RichC | May 13, 2014
The team at Ocearch tagged a Great White Shark they named Katharine off the Cape Cod coast of Massachusetts in August of 2013, but this 14+ foot 2,300 pound “immature” female has been checking out the Florida coastline and yesterday a beach near Sebastian. A few more miles south and we might see her poke […]
RichC | May 1, 2014
It’s that time of year … time for eggs to hatch and baby Mourning Doves to start growing their feathers. Our pair does a fine job of leaving their “pigeon-like” mess everywhere too. Each year I wonder where their chicks go? Short MP3 audio clip — Mourning Dove calls
RichC | April 10, 2014
The 2014-2015 Ohio hunting season calendar and new straight-walled cartridge rifles option for deer gun season were announced on Thursday 4/10/2014. Ohio Wildlife Council Approves 2014-2015 Hunting Regulations COLUMBUS, OH – The Ohio Wildlife Council approved new white-tailed deer hunting regulations at its meeting on Wednesday, April 9, according to the Ohio Department of Natural […]
RichC | April 8, 2014
Is a helium filled floating wind turbine practical? Alaeros has already tested theirs tethered at 500 feet and is attempting a world record 1000 foot where the winds are stronger and steadier. Hmm, perhaps instead of mounting a wind turbine atop a stainless steel pole on our sailboat I should rig a floating turbine in […]
RichC | April 3, 2014
As the U.S. continues to delay and “study” the Keystone pipeline as a way to efficiently move North American crude oil from east of the Rocky Mountains in both Canada and the Dakota Bakkans to Texas refineries, other options and pathways are moving forward. Energy pipeline company Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P. ($KMP) held a […]
RichC | March 12, 2014
I keep thinking that something has got to give in Washington DC when it comes to the how the Obama administration and many in congress bog down the greatness of our country. The lack of an economic recovery is hurting the middle class and there isn’t a commonsense reason for it. Take the debate over […]
RichC | February 23, 2014
People have been fascinated with the intelligence of dolphins and this amazing video of a bottlenose dolphin coming up to a diver during a night diver in seek of help will continue that fascination. Watching this and knowing what “man” does to them has me wondering who is really the most humane?
RichC | February 23, 2014
Ocean and marine life preservation is a noble cause and something I’ve supported and have been part of since the 1970’s, but I’m not fond of sending misleading messages. The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s ecommerce “shop” website is using an attention getting image (artwork) portraying a diver swimming face to face with a Great White […]
RichC | January 13, 2014
Here’s a beautiful satellite photo from NASA showing the ice formation on Lake Erie from January 9, 2014 and a link to an interesting Discovery Magazine blog post discussing ice on the Great Lakes. Since I grew up on the south shore of Lake Erie and a lot of time “recreating” in all seasons on several […]
RichC | January 11, 2014
It’s been interesting watching the track of Katharine, (a GPS tagged 14’2” immature 2300 pound Great White Shark) this week along the north and central coast of Florida using the global shark tracker iPhone app from Ocearch.org. In previous posts watching Mary Lee (a 16 foot 3456 pound Great White) we saw her well south […]
RichC | December 5, 2013
I purchased a new 12 watt LED bulb for reading(larger bulb in left of photo) that promised to offer a few more “soft but bright” lumens from my chair side lamp. I “was” using two Cree LED bulbs (smaller bulb in left photo), but the light output still wasn’t comparable to a good three-way incandescent […]
RichC | August 18, 2013
A friend shared a video a YouTuber, Amy Siewe, collecting Northern Water Snakes a couple years ago and he asked me if we were concerned about snakes crawling aboard when we sailed on Lake Erie … my answer was “no, we never even though about it.” It is interesting to see the perception people have […]
RichC | August 7, 2013
Depressing … “A [Japanese] government official told reporters Wednesday that an estimated 300 metric tons (330 tons) of contaminated water was leaking into the ocean every day …” LINK
RichC | July 20, 2013
I might wear the “invisibility cloak” swim skin or wetsuit if it offers protection from ocean rash or as SPF sunblock (UVA and UVB protection), but am not sure the white and black horizontally striped suit is for me? On the other hand, if I were swimming in waters that are regularly visited by those […]
RichC | June 20, 2013
Karen Hutton of KarenHuttonPhotography posted a gorgeous photo from Makapu’u Lookout in Oahu, Hawaii yesterday that makes me want to return to Hawaii. (our 2006 trip) Her description was nice too: I could almost see the curvature of the earth on the horizon… it was dizzying! And wonderful, and blue, green, gorgeous and stunning. I […]
RichC | May 24, 2013
