THE KA RETURNS NEVER TO LEAVE

Ghost of serial killer Aileen Wuornos haunting dive bar?
Brad Hunter - Yesterday 

Serial killer Aileen Wuornos was the last woman executed in Florida.

Owners of a Florida dive bar where notorious serial killer Aileen Wuornos knocked back Budweisers and Marlboros are claiming her spirit haunts the joint.

Wuornos was executed via lethal injection on Oct. 9, 2002 for the murders of six men who had allegedly propositioned her for sex.

But barflies at The Last Resort in Port Orange, near Daytona Beach, say her spirit lives on. After all, the spot is where detectives arrested her.

According to the Miami New Times , on Jan. 8, 1991, Wuornos — a 34-year-old sex worker — had just been dumped by her girlfriend and was too broke to afford a $15 flop at a hotsheet motel. She did have enough for a few bottles of Bud.

The Last Resort is a seedy biker bar that only takes cash. Wuornos was known as a quiet regular who would shoot pool and spin country songs on the jukebox. A favourite was Randy Travis’ Digging Up Bones.


Owners and patrons say The Last Resort bar in Florida is haunted by serial killer and former regular Aileen Wuornos. FACEBOOK

She was arrested there the next day.

“She kept to herself. She was quiet, and never messed with anyone,” owner Al Bulling told New Times, adding that pretty girls sometimes “feel her brush their hair.”

After Wuornos’ execution, staff and patrons began experiencing what they called “paranormal activity.”

“Around Oktoberfest, there was a Dollar Tree skeleton and the arm would always be missing — it kept falling off and we’d find it in weird places,” longtime regular Ted E. Bear told the paper.

“It was always the left arm. I’d ask, ‘Why the left arm?’ That’s where they put the lethal injection — into her left arm.”

The bar — whose slogan is “Home of ice cold beer and killer women” — was also featured in the Wuornos biopic, Monster, starring Charlize Theron.



“There’s a bell that rings every now and then,” Bulling said. “I once had a barmaid swearing there’s someone in the bar even though there was no one in there.”

Bear added: “She likes to mess with me when I’m airbrushing. All of a sudden the airbrush goes off on its own midair. I said, ‘Aileen, let it go.'”

Some of Wuornos’ ashes were scattered under a tree behind the bar.

“She comes here,” Bulling said, “because she never left.”

Ted E. Bear adds: “Oh, Aileen lets you know she’s here alright. You can feel her presence.”

bhunter@postmedia.com
@HunterTOSun

What happened at Arthur's Stone? 5,000-year-old monument connected to King Arthur excavated

Saleen Martin, USA TODAY - Yesterday 

© The University of Manchester

Researchers from the University of Manchester and English Heritage, the charity that cares for Arthur’s Stone in the West Midlands of England, are conducting an excavation of the site in the hopes of finding traces of the Neolithic Britons who built and used the chambered tomb.

Some say King Arthur slew a giant there. Others say he knelt in prayer and his knee print indentations are forever etched into the stone.

Archaeologists set out to find out what really happened at Arthur's Stone, a 5,000-year-old Neolithic chambered tomb in Herefordshire, England, near the border of Wales.

On July 1, a team of researchers began excavating the site, said Julian Thomas, an archaeology professor at the University of Manchester who leads the project.

They'll be on site for the next four weeks, Thomas said.

After looking at other sites in the area, researchers realized there was probably much more activity there than they initially thought.

"We found that there were more expansive traces of the monument," Thomas said.

Thomas said his team found evidence of "a small, low-turf mound with a timber palisade around it," as well as traces of an "avenue of upright timbers in a series of postholes," which could indicate the presence of a ceremonial path leading to the monument.

Team member Mary Elizabeth Ong said their findings contrast with what she learned about people's movements.

"What we have is evidence of the fact that these people were here way before it was originally reported to be," Ong said


Arthur's Stone is more than meets the eye

Arthur's Stone was built around 3,700 B.C., at the beginning of the Neolithic period, and has inspired tales passed down through generations, Thomas said.

It was a time "of great change in this country when domesticated plants and animals were being introduced for the first time," he said. "We have a whole series of these various kinds of megalithic tombs and long barrows, which are the funerary monuments of this period."

Thomas said that when most people see photos of Arthur's Stone, they're probably looking at the chamber, a large capstone that weighs about 25 tons and measures about 13 feet long and 7 feet wide.

The capstone is held up on a series of upright stones, he said.

The structure as a whole may be part of a mound that's at least 100 feet long.

"That chamber is set within a very much larger mound," he said. "It is possible that there were other chambers in that mound. That's something we're looking at."

