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Post by FWS on Apr 23, 2014 16:34:54 GMT -6
A Lobster in Every PotFrom fast food to fine dining, the crustacean is showing up on more menus By Sarah Nassauer Wall Street Journal March 18, 2014 Lobster used to be the occasional tasty treat, taking up the pricey real estate on restaurant menus. But now thanks to a mashup of factors that are seeing prices drop, lobster is everywhere. Sarah Nassauer reports on Lunch Break. Photo: Luke's Lobster. Lobster, long considered a luxury, is becoming a little more ordinary. Soaring supply and falling prices for whole live lobster, along with new food trends, are changing how people eat the crustacean—perhaps for the long term. Sandwich shop Quiznos, like other inexpensive chains, is adding more lobster dishes alongside its subs. Golden Corral, the buffet-style restaurants, has put lobster on the menu for the first time. Grocery stores from Whole Foods WFM +0.95% to Wal-Mart WMT +0.62% are stocking new lobster items such as frozen tails and cooked claws. View Graphics The most expensive restaurants are going beyond classic whole lobster or lobster tail and putting the crustacean in dishes such as pasta, soups and even chips. It is rare dynamic in today's food world: Supply of lobster is plentiful and pushing down prices. This comes at a time when rising commodity costs are boosting the price of foods like beef and coffee. And much of the most popular seafood is being severely overfished. The supply of North Atlantic lobsters has steadily climbed for over a decade. Supply is likely growing because of a combination of factors. Warming water in recent years may be boosting lobster population. Fishermen are following regulations that protect young and egg-bearing lobsters. And there has been a decline in recent decades of natural predators such as cod, which eat baby lobsters. Lobster fishermen groups in the U.S. and Canada, the main areas where lobster is caught for the American market, say retail prices have fallen. In the past two years, the average price that Maine fishermen are paid for whole live lobster has been under $3 per pound, down from a high of $4.63 in 2005, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources. Lobster prices can vary widely across the country. Many restaurants buy in bulk to lock in a good price. "When you increase supply by 80% in five years," it is hard for prices to keep up when consumer spending is weak, says Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen's Association, which represent the state's fishermen. Enlarge Image Crustaceans in Aisle 2: A prepared, frozen lobster dish Whole Foods recently began selling. Whole Foods Market, Inc. There are signs lobster prices are beginning to inch up. In 2013, prices paid to Maine fishermen rose slightly to an average of $2.89 per pound from $2.69 per pound in 2012. The amount of lobsters caught started to level off. Inexpensive chain restaurants have jumped at the chance to add lobster's premium image to their menus. Golden Corral bought 200,000 pounds of frozen lobster tails last August. It paid $3.79 per tail, or about $13 a pound—an approximately 20-year low for the restaurant, says Bob McDevitt, senior vice president of franchising for the 500-location Raleigh, N.C.-based chain. (By the time a restaurant buys lobster, its price has gone up as the supply chain can include wharf fees, a cut for dealers or wholesalers and processing-plant costs.) Golden Corral is now thawing the tails for a limited-time special, a common practice with tails served at inexpensive restaurants. (The tails have a 12-month frozen shelf life, Mr. McDevitt says.) The special is timed to lure diners after a cold winter that kept them eating at home, he says. At $3.99 a tail, the company isn't making a profit on the special, but it is likely to boost sales of buffet dinners, he says. Among national chains, lobster appeared on 35% more menusin 2013 compared with 2009, according to Datassential, a menu research and consultancy company based in Chicago. At many high-end restaurants, classic whole lobster and tail dishes are seen as passé and therefore offered less "despite the price drop," says Maeve Webster, senior director at Datassential. Instead, lobster rolls, lobster salad and lobster bisque are growing in popularity. When off-the-boat prices for lobster were plummeting about two years ago, Gramercy Tavern in New York switched to a lobster supplier who buys directly from Maine fishermen, reducing the restaurant's cost per pound by about $3, says Howard Kalachnikoff, executive sous chef at the one-Michelin-star restaurant. Gramercy Tavern is buying lobster for $8.25 a pound, or comparable with the best cuts of beef, allowing chefs "a little bit more experimentation," he says. Lobster is on the menu in a pappardelle, chorizo and mussels dish; in a salad with winter squash; as a base for sauce on a flounder, a wild rice dish; and incorporated into an airy chip served with lime aioli. The priciest restaurants "do not lower [menu prices] when lobster gets cheaper," says Jordan Elkin, president and founder of Homarus, which buys live lobster directly from Maine fishermen and sells to about 300 high-end restaurants in New York, including Gramercy Tavern. Those restaurants know diners will pay a premium for lobster, Mr. Elkin says. At L2O in Chicago, a seafood restaurant where the lowest-priced dinner is a prix fixe meal for $140 per person, lobster is now more often paired with pricey ingredients, says Matthew Kirkley, the restaurant's chef. "I'm serving sweetbread and truffles with lobster," because of his current $8 a pound wholesale price (which doesn't include overnight shipping by FedEx FDX -0.51% ), says Mr. Kirkley. Usually pairing "$600-a-pound black truffles" with pricey lobster in one dish would be cost prohibitive, he says. The lobster eaten most often in the U.S. is Homarus americanus, the only species with two large claws that is caught along the north Atlantic coast in Canada and the U.S. Because of differences in weather, fishing seasonsand fishing regulations, most hard-shell (and therefore easily shipped) live lobster is procured in Canada, while most soft-shell lobster (sold live in New England, but difficult to ship longer distances) is caught in the U.S. (A lobster has a hard shell before it molts and then grows a new soft shell.) A large amount of soft-shell lobster caught in New England is sent to processing plants in Canada, destined to become frozen tails or precooked knuckle and claw meat. In summer, when fishing is easiest, New England is flooded with inexpensive live soft shell lobster that doesn't make it to other parts of the country. Canada's lobster industry has faced supply levels that are "up about 50% in the last 10 years," driving down prices, says Geoff Irvine, executive director of the Lobster Council of Canada, which represents buyers, shippers, processors and fishermen. Whole Foods Market Inc. paid less for its frozen lobster tails last year, then dropped its price to shoppers, says a spokeswoman for the store, who declined to give specific pricing details. Wal-Mart in the past 12 months added three new lobster products, including a frozen lobster tail and cooked whole lobster, says a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. While it is unlikely to challenge home cooks' love of chicken as a quick, cheap, easy dinner, the lobster industry is trying by investing in new high-pressure machines to burst raw lobster meat from its shell into an easy-to-cook form.
