cmcclain
Posts by this author
January 13, 2008
Rick discusses two of my favorite things coffee and enticing sea nymphs. On the origns of the Starbucks Coffee Logo at MBSL&S.
January 13, 2008
Via my weekly reading of the unopen access journal Science, there is an interesting story about beeswax, huge freakin' chunks of it, that occasionally wash ashore in Oregon's Nehalem Bay. At low-low tides, a wooden hull is revealed in the bay bolstering the mystery of the "beeswax wreck". A team…
January 13, 2008
I am really surprised a new paper in Nature did not receive more press given its potential to create a shift in how we view hydrothermal vents. The new work by Tolstoy et al. (Columbia University's Earth Observatory in New York) reports on data gathered from seismometers placed over a 4 square km…
January 13, 2008
Image from surfersvillage.com. Surfer catching wave at Mavericks
The Mavericks competition was this past Saturday bringing in the best dozen or so big waver surfers (invitation only!). The best word to describe someone who spanks waves reaching 20-30 feet, historically they have reached…
January 10, 2008
Given the west coast storm of the century last weekend, today's FDSP seemed appropriate (click for larger image). Via howtoons.
January 10, 2008
I guess being calleda young ringer for Bruce Willis' John McClain character in the action-packed "Die Hard" movies
means I'm sexier than I thought. More importantly EatonWeb notes that "The result for McClain and Etnoyer is one of the more educational and enjoyable blogs at the Seed group,…
January 10, 2008
Figure 2 from Etnoyer and Warrenchuk (2007). Callogorgia americana delta colonies with catshark egg cases attached. Depth 533 m.
ROV suction hose on the left is 15.25 cm (6 in) in diameter. I am excited that our first post on new research for 2008 covers work by DSN's own Peter Etnoyer. 2008 also…
January 9, 2008
Via Crave, I see that Underwater Technologies Center has created a Underwater Digital Interface that can keep 56 divers networked with ships or land bases up to 1,000 yards away. The unit serves as a Two-way digital text messaging communicator, Diver SOS and Remote SOS, Homing tool, Compass, and…
January 7, 2008
Best DSN Post (Fuzzy Yeti): Maybe not the Pulitzer but it matters to Peter and I (and now Kevin). You decide the winner by casting your votes in the comments. The final 6 nominated by The Judges! include:
Canadians Should Root For Global Warming by Craig. One of The Judges! stated this was "a…
January 7, 2008
Best Photo (Ansel Adams On Ship Award): Again in the peace loving, utopia that is DSN...we are all winners.
International Polar YearScaly FootRadiolaria "I'm kind of a Haeckel groupie and this picture of the real thing is obviously a rip off of his artwork"stated one of The Judges!The Art of…
January 7, 2008
The long awaited results...
Best New Discovery/Research (Heights of the Abyss Award): When it's the deep sea its all new. 2007 was no different with more big discoveries and novel research than you can shake a stick at. The Judges! were more indecisive than the Democratic party on what to do…
January 7, 2008
The Marian Hypersub is something else entirely or so the website says. Actually the HS is 31 years in the making and kicks of our 2008 coverage of new sub designs. The HS-1200 can dive to 1200ft and reach 45mph on the surface. The safety features indicates this is built like a Volvo. With fuel…
January 7, 2008
A new blog I discovered, and seem strangely drawn to, is Information Junk, the findings of a San Franciscan librarian. Via IJ, I see that PG&E has agreed to buy power from a "wave park". No it's not a water park with lots of tourists creating energy through unspeakable means. Rather it's…
January 7, 2008
Via Dark Roasted Blend...
French city of Nantes recently became host to extremely strange and fascinating sculptural display: "Les Machines de l'Ile Nantes", designed by Francois Delaroziere and Pierre Orefice.
Note all the sculptures are moving vehicles! Where can I trade in my car for one of…
January 7, 2008
From The Hindu news is that The Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Oceanography will be overseeing the construction of a new 4,000 ton research vessel dedicated to deep-sea exploration. If my estimates from the web are right, then this new vessel will be considerably smaller than the two…
January 7, 2008
It truly is the year of the Giant Isopod. Questionable Content has these great T-shirts in a variety of sizes for about $20 including shipping. Hopefully, they will send me an XXL (yeah I'm a big boy) for "review".
January 7, 2008
I am totally addicted to Mark Powell's blogfish. In part I view this relationship as a bit masochistic as the posts are always filled with bad news (e.g. CO2 poisoning is killing the ocean & YOU are probably contaminated with toxic pesticides). Over the weekend (thanks for ruining my…
January 4, 2008
Host Tom Cavanagh (TV's Ed, Scrubs) discovers that author John Steinbeck was also a marine biologist He donated lots of specimens to the Smithsonian's museum of natural history.
January 3, 2008
Fans of Steinbeck will recall that the fishing boat that he and Ed Ricketts took to the Sea of Cortez was named the Western Flyer. Her modern day namesake here at MBARI is quite a different ship indeed. The R/V Western Flyer is small water plane twin hull design (SWATH), fancy way of saying she…
January 3, 2008
Business owner: So if we destroy 1.1 acres natural habitat all we have to do is put 110 acres of concrete on the ocean floor?
Government: I am going to have to ask you to refrain from using concrete and use the government mandated 'artificial reef'
Business owner: Umm...sorry artificial reef. Won'…
January 3, 2008
I've admittedly been hooked on Cloverfield since I saw the trailer (bottom). Can't say why really as I typically hate monster movies and huge internet hype translates into festering heaps of movies (e.g. Snakes on a Plane). Rick Macpherson is right, I am extremely happy about some recent…
January 2, 2008
Apparently, Peter and I have finally done something right. Who I am kidding, Peter is perfect. I on the other hand am working Toward the Year of Craig to balance out the hell that was 2007. Low and behold I will not be needing this to wear around because Peter and I have managed to make it into…
January 1, 2008
2007 at DSN...Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger. For 2008...Work It Harder, Make It Better, Do It Faster, which will Make Us Stronger. As usual as the end of year comes up I get a bit weepy and nostalgic. During this time I send Peter an email harassing him to produce the Best of DSN and Best of…
December 31, 2007
2007...what to say? A year that saw a lot of changes. First DSN moved to the big time here at Sb. Our traffic and regular visitors increased. At the old DSN, we hit 100,000 hits in nearly two years of blogging. For 2007, we reached nearly 320,000 hits! Lots of great posts, new discoveries,…
December 30, 2007
The Neptune Memorial Reef project is the largest man made reef ever conceived and provides an extraordinary living resting place for the departed, an environmental and ecological masterpiece, a superb laboratory for marine biologists, students, researchers and ecologists, and an aesthetically…
December 26, 2007
Apparently that slime trail left behind by snails and slugs is good for the skin.
The studies have verified that the dribble of snail allows to prevent and to eliminate wrinkles, to attenuate grooves, to eliminate scars caused for wounded and burns of first degree, to remove the acne, to clean…
December 24, 2007
So all day long after the previous post I wondered, how separated is Architeuthis and Kevin Bacon?
As you might remember although the Giant Squid had some cameos in previous B movies, it really was not until 1954 in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea that Mr. G. Squid hit the big time. In this movie, the…
December 22, 2007
Chionoecetes tanneri (chio-snow and ioketes-inhabitant) are commonly referred to as Grooved Tanner Crabs and related to the more commercially important snow crab, C. opilio. C. tanneri is from the infraorder Brachyura (short-tailed) or the true crabs (Phylum Arthropoda, Subphylum Crustacea, Class…