I was scrolling through my emails the other day (I get a LOT of emails every day), when I clicked on an interesting link from gCaptain. For the first time ever, a cruise ship reached the North Pole of Inaccessibility. Looking at the picture there reminded me of the cruise I took to Antarctica a few years ago on the MS Roald Amundsen. We also plowed through the ice like that and we all got to get out and make snow angels where no one had ever been before. It was just amazing to be at the far end of the Earth like that still be so comfortable. I really enjoyed that cruise and hope to go back someday. 🙂
My cruise on the MS Roald Amundsen in Antarctica
Considering that the ship I’ve been sailing on lately is named the Point Nemo, I clicked around the net a little bit and found another article on Atlas Obscura (I bought a book of theirs a while back- they’ve got tons of really fascinating stuff they write about). Point Nemo (Latin for “nobody”) was named for the fact that it signifies the most remote spot on the planet. It’s also a nod to Jules Verne’s base for the Nautilus. It is called the oceanic point of inaccessibility, located at 48°52.6’S 123°23.6’W.
Point Nemo in Kodiak, AK early June 2024
It’s pretty far out in the middle of nowhere (pretty much like we are right now- a couple thousand miles SE of Hawaii). It’s 1451 nautical miles from land: North of Antarctica, S of tiny Ducie Island (‘near’ Pitcairn Islands) and SW of Motu Nui (near Easter Island).
Since it’s so remote, it’s a great place for dumping some of our ever increasing load of space debris. Not much chance of anything landing on top of somebody’s house, or a passing cruise ship or 737. It seems to be a favorite place for the Russians to send their old satellites. The most famous being the old Mir space station. Other countries also send their space junk there to the point it’s nicknamed the Spacecraft Cemetery with near 300 disposed of in the area since 1971.
Continuing with the spacey theme, the actual location of Point Nemo is within a relatively few miles of H.P. Lovecraft’s R’lyeh, a “nightmare corpse city (…) built in measureless eons beyond history by the vast, loathsome shapes that seeped down from the dark stars”. The drowned city of Cthulhu…
I’ve read very little of Lovecraft’s work. I never really got into it, tho I do love reading and some of my favorites are scary stories. I love Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Joe Hill, Anne Rice, Clive Barker, Justin Cronin, George Orwell, Robin Cook- I could go on and on…
I love all kinds of weird stuff. I read constantly. All kinds of things, but my favorite genres are science fiction and fantasy, history, alternative history, science, philosophy, politics and social issues. The final weird thing about Point Nemo mentioned in the Atlas Obscura article of “the Bloop” was just the icing on the cake for me. I just had to write this post and share it to the rest of you. 🙂
After our amazing ice walk experience, we continued on to the Ukranian Vernadsky Research Station located at Marina Point on Galindez Island of Argentine Islands. Until as recently as 1996, it belonged to the UK and was called Faraday Station.
The weather was still gorgeous, with the sun shining bright over the sparkling ice. Huge icebergs lined the mountainous shoreline, slowly floating towards the open sea.The penguins met our zodiacs as we passed through the narrow channel that led through to the bay. We watched with joy as they leaped out of the water next to the foot long icicles along the shoreline and struggled with their funny waddling gait further onto the land.
our zodiacs brought us through this narrow channel to the basecheck out those icicles, the penguins have to deal with them every time they want to eat!
It was nice of the scientists to invite us to visit them, we were their first ship of the season. They must’ve been looking forward to the distraction since I didn’t see any science going on. 😉
They sent their biologist out to meet us and give us a tour. She was happy to explain their lifestyle and answer our questions (even tho I was at the back end of our group so couldn’t hear much of what she said).
our guide Oksana
As we made our way up to the station, the snow reached over our heads along the wooden pathways. The buildings stood out in colorful contrast against the stark white of the snow surrounding them.
There were plenty of birds around: penguins, petrels and gulls. Like the Galapagos, they weren’t at all bothered by us. We were told before we had to stay at least a few feet away from them, but the birds didn’t follow the rules and sometimes came quite close. I noticed some of them were already banded (like this sheathbill in the photo).
As we removed our muck boots inside the crowded entry, we got a look at some of the photos of previous visitors: scientists and explorers from all over the world (and lots of photos of their ‘Antarctic league’ soccer teams). This photographic exhibit continued along the passageways. We saw various offices, labs, and storage for their skis, snowshoes and other equipment for the cold.