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Post by FWS on Apr 23, 2014 16:29:59 GMT -6
Brutish and short? DNA 'switch' sheds light on NeanderthalsBy Sharon Begley Thu Apr 17, 2014 (Reuters) - How can creatures as different in body and mind as present-day humans and their extinct Neanderthal cousins be 99.84 percent identical genetically? Four years after scientists discovered that the two species' genomes differ by a fraction of a percent, geneticists said on Thursday they have an explanation: the cellular equivalent of "on"/"off" switches that determine whether DNA is activated or not. Hundreds of Neanderthals' genes were turned off while the identical genes in today's humans are turned on, the international team announced in a paper published online in Science. They also found that hundreds of other genes were turned on in Neanderthals, but are off in people living today. Among the hundreds: genes that control the shape of limbs and the function of the brain, traits where modern humans and Neanderthals differ most. "People are fundamentally interested in what makes us human, in what makes us different from Neanderthals," said Sarah Tishkoff, an expert in human evolution at the University of Pennsylvania, who was not involved in the new study. Discovering the differences in gene activation is "an amazing technical feat," she said, and goes a long way to answering that riddle. The discovery also underlines the power of those on/off patterns. Together, they add up to what is called the human epigenome, to distinguish it from the human genome. The genome is the sequence of 3 billion molecules that constitute all of a person's DNA while the epigenome is which bits of DNA are turned on or off even as the molecular sequence remains unchanged. In the last few years, research on the epigenome has shed light on how gene silencing leads to cancer, for instance, and how identical twins with identical DNA sequences can be very different. The epigenome exerts such powerful effects that it is often called the "second genetic code." Now it has offered clues to what makes modern humans distinct. GENES FOR STRONGER LIMBS For the new study, geneticists led by Liram Carmel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem started with DNA from limb bones: those of a living person, a Neanderthal and a Denisovan, an extinct human that lived in Eurasia during the Stone Age and whose remains - a pinkie bone and a tooth, from a cave in Siberia - were not discovered until 2010. Geneticist David Gokhman and others on the Israeli team then examined the DNA's on/off patterns, identifying about 2,200 regions that were activated in today's humans, but silenced in either or both extinct species, or vice versa. When a gene is silenced, it does not produce the trait it otherwise would. Chief among the epigenetic differences: a cluster of five genes called HOXD, which influences the shape and size of limbs, including arms and hands. It was largely silenced in both ancient species, the scientists found. That may explain anatomical differences between archaic and present-day humans, including Neanderthals' shorter legs and arms, bowleggedness, large hands and fingers, and curved arm bones. Calling the work "pioneering," and "a remarkable breakthrough," paleoanthropologist Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London said in an interview that the HOXD gene finding "may help to explain how these ancient humans were able to build stronger bodies, better adapted to the physical rigors of Stone Age life." One caveat about the research is that one person's epigenome can vary markedly from another's due to diet, environment and other factors. It is therefore impossible to know whether the on/off patterns found in Neanderthal genes are typical of the species overall or peculiar to the individual studied. Other DNA with big differences in on/off patterns between the extinct and present-day humans is associated with neurological and psychiatric disorders including autism, schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease. More of the Neanderthal versions were silenced. In an interview, Carmel speculated that any given gene might "do many things in the brain." When dozens of brain-related genes became more active in today's humans, that somehow produced the harmful side effect of neurological illness. But the main effect might have been the astonishing leap in brain development that most distinguishes modern Homo sapiens from our extinct cousins.
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Post by FWS on Apr 23, 2014 13:52:45 GMT -6
Judge OKs Chelsea Manning name change requestJohn Bacon USA TODAY April 23, 2014 A judge in Kansas on Wednesday approved a name change for the Army private who made worldwide news by releasing hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the WikiLeaks website. "Today is an exciting day," Chelsea Manning, formerly known as Bradly Manning, said in a statement. "I've been working for months for this change, and waiting for years." Manning, convicted on 20 counts including six Espionage Act violations, is serving a 35-year prison sentence at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. She was known as a man until Aug. 22, 2013, when she issued a press release announcing that she was changing her name and wished to be referred to as a woman. "As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me," she said at the time. "I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. I hope that you will support me in this transition." The Army did not oppose the name change. Army spokesman George Wright said Wednesday's court ruling, considered perfunctory, means the military will change Manning's name on military records. He will remain in a male-only facility, Wright said. Manning has filed a grievance with the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks commander at Fort Leavenworth over the lack of a response to her request for comprehensive treatment for her gender identity disorder, including specialized gender counseling and hormone replacement therapy. Manning said in her statement Wednesday that the military has said they have developed a treatment plan for her. "Now I am waiting on the military to assist me in accessing health care," Manning said in Wedensday's statement. "I have not yet seen their treatment plan, and in over eight months I have not received any response as to whether the plan will be approved or disapproved, or whether it follows the guidelines of qualified health professionals. manning In this Aug. 20, 2013, file photo, Army Pfc. Bradley Manning is escorted to a security vehicle outside a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md.(Photo: Patrick Semansky, AP) The military has said it doesn't provide hormone replacement therapy. Gender dysphoria generally disqualifies one for military service, but Manning can't be discharged while serving the prison sentence. "Hopefully today's name change, while so meaningful to me personally, can also raise awareness of the fact that we trans people exist everywhere in America today," Manning's statement said. "If I'm successful in obtaining access to trans health care, not only will it be something I have wanted for a long time myself, but it will open the door for many people, both inside and outside the military, to request the right to live more open, fulfilled lives."
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Post by FWS on Apr 23, 2014 13:50:54 GMT -6
Poland Welcomes U.S. TroopsPoland welcomed a company of some 150 U.S. infantry troops on its territory and said more forces could be deployed quickly if needed as it believed neighboring Russia was moving fast to carve up Ukraine. By Marcin Sobczyk Wall Street Journal WARSAW—Poland welcomed a company of some 150 U.S. infantry troops on its territory Wednesday and said more forces could be deployed quickly if needed as it believed neighboring Russia was moving fast to carve up Ukraine. The Pentagon has sent the troops to alleviate the NATO frontier state’s security concerns after Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea last month. It previously moved a dozen F16 fighter jets and 200 airmen to central Poland, where a small U.S. aviation detachment of 10 airmen has stationed since 2012. For years Poland has sought a permanent presence of U.S. troops as a guarantee that it wouldn’t be abandoned to deal on its own with an increasingly resurgent Russia. As some NATO allies in Europe have seen troop deployment to the east as unnecessary and only provocative to Russia, Poland has always sought a closer bilateral relationship with the U.S. The arrival of 150 soldiers from the U.S. Italy-based 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team—deployed for rotational maneuvers through the end of the year—was described as “a good start” by Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Wednesday the number of U.S. troops in Poland may “at any time, depending on needs, be increased to a brigade,” while there was “no better guarantor of Polish security” than the U.S. The Pentagon said three other companies, each with 150 troops, will be moved to Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Poland has said it expects the Russia-Ukraine conflict to go on for months as tensions continue in Ukraine’s east where pro-Russian troops have seized control of some public buildings. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has referred to Ukraine’s south and east as traditionally Russian. Mr. Tusk, the Polish prime minister, said Wednesday Russia was moving fast to dismember Ukraine and events were likely to unfold quickly. “It seems Russia’s intensions are quite clear. What we’re seeing is modern warfare that may include civilians, some special forces, intensive propaganda, and may be as effective as tanks,” he said. Moscow has said it doesn’t have any forces in Ukraine and that it merely seeks to defend the rights of Russian-speaking people in that country. It has called Ukraine’s government in Kiev illegitimate following the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych, who has since made public appearances in Russia. At the end of April, four British Typhoon fighter jets will join Polish aircraft to boost NATO’s regular air-policing flights over the Baltic nations, and Germany and Denmark have each offered six fighters for future Baltic patrols. To bolster NATO’s surveillance flights over Poland and Romania, France has dispatched an Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft, while the Turks and Dutch have contributed refueling planes. Canada, France and the Netherlands have promised aircraft if needed. The Polish prime minister on Wednesday embarked on a tour that will take him to Brussels, Paris and Berlin. In response to the crisis to the European Union’s east, Mr. Tusk has advocated closer integration within the EU that would see the bloc buying Russian natural gas as a single customer, to offset the influence of Russian state-owned gas supplier OAO Gazprom in the European market. The Polish leader has also been urging his EU counterparts to make “an intense opening” to other suppliers of natural gas, mostly from the U.S. and Australia.
