French authorities are cracking down on illegal fishing by tracking downpirate fishing boats from space. They use satellites to spot the pirate vessels, and then they send patrol boats to intercept the illegal operations and enforce the law.
The French authorities started the program two years ago to deal with operations that illegally took Patagonian toothfish from waters around a French territory in the Southern Indian Ocean. The toothfish yields a big profit on the black market, and it's being depleted by illegal operations. French fishing boats were licensed to take six or seven thousands tons of toothfish from the territorial waters every year. According to some estimates, illegal fishing took six times more than that. The French government worked with a satellite company known as CLS. Antoine Monsaingeon works with CLS. He says land-based radar was not sufficient for law enforcement around the remote Kerguelen Islands."You need radar that can see at night, through the clouds, and on a longrange -- and only satellite can do that."Monsaingeon says the company relied on two different satellites. One was used by Canada to track icebergs; the other was used by the European Space Agency to monitor oil spills."It very often happens that when you launch a satellite, you launch it for one given purpose and then you discover later that it can be used for something else."In this case, the strategy paid off immediately. In July of 2004, the satellites detected a vessel that was in French waters illegally. The Navy sent a patrol boat to track it down and fire a warning shot across its bow. The approach worked. Last year, the French government reported that the surveillance system has cut illegal fishing by 90 percent.
Author: Adam Hinterthuer
SOURCES: "Envisat radar surveillance protects endangered prehistoricfish" news release from the European Space Agency: http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMPLU638FE_Protecting_0.html CLS, a subsidiary of the French Space Agency; online at: http://www.cls.fr/welcome_en.html
Friday, March 31, 2006
Fun and addicting
Hello everyone,
Some time when you need a stress reliever try this out. http://www.planetdan.net/pics/misc/georgie.htm
Fun. Try grabing a part of the body and wing it around. Fun to watch and interactive.
Kevin
Some time when you need a stress reliever try this out. http://www.planetdan.net/pics/misc/georgie.htm
Fun. Try grabing a part of the body and wing it around. Fun to watch and interactive.
Kevin
Friday, March 24, 2006
Dream Smaller
This semester I am taking an environmental policy class. The final project for the class is to develop an ecologically sustainable model comprehensive plan for a fictitious region. We are currently in the research phase and this website (http://www.newdream.org/) was recommended to us. I haven't fully perused it I am intrigued by the consumer portion that may provide guidance about ways to "buy green."
Monday, March 20, 2006
Food for though...
I have been thinking about alternative education and in doing so I am reading "Understanding Waldorf Education Teaching from the Inside Out" - Jack Petrash. One of the quotes from it is appropriate for the stumpies that will read it.
If one could ask a tree which of its two worlds was the more real- the world above ground, of leaves, blossoms, and sunlight; or that below the ground, where the taproot reaches for who-knows-what- what would it tell us? For those who undertand the tree's message, it clearly states that there are no reality for the one "world" without the other. What is a tree without a taproot? What is a taproot without a tree?
Communication between the two "worlds" of the tree, so necessary for mutual growth and development, is a private inner process. Dirt cannot be sprinkled on a leaf to nourish it; direct sunlight will not benefit a root. Only the tree itself, through its own mysteries, can convey the nourishment of one distant "world" to the farthest reaches of the other (Higgins, Beyond Words, 1970, p. 87).
This ties to Waldorf edu in that a child's emotional life is obviously unseen, and yet a vital part of learning. If the heart is in the learning, the child will care about it, about people and about its surroundings. Kind of cool
Ok, I'm done...just wanted to share...
If one could ask a tree which of its two worlds was the more real- the world above ground, of leaves, blossoms, and sunlight; or that below the ground, where the taproot reaches for who-knows-what- what would it tell us? For those who undertand the tree's message, it clearly states that there are no reality for the one "world" without the other. What is a tree without a taproot? What is a taproot without a tree?
Communication between the two "worlds" of the tree, so necessary for mutual growth and development, is a private inner process. Dirt cannot be sprinkled on a leaf to nourish it; direct sunlight will not benefit a root. Only the tree itself, through its own mysteries, can convey the nourishment of one distant "world" to the farthest reaches of the other (Higgins, Beyond Words, 1970, p. 87).
This ties to Waldorf edu in that a child's emotional life is obviously unseen, and yet a vital part of learning. If the heart is in the learning, the child will care about it, about people and about its surroundings. Kind of cool
Ok, I'm done...just wanted to share...
Kelly and I celebrated St. Patricks day as it should be done: with good friends, and corned beef and cabbage and beer, eh? We spent the weekend in Albany with Kevin and Carrie, and on Saturday mornin' Kelly and Jingles needed a bit of a lie-in. Notice the empty dog crate behind them. I guess that sums it up why you have puppies. I also must add Kevin's kilt is much more impressive in person; he took the time to do it right and I would say its durn near professional looking.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Quote of the day, round 2
Here is another quote of the day. I read this one and found it struck me.
