From ERIC SHACKLE, in Sydney, Australia.
If you drill a deep well in several areas of Australia, and then pour water down it, the water turns to steam, and returns in a jet fierce enough to drive a turbine to generate electrical power. It’s an exciting concept called geothermal power.
It’s in its infancy in Australia, but several companies are actively developing it. There are known and potential locations near the centre of the country that have been shown to contain hot granites at depth which hold good potential for development. Exploratory geothermal wells have been drilled to test for the presence of high temperature geothermal reservoir rocks and such hot granites were detected. As a result, projects will eventuate in the coming years and more exploration is expected to find new locations.
For the British company specialising in the development of geothermal resources, see Geothermal Engineering Ltd.
At the core of the Earth, thermal energy is created by radioactive decay and temperatures may reach over 5000 degrees Celsius (9,000 degrees Fahrenheit). Heat conducts from the core to surrounding cooler rock. The high temperature and pressure cause some rock to melt, creating magma convection upward since it is lighter than the solid rock. The magma heats rock and water in the crust, sometimes up to 370 degrees Celsius (700 degrees Fahrenheit).
Exploratory geothermal wells have been drilled to test for the presence of high temperature geothermal reservoir rocks and such hot granites were detected.
As a result, projects will eventuate in the coming years and more exploration is expected to find new locations. From hot springs, geothermal energy has been used for bathing since Paleolithic times and for space heating since ancient Roman times, but it is now better known for electricity generation.
Worldwide, about 10,715 megawatts (MW) of geothermal power is online in 24 countries. An additional 28 gigawatts of direct geothermal heating capacity is installed for district heating, space heating, spas, industrial processes, desalination and agricultural applications.
Geothermal power is cost effective, reliable, sustainable, and environmentally friendly, but has historically been limited to areas near tectonic plate boundaries. Recent technological advances have dramatically expanded the range and size of viable resources, especially for applications such as home heating, opening a potential for widespread exploitation.
Geothermal wells release greenhouse gases trapped deep within the earth, but these emissions are much lower per energy unit than those of fossil fuels.
As a result, geothermal power has the potential to help mitigate global warming if widely deployed in place of fossil fuels. The Earth's geothermal resources are theoretically more than adequate to supply humanity's energy needs, but only a very small fraction may be profitably exploited.
Drilling and exploration for deep resources is very expensive. Forecasts for the future of geothermal power depend on assumptions about technology, energy prices, subsidies, and interest rates. Polls show that customers would be willing to pay a little more for a renewable energy source like geothermal.
But as a result of government assisted research and industry experience, the cost of generating geothermal power has decreased by 25% over the past two decades.
In 2001, geothermal energy cost between two and ten cents per kilowatt. The 30 MW Paralana project is located adjacent to the Beverley Uranium Mine. It is an enhanced geothermal system (EGS) project, based on Petratherm’s "heat exchanger within insulator" model.
The 25 MW Cooper Basin demonstration project will demonstrate the potential of hot-rock geothermal energy for zero-emission, base-load power.
The project is owned by Geodynamics and will be the world’s first multi-well hot fractured rock power project. Geodynamics has assessed its resource as holding geothermal energy sufficient to support several thousand megawatts of electricity generating capacity. The Jurien-Woodada project, owned by New World Energy Limited, is the most advanced geothermal play in Western Australia for electricity production.
The project is adjacent to transmission infrastructure and large resource-driven energy markets in the mid-west region. The project area has the potential to contain both hot sedimentary aquifer and EGS styles and is being assessed for delivery of electricity into Western Australia's South West Interconnected System. [ The Penola Project is part of Panax’s Limestone Coast Project and is the largest of only three known Measured Geothermal Resources in Australia. An independent assessment has estimated the geothermal resource potential at 11,000 petajoules.
The Penola Project has an extensive database with 28 petroleum wells. The deepest petroleum exploration well is approximately 4,000 metres and intersects more than 1,000 metres of the target reservoir, the Pretty Hill Sandstone.
Panax’s Salamander-1 well, drilled in 2010 is the first deep geothermal well drilled in the Otway Basin. It was completed in record time and is the first to demonstrate conventional geothermal technology in Australia. First steam was produced and the well-testing program was also completed on the project in 2010. The Salamander-1 well met its primary objectives.
