Back to 1969 - a year in the rainforest (thread 69)

sumac, I think you are right - most people are only thinking about things that are close to home and may affect their lives. And, are so very loosely interested in stuff that isn't hovering over them and threatening their life style. I realize you are concerned about the 'big picture' connected with environmental conditions which will eventually affect us all - but which almost no one sees now - or thinks will affect them or their family immediately.
Such is life..................... I think humans have always lived this way. It is apparently the few who realize this pattern of living who can and do effect changes on the land to make a profit.

clicked.

I fear that you are correct, Danon.

I forgot to report that the butterflies are doing their courtship and mating dance.

Better go click, before I forget (like I did yesterday).

An enormous iceberg, C-16, rammed into the well-known Drygalski Ice Tongue, a large sheet of glacial ice and snow in the Central Ross Sea in Antarctica, on March 30th, breaking off the tongue's easternmost tip and forming a new iceberg.

The floating Drygalski Ice Tongue, which protrudes 50 miles into the ocean, is connected to the David Glacier. If it were to break loose, scientists fear it could alter ocean currents and change the region's climate, scientists say.

aktbird57 - You and your 293 friends have supported 2,328,369.7 square feet!

Marine Wetlands habitat supported: 107,130.4 square feet.
You have supported: (0.0)
Your 293 friends have supported: (107,130.4)

American Prairie habitat supported: 50,562.5 square feet.
You have supported: (12,196.7)
Your 293 friends have supported: (38,365.8)

Rainforest habitat supported: 2,170,676.8 square feet.
You have supported: (169,760.8)
Your 293 friends have supported: (2,000,916.0)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2328369.7 square feet is equal to 53.45 acres

sumac,
When in the US Army in Alaska - I flew over the entire state - literally..... My aircraft was the Grumman OV-1 Mohawk. It was a very fast airplane - just under 400 mph following Vietnam......

One day, I flew down a glacier which wound down a mountain for approximately 50 miles - I actually flew down this glacier at about 50 feet above the ice flow....... It was a good day...........

During Vietnam - when I flew the OV-1 - ((myavatar is an actual photo of me in Vietnam)) the max speed was above 350 mph - which I exceeded on occasion trying to outrun the bullets aimed at my airplane..... Not to mention the anti-aircraft missiles - I remember on any day tuning my FM radio to a channel that would actually give me a signal that the "bad" ? guys were aiming their missiles at my plane - it gave a distinct sound that sort of sounded like a buzzing sound - that at first buzzed intermitently - then began to buzz more rapidly - if ignored, it would buzz constantly - then it would be too late to do anything. At the point of the first warning buzz - I would turn the aircraft over - inverted - and go straight toward the ground - then at about less than 100 feet above the earth - I would clip tree tops to get out of the area...............Ha Ha - - - More than one day when I had not tuned the FM frequency and upon turning tightly around the circumference of a small valley, I noticed bright red PUFFs of smoke behind my aircraft ---- whew!!! True story.... Those were the missiles exploding - but missing my plane.........

That year I lost ten friends.

I'm not quite sure exactly who was the "bad guy" during the Vietnam era....??

The local people I met were the nicest and most polite people I have ever met - and even today, the Vietnam people ((((even the North Vietnamese)))) are the people who most invite Americans to visit and are the most friendly to us - It is stunning to me that those people like us after what we did to them.

I will revisit Vietnam before I die...... and, if lucky, I will meet someone I met while serving my country - that served his or her country well.......

And, shake his or her hand.

And you should do just that, and before you are too infirm to enjoy the experience. Maybe go to Da Lat - the place of retreat during the wars. Just read about that spot in the August 2005 "Smithsonian". Sounds wonderful.

You sound as if you were exceedingly comfortable in that aircraft. A real pro.

It is a beautiful village, sumac. I've actually been there. It is where my company got most of our veggies for the mess hall.

Glad that you were there. It sounds wonderful and is supposed to be relatively unchanged.

Can I just say, "Thank you" for your service, Dan?
I feel really amazed and proud when you tell your flying stories especially about being at war when you could have been hurt or worse. Without getting into a whole discussion about it, war is what it is. Sounds like someone was really looking out for you. That, and you've got some amazing flying skills! I'm glad you're around to tell the tale as they say!

Clicked.

