Aquarium Fish Puts Man In Hospital

EAST ROCKAWAY, N.Y. -- A man was taken to a hospital after tangling with a venomous fish in his home aquarium, police said.
A one-spot foxface rabbitfish bit the 19-year-old Tuesday night while he was working on his fish tank in East Rockaway, said Nassau County Police Officer Thomas Brussell.

The species has venomous spines on its back, according to fishbase.org, an electronic database maintained by researchers. Also called the blotched foxface rabbitfish, the fish is found in tropical seas off western Australia, the Philippines and other parts of the western Pacific Ocean.

Lego Mindstorms NXT Tip: Help Files

I found that the NXT software will not find the help files if you have FIREFOX set as your default web browser. Setting Internet Explorer as the default web browser solved my problem of not being able to find the help files.

Can you identify the Fish Guts Thugs?

THE two thugs who tipped an Esky full of fish guts and urine on a sleeping homeless man look set to get away with it. Eighteen months after they were captured on security camera the case has gone cold. Police have a suspect – but the poor quality of the security footage has made it difficult for them to mount a case to charge him. Not even a forensic specialist enlisted from interstate has been able to make a conclusive match between the footage and photographs of the suspect. The scientist says one of the suspects has altered his appearance since the incident, making it difficult to make a conclusive match. And unless someone comes forward to dob them in – and police are sure someone is protecting them – they may never face court.

The reward for information is still up for grabs.

Anyone who can reveal Reg's callous attackers is urged to contact Townsville CIB or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Black Eye Friday

The day after Thanksgiving is frequently referred to as "Black Friday". One of the major U.S. holiday shopping days, it is the day many U.S. consumers begin their annual Christmas shopping. The day is heavily promoted by retailers both in newspapers and with television commercials. The origin of the term "Black Friday" comes from the shift to profitability many retailers experience during the holiday season. Black Friday was historically when retailers went from being unprofitable, or "in the red," to being profitable, or "in the black".

But this year I think we can officially call it "Black Eye Friday" since retailers in pursuit of having the best deal around have cause frenzied shopping mobs - fuelled by lack of sleep, large doses of coffee, hours of standing in the cold, pumped up sales promotions and very limited discounted products (example $250 laptops at BestBuy, only 18 per store) -- the day after Thanksgiving has turned into a melee of shopping madness.

And what do the stores gain anyway? I recall going to Staples one early morning with my Father and Father-In-Law. We grabbed the deals and went home. We didn't stick around and shop. -- EMF

Scientists Develop Robotic Fish

BEIJING, Nov. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- A team of scientists thinks our ancient predecessors developed vertebrae and a backbone to stiffen their bodies so they could swim more powerfully and has developed robot tadpoles to help prove the theory.

The far-distant forebearers of humans and other vertebrates were much softer than their descendants. Instead of backbones they had flexible rods know as notochords. By evolving vertebrae the attached muscles could generate more force.

"The fossil record shows vertebrae evolved independently at least four separate times. That shows they must really be functionally important," said vertebrate physiologist John Long at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

To test this idea, Long and his colleagues built robot fish with backbones of varying strength to simulate extinct animals. They then "mated" the best swimmers to see how generations of "offspring" evolved to swim better.

The robots -- "Tadros" -- were modeled after the larvae of marine animals known as sea squirts, swimming creatures that still have notochords.

Each Tadro had a single electronic eye, a motor, a computerized brain that controlled its motions, and tails made of gelatin of different lengths and stiffness. The robots had bodies between six and seven inches long, with tails two to four inches long, and swam along the surface.

The scientists raced three robots in eight-foot-diameter fish tanks, each swimming to and around a light hanging above the tank.

After seeing which fish swam best, the research team "mated" them using computer simulations that modeled the genetic mixing that occurs during sex to produce the next generation of Tadro tails. The best swimmer was given the greatest mating success and opportunity to pass along its traits, while poorer swimmers were less fortunate.

After 10 generations, Long and his colleagues found that as swimming performances improved, stiffer tails evolved.

