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Eat Your Heart OutDecember 8 - French Polynesia Photo courtesy 'Seaplusplus' |
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December 8 - The World of Sailing
We all remember Iridium, don't we? It was the satellite telephone
communications system that went bust to a tune of about $5 billion
dollars. Iridium was a sponsor of both a TransPac and a Ha-Ha
in an effort to market the 'phone anywhere from anywhere' system.
For the better part of a year, the system has looked deader than
a doornail, and any day the company was going to allow the 70-plus
satellites to fall to earth. But things are changing. Last month
Daniel Colussy, a former President of Pan American Airlines, put
together a syndicate to buy what was left of Iridium for a mere
$25 million. And in just one month, he's got the Pentagon to pay
$36 million for a one year contract to use the phones. What's
the attraction to the military guys? The first is that Iridium
is the only company that can offer encrypted wireless phone service
worldwide. That means Department of Defense guys can discuss classified
information all over the world - assuming they get a good connection.
Iridium did not have the best sound quality. The Pentagon also
said they wanted to keep Iridium up so there wouldn't be widespread
panic when 70 satellites fell to the earth. They really said that.
Firsthand News on the Ozone LayerDecember 8 - New Zealand Photo by Richard |
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December 8 - The Pacific Ocean and Cyberspace
Who is out making passages in the Pacific and what kind of weather are they having? Check out YOTREPS - 'yacht reports' - at http://www.bitwrangler.com/yotreps/
BT Global ChallengeDecember 8 - Racing
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December 8 - Pacific Oceans
The Atlantic/Caribbean region hurricane season is over.
To see what the winds are like on the Bay and just outside the Gate right now, check out http://sfports.wr.usgs.gov/wind/.
Looking for current as well as recent wind and sea readings from 17 buoys and stations between Pt. Arena and the Mexican border? Here's the place - which has further links to weather buoys and stations all over the U.S.: www.ndbc.noaa.gov/stuff/southwest/swstmap.shtml.
You can view the University of Hawaii Department of Meteorology satellite picture by clicking here.
Seas are normal in the Pacific. But you might check at: http://www.mpc.ncep.noaa.gov/RSSA/PacRegSSA.html.
For another view, see http://www.oceanweather.com/data/global.html.
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