Crows: The Most Intelligent and Misunderstood Birds

 According to BBC, crows have the ability to understand and recognize familiar human speech and bird calls from other species. It is common knowledge that crows are extremely intelligent and analytical birds, as they have already been able to adapt to many different surroundings, from cities to rural towns. Some crows are even capable of mimicking speech patterns. Researchers wanted to find out just how well crows could recognize sounds, so they studied eight crows and how they reacted to five recordings of the word "Hey" from voices of people that had spent time with them and five recordings of the same word from voices of people that had never even spent a minute with the birds. The crows reacted much more cautiously toward the unfamiliar voices, as humans tend to harm crows. This act of harming crows extends all the way to Tokyo, Japan. As much as I may love Japan and Crows, the two do not have the same mutual feeling for each other. In 2000, there were 21,000 crows flocking to Tokyo, but the number kept on growing. The citizens said that crows would attack pedestrians just simply walking on the streets. Some citizens remain kind to the black feathered friends, but others chase them, trap them, and there is even talk of eating the crows. Actually, this latter treatment of the animals may be the reason for the attacks on the people of Tokyo. A study done in 2012 shows that crows can not only remember a person's face, but they also hold grudges, just as humans do. Seattle researchers found that captured crows can remember a captor's face, even after years of not seeing that face. When the crows' menace was reintroduced to them, they taunted and attacked him, suggesting that the crows still hated their captor. While crows may have an association with death and darkness and are seen as nothing more than a pest to some, but the truth is that crows are very intelligent and magnificent creatures.

Police and Soldiers, What's the Difference?

According to this article, the police have recently begun being supplied with equipment from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the small town of Roanoke Rapids, the police department has been supplied with Humvees and MRAPs, vehicles designed to withstand explosive blasts and ambushes, along with firearms very similar, if not identical, to those used by the U.S. Military. This equipment was given to the police department free of charge by the Pentagon. The "intended purpose is to prevent mass casualties and to extricate people," but many do not seem to believe this. Some people are even going so far as to call America a "war zone." A major outcry against police "militarization" followed right after the shooting of an unarmed teenager in Ferguson and the violent riots that followed. Police used tear gas to put down riots as well as a non-lethal, but very painful deterrent, rubber bullets when the protesters began throwing rocks and firing guns at the police. Some people are starting to call Ferguson "Fergustan," in reference to its similarity to a "war zone." Ferguson is not the only place receiving police with military equipment. School police around the country have been receiving equipment from the Pentagon as well. School campus police forces have received around $13 million worth of equipment, including 145 handguns, 780 rifles, and nine explosive resistant vehicles. There was major backlash with this as well, just as with the Ferguson case. Now, there have been bills proposed to curb this "militarization." The bill restricts programs to supply grants that give money to purchase drones, surveillance, ballistic helmets, and lethal weapons. I personally disagree with most people and believe that the police need more equipment, not less. The amount of deadly situations the police find themselves in, who knows, the MRAP that they were forced to return could have saved their life. And besides, really the only difference between the old police officer's equipment and the new are the vehicles and the colors.

Studio Ghibli Without Hayao Miyazaki, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

According to CNN, the legendary animator, Hayao Miyazaki, retired from the company "Studio Ghibli." He had worked for this studio for approximately three decades and was even the co-founder. Studio Ghibli has stated that it will be "changing the way [they] make (animation)," which I personal find disappointing due to Miyazaki's work playing such a large part of my childhood. There were even talks of completely shutting down the firm. Even if the animation company did close, however, there are still all of the award winning movies created by the legendary Miyazaki. These movies include the likes of "Spirited Away," "My Neighbor Totoro," "Princess Mononoke," and "Howl's Moving Castle." Miyazaki's final film, "The Wind Rises" was submitted for Best Animated Feature Oscar, just proving how strong his animations are even after 30 years and against those who are considered the absolute best in the industry who use the newest techniques, while Hayao Miyazaki still uses the same techniques he used when he started. Miyazaki is the number one animator in the world in my personal opinion. His animations played a massive role in my childhood. His retirement will definitely change the face of animation forever.

"Guns Don't Kill People, Video Games Kill People"

Dead Space: One of the violent games being blamed
for real life violence.

