And a Treadwell shrine page compliments of Leonardo DiCapria

Bear eaten Treadwell STILL in the news

Bear Advocate an Enigma in Death

By JEREMIAH MARQUEZ Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Timothy Treadwell's death came just the way he had predicted. Treadwell and his girlfriend were mauled by a 1,000-pound grizzly bear last October in a remote section of Alaskan wilderness that Treadwell knew well after years of living among its bear population.

That Treadwell was killed doing what he loved did not surprise many of those who knew him. He had acknowledged his forays into the backcountry were tempting fate.

He had started an environmental group and received donations from celebrities such as actor Leonardo DiCaprio, in part by saying the bears he loved were in jeopardy. He spun colorful stories about his adventures for the Discovery Channel, David Letterman's late-night audience and the Walt Disney Co.

What few knew about Treadwell was that much of his life was an invention.

Interviews with associates and reviews of public records reveal Treadwell as a complex character - part wildlife enthusiast, part showman, part educator, part impostor.

The organization he said was dedicated to saving bears did find an outlet educating school children. But some experts said the bears he professed to be saving didn't need his protection.

His tales of being Australian or an English orphan, later rescuing himself from a life of drugs and alcohol through his fascination with bears, only made his story more compelling.

Only after his death did some friends learn that he was born under a different name as the middle-class son of a Long Island phone company foreman.

Charismatic in life, Treadwell had become an enigma in death.

---

Grizzlies, known as brown bears along the Alaskan coast, are more likely to attack people than the smaller black bear. More than 400 grizzly attacks on humans have been documented in Alaska since 1900, a fraction of them fatal, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's Alaska Science Center.

Treadwell refused to see the bears as "savage beasts." He spent nearly a dozen summers living among grizzlies, primarily in the Katmai National Park and Preserve on the Alaska Peninsula, videotaping many of his encounters.

Despite the concerns of wildlife authorities, Treadwell, 46, won national acclaim for his daring and devotion. He published a book, "Among Grizzlies: Living With Wild Bears in Alaska," in 1997, and more recently talked with filmmakers working on Disney's animated feature "Brother Bear" about bears.

Treadwell made regular visits to schools after returning to Southern California from his annual trips to Alaska.

"His passion for the bears and wildlife was just infectious, and the students loved his stories," said Phil Cott, principal of Webster Elementary School in Malibu, where Treadwell lived in a rented condo.

Not everyone embraced Treadwell's views.

Critics said Treadwell's forays into bear country could encourage copycats and worried the mauling death of Treadwell and his girlfriend, 37-year-old Amie Huguenard, would turn public opinion against them.

"Bears are bears, and the sooner we treat them as bears instead of humans in a bear suit it will be less dangerous," said Tom Smith, a biologist at the Alaska Science Center.

Stephen Stringham, a bear biologist and professor with the University of Alaska system, defended Treadwell's work. Treadwell, he said, kept meticulous diaries of bear genealogy, mating patterns and maternal behavior that will be valuable to researchers.

"The details he has, no one's got anything like it. It's extremely valuable to science," said Stringham, who had planned to collaborate on several papers with Treadwell.

---

During a middle-class upbringing on Long Island, Treadwell - born Timothy William Dexter - nurtured a passion for animals and the outdoors.

In high school, he was a swim team member and later earned a scholarship to Bradley University in Peoria, Ill.

In what his father, Valentine Dexter, called the start of a downward spiral, Tim injured his back while diving, lost his scholarship and dropped out in 1977.

Back home in Ronkonkoma, his troubles worsened: He crashed the family station wagon and was arrested on charges related to drunken driving.

"That led up to his leaving," said his father.

He moved to Long Beach in 1978, and soon began a personal transformation.

He legally changed his last name to Treadwell in 1987 after using it informally for years, Los Angeles County records show.

He also told friends of being Australian or of growing up a British orphan. People magazine in 1994 quoted him as claiming to be a native of Australia who moved to California as a teenager.

Supporters defended Treadwell's shifting persona, noting that in his book he said he was raised in New York.

Sunset Beach friends described Treadwell as a fun-loving eccentric, but he recalled his early years in Southern California as some of his darkest.

In his book, Treadwell wrote of an ongoing battle with alcoholism and drugs and carrying around a gun. He appears to have been in trouble with the law at least twice.