Location: Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, Townsend, GA, USA Photographer: Mary Ellen Urbanski was at Bluebill Pond when she saw what she thought was an alligator sunning itself on a stump. On a side note and as an interest to aviation history buffs, the “now” Harris Neck NWR was once a WW2 Army airfield for […]
RichC | April 22, 2013
Although we were hoping the tulips would be in bloom for Katelyn and Drew’s wedding (tulips for the “Dutch” Oostra … not that it mattered), they didn’t quite start blossoming until the other day. In fact everything is now blooming and the smells are fantastic. Even the less desirable “flowers!” (below)
RichC | April 18, 2013
I’ve been sort of monitoring the sharks along the Florida coast for a couple years and with the advanced GPS locators tagging a few Great Whites, the migrations are amazing. A story from the Key West Keynoter newspaper seems to have one even farther south than Mary Lee. A Massachusetts man diving with his father […]
RichC | January 9, 2013
Jacksonville, Florida beachgoers (although it is a bit cold for swimming) have had a large visitor named Mary Lee the last few days. I seems a 16-1/2 foot 3500 pound great white shark has been wandering very close to shore. Ocearch, a shark research group, has tagged and is tracking “Mary Lee” on a website […]
RichC | November 6, 2012
Our resident Great Blue Heron has decided to take up a new perch which irritates our dog Tootsie to no end. I’m not particularly happy with the dropping on the roof either, but having a large bird like this sitting on one’s roof does make for an impressive sight when driving up the driveway (unlike […]
RichC | October 30, 2012
The Tesla S could be the car which convince a few more anti-EVers to give electric vehicles a second look. I’m not saying that I’m given up gas and diesel cars or hybrid options, but I can see that the future for EV is bright. When car guys like Jay Leno can justify having an […]
RichC | October 21, 2012
Too good to pass up … sharing from a Facebook post. Posted via email from RichC’s posterous
RichC | October 19, 2012
… but please close your mouth. 🙂
RichC | October 12, 2012
You know those scary campfire stories that we’ve all told or heard while growing up? Well here’s one that could be adapted for beachgoers along the Atlantic coast of Florida – Jaws was getting old anyway. I’m going to ask a good friend who’s daughter is a marine biologist … but until then, the […]
RichC | October 8, 2012
I think I may have spotted my next boat country. If you have a few bucks to spare, let’s have one built as their might be a spare room or two.
RichC | October 6, 2012
RichC | August 12, 2012
After posting the gentile dolphin video clip for today’s blog post, I remembered that Sunday is actually the beginning of Shark Week 2012 on the Discovery channel … and it’s not just any week, but the 25th anniversary. The attraction is most likely programming such as “Air Jaws” highlighting video of the Great White Sharks […]
RichC | August 10, 2012
I’m not sure every enviro-type defines having large snapping turtles as problem, but we’ve lost more ducklings to turtles than I can count. In fact, of the 10+ years of ducklings that have hatched and were spotted swimming around their mother, I don’t think one has made it into the air? Each day the ducks […]
RichC | July 16, 2012
This may not be a current story (April 2012), but this weekend I read about a fisherman hauling home a gigantic 20 foot, 2000 pound Great While Shark. The large fish was a chore to bring in and was found dead tangled in his nets in the Sea of Cortez near Guaymas Mexico. This hefty […]
RichC | July 3, 2012
Just curious … why would someone lease a small somewhat less than comfortable car for $389/month and only be able to drive it 12,000 miles per year when there are so many better options? Even if it does get 118mpg … it would be hard to make up the $175/month ($6300) in fuel savings during […]
RichC | June 20, 2012
I may have started a trend the last couple days in posting the shark and ocean photos … so here are a couple more from a link forwarded by a friend. Hmm, how fast can you swim … or below a meeting between a not so friendly Bull Shark and a diver doing her best […]
RichC | April 22, 2012
I’ve been following Ben Erikson’s sailing, great photos and videos since he was sailing his NorSea … a boat like we once owned. Over the years he has used his talents to share information on a couple blogs while he reconditioned his sailboats (plural) – the most recent his BCC Elizabeth. Eventually he met up […]
RichC | April 18, 2012
In the late 60s and 70s, polyester clothing was popular (think leisure suits) and plastics were making their way in to products that were traditionally made of natural materials. Back then, we would joke about ranchers herding up the wild “Naugas” to fill the demand for naugahyde (the pleather of the day). But the fake […]
RichC | April 2, 2012
Although this has probably been around a few years, the NASA‘s Perpetual Ocean is as artistic as it is informative. Those who transit the oceans of the world know the power of currents … this video illustrates how prevalent ocean currents are.
