Whether you think “Just for Laughs: Gags” is hilarious or inane,
the hidden-camera pranks have been viewed in more than 100
countries around the world. They are even shown on airline flights
between countries.
Since nobody talks in the videos, no translation is needed. At
the beginning of each video segment, actors show the viewers what
they plan to do to their unsuspecting victims. At the end, the
pranksters introduce themselves, and the cameras are revealed.
The “Just for
Laughs: Gags” webpage on YouTube contains an estimated 2,000
videos showing practical jokes of all kinds, mostly performed on
city streets. (I gave up counting the number of videos about
halfway through, and it would be near-impossible to figure out the
number of page views.) For this blog post, I’ve chosen four
water-related bits.
The original “Just for
Laughs” is the name given to a comedy festival held each year
in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1983 by Canadian Gilbert
Rozon, it is the largest and most important comedy show in the
world, according to a 2007 story in
The Guardian. (For more history, see Wikipedia.)
“Just for Laughs: Gags” borrowed the familiar name in 2000, when
producers launched a new television prank show based on “Candid
Camera.” It was shown first on the French Canadian television
network Channel D and was later picked up by networks based in the
United Kingdom, France, the U.S. and about 30 other countries.
(Wikipedia)
For my taste, a few of these videos at a time is enough, but
they are so ubiquitous on YouTube
that you are likely to run into them at any time. Be careful or you
will find yourself going down a rabbit hole and coming back with a
few hours missing from your life.
Some people are perplexed that anyone would enjoy these videos.
Keyan Gray Tomaselli, a South African communication professor,
author and media critic, called the series “inane” in his
book about cultural tourism after he watched some segments on a
commercial flight. He also noted in his book that his comment
elicited an apology from a Canadian friend of his.
But other people have praised the universal appeal of this type
of humor, which harkens back to the days of silent films and
slapstick comedy.
Major Ray Wiss, a Canadian soldier who wrote about his two tours
in Afghanistan, said building a relationship with Afghan soldiers
took more than just eating and playing cards with them. Television
really broke the ice, he said, noting that “for pure social
connection” there was nothing like “JFL: Gags.”
“The Afghans got the jokes and laughed as hard as I did,” Wiss
wrote. “Yes, these people are different from us. But they are far
less different than many would believe.” See the excerpt from
“A Line in the Sand: Canadians at War in Kandahar.”
The killer whale J-17, known as Princess Angeline, seems to have
made a remarkable recovery since December, when the 42-year-old
female was diagnosed with “peanut head” — an indicator of
malnutrition that almost always leads to death.
Princess Angeline, J-17, in
Admiralty Inlet Sunday
Photo: Ken Balcomb, Center for Whale Research
Federal permits: NMFS 21238 / DFO SARA 388
Now Princess Angeline looks much better and shows few signs of
that dire condition, said Ken Balcomb, director of the Center for
Whale Research who got a good look at her Sunday when J pod came
into Puget Sound.
“Since New Year’s Eve, J-17 has fared much better than we
expected,” Ken told me. “They must have found some winter food up
in Georgia Strait.”
At one point, Ken had said it would be a “miracle” if she were
ever seen again.
Her current condition does not mean that she is no longer at
risk. In March, her terribly bad breath suggested an underlying
medical problem, perhaps beyond the lack of food.
J pod, one of the three southern resident killer whale pods,
typically spends most of the winter in the northern part of the
Salish Sea in British Columbia. The whales sometimes cross the
Canadian border to check out food availability in Puget Sound.
The orcas prefer to eat chinook salmon, although they
occasionally eat other fish. Younger chinook, known as blackmouth,
can be found in inland waters during the winter, but they are
smaller and provide less energy for the amount of effort it takes
to catch them.
Ken observed that J pod seemed to be catching blackmouth in
Admiralty Inlet when he watched them on Sunday. Read his full
report at the Center for Whale Research
website.
Anglers were reportedly catching fair numbers of blackmouth in
the Kingston-Edmonds region, where the orcas were seen Sunday,
according to Puget Sound creel
reports. Foraging by the orcas was noticed by many whale
observers, according to the latest whale-sightings report from
Orca Network.
