RoguePundit

Entering Canada with a Record

One of the many provisions of the Canada-U.S. Smart Border Declaration (of 2003) was the development of compatible immigration databases.  One day, we'll be able to access the criminal records of Canadians trying to cross into the U.S., and vice versa.  In the meanwhile...

Americans have traditionally crossed into Canada with just a few friendly questions and a wave. But stricter anti-terrorism measures and Canada's already tougher stance on crimes such as drunken driving have resulted in many average Americans getting the cold shoulder at the border.

Just ask Bob Hohman, 54, a computer network security analyst from Roseville, Minn.

Hohman said he quit drinking after two drunken-driving offenses in the 1970s. By 2004, the convictions were such ancient history that he didn't think twice about disclosing them on a questionnaire at the Canadian border station in Walhalla, N.D., where he and his brother tried to cross on the way to an annual goose hunt.

"When the border agent saw these entries, he informed me that I would not be allowed to enter Canada," Hohman said. The agent said it didn't matter that he had crossed annually for at least 10 years or that he hadn't had a drink since 1979.

It can be rather difficult to prove that one hasn't had a drink in years.  Annual border crossings--presumably without incident--would seem to carry greater weight.  But with as lax as border checks used to be, maybe there's no record of most of those crossings.

If nothing else, the increased scrutiny offers Canada a chance to recoup some of its growing border security costs.

Drunken driving, a felony in Canada, has long been on the list of crimes that can "deem" a foreigner "inadmissible." But in the past, experts say, border agents were less likely to find out about a foreigner's drunken driving record, either because they didn't ask or because they didn't have extensive criminal history databases to check.

That's changing, according to Lucy Perillo, president of Canada Border Crossing Services, a Winnipeg-based company that helps foreigners--most of them American--run the gantlet of paperwork required to get permission to enter Canada with even a minor criminal record.

"The number being denied (entry) is increasing, and it's directly related to more questions being asked," Perillo said. "If you have a DUI or you wrote some bad checks or shoplifted or smoked some pot, you're probably going to need a (special) permit to come into Canada."

Despite the heightened scrutiny, the Canadian government denies that it's refusing entry to more Americans. "We haven't seen an increase in individuals found inadmissible," said Derek Mellon, a spokesman for the Canada Border Services Agency, though he said he was unable on short notice to provide statistics supporting his statement.

...

Canadian immigration officials say that in many cases, would-be visitors with minor records are provisionally admitted--either by paying about $200 in U.S. money for a temporary permit or paying the same amount and following a months-long process to "rehabilitate" their record permanently.

Canadian Border Crossing Services is a division of a Winnipeg law firm.  From its website...

Canada Border Crossing Services assists in providing critical information necessary in order to facilitate the granting of Temporary Resident Permits and Rehabilitation. Canada Border Crossing Services offers thorough assessments, professional service, affordable rates, and a timely turnaround.

We are experienced in handling criminal offences such as:

Theft

Assault

Fraud

False Pretenses

Narcotics

Robbery

Break and Enter

Bad Checks

Mischief

Possession of Stolen Goods

Larceny

Burglary

Possession of Weapons

Auto Theft

And many others ...

Gee, another case of bureaucratic complexity creating a business opportunity.

Regulating Ammonium Nitrate

One of the things lumped into the $555 billion domestic spending bill that President Bush signed last week was the Secure Handling of Ammonium Nitrate Act of 2007 (H.R. 1680).  The bill had languished in the previous two Congresses.  From this article...

Ammonium nitrate is a cheap and easily obtained fertilizer that can be combined with fuel oil to create a powerful explosive. Farmers who depend on it had initially resisted regulation.

Under the new rules, the Department of Homeland Security will require that anyone who produces, stores, sells or distributes ammonium nitrate must register their facility and maintain records of sales. Buyers will be checked against a terrorist screening database. Vendors who fail to comply could be fined up to $50,000.

"I feel very gratified," said Rep. Peter King (R-NY), who had pushed the regulations in the House. "Ammonium nitrate is the weapon of choice of terrorists."

