Weird News of the World Thread - Part 2

[squeekness]

Human-Shaped Fungus Grows in England

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/new-mushr...ide-look-like-fun-guys-104248090.html#umGeKWc

Of course the UK has human fungi that kill you

Those mushrooms look creepy, like someone would be sticking voodoo pins in them.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Male Mice Sing Fancy Tunes to Woo the Ladies

Male mice sing different songs in different contexts when courting lady mice, saving their best stuff for females they haven't even met yet. That's according to new research out of Duke University that documented male mice changing their tunes, literally, as social contexts changed.

And the kicker?

The fancy tunes were, perhaps no surprise, a hit with the ladies (and, hey, they could always blame the drummer if things did not go well).

The news isn't just of interest to fans of singing mice. The findings, and further study on what mice can or can't do vocally, may have implications for autism spectrum disorders in humans, say the researchers.

Mice "sing" using what are called "ultrasonic vocalizations" — high-pitched sounds that escape the human ear. To listen in on them, the researchers used special microphones to record male mice singing in two social contexts: smelling, but not seeing, a female; and interacting with her in person (as it were).

In the first case, the male was presented with female urine to sniff, but there was no lady in sight for him to woo. So what's a mouse in the mood to do? Sight unseen, the male sang to his intended a loud, complex song (defined by the scientists as a series of utterances or syllables, sometimes with a tempo).

In the second case, the female was placed in the same container with the male. Finally whisker-to-whisker with the object of his desire, the romeo mouse sang longer, simpler, quieter songs. (The video below offers a chance to compare the male's vocal chops in both cases.)

[YT]ZS4Chf9yh8s[/YT]

"We think this has something to do with the complex song being like a calling song, and then when he sees the female, he switches to a simpler song in order to save energy to chase and try to court her at the same time," said co-corresponding author Erich Jarvis, an associate professor of neurobiology at Duke University and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.

Meanwhile, the fancy vocal gymnastics went over big with the female mice in the study. Given the choice, the majority preferred to listen to the complex songs. The researchers say this display of different reactions to different songs adds to their conclusion that there is meaning behind the various tunes.

Next, the scientists plan to study how particular genes and brain areas play into the songs the mice are singing. If they can figure out to what degree mice can learn to modify their songs, they say, it could be helpful in the study of autism spectrum disorders, where social communication and brain circuitry that affects learned behavior are impacted.

The Duke team's results were published April l in the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience.

http://news.discovery.com/animals/male-mice-sing-fancy-tunes-to-woo-the-ladies-150403.htm

So being a mouse is very similar to life in a Disney movie?

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Watching a Go-Pro Camera Fall 10,000 Feet is Mesmerizing

A Go-Pro camera was recently found outside of Kristianstad, Sweden, after its skydiving owner lost it during a jump. Remarkably, the camera was still functional, but even more incredible is the footage it captured during nearly 10,000 feet of descent.

[YT]gF4TTPXu9r0[/YT]

Kristoffer Örstadius, who posted the video, says he’s still searching for the camera’s rightful owner. Meanwhile, we can all enjoy its crazy, tailspinning descent, the likes of which I hope to never experience firsthand.

http://sputniknews.com/videoclub/20150404/1020479909.html

Those things are damn tough, GoPro should turn that into a commercial

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Urban Ants Love Junk Food, Too

Anyone who’s ever dropped an ice cream cone knows that ants love sugar. But for ants that live on city streets and pavements, junk food may be a matter of survival.

“The ants that live alongside us in our cities also seem to be those same species that can eat the same food that we do, and do so the most,” Clint Penick, a post-doctoral fellow at North Carolina State University, told The Guardian last week. Penick is lead author of a new study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, which finds that ants living on pavements and in traffic islands have a particular appetite for junk food and meat—more so than ants living in a park or on a lawn.

