Sneaky Sea Lion Gets Past Fish Ladders to Much Salmon

I don't know if this is the same Sea Lion as C404 in the story below, but you get the idea. This photo came from this article titled "Daring sea lion makes a run up a fish ladder"

Here's a more recent article:

Crafty Sea Lion Befuddles Fish Biologists

By JOSEPH B. FRAZIER, Associated Press Writer

CASCADE LOCKS, Ore. - In his way, C404 is kind of cute, with those sea-lion whiskers, soft brown eyes and furry little head. But to many he is a sea lion either from hell — or from Harvard.

C404 has driven the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Bonneville Dam to near distraction as he and his ilk sit at the base and munch salmon gathered to continue upriver to spawn.

Numerous sea lions head for the dam each spring, but C404 is in a class by himself.

He has figured out how to get into fish ladders that help fish past the dam — where endangered salmon and other fish become his easy prey.

The engineers have used everything legal to get rid of the California sea lion, who may weigh 1,000 pounds or more. They have installed grated exclusion gates and tried huge firecackers, rockets, rubber bullets, and noises sea lions don't like.

But C404 has given them the flipper.

He and a handful of cohorts already are waiting for the spring run of chinook salmon, which starts in earnest in April.

Then C404, named because of a brand applied by a state and federal program, will personify a larger problem, as 100 or more of his buddies join him.

Last year they ate about 3.5 percent of the migrating run at a time when salmon numbers were down and demand was up. This year's commercial salmon season may be cancelled because of river problems elsewhere. The loss percentage is climbing.

Robert Stansell, a fish biologist at Bonneville with the Corps of Engineers, knows the lively and alert C404 all too well.

"If he were in a litter of puppies, he's the one you would pick," he said.

He said C404 has been showing up each year since at least 2003 and has learned to rub it in. Last year he appeared in a window where fish counters keep track of salmon migrating upstream. The data helps predict the size of future runs.

"He even rolled over a little so we could get a look at his brand," Stansell said.

Other marine mammals haven't learned to pull that trick off.

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The National Debt Clock

The national debt clock in New York, shows the total US government debt (top) and the calculated amount per family. The clock does not have enough digits to show the debt when it reaches the ten trillion dollar mark, which is expected in the next couple of years.(AFP/File/Stan Honda)

You can get your own free Debt Clock html code here

Must See Rap Videos

Ok, here are links to two SNL rap videos that you just have to see! Especially if you need a good laugh.

Natalie Portman Raps on SNL - One Tough Bitch!

Lazy Sunday - The Chronic les of Narnia

This one is also must see!

Narnia Rap Battle

Narnia Rap West Coast Style!

Lazy Muncie

Here is a Rap Mid West Style!

Ghostly coral bleachings haunt the world's reefs

By Michael Perry

SYDNEY (Reuters) - When marine scientist Ray Berkelmans went diving at Australia's Great Barrier Reef earlier this year, what he discovered shocked him -- a graveyard of coral stretching as far as he could see.

"It's a white desert out there," Berkelmans told Reuters in early March after returning from a dive to survey bleaching -- signs of a mass death of corals caused by a sudden rise in ocean temperatures -- around the Keppel Islands.

Australia has just experienced its warmest year on record and abnormally high sea temperatures during summer have caused massive coral bleaching in the Keppels. Sea temperatures touched 29 degrees Celsius (84 Fahrenheit), the upper limit for coral.

High temperatures are also a condition for the formation of hurricanes, such as Katrina which hit New Orleans in 2005.

"My estimate is in the vicinity of 95 to 98 percent of the coral is bleached in the Keppels," said Berkelmans from the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

Marine scientists say another global bleaching episode cannot be ruled out, citing major bleaching in the Caribbean in the 2005 northern hemisphere summer, which coincided with one of the 20 warmest years on record in the United States.

"In 2002, it would appear the Great Barrier Reef went first and then the global bleaching followed six to 12 months later. Is it the same this time around? No," said Berkelmans.

"The Caribbean beat us to it. We seem to be riding on the back of that event. We don't know what is ahead in six months for the Indian Ocean reefs as they head into their summer."

