Hey, Everyone, Good Morning. 

I found this write in my blog files. From Business Insider:

12 rare animals that are teetering on the brink of extinction

Every day, species around the planet are going extinct. And for each species that goes extinct, many more become and remain endangered due to habitat loss, poaching, human activities, and climate change. Some are so critical that they are teetering on the brink of extinction.

All these threatened animals are included on the International Union for Conservation (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, a non-prescriptive list that is the world’s most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of species.

“The IUCN red list tells us how close to extinction species are,” Craig Hilton Taylor, head Red List Unit of the Global Species Programme at the IUCN, told Business Insider. “It is a fairly coarse measure [but] we have a set of quantitative criteria that we try to rank species under, and if a species moves into one of the threatened categories — vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered — then we know that a species either has a high, very high, or an extremely high risk of going extinct in the wild unless we do something about it.”

For example, he said, polar bears are considered vulnerable to extinction, while tigers are endangered (a more critical category), and just this July, the IUCN declared that the Bornean orangutan critically endangered.

Here are 12 species at risk of extinction, including some that you probably didn’t even know existed.

The Bornean orangutan

A two-year-old Bornean orangutan.REUTERS/Tim Chong

Found only on the island of Borneo, Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) have a broader face and shorter beard than their cousins, Sumatran orangutans. This July, the IUCN changed their status to critically endangered because their population has declined by 60% since 1950, and, according to Scientific American, new projections estimate that their numbers will fall by another 22% by the year 2025.

The main threats for these animals are habitat loss (forests are turned into rubber, oil palm or paper plantations) and illegal hunting. Aggravating the problem, females only reproduce every six to eight years — the longest birth interval of any land mammal — which makes conservation efforts slow.

Pika

The ili pika was photographed for the first time in more than 20 years on July 9, 2014 by Weidong Li, the conservationist who first discovered the species.

Ili pika (Ochontana iliensis) is a small mammal (only 7-8 inches long) that’s native to the Tianshan mountain range of the remote Xinjiang region of China. Living on sloping bare rock faces and feeding on grasses at high elevations, this little creature is very rare — there are less than 1,000 left.

The species was only discovered in 1983, but its numbers have declined by almost 70% since then, reports CNN. This is because its habitat is being drastically affected by climate change. Rising temperatures have forced the pikas to retreat up into the mountain tops. In addition, grazing pressure from livestock and air pollution have likely contributed to their decline.

Giant Otter

A giant otter with a Sailfin Catfish in the Cuiabá River of Brazil.Bernard DUPONT/Flickr

Found only in South America, Giant otters, or Pteronura brasiliensis, are the largest otters in the world, with some as long as 6 feet. They are also the rarest otters in the world, with only a few thousand believed to be surviving in the wild. Sometimes known as the “river wolf,” their fur is chocolatey brown and extremely soft. They also have a creamy white patch on their throat that is unique to each otter, Meg Symington, managing director of the Amazon for WWF, told Business Insider.

“They are extremely smart animals, and sort of like wolves or lions, they can be cooperative hunters. They live in groups and they hunt fish together as a group, herding the fish,” she said. “They’re active during the day, so they’re actually a large mammal that you can see easily in the Amazon, which is unusual since a lot of large animals are hard to see in the jungle.”

Historically, giant otters were hunted for their pelts, causing a huge decline in their numbers. While they are no longer hunted today, they remain endangered because many of their aquatic habitats (rivers and lakes) have been degraded and destroyed, causing the fish populations they rely on for food to dwindle. They are many times viewed as nuisances by humans, especially by fishermen. They are also threatened by gold-mining in the region, which leads to mercury poisoning. “Because they are an apex predator, they accumulate mercury because they eat so much fish,” Symington explained.

Amur Leopard

Amur leopards are critically endangered with maybe 60 living in the wild and around 200 in zoos around the world.

The solitary and nocturnal Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) is one of the world’s most endangered wild cats. It has a thick yellow or rusty orange coat with long dense hair, and can weigh up to 120 pounds. It can leap more than 19 feet, and it can run at speeds up to 37 miles per hour.

Today, it is found only in the Amur River basin of eastern Russia, having already gone extinct from China and the Korean Peninsula. According to WWF, there are around 60 amur leopards left in the wild. The wild cat faces numerous threats to its survival, including encroaching human populations, poaching, and climate change.

