From ERIC SHACKLE, in Sydney, Australia.<ericshackleATbigpond.com>
The intrepid band of treasure hunters led by Australian adventurer Don McIntyre in the icebreaker ICE have landed on Rotuma Island, one of the Fiji group. Here is Don's account, copied from his website:
Rotuma island appeared at first light on Wednesday, completing the 900 miles in exactly 6 days and 210 gal. fuel including all the head currents, so happy about that.
This place is heaven…We anchored in crystal clear ‘special’ blue water at 0700, with no sign of civilisation, in a beautiful bleached white super fine sandy bay beside a small outer island,,, coconut palms, black volcanic rocks… just incredible!
At 9am .Customs, Immigration, Quarantine and Doctor all turned up from the other end of the mountain's volcanic island that is very spectacular. We were happy about that as Jane and I were about to land and make the 3 hr walk in the sun to visit them.
There is no anchorage by the village they are in…2000 people live here but we have only seen five people in the last two days..and one was a 56-year-old guy who was asking Mark about Jane! He lives with his mum and has never left the island…and there are no available women as they all go to Fiji!
So we have been catching fish, making awesomely spectacular scuba dives, snorkeling and spear fishing , beachcombing, night time crayfish spotting, having barbies etc. all on a place that seems deserted..Very few people come here and they get one supply boat a month…
The plan now is to leave on Saturday..It is just too good here..
Tomorrow we are going to try getting around the island..about a 12-mile circuit on a dirt road/track..There is one car here in this bay and the driver may be able to take us... sort of a trip to town too....not sure what we will find.
We should get to the Yasawas on Monday, stay for a few days there and then head to the marina at Vuda Point..Mel has apparently gone on a holiday and not back till Tuesday, so no problem for us….this is so good after Tarawa!
Will blog again on Saturday night once we are under way..Turtles cruise past every day now instead of oil slicks and rubbish..life is how it should be.
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Don has promised to donate 20 per cent of any treasure he finds to the Sheffield Institute Foundation for research into Motor Neurone Disease and other Neurological disorders.
You can follow Don's adventures or email him by visiting his blog, www.bluetreasure.me
Thursday, 13 October 2011
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Thursday, 6 October 2011
Treasure Hunters Set Sail for Fiji
From ERIC SHACKLE, in Sydney, Australia. <ericshackleATbigpond.com>
Australian adventurer Don McIntyre and his doughty crew have set sail from
Tarawa, and are now heading for Fiji, on the first leg of a global search for lost treasure.
They are travelling in an icebreaker named ICE, a 15.2metre 40-tonne steel ice-strengthened motor sailor dive support vessel.
"Jane is on watch now till 2100 hrs" Don reports on his website, "then me for three hours,..then Mark at midnight. We are running three four-hour watches during the day and four three-hour watches at night... we had meat pies for lunch, and microwave dinner followed by the free ICE cream you get when you buy 5-litre yellow buckets in Tarawa..now we will havetwo of those!
Australian adventurer Don McIntyre and his doughty crew have set sail from
Tarawa, and are now heading for Fiji, on the first leg of a global search for lost treasure.
They are travelling in an icebreaker named ICE, a 15.2metre 40-tonne steel ice-strengthened motor sailor dive support vessel.
"Jane is on watch now till 2100 hrs" Don reports on his website, "then me for three hours,..then Mark at midnight. We are running three four-hour watches during the day and four three-hour watches at night... we had meat pies for lunch, and microwave dinner followed by the free ICE cream you get when you buy 5-litre yellow buckets in Tarawa..now we will havetwo of those!
"Looks like we will cross the equator again at about 2200hrs tonight ... so all good for now... we are very alert doing the hourly engine room checks..for now 1600rpm and 1.5gall fuel per hour..making 5.8 knots with the main and mizzen up into 18 knots apparent wind and 40degrees on port bow..
"Hopefully I will get some sleep tonight....with one eye open!"
Don has promised to donate 20 per cent of any treasure he finds to the Sheffield Institute Foundation for research into Motor Neurone Disease and other Neurological disorders.
You can follow Don's adventures or email him by visiting his blog, www.bluetreasure.me
"Hopefully I will get some sleep tonight....with one eye open!"
Don has promised to donate 20 per cent of any treasure he finds to the Sheffield Institute Foundation for research into Motor Neurone Disease and other Neurological disorders.
You can follow Don's adventures or email him by visiting his blog, www.bluetreasure.me
Sunday, 25 September 2011
Proud Dynasties in US, UK and Oz
From ERIC SHACKLE in Sydney, Australia <ericshackleATbigpond.com>
Down the centuries, Britain has recorded its royals by name, followed by Roman numerals. Henry and George are easy winners, scoring eight each. Henry VIII had more wives than George VIII.
