There are approximately 30 different kinds of mole rats. The best known is probably the naked mole rat, whose hairless, tubular, wrinkled body makes it appear a bit like a tiny walrus—or perhaps a bratwurst with teeth.

Naked mole rats are rodents, but they live in communities like those of many insects. Several dozen rats live together in colonies led by one dominant rat—the queen. As in some insect species, the queen is the only naked mole rat female to breed and bear young.

Worker animals dig the burrows that the whole clan inhabits, using their prominent teeth and snouts. They also gather the roots and bulbs for the colony to eat. Other rats tend to the queen.

Most other types of mole rats live on their own or in small families. Blind mole rats do have tiny eyes, but they are located beneath their skin and fur. These animals rely on sensitive hairs to feel their way through their underground burrows. Though mole rats spend most of their time excavating and foraging in their burrows, they occasionally emerge to search for seeds or other plants.

Mole rats have a wide geographical distribution and can live below sea level or high on mountainside plains. Because of their burrowing lifestyle, they do prefer areas with sandy or loamy soil. Many mole rat species are found in sub-Saharan Africa. Blind mole rats are found primarily in southeastern Europe, the Middle East, and Mediterranean North Africa.

from www.breitbart.com

Struggling media will need government help: naked mole rat Waxman

12/02/09



The newspaper industry is suffering "market failure" and the government will need to help preserve serious journalism essential to democracy, an influential US congressman said Wednesday.

"The newspapers my generation has taken for granted are facing a structural threat to the business model that has sustained them," said Representative Henry Waxman, a Democrat from California.

"The loss of revenue has spurred a vicious cycle with thousands of journalists losing their jobs," he told a meeting on journalism in the Internet age hosted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Waxman, who chairs the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which has jurisdiction over the FTC, said the "depression in the media sector is not cyclical, it is structural."

"While this has implications for the media it also has implications for democracy," he added. "A vigorous free press and vigorous democracy have been inextricably linked.

"We cannot risk the loss of an informed public and all that means because of this market failure," he said.

Without endorsing any proposals, Waxman noted various proposed remedies, including new tax structures for publishers, providing non-profit status, changing anti-trust regulations or eliminating a law that bars owning a newspaper and a television station in the same city.

Acknowledging that talk of government support for the press raises "red flags," Waxman stressed it is not the job of Congress to "deny the evolution of media."

But "as we look at these various solutions, government's going to have to be involved in one way or the other," he warned.

"Eventually, government is going to have to be responsible to help resolve these issues and our whole society depends very much on reaching some resolution of the problem."

US newspapers are grappling with declining print advertising revenue, falling circulation and the migration of readers to free news online, while several major US publishers have declared bankruptcy.

* * * * *

"If you do not read the newspaper you are uninformed;
If you do read the newspaper you are misinformed."
-Mark Twain

Mister Waxman, Your Awesomeness, Sir, I am just a humble citizen but I beg to point out to you that we do not need to spend any taxpayers dollars to prop up the failing newspaper industry. There are many simultaneous dynamics involved here. Throwing our money at it will not fix anything.

1. 50 years of socialist inspired schooling has produced several generations of functional illiterates. Not many people read newspapers anymore. This fact alone is fatal to the industry.

2. Editors and publishers have pushed their own political agendas. Rather than reporting facts and letting the readers make up their minds, they have subtly (or non-subtly) told the reader what to think. Educated readers resent this manipulation and do not read newspapers that disagree with their views.

3. Electronic media (TV and radio) provide faster access to breaking news. Newspapers are, by nature, day old news.

3a. Mister Waxman, item #2 also applies to TV and radio. I hope that I don't have to explain this crap all over again when you come begging for tax money to support the failing networks.

4. The internet provides access to any news, anywhere in the world, unfiltered by editors and blow-dried anchor personalities. Educated people and those who wish to learn despite our education system are getting their news from the internet.

5. Now get back in your burrow or I'll tell the Sierra Club and Green Peace that you're in favor of chopping down trees to support capitalistic war-mongering newspaper executives.