WHATEVER WE HAVE DONE WITH OUR LIVES
MAKES US WHAT WE
ARE WHEN WE DIE.
AND EVERYTHING,
ABSOLUTELY EVERY
THING COUNTS.
~Sogyal Rinpoche
Of Note: The oceans will be a little less mysterious after the first global marine census is published today. It represents one of the largest collaborations in the history of science. Over a ten year period 2,700 researchers from 80 countries collected specimens on 540 ocean expeditions, which spawned 2,600 papers based on 30 million observations. The scientists utilized an array of technology to plunge to the ocean's depths and bring up samples from the most inhospitable places on earth. 250,000 species were identified without counting millions of microbe species that make up 90% of the ocean's biomass. It is estimated that at least 750,000 species remain. 6,200 new species of marine life were collected and only 1,200 have been formally identified. Surprises were aplenty for the researchers who found anaerobic creatures that could live without oxygen on the sea floor and a presumed extinct deep-water clam that flourished 100 million years go. One of the marine researchers recently quipped: "While it's a start, we haven't turned on the lights yet." This gargantuan effort was originally funded by a $75 million grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation but eventually cost $650 million, funded by hundreds of other institutions, laboratories and governments. The research data will be available online to the public and is part of a larger project called the Encyclopedia of Life, an effort to document all 1.8 million named species on earth.
Today's Weather Report: The forecasted rain vanished with nary a trace. We had become so accustomed to precipitation every few days, this past week seemed like a protracted dry spell. The Indian summer weather is not going to waste, however, as the final touches are being put on the future grassy expanses by the barn. Last night at 9 pm it was 65 degrees Fahrenheit. For October, that is warm and welcome. Every day we don't have to have the wood boiler heating the place is one more day of freedom from filling it once or twice a day for months upon months.
Today's Weather Report: The forecasted rain vanished with nary a trace. We had become so accustomed to precipitation every few days, this past week seemed like a protracted dry spell. The Indian summer weather is not going to waste, however, as the final touches are being put on the future grassy expanses by the barn. Last night at 9 pm it was 65 degrees Fahrenheit. For October, that is warm and welcome. Every day we don't have to have the wood boiler heating the place is one more day of freedom from filling it once or twice a day for months upon months.
