Historical whaling tools retrieved and dated

As I blogged already last autumn, some whaling tools recently retrieved from bowhead whales witness both historical hunting techniques and the amazing life spans of these whales. Now an arcticle of the scientific journal "Polar Biology" has appeared with detailed information on the dating of these harpoon and lance fragments. See the article online here:

"The age of bowhead whales captured by Native Alaskan hunters in the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort Seas has been estimated via chemical analyses of the eye lenses, and other techniques. The racemization-age estimates indicate that bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) have a lifespan of more than a century. Stone and ivory weapon fragments recovered from bowhead whales hunted in Wainwright and Barrow (Alaska) in 1981, 1992, 1993 and 1997, provided rough but independent assessments of the whales’ longevity; however, their date of manufacture was unknown. Adding further confirmation of these age estimates, this note describes bomb lance fragments recovered recently (2007) and about 30 years ago (1980) from bowhead whales harvested by Eskimo hunters that were “dateable” and likely manufactured between 1879 and 1885. (Source: Polar Biology's website).

National Geographic Explorer (ex. Lyngen) takes shape

As mentioned in an earlier post, Lindblad Expeditions, the pioneer in polar expedition cruising, is currently finishing a major conversion of the former "Hurtigruten" vessel Lyngen.



You can follow the progress of their work on their website, just follow this link.

They are already planning their season, spanning from the Baltic, Norway, Svalbard, Greenland and Iceland all the way down to Patagonia. You can see their itineraries here.

This should be the most up-to-date expedition cruise vessel on the market!

Maybe I should apply for a job there some time...

DEMA show 2007 - Orlando

Last week, the "Diving Equipment & Marketing Association" (DEMA) held their annual trade fair at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. This event is the industry's only international trade-only event and regularly features new product showcases, new destinations, and new companies.



Oceanwide Expeditions has traditionally been one of the exhibitors at the show, and this year I was invited to join the US staff at the booth and to give the seminar presentations on Oceanwide's polar diving activities.



To give you a feeling for the size of the event, here is a floorplan (Oceanwide's booth is marked with a red circle).



Apart from the two seminar presentations, we had to man the booth during opening hours, meet with long-time clients as well as potential future business partners and offer information, brochures and in-depth information (no pun intended ;-) about our diving operations.



Here you can see Marina (Oceanwide's US office) and Michel (Oceanwide's executive director) at our booth.

We had a quite successful show, all things considered, and have been able to establish some very interesting contacts as well as renewed some previous contacts with tour operators and agents. This was not a customer event and there were almost no items on display or for purchase. Such trade-only events seem mostly about number-crunching and hand-shaking and not so much about buying or selling, but I was able to check out some new products and make some contacts with equipment manufacturers in between presentations.

One of the most interesting things to see during the show were the new Poseidon Cis-Lunar Mk VI rebreather which is a remarkably compact and lightweight unit.



It also bears strange resemblance to the Seaway CORA II rebreather which I was able to test dive last year in prototype version. Unfortunately this unit never really made it into full production and sales, the company seems to have disappeared or at least its internet presence is suspended (site under construction).

Another interesting bit of news is the Poseidon Flexisuit which is hoped to appeal to the advanced rebreather and technical diver community. I tried it, it is extremely soft and flexible, but for my taset even TOO soft and TOO flexible.

But a front-entry zip has of course always en vogue in the tech/rb community so I guess this suit is going to be a hit (just not with me). Here is a picture:



Another exciting new product which unfortunately was not quite ready yet for the market is the OTS full-face mask. Unfortunately, I was not able to take a picture but it resembles pretty much the Interspiro (AGA) mask that everybody knows as the "gold standard" for lightweight FFM's.



Interspiro Divator

But the guys at OTS had the ambition to make an even better FFM so they pulled up a list of issues that users have had with the IS Divator mask:

• bad fit for small/narrow faces
• regulator is permanently attached to FFM body
• regulator comes from the left (as is usual in rescue/recovery, professional and firefighter masks, but not in sports diving)
• mask body has quite large volume above the oral/nasal cavity (thus often requires counterweights attached to the sides)
• quite highly priced

So they tried to fix it, and here is what they came up with (so sorry, still only text):

• double latex seal for improved fit
• detacheable regulator (p-connector with release button inside)
• regulator can be mounted from left or right
• mask body with smaller volume (only slightly, but they say it makes a difference...)
• roughly 50% of the retail price of the IS Divator (but shipping will start approx. in 6 months, so who knows...)

On top of that they have decided to offer it in a range of attractive color combinations... ;-)






I ended up not buying (or rather, ordering) a mask from them yet, as they admitted that it would still need a couple of rounds of serious tests and "some small adjustments and improvements".

But it looks like as if I will be going to the DEMA 2008 as well, next year it will be in Las Vegas, and by then they promised to have the mask ready and shipping!

Images of OTS FFM prototypes by remi, Hareid Sub Sea, originally posted at www.dykkesiden.no.

Polar Operations Guide for AUV's online

Here comes another tidbit that floated into my newsfilter while I was at sea:

Here is a website that is result of a conference on AUV's. This acronym stands for "Autonomous Underwater Vehicle", the "untethered" version of a ROV, or Remotely Operated Vehicle, in both cases an underwater robot used in scientific, commercial as well as military missions).




Since the participants of that conference workshop wisely decided that their subject, best practices for AUV operations in polar areas, is still a budding field of expertise, they decided to turn it into a web-based project where users can contribute and participate in the accumulation of such expertise.

A must for "underwater exploration gear" freaks like me...

Smaller, lighter, faster, blacker!