“Sunday turned out to be more wonderful than we could have hoped
when Js/L87 made their way north and foraged all day in glassy calm
seas in the great wide open between Edmonds, South Whidbey, and the
Kitsap Peninsula,” wrote Alisa Lemire Brooks, who compiled an
extensive report of minute-by-minute sightings. “Perhaps there
wasn’t enough salmon to entice a longer stay, since they showed up
off the west side of San Juan Island the following morning.”
If Princess Angeline has overcome her malnourished condition, it
would be truly welcome news. The critically endangered southern
residents, with 75 animals, are close to the lowest population
observed since many were captured for the aquarium trade during the
1960s and ‘70s. “Peanut head” describes the shape of an orca’s head
when a severe loss of blubber creates an indention behind the
blowhole.
Princess Angeline, named after the daughter of Chief Seattle, is
the mother of Tahlequah, or J-35, a 21-year-old orca mom who became
heartbreakingly famous for carrying her dead calf on her head for
17 days. Tahlequah herself has remained relatively healthy.
Another whale showing peanut head last year was K-25, a
28-year-old male named Scoter. He lost his mother, K13 or Skagit,
in 2017. Males who lose their mothers often struggle to survive. K
pod has not been observed lately, so Scoter’s status is
unknown.
L pod visits Monterey Bay on
March 31.
Video: Monterey Bay Whale Watch
The importance of the orcas’ social networks, including the
sharing of salmon, is described nicely in an article written by
Sarah DeWeerdt and published in the Encyclopedia
of Puget Sound and the
Kitsap Sun.
Meanwhile, L pod traveled down the coast to Monterey Bay,
Calif., where the whales seemed to be catching chinook from the
Sacramento River, according to reports from March 31. Alisa
Schulman-Janiger, co-founder of the California Killer Whale
Project, was quoted in the
San Jose Mercury News:
“They go wherever they can find Chinook salmon…,” she said. “We
know they aren’t getting enough food; we know that they’re
struggling; and we’re seeing some whales that are skinnier …. This
year is a good year for salmon in Monterey Bay…. It’s just great to
know that this is a habitat that can still provide them with
food.”
Fishing guides, including Monterey
Bay Charters, were reporting good fishing when targeting
salmon.
The newest calf in the southern resident population, designated
L-124, was seen alive and apparently healthy among the whales in
Monterey Bay. The calf, who was born in January and called “Lucky”
by Ken Balcomb, is the third calf for L-77, a 32-year-old female
named Matia. Her first calf survived only a short time, but her
second calf, L-119 named Joy, seems to be doing well.
It will be interesting to see when the whales all show up
together in Puget Sound this year. J pod tends to pop in and out of
Puget Sound all winter, while K and L pods often travel up and down
the Washington Coast, sometimes as far as northern California, as L
pod did this year. Years ago, the whales all got together in late
May or June, staying around the San Juan Islands most of the
summer.
In recent years, their movements have become less predictable.
Last year, none of the pods showed up during the entire month of
May — something that has never happened before, at least not since
the first observations were recorded in the early 1970s. See
Water Ways, June 29, 2018.
In contrast to the fish-eating southern resident orcas, the
transient orcas, which eat marine mammals, have been seen more and
more in Puget Sound. An apparent abundance of harbor seals and
California sea lions seem to be feeding them well, both in North
and South Puget Sound.
As I’ve often reported, transients are the unknowing allies of
the endangered southern residents, since they reduce the population
of seals and sea lions, which prey upon the salmon that are so
important to the residents.
In Canada, Gary Sutton, a captain with the whale-watching
company Ocean Ecoventures, counted eight groups of transients in
the same area of Georgia Strait on Sunday. If all the individuals
in the groups can be confirmed with IDs, it would be a total 41
transients, a possible record aggregation, he says.
“A LOT of socializing ensued with tons of spyhops and vocals,”
Gary said in a
report to Orca Network. “I managed to capture the majority of
them on camera and a few visual IDs.”
As for the southern residents, reporter Simone Del Rosario of
Q13 Fox News comes to a provocative and unwelcome conclusion, based
on her extensive research for a five-part television series.
“I’ve spent the past year analyzing this question: Is this the
last generation of southern resident orcas?
