1. Titanic Belfast is having Christmas and New Year’s events. The Christmas Afternoon Teas and Christmas Party Nights are already sold out. But the Christmas Lunch (20 Dec), New Year’s Eve Party and New Year’s Day Afternoon Tea are still available. For description of the events and to book tickets, go to titanicbelfast.com.
2. How did Harrison Okene live for three days inside a sunken ship off the coast of Nigeria? LiveScience took a look into it and has some fascinating details on how he–and others–have been lucky enough to survive and get rescued.
Here’s How That Cook Survived Inside Sunken Ship For Three Days (4 Dec 2013,Live Science)
3. Those who study Titanic usually learn there were black passengers aboard Titanic yet it is largely unknown. The information is not hard to come by but one has to go looking for it writes Herbert Dyer. And he wonders why in all the Titanic movies they are not shown in any capacity. One reason, just off the top of my head, is I doubt they knew. The names of the famous who died or survived were known. But few bothered to read down the passenger lists to find out the details. Certainly racism plays a factor in some cases. Hollywood movies made during the 1930’s that were marketed world-wide were scrubbed purposefully of anyone unacceptable to Nazi Germany (Jews, blacks, and anything that criticized in any way fascism) until the U.S. was in WW II. The Germans had more influence than the Soviet Union in that regard (they tried to get Hollywood writers and actors to do more films that supported Moscow but were mostly unsuccessful and many did not like the authoritarian way Moscow ran things). Hollywood is better these days on these issues but James Cameron’s movie, as far I can recall, had no depiction of black passengers on Titanic so education needs to be ongoing in this regard.
The Only Black Passengers Aboard The Titanic(5 Dec 2013, allvoices.com)
St. Nick is often used as another name for Santa Claus but in truth Nicholas is the original. Born in the third century a.d., Nicholas became well known for his charity to children and others. He was imprisoned by the Romans and beaten. He never renounced his faith. Later when released when Constantine became emperor, he continued his life serving God and his faith. He lived to be a very old man dying on 6 December 343. Stories of his charity to children and others spread and long after his death people still revered him with churches built in his name. Stories of miracles attributed to him emerged as well.
David Weeden had a passion for history according to his wife, and had a special place in his heart for Titanic. He and his wife owned a Mini Mall in Vienna, New York where vendors sold collectibles and antiques. He liked to add things for people to see when they entered and struck gold in 2004. He purchased a six foot AC Erector Set Model of Titanic. And he proudly displayed it at the entrance to the Mini Mall for six years. It was put together in the 1930’s and has figurines on it showing them walking, strolling, exercising, or possibly doing some ship work.
About a year ago Caltrain took away conductor discretion when issuing fare evasion citations ordering them to write up violators and let a judge decide whether it was right or wrong. It was criticized at the time as draconian by some but Caltrain said it was necessary since they had a barrier free system. And also that enough time had passed for people to become familiar with using Clipper. Discretion though meant the conductor could decide on their own whether writing a ticket was actually needed. Perhaps it was someone new to the system or got the wrong ticket. If they see the person a lot on the train, it might just be a one time thing and get a warning. The fare evasion ticket is $300 plus whatever court fees or other fees that may be imposed.
