This song is a classic Western song written by Bob Nolan in 1936, and famously recorded by The Sons of the Pioneers. It tells the story of a thirsty cowboy and his mule, Dan, traveling through a desert and dealing with mirages. The song is a staple of American folk and country music, known for its smooth harmonies.
The chances are you have never heard of Nutty Putty Cave, a cave located west of Utah Lake which is kocated in nortg-central Utah. It has been permanently closed to the public since 2009, following an accident that killed 26-year-old John Edward Jones. Before that, it was popular among cave explorers.
On November 24, 2009, Jones became stuck upside down in a narrow crevice while exploring the cave. After around 27 hours of being stuck, Jones died at 11:56pm on November 25th.
After a failed rescue attempt rescuers concluded that it would be too dangerous to conduct further attempts to retrieve his body and the landowner and Jones's family agreed that the cave would be sealed, with the cave as his final resting place, and as a memorial to him. Explosives were used to collapse the ceiling and all entry points to the cave were permanently sealed by filling them with concrete.
Naturally, thee were some cave explorers who objected to the family's wishes and after they lost an appeal to keep the cave open they broke through the gated entrance to the property prior to the sealing of the cave and were apprehended before they could desecrate the burial site.
What happens id you hang upside down for an extended period of time? As in the case of Jones, it can lead to fatal consequences, When inverted, the lungs can become compressed by heavier organs, making it challenging to absorb sufficient oxygen, especially when the head is positioned directly beneath the feet.
Also, it can result in blood pooling in the brain, potentially causing ruptured blood vessels and brain hemorrhages, and heart failure due to the heart's inability to manage the increased blood flow and maintain blood pressure.
Hanging upside for a brief period has some physical benefits, but your lungs were designed to sit on top of your other organs for a reason. Lung are delicate and it doesn't take tlong for then to get compressed by heavier organs like the liver and intestines as happens when your head is directly underneath your feet.
But that's not the only problem. Blood pools up in the brain resulting in all sorts of problems like temporary blindness and brain hemorrhage. When you're upside down, your heart slows down its pumping and starts receiving more blood than it has the capacity to pump. As a result blood pressure can’t be maintained and the heart loses its ability to pump enough blood to sustain the other organs.
Also, there is a fold of tissue that attaches to the intestines and other abdominal organs that keeps the intestines in place and it can rupture.
They are great in compost and can be soaked in water that is used to water plants in pots, but can you eat them? In short, yes, and they offer some nutritional value.
Among banana peel health benefits are GI tract health. They can help with digestive issues like constipation and diarrhea. They MAY help reduce the risk of cancer because the peels provide antioxidants that can help fight free radicals that may lead to cancer. They also provide vitamin A, which is needed for eye health. A deficiency in vitamin A has been linked to night blindness.
There are some potential risks because the peels can be contaminated with dirt, microorganisms and fertilizer, so they should be rinsed with cool, running water.
Eating them raw is not recommended because they are thick, fibrous and very bitter, so they need to be cooked, baked or you can even blend them into smoothies. The riper the banana, the thinner and sweeter the peel will be. Whether boiled fried or baked thry should be cooked for at least 10 minutes to break down the fiber to make them easier to digest.
They can be used as a vegan meat substitute for things like pulled pork or bacon. There is a good bacon recipe HERE. For other recipes simple Google banana peel recipes.
Vitamin deficiency is actually uncommon in Western countries, but many people consume over-the-counter vitamins and minerals with the hope of improving their health and preventing disease. Their benefits are often highlighted, but their harmful effects are usually receive little attention.
High doses of some vitamins, especially when taken regularly, can be toxic, especially fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K) that accumulate in the body. Excessive intake of vitamins like A, D, B6, and minerals like iron can cause severe damage including nerve and liver damage, kidney stones and increased cancer or fracture risks.
These can be dangerous because they build up in fat reserves, making them easy to overdose on compared to water-soluble vitamins. Excessive intake of the following can be especially dangerous:
Vtamin A can cause headaches, liver damage, weaker bones and birth defects.
Vitamin D can cause hypercalcemia (too much calcium in the blood) leading to kidney stones, heart problems, confusion and even death.
Vitamin B6 can lead to severe sensory peripheral neuropathies (nerve damage).
Vitamin E may increase the risk of prostate cancer in men.
Beta-carotene supplements may increase the risk of lung cancer and death, particularly in smokers.
Iron is dangerous to take without deficiency; excess causes nausea, vomiting, liver damage and is potentially fatal toxicity.
On Monday, December 29, 2025, Lake Erie and land in the vicinity experienced winds that could have blown the hair off a dog. The result was that a rare seiche occurred on the lake.
Strong winds exceeding 60 mph pushed the water to one end of the lake, resembling a giant bathtub sloshing effect. This rare event caused waves up to 20 feet high, creating hazardous conditions and exposing the lake bed in many areas. VIEW news report.
Some monkeys, like baboons and chimpanzees, are highly dangerous due to their strength and aggression Others, like squirrel monkeys and titi monkeys, are generally not considered non-threatening, but they can still become aggressive if threatened or frightened.
In a fight with a chimpanzee it is highly unlikely that a human would win because chimpanzees possess superior strength, agility and fighting instincts.Even a well-trained human would likely be outmatched.
Chimpanzees are much stronger than humans. Studies suggest they can be 1.35 times more powerful. Chimps also have much stronger arm muscles that enables them to lift a surprising amount of weight. Chimps are extremely agile and have excellent climbing and swinging ability and they are fast.
Their fighting style includes biting, scratching and grappling would make it difficult for a human to defend themselves and gain an advantage.
By nature chimps are aggressive, particularly when defending themselves or their territory. All this makes them dangerous adversaries.
When it comes to bites, chimps have powerful jaws and teeth that are capable of inflicting serious damage. Their bite attacks can be brutal and lead to severe injuries.
Also, chimps don't fight like humans; they don't pinch...they slap, bites and grapple. There have been reports of chimps gouging out eyes, tearing off ears, noses, lips, arms, hands, fingers and genitals.
If a monkey attacks you, the immediate priorities are to protect yourself, especially your face and head, and to create distance. Avoid eye contact, don't scream or make sudden movements and slowly back away. If you have food or items they might be interested in toss it to them away from you. If you’re lucky, it will distract them.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Asparagus is a low-potassium food in small portions and it can be eaten as part of a healthy diet and it will not harm your kidneys. People with kidney disease are encouraged to eat a low potassium diet, so asparagus is an excellent choice. A small portion is considered to be six stalks or less.
The downside is that eating asparagus can lead to funky smelling pee. The reason is because asparagus contains...aspargusic acid, which is found exclusively in asparagus.
When asparagus is digested the acid is down into sulfur containing byproducts and, as you know, sulfur is not very pleasant smelling. And, so when you pee, the sulfur byproducts evaporate almost immediately, causing pee to smell unpleasant.
Asparagus isn’t the only thing that can change the smell of pee. For example, some people find that drinking too much coffee causes their urine to smell like coffee. Brussels sprouts, onions and garlic an also cause odd smelling pee in some people.
Asparagus pee usually shows up between 15 and 30 minutes after eating id and the smell can last for several hours, possibly up to 14 hours.
According to some studies it’s estimated that only between 20% to 50% of people experience the asparagus pee smell. That’s because everyone digests food differently and some people can break down the sulfur byproducts more efficiently.