At 4,000 metres projected geothermal temperatures were exceeded by more than 10oC and target reservoir rocks met the requirements for the development of a geothermal demonstration plant. An in-house pre-feasibility study found the project has the potential to generate power at $83 per megawatt hour, which is cheaper than wind power.
Complication with the well were found during well-testing. Reservoir engineers have been engaged to examine the well and carry out remediation works. Panax is pioneering conventional geothermal technology in Australia with its Salamander-1 well and is securing funding from the Australian Federal Government to progress the
Penola Project. Video: http://www.rtbot.net/Geothermal_power_in_Australia
Friday, 31 August 2012
Million Kiwis in Earthquake Drill
From ERIC SHACKLE, in Sydney Australia.
At 9.26am on
Wednesday, September 26, a million New Zealanders will take part in a unique
earthquake drill, Mark Benthien, organiser of The Great ShakeOut
predicts.
He says it will be
“the first ShakeOut drill held nationwide in any country.” A month later,
similar exercises will take place in the US, Canada and southern Italy.
“Official rescue teams who have been dispatched to the scene of earthquakes and other disasters around the world continue to advocate use of the internationally recognised ‘Drop, Cover and Hold On’ protocol to protect lives during earthquakes” says the ShakeOut website.
- DROP to the ground (before the earthquake drops you!),
- Take COVER by getting under a sturdy desk or table, and
- HOLD ON to it until the shaking stops.
“If there isn’t a table or desk near you, drop to the ground in an inside corner of the building and cover your head and neck with your hands and arms. Do not try to run to another room just to get under a table.”
A story by Ambrosia Viramontes-Brody on a University of Southern California website says: “The 6.7-magnitude Northridge earthquake that shook Southern California in 1994 did more than rattle Mark Benthien out of his bed at UCLA. It reaffirmed his commitment to earthquake preparedness.
“After that quake, which killed 57 people and injured 8,700 others, the applied geophysics major was responsible for placing seismometers in people’s backyards to record aftershocks.
“Talking to residents about their earthquake fears, Benthien decided to dedicate his career to helping save lives by increasing the public’s understanding of earthquake risk. Two years later he was hired to support education and outreach activities at the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) headquartered in USC Dornsife.
“‘When I was in high school I thought I needed to be a seismologist and predict earthquakes in order to help Californians be safe’, said Benthien, now SCEC’s director for communication, education and outreach, and executive director of the Earthquake Country Alliance (ECA) also based in USC Dornsife. ‘But in my work at UCLA I saw that there was a place for me in helping to communicate crucial information.’ Much of this work was on joint projects coordinated by SCEC, of which UCLA is a core institution.
“Benthien’s work preparing California communities and beyond for earthquakes — including promoting the “Drop, Cover and Hold On!” self-protection procedure as part of the Great California ShakeOut annual earthquake drill— has been recognized by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the President Barack Obama administration.
“Benthien was among 17 leaders honored as a Champion of Change at the White House in Washington, D.C., Jan. 19. All were honored for their efforts to increase public awareness in disaster preparedness.
“Being selected as a White House Champion of Change is a recognition of the success of many people brought together by SCEC over the past 10 years to deepen our partnership, create products and programs and motivate preparedness,” Benthien said. “I'm honored to lead the ECA and work with so many excellent people and partners.”
“The White House Champion of Change program recognizes citizens of all ages and walks of life for their exemplary work improving their communities. In Washington, D.C., Benthien joined fellow honorees in a discussion about how to best engage communities in emergency preparedness.
“’This past year we’ve been reminded that disasters can strike at any time and that preparedness is critical,’ said Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, referring to the May 2011 tornadoes that ripped through Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma and Hurricane Irene that devastated the Caribbean and parts of Canada and the United States including North Carolina in August 2011.
“’We commend the innovative practices and achievements that these individuals bring to the field of emergency management in order to make our communities safer, stronger and better prepared,’ Napolitano said.
“Benthien joined SCEC in 1996 and developed ECA in 2003. Funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Geological Survey, SCEC is a center that partners with more than 600 scientists and more than 60 institutions worldwide to research and develop earthquake forecasts.”
