Monday, January 16, 2012

N.H. court upholds Bigfoot’s free speech rights


January 14, 2012|By Lynne Tuohy
CONCORD, N.H. - The New Hampshire Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Bigfoot’s right to romp around Mount Monadnock - and against a state regulation governing special events at parks.

The court ruled unanimously yesterday that the language of the regulation is so broad it would apply to six people holding a private prayer service, three people carrying campaign signs at a mountain’s peak, or even a lone protester.
Jonathan Doyle filmed a friend in costume on Mount Monadnock in September 2009, attracting curious hikers.
Jonathan Doyle filmed a friend in costume on Mount Monadnock in September… (photos by NYCreator.com)
Keene entrepreneur Jonathan Doyle and the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union Foundation appealed after state park officials barred Doyle, an amateur filmmaker, from wearing his monkey costume and interviewing other hikers about a Bigfoot sighting at Mount Monadnock in September 2009.  
Park officials said Doyle had failed to pay $100 for a special-use permit 30 days in advance and secure a $2 million bond, as required by the regulation. The permit regulation applies to all properties operated by the state Department of Resources and Economic Development.
The court said the regulation violates constitutional free speech rights by requiring someone to get a permit 30 days in advance for any “organized or special events which go beyond routine recreational activities.’’
The justices called the regulation “panoptic’’- including in one view everything in sight.
The regulation, the court said, “is unconstitutional in a substantial number of its applications and is thereby overbroad.’’
Barbara Keshen, director of the NHCLU, called the ruling a “strong affirmation of people’s First Amendment rights to express themselves politically and artistically.’’
Assistant Attorney General Matthew Mavrogeorge, who argued to uphold the regulation, did not return calls seeking comment.
Doyle said he was uncertain how the court would rule and had doubts along the way about taking on the state.
“I’m very happy and pleased,’’ Doyle said yesterday. He said he will return to Monadnock in costume the first chance he gets.
Doyle first wore his Bigfoot costume on the top of Monadnock on Sept. 6, 2009, and interviewed hikers about what they saw. Those interviewed went along with the skit - some feigning fear and awe - and Doyle posted his video on YouTube.
He planned to make a movie, “The Capture of Bigfoot,’’ which The Keene Sentinel newspaper wrote about. Park manager Patrick Hummel saw the report and e-mailed a supervisor under the subject line, “Bigfoot problem on Monadnock . . . not kidding,’’ according to court documents. In another e-mail, Hummel wrote, “Why does this mountain attract these time wasters?’’
CREDIT: boston.com


Deadly parasite turns Bay Area honeybees into zombie slaves




    San Francisco biologists have made a macabre discovery that might help explain the mysterious crash of honeybee populations: parasites that turn bees into zombies.
    Infected bees go mad, abandoning their hive in a suicidal rush toward bright lights, according to a new study by San Francisco State researchers.
    "It's the flight of the living dead," said lead investigator and biology professor John Hafernik, also president of the California Academy of Sciences.
    The parasite, a tiny fly, has been found in bees from three-quarters of the 31 surveyed hives in the Bay Area -- essentially, everywhere except Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.
    In a plotline similar to a George Romero horror film, the fly deposits its eggs into the bee's abdomen, then takes over. The hapless bees walk around in circles, with no apparent sense of direction. Some are unable to even stand on their legs.
    "They kept stretching them out and then falling over," Hafernik said. "It really painted a picture of something like a zombie."
    The bees' demise may contribute to what's known as Colony Collapse Disorder, the phenomenon of failing honeybee hives around the United States -- and a great concern in the agricultural community, which depends on these pollinators.
    Despite six years of intense research, scientists have been unable to find a single reason for colony collapse. Increasingly, they suspect that several factors, including viruses and fungus, may be to blame.





