Android Lionfish Tracker App

You may already know about the problem with Lionfish. If so, feel free to skip to the bottom. For everyone else, a bit of background info.

What's the problem with Lionfish?
A few Lionfish Quickfacts (provided by NOAA, REEF, Simon Fraser University and USGS):

• In the Caribbean a single female Lionfish can spawn over ~2 million eggs/year
• Reproduction occurs throughout the year about every 4 days
• Lionfish eggs are held together in a gelatinous mass and are dispersed at the ocean’s surface by currents, where their larval duration is ~26 days
• Lionfish are generalist carnivores that consume >56 species of fish and many invertebrate species, with prey up to half the Lionfish’s body size
• On heavily invaded sites, Lionfish have reduced their fish prey by up to 90% and continue to consume native fishes at unsustainable rates
• Native predators exhibit avoidance for Lionfish
• Lionfish have very few parasites compared to native species

In summary: They were introduced by mankind, wipe out local fish populations, have no natural predators, and reproduce like crazy. The result, if unchecked, likely looks like this:

Image provided by REEF from a dive site in the Bahamas

Perhaps an image from the USGS Lionfish sightings database can help people visualize the problem. In 2007, Lionfish were first sighted off the Bahamas. The current distribution map from the USGS database is as follows:

What can you currently do about it?

• Report lionfish sightings at http://www.reef.org/programs/exotic/report or http://nas.er.usgs.gov/sightingreport.asp
• Attend a lionfish derby: http://www.reef.org/lionfish/derbies
• Attend a lionfish workshop to learn more about the problem and what you can do about it: http://www.reef.org/lionfish/workshops

Perhaps one of the most potentially effective solutions is to eat them!

Check out some Lionfish Recipes or get your own cookbook:

The cookbook from REEF has a lot of info about Lionfish
including how to capture, clean and prepare them.

Why an Android App?

A lot of divers come to the Florida Keys. Many of them have heard of the Lionfish problem. Many of them want to do something about it. Yet, I hear many ask, "Where are the lionfish?"

In contrast, local divers who dive lesser-known dive sites frequently are overwhelmed by how many Lionfish there are. I believe that in the areas we dive a lot, commercial dive operators are better trained in removing the Lionfish and do this regularly. So, the most frequently dived sites are probably the most free of Lionfish.

I'm thinking it would be great to connect these folks. With smartphones and social apps available today, this seems like a problem that technology can help. Having previously run a software development company and worked on many mobile applications, I feel like I am in a position to help.

When I looked at the USGS invasive species database, I was disappointed at how few Lionfish sightings and/or collections were reported recently. I believe that many people initially report Lionfish sightings and then report them much less frequently. So, adding information to this database would seem beneficial to the research community as well. Others may also release a Lionfish App. If we are all pulling information from the USGS database and putting it back into that same database, that would just result in more data.

So, I started working on an Android Lionfish Tracker App. Here are a couple of screen captures. The app displays an icon representing Lionfish sightings. I also added a diver icon to represent dive sites. The icons are ones that were freely available that I've modified slightly for this app. When you click on either, more information is presented. If you press and hold, even more information will be presented. I'm building the app up incrementally, testing it and getting feedback along the way. I will likely also publish the source code under a GPL licenses (Open Source Software).

How can you help this project?

Think this project is worthwhile? Want to help? First, start by doing one of the items in the "What can you currently do about it?" section above. Then, the following would also be appreciated:

• Feedback! Comments, concerns, questions, or suggestions are all welcome. Please let me know what you think I'm doing either right or wrong. Words of encouragement are certainly welcome!
• If you are in South Florida, please consider becoming an alpha/beta tester.
• If you think you can offer help, please contact me via Twitter, Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email, etc. My username is "jasonnocks" on all of them.
• Monitor this project. Share it with your immediate friends/associates. If you know someone that you think could help, please put us in touch. If you know someone that you think would be able to benefit, let them know about it. 

I really need to start putting together some alpha/beta testers. I'll be contacting dive professionals in the Key Largo area soon to see who wants to be an alpha/beta tester. If you are excited about that idea, please let me know. If not, feel free to say so.

REEF has done a great job making people aware of the problem. I hope this helps with the effort.

Thank you in advance.

