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jeff_dudas
Joined: 30 Jun 2004
Posts: 752
Location: Miami, Florida
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 Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2005 7:22 pm Post subject: Who is Dr. Alistair Billings? |
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Just curious if anyone knows "Dr. Alistair Billings" aka "Alistair Billings" aka "DR. ALISTAIR W. BILLINGS"? In fact, I'm more than curious. I'll give anyone an UnderwaterTimes.com t-shirt and baseball cap if they can 1) Prove that "Alistair Billings" is a real person that goes by that name 2) he's a doctor of something or another.
Good luck.
If anyone makes any progress, please post your results.
| Quote: | Paradise Screwed: Spiegel Grove and the Florida Keys
Powered by CDNN - CYBER DIVER News Network
by Dr. ALISTAIR BILLINGS
Too many dive boats, too many sport fishers, too many people have turned the Florida Keys into an ecological disaster.
It's hard to believe that only 50 years ago, an hour's drive from Miami airport and a 20 minute boat ride across crystalline aquamarine waters could take divers, sport fishers and boaters to an unspoiled underwater paradise.
But there it was - the world of the Florida Keys - a curving line of shining islets stretching from Biscayne Bay for over 150 miles to the southwest.
As it had remained for thousands of years, the undersea treasure that was the Florida Keys of the 50s - even the early 70s - was flanked by vast tracts of unblemished corals washed by shallow turquoise seas.
The unspoiled habitats were occupied by an abundance and diversity of marine life that equaled - if not surpassed - just about anything else the tropical western Atlantic had to offer.
But that was then, and this is now.
Sure, the water still looks pretty on the sand flats - on a good day anyway. And there are still more than a few fish to be seen.
But the condition of the reefs? The quality of coastal waters here? That's another story entirely.
See, in the Keys, you can mess with people's health. You can mess with the ocean environment. You can do just about anything you want to marine wildlife. But don't even THINK about messing with dive operator profits.
You might not know that until you arrive though, especially if you plan vacations around Chamber of Commerce come-ons.
"When it comes to diving and snorkeling, the Florida Keys unlock an underwater paradise…crystal clear waters with visibility up to 120 feet…coral reefs teeming with life…Visibility averages 60 to 80 feet with good days topping 120 plus feet."
Wowie! What's wrong with that?
Nothing - if you believe it. If you had no way of knowing that the pictures in that brochure they sent you were actually taken in 1972.
What you - Joe Tourist Diver - are NOT supposed to see are those nasty little government and news reports that document the real Florida Keys circa 2002.
Like, "Water quality tests at Keys beaches revealed unacceptable levels of fecal coliform bacteria in public swimming areas." (Keys news report)
Or, "We have documented a loss of corals in the Florida Keys. The loss rate at the studied locations averaged 4% per year, and was up to 10% per year in some places." (James W. Porter, Ph. D.)
Or, "Other studies have detected human viruses and fecal bacteria in many residential canal systems of the Keys which are indicative of contamination of those water bodies by human feces." (Dr. Bill Kruczynski, Florida Keys Program Scientist, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
Or (from a 6-28-2000 health advisory) "Canals and near-shore waters in Key Largo, Lower Matecumbe Key and Marathon contain viruses that cause polio and viral meningitis. Swimming or fishing in some Keys canals could be hazardous to health. Even wading or eating raw or improperly cooked fish from infectious areas carries considerable health risks."
"Holy moly", you say. "Where's all that crap coming from?"
Why spend taxpayer funds on sewage systems when you can buy the 'Spiegel Grove'?
According to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-funded expert, " All the detected viruses are transmissible by human feces and are believed to have migrated into Keys canals and near-shore waters in raw sewage from leaking cesspools and septic tanks."
Ok - so the problem has been identified. That's a good start. So, what are they doing about it down there? Everyone knows they have to fix this right NOW, don't they?
Nope. Not everyone, Joe. Not if it means cutting down a bit on those big diver dollars that have come to mean so much, to so few.
Been to a Key Largo Chamber of Commerce meeting lately? They go something like this:
"Sure, we could put all the money we can get our hands on to begin cleaning up all this stinkin' sewage. Course, not as many divers will come down here until it's fixed, and that could take some time."
"Hmm…you're right. Hey - I've got it! We can just move the diving further offshore - out past those damn fecal form things, floating poop and dead reefs - we can put fake reefs wherever we want, just by sinking old ships!
"Yeah!. And we'll charge every diver an extra ten bucks to pay for sinking 'em, and then make each pay another $75 for a one-hour lecture and a Wreck Diving merit badge!"
