A View from the Beach

Thursday, April 13, 2017

Spring is Sprung

After some yard work and lunch, Skye "persuaded" me to take a walk down to the beach.

Yeah, Spring has been going a while now, but it's really beginning to show here. The trees along the cliff now have enough foliage to blush green, with some other shades from fresh leaves.

A new butterfly for the year, the familiar Spicebush Swallowtail, probably the most common of the three black swallowtails we see.

The greenish blue wash on the hind wings marks it as a male. The females are a more distinct blue. Males also form the majority of the butterflies "puddling" on the beach, to replace fluid and salts lost in mating.

Another recent first is the Eastern Tailed-Blue, the tiniest of all our butterflies. One might cover up the fingernail on my little finger.

This little gem is also male, as the female has much duller brown wings.

Some Jack-in-the-Pulpit along the roadside on the way home:

One account from the Meskwaki Indians states that they would chop the herb's corm and mix it with meat and leave the meat out for their enemies to find. The taste of the oxalate would not be detectable because of the flavored meat, but consuming the meat reportedly caused their enemies pain and death. They also used it to determine the fate of the sick by dropping a seed in a cup of stirred water; If the seed went around four times clockwise, the patient would recover, if it went around less than four times they would not.[4]

The oxalic acid in jack-in-the-pulpit is poisonous if ingested. Care should also be taken to avoid confusion with poison ivy, which has three leaflets somewhat similar in appearance.

The Paw Paws are just getting going too, with a few small leaves, and their characteristic "liver" colored flower:

Pawpaw flowers are insect-pollinated, but fruit production is sometimes limited as few if any pollinators are attracted to the flower's faint, or sometimes non-existent scent. The flowers produce an odor similar to that of rotting meat to attract blowflies or carrion beetles for cross pollination. Other insects that are attracted to pawpaw flowers include scavenging fruit flies, carrion flies and beetles. Because of irregular fruit production, some believe pawpaw plants are self-incompatible, requiring cross-pollination between trees of different clones (patches).

Reason #5513 That Trump Was Elected

Mulvaney Set To Tell Agencies To Prep For Substantial Cuts

Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney is reportedly slated to send a letter to federal agencies later this week warning them to prep for substantial budget cuts.

The guidance letter falls in line with President Donald Trump’s March 13 executive order aimed at making the government leaner and more efficient, Axios first reported.

The order called on Mulvaney, a staunch fiscal conservative and former member of the House Freedom Caucus, to “propose a plan to reorganize governmental functions and eliminate unnecessary agencies (as defined in section 551(1) of title 5, United States Code), components of agencies, and agency programs.”

Trump’s budget called for historic cuts to a number of agencies — including a 31 percent cut to the Environmental Protection Agency, a 28 percent cut to the State Department and a 17.9 percent cut to the Department of Health and Human Services. While a number of the departments’ budgets would be slashed, the Department of Defense would see a 10 percent boost in spending. . .

Trump Team Moves Closer to Gutting Some Federal Agencies

. . . Under a series of executive actions Trump has signed, agencies must develop plans by the end of June to maximize employee performance. By the end of the following quarter, agencies have to submit plans describing how they intend to reform their operations.

And at a higher level, Mulvaney's office will map out how to restructure the executive branch so that it's directed by its functions. As an example, he cited 43 workforce training programs across 13 agencies that could be centralized. He added that multiple offices across multiple agencies handle trade, and pressed that it should be more centralized, as well.

The broader suggestion to structure around functions and issues came from a meeting of CEOs at the White House on Tuesday morning; Mulvaney said the administration is seeking input from business leaders, academics, and civilians alike.

I'll believe it when I see it, but I have some hope.

Midnite Music - "Tico Tico"

Wombat-socho finally gets around to the long awaited "Rule Five Wednesday: Double-Dip Easter Edition."

