Behold The Beauty That’s Now Protected By The Ross Sea Reserve
Popular Science: The international community has taken the dramatic step of protecting part of this area from most human activity, particularly the increasing numbers of commercial fishing vessels that are starting to venture into Antarctic waters. Starting in December of 2017 and extending for the next 35 years, about 600,000 square miles of the Southern Ocean in an bay called the Ross Sea will be protected from commercial fishing. In 72 percent of the sanctuary, no fishing of any kind will be allowed. keep reading
see also: World’s Largest Marine Reserve Created Off Antarctica on National Geographic
The Guardian: Swimming with newborn whales – in pictures
Die Lorelei
Since the beginning of navigation on the Rhine River, the treacherous curve under the shadow of Loreley has destroyed an untold number of ships, claiming the lives of countless sailors.
The name comes from the old German words lureln, Rhine dialect for “murmuring”, and the Celtic term ley “rock”. The translation of the name would therefore be: “murmur rock” or “murmuring rock”.
The heavy currents, and a small waterfall in the area (still visible in the early 19th century) created a murmuring sound, and this combined with the special echo the rock produces to act as a sort of amplifier, giving the rock its name. +
While practical explanations of the perilous site chalk it up to a rocky riverbed combined with an unusual drift, 19th-century poets created a more enchanting explanation involving a river siren enticing men to their doom.
She fell in love with a young man who did not love her back, and thereafter sat on a rock overlooking the river, serenading it with sad songs. The beauty of both her voice and appearance was so enchanting that she caused distracted sailors to break their ships on the rocks and drown. keep reading on AtlasObscura
On January 13, 2011, a barge carrying 2,400 tons of sulphuric acid capsized near the Lorelei rock, blocking traffic on one of Europe’s busiest waterways. +
see also Jelling Viking Monuments
National Geographic – In 1570, Elizabeth I was in a bind. She had been excommunicated by the Pope, and her country was shunned by the rest of Europe. To avoid ruin, England needed allies. The queen sought help from a surprising source: the Islamic world.
Elizabeth believed Islam and Protestantism had more in common with each other than with Catholicism and how this cultural exchange may have inspired Shakespeare’s plays and turned the queen’s teeth black.
Author Jerry Brotton explores the forgotten history of English-Muslim alliances in his new book, The Sultan and the Queen. keep reading
As it happens, smartphones, laptops and all kinds of electronic screens have become brighter and bluer over the past couple of decades because of the addition of powerful blue LEDs. During the day, when blue light is already naturally plentiful, a little extra exposure from electronic screens should not make much of a difference to anyone’s physiology. The problem is that people are increasingly staring into bright screens long into the night.
Engineers and computer programmers are trying out various solutions to keep an already sleep-deprived population from losing more zzz’s because of their electronic devices. keep reading
Marine art from New Britain museum featured at Mystic Seaport
Sometimes in my search for things historical and interesting around and about my town, a museum grabs my attention. Interesting exhibits are mounted by Mystic Seaport — which always does a phenomenal job of drawing me in. Adjacent to the new Thompson Building is the R.J. Schaefer Building, often the site of exhibitions and displays of a nautical or marine slant. I took a short walk there to see a current exhibit called “Over Life’s Waters: The coastal Art Collection of Charles and Irene Hamm” organized by the New Britain Museum of American Art.
For half a century, the Hamms have been collecting coastal art. Finding inspiration from Maine to Florida, spanning two centuries, and trusting their “eye” to guide their collection, they have amassed over 160 pieces. Mystic Seaport is now presenting 65 of these. keep reading
New museum explores the art of oceanography
Harpswell, MAINE — If Leonardo Da Vinci and Herman Melville’s Captain Ahab were roommates, they might live in a house that resembles Harpswell’s newest museum.
