Oceans of Opportunity

Category: Uncategorized

Effects of the Anthropocene | the Oceans go Flush

Seventy-five percent of coral reefs are threatened. That is the message of a recent World Resources Institute report, as reported by CNN. While there is value in every such report, as each is targeted to meet varying audiences, this 75% statement should not take you by surprise. I am somewhat confused as to why reefs are making…

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Effects of the Anthropocene | Indicator Species

A recent CNN news piece reported on baby dolphin deaths in the Gulf of Mexico. The report went on to discuss that these deaths were not the norm in considering the shear numbers, and the time of year – that is very early in the birthing season, indicating that some births may be premature. The report…

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Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems | the benthic buzz

The buzz words for today’s benthic marine scientists are undoubtedly ‘mesophotic coral ecosystems’, or MCEs. The term mesophotic, or middle/medium light, refers to the region of the ocean below the photic zone where light is the major driver for photosynthesis by corals and algae, but above the aphotic zone where in the dark organisms rely…

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delta P | dealing with pressure, under pressure

This past week marked the continuation of a field project that I have been involved with since early in the fall involving dam repair work. Aside from tight tunnel penetrations, in my opinion, I’d say dams are among the most hazardous of working dive environments. This is to to one thing – pressure. In commercial…

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Sanctum | a review

A NY Daily News piece reminded me to review the movie Sanctum here on ‘a New Life’. The news piece describes the recent death of two University of Florida students while caving in Georgia. Absolutely tragic, and a sharp reminder of just how unforgiving caving, and cave diving is. I saw James Cameron’s Sanctum this…

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Ezekiel’s Merkabah | Knowing, Part 3

For this last installment of our review of the film ‘Knowing‘, we will discuss the reference to Ezekiel’s Chariot, and the prophecy that it conveys. Some background – Ezekial is the author and central protagonist of the Book of Ezekial in the Hebrew Bible which goes on to discuss his prophecies of the destruction of Jerusalem.…

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Codex of all Codices | Knowing, Part 2

In continuing this review and analysis of the film ‘Knowing‘, we must absolutely address the numeric sequence which was obsessively scribed by the character Lucinda Embry. The sheet of paper containing several hundred seemingly random digits was placed into an elementary school’s ‘time capsule’ to be opened some 50 years later. Upon opening and rediscovery of this…

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random chance vs determinism | Knowing, Part 1

This post is a continuation of the analysis of my marathon movie weekend. As I escaped the creepiness, yet remained perplexed by The Fourth Kind, I found myself more deeply enveloped by ‘Knowing‘. The film followed my alien themed movie marathon, but more subtly, and emphasized a focus on our perceptions of reality. In the early part of…

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The Fourth Kind | a frank discussion and review

This weekend was an extra-terrestrial movie double header…but not of the District 9 type. Rather, despite the ‘fiction’ label on the DVD box, I took a deeper look at the realities of the paranormal and prophecy. This discussion will span the next several posts here on ‘a New Life’. The first film was ‘The Fourth…

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the occassional shameless & necessary fundraising plug

Fellow readers, it’s part of the realities of operating in the real world – we need monies to keep plugging along. For those of us working in the non-profit sector, not only is it difficult to raise funds, but given the state of today’s economy, it’s hard to even ask the question. Yet, because we…

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