text:
Testing is all very well, but the fact remains that few people have the money and time to do it. Furthermore, why should a hypothesis that is already backed up by modern science be tested when no evidence has been bought to light that challenges it?
If someone claims to have proven unicorns exist and does not present any evidence at all as to their existence, I do not need to launch an international unicorn location campaign to check they don't exist before snorting derisively at them.


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5 reasons to get psyched about Google Chrome:
- Each tab lives in its own process space. This means that JavaScript-heavy web applications in one tab won't be slowing down your entire browsing process, and also, if one tab crashes, all the other tabs will be fine. Additionally, the newer multi-core chips from Intel and AMD will be uniquely positioned to take advantage of this from day one, meaning a faster overall browsing experience.
- The JavaScript engine is wicked fast. How fast? Faster than Firefox and Safari (although Firefox 3.1's new engine might narrow the gap). This means faster web applications and smoother JavaScript effects.
- It's (another) open-source Webkit. Webkit has proven to be a fantastic code base, not just for computers but for embedded devices too (cell phones, handheld tablets, etc.). Having another open-source code base out there for the taking can only be beneficial for any project that might benefit from having some part of a web browser.
- Gears is built-in. Gears is a very slick "Web 3.0" technology which will help bridge the gap between desktop and web applications. It's Google's sneaky way of pushing some of the best features of HTML 5 out to us on every browser on the market. Early adoption of this platform can only be beneficial, especially for mobile users who stand to gain the most from "cache and sync" enabled web apps.
- Chrome has a true next-gen UI. Tabs up top, "Speed Dial" start page, single-window, free-standing web-apps and widgets: Google has lifted a bunch of great ideas from Opera, Firefox and Safari. But true competition in this space really only lifts the water level for everyone -- it wasn't long ago when only Opera had tabs, and now every browser has them.
So how is it? Good stuff, or another Google Lively? Does it live up to the hype? Post your experiences with Google Chrome (after it's available for download for Windows here) below.

subset: commoncrawl


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This is the bag you'll be reaching for every single day--it's great for stashing your essentials and goes with just about anything! It features textured faux leather and silver hardware. Detachable shoulder strap, fully lined with zip/cell phone pockets. This beauty can make even the most disheveled outfit look put together (even if the inside is full of receipts and gum wrappers!).
*10"/25.5cm width
*8"/20.25cm height
*7.5"/19cm depth
California Residents: Proposition 65
If you're not utterly obsessed with your recent purchase, it's now so easy to send it back! All US returns can be completed online using our fast, hassle-free system. Check out the links below for more details.
Opened makeup, earrings, ear cuffs and panties cannot be returned.


text:
The Ostrich — Not as Stupid as Her Critics
The Reader's Digest Association has published numerous books over the years illustrated with many wonderful aspects of nature, though most of these are punctuated with Darwinian evolutionism. One volume I have found particularly fascinating is Marvels and Mysteries of Our Animal World (1964).
Some while ago, however, I ran across a comment regarding the "ostrich"; it was made by Jan Juta, one of the Digest writers.
"In Chapter 39 of the Book of Job we find an unflattering reference to the ostrich: 'She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers. Because God has deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.' Job obviously had never studied the ostrich. Actually the birds are good parents" (p. 129).
While the author may have been an astute student of nature, she hardly qualifies as a credible exegete of the sacred Scriptures. She does illustrate how anxious unlearned people are to take "shots" at the sacred Book of God.
The Background of the Narrative
Job of Uz had undergone "months of misery" (Job 7:3), the cause of which he had no understanding at all. In times of pain and weakness, he had complained that the Lord was mistreating him. He went so far as to question the wisdom of God in his management of the universe. He challenged Jehovah to meet him on the debate platform; in his agony he imagined he would vanquish his Creator with dazzling arguments of logic packaged in eloquence!
In the concluding portion of this literary masterpiece (38:1 – 41:34), Jehovah responds to the misguided patriarch, whom he lovingly has characterized as "my servant Job" (1:8). In a series of more than seventy, rapid-fire questions, the Lord brings the sage of Uz to his knees.
A number of these queries, designed to emphasize the Lord's sovereignty over the material creation, pertain to the animal kingdom. It is within this context that Jehovah, not Job, speaks about the ostrich. The charge under review, therefore, is actually aimed at God — not the patriarch. And the very purpose in the narrative is to expose that fact that no human being, with his miniscule volume of knowledge, has any business at all questioning the wisdom of God — in any matter!
The Controversial Text
For convenience sake, we introduce the entire text from Job 39.
"The wings of the ostrich wave proudly; but are they the pinions and plumage of love? For she leaves her eggs on the earth, And warms them in the dust, And forgets that the foot may crush them, Or that the wild beast may trample them. She deals hardly with her young ones, as if they were not hers: Though her labor be in vain, she is without fear; Because God has deprived her of wisdom, Neither has he imparted to her understanding. When she lifts up herself on high, She scorns the horse and his rider" (vv. 13-18).
One must remember first of all, and this is a most crucial point; the ostrich of this text is being portrayed as man commonly views her — not as she actually is — in the created order of animals. The purpose of the narrative is to demonstrate the inability of any mere human to criticize what the Creator has done. Let us analyze the text.
Jehovah declares that the "ostrich" [not "peacock" KJV] proudly waves her wings in "love." The term for "love" is related to a Hebrew word that means "stork" (see ASVfn). There may be, therefore, an intended contrast between the well-known "motherly" stork, and that disposition which seems, at least at first glance, to be missing in the ostrich.
Divine Design
The facts are these.
- The ostrich lays thirty or so eggs in a "sand" nest. Superficially, she appears to be somewhat neglectful of them. As the forty-two day incubation period progresses, she occasionally "leaves her eggs on the earth," but they are kept "warm" by the sand (v. 14).
Admittedly, some of the outermost eggs are exposed, and at times become "trampled" by other creatures. It almost seems that "mother ostrich" has forgotten them (v. 15). But this "appearance" is a hastily drawn conclusion. In reality, it is an evidence of "design" in the providential plan of the Almighty. These outer eggs actually provide the initial food for the chicks that presently hatch!
- After the babies hatch, the ostrich again appears to exhibit a lack of concern for her little family, "as if they were not hers" (v. 16). But what happens is this: when a predator approaches her nest, she flees, as though she were fearful; in reality, though, she is but acting the role of a decoy, drawing the danger in her own direction. She's not neglectful; she is heroic. The real problem is man's lack of perception of the wisdom of God!
- While other creatures (including obtuse human beings) are contemplating the "stupidity" of the ostrich, she suddenly "lifts herself on high," i.e., she raises her wings for balance (they were not designed for flight). She then, as it were, challenges the proud horse and his rider to a race; and leaves them both in the dust (running up to forty miles per hour).
The Greek writer Xenophon once commented that some Greek horsemen, though well mounted, could not catch a single ostrich (Anabasis 1.5.3). Surely the horse and his rider were "scorned" (v. 18). And so are the critics of Job's Teacher!
The ostrich is a marvelous example of divine creativity. In fact, she seems almost purposely crafted to boggle the arrogant, exceedingly limited mind of man. The Lord made a few more creatures of that sort as well!
Job, are you listening? And what about you, Mr./Ms. Critic? Whenever one thinks he has detected a flaw in what God has done, he had better get his "detector" checked.
Eventually, Job was humbled. Numerous others have not been.


text:
GARFIELD — A city man is being held on $250,000 bail after police say he tried to steal a ladder from a Farnham Avenue home, attacking the homeowner in the process.
Garfield police said that 59-year-old William P. Lyons entered the backyard of the house around 7 p.m. Sunday and tried to make off with an extension ladder.
The homeowner confronted Lyons on his way out of the backyard, at which point Lyons allegedly attacked him with a utility knife, according to Garfield Police Capt. Darren Sucorowski. Lyons made several attempts with the knife before fleeing down Farnham Avenue.
The homeowner wasn't injured in the attack, Sucorowski said.
Police arrived at the scene and found Lyons a short distance away, apprehending him after a "brief struggle," the captain said.
He's being held at the Bergen County Jail on charges including burglary, aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and resisting arrest.


