Finless Porpoises in Peril

A survey has found that fishing, pollution and other human activities along the Yangtze River in China are driving a freshwater mammal, the Yangtze finless Porpoise, to the brink of extinction

By Jane Qiu and Nature magazine

The Yangtze finless porpoise is in decline in the wild, with the latest estimate suggesting it might be critically endangered. Image: http://www.nature.com/polopoly_fs/7.8165.1356108785!/image/web-72578595.jpg

Fishing, pollution and other human activities along the Yangtze River in China are driving yet another species of freshwater cetacean to the brink of extinction. That is the conclusion of a six-week survey of the river?s middle and lower stretches by the Chinese Academy of Sciences? Institute of Hydrobiology (IHB) in Wuhan and the conservation group WWF in China.

The final results of the survey will be announced in March. But the preliminary findings are worrying: the survey team spotted fewer than half of the Yangtze finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides asiaeorientalis) that were seen during a similar expedition in 2006, which found 1,225 living in the river.

?This is really bad news,? says Wang Ding, an ecologist at the IHB who is the survey's chief scientist. ?The finless porpoises are doing much worse than previously thought along the Yangtze mainstream.?

The Yangtze finless porpoise is one of the world?s few remaining freshwater cetaceans. It is found only in the Yangtze, as well as in two adjoining lakes, called Poyang and Dongting. Scientists hope that the porpoises can avoid the same fate as the Yangtze river dolphin, or baiji (Lipotes vexillifer), which was declared effectively extinct after the 2006 survey.

Endangered ecosystem
The latest survey also found that a population of about 450 porpoises in Poyang Lake has been stable for the past six years. But only 90 of the animals remained in Dongting Lake, a decline of 40% since 2006. This means that there is a total of only around 1,000 finless porpoises in the Yangtze River basin ? making them even rarer than giant pandas in the wild.?

?Losing these big, top carnivores in the Yangtze is a pretty good indication of the terrible state of the river ecosystem,? says David Dudgeon, an ecologist at the University of Hong Kong in China, who was not involved in the survey.

"Intense human impact is to blame," says Lei Gang, director of WWF China's freshwater program. "The conflict between conservation and economic development along the Yangtze is overwhelming."

Overfishing has caused a big decline in the porpoises? food sources, says Wang, and the animals are vulnerable to unregulated fishing methods such as electro-fishing, which involves sending electrical currents into the water to stun fish before they are caught.

Pollution problem
Pollution is another major, long-term threat, says Dudgeon. The Yangtze, regarded by Chinese people as their ?mother river?, supports 40% of the country?s human population, and its riverbanks are lined with large cities, factories and power plants. According to Dudgeon, about 20 billion tons of waste are discharged into the Yangtze every year. ?This doesn?t even include diffuse pollution from agriculture or pollution caused by ships,? he says.

Like other cetacean species, the Yangtze finless porpoise uses sonar for navigation, ranging and foraging. But the high density of shipping along the Yangtze creates high levels of acoustic pollution, which interferes with the animals? sonar. ?This affects their feeding and many are also wounded or die because of ship strikes,? says Lei.

Other human activities such as dam building, land reclamation and sand dredging have contributed to large-scale habitat loss and degradation in the Yangtze River basin in recent decades, says Lei.

The Yangtze finless porpoise is currently listed as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. ?The new estimate may qualify them as critically endangered,? says Wang. ?If the situation does not improve significantly, they may follow the fate of baiji in 15 years.?

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=c968e63a66d6ef22ad7230a7c7016346

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Social Media Marketing: Best Twitter Apps for Mobile | Real Estate ...

rhokberlin (flickr)

The mistakes that most rental professionals can make with their Twitter account usually stem from the fact that they don?t understand the service. Specifically, they don?t realize how geared Twitter is toward mobile use. Twitter was invented for people to essentially publish their thoughts on-the-go, in real time, and it?s no coincidence that the text limit of a tweet is 140 characters, or the approximate character limit of a standard text message. The idea is that you will share your thoughts and opinions as they happen when you?re out and about. Your prospective leads are using Twitter this way, so you should as well.

