•• change directory ••

noreply@blogger.com (••cd••) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:18:00 +0000

Freediving - a Whole New World

noreply@blogger.com (••cd••) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 19:57:00 +0000

At DEMA 2010, Scuba Schools International announced its collaboration with Guinness World Record holder Mike Wells in launching its new freediving training program.

Freediving, also known as apnea or breath-hold diving, is becoming increasingly popular around the world. It's a great way to see the sea, unhindered by cumbersome gear and undistracted by the sound of bubbles. It feels like you're flying, like you're supposed to be there - a truly exhilarating experience, even for seasoned scuba divers.

Freedivers enjoy the athleticism, adventure, mystique and personal challenge of the sport - as well as the obvious observation of the underwater world. It's just a great and easy way to get wet. Sometimes, the logistics of scuba diving can be tricky, and in some areas scuba isn't permitted at all - but that doesn't have to keep you from seeing what's down there! There's most certainly something interesting in your local quarry, lake or coast - all you need is fins, mask, snorkel, and appropriate exposure protection (like a wetsuit), and you're good to go!

Freediving instruction can also be obtained from SCUBA certification agencies PADI and NAUI, among others, though the new SSI program boasts the support of some of the world's most prominent and experienced competitive apnea divers.

Check out the full article on freediving (with more info and helpful links to get you started) at Divescover! You might discover a whole new world..!

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Diving Cageless with Great White Sharks

noreply@blogger.com (••cd••) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 14:06:00 +0000

First off: apologies for the long absence; it's been a crazy November so far! Won't happen again....

Divers in Mexico's Baja California are swimming freely with Great White Sharks, enabled by Amos Nachoum's company, Big Animals Expeditions.

Apart from the obvious levels of personal insanity required to do this, is the practice good or bad for the sharks' reputation and the dive industry as a whole?

Read the full article on diving cageless with great whites on Divescover (please feel free to comment)!

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This is "news"... um, what?

noreply@blogger.com (••cd••) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 17:48:00 +0000

Timothy Hurst has compiled a hilarious (if more than slightly scary) list of what passes for prime-time news in the US of A - also known as "Glenn Beck's 10 Greatest Anti-Environment Freak Outs".

My favourite excerpt is #6, where Beck claims that environmentalists' interest in health care and Earth's future viability is indicative of the desire to create a "master race".

#5 is pretty good fun, too - apparently, former American VP and Nobel Prize winner Al Gore is intent on creating a new Hitler Youth, not on teaching ecological responsibility to children.

Here are those two, but make sure to visit ecopolitology.org to see the rest of Hurst's compilation!

This post is not intended to bash Americans - Joe Average doesn't have any more control over the propaganda machine than you or I do, and 9/10 Americans that I've met would have the same incredulous reaction to these "news" clips as the rest of us.

The people in power over there, though - hoo, boy... sigh.

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Sea Shepherd Unveils New Interceptor Vessel

noreply@blogger.com (••cd••) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 16:04:00 +0000

Sea Shepherd unveiled its new interceptor vessel this past Saturday, at a Hollywood fundraiser.

Conceptual photo from seashepherd.org

The new vessel, the Ocean Adventurer, is a 12 year old, 35-meter monohull, will take the place of the Ady Gil as Sea Shepherd's fastest interceptor vessel. The Ady Gil was (arguably) intentionally rammed by a Japanese whaling ship, the Shonan Maru #2, and subsequently sank in the Southern Ocean.

The Ocean Adventurer is larger than the Ady Gil, and not quite as fast, however it is stronger and can carry more crew, fuel, and supplies. Paul Watson believes it will "suit our needs perfectly", adding that "we now have three ships, an upgraded helicopter, eighty crew, new equipment and I believe we will be more effective this year than last year, and last year was a very effective year".


Conceptual photo from seashepherd.org

Interceptor vessels have become highly important to Sea Shepherd's campaign to stop whaling in the Antarctic. Captain Paul Watson says "ironically, the most successful thing that Sea Shepherd does to save whales in the Southern Ocean is to do very little at all". Water cannon duels, boardings, and lobbing chemicals at the whaling ships' decks all have a measure of effectiveness, but blocking the slipway of the factory ship Nisshin Maru to prevent the transfer (and hence the processing) of dead whales is by far the most successful tactic in the Sea Shepherd arsenal - so far.

