#Marine Oil Change San Diego

[coasttocoastmarineservice]

Coast to Coast Marine Services is a leading Boat Broker in San Diego agency that provides an advanced feature and premium quality of boats in the marine industry. To buy or sell a boat, contact, or book an appointment now.

[nityarawal]

9/22/23

Targeting- 

(Not A Hasbeen!!!!)

Morning Songs

Russel Brand

Is Not A Hasbeen

Russel Brand

Isn't Just A Label

For U.K.'s

Geese

A

Golden Goose

Charlotte Had

Dollar Signs

In Her Eyes

First Summer Abroad

Celebrity Struck

Wouldn't Even

Take A Picture

With @RustyRockets

She Remembered 

Him

When He Was A

Tabloid Star

Trafficked In

London

By People

Who Pretended

To Love Him

To Be Journalists 

Her Auntie

Renuka

Taught Art At

Russ's Private

School

Academy

Renuka Rawal Barnes Abraham

My @X Sister-In-Law

Taught

Textile Design

Until Her

Husband Roger

"Was Made Redundant"

Then Hired

At Russel's Academy

Recruited Too

She Brought His School

Another Laborer

Cuckholded

A 2nd Class Citizen

Her 

Soon To Be "X"

Husband

Roger

On Last Legs

"A Trojan,"

Sunil Commended Him

Running

Into Your School

Always At Your Side

With A GPS

At Mark's & Spencer

Gas Station 

Runs

He Arrived

Was It Him

Or Her

That Made CPS

Abuse Kids

From School

A Partner

Trolling

Celebrity

Hungry

Moldy

My Mother-In-Law

Patricia Rawal Campbell

An Elizabethan Miniature 

Painter

Art Teacher

Shakespeare's

Yogi Capturer

Ma

Reiki Master

Kwan Yin Yogini

Elizabeth Taylor

Black Lidded

Gypsy Eyed

Priestess

Once A Generic

Jones

2nd Gen

Irish 

Genocide

Now A Campbell

Ruled By Young

Boytoy

HP Tech Bro Who

Stole Her Brown

Buddha Boys

& Grand Kids

Gautama's Baes

Buddha's For Courts

Einstein Geniuses

Cambridge Prodigy

Analytica Marine Spies

Intelligence

Maritime Dr's

Like Navy Seals

Pushing Gag

Orders

Dr. Sunil "Christopher" Rawal

Neo-Nazi

Said

About His Brother

Krishna

Who Failed Dharma

Yogi Karma

Bhagad Vad Gita

Averting Dilemmas

Dramas

Wars

'Cuz He's Got No Morals

Nor

Righteous Compass

For He's Been

A Silent Uncle

Like Haydn

How Can You Take

A Plea

When San Diego

Marines

Abuse Thee

Judges

And Officers

Raped Kids

And Me

What Is My Crime 

"A Mothers' Cult"

Says Oath Keeper Sheriff

Chad Bianco

About Divorcees

To The Riverside

DA Michael Hestrin 

Papers

Bros Say

Sheriff Drinks

With Gang

Daily

And IEHP

Court Ordered

Therapist Dr. Tima Ivanova

Can't Get

A Pathology Report

From Him; Our Riverside Coroner

Investigator 

That Gave Jessie

A One Liner

In Idyllwild Town

Crier

Paper

And Doubles

As Pathologist

Sheriff

Illegally

Working With Idy

Drug Lord's

It Seems

But Who Follows

Us

Just Me

Who Follows Us

Just Me

Whose Gagged

Raped

Bled

Nearly Stabbed

With Lymes

By Lewd Klu Klux Klan

Militia

Skinheads

Plan B

Ticks

Robbers

Just Me

Just You

When You Gonna

Get Your Bearings

Just Me

Just You

Wanna Know 

What I Thought

Every Time I Met

Russel Brand

A Whimsical 

Adoring Artist

Fan

Devoted To David Lynch

Wanna Know

What I Thought

Just A Kid

In 2009

Scrawny

Pretty

New

Ex Patriot

I Slung My

Bae

And Went To Donovan's

Show

With Minette

In Hollywood

My Young Sexy Doula

With A Hibiscus Flower Behind Her Ear 

And My Newborn

Paparazzi

Everywhere

Wanna Know

What I Felt

Really Safe

VIP Lounge

With Lila

Eden-

Wallace's

From MUM 

College

VIP Lounge

After Party

Hiding Out

Escaping

For Pancakes

Breastfeeding

Anj 1st

Whose That Gopi

Gypsy Boy

Skinny Budding

In His Skin

Lighting Up

Young Hipster

Doug Henning

Magician In

Reception Lines

Serving David Lynch

A Right Hand Man

Like Maharishi

Mahesh Yogi

Himself

and Skin Boys

Johnny Grey

Alike

With Guru Dev

A Teacher

Disciple

Relationship

Johnny Grey

Skinboy

To Cleanse

To Transform

Make "The Change"

From Trafficking 

England

"Men Are From Mars,

Women From

Venus,"

Says New Age Lovers

"X" Barbara Deangelis

Teaching

Polarity

Wanna Know What

We Thought

When We Took

Newborn Baby

Anj

To Her First 

Concert

In Hollywood

6 Weeks Old

Out Of

Encinitasbeachhome.com 

After "Oil" Mother Baby Ayurvedic Program

In Hollywood

At The "El Rey"

Theater

I Felt Safe

With Russel

I Trust My Compass

Intuition 

Not A Lawyer

Trying To Smear

Another Hasbeen

Misunderstood

Before His Time

Just A Humble Dad

Resisting A Hologram

"Branding" Him

Eternally

Like Michael Jackson

Britney Spears

Britney Murphy Holocaust

#Ye Fights

From Conservators

Kimmy #2.

Bianca Trans

Forced Drugs

Plea Bargains

Handlers

We Fought For You

And Demand

Our Reperations

Forced Drugs

Plea Bargains

Removed

We Fought For You

And Demand

"Quash It" 

Our Reparations 

#Metoo

Merci

Beaucoup

Met Russel Brand

Once Again

At A LA Comedy

Fundraiser

For DLF

In 2012

Went For Jerry

Seinfeld

To Introduce

'X's" Half-Bro's Debutante Niece

From UK

Charlotte

But Russel Brand

Kissed My Forehead

Like Jesus Christ

Himself

Before Her

Wafting Up

Smelling Of

Nag Champ

Up Close

After Meditation

Charlotte Took Our Picture

Smelling Sweet

A Cloud Of Incense

Like Nag Champa 

Beside Me

Pure

Who Wouldn't Fall

Into That Divine

Embrace

Yummy Mummy

50 Pounds Overweight

Felt "Hot" For A

Minute

Certainly 

Who Wouldn't 

Ma

Don't You Want A

Picture Too

Russel Asked Charlotte

Don't You Want

A Picture Too

We Both Offered

Patiently

She Was Stuck Up

Snobby

Greenwashed

London- Berry

Spun Doctored

On UK Tabloids

Grooming

Lies

Dr's Bribes

Not Even Your

Smart "Bookie-Wook"

She Recommended

Swayed Her

Your Books

"A Good Read"

She Admits

Could Change

Her Judgements

Though She Ordered

"Bookie Wook 2,"

Hungrily

Greedily

For Brits Abroad

Desperately

Or Were

They Bribes

For Nonce Charles

First A Barnes

Before Rawal 

A Loyal Niece

To An Art Teacher

First A Barnes

Then A Rawal

Her Step Grandfather 

Was The 1st 

Keith

Of 3

In Rawal Child

Abducting

First A Barnes

Than A Rawal

She Studied Textile Design

Like Auntie Ren

First Barnes

Than A Rawal

Neanderthal-Indian

In A Hybrid Skin

Got Her A Job

Mentoring

With Peter Dunham

At "Lucky" Denim

1st A Barnes

Like Amelia Airheart

Pilot 

Expatriot

"Victor" Galore

1st Job

We're Those Char's Textiles

That Cloaked

Josh Radnor's

Cushions

In New Story

About Hollywood Home

Were Those

Char's Prints

That Covered

Josh's "New" Couch

In His "New" Home

After A Restraining 

Order

Forced A Move

By Broker "Anderson"

Court's

Culprits

From Hollywood Reservoir

To Silverlake

Is That Char's 

Design

Emulating British

Mandalas

Mesmerizing 

Hypnotizing 

Into

Bribes

A "JOB"

Money

Bucks

Prostitution

For A Yogini Maiden

Who Said, "No Thankyou"

Snottily

Snobbily

To Russel Brand's 

Invitation

Gaslighting

A Blush

Justifying

A Decline

Of Loyalty

Why

She Wouldn't Touch Him

Nor Take A Photo

Together

Almost Allergic

To Memorialising

Russel

From What 

Tabloids Had Done

To Rape Him

A Poppet

Drugged

She Wouldn't Touch

Him- A Yogi

Smelling Of "Nag

Champ" Incense...

[sciencespies]

Why Some of Darwin's Finches Evolved to Drink Blood

https://sciencespies.com/news/why-some-of-darwins-finches-evolved-to-drink-blood/

Why Some of Darwin's Finches Evolved to Drink Blood

The Galápagos Islands are home to 13 different Darwin’s finch species that evolved from one common ancestor. Each of these finches adapted to their environment and adjusted their diet accordingly. Some finches prefer a modest diet of seeds, flower nectar, pollen and insects. Other finches prefer to drink the blood of large sea birds.

On Darwin and Wolf islands, part of a large marine sanctuary on the Galápagos archipelago, there lives an unlikely oddity: a blood-sucking finch. First spotted in 1964, the vampire ground finch, Geospiza septentrionalis, uses its razor-sharp beak to pierce the wings of a large sea bird called the Nazca booby, Sula granti, and drinks its blood. The odd behavior has fans of the BBC’s new David Attenborrough nature documentary, “Perfect Planet,” fascinated with the so-called vampire finches, reports Ibrahim Sawal for New Scientist, with many left asking: but why do they do this?

Drinking blood may seem like an unusual diet for the finches, but considering the finch’s ability to adapt, it is not too surprising. Finches likely arrived on Darwin and Wolf islands 500,000 years ago, and have managed to make it work ever since. Darwin’s finches have been studied since Charles Darwin, an English naturalist best known for his contributions to evolutionary science, first arrived on the Galápagos Islands in September 1835. Darwin observed the differences in the finches’ diet on various islands and later observed their beak sizes. Beak size changed as the finches developed different tastes for available food. Island isolation often forces the finches to adapt to available food resources.

Vampire finches on Wolf Island- Galapagos, and its victims the Masked Boobies. Happy Halloween! #bloodthirst #bloodshed pic.twitter.com/TgqqDayDqq

— Jaime A. Chaves (@chavecito76) October 31, 2020

Because the islands are remote, even compared to other islands in the archipelago region, they are extremely harsh to live on, where food can disappear during the dry season. Vampire finches living alongside sea birds, including the red-footed and Nazca boobies, resorted to eating parasites that resided on these large bird’s feathers and skin. The finches likely got a taste for blood when removing the parasites created open wounds. Eventually, the finches learned how to access blood by picking away at larger birds’ wings and drinking it. Vampire finches will resort to drinking blood for survival when they can’t find other food sources like seeds and insects, writes researchers Kiyoko Gotanda, Daniel Baldassarre, and Jaime Chavez to the Conversation. But blood is low in necessary nutrients and too high in salt and iron, Joshua Sokol reported for the New York Times in 2019, so it’s more of a stopgap solution for food scarcity.

The Conversation authors were part of a team that found the vampire finch can survive on blood when resources are low because of unique bacteria other carnivorous birds and reptiles have in their guts. (Their work was published in the journal Microbiome in 2018.)

Building on their work, a 2019 study led by Se Jin Song, a biologist at the University of California San Diego, found that vampire finches and the vampire bats have a type of gut bacteria in common, Peptostreptococcaceae, which may help both species process and digest sodium and iron.

Even if it’s not the most efficient way to obtain nourishment, when there is no food to go around, vampire finches don’t hold back, attacking both adult boobies and their chicks, reported Matt Simon for Wired in 2014.

“They seem to be purposefully going up to a booby chick in the nest, and they peck at the base of their tail where they have oil glands, and they make it bleed, and they drink the blood,” Ken Petreb, an evolutionary ecologist at the University of Cincinnati who was not involved in the study, told Wired.

#News

[prorevenge]

Veteran Mechanic taking advantage of active duty military and retirees messes with the wrong person and his buddy goes down with him.

