Posted on 01/02/2013 6:36:08 PM PST by PJ-Comix
When he got to the surface, Cousteau probably got the first word on the 1964 Surgeon General's report on smoking.
Anyway just strange to see Mr. Nature, Jacques Cousteau, lighting up a cigarette under the sea.
The French. What can one say?
Sort of hilarious how they risked a fire outbreak in that oxygen rich vehicle below the surface because they just couldn’t live without their smokes.
Well, I can say this -
The French, they are a funny race.
They fight with their feet
and F with their face.
They look kind a queer too.
BTW, have you ever smelled French cigarettes? Absolutely the worst smelling tobacco ever. If I were aboard that vehicle, I would tell the crew that if they continued smoking, I would cut the most horrible stenchy farts in retaliation.
Caulerpa taxifolia is a species of seaweed, an alga of the genus Caulerpa. Native to the Indian Ocean, it has been widely used ornamentally in aquariums. The alga has a stem which spreads horizontally just above the seafloor, and from this stem grow vertical fern-like pinnae, whose blades are flat like yew, hence the species name "taxifolia" (the genus of yew is Taxus).
The alga produces a large amount of a single chemical that is toxic to fish and other would-be predators. This is in contrast to other plants which produce a variety of toxins, but in reduced amounts.
It is one of two algae on the list of the world's 100 worst invasive species compiled by the IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group.
It is thought that the seaweed was accidentally released into coastal waters of the Mediterranean Sea just below Jacques Cousteaus Oceanographic Museum of Monaco in 1984.
Ten years later, the claim was made that Caulerpa had grown to cover 7,400 acres (30 km2), and was preventing native plants from growing. This concern earned the plant the dubious nickname "Killer Algae."
Rate of growth can be as fast as a centimeter per day. If any small part is severed from the rest of the alga, this small part will regrow into another alga.
Maybe they can make ethanol out of it.
That’s nothing compared to one of their very early documentaries done in 16mm black and white film, wherein Cousteau and sons âcollect specimens for researchâ by dynamiting coral reefs, and killing every living thing that crosses their path! No creature was spared in their âresearch.â In one scene, they harpoon a seal and drag its bleeding carcass across the deck into closeup camera range. In another, they spear a sea turtle, and laugh as it tows their dinghy around before expiring.
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