Sea Shepherd states that although the vessel has been secured, it was purchased with a loan that still needs to be repaid. Despite a strong desire to name the new ship "Godzilla", Sea Shepherd hopes to name her after a sponsor who makes a donation of >$1M.

Other Sea Shepherd Campaigns

Sea Shepherd manages several ongoing campaigns across the globe:

In Defense Whales Worldwide
Defending Dolphins Worldwide
Defending Galapagos
Stop the Canadian Seal Slaughter
Defending Sharks

This year's Southern Ocean campaign, "Operation No Compromise", marks Sea Shepherd's seventh voyage to Antarctic waters. They will continue until a kill quota of zero whales is established in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary - and hopefully, the world!

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Climate Change vs. Capitalism - the feast is almost over...

noreply@blogger.com (••cd••) — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 23:09:00 +0000

Author, activist, and globalization expert Jerry Mander speaks strongly in his latest essay - "either capitalism lives, or mother Earth lives".

Capitalism is built around the economy of scarcity - supply and demand, and the basic assumption that in for practical purposes, the supply is endless. Increasingly, though, we are becoming aware - or admitting - that we live on a planet with finite resources, and that the idea of continuous and increasing growth, expansion and economic output is neither possible, nor realistic. The old ways don't work anymore...

A quote from Mander's article:

"Look around you. The clothes you are wearing, the chair you are sitting in, the implements on the stove, the stove, the floor and walls of your room, its carpet, the lights and the switches, the electrical lines in the walls, your mobile phone, the road outside, the car you drive and all its tyres, wires, metals, glass, fabrics, batteries; airplanes, skyscrapers, tanks, missiles, computers ... were all once minerals and metals dug up from the earth, then shipped around the world, transformed, assembled, shipped again to a store near you, and sold. Or else they were living beings: trees, plants, animals, fibres, corals that had their own independent existence. Even "synthetics" began as natural elements. Is your shirt made of polyester? Polyester is plastic. Plastic is oil. Oil used to be dinosaurs, trees, plants. All of it is nature. The entire material economy began as part of the earth, buried in the ground, or it grew from it, or it was alive before we transformed it. But it's disappearing fast."

The original article is extremely relevant, highly politicized, and very interesting - you should definitely read it!

That's it. That's all. There is no more...

We, the species, must undergo a paradigm shift in thinking if we are to survive - a statement which should not sound the least bit alarmist. Have a look at this photo, taken from the Voyager spacecraft - the tiny blue dot is us. That's it, that's all - there is no more. Conservation, broadly speaking, means the wise management of finite resources - something we can all get behind.

Read Jerry Mander's article "Climate Change vs Capitalism - the Feast is Almost Over!

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Farmed Salmon Gets Even Worse - Really.

noreply@blogger.com (••cd••) — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 23:12:00 +0000

Thanks to the ever-vigilant Health Canada, aquaculturists in New Brunswick, Canada are now treating our food with restricted neurotoxic pesticides.

Sea lice plague salmon farms in th Bay of Fundy. Farmed salmon are densely packed into offshore nets, unable to swim away - a perfect scenario for the tiny parasites to feast and to breed. An ever-widening chemical arsenal is used to dissuade the tiny copepods from their free lunch.

The latest chemical to coat the catch is called Alphamax. The active ingredient is deltamethrin, a neurotoxin which, although metabolized by the body over time, has (like DDT), been found in breast milk in areas where the chemical is used for agricultural purposes.

Environment Canada expressly forbids the use of such chemicals (Canadian Technical Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, page 83). The fish are to be removed from the water, literally bathed in chemicals, and replaced into the sea.

Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot??

Salmon farms like those in the Bay of Fundy are by their very nature perfect breeding grounds for parasites like sea lice; such prevention measures are necessary for economic success. But on top of infecting wild salmon with an epidemic of sea lice, the densely-packed salmon release release highly concentrated, chemical-laden waste into the sea, severely impacting their surroundings. In addition, it takes about 3kg of feeder fish to produce 1kg of farmed salmon.

The negative impacts of aquaculture are fairly well known, though there is much debate surrounding the subject and much long-term research is still incomplete. But on the neurotoxin issue, at least, the answer seems clear - shouldn't Environment Canada be stepping in here?

Let's encourage them!

