St. Pete Chimes Christmas Concert 2007

A few selections from this year's Chimes concert at the St Pete office.

Sing we all NOEL!

Joyful, joyful, we adore thee. . .

Disco Days of Christmas

Real Dance fever!

Hallelujah!

Have yourself a merry little Christmas . . .

Zoo Story Part 6: The Human Exhibit

Child magazine declared Lowry Park the best zoo for kids in the United States, rating it above the biggest institutions in the country, with the San Diego Zoo getting the No. 2 slot. In its article, the magazine salutes Lowry Park for its hands-on exhibits, its array of children's educational programs, its years of rehabilitating manatees and its commitment to safety.

But all this costs money. Chapter 6 explores some of the fundraising tactics the zoo uses to keep its doors open and its animals safe and happy. Do you think zoos should be financed with tax dollars or only through private funding? Or both? Explain your view on this topic.

Zoos and other cultural institutions are always looking for ways to raise money. Share your best idea for how Lowry Zoo could bring more dollars in to support their needs.

Zoo Story Part 5: Who do you relate to?

By now, you have read at least half of Zoo Story. Do you have a favorite character or one who you relate to the most? How are these animals like us? Click on COMMENTS to tell us which character (or characters) you relate to and why. What do you have in common?

Zoo Story Part 4: WILD

Chapter 4 of Zoo Story starts with this passage:

In the darkness beyond the edge of the sky, the satellite listens for manatee No. 9.

Five hundred miles above the planet's surface, the satellite is halfway through another orbit. From this vantage point, the Earth almost overwhelms the field of vision. A curving expanse of blue and green and brown, it appears vast enough for an endless multitude of life. And yet it's easy to make out the devastation pushing so many species toward extinction.

The melting of the polar ice caps. The fires consuming the Amazon rainforest. The toxic blossom of another Red Tide outbreak spreading off the west coast of Florida.

Year after year, a network of satellites operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration records the evidence of these and other catastrophes. The network gathers data on dozens of other missions for other researchers - taking infrared images of global cloud patterns, following the formation of thunderstorms and the path of hurricanes.

And tracking manatees.

On March 16, 2004, as it heads northward over the Caribbean toward the middle of the United States, one of those NOAA satellites - known simply as M - is among several receiving signals sent by transmitters fastened to the tails of dozens of manatees in the waters around Florida.

At 9:58 a.m., one of those signals reaches M from the St. Johns River, from the transmitter attached to manatee No. 9.

Better known, to hundreds of thousands of Floridians who grew up watching him, as Stormy.

Born and raised in captivity.

Recently released into the wild.

Polar bears are more likely than manatees to be thought of as victims of global warming, but one of the cases made by zoo supporters is that if there were not zoo-based breeding programs for endangered species, many of these rare creatures would be extinct.

Here in Florida, manatee protection is a hot topic. Governor Charlie Crist has been in the news lately with his request for the state's wildlife commissioners to keep manatees on the endangered list. Read the article here.

What are your thoughts on zoos and other wildlife support groups’ efforts to keep endangered species alive by breeding programs, rehabilitation and release, tracking via satellite or protective legislation by state and federal governments? Which programs do you agree or disagree with? Why?

Click on the COMMENTS button below to share your views. For more discussion on global warming and how it affects animal populations, click here to go to Hot Topics.

Zoo Story Part 3: IMPERFECT LOVE

Herman, king of the chimpanzees at Lowry Park Zoo, has not always lived among his own kind. When he was just a baby, Ed Schultz, an American working in Liberia at the time, found him on sale inside an orange crate and bought him for $25. Ed named the chimp Herman and took him home to his wife Elizabeth and their kids Roger and Sandy. They gave Herman milk from a bottle, taught him to wear a diaper and to eat his fruit at the dinner table. The family adored and pampered him, not having any idea all the ways their love would change him.

What are your thoughts on wild animals being kept as pets in people’s homes? What do you think Herman’s life would have been like if Ed Schultz had not purchased him? If a family you knew were considering bringing a wild animal into their home, what advice would you give them? Click on the COMMENTS blink below to share your views.

Bill Maxwell: WHERE LIFE HAS NO VALUE, PAIN FOLLOWS

St. Petersburg Times columnist Bill Maxwell recently wrote a column to talk about Washington Redskins free safety Sean Taylor, who died Nov. 27 after being shot the day before during an apparent burglary attempt in his Miami home. Click here to read article.

Maxwell expressed dismay that some black journalists, particularly sportswriters, seemed more concerned that the coverage of Taylor's death would focus more on the negative events from Taylor's past rather than his current day successes. To Maxwell, you could not discuss Taylor's death without acknowledging the elephant in the room.