In 1984, a Timmy Treadwell was accused of illegally discharging a firearm, according to court records in Beverly Hills. Three years earlier, a Timothy Winthorpe Treadwell of Sunset Beach was booked on suspicion of assault, Orange County records show. Treadwell was living in Sunset Beach then and had used the middle name Winthorpe, those who knew him said.

Re-evaluating his life after a near-death experience from a drug overdose, he wrote, Treadwell decided to seek out bears in Alaska.

---

Treadwell's environmental crusade began slowly but quickly gained attention, propelled by his outsized personality.

He and friend Jewel Palovak started the bear-advocacy group Grizzly People in the mid-1990s.

To raise money, the group increasingly turned to the most obvious source of charitable giving in Southern California - celebrities. The list of Hollywood stars who either attended his fund-raisers or gave him money included DiCaprio, Bundchen and actor Pierce Brosnan.

Darlene Malott, who until recently was a representative for DiCaprio's foundation, said the actor met with Treadwell about three years ago after seeing him on Letterman's show. The foundation gave Grizzly People nearly $25,000, said Malott and DiCaprio's publicist, Ken Sunshine.

Bundchen met Treadwell at one of his events a year ago and contributed money, although she wasn't sure how much, said her manager, Anne Nelson.

Brosnan and his wife, Keely, also attended Treadwell's fund-raising events.

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of our friend and admired environmental warrior," Brosnan and his wife said in a statement to the AP.

Robert Towne, the screenwriter whose credits include "Chinatown" and "Mission: Impossible," said he and his wife wrote Treadwell a check he recalled was in the thousands of dollars.

"However eccentric he was ... I think his work should be valued and honored," Towne said.

Treadwell told Towne and other contributors he was terrified the bears would be killed by poachers without his presence.

A Grizzly People statement distributed to supporters last year said the bears "are attractive targets and without Treadwell's care would be easy to poach."

Some Alaskan wildlife experts discounted that, saying sporadic poaching isn't jeopardizing Alaska's grizzly population of 35,000. The animals aren't listed as an endangered species in Alaska.

Treadwell's supporters insist he videotaped poacher campsites and chased away hunters, adding he never claimed to protect all bears, just those in his area of Katmai.

"I don't think it's mischaracterizing," Palovak said.

Treadwell's approach helped Grizzly People average about $30,000 in annual contributions over the past several years, said Tisha Bedrosian of Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs, a nonprofit umbrella organization that funnels tax-deductible donations to Grizzly People.

Despite Grizzly People's written claim that it was a nonprofit, the organization is not registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a nonprofit, said Victor Omelczenko, an IRS spokesman. The group was, however, eligible to receive donations through its nonprofit sponsor.

Warren Queeney, an actor in Los Angeles and a friend of Treadwell's for 10 years, said Treadwell would have reveled in the attention his life and work have generated since his death.

Queeney only learned his friend was from Long Island when he met Treadwell's father at a memorial service, but he said he felt more amused than duped.

"He was a con artist, but boy, he pulled it off," Queeney said. "The man was truly a riddle wrapped in a sleeping bag. I don't know if any of us will ever know who he really was."

Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

What do you call an Israeli Yu'pik? (send answers to your blogger)

Israel's first Eskimo soldier
By Raffi Berg
BBC News Online

The Israeli army has inducted into its ranks one of the most unusual recruits in its history - an Eskimo girl from Alaska.

Eighteen-year-old Eva Ben Sira is training to become a squad commander in the Negev desert - a far cry from the frozen wastes of her homeland.

Eva was born to a Yupik Eskimo mother and a Cherokee American father before being adopted by an Israeli couple.

Her twin brother, Jimmy, will become the army's second serving Eskimo, when he joins the force next year.

Culture clash

The twins' remarkable journey to Israel began when their mother, Minnie, found herself unable to support Eva and Jimmy after their father walked out. Their story came to public attention in a recent article by the Israeli daily Haaretz.

Alaskan social services stepped in and, at the age of two, the twins were sent to live with their grandmother, who struggled to raise the children herself.

Their plight came to light when an Orthodox Jewish couple, Meir and Dafna Ben Sira, came to visit Minnie's neighbour - Dafna's mother - a Swiss Catholic woman, who had emigrated to Alaska from Israel in 1989.

