The Winds of Destiny

It has never happened in all of human history before. Not even one time.

But one day soon, a group of pioneers will depart the slivers of land on this ocean planet and venture forth into a completely alien world, with no intention of ever returning to live on land.

In the past, we have gone there for voyages, but our hearts and our homes have always been on the shore – dry and relatively safe. Here, all crowded together on our continents where nearly seven billion people have crowded together, struggling and often fighting one another. But there are a few of us who today look outward on a vast and quite empty domain waiting for us. Here on land is a place where we have had no worry about air to breathe or choking on our own waste gasses. We have ventured to other slivers of land to stay. We have ventured to space, but not yet to stay. When the Atlantica II pioneers depart the pier of a small central Florida community in a few years hence, it will be the very first time in all of history, out of a 100 billion living souls, that any have dared to venture into a completely alien world - to stay.

It will be the cultural equivalent of a new epoch of mankind. From that small pier we as human beings will finally leap out of the cradle of civilization that has held us for more than 5,000 years. There we will find ourselves in a world where we have to master not only our shelter but also our air and wall-to-wall protection from a place outside that is totally alien and hostile to our lives.

I have thought about it hundreds of times. What it will be like to board that boat on that pier, surrounded by a small band of pioneers and point our boat due east. About 15 or so miles from shore, the skipper of that boat will help us to board the Dan Scott Taylor submarine waiting for transport to the Challenger Station – the hub of the fist human city on the ocean floor.

After having thought about it countless times, I can only imagine what it will be like to take in the last breath of fresh sea air, watch the sun climb high in the sky over us, and then bid it all goodbye. Our destiny is not here, but down in this vast frontier below. It will be the cradle of a totally new civilization of men and women and children and families. I have thought about the submarine rolling in the swells over the Community of Atlantica below. I have imagined what it will be like to slide into the submarine and close the heavy hatch after me, spinning its wheel and locking it into place.

It is not really difficult to imagine that, since the submarine is already in our possession and since I have made that trip in and out of her many times. And that is what makes this dream so electrifying. It is not a dream. We are holding and building the hardware. It is a reality that is slowly turning into the wind and about to catch the winds of destiny.

I fully plan to skipper the DST II down to the undersea community and dock her safely. There we will exit to our new human community. And there we intend to grow and prosper, commanding the planets greatest resource treasures – a place mostly unknown and seriously underappreciated today, a three dimensional world of vast importance to tomorrow’s generations. Many of them will be born here – the descendants of a new empire of men and women dedicated to the freedoms of our culture and the stewardship of this brave, new world of which we have only made a casual acquaintance.

This describes the voyages and the enterprise of the Atlantica Expeditions. You can read about it in detail in the book, Undersea Colonies. If you are reading these words, please consider joining us!

Dennis Chamberland
Atlantica Expeditions Leader
Written in the New Worlds Explorer Habitat
February 2009

Stopping the Next Celestial Armageddon

Humanity faces a celestial Sword of Damocles. We can no longer go about our humdrum worldly concerns and abandon any attention to the heavens and the dangers that lurk in the local celestial neighbourhood. We face the celestial equivalent of a 9/11 writ large. Humanity can no longer ignore the objective reality that its long term survival and existence is imperilled.

It sounds like a Hollywood blockbuster: a deadly asteroid is on a collision course with Earth. But in reality, it's only a matter of time before a giant space rock threatens to wipe out civilization. An asteroid took out the dinosaurs sixty-five million years ago. Are we next? This episode analyzes the threat and explores the many ways--from a nuclear bomb to ingenious new technology--that experts are proposing to stop Armageddon. Humanity faces an Extraterrestrial Imperative- we either become a spacefaring civilization or face the fate of the dinosaurs.

The Universe - Stopping Armageddon

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Discovery Enterprise goes Social

As you can see we have installed Google Friend Connect in our sidebar. Google Friend Connect is a social network tool that allows you to join the blog, leave comments to members, share media and generally interact with like minded people. Joining is free and easy, and I expect to add more facilities to the application over time, so please join! Invite your friends and leave a comment!

Amphibious cars and the amazing Ben Carlin

Most people are happy with cars that travel on roads, others prefer the freedom of four wheel drives and there has always been inventors developing flying cars, but others like a car that can handle very wet conditions. There has been a long history of amphibious vehicles and one man, Australian Ben Carlin, used one to undertake an extraordinary adventure.

Military amphibious vehicles have been around for decades. The Germans had the Schwimmwagen back in WII

However such vehicles are not really what you want to do the shopping with, motorists want amphibious car to be.... well... a car.