Now we notice a similar trend in the US, where one guy boasts the proud name of Griffith Rutherford Harsh V.
He's the wayward son of neurosurgeon Griffith Rutherford Harsh IV and prominent business executive Margaret Cushing "Meg" Whitman, who hopes to succeed Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor of California.
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV is the real name of the American film actor and director Tom Cruise. His father was Thomas Cruise Mapother III. His great-grandfather, Thomas Cruise O'Mara, was adopted by a Welsh immigrant named Mapother, and renamed Thomas Cruise Mapother.
Confusingly, one of Cruise's cousins, William Reibert Mapother, Jr.is another American actor who is known by that name.
William Clinton is another dynastic name, harking back to William de Clinton, first Earl of Huntingdon (1304–1354). An English nobleman,William Henry Clinton (1769–1846), was a British general from a prominent military family; who served in the French revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.
Former US president William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III. His father, William Jefferson Blythe, Jr., was a traveling salesman who died in an automobile accident three months before Bill was born. Four years later his mother married Roger Clinton, Sr. Although he assumed use of his stepfather's surname, it was not until Billy (as he was known then) was 14 that he formally adopted the surname Clinton.
Stephen Hess wrote about US dynasties in the Washington Post two years ago.
"American public life is saturated with them", he said. "Kennedys, Bushes, Clintons. Powerful individuals connected to one another by blood or by marriage who, deservedly or not, take on that most paradoxical of American labels: dynasty."
Another American, George Herbert Walker IV (born April 1969) is Chairman and CEO of Neuberger Berman.
The male children within a single nuclear family are not numbered sequentially, as all members of the larger family are part of the same numbering system. For example, the sons of Prince Heinrich LXVII Reuss of Schleiz were, in order, Heinrich V, Heinrich VIII, Heinrich XI, Heinrich XIV, and Heinrich XVI
In the UK, Tom Green told Yahoo Answers: 'I have the same name as both my grandfather and my (now deceased) great grandfather. I have a different name to my father. Does this still make me Thomas Green III?"
The "best answer": "Generally, no. However, there are specific circumstances where it would. e.g., Queen Elizabeth II was born centuries after Queen Elizabeth I. But, for us commoners, it needs to be in successive generations. So, your grandfather would have been the II (second), but you are not the III (third)."
BBC Radio 4 says, "The Dynasties series has now ended. It covered over a thousand years of influence wielded by the power brokers of Britain and Ireland.
"These are not the stories of the kings and queens of England. Instead, these are the tales of the powerful families who were there before the monarch was, and who were still there long after his or her reign - or even royal dynasty - had come to an end.
"Indeed, these are the families who have been the political and constitutional power brokers of British history, true powers behind thrones".
The BBC featured these families:
The Carringtons
A family close to the royalty and the corridors of power over the last 200 years.
The Dalrymples
A powerful Scottish family that will always be remembered for the Glencoe massacre.
The Norfolks
The Norfolks survived the demise of their mentor, Richard lll, to become of the most powerful Catholic families in England.
The Russells
The Russells were a political family that also produced a great social reformer as well as one of the 20th century's greatest philosophers.
The Berkeleys
One of the great land owning families of the middle ages, they were famously involved in the grisly murder of a monarch.
The Churchills
The Churchills achieved prominence during the Restoration but rose to another zenith in the 19th and 20 centuries.
The Irish
The mighty rebel Irish peers were a thorn in the side of England until the death of the 'Great O'Neill'.
The Despensers
The first of the medieval power brokers. Their influence spanned the reigns of three monarchs yet in the end it brought them nothing but tragedy.
The Godwines
The first of the dynasties. Their power rose in late Saxon England until one of their family, Harold ll, took the crown.
In Australia, we have a famous family, descendants of William Wentworth, whose great-grandson William Wentworth IV was a member of Parliament 1949-77.
An ABC radio feature in 2003 described William Wentworth I in these terms: "Our greatest colonial dynasty was founded by 'the bastard son of a highway robber by a convict whore': WC Wentworth, the father of colonial self-government and an explorer of the Blue Mountains. But his birthright was hidden by his own family, using its fortune over generations to remake itself into a pillar of the establishment. Today, the money and ancestral estate are gone, the family yet to shake off its maverick legacy."
---------------------------------------------
Down the centuries, Britain has recorded its royals by name, followed by Roman numerals. Henry and George are easy winners, scoring eight each. Henry VIII had more wives than George VIII.