Jim Prentice, Canada's Minister of the Environment might be a good place to start - why not drop him a polite line at his Parliament Hill office?
--
Room 401, Confederation Bldg.
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Office Phone: 613-992-4275
Email: prentice.j@parl.gc.ca
--
I couldn't figure out who to address a communique to,but EC's Atlantic office is located at
--
45 Alderney Drive
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
B2Y 2N6
Telephone: 902-426-7231
Email: 15th.reception@ec.gc.ca

Eventually, the straw breaks the camel's back...

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SCUBAPRO Releases iPhone Dive Log App

noreply@blogger.com (••cd••) — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 21:33:00 +0000

SCUBAPRO UWATEC has released an updated version of its dive log for iPhone.

In short, it's an electronic dive log, just like SmartTRAK software. "Dive Log Book For iPhone" boasts extended functionality over its previous iterations. Divers can still enter and track profile information, gas mixtures, and other technical details of their dives - but now, the application will stream live local weather conditions, including wind speed, wave height & frequency, water temperatures and more, allowing for more comprehensive dive pre-planning. The data comes from the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration), among others, so it's probably pretty reliable.

Also included with the app is a library of video and still images of some of the most common species of marine life to aid with identification (it would be so cool if they made this user-editable, like a wiki!) and the ability to wirelessly sync dive data with your PC using SmartTRAK and DataTRAK, two popular dive-tracking programs from UWATEC. The software is compatible with all UWATEC dive computers

Icing on the cake: the app is free.

When they make a Palm Pre version, I'll be really impressed!

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Someecards Holds Plants Hostage

noreply@blogger.com (••cd••) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 16:42:00 +0000

Someecards.com is threatening to kill one plant every hour until a million people sign its petition to the US government to expand and protect public green spaces for the future generation.

Eco-vigilantism at its finest - I'm still laughing!

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Underwater Restaurant at Hilton Maldives

noreply@blogger.com (••cd••) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 16:19:00 +0000

I received these photos in an email and I'd like to share them... being a chef and a diver, this couldn't get any better for me! I wonder if I can get a job there?

FYI, the restaurant is called Ithaa, and is called Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, and is located, predictably, on Rangali Island in the Maldives. Bookings are available from US$850 per night...

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Massive Underwater Observatory Installed off BC

noreply@blogger.com (••cd••) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Ten years of planning, research and design have gone into the construction of Canada's NEPTUNE Observatory project. A decade later, the world's largest cabled undersea observatory is in full operation.

NEPTUNE consists of 6 nodes installed separately on the seafloor, spread across the Juan de Fuca plate, off the coast of British Columbia, Canada. The habitats range from 17m to 2660m in depth, and each node is connected to the others via a high-speed fiber optic cable. The scope and scale of this project will enable researchers to collect biological, geological, and chemical data - 60 terabytes, or 60 million books' worth - on a regional scale over NEPTUNE's projected 25-year lifespan.


VENUS Canada Observatory

NEPTUNE stands for North-East Pacific Time-Series Underwater Networked Experiments, a name derived from its location as well as its goal of providing a quarter century's worth of continuous data from the sea floor. A sister project, VENUS (Victoria Experimental Network Under the Sea), first conceived in 2001, has been in operation for four years, albeit on a smaller scale between the mainland and Vancouver Island.

NEPTUNE's construction team has just returned from a gruelling month at sea, having successfully installed the sixth and final node in the series of the $100M project at a depth of some 2300m. An ROV (Remotely Operated underwater Vehicle) was used to complete the survey and construction of the various sites.

Researchers hope that the completed construction phase is just "the end of the beginning", and will continue to expand and develop NEPTUNE's array of instruments and research capabilities throughout its career. Collecting comprehensive oceanic data on this scale is unprecedented.

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500,000 Classified Iraq War Documents to be Leaked This Month

noreply@blogger.com (••cd••) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 15:18:00 +0000

The Pentagon is busy preparing for damage control - 500,000 classified Iraq war documents have been leaked, and WikiLeaks (a popular site which chronicles alleged government, corporate and military misconduct) is expected to release these documents later this month.

As of this writing, the largest military security breach in US history remains the release of 70-90,000 Afghan war documents this past July (known as the "Afghan War Diary" by wikileaks followers), but although these raised some questions in the debate surrounding this 9-year-old conflict, no major revelations or insights were made.

The team designated to review the leak is the same one that reviewed the previous breach in July of this year. It is still unclear whether the full 120-member committee will be necessary for the investigation.

The public isn't talking as much about Iraq as we used to, but these documents threaten to revive some of the darker moments thus far in the conflict, such as the many allegations (and confirmed instances) of abuse at the hands of American military.