"This might be part of a global pattern where the warm waters continue to get warmer."

Other threats to coral reefs -- vast ecosystems often called the nurseries of the seas -- include pollution, over-fishing, coastal development and diseases.

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Rat-Squirrel Not Extinct After All

This image provided by the Journal Science shows a Laonastes, the only living representative of the otherwise extinct Distomydae, a family of rodents that lived in south Asia and Japan. It has the face of a rat and the tail of a skinny squirrel _ and scientists say this creature discovered living in central Laos is pretty special: It's a species believed to have been extinct for 11 million years. The long-whiskered rodent made international headlines last spring when biologists declared they'd discovered a brand new species, nicknamed the Laotian rock rat. It turns out the little guy isn't new after all, but a rare kind of survivor _ a living member of a species until now known only from fossils. Nor is it a rat. (AP Photo/Mark A. Klinger, Science)

Rat-Squirrel Not Extinct After All

By LAURAN NEERGAARD, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - It has the face of a rat and the tail of a skinny squirrel — and scientists say this creature discovered living in central Laos is pretty special: It's a species believed to have been extinct for 11 million years.

The long-whiskered rodent made international headlines last spring when biologists declared they'd discovered a brand new species, nicknamed the Laotian rock rat.

It turns out the little guy isn't new after all, but a rare kind of survivor: a member of a family until now known only from fossils.

Nor is it a rat. This species, called Diatomyidae, looks more like small squirrels or tree shrews, said paleontologist Mary Dawson of Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

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Fury Lobster

This photo released Tuesday March 7, 2006 by the IFREMER (French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea) shows a new crustacean, called 'Kiwi hirsuta'. The eyeless shellfish, about 15cm long was discovered in March 2005 during a diving mission led by American researcher Robert Vrijenhoek, of the MBARI Institut, Cal., in hydrothermal vents of the Pacific Antartic Ridge, south of Easter Island. (AP Photo/A Fifis; IFREMER)

This is Lingerie?

They call this lingerie? I prefer Coffee & Cream Dreams.

Models wear lingerie designed by Lynn company at a show held at Faraya mountain resort in eastern Lebanon March 4, 2006. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi

Whirlpool baths: enter at your own risk

By Megan Rauscher

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Better think twice before soothing those aching muscles in a whirlpool bath or hot tub. A new study shows that whirlpool bathtubs can be a breeding ground for a host of disease-causing bacteria.

Dr. Rita B. Moyes a microbiologist at Texas A & M University tested 43 water samples from both private and public whirlpool bathtubs. "Every tub tested had some kind of microbial growth," she told Reuters Health.

"And I was just getting the few organisms I was testing for, so it is probably just the tip of the iceberg as far as what is really present. Also, I did no viral testing," Moyes emphasized.

In 95 percent of the tubs, bacteria derived from feces were present, while 81 percent had fungi and 34 percent contained potentially deadly staphylococcus bacteria.

Moyes explained that a teaspoon of normal tap water contains about 138 bacteria and many samples are bacteria-free. A teaspoon of whirlpool tub water, on the other hand, contains an average of more than 2 million bacteria.

The interior pipes of whirlpool baths that are not filtered or chemically treated, and non-maintained hot tubs, are prime areas for potentially infectious microbes to congregate and grow, Moyes noted. These organisms often form a biofilm - a community of organisms, which work together and are more resistant to cleaners.

When the jets are switched on, the bacteria-packed water gets blown into the tub. "Due to the movement of the water, an aerosol is created that carries these organisms down into your lungs or other orifices - something that doesn't happen in a regular tub," Moyes explained.

The bacteria found in whirlpool baths can lead to a number of diseases, including urinary tract infections, skin infections, and pneumonia.

So who is most at risk? "Of course the young and the old and the immunocompromised should not be exposed, including breathing in the aerosol from outside the tub," Moyes said.

"A chemically maintained hot tub should not be a problem to a healthy person but if you are having recurring infections, consider the tub as a potential source," she added. Moyes' research is published in an online journal called PM Engineer.

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