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Post by FWS on Apr 23, 2014 13:43:38 GMT -6
Fur trade booms, fuelled by China – but bubble may be about to burstIn a Copenhagen warehouse there's a throng of Chinese buyers. For some traders, being anti-fur is one step from fascism Richard Orange The Observer Saturday 19 April 2014 Space is so short in the immense warehouses where Kopenhagen Fur, the world's largest fur auction house, runs its business, that boxes of mink skins now fill up rooms designed for inspecting furs or sorting them into different grades and colours. "This is the biggest auction we have ever had ever, so all of the skins normally put into boxes in the basement are piled up here instead," explains press officer Nina Brønden Jakobsen. The sight of more than 10m mink skins crammed into a facility the size of 14 football pitches is hard to forget. The more recently arrived skins, each dried stiff and just under half a metre long, are layered in metal-grilled trolleys that tower over your head, creating a wall of tiny faces, each with a barcode stapled between the eyes. The smell, intense and musky, lingers long after you leave. Twenty years after five models, including Naomi Campbell, told the world "I'd rather go naked than wear fur" for a Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) campaign, the industry is in the final stages of an unprecedented boom. Last season was a record for the auction house, with 21m skins sold for a total $2.4bn (£1.4bn) by the time the final auction ended in September. An advert in the Economist's 28 March edition by the International Fur Federation caused protests from anti-fur activists. But its strapline – "the simple fact is: the global fur trade is valued at more than $40bn" – underlined starkly just how little their campaigning has done to curb the industry since Peta's campaign was launched in 1994. The main reason why it failed is clear to see in Copenhagen. Up the stairs from the inspection rooms, in the auction house's dining hall, sit hundreds of Chinese buyers, eating soy-soaked eggs, dim sum, pigs' ears and other oriental favourites. "We've had to divide the cafe into different regions of China, because they don't want to sit with each other," Brønden Jakobsen explains. "We have had to hire Chinese chefs to help us with things. They make thousands of dim sum and pigs' ears and all kinds of different specialities." Chinese business people now represent more than half of the 600-plus buyers at the auction, some of them low-level operatives in brightly coloured track suits, others multimillionaires clad in pricey designer clothing. According to Torben Nielsen, Kopenhagen Fur's chief executive, the Chinese fur bubble has only this season started to burst. "In a way it was a surprise that we didn't have the big drop last year, because to me it was obvious that the whole fur market was in the middle of a bubble, and that the bubble would either increase or explode," he says. He ticks off a long list of new shopping centres that have opened in China over the past couple of years, all selling fur, ending with Harbin, a city on the Russian border, which opened three centres this year alone, adding 1,200 shops. "If every shop needs to sell 600 coats a year, and each coat needs 35 mink skins, that's something like 50% of the total Danish production right there," he says. Mink skins reached a record average price of $102 (£61), or $3,500 for a fur coat in September. Since then, they have plummeted to $54 as it has dawned on the Chinese buyers that they will struggle to sell on their vast storehouses full of stock. Yang Zhenyuan, a young man whose family factory in north-east China takes in a staggering 200,000 skins a year, argues that many Chinese buyers will soon exit the market. "There are a lot of people who just entered this in the last year, and they bought the skins at quite high prices," he says. "They didn't know that the market price was going to keep going down like this, so they're already leaving the business." For HW Kim, a buyer from South Korea inspecting a lot of brown velvet mink, this can only be a good thing. "The price is good, but the Korea market isn't so good," he says. "So we buy." He checks each skin by pulling it hard from each end with a snap, running his fingers over the fur, and then shaking it. For now, though, Chinese buyers are still here, and Kopenhagen Fur, with its 60% global market share, continues to reap the benefits. Emile Connor, a London-based fur trader, thinks this is a shame. Only a few decades ago the fur market was centred on Garlick Hill, next to Mansion House tube station in London, the site of Beaver House, the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company. "Right up until the 1970s, it was the biggest auction in the world," he says. "All of the benefit could have gone to the UK." But you don't have to spend long watching the quick-fire bidding in the auction room to see the important role the British still play. "Most of the biggest brokers here are British, and most of them still keep their stock in the UK," says Connor, who bought the most expensive lot at the peak of the market in September. At peak the auctioneers were selling £3,000-worth of fur a second, their hammers clacking down to signify a sale almost continuously. Frank Zilberkweit, a major British buyer who owns the British fur designer Hockley, is keen to stress how little long-term impact the UK and US anti-fur campaign has had internationally. "When the anti-fur campaign was at its peak, production fell to 22 million mink worldwide," he points out. "This year it's 80 million. You can talk to Peta, you can talk to these anti-fur campaigners, but the fact is that many of their models from the 1990s are now modelling fur." Nielsen, Kopenhagen Fur's chief executive, agrees that Britain's anti-fur farming law and the UK "public morality" which deters most people from wearing fur is "not relevant at all" for the industry. Nonetheless, like every other spokesman for the trade, he launches almost automatically into an attack on the campaigners. "In Great Britain you're quite uncritical and you swallow everything they come up with," he says. For him, being an anti-fur campaigner is one step from fascism. "If you want to treat animals like people, then you can go the other way and treat people like animals," he argues. "And that's what they did in Nazi Germany. The first animal rights law was passed through the German parliament in 1936." One way Britain is relevant to the fur market, he concedes, is through its fashion industry. "If it's out of fashion in Europe, it will be out of fashion in China," he says. "The fashion is still created in Europe, and if you look at Europe there's a lot of fur around." Fashion is one of the fur industry's greatest recent successes. The likes of Dolce & Gabbana, Alexander McQueen, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Fendi and Tom Ford are all including fur in their recent collections. Yang, with his black baseball jacket, designer glasses and silver fleur-de-lis earring, knows what is fashionable in Europe. But he argues that for now fur is a status symbol in China rather than a fashion item. "Mink is a symbol of who you are, it's a symbol of status, and that's why a lot of middle-class people are buying fur. Everybody wants to look wealthy," he says. As for young, fashionable Chinese like himself, he personally can't see them embracing it. "The young people, they aren't our target group," he says. "The Chinese are more and more well-educated today, so the awareness of animal rights and human rights is getting bigger. The way they kill minks in China is very cruel. That's why a lot of the new generation don't wear fur."