A source familiar with the Iraq documents stated that although they may shed some light on civilian casualties, the documents are not expected to cause as big a stir as the Afghan War Diary. On the other hand, Pentagon officials worry that the release of American operatives and cooperative Afghans may jeopardize current and future operations in the area, as well as the safety of the operatives. Officials are confident, however, that no "sensitive intelligence sources or methods" will be revealed.

Well, they hope not. More as it occurs..!

***UPDATE***
More has indeed ocurred - the promised documents have indeed been released by Wikileaks.org, and are searchable, rateable, and comment-enabled - should be an interesting community to take part in. To pique your curiosity, there are 1326 documents related to friendly fire, and a quick search of the database turned up 39,184 documents related to civilian casualties (involving less than 500 civilians).

See you there!

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Rising Sea Temperatures Affecting Bocas Del Toro, Western Caribbean

noreply@blogger.com (••cd••) — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 20:08:00 +0000

Concern is rising over a sudden localized rise in sea surface temperatures in Bocas Del Toro and other areas of Caribbean Panama and Costa Rica, affecting a large part of one of Earth's most diverse ecosystems.

The Bocas Del Toro branch of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute reports surface temperatures of 32*C - an alarming step up from seasonal averages of 28*C at this time of year.
Thanks to the coral monitoring network installed by Héctor M. Guzmán of the Smithsonian, approximately 95% of the Bocas Del Toro archipelago has been checked for bleaching. Luckily, in Bocas at least, coral mortality is limited to some shallow areas around Isla Colon, a region slow to change its waters with the tides.

The country's leading dive academy, Starfleet Scuba, is actively involved in the monitoring and preservation of local reefs. Led by Director Tony Sanders and Course Director Edgardo Ibarra, Starfleet focuses on involving and educating the public, raising awareness of key environmental issues, and encouraging safe and ecologically sound practices, underwater and above.

Corals are colonies of tiny creatures called polyps, which depend on the photosynthesis of even tinier zooxanthellae for survival. "Bleaching" occurs when the algal zooxanthellae die as a result of warming water temperatures or other stress factors. Often, the affected reef will renew itself over time - but just as often, it may not - repeat bleaching events or other environmental stressors may hamper recovery.

"Bowline" - Isla Solarte, Bocas Del Toro, Aug. 2008

The long-term effects of rising temperatures in the Western Caribbean remain unknown - the reefs here appear quite resilient, and a similar event in 2005 resulted in only 12% coral fatality and a speedy recovery. Change Directory has sources close to the action on this one - more as it occurs!

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Humpback Whale Traverses Over a Quater of the Globe

noreply@blogger.com (••cd••) — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 17:54:00 +0000

In the longest mammalian migration ever documented, a humpback whale has traveled a distance of at least 10,000km , being photographed in its usual breeding ground off Brazil, and again in another breeding zone off Madagascar.

Humpbacks (and other whales) regularly follow gargantuan migration routes of 4,000km or more, from cold, nutrient-rich feeding zones to warmer waters for raising young. But this is the longest documented distance traveled by an individual whale.

Humpbacks are identified by the unique patterns of black and white on the underside of their caudal (tail) fins. When these whales dive, they raise their flukes above the water, and researchers have been using this photographic opportunity to track whales' migrations since the early 1970's.

This time, the photographic record came from an interesting source - Gale McCullough, of Maine,US, uses thousands of vacation photos on the popular site Flickr.com to match the flukes in one photo to another, subsequently identifying Humpback Whale #1363 in the Antarctic Humpback Whale Catalogue. She was first spotted by scientists in 1999, who determined she is female by analyzing skin samples.

Whale #1363

It's a scientific discovery in a social networking age. Freddy Johansen, a Norwegian tourist, snapped lots of photos, including one of Whale #1363, during a scuba trip to Madagascar in 2001. Later, in 2009, he uploaded some of these photos to Flickr, where they were seen by McCullough and matched up with photos from the Antarctic Catalogue, taken 9,800km away.

Scientists believe this to be an particularly long migration for whale, although there is some uncertainty surrounding the matter. In addition, this migration appears to have taken place between two breeding grounds, rather than between a breeding and feeding ground, which is unusual.

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Taiji Dolphin Hunt Resumes, Despite Protests

noreply@blogger.com (••cd••) — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 17:06:00 +0000

In the small Japanese town of Taiji, drive-hunt whaling continues despite international protest. Taiji is the subjectof the Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove", which managed to raise global awareness of this brutal practice to an all-time high.

