Veggiecology may be one way to put it. There are so many ways to make the case f

[Guest guest]

Veggiecology may be one way to put it. There are so many ways to

make the case for

the veggie way of life. Those of us who are veggies recognize that

animals will never be liberated as long as most humans in the so-

called " first world " of industrialized states continue to choose to

eat animals once or more each day. Beyond animal liberation of

course the case for saving all life on earth, human, animal, and

other life is certainly one that veggies can best make. Recently we

learned of a huge chunk of ice breaking off in the arctic.

 

" Huge ice shelf breaks free in Canada

December 30 2006 at 03:04PM

 

By Jeffrey Jones

 

Calgary, Alberta - A chunk of ice bigger than the area of Manhattan

broke from an ice shelf in Canada's far north and could wreak havoc

if it starts to float westward toward oil-drilling regions and

shipping lanes next summer, a researcher said on Friday.

 

Global warming could be one cause of the break of the Ayles Ice

Shelf at Ellesmere Island, which occurred in the summer of 2005 but

was only detected recently by satellite photos, said Luke Copland,

assistant professor at the University of Ottawa's geography

department.

 

It was the largest such break in nearly three decades, casting an

ice floe with an area of 66km2 adrift in the Arctic Ocean, said

Copland, who specializes in the study of glaciers and ice masses.

Manhattan has an area of 61km2.

 

The mass is now 50km2 in size.

 

" The Arctic is all frozen up for the winter and it's stuck in the

sea ice about 50km off the coast, " he said.

 

" The risk is that next summer, as that sea ice melts, this large ice

island can then move itself around off the coast and one potential

path for it is to make its way westward toward the Beaufort Sea, and

the Beaufort Sea is where there is lots of oil and gas exploration,

oil rigs and shipping. "

 

The break went undetected when it happened due primarily to the

remoteness of the northern coast of Ellesmere island, which is only

about 800km from the North Pole. "

 

And yes, of course we are not surprised at all to recognize that

global warming is the

cause.

Eves of Destruction?

 

How close are we as a species to destruction? Either brought about

by forces beyond our control, or by ourselves?

 

What can we do to prevent the destruction of our planet, of our

species? Of other species on earth?

 

 

 

The late Carl Sagan responded to the question of why humans have so

far failed to detect intelligent life on other planets by

speculating that perhaps many civilizations failed to survive their

own technological adolesence, a period in which they had the

physical ability to destroy themselves but lacked the maturity not

to.

 

" Scientists watched in awe as comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 broke up and

smashed into Jupiter making explosions the size of the Earth. "

 

http://www.kidscosmos.org/kid-stuff/jupiter-facts.html

 

That perhaps may help to put things into perspective.

 

As may this.

 

I recall the ending of " Men in Black " in which some creatures appear

to be playing their own versions of marbles. Look closely at the

marbles and one sees that they are galaxies.

 

********************************************************************

 

" At least 14 dead as Typhoon Khanun leaves trail of destruction

 

Monday Sep 12th 2005 c.e.

 

At least 14 people were killed in China as Typhoon Khanun ground its

way inland Monday, causing widespread damage and forcing the

evacuation of more than a million people in coastal areas.

 

Khanun, the 15th typhoon to hit China this year, slammed into the

eastern province of Zhejiang Sunday, with a preliminary death toll

of 14 in that area alone as of Monday, the Ministry of Civil Affairs

said on its website.

 

Among the victims, eight people died and another was missing when a

flood caused by the typhoon swept through Qinglin village, near the

Zhejiang city of Ningbo, swamping 20 houses, Xinhua news agency

reported.

 

A resident of Taizhou city in Zhejiang was electrocuted after a

power line was knocked loose by the storm, Xinhua also reported.

 

Nine others were reported missing from the typhoon, the Ministry of

Civil Affairs said, adding that 5.5 million residents were affected

in Zhejiang, as well as neighboring Fujian and Anhui provinces and

Shanghai city.

 

More than 1.35 million people have been evacuated to safe places.

 

In China's largest city Shanghai, the powerful storm shut down

schools, with more than 1,000 families flooded out and 30 roads

inundated, Xinhua said.

 

Winds were so strong they knocked people off their bikes.

 

In less than 12 hours, Shanghai evacuated 160,000 residents and

cancelled more than 400 flights. At Hongqiao airport, large lines

formed Monday while exasperated passengers tried, often in vain, to

change their flights.

 

Altogether, 2.25 million hectares (a hectare is 5.55 acres) of

cropland suffered damage in provinces and cities affected, Xinhua

quoted the state flood control and drought relief headquarters

saying.

 

In the worst hit province, Zhejiang, Xinhua said economic losses

were estimated at 6.89 billion yuan (849 million dollars) from a

typhoon meteorologists described as the strongest to hit China this

year.

 

As of noon Monday, Typhoon Khanun battered several cities in

Zhejiang with strong winds and rainstorms, flattening 7,468 houses

and damaging many reservoirs, according to the provincial government.

 

After leaving the province, the storm, packing force 12 winds,

rolled from south to north across Jiangsu province, home to 74

million people, hitting nearly every major city on its way and

ripping up trees and power lines.

 

" The typhoon is still battering the province as we speak, and we

don't have a precise estimate yet of the material damage, " Ji

Hongfei, spokesman of the Jiangsu flood control headquarters, told

AFP.

 

The Jiangsu cities of Suzhou and Wuxi were severely hit, and were

forced to close down all schools, he said.

 

While the world was focusing its attention on the aftermath of

Hurricane Katrina, China's state-run newspapers were emphasizing the

dangers of Typhoon Khanun.

 

Experts warned that the potential for damage gradually builds up in

the course of the year, as each typhoon adds to the erosion of east

China's fragile geology.

 

" Special attention should be paid to possible mudslides and cave-

ins, as rocks and earth were loosened by the floods and rains caused

by previous typhoons, " said Lu Keyuan, an official at the Zhejiang

water resources bureau.

 

Earlier this month Typhoon Talim left at least 124 dead and 31

missing after slowly churning its way through the same areas.

 

Some 19 million residents in those provinces were affected and 1.84

million of them had to be evacuated, according to state media.

 

East and southeast China are prone to typhoons and have been

pummeled by dozens over the past 50 years. "

 

***************************************

 

one need only look at hurricanes to see that increased water

temperatures make

them stronger, Krill a fish plankton, is used

along with anchovies, etc. as livestock feed, the plant plankton

called

phyto-plankton, that produce 40% of the world's oxygen interact with

Krill and

also depend on a healthy biosphere, which includes plenty of living

fish, etc.

to to survive, as the phyto-plankton are endangered by fishing, and

the removal

of Krill and anchovies, etc, they tend to die, off, hence, less

oxygen for the

planet, and much hotter ocean temperatures, heat is energy , so

we get much more frequent and much more poweful ocean storms,

hurricanes, tidal

waves, typhoons, etc. because the oceans are much hotter. would you

be willing to stop eating land sea and air animals to effect change

that could help to stop global warming?

 

would you support nationalization of the world's energy and

transportation companies and a policy that would mandate production

of environmentally safe vehicles and energy sources that did not

come from fossil fuels or from nuclear energy?

 

trillions of food animals that would not exist except for the demand

for the flesh of animals on the plates of humans are raised for

food, all of them consume oxygen and produce carbon dioxide,

contributing to global warming that way and via their production of

methane from sources such as the flatulence of cattle.

 

these food animals are competing with humans for the very air we

breathe, their production of carbon dioxide is helping to cause

global warming by sealing in the heat of the earth not letting it

escape into space, trapping the heat of the earth in, contributing

to rising temperatures all over the earth, on land, sea, and air, if

humans stopped eating these so-called food animals they would no

longer be raised and would cease to exist, and global warming would

be slowed down to a crawl

 

are you willing to stop eating animals?

 

 

 

take this piece from a couple of years or so ago:

" U.S. Predicts Busy Hurricane Season

May 19th,

 

Government forecasters predicted a busier-than-normal Atlantic

hurricane season

Monday: Six to nine hurricanes overall, including two to four major

storms

packing winds of at least 111 mph.

 

Higher-than-normal ocean temperatures and other factors should make

conditions

ripe for hurricanes this year, said James Mahoney, deputy

administrator of the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

 

Forecasters also said there is a 70 percent chance that La Nina will

develop

this summer. The weather phenomenon of lower-than-normal Pacific

Ocean

temperatures near the equator typically leads to more hurricane

activity.

 

Overall, 11 to 15 tropical storms are expected develop during the

season that

runs from June 1 to Nov. 30; the historical average is 10 tropical

storms and

six hurricanes.

 

Last year, there were 12 tropical storms and four hurricanes.

 

Since 1995, forecasters have noted an increase in overall tropical

storm and

hurricane activity. Officials are warning residents to be prepared.

 

" We may have gotten lazy and lackadaisical in our preparedness for

hurricanes -

get over it, " said Mike Brown, director of the Federal Emergency

Management

Agency.

 

The government will issue five-day hurricane forecasts this season,

replacing

the three-day advisories used since 1964. Forecasters say that will

allow

accurate, longer-range outlooks for increasingly populated coastal

areas. It

will also be helpful for those who need more than three days to move

themselves

and their property, such as the Navy.

 

Hurricane forecaster William Gray updated his 2003 prediction last

month to say

there would be eight hurricanes, three of them severe. The Weather

Research

Center predicts six hurricanes this year.

 

National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

or this from another source:

" Stephen Leahy, Inter Press Service (IPS)

Wed August 31st,2005 c.e.

 

 

 

BROOKLIN, Canada, August 31st,2005 c.e. (IPS) - Up to 12 more

tropical storms are expected

to follow Hurricane Katrina, the most destructive storm to ever

strike the

United States, and four may be major hurricanes, according to the

National

Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

 

 

Katrina, which made landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast Monday, has

killed at least

110 people and left a million homeless. Preliminary damage estimates

top 25

billion dollars. Refugee camps will be needed to house hundreds of

thousands of

people for weeks and months -- and perhaps longer, experts say. And

it will be

another week or two before the full extent of devastation is known.

 

Shockingly, there may be more storms to come. " This may well be one

of the most

active Atlantic hurricane seasons on record, and will be the ninth

above-normal

Atlantic hurricane season in the last 11 years, " Brig. Gen. David L.

Johnson,

director of the NOAA National Weather Service, said in a statement.

