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The oceans are under pressure from human activities. Following 250 years of industrial activity, effects are being seen at the cellular through to regional and global scales. The change in atmospheric CO2 from 280 ppm in pre-industrial times to 392 ppm in 2011 has contributed to the warming of the upper 700 m of the ocean by approximately 0.1°C between 1961 and 2003, to changes in sea water chemistry, which include a pH decrease of approximately 0.1, and to significant decreases in the sea water oxygen content. In parallel with these changes, the human population has been introducing an ever-increasing level of nutrients into coastal waters, which leads to eutrophication, and by 2008 had resulted in 245 000 km2 of severely oxygen-depleted waters throughout the world. These changes are set to continue for the foreseeable future, with atmospheric CO2 predicted to reach 430 ppm by 2030 and 750 ppm by 2100. The cycling of biogeochemical elements has proved sensitive to each of these effects, and it is proposed that synergy between stressors may compound this further. The challenge, within the next few decades, for the marine science community, is to elucidate the scope and extent that biological processes can adapt or acclimatize to a changing chemical and physical marine environment.
1. Introduction
Biogeochemistry is the study of biological, chemical, physical and geological processes and their interactions within and upon their environment. The cycling of carbon, nitrogen and other elements is essential to the efficient functioning of the biosphere and, from a Gaian perspective [1], is the controlling mechanism that ensures homoeostatic control of the Earth's environment, making it suitable for habitation. In recent decades, it has become apparent that our environment, including the oceans and biogeochemical cycles, is under pressure from anthropogenic forcing [2]. On local and global scales, these pressures (which include among others eutrophication [3], warming [4], deoxygenation [5] and acidification [6]) have the potential to alter the biological, chemical and physical characteristics of the oceans [7], and their understanding will continue to challenge the scientific community for the foreseeable future.
International efforts, which have included initiatives such as the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS), Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research (IMBER), World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) and Surface Ocean Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS), have sought to implement or foster large-scale investigations of the contemporary ocean. Each has had its own goals but they are intrinsically connected through their over-arching objectives. Foremost is the aim to progress our understanding of the present marine environment in order to predict the potential response of the ocean to the pressures that may affect its function in the coming century. To take this understanding further requires the determination of how the role of the ocean may feed into the whole Earth system and ultimately impact on the social and economic requirements of the human population.
The UK has been instrumental in the development and delivery of these programmes and will continue to be so, albeit during a period of increased financial pressure. Recent organizational activity has seen the initiation of the multi-agency-funded UK Ocean Acidification Programme (www.oceanacidification.org.uk) and a revision of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) strategy document in order to reorganize the focus on biogeochemical cycles and the interactions between the surface and deeper parts of the Earth system (www.nerc.ac.uk/research/themes/earthsystem). There is a significant challenge associated with the integration of ocean biogeochemistry into Earth system science, but there is an obligation on society to meet this challenge in order to comprehend the extent of this changing environment and how it may impact on the functioning of global-scale processes. A number of predicted changes are likely to alter the function of current regimes and challenge physical, chemical and biological processes: under a warming climate, the retreat and forecast disappearance of Arctic sea ice [8] is likely to promote the release of methane [9], carbon dioxide and other climatically active gases into the atmosphere, with parallel changes in ocean stratification, circulation [10] and the sequestration of carbon. The deoxygenation of the ocean [5] as a consequence of warming and enhanced stratification has implications for biogeochemical cycling and for the fauna that exist within the ocean interior. If the effects of ocean acidification [11,12] follow some predictions, then there will be shifts in biological community structure and activity throughout the oceans.
The rate of progress in technological and procedural development that has accompanied recent research has been exceptional. From an instrumental point of view, this has included laboratory and shipboard hardware, autonomous vehicles (including gliders and Autosub) and remote sensing. Progress in methodology has challenged existing paradigms [13], facilitated the tracking of water movement and air–sea exchange [14], discovered the most abundant photosynthetic cell on the planet [15] and provided tools to interrogate the genetic composition and activity of whole communities [16]. This degree of advancement will need to continue, not necessarily in instrumentation but certainly in application, in order to efficiently and economically improve our understanding of the intricacies of ocean biogeochemistry. Twenty years ago, the deployment of autonomous instrumentation, molecular biology, remote sensing and real-time oceanography from shipboard instrumentation were all in their infancy. Today, they are routine procedures that are relied upon to return an extraordinary amount of information. The UK and international biogeochemistry communities have at their disposal fantastic research facilities and operational platforms, which include coastal and offshore mesocosms, as well as ships and long-time-series observatories. The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey that is operated by the Sir Alistair Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science has been collecting data from the North Atlantic and the North Sea on the ecology and biogeography of plankton since 1931. More recently, HOT and BATS—the Hawaii Ocean Time-series (http://hahana.soest.hawaii.edu/hot/hot_jgofs.html) and Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (www.bios.edu/research/bats.html)—were initiated at sites in the Pacific and western Atlantic, respectively, while AMT—the Atlantic Meridional Transect (www.amt-uk.org)—offers an annual transect over approximately 100° of latitude through the Atlantic Ocean. We are charged as a community with the challenge to determine the sensitivity of the ocean to the stressors acting upon it and on the role that ocean biogeochemistry will play in mitigating the impact of change on the Earth system and human society.
2. The recent history of ocean biogeochemistry
To perform a review of 20 years of ocean biogeochemistry requires the production of a dedicated digest far beyond this paper, and indeed several bodies of work that provide excellent reviews are already published and made available [17,18]. This section provides a summary review of recent biogeochemical research to set the context of the current condition in order to address concerns for the ocean that are both current and relevant to subsequent decades.
(a) The JGOFS era
The determination of what we now consider to be the fundamentals of biogeochemistry are not necessarily based on new developments. A number of techniques, paradigms and datasets that underpin current oceanographic practices were developed over the last century:
— 1927 development of the Winkler titration for O2 analysis [19];
— 1930s initiation of English Channel Time-Series of nutrients [20];
— 1952 14C method for primary production [21];
— 1967 15N method for new production [22]; and
— 1979 f-ratio as estimate of carbon export [23].
Ocean biogeochemistry really came to the fore though in the mid- to late 1980s. The impetus provided from the US Global Ocean Flux Study and the excitement that was generated by the production of the first basin-scale chlorophyll image in 1986 (figure 1) by Gene Feldman at NASA led to the initiation of the JGOFS (1987–2003) with the aim [24]:
to assess more accurately, and understand better the processes controlling, regional to global and seasonal to interannual fluxes of carbon between the atmosphere, surface ocean and interior, and their sensitivity to climate changes.
The first internationally integrated study of ocean processes soon followed, with the North Atlantic Bloom Experiment (NABE) [25] in 1989, which involved ships from the USA, UK, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands, and with more than 12 nationalities represented on these vessels. Not only did this study unite the nations in their joint efforts, but it proved to be a significant multi-disciplinary effort in consolidating previously disparate oceanographic disciplines into a concerted study of the biological, chemical and physical characteristics of the pelagic North Atlantic during the biologically active period of spring and summer. The success of this initial effort prompted further JGOFS coordinated campaigns to key oceanographic areas, which included the Southern Ocean, Arabian Sea and Equatorial Pacific.
The outputs from this work were almost revolutionary in their impact and contributed significantly to the shape of future research in this field and how we view the nature of biogeochemistry today. That mesoscale circulation was intimately connected to the dynamics of phytoplankton activity, that primary production was strongly linked to variability of CO2, and that nitrogen regeneration was active throughout the bloom period, with regenerated production strongly linked to small cells, do not now seem surprising in any way.
(i) Ocean time series
Long-term time series have proved to be instrumental in resolving trends in natural variability and in the examination of external pressures on the marine ecosystem. The CPR survey has provided a significant insight into the sensitivity of North Atlantic plankton populations to climate and human-induced changes, which are discussed in detail with respect to the sustainable management of European seas by McQuatters-Gollop in this issue [26].
At about the same time as JGOFS was coming into being, funding was provided by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) to establish the HOT and BATS time series at deep-water positions in the western North Atlantic and eastern North Pacific [27]. These two programmes in parallel with others around the world (DYFAMED, ESTOC, KERFIX, KNOT, OSP and SEATS in the Mediterranean, northeast Atlantic, Southern Ocean, southwest subarctic Pacific, northeast subarctic Pacific and South China Sea, respectively) have made repeat observations of biogeochemical and physical parameters on a regular basis since 1988. Through efforts at these stations, our understanding of ocean processes has been advanced to recognize the dynamic nature of the world's oceans and the occurrence of regime or ecosystem shifts on variable time scales. Previously recognized paradigms have been challenged, including those concerning new production as defined by Dugdale & Goering [22] and elemental stoichiometry associated with the Redfield ratio [28]. We now recognize the importance of euphotic zone nitrification in the production of 'regenerated' nitrate, acknowledge the wide variability to be found in elemental ratios, and realize how both of these can have important implications on the efficiency of the biological carbon pump. As a direct result of work performed at HOT and BATS, nitrogen fixation was found to be integral to the productivity of the sub-tropical oceans, and the importance of diazotrophic unicellular cyanobacteria is now recognized alongside the more obvious filamentous Trichodesmium [29], which previously was held wholly responsible.
Following the early successes of these fixed-point time series, Aiken et al. [30] established the AMT in 1995. This is a regular (originally twice a year, currently annual) transect through the Atlantic Ocean between the UK and destinations in the South Atlantic (a distance of up to 13 500 km), which to date have been the Falkland Islands, South Africa and Chile. This programme has provided exceptional opportunities for biogeochemical oceanography through extremes of environment (temperate shelf, coastal upwelling, sub-tropical gyres, equatorial upwelling) and has delivered unique insights into biological carbon cycling and air–sea exchange of radiatively active gases and aerosols. Work performed during AMT cruises has refined definitions of ocean provinces [31], validated satellite algorithms [32], revealed hemispheric differences in hydrography and provided time-series assessment on basin scales [33].
(ii) The carbon cycle
During the early JGOFS research cruises, the refinement of analytical procedures to determine the carbon chemistry of sea water was significant in addressing the question of what controlled the variability of sea water pCO2. One of the great achievements of this period, following close collaboration between JGOFS and WOCE, was the establishment of a global map of the temporal and spatial variability of air–sea CO2 exchanges, and the identification of dominant CO2 source and sink areas. Twenty years hence, and with the significance of CO2 in sea water greater than ever, this technology is used to inform on process studies and to provide a network of observations using commercial ships. These data have proved essential in informing on the variability of the ocean sink for atmospheric CO2 [34].
The Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) was the first instrument deployed in space to determine ocean colour. It was from this system that Feldman produced his basin-scale chlorophyll image, and although it was intended to provide coverage only for a 12-month period as a proof of concept, it remained in operation between 1978 and 1986. This proved invaluable in the development of procedures for early global estimates of primary productivity [35]. The launch of the successor to the CZCS, the SeaWiFS ocean colour scanner, was delayed by several years until 1997. This no doubt hindered the rate of progress during the major part of JGOFS, but the subsequent developments from the consolidation of ship-based observations with remotely sensed data were huge. This collaboration of efforts, which included modelled outputs, allowed the production of global composites of primary productivity and carbon export. Consequently, regions were identified in which oceanographic or biogeochemical processes were important in determining the degree of productivity and highlighting the importance of recycling and remineralization within the ocean interior.
The export of carbon from the upper to deep ocean through the biological carbon pump plays an important role in controlling the capacity of the upper ocean to hold atmospheric CO2 and to remove C from active exchange with the atmosphere. The estimation of C export and the efficiency of the biological carbon pump are impacted by many variables and have been, and continue to be, approached with different methodologies. These include direct measurement using sediment traps and indirect estimates using the radionuclide thorium-234 and the f-ratio as a proxy for carbon export. The relationship between primary (new) production, export and deposition at the sea-bed was found to be regionally and temporally variable. This made prediction of carbon sequestration difficult, in part due to the large number of processes acting upon sedimenting material and to the strong dependence on the community composition from which the material originated [36]. The export of C is sensitive to a number of environmental stressors currently acting upon the oceans: phytoplankton communities are directly influenced by nutrient supply, and ballast material (calcite and opal) and aggregation processes may be impacted by ocean acidification [37].
A major assumption of biological oceanography has been that the metabolic balance between respiration and photosynthesis on appropriate scales of time and space must be equal. This was challenged by observations [38], which indicated significant regions and periods when respiration systematically exceeded production in large areas, leaving the ocean in a net heterotrophic condition. The resolution of this ocean enigma has yet to be found, and the debate continues over which of the two processes (photosynthesis or respiration) plays the dominant role in determining the balance between autotrophy and heterotrophy in the open ocean [39].
(iii) Nutrient limitation
Alongside the development of international collaborations and sampling observatories during the late 1980s and early 1990s, there were a number of hypotheses introduced that have challenged the ocean biogeochemistry community. In 1988, Martin & Fitzwater [40] published their seminal paper, which provided initial evidence supporting Martin's hypothesis that Fe limited phytoplankton growth in high-nutrient low-chlorophyll (HNLC) areas of the oceans. An unprecedented number of laboratory, shipboard and mesoscale iron addition experiments evolved from this, each of which aimed to examine regional and seasonal variability in the degree of control by Fe over nutrient uptake, phytoplankton growth and carbon export to the deep ocean. The unequivocal findings from this work were that iron supply limits production in about one-third of the global ocean where surface macronutrient concentrations are perennially high and that iron exerts controls on the dynamics of plankton blooms, which in turn affects the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, silicon and sulfur, and ultimately influences the Earth's climate system [41].
The concept of iron as a limiting nutrient in HNLC areas refuelled the long-running debate over which nutrient exerted overall control of oceanic primary production. Previously, this argument had largely been concerned with the relative influence of nitrogen and phosphorus [42], but with the recognition of the importance of nitrogen fixation, the role of iron, which is fundamental to the structure of several essential enzymes, including nitrogenase, as the ultimate limiting nutrient came to the fore. The debate over which single nutrient or combination of nutrients provides the dominant control continues [43,44], and is proving more relevant to our current understanding of the function of the oceans as we recognize the role of atmospheric dust and aerosol deposition as sources of iron, nitrogen [45,46] and other elements, and how this may alter under future climate change predictions.
A further development from mesoscale addition experiments was the use of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) as an inert, conservative tracer added in parallel to iron in order to track with great sensitivity the amended waters [14]. This technology has been used with great success not only in this mode but also as a means of estimating diffusive fluxes across pycnoclines [47] and fluxes across the sea–air boundary [48].
(iv) Ocean–atmosphere interactions
The deployment of SF6, often in parallel with a second tracer (e.g. 3He), has been used to parametrize the gas transfer coefficient across the sea–air interface, which, in concert with gas concentration measurements, has enabled the identification of sink and source areas of numerous gases in the oceans and has contributed to our understanding of the role of the oceans in atmospheric chemistry and global climate. The oceans contribute 30 per cent of the natural N2O source to the atmosphere, which is significant owing to its potency as an efficient greenhouse gas and stratospheric ozone destroyer. Other gases having oceanic sources that contribute to atmospheric chemistry include low-molecular-weight halocarbons and dimethyl sulfide (DMS). The CLAW hypothesis, as presented by Charlson et al. [49], suggested a negative feedback loop involving DMS, a compound produced and released under several mechanisms by marine phytoplankton. Following exchange with the atmosphere, DMS follows a step-wise pathway that, as was proposed, led to the formation of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ultimately contributes to cloud formation and cloud albedo. The feedback loop responds to increases or decreases in solar insolation through altered rates of primary production. An increase in light increases primary production and therefore DMS production and so cloud albedo, which reflects incident sunlight, and thus the loop continues. While this would seem a potentially important mechanism to buffer the effect of a warming environment, evidence for the feedback loop is as yet equivocal [50]. A recent review of CLAW-related research also casts some doubt over the strength of the link between DMS emissions and CCN in the atmosphere [51] but raises an issue over the complexity of other marine sources of CCN that are relevant to this discussion on the role of the ocean in climate regulation. While the contribution of DMS to cooling of the planet is still not proved, Lovelock has suggested that enhanced stratification predicted as a result of warming may actually limit DMS production and provide a positive feedback loop where temperature rise is intensified [52].
(b) Other significant developments
During the last two decades, the pace of biogeochemical research has been maintained through parallel developments in remote sensing, modelling and molecular biology, so that these three fields are now integral to most observational research campaigns that are undertaken. As a result of these combined approaches, the contribution and role of previously unexpected new metabolic pathways that were revealed over the last 20 years using genomic and other techniques are now integral to routine biogeochemical investigations. These have included the discovery of anammox [53], the anaerobic oxidation of ammonium, which provides a pathway through to N2 and contributes a poorly quantified part of denitrification in anoxic sediments and ocean basins. Until the late 1980s, the cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus was unknown. This organism, whose presence was detected through the advent of analytical flow cytometry [15], is now considered to be the most abundant photosynthetic cell in the oceans.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the ubiquitous abundance of marine viruses was recognized so that now they are considered to be the most diverse and numerous biogenic entities in the global marine biosphere, typically numbering ten billion per litre [54]. Through the process of infecting and lysing their hosts, viruses influence many biogeochemical and ecological processes, principally through their release of dissolved, available nutrients.
The advent of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) led to the discovery of several groups of Archaea and, since then, they have been shown to be one of the most abundant unicellular groups in the ocean. Archaea are distributed in virtually all environments; Crenarchaeota have recently been recognized as the main drivers of the oxidation of ammonia to nitrite in the ocean, though the role of other Archaea in marine global biogeochemical cycles remains largely unknown [55].
Numerical modelling of the marine environment is an essential tool that gives us a means of synthesis and prediction and with which we can test our level of understanding. In 1990, Fasham et al. [56] introduced an ecosystem model designed to allow examination of seasonal cycles of plankton and nutrients in the global ocean in order to further the understanding of the role of the oceans in the regulation of atmospheric CO2. This was to be the first stage in the development of coupled basin-scale models of ocean circulation with biogeochemistry. This compartmental (nutrients–phytoplankton–zooplankton–detritus; NPZD) model, which included plankton and nutrient dynamics, is still used as the basis of most ecosystem models. The use of nitrogen as a currency allowed, for the first time, for primary production to be partitioned into new and regenerated productivity, reflecting the relative uptake of nitrate or ammonium. Data from field programmes, from ocean time series and from satellite observations are used extensively in the development of new model formulations and in the validation of existing integrated model systems [57]. Doney et al. [57] reflect that the majority of modelling within JGOFS came at the end of the programme and was not used in the design of experimental approaches. A great legacy of JGOFS was a more sophisticated range of biogeochemical models that are now used as an integral component not only in the synthesis but also in the planning of observational oceanography. The continued development of biogeochemical models has resulted in the current generation of dynamic green ocean models (DGOMs). These are similar to NPZD models but have a much greater complexity and are based on plankton functional types. DGOMs aim to represent biogeochemical fluxes specifically associated with ecological processes [58] and have the potential to assess the effects of climate and environmental change on the ecosystem.
(c) IMBER and SOLAS
The mantle for ocean biogeochemistry coordination was taken from JGOFS by both the IMBER project (since 2001) and the SOLAS programme (since 2004). These two international programmes are complementary in their approach and have brought us to our present understanding of the contemporary ocean and the potential stressors that are likely to act upon it for the near future. IMBER was initiated by the IGBP/SCOR Ocean Futures Planning Committee in 2001, with the intention to identify the effects of global change on the ocean and the most important biological and chemical aspects of the ocean's role in global change. IMBER has specific aims [59]:
to investigate the sensitivity of marine biogeochemical cycles and ecosystems to global change, on time scales ranging from years to decades, and to provide a comprehensive understanding of, and accurate predictive capacity for ocean responses to accelerating global change and the consequent effects on the Earth System and human society.
SOLAS was developed to investigate the key climate linkages between sea and sky and involved over 26 countries and more than 1600 associated researchers, with the aim [60]:
to achieve quantitative understanding of the key biogeochemical–physical interactions and feedbacks between the ocean and atmosphere, and of how this coupled system affects and is affected by climate and environmental change.
The ethos of both IMBER and SOLAS lies firmly within the spirit of Earth system science and has united traditional ocean biogeochemistry observations and models with atmospheric chemistry, climate models and remote sensing. This is an approach that will very much need to be followed into the future.
3. The current condition and future concerns
While our comprehension of the contemporary ocean is significantly greater now than ever before, pressures that act upon the biogeochemical cycles therein are such that we are constantly playing catch-up in our need to fully understand the stressors, the synergy between stressors and their impacts on the ecosystem and its function. The next few decades will prove challenging as we strive to comprehend the extent of external stressors and the effect that they will have in disturbing natural systems, with a major challenge being to distinguish enforced change from natural variability. The impact of human activity over the last 200 years is now obvious and it is apparent that natural systems are being altered by anthropogenic inputs on regional and global scales (figure 2). Predictions into the near future indicate direct and indirect consequences of perturbations made to the environment by mankind's activities that will act on oceanographic and biogeochemical functions [61]. Fossil fuel combustion and agriculture have contributed to climate change, and these areas each have significant influence over biogeochemical cycles in the ocean. Anomalous conditions relative to our current understanding of ocean and biogeochemical processes are associated with warming, acidification, deoxygenation and nutrient enrichment. Each condition brings its own individual challenge but is unlikely to exist without the contribution of one or more of the others.