Eventually we arrived at the galley and recreation room. They were set up for us to buy stamps, envelopes and post cards. Lots of business going on there. I bought a couple of cards to send home (I still haven’t received that one yet, tho I did get back the one from Stanley last week).
Further on, they had a bar where you could have a drink, play pool or darts and relax. They even had a souvenir shop where they sold t-shirts, patches, shot glasses, tiny little penguins and assorted other tchotchkes. 🙂
They also sold their own home made vodka which was actually pretty good. I bet even better after a long winters ‘day’ (when the sun never comes up).
After sending off my post cards and a warming shot of vodka, it was time to start heading back to the ship. I wondered how hard it would be to get a job like that. You might think it would be easy, I mean how many people really want to spend months or years away from friends and family to work in all that ice cold and darkness. But apparently, it’s pretty hard to get. Our guide told us she was one of the first women allowed, they only started allowing women a couple of years ago.
Seems to me, it would be similar to shipboard life. The isolation, the weather, the long periods away from home. I have actually tried to get a job on some of the supply ships that go to Antarctica. To this day, I’ve never heard back. Now, there are new requirements for “polar experience” so looks like another catch-22 as far as getting work goes. Can’t be considered because you don’t have the experience, but can’t get the experience without being hired first. 🙁
I had a real treat yesterday! I got to go to NOAAs research facility in Galveston and learn all about what they’re doing with the sea turtles there.
I only found out about this whole thing last week. I happened to Google ‘things to do in Galveston” and one of the things listed was a sea turtle tour. I had known about the turtles in the back of my mind, since I’ve known about the turtle patrol and the efforts to protect the turtles along our beaches.
When I heard of this tour, I thought it would be interesting, so I called and signed up.
They only have the tours on Thursdays, and you have to make an appointment beforehand. It’s free. 🙂
Apparently I got there a little late (tho not by my watch). The room was full and they were already discussing all sorts of things about the program. Tip: Arrive early!
The tours are put on by volunteers. Thursday’s presentation was led by the team of John and Lynn Wright- “master naturalists”. They did a great job of explaining the situation with sea turtles today and what NOAA is doing with them in Galveston.
They started with a slide show explaining the facts that there are 7 total species of sea turtles and 5 of them can be found in the Gulf of Mexico. Those include (from smallest to largest): Kemp’s ridley, Hawksbill, Loggerhead, Green and Leatherback.
They showed us how to tell what kind of turtle we see (if they have 4 ‘scutes’ they’re either green or hawksbill, if they have 5 they’re either Kemp’s ridley or loggerhead- leatherback doesn’t have any).
They described turtle life cycles and what kind of food they liked to eat. They showed some amazing movies of the arribada from the late 1950’s. Thousands of female sea turtles arriving on the Texas beaches.
Then they showed a slide telling the sad story of their decline since we’ve become more ‘advanced’. Decimating all 7 of the turtle species, by eating their eggs, catching them in nets while fishing for other species, killing them with our pollution (especially plastic), destroying their habitat…
They also mentioned a few things we can do to help protect the turtles. Mainly- reduce your use of resources, especially plastic. Dispose of trash properly. Reuse and recycle. Help clean up the beaches and waterways. Take care with your fishing gear. If you see a sea turtle, its tracks or nest on the beach call 1-866-TURTLE-5
I learned yesterday that the Kemp’s ridley has been designated the official state sea turtle of Texas. The Wrights informed us that in 1985 there were 400 nests after a large drop in numbers, in 2017 there were 353. They found 3 right here in Surfside (and 1 on Quintana)! They said there’s been some recovery. I hope so.
After the slide show, the Wrights led us over to the turtle barn where we could see all the little turtles. First, we got a chance to see how a TED (turtle excluder device) works. The kids were happy to run through the net and escape- acting as surrogate sea turtles. 😉
NOAA has kind of a conflict of interest here. They are supposed to help the fishermen, and they are supposed to help the sea turtles. They are doing a lot of studies to try and come up with answers to solve many issues surrounding our ocean resources.
One of those studies is to do with testing TEDs. The objective is to find a way to increase the survival rates of any sea turtles (and other by catch) that get caught up in a shrimp boats net. The turtles in the turtle barn are all about 1.5 years old. They’re raised in Galveston til they get to be about 2. Then they are sent over to Florida for the tests.
