And The Ship Sailed On......

Obviously growing up on the Clydeside, boats and boat building are in my blood. Billy Connolly is telling the truth when he said that schools just opened their doors and the kids walked out of the classroom and into the shipyards. As I was growing up my mum and dad, all 3 uncles (and the aunties they were married on to) were all employed somewhere along the line of the building of the huge ships.

                                  

There were great stories about the houses never got any direct sunshine for a couple of years once the hull of the liners got beyond a certain height. These boats where monstrosities that cast huge shadows. The day after launch it was as if they had never been and the sun shone again ( well not  on the Clyde obviously !! It was probably less dark). Stories of boats being launched and their drag chains not being enough to hold them so the boat went diagonally across the river and rammed the bank on the other side. And the liner that will remain anonymous but managed to send a tsunami up river removing the 9^th and the 10^th hole of a local golf course from the face of the planet.

 So obviously my ears prick up when I see yet another program on why the RMS Titanic sank and normally ‘I say oh not again’ and how many more theories can there be. But this theory seemed to hold some water (which if you think about it, was exactly the problem the boat had).

 Journalist Senan Molony has spent most of his life researching the sinking of the unsinkable. He   was given a selection of previously ‘unknown’ photographs of the boat taken by a chief engineer before it left Belfast. They are a pictorial diary of her build and with the photographs being sequential, they could be digitised and animated into 3d images to show the complete structure of the ship in various stages. I was enchanted by this. The past came to life. I was imagining the welders, the sparks, the joiners, the noise, the smell.  

But the photographs also show the mysterious shadow, a mysterious shadow along her hull. At first it was thought to be some kind of reflection of the water. But the mark is still there in other pictures where the angle of daylight is different.  The mark was about 30 feet long, and on the right-hand side of the hull, near the front.  Near where the iceberg hit her.

Intriguing.

The first thing the new team questioned was the quality of steel that appeared to be used in these pictures. It was adequate but not of premium quality. The difference between adequate and premium is how the molecular structure of steel behaves under extreme temperatures. At this point I was wondering how cold it could possibly get, I mean the temperature of the ocean does not change that much. It’s cold.  But I was missing the point.

The fearless researcher found that the shadow matched the site of the  second coal store, which was three stories high. And was on fire. Shocking.

                                

 More shocking was the fact the Titanic sailed, while she was on fire.  The fire had already been burning for 10 days by the time she set off for New York.  The crew had been told not to say anything to the passengers.  It was a well known fact, well enough known to  be  discussed at the enquiry afterwards  but maybe not in too much detail as surely somebody might have pointed out that while  the temperature of the sea doesn’t vary enough  to alter the behaviour of steel, the temperature of  a fire burning  up in a three story furnace just might do it.

So as the song says ‘the ship sailed on.’ With a fire burning in her coal store.  So I was a bit shocked at that,  having had  drummed into me many a time that fire is a huge danger at sea – it also made sense that the only way to put the fire in the coal store out was to use the coal. So the boiler men simply shovelled the coal from the bunker into the  furnace as fast as possible.  As the ship sailed, the fire would die as the bunker emptied of fuel. And the faster the boat went the more coal she would use; the quicker the fire would burn out. But the Olympic class of ship was bigger than any other previously built.   Maybe the 12 firefighters on  board couldn’t imagine how difficult it would be, digging into the smouldering  base of a fire with three stories of coal above it.

And it was not an uncommon occurrence, these fires in coal stores. Coal dust can spontaneously combust. The fire would be a red hot smoulder rather than an inferno, but it could be easily over 1000 Cel at it’s core. Enough to warp and weaken steel.

                                       

                                                  most of this happened

In early 1912,  there had been coal strike and fuel was in short supply so the boat sailed with enough, but not much more than enough coal to get her to New York.  So they took a gamble that, as they had to use the fuel to get the fire out, they may as well go full speed ahead and ensure  they  would get to New York.  Even though they were told they were heading into an iceberg field, the chances of there being an actual impact  were remote. So they took the chance.

this did not happen

this did not happen either

 She was, of course considered unsinkable  due to the bulk head and the compartment system that meant any water ingress couldn’t go far enough to upset her balance, so as she was ‘unsinkable’ there was no need for her to have enough lifeboats for all the souls on board. She could creak onwards to her destination in New York even with a huge  hole in her hull.

 Yet as we all know, she sank very quickly.