Concern about the fertilizer's illicit use mounted last year after Canadian police foiled a plot involving three times the amount of fertilizer used in Oklahoma City.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), one of the bill's champions in the Senate, said, "This law is more than a decade in the making and will help prevent a dangerous chemical from falling in the wrong hands."

The Oklahoma City bombing was back on April 19, 1995.  This bill preempts existing state regulations, except where they are more stringent. 

Ammonium nitrate can be used to make several explosives and blasting agents, including nitro carbo nitrate.  That brings to mind an enormous explosion that Roseburg suffered nearly fifty years ago.  The following is from the Oregon History Project's write-up of "The Blast."

On the night of August 6, 1959, George Rutherford of Chehalis, Washington drove a Pacific Powder Company truck loaded with 2 tons of dynamite and 4.5 tons of nitro carbo nitrate into downtown Roseburg.  After scheduling his first delivery for the following morning, Rutherford parked the truck in front of the Garretsen Building Supply Company, near the corner of Oak and Pine Streets, and retired for the night at the Umpqua Hotel.  During the night, the Garretsen building caught fire.  Alarms were sounded across the downtown shortly after 1:00 A.M., and within minutes firemen arrived on the scene to put out the blaze.  Unfortunately, the explosive-laden truck remained unnoticed by both onlookers and firemen alike until just moments before it detonated.

The explosion and the ensuing fire destroyed all of the buildings within an 8-block area and did heavy damage to structures throughout the surrounding 30 blocks.  Fire crews from Eugene and Springfield responded to Roseburg’s call for immediate aid, and by nightfall, National Guard units from Roseburg and Cottage Grove cordoned off the worst-hit 30-block area from public access to deter looting.  The blast led to the deaths of 14 people and injured another 125.  The damages to the city were estimated to be between $10,000,000 and $12,000,000.

Southern Oregon Public Television did an interesting story on The Blast in '05.

Random Nature #150

How Not to Cope:  Smoking does little at best to help people deal with stress.  However, many smokers think that it calms them.  In fact for many, stress is biggest trigger to light up.  That's due to a combination of factors.

Nicotine causes the brain to release chemicals, called neurotransmitters.  Some of these chemicals, such as beta-endorphin and norepinephrine, can cause a person to feel better, but only for a short time.  They can improve your mood for awhile.  So, smoking can serve as a quick "pick-me-up."  Indeed nicotine is a stimulant, which is why a smoker's pulse gets faster after a cigarette.

Aside from this chemical reason that smoking might seem to help someone who is under stress, there are also other reasons.  Smokers often use the act of lighting and smoking a cigarette as a "time out" from thinking about or dealing with stress.  Like any activity, smoking can distract a person from his or her troubles.  Because smoking is often a social activity, some people feel that lighting a cigarette brings to mind feelings of group support.  This can comfort people in times of stress.  Lastly, an addicted smoker will feel better after smoking because it relieves nicotine withdrawal symptoms.

Little wonder that people in abusive relationships are more likely to smoke.

Some 40% of Indian women report being slapped, kicked, hit or beaten during their marriages. Smaller studies in the U.S. have also found an association between domestic violence and smoking. Researchers hypothesize that smoking may act as a “stress reliever” in households that experience domestic violence. In fact, Indians who smoke or chew tobacco cite stress relief as one of the reasons they begin using and continue to use tobacco.

...

The study found that women who reported past and current abuse had 20%-40% increased odds of tobacco use compared with women reporting no abuse, even after controlling for factors such as income and education level. Another finding was that smoking risk increased for any adult in households where domestic violence was prevalent, regardless of whether they were personally a victim, a perpetrator or neither.

This research was on subcontinental Indians, not Native Americans.

Breaking Bonds:  In a married couple, if one of the spouses develops cancer, the odds decrease slightly that they'll divorce.  But, that isn't true for all types of cancer.