According to CNN, in 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court had a hearing on the impact of violent video games and young children. Some believe that violence in games can result in violence in the real world. In California, a law was passed stating that any game that gives the option to deface or kill another human cannot be sold to anyone under 18. The ironic thing about the law is that the one who passed the law was Arnold Schwarzenegger. That's right, "The Terminator," the king of violent movies, passed a law banning violent media. Many parents do not pay attention to these ratings and let their children play games rated with mature ratings anyway. However, the issue arose when parents blamed the extremely violent game "Manhunt" for the death of their son. The police investigating dismissed the statement and "Manhunt" was not involved in the case. Many teenagers and young adults do not believe that parents know enough about the games that their children play, but others believe that parents know what their children know and understand what their children play and it is their choice whether or not they play the games or not. This scapegoat of blaming violent video games is just an excuse because they have no other explanation as to why people are harming others. With youth violence at a 40 year low, and gaming still remaining popular, why are politicians still blaming the games for this violence of recent days? They used to blame movies and music, such as "The Matrix" and "Natural Born Killers" and songs by Ozzy Osbourne and AC/DC, but instead of using that this time around, politicians use video games. Video Games are not to blame, but instead, politicians and therapists need to learn to solve the issue of mental health and not just look for more scapegoats.

Fallout 3 has some of the most violent gameplay seen in a
non-horror survival game of recent days.

 

Tattoos: Jobs Hate Them

 According to this article, many people are losing their jobs simply because of the fact that they have tattoos. One woman had her job interview terminated due to her tattoos. While she was in the middle of her phone interview, the issue of uniforms was brought up. The uniforms were short sleeved, so the woman informed her employer that she had tattoos, but the interviewer simply hung up on her, with no explanation or statement telling her that the company did not allow tattoos. However, while some companies shy away from tattoos, other companies are jumping right up to the rise in popularity of tattoos. Companies such as Dunlop have created ways to incorporate tattoos as advertisement. Goodyear's Dunlop tires promised a set of free tires for anyone who would get the "flying-D" logo tattooed on their body. 98 people stepped up to the challenge and one man returned to get his third tattoo and set of free tires. If you think that getting a tattoo just to get a free set of tires is crazy, that isn't even close to the weirdest thing in the world of tattooing.  That goes to the art of eyeball tattoos. Yes, you read that right, eyeball tattoos! This new craze just seems insane to me. The tattoos can basically change the eye color to whatever the person wants or a complete image can be inserted into the eyeball. Even though this may be fairly popular now, the standard body tattoo still reigns supreme. Tattoos have become a $3.4 billion a year industry. Tattoos are becoming more and more popular as the years go by, but companies do not seem to realize this. Businesses need to realize that just because someone has tattoos does not mean that they are terrible people, they may actually work better than those without tattoos, they are just normal human beings after all.

Bonnie and Clyde's Guns Sell for $504,000

According to USAToday, the notorious couple, Bonnie and Clyde's, guns sold for a total of $504,000. Bonnie Parker's .38 caliber Detective Special sold for $264,000 and Clyde Barrow's sold for $240,000. The odd thing to me is, these firearms have nothing special about them except for the fact that they were used by Bonnie and Clyde, but other than that, they are just standard handguns. Also, a submachine gun (most likely a .45 caliber Model 1928 Thompson) and a shotgun used by Bonnie and Clyde were sold for around $130,000 and $80,000, respectively. Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow had definitely made a name for themselves, even if they had died 80 years ago. According to the FBI's website, the gang had possibly killed at least 13 people. The famous image of "Hollywood's" Bonnie and Clyde portrays them as glamorous outlaws, but the reality is far from this. The duo were actually very "incompetent" people. Once Clyde had lost his way while trying to get away from a crime and managed to drive right passed the scene of their own crime. Their life of crime is what eventually led to their demise, however. One day, as they drove alone, there were six law enforcement officers waiting for them off the side of the road. When the gang drove passed, they were shot with a total of 140 rounds of ammunition. Bonnie and Clyde were two of the most notorious gangsters during the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression who will be remembered for years to come.

Cosplay: Costumes Aren't Just for the Kids Anymore

In this article, thousands gather at the LA Comic Con to cosplay. What is cosplay you may ask? Cosplay all started in Japan and is basically when people who are in their teenage years and up create extremely detailed costumes of their favorite video game, comic book, or TV show characters. People can put years into costumes and hundreds of dollars into them if they decide to professionally cosplay, just as Monika Lee did. Monika Lee is a Georgia Tech college student who has become a cosplay celebrity fairly quickly. She has cosplayed everything from Elizabeth from "Bioshock: Infinite" to a "steampunk" Poison Ivy. Lee has even been on the new TV show "Heroes of Cosplay." A popular show that shows cosplayers as they get ready for different conventions around the country, or even around the world in some cases.





