Jack LaLanne, R.I.P.

Jack LaLanne was cool. When I woke up early as a little kid, I would watch his show on TV. I wish I had his motivation for staying fit. He was buff before being buff was popular.

Check out this clip:

Jack LaLanne, Fitness Icon, Dead At 96
By Lauren Johnston, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Fitness icon Jack LaLanne, a man who pushed Americans to pump iron, eat better and lose weight for more than 70 years, has died. He was 96.

The so-called "godfather of fitness" died of respiratory failure from pneumonia in his Morro Bay, Calif. home Sunday afternoon, his longtime agent Rick Hersh told The Associated Press.

LaLanne was a fitness pioneer, opening the first of his many exercise studios in 1936. He focused on weight-training at a time when the idea of pumping iron was strictly taboo, especially for women.

"You have to understand that it was absolutely forbidden in those days for athletes to use weights. It just wasn't done. We had athletes who used to sneak into the studio to work out," he once said.

Athletic trainers believed bulking up would slow athletes down and women were supposed to look curvy and feminine, not athletic and toned.

"Back then, women weren't supposed to use weights. I guess I was a pioneer," LaLanne said.

LaLanne became a household name after he launched a televised exercise program in the 1950s that aired until the 1970s. He would forever after be known for his dedication to healthy living and his signature one-piece belted workout suit.

Jack LaLanne, R.I.P.

To read the whole NY Daily News article, click on the blog post title or copy and past this: http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2011/01/24/2011-01-24_jack_lalanne_fitness_icon_dead_at_96.html

Revenge Of The Fox

Here is another great wildlife story from across the pond:

Fox 'Shoots Hunter' In Belarus

A wounded fox shot its would be killer in Belarus by pulling the trigger on the hunter's gun as the pair scuffled after the man tried to finish the animal off with the butt of the rifle, media said on Thursday.

The unnamed hunter, who had approached the fox after wounding it from a distance, was in hospital with a leg wound, while the fox made its escape, media said, citing prosecutors from the Grodno region.

"The animal fiercely resisted and in the struggle accidentally pulled the trigger with its paw," one prosecutor was quoted as saying.

Fox-hunting is popular in the picturesque farming region of northwestern Belarus which borders Poland.

Woolly Mammoth

Here is a neat article from the UK Telegraph. If successful, we should have a living woolly mammoth in 4 years. Should be cool. Here is some of the article:

Mammoth 'Could Be Reborn In Four Years'

The woolly mammoth, extinct for thousands of years, could be brought back to life in as little as four years thanks to a breakthrough in cloning technology.

Previous efforts in the 1990s to recover nuclei in cells from the skin and muscle tissue from mammoths found in the Siberian permafrost failed because they had been too badly damaged by the extreme cold.

But a technique pioneered in 2008 by Dr. Teruhiko Wakayama, of the Riken Centre for Developmental Biology, was successful in cloning a mouse from the cells of another mouse that had been frozen for 16 years.

Now that hurdle has been overcome, Akira Iritani, a professor at Kyoto University, is reactivating his campaign to resurrect the species that died out 5,000 years ago.

To read the whole article, click on the blog post title or copy and paste this: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/8257223/Mammoth-could-be-reborn-in-four-years.html

"God Bless You, Speaker Boehner"

This is clip is funny. And, it only takes 11 seconds to watch.

1st Buck--Boy Slays Beast

Congratulations to Justin Wright on slaying his first white-tailed brute. Justin's choice of weapon: muzzle loader.

As tradition dictates, Justin immediately ripped the beast's still-beating heart from its chest cavity, lifted it with his fully-extended arm into the air, and devoured the bloody, pumping organ in three gulps.

Justin whacked this uniquley-racked buck near Tabernacle, NJ. Excellent first trophy.