Taking the plunge...

A collection by Neal McKenna

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McKenna Ink Thesis Editing Service

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Under Water Cities... 

Atlantis Reborn

     Some development and research has gone into the concept of having underwater living complexes. During the 1960s through to the mid-1980s the USA began investigating this possibility through its underwater habitation program. Headed by the US Navy several divers lived in underwater buildings in the shallows at depths of around 10m. They proved that it could be done and the divers themselves lived under water for weeks at a time. So why hasn't the concept gone further? Some futurists and experts argue a compelling case for taking the concept further.
     On paper having cities underwater would certainly go a long way into dealing with the over-population concerns now taking shape across the world. Many in the space agencies and the corridors of power look to the stars to seek answers from soaring numbers in cities and towns, but some reason that it is the below the surface the answer truly lies. 

     Over 70% of the world is covered by water so making use of it would certainly make sense in proportion to the land mass available. Indeed many sections of continental shelves close to land would prove ideal sites. At depths of 100m or more from the surface a good sized city anchored into the earths crust would give excellent protection from hurricanes, storms and even meteorites! With water processing plants providing clean water for the inhabitants and power coming from relays of tidal wave collectors or building a city near geothermic vents the city would be to a certain extent self-sufficient from the outside world.
     Even though we are in the dawn of the 21st Century, cities underwater still has the ring of science-fiction to it. From the practical aspect the massive amounts of spending required to build and maintain an underwater complex would mean that it would undoubtedly require a massive joint effort from several countries. Unless there is a breakthrough in hydroponics most of the food supplies would have to be imported via supply subs as the lack of sunlight would result in little or no photosynthesis to grow foodstuffs. Living underwater is essentially akin to living under a hostile environment, an accident, rogue action or sabotage could easily lead to catastrophe amongst inhabitants.
     Another avenue for the underwater population concept is in the industrial sector. Fossil Fuels aside, valuable resources such as diamonds and rare minerals are known to exist underwater. If an area were to be found where they were concentrated in abundance it would prove a strong case for development of underwater mining operations. The cost in running such an operation would likely be exceeded by the bounty reaped from the depths. Already above the ocean surface offshore platforms bustle with activity extracting precious hydrocarbons (oil, gas etc), why then should an underwater version be overlooked?
Underwater Cities... Popular Culture
     'Bioshock.' A popular game released on the Xbox 360 in 2007 was set in a fictional underwater city called 'Rapture.' It was located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and was powered by Geothermic vents. Although the game is far-fetched and more horror orientated than realistically feasible it shows that the idea and imagination for underwater cities lives on...
Underwater Cities... Conclusion
     Currently there are some small shallow water self-contained habitats in operation but these are mostly for scientific and research use. Only time will tell if they will mark the extent of mankind's progression into the depths... 

Future Diving in the Underwater Realm

"Its AD 2050 - Underwater cities bustle with activity in the ocean depths, mighty submarines the size of cruise liners travelling between them delivering passengers and cargo, all the while vast underwater mining complexes extracted untold mineral resources. Divers venture forth with fail-safe breathing gear and hazard free gas mixes allowing the boldest of independant exploration and adventure." Is this a bold and accurate vision of the future or just a far-fetched fantasy?    Via Squidoo

Aquaman movie 'very much a reality,' says Smallville star

     An Aquaman movie for the big screen? Seems that it's a clear possibility, if we're to believe the King of Atlantis himself, actor Alan Ritchson.
     In an interview with Comic Book Ressources, the actor, who doesn't return alone, since he's coming back with series wife, Mera in tow, first sounded off on a TV series based on his character, whom he calls the "Superman of the Seas"
     Oh yeah, I would like that for sure. But I don't think a TV show is a reality, to be honest. Not that I wouldn't like to see that story told. Like I said earlier, Aquaman's basically the Superman of the Seas and there's a really cool story behind that. I think it would be fun to tell it, but it's just so hard to tell a story involving water. And it's expensive. In today's day and age, people aren't looking to spend a lot of money on a TV show. Maybe someday they'll find a way, technically, to do it in a fiscally sound manner.
     Warner Brothers commissioned an Aquaman TV spinoff series in 2006, which was shot with Justin Hartley in the lead role instead of Alan Ritchson, but it never went as far as the pilot.
     However, the actor is much more positive on the possibility of seeing Aquaman on the big screen and wouldn't rule out his involvement in the project if possible:
     But a movie, on the other hand, I think is very much a reality, says Richson. In fact, I think there's one in the works. Some people in LA are starting to get the ball rolling on that. I don't know what my involvement would ever be in that, but, yeah, I think it would be cool to see that happen. But it's just so expensive to do. It's hard to say if it's really going to happen. 