Cheers,

Jason Nocks

Divers Direct Shark Dive in Roatan

Last month a few Divers Direct employees had the pleasure of travelling to Roatan and dove with Anthony's Key Resort. I'm very jealous that I didn't get to go. Here's a video I edited from footage shot by Jason Farr with Ron Spodnik's camera. I work with Jason and Ron at the Key Largo Divers Direct store.

For most of the dive, the sharks hang around, swimming near the divers. Later, the sharks swarm as they finally get into the bucket. Ron can be seen with the red fins taking beautiful shots with his awesome still-photo camera set-up. Jason Farr turns the camera on himself a couple of times. I had a lot of fun editing the footage.

I had the pleasure of doing a Shark Dive with Unexso on Grand Bahama Island a few years ago. Wish I had a GoPro HD Hero back then. if you haven't been on a shark dive, it's an awesome experience. Give's you a different perspective. I added a couple of still photos I took from that dive.

All of the video was recorded with a GoPro HD HERO camera. We sell them at Divers Direct. With a color correcting filter and some other tweaks and tips, they take excellent video and are a lot of fun.

This video was shot with a flat port, but not recorded in 1080p mode. With the HD Hero, when you record in a lower resolution than 1080p, it goes into a wider angle shot (which is what you need the dome port for). This leaves you with some of the camera's bezel in the shot. It looks like this:

In a future post, maybe I'll put up some comments on how to crop the video, etc. I apologize for the black bars in the resulting video. I wanted to give as much of the video frame that was left after cropping out the bezel.

Oh, and I can't give enough shout-outs to the ccmixter folks. The music, Pulse, is from George Ellinas on ccmixter.

So, what are your thoughts?

Cheers.

Google+ integrating YouTube

In case you hadn't noticed, Google+ added YouTube integration.

First reaction:
I like the Google+ side much better than the YouTube side. I wanted to share this video of a boater nearly running over some divers at a popular dive site, the "Blue Heron Bridge":

From Google+ I can either search for YouTube videos and share them or insert a link to the YouTube video. In either case, an embedded preview and player show up. Unfortunately I don't get the same behavior in comments.

I wanted to add this video I shot at that very dive site, the "Blue Heron Bridge":

All-in-all, the Google+ side seems to work OK. Although my YouTube videos still don't show up under the "Videos" tab in the Google+ profile page. Maybe there's some processing delay, we'll see.

The YouTube side seems lacking.

Update:
In YouTube, I now see more activity on my YouTube page. When I connected my YouTube and Google+ account, I also connected my Twitter and Facebook accounts. Check out this link, "Connect YouTube with Google+".

However, when it comes to pushing content from YouTube to Google+, I can "+1" the video or create a hangout. Have I missed something?

What I really want is to just share the video on Google+. I'm not really surprised that you can't do that. You can't easily share any web pages on Google+ without launching Google+ and sharing it from there. Or, again, have I missed something?

When is Google+ going to make it easier for people to just press a "Share on Google+" button? The whole +1 thing is nice. But, sometimes I really want to just "Share on Google+".

When people are already using YouTube, I don't think they want to have to go to Google+ to share the video they are looking at.

Just my thoughts. Happy to see progress being made integrating YouTube with Google+.

Cheers.

A Response to "Stallman is Wrong on Steve Jobs"

There's a bit of uproar going around right now. Seems to have been started by Joe Brockmeier in his post "Why FSF Founder Richard Stallman is Wrong on Steve Jobs" He writes that, "This time, Stallman says that he's glad Steve Jobs is gone." There's a lot of confusion in this post. I'll try to limit my response to the main point. The post seems to imply gladness over the recent event, the death of Steve Jobs.

The best example of this confusion is when Joe Brockmeier writes, "I'd love it if Stallman would retire,... As long as he's alive, there's hope he might change. I'd never be glad that he's gone. And I'm certainly not glad that Steve is."

Mr. Brockmeier is using the word "gone" to imply "dead". The full quote in Stallman's post, "I'm not glad he's dead. I'm glad he's gone" clearly does not use the word "gone" to imply gladness over his death. How do we know this? Because he uses the words "not glad he's dead". The quote is actually from a Chicago Mayor over a deceased corrupt Mayor. It seems Stallman thought the quote conveyed his sentiments.

