Endeavour launch successful

In 1985, Mrs Sharon Christa McAuliffe, a social-studies teacher from Concord, New Hampshire, was selected by NASA for the Teacher in Space Program. After training, she took off from Cape Canaveral on 28 January 1986 aboard the space shuttle Challenger (mission STS-51-L). Minutes later, she was dead, along with the other six members of Challenger's crew*, after the shuttle exploded.**

Mrs Barbara R Morgan, a grade-school teacher in McCall, Idaho, was selected as McAuliffe's backup. She continued to work with NASA after Challenger's loss, and in 1998 was selected as NASA's first educator mission specialist, becoming a full-time astronaut. (Three more educator mission specialists - Joseph M Acaba, Richard Arnold and Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger - were added to NASA's ranks in 2004.)

Shuttle Endeavour launched this evening (40 minutes ago as I write this) on its 20th flight, as mission STS-118, and Morgan was on board, making her first flight 22 years after initially being selected for the programme.





ZUI this article from Bloomberg.com:

NASA's shuttle Endeavour launched from Florida this evening, marking its first flight in five years and the start of an 11-day mission to expand the International Space Station.

The ship blasted off at 6:36 p.m. local time from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. It should reach the space station in two days, where the Endeavour's crew will deliver a truss to support solar panels and an external platform to stow equipment.

Aboard the Endeavour are six career astronauts and a former schoolteacher who has waited two decades to fly. Barbara Morgan, 55, was the backup for NASA's ``Teacher in Space'' program. The agency suspended the program in 1986 when the shuttle Challenger exploded just after liftoff, killing seven astronauts, including teacher Christa McAuliffe.

This article from the Beeb provides more information:

The US space shuttle Endeavour has embarked on an 11 to 14 day assembly mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

The shuttle blasted off as planned at 2336 BST (1836 EDT) on Wednesday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The mission is the second of four that Nasa plans to fit in this year.

The space agency is pressing to finish building the $100bn (£49.1bn) space station before the ageing shuttle fleet is retired in 2010.

With Morgan aboard Endeavour are commander Scott J Kelly, pilot Charles O Hobaugh, and mission specialists Tracy E Caldwell, Richard A Mastracchio, Dafydd R Williams and B Alvin Drew Jr.

There are only 12 more space shuttle flights scheduled before the fleet is retired. The next two are STS-120 (shuttle Discovery), on 20 October, and STS-122 (Atlantis), on 6 December.


* Francis "Dick" Scobee, Michael J Smith, Judith Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, Ronald McNair and Gregory Jarvis.

** I was the on-watch RMOW when we came up to PD a few hours later and started receiving all the SAR traffic.

This day in history: 5 Aug

642: Oswald of Northumbria was defeated and killed by Penda of Mercia in the Battle of Maserfeld (now Oswestry, Shropshire).

1100: Henry I Beauclerc, who had been King of England since his brother's death three days earlier, was crowned in Westminster Abbey.

1305: Sir William Wallace was captured by the English near Glasgow.

1583: Sir Humphrey Gilbert formally took possession of Newfoundland (and of the land 200 leagues to the north and south) for England, establishing the first English colony in North America at what is now St John's.

1620: The Mayflower and Speedwell departed Southampton, England, on their first attempt at a voyage to America. They were forced to turn back following sabotage by Speedwell's crew; Mayflower's third attempt, which began on 6 September of that year, was successful.

1689: 1500 Iroquois attacked the village of Lachine, on the island of Montreal in New France. 80 French colonists were killed, and the village was burnt to the ground.

1716: Prince Eugene of Savoy defeated the Ottomans in the Battle of Petrovaradin (now in Serbia).

1763: British and Indian forces led by Colonel Henry Bouquet defeated Chief Pontiac's Indians at Bushy Run, in southwestern Pennsylvania.

1858: Cyrus Field's Atlantic Telegraph Company completed the first transatlantic telegraph cable, between Foilhommerum, Valentia Island, in western Ireland, and Heart's Content, in eastern Newfoundland; it operated for less than a month before being destroyed by excessive voltage.