They’re placed in larger tanks and allowed a few weeks/months to acclimatize themselves. Then they’re taken out to sea and working with a team of shrimpers, divers, and scientists the turtles are run through the nets, out the TEDs and collected again afterwards. After the turtle finishes its run through the TED, it’s released to the wild. The scientists will use the data to refine the TEDs and other fishing gear.
The barn was full of turtles (hawksbills), at least a few dozen, all about 1-2 ft long. They swam around in small plastic containers set inside larger tanks of filtered seawater. We were warned not to touch the turtles or put our hands in the water (it’s a ‘federal offense’). If something fell in the water, they would have to drain the whole tank and replace the water due to concerns about contamination. 🙁
I felt kind of sad for all those little turtles, swimming around in their tiny little tanks, but they told us that if they were all allowed to swim together they would fight and/or eat each other. They said the turtles didn’t notice or care that they were stuck in such small containers, they would circle around forever and never know the difference. I suppose, but I still felt bad for them. 🙁
I also wondered why they weren’t raising more turtles- in a breeding program. Like they did with the whooping cranes down in Port Aransas. I’d hate to see the turtles go extinct. With only 353 nests (of Kemp’s ridleys) on the Texas beaches last year it wouldn’t take much to wipe them out. I asked John about it. He said in Texas the focus was on finding nests and moving them to Padre Island which was safer for them and where they’d be released to return later. There were other programs around the world that raised the turtles for a higher survival rate on release.
I recommend the turtle tour for anyone interested in marine science or sea turtles. The Wrights were very knowledgeable and great with answering any and all questions. Hopefully the research done there at NOAA will help more sea turtles survive (and also help the fishermen with better results and less bycatch). I’d love to see more turtles out at sea and maybe even find a nest on the beach one day. It would be fantastic to see an arribada like the one in the film they showed us. Let’s hope we can make that happen. 🙂
This looks like the video they showed, but there was no sound and they said the video was taken in Texas. This video is from Mexico it might be a different one. I found it on youtube.
PS- This is my Just Jot it January post for today. 😉 Today’s prompt is: memories. Well, they’re only a day or so old, but I think they count. 🙂
Another interesting week of maritime matters courtesy of Monkey Fist and gCaptain. My favorites this week are the gorgeous photos of the whales, the octopus video and the story on the USS Liberty. I went to a presentation given by one of the last survivors of that attack a couple of months ago. A friend bought me the book but I haven’t had the chance to read it yet. I’m no fan of the NSA (to put it mildly), nor do I support our involvement in most wars we’ve inserted ourselves into, but it’s an amazing (and eye-opening) story…
Fifty Years Later, NSA Keeps Details of Israel’s USS Liberty Attack Secret On June 8, 1967, an Israeli torpedo tore through the side of the unarmed American naval vessel USS Liberty, approximately a dozen miles off the Sinai coast. The ship, whose crew was under command of the National Security Agency, was intercepting communications at […]
I had meant to create a series of posts for “Wild Wednesday” since I first started my blog. I’m not sure why, but I never have managed to make very many posts. There are so many interesting sea creatures out there, and so much we don’t know about them. I’d like to make this a regular feature and share more about them. 🙂
Let me know how you like the idea.
This is the first time researchers caught the creatures locked in a vicious fight in the wild
Another weeks worth of fascinating maritime matters from Monkey Fist and gCaptain. This weeks especially interesting articles were about the SS St Louis. In honor of January 27th Holocaust Remembrance Day, there are a couple of great articles (also check it out on Twitter).
It’s especially relevant now because of the ongoing situation in the Middle East and the fleeing ‘refugees’. I have to admit, I am not whole heartedly going to welcome anyone who comes from over there. It’s a matter of their professed religion.
Yeah, I know. People will call me all kinds of nasty names (to my face or behind my back). I know I really shouldn’t say these kinds of things online. No, they never go away. But I think this all needs to come out in open discussion. No, not just smearing anyone who says this kind of thing as ‘racist’, ‘homophobe’, ‘antisemite’, etc. that just shuts down all attempts at communication. No, not just assuming you’re so much better, so much more enlightened, than someone who would say these kinds of things.
You know, I think one of the main reasons Trump got elected (regardless of how scared people were about his nuttiness, arrogance, temper, etc) was because he spoke his mind and didn’t play around with the mealy-mouthed politically correct crap everybody else has been saddled with for the last couple of decades. I didn’t vote for him, but I sure as hell enjoyed hearing him tell it like he thinks it. We all ought to have freedom of speech, without having to self-censor!
