It Wants to Live

In the middle of December I took my pole saw and pruned my three Royal Empress (paulownia) trees.

Each of the three trees are about twenty feet high, and in the winter, when the trees are focusing on root development, it is the perfect time to see exactly which branches need to be pruned.

After I had cut the branches, I chopped them into smaller sections, most of which were about one to two feet long, and I placed them in a pile on the ground next to my outdoor fireplace.

Well, the other day I decided that the wood had probably dried out enough so that it would burn. As I started to put some of it in my fireplace, I noticed that two of the branches had new growth on them! Now this is a full three and a half months after I had originally cut them!

I could not believe it, but here is a picture that shows the new growth on one of the cut pieces.

Earth Hour Is Here

Don't forget to turn off your lights from 8:30pm to 9:30pm

Corvette ZR1 @ The Ring

Even if your not a Corvette fan, you have to enjoy this video of a GM test driver whipping this ZR1 round the legendary Nurburgring. For more check out Corvette Racin's website. Looks like heaven to me.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAYOU BOY

Earth Hour '09 is Right Around The Corner

Are you ready to join in?



For more go to Earth Hour

Pink Dolphin in Louisiana

Caught on camera: Is this the world's only PINK dolphin?

By Daily Mail Reporter

Original Post - click here

Last updated at 3:51 PM on 02nd March 2009

These are the stunning pictures of a rare pink bottlenose dolphin spotted swimming in a Louisiana lake.

The mammal was pictured by local charter boat captain Erik Rue, who has been studying the dolphin since it first surfaced in Lake Calcasieu, an inland saltwater estuary, north of the Gulf of Mexico in Southwestern USA.

Since it was spotted with its pod of normal coloured dolphins last year the animal has been wowing visitors on the lake.

Capt Rue, 42, originally saw the dolphin, which also has reddish eyes, swimming with a pod of four other dolphins, with one appearing to be its mother which never left its side.

Stunning sight: The rare albino dolphin has been spotted by excited visitors to Lake Calcasieu in Louisiana

'I just happened to see a little pod of dolphins, and I noticed one that was a little lighter. It was absolutely stunningly pink', he said.

'I had never seen anything like it. It's the same colour throughout the whole body and it looks like it just came out of a paint booth. The dolphin appears to be healthy and normal other than its colouration, which is quite beautiful.

'The mammal is entirely pink from tip to tail and has reddish eyes indicating it's albinism. The skin appears smooth, glossy pink and without flaws. I have spotted it about 40 to 50 times in the time since the original sighting as it has apparently taken up residence with its family in the Calcasieu Ship Channel.

More...

• Race to save 200 whales and dolphins after mass stranding on Tasmanian beach

'As time has passed he has grown and sometimes ventures away from its mother to feed and play but always remains in the vicinity of the pod.

'Surprisingly, it does not appear to be drastically affected by the environment or sunlight as might be expected considering its condition, although it tends to remain below the surface a little more than the others in the pod.'

The striking mammal is thought to be the world's only pink bottlenose dolphin

Capt Rue added: 'I feel very fortunate to have seen this incredible mammal and lucky to be able to work and live in the area where such a fantastic creature frequents.

'Our guests are always thrilled at the opportunity to spot such a unique mammal and we look forward to it being around for some time to come.'

Regina Asmutis-Silvia, senior biologist, with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, called the dolphin 'truly beautiful'.

'I have never seen a dolphin coloured in this way in all my career', she said.

'While this animal looks pink, it is an albino which you can notice in the pink eyes. Albinism is a genetic trait and it unclear as to the type of albinism this animal inherited.

'It is a truly beautiful dolphin but people should be careful, as with any dolphins, to respect it. Observe from a distance, limit their time watching, don't chase or harass it."

Sunset at the North Pole

The Encyclopedia of Life

The Encyclopedia of Life is out to catalogue all the world species. They are looking for help from you to get this ongoing project up to date with as many contributors as they can get to keep fresh information on existing and new species.



The following is a copy of what they are looking for in contributors and a coupe of links to check out the site.



"Help us build the Encyclopedia of Life"

"The Encyclopedia of Life is a place for information about all of organisms of the world. Soon, anyone will be able to add pictures and information. Expert curators will ensure quality on our authenticated pages. Together we will make EOL the best, most comprehensive source for biodiversity information.