So this is it, my official first post from the MacBook!



The good old powerbook will stay at home from now on, I could never bring myself to giving it away (don't even mention selling)...



Actually I am quite happy that I did not wait with the new rig until the old one died - that way I will have a excuse to keep it around, put it on the table from time to time and enjoy the best laptop keybord ever designed.

The best decription I can come up with for the new MB keyboard is "flat". Precise, neat, not bad-looking, but simply "flat". Small, squared keys with minimal resistance and minimal "squeeze".

Fly your ROV as smoothly as a fish

I found this article on "electro-receptive navigation" while gathering data for a presentation on "animal navigation". But as it turns out, technology is yet again trying to mimick natural adaptations, as the following article shows:

"Robotic and uncrewed submersibles could operate more effectively by mimicking the way some fish probe their surroundings with electric fields, say researchers.

Many marine and freshwater fish can sense electric fields, but some also generate their own weak fields over short ranges to help navigate, identify objects, and even communicate with other fish.

"Currently, no vehicle is manoeuvrable enough to do work in tight quarters, such as coral reef monitoring, underwater structural inspection, or searching a submerged vessel," MacIver told New Scientist. "To do so requires not only a high amount of agility, but also being able to sense in all directions, so that you do not collide with nearby obstacles. Electro-location is perfect for this."

The researcher's electro-location system consists of two field-emitting electrodes and two voltage-sensing electrodes. These electrode pairs are arranged at opposite corners of a diamond, and were submerged in shallow water for testing purposes.

If the electric field is not disturbed by anything in the water, the two pairs of sensor electrodes should provide identical readings. But if something is placed within a few centimetres of the sensors, the field is disturbed and causes a variance in the sensor readings.

Since the position of the object affects the way the electric field is disturbed, a computer can use a series of sensor readings to determine the object's location. It is even possible to detect small objects by amplifying subtle perturbations in the field.

MacIver believes compact, agile submersibles could one day be covered in many electro-sensors - although he notes that weakly electric fish use many thousands. So the next step, he believes, is to develop an array of sensor electrodes and attempt more complicated tests.

Steve McPhail, who designs autonomous underwater vehicles at the UK's National Oceanographic Centre, part of the University of Southampton, also sees potential in the idea. "It sounds like this would be useful for small, agile subs operating close to the seabed or in tight spaces," he says. "An obvious advantage is that the sensors are quite cheap."

MacIver admits that it will be a long while before electric field sensors are anywhere near as sophisticated as those found in nature. "It has taken the machine vision community many years to 'teach' computers how to perceive simple objects using light," he notes. "We are just starting the process of understanding how to perceive simple objects using 'electro-sense'."

(Source: NewScientist.com)

I just wish they already had these sensors in place, since my dream of an "under-ice ROV" would also need this tight-quarter manoeuvrablility...

X-Ray Dive Mag #16

X-Ray, the free online dive mag, has recently published issue 16, including several favourite topics of mine:



• Reactive Oxygen Species (hey, that's one of my research topics!)

• newly discovered species under Antarctic Ice (hey, that's another of my research topics... ;-)

• Rebreather trim with Cedric Verdier (hey, my favourite RB author on my favourite RB subject!)

So, if you are similarly minded, or just want to figure out what a free online dive magazine actually looks like, check it out.

Actually, clicking on any of the headlines above will take you directly to the relevant section download (2-4 MB each) so you will not have to handle the entire file (16MB).

Also, you might remember the blog Divester by Willy Volk. Guess where he is hanging out now: yep, at X-Ray Mag's blog.

Moving to the beat of your TomTom

After debating the issue for a long time, I finally purchased a car navigation system (a TomTom One) and tested it a bit on local roads as well as on a drive to the airport. It worked great, and came in especially handy when I had to drive all my belongings in a rented truck to my new home in Norway a few days later.



As I was fortunate enough to get hold of one of the last boxes of last year's version, it even came at an affordable price, including digital maps of the entire Western Europe as well as a spare SD card, all for the price of a current version with Germany maps only.





I am really looking forward to never ever arguing with any passengers/navigators in shotgun seat any more, never having to stop for a look at the map when I am driving alone, and especially to having a cool new gadget to play around with ;-)

All you need to know about drysuit diving

X-Ray, the free (!) online diving magazine has delivered a nice overview over drysuit designs, materials, accessories and so forth.



If you do not want to download the complete pdf version of the current issue (#13), you can get the dry suit article as stand-alone here.

You like icebergs? Bring your own!

I just found this gem over at Divester, another of my regular blogs to watch.

Sure, climbing around on icebergs is a tempting, but quite risky thing to do, and even if you come in a dry suit, which will keep you relatively safe and warm in case you slip and splash, there still is one issue that stands between you and iceberg fun most of the time: when you need one, there is none!



Here you see me practice on a little one... ;-) note that 90% of the berg's mass is under water, just like it says in the books...

Of course, inversely, when you are in a rush, they are all over the place!



But thanks to the excellent folks at Comfort 1st.com, you can now get a safe, fun and practical solution: an inflatable iceberg!



Just US $5,999.95 (add US $ 200 for shipping) and it's yours!

(Approx. 20' x 14' x 14'. Ages 14 +)

Candy bar satellite phone with high-speed internet connection available

ABU DHABI, Aug. 22, 2006. — According to the company's website, Thuraya has just achieved a milestone when engineers made an high-speed Internet connection using a handheld satellite phone.



“We were able for the first time to browse the Internet and download files,” Thuraya Project Manager Mansoor Al Abd said.

His team used Thuraya’s second-generation handset, which is the world’s smallest and lightest satellite phone, to go online.