LINKS
The Great
ShakeOut:http://www.shakeout.org/
Mark Benthien:
Monday, 6 August 2012
Printer's Devil: Those Dreaded Tyops
From ERIC SHACKLE, in Sydney, Australia.
 | ||
By ERIC SHACKLE, in Sydney,
Australia
|
The typographical error is a slippery thing and slyThat was back in the days when a printer had to set every word by hand, carefully picking out each metal letter one at a time from a box of two cases (hence the terms upper and lower case). "There was a convenient belief among printers that there was a special devil in every print-shop," says Chas. Jones, of Britain's WritersServices.com.
You can hunt til you are dizzy, but it somehow will get by.
Til the forms are off the presses, it is strange how still it keeps.
It shrinks down in a corner and it never stirs or peeps.
That typographical error, too small for human eyes.
Til the ink is on the paper, when it grows to mountain size.
The boss, he stares with horror, then he grabs his hair and groans.
The copyreader drops his head upon his hands and moans.
The remainder of the issue may be clean as clean can be,
But the typographical error is the only thing you see.
"At night, or when the printer was not watching, this pesky demon would iuvert letters, mizspell a word or perhaps remove an entire or even a complete line... Mistakes were inevitable, and the printer's devil took the blame."
Chas. kindly gave us permission to copy the image of the Printer's Devil displayed at the top of this page. "It's perched outside a shop in Stonegate, Yorkshire, England" he said. "I think I censored the original! It marks the place where Tristram Shandy was first published."
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman was a novel written by Laurence Sterne in 1759. Wikipedia says "its bawdy humour was popular with London society, and it has come to be seen as one of the greatest comic novels in English, as well as a forerunner for many modern narrative devices."
Probably the first and one of the worst typographical errors occurred in 1631, when printers of what is now known as the "wicked" bible were fined 300 pounds sterling. In printing the Ten Commandments, they had omitted the vital word “not” so that the verse read “Thou shalt commit adultery." A thousand copies were ordered to be destroyed, but a few survived. Today they're worth thousands of dollars to collectors.
Thanks to the computer, typographical errors (now called typos) are much more frequent these days. It's rare to find a web page without them. Most blogs are full of them, because of bad spelling, ignorance, or carelessness. But it's easier to blame Typo, the printer's devil, gremlins, leprechauns, or even those pesky Norwegian trolls.
In the old days, a printer's devil was the name given to the newest apprentice in a print shop, the unfortunate lad who had do all the odd jobs, ending the day with ink all over his hands, face and clothes. No wonder he would have scattered a lot of those typos in revenge!
, ,
Aust
|
Saturday, 21 July 2012
Online clocks, ticks and chimes
From ERIC SHACKLE, in Sydney, Australia.
Online clocks of all kinds crowd the internet. Our favorite is Yugo Nakamura's remarkable Industrious Clock, which is is also a calendar: "http://">http://yugop.com/ver3/stuff/03/fla.html
A similar clock with human figures instead of hands is shown on a Persian website:
http://www.asriran.com/files/fa/news/1389/8/16/155486_922.swf
Nakamura (born 1970 in Nara, Japan) is one of Japan's leading web designers. He has exhibited and lectured in Asia, United States and Europe. His artwork has been shown at Centre Pompidou (Paris), Vienna Künstlerhaus (Vienna), and the Design Museum (London).
ArtandCulture.com describes Nakamura's mind-boggling website: "For those of us who are still slightly baffled by the Internet -- and even for jaded digerati -- the MONOcrafts site is magic. It's the bunny that disappears into a top hat to end up squealing in the third row. Magic.
"Even the front page of MONOcrafts' site provides potentially endless entertainment. To the tender sounds of keyboard tapping and computer bleeps, a series of text-filled gray boxes wraps across your screen and grows, shrinks, slows down, and speeds up in perfect accord with the movement of your mouse."
You can hear more of those tender sounds on these videos:
ticks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9Vn5kCasUo
chimes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja4GPsVQXok
Here's a kingsize clock:
www.online-stopwatch.com/online-clock/
And here are more online clocks (alarm, wall etc., five colors): http://onlineclock.net
In line with London's Olympic Games, our Gold Medal goes to the Dandelion Clock: http://www.fotosearch.com/CSP375/k3753846, the Silver Medal to the very useful
World Clock: http://ww w.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html
the Bronze Medal to the Persian clock (linked above) and the Wooden Spoon to this potato clock video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw_Jfp5UO
Saturday, 23 June 2012
Eric Shackle Interviews Himself For His 1000th Story
G'day Eric. You're looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Not bad for a nonagenarian, I must say. I've just googled your name, and found dozens of links to stories you have written.