Not high enough, though - these fishermen are still at it, and plan to kill 2,3000 dolphins and pilot whales this year. They got off to a good start on Tuesday - "a whole pod" of dolphins was captured and killed, minus six juveniles who were released (likely due to protesters' presence and admonitions).These six, however, appeared "confused, perhaps looking for their parents, and it was unclear how well they will survive", said Scott West of Sea Shepherd. Also on site were members of the European conservation/activist group The Black Fish, who attempted to free some of the captive animals earlier this year by cutting nets in dolphin pens, allowing an unknown number of bottlenose dolphins (some say 0) to swim to freedom.

As of this writing, two bottlenose dolphins are being held alive in Taiji, to be sold to aquariums, usual for the hunt. However, this is the first year that any live dolphins have been released from Taiji; the protest, outcry, and publicity must be having at least some effect.

One of the largest communities centered around this issue is savejapandolphins.org, headed up by Ric O'Barry, one of the former capture/trainers for the old TV show, Flipper. O'Barry has long been an outspoken opponent of cetaceans in captivity, and his opposition springs from firsthand experience and education. He knows all too well that the aquarium industry sponsors slaughters like the one in Taiji. His site is full of interesting, relevant content and links.

I'm not sure what else to say. Major environmental groups are keeping close watch on the hunt, it's been publicized globally with an Oscar-winning documentary, and there are countless causes and petitions against the dolphin slaughter in Taiji. What's more, we, as forward-thinking people, all know What Is The Deal, as far as whaling goes... so what gives?

The dolphin massacre in Taiji is still happening...

...why?

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Faroe Islands Barbarism

noreply@blogger.com (••cd••) — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 00:27:00 +0000

You've probably already heard something about the massacre of dolphins and whales in the Faroe Islands. There's a Facebook cause, a popular chain email, and it's been receiving lots of e-ttention (did I coin a phrase?) lately. There's also an online petition you can sign, and why not? Use whatever voice you've got.

If you aren't aware of the slaughter, you should check out tonic.com's article - it's by far the best written, all-inclusive and most informative piece on the subject that I've read.

In short, Danish teenagers (in the Faroe Islands) are meant to prove their manhood by drive-hunting and then throat-slashing small cetaceans.

Various factors reduced the number of whales being killed, from thousands down to nil (in 2007-8), but again in January of 2009, an estimated 300 were killed, and in 2010, a counted 236 pilot whales met their deaths. These numbers are relatively small, and one argument is that the hunt is sustainable.

Sure. My argument is that it's inhumane, barbaric and has no place in the 21st century.

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Google Backs North Atlantic Wind Energy 'Superhighway'

noreply@blogger.com (••cd••) — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 23:54:00 +0000

This Tuesday, Google announced its investment in a massive undertaking to construct an underwater "clean energy superhighway", ranging from New Jersey to Virginia, US.

This wind energy project, the first of its kind, could provide clean electricity to almost two million homes, alleviating some of the strain from the US's overtaxed power grids. Google, Inc and Good Energies of New York are jointly involved in the project, which has been dubbed the "Atlantic Wind Connection" and is slated to begin construction in 2013.

Wind generation endeavors in the mid-Atlantic (and elsewhere, including Canada) have historically been executed "in a haphazard way", says John Breckenridge, Managing Director of Good Energies. This project should be different, however, due to its scalable nature.

The Atlantic Wind Connection (AWC) won't be just a single wind farm or set of turbines. It will be a transmission line- a "backbone", as Google puts it - that will collect electricity from various offshore wind farms and consolidate it for delivery to the consumer (or middleman, but that's a post for another day). In doing so, the AWC hopes to remove one of the largest barriers for upstart enterprises in the wind industry - high overhead costs associated with independent construction of radial connections from each individual wind farm to the coast. In addition, by constantly tapping in to a long swath of coast, the AWC will help to counter the intermittency inherent ingenerating energy from the wind.

The mid-Atlantic is an ideal region for wind generation, with relatively shallow offshore waters paired with strong and consistent winds from the South. Indeed, there are few other alternatives for renewable in the region.

In short, I suppose the Atlantic Wind Connection is kind of like Blogger. Without this site, I would have to buy a domain name, program my own HTML, and find somebody to host it for me, before I could deliver my content to you, oh Constant Reader. Blogger is my AWC - by putting the infrastructure in place, all this wind farm had to do is tap in, log on, and here we are.