"Sure, it'll cost a few bucks up front - but what about that big bag of cash earmarked for improvements in water quality that's just sitting around in the County coffers - that should be plenty - just tell the County we'll pay 'em back when we collect enough ten dollar diver fees!"
"Sure, it's in a National Marine Sanctuary. But that's what it REALLY means down here - Sanctuary for dive tours. Anyway, I know The Management. They don't want any trouble with us - they'll go along."
And they did go along - all of them did.
Tired of healthy coral reefs and the same old fish? Go to the Florida Keys and dive Duane, Bibb, Spiegel Grove PLUS JESUS all for just $299!!!
The Monroe County Commission just approved immediate diversion of $300,000 slated for water clean-up to instead prepare the "Spiegel Grove" - a 500' mothballed government ship that will be sunk this summer off Key Largo in FKNMS waters. The County swears the shell game is just a temporary ledger shift - but we've heard that before.
The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary just OK'd the sinking of this massive unnatural object in Sanctuary waters, even as the Program reaffirmed its role as vaunted guardians of the "ecological integrity" of the Keys marine environment.
No matter that "scientists are concerned that artificial reefs may harm fish stocks if they merely concentrate available biomass rather than increase its production on a regional basis". (Dr. Gary Grossman, 1997)
No matter that the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council (a citizen body made up of a variety of stakeholder interests) passed a resolution in December of 2001 asking Billy Causey to express to the Monroe County Commission their disapproval of the Commission's vote to fund creation of the Spiegel Grove artificial reef using wastewater funds targeted for Lower Keys.
Causey had apparently given the green light to dive operators of Key Largo way back when they first approached him with the idea. He is quoted in 1998 :"Though some fish scientists say artificial reefs can hurt the real thing by competing with them, the Sanctuary is willing to give these (Spiegel Grove and another large ship a try."
And that, folks, is the end game of Paradise Screwed - Keys style.
See, in the Keys, you can mess with people's health. You can mess with the ocean environment. You can do just about anything you want to marine wildlife.
But in the Keys, don't even THINK about messing with dive operator profits. That's going too far in a land that boasts "more dive shops per square mile than anywhere else in the world".
No matter that the Keys have lost 80-90% of their living coral since 1970, and that once-lush living reefs have been reduced to tumbled piles of algal and sponge covered rocks.
No matter that once-clear coastal waters - the lifeblood of the entire ecosystem - are today frequently unsafe for people to swim in, let alone for fish to live in.
No matter at all, if you'll just open your hearts and believe in the enlightening words of Keys dive operator and Chamber of Commerce leader Steven Frink: "The Florida Keys have long set the world standard of marine conservation and ecological concern".
Thanks for that, Steve - it mean's a lot, coming from the man leading the charge to put sunken ships ahead of Keys water quality.
No wonder Jimmy Buffett moved to New York City. He just wanted a cleaner environment.
COPYRIGHT © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK |
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ghostbear29
Joined: 09 Feb 2005
Posts: 12
Location: Tucson, Az
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| Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 11:47 am Post subject: Dr. Billings |
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Hey Jeff,
Just think its funny how you seem to have an eye for this stuff. Good job. 13 pages later and 3 search engines found THOUSANDS of dr. Billings. Only, none were even close to research involved work. They pretty much run the gambit from fertility clinics to cardiac surgeons. Lots of grants were posted from University in montana in a late dr. billings name.....but thats all. Still cannot even find a pic of one. Amazing. I only thought the alphabet newsies fabricated news. Well, good work anyway. I will keep looking.
jeff
ghostbear29 
_________________
"Raising Arizona" |
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jeff_dudas
Joined: 30 Jun 2004
Posts: 752
Location: Miami, Florida
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| Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 1:42 pm Post subject: Upping the ante... |
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That's strange. You would think a reporter, especially a doctor, would have citations all over the place. Real people have email addresses. Hmmm...
If you dig a little deeper, I'm sure you wouldn't be surprised to know that 'Freeman Washington', which is their managing editor, is also a small city just outside of Spokane, Washington. I don't think you'll be able to find out anything else about him either.
To make this even more interesting, I'll give anyone $500 cash, an UnderwaterTimes.com t-shirt and baseball cap, if they can 1) Prove that "Alistair Billings" is a real person that goes by that name 2) he's a doctor of something or another 3) he works for, or is affiliated with, CDNN.
BTW, I've contacted CDNN about Billings and haven't heard back. I'll take that as a no comment.
Keep me informed of your progress.