How did it all begin?
About 12 years ago one of my four sons, Ian, emailed a very clever anagram to me. It was:
Shakespeare: To be or not to be: that is the question, whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
Anagram: In one of the Bard's best-thought-of tragedies, our insistent hero, Hamlet, queries on two fronts about how life turns rotten.
> I was so impressed that I decided to trace it back to find itt I soon established that it had been composed by an American post-graduate student, Cory Calhoun. And it was posted on an anagram website run by Anu Garg.
I exchanged several emails about anagrams with Anu Garg, one of which I still find amazing:
I discovered that ANAGRAM GENIUS= NAME IS ANU GARG
Anu then invited me to be his copy editor. I gladly accepted. Twelve years later, I still enjoy
that job.
Anu is now an American citizen living in Seattle.
You claim you've written a thousand stories. Have you kept count of them?
No, it's only a guesstimate, and it doesn't include hundreds of items I wrote for newspapers when I worked as a staff journalist.
Which newspapers have you worked for?
In New Zealand: The Press (Christchurch)
In Australia: The Queenslander*, Brisbane Courier-Mail and Sunday Mail; Sydney: Daily Telegraph, Truth*,Daily Mirror*, Weekend*
*No longer published
Have you had any stories published as a freelance?
Yes, quite a lot. One in The New York Times and one in The Observer (London)...
and several in The Sydney Morning Herald.
How can we find your stories?
Try these three collections:
Eric Shackle's e-book (South Africa):
http://www.bdb.co.za/shackle/archives/archive_summary.htm
Ohmy News (South Korea):
http://english.ohmynews.com/english/eng_article_diff.asp?writer_id=Shack&at_code=387303
Open Writing (England):
http://www.openwriting.com/archives/eric_shackle_writes/
Do you receive much feedback from your readers?
No, very little. That's probably because I steer clear of politics and religion, and other controversial subjects. I usually write about trivia.
A few months after I began putting stories on the internet, I received these messages
It's an ever-expanding collection of stories that make us think, laugh, and learn.
Wordsmith Anu Garg, mastermind of A.Word.A.Day Seattle, Washington, USA.
"Life begins at 80 ... on the Internet," proclaims Eric.
And ever since his hi-tech epiphany, he has been celebrating his
new-found obsession with this eclectic collection of writing.
Nick Galvin checks out some of the newest destinations on the Net
(Sydney Morning Herald)
I don't read your articles because you are "the oldest."
I read them because you have interesting things to say.
"The Boy on a Bicycle", Denver, Colorado, USA.
I thought that I would never see
My father grasp technology.
Now his thoughts rush 'round the world
A brain let loose like flags unfurled.
Ian Shackle, Frog Rock, New South Wales, Australia
I hope those endorsements still apply.
How did it all begin?
About 12 years ago one of my four sons, Ian, emailed a very clever anagram to me. It was:
Shakespeare: To be or not to be: that is the question, whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
Anagram: In one of the Bard's best-thought-of tragedies, our insistent hero, Hamlet, queries on two fronts about how life turns rotten.
> I was so impressed that I decided to trace it back to find itt I soon established that it had been composed by an American post-graduate student, Cory Calhoun. And it was posted on an anagram website run by Anu Garg.
I exchanged several emails about anagrams with Anu Garg, one of which I still find amazing:
I discovered that ANAGRAM GENIUS= NAME IS ANU GARG
Anu then invited me to be his copy editor. I gladly accepted. Twelve years later, I still enjoy
that job.
Anu is now an American citizen living in Seattle.
You claim you've written a thousand stories. Have you kept count of them?
No, it's only a guesstimate, and it doesn't include hundreds of items I wrote for newspapers when I worked as a staff journalist.
Which newspapers have you worked for?
In New Zealand: The Press (Christchurch)
In Australia: The Queenslander*, Brisbane Courier-Mail and Sunday Mail; Sydney: Daily Telegraph, Truth*,Daily Mirror*, Weekend*
*No longer published
Have you had any stories published as a freelance?
Yes, quite a lot. One in The New York Times and one in The Observer (London)...
and several in The Sydney Morning Herald.
How can we find your stories?
