Whale Shark Afuera

The Whale Shark (Rhincodon typus) is the largest of all fishes, a gentle giant that feeds on plankton and fish eggs. They spend most of their lives in deep waters far from land. A diver in a place like Hawaii is considered lucky to see just one passing by. Until recently the Whale Shark was thought to live a solitary existence. Since 2002 there have been stories from Mexican fisherman of huge congregations. 2006 saw the largest concentration ever seen, an event called the Afuera. Nearly every year since then hundreds of Whale Sharks have gathered here on the surface of the Caribbean.

This amazing event is little-known to the outside world. This year discovery of the Afuera has reached the level of a peer-reviewed paper:

An Unprecedented Aggregation of Whale Sharks, Rhincodon typus, in Mexican Coastal Waters of the Caribbean Sea

Sometime this Summer the Whale Sharks are likely to come again, for reasons human scientists are just starting to figure out. The natural world is far stranger than we even imagine.

An Asteroid, A Fisherman, Oil and Tortillas

In between posts about maths, Kea has many good posts about our misuse of fossil fuels. Tommaso's trip to the Yucatan inspired some good posts too. Mexico's Cantarell oil field is running out of oil. This story began with an asteroid impact and affects even the price of tortillas.

65 million years ago the Chixculub meteorite struck near Yucatan, ending the age of dinosaurs. It also created a unique geological formation beneath the gulf seabed, cretaceous dolomite thrust upward to form an oil reservoir (pink). In 1971 a fisherman named Rudesindo Cantarell noticed that his nets were getting covered with oil. He had stumbled upon the world's second biggest oil field after Saudi Arabia. Like a subsurface volcano, this gusher produced 2 million barrels of oil per day.

The gift of oil has ruined many a developing country. This follows predictable steps: 1) Nationalise the oil industry under your control, 2) Keep your own party in power by promising the people huge benefits from oil, 3) Make everyone so fat from oil money that they don't develop other industries, 4) Keep out foreign oil expertise until your resource is ruined. Mexico's oil industry is the state monopoly PEMEX. Nearly half of the 53 billion dollars that PEMEX hands to the government comes from Cantarell. This huge sum keeps Mexico's government afloat but prevents investment in technology or exploration.

PEMEX's outdated technology is starting to catch up with them. From January '006 to February '007 Cantarell lost 20% of its production. Oil is one of Mexico's 2 biggest sources of currency, along with remittances from workers in the US. Within 8 years Mexico may become a net oil importer, with disastrous effects for its economy.

Mexico is not alone in mismanaging resources. Iran imports nearly half of its gasoline, having only one petrol-producing refinery within its borders. A single British warship could shut it down and knock out Iran's lights. The US has not built an oil refinery in 30 years. The cost of business in the US makes it more profitable to outsource oil production. From the Middle East to Venezuela, the gift of oil has led many countries to dictatorship.

(According to OPEC, Venezuela's oil production has dropped by 1 million barrels per day since 1999. To keep production going, Venezuela's state-owned oil company borrowed 11 billion dollars this year. The government spends 9 billion annually in subsidies to keep the price of petrol down. This is how to go bankrupt.)

Mexico is the birthplace of corn, but today imports most of its corn from the US. With the price of oil increasing, Americans have taken an interest in ethanol fuel. This has increased the price of corn 80 percent in the past year. Because of speculation and hoarding, the price of tortillas has risen enormously. Paying more for Mexico's staple food hits people straight in the belly.

All this was started by an asteroid that fell from the sky. The chemicals our lives depend on, even water, came from such impacts. From petrol to the food we eat, our lives are intimately connected with Space. The heat that produces oil may originate in a tiny primordial Black Hole. Let us hope that we learn to manage these gifts.

They Found the Remains of a Rebel Base...

"They found the remains of a Rebel base, but estimate that it has been deserted for some time." The STAR WARS Rebel base (also seen in MOONRAKER) was in Tikal, 300 kilometres South. This is Uxmal, which has indeed been deserted for some time. The name is usually translated as "Built Three Times." Starting in 500 AD, successive cultures have built on the same site. Old regimes eventually are overthrown by newer ideas.

Many of us grew up on those movies, and dreamed about rebelling against an evil Dark Side. Now we appear to be gripped by "dark energy." Its disciples occupy the media, journals and universities. They tell us that DE dominates the Universe, and will eventually tear everything apart. They insist that we join the crowd or be barred from grants and positions.

As in the movies, the odds seem overwhelming. DE has enveloped hundreds of researchers, allegedly the most elite brains. Despite their numbers, they have not, repeat have not offered a compelling solution. All they give us are measurements inferring that DE exists. A single open mind can understand something like GM = tc^3, which solves the problem in one line.

Though things sometimes look tough, the Rebellion is winning. DE is losing support every day as more people question it. Their prize project is the approaching train wreck. Those who dismissed "c change" are the ones without funding or tenure (sorry CV). Now big wheels like Michael Turner list "varying constants" as a #1 priority.

As you have seen from photos, the writer is a slender thing. Someone can outwit 100 opponents because a greater Force stands behind me than hides behind them. As Roger Blandford said, eventually those who dismiss "c change" will claim that they knew it all along. I invite them to join the winning side while they still can.

You must walk around to see how big these Maya cities are. Uxmal's population has been estimated at 25,000 but could have been much bigger. Does this look like a town of a few thousand? The Pyramid of the Magician is unique for its rounded plan. It was built right over an earlier, smaller pyramid. Newton's Gravity served as foundation for Einstein's Relativity, which in turn will be the basis for newer ideas.