The research, which compared the divorce rates of 215,000 cancer survivors with those among couples with no cancer over a period of about 17 years, revealed that women who developed cervical cancer were 40 percent more likely than normal to get divorced and testicular cancer survivors were 20 percent more likely to get divorced than similar men without cancer.

The findings also confirmed earlier studies debunking the myth that husbands may be more likely to abandon their wives after breast cancer. Breast cancer survivors saw an eight percent decrease in their divorce risk compared to similar women without the disease.

The longer that people have been married, the lower the odds that cancer will destroy their marriage.  Both cervical and testicular cancers tend to strike people younger than many other cancers.

“We suggest that younger age is a stronger predictor than alterations in sexual function,” Syse said. “It is also possible that sexual problems or a weakening of the emotional rewards from the union are particularly devastating early in a relationship and that an increased care load is most difficult to accept at an age when illness is most unexpected.

“Women with cervical cancer had an increased risk of divorce of 69% at age 20 years, but this risk was reduced to 19% at 60 years, implying that the effect of cervical cancer on divorce risk decreases with age,” Syse said. “The same tendency was seen among men with testicular cancer. The increased risk of divorce was estimated to 34% at 20 years, while it was estimated to fall 16% below the risk of the general population at 60 years.”

The poorer the prognosis, the less likely that a couple will divorce.

Holes in the Wall of Death:  From a biological perspective, why do people live beyond their ability to reproduce?  For women, the grandmother hypothesis says that the chance of successfully passing along one's genes improves by living long enough to care for one's children and grandchildren.  If that's the case, why do many men remain capable of procreating at ages when there's little chance they'll see the resulting children reach adulthood?  Here's what some researchers have concluded.

The scientists compiled longevity and fertility data from two hunter-gatherer groups, the Dobe !Kung of the Kalahari and the Ache of Paraguay, one of the most isolated populations in the world. They also looked at the forager-farmer Yanomamo of Brazil and Venezuela, and the Tsimane, an indigenous group in Bolivia. "They're living a lifestyle that our ancestors lived and their fertility patterns are probably most consistent with our ancestors," Puleston said about the four groups. The study also looked at several farming villages in Gambia and, for comparison, a group of modern Canadians.

In the less developed, traditional societies, males were as much as 5-to-15 years older than their female partners. In the United States and Europe, the age spread was about two years. "It's a universal pattern that in typical marriages men are older than women," Puleston said. "The age gaps vary by culture, but in every group we looked at men start [being sexually reproductive] later. At the end of reproduction, male fertility rates taper off gradually, as opposed to the fairly sharp decline in female fertility by menopause."

Despite small differences based on marriage traditions, all women and most men in the six groups stopped having children by their 50s, the researchers found. But some men, particularly high-status males, continued to reproduce into their 70s. The paper noted that the age gap is most pronounced in societies that favor polygyny, where a man takes several wives, and in gerontocracies, where older men monopolize access to reproductive women. The authors also cite genetic and anthropological evidence that early humans were probably polygynous as well.

Older male fertility also exists in societies supporting serial monogamy, because men are more likely to remarry than women. "For these reasons, we argue that realized male fertility was substantial at ages well past female menopause for much of human history and the result is reflected in the mortality patterns of modern populations," the authors say. "We conclude that deleterious mutations acting after the age of female menopause are selected against ... solely as a result of the matings between older males and younger females."

So biologically speaking, power is...?    

Maternal Bonds:  Which grandparents did or do you have more contact with, maternal or paternal?  Research in Holland indicates the former is more common.

“Even in families where there has been divorce, we found consistent differences--grandparents on your mother's side make the extra effort. We believe there are psychological mechanisms at play because throughout history, women are always related by maternity whereas men can never be wholly certain they are the biological father to their children.”

The authors interpret their findings as support for psychological patterns resulting from our evolutionary history. Family members related through their mothers (matrilineal kin) are predicted to matter more than those related through their fathers (patrilineal kin). Throughout human evolution, women were always related by certain maternity, whereas men could never be wholly certain that they are the biological father. Also, maternal grandparents were always more certain than paternal grandparents that a grandchildren was related to them. Thus, maternal grandparents, especially maternal grandmothers, may go the extra mile to visit their grandchildren.

