“The World’s Best Job in the World’s Worst City”
by dukkillrApril 30, 2009
The AP is reporting that Supreme Court Justice David Souter will be announcing his retirement. Although he was appointed by the first Bush administration he is considered one of the courts liberal votes.
While his leaving might not lead to a dramatic ideologic shift on the court, never underestimate the effect new blood has on the court. Picking Supreme Court justices is the single most important thing a president does.
The next few months will be interesting.
BTW, that title is a quote attributed to Souter, and I think he’s right.
Thompson/Center Arms Announces New Sales Organization
by Mike BellApril 30, 2009
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The new Thompson/Center Arms Sales organization, led by MacLellan, will be responsible for ongoing sales growth efforts and for establishing accessory merchandising initiatives. As the company continues to develop high quality products, the newly formed sales organization will provide Thompson/Center with increased visibility in the marketplace and increased support for distributors and retailers.
“Having served as a National Account Manager for Smith & Wesson and having amassed 20 years of experience in sales and sales leadership, John is well qualified for this new role,” said Leland Nichols, Smith & Wesson’s Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing. “Prior to joining Smith & Wesson, John held sales positions at both Anderson Windows and Timbron International, where he was instrumental in developing new sales tools and expanding the retail network of both companies.”
Nichols continued, “We are also excited about the addition of Dunkin-Lewis, Sportco Marketing, J Harding Associates, and our continued relationship with the Graywood Sporting Group in Canada. These companies are among the pillars of our industry. Together, they provide us with more than 70 sales representatives with centuries of cumulative sales and promotion experience in the hunting market. As the Thompson/Center product line continues to evolve and expand, the talent and market savvy that these companies bring to the team will complement our growth objectives.”
The Thompson/Center Sales organization will actively promote the company’s traditional line of hunting firearms and interchangeable firearms platforms while expanding industry awareness of the four new models introduced earlier this year. At the 2009 SHOT Show, Thompson/Center introduced four new models that expand the company’s portfolio of high-quality hunting products at various price points. New models for this year include the T/C® Venture bolt-action rifle, Thompson/Center ICON® Precision Hunter, Triumph® Bone Collector muzzleloader and ICON® bolt-action rifles in long-action calibers with Weather Shield® finish.
About Thompson/Center and Smith & Wesson
Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation is parent company to Smith & Wesson Corp., one of the world’s largest manufacturers of quality firearms and firearm safety/ security products. Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation is also the parent company to Thompson/Center Arms Company, Inc., a premier designer and manufacturer of premium hunting rifles, black powder rifles, handguns, interchangeable firearms systems and accessories under the Thompson/Center Arms brand. Smith & Wesson also licenses shooter protection, knives, apparel, and other accessory lines. Smith & Wesson is based in Springfield, Massachusetts with manufacturing facilities in Springfield, Houlton, Maine, and Rochester, New Hampshire. The Smith & Wesson Academy is America’s longest running firearms training facility for law enforcement, military and security professionals. For more information on Smith & Wesson, call (800) 331-0852 or log on to wwww.smith-wesson.com. For more information on Thompson/Center Arms, log on to www.tcarms.com.
Fox Sports Nets to Air Hunts for Heros’ Veteran Outdoors
by help4huntersApril 30, 2009
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Georgetown, Texas– A new patriotic and uplifting show honoring our country’s heroes is a refreshing antidote to the excessive negativity of most reality programs on television today. Hunts for Heroes’ Veteran Outdoors, a platform for wounded veterans to share their stories and enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime hunting or fishing adventure, will air on 10 regions of Fox Sports Net channels beginning Saturday July 4th, 2009.
Thirteen (13) original episodes will begin airing weekly at 7:00 a.m. (local) on Saturdays, and will run through December 26th. The show will reach an estimated 110 million households weekly and will also be re-ran a second time each week (times to be announced) for 26 consecutive weeks. Hunts for Heroes’ Veteran Outdoors will be aired on FSN Arizona, FSN Detroit, FSN Midwest, FSN Ohio, FSN South, FSN Southwest, FSN West, FSN North, FSN Wisconsin, and FSN Florida.
“We are extremely pleased that Hunts for Heroes’ Veteran Outdoors will be airing on Fox Sports Net, and we couldn’t have hand picked a better day for it to debut than our country’s Independence Day,” says host Cody Hirt. “Our goal is to give our heroes a platform to tell their inspiring stories. We want to honor their patriotism and their sacrifice to our country.”
