My son received a reply to his "message in a bottle" from Cuba

[LemurCat]

Hey LemurCat. No one ever said you have thrown anything from a cruise ship.

 

You implied so much when you called me a hypocrite. I never said people shouldn't be cruising. I've agrued that people shouldn't be compounding the damage done cruising by littering off the ship. So, like I said, unless you can point out where I've thrown bottles off of the ship ... which you can't ... I'm not a hypocrite, no matter how hard you try to stretch the definition.

 

You yourself have admitted to cruising though. Neither activity is "green" but it's done. Don't be the pot calling the kettle black.

 

I'm not. That would be you. As I've explained to you ... at length ... twice ... that the only way I can be a hypocrite is if I actually toss a bottle off a ship. Your conflation and deflection of the actual topic at hand back to me is cute and all, but you still haven't answered my question and I'm pretty sure the conflation and deflection means you are incapable of doing so.

 

BTW Did you have any toys to play with as a kid? Just curious. LOL

 

I'm not sure exactly what that has to do with the price of China or throwing a bottle off of a cruise ship. My upbringing has little to do with this topic. And as I said earlier, your attempts to turn this thread into some sort of personal slagging of me are indicative of many things, none of them positive.

[BecciBoo]

Nah, and I was avoiding this thread like a plague until now.

 

Again ... why do people assume that because people pollute it gives *them* license to pollute as well?

 

*Sigh* I picked ten bottles off of my beach this Saturday morning to make up for you miscreants. I didn't find any messages, just some cigarette butts and a used ... well, you can imagine.

 

Y'all can thank me later. ;)

 

Lemur, I'm with you. Since I'm a diver and have been well educated to the negative side of such an act, I will say, I absolutely do not throw trash out of anything, my car, a ship or anything else. And I'm an avid recycler. I'm not a tree hugger, just someone who appreciates the beautiful world we live in and prefers that it stay that way. In this case, yes, it really sounds so cool and so thrilling and so educational (even to me)...too bad the ocean and its inhabitants cannot atest to that. Far too often, such refuse washes up on someone's pristine beach to debase it or winds up hurting or killing wildlife that get it in their stomachs, around their necks or it destroys their habitat. A plastic bottle does not belong in the ocean. What is really sad to me is that only a handful of CC members complained about this...the rest were just fine with it and even resorted to namecalling and rudeness and attacking others to justify their stand.

http://www.ocean.udel.edu/mas/masnotes/plastic.html

According to this article, the United States has made it a federal law prohibiting to dump ANY plastic into U.S. waters. But if you really want a reason not to communicate in this way, please be fair and watch this video:

http://www.inl.co.nz/environment/2008/plasticjunkyard.html There are other videos on this site as well, do your world a favor and watch them. Whether you are a supporter of the current scientific view on the polution of our planet or you prefer to think it doesn't exist, you owe it to yourself to watch these videos. Thanks for being fair.

[Upandadam]

Lemur, I'm with you. Since I'm a diver and have been well educated to the negative side of such an act, I will say, I absolutely do not throw trash out of anything, my car, a ship or anything else. And I'm an avid recycler. I'm not a tree hugger, just someone who appreciates the beautiful world we live in and prefers that it stay that way. In this case, yes, it really sounds so cool and so thrilling and so educational (even to me)...too bad the ocean and its inhabitants cannot atest to that. Far too often, such refuse washes up on someone's pristine beach to debase it or winds up hurting or killing wildlife that get it in their stomachs, around their necks or it destroys their habitat. A plastic bottle does not belong in the ocean. What is really sad to me is that only a handful of CC members complained about this...the rest were just fine with it.

http://www.ocean.udel.edu/mas/masnotes/plastic.html

According to this article, the United States has made it a federal law to dump ANY plastic into U.S. waters. But if you really want a reason not to communicate in this way, please be fair and watch this video:

http://www.inl.co.nz/environment/2008/plasticjunkyard.html

 

Yes, I imagine that bottles with messages in it being tossed into the ocean are a true environmental disaster.