Try these three collections:
Eric Shackle's e-book (South Africa):
http://www.bdb.co.za/shackle/archives/archive_summary.htm
Ohmy News (South Korea):
http://english.ohmynews.com/english/eng_article_diff.asp?writer_id=Shack&at_code=387303
Open Writing (England):
http://www.openwriting.com/archives/eric_shackle_writes/
Do you receive much feedback from your readers?
No, very little. That's probably because I steer clear of politics and religion, and other controversial subjects. I usually write about trivia.
A few months after I began putting stories on the internet, I received these messages
It's an ever-expanding collection of stories that make us think, laugh, and learn.
Wordsmith Anu Garg, mastermind of A.Word.A.Day Seattle, Washington, USA.
"Life begins at 80 ... on the Internet," proclaims Eric.
And ever since his hi-tech epiphany, he has been celebrating his
new-found obsession with this eclectic collection of writing.
Nick Galvin checks out some of the newest destinations on the Net
(Sydney Morning Herald)
I don't read your articles because you are "the oldest."
I read them because you have interesting things to say.
"The Boy on a Bicycle", Denver, Colorado, USA.
I thought that I would never see
My father grasp technology.
Now his thoughts rush 'round the world
A brain let loose like flags unfurled.
Ian Shackle, Frog Rock, New South Wales, Australia
I hope those endorsements still apply.
Friday, 8 June 2012
OGOPOGO: Canada's Loch Ness Monster
From ERIC SHACKLE, in Sydney, Australia.
Five members of the Okanagan Masters Swim Club risked an encounter with Canada's fearsome inland sea monster, Ogopogo a few days ago.
They braved 13 degree temperatures and white-capped waves in a qualifying swim for crossing the English Channel as a relay team next summer.
Sightings of Ogopogo date as far back as the early 1800s. In 1860. John McDougall lost his team of horses when they were pulled under as he was swimming them across the lake in a canoe....never to be seen again.
But fear not. He (or possibly she) is said to be the world's friendliest inland sea monster, living for centuries in an underwater cave in a 30-mile-long lake which is 1,000 feet deep in places.
Hundreds of locals and visitors claim to have seen Ogopogo in Okanagan Lake in British Columbia, some 250 miles east of Vancouver.
The first I knew of him (or her) was 12 years ago, when my friend Mick Read, who lives in Peachland, British Columbia, in the mountains above Okanagan Lake, told me in an email:
"A couple of years ago me and dog were sniffing around the Lake bank and I noticed something coming towards the bank. A bunch of small humps. I observed for a while and wrote them off as a few beavers following in line.
"Tell anyone they would think I am up the bloody wall. So I kept mum for a time. A friend the ex-Fire Chief now runs the museum, seeing I often pull his leg reckoned it was Ogo. Of course he was born here."
Fact or fantasy? Your guess is as good as mine.
John McDougall was a firm believer in the existence of this monster, for he had the experience of losing his team of horses when he was swimming it across the lake "to assist Mr. Allison with the haying."
"These were the horses he used in hunting, and when crossing the lake he always carried along a chicken or tiny pig, which he dropped in the water as he neared the middle.
"Unfortunately he had forgotten his 'peace-offering' on this occasion. The horses were being towed on a long rope. Suddenly they were drawn down by some great force from below.
"The canoe would have gone too, had not Johnny quickly cut the rope with his sheath knife, and hurriedly rowed away from the scene. Not a vestige of his team was ever seen again."'
Twelve years ago, the Rotary Club of Penticton, Penticton & Wine Country Chamber of Commerce and Okanagan Unviersity College offered to pay two million Canadian dollars to anyone finding alive and definitively verifying Ogopogo's existence between August 1, 2000 and September 1, 2001.
There were a few submissions, but the judges were not satisfied that they provided adequate proof, and no award was made.
One website says that the local North American indigenous people knew Ogopogo as N'Ha-a-itk, meaning "Lake Demon."
According to legend, he was formerly a man possessed by a demon, who had slain a neighbour known as Old Kan-He-K (in whose honour Lake Okanagan was named). The gods turned him into a giant sea serpent, to remain at the crime scene for ever.
Ogopogo has been spotted several times in recent years, the latest being on May 27, 2012, according to these reports posted by SunnyOkanagan.com:
"June 4 2004. Debbie reported seeing Ogopogo to CKOV radio. She was watching the lake with her three children at 7:30 PM on the north west end of the lake. First the ducks and loons took off.
"Then she heard a thump thump thump thump in rapid succession making the water spray up, spitting and splashing, much louder than a beaver slap.
