Imagine about 5,000 Vaux's swifts circling and circling just before dark. By the time darkness falls, they're ready to settle in for the night, dramatically swirling down into one Monroe chimney.

The chimney works fine for the roosting swifts, who traditionally gathered in hollow old-growth snags. Thousands will meet at traditional stopover locations during spring and fall migration to accumulate fat reserves.

Where once there were countless old-growth snags, most in the Monroe area have been cut down, and the swifts have dropped in numbers. Now the swifts' favorite local chimney, the old, tall brick one at Frank Wagner Junior Elementary School in Monroe, may be torn down for safety reasons.

The smallest swift in North America visits Monroe twice a year, at the end of April and peaking in mid- to late-May; and beginning in mid-August and peaking in mid-September.

Liberal Tolerance Update: Lefty YouTubers Attack

I'll be checking in later today with a few choice examples of today's dose of liberal peace and love but in the mean time, have a look at the comments yourself. Notice also how many of these left-wingers blindly rate us "one-star" just because NewsBusted is conservative.

FindEcommerceHost.com Helps Consumers Find the Right Ecommerce Hosting

There is no doubt that the Internet has changed the way people do business. Ecommerce plays a major part in the global economy and entrepreneurs and businessmen now have a choice between traditional bricks and mortar type businesses, and conducting business on the Internet. For those who choose the Ecommerce route, finding the right Web host is just as important as finding the right location for a traditional business. A new Web site launched recently, FindEcommerceHost.com, helps people find the right Ecommerce Web host to meet their budget and requirements.

There is a lot to think about when you start an Ecommerce Web site, explains FindEcommerceHost.coms Web Editor, Anne Wongsawat. You might have the product people want, but how are you going to display it on your Web site in a way that makes it easy for people to buy it? Do you use Shopping cart-type software? If so, which is best? If your site is successful, and people want to buy your products, how do they pay for them? Which payment gateway can you use? What will happen if your site becomes a small Amazon.com and receives hundreds of thousands or even millions of visitors a day? Choosing the right Ecommerce Web host can answer many of these questions.

Hominy & Hash

STA RICA CLOSES WORLD-RENOWNED PARK TO STUDY ANIMAL DIE-OFF
by Jesse Froehling
American Reporter Correspondent
Drake Bay, Costa Rica Back to home page

Printable version of this story

DRAKE BAY, Costa Rica, Dec. 14, 2005 -- Officials closed Costa Rica's Corcovado National Park, a prime tourist attraction, because many kinds of animals are dying in alarming numbers there amid one of the most sensitive ecosystems in the world.

The dead include monkeys, toucans and sloths. The last time monkeys started dying on such a massive scale in the park was in the 1950s, said Edwardo Carrillo, the head researcher in the investigative team that is looking into the deaths. The culprit then was yellow fever, he said. However, yellow fever does not affect birds.

Carillo said that perhaps as many as half the monkey population at the park (www.costaricamap.com/ing/biopcorcovado.html) has died.

Silverlight 2 Beta 1 Available for Download from Microsoft

We're announcing support for adaptive streaming, which assesses bandwidth and CPU dynamically you are playing a video and reduces or increases the bit-rate of the streamed media based on the available resources. You don't have to write any additional code to support this. We're also announcing a strategic relationship with Move Networks this morning the company that powers many broadcasters' on-demand sites today." But Silverlight 2 Beta 1, the plug-in designed as an Adobe Flash killer, is not just about the cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in, but also about the software development kit. Concomitantly with the new version of the plug-in, developers can now access the Silverlight 2 Software Development Kit Beta 1, as well as the Source Code and Unit Tests for Silverlight 2 Beta 1 Controls and the documentation associated with the SDK.

New Podcasting Model Disrupts the Conference Calling Industry and ...

While hundreds of conference calls take place every day, hardly any are convenient to the participant's schedule, attention span or can easily be reviewed if missed. Pioneer internet marketers are taking advantage of the growing trend of user convenience via podcasted audios.

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Now, saline water worries flood-hit Malwa farmers

Besides this, a quiz for school students would also be held for which the zoo authorities have informed around 50 schools of Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali.

The student visitors would also be allowed to participate in the quiz, zoo authorities added.