I don't know what abbreviation Good Energies trades under, but you can bet I'll be finding out!

More as it occurs.

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Whale Rider Threatened

noreply@blogger.com (••cd••) — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 17:14:00 +0000

The Australian government has warned a teenage boy that he could face a maximum penalty of $10,000 for riding a whale - a right whale, to be precise, off the coast of Western Australia.

I completely understand that this is harrassment of wildlife. The Department of Environment and Conservation has stated that they believe the boy is remorseful, had no malicious intent, and in hindsight, at least, recognizes the danger he put himself in. So I guess they're not going to fine him after all - just a stern warning.
Much to-do over a kid with a sense of adventure, no?

Especially while the Australian government permits Japanese fishermen to kill over 1,000 whales per year, inside of an internationally recognized cetacean sanctuary, including 50+ specimens of endangered species. What's more, they're allowed to set their own quotas, and fish unsupervised in protected waters.
No fines being levied here.

Maybe it's time we wrote a couple of letters, made a call or two. This is Change Directory, after all, and while flooding important inboxes and voicemails may not be the most insightful way of inciting change, it does come with a certain sense of satisfaction. So why not write or phone in an inquiry (politely and pleasantly, right??) to one of the following members of relevant Australian government? You could tell them exactly what you think of their stance on whaling. And when you're done, why, do it again, and again, and forward the address and telephone number to your friends, and so on? On top of that sense of satisfaction, if enough voices join the chorus, well, we might just actually accomplish something!

Dr, Bruce Kennedy, Executive Officer of the National Environment Protection Council
Telephone: (08) 8419 1200

Dr.Barry Reville, Secretary to the Environmental Protection Branch
Telephone: (02) 6274 1622

Dr. David Jones, Branch Head of the Environmental Research Institute of the Supervising Scientist
Telephone: (08) 8920 1104

Toby Stone, General Manager of the Marine Environment Division
POST
GPO Box 2181,
Canberra ACT 2601
82 Northbourne Avenue,
Braddon ACT 2612
Australia
Telephone: (02) 6279 5073

Ms. Deborah Fulton, Director (Canberra) of Policy and Global Environment
Telephone: (02) 6206 4694

...Now that's a directory for change!

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Sea Shepherds Disagree Over Ady Gil Sinking

noreply@blogger.com (••cd••) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 16:54:00 +0000

This past January, a Sea Shepherd ship, the Ady Gil, sank after a collision with a Japanese whaling vessel. Old news, sure, but some new information's come to light.

Pete Bethune now claims that Captain Paul Watson directly ordered him to scuttle the vessel. Ostensibly, this was to ensure that the disabled craft wouldn't pose a navigational hazard in the Southern ocean. Now, it appears as though Bethune was ordered to keep quiet as the ship was scuttled intentionally (allegedly at the hands of Paul Watson and Chuck Swift) to garner public sympathy. "The boat was definitely salvageable. It was still rock-solid from the engine room and the sponsons back. It would have stayed afloat for sure", Bethune told Radio New Zealand. ABC News has more in-depth commentary on the controversy surrounding Sea Shepherd's feud.

As I understand it, Bethune has left/been banned from Sea Shepherd (he was carrying a weapon as he boarded the Shonan Maru #2) over this incident, saying "[It's] just so dishonest and I am embarrassed for my role in it". I'm not sure what my opinion of Bethune is. He seems to be more pirate than activist, more mercenary than environmentalist, at least where convictions and personality are concerned. I formed that opinion watching Whale Wars, though - so it's uninformed at best. For what it's worth, though his opinions are biased for obvious reasons, Capt. Watson claims that "...the allegations have no basis at all" and calls Bethune an "angry man".

Bethune, in turn, accuses the Sea Shepherd organization of being "morally bankrupt"

In an earlier post, I said I was going to construct a more thorough treatise on Sea Shepherd and Whale Wars. Rest assured that this isn't it, but I will incorporate this new information into my critique/analysis (or whatever you want to call it).

What do you think? Did the Shonan Maru 2 ram the Ady Gil? Was it a carefully staged publicity stunt? Or some middle ground between the two? Here are two different views of the incident to help you decide:

As always - more as it occurs!