Another take:

That'll Buy A Little Nice Jewelry

Or a couple of gowns. Melania Trump accepts Daily Mail apology and receives $3 M damages for escort allegation

Melania Trump has accepted the Daily Mail's apology and taken damages for the article which alleged she was an escort.

While the amount to be paid to the First Lady of the United States wasn't disclosed, it is thought to be around £2.4 million ($3 million).

Last year, during the US Presidential campaign, an article was published in print and on the Mail Online which made false claims about her work as a model.

It wrongly implied the First Lady might have been a sex worker in the 1990s in her time at an unspecified modelling agency.

Counsel for Trump in both the UK and the US quickly issued denials, and the US First Lady filed a lawsuit against Associated Newspapers (AP) - who publish the paper - worth a rough $150 million (over £120mn).

The Mail Online published a retraction at the time, and now the paper has settled its case with Melania by agreeing to pay damages.

Catrin Evans QC - who represented AP - told the judge: "The defendant acknowledges these claims about the claimant are untrue. We retract and withdraw them.

"The defendant is here to apologise to the claimant for distress and embarrassment the articles may have caused her."

Now, about that fake news. . .

Wombat-socho finally gets around to the long awaited "Rule Five Wednesday: Double-Dip Easter Edition."

Reason #5512 That Trump Was Elected

Have I ragged on academics yet? I have? Well, let's do it again. University Teacher @LarsMaischak Advocates Death for President Trump

Lars Maischak teaches history at Fresno State University and hates all 63 million Americans who voted for Donald Trump:

Tweets from a Fresno State lecturer Lars Maischak not only demonstrate stark disagreement with capitalism, Christianity, and the GOP, but also a declaration that President Trump “must hang” to save democracy. . . .
Other tweets on Maischak’s profile demonstrate the ideology behind statements about Trump hanging and explain why universities across the country are now viewed with disdain by average, salt-of-the-earth Americans.

This is the kind of person that Fresno State University considers fit to teach history to recent high school graduates. Did you know, by the way, that the state of California has “nearly $400 billion in unfunded liabilities and debt”? Did you know that California “is projected to run a $1.6-billion deficit” in the next fiscal year? It would seem that the government of California needs to reduce its expenses, and perhaps the taxpayers of California could get by with one less teacher at Fresno State.

But I’m probably a “fascist troll” for thinking this way.

A lot of fruits and nuts come from Fresno.

But as Stacy McCain also reminds us, hate is strictly a Republican vice: ‘Hate’ as a Synonym for ‘Republican’.

Anything that is not liberal is labeled “hate,” and anything which is not about promoting the Democrat Party is “right-wing” or “far right.” Any appearance on a college campus by anyone associated with conservative or Republican (i.e., “far right”) political ideas is funded by “right-wing billionaires,” and this “hate” is “putting students in danger.”

The Left deliberately encourages this simple-mind intolerance, demonizing their political opponents, even while they accuse Republicans of “extremism,” “hate” and being “ideologically driven.” But yeah, let’s talk about shady billionaires with political agendas . . .

Morning Wake Up from Brazil

I wonder what the point of the game show was; but then, who cares?

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

They're Back!

Back from Winter vacation, the local Ospreys are back fishing off our beach. Tradition has it that Ospreys arrive back in Maryland around St. Patrick'd Day, but my experience is that our local population tends to arrive 2-3 weeks later. Two were hunting in the shallows when I went down to the beach yesterday

Remarkably clear water. Water clarity is usually pretty good in spring and fall, and a little marginal in summer as the algae blooms get cooking.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtails are starting to be seen around the garden, and puddling on the beach.

But the last winter ducks are still lingering, as these Buffleheads show.

High tides make for not much fossil action, but I did find this Cow Shark tooth. They're fairly rare here.

Also unusual, this beach glass, in sea foam blue, a piece that was either highly ornate to begin with, or melted in a fire before

Warmer weather is starting to bring out more walkers.

From today, a small, but well preserved Snaggletooth Shark symphysial tooth laying where I spotted it.