1864: "Damn the torpedoes! Four bells. Captain Drayton, go ahead! Jouett, full speed!" Admiral David Farragut, aboard the sloop-of-war USS Hartford (Captain Percival Drayton), led a Union flotilla through Confederate defenses - forts, gunboats, and the ironclad ram CSS Tennessee - at Mobile Bay, near Mobile, Alabama. Monitor USS Tecumseh hit a mine and sank with the loss of 93 men, and USS Oneida lost a boiler and was taken under tow by USS Galena. 97 men* were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions this day aboard Hartford** (12 awards), Richmond (29), Metacomet (8), Brooklyn (23), Lackawanna (11), Galena (4), Chickasaw (2) and Oneida (8).

1915: The Italian submarine Nereide (Capitano di Corvetta Carlo Del Greco) was torpedoed and sunk near the island of Pelagosa, in the central Adriatic, by the Austrian SM U 5 (Linienschiffsleutnant Georg von Trapp).

1944: Japanese POWs attempted to escape from a prisoner of war camp outside Cowra, NSW, Australia - possibly the biggest mass breakout in history.

1957: American Bandstand, hosted by Dick Clark, debuted on ABC television.

1964: American aircraft from carriers USS Ticonderoga (CVA 14) and USS Constellation (CVA 64) bombed targets in North Vietnam in retaliation for strikes against US destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.

1969: Mariner 7 made its closest fly-by (3524 kilometres) of Mars.

1981: President Ronald Reagan fired 11,350 striking air-traffic controllers who had ignored his order to return to work.

Gruffydd ap Llywelyn (c 1000–1063), Frederick North KG PC, 2nd Earl of Guilford (1732–1792), Richard Howe KG, 1st Earl Howe (1726–1799), Jacques Boucher de Crèvecœur de Perthes (1788–1868), Carmen Miranda (1909–1955), Norma Jean Mortenson (1926–1962), Richard Burton CBE (1925-1984) and Sir Alec Guinness CH CBE (1914–2000) died on this date.

And happy birthday to Edward John Eyre (1815-1901), Joseph Merrick (1862–1890), John Huston (1906–1987), Neil Armstrong (1930-TBD), Sammi Smith (1943-2005) and Loni Anderson (1946-TBD).


* Yes, 97 (ninety-seven). If that seems excessive, remember that at that time, the Medal of Honor was the only decoration awarded by the US armed forces; it was either that, or nothing. So men received the MoH for actions that nowadays would rate "only" a Navy Cross, a Silver Star or a Bronze Star.

** Commissioned on 27 May 1859, Hartford served, with gaps, until she was finally decommissioned for the last time on 20 Aug 1926. She sank at her berth at Norfolk Navy Yard on 20 Nov 1956, and was subsequently scrapped.

Victoria Cross: C. J. S. and H. H. Gough

CHARLES JOHN STANLEY GOUGH

Major, 5th Bengal European Cavalry

Born: 20 January 1832, Chittagong, India

Citation: First, for gallantry in an affair at Khurkowdah, near Rhotuck, on the 15th of August, 1857, in which he saved his brother [Lieutenant Hugh Henry Gough], who was wounded, and killed two of the Enemy.
Secondly, for gallantry on the 18th of August, when he led a Troop of the Guide Cavalry in a charge, and cut down two of the Enemy's Sowars, with one of whom he had a desperate hand to hand combat.
Thirdly, for gallantry on the 27th of January, 1858, at Shumshabad, where, in a charge, he attacked one of the Enemy's leaders, and pierced him with his sword, which was carried out of his hand in the melée. He defended himself with his revolver, and shot two of the Enemy.
Fourthly, for gallantry on the 23rd of February, at Meangunge, where he came to the assistance of Brevet-Major O. H. St. George Anson, and killed his opponent, immediately afterwards cutting down another of the Enemy in the same gallant manner.

(London Gazette Issue 22318 dated 21 Oct 1859, published 21 Oct 1859.)




