Coffee and Provocation

A Bit Pricey for a Birding Book!
A copy of John James Audubon's Birds of America was recently sold at a London auction for more than $10.2 million, making it the most expensive book in the history of the world.  The BBC has a video of the inside of the book.

A Bit Pricey for a Shotgun!A Fox “F” Grade, double-barrel 12-gauge shotgun owned by President Theodore Roosevelt was sold on October 5th for $862,500, making it the most expensive shotgun ever sold.  The gun was crafted for the 1909 Grand American World Trapshooting Championship in Chicago, but never made it there as it was diverted to Roosevelt, who took the gun with him to hunt in Africa.  Roosevelt declare the gun  "the most beautiful gun I have ever seen," and later wrote in Scribners that "no better gun was ever made.”  During his year-long safari in Africa, Roosevelt and his companions killed or trapped 11,397 animals, including 11 elephants, 20 rhinoceroses, 17 lions, 20 zebras, seven hippopotamuses, seven giraffes and six buffalos.

New Jersey Bear Hunt Going Like Gangbusters:New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the nation, but it still has quite a few black bears.  During the first three days of its bear season, 435 bear were killed.  The total cull expected this season is over 1,000.   There are about 500,000 black bear in the lower 48.

Wolf-killing Advocate is an Elk Poacher:
It turns out that Tony Mayer, who founded the rabidly anti-wolf web site called SaveElk.com, is a poacher.  Mayer will stand trial on felony elk poaching charges in Idado.  For the record, more than 350,000 elk currently inhabit Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, but there are only 1,706 wolves scattered across the same area.  The Wyoming/Montana/Idaho elk population has grown by almost 20% since wolves were reintroduced to the wild in the mid-1990s, and all three states actively recruit out-of-state elk hunters.

The Perfect Place to Kill a Person:The location is a pretty big area in Idaho where no jury can be found to convict you.    And yes it's  connected to wildlife and wild lands.  Check it out!  Subscribe to FREE interesting newsletter here.

Belize Protects Its Future and Its Economy:Belize has banned bottom trawling in all its waters.  Now, when will we the U.S. do the same?  Bottom trawling for fish is akin to cutting down the forest in order to harvest the deer.  If you do that, you might not get any deer next season!    With bottom trawling going on almost everywhere, is there is any question why ALL of the world's fisheries are in decline? 

More Signs of the Times:Last week in my Coffee and Provocation post, I mentioned gigantic underwear as being a "sign of the times." Well, it turns out that there may be an even better sign. It seems the Illinois Department of Corrections gets its prison underwear from an inmate labor program at the Sheridan Correctional Center, north of Ottawa where they buy the broadcloth to sew them into boxers as big as 12XL. Twelve XL? Jesus Christ, no wonder this nation is broke! What are we feeding the prisoners?

Wheel + Shovel = Wovel
The greatest invention in the world that I have not tried is the Wovel, which is a combination wheel and shovel designed to move snow off the driveway.  Video here and ordering information here.

.