 

NOAA forecasts a whopping 21 tropical storms -- double the norm --

before the

end of hurricane season on Nov. 30. That means the U.S., Mexico and

Caribbean

region could still be pounded by another 10 to 12 storms, including

a major

hurricane on the scale of Katrina. Fortunately, not all of these

will make

landfall.

 

Warm water in the Atlantic Ocean is being blamed for what NOAA calls

a " very

active " hurricane season. Sea water at 27 degrees C. or higher puts

enough

moisture in the air to prime hurricane or cyclone formation. Once

started, a

hurricane needs only warm water and the right wind conditions to

build and

maintain its strength and intensity.

 

When Hurricane Katrina first hit southern Florida last week, it was

just

Category One on the Saffir-Simpson scale, which rates hurricanes

from one to

five according to wind speeds and destructive potential. Less than

24 hours

after it entered the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, it quickly

gained

strength, becoming a Category Five with winds blowing continuously

above 250

kilometres an hour.

 

While Katrina lost strength to a Category Four when it hit the U.S.

Gulf Coast,

it was extremely large in size, cutting a broad swath of

destruction. The city

of New Orleans, which missed a direct hit by the storm, has been

evacuated

because of severe flooding.

 

" There's no question that the warm waters of the Gulf provided the

heat that

turned Katrina into a major storm, " said Ross Gelbspan, a Pulitzer

Prize-winning

reporter and author of two books on global warming.

 

The ultimate cause, however, is global warming, Gelbspan told IPS.

 

That's a controversial view in a country with many officials who

vigorously deny

the existence of global warming or climate change. But slowly, the

scientific

evidence -- and the numerous record-breaking storms, droughts,

floods and forest

fires -- reveal that the climate is indeed changing.

 

Climatologist David Easterling of NOAA's National Climatic Data

Centre agrees

that Katrina gained its destructive power from the warm waters of

the Gulf.

 

" Warmer ocean temperatures are more likely to produce stronger, more

intense

storms, " Easterling said in an interview.

 

Easterling has found that rainfall intensity in the U.S. has

increased

significantly, which he attributes to climate change. However,

whether the

currently warmer mid-Atlantic is the result of global warming or a

natural cycle

" is pretty hard to say " , he said.

 

On a global scale, there is clear evidence of human-produced warming

of the

world's oceans, said Tim Barnett, a marine physicist at Scripps

Institution of

Oceanography.

 

" The amount of heat that has gone into the oceans is truly

remarkable, " Barnett

said in a statement.

 

Over the last 40 years, the top 300 metres of the world's oceans

have warmed

about 0.5C on average. Although that's not a new finding, Barnett is

the first

to determine that this is the result of emissions of greenhouse

gases from

burning fossil fuels.

 

Using a combination of computer models and real-world " observed "

data,

scientists measured for the first time the impact of global warming

in the

oceans.

 

" This is perhaps the most compelling evidence yet that global

warming is

happening right now, " Barnett said.

 

And according to another landmark study the warmer ocean is pumping

up the

destructive power of hurricanes and typhoons. The 0.5C global

increase in ocean

temperature has resulted in a doubling of the destructive power of

North

Atlantic hurricanes, wrote Kerry Emanuel of the Massachusetts

Institute of

Technology last month in the journal Nature.

 

This is the first definitive connection between global warming and

change in

hurricane activity and is bound to be controversial.

 

In the other region Emanuel studied, storms in the NorthWest Pacific

Ocean are

75 percent more powerful than they were 30 years ago.

 

Emanuel measured the wind speed of storms and their duration to

produce an

analysis of the destructive potential of each storm. Actual

destruction was not

measured as the majority of all storms do not make landfall.

 

Other studies have shown that global warming is creating conditions

that are

more favourable for hurricanes to develop and be more severe.

 

Predictions made about climate change 10 years ago are coming true:

sea level

and temperature rise, increased air temperatures, and now increased

storm

intensity.

 

It is well past time for the U.S. to take action on climate change

and follow

the lead of Britain and Germany with dramatic cuts in emissions of

60 percent,

says Gelbspan.

 

" We don't need to wait for another 10 years of studies before

reducing emissions

as the (George W.) Bush administration suggests, " says Michael

Mastrandrea, an

environmental science and policy researcher at Stanford University.

 

" Waiting to start making major reductions in emissions runs the risk

of

triggering irreversible impacts, " Mastrandrea told IPS.

 

Because there is a long lag in the climate system, the full effects

of past

greenhouse gas emissions are yet to come, he said. Adding ever

higher levels of

emissions puts future generations at risk.

 

" We should hedge our bets and act now, " Mastrandrea said.

 

or this from yet another source:

" Our mysterious ocean

 

Higher ocean temperatures near shore, dwindling groundfish catches

and low

plankton numbers are strange trends in Pacific marine life;

scientists can only

watch and wait

 

Tribune staff and wire reports

 

 

In San Luis Obispo County and all along the Pacific Coast, marine

biologists are

spotting ominous signs this year: higher ocean temperatures close to

shore,

plummeting catches of groundfish, an explosion of dead birds on

coastal beaches,

and, perhaps most disturbing, very few plankton -- the tiny critters

that form

the basis of the ocean's intricate food web.

 

From California to British Columbia, unusual weather patterns have

disrupted the

marine ecosystem, scientists say. The normal northerly winds failed

to show up

this year, preventing the usual upwelling of colder water that

sustains the

plankton, and in turn, many other species -- from anchovies to

cormorants to

whales.

 

Mark Moline, a biology professor at Cal Poly, said that researchers

are noticing

higher ocean temperatures and lower plankton numbers off the coast

of San Luis

Obispo County as well. August and September typically are the

windiest months,

so there may be a chance that the trend will reverse itself.

 

Without the winds to dredge up cold, nutrient-rich water from the

depths of the

ocean, the whole marine ecosystem is disrupted.

 

" It is an atmospheric phenomenon that is having an effect on the

local

ecosystem, " Moline said. " It's having a systematic effect up the

entire food

chain. "

 

Is this just a strange year, or is this what global warming looks

like? Few

scientists are willing to blame the plankton collapse on the

worldwide rise in

temperatures attributed to carbon dioxide and other gases believed

to trap heat

in the earth's atmosphere. Yet few are willing to rule it out.

 

If these patterns continue, it could show that something in the

atmosphere --

and the Pacific Ocean -- has permanently changed, with serious

consequences for

coastal birds, fish and marine mammals.

 

" These natural changes can teach us a lot about what might happen if

global

warming came along, " said Francisco Chavez, an oceanographer at the

Monterey Bay

Aquarium Research Institute. " That global change is going to affect

the ocean is

a given. We just don't know how or what the effects will be. "

 

It may be just an unusual year. Similar ecological signs have

appeared during El

Niño years, when increased sea surface temperatures in the

equatorial Pacific

alter weather patterns worldwide. But scientists say the West Coast

hasn't had

El Niño conditions this year.

 

Looking to understand

 

" There are strange things happening, but we don't really understand

how all the

pieces fit together, " said Jane Lubchenco, a zoologist and climate

change expert

at Oregon State University. " It's hard to say whether any single

event is just

an anomaly or a real indication of something serious happening. "

 

The Pacific Coast ecosystem depends on winds blowing south along the

coast to

push warmer surface waters away from shore. This allows colder,

nutrient-rich

water from the ocean bottom to rise and feed massive blooms of

phytoplankton,

which are eaten by zooplankton including krill, the staple of many

larger

species, from sardines to whales.

 

This year, the winds have been unusually weak, failing to generate

much

upwelling.

 

As a result, waters close to shore are 5 to 7 degrees higher than

normal and

Oregon's coastal waters have only produced about one-fourth the

total mass of

phytoplankton generated in most years, said Bill Peterson, an

oceanographer with

the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Newport, Ore.

 

" There are just a lot fewer of them, and that problem works its way

up the food

chain, " Peterson said. " We're a little concerned because we haven't

seen this

before, so we can't predict when it's going to go away. "

 

In addition, researchers are spotting warm-water fish much closer to

shore, as

well as subtropical plankton species rarely seen so far north,

Peterson said.

 

Birds hard hit

 

Seabirds are clearly distressed. On the Farallon Islands west of San

Francisco,

researchers this spring noted a steep decrease in nesting cormorants

as well as

a 90 percent drop in Cassin's auklets -- the worst in more than 35

years of

monitoring. The relatively rare birds, which feed mostly on krill,

have since

returned but came too late for successful breeding this year, said

Jaime Jahnke,

a researcher with the Point Reyes Bird Observatory.

 

" We don't know what's going on, " Jahnke said. " If this is the result

of some

kind of large climate phenomenon that we don't know about, it's

important to

document it and understand what's causing it. "

 

On Washington state's Tatoosh Island, common murres -- a species so

sensitive to

disruptions that scientists consider it a harbinger of ecological

change --

started breeding nearly a month late. It was the longest delay

recorded in 15

years of monitoring, said Julia Parrish, a seabird ecologist at the

University

of Washington, Seattle.

 

More disturbingly, researchers have reported a sharp increase in

dead birds

washing up on the shores of California, Oregon and Washington.

 

Along Monterey Bay, there are four times as many dead birds such as

Cassin's

auklets, common murres and Brandt's cormorants than in most years,

said Hannah

Nevins, a marine scientist at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories.

 

" Basically, they're not finding enough food, and they use up the

energy that's

stored in their muscles, liver and body fat, " Nevins said. " It's a

level of

mortality that's significantly above our long-term average over the

last seven

years. "

 

On the Oregon and Washington coasts, volunteers found one dead

Brandt's

cormorant every 1.3 kilometers, compared with every 50 kilometers in

most years,

and logged a sixfold increase in common murre mortality, Parrish

said.

 

" The bottom has fallen out of the coastal food chain, and there's

just not

enough food out there, " Parrish said. " We're seeing these stress

signals. (The

birds) are delaying breeding, they're abandoning their colonies and

they're

washing up on beaches. They're basically dying. They're way stressed

out. "

 

Impact on fish

 

Fish appear to be feeling the effects, too. NOAA surveys show a 20

percent to 30

percent drop in juvenile salmon off the coasts of Oregon, Washington

and British

Columbia this June and July, compared with the average count over

the previous

six years.

 

And researchers counted the lowest number of juvenile rockfish in

more than 20

years of monitoring in Central and Northern California -- fewer than

100 caught

between San Luis Obispo and Fort Bragg this year, compared

with " several

thousand " last year, said National Marine Fisheries Service

biologist Keith

Sakuma.