He said the monument could be elongated, oval-shaped or even a trapezoid, broader at one end than the other.

Though the team isn't the first to excavate the site, it's a "great honor" to work there because the area isn't well-understood, Thomas said.

He stressed that the team isn't interfering with human remains in any way.

"We're not working in the chamber," he said. "We're working on the periphery of the mound, and we're trying to understand the construction of the mound. We're doing that with great respect and reverence. We're certainly not, in any sense, grave-robbers or trying to mess around with any human remains that may have been deposited here at any point."

From California to England

The team is made up of about 55 people, including Ong, 20, who goes to El Camino College in the Alondra Park area of California.

She joined the project through the Institute for Field Research, a nonprofit that helps students get fieldwork training.

"I worked on the trenches and cleaned and basically dug a little deeper on what was surrounding Arthur's Stone," she said. "We found modern stones, and by removing them, we were able to see the soil underneath which is covered in quartz. There may be a mound underneath the Neolithic stone."

The dig, which is co-directed by archaeologist Keith Ray from Cardiff University, is a team effort between the University of Manchester, Historic England and English Heritage, a charity that manages historic monuments.

Thomas said the latest dig came about as part of the Beneath Hay Bluff project, a program that has been investigating prehistoric southwest Herefordshire since 2010.

Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757 – and loves all things horror, witches, Christmas and food. Follow her on Twitter at @Saleen_Martin or email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What happened at Arthur's Stone? 5,000-year-old monument connected to King Arthur excavated

Four companies are top sources of US greenhouse gas, methane emissions: report

Zack Budryk - THE HILL 




Four energy companies — Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, Hilcorp and Occidental Petroleum — are the top sources in the U.S. of both greenhouse gas emissions in general and methane emissions, according to a report issued Thursday by environmental groups Ceres and the Clean Air Task Force.


FLARING CREATES GHG

The report, based on data submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from major oil and gas producers, found wide variation in emissions among companies, with the highest-emitting companies producing methane emissions nearly 24 times more intense than those with the lowest emissions.

Hilcorp led for total methane emissions in 2020, followed by Exxon, Occidental and ConocoPhillips, according to the research. The companies collectively reported more than 300,000 metric tons in methane emissions.

The report found equipment operation was also a major determinant of emissions intensity. For example, it found companies that practice flaring, or burning off extra natural gas, had more intense carbon dioxide emissions, and those that used pneumatic controllers — which control for factors like pressure and temperature but emit natural gas in the process — comprised 62 percent of methane emissions.

Related video: Study Finds US Emissions Responsible for $2 Trillion in Damage to Other Nations

View on Watch

The organizations only analyzed statistics oil and gas companies are required by law to divulge to the EPA. It does not include data on other sources of emissions such as so-called super-emitters, which comprise 8 to 12 percent of methane emissions from the industry.

Methane emissions have been the subject of increased scrutiny in recent years, as the gas is both more than 80 times as potent as carbon dioxide in its first 20 years and the source of about 0.5 degrees Celsius in global warming to date. Due to its short atmospheric life relative to other greenhouse gases, climatologists have identified methane reduction as one of the easiest paths to emissions reduction and warming mitigation.

“This new report makes clear what experts have long known: There are clear steps oil and gas producers can take to reduce their methane and other greenhouse gas emissions,” Lesley Feldman, a senior analyst at the Clean Air Task Force, said in a statement. “Some are taking those steps while others are not, and federal and state regulations are key to ensuring we can standardize best practices across the industry.”

“The report reflects some of the great progress that we are making to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from our operations. We are actively implementing aggressive plans to further reduce Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse emissions from our operations,” an Exxon spokesperson told The Hill. “ExxonMobil has announced its global ambition to achieve net zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions from major operated assets by 2050.”

The Hill has reached out to ConocoPhillips, Occidental and Hilcorp for comment.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.

Venezuela hits back at 'crazy' former U.S. adviser Bolton's coup-plotting admission

CARACAS (Reuters) - A Venezuelan government official on Thursday called former White House national security adviser John Bolton "crazy" after his admission this week that he had tried to plot foreign coups, including backing an unsuccessful bid to oust socialist President Nicolas Maduro.


Former national security advisor John Bolton in Durham, North Carolina

Earlier this week, Bolton said in the interview with CNN that he had helped plan coups d'etat. He did not go into detail but mentioned Venezuela, where the United States supported opposition leader Juan Guaido's failed bid to oust President Nicolas Maduro in 2019.

Jorge Rodriguez, head of Venezuela's government-controlled congress, responded to Bolton's comments during a congressional session, saying that the United States had been stirring unrest.

