Deep Atlantic

There's a few things worth noting about exploration in the deep...

*Apparently, certain groups of ocean-going explorers have actually gotten to the point where they look down upon submarines with contempt. Bobby Ballard, the famous investigator of the Titanic, was quoted as saying "manned submersibles are doomed" in an interview with the Cape Cod Times. Note the wording. Doomed. He dreams of a day when robots do all the exploring for us. Yeah, yeah, its practical. Robots don't breathe, or freak out, or fog up view ports, or annoyingly cough into headsets... but why should robots have all the fun? I for one say nay. Let Robo-subs be used, certainly, but keep 'em on a leash, folks. Don't make 'em think they rule the seas.

*It's interesting to note that swordfish are actually pretty gutsy and aggressive. The research sub Alvin once ended up with a swordfish stuck in its hull, due to a thoughtless ramming on the fish's behalf. The event inspired engineers to test the plexi-glass view ports in the cockpit, in case a violent swordfish conspiracy was underway. Their method? Launching fish-swords at the windows with air guns. The plexi-glass laughed as the amputated swords simply bounced off of it, making the whole test seem a little bit silly, but I'm guessing the fish-sword launching engineers still got a good amount of satisfaction out of the trial.

*There are a bunch of fucking ten-foot long red tube worms at the bottom of the Atlantic. Freaky.