Freedom Through Education

SPREAD THE WORD......FREEDOM IS THE KEY TO OUR SURVIVAL

Endangered sturgeon fish flourishing in Wisconsin

It's been a tough fight for the whisker-snouted sturgeon. The fish survived whatever killed the dinosaurs and have struggled against habitat destruction and overfishing. Now many of its 25 species are endangered, but a small pocket in upper Wisconsin boasts of having one of the world's largest concentrations of the fish. The success is because of the state's strict spearing limits, poaching laws, restocking efforts and the popular — and well-protected — spring spawning, which mostly finished last week. "If we can restore the sturgeon population in the Great Lakes and manage the current population effectively, then we know we are doing a pretty good job of managing the other aspects of the aquatic community," said state sturgeon expert Ron Bruch. In Lake Winnebago there are now around 40,000 lake sturgeons, likely where the population was in the 1800s, Bruch said. In the 1950s, it was 10,000. Whereas in the Great Lakes system, there are now about 156,750, less than 1 percent of what it was in early 1800s, said Rob Elliott, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist. Thousands from around the state and elsewhere visit the Lake Winnebago system tributaries to watch the enormous fish writhe and splash as they lay eggs in shallow, moving water. The fish, which grow up to 300 pounds and look like a cross between a catfish and shark, are close enough to touch.

"Some people say they are awful homely, awful bad looking, but to me ... they are beautiful fish, just like a beautiful blonde," said 73-year-old Pat Wudtke, who's speared sturgeon for 50 years during the state's annual season

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For the past decade, Wudtke also has been among the hundreds who volunteer to protect the fish from poachers. "I'll do everything I can to preserve them," Wudtke said. People love the animals because of their unique look, that the species is prehistoric and their size, Bruch said. "This is the only place really in the world that you can see them to this extent," he said. The spawning spectacle pumps $350,000 into three nearby cities, some of which have signs directing people to the spawning sites

. The fish's success in Lake Winnebago has Bruch concerned. Though only a few cases of poaching are reported each year, he worries there will be more since other areas have a sturgeon shortage and demand is high. And he thinks the taste of lake sturgeon caviar compares with the high-priced kind. There also are reports of poaching of white sturgeon in California as its caviar has grown more popular, said Ellen Pikitch, executive director of the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science in New York. It is illegal to fish wild white sturgeon in California and sell its meat or eggs, but people can sell farm-raised white sturgeon. It's also illegal in the U.S. to sell lake sturgeon meat and its eggs from the states.

In the Black and Caspian Seas the beluga sturgeon is overfished for its caviar, which costs up to $5,000 a pound.

Wisconsin does allow sturgeon spearing, with thousands huddled in shanties on a frozen Lake Winnebago. Spearers are allowed one sturgeon per person. Most get none. The DNR ends spearing when 5 percent of the population is taken. The spearing is why the group, Sturgeon for Tomorrow, started in 1977, because they wanted to keep that tradition alive, said a founder, Bill Casper. Bruch credits the group for part of the sturgeon's success. It runs the sturgeon guard program and raises funds for research and hatcheries, among other things.

But some say even one speared sturgeon is too many. "If they were not removed from the water," Pikitch said, "They would have opportunity to spawn many, many times in a long lifetime."

WATCH THE VID HERE http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_saving_sturgeon Thankyou Max for this wonderful discovery

Caught on film: The bus driver filmed steering with his elbows while reading a BOOK

A reckless bus driver has been caught on film reading a book as he drove passengers along a dual carriageway.A passenger, who wishes to remain anonymous, filmed the National Express West Midlands driver steering the bus with his elbows as he read the paperback. But the driver seemed oblivious to the fact he was being filmed, even continuing to read as he pulled into bus stops and only momentarily taking his eyes off the book to handle fares. A bus driver has been caught on film driving his packed double decker along a dual carriageway while reading a book The footage, which has been posted on YouTube, prompted bosses to suspend the driver, who remains unnamed. He now faces the sack for his behaviour. The driver's antics were filmed on Monday evening as he drove the number 61 bus out of Birmingham town centre through Selly Oak. One passenger told The Sun: 'The guy was in a world of his own, totally absorbed in his book. There were a lot of passengers on the bus but it didn't bother him at all.

'He was literally steering with his elbows and glancing between the book and the road ahead. He could easily have caused a major accident

The driver, who remains unnamed, has been suspended for his antics as he drove out of Birmingham city centre on Monday,The driver's antics were filmed on Monday evening as he drove the number 61 bus out of Birmingham town centre through Selly Oak He added: 'It's not as if he was on a quite country road. He was driving down one of the busiest roads in Brum while immersed in a novel.' In a statement, a National Express spokesman said: 'Immediate action was taken to suspend the driver who will now face disciplinary action. 'It is not appropriate to predict the outcome but an incident of this type is likely to lead to a dismissal. 'Passenger safety is always our priority and it is completely unacceptable for any driver to behave in this manner.