When this started all I was trying to do was get out of paying for something I didn’t need and never asked for. By the end I was going for blood as someone else enacted their revenge.

This happened back in 2002 on Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego. I was stationed down the way at 32nd Street Naval Base for my MIlitary Occupation Specialty school and was a new Lance Corporal (E3) at the time. I had a 1994 Dodge Spirit with 180K miles or so and I’d just driven it across the country. I bought it a few days before leaving KS at an Auto auction. A couple weeks into my school it died, at the gate, next to the sentry.

After an initial freak out that I was a suicide bomber and the subsequent search of me and my car everyone calms down and they help push my car to the top of the hill so I can coast down the other side and into the auto repair shop parking lot which thankfully went without incident.

Before I go in I call my dad and then his cousin. My dad knows a ton about cars and his cousin is a mechanic with his own very successful shop (like a dozen work bays and they handle everything from regular cars to farm equipment to semis). I know a fair bit about cars on my own but he knows everything. Between us we decide it looks like the distributor or the distributor cap is the issue. My dad’s cousin says it’s a common issue on Spirits from this time and recommends I get it fixed here by a real mechanic. Now at this point it’s important to note his shop did a very thorough once over for me after I bought the car and gave me good notes on the condition of the car in writing, from his shop.

I go in and talk to the guy at the counter. They’re not too busy and pull it into a bay and run their diagnostics, same thing. Distributor cap. Cool. I get the services agreement saying they’ll replace it and call me if they find anything else. I hear nothing until the end of the week when they call and say my car is ready. When I get there they present me with a bill for like $1400!

Wow. Just wow. Now my heart has stopped beating and I say something about that being a lot for a distributor cap. The guy who owns the place (I find out he’s a veteran from way back) breaks off talking to a Master Sergeant (MSgt - E8) and comes over to talk to me. He starts telling me about how it was much worse than they originally thought and they ended up having to replace my radiator (plus hoses) and my timing belt and a head gasket. I’m still in shock and say something like the head gasket was fine two weeks ago and so was the radiator and the timing. He puts his hand on my shoulder and tells me I don’t know what I’m talking about bc they’ve been waiting to fail for a long time now.

I’m confused now and say that’s not possible. I bought it two weeks ago and... He cuts me off and says I was sold a complete lemon and I should have had it checked. He says he felt bad for me and this should have cost over $2000 but he cut me a deal and he can work with me in an installment plan but will have to charge me interest. Now I’m suspicious and starting to get pissed and I say the only repair I authorized was a distributor cap and they should have called me before doing anything else and I start to explain I’ve got paperwork from the inspection I had done that said those other things were fine. I’m going to get it from the car and the MSgt grabs me by the arm and starts telling me I’m being ungrateful and disrespectful to a respected mechanic and business owner and asks me if I’m implying he’s cheating me. Every time I try to open my mouth he cuts me off and keeps telling the owner not to worry, he’ll make sure this young pup pays what is owed. He’s threatening to take me over to admin and have my pay docked.

Now I’m angry and a bit scared. Another Marine intervenes and says that’s a little extreme and to let me say my piece. I get permission to get into my car to get my maintenance history which includes an oil change, the inspection documentation and the original quote for the distributor cap work. At this point there’s a crowd of customers and some other passers by. The owner of the garage and MSgt are in full theater mode talking about how I’m not appreciating the huge help they’ve been and I’m trying to get out of paying for work I asked for. Now I’m mostly just pissed.

I come in and the MSgt cuts me off and tells me to be careful how I talk to his friend. I ask the MSgt if he’s going to let me speak or keep interrupting me while I’m in a private conversation with a business owner. I ask him if he owns part of the shop (no) and ask why he’s so interested in not hearing a Marine out. Then I get out the original statement of services and say the distributor cap is all I agreed to. I also ask why he didn’t call me and he says he called my barracks several times and left messages including ones telling me the car was undrivable until the repairs were made so he went with the lowest cost option to get me back on the road. Oops. I say, that’s interesting, the only number I gave you is my cell phone and I don’t have any messages or even attempted calls until the previous evening when they left a message that my car was ready. I show everyone my call history (including a Captain who’s very interested and standing quietly by). The MSgt has backed off and the Capt is quietly talking to him off on the side.

Now the owner is backpedaling a bit and saying he was thinking of a different customer but he’s already made the replacement and has to charge me for the work. Then I pull out the stuff from the inspection and it has some fun little statements in it. Statements like: Timing belt good, timing good. Check again in 30K miles. Radiator, appears to be recently replaced. All hoses new in last 6 months. Nothing on the head gasket but there’s a statement that there are no leaks in that area which was why he said he had to replace it. I say he can put all of my original stuff back on because all I’m paying for is the distributor cap work. He gets red faced and starts demanding I pay for the labor and he can’t put things back on because they were too badly damaged in the removal process.

Now some old retired guy chimes in from the back and asks “what kind of mechanic damages things when they take them apart?” The owner drags out my radiator and there is a giant hole in one side that looks like it was stabbed with a crowbar. Now a couple other people (locals) are questioning past situations where he ‘helped them’ out with repairs they didn’t know they needed. The MSgt tried to walk off and a Colonel and a Sergeant Major in civilian attire post him to the side for a later conversation. The Capt pulls me aside and asks to see the info I have and to see my phone again and steps behind the counter to photocopy it all. He has a truly evil grin. Turns out he’s a prior Enlisted former infantry Marine who became an Officer after going back to college. He has suspected this shop of being crooked for a while but never had enough proof. He’s on the commanding general’s staff and they were looking into complaints from permanent personnel and retirees in the area. The owner is sweating bullets now. I only pay for the distributor cap and get a statement that says my balance is zero so he doesn’t try anything in the future.

The Capt takes me to dinner and gets my info and basically a statement from me of what happened. After dinner he takes me back to his office while he types up something for me to sign about the whole incident and I call Verizon to get them to fax over the incoming / outgoing calls from my number from the past week. He explains that the MSgt has been steering a lot of customers to his buddy and they suspect he’s getting kick backs. The Capt and several others have been taking their cars there for months to try to catch the guy doing what he did to me. The MSgt sealed his fate when he started threatening to take my pay. They suspected he was getting kickbacks or favors in exchange for hooking up his buddy. Now he has the justification he needs to formally look into the MSgt. The Capt was thrilled and bought me a 6 pack for using up so much of my Friday evening.

I wasn’t around long enough to see the outcome but when I left there were auditors from base services going through the business with a fine tooth comb and it was a legal matter. Once something like that gets started it probably means a business and the owners will get kicked out of the on base location (the base owns the building and the owner leases it). He and his business would also end up blacklisted as a place known for taking advantage of service members. Most commands give this out to people who check in so no one patronizes them.

It still boggles my mind that one veteran would try to use that status to take advantage of others. Or that a senior Marine would do that to other Marines. I know there are people out there like that but having the shared common background we do, I expect better.

(source) story by (/u/earthrogue)

[papermoonloveslucy]

MARILYN MONROE

June 1, 1926 - August 4, 1962

Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson) was an actress, model, and singer. Famous for playing comedic "blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s and was emblematic of the era's changing attitudes towards sexuality. She was a top-billed actress for only a decade, but her films grossed $200 million by the time of her death in 1962. More than half a century later, she continues to be a major popular culture icon.

"When I was five I think, that's when I started wanting to be an actress. I didn't like the world around me because it was kind of grim, but I loved to play house. When I heard that this was acting, I said that's what I want to be. Some of my foster families used to send me to the movies to get me out of the house and there I'd sit all day and way into the night. Up in front, there with the screen so big, a little kid all alone, and I loved it.” ~ Marilyn Monroe,1962

Lucille Ball never worked with Marilyn Monroe, but meet her in 1953 at Ciro’s Nightclub on Sunset Strip, along with Betty Grable, and Red Skelton. Monroe’s immense popularity permeated Ball’s work none-the-less. 

At the start of “Changing the Boys’ Wardrobe” (ILL S3;E10) the gang is heading to the movies to see “That picture we’ve been trying to get to for weeks with Marilyn Monroe.” The movie is likely Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which premiered in New York City in July 1953. On November 5, 1953, the same day the episode was filmed, Monroe’s new film How to Marry a Millionaire was released in the US. 

The November 1953 cover of TV and Movie Screen Magazine saw Lucy (in “The Camping Trip”) and Marilyn wearing the dress she wore on the May 1953 cover of Life Magazine promoting Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. 

Also on November 5, 1953, the town of Monroe, New York (60 miles from New York City) was temporarily renamed Marilyn Monroe.

The film later inspired much of the plot of “Second Honeymoon” (S5;E14), Lucy’s failed attempt to make their transatlantic crossing to Europe more than just a working vacation.    

Monroe’s dinner companion turns out to be a seven year-old boy, just like Lucy’s ping pong partner turns out to be young Kenneth Hamilton (Harvey Grant). 

Lucy gets stuck in a porthole just as Monroe did, also draping a blanket around her shoulders so passersby wouldn’t know what was really going on.

The idea for the burlap potato sack dresses in “Lucy Wants A Paris Gown” (ILL S5;E20) comes from Monroe’s real life. 

In 1951 Marilyn Monroe took a series of high fashion photographs wearing a potato sack as a response to a journalist who said that she might look sexier in a burlap sack than her usual fashion choices. 

Lucy first wore burlap at the end of “Mr. and Mrs. TV Show” (ILL S4;E24) as her scary version of a Phipps make-over.

In “Ricky’s Movie Offer” (ILL S4;E5) Lucy and Ethel argue about who looks more like Marilyn Monroe. 

While Lucy has the facial features, Ethel has the blonde hair. 

Fred (hilariously) settles the argument!  

In “Ricky’s Screen Test” (ILL S4;E7) a long list of Hollywood names are dropped in anticipation of hobnobbing with celebrities, including Marilyn Monroe. 

In “Lucy and Harpo Marx” (ILL S4;E28) Lucy wonders if Ethel might pass for Monroe to a near-sighted Carolyn Appleby. After Ethel tries to walk like Marilyn Monroe, Lucy decides that “nobody is that near-sighted!” Fred says that he looks more like Marilyn than either of them! 

In “Lucy and Superman” (ILL S6;E13), the Appleby’s come over for a social evening that Ethel calls “the bore war” because the couples only talk about their children. As the scene opens, Caroline is in mid-sentence talking about a Marilyn Monroe film.

CAROLINE: “...and he picked up Marilyn Monroe, slung her over his shoulder and carried her off!”

Although the title is never mentioned, the film they are discussing is Bus Stop, starring Marilyn Monroe and Don Murray. It was released in August 1956, two and a half months before this episode was filmed.

When “Lucy Does the Tango” (ILL S6;E20), she stuffs eggs down her blouse and Ethel stashes a some in her back pockets. Lucy tells her, “Whatever you do don’t try to walk like Marilyn Monroe,” but the ‘yolk’ is on Ethel when Fred suddenly enters through the kitchen door! 

In “Lucy the Gun Moll” (TLS S4;E25), Lucy plays Lucy Carmichael and Rusty Martin. The name Rusty Martin was probably derived from Lucy’s hair color and the surname of Mary Martin, who introduced the song “My Heart Belongs to Daddy” (music and lyrics by Cole Porter) in the 1938 Broadway musical Leave It to Me. Marilyn Monroe sang it in the 1960 film Let’s Make Love.  In that same film, Harry Cheshire, who played Sam Johnson in “Oil Wells” (ILL S3;E18), played Monroe’s father. Jerry Hausner (Jerry, Ricky’s Agent) and Joan Banks (Reporter Eleanor Harris in “Fan Magazine Interview”) played uncredited supporting roles. 

Lucy and Marilyn shared a leading man in handsome Keith Andes. Andes was Lucy’s male lead in Wildcat on Broadway, and later played was featured on three episodes of “The Lucy Show.”  

In 1952, he played opposite Marilyn in Clash By Night, an RKO picture. 

In “Lucy Gets Ricky on the Radio” (1952), the June 3, 1952 of Look Magazine actually had Lucille Ball and Marilyn Monroe on the cover!  Monroe was promoting Clash by Night, and Desi had written a feature on his wife for the magazine. So Marilyn actually did appear on “I Love Lucy” - if only in a still photo. 

Some Like It Hot (1959) is arguably one of Marilyn Monroe’s most popular films. What does it have in common with Lucille Ball? In 1958, both Lucy and Monroe were depicted at San Diego’s famous Del Coronado Hotel. It is the hotel that the Ricardo’s and Mertzes stay at in “Lucy Goes to Mexico” (LDCH S2;E1) as well as the backdrop for much of the film. Although Desilu filmed establishing footage of the hotel, the cast stayed in Hollywood, while Monroe went on location (as seen above). In “Lucy Goes to a Hollywood Premiere” (TLS S4;E20), Mr. Mooney says he wouldn’t buy a second hand nightie if it had been worn by Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot.