"She saw three smooth shiny humps mostly submerged. The creature swam about 3 feet and submerged leaving the water perfectly calm. She was so scared she ran into the house and thought 'Who should I call? No one will believe me.'
"Just two weeks previous also at 7:30 PM she saw a neck and dinosaur head moving through the water past about three houses. The skin was hairless and the colour was a deep grey black like she had never seen before.
"She estimated the body to be 15 feet long swimming like a snake, very mellow and quiet. The head had a bump on the top - dolphins have a bump they use for sonar. It was the weirdest color and the head the weirdest shape."
"August 9, 2004. John Casorso reported seeing and video taping Ogopogo.. He and his family were in a house boat by Trader's Cove at the old ferry docks early in the morning when he heard a thump thump thumping (same reported thumping as by Debbie) and thrashing beneath the house boat and the house boat tilted 20° and rocked. The lake was perfectly calm and there were no motor boats.
"He saw the object 30 feet away, got his video recorder and video taped a large dark object like a black wave, submerging and surfacing... a hundred yards away - he videotaped it for 15 minutes. At times there appeared to be two parallel objects.
"When he got home he played it back and the object resolved clearly depicting a large object with humps, stretching out at times like a reptile, perhaps the best video yet of Ogopogo."
Thousands of miles to the east, in Lake Simcoe, an hour's drive north from Toronto, Ontario, another strange marine monster is said to dwell.
An article on the website of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club says:
"[It] has been given the nickname Igopogo - an obvious parody of the name bestowed upon the aquatic marvel of Okanagan Lake, British Columbia.
"As Igopogo has been frequently sighted in Kempenfelt Bay on the northwestern side of this roughly circular lake, it is also known as Kempenfelt Kelly.
"Those who have had the good fortune of obtaining a sighting of the reticent and elusive beast have described it as having a stove-pipe neck with a head resembling that of a dog and with a face to match.
"The largest specimen sighted was a mere 12 feet long - a small enough creature when compared with the lurking hulks said to dwell at Loch Ness and Okanagan Lake."
The Ogo-Pogo, the Funny Foxtrot (1924)
This English music-hall song from 1924, The Ogo-Pogo: The Funny Fox-Trot, is thought to have inspired the name of Canada's Ogopogo. It was played by the Savoy Havana Band; composed by Mark Strong, words by Cumberland Clark:
One fine day in Hindustan, I met a funny little man. With googly eyes and lantern jaws, a new silk hat and some old plus-fours. When I said to that quaint old chap "Why do you carry that big steel trap, that butterfly net and that rusty gun?" He replied "Listen here my son:
I'm looking for the ogo-pogo
That funny little ogo-pogo.
His mother was an earwig, his father was a whale,
And I want to put a little salt on his tail.
I want to find the ogo-pogo
While he's playing on his old banjo.
For the Lord Mayor of London,
The Lord Mayor of London,
Wants to put him in the Lord Mayor's show.
Upon his banjo night and day,
The ogo-pogo likes to play.
He charms the snakes and chimpanzees,
The big baboons and the bumblebees.
Lions and tigers begin to roar
"Play that melody just once more.
Do I hear the sound of an old banjo?
Pardon me I shall have to go, for
I'm looking for the ogo-pogo,
That funny little ogo-pogo.
His mother was an earwig, his father was a whale,
And I want to put a little salt on his tail,
For the Lord Mayor of London
Wants to put him in the Lord Mayor's show.
Ogopogo video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_IkLB74Uw0
Loch Ness Monster Swim:
http://www.monsterswim.co.uk/
Five members of the Okanagan Masters Swim Club risked an encounter with Canada's fearsome inland sea monster, Ogopogo a few days ago.
They braved 13 degree temperatures and white-capped waves in a qualifying swim for crossing the English Channel as a relay team next summer.
Sightings of Ogopogo date as far back as the early 1800s. In 1860. John McDougall lost his team of horses when they were pulled under as he was swimming them across the lake in a canoe....never to be seen again.
But fear not. He (or possibly she) is said to be the world's friendliest inland sea monster, living for centuries in an underwater cave in a 30-mile-long lake which is 1,000 feet deep in places.
Hundreds of locals and visitors claim to have seen Ogopogo in Okanagan Lake in British Columbia, some 250 miles east of Vancouver.