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Post by FWS on Apr 23, 2014 13:28:28 GMT -6
The American Middle Class Is No Longer the World’s RichestBy David Leonhardt and Kevin Quealy New York Times APRIL 22, 2014 The American middle class, long the most affluent in the world, has lost that honor, and many Americans are dissatisfied with the state of the country. “Things are pretty flat,” said Kathy Washburn of Mount Vernon, Iowa. “You have mostly lower level and high and not a lot in between.” The American middle class, long the most affluent in the world, has lost that distinction. While the wealthiest Americans are outpacing many of their global peers, a New York Times analysis shows that across the lower- and middle-income tiers, citizens of other advanced countries have received considerably larger raises over the last three decades. After-tax middle-class incomes in Canada — substantially behind in 2000 — now appear to be higher than in the United States. The poor in much of Europe earn more than poor Americans. The numbers, based on surveys conducted over the past 35 years, offer some of the most detailed publicly available comparisons for different income groups in different countries over time. They suggest that most American families are paying a steep price for high and rising income inequality. Although economic growth in the United States continues to be as strong as in many other countries, or stronger, a small percentage of American households is fully benefiting from it. Median income in Canada pulled into a tie with median United States income in 2010 and has most likely surpassed it since then. Median incomes in Western European countries still trail those in the United States, but the gap in several — including Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden — is much smaller than it was a decade ago. In European countries hit hardest by recent financial crises, such as Greece and Portugal, incomes have of course fallen sharply in recent years. The income data were compiled by LIS, a group that maintains the Luxembourg Income Study Database. The numbers were analyzed by researchers at LIS and by The Upshot, a New York Times website covering policy and politics, and reviewed by outside academic economists. The struggles of the poor in the United States are even starker than those of the middle class. A family at the 20th percentile of the income distribution in this country makes significantly less money than a similar family in Canada, Sweden, Norway, Finland or the Netherlands. Thirty-five years ago, the reverse was true. LIS counts after-tax cash income from salaries, interest and stock dividends, among other sources, as well as direct government benefits such as tax credits. The findings are striking because the most commonly cited economic statistics — such as per capita gross domestic product — continue to show that the United States has maintained its lead as the world’s richest large country. But those numbers are averages, which do not capture the distribution of income. With a big share of recent income gains in this country flowing to a relatively small slice of high-earning households, most Americans are not keeping pace with their counterparts around the world. “The idea that the median American has so much more income than the middle class in all other parts of the world is not true these days,” said Lawrence Katz, a Harvard economist who is not associated with LIS. “In 1960, we were massively richer than anyone else. In 1980, we were richer. In the 1990s, we were still richer.” That is no longer the case, Professor Katz added. Median per capita income was $18,700 in the United States in 2010 (which translates to about $75,000 for a family of four after taxes), up 20 percent since 1980 but virtually unchanged since 2000, after adjusting for inflation. The same measure, by comparison, rose about 20 percent in Britain between 2000 and 2010 and 14 percent in the Netherlands. Median income also rose 20 percent in Canada between 2000 and 2010, to the equivalent of $18,700. Continue reading the main story The most recent year in the LIS analysis is 2010. But other income surveys, conducted by government agencies, suggest that since 2010 pay in Canada has risen faster than pay in the United States and is now most likely higher. Pay in several European countries has also risen faster since 2010 than it has in the United States. Three broad factors appear to be driving much of the weak income performance in the United States. First, educational attainment in the United States has risen far more slowly than in much of the industrialized world over the last three decades, making it harder for the American economy to maintain its share of highly skilled, well-paying jobs. Americans between the ages of 55 and 65 have literacy, numeracy and technology skills that are above average relative to 55- to 65-year-olds in rest of the industrialized world, according to a recent study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an international group. Younger Americans, though, are not keeping pace: Those between 16 and 24 rank near the bottom among rich countries, well behind their counterparts in Canada, Australia, Japan and Scandinavia and close to those in Italy and Spain. A second factor is that companies in the United States economy distribute a smaller share of their bounty to the middle class and poor than similar companies elsewhere. Top executives make substantially more money in the United States than in other wealthy countries. The minimum wage is lower. Labor unions are weaker. And because the total bounty produced by the American economy has not been growing substantially faster here in recent decades than in Canada or Western Europe, most American workers are left receiving meager raises. Finally, governments in Canada and Western Europe take more aggressive steps to raise the take-home pay of low- and middle-income households by redistributing income. Janet Gornick, the director of LIS, noted that inequality in so-called market incomes — which does not count taxes or government benefits — “is high but not off the charts in the United States.” Yet the American rich pay lower taxes than the rich in many other places, and the United States does not redistribute as much income to the poor as other countries do. As a result, inequality in disposable income is sharply higher in the United States than elsewhere. Whatever the causes, the stagnation of income has left many Americans dissatisfied with the state of the country. Only about 30 percent of people believe the country is headed in the right direction, polls show. “Things are pretty flat,” said Kathy Washburn, 59, of Mount Vernon, Iowa, who earns $33,000 at an Ace Hardware store, where she has worked for 23 years. “You have mostly lower level and high and not a lot in between. People need to start in between to work their way up.” Middle-class families in other countries are obviously not without worries — some common around the world and some specific to their countries. In many parts of Europe, as in the United States, parents of young children wonder how they will pay for college, and many believe their parents enjoyed more rapidly rising living standards than they do. In Canada, people complain about the costs of modern life, from college to monthly phone and Internet bills. Unemployment is a concern almost everywhere. But both opinion surveys and interviews suggest that the public mood in Canada and Northern Europe is less sour than in the United States today. “The crisis had no effect on our lives,” Jonas Frojelin, 37, a Swedish firefighter, said, referring to the global financial crisis that began in 2007. He lives with his wife, Malin, a nurse, in a seaside town a half-hour drive from Gothenburg, Sweden’s second-largest city. They each have five weeks of vacation and comprehensive health benefits. They benefited from almost three years of paid leave, between them, after their children, now 3 and 6 years old, were born. Today, the children attend a subsidized child-care center that costs about 3 percent of the Frojelins’ income. Even with a large welfare state in Sweden, per capita G.D.P. there has grown more quickly than in the United States over almost any extended recent period — a decade, 20 years, 30 years. Sharp increases in the number of college graduates in Sweden, allowing for the growth of high-skill jobs, has played an important role. Continue reading the main story Other countries’ middle class incomes have grown since 2000. The United States’ has not. Elsewhere in Europe, economic growth has been slower in the last few years than in the United States, as the Continent has struggled to escape the financial crisis. But incomes for most families in Sweden and several other Northern European countries have still outpaced those in the United States, where much of the fruits of recent economic growth have flowed into corporate profits or top incomes. This pattern suggests that future data gathered by LIS are likely to show similar trends to those through 2010. There does not appear to be any other publicly available data that allows for the comparisons that the LIS data makes possible. But two other sources lead to broadly similar conclusions. A Gallup survey conducted between 2006 and 2012 showed the United States and Canada with nearly identical per capita median income (and Scandinavia with higher income). And tax records collected by Thomas Piketty and other economists suggest that the United States no longer has the highest average income among the bottom 90 percent of earners. One large European country where income has stagnated over the past 15 years is Germany, according to the LIS data. Policy makers in Germany have taken a series of steps to hold down the cost of exports, including restraining wage growth. Even in Germany, though, the poor have fared better than in the United States, where per capita income has declined between 2000 and 2010 at the 40th percentile, as well as at the 30th, 20th, 10th and 5th. Malin Frojelin lives with her two children, Engla, 6, and Nils, 3, in Vallda, Sweden, along with her husband, Jonas. Vallda is about a 30-minute drive from Gothenburg, the second-largest city in the country. Casper Hedberg for The New York Times More broadly, the poor in the United States have trailed their counterparts in at least a few other countries since the early 1980s. With slow income growth since then, the American poor now clearly trail the poor in several other rich countries. At the 20th percentile — where someone is making less than four-fifths of the population — income in both the Netherlands and Canada was 15 percent higher than income in the United States in 2010. By contrast, Americans at the 95th percentile of the distribution — with $58,600 in after-tax per capita income, not including capital gains — still make 20 percent more than their counterparts in Canada, 26 percent more than those in Britain and 50 percent more than those in the Netherlands. For these well-off families, the United States still has easily the world’s most prosperous major economy.
