Live From Telluride!

We interrupt this regularly scheduled Bermuda Shorts program to bring you The Life Outside, my Outside Television blog about my latest assignment in Telluride, Colorado. As you'll see, I'm blogging from the road from a vibrant town filled with arts, culture and some of the best mountain views I've seen in awhile. Interested? Then head on over to The Life Outside for updates about my show, the Outside Film Festival, complete with production photos from our latest shoot. In the meantime thanks for reading! (And have no fear, I'll be back with your island news and tropical updates very, very soon).

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a Meteor!

It’s clearly one of the greatest aspects about living on a tiny island in the middle of nowhere—there’s a serious lack of light pollution here. Think about it. Bermuda cottages barely emit any light to the open air, streetlights are few and far between and the island has nary a skyscraper, ala New York's Times Square, that needs to get lit throughout the night for the public to see. That’s why I’m especially excited about this year’s Perseid meteor shower, which will be best viewed from 10pm tonight through early Friday morning. According to Eddie McGonagle of the Bermuda Astrological Society and first reported in the Bermuda Sun, “stargazers will be able to spot shooting stars at a rate of 50 per hour.” Wowsa. That's a whole lotta stars! So what exactly should folks in Bermuda expect to see when looking at the night sky tonight? Long slow streaks of light from the northeast (like the picture above) then shorter more rapid bursts, which will eventually move directly overhead (like a typical shooting star). Time to get out the telescopes!

Bermuda Triangle Mystery Solved!

It’s been a decades long question: Why do so many vessels, airplanes and people disappear in the so-called Bermuda Triangle? Theories about the nearly 1,000,000-square-feet slice of Atlantic, which is connected by south Florida, Puerto Rico and Bermuda, have ranged from space aliens to meteorological phenomenon. But according to new reports yesterday, a pair of research scientists have finally found the answer. It turns out the Triangle has a gnarly case of gas. In a paper published in the American Journal of Physics, professor Joseph Monaghan and honor student David May at the Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, determined that methane is the culprit behind the mysterious disappearances. Reports the South Atlantic News Agency, “The two hypothesized that large methane bubbles rising from the ocean floor might account for many, if not all, of the mysterious disappearances of ships and aircraft at specific locales around the world.” The report continues, “Any ships caught within the methane mega-bubble immediately lose all buoyancy and sink to the bottom of the ocean. If the bubbles are big enough and possess a high enough density they can also knock aircraft out of the sky with little or no warning. Aircraft falling victim to these methane bubbles will lose their engines—perhaps igniting the methane surrounding them—and immediately lose their lift as well, ending their flights by diving into the ocean and swiftly plummeting.” So there you have it folks. It looks like Bermuda needs a big 'ol bottle of Beano.

The Life Outside

As most of you now know, Tropical Storm Colin was officially a bust—the storm that wasn't times ten shall we say—so I won't bore you with nonsensical musings about hunkering down for a punishing rain that never came. Long story short: It was a lovely weekend in Bermuda. In other news it's Tuesday, so I'm filling the web with tales of The Life Outside over on Outside Television. Today's topic? Twitter, the micro-blogging service that opened my eyes to some pretty incredible things last week, like Mount Everest mysteries solved, sustainable woods for Gibson guitars and Northern Rockies wolves getting put back on the Endangered Species list (which, as you'll see, is a good thing). You can read all about it here or just bookmark OutsideTelevision.com and pop in every Tuesday for your weekly update about The Life Outside. Thanks for reading!

Storm Watch: UPDATE

This latest image comes from RMS Cat updates, which tracks potential catastrophes including natural hazards, terrorism and mortality risk, among others. According to its recent report, Tropical Storm Colin has maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, which are expected to reach 70 mph when the system nears Bermuda on Saturday. (Click it for a larger image. That thick white cloud in the middle is the storm. Bermuda is the tiny speck in its path). Flying to Bermuda this weekend? Travelers on U.S. Airways can change their itineraries without penalty and Continental just announced a similar policy that will waive change fees for island-bound passengers this weekend. No word yet from Delta or JetBlue, although travelers on low-cost carrier WestJet should have nothing to worry about: The Canadian airline unveiled a Tropical Storm Colin travel advisory earlier today and its Hurricane Promise automatically waives change fees if travelers rebook their itinerary within fourteen days. The skies are now clear, but isn't there some sort of cliché about a calm before the storm? Batten down the hatches Bermuda, I think it's time for Dark n Stormy's!