“The West’s Most Western Town”

Scottsdale, Arizona maintains its own identity as “The West’s Most Western Town”. Every year there is a “Parada del Sol” Parade and Trail’s End Celebration through the downtown area along Scottsdale Road as part of the Rodeo Festival. There are western wear shops and a number of art galleries featuring western artworks from some of the top artists in the country.

"What's going on here ???"

Jason de Caires Taylor’s underwater sculpture installation off the coast of Cancun, Mexico.

"Pacific Ocean Park"

Pacific Ocean Park began as the Pickering/Lick Piers in 1919 to be destroyed by fire in 1924 and rebuilt in 1926. The only structure that was not destroyed was the Ocean Park Municipal Auditorium built in 1923 which in 1958 was transformed into the USS Nautilus exhibit and the Westinghouse Enchanted Forest.

In 1958 CBS & LA Terf Club (Santa Anita) purchased the Ocean Park Pier. After several years of operation POP closed in 1967 due to costs of maintaining equipment along with insurance. POP sat vacant where it was ravaged by several fires in the early 1970's and was demolished after a major fire in 1974. It was finally demolished in early 1975.

"ghostly shadows walking the hallways"

What is known as the general dodge house in Council Bluffs, Iowa, was built in 1869 by Mr Dodge, who was a civil war veteran, it was built at 605 Third Street at the cost of $35,000, a lavish sum for that day. The fourteen-room, three-story mansion stands on a high terrace overlooking the Missouri Valley, and displays such architectural features as parquet floors, cherry, walnut and butternut woodwork, and a number of "modern" conveniences quite unusual for the period.

The ghost at this building is said to that of Mr Dodge himself, he was not thought to of died in the house, but a common belief is that ghosts are not bound to the location of their death. He has been seen numerous times by visitors to the house, appearing as an apparition in the form of a ghostly shadow, walking the hallways of the residence.

Lights, described as bright orbs have been seen in the house at night, as well as outside the building in its grounds. The other report of paranormal activity at this location is that of hearing two men argue within empty areas of the house, who they are and why their there seems to forever be wrapped in mystery.

Linda Ronstadt

Heart Like a Wheel: In the world of music memoirs, it would seem that Linda Ronstadt would have enough to put together a War & Peace size volume. Her career has included recordings in almost every genre of music, she has been on the arm of some of the most fascinating men of her time including Jerry Brown and George Lucas, and has lately become politically active. She is the owner of ten Grammy Awards in the genres of pop, country, children's recordings, Mexican-American and Tropical Latin and has been nominated for works in rock and both traditional and contemporary folk. Throw in two Academy of Country Music Awards, an Emmy, an ALMA and nominations for both a Golden Globe and a Tony and you have a wide ranging life that certainly has stories that need to be told.

On Thursday, Simon & Schuster announced that Ronstadt will pen her memoirs in the book to be titled Heart Like a Wheel. The publisher said "Few singers have been as wide-ranging or distinctive in their artistry."

"Cibachromes"

In Los Angeles next weekend you can go to Marc Selwyn's on Wilshire Blvd. to see Matt Lipps large-format Cibachromes. Lipps will be showing new photographic work in “Horizon/s” and here you have a sample of the work to help you make up your mind to race across town on Saturday between 6 and 8 pm. I suggest 6th Street. You can stop for tacos along the way and not have to worry about dinner.

The "Face of 1966"

Icons of youth and beauty are not supposed to grow old, let alone grow old gracefully. They are supposed to live fast and die young, or else rage against the dying of the light with fidelity issues and plastic surgery. So it is against the odds, really, that Twiggy turns 60 ­ today still beautiful (even if the saucer eyes are now edged by fine lines rather than by the three pairs of false eyelashes she wore when she was the Face of 1966), still a working model, and with little outward sign of the squeamishness that surrounds the issue of ageing in many women in the public eye.

"pop-culture-icon"

CARSON, Calif. — Fourteen years after the X Games began, skateboarding remains one of its biggest attractions. That was evident on Friday when fans flooded downtown Los Angeles on Day 2 of X Games 14. Most were there to see 18-year-old skating sensation-turned-pop-culture-icon Ryan Sheckler.

And "Shecks" didn't disappoint the crowd that numbered about 3,500 more than Day 2 last year. Sheckler won the gold medal in the Skateboard Men's Street Final, five years after becoming the youngest X Games gold medalist when he won the Park Final.

"Shuttle Carrier Aircraft"

The shuttle can't take off under its own power back to Florida, so it's mounted on one of two modified 747s called Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. The extra effort to move the shuttle from Edwards costs NASA about 1.7 million dollars, so landing here is not a decision taken lightly. However it could be worse; to allow for all sorts of emergency contingencies there are other landing sites in such unlikely places as Gambia, French Polynesia, Saudi Arabia, the Congo and Easter Island.

50th International Surf Festival

Residents in the southern section of the Golden State continue to celebrate a golden year of anniversaries. From the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to the baseball tradition of the hot dog at Der Weinerschnitzel, 50-year marks are being feted and the South Bay is no exception.

In June, cycling enthusiasts celebrated the 50th Chevron Manhattan Beach Grand Prix and the city will continue its jubilation this weekend with the Charlie Saikley 6-Man beach volleyball tournament, the most popular event of the International Surf Festival which also is enjoying a half century of friendly competition.

The International Surf Festival is presented by BEACHSPORT.org, the Chambers of Commerce and Cities of Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Torrance, the Los Angeles County Fire Department and Department of Beaches and Harbors and kicks off its competition at 7 p.m. Friday with the LA County Lifeguard Championships, the including Bud Stevenson Intracrew Medley Relay, at the Hermosa Beach Pier.

