Some very important events are for the most part eluding public attention. In this case, there is a very large and precarious human population involved.
ENVIRONMENT: Global Fish Catches Vastly Underestimated
Fisheries catches in tropical island nations may be as much as 17 times higher than officially reported, according to a new study released Tuesday.
"The underreporting of fish catches is of such a magnitude it boggles the mind," said Daniel Pauly, a renowned fisheries expert at the University of British Columbia (UBC).
All of the 20 small Pacific island countries in the study underreported catches, mainly because they did not count the catch by small-scale local fishers. This is not unique -- even the U.S. does not report local and recreational fishing statistics, Pauly told IPS at the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida Tuesday.
A different study also released Tuesday estimates that the unreported recreational fish catch in the Hawaiian Islands doubles the size of the official catch. It also concluded that 75 percent of reef fishes in the main Hawaiian Islands are depleted or in critical condition because of overfishing.
Pauly and other fish experts long suspected that many nations do not measure small-scale and recreational fisheries. The Sea Around Us Project located at UBC is the first attempt to reconstruct actual catches between 1950 and 2004.
"Even though small-scale fisheries feed many people in poor countries, their contribution goes unreported," Pauly said.
Link
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Green thumb
Some things are simply counter-intuitive. Imagine not reacting in pure revulsion to a huge, sluggish caterpillars.
Q&A: Caterpillars on Tomatoes
Question: Help! I found several large caterpillars munching on my tomatoes. What should I do to get rid of them?
Answer: It sounds like you're seeing tomato hornworms, which can grow to an alarming size! Like most caterpillars, hornworms can be controlled by using Bt, Bacillis thuringiensis.However, since tomato hornworms can do a lot of damage in a short time, you may want to remove the ones you see by hand. Note: If you see a caterpillar with what looks like grains of rice all over it, relocate it elsewhere in the garden rather than killing it. It has been parasitized by a certain wasp laying its eggs on it. These small wasps are harmless to humans, but will help the hornworm population in check. (The parasitized hornworm will die anyway.)
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Words, words, words
misprize \mis-PRYZ\ (transitive verb) -
1 : To hold in contempt.
2 : To undervalue.
peccant \PEK-unt\ (adjective) -
1 : Sinning; guilty of transgression.
2 : Violating a rule or a principle.
preternatural \pree-tuhr-NACH-uhr-uhl; -NACH-ruhl\ (adjective) -
1 : Existing outside of nature; differing from the natural; nonnatural.
2 : Surpassing the usual or normal; extraordinary; abnormal.
3 : Beyond or outside ordinary experience; inexplicable by ordinary means.
1 : To hold in contempt.
2 : To undervalue.
peccant \PEK-unt\ (adjective) -
1 : Sinning; guilty of transgression.
2 : Violating a rule or a principle.
preternatural \pree-tuhr-NACH-uhr-uhl; -NACH-ruhl\ (adjective) -
1 : Existing outside of nature; differing from the natural; nonnatural.
2 : Surpassing the usual or normal; extraordinary; abnormal.
3 : Beyond or outside ordinary experience; inexplicable by ordinary means.
One of those 'wordy' pictures
There are times when reality takes on a glaringly sharp focus. This strikes me as one such moment. My apologies for not being able to offer a 'clean' pic. There are both pros and cons to Flash and in this instance the link will have to suffice.
Gas prices by county
Gas prices by county
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
With commentary
Marvelous, eh? I have lost myself in exploring on many levels but I just felt the sharp, harsh, stinging slap of reality.
Wrap your mind around the fact it is all waste. Man sure is a sorry lot.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Story
They are replacing the siding on the almost 100 apartments in this complex. Being a guy, I had to 'supervise' the project.
When it came time to do my unit, my attention level rose. I watched as I a worker arbitarily whacked off a length of the vinyl siding and banged a nail through it at a point in the approximate middle of a span and then attached additional slabs on either side of that. Befuddled, I told my neighbor, who had joined my vigil, that I could not understand... the panels being attached were random in length, were placed vertically when all other siding was running horizontally and in what appeared to be a haphazard manner.
The worker, a 'brassaro' if you must know, then brought the whole process into clarity. He took a tap measure and marked the distance from right to left. I started chuckling and when 'Juan' looked at me I smiled, held up my finger and nodded my head...
"I get it now... Those first panels were just to allow you to get an accurate measure without any 'bowing' of the tape.' He smiled and said, 'You smart'.
Who was I to argue?
When it came time to do my unit, my attention level rose. I watched as I a worker arbitarily whacked off a length of the vinyl siding and banged a nail through it at a point in the approximate middle of a span and then attached additional slabs on either side of that. Befuddled, I told my neighbor, who had joined my vigil, that I could not understand... the panels being attached were random in length, were placed vertically when all other siding was running horizontally and in what appeared to be a haphazard manner.
The worker, a 'brassaro' if you must know, then brought the whole process into clarity. He took a tap measure and marked the distance from right to left. I started chuckling and when 'Juan' looked at me I smiled, held up my finger and nodded my head...
"I get it now... Those first panels were just to allow you to get an accurate measure without any 'bowing' of the tape.' He smiled and said, 'You smart'.
Who was I to argue?
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