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Post by FWS on Apr 17, 2014 7:57:03 GMT -6
But that's kinda the limit of your experience with fish isn't it ? Which would be subjective, not objective............... FYI, I've caught and eaten many bluegill, grew up catching them because the lakes near me were loaded with them. If that's all I had I'd think they were great, but they're not all I've eaten much less caught. Same with trout, caught and ate many, including brook trout, introduced in CA, with a bonus limit of 10 in addition to the 5 trout limit. Add in the rainbow trout, hatchery and coastal wild, steelhead, bull trout, brown trout, and golden trout. All were good eating fish, but................. None come close to the majority of saltwater fish I catch and eat. To be objective you'd have to try fresh caught Pacific saltwater fish like petrale sole, sanddabs, Pacific and California halibut, white seabass, lingcod, cabezon, sculpin, several dozen species of rockfish, several species of surfperch, yellowtail, sharks like common thresher, shortfin mako, angle, leopard, soupfin, ocean caught chinook salmon, just to name a handful. There's a reason why those are highly valued food fish with great commercial and recreational value. Go to the North Atlantic or the Gulf of Mexico and sample the dozens of commonly caught species and see if bluegill and trout even compare. I've caught most of the species I listed, and many more on rod and reel, under a recreational license, and I've caught em' commercially with trawls, gillnets, fish traps, seines, various gear using hooks, harpooned some, depending on the legal gear for the various species. All of it is actually fishing, just different kinds of fishing for differing reasons. What you'd consider bait may have greater value as food than what you want to catch with it using it as bait. You can't catch enough walleye to subsist on, thing is that I do catch enough marine species to survive on, many millions of coastal peoples around the world do. And that includes my ancestors, both in Ireland and in Louisiana.
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Post by FWS on Apr 16, 2014 13:42:34 GMT -6
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Post by FWS on Apr 16, 2014 13:29:28 GMT -6
Bloomberg to spend $50 million to challenge NRA on gun safetyBy Leigh Ann Caldwell, Kevin Bohn and Ed Payne CNN Wed April 16, 2014 Michael Bloomberg moved into politics after gaining wealth and clout through Bloomberg LP, the world's leading financial news and information company. As mayor of New York, he led the city through tight budgets during the recession and pushed for controversial health policies, including banning large sodas. Bloomberg was a Republican candidate when he won the mayoral races in 2001 and 2005, but he switched to independent for his third term. Michael Bloomberg moved into politics after gaining wealth and clout through Bloomberg LP, the world's leading financial news and information company. As mayor of New York, he led the city through tight budgets during the recession and pushed for controversial health policies, including banning large sodas. Bloomberg was a Republican candidate when he won the mayoral races in 2001 and 2005, but he switched to independent for his third term.(CNN) -- Michael Bloomberg is investing a chunk of his personal fortune to minimize the influence of the National Rifle Association. The former New York City mayor pledged $50 million to his new group Everytown for Gun Safety, an umbrella organization for his two other gun control groups: Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. It aims to make the political climate more supportive of gun control. The new organization plans to compete against the NRA by adopting its playbook. The NRA has built an impressive and effective organization that touts millions of members, a robust lobbying organization and a massive campaign arm. "You've got to work at it piece by piece," Bloomberg told the The New York Times. Inside Politics: $50 mil. to combat NRA In its grass-roots operation, Everytown plans to increase its membership from 1.5 million to 2.5 million this year to implement its education and mobilization efforts. The group will focus on 15 states that have liberal gun laws, including Texas, Montana and Indiana. States that have advanced gun control initiatives will also receive attention, including Colorado and Washington. Bloomberg says no, again, to 2016 "The NRA should be afraid," said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action. Women, and more particularly mothers, will be the key demographic in the outreach to curb gun violence. "Moms are afraid that our children will be taken away. In the end, that's the emotion that's going to win." But influencing those in charge of writing gun policy will be the ultimate goal of the organization, which is also creating a political action committee to elect gun safety candidates to office and a 501(c)(4), an IRS classification used to raise unlimited amounts of money to influence voters. It aims to motivate a million pro-gun safety voters to go to the polls in November. In addition, like the NRA, the organization will submit a gun safety questionnaire to candidates and keep a score card of how elected officials vote on gun-related issues. "If the candidate doesn't support gun reform, we won't support you," Watts said. With an infusion of cash from Bloomberg, matching the NRA's financial heft will be a little less daunting. The NRA has spent more than $30 million lobbying elected officials since 1998. Its efforts have been very successful in Congress over the past decade, defeating attempts to ban assault weapons and expand background checks. On the electioneering side of the influence game, the NRA's political action committee has spent nearly $150 million on campaigns since 1990. Already in the first two months of this midterm election year, the powerful gun group raised $14 million, according to public data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. President of Everytown, John Feinblatt, said the group's 34,000 donors will also play a critical role in rivaling the NRA. "I don't want to lay blame anywhere, but it is a reality that the gun lobby has an incredible amount of political influence with members of Congress in Washington," Mark Kelly, a prominent gun control advocate, told CNN in December. Kelly's wife is former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was severely wounded in a shooting in Arizona in 2011. "I mean, it's very clear that many members take their cues on this issue from the gun lobby," he said. The NRA has little to say about Bloomberg's pledge, for now. "See you in Indianapolis next week. We'll have a lot more to say then," spokesman Andrew Arulanandam told CNN. He was referring to the group's annual conference, which takes place next week in Indianapolis. Bloomberg's activism for gun safety increased after repeated mass shootings. His efforts to expand background checks after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School failed to pass either the House or the Senate, despite pressure from the Obama administration. The organization wants to expand background checks, keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, crack down on gun trafficking and educate parents about the safe storage of guns.