(a) Climate change
It is without doubt that changes to our climate are happening and that the main driver for this is human activities [2]. Natural processes do contribute and include variations in solar radiation, deviations in the Earth's orbit, plate tectonics and changes in greenhouse gas concentrations. Anthropogenic inputs of radiatively active gases (which include CH4, N2O, ozone and water vapour) to the atmosphere have increased since the industrial revolution, but it is CO2 that has proved to be the dominant contributor to warming of the environment [62]. Atmospheric CO2, following the burning of fossil fuels, cement manufacture and land-use change, has changed from 280 ppm prior to the industrial revolution to 392 ppm in 2011 and is forecast to be approximately 430 ppm by 2030. Mean global surface temperature rise during the twentieth century was 0.74°C and, for the end of the twenty-first century, this is set to increase further in the range 1.5–6.1°C, depending on CO2 emissions. The upper 700 m of the ocean increased in temperature by approximately 0.1°C between 1961 and 2003 [62]. For the period between 2003 and 2010, the ocean did not gain any significant amount of heat, though this is explained as a pause in the overall warming trend as a result of natural variability [63,64], and it would seem from recent observations that the warming trend is set to continue [63]. There remains considerable uncertainty about the details of spatial and temporal variability, but it is clear that climate change is fundamentally altering ocean ecosystems [65]. Although warming is the dominant direct effect, with impacts including sea-ice melting, changes to phytoplankton activity, and distribution and food-web shifts, there are indirect consequences that will also influence ocean biogeochemistry, including sea-level rise, pH change, increased stratification, shoaling of mixed-layer depths and changes to ocean circulation.
The effects of warming are being seen throughout the global oceans but it is in the polar regions where impacts are most significant, with unprecedented increases of winter surface temperature of 6°C over 50 years for the West Antarctic Peninsula [66]. The Arctic is warming at about twice the rate of the global average, with recent studies showing that the area of the Arctic covered by ice each summer, and the ice thickness, have been shrinking [67] at unprecedented rates. These rapidly changing conditions impact the physical hydrography, which in turn influences changes in chemical and biological pathways. In the area of the Southern Ocean associated with the West Antarctic Peninsula, phytoplankton biomass has decreased by 12 per cent over the last 30 years, and there has been an apparent shift from large to small phytoplankton cells [63]. This has implications for the overall productivity of the region, as effects are seen across trophic levels, including impacts on even the region's higher predators. In Arctic waters, the retreat of sea ice has been dramatic. Since records began in 1979, the extent of sea-ice coverage has decreased at an average rate of 12 per cent per decade, with 2011 having the second lowest cover (behind 2007), following higher than average summer air temperatures. The disappearance of the sea-ice cover has several implications, which include a positive feedback to warming as a result of a reduction in surface albedo, the release of methane (another potent greenhouse gas) following the destabilization of methane clathrates and the modification of sea-water stratification. Alterations to the salinity and temperature of surface waters are likely to alter local productivity in a manner similar to that described for the West Antarctic Peninsula, and may also impact on deep water formation and the Meridional Overturning Circulation—the driver for the Ocean Conveyor Belt [62].
There is some contention over the impact of a warming environment on the productivity of oceanic waters. Saba et al. [68] found, in a comparison of modelled and in situ data, that net primary production (NPP) increased over a 20-year period at both HOT and BATS at a rate of nearly 2 per cent per year. By contrast, Behrenfield et al. [69], using remotely sensed observations, recorded a strong coupling between climate variability and NPP as a result of enhanced stratification of the surface layers of the ocean during periods of increased temperatures. Reductions of NPP, which occur during positive deviations to the stratification anomaly, are attributed to a reduction in the transfer of nutrients from the deep ocean to surface waters. Similar trends between variability in sea surface temperature and primary production have been shown over a 7-year period for all provinces of the Atlantic Ocean traversed by the AMT programme [33], and Polovina et al. [70] show for a 9-year period that the spatial extents of the north and south oligotrophic gyres of both Atlantic and Pacific Oceans have increased by 1–4% per year. It would seem that methodological approach may play some role in the contrasting findings of these different studies [68], for which Saba et al. [68] suggest the need for 'an integrated, multi-faceted ocean observing system that incorporates both in situ observations and satellite remote sensing in tandem'.
The oceans are a large sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide [34], which is supported through a combination of primary production and particle sinking (the biological pump) [36] and ocean circulation and mixing (the solubility pump). Climate change will tend to suppress ocean carbon uptake through reductions in CO2 solubility, suppression of vertical mixing by thermal stratification and decreases in surface salinity. It is envisaged that climate-driven changes in any of these physical mechanisms will have a subsequent impact on phytoplankton and their ability to draw carbon from the atmosphere into the ocean. This will increase the fraction of anthropogenic CO2 emissions that remain in the atmosphere this century and produce a positive feedback on climate change.
(b) Ocean acidification
The oceans and atmosphere are intimately linked, so that changes to the partial pressure of atmospheric CO2 (pCO2) result in proportional changes in dissolved CO2 in the marine environment. As a result of this, the rise of global temperatures has been buffered by the exchange of approximately 25 per cent of anthropogenic CO2 into the oceans, and it is this condition that has resulted in a profound change to ocean carbonate chemistry and the phenomenon of ocean acidification (OA) [6]. As a consequence, oceanic pH is on average approximately 0.1 units lower than it was prior to the industrial revolution, and future pH levels are predicted to decrease by an additional 0.2–0.3 units over the twenty-first century with recent predictions of anthropogenic CO2 emissions [11]. In addition to decreasing pH, the saturation state of calcium carbonate is lowered, which has implications for organisms that use calcite in the formation of shells and skeletons. Current evidence indicates that large and rapid changes to ocean pH will have adverse effects on a range of marine organisms, with calcifying organisms (which include benthic and pelagic communities) likely to be the most susceptible. While it is recognized that the fixation of carbon into organic and inorganic material through photosynthesis and calcification, respectively, has been shown to be sensitive to increasing pCO2 [11,12], there is ambiguous evidence over the magnitude and even the direction (increase or decrease) in which this will occur [37]. Elevated oceanic pCO2 and the subsequent decrease in pH will have direct and indirect impacts on microbial nutrient cycling and carbon fixation, which may fundamentally alter biogeochemical cycles. Current opinion and biogeochemical models assume that phytoplankton and prokaryotic growth is limited in part by nutrient availability (e.g. nitrogen, phosphorus and iron), and that carbon fixation and export are tightly coupled to these nutrient cycles through elemental stoichiometries. Under predicted OA scenarios, microbial activity and hence the biogeochemical cycles they drive may come under pressure from direct and indirect means. Predicting the response of ecosystems and resources is problematic owing to the range of effects of high CO2/low pH reported, the complexity of the whole system, some conflicting experimental results and the unknown effects of acclimatization and adaptation.
Early research efforts into the impact of OA on biogeochemical cycles were largely centred around the fixation of organic and inorganic carbon. Data that describe the impacts of OA on other key microbially driven ecosystem processes, such as nitrogen cycling, are still sparse. A small number of studies have indicated that nitrogen fixation may show a positive response to decreasing pH (e.g. [71]) and this may result in a negative feedback to OA. However, most of these studies have been performed under laboratory conditions on Trichodesmium, a single diazotroph species whose response is unlikely to be representative of other nitrogen-fixing groups under natural conditions. Similarly, our understanding of the impact of OA on nitrification is based on a small number of investigations. Current evidence indicates that OA is inhibitory to pelagic nitrification (e.g. [72]), which may result in changes in the NH+4: NO−3 ratio and a decrease in the ocean N2O source. The implications for change to biochemical function due to increasing OA are apparent, but the uncertainty over expected conditions is compounded by the added influence of increasing temperatures and, for some areas, decreasing oxygen levels.
(c) Ocean deoxygenation
The deoxygenation of oceanic waters occurs naturally in oxygen minimum zones (OMZ), deep basins, eastern boundary upwelling systems and fjords [3], but climate-driven changes as described in earlier sections are resulting in the expansion of OMZs in the North Pacific and tropical and sub-tropical areas [5]. Low subsurface oxygen concentrations (hypoxia) exist owing to a combination of weak ventilation that may occur in concert with or independently of organic matter remineralization [61]. Ocean deoxygenation is occurring as the ocean warms and the solubility of dissolved gases decreases, so that the magnitude and volume of OMZs is increasing, with current predictions indicating declines in the global ocean O2 content of 1–7% over the next century [73]. The outgassing of O2 from the ocean to the atmosphere due to climate change could be up to 125 Tmol yr−1 by 2100 as a result of the combined effects of increased temperature and enhanced stratification, the thermal effect being responsible for approximately 25 per cent of the overall change [74].
The concentration of dissolved oxygen controls the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen and other elements, and dictates the presence or absence of macro-organisms. It therefore plays an important controlling factor in the functioning of ecosystems. Low-oxygen waters are often classed as hypoxic (1–30% O2), suboxic (less than 1% O2) or anoxic (zero O2). The OMZs associated with eastern boundary upwellings are characterized by high productivity, though each is distinct in its biogeochemical character and oxygen inventory. Those in the Pacific and Arabian Sea are largely considered suboxic, while those on the eastern Atlantic are hypoxic. This impacts the cycling of elements in intermediate-depth water masses, but, in particular, the oxygen content plays a significant controlling factor on the nitrogen biogeochemistry. Under suboxic to anoxic conditions, denitrification and annamox are likely to be active processes that act as a sink to fixed nitrogen (NO−3 and NH+4, respectively) and thus modify the degree of availability to phytoplankton in surface waters. Under these conditions, denitrification may contribute a source of NO−2 and N2O and thus increase the oceanic source of this effective greenhouse gas and ozone destroyer to the atmosphere. Regions of suboxia are generally seen to be strong net producers of N2O [75]. Nitrification, an aerobic process, releases N2O as waters become increasingly hypoxic, while denitrification can act as either a source or sink under suboxic conditions. There is a subtle balance in the degree of oxygen present that dictates the net release of N2O during denitrification and nitrification, which makes changes to ocean oxygen content significant. Model predictions indicate that not only are biogeochemical cycles sensitive to small changes in ocean oxygen content but so also is the spatial extent of hypoxia [76] and that this response is maximal in suboxic zones. Deutsch et al. [76] describe a direct control imparted by climate change on the variability of low-oxygen zones, which also results in large fluctuations in denitrification and therefore a direct link between climate oscillations and nitrogen limitation of primary productivity. The balance in oxygen content may also impact other microbial processes, and the distribution of higher trophic levels, as lethal and sub-lethal thresholds vary greatly among marine organisms. This may offer a further feedback to atmospheric chemistry, as these areas are key regions in the budgets of other climatic gases, including CO2, CH4 and halogenated carbon compounds.
(d) Eutrophication and coastal hypoxia