                                  

At the time,   a firemen was interviewed and talked about the fires in the coal stores, plural. Had the fire caught on in the next store? And the wall between was warped and weaked? An eyewitness described them as red hot.

So when the iceberg penetrated the hull, the rush of water entered and  slapped right into a bulkhead of weakened steel… and  it gave way. The unsinkable was suddenly very vulnerable.

It’s not a new theory seemingly but it’s the first time I’ve heard it put together like that. It’s never one thing that causes huge disasters like this, but a perfect storm of many little components. For the want of a nail etc.

                                     

                                             (The Exhibition in Belfast. I believe you are given the name of a passenger when you go in and on the way out you find out if you survived or not.)

And greed, commercialism  had a huge part to play. The White Star Line was keen to get the boat out on time and had to be seen to be reliable, and Titanic had been delayed twice already. The company was nearly broke.  Ismay sent a telegram to recall all the firefighters on board to return home ASAP. Evidence at the enquiry was maybe not given the weight it should have had.

                                                

Something made that boat sink so quickly and it’s easy to be smug and think it would never happen to day. Until the Herald of Free Enterprise. The Concordia. The list is long. The Titanic might be the most famous, but she wasn’t the last.  

Caro Ramsay  06 01 2017

Pot of gold

Michael - Thursday

Everyone knows that there is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow—indeed you can never even reach the end of the rainbow. Well, it’s not true. My cousin Ingrid and her husband Jacques have proved it. They discovered the end of the rainbow, and if there wasn’t a physical pot of gold there, they found something more valuable: one of the most beautiful spots in South Africa - Rainbow's End. Nestled in a horseshoe of the Jonkershoek Mountains, the manor house looks out over the vineyards and proteas across the Banghoek basin. I’m not going to try to describe it; I’d rather show you some pictures taken by Francois Malan.

View to the valley

Francois' son admires snow on the mountains 

First oak barrels

View from the mountain proteas

Wine appreciation must be learned young!

Tasting with Anton and Ingrid

Jacques and Ingrid Malan raised their family in this gorgeous place, farming a variety of crops. Quite an undertaking while Jacques was running a full-time successful engineering practice. Farming isn't for the faint of heart. There is drought, changing markets, uncertain prices, export problems, and plenty of hard work. Then there are fires. The summers here are dry and hot, and they have had several close calls. This picture shows how the fire last year came over the hills behind them and miraculously stopped on the border, just short of their vineyards. 

With the well-known and successful Thelema vineyards across the road, over the years I several times commented that excellent wine might be a real possibility, but many other opportunities offered themselves. However, two of their sons—Anton and Francois—became fascinated by the possibilities of growing grapes and studied viticulture at the University of Stellenbosch. Anton followed up with a spell in St. Emilion. Eventually, at 57, Jacques saw the light, left his engineering practice, and planted vines, celebrating their maiden vintage of Shiraz in 2002. That vintage won a silver medal at the South African young wine show. The 2004 vintage followed with a gold medal. After that their wines have won many awards. I admit I’m biased, but in my opinion they deserve them all.

Francois and Anton

Anton is the cellar master and marketing manager, and brother Francois is the viticulturist and winemaker. Now supposedly retired, Jacques keeps a finger on the pulse. There's plenty about the wines on their website. 

I’m in the Cape to work with Stan and attend a wedding in Stellenbosch, and that gave me an opportunity to avail myself of Ingrid and Jacques’ generous hospitality.  I wish I could offer you a taste of Rainbow's End's excellent Merlot (not a uniformly successful varietal in South Africa), their Cabernet franc (one of the best in South Africa in my opinion) or their luscious Bordeaux blend—the Family Reserve. Since I can’t, I’m going to have another glass myself. Cheers!

Bullet Journal for a Writer

Sujata Massey

Every December and January, calendars are on my agenda.

I'm drawn to paper calendars of every type, whether they are freebies from the Baltimore City Department of Public Works or Japanese ones from art museums. However, book-sized planners that fit into my handbag are the Holy Grail.

I've a history of buying personal diaries. For most of my adult life, I've used (and never thrown out) a motley series of  faux-leather planners containing my appointments, necessary phone numbers, and shopping lists. These little books make sense. When traveling, there's no easier way to keep track of necessary phone numbers and appointments.

