The concept is simple, you read the news you react in the Incubator oceanminds.com/incubator by proposing relevant ideas to solve environmental Ocean issues. Other people including Oceanminds.com (with its network of peeps working in the blue world) and all of you Oceanminded will brainstorm to help grow your ideas to  maturity !   Think along the line of small/local ideas with big impacts! The only way the incubator will work is if you get into it and join the tribe!

Now if you already have close to maturity idea but miss the funding,  and the peeps to get to the next level just drop a few lines describing your oceanminded idea  in the incubator and let’s bring it to the next level.

To bring a tad more interactive sign in with your facebook, it is easier to connect this way. On the Twitter side of things just type your idea and use #IncubatorOM (hashtags).

Find Oceanminds on:

facebook/oceanminds

pinterest/oceanminds

twitter/oceanminds

google+/oceanminds

Let’s grow !

OM~

Follow us on @oceanminds on Twitter and Like our Page on Facebook/oceanminds in the next days we will randomly ask a question about our beloved worlds oceans with #BigMiracle  (in the question), if you are the first one to answer correctly via twitter on on our Facebook wall you win! In order to win you need to be one of our follower and like our page! Easy yah?

One (1) winner will receive:

• ·         $25 Fandango Gift Card
• ·         Whale Plush
• ·         Big Miracle T-shirt

I will submit further ideas/experiences as I dive more into the Blu in the meantime you may resume your oceanminds.com fresh news reading!

Bluely yours,

OM~

I believe this blog post should start first by an apology. An apology to the 500 members of the the now defunct Oceanminds: “The social network for the water tribe”. I tried to email every single member but I had to destroy the database (including member emails) in order to protect it. Protect it from who one might ask?

Well Oceanminds suffered a rather criminal attack from a nasty spammer virus program. Elgg the platform that both Cliff Etzel and I had trusted for a couple years proved not to be safe enough. Although we both feel it is a rather sad ending, one has to admit that with 85 percent of the market, Facebook is all one might need (and have the time for) for his or hers social media need. Now there is an Oceanminds fan page join the fun to get daily news update on the environment and the state of our oceans.

The Happy Ending

I am a firm believer that things in life always turn out for the best.  After months of being absorbed by my full time job, I decided to re explore the potential behind Oceanminds.com. This time I wanted a platform that could still help to preserve our beloved blue planet, using handpicked relevant news,videos and photos. I have used Alltop for a while but was never, as an Oceanmind, fully pleased with the aggregated content. Enters the new Oceanminds.com “Where the Fish get their  news”, it is to me the perfect Ocean newstand. Think of it as an handmade version of Alltop ,where a handpicked drops of RSS feeds create an  Ocean of quality information.

I hope you enjoy the new platform as much as I do and please do not hesitate to send me some feedback at wave [AT} oceanminds.com to improve it further.

oceanmindedly yours,

Nico Danan

After the tragedy happening at Sea World earlier this year, one can easily come to the conclusion that big mammals like cetaceans are not meant to be jailed  in marine parks and aquariums. On the other hand I believe that education about cetaceans is crucial to achieve  preservation campaigns that relies heavily on the general public. So here is a brillant solution proposed by a researcher at SFU. It involves using 3d technology with animation and voila! virtual cetaceans can come to life and interact with aquarium goers.

No more fish smells, and veterinarians but computer geeks behind the scene.

Now that is great news!

more on this on the Vancouver Observer

We thought things were going well in reference to the ban on shark finning – but apparently there has been a setback being led by one man – a politician: Riki Karamatsu. The guys over at Shark Diver having been reporting about the situation in Hawaii and have written a pretty detailed post on Karamatsu:

“He is a politician.

He has been charged and convicted with drunk driving resulting in a crash.

He is currently running for Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii.

This man also hates sharks.

Enough to actively work against a new shark fin bill making the rounds through the hallowed halls of Hawaii’s legislative offices.

Why is he doing this?

What can you do about it?

The answer to the first question is money. Riki Karamatsu is the patron of several well heeled shark fin businesses in Hawaii, businesses that sell thousands of tons of dried shark fin to Asia.

Currently the cost of shark fin is hovering at 1980′s gold price levels. The shark fin industry is a multi-billion dollar global industry. It is also one of the most barbaric animal cruelty issues the conservation world is dealing with now. Akin to sedated wild bears and gall bladder secretions, a wild animal product that is as equally disturbing and one that has no place in Hawaii’s business trading community.

So, what can you do about it?

Here is the list of contacts for Jon Riki Karamatsu. Your voice, in your own words, may help this man realize how many people care about sharks and how sometimes, being the patron of people whose business depends on shearing the fins off live animals for a soup product…is a bad career choice.

You can also tweet, blog, and re post this far and wide.

Let’s send a clear and unambiguous message to Jon Riki Karamatsu.

“Mr.Karamatsu if you want to see your political career continue, get on the side of millions of people who care about our oceans, and our wildlife. Stop your solo attempts to block or modify legislation that would put and end to shark fin sales in Hawaii.”

Note: Do not send threatening or abusive emails, phone calls or letters. You are entitled to use words that describe disgust, distaste, you are entitled to detail how you will support his opponent in his race for the Lieutenant Governor seat in Hawaii. You are also entitled to mention the fact that this man, who would aspire to the higher levels of government, was once so intoxicated he drove his car off the road.

Is this the man who should be leading Hawaii into the new decade?

For the many thousands of sharks that are currently being finned just outside the territorial waters of Hawaii the answer to that question is clearly no.

Contacts:

Jon Riki Karamatsu – Blog

Jon Riki Karamatsu -jonriki@gmail.com

Jon Riki Karamatsu – Democratic Offices

Jon Riki Karamatsu – Facebook”

Go at it and let Riki know how you feel about shark finning…

POSTED BY FELIX LEANDER AT 12:54