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In Peru, the hills come tumbling down

Terry Wade
Reuters
Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:03 UTC
Peru mudslide
It's summer in Peru and the mudslides are back, eroding barren hillsides on the western slopes of the Andes. The huaicos, as they are known in Peru, create rivers of mud and carry giant boulders with them that knock down everything in their path, from houses to bridges.

On Sunday, on the eastern fringe of Lima, Peru's capital, three mudslides tore through the towns of Chosica and Chaclacayo. A 15-year-old teenager, Johani Lucero Vasquez, dared to wade across a slide and was swept away. Her body was found 9 kilometers downstream. Debris washed onto the country's main highway that crosses the Andes, shutting it for six hours in both directions.
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Black Cat

US: Mountain lion shot in Los Angeles suburb, more reported in the area


The Mercury News
Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:34 UTC
Santa Paula - Police have shot and killed a mountain lion in a Santa Paula neighborhood, and they believe five more could be in the area.

A family called police this morning after spotting a mountain lion in their yard in the community 50 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

Police Chief Steve MacKinnon says officers attempted to set up a perimeter and capture one mountain lion when a second smaller lion came out of the bushes.
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Black Cat

In March it is possible to spot lynxes, even in Finnish residential areas


Helsingin Sanomat
Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:25 UTC
Lynx
© Heikki Kotilainen/Helsingin Sanomat
Our numbers are growing... The number of lynx in Finnish forests is said to be at the highest level for a hundred years.
The Finnish population of the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) has increased, and the animal's presence has been noticed in residential areas as well.

"The bigger the amount of lynxes, the sooner they get used to people, and the animal begins to trust humans", says special researcher Ilpo Kojola from the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute.

"The number of lynxes in Finland is about 1,500 individuals", Kojola adds.

A lynx can appear in a backyard when the day grows dimmer.

"There it may be seen sitting and observing its surroundings in a seemingly carefree manner, even if the garden lights are switched on", Kojola notes.
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Black Cat

US: Is Minnesota becoming cougar country?

Doug Smith
Star Tribune
Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:18 UTC
Cougar
© Jim Schubitzke
Jim Schubitzke shot this image of a cougar using a trail camera triggered by movement in August 2007 near Floodwood, Minn. The Minnesota DNR said it is one of only a half dozen confirmed wild cougar sightings in the state over the past 20 or 30 years, despite hundreds of reports.
There are definitely a few cougars wandering their way into Minnesota, but most sightings turn out to be false.

Call it a feline frenzy.

Reports of mountain lions in Minnesota keep rolling in.

Just last month several mountain lions, also called cougars, were reported roaming the woods and fields near Elk River. Last fall came the report that a pair of big cats munched a deer shot by hunters in northern Minnesota.

And this winter, via the Internet, came an eye-popping photo of a huge 190-pound cougar reportedly killed in December in southeastern Minnesota.
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Black Cat

UK: On the track of region's big cats


Rhyl Journal
Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:37 UTC
Dozens of big cats have been spotted prowling around Denbighshire and the surrounding counties.

In the last seven years, people have reported panther and lynx like creatures across the region.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show that 45 big cat sightings have been recorded by North Wales Police.

Seven separate incidents were logged from people claiming to have seen a panther.
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Fish

'Middle Class' Coral Reef Fish Feel The Economic Squeeze


Science Daily
Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:31 UTC
Image
© Tim McClanahan
According to a recent study by WCS and other organizations, coral reefs next to "middle class" communities in Eastern Africa have the lowest fish levels. In contrast, reefs next to villages of low and high socio-economic levels had higher fish levels.

The economy isn't just squeezing the middle class on land, it's also affecting fish. Wealthy areas and least developed regions have healthiest fish populations, while those in the middle are suffering.

According to a study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and other organizations, researchers discovered a surprising correlation between "middle class" communities in Eastern Africa and low fish levels. Curiously, areas with both low and high socio-economic levels had comparatively higher fish levels.

Appearing in the latest edition of Current Biology, the study examined reef systems, human population densities, and socio-economics among villages in 30 fished and unfished study sites in five countries along Africa's Indian Ocean coast.
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Heart

Cat alerts owner to lung cancer


United Press International
Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:00 UTC
Calgary, Alberta - A Canadian house cat not known for being affectionate is being credited with alerting its owner in Calgary, Alberta, about a cancerous tumor in his lung.

Lionel Adams, 59, told the Calgary Sun his 8-year-old orange tabby called Tiger began some unusual behavior late last summer.

"He would climb into bed and take his paw and drag it down my left side -- he was adamant there was something there," Adams told the Sun. "And it was right where the cancer was."
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Info

Cancer-causing Toxins Linked To Unexploded Munitions In Oceans


Science Daily
Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:57 UTC
Image
© University of Georgia
Unexploded munitions.

During a research trip to Puerto Rico, ecologist James Porter took samples from underwater nuclear bomb target USS Killen, expecting to find evidence of radioactive matter - instead he found a link to cancer. Data revealed that the closer corals and marine life were to unexploded bombs from the World War II vessel and the surrounding target range, the higher the rates of carcinogenic materials.

"Unexploded bombs are in the ocean for a variety of reasons - some were duds that did not explode, others were dumped in the ocean as a means of disposal," said Porter. "And we now know that these munitions are leaking cancer-causing materials and endangering sea life."

These findings will be presented at the Second International Dialogue on Underwater Munitions on February 25-27 in Honolulu. Data has been gathered since 1999 on the eastern end of the Isla de Vieques, Puerto Rico - a land and sea area that was used as a naval gunnery and bombing range from 1943-2003. Research revealed that marine life including reef-building corals, feather duster worms and sea urchins closest to the bomb and bomb fragments had the highest levels of toxicity. In fact, carcinogenic materials were found in concentrations up to 100,000 times over established safe limits. This danger zone covered a span of up to two meters from the bomb and its fragments.
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Einstein

A Lesson On Global Warming From My Favorite Denier

Roger Pielke, Sr.
Climate Science
Wed, 18 Feb 2009 07:13 UTC
There is a candid, honest, and informative article by Josh Willis that appeared in the newsletter U.S. Clivar Variations. It is

Is It Me, or Did the Oceans Cool? A Lesson on Global Warming from my Favorite Denier (Link) by Josh K. Willis of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology.

It is worth reading. The article chronicles his experience with correcting the error in his original analysis, but also in presenting us with an effective summary of the current science and engineering of diagnosing ocean heat content. He presents two informative figures in the article, which are reproduced below.
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Document

UN Infects Science with Cancer of Global Warming

Dr. Ed Blick
IceCap
Tue, 17 Feb 2009 06:57 UTC
Temperature Records All Time Highs
© unknown

United Nations politicians, while admitting their lack of evidence, gave birth and nurtured the fraud of Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW). Their Malthusian purpose is to frighten people into accepting the UN as the "centerpiece of democratic global governance" and let the UN, ration our fossil fuel. World temperature records show no evidence of AGW.
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