The emotional power of the agenda book is beautifully described in Mrs. Miniver by Jan Struther. Mrs. Miniver, a suburban mother living in 1930s England, has traveled into London for shopping. She buys a practical brown calfskin diary costing three shillings nine-pence, although she prefers the look of a green lizard-skin diary marked at seven-and-sixpence.

After leaving the stationer  (most likely Smythson's) Mrs. Miniver regrets her frugality and jumps off the bus to make a return.

"She walked back to Sloane Square as fast as she could. At this very moment, perhaps, the green lizard-skin diary was being bought by somebody else--some wholly unsuitable person who merely wanted to get one in a hurry: a rich, earnest woman who would fill it with committee meetings, or a business man who would not even glance at the binding when he opened it to jot down the words "Dine George." While she herself, with all her dearest activities soberly confined in brown calf, would be thinking about it in an agony of regret."

2017 Smythson calf-skin Cosmic Agenda ($500!)

Ouch, those Smythson agendas are expensive today! Even more than the famed Filofaxes that people loved in 90s before the Palm Pilot and the Blackberry were released. You would have thought with those sexy new toys, then that the handwritten agenda book would die off.

It did not.

Pictured above is a handful of the drugstore and giftshop agenda books I've used over the last few years. You might wonder why I don't throw them away. The answer is that they are chock-full of phone numbers of old friends I might one day wish to call. One never knows when one will be in Yokohama or New Delhi or Minneapolis!

My husband has mentioned we share a free, easy to use calendar that we can synch to better handle our lives. Naturally, he's speaking of the iPhone's calendar app. In the interest of marital harmony, I  began scheduling events on the phone. While the iPhone Calendar makes a lot of sense for a person on the go, I've noticed some appointments inexplicably disappear--and also, how really stupid events from Facebook get pushed into my calendar.

These tech problems can be sorted out, but it's a pain. While in Mumbai, I listed a few appointments happening later on in Baltimore. Because of its too-clever reliance on Greenwich Mean Time, the IPhone registered the events--including carpool pickups!--during the middle of the night.

Given the measly space an iPhone calendar allows, one cannot include a shopping list, a book title,  a friend's phone number, and a to-do list. It's all too easy to hit the wrong numbers when you're touch-screening and record a useless E-ticket number.

This is why paper and pen still rule.

bulletjournal.com became an international phenomenon 

I'm not alone in my feelings. This past December, I began hearing the phrase "Bullet Journal" while listening to podcasts. People were suggesting these so-called bullet journals were a way for people to handcraft their own social diaries and take control of their lives in an easier way than with technology.

Ryder Carroll, a young graphic designer in New York, adopted a plan of converting a simple notebook into a handwritten daily calendar for himself which would feature elements like a future log of upcoming activities, a week at a glance, and to-do lists for each day. A round bullet next to each line is either Xed when the project is completed, or given an arrow to push it onto a future day's list. It is truly as simple as it sounds. You can use any notebook in the world, any kind of pen, although Ryder sells products through his website (and bullet journal is a trademarked word).

Here is an example of how Ryder Carroll "rapid logs" his day:

for the complete getting started guide, go to bulletjournal.com

Other creatives and organizers have combined the adult hobby of coloring and doodling to push their bullet journals to new highs. Boho Berry and Tiny Ray of Sunshine are two very popular bloggers who have inspired followers to designate pages in their journal related to gratitude, affirmations, quarterly goals, and so on. They help people with handwriting practice, so the bullet journals are beautiful to read, rather than inscrutable (a concern for me).

you can visit bohoberry.com for templates and guidance

Journalers (I cannot call them journalists with a straight face) also share tips on what to use. The best are notebooks with archival, acid-free pages that don't show bleed-through from pens, and the very best fine-tipped markers to use. Still, the most popular notebooks are many times cheaper than a formatted Filofax or Smythson. For example, a rule-lined Moleskine notebook in the 8x5-inch size runs $US 18-20, and a dotted-paged Leuchtturm rings in at $US 20-33. All of the top books are hardcover and have an elastic string to keep them from falling open and becoming as destroyed as the agendas I've treasured.

This fun article from The Guardian is a smack-down comparison between the UK's beloved Moleskine and Germany's Leuchtturm (the name means 'Beacon' or 'Lighthouse. ).

I couldn't decide which was going to suit me better, so I bought both!

I'll wager a lot of writers are already keeping notebooks related to their work. But this is the first time I've merged my writing plans with daily life. And it's GREAT.

