Religion

Good Friday

Ecce homo by Antonio Ciseri(1821-1891) Public Domain
Ecce homo by Antonio Ciseri(1821-1891)
Public Domain

Today is Good Friday, an important event in the Christian liturgical calendar. It is the day in which Jesus was crucified on the cross. Observant Christians will mark the day by silent meditation, prayer, and church attendance. Many will fast during the day, particularly during the hours of 12 noon to 3 p.m. Hot Cross Buns are a traditional food many cultures use on this day (and through the Easter season). Most Catholics and Christians will avoid eating meat on this day and usually the main meal will be fish. Good Friday (and sometimes Easter Monday)are public holidays in many countries. Good Friday always occurs on the Friday before Easter Sunday. Passover, where Jews recall the flight from Egypt, often occurs during this time. In 2015 both Good Friday and Passover coincide since Jewish law does not allow Passover to begin on a Thursday.

Titanic, Titanic Miscellaneous

Titanic Hotel To Open Doors To All On 15 April

Photo:public domain
Photo:public domain

30 James Street Hotel, the former home of White Star Line offices in Liverpool (formerly known as Albion House), will open its doors to everyone on 15 April. All 63 rooms will be opened up so that people can tour the entire hotel. Additionally those who proven connections will be allowed to stay overnight–for free.

To earn that special treat, you have to submit stories that prove the connection. And the most interesting will get a free overnight stay for two and an invite to the gala dinner. Lawrence Kenwright, one of the owners told the Liverpool Echo:

We want these people to share it and enjoy it with us and that is why we’re doing this. The occasion will be extra special too because 15 April will mark the 103rd anniversary or the Titanic disaster and with Liverpool having a rich maritime history, we’re extending the offer to those who have worked in shipping or on Liverpool’s docks. We want to hear the best stories and we’re looking at putting them into a commemorative book about the building too.

Source: 30 James Street Hotel To Open Doors To Mark Titanic Anniversary(2 April 2015, Liverpool Echo)

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Miscellaneous

April Fools Day

cmdytragThere is really no way to fool a Titanic enthusiast. I could mock-up some news reports that Titanic II has been approved and under construction or that some new Titanic artifact has been found. Or that a certain eccentric English gentleman who claims ownership of the wreck went to court recently and convinced a UK court that he, as the lawful owner of Titanic, has final say over its disposition and not Premier Exhibitions. Or that during construction in a building formerly used by the original White Star Line papers were found that positively proves that Titanic was sunk by a German submarine.

None of that would fool a real Titanic enthusiast. Over in China they are building a Titanic exhibit that will not only look like Titanic but will simulate the sinking. That is a true story as bizarre as it sounds. Forget the wax museum approach! We will make you feel the shakes and shudders of Titanic heading to its watery grave. No word if they will air cool the exhibit so you feel the freezing temperature of that awful night. Of course if you are paranormal expert, why not seek out the ghosts? Stories abound of Titanic exhibits being haunted. But why? I mean why hang around an exhibit about the ship you died on? Do you really need a character like the one played by the lovely Jennifer Love Hewitt to tell you to move into the light?

The greatest April Fools Day joke was done by Clive Palmer. He spent serious money to wine and dine the rich about his Titanic II. A ship to look like the old one but with all the new safety features of today. And to make it more like 1912, passengers will truly have that feel with segregated sections and uncomfortable sleeping down on third class (called steerage back then). He had plans drawn up and preliminary tests done. He even supposedly signed a preliminary deal with a Chinese shipyard. Alas it is not come to pass. No construction has started, Chinese workers are unimpressed, and Palmer himself is in a row with the Chinese government. An expensive April Fools Day joke for him.

So today I just give it a pass. There is no fooling a Titanic enthusiast. Because on 15 April, it will be 103 years since it sank. And that is not joke.

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Religion

Palm Sunday

Jesus Entry Into Jerusalem by Pietro Lorenzetti(1320). Fresco in the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi, Italy Public Domain
Jesus Entry Into Jerusalem by Pietro Lorenzetti(1320).
Fresco in the Basilica of San Francesco d’Assisi, Italy
Public Domain

Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week on the Christian Calendar. This feast takes place the Sunday before Easter and commemorates Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem.

Miscellaneous

Saturday Retro:U.F.O.(1970)

If Star Trek was the idea of noble adventurers exploring outer space, the show UFO was exactly the opposite. It was about Earth being attacked by an unknown (and never seen in their true form)alien race. At first it is believed they are taking humans for organ harvesting but later episodes suggest a much darker theme: to use the humanoid form to cause all kinds of mischief. These were not kind and cuddly aliens. They were undeniably hostile and it was up to a special unit (funded by world governments but kept secret) called SHADO, which stands for Supreme Headquarters Alien Defense Organization.

The show was dark in theme along with many of its stories. SHADO was led by Colonel Straker (Ed Bishop) and others who made up the special unit. Set in the 1980’s, it displayed futuristic tech in cars, hairstyles, and clothing. Shado had a moonbase, underwater submersibles, and all kinds of other nifty gadgets. They also had SID (Space Intruder Detector) that detected incoming alien spacecraft.

Since most of the world was in the dark about the invasion, SHADO was located underneath a movie studio so that no one would notice people dressed in odd outfits or coming and going at all hours of the day. The show was created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and ran for 26 episodes in 1970 (in the US for two years). It was their first foray into live action. They would make a second live actions series, Space:1999 two years after U.F.O.’s run.

