Garrett has a special suit that allows him to breath underwater. On the suit lies a special pouch that can be filled with oxygen, once underwater he can then breathe that oxygen through a built in straw. McNamara tells a source that he is currently looking to break his current behemoth of a record with an even better suit; he says he’s hunting for a 120-footer in Portugal.

The same source asked McNamara how he survived to which he simply replied “I don’t”.

Today, February 12, marks the culmination of an awful lot of effort and energy by many people around the world, volunteers all, who have made Twestival.

This is an event taking place today in over 175 cities around the world, all with the ultimate objective of raising money to support the work of charity: water, a non-profit organization that brings clean, safe drinking water to people in developing countries by funding sustainable clean water solutions in areas of greatest need.

Where I live in the UK, the nearest Twestival to me is Reading Twestival, and I’m going to be there this evening at 7pm. If you’re planning on being there, too, and haven’t yet got your ticket, there’s still time! There’ll even be a raffle where you could win some cool stuff.

Wherever you are in the world, there’s a chance there’s a Twestival near you – check the sidebar on the Twestival home page for the long list of cities, each with a link to the local Twestival.

Twestival is more than simply an event in cities around the world – you can also:

• Upload or buy music at Twestival.fm
• Take part in the t-shirt design competition
• Donate to charity: water

However you participate in Twestival, have fun as well!

Comments

We don’t think about water very much, unless it’s pouring again as it did through much of the late winter and early spring. Google thinks about water frequently, due to the success and adoption of its Google Earth program.

The software takes the user on a flight to points around the world. Since water covers a big percentage of our home planet, people will encounter bodies of water of all sizes while traveling around the Google Earth interface.

Andrew McLaughlin wrote on the always-interesting Google Public Policy blog how naming a humble little sea may drown one in controversy. Geopolitics, it seems, has an active and emotional human component.

Navigating these turbulent seas means using a mechanism to name a body of water as fairly as possible. Said McLaughlin:

As the publishers of a geographic reference tool, we believe that Google should not choose sides in international geopolitical disputes. For this reason, we’ve chosen to implement a uniform policy of Primary Local Usage.

Under this policy, the English Google Earth client displays the primary, common, local name(s) given to a body of water by the sovereign nations that border it. If all bordering countries agree on the name, then the common single name is displayed (e.g. “Caribbean Sea” in English, “Mar Caribe” in Spanish, etc.). But if different countries dispute the proper name for a body of water, our policy is to display both names, with each label placed closer to the country or countries that use it.

Additionally, Google Earth carries extra information about bodies of water where relevant. Clicking a text box reveals the bonus details available.

The search advertising company considered other ways of determining names for bodies of water, but found them lacking. Google rejected the UN’s Cartographic Section as not detailed enough, while deeming the use of academics as sources as “fraught with likely bias.”

Of course, anyone who feels Google is all wet when it comes to naming water may create a layer for Google Earth with the names they consider appropriate, and use it themselves.