"One thing vertebrates really brought to scene were large, fast, active animals, and this part of the anatomy has a direct connection with that," Long said.

But Long said that only 40 percent of the increased swimming efficiency could be related to stiffer tails, which meant other factors were involved, including how easily the tail turns.

"We plan to investigate what that next 60 percent is," Long said.

The research team intends to add a "predator" into the tank during the next swimming competition to see how Tadro tails evolve then. This hunter will try to collide with the robots, while the Tadros will try to avoid it.

This next generation of Tadros will detect the predator using infrared sensors that mimic the pressure-sensitive organs of fish, known as lateral lines.

"We also plan not just on making the backbone stiffer, but on putting in vertebrae, to make them bend, to have joints, and see how that changes things," Long said.

Long and his colleagues reported their findings online Nov. 17 in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

Two Fishermen Spend 30 Hours Floating In Cooler

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Two fishermen who spent nearly 30 hours floating in a large fish cooler have been rescued.

Crewmen on a Navy aircraft spotted Duane Grove and Robert Christenson more than 70 miles off the coast of Jacksonville yesterday afternoon.

A Coast Guard helicopter later hoisted them to safety.

Both men were listed in good condition last night at St. Luke's Hospital in Jacksonville. They had mild hypothermia.

The Coast Guard says the pair's boat was hit by a large wave Thursday morning, listed and began to take on water. One man was knocked overboard; the other escaped through a window.

They had no life preservers and couldn't get to the life raft, so they climbed into the floating fishing box.

Half Cooked Lobster Caught?

July 20, 2006—Batman fans will remember Two-Face, the villain with a mug that's half handsome and half gruesome. Recently a Maine lobsterman caught a different kind of two-faced prey—a lobster that looks half raw and half cooked.

Alan Robinson of Steuben, Maine, hauled up this two-toned lobster last week while bringing in his catch near the town of Bar Harbor (see Maine map).

Half of the animal is mottled brown, while the other is bright orange—the color lobsters turn after they've been boiled.

In his 20 years of catching the crustaceans, Robinson says, he has never seen anything like it.

"I thought someone was playing a trick on me," he told the Bangor Daily News. "Once I saw what it was … it was worth seeing."

He wanted others to see it, too, so Robinson donated his unusual catch to Maine's Mount Desert Oceanarium, where experts were able to shed some light on the find. Two-toned lobsters, they explain, are rare but not unheard of.

The shells of American, or Maine, lobsters usually sport a combination of yellow, red, and blue pigments. But the animals grow symmetrically, with each half of the body developing independently of the other.

In the case of Robinson's catch, half of the lobster's shell was lacking the blue pigment, giving it the appearance of having been cooked to a turn.

All this makes Robinson's fifty-fifty find one for the record books, the Oceanarium's staffers say.

The aquarium has received only three two-toned lobsters in 35 years, they note, and the odds of finding one that's exactly half and half is about 1 in 50 million.

—Blake de Pastino

"Crusty" The 10 Pound Lobster Steamed

ELGIN, Scotland, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- A hotel recently cooked up one of the largest lobsters caught off Scotland by divers, and now locals are upset about it.

The 2-foot long, 10-pound crustacean, known as "Crusty," was a beloved local celebrity that should have been saved and not eaten by the Mansefield Hotel guests in Elgin, irate residents told The Scotsman.

"We reckon it could be as much as 50 years old," said Kenneth Ross of the Elgin-based Burgsac Sub-Aqua Club. "To kill such an old beast is very short-sighted; the meat would not have been very good and, in my opinion, such a rare example of our coastal marine life should have been left where it was."

The hotel maintained that it couldn't pause to ponder the celebrity status of every lobster brought in to them. They said "Crusty" was some tasty eating for about four guests.

No More Fish Tossing

ITHACA, N.Y. Cornell hockey fans are being searched tonight for a surprisingly healthy weapon _ fish.
Big Red fans traditionally toss fish on the ice before the start of the annual Harvard men's hockey game.