text:
MPA NEWS Vol. 6, No. 10 May 2005
Sportfishing, MPAs, and the Debate Over Management
MPA Profile The Seaflower MPAs, Colombia: Cooperative, Consensus-Based Planning with Stakeholders
MPA Perspective Deep-Sea Vents
Should Be World Heritage Sites
By Magnus Johnson, University of Hull, UK
Letter to the Editor
Notes & News
Great Barrier Reef - IMPAC1
SPORTFISHING, MPAs, AND THE DEBATE OVER MANAGEMENT
Discussions of fishing and MPAs often center on fishing for food, whether conducted for commercial or subsistence reasons. But recreation is an increasingly common purpose of fishing activity, particularly in developed nations. Researchers have estimated that hundreds of millions of individuals worldwide fish for enjoyment and sport - sometimes keeping their catches, sometimes releasing them to perhaps be caught again another day.
Like any activity conducted on such a large scale, recreational fishing has effects on the environment. The nature of these effects is poorly understood, however, and the debate over them holds implications for management of sportfishing in MPAs. Many sportfishermen, or anglers, believe they should be allowed to fish where they want, particularly in cases where caught fish are released back to the water. Some scientists and managers believe that even these catch-and-release methods have negative impacts on fish stocks and ecosystems and should be managed as such, including being prohibited from no-take marine reserves. This month, MPA News examines the arguments surrounding sportfisheries and how managers are addressing them.
Freedom to fish
Participation rates in sportfishing vary extensively among countries. (Note: the terms "recreational fishing" and "sportfishing" are used interchangeably in this article.) Published estimates of national participation rates in Europe, for example, range from less than 1% of the population of Cyprus to 42% of Finland. While the concept of fishing for fun, not food, remains a relatively alien concept in many parts of the world, it is spreading via the increased tourism of anglers, who are seeking new sportfish and fishing grounds to target (see box, "Sportfishing in the Galapagos Marine Reserve", following this article).
In several developed countries where recreational fishing is already popular, anglers and the industries that support them - namely gear and boat manufacturers - have organized to form national associations, which lobby government in support of the activity. While some of these organizations, like the European Anglers Alliance (http://www.eaa-europe.org) with a reported five million members, have not yet declared their stance on the subject of no-take marine reserves, others have been active in working to influence national policies on MPAs and the planning of individual reserves. Processes to designate no-take areas in the Florida Keys and Channel Islands in the US (MPA News 1:1 and 4:6, respectively) and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia (5:10) each involved extensive consultation with recreational fishing groups, as well as opposition and threats of litigation from anglers who disagreed with the final results.
Some of the largest and most active saltwater sportfishing groups are in the US, including the American Sportfishing Association (http://www.asafishing.org) and the Recreational Fishing Alliance (http://www.joinrfa.org). These groups estimate that marine recreational fishing contributes more than US$30 billion to the US economy each year, while supporting nearly 300,000 jobs in the manufacturing, retail, and service sectors. The 2002 designation of no-take areas in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary - carried out over the objection of sportfishing representatives on an official planning committee - became a rallying cry for some US angler organizations. These groups said resource managers and environmentalists were trying to take away sportfishers' favorite fishing areas. They advocated that sportfishers fight back.
This helped fuel support for legislative bills intended to pre-empt the closure of popular fishing areas. Collectively referred to as the "Freedom to Fish Act" and introduced to the US Congress and 12 state legislatures in recent years, the bills have sought to disallow closure of areas to recreational fishing (and, in some cases, commercial fishing) unless such fishing is proven to have contributed to a particular conservation problem, like low fish populations. In the event that a closed area is absolutely necessary to correct the problem: (a) the closure will be made as small as possible; (b) science-based benchmarks will be established to measure progress toward conservation; and (c) the closure will be reopened once the benchmarks are reached. The Freedom to Fish Act in various forms became law in the state of Rhode Island in 2003 and Maryland 2004, and - although not yet passed elsewhere - has been regularly reintroduced to other state legislatures and the US Congress.
Observers of the Freedom to Fish Act argue it sets too high a standard for designation of no-take marine reserves, namely by requiring that sportfishing be proven as the cause of a specific conservation problem. Bob Warner, biologist at the University of California at Santa Barbara (US), says science has a hard time proving anything conclusively, particularly in the dynamic realm of oceans (a challenge, incidentally, that also emerges in the study of reserve effects on adjacent fisheries [MPA News 6:9]). "For 'proof' of an effect, the closest we can get are controlled experiments," says Warner. For proper controls, the experiment would require data gathered before and after a full closure, a process that could require years of study to account for natural fluctuations in local conditions and species of interest. There would also need to be rigorous data on recreational catches - difficult to gather due to the relatively decentralized nature of the activity. With proof of causation so hard to show, says Warner, the Freedom to Fish Act would make it nearly impossible to establish marine reserves. Several US-based environmental NGOs have teamed up to contest the Freedom to Fish legislation, forming an umbrella organization - the Coastal Ocean Coalition - to lobby against it (http://www.coastaloceancoalition.org).
In states where the legislation has been passed, lobbying efforts to oppose it have managed to dilute some of its requirements. In the state of Rhode Island, for example, where the legislation has been in place for nearly two years, the law allows the state director of marine fisheries to designate no-take reserves via emergency rule in cases where he or she "deems it necessary", without having to demonstrate proof that sportfishing caused a particular problem.
Mark Gibson, deputy chief of marine fisheries for the Rhode Island Division of Fish and Wildlife, says this special allowance will enable managers to designate reserves. "I doubt that the Rhode Island legislation will have much impact on fishery management," he says. At the same time, he adds, he does not see reserves as being a frequently used tool for Rhode Island. "No-take reserves might be useful in the event that sensitive, essential fish habitat needs to be placed off-limits. Other than that, though, we already have tools to control fishing mortality. So I want to keep the option of reserves open, but don't see it being used often."
Gibson agrees with Warner: proving that sportfishing (as opposed to commercial fishing or pollution or climate change) has caused a particular conservation problem is difficult. He says that, in the end, it is the cumulative total of dead fish that matters. "When mortality needs to be reduced, all sectors need to contribute to conservation in proportion to their catch allocations," he says. "If a closure is the necessary course of action, it needs to apply to all fishery sectors. We may be able to improve on this in the future if we can develop real-time monitoring capability for the recreational sector. With pre-assigned quota shares, it might be possible, for example, to close a commercial fishery in a certain area but let the recreational fishermen continue if their quota is available."
Effects and effort of sportfishing
What impacts does recreational fishing have on the marine environment? The question is central to management of the activity. In cases where fish are commonly retained by anglers, some impacts can be similar to those of commercial fishing; namely, local reductions in those fish populations may occur if catches are significant enough. In cases where catch-and-release methods are used, various studies over the past decade have documented the potential for mortality or increased vulnerability to predation experienced by fish following their capture, unhooking, and release. Post-release mortality rates can be affected by such factors as hook location in the fish, handling time, angler experience, and species of fish, among others. Fishing line and hooks can also snag on habitats or be discarded, creating hazards for wildlife and ecosystems. (These effects are referenced in: Schroeder, D.M., and Love, M.S. 2002. Recreational Fishing and Marine Fish Populations in California, California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations Reports, 43:182-190. The paper is available online at http://www.id.ucsb.edu/lovelab/Schroeder_Love2002.pdf.)
In a paper published in the 24 September 2004 issue of Science, a research team studied data on commercial and recreational landings from the past two decades in the US, and concluded that sportfishing was responsible for the majority of landings of some high-value, overfished species (e.g., red drum, bluefish, red snapper). Led by Felicia Coleman of Florida State University, the researchers calculated that sportfishing had accounted for roughly 22% of total landings of overfished stocks in US waters over that time period. These figures did not include estimates of mortality related to catch-and-release. (Michael Nussman, president of the American Sportfishing Association, responded to the study in a letter to Science, published 11 March 2005. He said that although sportfishing does account for a significant share of the catch of some overfished stocks, these stocks "arrived at their current condition through years of commercial overfishing" - not recreational fishing - and that the greatest obstacle to recovery of at least one of the species was bycatch of juveniles by commercial shrimp trawlers.)
A study in the journal BioScience, published September 2004, went a step beyond the Coleman group's research by examining the global impact of recreational fishing. Steven Cooke of the University of British Columbia (Canada) and Ian Cowx of the Hull International Fisheries Institute at the University of Hull (UK) estimated that roughly 11.5% of all humankind fishes recreationally, harvesting 11 million metric tons of fish each year. (These figures reflect both inland and marine sportfishing.) Cooke and Cowx acknowledge, however, that their estimates are fraught with assumptions, and hope that the uncertainty and limitations associated with them will encourage global recording of recreational fishing statistics. Few countries require recreational fishing licenses and even fewer collect regular data on capture, harvest, and release.
Cooke says he would also like to see more research on the compatibility of recreational fishing with MPAs. "Unfortunately, there are few fisheries where sufficient data exist to ensure that recreational fishing activity is indeed compatible with the goals of most protected areas," he says. "I see a need for research on two fronts if we are to consider the possibility of enabling recreational anglers to fish within protected areas: (1) species- and region-specific assessments of the full impact of angling activities, including direct effects on fish and effects on associated habitats and ecosystems, and (2) greater understanding of the human dimensions of protected areas, being that what we are really talking about are socioeconomic issues - that is, what will displaced fishers do if provided with no fishing opportunities?"
Cooke is now conducting research in the Bahamas to examine whether lodges and guide services could serve as a source of alternative employment for local commercial fishermen displaced by no-take areas. In other words, if sportfishing is found to be compatible with the biological goals of these closures, then perhaps it could be allowed inside them, thus providing locals with employment that is environmentally sustainable. "One of the big questions for this study is what criteria should be used in determining whether recreational fishing is a compatible activity within protected areas," he says.
Across the world on Rottnest Island in Western Australia - a popular recreational fishing location - the topics of sportfishing effort and MPA compatibility have both been examined. Resource managers for Rottnest Island Reserve (a multi-use protected area with roughly 38 km2 of marine area) are working with stakeholders to plan new management zones, including no-take areas for recreational fishing and other zones to address user conflicts. In an ongoing process, managers and stakeholders have been working to site the no-take areas where they will cause minimal impact to recreational fishing while also encompassing representative areas for biodiversity conservation.
To help determine how many Rottnest Island anglers are active in the shore-based fishery and where they go fishing, Lynnath Beckley of Murdoch University (Australia) used surveys to document their spatial and temporal distribution. She and post-graduate student Claire Smallwood also collected data on target species, catch composition, and angler demographics, among other criteria. They found that more than 70% of shore-based anglers were fishing in the populated eastern part of the island. Thus, biodiversity conservation measures along the remainder of the coastline would affect a relatively small proportion of the shore-based anglers. "In Thomson Bay near the settlement, it would be inappropriate to create a sanctuary zone as most of the fishing effort is in this region," says Beckley. "Out at the western end of the island where relatively few people fish, it would not affect too many people." Managers are using her data in their planning.
For more information:
Bob Warner, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA. E-mail: email@example.com
Mark Gibson, RI DEM F&W, 235 Promenade Street, 4th Floor, Providence, RI 02908, USA. Tel: +1 401 423 1940; E-mail: email@example.com
Steven Cooke, Center for Applied Conservation Research, Department of Forest Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada. E-mail: email@example.com
Lynnath Beckley, School of Environmental Science, Murdoch University,
South Street, Murdoch, Western Australia 6150, Australia. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
|BOX: Sportfishing views on marine reserves
In researching the above article, MPA News spoke with officials from several recreational fishing organizations worldwide. Their views regarding no-take marine reserves varied. Below are comments from two, in their own words:
Frank Prokop, President, Recfishwest, Western Australia (http://www.recfishwest.org.au)
Ryck Lydecker, Asst. Vice President of Governmental Affairs, Boat
Owners Association of the US (BoatU.S.), US (http://www.boatus.com)
|BOX: Sportfishing in the Galapagos Marine Reserve
For four days in February 2005, an international billfishing tournament was held in the 140,000-km2 Galapagos Marine Reserve. Initiated by an elected official in the archipelago and sanctioned by the International Game Fishing Association, the catch-and-release tournament attracted 15 boats from Galapagos and elsewhere, and recorded nearly 1600 "strikes" on marlin in four days. By all accounts, it was an impressive event. The only problem was, the sportfishing industry ? involving the exchange of money for rental of boats, guides, etc. - is not allowed in the Galapagos Marine Reserve.
Specifically, the industry is not allowed until a regulatory protocol is established for it, a responsibility of the Galapagos National Park Service. And although sportfishing in Galapagos is described as a potentially permissible activity under the marine reserve's 1997 management plan, no regulations for it have yet been crafted. Thus, as reiterated in a declaration by the Ecuadorian environment minister in March, the sportfishing business remains off-limits. Fishing recreationally with no exchange of money is allowed, although it is of little use to businesspeople and is relatively uncommon.