Enhanced nutrient deposition to coastal waters, through fossil fuel burning, fertilizer run-off and waste-water generation, has occurred on a global scale during the industrial age. It is widely accepted that activities such as these have more than doubled the global rate of terrestrial nitrogen fixation, with even higher rates predicted for coming decades [77]. The obvious evidence of this is an increase in primary productivity and algal biomass in coastal waters, though it is the consumption of dissolved oxygen during microbial decomposition of this and other organic material that presents the greatest cause for concern [78]. Under severe conditions of oxygen depletion, the so-called dead zones are created, wherein there exists an absence or significant reduction in the presence of expected macrofaunal communities. Often, these dead zones are associated with stratified, semi-enclosed environments that have restricted water exchange, such as areas within the Black Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and East China Sea, among others. The occurrence of this phenomenon has increased dramatically since the mid-twentieth century, when the use of industrially produced fertilizer began increasing on a massive scale. In 2008, there were reported to be dead zones associated with more than 400 coastal systems that affected an area of greater than 245 000 km2 [78]. As described already, the depletion of oxygen can affect not only the benthic faunal communities, but also the biogeochemical cycles inherent to these systems. The death or migration of bioturbating animals that ventilate sediments and influence porewater chemistry may have knock-on effects to rates of nitrification and denitrification, in addition to those associated with the direct effect of decreasing oxygen levels. As denitrifying organisms obtain oxygen from NO−3 under decreasing suboxia, there is a subsequent reduction of fixed nitrogen and potential for increased N2O production. Under anoxic conditions, toxic hydrogen sulfide is produced, while the remineralization of organic matter that has contributed to the hypoxic conditions also produces CO2, so that there exists a coupled OA and deoxygenation scenario that, in the warmer climate of tomorrow, introduces a whole matrix of synergistic stressors on the marine ecosystem [7,61].
4. The ongoing challenge
While it is apparent that a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is essential in order to minimize future levels of ocean acidification, warming and deoxygenation, we are already committed to experience a certain degree of each [7,79]. There is therefore an urgent need to reconcile our current understanding of biogeochemical cycles with changes forced by anthropogenic activity. Specifically, during the next two decades or so, there will be an emphasis on the determination of individual and synergistic or antagonistic impacts of these stressors in order to inform prediction and mitigation strategies.
We are therefore charged as a research community with the challenge to determine the sensitivity of the ocean to the external forces acting upon it and to the role that ocean biogeochemistry will play in alleviating (or exacerbating) the impact of change on the Earth system and human society. To deliver this, there is an ever-pressing need to fully integrate ocean biogeochemistry with Earth system science by employing a comprehensive multidisciplinary approach. The engagement across disciplines that include atmosphere, climate and physical oceanography must necessarily link to the social and economic sciences in order to create an effective dialogue between research and decision-making communities.
Boyd et al. [80] reviewed a series of laboratory, shipboard and field experiments in order to comment on the design features of the experimental approach to be taken when investigating the impact of climate change on oceanic phytoplankton. A number of phytoplankton-group-specific limiting factors were noted, which led to synergistic and antagonistic impacts on productivity or community structure. Elevations in temperature and iron were shown to synergistically increase the growth rate of Antarctic diatoms, while an antagonistic relationship was observed between iron and light on the growth of Phaeocystis antarctica. Boyd et al. [80] recommended that, in order to improve on existing approaches, it is necessary to ensure the consideration of all environmental factors that are likely to be impacted, and the interactions between them. Factorial matrix perturbation experiments should be used to investigate subsets of conditions that are relevant to specific phytoplankton groups. Further to improving the observational and experimental approach is the requirement to incorporate the capability of DGOMs [58] and other state-of-the-art ecosystem models [81] that are capable of resolving and predicting marine ecosystem function under actual or theoretical climate change scenarios. From a biogeochemical perspective, the over-arching question to be asked is huge: How will anthropogenic forced change, coupled with natural climatic variability, affect biogeochemical functioning of the marine ecosystem, from cellular process to ecosystem level, and how will such changes feed back to the Earth system?
Even today, after more than a century of observational oceanography, it is a widely held belief that the oceans are grossly undersampled [61]. Therefore, a fundamental approach to address this is to significantly increase the spatial and temporal extent of oceanographic and, from this paper's perspective, biogeochemical observations. This will enable us to determine the variability of natural processes, and their sensitivity to changes in the environment, and to detect and resolve the enigmatic decadal (and longer) trends in ocean character. The most obvious example of a concerted effort of increasing coordinated observations that is currently operational is the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS; http://gosic.org/ios/goos). GOOS is a global system for sustained observations of chemical and physical variables in the ocean, which, together with the Global Climate Observing System and the Global Terrestrial Observing System, forms the Global Earth Observing System of Systems. GOOS maintains a permanent system for observation, modelling and analysis of temperature, salinity and, to a lesser extent, other variables, which include CO2 and O2. In addition to ship-based observations, data sources include remote sensing, moored instruments and free-floating and profiling floats such as those used in the ARGO programme. ARGO involves 23 countries and, as of January 2012, has been responsible for the deployment of 3476 autonomous floats throughout the oceans. These free-drifting profiling floats measure the temperature and salinity of the upper 2000 m of the ocean and regularly transmit data, so that data are publicly available within hours of collection. A limited number of ARGO floats and similar profiling bodies have been exploited to carry additional sensor packages. These include transmissometers to estimate particulate organic carbon (POC) and carbon export [82,83], bio-optical sensors to determine chlorophyll-a concentrations [83] and nitrate sensors [84]. The combination of these sensors, if deployed on a sufficient number of floats, will provide a means to improve validation of remotely sensed ocean colour products, which include chlorophyll, phytoplankton carbon and improved bio-optical models of primary production. One adaptation of such floats, Carbon Explorers, have been successfully used to determine POC and particulate inorganic carbon fluxes and have the potential to be further developed to determine the full extent of the carbon inventory [85]. A further development from profiling floats are autonomous underwater vehicles or gliders that can carry a suite of sensors and, being propeller-driven, can be used to deliver high-resolution surveys or longer transect-type studies. Vehicles such as these are now being used to deliver high-resolution information on physical, chemical and biological characteristics in a manner not possible from ship-board observations or even through the combined observations of satellites and profiling floats [86,87]. The integration of reliable nutrient (e.g. nitrate, phosphate and iron) sensors with sufficient sensitivity for upper ocean conditions into floats, moorings and autonomous vehicles now seems realistic after several years of low-sensitivity instrumentation. Commercially available packages are now available for moored deployments, which incorporate automated molecular probes to inform on microbial community composition and its genomic and proteomic activity, such as the Environmental Sample Processor [88]. The next generation of these and other instrumentation packages are necessary to facilitate a large-scale improvement in the extension of the current biogeochemical observational capacity. The continued development of sophisticated, intricate and high-resolution platforms that will improve predictive capacity and the resolution of natural annual and decadal variability is essential to fully augment mechanistic studies of the adaptive capability of ocean biogeochemistry.
It might seem, then, that the oceans are actually well sampled and that there is an existing infrastructure in place to coordinate and output real-time data. In effect, this is only the case for a very restricted set of variables. Future biogeochemical research ought to be directed to extend the process-based studies of the type performed under the auspices of JGOFS and SOLAS to include mechanistic responses of organisms and biogeochemical cycles to the increasing perturbations associated with the ocean stressors identified above. There is then the need to take an Earth system approach to incorporate targeted experimental process studies, as championed by Boyd et al. [80], with large-scale observations using state-of-the-art autonomous instrumentation, which fully embraces the application of the new generation of genomic approaches, integrated models and remote sensing.
5. A role for the UK
The UK has a well-placed extensive experience base to address concerns associated with ocean biogeochemistry. Existing centres, which include universities, government agencies and NERC institutes and collaborative centres, each have independent identities but are well versed in collaborative ventures to provide the multidisciplinary approach required to address burning issues such as those identified here. In 2011, the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) Association (http://noc.ac.uk/about-us/noc-association) was formed and in December of that year produced its publication 'Setting Course', which presents the vision to create a more integrated UK marine science community to tackle the environmental challenges ahead. The NOC Association comprises the NERC-funded marine science community of the UK. The vision is to guide UK marine science into the future by the provision of large-scale infrastructure such as ships and underpinning activities such as data management under a nationally coordinated structure, and to place ocean research with atmospheric, polar and terrestrial disciplines alongside living systems, including human society, together in the context of a whole Earth system. The 'Setting Course' document calls for a funding environment that ensures the health of our intellectual capital base and stimulates collaborative research that nurtures a varied research environment and facilitates fit-for-purpose national research infrastructure and capability. In a societal environment that is globally economically fragile and politically dynamic, it is difficult to predict funding and organizational structures far into the future, but it is encouraging to be part of a unified approach to future marine research priorities. From a biogeochemical point of view and with respect to previous sections of this paper, the 'Setting Course' vision strongly advocates the need to prioritize the understanding of the role of the ocean in the Earth system and on the human population, on time scales of days to centuries and from local to global space scales. It recognizes fully the significant role of the oceans in regulating climate and the pressures associated with a high-CO2 environment and enhanced nutrient enrichment.
In summary, the UK has indicated its intent to approach this great challenge head-on, and to direct resources with which to do so. In order to do justice to this vision, there are a number of priorities that have been identified within this paper, which should feature in our research agenda:
— maintain a global approach through the sustained involvement in polar to tropical seas, which encourages and facilitates multidisciplinary integration, and which allows the targeting of sensitive ocean areas;
— foster research programmes that are not constrained by short-term (3–5 year) funding, to allow realistic time frames within which to investigate adaptation and acclimatization to changing environments;
— improve confidence in the ability to distinguish natural trends and variability from those forced by anthropogenic activity;
— support the development, maintenance and operation of autonomous instrumentation, which includes biogeochemically relevant sensors, for deployment on a diverse fleet of profiling floats, gliders and moorings;
— increase sustained observations in time and space, and for observations to be closely integrated with targeted measurements of biogeochemical processes, which are supported by model and observational experimental interrogation of relevant change scenarios;
— harness increasing computing power to run model experiments that can direct multi-factorial experimental programmes and inform on appropriate targets for process studies; and
— contribute to the security and continuity of satellite observations and further develop the ability to estimate process rates, particle loads and plankton composition from remote sensing.
It is without doubt that ocean biogeochemistry and the oceans in general are facing increasing pressures from man's activities and that, even if CO2 emissions and nutrient additions were immediately reduced to pre-industrial levels, there is sufficient inertia in the system to ensure that the effects of warming, ocean acidification, deoxygenation and eutrophication will remain for several decades into the future. The marine research community has wholly embraced these concerns and has been pro-active in the development of research programmes to inform on the degree to which organisms, ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles may be impacted. The importance of the oceans to the well-being of human society is absolute, and it is essential that this message be transferred clearly and effectively to decision- and policy-makers.
I thank the editors of this Theme Issue, Harry Bryden, Carol Robinson and Gwyn Griffiths, for inviting me to participate in this venture, and I take this opportunity to recognize particularly my appreciation of the challenges and support regularly offered to me by Carol. The comments by an anonymous reviewer and Phil Boyd greatly improved the manuscript.
One contribution of 11 to a Theme Issue 'Prospectus for UK marine science'.
- This journal is © 2012 The Royal Society