HUGH HENRY GOUGH

Lieutenant, 1st Bengal European Light Cavalry

Born: 14 November 1833, Calcutta, India

Citation: Lieutenant Gough, when in command of a party of Hodson's Horse, near Alumbagh, on the 12th of November, 1857, particularly distinguished himself by his forward bearing in charging across a swamp, and capturing two guns, although defended by a vastly superior body of the enemy. On this occasion he had his horse wounded in two places, and his turban cut through by sword cuts, whilst engaged in combat with three Sepoys.
Lieutenant Gough also particularly distinguished himself, near Jellalabad, Lucknow, on the 25th February, 1858, by showing a brilliant example to his Regiment, when ordered to charge the enemy's guns, and by his gallant and forward conduct, he enabled them to effect their object. On this occasion, he engaged himself in a series of single combats, until at length he was disabled by a musket-ball through his leg, while charging two Sepoys with fixed bayonets. Lieutenant Gough on this day had two horses killed under him, a shot through his helmet, and another through his scabbard, besides being severely wounded.

(London Gazette Issue 22212 dated 24 Dec 1858, published 24 Dec 1858.)


Note: Two brothers who were both awarded the Victoria Cross for service in India. C J S Gough's son, Brevet Major John Edmond Gough, was also awarded the Victoria Cross, for action in British Somaliland on 22 Apr 1903.

Medal of Honor: J. C. and W. P. Black

JOHN C BLACK

Lieutenant Colonel, 37th Illinois Infantry

Born: 27 January 1839, Lexington, Holmes County, Miss.

Citation: Gallantly charged the position of the enemy [at Prairie Grove, Arkansas, 7 December 1862] at the head of his regiment, after 2 other regiments had been repulsed and driven down the hill, and captured a battery; was severely wounded.









WILLIAM P BLACK

Captain, Company K, 37th Illinois Infantry

Born: 11 November 1842, Woodford, Ky.

Citation: Single-handedly confronted the enemy [at Pea Ridge, Arkansas, 7 March 1862], firing a rifle at them and thus checking their advance within 100 yards of the lines.









Note: Another pair of brothers who were awarded the Medal of Honor.

RIP: Tommy Makem

ZUI this post from the Los Angeles Times:

Tommy Makem, a musician, singer and master storyteller who teamed up with the Clancy Brothers to popularize traditional Irish folk music around the world, has died. He was 74.

Makem died of lung cancer Wednesday in Dover, N.H., where he lived for many years, his son Conor told the Associated Press.

Playing banjo, tin whistle and singing in a deep baritone, Makem was known as the Godfather of Irish music for bringing Irish culture to audiences. His original songs, such as "Four Green Fields" and "Gentle Annie," have become Irish folk music standards.

"He was a great entertainer," his lifelong collaborator Liam Clancy told Ireland's RTE state radio. "He had a knack of making an audience laugh and cry, holding them in the palm of his hand."

And this from the Boston Globe:

Like all great troubadours, Tommy Makem isn't dead. His body is lifeless, having finally succumbed [Wednesday, 1 August] to the lung cancer that ate away at him the last two years.

But Tommy Makem was an Irish soul singer, and souls don't die. His music is preserved, on the old vinyl LPs he made with his pals, the Clancy Brothers, more recently on CDs, more intimately in memory, in the hard drive of any brain that heard his basso profundo voice.

To hear Tommy Makem sing "Four Green Fields" was to hear Enrico Caruso sing "Vesti la giubba," or James Brown sing "I Feel Good." He was for Irish traditional music a great ambassador, and a consummate performer.

Tommy Makem's official website can be found here.

Left to right: Tommy Makem, Paddy Clancy, Tom Clancy and Liam Clancy (1963 photo)

IMDb: The first 25

If you've ever paid attention to the various web pages at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), you'll have noticed that the actors, films, &c are numbered, not named, in the URLs. It occurred to me the other day that the folks who started IMDb probably began by entering their favourite actors and films, or perhaps those they thought were the greatest, and I got to wondering what those first entries were.

