Archive for November, 2007

I was raised in a family that always hunted and fished and grew up with a love for nature. We always knew that you can not over hunt any animal or you risk losing them forever. Right now this is going on in the skys over Alaska. They are shooting wolves from airplanes. This is in no way sporting at all, more like shooting fish in a barrel. I feel very strongly against killing of wolves, especially like this where they haven’t a chance. Most of the land is federal lands which, as US citizens make the land all of ours. We have a right, no a duty to speak out against this. And the best way to do so is call your congressman. I know you won’t get through to the actual congressman, or woman but they do listen to what constituents have to say. Especially when they take the time to call in to their office. You can always find out the information on how to contact your legislator by going to the House of Representatives web site and place your zip code into the find your representative search box on the upper left corner. If you won’t call then at least visit their web site and send them a message saying you support the PAW Act (Protect America’s Wildlife Act) H.R. 3663. Some things you can not put a monetary value on and the wild call of the wolf is one of those. Please speak up and be a voice for the saving of the wolf. We destroy so much, must it continue? I called my congressman’s local office yesterday afternoon and had a very pleasant talk with his secretary. She said I was the first to call in about this bill. Please call your congressperson too.

Even more endangered is the red wolf. Red wolves once roamed throughout the southeast, but were driven to extinction by predator control and habitat loss. Twenty years ago, these beautiful canines were reintroduced to the wild, but these rare wolves still struggle toward recovery — fewer than 130 red wolves now survive in the wilds of eastern North Carolina. You can help them survive by adopting a red wolf today. Because red wolves are so exceptionally rare, the loss of just one wolf could be devastating to their recovery prospects.

Reading through the news yesterday I found this and thought it was pretty neat.

Scientists have launched a project aimed at solving the mystery of the giant redwood tree: What allows it to grow so tall and live so long?

What they are doing is sending arborists into the trees, 2-3 hundred feet to the lowest branches to use a? cross bow and cut off some new growth so they can clone these trees. Some of which are estimated to be between 2 and 3 thousand years old. The project will take genetic material from the trees to create a “living library” so researchers can study what allows these trees to become the tallest and largest living things on Earth, says David Milarch of the Champion Tree Project, which is working with Bartlett and the Tree Research and Education Endowment Fund on the project.

They hope to plant these cloned trees near universities so scientists can study their genetics without having to climb up older trees. Scientists will also be cross pollinating some of the clones with newer growth trees from the redwood zone on the west coast to possibly create and even stronger and longer living version of these wondrous trees.

Those of you who know me, know that I am a advocate of free open source software and a big fan of Mozilla’s Firefox web browser. There is a new security update that you should download and install as soon as possible. Check your version. It should now be 2.0.0.10. If you do not know how to check your version simply go to help on the Firefox tool bar and at the bottom of the drop down menu is “about”. That will tell you the current version you are running. If you don’t run Firefox consider changing from IE. The extra features that can be added with extensions will make you glad you did. Plus you will be safer on the web to boot.

Also Mozilla has rolled out a beta version of its Firefox 3.0 browser. The new version boasts added security and a host of new features – all of which it wants user feedback on while it’s in beta, before the final release. The way Firefox manages browsing history has also been revamped, and memory leakage issues are said to have been fixed.That has been my only gripe I have ever had with Firefox. When left open over several days it will use up a ton of resources. Mozilla hopes to have the final version ready sometime in 2008 – by which time they expect up to a half a million people to be testing the software. It may not be the time for everyone to jump onto the bandwagon as it is in beta still but as I understand it, it seems to be pretty much bug free. I have not made up my mind as to whether I will try out the beta or wait for the final release but if you are interested in trying it the download link is here.

Welcome to the ramblings of an inquisitive idiot. A bit about myself. I am disabled but not dead. I love my country, (the USA) but hate the way we are going today. When I joined the army all those many years ago I took an oath to uphold the constitution. Our president took a similar oath and I feel he is not doing what he swore to do. But what else is new with our corrupt government and the police state that is rapidly overtaking us. It is not government for the people and by the people any more it is for the large corporations and who can make a quick buck. I didn’t mean to get off on a tangent but I feel very strongly about personal freedoms and liberty for all. I promise not to limit this blog to politics, but will drift off to helpful posts as well as current news you may not have heard from the big media corporations.

That is all for today. I have threatened to start my own blog for several years now but let procrastination over take me. Hopefully now that I have take the first step I can keep this up and post regularly. The longest journey begins with the first step.