Charter boat operators, who want to develop the marlin-rich reserve as an international sportfishing destination, are frustrated it has taken so long for regulations to be created. Braden Escobar, president of charter operator Ecuagringo S.A., has been working for years to convince the park service to craft regulations. "The park service has pretended we don't exist," he says. "Meanwhile, artisanal Galapagos fishermen who could be working in sportfishing continue to practice shark finning and fishing for sea cucumbers."
Development of a local sportfishing sector as an alternative livelihood for local fishermen, thereby reducing stress on Galapagos marine resources, is indeed prescribed in the reserve management plan. ("Artisanal" commercial fishing by locals is allowed in the reserve. Its management has been a major source of contention for years, resulting in several sometimes-violent protests against the park service by fishermen [MPA News 5:8] and recent pressure on managers to allow long-lining.) Under the 1997 plan, the main reason for establishing a sportfishing industry in Galapagos would be to benefit the local community.
But the global sportfishing sector - a capital-intensive industry requiring special boats, high-tech gear, and international marketing - is not easily entered by those with little experience or contacts. Thus, if or when the industry is eventually allowed in the reserve, it will be "outsiders" (businesspeople from the mainland or elsewhere) who have the ability to operate sportfishing charters there, at least initially. Escobar says this should not be a concern. "No other tourist operation in all of Galapagos contributes as much money to the local economy with as small an operation as we do," he claims, adding that sportfishing - even when managed by outsiders - provides some jobs to local fishermen. Escobar acknowledges taking customers fishing in the reserve since 2001.
Tim Choate, president of US-based charter operator Artmarina, says building a locally based sportfishing sector in Galapagos will require outsiders' boats and knowledge. "Even if the park service regulates that all companies have to be owned by locals, everybody is aware that outsiders' boats will come in and be registered under names of people in the islands," says Choate. "The locals will have to learn not only how to fish for marlin but also how to handle customers. That includes learning some English and how to treat someone who is paying US$2000 a day to go fishing." He suggests it would make sense for outsiders to retain operational control of sportfishing enterprises until locals have enough capital to purchase their own boats and have established their knowledge base of the industry.
Graham Watkins is executive director of the Charles Darwin Foundation, which advises the park service on scientific and conservation matters. He emphasizes the importance of sportfishing being developed as a sustainable, low-impact, alternative source of employment for local fishermen. In other words, if sportfishing does not help to reduce the stress on marine resources related to artisanal fishing, it will not be worthwhile to the reserve. "This issue is the major concern with respect to introduction of sportfishing in Galapagos," says Watkins. "Mechanisms will be required to ensure effective, sustainable business development through partnerships between local fishermen and the private sector." He says a consultant has been working with local stakeholders to develop a proposal for regulating sportfishing. The proposal, says Watkins, will be discussed in the local participatory management forum later this year.
For more information:
Braden Escobar, Ecuagringo S.A., Guayaquil, Ecuador. Tel: + 593 4 2291910; E-mail: email@example.com; Web: www.fishgalapagos.com
Tim Choate, Artmarina, 1390 S. Dixie Hwy, #2221 Miami, FL 33146 USA. Tel: +1 305 663 3553 E-mail: email@example.com; Web: www.artmarina.com
Graham Watkins, Charles Darwin Research Station, Isla Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. Tel: +593 5 527 013; E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
MPA PROFILE THE SEAFLOWER MPAs, COLOMBIA: COOPERATIVE, CONSENSUS-BASED PLANNING WITH STAKEHOLDERS
Designated: 2004
Description: These are three adjoining, multiple-use marine protected areas, totaling 65,000 km2, in waters of Colombia's San Andres Archipelago in the southwestern Caribbean. The archipelago as a whole is a UNESCO biosphere reserve (designated 2000), and comprises 300,000 km2 of marine area.
Legal status: The three MPAs are the first official "Marine Protected Areas" under Colombian law. Other types of protected marine sites also exist in Colombian waters, although primarily as part of otherwise terrestrial national parks.
Planning: The four-year process of mapping and zoning the Seaflower MPAs has been cooperative, involving local stakeholder groups (fishers, dive tourism operators, and others) and CORALINA, a regional Colombian government agency with oversight of the natural resources and sustainable development of the San Andres Archipelago. Decisions are based on consensus (see box, below).
Management: A co-management structure will be responsible for day-to-day decisions. In the process of being established, the structure will include CORALINA officials, community commissions, and scientific advisory committees. Regional management offices will be located on the inhabited island nearest each of the MPAs.
Types of zones:
Habitats: Barrier and fringing reefs, patch reefs, atolls, seagrass beds, mangroves, deep water.
|BOX: Insights on the Seaflower MPA zoning process
- Marion Howard
Marion Howard is former coordinator of the MPA project of CORALINA, the regional Colombian government agency that oversees natural resources and sustainable development of Colombia's San Andres Archipelago. Now an MPA advisor to the agency, Howard describes the process of zoning the Seaflower MPAs, below:
"The community has had final decision-making authority on zoning. To allow for this, CORALINA designed a flexible process that was carried out for each of the three MPAs. First we met with user groups, which had already been involved in mapping the MPAs and had been identified through a stakeholder analysis. Each group produced zoning plans based on its knowledge and needs, and CORALINA entered these maps into a GIS, overlaid them, and produced alternatives. The agency's MPA project team evaluated and fine-tuned each alternative to ensure it was faithful to community planning and zoning criteria.
"CORALINA also gathered information on the value that each stakeholder group placed on the various kinds of zones, another factor in evaluating alternatives. This work, funded by the European Union, was done simultaneously for the Galapagos Marine Reserve by the Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS). CDRS and CORALINA supported each other. (There was temporary zoning in place in the Galapagos, and CDRS was evaluating how effectively it served users' values and priorities.)
"Next, the alternatives were reviewed by CORALINA's MPA international advisory board, primarily for conservation effectiveness. This board consists of planners, managers, social and biological scientists, and legal and policy experts from around the world, volunteering their time to the project (MPA News 5:2). Members have an advisory role but are not involved in decision-making. CORALINA made adjustments and produced final alternatives consistent with the board's recommendations without compromising the objectives, criteria, or participatory process, and while implementing ongoing input from the community. Finally, CORALINA took the alternatives back to the user groups in plenary. Plenary meetings continued until an alternative for each MPA was chosen by consensus."
For more information:
Marion Howard, West End, Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands, BWI. E-mail: email@example.com
Elizabeth Taylor, General Director, CORALINA, San Luis Road, The Bight, San Andres Island, Colombia. Tel: +578 512 6853; E-mail: email@example.com
Editor's note: Magnus Johnson is head of the Scarborough Centre for Coastal Studies, University of Hull (UK). For readers interested in the scientific literature he cites in the following essay, a version containing literature citations is available online at http://depts.washington.edu/mpanews/johnsonlitcite.htm.
By Magnus Johnson, University of Hull, UK
I am not someone who would be termed an ardent supporter of MPAs. I worry that they are too easy a tool for administrators to apply to any resource or conservation problem. To a non-biologist (and even to some biologists), the attractions of the erroneous equilibrium paradigm are such that a superficial understanding of what an MPA can do may discourage any consideration of alternative and more appropriate - though perhaps more difficult to implement - methods of resource husbandry or conservation.
That said, in the case of hydrothermal vents I can see that there could be a need for exclusive protection. Hydrothermal vents are discrete and startlingly different deep-sea habitats. Rather than the high-diversity, low-biomass environment that makes up 99.9% of the deep-sea, hydrothermal vents are crammed full of life mostly comprising a few endemic specialists. Membrane structures and even DNA from some vent species have evolved to be thermostable at temperatures approaching 100 degrees C (Van Dover, 2000). The particularly hostile conditions mean that hydrothermal vents naturally create their own exclusion zone.
Their spectacular visual nature, exciting ecology, and possibilities for novel biological products draw biologists to these vents. This has unfortunately resulted in unregulated scientific activity at some of the best-known vent sites. Ironically, the Worldwide Fund for Nature has highlighted scientists as the main culprits with regard to disturbance of these habitats. Herring et al. (1998) provided evidence that the bright lights of submersibles were likely to be blinding large numbers of the vent shrimp Rimicaris exoculata with unknown consequences.
Notably, Canada has granted official protection for its Endeavour Hydrothermal Vents site (MPA News 4:9). However, despite Canadian officials' acknowledgement that the principal human impact on this deep-sea ecosystem comes from extraction of scientific samples, research will still be encouraged at the site, though requiring formal permission.
I have raised these issues to the scientific community (Johnson 2001, 2005) and have suggested that the community get its house in order. In a published response to a recent article of mine in Nature, researchers (Tyler et al. 2005) suggested that the scientific community has nothing of which to be ashamed regarding vent research, and pointed out that there is a draft code of conduct under consideration by InterRidge, the organization that coordinates international studies on mid-ocean ridges (http://interridge.org). Considering that the first hydrothermal vent site was discovered in 1977 (Gage & Tyler, 1991), it seems unfortunate that after 28 years the scientific community - the main user of hydrothermal vents - has only reached the stage of discussing an unpublished draft code of conduct.
The logic of Garrett Hardin's "tragedy of the commons" applies as much to scientists working on hydrothermal vents as it does to coastal fishers or cows on a pasture. The scientific community is driven by the need to be productive in the short term - to secure funding and generate publications - rather than conservationist in the long term. It could be argued that since the scientific community is attempting to foist sustainable resource management and MPAs on the rest of the world, it has a moral obligation to set an exemplary standard.
There is a need for robust international legislation to rein in narrow and short-term scientific agendas. I suggest that hydrothermal vents should become World Heritage sites and that there should be strict limits on the number of times a few selected sites may be visited. Moreover, prior to any scientific activity, proposals should be reviewed by a broad-based international panel consisting of conservationists, politicians, and academics.
For more information:
Magnus Johnson, Scarborough Centre for Coastal Studies, University
of Hull, Filey Road, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, UK YO11 3AZ. Tel: +44
1723 357255; E-mail: email@example.com;
Web: coastal-studies.org/Users/mjohnson/mjohnson.html
Dear MPA News:
I was surprised by the Georges Bank scallop example cited by both Halpern and Agardy (MPA News 6:9) in their recent pieces on the fisheries benefits of marine reserves. At first I thought I had missed something, so I looked at the evidence Halpern cited (MPA News 2:3). The cited article specifically says the jury was (is?) still definitely out on whether the observed year/s of high recruitment in areas around the Georges Bank closures are really due to the closures or just happened to be good recruitment periods (for example due to climate, etc). That is consistent with what I also remember having heard from scientists who work on Georges Bank. Recruitment is notoriously variable, and the stock-recruitment relationship notoriously weak, so can we attribute scallop recruitment variability in this case to a single cause - even when there are good reasons to expect enhanced recruitment such as increased spawner biomass and Allee effects? I would like to hear from the experts on Georges Bank about what is really happening.
Halpern and Agardy are not the only ones citing this as an example, and I think it is important that we have an open discussion about how we deal with this type of phenomenon (I won't yet say evidence). The precautionary principle does not apply equally in the worlds of management and science. If the evidence is equivocal, as MPA News 2:3 states, what research can be done to provide a clear answer to this question?
Russ Babcock
PO Box 5 Wembley, 6913 WA, Australia. Tel: +61 8 93336535; E-mail: email@example.com
Website: information on Great Barrier Reef re-zoning
The process of re-zoning the 344,000-km2 Great Barrier Reef Marine Park required years of public consultation and planning by officials (MPA News 5:10), culminating in July 2004 when the new zoning plan took effect. Lessons from this planning effort may be adaptable to other MPA-planning processes worldwide. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has launched a website with links to information on all features of the re-zoning process, including biophysical operating principles, socioeconomic evaluations, a financial assistance program for stakeholders affected by new closures, and more. The website, to be updated as additional information is prepared and further papers are written, is at http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/corp_site/management/zoning/planners_info.html. Any comments or suggestions to improve the information may be e-mailed to Jon Day, GBRMPA director of conservation, at email@example.com.
IMPAC1 update
The organizing committee for the First International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC1) is finalizing the draft congress program: 235 abstracts (out of the 630 initially submitted) were requested to prepare expanded versions. It is anticipated that approximately 170 of these will be invited to present papers in the final congress program, to be announced in late May. IMPAC1 will be held 23-28 October 2005 in Geelong, Australia. Early registration is open until 10 July. For more information, visit the IMPAC1 website at http://www.impacongress.org.
MPA News
Editor-in-Chief: John B. Davis
Editorial Board:
Chair: David Fluharty, Ph.D.
School of Marine Affairs
University of Washington
Patrick Christie, Ph.D.
School of Marine Affairs
University of Washington
Michael Murray
Advisory Council Coordinator
Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary
Direct correspondence to: MPA News, School of Marine Affairs, University of Washington, 3707 Brooklyn Ave. NE, Seattle, WA 98105, USA. Tel: +1 206 685 1582; Fax: +1 206 543 1417; E-mail: email@example.com.
MPA News is published monthly by Marine Affairs Research and Education (MARE), a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation, in association with the School of Marine Affairs, University of Washington.
All content has been written by the MPA News editorial staff unless otherwise attributed.
MPA News is funded in part by:
Subscriptions to MPA News are free. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to firstname.lastname@example.com. Type "subscribe" on the subject line, and include your name, mailing address, and daytime phone number in the text of the message. Also, please note whether you would like your subscription to be delivered electronically or in paper form.