Black-footed ferret

A black-footed ferret crawls out of its burrow in the Aubrey Valley near Seligman, Arizona.AP Photo/Arizona Game and Fish Department, George Anderson

As a member of the weasel family, the black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) is the only ferret native to North America. They have tan bodies, black legs and feet, a black tip on their tail and a black mask. They are highly specialized carnivores, with prairie dogs making up more than 90% of their diet. “Black-footed ferrets evolved with prairie dogs, so they are long and tubular,” Kristy Bly, senior wildlife conservation biologist for WWF’s Northern Great Plains Program, told Business Insider. “They evolved to be these ferocious little predators and they’re designed to navigate tunnels and boroughs.”

The main threats endangering these little carnivores are disease (notably the plague) and lack of habitat, brought on largely because prairie dogs were poisoned for a large number of years, eliminating their food source in many of their habitats.

“It’s kind of a miracle that ferrets are still with us,” said Bly. The black-footed ferret was twice thought to be extinct, but recovery efforts — notably captive breeding and reintroduction to the wild — have helped bring the animals back from the brink of extinction. Today, there are about 300-400 black-footed ferrets in the wild, all of whom are descendants of the 18 ferrets that were part of captive-breeding efforts in the late 1980s. Conservation efforts have also included vaccines against the plague.

Darwin’s Fox

Darwin’s fox is an endemic species to Chile.Fernando Bórquez Bórquez/Flickr

Named after the famous scientist Charles Darwin, who discovered the species in 1834, Darwin’s fox (Lycalopex fulvipes) is found only in Chile in two places: the Nahuelbuta National Park and the island of Chiloè. Dark in color with short legs, this carnivorous creature is active mostly at twilight and dawn.

These carnivores creatures are considered an “umbrella species,” which means that protecting them and their temperate forest homes helps preserve the entire ecosystem. According to the IUCN, they are threatened by habitat loss, hunting, and non-native species, particularly domestic dogs.

Sumatran Rhinoceros

Ratu, a 8 year-old female Sumatran Rhinoceros, at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in the Way Kambas National Park, Indonesia.

As the only Asian rhino with two horns, the Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) is the smallest of the rhino family, living in isolated pockets of dense mountain forests in Malaysia, Indonesia and possibly Myanmar (Burma). They are recognizable because they are covered in long hair, which helps keep mud caked to their body to cool them and protect them from insects.

They are one of the most endangered rhinos in the world, along with the Javan rhino, with maybe only 220-275 Sumatran rhinos left in the world, according to WWF. Greatly threatened by poaching, they are, like other rhinos, hunted for their horns. There is no indication that the population is stable and only two captive females have reproduced in the last 15 years.

White-rumped vulture

A white-rumped vulture flying near water.Deepak sankat/Wikimedia Commons

One of three critically endangered species of vulture, the white-rumped vulture (Gyps bengalensis) has suffered what the IUCN classifies as a “catastrophic decline” across the Indian subcontinent, to the point that it is highly threatened with extinction. Over 99% of its population has been wiped out since the 1980s, making it the fastest decline of any bird species in recorded history, according to Mother Nature Network.

“Vultures are in a really, really bad way,” said Taylor from the IUCN. “But they play such an important role in the ecosystem.” In India, the vultures played a key role in cleaning up the remains of fallen cows and in doing so, Taylor explained, they were poisoned because they ingested the livestock drug diclofenac from the animal carcasses. The loss of vultures as a result of this drug has had a cascading effect, Scientific American reports, increasing the number of feral dogs, as well as spreading disease to humans.

Pangolin

A pangolin is released into the wild by Natural Resources Conservation Agency officials at a conservation forest in Sibolangit, Indonesia on March 1, 2013.AP Photo/Jefri Tarigan

Found in forests and grasslands, pangolins are solitary, nocturnal creatures with scales covering their bodies and long sticky tongues to slurp up ants and termites. They are about the size of a house cat, and look a little bit like artichokes on legs. When frightened, they defend themselves by rolling up into a ball.

These critters, found in Asia and Africa, are endangered because they are increasingly the victims of wildlife crime for their meat and scales. In fact, according to CNN, they are believed to be the most trafficked mammal in the world. It is estimated that 100,000 are captured every year.

Saola

A 4-5 month-old female Saola at the Forest Inventory & Planning Institute botanical garden in Hanoi, VietnamDavid Hulse / WWF

First discovered in May 1992, the saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis) is often called the “Asian unicorn.” It is a rarely-seen, critically endangered mammal. In fact, it is so rare (and so elusive) that scientists have only seen it in the wild four times, according to WWF, causing us to know very little about the creature.

