Hi again from the Bastion on the Puget Sound. Well, today, Camelot blossomed once again as former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton wed long-time beau and best friend, investment banker Marc Mezvinsky, exchanged vows at a Beaux Arts estate on the Hudson River called Astor Courts.Ms. Clinton was resplendent in a strapless white gown with silver beading around the waist and Mr. Mezvinsky was, we understand, quite dashing in a dark Burberry suit. The mother of the bride wore fushia. The two-part ceremony was conducted by a minister and by a rabbi, as per the religions of the bride and groom respectively.
It was, as well, a celebrity-studded event and besides close friends and family, those in attendance included Madeleine Albright, secretary of state during Chelsea’s dad’s second term; family friend and fashion designer Vera Wang, who created Chelsea’s wedding gown; and Hollywood couple Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen.
It was, by all reports, the stellar event of the summer on the Hudson and a good time was had by all. For more on this one, please go here.
Related
As Chelsea Clinton Celebrates Her Wedding, Town of Rhinebeck, N.Y., Elbows Its Way In
IN OTHER NEWS
At a time when it’s sometimes easy to feel as though things have gotten thoroughly and totally out of hand, it’s nice to read news to the contrary. And to me, when it involves as something as fundamental to survival as improving the quality of the air we breathe, the land we seek to sustain us, and most importantly, perhaps, the water on which we so vitally depend, I feel personally empowered. For an excellent example and a splendid treatment of the subject in general, yep, go here.
When a major industry embraces regional biofuels, I pay attention. When I’ve been involved in that industry and live in that region, I pay considerably more. And when it turns out to be an exportable model for the other six flags under The Northstar Journal masthead, I pass it along. Our thanks to Caroline Hidalgo of the Portland Oregonian for this one headlined “Northwest Aviation Leaders Aim To Develop A Regional Biofuel Industry.”
In a related development which has me just a little nervous, the Boeing Aircraft Company plans on having 90 percent of its jets recyclable by 2016. That means they’re going to be made of used materials or new ones which will be. And I’m thinking, oookay. I mean, I’m cool with drinking out of cups, wearing clothing, using a computer, shopping with and buying stuff in containers that have been recycled. But going up 30,000 feet at a little less than the speed of sound in this big roaring steel, glass and polystyrene mother ship made from stuff that at one time I probably drank out of, wore, keyboarded, packed groceries in and took a can opener to? Ummm, that’s like when I decide to get daring in the kitchen. Being the quintessentially polite soul that I am, I always offer housemates (and/or sometimes people who walk by in front of the place when I’m sitting out on the steps chowing down) my latest culinary adventure. If they survive the first couple of bites, I’ll try it. So for those of you who collect frequent flyer miles like a hypochondriac does symptoms, and who want to keep soaring across those friendly skies past 2016, let me know how it goes. If it still works out for you, I might try a flight from Seattle, Washington to Bellevue, Washington. Most of that’s over water so if anything goes wrong, at least I can swim home. Yep, for more on this one, go here.
SURVIVING HARD TIMES
A real big part of surviving hard times (and good) is having the energy to enjoy a full day and feeling good at the end of it. Those of us still looking for work or worried about keeping the income we still have often make the mistake of cramming so much into our waking hours that we either forget to eat breakfast or skimp, figuring we can catch up at lunch or dinner. That is sooo NOT a good idea and it’s totally self-defeating. For the profound medical truth behind this one, please go here.
CROSSING OVER
We join theatre goers and theatrical professionals under at least these seven flags in observing the passing of American-Canadian actor Maury Chaykin. Character actor and screenwriter True Boardman, Jr. once observed that the stage and screen were not supported by the stars among them but by those who remained all but invisible, who so became the characters they played and portrayed so many, that they lent credibility to both the best and the worst moments of Don Juans and divas alike. True was my mentor and I’ve enjoyed Mr. Chaykin’s contributions for most of my adult life. He left quite a legacy behind and his example has not been lost on others. For a much finer tribute than this, please go here.
