A CURATED COLLECTION OF SCIENCE FACTS AND DELICIOUS FICTIONS !

8/9/14

RED ALGAE BLOOM TIDE TOXIC TO MARINE LIFE - FLORIDA

NBC SCIENCE on the RED ALGAE BLOOM FLORIDA

"The patchy bloom stretches from the curve of the Panhandle to the central Tampa Bay region. It measures approximately 80 miles long by 50 miles wide. Red tide occurs when naturally occurring algae bloom out of control, producing toxins deadly to fish and other marine life. The chemicals can trigger respiratory distress in people, such as coughing and wheezing."

We often hear about man made chemicals and products polluting the ocean but in this case the algae is a natural living sea plant which can take over an area of the sea and kill marine life.  Last year manatees died from a similar bloom.

8/5/14

THINGS YOU CAN DO TO SAVE WATER!

A you probably know already, there is drought and as a result in many places there is water rationing.

You can help save water by not wasting it.  Here is a list of things you can do that will help us save water so that there's enough for everyone for drinking and bathing, and so our farmers can water their crops.  You can probably think of other ways.

1) When you take a shower, after you're all wet and your hair is all wet, shut the water off while you soap up. Turn it back on to rinse.  YOU WILL SAVE GALLONS.

2) Don't use the water to heat a bathroom when it's too chilly to shower or bath.  Use a small portable heater to raise the air temperature first, shut it off, and then start with hotter water, and as the air temperature in the room rises, lower the water temperature.

3) Your dog and cat need to drink fresh water so you change the water in the bowl a couple times a day.  Don't throw that water down the sink.  Take it and water the vegetation that is on the "parkway" between the side walk and the street.  INSECTS NEED WATER and when they can't find it where they live they will come inside looking for it.  Then we kill them.

4) Consider changing part of your lawn from grass to a succulent or arid garden.  Put down stone for walkways around plantings. 

5) Be sure that your lawn and garden sprinklers are working and adjusted to not waste water that goes down the street to the sewer.

6) Toilets with low water flush are a puzzle.  Some of them have to be flushed twice to do the job.  However, you may have a toilet that would work just fine with less water.  Try filling a gallon water bottle, put the lid on it, set it down in the tank, and see what happens.  Displacing one gallon of water each time you flush will also save gallons.

7) Hand wash and hang to dry some of your clothing rather than put it through the machine. Hand washing is not only more gentle to fabrics but it also sometimes does a better job than the machine.  Over time you will save money and water.

7/8/14

AQUANAUT FABIEN COUSTEAU BACK ON DRY LAND AFTER 31 DAYS UNDERWATER!

MASHABLE - FABIEN COUSTEAU 31 DAYS UNDER WATER

The 46-year-old ocean explorer and documentary filmmaker finished his stint in an underwater lab 63 feet deep off the coast of Key Largo, Florida, on Wednesday, rising to the surface after a brief layover in a decompression unit. The project, called Mission 31, provided a platform to study oceanic pollution and climate change and their impact on wildlife, as well as to conduct scientific experiments on coral reef.

6/24/14

IS THERE AN UNDERWATER CITY 6 MILES OFF THE COAST OF MALIBU?

HUFF POST: TRUTH MALIBU UNDERWATER ALIEN BASE

An excellent article by Lee Speigel explores a large strange formation like an undersea plateau that was discovered by viewers of Google Earth.  Are Aliens living under there in a city or does science explain best?

An excerpt: "

"I didn't see anything special about it. I think it's because it looks like there's a flat surface and then, below it, it looks like there are these vertical columns, so somebody can say, 'Oh, this is the entryway to something special,'" said earthquake geologist David Schwartz of the U.S. Geological Survey.

"I think it's natural and is a part of the continental shelf," Schwartz told HuffPost. "It's just a complicated part of what's now offshore that has seen some erosion and, maybe, slumping when perhaps this was partially exposed when sea level was lower. This is a really major earthquake area and perhaps some of these features are a result of slope failures, due to shaking..."

6/5/14

HISTORICAL FEMALE PIRATES and THE "CAPTAIN PHILLIPS" FILM

I first learned that women had been pirates in 1998.  Of course I knew that women probably dreamed of being pirates but I just didn't think women were ALLOWED to become pirates.  It was a feminist issue.  Then I began to read about women pirates, in particular the Chinese women pirates, and I realized that the pirate mentality was that NO ONE WAS ASKING ANY PERMISSION.

Some of the women pirates I learned about dressed as men at the time they were pirating.  Women's clothing was too cumbersome or limiting to move in.  These women pirates had to have a lot of daring and courage but they were just as dangerous, cunning, and criminal as the men.

I learned that the idea of the law that we have now, as being a rule of society that everyone was to respect, was not in place in most cultures where these historical pirates operated.  Back then the attitude was more like "May the smarter or stronger person win."  Some pirates were respected, some were hired to pirate by a business person's enemy, and some quit while they were still alive and used their fortunes to settle down into a land-based normal life!  Basically, if they got away with pirating then it was considered fair enough!

So recently when I saw the actor Tom Hank's recent film about the Somali pirates, CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, which is based on a true story, I also learned that warlords and other authorities can order other people to pirate to make them rich or to enrich the local economy.


I enjoyed the movie.  Have you seen it?

Siren

6/4/14

SEA LEVELS ARE RISING! WILL YOUR CITY BE 10 FEET UNDER WATER? CHECK THIS SITE MAP!

SEALEVEL - CLIMATECENTRAL- MAP  go to the map and see how deep under your city will be.

"Global warming has raised global sea level about 8 inches since 1880, and the rate of rise is accelerating. Rising seas dramatically increase the odds of damaging floods from storm surges. A Climate Central analysis finds the odds of “century” or worse floods occurring by 2030 are on track to double or more, over widespread areas of the U.S. These increases threaten an enormous amount of damage. Across the country, nearly 5 million people live in 2.6 million homes at less than 4 feet above high tide — a level lower than the century flood line for most locations analyzed. And compounding this risk, scientists expect roughly 2 to 7 more feet of sea level rise this century — a lot depending upon how much more heat-trapping pollution humanity puts into the sky."