Both male and female saolas have two parallel horns on their heads, they have white markings on their face, and they sort of look like antelopes (though they are actually cousins of cattle). They live only in the the forests of Annamite mountains in Vietnam and Laos. According to the IUCN, saolas are threatened by hunting and the continued fragmentation of their habitat as a result of human activities, such as the building of roads.

Vaquita

A vaquita in the Gulf of California.Paula Olson, NOAA/Wikimedia Commons

First discovered in 1958, the vaquita (Phocoena sinus), also known as the Gulf of California harbor porpoise, is the smallest cetacean — an order of animals that include whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Only about five feet long, this porpoise has a gray body, a pale gray or white belly, a dark patch around its eyes, and dark patches forming a line from its mouth to its pectoral fins.

As the world’s rarest marine mammal, the vaquita is on the edge of extinction: According to the International Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita, only about 60 of these animals remain. This marks a 40% decrease in their population since 2014. These little porpoises are often caught and drowned in gill-nets used by illegal fishing operations within Mexico’s Gulf of California, according to WWF. Because there are so few left and they are confined to such a small region, they may also be vulnerable to climate change, as warming temperatures could affect their food availability and habitat conditions.

Peruvian Black Spider Monkey

Black spider monkeys feeding on moldering wood out of a hole in a dead tree in Manu National Park, Peru. 

Found in eastern South America north of the Amazon River, the Peruvian Black Spider Monkey (Ateles chamek) spends much of its time in the canopy of the rainforest. Eating mainly fruit, these monkeys are an essential part of the tropical rainforest ecosystem, playing a role in seed dispersal.

Also known as red-faced or Guiana spider monkeys, their population is believed to have declined by at least 50% over the past 45 years, according to the IUCN. They are threatened by hunting, fragmentation, and the destruction of their tropical rainforest homes.

🌾🐒🌾

Readers: These endangered creatures are beautiful, cute, majestic, fascinating…you name it. Even though I’m not familiar with many, I hate the thought of any of them going extinct.

Every one of these creatures are here on Earth for a reason. The existence of the animals/mammals are collectively finely tuned for their sustenance and the sustenance of our environment. Breaks in that ecosystem creates ripple effects that we may not even be aware of until it is too late.

#ProtectTheAnimals

Thoughts? Blog me.

/SB: The key point, as you stated in your comment: “…men, of all cultures, are still trying to control women.” Unfortunately for our ME sisters, it is so much worse than one can imagine. The men aren’t trying, they are controlling their women (I know you know this – I just wanted to stress the truth for ME women) down to degrees we western women thankfully don’t have to live with daily or at all. Our life is not on the line, though daily we do need to fight to keep from being controlled. I have no doubt that if western men had their way we would be under their thumbs in the same disgusting degree. I HOPE all is good with you. 

Peace & Love. Happy Saturday!

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

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All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2016

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

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Good Morning!

Baheejah, Vida, Fatima, et al: It has been some time since the subject of Islam has been broached on my blog. I look forward to the day when western men will refuse to do business with a country whose men follow not a religion, but a cult that terrorizes, rapes, tortures, and murders their women. Considering how long it took us to elect a female president, I’m not counting on that happening any time soon. But hey, who knows what a female president can do. We haven’t had one yet so I’m not putting any limits on her.

Fatima: I am not sure if this is you (I’m assuming it is), who posted this comment back in 2011. Whether this is you or not, I decided to repost it again because it is an excellent, well articulated write that deserves another round of blog time.

Islam is accepted in the modern world all over the planet because those men who practice it have OIL. That is how allah is truly spelt by westerners. This talk of respecting a “religion” they know is an evil cult designed to keep women as sexual slaves is just a western man’s way of looking the other way at this evil while he does business with the enslavers for their OIL.

This article Michelle as (sic) boldly presented, clearly shows that islam is a cult designed to control females with terror in the name of a religion. For if their god allah says it is alright to beat us, then who has the right to question their god, allah, that is the claim these evil men are making and daring the rest of the world to object to under penalty of a fatwā of violence issued against them.

