TWARS (This Week at Reef Seekers) - April 21-28, 2024

[Ken Kurtis]

Chamber Day, Bees, Moon, URI, & more (please scroll down for details)​

I wouldn't wish this on anyone . . . HORRIBLE URI (like there's a good one) - There's a horrible URI going around which I seemed to catch sometime a little over a week ago. Oy!!! Got so bad I actually went to the doctor on Thursday. Worst part wasn't the violent coughing or sneezing but the constant runny nose which made it REALLY hard to sleep (I'm a stomach-sleeper) and I'm sure that didn't help either. I think I've got most of it behind me but the point of this is to alert you that if someone you know has this - and my doc says it's definitely going around - wait a few days until they're not contagious because you'd rather not get it. BUT THE SHOW MUST GO ON - Every week, we do a FB Live update for Chamber Day called "Live @ 5." (I'm sure you ALL watch EVERY week.) Being ever the trouper and performer, even though I wasn't feeling well, the show MUST go on. My biggest issue was my voice because at this point I was borderline laryngitis. I made it 8 minutes in before I lost it. If you'd like a chuckle, here's the video: KEN'S VOICE GOES ON LIVE @ 5. SPEAKING OF CHAMBER DAY - May 1 is the date and is fast approaching. (So yes, I'll stop nagging you about it soon.) But we've got a few - about 15 - seats left overall at Chamber Eve - and we've got some boat spots as well. There's also plenty of room for you on the Flying Dutchman, at our virtual Chamber Eve table (watch the live-stream at home), and we can always use your help with the Chamber Challenge. The direct link is: https://usc.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_88ko1OUej3lAYbI EVEN THOUGH THE MOON CAN AFFECT DIVING . . . - This really isn't dive-related. But I'm continuing to play with the Seestar S50 astro-photo-telescope thing I got for the Dallas eclipse and am continually impressed by it. I'm sure I'm not using it to its fullest yet, but went out and shot the moon from the roof of my building around 11PM Saturday night. (You can tell how exciting MY Saturday evenings are lately.) It was a little hazy but, other than cropping to make it square, this is right out of the camera. I'm amazed at the detail, especially when I try to take a similar picture with my very good Nikon camera and lens.​

NOT GOOD NEWS - Looks like we might be in the middle of a worldwide coral bleaching event. Over half of the coral reefs monitored worldwide have suffered bleaching episodes in the last year and the worst may not yet be behind us. On top of that, add in a UN report (I think that's where it's from) that talks about the last 10 months EACH being the hottest average temperature of that specific month ever since weather started being recorded in the mid-1800s. Not good news. One of these days, we might actually take climate change seriously instead of sticking our heads in the proverbial sand as we become the living embodiment of "Wall-E." When you're voting in November, make sure you understand the climate positions of the candidates you support. Here's the article about the bleaching: CORAL BLEACHING WORLDWIDE. CAN'T END ON A DOWNER SO . . . QUEEN BEES DON'T DROWN - Researchers accidentally discovered that queen bees left in refrigerated tubes that then condensed and filled with water didn't drown. Of course, once they discovered that, someone came up with an actual experiment to see if this was a fluke or natural. So they tried to drown some bees. The results were interesting and encouraging and can be read here: QUEEN BEES CAN SURVIVE UNDERWATER FOR A LONG TIME. That'll do it for now. Have a great week, support our Chamber, and let's go diving soon!!! - Ken​

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I had the URI last month, then caught it again last Friday.