Re: Blackbird 'aflockalypse' wasn't unusual, experts say

Connie wrote:
On Jan 8, 7:26 am, spiritrising <miketwofeath...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Jan 7, 2:10 pm, Connie <tucson.con...@xxxxxxx> wrote:





On Jan 7, 9:04 am, Connie <tucson.con...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
As I've been saying here lately, the Internet is a double-edged
sword. People who paid attention pre-'net knew that periodic mass
die-offs in nature are not unusual, and happen for myriad reasons.
Now, with the "power" of being able to easily copy/paste tons of
unrelated articles gleaned from all parts of our very large country
and and a much-larger world, the neo-"informed" believe they can now
connect the dots to prove "end of days", "gummint conspiracies", etc.
They envision a time when, as people are going down in some final
reckoning, their last words will be "bodhi (or whomever) was
riiiiight!!" Anyway, move along folks; nothing to see here.
http://azstarnet.com/news/science/article_831cb1ad-c18c-5207-896b-6ed...
Posted: Friday, January 7, 2011 12:00 am
WASHINGTON - First the blackbirds fell out of the sky on New Year's
Eve in Arkansas.
In recent days, wild animals have mysteriously died in big numbers: 2
million fish in the Chesapeake Bay, 150 tons of red tilapia in
Vietnam, 40,000 crabs in Britain and other places across the world.
Blogs connected the deadly dots, joking about the "aflockalypse" while
others saw real signs of something sinister, either biblical or
environmental.
The reality, biologists say, is that these mass die-offs happen all
the time and usually are unrelated.
Federal records show they happen on average every other day somewhere
in North America. Usually, we don't notice them and don't try to link
them.
"They generally fly under the radar," said ornithologist John Wiens,
chief scientist at the California research institution PRBO
Conservation Science.
Since the 1970s, the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health
Center in Wisconsin has tracked mass deaths among birds, fish and
other critters, said wildlife disease specialist LeAnn White. At
times, the sky and the streams just turn deadly. Sometimes it's
disease, sometimes pollution. Other times it's just a mystery.
In the past eight months, the USGS has logged 95 mass wildlife die-
offs in North America, and that's probably a dramatic undercount,
White said. The list includes 900 turkey vultures that seemed to drown
or starve in the Florida Keys, 4,300 ducks killed by parasites in
Minnesota, 1,500 salamanders done in by a virus in Idaho, 2,000 bats
that died of rabies in Texas, and the still mysterious death of 2,750
sea birds in California.
On average, 163 such events are reported to the federal government
each year, according to USGS records. And there have been much larger
die-offs than the 3,000 blackbirds in Arkansas. Twice in the summer of
1996, more than 100,000 ducks died of botulism in Canada.
"Depending on the species, these things don't even get reported,"
White said.
Weather - cold and wet as in Arkansas New Year's Eve when the birds
fell out of the sky - is often associated with mass bird deaths,
ornithologists say. Pollution, parasites and disease also cause mass
deaths.
Some are even blaming fireworks for the blackbird deaths.
So what's happening this time?
Blame technology, said Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson. With the
Internet, cell phones and worldwide communications, people are
noticing events and connecting the dots more.
"This instant and global communication - it's just a human instinct to
read mystery and portents of dangers and wondrous things in events
that are unusual," Wilson told The Associated Press on Thursday. "Not
to worry. These are not portents that the world is about to come to an
end."
I predict the next post will be something around how gullible I am to
fall for this obvious "gummint" conspiracy/planted news article to
keep us all contolled. The interesting thing about that is fear IS
the means used for control. Folks who post all this armageddon crap
are attempting to get everyone cowering in fear and looking to the
poster for help and information, thereby amassing some semblance of
control. lol- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
sorta like the vacine delemia, now those poor folks who were so much
against it have nothing to back them up anymore.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

And all those kids who went without vaccines b/c it was "proven fact"
that they caused autism.

There is no question that vaccines have saved the lives of tens of thousands of children and adults.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-01-06-childhoodvaccines06_CV_N.htm
.

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