Danon,

It looks gorgeous and has a fascinating story to tell.

http://www.vietscape.com/travel/dalat/camly.html

Fascinating article with implications for our evolution out of the sea.



http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/060412_catfish_hunter.html

"Catfish Hunt on Land
By Bjorn Carey
LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 12 April 2006
01:01 pm ET



You might think a catfish on land would fare as well as an elephant on roller-skates, but a new study reveals they slither around and adeptly catch insect meals [Video].

The finding helps scientists imagine how ancient fish made their first hunting trips ashore prior to evolving into land creatures.

This study is detailed in the April 13 issue of the journal Nature."

<psssssst time for thread 70 - dibs, anyone?>

Click, click, click.....

I nominate Amigo.

HUH?????????

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-04/omrf-rpn041006.php

"Rewind, please: Nature paper shows that cell division is reversible

Discovery could open doors for treatment of cancer, birth defects

Oklahoma City - -Gary J. Gorbsky, Ph.D., a scientist with the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, has found a way to reverse the process of cell division.

The discovery could have important implications for the treatment of cancer, birth defects and numerous other diseases and disorders. Gorbsky's findings appear in the April 13 issue of the journal Nature.

"No one has gotten the cell cycle to go backwards before now," said Gorbsky, who holds the W.H. and Betty Phelps Chair in Developmental Biology at OMRF. "This shows that certain events in the cell cycle that have long been assumed irreversible may, in fact, be reversible." "

All clicked.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/12/science/12cnd-fossil.html

"Paleontologists Find Species With Links to 'Lucy Skeleton'
By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD

Published: April 12, 2006

In following the fossil tracks of human evolution, scientists have for years searched for links between Australopithecus, the kin of the famous "Lucy" skeleton, and even earlier possible ancestors. Now, they think they have found some connections in Ethiopia.

An international team of paleontologists is reporting the discovery of transitional species superimposed in sediments in the neighborhood of a single site. The findings are to appear Thursday in the journal Nature.

Tim D. White, a paleontologist at the University of California, Berkeley, who was a leader of the team, and his colleagues said the 4.1-million-year-old fossils were anatomically intermediate between the earlier species Ardipithecus ramidus and the later species Australopithecus afarensis, the Lucy family. The newfound bones and teeth are the earliest remains of the most primitive Australopithecus, known as anamensis."

sumac, thanks so much for the Vietscape link. That's great. The Nha Trang link was interesting - it started in Saigon and the storyteller drove to Nha Trang. On the way there is a photo at a village named Phan Thiet - BOY, we all stayed well away from there!! The FISH SAUCE factory smell was strong enough to melt the paint off any airplane that flew over. Gads, what a memory. Whew!!!

I recall Nha Trang - had some friends that lived downtown. I would visit and after landing - on the drive to town - I'll never forget passing a house that was covered with Black Label beer cans all flattened and nailed on the side of the home like shingles. It was a curious sight.

Also, I recall a really BIG Buddha figure there. Must have been over 30 feet tall.

Nice town... And, great beach.

aktbird57 - You and your 293 friends have supported 2,330,921.7 square feet!

Marine Wetlands habitat supported: 107,294.3 square feet.
You have supported: (0.0)
Your 293 friends have supported: (107,294.3)

American Prairie habitat supported: 50,679.6 square feet.
You have supported: (12,220.1)
Your 293 friends have supported: (38,459.5)

Rainforest habitat supported: 2,172,947.9 square feet.
You have supported: (169,784.2)
Your 293 friends have supported: (2,003,163.7)

~~~~~~~~~~~

2330921.7 square feet is equal to 53.51 acres

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Amigo - ready to take on starting the 70th rainforest thread? or would you like to suggest a topic/theme to get us started with?

I'm kind of shy. I would hate too have a bomb thread. But what if we did a kind of trivia thread.

You come in, click in and ask or answer a trivia question about anything but ideally about anything about nature.....animals, Trees, geography, Ecology issues. But thyat might get boring.

If we do general trivia and we can sneak it into the "trivia" section but it will be something like the "Wild clickers trivia thread".

Then we will get all the traffic from people that like trivia and they will see our post that says something like;

"All clicked in fellow wildclickers ."

They might decide they want to be a part of it and thell always come back for the trivia. It could snow ball. It's a liitle sneaky, But we have a planet to save people!!

You could ask a question one day and come back and give the answer the next.

Q; Largest lizard on earth????