Fish for Friday

Edited by Morris Dean

[Anonymous selections from recent correspondence]

Victory: ruling protects whales, dolphins from Navy's war games. Whales, dolphins and other marine mammals in the Pacific just caught an important break: A Hawaii district court judge has ruled that the National Marine Fisheries Service wrongly approved U.S. Navy testing and training activities that posed serious harm to sea animals.
    The Navy's use of explosives and sonar, along with vessel strikes, could result in thousands of animals suffering death or injuries over a five-year period -- potentially causing an estimated 9.6 million instances of harm.
    The decision results from a December 2013 lawsuit brought by a coalition including the Center for Biological Diversity. Noting the "stunning number of marine mammals" the Navy's activities could hurt, the judge said: "Searching the administrative record's reams of pages for some explanation as to why the Navy's activities were authorized ... this court feels like the sailor in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' who, trapped for days on a ship becalmed in the middle of the ocean, laments, 'Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink.' "
    "The Navy shouldn't play war games in the most sensitive waters animals use for feeding and breeding," said Miyoko Sakashita, the Center's oceans director.
    Read more from Miyo in The Huffington Post: "Whales, Dolphins Get a Life-Saving Break From Navy's War Games."

On Monday night's episode of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart interviewed Gene Baur, co-founder of Farm Sanctuary and author of the book Living the Farm Sanctuary Life. This brief but poignant interview, peppered with lighthearted discussions such as the veganness of Baco’s and the (lack of) marketing prowess in the phrase “meatless meats,” addressed the significance of understanding nonhumans’ individuality in order to permanently remove them from your plate, clothing and other products. –Saryta Rodriguez, "The Tide Is Changing," Direct Action Everywhere: Until Every Animal Is Free

The Daily Show
Daily Show Full Episodes,  More Daily Show Videos,  Comedy Central Full Episodes

Elkhorn coral provides shelter for a school of fish
in Biscayne National Park. The endangered coral could
experience increased bleaching as ocean temperatures rise

"Study: Climate change will hit some Florida reefs sooner than expected, might trigger annual bleaching." [Jenny Staletovich, Miami Herald] Excerpt:

Parts of Florida’s vast coral reefs, including a pristine tract in the Dry Tortugas, might get seared by climate change as early as 2030 — about a dozen years sooner than scientists previously projected.
    And that could mean that coral bleaching — a whitening that can be damaging and potentially deadly to colorful corals — might become an annual event in the Tortugas west of Key West but also in the middle Keys and reefs south of Turkey Point popular with divers....
    The prediction comes from a just-released study by National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration climate scientists, who used a supercomputer to crunch piles of data on sea temperatures around the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean already identified as vulnerable to bleaching outbreaks. Their findings not only confirmed what they already knew — bleaching could be widespread by mid-century — but revealed it might start to show sooner in some areas than others, including swathes off the South Florida coast....
    “They’re the canary in a coal mine,” said the study’s lead author, Ruben van Hooidonk, a University of Miami coral expert and climate scientist at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory.

This article has some stunning photos of California's water shortage. "California Drought Tests History of Endless Growth." [Adam Nagourney, Jack Healy, and Nelson D. Schwartz, NY Times] Excerpt:

This disconnect, as it were, can be seen in places like Palm Springs, in the middle of the desert, where daily per capita water use is 201 gallons — more than double the state average. A recent drive through the community offered a drought-defying tableau of burbling fountains, flowers, lush lawns, golf courses and trees. The smell of mowed lawn was in the air.
    But the drought is now forcing change in a place that long identified itself as “America’s desert oasis.” Palm Springs has ordered 50 percent cuts in water use by city agencies, and plans to replace the lawns and annual flowers around city buildings with native landscapes. It is digging up the grassy median into town that unfurled before visitors like a carpet at a Hollywood premiere. It is paying residents to replace their lawns with rocks and desert plants, and offering rebates to people who install low-flow toilets.

Why are these people crying? Most people grow up eating animal-derived products and don't stop to think about what they're really eating on a daily basis. What could make people stop in their tracks and elicit horrified reactions when they see the truth about their food choices?
    "21 Things the Egg Industry Doesn’t Want You to See." [People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals] Chickens are smart, social, sensitive animals who deserve a much better life than this.