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Post by FWS on Apr 16, 2014 13:03:19 GMT -6
Fishing FoodiesAdvice abounds for how to cook your catch By DENISE O'TOOLE KELLY Daytona Beach News-Journal April 16, 2014 Upon moving back to his native Daytona Beach area after spending most of his adult life in California, Bob Kawka started spending time with folks who could help him get back into what had been a favorite pastime in his youth — saltwater fishing. He soon realized those friends might appreciate if he shared some of the knowledge he'd acquired through another lifelong hobby. “At the Halifax Sport Fishing Club, they're always talking about catching the fish and nobody was talking about eating them,” said Kawka, who since last fall has been writing a cooking column for the club's monthly newsletter under the pen name of Iron Pot Bob. “Most (Florida) Crackers, all we do is fry them. I'd like to offer something else. This area has over 25 different kinds of edible fish just in the saltwater side.” Kawka's pseudonym refers to Dutch oven cooking, a subject on which he has published a cookbook. His recipes, though, are meant to showcase the wide variety of locally available fish and shellfish and a diversity of cooking methods. “Fish is an extremely versatile food that you can use in many ways,” he said. Anglers who want to take advantage of that versatility when it comes to their own catch may find some help in standard cookbooks. For example, James Peterson's 418-page “Fish & Shellfish” (1996, William Morrow Cookbooks) includes full-color, step-by-step photo instructions for cleaning and fileting all manner of seafood. To introduce the book's recipe for Trout Meuniere — a simple dish of whole trout dusted with flour, salt and pepper, sauteed in butter and sprinkled with fresh parsley and lemon juice — Peterson recalled a family camping trip to the mountains of California. “We'd pitch a tent big enough for the whole family, and my mother would be up at dawn, rod and reel in hand, to fish for our breakfast. The trout would end up sizzling in bacon fat over an open fire. No trout has ever taste quite the same, but this recipe for me is as close as it gets,” he wrote. Cookbooks aimed specifically at sport fishing enthusiasts, as is Kawka's column, also are widely available. A 2005 addition to the subgenre is particularly relevant here. Florida Sportsman's “The Angler's Cookbook: From Hook to Table” ($16.95) was written by Vic Dunaway, who recently retired as the magazine's “Kitchen and Waterfront View” food columnist. Dunaway boasts more than 65 years of catching and cooking experience in Florida, and his 207-page paperback includes more than 100 recipes, including the Saute Amandine offered on page 1D, along with Kawka's recipe for fish stew. Kawka, a 1961 graduate of Mainland High School, headed to the West Coast shortly after college to pursue a career in audiology and speech pathology. There he met a teacher and California gal named Elaine, now his wife of 46 years. Following retirement and many happy visits to his hometown, the couple moved from their home in Big Bear, Calif., to South Daytona in December 2012. From the viewpoint of a fisherman foodie, it was a great move. “People here in Florida don't understand just how wonderful things are in regards to fish,” he said.
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Post by FWS on Apr 16, 2014 7:58:52 GMT -6
I feel for you guys who have lost your upland bird hunting opportunities, especially the native birds, it's one of the best hunting experiences that produces some of the best quality wild game flesh.
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Post by FWS on Apr 16, 2014 7:54:05 GMT -6
Actually they would too if they experienced it.................. I don't, I just think it's really quite silly for guys to claim that their fishing opportunities in landlocked states are every bit as good as the oceans. They're not, and is in fact not even close. Not in quantity, quality of food, or income. Sure, it's your attraction to sheep. Which is what your pastoralist ancestors would have raised in Ireland, and which is what you gravitated to South Dakota for. The lack of sheep in MO is making you antsy and irritable. Where's your sense of adventure ?
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Post by FWS on Apr 15, 2014 22:53:15 GMT -6
The Irony of Cliven Bundy's Unconstitutional StandThe Nevada rancher isn't just resisting the Bureau of Land Management—he's also fighting against his state's unusual constitutional history. Matt Ford The Atlantic Apr 14 2014 Twenty-one years ago, rancher Cliven Bundy stopped paying his grazing fees. Bundy does not recognize federal authority over land where his ancestors first settled in the 1880s, which he claims belongs to the state of Nevada. The Bureau of Land Management disagreed and took him to federal court, which first ruled in favor of the BLM in 1998. After years of attempts at a negotiated settlement over the $1.2 million Bundy owes in fees failed, federal land agents began seizing hundreds of his cattle illegally grazing on public land last week. But after footage of a BLM agent using a stun gun on Bundy's adult son went viral in far-right circles, hundreds of armed militia supporters from neighboring states flocked to Bundy's ranch to defend him from the BLM agents enforcing the court order. The states'-rights groups, in echoes of Ruby Ridge and Waco, came armed and prepared for violence. "I'm ready to pull the trigger if fired upon," one of the anti-government activists told Reuters. Not eager to spill blood over cattle, the BLM backed down Sunday and started returning the livestock it had confiscated. The agency says it won't drop the matter and will "continue to work to resolve the matter administratively and judicially." Federalism—genuine states' rights—is perhaps more familiar to Nevadans than to any other state's denizens. To boost the state's ailing economy in the early 20th century, Nevada exploited the federal architecture of American law to create uniquely permissive laws on divorce, gambling, and prostitution, bringing in much-needed tourism revenue and giving the state a distinctive libertarian character. Just this weekend, the state Republican Party dropped statements opposing abortion and same-sex marriage from its platform at their convention, bucking the party's national stance. But Bundy's understanding of states' rights is far different. As he told Sean Hannity in an interview last week (emphasis added): Well, you know, my cattle is only one issue—that the United States courts has ordered that the government can seize my cattle. But what they have done is seized Nevada statehood, Nevada law, Clark County public land, access to the land, and have seized access to all of the other rights of Clark County people that like to go hunting and fishing. They've closed all those things down, and we're here to protest that action. And we are after freedom. We're after liberty. That's what we want.Bundy's claim that the land belongs to Nevada or Clark County didn't hold up in court, nor did his claim of inheriting an ancestral right