Posted: 11 Dec 2009 05:08 AM PST

This is a strange time of the year. Deer season is almost over, so there won't be much to do soon.

I like to keep busy. I'm an impatient, slightly hyper type of guy who hates to sit around a do nothing.

Wednesday's winter storm was a nice little tease. I know there are many of you out there who hate the thought of winter, but not me. I can't wait to put on my cross-country skis and glide along the wooded trails. I'm looking forward to a little downhill skiing and snowshoeing this winter as well.

I have a feeling, however, that many of us are going to be a little disappointed. No matter what the weather people say _ or even the Farmer's Almanac _ I really don't think we'll have a very hard winter. Mother Nature seems to balance things out.

We had a cold, wet summer. Actually, we really didn't have a summer at all. The weather was absolutely miserable. All it did was rain. This past summer was the coldest summer on record. So much for global warming.

Well, I'm getting off on a tangent. We're in a transition time or maybe an in-between season's zone. With little to do right now, I went to the Department of Environmental Conservation website to look for an idea of something to write about. Have you looked at their new site? You should.

DEC TV is great. Yeah, TV on the web. There are videos on many interesting subjects. I was fascinated with a segment on tracking moose, but there are four channels to watch _ Outdoor Recreation, Wildlife, Plants and the DEC at Work. Each channel covers different and very interesting topics.

A Mapping Gateway is another great addition to the DEC's website. This section allows users to find destinations and details about recreational areas in the state. It covers things such as boat-launch sites, public fishing streams, birding areas, campgrounds, lake contours and hunting zones.

The New York Nature Explorer is an online tool for finding out about animals, plants and habitats in your neighborhood or other areas of interest. It contains information on birds (by county), reptiles, amphibians, rare animals, rare plants and significant natural communities. More will be added soon.

Take some time to explore the new DEC website. It's easy. Just go to www.dec.ny.gov and everything you need will be at your fingertips.

Big buck should be back

Wednesday night, I got a phone call from a fellow. His son found a beautiful set of shed antlers in the woods on Tuesday. This is not unusual as all antlered animals shed their antlers.

The cycle is complete. The deer's hormones are changing as the breeding season is coming to a close. In late spring, "nubs" will appear and a new set of antlers will begin to grow. That big, eight-point rack will probably be bigger next year.

By finding those antlers, it was proof that some great bucks made it through the hunting season and will be around in the future. Nature sure is a wonderful and fascinating thing, isn't it?

Rick Brockway writes a weekly outdoors column for The Daily Star. E-mail him at robrockway@hotmail.com.

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The Almanac - Dec. 11 - Post Chronicle

Posted: 11 Dec 2009 04:53 AM PST

Today is Friday, Dec. 11, the 346th day of 2008 with 20 to follow.

Hanukkah begins at sundown.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Saturn and Mars. The evening stars are Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Sagittarius. They include Scottish physicist and kaleidoscope inventor David Brewster in 1781; French composer Hector Berlioz in 1803; German pioneer bacteriologist Robert Koch in 1843; New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia in 1882; Italian film producer Carlo Ponti in 1912; Russian novelist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in 1918; actress Rita Moreno (first performer to win an Oscar, Tony, Emmy and Grammy) in 1931 (age 78); singers David Gates in 1940 (age 69) and Brenda Lee in 1944 (age 65); actors Donna Mills in 1940 (age 69), Teri Garr in 1944 (age 65) and singer Jermaine Jackson in 1954 (age 55).

On this date in history:

In 1941, four days after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.

In 1951, Joe DiMaggio announced his retirement from baseball.

In 1953, Alaska's first TV station signed on the air.

In 1983, 30,000 women tried to rip down fences around a U.S. cruise missile base at Greenham Common, England.

In 1984, a nativity scene was displayed near the White House for the first time since courts ordered it removed in 1973.

In 1989, Bulgarian leader Peter Mladenov set a May 31 deadline for free elections and called for a constitution that did not guarantee the Communist party a dominant role in the Eastern European country.

