Danny Baza Blas

Harrison on his death bed (from Free Historic Stock Photos ) In an article  By Jane McHugh and Philip A. Mackowiak in today's edition of the NY Time, President Harrison, known to be the shortest-serving U.S. president, serving only about a month before his untimely death, officially due to pneumonia, may have died of god-awful Salmonella. Apparently in D.C. around the 1840's there was not proper sewage treatment, and all of the poopy water collected in a marsh near the White House. Bacteria may have collected in the manure marsh, creating a deadly pathogen, which may have been the cause of Harrison's demise.

Dr. Mike Purcell, WHOI The search continues for Malaysia Airlines plane carrying 239 people that disappeared in route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing this month. In June 2009, an Air France flight from Brazil to France was lost over the Atlantic Ocean. It crashed without very little every found, until oceanographer Mike Purcell used his specially-made underwater machines to locate the wreckage and black box. Here's a great story on what happened.

Report's cover (NOAA & NDCC) Weather and climate are words with different meanings. Weather refers to what's happening in the atmosphere in the short term. Climate refers to long-term weather trends. In the year 2012, many people who were living in different places experienced extreme weather events. The record-hot American summer of 2012, according to a new peer-reviewed NOAA report , has links to human-induced climate change. In the USA Today , Wendy Koch wrote: "July 2012-like heat is now four times as likely to strike the Midwest and Northeast as it was in pre-industrial America when less carbon dioxide warmed the atmosphere, according to a Stanford University study. Last year's heat wave, which peaked in July — the warmest month on record for the contiguous USA — exacerbated the nation's drought, ruined crops and contributed to more than 100 deaths" The report states that effects from "natural weather and climate fluctuations...

Click to enlarge the tracks map Day 18: Our science team deployed one jumbo piston core and one gravity core. Tomorrow (Monday) is Labor Day, and we're planning to do more coring at a new location. We're currently in-transit to our new location. Slow day today. The new media for your consumption is an image of a map of the locations our science team has cored and collected sediments. (Maps like these are available here if you're on-board the Healy.)

London's Arsenal defeats arch-rival Spurs 1-0 today Sang Tan/Associated Press Today, the 18th day of our science cruise, was a fantastic day. Reason #1: Arsenal extend the winning streak to four with a big-time win against arch rival Tottenham Hotspur 1-0, with Olivier Giroud, my fantasy soccer team captain, scoring the winner! Reason #2: The storm is over! All day yesterday and evening our boat was rocking to-and-fro, atop some of the roughest seas we've experienced during the past two-and-a-half weeks. The rough seas are over for now; however, there's word circulating on the ship that another storm is on the way. Today was another day of coring for sediments; a typical coring day. The science team and the Healy crew are working well together, with this coring thing becoming "old hat." Last night, during the rough seas and storms, the helicopter hangar hosted the first-ever music/karaoke night on the Healy (during this cruise to be more exact). You...

The Healy is one of many cutters in the Coast Guard http://goo.gl/DhWdYJ Current status: latitude: 70.13N; longitude: 138.39W; temp: 38F; visibility: cloudy; sea depth: 414m; current speed: 2.4k The U.S. Coast Guard, the owner of the ship we have been living on the past two weeks, is an institution of dedicated people. The crew serving on this ship have been hospitable and highly professional. As a high school teacher in San Diego , I know my students--many of whom are seniors--are considering their options for next year. As young adults, many seniors are looking forward to their next stage of life, be it college, work, trade school, or the military. However, I have rarely heard a student at Lincoln High speak of the Coast Guard. They talk about their plans for the Army, Marines, or Navy, but rarely the Coast Guard. Having been exposed to the people serving on the Healy, I began thinking that some of my students would probably be interested in knowing more about careers i...

Polar bears are enjoying the "abundance" of Arctic sea ice this year According to many people in-the-know, Arctic sea ice is relatively abundant this year. Towards the end of July 2013, " Arctic sea ice actually expanded by 20,000 square kilometers ," according to Jason Samenow of the Washington Post. This is not to say Arctic sea ice is healthy as it has ever been; quite the opposite . In a NOAA report , 2012 was one of the warmest since climate records have been kept. The Arctic, according to the report, is warming faster than other places on Earth. This year's better-than-expected sea ice seems to be really welcome news to polar bears, however. During this cruise, I have personally made visual contact with five polar bears. While others on the cruise--mainly Martin Reedy, Arctic wildlife observer for U.S. Fish and Wildlife, whose job is to count these beautiful creatures--have probably seen double what I have. Polar bears are lovely; polar bears...

