Jungle Trader

Albinos

2009-11-29T15:08:00.002-05:00

CNN: "As many as 10,000 albinos are in hiding in east Africa over fears that they will be dismembered and their body parts sold to witch doctors, the Red Cross said in a recent report."

Saudi Arabia

2009-11-29T14:32:00.004-05:00

Russian news agency RIA Novosti: "Saudi Arabia's annual revenue from organizing pilgrimages to Islamic holy places tops $30 billion, an Arab newspaper reported on Sunday."

Young Warriors

2009-11-29T14:17:00.005-05:00

"Start your killers young, before their consciences are grown. Start them young and they will be lethal." - The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell

Texas Longhorns

2009-11-28T11:51:00.001-05:00

NPR:

Texas longhorns have made a comeback. The animals, once nearly extinct, now number more than 330,000 in herds across the country. Tip to tip, their horns can measure six feet and beyond. And every year, breeders gather in Fort Worth, Texas, to answer the question: Whose horns are longer?

Yonkers

2009-11-27T15:12:00.002-05:00

New York Post: "Police say a five-foot boa constrictor was cold and lethargic when they rescued it off a suburban New York street."

Air & Space Magazine

2009-11-27T15:02:00.001-05:00

The January issue of Air & Space magazine is up!

Red Wine

2009-11-27T11:42:00.002-05:00

Via ABC Online, Australia: "Drinking red wine may prevent cavities."

Germany

2009-11-27T10:55:00.000-05:00

Spiegel Online: "The suspected Nazi war criminal Klaas F., who is number five on the Simon Wiesenthal Center's most-wanted list, is enjoying a quiet retirement in Bavaria."

Related: "Germany's Corpse Hunter"

Questions

2009-11-26T22:26:00.005-05:00

People frequently ask me questions. Here are eight of the questions with answers.

1. What is your nationality?

U.S. citizen. Most of my ancestors who emigrated from Europe to the New World arrived in 17th and 18th centuries.

2. Are you a Democrat or a Republican?

I am a libertarian Republican.

3. What is America's biggest problem?

Public schools. Many teachers don't know how to survive without a government paycheck. Therefore, they can't teach students how to succeed in a free enterprise system.

4. What is your favorite motion picture?

One of the greatest movies of all time — Casablanca.

5. Who are your favorite authors?

John Steinbeck, Dashiell Hammett, and Raymond Chandler.

6. What is your favorite spot in the world?

The pyramids at Giza. I have visited them more than a dozen times. On one occasion I rode a camel on the grounds after dark. Bedouins rode with me. We slipped past the guards on a moonless night.

7. Should the U.S. fear China?

I don't. A general in the Egyptian Air Force once described me as "a Western man with Eastern thinking."

8. What is your astrology sign?

Scorpio, the sex sign of the Zodiac.

Ancient Remedy

2009-11-25T12:37:00.001-05:00

Newcastle University: "An ancient herbal remedy has been shown to be as effective at relieving pain as an aspirin-style drug, Newcastle University scientists have found."

Temples of the Rising Sun

2009-11-25T12:20:00.002-05:00

University of Leicester: "New research at the University of Leicester has identified scores of Sicilian temples built to face the rising Sun, shedding light on the practices of the ancient Greeks."

Australia

2009-11-25T12:10:00.001-05:00

Anna Henderson at ABC Online, Australia: "The Northern Territory Government says residents of a remote Central Australian community are too scared to leave their houses because it has been overrun by thousands of wild camels."

Malaysia

2009-11-24T17:10:00.003-05:00

Liz Gooch, New York Times: "How do you sell beer in a country where about 60 percent of the population is Muslim and thus forbidden by the government from buying it? Very carefully."

Limo

2009-11-24T15:21:00.002-05:00

David Crossland at Spiegel Online: "A Russian investor is about to pay millions for a Mercedes limousine believed to have ferried Adolf Hitler."

In the 1980s I saw the vehicle at the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas.

Klondike Gold Rush

2009-11-24T14:24:00.002-05:00

Underwater archaeologists found a Klondike Gold Rush stern-wheeler in a Canadian lake.

David Roberts

2009-11-24T13:57:00.005-05:00

David Roberts, Scottish painter, 1796-1864

Portrait by Robert Scott Lauder, 1840

The Library of Congress Web site has a few hundred reproductions of David Roberts's works.

West Africa

2009-11-24T12:58:00.003-05:00

BBC News: "Pirates have attacked an oil tanker off the coast of West Africa, killing a Ukrainian seaman, the commander of Benin's naval forces says."

German Robin Hood

2009-11-24T12:51:00.003-05:00

"Bank Worker Sentenced for Shifting Funds from Rich to Poor"

Sumatra

2009-11-23T16:03:00.002-05:00

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign:

A new study provides "incontrovertible evidence" that the volcanic super-eruption of Toba on the island of Sumatra about 73,000 years ago deforested much of central India, some 3,000 miles from the epicenter, researchers report.

Lou Dobbs

2009-11-23T12:03:00.004-05:00

Michael Saul, New York Daily News: "Former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs has never been elected to any government office, but he said Monday he’s considering a run for the White House in 2012."

U.S. Foreign Policy

2009-11-23T11:26:00.002-05:00

By Gabor Steingart, Der Spiegel:

When he entered office, U.S. President Barack Obama promised to inject U.S. foreign policy with a new tone of respect and diplomacy. His recent trip to Asia, however, showed that it's not working. A shift to Bush-style bluntness may be coming.

Dangerous Kangaroo

2009-11-23T11:19:00.002-05:00

A kangaroo tried to drown a dog and disembowel a farmer.

Chameleon

2009-11-23T11:13:00.004-05:00

Scientists discovered a new species of chameleon.

Uttarakhand

2009-11-22T14:29:00.008-05:00

On Saturday a leopard killed a 55-year-old woman in the Indian state of Uttarakhand

"The victim died when she entered a wooded area to fetch fodder for cattle," a trader said in an email to me. "With the help of villagers, forest rangers found the half-eaten body."

Galileo

2009-11-21T11:24:00.003-05:00

Via IOL: "An art collector has found a tooth, thumb and finger of the renowned Italian scientist Galileo Galilei who died in the 17th century, Florence's History of Science museum announced on Friday."