Of course islamic men will fight and die to keep the right to own women, just as America’s confederate fought and died to keep the right to own slaves. That does not mean it is a religion, just as it does not make any claim America’s southerns make that it was about “independence and self determination” true. Neither does the fact that over a billion people “worship” islam. At least half of those do it without their consent because they are captives of that cult. The other half are the captors.

Of course your pope would accept this abomination as a legitimate religion. It has only been a short time since catholicism has been forced to withdraw their doctrine which allowed their male worshipers to own their women. That doctrine still lingers as men under the pretext of being “devout” continue to attempt to use their “scripture’s” proclamations to control the bodies of western women.

So what does it boil down to? Alycedale, and you Michelle speak the truth when you say “men.” All over the world men use religion to force women into situations they could not do with logic.

So, yes, Zen Lill#7, marriage is but the telling to other men. “I have branded this cattle and it is mine.” If you trespass I have a legal means of suing you. We as females are but cattle to muslim men to be herded on their ranch called “family.” until we are selected out to be sold as sexual pleasures to the buyer.

The rest of the world accepts these “marriages” as binding legal contracts giving the owners the right to do as they see fit with that cattle. American white men are all too familiar with this type of ownership of human beings. They enjoyed the same recognition of the right to own another human being for centuries and continued it after the “emancipation” of those human being for another 2 and a half centuries. Your very election today is mostly the white males in your country refusing to give up their privileged status obtained from their illegal slavery of OTWs, and the use of “religion” to regulate the actions and control the bodies of their females.

We study and learn about the dangers of accepting your SCOTUS as a body independent of cultural and economic influence when it rules. Your 7-2, Dred Scott decision in 1857 which held that a slave did not become free when taken into a free state is not unlike saying a woman does not become free of the slavery of islam when she is taken into America.

Both decisions rest on the incredibly disgusting position that slavery of another human being is not the issue. The only issue was then and is now is whether that enslaved human being could assert his/her freedom in a state/country that did not accept the disgusting position.

So the western world does not consider the incredibly disgusting position that slavery of females is up for discussion by this “religion,” only whether that slave should be beaten when a mufti asserts under islamic law that she can. Incredibly disgusting!

Thank you Michelle for exposing this cult for what it is. Islamic men will declare that you are blaspheming a “religion” of a billion people. Please do not waver. Enslavers declaring a right because they have forced at least half of their constituency to be a part of it under penalty of death if they leave it or speak negatively of it, is without merit.

For certain if the penalty of death was lifted islam would be a cult of only men. It would go the way of your catholicism. Something else would be formed. Today women would be free to accept islam without the constrictions for females. Many of your offshoots of catholicism practice christianity that does not make a female the sexual slave of men.

There is NO redeeming value of islam as long as it is used to be vehicle for the enslavement and control of females under the pretext allah said so. No God would enslave half its people under the other half. That is just BS which benefits the lust of men.

*****

My love to you and all my sisters. May you all be safe. ❤️

While we’re on the subject of Islam, I found this write from Daily Kos:

I should have a right to choose…what I wear.

I have been following the French #burkiniban news on twitter and other stories about women being kicked off of airplanes and it gets more and more alarming for me personally — I often wear a headwrap – and now feel that I am pressured to not wear one when traveling.

France’s burkini ban is a dangerous move for feminism

A full-body wetsuit garment for Muslim women is at the centre of a controversy in France, and the debate is raising difficult questions about feminism, Islamophobia and the country’s values.  At least six towns on the Mediterranean coast have banned the burkini — a swimsuit that covers the torso, limbs and head — and three more are threatening to do the same. The mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, who was the first to forbid the beachwear on the basis that it disrespected “good morals and secularism” and posed a threat to public order, called the burkini “the uniform of extremist Islamism.” 

Women who break the law face a fine of €38 (£33; $42) and several Muslim women have already been penalised. France’s secular political establishment was united in backing the measure, but failed short of bringing it to a national level. Prime Minister Manuel Valls said in an interview published Wednesday in the La Provence newspaper the burkini reflects a worldview based on “the enslavement of women … That is not compatible with the values of France.” Many Muslim women regard the ban as sexist, Islamophobic and — most of all — counterproductive for the purpose of assimilating Muslims in the country. 

“It’s a blatant violation of women’s rights — the right for women to decide what to wear and their freedom of movement,” Rim-Sarah Alouane, a religious freedom expert at the University of Toulouse and a Muslim raised in France, told Mashable. “Women are not even asked for their opinion: They’re dictated to by male officials what they can wear on the beach.”