In addition to making voice calls, handset users can download information at speeds of up to 60Kbps and upload at about 15Kbps while ThurayaDSL subscribers can send or receive data at speeds of up to 144Kbps.

Thuraya will initially offer a basic GPRS service to the second-generation handset users for an additional fee. Plans are also underway for introducing a number of GPRS-based advanced features.

Too bad their "footprint" i.e. coverage does not contain any of our (Maria's and mine) current working areas: Arctic Norway (Svalbard, R) is outside, as well as NW Iceland (R+M), East Greenland(M+R), Northern and Northeastern Russia (M), and of course Antarctica (R)...




Back to Iridium, I am afraid...

Interspiro Divator MK II on ebay

After having pondered over the purchase of a (used) Interspiro FFM (full-face mask) for some time now, this ebay article was just too good to be true: 320€ for a mask which after all costs about 700 new...



But behold: 320€ was just the starting price. Certain that this would not be the final bid on such a nice piece of equipment (well, okay, they tend to get a little yellowish around the edges, but otherwise solid stuff!) I decided to watch the bidding and see it trail out of reach - since I happen to be in a bit of a "dry patch" at the moment and should really refrain from all sorts of investments.

And guess what happens: the mask is auctioned away - to the initial starting price - and to the very first bidder!

Which is not me, by the way. ;-(

Dive Computer test at Divernet

If you are looking for a realistic in-water test of current dive computer models, this article might be something for you. Unlike the usual dive magazine reviews with glossy pictures and long extra-feature lists, this tester strapped 12 models on a board and took them diving in the Red Sea. The whole point of the exercise (apart from some pretty intense gadget fidgeting... ;-) was to observe the recommended deco stop schedule of the various computers once the dive had been extended past the no-stop point for that depth. The most cautious route was then followed up to the surface.



This 'rig' of computers was then photographed at regular intervals to capture the deco readings on each display, and are presented in the following table (split for convenience in two parts):




This is followed by the inevitable side-by-side review of the physical characteristics of all teste models, including a basic list of features as well as prices (in GBP) which are omitted here for obvious reasons (see above).

Unfortunately, the otherwise straightforward and interesting article also includes a paragraph on "deep stops", a.k.a. gradually ascending from maximum depth before heading more directly for the safety/deco stop depth. Since virtually any sports diver is probably familiar with that kind of dive profile (except for its new label) why discuss it in such an article? The argument offered is astonishing:

"Extreme deep-diving ichthyologist Dr Richard Pyle noted that if he made pauses in an ascent from a dive at a depth equal to around half the maximum pressure to which he had subjected himself, instead of ascending straight to the surface, and then repeatedly did the same thing again between there and the surface, he felt a lot better afterwards.
The idea is based on the theory that the human body can sustain a 50% reduced pressure change without suffering ill effects."

So now we await eagerly to read more about that "theory that the human body can better sustain a 50% reduced pressure change". Unfortunately, all the authors can offer here is of little use:

"Although this is not based on any other real scientific evidence, giving slow tissues time to off-gas in this way, even at the expense of faster tissues on-gassing, makes sense!"

Now what on earth makes more sense, things based on "real scientific evidence" or some arbitrarily designed rule of "stopping halfway will make you feel better"?

However, to be fair to Mr Pyle who apparently stands behind this "50/50" rule as it could be dubbed, I will point you to this site where he decribes his theory - and how he came to propose it - in full detail.

Returning to the scope of the dive computer test article, I would conclude that from a scientific and especially medical point of view, people should probably rather be advised to use the most conservative computer model employing the safest algorithm, and press this point as the main decisive factor (apart from display readability, maybe) for any dive computer purchase.

But of course we all know that this is neither the way how such purchases usually are being motivated, nor the way how "deco plan safety tests" are being performed and published, unfortunately.

how about a nice dive barge - from ebay?

The wonderful things you can find at ebay:



Ex Navy YRST2
Dive Salvage Barge
(APL Hull)

"Salvage US II"

...

Replacement Cost
Over $6,000,000

Located in Norfolk, Virginia.


This Dive Barge cannot be sold to a Non-US Citizen or Foreign Entity without prior approval from 1 or more government agencies; the US Department of Defense, US State Department, US Navy, and or any agency that has jurisdiction over exportation.

Mac mini portable

For a while, I considered the Mac min as backpack-portable computer, but that solution would have involved separate sets of display, keyboard, and mouse both at the office and at home. This would have been cheaper than two complete systems, and you would just have connected your home peripherals into that "cookie box" to continue working on the same machine, settings, data, in the evening at home.

An added bonus for me - apart from the significantly smaller size - over a powerbook/ibook would have been the fact that you "only" had to worry about the "cookie box", i.e. the Mac mini in its case, but not any display, which typically is the first component that suffers in laptops from transport-derived wear&tear or direct damage, say from a bicycle crash. At the same time, the advantage of a full-sized desktop display and a standard keyboard were also weighing in on the decision.

On the other hand, such a 'dual-base system' would not have worked anywhere else than at work and at home.

Eventually, I settled for the more powerful iMac (and better value-for-money, compared to the Mac mini+studio display option) for the office and my good old (but heavily upgraded) wallstreet powerbook for the road and for surfing/writing/blogging at home.

But here is a concept I just found on the web, where a Mac mini had been rendered fully portable, with batteries, display, micro-keyboard and all:



More on this project, the how and why is available on PeterGreen's .mac website, here.

An excerpt:

"Why the Mac Mini Portable?