     We went to take a peek at IMDB, and there's indeed an Aquaman project listed for release in 2013. However, the only thing it says on there is that it's in development. Bummer.
     An Aquaman movie sure sounds good, even if the character never achieved the same level of popularity that Superman and Batman have enjoyed. But if the upcoming Green Lantern movie is a success, it could provide the incentive for studios to
take a look at other DC characters, and in the hands of capable people, it could be a fun and wild ride. Just imagine Atlantis on the big screen . . .in 3-D (no doubt).        Via Blastr

 

Photo Via Super Hero Hype

But to be totally honest, I'd much prefer seeing Daniel Craig play Aquaman. (Be still my beating heart.)

Now, here are some visual non sequiturs...

For Mera, being married to Aquaman did have its challenges.    Picture Via We  It

Hmmmm, thought Goldilocks, who's been sleeping in my bed? Picture Via We  It

Does this make him an aqua-voyeur or a peeping-tom-catfish?   Picture Via Shopped or Not

I think he needs an electric mower. Picture Via Shopped or Not 

The water was kinda murky and Julie had the feeling she was being watched but of course, that was just silly... 

Picture Via We  It

Picture Via IMDb

Gif Via pizzaprince

Is this Atlantis?

Map from Atlantis ... spotted on ocean floor

In My View...
by PLATO 

        - Top Philosopher
THIS exciting discovery on Google Ocean backs up the theories about Atlantis I outlined in my dialogues Timaeus and Critias back in 350BC.

Plato's ... theory

I described a "dense wall" surrounding the great city, which is just like the rectangular perimeter of the seabed image.

And I told of a complex network of streets and buildings - again similar to the grid in the picture.

I learned about Atlantis from Egyptian priests, whose records of the lost civilisation were scrawled in their ancient temples.

I said it was located in the "real sea." Some scholars have interpreted this as a reference to the Atlantic. Others think it's the Mediterranean. But I'm not letting on just yet. 

VIRGINIA WHEELER
and RHODRI PHILLIPS
Published: 20 Feb. 2009

     THIS is the amazing image which could show the fabled sunken city of Atlantis.
It shows a perfect rectangle the size of Wales lying on the bed of the Atlantic Ocean nearly 3½ miles down.
     A host of criss-crossing lines, looking like a map of a vast metropolis, are enclosed by the boundary.

     They seem too vast and organised to be caused naturally.
And last night the possibility of an extraordinary discovery had oceanographers and geophysicists captivated.

Patrick Duffy in the 1970s TV show "Man from Atlantis"

The site lies 620 miles off the west coast of Africa near the Canary Islands - a location for Atlantis seemingly suggested by the ancient philosopher Plato.
He believed it was an island civilisation sunk by an earthquake and floods around 9,700BC - nearly 12,000 years ago.      The "grid" showed up on Google Ocean, a Google Earth extension that uses a combination of satellite images and marine surveys.
     

Dr. Charles Orser, curator of historical archaeology at New York State University - and one of the world's leading authorities on Atlantis - called it "fascinating".

     He said: "The site is one of the most prominent places for the proposed location of Atlantis, as described by Plato. Even if it turns out to be geographical, this definitely deserves a closer look."
     The legend of Atlantis has captured the imagination of scholars for centuries. And in the 1970s, it spawned a hit TV series, Man From Atlantis, in which Patrick Duffy played a webbed hero who could live underwater.

Sea here ... location of grid on Google
Situated in an area called the Madeira Abyssal Plane, the grid was spotted by aeronautical engineer Bernie Bamford as he browsed through Google Ocean.

     Bernie, 38, of Chester, said: "It looks like an aerial map of Milton Keynes. It must be man-made." Google today claimed the criss-crossing lines were sonar data collected as boats mapped the ocean floor. But the internet giant said "blank spots" within the lines could not be explained.

Daryl Hannah in SPLASH Via Eddie Ray's Movie Reviews

    A spokeswoman said: "Bathymetric (or sea floor terrain) data is often collected from boats using sonar to take measurements of the sea floor. "The lines reflect the path of the boat as it gathers the data. "The fact that there are blank spots between each of these lines is a sign of how little we really know about the world's oceans."

Via The Sun UK (So you absolutely know it's a reliable source...)

Image Via The Flood

Or Maybe it's here...

Lost city of Atlantis believed found off the coast of Spain

msnbc.com staff and news service reports

updated March 14, 2011 2:05:47 PM ET

Archaeologists and geologists use imagery to find site ravaged by tsunami

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. — A U.S.-led research team may have finally located the lost city of Atlantis, the legendary metropolis believed swamped by a tsunami thousands of years ago, in mud flats in southern Spain.