For grandparents living within 19.5 miles (30 km) of their grandchildren, over 30% of the maternal grandmothers had contact daily or a few times a week. Around 25% of the maternal grandfathers had contact daily or a few times a week. In contrast, only around 15 % of the paternal grandmothers and little more than 15% of the paternal grandfathers would have contact daily or a few times a week.

Our family definitely (no Dutch lineage) had more contact with the maternal grandparents.  But with my Dad being career military, only once did we live within 2,000 miles of any of the grandparents.

A Hard Lesson

Jason Paul Hunter of Reno NV is a lot of trouble.

Hunter told detectives he has a problem with alcohol and that he pretended online to be a 20-year-old woman named Maria because he was gay and hoping to meet men for sex, records show. He said he did not know the boys were juveniles and was “not looking to have sex with children.”

Detectives in their affidavit said Hunter admitted to some of the sexual abuse, but said he was too drunk to remember. While posing as “Maria,” Hunter had told the older boy not to bring any condoms because he was on birth control pills.

Hunter is 32, while the boys in question are 13 and 15.

According to court records, the older boy had used Craig’s List to chat with “Maria,” who wanted the pair to come over to party and have sex. The younger boy’s mother drove them to an apartment where Maria said her cousin lived. His mother believed she was driving them to the home of the older boy’s cousin, but it was really Hunter’s apartment on Wilbur May Parkway, court records said.

When they arrived at the apartment, Hunter told them Maria would be there later, according to a probable cause affidavit. Hunter then allegedly gave the boys Heineken beers and shots of hard alcohol, court records said. He also allegedly played the movie Star Wars and gave them cigarettes.

As the night progressed, both boys became very intoxicated with the younger boy saying he had never been that drunk before, the document said. Once Hunter’s roommate came home, he ushered the boys into his bedroom and continued to promise that Maria would be arriving. Hunter even pretended to call Maria on one of the boys’ cell phones.

What a trusting mom.  And what the heck did Hunter's male roommate think was going on?

The boys ultimately passed out from all the alcohol they drank, records said.

The younger boy told detectives that he woke up to find Hunter sexually assaulting him in various ways, the affidavit said. He said the abuse occurred while his friend was in the room, passed out, records said.

The older boy said Hunter tried to molest him, but he told him to stop, the affidavit said. Early the next morning, the younger boy’s mother picked them up. On Nov. 5, they reported the incident to police. Two days later Hunter was arrested.

Hunter, who is in jail, is expected to plead guilty next month to two counts of lewdness with a child.  The max punishment is two life sentences. 

I sure hope the children are getting some help.

Prohibited from Mandating Health Insurance

With all of the snow today, little wonder that my satellite internet service has been down.  Before that happens again, here's a quick post on a legal ruling of note yesterday.

A federal judge scaled back San Francisco's groundbreaking health insurance law Wednesday, overturning a requirement that employers cover their workers or pay a fee--the key to the city's plans to provide coverage to all 82,000 uninsured adult residents next week.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White described San Francisco's goal as "laudable" but said its ordinance--the first of its kind in the nation, and a potential model for other California cities and the state--conflicted with a 1974 federal law that prohibits state and local governments from regulating employees' benefits.

The ruling, if it stands, will require the city to reduce plans to extend health coverage Jan. 2 to all uninsured residents who aren't already covered by the Medi-Cal program for the poor or by Medicare for the elderly.

...

White's ruling could also impede other state and local efforts to cover the uninsured in the absence of a national law. A state health care bill endorsed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and approved by the Assembly would be partly funded by employer fees, subject to state voters' approval.

The program is called Healthy San Francisco.  It was to provide benefits on a sliding scale for people making up to 500 percent of the federal poverty level.  Some businesses were concerned that the additional cost would hurt their competitiveness...the Golden Gate Restaurant Association sought to overturn the law.