Over the past few years U.S. Army Veteran Wes Higgins and Cody Hirt, the show’s hosts, have participated in and coordinated numerous hunting and fishing trips for wounded veterans. It was on these trips, listening to the powerful stories told by these brave men and women, that they realized that everyone needs to hear these stories of triumph! Their struggles and their stories truly make you appreciate the life you get to live…and our quality of life is a direct result of these heroes.
Hunts for Heroes’ Veteran Outdoors is a project of Four Point Productions LLC and Careco Multimedia Inc. The shows sole purpose is to honor our country’s service members who have been wounded in combat by giving them a platform to tell their story in their own words. The program is both emotional and uplifting as it surprises participating veterans with their dream hunting or fishing adventure as a way of saying thank you’ for their service.
Veteran Outdoors Brad Strittmatter (832) 607-4778 or brad@veteranoutdoors.com
Hunts for Heroes, Billy Hodges (979) 543-3861
Is this for real?
by Othmar VohringerApril 30, 2009
This image is making the rounds on the Internet for quite some time now. It was only a matter of time until it would end up in my email inbox. Yesterday someone sent me this picture titled: Best bowkill on camera. But is it real or is the image made up in photoshop or some other photo-manipulating program?
Whenever I cam across this image on the Internet I discovered that it unleashed a hot discussion of real versus fake. Lucky me I am married to a photographer and graphic design artist. My wife knows a thing or two about manipulating images so I asked her to take a look at it.
Here verdict after close examination. This image is one hundred percent fake.
The buck looks dead as in laying on the ground and then has been cut out and placed into a background that might be taken my a game cam. Notice the pile of corn at the bottom right corner of the image.
The blood splatters have been painted in. I had no clue but I am told by my wife that photo draw programs come with a variety of “brushes” that let you paint anything from a house to a tree and mountain, or in this case, blood into an image.
Knowing an animal’s anatomy I paid close attention to the muscles. If a buck jumps up in the air, as this one appears to be doing, you wpuld see the hind leg muscles bulging from the strain and force needed to leap that high. But I can’t see any muscle strain. In fact all the muscles are relaxed as they would appear on a dead deer.
There seems to be also something wrong with the buck’s eyes. Usually the color of the eye is black when you take a picture of a life deer but will reproduce white on a dead deer. These eyes are white.
Then there are the other factors to consider. When a deer jumps up like that it happens very fast so fast in fact that the camera cannot capture the movement without blur unless the photographer uses what’s called a fast lens with a wide aperture and the camera is set at around 800 to 1000 ISO. No game camera is capable of "freezing" fast movement not even with a flash.
With all these observations and my wife’s professional opinion I came to the conclusion that this image is as fake as a water turtle in the Sahara.
What’s your take on it?
Othmar Vohringer Outdoors
Founding Member of Outdoor Bloggers Summit
Forest Fire Toxins
by Greg L JohnsonApril 30, 2009
As if we needed any more reasons to worry about forest fires:
Scientists have discovered a new class of chemicals emitted from burning pine trees. From a family of compounds known for their ability to alter human DNA, the findings could change the way we look at the impact of forest fires on public health.
Alkaloids are commonly found in nature; plants produce them to help bolster the structure of leaves and pine needles, and they can be key nutrients to the right organisms. Many are prized for their beneficial effects on humans, while a select few, like morphine and caffeine are downright addictive.
But in high enough doses, alkaloids can be potent toxins.
It should be stressed here that this is really preliminary research, we’re a long ways from knowing how these alkaloids react in the environment and with people if at all.
The irony of the situation is that decades of suppressing all forest fires, naturally caused or not, have left many of the Western forests filled with brush and densely packed lodgepole pine that are the perfect fuel for fires. The current method of dealing with this situation is the use of controlled fires to clear the forests. That may have to change.
However, she (Researcher Julia Laskin) said the results suggest more alkaloids are produced in cooler, smoldering fires. These are typical of controlled burns that forestry officials often set to prevent much hotter, raging wildfires. If further work bears out this conclusion, it may be possible to alter controlled burns in a way that minimizes alkaloid production.
The more we study, the more we learn just how little we know about managing the natural environment, and how unexpected the results of our attempts to regulate natural processes can be.
Cute And Cuddly vs. Sometimes Cruel Mother Nature
by Tom RemingtonApril 30, 2009
I came across an article today in the Colorado Springs Gazette online about wolves, wolf puppies, the current plan to remove protection of the wolf from the Endangered Species Act list and efforts to exploit the wolf cubs to stop the delisting.
In the article, the writer visits with a caretaker of a local wolf rehab center. The caretaker described the upcoming decision to delist wolves as creating a “blood bath”. She also said she planned to use two 5 1/2-week old wolf cubs to warm the hearts of people and hope to gain influence to incite people to call Interior Sec. Salazar and tell him to stop the blood bath.