Well, in short I wanted a machine that was really dinky to just pop in my rucksack, and while the PowerBooks/iBooks are pretty small, they still take up a fair amount of space. I wanted something with a very small screen that was more or less hand-held, and mac just don't do that [yet].

I didn't need a completely fluid response of the controllers or a crystal clear screen as the MMP [MacMini Portable] would only be used in it's portable sense to quickly integrate into someone else's system, the rest of the time it'd have it's own dedicated screen, mouse & full sized keyboard being used in the traditional 'Mini' design.
Therefore, a micro-keyboard was perfectly acceptable, I was prepared to accept a naff mouse - but managed to get an old pc laptop trackpad which I actually got working very well.

So, there was nothing for it - I had to build my own!"

new rebreather coming on the market - CORA II

The producer does not even have it on their own websites yet, but the German/Austrian company Seaway Diving has been introducing an all-new product line with their CORA II rebreather. Here is a shot of this setup:



Note that the counterlungs are placed around the shoulders rather than in a container on your back or chest. This has the convenient effect ofa significantly shorter loop as well as probably eliminating "froggy cheek" issues. Looks like a smart move to me (although it reminds one of those 'toilet seat' BCD's of the olden days...)



You will quickly notice: something is missing. Right, there is no BCD, no harness, no nothing. "Bring your own" is the motto!

In a way, this makes sense: many people whose feet and hands have grown enough webbing to grab a rebreather instead of 'boring simple tanks' already have a jacket/harness/wing/stainless-D-ring-collecting contraption of some sort that fits them perfectly. Why not use that to carry the rebreather around?



This of course also significantly reduces the cost, and Seaway are able to offer this in a basic configuration for a bit more than half the price of the Dolphin, and a third of the sports-KISS, not to mention any MEGALODON price tags... (they seem to be very thorough with even that detail over there... i.e. "make it MASSIVE" ;-)

But for me, this is just fine, because I really do not like the Dolphin BCD, as one example.

At the moment, Seaway is offering an basic nitrox-SCR config, while a SCR-II config will soon be available allowing two gases, and mCCR and even eCCR are in the works.

The beauty of it all: these components (dosage, sensor heads, battery case etc.) will all be solidly attached to the "lid" of the central cylinder which holds the absorber unit, so it would ideally be fully modular. Just pop on the eCCR lid, attach your tanks, and off you go again! Nice.

If I get some time, I could try a more side-by-side comparison to the Dolphin (forget the Ray), the KISS sets, and the MEG.

Let's see.

Mac mini/SE and whisky PC case mod

In case you have not found it yourselves yet, here is a very technically sophisticated (but clumsily translated) description of a Mac mini built into a Mac SE casing, even using the pre-existing CRT monitor. Here is a shot from the site:



In a non-related but equally inventive story, a guy built a PC in a Ballantine which looks like this:



Oh, and in case you wondered: the first mod was done by a Japanese, while the second hails from Finland... ;-)

rebreathers using artificial gills for O2 resupply?

Once you are enthusiastic about diving, it is likely that you want to spend more and more time underwater, but as soon as you cross the border from swimming and snorkelling to scuba diving, you promptly come across the technical and physiological limitations of the available diving equipment, which usually limit the duration of your underwater experience.

For the sake of brevity, I will focus on the technical aspects and leave out the physiological, although they are also being addressed to some extent by all of the alternative ways of "underwater breathing apparatus" listed below. So what if you were able to "do it like the fishies" and truly breathe underwater? So far, it seemed technically out of reach and unefficient, so people had to resort to a number of compromises instead.

1) Conventional "open system" scuba, relying on a tank of pressured air (or blended gas like nitrox or heliox etc.), work only as long as it takes you to deplete the tank's charge, which is commonly around 200- to 300x compressed air, or bar (sometimes also measured in psi, or pound/square inch, factor 14.5). So once your tank approaches the minimum pressure needed by your breathing regulator, your air supply breaks down. Not a fun thing to experience while being underwater...

2) Surface-supplied systems rely on large gas tanks or compressors constantly connected to you and your personal breathing regulator to supply you with air, usually also with communication and sometimes even hot water which circulates through your suit, to prevent you from getting too cold. It is regularly used by commercial divers, p.e. working at underwater construction sites or out of saturation diving bells, where the limited range and mobility imposed by moving on an "umbilical" is not a big problem. However, if something (or someone) fails to work properly with your surface supply, you can be in trouble, so there is both the radius/mobility issue as well as the dependency on the smooth operation of your supply system which is completely out of your hands.

2a) One funny spin-off of this is Snuba, a combination of "snorkel" and "scuba", and the pitch is offering the advantages of snorkelling, i.e. free and easy roaming of shallow inshore waters, with scuba, which basically allows a person to stay underwater longer than anyone can hold his or her breath. However, proper SCUBA diving has some inherent risks that require adequate training, while snorkelling really just requires kicking around with or even without fins. Get rid of the tank, which follows you on the surface mounted on a float, and you can feel as free and easy as a snorkeller while taking advantage of the air supply of a compressed air tank so you do not even have to hold your breath any more. Again, once the tank is close to empty, the fun is over.

3) Rebreathers offer another extension of your stay underwater, while still relying on compressed gas. Although this gas is usually Nitrox, a "blend" with an increased oxygen percentage, they are much more efficient in exploiting that gas reservoir by recycling or "rebreathing" a large part of the inhaled and exhaled gas volume.

But since you are forced to deal with both supply of oxygen into and transport of carbon dioxide (CO2) out of your respiratory system, you also need a "scrubber" or absorber that removes the exhaled carbon dioxide from the recycling or "rebreathing" process. So even though the improved gas efficiency of a rebreather has drastically prolonged your time underwater, you still have the same old problem: sooner or later, your supply of oxygen will run out.