    "This is one more piece in the puzzle," said researcher and San Francisco State graduate student Jonathan Ivers. "But no one has come up with a coherent picture of what the puzzle even looks like."
    The stakes are high, because honeybees are the primary pollinator of most nuts, vegetables and fruits. California's $1 billion-a-year almond business, for instance, is entirely dependent on the honeybees.
    "The agricultural economy of California would be devastated if honeybees disappeared," Ivers said.
    This creepy parasitic parable started in an unlikely place: a desk at San Francisco State. Three years ago, Hafernik returned from a field trip with a hungry praying mantis, so he scrounged for insects for it to eat. He found some bees under the light fixtures outside his classroom at Hensill Hall, and stuck them in a vial.
    "But being an absent-minded professor," he joked, "I left them in a vial on my desk and forgot about them."
    When he looked at the vial again -- a week or so later -- there was a startling sight: the dead bees were surrounded by small brown fly pupae.
    "I knew that was unusual," he said. "I knew that a parasitic fly was feeding on them."
    The fly's identity -- Apocephalus borealis -- was revealed through a DNA test. The same fly is known to infect wasps and bumblebees.
    Ivers and fellow grad student Andrew Core gained permission from Bay Area beekeepers to set up traps at the hives, then caught 20 to 50 so-called worker bees en route to find food.
    Infected bees were found in San Francisco, Oakland, Orinda, Walnut Creek, Concord, El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Benicia, San Rafael, Mill Valley and Larkspur. They were not found in hives in Los Gatos, Saratoga, San Jose or Mount Hamilton.
    The parasitic flies even engage in mind control. Somehow they're able to hijack the bee's normal daytime behavior, turning it into a nocturnal creature. Seven days after death, little larvae emerge from the bee.
    The casualties are hard on a hive in two different ways. Not only does it lose important workers -- but when these foragers are gone, younger bees inside the hive are forced to take their place. The entire labor structure of the hive goes awry.
    "As you lose more and more workers, there's a tipping point, which could lead to collapse," he said.
    Bees from the infected hives are often infected with a virus and a fungus -- suggesting the fly might be a vector for these pathogens.
    There are other gruesome examples in the insect world of exploitation.
    An Asian wasp stings a cockroach in the brain and injects venom that controls where the roach walks. Then it lays its egg on the roach, and its larvae eat it alive.
    And there's an Amazonian nematode that, once inside an ant, turns the insect's abdomen the same bright hue as a tasty berry. The ant is eaten by birds, who spread baby nematodes through their droppings.
    While San Francisco State researchers are far from discovering a treatment for bees, the next step is to expand their geographic search for infected hives.
    Already, Hafernik has noticed a colony in the walls of his San Francisco house. "At night, they bounce against the windows while my wife and I are at the dinner table," he said brightly.
    And they'll deploy a range of identification tools to better understand the freeloading fly. Next spring, they will glue tiny radio-frequency devices -- smaller than the head of a pin -- to the backs of bees, then track their travels. Once sick, do they re-enter the hive, infecting others?
    "We don't know how big a player this is" in collapsing colonies, he said. "It could be a really important one."





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    Source Credit: http://www.mercurynews.com/

    Overdue Maryland hikers OK | New Hampshire NEWS07

    Overdue Maryland hikers OK | New Hampshire NEWS07

    Published Jan 16, 2012 at 12:28 pm (Updated Jan 16, 2012)

    CRAWFORD NOTCH - Two experienced Maryland hikers were in great condition when they walked out of Shoestring Gully on Mount Webster early Monday morning, long overdue after a more arduous hike down the mountain than they expected.


    New Hampshire Fish and Game Conservation Officer Alex Lopashanski said the wife of Greg Kozloski, 33, of Darlington, Md. reported him and his hiking partner, Richard Brown, 30, of Bel Air, Md., overdue about 10 p.m. Sunday night.


    State Police Troop F located their car on Route 302 across from the gully.


    Kozloski and Brown, both experienced climbers, had planned to hike 2,500 feet up to the ridge of Mount Webster, the last 600 feet of which involves “technical climbing,” according to Lopashanski.


    Lopashanski arrived at the scene about 1:20 a.m. Monday to see two headlamps coming out of the trail. The men had made it to the ridge but, instead of coming down the trail, they descended through the woods which took them much longer than they anticipated, Lopashanski explained.


    Both were well-prepared for the hike and in fine shape, he said.


    They left an itinerary with Lopashanski’s wife which, had either man been in trouble, would have made it quicker and easier for Fish & Game to locate them.


    “They did a lot of things right,” Lopashanski said.