Flag Harbor from the back.

A very bright maple tree on the way home.

Reason #5511 That Trump Was Elected

Jennifer Delgado

Obama Administration Let Illegal Alien Stay; Now the Girl He Raped Is Dead

Next time a feminist mentions “rape culture” or “violence against women,” ask her when she’s going to write about Jennifer Delgado:

An illegal alien who allegedly twice raped his 15-year-old stepdaughter now stands accused of murdering the girl after Obama’s Department of Justice refused to prosecute him on human smuggling charges. ICE officers were never able to deport the man despite a lengthy criminal history that includes charges of assault, burglary, and human smuggling.
Many opportunities to prevent the needless rape and murder of a young Texas girl slipped by the wayside before 36-year-old Armando Rodrigo Garcia-Ramirez twice impregnated his victim, Jennifer Delgado. In 2008, police arrested the Mexican national for assault. A local prosecutor chose to drop the charges, the Washington Times reported. In 2009, Garcia-Ramires found himself in custody — this time, charged with assault. Prosecutors also dismissed this charge.
In 2011, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers took arrested the man and attempted to deport him. A judge granted the man bond and released him. No further information about this case is currently available.

Armando Rodrigo Garcia-Ramirez

ICE officers took another shot at deporting Garcia-Ramirez in 2016 after he was arrested and charged with smuggling five illegal aliens into the country. ICE officers arrested him and asked the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas to press charges. Claiming the lack of a good witness, the U.S. Attorney declined to prosecute.
By this time, the 36-year-old man had already fathered a child with the teenage girl who he would later kill, the Daily Mail reported. One month later, he impregnated the girl again.
Despite his criminal history, Garcia-Ramirez applied for legal status. The Obama Administration granted him a work permit.
In early March, Garcia-Ramirez asked the teenage girl’s mother to meet him at a bank so that he could give her some money they had been arguing over. The mother, identified in court records as “O,” left Delgado and her baby at home while she went to meet him at the bank.
Instead of meeting “O” at the bank, Garcia-Ramirez went to the house and shot the 9-month pregnant girl twice, killing her and her unborn child. He left the 1-year-old child unharmed and fled the scene, the Daily Mail reported.
(via Memeorandum.)

Does anyone wonder why 63 million Americans voted for Donald Trump?

Hi Ho Silvio, Away!

Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi (R) holds and
hugs a lamb as he poses with Michela Vittoria Brambilla,
animal right activist and member of parliament for
Berlusconi's Forza Italia party

I've missed Silvio Berlusconi ever since the Eye-talians kick him out of their Senate for tax fraud, hardly a crime at all in Italy. Fortunately, he's back in the news, and, as always, in the company of a beautiful lady: Berlusconi 'saves' Easter lambs, angering Italy's meat lobby

Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has infuriated Italy's meat industry by joining a vegetarian campaign and "adopting" five lambs that would have been butchered for Easter.

Silvio Berlusconi (R)? What's that all about. But if it comes to that, I encourage him to join the Republicans.

A video by the Italian League in Defense of Animals and the Environment, showing Berlusconi cuddling, kissing and feeding the lambs with a baby's bottle, was circulated widely on social media over the weekend.

The 80-year-old four-times prime minister was filmed in his parkland estate in front of a sign saying "Defend life, choose a vegetarian Easter", while a scrolling message urged viewers to "Be like him. He saved five lambs from the Easter slaughter."

More lamb for me when I visit Italy next month!

Say what you want about his politics, he's got great taste in women.

Previous Berlusconi posts:

Eye-Talians Hava da Besta Scandals
Bonus Berlusconi!
Bunga Bunga, Berlusconi!
Buono Berlusconi!
Berlusconi Forever!
Our Man Berlusconi...
Berlusconi Defense: I Did It For My Country!
Say It Ain't So, Silvo!
Silvio! Silvio!
Tiring of Italy, Burlesconi Set His Sights on Argentina
But, But, But, Berlusconi!
Go, Go Silvio!
Way to Go, Silvio!
Oh No, Silvio!

