Bats and Halloween

Photo: Mexican free-tailed bats exiting Bracken Bat Cave in Texas. (Ann Froschauer/@USFWS)
Missoulian: Bats: Smart as well as scary, with plenty to fear from us

America’s Great Outdoors
“Happy Halloween - one of the coolest symbols of this special day are bats! Bats are amazing animals that are vital to the health of our environment and economy - eating tons of insects nightly, pollinating flowers and spreading seeds that that grow new plants and even trees. Bats are in decline nearly everywhere they are found. Bats in the U.S. and Canada have declined dramatically as the disease, #whitenosesyndrome has killed over 6 million bats in just six years. To learn more about what we’re doing to combat this disease, visit www.whitenosesyndrome.org/.”

Halloween related websites

Halloween Safety

• Child Pedestrian Safety on Halloween
  Children are four times more likely to be in fatal pedestrian accidents on Halloween than on any other night of the year.
• Reduce Halloween Candy Overload
  Do you want to stop children from eating too much candy this Halloween? The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offers tips—like giving out stickers, toys, or bubbles instead of candy, and trading a toy or extra allowance for your children's candy.
• Stay Safe and Healthy This Halloween
  Ideas for safe costumes, healthy treats, safe trick-or-treating, and staying active this Halloween, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Halloween Facts and Fun

• Halloween Around the World
  Festivals commemorating the dead can be found in many cultures. Learn more from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
• Halloween at the White House
  Photos of White House Halloween festivities from years past.
• Halloween by the Numbers
  How many millions of pounds of pumpkins are produced each year in the U.S.? And how many pounds of candy does an American eat annually? The U.S. Census Department knows.
• Halloween Capital of the World
  Did you know that Halloween has a capital? Find out where, from the Library of Congress.

Especially for Kids

• Halloween Word Scramble Game
  Unscramble the letters to find out how you can stay safe while trick-or-treating. (PDF)
• Send a Halloween E-Card
  Choose from six different Halloween e-cards, including a spooky cat, Frankenstein, and the Germ Monster.
• Spooky Space Sounds
  Elusive sounds of howling planets and whistling helium that are sure to make your skin crawl, from NASA.

History of Halloween

• Halloween Folklore
  Essay on the history of Halloween from the American Folklife Center.
• Halloween History
  How did Halloween get its name? Why do we carve jack-o-lanterns? Find out, from the U.S. Department of State.
• Halloween History and More
  Information and links on Halloween, from USA.gov.
• Photo Tour of Halloween History and Customs
  Take a photo tour of what Americans love about Halloween.
• Today in History: October 31
  Read about 19th-century Halloween pranks, see historic images, and hear spooky songs from days gone by.

For more links go to: http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Halloween.shtml#Halloween_Facts_and_Fun

Standford-Dartmouth Flier/ Fed Reserve Meeting

Missoulian: Mailer on Montana Supreme Court unethical, academics say
McCulloch v Stanford & Dartmouth, COPP-2014-CFP-0046
“Issue: On October 24, 2014 Linda McCulloch filed a complaint against Stanford University & Dartmouth University alleging violations of campaign finance and practices laws.”

Missoulian: US stocks rising as investors await Fed meeting
Advanced Notice of a Meeting under Expedited Procedures

“It is anticipated that the closed meeting of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System at 1:00 PM on Tuesday, October 28, 2014, will be held under expedited procedures, as set forth in section 26lb.7 of the Board's Rules Regarding Public Observation of Meetings, at the Board's offices at 20th Street and C Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C. The following items of official Board business are tentatively scheduled to be considered at that meeting.”

Matter(s) Considered

1.            Discussion of Medium-Term Monetary Policy Issues.

Distributed Common Ground System/ Bribery

Missoulian: INSIDE WASHINGTON: Profiting from failure
HOUSE Hearing, 113th Congress - [H.A.S.C. No. 113-38] BUDGET REQUEST FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY [PDF 2981 KB]
“When the Army creates its own cloud—Google did their cloud a few years ago and it is fairly successful. DCGSs [Distributed Common Ground System] cloud isn’t working yet, but it is soon to be there. Apple created a cloud a few years ago. It is working fantastically. That is what I use on my phone right now. You have a lot of products and a lot of commercial software out there, and in this time of extreme budget cuts—we have already spent almost $3 billion on DCGS. You asked for another, I think, $270 million this year. Life cycle costs going up—upwards towards $8 billion or $9 billion going into the future here on an internal DOD, in-the-Belt-way, trying to recreate systems that already exist in real life and are used by big business every single day; that are used by the CIA [Central Intelligence Agency], the DEA [Drug Enforcement Agency], the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation], all the special operations forces. They use some of these off-the-shelf products.”

What is the Distributed Common Ground System – Army (DCGS-A) (video)

Missoulian: Northern Va. Army contractor gets 4 years
Former Army Contracting Official Pleads Guilty In Bribery and Kickback Scheme
“Lim, 48, of Fairfax Station, Va., also known as InSeon Lim, pled guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to three offenses: conspiracy to commit bribery and honest services wire fraud; bribery; and attempting to interfere with and impede tax laws. The conspiracy charge carries a statutory maximum of five years in prison, the bribery charge carries up to 15 years, and the tax charge carries up to three years of incarceration. The charges also carry potential financial penalties. The plea agreement calls for Lim to pay restitution, including $250,000 to the Department of Defense and nearly $125,000 to the IRS. In addition, the plea agreement requires Lim to pay a forfeiture money judgment of $490,262. The Honorable Leonie M. Brinkema scheduled sentencing for Oct. 17, 2014.”