The Irving Berlin song “There’s No Business Like Show Business” was sung on “I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy Show.”  Although it was originally from the Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun (1946), it also served as the title and was performed (by Merman) in the Marilyn Monroe film There’s No Business Like Show Business in 1955. 

In 1952, Marilyn co-starred by Richard Widmark (”The Tour” ILL S4;E30) in the film noir drama Don’t Bother To Knock. The film also featured “Lucy” players Lurene Tuttle (Fine Arts League President), Verna Felton (Mrs. Porter), Gloria Blondell (Grace Foster), as well as Harry Bartell, Olan Soule, Robert Foulke, and Bess Flowers.

That same year, Monroe starred in We’re Not Married! opposite Lucy’s friend and former co-star Ginger Rogers, as well as Eve Arden (”Hollywood at Last!”), Paul Douglas (”Lucy Wants a Career”) and Eddie Bracken (Too Many Girls). 

One of Monroe’s most iconic moments came in March 1962 when she sang “Happy Birthday” as a birthday present to President John F. Kennedy in a public birthday celebration also attended by Lucy’s friends and co-stars Jack Benny, Jimmy Durante, Henry Fonda, Danny Kaye, Shirley MacLaine and Elliott Reid. A year later, Lucy Carmichael also gave Kennedy a present, a sugar cube replica of the White House on “The Lucy Show” with Elliott Reid doing Kennedy’s offstage voice as well as playing a small on-camera role! 

"I never quite understood it, this sex symbol. I always thought symbols were those things you clash together! That's the trouble, a sex symbol becomes a thing. I just hate to be a thing. But if I'm going to be a symbol of something I'd rather have it sex than some other things they've got symbols of." ~ Marilyn Monroe, 1962

Monroe was married (and divorced) three times: 

James Dougherty, Merchant Marine & Policeman (1942-46) 

Joe DiMaggio, Baseball Player (1954-55)

Arthur Miller, Playwright (1956-61)

In “Lucy is Enceinte” (ILL S2;E10), Fred gives Lucy a signed baseball for his future 'godson’. When he asks Lucy to read out the signature, she at first says “Spalding,” the ball’s brand name, but then finds it is signed by Joe DiMaggio.

In “Ragtime Band” (ILL S6;E21), Little Ricky asks his Uncle Fred: 

LITTLE RICKY: “Who’s Joe 'Maggio?” FRED: “'Who’s Joe 'Maggio?’ You talk more like your father everyday.”

In “Sales Resistance” (ILL S2;E17), Lucy compares herself to Willy Loman, the title character in Death of a Salesman, a Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Arthur Miller first produced on Broadway in 1949 and made into an Oscar-nominated film in 1951.  

Speaking of husbands, Desi Arnaz has something in common with Marilyn Monroe, too. Both of their souses were accused of being Communists by the House Un-American Activities Committee during the 1950s. Both Lucille and Arthur Miller were cleared of charges and their careers continued, although that was not true for many celebrities of the time. 

Monroe died on August 4, 1962. The toxicology report showed that the cause of death was acute barbiturate poisoning. Empty medicine bottles were found next to her bed. The possibility that Monroe had accidentally overdosed was ruled out because the dosages found in her body were several times over the lethal limit.

The character of Ginger, the movie star castaway on “Gilligan’s Island” (1964-67) was described during casting as a combination of Lucille Ball and Marilyn Monroe. Tina Louise had Lucy’s red (ginger) hair and Monroe’s shapely physique. The series also featured Natalie Schafer (Phoebe Emerson) as Mrs. Howell, and Alan Hale Jr. as the Skipper. Hale performed on “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy”. Series creator Sherwood Schwartz was a Lucy fan. His brother Elroy Schwartz actually wrote scripts for Lucille Ball. 

In the 2013 web-series “Ryan & Ruby” both Lucille Ball and Marilyn Monroe are given special thanks for their inspiration. The last name of star and creator Ryan Burton's character is "Carmichael", the same as Ball's character on the "The Lucy Show". In Ryan’s kitchen there are fridge magnets with photos of both Lucy and Marilyn.  

Lucy and Marilyn are street characters at Universal Studios theme parks, their iconic hair and costumes making them instantly recognizable.

The same day Marilyn Monroe was born in 1926, another Hollywood icon with connections to Lucille Ball was also born, Andy Griffith.  To read his birthday blog, click here! 

[arsalan-modjbafan]

Listen guys I'm pretty sure it was James Patel that killed that girl in my apartment that night after my first party at the chateau

If not a combination of them

And it was probably Travis stealing from everyone to pay his rent for awhile

Before subletting to Zach , perhaps

Once Ben Ryckman took my car keys and had me sleep on the couch

Their was a period of the night when I was blacked out

I recollect dancing with a super hot girl in red 👗

Then I don't remember much until they took my car keys in a swingers fashion

By then the entire house had been disbursed the party had ended it was around four AM

I think the Del Ray Club apartments would have had security camera footage of that

Part of it had to do with being able to get Texas registration stickers for my mother vehicle by way of phone calls when they expected me to perhaps change to CA plates and. Registration... But even then... I knew I weren't gonna relocate to California on a permanent basis

Pioneers technology in audio behavior control methods

Maybe I danced with a marine drop outs date or a dumb airforce cadettes cousin or something or another

They probably shot some gay porno like South Park where Cartman puts his penis inside Butters mouth as he's asleep and spreads the photos around their elementary school campus

I'm sure they recorded some gay porn because

Call on Andrew figure row ah and Kyle Bon Ich E to set the record straight

I get what he means that he fought for me and why Stephen and I was the last two pledge recruits for them

They was trying to pump their member numbers up

Dean Ekpa were pimping Christina off her facebook profile almost instantly in the first pledge class meeting where

Brandon the WR from San Diego jumped on the opportunity

I think they was all mad I was published in China. And didn't even write about it in my college entrance paper. A few of those guys was in China on study abroad trips

Ryan kept saying Beta is the gay fraternity

And I didn't believe him at first

But after awhile. I realized all those 4.0 recruits for their initial class was mostly gay men

Which is why he took his own life

In such a dramatic fashion , show at the Holiday inn, NJ. Stolen Samsung Tab A at the best Western in... New Brunswick, NJ

Hank thanks the mechanic for that free oil change. What a fella.

If I had to guess.

That's why you all keep chasing dead end leads

Izizi

He took that secret to the grave

I think basically they thought my birth mark was a tear drop tattoo on my face

I'm sure what happened were my mom used a cigarette to give me that mark to give me an edge or something 😂😜

And in the USA. All these people had wild ideas about how such a young kid would have. A tear drop tattoo.

Karlie Kloss is a dump truck.

Always has been. Always will be.

Anyone who would do me that dirty for starting up studiopineapple out of the condo my ex father has gifted me on Christmas

Is totally trash 😂

🍅 grilled or baked or broiled. Very tasty 😋

I'm basically a British Naval fleet commander now. I bow..

Mystery theater solved 👌🙌👍 dogggg pound six pho 👊#️⃣💷 1 to 2 💵 dollar at 2010-2011 🎎

[acethicgroup7blog]

Proposed Solutions

To address threats and protests from environmental groups,

Since Royal Dutch Shell is one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world, it is normal for them to receive threats from environmental groups for the damage that their company is doing to the environment. Moreover, there are also negative implications that involve climate change. As a solution to combat these rampant problems and issues, the group believes that Royal Dutch Shell will need to pattern its current business strategy with the Paris Agreement’s goals of sustainability (Robinson, 2019).

In the Paris Agreement, the main idea revolves around the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, gathering all nations for a common cause – which is to rapidly reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, as well as to aid countries to be resilient to be able to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Moreover, it is vital that developing countries are supported in this cause as well.

Aside from the goal of the Paris Agreement to gather around nations for a common cause, a primary goal of the agreement is to keep the average global temperature rise below 2C degrees and as close as it can get to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels (UNFCCC, n.d.)

Looking back in Royal Dutch Shell, adhering to the Paris Agreement means creating a framework that moves towards the use of sustainable energy. In this case, the resources used by the company will not be concentrated on oil and gas anymore, for it will be concentrated on renewable energy to generate sustainable energy technology.

Photo taken from: https://www.micronesiarenewableenergy.com/blog/social-impact-renewable-energy

By generating renewable energy, which advocates for environmental and economic benefits, include the creation of energy that does not produce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels, as well as the reduction of air pollution (EPA, n.d.)

By paving the way for the industry to use renewable energy as its primary source, Royal Dutch Shell can align its plans with the Paris Agreement and sustainability. This will allow environmental groups to be at peace with oil and gas corporations and with Shell being a potential pioneer for this movement, may provide positive implications to the firm and the industry.

To prevent oil leaks, 

The group believes that Royal Dutch Shell must be able to create a blu-print in preventing oil leaks. To execute this, the group believes that the company must impose strict internal controls to prevent such spills from occurring. Moreover, it is important to pose measures and conduct operational controls in order to avoid oil leaks from happening, as it poses serious risks on the marine ecosystem and the environment.

The group sees that the company draft a 4-step prevention plan: to prevent spills with operational controls, to establish procedures and install control measures to prevent a spill from reaching navigable water pathways, to develop and prepare countermeasures to contain, clean up, and mitigate the effects of an oil spill, and to secure post-spill response procedures and equipment locations. (UC San Diego, 2020). 

As for the first step of the prevention plan, the company must be able to identify the oil storage locations and take into consideration the potential spill pathways. These spill pathways are imperative to be located for this is what links the oil storage to the environment, specifically oceans or bays. Along with this, the company must also be able to measure and identify the direction, rate of flow, and the quantity of the oil that may possibly be spilled over in times of an equipment failure or problems involving the transporting of the oil by ship. Upon identifying these locations, as well as the rate of the oil flow, the company must be able to train its employees to be aware of these locations. Moreover, the employees should know the system and follow the operational procedures of the company’s facilities. Given that employees are responsible for the handling and delivery of the stored oil, it is imperative that employees are to be trained. (UC San Diego, 2020).

For the second step of the prevention plan, the company must establish procedures and install control measures to prevent a spill from reaching navigable water pathways by minimizing working quantities. Aside from this, a secondary containment for containers of all must be prepared in cases of potential oil spills in the environment. This is to ensure that there is a back-up containment should the original one fail or malfunction. Further, an accessible spill kit must also be available, containing floor dry absorbent materials, booms, pads, and mats, to prevent such a spill from covering more water pathways.

Photo taken from: https://blink.ucsd.edu/safety/environment/outdoor/oil-spills.html#Operational-control-measures

Lastly, the company must develop and prepare countermeasures to contain, clean up, and mitigate the effects of an oil spill by instilling response procedures and accessible supplies to the employees in performing their duties and responsibilities. This is complemented with the availability of post-spill response procedures and equipment locations for teams to be ready in preventing the oil spill to cover the water pathways.

In executing clean-up operations on oil leaks,

Provided that Royal Dutch Shell deals with oil and gas as their primary resources, it is imperative for the company to consider the prevention of oil spills in their pursuit of sustainability. However, in unfortunate circumstances wherein an oil spill occurs, the company must also be able to provide a response plan in combating the problem. An initiative for oil spill prevention and a response to such circumstances would serve as a reason for the company to remain as one of the leading oil and gas companies worldwide.

Should there be an open-water marine spill, it is recommended that the company focus on preventing the spill from reaching the shore, to reduce the impact on marine life, and to speed the degradation of any unrecovered oil (Oil Spill Prevention and Response, n.d.). In order for the spill to prevent reaching the store, it is imperative that the company use booms and other tools of diversion to force the path of the oil toward a certain direction. This will allow the oil to be recovered by the company through different means such as skimmers. In addition to the use of boomers, the company may also opt to use dispersants, which is usually placed on an aircraft to be blanketed over the area of the spill. This is seen to be effective in light or medium density oils, so as to address the spill. 

To prevent such oil spills from happening, Royal Dutch Shell must ensure that its teams and personnel are trained to follow standard practices through different operational activities. These include bringing the ships to port, passing through narrow channels, and staying on the prescribed path during the journey (FutureBridge, n.d.). With these practices, and should the company embed this in their culture, then oil spills will most likely be prevented. Although, the company should not discount the fact that such oil spills can happen and when they do, they are in a position to respond to it. 