 

" This year was the worst year ever because the rockfish depend on the

upwelling, " Sakuma said.

 

Most scientists are reluctant to ascribe this year's weak northerly

winds to

global warming. Climate change is believed to be a gradual process,

and what's

happening this year is relatively sudden. Scientists also differ on

whether

global warming will increase or decrease the intensity of such winds.

 

Whatever the cause, it may be related to a weather pattern that

brought record

rainfalls to California and unusually dry, warm weather to the

Pacific

Northwest, said Nathan Mantua, a climate expert at the University of

Washington,

Seattle.

 

It's too soon to draw conclusions. Scientists can do little more

than take notes

and wait.

 

" To me, it really points out how uncertain our speculation is about

global

warming's impact on these upwelling systems, " Mantua said. " If we

did see this

next year, the notion that global warming plays a role in this

carries more

weight. "

Tribune Staff Writer David Sneed and The Associated Press

contributed to this

report. "

 

or this which touches on the question we all should be asking:

" How much heat is being released into the oceans, and has been

released into the

oceans, as a result of the 12/26/2004 undersea quake? " from a

different

source:

 

" Sumatra Quake Shook Entire Earth

WASHINGTON, May 19, 2005

 

 

December's great Sumatra-Andaman earthquake — the most powerful in

more than 40

years and the trigger of a devastating tsunami — shook the ground

everywhere on

Earth's surface. Weeks later the planet was still trembling.

 

The quake resulted from the longest fault rupture ever observed--720

miles to

780 miles--which spread for 10 minutes, also a record. A typical

earthquake's

duration would be 30 seconds.

 

The December quake was the first of its size to be measured and

studied by the

new worldwide array of digital seismic instruments.

 

Those results are starting to come in, with a special section of a

half-dozen

research papers on the quake appearing in Friday's issue of the

journal Science.

 

 

" This is really a watershed event. We've never had such

comprehensive data for a

great earthquake because we didn't have the instrumentation to

gather it 40

years ago, " said Thorne Lay, professor of Earth sciences and

director of the

Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at the University of

California,

Santa Cruz.

 

" It is nature at its most formidable, " Lay said in a statement.

 

The earthquake and resulting tsunami, which swept across the Indian

Ocean,

killed more than 176,000 people in 11 countries and left about

50,000 missing

and hundreds of thousands homeless.

 

The quake occurred where two of the giant plates that form the

surface of the

Earth grind together.

 

At that spot the Eurasian plate was being pulled downward by the

descending

Indo-Australian plate. The quake released the edge of the Eurasian

plate, which

sprang up, lifting the ocean floor and sending the sea water off in

the giant

wave that killed so many, the researchers reported.

 

They said the higher sea floor displaced so much water from the Bay

of Bengal

and the Andaman Sea that sea level worldwide was raised 0.004 inch.

 

" No point on Earth remained undisturbed, " wrote Roger Bilham of the

University

of Colorado.

 

Indeed, ground movement of as much as 0.4 inch occurred everywhere

on Earth's

surface, though it was too small to be felt in most areas.

 

And the temblor " delivered a blow to our planet " that was felt for

weeks, noted

a team of researchers led by Jeffrey Park of Yale University.

 

His group calculated that the quake caused the planet to oscillate

like a bell,

at periods of about 17 minutes, which they were able to measure for

weeks

afterward. A similar phenomenon was first noted in the 1960 quake in

Chile.

 

The initial Dec. 26 Sumatra quake is estimated to have had a

magnitude of 9.1 to

9.3, and a second quake to the south on March 28 registered 8.6.

 

By comparison, the 1960 Chile earthquake was magnitude 9.5 and the

1964 Alaska

earthquake was magnitude 9.2. California's 1989 Loma Prieta

earthquake had a

magnitude of 6.9.

 

Among the other findings reported in the various papers:

 

In Sri Lanka, more than 1,000 miles from the epicenter, the ground

moved nearly

4 inches.

 

The rupture spread from south to north, resulting in a Doppler

effect in

instruments measuring it. Seismometers in Russia recorded the quake

at a higher

frequency because it was moving toward them, while those in

Australia measured a

lower frequency as it moved away.

 

When the surface waves from the Sumatra quake reached Alaska they

triggered a

swarm of 14 local earthquakes in the Mount Wrangell area. "

Does anyone think there may have been a connection between the

December 2004 quake and the following 2 news items?

 

" Earth's Core Spinning Faster Than Crust In New Research on Earth's

Magnetic Field, Scientists Say Core Spins Faster Than Rest of

Planet

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID

The Associated Press

 

WASHINGTON Aug 26, 2005 c.e.— The giant iron ball at the center

of the Earth appears to be spinning a bit faster than the rest of

the planet.

 

The solid core that measures about 1,500 miles in diameter is

spinning about one-quarter to one-half degree faster, per year,

than the rest of the world, scientists from Columbia University's

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the University of Illinois at

Urbana-Champaign report in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

 

The spin of the Earth's core is an important part of the dynamo

that created the planet's magnetic field, and researcher Xiaodong

Song said he believes magnetic interaction is responsible for the

different rates of spin.

 

The faster spin of the core was proposed in 1996 by two of the

current study's authors, Paul Richards of Lamont-Doherty and Song,

now an associate professor at Illinois.

 

The researchers studied the travel times of earthquake waves

through the Earth, analyzing what are called couplets. Those are

earthquakes that originate within a half-mile or so of one another

but at different times.

 

They analyzed 30 quakes occurring in the South Atlantic and

measured at 58 seismic stations in Alaska and found differences in

the travel times and shape of the waves, indicating differences in

the core as the waves passed through the center of the Earth.

 

Analyzing those differences, they calculated that the core is

spinning slightly faster than the rest of the planet and is a bit

lumpy.

 

That solid inner core is surrounded by a fluid outer core about

4,200 miles across.

 

Since the planet is divided into 360 degrees of longitude, a core

spinning one-quarter to one-half degree faster than the outer

surface could take between 700 and 1,400 years to get one full

revolution ahead.

 

But Song said in a telephone interview that he expected that rate

to vary over time and sometimes the core might be spinning slower

than the rest of the planet.

 

" What we see right now is a snapshot of a long time process between

the magnetic field and the inner core, " he said. " I do expect to

see this rate change with time. "

 

I wonder if the story above or the stories below may have had

something to do with the December 2004 quake?

 

" Swift's First Burst Pinpointed

Summary - (Feb 14, 2005) Astronomers from Carnegie and Caltech have

pinpointed the exact location of the first gamma-ray burst detected

by NASA's Swift observatory on December 23, 2004. The team used the

telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile to watch the fading

afterglow of the explosion in the constellation of Puppis. Three

more bursts were detected in January, and they have also been

studied by various telescopes around the world. Researchers are

hoping they can use these intense explosions as a kind of

flashlight, to illuminate distant objects which are normally too

dark to study.

Full Story - Cosmic gamma-ray bursts produce more energy in the

blink of an eye, than the Sun will release in its entire lifetime.

These short-lived explosions appear to be the death throes of

massive stars, and, many scientists believe, mark the birth of

black holes. Testing these ideas has been difficult, however,

because the bursts fade so quickly and rapid action is required.

Now a team of Carnegie and Caltech astronomers, led by

Carnegie-Princeton and Hubble fellow Edo Berger, has made crucial

strides toward answering these cosmic quandaries. The team was able

to discover and study burst afterglows thanks to the exquisite

performance of NASA's new Swift satellite and rapid follow-up with

telescopes in both the southern and northern hemispheres.

 

" I'm thrilled, " said Berger. " We've shown that we can chase the

Swift bursts at a moment's notice, even right before Christmas!

This is a great sign of exciting advances down the road. " The

discoveries herald a new era in the study of gamma-ray bursts,

hundreds of which are expected to be discovered and scrutinized in

the next several years.

 

The Swift satellite detected the first of the four bursts on

December 23, 2004, in the constellation Puppis, and Carnegie

astronomers used telescopes at the Las Campanas Observatory in

Chile to pinpoint the visual afterglow within several hours. This

was the first burst detected solely by the new Swift satellite to

be pinpointed with sufficient accuracy to study the remains. The

next three bursts came in quick succession between January 17 and

26 and were immediately pinpointed by a team of Carnegie and

Caltech astronomers using the Palomar Mountain 200-inch Hale

telescope in California and the Keck Observatory 10-meter

telescopes in Hawaii.

 

" The Las Campanas telescopes are ideal for their flexibility to

follow up targets like gamma-ray bursts, which quickly fade out of

view, " said Carnegie Observatories director Wendy Freedman. " This

is a wonderful example of science that comes from the synergy

between telescopes on the ground and in space, and between public

and private observatories. "

 

Because Swift allows a response to new gamma-ray bursts within

minutes, astronomers hope to use the intense light from gamma-ray

bursts as cosmic " flashlights. " They plan to use the bright visual

afterglows to trace the formation of the first galaxies, only a few

hundred million years after the Big Bang, and the composition of

the gas that permeates the universe. " This is much like using a

flashlight to study the contents of a dark room, " said Berger. " But

because the flashlight is on for only a few hours, we have to act

quickly. "

 

" Swift's rapid response is opening a new window on the universe. I

can't wait to see what we catch, " remarked Neil Gehrels of Goddard

Space Flight Center, principal investigator for Swift.

 

Swift, launched on November 20, 2004, is the most sensitive

gamma-ray burst satellite to date, and the first to have X-ray and

optical telescopes on-board, allowing it to relay very accurate and

rapid positions to astronomers on the ground. The satellite is a

collaboration between NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Penn

State University, Leicester University and the Mullard Space

Science Laboratory (both in England), and the Osservatorio

Astronomico di Brera in Italy.

 

In the next few years the Swift satellite is expected to find

several hundred gamma-ray bursts. Follow-up observations on-board

Swift and using telescopes on the ground should move us a few steps

closer to answering some of the most fundamental puzzles in

astronomy, such as the birth of black holes, the first stars, and

the first galaxies.

 

The team that identified and studied the afterglows of the first

Swift bursts—in addition to Berger, Freedman and Gehrels—includes

Mario Hamuy, Wojtek Krzeminski, and Eric Persson from Carnegie

Observatories, Shri Kulkarni, Derek Fox, Alicia Soderberg, and Brad

Cenko from Caltech, Dale Frail from the National Radio Astronomy

Observatory, Paul Price from the University of Hawaii, Eric Murphy

from Yale University, and Swift team members David Burrows, John

Nousek, and Joanne Hill from Penn State University, Scott Barthelmy

from Goddard Space Flight Center, and Alberto Moretti from

Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera. "

 

 

" Huge 'star-quake' rocks Milky Way

Astronomers say they have been stunned by the amount of energy

released in a star explosion on the far side of our galaxy, 50,000

light-years away.

