Exploring the ocean has been the theme of many over the years. Robert Ballard, amongst the others, argue there is much to be learned in exploring the deep. Over at MastersDegree.net there is a graphic about we need to explore the ocean.
Take a look at it by clicking here.
Stephen King’s Christine was about an evil car that terrorized people. Now we have a Titanic replica that may be haunted.
Wyatt Jason Moore (aka Chuck) built a nine foot long Titanic replica that looks pretty cool complete with crewman, children playing on deck, ladies in period costumes and even someone walking a dog. But when he examined photographs of the replica he began noticing something not easily seen by the naked eye.
An unexplained image in the portholes just above the life boats – on the port side of the vessel. According to Chuck, it looks like a bald headed man with a handle bar mustache looking out. And he just recently identified a woman in one of the portholes appearing to lean forward to see the view.
So let me understand this. These are ghosts peering out of small portholes on a Titanic replica that can only be seen by examining photographs. Sort of like those ghosts that can only be “heard” when you leave a tape recorder around a graveyard or old house.
Well the good news is that he intends to partner with a museum so the Titanic replica will be heading there. So if the ghosts decide to get more active, it will be their problem and not his.
Source:
Cleveland News – Fox 8, Man Says ‘Titanic’ Replica May Be Haunted, 15 June 2012
On Donegall Road in Belfast is now a large mural dedicated to Titanic. According to Inside Ireland, the mural is to honor Belfast workers who built Titanic. Pretty cool.
•Titanic has generated lots of books over the years covering every conceivable point of view. Of course with 100th anniversary of Titanic sinking, a lot more books have come out. Some are excellent, good, or just plain bad. The worst simply repeat what others have written (including obvious errors of fact) claiming to be original work. Fortunately the reviewers for The Titanic Commutator (published by the Titanic Historical Society) help sort out which ones are worth reading to those best used for lining bird cages or kindling for your wood stove. Mark Chirnside reviewed On A Sea of Glass: The Life & Loss of RMS Titanic giving it a thumbs up for its well written approach to the subject. The book also offers new insights and information along with examining some current controversies.
On A Sea of Glass: The Life & Loss of RMS Titanic
Tad Fitch, J. Kent Layton & Bill Wormstedt
Amberly Publishing, 2012
•Titanic 3D broke new records as people all over the world flocked to see Jack and Rose in 3D especially during the Titanic anniversary. Ticket sales hit $2.3 billion which includes $88 million overseas. Proves you can draw a crowd to see an already popular movie but many industry people still are not sold on 3D. It may be, as many predicted, just the right time and place for it again until the public tires of it. Are we ready for 3D Star Wars?
•Mithika Mwenda, coordinator for campaign group the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance made a statement recently at the UN Doha Climate talks about the slow progress of negotiations. And this is where the comparison to Titanic comes in:
“This is like the Titanic, where both developing countries and industrialized countries will sink.”
Congratulations! You have been awarded the oft imitated, never duplicated award for Titanic Cliche of Day. I am just wondering if Titanic and dinosaurs will soon be connected!
Source:
The Republic(Reuters), Analysis: UN Doha Climate Talks Risk Sinking “Like Titanic”,24 May 2012
If you watch the judge shows–Judge Alex, Judge Judy, The People’s Court–you learn people do all kinds of dumb things. We have a fellow in Washington state that got upset about kids making noise while watching Titanic 3-D. Instead of doing the sensible thing of getting theatre staff to handle problems, he decides to act on his own. After telling the kids to be quiet, he gets mad later and allegedly throws an iced drink and punched one of the kids in the face. The man, Yong Hyun Kim, was there with his girlfriend. He claims that kids were tossing popcorn at him and girlfriend, running back and forth in the aisle, and bumping them.
Yong, 31, is facing second-degree assault charges and will be arraigned on 31 May. If convicted, faces three to nine months in jail. Now anyone who has been to the movies at some point encounters this situation. It might be mischievous youths, make-out sessions for couples, someone who had too much to drink and talking loudly. Yong was foolish in doing what he did. The adult way is to simply go out and tell the appropriate people in charge about it. They will usually take care of it (and in my experience they do). Source: Fox News .
