Thankfully, no loggers took it down, nor forest fires or earthquakes !!
Just living the quite life in a California forest for all these years …. !!
Not every tree has a nickname, but ‘The President’ has earned it …. !!
This giant sequoia stands at 247 feet tall and is estimated to be over 3,200 years old . . . . !!
Imagine, this tree was already 700 years old during the height of ancient Greece’s civilization …. and, 1200 years old when Jesus lived and the Roman’s were well into their rule of most of the western world and points beyond . . . . !!
The trunk of The President measures at 27 feet across, with more than 2 BILLION needles from it’s base to the top . . . . !
Because of its unbelievable size …. this tree has never been photographed in its entirety, until now …. National Geographic photographers have worked along with scientists to try and create the first photo that shows “The President” …. in all its glory . . . . !!
They had to Climb the tree with pulleys and levers …. They took thousands of photos …. Of those, they selected 126 and stitched them together to get this incredible portrait of “The President” …. !! And here it is . . . . :
The man standing near the trunk of the tree is a good indicator of the tree’s actual size . . . . !!
You know the story. Despite technologies, regulations, and policies to make humanity less of a strain on the earth, people just won’t stop reproducing. By 2050 there will be 9 billion carbon-burning, plastic-polluting, calorie-consuming people on the planet. By 2100, that number will balloon to 11 billion, pushing society into a Soylent Green scenario. Such dire population predictions aren’t the stuff of sci-fi; those numbers come from one of the most trusted world authorities, the United Nations.
But what if they’re wrong? Not like, off by a rounding error, but like totally, completely goofed?
That’s the conclusion Canadian journalist John Ibbitson and political scientist Darrell Bricker come to in their newest book, Empty Planet, due out February 5th. After painstakingly breaking down the numbers for themselves, the pair arrived at a drastically different prediction for the future of the human species. “In roughly three decades, the global population will begin to decline,” they write. “Once that decline begins, it will never end.”
.
Getty Images
.
.
Click the link below for the article: (Use your browser or smartphone back arrow (<) to return from this article to choose Missed news items in Extra section)
The 2019 Academy Awards ceremony will have no host for the first time in three decades.
After weeks of scrambling to find a replacement for actor and comedian Kevin Hart, who stepped down following backlash over past homophobic comments, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ultimately opted to forgo having a host, ABC Entertainment PR and an academy spokesperson told ABC News on Tuesday.
The academy did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
The academy selected Hart in early December to host the 91st Academy Awards following a prolonged search amid declining ratings for the annual broadcast. The choice quickly came under fire, with critics noting the comedian’s previous tweets and jokes expressing homophobia.
.
One of 2019 Oscar presenters
.
.
Click the link below for the article: (Use your browser or smartphone back arrow (<) to return from this article to choose Missed news items in Extra section)
Mr. Talaska was not outside the norm. Of the public defenders in Louisiana handling felony caseloads at that time, there were two dozen with even more clients. One had 413.
The numbers alone might seem to violate the Constitution. Poor defendants in the United States have the right to a competent lawyer, and hundreds of thousands of defendants rest their hopes on someone like Mr. Talaska.
But there has never been any guarantee that those lawyers would have enough time to handle their cases. That’s why the study cited above, which looked at the workloads of public defenders, is significant.
Right now, courts allow an individual to claim, after they lose, that they received an ineffective defense. But the bar is high. Some judges have ruled that taking illegal drugs, driving to court drunk or briefly falling asleep at the defense table — even during critical testimony — did not make a lawyer inadequate
.
Felony Cases
.
.
Click the link below for the article: (Use your browser or smartphone back arrow (<) to return from this article to choose Missed news items in Extra section)
We all like to eat but none of us want to spend all of our time cooking and preparing our food in the kitchen.You can cut down on that time significantly if you know a few tricks.
.
‘Kitchen Hacks’
.
.
Click the link below for the article: (Use your browser or smartphone back arrow (<) to return from this article to choose Missed news items in Extra section)
Pushed to the brink by mounting debt, compassion fatigue and social media attacks from angry pet owners, veterinarians are committing suicide at rates higher than the general population, often killing themselves with drugs meant for their patients.
On a brisk fall evening in Elizabeth City, N.C., Robin Stamey sat in her bed and prepared to take her own life.