The Ben Siras offered to adopt Eva and Jimmy, but had to overcome a welter of religious and cultural obstacles to get the adoption approved by both tribal elders and an Alaskan Orthodox rabbi.

"We got to know the children and they needed a home," Dafna told BBC News Online.

"We wanted to have a family and the children had no place to go," she said.

They remained in Alaska for five years until the adoption process was completed.

'People are curious'

Eva and Jimmy were brought to Israel (they learned to speak Hebrew in three months), converted to Judaism and integrated into Israeli society among the Orthodox community of Nir Etzion, a village near Haifa.

The twins attended religious schools and had bar- and batmitzvahs - Jewish coming of age ceremonies.

"Their culture wasn't a problem, but they did ask a lot of questions when they were growing up," Dafna said.

After nearly a decade in Israel, Eva has forgotten the smattering of Yupik she spoke as a child, but with her long black hair and almond-shaped eyes, she has retained her ethnic looks.

"People are very curious," said Dafna.

"When I take the children shopping and people ask which parent the children look like, I tell them they take after their father because he's not there.

"When my husband takes them shopping and people ask, he tells them they look like me because I'm not there."

Dafna said Eva has no wish to delve too deeply into her past and is very happy living in Israel.

Jimmy, however, is more intrigued and wants to go back to Alaska, if for only a visit.

Note: Their pictures are on the BBC website- follow the link above.

NBC shows Iraqi vid of Dying GI

Piestewa Family: Video of Injured Soldiers Sparking Anxiety, Hurt
By Ananda Shorey Associated Press Writer
Published: Dec 31, 2003

PHOENIX (AP) - The family of a soldier killed in Iraq had harsh words Wednesday for the network that aired footage of her, bloody and bruised, in an Iraqi hospital bed shortly before she died.

The footage, aired Tuesday on "NBC Nightly News," shows Lori Piestewa and Jessica Lynch - Army privates and best friends - at a hospital where they were taken after a March 23 ambush. Lynch was rescued April 1.

Airing the tape - which NBC said was filmed but never broadcast by Iraqi television - created a sense of fear, anxiety and hurt, Piestewa's family said in a statement.

"This terrorism was not from any foreign group wishing to harm the United States, but from our own people wanting to make a quick buck off the misfortune of two beautiful young women," the family said.

Wayland Piestewa, brother of the fallen soldier, released the statement but declined to answer questions.

NBC spokeswoman Barbara Levin said the network contacted the Pentagon so the families of Piestewa and Lynch would know about the footage.

"Undeniably there's news value in it," Levin said, because it bolsters Lynch's statements that she did not remember what happened after her unit was attacked, and because it shows Piestewa was alive for a time after the ambush.

"It gave some clarity to the situation," Levin said.

On the tape, Piestewa's face is swollen, bloody and bruised and her head loosely bandaged. Her lip is shown curling back in an apparent grimace.

Lynch, 20, is also shown bandaged, her lip cut. Neither appears awake or alert.

The footage was somewhat comforting for fellow former POW Spc. Shoshana Johnson, who verified Lynch's and Piestewa's identities for NBC.

"It was a little shocking to see Lori, but it also gave me a little peace to know that they tried, they did their best for her," Johnson, 30, told the network. "I mean, it was obvious they tried to bandage her up and give her medical care."

Iraqi doctors have previously said the women were brought to a private clinic after the ambush, and that Piestewa, a 23-year-old mother of two from Tuba City, Ariz., died half an hour later of severe head injuries.

Although they disagreed with NBC's decision to air the footage, Piestewa's family said some people definitely should see it.

"Let us make sure that both President Bush, his father and each of his aides and advisers get a copy of Lori dying in agony so that they realize, from the comfort of their homes, that war should be the last option," the family said in the statement.

AP-ES-12-31-03 2330EST

Copyright 2003 Associated Press

Russian bears are as hungry as Alaskan bears!

BEAR TORE A MAN TO PIECES IN KAMCHATKA


PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, December 29. /RIA NOVOSTI CORRESPONDENT OKSANA GUSEVA/ -- RIA Novosti was told in the Kamchtka search-rescue detachment that a bear tore a man to pieces in the Kronotsky wildlife refuge.

One of the oldest workers of the Kronotsky wildlife refuge and well-known Kamchatka photographer and hunting specialist Vitaly Nikolayenko fell victim to a big bear 1.5 kilometres from the station on the territory of the wildlife refuge.