The first I knew of him (or her) was 12 years ago, when my friend Mick Read, who lives in Peachland, British Columbia, in the mountains above Okanagan Lake, told me in an email:
"A couple of years ago me and dog were sniffing around the Lake bank and I noticed something coming towards the bank. A bunch of small humps. I observed for a while and wrote them off as a few beavers following in line.
"Tell anyone they would think I am up the bloody wall. So I kept mum for a time. A friend the ex-Fire Chief now runs the museum, seeing I often pull his leg reckoned it was Ogo. Of course he was born here."
Fact or fantasy? Your guess is as good as mine.
John McDougall was a firm believer in the existence of this monster, for he had the experience of losing his team of horses when he was swimming it across the lake "to assist Mr. Allison with the haying."
"These were the horses he used in hunting, and when crossing the lake he always carried along a chicken or tiny pig, which he dropped in the water as he neared the middle.
"Unfortunately he had forgotten his 'peace-offering' on this occasion. The horses were being towed on a long rope. Suddenly they were drawn down by some great force from below.
"The canoe would have gone too, had not Johnny quickly cut the rope with his sheath knife, and hurriedly rowed away from the scene. Not a vestige of his team was ever seen again."'
Twelve years ago, the Rotary Club of Penticton, Penticton & Wine Country Chamber of Commerce and Okanagan Unviersity College offered to pay two million Canadian dollars to anyone finding alive and definitively verifying Ogopogo's existence between August 1, 2000 and September 1, 2001.
There were a few submissions, but the judges were not satisfied that they provided adequate proof, and no award was made.
One website says that the local North American indigenous people knew Ogopogo as N'Ha-a-itk, meaning "Lake Demon."
According to legend, he was formerly a man possessed by a demon, who had slain a neighbour known as Old Kan-He-K (in whose honour Lake Okanagan was named). The gods turned him into a giant sea serpent, to remain at the crime scene for ever.
Ogopogo has been spotted several times in recent years, the latest being on May 27, 2012, according to these reports posted by SunnyOkanagan.com:
"June 4 2004. Debbie reported seeing Ogopogo to CKOV radio. She was watching the lake with her three children at 7:30 PM on the north west end of the lake. First the ducks and loons took off.
"Then she heard a thump thump thump thump in rapid succession making the water spray up, spitting and splashing, much louder than a beaver slap.
"She saw three smooth shiny humps mostly submerged. The creature swam about 3 feet and submerged leaving the water perfectly calm. She was so scared she ran into the house and thought 'Who should I call? No one will believe me.'
"Just two weeks previous also at 7:30 PM she saw a neck and dinosaur head moving through the water past about three houses. The skin was hairless and the colour was a deep grey black like she had never seen before.
"She estimated the body to be 15 feet long swimming like a snake, very mellow and quiet. The head had a bump on the top - dolphins have a bump they use for sonar. It was the weirdest color and the head the weirdest shape."
"August 9, 2004. John Casorso reported seeing and video taping Ogopogo.. He and his family were in a house boat by Trader's Cove at the old ferry docks early in the morning when he heard a thump thump thumping (same reported thumping as by Debbie) and thrashing beneath the house boat and the house boat tilted 20° and rocked. The lake was perfectly calm and there were no motor boats.
"He saw the object 30 feet away, got his video recorder and video taped a large dark object like a black wave, submerging and surfacing... a hundred yards away - he videotaped it for 15 minutes. At times there appeared to be two parallel objects.
"When he got home he played it back and the object resolved clearly depicting a large object with humps, stretching out at times like a reptile, perhaps the best video yet of Ogopogo."
Thousands of miles to the east, in Lake Simcoe, an hour's drive north from Toronto, Ontario, another strange marine monster is said to dwell.
An article on the website of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club says:
"[It] has been given the nickname Igopogo - an obvious parody of the name bestowed upon the aquatic marvel of Okanagan Lake, British Columbia.
"As Igopogo has been frequently sighted in Kempenfelt Bay on the northwestern side of this roughly circular lake, it is also known as Kempenfelt Kelly.
"Those who have had the good fortune of obtaining a sighting of the reticent and elusive beast have described it as having a stove-pipe neck with a head resembling that of a dog and with a face to match.
"The largest specimen sighted was a mere 12 feet long - a small enough creature when compared with the lurking hulks said to dwell at Loch Ness and Okanagan Lake."
