One Sec Tech

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESSBiologists tracking jaguars in the Guatemalan are using an unusual lure: Calvin Klein cologne Obsession for Men. .

Biologists Rony Garcia and Jose Moreira from the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) Jaguar Conservation Program say they use hidden cameras as a primary source for observing and tracking jaguars in Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve.

But they also rely on Obsession for Men, a cologne known for its complex scent, to help lure then research and hopefully ultimately preserve jaguars in the Central American country.

“The method we are using to study the jaguars here in Guatemala is a non-invasive method which is based on photographing the individuals by using camera traps,” Moreira told Reuters Television.

“It has been very useful using Obsession (for Men) to get the jaguars in front of these camera traps … and that allows us to estimate with greater confidence the genders and the numbers that live in each studied site.”

Making Scents
It’s not clear whether the big cats would be interested in the smell of typical aromatherapy gift sets or rose smelling soaps. Natural beauty products don’t seem to be the key to getting their attention, only the expensive men’s cologne seems to do the trick.

The discovery that Obsession for Men acted as a magnet for jaguars was the result of an experiment by the WCS’s Bronx Zoo in New York.

The WCS was looking for ways to get cheetahs in front of camera traps, and, after several years of testing with different fragrances, found spraying the musky Obsession For Men near the heat-and-motion-sensitive cameras drew the cats for longer than other scents.

They also tried out about 23 other fragrances but Obsession for Men kept the cats’ attention for longest with Nina Ricci’s L’Air du Temps coming second.

The practice made its way down to Guatemala, where Garcia and Moreira said they have been recording similar success in the wild since 2007, allowing them to track jaguars and even record their mating rituals.

Garcia said the results will be invaluable to conservation efforts.

“These camera traps help us to identify how many jaguars are living in this area … (and) helps us to have control over the population and lets us say to the government, to the public, that Laguna del Tigre still deserves conservation,” he said.

The WCS said it tentatively plans to expand the use of the cologne in programs in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador in coming years.

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MY TAKE: I’m interested in this because I am planning a trip to Guatemala’s bio reserve one day. I have done this in Australia and came back with little more than a couple of T shirts to remember it by. This time, I intend to do better than those Australian souvenirs: I want to get close the big cats and do research alongside these guys, anything to help preserve them. Jaguars are so rare and yet play such an integral part in the country’s history and folklore, and to see that they are being cared for and that people are working to protect them makes me happy.

By the way, thinking of adding some cool decorative glass doors to your home?  If so, you might want to make sure your exterior wood doors are properly sealed so that they do not peel or warp in cool damp wether.

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OTHER RESOURCE

SOURCE: L.A. Times

Highway 9 at the east entrance to Zion National Park in Utah will be closed this summer and officials are warning visitors to make alternate plans for entering the park.

The reconstruction of a 9½-mile section will close the road and tunnel through the Checkerboard Mesa and some other areas from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. Controlled traffic will be allowed before 9 a.m. and after 4 p.m. and on Saturdays and Sundays, the park said.

The closure does not affect most of Zion’s attractions, which are in the park’s main canyon. But even when the road is open, stopping for, say,  a hike or a picnic will not be permitted, except on weekends.

The closure will also affect travel to and from some of the region’s national parks and monuments.

Alternate routes will add considerable distance and travel time between Zion and Bryce Canyon; the Grand-Staircase Escalante National Monument; and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Some nearby lodging and dining options along Utah 9 east of the park and in Mt. Carmel Junction and Kanab will be accessible only by a substantial detour during the daytime closure.

The closures and delays are expected to last until Oct. 28. For details, check the park’s website or call  (435) 772-3256.

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MY TAKE: I’m sure there’s more than construction to worry about when it comes to summer travel. The price at the pump and the crippled economy have a lot of people opting for model train sets and DVDs over family trips to national parks. In fact, to build a model train takes less time than it does in some cases to even get through the entrance to a park, let alone what it takes to get there.

You also have to have the right gear, which isn’t cheap. I’m not saying you need to go out and buy expensive Carhartt clothing and fancy equipment. But Carhartt clothing aside, you do need to be prepared, and that costs money.