     "This is the power of tsunamis," head researcher Richard Freund told Reuters.

     "It is just so hard to understand that it can wipe out 60 miles inland, and that's pretty much what we're talking about," said Freund, a professor at the University of Hartford who led an international team searching for the true site of Atlantis.

A computer graphic shows the concentric rings that may have existed during Atlantis' ancient heyday. Scientists have seen evidence of such submerged structures beneath the vast marshlands of southern Spain's Dona Ana Park.

     To solve the age-old mystery, the team analyzed satellite imagery of a suspected submerged city just north of Cadiz, Spain. There, buried in the vast marshlands of the Dona Ana Park, they believe that they pinpointed the ancient, multiringed dominion known as Atlantis.

     The team of archaeologists and geologists in 2009 and 2010 used a combination of deep-ground radar, digital mapping and underwater technology to survey the site.

     Freund's discovery in central Spain of a strange series of "memorial cities," built in Atlantis' image by its refugees after the city's likely destruction by a tsunami, gave researchers added proof and confidence, he said.

     Atlantean residents who did not die in the tsunami fled inland and built new cities there, he added.

Artist's impression of Atlantis prior to its destruction

     The team's conclusions are detailed in "Finding Atlantis," a National Geographic Channel special.

     While it is hard to know with certainty that the site in Spain is Atlantis, Freund said the "twist" of finding the memorial cities makes him confident Atlantis was buried in the mud flats.

     "We found something that no one else has ever seen before, which gives it a layer of credibility, especially for archaeology, that makes a lot more sense," Freund said.

    Greek philosopher Plato wrote about Atlantis 2,600 years ago, describing it as "an island situated in front of the straits which are by you called the Pillars of Hercules," as the Straits of Gibraltar were known in antiquity.

Sunken ... artist's impression of the lost metropolis

     Using Plato's detailed account of Atlantis as a map, searches have focused on the Mediterranean and Atlantic as the best possible sites for the city. Researchers have previously proposed that Atlantis was located on the Greek island of Santorini , the Italian island of Sardinia or on Cyprus .

     Tsunamis in the region have been documented for centuries, Freund says. One of the largest was a reported 10-story tidal wave that slammed Lisbon in November 1755.

     Debate about whether Atlantis truly existed has lasted for thousands of years. Plato's "dialogues" from around 360 B.C. are the only known historical sources of information about the iconic city. Plato said the island he called Atlantis "in a single day and night ... disappeared into the depths of the sea."

     Experts plan further excavations at the site where they believe Atlantis is located and at the mysterious "cities" in central Spain 150 miles away to more closely study geological formations and to date artifacts.

Article Via MSNBC

Well, there would have to be at least a few gay mermen, right?

Via Night is Half Gone 

Frilled Shark

Flaring the gills that give the species its name, a frilled shark swims at Japan's Awashima Marine Park on January 21, 2007. Sightings of living frilled sharks are rare, because the fish generally remain thousands of feet beneath the water's surface.

Via Bit Blot Forum

Want to see a spectacular ocean view? This is the view from Istanbul ’s 7 story seven-star underwater hotel. Currently under construction, there will be the full compliment of exhibition halls, and restaurants, and all rooms will have a sea view. Via Interior Design

A New Zealand design firm built this restaurant, called Ithaas, with a 270-degree view of underwater life, and it opened in April. Just walk down the steps enclosed in a tube from the dock and ask for the wine list. If you're looking for a table with a view, the Hilton Maldives Hotel & Spa - recently rebranded as The Conrad Maldives Rangali Island - has just the dining room for you. It's an acrylic tube five meters under the water in the Indian Ocean surrounded by a coral reef and about 40 zilllion fish. Via Rudy Maxa's World

This large male white Bengal tiger named Odin simply loves to dive underwater to fish out meat. The 10 foot-long cat is living at the Six Flags Discovery Kingdom Zoo in Vallejo, near San Francisco. While most big cats wouldn’t like to even be near water, Odin enjoys every second of it while the zoo visitors are watching him through glass walls and taking photos.

His diving skill was discovered by his British trainer Lee Munro one day when a lump of meat fell into the pool and Odin gladly jumped after it. Sadly the Bengal white tiger is almost extinct, but you can find them at some zoos.  Via This Blog Rules

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What lies beneath...

Via Rufus's House of Horror

And a bit of a shocker!!!

Peter wanted to go skinny dipping but the others insisted on a family photo first.              

Picture Via Awkward Family Photos

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