The flash of radiation on 27 December was so powerful that it

bounced off the Moon and lit up the Earth's atmosphere.

 

The blast occurred on the surface of an exotic kind of star - a

super-magnetic neutron star called SGR 1806-20.

 

If the explosion had been within just 10 light-years, Earth could

have suffered a mass extinction, it is said.

 

 

This is a once-in-a-lifetime event

Dr Rob Fender, Southampton University

 

" We figure that it's probably the biggest explosion observed by

humans within our galaxy since Johannes Kepler saw his supernova in

1604, " Dr Rob Fender, of Southampton University, UK, told the BBC

News website.

One calculation has the giant flare on SGR 1806-20 unleashing about

10,000 trillion trillion trillion watts.

 

" This is a once-in-a-lifetime event. We have observed an object

only 20km across, on the other side of our galaxy, releasing more

energy in a 10th of a second than the Sun emits in 100,000 years, "

said Dr Fender.

 

Fast turn

 

The event overwhelmed detectors on space-borne telescopes, such as

the recently launched Swift observatory.

 

This facility was put above the Earth to detect and analyse

gamma-ray bursts - very intense but fleeting flashes of radiation.

 

The giant flare it and other instruments caught in December has

left scientists scrambling for superlatives.

 

 

Twenty institutes from around the world have joined the

investigation and two teams are to report their findings in a

forthcoming issue of the journal Nature.

The light detected from the giant flare was far brighter in

gamma-rays than visible light or X-rays.

 

Research teams say the event can be traced to the magnetar SGR 1806-

20.

 

This remarkable super-dense object is a neutron star - it is

composed entirely of neutrons and is the remnant collapsed core of

a once giant star.

 

Now, though, this remnant is just 20km across and spins so fast it

completes one revolution every 7.5 seconds.

 

" It has this super-strong magnetic field and this produces some

kind of structure which has undergone a rearrangement - it's an

event that is sometimes characterised as a 'star-quake', a neutron

star equivalent of an earthquake, " explained Dr Fender.

 

" It's the only possible way we can think of releasing so much

energy. "

 

Continued glow

 

SGR 1806-20 is sited in the southern constellation Sagittarius. Its

distance puts it beyond the centre of the Milky Way and a safe

distance from Earth.

 

" Had this happened within 10 light-years of us, it would have

severely damaged our atmosphere and would possibly have triggered a

mass extinction, " said Dr Bryan Gaensler, of the

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who is the lead author

on one of the forthcoming Nature papers.

 

" Fortunately there are no magnetars anywhere near us. "

 

The initial burst of high-energy radiation subsided quickly but

there continues to be an afterglow at longer radio wavelengths.

 

This radio emission persists as the shockwave from the explosion

moves out through space, ploughing through nearby gas and exciting

matter to extraordinary energies.

 

" We may go on observing this radio source for much of this year, "

Dr Fender said.

 

This work is being done at several centres around the globe,

including at the UK's Multi-Element Radio-Linked Interferometer

Network (Merlin) and the Joint Institute for VLBI (Very Long

Baseline for Interferometry) in Europe - both large networks of

linked radio telescopes.

 

 

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/4278005.stm

*********************************************************************

*************************

 

meanwhile, back on planet earth many humans continued to eat animals.

The feeding of fish to so-called " livestock " , including anchovies,

and the fish plankton Krill, which interacts with the plant

plankton, called phyto-plankton, which produces 40% of the world's

oxygen further tips earth towards more atmospheric imbalance because

as the Krill as removed from the eco-system the phyto-plankton, the

plant plankton, die off too because they are interdependent with the

Krill.

 

another cause of jeapordy for the plant plankton are the holes in

the ozone layer which

permit more and more ultraviolet radiation through. That radiation

is also killing the fragile

plant plankton off.

 

Jacques Cousteau estimated some years ago that 40% of the life in

the seas had already

been destroyed.

 

More recently we got even worse news:

" Extinction fears

In July, scientists warned extinctions are happening at 100 to 1,000

times the natural rate in geological history. Nearly a quarter of

mammals, a third of amphibians and more than a tenth of bird species

are threatened. Climate change is expected to force a further 15% to

37% of species over the edge. In November we learned that the

current rate of extraction from the seas is predicted to cause the

collapse of all the world's fish and shellfish stocks by 2048.

Another study suggested that tigers would become extinct in just two

decades. "

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1978758,00.html

 

Buckminster Fuller, the author Small Is Beautiful often would ask

his audiences to visualize the earth as a steel ball 6 feet in

diameter. Next he asked them to imagine that they had blown on the

ball. The condensation from the moisture of their breath blowing on

the ball was equal, said Fuller, to the depth of the oceans on the

earth using the 6 foot in diameter steel ball as a model.

 

Although we call this planet earth, if seen from space it might be

called the planet water, yet Fuller's lesson mentioned above shows

us just how little water there really is on this planet compared to

the size of the planet.

 

And the planet is tiny. When the comet Schumacher-Levy 9 hit Jupiter

in the 1990s the explosions from the comet's hits on Jupiter were

the size of the earth.

 

Something to consider in the overall scale of things.

 

And what is water composed of? It is composed of hydogen and oxygen,

the formula for

water is H for hydrogen the number 2 and O for Oxygen.

 

Absent the oxygen produced by the phytoplankton, absent the oxygen

produced by trees which continue to be destroyed to obtain more

grazing land for so-called " livestock " , and more land on which feed

for animals may be grown, what will be the source of the world's

oxygen?

 

Oxygen, which is vital not only for water, but for each breath we

take. And recall too that the billions upon billions, literally

trillions of so-called food animals including chickens, etc.

that are brought into being solely for the purpose of human

consumption would not exist at all if humans were to stop eating

animals. And every single one of those so-called food animals is a

competitor with humans for oxygen and is a producer of carbon

dioxide, the key greenhouse gas that traps the heat of the earth in

the earth's atmosphere causing further global warming.

 

And so of course we are all threatened by the overall situation. We

learned recently of the plight of the polar bears, about which many

of us have been warning for some time.

"

December 28, 2006

Agency Proposes to List Polar Bears as Threatened

By FELICITY BARRINGER and ANDREW C. REVKIN

WASHINGTON, December 27th 2006 — The Interior Department proposed

Wednesday to designate polar bears as a threatened species, saying

that the accelerating loss of the Arctic ice that is the bears'

hunting platform has led biologists to believe that bear populations

will decline, perhaps sharply, in the coming decades.

Many experts on the Arctic say that global warming is causing the

ice to melt and that the warming is at least partly the result of

the buildup of heat-trapping gases from tailpipes and smokestacks in

the atmosphere. The plight of the polar bear has been held up by

environmentalists as a symbol of global warming caused by humans.

But in a conference call with reporters, Interior Secretary Dirk

Kempthorne said that although his decision to seek protection for

polar bears acknowledged the melting of the Arctic ice, his

department was not taking a position on why the ice was melting or

what to do about it.

While the Bush administration " takes climate change very seriously

and recognizes the role of greenhouse gases in climate change, " Mr.

Kempthorne said, it was not his department's job to assess causes or

prescribe solutions. " That whole aspect of climate change is beyond

the scope of the Endangered Species Act, " he added.

The scientific analysis in the proposal itself, however, did assess

the cause of melting ice. Most of the studies on the Arctic climate

and ice trends cited to support the proposed listing assumed that

the buildup of heat-trapping gases was probably contributing to the

loss of sea ice to date or that the continued buildup of these

gases, left unchecked, could create ice-free Arctic summers later

this century, and possibly in as little as three decades.

The Interior Department has a year to gather and study comments on

the proposed listing and make a final determination. It must also

work out a recovery plan to control and reduce harmful impacts to

the species, usually by controlling the activities that cause harm.

It is unclear whether such a recovery plan could avoid addressing

the link between manmade emissions of heat-trapping gases and the

increase in Arctic temperatures.

Kert Davies, the research director for Greenpeace U.S.A., one of

three environmental groups that sued the Interior Department in 2005

to force it to add polar bears to the list of threatened species,

said the administration was " clearly scrambling for credibility of

any kind in this issue. "

Kassie Siegel, the lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity, a

group based in Arizona that took the lead in the lawsuit calling on

the department to list the polar bear, added, " I don't see how even

this administration can write this proposal without acknowledging

that the primary threat to polar bears is global warming and without

acknowledging the science of global warming. "

As a result of the lawsuit, the Interior Department had a court-

ordered deadline of Wednesday to make a decision.

The worldwide population of polar bears currently stands at 20,000

to 25,000, broken into 19 groups in Russia, Denmark, Norway, Canada

and the United States. One-quarter to one-fifth of that population

occupies waters off the shores of Alaska or the nearby coastlines,

with separate groups in the Chukchi Sea off northwestern Alaska, the

Northern Beaufort Sea and the Southern Beaufort Sea off the North

Slope of Alaska

The most-studied bear population, in the Western Hudson Bay in

Canada, has dropped 22 percent, to 935 from 1,194 from 1987 to 2004,

the proposal by the Fish and Wildlife Service said.

It added, " However, based on environmental factors and observed

patterns of population trends for some populations, it is likely

that most populations will exhibit declines in the future. "

The International Conservation Union, in its latest red list of

endangered wildlife, gave polar bears threatened status in May,

projecting a decline of 30 percent by midcentury from current

populations, mainly due to projected losses of sea ice in a warming

world.

Polar bears are dependent on sea ice as a platform for hunting

seals, and as a pathway to coastal areas. The ice shrinkage has

meant that polar bears, which are strong swimmers, have had to cover

longer distances between ice and land.

They have survived previous Arctic warming periods, including the

last warm stretch between ice ages some 130,000 years ago, but some

climate experts project that nothing in the species' history is

likely to match the pace and extent of warming and ice retreats

projected in this century and beyond, should emissions of heat-

trapping gases continue unabated.

While Mr. Kempthorne and Dale Hall, director of the Fish and

Wildlife Service, said Wednesday that they saw no separate risk to

polar bears from oil and gas activity, the latest assessment of the

species for the International Conservation Union, by a group of

experts including Fish and Wildlife Service biologists, did include

such activity in a list of threats, including toxic contaminants,

shipping and recreational viewing.

