Coral Reefs

Wait, wait, don't tell me! Isn't that a thingamabob? No, I mean a whatchamacallit? A gizmo? Kay Hwang's obsessively controlled drawings of what look like rows of mechanical gadgets or electronics parts, on view at Goya Girl Contemporary, leave you with the strange feeling that somewhere - though, come to think of it, you can't quite remember where - you've seen these things before, whatever they are. They have the deeply familiar look of ordinary things...

The Persian Gulf oil spill, once feared bigger than the 4.2 million barrels released by the Ixtoc I blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, is actually much smaller, about 1.5 million to 2 million barrels. That's good news, but the oil that remains is not.The Gulf of Mexico is open to the Caribbean. Prince William Sound, fouled by millions of gallons of oil spilled from the Exxon Valdez, has huge tides and rapid exchange of waters with the sea. But the Persian Gulf is surrounded by desert, with little inflow from rivers, no glaciers to provide fresh, clear water and little rainfall.

Pittsburgh's water world Pittsburgh's zoo is getting a name change to reflect its newest addition, a 42,000-square-foot aquarium. The new Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium will open May 13 with exhibits featuring coral reefs, octopuses, penguins, leafy sea dragons and rare Amazon River dolphins. A stingray touch tank will allow visitors to dangle their digits for a tactile thrill, and perhaps best of all, there will be an exhibit in a 500-gallon rotating tank that zoo officials say not only fosters great views but provides a better environment for its inhabitants.

John L. Ickes, a model, actor and teacher, died April 14 of cancer at his home on Park Avenue in Baltimore. He was 73.Mr. Ickes, a vocal music teacher who also gave private instruction, taught in Baltimore County schools from 1950 until he retired from Catonsville High School in 1975. He began his teaching career at Hagerstown High School in 1948.He had been employed as a travel agent for Charles Center Travel from 1978 until he retired a second time last year.He performed in local dinner theaters and was an extra in the 1976 Warner Bros.

PACIFIC CORAL REEFS. Spencer Tracy. Cloudscapes. R. Buckminster Fuller. The Chinese Year of the Monkey. Lewis and Clark. Sickle cell anemia. The Constellation. What do the above have in common? (No, this is not a question rejected by the writers of Who Wants to be a Millionaire.) Answer: A 37-cent commemorative stamp to be issued next year by the U.S. Postal Service. The service's Citizen Advisory Committee, a 15-member panel that prefers to keep its deliberations private, chooses the stamps from thousands of requests.

Dale Rome of Columbia had always dreamed of diving in the ocean.Saturday, off Key West, Fla., he drowned after completing his first scuba dive with his brother-in-law."

Deep Blue is pure bliss. This documentary about ocean life in all its forms achieves its own tidal pull with visual marvels that conjure a Darwinian delirium. At key moments, birds and fish and sea mammals of every size flood the screen simultaneously. Their grace and speed belie the survival-urge that drives them on. But the cameras of Andy Byatt and Alastair Fothergill (who worked on the BBC/Discovery Channel documentary TV series The Blue Planet) reveal the mysteries of their movements with hypnotic lucidity.

Erosion is not a new problem in Dade County, Fla. Beaches in Miami's metropolitan area were first declared in need of help in the 1950s, and beach replenishment projects are undertaken every five years in selected areas.Now, though, there is a shortage of sand. Sources in the ocean near the beach are almost depleted, partly because man-made inlets along the Eastern seaboard are blocking the natural flow of sand to the area. Going into deeper waters to dredge is more expensive.Visitors are not complaining yet; their objections still tend to focus on debris in the water and overall beach cleanliness.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - In the waters off Fort Lauderdale, just past the second reef, lies a bizarre graveyard of discarded tires. An estimated 2 million of them are scattered over 35 acres of ocean floor, dumped there in the early 1970s in an attempt to create an artificial reef. The reef of tires turned out to be a spectacular failure. Few marine creatures made their homes among the steel-belted radials. And the nylon bands that held bundled tires together broke, allowing the tires to break free, ride the currents and slam into the natural coral reefs.

TODAY, the world watches not just a massive conflict in the Middle East, but perhaps the planet's first true eco-war.Nuclear and chemical warfare has been threatened; threats to use oil as a weapon have now become a reality. Along with all thoughtful people, I shudder at the implications of what appears to be an ever-escalating, ever more desperate battleground. I am especially disturbed because of the Middle East's ecological significance, and its personal significance for me.In 1951, the Middle East was the destination of the first voyage of our ship, Calypso.