Weekly News Archives

                         or

       New Product  Archives

Used coffee grounds are a rich source of healthful antioxidants

To plant food, insect repellant and other homespun uses for spent coffee grounds, scientists are adding an application that could make the gunk left over from brewing coffee a valuable resource for production of dietary supplements. Their new report in ACS� Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry concludes that used coffee grounds are a rich source of healthful antioxidant substances.

Maria-Paz de Pe�a and colleagues explain that people around the world drink millions of cups of coffee every day, generating about 20 million tons of used grounds annually. Although some spent coffee grounds find commercial use as farm fertilizer, most end up in trash destined for landfills. Coffee itself is a rich source of healthful antioxidants. De Pe�a�s team wondered about the amount of antioxidants that remained in used

coffee grounds from different coffee-making methods.

They found that filter, plunger and espresso-type coffeemakers left more antioxidants in coffee grounds, while mocha coffeemakers left the least. Because filter and espresso coffeemakers are more common in homes and commercial kitchens, the authors report that most grounds are likely to be good sources of antioxidants and other useful substances. They note that after these compounds are extracted, the grounds can still be used for fertilizer.

The researchers acknowledge funding from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. �Evaluation of Spent Coffee Obtained from the Most Common Coffeemakers as a Source of Hydrophilic Bioactive Compounds�

Supreme Court Rules for Florida Houseboat Owner

Not every floating home is a boat

The U.S. Supreme Court sided Tuesday with a Florida man, ruling that his floating home was a house and that the city where he docked it could not seize it under federal maritime law.  The case could affect thousands of houseboat owners nationwide.

Fane Lozman bought the 60-by-12-foot floating home for $17,000 and remodeled it to look and feel like a house on water. It had French doors on three sides, a sitting room, bedroom, closet, bathroom and kitchen, along with a stairway leading to a second-level office, where Lozman worked as a commodities trader. The structure had no self-propulsion, no independent electricity, not even a rudder. To move it on water, it had to be towed.

In 2006, after Hurricane Wilma destroyed the marina where Lozman kept his floating home, he had it towed to a marina in Riviera Beach about 80 miles north of Miami.

Lozman soon became something of a gadfly in Riviera Beach, challenging the city's plans to build a $2.4 billion luxury development in the marina. As a result of his efforts, Lozman says, the development project fell apart and the city tried to evict him, contending � erroneously, he says � that he owed docking fees and that his 10-pound dachshund was a public danger.

In 2008, the city came up with a new redevelopment plan, and Lozman again said he would fight it. This time, the city went to federal court, seeking to have the floating home declared a "vessel" under maritime law. If it was a vessel under federal law, the city could put a lien on the structure until he paid the fees it said he owed.

Lozman represented himself in court, arguing that the floating home was not a vessel and rebutting the city's argument that he owed docking and trespass fees. But a federal judge ruled against him, declared the structure a vessel and ordered him to pay roughly $3,000 in docking fees. After a federal appeals court agreed, Lozman's floating home was put up for public auction and the city bought it.

"The city of Riviera Beach went to the auction, outbid the public that attended, purchased my home, and then the next day immediately started destroying it, along with my furniture, at taxpayer's expense," Lozman says.

He appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, represented by the Stanford Law School Supreme Court Clinic. On Tuesday the high court, by a 7-to-2 vote, said the city had no right to a lien against Lozman's floating home under federal maritime law because the structure is not a vessel.

Writing for the court majority, Justice Stephen Breyer noted that "not every floating structure is a vessel."

"To state the obvious, a wooden washtub, a plastic dishpan, a swimming platform on pontoons ... or Pinocchio (when inside the whale)," none of these are vessels, Breyer said, even though "they are 'artificial contrivances' capable of floating, moving under tow, and incidentally carrying even a fair-sized item or two when they do so."

Still, Breyer said, none of these is a vessel under federal maritime law because none is "used as a means of transportation." Similarly, he said, no reasonable observer looking at Lozman's floating home "would consider it designed to a practical degree for carrying people or things over water."

IGFA World Records for 2013 Now Available

Since the first annual IGFA World Record Game Fishes book appeared in 1971, the publication has had a legacy as one of the most reliable and complete sources of international fishing records and related reference materials. The 2013 edition has just been released this January and continues the tradition of inspiring awe, appreciation, and an ethical approach to sportfishing with the selection of Marc Montocchio�s marlin photograph for the cover. Montocchio specializes in capturing images and video of unhooked, free-swimming game fish. His focus on the health and conservation of some of the ocean�s most majestic species speaks to the IGFA�s mission and goals in 2013.

The 2013 IGFA World Record Game Fishes opens with a reflection on and celebration of one of the most momentous achievements in IGFA history: the passage of the Billfish Conservation Act into United States law. IGFA Conservation Director Jason Schratwieser then follows this conservation discussion with an article entitled Make Your World Record Count, about improving record-seeking techniques with examples of disqualifying violations that have been submitted. 

Then the topic turns to catching five of Alaska�s salmon species in one day, exclusively on fly tackle, in The Hoodoo River Salmon Slam. Author and renowned photographer Pat Ford takes a journey to the southwest Alaska Peninsula and shares valuable techniques, scenic landscapes, and spectacular salmon fishing along the way.  The theme of world-class photography continues in Is Technology Changing Fishing�s �Hero Shot� for the Better?, as cover artist  Marc Montocchio outlines the practices and ethics of taking impressive photographs of a catch, and the ways

underwater cameras are changing these images for the better.

IGFA Historian and Trustee Michael L. Farrior focuses on where the sport started in The Origins of Big Game Fishing, tracing 200 years of rich tackle innovations. Continuing in the vein of evolution, Billfish Crittercam by Sam Friederichs delves into one of the ways billfish research has entered a new era. As he describes an underwater camera he and the National Geographic magazine team have designed and deployed on billfish, Friederichs shares what scientists and anglers are learning from footage shot from a billfish�s perspective.

Finally, the articles of the 2013 Record Book close in a spirit of exploration. In Anglers Pursuing a Grand Adventure, Robert Cunningham, IGFA President Rob Kramer, and Dennis Triana share how they have pushed themselves on amazing quests that offer not only incredible fishing, but also opportunities to learn, experience, and feel truly alive.

This edition of the IGFA�s signature publication will also feature additional online content, including videos from Montocchio and Friederichs. And as always, the most coveted features of the book � the world records and species identifications � will appear fully updated, newly organized, and illustrated in full color. 

 The only way to acquire the 2013 IGFA World Record Game Fishes book is to become a member of the IGFA. Joining online is easy at http://membership.igfa.org, or you may call 954-924-4226 to join today.   www.igfa.org