On Wednesday night, June 18th, step outside at sunset and look around. You'll see a giant form rising in the east. At first glance it looks like the full Moon. It has craters and seas and the face of a man, but this "moon" is strangely inflated. It's huge!
You've just experienced the Moon Illusion.
There's no better time to see it. The full Moon of June 18th is a "solstice moon", coming only two days before the beginning of northern summer. This is significant because the sun and full Moon are like kids on a see-saw; when one is high, the other is low. This week's high solstice sun gives us a low, horizon-hugging Moon and a strong Moon Illusion.
I just found an incredibly inspiring story of a double-amputee learning to surf after catching a glimpse of surfers gliding across the waves at a Los Angeles beach he visited while receiving care at the Loma Linda University Medical Center. Mohammad Malek is an 18-year-old Afghani kid whose legs were blown off after stepping on not one, but two landmines while walking home from work.
His story is tragic. His triumph is epic.
My deepest respect goes to Michael Pless, the owner of <a href="http://www.surfingschool.com/">M & M surf school</a> located in Seal Beach, California for helping this kid.
Drew Brophy is probably best know for his slightly psychedelic surfboard designs and soon we will be able to buy his DVD that reveals many of the secrets he has discovered and techniques he has developed over his prolific career. This new video should be the perfect inspiration for all of you do-it-yourself braddahs and sistahs out there who want to paint their own board but don't know how. Read on for more info....
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 21 April, 2008 : - - KAHULUI, Maui — One of the world's most renowned surfers died last Wednesday at Hale Makua, Kahului, The Maui News reported. Big wave surfer Woodbridge Parker "Woody" Brown was 96. "Woody Brown was one of the first and greatest icons in the history of surfing," Sen. Fred Hemmings said Friday.
"He was the essential surfer, an iconoclast: extremely independent, futuristic and, most especially, healthy," said Hemmings, the 1968 world surfing champion who inaugurated the world professional surfing circuit in 1975, "which explains why he lived for 96 very productive, wonderful years. And I only hope more of us who call ourselves surfers can live the way Woody lived.
La Niña is expected to continue for the next 3 months.
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 22 April, 2008 : - - La Nina declined to moderate-strength during March 2008 as negative sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies weakened across the central and east-central equatorial Pacific. The latest weekly SSTs are more than 1.0°C below average in areas between 160°E and 120°W (Fig. 1). All of the Niño indices warmed during March (Fig. 2), with only the westernmost Niño-4 and Niño-3.4 regions having values nearly 1.0°C below average. Above-average SSTs remained restricted to the far eastern equatorial Pacific in association with a significant warming trend that began in mid-December.
In the central Pacific, the subsurface temperature anomalies also lessened (averaging −1°C to −4°C at thermocline depth), and became increasingly confined to the surface region (Fig. 3). This evolution led to a significant weakening of the negative ocean heat content anomalies (average temperatures in the upper 300m of the ocean; Fig 4). Despite this oceanic trend, the atmospheric conditions continue to strongly reflect La Niña.
Australia's infamous Bra Boys are a nationally and internationally known group of close-knit friends bound by their love of surfing and the beach. Often the centre of negative Australian press and the assumed (sometimes factual) blame for local crime and bad social behavior, the Bra Boys insist they are not a "gang" in the typical sense of the word and are instead a potentially well known group of friends made up of some otherwise recognized members including all three Abberton brothers and a string of football players and other fellow surfers.
Blog 