Nestled off Route 123 in an old boat bay, Habitat: Open Ocean is dedicated to the art of scientific illustration.Wheeler, 67, spent over three decades teaching illustration (“and some archaeology tossed in”) at nine different colleges. He and wife Catherine Sanderson moved to Harpswell this spring in order to be closer to the ocean. What makes the place a museum and not a gallery is the educational, curatorial role Wheeler’s work plays: his artwork is organized, in subject and in sequence, as a time line through the history of scientific illustration. keep reading
When a Drowned Woman’s Face Became the Muse of Paris
One of the most popular muses of early-20th-century Paris was a drowned woman. The face of “L’Inconnue de la Seine” (The Unknown Woman of the Seine) was a fashionable fixture of salons and studios, her enigmatic expression of a slight smile and closed eyes haunted by stories of her suicide.
It was said the death mask, replicated in these endless copies, was made at the Paris morgue between 1898 and 1900, by a pathologist struck by the beauty of this corpse pulled from the Seine river. You may have seen her face yourself, even kissed those lips. For what makes the story of the Inconnue even stranger is her 1950s use as the model for a CPR training device. Resusci Anne. keep reading
Resusci Anne, also known as Rescue Anne, Resusci Annie or CPR Annie, is a model of training manikin used for teaching cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to both emergency workers and members of the general public. Anne was developed by the Norwegian toy maker Asmund Laerdal, Austrian-Czech physician Peter Safar, American physician James Elam, and is produced by Laerdal Medical. +
Law of the Sea: Human Flesh Looks Like Beef, But the Taste Is More Elusive
According to the testimony of people who have actually eaten other people, the taste of human meat does not reflect its beef-like appearance. Both serial killers and Polynesian cannibals have described human as being most akin to pork (The Long Pig). Not all cannibals agree with this description.
William Seabrook, an author and journalist, traveled to West Africa in the 1920s and later described an encounter with man-flesh in great detail in his book, Jungle Ways. Human, he said, in fact tastes more like veal. keep reading on Smithsonian
Prince Edward Island man buys authentic Chinese junk sailboat
Monte Gisborne stumbled across a posting on Kijiji for a boat for sale in Chester, N.S. His newly-purchased Chinese junk, the Ho Hum, was built in 1968 by the Cheoy Lee Shipyards in Hong Kong, a shipyard that’s been building boats since the late 1800s. The 38-foot, two-mast boat is made out of Burmese teakwood, with a Mandarin red hull and leaf-like red sails.
“The Chinese invented the bulkhead, the rudder, the compass, all these things,” he said. “Basically, it’s a wooden piece of art. And a big, heavy, wooden piece of art. You look at Chinese nautical history, and when I look at this boat all I see is that coming flooding at me in one big, wooden whack across the head.” keep reading
Scientific Diving: Teaching future marine scientists how to stay safe
“You have to plan everything as carefully as your research proposal,” says Lobel. “We have to have a dive plan that includes an emergency response component and that lays out logistically how we’re going to accomplish whatever research we want to do.”
In recent decades, the American Academy of Underwater Sciences and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration have codified diver conduct and safety procedures on top of scientific protocols. The four-year-old BUMP course is intended to help undergrads, graduate students, and even faculty members satisfy all those requirements, earning several certifications that will help them professionally as well as help them to stay safe underwater. keep reading
Kingston is located on the eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is located midway between Toronto and Montreal.
Growing European exploration in the 17th century and the desire for the Europeans to establish a presence close to local Native occupants to control trade led to the founding of a French trading post and military fort at a site known as “Cataraqui” in 1673. This outpost, called Fort Cataraqui or Fort Frontenac, became a focus for settlement. After the British conquered New France, the village was renamed Kingston.
In the early hours of April 18, 1840, a dock fire, fanned by high winds, spread to a warehouse containing between 70 and 100 kegs of gunpowder. The resulting explosion spread the fire throughout the city’s downtown area, destroying a large number of buildings, including the old city hall. More
2 Lake Huron Shipwrecks Lost Since the 1800s Found, Identified
Manitowoc’s Haunted Sub offers spooky fun
People tend to think of a museum as a place for learning and not experiencing. The people at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum are turning that idea upside down, hosting the Haunted Sub on the World War II submarine USS Cobia for the third year.
The Haunted Sub will take visitors into the history of the World War II submarine — while also attempting to scare them to the murky depths of underwater sea life. Visitors will take themselves on a self-guided tour in small groups through the submarine, which will be decorated and filled with a few scary surprises waiting around the red-lit hallways.more
