I Saw the Witch Doctor

New antibiotics often come from unexpected sources. As you may know, penicillin is derived from a species of mold that was discovered when a petri dish was accidentally left open and unattended over the weekend. The latest crop may come from an even less likely source: alligator blood. It seems that these most ancient of reptiles are immune to damn near everything in part because their blood contains powerful substances that have been found to kill many drug-resistant bacteria and even partly kill HIV. All I can say is we had better be talking synthetic versions, cause I don't think anyone wants to be an alligator milker for a living.

The earliest evidence for human habitation in the New World is literally a load of crap. I didn't know that there was a technical term for fossilized feces, but it seem there is, specifically 'coprolite'. Which makes me wonder if there really is a technical word for everything. Anyway, the 'specimens' are 14 300 years old and were found in caves in a particularly dry patch of Utah. The practical upshot is that this lends more evidence to the theory that people may have reached the New World by boat before the land bridge over what is now the Bering straight formed.

And speaking of a load of crap, the RCMP has said that getting warrants in suspected child porn cases is just too darn slow. While I recognize the need for police to proceed quickly when investigating such a serious allegation, there is no crime for which I would support police being able to disregard due process in order to make an arrest a few hours sooner. The privacy implications and the potential for abuse are simply too high for my mind to be at ease. Wake the judge up at 3am if you need too, but the process is important to the validity of the end result as well as the rights of us all as citizens.

Now for a lighter subject: New York's Metro Transit Authority (MTA) can't spell. Several signs advising that a stairway at the Columbus Circle would be closed for repairs beginning April 7th directed riders to use the stairway across the street near the globe statue outside of Trump Tower, or as the MTA spelled it, 'Trumph'. No word on whether the Donald fired anyone over this rather obvious error.

The New York Times is also reporting a gold rush similar to that in Toronto a couple of weeks ago. The headline questioned which was more important, memories associated with family heirlooms, or $913 an once. If everyone has their price, I suppose there might be enough people right in around the $913 an ounce range to make it newsworthy.

Crave reports on recent attempts to find a replacement for the clamshell pack, that damn near bombproof plastic form-fitting package found on literally boatloads of consumer goods, mainly electronics. Turns out that many stores like this packaging on the basis that it deters theft without the need for display cases and gives a nearly 360 look at the merchandise. It comes with a downside, however, due to its high (and wasteful) use of plastic and the difficulty of getting it open. Consumers (myself included) often cut themselves while trying to get the packages open and in many cases this can result in a missing fingertip or severe laceration to the arm or hand. Please, people can we find a way to get rid of this and save ourselves both injury and hours of annoyance?