On Al Jazeera’s “Inside Story – French ‘burkini’ ban: secularism or security?” host Folly Bah Thibault discusses the issue with her guests — Jacques Myard – French Member of Parliament and member of the opposition Republicans party, Yasser Louati – Human Rights and Civil Liberties Activist and former head of International Relations for the Collective Against Islamophobia in France, and Anne Giudicelli – Security Analyst, and founder of the security risk consultancy firm, Terrorisc.

I agree with this French feminist – women are damned for what we wear – whether bare or not bare.

The hypocrisy about French secularism is patently obvious. Catholic religious garb is not banned.

Nor are wet-suits:

Air travel for women who are wearing a head scarves becomes more problematic, as self-styled vigilantes “report” on them for suspicious activity.

Three British Muslim siblings were left traumatised after being escorted off a plane in London and interrogated on the tarmac as armed police kept watch, after fellow passengers accused them of being members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.

Sakina Dharas, 24, her sister Maryam, 19, and their brother Ali, 21, were on board EasyJet flight EZY3249 from London’s Stansted Airport to the Italian city of Naples on August 17.

Sakina told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that as the plane was about to take off, a crew member ordered the siblings off the aircraft and escorted them down the staircase to the tarmac, where they were met by armed police and an MI5 agent who questioned them for one hour.

Earlier, two passengers – also travelling to Naples – had told authorities that the siblings had been looking at a mobile phone screen that showed either Arabic text or the words “praise be to Allah”, Sakina said.

“A passenger on your flight has claimed that you three are members of ISIS,” the MI5 agent said to the siblings, according to Sakina, a clinical pharmacist.

This story in the Guardian about the woman on the beach being forced to take off some of her clothing, by police is distressing.

Photographs have emerged of armed French police confronting a woman on a beach and making her remove some of her clothing as part of a controversial ban on the burkini. Authorities in several French towns have implemented bans on the burkini, which covers the body and head, citing concerns about religious clothing in the wake of recent terrorist killings in the country. The images of police confronting the woman in Nice on Tuesday show at least four police officers standing over a woman who was resting on the shore at the town’s Promenade des Anglais, the scene of last month’s Bastille Day lorry attack.

After they arrive, she appears to remove a blue long-sleeved tunic, although one of the officers appears to take notes or issue an on-the-spot fine.The photographs emerged as a mother of two also told on Tuesday how she had been fined on the beach in nearby Cannes wearing leggings, a tunic and a headscarf.Her ticket, seen by French news agency AFP, read that she was not wearing “an outfit respecting good morals and secularism”.

Meanwhile, here in the U.S., I’m looking forward to the Headwrap Expo, which is going to be taking place in September in Dearborn, Michigan, which will include interfaith panel discussions between Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Rastafarians, and other spiritual communities who incorporate some type of covering.

There is an interesting side-note to this issue — as a result of the controversy, global Burkini sales are up. The designer of the burkini says that 40% of her sales go to non-Muslim women.

I believe women should have a right to choose. They should not be forced to wear hijab in certain countries, nor should they be forced to wear bikinis, or other Euro-style swim-wear or street dress in others.

*****

Readers: I know you have something to say here. Flap your lips…It’s Friday.

Blog me. 

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

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Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2016

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

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 Good morning!

From our local SF Chron:

SF’s landmark tower for rich and famous is sinking and tilting

Photo: Michael Noble Jr., The Chronicle

The Millennium Tower, a leading symbol of San Francisco’s new high-rise and high-end living, is sinking — setting the stage for what could be one of the most contentious and costly real estate legal battles the city has ever seen.

Rated by Worth magazine as one of the top 10 residential buildings in the world, the Millennium at 301 Mission St. is home to such A-listers as Joe Montana and Hunter Pence. Until his recent death, it’s where venture capitalist Tom Perkins owned a penthouse. Condos sell for anywhere from $1.6 million to north of $10 million.

However, since its completion in 2008, the 58-story building has sunk 16 inches, according to an independent consultant hired to monitor the problem. It has also tilted 2 inches to the northwest.

“That’s significant … and of concern,” said Professor Greg Deierlein, director of the John A. Blume Earthquake Engineering Center at Stanford University, who has been called in to evaluate the designs of a couple of San Francisco’s newer downtown high-rises.

Deierlein noted that the 88-story Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia — which were the world’s tallest buildings when they opened in 1998 — have sunk less than 3 inches. Their tilt, or “differential settlement,” is less than half an inch.