“I’ve looked at the threats to their survival: the lack of prey;
contaminants; and vessel disturbance. I’ve interviewed the foremost
experts in this field and pressed the politicians who have the
power to make a change. I’ve traveled across the state and even to
Canada learning about solutions and meeting the people who are
pushing them forward.
“A year later, I’ve come to a conclusion, and it’s one I don’t
make lightly. There is no question: This is the last generation.
Humans — who are responsible for putting these mammals in such a
critical state — need to act now if there’s any chance at turning
around the killer whales’ decline.”
I first confronted the possibility of extinction two years ago
in a
Water Ways blog post that includes an interview with Ken
Balcomb. That was before the death of Scarlet, or J-50, and before
a newborn orca calf died to be carried around by its mom. It was
before the formation of the governor’s Killer Whale Task Force and
the resulting legislation being debated in Olympia.
My question: How long can the orcas remain on the edge of
extinction? Or, if I’m feeling optimistic: How long MUST the orcas
remain on the edge of extinction?
Amateur video producers seem to have grown darker and more
intense in dealing with the topic of climate change — even when
their task is to create a humorous video. At least that seems to be
a trend in this year’s Eco-Comedy Video Competition, a trend I
mentioned
last week in Water Ways with respect to stand-up comedy.
Winners were recently announced in the annual
Eco-Comedy competition, a contest that challenged people to
create a two-or three-minute video about climate change while using
humor to engage their audience. Sponsors were the Center for
Environmental Filmmaking at American University in Washington,
D.C., and The Nature Conservancy.
The competition was open to anyone, with four categories
available for entries: kindergarten-eighth grade, high school,
college, and nonstudent. More than 250 entries were submitted for
this year’s contest.
Judges included Bethany Hall, comedian-in-residence at AU’s
Center for Media and Social Impact, and Keith Haskal, producer for
Seinfeld’s “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee”.
“Office Fish,” shown in the first video, is a provocative piece
about the migration of species brought about by shifting ecosystems
as a result of climate change. The short film, which was the winner
in the college category, was directed by Benjamin Vornehm of the
University of Television and Film in Munich, Germany, with
photography under the direction of Alexander Dirninger.
“Climate Change is Real” shows a rapper getting in the faces of
young students. The film, second on this page, was produced and
directed by Jake Rasmussen and was written and performed by Tom
McGovern. Rasmussen is an independent filmmaker who has worked for
VICE Media.
Links to all of this year’s winners, along with grand prize
winners from previous years, can be found on the
Eco-Comedy website.
“Average, very average.” That’s how things were going for the
first quarter of Water Year 2019, which began in October and ran
through the end of last year
(Water Ways, Jan. 4). But the second quarter, which began in
January, presented an uncharacteristic upheaval, as various
portions of the Kitsap Peninsula went their own way.
We’ve talked before about how Southwest Kitsap typically has
twice the rainfall as North Kitsap. But even the patterns of
rainfall have been different the past three months, and you can’t
compare these areas to anywhere else. Let’s take them one at a
time:
Hansville: Representing the north end of the
peninsula, Hansville received 2.5 inches of precipitation in
January, well below the 4.4-inch average for the month. February
followed with a little below average, 2.8 compared to 3.2 inches.
Like January, March was quite low, with 1.1 inches compared to a
3.5-inch average. In the first chart (click to enlarge), you can
see this water year’s rainfall total (blue line) slipping below
average (pink line).
Silverdale: Representing Central Kitsap,
Silverdale received 5.9 inches of rain in January, somewhat below
the 7.2-inch average. The gap widened in February, when 3.4 inches
of rain fell — below the average 4.9 inches. In March, the 0.8
inches of precipitation was even below dry Hansville’s 1.1 inches
and way below 5.6 inches — the March average for Silverdale. In the
second chart (click to enlarge), this water year’s rainfall has
fallen below the average (pink line) and even below last year’s
below-average precipitation (orange line).
Holly: Representing Southwest Kitsap, Holly was
about average for January, with 11.6 inches of rain compared to an
average of 12.8. But if the gap was wide between February’s
rainfall and the monthly average in Silverdale, it was wider in
Holly, where the 4.2 inches of rainfall was just half of the
8.3-inch monthly average. And rainy Holly just about dried up in
March, when the area seemed more like the north end during a
drought. The 1.2 inches of precipitation that fell on Holly in
March was just 13 percent of the average 9.1-inches. The chart
(click to enlarge) shows the drop from about average to well below
average in just two months.