 Cosplay has quickly climbed in popularity and is still becoming more and more popular everyday. Conventions are beginning to spring up in more and more states and more and more people are going and competing in the competitions being held. Even one of my good friends went to AnimeNext, an anime and gaming cosplay convention in New Jersey. Now with this growing popularity, there are always complaints. Due to Japanese animes tending to draw women with limited clothing, many cosplayers will replicate these characters. This has made many who attend conventions annoyed with these people and even caused some to say that they are "ruining cosplay." Some who do cosplay in that manner argue that if they enjoy the character and want to cosplay them, then it is their own business and they should be able to do as they want. This lack of clothing has caused other issued as well. Sexual harassment is a major issue at larger conventions. Women say that they have been followed, had photos taken of them that they did not agree to, and were even groped. While I do not agree with sexual harassment, I don't think it helps that some of the costumes women wear basically leave them naked.  Cosplay is another extremely popular piece of pop culture that has spread from Japan. Cosplay has become extremely popular in recent days and will continue to become more and more popular in the future.

Suspected Killer Still on Loose, but for How Long?

Eric Frein's picture.

 In this article by BBC, a suspect in the Pennsylvania police officer shooting has been named. The police claim the suspect is Eric Matthew Frein. He had opened fire on police with a .308 caliber rifle. Later, his vehicle was found submerged in a swamp with shell casings and identification inside. It has been said that he had stolen two firearms from his father's house, an AK platform rifle and the .308 caliber firearm used in the murder itself. Frein has been noted saying anti-police and government sentiments. He has also been called a "survivalist" by many, meaning that the search will most likely be very difficult. Also found in his vehicle was various pieces of military gear, most likely based off of the uniforms and equipment used by Eastern European forces, and camouflage face paint, which just reinforces this "survivalist" theory for most people. Eric Frein may have owned this equipment because he was in a military simulation group, however. He and some others would replay Cold War simulations and play the role of Eastern European forces. Through all of this searching and speculation, a funeral was held for the murdered police officer. More than 1,000 officers showed up. Eric Frein will be found, it is only a matter of time.

First There Was The Smart Phone, Now There Is The Smart Gun

According to Al Jazeera America, a new handgun called the Armatix IP-1, institutes the newest technology in the "gun control" controversy. The shooter wears a watch, that is sold separately might I add, that emits a signal that unlocks the safety on the gun and allows the trigger to be pulled. The laws regarding these guns will only be put in place when one gets sold, but so far none have been sold due to death threats toward those who owned the shops who tried to sell them. The Armatix IP-1 is not the only "smart gun" technology invented. The Identilock system was created by Omer Kiyani who had been shot accidently as a teenager. He set out to create a system to block the trigger that can only be removed by placing your finger over the finger ID pad (similar to the iPhone 5 home button system). While all this may seem like a good idea, there are many against the sale of smart guns. New Jersey, the first to institute this concept states that once one is sold, within three years of that one, only smart guns will be allowed to be purchased, sold, and manufactured. This restriction has many firearms enthusiasts outraged, to the point of actual death threats towards that gun salesmen who tried to sell these guns. Personally, I find the death threats to be far too extreme, even though I am a huge firearms enthusiast. I do not believe these guns should be forced on people if they do not want to buy it, especially with the high price tag of $2,000 plus whatever the watch costs, but only time will tell what is in store for the gun industry.

The Identilock mechanism.

Mexico Should Be Very "Fast and Furious" with the American Government

According to BBC News, there was a Mexican arrested after the death of a U.S. agent in 2010, linked to the "Fast and Furious Scandal." What is the "Fast and Furious Scandal" might you ask? The scandal was an attempt to obtain high risk cartel members in Mexico. The American government had given the cartel members weapons, but had lost track of around 1,700 firearms. Among these weapons were grenades, fully automatic firearms, and anti-material rifles (some of the largest caliber firearms that can be used by a single person). The worst part, in my opinion, is that a border patrol agent named Brian Terry was murdered with one of these weapons by a Mexican cartel member. The weapons given to the Mexican cartel members were also used in a hired gun attack on two groups of high school and college students, leading to the death of fourteen young men and women and the injury of twelve more before leaving the site. This method of selling illegal firearms to track wanted men, called "gunwalking," is just as illegal as the guns themselves, but the ATF made use of it anyway during the end of Bush's presidency and the beginning of Obama's presidency. The "Fast and Furious" scandal did much more harm than good and led to the deaths of many people. Most of the weapons given to the Mexicans are either illegal in the USA or very difficult to get without a large amount of struggle anyway. The whole idea was just ridiculous from the start.

