providing a wide surface area for the electric eel’s shock. This means that a shock may not be as painful for a large pret as one delivered outside of the water. Because if this an electric eel can jump out of the water, sliding its body up against a partially submerged predator to directly target its shock. The eel then delivers its electric pulses in increasing voltages.

    Their life span in the wild is unknown, but in captivity males typically live 10 to 15 years and females to 22 years. Adult electric eels are generalist carnivores, eating fish, crustaceans, insects and small vertebrates such as amphibians, reptiles and mammals. 

    In the dark, murky waters they inhabit electric eel have motion-sensitive hairs along their body that detect any slight pressure change in the surrounding water. When the eel senses a prey is near it emits two rapid electric pulses, called a doublet, that affects the muscles of the prey, causing it to twitch. Then with a series of high-voltage pulses (as many as 400 per second), the eel paralyzes and eats its prey. 

    Electric eels are edible, but they are not a common food source due to the potential dangers in catching them and hey are not very meaty. Some cultures, like in South America, consider them a delicacy, but proper preparation and cooking are crucial to avoid any harm. 

 

 

The Drug Lord Doctor

Listen to a podcast about Dr, Leonard Faymore from from Elyria, Ohio HERE 

See his castle HERE.

Navajo Code Talker of WWII

It Beats the Alternative

 

Vitamin D Deficiency

    Approximately 35% of adults in the United States have vitamin D deficiency, but it is a common problem worldwide. It primarily causes issues with your bones and muscles. Your geographical location may also prevent adequate vitamin D exposure through sunlight. See the VitaminDWiki HERE for lots of interesting information..

    It’s an essential vitamin that your body uses for normal bone development and maintenance; it also plays a role in your nervous system, musculoskeletal system and immune system. 

    Vitamin D plays a crucial role in maintaining the balance of calcium in your blood and bones and in building and maintaining bones. With vitamin D deficiency, a decline in calcium and phosphorus absorption by your intestines leads to hypocalcemia (low calcium levels in your blood). This leads to overactive parathyroid glands attempting to keep blood calcium levels normal. If severe, thos can cause symptoms, including muscle weakness and cramps, fatigue and depression. 

    To try to balance calcium levels in your blood your body takes calcium from your bones, which leads to bone breaks down faster than it can reform. This can result in soft bones in adults and rickets in children. 

    Severe lack of vitamin D in children causes rickets. Symptoms of rickets include: incorrect growth patterns due to bowed or bent bones, muscle weakness, bone pain and deformities in joints. Children with a mild deficiency may just have weak, sore and/or painful muscles. 

    Lack of vitamin D isn’t quite as obvious in adults. Symptoms might include fatigue, bone pain, muscle weakness, muscle aches or muscle cramps and mood changes like depression. 

    In general, the two main causes of vitamin D deficiency are not getting enough vitamin D in your diet and/or through sunlight. There are also several medical causes of vitamin D deficiency. 

    Your skin's ability to make vitamin D decreases with age, so people over the age of 65 years are especially at risk. Infants are also at risk. This is especially true for infants who are only fed breast milk, as it contains only a small amount of vitamin D. It’s more difficult for dark-colored skin to make vitamin D than light-colored skin, so people with darker skin are at a higher risk. People who are homebound or rarely go outside aren’t able to use sun as a source of vitamin D.

    While you might consider eating more foods containing vitamin D and getting more sunlight you can just take vitamin D supplements.

Coyote Attack?

    Some time back while driving down the street around the corner I saw what appeared to be a mangy dog running into the woods behind our house, but then realized it was not a dog, it was a coyote. 

    The coyote, whose name is derived from the Aztec coyotl, is found from Alaska south into Central America, but especially on the Great Plains. Historically, the eastern border of its range was the Appalachians, but the coyote has expanded its range and now can be found throughout the United States and Canada. Coyotes are common throughout the state where I live in both rural and urban settings.

    The coyote I saw was about the size of a medium dog, but...they can be as long as 24 feet and as tall as 6 feet! Their fangs resemble sabers and can open up a human skull. 

    Coyotes are opportunistic, versatile eaters primarily feeding on small mammals (I.e., mice, rabbits, squirrels) as well as fruits, vegetables, and garbage, but they will also target small dogs and cats. 