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Premiere Exhibitions just released latest figures which indicate losses in fourth quarter went down due to lower operating expenses. Quarter revenues dropped to $7.54 million from $9.76 million from previous quarter. Expenses decreased to $5.86 million from $7.06 million last year. No word yet about the Titanic auction. It seems suspiciously quiet after all the noise made about auctioning off the artifacts. Source: RTT News.
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Funny thing happened to me. I got the latest issue of Titanic Commutator or rather the envelope with nothing inside. Never had that happen before. Looked like the adhesive never worked so somewhere out there in the sea of mail is the missing issue. Fortunately a quick email to the membership person at Titanic Historical Society got me a new copy.
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If you are in San Francisco with time on your hands and like old ships, consider heading down to Hyde Street Pier near Fisherman’s Wharf. It costs you nothing to enter and walk around the pier, but you do have to pay a fee if you want board any of the ships (one fee covers it all). The old sailing ship Balclutha (often used in movies) is there along with an old ferry, a seagoing tug Hercules, and other nifty craft you can explore. Also the old ferry has a neat collection of old cars to look at. You can get information by clicking here. Check weather forecast before you go. Sometimes it can get pretty breezy on the pier. On nice days, you get a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the bay. If you decide to go, the easy way is by bus (parking is expensive in the area and street parking difficult). Take a 30 Stockton or 47 Van Ness to Hyde Street and walk down the hill right to the pier. Or take the Hyde Street Cable car. The bus costs $2.00 and the cable car $6.00.
•It is not surprising that once all the festivities calmed down we start hearing some tales of woe. Take the case of Sheila Richardson aboard the Balamoral. According to Times & Star the trip she had planned had some problems. First was a fuel surcharge the cruise line imposed (£326/$515) which caused some grumbling. Then Balmoral arrived late to Ireland causing cancellation of onshore trips. Richardson does say that Ireland was still a highlight and the reception in Cobh was amazing.
Then after leaving Ireland they had to turn back due to an airlift needed for a sick BBC cameraman. They did make it to the wreck site on time and prepared for the celebration. That too had a problem. It seems now that UNESCO has declared this a historic site you cannot simply just throw anything overboard. They have to meet certain requirements (like being biodegradable). That meant a lot of wreaths people brought with them could not be tossed over. To compensate the ship set up a display of those wreaths and mementoes. The ship did have three biodegradable wreaths that were used.
One interesting fact she relates is that so many people got off in New York that they were offering very cheap fares to fill up the empty spaces.
Mrs Richardson said: “It was a very disappointing trip and there were angry passengers.”
As I recall heavy seas played a part in delaying Balmoral to Ireland, something a cruise line cannot control. The late arrival meant a lot of onshore trips in Ireland could not be done due to time constraints. Hopefully those who prepaid for that part of their travel will get compensation from travel insurance. As for the wreath part, I am not terribly surprised. This is typical when you put bureaucrats in charge. And it is quite a stretch to believe that unless weighted that any wreath would sink two miles down and damage a wreck that is decomposing and will be gone in a couple of decades (or less).
•Titanic II is ripe for humor and the fellows over at thespoof.com have taken there shot at hit. You can read the full article here but the important parts are here:
On the ship’s bridge Captain Edward Smith III ordered the helmsman to press the red button on the computer controlled steering panel. Two gigantic laser cannons deployed and continuously fired from the ship’s bow, turning the iceberg into ice cubes. The ships stewards used the ice cubes to chill bottles of fine old French champagne to toast the occasion.
Now that is how to make ice cubes!
One of my favorite shows is Mythbusters. They took on the suction theory (suction created by ship sinking will suck people or possibly small craft down with it). You can see how Mythbusters tackled it by going to discovery. com to view a clip from the episode. It is worth watching.