No, No, No! Not Silvio!

Wombat-socho finally gets around to the long awaited "Rule Five Wednesday: Double-Dip Easter Edition."

Monday, April 10, 2017

Yahoo! Mountain Dew!

Pepsi mops up 'unusual' Mountain Dew spill

Some 7,200 gallons of concentrated Mountain Dew syrup created a "huge foaming event" and generated environmental concerns after it went down the drain, literally, at the Pepsi bottling plant on Mason Road in Howell last month.

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality was at the plant on several occasions after a tank ruptured and sent the syrup through a floor drain and into the plant's internal sewer system on March 10, said DEQ Senior Environmental Quality Analyst Carla Davidson.

"A spill of this magnitude is highly unusual,” Davidson said, noting the high-sugar syrup can have a toxic effect on aquatic life if it ends up in rivers, lakes or streams.

But no need to worry that Michigan fish will suffer any ADHD from the spill.

Most of the spilled 56,000 gallons flowed into the on-site storm water detention basin, where it was contained, Davidson said, while a small amount went into a ditch behind Key Plastics, where an earthen dam was constructed to contain it.

Pepsi also brought in an environmental contractor, and Davidson said when she visited the following Friday, it was evident the soil had been scraped and the area cleaned up.

“As far as impact to the environment, I think Pepsi is cleaning it up, and we’ll be working with them to prevent discharges like this from happening in the future,” Davidson said. “There was not a release to surface water that we know of, so that’s also a positive.”

“They told us a syrup tank ruptured, so one question we will be asking is ‘Why did this happen?’ We want to make sure the other tanks have good structural integrity, and any maintenance needed is done.”

I wonder if it would contribute to the problem of intersex in fish:

Wombat-socho finally gets around to the long awaited "Rule Five Wednesday: Double-Dip Easter Edition."

A Marvelous Post

61 and sunny! But look out:

The advertisement for Dionisio M. Cornel Memorial Medical Center in Antipolo features an image of Hugh Jackman as the adamantium-clawed character he played in the X-Men and Wolverine films next to text promoting the clinic's circumcision service.

The advertisement went viral after a photo was shared online by Joey deVilla, a blogger and self-styled "rock accordionist." The text at the bottom of the advertisement roughly translates to: "Cheap, doctor, hospital... this is where you get painless circumcision!"

The poster says the foreskin removal service -- which is probably not actually carried out by a mutant super hero with retractable claws -- costs about $28.

However, back in the United States, the Marvelous plan to suck up to the people at Manhattan parties by turning the Marvel superheroes into exemplars of social justice is falling flat: Who could have guessed that “diverse” characters would tank Marvel’s sales?. Me, for one.

I found it more than a little odd (to say the least) when I heard that Thor was going to be a woman and Iron Man was being downgraded to teenager status, but didn’t think too much about it. Still, it sounded like a risky idea from a business perspective and that apparently turned out to be the case. The Guardian reports that sales for Marvel comics have tanked and their feedback is indicating that “diversity” isn’t a panacea for all things.

Marvel’s vice president of sales has blamed declining comic-book sales on the studio’s efforts to increase diversity and female characters, saying that readers “were turning their noses up” at diversity and “didn’t want female characters out there”.