In 1993, Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle of the ruling center-left Coalition of Parties for Democracy won Chile's presidential election.

In 1994, up to 40,000 Russian troops invaded Chechnya, a semi-autonomous republic on Russia's border with Georgia, to put down a secessionist rebellion.

In 1995, two Japanese cult members admitted they released the toxic sarin gas in Tokyo subway trains the previous March that killed 12 people.

In 1998, the International Olympic Committee began an internal investigation into rumors that bribes had been offered by cities seeking to be chosen as sites for the Olympic Games.

In 2001, the United States filed its first charges in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, accusing Zacarias Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, of conspiring with others to carry out the assault.

In 2004, Vienna doctors treating the mystery illness of Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko determined he was poisoned by dioxin while campaigning for president.

In 2006, news reports said the Taliban, al-Qaida and other Islamists were consolidating and rebuilding unchecked in remote northern Pakistan.

Also in 2006, Jewish groups worldwide expressed anger as Iran opened a two-day conference in Tehran to determine if the Holocaust is reality or myth.

In 2007, as many as 26 people were reported killed in two suicide attacks near U.N. offices and government buildings in Algiers.

In 2008, Bernard Madoff, an investment manager, was charged with defrauding clients of as much as $50 billion in what may be the largest swindle in Wall Street history. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission officials said he ran a multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme.

Also in 2008, nearly 50 people were killed in the bombing at a restaurant in northern Iraq where Kurdish leaders and members of the Sunni Awakening Councils met to discuss ways to reduce tension in Kirkuk between Arabs and Kurds.

A thought for the day: Paul Valery said, "That which has always been accepted by everyone, everywhere, is almost certain to be false." (c) UPI

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The sky's the limit - News-Leader.com

Posted: 11 Dec 2009 03:20 AM PST

Published Thursday, December 10, 2009
The sky's the limit

It's never too cold to enjoy the wonders of the cosmos.

Gail Reynolds
For the News-Leader

For outdoors enthusiasts feeling frozen out of their usual fresh-air pleasures and pastimes, things are looking up — astronomically.

In fact, when it comes to outdoors exploration, the sky's the limit this month — as the Discovery Center of Springfield, the Springfield Astronomical Society and stargazers around the globe wrap up a yearlong celebration of the International Year of Astronomy 2009.

The goal — not just in Springfield, but worldwide — during IYA2009 (the 400th anniversary of the first use of an astronomical telescope by Galileo Galilei) has been dedicated and aimed at stimulating global interest (especially among young people) in astronomy and science under the central theme "The Universe, Yours To Discover."

The Discovery Center, partnering with the Springfield Astronomical Society, launched the "What I Can See" program locally in January this year and, since then, have hosted monthly star parties throughout the year (free of charge) and special astronomy-oriented activities along the way.

"This IYA2009 has been an exciting year for us," says Discovery Center marketing and special events director Charlotte McCoy. "We've introduced the community to astronomy and we've been able to tap into donors, sponsors and volunteers who are interested in astronomy and excited about the Discovery Center. When you find something that piques somebody's interest, that's great as it opens us up more to the community."

McCoy says the parties were very popular for all age groups and for those who had never had the experience of stargazing. "I mean, I'd never looked through a telescope before," McCoy says, "How cool is that? So it was great fun for me."

After an entire year of revolving around the sun, viewing stars and planets in various areas of the sky during different seasons through star parties and special events and building five permanent astronomy exhibits, the Discovery Center closes out the year with a grand finale of events.

There's a star party planned for this weekend and a weeklong wrap-up set for the end of the month.

This Friday, from 5 to 8 p.m., the Discovery Center will host the last Star Party on its patio with Springfield Astronomical Society members on board (with their telescopes) to assist partygoers in viewing what the sparkling December skies over Missouri have to offer.

