The Daily Populous

Sharks now protected no matter whose waters they swim in

IT’S been a good week for beleaguered sharks.

A cross-border conservation pact signed by 126 countries this week promises for the first time to extend extra protection to sharks and several other migratory species, whichever countries they stray into.

Among the biggest winners at the global Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) were whale sharks: the world’s largest fish.

Governments added whale sharks to appendix I of the convention, promising to protect them domestically from killing or capture, and to safeguard their habitats.

Conservationists welcomed the move because it means whale sharks will finally be protected at offshore “hotspots” to which they migrate, including Madagascar, Mozambique, Peru and Tanzania.

Other sharks sharing in the same new protections included dusky sharks, angelsharks, white-spotted wedgefish and the bizarrely named common guitarfish.

On land, lions and leopards were placed on appendix II, again entitling them to coordinated protection across borders. »

Dead People Mysteriously Support The FCC's Attack On Net Neutrality

Authored by techdirt.com

We've noted for months how an unknown party has been using bots to bombard the FCC website with entirely bogus support for the agency's planned attack on net neutrality.

Earlier this year, some reporters discovered that some of the biggest fans of the FCC's myopic assault on net neutrality appear to be dead:.

Others have since continued to dig through the names used to support Ajit Pai's attack on net neutrality -- and continue to find that many of them had never visited the FCC website, had no idea what net neutrality is, or were no longer breathing. »

Awaiting Trump's coal comeback, miners reject retraining

Authored by reuters.com

A White House official did not respond to requests for comment on coal policy and retraining for coal workers.

What many experts call false hopes for a coal resurgence have mired economic development efforts here in a catch-22: Coal miners are resisting retraining without ready jobs from new industries, but new companies are unlikely to move here without a trained workforce.

“Part of our problem is we still have coal,” said Robbie Matesic, executive director of Greene County’s economic development department. »

The reminiscence bump: why America’s greatest year was probably when you were young

Authored by theguardian.com

Yet recent research published in the Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition has found that age is important.

In this study, Americans disproportionately chose the years of their own youth as the country’s greatest years – no matter how old they were now.

This finding is the latest involving a phenomenon known as the reminiscence bump. »

Second Man Accuses Kevin Spacey of Sexual Assault: He ‘Grabbed My Whole Package’

Authored by thedailybeast.com

Another man has said he was left “uncomfortable at best, traumatized at worst" after waking up with Spacey lying on him and his arms wrapped around him.

The man, who was a budding actor aged 17 at the time, told the BBC that it became clear Spacey was interested in "a way I wasn't".

The allegations all follow revelations by actor Anthony Rapp, who accused Spacey of making a sexual advance towards him when he was 14. »