Which brings us to the Amphicar, this was a German vehicle manufactured between 1962 to 1967 and was the only non military amphibian that ever went to commercial production. About 4500 were built, at least one ended up in Australia as remember seeing one on the roads in Sydney as a child. Lots of information here.

More recently there has been the Aquada which may go into production. If it does it will be the fastest amphibian. Richard Branson seems to like it.

However to some merely being able to drive on the surface of the sea is not enough, they want an undersea car. Well now these explorers of Aquatica have such a vehicle the sQuaba.

No article on amphibious vehicles is complete without a mention of Ben Carlin and the Half-Safe. Ben, an Australian, took the challenge to circumnavigate the world in a modified jeep. He set out with his wife Elinore as first mate in 1950. His wife eventually came to her senses and left the expedition but Ben continued with other mates finally completing the voyage in 1958.

Charles Darwin and his Dangerous Idea

Today marks the bicentennial of Charles Darwin’s birth. In order to mark the occasion of Darwin’s birth on 12th February, 1809 and the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s publication of “On the Origin of Species” on 24th November, 1859 today we are going to take a closer look at Darwin's idea on the origin of species. Some have even labelled Darwin's Theory of evolution by Natural Selection a "Dangerous Idea”.

Today’s video offering takes a closer look at this ''dangerous idea'' and explores why it matters more today than ever. Does it explain the past history and predict the future of life on Earth? Can it explain how life may have arisen on Earth and perhaps elsewhere in the Cosmos? This documentary interweaves the drama of Darwin's life with current documentary sequences, introducing the key concepts behind Darwin’s Theory of evolution.


Evolution - Darwin’s Dangerous Idea

The Genesis of Life

Roughly 4 Billion years ago on a big wet rock a strange and mysterious phenomenon occurs. Non living matter became life and eventual evolved into consciousness. Ever since then nothing has been the same on Earth. How could something as complex and astonishing as life just happen? Does life emerge from a tide pool of primordial soup? Is it born in rocks deep below Earth surface, or did it come from the depths of the cosmic space? What awesome force creates this miraculous chain of life, man continues to seek answers to this extraordinary mystery. Join us today on Discovery Enterprise as we continue to commemorate the bicentennial of Charles Darwin’s birth and confront one of the greatest conundrums facing twenty-first century science - the mystery of the genesis of life .....



How Life Began

Birth of Life

Watch Birth of Life View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Journey to the Edge of the Universe

Join us today on Discovery Enterprise as we continue to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy and prepare to embark on a grand voyage of adventure and wonder through the universe as revealed by twenty-first century science. This documentary puts the grandeur of the universe into wonderful perspective. In one single, epic camera move we journey from Earth's surface to the outermost reaches of the universe on a grand tour of the cosmos, to explore newborn stars, distant planets, black holes and beyond. ...


Journey to the Edge of the Universe on Megavideo and also on YouTube

Explorers of the final frontier

Yesterday Alex posted a very thought provoking article , the documentary was just extraordinary and had me thinking about the scientific possibility of an after life for days. The story of the blind woman who could see during her NDE was just amazing.

However the rationalist in me insists on asking questions, such as : “Why only some people who have been clinically dead report NDEs? Why not everyone?“ “Does everybody see a place of love and peace , even bad people?” I personly don't want to spend eternity in the company of Adolf Hitler and Joe Stalin.

Science depends on experimentation and observation, it would be useful if we could kill volunteers and bring them back to life under controlled conditions. They might have some interesting reports. Well such an expedition into the unknown may happen sooner then we think. Have a read of this:

HE VETERINARIAN
Scientists have created eerie zombie dogs, re-animating the canines after several hours’ clinical death in attempts to develop suspended animation for humans.

US scientists have revived the dogs after three hours’ clinical death, paving the way for trials on humans within years.

Tests have shown that after the procedure, the dogs are normal, with no brain damage.

The Pittsburgh Safar Centre for Resuscitation Research has developed a technique in which the subject’s veins are drained of blood and filled with an ice-cold salt solution.

The animals are considered scientifically dead because they stop breathing and have no heartbeat or brain activity. But three hours later, their blood is replaced and the zombie dogs are brought back to life with an electric shock.

Sooner or latter humans will take the journey into the real final frontier. I await their reports with interest.

The Day I Died: Can Science Provide Proof for Life After Death?

Can the mind survive the death of the body and does life exist after death? These are questions central to many of the world’s religious faiths. Can science provide answers to these questions?

“The Day I Died” is one of the very few documentaries concerning the Near Death Experience (NDE) that has really aroused my interest to point of taking a serious look at the scientific research going on in this fringe science. This documentary highlights the serious yet somewhat controversial scientific research being conducted on Out of Body Experiences (OBEs) and Near Death Experiences (NDEs).