roscoe

Sorry to bring this up after so long - finals and papers are killing me... I also just realized my answers are in the quoted stuff - inside the **'s - in case you missed that

where are you getting your "correct" data from? the fact of the matter is that these studies I cite use scientific methods thats have at least 95% accuracy in counting the populations of predators/prey, and can therefore determine the amount of deaths that are attributed to the wolf population. While the scientist you may know might be an idiot, or might just not be able to function in the real world, does not mean that every scientists is an idiot, nor does it mean she cannot perform valuable scientific research. The studies I cited found that in elk populations in Northern Idaho, only 35% of elk mortality is due to wolves. I'm not arguing that the populations are not decreasing, but rather that your arguments do not support your conclusion - that wolves should be delisted. As I said, it's not a bad thing for elk populations to decrease until they reach that "critical level" I mentioned early. Once elk/deer populations decrease significantly, the aforementioned trend of wolf decrease ALWAYS occurs. If wolves are still increasing in your area, that means that elk/deer have not decreased significantly enough to cause that trend of wolf decrease. The introduction of wolves and their predation of elk/deer mean the return to NATURAL cycles of predation, with NATURAL increases and decreases in elk - of course with human disturbances added in. the real problem is not the wolf, it is the HUMAN. WE destroy their habitat and food source, and then add insult to injury by hunting them. how is it indoctrination when I do my own research, look at multiple scientific sources, and come to conclusions from the information presented by those sources? I understand you are making general statements about education (no intended/taken) - but how can you claim with no data presented that other scientists and I are wrong?

Well the part about only allow John to shoot a wolf attacking his cows isnt totally true - it would open up the population to a lot more hunting and killing than it is right now. I have no problem with a farmer defending his livestock, that is clearly within his legal/ethical rights. By delisting the wolves not only would some forms of hunting, but also stringent population control methods would be implemented in which entire packs are not relocated, but instead gunned down. Also, the numbers from the scientists were numbers that would be allow a population to persist - not the IDEAL number of wolves. The difference is based on the idea of the "critical number" - which is the least number of organisms a population needs to survive, or on "carrying capacity" - most number of organisms an ecosystem can sustain. So what the scientists did is one of two things. They could have either suggested a population somewhat higher than the critical number (which would allow the population some insurance, in case of disease/predation/etc); OR they chose a population approximately one half of the carrying capacity - which allows for the best reproductive succes. what I'm trying to say here is that while their numbers were GOALS, higher population numbers don't indicate that we should try to decrease the population, just that the reintroduction has been effective. Predation: elks: Most of their juvenile deaths are not due to wolves. majority of calf deaths are due to density dependent factors (availability of food) and other predators (bears and mountain lions). For adults, density dependent factors (food) are the biggest cause of death; wolves accounted for 35% of adult deaths. In total, the study concludes wolves are killing elk, but are not the major predator/cause of death. Deer: One study concluded that Wolves prefer Elk over deer as their prey and that while they are clearly preying on deer, they kill more elk. A lot of the present deer decline has to do with depdent factors (food) and other habitat issues. However, they do conclude that with present wolf predation rates + these other factors + hunting the population is declining too quickly. However, the thing about all population-dynamic models, is that if deer/elk continue to decrease, the wolf population will decrease, then deer/elk increase, then wolves increase, and this cycle keeps going (resembles sin on the graph). This occurs for just about every species in the wild, it rarely every turns into a linear/flat relationship b/c there are always outside disturbances that will cause one of the two populations to decrease, thereby causing the other population to increase or decrease depending on the situation. So, while declining elk/deer populations is not good, it is expected (especially with recent habitat change that limits food + habitat acquisition) and nothing new. **Also, something really important to note, is that the last time they tried to delist the wolves ('03/'04) the courts (in '05) declared it illegal and they stayed on the lists -- personally, I hope this happens again. I am not against population control when wolves encroach areas with high human population/attack livestock/etc, but delisting the wolves creates too many problems in my opinion

I dont think the High Life is that bad ... I think Honeybrown is a pretty good inexpensive beer too

geez - we feel like we're living large when we get bud-light around here! especially when we get bottles, mm mmm delicious! keystone? come on ... not THAT bad...

who wants some come get it ....

haha not fully by memory, but almost - had to check online for some it the movie is full of witty jokes and one liners ... about 10 seconds later he's walking by the old coffin-maker (he previously told the old man to make him 3 coffins) ... "my mistake, make that 4" I think those are some of the best westerns of all time, not as boring as many of the others, witty humor, not over the top fight scenes, and the man with no name is just straight up bad ass