The Venice lifeguard team will be aiming for its fifth consecutive championship in the Bud Stevenson Intracrew Medley Relay after holding off teams from Dockweiler and Zuma in 2010.

Chase Smith an up and comer

Eighth-grader Chase Smith pitches in relief for Daphne High against Davidson High in the 8th annual Jubilee Wood Bat Classic at Daphne on Thursday, June 30, 2011.

(Press-Register/Robert Ladnier)

Future Club wrestler Hunter Ladnier takes down former Future Club team member and present North High wrestler, Jordan Gurrola

Ten months ago wrestler Hunter Ladnier made a commitment to himself, to his coach, and to his team: he was going to take first place at the California USA Dave Schultz KIDS Freestyle State Championship.

Last month in Fresno he did just that, claiming the championship title for the 105-pound weight class in the schoolboy division.

“He didn’t just pull it off,” said Ladnier’s coach, Rick Gurrola. “He destroyed.”

Rocketing through his preliminary matches, Ladnier met a close finish but pulled through in his seventh and final match against David San Miguel of Palomino Academy, with a decision of 4-3 in the first round and 6-5 in the second and final round.

(Photo by Ciley Carrington

Home of Fanny Brice on the Market

The Holmsby Hills area of Los Angeles is no stranger to high-end real estate. A nearly entirely renovated house from 1938, originally owned by actress Fanny Brice, is now listed with asking price of $65 million, according to Curbed Los Angeles.

The estate is now owned by Richard King, producer of such shows as "Hannah Montana" and "Blossom." The property has benefited from significant home repair and maintenance projects undertaken by the producer after he and his wife took ownership in 2001 to the tune of $15 million, according to the Real Estalker.

The eight-bedroom, 11-bathroom estate has enough amenities to make any silver screen starlet comfortable. There is a guest house on site, and the pool is flanked by a dual purpose structure that serves as both a pool house and home gym, according to Curbed. Sports fans may also enjoy the home's full tennis court.

Brice was the home's very first owner, according to the Real Estalker. The Zeigfeld Follies star sent the moving company to the estate after her split from music man Billy Rose. While there are no reports of how much Brice shelled out for the pad back in 1938, it is probably safe to say it was considerably less than the current $65 million price tag being reported by Curbed.

"New sit-in to press their demands"

Protesters returned to Tahrir Square in Cairo with tents on Wednesday, starting a new sit-in to press their demands for an end to emergency rule and changes to Egypt’s interim government, according to bloggers and activists.

Ancient Mosaic Found

Excavations in the bowels of an ancient Roman hill have turned up a well-preserved, late 1st century wall mosaic with a figure of Apollo, nude except for a colorful mantle over a shoulder.

Archaeologists and city officials unveiled the recent find to reporters Friday on the Oppian Hill. The mosaic-covered wall is 53 feet wide and at least 6 1/2 feet high. Officials think the wall continues down about 261/2 feet more.

Archaeologists say the wall appears to be in a tunnel built to help support Trajan's Baths, named for the emperor who ruled from 98 till 117. The mosaic, which also depicts a Muse, apparently embellished a room where wealthy Romans gathered to hear music and discuss art.

—Associated Press

Man Bites Shark: a rational look at reports of increased shark encounters

For better or worse, this is the shark's time of year. Newspapers, magazines, television programming and news broadcast, and motion pictures - all forms of media jump on the bandwagon to herald the summer of the shark. Nearly one-third of my posts this month, so far, have been about sharks - and I wasn't even making a conscious choice to do so.

Fueling the annual fire this year about sharks - particularly any shark-human interactions - is the fact that there have been more human interactions with sharks. There are a multitude of reasons behind this, depending on the location and the shark species, but complex explanations are not the stuff of quick sound bites and hot-of-the-press headlines. However, without delving into the devilish details then people are left to fall back on simplistic reasons that plug into their primal curiosity mixed with fear of these animals: the number of sharks are growing; and they are out to get us.

And so, at the apex of the annual shark mania (or nadir, depending on your point of view), I present the calm, rational position statement - not from my hand but from The Washington Post's national environmental science write, Juliet Eilperin. Writing for Foreign Policy, Man Bites Shark is an overview of man's interaction with the shark world from the 1500s to today. It examines the reasons why more sharks, ranging from benign whale sharks to great white sharks, have been reported in the past few years, and why shark attacks increased by 25% in 2010.

In many respects, we are two species on a collision course. And the one steering the boat is mankind.

At first glance, sharks -- with their sharp jaws, torpedo-shaped bodies, and unusual sensing abilities -- appear to be bizarre vestiges of a distant past. But they can also tell us a lot about our present and our future. Where sharks appear in big numbers, coral reefs and other marine life around them thrive because they remove weak and sick animals from the system and can keep midlevel predators in check. When they shift their migrations, scientists often detect a shift in ocean temperatures and prey populations. For researchers seeking to create a more efficient electric battery, faster vessels, or a robot that can track oil and chemical spills underwater, sharks' sleek and extraordinarily efficient bodies offer inspiration for design. In countries where their fins end up at the dinner table, economists can generally find rising incomes. The animal humans fear most has become a global commodity, an economic indicator, and environmental harbinger of things to come.

In many ways, the movie character Matt Hooper was right on the money when he said, "All sharks want to do is swim, eat, and make little sharks." That can be said of almost every creature in the sea. It's mankind that has the multiple agendas that put us in touch with sharks, from tourism to fishing to research to storytelling.

In Man Bites Shark, Ms. Eilperin is the objective journalist, putting emotions aside - either pro-shark or anti-shark. Just the facts.