To show the significance of preventing and controlling oil spills, see the graph below: 

Photo taken from: futurebridge.com/industry/perspectives-energy/oil-spill-prevention-solutions-and-challenges/ 

This graph provides the number of spills from 1970-2019, wherein it shows data regarding the number of tons spilled as well as the average number of spills per decade. It is noticeable that over time, the number of oil spills have been lessened, however, the group believes that the company can do more to contribute in lowering the figures. The company must take such preventive measures into consideration because oil spills have negative implications on the environment and especially, the marine ecosystem.

API. (n.d.). Oil spill prevention and response. Retrieved from https://www.oilspillprevention.org/oil-spill-cleanup/ocean-oil-spill-cleanup

EPA. (n.d). Energy resources for state and local governments. Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/statelocalenergy/local-renewable-energy-benefits-and-resources

FutureBridge. (n.d.). Oil spill prevention: solutions and challenges. Retrieved from futurebridge.com/industry/perspectives-energy/oil-spill-prevention-solutions-and-challenges/

Robinson, T. (2019). Royal dutch shell: climate groups threaten lawsuit. Retrieved from http://businessethicscases.blogspot.com/2019/04/royal-dutch-shell-climate-groups.html

The social impact of renewable energy. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.micronesiarenewableenergy.com/blog/social-impact-renewable-energy

UC San Diego. (2020). Oil spill prevention, control, and countermeasures. Retrieved from https://blink.ucsd.edu/safety/environment/outdoor/oil-spills.html#Operational-control-measures

UNFCCC. (n.d). Action on climate and SDGs. Retrieved from https://unfccc.int/topics/action-on-climate-and-sdgs/action-on-climate-and-sdgs#:~:text=The%20Paris%20Agreement%20builds%20on,through%20ensuring%20adequate%20support%20for

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Rissa

Red-Legged Kittiwake by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, in the Public Domain

Etymology: The Old Norse Name for the Black-Legged Kittiwake

First Described By: Stephens, 1826

Classification: Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoromorpha, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostaylia, Ornithothoraces, Euornithes, Ornithuromorpha, Ornithurae, Neornithes, Neognathae, Neoaves, Aequorlitornithes, Charadriiformes, Lari, Larida, Laridae, Larinae

Referred Species: R. tridactyla (Black-Legged Kittiwake), R. brevirostris (Red-Legged Kittiwake), R. estesi

Status: Extinct - Extant, Vulnerable

Time and Place: Between 4.9 million years ago and today, from the Zanclean of the Pliocene until the Holocene of the Quaternary 

The Kittiwake are known from ocean habitats all across the Northern Hemisphere, in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans 

Physical Description: The Kittiwake are large, gulls, ranging between 35 and 42 centimeters in length - the living Black-Legged Kittiwake is usually slightly larger than the Red-Legged Kittiwake. These birds have grey wings and backs, with white bodies and heads and tails. The tips of their tails are black, and they have small yellow beaks. The two species mainly differ how you’d think, based on the names: the Red-Legged species have orange legs, and the Black-Legged species has dark grey legs. 

Black-Legged Kittiwake by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, in the Public Domain

Diet: Kittiwake eat fish, squid, and other small marine animals. 

Red-Legged Kittiwake by Dick Daniels, CC BY-SA 3.0 

Behavior: These bird will feed all throughout the day and night, soaring above the water and searching for sources of food in both deep sea and shoreline locations. Their preferred prey does vary based on location, and the prey they bring back to their young also varies extensively by location. They will also scavenge carcasses found along the shore. They tend to search for food in large flocks, soaring over the water together and finding sources of fish and critters in the water. They communicate with loud calls, for which they are named: “kitt-i-waake! Kitt-i-waake!” and the two species differ in the Red-Legged species having a higher-pitched call. 

Black-Legged Kittiwake by Andreas Trepte, CC BY-SA 2.5

Kittiwake breed during the spring, nesting in late spring with most of the young hatching in the middle of the summer. They also tend to breed in similar locations - in the Pacific, where the ranges of the two species overlap, they’ll form large mixed nesting colonies. The nests are built out of mud and formed into cups that are placed on the cliffs. The clutches usually are between one to three eggs, which are incubated for a month. The chicks are very fluffy and grey when hatching, and they stay in the nest for about four weeks. After that, they stay with the parents for a little while after, and are aided in finding food and making it to the winter season. They tend to breed for the first time at four years of age. These birds will migrate between locations - for example, the Red-Legged species will stay near the Bering Sea in winter and then move to Japan in the summer - but these movements tend to be moving back and for the between breeding colonies and the open ocean during the winter non-breeding season. The migration patterns of these birds also tend to change from population to population - which makes some populations of Kittiwake more vulnerable to extinction than others, as they are more exposed to dangerous locations and storms than others. 

Red-Legged Kittiwake Chick, by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, in the Public Domain 

Ecosystem: These birds live on the coasts of Northern seas, and are often found soaring over the oceans; they tend to favor vertical cliffs on islands and other locations for breeding. They do need to find fresh water, especially in the breeding season; but beyond that they favor pelagic locations. Major storms do cause wrecks onto land. They are preyed upon by other birds, especially Gyrfalcons, Skuas, and other Gulls. 

Black-Legged Kittiwake by Dick Daniels, CC BY-SA 3.0

Other: The Kittiwake are, sadly, vulnerable to extinction. Despite large increases in range and population during the 20th century, they have been on a very large-scale decline, especially in the Atlantic. Each species only has a small handful of viable breeding sites at this point, and the population is in sharp decline all over - though some populations have shown some recovery. This decline in population appears to be a reduction in food supply due to excessive commercial fishing. Climate change has also resulted in shifting of prey species, and the changing climate has also lead to habitat inviability for these birds. Diets poor in lipids and other substances - a side effect of these changes - also makes it difficult for the chicks to grow to adulthood. Oil spills and pollution, as well as bycatch, have lead to direct deaths of the Kittiwake across the globe. It also seems to be hunted extensively in certain places such as Greenland. Nesting areas are protected in some countries, but not in the United States, where the decline has been most dramatic. 

Red-Legged Kittiwake by Dick Daniels, CC BY-SA 3.0 

Species Differences: R. estesi is an extinct genus of this species, and differed from the living species in actually being bigger than the living ones - and having musculature different to match. It lived in the current range of the Black-Legged Kittiwake. Today, the Black-Legged Kittiwake is known from the Northern Pacific and Atlantic, and is larger than the Red-Legged variety; in addition, in the past it was known from northern Greenland. The Red-Legged Kittiwake is known from the northernmost part of the Pacific, and, of course, has different colored legs than its cousin. 

Black-Legged Kittiwake by Yathin S. Krishnappa, CC BY-SA 3.0 

~ By Meig Dickson

Sources under the Cut 

Bennike, O. 1987. Quaternary geology and biology of the Jorgen Bronlund Fjord area, North Greenland. Meddelelser om Gronland. Geoscience 18:1-23

Burger, J., Gochfeld, M., Kirwan, G.M., Christie, D.A., Garcia, E.F.J. & Sharpe, C.J. (2019). Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive.

Burger, J., Gochfeld, M. & Garcia, E.F.J. (2019). Red-legged Kittiwake (Rissa brevirostris). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Chandler, R. M. 1990. Fossil birds of the San Diego Formation, Late Pliocene, Blancan, San Diego County, California. Ornithological Monographs 44:73-161

Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017

Guthrie, D. A. 1992. A late Pleistocene avifauna from San Miguel Island, California. Science Series (Los Angeles) 36:319-327

Harrison, C. J. O. 1987. Pleistocene and prehistoric birds of south-west Britain. Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society 18(1):81-104

Jobling, J. A. 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. Christopher Helm Publishing, A&C Black Publishers Ltd, London.

Smith, N. A. 2011. Taxonomic revision and phylogenetic analysis of the flightless Mancallinae (Aves, Pan-Alcidae). ZooKeys 91:1-116

[everlarkficexchange]

To be Her O.A.O. (one-and-only)

written by: @noneyabidnes

Rating: Mature (in future chapters)

Prompt 73: Katniss marries Gale before he’s sent to fight WWII. Gale sends home his buddy Peeta to break the news to his wife and family that he’s fallen in love with someone else in Europe and is staying there after the war… Peeta is under the impression Katniss is a cold woman that only married his friend out of obligation but finds out the other side of the story soon enough. [submitted by @alliswell21]

Tags: era-appropriate derogatory terms for Axis powers, amputation, angst

A/N: I got permission from @alliswell21 to shift from Europe to the Pacific Theater of Operations, since I geek out over that side of WWII history (my Pop was in some of the places mentioned in this story.) This was intended as a one-shot. I didn’t want to commit to chapters, but it’s spiraled out of control and now I can’t stop myself.  I’ll cross-post it on ffnet (ryebrewster) and hopefully will find some closure.  If you find some of the language awkward or somewhat un-PC, I was attempting to be era and region appropriate, but it’s hard to write an Appalachian and a Philly accent without both coming across pretty hick.  Guess I never listened to myself talk before.  -rye

–//–//–//–//–//–//–//–

Chapter 1

At the moment, I can’t believe this road ever ends.  It rolls away from me, ever higher, ever rockier, taunting me with each uneven step I take.  Foolish me had thought I would just hitch a ride.  I should have guessed from the name that it would be a ‘road less traveled by.’  Rocky Ridge doesn’t exactly sound welcoming, but Gale had always made it sound like the closest a man could get to heaven.  At least, until he met a certain honey-tongued Polynesian girl whose hips swayed like the island breezes.  Then heaven made a quick detour to places on her that we best not discuss in public and I definitely won’t be discussing whenever I find the end of this infernal road.

I pause, resting on a particularly large boulder off the side of the narrow road.  Hard to believe any car could make it up the path.  Certainly not my Dad’s old Tudor, scraping its fenders on each slight turn to avoid the next large rock too heavy to move, and barely jeepable given how narrow.  Briefly my inability to drive doesn’t seem like such a bad thing, but then the throbbing in my left leg reminds me that walking isn’t a great alternative either.  I’m still getting the hang of my prosthetic, despite all the weeks (oh God, it’s been months, hasn’t it) spent in rehab in San Diego.

Gazing around me, I can begin to see what Gale always beat his gums about.  These forests are beautiful, and so peaceful.  Such a shift from the tropical forests in which we stewed.  The proximity of my memory is enough to shake me from enjoying the moment.  The color green took on such an ugly connotation during the war.  Sitting on this boulder, I feel like I want to reclaim the hue and give it back its fresh and lovely place in my mental palate, but I do wonder if there will ever be a time when I won’t associate lush forests with machine-gun fire and jungle rot.

As the leaves flutter in the breeze, I catch a brief glimpse of metal roof in the distance.  Finally, I may be making progress.  Once more I pull the wrinkled and cracked photo from my pocket.  Katniss.  Her scowl hasn’t changed since he first handed me the image three years ago.  At the time, it was to boast about the girl waiting back home.  When he handed it to me again five months ago, it was to beg me to explain to her.  To get her forgiveness, if not her blessing, for him not coming home.  I hope the lump of cash in my rucksack would help to secure it, but her scowl challenges me each time I look at it.  He’d said she was an easy woman to love, but an impossible one to live with.  I can only imagine how she’ll feel about a crippled stranger appearing on her doorstep.

Righting myself again, I’ve renewed hope that the distance isn’t much farther.  It’s as I round another bend that I hear the arrow whizzing past and striking a tree several feet to my left.  My gaze slides to my right as I’m reminded that I’ve no firearm.

“I don’t miss twice,” the voice growls from the foliage.  It’s feminine and angry, a combination I’ve been warned about but didn’t think I would confront quite so soon.

“I don’t intend to be aimed at twice.”

“Could hear you coming from a mile away.  What business you got up Rocky Ridge?”

“Gale sent me.”

I can hear the air sucked out of her lungs despite the distance.  The silence stretches on before she quietly emerges, her bow lowered at her side.  Immediately I know it’s her.  I’ve stared at her picture long enough that I would know those high cheekbones and quicksilver eyes anywhere.  Her braid is loose with fly-aways and her neck shows the proof of a battle with some clawed creature.  For a moment my memory jumps back to Philadelphia and the unfortunate circumstances of my own childhood, but I think these scratches aren’t human.  Katniss clearly is of the forest, part dryad, part fairy, Artemis herself standing before me, at home in nature in a way I’ve never been.

“Gale?  Is he…?” she breathes out, fear seeping into the short syllables.