I can’t easily describe the mixed pattern across the Kitsap
Peninsula, but the lack of rainfall is part of an overall picture
for Western Washington, which has been officially declared
“abnormally dry” on the Drought Monitor managed by
the Natural Resources Conservation Service. As you can see on the
map, the entire region was below 50 percent of average rainfall for
March.
The drought picture could change quickly with anticipated April
showers — actually RAIN — that should arrive late tonight or
tomorrow morning throughout the region, according to the latest
forecast by the
National Weather Service. Rain is expected through Saturday,
when the weather changes to mostly cloudy with a continuing chance
of showers through next Tuesday.
Weak El Nino conditions are expected to continue in our area
throughout the spring and into summer, bringing warmer- and
drier-than-average conditions to the Northwest, according to the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s
ENSO Adviser and the State
Climatologist’s Office.
The growing urgency of climate change is altering the nature of
comedy among those who tell jokes for a living. I’ve noticed a
greater intensity in the satire, as warnings from scientists become
more specific about the imposing reality of climate change.
Rachel Parris of the BBC’s “Mash Report” discusses this dire
topic in a most cheerful way, as you can see in the first
video.
“Some of you have been asking, ‘Rachel, all this feels kind of
inevitable,’” Rachel says in the video. “’Would it be better if we
just give up and let the world burn? Who really needs birds and
trees? I’d rather just be taking pictures of my own face.’”
Maybe the damage would be less, Rachel continues, if we all went
limp and “floppy” like a drunk person falling out of a window.
Climate-change comedy used to be mostly jabs about higher
temperatures and rising oceans. When he hosted “The Tonight Show,”
Jay Leno would toss out one-liners about what would happen if the
Earth continued to warm beyond 2015: “Hillary Clinton might
actually thaw out.”
Reader’s Digest once suggested new names for cities when the
polar ice caps melt, names such as “Atlantis City, New Jersey.”
Mary Pols, a reporter for the
Press Herald in Portland, Maine, uncovered the Leno and
Reader’s Digest jokes and others while touching on the history of
climate-change comedy. Her story focused mostly on a local man,
Jason Wentworth, who gave up his green laundry business to launch a
career in comedy, focusing on climate change. He has even set up a
Go-Fund-Me
account to get started, as seen in the last video on this
page.
Jason’s routine often targets his own audience with jokes about
the failure of people to address climate change on an individual
level. I would think this would leave audience members feeling at
least a bit uncomfortable. Here’s one of Jason’s jokes cited by
Mary Pols:
“So many people say, ‘I would ride public transit more, but it
is so inconvenient.’ My response is, ‘Have you tried it?’ I want to
talk about how inconvenient it is to row Grandma in a canoe to a
Red Cross center after a hurricane and then return to your house to
rip out wet sheetrock. Or if you live in Paradise, California, it
is super inconvenient.”
“Weekend Update” on “Saturday Night Live” sharpened its approach
after dire warnings came out from the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change, as you can see in the second video.
“We don’t really worry about climate change, because it is too
overwhelming, and we’re already in too deep,” says co-host Colin
Jost. “It’s like if you owe your bookie a thousand dollars, you’re
like, “Oh yeah, I gotta pay this dude back.’ But if you owe your
bookie a million dollars, you’re like, ‘I guess I’m just gonna
die!’”
It seems some of the late-night hosts are becoming less humorous
about climate change and more direct in their sarcasm. I featured
video clips from Stephen Colbert’s show in
Water Ways in February. The third video on this page is a clip
from “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” who has always found the right
sarcastic voice for his news-based commentaries.
I would like to ask a question about this blog before pivoting
to the debate over the Green New Deal.
Item 1: The future of this “Climate Sense” feature
It’s the end of March and the end of the first quarter of 2019.
I thought this would be a good time to assess the success or
failure of my weekly list of stories related to climate change.
The intent of “Climate Sense,” as I mentioned at the start of
the year, is simply to share some of the important research,
political developments, fascinating viewpoints or inspiring
opinions that I come across during my reading.