Last edited by jeff_dudas on Fri Jan 13, 2006 3:00 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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jeff_dudas
Joined: 30 Jun 2004
Posts: 752
Location: Miami, Florida
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| Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 5:00 pm Post subject: Maybe I have this whole thing wrong... |
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Maybe I should be asking for someone to prove that Alistair *doesn't* exist. But then again, you can't prove something doesn't exist.
In the meantime, the $500 offer + tshirt + cap offer is still out there. |
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jeff_dudas
Joined: 30 Jun 2004
Posts: 752
Location: Miami, Florida
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| Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2005 7:28 pm Post subject: Reward Upped |
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| OK, I've upped the reward to $1,000. Surely, for that kind of money, someone could find Dr. Billings, right? Maybe someone could even afford a private detective? |
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Jayhawk_1995
Joined: 29 Jul 2004
Posts: 6
Location: Minneapolis, MN
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| Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 7:31 am Post subject: You're creeping me out... |
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| Why the extreme interest in the good doctor? $1,000 is a lot of money...... I can't even count the number of times I'd have to donate plasma to get that much money together. |
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Jayhawk_1995
Joined: 29 Jul 2004
Posts: 6
Location: Minneapolis, MN
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| Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 7:56 am Post subject: Another old article from Mr./Dr. B. |
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http://www.cdnn.info/eco/e011207a/e011207a.html
| Quote: | Sir Peter Blake killed by pirates on Amazon eco expedition
Powered by CDNN - CYBER DIVER News Network
by ALISTAIR BILLINGS
BRAZIL (7 Dec 2001) -- Sir Peter Blake, KBE, one of the great sailors of his generation and a man who brought great thoughtfulness and heart to all his endeavors, was killed by marauders last night aboard the 108-foot exploration vessel Seamaster on the waters of the Amazon.
Seamaster was under way, as explained by the official literature of Blake Expeditions, "To help protect the waters of the world and, so, life in, on and around those waters." In July, the 53-year-old Blake had been appointed a good will ambassador for the United Nations Environmental Program. He was acting in that capacity and filing daily reports on his explorations from Seamaster until his death. Seamaster had recently left the Antarctic for the Brazilian Amazon.
A statement from Blake's agent said, "A group of seven or eight armed and hooded intruders boarded Seamaster at approximately 10:15pm local time on Wednesday. Sir Peter was fatally shot, and two other members of Seamaster's crew were injured, one with a gunshot wound across the back, the other with a blow to the face."
Blake won the 1988/89 Whitbread Round the World Race in spectacular fashion. Later he headed the 1995 New Zealand team that won the America's Cup from the San Diego YC. For those feats, he was knighted by the queen. The Auckland-born Blake also led the overwhelmingly-successful New Zealand America's Cup defense in 2000. He is survived by his wife Pippa and two children.
Seamaster is French-designed and specially-built for extreme adventuring. Her reinforced aluminum hull and rounded shape keep her from being crushed by pack-ice pressure in extreme north or south latitudes. She is powerful enough to cut her way though relatively dense ice fields. With shallow draft, retractable centerboards and rudder, and tunnel-mounted propellers, she can penetrate river shallows.
Blake's Web site (http://www.blakeexpeditions.com) carries in-depth information about Seamaster's discoveries. It also carries Peter Blake's log. Here is an excerpt from his final entry, as Seamaster made its way back downriver:
Dusk has turned the surface of the river into a greasy grey, with the sky quickly darkening after the sun's orange and golds have gone. We always hope for a clear night, and tonight the moon will be up soon after 9pm, but this means two and a half hours of real blackness before then. There are flashes of lightning up ahead, with the radar showing a band of rain stretching out either side of our course. There are lights of ships, barge traffic, ferries and small towns; and the flaming floating pots marking the extremities of the fishing nets to avoid. A cool breeze blows out of the lightning cloud and the as-yet unfelt rain.
The river tonight is flat calm, then turns choppy briefly in puffs of wind from the clouds, then calm once more. At times the swirls and small waves are caused by the current flowing over the very uneven river bed, 40 metres at times with sheer cliffs to 20 metres, then deep again; and sand waves up to 12 metres high beneath us show on the depth sounder, regular as a geometric design, the sand slowing marching to the Atlantic on a journey that began thousands of mile away, driven onward by this vast amount of moving fresh water.
There is a crew member on the bow of Seamaster, on lookout duty, mainly for large logs, patches of floating weed, or fishing boats without lights. He has the big searchlight with which to check from time to time. It can be quite cold up in front, the temperature down to 26 degrees C or so, and thermals are occasionally needed and worn. How strange to be in the Amazon with polar fleece jacket and trousers on.