But what if you could refill your tank on-the-go? Israeli inventor Alon Bodner thinks he came up with a technical solution, a battery-powered artificial gill. Basically, it pumps a large amount of water through a system where dissolved oxygen "bubbles out" of the water and becomes breathable gas - just like CO2 bubbles out of a soda bottle (or beer can ;-) once you pop the cap. This could be it, the answer to all problems: unlimited gas supply! (or at least as long as the system's power supply runs...)

But wait, just before we get into details and technicalities about how exactly it is possible to gain oxygen out of sea water just like the fish, there is that nasty detail: not only your gas tank, but also your CO2 scrubber is only good for a certain time (or rather, a certain amount of gas being "scrubbed") so even if you had unlimited supplies of oxygen, you still need to dump the CO2 somehow.

Using a rebreather system without adequate removal of CO2 is bound to slowly suffocate the user, and exchanging or even "recycling" the CO2-absorbing substance while being underwater is not really practical or even possible so far.

So although it seemed like there finally was a solution to the scuba diver's dream of unlimited underwater time, it is unlikely to become available as personal diving equipment until the CO2 scrubber problem also has been addressed.

Where it still might become a practical solution is in manned subsea installations (like Cousteau's famous "underwater habitats" Conshelf I, II and III and all it followers, or possibly in submarines, where access to an ample supply of energy and frequent removal of CO2 scrubbers are not a problem.

So we dream on about genetically manipulated fish-men with gill slits and webbed feet - while webbed fingers could prove to be rather impractical in the long run... ;-)

Full-face diving masks - from Phantomas to Darth Vader

After having recently been to the BOOT 2006, a rather large water sports (and diving) trade show/shopping event here in Germany, the whole "full-face mask thing" came into mind again.

I have been using full-face masks for a couple of years now, while diving for my own pleasure as well as for scientific missions and usually in rather cold water. Most of the time I use the good old "Cressi" type (also dubbed "Phantomas" and sometimes mistaken for a fetish thing ;-) which is cheap, simple and reliable. There is only one way to make it unusable, and that is to break the front window, in which case you just pop in a spare one.



This type of mask is by now considered quite "old-school" but adequately fulfills its purpose: it keeps your face dry and holds your reg in place, which of course is a nice safety featue.

So (theoretically) you do not have to bite into the mouthpiece any more, which can be tiresome, especially in long exposures in seriously cold waters. You can even add a "diver's telephone" i.e. a surface line communication system to this mask, although this requires drilling a small hole in the silicone or rubber mask body and glueing the microphone into the mask, which will stick into your chin with its rubber cap.

But there are more advanced alternatives from professional diving equipment manufacturers like German Dräger Safety or Swedish companies Interspiro and Poseidon, all of which make pretty similar masks.

Here a few shots of my favorite type, which I started using on "open-system" ice diving missions in the Arctic recently:



The Interspiro Divator is a classic in its own right, although not going back quite as far as the 1960's Cressi model. It is one of the most common military, rescue, and scientific models currently in use. Unfortunately, it is also still the most expensive... (ca. 950€)

Full-face masks are usually produced and sold as professional (or military) diving equipment and apart from fire and police departments, only commercial or scientific divers are commonly seen to use them as standard equipment. True, there is a growing market for so-called 'tech divers' and recently this trend has also trickled into the mainstream market.

Here is the runner-up, which I am currently thinking (or rather, dreaming:) of purchasing one day for myself:



Not surprisingly, the Poseidon is more or less an exact replica of the Divator, although it has a few improved design features - and a more reasonable price...(ca. 850€)

If you are thinking of putting a rebreather mouthpiece into a full-face mask, you will probably either 'mod' an existing cressi or older Dräger masks with straps and glue and handmade parts, or you will succumb to the designers and marketing people of Dräger and shell out for their "Panorama Nova" model:



This is the newest of the three and comes with three reg/communication/bailout ports which can be conveniently opened and closed by easily handled plugs, so that you can breathe surrounding air while you are already fully sealed and dressed up, or you can even swap a rebreather loop for a reg or one reg for another. It is also the cheapest of them all (680€), except for the Cressi which will cost you only 50€ apiece (I bought 4 over the years...).

I used it successfully in recent under-ice rebreather diving missions (using Dräger's Dolphin system) both in the Arctic and Antarctic, and the most prominent "user-friendly" features are both the 'port plugs' and the quick-release feature, i.e.you can easily pull the mask away from your face even with thick gloves by grabbing the two "bars" on each side of the mask, which will open all of the four the strap buckles at once. Maybe this system could be modified for the other masks as well?

There is just one slight problem: ONLY Dräger's own second stages or especially modified Apeks regs will fit into ANY of its ports. Of yourse you can try to modify another regulator (p.e. by welding a dräger-style mouthpiece onto a Poseidon Cyclon 2. stage) but anyway you are forced use a fitting regulator. Another downside: you cannot get them as "overpressure" systems which are a switchable option for the other two systems, so you will have to go on "demand-only" instead.

BTW: there are several (in my eyes largely unsuccessful) models of full-face masks produced by sports diving equipment manufacurers like Scubapro and OceanReef, but after trying them both for s short period I returned them immediately: too expensive and neither as functional nor as robust as any of the models mentioned above, while offering poor comfort and even warped visor surfaces which scratch easily and give you 'tunnel vision' alreada at the surface.