The ordinance, enacted last year, established a $200 million-a-year program to care for the uninsured. More than three-quarters of the money was to come from city tax dollars and patient premiums, and the rest from the employer fee that was the subject of White's ruling.

Private employers with at least 20 employees and nonprofits with at least 50 employees were to be given two choices: provide health coverage, at spending levels set by the ordinance, or pay a fee to support the city health program, which was budgeted at $200 million a year.

How much was the proposed fee for not providing health insurance?  From this link...

Starting Jan. 1, 2008, businesses with 50 to 99 employees must spend $1.17 an hour on health care for workers, and those with 100 or more employees must spend $1.76 an hour. Then on April 1, 2008, the $1.17 an hour rate will apply to businesses with 20 to 49 workers. Nonprofit companies with fewer than 50 employees are exempt.

That just changed...though the city is going to ask for an emergency stay of the ruling.  FYI, San Francisco's minimum wage will rise next week to $9.36 per hour.  Back to the original article...

City lawyers, joined by a group of labor unions, argued that the city was not regulating employee benefits--which federal law forbids--but was simply making health care available to workers whose employers chose not to provide it. They said federal law allows a local government to require employers to share in health care costs as long as companies can comply without setting up new health plans.

But White said the ordinance would regulate employer health plans by requiring businesses to spend certain amounts on each employee--changing their existing, federally governed plans--or pay a fee.

"By mandating employee health benefit structures and administration, those (spending) requirements interfere with preserving employer autonomy over whether and how to provide employee health coverage, and (with) ensuring uniform national regulation of such coverage," the judge said.

Mayor Newsom sure keeps the courts busy.

Bigger Trucks for California's North Coast

In California's North Coast--Del Norte, Humboldt, and Mendocino Counties, most of Highway 101 is like an interstate.  However, there are a few parts which are more winding, limiting the size of the trucks that are allowed to use it.  That can make transportation more expensive for certain customers...but this will soon change.

Specifically, the new law, which takes effect Jan. 1, extends the kingpin-to-rear axle length from 40 feet to 43 feet of a truck tractor-semi-trailer combination that is allowed on portions of Highway 101 at Richardson’s Grove, Confusion Hill and Big Lagoon.

A total of seven tight turns with a combined length of an eighth to a quarter of a mile on those sections of the highway have prevented North Coast livestock ranchers from using interstate cattle haulers because of the truck length restrictions.

Previously, livestock ranchers in the three counties were limited to trailers with a kingpin-to-rear axle of 40 feet, even though more than 90 percent of the equipment used to transport cattle and other livestock to out-of-state markets are trailers with a kingpin-to-rear axle of up to 43 feet, the industry standard, said Andrea Fox of CFBF’s governmental affairs division.

The length restrictions created an economic disadvantage for North Coast ranchers who often use out-of-state haulers for movement of their product.

According to reports prepared by the California Highway Patrol, fewer than 300 livestock trucks travel to and from the North Coast annually with no reported accidents.

More cattle per truck means less total truckloads.

Switching subjects but not articles...immediately to the east of Mendocino County is Lake County, one of California's top winegrape regions.  However, the following is about pears, child labor, and something the article fails to mention...that the growers there are very dependent upon the labor of illegal immigrants, who were in short supply last year.  From the original article...

Specific to Lake County, SB 319 extends an existing law that allows teen workers, age 16 to 17, to work in pear-packing plants for up to 10 hours a day and 60 hours a week during peak harvest season when school is not in session. The current law was to sunset in 2008 but has now been extended to 2012.

The extension was made to help deal with the labor shortages in Lake County's farming community during harvest time in August. The pear-packing season coincides with the county’s tourism season, limiting the available labor pool.

According to the Lake County Employment Development Department, the labor shortage in 2006 resulted in the loss of $2.5 million in lost pears and would have been exacerbated by an absence of minors working in the packing plants.

Seems rather sensible...so why is there any need for the limitation in the first place?

Federal Pen for Creepy Doctor

Someone who definitely hasn't been nice got an appropriate early Christmas present last Friday.  From yesterday's Redding Record Searchlight...