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Post by FWS on Apr 23, 2014 13:23:30 GMT -6
Secret to surviving mass extinctions? Don't be a picky eaterDiscovery News April 23, 2014 Finicky eaters usually do not survive mass extinction events, suggests a new study on prehistoric big cats. Cougars, which will eat meat, guts, bones — the proverbial whole enchilada, survived the mass extinction event 12,000 years ago, while their finicky cousins the saber tooth cat and American lion bit the dust. The study, published in the journal Biology Letters, determined that eating habits probably saved cougars, and possibly jaguars too. What Did Prehistoric Humans Eat? Photos "Before the Late Pleistocene extinction, six species of large cats roamed the plains and forests of North America," co-author Larisa R.G. DeSantis, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences at Vanderbilt University, said in a press release. "Only two -- the cougar and jaguar -- survived. The goal of our study was to examine the possibility that dietary factors can explain the cougar’s survival." She and co-author Ryan Haupt of the University of Wyoming analyzed the teeth of ancient cougars, saber-tooth cats and American lions excavated from the famous La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles. The researchers did this with a new technique called "dental microwear texture analysis." It uses a high-powered microscope to produce three-dimensional images of tooth surfaces. These images reveal tooth wear patterns that suggest how, and what, the animals often ate. Chowing down on red meat, for example, produces small parallel scratches, while chomping on bones adds larger, deeper pits. DeSantis and others previously found that the dental wear patterns of the extinct American lions closely resembled those of modern cheetahs, which are extremely finicky eaters that mostly consume tender meat and rarely gnaw on bones. Saber-tooth cats were instead similar to African lions that chewed on both flesh and bone. Some variation existed among the La Brea cougars, but many showed wear patterns closer to those of modern hyenas, which consume almost the entire body of their prey, bones and all. Do Some Animals Get a Taste for Human Blood? "This suggests that the Pleistocene cougars had a 'more generalized' dietary behavior," DeSantis said. "Specifically, they likely killed and often fully consumed their prey, more so than the large cats that went extinct." To this day, modern cougars are opportunistic predators and scavengers of abandoned carrion. They fully consume carcasses of both small and medium-sized prey. Finicky socialized house cats, of which there are many, generally don't have to worry. As long as an owner is around to provide tasty vittles, they'll probably live on
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Post by FWS on Apr 23, 2014 13:13:51 GMT -6
And it means we're in for a wild ride out here..............
El Nino events push a lot of warm water North and that has a negative effect on a lot of species, particularly those in the nearshore kelp forests. Saw that in 82-83 where the storms and the swell were so big that it ripped the kelp holdfasts off the substrate and wiped out whole areas of dense kelp. Took years for it to recover. The warm water pushes the anchovies and squid farther North or offshore and the local predators follow. But a lot of species that are common off Mexico, like dorado, yellowfin tuna, marlin, etc. follow the warm water North and are caught off CA.
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Post by FWS on Apr 23, 2014 0:28:17 GMT -6
Deer damage activists defend extended hunting in Va.WUSA April 22, 2014 FALLS CHURCH, Va. (WUSA9) -- Activists concerned about deer damage are defending a new extended urban bow hunting season in Northern Virginia after WUSA9's business and consumer reporter Jessica Doyle raised questions about culling deer in heavily populated suburbs without warning. "I'm furious," Doyle said. "The worst part about it is, I would have liked to have known they would be out there doing this." Doyle was concerned about the safety of her 8-year-old daughter after a dying deer turned up in her yard in the Sleepy Hollow section of Falls Church on Good Friday. She granted permission for two hunters to come collect the deer after they shot it in a neighbor's backyard and tracked it to her property. Lots in the closely packed neighborhood are from a quarter to a half acre. Virginia Game officials made an unprecedented extension of a special urban bow hunting season into late April in Northern Virginia because the animals have overpopulated the area. Bowhunters are allowed to shoot deer with archery equipment on private property until April 26th with the landowners permission. There are no requirements to notify neighbors, according to Lee Walker of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Hunting is allowed on any size property, as long as arrows do not fly into a neighbor's yard without permission. Landowners may also apply for special deer damage permits to hunt beyond the regular season, Walker said. The state's regulations contrast with Fairfax County's Deer Management Program, which does notify residents and citizens when deer hunts are conducted on public park properties. Those hunts on more than 80 parcels of public land ended Jan. 25. Much of the private land hunting in suburban yards in Fairfax County is conducted by volunteer members of the non-profit Suburban Whitetail Management of Northern Virginia, which is dedicated to assisting landowners concerned about deer damage. Doyle's encounter was with two members of the group. "Our continuing goal is to be as discreet as possible," said group spokesman Gregg Brown in an email to WUSA9. "Notification of neighbors is something that our client may or may not do depending on the circumstances. We have worked with neighbors at a clients request in the past, but this is not routine," Brown continued. "Making sure that the property is suitable for hunting is our key concern," Brown said. Members of Suburban Whitetail Management of Northern Virginia must pass a background check and a shooting accuracy test before they are accepted. The group, founded in 1997, donates most of the meat taken by members to needy families. Suburban Whitetail Management of Northern Virginia is regarded as ethical, safe and dependable, according to retired environmental scientist Jerry Peters of Great Falls who says the native plants on his property have been decimated by deer. Peters has organized neighbors to contract with the group for deer extermination. Now Peters has purchased his own cross-bow and shoots from his back deck within view of his neighbor's home. He has killed one deer so far. "We're shooting from 20- to a maximum of 30-yards," Peters said, noting that all shooting is done from an elevated position like a deck or a tree-stand downward towards the ground. "It's not unsafe for people or pets." Peters points to state hunting accident statistics showing that no bystander in Virginia has ever been injured in an archery hunting incident since record keeping began in 1959.
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Post by FWS on Apr 23, 2014 0:24:00 GMT -6
The Pacific Ocean is gearing up for a big El NiñoAdam Wernick Public Radio International April 17, 2014 · Researchers say conditions in the Pacific Ocean could generate a powerful El Niño this year. If El Niño returns, it could intensify droughts and storms around the world. Just what the global climate needed, right? El Niño — and its sibling La Niña — entered the American vernacular in 1998. That year, the strongest El Niño ever measured disturbed weather patterns across the world, creating the hottest year on record, killing an estimated 2100 people and causing close to $33 billion in property damage, according to National Geographic. In other words, predictions for a major El Niño in 2014-2015 are not to be taken lightly. El Niño may be loosely defined as a build-up of unusually warm surface waters in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean that leads to global changes in temperature, wind patterns and precipitation. Kevin Trenberth, a distinguished senior scientist in the climate analysis section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, is monitoring conditions in the Pacific. He describes the phenomenon this way: “El Niños occur about every three to seven years. In between these events, trade winds blow across the Pacific from the east, creating a build-up of warm water in the western Pacific. After a period of time, the ocean says, ‘There’s too much warm water piling up here over by Indonesia, and I’m going to have an El Niño event.’ Some of this warm water starts to spread back across the Pacific, and the winds change as that happens [i.e. begin blowing from west to east]. Once it gets rolling, it continues for nine months to a year.” Trenberth says there are several reasons to suspect we are in the beginning stages of El Niño. First, he says, this is the right time of year for the transition to begin. “The main time when El Niño tends to get started is March, April, May,” he says, “so this is certainly the time to watch. The second thing is that there has been a quick reversal of the normal easterly trade winds to brief westerly wind bursts.” In addition, Trenberth says, scientists already see warming in the upper layer of the ocean, with some of the “temperature anomalies” reaching eight degrees Fahrenheit above normal. The last time scientists saw these kinds of numbers, he says, was in 1997-1998, during the last big El Niño event. If El Niño develops in 2014-2015, it will likely lead to a repeat of the disastrous weather the world experienced then. In the US, Trenberth says, there are greater odds of storms “barreling into southern California.” Some of these storms would continue across the south, even to Florida. At the same time, the northern plains states could expect warmer and somewhat dryer conditions, while the Northeast and Canada could see a reapearance of the severe ice storms that devastated much of those regions. In other parts of the world, there will be trouble as well. El Niño greatly increases the risk of drought in Australia, which has already had its warmest year on record; increases the risk of wildfire in southeast Asia and Indonesia; would likely cause deluges and flooding in Peru and Ecuador and could lead to severe drought across parts of Africa. Because of climate change, Trenberth says, the floods and droughts that occur will likely be stronger than they otherwise would be. The 1997-98 El Niño marked the first time that climate scientists were able to predict abnormal flooding and droughts months in advance. Trenberth says the technology we have today enables scientists to give the world plenty of notice if El Niño blossoms as expected. At the very least, Trenberth says, “we’re almost guaranteed that this next year will be rather different than the last three or four we’ve had.” The image shows what happens when a very strong El Nino strikes surface waters in the Central equatorial Pacific Ocean. The sequence shows warm water anomalies (red) develop in the Central Pacific Ocean. Winds that normally blow in a westerly direction weaken allowing the easterly winds to push the warm water up against the South American Coast.