to use the land that pre-empts the BLM's role. "We definitely don't recognize [the BLM director's] jurisdiction or authority, his arresting power or policing power in any way," Bundy told his supporters, according to The Guardian. His personal grievance with federal authority doesn't stop with the BLM, though. "I believe this is a sovereign state of Nevada," Bundy said in a radio interview last Thursday. "I abide by all of Nevada state laws. But I don’t recognize the United States government as even existing." Ironically, this position directly contradicts Article 1, Section 2 of the Nevada Constitution: All political power is inherent in the people. Government is instituted for the protection, security and benefit of the people; and they have the right to alter or reform the same whenever the public good may require it. But the Paramount Allegiance of every citizen is due to the Federal Government in the exercise of all its Constitutional powers as the same have been or may be defined by the Supreme Court of the United States; and no power exists in the people of this or any other State of the Federal Union to dissolve their connection therewith or perform any act tending to impair, subvert, or resist the Supreme Authority of the government of the United States. The Constitution of the United States confers full power on the Federal Government to maintain and Perpetuate its existence, and whensoever any portion of the States, or people thereof attempt to secede from the Federal Union, or forcibly resist the Execution of its laws, the Federal Government may, by warrant of the Constitution, employ armed force in compelling obedience to its Authority.The paramount-allegiance clause, a product of the era in which Nevada gained statehood, originated in Nevada's first (and unofficial) constitutional convention of 1863. Some 3,000 miles to the east, the Civil War raged between the federal government in the North and West and the rebellion that had swallowed the South. In early 1864, Abraham Lincoln—who wanted more pro-Union states in Congress so as to pass the amendment to abolish slavery, and a few more electoral votes to guarantee his reelection that fall—signed a bill authorizing Nevada to convene an official constitutional convention for statehood. The state constitution's framers, who were overwhelmingly Unionist, retained the clause in solidarity with the Union when they gathered in July 1864. Even the states that retain the phrase "paramount allegiance" today don't share Nevada's explicit openness toward armed federal intervention to enforce it. Nevada isn't the only state with a paramount-allegiance clause. Republicans added similar clauses to Reconstruction-era state constitutions throughout the South, although few survived subsequent revisions after federal troops departed. Even the states that retain the phrase "paramount allegiance" today, like North Carolina and Mississippi, don't share Nevada's explicit constitutional openness toward armed federal intervention to enforce it. That pro-federal sentiment also guided Nevada's first congressional delegation when it arrived in the nation's capital in early 1865. William Stewart, the Silver State's first senator, proposed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution in December 1865 that would've enshrined a weaker form of the paramount allegiance clause at the federal level: First—The Union of the States, under this constitution, is indissoluble, and no State can absolve its citizens from the obligation of paramount allegiance to the United States. Second—No engagement made, or obligation incurred by any State, or by any number of States, or by any county, city, or any other municipal corporation to subvert, impair, or resist the authority of the United States, or to support or aid any legislative convention or body in hostility to such authority, shall ever be held, voted, or be assumed or sustained, in whole or part, by any State or by the United States. This proposed amendment—which would have resolved secession's constitutionality for all time—did not succeed. The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled in Texas v. White in 1869 that secession had been unconstitutional and that "the Constitution, in all its provisions, looks to an indestructible Union composed of indestructible states." Stewart nevertheless left his mark on the Constitution the same year as White, when he wrote what would become the Fifteenth Amendment, guaranteeing black suffrage. Two decades after Nevada's founders proclaimed unswerving obedience to federal authority, Cliven Bundy's family first settled the land where he and his supporters now make their heavily armed stand against federal power. It's doubtful even the Nevada Constitution will change their minds—if legal and constitutional arguments could persuade the militia movement, there might not be a militia movement.
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Post by FWS on Apr 15, 2014 22:41:32 GMT -6
Miss Kansas to host hunting show for Outdoors ChannelApril 13 By Michael Pearce The Wichita Eagle CHASE COUNTY — Theresa Vail’s job has included a lot of cameras and fashionable clothing since she won the Miss Kansas crown last year. Friday and Saturday she got a look at a future that will contain more of the same when she reliquishes her crown June 7. Michael Pearce | The Wichita Eagle Theresa Vail, Miss Kansas, smiles after shooting her first turkey Friday morning. An avid hunter, she's agreed to host a television series for the Outdoors Channel. Vail filmed her first episode while at the Governor's Turkey Hunt in El Dorado. From then on, though, the cameras will be videoing her on hunts and other outdoors passions for “Limitless,” a series she’ll be hosting on the Outdoors Channel next year. The clothing will be mostly camo, made by “She,” a line of women’s outdoors apparel Vail has been hired to promote and help design. Vail filmed her first episode for the show while at the Governor’s Turkey Hunt in El Dorado. The show was about a Flint Hills turkey hunt with her father, Mark. Both shot nice toms 20 minutes into the hunt Friday morning. Vail has received attention for openly speaking of her love of hunting, firearms and her career in the Kansas Army National Guard. She gained more national attention when she announced she would not cover her tattoos in the Miss America competition in Atlantic City last September. Two months later, the 23-year-old chemistry and Chinese major at Kansas State realized that her career goal of becoming a dentist might be put on hold when the Outdoor Channel called to talk about her possibly hosting a series on their network. “I told them I didn’t want to do what everybody else was doing and they said they didn’t either,” Vail said while taking a break from Friday’s hunt. “We both wanted it to have more than just me on hunts. I was sold from there on.” She had gotten a taste of outdoors television in late December, when she and cameraman David Blanton met for an archery deer hunt near Pratt. It snowed hard, and the windchill and temperatures were brutal. She got a nice, mature whitetail with her bow. Blanton, Realtree