Current position: 71.31N latitude 131.22W longitude; Temp. 27F; conditions: sunny View from Healy's Aloft Con camera (click to enlarge) Day 13 was the greatest polar bear sighting day ever (more on that on another post). This guy, who I named "Jasper," came within 100 meters of our ship. Every other step Jasper took, his nose was aimed our way, getting himself a waft of our taco Tuesday lunch. The Inupiaq People of Barrow Gabriel Tegoseak is a native Inupiaq Alaskan from Barrow, Alaska, who is part of this expedition serving as the community observer. Gabe's responsibilities on this cruise are to observe the condition of the animals--whales, polar bears, seals, walrus--the Inupiaq subsist upon. In addition to animal sightings, making note of the condition of the ice, which is critical to the lives of these animals, is part of the community observer's job. Gabe recently gave a well-attended talk on the culture of his people, which included an audience ...

Day 12 gave the science team mellow seas and above freezing temperatures on the Arctic. Our current location is: 71.20N latitude 126.45W longitude; speed 12.8 knots; temp 31.38 F Today was a full day of coring activities, which are now completed. We are currently underway, headed west, and I just read an email that we have full internet connectivity.  The crew aboard this mission are a creative and talented bunch. Here are some pictures taken by a member of the science team. The following images were shot by Akash Kataria (pictured): by Sarah Kaye 1. One of the cores on a multi-core coring instrument; the multi-core attempt to capture the interface of the ocean water and the ocean floor, and often times living creatures are captured alive in the coring process 2. Gabriel Tegoseak and Brendan Reilly enjoying "Ice Liberty" on Saturday, August 24, 2013; the seafloor is over 1000 meters below th...

Today, like yesterday, is a transit day. We're headed east on the Beaufort Sea. Our current location is 71.24 N latitude, 126.45 W longitude, well out of satellite reach of internet connectivity. Pretty much we are unconnected to the greater outside world. The above image was from yesterday's ice liberty. In this image are the two teachers from San Diego Unified School District, representing their respective schools--Danny Blas (your blogger) of Lincoln High School and Steve Walters of Mission Bay High School. In the background is our huge icebreaker ship, the USCGC Healy. For many on-board, Sunday is a laundry day; for some a reading day; for others a afternoon nap day. We have the team trivia competition on the mess deck tonight at 7pm, so that's something to look forward to. Other than team trivia, it's not a day filled with much excitement; however, anytime I'm on a ship, like the Healy, it's pretty exciting.  If you would like to ma...

Green arrow is our current station; white arrow is next station Where Are We? This is Day 9 of our Arctic Expedition. The Google Maps image to the left will give you a good idea of where we are currently (click the image to enlarge). We are currently in Canadian waters after leaving Alaskan waters yesterday. The green arrow on the image indicates the point where we are currently coring for sediments, while the white arrow points to the area where we will be headed next, Amundsen Gulf, part of the Northwest Territories, Canada . ICE We are finally surrounded by ice! As of yesterday after dinner, our icebreaker ship has finally found ice to break. I will be posting a video later today describing our surroundings, in addition to our first sighting of a polar bear mommy, and her cub. Our Current Status Click to enlarge As you can see it's cold . The temperature is 21 degrees. Brrrr. Today's video will be posted very soon. As we continue eastward, we will lose I...

Barrow, Alaska, very cold desert is the most northerly point in the United States  http://goo.gl/R1K8Ym Day one of the Arctic mission objective was--pretty much--getting onto the ship, the United States Coast Guard ice breaker  USCGC Healy . If you read my previous blog post, you already know the trip from San Diego, CA to Barrow, AK was a long one; however, the ending of Day One was worth it. I'll get to that in a moment. When the Alaskan Airlines flight landed in Barrow, we were met by a convoy of pickup trucks and vans, which collected the members of the science team, and delivered us to the Search and Rescue Hangar (SAR). (Take a peek of the SAR in the video below.) The first order of the day at SAR?: order lunch! And we did, and it was surprisingly good. It never occurred to me that good pizza could be had in Barrow, a very cold place with zero paved roads. (Another person on the science team, Mackenzie, who will be a senior a...

USCG Healy is an icebreaker ship, home-ported at Seattle, WA Hey readers. I just landed on the ship on which I'll be part of the science team, collecting sediment samples in the Arctic Ocean. I'll be onboard the USCG Healy, which is an icebreaker ship, operated by the United State Coast Guard. The mission will take three-and-a-half weeks, and I'll be absent the first week of school. The flight from San Diego to Barrow, AK was a long one! I departed San Diego on Wednesday, August 14th at 7:00pm, and arrived in Barrow at 11:30am on Thursday, August 15th. You don't have to be a mathematician to know it was a long, long flight, with a long, long layover in Anchorage, AK. (16.5 hours total)!