June 16th 2005 Posted at Science and Technology
0 Comments 
Hold on to your hats and put down your shovel! What a cool site I found today, it is a blog that is all about invasive species. Not only does it provide a great source of information about the issue of invasive species, it gives some good advice on how to catch a sturgeon. Check out this advice:
Keeping on with the goby theme…According to this story from the Toledo Blade, biologists out on a three-week excursion to catch as many sturgeon in the Great Lakes as possible are using round gobies (Neogobius melanostomus) as bait – and the sturgeon are loving it. Turns out many game fish like the gobies as well. Hope this doesn’t catch on in non-invaded lakes.
Seriously folks, don’t try this at home. Here is the site: Invasive Species Weblog
June 14th 2005 Posted at General
0 Comments
For all you fishermen out there, my brother passed this tidbit along to me. Zebco, the company known for simple closed-faced fishing reels, started life as a bomb company. To quote from their website:
The Zero Hour Bomb Co. was incorporated in 1932 and manufactured electric time bombs for fracturing oil wells to produce more oil. In 1948 ZHB was faced with expiration of its bomb patent and management was concerned about the future of its business. The fate of a one-product company hung by a thread. Need for a new product was obvious.
Lucky for them they were approached by a real reel engineer with an idea for a backlash-free casting real.
June 2nd 2005 Posted at General, Science and Technology
2 Comments
Looks like I will be getting a $50 voucher from Apple Computer. They have settled their early iPod battery lawsuit. The artcle I read about the settlement did not mention the lawyer bill from the plaintiffs, however, it is mentioned in the settlement notice that the lawyer bill is not to exceed $2,768,000. I did some rough (very) calculations and that amounts to about 600 hours per month over the last 1.5 years. I guess I don’t know the merits of the case, but I was not really all that pissed that my battery stopped working as well after 2 years. A little, but not that much. Here is the actual language from the settlement notice:
From the inception of these lawsuits beginning in 2003 to the present, Plaintiffs’ Counsel have not received any payment for their services in prosecuting the lawsuit, nor have they been reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses. If the Court approves the proposed settlement, Plaintiffs’ Counsel will ask the Court to award them attorneys’ fees and out-of-pocket expenses in the amount of $2,768,000. Apple has agreed not to oppose an award that does not exceed $2,768,000. In addition, Plaintiffs’ Counsel will ask the Court to award a $1,500 incentive payment to each of the Class representatives, in addition to the benefits to which they are entitled under the settlement, for their time and effort related to the Litigation. Finally, Apple has agreed to pay all costs of mailed and published notice to the Class, as well as the costs of administering the Settlement.