Mr. Brockmeier himself writes "I'd love it if Stallman would retire". The word "retire" is probably closer to the definition of "gone" in the quote used by Stallman again because it includes the words, "not glad he's dead".

Admittedly Stallman can be REALLY hard to understand. Here's the full post that elicited the uproar:

Steve Jobs, the pioneer of the computer as a jail made cool, designed to sever fools from their freedom, has died.
As Chicago Mayor Harold Washington said of the corrupt former Mayor Daley, "I'm not glad he's dead, but I'm glad he's gone." Nobody deserves to have to die - not Jobs, not Mr. Bill, not even people guilty of bigger evils than theirs. But we all deserve the end of Jobs' malign influence on people's computing.
Unfortunately, that influence continues despite his absence. We can only hope his successors, as they attempt to carry on his legacy, will be less effective.

To my knowledge, Stallman has never been about popularity. He sticks to a principle whether you agree with it or not. I'd argue that it is precisely this act of sticking to a principle that separates the Free Software from Open Source Software,

If you are an Apple user/fan, I would expect Stallman's words to be somewhat difficult to understand, and most likely somewhat offensive. But, I hope that you can still see the difference I point out above. Many people use GPL'd software on Apple, Microsoft, and other proprietary systems without any significant knowledge of Free Software, Open Source Software, or Richard Stallman. If Stallman's message is confusing to you, I encourage you to do a little research for yourself.

Personally, I've used Apple products in the past. I may find the need to use them again in the future. However, I choose to use GPL'd software whenever possible.

Last but not least, Cancer is a cruel disease. Sorry to see Steve Jobs lose his battle with it.

Just my thoughts and opinion. Hope it helps.

Cheers,

Jason Nocks

Top 5 Most Unlikely State Animals

A more lighthearted post today. You've seen the state birds, state flowers, etc. Well, here's a list of the Top 5 Most Unlikely State Animals. Now, before you run out and get one of each of these for a pet, you might want to read further.

5. State Rodent

The word "Rat" immediately evokes images of the all-too-prevalent Black and Brown rats known for carrying diseases and/or living in sewers. Well, in Florida the Key Largo Woodrat is actually on the endangered species list (Florida Nature). This little guy is actually kinda cute and probably the least irritating of all the animals on this list. It's just odd to think of a "Rat" being "protected". A "State Rat" would be even more interesting.

Key Largo Woodrat (photo from Florida Nature)

4. Sate Blood-Sucking Parasite/Insect

No, I'm not talking about your annoying coworker, neighbor or politician that you love to hate. Think more along the lines of garden variety disease-carrying, stinging mosquitoes. Only, ones that you can't easily see, commonly called No-see-ums. After all, if you could easily see them, you might be able to avoid them.

Technically they are called biting midges, which like mosquitoes thrive in standing water, such as the floodwater habitats found across the state of Florida. They "can be a nuisance to campers, fishermen, hunters, hikers, gardeners, and others who spend time outdoors" (University of Florida - IAFS) What, you came to Florida and want to stay outside? Oh, and to avoid being "bitten", wear clothing that covers you as fully as possible. Sure, just what you came to Florida for. So, the winner here is:

No-see-um (aka Biting Midge - photo from University of Florida - IAFS)

3. State Predatory Marine Life
The description, "Predatory Marine Life" is probably enough of an explanation. But, it's hard to choose between a Bull Shark or a Tiger Shark. The description at National Geographic is "Bull sharks are aggressive, common, and usually live near high-population areas like tropical shorelines." Aggressive and common? Near high-population areas? What better combination could you ask for when it comes to predatory marine life? Tiger Sharks just aren't common enough. So, the clear winner in this category is:

Bull Shark (photo from National Geographic)

2. State Venomous Snake

When you think of venomous snakes in Florida, it's common to picture the Eastern Coral Snake. However, while it has a dangerous neurotoxin, "they must literally chew on their victim to inject their venom fully, so most bites to humans don't result in death." (National Geographic) I think we can do better than a snake that has to lay there chewing on you to be dangerous for this list.

The Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake, is "the largest venomous snake in North America." (National Geographic) Now that's more like it. And. it's "[often] considered the most venomous species in North America. Surprisingly, juveniles are considered more dangerous than adults, due to their inability to control the amount of venom injected." (Listverse - most venomous snakes) Enough said. The clear winner in this category is:

Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake (photo from Listverse - most venomous snakes))

1. State Invasive Species
Many would nominate the Iguana that can be found all over parts of Florida. The ecological impact of the Iguana is still being determined. These guys are everywhere. A couple of years ago, they were literally falling out of the trees during a cold spell. But, are they such a problem that people are recommending eating them? I don't think so.

Now Lionfish are becoming such a problem that people really are recommending eating them. Despite the fact that they have venomous spines! REEF even released a The Lionfish Cookbook. Don't worry, it comes with instructions for safely removing the spines. Also, "the Key Largo Conch House now serves lionfish tacos for lunch and plans to introduce them as daily dinner special. Key Largo’s Fish House Encore serves fried whole lionfish as an appetizer, preparing the filets in a variety of ways." (Florida Rambler) So, go eat some Lionfish. Seriously. Clearly, the winner here is:

Lionfish (photo from REEF)

So, that's my list of the Top 5 Most Unlikely State Animals. Hope you enjoyed it. Again, this post was meant to be a bit more lighthearted. But, seriously, go eat some Lionfish. I'll admit I also have a more Keys-oriented view of Florida. As always, feedback welcome.

Cheers,
Jason Nocks

Google+ needs a topic-based self-organizing utility

David G. Larson posted a link to this article on Google+ which got me thinking about what should Google+ really implement. After some thought, here are my thoughts at the moment.

I'd agree that Twitter #hashtags are not highly aesthetically pleasing. As many people know, placing a hash sign (#) in front of a word on Twitter turns that word into a searchable link when your tweet gets posted. Is that important? Can't you search for any word without having to add the #sign. Yes, #hashtags are not strictly necessary for a basic search. However, the #hashtag on twitter has been elevated by the users as an important convention. It signals a start or continuation of a conversation about a certain topic.Twitter itself shows what #hashtags are trending at the moment. You can also go to http://whatthetrend.com/ for more info.

Twitter #hashtags are used even more extensively by certain groups of people. It's called Twitter chat. There's even a Google Docs list you can find via http://bit.ly/chatlist. There are sites to make it easier to start/find twitter chats (tweetchat.com, twubs.com, twebevent, and many more).

To me, this feels very reminiscent of Ward's Wiki (c2.com) back in the days when the Wiki concept was new and c2.com was a vibrant, active community. You would go to the RecentChanges page to get a list of what was trending/changing/being discussed at the moment.

Like #hashtags, WikiMarkup is simple, powerful, and effective. You just smash two words together to create a link. Clink on the link and you are now editing a new page. Other people are encouraged to contribute to that page. Often the page would start out as something resembling a chat (ThreadMode). Sometimes the conversational page would be Refactored/Converted to Document Mode. Also like #hashtags, WikiMarkup is not necessarily particularly aesthetically pleasing. And, no, I'm not recommending the use of WikiMarkup as the tool of choice here.

Twitter #hashtags also feel similar to OpenSpace conversations. The conversation lasts as long as it needs to. It's important that these conversations are easy to set up. And that it is easy to leave the conversation when you are no longer gaining from it or have nothing more to add.

#Hashtags are probably not the best choice for Google+. But it does feel like Google+ needs something to help facilitate temporal discussions around topics that a user is interested in. A tool that facilitates self-organization. Self-organization like often happens in Open Spaces, WikiPages, and Twitter #hashtags.

So, should Google+ use duplicate Twitter #hashtags? Google+ should at least co-exist nicely with #hashtags. There should probably be some Google+-centric way to facilitate these temporal topic-based conversations. Perhaps something like virtual topic-based public circles. Perhaps Sparks could be used instead. I admit that I don't fully grasp the Sparks concept. It seems like there's something more than just a saved search, but I'm not sure what.

Edited to add: Google seems to be adding some better searching functionality if you use them. To me, that is a good thing.

I'm new to the Google+ community. Folks who've been there longer have probably organized their own conventions already for these temporal topic-based conversations. If so, what are they?

Better yet, what other topics do you want to discuss on Google+?

Feedback, comments, questions, etc. are of course welcomed.

Cheers,
Jason Nocks