The researchers gathered more than 20 species of ants living on sidewalks, medians, and parks in Manhattan, and analyzed them for a carbon 13, an isotope that can indicates what sorts of foods you’re eating. Foods containing corn or sugar cane (basically, all processed foods) and meats tend to be enriched in carbon 13. Ants living on pavements, the researchers found, had higher carbon 13 levels than their park-bound counterparts. The ant with the highest carbon 13 levels was Tetramorium sp. E, which, the researchers say, is ubiquitous on streets and sidewalks in cities around the world.

Future research will determine whether street ants have a preference for human food even when their natural food sources are available. Now that we’ve built an entirely new type of ecosystem, we get to see whether nature is adapting in step.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/02/ants-new-york-city-streets-eat-human-food

Gotta survive

 

[Teelie]

The Fake Places That Only Exist to Catch Copycat Mapmakers


http://gizmodo.com/the-fake-places-that-only-exist-to-catch-copycat-cartog-1695414770

What an odd practice

And now I know why I got stuck in Thunder Bay on a road that ended in the entrance to a shopping mall.

We're you using an old school map?

We were using a gas station map - this was over 10 years ago and we didn't have our "Navigating Nancy" yet.

I've read about this before although it's the first time I've heard of a fake town became real. They've been copywriting maps like this for almost as long as there have been maps to copyright it seems. Even in the digital age apparently they can't resist doing it.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Three Dead After Van Carrying Heavy Metal Bands Crashes in Georgia

Three people were killed and eight more were injured when a van carrying two heavy metal bands crashed early this morning in northeast Georgia.

Georgia State Patrol officers told WSB-TV that the driver, who was uninjured, apparently fell asleep just after 7 a.m., causing to van veer down an embankment and crash into a tree. The accident occurred on I-85, about 65 miles northeast of Atlanta.

“The driver lost control, either by going to sleep or some other means, we're still investigating that. He left the roadway, travelled about 300 feet off the roadway and struck a tree with the passenger side of the van,” Georgia State Patrol Cpl. Scott Smith said.

The side of the van was ripped off, and three passengers were ejected. Of the eight people injured, three are in critical condition, and Fox 5 reports that two of the injuries are life-threatening. The three passengers who died have not yet been publicly identified.

The 12 passengers were all members of the metal bands Atlanta-based Khaotika and Huntsville, Ala.- based Wormreich. The bands, along with a third, Kult ov Azazel, were on their way to Atlanta for a show Monday night.

Cpl. Smith told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution that the band members “appeared to be in their late 20s or early 30s… from all over, from Virginia to North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Ohio, from all different states.”

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/multiple-fatalities-reported-jackson-county-crash/nknWt/

Well that sucks

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

An Edward Snowden Monument Has Risen in Brooklyn

Brooklyn's Fort Greene Park is currently—and temporarily—home to a 100-pound bronze-colored bust of Edward Snowden, erected early this morning by a crew of guerilla artists. Animal New York has the story. Run see it before the pigs get there.

http://animalnewyork.com/2015/there...-snowden-stuck-to-a-war-monument-in-brooklyn/

He was great on Last Week Tonight last night

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Doctor Found Dead Was Devastated by Martin Short Impersonation

According to the New York Post, Dr. Fredric Brandt—the celebrity dermatologist behind the many faces of Madonna and Stephanie Seymour—was found dead Sunday in his Miami home.

Brandt’s publicist, Jacquie Trachtenberg, confirmed his death to Page Six's Emily Smith, saying, “He passed away this morning. He was suffering from an illness. Everyone who knows him is devastated... I worked with him for over 20 years and he was an amazing man, not only was he a brilliant doctor, but he was the kindest human being.”

But a Miami Herald blogger says Brandt was also depressed and "devastated" by a Martin Short character thought to be based on him.

According to a New York Times profile published last year, Brandt freely admitted to testing new treatments out on himself.

And there is Dr. Brandt himself, who has experimented over the decades with self-administered injections of Botox and an array of fillers — Restylane, Perlane, Juvéderm, Voluma — as each new substance gained approval of the Food and Drug Administration and entered the marketplace. The result is a mask of serene immobility, a face with a creaseless brow, a square firm jawline, lips feminine in their puffy fullness. His skin is impressively smooth and so pale as to lend him a lunar aspect. Strangers often inquire, Dr. Brandt said, whether he is from Sweden.