A former Alturas doctor was sentenced to three years in federal prison Friday after being convicted of using hidden cameras to film teen patients during breast and pelvic exams in his Modoc County office.

Dr. Owen Murphy Panner Jr., 60, was accused of using a microscopic camera in his shirt to film a 15-year-old patient as he gave her a pelvic examination in 2001 inside the Modoc Medical Clinic, said Rosemary Shaul, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott.

Later that year, another camera Panner hid in the air vent above an examination table captured frames of a 16-year-old girl as a nurse practitioner gave her a breast and pelvic exam, Shaul said.

He'd illicitly filmed a number of female patients of various ages and states of undress.  For a variety of reasons (previous blog here), local authorities had to settle upon him pleading no contest to two misdemeanors.  The subsequent federal charges offered a means of providing a more appropriate punishment.  As his medical board record shows, Panner surrendered his medical license in April of '06.

In 2004, a pair of hunters found the videos in a Tupperware container buried in a sage brush-covered field.

The hunters notified the Modoc County Sheriff's Office, which filed the original charges.

...

After Panner serves his prison time, he will be required to serve three years parole, and he's ordered to stay away from the two victims. He also must register as a sex offender.

Modoc County, in the rural northeastern corner of California, has struggled to keep its small medical center viable for years.  This nasty situation certainly hasn't helped.

A New Target for Tweakers

Earlier this year, the State of Washington enacted some new regulations to crack down on the theft of scrap metal.  Now, the sellers have to ID themselves, sign a statement swearing the goods aren't stolen, and wait ten days for a check if the amount is over $30.  It's looking like some of the thieves are a step ahead again.

Puyallup police are warning residents about the latest target of drug-addicted metal thieves – catalytic converters.

Thieves slide under a vehicle, cut the piece of emissions hardware with a power tool and later sell it for the precious metals inside.

...

Catalytic converters are part of a vehicle’s emissions system and contain platinum, palladium and rhodium.

“They are very valuable for recyclers,” Thompson said.

Thieves can bank between $40 to $100 for each converter they sell to recyclers.

The same thing is happening in lots of places, including here in Oregon.  Various types of utility covers can also make inviting targets.

Officers suspect the thieves use a power tool equipped with a quick-cutting blade. They pull up to a vehicle, hook the power tool into a generator in the back of a pickup truck and cut the exhaust pipes at both ends, dropping the catalytic converter to the ground.

All done in 60 to 90 seconds.

...

Drivers returning to their cars don’t notice the stolen piece until they turn the key.

“It’s going to sound like your muffler fell off,” Thompson said. “Part of that is gone.”

The vehicles most commonly targeted are large--SUVs, trucks, vans, etc....bigger engines, bigger catalytic converters.

Random Nature #149

Bubbling:  Man has long cultivated favored strains of yeasts, using them to produce baked goods, alcoholic beverages, root beers, some pickled items, etc.  The handy thing about these particular yeasts is that they ferment carbohydrates (like sugars and starches), producing carbon dioxide and alcohol (ethanol).  In a way, these single-cell fungi are one of the first things that man domesticated.

There are tens of thousands of species of yeast, only a fraction of which have been described.  They're found just about everywhere, including the oceans, soil, air, in our guts and on our skin, etc.  Some spoil foods, break down hydrocarbons, serve as nutritional supplements, help with specialized composting, on and on. 

There is disagreement over which fungi to call yeasts, but I'm not going to dive into that morass.  Instead, I'll skip to the fact that a few of them cause us health problems.  That's definitely not news to the women (and some men) who've suffered yeast infections...which by the way are caused by members of genus Candida, same as that Tony Orlando and Dawn song.  But, there are other pathogenic yeasts as well, like the ones that caused by members of genus Cryptococcus.

Opportunistic Infection:  One member of the genus has gained notoriety for taking advantage of compromised immune systems. Here in the U.S.

Approximately 7-15% of patients with AIDS develop cryptococcal infections. ...patients with AIDS-associated cryptococcal infections now account for 80-90% of all patients with cryptococcosis.