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Post by FWS on Apr 23, 2014 0:17:47 GMT -6
Monkeys can do math, say scientistsUsing 26 distinct symbols consisting of numerals and selective letters, a team of researchers have taught monkeys how to perform very basic addition. By Sudeshna Chowdhury, Staff writer Christian Science Monitor April 22, 2014 Toby pushes trainer Alison Payne's glasses back up her nose. Helping Hands trains capuchin monkeys to help quadraplegics with simple everyday tasks.Researchers say monkeys can use symbols to add — a finding that sheds light on the evolutionary origins of math. Humans possess a sophisticated combination of... A team of researchers trained three Rhesus monkeys to associate 26 distinct symbols consisting of numerals and selective letters with 0–25 drops of water or juice as a reward. The researchers then tested how the monkeys combined – or added – the symbols to get the reward. Here's how Harvard Medical School neurobiologist Margaret Livingstone, who led the team, described the experiment: In their cages the monkeys were provided with touch screens. On one part of the screen, a symbol would pop up, and on the other side two symbols inside a circle were shown. For example, the numeral 7 would flash on one side of the screen and the other end would have 9 and 8. If the monkeys touched the left side of the screen they would be rewarded with seven drops of water or juice, whereas if they went for the circle, they would be rewarded with the sum of the numbers – 17 in this example. RECOMMENDED: Are you scientifically literate? Take our quiz After running hundreds of tests, the researchers noted that monkeys would go for the higher values more than half the time "indicating that they were performing a calculation, not just memorizing the value of each combination," according to the paper. When the team examined the results of the experiment is greater detail, they noticed that the monkeys "tended to underestimate a sum compared with a single symbol when the two were close in value — sometimes choosing, for example, a 13 over the sum of eight and six. The underestimation was systematic: when adding two numbers, the monkeys always paid attention to the larger of the two, and then added only a fraction of the smaller number to it," according to an article published in Science Now. This indicates that there is a certain way quantity is represented in their brains, Dr. Livingstone says. But in this experiment “[w]hat they’re doing is paying more attention to the big number than the little one,” Livingstone told Science Now. The researchers' findings are detailed in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Post by FWS on Apr 23, 2014 0:12:26 GMT -6
Sherpas leave Everest; some expeditions nix climbsBy BINAJ GURUBACHARYA, Associated Press | April 23, 2014 A Buddhist monk lights the funeral pyre of Nepalese climber Ang Kaji Sherpa killed in an avalanche on Mount Everest, in Katmandu, Nepal, Monday, April 21, 2014. Buddhist monks cremated the remains of Sherpa guides who were buried in the deadliest avalanche ever recorded on Mount Everest, a disaster that has prompted calls for a climbing boycott by Nepal's ethnic Sherpa community. The avalanche killed at least 13 Sherpas. Three other Sherpas remain missing and are presumed dead. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Sherpa guides packed up their tents and left Mount Everest's base camp Wednesday in an unprecedented walkout to honor 16 of their colleagues who were killed last week in the deadliest avalanche ever recorded on the mountain, climbers said. The boycott throws Nepal's lucrative climbing season into disarray. Most attempts to reach Everest's summit are made in mid-May, when weather is most favorable, but expedition companies already have started canceling their climbs for the season following Friday's tragedy. Thirteen bodies were recovered after the avalanche and three Sherpas still missing are presumed dead. Without Sherpa help, it would be nearly impossible for climbers to scale the mountain anyway. Many climbers will have to forfeit most or all of the money they have spent to go up Everest — at a cost of $75,000 or more. "It is just impossible for many of us to continue climbing while there are three of our friends buried in the snow," said Dorje Sherpa, an experienced Everest guide from the tiny Himalayan community that has become famous for its high-altitude skills and endurance. "I can't imagine stepping over them," he said of the three Sherpa guides who remain buried in ice and snow. American climber Ed Marzec, 67, said by phone from the base camp that Sherpas were loading their equipment onto a helicopter that had landed at the camp. "There are a lot of Sherpas leaving this morning, and in the next two days there will be a huge number that will follow," Marzec, 67, of San Diego, said by phone from the base camp. Marzec said he had already decided to abandon his climb. But he said some smaller companies were hoping to go ahead with their climbs, and it was not clear whether all of the approximately 400 Sherpas on the mountain would join the boycott. Tusli Gurung, a guide who was at the base camp on Wednesday, estimated that nearly half the Sherpas had already left. Seattle-based Alpine Ascents International announced it was calling off its expedition. "We have all agreed the best thing is to not continue this season's climb, so that all can mourn the loss of family, friends and comrades in this unprecedented tragedy," the company said on its website. New Zealand-based Adventure Consultants also said it was canceling its expedition this season. Friday's avalanche was triggered when a massive piece of glacier sheared away from the mountain along a section of constantly shifting ice and crevasses known as the Khumbu Icefall — a treacherous area where overhanging immensities of ice as large as 10-story buildings hang over the main route up the mountain. The disaster has reignited debate over the disproportionate risks the Sherpas take on Everest. Special teams of Sherpas, known as Icefall Doctors, fix ropes through what they hope to be the safest paths, and use aluminum ladders to bridge crevasses. But the Khumbu shifts so much that they need to go out every morning — as they were doing when disaster struck Friday — to repair sections that have broken overnight and move the climbing route if needed. Immediately after the avalanche, the government said it would pay the families of each Sherpa who died 40,000 rupees, or about $415. But the Sherpas said they deserved far more — including more insurance money, more financial aid for the victims' families and new regulations to ensure climbers' rights. Nepal's government appeared to agree Tuesday to some of the demands, such as setting up a relief fund for Sherpas who are killed or injured in climbing accidents, but the funding falls far short of the demands. The government's offers include a relief fund to help Sherpas injured in mountaineering accidents and the families of those killed, and to pay for rescue during accidents on the mountain. The government said it would stock the fund annually with 5 percent of its earnings from Everest climbing fees — well below the 30 percent the Sherpas are demanding. Nepal earns about $3.5 million annually in Everest climbing fees. The insurance payout for those killed on the mountain will also be doubled to $15,620 (2 million rupees), the Ministry of Tourism said — far short of the Sherpas' demand for $20,800. The Nepal National Mountain Guide Association will try to negotiate with the Sherpas and the government because a total boycott would harm Nepal's mountaineering in the long term, said the group's general secretary, Sherpa Pasang. Nearly 30 climbers have died on the Icefall since 1963, most killed in avalanches or when they were crushed by huge chunks of ice. More than 4,000 climbers have reached the top of the world's highest mountain since 1953, when it was first conquered by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. Hundreds of people have died trying.