    They are strong and extremely aggressive, strong and big. Their eyes are red and can hypnotize some beings with fear. Additionally, they are able to produce howls strong enough to paralyze most of the animals. They are really fast, too. They are curious, but generally fearful of humans. Clap your hands and shout in a stern voice to scare it off. 

    Coyotes are not very intelligent or united. They usually kill one another. During the day they hide in covered open areas, raised grounds or in dens. Dens are most commonly seen in parks and forest areas, shrubbery, preserves, golf courses and other such regions. They are mos active at dawn and dusk, but may be seen frequently throughout the day. 

    The other night we had the bedroom window open with a fan in it when at 2:30 in the morning we were awakened to a terrible screeching noise which at first I thought was a fan bearing going bad. It wasn’t. After shutting off the fan we heard sounds at the edge of the woods in the back yard. Low grunts and frequent screams. 

    Possums live in the woods, but they make clicking noises when they're trying to attract mates and hissing or growling sounds when they feel threatened. Baby opossums make noises that sound like sneezing when trying to get their parents' attention. Outside of these special circumstances, though, they rarely make audible sounds. 

    Raccoons on the orher hand can make various types of noises including a chittering sound, purring, snorts, growls, snarls, whimpers and screams. Baby raccoon sounds can also include whining, mewing and crying. When calling out to each other, it's possible that a raccoon sounds like a screech owl's whistle. 

    So, what was all the screaming? Was a coyote attacking a raccoon or was it just two raccoons communicating with each other? Whatever it was, it was creepy.

Magnetism and Dogs Dumping

    Ever watch a dog poop? Who hasn’t? Did you notice that they spin around and get set up exactly right before relieving themselves? There is a scientific answer for the reason why. 

    In what must have been one of the most interesting (?!) jobs on the planet researchers observed 70 dogs of 37 different breeds for two years when they took a dump (the dogs, nit the researchers) and all of the dogs preferred a north-south alignment when the earth’s magnetic fields were calm. And they all avoided an east-west alignment. 

`There is a name for this behavior (of the dogs, not the researchers); it’s called magnetoception. It’s defined as tapping into a magnetic field to align or use for directions. The best example is that birds use it in migration. 

    Magnetoreception is a sense which allows an organism to detect the Earth's magnetic field. Animals with this sense include some arthropods, fish reptiles, birds and some mammals. 

    When a dog sniffs the ground and turns around a few times then leave their deposit they are aiming to make their deposit along a north-south axis that lines up with the Earth's magnetic field because the North-South axis has a calm magnetic field. 

    When the magnetic field is in flux, like during solar flares, this directional behavior was abandoned. When that happens dog have a difficult time finding a place to do their business. 

    Why is this information important?!According to researchers, this discovery was the first time a measurable, predictable behavioral reaction to the magnetic field's fluctuation had been observed. Why is this discovery important? The findings open new horizons for further research in organisms’ use of magnetic fields for direction, as well as magnetic fields produced by living organisms.

What's an Entitlement?

    My Facebook friend is always posting memes and “facts” which are usually really “alternative facts.” 

    His latest was a call to stop calling Social Security an “entitlement” because it is NOT an entitlement, it’s his money because he paid into it and they are giving him his own money back.

    It’s obvious that he does not know the meaning of the word “entitlement.” It means (1) a right to something specified by law or contract, (2) a belief that one is deserving of or is entitled to certain privileges, (3) a government program providing benefits to members of a specified group, also (4) funds supporting or distributed by such a program. Sounds like Social Security meets all the qualifications of the dictionary’s definitions of entitlement.

    Another pet peeve showed up the other night when I was watching a college basketball game on ESPN. The “analyst” said of a certain player that he was the best 3-point shooter in the conference, if not the country. 

    Nonsense! I looked up the statistics and the player’s percentage of 3-point shots made placed him 4th on the TEAM. So, he is not even the best 3-point shooter on the TEAM let alone the conference and certainly not the country.

     It was obvious that the ESPN “analyst” never bothered to do any research on the teams.

Taking Heavy Rolls

    In 1964 I was a Navy Corpsman assigned to Weapons Platoon, G Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and we were taking part in Operation Steel Pike. 

    On the way to the Mediterranean, in the mid-Atlantic, they passed the word over the ship’s 1MC (loudspeaker) to standby to take heavy rolls and this video reminds me of that experience. The accompanying song is also meaningful.

 

 

Enjoy Hillary Klug

Hillary Klug (birn 1992) is a National champion buckdancer and is also known for her fiddling.