Quote Of The Day
"Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We growold by deserting our ideals."*Samuel Ullman
Anybody know who Samuel Ullman is/was?
Quote Of The Day
"Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We growold by deserting our ideals."*Samuel Ullman
Anybody know who Samuel Ullman is/was?
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Irish??
Hello all,
I have some pictures to share. In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I finished my kilt today. I have it on right now. It feels a bit strange but very comfortable. I made it over two days, which totaled about 6 hours. Chris and Kelly are coming on Friday and Chris and we are going to where them out to to the pub. Very cool.
Also, I am including a picture for Jon that was on the side of a building here in Albany. What this to be your first brownfields project?
Kevin
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Red Jr.
BBC Science news is just so cool.
Jupiter is growing a new great red spot.
They also have a listing of the science books nominated for the Aventis Prize. Collapse is the only book I've read on the list (it rocks!) but I might check a few of the others out. Anyone have any other book recommendations?
Monday, March 06, 2006
Quote of the Day
Hello all,
Just a brief quote that I think is wonderful. My work, Plug Power, posts a quote of the day on the company website. I would like to share this one because I like it so much:
Quote Of The Day
"The best way you can predict your future is to create it. (Stephen Covey)
Ahhhh very good...very good!
Talk to ya'll later.
Kevin
Just a brief quote that I think is wonderful. My work, Plug Power, posts a quote of the day on the company website. I would like to share this one because I like it so much:
Quote Of The Day
"The best way you can predict your future is to create it. (Stephen Covey)
Ahhhh very good...very good!
Talk to ya'll later.
Kevin
Sunday, March 05, 2006
First Post from the Orginal Wild Tequila Dance Creator
Hello everyone -
Welcome to my first blog post. JoAnna and Bill have graciously walked me thru this very complicated process... Here is a link to the school website I "manage" as part of my GA position. Someday soon we might post the Stafford County town center plan I have been putting together with other classmates. Bill and I just finished playing raquetteball. We are going to make pizza's now.
The post about living upstream was interesting because I am working on a ecological regional plan for my environmental policy class. Thanks to whoever posted it.
Well, someday I will do more blogging. Until then, don't hold your breath.
Welcome to my first blog post. JoAnna and Bill have graciously walked me thru this very complicated process... Here is a link to the school website I "manage" as part of my GA position. Someday soon we might post the Stafford County town center plan I have been putting together with other classmates. Bill and I just finished playing raquetteball. We are going to make pizza's now.
The post about living upstream was interesting because I am working on a ecological regional plan for my environmental policy class. Thanks to whoever posted it.
Well, someday I will do more blogging. Until then, don't hold your breath.
Friday, March 03, 2006
You Are What You Eat
By: Alison Coulson
Some birds give literal meaning to the phrase, "you are what you eat."
-------
Up until a few decades ago, cedar waxwings were distinguished by theiryellow-tipped tails. But beginning in the 1960s, these birds began toshow some orange in their tail feathers in the Northeast.Author Marie Read says the new color came from changes in the birds'diet. Read says cedar waxwings started eating orange berries fromhoneysuckles, a non-native ornamental shrub."The pigments that are in these introduced honeysuckles end up makingthe tail orange, so in this respect it really is kind of 'you are whatyou eat.'"
Read, a wildlife photographer, has written a new book, "The Secret Livesof Common Birds." Read says cedar waxwings aren't the only birds thatchange color according to the foods they eat."There is a lot of evidence that cardinals, northern cardinals, thewonderful red birds that we see, if you look at them as individuals, youlook at a lot of different ones, some of them are very bright red, someof them are deep crimson, some of them are more orange and some of themare kind of washed-out looking. Well, that apparently is due to thekinds of things they are eating."The varying shades of red and yellow in most birds result from theamount of carotenoid-based pigments they get from their diet.
And a bird's color, especially in males, serves a purpose far beyond vanity.Take that northern cardinal. Scientists say more brightly colored maleshold territory with more abundant food, and they attract higher qualityfemales. So which comes first: do the brighter males get betterterritory because of their color? Or does their better red result fromruling over the best food sources? Scientists say they don't yet know.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Living Upstream
I read this article today in the OnTap magazine and really liked it.
"This article, adapted from remarks Dr. Shinn made at Berea College's Fall Convocation, reminds us about individual and collective responsibility in creating a sustainable future."
"This article, adapted from remarks Dr. Shinn made at Berea College's Fall Convocation, reminds us about individual and collective responsibility in creating a sustainable future."
Tasty Treasure from the Carribean
We got our diving pictures back from our trip to St Croix, USVI. You can find them all of them posted here, but below is a handy selection, as well as my overdue self-portrait. I had forgotten to turn on the camera before I put it in its underwater case for our night dive, so Kelly was not able to get a shot of me collecting this fine specimen for dinner at 75 feet down. The diving we did was our best ever. The north side of St Croix drops off suddenly to 13,000 feet deep, and we dove this wall 3 times, once at night. The dropoff continues to over 28,000 feet in the Puerto Rican Trench, which is the deepest part of the Atlantic.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)