Over recent years, Marvel has made efforts to include more diverse and more female characters, introducing new iterations of fan favourites including a female Thor; Riri Williams, a black teenager who took over the Iron Man storyline as Ironheart; Miles Morales, a biracial Spider-Man and Kamala Khan, a Muslim teenage girl who is the current Ms Marvel.
But speaking at the Marvel retailer summit about the studio’s falling comic sales since October, David Gabriel told ICv2 that retailers had told him that fans were sticking to old favourites. “What we heard was that people didn’t want any more diversity,” he said. “They didn’t want female characters out there. That’s what we heard, whether we believe that or not.”
I hope they have better marketing people on the job than the one quoted in this article because it sounds like they’re taking away precisely the wrong message here. It clearly looks like someone is trying to turn this into some sort of social justice warrior battle when the far more likely explanation is that it comes down to simple brand management and marketing. Making a statement such as, “people didn’t want any more diversity… didn’t want female characters” simply sounds ignorant. What people actually don’t want is you messing around with a known, established brand which your customers grew up with, along with their parents and even grandparents. In some cases you’re messing with legendary figures which predate Christianity.

Here’s a clue for the folks at Marvel. Thor was a dude. He was a big, massively muscular dude. And yes… while I’m sure I’ll be crucified for saying it, he was a white dude with blonde hair. Because he was Nordic. That’s not a racist thing… it’s just the genetics of the folks who dreamed him up. Making him into a girl isn’t suddenly going to change history.

Even the brands which are newer by millennia have been around for a couple of generations. Iron Man isn’t a teenager. He’s an adult. And yet again, he was white. Sorry about that. So was Peter Parker.

Male teenagers and recent adults, the primary consumers of comic books, are exquisitely sensitive to the idea they are being lectured. While introducing new "diversity" characters won't upset them (more imaginary females with huge boobs are always welcome), changing the characters they have some minor emotional attachment to is bad marketing.

Wombat-socho finally gets around to the long awaited "Rule Five Wednesday: Double-Dip Easter Edition."

Reason #5507-5510 That Trump Was Elected

Ivanka Trump: If Ivanka Trump Were A Democrat, She’d Be A Feminist Hero

The media and public have scrutinized Ivanka Trump more than President Trump’s own wife Melania. Perhaps due to a combination of her established public image and the divisiveness of her father’s presidency, Ivanka has received repeated verbal public floggings.

She’s either too feminist or not enough. Her family’s presence in Washington DC causes trouble, but the Obamas are quiet neighbors. She shouldn’t get a title in the White House because only Bill Clinton was allowed to hire family members. If she bakes cookies with her children for Purim, she’s making a political statement through her religious beliefs.

At first glance it seems such double standards are due to her conservatism, but Ivanka Trump is more politically liberal than her father, whose policies, statements, and history trend more moderate liberal: a fan of big government spending, entitlements, government-run health care, an abortion flip-flopper, serial adulterer (sex-positive!), and LGBT-friendly. Is liberal ideology that fluid, or are liberals just so rabid they’ll eat their own?

Yes, and yes. But the Chinese know a good thing when they see her: The ‘Goddess’ Yi Wan Ka: Ivanka Trump Is a Hit in China

When Wang Ge, a business school student, wakes up, she often asks herself, “What would Ivanka do?”

That would be Ivanka Trump, the eldest daughter of President Trump, a woman Ms. Wang has never met but worships.
. . .
Ms. Wang keeps photos of Ms. Trump on her iPad. She counsels burned-out friends to read Ms. Trump’s self-help tips (“Find strength in others” and “Be an optimist”). And she models her day on Ms. Trump’s, waking at 6 a.m. to increase productivity and setting aside at least a half-hour to read.

“She’s pretty, she has her own career, she’s hardworking and she has a beautiful family,” said Ms. Wang, 26, a student at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in Beijing. “She inspires me.”

Ivanka Trump’s Elderly Neighbor RIPS Into Liberal Protesters: Get the F*** Outta Here! (video at link)

Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear white collared short sleeves and are pissed you’re interrupting his rice pudding and Matlock. Such was the case when Ivanka Trump’s 82-year old neighbor stood up to the leftists protesting outside of her house. More specifically, the Queer Dance Party for Climate Justice.