Natural Ice takes the top of the list of beer I'd say. even though its got something around 6.5% alcohol, it tastes bad Slitchz Bull (spelling?) is a pretty damn horrible 40, when it comes to 40s. not really sure any of them count as "good" though

haha I think I'm from the same part of town. My dad was hit while riding his bike by a van, we dont think it was intentional however. it was some old guy, supposedly looking at deer on the other side of hte road. either way, resulted in 5 cracked rips, broken femur, a bunch of compressed vertebrae, dislocated shoulder, broken collarbone, broken ankle, a 2 foot gash on his left arm, and a serious case of road rash. In his case, there was nothing he could do, as the driver hit him from behind/the side with no warning. on a complete side note - Justin - I've also been a follower of the reintroduction of the wolf (mainly paying attention to the yellowstone populations), but have been reading about the attempts to delist them from the endangered/threatened species acts, and how it will allow the populations to be "trimmed" by 1/2, due to population control methods used by the government. Personally, I think taking them off the list now without proper precautions would pretty much undo all of the progress they've worked to hard for in the past few decades...

originally it comes from back in the old days where somebody would take off their glove and "throw [it] down" to the ground, to signal they wanted to duel. nowadays its basically just someone's willingness to fight

I think this applies to most people on the forum, unless you're all secret kung-fu masters

I'd assume that would depend ...

are those first offense punishments? if so, wow

I completely disagree Its only a matter of time until driving drunk eventually leads to someone getting hurt. Yes, a person might only drive drunk one time, not hurt anyone, and never do it again. But this line of thinking applies to any criminal (or preventative) offense. If the question is between our "rights" to do what we want (drive a little drunk?), and our "right" to be safe from some idiot that gets behind the wheel after "a" number of drinks, I definitely chose the latter. ** of course - what are you defining as drunk? 1 drink? I'm not sure anyone would get pulled over after 1-2, so I dont think this would really apply **

Will do, thank you. There are some ok looking deals on ebay, package deals too (http://cgi.ebay.com/Randal-180mm-Longboard-Trucks-Krypto-Wheels-Abec7-70_W0QQitemZ270113004801QQihZ017QQcategoryZ36625QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) I'd have to add up buying everything individually, but from first glance it looks about the same cost

when I got the email this morning and read what the post was, my first response was "WTF no way!," then I read that it was posted by Jack; that explained everything

OVR - zip code is 01944 Bob - how much for the randalls? Also, I know that you suggested going with the krypto classics, but are those good wheels for a beginner? I was reading that they are very fast and popular for racing. How much in performance would I be losing if I went with something like this: http://www.boardsports.com/945037.html Thanks

I was thinking about buying a longboard for a while know, but I was looking for a pretty stiff board that I could use as a cruiser around town. How much flex does it have? ... does it flex when you're just cruising around or going into a turn hard? and how much would shipping be from CA to MA?

Sugarloaf is reporting a total of 50 inches of snow in the past four days. they only got a little bit of rain, and supposedly that was before they got another 15-20 inches of snow. WOW

I agree with Allee, that (one of) the real lessons here is about in some way limiting especially kids/teens from getting guns. Depression is not a recent phenomena; the only reason we see these more devestating impacts coming from it today is because of the ease with which teens can get a hold of weapons -- ex. - I can go downtown right now and buy a rifle from walmart b/c I am over 18 and have a valid drivers license. I think better health care systems (free would be nice) in schools and available for the public, and some kind of gun restriction will be necessary to solve the problem. Good, attentive parenting can't solve it all (always a good start though) - a parent can be as involved and caring as they can possibly be, and someone can still be depressed and never ask for help or truly show it to others. I am truly sorry for anyone who has ever had to deal with the loss of a loved one to depression or any other mental illness

supposedly they've been getting snow for the past day... in brunswick we've been getting TONS of rain - hopefuly the amount of rain we're getting here is all snow up in the mountains - it would make for an amazing finish of the season.

you have to wonder what would make people do that. what is so wrong with their lives that they would kill innocent people?

I went up friday, and it was amazing snow. 10" of relatively light powder. great stuff and supposedly we're supposed to get a couple FEET of snow up here sunday/monday. winter's not over yet

thursday we're supposed to get 1-3 inches, some rain, and then 1-3 more inches in Brunswick - so two hours south of the loaf/Sunday river The loaf sent me an email telling me they were getting a foot by this weekend - I might be heading to the mountain friday or sunday (rugby tournament scheduled for saturday, depends on the weather) last saturday was definitely one of the BEST days this year, so this weekend could be another great powder weekend