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The phone number 201-942-0335 is located in or around Jersey City, NJ 07311. This mobile number is registered with Mcimetro Access Transmission Services Llc. There have been 0 searches conducted for this number overall. There are 29 user comments, the latest received on Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 at 5:07pm and it has never been marked as spam. This number has a current spam score of 100%. Below you will find additional detailed information:
ALL WEEK AND WEEKEND OF THIS PAST WEEK, I HAVE RECEIVED CALLS FROM THIS NUMBER EVERY HALF HOUR OR SO. DON'T KNOW WHO THEY ARE OR WHAT THEY WANT. WOULD LIKE THEM TO STOP CALLING.From the Web
Just started getting calls, 10 before noon. On the 11th call I answered and told them that I think they have the wrong number. We need to do something about this, there's no way to trace it?From the Web
It is 7:30 at night. We are up to about 25 calls today from 201-942-0335. We are on the do not call list, I have left several messages on a voicemail when I can get through advising these people of this. Three rings and a hang-up. no messages.From the Web
This number has called me at least 10 times a day all week. I think got my number from a Craig's List Ad. Problem is - when I answer - no one is EVER there and you cannot call the number back. I am reporting to phone company for what it is worth. Is this NJ, will also forward to attorney general office. Advise others to do the same.From the Web
This number keeps calling my home five or six times a day. Is there any way to block the number?From the Web
This number calls me repeatedly, everyday at all hours, they let the phone ring one or two times and hang up, never leaving a message.From the Web
This bunch of people called us twice and we are on the do not call list, but apparently these people don't understand that. You know, I have dealt with telemarketers at work and they hang up randomly even when you may sound interested it doesn't make any sense. It seems like they don't care about even getting people on the phone to buy something.Not that I'm interested, but it doesn't make sense. Also doesn't feel like listening to be removed from a calling list.From the Web
big scam, if you answer quick enough, english is very poor/not mother tongue, all aspects decsribed above have happened at random over the past 2 months. ughFrom the Web
claimed to be something like 'American Grants', which we do not have any use for. English was not "caller's" mother tongue. started calling about 4 weeks ago, then after 3 days quite. they have started calling again, as early as 8:15 AM. if i could locate/get an actual company name and address, i would file a complaint against them.From the Web
this number has called me REPEATEDLY day after day. by 1pm, they had called me every half hour starting at 8am. it rings 2 times and then they hang up-never leaving a message!! driving me nuts!From the Web
Called for the past two days... finally got a live person on the other end... (you have to be quick to pick up otherwise they hang up).... said we'd applied for federal grants on line.... they hung up... then got another person 30 min. later.... finally found out that they are calling or selling for Grant Instructors.... Did some digging and think they are calling for Grant Instructors, LLCVERY BIG SCAM!!!!!!!From the Web
This number call over and over every day, have called over 15 times today, starting before 0800. No human answers the call because the number they call is for a fax machine only. If I call this number all I get is a dial tone.From the Web
I keep getting these calls avery 5 to 10 mins. I work shift work they woke me up this morning at approx. 0800. When you call back this number it sounds as a busy tone very low level. No one answers. It has to do with an internet grant money scam. I told them yesterday I was NOT interested and hang up on them....Can ATT bolck these calls???From the Web
this number calls me all day long and when you try to call it back it is always busy.....i have picked up the phone and sometimes it is a man and the last time a woman.....they call me by my name....i have no idea who this isFrom the Web
Family member answered and was told that we had applied for a federal grant online. We have not applied for any federal grant.From the Web
Answered yesterday after they had called 7 times before 9am. I told them to call after 7pm due to daytime minutes. The calls started today at 7:30am and have continued every half hour since then. No voice mail left. Unable to trace to a companyFrom the Web
this number has been calling all day long. i think it's up to at least 20-25 calls. it's harassment.From the Web