During the 20th century, the increase in shark attacks in Florida -- which leads the world in shark strikes almost every year -- closely tracked both the state's population rise and the number of people going to the beach, according to statistics compiled by the University of Florida's International Shark Attack File. In 1900, Florida's population stood at 530,000, and there was one unprovoked shark strike between 1900 and 1909; by 1950, the state had 2.77 million residents, and attacks that decade totaled 13; by 2000, when the population had soared to nearly 16 million, 256 shark strikes took place over the course of the decade.

Many of us familiar with sharks have heard this argument before: more people equals more shark encounters. Ms. Eilperin adds credibility by giving us the numbers. In addition, she adds balance to sensational reports of a mass schooling of blacktip reef sharks off Palm Beach, Florida; congregating whales sharks off the Yucatan Peninsula; or increased white shark sightings off the California coast.

Noteworthy, Man Bites Shark is not appearing at the check-out counter in People magazine; it's in Foreign Policy and so Ms. Eilperin turns her attention to the environmental and economic disaster we have visited upon the shark and some of the complex diplomatic jockeying that has been taking place amongst nations.

International trade and fishery management meetings have become a series of regional skirmishes. Japan and China have managed to torpedo trade protections at international fishery-management bodies for species ranging from hammerhead to porbeagle sharks, in part through forging alliances with smaller countries such as Grenada, Suriname, and St. Kitts and Nevis. But the United States has continued to press the case, along with both European officials and those from countries such as Palau and the Maldives, both of which have banned shark fishing in their waters.

Cheri McCarty, a foreign affairs specialist in the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of International Affairs, has spent the last two-and-a-half years negotiating over shark protections in the global arena, and she has gotten used to the weary reactions her presence can provoke. "There are times I'll go to meetings where people say, 'Oh no, not the U.S. pushing sharks again.' But slowly but surely, we have more allies on our side now."

If you are already bitten by the "I love sharks" bug, Man Bite Shark is no cure; it's a rational affirmation of a position that seems to be slowly growing. If you are on the fence and what you have been reading in the news or are about to watch on television this weekend gives you pause, then you should read Man Bites Shark, too. A little common sense between handfuls of popcorn or chewing your nails nervously wouldn't hurt.

Read Man Bites Shark in Foreign Policy.

"You couldn’t make this stuff up"

One cliché goes like this: Truth is stranger than fiction. Another cliché, or perhaps most accurately contemporary slang, goes like this: You couldn’t make this stuff up.

If any book deserves to be categorized — and praised — based on those sayings, it’s The Triple Agent by Joby Warrick, a Washington Post reporter.

"design competition for a new President’s Park South"

Today, the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) announced Rogers Marvel Architects has won a design competition for a new President’s Park South, a 52-acre historic site located between the White House grounds and the Washington Monument. Redesigning President’s Park South, which is one of the most-visited landscapes in Washington, D.C., is a challenging brief for a designer. The site, which includes Sherman Park and the Ellipse, a number of monuments, and a closed through-street (E Street NW), is home to the national Christmas tree and also filled with tourists, local joggers, and sports teams year round. Any new design must meet the tough security requirements of the U.S. Secret Service but be more easily accessible for the thousands of tourists and locals who use the space. In addition, a new design must accomodate both bicyclists and those driving into work at the White House every day, and offer an “attractive environment” for visitors while maintaining the site’s ”historic integrity.” Alex Krieger, a professor at Harvard Graduate School of Design and an advisor to the competition, said “it’s a challenging, intriguing project” with issues that only ”some of the most creative minds in the field of design” can solve.

"Dropped from the Top"

1908 Baseball Dropped from Top of Washington Monument Caught by Gabby Street. Subsequent to the publishing of the auction catalog, it was brought to our attention that a baseball purported to be the one caught by Street is within the collection of the Baseball Hall of Fame. While Heritage would contend that an American League baseball with Street family provenance makes a more compelling argument than the Hall of Fame's National League baseball with provenance from the family of the man who tossed the ball from the Monument, this issue must be disclosed nonetheless.


It took thirteen tries until the Washington Senators catcher was able to snag one, and later the crowd that had gathered to watch Gabby Street attempt to catch a ball dropped from the top of the Washington Monument described the sound of the ball hitting Street's mitt as that of a pistol shot. The 535 foot drop took just four and a half seconds, the ball carrying two hundred pounds of force behind it as it reached Street, traveling at one-eighth the speed of a rifle bullet, as a local Washington newspaper reported.

A framed (23x31") reproduction of the newspaper article quotes Street as saying afterwards, "The ball I caught hit my mitt with terrific force, much greater than any pitched ball I have ever caught, and I have caught some pitchers who are given credit for having wonderful speed. Though my mitt is three or four inches thick, the force of the ball benumbed my hand." Presented here is the very ball that made Gabby Street a folk hero of sorts, the one he holds in his right hand as he poses for a photographer's camera at the base of the Monument above the caption "Two seconds after the catch." The shellacked, deeply toned OAL ball is boldly notated "Ball caught from Top of Washington Monument By Chas. E. Street, Aug. 21, 1908." A unique sidenote to Dead Ball era history for the cultured collector. Guide Value or Estimate: $4,000 - $6,000.

"An unsung hero of the acoustic piano"

An unsung hero of the acoustic piano, Alan Broadbent is a highly lyrical and melodic bebopper/post-bopper who has cited Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, Tommy Flanagan, Nat "King" Cole, and Red Garland as some of his favorite pianists. Raised in New Zealand, he moved to Boston in 1966 to study at the prestigious Berklee College of Music. After staying on the road with Woody Herman (for whom he was a writer, arranger, and soloist) from 1969-1972, he settled in Los Angeles. Broadbent went on to work as a sideman for Chet Baker, tenor saxmen Warne Marsh and Gary Foster, and the late singer Irene Kral in the '70s, and with Bud Shank and arranger Nelson Riddle in the '80s. ))The '90s found him writing arrangements for Natalie Cole, Marian McPartland, Scott Hamilton, and others, and playing alongside bassist Charlie Haden, tenor saxman Ernie Watts, and drummer Larance Marable in Haden's Quartet West a unique and conceptual L.A.-based group that is known for including bits of dialogue from film-noir movies between bop performances. Broadbent's excellent trio albums for Discovery in the '80s and Concord in the '90s make it clear that he deserves to be much better known as a soloist.

