Encouraging news! Following a devastating record year of manatee deaths in 2021, a record number of manatees was counted at Central Florida’s Blue Spring State Park on Sunday. Staff there counted 932 on Sunday, which is nearly 200 more than their previous record of 736 that was counted on New Year’s Day this year.
In 2021, 1,101 manatee deaths were recorded in Florida, far higher than any other year on record. The deaths represented almost 15 percent of the state’s total manatee population. The manatees died primarily of starvation. For nourishment, manatees rely mainly on sea grass, beds of which have been smothered by pollutants along with outbreaks of toxic algae blooms intensified by climate change.
In 2022 and 2023, Florida saw a resurgence of the growth of sea grass, supported by an emergency manatee feeding program by Florida wildlife officials.
Manatee deaths dropped to 800 in 2022 and 555 in 2023. Continue reading
In 1986, a massive iceberg, more than three times larger than New York City, calved off West Antarctica’s Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf and immediately grounded on the floor of the Weddell Sea, where it remained stuck for almost four decades.
UK Royal Navy minehunter 
A new analysis has concluded that a large, grassy hill in Norway known as the Herlaugshagen burial mound was likely the site of a pre-Viking ship burial. What is fascinating is that the site was excavated three times during the late 18th century and no one found the ship within the mound. 
Houthi anti-ship missiles struck two more commercial ships in the Red Sea off Yemen in the last two days. There were no reports of injuries on either ship.
An updated repost — a look back at the twin miracles on the Hudson from fifteen years ago today. On January 15, 2009, 
The 
Toward the end of December, the US Navy’s 
This year, the US and Royal navies have fallen short of meeting their recruiting goals, leaving both navies with more ships’ billets than they have personnel to fill them.