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Nicky Antico was on a work crew paving Slosson Avenue in Castleton Corners four years ago, when a speeding SUV crashed through the work zone and sent him flying 50 feet through the air.
The 35-year-old Willowbrook resident died five days later of massive head injuries.
Eleven people were killed in work zones across the state in 2007, and more than 40,000 workers were injured nationwide as the result of accidents in work zones.
"We risk our lives every day, but you don't read about it until someone's dead," said Frank Abbatemarco of Arden Heights, a city Department of Transportation supervisor with 31 years on the job who was working with Antico the night he was struck.
Road crews are always looking ahead of them, he explained, and it's hard to hear cars approaching over the noise of the paving machines. "They sneak up behind you," he said. "God forbid you step out, you're dead."
Too often, drivers see construction sites as a mere inconvenience, and they ignore safety cones and plastic barricades, said city Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, who estimated there are about two "incursions" into active work zones per month across the city.
"We need to do something about it," she said, to educate those who think "safety signs are merely suggestions."
Legislation that would make it a crime to intrude into an active work zone was reintroduced last week by Assemblyman Michael Cusick and state Sen. Diane Savino. The measure would create a category of vehicular assault and vehicular manslaughter in the first and second degrees in active work zones throughout the state. A new crime of intrusion into an active work zone would also be created, including a fine of $250 to $500 and/or a jail sentence up to three months.
The announcement, timed for National Work Zone Awareness Week, was made today at the intersection of Fraser and Bowdoin streets in New Springville, where workers were busy paving the street. While they worked, at least two neighbors pulled out of driveways, and at least one car drove through barricades and over the freshly paved road.
"Right now, it's nothing more than a traffic infraction," explained Joe Cannisi, Deputy Commissioner for Roadway Repair. Unless a police officer witnesses it, he said, there's not much that can be done.
It's also common for angry drivers to yell at work crews, curse and even spit at them, said Vinny Cilenti of Great Kills, who has been on the job for 13 years.
But at the end of the day, "It's about going home. You come here, do your job, and you want to get home to your family," Cilenti said.
The man who hit Antico and injured two other DOT workers, Vincent Ventafredda of Huguenot, is behind bars in the Franklin Correctional Facility in Malone, N.Y., serving a sentence of two and a third to seven years.
-- Contributed by Maura Yates