“He’s alive.”  It’s all she needs to hear for now.  Her head drops and she lets out another long breath.

“I guess you’ll be wanting something to drink.  Doesn’t look like you packed for the hike.”

“I am a bit parched.  My canteen dried up two clicks ago. You’d think I’d be better at rationing, but I had no idea the road was this long.”

“Clicks?  You talk funny.  Where you from?”

“Philadelphia, ma’am, but clicks is how we measure distance in the Marines.  Kilometers.  Gale never mentioned you guys live so far out of town.”

She just nods, turning her back to me and heading off through the greenery, on a path only she sees.  I follow her on the assumption that it must be a short-cut to the house, not because I’m keen to test my prosthetic out over the exposed roots and downed branches. 

“I can’t walk as fast as you, ma’am.  The Japs took my leg along with a bunch of my friends.”

She stops and slowly turns back to face me.  “And you walked all this way?  Why didn’t you catch a ride in town?”

“I didn’t realize no one would be coming out this way.  Like I said, I grew up in Philadelphia.  There’s always traffic everywhere you look.  Never occurred to me that I might walk out of town and never pass another car.”

“I can walk slower.  I’m not getting any hunting done with you making all that racket.  My sister’ll check your leg when we get up there, then I can give you a ride back.”

“I did come to speak to you.”

She nods again, turning away from whatever I might have to say.  Silence descends upon us.  Normally I would fill it, but I’m struggling enough just to stay upright, that I don’t bother to engage her, and I figure her for the quiet type anyway.  She’s alert, taking in the sounds of the forest around us, and I find myself remembering following Gale in much the same way through the mountains of Okinawa, the resemblance both eerie and comforting. 

After longer than my leg would prefer, a clearing opens up before us with a handful of houses and barns dotted across the ridge.  Sheep and goats graze below me in a field while a couple horses stand in the shadow of the closest barn.  It appears to have seen better days, needing a fresh coat of paint, but it’s obvious that someone has been attempting repairs on it from the ladder propped against the side leading to relatively fresh boards.  She catches me staring at it as she turns around to check my progress.

“We had a bit of a storm a couple weeks back.  Some branches took out an old window.  Took forever to clean up all the glass, but at least none of the goats ate any.”

I take it that she performed the repair herself, a fact that would surprise me if she were any of the women I grew up around, but seems perfectly normal given what I’ve already learned of her.  I search the hillside for any sign of a man, young or old, and come up empty.

“Do Gale’s brothers help you out at all?”

Her eyes narrow at me, clearly not suspecting I had knowledge of the younger boys.  Her scowl settles as she explains, “Rory’s taken up working for the lumber yard in town and he takes Vick down with him.  Vick runs deliveries for the grocery.  They both pull their weight around here.  We all do.”

She’s offended, that much is clear.  “I would never doubt that you do, ma’am.  From everything Gale told me, you’re all a well-oiled machine up here.  I just don’t think he knew the boys had taken up jobs while he was gone.  I think he hoped his pay was enough to keep you all afloat, along with your hunting of course.”

Her scowl deepens as she steps closer to me.  “You say he’s alive but you keep talkin’ bout him in the past tense.  You gonna tell me what you’re doin here, soldier?  You seem to know an awful lot about my business.”

I can’t help but stumble back at the intensity of her ire.  It draws her attention to my leg, still unstable on the steep ground.  Her face softens briefly before the scowl returns. “Let’s get you inside and off that leg.”

The house is just a handful of rooms lumped together with a porch across the front.  It’s clear at a glance that as space was needed, they just built on with whatever materials were available, but there’s a pride that’s been taken in the appearance nonetheless.  Flowers bloom along the front of the porch and herbs hang drying from the rafters.  Two rockers with flowered cushions are tucked against the house, sheltered equally from the sun and any rain that might roll through.

As we step through the door the only light filtering through comes from a handful of windows of varying sizes.  Gauze curtains blow gently at the open panes, reminding me of mosquito nets.  I shake the memory off before it drags me down, instead turning my attention to the closest chair quickly being vacated by a young woman with delicate features similar to Katniss’s.

“Prim, let him sit.  He’s a bad leg.  Might need you to look at it.  Walked all the way up here.”

“Why didn’t he ask Haymitch for a ride?  Not like the man has anything better to do.”  The young woman I’m guessing is Prim glances at me with equal parts scowl and concern as she makes room for me to sit.

“Not from around ‘ere, so he doesn’t know Haymitch from Adam,” Katniss offers. “Says he knows Gale.”

Prim halts in her movements as she takes me in.  I’m dressed in my civvies and my hair has grown out a bit from my time in San Diego, but the duffle on my shoulder gives me away. 

“You were with him?  Is he okay?  Where is he?”

It strikes me this is the first time the question has been asked and the unspoken one that follows.  Why isn’t he here instead? 

Katniss slams a tea kettle down on the fire box in the corner, breaking the tension with the clatter. “Prim, can you grab some of the tea from over there?  I’m steep up some sweet tea quick while you check him out.  Then I can give Mister—” she cuts off, realizing she still hasn’t asked my name.

“Mellark,” I supply, rising out of my seat to stand at attention.  “Corporal Peeta Mellark, 3rd Battalion, 14th Marines. Pleased to make your acquaintance Mrs. Hawthorne, Miss Everdeen.”  I nod to each in turn.  “I’m sorry I didn’t offer it up sooner. I was with Gale for a good chunk of my tour.  We made it through Guam and Okinawa together.  Even ended up side-by-side on the USS Hope being ferried back to Tongatapu after our artillery backfired.  I promise you, he’s alive Mrs. Hawthorne.”

She had turned back to face the kettle, but with my final announcement, I can see her shoulders have risen to her ears.

“Please don’t call me that,” she mumbles quietly, and I strain forward to hear her.

“Katniss,” Prim begins to scold.

“No, Miss Everdeen, it’s okay.  Actually, it makes the rest of what I have to say easier.”

Katniss turns and I can see for the first time that tears line her eyes, just waiting to fall.

“He’s not coming back, is he Corporal?” she whispers, as though saying it too loud will make it true.

I shake my head slowly, wishing all of this had gone differently.  “He doesn’t want a divorce.  He figured you’d prefer it that way.  But no, he’s not going to coming back to Virginia.”

“So there’s not another woman?”

I glance at Prim, unsure of how much Katniss wants me to reveal in front of the younger woman, but it’s clear the two are close.

“Um, I’m afraid to say, there is.  She’s from the islands, Tongan, a sweet girl.  He…” I stumble, unsure of whether I should finish the thought, knowing it might cause her more pain. “He said what was between the two of you was a partnership.  That you had always said he deserved someone who loves him.  She loves him plenty.  He’s going to go back there, to Tongatapu, as soon as the clean-up is done in Japan and his tour is over.  So, whether you get divorced or not doesn’t really change things for him.  He still wants most of his pay to come here. He knows you’re looking out for his family.”

She nods at what I say and sinks into a chair by the stove.  “He had stopped sending letters after Guam.  I didn’t…I didn’t even know he’d been injured.  Did he…?  Is he okay?”

“He didn’t lose anything important, if that’s what you mean.  Lost a little chunk of his ear.  His hearing’s not so great, not that it ever was.”  She chuckles lightly at my jab.  “I’d still be out there helping with the clean-up if it wasn’t for my leg.  They had to send me stateside to learn to walk again.  I last saw him in Tonga when he was shipping back out.”

“And he asked you to find me.”

I nod though I know she’s not looking at me.  Her gaze is out the window, toward the houses down the ridge, where I presume the rest of his family lives.

“Said he couldn’t write you a Dear Jane letter.  He wants me to write him when I know you’re okay.”

She stiffens at the sentiment.  “Okay?  As though I’ll be perfectly fine with a complete stranger just showing up and telling me my husband has abandoned me for another woman?”

I can’t help the lump that forms in my throat, but I cough to try to dislodge it.  “Pardon my forwardness ma’am, but was he ever really your husband?”

At that her eyes snap back to me.  The pot behind her is obviously boiling so she stands to move it off to the side of the stove and sets about putting tea into cheesecloth.  “What Gale was to me is really none your business.  Seems like he must’a told you an awful lot though, you coming here like this.  What’s in it for you?”

I sigh, knowing this was coming.  “He saved my life on Okinawa.  He realized the ordinance was about to backfire and tackled me out of the way.  If he hadn’t, I would have lost a lot more than just my leg.  I don’t really have a home to rush back to.  I promised I’d check in on you and his family.  Make sure that you understood it wasn’t anything you’d done wrong.”

The pot slams again and before I know it Katniss is out the front door.  Prim watches her stomp out, but makes no move to follow her.  I take my cue from the younger woman.  I’m in no shape to chase Katniss across the hillside anyway.  Prim shifts her gaze to me and tentatively starts asking me questions.  Where am I from?  Where did I fight?  What was it like?  Some I can answer easily, others leave me speechless.  For all the rehabilitation they did for my leg in San Diego, no one ever really talked to me about how to deal with coming back home.  No one talked about the nightmares we all wake from at night—or the ones that haunt us throughout the day.  I fall silent eventually, when it gets to be too much, but in my focus on all her questions I haven’t noticed how she’s lifted my leg and been examining the spot where my prosthetic rubs against the stump, just below my knee.

“I’ve had miners who’ve lost hands and arms come through here.  Mining means workin’ with TNT and it doesn’t always turn out s’good.  I haven’t had any legs though.  You’ve got your stump mighty irritated.  I’m gonna clean it up and wrap it for you.  You need to stay off it a coupla days to keep it from gettin’ infected.  You can take my cot here in the living room.  I’ve been sleepin’ in Katniss’s room most nights anyways s’as we don’t have to heat the whole house.”

She bites her bottom lip as though she’s said too much.  I can’t fight the questions swirling around in my own brain.

“Did Gale ever live here?”

Her eyes widen as she takes me in.

“What did he tell you about the two of them?”

“That she’s easy to love but hard to live with.”

Prim lets out a soundless laugh.  “He would say that.  He thought it was love but she always knew better.  They were great together—as hunting partners, as friends.  When our Pa’s passed away, it was just us and two other families up here on the mountain.  We had to band together to get through it all.  My ma, well, she just couldn’t handle it.  She was a nurse down at the clinic in town, but after…we couldn’t get her to leave the house.  Gale’s Ma, she’s tougher.  She buckled down and started taking care o’all us kids, but there were six o’us and only one of her.  Wasn’t long before Gale and Katniss stepped up.  They already knew how to hunt, had been going out in the woods together for years.  Ma and I used to go out and pick herbs—we use them down at the clinic to help out people who can’t afford the expensive medicines.  But I knew there were others that were edible, that we could live off of.  I took Rory with me.  We sold the goat and sheep’s milk down in town, though ain’t many people got a taste for it since they can get cow’s milk at the grocery for cheap.  We make cheese out of it too.”

She peters out, unsure where her train of thought was going, and focuses to gently wrap my stump having already cleaned it.  In a moment, the thought returns to her.

“He asked her to marry as a matter of convenience.  He was shippin’ out and knew that if they were married it would be easier on his ma—and frankly I think he trusted Katniss to take care of all of us more than his ma.  The woman is amazing, but she’s got a bit of a weakness for the drink, but then, most of the folks ‘round here do. They never stopped moonshinin’ ‘round these parts.”

She glances at the pot on the stove.  “She never finished makin’ the tea, did she?  You want something stronger?  We have a little ‘shine around.  Ma and I use it for our patients, but I’d say you fit the bill.”

I consider the offer before shrugging her off.  I’ve never had moonshine, but there was some camp swill that would get passed around whenever we stayed too long at one post.  Didn’t take much to get things to ferment in the jungle.  Would rot your gut, but took the edge off the misery of sitting in a swamp day and night.  And then there was the hooch at the clubs.  Enough to make every Jane look like a pinup but all it took was one tale of Cupid’s Itch to scare us young GIs away from the women who hung around.  Well, most of us anyway. 

“I should stay sober.  I don’t know what state she’s gonna be in when she gets back here and I can’t imagine she’s gonna be too pleased with you telling her I’m staying the night.  I’m about the last person she wants to see.”

I find the thought makes me sad.  I’ve been carrying her picture so long, there’s a part of me that feels like I know her.  I’ve traced her scowl with my finger.  I’ve practiced what I would say, though it didn’t come out that way.  I’ve tried to imagine her smiling.  Gale made it sound like an impossible feat, but I have a feeling there has to be a way to bring out that side of her—not that it’s my job to do that.