Global Tiger Day: have you hugged your big cat today?

Today is Global Tiger Day - a day when nations around the globe, particularly those nations which are home to some of these magnificent felines, recognize both the beauty of this jungle predator and the tragic situation regarding their dwindling numbers. Governments throughout Asia join with conservation groups to recognize the plight of the tiger and vow to continue or reinvigorate efforts to conserve and protect these cats which have been imperiled by declining habitat and continued poaching.

However, as well-intended as something like Global Tiger Day is, it will take a lot more than one day to make progress on the issue. As with many other animal conservation challenges, it requires manpower, enforcement and prosecution, and money. Due to the tiger's scarcity, the black market for tiger hides and genitals - yes, one of the biggest black markets is in tiger penises - makes the temptation for subsistence-level poachers just too overwhelming. The laws and regulations are on the books; its concrete and sustained action that is often lacking.

Bangladesh is trying to make just such a proactive difference in protecting the Royal Bengal tigers that inhabit the largest mangrove forest habitat on the planet, the Sundarbans.

As reported in Bangladesh's The Daily Star, "The Tk 276 crore Tiger Action Plan would be implemented as part of strengthening regional co-operation for wildlife conservation with the assistance of the World Bank," said Dr Tapan Kumar Dey, Conservator of Forests at Wildlife and Nature Conservation Circle under the Office of the Chief Conservator of Forests.

The Sundarbans is a wide delta at the confluence of the Padma, Brahmuputra, and Meghna Rivers, spreading across southern Bangladesh and extending into India. The mangrove forests cover over 3,861 sq. miles (10,000 sq. km.) but are now surrounded by encroaching agriculture and urban development to such an extant that it has been declared by UNESCO as a world heritage site in danger.

There are three promising components found in Bangladesh's proposed Tiger Plan. First, attention will be focused on enforcement and prosecution of poachers. Violators will face new 12-year prison terms for killing a tiger and repeat offenders can be awarded life sentences. But an important second step is the recognition that many of these poachers are subsistence level villagers and so a proactive approach to alternative income, wildlife sustainability, and social change has also been proposed. The government realizes that if you take away something that is bad, you must be able to replace it with something good.

The Daily Star reports that according to Dr. Dey, the government has undertaken initiatives including increasing the number of forest department officials, conducting regular tiger monitoring, assessment of threats to the tigers, raising mass awareness locally and nationally, and facilitating research for a new generation of scientists targeting to bring social changes among the Bangladesh people.

And finally, the involvement of the World Bank is a positive sign that it is understood without financial support all pronouncements of conservation and protection would ring hollow; empty promises lost in the forest.

Current world populations figures for the tiger, including all five of the known sub-species, number around only 3,700, a terrible decline from an approximate 100,000 cats at the start of the 20th century. According to a 2004 study by the United Nations and the Bangladeshi government, only 440 Royal Bengal tigers were estimated in the Bangladesh portion of the Sundarbans.

The Daily Star reports that there are only five sub-species of tigers surviving in the world which are Bengal tiger, Siberian tiger, Sumatran tiger, South-China tiger and Indo-China tiger. Balinese tigers, Javanese tigers and Caspian tigers have already vanished from the planet with experts predicting the remaining species could disappear by the next century or sooner. Bangladesh State Minister for Forest and Environment Dr Hasan Mahmud said the government would take action to double the number of tigers by 2022.

Global Tiger Day, July 29th, 2011. Have you hugged your cat today? You just might get a hug back on behalf of a distant relative.

Read about Bangladesh's Tiger Plan in The Daily Star.

Giant Marilyn Monroe Statue Unveiled in Chicago

A giant 26-foot statue of Marilyn Monroe, named "Forever Marilyn," has been unveiled in Chicago. In collaboration with The Sculpture Foundation, Zeller Realty Group commissioned the premiere installation of the new artwork by sculptor Seward Johnson. The statue recreates the scene from The Seven Year Itch where Marilyn is trying to keep her dress from beng blown by a draft from a subway grate. Take a look.

"these phenomenal cascading white waters"

Niagara Falls, bordering Canada on one side with Horseshoe Falls and the U.S. with American Falls, is noted as a source of power to the practical of mind. But to the romantic, it has always been the ultimate honeymoon location. For the adventuresome such as Sam Patch and Annie Addison Taylor, it has been a source of daredevil fetes as they made their jumps and survived. For Hollywood, the falls have been a source of subject matter and background in such movies as Niagara with Marilyn Monroe and Superman II. Niagara Falls is a main attraction in itself, however there are many ways to see and experience these phenomenal cascading white waters.

The "Blackness of Space"

The International Space Station Orbits Over A Blue-and-White Earth, Backdropped By the Blackness of Space, November 25, 2009

(As Seen From Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-129)

"Earth Trojan asteroid"

This artist's concept provided by NASA illustrates the first known Earth Trojan asteroid, discovered by NEOWISE, the asteroid-hunting portion of NASA's WISE mission. The asteroid is shown in gray and its extreme orbit is shown in green. Earth's orbit around the sun is indicated by blue dots. The objects are not drawn to scale.