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The New Orleans Police Department is on the scene of a double stabbing in Eastern New Orleans. Officer Hilal Williams reported two women injuring in the stabbing, which occurred in the 6700 block of Tara Lane on Friday morning.
No other information was available from NOPD. ProjectNOLA is reporting at least one women was stabbed in the arm, neck and back, and was found unresponsive. Stay with NOLA.com for more information as it becomes available.


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Putting an NP Excess 6.9 on a Kombat 97?
I have a Kombat 97 inbound, can't wait until it arrives... first go with Starboard, I hope it will be a nice experience... anyway, recommended sailrange is 4.5-6.5, but I've heard people going with 6.7 without problems... but I was thinking if I could push it even more, by getting a NP Excess 6.9... am I way out of my mind, or is it "might work", or perhaps no problem at all...?
my weight is 75kg...
RE: ...I forgot...
...mainly riding B&J, and chop-blasting, starting to go for the waves... still not 100% convinced that the 97 was the right choice, 87 was also a strong candidate... current board is 115ltr...
RE: Putting an NP Excess 6.9 on a Kombat 97?
I'm close to your weight and I use a 6.9 of similar design to the NP excess on my Carve 99. I think you'll be ok on the Kombat.
RE: Putting an NP Excess 6.9 on a Kombat 97?
Can't say I've tried a 6.9 but my hunch is it's questionable. I generally find if you go too big a sail for the board, things can feel sluggish/bogged down. Put on the right board & you're ripping & things feel light & free.
Ideal for the Kombat is probably 5.0 to 6.0. I find a 6.5 works nice too, but smaller is better.
If you do try it, the fin size make need to be considered.
If it doesn't work out, you'll have a good sail size for your 115L.
RE: Putting an NP Excess 6.9 on a Kombat 97?
Well, maybe 6.9 is too big... Maybe a 6.7-ish Saber or Expression (don't remember the exact sizes they come in, but I think they are a bit smaller then the Excess) could work ok for both boards s the new one probably will be my only/biggest board (for a while at least...)
RE: big sail small boards
why not??
as a heavier sailor at 90 kgs ive put all sorts of huge ass sails on small boards...
i dont have all the boards in the world to pick from.... or the windstregth i alwast need.
does it feel perfect ...no
does it get me going... Yes...
so is it worth it ie: go home or go sailing.
RE: Putting an NP Excess 6.9 on a Kombat 97?
Now, I'm using since 18 months a 2006 Kombat 86 with my Jet 6.9 sail, either with the stock 30 cm freeride fin or with a wave onshore 23 or 24 cm fin, all with great success and fun. For my 65 kg, the Kombat 86 felt much nicer and more lively under foot than the Kombat 95, surprisingly even with the 30 cm fin and 6.9 sail combo.
So with your 75 kg and Kombat 97, I can't see any reasons why it shouldn't be as nice and fun as it is for me with the Kombat 86...Go for it !
Cheers !
RE: Putting an NP Excess 6.9 on a Kombat 97?
I agree with JM, but its worth adding that how big sail you can put on a baord is not only a matter of "performance" but also depends on how much "imbalance" when just planing you're willing to live with and that your technique can compensate for.
In any case, on a given board, in the end you come to a point where more sail area will simply not let you plane any earlier. My GUESS is that a 6.7 will be at least as effective as a 6.9 on a Kombat 97 for most people. Sails charactersistics wil matter to btw. Lighter, flatter and "springier" will let you go further than loose leach, deep profile sails because you can be more effective with pumping in the crucial stage when just getting onto a plane.
RE: Putting an NP Excess 6.9 on a Kombat 97?
Agree with Ola. A Saber will be more powerfull than an Excess than an Expression :
The Saber is more deeply drafted and has more foot area than either the Excess or Expression. Therefore, a Saber 6.7 might be as powerfull as a 6.9 Excess or a 6.9 Expression.
It also depends a lot on what program do you want to focus on (speed versus manoeuvrability) :
Cheers !
RE: Putting an NP Excess 6.9 on a Kombat 97?
(sorry, the edit function doesn't work anymore to add further comments)
As for potential imbalance problems with the Kombat 86, I didn't experience any so far, providing the boom lenght is not greater than 204 cm (Jet 6.9) or 202 cm (RS1 6.6) with the freeride setup (mast-track 40-50%; all 4 straps back and outboard, stock 30 cm freeride fin set in the middle of its finbox as recommended). However, with the wave setup (mast-track 30-50%, all 3 straps front and inboard, wave onshore 23/24 cm fin set forward as recommended), I must acknowledge that pointing upwind with the Jet 6.9 sail is a bit less efficient than say with a smaller sail such as a NR 6.2. The Carve 111 still is far superior with the Jet 6.9 sail and a wave setup, even with a stock 2001 25 cm freestyle fin.
Cheers !
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Tentative List
A tentative list means a list of cultural property for which a Party to the Second Protocol intends to request the granting of enhanced protection. Conforming to article 11, paragraph 1 of the Second Protocol, each Party should submit such a list. However, a Party may request the granting of enhanced property for a cultural property which is not included on its tentative list.
This tentative list contains a brief description of the concerned cultural property. It is submitted to the Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict through the Secretariat. Parties may amend their tentative lists as appropriate.
Sites proposed by BELGIUM for inscription on the Tentative List
Sites proposed by MALI for inscription on the Tentative List