Personally I really don’t like any religion, but I especially don’t like the ones where their greatest objective (according to their holy book) is to kill people like me (unbelievers)! If anyone knows of a fool-proof method to tell who is a devout muslim who wants to follow the koran, and an ordinary person who really doesn’t give a damn about religion but just plays along to get along, please let me know. I’ll pass it on to Trump and maybe we can figure out how to solve the refugee problem.
In the meantime, check out this weeks Maritime Monday, there’s a lot more in there!
more: A Tribute to the “Picasso of Sailing” – Mike Peyton on yachtsandyachting.com Haunting Twitter …
I took this photo the other day at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. I usually try do more than one thing when I go all the way to Houston. I go to a museum or the zoo, or a meeting. I don’t like to drive all the way up there just for an hour or two. I don’t remember what kind of crystals these were. I’m pretty sure the big white one is quartz (but not positive), but I don’t remember what the ‘peach’ ones were. Anybody have any ideas?
I just got home tonight. It’s late. I’m tired. I don’t really feel like getting into a long post, but since I’m trying to stick with the challenge of Just Jot It January and post every day, I’ll post this…
Today’s prompt is: climate. It seems most of the world is all upset about “anthropomorphic” climate change. That is man-made climate change.
I understand why. I’m just not sure there’s really anything much we can do about it. It seems to me the climate has always been changing, long before man walked the earth, and it will continue to change.
When I was growing up, the overwhelming majority of scientists told us all we would be frozen into ice-cubes by now. A few years ago, they told us we would be burning up in a planet turned into a shriveled up dust bowl. Now, they simply warn us about ‘climate change’, can’t decide on global warming or cooling so just cover your bases.
The Earth’s climate has always changed, the question now is really, will we survive the change?
That depends on how we decide to act.
Will we do the sensible thing and finally limit our population? Or will we be able to invent some miracle cure so that we can continue living the way we’ve become used to? Or will we be shoved back into the stone age due to drastic cuts in energy use? Will we try to fight the change, try to maintain things as they are- right now? Or will we adapt to the changes we see coming?
Seems to me there are still a lot of questions. I think a lot of people have already made up their minds. So far I don’t much like what I’m hearing from them.
This glowing green hawksbill turtle was discovered by a National Geographic ‘Emerging Explorer’ while filming coral off the Solomon Islands.
I worked out of Honiara on a tuna boat for a while. I always wanted to stay over for a while and do some SCUBA diving. It’s supposed to be fantastic. I did have some other adventures there, but never did get to go diving. 🙁
Honiaria, Solomon Islands
This turtle is the first (naturally occurring) biofluorescent reptile ever discovered. They have found plenty of bioluminescent creatures before. Mostly corals, fish, jellyfish. They’ve even found some biofluorescent ones before (mostly fish).
The scientists are excited to find a bioluminescent reptile and so am I! I always thought turtles were cool. 🙂
I’ve always loved this song. Maybe because I always loved the ocean and everything in it. I also love to SCUBA dive and thanks to Cousteau for that!! I’ve been lucky to always live near the ocean and even to work on the water. 🙂
John Denver wrote this song as a tribute to Jacques Cousteau and his expedition ship “Calypso”. I think he did a good job (I wish the youtube video was better!).
I remember watching Jacques Cousteau on TV when I was a kid. I loved seeing his voyages on the Calypso.
I thought about this song when I saw the post on the Old Salt Blog the other day about the sad situation the Calypso is in now.
I hope someone will come to her rescue.
In the meantime, here are the lyrics to the song (in case you want to sing along).
“Calypso”
To sail on a dream on a crystal clear ocean, to ride on the crest of the wild raging storm. To work in the service of life and the living, in search of the answers to questions unknown. To be part of the movement and part of the growing, part of beginning to understand. Aye, Calypso, the place’s you’ve been to, the things that you’ve shown us, the stories you tell. Aye, Calypso, I sing to your spirit, the men who have served you so long and so well.