A few things to note:

We are committed to providing information for free, with as few restrictions on re-use as possible. See our Licensing Policy.
We are committed to clearly crediting the sources of the information we serve and urge our visitors to cite and visit the original sources.



I have images I'd like to share.
There will be more than one way to contribute, but for now we have set up an Encyclopedia of Life group at the collaborative photo-sharing site, Flickr . Be sure to scroll down and read the instructions about how to license and tag your images so we can easily index them on our site. The images won’t go on our species pages immediately, but look for them by the beginning of 2009. It's also important that the images you share through Flickr are your own and NOT images you found elsewhere.



I have an online database I'd like to share.
Contact us to begin the process of sharing your information through EOL (select "Become a Content Partner"). You don't need to share all of your text or multimedia, but what you do share must bear one of our accepted licenses. We will work with you so that it will be easy for you to keep your data updated on EOL. For more detail, see the following documents:

Commitment
Licensing policy
Transfer schema
Data element glossary
We are working on an online registration process to facilitate data sharing partnerships.




I am a scientist (or representing a community of scientists) and I'd like to provide text and other information for species pages.
We are planning several ways to do this. At the end of 2008 we will be releasing Expert LifeDesks. These will enable scientific communities to assemble text and multimedia in ways useful to you and to us. Modeled after, and compatible with, EDIT Scratchpads, you'll have your own customizable online environment to maintain your information. You may also contribute to the Tree of Life Web, or another relevant data partner, as we are sharing information with them. You will also be able to submit information using spreadsheets (details forthcoming). To get on the notification list for contributors, contact us (select "Become a Curator").



See our exemplar pages for the kinds of information appropriate for species pages.



If you need help organizing your colleagues, consider submitting a workshop proposal to the Biodiversity Synthesis Center.



I'm not a trained scientist but I'd like to help in any way I can.
You'll be able to contribute your own images (see above), text, and observations in a variety of ways. Starting in December 2008, you'll be able to add tags to our images and comment on the contents of the web site. Later in 2009 there will be new ways for you to share content with EOL, such as Public LifeDesks. All contributions should be visible; some contributions will be selected by curators as authenticated (high-quality, endorsed) content. By the way, even if you are not a "trained scientist", you may be a citizen scientist qualified to curate species pages.



I would like to help curate species pages.
EOL will open its doors to contributions from everyone. Curators will identify the best quality contributions. We will release a beta version of curation policies and tools in December 2008 and will phase in the full system in 2009. We’ll invite you to register as a curator here and provide us with your credentials and other reasons why you think you would be a good curator. To get on the notification list for curators, contact us (select "Request to curate a page").

A draft of the Curator Network plan is now available (also available in Spanish and Catalan). Please share your comments with us in the forum.



I'm a teacher or college faculty member and would like my students to contribute to the Encyclopedia of Life.
Please contact our Education and Outreach coordinator who may direct you to a partner project, such as Animal Diversity Web. Or, you may want to wait for our K-12 LifeDesks, which will begin to appear in 2009.



I'm a student and I would like to contribute to the Encyclopedia of Life.
Images might be a good first step (see above). Talk to your teacher about class projects that might involve EOL. Starting in December, you'll be able to add tags to our images and comment on the contents of the web site. Later you’ll be able to use LifeDesks to submit information, observations, and stories. Feel free to register and take part in discussions on our Forum.



I am a scientist who has compiled an authoritative classification that EOL should be using for a group of organisms.
We encourage you to submit your classification to the Catalogue of Life.

In 2009 we will be working on tools that will allow you to submit your classification or your own list of names and use this to navigate through the Encyclopedia of Life. Expert LifeDesks will also contain tools to help you build your own classifications and share them with us.



I have a database of species information, but it is not yet online.
Contact us to begin the process of sharing your information through EOL"(select "Become a Content Partner").

You can check out EOL Here.

And help them build the site here.

The site looks like it will be a very interesting and informative place to frequent for a never ending database on all the species we share the planet with. I for one will be spending a bit of my free time exploring this site, hope you will too.

Passiflora

The longer I stay here in New Orleans, the more my taste for gardening and plants expands.

For the last three years, I have been growing many strange looking plants, including the Blue Crown Passion Flower, and I have recently bought six other varieties of this exotic plant, called Passiflora. All of them are amazing!

Here is a picture one of the new flowering vines that I bought. This one is the Passiflora Flavicarpa.

psychedelic frog fish

A recently discovered "psychedelic" fish is bouncing into the books as a new species, a new study says.