I do not follow Boston Red Sox (for those outside the U.S. they are a baseball team) but they had a bad 2011 season. So far they have fared badly in home games. Citing bad management moves to get better talent and in-house problems, Scott Cordischi sees the Sox in very dire straits. So dire enough to write this:
It’s ironic that a lot has been made about this being the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park. It also happens to be the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. In fact, it was the sinking of the Titanic which kept the opening of a brand new Fenway Park off of the front pages of the Boston newspapers in 1912 as both events occurred on the same day. Now, 100 years later, the Red Sox organization appears to have hit an iceberg and is taking on water fast. Abandon ship!
I will leave it to Red Sox fans to decide how accurate this use of a Titanic cliché is.
Source: GoLocal Worcester, Red Sox Report: Sinking Like The Titanic!, 6 May 2012
A friend of mine called up to ask whether or not this tycoon is really serious about building Titanic II. When I first heard the news, my first reaction is “here we go again.” When Cameron’s movie came out there was the same talk. Reaction from around the world was somewhat the same but the Chinese shipyard confirmed a memorandum of understanding had been signed.
“We will try to build a liner that has the same dimensions as the original Titanic, which sank on its maiden voyage 100 years ago. The Australian side is in charge of the design,” Li told China Daily on Wednesday.
From everything that is out there, this replica will look like Titanic but of course would be modern in its shipbuilding and safety. No doubt should it ever be built it would be a hit. People will line up just to tour the ship in port The guy is clever is trying to drum up interest not only in Titanic II but in his own cargo ship business. It also is a pointed stab at European and American shipbuilding firms. Building Titanic II and his other ships will benefit China and cost less to build there than in either of those two places.
Today is Star Wars Day. I remember when Star Wars (1977) first came out. Wow! It was exciting and fun to watch. Many of my generation were thrilled to watch this movie on the big screen and it entertains today. While the trilogy (Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi) are considered good movies, the prequels less so. Lucas wanted to make the newer movies more relevant but made miscues both in plot and characters (Jar Jar Binks for one). The overall story of how the Republic fell to a Sith Lord and Darth Vader’s emergence from a young handsome Anakin Skywalker was sidelined by all the mush in those movies. Many of the Star Wars universe books have filled in the gaps. Star Wars still thrills and entertains both young and old.
With all the major Titanic memorials going on, sometimes the smaller ones get less noticed. John Woodward was a cellist aboard Titanic and his body was never found. A crumbling sandstone memorial in Heath Lane cemetery was all that was left to remember him (except for a brass plaque in a church). So local people took up the cause and raised funds to put up a new gravestone with the old one. You can view the interview with those behind it here . I think it says quite a lot about how Titanic has touched people.
Star Wars: The Original Trilogy (Episodes IV – VI) [Blu-ray]
Star Wars Trilogy (A New Hope / The Empire Strikes Back / Return of the Jedi) (Widescreen Edition with Bonus Disc)
With the 100th anniversary of Titanic’s sinking over, things have quieted down. News wires were jammed with Titanic themed stories, sometimes just repeating what others wrote. There were remembrances galore, Titanic dinners, heartfelt commemorations. And then inevitably come the commentators all trying to write that piece that sums up Titanic. I lit a candle and watched the movie A Night To Remember based on Walter Lord’s book of the same name. Though we have modern treatments like Cameron’s and a recent BBC miniseries, this movie still resonates.
I recommend the Criterion collection version which has commentary by Don Lynch and Ken Marschall. They provide lots of interesting details, historical and otherwise, to the movie. The movie does a good job of visualizing Lord’s book but does shift around some things and not always historically accurate (like the opening scene which depicts a ceremony christening Titanic which never happened). Captain Smith comes across as more decisive in the movie but in actuality less so. The movie tends to show the crew working better than in reality in lowering lifeboats. On Titanic most of the crew and officers were unfamiliar with the ship and there were no drills. We see also how frightening it was to step into those boats seeing how far down they had to be lowered. We also see two very different reactions to Titanic’s sinking on California and Carpathia.
