[UPDATE: Upon further review, these aren't Chinese naval uniforms after all:
At first I thought they could have been from the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy.
And oh, look what's on the PLAN's to-do list:
See that? In addition to taking over Japanese islands (the Senkakus and others), the neo-Imperial Chinese Navy wants to take over Vietnamese, Malaysian, Filipino, and Bruneian islands as well. And don't forget about Taiwan.
But we're being visited by a South Korean ship so it's all good.]
But one problem with that is that name of the islands is Senkaku. Check it and see. And another problem is that Japan “took over” these isles in the 1800′s.
So today’s the day of the big ceremony with elements of the single-party state known as the People’s Republic of China announcing some kind of trade deal with the City and County of San Francisco.
So let’s check the international news. Seems as if the Chinese Navy recently went down to the Philippines to establish a new “city” called Sansha. I think it was yesterday.
Check it:
“Beijing’s planned deployment of a military garrison to Sansha brought a swift response from President Aquino. He said, “If someone entered your yard and told you he owned it, would you agree? Would it be right to give away that which is rightfully ours?” Protesters hold banners while chanting slogans during an anti-China protest along a street in Hanoi, July 22, 2012. Vietnam has also criticized the establishment of Sansha, calling it “serious violation” of Hanoi’s sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly chains, which it claims as part of Danang city and Khanh Hoa province respectively.”
Historically, other countries have had imperial ambitions in this part of the world, of course. But these days it’s all China all the time.
Is that a good thing?
Now let’s hear from Chinese Consulate advisor / Mayor Ed Lee advisor Rose Pak – perhaps she could shed some light:
“When asked what message she would like to convey to the Chinese government, Pak said, “On what moral ground do we have as United States citizens lecturing what China should do when our own President would drum up falsehoods and bomb Iraq back to the stone-age, killing several hundred thousand innocent Iraqis.”
“Look at all the problems in the world, (they) are all created by Western countries with their phony-baloney moral standards,” Pak added.”
Check it, our very own Oceanic Society is kicking off annual Farallon Island whale watching season on May 26, 2012.
All the deets:
“WHALE WATCH/NATURE CRUISES TO FARALLON ISLANDS BEGIN MAY 26
San Francisco, California – Oceanic Society’s educational day long boat trips to the Farallon Islands, just 27 miles west of San Francisco, will operate May 26 through November 25, with departures available from San Francisco and Sausalito.
Blue whales (the largest animal to have ever lived on earth), Humpback whales, Pacific white-sided dolphins, Harbor porpoises, Risso’s dolphins and Northern right whale dolphins all may be encountered during the whale-watch cruises to the islands and the nearby continental shelf.
An exceptional wilderness area, the Farallon Islands National Wildlife Refuge is the largest seabird rookery in the eastern Pacific south of Alaska – including nesting Tufted puffins, Pigeon guillemots, Rhinoceros auklets, Common murres, Black oystercatchers and cormorants. The Islands are also a breeding haven and home to California sea lions, northern elephant seals, Steller sea lions, Harbor seals and fur seals.
Though only scientists are permitted on the islands, the abundance of wildlife may be closely observed and photographed from aboard the Salty Lady, Oceanic Society’s 56-foot, Coast Guard-certified vessel. The boat holds 48 passengers.
Experienced naturalists lead each excursion to help identify seabirds and locate whales and interpret their behavior. The naturalists also provide informal discussions on marine wildlife and on the history of the islands. Passengers also benefit from the presence of whale researchers from the Cascadia Research Collective, scientists who have studied these whales since the early 1990’s.
Oceanic Society trips to the Farallon Islands depart Saturdays, Sundays and select Fridays from the Marina Green in San Francisco. Trips begin at 8 a.m. and last about eight hours. Passengers also have the option of departing at 7:15 a.m. from the Sausalito Clipper Yacht Harbor. The minimum age is 10, and an adult must accompany children under 15. Participants supply their own food and beverages.
The fee is $125 per person, with special group rates available. The fee includes a copy of “The Farallon Islands: Past, Present, and Future,” a 42-minute DVD produced by the Oceanic Society in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The DVD offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the natural and human history of the Farallon Islands and provides a virtual land tour of the islands. (Additional DVDs cost $15.)
Founded in 1969, the mission of the Oceanic Society is to protect marine wildlife and oceanic biodiversity through an integrated program of scientific research and environmental education. An official partner of the Farallon National Wildlife Refuge, Oceanic Society has offered educational whale-watch cruises since 1984 and is the only nonprofit organization that offers whale-watch trips year round in the Bay Area. Reservations for the Farallon Islands whale-watch trips are advised. Please call 415- 256-9941 or 800-326-7491 or register atwww.oceanicsociety.org. For recorded information on current wildlife sightings, call 415-258-8220.
You know, one of these days, I’ll start a half-assed non-profit, pay myself a six-figure salary, put the wife on staff, hire the kids too, put cute animal pictures on the homepage to keep the cash coming in – whew, good times.
In general, however, it is known that owls are an opportunistic eater, feasting on the introduced house mice, but also preying upon songbirds, small seabirds (such as the ashy storm-petrel), beetles, and other terrestrial invertebrates …
While they rate very high on the cuteness quotient, overwintering Burrowing Owls are major predators of storm petrels during the spring, after abundant housemice have their seasonal population crash. Western Gulls also take many storm …
In 1969, south farallon was declared a national wildlife refuge. the lighthouse was automated in 1972, ending 117 years of continuous occupation. the last rabbit and cat were removed from the islands in 1974…
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation’s largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.”
“PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Fourth Series Vol. XIX, No. 2, pp. 7-12
June 4, 1930
II
MARINE MOLLUSCA OF THE REVILLAGIGEDO ISLANDS, MEXICO
BY A. M. STRONG AND G. D. HANNA
This report properly constitutes a part of the records of the
expedition of the California Academy of Sciences of 1925 to
various west Mexican islands.^ The collecting of marine mol-
lusca was placed in the hands of Eric K. Jordan and G. D.
Hanna who had a special request from Dr. W. H. Dall to do
the task as thoroughly as possible at Clarion and Socorro
islands. It appears that no previous visitors to these little-
frequented places had brought back more than a scattering of
shells and these were not sufficient to permit the detennination
of the relationships of the group. Indeed, Dr. Dall was led
to suppose from the few he had seen from Clarion Island’ that
an Indo- Pacific fauna was dominant there. Stearns^ in 1894
stated that: “Of Socorro, the principal island of the more
distant Revillagigedo group, we know but little or nothing.
It was visited several years ago by Grayson, the ornithologist.
For a general account of this expedition, see Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., ser. 4, vol. 15, no. I, pp. 1-113, pis. 1-10, text figs. 1-7, March 30, 1926. Various technical reports based upon the collections obtained have appeared subsequently.”
Then after, after the big atomic kaboom at Bikini. Ouch:
Anyway, instead of sinking, the Independence kept on floating so the Navy towed her right to Hunters Point in south San Francisco. Now, let’s let Lisa Davis(?) of SF Weekly take over – here’s her bit from all the way back in aught-one.
So there you go. Most likely, this old-school baby aircraft carrier is down there resting with a cargo of nuclear waste not too far from our Farallon Islands, radiating away.