Nikolayenko was taking a photograph of the beast and failed to use the weapon he was carrying when the bear attacked him.

The rescue workers brought the body to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

A total of about 600 Kamchatka bears live on the territory of the Kronotsky wildlife refuge but cases of attacks on man by beasts of prey are extremely rare.

So it's almost Christmas

...and Saddam Hussein is in "jail," with certain people hoping like heck he doesn't spill his guts about everything he knows...and we are now at Orange Alert...What I want to know is why Tom Ridge keeps talking about Homeland this and Homeland that. I could have sworn we were in the United States, not some place called "Homeland"...and it snowed like a son of a gun in Anchorage but its cold and clear here in Bethel...

Alaska's first flu fatality?

Health officials suspect flu in death of 17-year-old girl
KOTLIK: Fatality is the first this year in Alaska as vaccine supplies rapidly dwindle.


By ANN POTEMPA
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: December 6, 2003)

As officials scrambled to find more flu vaccines during an unprecedented shortage, the state health department Friday evening reported Alaska's first possible death from the flu this season.

Health officials said a 17-year-old girl from Kotlik died this week in the western Alaska village from a respiratory viral illness that resembles influenza.

Dr. Franc Fallico, the state's acting chief medical examiner, said his staff performed a preliminary autopsy Friday and learned the girl had pneumonia, which can be related to the flu.

Fallico said the death confirms the serious nature of this year's flu season. "Young women don't usually die of respiratory diseases like this," he said.

Dr. Joseph Klejka, medical director for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp., said he's seeing a lot of viral illness in that region right now. Influenza typically causes fever, cough, headache, muscle aches and fatigue.

Other states, including Colorado where six children have died, have reported deadly flu outbreaks this year. All the Colorado victims were under 16.

Fallico said state health officials are still running tests on the Kotlik girl to confirm if influenza killed her. During the past 10 years, Alaska has had at least three flu-related deaths annually, the state health department said.

The state Section of Epidemiology reported Friday that it also is struggling to find flu vaccines to meet Alaska's needs.

"We decided to do something we've never done before and try to order some more vaccine," said Dr. Beth Funk, medical epidemiologist. The state got bad news: Its main distributor had none left. On Friday, the two main manufacturers of flu vaccine for the nation announced they had both run out.

Funk said the department ordered 90,000 doses this year -- which is more than it typically orders -- but started hearing from health care providers this week that they had run out. Her staff called around and found 5,000 more doses that should arrive in Alaska next week but at a rising price.

"It probably won't meet demand," she said.

The department also is collecting about 1,000 unused doses from around the state and plans to redistribute them.

The Municipality of Anchorage's health department also is running out of vaccine. It received 3,000 adult doses earlier this fall and then an additional 300 this week, but is already down to 115, said Hisa Fallico, program manager for disease prevention and control. That's unlike past years when the department had to throw out vaccine that never got used, she said.

Klejka said he's also investigating how much vaccine remains in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.

As of Friday, the state Section of Epidemiology reported 183 cases of confirmed influenza in the state, with most of them coming from Anchorage, the Valley and the southeast part of the state.

There are likely many more cases of influenza here, she said.

"We're not out to count every single case," Funk said. "We're just out to document that flu is in a community."

The state health department is now reporting widespread influenza because it has detected laboratory-confirmed cases throughout Alaska, she said.

Funk said she's reminding health care providers that people at high risk for complications from influenza should receive the vaccine. Those people include the very young, very old and anyone with medical conditions that affect their immunity.

People should call their health care providers to find out who has remaining flu vaccines, Funk said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More blatant attempts at a Google ranking!

LOOKING FOR THE PARIS HILTON SEX TAPES?
PARIS HILTON NAKED?
PARIS HILTON NUDE?
PARIS HILTON?
HILTON PARIS?
NAKED PARIS HILTON?
PARIS HILTON NAKED SEX VIDEO?
SEX VIDEO PARIS HILTON?

Sorry, it's not here.