NORTHSTAR, THE DRAGON
HUMANS NEED TO CHANGE TO AVOID VIOLENT WILDLIFE ENCOUNTERS
Shannon Moneo
Victoria — From Friday's Globe and Mail Published on Thursday, Jul. 29, 2010 10:34PM EDT Last updated on Thursday, Jul. 29, 2010 10:36PM EDT
As B.C. experiences a bizarre season of wildlife-human conflicts, with a rare attack by a black bear and deer being demonized for attacking people and pets, a wildlife ecologist says people need to change.
“Humans aren't particularly good at modifying their behaviour to accommodate wild animals,” said Chris Darimont, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and research scientist with the Raincoast Conservation Foundation. “Humans have concluded we hold dominion over wild animals.”
But increasingly, humans are sharing space with mammals such as deer, who are in effect food migrants, following what Mr. Darimont refers to as “delicious things in gardens and lawns.”
Unpleasant incidents occur when humans push the instinctive buttons that animals have for dealing with predators, Mr. Darimont said from his Victoria office.
One example occurred on July 20, when a woman in Victoria went for a walk with her medium-sized mutt and saw a doe with three fawns. She cautiously kept moving, but the doe charged and later stomped on her dog, who wasn’t badly injured. To the doe, the dog was a wolf, and thus a threat to her fawns, so naturally she displayed anti-predator behaviour, Mr. Darimont said.
“We don’t think of deer as aggressors,” he said. “We think of them as big-eyed creatures.” When they attack, it’s completely unexpected, eliciting a raw response that harkens back to human evolutionary memories of being both predator and prey, Mr. Darimont explained.
In Cranbrook, a doe attacked a dog in June, and earlier this month a newspaper carrier was left with a black eye after a deer encounter. The eastern B.C. community, as well as neighbouring Kimberly, are polling their residents to see what should be done, with a cull as one solution. In Victoria and Nanaimo, residents have also been calling for deer culls due to the damage the animals are doing to gardens.
According to Ministry of Environment spokesperson Angie Poss, a cull is only one method. Repellents, landscaping alternatives and fencing are other possibilities. Population reduction strategies such as capture-and-relocate programs and fertility-control strategies are other options.
But eliminating deer from urban settings won’t be easy, Mr. Darimont said. The easily accessible, nutritious food found in yards, along with a loss of predators, are sustaining urbanized deer.
“The only default is to modify our behaviour to avoid encounters,” he said. “Fence our gardens better, don’t let dogs approach deer.”
Other animals are also losing their natural habitats. A 2004 Journal of Bioscience study reported that in North America, grey wolves have lost 42 per cent of their range, cougars have lost 36 per cent, grizzly bears 53 per cent and black bears 39 per cent.
In the case of the recent black-bear attack, a Vancouver Island man had been sleeping outside under a tarpaulin near Port Alberni, even though a bear had been spotted around the campsite three days earlier when food was briefly left out.
“If the camper had knowledge of a bear hanging around in camp, it’s likely not a wise thing to be sleeping outside,” Mr. Darimont said. “If the bear was hanging around camp, that bear had access to food before the event occurred.”
The attack on the sleeping camper, which left the man with head wounds requiring plastic surgery, as well as other wounds, was only the second ever on Vancouver Island by a black bear that resulted in injury. Mr. Darimont suspects the male, 68-kilogram bear may have mistaken the man for a deer.
Special to The Globe and Mail
Share with friends
ON THE CANCER FRONT
This is another one of those, “I Get to Smile Because Something I Get Dinged For A Lot Turns Out To Be a Cancer Fighter.” I am a delicatessen sandwich-aholic and a fanatic for extreme toppings. I have learned that lots of onions, hot mustard, jalapenos, assorted exotic peppers and garlic at the right time also have certain socially tactical benefits like on company I really don’t want hanging around a long time. I have also discovered that it endears me to others who share my passion and to me, spice is all. In short, if there’s no horseradish in Heaven, I’m going to Hell for lunch. It turns out cancer hates horseradish as much as I adore it. Yep, for more on this one, go here.