Paul Wiegert/AP

"Edge Walk"

The City of Toronto is the largest city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario, located on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. The city has a population of 2.48 million and its metro region, the Greater Toronto Area, has a population of 5.9 million; Toronto is at the heart of the Golden Horseshoe, a region in south-central Ontario with roughly 8 million people. Canadian Press reporter Alexandra Posadzki leans back, while participating in a preview of Edge Walk on the CN Tower, which opens next month.

A Great White Adolescent: juvenile white shark makes rare appearance for whale watchers

Here's a bit of fun news, perfectly timed as Discovery Channel's Shark Week prepares to launch this coming July 31st. In his blog, Outdoors, action and adventure, Pete Thomas reports on a Southern California whale excursion boat that was able to provide a little extra for its passengers - in the form of a great white shark.

After watching several blue whales, which will frequent the local California waters as part of their annual migratory trek, the passengers and crew of the Dana Pride were briefly visited by a juvenile white shark, perhaps measuring around 10 feet. There are some shark researchers who say female white sharks will give birth along the coast and as they move on as part of their normal migrations, the juveniles will remain in the area, feeding on fish and growing until the migratory lightbulb goes off in their heads and, as they reach adulthood, their feeding habits switch to seals and sea lions as the preferred prey.

However, they don't spend much time near the surface, so sightings are fairly rare. But they're there all the same. As evidence, many of the white sharks that the Monterey Bay Aquarium has had on display over the years, as part of their successful captive white shark program, have been juveniles caught by fishermen in their nets in, you guessed it, Southern California.

The captain, Todd Mansur, was able to take a short video on his cellphone of the approaching shark. Although one reader of Pete's article commented that it was a mako shark, it appears to me to be a juvenile white shark, not only because of its size and proportions but because of its relaxed movement in the water.



Having been to Isla Guadalupe, Baja to film the white sharks that migrate there in the fall months (I'll be there again this October), I have seen many familiar toothy faces return to the island year after year. But, unfortunately, there are a few sharks who have not been seen in some time, so I always enjoy hearing or seeing evidence of potential future generations of these important predators whose numbers have greatly diminished over the past few decades.

Read Pete Thomas' account of the visiting white shark.

Florida's Tire Reef: 70's artificial reef proves to be a very real failure

Artificial reefs serve as a possible remedy for natural coral reefs that have been damaged either by pollution, temperature (in the form of coral bleaching), or too much manhandling from snorkelers and divers, just to name a few. They can provide new habitats which can increase the populations of fish, from local reef fish to larger pelagics, and they can take some of the pressure off of a reef enhancing the reef's ability to rejuvenate.

Scientists, conservation organizations, and groups invested in tourism are looking for new methods and materials for establishing artificial reefs. Two of the most common artificial reef formations are sunken wrecks and concrete structures, sometimes referred to as "reef balls." Wrecks have been around since man has sailed the seas and there are many who serve as unwitting artificial reefs. But today, we find organizations that take decommissioned vessels, clean them of any potential pollutants and deliberately sink them. These wrecks could last from 50 to 100 years or more and in that time, a substantial reef structure can form - one that could possibly outlive its original foundation.

Reef balls, basically made of concrete and other ground up substrate that can provide a firm base for coral growth, are perhaps less mysterious than sunken wrecks and a bit more plain-looking. However, they can provide a very natural-like foundation for a coral reef and, given time, they can look for all to see, including man and animal, like any other natural reef given enough time for coral and sea grasses to take hold.

There have been other candidates for artificial reefs. Along the California and Gulf coasts, retired oil rigs are being debated as potential artificial reefs when the upper superstructure is removed to just far enough below the surface so as not to pose a shipping hazard. Other structures have become artificial reefs sometimes by accident. In San Diego, California, the NOSC (National Oceans System Center) closed down a research tower situated about a mile offshore, in the late 80s, and was preparing to turn it over to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Unfortunately, before Scripps could take possession, heavy storms came in and knocked it over: a loss to Scripps but a gain for local mussels, anemones and a wide variety of local fish - not to mention local scuba divers who now had a new underwater attraction to break up the wide, sandy vista of San Diego's Mission Bay.

But not all artificial reefs have been successful, regardless of the best of intentions and considerable thought put into the design. Not everything that mankind makes can become a suitable foundation for a reef. Case in point, the disastrous Osborne Reef off the coast of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

In the early 70s, Broward Artificial Reefs, Inc. proposed an extensive artificial reef consisting of discarded tires. The supposed benefits would be the elimination of unsightly, old worn tires and the chance to entice more game fish for recreational fishing. The project was endorsed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and, with the aid of many private, commercial and even naval vessels, the Broward County government deposited over two million tires, bound together with steel clips, cables, or nylon rope, across 36 acres. A new artificial reef seemed to be on its way.

But it was not to be. The securing cables, clips and ropes corroded and the lightweight tires were now on the move. Pushed around by currents and storms, the tires smashed into living corals as they spread out a like an ever-increasing steamroller. After one particular storm, thousands of tires piled up against a reef, while others made their way to local beaches.

Even if the tires had managed to stay together, it turns out that they were not a good platform for reef growth due to their flexibility and the fact that, as the rubber breaks down from long exposure to sunlight and seawater, several low-level toxins are given off which have the potential to stunt the growth of sealife.

"The really good idea was to provide habitat for marine critters so we could double or triple marine life in the area. It just didn't work that way," said Ray McAllister, a professor of ocean engineering at Florida Atlantic University who was instrumental in organizing the project. "I look back now and see it was a bad idea."

Reef Rescue videotaped the condition of the tire reef in 2010:


From time to time efforts have been made to salvage the tires. State campaigns have been put in play, often supported by the military (Navy divers have used the cleanup as part of their training), but the cost is enormous and so progress has been in fits and starts. The military has scaled back their involvement as their resources are being taxed by two wars and looming budget cuts. To date, around 73,000 tires have been recovered - a considerable number, but with the original number totaling over 2 million, there is a long ways to go.