"Vituperation"

KCNA Blasts Rumsfeld's Vituperation
Pyongyang, November 22 (KCNA) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld reportedly slandered the DPRK as an "evil country" and an "evil regime" again during his Asian visit. It is nothing surprising that Rumsfeld talked such nonsense as he put Hitler into the shade in man-killing and war hysteria.
But we can never pardon him for malignantly slandering our dignified and inviolable political system whether he is a political dwarf, human scum or hysteric.
His hands are stained with the blood shed by so many people.
He is, indeed, a human butcher and fascist tyrant who puts an ogre to shame.
It was none other than Rumsfeld who set out the theory of "preemptive nuclear attack," massacred innocent people in every part of the world and hurled GIs into the Iraqi war and other abysses of death. Wherever he went he sparked aggression, war and horrible disaster.
It is ridiculous of such a war fanatic to talk about evil and other country's policy.
It is tragedy that he does not know he himself is a kingpin of evil.
Such vituperation was let loose by Rumsfeld known to play a major role in shaping the politics of the U.S. administration at a time when Bush is talking about "written security assurances" to the DPRK. This goes to prove that the "security assurances" are nothing but a farce to deceive the DPRK.
This also clearly proved that the Bush group remains unchanged in its wolfish design to unleash a new war on the Korean peninsula at any cost, far from opting to co-exist with the DPRK in peace, and its inveterate denial of the DPRK system.
If his vituperation represents the stance of the Bush administration, it can not but cast a doubt about the prospect of the six-way talks but only reinforces the conviction that there is no other way but to stand in confrontation with the U.S. to the end.
And this compels us to approach with vigilance the true intention of the Bush administration clamoring for a "peaceful settlement" of the nuclear issue.
The wrong way of thinking and sinister intention of the U.S. bellicose forces to detain us in the conference room and focus on mounting a preemptive nuclear attack on us behind the curtain clearly prove the justice of our decision to increase our nuclear deterrent force.

Honoring Lori Piestewa

Indian Leaders Honor Hopi Servicewoman Killed in War With Iraq
By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press Writer
Published: Nov 17, 2003

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Army Spc. Lori Piestewa, the first American servicewoman killed in the war with Iraq, was remembered Monday as a brave soldier who made her family and fellow American Indians proud.

Piestewa's mother, father and two small children watched as the National Congress of American Indians signed a proclamation honoring the fallen soldier during its annual conference.

The proclamation said Piestewa served her country valiantly when the 507th Maintenance Company was ambushed by Iraqi forces in March. Piestewa, a member of the Hopi tribe in Arizona, and eight other soldiers were killed when their supply convoy became lost and entered Iraqi-held Nasiriyah.

"Today we look to the creator to comfort the parents and the children of Lori and the families of all of these fallen warriors," NCAI President Tex G. Hall said.

Her mother, Percy, wiped tears from her eyes and gave kisses to Piestewa's youngest child, 3-year-old Carla, as she bounced up and down to the beating drums of an honor song played by two members from Taos Pueblo.

The soldier's father, Terry Piestewa, told The Associated Press on Monday that his family was honored to travel to New Mexico to meet with people who have found a place in their hearts for his daughter.

Two of Lori Piestewa's friends, Pfc. Jessica Lynch and Spc. Shoshana Johnson, were captured in the same ambush and survived.

AP-ES-11-17-03 2258EST

SEMINOLE TRIBE
Hopi woman killed in Iraq is honored
In a salute to veterans, the Seminole Tribe hosts ceremonies honoring Army Pfc. Lori Piestewa, a Hopi, who became the first woman soldier to die during Iraq duty.
BY ASHLEY FANTZ
afantz@herald.com

Sho-na-bish.

That Seminole word, meaning ''thank you,'' was repeated many times Thursday as Native American veterans from around the nation honored one of their own, a Hopi who was the first female soldier to die in Iraq.

Gathered at the Seminole Big Cypress Entertainment Complex on Broward County's western edge for the 16th annual Veterans Day Celebration, about 300 Native Americans were part of a tribute to Pfc. Lori Piestewa.

She was 23 years old in March when Iraqis ambushed her 507th Maintenance Co. and captured her comrades, including her closest friend and roommate, Pfc. Jessica Lynch. On Sunday, NBC will broadcast a TV movie about Lynch's ordeal.

Piestewa has not received the same level of attention, said Seminole spokesman Elrod Bowers, but tribes from across the country have pulled together to show their support for her family.

''In the Seminole culture, it's not accepted to be loud about your accomplishments, to be out there about what you've done,'' he said. ``We are more subdued.''