For this reason, we suggest to you that to be use the service, you download some sort of app to your smartphone to employ Twitter to get your thoughts out.?As a rental professional, you?re mostly out and about anyway.

Tweetdeck

This is the most popular of all Twitter mobile apps ? so popular that Twitter had to own it themselves, buying it up in 2011. You can?t send your tweets out to other networks with this one for that reason (no more Foursquare or LinkedIn) except for Facebook. You can digest rental real estate news easily with Tweetdeck.

HootSuite

This app is ideal if you have multiple Twitter accounts, perhaps a professional one and a personal one, and also other social networks. ?They have apps for iPhone and Android both, as well as for Blackberry. They have a lot of bells and whistles for real Twitter fanatics such as click-through reports and message translation features, but for you as a rental professional, the most key aspect of this app is that you can send out your tweets on your business account separately from your personal account easily on this interface.

Echofon

The main selling point of this iPhone app is how clean it is. If you find the whole Twitter thing overwhelming sometimes, the less cluttered interface might be just the ticket to get you marketing your rentals and services on Twitter.

These are just some suggestions, and others you may choose to look into include TweetCaster and Plume for Android, and TweetBot and Twitterrific for iPhone. Ultimately, whichever program you feel most comfortable with is the right choice. The most important takeaway is to get your rental business on Twitter, especially on the go.

Source: http://www.zillow.com/blog/pro/2012-12-26/social-media-marketing-twitter-apps/

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Anti-rebel protestors attack French embassy in Central African Republic

BANGUI (Reuters) - Hundreds of people protested outside the French Embassy in Central African Republic on Wednesday, throwing stones at the building and tearing down the French flag in anger at a rebel advance in the north of the country.

Some protestors accused France of backing the rebels while others demanded French forces in the country help the army fight off the rebel push, a Reuters reporter at the scene said.

A smaller group of protestors, mainly youths linked to the ruling party, gathered outside the U.S. Embassy while cars carrying white passengers were stoned, the reporter said.

Rebels have in recent weeks taken a string of towns in the country's north, highlighting the fragility of the land-locked nation which has known little but instability since independence from France in 1960.

On Tuesday the rebels, known as the Seleka alliance, took the central town of Kaga Bandoro despite the presence there of troops from neighboring nations meant to shore up the weak national army.

President Francois Bozize came to power in 2003 after a brief war and has repeatedly relied on foreign interventions to fend off rebellions and the spill-over from conflict in neighboring Chad and Sudan.

(Reporting by Paul-Marin Ngoupana; Writing by David Lewis)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/anti-rebel-protestors-attack-french-embassy-central-african-143503013.html

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Last full moon of 2012 rises Friday

The last full moon of 2012 will rise into the night sky this week in a year-ending lunar treat.

The full moon is actually an instantaneous event when the moon is exactly opposite the sun in the Earth's sky, and this month that occurs on Friday morning, Dec. 28, at 5:21 a.m. EST (1021 GMT). But, to the naked eye, the moon "looks" full for a couple of days on either side of that time, so the exact date doesn't matter.

1. Space news from NBCNews.com

   1. Grasshopper rocket takes 12-story-high hop for SpaceX

      Science editor Alan Boyle's blog: SpaceX's prototype Grasshopper rocket takes one giant leap, rising to a 12-story height and settling back down safely with a dummy cowboy riding along.

   2. Updated 109 minutes ago 12/26/2012 7:25:07 PM +00:00 Last full moon of 2012 rises Friday
   3. Telescope-toting balloon lifts off from Antarctica
   4. 'Star of Wonder' leaves lots to wonder about

Many owners of new telescopes are disappointed when they look at the planets. At its largest, the planet Venus is just barely one arc minute in diameter, about 1/30th of the diameter of the sun or the moon, and all the other planets appear smaller than that.

Telescope owners complain that the planets don't look any larger with a telescope than they do with the naked eye. That isn't true of course, because any telescope will magnify everything dozens or hundreds of times. But when something is as small as a planet, even a lot of magnification won't make it look very big.