But Cornell officials this week told fans to arrive early for tonight's game to be searched. Those found with fish or alcohol will be expelled from the rink.

Sometimes a lobster or octopus is tossed among the dozens of fish.

But Harvard players know to line up far from the student section, out of the line of fire.

If someone throws a fish during the game, Cornell usually receives a bench minor penalty.

Fantastic Salmon Recipe for the Holidays

Grilled Salmon Fillets with Chilli Coriander Pesto
This recipe is great for casual entertaining as it can be assembled hours beforehand and grilled at the last minute.

Serves 4

4 x salmon fillets, skinned
handful of fresh coriander, about 30g
(2 x supermarket packets)
1 red chilli, deseeded and roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
grated zest and juice of 1 lime
½ tsp sea salt
2 tbsp light olive oil

1. Remove any thick stalks from the coriander (small ones can be left on), roughly chop and place in the bowl of a food processor. Add the chilli, garlic, lime zest, juice and salt and whiz until the ingredients are well chopped.
2. With the processor still running, pour in the olive oil until the mixture is a wet paste. You can store the chilli coriander pesto in a jar in the fridge for several days.
3. Preheat the grill to high. Place the salmon fillets on a baking sheet and spread one side with the pesto. You could cover and store them in the fridge at this stage if serving later. Grill at least 10cm from the heat. Depending on the strength of your grill and the thickness of the salmon, they should take 8–10 minutes to cook.

Tip. You can also spread the pesto on boneless chicken breasts, which will take 20–25 minutes to grill.

Robotic Turkeys On Poacher Patrol

CONCORD, N.H. The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department is buying six robotic turkeys to help it catch poachers.
The turkeys can't gobble, but they can fan their tails and bob their heads -- even after an indirect shotgun blast.

The agency is buying one for each of the state's six fish and game management districts.

Colonel Jeff Gray says Fish and Game has had great success catching poachers with deer decoys. The department also has robotic decoys of elk, coyote and other game species.

Catching Catfish Bare Handed

There is nothing quite like the thrill of catching a 60-pound catfish with your bare hands, and that's just what Oklahoma fishermen have been doing for hundreds of years. Although you won't find the term in Webster's Dictionary, noodling is the ancient sport of submerging one's body in murky water and using fingers as wiggling bait to catch these underwater monsters.

Filmmaker Bradley Beesley's award-winning documentary OKIE NOODLING
chronicles the tradition from its roots as a Native American hunting technique to the present day status of this rural subculture.

Bull Shark Attacks 22' Watercraft

From a reader in TEXAS (June 2000)

Last year a local news station in Texas reported that a large bull shark had attacked and severely damaged a 22' boat off the coast of Gulf Shoals, Alabama. No one was reported to of been hurt from the incident. The Coast Guard rescued the occupants. When news reporters asked what they would do now, the fishermen said, "I guess we will have to get a bigger boat."
-- Texas angler

Sherried Lobster Bisque

45 min 15 min prep

3 tablespoons butter
6 stalks celery, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon lemons, zest of
1 1/3 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons cornstarch, dissolved in cold water (or no starch)
1 1/3 cups half-and-half
1 lb lobster meat, cooked
2 tablespoons dry sherry
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon red sweet bell peppers, slivers

1. In a large pan, melt the butter, add the celery, onion, thyme, red pepper flakes and lemon zest.
2. Cook until vegetables are softened, about 20 minutes.
3. Gradually stir in broth and half and half.
4. When warm, stir in cornstarch.
5. Heat on medium until bubbly and thick, about 10 minutes.
6. Add the cooked lobster, sherry, salt and pepper.
7. Garnish with red pepper slivers.

Seal Cove Bruins Fans Spotted By Paul

"I was watching the Bruins game the other night
and there was a lady in the stands holding up a cardboard sign
that said "bruins fans from seal cove, maine" pretty funny..." - Paul Ocepek

NEW FISHING FREEBIE: FREE GIFT TAGS

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