Fish for Friday

Edited by Morris Dean

[Anonymous selections from recent correspondence]

A very few years ago most poacher patrols spent more time in villages educating locals about the importance of preserving wildlife to attract tourists, than they did in the bush actually hunting poachers. The poachers they did have to track down were more likely to be local villagers snaring "bush meat" to supplement the meager nutrition gleaned from their small farms, than hardcore professionals trying to make money from their efforts.
    Those times have now passed. As the report "Poachers slaughter 68 Congo elephants in two months​" reveals, poaching is now a major international industry driven mainly by markets in Asia, and it is helping support everything from small-time local warlords to regional and national militias to international-level terrorist groups.

Last week I caught the tail-end of a TV news report about African elephants being poached – killed with high-power rifles and their tusks removed with a chain saw. It made me sick to my stomach. I found a more detailed report on Aljazeera [see above],​ but even now I can hardly stand to read it, it is so beyond the pale that anyone could commit such acts against any animal, let alone against highly intelligent members of an endangered species.

Vivian Louise

Your friend and fellow staff member Tom Lowe is mentioned in this important announcement from Vivian Louise:

NO MORE CalFresh sanctions in California as of April 15, 2015!!!! [From "State lawmakers OK $108 billion budget; plan moves to Gov. Brown": CalFresh is what food stamps are called in California.]
    BIG THANK YOU to all who tirelessly worked and continued to push to eliminate a state legislative policy that had locked out so many individuals and families from accessing food security in California! Jessica Bartholow, Ecaterina Burton, Edlyn Countee, Artensia Barry, Diana Spatz, Tom Lowe, Betsy Edwards, Colleen Aye.

More small business news: "Small Business Owners Conspired To Cheat Food Stamp System, Steal Millions from The Poor." Excerpt:

Everybody on Facebook has seen the memes, or has heard their friends grumbling about “food stamp fraud.” Those posts usually have something to do with somebody who has an iPhone, tattoos, a nice car, who is paying for their grocery order with food stamps. No doubt there are some people who receive food stamps, or SNAP benefits, as they are more properly known, who don’t deserve them. There is waste, abuse, and fraud in almost every human endeavor, especially where money is involved. But would it surprise you to learn that the bulk of food stamp fraud comes from some retailers who accept food stamps? [bold italics ours] That is exactly the scenario that is playing out in Georgia right now.

Minimum good sense: "Low-wage corporate exploiters dressed as mom & pop." Excerpt:

When corporate lobbyists and the congress critters they control attack efforts to raise the minimum wage to at least a bare level of human decency, they always try to cast the issue as an intolerable squeeze on struggling mom & pop stores. But wait – what are those growling gorillas doing behind mom & pop's cash register?
    Why they're multibillion-dollar, brand-name chains. These corporate behemoths – not mom & pop – are the chief exploiters of millions of low-wage American workers. They're rank profiteers, constantly lobbying in Congress, states, and cities to hold down working families, even as they wallow in record profits and shell out exorbitant, multimillion-dollar paychecks to their top executives.

Another un-surprise: "The U.S. Has the Most Expensive, Least Effective Health Care System." Excerpt:

A survey released today by the Commonwealth Fund ranks the United States dead last in the quality of its healthcare system compared to ten other developed nations. At the same time, it's also the most expensive in the world.
    Frustratingly, the new report (pdf) shows that the U.S. is not improving; it ranks last, just like it did in the 2010, 2007, 2006, and 2004 editions of the survey. Call it a ten-year losing streak.
    Other nations evaluated in the survey included Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The U.K., which spends just $3,405 per person on health care, ranked first overall among the 11 nations. Compare that to the United States' $8,508 per person.

Highly creative people tend to surround themselves with beauty.
    Creatives tend to have excellent taste, and as a result, they enjoy being surrounded by beauty.
    A study recently published in the journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts showed that musicians – including orchestra musicians, music teachers, and soloists – exhibit a high sensitivity and responsiveness to artistic beauty.

Ever wonder where cashews come from? You might think they grow inside a shell like any other nut, but there true origins are far more bizarre.
    First of all, cashews are not actually nuts, but rather fruits from the cashew tree, a large evergreen tree that thrives in tropical climates. The tree produces a red flower, which in turn produce yellow and red oval fruits resembling apples.
    These so-called cashew apples are very juicy and pulpy, and their juice is often added to tropical fruit drinks. The cashew apple and fruit.
    However, cashew apples are not actually fruits in a scientific sense; the real fruit of the cashew tree is the kidney-shaped formation growing at the end. These fruits, also called drupes, are harvested and become what we know as a cashew nut.
    In their raw form, the other layer of the fruit contains multiple toxins,including anacardic acid, a powerful skin irritant similar to the toxin found in poison ivy that must be removed prior to eating. Roasting the cashews destroys the toxins, but roasting must be performed carefully outdoors because the smoke can irritate the lungs, sometimes to a life-threatening degree.
    When they are roasted, cashews change from their natural greenish-gray color to the light brown nut sold in stores. Next time you crack open a tin of cashews, take a moment to appreciate the long journey those little c-shaped nuts took from the tree to your table!

A first grader was sitting in class as the teacher was reading the story of the Three Little Pigs. She came to the part of the story where the first pig was trying to acquire building materials for his home. She said "...And so the pig went up to the man with a wheelbarrow full of straw and said 'Pardon me sir, but might I have some of that straw to build my house with?'"
    Then the teacher asked the class, "And what do you think that man said?" and my friend's son raised his hand and said "I know! I know!, he said...'Holy smokes! A talking pig!'" The teacher was unable to teach for the next 10 minutes.

A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

The buck does funny things when the does are present.

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

At the reunion, I went to lecture on [identity withheld, but it was delivered by one of our classmates]...[The lecturer] was one of the two people there with trophy wives: his second wife being 25 years younger and a real beauty.

Last photo in the camera:

Limerick of the Week:

Wide-ranging do our limericks tend to be –
we'll write 'bout nearly anything we see,
    from dimples and butts
    to illness and ruts –
so long as we can find rhyme number three.

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Copyright © 2014 by Morris Dean

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