The lookout is in contact with the pilot house, the crew there monitoring engine gauges, making hourly checks of the engine room, pumping fuel, marking our progress on the chart, and keeping an eye on the radar and depth sounder, our two most useful instruments for this river travel. Hardly more than a few minutes goes by without a change of course to keep in the deepest section, or avoid a sandbar, or pass an island, so there is not much time to relax.
Tonight there are bands of smoke - thick smoke - pouring out of some of the inlets and out of the forest, making walls right across the river. The smell of the burning forest fills the air and also our cabins.
Daytime:The high land around Almeirim is over to port. There is a large cloud overhead at the moment, causing a breeze to blow along the river, but it also provides welcome shade for a few minutes. The green frame of the Amazon rain forest is ever present, contrasting with the red-earth scars on higher ground, and the yellow clay by the waters edge. We could have come here by commercial plane, stayed a few weeks, and left. But that wouldn't have given us the essence of the Amazon.
We haven't hoisted sails for more than 2 months now--but this will soon be corrected when we turn left out of the mouth of the river and enter the trade winds; early next week, fingers crossed! |
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Jayhawk_1995
Joined: 29 Jul 2004
Posts: 6
Location: Minneapolis, MN
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| Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 7:59 am Post subject: One more old story.. Maybe it will help the trace... |
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http://www.cdnn.info/eco/e010615/e010615.html
| Quote: | Coral record helps researchers understand global climate changes
Powered by CDNN - CYBER DIVER News Network
by ALISTAIR BILLINGS
SAN DIEGO, California (15 June 2001) -- Coral extracted from a remote central Pacific island has helped scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, construct a valuable new record of climate conditions during the 20th century. The record, which allowed the researchers to trace sea surface conditions over a 112-year-period, may hold implications for long-range climate forecasting and predictability due to the central tropical Pacific's key influence on climate conditions around the world.
With samples drawn from a tiny Pacific atoll called Palmyra, Kim Cobb and Christopher Charles's new coral record shows that a 12- to 13-year cyclical pattern of temperatures emerges in the Pacific that is related to similar patterns in the Atlantic and Indian oceans.
"Several important implications arise from these findings, including the possibility that the observed global climate variability on decadal time scales reflects a 'teleconnected' response to changing conditions in the central tropical Pacific Ocean," said Kim Cobb, lead author of the study.
The report, co-authored by David Hunter, a former Scripps graduate student, is published in the June 1 issue of Geophysical Research Letters.
Climate researchers have studied the tropical Pacific's role in powerful, far-reaching phenomena such as El Nino, which operates over a 3- to 7-year period.
But, says Charles, associate professor of geology in the Geosciences Research Division at Scripps: "This new, highly accurate coral record shows that there are processes that connect these ocean basins on time scales longer than El Nino. We know from intensive monitoring of the El Nino that the ocean basins act in concert to a certain extent. But this record is showing without a doubt that there are processes, many of which are analogous to El Nino processes, that are operating on 12- to 13-year cycles. So this shows that connections exist on much longer time scales, which is important for long-range forecasting and predictability."
Climate scientists have developed models that outline several scenarios for air-sea interactions that operate on cycles described by Cobb and Charles, known as "decadal variability." However, proof from the field, or instrumental records, have been sparse. Prior to World War II, significant gaps existed in critical regions of the ocean, especially from the vital tropics regions.
Early in 1998, Cobb and Charles began compiling a list of locations that could deliver such important records. Targeting the Line Island chain for a 1998 cruise, Cobb and her colleagues found the long-lived, healthy corals necessary for the study on Palmyra Island. Over two weeks, Cobb and a small team used portable drills to extract more than 70 samples from coral heads above and below sea level.
With samples in hand, the following year was dedicated to laboratory analysis. Using mass spectrometry analysis, Cobb measured tiny differences in the ratio of oxygen isotopes in the coral cores. These differences allowed Cobb to determine precisely how the monthly sea water temperatures changed, thus becoming a detailed climate record for the tropical Pacific.
"It's definitely the highest-quality and longest record from that area," said Cobb, a fifth-year graduate student at Scripps. "We now have a well-proven coral record taken from a very sensitive area."
Although it is not addressed in the current study, the coral also represents a new record for analyzing changes over the last century that may have been caused by human-induced global warming. In fact, the coral reveals a rapid warming in the tropical Pacific over the last 30 years.
Cobb and Charles are in the process of extending the coral-based climate record from Palmyra beyond the 112-year period covered in the current paper. Analysis of fossil corals collected at Palmyra allows them to trace climatological phenomena such as El Nino and decadal variability throughout the last millennium.
