Happy 100th Birthday, Jacques Cousteau

The 100th birthday of the man who invented the aqualung and the diving saucer, and who popularized the importance of oceanography and ecology really needs to be recognized. Especially given current events.

Personally, Cousteau was a huge part of my childhood, both due to the beautiful TV undersea specials, and the collected volumes of the Undersea World that we owned. I loved the historical, mythical and science fictional aspects of the books the most, and it stimulated my fascination with inner space. The science fictional aspects of exploring and colonizing inner space (I was fascinated by the Conshelf and other experiments in living underwater) is why I believe that colonizing the oceans will happen long before we colonize space. It makes no sense to put habitats in the eternal desert of space (other than to be the ultimate in gated communities for the elite), when the frontier of the oceans beckons, and is so much closer and more accessible.

I just hope we learn to live in and with the ocean without destroying it, to temper our greed and carelessness. It's a sentiment I learned from Cousteau.

I GOT IT!!!

That's right, I was finally successful, and I'm very pleased with myself.

It really wasn't easy, either. It required quite a bit of patience and work. We're talking weeks of checking web pages, making phone calls, and repeated disappointment. And at the end it required crackerjack timing, and a willingness to jump into the car and go at a moments notice in order to get in before my competition. I even had to get a bit pushy, though only in the most polite way. Because sometimes you have to be aggressive to get what you want, and get to the head of the line.

And I did it. I really, really did it. Success is mine!

I finally managed to get a copy of "Dr. Who 4th series" from the library!










What? I mean, every copy's been checked out for the last two months!