“Actually,” he replies, “I’m a Jewish kid from Newark.”​

When asked why he worked such late hours at his lucrative practice, he reportedly said, “I want people to feel they haven’t given up on life and are still in the game."

http://pagesix.com/2015/04/05/famed-dermatologist-to-the-stars-dies-at-65/

I'm sure Martin would feel bad if that was the case

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Mischievous Little Goat Arrested for Disorderly Conduct

A lawless goat—or a billy the kid, if you will—is currently in custody in New Jersey on a litany of charges, including disorderly behavior, trespass, and first-degree larceny (for stealing my damn heart.)

Paramus cops say they "responded to calls of a disorderly goat headbutting a door in the Beech Lane area of town" on Sunday morning.

According to the police report, the smirking ball of fur attempted to flee but eventually got picked up "running in the roadway." He remains in custody, both with animal control and on my computer as a screensaver.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/n...298710141.html?_osource=SocialFlowTwt_DCBrand

Why are there goats running around Jersey?

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

NSA Has a Special Room to Find Terrorist Memos Hidden in Porn

If you’re working for the National Security Agency, watching hours of hardcore porno can be just another day at work. So much so, there’s even a special porn room in which to protect national security, where agents look past boobs for clues in the glut of smut.

NSA agents analyze the pornography that terrorists and suspected radicals watch, since embedding hidden, encrypted messages in porn clips is a known tactic.

Documents publicized by Edward Snowden made it clear that the NSA has been monitoring porn habits in some capacity. And the volume of sexually explicit material is so high that officials say there’s a special room for it:

It’s mostly porn,” a former intelligence officer who worked on counterterrorism operations, told The Daily Beast. At the headquarters of the NSA in Ft. Meade, Md., another former intelligence officer said, there is a closed room set aside for watching porno clips.​

If this sounds like a job perk, it shouldn’t. It’s one of the reasons why the NSA deploys counselors to help agents deal with their exposure to traumatizing material. Watching porn isn’t so enjoyable when it’s porn with children in it, as a former official pointed out to the Daily Beast.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/04/the-shrinks-who-only-see-cia-officers.html

That job sounds like it really sucks

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

You Can Now Serve Divorce Papers on Facebook

What to do if you need to serve divorce papers to a spouse that’s nowhere to be found, or dodging your calls and visits? Send them a Facebook message, of course. This is now an accepted way to start the process of ending a marriage.

A Manhattan Supreme Court Justice recently ruled that a 26-year-old woman named Ellanora Baidoo could serve her husband divorce paperwork “using a private message through Facebook,” the New York Daily News reports.

In this instance, Baidoo’s husband, Victor Sena Blood-Dzraku, is strangely hard to find. Blood-Dzraku doesn’t have a job. He hasn’t had an address since 2011. On top of that, the “post office has no forwarding address for him, there is no billing address linked to his prepaid cell phone, and the Department of Motor Vehicles has no record of him.” The man is a ghost—a ghost whose wife wants a divorce.

Blood-Dzraku apparently only communicates via phone and social media. Since the phone route hasn’t worked so far, Ellanora Baidoo will serve the divorce summons via Facebook message “once a week for three consecutive weeks or until acknowledged.” This isn’t the first time someone’s been allowed to serve legal paperwork on Facebook. However, it appears to be the first time a Facebook message has officially marked the end of a marriage. Probably not the last, sadly.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...cebook-serve-divorce-papers-article-1.2174577

I think we all knew this day was coming

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Antibiotic Resistance Could Spark Devastating Outbreaks

The UK's National Risk Register for Civil Emergencies is warning that a widespread outbreak of an antibiotic-resistant blood infection could affect upwards of 200,000 Britons, resulting in the deaths of around 80,000. It's a dire warning at the dawn of the post-antibiotic era.

