The Millennium Shrimp

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, a company released the first personal music player. Of course, the concept of a personal music/media player didn’t exist then, it was simply called a portable tape player. Or a Walkman.
The BBC recently gave such a prehistoric fossil to a thirteen-year-old to try out for a week.

I managed to create an impromptu shuffle feature simply by holding down “rewind” and releasing it randomly - effective, if a little laboured.

I’m sure those of us a certain age cringed on reading that. Indeed our precocious protagonist reports that his father informed him that Walkman players were famous for “eating” tapes, which - horror of horrors - could have left him without music for the rest of the day!

I’m relieved that the majority of technological advancement happened before I was born, as I can’t imagine having to use such basic equipment every day.

Having said all that, portable music is better than no music.

Truly, life before the iPod was Nasty and Brutish, but it must have seemed interminably long without 30,000 songs on your play list.

Deep Sea Divers discover the wreck of the HMS Ontario, a Royal Navy warship that sank in Lake Ontario in October of 1780. 120 - 130 people died when it went down somewhere between Rochester and Niagara.  The BBC has more on the discovery.
The Ontario was a brig/sloop of war (22 guns) built at the Carleton shipyard east of Kingston on the St. Lawrence in 1779/80 with the role of deterring anticipated American military attacks by supporting Loyalist insurgency groups conducting hit and run raids over the border into upper New York. At the time of her construction she was the most powerful warship on the Great Lakes. According to the Droan Bay Ships web site, her sinking was kept a state secret for a number of years.

The wreck is believed to be located in about 500 feet of water. According to the divers who found her, she is remarkably well preserved. There is even glass in some of the port holes. The Star also has a good article about the shipwreck.

Arthur Britton Smith, (1997) The Legend of the Lake - details the history of the  HMS Ontario

Great Lakes Historical Society

Doran Bay Ships 

Brotherly love in the City of Peace:

Israeli police had to break up a fist fight that erupted between Greek and Armenian Orthodox clergymen at one of Christianity’s holiest sites.

Evidently the Armenian priest felt that the Greek priest was hogging the alter at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Yep, they were fighting in the church built over the reputed tomb of Jesus. Remember to show God’s love by picking a fight with someone of a slightly different branch of Christianity today!

Went to see the last event in the Modern Slavery Awareness week at Malone College Tuesday evening with people from my small group. It touched some on child soldiers in African countries - children who are kidnapped and forced to serve as soldiers in rebel armies.

Ran across this story from Yemen yesterday:

Yemeni girl, 8, gets divorce after forced marriage

SANAA (AFP) — A Yemeni court on Tuesday granted a divorce to an eight-year-old girl whose unemployed father forced her into an arranged marriage this year, saying he feared she might be kidnapped.

“I am happy that I am divorced now. I will be able to go back to school,” Nojud Mohammed Ali said, after a public hearing in Sanaa’s court of first instance.

…Dressed in traditional black, Nojud said she would now go to live in the home of her maternal uncle and did not want to see her father.

The BBC also has an article on it today.

From the BBC

An Italian woman artist who was hitch-hiking to the Middle East dressed as a bride to promote world peace has been found murdered in Turkey…She had said she wanted to show that she could put her trust in the kindness of local people.

If you put your trust in the basic decency of human nature, you will probably always be disappointed. Even if you are willing to die for your beliefs, you must reckon with the fact that there will always be people who are willing to kill you for your cell phone or pocket change. If you put your trust in human nature. If you put your trust in God– every once in a while a miracle happens.

From the BBC

A halo around the sun startled people in Ethiopia during Sunday’s local elections, with many seeing it as a miracle or a sign from God…

Pope Shenouda himself believed it was a signal from above.

“We accept any sign from God to encourage us in our way,” he said, “and confirm that we are going right in our way.”

Abuna Paulos, the Patriarch of Ethiopia, added his voice to those who believe in signs from God.

“If God reveals himself from the sky,” he told a press conference, “we believers do not get surprised. We only rejoice and double our efforts to thank God. Thank you, God, for revealing a sign.”

Pope Shenouda is the Patriarch of Alexandria, the leader of the Coptic Church in Egypt. The Orthodox Church in Ethiopia has it’s own Patriarch, but he has less seniority. According to the 1994 Census, Ethiopia is 60% Christian and ~33% Muslim. Roughly 50% of the population belongs to the Orthodox Church [CIA World Factbook]

From the Beeb

Flagler Productions, which worked for Wal-Mart for almost 30 years, has made its footage available to lawyers, unions and media organisations.

Evidently Flagler was a little upset when Wal-mart countered their $150 Million price with a measly $500,000 offer. Personally, I can’t wait for the You-tube videos of Walmart store managers in drag…

Article on the Beeb about the first excavations at Stonehenge in 40 years:

They have a new theory about why the bluestones were transported 250 miles from Wales to the site: that neolithic Britons believed they had healing properties.

Professor Geoffrey Wainwright said the site could have been a “Neolithic Lourdes”.

From the Beeb:

A woman whose parents disappeared during military rule in Argentina wants the couple who adopted her to be jailed for kidnap and concealment.

Maria Eugenia Sampallo Barragan was born in a secret camp run by the Argentine military . She, along with some 200 children who were born in these camps, was taken by a family with connections to the Argentine military who forged paperwork to make her appear to be their natural born daughter. Some 10-30,000 people disappeared or were killed during the period of military rule between 1976 and 1983. Her birth parents are still listed as missing.

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