In 1983 the State Pollution Control Commission studied the poor water quality of Lake Macquarie. It found increased amounts of sediment and increased levels of nutrients were causing problems. Further studies in 1995 found that creeks flowing into the lake were causing many of these problems. In 1998 a special group was set up by the government to find ways to protect the lake. This group recommended setting up the Lake Macquarie Project Management Committee. Their job was to put in place an action plan to protect the lake called the Lake Macquarie Improvement Plan.
These actions have included reducing the amount of sediment and nutrients getting into the lake. They have built wetlands, stormwater treatments, replanting, and educating the local community.
There are more fish in the lake because commercial fishing has been stopped in the lake and the water quality is improving.
Fishing, boating, kayaking and water skiing are all popular activities on the lake.
La Torbiera Zoo
Faunist Park La Torbiera is a biopark and consists of an area open to the public and a protected area for wildlife preservation. It was established in Agrate Conturbia, Piedmont, Italy in 1977 to preserve and study some animal species in danger of extinction.
Blue Lake (South Australia)
The Blue Lake is in Mount Gambier, South Australia. It is in an extinct volcanic crater, which is part of the Mount Gambier complex. It is one of four crater lakes on Mount Gambier. Leg of Mutton Lake and Brown Lake have dried up over the past 30 to 40 years as the water table has dropped. The Blue Lake is known for its changing color, from grey to bright blue.
Different dates have been given for its last eruption, of 28,000 years ago, 4300 years ago, and, recently, a little before 6000 years ago. If the youngest date is correct, this could be the most recent volcanic eruption on the Australian mainland.
Blue Lake is thought to be of an average depth of 72 metres, but in places reaches 77 metres deep. The crater rim measures 1,200 metres (3,937 feet) by 824 metres (2,703 feet). The lake itself measures 1,087 metres (3,566 feet) by 657 metres (2,155 feet). The bottom of the lake is 30 metres (100 feet) below the level of the main street of the nearby town. The Blue Lake supplies the town with drinking water.
In 1967 a survey found the deepest point in the lake at 77 m. Major diving exploration of the lake first took place in 1985. Cave diver Peter Horne studied the temperature and visibility of the water. He discovered a fresh water sponge species and other invertebrates. He also discovered "The Stromatolite Field", hollow rock formations on the north-eastern edge at a depth of 40 m. In 2008 another dive brought up core samples from the calcite-silt covered lake bed, and measured the water temperature on the lake bed at 14 degrees Celsius (57 °F).
During December to March, the lake turns to a vibrant cobalt blue colour. It changes to a colder steel grey colour for April to November. Why this happens is still a mystery. Scientists believe water on the surface becomes warmer in summer. This causes calcium carbonate to precipitate out of solution and allows micro-crystallites of calcium carbonate to form. This results in scatter of the blue wavelengths of sunlight. During winter the lake water becomes well mixed, and the lake water is less clear because of tannins and calcium carbonate particles. The angle of the sun has also been found to influence the perceived colour of the lake. The movement of planktonic life-forms within the lake during the seasons and during the day may also play a part in the colour change.
In July 1865 Adam Lindsay Gordon performed the daring horse riding feat known as Gordon’s Leap on the edge of the Blue Lake. A commemorative obelisk was built at the spot. The sign on it reads: "This obelisk was erected as a memorial to the famous Australian poet. From near this spot in July, 1865 Gordon made his famed leap on horseback over an old post and rail guard fence onto a narrow ledge overlooking the Blue Lake and jumped back again onto the roadway. The foundation stone of the Gordon Memorial Obelisk was laid on 8th July 1887".
Borophagus
Borophagus is an extinct genus of the Canidae family, endemic to North America. The species were similar in appearance to modern-day hyenas, and weighed between and . There are eight known species that lived from around 12 million years ago to about 2 million years ago.
Probability space
Probability space is a mathematical model used to describe scientific experiments. A probability space consists of three parts:
An "outcome" is the result of a single execution of the model. Since individual outcomes might be of little practical use, more complex "events" are used to characterize groups of outcomes. The collection of all such events is a "σ-algebra", sometimes written as formula_3. Finally, there is a need to specify each event's likelihood of happening. This is done using the "probability measure" function, "P".
Once the probability space is established, one usually assumes that “nature” makes its move and selects a single outcome, "ω", from the sample space Ω. All the events in formula_3 that contain the selected outcome "ω" (recall that each event is a subset of Ω) are said to “have occurred”. The selection performed by nature is done in such a way that if the experiment were to be repeated an infinite number of times, then the relative frequencies of occurrence of each of the events would coincide with the probabilities described by the function "P".
The prominent Soviet mathematician Andrey Kolmogorov introduced the notion of probability space, together with other axioms of probability, in the 1930s.
The Gambler (novel)
The Gambler is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
It is about the bad side of gambling and has to do with Dostoyevsky's own experiences from his travels to Wiesbaden, Baden-Baden and other casinos. At the time when he wrote The Gambler he had serious financial problems. The Gambler was also turned into an opera by Sergei Prokofiev.
The Gambler was made public in 1867 short time after Crime and Punishment. In the summer 1865 Dostoyevsky had promised to his publisher Stellovsky to create a novel until 1. November. Otherwise the publisher would get the publishing rights for other works of Dostoyevsky without having to pay. Dostoyevsky accepted this. So Dostoyevsky dictated the novel in only 26 days to his typist and later wife Anna. Stellovsky left St. Petersburg on 31. October to make the delivery impossible. But Anna had the idea to deliver the novel to a notary (a kind of a lawyer) and like that they were able to deliver the novel until the promised date.
POST (HTTP)
In Internet computing, POST is one of many request methods supported by the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (or HTTP). POST acts to submit data to be processed to a specific resource. As examples this may be a message for a bulletin board, a newsgroup, or a mailing list. It can also be an item of data for a database. In contrast, the HTTP GET request method is designed to retrieve (or get) information from a server.
Festspielhaus Baden-Baden
The Festspielhaus Baden-Baden is Germany's largest opera house. It is the second largest opera house in Europe. It has 2,500 seats. The Festspielhaus Baden-Baden is in Baden-Baden at the place of the former railroad station. The historic station building was combined into the Festspielhaus and is now the entrance building. The Festspielhaus was opened in 1998. After a difficult starting time due to financial problems it managed to become successful. Today it has five festival periods and a rich cultural program.
The Amazing Spiez!