This isn’t just an issue for the Millennium’s owners and wealthy inhabitants: It could be a headache for taxpayers as well. There are potentially big public dollars at stake, with the owners alleging that the massive hole dug next door for the new Transbay Transit Center is to blame for the building’s issues.

The problem first came to light in 2010 when the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, the public agency constructing the transit center, hired the consulting firm Arup to gauge how the excavation could affect the tower.

According to the consultant’s initial report, by the time excavation began — two years after the $350 million Millennium was completed — the tower had already settled 10 inches. That was 4 inches more than its builders had predicted for the life of the high-rise.

Since then, “the building has continued to settle vertically, now 16 inches,” representatives of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority said in a statement in response to questions from The Chronicle.

At the same time, geotechnical reports show that since 2009, the settling has been uneven — resulting in the 2-inch tilt.

And while Stanford’s Deierlein doesn’t consider the sink or tilt a safety issue, he did say, “I would be concerned for my investment.” That’s because a shifting building can cause walls to crack, elevators to malfunction and all manner of other annoyances.

P.J. Johnston, spokesman for tower builder Millennium Partners and its principal owner, Sean Jeffries, said a nine-month, independent structural safety review in 2014 “determined the settlement has not significantly affected the seismic performance of the building, and does not represent a safety risk.”

An attorney for the Millennium homeowners association’s board, John Gill, recently sent a confidential letter to some of the more than 400 residents saying the board was “actively engaged in negotiations with Millennium Partners to resolve building settlement issues.” The letter also said the association was “sensitive to the concerns of everyone about any issue which could impact the value of their units.”

In a statement Friday, homeowner representatives said they had “retained a number of engineering consultants to investigate the causes and long-term impact of these settlement conditions” and were evaluating their legal options. They cited any number of parties that could be held “legally accountable” — including the developer, the high-rise’s designers, the contractors and the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, which is run by San Francisco, AC Transit, Caltrans and the agency that operates Caltrain.

For his part, Millennium spokesman Johnston wasted no time blaming the transit center authority. He insisted that the tower’s settling had been within normal range until excavation began on the bus and rail center next door.

“They built a half-mile tunnel 60 feet underground and next to our building, and they were supposed to (protect the Millennium) — and they didn’t,” Johnston said.

The authority also signed an agreement with the Millennium developer in 2008 “to repair, at its own cost and expense … any damage to the development substantially caused by TJPA’s construction activities,” according a copy of the agreement on file at San Francisco City Hall.

Records show the Transbay Joint Powers Authority pumped more than $58 million into an underground buttressing system to shore up the Millennium before beginning excavation in 2010. That’s one of the many reasons for the new transit center’s spiraling costs, which are now at $2.4 billion and counting.

In its statement, the transit center authority said it “bears no responsibility for the tilt and excessive settlement.”

Unlike some downtown high-rises, the Millennium isn’t steel-framed. Instead, the developer chose a concrete design more common to residential buildings. It relies on huge columns, shear walls and beams, and it’s much heavier than steel. What’s more, the building is located on unstable mud-fill, just off the bay’s original shoreline.

The Millennium’s engineers anchored the building over a thick concrete slab with piles driven roughly 80 feet into dense sand. “To cut costs, Millennium did not drill piles to bedrock,” or 200 feet down, the transit center authority said in its statement. Had it done so, the agency said, “the tower would not be tilting today.”

Johnston countered that “virtually all other buildings in that part of the city have their foundations at the same subterranean level,” citing skyscrapers that include the St. Regis and Intercontinental hotels.

He added that the Millennium’s design was state of the art for residential buildings and that concrete can be preferable to steel for several reasons, including sound insulation.

“In any case, this was not a cost-saving decision, but the preferred design,” Johnston said.

While there have been reports of cracks appearing in the Millennium’s underground garage, there’s no word of residents complaining about damage to their condos. Instead, the shifting and sinking of the concrete platform beneath the building has necessitated what Johnston called “minor repairs to sidewalks and connections at the ground level.”

Experts tell us it’s uncertain exactly what, if anything, can be done to fix the problem or straighten the tower. There has been talk of pumping cement underneath the base and drilling new piles — complicated and expensive undertakings.

An assessment, no doubt, that offers little comfort to those living in the building.