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Facebook User Fined $1B for Spam!

noreply@blogger.com (••cd••) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 19:16:00 +0000

I scream, you scream, we all scream for SPAM. And so does Facebook - one billion dollars' worth. Wow. The fine was levied two years ago in California against Canadian citizen Adam Guerbuez. Of course, he appealed - but the Quebec Superior Court backed the decision.
I say again - wow. That's an awful lotta dough! Did the guy deserve it? What do you think?

(Imagine, if you will, one billion dollars' worth of SPAM - not a pretty picture!)

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Down With Cable!!

noreply@blogger.com (••cd••) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 19:00:00 +0000

We've long been aware that cable/satellite TV providers charge ridiculous rates for access to their content. Well, guess what? Those rates are set to increase yet again.

Just in case you've been on a space mission or otherwise preoccupied for the past decade or so, the same content is available for free online, mostly in real time or very close to it. I'm not going to point out any sources in particular - most of you already have yours bookmarked - but please, feel free to ask via comment or email and I'll point you in the right direction.

I don't watch TV anyway, so they're not getting my money - how much of yours do they take? You're paying to watch advertisements. Call up your television provider and politely suggest that they perform physically impossible acts of auto-eroticism.
Then donate your $100 per month to Change Directory - we promise, you'll get much more out of your investment!
Oh, and turn off the damn TV!! Live life...

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Dinosaurs Evolved Earlier Than We Thought

noreply@blogger.com (••cd••) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 18:48:00 +0000

Fossilized footprints found in 250-million-year-old rocks in Poland suggest that dinosaurs walked the Earth 9 million years earlier than previously estimated. the tracks are small, only a few centimeters long, but even a lay eye can see the clearly-preserved toes. Unfortunately, a footprint doesn't provide the concrete evidence that a complete skeleton would; that being said, the finding was significant enough to be published by the BBC, as well as in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences..

I guess they figure that the creatures look like this, though how they came to that conclusion is anybody's guess.

Neat!

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Phytoplankton Decline Spells Trouble

noreply@blogger.com (••cd••) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 18:34:00 +0000

Phytoplankton is the basis of the food chain, and therefore supports all life on Earth. These microscopic plants are responsible for producing over half of the oxygen in our atmosphere. We, along with everything else, depend on it for our survival.

Dalhousie University released their findings in a study spanning 50 years of oceanographic data earlier this year. In short, they found that phytoplankton stock is decreasing by about 1% per year globally. That's quite a reduction over time. This affects everything, from atmospheric carbon dioxide levels to fisheries.

I found David Suzuki's comments on this issue particularly interesting, as usual.

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Blue Whale and Calf Beached

noreply@blogger.com (••cd••) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 18:16:00 +0000

A dead blue whale and her unborn calf have washed up in a remote, rocky area of San Mateo county, California. Due to the whale's state of decomposition, its remote location and inaccessibility due to tidal fluctuations, a complete necropsy is unlikely. After scientists collect tissue samples and so on, the 75-ton carcass (and the 6-meter calf) is to be left where it is, to decompose and wash slowly back to the sea.

At this point, cause of death is unknown, but speculation points to a whale-ship collision. Scientists will be looking for prop-wounds and other signs of injury.

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Canadian Climate Change

noreply@blogger.com (••cd••) — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 15:47:00 +0000

"Global warming will vastly change Canada".

That's what the latest report, "Degrees of Change", from the National Round Table on the Environment and Economy says, anyway, and who am I to disagree? I can see the changes right out my front door, based on my childhood memories of October snowsuits and May 24 snow.
It's not all doom-and-gloom, like a lot of environmental reports can be these days, but doesn't come to very many clear conclusions, either - among them:

"[climate change in Canada] will bring about all kinds of changes, this new report says, including:

melting half the summer Arctic sea ice
significantly reducing runoff in the South Saskatchewan River basin
affecting shipping through the Great Lakes
displacing Atlantic salmon from the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Grand Banks
increasing risk to people and property from extreme weather"

Much of what we know about climate change is unknown, and I do realize that this sentence makes very little sense. That is to say, we really don't know very much, and the years to come are probably going to be full of surprises, no matter how much science you throw at it. I guess we just duck, cover, and hope for the best...

Canadian Geographic magazine, which was involved in the effort to produce the Degrees of Change study, sees both positive and negative effects as fallout of global climate change.

An educational package based on this information created using the findings from this study (among others) will be distributed to Canadian schoolchildren this year. The National Post has some examples of what they'll be seeing.

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