Posted on 03/26/2012 6:28:08 AM PDT by jmcenanly
WASHINGTON Diving to the deepest part of the ocean, filmmaker James Cameron says the last frontier on Earth looks an awful lot like another planet: desolate and foreboding.
Cameron on Monday described his three hours on the bottom of the Marianas Trench, nearly 7 miles down in a dark freezing and alien place. He is the only person to dive there solo, using a sub he helped design. He is the first person to reach that depth, 35,576 feet, since it was initially explored in 1960.
Cameron says he worried about being too busy with exploration duties to take in just how amazing this place was. That happened to Apollo astronauts.
So he says he took time to stare at the moon-like barren surface and to appreciate how alien it is.
One wonders when this kind of adventuring might go badly and end his life.
Considering I shelled out my hard-earned money to see Avatar in the theaters and purchase it on Blu-ray, I'd like to think I contributed in a very small way to this impressive achievement. And as soon as Cameron gives me Titanic on Blu-ray, I'll contribute a little more.
Look at us now...
Mike
I do not care for Cameron at all, but I would do the same if i had the resources.... A life without risk,is not worth living.
To quote Dennis Miller “It is amazing someone so shallow can go so deep!”
I’m not a fan of the man(leftie, overbearing man) but I do admire his work(although never saw Avatar). And that he has used his own money to fund these expeditions. I wish him well and safe travels. Can’t wait to see the footage he shares with us.
I was always thrilled by the likes of Jaques Cousteau...almost everything I learned as a child about the ocean was from him.
I was always thrilled by the likes of Jacques Cousteau...almost everything I learned as a child about the ocean was from him.
I enjoy an author by the name of "Clive Cussler". He's written a good handful of dime store novels, "Raise the Titanic" among them.
He blows his earnings on classic antique cars and on taking his friends diving to look for famous sunken ships - the Confederate sub Hunley, among them. Interesting guy. I think he'd be fun to sit down and have a beer with.
His book, "The Sea Hunters", details a bunch of his expeditions. Some of the details might even be true. :-)
James Cameron actually DOES stuff. His various works undersea are fascinating.
I think what is most amazing is that he will find a statue of John D. Rockefeller down there-—the man whose cheap kerosene saved the whales-—and every year there is a whale pilgrimmage to Rockefeller/Mecca to give thanks :)
I'm reminded of the line from Braveheart, which went something like: "All men die. Only some men truly live".
Very sage words.
I think he means FORBIDDING, not FOREBODING. I’m sure the author went to public school.
When I was young our whole family would get together every Sunday evening to watch “The Wonderful World of Disney” and “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom”. It seems that Jaques Cousteau was featured on the later a number of times.
From: http://grammarist.com/usage/forbidding-foreboding/
Forbidding vs. foreboding
The adjective foreboding, meaning presaging something, connotes portent. When something is foreboding, one gets the sense that something bad is going to happen. The participle is more often used as a noun, meaning a sense of impending misfortune. Forbidding means hostile, unfriendly, or tending to impede progress. Things that are forbidding may cause fear, but they dont necessarily presage anything.
The two words are often confused, especially foreboding in place of forbiddingfor example: The iron gates of One Buc Place are strong and foreboding. [TampaBay.com]
Unless the iron gates suggest that something bad is going to happen, this writer means forbidding.
What did you expect, the Macy's parade?
Life ends. He’s 58, so odds are growing that his will end in short order. Better to end by sudden heart failure while out for a walk, or by sudden capsule failure while exploring 7 miles under sea where none have ever been?
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