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Post by FWS on Apr 22, 2014 18:09:48 GMT -6
Here Are Those Biodegradable Condoms with Cute Animals on Them You Were Looking ForBy Katie Johnson Mon., Apr. 21 2014 You could be the proud owner of an adorable, biodegradable, seahorse-themed condom. Fewer baby humans means more baby animals. Stay with us; it's going somewhere. On Tuesday, April 22 (yes, Earth Day), recycled clothing retailers Well Suited will team up with the Center for Biological Diversity, a Tucson-based nonprofit that advocates for endangered animals, to hand out free Endangered Species Condoms to its customers. Obviously. For all you sex panthers out there. Endangered Species Condoms is a special line of contraceptives that was launched by the Center for Biological Diversity in 2009 to promote awareness of human population growth and its negative effect on the species extinction crisis (in case you lost count, the Earth's population is now more than 7 billion people). We don't know about you, but that's exactly the kind of stuff we're thinking about before getting it on. The eco-friendly condoms come in wildlife-themed packaging designed by artist Roger Peet and feature endangered animals such as polar bears, dwarf seahorses, panthers, leatherback sea turtles, hellbenders, and snowy plovers. Awww. The condoms will be handed out at all Well Suited locations free of purchase with one condom per person while supplies last. Well Suited locations can be found at Lincoln Village in Scottsdale, Town & Country in Phoenix, and Desert Village at Pinnacle Peak. For more information, about Endangered Species Condoms, check out endangeredspeciescondoms.com.
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Post by FWS on Apr 22, 2014 18:02:17 GMT -6
China Considers Hard Time for Eating Endangered SpeciesBy Dexter Roberts Business Week April 22, 2014 Asian black bears, pangolins, king cobras, and monitor lizards are all considered delicacies by wealthy Chinese businessmen and overindulgent party cadres. They’re also quite rare, and the the cost of eating one may soon rise. This week a group of Chinese legislators is discussing new draft regulations that could penalize those who eat rare and endangered species, the China Daily reported on April 22. Until now, article 341 of China’s revised 1997 Criminal Law has levied fines—and for “especially serious” cases, jail time of no less than 10 years—for those who catch, kill, traffic in, buy, or sell China’s endangered species (merely “serious” cases get five to 10 years). It has remained unclear whether eating protected animal species constitutes purchase and is thus punishable. Video: Endangered Kangaroo Makes Public Debut in Sydney “The stipulation is too vague on whether eating endangered animals is legal or not,” said Li Shouwei, deputy head of the criminal law division under the Commission for Legislative Affairs of the NPC Standing Committee, in the newspaper’s report. Last month, China announced it had arrested 24 people for smuggling and selling parts of rare animals, including bear paws and pieces of pangolins. According to the public security ministry, police seized some 4,500 products with an estimated value of 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) in nine provinces. And in June 2013, China made its biggest ever bear-paw bust, arresting two Russian nationals in Inner Mongolia. The smugglers had hidden 213 bear paws in the tires of a van they were driving across the border from Russia, the Xinhua News Agency reported. Video: Panda-Monium to Protect Endangered Species The estimated value of the paws on the Chinese black market was about 2.8 million yuan, more than 20 times what they are worth in Russia. “Ancient beliefs dictate that the parts and organs of some wildlife have great nutritional value and can showcase one’s status, “ Yin Hong, deputy director of the State Forestry Administration, told Xinhua. China has about 6,500 vertebrate species, or a 10th of the world’s total, Xinhua reported. More than 400 animals have been designated as rare or endangered in China, including giant pandas, golden monkeys, and pangolins.
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Post by FWS on Apr 22, 2014 17:50:00 GMT -6
Sure it does, mako sharks are very good eating, I make sandwiches using grilled or blackened mako (or thresher), both are really good using the blackened redfish recipe that depleted redfish stocks in the Gulf. Makes good sausage too.
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Post by FWS on Apr 22, 2014 17:38:34 GMT -6
Fisherman catch record-breaking 805lb Mako Shark in floridaThree Florida fishermen haul in their record-breaking prize catch after battling the 11ft predator for more than an hour Telegraph.uk 22 Apr 2014 A determined fisherman caught a record-breaking 805lb Mako Shark - and then barbecued and ate it with his friends. Joey Polk, 29, and his two cousins Earnie Polk, 43, and Kenny Peterson, 21, battled the 11ft predator for more than an hour before finally hauling it onto the beach. They normally tag and release their catches for conservation but were unable to resuscitate this one and instead made it the main course at a jumbo-sized family barbecue. "It tasted really good," said Joey, who works in property conservation. "It does not have a gamey or a fishy taste." The huge shark, caught at a secret location on the Florida Panhandle on April 15, beat a previous weight record set by Earnie for a mako weighing 730lbs, set in February 2009. They used kayaks to paddle baits of mackerel, tuna and ray out to 300-600 yards from the shore - and it was not long before Joey felt something big take a bite. Earnie, who helped haul it in, said: "Joey fought it for over an hour. It jumped out of the water twice and then Kenny Peterson tail-roped it." Afterwards they cooked it on the barbecue - and the giant fish helped to feed over 200 members of the local community. "Ninety-eight per cent of our catches gets tagged with a National Marine Fisheries tag and released," said Earnie, who fishes on piers and beaches from Cape San Blas to Fort Pickens. "We have close to 500 tagged sharks swimming now. We usually don't publicise our catches. We don't want humanity to destroy the natural resources in our local waters." Joey, a third generation shark fisherman, takes his daughters aged 7 and 9 out fishing, and also plans to teach his son - only three-weeks-old - the secret of the art. He added: "Our fathers and grandfather were also land-based shark fishermen. I was going with my dad when I was as young as four. I have been sharking steady since I was 16 and Joey has been going with me since his mom would let him and has been my most loyal partner since he was 15." Joey, of Milton, Florida, used a Penn Senator 16/0 big-game fishing reel and a 150lb test weight to watch the mako. The potential world-record is being judged by the International Land-Based Shark Fishing Association (ILSFA), who look at big-game catches caught by fisherman from dry land. Joey also holds the record for largest tiger shark caught from land, according to the ILSFA, a 949lb giant landed in 2010, but says this mammoth mako may be his most memorable catch yet.
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Post by FWS on Apr 22, 2014 17:20:58 GMT -6
For the most part the argument used is dead. Just so people understand what the judgement means, Dismissal With Prejudice When a lawsuit is dismissed with prejudice, the court is saying that it has made a final determination on the merits of the case, and that the plaintiff is therefore forbidden from filing another lawsuit based on the same grounds.The argument was weak and the judge saw through it. Disagreement is how you learn................... Funny thing is that we've had discussions here that have included some of the plaintiffs involved in the MN lawsuit and their arguments were almost always weak, often based on personal feelings and emotion rather than sound reasoning, evidence, and precedence. And we saw that again in the online discussions of this lawsuit and its implications and/or consequences. There was a lot of concerns omitted in discussions 'elsewhere' and unrealistic expectations were tossed out as bait to support it.