"We've literally dumped millions of tires in our oceans," said Jack Sobel, director of strategic conservation and a marine scientist for the Ocean Conservancy scientist, when speaking about the concept of tire reefs on a worldwide scale. "I believe that people who were behind the artificial tire reef promotions actually were well-intentioned and thought they were doing the right thing. In hindsight, we now realize that we made a mistake."

We are now getting to a point with the condition of the oceans and marine ecosystems where there is less tolerance for "experiments" and a greater need for solutions for which we are much more certain about the outcome. Unfortunately, our actions that adversely impact the marine environments are bad enough; we can't afford to have our solutions simply add to the problem.

Read more about the history of Osborne Reef.
Read more about the reef in 2007 in USA Today.
Read more about cleanup efforts in 2010 in Reef Rescue.

"Thank you, 'music lovers' "

Lindley Armstrong “Spike” Jones (December 14, 1911 – May 1, 1965) was a popular musician and bandleader specializing in performing satirical arrangements of popular songs. Ballads and classical works receiving the Jones treatment would be punctuated with gunshots, whistles, cowbells, and ridiculous vocals. Through the 1940s and early 1950s, the band recorded under the title Spike Jones and his City Slickers and toured the United States and Canada under the title The Musical Depreciation Revue.

MANHATTAN LUXURY

They say Phillips Club is superior to a timeshare since you acquire a 1/8 fractional deeded ownership. You are allotted 45 days a year but you can stay at the Club whenever you want, subject to the reservation policy and availability. There is a tastefully designed large living area in addition to a beautiful bedroom complete with luxurious linens. The marble bath and a fully outfitted kitchen provide everything you need for your stay. Leave your clothes and belongings in a private wardrobe which can be delivered to your room upon your arrival! There is a flat screen television with cable in the living room and bedroom, a DVD/VCR, a stereo with CD/cassette, voice mail, high speed internet and a safe in the room. Amenities include a doorman, 24 hour concierge, maid service, conference room, laundry and valet service, access to Rebok Sports Club/NY and a 24 hour parking garage adjacent to building. Here is an opportunity to own in Lincoln Square, one of New York City's most wonderful neighborhoods by Lincoln Center, Columbus Circle and Central Park.

Grey Nurse Sharks: Project Aware pushes for greater protection

For you shark advocates, here's an important post from my friends at Beqa Adventure Divers in Fiji regarding protection for Grey Nurse Sharks (GNS) in Australia. It's a good follow up to a post I wrote in February of this year on these very sharks.

NSW Grey Nurse Sharks: Bravo PADI!

I must say, I'm increasingly impressed by PADI Asia Pacific.

The team of Mike Holme has been nothing short of stellar whenever we have contacted them for assistance and advice, and now I learn that Project AWARE has thrown its weight behind the campaign aimed at restoring adequate protection for New South Wales' highly vulnerable stocks of GNS after the latest shameful fiasco.

Please read this appeal and please, do act now.
This is industry leadership and I am particularly happy to find an excellent letter that contains all the recommendations I've posted here. This is terribly urgent and important, the more as all the science shows that for all practical purposes, depleted Shark stocks have no real chance of rebounding once they get wiped out as that would take decades if not centuries, i.e. way beyond any reasonable time frame - and I trust that I don't need to remind you of the consequences for the marine environment including the future of those ignorant fishermen!

The GNS stocks are literally on the brink and we simply cannot afford to get this wrong.
The only way we can avert this ecological catastrophe is to show those inept politicians and their rabid cronies from the Fishers and Shooters party that the public wants nothing to do with their appalling disregard of the health of the environment.

Please, do write a letter now.
Please send a copy to David at david.roe@projectaware.org.au and please, do mobilize your friends. Bloggers, please do re-post.
Submission close on Friday, August 26.
Once again, kudos to PADI.

Visit PADI Asia Pacific's website.

This Western star was the REAL DEAL

Tom Mix was an expert shot and horseman.

Cowpokes Versus Death Rays

"Cowboys & Aliens" isn't the first movie to mix sci-fi and western genres. A new DVD set, "A Big Box of Cowboys, Aliens, Robots and Death Rays," features eight vintage sagebrush sagas that also enter the sci-fi zone. Perhaps the most famous is 1935's "Radio Ranch" with Gene Autry. "Radio Ranch" is actually an edited feature-length version of Autry's serial "The Phantom Empire," which finds the singing cowboy discovering a race of humans living in a metropolis under the earth. The set also features films starring such famed movie cowpokes as Tim McCoy in 1936's "Ghost Patrol," Ken Maynard in 1932's "Tombstone Canyon," Ray "Crash" Corrigan in 1941's "Saddle Mountain Roundup" and Bill Cody Sr. and Jr. in 1935's "Vanishing Riders."

"Liveable Art"

From the front, a jigsaw puzzle of large poured concrete blocks suggests a baker's hat with a large tilted window carved out of its center. Four bedrooms and four bathrooms in 5134 square feet, this Home of the Week was listed at $5.85 million (June, 2010), and sold for $4.12 million in June, 2011.

(Photo by Kenneth Johansson)

Neutra's Kronish House appears to be bound for demolition

The Kronish House, one of a handful of Beverly Hills residences designed by Modernist architect Richard Neutra, appears headed for demolition.

Soda Partners, the limited partnership that owns the nearly 7,000-square-foot residence north of Sunset Boulevard, has secured a permit to cap the sewer line, a step that often precedes a request for a demolition permit, said Jonathan Lait, Beverly Hills' assistant director of community development.