The new HMS Daring (iPod-ready)

Tired of fuzzy radio? Want to take your iPod with you instead? Acura, Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Dodge, Ferrari, Honda, Mercedes, Suzuki, Volkswagen and even Volvo will be happy to offer complete stereo integration for you (as well as numerous other car stereo makers and adapter suppliers with more or less functional and elegant add-on solutions) to bring your tunes for the trip.

Now, there is another vehicle manufacturer joining the team: Glasgow's Clydeside shipbuilding yards.

The first model of their newest series, the Type 45 Destroyer, was just finished and costs just about £605 million. The buyer of this 150 m, 7350 ton, 14 deck leviathan, the British Defence Secretary said that "the launch was a proud day for the Royal Navy. It’s a huge boost for the Royal Navy because this is the most capable, most powerful destroyer ever built in the UK".

HMS Daring's 230-strong crew should be happy too, since the 'Hotel Facilities', as the new living quarters are known, are not organized as mess decks any more, but are now broken up into individual cabins, each with their own iPod docks, CD player, internet access, five channel recreational audio and larger berths.

Just one question: what do you need the CD player for...?

drive like a Norwegian

Came across this car review on the Times Online while checking out DVD Jon's blog.

It takes you a while to get to the "car" part in the text, which is exactly why Jon also found it noteworthy enough to blog about it. Here's a few appetizers:

"This is the weird thing about Norway. On the surface it appears to be a monochrome and rather chilly version of Britain. There’s the same northern European efficiency, the same things make us laugh, and the town centres are full of vandals who like to key your car....

...You might think everyone can talk English and of course most do — even A-ha — but there are exceptions. Last Tuesday I asked the proprietor of a remote highland cafe for the rest room and he recoiled in such horror I began to think “rest room” might be Norwegian for “Hey, troll, I’ve got a gun and if you don’t hand over all your money I’m going to shoot your husky”...

...Perhaps difficulty with communication is why the hotel room in which I stayed had a fold-out whiteboard nailed above the bed: so guests can use diagrams and cave drawings to explain to their girlfriends what they have in mind next."

Finally, there comes the "car" bit of the story (on the Mercedes M-Class):

"Obviously Mercedes wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice, so plainly the people making the new one have been told to stop singing Swing Low Sweet Chariot and get on with some work, and the designers were told it was 2005, not 1956.

...As a result the new car looks great, feels well made and when you climb aboard works like any other Mercedes, not a Massey Ferguson with electric windows...

...The verdict, then, on the M-class is pretty much the same as my verdict on Norway. Efficient and good fun, but odd and too expensive."

Volvo reinvents the Audi A3

I really thought Volvo had a good thing going with their 3 CC Concept Car, a cool next-generation electric sportscar.



Note the ultra-streamlined aerodynamic design and the compact size.



I just loved this view, I know it is not exactly practical for the family dog - or for divers, for that matter, but what a design!



True, it is not yet running on hydrogen fuel cells or even as hybrid, but is instead purely electric. The concept designers mention a range of 300km on a fresh charge, that sounds decent. Also, it's a three-seater, in case you wondered...



But instead of this really cool design, Volvo recently announced that they would convert another concept car into a production model later this year, and this is *yawn* going to be the so-called C30.



Derived from the Safety Concept Car, another design concept developed by the Volvo Concept Lab, it is apparently more of a "common sense" model rather than a true innovation.

At a closer look, it is just a V50 shrunk to the size of the Audi A 3, but not as well-designed and puristic in its lines. AND, it's a copy/remake rather than the original thing...;-)

The thing that disappoints me most is that most automotive journalists - and even its designers - compare it to the 1960's to 1970's model P1800,



while indeed its design has much more in common (in fact I would even speak of "direct ancestry") with the - also much more recent - 1988 to 1995-produced 480 model.



But truth to be told, that 480's project was never liked much over at Volvo headquarters: one, its design had been outsourced through a design contest, two, it was not even 'built in Sweden' but instead licenced to Netherlands Car, the automobile producer formerly known as DAF ;-), three, it was also some sort of a "concept car" at its time, with a lot of electronic gizmo's - most of whom did not really work all the time... and four, only about 80.000 units were built and sold, so it was largely a flop...

wreck diving - out of a personal submarine?

A good (old) SCUBA joke goes like this:

"Young attractive male seeks female dive buddy for shared recreation and friendship, must have boat. Please sent photo of boat."

Apart from a car, which is the one vital component of any SCUBA gear (to haul all the assorted other components from home to beach or lake), a boat probably ranges second on any ambitious sports diver.

But for wreck divers, there is a new fancy to replace it: private-owned submarines!



Sounds crazy? Well, remember that every dive flick, or any action movie including diving (like virtually all 007 episodes) includes at least one "sub scene". Cousteau had one, (so did Steve Zizou;-), his grandson even has a "shark sub".

If you look past the technical and logistical problems and challenges that clearly arise from getting, building or even operating a non-military, non-scientific, recreational submarine, it all seems quite appealing (at least to wreck divers):

• more often than not, wrecks lie in deep water. That means long descents, several gas mixes, even longer ascents, endless decompression stops etc.

• the one thing most feared by divers (and especially dive boat crews) is not sea sickness itself, but "anchor sickness", i.e. the unpredictable movement of a boat at anchor, or even adrift, as there is no main propulsion component any more, i.e. the boat is rocking in ever direction seemingly at once, even in comparatively calm conditions. And this is when you have to set up your equipment, get into that gear, check your stuff, wait until everybody is ready, move around with weights and tanks and all... and nausea is rising. As far as I have heard, subs do not have that problem.

• the cool factor: hey, you can shoot your very own James Bond scene!

