Discovery lands at Space Station

The Discovery space shuttle just landed at the International Space Station, according to KFI AM.
The space craft is carrying veteran commander astronaut Rick "C.J." Sturckow, Pilot Kevin Ford and Mission Specialists Patrick Forrester, Jose Hernandez, John "Danny" Olivas and Sweden's Christer Fuglesang, and Nicole Stott, who will be replace Tim Kopra at the International Space Station.
Space shuttle Discovery will carry the Leonardo supply module to the International Space Station during the mission.
Also, the STS-128 mission crew will deliver refrigerator-sized racks full of equipment, including the COLBERT treadmill, an exercise device named after comedian Stephen Colbert.
NASA TV provides a live video feed, for the public to see the liftoff from the comfort of their own computers, via the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo courtesy of NASA.

Birds, animals on the tarmac at LAX

Red-tailed hawks, kestrels and peregrine falcons can be seen all over landscapes of Southern California as magnificent winged-creatures that co-exist with humans, sometimes seen as black shadows hovering over freeway overpasses or peering down rocky mountainsides.
To LAX, they seem to be considered deadly pests that can cause dangerous conditions for airliners, sometimes called "bullets with wings."
The LA Times recently reported how the rare birds are captured or sometimes scared away from the airport by a federal government mandated program since the 1990s. More than 940 animal strikes involving commercial aircraft were reported in the last decade, the Times reports. About 4 percent of the collisions caused substantial damage to engines, wings and fuselages.
Birds were reportedly the cause of the U.S. Airways Flight out of LaGuardia that crashed, but successfully landed into the Hudson River in January.
Above is a picture I took a couple years ago of a Cooper's Hawk in Bolsa Chica.

Cash for blowers this week

Cash for clunkers? Try cash for blowers.
Professional gardeners can start exchanging their old noisy diesel-spewing backpack leaf blowers for newer quieter low-emission units this week through an incentive program.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District began registration Aug. 18 to replace up to 1,500 of the polluting leaf blowers until the program is sold out.
It’s the forth year in a row the SCAQMD has initiated the program with hopes to cut down on smog pollution the backpack blowers produce
The new blowers will be sold for $200 plus tax, representing a $270 discount from the retail price of $470. The old blowers will be scrapped.
The old blowers will be replaced by the STIHL BR 500 models, which is nearly four times cleaner than the California Air Resources Board’s standard for new blowers and it is one the of quietest models available, according to the SCAQMD web site.
The state agency hopes the incentive will protect public health by reducing an additional 21 tons of smog-forming pollution a year.
To qualify for the leaf blower exchange, participants must register by calling (888) 425-6247. The first exchange occurs on Thursday, Aug. 27 at Simon’s Power Equipment at Valley Plaza Park at 12240 Archwood St. in North Hollywood.

Update meeting on Los Cerritos Wetlands

As news continues to shift and turn as much as the tide regarding the controversial future of the Los Cerritos Wetlands, its land trust is holding a “informal wetlands update” on Sept. 2. The meeting will address such issues as the proposed land swap, the proposed 2nd and PCH development project and follow-up on the illegal scraping at Loynes and Studebaker.
“Because of all this activity surrounding the wetlands, it has been suggested, and we agree, that we need to meet more often to share information and to plan and organize to address the issues and challenges that face Los Cerritos Wetlands,” according to the land trust website.
For the latest on the controversy surrounding a proposed land swap deal that was delayed and then eventually approved by the Long Beach City Council on Aug. 4, read the press-telegram here or the district weekly's pre-story here.
Coffee and cookies will be available.
The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 2 at the Belmont Mobile Estates Clubhouse located at 6230 E Marina View Drive in Long Beach.
For more information or to RSVP, contact Elizabeth at ejlambe@verizon.net.

Documentary: no more seafood by 2048

Documentary filmmaker Rupert Murrey was interviewed on Coast-to-Coast tonight, giving a glimpse into his new film "The End of the Line," which focuses on the global effects of overfishing. In his report, he said fisheries are catching fish about 5 times more than scientists are recommending to sustain a healthy habitat, while oddly enough depleting the very fish populations that the industry depends on. In China, investigations have discovered that fish catch reports have been overstated for more than 20 years in order to project bigger numbers than what they actually catch. True numbers show a downward trend. Meanwhile, salmon has been largely scarce and there have been reports that worms from farm raised fish have begun to affect the natural spawns. As far as seafood? Scientists say if the fishing industry continues as the way it is than we can count on not being able to order it by 2048.