Further Info: UFO (TV Series):Wikipedia

Titanic

Thursday Titanic News

Titanic Belfast (side view) Image:Prioryman (Wikipedia)
Titanic Belfast (side view)
Image:Prioryman (Wikipedia)

1. Last Letter Ever Written On Titanic Arrives In Belfast To Go On Display As Part Of Five Year Loan(25 Mar 2015,Belfast Live)
The historic artefact, written by a mother and daughter who survived the ship’s sinking but was never sent, is being loaned to the attraction for five years. It will go on display in Titanic Belfast after Easter. The official handover will take place on Wednesday morning. The letter was written by Essex-born Esther Hart and her seven-year-old daughter Eva just eight hours before the ship hit an iceberg and sank in April 1912.

Photo:Public Domain
Photo:Public Domain

2. Titanic Never Leaves The Minds Of International Ice Patrol Crew(23 Mar 2015,BusinessTelegram.com)
McGrath, a commander in the U.S. Coast Guard, heads the International Ice Patrol and it’s their job to make sure the tragedy isn’t repeated. And since 1913, when the patrol started, no ship heeding its warnings has struck an iceberg.”That is why we do what we do, to keep that from happening again,” she said. Given current weather patterns, this year may be a busy one for her crew.

3. Call To Honour Hatfield Man Who Died In Titanic Sinking(23 Mar 2015,Welwyn Hatfield Times)
Now, namesake Dennis Gunn, who lives in North London, has called on authorities to honour the “poor lad” with a plaque at a suitable place in the town. He said: “I wonder if the citizens of Hatfield know about him even, or if anybody is interested in him. “I’d certainly start the ball rolling myself, financially.“

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Miscellaneous

Spring Equinox

Solstices and Equinoxes Image: NASAThe Spring or March Equinox is today at 6:45 PM EDT/22:45 UTC. This equinox marks the moment where the Sun crosses the equator and usually occurs between March 19-21 every year. Both the March and September equinoxes are when the Sun shines directly on the equator making night and day nearly equal.

The March equinox is the transition from winter to spring in the Northern Hemisphire but the reverse in the Southern Hemisphere (summer into fall).  Various cultures celebrate March equinox as a time of rebirth. Many spring festivals are timed to coincide with the equinox and some religious events (Passover and Easter) use specific calculations based on the equinox to help determine the exact day of the event.

Though the equinox marks the changing of the seasons, it is quite common for winter effects to continue in many places far until May or even June.


Titanic II

Titanic II Update: Nothing Going On At Shipyard

[Update: Some people are encountering a problem reading The Australian article. Apparently in some cases it is requiring you to subscribe first to be able to view. You can read an alternative article here at news.com.au.]

Photo:Ian L(publicdomainpictures.net)
Photo:Ian L(publicdomainpictures.net)

The Australian is reporting that nothing is going on at the CSC Jinling shipyard in Nanjing, China to indicate any construction is taking place. According to the newspaper:

Dozens of workers at the shipyard said they had been informed of the Titanic II plans, but the project was yet to be given the formal go-ahead. “That ship was just a proposal. It’s never been carried out and the project has never launched,” one worker, Mr Wang, said.

Last year Blue Star Line signed a memorandum of understanding with AVIC Kaixin Beijing Ship Industry to help raise awareness of the project and secure investors. No report if that has come to anything tangible. Palmer has his own troubles with China. He is currently locked in a dispute with a Chinese company over royalties and said some unkind words about the Chinese government that made it worse.

People around the shipyard are disappointed. A large project like that means lots of workers  which help local businesses get a piece of the action.

 “They said the Titanic project would bring in big investment and the shipyard would have to employ more people but people have stopped talking about it and there is even suggestions the ship yard is going to move.”

As Captain Kirk would say about now, “Scotty, beam me up.”

 

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Titanic

Titanic Tidbits

RMS Titanic departing Southampton on April 10, 1912.
RMS Titanic departing Southampton on April 10, 1912.

1.  A lump of coal and a rusticle that were salvaged from Titanic in the 1990’s are going up for auction. The coal was brought up in 1994 (the Titanic Research & Recovery Expedition) and the rusticle from the ship’s hull from the 1998 French expedition to the site. The go under the hammer today at JP Humbert Auctioneers (UK).
Source: Chunk Of Titanic Goes Under The Hammer(10 Mar 2015,Advertiser & Review)

2.The UK Guardian’s Chase Condrone gave Titanic Museum at Pigeon Forge, Tennessee a good review. She notes the museum crafts reality and theatre into one with people dressed up in period costumes, the original items on display, the ability to feel the coldness of that night. It also makes her in one case feel a bit creepy:

I walk up to a narrow trough of water, and a sign tells me to plunge my hand into it. The water is 28 degrees: the temperature of the Atlantic that night. In his 1915 poem The Convergence of the Twain, Thomas Hardy saw the Titanic and the iceberg as “twin halves of one august event”. My iceberg is just a picture, but this room is nonetheless creepy, and as I trail my hand in the trough of icy water, I feel certain that I could never know the experience of the Titanic.

Source: For $27 You Can Experience The Sinking Of The Titanic – In Landlocked Tennessee (12 Mar 2015,The Guardian)

3. Eurogamer.net reports that a proposed project called Titanic Honor & Glory will be the most ambitious recreation of the disaster to date. While it will be a game, the developer has hired a team of contributors to make it historically accurate (except of course the fictional aspects of the story). There will be interaction with real-life Titanic passengers and crew. Sounds pretty ambitious and hopefully will come to pass.
Source: Ambitious Titanic Game Lets You Explore The Sinking Ship In Real-Time (eurogamer.net,24 Feb 2015

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Titanic, historic ship, and general history news.