Outdoors host, got a look at someone he thought could easily succeed in the business. “She just absolutely energized me more than anything. She is an amazing person, really,” Blanton said. “She really wants to teach people they can do things outside their comfort zone, to believe in themselves. They’ll see when the shows begin to air.” Vail said about half of each segment will be based on hunting, usually with archery gear. The rest will be about a particular personal challenge. To go along with a New Mexico elk hunt she’ll be spending a day training with the state’s Smoke Jumper fire fighters. “You have 100 pounds of gear on, and you’re running up and down buildings carrying people in a fireman’s carry,” she said. “It’s going to be pretty tough, but I thrive on things like that.” Another show will have her participating next year in a marathon in New Mexico that honors soldiers from the Bataan Death March in World War II. She recently hosted several pageant contestants at the event, which is held largely across boot-sucking sand dunes. Vail carried 46 pounds in a rucksack to compete in the event’s toughest category. Vail also wants to be as hands-on as possible in her hunts that will include at least three trips for elk, several for deer and possibly at least one for bear. That means she’ll be insisting on field-dressing and packing out loads of meat, when needed. Though a longtime hunter, she admits she does have plenty to learn. “I’m not afraid to say, ‘Hey, I don’t know how to do this,’ but I want to learn and do it myself,” she said. “That’s empowering and more people need to do it. I’ve never (backpacked the meat from an elk down a mountain), but I will learn how and that’s the kind of thing that makes me so proud.” Friday morning’s hunt with guide Pat Post, her father and two cameramen required some quick thinking. Post’s scouting had found where a sizable flock of turkeys was roosting in a high-rise of a sycamore over a gorgeous Flint Hills stream. The crew of five moved close to the roost while tom turkeys filled the still air with scores of gobbles. Four toms strutted toward Post’s decoys shortly after fly-down. A mechanical problem caused Vail’s gun to only “click” when she pulled the trigger. Using the sound of her dad’s shot to cover her noise, she quickly worked the action on the semi-automatic 12 gauge and killed a nice tom five yards away. Vail has also been hired by Bass Pro Shops for assorted company promotions and work on the She clothing line, which they own. She said she’ll finish the two semesters needed for her college degree online. She also re-enlisted for another six years in the National Guard. Vail said they’re willing to work with her schedule since she often promotes the military. Her father has had a long career as an Army dentist. After working with Vail on several projects, the two cameramen in Kansas to film the turkey hunt believe she’ll be able to get done all she’s mentioned, and probably more. “She’s not afraid of trying anything,” cameraman Casey Keefer said. “There’s nothing timid at all about Theresa. She has so much drive and personality.” Cameraman Jason Brown agreed, saying, “It’s like the title of her show, ‘Limitless,’ there are no limits in Theresa.”
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Post by FWS on Apr 15, 2014 22:35:39 GMT -6
A 13-year-old eagle huntress in MongoliaBy William Kremer BBC World Service 14 April 2014 A photographer who snapped what could be the world's only girl hunting with a golden eagle says watching her work was an amazing sight. Continue reading the main story Most children, Asher Svidensky says, are a little intimidated by golden eagles. Kazakh boys in western Mongolia start learning how to use the huge birds to hunt for foxes and hares at the age of 13, when the eagles sit heavily on their undeveloped arms. Svidensky, a photographer and travel writer, shot five boys learning the skill - and he also photographed Ashol-Pan. "To see her with the eagle was amazing," he recalls. She was a lot more comfortable with it, a lot more powerful with it and a lot more at ease with it." Ashol-Pan training her eagle The Kazakhs of the Altai mountain range in western Mongolia are the only people that hunt with golden eagles, and today there are around 400 practising falconers. Ashol-Pan, the daughter of a particularly celebrated hunter, may well be the country's only apprentice huntress. They hunt in winter, when the temperatures can drop to -40C (-40F). A hunt begins with days of trekking on horseback through snow to a mountain or ridge giving an excellent view of prey for miles around. Hunters generally work in teams. After a fox is spotted, riders charge towards it to flush it into the open, and an eagle is released. If the eagle fails to make a kill, another is released. The skill of hunting with eagles, Svidensky says, lies in harnessing an unpredictable force of nature. "You don't really control the eagle. You can try and make her hunt an animal - and then it's a matter of nature. What will the eagle do? Will she make it? How will you get her back afterwards?" The eagles are not bred in captivity, but taken from nests at a young age. Female eaglets are chosen since they grow to a larger size - a large adult might be as heavy as seven kilos, with a wingspan of over 230cm. After years of service, on a spring morning, a hunter releases his mature eagle a final time, leaving a butchered sheep on the mountain as a farewell present. "That's how the Kazakh eagle hunters make sure that the eagles go back to nature and have their own strong newborns, for the sake of future generations", Svidensky says. He describes Ashol-Pan as a smiling, sweet and shy girl. His photographs of her engaging in what has been a male activity for around 2,000 years say something about Mongolia in the 21st Century.
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Post by FWS on Apr 15, 2014 20:06:48 GMT -6
For the U.S. population it's within 40 miles, with most even closer than that.
Actually that would be Tullamore, and yes I've passed through there on the way North from Waterford. It is smack dab in the center of Ireland and yes, your ancestors would have been farmers or pastoralists if they lived there. And back then 100 miles would have been a huge distance for any traveler, they did not commute to the Atlantic Ocean to go fishing. So no, they were not coastal people.
And you're missing an important point here, my people were and still are 'commercial' fishermen, along with subsistence fishermen. That was their livelihood, and the commute to the ocean is a 15 second walk since they literally lived on the coast, and still do. We still own the property and the cottages on it, along with a few islands. If you ever see the film 'The Secret Of Roan Inish' that's where it was filmed, the exact area with multiple scenes filmed on family property.
I've told you that before, as well as pointing out that what you'd consider 'awesome fishing' probably wouldn't qualify as such from my perspective.
Great for some species ? Perhaps, but it lacks a lot of the diversity found elsewhere and the opportunities are limited.