Of course everyone loves a cute cuddly little puppy. Check out this feller preparing himself for bigger things in life.
I got thinking that even though I would be kidding myself if I didn’t think that wolf cub was the cutest darned thing, so is a new born elk calf like this one.
Unfortunately for those interested in seeking the truth, we know that both of these guys grow up……well, not exactly. You see if the little elk guy happens to get born in an area that has too many wolves, his odds of surviving aren’t too good. The chances are real big he’ll get eaten up by one of that cute little wolf cub’s parents.
As a matter of reality, the odds are just as good that the wolf cub’s parents won’t wait long enough for the elk calf to see one day of life in the wild. Wolves like to eat elk calves hot right out of the oven……before they are born.
I don’t want to snatch away anyone’s delight in that wolf cubs are cute and cuddly but so are elk, deer and moose calves. They are the cunningest things. This is real and it is genuine to present the complete picture than only a small part of it.
Tom Remington
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U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance News -The good and the bad
by Othmar VohringerApril 30, 2009
I am glad to see that sportsman take action against the governments continued efforts to infringe upon our rights. We all need to get more involved like these gun owners in New York.
New York Sportsmen Have a “Gun Day” in Albany
Sportsmen in New York rallied on Wednesday, April 29, at the state capital in order to raise awareness and demonstrate their opposition to a litany of anti-gun bills being pushed through the state Assembly.
Empire State sportsmen and gun enthusiasts flocked to the “Gun Day” rally organized by the New York based, Shooters Committee on Political Education (SCOPE, Inc.). The rally was coordinated in response to a wave of anti-gun bills making their way through the New York Assembly.
Read More
It looks like that Michigan finally decides to use common sense in the wolf management but as things progress in a positive way the antis lay in waiting ready to pounce.
Anti’s Lurk as Michigan Delists Wolves from Endangered Species List
The long, winding path to delisting the gray wolf from the endangered species list in Michigan is moving closer to an end, at least for the moment. However, animal rights groups are already waiting to swoop in from the wings and slam the brakes on the effort.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has determined the number of gray wolves in the Upper Peninsula have made a tremendous recovery. Consequently, the state announced on April 27 that the gray wolf was removed from its endangered species list.
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I am really concerned about the sanity of PETA founder and president, Ingrid Newkerk. I guess the self admitted “media slut” will do what ever it takes to stay in the media no matter how insane it may be.
No “CloFu” for PETA
George Clooney declined to sweat for PETA when he rebuffed an offer by the group to use his perspiration to spice up tofu, or, more accurately, “CloFu.”
After receiving a towel claiming to have some of George Clooney’s sweat on it, PETA President and founder, Ingrid Newkirk fired off a letter to the actor asking for permission to use his sweat to make Clooney flavored tofu. The letter stated, “The technology actually exists to take your perspiration and make it into George Clooney–flavored tofu (CloFu).”
Read More
Othmar Vohringer Outdoors
Founding Member of Outdoor Bloggers Summit
Tamiflu Manufacturer Predicted Sales to be Up 531% in 2009
by Steve RemingtonApril 30, 2009
After researching the Annual Report (pdf) of Chugai Pharmaceuticals Co, LTD for the 2008 season, the manufacturers of the drug Tamiflu, it was found that on page 3 there was a prediction by the company that Tamiflu sales would be up 531% to reach ¥53.0 billion. This was all due to government stockpiling.
For the year, we forecast sales of Tamiflu to reach ¥53.0 billion, up 531.0%, due to expected resumption of government stockpiling in FY2009 and the ongoing recovery of the prescription rate for seasonal influenza.
Why would governments be stockpiling Tamiflu? It might be normal to stock up seasonally but to be up 531% from the previous year is rather suspicious… Is it not?
Obama’s Team Member Tests Negative To Swine Flu
by tremingtonApril 30, 2009
It was only moments ago that the Washington Post was reporting that a White House staffer, part of President Obama’s team that traveled to Mexico, was suspected of contracting swine flu and returning to the U.S. to infect family.
ABC News is now reporting those tests came back negative.
Oh my!
*Update* Members of the staffer’s family, 3 to be exact, do test positive and White House Press Secretary Gibbs said he believed the staffer’s test was negative because he had gotten over the flu and the test might not have shown it.
Swine Flu
by Tom RemingtonApril 30, 2009
Are you following what’s going on with the swine flu? The Swine Flu Report will help you stay up to date. Is this flu real? Is it man-made? Is it being over hyped or under hyped? This site brings you the reports, then you decide.
Go to Swine Flu Report and read or better yet, become a contributor from your state or area.
Tom Remington