So, just for the record, the first 25 actors/actresses/others entered at IMDb were:

1. Fred Astaire (1899-1987)
2. Lauren Bacall (1924-TBD)
3. Brigitte Bardot (1934-TBD)
4. John Belushi (1949-1982)
5. Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007)
6. Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982)
7. Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957)
8. Marlon Brando (1924-2004)
9. Richard Burton (1925-1984)
10. James Cagney (1899-1986)
11. Gary Cooper (1901-1961)
12. Bette Davis (1908-1989)
13. Doris Day (1924-TBD)
14. Olivia de Havilland (1916-TBD)
15. James Dean (1931-1955)
16. Georges Delerue (1925-1992)
17. Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992)
18. Kirk Douglas (1916-TBD)
19. Federico Fellini (1920-1993)
20. Henry Fonda (1905-1982)
21. Joan Fontaine (1917-TBD)
22. Clark Gable (1901-1960)
23. Judy Garland (1922-1969)
24. John Gielgud (1904-2000)
25. Jerry Goldsmith (1929-2004)

(What in the world is John Belushi doing in a list like that???)

And the first 25 films were:

1. Carmencita (1894)
2. Le Clown et ses Chiens (1892)
3. Pauvre Pierrot (1892)
4. Un bon bock (1892)
5. Blacksmith Scene (1893)
6. Chinese Opium Den (1894)
7. Corbett and Courtney Before the Kinetograph (1894)
8. Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze (1894)
9. Miss Jerry (1894)
10. La Sortie des usines Lumière (1895)
11. Akrobatisches Potpourri (1895)
12. L'Arrivée d'un train à La Ciotat (1895)
13. Neuville-sur-Saône: Débarquement du congrès des photographes à Lyon (1895)
14. L'Arroseur arrosé (1895)
15. Autour d'une cabine (1895)
16. Barque sortant du port (1895)
17. Bauerntanz zweier Kinder (1895)
18. Das boxende Känguruh (1895)
19. The Clown Barber (1895)
20. The Derby (1895)
22. Les Forgerons (1895)
23. La Mer (1895)
24. Opening of the Kiel Canal (1895)
25. The Oxford and Cambridge University Boat Race (1895)
26. Partie de cartes (1895)

Looks like maybe IMDb started out as somebody's project on early film. Wonder how much farther I'd have to go to hit a modern movie....

(There's no film number 21 because every time I enter that URL, I get redirected to number 13 for some reason.)

Book list - Jul 07

So Disdained - espionage novel, by Nevil Shute
All-of-a-Kind Family Downtown - children's, by Sydney Taylor
Solo - thriller, by Jack Higgins
The Dreaming Suburb - family saga, by R F Delderfield
Steel Magic - children's fantasy, by Andre Norton
Alanna: The First Adventure - fantasy, by Tamora Pierce
In the Hand of the Goddess - fantasy, by Tamora Pierce
The Woman Who Rides Like a Man - fantasy, by Tamora Pierce
The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare - mystery, by Lilian Jackson Braun
The Weapon from Beyond - SF, by Edmond Hamilton
The Closed Worlds - SF, by Edmond Hamilton
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - fantasy, by J K Rowling
World of the Starwolves - SF, by Edmond Hamilton
The Burning Mountain - AH, by Alfred Coppel
Trail of the Seahawks - SF, by Ardath Mayhar and Ron Fortier
The Alpine Decoy - mystery, by Mary Daheim
Noblesse Oblige - sociology, edited by Nancy Mitford


17 books this month. The three Hamilton books make up the Starwolf (Morgan Chane) trilogy; I know I read one of them back around high school (I remember being amused when I learned that Varna, the name of the Starwolf homeworld, was also the name of a city in Bulgaria), but nothing seemed familiar so I can't say for sure which one. Higgins, Delderfield and Norton were also rereads, but everything else was new. To me, anyway.