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Post by FWS on Apr 15, 2014 15:34:53 GMT -6
TC, about 40% of the U.S. population does live in coastal counties and another big percentage is pretty close to the coasts. Which is what I've always done with inland areas................. Perhaps not, your ancestors were probably farmers or pastoralists in the interior, there were many of those. You probably don't have direct connections to your family or the region they're from, I do. My ancestors were, and still are, fishermen. They lived in very remote areas and were insulated as such from the British taking their lands and from famine events such occurred with the potato blight. Same thing happened with my cousins, after getting formally educated in the universities and working in their fields they essentially said, 'This sucks, think I'll just go fishing"
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Post by FWS on Apr 15, 2014 10:58:02 GMT -6
Arctic Resources: The fight for the coldest place on Earth heats upTV-Novosti April 15, 2014 The discovery of large hydrocarbon deposits in the Arctic has sparked international competition over resources in frozen waters. Regional powers are quickly filing claims for the sea shelf, with Russia preparing to bring in the biggest bid to the UN. Ahead of Moscow preparing to file a 1.2 million square kilometer Arctic waters bid to the UN later this year, President Vladimir Putin commissioned Russian ministries to get ready to take the new territories in the Sea of Okhotsk under full control and protection. The Russian president ordered maintenance of border patrols of the extended sea shelf be in place by July 1, 2014. Russia’s Defense Ministry has been instructed to ensure maritime authorities extend the Russian shelf in the Sea of Okhotsk beyond the generally recognized 200 nautical miles zone by December 1, 2015. The Foreign Ministry is obliged to bring all the necessary documents, including new maps of the Sea of Okhotsk and scientific data serving as proof of Russia’s bid, to the UN by March 1, 2015. Pot of gold Experts say the future of the world economy, to some extent, is dependent on the Arctic. Last year, Russian energy giants, Gazprom and Rosneft, were granted rights to develop large hydrocarbon deposits recently discovered in the Pechora and Kara seas. The find could be a pot of gold for Russia’s gas industry. The Prirazlomnaya oil rig in the Barents Sea (RIA Novosti / Igor Podgornyi)The melting Arctic ice cap has made way for shipping routes and the exploration of resources at the bottom of the world’s smallest ocean. The North Pole icecap has decreased by 40 percent since 1979, opening up two shipping routes, the North Sea route and the Northwest Passage, with extremely high economic potential. Approximately 30 percent of the world’s undiscovered natural gas and 15 percent of its oil lie in the Arctic. But the majority, 84 percent, of the estimated 90 billion barrels of oil and 47.3 trillion cubic meters of gas remain off shore. According to the UN’s sea convention, any country has sovereign rights to resources within 200 nautical miles of its territorial waterways. There are five countries with territories in the Arctic: Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the US. Over the past decades an international framework and an Artic Council has been established for offshore oil and gas activities, as well as to foster cooperation among the Arctic five. When it comes to the Arctic, world powers talk of cooperation. “Russia, the major Arctic power, is ready for close partnership within the Arctic council,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said. The US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel stressed that “As President Obama has said, “The Arctic region is peaceful, stable, and free of conflict. Our goal is to help assure it stays that way.” “Ultimately, we envision a secure and stable Arctic, where all nations’ interests are safeguarded, and where all nations work together to address problems and resolve differences,” Hagel said. But actions often speak louder than words. As the icecaps are melting, a military race is also building up in the region. The US Navy recently debuted a revised roadmap focused on expanding America’s muscle in the world’s coldest ocean over the next decade, increasing the number of personnel trained in Arctic operations, advancing technical equipment and surveillance needs. The ultimate goal appears to be establishing international order under US leadership. “They want to be a leader and they see themselves as a driving force in the future planning of the Arctic,” Canadian journalist Ed Struzhik told RT. Earlier this year, NATO countries participated in a Norwegian-led Cold Response exercise in the Arctic, rehearsing high intensity operations with 16,000 troops deployed in extreme conditions. Non-NATO participants, Sweden and Switzerland, also took part. “The United States is anxious to militarize the Arctic Ocean. It has to do it via its relations with Canada and it is also seeking to do it via NATO, through the participation of Norway and Denmark in NATO. And now it is calling upon Sweden and Finland to essentially join NATO with a view to establishing a NATO agenda in the Arctic,” Michel Chossudovsky, from the Centre for Research on Globalization in Montreal, revealed. Meanwhile, Canada has been staging its own independent drills with hundreds of soldiers participating in cold-weather winter warfare exercises. Not to be left out, last year Russia announced the resumption of a constant armed presence in the Arctic, which was abandoned by the military after the fall of the USSR. The Russian Navy’s task group headed by the country's most powerful battleship and the flagship of the Northern Fleet, cruiser Peter the Great (Pyotr Veliky)went on a long-distance cruise in the Subarctic along the Northern Sea Route, which became a flagship mission in the region. Pyotr Veliky heavy nuclear-powered cruiser standing on roadstead. (RIA Novosti / Grigoriy Sisoev)The group was accompanied by four nuclear icebreakers facilitating the passage through areas with particularly thick ice. Now the once deactivated infrastructure will resume operation, with Russian strategic bombers patrolling the Arctic on a regular basis. Last month, Russia’s Airborne Troops parachute-landed on drifting ice flows in the Arctic Ocean near the North Pole in a first-ever daredevil training search-and-rescue operation. Moscow has been calling for tighter security along the country’s arctic frontiers and along its maritime transportation routes in the polar region. Lars Kullerud, the President of the Institute of the Arctic, told RT that “The Arctic countries already have a strong interest in collaboration, in search and rescue in terms of accident because it’s an enormous territory, with very few installations in the area.” “There is an interest in having common standards for shipping and oil and gas development, and maybe the big future would be common trade that you produce things shipped from one place in the Arctic to the next,” Kullerud said. According to those with experience in the Arctic, conquering one of the most extreme regions on Earth is no job for just one country, regardless of its military might. Experts say safeguarding and exploring the top of the world can best be achieved through international co-operation. Back in 2012, Russia’s former envoy to NATO and current Vice Prime Minister, Dmitry Rogozin, said that by the middle of the 21st century the fight for resources between various states will become “uncivilized.” In about 40 years, Russia may lose its sovereignty if it fails to clearly set out its national interests in the Arctic, Rogozin said. “It’s crucially important for us to set goals for our national interests in this region. If we don’t do that, we will lose the battle for resources which means we’ll also lose in a big battle for the right to have sovereignty and independence,” Rogozin stated at a Marine Board meeting in Moscow.