The bullet journal is perfect for feeding the muse. You can set up pages titled "brain dump" and collect all sorts of random ideas for your book in progress. You might make another collection page all about the steps needed to publish and promote a book. You can create a habit tracker page that charts how many hours you worked, how many words you wrote, whether you checked in on social media, did your research reading, and remembered to take a walk.


For someone who processes information better on paper than any other way--as a lot of us writers do-- such journals are a godsend. And  for the rest of the world, research is showing that if you write something down on paper, it may be retained longer in your brain.

I am thrilled with my brilliant purple Leuchtturm diary. Its dotted paper pages make drawing boxes easier. I like the three-page index in the front and the numbers at the bottom of every page.  I'm regularly listing my appointments--and putting some things on the iPhone, still, if they involve the rest of the family.

There's so much in the Leuchtturm, though, that would only be of interest to me. I've created a monthly tracker where I mark off the good habits I'm trying to maintain. I have a page of quarterly writing goals, and another section where I am sticking in post-it notes with blog ideas (I use post-it notes so I can move the ideas around for different weeks as the fancy strikes). I'm not a graphic designer or artist, but I'm now the owner of a set of the popular British felt tip pens (Staedler), some gorgeous metallic Uniball gel pens, and ten rolls of colorful washi tape that can border pages and cover mistakes.

Some of the more reflective parts of the journal are a summary of writing-related milestones of 2016and how I can use this information to be a better writer in 2017. I also have a growing list of writing commandments to view every morning before I start on my book.

Here are the writing commandments so far:

Bodies speak as loudly as words.

What's missing in the scene? Animals, people on the street, cracks in the walls, smells of fire, flowers, etc.

Don't explain too much in literal terms.

The sentence can be hard. Walk away and come back to it, if you can't think of the right words immediately.

Remember to chart time writing.

Cleaning up Parisian Style

Les Bains Douches, the public bathhouses, were an integral part of life in Paris in the 19th and 20th century. Even today. In 1960 there were 160 free bathhouses in the 20 arrondissements, now there are 17 and still free.

Why? Plumbing didn't come with buildings, as they do now. The water sources came from the communal courtyard pumps or public fountains. In those days one relied on servants or water carriers or your own shoulders to bring water up flights of stairs. Even now you'll find the former maid's rooms, usually on the fifth floor, turned into studios or apartment but without bathrooms. Not so long ago, accommodation for the working class was for sleeping - cafe's for drinking and socializing, bouillons or canteens (local communal restaurants or bistros) where people ate since they didn't have a kitchen and life was lived in the quartier. Today some of the bath houses have become hammams and even night clubs.

When I lived in Tokyo for a year, going to the bathhouse - 'ofuro' - was part of my daily routine.

In my apartment - in the gaijin, foreign, ghetto - we had no bathroom. So every evening it was around the block up the street and to the bathhouse before the train station. Instead of viewing it as a pain, I loved it after I got over the shock of women, kids all soaping up, squatting, rinsing, then dipping into the hot steaming tub and chatting with my neighbors. On winter nights, you couldn't beat it for warming up. Cara - Tuesday

Happy '17!

Annamaria on Monday

Since I was born on the 17^th of March, seventeen has always been my lucky number.  It remains to be seen if this will be a lucky year for me.  But I have high hopes.  Why not?

At any rate, seventeen, it turns out is a very interesting number.

For one thing, it’s a prime number.  Let’s hope this means it will be a prime year. If you look up it’s other mathematical significance, mathematicians use words I would need Michael to explain to me, like “polynomial,” “orthogonal curvilinear coordinate systems,” and “the base of the aliquot tree” (which works for me only if there is a giraffe standing under it.)

A fun mathematical fact is that seventeen is known as the “least random number.”  In studies that have been repeated in many cultures over the world, when people are asked to pick a number between 1 and 20, many more pick 17 than would be expected by pure chance.

Wikipedia lists thirty-two songs with “seventeen” in the title.   The only such song that I actually know the words to is this one:

https://youtu.be/mrBMFZmQN3w

And it doesn’t even have “seventeen” in the title.  All this pop music attention may have something to do with the age of sexual consent, which can be earlier in some cultures, but which is pretty universally true by seventeen.  In the USA and Canada, seventeen year olds are allowed to see R-rated films without parental consent.

