I changed the look of the blog....again

So what do you think about the new fresh look that I gave the blog? I am experimenting with the background right now so you might see all sorts of things pop up. I have noticed that my readership has now increased over the last few weeks. I have no clue why.

A cousin reads my blog and asked me why I didn't have my own domain name and hosting. I told her that blogger is free and that's my price. Why would I need to buy a domain name at Go Daddy or host gator?

I am quite happy to blog here for free and play with the design.

The surf can be loud

I was visiting a friend at their ocean front condo just before a storm came onshore. We were watching a movie and had the french doors slightly open when it started to rain. The speakers home theater system were getting drowned out by the sound of wind and the crashing waves.

Waves when  pushed by winds can get quite large and noisy. As the storm slowly came ashore, we shut the doors and watched the ocean churn and the rain come down sideways. We rarely get lightning storms on the coast but we were treated to a brief show of thunder bolts that appeared offshore.

Hideous jewelry

The photo above is of a real seahorse that has been preserved and gold plated and is sold on the open market. To me it is hideous, why? Because you know darn well that the seahorse did not die of natural causes but was "harvested" for the jewelry market. I first saw one of these on a online Key West jewelry store.

In one of my very old books on seahorses, there is a section on preserving your pet seahorse once it has died so you can decorate your home or person with it. That is the same as skinning your dead cat and wearing the poor animal's skin as a hat.

I say leave the seahorses alone.

The sea has gotten its revenge

A week after the tsunami hit Japan's coast we are asked for financial help from that country. I have even been asked to write a blog post about it with a link to the charities asking .....er, begging, for cash. I will not do that and here is my reason:

Each year 20K dolphins are hunted and slaughtered by the Japanese. The Japanese government either does nothing or condones the hunt. Because of that fact and the fact that the hunt still goes on, I will not donate nor advertise donations (with my luck, the Google ads will display them.....sigh).

For those of you who are not familiar with the dolphin hunts in Japan, below is a video of the event.




Now if that footage was too tame for you, here is the graphic version of the hunt. Even YouTube wants you to verify that you are 18 to even see the footage below.

Marine biology classes are being cut from many school cirriculums

When it comes to cutbacks at the high school and junior college curriculum's, marine biology is often the first program that is cut back on. I guess the powers that be, in those school systems, have decide to make some dramatic changes. There is now an increase in short term learning classes just to get people back into the job market. Unfortunately those colleges don't realize that in the long term it is the research done by biologists and others that are very well educated that will help produce the long term industries of the future.

For example, did you know that bio-diesel can be produced from algae? Darn, now that I mentioned diesel in my blog post, I will probably get a Google ad about a major oil company. Much like the ad that appeared the other day about ashton cigars for sale and I still have no idea what words triggered that ad.

I do put the Google ads on the blog, after all they did help pay for my laptop and some living expenses. 

Discovering marine biology news

I love finding out new research studies about the ocean. Just recently at sciencedaily.com there was an interesting article about how over the past 100 years, larger fish have declined in numbers while smaller fish have increased in numbers. So I sat down in a comfy chair, grabbed a couple of mini cheesecakes and read some more.

It appears that scientists are blaming overfishing to the cause of the larger fish disappearing and when those fish disappeared, the smaller fish thrived. This they estimate will contribute to the end of many larger fish like tuna.

If you get a chance, pop on over to the science daily website and read some of the interesting articles they have on marine biology.