Prim’s voice cuts through my silent misery.  “She’s not angry at you.  She’s not even angry at him.  And you seem like a nice guy.  I mean, if Gale trusted you enough to send you all this way, you have to be a good guy.  Usta be he’d kill anyone that came close to Katniss.”  She pauses for a moment before looking me straight in the eye.  “You don’t think he’ll ever come back?”

I shake my head. “I honestly can’t be sure.  I don’t know that he’s thought it all through, but this girl of his is pregnant and his tour’s up in another month.  He’s already gotten approval to stay in Tongatapu.  They can’t live together on the base since they aren’t married, but he’ll be part of a skeleton outfit that maintains the place until the Navy decides it doesn’t need it anymore.  By then, he’ll be through his commitment so he could go anywhere, but after all the things he said about him and Katniss fighting about having kids, I can’t imagine he would just take off if there’s a little one in the mix.”

“He’s like a big brother to me, y’know?  After Pa died, Gale did a big part of raising us. I’m gonna miss him.”

“He talks about you guys all the time.  He didn’t just carry Katniss’s picture, he carried all of yours.”  I pull the well-worn photo of Katniss out of my pocket and her eyes widen in recognition.

“Why do you have that?”  She snags it out of my hands.

“He gave it to me.  Has your address on the back, or at least you used to be able to read it.  It’s been through some things.  He wanted to make sure I found her.”

“’Easy to love but hard to live with.’ That’s what he says?”

“Yep.”

“Well, she’s not going to get any easier now.”

With that, Prim straightens up and tosses the photo on the table, and begins re-organizing her supplies from cleaning my leg.  My fingers itch to reach out and reclaim the picture.  I’ll never admit it aloud, but that photo means something to me.  The stories Gale told and the ones I’ve created in my own mind, the happy world they’ve built on this mountain despite all the hardship.  I’m not ready to let that go.  The door slams behind me before I find the courage to grab for it though.

“We need to go tell Hazelle,” she tosses the words at Prim, ignoring my presence completely.  Prim acknowledges her but continues putting away her supplies.

“Peeta’s gonna sleep out here for a coupla nights while his leg heals up.  He can’t be walkin’ on it til it’s calmed down some.”

I can feel Katniss’s glare on my cheek but can’t peel my own eyes away from my hands, still fighting to resist the urge to grab the photo.

“I could give him a ride into town so he could find a room to lay up meantime.  Why’s he gotta stay here?”

Prim’s tone allows for no discussion.  “He’s Gale’s best friend and he’s my patient.  He ain’t gonna hurt us.  You wanna kick him out on one good leg?  God have mercy on your soul, big sis.  It’s my bed I’m offerin’ up. He’s stayin’.”

I can feel the blush building up my neck at the insinuation that I might want anything untoward from them.  Prim’s right.  I would never want to take advantage.  After all Gale has told me about these women, I could never, but another part of me is happy at the thought of being here—in a place that sounds more like a home than anywhere I’ve lived.

Katniss takes a step in front of me, forcing my attention up to her cold stare.  “Don’t know what Gale was thinkin’ sendin’ you instead of a letter, but you best be on your Sunday behavior.  I know how to skin a stag.  You ain’t much of a challenge, Marine or no.”

Instinctively I know I shouldn’t smile, but I can’t fight it no matter how hard I try.  “Mrs. Hawthorne, I’ll be a choir boy just for you.”

She smirks slightly before returning her attention to the forgotten tea.  “I don’t need no choir boys ‘round here.  Gale certainly ain’t one.  But if you can carry a tune better’an him, that would be much appreciated.”

Prim’s smiling at me from across the room, so I know the awkwardness has passed, at least for the moment. 

“And please, stop calling me Mrs. Hawthorne.  Ain’t nobody ever called me that.  No point in startin’ now when we all know what Gale is up to.”  She pauses in her work before turning back to me. “There’s a baby.” 

She states it as fact.  She’s not looking for confirmation, but I nod nonetheless and watch as she swallows a lump in her throat before continuing.

“Yeah, he would never abandon a kid.  Posy’s the only one on this mountain that we still have to worry about and he knows Hazelle and I won’t let that little girl down.”  She shakes her head, as though to remove the thought.  “ So, do you sing, Corporal Mellark?”

“Peeta, it’s Peeta.  And to be honest, not very well, but I can play the guitar and the harmonica okay.  My talents lie more with wrestling, baking…and painting.”

“Seems like an odd combination for a Marine.”

“If any of those islands had been a giant cake, I coulda taken out the Japs with some fancy frosting tricks.  Instead I was just the guy everyone came to for their camouflage.  Guess I’m good at making people look like mud.”

“Don’t think that would take much talent, no offense.”

She’s poured me a glass of sweet tea and I lean forward to claim it.  “No, I s’pose not when you’re surrounded by mud and can just smear it all over yourself, but the guys seemed to prefer when I did it.”

“You must have a gentle touch.”  As soon as the words are out her mouth, the blush begins.  “Not that…oh hell, nevermind.  I didn’t mean nothin’ by it.”

I let the chuckle rumble out of my chest.  The hospital in San Diego wasn’t exactly a cheerful place with most of us still fighting phantom limbs and shell-shocked from being sent home.  And it’s as I’m enjoying the first laugh I’ve had in months that I finally see it.  She cracks a smile, small, secretive, and the single most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen.  It takes my breath away so quickly I feel light-headed.  And now I can see why Gale found her so easy to love.

[scifigeneration]

Waiting for an undersea robot in Antarctica to call home

by Jennifer Walsh

One of two underwater gliders is deployed from a research ship into Antarctic waters. NOAA

“Call! Just call!” I think loudly in my head. “Did something happen? Are you okay?”

I might seem like a worried parent waiting for a teenager to report in from an unsupervised outing. Rather, I’m a research biologist with the Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It’s late February 2019, and I am waiting for an autonomous underwater glider in Antarctica to surface and call me via satellite, so I can give it new diving instructions. The longest it’s supposed to go without surfacing is eight hours, and it’s now been nine.

Did it get stuck under an iceberg? An underwater ledge? I feel so helpless; I’m 9,000 miles away in San Diego and all I can do is chew my fingernails and think, “No. This can’t happen. We can’t lose this glider so close to the end.”

The survey area where gliders measured Antarctic krill populations. NOAA

Our research team is two-and-a-half months into a three-month-long mission just north of the Antarctic Peninsula. This is our first time deploying gliders so far from home, and our hope for a successful field season – not to mention a great deal of research – depends on recovering the two gliders our group deployed in December 2018. The gliders are now full of oceanographic data that will help us provide scientific advice on how best to conserve the Antarctic ecosystem as the area around the peninsula warms faster than almost any other region on Earth, which may adversely affect the animals that live there.

9 hours, 30 minutes: No call

For over 30 years, the NOAA group I’m part of has conducted studies to estimate how many Antarctic krill, small shrimp-like creatures that support the diverse Antarctic food web, live around the Antarctic Peninsula.

Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba, can grow up to about 2.5 inches long. Uwe Kils/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Krill feeds penguins and seals that breed in this area every summer and whales and fishes that feed here year-round, while also supporting a major fishery. You may have seen bright-red dietary supplements made from krill oil prominently displayed at the pharmacy. Our data help establish catch limits for the krill fishery, ensuring enough krill remain in the ocean to maintain the population after all people and animals take what they need to make a living. Without good data to support fishery-management decisions, krill fishing could undermine the food web for which Antarctica is so well known, as demand for supplements and other krill products surges.

10 hours: No call

Until three years ago, my program chartered a research vessel for a month each year to sail around the Antarctic Peninsula and estimate the biomass of krill. But after 2016, rising vessel costs eliminated our surveys. For our program to continue, we had to find a creative way to collect our data in Antarctica without actually going to Antarctica.

An autonomous glider in the ocean. NOAA

Our solution was to use autonomous underwater gliders, which can be deployed in just a few hours by a small team from a ship in Antarctica, and then recovered months later. Gliders can dive to 3,000 feet, cover thousands of miles and follow commands from anywhere in the world with a laptop and an internet connection. Their batteries last six months, which means that they can collect much more data for much less money than a bunch of scientists on a research vessel.

The gliders resemble torpedoes in appearance, but contain three massive batteries and an array of scientific sensors that collect much of the same data we used to collect from a ship. Although the gliders are able to transmit small amounts of data via satellite throughout the deployment, the most valuable data are stored on the glider. If we lose a glider, which is always a possibility when you let something roam free in the ocean unattended for months, then we also lose the data.

We had effectively replaced ourselves with drones. But would they work?

12 hours: No call

For most of our team, the transition just a year ago from annual research voyages to the aquatic versions of C-3PO and R2-D2 was exciting. Secretly, though, I was terrified. I had spent my career as a scientist collecting krill samples from research vessels for biochemical analyses of their tissues. Suddenly I found myself ousted by oceanographic robots full of cables, wires, circuit boards and all sorts of other technological gadgetry.

These are not what you’d call smart robots. A bit like human toddlers, they have some degree of self-awareness, but would destroy themselves without semi-constant monitoring and instructions on how deep to dive or where to go. Outside supervision is especially important in the Southern Ocean, which is full of seamounts, canyons, strong currents and, most importantly, icebergs.

You can’t glider-proof the ocean the way you can baby-proof a house, so I had to forget everything I knew about biochemistry and learn as much as I could about glider piloting in 10 short months.

13 hours: No call

All that training and practice felt like 10 minutes by the time we finally packed up the gliders and shipped them to the Southern Hemisphere for their first Antarctic deployments. The commands for how deep to dive and where to go seemed simple enough, but the gliders responded as unpredictably as the ocean itself.

A near-disastrous practice deployment in San Diego revealed how slowly they maneuver, particularly in strong currents. Piloting them felt like trying to drive a remote-control semi-truck through a go-kart course, which reinforced our apprehension about driving these things through the ocean all the way across the planet, in one of the most remote and treacherous oceans on Earth.

Never mind the wind and the currents and the icebergs. What made this deployment far scarier was that if things started to go horribly wrong, we had no way to get the gliders back. It was like dropping a toddler off at college on another continent: What if he needs you and you can’t get to him?

14 hours: No call

Almost exactly 10 months from our first day of glider training, we carried the gliders across the Drake Passage on a research vessel bound for the Antarctic Peninsula. The deployments were flawless, and over the next few days, our confidence began to build. We quickly learned that icebergs were enemy number one, and they were formidable opponents. Satellite images of icebergs were available every couple of days, and we overlaid maps of planned glider tracks onto those images so we could steer the gliders around any ice in their way. The trouble was, even the newest images we received were already a day old, and the ice had already moved.

On this chart of the South Shetland Islands, one intended glider path is marked in straight gray lines. Circled in red in the middle is the iceberg the researchers called ‘Yacu.’ NOAA

Smaller icebergs were usually avoidable, but around three weeks into the deployment, “Yacu” appeared on the scene. Inspired by a mythological South American snake that eats everything in its way, that was the nickname we gave a 12.5-mile-wide iceberg from the Weddell Sea that drifted right into the path of one of the gliders. Yacu stuck around for the rest of the deployment, every few days spawning smaller (but still huge) icebergs that posed a constant and unpredictable threat to gliders already at the mercy of currents, tides and wind.

If a glider gets trapped under an obstacle and senses that it’s been underwater for too long, it drops an emergency weight to rocket itself to the surface for an immediate recovery. Once a glider drops its weight, it can’t dive anymore. So if it is trapped under ice, it’s likely to stay trapped under ice. And one way to know if a glider is trapped is that it stops calling in, because it can connect to satellites only when it’s at the surface.

15 hours: No call

And then…

Ding ding! Ding ding! My laptop screams at me after 16 long hours: The glider is at the surface.

It is well past 9 p.m., but every member of our five-person team has been glued to a computer since early afternoon, and we collectively sigh with relief. We now think the glider probably surfaced after the first eight hours, failed to connect to the satellite and resumed diving, which can occasionally happen. The reason for the gap is unimportant compared to our elation. A couple of weeks later, we successfully recovered both gliders on schedule and completed our first autonomous Antarctic field season.

One key finding is that we can, in fact, replace a vessel-based fishery assessment with a glider-based one in less than a year. With gliders, we can get krill biomass estimates comparable to those we would expect from a ship. That means we can use gliders to continue to provide critical data for managing the krill fishery.

This is a profound accomplishment for us and for NOAA, and it also has far-reaching promise for the future of fisheries research globally. The cost of science keeps going up, and autonomous instruments offer an affordable way to collect critical data for effectively managing ocean resources and conserving fragile marine ecosystems worldwide.