subset: commoncrawl


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text:
To children were killed and seven others missing Wednesday after a cargo ship sank while berthed at a port in China's Jiangsu province.
According to maritime authorities in China, the cargo ship, loaded with approximately 10,000 tonnes of iron ore, capsized and sank at 2:25am while docked at the Port of Zhenjiang. All 24 people on board, including at least two children, were thrown into the water. Seventeen were eventually rescued, but the latest word is that 7 are still missing and at least two children have died.
No word on what caused the ship to capsize.
Port of Zhenjiang sits on the southern bank of the Yangtze River where it meets the Grand Canal.


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I didn't go to Wizard World/Chicago Comicon on Saturday due in no small part to Wizard's inviting Rob Blagojevich. (On the other hand, I did enjoy the video of Rich Johnston harassing Blago.) I'm told by all parties involved that Wizard was packed on Saturday. This raises a rather important question for the future of Wizard: was it packed because of the appearance of Shatner added on the rest of the celebrity guests, or did they just pick up a ton of walk-up business with all the last-minute local media publicity over Blago, a convicted felon that had nothing to do with the show (unless you want to count him making an ass of himself on Celebrity Apprentice and lump him in the "My Fair Brady" category, which is not how he was being handled)?
Sunday was, well, a typical Sunday at a con. Kinda slow. Traffic was still coming and going in waves.
No doubt, if a decent amount of the Saturday traffic was non-Blago, Wizard can draw enough audience for this show to succeed. It was a different audience, however. There seemed to be a lot more people for whom this was a first convention. There were a lot more small children than in years past, even on Friday. And the growth seems to be in the area non-hardcore-comics-fans.
Artist's Alley seemed to be doing alright. You're going to have some variance from table to table, but people seemed to be doing as well as they ever had. Some of the better than in previous years. Which is interesting, because the A-list and B-list in Artist's Alley seemed to be smaller than in previous years and it seemed much more of a local show. Very much a regional show flavor. (If you like, compare and contrast with last year's Windy City Comic Con. Not that much difference in my opinion.)
Comics in the dealers area seemed to be another story. There just didn't seem to be that much action and I wasn't hearing many stories about windfall sales. (If only somebody had a Blago comic to sell, perhaps it would be different.) The fire sales on Sunday were mainly on single issues. If you bought enough bulk, you might have gotten your price down to a dime a comic. For the most part, the trade paperbacks held their prices the whole show. Most were 50% off the whole time. You had a smattering of $5/tpb. One table was 75% off, and another table dropped to 3tpbs/$10 as the show closed. Tpb's were largely still what was being dumped for $5 a pop at last years show: Marvel from the last 5 years with the additions of a lot of Spider-Man "Brand New Day Volumes." You wanted the complete run of Ultimate Spider-Man for $5 a pop, you would at least come close to getting it. Not much by way of DC or Independents.
As I said in the Friday wrap-up, if you've got a lot of first-time show goers or casual fans showing up, it makes perfect sense that single issues aren't going to be prime movers. Newbies aren't going to want to buy expensive back issues and the cheap boxes aren't even close to sorted, so they'd have to dig through to try and find a run. That is, if they knew what they were looking for. It just isn't going to happen. Trade paperbacks are the way to go here, but I honestly am not sure that happened either. Could be, people were just spending their money in Artist's Alley.
The really bizarre thing was a series of loudspeaker announcements starting at around 4:30 on Sunday, reminding the dealers that they shouldn't start breaking down their tables yet and that they weren't allowed to leave until 5:15. I don't recall hearing an announcement like that before, and they kept repeating it. Normally at 4:30, you're seeing last minute price slashing and dealers trying to get that last buck, not dealers giving up the ghost.
On the other hand, the toy booths seemed to be crowded and making money hand over fist. And this would make sense if you've got people there for Star Trek/Wrestlers autographs and people are buying genre/movie/TV-based toys. And maybe if your first-time con goers are open-minded to comics, but inexperienced, but there for the autograph experience, that would open them up to actual creators in Artist's Alley who can sign things.
And I guess this also makes me wonder what next year is going to look like. There were a lot of disgruntled attendees last year, as the show lost its big publisher booths and tried to sell itself as a comic show when it was about halfway to being a media/autograph show. This year, I was seeing almost exclusively happy attendees, but you have to wonder if they're going to have another hit and lose a few more comic fans who want more comics guests and programming. (An old roommate of mine told me this would be his last year: not enough comics and not enough bargains on the floor to justify a $35 ticket. Another friend who's been on a panel probably 14 out of the 15 previous years couldn't justify buying a ticket this year and seemed genuinely bewildered at the guest list and programming. Isolated incidents or representative of the long-time attendee? Time will tell.)
So looking forward, here are my questions for the future of Wizard:
*What's the real Saturday draw without a local publicity anomaly like Blago?
*How many comic dealers are coming back next year?
*Do they lose any comics attendees who prefer a comic convention to a mainly-media show?
Really, there doesn't seem to be any question whether Wizard can have _a_ show in the Chicago area (Rosemont, is _not_ Chicago). The questions are how many days do they need to have a show and how large a presence comics will have in it. The autograph portion seems to be taking care of itself and even if Blago was a decent portion of the traffic, a two-day or one-day show would likely still work.
2 Comments
I don't think Blago was responsible for much of the traffic on Saturday. He was such a late addition, attendees who wanted to see him would've had to make a spur of the moment decision to spend $35 per person just to bask in the disgraced former governor's presence.
As he was leaving the show, he got about the level of attention I expected–people around wanting pictures, but not so crowded that I couldn't have sauntered over to join him in a smile for the camera. At the same moment, the aisles in the autograph section (Blago was on the wall to the left as you entered the front door, nowhere near the celebrities), were absolutely jammed. Passersby had to squeeze through the crowd to get from one side to the other. Blago may have pulled some gawkers from that group (and, I'll admit it, I gawked), but they wouldn't have missed him if he'd never shown.


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MagazineApr 27, 2012
Coolest Pix Of 2012 Week 17
It's another Friday feast of images from the past week. It's number 17 of the year and this week's main stories are the French elections, a plane crash in Pakistan, a pending war between Sudan and South Sudan and a touching story of a Japanese football. Join TotallyCoolPix on Facebook, Twitter, join our Flickr Group or find us on Google+.
Defendant Anders Behring Breivik, who is expected to give his account of events on the July 22, 2011 attacks at Utoeya island, is pictured in court on the fifth day of his trial in Oslo. SCANPIX NORWAY/REUTERS
An employee works next to the shells of a wind turbine tower outside the assembly workshop in The Shanghai Electric Windpower Equipment Co., Ltd. in Shanghai. ALY SONG/REUTERS
Fisherman Siswanto rides on a self-built wooden cable car, created by himself, to cross the sea at Timang beach in Gunung Kidul. DWI OBLO/REUTERS
Fisherman Siswanto rides on a self-built wooden cable car, created by himself, to cross the sea at Timang beach in Gunung Kidul. DWI OBLO/REUTERS
Man sits in front of graffiti painted on a wall near the site where protesters perform weekly Friday prayers in Sanaa. MOHAMED AL-SAYAGHI/REUTERS
Female bear Ursina carries one of her cubs in her enclosure at Juraparc animal park near Vallorbe. DENIS BALIBOUSE/REUTERS
People look at light installation by British artist McCall during exhibition Five Minutes of Pure Sculpture in Berlin. TOBIAS SCHWARZ/REUTERS
Ugandan soldiers, who are tracking down LRA fugitive leaders, walk at a forest near river Chinko. STRINGER/REUTERS
A security official yells for help as rescue workers search through the wreckage of the Bhoja Air passenger plane which crashed on the outskirts of Islamabad. MIAN KHURSHEED/REUTERS
Police arrest CU Boulder students, including Gabriel Kuettel, for trespassing on the campus in Boulder, Colorado. RICK WILKING/REUTERS
Spanish matador Juan Jose Padilla prepares to drive a sword into a bull to kill it during a bullfight in The Maestranza bullring in Seville. Marcelo del Pozo/REUTERS
People smoke marijuana joints at 4:20 p.m. as thousands of marijuana advocates gathered at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. ROBERT GALBRAITH/REUTERS
An undertaker carries a coffin on his head outside the Municipal Auditorium in Tuxpan. HENRY ROMERO/REUTERS
U.S. Republican presidential candidate and former Governor of Massachusetts Romney speaks during a rally in Tempe. JOSHUA LOTT/REUTERS
Bosnian Muslim women sit before a mass funeral in the town of Vlasenica in the Serbian part of Bosnia. DADO RUVIC/REUTERS
Hollande, Socialist Party candidate for the 2012 French presidential election, is kissed by a supporter in Tulle. JACKY NAEGELEN/REUTERS
People work on the top of a brick kiln near Hlawga village. Soe Zeya Tun/REUTERS
Firefighters participate in funeral services for New York city firefighter Lt. Nappi in Ronkonkoma. KEITH BEDFORD/REUTERS
A boy picks buttercup flowers in a field near the southern town of Kiryat Gat. AMIR COHEN/REUTERS
Zaynab al-Khawaja, daughter of Bahrain human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, is stopped by women riot-police as she tries to march in the main market in the capital Manama. HAMAD I MOHAMMED/REUTERS
NASA handout photo of Camilla the chicken at 120,000 feet above California. NASA/REUTERS
Anti-government protesters flash victory signs as they burn tyres in Budaiya. HAMAD I MOHAMMED/REUTERS
Le Pen. National Front Party Candidate for the 2012 French presidential election, arrives at the polling station to vote in Henin-Beaumont. PASCAL ROSSIGNOL/REUTERS
A combination photo shows participants during a competition for the 2012 best moustache of Brussels, in central Brussels. FRANCOIS LENOIR/REUTERS
France's President and UMP party candidate for the 2012 French presidential elections Nicolas Sarkozy exit the voting booth before casting his ballots in the first round of 2012 French presidential election at a polling station in Paris. POOL/REUTERS
A resident sits next to a tyre of the Boeing 737 airliner which crashed in Islamabad. FAISAL MAHMOOD/REUTERS
Neighborhood watch volunteer Zimmerman leaves the Seminole County Jail after posting bail in Sanford. DAVID MANNING/REUTERS
Anti-riot policemen used their batons to hit a squatter after a violent attempt to demolish shanties in Sucat, Paranaque city, metro Manila. ROMEO RANOCO/REUTERS
A SPLA soldier looks at warplanes as he lies on the ground to take cover beside a road during an air strike in Rubkona. GORAN TOMASEVIC/REUTERS
Austrian Airlines AUA staff members arrive for a works council meeting at the airport in Schwechat. HEINZ-PETER BADER/REUTERS


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Newcastle United striker Shola Ameobi is a target for Chinese clubs.
The Daily Mail says former England and Manchester City coach Sven Goran Eriksson is now in charge at Chinese Super League side Guangzhou R&F and wants a British-style centre forward to help his side.
Ameobi's team-mate Papiss Cisse has also been courted by clubs from China as well as ones from Russia with their transfer windows closing in Russia at midnight on February 27 and 24 hours later on Friday February 28 in China.
Ameobi could move immediately to the Far East.