To her side lay a stack of goodbye letters Stamey had written to her loved ones, including her parents who lived hundreds of miles away. Gripping a catheter loaded with a deadly dose of Beuthanasia-D and Telazol, euthanizing agents the 46-year-old veterinarian had brought home from her nearby practice, she exhaled slowly and began to bid the world goodbye. But as she turned to look at Gracie, her apricot toy poodle, Stamey started to sob.
.
Veterinarian Robin Stamey and Gracie, her toy poodle. “The only person I couldn’t explain my suicide to was my dog,” Stamey says. Recent findings reveal the suicide rate among veterinarians is higher than the national average. They also suggest that women in the field are more likely to take their own lives. (Charlotte Kesl for The Washington Post)
.
.
Click the link below for the article: (Use your browser or smartphone back arrow (<) to return from this article to choose Missed news items in Extra section)
“Some mode of displacing an unfit magistrate is rendered indispensable by the fallibility of those who choose, as well as the corruptibility of the man chosen.” — George Mason, Constitutional Convention, June 1787
“We’re going to go in there. We’re going to impeach the motherf—er.” — Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Jan. 3
The contrast between these two statements reveals everything about the challenge of exercising Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution and attempting to remove President Trump from office. By now, the “unfit” condition of this magistrate is clear, as is his disdain for the principles and traditions of American public life. But the fitness of Congress, the sole branch empowered to impeach and convict the president, also bears scrutiny.
Is the least-trusted institution in America — rated lower than big banks, the news media and the presidency itself — ready to investigate and try a president in a way that conveys legitimacy and inspires broad confidence? And could the American public, already so divided and cynical, regard whatever outcome emerges from that process as nonpartisan and fair?
.
What it would take
.
.
Click the link below for the article: (Use your browser or smartphone back arrow (<) to return from this article to choose Missed news items in Extra section)
President Donald Trump lashed out at the media again Sunday night.
Only this time, Trump directed his unhappiness at Fox News, singling out a pair of reporters from his seemingly favorite news outlet for their coverage of the border wall and recent partial government shutdown, assessing that John Roberts and Gillian Turner have “less understanding” than “fake news” reporters from other media organizations.
“Never thought I’d say this but I think @johnrobertsFox and @GillianHTurner @FoxNews have even less understanding of the Wall negotiations than the folks at FAKE NEWS CNN & NBC!” Trump tweeted.
.
.
.
Click the link below for the article: (Use your browser or smartphone back arrow (<) to return from this article to choose Missed news items in Extra section)
Traditionally, Americans could look forward to a comfortable retirement.After four decades in an office or a factory, sometime in their 60s they would lay down their burdens and enjoy a final couple of decades with time to relax, spend time with family and friends, and reflect on their life. But since the financial crisis, older Americans have been increasingly staying in the workplace
Click the link below for the article: (Use your browser or smartphone back arrow (<) to return from this article to choose Missed news items in Extra section)
Remember when you were a kid and you used to say, “Mom, I’m booored,” and she’d tell you to go entertain yourself? Maybe you don’t. Maybe you weren’t as whiny as me. Or maybe you were born sometime in the last two decades(ish), and had a childhood that perpetually involved a screen. But there was a time before the iPhone (and after the Industrial Revolution, which, really, gave birth to leisure time) when we humans desperately tried to avoid the dark embrace of boredom. Having nothing to do meant spending time alone with your own thoughts. Which: Ew.
Then? Phones got smart, and so did we, with easy access to more information and entertainment than we’d ever had before. Now, every moment you spend being bored—while riding an elevator, or waiting at the doctor’s office, or biding time until your date returns from the restroom—is a moment you don’t spend reading a book, skimming the news, or catching up on social media. Basically, being bored in 2018 is a slap in the face of technology. Never again will we have nothing to do. This is a good thing… right?
.
Believe it or not, sometimes not doing anything at all is the most productive thing you can do.
.
.
Click the link below for the article: (Use your browser or smartphone back arrow (<) to return from this article to choose Missed news items in Extra section)
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
Felony Cases
‘Kitchen Hacks’
What it would take
.
Believe it or not, sometimes not doing anything at all is the most productive thing you can do.
James' World 2 