Like the dolphin who guides you, you bring us beside you to light up the darkness and show us the way. For though we are strangers in your silent world, to live on the land we must learn from the sea. To be true as the tide and free as a wind swell, joyful and loving in letting it be. Aye, Calypso, the place’s you’ve been to, the things that you’ve shown us, the stories you tell. Aye, Calypso, I sing to your spirit, the men who have served you so long and so well. Aye, Calypso, the place’s you’ve been to, the things that you’ve shown us, the stories you tell. Aye, Calypso, I sing to your spirit, the men who have served you so long and so well.
Here’s an interesting link to Jessica’s blog where she gives a very good rundown on Jacques Cousteau and his Calypso (along with some diving to whet your whistle). And another one on Cousteau. Check ’em out! 🙂
Sorry I haven’t been keeping up with the ‘editorial calendar’ I made up for the Blogging 201 challenge. I hope you haven’t been too disappointed. 😉
Here’s something I found online recently with the “Creature Feature”/”Wild Wednesday” in mind.
This has got to be one of the weirdest fish I’ve ever seen. It’s head is transparent! ONLY it’s head is transparent!
There are lots of other sea creatures that are transparent all over, or mostly clear. It makes them less obvious to predators.
Supposedly, the transparent domed head helps this fish steal food from certain types of stinging ‘siphonophores‘ (colonial organisms- one common type is a Portuguese man-o-war).
It’s eyes are INSIDE that dome. What looks like it’s eyes are really it’s nostrils (or close enough). Weird. 🙂
These barreleye fish (or spook fish) live in deep water. This video is one of the first to ‘catch’ one alive. They’ve been caught before, but these types of deep sea creatures are not in the best shape when they come up to the surface. The changes in pressure are usually enough to seriously damage them (if not kill them outright).
I just think its amazing how much we still don’t know about what’s in the water all around us. There are so many beautiful and fascinating creatures out there and we haven’t even scratched the surface.
I think it’s a shame that through our actions we are doing such damage to pretty much everything else on the planet. I would hate to see that continue til it’s too late and we won’t even know all the things we lost.
I do think the other things that share the planet with us have a ‘right’ to be here too. Yes, I do think everything on this planet is here for a reason. Everything is connected. We are all part of the whole.
I think humans are completely unbalancing the entire world. Most of the problems we have to deal with now are the predictable end result of the fact that there are over 7 BILLION people on the planet (and we are STILL increasing that number daily)!
The crowding is not good for us or for anything else that has to share the planet with us. We are NOT the be-all and end-all of everything. Too bad most of us think we are. 🙁
“A cockroach can live for nine days without its head.”
I was sitting on the pot reading the Wildlife magazine from the Houston Zoo and this quote caught my eye.
I wondered what the heck were those cockroaches doing for those 9 days without a head?
I had always assumed that they spent most of their time looking for food. But if they don’t have a head, then how are they going to eat? So, do they still spend all their time looking for food? Is that really what they did before they lost their heads?
I wonder it they don’t have a head, how do they find their way around? I mean, they have eyes and antennas on their head for that, but once the heads gone then what do they do? Do they just lie there like they’re dead (but they’re not dead) for 9 days?
Or do they wander around trying to find out what happened to their head? Do they miss it? I guess they must not miss it all that much if they can go without it for 9 days.
I wonder is this some kind of survival trait? They don’t go around looking for food while they’re headless, they go around looking for sex? How would that work?
I mean really, they’ve been around FOREVER.
Maybe having a head isn’t as important as we’ve been led to believe?
I wonder just how many headless cockroaches are running around? I have to admit I’ve seen a lot of cockroaches in my life and have yet to see a headless one, dead or alive.
I wonder, did they do some kind of study on this? Did they just happen to find a headless cockroach running around and say, “Hey, I think we need to investigate this, how long can a headless cockroach survive?”.
Did they just find a bunch of headless roaches to study? Or did they actually pull the heads off enough roaches to make a valid study? Just how many headless cockroaches does it take to prove the statistic that they can survive for 9 days? Is just one enough?
How many died immediately? How many only lasted 1 day? 2 days? etc?
They didn’t mention how long a cockroach could live with a head. I have to assume it’s quite a bit longer than 9 days.
Oh well, just a few thoughts to start the day. 😉
PS- I got curious enough later to actually google it and yes, it’s true. They explain a lot of my questions in this article.
I don’t know how the Smithsonian judges ever manage to narrow down their choices. They have so many just stunning images to pick from every year.
This year is no different. I’ve been flipping through their choices for finalists and runners up in the different categories and I would have a really hard time making up my mind.
