The Big Picture |
- Dolphin Stampede and Whales off Dana Point and Maui (Drone Video)
- When a Bridge Falls
- A Dr. Seuss Inspired Guide to Twitter
- What You Learn When You’re 60
- 10 Weekend Reads
- Ferrari 365 GTC/4 ‘Daytona’
- Kiron Sarkar’s Weekly Report
| Dolphin Stampede and Whales off Dana Point and Maui (Drone Video) Posted: 09 Mar 2014 03:00 AM PDT Captain Dave Anderson of Capt. Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Safari in Dana Point, California, at great personal risk, has recently filmed and edited a 5-minute video that contains some of the most beautiful, jaw-dropping, footage ever taken with a drone from the air of a huge mega-pod of thousands of common dolphins stampeding off Dana Point, California, three gray whales migrating together down the coast off San Clemente, California, and heartwarming close-ups hovering over a newborn Humpback whale calf snuggling and playing with its mom as an escort whale stands guard nearby, filmed recently in Maui. According to N.O.A.A. Southern California has the greatest density of dolphins in the world. We have pods up to 10,000 strong stretched out for miles like the wildebeests of Africa. Over 400,000 common dolphin alone. We also have the largest concentration of blue whales on earth. Capt. Dave explains, “This is the most beautiful and compelling five minute video I have ever put together. I learned so much about these whales and dolphins from this drone footage that it feels like I have entered a new dimension! I have not been this excited about a new technology since we built our underwater viewing pods on our whale watching boat. Drones are going to change how we view the animal world. Wow!” Capt. Dave had to film this off a small inflatable boat, launching and catching the quadcopter drone by hand where a miss could mean injury to him from the four propeller blades or loss of the drone. He actually lost one drone on takeoff when it nicked his small VHF radio antenna on the 14 foot rigid inflatable he was filming from and it went into the water. Alone six miles offshore Capt. Dave , without thinking , dove into the cold, late-January waters off Dana Point to retrieve the valuable footage taken on a flight a half hour earlier that morning. “I had my hat and glasses on, I was fully clothed with long-johns on to keep warm and my cell phone and wallet in my pocket,” Captain Dave explained. “It was a stupid move, but the copter started sinking so fast it was my only hope to get the amazing footage I had just shot”. Since then he has attached flotation to the skids, which would save the footage, but every flight over the water still risks the DJI Phantom 2 quadcopter with a small GoPro HERO3 Black camera on it, as the $1,700 rig is not waterproof and the skids will not keep it upright on the ocean. “I get so nervous every flight over the water now, after the accident, my hands start shaking,” explains Capt. Dave. “My wife says no more drones if I lose this one. But she said that before I lost the other one. Now that she’s seen what it can do, I think she’s just as hooked as I am”. “This technology, that offers such steady footage from the air for such a low price and is so easy to fly, is new. This was a ten or twenty thousand dollar copter a few years ago and flying those took a great deal of skill. I can’t wait to see what footage this year will bring with this drone, getting a different perspective on the amazing sightings we already have off Dana Point. There is debate in many states right now about making use of these drones illegal. People are justifiably concerned about invasion of privacy. But it would be a shame to have this new window into a whale’s world taken away.” Entanglement in fishing gear takes the lives of nearly 1,000 dolphins and whales ever day around the world. Captain Dave formed Orange County’s first whale disentanglement group in 2008 and has been involved in disentangling several whales, including a gray whale named Lily, whose disentanglement in Dana Point Harbor made national headlines. He authored the award-winning book, “Lily, A Gray Whale’s Odyssey”, which won eight awards in 2013 including the prestigious Benjamin Franklin award for Best New Voice from the Independent Book Publishers Association. A Special Note From Captain Dave: Attention any would be whale videographers: please only attempt this if you are extremely familiar with whale behavior as it is illegal to do anything that causes the whales to change their normal behavior with big fines- and the authorities do watch YouTube. Different areas have different laws on approaching whales. I am a whale watch captain with nearly 20 years of experience. All laws were obeyed by us during filming. In Maui we sat watching whales from a distance for hours before they moved closer to us. You can never approach them there closer than 100 yards. The Mom and calf as you can see in the film were completely undisturbed by the small drone. NOAA is currently reviewing drones and may create laws or guidelines for using them around whales. Fully licensed music by David Hollandsworth, themusicase.com Video footage is copyright David Anderson/DolphinSafari.com and may not be used without permission. ***** http://www.dolphinsafari.com http://www.facebook.com/dolphin.whale… |
| Posted: 08 Mar 2014 04:00 PM PST The collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis in 2007 killed 13 people and focused attention on the state of bridges across the nation.