In fact, there is a guy that seems to be able to pull this off: Carsten Standfuss and his team are building their 16m-submarine including a diver recompression chamber and everything that is needed for a week-long trip at sea, diesel-electric propulsion and all.

Here is a more extensive documentation of their efforts in German version.

Coral reefs going online

The Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), in conjunction with university researchers, is placing strategically-positioned “smart sensors”, dubbed Digital Skins, in the ocean. These sensor systems were originally designed to monitor nuclear power plants and will now be recording key environmental parameters such as salinity, temperature and nutrient levels.

The hope is to be able to continually observe the dynamic changes in processes like coral bleaching, and to be able to retrieve that data in real time. As one researcher states it: "One of our problems is that we tend to monitor after things happen, and so what we see is not so much the cause as the effect,"..."A good example is coral bleaching,"..."It becomes hot, we see corals going white, we then start measuring. It's all over. What we need is continuous monitoring of these systems."

And that's where the "smart" comes in, as these sensors apparently will be interconnected, although the exact details are as yet unclear to me (wireless microwave signal transmission is mentioned, which should cover a range of up to 70 km "in one hop") while GPS receivers are mentioned to ascertain positions of the sensor systems (which apparently are also deployed on floating devices). Sounds quite cool, all in all.

Apparently, those researchers responsible for such a sensor grid of "digital skins" have thought their project through, as they also invested in some high-speed network infrastructure to receive and handle such a stream of real-time sensor data.

The main investment was a link consists of 12 pairs of glass fibres, which connects the Australian Institute for Marine Science (AIMS) in Townsville toJames Cook University (JCU) in Queensland, and from there to Brisbane and into a high speed national link operated by AARNet - Australian Academic Research Network Pty Ltd.

This should enable AIMS scientists use the JCU supercomputer as though it was sitting in their office, and it will let JCU scientists use AIMS data and modelling capabilities in the same way. Through the AARNET link, AIMS and JCU scientists can then also use these and similar facilities across the globe, enabling immediate access to scientific analysis systems, and allowing other research agencies to utilise their data and cooperate closely with them.

"We have come a long way in the past 20 years. In 1985 our data link to the external world was 9,600 bits per second, today our new link to the Internet will be 1,000,000,000 (1GB) bits per second," as the AIMS Information Technology and Data Centre Manager, Scott Bainbridge stated proudly.

Click the link in the headline for the recent BBC.co.uk news report or go to the AIMS homepage for more details.

my next car (if I can ever afford another one)

If my wonderful fire engine-red Volvo 480 ever breaks down, this should be a worthy replacement:



It is using pathfinder technology, i.e. a tethered unmanned vehicle connected to the main two-seater unit with an umbilical cord, all kinds of next-generation navigation, ground-penetrating radar, a reliable heating&air conditioning system, and is probably easy to park, given its compact dimensions. According to the designer, it should fit into the cargo hold of a Twin Otter so bringing it along for your holidays will not be a problem either. No more cheap underpowererd rentals...

And check this out, it has superb traction thanks to double driving belts, and super-maneuvreable steering with a rotating driving undercarriage, while the wheels remain fixed. Here is another shot:



It might be a bt tricky to back into parking slots, though, given the dimensions of the driving belt (think: belts eating their way into a Mercedes front spoiler...;-) and where do you park the umbilical R2D2?

But you guessed correctly, this is not exactly designed for city traffic (although it would look awesome!) but is the new concept car recently unveiled at the Royal College of Art’s final year show. It is supposed to be used by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) some time in the future to perform so-called "ground based deep field surveys". Definitely a good idea, but probably not half as much fun as a good old snocat!

first impressions from Stavanger

Here are some first phonecam snaps and impressions from Stavanger where I spent a few weeks recently to study the stress level (really!) in small critters living under the ice (click this link to a previous post if you want to know how they look like). It turned out my stress level was a lot higher than theirs, but then I could not blame them. They had been stored on liquid nitrogen first and later at about -80°C so they were pretty cool about the whole procedure *cheesy sitcom laugh* while I was working up a sweat jumping around between the different analysers, homogenisers, autosamplers, microplate readers, multipipette robots etc.

I first thought of showing some pics of these wonders of scientific high-tech but decided against it for now. (I first have to figure out how I can in uplink some mpeg movies that I shot of the robot systems in action).

Instead, here is a view from our lab's window on an oil rig dismantling unit.



Moored to it for some time was SAIPEM 7000, apparently the world's biggest, largest, heaviest-lifting floating crane rig, sporting twin cranes capable of 7000 tons each (hence the lyrical name) as well as a number of smaller "feeder" cranes to shuffle smaller things around on deck. It moved in and out of the fjord at astonishing speed (I guess some 6-8 knots) and "swerved" sharply to lay to the pier without any tug assistance, which makes sense if you have to move in close to large offshore constructions to take them down. And then it started to unload parts of a platform it had been taking apart some place out in the oil fields onto the large pier in front of the lab. Like a giant "grown-up boy's dream toy" come true!

Here is another shot:



If you piched your eyes, you could see small ant-like creatures crawling around on it, the deck crew. The cranes swung around more or less simultaneously to avoid too much veering on the deck, since they were "riding high" i.e. had not flooded the huge tanks in their legs as they would do once they were stationary and anchored "in the fields". With empty tanks the rig has a lot more freeboard i.e. a lot less bulk to push through the water when "sailing".

So even though Stavanger really is just a sleepy little town loosely strewn over a few islands and along the fjord and sounds, which reportedly have some of the oldest (known) human settlements of Scandinavia, it also happened to be situated closest to the largest (known) oil reserves of western Europe.

