Mexican biologists wonder: Where have all the axolotls gone?

axolotlYou know those uber-cute salamander-like axolotls who are native to the lake system in and around Mexico City? They’re gone.

The Guardian reports:

Growing up to a foot long (30 cm) and known as the “water monster” or the “Mexican walking fish”, its only natural habitat is the Xochimilco network of lakes and canals, which are suffering from pollution and urban sprawl.

Biologist Armando Tovar Garza, of Mexico’s National Autonomous University, described an attempt last year by researchers to try to net axolotls in the shallow, muddy waters of Xochimilco as “four months of sampling zero axolotls”.

Mas…Mexican biologists wonder: Where have all the axolotls gone?

Pete Seeger, audience sing ‘Guantanamera’ in Spanish (video)


The late Pete Seeger always got everyone in the audience to sing along for Guantanamera — in Spanish. (Editor’s Note: That’s why they call it folk music. It’s music you sing, not just music you hear.)

Wikipedia:

Seeger [‘s] intention [was] that [Guantanamera] be used by the peace movement at the time of the Cuban missile crisis. He urged that people sing the song as a symbol of unity between the American and Cuban peoples, and called for it to be sung in Spanish to “hasten the day [that] the USA… is some sort of bilingual country.”

RIP.

Lalo Alcaraz, Al Madrigal and Maria Conchita Alonso (audio)

mariaandtequila
POCHO’s Jefe-in-Chief Lalo Alcaraz and Migrant Editor Al Madrigal were on the LatinoUSA airwaves to give a partial “thumbs up” to Maria Conchita Alonso‘s foray in politics with an ad backing a Tea Party candidate for Cali governator. It’s funny, they say, and looking at her entry on IMDB, she probably needed the work. Also, Alonso’s decision to feature her Chihuahua named Tequila (photo, above), wasn’t a stereotypical thing to do at all.

Obama’s List: Pocho Ocho things more dangerous than alchohol

obamaweedFormer stoner Barack Obama doesn’t think marijuana “is more dangerous than alcohol,” according to The New Yorker:

“As has been well documented, I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chunk of my adult life. I don’t think it is more dangerous than alcohol,” the president said.

But if mota is not more dangerous than alcohol, what is? Here are the top eight contenders:

Mas…Obama’s List: Pocho Ocho things more dangerous than alchohol

America to pause Monday for Ricky Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2014

(PNS reporting from WASHINGTON, D.C.) America will pause Monday to remember the life and message of Ricky Martin Luther King Jr., whose Tengo a Dream y Dance! speech changed the nation forever.

Post offices and other public facilities will be closed, banks and stock exchanges take the day off and salsa picante and sweet potato pie – his favorite snack combo – are on sale all across America. Today would have been RMLK’s 34th birthday.

Despite his tragic death in 2007 (he was shot and killed by the president of his fan club before an appearance in Dallas) King’s promotion of “love, equality, justice, innocence, malice, refuge, oppression, freedom” has continued to resonate among confused Latinos and Anglos alike.

Mas…America to pause Monday for Ricky Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2014

MADDEF rates 2013 a ‘Mestizo Year’ for Chihuahuas in media, online

brains(PNS reporting from BEVERLY HILLS) 2013 was a “Mestizo Year” for Chihuahuas in the media, according to the Mexican American Dog Defense and Education Fund’s (MADDEF) annual It’s A Dog’s Life report released here Monday.

The study carefully tallies and grades Chihuahua representations in pop culture (TV, radio, Internets, books, newspapers, magazines, videos, pop music, video games, etc.), scientifically sniffing the butt of America’s complicated relationship with the popular canine.

2013’s record was mixed, the group lamented, and the prospect of increased levels of anti-Chihuahua defamation in 2014 “remains troubling, especially in cyberspace, where mocking the perritos has become a viral ‘meme.'”

Since the death of superstar Gidget the Taco Bell Chihuahua in 2006, the image of all Chihuahuas has been on the decline, the study noted, presenting this widely-circulated and ignorantly-misspeeled illustration of an alleged “zombie” Chihuahua as just one piece of evidence (photo, right.)

Mas…MADDEF rates 2013 a ‘Mestizo Year’ for Chihuahuas in media, online

[Sponsored] NSA cyber spy gear on sale now — big post-Xmas savings!

greensucker640It’s after Christmas and everything must go — and our prices are INSAAAAANE!

There’s nothing wrong with any of these state-of-the-art electronic spying devices we picked up at the NSA year-end auction. They’re new, they’re still in the original packaging and they are the very best in the world, except for one thing:

They are last year’s models.

That’s just not the way your National Security Agency rolls.

So check out these two items just released for sale (click to enlarge) and if you want to see more, click on the big link below.

Mas…[Sponsored] NSA cyber spy gear on sale now — big post-Xmas savings!

Shocking live video: ICE busts motorist for ‘Driving While Canadian’


They’re on guard all across Los Angeles — the dedicated officers of L.A. Illegal Canadian Enforcement (LA-ICE) — keeping us safe from the border-crashing Canuckians hordes of the Great White North. In this episode, the LA-ICE team investigates a motorist suspected of Driving While Canadian.

Forget that ‘Duck’ guy, Steve Yamamoto is a Free Speech Hero (video)


You can exercise your First Amendment rights as a homophobic racist fool on A&E or as an anti-corporate viral video dude on the Internets. You be the judge.

A Chicago employee of the Safeway/Dominick’s supermarket chain (which is closing 72 stores eliminating 6000 jobs) was suspended after he posted this YouTube video — Thanks, Safeway — portraying the store closings as a vicious attack by space aliens.

Steve Yamamoto was suspended Saturday, when he showed up for his last day at work.

NBC Chicago reports:

Mas…Forget that ‘Duck’ guy, Steve Yamamoto is a Free Speech Hero (video)