Here's what the NRR's report had to say on the topic:

The numbers of infections complicated by [antimicrobial resistance, aka "AMR"] are expected to increase markedly over the next 20 years. If a widespread outbreak were to occur, we could expect around 200,000 people to be affected by a bacterial blood infection that could not be treated effectively with existing drugs, and around 80,000 of these people might die. High numbers of deaths could also be expected from other forms of antimicrobial resistant infection.​

AMR is a growing problem worldwide. In the absence of antibiotics, even minor surgery and routine operations could become high-risk procedures. Organ transplantation, bowel surgery, and some cancer treatments could become extremely unsafe. People could stay sick longer, potentially resulting in premature mortality. Influenza pandemics could become more serious.

To deal with these grim prospects, the NRR says the UK government needs to work with its international partners to secure support at the global level. AMR also needs to be seen as the high priority issue that it is.

In the United States, the CDC has already warned that the globe is quickly heading into the post-antibiotic era. To address the problem, the Obama Administration has released a national action plan to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria, along with the call to double funding to fight AMR.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-32193606

Scary prospects for the future

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

In The Honey Bee Game Of Thrones, You Also Win Or You Die

The world of Westeros has nothing on a honey bee hive. It turns out in order to gain the monarchy, a queen bee has to murder quite a lot of family members — all while waiting for a younger queen bee to inevitably murder her and usurp the throne.

Queen bees start out life by killing all of their sisters. Whichever queen emerges first emits a high-pitched piping sound. When the worker bees around the queen hear that sound, they quiet down (although they have the ability to pipe themselves). Other potential queens also give off a battle cry.

But when you are still developing and trapped in a cell, it's a major mistake to start making noise. The piping of the un-"hatched" queens will often bring over the emerged queen. She'll rip the cell to pieces and kill her sister.
As the reigning queen gets older, and workers note her declining egg production and start to build new queen cells, she will attempt to murder her children. It's not unusual for queens to approach new queen cells and tear them apart. Workers tolerate this with more fuss than they did the sororicide. They get agitated, but they still allow it.

When a new queen starts emerging, though, the workers run out of patience with the old one. Sometimes they drag her out of the colony, or wall her up to die of starvation (they've been slowing down the food supply during the gestation of the new queens). And sometimes they participate in a little thing called "queen balling." The workers suddenly surround the queen, forming a ball around her. Once in position, they all sting towards the center, essentially taking out the queen the way the senators took out Caesar. Once the queen dies, they drag the body out, watch the new queen kill her sisters, and the cycle begins all over again.

http://io9.com/in-the-honey-bee-game-of-thrones-you-also-win-or-you-d-1695653453

Bees are hardcore

 

[squeekness]

Nature isn't for the faint of heart. Yikes.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Rest easy knowing the mice sing to their loves Squeeks

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

D.C. Plunged Into Darkness by Equipment Failure at Maryland Facility

A widespread power outage in Washington D.C.—the White House, the State Department, the U.S. Capitol, the Justice Department, and the Department of Energy are among the buildings that lost power—was apparently caused by an explosion at a southern Maryland electrical facility, according to the Washington Post.

From the Post:

The explosion was at a facility run by SMECO, a customer-owned electric that serves parts of the District’s Maryland suburbs, said Nicole Chapple, a spokeswoman for the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency

Chris T. Geldart, director of the agency, said the District experienced a broad power surge that left many downtown buildings dark or on backup generation.​

Some parts of D.C. may not have power restored until tomorrow afternoon, according to WNEW’s Chuck Carroll.

Chris Geldart, director of the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, told the Post that any government offices with critical operations centers have switched over to back-up generators.

NBC News reports that officials at Homeland Security don't believe the outage was caused by terrorism.

Outages have also been reported at the University of Maryland, College Park, where people are reportedly stuck in elevators, and at 13 D.C. Metro stations, though trains are apparently running on time.

UPDATE 2:33 pm: The outages were caused by an equipment failure, not an explosion, according to NBC Washington.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/l...ges-Reported-in-Across-DC-Area-298923411.html

That's gotta be weird if you're in their underground stuff out there

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Mummified Body, 300 Urine Bottles Discovered in San Francisco Home

The mummified corpse of a San Francisco woman was found buried under "mounds of trash" in her home on Saturday, surrounded by bugs, rats and hundreds of bottles of urine, the L.A. Times reports. Authorities do not suspect foul play.