And by the way: parts of that pier the SAIPEM 7000 was moored to originate from the BRENT SPAR (ring a bell?), i.e. its concrete legs were modified into a pier extension while the metal superstructure was cut into scrap iron on the flat expanse between the lab and the fjord. I would love to dig up pictures of the thing, apparently the rig was tugged around in "Byfjorden" for some time while the authorities were still contemplating to sink it some place convenient to avoid the costly deconstruction.

tiger on wallstreet - unleashed at last

After having installed 10.4 (Tiger) on my Powerbook Wallstreet just a few days ago (BTW: installation and and configuration was done on the original G3/250Mhz processor with 256MB RAM - and it worked...!) Why? Just to prove the point: IT WORKS;-)

And although I was expecting some trouble with all of my (exclusively third-party) peripherals, it turned out of all things only the wireless card was not supported any more (duh...).

So here I was: finally able to synchronize every last email file, every password, widget setting, you name it...and I was tied up again by the ethernet cable, forced to sit in the corner of the living room, on the floor, with wires in every direction and about two inches of "wriggle room" ;-(

Fortunately, though, I managed to dredge up another driver for my suddenly useless wireless card. The only disadvantage over the (freeware) sourceforge version that I had been using in Panther (although this was not supposed to be supported either...) is that suddenly I am requested to register that product - I am not going to tell you who is the extortionist - or else the driver stops the card after 30 minutes of use, and only becomes "alive" again after reboot.

Well, maybe this will help keep me focused and stop the long nights spent browsing and surfing and mailing and chatting.

Rationing is the new style! There is a thesis to write, a car engine to fix, dishes to be washed...

buy mac - it's safer...

During breakfast this morning, I was called by my colleagues and told that we had a massive break-in last night. And guess what: although every single door in the house, locked or not, had been forcibly opened, our entire desktop computer hardware inventory (only PowerMac's and only a single Dell workstation) is still intact!

First one might believe that was due to the wise idea to put a Kensington lock on each and every desktop machine (the SysOps even put a massive chain through the handles of some PowerMacs) but it turns out that several iBooks and even one brand-new PowerBook, which were not secured like this but locked away in cupboards, were all found, opened, and left behind;

On the other hand, several Dell laptops which were the "expedition workhorses" for windows-based sensor systems (and which were subsequently quite scratched and banged-up) and one private Acer laptop are stolen, together with some cash and stamps.

So go ahead and buy Apple: the Bad Guys don't know what's Good!

P.S.: I had my iMac secured and my PowerBook with me at home, but my Expedition Dell was taken, too, along with a Sony CyberShot DigiCam.

finally: flat-out-on-the-net-all-the-time!

Quote from traffic monitor:

02.08.05 09:30:12 Internetverbindung wurde erfolgreich hergestellt.
02.08.05 09:30:07 DSL ist verfügbar (DSL-Synchronisierung besteht).
02.08.05 09:29:57 DSL-Synchronisierung beginnt (Training).
02.08.05 09:29:53 DSL antwortet nicht (Keine DSL-Synchronisierung).
_________________________

so finally, the data stream has found a wider channel into my home. Here are the facts:

Ordererd: 22.07. (1&1)
Installed: 26.07. (splitter, modem&wireless router, VoIP switch, 30€ for all)

27.07. - 01.08.: waiting for the signal...

...and here we are, online at last!

data transfer rate improvement: 137x (over the olden days, when 44K connections over the modem were the norm)
upload rates of 580K are also a nice change...

written on the balcony, on the upgraded pb wallstreet (now G4/500, 512 MB, 20 GB, PROXIM wireless(b) card)

will need to set an alarm to remind me to get offline and sleep...;-) or set the router to interrupt the connection after more than 8 hours straight, so that I can get ready to get back to work...!

a "tiger" volvo - just what I had been dreaming about...

Check this out: while Apple fans rave about the newest OS (10.4 a.k.a. "tiger") and volvo fans go on about, well, volvo models, this guy seems to have combined the two of them: the "tiger volvo"! A modified 740-turned-convertible with, er, tiger fur cover. Wow. A dream come true, as two of my passions merge into one INCREDIBLY AWFUL MUTANT-MOBILE. But cool, in a very weird way ...;-)

So here it comes:

eBay-Artikel 4564315558

By the way, if you want to see the "real stuff" check out these links about the volvo 480 (the car that got me into this), which was the rare and unrepeated attempt of volvo designing and building a sports car. It is somewhat of a "Swedish Ferrari" for connaisseurs, if you associate ferrari with, um, unreliable electrical parts. Or great street performance. Or mysterious leaks in impossible-to-find places. Or incredibly cool looks... Anyway, these cool and unusual rides come (a bit) cheaper than their famous Italian cousins, but they are nonetheless the center of a cult-like fan community, which probably outnumbers the Ferraristi by 10. But then, there have always been more, like, strange people around than, say, REALLY RICH people...

Judge for yourself, here is a selection of volvo 480 sites (yes, they are all about this one model!):

The German 480 Club "Der kleine Elch" (i.e. the little moose)
there is even a German Wiki about it (sorry, no English version - yet)
The European 480 Club's website
A volvo 480 registry website from the Netherlands
The fan community in Lithuania...
apparently, there are some in Estonia, too (actually, two...)
look here if you understand any Polish
here comes some stuff in Danish, too...

So you see, that little car is BIG in Europe. It never quite made it Stateside, though, which is a bit ironic considering that it was designed after US specs and meant for the export market. Only about 80k pieces were produced between 1987 and 1995, so it is quite amazing what impact it seems to have, even ten years after the last rolled out of the assembly hall.