cmcclain
Posts by this author
March 10, 2008
On how to use cool technology and a neat ROV to create a unbelievably large path of destruction...
March 10, 2008
Is there anybody out there?
Is there anybody out there?
Is there anybody out there?
Is there anybody out there?
Do you miss Peter and Kevin? So do I? Tell them so in the comments!
March 10, 2008
All the rage this week on the big bad web is the big bad albino orca. It swims around the big dark ocean intimidating other sea creatures with its big white...The...ummm...big glowing specimen was spotted aboard the NOAA RV Oscar Dyson with its pod about two miles off Kanaga Volcano, part of…
March 10, 2008
I have finally gotten around to creating a list of deep-sea themed books, with some others thrown in at Amazon. Some of you will recognize a handful of the titles that have been reviewed here. Others will be new. As I find new books, and feel free to recommend some, I will post here noting I…
March 9, 2008
Quotes from Beebe'sHalf-Mile Down in which he describes his and Otis Barton's 1934 descent to 3,028 feet off Bermuda. To reach this depth the two placed themselves into a self-designed 4,500lb sphere about five feet in diameter raised and lowered from a ship by a cable.
One thing we cannot escape…
March 6, 2008
Giant Isopods Ate My Well-Known Brand of Corn Chip
They will attack you when your sleeping!
Everything is better when narrated by Sir David Attenborough
March 6, 2008
By random but thankful chance I stumbled upon DiveFilm HD Podcast in the ITunes Store (click here). The podcast features some of the best underwater video footage out there. Sometimes the narration is cheesy but that is what mute is for. The video is again high definition and wide format. Much…
March 6, 2008
Ten years ago Fred Grassle, a marine biologist with deep-sea tendencies, and Jesse Ausubel, program director for Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, started conversing on an initiative to document the biodiversity of the oceans. That program, the Census of Marine Life, started in 2000 with the goal "to…
March 4, 2008
Unfortunately, Zoologix beat us to the story of Henry the Hexapus. Henry, caught in a lobster pot off north Whales, is the first reported six-legged octopus. The loss of two limbs did not occur from a tangle with some thug octopus but rather results from a birth defect. If you're interested in…
March 1, 2008
As I write this post and sipping on my Organic Nueva Esperanza Coffee, I am happy. Part of it stems 3 cups of coffee previous to this one now flowing through my system. Mostly, it stems from knowing that my choice to drink this cup of coffee makes a difference in conserving the oceans. I firmly…
February 27, 2008
Add another tremendously gargantuan fossil lizard to your list. "The Monster", which unfortunately was a predator, measured 50 feet putting it in contention for the largest Pliosuar. Jorn Hurum led the excavation of the monster last summer last summer on Norway's Arctic island of Spitsbergen.…
February 27, 2008
At Wired you can read about the saving of the 14-deck, 55,000 ton Cougar Ace carrying 4,700 new Mazdas. As water was being replaced in ballast tanks, a malfunction occurred preventing the starboard ballasts from refilling. What ensues is a dramatic 60 degree port list, a broken leg bone…
February 27, 2008
...maybe as retaliation for killing them off. The last estimate of 71 in 2007 compared to 63 in 2006, continues a four year increase. One of those 71 occurred not 5 minutes from my house. The latest in 2008An Austrian tourist died on Monday after a shark attack in the waters between Fort…
February 25, 2008
Fig. 1 from Halpern et al. Global map (A) of cumulative human impact across 20 ocean ecosystem types. (Insets) Highly impacted regions in the Eastern Caribbean (B), the North Sea (C), and the Japanese waters (D) and one of the least impacted regions, in northern Australia and the Torres Strait (E).…
February 24, 2008
So how did going organic affect your pocketbook? I imagine for many of you it didn't add as much as you thought it would. This weeks will be a little easier and that is why I will ask you to continue it through the year.
The request:Go to the Seafood Watch and download a chart for your wallet or…
February 22, 2008
Currently a biodiversity crisis is underway, which many have termed the sixth extinction. E.O. Wilson in 1993 suggested 30,000 species extinctions occur per year, roughly three per hour. How many species are there on earth? That is a tough nut to crack. An extremely conservative estimate would…
February 21, 2008
In this detail from a Landsat satellite image from 1999, individual vessels in the Gulf of Mexico can be seen as bright spots at end of sediment trails. Other bright spots are fixed oil and gas production platforms. More here. Hat tip to A. Creekmore
February 21, 2008
Anoxic (extremely low or no oxygen) zones occur naturally in the oceans. Typically they occur below areas of upwelling such as off Chile. A naturally occurring anoxic zone also occurs off the western U.S. coast from around 600-1200m. The occurrence of this zone reflects ocean circulation in the…
February 20, 2008
Since my posts about the Black Swan, I have somehow made it on the Odyssey email list. Once a month or so I get an email about buying goods and artifacts. Admittedly, I find these emails extremely irritating. Like I got nothing better to do with my time than weed through a lot of junk email.…
February 19, 2008
I am now waiting on word form the Buying DepartmentHello Craig,
Thank you for your product feedback and requests. We will forward your
concerns and comments to our Buying Department for review and
consideration.
Thank you for your inquiry and thank you for shopping at Trader Joe's.
K-----
Trader…
February 19, 2008
...on Trader Joe'sAloha and thank you for your feedback about Trader Joe's. This automated response confirms that we have indeed received your email. Rest assured, a real person is reading your email now. We value your comments and will do our best to get back to you.
As 99% of our people are…
February 19, 2008
"Pet" Giant Pycnogonid attacking computer.
This morning my email was flooded with friends, family, and colleagues notifying me of this story. What's not to love about a story that combines gigantism, the deep, and Antarctica all in one? An Australian led expedition to the deep Southern Ocean…
February 19, 2008
When I sent the original email to Rick enquiring about obtaining one of these, I thought I would have to send him multiple emails. Apparently, Rick is bit of push over because I received one in less than week of the email. As an exrucker myself (second and scrumhalf), I was obsessed with these…
February 18, 2008
Back from Chicago and all I have to say is that one of these guys really knows how to show me a good time. Thanks go to David Jablonski and Sue Kidwell for hosting me, the cuter of the Bleimann brothers for drinks and entertainment, Janet Voight for conversation and entry into the Field Museum, and…
February 18, 2008
Some days are really good and today is one of them. Rick at MBSL&S informs us today that PLANKTOS is no longer.Ah Planktos, we hardly knew ye. Last week, the board of directors for San Francisco-based Planktos, a company selling carbon credits through the dumping of iron filings into the ocean…
February 18, 2008
It was announced at the recent American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Boston that another nine sharks will be added to the IUCN red list. Add this to the 126 elasmobranchs already listed as critical, endangered, or vulnerable.
The new additions include the scalloped…
February 17, 2008
Did you send your letter and email last week? Did you get your friends to? This weeks is tougher still and will hit the old pocket book. Not all of them are going to be easy.
The request: When you buy your groceries this week, if the option presents itself buy organic. Looking at the canned…
February 12, 2008
I take off for the Windy City, aka the Big Cheesy, tomorrow to give a lecture at the University of Chicago. My schedule for the next few days includes meeting with some of the most exciting scientists stateside, a tour of the Shed Aquarium (thanks to the Zoologix brothers) and the Field Museum,…