Greg In The Desert

• Boiling Frogs-Intel vs. the Village: The ATSDR Report – The long-awaited report from the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) came out this month and was presented to the public. The report was not the total whitewash that we've come to expect but neither was it conclusive enough to identify Intel's air pollution as the cause of illnesses that have plagued residents for years. The investigation was petitioned by CRCAW member Marcy Brandenburg five years ago. The ATSDR, a sister agency of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) conducted interviews with the residents, Intel and the NM Environment Department. The final report was then reviewed by the federal EPA, the NM Environment Department and Intel. We can only guess how much was edited out.
• ABQNews: 12:05pm — State Motor Cops Find Canned Pot – Florida trucker stopped at Gallup Port of Entry with 1,200 pounds of pot labeled as spinach.
  New Mexico Motor Transportation Division officers have discovered 1,200 pounds of marijuana packed in cans labeled as Pacific Green Spinach, state Department of Public Safety spokesman Peter Olson said in a news release.
• Apartment Therapy The Kitchn | The (Potato) Smasher – How about some potatoes with all this beef? Mashed potatoes, of course — the classic accompaniment to a good steak. And you can mash them up with this fancy new Smasher, designed by British group DesignWright for Joseph Joseph. See how this spring-loaded Smasher works, below.
• New Mexico Politics: New Mexico FBIHOP:: New Mexico near top of cell-phone-only states – New Mexico ranks 9th in the percentage of households that are cell phone only according to a study by the Center for Disease Control.

  The study says that 21.1 percent of New Mexican households and 20.5 percent of adults in the state are cell-phone only. As KSFR notes, "The federal report in the past has convinced many political pollsters to expand their techniques."

• Fuji Heavy Widens Loss Estimate on Charge for Eclipse (Update1) – Bloomberg.com – Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., the maker of Subaru-brand cars and plane parts, widened its loss forecast after writing off components supplied to bankrupt aircraft-maker Eclipse Aviation Corp.
• A Medical Madoff: Anesthesiologist Faked Data in 21 Studies: Scientific American – Over the past 12 years, anesthesiologist Scott Reuben revolutionized the way physicians provide pain relief to patients undergoing orthopedic surgery for everything from torn ligaments to worn-out hips. Now, the profession is in shambles after an investigation revealed that at least 21 of Reuben's papers were pure fiction, and that the pain drugs he touted in them may have slowed postoperative healing.
• Macs still cheaper when you look at TCO – After a few analysts question whether or not Macs are worth it (as if buying a powerful and easy-to-use computer was ever not worth it), MacsimumNews' Dennis Sellers pulls out the big guns, and shows that report after report will make it clear that when you compare the quality vs. cost that you get with an Apple to what you get with a PC, the Mac will almost always win.
• The Simple Dollar » A Guide to Making Inexpensive and Delicious Homemade Pizza – Homemade pizza night is a weekly occurrence at our house. For us, there is simply nothing that quite matches homemade pizza for appealing to all of us – it’s infinitely flexible, incredibly cheap, fun to make (and it gets everyone involved, even the small children), and quite delicious. Best of all, if you plan ahead a bit, it doesn’t take long to make, either – you can have a made-from-scratch pizza on the table in a half an hour if you’ve done some reasonable prep work the night before.
• "Rape Trees" Found Along Southern US Border – The violence in Mexico is out of control and undeniably headed north. From beheadings to kidnappings, there seems to be no limit to what the cartels are willing to do to assert their dominance. They deal not only in drugs, but also in humans. The majority of the coyotes who help illegal immigrants cross the border are affiliated with these Mexican cartels.

  A new method of marking territory has crossed over into the United States. "Rape trees" are popping up in Southern Arizona and their significance is horrific and disgusting. These "rape trees" are places where cartel members and coyotes rape female border crossers and hang their clothes, specifically undergarments, to mark their conquest and territory.

• Apartment Therapy The Kitchn | Recipe: Bourbon Cough Syrup for Grownups – It seems like winter colds strike with a vengeance right now, at the end of the season. In my household we drink literally gallons of ginger and honey tea during the cold months. Fresh ginger tea is delicious, and it wards off colds pretty well. But when I was felled last week by a particularly nasty cough, I had to turn to something stronger.

A bear was sighted near North Hills in Rio Rancho. So far I find no reports that it was found.

A black bear weighing 90 to 100 pounds was spotted this morning around 8 a.m. near Unser and Cherry Road and was last seen heading in a northwesterly direction around 8:30 this morning heading in the direction of Colinas del Norte Elementary School on 23rd Avenue, Rio Rancho Department of Public Safety spokesman John Francis tells us.

I’m sure it was heading toward the school to eat the children. Isn’t that what bears do?

There’s been quite a few bomb threats around town lately.

• 08/31/07 – I believe there have been several of these bank related bomb threats.
  

  Police are searching for a white male, about 6-foot-2, 180 pounds, who touched off the bomb scare shortly after 4 p.m. The suspect walked into a doctor’s office on Juan Tabo, strapped “suspicious devices” onto a doctor and the doctor’s assistant, then marched the two into the bank, Albuquerque police spokeswoman Trish Hoffman said.

• 09/07/07 – Rio Rancho High School.
  

  Rio Rancho Department of Public Safety Spokesman John Francis said the bomb threat was called in to Rio Rancho’s 911 emergency line at about 7:40 a.m.

• 09/09/07 –
  

  A bomb threat called into the Sandia Peak tram closed business for about an hour on Saturday as authorities searched the restaurant located at the bottom of the mountain for explosives. After an investigation of the building, no explosives were found. However, authorities now have the phone number used to make the bomb threat because the Tram had caller ID.