So is anybody reading these blog posts? And, more to the point,
is anybody getting any value from them?
These are questions that I would like every reader to answer,
especially if you believe these weekly blog posts are worthwhile.
You can comment in the comment section below or send me a private
email at ChrisBDunagan@gmail.com. I’m
always open to suggestions — even more in this moment, as I ponder
the future of this series.
Your comments will determine whether I keep this going as is,
change it in some way or drop it entirely. So please take a moment,
if only to say “Keep it” or “Drop it.” Thank you.
Here are the “Climate Sense” blog entries to
date:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, apparently
thought he would embarrass Democrats by forcing a vote on the Green
New Deal, which calls for massive changes to reduce greenhouse
gases. Most Democrats voted “present,” but the floor debate became
a rare chance to discuss climate change in the Senate — and now
many Republicans are acknowledging that something needs to be done.
Will this make a difference?
Reporter Marianne Lavelle offers a pretty good summary of what
happened for Inside Climate News
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25032019/green-new-deal-senate-vote-mcconnell-climate-change-policy
Here is what our two Democratic senators and Alaskan Republican
Lisa Murkowski had to say on the Senate floor:
Earth Hour, which celebrates the connections among people
throughout the world, happens tonight between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m.
local time, when participants turn off their lights for an
hour.
What each of us does with that hour is a personal decision, but
it is a great time for families to get together and have some fun,
with at least a passing discussion of the environmental issues that
concern us.
“Earth Hour 2019 is a powerful opportunity to start an
unstoppable movement … to help secure an international commitment
to stop and reverse the loss of nature,” Marco Lambertini, director
general of WWF International, said in a
news release.
For many, turning off the lights is a symbolic commitment, a
first step on the road to mass change. People in some countries
have gotten together to set specific goals. People in Ecuador, for
example, are pushing for a legal ban on certain plastics; Finland
is encouraging a move toward healthier, sustainable foods; Morocco
is educating people about saving water; and Indonesia is
encouraging its youth to adopt greener lifestyles, according to
organizers.
As I post this, Earth Hour is underway in India and already over
in Australia and most of Asia.
Getting kids involved is part of the fun and education of the
event. I thought the magazine
“Chicago Parent” had some good ideas for involving young
children with answers to a series of questions they might ask.
Here’s a couple of them:
Why are the lights out?
“There are millions of people around the city and the world who
want to make sure that we take care of planet Earth because it’s
our home. Turning off the lights for an hour is called Earth Hour.
It’s a celebration of our planet and a time for us to think about
what we can all do to help protect it. Turning off the lights saves
electricity and water, and saving resources like that is good for
the planet.”
Should we turn off the lights every night
then?
“Nope, not necessarily. This is what’s called “symbolic gesture.”
We need to use electricity to get things done at night, and during
the day, too. But if we are mindful about using electricity, water
and other resources only when we need to and not using them or
turning them off when we do not need them, that helps. We can be
better about turning out the lights for a few minutes at a time,
and eventually, that will add up.”
Since the beginning, Earth Hour has been celebrated by those who
control some of the world’s most-famous landmarks, from the Space
Needle in Seattle to the Empire State Building in New York, Tower
Bridge in London and Taj Mahal in Agra, India.
Other landmarks in Seattle that have gone dark in the past (I’m
not sure about this year) include Key Arena, the Museum of Pop
Culture (formerly Experience Music Project), Pacific Science
Center, Showbox at the Market (downtown Seattle), Showbox SoDo.
1201 Third Avenue (formerly Washington Mutual tower) and University
of Washington Tower, according to a story by
KIRO-TV news.
Earth Hour is a partnership between WWF and the United Nations
Convention on Biological Diversity. Check out the Connect2Earth platform.
State Rep. Debra Lekanoff, D-Bow, grew up in the small town of
Yakutat, Alaska, where her entire family and most of her friends
hunted and fished, following Native American traditions passed down
from their ancestors.
Rep. Lekanoff carries with her that indelible perspective, as
she goes about the business of law-making. Like all of us, her
personal history has shaped the forces that drive her today. Now,
as sponsor of
House Bill 1578, she is pushing hard for a law to help protect
Puget Sound from a catastrophic oil spill.