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Veronika from Yarn on the House and I are at it again. We have another giveaway for you. It's not like last time where we did the 12 days of Knitmas, but its still pretty good! This time there will be one lucky winner of three hanks of Pagewood Farm St. Elias in the colorway Chuck's Favorite and the Olga's Vest pattern. Enter yourself or the big win here! Also there is a little treat on her blog, a recorded interview with yours truly. Enjoy!!
Another YOTH Giveaway!
June 23, 2013 By 1 Comment
June 23, 2013 By 1 Comment
Father's Day Sale!
June 3, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Are you ready for Father's Day this year? Don't fret! I've got three simple and fun patterns you can easily knit up before next Sunday…. and they just happen to be on sale on Ravelry now through Saturday, 06/15/13 (Pacific Time). Make sure to use the Ravelry coupon code: GA63FDS when you checkout. Save 15% on the following patterns: Cabled Beanie, Gregorio & Ribbed Beanie.
Congratulations to Pinterest follower Donna Nicholaides winner of the Silver Lining giveaway. Please email email@example.com by Sunday, June 8th to claim your prize or it will me forfeited.
June 3, 2013 By Leave a Comment


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Jets move up in Draft Lottery, will pick second
Winnipeg GM says 'no wrong decision at No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3'by Mike G. Morreale @MikemorrealeNHL / NHL.com staff writer
TORONTO -- Kevin Cheveldayoff has been adamant about a draft-and-develop philosophy ever since he took over as general manager of the Winnipeg Jets in 2011.
Cheveldayoff received a golden opportunity to add another top-tier prospect Saturday when the Jets moved up from No. 6 to No. 2 in the 2016 NHL Draft after winning the second pick in the NHL Draft Lottery. The Toronto Maple Leafs were awarded the No. 1 pick, and the Columbus Blue Jackets won the No. 3 selection.
After Toronto won the first pick, Winnipeg had the fifth-best odds to win the No. 2 pick in the draft, which will be held June 24-25 at First Niagara Center in Buffalo.
"I have to admit, it was very nerve-racking," Cheveldayoff said. "You're waiting all day, doing several different interviews, and then you see the 14 cards coming onto the floor and you know the time is getting close.
"Once I saw the No. 9, No. 8 No. 7 picks revealed, and knew were weren't going to move backwards, that's when my nerves kicked in even more. I knew at that point we'd have an opportunity at the top three."
Video: Bettman draws the lottery for this years NHL Draft
For the first time, the lottery assigned the top three picks in the first round.
The Jets have seven picks in the draft, including two in the first round; they also have the 26th pick obtained when they traded forward Andrew Ladd to the Chicago Blackhawks this season.
"When you get an opportunity to draft at the top end of the draft, those are the type of players who can make a difference," Cheveldayoff said. "Every year is different and you don't know exactly what that player will do moving forward, but from what I've seen of players at the top end of the draft, these are players who can make an impact over a period of time.
"No one player is going to come in and change a franchise overnight, but certainly it's a big building piece moving forward."
A few young players within the Jets system made an impression in the NHL this season, including center Mark Scheifele (29 goals, 71 points) and 20-year-old rookie right wing Nikolaj Ehlers (15 goals, 38 points). There are others on the verge of making the roster next season: left wing Kyle Connor (No. 17, 2015 draft), defenseman Josh Morrissey (No. 13, 2013), and center Nic Petan (No. 43, 2013).
Auston Matthews (6-foot-1, 210 pounds) of National League A in Switzerland's top professional league is projected by many to be the No. 1 pick. The Scottsdale, Ariz. native is No. 1 on NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of international skaters eligible for the draft after scoring 24 goals and 46 points in 36 games. After Matthews, the next two players on almost every draft board are forwards Patrik Laine of Tappara and Jesse Puljujarvi of Karpat in Liiga, the top professional league in Finland.
Laine (6-4, 206), No. 2 on NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of international skaters, had 17 goals and 33 points in 46 games. He was named most valuable player of the Liiga playoffs after scoring 10 goals and 15 points in 18 games for league champion Tappara.
Puljujarvi (6-3, 203), No. 3 on NHL Central Scouting's final international ranking, led all skaters at the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship with 17 points and was named the best forward and most valuable player of the tournament. He had 13 goals and 28 points in 50 games for Karpat.
"I had an opportunity to go to the World Junior Championship and watch [Laine and Puljujarvi] play a big part of winning a championship," Cheveldayoff said. "I watched Puljujarvi win another gold for Finland at the World Under-18 Championship and saw what Laine did in the Liiga playoffs.
"Sitting here today, I don't think there's any wrong decision at No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3. We're just excited that we get an opportunity to take one of them."
Teemu Selanne, a native of Finland, spent four seasons with Winnipeg after the Jets selected him in the first round (No. 10) of the 1988 draft. The impact Selanne had on Winnipeg certainly wasn't lost on Cheveldayoff.
"Teemu is still revered for what he's done in the city and community and how he embraced it," Cheveldayoff said. "There's a lot of good story lines and it's exciting. Any one of the players we select is going to be a big part of our franchise for many years to come."


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Talks & Thoughts: Is Kaepernick the Rosa Parks of the Next Generation?
A new community-centric public forum offering barbershop-style open discourse on current events that have an impact on the African American community.
Topic: Is Kaepernick the Rosa Parks of the Next Generation?
Moderated By: Farajii Muhammad, Host of For the Culture with Farajii on WEAA
Talkers: Tavon Mason, a former New York Jets Wide Receiver and a coach at Stevenson University / Asya Bussie, a former WNBA player for the Minnesota Lynx and founder of BeMore Inc.
Admission: FREE
As Maryland's African American history museum dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of information and a stalwart organization of social change, the RFLM's welcoming environment provides an ideal venue for such community dialogue.
RSVP for Talks & Thoughts by Clicking Here


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India have earned the right to be considered the biggest threat to cricketing powerhouse Australia in Tests, star batsman Mike Hussey said.
The Aussies have for several years been cricket's top dogs, their 2005 Ashes loss to England a rare hiccup that was followed by a record-equalling 16-match winning streak.
England and South Africa have at different times threatened to challenge Australia's dominance, but neither have been able to maintain their form.
But now India have staked their claim with a remarkable 72-run win in the third Test at Perth's WACA ground, ending the hosts' winning run of 16 matches and handing them their first defeat since the 2005 Ashes. It was also Australia's first defeat at home since 2003.
India's win followed their defeat in the controversial second Test in Sydney and was based on the effort of a young and largely unheralded seam attack.
Speaking in Adelaide as both teams arrived to prepare for the fourth and final Test, Hussey said the tourists deserved to be recognised as one of the best sides in the world.
The days of India being considered easy pickings away from home are long gone, he said, adding: "India have to be right up there because they're playing so well away from home.
"You know they're always going to be hard to beat in India, but they've had a good result in England during the winter and now they're playing good cricket here in Australia and they did four years ago as well.
"I would hold them in high regard and with more respect because they have that ability and the team to play in all conditions."
However, Australian veteran opening batsman Matthew Hayden warned against reading too much into the result in Perth.
"There's no other side in the world comes close to us when we're playing at our best," Hayden said.
The swing bowling of Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan and RP Singh did most of the damage in Perth, but Hussey believes it will be a different story in Adelaide, where India are looking to level the series at 2-2 in the final Test.
Hussey said the probable return of Harbhajan Singh to form a twin spin partnership with captain Anil Kumble offered another challenge.
"They used the conditions very well in Perth, but I don't think it's going to swing as much in Adelaide," Hussey said.
"Having said that, they are obviously a very fine bowling unit, very balanced, be it a matter of swing, seam or spin."
Meanwhile, South Australian fast bowler Shaun Tait believes he is almost certain to be dropped for his home Test. He bowled just 21 overs in Perth and told Adelaide's Advertiser newspaper he was "underdone."
He said he expected to be replaced by spinner Brad Hogg.
The fourth and final Test starts on Thursday.
Hussey says India the biggest threat to Australia
India have earned the right to be considered the biggest threat to cricketing powerhouse Australia in Tests, star batsman Mike Hussey said.


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Community and Stewardship
Speakers Bureau
If your civic group or community organization needs an exciting and dynamic program, Alliant Energy's Speakers Bureau can provide an informative presenter.
To request an Alliant Energy speaker, email firstname.lastname@example.com with your contact information and event details. We appreciate a four-week lead time to schedule a speaker. Please note this resource is only available to customers in the Alliant Energy service territory.
Topics available include:
- Energy Efficiency: Offers practical, easy ways to conserve energy at home or in the workplace.
- Energy and the Environment: Reviews the environmental impact of generating electricity and the measures Alliant Energy takes to proactively improve its environmental performance.
- Electricity 101: Ever wonder how electricity gets from the generating station to your home? This presentation explains the electric system in terms any audience can understand.
- Renewable Energy: Reviews Alliant Energy's current and future renewable energy projects, and how you can get involved in the support of or generation of renewable energy.


