Fishing Doesn't Hurt

...unlike what some animal activists might tell you...

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/02/10/1044725683181.html


Fish lack the brains to feel pain, says the latest school of thought

By Rajeev Syal in London
February 10 2003

Anglers rest easy. Fish cannot feel pain, the largest study into piscine neurology has concluded.

An academic study comparing the nervous systems and responses of fish and mammals has found that fishes' brains are not sufficiently developed to allow them to sense pain or fear.

The study is the work of James D Rose, a professor of zoology and physiology at the University of Wyoming, who has been working on questions of neurology for almost 30 years. He has examined data on the responses of animals to pain and stimulus from scores of studies collected over the past 15 years.

His report, published in the American journal Reviews of Fisheries Science, has concluded that awareness of pain depends on functions of specific regions of the cerebral cortex which fish do not possess.

Professor Rose, 60, said that previous studies which had indicated that fish can feel pain had confused nociception - responding to a threatening stimulus - with feeling pain.

"Pain is predicated on awareness," he said. "The key issue is the distinction between nociception and pain. A person who is anaesthetised in an operating theatre will still respond physically to an external stimulus, but he or she will not feel pain. Anyone who has seen a chicken with its head cut off will know that, while its body can respond to stimuli, it cannot be feeling pain."

Professor Rose said he was enormously concerned with the welfare of fish, but that campaigners should concentrate on ensuring that they were able to enjoy clean and well-managed rivers and seas.

Despite the findings of Professor Rose's study, a spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which has invested heavily in an anti-angling campaign, said: "We believe that fishing is barbaric. Of course animals can feel pain. They have sensitivity, if only to avoid predators."

...

in spite of the truth, PETA says the truth is wrong.

This is similar to other truths that people reject every day... such as the destructive force of sin in people's lives.

Tentacles of Sin

"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us" Hebrews 12:1

Some New Zealand fisherman have pulled up what is described as the largest specimen of squid ever recorded. Pulled up from the depths, this mammoth creature is fascinating to say the least!

The squid, weighing an estimated 990 lbs and about 39 feet long, took two hours to land in Antarctic waters, New Zealand Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton said.

The fishermen were catching Patagonian toothfish, sold under the name Chilean sea bass, south of New Zealand "and the squid was eating a hooked toothfish when it was hauled from the deep," Anderton said.

The fishing crew and a fisheries official on board their ship estimated the length and weight of the squid: Detailed, official measurements have not been made. The date when the colossus was caught also was not disclosed.

Colossal squid, known by the scientific name Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, are estimated to grow up to 46 feet long and have long been one of the most mysterious creatures of the deep ocean.


A squid attacks its prey. It is not passive. It probes with it's tentacles, and when they find something susceptible and tasty, these tentacles entwine the victim in a deadly embrace, ultimately feeding it's appetite.

Does anyone see a parallel with sin? Sin? yes, that sin. We can get ourselves wrapped up by allowing the predator of our souls to find us in a state that is 'tasty' to him and 'susceptible'.

But we are charged to actively set aside anything that would keep us from running the race set before us. The goal is the upward calling on our lives given to each of us through the grace of Jesus Christ.

The enemy prowls

1 Peter 5:8-9 (New International Version)

8Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

This is an unbelievable video of white sharks chomping down on a whale carcass.

The white shark, brought into the psyche of the general American populace by the enormously successful movie 'Jaws', is actually a top predator within the oceanic ecosystem and is extremely important to the vitality of our oceans.

However, there is an opportunistic shark that is seeking to devour you everyday.

That 'shark' is also the devil, the enemy of your soul. Why should you worry about the 'devil'? After all, isn't the 'devil' just imaginary?

The devil, and his desire to attack and destroy you, is no more imaginary than these sharks below!

well, we got a nice Valentine's Day gift: a major ice-storm... in fact the worse
one I've experienced since moving to Tinton Falls in 1992.

The blocks around our home were like a war-zone ... most streets blocked
off, lines and tree branches down all over.

I had Verizon FIOS (fiber optic service) installed Tuesday. Wednesday,

the line came down by a branch and a turkey driving by pulled the fallen cable down the street.
We lost power and I thought we'd get by without too much trouble
since the power lines to our home were still up (though the neighborhood had

no power) but an hour later the power line from the pole to our home was pulled down

by another huge branch.

The neighborhood sounded louder than the fourth of July... just stand
outside and you can hear gunfire/cannon-fire going off as aching tree
branches give way to the weight of ice.

So, no phone, no power, no idea when it'll be back. My son, with bronchitis for 3 days,

vacated the house to some friends and stayed there for a couple of days.

Nannette and I went to Borders so I could get online, and we could recharge our cellphones.
Our home was 57F when we left, and outside it was on its way down to 14 F Wed night.