The depiction of Lord in that movie caused the real Captain Lord to seek a new investigation believing he had been unfairly maligned. Lord came under severe criticism in 1912 for failing to act. Conflicting testimony and Lord’s own statement the ship seemed to steam away gave rise to theories of a third ship, but that has never been proven. What is damning is that neither the officers or him were that interested in that ship to wake-up the wireless operator. Had they done so the SOS would have been heard. Rostron on Carpathia sprung into immediate action once he got the information and immediately set off. It is that standard that Lord, fair or not, is held to. Now had Lord had learned the same information at the same time as Carpathia, the outcome would have been the same. Both would have arrived long after the sinking and most passengers had died. So to blame Lord for Titanic deaths is a stretch and both of those captains heeded the ice warnings and stopped for the night while Captain Smith sped on.
There are many stories associated with Titanic and one notable is about Isidor and Ida Straus. When Isidor declined a seat on a lifeboat insisting that women and younger men be saved before him, Ida declined a seat saying “I will not be separated from my husband.” As we have lived so will we die together.” It is one of those stories, told by witnesses afterwords, that had a lingering impact on people who learned of it. Such a remarkable show of love and devotion tends to do that. While most people learn that Isidor Strauss owned Macy’s not much else is reported about his life. Wikipedia has a biographical sketch but does not give you a feel for who he really was.
Thankfully an article in Jewish Ideas Daily does. Born in 1845 in Otterberg, Germany, his family immigrated to America in 1854 and settled in Talbotton, Georgia. While his family was Jewish, the family no longer was observant and ate bacon from their own smokehouse. He tried enlisting in the Confederate Army but was too young (16) and spent the war working as a store clerk. After the war the family moved to New York where he and his brother Nathan ran a shop selling family glassware and crockery at Macy’s Department Store. By 1896 both Isidor and Nathan took over ownership after the Macy family decided to sell making Isidor a very wealthy man.
Despite having no Jewish education and a secularist, he supported many Jewish institutions and causes even many he did not agree with. He was ardently anti-Zionist and wrote scathingly of its cause. His brother Nathan though was a supporter after a trip to the Holy Land. Ida was more appreciative of Jewish traditions reminding her grown children to remember Pasach and to eat Matzos. Like many he believed himself no longer Jewish but assimilated. Isidor and Ida’s deaths was mourned. Many Jews had died on Titanic but their story was the most well known. Memorial services were held in many places, a park in their name opened three years later (Straus Park). There is a memorial plaque on the first floor of Macy’s in New York, a public school named after them, and Straus Hall at Harvard (a gift from his three sons).
Walter Lord Still Lives On
Walter Lord’s A Night To Remember first published in 1955 is enjoying record sales, print and e-versions. According to an AP report, 30,000 downloads of the e-edition were recorded by Open Road Integrated Media–the digital publisher. This is an excellent book. Check your local library to see if they have the old or newer editions of the book. It is worth reading and Lord’s excellent writing style does not disappoint. His book about Dunkirk is also highly praised. Worth a read if you come across it.
The Dark Side of Titanic
Gerry Adams penned an op-ed piece in the Irish Echo about Titanic. Adams, of course, was one of those agitating against the British in Northern Ireland for many years. So it comes as no surprise, despite the peace accords, that he would take a whack at British dominated Ireland in 1912. Harland & Wolff did not hire many Catholics, some were expelled, beaten or even killed. He writes further of the bad conditions Catholics endured and the divisions festered by government and business owners. It is interesting that while Adams praises the promising jobs created by Titanic themed building in Belfast, he wants no one to forget the society that built it. He praises Titanic but rues the society that built it.
Here We Go Again….Titanic II
Right after James Cameron’s movie came out there were people saying they wanted to build Titanic II. Nothing came of them, except lots of chatter on the Internet. Fast forward to 2012 and guess what? Some very rich guy who lives down under wants to build Titanic II. Oh and with Chinese help! It is his money, of course, so he is free to spend it as he wishes. However one wonders if it all just publicity stunt for something else. Whatever. Not holding my breath for tickets available for Titanic II in the near future.
Tacky Titanic:
Need I say more?