RichC | March 24, 2012
We have a few homemade cleaners around our house, but are too quick to buy others at the store without thinking about them. Here are a few greener options that Elizabeth Kwak-Hefferan of Grist that she put to the test. Of course these are organic and earthy for those leaning “hippy,” but nothing wrong with […]
RichC | March 21, 2012
The unseasonably warm weekend prior and first day of spring brought a bit of clean up to the Corbett yard and with that our semi-annual bonfire (we have one spring and fall – or kid gatherings). While we are probably burning the dead wood and yard debris in violation of some kind of local township […]
RichC | March 18, 2012
Since each year I’ve either looked at, blogged about or taken a photo of the White Star Magnolia we planted for Brenda back on Mother’s Day in 2008, I’ll include a macro video test with the little waterproof Kodak Playsport Zx5 pocket camera. (hint: don’t use the macro setting for this) The flowers have been […]
RichC | March 14, 2012
Interesting educational video explaining the super moon a little over a month away in May 2012. A couple of the points were interesting, such as the word “lunacy” (lunar) coming from the folklore of strange things happening under a full moon. The couple centimeters of tidal change also surprised me. It was less than I […]
RichC | March 13, 2012
Strange story about the Loop Current that runs around the southern tip of Florida and a three month voyage of the abandoned Lucky Dog (previous story). PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL – A boat that sank in the Gulf of Mexico in December has reappeared – on a beach on the east coast of Florida. […]
RichC | December 6, 2011
I don’t watch the BBCLife or NatGeo all that regularly, I do appreciate their fantastic documentaries and brilliant filming. In the above video a Killer Whale passes her unique skills to her calf in hunting elephant seals. The “low volume” audio in this clip describes the danger and intelligence required by these animals to navigate […]
RichC | November 3, 2011
I’m at traditionalist when it comes to cars and am attracted to the rumble of an internal combustion engine and tactile sensation of shifting gears, preferably manual. But the world is changing and new cars have sophisticated automatics or are going gearless (CVTs) … and expect more and more cars with tiny engines to include […]
RichC | October 31, 2011
A reader knowing that I’ve posted pictures of kayakers and whales in the past forwarded me a link with a couple humpback whales off of California that looked to be uncomfortably close to this guy (click image for larger). Someday “we humans” are going to get a little too close … I personally will not […]
RichC | October 21, 2011
A Redondo Beach California diver/kayaker posted some YouTube footage from his GoPro camera earlier in the week … and although I’m hesitant to see people get too close to an animal’s habitat, these close up images are pretty impressive.