🌇

Readers: Don’t you love how the Millennium spokesman Johnston is blaming the excavation of a tunnel as being the reason the tower is settling? I’m not an architect or a builder but it seems pretty clear to me that if you needed thick concrete slabs driven down 200 feet into bedrock, and you only went down 80 feet into dense sand (Hello!) to save costs, it really doesn’t matter if a tunnel was excavated next to the building, because it seems pretty obvious it’s probably gonna sink sooner than later.

The bottom line is, what was required wasn’t done. Whether it was out of a cost-saving decision (aka: greed) or preferred design (I hope the “beauty” was worth it!), someone is going to pay for the stupid mistake.

It didn’t take long. About 10 days after this write was written, another article was written about the law suit filed:

And they’re seeking a big pile of cash: $500 million at least, if a judge grants the lawsuit class- action status on behalf of the building’s 400-plus residents.

What’s your opinion?

Blog me.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

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Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2016

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

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Good morning.

Many of you know the strong affinity I have for all animals. I speak about my beloved Lucy every now and then. With so much going on in the world with humans hurting and killing humans, I have neglected to post about my furry and feathered friends for quite some time.

Perusing Facebook, I run across so many cute videos of animals, especially our domestic pals. Last week, I came across a horrific video depicting the cruel and inhumane treatment of chickens – chickens raised and packaged by Foster Farms. I don’t buy Foster Farms chickens but I know they are widely sold throughout California and beyond.

I am going through a challenging time in my family concerning a beloved animal so I am extra sensitive over the fact that animals cannot speak for themselves and need advocates to fight for them. I’ve always been an animal activist and I will always be one.

In 2008 I was very verbal about getting Prop 2 passed which required, amongst other things, that by January 1, 2015, egg-laying hens raised in California be able to stand up, lie down, turn around, and fully extend their wings.  It was a huge step in favor of the hens.

Unfortunately “cage free” doesn’t always mean that the animals will have a good life. And the label “Humanly Raised” isn’t always the truth.

From the LA Times:

Foster Farms suspends 5 workers after chicken slaughter video released

Foster Farms’ “Simply Raised” chicken bears the American Humane Assn. certification. An animal rights group, Mercy for Animals, released a video Wednesday that it says shows cruel practices at Foster Farms plants in California. (Foster Farms)

A video purporting to show inhumane slaughter practices at a Foster Farms chicken plant in Fresno County has led to the suspension of five workers and a criminal investigation by the sheriff’s office.

Mercy for Animals released graphic video footage showing chickens that appeared to have bypassed the slaughter knife and wound up being scalded to death in a plucking tank. Workers also can be seen throwing and shoving birds, while other footage showed what appeared to be overcrowding of live birds.

Foster Farms said it has suspended five employees and is cooperating with a Fresno County Sheriff’s Office investigation.

“It is Foster Farms’ policy to take disciplinary action against animal welfare violations up to and including termination of employees,” Foster Farms said in a written statement. “Foster Farms is reinforcing animal welfare training companywide and in its plants.”

The advocacy group, based in West Hollywood, sent two investigators to work at the plants, and they gathered hours of footage in March and April at a facility where chicks are raised for slaughter, and another where adult chickens are killed and prepared for market.

Watch: 

“The cruelty that we documented at Foster Farms was ongoing. It was widespread and it was rampant,” said Vandhana Bala, general counsel for the group. The three-minute video, she said, was just “a representative sample” of the behavior recorded at the facilities.

One of the group’s investigators reported the situation to his supervisor and to a company hot line but saw no remedial action, Bala said.

In its complaint, the organization cited “an ongoing pattern of criminal animal cruelty that was permitted to go unchecked and uncorrected by Foster Farms management.”

A spokesman for the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office said the case has been referred to the agency’s agricultural crimes task force.

The revelations come amid a campaign by the group, alleging that the poultry company’s certification by the American Humane Assn. masks poor animal welfare practices.

Mark Stubis, a spokesman for the American Humane Assn., said organization officials met Wednesday with Foster Farms regarding the content of the video, which he called “surprising.”

“Foster Farms has worked very hard to create a culture of humane treatment,” Stubis said. “In the three years that we’ve been working with them, they have never failed an audit. This is an extremely rare situation for us.”

Those audits are conducted by independent auditors that check about 200 standards established by the association, he said.

“The certification program can’t stop one or two employees who break those rules,” Stubis said. “We certainly expect any certified farm to take immediate corrective action against anyone who abuses animals.”