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    Huntsman To Drop Out Of Race For White House - Politics News Story - WMUR New Hampshire


    Jon Huntsman staked his entire presidential campaign on New Hampshire in the hopes he could emerge from the shadow of fellow Mormon Mitt Romney to become a legitimate competitor. But less than one week after a disappointing third-place finish in the Granite State's primary, Huntsman has decided to withdraw and back Romney.....

    Read more: http://www.wmur.com/politics/30221600/detail.html#ixzz1jdCh6ybb








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    Sunday, January 15, 2012

    A winter ascent to the top of Mount Washington


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    Saturday, January 14, 2012

    EagleTribune.com : Man surrenders 94 hamsters to MSPCA

    EagleTribune.com : Man surrenders 94 hamsters to MSPCA
    LAWRENCE —More than 90 hamsters were found in one man's apartment, well-cared for and kept in aquariums, buckets and Tupperware containers.
    The Boehm Street man had 94 hamsters in total and decided on his own it was just too many. He went to the MSPCA's Small Animal Shelter at Nevins Farm in Methuen last week to let officials there know he had a large number of hamsters he wanted to surrender.......

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    30 dolphins strand themselves in 5 Cape towns

    30 dolphins strand in 5 Cape towns | Mobile - CapeCodOnline.com

    Animal welfare officials spent hours attempting to rescue about 30 dolphins today in what one official called “one of the largest dolphin strandings in this area ever.”

    Officials from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the New England Aquarium and volunteers responded to strandings from Dennis to Wellfleet, said Kerry Branon, an IFAW spokeswoman.

    Officials found stranded dolphins in Dennis, Brewster, Orleans, Eastham and Wellfleet.

    Rescuers released 11 dolphins into waters off Scusset Beach in Sagamore Beach, Branon said. Between 10 and 12 of them were dead when found, and eight were inaccessible to rescue teams because of the tide.

    The strandings came the day after several others on Cape Cod, Branon said.


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    White Mountain National Forest Waives Day Fees This Weekend

    In celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, New Hampshire's White Mountain National Forest is joining with national forests nationwide to waive fees at all day-use areas this holiday weekend.
    Fees for overnight camping, cabin rentals, permits, and reservations are still in effect for Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

    Read more: http://www.wmur.com/news/30213614/detail.html#ixzz1jSZe0BDk
     







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    Dog Dies In NH After Eating Food Laced With Hooks - New Hampshire News Story - WMUR New Hampshire

    Dog Dies In NH After Eating Food Laced With Hooks - New Hampshire News Story - WMUR New Hampshire

    Poor dog, I hope they get who did it and prosecute them to the fullest!



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    Statewide count of eagles moves to region today

    January 13, 2012


    NEWBURYPORT — Officials from the state Department of Fish and Game's Division of Fisheries and Wildlife will have their eyes turned to the sky today for the annual bald eagle survey of the coast and major rivers, lakes and reservoirs.
    MassWildlife staff and a team of volunteers will be along the Merrimack River at Cashman Park boat ramp on Merrimac Street and at Deer Island adjacent to the Chain Bridge in an effort to get a count of the local eagle population.
    The Massachusetts survey, which goes from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., is part of an annual nationwide Midwinter Bald Eagle Survey that began Jan. 4 and runs through Jan. 18.
    The results are used to track eagle population trends.
    While bald eagle sightings have been fairly sparse along the Merrimack River this winter, a large number of the great birds have been delighting residents on Lake Attitash, which straddles Amesbury and Merrimac and is situated about 11/2 miles north of the Merrimack. Up to three eagles have been spotted at one time on the 360-acre lake.
    The raptors have also been spotted on Cape Ann in the last few years.
    Eagles have become more common in this region, in part due to the increase in nests. There are four documented eagle nests in the region — one in West Newbury and three in Haverhill. A new nest on the Powow River in Amesbury was reported earlier this month. That nest is being investigated and will be documented by state wildlife officials, who placed baffles around the lower parts of the tree to prevent predators from climbing up to the nests.
    Local wildlife experts say sightings of bald eagles should rise along the Merrimack River as temperatures get colder in the north, where most eagles are right now. Colder temperatures will freeze up rivers and force eagles to migrate south to find prey in open water.
    The Merrimack — a fast-running river with substantial tidal activity — tends to have large patches of open water from the Chain Bridge seaward to Plum Island. Eagles come to this area to perch in trees and hunt for fish.

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