Veronox

dashboardemergency:

HURRICANE SANDY: A wee feel-good moment from CHASE Bank as they’re offering to waive some fees, during Hurricane Sandy, to those affected.

fuckyeahspaceexploration:

One giant loss for mankind. Rest in peace, Neil Armstrong (1930-2012)

oceanaware:

Coco Island Park Rangers Seize 1 Shark Finning Boat, 14 Others Get Away

Costa Rica News – Well The Costa Rican government had to do their monthly capture of 1 shark finning boat for August.  The radar picked up 15 boats and they were “only able to pursue”, 1 of them.  Most likely the other’s were Taiwanese boats that had already paid off the Costa Rican government to allow them to escape.  Even wonder why Costa Rica wanted to have the Paul Watson trial here?  

Easy answer…..The Costa Rican Government is receiving huge kick backs for allowing shark finning in their waters and needed to show they were serious about continuing to receive this money or they were pressured by the Asian countries to get him in prison here.  Once in prison in Costa Rica he would have been killed quickly and made seem like it was a normal prison incident.

The Coco Island Rangers in a joint effort with the National Guard intercepted 1 boat with 47 shark fins.  No doubt this was  the boat that the Taiwanese allowed to get caught.  It is like the drugs lords that ship cocaine to the USA that allow a shipment of 15 kilos to get seized from time to time.  Governments look like they are trying to take care of the problem and the drug lords and shark finners have acceptable losses.

It’s so corrupt, it’s sickening.

discoverynews:

This is horrible. Just beyond horrible. In the words of our tech producer, “I’ve walked out of restaurants who serve shark’s fin soup.”

Personally, I’ve never looked, but I certainly will now.

US Shark Fin Soup Appalling and Widespread

We gathered 51 samples from restaurants in 14 cities and found one made from the fin of a scalloped hammerhead, which is endangered. We discovered samples containing fin of vulnerable and near-threatened species, including bull, smooth hammerhead, school, spiny dogfish and copper sharks.

I am a shark attack survivor, but I appreciate the importance of these predators for the health of the ocean. I have dedicated my life to helping them.

Would you eat tiger soup? Of course not. It’s a species facing extinction. But if you eat shark fin soup, you could hasten the demise of animals facing a similar plight, because nearly a third of all shark species are in peril.

read more…

n-a-r-g:

“After a stroke, and a debilitating depression, and an attempted suicide, Christie Carr found new meaning volunteering at a wildlife refuge, where she met Irwin, a five-month-old kangaroo who had partially paralyzed himself after hopping into a fence.

The town of Broken Arrow unanimously voted to create an exemption to their exotic animals ordinance so that the inseparable Carr and Irwin could continue their lives together.” 

Image by Sue Ogrock / AP

scienceyoucanlove:

In a major development, the world’s main consumer of shark fins, China, has announced that it will ban shark fin soup from all official banquets. The Government Offices Administration of the State Council announced that it will take up to three years to implement the ban, but given the right circumstances this could happen quicker. While bans on the sale and consumption of shark fins have been picking up momentum around the world recently, this is the first such legislation in China. Over 95 percent of the annual harvest of shark fin worldwide is consumed on the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

While cutting down on spending on lavish public banquets has been cited as a major reason for the ban, awareness in China about the negative effects of shark fin consumption on the global shark population has slowly been rising thanks in part to a WildAid ad campaign featuring Chinese basketball star Yao Ming, which Save Our Seas Foundation helped fund.

Nevertheless, enforcement of the ban may prove to be problematic in a vast country where Beijing’s directives often go unheeded by local officials.

As many as 73 million sharks are killed each year to supply the global shark fin trade, and of the shark and ray species assessed by scientists for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 30 percent are threatened or near-threatened with extinction.

itsfullofstars:

New data suggest the confirmation of the exoplanet Gliese 581g and the best candidate so far of a potential habitable exoplanet. The nearby star Gliese 581 is well known for having four planets with the outermost planet, Gliese 581d, already suspected habitable. This will be the first time evidence for any two potential habitable exoplanets orbiting the same star. Gliese 581g will be included, together with Gliese 667Cc, Kepler-22b, HD85512, and Gliese 581d, in the Habitable Exoplanets Catalog of the PHL @ UPR Arecibo as the best five objects of interest for Earth-like exoplanets. http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2012/07/-image-of-the-day-the-kepler-5-nasas-short-list-of-potential-habitable-exoplanets.html#more

motherfuckinscifi:

Noah Oppenheim and Shepard Fairey Tapped to Join “1984”

Whether you want it or not, Image Entertainment is pushing forward with its adaptation of George Orwell’s dystopian thriller, 1984. For those of you who weren’t paying attention in high school English, the story is set in a totalitarian police state and follows one Winston Smith as he navigates a grisly future full of Newspeak, thought police, and Big Brother’s watchful gaze.

The cautionary tale is being written by Noah Oppenheim, Deadline revealed. Oppenheim is currently in the process of penning The Secret Life of Houdini with the director of The Hunger Games, Gary Ross, as well as two other remakes. Beyond that, his writing credit is sparse, but his producing credits extend to The Buried Life and The Today Show.

In addition to the announcement of Oppenheim’s attachment, famed artist Shepard Fairey is in talks to produce the revamped adaptation, though so far there’s no backing for said rumor. We’ll keep you updated on further information as it develops.

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