[ Amazing Moon Photos of 2012 ]

Moon size comparison
The reason why the sun appears 30 times bigger than Venus is because the sun is very large. Its true diameter is more than 100 times that of Venus, or of Earth, for that matter, since Venus and Earth are about the same size. The moon appears 30 times bigger than Venus not because it is large, but because it is very close to us. The moon is 2,159 miles in diameter (3,475 kilometers), as compared to the Earth's 7,926 miles (12,756 km) and Venus' 7,521 miles (12,104 km).

In other words, the moon is just slightly more than a quarter of the diameter of the Earth or Venus. Mercury is the planet closest in size to the moon at 3,032 miles in diameter (4,879 km), about 40 percent larger than our moon. One of the reasons that Pluto was demoted to "dwarf planet" status was its small diameter of only 1,485 miles (2,390 km), two-thirds of the diameter of our moon.

Our moon is very large in proportion to its planet, Earth, more than any other moons in the solar system except for Pluto's moon Charon. But because other planets are much larger than Earth, several of their moons are much larger than ours, including three of Jupiter's moons (Io, Ganymede, and Callisto) and one of Saturn's (Titan). Of these, Ganymede is the largest at 3,270 miles (5,262 km), slightly larger than the planet Mercury.

The moon as a planet
Even if you don't own a telescope, looking at the moon with the naked eye can show you the challenges faced by planetary observers.

Earlier this week we saw Jupiter shining brightly alongside the moon. It would take a telescope magnifying about 40 times to make Jupiter appear as big as the moon does with the naked eye. When Mars was closest to Earth in 2003, it took a telescope magnifying 75 times to make Mars appear as big as the moon with the naked eye. At present Mars on the far side of the sun, and requires a telescope magnifying 430 times to make it appear as big as the moon does with the naked eye.

So, if you want an observing challenge similar to trying to spot Jupiter's Great Red Spot or Mars' polar cap, try observing detail on the moon with your naked eye.

The man in the moon
What most people see when they look at the moon is " the man in the moon." This is a pattern of light and dark caused by the albedo markings on the moon. ?Albedo? is a measure of how much light gets reflected by an area on a planet.

Darker areas on the moon's surface, which the early astronomers called "seas," although we now know that they are dry and airless, form the face of a man, in our mind?s eye. Or, they may form a woman, or a rabbit, depending on your culture. These are very similar to the dusky markings which astronomers observe with telescopes on Mars and Mercury, also called albedo markings.

If you try to sketch the markings you see on the moon, you will find, as experienced planetary observers do, that you can see much finer detail than the man in the moon. You should be able to see some of the smaller seas, such as the Mare Crisium, on the eastern limb of the moon, and one or two of the brighter craters, such as Tycho towards the southern limb.

Once you have tried to sketch the moon with your naked eye, try observing it with a small binocular. You will be amazed at how much more detail you can see, and will begin to experience the wonder Galileo must have felt when he first turned his primitive telescopes on the moon. There really is another world out there.

If you snap an amazing photo of the year's final full moon on Friday and would like to share it with SPACE.com for a potential story or gallery, submit photos and comments, including your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

This article was provided to SPACE.com by Starry Night Education , the leader in space science curriculum solutions. Follow Starry Night on Twitter @StarryNightEdu .

? 2012 Space.com. All rights reserved. More from Space.com.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50297762/ns/technology_and_science-space/

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The Price of Commitment: What People Spend on Engagements ...

It?s proposal season?and we?re not talking about?business proposals.

We?re referring to sparkly-ring marriage proposals. And according to TheKnot, December is the most popular month for said engagements.

Of course, much like the actual ring, not all marriage proposals look exactly alike. Some have marching bands! Some have flash mobs! Some are completely devoid of witnesses?and some prefer it that way.

If you plan to propose this holiday season, as an early engagement gift to you, we?ve looked into the costs of some of the most elaborate proposals out there?as well as?the best post-proposal financial practices.

It?s an age-old question, complete with a handful of inexact estimates floating around the Internet as to how much you should shell out for the ring: two months worth of salary, 25% of your annual income,?$2,500.