Bala said the organization may take other legal action against the company and the association regarding the certification logo displayed on chicken meat.

“It’s a betrayal of both the animals and the consumers who are purchasing these products based on the existence of that certified humane logo,” Bala said.

🐥❤️🐥

Readers: As you can see, sociopaths live on the farm too. They start off torturing and killing innocent helpless animals and if they have the chance they move onto humans.

It’s challenging when we see videos of people who are perfectly OK with injecting humans with something hurtful – it has been done before – If people are accepting of that evil why would anyone be concerned about a few (10′s of thousands!) chickens being slaughtered by a knife and scalded while still alive till death?

But I can’t help it. My heart cries for them as it does for humans. I know that we are not able to take action on everything but if this pulls at your heart like it does mine I HOPE it inspires you to check it out and do something. Here’s two ways to get involved: Mercy for Animals.  Sign the petition at Change.org. Thank you.

Thoughts? Blog me.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2016

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

From the Daily Kos. It’s not only amazing, it is shocking, sickening…you name it. It’s nazism in the works…and if the “plans” in the video were true, they would be building the ovens as I write this blog. Just noticing.

Donald Trump supporters watching outrageous fake Trump campaign ads is amazing

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog has been running a “Triumph Summer Election Special 2016” on Hulu. It’s kind of amazing. One of the bits Triumph and crew did was bring in a group of Trump supporters, ostensibly to be a “focus group” for a new set of campaign advertisements that Donald Trump wanted to roll out. However, the advertisements are outrageous—even for Donald Trump (maybe?).

The first advertisement takes on the issue of transgender people and bathrooms. A voice actor doing a pretty good Trump impression can be heard over the commercial. The turn in this first ad is the proposal to put guns in every women’s bathroom.

The second ad takes on the “women’s issue” for Trump. It starts with a voice over by Trump:

I’m a big fan of women and they’re big fans of me. Some want to vote for Crooked Hillary just because she’s a woman … but it (sic) she?

From there it goes into a series of conspiratorial questions wondering aloud whether Barack Obama is actually a woman and Hillary Clinton is actually a man. It’s kind of extraordinary. At every point, they show the people being “focused grouped” try to bend their minds to the concepts being put forth in these “advertisements.”

The advertisements from there continue forward:

• One about building an “invisible electric fence” while we wait for the famous wall to be built.
• Locking Mexican people in porta pottys and then trucking them over the border to Mexico.
• Locking illegal domestic servants in fake homes, transporting them back into Mexico and then selling them the house they were locked in, for pesos.
• Creating casino/abortion zones in the United States—you have to see it to believe it.

It is very funny and it is very dark as the Trump supporters work their minds into a lather trying to make sense of these crazy Trump ideas, and go along with them.

Watch it: 

👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼

Readers: In my opinion, it would be funny if it wasn’t true. But these are real people contemplating these ideas and instead of thinking, “This man is crazy – there is no way I’m going to go along with his ideas and vote for him as president” – They’re either ignorant and stupid, which many are…they’re thinking what Trump is saying because they’re racist, which many are….they’re playing a “Paul Ryan” and voting for him anyway, in spite of his ridiculous and sickening plans, for “party” loyalty…or all of the above.

These kinds of pin-brained people make decisions with no real thought about the ramifications they will have on our country. And it goes without saying the affect it would have on OTWS.  Yet, they’ll be the first ones later on to bitch about everything that’s going on, and how much suffering they’re going through (who cares about the OTWS!) because the Donald fucked things up so bad.

Well, if you’re not going to stick up for your neighbor and instead stick them with solvents, don’t go complaining when someone wants to do something horrific to you, (Disgusting beyond the pale. ) and others follow along. Because it just might happen.

You’ve got to believe that if someone had the power to open up the ovens, they would.  What these whites don’t realize is that they could and would be next. If you’re half white or even a quarter white you’re going to the ovens next. If you’re fat or sick,  you’re butt would be going too. Germany did it back then; don’t think it wouldn’t be the same now. )

Thoughts? What are you Just noticing? Blog me. 

Ruth, AF: So happy to hear you are doing well. How’s Harris? Lex? I don’t know when I’ll be able to visit. Hopefully soon. I will let you know. I’m excited to see the girls…excited to see all of you, especially before they run off with all those boys. :) Love you.

Happy Sunday, Everyone.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2016

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"