By the way did you know that if you hasseled needlessly by a collections firm you can hire harassment attorneys for help?  There are FDCPA attorneys who can help you avoid unecessary harassment and sometimes even help you settle your debt.

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Homes Below

Want to expand your home but not up? Go down, by hiring one of the best basement remodeling Colorado companies. Denver Colorado basement remodeling is a popular choice for homeowners who don’t have land to build out but need an extra room for work, a kid’s bedroom or perhaps an entertainment room.

Source: Associated PressNeed a hand tracking your racking?

All of the major airlines except Continental have slapped expiration dates on their frequent flier miles, generally one to two years. Activity on the accounts — like flights or credit card awards — will prevent expiration. But even frequent travelers can be surprised when miles expire on an airline they don’t often fly.

Some airlines, including Delta, show mileage expiration when you log into your frequent flier account on its website. Some don’t. So staying on top of all the relevant dates can be challenging.

The advantage of using software or a third-party website is that you can monitor multiple rewards accounts at one time. A few will send you an alert if your miles are close to expiring. And most let you track hotel and rental car rewards programs, too, all in one place.

The biggest and oldest of the sites is MileageManager. It has about 120,000 members, according to Randy Petersen, who runs parent company Frequent Flyer Services as well as InsideFlyer magazine.

Petersen said one advantage of having multiple accounts in one place is that after your trip, it’s easier to make sure you got credit for all of your spending. If you took a trip to Dallas, he said, “you will see your flight, your hotel — ‘hey, where’s my car rental?’”

Here’s a rundown of what you’ll find on some of the more popular mile-tracking sites. All three will also track car rental and hotel programs. However, not every site tracks every provider’s program, so check to make sure the programs you use the most are available on the site:

• mileBlaster. Costs $6.99 per year. Available on the Web, as a widget for Windows or Mac computers, or as an app for the iPhone and iPod Touch and Nokia phones. You’ll have to pay twice if you want to use it on your phone as well as at http://www.mileblaster.com. The service includes e-mail alerts that your miles will soon expire, and some versions allow tracking of accounts for multiple users. A status bar shows your progress toward your next award ticket on each airline.

• MileageManager. Costs $14.95 per year. Available at http://www.mileagemanager.com as well as travel organization website Tripit.com. (Expiration alerts at Tripit are part of the “pro” version, which costs $69 per year.) You can specify how far in advance you want to be notified about expiring miles. MileageManager requires separate accounts for each family member, so the bill could run up for someone who wants to manage several accounts. (The company says it’s looking at the possibility of multi-user accounts in the future.) The service will also monitor a flight you’re interested in and notify you if an award seat becomes available.

• Traxo. Free. This one is the newest of the bunch. Traxo aims to let travelers see both the balances in their loyalty programs, as well as information on upcoming trips. It also says it will notify you that you didn’t get credit on a recent trip, as well as notify you that there is a mileage promotion for a trip you just booked.

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My Take:

Great idea! We don’t all have the money to travel on several airlines a year so we need help tracking our miles. I’m surprised that, with today’s technological “miracles,” it’s taken this long for this plan to surface. Every business owner who travels frequently will benefit from the program, and they can save money on flights and use it for upgrading vital technology features for their company.

By the way: a couple of things every business ought to have managed, either in house or outsourced, is a good colocation company and the best seo service you can find. You can use a colocation company for your offsite data storage and Web site management, but it’s recommended that to get the best level of SEO service possible, work with a local vendor who knows your market well.

By the way: You can hire an SEO company in Vermont even if you run an  upper Nyack real estate company.  You can also hire a data storage or coloation company in Florida if you own a Piermont real estate firm.  The drawback is that you do not have the advantage of a local office.

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Security for Business

If you run a small business, chances are you know little if anything about the value of managed security services . You probably have someone handling your intrusion detection system and collocation services. But if you are just starting out and need to learn all about what these services are about and why you need them, click here.