So many projects going.... I have the "By the Decade" challenge (which I'm not getting very far with), and my programme to read all of the Newbery Medal books (29 of 86 thus far). I want to read more books by Nevil Shute - I really enjoyed So Disdained - and I'd like to read all of Miss Read's "Fairacre" and "Thrush Green" books (our public library has most of them). I want to read a few Jules Verne books that I haven't read yet, such as Five Weeks in a Balloon and Search for the Castaways. (I've seen both movies, but....) And I'm thinking about reading as many of the Carnegie Medal books as I can after I finish the Newbery list.

Victoria Cross: A. Jacka

ALBERT JACKA

Lance-Corporal, 14th (Victoria) Battalion, Australian Imperial Force

Born: 10 January 1893, Winchelsea, Geelong, Victoria, Australia

Citation: For most conspicuous bravery on the night of the 19th-20th May, 1915, at "Courtney's Post," Gallipoli Peninsula.
Lance-Corporal Jacka, while holding a portion of our trench with four other men, was heavily attacked. When all except himself were killed or wounded, the trench was rushed and occupied by seven Turks. Lance-Corporal Jacka at once most gallantly attacked them single-handed, and killed the whole party, five by rifle fire and two with the bayonet.

(London Gazette Issue 29240 dated 24 Jul 1915, published 23 Jul 1915.)

Medal of Honor: F. D. Baldwin

FRANK D BALDWIN

Captain, Company D, 19th Michigan Infantry
(later First Lieutenant, 5th US Infantry)

Born: 26 June 1842, Manchester, Mich.

Citation: Led his company in a countercharge at Peach Tree Creek, Ga., 12 July 1864, under a galling fire ahead of his own men, and singly entered the enemy's line, capturing and bringing back 2 commissioned officers, fully armed, besides a guidon of a Georgia regiment.









Citation: Rescued, with 2 companies, 2 white girls by a voluntary attack upon Indians [at McClellans Creek, Texas, 8 November 1874] whose superior numbers and strong position would have warranted delay for reinforcements, but which delay would have permitted the Indians to escape and kill their captives.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (J K Rowling)

(I suppose I should begin by warning that there are mild spoilers here. I do say that a few things happen, but in most cases I don't specify who is involved. So it should be safe to read this, even if you haven't finished the book yet.)

My family got started on the Harry Potter books shortly after the US edition of the second book came out. They were already starting to get a lot of publicity; my mother-in-law was a librarian*, and her library had both books, so she brought the first one home to see what the fuss was about. I spotted it lying on the table and picked it up - and couldn't put it down. And she, my wife and I have bought every book since then as soon as we could after publication. My older daughter started reading them, too, after seeing the first movie. (By now she's read the first six books at least five times each, and I think that as I write this, she's reading Deathly Hallows for the third time....)

I have to admit that by the time this book - the seventh and last one in the series - came out, the questions of who lost, who won, who lived, who died, who married whom, &c, were almost secondary. The thing I most wanted to know was just what, exactly, made Severus Snape tick. We finally get to find out in chapter 33 (of 36); I was right about whom he was really working for (Dumbledore or Riddle), but the reasons behind everything blew my mind.

In the previous book, Half-Blood Prince, it was discovered that Lord Voldemort (once known as Tom Riddle) had split his soul into several parts and embedded most of those parts within objects known as horcruxes; as long as at least one horcrux remains intact, Voldemort cannot be killed. When Harry, Ron and Hermione were last seen, they were planning to drop out of Hogwarts and go looking for both the horcruxes and a means of destroying them. They do, and the fun begins....

If you're one of those who have been turned off by the idea of reading children's books, forget that - this is no longer just a children's series. There's no sex, other than a couple of instances of passionate snogging, but there's quite a bit of violence. Several characters, amongst them a couple whom we've known since the first book, are killed, and others are injured (including one victim of "friendly fire"). Bellatrix Lestrange meets her well-deserved end, at the hands of an unexpected opponent. The final battle between Harry and Voldemort (yes, they do square off at last, and no, I'm not telling who wins - go read the book!) was well done. When Voldemort faced Dumbledore at the end of Order of the Phoenix, he became angry when Dumbledore kept calling him Tom; he seems to like it even less when Harry calls him Riddle.