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| A Dr. Seuss Inspired Guide to Twitter Posted: 08 Mar 2014 12:00 PM PST |
| Posted: 08 Mar 2014 08:30 AM PST Death is not distant, it’s inevitable, and ever-closer. No one knows anything. Confidence is a front. Everybody is insecure. No one cares about your SAT scores unless they aced the test. We’re all lonely looking to be connected. You’ll regret choices earlier in your life, but you’ll accept them. You’ll want the decade back when you were lost and drifting. You’re never going to recover from some physical ills, aches and pains are part of the process of dying, and that’s what you’re doing, every day. Women inject their lips to look good to other women, the same way they buy and wear trendy outfits and shoes. Men just want someone who will listen to them, soothe them and have sex with them. Your parents said television was the idiot box, and you feel guilty every time you watch for hours, but you’re addicted. Being good-looking is overrated. Sure, it opens some doors, but it stunts you in other ways. Character is built by challenges, if you avoid them, you’re at a loss. Having friends is better than having money. If you were never on the path to riches, you will never be rich. Doors are closing every day. If there’s something you want to do, start now. Acceptance is no easier than it was when you were five, but it’s necessary in order to soldier on. You really want to be involved with someone your own age, because no matter how attractive a younger person might be, they do not get the references. If a couple says they have no arguments, their divorce is imminent. Or one member lives in quiet desperation, fearful of stating their truth. People let you down. Everybody is out for themselves. They make decisions accordingly. Don’t take it personally. Some people were dead at thirty. It’s a full time job trying to stay alive. Most of what you learned in school you’ve already forgotten. You lament they didn’t have calculators in school when you were forced to use a slide rule. Where you went to college doesn’t matter, unless it was Harvard or Yale, because those are clubs whose members open doors for each other. If you’re working for the man, it’s just a matter of time before you lose your job. You probably won’t make as much money as your parents. You probably drive a worse car every time you get a new one. Once upon a time you could afford a Volvo, now you drive a Camry. People are dying to tell you their story. Ask them questions. They’ll tell you everything. You’ll become more comfortable in your own skin. You’ll be happier. You’ll stop doing things you don’t want to do. Actually, this happens not long after you move out of your parents’ house. You’ll stop being fascinated by that which consumed you previously. Sports may become meaningless. You won’t know who the people they’re talking about in “People” and the rest of the gossip rags are, and you won’t care. You’ll realize no one leaves their mark, except for a few people who didn’t know they were doing so, so it’s a futile pursuit. Wrinkles only bother those who have them. Beauty changes when we get older. We’re looking for a glint in the eye, a sense of satisfaction and adventure. If you’re up for anything, we’re attracted to you. No one can keep a secret. There are truly rich people and chances are you’re not one of them. Unless you’ve got a friend, you’ll rarely get the best seat, you’ll rarely get preferential treatment. You don’t want to see yourself as one of the unwashed masses, but you are. You don’t want to be President. Life is topsy-turvy, just because someone’s successful today, that does not mean they will be so tomorrow. Even the best and the brightest have kids who screw up. Not everybody has to go to college to be successful, although this is impossible for parents to accept when their children drop out. People oftentimes don’t want to hear the truth, you’ll have trouble getting ahead if you don’t know when to hold your tongue. Everybody gets cancer, if you ain’t got it, your time is coming. You think you want to live forever, but you don’t, because none of your friends will be around to share it with. There are two types of people, those who want to retire and those who don’t. There are two types of people, those who prepared for retirement and those who didn’t, and some have to continue to work when they don’t want to. Your health may not allow you to continue to work, even if you want to. It’s fun learning what the people you grew up with are up to, but you really don’t want to hang with any of them that you weren’t hanging with before the Internet. People don’t change. Certainly not unless they want to. So expect the person who bugged you in school to still bug you as an adult. And know that chances are you can never ever get back together with your ex because what caused the breakup back then still exists. Marriage is hard. Divorce is even harder. Sometimes life is better with a new partner, but sometimes it’s not. People who want to make you feel inadequate feel inadequate themselves. Not everybody grows up, some are still bullies. People who would hit you as kids won’t hit you as an adult, mostly because they’re afraid of the lawsuit. The biggest rebel in school is complacent as an adult. Some of your best friends will become Republicans. Some of your best friends will retreat to religion. You’ll laugh at those trying to look younger, or follow their lead down the path of inadequacy. You’ll regret you stopped piano lessons. You’ll see the passing of your parents as a precursor to your own demise. Once they’re gone, you’re next. You’ll love making references to old movies and songs. Unless you have children, the Top Forty will become meaningless. You’ll be stunned that the biggest TV shows and stars of yore will become forgotten as time goes by. You’ll be more interested in the news, and more interested in politics. You’ll think it was better when you were young. Even though you are closer to death, you won’t want to be young again. You had so many questions, you were so angst-ridden, you were searching. As the cliche goes, youth is wasted on the young. The key to longevity is letting go of the past. You’ll look back at one specific time in your life when you were happiest, and you’ll discover the people who shared the experience agree with you. You’ll hear from all your significant others, looking for…what they’re not sure. You’ll recognize hype for what it is. And become disillusioned by it and advertising. You’ll realize every generation has a teen phenom, a boy band that captures girls’ hearts that fades away. Stars who can’t go out in public during their heyday will be at the mall buying keys and no one will pay attention to them. Being famous is overrated, you treasure your anonymity. Life is for the living, so live it up! ____________ Inspired by “What You Learn in Your 40s”: http://nyti.ms/MEjhUF
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| Posted: 08 Mar 2014 05:00 AM PST My longer form weekend materials: Pour yourself a strong cup of Joe and settle in for some fascinating reads:
Whats up for the weekend?