Nodding in solemn gratitude, Piestewa's parents accepted a hand-carved flute decorated with fringe and American flags.

In Seminole culture, the flute symbolizes healing, tribe member Steven Bowers explained. The dead soldier's father, Percy Piestewa, listened intently as his wife, Terry Piestewa, wrapped her arms around Lori's children, Brandon, 5, and Carla, 3. Piestewa was divorced, and the children now live with her parents.

Highly guarded about the details of their daughter's life, the Piestewas were quiet throughout the day's events, but seemed comfortable joining in a victory dance performed by the Comanche Little Pony Warrior Society, a national group with some Florida members.

''We are very humbled,'' said Percy Piestewa. ``We thank you, and God bless you all.''

Immediately after they received news of their daughter's death, they told the cavalcade of reporters who descended on their town that Lori might be embarrassed by all the attention. Nevertheless, her name and legacy are now etched in American history. For example, Squaw Peak in Phoenix was named after her this summer.

The Seminoles contacted the Piestewa family in June, offering to pay their way from their home in Arizona to South Florida for the ceremony. The tribe traditionally hosts a memorial before Veterans' Day to allow Native American servicemen and women to celebrate with their fellow soldiers of all backgrounds on the national holiday, which this year is on Tuesday.

Military accomplishments were acknowledged proudly Thursday, with four hours of dancing, singing and schoolchildren from the Seminole's Ahfachkee School reading poems and essays with patriotic themes.

A display included photographs of decorated Seminole soldiers. The tribe's members have been awarded purple hearts, and have served multiple tours in Vietnam and World War II. One was a member of the White House staff under three presidents, earning him the President's Service Badge.

Dave Forman, president of Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 23 Broward, said 14 Seminoles gave their life in that war. He served as an Air Police officer from 1964 to 1965.

He said he feels a solidarity with Native American veterans. ''When we came home, we had to fight with the federal government to get everything we got,'' he said. ``And they have fought just as hard to get every honor they deserve.''

Lest We Forget: Veterans Day, 2003

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place, and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Browser Wars

Let me say it LOUD AND CLEAR
"I Hate Microsoft Internet Explorer."
I also run a Mac.
Soooooo.....being the openminded browser bigot that I am, I did not hesitate to adopt what used to be called Chimera, now Camino, a fine open-source Mozilla product.
Camino 0.7 has been out and stable since March, and I love it.
The other night I started messing around with Firebird 0.7.1 (for Mac OS X) and the only gripe I have it that it won't use Java 1.4.1, which is the version I have on the machine. Other than that, I must say it is on the verge of being competitive with Camino in several ways, not the least being appearance. I just love color in my toolbar widgets and Firebird has that, even if it doesn't have as many widgets as Camino.
Now, Mark, what about Safari? Good question. I basically use safari for "type-in" java applications and little else. It looks goofy and I like being contrary anyway!
So if you are looking for a good browser, if you are on a Mac use Camino, and if you are a poor windozed user, I recommend Firebird. If you are a Mac user, give Firebird a test drive, too. It has a way to go, but it is fun and fast, important on a dialup no matter where you are.

Shocking news, but TRUE

Salmon, it seems, is GOOD for you. Whoda thunk it?

Running columnist praises Alaska salmon as great endurance food

Melodrama

I trust everyone is following Achewood this week.

DID NASA nuke Jupiter?

I like to take a look at The Enterprise Mission every now and then to see what Marsfan Richard Hoagland has to say. Hoagland is an enigmatic character, to put it mildly, but he is tenacious in his view that the "Face on Mars" is really an artificlal construct conveying a message similar to that ascribed to the Pyramids of Giza.
His latest item, though, stands some serious attention. His headline, Did NASA accidentally "Nuke" Jupiter is based on the coincidental appearance of a mysterious dark spot on the gigantic planet a month after NASA deliberately crashed the Galileo space probe into it. Check it out.

Snow, Finally!

My co-worker looked out the window of our office this afternoon and said, "It looks like we've already gottenas much snow as we had all last winter."
No kiddin'!
We should be hearing snogos zooming around any minute now, although the Kuskowkim River is still running like a faucet.

No, we DON't have the

Treadwell mauling audio
Treadwell bear mauling audio
Grizz-et greenie mauling audio

or any other search criteria you put in
(but we'll put these in here to get a Google ranking!)

