Tag Archives: Facebook features

Where’s a Yellowstone bear?

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Where’s a Yellowstone bear? – IOL Travel North America | IOL.co.za.

For wildlife enthusiasts hoping to catch a glimpse of wolves, grizzly bears and bison at Yellowstone National Park, the best place to be on the lookout may soon be a cellphone.

New smartphone apps enable people to pinpoint where they’ve recently seen critters in Yellowstone. People who drive to those locations can – at least in theory – improve their odds of seeing wildlife compared to the typical tourist’s dumb luck.

One app called Where’s a Bear promises “up to the second” animal sightings in Yellowstone. Recently a website called Yellowstone Wildlife began offering a similar app.

Websites long have kept track of animal sightings in Yellowstone. Already this spring the Yellowstone Wildlife site shows signs of life: Mule deer near park headquarters at Mammoth, bison in the area of a landmark petrified tree.

A message on the site warns of grizzlies feeding on a bison carcass near the Yellowstone River Trail. The statement relayed from the National Park Service could save a life. Grizzly attacks killed two tourists in Yellowstone last summer.

But not everybody thinks that making a lot of wildlife sighting information readily retrievable by phone is a hot idea. As it is, the crowds that stop to gawk at roadside wildlife in Yellowstone can grow to hundreds of people, pointed out Vicky Kraft, of Pine Mountain, California, who maintains a Facebook group for Yellowstone.

Grizzlies are especially challenging for park rangers who have to both direct traffic and keep people a safe distance away.

“It’s crazy. There’s no parking. People sideswipe each other because they’re looking at the bear,” Kraft said Monday.

Wildlife becoming too comfortable around people is another concern. A grizzly habituated to people is even more dangerous than your average bear.

“I think there’s a responsibility that a person should have if they really like Yellowstone to say, ‘Gee, is this going to be bad for the animals? Is it bad for the ranger? Is it bad for the park?’ And I think when you look at a situation with that app, the answer would have to be yes,” Kraft said.- Sapa-AP

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Right-Wing Bloggers Use Fake Quotes To Criticize Occupy Wall Street | TPMMuckraker

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Right-Wing Bloggers Use Fake Quotes To Criticize Occupy Wall Street | TPMMuckraker.

Some conservative bloggers were a little too quick to use made-up satirical quotes from supposed Occupy Toronto protesters to make a point about alleged laziness of the Occupy Wall Street protesters.

The quote in question came from an article called “Occupy Toronto: The one-week anniversary party,” written for the Canadian paper Globe & Mail by Mark Schatzker. The article was labeled as “satire.”

The quote was attributed to “Jeremy, 38” from the Occupy Toronto protests: “It’s weird protesting on Bay Street. You get there at 9 a.m. and the rich bankers who you want to hurl insults at and change their worldview have been at work for two hours already. And then when it’s time to go, they’re still there. I guess that’s why they call them the one per cent. I mean, who wants to work those kinds of hours? That’s the power of greed.”

TPM SLIDESHOW: Occupy International — Occupy Wall Street Goes Global

The Facebook group “I Am The 53%” — a conservative counter-movement to OWS, referencing the 53% of Americans who pay federal income tax, supposedly in contrast to the protesters who do not — posted the quote and said: “By that logic greed converges almost surely to having work ethics.”

The blog The American Spectator had a post titled “Self Parody Alert: Occupy Toronto Doesn’t Get It” by J.P. Freire, who wrote: “Those perceptive Canadians notice that a disparity of income isn’t the only thing that separates protesters from the so-called one percent.” In an “Update, five minutes later,” Freire qualifies the quote: “Is this a parody? Maybe? In which case, I solicit our readers to offer quotes that are just as wacky but true.”

John Hinderaker posted the same quote on the Power Line blog in a post called “Greed? Try Sloth!” calling it “a hilarious news story about Occupy Wall Street protesters in Toronto who really want to take a stand against ‘greed,’ only…they’re too lazy.”

In an update, Hinderaker clarified that the quote was fake, but still maintained that his larger point was correct: “Upon further review, prompted by my wife, I think the quotes attributed to occupiers at the linked site are jokes. Pretty funny ones, too. The point, I think, remains valid.”

h/t Mediaite.

Occupy Wall Street, Power Line