The owner has not yet applied for a permit to raze the structure, an action that would require a 10-day notice of demolition. Mitchell Dawson, an attorney for Soda Partners, did not respond to requests for comment.

Rumors have spread among preservationists that a tear-down is imminent.

The house, which is not visible from the street, has been "terribly neglected, but the bones are still there," said Dion Neutra, an architect who teamed up with his late father, Richard, on the project. "The new owner thinks it would be more valuable to tear it down and have empty land."

Global Climate Change: a new book sorts out the facts and the myths and rebuttals

As a follow up to my recent post noting the article on climate change written by Vice President Al Gore and appearing in Rolling Stone magazine, Southern Fried Science has an interesting review of a new book by oceanographer Orrin Pilkey and his son, Keith Pilkey: Global Climate Change, A Primer.

For those who may feel a bit overwhelmed (and it's easy to do) by the many issues and environmental impacts that fall under the heading of climate change, this book addresses them one by one. Of particular note, according to Andrew of Southern Fried Science, is that the book also addresses the many arguments used by those who choose to deny that climate change or global warming actually exists or that, if it does, that it is fueled by human activities.

A Primer for Climate Change

By Southern Fried Scientist, on July 24th, 2011

Sea level rise. Desertification. Ocean acidification. Climategate. Permafrost. Greenland ice sheet. Hockey stick. The language of global climate change can be overwhelming. Every year, as we learn more about the ways that human activity fundamentally alter global processes, the subject becomes even broader and more complicated. Fortunately, world renowned oceanographer Orrin Pilkey and his son, Keith Pilkey, have produced a comprehensive and readable primer on global climate change. The strength of Global Climate Change: A Primer can be broken into three sections – the content, the conflict, and the illustrations.

The Content

The Pilkies are excellent writers and do an impressive, thorough job covering most of the issues involved in global climate change. The target audience for this book is the general public, so the style is heavy on anecdotes and light on dense jargon. While they touch on most of the aspects of climate change, some of sections are weaker than others. Pilkey the senior is an accomplished oceanographer who works on barrier island, so the sections on ocean acidification, sea level rise, and changes in coastal processes are, almost necessarily, the strongest and most compelling.

That doesn’t mean that other topics are short changed. For a 120 page book, the breadth of subject matter is impressive. Anyone interested in examining a specific climate change topic would do well to start with this primer.

One thing that is lacking is an accessible bibliography. The standard bibliography is an excellent collection of sources, but it is difficult to link the references with the text. A thorough collection of end notes, connecting each page to the references mentioned would make it easier for the reader to track down the primary sources.

The Conflict

Complementing the discussion of the causes and effects of global climate change are frank and thoughtful responses to the misconceptions, myths, and outright deceptions common to the climate change denial movement. Each chapter ends with a “myths” section that takes a firm look at the claims made by climate change deniers and thoroughly debunks them. Every claim I’ve heard in recent years is in this book and critically addressed.

Two chapters are entirely dedicated to the manufacture of doubt. These two chapters really shine as new and important contributions to the climate change literature. Climategate, the leaking of several thousand e-mails which, though it revealed absolutely nothing, became a lightning rod for the denialist industry (and I do mean industry, as they painstakingly lay out the funding sources and motives behind the major political and corporate players who are manufacturing climate change dissent). To paraphrase Senator Inhofe, the myth that human activities haven’t led to measurable and significant changes to the natural systems governing the earth’s climate is the real “greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.”

But Pilkey and Pilkey don’t just pick on the low hanging fruits of climate change deniers. They also address some of the misconceptions that have promulgated through the climate change community, explain some of the issues with mathematical models, and discuss the detrimental results of “bandwagon” and “state-of-siege” effects.

These chapters could best be summed up with a quote from Elizabeth Kolbert:

“No one has ever offered a plausible account of why thousands of scientists at hundreds of universities in dozens of countries would bother to engineer a climate hoax.”

Illustrations

It is weird to refer to the illustrations in a book about climate change as beautiful, but that’s the only way to describe the batiks by Mary Edna Fraser. In the most dramatic departure from traditional popular science literature, Pilkey and Pilkey eschew diagrams and photographs common to the style and illustrate the book with luscious, vibrant silk printings of landscapes and seascapes that evoke the central topics of the book with devastating effect. While a book founded in science, by nature, adheres to data and dry analysis, the illustrations appeal to the readers’ emotions, creating a global sense of place that cannot be captured in figures and photographs.

As an introductory book on global climate change, this is by far the best I’ve found. It’s ideal for the non-specialist who wants to learn more about the issues and get an appreciation for how far out to lunch the denial lobby is. This illustrations alone are worth the price. Also of note is the final chapter on geoengineering, which proposes some possible solutions to the the current problem, adding some hope to an otherwise doom-and-gloom subject.

How to turn dazzling potential into disappointment and despair

As Barry Minkow prepared to be sentenced a second time for securities fraud, he appeared in a familiar role: repentant, apologetic, acknowledging deep character flaws and expressing hope he can transform himself for the better yet again.

"The truth about me is I am a 45-year-old loser, and I am so very sorry for what I have done," Minkow wrote in a letter to U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Seitz of Miami, who was to sentence him early Thursday for conspiring to manipulate the stock of home builder Lennar Corp.

Minkow said he let down the congregation at San Diego's Community Bible Church, where he reinvented himself as head pastor after spending more than seven years in prison for the ZZZZ Best investment scam in the 1980s. Church members he served for 14 years "never saw my criminal activity coming," he said.

The sentencing marks the latest twist in the life of a man who was once hailed as a whiz-kid entrepreneur on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" while a teenager growing up in Reseda. Even after getting out of prison, Minkow parlayed his reputation as a Ponzi schemer to build a new life as a fraud-detection specialist and government informer.

