Halibut Herald January 15

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ALIBUT HERALD January 15, 2009

Bits and Bites Jumping Spider Eyes - Kinda cute, no? Like tiny monsters or hairy lil’ grampapas!

Jumping spiders comprise the famliy Salticidae, the largest and most diverse of spider families (ah, a melting pot), with between 4,000 and 5,000 species described. Salticids are small (most are less than one inch long), and they can jump 10 - 40 times their body length to pounce on prey or to avoid becoming prey. They accomplish this using good ol' fashioned hydraulics: they pump fluid into their legs quick enough to allow them to spring at lighting speed. READ ON: http://uglyoverload.blogspot.com/2009/01/jumping-spider-eyes.html

Something Beautiful – Milan’s Stunning Green Super City Milano Santa Monica is a lush green super city that is scheduled to sprout up just outside of Milan. Envisioned as a stacked series of highrises overflowing with flowering terraces, the selfcontained development will employ principles of bioarchitecture in addition to photovoltaic panels and solarthermal water heaters to cut down on energy use. Designed by Polis Engineering, Studio Nicoletti, and the Marzorati Architecture Studio, Milano Santa Monica will comprise more than 2000 apartments centered around a 2 million square meter park. The complex will be completely self-contained, offering schools, sporting facilities, and a shopping center, reducing the distance that its inhabitants will need to travel in the course of their daily activities. The lush green high rises are efficiently designed and enshrouded in vegetation that helps to insulate the interiors while providing fresh air. Photovoltaic panels help to shade sun-facing windows while generating energy, and solar water heaters help to further increase efficiency. The development is currently slated for construction in 2013. READ ON: http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/01/05/milano-santa-monica-by/

Sustainable and Recyclable Housing Made From Loofahs In Paraguay, forested areas have been reduced to less than 10% of the country, which means that wood is scarcely available as a building material. Additionally, 300,000 families do not have adequate housing. These two serious factors couple to form a sizable problem, which community activist Elsa Zaldívar is addressing with an innovative approach to sustainable building. Recognizing the waste being sent to the landfill and a need for housing, Elsa worked with an industrial engineer to develop a material made from recycled plastic and agricultural fibers, like loofah, corn husks and caranday palm trees. These panels now provide an inexpensive, lightweight, flexible building material that can help communities reduce their agricultural waste while generating income and providing sustainable housing to families.

Creature Comforts ON HALLOWEEN NIGHT IN A SUBURB of Albany, a group of children dressed as vampires and witches ran past a middle-aged woman in plain clothes. She gripped a leather harness — like the kind used for Seeing Eye dogs — which was attached to a small, fuzzy black-and-white horse barely tall enough to reach the woman’s hip. “Cool costume,” one of the kids said, nodding

The woman, Ann Edie, was simply blind and out for an evening walk with Panda, her guide miniature horse.

toward her. But she wasn’t dressed up.

There are no sidewalks in Edie’s neighborhood, so Panda led her along the street’s edge, maneuvering around drainage ditches, mailboxes and bags of raked leaves. At one point, Panda paused, waited Sadie talks Jim for a car Eggers down when to pass, he’s on the verge of Ann Edie and her guide miniature horse, then a psychotic episode. Panda, checking out at Staples. veered into the road to avoid a group of children running toward them swinging glow sticks. She led Edie onto a lawn so she wouldn’t hit her head on the side mirror of a parked van, then to a traffic pole at a busy intersection, where she stopped and tapped her hoof. “Find the button,” Edie said. Panda raised her head inches from the pole so Edie could run her hand along Panda’s nose to find and press the “walk” signal button. VERY INTERESTING ARTICLE READ ON: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/magazine/04Creaturest.html?_r=4&pagewanted=1

Golden Lion Tamarind born at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo

Here are some shots of Vlad the sloth being tormented by a curious baby golden lion tamarind. The

confrontation went down a little over a month ago at the Smithsonian National Zoo in D.C. READ ON: http://www.zooborns.com/zooborns/2009/01/golden-lion-tamarind-hands-on-with-twotoedsloth.html

Divers cut away at net that has been killing marine life Scuba divers working with the Ocean Defenders Alliance have been trying to release a net that has been catching and killing ocean dwellers since the trawler Infidel sank off Catalina Island. The Infidel came to rest on its keel, about 150 feet under the sea. But in the turbid currents, the fine-mesh hemp and polypropylene net -- 40 feet high, several hundred feet long and made to last thousands of years -- wrapped itself around the wreck and became a deadly snare for marine life. It has been entangling and killing sea lions, dolphins, sharks and fish ever since, littering the sandy bottom with skulls and bones picked clean by crabs. READ ON: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-net122009jan12,0,3092633.story VIDEO NEWS COVERAGE: http://www.latimes.com/video/?slug=la-me-net12-2009jan12vid

DIY: Bottle herb garden – a recycling project.

FULL NSTRUCTIONS: http://www.instructables.com/id/Bottle_herb_garden_8211_a_recycli ng_project/

More News Links Navy Allowed to Kill Whales in Hawaii During Sonar Traininghttp://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jan2009/2009-01-12-092.asp New York Zoos Need Your Help (READ ON!) http://www.zooborns.com/zooborns/2009/01/new-york-zoos-need-yoursupport.html

Alaska plans to sue over beluga whale protection http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8258277

Oldest Shark Braincase Shakes Up Vertebrate Evolution http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/01/090114oldest-shark-braincase.html

Archival Photo

Inuit standing beside canoe. Arctic Trip, 1968.

Events

Mt. Seymour Guys Night Out - Girls Ride FREE* January 12 — March 16, 2009 Guys Night Out - Girls Ride FREE is back by popular demand for the 2008/09 season with lots of great prizing and specials for event participants! Girls Ride Free every Monday night from the 12th January 2009 to the 16th March 2009. This great night is to support breast cancer research at the BC Cancer Foundation and is an awesome social night to share with friends. Not only do girls get to ride for free, but we have plenty of giveaways, and food and drink specials in Elevations Restaurant each Monday night. http://www.mountseymour.com/events

READ ON: http://www.pacificpermaculture.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=81:inroduction-topermaculture-january-2009

Wanna meet some people as Green Conscious as you? Try going for a Green Drink! READ MORE: http://www.greendrinks.org/index.php

Green Drinks International Every month people who work in the environmental field meet up at informal sessions known as Green Drinks. We have a lively mixture of people from NGOs, academia, government and business. Come along and you'll be made welcome. Just say, "are you green?" and we will look after you and introduce you to whoever is there. It's a great way of catching up with people you know and also for making new contacts. Everyone invites someone else along, so there’s always a different crowd, making Green Drinks an organic, self-organising network. These events are very simple and unstructured, but many people have found employment, made friends, developed new ideas, done deals and had moments of serendipity. It's a force for the good and we'd like to help it spread to other cities. Contact your local node to get the latest info about coming along.

Next one in Vancouver is January 21, 2009: http://www.greendrinks.org/index.php?city=Vancouver&country=Canada

Win a copy of "A Good Catch: Sustainable Seafood Recipes" CONTEST DETAILS HERE: http://www.granville online.ca/gr/contests

For Sale Small Red Futon Sofa Folds down to sleep one or two people. Barely used and in good condition * approx 6ft in length * Wooden frame * selling for 70 dollars Please contact Kim at 604-317-8930 or email [email protected].