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Post by FWS on Apr 15, 2014 10:44:59 GMT -6
National Whitetail Deer Hunting and Management Survey Resultsby Alex Robinson Outdoor Life April 14, 2014 From a national perspective, whitetail hunting and management seem to be at a crossroads. Not too many years ago whitetail powerhouse states like Wisconsin, Alabama, and Nebraska were seeing all-time record harvests (2000, 2005, and 2010 respectively) and the Boone and Crockett club had never received more entries. But, now a handful of indicators are suggesting that the deer hunting bubble is about to burst — or maybe that it already has. Increased predator numbers, deer diseases like epizootic hemorrhagic disease and chronic wasting disease, and years of high antlerless harvests have put many deer herds on unstable ground. Hunters from corners of classic whitetail country like Montana's Milk River and the riverbottoms of Illinois have already seen drastic declines in deer numbers over the last few years. Then, several bad EHD outbreaks peppered the nation last summer and a brutal 2013/2014 winter struck much of the Midwest and Northeast. This could spell more bad news for deer hunters this season. But, it's not all doom and gloom. We've never known more about deer biology and management than we do today. Game agencies using strong science and working with educated hunters utilizing proven management methods could help us avoid a deer depression. And in some ways, this process is already in the works. Last month the Quality Deer Management Association held a national summit that brought together the greatest minds in the whitetail world. The point of the summit was to take the temperature of America's deer hunters. And this is where Outdoor Life's National Deer Survey comes in. We wanted to see how OL readers viewed deer hunting so we could start answering questions about how to manage the country's favorite game animal. We sent the survey out to online readers, our Facebook fans, friends, and contributors and when the dust had settled, almost 4,000 deer hunters had responded. You can see the FULL RESULTS of the survey and an analysis of some of the more interesting results below. Share the survey with your hunting buddies and use this knowledge to improve your own deer hunting and management. Where Do You Hunt? It's easy to think of deer hunters in two categories: the private land guys and the public land guys. But our survey shows that a large portion OL readers actually fall somewhere in the middle. Another easy assumption is that private land hunters would have consistent seasons year after year while the guys slogging it out on public lands are seeing fewer and fewer deer. But that wasn't true for our survey respondents: 41 percent of public land hunters said they saw the same amount of deer as they did in the previous year. That number was the same for landowners and essentially the same (46 percent) for the guys who hunt leases. What Do You Shoot? This classic deer camp question played out pretty predictably in our survey. Meat hunters made up the largest number of respondents, but the trophy hunters and guys just looking to spend time with friends and family weren't far behind. These responses varied a little more when we divided respondents by region. The West had the highest percentage of meat hunters (35 percent) and the Midwest had the highest percentage of trophy hunters (26 percent). The South had the greatest percentage (31 percent) of hunters who answered that killing a deer was great, but mostly they just wanted to get in the field with family and friends. [img src=" " alt=" "] Antlerless Deer Many blame state game agencies for issuing too many antlerless deer tags and submarining the deer population. But, OL's whitetail blogger Craig Dougherty has often argued that just because you have a tag in your pocket doesn't mean you have to punch it. This message was lost on 28 percent of survey respondents. However, whether a person hunts private or public land does seem to correlate with their policy on taking antlerless deer. Public land hunters had the highest percentage of "fill every tag responses" at 31 percent while lease hunters had the lowest at 20 percent. Landowners and lease hunters tied for the highest number of "self regulators" both at 33 percent while public land hunters were the least likely to self regulate (20 percent). Agency Approval Overall, our respondents were sympathetic to their state game agencies — 64 percent said their agencies did a good or adequate job given the amount of resources at their disposal. For all the venom that gets aimed at state game agencies, only 13 percent of respondents said their agency had "no idea about deer trends in my area." Of course, expectations have a large impact on how hunters view the effectiveness of their state agency. Hunters who said they needed to see at least a dozen deer in order to have a satisfactory hunt were more critical of their game agencies — 51 percent of those respondents said their agency did a poor job or had no idea what was going on. On the other end of the spectrum, of the hunters who said the number of deer they see doesn't matter, only 30 percent said that state game agencies did a poor job or had no idea what was going on.
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Post by FWS on Apr 15, 2014 10:36:50 GMT -6
Low bird numbers drive hunting preservesBy Carson Tigges Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier April 13, 2014 Upland game bird populations are suffering in a major way. A record rainfall in 2013 resulted in the lowest August roadside pheasant survey in recorded history. "It's crashing terrible. There are hardly any wild pheasants," said Dale Hogenson of Chase the Adventure Hunt & Gun Club in Decorah. Hogenson operates one of the 53 private shooting preserves in Iowa that are all trying to give hunters and their dogs an outlet. With game scarce, preserves have become a much more popular option for small game, and it's trending toward the only option. "Preserves are about the only place you can guarantee you're going to see birds," Hogenson added. "We're putting birds out there into the fields and can guarantee there are birds in the fields to hunt." This is both good and bad. In the short term, preserve business is good as seasoned hunters will go where the game is. In the long term, dampened spirits are an issue and the number of hunters, in general, is dwindling. "Overall, it's bad for us, as hunters get discouraged," said Larry Statler of Safari Iowa in Parnell. "In general, it's a good and bad thing." "A lot of young people aren't getting into hunting like they did years ago because there are so few places to hunt anymore," Hogenson concurred. "I hate to paint a bad picture, but when numbers of wildlife are down, people lose interest in hunting. "On the other hand, the preserve does better. It's a bittersweet story to that as temporarily our business will pick up and do better." Individual memberships at Chase the Adventure are $125 with family memberships running $225. Then it is $18 to hunt a minimum of five pheasants, $13 for chukar and $8 for quail. There is also non-member pricing and several other services offered. Those kinds of fees don't appear to be going anywhere. "I don't see much to reverse the (bird population) cycle," said Statler. "I'm afraid hunting land is to become more and more scarce, the habitat gets more scarce and the appropriate insects get more scarce." Rates at Safari Iowa are a tad higher, but it markets itself as more than just a hunting preserve. Tiered pricing, depending on how many hunters are in the party, ranges from $129 to $159 per hunter. That includes minimums of three pheasants, four chukar and eight quail, per hunter. Multi-day getaways and family plans are also included as Safari Iowa's land includes cabins with all the amenities of home. "We have three target audiences," Statler said. "One is the walk-on hunter that wants a half-day hunt. The family group that wants a safe family-friendly place and hunting is a family tradition. Or groups that want access to quality lodging and do some grilling or breakfast with us. We've made quite an effort to offer those kinds of things."