No, seriously, that’s what they called themselves…

Showing that they understand neither climate nor justice. How would the press take it if a bunch of 2nd amendment activists held a rally at the Obama's house in the same neighborhood? According to Scarlett Johansson, Ivanka Trump Isn't Just "Complicit," She's "Cowardly"

. . . While Ivanka Trump has tried to position herself as an advocate for women in the White House, Johansson finds her performance so far wanting and was disappointed she wasn't willing to publicly disagree with her father.

“It’s such an old-fashioned concept,” Johansson said. “Powerful women often get concerned with this idea that they’re going to be seen in this unforgiving light. Screw that. It’s so old-fashioned...it’s so uninspired and actually really cowardly. And I was so disappointed by that interview she gave yesterday.”

“She has an opportunity to really make a big impact just by being vocal," she continued. "I’ve met her several times in the past, and she’s a very well spoken, smart, intelligent woman...the whole situation baffles me.”

Cat fight!

Wombat-socho finally gets around to the long awaited "Rule Five Wednesday: Double-Dip Easter Edition."

Buzzed at the Beach!

We took a beach walk after lunch. Another sunny day, working it's way up toward 65 F, and breezy at 12 kts from the south. The water is about as clear as it ever gets here, now.

We were most of the way down the beach to Matoaka Cottages when we heard, but did not see, a helicopter. Eventually we saw it, below the top of the cliff, running south over the beach.

The helicopter is one used to ferry US Air Force big wigs. I've seen it, or one a lot like it, here before, doing the same thing. Thanks, Captains Robert Yost and Justin Colby! It's a little cool for a bikini run yet, but in a month or so . . .

An impromptu concert at the Calvert Beach picnic tables. Nice guitar! Much too nice to risk at the beach.

A run of the mill Clouded Sulfur checking out a Dandelion on the way home. They're quite plentiful now.

Reason #5506 That Trump Was Elected

And then depression set in… at the EPA

Hard times have arrived at the Environmental Protection Agency. It’s not just the budget and staff cuts which have the long time staffers down in the dumps. It seems that they feel the new boss, Scott Pruitt, as well as his boss, aren’t exactly onboard with the old agenda which they’ve grown used to over eight years under Barack Obama. According to this report from the LA Times, this has some of them feeling so glum and hopeless that they are thinking of leaving their plush, virtually fire-proof jobs and heading out in search of greener pastures. The pressure is such that Jared Blumenfeld, a regional EPA administrator, says his phone is “ringing off the hook.”

“The number one call I get everyday is, ‘Jared, can you help us find work somewhere else,’” said Blumenfeld, who ran the regional office of the EPA encompassing California, Nevada and Arizona until last May.
His advice? Don’t quit, fight. “I try to tell people that staying and doing your job at this point in history is an act of resistance, that if they leave, we will wind up with gaps in the system.”
That message is not always well received from employees now working for an administration that has openly accused the agency of producing junk science, pursuing a political agenda and abusing its authority.
The interesting phrase in Blumenfeld’s testimony is the idea that they would like to “find work somewhere else.” I’m wondering if that means that they’re looking for jobs in a different department of the government or out in the private sector. If it’s the former then they may be barking up the wrong tree. There are cuts taking place all across the executive branch and open spots are going to be hard to find. And aren’t your jobs somewhat specialized being in a department like the EPA? It doesn’t seem like those skills would immediately transfer over to transportation or health service, housing or any of the other cabinet level departments. If they’re talking about a private sector job, prepare yourselves for a shock. It’s a very competitive, results oriented environment out there in the real world and you can actually be fired if you are bad at your job, screwing off, watching porn at work or selling drugs out of your desk. It may be a shock to the system for some of you so I just want to make sure you’re prepared.

Maybe they can get a new job on a fracking rig somewhere in North Dakota, Pennsylvania or Texas. I'm sure they'll get used to the dirt and physical exertion eventually.