[bigdaddyvoges]

I am feeling De Ja Vu!!!!

[98Charlie]

* No trees where harmed in the making of this liberal arts master.

 

LMAO:D

 

Dianne

[Kudos2Fly]

I have read most of the posts. Frankly I have thought it would be a neat ideal to do that. But never have, although when I was young in school we released probably 150 balloons with Our names and addresses. I never got anything back from mine :(.

 

Years ago you could dump garbage from ships. It was allowed in international waters. But that is changing here is an article on dumping in the Caribbean. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/01/MNRQ1640AK.DTL

 

And I'm not a "Rabbit" environmentalists. But I can see how dumping stuff over board nowadays isn't a good ideal.

 

A couple of quotes from the article

 

Under the current Caribbean regulations, ships can begin dumping garbage, including metal, glass and paper, 3 miles from shore as long as it is ground to less than an inch. Almost anything but plastic can be dumped beyond 25 miles.

 

The amount of garbage washing up on the islands from cruise ships has decreased significantly over the last 15 years, said Allen Chastanet, a former chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organization.

[babyher]

I am feeling De Ja Vu!!!!

 

 

Does Mr. Vu know you are doing this? I hear he is quite jealous. :)

[LemurCat]

Yes, I imagine that bottles with messages in it being tossed into the ocean are a true environmental disaster.

 

I personally can't wait until the day our dolphin overlords arise from the sea, walk the earth, and cover all of our mouths and noses with balloons and plastic bottles ... :eek:

[babyher]

I personally can't wait until the day our dolphin overlords arise from the sea, walk the earth, and cover all of our mouths and noses with balloons and plastic bottles ... :eek:

 

 

 

WOW!!!!!!

 

 

I thought I smelt Pachouli and heard Sitar music :)

[BecciBoo]

Yes, I imagine that bottles with messages in it being tossed into the ocean are a true environmental disaster.

 

You got it right:

even though I get your sarcasm.

This is what really happens to those bottles.

[LemurCat]

WOW!!!!!!

 

 

I thought I smelt Pachouli and heard Sitar music :)

 

Nah, that's a Simpsons reference. One of the Treehouse of Horror episodes from their Golden Era.

[BecciBoo]

And by your sarcastic comments, I guess we can assume that you really don't care at all what happens to the ocean nor the animals in it...even from one bottle. I guess you can be real proud of yourselves. I'm outta here, what a waste of time.

[babyher]

Nah, that's a Simpsons reference. One of the Treehouse of Horror episodes from their Golden Era.

 

 

Ah see I am a "Family Guy " man myself *LOL*

[sam1148]

What I think some are overlooking is the content of the message, and purpose.

 

The kid had GPS cords in the message, his name address. The OP calculated the locations and travel time from sending to reply.

 

This is SCIENCE not litter. I would agree it's liter if the message was a 'joke type message'..with no value in content.

 

Litter is discarding something, with no hope or retrieval. NOAA does the same thing for science..they send up balloons with radiosonde's which land (or litter) where they may, including the heavy metals in the batteries.

 

Attached to those are notes explaining who to contact, only 20 percent of those are found. (Citation)

 

 

IMHO litter is something you do not want recovered. A message with the data provided is an learning experience. It's launched with the expectation of recovery.

[Disneycruisers]

What I think some are overlooking is the content of the message, and purpose.

 

The kid had GPS cords in the message, his name address. The OP calculated the locations and travel time from sending to reply.

 

This is SCIENCE not litter. I would agree it's liter if the message was a 'joke type message'..with no value in content.

 

Litter is discarding something, with no hope or retrieval. NOAA does the same thing for science..they send up balloons with radiosonde's which land (or litter) where they may, including the heavy metals in the batteries.

 

Attached to those are notes explaining who to contact, only 20 percent of those are found. (Citation)

 

 

IMHO litter is something you do not want recovered. A message with the data provided is an learning experience. It's launched with the expectation of recovery.

 

Very well put

[sam1148]

Very well put

 

An Interesting foot note from the citation in my previous post.

