TechnoOcean Time

I've been spending the last few days updating my TechnoOcean material, which I hadn't worked on since its inception. I'm working on databases for shipwrecks, submersible and research craft, aquariums, organizations and programs, and reviews.

Popped over to the library and picked up the following books:

Eyewitness Compaions: Scuba Diving, by Monty Halls and Miranda Krestovnikoff
Rough Westher Seamanship for Sail and Power, by Roger Marshall
Great Sailing Ships of the World, by Otmar Schauffelen
The Complete Encyclopedia of Fishing: A Comrehensive Guide to Coarse Fishing, Sea Angling and Game Fishing, by Tony Miles, Martin Ford and Peter Gathercole

I haven't been bothering to read all the articles on astronaut Karen Nowak...I just can't stand them. All that intelligence, all that knowledge - she was supposed to be on the next shuttle mission, too -- and she throws it away because of a love triangle.

Meanwhile, personal responsibility continues to become a thing of the past. Apparently 3 people have recently been killed in New York City because they weren't paying attention, stepped out into traffic, and were run over. Now, people have been using Walkmans since their inception. Walkmans have now been superseded by Ipods. People have these in their ears and so can't hear what anyone is saying, sounds of sirens, etc. So instead of saying, "Hey, people, you should keep the sound down so you can hear when someone yells that a car is coming at you." and letting them have the responsibility to do that simple task, the state is introducing legislature to BAN electronic devices from crosswalks, etc.

Now how stupid is that?

Similarly, IPod and other music machine manufacturers are being sued because they make their machines so that the volume can be turned up to "unsafe" levels which can cause deafness. Never mind that it should be a person's personal choice how loud he wants his tape recorder to be - maybe he's working at one end of a room and the machine's at the other - no, people must not be allowed the opportunity to use common sense, since they obviously have none. Machines must be made so that they can't be turned up very loud.