EPA staffer bravely quits job in defiance of Trump… sort of

Remember those surveys which showed that up to one third of federal workers were thinking of quitting their jobs as soon as Donald Trump was sworn in as the nation’s 45th president? More than a few of them were obviously workers at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where the media mournfully reported that workers were “coming to work in tears” over what was to become of their beloved agency. But for all of the angst and bluster showing up in the press we weren’t actually seeing many (if any) people making good on their promise. That is… until now. We’ve finally found that long sought after worker who took a stand, flipped the bird to Scott Pruitt and Donald Trump, fired off a take this job and shove it letter and walked off the job. And his name is Mike Cox. (Washington Post)

When Mike Cox quit, he did so with gusto.
After 25 years, he retired last week from the Environmental Protection Agency with a tough message for the boss, Administrator Scott Pruitt.
“I, along with many EPA staff, are becoming increasing alarmed about the direction of EPA under your leadership … ” Cox said in a letter to Pruitt. “The policies this Administration is advancing are contrary to what the majority of the American people, who pay our salaries, want EPA to accomplish, which are to ensure the air their children breath is safe; the land they live, play, and hunt on to be free of toxic chemicals; and the water they drink, the lakes they swim in, and the rivers they fish in to be clean.”
Oh, my! How principled. How bold. And I love the way the Washington Post chooses to describe Cox’s actions. The headline informs us that he “leaves with a bang.” The opening paragraph lets us know that he “quit” and that “he did so with gusto.” But did he really?

Not really. In fact, he didn’t quit at all. He retired with 25 years of service… something he could have done at least five years earlier if he didn’t want to hang around and run out the clock to maximize his benefits. And speaking of which, Mike is in for a pretty sweet deal. If you calculate his Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) payout he’s looking at anywhere from a quarter to a half of his highest three year compensation average plus a host of other goodies. (Thanks, unions!) It’s a pretty sweet deal if you can get it.

Now hire a former fracker to take his position.

Linked at The Daley Gator in "Dedication Sunday." Thanks, Doug!

Indian Monkey Girl Under Scrutiny

From a link at Althouse, back to the Washington Post: Accounts of girl raised by monkeys in India questioned

Amid a troop of monkeys in the Katraniaghat forest range in northern India roamed a naked human girl, playing with the primates as if she were one of them. She looked emaciated, her hair disheveled. But she appeared to be in a comfortable state, until the police arrived. A group of woodcutters had alerted authorities after spotting the girl, believed to be 10 to 12 years old.

When police approached her, the monkeys surrounded the girl, protecting her as one of their own, and attacking an officer as the girl screeched at him, the New Indian Express reported this week. After rescuing the girl, the officer sped away in his patrol car, the monkeys chasing him.

She was soon admitted to a state-run hospital in Bahraich, a city in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, where she has remained for the past two months. Doctors believe the girl had been raised by monkeys for quite some time, and her story has so far mystified authorities, sending them searching through reports of missing children in an attempt to identify her, according to the Associated Press.

In the Indian press, the girl has also drawn comparisons to Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli, a feral child from Seoni, India, featured as the prominent character in Kipling’s “The Jungle Book.”

It's kind of a romantic story. Child lost/abandoned by parents, adopted by animals and raised "feral". It has happened. Many other animals will "adopt" young of another species. Some monkeys steal puppies and adopt them, and raise them until they bond with the monkeys and act as guard dogs.The reality is, there is a short period of development which is crucial to learning language, and becoming a successful member of human society. Tarzan and The Jungle Book are fiction.

However, many such reports are hoaxes or exaggerations of situations. Now the editors are starting to back away from the story:

Editor’s note: New information has been reported since publication of this story that raise significant doubts about the veracity of the initial accounts on which it was based. The story relied on reports by the Associated Press and the New Indian Express quoting local officials who came upon her, and a video interview with the physician who treated her. These versions of what happened to her are now being questioned by other officials quoted in the Guardian and the Hindustan Times. While the girl appears to have been abandoned near the forest in question, according to these new reports, these officials do not believe she had been living among monkeys. The original headline has been changed, and you can read about the new developments here.