Over 75,000 radiosondes are launched each year by NOAA. Only 20 percent are recovered. If this is litter, then the US Government approves it.

 

In the gulf stream a Message in Bottle, correctly labeled for a purpose isn't trash IMHO. While the gulf stream is very well studied, hands on experience for a budding oceanographer is a good thing.

 

I would draw the line about pacific currents between California and Hawaii which have been proven (by SCIENCE) to drop any item into a swirling mass of garbage in the pacific ocean into a current which has no hope of being found by humans. No rational hope of retrieval, which would make that 'litter'.

 

It's not all cut and dry, situations, intent, etc. Come into play, otherwise we'd prevent NOAA from launching their 'garbage'. Which provides vital weather data.

[Islandbear]

I personally can't wait until the day our dolphin overlords arise from the sea, walk the earth, and cover all of our mouths and noses with balloons and plastic bottles ... :eek:

 

 

I knew you had another motive! LemurCat you are a spy for them!

[LemurCat]

I knew you had another motive! LemurCat you are a spy for them!

 

Actually, I'm a super intelligent dolphin that has learned to type with a stick in my mouth, walk up right, drive a car, and hold down a job. I tell everyone I'm the product of sideshow freaks breeding though. I can't believe you found me out!

[Upandadam]

Actually, I'm a super intelligent dolphin that has learned to type with a stick in my mouth, walk up right, drive a car, and hold down a job. I tell everyone I'm the product of sideshow freaks breeding though. I can't believe you found me out!

 

No doubt a product of plastic ingestion induced mutation.

[trock]

Lemur, I'm with you. Since I'm a diver and have been well educated to the negative side of such an act, I will say, I absolutely do not throw trash out of anything, my car, a ship or anything else. And I'm an avid recycler. I'm not a tree hugger, just someone who appreciates the beautiful world we live in and prefers that it stay that way. In this case, yes, it really sounds so cool and so thrilling and so educational (even to me)...too bad the ocean and its inhabitants cannot atest to that. Far too often, such refuse washes up on someone's pristine beach to debase it or winds up hurting or killing wildlife that get it in their stomachs, around their necks or it destroys their habitat. A plastic bottle does not belong in the ocean. What is really sad to me is that only a handful of CC members complained about this...the rest were just fine with it and even resorted to namecalling and rudeness and attacking others to justify their stand.

http://www.ocean.udel.edu/mas/masnotes/plastic.html

According to this article, the United States has made it a federal law prohibiting to dump ANY plastic into U.S. waters. But if you really want a reason not to communicate in this way, please be fair and watch this video:

http://www.inl.co.nz/environment/2008/plasticjunkyard.html There are other videos on this site as well, do your world a favor and watch them. Whether you are a supporter of the current scientific view on the polution of our planet or you prefer to think it doesn't exist, you owe it to yourself to watch these videos. Thanks for being fair.

 

 

I was kind of leaning towards the opinion that it's ok but after watching only part of that video.. I am very much against using plastic bottles.. :mad:

 

Without reading ALL of these threads on the MIB, what was the consensus on glass bottles?

[trock]

Actually, I'm a super intelligent dolphin that has learned to type with a stick in my mouth, walk up right, drive a car, and hold down a job. I tell everyone I'm the product of sideshow freaks breeding though. I can't believe you found me out!

 

 

FLIPPER I thought I recognized you!

[Upandadam]

I was kind of leaning towards the opinion that it's ok but after watching only part of that video.. I am very much against using plastic bottles.. :mad:

 

Without reading ALL of these threads on the MIB, what was the consensus on glass bottles?

 

I think rum-runners would be best.

[Pearlbill]

Actually, I'm a super intelligent dolphin that has learned to type with a stick in my mouth, walk up right, drive a car, and hold down a job. I tell everyone I'm the product of sideshow freaks breeding though. I can't believe you found me out!

 

Aha!! I knew there was an explanation. Curiosity now satisfied.

 

Pearl

[Islandbear]

LemurCat,

 

I am going undercover!

 

Shhh. Don't tell the dolphins.

 

[fdlafon]

That is way cool! :)