Dental Defense

Chantilly VA dental services are not all alike. For the best South Riding dentist or one in the VA area, check here. Ask out referrals and get the facts before you agree to pay for dental work.

Source: New York Times

This is the time of the year when Eric Authement would normally be buying about thousands of pounds of shrimp from boats along the Grand Caillou Bayou.

“We can fly to the moon and back how many times?” he asked as he watched a video feed of oil spewing from the underwater leak. “And we cannot stop up a damn well.”

Some think the oil drilling industry needs to go back to the drawing board and re-vamp its safety courses and practices as pressure on the company responsible, BP, grows.

As vast sections of the sea and coast have been closed off to fishing because of the gushing oil leak, the normal haul of oysters, blue crab and finned fish has been halved, and shrimp production is about a quarter of what is usually is. The exceptions are tuna and red snapper, which are caught far out at sea.

Americans have yet to see major shortages or price increases at restaurants and markets because about 80% of the seafood consumed in the United States is imported, according to the National Fisheries Institute, a trade group. Louisiana provides only about 2%, the group says.

But the oil slick is wreaking havoc on the fishing industry here, which brings about $2.4 billion a year to the state, the state’s seafood marketing board says. At least 27,000 jobs depend directly on the fisheries.

So far, Louisiana’s official biologists have found no evidence that the oil has contaminated any seafood. But the precautionary closing of oyster beds, shrimping grounds and crab habitats where oil has been spotted has idled most of the fishermen.

And BP has hired so many fishing boats to help with the cleanup effort that the areas that remain open are not being fished intensively.

The images of oil slicks at sea and goopy oil in stands of cane along the state’s 7,700 miles of tidal coastline has presented the Louisiana fishing industry with a public relations nightmare.

Some buyers assume the catch is polluted; others simply would rather not buy a product now with the name Louisiana or gulf attached to it, seafood wholesalers say.

“The brand itself has been damaged,” said Ewell Smith, the executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board. “Every time they show the image on TV of the spill, people are thinking we don’t have safe seafood and that we are out of seafood.”

Some seafood processors say the biggest hindrance right now is not oil, but a lack of fishermen to haul in the catch in the areas still open to fishing.

Mike Voisin, the owner of Motivatit Seafoods in Houma, has been an oyster farmer and processor in Terrebonne Parish his entire life. He said the state had found no evidence the oysters have been contaminated, yet he cannot find harvesters to dredge up the crustaceans from their beds because the oil companies have hired so many boats.

“We are down to 10 or 20 percent of our harvesting ability,” he said.

In the meantime, the oil slick and chemical dispersants are getting closer to the oyster beds, and many in the business fear the pollution will be driven inshore by tropical storms and will kill the larvae on which the next year’s crop depends. Since nearly 4 of 10 oysters eaten in the United States come from Louisiana, shortages are inevitable if the closures persist, oyster farmers say.

One bright spot for seafood producers is that scarcity has driven up prices. Small brown shrimp, for instance, have tripled in price over this time last year. The price of oysters has also risen on spot markets in recent weeks, jumping more than 20% in some places.

Still, with the constantly changing plans to close certain fishing areas, some say it is not worth gambling the price of labor and fuel to go after shrimp that may have fled from the area or oysters that may have been contaminated.

Instead, many fishermen have taken the $5,000 check from BP — a down-payment on future damages the oil company has voluntarily paid to fishing operations — and are waiting on the docks to see what will happen.

Fishermen who concentrate on tuna and red snapper are still hauling in large catches far out beyond the oil slicks, but they are having a hard time convincing buyers their catch is clean.

David Maginnis, the owner of Jensen Tuna in Houma, said most of his tuna fleet was working around undersea canyons in the southwestern part of the gulf, a good 150 miles from Louisiana. He supplies high-end sushi bars across the country with fresh blue-fin and yellow-fin tuna. Some buyers have canceled orders, he said.

Only 6 of 10 tuna boats are going out now, he said, but “the ones that are going are banging them up,” Mr. Maginnis said, using slang for a large catch.