...

In sub-Saharan Africa, 15-30% of all patients with AIDS develop cryptococcal disease. However, in some areas, such as Zimbabwe, 88% of patients with AIDS have cryptococcal infection as their AIDS-defining illness.

C. neoformans is commonly found in soils around the world and things like bird droppings--notably those of pigeons and chickens.  We're regularly exposed to this and other yeasts through breathing.  Our immune system easily dispatches the vast majority of them, but the ones which are "encapsulated" can provide more difficulty.  Crypto means hidden, a reference to it having a coating that gives immune systems more of a battle.  There are multiple strains of C. neoformans, whose coatings can vary.

Cryptococcal infections in AIDS patients usually begin as a lung ailment that acts like a pneumonia and then progresses to other organs, including the brain (as a type of meningitis).  If not treated with antifungal medications, the infections are usually fatal.

Nuke 'Em 'Til They...:  Remember the story earlier this year about fungi that were found feeding upon radiation at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant?  One of the three fungi was the yeast mentioned above, C. neoformans.  It's growing faster in the presence of ionizing radiation that is 500 times the normal background amount. The scientists suspect that it's the melanin in these organisms that makes this possible.

Exposure of melanin to ionizing radiation, and possibly other forms of electromagnetic radiation, changes its electronic properties. Melanized fungal cells manifested increased growth relative to non-melanized cells after exposure to ionizing radiation, raising intriguing questions about a potential role for melanin in energy capture and utilization.

There are a number of types of melanin.  In people, it's responsible for most of our skin color--our natural sunscreen.  In the eyes, it protects against high frequency light, both visible and UV.  Et cetera.

International Traveler:  In recent years, a Cryptococcus not native to the Northwest has been causing a stir. 

An alien fungus took root on Vancouver Island eight years ago and has since killed eight people and infected at least 163 others, as well as many animals.

Similar cases have been found elsewhere in British Columbia and in Washington state and Oregon.

C. gattii causes similar type of cryptococcosis to the one mentioned above, but this one more readily strikes healthy people.  The victims aren't contagious.  Reservoirs of the yeast were first discovered in South Australia, associated with a particular species of eucalyptus (yes, koalas can suffer from cryptococcosis).  Over time, C. gattii has been found in a number of nations in tropical through temperate latitudes around the globe.  However...

By comparing select gene sequences that spanned the genomes of the Vancouver Island fungi to samples collected from around the world, the team traced the rarer type to identical isolates in Australia. The major form matched a sample taken from an infected person in Seattle 30 years ago and another collected from a Eucalyptus tree in San Francisco in 1992.

And from more recent research...

All clinical and environmental isolates found in BC were genotypically consistent with Vancouver Island strains. In addition, local acquisition was detected in 3 cats in Washington and 2 persons in Oregon. The molecular profiles of Oregon isolates differed from those found in BC and Washington.

On Vancouver Island, C. gattii doesn't need certain types of eucalyptus to spread.  Over ten species of trees native to the forests there have tested positive for the yeast, but none of the introduced eucalyptus trees have.  Plus...

Systematic sampling showed C. gattii was associated with high-traffic locations. In addition, C. gattii was isolated from the wheel wells of vehicles on Vancouver Island and the mainland and on footwear, consistent with anthropogenic dispersal of the organism. Increased levels of airborne C. gattii were detected during forestry and municipal activities such as wood chipping, the byproducts of which are frequently used in park landscaping.

That offers possible explanations for why people who've never traveled to where C. gattii is found have come down with the disease.  And the yeast can clearly stay airborne for awhile...over 25 porpoises have washed ashore on the island, dead from cryptococcosis. 

Scientific Activism:  Some are speculating that C. gattii may be spreading because of climate change.  For example...

Scientists say the fungus may be thriving because of a string of unusually warm summers here. They say it is a sign of things to come.