Now we notice a similar trend in the US, where one guy boasts the proud name of Griffith Rutherford Harsh V.
He's the wayward son of neurosurgeon Griffith Rutherford Harsh IV and prominent business executive Margaret Cushing "Meg" Whitman, who hopes to succeed Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor of California.
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV is the real name of the American film actor and director Tom Cruise. His father was Thomas Cruise Mapother III. His great-grandfather, Thomas Cruise O'Mara, was adopted by a Welsh immigrant named Mapother, and renamed Thomas Cruise Mapother.
Confusingly, one of Cruise's cousins, William Reibert Mapother, Jr.is another American actor who is known by that name.
William Clinton is another dynastic name, harking back to William de Clinton, first Earl of Huntingdon (1304–1354). An English nobleman,William Henry Clinton (1769–1846), was a British general from a prominent military family; who served in the French revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.
Former US president William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III. His father, William Jefferson Blythe, Jr., was a traveling salesman who died in an automobile accident three months before Bill was born. Four years later his mother married Roger Clinton, Sr. Although he assumed use of his stepfather's surname, it was not until Billy (as he was known then) was 14 that he formally adopted the surname Clinton.
Stephen Hess wrote about US dynasties in the Washington Post two years ago.
"American public life is saturated with them", he said. "Kennedys, Bushes, Clintons. Powerful individuals connected to one another by blood or by marriage who, deservedly or not, take on that most paradoxical of American labels: dynasty."
Another American, George Herbert Walker IV (born April 1969) is Chairman and CEO of Neuberger Berman.
The male children within a single nuclear family are not numbered sequentially, as all members of the larger family are part of the same numbering system. For example, the sons of Prince Heinrich LXVII Reuss of Schleiz were, in order, Heinrich V, Heinrich VIII, Heinrich XI, Heinrich XIV, and Heinrich XVI
In the UK, Tom Green told Yahoo Answers: 'I have the same name as both my grandfather and my (now deceased) great grandfather. I have a different name to my father. Does this still make me Thomas Green III?"
The "best answer": "Generally, no. However, there are specific circumstances where it would. e.g., Queen Elizabeth II was born centuries after Queen Elizabeth I. But, for us commoners, it needs to be in successive generations. So, your grandfather would have been the II (second), but you are not the III (third)."
BBC Radio 4 says, "The Dynasties series has now ended. It covered over a thousand years of influence wielded by the power brokers of Britain and Ireland.
"These are not the stories of the kings and queens of England. Instead, these are the tales of the powerful families who were there before the monarch was, and who were still there long after his or her reign - or even royal dynasty - had come to an end.
"Indeed, these are the families who have been the political and constitutional power brokers of British history, true powers behind thrones".
The BBC featured these families:
The Carringtons
A family close to the royalty and the corridors of power over the last 200 years.
The Dalrymples
A powerful Scottish family that will always be remembered for the Glencoe massacre.
The Norfolks
The Norfolks survived the demise of their mentor, Richard lll, to become of the most powerful Catholic families in England.
The Russells
The Russells were a political family that also produced a great social reformer as well as one of the 20th century's greatest philosophers.
The Berkeleys
One of the great land owning families of the middle ages, they were famously involved in the grisly murder of a monarch.
The Churchills
The Churchills achieved prominence during the Restoration but rose to another zenith in the 19th and 20 centuries.
The Irish
The mighty rebel Irish peers were a thorn in the side of England until the death of the 'Great O'Neill'.
The Despensers
The first of the medieval power brokers. Their influence spanned the reigns of three monarchs yet in the end it brought them nothing but tragedy.
The Godwines
The first of the dynasties. Their power rose in late Saxon England until one of their family, Harold ll, took the crown.
In Australia, we have a famous family, descendants of William Wentworth, whose great-grandson William Wentworth IV was a member of Parliament 1949-77.
An ABC radio feature in 2003 described William Wentworth I in these terms: "Our greatest colonial dynasty was founded by 'the bastard son of a highway robber by a convict whore': WC Wentworth, the father of colonial self-government and an explorer of the Blue Mountains. But his birthright was hidden by his own family, using its fortune over generations to remake itself into a pillar of the establishment. Today, the money and ancestral estate are gone, the family yet to shake off its maverick legacy."
