On the morning of September 4, at 7:35 AM, Leonard Glenn Francis, known as “Fat Leonard,” cut his ankle bracelet monitor and fled house arrest in San Diego. “Fat Leonard,” the 350 pound Malaysian businessman at the center of the … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
The BBC reports that five people died in New Zealand after a birdwatching boat capsized, possibly after colliding with a whale. Eleven people, mostly from the birdwatching group, were onboard when the boat capsized on Saturday in Goose Bay near … Continue reading
An updated repost. There is a line from a Paul Simon song, “these are the days of miracle and wonder.” One might not think to apply that lyric to the events of 9/11, 21 years ago today. Yet for at … Continue reading
Three megamax container cranes have arrived in the Port of New York and New Jersey on the Netherlands-flagged heavy-lift ship BigLift Baffin. They will be offloaded and installed at the Maher Terminals in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The new cranes, built … Continue reading
Over the last few years, we have been posting about the return of humpback whales to the waters around New York harbor. Recently, nine humpbacks were sighted in the Hudson River. Several humpback whales spotted in Hudson River … Continue reading
If you can’t beat them, eat them. That is the idea at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources as one approach to managing the ongoing invasion of invasive carp in the Mississippi and connecting rivers. They even propose renaming the … Continue reading
In a case with distinct echoes of the Navy’s almost decade-long “Fat Leonard” scandal, a former U.S. Navy director was convicted for his role in a bribery conspiracy and for lying to federal officials, according to authorities. Stars and Stripes reports … Continue reading
When it appeared that the decade-long US Navy corruption scandal focused on Leonard Glenn Francis, known as “Fat Leonard,” was winding down, the saga takes a new turn. The Malaysian businessman, who confessed to directing a massive bribery scandal of … Continue reading
A disturbing report from Reuters: The already endangered African penguin is being driven away from its natural habitat off the east coast of South Africa due to noise from ship refueling, a scientific study has found. The number of African … Continue reading
Sea Wave Energy Ltd, a Cyprus and UK-based R&D startup, has been working for the last decade to develop the world’s most efficient, low-cost wave energy converter. Earlier this year, the company unveiled the prototype called the Waveline Magnet, which … Continue reading
Seeing dolphins may not seem exceptional to non-New Yorkers. Nevertheless, the only thing I recall in the Hudson River when I arrived in New York some 40 years ago were the “Hudson River whitefish” that I saw that appeared to … Continue reading
Over two thousand feet beneath the surface of the North Atlantic, on the seamount Atlantis Massif, at the intersection between the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the Atlantis Transform Fault, a jagged landscape of towers rises from the deep ocean gloom. Discovered … Continue reading
The Zumwalt Class stealth destroyers will be the first US warship to have long-range hypersonic weapons installed. USNI News reports that the new weapons will be installed on the destroyers USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) and USS Michael Monsoor (DDG-1001) during an … Continue reading
In its 34 years of service, the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Albuquerque never visited its namesake city. Albuquerque, New Mexico sits in the high desert almost one thousand miles from the nearest ocean. Now, however, as the 362-foot-long submarine … Continue reading
At the end of July, Ukraine and Russia signed “mirror” deals that allowed Kyiv to resume exports of grain through the Black Sea. The agreement was purported to allow millions of tonnes of grain, currently trapped in Ukraine by the … Continue reading
How’s your Monday going so far? Odds are, it is probably better than the 40-meter superyacht MY Saga that sank rather dramatically last week off the coast of Catanzaro Marina, in southern Italy. Fortunately, the Italian Coast Guard rescued nine … Continue reading
The US has sent two Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers – the USS Antietam and the USS Chancellorsville – through the Taiwan Strait in a demonstration of freedom of navigation through international waters. The 100 mile-wide (160 kilometer-wide) strait divides Taiwan from … Continue reading
The 110-year-old Battleship Texas is the oldest remaining dreadnought battleship and only one of six surviving ships to have served in both World War I and World War II. Over the last decade or so, the historic ship has been … Continue reading
Researchers writing in the journal Royal Society Open Science have concluded that the dugong, a mammal related to the manatee – said to have inspired ancient tales of mermaids and sirens – is now extinct in China. Only three people … Continue reading
Axioma, a $75-million superyacht linked to a sanctioned Russian steel billionaire, was auctioned on Tuesday in Gibraltar, court sources said, in what is understood to be the first sale of its kind since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. The 72.5-meter … Continue reading