Maxwell explained,

We reject the truth, but here it is: Because of the regularity at which black men kill one another, we virtually have become inured to all but the deaths of the rich and famous at the hands of another black male, a la Sean Taylor.

We have devalued our lives. We do not respect one another. In fact, dissing is expected. Our very existence is cheap. Violence against one another has become our way of life, how we solve our problems. I have said it before and I will say it again - we have been cruel toward one another for so long that we have internalized the belief that being cruel to one another is normal. Cruelty should not be accepted as normal.

Maxwell pleads with his readers that a new game plan is needed to address the challenges Taylor's death brought once again into the spotlight and ends his column with the following words,

"The carnage of black-on-black violence is a real threat to any hope of a viable future for black America. Such carnage is not a journalistic debate between white and black writers. It is a frightening reality."

Do you agree or disagree with Maxwell's view? What do you think should be done to stop the epidemic of black-on-black violence?

Click on the COMMENTS button to share your thoughts and ideas for change.

Cockroaches, pigeons and weeds. Oh my!

Global warming already deadly threat
Across the planet, scientists are seeing species in trouble and becoming extinct.
CLICK TO ENLARGE IMAGE

December 6, 2007. Associated Press

BALI, Indonesia — More than 3,000 flying foxes dropped dead, falling from trees in Australia. Giant squid migrated north to commercial fishing grounds off California, gobbling anchovy and hake. Butterflies have gone extinct in the Alps.

While humans debate at U.N. climate change talks in Bali, global warming is already wreaking havoc with nature. Most plants and animals are affected, and the change is occurring too quickly for them to evolve.

“A hell of a lot of species are in big trouble,” said Stephen E. Williams, the director of the Centre for Tropical Biodiversity and Climate Change at James Cook University in Australia. “I don’t think there is any doubt we will see a lot of (extinctions),” he said. “But even before a species goes extinct, there are a lot of impacts. Most of the species here in the wet tropics would be reduced to … 15 percent of their current habitat.”

Globally, 30 percent of the Earth’s species could disappear if temperatures rise 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit — and up to 70 percent, if they rise 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit, a U.N. network of scientists reported last month.

The hardest hit will include plants and animals in colder climates or at higher elevations and those with limited ranges or little tolerance for temperature change, said Wendy Foden, a conservation biologist with the World Conservation Union, which catalogs threatened species.

“In the long run, every species will be affected,” Foden said.

A few will benefit, chiefly those that breed quickly, already exist in varied climates and are able to adapt swiftly to changing conditions, scientists said. Think cockroaches, pigeons and weeds.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Species all over the world are being affected by global warming. Work is being done right here in Tampa Bay at the Lowry Zoo to combat this problem. Read more and comment at another blog post on this topic by clicking here.

Imagine it is 50 years in the future and you are officially "old." What does the world look like now? How has global warming changed your life? How has it changed the Tampa Bay area?

Coasters 101

Your pulse quickens, your stomach churns, your eyes water, your heart rate increases, you lose all sense of time and space. You cannot tell which way is up, down or sideways. The effect of riding roller coasters is tremendous! Students from Osceola Middle School set out to discover the science behind this hair-raising fun on a recent visit to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay for Physics Day.

Over 300 OMS students used the Times' Coasters 101 educational poster to prepare for their visit. Coasters 101 is designed to teach students all about physics - the science that deals with matter, energy, motion and force. In particular, the principles of kinematics (how we describe motion), dynamics (effects of forces on the motion of objects) and energy (the capacity to do work) that come alive in the study of roller coasters.

If you have ever wondered if a trip to a theme park can be an educational experience, read the comments of the OMS students below as they describe how what they learned from Coasters 101 made a real life connection while riding the roller coasters at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.

Feel free to share your own roller coaster story as well!

Zoo Story Part 2: ORPHANS

A central theme of Zoo Story is "the paradox of freedom." A paradox is a statement that contradicts itself. For example, "I always lie" is a paradox because if it is true it must be false.

Zoo Story writer Thomas French says,

"On a good day, zoos remind us of the possibilities of existence, what it's like to walk across the earth, or swim in its oceans, or fly above its forests.

Even though the animals in front of you, the ones on display, will never have the chance to do any of those things again.

What do you think of this "paradox of freedom" French talks about? With your classmates, family or friends, make a two-column list of reasons why there should or should not be zoos. Share your list and views in the comments section below. (Keep your list and revisit it at the end of the Zoo Story series to see if your views have changed).