I think I would pick this one…
If only because I LOVE the night sky and it’s SO hard to get good photos of it. There’s so much light pollution now. Also, I really love science fiction and the way they’ve set up those giant bugs just really does it for me. Lots of creativity and excellent camera skills. I love it! 🙂
Click the link and check out all the other photos. It’ll be worth your while. 🙂
I got this in an email from Gcaptain.com. I subscribe to their emails and they always have something interesting to share. I really enjoyed this video of the Dumbo Octopus.
Dumbo octopus
I actually watched quite a few videos of them before, I thought they were really cute. 🙂
I was trying to find some information on this other creature I saw on the ROV video feed while I was working last hitch. The ROV crew called it a ‘heart’ or ‘sea heart’ or ‘heart of the sea’. Nobody knew what they were really called or what kind of creature they were.
I looked and looked all over the internet. I found all sorts of really weird stuff, but nothing I could say for sure was the same creature we were seeing from our ship.
It looked a little bit like some of the online pictures of the Dumbo octopus.
The closest thing I could say would have to be a vampire squid, which also looks a lot like some of the pictures of the Dumbo octopus.
vampire squid
But it turns out, it was really some sort of swimming sea cucumber. I’ll do some more posts about these creatures, but for now here’s a photo of one type of swimming sea cucumber (there are many different types).
enypniastes-transparent-swimming-sea-cucumber
I’ll try to get back on track for Wild Wednesday and post some more about it by then. I have some video from the ship I can post. 🙂
Another good week for stargazing. I hope it clears up around here soon!
I missed seeing Uranus. The weather was too cloudy while it was at a good altitude for me here. I am hoping to be able to see the Pleiades and the Hyades this week.
I can usually spot Taurus and Aldebaran. This time of year, it should be to the West after sunset. If you can find Orion, look to the right of the hunters bow and you should see a ‘V’, those are the horns of the bull “Taurus”. Both the Hyades and the Pleiades are located in Taurus.
Betelguese is usually easy to spot, it’s in the constellation of Orion. That’s one of the easiest constellations to spot. It should be even easier to see when it’s lined up like they say with the moon and Jupiter.
Today’s Creature Feature is this story from Tasmania. It’s a couple of weeks late, but hopefully it’s still interesting.
I love the description of these jellyfish as ‘snotty’. What would you do if you were walking down the beach and came upon a 5 foot long glob of ‘snot’? 😉
I’d probably do the same thing as the kid that found it! 🙂
I think it’s cool that the scientists are still finding things this big that they haven’t really had the chance to study yet.
Sorry I’m late this week but you should still be able to see some of this stuff if you look.
Mercury will be low in the sky, right after sunset. It should be bright enough to see with the naked eye (or with binoculars). Look for it in the direction of the sunset from Jan 21 through the end of the month.
In the article, they talk about Saturn and the moon on the 23rd, but it’s likely you can still see it now. Look for it in the South near dawn.
Antares is usually easy to spot. Look for the crescent moon above the constellation Scorpio from the 26th.
Another interesting week in the sky. I tried really hard to watch the Geminid meteor shower last weekend, but it was too cloudy here in Texas. I tried to check it out online, but I couldn’t find anything other than clouds or a few photos. I was hoping for a video from somewhere with clear skies, but I never found one.
Jupiter should be shining bright and easy to spot next week. If you have a telescope, you should even be able to spot Callisto as she crosses Jupiter. Hopefully even I will be able to see Jupiter, if not her moon. The lights are so bright on the rigs I work on, its impossible to see all but the brightest stars most of the time. 🙁
Looks like we’ll have another chance to catch a meteor shower too. The Ursid shower probably won’t be anywhere near as good as the Geminid would have been, but it’s something to look forward to.
Next Saturday is the Winter Solstice too, so for all you Pagans out there, I hope you are able to throw some good parties!! 😉
They did a pretty good job with this video. It is undeniable that we have been over fishing for years. For decades. Might even say centuries now that it’s 2013!
I grew up in a small fishing community. My father was a commercial fisherman for a while. So were a lot of his friends. So were a lot of my friends. I used to be one. My brother still is.
I remember how it used to be when I was still fishing and I see how my brother struggles now. There is no comparison.
We have been raping the ocean (along with the rest of the planet) for a LONG time. Since we have figured out how to take such overwhelming advantage, we have not been allowing nature to replenish what we use.