“I’m hearing that there were rats, spiders, dog feces and trash just everywhere, in some cases piled to the ceiling,” Richmond District Supervisor Eric Mar told the San Francisco Chronicle. “The police captains I’ve spoken with tell me this is the worst case of hoarding they have ever seen.”

According to Mar aide Victor Lim, the woman is believed to have been in her 90s when she died at least five years ago in the house she shared with her 65-year-old daughter.

“I’m saddened that she couldn’t let her mother go,” a neighbor told KPIX 5 News. “I saw her 3 days ago and I asked her, ‘Is your mother still with us?’ And she said ‘Yes.’ Delusional. She was with her. She was, she was still with her.”

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-mummified-body-hoarder-san-francisco-20150406-story.html

How can anyone live like that?

 

[KevanG]

That's all sorts of ****ed up.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Father of Late GWAR Frontman Claims Bandmates Stole Son's Ashes

In a blood and slime-soaked retelling of the death of Gram Parsons, a new lawsuit accuses metal band GWAR of stealing recently deceased singer David Brockie's property, including his guitars, artwork and—perhaps most significantly—cremated remains.

According to NBC News, Brockie's father filed a $1 million lawsuit against the band on Thursday, saying GWAR tried to "capitalize on the death" of the late frontman also known as intergalactic barbarian Oderus Urungus. From NBC:

The suit accuses the band of failing to pay Brockie's estate what it was owed for the last tour; stealing his bass guitars, artwork and other personal effects, including a gold record; and trying to take control of Brockie's estate from his father.

The goal, the suit suggests, was to cash in on Brockie's likeness and effects without permission. The suit says the effort began the very day after Brockie died, when the band's manager allegedly signed bogus releases allowing the band to use his name and likeness for merchandising.​

Furthermore, the lawsuit claims, Brockie's former bandmates "have retained the vast majority of Dave Brockie's remains," which are reportedly kept locked at GWAR's Slave Pit headquarters.

After attempting to retrieve the remains last May, the elder Brockie allegedly received only a small portion of his son's ashes "delivered in a used plastic bag with Discover credit card logo on it," which, to be fair, is the official card of ancient otherworldly monsters.

http://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/...ng-late-singer-dave-brockies-cremains-n336871

Truly bizarre

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Forest Fires At Chernobyl Could Spawn Clouds of Radioactive Ash

In the years since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, the exclusion zone has morphed into an improbable nature reserve—untamed and untouched and, well, still radioactive. A new study warns that forest fires could spread radioactive material from the site, but how dangerous the ash would be is unknown.

The exclusion zone extends 30 kilometers, or 19 miles, in all directions around Chernobyl. And it’s been largely uninhabited since the disaster in 1986, save a few hundred people who refused to leave. As the New York Times notes, trees and brush have since grown to cover 70 percent of the zone. Radioactive materials such as cesium and strontium still lurk in the soil and plants, which could be released again in a forest fire.

A new study published in Ecological Monographs notes that three forest fires since 2002 have redeposited 8 percent of the cesium-137 from the original disaster. “We’ve invested billions to put a new cover over the old reactor building,” the study’s co-author Timothy Mousseau said to the Times. “But forest fires have the ability to remobilize radioactive material from the original event.”

As the forest grows thicker and temperatures rise with climate change, fires could become even even bigger hazards in the future. It’s still unclear whether the levels of radioactive material released would actually be dangerous for human health, but it illustrates yet again how the Chernobyl disaster could live on in unexpected ways.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/07/science/forest-fires-threaten-new-fallout-from-chernobyl.html?_r=0

Never even occurred to me that could be a problem

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

3D Laser Scan Shows London's Abandoned Underground Mail Rail Network

Beneath the streets of London, an underground rail network once existed to shuttle mail around the city. Decommissioned in 2003, this 3D laser scan serves to save its existence for posterity.