The Ogo-Pogo, the Funny Foxtrot (1924)
This English music-hall song from 1924, The Ogo-Pogo: The Funny Fox-Trot, is thought to have inspired the name of Canada's Ogopogo. It was played by the Savoy Havana Band; composed by Mark Strong, words by Cumberland Clark:
One fine day in Hindustan, I met a funny little man. With googly eyes and lantern jaws, a new silk hat and some old plus-fours. When I said to that quaint old chap "Why do you carry that big steel trap, that butterfly net and that rusty gun?" He replied "Listen here my son:
I'm looking for the ogo-pogo
That funny little ogo-pogo.
His mother was an earwig, his father was a whale,
And I want to put a little salt on his tail.
I want to find the ogo-pogo
While he's playing on his old banjo.
For the Lord Mayor of London,
The Lord Mayor of London,
Wants to put him in the Lord Mayor's show.
Upon his banjo night and day,
The ogo-pogo likes to play.
He charms the snakes and chimpanzees,
The big baboons and the bumblebees.
Lions and tigers begin to roar
"Play that melody just once more.
Do I hear the sound of an old banjo?
Pardon me I shall have to go, for
I'm looking for the ogo-pogo,
That funny little ogo-pogo.
His mother was an earwig, his father was a whale,
And I want to put a little salt on his tail,
For the Lord Mayor of London
Wants to put him in the Lord Mayor's show.
Ogopogo video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_IkLB74Uw0
Loch Ness Monster Swim:
http://www.monsterswim.co.uk/
Saturday, 2 June 2012
Hear the World on your Computer
From ERIC SHACKLE, in Sydney, Australia.
This may be old hat (stale news) to you, but it's an exciting discovery to me. I've found I can use my computer to listen to hundreds of radio stations around the world.
In the last two days I've heard programs being broadcast by stations in New Zealand, South Africa, Bhutan, Ireland and the United States. All I had to do was to visit a website in Palo Alto, California called TuneIn
The website says:
"TuneIn is a free service that lets you listen to anything in the world from wherever you are. Whether you want to hear music, sports, news or current events, TuneIn offers over 50,000 stations, all yours, for you to choose from.
"From finding local stations to discovering new stations from around the world, TuneIn brings you to where you want to be.Millions of people across every continent listen to what they love through TuneIn."
Here are some of the stations I've heard (with varying degrees of interest):
Radio Valley 99.9, Thimphu, Bhutan. Bhutan is a small kingdom in the Himalayas, between India and China.
KNTU Denton, Texas
KNTU is licensed to the University of North Texas and is on the air 24 hours, every day of the year, broadcasting with 100,000 watts at 88.1 FM.
The Night Time Network, Dublin, Ireland. Its website says:
On the Night-Time Network we realise that not everybody goes to bed at night...if you're doing the night shift or just having trouble counting sheep, we have plenty of music and games to get you through your night.
567 Cape Talk. News from Cape Town, South Africa.
Try it out for yourself. Tune in to Tunein com
This may be old hat (stale news) to you, but it's an exciting discovery to me. I've found I can use my computer to listen to hundreds of radio stations around the world.
In the last two days I've heard programs being broadcast by stations in New Zealand, South Africa, Bhutan, Ireland and the United States. All I had to do was to visit a website in Palo Alto, California called TuneIn
The website says:
"TuneIn is a free service that lets you listen to anything in the world from wherever you are. Whether you want to hear music, sports, news or current events, TuneIn offers over 50,000 stations, all yours, for you to choose from.
"From finding local stations to discovering new stations from around the world, TuneIn brings you to where you want to be.Millions of people across every continent listen to what they love through TuneIn."
Here are some of the stations I've heard (with varying degrees of interest):
Radio Valley 99.9, Thimphu, Bhutan. Bhutan is a small kingdom in the Himalayas, between India and China.
KNTU Denton, Texas
KNTU is licensed to the University of North Texas and is on the air 24 hours, every day of the year, broadcasting with 100,000 watts at 88.1 FM.
The Night Time Network, Dublin, Ireland. Its website says:
On the Night-Time Network we realise that not everybody goes to bed at night...if you're doing the night shift or just having trouble counting sheep, we have plenty of music and games to get you through your night.
567 Cape Talk. News from Cape Town, South Africa.
Try it out for yourself. Tune in to Tunein com
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