Will you spammers please leave this blog alone?

What the f*** is wrong with you guys? I just had what started out as a nice thoughtful comment that turned into a blatant advertisement for an OKC lawyer. I deleted it only to find another A-Hole left a comment that read, "I love your blog and wanted you to know about the blog advertising website I run." It went on and on about how he could (for a price of course) make my little blog famous in the world of blogs. Damn it, if he was that good then he would have done it with his own blog and quit leaving such comments on this blog.

Do people think I am stupid or what?

I will say it again - ALL COMMENTS ARE MODERATED

Sea water heals

Have you ever wondered about the healing properties of sea water? I have. In fact I have heard many tales of wounds that did not heal by ordinary means and that the person went swimming in the ocean and noticed that the wound started to heal. That is not surprising because sea water is salt water and salt water is very close to the human body's saline content. After all we are not comprised of just plain water but saline which is salt water.

I have a friend that utilizes salt water in his hot tub. He suffers from hemorrhoids and found that warm sea water is the best hemorrhoids treatment he has discovered so far.

Salt water has cleansing properties and most of the world has ignored them.

Quit raping the ocean for your own greed

I am simply fed up with companies coming up with a "secret" ingredients that involves a rare form of sea life. How many whales, dolphins, rare fish and other life need to die for the greed of man? I have read so many off the wall claims of rare enzymes found only in certain rare fish that are being touted as natural fat burners or sexual enhancers. It makes me sick.

Seahorses are still ground up and used in medicines in the far east but there is no real medical use for seahorses. That is a photo (above) of dried seahorses for sale. When will this stop?

Sea kelp and myths

Sea kelp is that long wide aquatic plant that is often called sea weed. Kelp is not really a plant as we know land plants but a form of algae. Kelp is used by humans in many ways. We eat it, make it into diet supplements and even make biodegradable clothing out of it. Along with the mass use of sea kelp there is also a lot of false claims about it. It will not make you younger again, it will not rid you of worms (I heard that one a few years back), it is not any kind of recommended dermatologist acne treatments nor is it a miracle cancer cure. Yes it does have some benefits but it is not a cure for everything under the sun.

Since it is an algae, it grows very fast and can be harvested rather heavily. It is also the home to the world's sea otters and they love it.

Products we have made with the help of sea life

There are literally millions of products that could not have been made without sea life. Over 100 years ago, whale oil lit the dark nights of most of the world. Whale oil was made from the fat or blubber of whales. Even whale throw up is used. It is called "ambergris" and is a foul-smelling substance. When a whale throws up, particularly a big sperm whale, apparently the sound of it travels for miles through the water. The substance is worth millions of dollars and is still used today as an ingredient in perfume.

Another product that is widely used today is joint supplements made from shark cartilage. Sea kelp is also found in medicine and supplements for both humans and animals.

Being independant

I have always loved the idea of not having a regular 9 to 5 indoor job. I guess that is why I opted for marine biology as my future. I think that being a researcher is just about as good as or better than having a successful home based business.

My other option would have been a professional photographer and of course it would be underwater photography. I have found that professions that require a person to go underwater pays very well. I never thought about that when I started aiming for a profession that I hope to be in one day. In fact I thought that marine biologists only got paid $30K a year when in reality their pay rate is in the $100K a year and up.

Swirling waters

Water holds a strange fascination for me. Its dark circles when it moves down stream to the vast ocean. People complain when they don't have enough of it and they complain when there is too much. Droughts and floods are always news worthy but polluted water is often moved to a filler item on back page on a defunct newspaper.

Yes water, we all need it, some hate it, some fear it. I am fascinated by it.

People that live too close to the ocean

What you are looking at in the photo above is the city of destin florida. This is a city that is literately built on the beach. Those buildings in the forefront of the photo are large mega hotels so it gives you an idea of what the rest of the buildings are. Being that this is in Florida, didn't anyone think about the hurricane season? Sure, it might be a few years between the major ones but within a span of 20-25 years a major one will strike and will kill or ruin family lives forever.

With the added bonus of global warming I wonder how long those buildings will be above the water level? That is a little unreal, isn't it?

The Octopus

Pictured above is the Blue Ringed Octopus. The Octopus has the capabilities to use camouflage to hide its presence. It can also change colors according to its mood, whether it is attracting a mate or being aggressive. Another one of its unusual abilities is to shot out a cloud of black ink to foil its attackers so it can make a swift escape. If you are handling an Octopus there is no need to use Flexo ink cleaner or other cleaners since the "ink" is not really an ink but a bio-chemical known as melanin. Melanin is what gives us our hair and skin color.

Octopus do not live for very long. Their average life span is a short 6 months to about 4-5 years depending on the species. They are genetically programed to die shortly after reproducing. The male will live for about a month after mating and the female lives long enough to take care of her unhatched eggs. The young usually grow up not knowing or even seeing their parents.

All octopuses are venomous, but only the small blue-ringed octopuses are deadly to humans.

Wounded sea lion rescue

Here is a disturbing video about a sea lion at Moss Landing that is in dire need of help but is eluding the people trying to rescue it. I warn you ahead of time that the sea lion is badly wounded and you might not be able to watch the video. The sea lion is just one of many that left the San Francisco Bay and traveled north to the coast of Oregon in search of food.

Stranded out on a lake

Don't you just love machinery? It, machinery, is a necessary evil, it is great when it works like it is suppose to but a pure devil when it breaks down. I have been out on 2 boats that have had engine problems when out on the water. Thankfully they were both on lakes and not out at sea.

The panic that sets in on people that have not been out very often on boats, will amaze you. They didn't know that the boat owners almost always have a way to get back to shore. If they don't then they don't belong out on the lake.

They were not small vessels either. One boat was owned by a friend and the other one by the state fish and game. The state ha their own mechanics to take care of those types of breakdowns but my friend had the forethought of carrying mechanical breakdown insurance on his boat.

Machinery something I use yet despise.