Well, it WAS an ENGLISH boy's school...

Schoolboys hospitalised after taking Viagra

October 23, 2003

Six English schoolboys were hospitalised after they took Viagra pills in their lunch-break, education bosses said today.

One of the Year Eight pupils, all aged 12 and 13, is believed to have brought in the tablets and handed them around to five of his pals at the all-boys comprehensive school in Berkshire.

Teachers at the Forest School in Winnersh called 999 when word spread of what they had done.

A spokeswoman from Wokingham District Council, the local education authority, said: "It is believed that a pupil brought the tablets from home into the all-boys school and shared them with five friends. The school responded quickly to the situation and, as a precaution, paramedics were called.

"The pupils were taken to the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading. All six have subsequently been discharged and are not expected to suffer any ill-effects.

"All of the tablets have been accounted for. The school has a strict no drugs policy and a pupil will be temporarily excluded for actions which placed other pupils at risk."

The incident happened last week.

Viagra was launched by pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer in 1998 as a breakthrough in the treatment of male impotency and is a prescribed drug, although it is available for sale on the Internet.

Sexual health experts have said the effects of the drug on young people are untested and side effects unknown.

Although it is not thought the boys will be seriously affected, doctors say any reaction with other medication could be dangerous.

- PA

THIS could be fun!

Moans and screams as Germans fall for porno karaoke

October 23, 2003

Germans are screaming, moaning, and panting for the latest nightlife craze: porno karaoke.

Film producers Satt und Durstig organised a premiere in Berlin last month after a successful test run in the northern city of Hamburg, and the trend has already spawned imitators in other major cities.

Porno karaoke is similar to traditional karaoke - but, instead of standing in for Whitney Houston or Frank Sinatra, contestants belt out the soundtracks of adult movie stars.

Players pair off in male-female teams as an XXX film is loaded into the projector. With the sound turned off, each duo is handed two microphones, and has one minute to provide the aural fireworks for the action on the screen.

The crowd, which tends to find the show more comic than erotic, then chooses the couple that has given the most convincing, creative, and ecstatic performance of faking an orgasm before hundreds of strangers.

- AFP

How NOT to camp in bear contry

Biologist believes errors led to attack
BEARS: Californians' choices may have contributed to fatal encounter.

By CRAIG MEDRED
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: October 10, 2003)

Human remains and clothing found in the stomach of a 28-year-old brown bear killed by National Park Service rangers Monday have confirmed that the animal fed on the bodies of California animal activist Timothy Treadwell and girlfriend Amie Huguenard, authorities reported Thursday.

Fresh details about the attack near Kaflia Bay in Katmai National Park on Alaska's southwest coast also began to emerge.

According to a memo from Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Larry Van Daele, Treadwell set up his bear-viewing camp "in such a way that bears wishing to traverse the area would have had to either wade in the lake or walk right next to the tent. A person could not have designed a more dangerous location to set up a camp.''

In videos found at the scene, Van Daele said, Treadwell described "his campsite as (in) a potentially dangerous location, but he expresses his confidence that he understands these bears and they will not harm him.''

On Wednesday, Fish and Game dispatched Van Daele -- author of a book on the history of the brown bears on Kodiak Island and an authority on the half-ton coastal cousins of the grizzly bear -- to Kaflia to investigate what is believed to be the first deadly bear attack in Katmai park history.

"What caused this individual bear to kill and eat humans is unknown,'' Van Daele concluded. "It was very old but not in remarkably poor condition.''

Most likely, the biologist said, there was a chance encounter between the people and the bear that resulted in the bear attacking and the situation worsening from there. Though authorities who arrived on scene Wednesday found two bears competing to eat the carcass of an adolescent bear also killed by rangers on Monday, Van Daele stressed that he saw nothing to indicate "strange bear behavior occurring in the area.''

Alaska brown bears commonly scavenge any mammal carcasses they find, but attacks on humans are rare and cases of brown bears actually eating humans are so uncommon that even calling them rare would be an overstatement.

Audubon Society biologist John Schoen and other experts on Alaska grizzly and brown bears on Thursday pointed out that Treadwell's proclivity for trying to get close to Alaska bears for more than a decade illustrates nothing so much as the bears' amazing tolerance for humans. The self-proclaimed former drug addict and eco-warrior from Malibu, Calif., regularly approached bears on his summer sojourns here, often easing to within feet of them while talking to them in a sing-song voice.