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But in Alabama, where home births are legal, midwives are barred by law from attending them. The state limits the practice of midwifery to certified nurse-midwives. These registered nurses with childbirth training may deliver babies only at a hospital and must be supervised by a doctor. As a consequence, women in Alabama who desire natural home delivery must drive to a neighboring state to give birth where midwife-assisted delivery is legal; have their babies at home with a midwife who risks prosecution; or give birth unassisted.
These options, according to the Alabama Birth Coalition (ABC), are unacceptable. And so, led by the ABC, families across the state are rallying for change. They are conveying their strong belief that Alabama mothers deserve midwives.
Midwives Defined
Midwives are primary care providers who specialize in normal prenatal care, childbirth, and postpartum care. They focus on assisting women to achieve healthy pregnancies and natural births.
Two types of midwives exist. Certified nurse-midwives (CNMs) generally work closely with physicians in hospital settings. Direct-entry midwives (which include Certified Professional Midwives, or CPMs) are educated in midwifery, but are not nurses.
Though naysayers express misgivings because of concerns about training and a midwife's ability to handle unpredictable circumstances, midwife-attended delivery for healthy, low-risk mothers has been proven a safe option. According to the World Health Organization, these births have lower C-section rates, fewer complications, and lower infection rates than hospital births attended by doctors. In fact, many countries with excellent birth outcome statistics-such as Sweden and New Zealand-rely primarily on midwives for maternity care.
Midwives in Alabama
Alabama possesses a rich history of midwifery. According to Jennifer Crook Moore, a CPM and president of the Alabama Birth Coalition, in 1931, there were 3,568 midwives licensed by the state of Alabama. They provided care in 54 of the 67 counties, including many of the poorest areas.
But in 1976 Alabama stopped licensing midwives other than CNMs. It was a case, it seems, of out with the old, in with the new-tradition giving way to technology. Many also believe economics, sexism, and racism may also have been contributing factors. The result? Today, less than a dozen midwives (all CNMs) legally provide maternity care here. That means a Certified Professional Midwife in Alabama who practices her craft could be considered a criminal. For midwives like Moore, this is devastating.
"It's remarkably frustrating to live in a state-the state I was born and raised in no less-that says my profession, my calling in life, is illegal," she says. Moore must drive to Tennessee, where she is licensed, to serve her Alabama clients.
Rallying for Change
The Alabama Birth Coalition and their supporters traveled to Montgomery on February 26 for a rally as part of the "The Big Push for Midwives." The Big Push for Midwives is a coordinated campaign to advocate for regulation and licensure of Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) in all states. Licensure is currently available to CPMs in 22 states. In Alabama there is pending legislation for bills SB240 and HB 314 to establish a State Board of Midwifery and grant licensure to practice midwifery. In the House, Representative Laura Hall is sponsoring HB314. It has had one reading and is pending action in the Health Committee of the House. In the Senate, Senators Linda Coleman, Rodger Smitherman, and Parker Griffith are sponsoring SB240. This bill has also been read once and is pending action in the Senate Health Committee.
Jennifer Moore told supporters in her speech at the Montgomery rally, "As more Americans find themselves without access to maternity care, we need more health care providers who are willing to step up to the plate to provide more care to underserved populations-not less."
Alabama's midwifery supporters have high hopes that the legislation will pass and that one day soon their dreams of practicing licensed midwives, legal homebirths, and perhaps even a birth center in Alabama will be realized. Until then, midwives and their supporters will continue to lobby.
"Changes are possible," Moore says. "It is a steep uphill battle, but we will persevere."
Learn more about midwifery at the following sites:
Alabama Birth Coalition (www.alabamabirthcoalition.org)
The Big Push for Midwives (www.thebigpushformidwives.org)
Citizens for Midwifery (www.cfmidwifery.org)
Mothers Naturally (www.mothersnaturally.org)


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Pinching is removing the stem tips of a young plant to promote branching. Doing this avoids the need for more severe pruning later on.
Thinning involves removing whole branches back to the trunk. This may be done to open up the interior of a plant to let more light in and to increase air circulation that can cut down on plant disease. The best way to begin thinning is to begin by removing dead or diseased wood.
Shearing is leveling the surface of a shrub using hand or electric shears. This is done to maintain the desired shape of a hedge or topiary.
Rejuvenating is removal of old branches or the overall reduction of the size of a shrub to restore its original form and size. It is recommended that you do not remove more than one third of a plant at a time. Remember to remove branches from the inside of the plant as well as the outside. When rejuvenating plants with canes, such as nandina, cut back canes at various heights so that plant will have a more natural look. Conditions : Full Sun Full Sun is defined as exposure to more than 6 hours of continuous, direct sun per day.
If the problem is only on the surface, it maybe diverted to a drainage ditch. If drainage is poor where water table is high, install an underground drainage system. You should contact a contractor for this. If underground drains already exist, check to see if they are blocked.
French drains are another option. French drains are ditches that have been filled with gravel. It is okay to plant sod on top of them. More obtrusive, but a good solution where looks aren't as important, think of the French drain as a ditch filled with gravel. Ditches should be 3 to 4 feet deep and have sloping sides.
A soakway is a gravel filled pit where water is diverted to via underground pipes. This works well on sites that have compacted soil. Your soakway should be about 6'wide and deep and filled with gravel or crushed stone, topped with sand and sodded or seeded.
Keep in mind that it is illegal to divert water onto other people's property. If you do not feel that you can implement a workable solution on your own, call a contractor. Tools : Watering Aides No gardener depends 100% on natural rainfall. Even the most water conscious
garden appreciates the proper hose, watering can or wand.
A week to 10 days before planting, add 2 to 4 inches of aged manure or compost and work into the planting site to improve fertility and increase water retention and drainage. If soil composition is weak, a layer of topsoil should be considered as well. No matter if your soil is sand or clay, it can be improved by adding the same thing: organic matter. The more, the better; work deep into the soil. Prepare beds to an 18 inch deep for perennials. This will seem like a tremendous amount of work now, but will greatly pay off later. Besides, this is not something that is easily done later, once plants have been established. How-to : Pinching and Thinning Perennials Once you plant a perennial, it does not mean that you will enjoy years of maintenance-free gardening. Perennials need to be cared for just like any other plant. One thing that distinguishes perennials is that they tend to be active growers that have to be thinned out occasionally or they will loose vigor.
As perennials establish, it is important to prune them back and thin them out occasionally. This will prevent them from completely taking over an area to the exclusion of other plants, and also will increase air circulation thereby reducing the incidence of diseases like botrytis and powdery mildew.
Many species also flower abundantly and produce ample seed. As blooms fade it is advisable to deadhead your plant; that is, to remove spent flowers before they form seed. This will prevent your plants from seeding all over the garden and will conserve the considerable energy it takes the plant to produce seed.
As perennials mature, they may form a dense root mass that eventually leads to a less vigorous plant. It is advisable to occasionally thin out a stand of such perennials. By dividing the root system, you can make new plants to plant in another area of the garden or give away. Also root pruning will stimulate new growth and rejuvenate the plant. Most perennials may be successfully divided in either spring or fall. Do a little homework; some perennials do have a preference. How-to : Planting Perennials Determine appropriate perennials for your garden by considering sun and shade through the day, exposure, water requirements, climate, soil makeup, seasonal color desired, and position of other garden plants and trees.
The best times to plant are spring and fall, when soil is workable and out of danger of frost. Fall plantings have the advantage that roots can develop and not have to compete with developing top growth as in the spring. Spring is more desirable for perennials that dislike wet conditions or for colder areas, allowing full establishment before first winter. Planting in summer or winter is not advisable for most plants, unless planting a more established sized plant.
To plant container-grown plants: Prepare planting holes with appropriate depth and space between. Water the plant thoroughly and let the excess water drain before carefully removing from the container. Carefully loosen the root ball and place the plant in the hole, working soil around the roots as you fill. If the plant is extremely root bound, separate roots with fingers. A few slits made with a pocket knife are okay, but should be kept to a minimum. Continue filling in soil and water thoroughly, protecting from direct sun until stable.
To plant bare-root plants: Plant as soon as possible after purchase. Prepare suitable planting holes, spread roots and work soil among roots as you fill in. Water well and protect from direct sun until stable.
To plant seedlings: A number of perennials produce self-sown seedlings that can be transplanted. You may also start your own seedling bed for transplanting. Prepare suitable planting holes, spacing appropriately for plant development. Gently lift the seedling and as much surrounding soil as possible with your garden trowel, and replant it immediately, firming soil with fingertips and water well. Shade from direct sun and water regularly until stable. How-to : Potting Indoor Plants Make sure that the plant you have chosen is suitable for the conditions you are able to provide it: that it will have enough light, space, and a temperature it will like. Remember that the area right next to a window will be colder than the rest of the room.
Indoor plants need to be transplanted into a larger container periodically, or they become pot/root-bound and their growth is retarded. Water the plant well before starting, so the soil will hold the root ball together when you remove it from the pot. If you have trouble getting the plant out of the pot, try running a blade around the edge of the pot, and gently whacking the sides to loosen the soil.
Always use fresh soil when transplanting your indoor plant. Fill around the plant gently with soil, being careful not to pack too tightly -- you want air to be able to get to the roots. After the plant is in the new pot, don't fertilize right away... this will encourage the roots to fill in their new home.
The size pot you choose is important too. Select one that is not more than about 1 inch greater in diameter. Remember, many plants prefer being somewhat pot bound. Always start with a clean pot! How-to : Sow Seed Now is the preferred time to sow seed.
Prevention and Control: If possible, select resistant varieties. Keep nitrogen-heavy fertilizers to a minimum as well as
over-irrigating as they encourage lush growth. Practice crop rotation and prune out or better yet remove infected plants. Pest : Thrips Thrips are small, winged insects that attack many types of plants and
thrive in hot, dry conditions (like heated houses). They can multiply quickly
as a female can lay up to 300 eggs in a life span of 45 days without mating.
Most of the damage to plants is caused by the young larvae which feed on tender
leaf and flower tissue. This leads to distorted growth, injured flower petals
and premature flower drop. Thrips also can transmit many harmful plant viruses.
Prevention and Control: keep weeds down and use screening on windows to
keep them out. Remove or discard infested plants, keep them away from
non-infested plants. Trap with yellow sticky cards or take advantage of
natural enemies such as predatory mites. Sometimes a good steady shower of
water will wash them off the plant. Consult your local garden center professional or county Cooperative extension office for legal chemical recommendations. Pest : Aphids Aphids are small, soft-bodied, slow-moving insects that suck fluids from plants. Aphids come in many colors, ranging from green to brown to black, and they may have wings. They attack a wide range of plant species causing stunting, deformed leaves and buds. They can transmit harmful plant viruses with their piercing/sucking mouthparts. Aphids, generally, are merely a nuisance, since it takes many of them to cause serious plant damage. However aphids do produce a sweet substance called honeydew (coveted by ants) which can lead to an unattractive black surface growth called sooty mold.
Aphids can increase quickly in numbers and each female can produce up to 250 live nymphs in the course of a month without mating. Aphids often appear when the environment changes - spring & fall. They're often massed at the tips of branches feeding on succulent tissue. Aphids are attracted to the color yellow and will often hitchhike on yellow clothing.
Prevention and Control: Keep weeds to an absolute minimum, especially around desirable plants. On edibles, wash off infected area of plant. Lady bugs and lacewings will feed on aphids in the garden. There are various products - organic and inorganic - that can be used to control aphids. Seek the recommendation of a professional and follow all label procedures to a tee. Weeds : Preventing Weeds and Grass
Weeds rob your plants of water, nutrients and light. They can harbor pests and diseases. Before planting, remove weeds either by hand or by spraying an herbicide according to label directions. Another alternative is to lay plastic over the area for a couple of months to kill grass and weeds.
You may apply a pre-emergent herbicide prior to planting, but be sure that it is labeled for the plants you are wishing to grow. Existing beds may be spot
sprayed with a nonselective herbicide, but be careful to shield those plants you do not want to kill. Non-selective means that it will kill everything it comes in contact with.
Mulch plants with a 3 inch layer of pinestraw, pulverized bark, or compost. Mulch conserves moisture, keeps weeds down, and makes it easier to pull when necessary.
Porous landscape or open weave fabric works too, allowing air and water to be exchanged.
You will often
hear loam referred to as a sandy loam (having more sand, yet still plenty of
organic matter) or a clay loam (heavier on the clay, yet workable with good
drainage.) The addition of organic matter to either sand or clay will result
in a loamy soil. Still not sure if your soil is a sand, clay, or loam? Try
this simple test. Squeeze a handfull of slightly moist, not wet, soil in your
hand. If it forms a tight ball and does not fall apart when gently tapped
with a finger, your soil is more than likely clay. If soil does not form a
ball or crumbles before it is tapped, it is sand to very sandy loam. If soil forms a
ball, then crumbles readily when lightly tapped, it's a loam. Several quick, light
taps could mean a clay loam. Glossary : Fertilize Fertilize just before new growth begins with a complete fertilizer.