This time around, facing up to five years in prison, Minkow knew he might not be so lucky.

The ex-con who reinvented himself as a pastor and crime fighter was given five years, the maximum sentence on the single count of conspiracy to which he had pleaded guilty. He was also ordered to pay $583 million in restitution to the home builder Lennar Corp. for attacks that battered its stock price.

"There's some religion in here somewhere"

When preeminent British historian John Julius Norwich tells us in the introduction to his sweeping history of the Catholic papacy that his job is to give us "a straightforward single-volume history" of the world's "most astonishing social, political, and spiritual institution ever created," he's hit the nail on the proverbial head. The centuries-old Roman papacy truly is a universally unrivaled institution, and in dense detail, Norwich's book shows us the historic playbook.

As Norwich says upfront, "Absolute Monarchs" is a political history more than anything, and with his unstuffy and sometimes witty writing style, he walks us through what could otherwise be a stifling couple of thousand years of popes, antipopes, endless political power struggles, war, greed, torture, inquisitions, egomania, incest, fornication, bastard children and orgies. . Reading page after page of this cacophony of temporal sin, one begins to wonder whether this is a history of a religious institution at all.

"One of the greatest chess players in history"

Garry Kasparov is a former world chess champion who is considered to be one of the greatest players in history. He held the title from 1985 to 2000 and was ranked No. 1 in the world for 20 consecutive years, from 1986 through his retirement in 2005. After retiring, he became active in Russian politics and an outspoken critic of the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin, then president and later the powerful prime minister.

He became the leader of the umbrella opposition group known as The Other Russia and briefly attempted to run for president.

"stunning narrative"

In this riveting and relentless nonfiction thriller, award-winning investigative reporter William C. Rempel tells the harrowing story of former Cali cartel insider Jorge Salcedo, an ordinary man facing an extraordinary dilemma--a man forced to risk everything to escape the powerful and treacherous Cali crime syndicate.

Colombia in the 1990s is a country in chaos, as a weak government battles guerrilla movements and narco-traffickers, including the notorious Pablo Escobar and his rivals in the Cali cartel. Enter Jorge Salcedo, a part-time soldier, a gifted engineer, a respected businessman and family man--and a man who despises Pablo Escobar for patriotic and deeply personal reasons. He is introduced to the godfathers of the Cali cartel, who are at war with Escobar and desperately want their foe dead. With mixed feelings, Jorge agrees to help them.
Once inside, Jorge rises to become head of security for Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, principal godfather of the $7-billion-a-year Cali drug cartel. Jorge tries to turn a blind eye to the violence, corruption, and brutality that surround him, and he struggles privately to preserve his integrity even as he is drawn deeper into the web of cartel operations. Then comes an order from the godfathers that he can't obey--but can't refuse. Jorge realizes that his only way out is to bring down the biggest, richest crime syndicate of all time.
Thus begins a heart-pumping roller-coaster ride of intensifying peril. Secretly aided by a pair of young American DEA agents, Jorge races time and cartel assassins to extract damaging evidence, help capture the fugitive godfather, and save the life of a witness targeted for murder. Through it all, death lurks a single misstep away.
William C. Rempel is the only reporter with access to this story and to Jorge, who remains in hiding somewhere in the United States--even the author doesn't know where--but has revealed his experience in gripping detail. Salcedo's is the story of one extraordinary ordinary man forced to risk everything to end a nightmare of his own making.

(From the Hardcover edition)

You can become famous too !!

Above, John Wayne Bobbitt, the man who became famous after his wife cut off his penis as he slept. There's a lesson in there somewhere.

“space-aged” and "fantastical"

American modernist architect, John Lautner, is often lauded as a brilliant futurist. His works are often described as “space-aged” and fantastical - and there can be no bigger fan than I. His most notable houses defy convention as they swoop, swing, and sway like playful sculptures in a Dali-esque fantasy. (Bob Hope joked that his Lautner-designed house in Palm Springs would attract space aliens.)

Instead of designing a house and plopping a roof on top like the lid on a box, he famously believed the roof should be “of the house, not on the house”. This is most evident in some his best-known houses where there are no walls, no roofs, only surfaces that rise out of the ground and curve overhead to create a protective canopy.

But there’s nothing particularly ‘futurist’ about this. In fact, Lautner is borrowing from one of the oldest building methods that ever existed. Long before balloon-frame construction was invented and perfected by early Scandinavians, homes were built Lautner’s way with no regard to ‘walls’ and ‘roofs’. Whether they be the igloos of the Inuits, the mud-huts of Northern Africa, the grass-huts of Central Asia, or the teepees of North America, homes were built Lautner-style under domes or curved-and-leaning planes. Perhaps these ancient builders were the true ‘futurists’.

ORAL ROBERTS UNIVERSITY Tulsa OKLAHOMA

When God tells you what to do, you do it. In 2344 BC, He told Noah to build an ark, and Noah did so to his precise specifications. In 1477, He told Torquemada to cleanse the world of non-Christians, and the dedicated friar went about his task with zeal. And in 1963, as if Chartres, Hagia Sophia, the Vatican, and Salt Lake City weren’t enough, God told televangelist Oral Roberts to “Build Me a University. Build it on My Authority, and on the Holy Spirit.” So build it Roberts did.

As evidence of God’s immaculate good taste, he apparently instructed Roberts to build it in the latest architectural style, befitting the budding space age. Futurist architect Frank Wallace heard the calling and designed a sprawling campus for 5,000 students that could double as an astronaut training center. At the heart of it all is a 200-foot tall prayer tower inspired by Seattle’s Space Needle, tweaked to resemble a cross with a stylized crown of thorns. Upon the tower’s completion, Roberts was so giddy he declared a three day celebration of prayer and fasting.