On videotape recovered at Treadwell's camp, Van Daele said, there is more evidence of this potentially dangerous behavior.

One "video shows Ms. Huguenard within 3 meters (10 feet) of a sow with cubs as they fish,'' Van Daele wrote.

"One of the cubs came even closer to her while (Treadwell) filmed. She seemed uncomfortable but did not move. Some journal entries suggest that she was not as comfortable with the situation as he was. One of the last of his journal entries described his dismay as a large, adult male fought with one of his (Treadwell's) favorite sows near the camp.''

Such fights among bears are not uncommon, particularly late in the year when the bears are scrambling to put on as much fat as possible before winter. A poor berry crop this year and tapering salmon runs would only compound the situation, said Van Daele, who noted that the smaller brown bear killed in the area by park rangers and Alaska State Troopers on Monday had been largely eaten by other bears by Wednesday.

Rangers, troopers and Fish and Game biologists had to drive one bear off what was left of the carcass and shoo away another lurking in the alders nearby in order to investigate Treadwell's camp. They literally battled their way in, firing firecracker shells and using the whoop-whoop-whooping of a helicopter overhead to drive the animals away and keep them away.

From what was found at the campsite in this bear-infested area, and other information, Van Daele said he developed a theory on how Treadwell and Huguenard might have died on Sunday night.

"We will never know exactly what happened, and it is somewhat risky to speculate,'' he warned, but in effort to lend some sense to what happened, he offered this hypothesis based on journals, videotapes and evidence at the scene.

"The most telling piece of information is an audio recording made during the actual bear attack. This goes on for about six minutes and starts with (Treadwell) outside of the tent investigating a bear that came into camp. It was obviously raining very hard at the time and seems to have been twilight or evening, judging from some comments.

"The bear attacks (Treadwell), and he calls for help. Ms. Huguenard opens the tent fly and is very upset. At her urging, he 'plays dead.' It sounds like the bear then retreated for a couple minutes but returned. It again went after him, and he begged her to hit it with something. She in turn screamed for him to fight. The audio ends with his sounds no longer evident and her screams continuing.

"Based on all the evidence, I would guess that this old, large boar had been hanging around the areas getting the last fish of the season. There was little else available to eat, and he competed with the sow for food. Although not in bad condition, he needed more fat for the winter.

"That evening, probably Sunday night, (the male) was walking along a major bear trail and walked by the tent. When he encountered Mr. Treadwell, the bear reacted and either bit him and/or hit him. When he 'played dead,' the bear left, but as is often the case, when Mr. Treadwell started moving again, and/or Ms. Huguenard came to his aid, the bear returned.

"At this time, for some reason, the bear killed and ate him. I suspect that Ms. Huguenard's screams, which sound eerily like a predator call, may have prompted the bear to return and kill her. He then cached her body to be eaten later.''

A predator call is a device hunters use to lure foxes, coyotes and wolves into rifle range. It has a high-pitched tone meant to imitate the call of an injured animal. The calls have been known to attract bears in Alaska.

The old boar that fed upon Treadwell and Huguenard -- and is likely the one that killed them both -- was estimated to weigh more than 1,000 pounds and had broken canine teeth. Van Daele doesn't think the other bear that rangers shot at the scene Monday, an apparent 3-year-old, had anything to do with the killings. That bear's stomach, along with most of its carcass, had already been consumed by other bears.

"In my assessment,'' Van Daele added at the end of a five-page memo, "Mr. Treadwell's actions leading up to the incident, including his behavior around bears, his choice of a campsite and his decision not to have any defensive methods or bear deterrents in the camp, were directly responsible for this catastrophic event.''

Treadwell had carried bear-repelling spray for self-protection when he first began coming to Alaska to commune with the bears but had stopped carrying it in recent years. The founder of Grizzly People, an organization for bear lovers, Treadwell didn't believe it was right to spray bears with the irritating pepper spray -- even if it caused no long-term injuries to the bears.

"He just felt that was an invasive, aggressive mechanism that translated into a kind of attitude. He didn't want to have that attitude,'' said friend Joel Bennett, a Juneau filmmaker. "He kind of wanted to resign himself to whatever happened.''

Daily News Outdoor editor Craig Medred can be reached at cmedred@adn.com.