Recently, the Minerals Management Service, another division of the

Interior Department, proposed opening sections of the Beaufort and

Chukchi Seas to oil and gas drilling.

" This listing will hopefully provide additional leverage to look

more closely at those decisions, " said Margaret Williams, director

of the Bering Sea ecoregion program at the World Wildlife Federation.

Scott Schliebe, a federal biologist and the polar bear project

leader for the Fish and Wildlife Service, said the basic connection

between shrinking ice and greater distress for the bears was well

established. This is shown clearly in areas where ice has retreated

progressively in summers — including the Beaufort Sea off the North

Slope and Hudson Bay in Canada. In such places, Mr. Schliebe

said, " we know today that they're facing a situation of distress and

nutritional stress. "

The department's proposal said that " at this time " the lands and

waters most critical to the bears' protection, called critical

habitat in the law, were " not determinable. "

Critical-habitat designations ensure that federal agencies must

study the impact that any activities they conduct or approve in that

area might have on the species at risk.

Felicity Barringer reported from Washington, and Andrew C. Revkin

from New York. "

 

Consider the " fish story " below, which turns out to be a true story

too.

 

" Fishitarian Or Vegetarian? The Difference Might Be Fatal!

A lot of people are becoming vegetarians these days. For a great

many people the world food crisis provides sufficient motivation to

change from carnivorous livestock-based diets to vegetarian diets.

Some of those so motivated have contended that a diet which includes

fish would be a smaller strain on the resources of the land to

produce food for our planet's large human population. This statement

overlooks the fact that fish use plankton of plant origin as a

primary food at the low level of the food chain. A plankton

cultivation system arising from a future technology would be a much

more efficient method of producing food for earth's people than

eating fish which are much higher on the food chain than plankton.

Plankton cultivation of course would require the development of a

technology which did not remove this key planetary input from its

role as an oxygen provider. Much of the world's oxygen is provided

by plankton. A plankton cultivation system could be developed

without too much effort if it became necessary. To date it is not.

The produce of the land if eaten directly can today supply more than

enough food for all of the planet's human inhabitants. We now have

available about one acre of arable land per person on which to

produce food for everyone now living. A vegetarian diet requires

about half an acre per person; and half of that will provide a total

vegetarian or " vegan " diet.

Jacques Cousteau has been quoted as saying that some 40% of the life

in the seas has died in recent decades. Pollution has been a major

factor in this devastation. So has so-called " overfishing " of the

world's waters. To the fish which is caught, any fishing

is " overfishing. " The massive scale of modern fishing has led to a

great increase over time in fish yields up until recent years. A few

short years ago a decline in yields was noted even though fishing

was being attempted on an even grander scale. Clearly the fish

population is being decimated by fishing. Massive fish kills caused

by pollution have also been reported in recent years around the

world. Like other animals fish concentrate environmental pollutants

the higher one goes up the food chain. Recently fishing the Hudson

River was banned because of the presence of PolyChlorinated

Biphenyls (PCBs) in fish at levels up to 350 parts per million. FDA

surveys of grocery store foods in 1972 had shown PCBs to be present

at levels up to 35 pans per million in fish. A 35 part per million

level constitutes 7 times the level of PCBs which sterilized mink

whose diets included Lake Michigan Coho Salmon. Lake Michigan

residents were warned not to consume more salmon. The PCB dietary

levels of the mink were determined to have been 5 parts per million.

That level caused complete reproductive failure in the mink. The

mink ranchers have since switched to other foods for the mink. The

presence of 70 times the 5 part per million level in Hudson River

fish was blamed on General Electric which had been dumping the

industrial chemical in the river for years. Widely used in industry,

PCBs have also entered the environment through the burning of

containers in which they have been used.

PCBs are used in plasticizers, adhesives, sealants, transformers,

and a wide variety of industrial applications. A 1973 study by

scientists at the Davis Campus of the University of California

reported that PCBs were the environmental derivative of DDT

degrading in the environment. Recognition of PCBs in walruses, seals

and polar bears at the Arctic Circle had prompted the research of

the Davis scientists. The Arctic Circle is thousands of miles from

the nearest industrial application of PCBs. DDT has been used

worldwide. Spread by wind and water, DDT is estimated to be present

in every human being. The Davis team reported that the interaction

of time, about four years, and sunlight causes DDT to break down

becoming PCBs. Half the American population is estimated to have

measurable amounts of PCBs. Concentrated up the food chain via fish

and other animal products, PCBs like other pollutants, reach the

consumers of these products in high levels. Fish kills caused by

PCBs have been reported around the world. PCBs at low levels have

also caused mutations in plankton.

A sampling of massive fish kills from various sources of pollution

in recent years would paint a picture somewhat like this:

June 1968, 100,000 fish in the Stanislaus River in California

including carp, catfish, sturgeon, striped bass, sunfish, shad,

smallmouth black bass, hardheads, blue-gills are found dead in the

river. The California State Fish and Game Department calls the fish

kill the result of pollution.

August 12, 1968, a number called significant by the Virginia State

Water Control Board is reported in fish killed in the James River

because of toxic human-made chemicals introduced into the water.

August 29, 1968, 1,000 small fish of different species are found

dead in Accabonac Harbor at Riverhead, Long Island, New York.

Pesticides Spray

The New York State Bureau of Marine Fisheries calls pesticide

spraying the cause of the fish kill.

Scuba divers off Sea Bright, New Jersey, in the spring of 1969,

report a graveyard of crustaceans and fish at depths of less than

100 feet. Cunner, black sea bass, ocean pout, rock crabs, tautog,

lobsters, mussels are among those found dead. Great migrations of

fish and crustaceans away from the region are reported by other

divers. A low level of dissolved oxygen in the water is estimated to

be the cause of death.

The Rhine River in West Germany and Holland in June of 1969 is the

site of a fish kill of perhaps 40 million fish. Endosulfan, a

chlorinated cyclic hydrocarbon marketed by the Hoechst chemical firm

as Thiodan, is the cause of the kill.

May 5, 1970: 349,000 plus fish die in Missouri's Crooked Creek after

a large quantity of toxic material is dumped into the water.

Clordane and Malathion in Xylene is blamed for the kill. Ninety

percent of the dead fish are orange throat divers and minnows. All

other aquatic life in the stream is killed for a distance of two

miles from the dumping. Snakes, turtles, tadpoles, crayfish and

large numbers of frogs are among those killed.

December 18, 1970: millions of fish wash ashore dead off the

Peruvian coast of Pisco. A thick layer of dead fish 15 feet wide is

formed stretching nearly two miles. Flounders, " cabrillas "

rays, " corvinillas, " ayanques, and " pintadillas " are among those

killed. Toxic sewage is a suspected cause of the kill.

May 30, 1971: Large numbers of dying fish drift ashore between

Jubail and Ras Tanura on the Saudi Arabian Persian Gulf. Hamoor,

black sbaitee, and angel fish are among those killed. Large mature

adults weighing from one to 10 pounds with some up to 20 pounds are

the principal victims of the kill. A large octopus and a large

barracuda are also found killed. The cause of the kill is not

discovered to date. All of the fish have grossly inflated air-

bladders. The network of blood vessels in the airbladder's dorsal

wall is enormously distended and filled with blood. All the fish

have empty stomachs but were fat and seemed normal.

August 5, 1971: Lees River, Massachusetts is the site of a fish kill

involving nine species of marine fish and two species of

invertebrates. Over one million juvenile menhaden are killed. Lesser

numbers of weakfish, cunner, American eel, tautog, oyster toad fish,

white perch, silver-side and mummichog also die. Half a million

prawns are killed. A depressed level of dissolved oxygen is blamed

on industrial and commercial discharges. Excessive nitrogen,

phosphorus and ammonia are found.

Metropolitan New York: Fish " caught " off the New York gap, the site

of sewage dumping for large parts of the Metropolitan area, are

being brought on board ship decks and breaking up on the decks. As a

result the fish are being sold fillet rather than whole. The

situation continues to date.

Clearly the dangers involved in eating fish ought to be reason

enough to be truly vegetarian. The tragic case of the many Japanese

children born deformed because polluted fish were eaten by the

parents (of the Minamata, Japan children) is one which may be

repeated more often as people continue to eat animals from the sea.

Mercury is blamed for pollution of the fish in that case.

The fact that PCBs have been found to produce cancer as well as

sterility, disfigurement, liver problems, and other horrors, ought

to prompt officials to ban fish containing PCBs under the provisions

of the Delaney Amendment. The Delaney clause states that chemicals

found to cause cancer cannot be present in foods. If PCBs cannot be

removed from " foods, " those containing PCBs should be banned from

human consumption.

What of the ethical side of the question? Dolphins face extinction

because modern tuna fishing catches and kills large numbers of them

each year. We should be concerned about the tuna also. Each tuna is

a living creature with a right to live. To a fish being caught the

concept of " endangered species " is immediately reduced to one

of " endangered individual. " Can we relate as well to fish as we do

to land animals? As vegetarians we can see that land animals move,

breathe, feel, think, live. Do we not also realize that fish do all

of this too? Perhaps a few days in a so-called " seafood " restaurant

might convince one that the bodies of the fish being consumed are

indeed bodies of once living, breathing, thinking, feeling animals

who happened to live in water. In Taiwan live puppies are found in

cages as one enters a restaurant. One can then select the dog to be

killed for one's meal. The " chow dog " of old China is the original

reason why chow mein has its name. In America and elsewhere in the

world one can find live lobsters similarly displayed ready for

murder, in the midst of restaurants. Aren't both acts equally

horrible?

We can look too, to the meaning of the word " vegetarian; " it is

derived from the Latin vegetas—full of life! Clearly if we fill our

bodies with the bodies of murdered fish we are full of death instead

of life.

Fishitarian or vegetarian, which will it be? The choice belongs to

us. The victims cannot vote. In a sense though we are all victims of

the fish-eating habit whether we eat fish ourselves or others do.

The continued fishing of the world's waters may result in a

disturbance of the already fragile eco-system of the waterlife of

earth.

That fish and plankton are interdependent ought to be clear. Fish

feed on plankton. Fish wastes and decayed fish become a basis for

plankton nourishment. There is a symbiotic system among plants and

animals in water just as there is on land. Plankton produce oxygen

which is used by all life on earth. With increasing fishing removing

fish from the waters of the world plankton may become a vanishing

species. Without plankton earth would be deprived of vast amounts of

oxygen. Without that oxygen it is likely that planetary extinction

for all forms of life would follow. The continued plunder of earth's

waterways for fish is senseless and dangerous. Whether we remove

animals at the top of the ocean food chain like whales or animals

near the bottom of the food chain like krill which are a fish type

of plankton, we are dangerously jeopardizing the planet's ecosystem.

