Thursday, December 6, 2007
Nutria Plan for World Domination Right on Schedule
Posted by Will Coviello on Thu, Dec 6, 2007 at 11:01 PM
Forget the firetruck Louisiana gave New York, look what we gave New Jersey.
Apparently the first nutria have been spotted in the Garden State. This news report says that the hardy little Cajun beaver arrived in Maryland and Delaware in the 1980s. Perhaps the lack of marshlands slowed their progress into Jersey, but the nutria is nothing if not persistent.
New Jersey pest control association official Leonard Douglen isn't worried though. He told the New York Post, "We'd probably trap them wherever there are sightings." He added, "Just because a new species comes around doesn't mean you reinvent the wheel."
Ok then. They seem to have that situation under control.
By the time global warming does away with polar bears, Canada should be ready to welcome nutria — unless the Canadians have some sort of trapping techniques to handle the new arrivals.
Marilyn Mansinthe
Posted by Will Coviello on Thu, Dec 6, 2007 at 5:13 PM
Absinthe was both popular and misunderstood from the beginning. But its reputation was sealed in 1905 — in the Twinkie defense of its era — when a Swiss farmer named Jean Lanfrey went on a drinking binge (a couple bottles of wine, brandy, a glass of absinthe) and killed his family. He blamed the absinthe. He was found guilty, but by 1912, absinthe was banned in most of Europe and in the United States.
Absence made the liver grow fonder, and its reputation as a wildly intoxicating hallucinogenic spirit grew. By the 1990s, reports of absinthe drinking began filtering back from European outposts like post velvet revolution Prague, where cheap, imitation absinthe (no wormwood, just bright green dye in cheap liquor) was again widely available. Most of the faux absinthe offered all the charms of battery acid. It was far from the spirit that bohemians and artists like Van Gogh hailed as the green fairy.
my carbon "BIG FOOT" print
Posted by Jeanne Foster on Thu, Dec 6, 2007 at 12:13 AM
I just discovered a brilliant local website, go green nola, that compounds ideas and suggestions to lead a organic and healthier lifestyle at a local level.
This site has a great New Orleans recycling guide, a local farmers directory and art market calendar, tips for reducing waste, environmental tax incentive information, and an "eat local challenge" which supports the "death to the 1500-mile ceaser salad movement". The features and comprehensive "green lifestyle" information are endless.
Big Plan for Big Lake
Posted by David Winkler-Schmit on Thu, Dec 6, 2007 at 12:03 AM
On a bright blue fall day with just enough cool air that locals were wearing long sleeves and jackets, a national conservation group broke ground Wednesday on a $2 million project in New Orleans City Park. Although it marked the official start of this park renovation, fundraising for the project has been underway for more than a year.
The Trust for Public Lands, (TPL) a nonprofit land conservation group headquartered in San Francisco, started seeking donations in 2006 when it announced that it would spearhead an effort to refurbish the 50 acres surrounding Big Lake Trail and Meadow, located just off the Lelong Avenue entrance to the park and near the New Orleans Museum of Art. When the project is completed in spring of 2009, the area will provide a walking and bicycle path, a dock with boat rentals and additional landscaping including more trees, a meadow and gazeboes for friends and family gatherings.