RichC | August 27, 2011
Sort of reminds me of the of the 1875 St. Nicholas tale with the Gingerbread Man which ends like this: … He ran till he came to a river. And next to the river was a fox. The fox said, "Hello little gingerbread man." The gingerbread man said, "HELLO! I ran away from the little […]
RichC | August 2, 2011
Although EV only vehicles are the best fit for many of us, some might be a bit more comfortable if they knew where they could get a 20 minute charge. Personally don’t think we’ll see wide acceptance until universal wireless charging system are adopted widely available AND re-charging is offered as an incentive (discount). Perhaps […]
RichC | July 29, 2011
President Obama announces the new fuel efficiency standards with a few early jokes regarding his daughter and driving before stressing the prices of fuel and the demand “worldwide” for oil. His “fix” is to take steps to control prices through and energy strategy that 1) increase domestic production, 2) getting rid of tax subsidies to […]
RichC | July 9, 2011
My neighbor send me a link and an email (below) since we spend a few minutes each week cleaning up the ditch and roadside. The first 25 feet along the back of our property is usually scattered with cans, bottles, litter, etc and needs to be picked up before mowing. Kids are putting Drain-o, tin […]
RichC | June 25, 2011
On of the most interesting stories this week had little to do with politics, the economy or the wars and “not” wars involving US troops around the world – instead it has to do with a newly discovered and previously unknown indigenous tribe in the Western Amazon (Brazil). The group believed to be as many […]
RichC | May 28, 2011
The new Chattanooga, Tennessee Volkswagen plant opened this past week (May 24, 2011) and is an example of how VW incorporates its trademarked ThinkBlue initiative. Here’s hoping the trend continues to the cars they build in America … the new 2012 Volkswagen Passat and Passat TDI clean diesel. Below is a chart from the ThinkBlue […]
RichC | May 27, 2011
I’ve been watching (but not participating) in the initial public offering of Solazyme (SZYM), one of the first algae based biofuel companies to come to the market. Although they haven’t been trading for much more than an hour, the price well well above their $10 target and $19.70 open. As I post this over my […]
RichC | April 18, 2011
If you live between Dayton and Cincinnati and drive a B99 biodiesel capable car (word of caution for some of the latest models), you can now fill up for substantially less than the current $4-plus/gallon price of petroleum diesel … and do your part to help the environment. Biodiesel is now available on a regular […]
RichC | April 11, 2011
It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything about biodiesel … perhaps because I’m not driving a diesel vehicle at the moment. Nevertheless, the promise of “growing fuel” is better then ever considering the panic we find ourselves in over the high price of fuel. Currently I’m seeing regular unleaded gasoline at $3.80/gallon and a […]
RichC | April 8, 2011
After arriving home late last night Brenda wanted me to see the flowering White Star Magnolia flowers … so I indulged her and walked out to look at them with her … and snapped a weak LED flash photo with my Palm Pre smartphone. Little did she know, I had already been looking at them […]
RichC | March 30, 2011
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RichC | March 28, 2011
A friend of mine sent a link to the Norfolk Botanical Garden’s Bald Eagle Cam … wow! Thanks Clyde. Click for live streaming site
RichC | March 26, 2011
Interesting fish … and the people that ‘greet’ them: Grunions. I’m surprised I didn’t know about them, although suspect if I lived in southern California I would? (see Grunion.org) What is a grunion? California grunion are a species of marine fish found only along the coast of southern California and northern Baja California. They are […]
RichC | March 20, 2011
Although my ‘supermoon’ photo from Saturday night isn’t one of the better ones from across the country, I did head outside to admire the “brightest moon since 1993.” The moon appear in its full phase just 50 minutes shy of the orbit that brings it closest to the earth … perigee. According to what I’ve […]
RichC | February 27, 2011
Duke Energy, our electricity utility, was kind enough to ship me a nice size box of compact florescent lamps at no charge to replace our existing bulbs. I can’t say that I was surprised to see that they are made in China, but I sure would rather they be manufactured in the United States – […]
RichC | February 1, 2011
Should I show this to my wife (or hold back) before she heads out for her hours of long distance swimming off Florida’s Gold Coast? I’ve never seen that many sharks in one place and am surprised to see that many migrating in such tight schools along Florida’s east coast. [flv:Sharks_spotted_PalmBeach.flv 490 260] Pilot Steve […]
RichC | January 23, 2011
For those who might be interested in what is happening in transportation here in Ohio (and the nation), Clean Fuels Ohio is hosting a lecture and a facilities tour at the Ohio State University Center for Automotive Research. The February 16th lunch will be a great opportunity to hear about the changes coming to the […]