Krill has been looked upon by some as a potential new food for

people. Hundreds of millions of tons of krill may soon

be " harvested " annually for human consumption. That these fish

plankton are interlocked with plant plankton which produce oxygen

should be clear. Removing them may endanger the continued existence

of the plant plankton they have interplay with.

Even those who do not consume fish directly may be consuming them

indirectly. Fish are now a major source of animal feed in America

and other parts of the world. The use of animals and animal products

as food actually involves the indirect consumption of many fish.

Fish oils are also often used as a source of the Vitamin D added to

milk. Some dairies use irradiated ergosterol, also called viosterol,

as a vegetarian source of Vitamin D, but switch to fish oils as

price dictates.

Conscience then dictates abstinence from animals and animal products

in one's diet. As a first step in one's vegetarianism the

elimination of all flesh as food is a good move. Fish, like other

animals, belong in their native environment and not in our stomachs.

As we are what we eat, if we do not eat corpses we are less likely

to become corpses quickly ourselves.

Fishitarian or Vegetarian? Hopefully a wise choice to be vegetarian

will be made by all of us. "

 

 

So what are we doing about all of this? Well we are trying to create

a veggie world.

That means of course getting more people to become aware of the need

to go veggie.

And what about the veggies who are out there already?

 

Well I want to tell you a personal story about that. My late father

was a veggie when he was younger, but he married a carnivore. As a

result I was raised as a carnivore, though I can recall my late

father eating vegetable plates at diners we would go to so he could

get them and eating vegetarian Chinese food at Chinese restuarants

we would go to so he could get that food. At long last he finally

gave up and ended his vegetarianism.

 

Though he live to what some consider to be " a ripe old age " I am

convinced that had he remained a veggie he would still be alive. He

has been dead for some years now.

 

What all of that means of course is that we need to make sure that

veggies marry veggies and that they raise their children as veggies.

 

So the need for single veggie organizations is enormous.

NJSingleVegetarians/

 

Subscribe: NJSingleVegetarians-

 

It was certainly good fortune that I became a veggie myself quite

awhile ago but many children of these so-called " veg/carnivore "

or " mixed-marriages " are not quite so lucky and end up as non-

veggies.

 

I am also of course promoting the veggie way of life to others who

are not yet veggies.

 

One key group to promote the veggie way of life to is science

fiction fans. Why science fiction fans? Well because some science

fiction fans actually become science fiction writers.

 

Why science fiction writers then? Well because the way of life that

we take for granted here in the so-called " first world " , of

industrialized nations is a way of life that not so long ago

was considered to be science fiction. It was a science fiction

writer: Arthur C. Clarke, who

came up with the idea of communications satellites as a science

fiction idea.

 

Well they are fiction no more. Nor are communications devices that

do not require wires.

Remember the " communicators " on StarTrek? Chances are you have a

cell phone in your pocket or in your car, or if you don't you know

more than one person who does.

 

Once again, fiction no more. Fact.

 

The science fiction fan of today is the science fiction writer of

tomorrow.

 

The science fiction story or idea of today is the fact of tomorrow,

just as yesterday's science fiction stories and ideas are the facts

of today.

 

Another place I am helping to promote the veggie way of life is in

the Jewish community.

I happen to be Jewish and would want nothing but the best way of

life there is for my fellow Jews. Eating animals is not only not

good for the animals who are murdered for food, it is not good for

the humans who eat them.

 

Being veggie is also very much in the interests of the Jewish

community around the world.

Producing a pound of steak " protein " on the plate requires up to 21

pounds of so-called

" feed " protein from things like the 42% of American wheat

production, the 86% of American corn, oats and barley production,

the 90% of non-exported soybean production, that goes into the

creation of that pound of steak " protein " on the plate of the

American animal eater.

 

Producing all of that so-called " feed " requires a lot of energy.

More energy is used

as petro-chemical based fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides, etc.

as well as in the transportation of that so-called " feed " , and of

the animals themselves, in the disposal of their wastes, in the

movement of water to irrigate those crops and to " water " those

animals.

 

Many of the energy sources involved are nations around the world

that supply arms to terrorists who slaughter Jews in Israel and

around the world, as well as other innocents, such as those who were

slaughtered on September 11th. 2001.

 

So I am promoting Jewish singles events at veggie establishments to

bring the fact of being able to have a veggie meal as a reality to

my fellow Jews.

 

If you are Jewish yourself I hope that you will do the same wherever

you may be.

If you are able to come to some of these events I hope that you will

do so.

 

If you live to far away to get to them by all means create them.

Create them for your fellow Jews if you are Jewish.

 

Create them for your fellow veggies if you are veggie.

 

Create them for science fiction fans if you want to see science

fiction fans become veggie and science fiction ideas created by

veggie science fiction writers, all of whom start off as science

fiction fans creating the new facts of life on earth as ones which

will make it possible for a veggie world to in fact come into being.

 

Will you help in these effforts?

 

More Jewish Singles And Other Events

 

 

If you are Jewish, Single and over 21 you are invited to attend both

or either

of Two Jewish Singles Parties at the Veggie Heaven Chinese Kosher

totally

vegetarian restaurant in Parsippany, New Jersey. You need to be

Jewish, single

and over 21 to attend both or either of these Two Jewish Singles

Parties at the

Veggie Heaven Chinese Kosher totally vegetarian restaurant in

Parsippany, New

Jersey.

 

The first Jewish Singles Party at the Veggie Heaven Chinese Kosher

totally

vegetarian restaurant in

Parsippany, New Jersey will be held on Saturday Night,

January 6th, 2007 c.e. at 6 p.m.

 

The second Jewish Singles Party at the Veggie Heaven Chinese Kosher

totally

vegetarian restaurant in

Parsippany, New Jersey will be held on Sunday, January 7th, 2007

c.e. at 1 p.m.

 

Both Jewish Singles Parties at the Veggie Heaven Chinese Kosher

totally

vegetarian restaurant in Parsippany, New Jersey are sponsored by the

Jewish

Singles groups listed below:

 

 

JewishSinglesOfNJ/

 

 

JewishSinglesinNJforIsrael/

 

 

JewishSinglesFromEverywhere/

 

You do not have to be a member of the Jewish Singles groups listed

above to

attend the Jewish Singles Parties. You do, however, have to be

Jewish, Single,

and over 21 to attend the parties and to join the Jewish Singles

groups if you

decide to join them.

 

There is no charge ever to attend any of the events

sponsored by by the Jewish Singles Groups listed below or to join or

belong to

the Jewish Singles Groups listed below:

 

 

JewishSinglesOfNJ/

 

 

JewishSinglesinNJforIsrael/

 

 

JewishSinglesFromEverywhere/

 

When we go to a restaurant, such as Veggie Heaven, you pay the

restaurant

directly for the food you order plus tax and tip.

 

You never pay the Jewish Singles groups listed below anything at all

for

anything.

 

We never charge anything for any of our events. We do not charge

anything to

join or to belong to our Jewish Singles groups.

 

We do insist that you be Jewish, single, and over 21.

If we get large turnouts at events we will try to ask people to sit

at tables

they feel comfortable sitting at, which usually works out to be

grouped by

people they feel comfortable sitting with.

 

 

JewishSinglesOfNJ/

 

 

JewishSinglesinNJforIsrael/

 

 

JewishSinglesFromEverywhere/

 

 

 

Veggie Heaven is a 100% non-smoking restaurant, is moderately

priced,has brown

rice, does not use MSG or animal products, is Kosher and totally

vegetarian, has plenty of free parking and is easy to reach from

nearby

highways.

 

 

Here are the directions to Veggie Heaven It is a Vegan Chinese

Totally

Vegetarian Kosher Restaurant. The restaurant is located in

Parsippany, New

Jersey at 1119 Route 46 East #8A Parsippany, New

Jersey, in a shopping center which has plenty of parking and is near

Route 80.

The telephone numbers of the restaurant are 973 335-9876 and 973 263-

8331 the

zip code, if you are using Mapquest, is 07054.

 

 

From the West (I-80)Take I-80 East and exit at the Lake

Hiawatha/Whippany exit.

Make a left at the light at the exit go past the entrance ramp which

would put

you back onto Route 80 going west and make a left turn into the

shopping center.

 

 

From the South (I-287) Take I-287 North to the exit for I-80

eastbound

From the North (I-287) Take I-287 South to the exit for I-80

eastbound

Look for the signs for the Lake Hiawatha/Whippany Exit. Make a left

at the light

at the exit go past the entrance ramp which would put you back onto

Route 80

going west and make a left turn into the shopping center.

 

 

FROM THE GARDEN STATE PARKWAY TAKE EXIT 145 TO ROUTE 280 WEST THEN

Take the NEW RD exit- exit number 1. 0.15 miles Keep RIGHT at the

fork in the

ramp. 0.07 miles Stay straight to go onto NEW RD. 0.63 miles Turn

LEFT onto US-46 West.

DRIVING WEST ON ROUTE 46 Continue for two traffic lights (second

light is Parsippany-Troy Hills Shopping

Center)which is at the INTERSECTION of Route 46 and Beverwyck Road AT

WHICH YOU COULD TURN RIGHT TOWARDS LAKE HIAWATHA, INSTEAD OF TURNING

RIGHT HOWEVER TURN LEFT AT THAT INTERSECTION ONTO SOUTH BEVERWYCK

ROAD,THEN TURN RIGHT INTO THE SHOPPING CENTER ITSELF WHICH IS BEFORE

THE WEST BOUND RAMP TO ANOTHER HIGHWAY DO NOT TURN RIGHT INTO THE

BANK BUT TURN RIGHT BEYOND THE BANK AND INTO THE SHOPPING CENTER,

VEGGIE HEAVEN IS NEAR THE HEALTH FOOD STORE AND IS IN THE MIDDLE OF

THE SHOPPING CENTER, WHICH HAS PLENTY OF PARKING IF YOU GET LOST CALL

THE RESTAURANT FOR DIRECTIONS IF YOU ARRIVE EARLY

YOU MAY WISH TO DO SOME SHOPPING AT THE PATHMARK SUPERMARKET WHICH

IS IN THE

SAME SHOPPING CENTER.