Our gliders are like toddlers in one final way: They’re advanced technology, yet they’re still in their infancy. Their ongoing usefulness to understand our changing planet in real time will depend on new sensors and instruments yet to be developed. What we accomplished is only the the tip of Yacu compared to what the future of autonomous oceanographic research holds.

About The Author:

Jennifer Walsh is a Research Biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

This article is republished from our content partners at The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. 

[canayata]

The World Is In The Midst Of A Mass Extinction, But Not Jellyfish — They’Re Thriving In Warm, Polluted Water

New Post has been published on https://www.apegeo.com/jellyfish-populations-grow-explosive-rates/

The World Is In The Midst Of A Mass Extinction, But Not Jellyfish — They’Re Thriving In Warm, Polluted Water

A growing body of evidence suggests the planet is in the midst of a sixth mass extinction.

Between 500,000 and 1 million plant and animal species face extinction, many within decades, according to a report from the United Nations. Pollution, habitat loss, warming oceans, and other consequences of climate change are driving animal populations down on an unprecedented scale.

But one group of creatures is bucking this ominous trend: jellyfish.

Jellyfish have roamed Earth’s oceans for 500 million years. The bell-shaped underwater denizens can be found all over the world; there are some 4,000 species of them, according to the Smithsonian Institute.

The world is in the midst of a mass extinction – the sixth time in the planet’s history that species are experiencing a major global collapse in numbers.

Up to 1 million species are threatened with extinction, many within decades, according to a United Nations report.

Human activity is to blame: Habitats are being destroyed due to pollution, climate change, and deforestation.

But one group of animals is benefiting: jellyfish. Rising ocean temperatures and overfishing are enabling jellyfish populations to grow at explosive rates.

Over the past two decades, global populations of many jellyfish species have skyrocketed. Swarms of them, known as “jellyfish blooms,” have become more common worldwide, forcing beach closures, causing power outages, and killing other fish.

Recent research has revealed that the increases in jellyfish populations can be linked to human activity, too. As greenhouse gases trap heat on the planet, oceans are heating up – they absorb 93% of that excess heat. Unlike many marine species, jellies can thrive in warmer water with less oxygen. What’s more, their natural predators, like turtles and sharks, are being overfished by humans.

Here’s what to know about why jellyfish are thriving – and why their population explosion could be dangerous.

Jellies are 95% water. The creatures don’t have brains, stomachs, intestines, or lungs.

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Multiple moon jellies side by side. Flickr/brianandjaclyn

Instead, nutrients and oxygen slip through their gelatinous layers of see-through skin.

They move by rapidly contracting their mushroom-shaped bell to expel water, which propels them forward.

A black jellyfish floats in the water near San Diego, California. Port of San Diego

Trailing tentacles then brush against prey, immobilizing the jelly’s next meal with tiny venom-filled stingers. The tentacles move that prey up into the creature’s body cavity, where it gets digested.

Jellies are opportunistic feeders, meaning they’ll ingest just about anything: microscopic plankton, crustaceans, and fish larvae are all fair game.

A jellyfish floats in the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan in Osaka, Japan. Marisa Vega Photographer/Getty Images

They’ll even consume other jellies, according to the Smithsonian Institute.

The absence of complex body parts allows jellies to adapt easily to changing ocean conditions.

Japanese Sea Nettles are seen at “The Jellies Experience” exhibition at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, California, March 30, 2012. Richard Green/Reuters

Jellies aren’t vulnerable to fluctuating temperature, acidity, and salinity like other marine species, according to JSTOR Daily.

In the last 100 years, average ocean surface temperatures have risen by about 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit (0.9 degrees Celsius), according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Last year was the hottest on record for the seas.

Vertigo3d/Getty Images

Warmer waters, in turn, mean less oxygen. This double whammy severely hurts many marine creatures, like coral, but not jellies. In mid-latitudes, in fact, higher water temperatures lead jelly embryos and larvae to develop more quickly, and the animals enjoy longer reproductive periods, according to Inside Climate News.

Jellies are already good at reproducing. A breeding female nettle, for example, can spawn 45,000 eggs per day, according to Smithsonian Magazine.

Surprisingly, maritime shipping and undersea drilling industries also benefit jellyfish, since one of the creatures’ reproductive stages, the polyps stage, requires them to settle on a hard surface.

Alyssa Janco/Getty Images

Man-made structures like docks or oil rigs are easier for jellyfish polyps to attach to than sand or rocks on the ocean floor, according to the Smithsonian Institute.

What’s more, many polyps are also tolerant of low-oxygen conditions.

When inland rivers carry fertilizer run-off from agriculture to coastal waters, that can create competition-free buffets for jellies.

Krishan Lad / EyeEm / Getty Images

After high concentrations of fertilizer run-off enter the ocean, plankton and algae populations explode. This algal proliferation further depletes the oxygen in the water, causing what’s known as a “dead zone” in which marine life cannot survive.

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But some jellies can. These creatures happily feed on plankton, so dead zones offer them competition-free eating grounds.

The number of coastal dead zones has doubled every decade since the 1960s; there are now roughly 500, Smithsonian Magazine reported.

Overfishing is also fueling the global jellyfish proliferation.

A giant green turtle rests on a coral reef at a diving site near the island of Sipadan in Celebes Sea east of Borneo November 7, 2005. Reuters

Typically, jellyfish populations have been kept in check by marine predators like sea turtles and fish like tuna. But those populations have been dwindling due to overfishing: Every year for the past two decades, between 100 million and 120 million marine creatures have been removed from the ocean.

Fishing also removes jellies’ competition for food; anchovies and squid eat the same type of plankton as jellyfish, so the more those species get removed from the seas, the more plankton jellies can access, according to the Smithsonian Institute.

A 2012 study from the University of British Columbia concluded that “jellyfish populations appear to be increasing in the majority of the world’s coastal ecosystems and seas.”

A jellyfish swims off the island of Salamina, Greece, August 23, 2018. Stelios Misinas/Reuters

The study definitively linked this increase to human activity.

Groups of jellies are called “blooms” or “outbreaks.”

In Palau, snorkelers can safely swim in a lake of golden jellyfish. Flickr/Richard Schneider

These blooms can cause a variety of problems.

For one, they prevent swimmers and beachgoers from entering the water. Some 150 million jellyfish stings occur annually worldwide.

Jayme Godwin / EyeEm / Getty Images

While not every jellyfish species has a sting that’s painful or even perceptible to people, some can be dangerous or even deadly.

Some types, like the Chironex fleckeri species of box jellyfish, can kill a human in 3 minutes.

~UserGI15667539/Getty Images

Box jelly venom targets the heart and nervous system, and packs such a punch that swimmers can drown or die of heart failure before reaching shore.

In January, nearly 4,000 people were stung in one weekend by blue bottle jellies that drifted ashore in Queensland, Australia.

A blue bottle jellyfish photographed near Brisbane, Australia. Kyle Hovey/Flickr

Then, in 2018, more than 1,000 people were stung over the course of one week after jellyfish blooms popped up offshore near Volusia County, Florida.

In large numbers, jellies can clog power-plant pipes and force them to shut down.

Alyssa Janco/Getty Images

On December 10, 1999, 40 million people living on the Philippine island of Luzon lost power after thousands of jellyfish were sucked into the cooling pipes of a local coal-fired power plant.

In 2011, jellyfish overwhelmed the cooling system at a coal power plant near Hadera, Israel.

Jellyfish fall from a filter into a container at Orot Rabin coal-fired power station in Israel, July 5, 2011. The power station uses seawater for cooling purposes and has to filter out and dispose of jellyfish on a daily basis. Ronen Zvulun/Reuters

Two years later, jellies also got sucked into the cooling pipes at one of Sweden’s nuclear reactors, forcing a shutdown.

Jellyfish swarms can also be deadly for other marine creatures.

alonsoleon9/Getty Images

In 2007, a mauve stinger jellyfish swarm 10 square miles in size killed 100,000 salmon in a fish farm off the coast of Ireland.

Overall, mounting evidence suggests, underwater ecosystem may be changing from one dominated by fish to one ruled by jellies. This is – in part – a situation of own making: A 2009 study noted that human-induced stresses, including overfishing, climate change, and habitat modification, “appear to be promoting jellyfish blooms to the detriment of other marine organisms.”

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Randy Kraft

Randy Stephen Kraft was born on March 19, 1945 in Long Beach, California. Apart from being particularly accident prone, Kraft seems to have had a relatively normal and conventional childhood. His family having moved to Westminster, Orange County, in 1948, Kraft developed into an active and intelligent adolescent, known for holding the conservative views typical of the area in which he was living. He graduated from Westminster High School in 1963, his academic performance putting him in the top 10 of his class, and he went on to study economics at the prestigious Claremont Men’s college.

So far, so good. It was between the ages of 18 and 20, however, that Kraft’s personality seemed to enter a confusing stage. At first he appeared resolutely conservative in his political and social outlook, joining the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), and throwing himself into the presidential campaign of right-wing candidate Barry Goldwater. 

He was also vocal in his support for U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. Yet in 1964 he changed sides, becoming left wing in political orientation, backed by growing long hair. Furthermore, it was around this time that his sexuality went through significant transformation. By the time he was 18 he had realized that he was homosexual, and there were many campus rumours about his predilection for bondage. He began frequenting gay bars, and in 1966 he was also arrested for having offered himself sex to an undercover vice officer, he was released with a caution. 

In 1968 Kraft joined the U.S. Air Force. He was only in service for a year before he was discharged on “medical grounds” in 1969, incidentally the same year that he told his family he was gay. His revelation alienated him from his conservative parents, and from now on Randy Kraft seemed to go off the rails.   

Timeline of a Murder

1: December 31, 1975. Twenty-Two-year-old Mark Hall is enjoying a New Year’s Eve party in San Juan Capistrano. At some point during the evening, he meets Randy Kraft, and leaves the party with him. Hall had been drinking alcohol and his body was later found to contain traces of Diazepam and Valium.

2: Kraft and Hall travel out to the Cleveland National Forest, heading to the east end of Santiago Canyon in the Saddleback mountains. This location is about 30 miles (48km) south of San Juan Capistrano.

3: What occurred is largely based upon forensic evidence derived from Hall’s body. It appeared that Hall had been stripped and tied to a tree sapling. He was then sodomized and tortured horribly. Parts of his body were burnt with a cigarette lighter or cut with a sharp knife. His genitals were removed, and stuffed into his rectum. It is also likely that Kraft was forcibly administered more alcohol, and pushed earth and leaves into both Hall’s mouth and anus. He died at the scene of his wounds and strangulation. 

4: Hall’s body was discovered on January 3, 1976. A bottle was found at the scene which had Kraft’s fingerprints on it. This was later used by prosecutors to connect Kraft with the murder.

First Victims

From the early 1970s, Kraft’s lifestyle was focused on a combination of frequent sex with various highways and beaches of southern California. Moreover, it was apparent that the manner of killing was becoming increasingly depraved. The first body, of an unknown male, was discovered on February 6, 1973 beside a freeway in Wilmington, Los Angeles, again with one of his socks pushed up his anus. The next body (another unknown male), however, had it’s genitals removed, leading to the possibility that the man simply bled to death from the mutilation, although there were also signs of strangulation. Another victim found shortly afterward had his head thrown on to Long Beach, while his torso, one leg and both arms were found in the next county on Sunset Beach. Clearly California’s gay men were being hunted by someone with monstrous appetites. 

Catching a Monster 

It is ironic that even as Randy Kraft was slaughtering men on a regular basis throughout California, he was actually in a semi steady with one Jeff Seelig. In 1982 he even went for counselling to try and help their relationship improve. He also had a serious relationship with Jeff Graves, a former classmate. Furthermore, Kraft found steady, respectable employment in 1975, he began working as a computer programer for Pacific Computing Systems. Balanced against this normality, however, were crimes of almost unbelievable brutality. Some serial killers focus on delivering an efficient killing without using consciously designed tortures. Randy Kraft was not one of them. Typical injuries inflicted upon his victims include castration, a variety of objects inserted into the penis or anus (of the latter, some were large as substantial tree branches several feet long), decapitations, burns from a cigarette lighter and bites to genitals and nipples. 

In January 1975, a multi county police task force was formed to pursue the serial killer. Because of the nature of the crimes, police and FBI psychologists were brought in to create profiles of the potential killer. Bodies were turning up every few weeks or months, and the pressure was on to find the man responsible. Kraft did in fact briefly pass through police hands in June 1975, after he was arrested for lewd behaviour in Cherry Park. He spent five days in jail before being released, after which he resumed killing where he left off.