Despite the plentiful fish, many boat captains cannot find enough deckhands. “They are getting paid by BP to not go to work,” he noted.

The biggest impact of the spill has been felt by shrimpers and shrimp processors. Bo Thibodeaux, 43, a shrimp boat captain in Dulac, took a small boat out recently with his son Evan, 17. He said he had tried to go out twice in his 43-foot boat, the Bull’s Prize, since the spill started, but could not catch enough shrimp to pay for the gas.

“We are going to try to get what little is left,” he said, as he readied the boat and his son pulled on white rubber boots. He said that in past years, when the brown shrimp were out around this time of year, he could pull in 12,000 to 15,000 pounds of shrimp from the water.

Now his nets have been catching mostly water because the areas he shrimps have been closed.

“May is our time to make our money,” he said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. Go find a job, I guess.”

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My Take:

Thinking of yacht charter vacations in Florida or Mexico this year? You might want to reconsider and check out a yacht charter off the coast of California instead, because the oil slick is now predicted to spread to the coastlines across the gulf, not just Louisiana. Even the owners of trucking companies on the east coast have to follow guidelines. I suppose if you were a West Palm Beach Florida family lawyer you might be considering the potential business from any damages caused to property by the spill.  Not sure about West Palm Beach personal injury attorney opportunities, but you can bet that some will be watching closely.

Taking defensive driving course if you are potential truck driver is standard procedure. Imposing tougher operating standards for BP and other oil drillers is a no-brainer.

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Calming Gifts

Aromatherapy gift sets are more popular than ever. You can buy them and other natural beauty products online at a number of great sites, including The Body Shop online.

Cited: Daily Finance

The Pentagon is clueless to the battle that is brewing at sea because it involves cruise line ships and not battleships. It seems that cruise lines are launching their biggest boats ever in a fight for customers. The largest ship today is the Royal Caribbean International’s (RCL) Oasis of the Seas is, at 1,187 feet, which is 89 feet longer than the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier. Carnival’s (CCL), Carnival Dream, is only 1,004 feet in length, which is just 40 feet shorter than the Chrysler Building.

Both companies themselves deny that there’s an arms race. “We have built bigger, but it’s not about being the biggest,” says Royal Caribbean representative Erica Harris. “It’s really about offering the most guest experiences on board.”

But in the worst cruise market in years, it’s clear the contest is on — and while size matters, so do lavish offerings. The 5,400-passenger Oasis of the Seas boasts its own “Central Park” — the size of a football field, with live trees and shrubs. The Carnival Dream, with room for 3,646 guests, features the longest water-slide at sea, about 300 feet, and a 24,000-square-foot spa with a thalassotherapy pool and thermal suites.

Want to see the Blue Man Group, or the only big-top circus at sea? Step aboard Norwegian Cruise Line’s 4,200-passenger Norwegian Epic, scheduled to set sail next summer.

This Vegas-like razzle-dazzle is nothing new to the cruise world. But in a turbulent market, some wonder whether all this money — the Oasis of the Seas reportedly cost $1.5 billion to build — is wisely spent. Passenger revenue in the first half of 2009 tumbled 12 percent, to $6.98 billion from $7.9 billion a year earlier, says Douglas Quinby, senior research director for travel-industry research firm PhoCusWright. The market is worse now than it was in 2002, he says, after 9/11 jitters and the bursting of the stock-market bubble kept travelers off the boats.

Will these behemoths become ghost ships? They’re hitting the waves, remember, just as staycations have gained favor over vacations. Ticket prices have dropped as much as 17 percent to fill berths this year. “There is a question among many as to whether the market could really bear this,” Quinby says.

But there could be better days on the horizon. PhoCusWright forecasts a “very modest” recovery next year. An improving global economy is one reason; another could be the launches of these megaships, whipping up excitement among cruise fanatics. “These ships are bringing a tremendous amount of new products on board,” Quinby says. “It really provides a tremendous jolt to the industry.”

Cruisers are an impassioned bunch, with a more than 50% repeat rate. “It has a high number of people who aren’t just consumers but also advocates,” Quinby says.