I don’t know of any practical way to eliminate by catch. I don’t know of any solution to all the issues of farmed fish. I don’t know of any solution to poaching.
I don’t know of any REAL solution to any of these problems EXCEPT the one that no one will even consider and that is for us as a species to voluntarily limit OUR population. Give every human being a chance at a GOOD life and in the process also allow the rest of the planet some space and a chance to recover.
I hope I’m not the only one on this planet who thinks that other species have just as much a right to exist here as we do. They all have a place and a purpose and we do NOT have the right to just use to the point of abuse anything and everything we feel like.
Coming from a background of commercial fishing, I’m not sure about this video. I have serious doubts about turning ANYTHING over to the politicians. I do NOT think the politicians are the answer to ANYTHING!
WE ARE!!
I have a suggestion for the fisheries… how about we try something like leasing the fishing grounds. Lease the areas where the fish (and other marine life) gather, similar to how we do it with the oil in the ground.
Hold an auction, let the highest bidder win the rights to use (NOT abuse) a certain area of the ocean. The winner would be able to fish there and would also be responsible for protecting his asset. This should put a stop to the practice of taking everything there is to take before the next guy does.
Of course, this wouldn’t work for every type of fish, but lots of them are known to either live or migrate into certain specific places year after year. If we could lease those areas to the fishermen and hold them accountable, we might even be able to GROW the fish stocks instead of depleting them.
I really would like to see this kind of thing given a good chance before we go any further with the restrictions. I have read about how fishermen in Britain have property rights to the streams they fish in. It seems to work there.
Here’s a link to an article about how it works in Scotland…
As a person who appreciates art and a person who’s interested in math, I just LOVE the intersection of both subjects. Fractals are really beautiful examples of both art and mathematics!
You can see examples of fractals in all kinds of places in nature. Tree branches and roots are one. A river delta is another. Spiral shells like a nautilus or conch is another (see my earlier post (http://captjillsjourneys.wordpress.com/2013/09/08/beautiful-spiral-shell/) or the others in that series (corals, sea urchin).
I remember playing with creating very simple basic drawings of fractal equations when I was in jr high school. I would have loved to have been able to continue on with it in later classes, but we had to move on to other things.
I think spending more time on this kind of thing in earlier years in school might help show kids that math is actually a really interesting and useful subject and IS really something we can use in the real world. Its not just something we have to get through in school and will never see again.
I do have to admit, I have personally never used calculus since I got out of school, but if I wanted to, I’m sure I could find a use for it. I’m just busy with other things. 😉
I could definitely find ways to use this app with the fractals, even if just to look at the beauty of it and enjoy it every day. 🙂
I don’t know if this Frax app is free or not, but even if it costs a little bit, it might be worth it. I haven’t had the chance to try it yet since I’ve been offshore since I’ve found out about it. I hope I can try it when I get home. 🙂
This weeks sky events from National Geographic. First of all, look out for the comet ISON. You should be able to spot it with a decent pair of binoculars in the constellation Virgo.
On the 14th, look for a ‘stellar snow globe’ next to Venus around the constellation Sagittarius.
Be sure to watch for the Leonid meteor shower on the night of the 17th. Best to check after the moon sets.
Something wonderful to see, easy and affordable way to spend an evening. Enjoy! 🙂
These are just some absolutely stunning photographs. These are some of the top 20 entered into the Nikons annual Small World Competition. These are the winners from 2013. I’ll be looking forward to this for 2014!
This should be a good show, if you’re somewhere you can see the constellation Virgo. Hope the sky is clear where you are!
I’ve been looking but it’s been much too cloudy here. I haven’t seen much of the sky for a few days. I’m working nights now so I should be able to see these things if it’s clear out. 😉
Here’s an article from Mother Jones about the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Obama signed it into law in 2011 and I suppose nobody read this one either. If they did, they had to have been paid off by the usual suspects in favor of large scale factory farming.
Obviously, no one wants our food supply to be full of dangerous ingredients. We would all like to be able to buy safe, fresh, affordable, wholesome food. The problem with this law is the same as with every law like this, the ‘law of unintended consequences’. In addition to that problem, some others are already popping up.
For one, this is just one example of how BIG companies use the law to their advantage. They are much more easily able to comply with it, even if it DOES cost them big bucks. They can still manage to get by, especially when it wipes out their competition.