Despite the number of bodies, the police were still struggling to get close to the killer. Kraft was not, in fact the only serial killer operating in California during these years. In 1977, for example, Patrick Kearney was arrested and confessed to the murder of 28 young men. Such killers made investigating Kraft’s murders that much more complicated, and his killing spree would continue for another five years. In fact, it could be argued that the sheer volume of his murders made the job of the police that much harder, by producing a vast multiplicity of false leads investigating dead ends.

The ultimate break came on May 14, 1983, when officers of the California Highway Patrol pulled over someone driving erratically on the San Diego freeway. The driver was Randy Kraft and having stepped out of the car and performed badly during a sobriety test, he was arrested for drunk driving. Yet a far more serious offence related to the dead man, 25-year-old Marine Terry Gambrel, who lay in the passenger seat of the car. He had been strangled, but also had near-lethal amounts of drink and drugs in his system. Now treating the suspect with utmost caution, the police searched his car and further found a pack of polaroid photos showing dozens of apparently lifeless men, and also a sheet of paper containing what appeared to be a coded list of men murdered by Kraft. A later search of Kraft’s home produced mass of further forensic evidence, including more photographs of murder victims plus personal effects of many of the dead. 

After a lengthy trial, Randy Kraft was convicted of 16 counts of murder on November 29, 1989, and he was sentenced to death. In a curious act of futile bravado, in 1922 Kraft attempted to launch a massive lawsuit against an author who painted his character in a less than favourable light. Not surprisingly, the lawsuit was rejected, and in August 2000 his death sentence was again confirmed by the Supreme Court.  

Timeline of a Murderer-Known Victims of Randy Kraft  

 Date                                 Victim                    Age     Details

September 24, 1971  Wayne Joseph Dukette  30      Possibly Kraft’s oldest victim

December 24, 1972   Edward Daniel Moore     20     U.S Marine serving at Camp Pendleton; body found dumped near the 7th street exit of the 605 freeway; one sock was inserted into his anus.

February 1973            Unidentified male        18-20   Found on the Terminal Island Freeway on February 6, 1973; strangled to death.

April 1973                   Unidentified male         ?         Found in Huntington Beach

April 1973                   Unidentified male         ?        Body was refrigerated prior to being dumped

c. July 30,                   Ronnie Gene Wiebe    ?        Last seen at the Sportsman Bar in Los Alamitos.

December 23, 1973    Vicente Cruz Mestas   23       Discovered by hikers in the San Bernardino foothills.

June 2,1974                 Malcolm Eugene Little  20  Truck driver from selma, Alabama, visiting his brother in Long Beach; murdered after being picked up while hitchhiking.

June 22, 1974            Roger E. Dickerson    20       U.S Marine; disappeared after accepting a lift to Los Angeles. 

c. August 2, 1974       Thomas Paxton Lee    25       Waiter in San Pedro; body dumped in a Long Beach oil field.

August 12, 1974          Gary Wayne Cordova   23     Body found on highway in Orange County.

Late November 1974    James Reeves            19     Last seen alive leaving a gay church in Costa Mesa after Thanksgiving.

c. January 3, 1975        John W. Leras            17     Body found on Sunset Beach on January 3, 1975.

January 17, 1975        Craig Victor Jonaitis    21      Body found at Long Beach Motel on Pacific Coast Highway. 

c. March 26, 1975       Keith Daven Crotwell   19     Victims head discovered on May 8 off Long Beach and other remains found the following october.

January 3, 1976          Mark H. Hall.                22      (see “Timeline of a Murder)

 c. April 1978              Scott Michael Hughes   18      Murdered in Orange County.

June 10/11 1978         Roland Gerald Young    23     Thrown from a moving vehicle when dead; genitals severed and stabbed to death.

June 19, 1978            Richard Allen Keith       20       Body found in Laguna Hills in June 1978; strangled to death.

July 6, 1978               Keith Arthur Klingbeil     23     Body found on the northbound lanes of Interstate 5, near Mission Viejo, in Orange County.

November 18, 1978     Michael Joseph Inderbieten 21  Burned with a cigarette lighter and his genitals severed. 

June 16, 1979                Donnie Harold Crisel     20

September 3, 1980        Robert Wyatt Loggins    19     Photos of Loggins body matched Kraft’s blood type.

January 27, 1983           Eric Herbert Church       21    Semen found on body matched Kraft’s blood type.

February 12, 1983         Geoffrey Alan Nelson     18   Body discovered in Garden Grove. 

May 14, 1983                Terry Lee Gambrel           25    Body discovered in Kraft’s car when he was pulled over for driving while intoxicated.

[todaysthoughts]

We (My wife, son and self) are returning from NYC on a Delta red eye, wrapping up our visit. It was a joy to see my mother and friends again. It reminds me that the friendships I've forged so long ago still have strong ties. Douglas, visibly happy to see me, and his lovely wife always a pleasure to be around. Conor, who I have seen in the better half of a decade came out as well. Despite some COVID related medical issues, Conor seems to be doing really well, which I'm overglad to see. Derek, still hyper successful and overachieving his little listicals of things, catching me up on the all happenings in old social circles. Liam, who looks like a free man after finishing his obligation to the Marine Corps. Jose, and his wife Priscilla and daughter Minha, both of whom I've barely had the chance to hang out with and get to know, were also in attendance and were so much fun to spend time with Fumi and Luigi. Jose, now reborn and rejoicing in the good turn of events. It was really incredible. Unfortunately none of my siblings were available during my stay. With Mary and Stephen having scheduled their vacation to Pennslyvania, and Claire cancelling due to my mother rescheduling her surgery. I did get to see my father. It was helpful to see the good facets of his personality, instead of just his regular pessimistic tidings of doom. Really enlightening on where I get my energy and enthusiasm. I suppose getting over a lot of my issues has led me to be more understanding of his faults. Though, he was still too much for my wife, which reminds I have a long way to go.

When I get back to San Diego I'll jump right back into it. I'll have to start my workout regimen again, clean up the apartment and throw away a lot of junk in my storage unit. It would probably be a good idea to really organize both spaces. I should write my weekly schedule as well and post it to the work outlook calendar as well as my google calendar. The motorcycle paperwork was completed on my visit to NYC, I should be able to get the bike up and running again very soon. I should give my car an oil change as well. Exciting news! I received a call from Rowan that USPS shipped a couple of footlockers that were previously lost. Things should be good, but even if they aren't I'll have to remember the only real things I'm in control of is my attitude, personality and motivation.

[paulbenedictblog]

%news%

New Post has been published on %http://paulbenedictsgeneralstore.com%

News The USS Arizona burned around him in Pearl Harbor. A fellow sailor defied orders to save his life. - The Washington Post

News

The water looked as if it would be on fire, and the scent of burning oil stuffed the air.

Donald Stratton stood on the deck of the united statesArizona as a Eastern bomb decimated section of the battleship, stationed in Pearl Harbor off the drift of Honolulu. The ground trembled below his feet as explosions rang out and a fireball ripped by him, surroundings his T-shirt ablaze and destroying section of his ear, he wrote in his memoir, “The complete Daring Males.”

On the ship’s lower deck, other U.S. Navy sailors had been engulfed in flames. Stratton took up his situation on a covered perch on the well-known mast and helped strive to shoot down the Eastern planes, however their shells couldn’t attain the airplane, he wrote. Meanwhile, ships all the way by the Arizona had been exploding.

Joe George, a boatswain’s mate on a restore ship about 70 feet away, used to be cutting the lines that tethered the vessel to the Arizona when he noticed Stratton and five other men stranded on the battleship, in accordance with the memoir. In teach defiance of orders from his superior, George shoved a lead-weighted rope to the Arizona’s sailors, who grabbed abet.

“The six of us went hand over hand across the line and above the infected water,” Stratton wrote. “My physique used to be burned, my hands had been raw, and I used to be obsessed with survival. I by no arrive thought about no longer making it.”

In the memoir, Stratton said George’s plucky chance used to be presumably the appropriate motive that Stratton, then 19, lived by the 1941 attack and at final grew to change into one among the Arizona’s final three survivors. After nearly eight decades of recounting his legend and joining other survivors at annual anniversary ceremonies, Stratton died in his sleep lifeless Saturday at his Colorado Springs dwelling on the age of 97, in accordance with his household.

Despite the proven fact that survivors from the Arizona can determine to affix more than 900 other crew members who are entombed within the wreckage, Stratton had said that he wished to be buried with his household in Nebraska.

Lou Conter and Ken Potts, every 98, are actually the appropriate living survivors of the Arizona, the attach 1,177 sailors and Marines had been killed — roughly half of of the total demise toll — and 335 escaped within the attack on Pearl Harbor. The loss of one among the few final folks with recollections of what came about on that ship heralds the time when a large section of the atrocious attack may perhaps perhaps be lost to history.

Stratton talked about that demanding day many instances over the years, his son Randy Stratton said Monday in an interview. The 25th anniversary of the attack used to be the well-known time that he noticed his father inform. Loud noises spooked him for years after he joined the Navy for “20 bucks a month and to eye the realm,” Randy Stratton said.

In 2016, Donald Stratton told the Day-to-day Teach that the searing photography of his fellow sailors’ deaths had been by no arrive removed from his thoughts.

“I deem it day by day,” he told the newspaper. “I own no animosity against the Eastern folks, however I will’t neglect what came about.”

Once Stratton and the others made it into the provision vessel all the way by the attack, they climbed onto the dock and into a truck for a trek to a within sight Navy effectively being facility, Stratton told the Arizona Republic in 2014. A employee soon requested for volunteers to be transferred to a effectively being facility in California, and Stratton volunteered.

“Ought to you most definitely can furthermore come up and handle up whereas we replace the linen on this bed, we’ll eye about it,” the employee told him, in accordance with Stratton’s recounting of the legend to the Republic.

Stratton stood and suffered by the anxiousness till his bed used to be remade. He used to be at a effectively being facility approach San Francisco by Christmas, the Republic reported.

While within the effectively being facility, Stratton’s weight plummeted to 92 kilos, he wrote in his memoir. His feet refused to react when he tried to face. He declined a confer with from his mother because he couldn’t undergo the thought of her seeing him in such disarray.

Docs sought to amputate Stratton’s left arm, which they timid would by no arrive heal, he wrote. He said he rejected their recommendation and region out to secure his energy: studying to maneuver all any other time, swimming within the effectively being facility’s pool and standing within the sizzling bathtub.

Despite the proven fact that he used to be deemed unfit for strive against when he used to be launched from the effectively being facility in September 1942, Stratton like a flash determined that he wished to reenlist. Quite lots of the different young men in his region of birth of Red Cloud, Neb., had joined the military. Besides, Stratton admitted in his memoir, he wished to fetch revenge.

Stratton convinced the draft board to let him wait on into the Navy, and he went by a second round of boot camp. In 1945, he fought within the Fight of Okinawa, which he described in his memoir as “82 days of hell.” Stratton started electric-hydraulics college in San Diego a few weeks before the United States bombed the Eastern cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

He had seen the starting of World Battle II and the very stop.

All over his life, Stratton refused to shake the hands of Eastern pilots who attended the Pearl Harbor memorial ceremonies.

“Hear, all those men down there on that ship, a thousand of them, they wouldn’t attain it, and I don’t mediate they’d need me to achieve it,” Stratton told the Arizona Republic. “We can’t neglect what came about there that day. We can’t let it occur all any other time.”

Stratton and other Arizona survivors lengthy petitioned for the Navy to award a medal to George, the boatswain’s mate who threw the lead rope that saved their lives. Stratton and fellow sailor Lauren Bruner spoke about George to journalists whereas visiting the White Home in July 2017.

The Navy brushed aside requests to discipline a medal to George whereas he used to be alive because he had defied his superior’s orders to leave the house all the way by the attack, in accordance with Stratton’s memoir. Nonetheless in December 2017, the Navy posthumously awarded him a Bronze Famous individual.

Besides to to George, Stratton typically credited “the very most attention-grabbing Lord” with helping him to outlive. His son said Stratton’s Christian faith used to be a predominant section of his life.

“I don’t know the way I made it,” Stratton said in 2016. “Nonetheless I’m here.”

After the attack, the Arizona burned for 2 more days.

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Maintaining your boat regularly is essential to maintaining it in good working order and extending its lifespan. Oil inspection and replacement are two crucial components of boat maintenance. If you are not sure when it is time for a boat oil change in San Diego, here are a few signs that will help you make the right decision.