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It was indeed a fulfilling event over the weekend as the much anticipated Accolade Media award and Pageant took centre stage. The event which recorded impressive turnout of headline celebrities, notable personalities and showbiz entrepreneurs was obviously colourful and well attended.
The high budget and impressive profile event honoured some distinguished individuals who have been impactful In their fields of endearour. Notable among them are former first lady of Kogi, Linus Okorie, Chris Morgan, Selebobo, Mr Rex, Faze, Nigga Raw, Amb. Utchay Odims, amongst other. It was indeed worthwhile to have Abuja popular media Enterprenuer and social media reporter Alex Nwankwo of AlexReports to be decorated on the prestigious night as " Outstanding Publicist Of The Year 2016" The Anambra state born also presented Numatville Land allocation certificate to the Mrs Accolade Nigeria pageant winner as one of her entitlement. This was done on behalf of Hon. Jonathan Daniel, the Project manager of Numatville.
Alex Nwankwo who doubles as the project director of Most Beautiful Model In Nigeria was recently received by the Presidency, Femi Adesina - the Media and Publicity Assistant to the President when he bagged an award in Lagos few weeks ago as Abuja Entertainment Reporter of the year at the Nigeria Customer Service Award powered by Bank of Industry. Alexreports is already listed as a judge at the Face Of University Nigeria Holding in Lagos. Though he shaares photos and images for more information on his new Instagram handle @alexreports


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Senator Tom Udall: Momentum Building for Campaign Finance Reform
Udall's constitutional amendment gets key hearing in Senate Committee today
WASHINGTON - Today, at 10:30 a.m. ET, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on a proposal by U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.) to amend the Constitution and restore power to regulate campaign finance to the people through Congress and the states. Udall's amendment would clarify in the Constitution that money does not equal speech, effectively reversing the Court's decisions in Buckley v. Valeo, Citizens United, and McCutcheon, which have unraveled campaign finance regulations and handed undue power to wealthy donors to influence elections.
The hearing is available via livestream, and video will be archived HERE. Udall issued the following statement:
"Step by step, a narrow majority of the U.S. Supreme Court is dismantling our campaign finance system. Most Americans have one opportunity to make a difference in an election: the ballot box. But under the Supreme Court's rulings in Citizens United and McCutcheon, a billionaire in one state can influence the elections in 49 other states with millions of dollars in donations. No wonder people are disillusioned with the political process. It's time to act to ensure our government is of, by and for the people - not bought and paid for by secret donors and special interests.
"Americans are making their voices heard, calling for Washington to reform the campaign finance system, and thanks to them, we're building momentum. Amending the Constitution is hard - and it should be. But our founders never envisioned the out-of-control spending on campaigns of today, and they never intended for a few billionaires to be able to control our elections just by writing a check.
"Today's hearing on our proposal in the Senate Judiciary Committee is an important step. I look forward to a vote in the full Senate later this year to restore integrity in our election system and put our elections back in the hands of 'we the people.'"
Specifically, Udall's amendment would:
-Authorize Congress to regulate the raising and spending of money for federal political campaigns, including independent expenditures.
-Allow states to regulate such spending at their level.
-Not dictate any specific policies or regulations, but instead allow Congress to pass campaign finance reform legislation that withstands constitutional challenges.
For more information on Udall's amendment, click HERE.
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Avet SXJ 5/3 MC 1-Speed Lever Drag Saltwater Casting Reel
Product Info Item# 102443
The M.C. Cast control system incorporates Avet's Adjustable Intensity Polar Amplification Technology to create the most efficient and easy to use cast control system for a conventional style reel. From the lightest bait to heavy lures, the M.C.Cast Control System is simple to use, even if you have never before cast a conventional style reel. Simply place your thumb on the spool to cast, swing, remove your thumb from the spool and let it fly! You will only need to thumb the spool when the lure hits the water.
- Right-hand use
- Precision machined 6061 T-6 marine grade aluminum and stainless steel components
- Anodized for superior corrosion resistance and beautiful finish
- Patented M.C. Cast Control System
- True one piece frame for the ultimate in strength vs. weight
- Powerful lever drag system with adjustable strike pre-set
- Precision machined stainless steel gears
- Avet's indestructible, silent dog and gear anti-reverse system
- Reliable Avedrag dry carbon fiber drags for superior stopping power, smoothness, and wear resistance
- Eight related stainless steel ball bearings
- Alarm clicker
- Offset machined handle arm to reduce centerline profile and cranking wobble
- Large comfortable soft touch handle knob
- Light, narrow spool design for optimal jig casting efficiency and less line leveling while retrieving
- Matching machined aluminum rod clamp
- Color: Gold
- Line class: 10-25 lb.
- Crank handle: 2-3/4" oval knob
- Maximum drag (lbs.): Strike - 9 / full - 14
- Inches per crank: 30"
- Reel diameter: 2-3/8"
- Spool width: 1-1/8"
- Suggested use: Saltwater
- Made in USA
More About Avet Reels
All Avet Reels feature components precision machined in the USA from solid 6061-T6 marine grade aluminum, and solid stainless steel stock, with incredible strength and corrosion resistance engineered into their design. All aluminum components are anodized for superior corrosion resistance, as well as beautiful finishes. Avet Reels are designed for easy take-down and maintenance, with no springs or small parts that disappear during basic disassembly.
Avet Reels - Where modern technology meets old world craftsmanship.
|Line capacity
|Gear ratio
SXJ53MCRHGDMore Info
Product Details
Avet SXJ 5/3 MC 1-Speed Lever Drag Saltwater Casting Reel
|Jerry Brown - Line One Braid: 50/290
|12 oz.


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Zoltar Speaks are a metal band from Somerset that fuse a sound similar to that of Avenged Sevenfold with a more modern streak that brings to mind Panic Cell and Lamb of God. The difference is the band favour singing instead of screaming and their vocalist Louise Body definitely takes some cues from In This Moment's Maria Brink. The band released their debut album 'Save As I Save' at the tail-end of last year and now they're gearing up to give it a wider release in April.
'Save As I Save' is formed from a nice blend of modern and classic metal that is lead by the accomplished guitar work of Daniel Pratt and Jason Coles. The two guitarists become the most enjoyable element of the band's sound and it's clear that they have the ability to deliver a great series of thrashy riffs. Songs like 'I'm Coming' and 'Cannot Be' are also given some rather impressive solos which really set them apart from a lot of the other songs on the record.
Outside of the extremely polished guitar work we start to enter some problems. The main issue that plagues 'Save As I Save' is it all sounds a bit flat. Vocalist Louise Body is nothing special to listen to and while she can certainly hold a note she often finds her comfort zone and sticks with it. This means a lot of higher range melodies that all sound very similar from song to song. The real problem with Body's voice is when she decides to scream. Body sounds like a woman doing an impression of a metal scream and the noise that comes from her mouth sounds like it's coming from her throat and not her diaphragm. It's not a pleasant noise to listen to and if she really is using her throat then she's going to cause herself some damage in the future.
The real casualty of the album's rather limp delivery is Simon Roocroft's bass which is so low in the mix you can barely hear it. 'Save As I Save' is a record that could desperately use a heavy dosage of bass to help punctuate the riffs and the drum work to make the whole listening experience feel brighter and more energetic. What you get instead is an album that's under-produced, one-dimensional and delivered in the most passable way possible.
Zoltar Speaks are clearly a group of fairly talented musicians because outside some unnecessary metalcore chugga-chuggas like in 'I Can, I Can't' there is a fair amount of decent melodies, riffs and and solos on offer throughout their debut album 'Save As I Save'. Their main problem is their rather mediocre delivery which lacks the power and intensity that a lot of their peers are managing. This leads to an unfortunate vibe of averageness that means 'Save As I Save' will likely get listened to once and then stuck on a shelve for many years to collect dust.
Zoltar Speaks' 'Save As I Save' is out now and available to buy on CD direct from the band.


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With just three weeks left to register for the third annual Young Kwon National Online Tournament (YKNOT), the field already shows "an exciting diversity of ranks from the high 7 dans all the way into the 20 kyus!" reports AGA
Tournament Coordinator Karoline Burrall. The tournament, with $3,000 in total prizes, is shaping up to have a very strong open section, with at least 9 of the registrants so far being 6 dan or stronger. Players of any level can register for free. "Brand new AGA members are welcome," Burrall adds, "or even those who haven't joined the AGA yet, as long as players are AGA members by the time of the tournament, they may participate!" Players don't have to be citizens or permanent residents either; if you live in the US you are eligible to compete and AGA life members living anywhere are also eligible. Now in its third year, the tournament has produced two champions so far, both professional players: Zhanbo Sun 2P in 2011, and Mingming Yin 1P in 2012. Check out the final game of the 2012 tournament between Mingming Yin 1P (Mingming) and Jie Liang 8D (gust) at right, featuring some exciting fighting throughout the game. "Continued thanks goes to Young Kwon for sponsoring this exciting tournament and his dedication to promoting go in the US!" says Burrall. "His support makes all of this possible." Players who have already registered (or if you just want to see who is playing), click here and double check that your information is correct. If you requested a rank adjustment when you registered, these changes are not displayed yet; Burrall will be contacting players closer to the tournament date to discuss any rating change requests.


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Slower Than The 3DS, I'm Afraid
Sony's much-hyped - and much-maligned - new portable, the PS Vita, has been available in Japan since December 17th. However, it's launch wasn't quite the resounding success Sony had hoped for. It managed to pull through, despite this initial adversity and stiff competition from rival portable, the 3DS and its less three-dimensional sibling, with Sony now reporting Vita sales have topped the 500, 000 mark.
However, it has taken little over three weeks for the Vita to hit this figure, a feat the 3DS managed in just under two weeks on sale. With the Vita taking three to hit 500, 000, Nintendo's portable took just nine days to claim 584,387. It's not all doom and gloom, however; especially when you consider the Vita is set to launch worldwide next month, which is sure to boost its sales count. [Eurogamer]


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Call On Me
Here's a few tips on what to do when an opponent makes a call on you. There's a bunch of calls that could be made including fouls, travel, disc-width, fast count, pick and numerous others. Ultimate is a sport full of passionate people and the Spirit of the Game calls upon those players to self-referee whilst they are on the field.
The important thing to remember is that when a call is made there's only two possible outcomes (generally), and pretty much everyone involved in the game wants to get on with playing as soon as possible.