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Post by FWS on Apr 21, 2014 10:39:59 GMT -6
Has Rush Limbaugh Finally Reached the End Of The Road?Rick Ungar Forbes.com 4/15/2014 Like him or hate him, there is no disputing that Rush Limbaugh’s very special brand of mixing right-wing politics with his flare for entertainment has produced one of the most successful radio programs in the medium’s long history. Whatever the burning political question of the day, millions of Americans have relished the opportunity to tune into Rush’s program, knowing that he would quickly take that hot potato, throw a few gallons of verbal kerosene into the mix and elevate the matter into a five alarm fire with a just a few well-chosen words spoken in the style only Rush Limbaugh could produce. Until now… At long last, it appears that Rush Limbaugh has run out of steam. I have to acknowledge that I have sensed Rush getting by on fumes for some time now (yes, I tune into his show from time to time to enjoy his broadcasting skills if not his message). However, it was only recently that the world of Limbaugh crossed that thin red line from partially serious to total self-parody and audience deception—a line crossed from which there is often no return. It happened on the occasion of Stephen Colbert’s appointment to fill David Letterman’s soon to be vacated chair on the CBS CBS -1.68% late-night set. By using this occasion to create a political narrative designed to stir up his listeners, Limbaugh telegraphed to his loyal followers that he is now dependent upon feeding fully faux political nonsense that his audience instinctively—or explicitly—knows is a bunch of baloney. Rush Limbaugh - Caricature Rush Limbaugh – Caricature (Photo credit: DonkeyHotey) To be sure, this is hardly the first time Limbaugh has fed his audience a diet of twisted information and bizarre, conspiratorial memes. However, it may well be the first time that he attempted to shove a diet down the throats of any semi-rational listeners still living in the real world made up of nonsense that even his most loyal listener could not possibly swallow. That’s a problem for Rush. A show like Limbaugh’s is wholly reliant on his listeners’ willingness to believe—or suspend belief—no matter how ‘out there’ their guru’s arguments may be. While it is one thing for me to sneer at much of what Limbaugh may present, it is quite another when he attempts to sell his loyal audience on stuff they already know, through personal experience, to be false and fraudulent hokum. Upon hearing the news of Colbert’s new gig, Limbaugh pronounced— as only Limbaugh can pronounce— “CBS has just declared war on the heartland of America. No longer is comedy going to be a covert assault on traditional American values, conservatism. Now it’s just wide out in the open. What this hire means is a redefinition of what is funny, and a redefinition of what is comedy. They’re blowing up the 11:30 format… they hired a partisan, so-called comedian, to run a comedy show.” Not quite satisfied with his initial declaration, Limbaugh returned to the subject in a later program, commenting further on CBS’s decision to hire Colbert— “It clearly indicates that the people making this decision have chosen to write off a portion of the country, that they don’t care if a portion of the country watches or not.” Rush has it right on his last statement. Indeed, the people who make decisions at television networks have chosen to write off a portion of the country—a decision that was made for them a very long time ago. However, it has never had anything to do with making choices of audience based on anything even resembling politics and has always had everything to do with blowing off anyone older than 49 years of age because these older folks are poison to advertisers. In other words, the networks are clearly writing off those in ‘the heartland’ if they’ve reached 50 years old—just as they’ve written off folks in this demo in every other nook and cranny of America. What Limbaugh chose to ignore in his rant is that this is a choice based on what television advertisers want—and what television advertisers want is a young television viewing audience or, to be more specific, viewers that fall between the ages of 18-49. Despite Limbaugh’s truly lame efforts to pretend otherwise, if you fall within this age group, you are welcomed to the party whether you be a progressive, conservative, independent, communist, John Bircher, or whatever other political affiliation you can conjure up. You see, car companies don’t really care about your politics when they are trying to sell you a car via a TV commercial—they care about whether you are in a position to buy that new car should they succeed in getting your attention. Purina really doesn’t give a damn about your politics or your dog’s politics when they are trying to sell you their brand of dog food. For these reasons that would appear to be obvious to everyone but Rush Limbaugh—although we all know that they are obvious to him too—all viewers younger than 50 are coveted by the television networks. And yet, Limbaugh—a guy who has spent his life in media—wants his audience to believe that there is some political agenda on the part of a network at work here. Never mind that early morning and late night are the two largest sources of revenue for every broadcast network. Limbaugh expects us to believe that CBS is willing to throw all that money out the window to make a political statement. If you are a Limbaugh fan, how are you not asking yourself just how dumb this man thinks you are? Even the right-wing Frontpagemag.com was able to properly discern the truth of the situation and provide an excellent explanation of reality: The number of people who watch a TV show stopped mattering years ago. If it did, Murder She Wrote, a show that had an older audience and high ratings, wouldn’t have been canceled. Instead there’s talk of rebooting it with younger multicultural leads in a different setting. Network television doesn’t just fail to count older viewers; it tries to drive them away. A show with an older viewership is dead air. Advertisers have been pushed by ad agencies into an obsession with associating their product with a youthful brand. The demo rating, 18-49, is the only rating that matters. Viewers younger than that can still pay off. Just ask the CW. Older viewers however are unwanted. A network show would rather have 5 million viewers in the demo than 15 million older viewers. A cable show would rather have 1 million viewers in the demo than 10 million viewers outside the demo. Colbert and Stewart have the top late night talk shows in the demo. That means 1 million ‘young’ viewers. That’s barely what Letterman was pulling in on a top network. Networks, which already have high median ages, are doing everything possible to bring them down. CBS has a median age of 58 and is the oldest network. Colbert is supposed to lower their average. Letterman’s show had a median age of 56. Colbert’s show has a median age of 39. That a 49-year-old comedian with an audience whose median age is 39 is considered a draw for younger audiences reveals just how thoroughly younger viewers are abandoning television.” As someone who spent the overwhelming majority of his career as a television producer and executive, I can state with absolutely certainty that Frontpagemag.com got it precisely right—and when was the last time you heard me say that a right-wing anything got it exactly right? So, what does it say when a guy like Rush Limbaugh stoops to trying to build a political fire out of what is about as apolitical as chicken soup? It says Rush is running on empty. It says he’s grown lazy. It says he’s probably trying to hold on to get though the next presidential election cycle before fading off into the sunset. Rush’s audience knew that his anti-Colbert rant was nonsense the minute it left Limbaugh’s lips. How did they know? While Limbaugh’s listeners may be inclined to believe the words of the great Rush Limbaugh, these aging listeners are the very people who can no longer find anything on TV to watch because everything is so skewed to the young viewer. They know all too well that it has nothing to do with their politics and everything to do with their age and being outside the desired demographic. Rush Limbaugh ‘works’ when he can fire up his audience with red-hot ideology designed to bring out the anger of his listeners. But no entertainer succeeds when they try to stupidly pull the wool over the very listeners who have been loyal—and Limbaugh’s effort to politicize the Colbert hiring was just that.
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Post by FWS on Apr 20, 2014 17:44:27 GMT -6
We do this with salmon, blackcod, albacore, and a few other species and it is like fish candy. Hardest part is keeping people AWAY from MY stash.
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Post by FWS on Apr 20, 2014 17:40:45 GMT -6
I'm dubious......... But only because most places don't do it right. When it's done right and the fish or shellfish is optimum quality it's as good as it gets for pleasurable eating. Which is why I usually prefer to prepare my own. That and the fact that my concept of portion size of beer battered fish and that of a restaurant are very different.
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