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Oregon isn't the only entity with a keen interest in what happens to a pair of proposed terminals for the export of liquefied natural gas on the Oregon Coast.
The Oregonian's Ted Sickinger had a nice recap last month of the status of the two Oregon proposals, in Jordan Cove on the southern Oregon Coast, and near Warrenton and the mouth of the Columbia River on the northern Coast.
Canada's Financial Post asked last week: "Could the state of Oregon emerge as an alternative outlet for Western Canada's natural gas to reach Asia?"
The Diplomat has a nice story today that surveys the demand side of the equation: "Asia turns to North America for LNG." It focuses on the rising demand in India, the Asian pricing issues, and the growing capacity of North America. The United States, which long has imported liquefied natural gas, may well become a net natural gas exporter over the next decade, according to some predictions.
Domestic politics in the United States, however, will guide the development of the nation's natural gas export policies. Oregon's Sen. Ron Wyden, now the chair of the Energy Committee, has expressed skepticism about the virtues of exporting U.S. natural gas, but ultimately supported such an arrangement for Cheniere Energy's Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana.
At a town hall in Coos Bay in November, Wyden expressed general support for the proposed Jordan Cove LNG export plant in Coos County. But that plant -- as well as the idea of extracting and exporting LNG from the United States -- is opposed by environmental groups and others. (See the Sierra Club's Oregon Chapter's page: "Stop Liquefied Natural Gas.")
Here's Forbes magazine's take on how Cheniere became the first in line to export natural gas. The magazine attributes the company's success to a gutsy decision to convert an unused import terminal into an export terminal.
Separately, my colleague Richard Read last month wrote a much-commented-upon story about a plan to build a pair of plants that would convert natural gas to methanol for export to China.


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Thanks to all of the NJ.com members who posted graduation photos in our most recent Photo Contest theme. It was fun looking at all of those great scenes, an it was tough coming up with only five contest finalists. The NJ.com staff took a look at all of the graduation photos submitted and selected these five photos as finalists. Take a look at the photos and then vote in the poll below. The photo with the most votes is our next Photo Contest winner. Voting closes next Thursday.
Voting has been closed.


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Hawks 5, Flames 2
CORNWALL – Five different players scored for the Souris Hawks in a 5-2 victory over the North River Flames in the Razzy's P.E.I. Junior C Hockey League here at the APM Centre on Saturday night.
Darcy Nicholson (1-1), Mark McKenna, Gabriel Leger, Ryan Compton and Jordan Roche scored for the Hawks, who will take a 10-10-4 record into Sunday night's home game against the Tignish Perry's Construction Aces. Jeremy Peters, Mitch Power, Dylan Fay, Luke MacDonald, JD Farrell, Drew MacInnis, Matthew Birt and Derek Cormier collected assists.
Brady McQuaid netted both goals for North River (8-13-3).
Winning goaltender was Kelton Ellis.
Capitals 5, Aces 2
SLEMON PARK – The Summerside Source for Sports Capitals moved into a third-place tie with the Tignish Perry's Construction Aces in the Razzy's P.E.I. Junior C Hockey League on Saturday night.
The Capitals, behind a 36-save performance from goaltender Catlin Sonier, downed the Aces 5-2 at The Plex. The win left both teams at 15-10-1, but the Aces have a chance to take over sole possession on Sunday night in Souris.
Nathan Arsenault (2), Tyler Peters (1-1), Cameron Arsenault and Travis Thibideau scored for the Slemon Park-based Capitals, who built period leads of 2-0 and 4-0. Single helpers were credited to Nathan McInnis, Zack MacDonald, Taylor Albert, Johnny Johnson and Josh Bernard.
Charlie Bernard and Andrew Doucette each had a goal and an assist for the Aces. Tyler Howard chipped in with a single helper.
Chase Dyment tended goal for the Aces.
Lynx 7, Aces 5
CRAPAUD – The Southside Lynx will enter the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the Razzy's P.E.I. Junior C Hockey League.
The Lynx clinched the regular-season championship with a 7-5 road win over the Tignish Perry's Construction Aces on Friday night. Southside followed that up with a 5-1 win on home ice over the second-place Belfast Sabres on Saturday night.
Southside, which has two games remaining in the regular season, has a record of 21-2-3. Belfast, which is 16-8-1, is scheduled to host North River on Sunday afternoon.
At the South Shore Actiplex, the Sabres' Jack Panting opened the game's scoring at the 11-second mark unassisted, but the Lynx would go on to score five unanswered goals.
Andy Murphy (2), Alex MacLeod (1-2), Colton Dawson (1-1) and Cody Dawson scored for the Crapaud-based Lynx. Marshall Thomas (2), Joel MacIsaac (2), Taylor Buote, Chron MacVittie and Marshall Mayne chipped in with helpers.
The Lynx built period leads of 2-1 and 5-1.
Dylan Garnhum registered the goaltending win over Ben Ladner.
The details of Friday's game are unavailable.


