Here’s a cool story cool story about how researchers are learning more about ocean currents by tracking where the toy ducks wash to shore. Keep your eyes peeled for those ducks - they’re probably worth something.
Link
Archive for July, 2006
29,000 plastic ducks adrift in the ocean for 14 years
Published by July 27th, 2006 in Science & Technology and The Ocean. 0 CommentsSome clever engineers have figured out how to use standing waves to form all letters of the Roman alphabet and even some kanji characters. What will they think of next?
Check it out: http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=695
Study finds 1.5M people per year get sick from Cali beaches
Published by July 25th, 2006 in Environmentalism & Politics, Health & Fitness and The Ocean. 0 CommentsThe LA Times reports that an environmental economist at UCLA, in partnership with Stanford University, recently published a study concluding that each year 1.5 million people get sick from visiting California beaches. The study goes so far as to estimate that all those illnesses cost the economy up to $414 million annually.
“Researchers estimated that [...]
Surfing promotes a stronger mind and body
Published by July 24th, 2006 in Health & Fitness. 0 CommentsCNN has an article about how surfing helps people stay in shape both physically and mentally. It also points out some of the physical impairments that long-time surfers face.
For anyone, who’s ever paddled a surfboard in the ocean at least once, this article states the obvious. If you’ve never surfed and are considering surfing as [...]
News & resources on Indonesia’s tsunamis
Published by July 20th, 2006 in The Ocean and Travel. 0 CommentsIt’s no secret that Indonesia is a popular destination for surfers. If you’re planning on traveling to Indo, you should read up on the latest news. Until Indonesia implements a reliable tsunami warning system, the rest of the world is going to have to help them along. Awareness always helps.
This site http://indonesiahelp.blogspot.com/ appears to be [...]
The Germans have developed a way for wave-deprived people to experience the feeling of riding a wave. City Wave, as they’re calling it, is basically a fake standing wave formed by fashioning a large wave-shaped conveyor belt out of a special non-sticky material that people can ride with special boards. It doesn’t require a drop [...]
The Happy Planet Index
Published by July 19th, 2006 in Culture, Environmentalism & Politics, Science & Technology and Travel. 2 CommentsI hate to be the one to break this to you, but according to the New Economics Foundation, a self-proclaimed "think and do tank", if you live in the U.S., then you’re one of the most unhappy people on the planet. Grab a tissue and choke back your tears for a minute while I explain.
The [...]
Anyone who’s seen or read The Perfect Storm has heard of rogue waves, aka "freak waves", giant waves that form and break far out at sea. These freakishly large waves can obliterate small ships and do serious damage, even sink, large ocean going vessels like oil tankers. Until recently scientists understood little about what causes [...]
Sun screen that protects against sharks
Published by July 13th, 2006 in Gear, Science & Technology and Wildlife. 0 CommentsI love it when a plan comes together. Teeka Tan Products, a company that produces sun care products, and SharkDefense, a R&D company that focuses on chemical shark repellent technologies, are teaming up to produce a single lotion that not only protects humans against the sun’s harmful rays, but from sharks, too. Teeka also offers [...]
A secret machine that makes surf movies…
Published by July 12th, 2006 in Entertainment & Media. 0 CommentsI knew it! I knew there had to be a reason why most surf flicks all seem the same these days. Turns out it’s because they’ve got a machine that they use to make all the videos…a secret machine.
OK, that’s not entirely true, but check this out. Veteran maritime cinematographer, Sonny Miller, is boycotting the [...]
Samurai Surfers Throw Down in Puerto Rico
Published by July 11th, 2006 in Culture, Entertainment & Media and The Ocean. 0 CommentsHere’s a pretty sweet story from PBS about a group of Puerto Rican surfers fighting to protect their local break from being wrecked by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
(Javascript required to view QuickTime movie, please turn it on and refresh this page)
Although the story is nearly a year old, those cats down in PR [...]
Wikiriders brings us collaborative surf maps
Published by July 10th, 2006 in Entertainment & Media, Science & Technology and Travel. 0 CommentsAnyone who appreciates surfing waves and the internet ought to be a fan of Wikiriders, a European site that combines wiki technology and google maps to create a collaborative, interactive map of surfing information. Similar to Wannasurf, anyone can post a surf spot, surf shop, shaper, etc to the Wikiriders map, which is then edited [...]
No joke. Officials at Southern California’s Wildlife Care Center detained four pelicans under suspicion of being drunk in public. Apparently one of the drunk birds struck the windshield of a car while the other three were suspiciously wandering the streets of Laguna Beach.
Although results of toxicology tests will not be ready for several weeks, experts [...]
Get ready for an intergalactic surfing safari.
Published by July 6th, 2006 in Science & Technology and Travel. 0 CommentsSurfing is a lot of fun. Catching a wave can put a smile on the face of even the grouchiest of sourpusses. Nine times out of ten, the stoke is what attracts people to surfing. All it takes is one little stoke to convert a regular person into a surfer. That, coupled with the fact [...]
Surfin’ Morocco
Published by July 6th, 2006 in Culture, Entertainment & Media and Travel. 0 CommentsThe folks at Caracol Films have produced an insiders guide to surfing Morocco. The waves in the trailer look pretty nice as does the local culture.
We’ll try to give you a more in depth review of the film once we scare up a copy.
In the meantime you can learn more about surfing in Morocco at [...]
Surfers vs Environmentalists
Published by July 3rd, 2006 in Culture, Environmentalism & Politics, Science & Technology and The Ocean. 0 CommentsMost surfers typically support green initiatives that promote environmental sustainability, but evidently not when it comes at the cost of smaller waves. Surfers in the south of England (Cornwall) are fighting the construction of a wave energy farm on the grounds that it will reduce the power of the waves by more than 10% along [...]