And speaking of Dumbledore, we get a lot of really interesting background information on him....

Not all is death and violence, of course. A lot of minor characters we haven't seen recently reappear - such as Harry's old Quidditch team (Oliver Wood, Katie Bell, &c), Viktor Krum, the spiders and centaurs from the Enchanted Forest, Dobby and Grawp. Griphook, the goblin who first took Harry to his private vault at Gringotts, plays an important role. We also see the whole Weasley family, including Charlie, Bill and Percy. There are two weddings (one of them offstage), and a baby is born.

A few choice lines:

"If you think I'm going to let six people risk their lives - !"
" - because it's the first time for all of us," said Ron.

*******

Never once had he imagined Dumbledore's childhood or youth; it was as though he had sprung into being as Harry had known him, venerable and silver-haired and old. The idea of a teenage Dumbledore was simply odd, like trying to imagine a stupid Hermione or a friendly Blast-Ended Skrewt.

*******

"NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"

*******

"OI! There's a war going on here!"

*******

... a herd of galloping desks thundered past, shepherded by a sprinting Professor McGonagall.

I do have a couple of minor complaints, one being that while the Death Eaters are using every unforgivable curse and any other deadly spell they can think of, Harry and his friends are still using stunning spells and trying to disarm their opponents. I also thought the epilogue ("Nineteen Years Later") was a little too cute, though those who are really desperate to know the futures of some characters (Do those two really marry?) will be happy with it.

All in all, it's a good, strong book, one of the best in the series. Rowling does a good job of tying loose ends together in a satisfactory manner. (I'm going to reread the entire series now, in order, using my knowledge of the ending to see what I missed the first time through.)

Update 2209 29 July: Edited to add a couple of points that were in my original (mental) draught, plus a spoiler warning, and to correct some misspelt words.



* I say "was," because she is now a retired librarian.

Freedom Crusader

My Conservative Identity:

You are a Freedom Crusader, also known as a neoconservative. You believe in taking the fight directly to the enemy, whether it’s terrorists abroad or the liberal terrorist appeasers at home who give them aid and comfort.

Take the quiz at www.FightLiberals.com

ZUI the Guide to Conservative Breeds.

H/T to Tam.

Motivators

There are motivational posters:


There are Demotivators.


Now, there are Military Motivators:





See the rest of them here.

H/T to LawDog.

Victoria Cross: L. E. Queripel

LIONEL ERNEST QUERIPEL

Captain, The Royal Sussex Regiment; 10th Parachute Battalion

Born: 13 July 1920, Winterbourne Monkton, Dorset

Citation: In Holland on the 19th September, 1944, Captain Queripel was acting as Company Commander of a composite Company composed of three Parachute Battalions.
At 14.00 hours on that day, his Company was advancing along a main road which ran on an embankment towards Arnhem. The advance was conducted under continuous medium machine-gun fire which, at one period, became so heavy that the Company became split up on either side of the road and suffered considerable losses. Captain Queripel at once proceeded to reorganize his force, crossing and re-crossing the road whilst doing so, under extremely heavy and accurate fire. During this period he carried a wounded Sergeant to the Regimental Aid Post under fire and was himself wounded in the face.
Having reorganized his force, Captain Queripel found himself cut off with a small party of men against the strong point holding up the advance. This strong point consisted of a captured British anti-tank gun and two machine-guns. Despite the extremely heavy fire directed at him, Captain Queripel succeeded in killing the crews of the machine-guns and recapturing the anti-tank gun. As a result of this, the advance was able to continue.
Later in the same day, Captain Queripel found himself cut off with a small party of men and took up a position in a ditch. By this time he had received further wounds in both arms. Regardless of his wounds and of the very heavy mortar and spandau fire, he continued to inspire his men to resist with hand grenades, pistols and the few remaining rifles.
As, however, the enemy pressure increased, Captain Queripel decided that it was impossible to hold the position any longer and ordered his men to withdraw. Despite their protests, he insisted on remaining behind to cover their withdrawal with his automatic pistol and a few remaining hand grenades. This is the last occasion on which he was seen.
During the whole of a period of nine hours of confused and bitter fighting Captain Queripel displayed the highest standard of gallantry under most difficult and trying circumstances. His courage, leadership and devotion to duty were magnificent, and an inspiration to all. This officer is officially reported to be wounded and missing.