This sort of thing happens all the time in this country and is just one example of how we do NOT have a free market at all. No free market would permit companies to grow as large as we have here. They can only get that way because the laws allow it through special favors and manipulation of the market and the laws themselves. 🙁
Regardless of the name of this law (seems they’re always named the opposite of what they’re REALLY about), it will wind up hurting small farmers, organic farmers, food co-ops, and consumers concerned about healthy, safe food.
The article mentions just a couple of ways this will happen. Again, remember the law of unintended consequences! Those things they mentioned will probably just be the bare minimum of the problems that will develop.
Why do we always insist on the worst possible agency (the government) to take care of our problems? We always seem to think “there ought to be a law”! One size does NOT fit all and we really ought to be able to figure out ways to deal realistically with these things WITHOUT the use of FORCE. It’s especially galling when the use of force (government aid) is applied to the side that is hurting the people in favor of giant corporations.
Food safety is a pretty important subject, even if it’s not one we usually think about much. I hope some of you will think about it a bit. As they mention in the article, the FDA is still accepting comments until November 15. If this is important to you, you still have a chance to at least get the word out and hopefully your comments will be taken into account with the same weighting as someone from Monsanto or Kraft Foods would (yeah riiiiight). I said ‘hopefully’.
I love watching the stars at night. I miss being able to see them clearly. Its just SO amazing sky watching from a ship at sea without all the light pollution we get at home.
Looks like the Taurids (meteors) will be the main thing to look for tonight. Venus and Cassiopeia should be bright and easy enough to spot, even with the lights of the city around and no need of a telescope.
I’ll be back at sea by Thursday but I don’t expect to be able to do much star gazing, there’s not much chance of a dark ship on a drilling rig (and we would not want that to happen!!!).
I’ll have to try and go sailing again when I get in from work. 😉
If I was still working as planned, I would be sure to see the (partial) solar eclipse. Nowhere better to see one than while at sea. 🙂
If you’re somewhere where you have clear, dark skies, this should be an interesting week for skywatching. Comet ISON will be visible in the constellation Leo from November 1. The Zodiacal Lights will be visible from November 2 for about 2 weeks. Then the solar eclipse on the 3rd.
For readers in Africa, you will be able to see a total eclipse! Be sure to use good shades. 😉
At Surfside Beach, (which was where I went-along with a few friends), they had 1200 (!!) volunteers who cleaned up 13.35 tons of trash over 14 miles of beach! WOW! What a great turnout for a day that wasn’t expected to be nice weather wise. It was fairly windy and it actually did rain a bit after noon. And remember, Surfside Beach only has about 450 full time residents.
Houston Zoomers came down to help out
The great bunch of SaveOurBeachAssociation (www.sobatx.org) volunteers manned the home front at Stahlman Park and provided plenty of (FREE!!) hot dogs, chips and cold drinks to the hordes of cleanup crews. They served over 1800 volunteers around Brazoria County that day!! Here’s a big Thank You to S.O.B.A.!! 🙂
SOBA volunteers serving up the cleanup crews at the 2013 fall cleanup
Quintana Beach had another 174 volunteers who cleaned up 2 miles of beach and found 2.32 tons of ‘marine debris’. Yeah!!
I was not prepared to see bus after bus unloading at Stahlman Park and along the beach. People came from all over the area: representatives from Houston, Galveston and even further away. It was great to see so many people out and about, helping out. School kids in uniforms, church groups, civics clubs, sports teams…Young and old, all colors, all types, from prim and proper to young punks to grizzly old fishermen.
Bus unloads helpers at Surfside Beach
I didn’t really understand until I got there and started wandering the beach how the data would be gathered. It was a little harder than expected to keep track of every piece of garbage we found, from cigarette butts, bottle caps, plastic and glass bottles (none with messages inside), plastic bags, soda cans, plastic cutlery and tiny pieces of unrecognizable plastic to dead fish, old tires, fishing line, floats, escaped balloons, etc. The organizers gave us tally cards along with our collection bags. Great job everyone!
I had a lot of fun at this event. It was a wonderful way to get out of the house, play on the beach, enjoy the natural world, learn something new, have a good time with friends old and new. I hope I’ll be able to make the next one. I didn’t know it until I looked it up for this post, but there are at least 3 more cleanups in Texas coming up before the main one in Spring (April 26, 2014).
Just curious, but did anybody make it to one of these events where you live?