KTVA, the CBS affiliate in
Anchorage, presented a program Sunday on the 30th anniversary of
the Exxon Valdez oil spill. // Video:
KTVA-TV
In 1989, Debra, a member of the Tlinget Tribe, was about to
graduate from high school when the Exxon Valdez ran aground in
Prince William Sound, some 220 miles northwest of her hometown. The
spill of 11 million gallons of crude oil ultimately killed an
estimated 250,000 seabirds, 2,800 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, 250
bald eagles and up to 22 killer whales, along with untold numbers
of fish and crabs, according to the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (PDF 11.5 mb).
That was 30 years ago this past Sunday.
After graduation, many of Debra’s classmates went to the
disaster area and took jobs picking up dead and dying animals
covered in oil. While Debra did not visit the devastation, she
listened to the terrible stories and read letters written by her
friends.
“These were boys who grew up hunting and fishing,” she said.
“They knew the importance of natural resources. I can only imagine
how they felt picking up the dead animals. We lost a whole pod of
orcas from that spill, and today you can still turn over the rocks
and find oil underneath.”
The Exxon Valdez oil spill “woke up the state of Alaska” to the
devastating threats posed by oil transport, she said, and it
triggered an ongoing investment in oil-spill prevention.
Lekanoff moved to Washington state, where she graduated from
Central Washington University and eventually went to work for the
Swinomish Tribe in North Puget Sound, where she works as government
affairs director.
Last year, she was selected by Gov. Jay Inslee to serve on the
Southern Resident Killer Whale Task Force, trying to find ways to
save the critically endangered orcas from extinction. One measure
promoted by the task force — and supported by outside studies — was
to take additional steps to reduce the risks of an accident
involving a tanker or barge.
Debra tells me she has one word that guides her views on the
subject of oil transportation: “prevention-prevention-prevention,”
which reinforces the idea of redundancy. Tug escorts and “rescue
tugs” for oil tankers and barges are part of the redundancy called
for in HB 1578. Other recommendations from the Department of
Ecology include extra personnel aboard the vessels to watch out for
developing conditions.
Computer models can be used to calculate the risks of a
catastrophic oil spill in Puget Sound, something I recently wrote
about for the Encyclopedia
of Puget Sound. But the real world does not run on computer
models. So it becomes difficult to decide how much risk is
acceptable when considering the potential loss of incalculable
values, such as fish, wildlife and the Northwest lifestyle.
Rep. Lekanoff, 48, who was first elected to the Legislature last
year, said Washington state needs to move away from a
pollution-based economy, which has already decimated a vast
abundance of salmon while pushing our cherished orcas to the brink
of extinction.
The Skagit River in North Puget Sound is the only river left in
the Lower 48 states able to sustain all five species of salmon, she
said, and now even that river is threatened by proposed mining
operations and changing streamflows caused by climate change.
Lekanoff said she sees her role as a person who can build strong
relationships between the state, federal and tribal governments to
protect and restore natural resources in our region.
“We need to build a better future for the generations to come,”
she told me, and that requires looking past short-term gains to
consider the long-term results of legislative actions.
As sponsor of HB 1578, a bill drafted and heavily promoted by
the Governor’s Office, Lekanoff said the challenge has been to
engage with various interest groups, share scientific information
and seek out common interests.
“This bill,” she said, “is a clear example of what we can do
together. We needed everyone at the table.”
For tanker traffic traveling through Rosario Strait near the San
Juan Islands, Lekanoff’s bill would require tug escorts for vessels
over 5,000 deadweight tons along with studies to determine what
other measures are needed. Currently, tug escorts come into play
only for tanker ships over 40,000 deadweight tons, and there are no
escort requirements for barges of any size.
The next step will be to get everyone at the table again to
discuss the risks of tanker traffic traveling through Haro
Straight, a prime feeding ground for orcas in the San Juan Islands,
Lekanoff said. Prevention-prevention-prevention — including the
potential of tug escorts — will again be a primary topic of
discussion.
Lekanoff’s bill passed the House March 7 on a 70-28 vote and
moved out of the Senate Committee on Environment, Energy and
Technology on Tuesday. The bill will make a stop at the Senate Ways
and Means Committee before going to the floor for a vote by all
senators.