---------------------------------------------
Thursday, 15 September 2011
Little kids go mutton-busting
From ERIC SHACKLE,, in Sydney, Australia. <ericshackle*bigpond.com>
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Monday, 5 September 2011
Max: World's Oldest Dog
From ERIC SHACKLE in Sydney, Australia. <ericshackle*bigpond.com>
Max, a "mixed terrier" living in New Iberia, Louisiana, is probably the oldest dog alive in the world. He celebrated his 28th birthday on August 9. If he survives 18 more months, he'll be the oldest pooch in recorded history.
An Australian cattle dog, Bluey, worked among sheep and cattle for 20 years, and survived until November 14, 1939, when he was put down. He had lived for 29 years, five months and seven days, on a diet of kangaroos and emus. He was the world's oldest dog, a record that has never been beaten.
"Though Max has 'slowed up' up a bit in recent years and his coarse, light brown coat is graying, he still manages to play with his owner, Janelle deRouen's visiting grandchildren in the backyard and trots through the house in search of a place to nap", Jessica Goff reported in the The New Iberian newspaper.
“'He is really protective of us and the grandkids,' said Janelle. 'Being an old man, he is set pretty in his ways. He is just like some elderly people. He goes to bed early and wakes up with the chickens.'"
Jessica Goff continued, "deRouen acquired Max as a 6-week-old puppy in 1983 from a local sugar cane farmer who had a litter of six, she said. Ever since, the dog has been a part of her family, which includes her husband, Billy, and her five children and now grandchildren.
"'Other than having a tooth pulled, Max has never had any major health problems', Janelle deRouen said.
"I'n recent years he began suffering from cataracts, but his eyesight is still relatively keen.' She said she doesn’t know the secret to his longevity, other than she keeps him up to date with his annual shots and keeps him away from table scraps.
“'These days he is just happy to wake up every day,' she said. 'He just sits and lounges till he falls off to sleep.'
"Though unofficial, Max has even been recognized as the world’s oldest dog by British newspapers The Daily Mail and The Telegraph which featured Max’s 26th birthday party two years ago in their publications.
“'It’s discouraging that we haven’t heard back [from Guinness World Records] so that it’s official,' she said. 'But we know, and everyone who knows Max already knows that he is the world’s oldest dog,' she said Thursday as the timeworn terrier dozed off by her feet.
“'It’s discouraging that we haven’t heard back so that it’s official. But we know, and everyone who knows Max already knows that he is the world’s oldest dog.'"
Here are photos of Max taken two years ago:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1205517/Max-terrier-worlds-oldest-dog-celebrates-26th-birthday.html
And here's Janelle deRouen with Max www1.katc.com/videos/world-s-oldest-dog-/
Max, a "mixed terrier" living in New Iberia, Louisiana, is probably the oldest dog alive in the world. He celebrated his 28th birthday on August 9. If he survives 18 more months, he'll be the oldest pooch in recorded history.
An Australian cattle dog, Bluey, worked among sheep and cattle for 20 years, and survived until November 14, 1939, when he was put down. He had lived for 29 years, five months and seven days, on a diet of kangaroos and emus. He was the world's oldest dog, a record that has never been beaten.
"Though Max has 'slowed up' up a bit in recent years and his coarse, light brown coat is graying, he still manages to play with his owner, Janelle deRouen's visiting grandchildren in the backyard and trots through the house in search of a place to nap", Jessica Goff reported in the The New Iberian newspaper.
“'He is really protective of us and the grandkids,' said Janelle. 'Being an old man, he is set pretty in his ways. He is just like some elderly people. He goes to bed early and wakes up with the chickens.'"
Jessica Goff continued, "deRouen acquired Max as a 6-week-old puppy in 1983 from a local sugar cane farmer who had a litter of six, she said. Ever since, the dog has been a part of her family, which includes her husband, Billy, and her five children and now grandchildren.
"'Other than having a tooth pulled, Max has never had any major health problems', Janelle deRouen said.
"I'n recent years he began suffering from cataracts, but his eyesight is still relatively keen.' She said she doesn’t know the secret to his longevity, other than she keeps him up to date with his annual shots and keeps him away from table scraps.
“'These days he is just happy to wake up every day,' she said. 'He just sits and lounges till he falls off to sleep.'
"Though unofficial, Max has even been recognized as the world’s oldest dog by British newspapers The Daily Mail and The Telegraph which featured Max’s 26th birthday party two years ago in their publications.
“'It’s discouraging that we haven’t heard back [from Guinness World Records] so that it’s official,' she said. 'But we know, and everyone who knows Max already knows that he is the world’s oldest dog,' she said Thursday as the timeworn terrier dozed off by her feet.
“'It’s discouraging that we haven’t heard back so that it’s official. But we know, and everyone who knows Max already knows that he is the world’s oldest dog.'"