"This is our final star party. We've had one every month this year — in partnership with the Springfield Astronomical Society," says Jill Hodge,

Discovery Center outreach educator and coordinator of the IYA2009 activities there.

"The SAS members will be out with their telescopes on the front porch and admission for this will be free," Hodge says. "For those who wish to pay regular admission, we will also have special tabletop astronomy activities and the Star Lab Planetarium will also be open."

During the last week of this month, look for an four-day-long IYA2009 finale at the Discovery Center.

"It's our culminating event of the International Year of Astronomy and we'll have sprinkling of the things we did all throughout the year," Hodge says. "The Star Lab Planetarium will be open all week long, and there will be a variety of activities and some of the most popular things (rocket workshops, comet demonstrations and more) going on in the museum throughout the week."

Most of the wrap-up week activities are included in the regular museum admission charge, but for a few make-and-take workshops (Rocket Workshop and Wearable Solar System), there will be a $3 fee.

Chances are you'll want to take advantage of the opportunity to learn more about the skies above by attending one or both of the Discovery Center events.

But if you're unable to attend, bundle up, grab a lawn chair and a pair of binoculars and set your sights on the December skies.

Look for Sirius — the brightest star in the night sky — in the south; the planet Saturn — to the left of the moon — at first light on Dec. 9; the Geminid meteor shower when it peaks on Dec. 13; and on Dec. 31, the month and year will end with a rare event — a blue moon — the second full moon this month.

John Thune: The GOP's Answer to Obama? - Politics Daily

Posted: 11 Dec 2009 05:08 AM PST

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Andrea Lopez - News 4

Posted: 11 Dec 2009 04:25 AM PST

News

Andrea Lopez

CBS4 reporter Andrea Lopez has a reputation for working hard and she has extensive experience shooting and editing her own news stories.

Many of her reports have won awards from Colorado Broadcasters Association, Colorado Associated Press and Colorado Ski Country USA. Andrea received the 2002 Gordon Yoder Scholarship to attend the National Press Photographers Association TV NewsVideo Workshop. She won an Emmy at the 2003 Heartland Regional Annual Emmy Awards for "The Terry Barton Interview," an exclusive interview with the woman who lit Colorado's largest wildfire.

Prior to joining the CBS4 team, Andrea served as a weekend producer, back-up anchor, and reporter at KOAA-TV in Colorado Springs. She got her start in TV journalism as the News Bureau Chief at KREY-TV, a CBS affiliate in Montrose, Colorado, where she shot, edited and anchored a four-minute nightly newscast.

Andrea holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communications from the University of California at Berkeley and a graduate degree in journalism from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.

Since graduating from Berkeley in 1993, she has worked as a freelance print journalist publishing articles in magazines such as Bird Watcher's Digest, American Careers, Backhome Magazine and the 2003 Almanac for Farmers & City Folk. Her first book, "When Raccoons Fall Through Your Ceiling", was published in November of 2002 by the University of North Texas Press. It focuses on how people can co-exist with wildlife and solve wildlife-related problems.

Before becoming a journalist, Andrea served as a refuge manager at Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, Inc. in San Antonio, Texas.

Andrea rides horses for a hobby. She also holds a black belt in Taekwondo, was a member of the Berkeley Taekwondo team for four years, and once trained under former Olympic team coach Sang Lee in Colorado Springs.

During her time in Montrose, Andrea also entered the Montrose Fire Protection District's fire academy and became a state-certified volunteer firefighter.

Some of the best advice she has encountered over the course of her career came from Casey Kasem during the Jerry Lewis MDA telethon in August of 2000. He said: "Do all that you can do, do as much as you can, it will only give you more options." CBS4 reporter Andrea Lopez has taken that advice to heart!

To contact Andrea Lopez click here.

See the entire news team

fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger

Almanacs

Friday, December 11, 2009

Almanacs “DEC website has cure for winter blues - Daily Star” plus 4 more

Almanacs “DEC website has cure for winter blues - Daily Star” plus 4 more

Andrea Lopez

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