Fact-wise,?TheKnot.com?reports that the average cost of an engagement ring is $5,200?and it takes the average person three months to find the right one.

The truth is that there isn?t a hard-and-fast rule as to how much a person should pay for a ring, just like there isn?t a rule about how much people are expected to spend on wedding presents.

In other words, it?s less about what you?should?spend, and more about what you can?afford?to pay.

?It?s really important to budget for an engagement ring,? advises LearnVest CFP ? Sophia Bera. ?Don?t use all of your savings to buy it?your?emergency savings?should be separate from your ring savings.?

Translation: The ideal amount to spend on a ring is different for everyone?and it doesn?t necessarily need to be something that you take on alone.??Maybe this is unromantic, but I think it?s important to talk to your significant other about what they want, and the price range they have in mind,? adds Sophia.

Perhaps it isn?t so unromantic: TheKnot also reports that 65% of brides have at least some say in their engagement rings, while 31% shopped for and/or purchased the ring with their groom.

In some cases, the ring is only a blip on the proposal budget?a new trend in over-the-top proposals means that the ring isn?t always the sparkliest part of the moment.

Source: http://www.learnvest.com/2012/12/the-price-of-commitment-what-people-spend-on-engagements/

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Does Your Internet Business Marketing Plan Succeed In Seo ...

Does Your Internet Business Marketing Plan Succeed In Seo
The target of SEO in your internet business marketing plan is to get organic traffic to your site by lifting the site high on the many Google result pages. It requires both the onpage and offpage actions but, because this article tells about internet business marketing plan I will concentrate on the offpage factors only.

A marketer has to understand, that the high ranking means competition between the different sites. Sometimes this competition may be too tough and sometimes it is realistic to reach the high rankings. However, when you write your internet business marketing plan you have to select, how to get the needed quality links.

Google sees the links as votes from other webmasters to your site. The higher the page rank of the linker has, the more link power your site will get. Of course only the related links can do that. The link should also contain an anchor text, a keyword, so that the search engines know, to which result page the landing page belongs.

1. The Link Development Has Two Benefits.

The links are not only for the better rankings, but serve also the readers, who can get an added information via a link. This is the reason, why the linking site must be related. The search engines lift the sites, which have a lot of links from the authority sites. This will also serve the surfers, because when the site is high on the result page, the surfer wil find it easier.

The links are the business contacts of the internet home business. When the hyperlink, with the right keyword, is located on some site, the site visitors will click it and Google will register, that your site has been set there. The first one brings traffic to your site and the latter the higher search engine ranking.

2. What Is A Related, Quality Link?

It is clear, that only the links from the related, high page ranks sites are valuable ones. The relatedness means, that if you market internet business consulting, the links are from the pages, which operate in the same industry. The quality means, that the webmaster has succeeded to raise the search engine ranking.

3. How Many Links Is Needed?

This depends on your targets. If your target is to reach the first page position, or even the first place one, you have to research, can you beat the other sites. The rankings will develop slowly, and Google will update the rankings slowly, so a webmaster has to follow the situation and to increase the number of links, if needed.

4. Which Tools Do You Need?

The main tool is your own work. If you write articles and will submit them to directories and sites, it takes time. Of course you can use the submitter, but still the manually submitted articles work best. Google sets value to the links from the variety of sites, i.e. from the directories, web 2.0 sites, blogs, social sites, forums etc. This means, that you have to plan the link developing strategy and plan.

5. The Site Content Is The Most Important Factor.

Of course the links, which the site visitors have set on their sites are the best ones, at least in theory. The site content is in the main role with this tactics. But let us be realistic! The natural link building is not enough. How can you guarantee, that the visitors have high page rank sites? Or that they set enough links on their pages. Impossible! Your own link building is needed to reach the success!

Source: http://www.freethinkbham.com/62/does-your-internet-business-marketing-plan-succeed-in-seo

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Lawmakers play waiting game with 'fiscal cliff' deadline in sight (reuters)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/272963499?client_source=feed&format=rss

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