"What was in the mind of this crazy John Bolton was that the violence would accelerate so that they could have an excuse for the invasion... a military invasion in Venezuela," he said.

Venezuela's Communication and Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Deisy Buitrago; Writing by Carolina Pulice; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)

CNN Anchor Struggles To Hold It Together, Can’t Stop Laughing After Watching Viral Sea Lions Video

CNN's Victor Blackwell completely lost it on Wednesday after watching a viral clip of two sea lions chasing beachgoers.


© CNNCNN Newsroom with Alisyn Camerota and Victor Blackwell.

In the video, the animals charge the crowd in California's La Jolla Cove, near San Diego, after someone tried to take a picture. The footage had Blackwell and his "CNN Newsroom" co-anchor Alisyn Camerota in stitches.

And once Blackwell started laughing, he couldn't stop

CANADA
Feds approve nine Living Labs to involve ag producers in reducing greenhouse gases

CALGARY — The federal government has expanded a program to include the agricultural sector in coming up with solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.



Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau has announced the creation of nine new Living Labs across the country, including in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador at a cost of $54 million.

Each lab, which brings together farmers and scientists, will focus on identifying innovative technologies and on-farm management practices that can be adopted by farmers countrywide to tackle climate change.

"Across Canada, farmers are on the front lines of climate change and Alberta is no exception," Bibeau said Thursday at a news conference in Calgary.

"It's a made-in-Canada approach that gets research out of the lab and onto real working farms. Together, they develop and test practices and technology that help a farmer protect the environment and grow the business."

Alberta Beef Producers is managing one of two projects approved in Alberta.

It intends to explore the use of beef, forage and cropping systems to improve carbon storage and reducing emissions. It is expected to look at crop rotations, changes in land use, grazing techniques, livestock and nutrient management.

"Agriculture producers do absolutely recognize the importance of our continued efforts to improve carbon sequestration, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate aspects of climate change while ensuring farms remain competitive, profitable and especially sustainable for future generations," said Melanie Wowk, the group's chair.

Another project is the Indigenous-led Bridge to Land Water Sky project in Saskatchewan, which will see producers and First Nations work toward a common goal of improving the surrounding environment while committing to the protection of Indigenous values, treaties, communities, lands and resources.

The initiative was first introduced in 2018 and Bibeau said the goal is to have at least one living lab in each province with more announcements coming in the near future.

"The way we use and manage the millions of acres of farmland across Canada will play a key role in addressing climate change and feeding the world," Bibeau said.

"Our efforts are accelerating the sector’s ability to respond to climate change, all while working to ensure global food security."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 14, 2022.

Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press

BE REALISTIC DEMAND THE IMPOSSIBLE

Why ditching Canada’s constitutional monarchy is nearly impossible

 Andrew Chang explores the challenging process for Canada to sever its ties with the British monarchy and the implications it would have on Indigenous communities across the country.

Queen urged to apologize for residential schools

 

ASSASSINATION 

Ripudaman Singh Malik, acquitted in Air India bombings, shot dead in Surrey, B.C.

Karin Larsen - 

Ripudaman Singh Malik, one of two men acquitted in the 1985 Air India terrorist bombings, has been shot to death in Surrey, B.C.

A witness told CBC he heard three shots and pulled Malik from his red Tesla bleeding from a neck wound.

The witness, who asked not to be named, said police were first to arrive at the scene.

A second witness from a nearby business in the 8200-block of 128 Street also identified Malik as the victim.

Surrey RCMP said a man shot at that location at around 9:30 a.m. PT succumbed to his injuries at the scene. They say it appears to be a targeted shooting and are not releasing the victim's name.

A suspect vehicle was located in the 12200-block of 82 Avenue engulfed in fire, according to police.


© Ben Nelms/CBCSurrey Police and RCMP officers are pictured at the scene of a fatal shooting in Surrey, British Columbia on Thursday, July 14, 2022.

Malik, who was in his mid-70s, owned a business near where he was killed.

Malik and co-accused Ajaib Singh Bagri were acquitted in 2005 of mass murder and conspiracy charges related to a pair of bombings in 1985 that killed 331 people, mostly from the Toronto and Vancouver areas.

Of those who died, 329 were aboard Air India Flight 182 when it exploded in mid-air over the Atlantic Ocean on June 23, 1985. Another bomb destined for a separate flight exploded at a Tokyo airport, killing two baggage handlers.

The killings amounted to the worst mass murder in Canadian history. Among the dead were 280 Canadians and 86 children.

