Deadliest Catch' captain Phil Harris dies at age 53

Sad news this morning: Phil Harris, captain of the Cornelia Marie fishing boat featured on Deadliest Catch, has died in Alaska. He was 53.

Harris suffered a massive stroke on Jan. 29 while the Cornelia Marie was in port at St. Paul Island, Alaska. The boat captain was flown to Anchorage for surgery.

"It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to our dad - Captain Phil Harris. Dad has always been a fighter and continued to be until the end," sons Josh and Jake Harris said in a statement on the Cornelia Marie site. "For us and the crew, he was someone who never backed down."

In a statement the network said, "Discovery mourns the loss of dear friend and colleague Captain Phil Harris. He was more than someone on our television screen. Phil was a devoted father and loyal friend to all who knew him. We will miss his straightforward honesty, wicked sense of humor and enormous heart. We share our tremendous sadness over this loss with the millions of viewers who followed Phil's every move. We send our thoughts and prayers to Phil's sons Josh and Jake and the Cornelia Marie crew."

Source : http://content.usatoday.com/communities/entertainment/post/2010/02/deadliest-catch-captain-phil-harris-dies-at-age-53/1

Saving the White Lion

Deep within the plains of South Africa resides the white lion striding majestically on its natural habitat the white color of the African lion is the genetic rarity once reviewed the sacred is now endangered of collapsed. The white lion is completely extinct in the wild they are only few hundred in the world all in the captivity. The African Lion like many carnivores goes to catastrophic declined from with in here on Africa 450000 to 20000 across the continent, and that is a terrifying collapse because the indicates that we could lose the African White Lions as a wild species; have to play our parts to conserve the African White Lions.

Video Available Here

Fewer than 50 Wild Tigers Left in China, Says Wildlife Conservation Society

Photo: World66, CC Wild tigers in China are on the Brink of Extinction Xie Yan, the China Country Program Director for the Wildlife Conservation Society, estimates that fewer than 50 South China Tigers are left in the wild, with about "10 still live in the southwestern province of Yunnan, some 15 in Tibet, and 20 or so in northwestern Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces." Even if take a step back and look at 12 Asian countries and Russia, it is estimated that only about 3,500 tigers are left in the wild, compared to around 100,000 at the beginning of the 20th century.

Photo: Wikipedia, CC Why Are the Tigers Gone? Habitat destruction and fragmentation is the main cause, along with the removal of most of the preys that tigers need to survive. But poaching is also problematic, with most of the demand coming from practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine and the illegal trade of pelts and bones. If we look farther back, we find that in 1959, "Mao Zedong, in the time of the Great Leap Forward, declared the tiger and other predators such as leopards and wolves to be pests and "enemies of the people"; as a result, several "anti-pest" campaigns started." (source) Captive Tigers Pretty much the only hope for the survival of tigers in China comes from the animals that are being bred in captivity. The Chinese authorities claim that: "There are close to 6,000 tigers that have been artifically bred and raised in China. These tigers can breed over 1,000 baby tigers every year." But this is not without problems. Experts warn it will be difficult for captive tigers to re-adapt to the wild, and genetic diversity needs to be maintained if the species is to have a chance at long-term survival (f.ex., if most individuals are bred from a small number of parents, they could be vulnerable to a genetic disease, potentially wiping out almost the whole population at once). But most importantly: It is pointless to release these tigers in the wild if we keep destroying their habitat and poaching them. These problems must be solved first. Take Action: Here's a petition sponsored by Care2 to tell China to better protect its tigers. Planet 100 recently had an episode that mentioned a pretty unusual scheme to protect tigers (about in the middle of the video):

See this video and all Planet 100 episodes in large screen at PlanetGreen.com "With tiger population at record lows, governments are resorting to extreme measures to help protect this endangered species, including Indonesia's radical plan to rent them out to millionaires. " Via Reuters More on Tigers Tiger Tops WWF's List of Ten Critically Endangered Species Tiger Conference Ends with Mixed Results Sundarbans' Tigers Further Pushed Towards Extinction by Rising Sea Levels

Posted at 05:47 PM in science & technology, travel & nature | Permalink
Source : http://blogs.yourdiscovery.com/treehugger/2010/02/fewer-than-50-wild-tigers-left-in-china-says-wildlife-conservation-society.html

Biggest Boeing's maiden flight

Boeing Co's biggest aeroplane - 747-8 freighter - has successfully completed its maiden flight, despite being a year later than planned.

The giant vehicle finished an approximately three-and-a-half-hour round trip from Everett's Paine Field this week.

The company said the take-off was watched by around 5,000 employees, suppliers, customers and other aeroplane admirers.

The new Boeing aeroplane is 250ft long - more than twice the length of the first flight by the Wright Brothers - and is about 18ft longer than the current 747-400 jumbo jet.

The freighter underwent taxi tests on Saturday and performed well, Boeing said.

Chief pilot Mark Feuerstein of the 747 said: "The aeroplane performed as expected and handled just like a 747-400."

Captain Tom Imrich also joined Mr Feuerstein in the flight.

Boeing's original 747 model is set to celebrate the 41st anniversary of its first flight on Tuesday.

The new vehicle's first flight around western Washington state kicked off a testing programme involving over 1,600 flight hours.

Copyright © Press Association 2010

Source: http://blogs.yourdiscovery.com/discovery-news/2010/02/biggest-boeings-maiden-flight.html