Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Bear attack

There was a fatal bear attack in Utah a couple of days ago. A kid was sleeping in his tent when a black bear grabbed him, dragged him away, and mauled him to death. Read more here.

Think there are no bears in your area? Think again. Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Oregon, and Pennsylvania all have bears. Here is a range map and collection of population estimates from 1994. In most places, conservation efforts have led to population increases; Missouri, for example, is now estimated to have more than twice as many bears as it did in 1994.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Paternity testing

As some of you know, one of my great guilty pleasures is the watching of talk shows (specifically Maury Povich) on which paternity test results are revealed. These shows typically involve two distinct types of situations:

1. Woman swears she's 100% sure that a man is the father of her baby, and the man swears that he's not because the woman is sleeping with the whole town.

In this scenario, I'm usually on the woman's side. In part, it's because the men seem so idiotic (on the show I watched today, one guy said he was 100% sure he was not the father because "I've slept with three virgins, and I've didn't get any of THEM pregnant!"). In part, it's because I figure the woman is in a better position to know who the father is. What shocks me is how many women insist that there is NO WAY that anyone else could be the dad and then end up being wrong. That happened to both women today.

2. Young, happy couple has a kid (or one on the way), and the woman has brought the man on Maury to tell him a "terrible secret." The secret is that the kid might not be his (one woman on today's show was sleeping with 8 different guys around the time of conception). It goes without saying that if you're in this situation, going on Maury to tell your boyfriend/husband is a bad idea. But I'm torn about whether you should tell him at all. Who does it help? If he wants to be the father, and you want him to be the father, and he's a good father, is the DNA test a good idea?

Friday, June 01, 2007

The bears are coming for me

For all those who laugh at me for being concerned about bears on my hiking trips (see my earlier post), I offer this terrifying article.

The elementary school where the bear's tracks were found is 36 miles west of my house, and the bear is moving east. Thank goodness I live in a high-rise apartment building.