For their part, cruise companies say their ships have already made a splash. Leading operator Carnival says there’s plenty of interest in the Carnival Dream’s two-day “cruise to nowhere” (starting at $354), which leaves New York next Friday. “We have complete confidence in our ability to fill the ship,” says Carnival representative Jennifer de la Cruz. “Overall, we view it as a tremendous plus to introduce the largest ship we’ve built to date.” The ship was delivered to the company, based in Miami and London, in mid-September.

Miami-based Royal Caribbean, the second-largest operator, took delivery of Oasis of the Seas in late October and is similarly positive. “From what I’ve been told, it’s been selling extremely well,” Harris says. A four-night cruise leaving Fort Lauderdale on Dec. 1 for Labadee, Haiti — the company leases a private peninsula there — starts at $899.

Cruise expert Stewart Chiron, who runs cruiseguy.com, says this is a great time to launch the world’s biggest cruise ships. “It’s going to invigorate interest in cruising,” he says.

Carnival is going after the family market, de la Cruz says, with Carnival Dream offering staterooms with two bathrooms for the first time. The mammoth waterslide is part of the WaterWorks aqua park, which will also feature “splash zones” and squirting fountains. There’s also an adults-only two-level outdoor deck with plush furniture and cocktail services by the whirlpool. The ship’s “Fun Hubs” will let passengers locate like-minded passengers — to find a bridge partner, say — and read bios on the crew. “Carnival Dream is going to be the first ship to feature its own social-networking platform,” de la Cruz says.

Over on the Oasis of the Seas, high-flying passengers can choose from the first loft-style suites at sea; the 1,524-s.f. Royal Loft Suite features a baby grand piano, library, and indoor-and-outdoor dining rooms, seating eight. Also aboard are the first zip-line at sea, a nine-hole miniature golf course, and the first floating Coach outlet. The huge ship is divided into seven “neighborhoods,” with the Central Park section garnering the most attention. “You don’t need to be on a pool deck to get fresh air,” says Harris. “The center of the ship has been gutted and totally open to the sky, from deck seven on.”

Will all this fuss translate into a better bottom line? On Nov. 3, Royal Caribbean said third-quarter sales fell 15% to $1.76 billion, resulting in 44% lower net income of $230.4 million. And the company forecast a fourth-quarter loss. Still, CEO Richard Fain said on a conference call, “The first quarter [2010] will be better and the full year will be better,” according to Bloomberg.

Carnival’s third quarter wasn’t much better: revenue fell 14% to $4.14 billion, resulting in 19.5% lower net income of $1.07 billion. But during its Sept. 22 announcement, Carnival said it was encouraged by booking volumes and raised its full-year profit expectations, according to Breaking News 24/7.

According to Chiron, travelers can get great deals because the cruise companies are struggling to get passengers back on board. For example for as low as $2,599, a traveler can get an 11-night European cruise that could include a balcony stateroom and round-trip airfare. Only a year ago this type of package would cost a traveler $4,599. That is almost half off!

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My Take: Maybe someday I will be able to afford a European cruise. Maybe someday I won the lottery too! This is great news for those who can afford to take a cruise whether it is a European or Alaskan cruise. If the package includes airfare, then people do not have to search for cheap airfare. At least if they taking a cruise they do not have to worry about finding discount group airfare.

I wonder, do they have Pilates exercise equipment on board those cruise ships? I know there are a lot of people that do Pilates workout on a daily basis. They might be able to coax some of the Pilates people into taking cruises if they do.

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Top-Quality Air Charters

The flights of this Los Angeles jet charter service are operated by qualifying ARG/US and/or Wyvern Ltd. certified aircraft that represent about 10% of the world’s corporate jet fleet. Likewise, they seek operations that boast a competent and knowledgeable operations department. They inspect all aircraft for their effects on the five senses, sight, smell, taste, sound and touch. These are all things taken into account in their aircraft selection for customers. There are a lot of unattractive aircraft certified for air charter, do yourself a favor and avoid them by using this Los Angeles air charter service.