Ripudaman Singh Malik killed in Surrey shooting

Reaction to Malik's death has been mixed.

"We lost a hero of the Sikh community" said longtime friend Ragibtir Bhinder speaking at the scene of the shooting. "We'd like this man to live a hundred years. It's hurting us."

Former British Columbia premier Ujjal Dosanjh, a former acquaintance of Malik's, said he was a controversial figure.

"One of the other complicating factors is he made a recent visit to India where he wrote a letter in support of [Prime Minister] Modi and his policies and I think that may have reverberated and had implications within the community," said Dosanjh.

Malik, a successful businessman with significant influence among Canadian Sikhs, sued after his acquittal in an effort to get back $9.2 million in legal fees. He claimed the Crown knew the case fell short of standards, but pursued the case regardless because of pressure from the public.

A B.C. Supreme Court judge rejected Malik's financial claim in July 2012.

In recent years, Malik served as chairman with Khalsa School and managed two of the private schools' campuses in Surrey and Vancouver. He was also president of the Vancouver-based Khalsa Credit Union (KCU), which has more than 16,000 members.

Only one man was convicted in relation to the 1985 bombings. Inderjit Singh Reyat served 30 years for lying during two trials, including Malik's, and for helping to make the bombs at his home in Duncan, B.C.

Crown lawyers alleged the bombing was a terrorist attack against state-owned Air India, an act of revenge by B.C.-based Sikh extremists against the Indian government for ordering the army to raid Sikhism's holiest shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, in June 1984.

Malik, then 58, and Bagri, then 55, were acquitted after a highly publicized trial that stretched on for two years.

In the end, Justice Ian Josephson found the Crown's key witnesses, who testified that they heard the two defendants confess, were biased and unreliable.


© Lyle Stafford/REUTERS

Ripudaman Singh Malik, in grey, smiles as he leaves B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver in 2005 after being acquitted in the 1985 Air India bombing. Malik and his co-accused were both freed after a judge ruled testimony against them was not credible.

"These hundreds of men, women and children were entirely innocent victims of a diabolical act of terrorism unparalleled until recently in aviation history," reads the March 16, 2005 ruling. "Justice is not achieved, however, if persons are convicted on anything less than the requisite standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt."

The national Air India inquiry later concluded Talwinder Singh Parmar was the mastermind behind the deadly mid-air bombing. Parmar, 48, was shot and killed by police in India in 1992.

Another suspect, Hardial Singh Johal, died in November 2002.

THIS WAS A SCREW UP BY CSIS AND THE RCMP WHO SET UP SEPARATE STINGS AT CROSS PURPOSES AND IN THE CASE OF CSIS ABETTED THE BOMBING BY TRAINING SUSPECTS IN BOMB MAKING. 

SEE THE AIR CANADA BOMBING INVESTIGATION BY BOB RAE

Air India bomb-maker gets out 30 years later
Jan 27, 2016

Inderjit Singh Reyat the only man convicted at all in Canada's worst-ever mass murder. To read more
http://www.cbc.ca/news/1.3421505

Celsius Files for Bankruptcy as Users Worry Their Money is Gone Forever

Matt Novak - 

Celsius filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late Wednesday, leaving users wondering if they’ll ever again see the money they put into the crypto platform. Unfortunately for the average user, they’ll have to wait in line with the company’s other creditors, something that was made explicit in the platform’s incredibly shady terms of service.


© Screenshot: YouTube

Celsius CEO and co-founder Alex Mashinsky in a since-deleted YouTube video from April 2022 titled “Why Choose Celsius?”

Celsius, which allowed people to buy and sell cryptocurrencies like its native token, also called Celsius, gained attention for offering as much as 18% interest on crypto—an absurdly large return for any asset. The company first paused withdrawals for its 1.7 million users on June 12 but assured people they could still “accrue rewards” during the pause.

But whatever “rewards” were accrued in the past month is imaginary money at this point, as Celsius customers will likely have a hard time seeing any of their regular money coming back, let alone the supposed “interest” earned on that crypto. Celsius, for its part, is still trying to put on a happy face about all of this even through bankruptcy.




“These Chapter 11 cases provide the Company with the best opportunity to stabilize the business, consummate a comprehensive restructuring transaction that maximizes value for all stakeholders, and emerge from Chapter 11 positioned for success in the cryptocurrency industry,” Celsius said in an email to users overnight.

“We apologize that communication with our teams and community has been very limited over the past few weeks, and we look forward to being able to offer greater transparency with everyone through our reorganization, which encourages dialogue with all stakeholders,” Celsius continued.