You'll enjoy this article on Heidegger, which reminds me of E. R. Clay's (or William James's) "specious present": "Being There: Heidegger on Why Our Presence Matters." [Lawrence Berger, NY Times] Excerpt:

It can be argued that cognitive scientists tend to ignore the importance of what many consider to be essential features of human existence, preferring to see us as information processors rather than full-blooded human beings immersed in worlds of significance. In general, their intent is to explain human activity and life as we experience it on the basis of physical and physiological processes, the implicit assumption being that this is the domain of what is ultimately real. Since virtually everything that matters to us as human beings can be traced back to life as it is experienced, such thinking is bound to be unsettling....
    ...The thought is that our worldly presence matters for how things actually unfold, well beyond any physical or physiological processes that would purport to be the ultimate basis for human activity. So, for example, when we feel that someone is really listening to us, we feel more alive, we feel our true selves coming to the surface — this is the sense in which worldly presence matters....

12th & 13th of 18 Photos from The Smithsonian’s “Wilderness Forever” Photo Contest

Alaska Range, Denali Wilderness In Alaska
[Image credits: Tim Iken]

Sandhill Cranes, Bosque Del Apache , New Mexico
[Image credits: Diane McAllister]

Governor Pat McCrory

Gerrymandering congressional districts just wasn't enough for North Carolina Republicans: "With State Control, North Carolina Republicans Pursue Smaller Prizes." [Richard Fausset, NY Times] Excerpt:

In 2011, soon after Republicans won control of the North Carolina General Assembly for the first time since Reconstruction, they set about redrawing congressional and state legislative districts to maximize their advantage, setting off legal challenges and bitter complaints from their rivals.
    But there is a new frontier in the battles over how democracy should work in North Carolina. And it is local.
    This session, bills introduced by Republican lawmakers would reconfigure a number of local government bodies around the state, prompting allegations that Republicans are gerrymandering and changing election rules at the city council and county commission levels.
    The General Assembly last week changed the composition of the Board of Commissioners in Wake County, home to 10 percent of the state’s population, after November elections in which Democrats gained a 7-0 majority there. Other spoils are both surprisingly puny, like Trinity, N.C., population 6,600, and very significant, like the Democratic stronghold of Greensboro, the state’s third-largest city.

Central Park 1930

Washing clothes in Central Park

Having a bad day?

Carlos Toro, formerly a high-ranking member of the Medellin cartel, has been an confidential DEA informant for 27 years. He played a role in the takedowns of Carlos Lehder, Pablo Escobar, Manuel Noriega and is still involved – or was, up until today – in ongoing investigations of foreign government officials and major drug networks. But he wanted to retire and if he does, he's threatened with deportation, a certain death sentence.
    Frustrated, he reached out to Nick Wing, a great reporter here at The Huffington Post, ready to finally tell his story. Below is Nick's piece, as well as a fascinating on camera interview Carlos did with Nick and me. Here's hoping something good comes from this piece: "Devil's Bargain: A Former Medellin Cartel Official Has Been A DEA Informant For 27 Years. Now He Wants Out." Excerpt:

For well over two decades, Toro had been a confidential informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration -- and a very effective one at that. But now the diplomat had stumbled across a piece of incriminating evidence: Toro's airline contact wasn't real. When the diplomat analyzed their email correspondence, he discovered that the messages from Toro and the airline employee originated from the same IP address. If the airline contact really was a Spaniard living in Barcelona, why did he appear to be with Toro in the United States, sending emails from Toro's computer?
    "What are you talking about?" Toro replied, trying to sound confused. The man stood up. "Who are you working for?" he snarled. "Are you working for the DEA?"
    The restaurant seemed to come to a standstill, and Toro began to panic. Feigning outrage at the accusation, he stormed off to the bathroom and frantically called the U.S. embassy, hoping to reach his DEA handler....

Teachers can learn new things too:

Finally! A written breathalyzer test:

Limerick of the week:

A wonderful bird is the pelican;
His beak can hold more than his belican.
    He can hold in his beak
    Enough food for a week,
Though I’m damned if I know how the helican!

[Editor's note: –An all-time favorite of Michael R. Burch, who attributes this to Dixon Lanier Merritt, although, he says, it is often incorrectly ascribed to Ogden Nash.]

Copyright © 2015 by Morris Dean