(London Gazette Issue 36917 dated 1 Feb 1945, published 30 Jan 1945.)

Medal of Honor: H. W. Kuchneister

HERMANN WILLIAM KUCHNEISTER

Private, US Marine Corps; USS Marblehead (C 11)

Born: Hamburg, Germany

Citation: On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Kuchneister displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Got home from Borders with our copy of the book (and also my mother-in-law's copy) just before 0100. Unfortunately, I have to be at work at 0730, so I went straight to bed. No telling when I'll actually get to read the thing; my next day off isn't until Wednesday....

Update 0057 22 Jul: I got home around 1600 to discover that my 11-year-old had already finished the book. (She admitted to having stayed up until dawn, reading.) No-one else was home, so I claimed the book; I'm now on page 502 (beginning of chapter 25, "Shell Cottage"), about two-thirds of the way through.

One of the girls from work was also at Borders at midnight; she told me that she had stayed up long enough to read the first two chapters, and they were intense. I'll say. The whole bloody book is intense - it hasn't slowed down a bit since the beginning. Wow.

Update 0015 23 Jul: Wow....

Living VC holders

The other day, when I wrote my post about Corporal Bill Apiata VC, I mentioned that there were 12 other living holders of the Victoria Cross. Just for the record, here's the complete list:

Lt Col Eric C T Wilson VC, East Surrey Regiment - Somaliland, 1940
WO Tul Bahadur Pun VC, 6th Gurkha Rifles - Burma, 1944
Flt Lt John A Cruickshank VC, RAFVR - North Atlantic, 1944
Maj The Right Hon Sir Tasker Watkins VC GBE, The Welch Regiment - France, 1944
L/Nk Bhanbagta Gurung VC, 2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles - Burma, 1945
Hav Lachhiman Gurung VC, 8th Gurkha Rifles - Burma, 1945
Pte Edward Kenna VC, Australian Imperial Force - New Guinea, 1945
Lt Cdr Ian E Fraser VC DSC, RNR - Johore Strait, 1945
Sgt William Speakman VC, The Black Watch - Korea, 1951
Capt Ram Bahadur Limbu VC MVO, 10th Gurkha Rifles - Indonesia, 1965
WO Keith Payne VC OAM, Australian Army - Vietnam, 1969
Pte Johnson G Beharry VC, Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment - Iraq, 2004
Cpl Bill H Apiata VC, New Zealand SAS - Afghanistan, 2004

philolsophers

You've probably run across lolcats a time or few by now - those cute pictures of cats (or occasionally other critters) with sayings added, usually in what I've seen described as a cross between 1337 and Engrish. For instance:




Now there's something even better: philolsophers.




And my favourite:

Boats of the rich and famous

The latest thing amongst the mega-rich, it seems, is luxurious private submarines. ZUI this article from the Seattle Times:

The ocean floor is the final spending frontier for the world's richest people. Journeying to see what's on the bottom aboard a personal submersible is a wretched excess guaranteed to trump the average mogul's stable of vintage Bugattis or a $38 million round-trip ticket to the international space station aboard a Russian rocket.

Luxury-sub makers and salesmen from the Pacific Ocean to the Persian Gulf say fantasy and secrecy are the foundations of this nautical niche industry built on madcap multibillionaires.

-------

Herve Jaubert, a former French navy commando, swapped his cutlass for a screwdriver in 1995 to build his first luxury submarine. Now chief executive of Exomos, a Dubai-based custom-sub maker, Jaubert takes a more romantic view of the work: "I'm a poet who builds submersible yachts for rich people."

"Spending $80 million for a boat that goes underwater in a market where one that doesn't costs $150 million is a deal," Jones says. "Our Phoenix 1000 is four stories tall, a 65-meter-long blend of a tourist and military sub."