"As climate change happens, new ecological niches will become available to organisms, and we will see this kind of thing happen again," said Karen Bartlett, a scientist at the University of British Columbia who played a central role in the search for the disease's cause.

...

"With global warming, it may have finally been able to emerge to a level [at which] it is infectious," Fyfe said. Humans and animals living in the area, having had no exposure, had developed no immunities to it. Some people reacted to exposure by developing the disease.

They may be right regarding C. gattii and climate change, but they're guessing.  Other articles on the pathogen (example here) selectively note that the yeast is typically found in tropical and semitropical locales.  Yet as I alluded to above, it also thrives in some more temperate regions, such as where it was originally discovered in South Australia (a Mediterranean climate), parts of Italy (same), Mexico City (elevation over 7,000 feet), etc.  The yeast clearly tolerates cool, damp winters, which is what the lower elevations on Vancouver Island offer.  Scientists ought to be doing some research on the cold tolerance of the yeast in nature.

In Australia, airborne C. gattii appears in late spring.  The same isn't true on Vancouver Island. I converted the metric units in the following. 

The concentration of airborne cryptococci during the northern hemisphere spring and summer months peaked in August, when the weather in southwest British Columbia is the warmest (average temperature, 52 to 75°F) and driest (mean monthly rainfall, 1.24"). In cooler, wetter months, e.g., December (average temperature, 30 to 43°F; mean monthly rainfall, 6.55"), the concentrations of airborne cryptococci declined, presumably because all of the propagules were washed out of the air. None of the air samples taken during periods of rain or shortly thereafter were positive. 

Summer in that part of BC is rather similar to the springtime in Mediterranean climates. 

Let's just hope that in promoting concern about climate change, these scientists don't blind themselves to other possibilities regarding this pathogen.  There are far too many scientists who can't keep their science and politics separate.

Plentiful Christmas Tree Labor

According to 2000 Census statistics, Oregon had an estimated 90,000 illegal immigrants.  That gave us the 11th highest number per capita in the nation--2.472 per 100 people.  By mid-decade, the Pew Hispanic Center had noted the following:

Unexpected locations such as Oregon and Wisconsin are rising on the list of destinations for the undocumented.

The Center estimated that in 2005, Oregon had an "unauthorized migrant population" of 125,000 - 175,000.  Others have it at 100,000 - 150,000.  Using the high and low end and Oregon's 2005 population, our number per capita has risen to between 2.75 and 4.82 per 100.  Roughly half of them are in the work force.

While we keep hearing stories that recent federal actions have hurt the availability of agricultural workers, Oregon's Christmas tree industry doesn't seem to be feeling it much.   

Gayla Hansen, manager of Helmig Tree Farm in Molalla, said that except for some soft prices on Noble firs, all elements of the industry--demand, harvest weather, transportation, labor--came together for pretty much a "perfect" year.

"Labor has been plentiful. The weather--we had one bad week--but overall the weather has been great," Hansen said at mid-harvest. "Trucks seem to also be plentiful, which is not really what I expected to see with fuel prices (what they are). I get calls every day from trucks in the area, and they want loads going out."

With the labor, it's sure not because the growers provide them a living wage and good benefits.  So often we hear that incomplete sentence, "We can't find Americans who want the work"...at what we're willing to pay.  It's a type of outsourcing.

Yule Tree Farms salesman Tom McNabb reported in late November that "labor's not too bad. So far we've been having great luck with transportation. There seems to be extra out there."

Tyler Stone, co-owner of B.T.N. - Ben, Tyler and Nathan Stone - of Oregon, said that finding adequate transportation was not a problem at all.

"Two, three years ago it was much more difficult," he said.

...

Silverton Hills grower Charlie Grogan, owner of Silver Bells Tree Farm, said that while original orders were slow out of the gate, things picked up.

...

As for any transportation or labor problems, Grogan said he's had very few.

In recent years, we've also been hearing about a shortage of truckers here in Oregon.  Something has obviously changed...more supply and/or less demand from other industries.  Housing and timber have both slowed down.  And I wonder how many truckers are being impacted by balloon mortgages.