 

From Route 80 Westbound get off at Exit 47 which will take you onto

Route 46 Westbound

and proceed to the Parsippany-Troy Hills Shopping

Center) which is at the INTERSECTION of Route 46 and Beverwyck Road

AT

WHICH YOU COULD TURN RIGHT TOWARDS LAKE HIAWATHA, INSTEAD OF TURNING

RIGHT HOWEVER TURN LEFT AT THAT INTERSECTION ONTO SOUTH BEVERWYCK

ROAD,THEN TURN RIGHT INTO THE SHOPPING CENTER ITSELF WHICH IS BEFORE

THE WEST BOUND RAMP TO ANOTHER HIGHWAY DO NOT TURN RIGHT INTO THE

BANK BUT TURN RIGHT BEYOND THE BANK AND INTO THE SHOPPING CENTER,

VEGGIE HEAVEN IS NEAR THE HEALTH FOOD STORE AND IS IN THE MIDDLE OF

THE SHOPPING CENTER, WHICH HAS PLENTY OF PARKING IF YOU GET LOST CALL

THE RESTAURANT FOR DIRECTIONS

 

 

The telephone numbers of the restaurant are 973 335-9876 and 973 263-

8331 the

zip code, if you are using Mapquest, is 07054. The

restaurant is a non-smoking

restaurant and moderately priced. The restaurant states that it does

not use MSG and does not use any animal products at all. It is

certified Kosher

by United Kosher Supervision P.O. Box 317 Monsey, NY

10952 Phone: (845) 352-1010 Fax: (845) 352-0316

Rabbinic Administrator: Rabbi Yaakov Spivak

 

Next, a glowing report on the Sunday December 3rd, 2006 c.e. Jewish

Singles Chat

for Jewish Singles which took place on Sunday December 3rd, 2006

c.e. at 1 p.m.

at Congregation B'nai Israel, 160 Millburn Avenue, Millburn, New

Jersey

07041 973-379-3811

http://www.cbi-nj.org/

 

There were over 50 people in attendance, which is a great turnout

for an event

of this kind, over fifty people in attendance. A quick head count

also showed

that there were about an equal number of men and women at the event.

It was a

win win situation for

everyone of both genders. Afterwards some of those in attendance

went to a

nearby diner,albeit a non-Kosher one, to socialize, as is the custom

with this

group.

 

The next Jewish Singles Chat for Jewish Singles is scheduled for

Sunday January

14th 2007 c.e. at 1 p.m. at Congregation B'nai Israel, 160 Millburn

Avenue,

Millburn, New Jersey 07041 973-379-3811

http://www.cbi-nj.org/

 

Please note that this is a CHANGE OF DATE from the

previously announced date for the Jewish Singles Chat for Jewish

Singles at

Congregation B'nai Israel, 160 Millburn Avenue, Millburn, New Jersey

07041

973-379-3811

http://www.cbi-nj.org/

 

 

The new date for the Jewish Singles Chat for Jewish Singles at

Congregation

B'nai Israel, 160 Millburn Avenue, Millburn, New Jersey 07041 973-

379-3811

is Sunday January 14th 2007 c.e. at 1 p.m.

 

 

Do not miss the event. We will be there. You should too.The Star-

Ledger Ticket

Section, which comes out each Friday will no doubt list the event,

as will many

other newspapers, as they have

for quite awhile.

 

 

 

" MILLBURN, NEW JERSEY, SINGLES CHAT WITH LARRY, FOR JEWISH SINGLES

AGES 40-60,

Sunday January 14th, 2007 c.e. at 1 p.m. $5 Congregation B'nai

Israel, 160

Millburn Avenue, Millburn, New Jersey 07041 973-

379-3811

http://www.cbi-nj.org/

 

The refreshments alone, which are delicious, are well worth the $5

after the

event many of the group's attendees usually adjourn to a nearby non-

Kosher

diner. The cost for the Jewish Singles Chat for

Jewish Singles, sponsored by a group that we have no

connection,with: is $5.

 

You pay them if you go to it.

 

You do not pay us.

 

We assume that the low $5 cost for the event will be the same at the

January

14th, 2007 c.e. event as it was at the Jewish Singles Chat for

Jewish Singles previous events.

 

http://www.cbi-nj.org/find/find.htm

" Finding Congregation B'nai Israel

Congregation B'nai Israel is at 160 Millburn Avenue, Millburn, New

Jersey,

07041. Our office phone number is 973-379-3811.

We are at the intersection of Millburn Avenue and Vauxhall Road.

From downtown Millburn, approach the synagogue by heading East on

Millburn Avenue (about 1 mile) and turn right into the first parking

lot entrance just past the synagogue building. If you miss this

entrance, there is a second parking lot entrance at the traffic

light just beyond the first entrance. If you are coming from Route

78 Westbound, take Exit 50B, Millburn. Turn right at the light at

the end of the exit ramp onto Vauxhall Road. Follow the road

less than 1 mile as it winds through a couple of lights and ends at

a light at the T-intersection with Millburn Avenue. Staying in the

left lane, turn left onto Millburn Ave, go straight through the

light immediately in front of you at the first parking lot entrance

and then turn left into the second parking lot entrance just before

the synagogue. You can also get directions via Mapquest. "

 

We have no connection to the Jewish Singles Chat for Jewish Singles,

or to its sponsors, but we will be going to it, and very highly

recommend it to everyone who is Jewish and single, and within the

age range that seems to have showed up last time for the Jewish

Singles Chat for Jewish Singles, which seemed to be,

roughly speaking, Baby Boomers, give or take a few years or so.

 

Larry always gets a good turnout at his events, which he has been

running for many years around New Jersey.

 

You may recall some of those events which used to take place at

Temple Beth Shalom 193 E Mount Pleasant Ave

Livingston, NJ 07039 http://tbsnj.org/ for a number of years.

 

The fact that this event will no doubt be in the Ticket Section of

The Star-Ledger on the

Friday preceding the event ,and no doubt other newspapers at well,

will

help to assure a great turnout. Be There!

 

 

 

 

 

To Boldly Go Away From Your Computer And To Some of The Best Events

in New

Jersey

 

The host group for the first event listed below is THE SCIENCE

FICTION

ASSOCIATION OF BERGEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY PHONE: (201) 447- 3652

http://www.sfabc.org/

 

 

On Saturday Night January 13th,2007 c.e. at 6:30 p.m. the best

possible event

for everyone, and especially for single women, who often complain

that there are

too few single men at events they go to, is an event not advertised

just for

singles, that anyone,regardless of background, or marital status,

can go to will

be at the

Saddle River Valley Cultural Center

305 West Saddle River

Upper Saddle River, New Jersey

in Bergen County, New Jersey

 

 

If it is your first time at the event the host group usually does

not even

charge you to go. Afterwards they usually charge you $2 per monthly

meeting and

ask that you join their group. The host group is

THE SCIENCE FICTION ASSOCIATION OF BERGEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY PHONE:

(201) 447

3652

http://www.sfabc.org/

 

 

 

 

The reason the event is the best possible event for single women is

that most

science fiction fans are men. In the parts of New Jersey where the

science

fiction clubs we know of operate there is also a

very high percentage of Jewish residents.

 

 

 

Many science fiction fans and science fiction writers and even

science fiction

stars, like Leonard Nimoy, (Mr. Spock), of Star Trek, and William

Shatner

(Captain Kirk), of Star Trek, also happen to be Jewish. Most science

fiction

fans I know are single men, and many of them, at least in places

like New

Jersey, are Jewish.

 

 

Moreover the event sponsored by THE SCIENCE FICTION ASSOCIATION OF

BERGEN

COUNTY, New Jersey PHONE: (201) 447 3652

http://www.sfabc.org/ is one in a long line of excellent events put

on by that

organizaton's founder, Phil, who can be reached at

THE SCIENCE FICTION ASSOCIATION OF

BERGEN COUNTY, New Jersey

 

PHONE: (201) 447 3652

http://www.sfabc.org

Phil founded the group about 22 years ago and his group has been

putting on

fantastic events on the second Saturday night of each month ever

since then.

It's a tradition. The SFABC is NOT a singles group and is open to

anyone

regardless of background or marital status.

 

ABOUT THE ASSOCIATION:

 

The S F A B C meets on the second Saturday of the

month and features talks, slide shows and other presentations by

people in the

science

fiction, fantasy, horror and related fields. The

Association sponsors a number of special interest groups, focusing

on different

aspects of science fiction and related matters,including activities

devoted to books, movies, television, animation,

horror and other events. We also produce a monthly newsletter

listing talks,

conventions, discussion groups and other activities of interest to

people who enjoy science fiction and related areas. We

invite you to contact us through our website:

http://www.sfabc.org

or call Phil at 201 447-3652 for details of his group's many

wonderful events.

 

THE STARSHIP LOCAL is a monthly newsletter of the

Science Fiction Association of Bergen County. It is designed to

communicate

basic information about the activities of the organization to

devotees of

fantasy, horror and science fiction.

We also publish a more extensive monthly newsletter,

THE STARSHIP EXPRESS, for members of the organization.

Directions to meeting site:

Saddle River Valley Cultural Center

305 West Saddle River

Upper Saddle River

Bergen County, New Jersey

 

The Cultural Center is not a church even though its architecture

closely

resembles a classic little white church,steeple and all. The parking

lot is not

too large, but it's okay to use the much bigger lot of the Methodist

Church

diagonally across the street.

 

Important Note: The Cultural Center is on WEST Saddle

River Road. One block further over is EAST Saddle River Road. Unlike

streets in

New York, East does not turn into West. The roads are on opposite

banks of the

Saddle River which is nothing more than a

stream at this point.

 

FROM ROUTE 17 NORTHBOUND:

Exit ROUTE 17 NORTH at the sign which reads SADDLE

RIVER / WOODCLIFF

LAKE. (This is the exit after Sheridan Avenue, Ho Ho

Kus.) This exit puts you onto EAST ALLENDALE AVENUE heading East.

Stay on road

for about mile and turn left at the first traffic light onto WEST

SADDLE RIVER ROAD. Drive north for 1-3/4 miles.

Shortly after passing a brick Catholic Church, the Church of the

Presentation,

on

your left hand side you cross into Upper Saddle River.

The Cultural Center is on your left hand side. If you come to a

traffic light

you have slightly overshot and hit LAKE STREET. Note: You will see a

sign marked

WEST SADDLE RIVER ROAD on Route 17

northbound well to the south of where you have been

told to leave Route 17. If you take this exit, you will eventually

get where you

want

to be, but it will take you a lot longer to get there.