The study was funded by the National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship program and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Consortium on Ocean's Role in Climate. Additional support was provided by The Nature Conservancy and HRH Prince Khaled Bin Sultan Bin Abdulaziz. |
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jeff_dudas
Joined: 30 Jun 2004
Posts: 752
Location: Miami, Florida
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| Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 7:20 pm Post subject: A terrible question |
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C'mon Jayhawk, you can do better than that. I'm interested in the good doctor because he doesn't exist. It's like finding your bank balance is off by one penny and wondering why. Maybe it has a larger meaning.
Can someone figure out what Billings is a doctor of? Parapsychology? Is he a chiropractor? A theologian? A vet? A chemist? An architect?
When did he become a doctor?
I encourage everyone to contact his employer and ask. He works for a "news" organization. They should be more than forthcoming, transparent, right?
This should be a slam dunk.
Do I have to raise the reward to $5,000? Heck, I'll give the first person that can find his email address an UnderwaterTimes.com t-shirt.
BTW Jayhawk, are you sure Billings actually wrote those stories? I know they have his name on the byline, but what does mean a byline mean if Billings is a figment of someone's imagination?
Get back to me after you think it over a little bit. |
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Jayhawk_1995
Joined: 29 Jul 2004
Posts: 6
Location: Minneapolis, MN
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| Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 7:23 am Post subject: You're crafty... |
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Ah you're a crafty one, Mr. Dudas. Quite crafty indeed.
Just a side note - If I found out that my bank balance was off by a penny, I certainly wouldn't spend $1,000 trying to find out how it happened. But more to the point than that, it would be AMAZING for me to notice something like that. I may work in Finance but that doesn't mean that I track my checkbook.
I'm in full agreement that the name is totally made up. I spent valuable hours (employer's work hours, mind you) thinking about the name yesterday. I'm wondering if it's like the porn star name game where you put the last name of your Kindergarten teacher together with the name of the street you grew up on to get your pornstar name. Billings... maybe that's the home city of the author? At any rate... I'm sure it's a pen name but strange that that's the only place he's publishing with it - and only every few years.
FYI - There are only three "Al Billings" listed in the entire US in yahoo.people.com searches... Alabama, Oregon, and Washington.
I'm still not sure I am buying into your reason for wondering about Mr./Dr. Billings. Something smells fishy.....
Peace out.
Jayhawk |
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Sculpin
Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 23
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 4:00 pm Post subject: |
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But what if your bank balance was off by a penny because someone defrauding your bank accidentally messed up your account amount? It pays to notice the small things. A famous case of forgery in England was solved because someone left a piece of paper outside their garage which turned out to be the trim off bits from fake pound notes.
If A.B. is a pseudonym, it is is curious on otherwise straightforward news articles, and makes the news itself harder to track back to the source. Perhaps he doesn't use his name because they are not his articles?
Or, someone is unwilling to link their name with the ocean, unlike Mr. Dudas. If you are Mr. Dudas...But then I have a confession. I am not a small rockpool fish with spines. Sorry. I am just the person the rockpool fish hired because he couldn't manage the keyboard.
Could Alistair Billings be a small but opinionated rockpool fish with keyboard disability? |
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jeff_dudas
Joined: 30 Jun 2004
Posts: 752
Location: Miami, Florida
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| Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 6:03 pm Post subject: But why? |
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| Why would a legitimate news organization use pseudonyms for a news reporter? |
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jeff_dudas
Joined: 30 Jun 2004
Posts: 752
Location: Miami, Florida
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| Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2005 6:49 pm Post subject: Where is Dr. Bilings? |
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It seems since I starting looking for the elusive Dr. Billings, he's going missing, not writing any more. Is he now dead or writing under another name? Strange. Maybe I should change the contest to "Where is Dr. Billings?".
Anyway, I'm upping the reward to $2,500. |
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Squid_boy
Joined: 03 Jan 2006
Posts: 3
Location: Brisbane, Australia
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jeff_dudas
Joined: 30 Jun 2004
Posts: 752
Location: Miami, Florida
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| Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 5:08 pm Post subject: good work squid_boy |
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Spamming, copyright infringement, racism... and reporter that doesn't seem to exist. All so shocking. At the beginning of hunt for Alistair, I would have never guessed that a legitimate news organization could have so many skeletons in their closet.
I would write to them for comment, but I don't think they have a physical address. New Zealand? Japan? New York? I could email the editor, but I don't think he has an email address. Hmmm...
For an underwatertimes.com t-shirt, can someone find their physical address and the editor's email address? |
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