Science & Technology

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Around 90% of the fresh water on the Earth's surface is held in the ice sheet. The only current ice sheets are in Antarctica and Greenland (ice sheets are bigger than ice shelves or alpine glaciers). Greenland ice melting 3 times faster, loss of vast ice sheet. ice (fresh water!) runs away by hundreds of billions of tons a year.

Drinking sewage: solving Singapore's water problem
Australia: Recycled water to be on tap  read more »

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In the North Sea on September 22, 1914, the German submarine U-9 sinks three British cruisers, the Aboukir, the Hogue and the Cressy, in just over one hour.
In the first two months of war, the German High Seas Fleet made little effort to move from its headquarters in Wilhelmshaven. The one naval battle, fought at Heligoland Bight in late August, ended in a convincing British victory, with three German battleships sunk, three more damaged and 1,200 German sailors killed or wounded.

In the wake of Heligoland Bight, Kaiser Wilhelm and the German leadership concluded that the navy should be kept off the open seas, as its best use was as a defensive weapon. As the war continued, Germany’s greatest weapon at sea would not be its light cruisers but its lethal U-boat submarine, which was far more sophisticated than those built by other nations at that time. The typical U-boat was 214 feet long, carried 35 men and 12 torpedoes and could travel underwater for two hours at a time.

The one-sided battle on September 22, which claimed three British cruisers and the lives of 1,400 sailors, alerted the British to the deadly effectiveness of the submarine, which had been generally unrecognized up to that time. In the first few years of World War I, German U-boats took a terrible toll on Allied shipping. By 1917, however, the continued unrestricted U-boat attacks on American vessels traveling to Britain prompted the previously neutral United States to declare war on Germany. The infusion of American ships, troops and arms into World War I, as well as the economic support the U.S. supplied to the Allied powers, would eventually turn the tide of the war against Germany.  read more »

Titanic compared with modern day cruise ships

Tourists offered boat tours to see the capsized Costa Concordia cruise liner

Alabama Family Catches Record-Breaking Alligator

roof torn off truck as driver attempts to fit under bridge in Melbourne

"No You Can’t"

How safe is it?

Eagle Scout catches huge 335-pound halibut, leads derby

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Super Moon rises over the hills tonight near Los Angeles. (Credit: Craig DeMartini)

The supermoon captured over Mount Rainier. (Credit: Tommy McPharlin)

A bright light will soon be visible in the sky as "Supermoon" begins rising. (Credit: TKTLA)

The first spectacular "supermoon" of the summer peaks this Saturday. (Credit: Huffington Post)

A supermoon rises behind the scaffolding-wrapped Washington Monument, Sunday, June 23, 2013. (Credit: NASA)

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Spectacular ‘Supermoon’ Visible in the Sky Overnight
The moon will seem a little bit bigger and brighter Saturday morning when a “supermoon” — the first of an expected three this summer — will be visible, according to NASA. The occurrence, also called a “perigee moon,” takes place when the moon becomes full at the point of orbit when it’s closet to earth, making the moon “seem extra big and bright,” NASA reported on its website.  read more »

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The Navy's Newest Destroyer Is a Drone, the first ship with a brain of its own
Among the high-tech features included on the USS Zumwalt—cannons that fire rocket-propelled, GPS-guided rounds and stealth design that gives the 610-foot ship the radar signature of a small fishing vessel—there’s also a computer intelligence capable of preparing the ship for battle and engaging enemy targets on its own. Think of it as a gigantic floating drone: “Most UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] are a few million dollars,” says Wade Knudson, who heads the Zumwalt project for Raytheon (RTN), which made most of the ship’s computer systems. “This is a $5 billion UAV.”  read more »

Skip the plastic, save a fish. Texas-sized ocean garbage vortex found in Pacific, plastic sea trash doesn't biodegrade

More Ocean Graphics on PInterest

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June 8th is World Oceans Day

Oceans are the largest ecosystems on Earth, they are the Earth’s largest life support systems. To survive and prosper, we all need healthy oceans. Oceans generate half of the oxygen people breathe. At any given moment, more than 97% of the world’s water resides in oceans. Oceans provide a sixth of the animal protein people eat. They’re the most promising source of new medicines to combat cancer, pain and bacterial diseases. Living oceans absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reduce the impact of climate change.  read more »

Above: 2 cruise ships, 2 captains on the run
Capt. Lee Joon-seok of the Sewol
Capt. Francesco Schettino who was in command of the cruise ship Costa Concordia

The heroes: when HMS Birkenhead, a British ship, began to sink off the coast of S Africa in 1852, there were not enough serviceable lifeboats for all the passengers, and the soldiers famously stood firm, allowing the women and children to board the boats safely.

The heroine: Park Jee Young, 22, who by witness accounts helped passengers escape the S. Korea ship Sewol, 102 years to the day since the Titanic sank in April 1912.

The hero: Capt. Edward J. Smith went down with the Titanic. The Cunard liner RMS Carpathia arrived on the scene where she brought aboard an estimated 705 survivors.

From S. Korea TV - astonishing video of final minutes of stricken ship Sewol. Heartbreaking tragedy.

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Abandon ship? In recent maritime disasters, captains don't hang around  read more »