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We Robot, a horrible hagfish massacre, deep, delicious sandwiches, fish slime harvests, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: September 10, 2018.

Posted on September 10, 2018 by Andrew Thaler

Foghorn (a call to action)

The pending U.S. destruction of Pagan and Tinian islands.

The U.S. is turning a significant portion of Micronesia into live fire and bombing ranges to train Marines. It has plans to completely take over one island for this purpose and has control of two-thirds of another island.

If people in the U.S. mainland understood the military’s plan for Micronesia they might be alarmed. But this is really happening to U.S. citizens living in America’s territories.

(source)

We Robot 2019: sign up for one of the best conferences I’ve ever participated in!

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

‘Slime eel’ massacre caused by Washington man’s boat accident, lawsuit says.

The Levee (news from LUMCON)

Floodwaters are plaguing a lab where scientists study … coastal flooding.

LUMCON’s DeFelice Marine Center, flooded, as seen from a dormitory balcony. (Photo: Courtesy of LUMCON)

Frisky Anglerfish, Persistent Aquatic Living Sensors, Make for the Planet Borneo, Sea Cucumber Mafia, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: March 26, 2018

Posted on March 26, 2018 by Andrew Thaler

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Sign up for Make for the Planet Borneo and help push forward the next generation of conservation technology!
Announcing the Con X Tech Prize for Hacking Extinction! Apply for funding to create a working hardware prototype and win up to $20,000 in awards.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

This is a totally ordinary, not at all alarming, call for government bidders on a contract to build “new systems that employ natural or engineered marine organisms as sensor elements to amplify signals related to the presence, movement, and classification of manned or unmanned underwater vehicles.” They even adorably call these Persistent Aquatic Living Sensors PALS. Normal!
Here’s a video of anglerfish mating, because anglerfish are beauty.

This week in science and conservation slowly, awkwardly coming to terms with their racist history: For Decades, Our Coverage Was Racist. To Rise Above Our Past, We Must Acknowledge It and Environmentalism’s Racist History.
Scientists in Survival Mode: After a disastrous hurricane season, scientists in the storms’ pathways struggle to return to work.

The Levee (A featured project that emerged from Oceandotcomm)

Marine lab has ‘front row seat’ to Louisiana coastal loss.

Photo by Melissa Miller

Imaginary islands, lobster pain, porgs and puffins: Thursday Afternoon Dredging, January 25th, 2018

Posted on January 25, 2018 by David Shiffman

Cuttings (short and sweet):

Follow Kelsey James, a graduate student studying the age and growth of batoid fishes, on twitter!
Ancient maps show islands that don’t really exist. By Greg Miller, for National Geographic.
Global registry of invasive species is a milestone for conservation. By Jonathan Watts, for the Guardian.
Want to buy a tshirt, mug, or phone case featuring porgs and puffins? Sure you do! Art by Jen Richards.
Art by Jen Richards

Spoils (long reads and deep dives):

Mesoamerican reefs get improving bill of health! By John Cannon, for MongaBay.
Legacy pollution: an unfortunate inheritance. By Dana Sackett, for the Fisheries Blog.
Switzerland’s lobster laws are not paragons of science-based policy. By Doctor Zen, for Neurodojo.
Conservation helps Maine lobster, and Maine lobstermen. By Patrick Whittle, for the AP.
How brittlestars “see” without eyes. By Giorgia Guglielmi, for Nature News.

Please add your own cuttings and spoils in the comments!

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Sailing by Starlight: the lost art of celestial navigation

Posted on September 27, 2010 by Andrew Thaler

This post is a slightly modified transcript of a talk I gave on celestial navigation. As some of you know, I like to build things, and I recently decided to build some classic navigational tools. Of course, in the process of building these instruments, I had to learn how they work. The history of celestial navigation is fascinating and deeply connected to the history of astronomy and mathematics. The original slide show can be found at the bottom of this post. Enjoy!

I’m going to begin with a seemingly simple question, then hopefully give you some basic tools to answer that question. Where are you?