"Whale stranding linked to underwater mapping sonar; Critics describe report as flimsy and inconclusive" by Lenny Bernstein | Washington Post, October 20, 2013
WASHINGTON — The mysterious stranding of about 100 melon-headed whales in a shallow Madagascar lagoon in 2008 set off a rapid international response — a few of the eight- to 10-foot marine mammals were rescued, necropsies conducted, a review panel formed.
Did they follow prey into the lagoon? Were they sick? Was it the weather, or chemical toxins?
The panel recently gave its best answer, and it is causing ripples of concern. For the first time, a rigorous scientific investigation has associated a mass whale stranding with a kind of sonar that is widely used to map the ocean floor, a finding that has set off alarms among energy companies and others who say the technology is critical to safe navigation of the planet’s waters.
This has been known for years, but thankfully the agenda-pu$hing pre$$ has confirmed it!
The independent review panel appointed by the International Whaling Commission concluded Sept. 25 that a high-powered, ‘‘multi-beam echosounder system’’ (MBES) was ‘‘the most plausible and likely behavioral trigger’’ for the stranding....
And I'm just being told about it now?
A contractor for Exxon Mobil was using the sonar system — which sends ‘‘ping’’ sounds from a vessel toward the ocean floor — in a channel between Mozambique and Madagascar to determine where an oil and gas exploration rig might be safely constructed. Computers use the returning echo from the pulses of sound to map the ocean floor....
Hey, can't let beached whales get in the way of that!
Brandon Southall, the panel’s chairman and a marine biologist at the University of California at Santa Cruz, said he hopes the report will cause governments, regulatory agencies, and private companies to ‘‘realize that some of the types of mapping sonars have the potential to cause reactions in marine mammals that can be detrimental.’’
Exxon Mobil, which helped select the panel and partly funded the rescue of some of the whales in 2008, rejects the conclusion, contending that the evidence is too flimsy for a determination that could have a far-reaching impact....
So much for that confirmation from the agenda-pu$hing pre$$.
Another skeptic is Larry Mayer, a professor at the University of New Hampshire’s Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping. ‘‘From my reading of that report, it’s not clear how they could have come to that conclusion,’’ Mayer said. ‘‘Any of the other possible conclusions are just as likely.’’
It's healthy to be a skeptic when it comes to such things.
The report could have significant consequences for US government agencies and others around the world that use the MBES to map ocean floors. ‘‘If it endangers the ability to use these sort of systems . . . it could lead to all kinds of dangerous downstream consequences.’’ Mayer said....
Anybody tell him the whales are trying to swim upstream?
But Howard Rosenbaum, director of the Ocean Giants program of the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, hailed the panel for pushing the envelope on possible factors in the strandings and deaths of marine mammals.
I $mell an agenda at work!
Navy sonar has been implicated in harm to whales and dolphins, environmental groups contend....
Like I said above, this is SOMETHING EVERYONE ALREADY KNOWS and it doesn't take an agenda-pu$hing article in the corporate pre$$ to half-confirm it.
Other environmental groups are skirmishing with energy companies over the use of ‘‘seismic air guns,’’ devices that send much louder blasts of compressed air toward the ocean floor to help find oil and gas trapped below.
The noise from an MBES is better compared to an industrial-size version of the fish-finders widely used by recreational anglers, Southall said. That is part of the reason his panel’s finding is so controversial: the pinging sound is used so widely around the globe, in so many forms, that most involved have considered it relatively harmless.
Unless you are a whale or dolphin.
But it may be time to adjust that thinking, Southall said. He acknowledged that no study of whale strandings will achieve the kind of certainty that Exxon Mobil and others would like, but said this one provided a rare opportunity to consider a wide range of possibilities and disprove them.
Pffft!
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My sounding off here involves typing:
"Typing is key for students in Common Core rules; New standards introduce skill in earlier grades" by Lyndsey Layton | Washington Post, October 20, 2013
WASHINGTON — Of the major shifts taking place in American classrooms as a result of the new national Common Core academic standards, one little-noticed but sweeping change is the fact that children as early as kindergarten are learning to use a keyboard.
Also see: Sunday Globe Special: Afghan Classroom
No $hift there.
A skill that has been taught for generations in middle or high school is now becoming a staple of elementary schools. Educators around the country are rushing to teach typing to children who have barely mastered printing by hand.
Hey, who cares if you can write? Just make your X and put yourself in government and corporate hands, 'kay?
Related: US adults also lag in literacy tests
I'm sorry, I can't read that. That's what happens in an intentionally dumbed-down $ociety and culture.
The Common Core standards make frequent references to technology skills, stating that students in every grade should be able use the Internet for research and use digital tools in their school work to incorporate video, sound, and images with writing.
And to go find the truth for yourselves!
But the standardized tests linked to the Common Core make those expectations crystal clear because the exams — which will be given in 2014-2015 — require students to be able to manipulate a mouse; click, drag, and type answers on a keyboard; and, starting in third grade, write online. Fourteen states have agreed to field-test the exams next spring to help those creating the tests iron out the wrinkles and make improvements.
Third-graders will be asked to write three short pieces, according to Laura Slover, who heads one of two consortia that are designing the tests. They will read a nonfiction selection and a literary passage and write about each, and they will be asked to write a story based on a real or imaginary experience, Slover said.
I don't like that last assignment. All part of your psychological profile, kids.
‘‘Writing is a critical skill, and young students should have the opportunity to write frequently about meaningful topics,’’ Slover said. And when the writing tests are administered online, that means the students will be using a keyboard.
Those requirements are sending tremors through the nation’s elementary schools....
Who cares what they think?
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So what are we going to give the kids for repetitive motion disorders?
Also see:
Neither is the Globe these days. Fuck this.