FROM ROUTE 17 SOUTHBOUND:

Exit ROUTE 17 SOUTH at SADDLE RIVER / WOODCLIFF LAKE

exit. This puts you onto EAST ALLENDALE ROAD heading East. You drive

under the

highway. Then follow the directions from Route 17 Northbound.

Note: This way takes you a little bit longer than the

exit for UPPER SADDLE RIVER, but it spares you making hairpin turns

on steep

hills at night in bad weather on an unfamiliar road.

 

FROM THE GARDEN STATE PARKWAY NORTHBOUND:

 

Take Exit 172, GRAND AVENUE, MONTVALE. (This is the

last exit in

New Jersey and is just past the Montvale Service

Area). Turn left

at the exit ramp and head west on GRAND AVENUE. There

are a lot of

small towns in this area, and the road that you're on

will keep

changing its name. At different points it is called

GRAND AVENUE,

MONTVALE ROAD, RAMSEY ROAD and LAKE STREET. At the

second traffic

light you will be at the intersection of LAKE STREET

and EAST SADDLE

RIVER ROAD. It has two landmarks that anyone in the

area will know

about: a 7-11 type store called Elmers and a Texaco

station. Keep

driving west. Do not turn. Turn left at the next

traffic light onto

WEST SADDLE RIVER ROAD. The Cultural Center is 1/10 of

a mile down

the road on your right.

 

FROM ROCKLAND COUNTY VIA ROUTE 59:

Follow ROUTE 59 until you come to Norris

Pontiac in Monsey

and turn south at the traffic light unto ROUTE 306.

This road is

also called EAST SADDLE RIVER ROAD. Head south towards

New Jersey.

(Note: Although the maps show this road as Route 306,

and that's

what everyone calls it, after you make the turn, the

sign reads

ROUTE 73. Don't ask me to explain it.) Stay on ROUTE

306 for 2.3

miles Note that there is a long stretch between the

first and second

traffic lights.

Turn right at the second traffic light which

is the

intersection of EAST SADDLE RIVER ROAD and LAKE

STREET. A Texaco

station and Elmers are at this corner. Proceed west

and turn left

at the next traffic light onto WEST SADDLE RIVER ROAD.

The Cultural

Center is 1/10 of a mile down the road on your right.

 

 

 

Science Fiction events are ideal venues for women who are tired of

vastly

outnumbering men at singles events to meet Jewish men, many of whom

are single, because most science fiction events are much more

heavily attended

by men than by women, and many science fiction fans, especially in a

heavily

Jewish state like New Jersey, are also Jewish.

 

Please note that the first Tuesday Night of each

Month SFABC (Science Fiction Association of Bergen County, New

Jersey is in

Ramsey, New Jersey, not in Wayne, New Jersey. The webmaster of the

http://www.sfabc website has been contacted about the error on the

website and

will hopefully get it fixed soon.

 

So do NOT go to the Borders in Wayne, New Jersey

to find the SFABC on the first Tuesday night of each month.

 

Instead, you will find the SFABC at the Borders in

Ramsey, New Jersey on the first Tuesday night of each month.

 

This coming Tuesday January 2nd, 2007 c.e. at 6:30 P.M. THE SCIENCE

FICTION

ASSOCIATION

OF BERGEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY will have a get together at Grand

Buffet Chinese

Restaurant

875 Route 17 South, Ramsey, New Jersey 07446

(201) 934-5033

 

(The restaurant is a buffet restaruant, it is not Kosher, and, as

mentioned in

this post, the SFABC is open to anyone regardless of background or

marital

status, it is NOT a singles group, although it has many single

members, and it

is not a Jewish group, although it has many Jewish members. It is a

Science

Fiction group and we highly recommend it. It is open to all.

Naturally we wish

it would choose to dine at Kosher restaurants and we have suggested

Veggie

Heaven to the group as a possible site for some future dining

events.)

 

 

 

After dinner the group will move on to its 8 p.m. discussion at

Borders

Bookstore in Ramsey, New Jersey at Borders bookstore at the Ramsey

Interstate

Shopping Plaza

Street: 235 Interstate Shopping Center

City/State/Zip: Ramsey, NJ 07446

Phone: 201.760.1967

 

THE SCIENCE FICTION ASSOCIATION OF BERGEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY PHONE:

(201) 447 – 3652

http://www.sfabc.org is sponsoring this event.

 

 

There is no charge to participate in the dinner or the discussion.

You of course

pay for your own food, plus tax, at the Grand Buffet Chinese

Restaurant

 

Please note: this group also meets for dinner at the Grand Buffet

Chinese

Restaurant. Join the group for

dinner at the Grand Buffet in Ramsey, New Jersey on Route 17 South

at 6:30PM. It

is highly recommended

that you call Phil at (201) 447 – 3652 if at all possible before

Tuesday January

2nd, before going to the restaurant. The restaurant is located at

875 State Route 17 South, Ramsey, NJ 07446

http://ramseynj.areaconnect.com/restaurants/

 

 

Grand Buffet Chinese Restaurant

875 Route 17 South, Ramsey, New Jersey 07446

(201) 934-5033

 

 

 

" Grand Buffet represents a new phenomenon in Bergen County. These

large

all-you-can-eat Chinese restaurants offer phenomenal value…

It's also a fun place to take kids or to just have a decent cheap

meal out. Most

standard Chinese fare is presented in large steam trays… There are

also some

nice salads and decent desserts! "

http://www.chowbaby.com/restfinder.asp?aa=bb & cc=dd & city=RAMSEY

scroll down to

Grand Buffet

 

(201) 934-5033

875 Route 17 South

Ramsey, NJ 07446

 

 

For more information click

http://www.bordersstores.com/stores/store_pg.jsp?storeID=479.

 

Time: 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

 

Location: Borders at Ramsey Interstate Shopping Plaza

Street: 235 Interstate Shopping Center

City/State/Zip: Ramsey, NJ 07446

Phone: 201.760.1967

 

 

Directions to the 8 p.m. Tuesday January 2nd, 2007 c.e. meeting site:

Borders Books & Music

235 Route 17 South. Interstate Shopping Center

Route 17 South and Franklin Turnpike

Ramsey, New Jersey

(201) 760 - 1967

 

Borders Books shares a building with Bed, Bath and

Beyond at the east end of the Interstate Shopping Center. Although

it is

possible to enter the mall from the Franklin Turnpike, we recommend

the Route 17

approach. Borders abuts Route 17 South.

FROM ROUTE 17 SOUTHBOUND:

The entrance to the Interstate Shopping Center is from

Route 17 South, shortly past the Spring Street Exit and just

before the Franklin Turnpike overpass. It is about three miles

south of the junction of Routes 17 and 287, just past the Best

Western and the Howard Johnson.

FROM ROUTE 17 NORTHBOUND:

Travel north on Route 17 and make a U-Turn at the

Spring Street Exit in Ramsey, New Jersey. This is about ½ mile

past the Franklin Turnpike Exit and about 3-1/2 miles past the

Allendale Road Exit most of you take to our normal meeting site

in Upper Saddle River. Follow directions from Route 17

Southbound.

FROM THE GARDEN STATE PARKWAY NORTHBOUND:

...........Take Exit 163 which is about 2-3/4 miles after the toll

plaza. This is a left lane exit and puts you onto Route 17

North. Follow directions for northbound 17 above. You will be

on Route 17 for a little more than 10-1/4 miles before you hit

the Spring Street exit.

FROM ROUTE 287 IN NEW YORK:

Follow the signs for Route 17 South, Mahwah, New

Jersey. This is a left lane exit, so be sure to get into one of

the two leftmost lanes. Follow the directions from Route 17

Southbound.

FROM ROUTE 287 IN NEW JERSEY:

This is an awkward interchange. Follow the signs for

Route 17 South and Mahwah, New Jersey. The exit will put you

onto a long ramp that makes a " U " and deposits you on 287 heading

the opposite way. Get into the left hand lanes and follow the

signs for Route 17 South. Follow the directions listed above for

Route 17 Southbound.

 

For additional information, updates, contact Phil

By Voice: (201) 447-3652

By snail-mail:

SFABC c/o Phil

136 Manhattan Avenue

Waldwick, NJ 07463

USA

http://www.sfabc.org

The event mentioned above is a SCIENCE FICTION ASSOCIATON OF BERGEN

COUNTY, NEW

JERSEY http://www.sfabc.org

event we hope that everyone who can make it to that event will do so.

 

We also hope that you will join another New Jersey

Science Fiction group which is called NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS

 

 

NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS/

 

There is no charge to join NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS

 

NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS/

 

or to belong to

NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS/

 

NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS

 

or to attend any of its events. If you go to a restaurant you pay

only for the

food that you order plus tax and tip. You never pay

NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS

 

NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS/

 

 

anything for any of its events.

 

NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS

 

NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS/

 

Wants you! Our Science Fiction group is for everyone 21 or older

regardless of

background or marital status. Younger fans should find another group.

Please introduce yourself when you join and

periodically as new members keep joining. We plan to get together at

restaurants

and to go to movies. We will see them in movie theaters, and, if

people are kind

enough, on people's home VCRs, or DVD players, for the

technologically advanced

among us. Buy your own movie tickets. Buy your own meals at

Restaurants.

Hopefully a typical event would involve going to a Science Fiction

Movie and

then to a Restaurant to discuss the movie we just saw.

 

Please also join the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County,

New Jersey

http://www.sfabc.org and attend their many wonderful events.

 

 

Are you a single Science Fiction fan looking for a soulmate? Perhaps

you will

find that person here. This club is not a New Jersey singles group

per se, and

is open to anyone over 21, regardless of background or marital

status,

nonetheless, love is a good thing.

 

 

 

Many science fiction fans in New Jersey also happen to be Jewish.

Most science

fiction fans are male. For the single Jewish woman in New Jersey

joining a

science fiction group may be the ideal way to find her ideal man.

Unlike most

singles events, which tend to be attended by more women than men,

most science

fiction events are attended by more men than women.

 

 

If you happen to be Jewish, Single and over 21

Please state that you are Jewish, Single, 21 or over, when you apply

to join the Jewish Singles at the websites the urls

below will take you to

 

 

JewishSinglesOfNJ/

 

 

JewishSinglesinNJforIsrael/

 

 

JewishSinglesFromEverywhere/