Congress to archive every tweet ever posted publicly

Twitter's first tweet might not have been prosaic, but it was historic

The Library of Congress is to archive every single public tweet ever made. Twitter says since they started in 2006, billions of tweets have been created and 55m are sent every day. The digital archive will include tweets from President Barack Obama on the day he was elected as well as the first tweet from co-founder Jack Dorsey. "I think it shows the tweets are an interesting part of the historical record," said Alex MacGillivray, Twitter's general counsel. "This project however is not about us, it is about our users and the fact they use the service to chronicle these amazing events. President Obama actually tweeted after he was elected. That is a big deal and it's something he did. "It is not something we imagined when we were forming the service," Mr MacGillivray told BBC News. In a Library of Congress blogpost entitled "How Tweet It Is", Matt Raymond underlined the reason why these tweets deserved a home alongside better known historic documents like the Declaration of Independence. "I'm no PhD, but it boggles my mind to think what we might be able to learn about ourselves and the world around us from this wealth of data."

Twitter's Mr MacGillivray agreed.

"We have just had one of our Supreme Court justices announce his retirement and knowing what people are saying around that will be important. "As a historian you will be able to look back at that and understand what people felt. The same with the healthcare legislation that recently passed. You can look back and say what where people talking about and have those views changed over time? We think that will be really useful." The microblogging service came into prominence during a number of high profile events including the Iranian elections last year, the Mumbai bombing, the Haiti earthquake and the downing of a passenger aircraft in the Hudson River.

Replay

Alongside the Library of Congress announcement, Google revealed how it is going to make the Twitter archive searchable for users. The search giant unveiled a replay feature that lets users search tweets posted at any given point in time right down to the minute.

Twitter sees itself as a new form of real-time communication

Anyone wanting to know what people tweeted about on say the Haiti earthquake or the Oscars can type into the search box, select "show options" on the result page and then click "updates".

A timeline will appear above the results allowing you to zoom in on tweets by the hour or minute.

"This will be the first time the user will have the ability to go back in time and see the conversation about a particular topic," Dylan Casey, Google's product manager told BBC News. "We think this is pretty significant because up until now the discussion has been about what is happening now and with today's replay button people will be able to go back and see what people were actually talking about around big events." For the moment the replay feature will only cover the last two months of tweets. Google said later in the summer it hopes to cover the entire archive all the way back to March 2006.(my view)- Yes BUT its also an invasion into our lives aswell

Icelandic volcanic ash alert grounds UK flights

All flights in and out of the UK have been suspended as ash from a volcanic eruption in Iceland moves south. Safety body Eurocontrol said up to 4,000 flights across northern Europe had so far been affected by the cloud. The Air Traffic Control Service (Nats) said no flights would be allowed in or out of UK airspace until 1800BST amid fears of engine damage. The airspace restriction was the most significant in living memory, a spokesman said. Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark were among the European countries hit. The restrictions were imposed after the Met Office warned the ash was sufficient to clog engines. Passengers were advised to contact their carriers prior to travel. Experts have warned that the tiny particles of rock, glass and sand contained in the ash cloud would be sufficient to jam aircraft engines. But the Health Protection Agency said the ash did not pose a significant risk to public health because of its high altitude.

These are some of the main knock-on effects:

Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow airports shut Disruptions to and from Liverpool's John Lennon, Manchester and Newcastle airports Severe delays at Birmingham airport with problems reported at East Midlands, Leeds Bradford, Cardiff International and Bristol airports London's Gatwick, Heathrow and City airports hit British Airways cancels all domestic flights on Thursday and offers refunds or an option to rebook Flights suspended at Belfast International Airport and George Best Belfast City Airport RAF Sea King helicopter flies a critically ill patient from Scotland to London Ash threat forces Great North Air Ambulance to be grounded

One passenger at Glasgow told the BBC: "I'm meant to be going to Lanzarote. We've travelled from Oban, leaving at 3am. Now we've decided we might as well just go home and do a bit of gardening."

Others switched form plane to train, with the East Coast line extending its 1830BST London to Newcastle service through to Edinburgh. Budget airline Ryanair said no flights were operating to or from the UK on Thursday and it expected cancellations and delays on Friday. A Nats spokesman said: "The Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre has issued a forecast that the ash cloud from the volcanic eruption in Iceland will track over Europe tonight. "Nats is working with Eurocontrol and our colleagues in Europe's other air navigation service providers to take the appropriate action to ensure safety in accordance with international aviation policy." The European air safety body, Eurocontrol, said the cloud of ash had reached 55,000ft and was expected to move through northern UK and Scotland. Brian Flynn, assistant head of operations of its central flow management unit, told the BBC: "As it moves toward the Netherlands and Belgium it will dissipate and lose intensity, like any weather phenomenon. But we don't know what the extent of it will be." Met Office forecaster Philip Avery said the ash could take several days to clear. He said: "It is showing up on imagery at the moment, extending down as far as the Faroes but it looks as though the wind will drag it a good deal further south. "Nats has good cause to be very cautious about this because in about 1982 a British Airways jumbo had the unnerving experience of having all four engines shut down as it flew through a plume of volcanic ash." There was a nearly identical incident on 15 December 1989 when KLM Flight 867, a B747-400 from Amsterdam to Anchorage, Alaska, flew into the plume of the erupting Mount Redoubt, causing all four engines to fail. Once the flight cleared the ash cloud, the crew was able to restart each engine and then make a safe landing at Anchorage, but the aircraft was substantially damaged. A BAA spokesman said: "Passengers intending to fly today are asked to contact their airline for further information." The eruption under a glacier in the Eyjafjallajoekull area of Iceland is the second in the country in less than a month.