THANK YOU PHOENIX COMIC FEST

Even in the end, I’m still skeptical about C. megalodon.

Hi everyone who stopped by my booth at Phoenix Comic Fest this weekend!  I hope I was able to teach you a little bit about sharks, and I hope if you walked away with poetry, a tiki mug, a t-shirt, a poster, or even a little shark of your very own, that you will appreciate these magnificent animals as much as I do.   Plus, the profits from this weekend’s sales will go directly to Fins Attached Marine Research and Conservation.

If you came to either of my panels, I hope you learned some cool facts about megalodon and modern sharks, and I’m sorry that the Nerd Slam was cancelled (but watch this space – we are rescheduling!).

I’ll have my store more functional and with more items by Sunday, so if you ran out of Con-Cash, keep an eye out, and we’ll have everything I have quickly out to you.

And in the meantime,  please check out my short film of some of my adventures with sharks around the globe!  And please bookmark my site, as I add new shark-y or poetry content.

Thanks,

The Klute

Protect the Ocean at #PhoenixComicFest!

Not the ocean.

Hey Nerds!  It’s about to go down: Phoenix Comicon Comic Fest,  the most massive Comicon Comic Fest in the American West (seriously, SDCC, be cool and give us back our name).  I hope you all have a good time, but I’m also hoping you do so in a way that protects the ocean.  Now, you might be saying: “Hey, idiot.  We’re in the desert.  I’m pretty sure I’m not going to be harming the ocean in the middle of goddamn downtown Phoenix.”

To quote Troy McClure: “You’ve got some attitude, Mister.  And what’s more, you’re wrong! There’s a lot of ways that what you’re doing is harming the ocean, right now!    So stop it.

But while at the convention center, let me give you a few tips on what you can do to stay Blue while grokking out with Spock (or whatever the hell it is you kids do these days).
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May ReefBox Unboxing!

Finally,  I’m all caught up.   After March and April’s ReefBox unboxing – both which contained stuff mostly for stuff on the surface, I was looking forward to some stuff that I could use while I was underwater… And lo, once again, Reefbox delivers.

This month is the BCD Box, or if you’re strictly a land-dweller, “Buoyancy Compensator Device” – it’s basically how we divers stay down, and it’s (mostly) where we store all our gear underwater (well, where I do anyway).   And there’s some cool stuff in here.

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April ReefBox Unboxing! Better Late Than Never (Part 2!)

Still behind on doing the unboxings. At least this one is sort of in the time frame when I originally received it.  Kinda. Not really.

So, normally the ReefBoxes come in this nice reusable/recyclable box.  Sturdy and blue, and two months in, I’m at the stage where I’m like “OOOOH THE BLUE BOX HAS ARRIVED WITH FUN STUFF FOR ME” when I see it on my porch.

So I was a little surprised when this month’s ReefBox was just a boring brown box.   “Have they changed their packaging?” I asked myself.  I imagine it would probably be cheaper, but…  my blue box?  WHERE’S MY BLUE BOX?

The ReefBox people anticipated that. So imagine my delight when I opened the box, and saw this…

Oh boy oh boy oh boy…
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March ReefBox Unboxing! Better Late Than Never!

Wow.  I am so behind on these.  I’ve just been so incredibly busy, what with work, getting ready for a year’s worth of dive trips, and Phoenix Comic Fest on the horizon, I just haven’t had a chance to sit down and review the cool stuff I’ve been getting from ReefBox.  Divers, if you’ve got the money, sign up for it.   It’s like getting a little present each month to yourself.  Yeah, there’s redundancies, but the difference between a failed dive trip and a successful dive is redundancies. The night before you get on the plane or hop in the car, and you don’t have something, you’re going to be angry.  Don’t be angry, get ReefBox.

And if you’re just starting out diving, over the past 3 months (YES I’M THAT FAR BEHIND), I’ve gotten stuff I would have loved as a new diver.  It’s win-win.

So the March ReefBox was the “Dive Boat Essentials” box.  Behold!

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February ReefBox Unboxing!

So, subscription services are all the rage these days.  Everything from food to dog toys, it’s like getting a little gift (that you paid for) once a month.  I really like the concept, and about a year and a half ago, I signed up for the Waterman’s Pack (which was meant for fishermen, surfers, and SCUBA divers), and happily, signed up to get a box in July, which was timed for Shark Week (check out my Shark Week reviews here at Nerdvana!). It was a box curated by Andy Casagande IV (the Shark Week veteran photographer and diver), and a portion of that month’s profits were donated to my friends at Shark Angels, who I wound up diving with 8 months later in Fiji.  I got a nice little dive knife, and a few other things, including a print of an Andy Casagrande shark encounter.

And then a month later then ditched the fishermen and SCUBA divers portion of it, and started going marketing directly to watersports.  I kept going for a month and got a tshirt and hat, but not really my thing, so I cancelled it.

And then thanks to the miracle of Facebook Targeted Advertising…  I found ReefBox!

reefbox
Promotional image/ReefBox.Com (used under Fair Use guidelines)

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To Save the Ocean, Start at the Ballot Box (Part I)

First off, it’s good to be back!  It’s been over 4 months since my last post, and as much as I want to blame the fact I’ve been busy (which I have been), and work (which there has been a lot of), and travel (ditto – in 2017, I dove two oceans, two seas, and a lake), the truth is I’ve been overwhelmed by events and needed a mental health break.

I’ve been overwhelmed by the sheer pace of everything that’s been going on with the oceans. For every story of hope and goodwill (did you see the story about the people saving sea turtles from the recent cold snap?), there’s fear and hopelessness.  That for all the work we’ve done (and many of you have helped out with!), it could all be for naught because of the American lust for profit.

I’ve also been wrestling with the ideas of political purity versus political expediency.  Basically, how does one reconcile what they want out of politics versus what they can get?  Many people have made some persuasive arguments about propping up the American two-party system does not affect change, but all the while, while engaged in this existentialist wankathon, one party, and only one party, has been plotting the systemic destruction of the one thing on this planet I truly care about.

And I might have remained in this bullshit fugue state for this wake-up call by the Trump administration.

Chyron.jpg
Like an alarm clock made of a Civil War cannon.  

Continue reading “To Save the Ocean, Start at the Ballot Box (Part I)”

Poem: The Consequence of Technology Unchecked.

SHARKNADO 5: GLOBAL SWARMING — Season:2017 — Pictured: (l-r) Tara Reid as April Shepard, Ian Ziering as Fin Shepard, Cassie Scerbo as Nova Clarke — (Photo by: James Dimmock/Syfy)

Here’s a poem from “Chumming the Waters” (available in my new shop!) that touches on the themes which seem to be dominating the week, which include anthropogenic climate change (and our government’s steadfast refusal to acknowlege it), devastating storms, and as always, sharks.

I give you The Consequence of Technology Unchecked!
Continue reading “Poem: The Consequence of Technology Unchecked.”