Fish Story

Well, this is probably the weirdest fish story I’ve heard in a long time.

Jumping sturgeon injures woman in Fla.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ROCK BLUFF, Fla. — A woman was injured over the weekend by a leaping sturgeon, the latest incident involving the flying fish on the Suwannee River, officials said.

Tara Spears, 32, of Bell, was knocked unconscious by the animal on Sunday while boating on the river north of Rock Bluff, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reported.

She was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and was expected to recover, the agency reported.

The large, prehistoric-looking sturgeon have hard plates along their backs. They can grow up to 8 feet long and up to 200 pounds.

In April, a leaping sturgeon severely injured a 50-year-old woman from St. Petersburg who was riding a personal watercraft on the Suwannee River. She suffered a ruptured spleen and had three fingers reattached by surgeons, but she lost her left pinkie finger and a tooth.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1120AP_ODD_Leaping_Sturgeon.html?source=mypi

 

Word 2003 Fun

Every time I clicked on a word, the blasted “Research Pane” (pain?) opened up. Every single document that I opened was doing this, even after shutting down and restarting Word. I could not find a obvious reason for this happening, so I tried the standard Windows software repair tool: reboot. This seems to have worked.

News to consider

iPhone launches on 29 June
Apple meets scheduled release date

 

  • Though initially I was filled with geek-lust for the iPhone, I’m not so certain that I’ll dive into this market. Of course, the $1,500 I’m about to dump into my transmission might also help cool that lust.

 

 

Former Apple execs join Palm board
Rubinstein brings considerable hardware expertise; Anderson brings cash

 

  • I really, really hope that this can instill some vigor and innovation back into Palm. Next month I’m due to replace my Treo, and it’s very unlikely the next choice will be the 680. I’m leaning towards the Cingular Blackjack. More to come.

Quote of the Day

"To think is easy. To act is hard. But the hardest thing in the world is to act in accordance with your thinking."

Johann Goethe

 

Rep. Jefferson

Diversity Inc. has an interesting piece on the embattled Rep. Jefferson. I’m not surprised that some folks are calling for his resignation, and that some are holding their tongue. The statement that “the Congressional Black Caucus is asking that Jefferson not be tried in the ‘chambers of public opinion’ after supporting the House vote” is what grabs me, though. I, too, would like for this machine to remain silent until due-process has been rendered. However, the chamber of public opinion is brutal, relentless and merciless. Unless he can be proven innocent, he will be ground by this machine, and probably so even with irrefutable proof. Such is the nature of this. If he’s innocent, I wish him the best of luck facing this. If he’s not, he would do well by all parties (especially himself) to resign. Only he knows the full truth, and he would be wise to act on that.

Quote of the Day

“Thus the paradox in all this abundance is that the easier it is to create and store info, the harder that info is to manage, and the greater is the threat that we will not be able to find something when we need it.”

 

– Deanna B Marcum, New York Times

 

I’ve certainly found this to be true as I navigate my information saturated life. Data, data, data! How doth I love thee even as I loathe with venom. Anyway, thank goodness for tools such as Google.

From Grist Magazine

The brilliantly irreverent folks at Grist say it better than I could. Enjoy!

 

http://www.grist.org/news/daily/2007/06/06/5/#comments

 

That’s It, We’re Not Washing Our Undies Anymore
Groups ask U.S. EPA to ban chemical in detergent that feminizes fish

Your detergent gets your clothes clean, sure — but does it feminize your trout? Five green groups and a labor union are petitioning the U.S. EPA to ban a family of chemicals used in cleaning products that have been linked to gender changes in fish. Each year, the U.S. produces about 400 million pounds of nonylphenol and nonylphenol ethoxylates, much of which ends up in waterways by way of sewers. In lab tests, the endocrine disruptors have been shown to cause male fish to develop female characteristics; finned fatales have also been found in the wild. While the effects on humans aren’t known, the groups — led by the Sierra Club — say the environmental risks are "unreasonable." Some major companies, including Unilever and Procter & Gamble, have stopped using the chemicals, and Wal-Mart has asked its suppliers to phase them out as well. The EPA, which is instituting its own voluntary "Safer Detergents" program, has 90 days to respond to the petition. We’ll give you one good guess on the outcome.

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straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Marla Cone, 06 Jun 2007

straight to the source: The Kansas City Star, Associated Press, David Dishneau, 05 Jun 2007

 

Palm Announces New Device Today

It’ll be interesting to see where this leads. Can’t help but think that this is related to the impending iPhone release.

 

 

http://investor.palm.com/releaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=246144

 

News Media, Industry and Financial Analysts Invited to Live Video Webcast

SUNNYVALE, Calif., May 29, 2007 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Jeff Hawkins, founder of Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq:PALM), will host a live video webcast on Wed., May 30, to describe a new category of mobile device. The webcast will follow the announcement of this new product at the D: All Things Digital conference in Carlsbad, Calif.

Credentialed media plus industry and financial analysts are invited to join the streamed webcast at 11:30 a.m. Pacific. Hawkins will discuss Palm’s vision for this new category and demonstrate the new product’s capabilities, followed by a Q&A session.