RESOURCES AND RELATED LINKS:
American Cancer Statistics 2009
Canadian Cancer Statistics 2009
National Cancer Institute (American)
Fighting Breast Cancer: Breast Cancer Survivor Stories
Science Daily: Health & Medicine News
HEALTH NEWS
With August being the hottest month of the summer for many of us, it probably won’t hurt to check out the quality of the sunscreen you’re using. It’s important, I think, to remember that one size does not fit all and that even when there doesn’t seem to be enough of the bright and yellow stuff out there to constitute a sunny day (any where other than Seattle), that sunscreen is still important. Yep, check it out here.
This is for the workout fanatics among us, and quite frankly, I hope there’s a few. I hate dancing by myself, as it were. When I relax and especially if I’m thinking of going on vacation/holiday, I feel a little guilty if I’m getting too much rest. It’s almost like there’s some weird comfort in being as tired at the end of the day as I usually am so I tend to add or sneak in an extra workout or two. NOT A GOOD IDEA, according to a recent study. To find out why, yep, go here.
SEATTLE SCENES
If you’re wondering why so many of us here are so passionate about the Pacific Northwest and the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words, check out this slideshow of Mount Rainier taken recently and yes, on a sunny day.
SUMMER GUIDE: Let us steer you to the best beaches, festivals and fun.
This is sooo Seattle I almost fell out of my chair laughing. First of all, I happen to share my neighbor’s passion in these regards and second, I love it when someone in my own town can turn me on to great seafood restaurants I’ve never heard of before. Check this one out then, under the headline “Why sardines ought to be on Seattle's plate”. Our thanks to Hugo Kugiya at Crosscut.com for this one.
SEATTLE FACTS AND FIGURES
Seattle Rainfall in Comparison To Other US Cities
Seattle Geography & Climate
For more information about Seattle
For live cameras on Seattle, the Puget Sound and Washington State
CRITTER STUFF
This one falls under “A Very Messy Job, Thank God Somebody Was Willing To Do It. In this case, it was cleaning off a bald eagle which landed in a sludge pond at an Oregon sewage treatment plant. The public utility workers didn’t mind wading in and getting the great bird but they had no place to put it so some volunteers from the Wildlife Center of the North Coast picked it up and drove it to their facility in Astoria. The female raptor rode the whole way in the lap of one of her human rescuers and then got to take four baths in warm water and Dawn liquid detergent. She’ll try out in the Center’s 100-foot flight cage and released later back around Newhalem. Nice going folks. And for more, go here.
Thanks to an exceptionally wildlife-savvy American jurist, the endangered lynx will now have thousands of acres more protected habitat in Montana, Idaho and Colorado. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy concluded that these creatures were wrongly excluded from the same protections granted other species facing imminent extinction. Thank you, Your Honor, and for more on this one, yep, go here.
Recommended Related Links:
Go Northwest: Northwest Wildlife Websites
BBC’s wildlife finder
National Geographic Daily News - Animals
Retrieverman’s Weblog: Engaging articles on domestic & wildlife in the American South
YOU GUYS THINK I MAKE THIS STUFF UP
This one ought to come as real good news to those who guard our nation from the undesireable and the just a little too our there. A guy tried to smuggle 18 baby Titi monkeys into Mexico in what authorities described as his “girdle.” He said he’d thought of leaving them in his suitcase but was worried that the x-rays might hurt them. He was taken into custody and charged with trafficking in an endangered species. The fate of the monkeys has not been officially disclosed but an informed source has it that the 16 who survived will be returned to their native Peru and placed in the care of local wildlife authorities.
Well, that’s it for now. Thanks for the ear. Before you leave, if you’re in a shopping mood and into some interesting choices? We’ve got a “reader stocked” General Store that you might want to check out. If you’d like to sell something with us or know someone who does, email us at minstrel312@aol.com and we’ll see what we can do.
The Northstar Journal is not for profit and funded, in part, by contributions from readers like yourself. To contribute, please go here and our sincerest thanks.
Rusty
No comments:
Post a Comment