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Post by FWS on Apr 15, 2014 10:31:47 GMT -6
The buck stops here: ‘Hunting girls’ on the riseJapan Times Apr 15, 2014 Here’s a new buzzword for you: kari-gaaru (hunting girls). They’ve descended from past trendsetting mori-gaaru (“forest girls,” interested in carefree lifestyles and spending time in nature) and yama-gaaru (“mountain girls,” who enjoy fashionable hikes). So now Japan has kari-gaaru who, instead of playing games or chasing the latest fashions, are more interested in tracking deer and other game out in the wild. Licensed to kill Hunters in the country are becoming scarce as the members of their core demographic advance in age. According to the Environment Ministry, there were 190,000 hunters nationwide in 2010, down from 518,000 in 1975. Of the 190,000 registered hunters, nearly 65 percent were over the age of 60. As the overall number of hunters decreases, the number of female hunters is seeing an uptick. In 2009, women accounted for 0.7 percent of those holding Type 1 Hunting Licenses, which permit the use of both gunpowder-fired guns and air guns, up from 0.5 percent in 2001. The website Mezase! Kari-Gaaru (“Aim to be a hunting girl!”), operated by Dainihon Ryoyukai, cites three reasons that women have offered to explain why they’ve taken up hunting: “I want to know about the meat that I eat, just as I want to about rice, vegetables and fish.” “I became interested in forest conservation and environmental protection after seeing the damage caused to fields by animals through exchanges with farmers.” “I was already going on hikes in the mountains — I wanted something more challenging.” Oh deer, it’s delicious! The website also profiles a woman who has a gun permit and hunting license. After a trip to a restaurant in Hokkaido that specialized in venison, she wondered about where the meat came from and wanted to participate in a deer hunt. Akihiko Tomiyama of Dainihon Ryoyukai said the number of hunting girls has been on the rise over the past two to three years because of increased popularity of gibier (wild game) cuisine and recent news coverage of animals damaging agriculture. Tomiyama said that his group has been receiving feedback from women saying they saw the website and became interested in hunting or have already begun taking steps to become hunting girls.
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Post by FWS on Apr 15, 2014 10:18:20 GMT -6
It's miniscule by comparison to the Pacific, Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, etc.
No, I'd have gravitated towards a coastline because it's an hereditary thing. We actually see that a lot, where people whose ancestors were fishermen move to areas where they can do it or be close to it. Even when they're a generation or three removed from it.
Most likely not given the experience................
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Post by FWS on Apr 14, 2014 22:30:51 GMT -6
Of course you mean that the Catholic church has been fighting people since it's formation.
It didn't exist 'at the beginning of time' BTW. You'd have to ignore millions of years of Hominid evolution to believe that.
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Post by FWS on Apr 14, 2014 22:22:47 GMT -6
Yeah, I can do without that, after fishing the ocean for as long as I have, catching a huge variety of species the ice fishing on a freshwater lake thing would bore me after a couple days.
But hey, as a born and bred Northern Iowan you need not feel slighted since there was a classic seminal film based on a young fella from that region...................
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Post by FWS on Apr 14, 2014 10:39:18 GMT -6
Colbert loves scienceBy David Shiffman Slate Chicago Tribune April 14, 2014 David Letterman announced last week that he will soon be retiring from "The Late Show" after hosting for more than 30 years, and CBS has confirmed that Stephen Colbert will replace him. While switching from "The Colbert Report" to "The Late Show" will be a huge career advancement for the comedian and TV show host, it could be a big loss for television coverage of science. Stephen Colbert is one of the only news or faux-news anchors to regularly cover scientific discoveries and interview scientists. "'The Colbert Report' has certainly been one of the best television programs ever for showcasing scientists — and I don't just mean 'for a comedy talk show,'" says science comedian Brian Malow. He points out that the guest who has made the most appearances is Neil deGrasse Tyson. "More than any movie star! And Tyson isn't even the only physicist he's featured!" Among the other physicists Colbert has interviewed are Brian Greene, Michio Kaku and Lawrence Krauss. He has hosted oceanographer Robert Ballard, neurophilosopher Patricia Churchland, surgeon Atul Gawande and evolutionary biologist Neil Shubin as well as experts in science policy such as then-Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson and National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins. The online archive of interview guests includes separate categories for "academic," "medical" and "scientist." This could change when Colbert takes over "The Late Show." As Mashable noted, "the 'Late Show' gig would force him to shoot the breeze with all manner of celebrities." During Letterman's run, "Late Show" guests have typically been movie or TV stars. For example, this week's guests include Tom Selleck, Zach Braff, Lindsay Lohan, Rob Lowe and Jason Bateman. "Colbert Report" guests this week include mathematician Edward Frenkel and primatologist Jane Goodall. Colbert's transition comes at a terrible time for coverage of science. "Traditional science journalism has been gutted in recent years due to the economic downturn," says Sheril Kirshenbaum, the co-author of "Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future." Paul Raeburn, chief media critic at the Knight Science Journalism at MIT Tracker, agrees. "Television news has jettisoned its science reporters in recent years, and when it does cover science it covers it like politics — who's winning, who's losing, and what does it all mean for the next election," Raeburn said. The consequences were clear most recently in CNN's horrifically bad coverage of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. CNN cut its science, technology and environment team in 2008. When host Don Lemon was covering the lost plane, he speculated on air that there could be some supernatural explanation, or perhaps the airliner could have disappeared into a black hole. Meanwhile, "Animal Planet" is airing fake documentaries about mermaids. Print media isn't much better off: A Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism study showed that almost 100 major newspapers had science sections a few decades ago, and only 35 did by 2008. Colbert can't cure public science illiteracy associated with declining news coverage, but by presenting scientific information to his huge audience in a fun and entertaining way, he has certainly helped. "Most Americans don't know a scientist personally, so they get their impressions of who we are and what we do via television and film," says Kirshenbaum. "The show has implicitly included science and scientists as an everyday part of our culture — even pop culture," Malow says. "By incorporating science so often into an entertainment program, I think it's done something important that even our best science programs don't do." As a big fan of "The Colbert Report," and as someone who drove 600 miles to attend the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear in Washington, D.C., I wish Stephen Colbert the best as he prepares for this new phase in his career. I just hope that when it comes to covering scientific topics, CBS lets him keep up the good work. Shiffman is a Ph.D. student at the Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy at the University of Miami. He writes for Southern Fried Science. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