The Celsius token has lost 79% of its value in the past six months, though desperate users have spent the past month trying a “short squeeze” by buying up as much Celsius crypto as they can in the hopes of inflating the price. That effort has been little more than doubling down on failure, essentially handing more money to the people who started the problem in the first place.

Celsius bought a large amount of its own token since July 2019—roughly $350 million, according to the Financial Times—but the founders of the company were selling like crazy in the past few years. Celsius co-founder and CEO Alex Mashinsky allegedly made some particularly large sales, despite swearing publicly that Celsius execs didn’t sell the token.

Based on public blockchain data, it’s estimated Mashinsky sold roughly $44 million worth of Celsius crypto over the years, according to the Financial Times. Mashinsky did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Thursday.

Celsius published a YouTube video explaining what it’s doing by seeking bankruptcy protection and even gave a rather rosy outlook by noting all the other companies that have filed for bankruptcy and emerged just fine. And, yes, companies like General Motors and Marvel have filed for bankruptcy and bounced back, but those companies actually produce something. As a crypto trading platform, Celsius didn’t create a product. It took money from customers and kept hold of their digital Monopoly money for them. Then the market for crypto tanked and that digital Monopoly money was worth a lot less. In some cases, coins became totally worthless.

Chapter 11 Explained

Curiously, Celsius seems to have deleted a video that was previously available on YouTube and published in April of this year, titled, “Why Choose Celsius?” That video included influencers who were pledging up and down that the benefit of Celsius was its wonderful transparency.

Messages on social media from users of the platform are heartbreaking, with people explaining they really need the money that’s tied up in Celsius’s bank accounts. But at this point it’s not clear how much money there is left.

“I’m a single father, I need my BTC,” one user wrote, using the symbol for bitcoin.

“To fellow depositors: Do i understand correctly that there is literally NOTHING/NO ACTION we as depositors can take now? Just have to wait and see if they give us money back? If so, anywhere we should be keeping eyes on?” another user wrote.

“I’m a single mother. This will change the path of my life. I feel sick,” yet another user wrote.

Celsius is just one of several crypto companies that have collapsed in the past few months, with cryptocurrency prices in the toilet. Luna, once the fourth largest coin in the world, plunged to nothing in the span of just a few days back in May. What did the people behind Luna do? They just started a new coin called Luna 2.0. Gizmodo does not recommend investing in Luna 2.0.

JOHN STEINBECK

 COVID-19 in Alberta: Rising case counts, test positivity show seventh wave has arrived

Matthew Black - 

Alberta has entered the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic’s seventh wave, according to the latest data published by the province on Wednesday, but it’s too soon to say how severe, or not, it will be.


© Provided by Edmonton JournalCoronavirus mutation is continuously taking place as populations' immunity grows.

The data indicates the province’s test positivity has grown steadily since the end of June after it had been declining since mid-April. As well, the nearly 20 per cent positivity rate recorded July 7 was the highest since the end of May.

“It’s been climbing even though the testing numbers are small, that trend has always been pretty useful,” said Dr. Lynora Saxinger, a University of Alberta infectious-disease specialist of the test positivity rate, adding “I don’t like the way that it’s heading.”


The seven-day rolling average of new cases has also risen consistently over the past two weeks.

Those new cases haven’t resulted in an increase in severe outcomes, with the rate of deaths and hospitalizations remaining relatively unchanged.

“I think the bigger question is whether we’ll also have a severe case surge,” said Saxinger.

In prior waves, severe outcomes were lagging indicators, meaning they rose a few weeks after a spike in cases and test positivity.

Saxinger says that may not necessarily be the case in Alberta’s seventh wave.

“In Omicron, it kind of all happened at the same time,” she said, referencing the dominant COVID-19 variant.

Vaccination remains an effective protection against those severe outcomes, with those who are unvaccinated at many times more risk of death or hosptialization than those with three or more doses.

Over the past four months, unvaccinated Albertans in their 70s died at 10 times the rate of those in the same age group who had three doses.

A spokeswoman for Alberta Health said the province is reviewing the latest guidance on rolling out fourth doses of COVID-19 vaccines and an update will be provided in the near future.

Last week, Ontario and Quebec announced they were considering expanding booster shots to all adults amid seventh waves in those provinces.

But Saxinger cautions against comparing Alberta’s situation too closely to other provinces and countries.

“The shape of the last waves, even between places, has been wildly different compared to earlier on. And so the kind of community immunity situation really does start to play a bigger role,” she said.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be the same everywhere, but on the other hand, it’s not reassuring.”

– With files from Dylan Short
mblack@postmedia.com