Here are photos of Max taken two years ago:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1205517/Max-terrier-worlds-oldest-dog-celebrates-26th-birthday.html
And here's Janelle deRouen with Max www1.katc.com/videos/world-s-oldest-dog-/
Friday, 2 September 2011
World's Two Oldest Columnists Call It a Day
From ERIC SHACKLE in Sydney, Australia.,ericshackle*bigpond.com>
The world's two oldest columnists have both just thrown away their quills, or stopped tapping their computer keyboards.
In the US, Margaret Caldwell (104) has quit writing for the Desert Valley Times, and in Ireland, James Kelly (100) has written his last column for the Irish News.
"Everyone misses Margaret's column, but she felt she was repeating herself,and didn't have anything new to offer," says David Bly, editor of the Desert Valley Times, in Mesquite, Nevada.
"Her health is poor, but she's still alert and full of laughs.
"She leaves on a high note: her column has been awarded first place in non-staff columns by the Nevada Press Association. This is the second time she was won that award."
Earlier this year, the Irish News published this tribute to its veteran columnist:
Centurion columnist retires
Mr Kelly joined The Irish News in 1928 and on Saturday he celebrated his birthday and the end of his time at the paper at a party with friends and family.He has written about Northern Ireland's major issues for the past 82 years, covering everything from the opening of Stormont in 1932 to the introduction of Home Rule, 40 years later.
After his long and distinguished career with The Irish News, the west Belfast man said he knew it was time to step down from his column:
Here's a story I wrote about Margaret Caldwell two years ago, when she was a feisty 102. It was published by the South Korean newszine OhmyNewsInternational:
The world's two oldest columnists have both just thrown away their quills, or stopped tapping their computer keyboards.
In the US, Margaret Caldwell (104) has quit writing for the Desert Valley Times, and in Ireland, James Kelly (100) has written his last column for the Irish News.
"Everyone misses Margaret's column, but she felt she was repeating herself,and didn't have anything new to offer," says David Bly, editor of the Desert Valley Times, in Mesquite, Nevada.
"Her health is poor, but she's still alert and full of laughs.
"She leaves on a high note: her column has been awarded first place in non-staff columns by the Nevada Press Association. This is the second time she was won that award."
Earlier this year, the Irish News published this tribute to its veteran columnist:
Centurion columnist retires
The oldest newspaper columnist in the world, James Kelly, has written his final column, at the grand age of 100.
After his long and distinguished career with The Irish News, the west Belfast man said he knew it was time to step down from his column:
Here's a story I wrote about Margaret Caldwell two years ago, when she was a feisty 102. It was published by the South Korean newszine OhmyNewsInternational:
"I think the slogan 'What happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas' is totally wrong," she told OhmyNews. "It denotes the wrong kind of reputation for Las Vegas. What happens in Las Vegas should be in the public domain as far as I am concerned." Margaret writes a weekly column for the Desert Valley Times in Mesquite, Nevada, owned by Gannett Co., Inc. which publishes 85 daily newspapers, including the national newspaper USA TODAY (circulation 2,284,219), and nearly 900 non-daily publications David Bly, editor and general manager of the Desert Valley Times, says "I interviewed Margaret as a centenarian, and was so taken with her wit and sharpness I asked her to write a weekly column, which she has been doing faithfully ever since under the title, 'Memoirs of a Crone,' which was her choice of titles. "She simply writes about her life, and our readers are very fond of her... She still has a way with words." OhmyNews interviewed Margaret by email. Here is the Q and A: When and where was your first writing published?One of those people is Barb King, who praised Margaret's and daughter Patrisha's performances in a New Year's Eve stage show a few weeks ago. "In this play she [Margaret] was Miss Patience, and what a wonderful job she did re-creating a sweet, prim and proper school marm who had once been engaged to the sheriff.," Barb wrote. "Margaret continues to amaze everyone who meets her, with her wonderful humor and fabulous abilities with story-telling." Margaret's columns cover a wide variety of subjects, ranging from "My First Kiss" to her latest column, "Hard times again - when will we ever learn?." She wrote "My First Kiss" last year, when she was only 101. Here's a copy: When I was young, about nine years old, there was a preacher who came to our country schoolhouse to preach.You can see five photos of Margaret at different stages of life posted on MySpace. And here's an edited copy of this remarkable woman's autobiography: I was born on Feb. 1, 1907, in the backwoods of Minnesota on a homestead, 25 miles from Backus, which now has a population of 2,500 people, the year before Henry Ford came out with his first Model T Ford. | |||||||||||
Margaret Caldwell in 2009
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