U.S. Household Net Worth Hits Record High
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| Posted: 08 Mar 2014 03:00 AM PST A friend had one of these — pretty car, a decade ago, it was an “affordable” Ferrari V12. Literally had a wire in the midst of the transmission or throttle (I don’t recall which). True story: I was living in Manhattan at 27th & Lexington Ave — without a car — but was a member of a classic autos group. I volunteered to put together a road trip for the day, and was surprised that 20 or so people signed up. At 6:30 am on a bright Spring day, about 20 Ferraris of all makes and models showed up (with a stray BMW M car int he mix). My friend Ben Kao was in the group, and I drove with him — I think his car either this 365 or a 400i, which uses a similar platform and drivetrain. There are few sounds more deliriously wonderful than 20 Ferraris screaming through midtoen tunnel all at once. (I wrote it up somewhere, I should really find that). Anyway, around exit 36 or so (Was it Shelter Rock Road?) Ben’s cable snapped, rendering the car dead for the day. We jumped into two other cars and continued on our way
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| Posted: 08 Mar 2014 02:00 AM PST Overview I have been bearish on the base metal miners and the A$ on the basis of weaker Chinese growth. However, based on Premier Li's speech to the NPC, it looks as if China will revert back to its fixed asset spending programme to try and maintain growth, which clearly has been declining, even based on officially sourced data. If that is the case and I suspect it is, the A$ and the miners should benefit, even though the miners did sell off on Friday. Furthermore, the governor of the Australian Central Bank stated that he saw no need to reduce rates further – clearly A$ positive. In addition, the Australian mining sector has cut back on capex, which will result in a stronger bottom line if Chinese demand increases. In terms of China however, additional spending on fixed assets will just add to its problems. The Yuan could also decline, though it has come off its lows over the last few days. Accumulated debt, already extremely high, will increase. Overall, Chinese risk will increase. As expected, the ECB did not announce any changes, inspite of forecasting that inflation would be below the ECB's target of 2.0% through to the end of 2016. Overall, Mr Draghi was not as dovish as I had expected and no unconventional measures were announced. Not surprisingly, the Euro strengthened as a result, which I would have thought is not what the EZ needs. Indeed, the Euro continued to strengthen into Friday, reaching its highest level against the US$ in over 2 years, though pulled back from its highs. I had assumed that the problems facing emerging markets would have impacted developed markets. However, apart from an initial decline, developed markets have been unaffected, in particular US markets, which are trading around record highs. Over recent weeks, funds have flowed out of emerging markets and into developed markets. Economic data from the EZ has improved modestly. Italian and Spanish bond yields have declined materially. I remain concerned about China and Japan. However, it looks as if China will increase fixed asset investment to stimulate growth. Whilst this potential change of policy adds to risk, the result could be stimulative in the shorter term. The main argument for equities seems to be that there is no other alternative. Whilst equity valuations are not cheap, market momentum suggests that the correction I expected is unlikely at present. In the coming month(s), US data should be free from weather related problems. At that stage, the state of the US economy will become clearer, which will impact markets. The US economic data is mixed, but on balance, it appears that the US economy continues to improve. The important February non farm payrolls report came in better than expected, inspite of adverse weather conditions. The 10 year bond yield rose to 2.79% in response. The tapering programme is set to continue. US The February ISM manufacturing index came in at a higher than expected 53.2, above the 52.0 expected and the reading of 51.3 in January. Importantly, the new orders component rose to 54.5, from 51.2 in January. The data suggests an improvement in coming months. On the other hand, the ISM non-manufacturing index fell to 51.6, well below January's 54.0 and the estimate of 53.5. The employment component declined sharply to 47.5, from 56.4 in January. Whilst just 1 month figures, the sharp decline suggests that it could not only be put down to weather. US consumer spending rose by a stronger than expected +0.4% in January, much better than the downwardly gain of +0.1% in December. The core PCE deflator, the FED's preferred gauge of inflation, declined to +1.1%, from +1.2% previously and well below the FED's 2.0% target. Real consumer spending rose by +0.3%, mainly due to increased spending on services (up +0.8%). Spending on goods came in -0.6% lower. President Obama revealed his US$3.9 tr budget. His proposals included additional expenditure on education and social welfare, to be funded by a reduction of tax breaks on the wealthier citizens. Furthermore, he proposes to increase the tax take from US multinationals. The January trade deficit came in at US$39.1, virtually the same as December's US$39.0bn – estimate US$38.5bn. Exports and imports both rose by +0.6%. ADP reported that the US had increased payrolls by 139k in February, below the estimate of 155k. Europe The EZ final February PMI reading came in at 53.2, slightly below the 54.0 in January, though above the flash reading of 53.0. Spain and surprisingly France's readings were revised higher, though France was still in contraction territory. Italian PMI was edged lower though still positive. The final EZ services PMI index rose to 52.6, a 32 month high and well above the initial reading of 51.7. Germany was revised higher, with its index rising to 55.9, from 53.1 in January and the initial estimate of 55.4. Even the French index declined by less than the initial estimate. However, the most surprising was the Italian services PMI, which rose to 52.9, up from 49.4 in January and the forecast of 49.8. Spain came in lower than expected, though at 53.7 remains in expansion territory. The composite index (services and manufacturing) increased to 53.3, the highest since mid 2011. Recent data from the EZ has come in better than expected. EZ retail sales rose by +1.6% in January, well above both the forecast for an increase of +0.8% and the decline of -1.3% in December. German factory orders, seasonally adjusted, rose by +1.2% (forecast +0.9%) in January up from a revised -0.2% in December. Orders were up +8.4% Y/Y. Non EZ area orders rose by +7.2%. Industrial output increased by +0.8% in January M/M, on better construction activity as a result of the mild weather conditions. The January PMI index for the UK services sector came in at 58.2, slightly less than the 58.3 in January, though above the estimate of 58.0. It was the 14th consecutive monthly increase. The services sector is overwhelmingly the most important in the UK and suggests that Q1 2014 GDP will increase some +0.7%. As expected, the BoE left interest rates and its asset purchase programme unchanged. Japan Japanese exports declined by -5.8% Y/Y, with imports down -3.5%. The trade deficit came in at around US$430mn. The Yen declined following a report by the advisers to the Japanese Government’s Pension Investment Fund that the fund did not have to focus on owning just domestic bonds, in particular as inflation was rising. China As was expected, a Chinese solar manufacturing company, Shanghai Chaori defaulted, as if failed to meet its interest payments. It is the 1st default of an onshore bond. With high levels of accumulated debt, dubious wealth management products and a slowing economy, further defaults are inevitable. The final HSBC February PMI manufacturing index declined to 48.5, down from 49.5 in January, though slightly higher than the preliminary reading of 48.3. It is the 2nd consecutive month in contraction territory, with 50 being the neutral number. The employment component declined at the fastest pace since March 2009, due to a reduction in output and new orders. The input and output costs components also declined. The official PMI reading declined to 50.2, as compared with 50.5 in January, though slightly above the estimate of 50.1. It was the lowest reading since June. Other President Putin announced that he had recalled some of his troops, which is a conciliatory gesture and seen as such by the markets, which rallied on the news. He added that there was no need to send troops to the Ukraine yet. As expected, the Australian Central bank, the RBA, left interest rates unchanged. The Governor warned about the increase in house prices and, in addition, stated that the A$ "remains high by historical standards". He added, that interest rates were likely to remain stable for a while. The RBA expects unemployment to rise and investment in the mining sector to decline – no great surprise. Inflation is expected to be between 2.0% to 3.0% over the next 2 years. However, Q4 GDP rose by +0.8% Q/Q, better than the +0.7% expected and the rise of +0.6% in Q3. Consumption was the main reason for the improvement, though the savings rate declined to 9.7%, the 1st time it has fallen below 10.0% since 2010. The January trade surplus rose to the most in 2 1/2 years and retail sales were up by +1.2%, much higher than the +0.4% rise expected. Generally, positive news for the A$. General elections have been called in India. At present, Mr Modi's BJP party, which is seen as more business friendly, is expected to win more seats than the Congress Party lead by Mr Gandhi, but by not enough to form a majority government on its own. However, the markets have responded positively to a potential government lead by Mr Modi, rising to a record high. Kiron Sarkar |
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