Just about anyone interested in becoming a citizen scientist can
participate in real-life research projects by connecting with
Zooniverse, a website that has been expanding and refining its
projects since I first wrote about it in
Water Ways in 2017.
Zooniverse enlists the power of many people to analyze raw data
of various kinds. As a participant, you sit down at your computer
and follow instructions to make observations about nature, history,
art, language or other fields of your choosing.
“The major challenge of 21st century research is dealing with
the flood of information we can now collect about the world around
us,” says the description on the Zooniverse webpage.
“Computers can help, but in many fields the human ability for
pattern recognition — and our ability to be surprised — makes us
superior.”
The accumulation of human observations from a Zooniverse project
can be used to actually train computers to make the observations,
which ultimately speeds up the process of data analysis even
more.
“With our wide-ranging and ever-expanding suite of projects,
covering many disciplines and topics across the sciences and
humanities, there’s a place for anyone and everyone to explore,
learn and have fun in the Zooniverse,” states the description. “To
volunteer with us, just go to the Projects page, choose one
you like the look of, and get started.”
“These projects produce science,” declares Chris Lintott,
professor of astrophysics and the citizen science lead at Oxford
University, (at 7:14 into the first video on this page.) “But
that’s not the interesting thing about it…. What’s interesting are
the people who are participating — a half-million people or so who
are registered with the Zooniverse…
“These aren’t people who are already science fans…, nor are they
science-phobic. They’re the kind of people who, if they are reading
the Metro and there’s a science story, would read it. But they
wouldn’t buy “New Scientist.”
While the people participating in Zooniverse contribute to real
science projects, they are also learning about cutting-edge
science, Lintott says, going on to describe what he knows about the
participants.
Giant kelp, a fast-growing seaweed considered critical habitat
for many marine species, changes its growth patterns from year to
year. Citizen scientists are needed to interpret satellite images,
because so far computers are unable to determine the edges of kelp
beds from Landsat photos.
“These satellites photograph the entire surface of the earth
every 16 days and have been doing so since 1984,” states the
description of the project. “When one of our project scientists
first began working with these images, he had hoped he could just
throw the hundreds of thousands of images into some image
classification software, and have the software tell him where kelp
was located.
“There’s just one problem: Landsat was not designed to be able
to see kelp. Kelp’s reflectance signature (the color of light that
it reflects) is just at the edge of the camera’s detection
abilities. Because of this, kelp and something as simple as the
glint of sun off of a wave look the same to a computer.
“But to a person, the shapes and patterns of kelp forests are
fairly obvious. That’s where you come in. By tracing patches of
kelp, you can do a far more accurate job than a computer, helping
to process this mountain of data!”
As described by Chris Lintott in the first video, Penguin Watch
asks observers to identify adult and baby penguins from images
taken with remote, unmanned cameras that automatically take
pictures of penguin colonies over time.
“Currently, there are numerous serious threats to marine
predators in the Southern Ocean: namely climate change, fisheries
and direct human disturbance,” states a description of the project.
“However, despite over a hundred years of study in the region, we
have little baseline information against which to measure
change…
“Camera technology affords us the ability to deploy
terminator-style biologists (they don’t sleep, they don’t eat) in
hard-to-reach areas, or in places where human presence might
disturb wildlife and therefore disrupt their behavior. By
establishing a camera network in the Southern Ocean … we hope to
capture novel behaviors and study penguin populations that have
never before been observed owing to their remote locations.”
Other projects you might find interesting:
Seabird Watch, a project that classifies seabirds in
remote locations
Cedar Creek Eyes on the Wild, a project that
identifies animals and their interactions at Cedar Creek Ecosystem
Science Reserve north of Minneapolis, Minn.
Manatee Chat, a project that classifies the sounds
that manatees make in an effort to identify calls related to
communications.
The shift to “clean fuels,” such as solar and wind power, is
tied up in economics, and it appears that change is coming — with
or without a push from government. This week, I read three
different and somewhat contradictory reports about this dynamic
competition between fossil fuels and renewable energy.
I also took a look at the hard data surrounding Arctic sea ice
and reviewed videos of the governor’s orca task force meeting on
Monday.