I called a home depot in Hazlet and they had a generator in stock, so I reserved it.

After an hour, Borders lost power. That prompted us (by this time my eldest daughter joined us,

her condo in Shrewsbury was also without power, she would stay with us for 2 nights) to go

get the generator as it was apparent we were going to spend a cold / dark night.

After Borders went dark, we went up north to get the generator. The generator

in Home Depot was bigger than what I wanted and
more $$. On the way, we went by Costco
which was open and I remembered they had generators.

So I picked up a $250 3850 watt
unit; perfect for what I needed.. to run a 20amp circuit for
the furnace, a few lights and a radio

Thankfully the JCP&L crew came Thurs morning to restore the wire from the pole
to my home, but the entire square mile of that part of Tinton Falls and Shrewsbury without power.

It was dangerous to go out Wednesday because of the downed wires and falling branches.

I had to stay home to see if anything broke through our roof. Thankfully no big branches landed on the house, and we moved the cars around
to keep them out of harms way as well. My daughter helped a neighbor move a car in their neighborhood as well.

Both the neighbors car and my daughters would have been severely damaged had they not been moved!

I had installed a circuit for Y2K that runs to my furnace, using a manual switch,

but I got rid of the generator I had back then. For the new generator, I had to change

the plug to match the generators 220 v output (a special 20AMP interlocking plug that I just happened to have

downstairs ... whew... I had purchased it accidentally when I put the Y2K circuit in, it didn't match my old generator,

and thankfully I never returned it to the store... came in handy this time for sure!) then we were in business.

Heat came up a bit before the gen ran out of gas somewhere around 3 AM (I knew
I was low on gas but I was just too cold and tired Wed night to get more after working on the plug transfer), so
Thu morning I had to run out for more gas. Temp in the house was down to 48F. When the gen was up and running,

and I was ready to leave for work, JCP&L came to reinstall the power cables and I had to wait for them to finish

because there were some other miscelaneous wires I needed removed. They were old comcast

cables I never used and were still hanging all over the street and trees.

When JCP&L was done, I refilled the gas in the generator and came to work. The termperature in the house was

a balmy 55F and rising when I left, eventually getting up to normal temp later in the day.

Power was restored when we returned from the store last night about 8:35PM. Verizon came

and restored the phone/FIOS service by about 10:30PM.

I give these outside line workers all the credit in the world working in those temps!

The real tragedy is that the town came through this past summer looking at trees and

WOULD NOT remove branches that I requested them to remove, though they were trimming

branches directly over the street. So I blame our town, not JCP&L / Verizon, for the inconvenience.

Guess this says it all for the
2008 election.

I will make no apology that the Clintons represent my last choice among all candidates from both parties. This was true in 1992 and is true now.

From a Christian standpoint, Bill was often seen leaving some Baptist church with a bible in hand while denying it's power and influence in his own life. I see no difference with his wife's position. From an outdoor standpoint, the Clinton's align themselves with an element within society that wants to remove personal freedoms, including an outdoor ethic that traditionally supports hunting and fishing in these United States of America, substituting a 'global green' view instead. This global green view has an eastern religious perspective that all life forms are equal and demand equal protection. It is from this ethic that we get the current propaganda of there being a universal life force within all "life".
More on this and it's relevance to fishing for stripers and trout at a later time.

Hello World!

I'm searching for the end of Winter already! HA!.
My finger is now healing up, still hurts though...
Right now, the problem with winter is not being able to get out and enjoy it. This would be great ice skating weather, but we don't have great ice available nearby.

How not to use a power planer

8 stiches later.

'nuf said!

Now I've done it

ok, more on this tomorrow (maybe) but today, my superior carpentry skills allowed me to make a rookie mistake... keeping my finger resting on a planer blade while simultaneously checking to see if the tool had power... here's the result:

Ah, winter. Time to sit back and relax a bit. Chill. No trout fishing... unless you want to try ice fishing on some lakes. No fishing for striped bass, unless you want to travel south along the Atlantic Seaboard. In NJ, it's chill-time.

But when trials come it's sometimes very hard to do.

Especially if those trials are of your own "making"!

Trust in the Lord with *all* your heart. Lean not to your *own* understanding. And HE will direct your path.

When you go through life distracted, not keeping his Word hidden in your heart, it is very easy to forget, lose track, and suddenly find yourself in a troubled place. However, God clearly told us "Isaiah 26:3 You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You".

So, when you're down and troubled, and you need to find a friend, don't call on me, call on the Lord. For if you draw near to Him, then He will draw near to you.

AMAZING VIDEO OF A GREAT WHITE SHARK FEEDING ON A SEAL

Well, here's another "non striper or trout" picture :)

However, this was my son's first trip out on a party
boat. Here he is holding the pool-winner in his left
hand! He caught it on the whistle, on a double header
no less *LOL*