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Post by FWS on Apr 14, 2014 10:36:09 GMT -6
Ebola: A swift, effective and bloody killerBy Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Mon April 14, 2014 STORY HIGHLIGHTS Dr. Sanjay Gupta is in Guinea reporting on the Ebola outbreak Ebola has spread to Conakry, the capital city with 2 million residents It has gone "viral," and now the hope is that it doesn't go global, Gupta says Ebola, a simple virus with a small genome, is a swift and bloody killer Conakry, Guinea (CNN) -- It took only moments to feel the impact of what was happening here. We had just landed in Conakry, the capital of Guinea. In the fields right outside the airport, a young woman was in tears. She started to wail and shout in Susu, one of the 40 languages spoken in this tiny country of 12 million people. The gathered crowd became silent and listened intently. The young man sitting next to me quietly translated, although I already had my suspicions. He told me the woman's husband had died of Ebola, and then quickly ushered us away. Sanjay Gupta explains Ebola virus How the Ebola outbreak began It is probably not surprising the airplane bringing us into Conakry was nearly empty, as are all the hotels here. Not many people in the United States have ever visited Guinea, or could even identify where it sits in West Africa. It is already one of the world's poorest countries, and the panic around Ebola is only making that worse. Some of it is justified. That's because this time, the outbreak is different. In the past, Ebola rarely made it out of the remote forested areas of Africa. Key to that is a grim version of good news/bad news: because Ebola tends to incapacitate its victims and kill them quickly, they rarely have a chance to travel and spread the disease beyond their small villages. Now, however, Ebola is in Conakry, the capital city, with two million residents. Equally concerning: it's just a short distance from where we touched down, at an international airport. It has gone "viral," and now the hope is that it doesn't go global. When I asked doctors on the ground about that scenario, they had split opinions. Several told me the concern is real but unlikely. Most patients with Ebola come from small villages in the forest and are unlikely to be flying on international trips, they told me. Furthermore, they don't think Ebola would spread widely in a western country; our medical expertise and our culture -- not touching the dead -- would prevent it. Others aren't so sure. No one wants to test that theory. With Ebola, there is an incubation period of two to 21 days. Remember these numbers. This is the range of time it takes to develop symptoms after someone has been exposed. With an international airport close by, that means you could be on the other side of the world before you develop the headache, fever, fatigue and joint pain which make up the early symptoms of an Ebola infection. The diarrhea, rash and bleeding come later. Hiccups is a particularly grave sign with Ebola. It means your diaphragm, which allows you to breathe, is starting to get irritated. There is a lot we know about Ebola, and it scares us almost as much as what we don't know. We do know Ebola, a simple virus with a small genome, is a swift, effective and bloody killer. The mortality rate is higher than 50% and in some outbreaks reaches 90%. Ebola appears to kill in a clever way. Early on, it strategically disarms your immune system, allowing the virus to replicate unchecked until it invades organs all over your body. It convinces your blood to clot in overdrive, but only inside your blood vessels. While those blood vessels choke up, the rest of your body starts to ooze because the clotting mechanisms are all busy. You start to hemorrhage on the outside of your body. Nose bleeds, bruising, even a simple needle stick will refuse to clot. But, it is the bleeding you don't see -- the bleeding on the inside -- that causes even more catastrophic problems. Many patients die of shock, within an average of 10 days. It sounds like the stuff of horror movies. But despite the real danger, Ebola is not at all easy to "catch." If it were, my wife would have refused to let me come in the midst of an outbreak. To become infected, you generally need to spend extended time with someone who is gravely ill, and come into contact with his or her infected body fluids. That's why family members and health care workers are the most likely to get sick. Over the last three weeks, at least 104 people have died, including 14 health care workers. With some infections, you can shed and spread the virus long before you get ill. That's not the case with Ebola. It's only after you are sick and feverish do you become contagious. However, it only takes a miniscule amount to infect and kill. A microscopic droplet of blood or saliva on your bare hand could enter through a break in your skin. And, whether you realize it or not, we all have breaks in our skin. Since I was a kid, I have been fascinated with outbreaks. I learned in medical school that new pathogens generally make a jump from animals to humans, a process called zoonosis. This is happening in areas where human and animals come into continuous contact. David Quammen refers to it as "Spillover," in his book of the same name. A stew of ducks, geese, chickens, pigs and humans in southeast Asia led to the spillover of avian flu, H5N1. Contact between pigs and humans in Mexico led to swine flu, H1N1; pigs and fruit bats were the recipe for Nipah fever in Malaysia. The best guess is that fruit bats may be a natural reservoir for the Ebola virus too, but this has not been confirmed. Quammen makes the point: Ebola didn't enter our world -- we entered its world. Pathogens can be predators, like lions, tigers and bears. A virus may not plan the way a big cat does, but in a sense it stalks its prey -- waiting for the moment of opportunity, then attacking with fury. Because it can lie silent for years, it's also easy to see Ebola as a killing ghost, like Jack the Ripper. Presumably outbreaks begin through some human-animal contact, but since that contact is ongoing we don't know what it is that leads Ebola to rear its ugly head. We don't know how to treat the illness or vaccinate against it. We certainly don't know how to cure it. I thought about all of this as I left that woman in the airport, and I have thought about her a great deal since then. Her grief made an impression on all of us. It also made this mysterious, exotic virus the world knows, but doesn't fully understand, so much more real and frightening. For the next 21 days (the outer range of the incubation period) the woman we saw will be monitored for a fever or any early signs she may have contracted Ebola from her husband. If she exhibits symptoms, she will be isolated and treated with fluids, oxygen and nutrition. That is all that can really be offered. Again, there is no cure for Ebola. For her neighbors, in Guinea and across its border, another critical number is 42 -- as in 42 days, or two incubation periods. If the health care teams here don't see any new cases during that time then they officially say the outbreak is over. We are not there yet, not even close. The clock is ticking.
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