The network was used for 76 years and was in fact home to the world's first driverless, electrified railway. But the site—beneath one of the city's mail sorting facilities—is set to become a museum dedicated to the subject of the postal past. These tunnels will become routes for a train that visitors to ride—so the UK-based ScanLAB Project was called in to preserve them in their current state using 3D laser scans. Capturing the scene at millimeter resolution, the result shows the space as it was left, with tools, office detritus and even dartboards littering the depths.

http://www.newscientist.com/article...ailway-preserved-in-3d-scan.html#.VSO9n0aepW0

That's pretty dope

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Parents File Complaint Over “Hyper-Commercialized” YouTube Kids App

When the YouTube Kids app was announced six weeks ago, it seemed like a nice, safe way to ensconce your child in a fuzzy walled garden of Sesame Street and a certain friendly Tank Engine. But according to a complaint filed with the FTC today, it’s exposing kids to a “hyper-commercialized” environment with basically no safeguards instead.

The complaint has been co-signed by a dozen prominent consumer groups, who are lining up to pile hate on the Google app. The problem seems to be the overt commercialization of the app: not only are adverts playing immediately before and after videos (something required for children’s shows on TV), but hosts outright endorse products to kids in videos.

Given that adults probably struggle to distinguish between unbiased opinions and paid-for schilling on YouTube, the complaint seems to have merit: it’s long been established that kids are more susceptible to advertising, a problem that’s been addressed for broadcast media with a host of regulations designed to protect children. Especially in an app specifically targeted at the kiddies, you’d think Google would be more careful.

For its part, Google is keeping tight-lipped for now: a YouTube spokesperson told media outlets “When developing YouTube Kids we consulted with numerous partners and child advocacy and privacy groups. We are always open to feedback on ways to improve the app.”

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/apr/07/google-youtube-kids-app-complaint-fcc

Google has had some missteps as of late

 

[Slushy]

Burger King to pay for wedding of man named Burger and woman named King.

We think Beyoncé said it best: If you liked it then you should’ve put an onion ring on it!

Burger King is making sure that one lovely couple — Joel Burger and Ashley King — have it their way for their wedding by footing the bill for the upcoming Burger-King nuptials!

“When we heard about the happy, Burger-King couple, we felt an overwhelming urge to celebrate their upcoming marriage,” Burger King brand spokesman Eric Hirschhorn tells the ‘The State Journal-Register.’

“On so many levels it felt like fate; they found each other and their story found us.”



Burger King caught wind of their wedding after the State Journal-Register shared the details of their love story last week. The Jacksonville, Ill., couple have been known as “Burger-King” since elementary school.

While they remained friends for some time, they started dating in high school. And when he popped the question last year, the couple embraced their nickname by posing for their engagement photos outside a Burger King restaurant.




The two already said they aren’t going to exchange vows at a Burger King location — but their friends at BK headquarters will definitely make sure it’s a whopper of a party nonetheless!

“Oh my god,” the bride-to-be gushed of her wedding plans. “It’s going to be crazy.

Well played, Burger King. This is great PR for them.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Haha that is awesome. Indeed very smart on their part

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

A Chart Showing You How Much Water It Takes To Grow All The Food You Eat

How much more water does it take to produce an ounce of bread, than a ounce of juice? The answer is not quite what you might expect.

This chart is the work of Kyle Kim over at the LA Times, and it breaks down just how much water goes into producing different kinds of common foods. As you can see, meat is (unsurprisingly) the top water siphoner, but even beyond that category there are some pretty thirsty foods, like bread, asparagus, and mangoes.

Of course, while the ounce-to-ounce comparison is a good way to see relative usages, it's not a perfect one-to-one comparison in terms of serving sizes. Spotting a 16-ounce steak on a menu is hardly uncommon. Knocking back 16-ounces of grapefruit juice in one go, however, seems a little excessive.

Still, it's a good reminder — particularly as the droughts in large-scale agricultural production areas, like California, get deeper — that our food supply depends on our water supply. Some of it more than others.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-water-hungry-foods-20150406-story.html

Weird when you put in that kind of perspective