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Nick Edson is one of the best. He has both a reporters eye and an infectious zest for life, traits which hes shared for nearly 30 years in the Traverse City Record-Eagle, Leelanau Enterprise, and County Lines, the in-house publication of Cherryland Electric Cooperative.
Nick has written for publications since the fifth grade, when he began writing weekly football and basketball roundups on Mancelona High for the Antrim County News. He won 11 varsity letters in high school, was president of the student council and editor of the high school paper.
Upon graduation from Mancelona, he attended Central Michigan, where he majored in education and journalism. He became sports editor of CM Life, the campus newspaper. Upon graduation he decided to eschew teaching for journalism, starting his professional career at Silbar Publications in Flint. Just three months later, in September 1976, he was hired by the Record-Eagle, where he worked until April 2000, including 18 years as sports editor.
Now hes collected some of the best of his columns from those publications in his first book, Beyond The Games.
A lot of my friends and family had been after me to write one, and last year I made it (writing a book) one of my goals for the year, said Edson from his office at Cherryland, where hes key accounts and communications coordinator.
So Edson went back to the clippings his wife and his mom had saved over the years, and started going through them.
The toughest part was deciding which ones to include and which ones not to, he said. Id written around 2,200 over the years, and put 50 in the book.
So are these the 50 best columns he ever wrote?
Yeah, I hope so, Edson said with a laugh.
Beyond The Games includes pieces as old as 1978 (The Monster Falls) and as recent as this past year (Father of the Bride). There and everywhere in between, Edson brings to life sports as a microcosm of life, from his upbringing in Mancelona, the jock son of a coach, to his role as observer of local and national sports, and especially as a family man, celebrating his role as son, husband, and father to his three children.
Despite the numerous famous athletes hes interviewed over the years, theres just a smattering of celebrityhood in the book. For the most part Edson focuses on local athletes and their dreams, wishes, beginnings and endings.
The book starts off soberly, with a column from 1992 on the death of a young woman from Bellaire, Heidi Steiner.
Death is a part of life, Edson said earnestly. Thats the hardest column I ever had to write. I cried when I wrote it, and then again when I read it. It took me five years to not cry. The death of a young person is always the most tragic.
That Edson was able to capture the sorrow of the young womans family and friends without being maudlin is indicative of his skill as a writer. That he was able to still celebrate her life is indicative of his spirit.
Thats really the key to the book, the celebrations of life, whether its a well-used piece of athletic equipment (The Glove Will Always be with Me) or his parents selling the home he grew up in (Goodbye to a Great Stadium). Whatever the topic of the column, the real point of it is that life is to be celebrated, whether its the milestones of a childs life or the ways in which sports influence us all.
In keeping with that spirit, Edson says the best part of the entire process has been when he gets to dedicate the book to someone he knows.
The biggest kick is doing the dedications, he said. Ive had a chance to put stuff there that I wouldnt be able to say to people face-to-face.
That was especially the case at a book-signing he did in his hometown of Mancelona. When the doors opened people poured in. I never heard Nicky so much in my life, he said with a laugh.
With 2,150 columns left to choose from, might he do a second volume?
Well, Ive thought about it, he admitted. When I got done, I thought, Geez, that wasnt so bad.
Wasnt so bad? Thats hardly the way to describe a book that vividly illustrates universal truths and brings to life both days gone by and days yet to come. Whether youre a longtime fan of Edsons writing or not a sports buff at all, Beyond The Games offers cheer, insight, longing and tributes to people and places that touch us all.
Beyond The Games is available at Cherryland Electric, the Leelanau Enterprise, the Cottage Bookstore in Glen Arbor, Horizon Books and Borders Books and Music in Traverse City.
Ross Boissoneau is a regular contributor to the Express who had the good fortune to work with Nick Edson for five years at the Record-Eagle.
Side Bar
The mysterious Harley Sachs writes again
Harley Sachs, a frequent contribu-tor to the Northern Express on sub-jects including technology, hu-mor, ethics and life in the Upper Peninsula, has published a new book.
My third Rose Plaza cozy mystery, The Mystery Club and the Hidden Witness is now out and available, Sachs writes from his winter home in Portland, Oregon. Drawing on my own experience as manager of the employee gift fund, this mystery revolves around the crooked gift fund manager who happens to be in the federal Witness Protection program. The mystery club members dont know hes a crook and the mob wants him dead.
Through the years, Sachs has published a number of mysteries and science fiction novels, including Ben Zakkais Coffin and A Troll for Christmas at Zumaya Publications, a Mystery Club series at Wings ePress, and Scratch--out! from Fire Mountain Press.
His latest mystery/suspense novel is available for $11
from the publishers web site at


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The 40 students, many of whom have known each other since preschool, have grown extremely close as a result of dealing with and supporting each other through hardships that many people never experience in a lifetime. Devastating flooding from Tropical Storm Irene began the school year; an October car crash followed, which left senior Trey Cunningham in a coma with serious injuries; and a November hunting accident resulting in the death of two local men had the whole community reeling.
In her speech, Lozito said, "The story of this community is one we can be most proud of." To her classmates, Lozito said, "You are not defined by the tragedies themselves, but by how you have overcome them."
Principal Bob Morse said, "The kids really matured this year, a lot more than they normally would have. We have a school community of students, teachers, parents, and administrators, and it was a real sense of community to work together and get through this year. They ended up a lot stronger because of it."
In his speech at the graduation ceremony, Morse incorporated humor into his address to the class. He welcomed them, not to the graduation ceremony itself, but to life post-high school. "You earn many, many privileges when you graduate. So, welcome to paying bills, doing your own laundry, buying your own food, and paying your own rent." He added, "On the other hand, welcome to going to the Mobil whenever you want, and talking on the phone whenever you want." All the while Morse entertained the audience and the graduating class by donning a baseball hat and sunglasses and making an imaginary call on his cell phone. Morse topped off the humor by saying, "I hope the world is as challenging to you as you have been here."
Windham Southwest Supervisory Union Superintendent Jack Rizzo greeted the class with "You didn't think you were going to get out of here without an aloha, did you?" Rizzo added, "A few years ago you probably thought it just meant hello or goodbye. But now you know what it means; it means love."
Rizzo expressed thanks to parents and other family members as students' "first, best, and most influential teachers." He said, "Thank you for all your years of dedication. Thank you for holding the line when you needed to, and bending when you needed to." Rizzo also thanked the faculty and staff, including the "standup comedian" in reference to Morse's humor. Rizzo said, "I am so gullible. Over the past year I could never tell when he was joking because he always kept such a straight face."
Salutatorian and class president Sophie Zschirnt spoke to the audience and said, "You are the people who've given us the strength to take these steps. We owe some of our success to you, but in the end we had to get ourselves to this moment."
Zschirnt said that while she may still look like the same 14-year-old girl who first began high school, "The girl who came here four years ago may have thought about standing here and giving a speech but never would've done it. The girl who would turn bright red and hyperventilate giving a speech to 10 students can now give a speech to hundreds of people." Zschirnt said, "I want you to remember who I am, and I want you to remember who we are. Whatever road you take from here, I wish you the best of luck."
Borrowing a quote from Trey Parker, a co-creator of the "South Park" television show, Lozito said, "Saying goodbye doesn't mean anything; it's the time spent together that matters."
Note: A complete list of Twin Valley award winners will appear in next week's edition.


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The Syracuse Chiefs pushed across five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning against bumbling Lehigh Valley to handle the IronPigs 7-4 in the first game of a holiday doubleheader Thursday at NBT Bank Stadium.
Chiefs starter Tanner Roark (6-3) pitched five-hit, two-run ball for six innings to pick up the win. Roark extended his scoreless streak to 21 2/3 innings before Lehigh Valley reached him for two runs in the top of the sixth to tie the score at 2-2.
With one out, Corey Brown on second and Chris Rahl on first, Syracuse's Brian Jeroloman grounded to IronPigs first baseman Cody Overbeck. Overbeck threw wildly trying to get a force at second, allowing Brown to come home with the go-ahead run.
Pinch-hitter Mike Costanzo then drew a walk from Lehigh Valley starter Tyler Cloyd (1-8) to load the bases. Jeff Kobernus followed with a single to left to drive in Rahl and make it 4-2.
Mauricio Robles relieved Cloyd, and he uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Jeroloman to score from third for a 5-2 Syracuse edge. Will Rhymes then grounded back to the mound, and Robles threw wildly into centerfield. Costanzo and Kobernus trotted home with the runs that changed the scoreboard to 7-2.
Lehigh Valley's Tyson Gillies blasted a two-run homer off Syracuse reliever Tyler Robertson in the top of the seventh, but that was as close as the IronPigs would creep.


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This Photo 10 Gallery 10-in-1 adult puzzle from Sure-Lox gives you 10 puzzles to complete in 1 box.
The Photo Gallery puzzles come in different themes. You could be assembling puzzles based mountain scenes or castles. Each puzzle is made out of high grade materials to give you greater rigidity and durability. The puzzles have varying piece counts to allow both children and adults to have fun completing these puzzles. Your child will be able to practice more challenging puzzles as their skills improve.
Colours and styles may vary.


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Lego Quest is a non-competitive, creative building challenge for LEGO loving kids and their families. What started among a few family friends grew like wildfire to include 800 kids in over 20 countries, and you will quickly see why.
Sample Quest: Monochromatic color scheme.
Pick a color, any color, and use only that color of LEGO.
Build anything. The sky is the limit. A structure, a sculpture, functional, non-functional – anything at all, but you can only use one color!
Now see what kids around the world created. Continue reading