Indeed. According to this*:

The Phoenix 1000 is a 65-meter (213') personal luxury submarine. The initial design was originally executed for a client and now awaits a buyer. As proposed, the submarine would constitute the single largest private undersea vehicle ever built, and arguably, one of the most significant personal transportation devices of the century.

And what does one get? Well, to begin with, this thing (which when surfaced, looks like an ordinary - large, but ordinary - yacht, has an estimated range of 3500 nautical miles, with a cruising speed of 16 knots (top speed, 18 knots). The maximum submerged speed is only ten knots, but the operating depth is 305 metres. Yes, that's 1000 feet.

The main passenger area consists of two decks, each 31 meters (102') long and 6 meters (20') wide. The upper deck is accessed from one of two hatches, either from the deck saloon or from a hatch to the after portion of the superstructure. Two stairways, one in the center of the deck, the other in the after section, lead to the lower deck.

The upper deck is intended to provide space for an engineering workstation, a switch and contactor room, crew cabins and mess, as well as the galley. The forward portion, which ends at a bulkhead, is designed as a room of the owner's choosing.

The main deck is situated such that the forward portion, with eight 1.8 meter (6') diameter acrylic windows, contains the living and dining areas, while the section aft of the beam houses the owner's stateroom and guest cabins. Five viewports, 90 centimeters (35") in diameter, are situated on both port and starboard sides.

For a mere 78 million US dollars, in case you're interested.

But ownership of these private subs, it seems, can lead to some severe problems.

ZUI this article from NineMSN:

Some of the world's richest people are reportedly using their private submarines to indulge in deep-sea sex in front of panoramic marine vistas.

But these aquatic trysts are sometimes interrupted by groups of voyeuristic dolphins, which excitedly tap on windows with their beaks.

One of the world's top designers of luxury subs, US Submarines president Bruce Jones, told Bloomberg that dolphins were a problem for the amorous owners of his multi-million dollar vessels.

Horrors.

* Clicking on "Luxury subs," above the name Phoenix 1000, gets you this description of smaller offerings from the company. The Seattle 1000 actually sounds reasonable - sort of. (No price quoted, but as the man said, if you have to ask, you can't afford it.)

APC 6, mobile-phone towers 0

ZUI this article (with photo) from CNN.com:

A man appeared in court in Sydney on Saturday after taking an armored personnel carrier on a rampage through the city's western suburbs in which he destroyed six mobile phone towers, Australian media reported.

Wondered briefly if this was someone I knew, until I saw that the man arrested was only 45 years old....

The Washington Post has slightly more in the way of details.

H/T to Tam.

Victoria Cross: A. J. T. Fleming-Sandes

ALFRED JAMES TERENCE FLEMING-SANDES

Temporary Second Lieutenant, 2nd Battalion The East Surrey Regiment

Born: 24 June 1894, Tulse Hill, London

Citation: For most conspicuous bravery at Hohenzollern Redoubt on 29th September, 1915. Second Lieutenant Fleming-Sandes was sent to command a company which at the time was in a very critical position. The troops on his right were retiring and his own men, who were much shaken by continual bombing and machine-gun fire, were also beginning to retire owing to shortage of bombs. Taking in the situation at a glance, he collected a few bombs, jumped on the parapet in full view of the Germans, who were only twenty yards away, and threw them.
Although very severely wounded almost at once by a bomb, he struggled to his feet and continued to advance and throw bombs till he was again severely wounded. This most gallant act put new heart into his men, rallied them and saved the situation.

(London Gazette Issue 29371 dated 18 Nov 1915, published 16 Nov 1915.)




Note: 2nd Lt Fleming-Sandes's first name was given in Gazette issue 29371 as Arthur. An amendment printed in Issue 29381 (dated and published 26 Nov 1915) reads:

The first Christian name of Second Lieutenant A. J. T. Fleming-Sandes, V.C., 2nd Battalion, The East Surrey Regiment, is "Alfred," and not as published in the London Gazette of the 18th instant.