A small amount of the weapons given to the Mexican cartels.
A large-bore, anti-material rifle can be seen in the middle.

California, the Anti-Gun Capital of the World, Bans Lead Ammo

Remington Lead Free Ammo

In this article, California states that it will ban lead ammunition for hunting purposes by July, 2019. This law was signed by Governor Jerry Brown, in an attempt to "continue the conservation heritage of California." The Californian government believes that by banning lead ammunition, thousands of animals will be saved from the harmful effects of lead and that hunters and their families will no longer be affected by the lead as well. However, I personally have eaten many animals taken with lead ammunition, as both my father and I hunt, and I have never experienced any form of lead poisoning or harmful effects from the lead itself. While lead can be dangerous when digested, that is usually when lead is digested directly. Lead's most dangerous form is when it is in a vapor form and inhaled. That is why indoor ranges are very particular about their ventilation. One common complaint among Californians is that .22 caliber rifles and handguns were only made in lead, but because of this new ridiculous law, Hornady, Federal/CCI, and Winchester have stepped up to the plate and created new lead-free ammunition for .22 rimfire firearms. The major concern with these new bullets is price. Anytime a major change is made to production, a price change is also made, usually bringing the price up. Also, conservationists are calling for the ban due to a decline of rare condor bird in the Grand Canyon area, that they blame lead ammunition for. Also, these conservationists are claiming that the condors need chelation treatment to remove the lead from their blood. The thing is, some lead bird shot from a shot gun or a lead bullet from a rifle would not cause that much lead poisoning, so something else is causing lead to fill the condors' blood stream, but that is just my two cents. Even the military has jumped on this "environmental" bullet bandwagon. By switching out to what they call "green" ammo, they plan to change the 7.62x51mm or .308 caliber bullet used in most long range precision rifles and the 5.56x45mm or .223 caliber bullet used in most infantry firearms of the modern battlefield by 2018. One man, named Jim Yardley, who was a financial controller, figured out that it would cost around $18,431,000 to replace the lead ammunition with copper. Almost $20 million to "save the environment." I personally find all of the "environmentalist nonsense" to be just a massive excuse to make it harder on people who just want to enjoy the sport of hunting, but that's just my opinion.

ISIS, the New Leader in Terrorism, Faces the Old Leaders of Defeating Terrorists



ISIS fighters carrying a belt-fed PKM machine gun
and an AK-47 patterned rifle.

According to Yahoo! News, the White House has made statements, saying that the United States of America is now at war with ISIS. White House spokesman, Josh Earnest, says, "The United States is at war with ISIL in the same way that we are at war with Al-Qaeda and its Al-Qaeda affiliates around the globe," ISIS is a terrorist group that has plagued the land of Iraq. They spread out of Al-Qaeda in April, 2013. Led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ISIS claims to have fighters from the Middle East, Europe, and the U.S. ISIS has become known for their beheadings of reporters in Iraq and Syria. This has led some 47 percent of Americans to feel less safe than they did after 9/11. When ISIS went into Iraq, most of the Iraqi soldiers threw down their weapons and took off their uniforms so that ISIS would not shoot at them. The Kurdish forces found these old uniforms and weapons and decided to use them to their advantage. They reclaimed territory that had long been disputed over and readied themselves if ISIS ever attacked them. The Kurdish soldiers had collected everything from Russian, Chinese, and Iraqi AKs to belt-fed machine guns to grenade launchers that they can now use to defend themselves with in case of an ISIS attack. ISIS has so far left the Kurds alone that I know of because they do not want to get involved with both the Iraqis and the Kurdish forces, who are known for their bravery and ferocity in combat. No matter what, ISIS must be stopped, even if it means the use of force by U.S. forces or even the use of private military contractors.  One way or another, ISIS cannot be left to kill innocent people.

Kurdish forces in Iraq