But let’s get down to the problems at hand on our sacred but beleaguered planet.  What has seventeen to offer us who have had to suffer through that sucker 2016?

Italians are said to believe that seventeen is an unlucky number, similar to thirteen in other places.  I did a quick unscientific study at New Year’s lunch today, and only half the people there knew that seventeen was considered unlucky.  One person said it was only unlucky if it was a Friday.

Evidently, the reason for this superstition is that the Roman numeral for seventeen is written XVII, which can be anagrammed into Vixi—Latin for “I have lived.”  Meaning perhaps “I used to be alive,” an unlucky state in anyone’s mind.  There were Roman tombs inscribed with the deceased's name and VIXI.  On the other hand, the translation of the verb might also be “I have survived,” which if you can read this, you can say exactly that about 2016.  None of my Italian friends knew this as the source of Hepadecapobia.  Nor do they suffer from it.

The Irish, of course, consider seventeen, as I do—a very lucky number.

Hopeful Biblical references abound, if your thoughts look for hope in that direction.  Biblical scholars say that in the Good Book, the number seventeen symbolizes overcoming an enemy and complete victory.  Noah’s Ark landed on Mount Ararat on the seventeenth day of the seventh Hebrew month.  Christ rose from the dead on the 17^th day of Nisan.  There are a lot more of these references, quite enough to hearten your expectations of 2017.

New Age thinkers look to the Tarot card number 17, which symbolizes wishes that will come true.

The ultimate in political comments available for the number 17 has to do with the 17^th President of the United States, Andrew Johnson—Abraham Lincoln’s Vice President, who succeeded Abe.  He was the first president ever to be impeached.  But he stayed in office—by only one vote.

Then again, let’s remember the cross street for the White House is Pennsylvania Avenue at 17^th Street, NW.

When it comes to the year we begin, no matter the evidence or where it comes from, I am keeping a positive attitude.  As I walked to lunch today, I passed these doors labeled 17.

My wish is this: That 2017 will open many doors to joy and accomplishment for all of you! 

From Adulting to Textalyzer, via Hygge, Lemmium and Post-Truth: the best official new words of 2016

Zoë Sharp

First of all, a very Happy New Year to everyone. I hope we leave behind the mostly miserable twelve months that was 2016 and step over into the next twelve with better things to look forward to.

In one respect at least, though, 2016 was a good year. It was a good year for new words and a number of them have officially passed into the English language by being accepted into the leading dictionaries. Here are a few of my favourites.

Adulting

Behaving in a responsible and mature way, particularly in regard to the accomplishment of mundane or boring tasks. Also used ironically on social media to highlight behaviour the user actually considers to be childish.

Brexiteer

The mix of ‘Britain’ and ‘exit’ to form Brexit, but in this case to denote someone who supports the UK leaving the European Union. Follows on from ‘Grexit’ with regard to Greece’s membership of the EU.

Clicktivism

Someone who limits their political or societal activism to signing online petitions rather than taking any real-world action.

Coulrophobia

A fear of clowns. People dressed as sinister clowns have been responsible for some serious attacks during 2016, so it's hardly surprising that this word has made the list. The word comes from the Greek kōlobatheron, meaning ‘stilt’ from kolon, ‘limb’, after the fact clowns are sometimes seen on stilts.

Earworm

A song that, regardless of whether you like it or not, gets into your head and stays there, going round and round, all day. It was also the title of a short story I did for the CRIME + MUSIC anthology.

Glass cliff

I’ve found two slightly differing definitions of ‘glass cliff’. One is where a woman or member of a minority group takes up a leadership position under difficult circumstances or where the likelihood of failure is high. The other is for a woman to be selected for a leadership position because the likelihood of failure is high.

HTTP 451

An error code indicating a web page blocked by censorship or a takedown notice. In reference to Ray Bradbury’s novel FAHRENHEIT 451, it can be used by sites to make a computer-friendly political statement.

Hygge

A Danish word to denote a state of happiness and contentment, usually brought about by a roaring log fire, lit candles, warm drinks, and hand-knitted socks. Pronounced something like "HUE-gah".

Lemmium

This was the proposed name for new volatile superheavy chemical element, 115, in honour of Lemmy Kilmister. Lemmy, who died in 2015, was the legendary frontman of heavy metal band, Motörhead. Sadly for fans, the Russians insisted on muscovium instead.

Listicle

An article that takes the form of a list. (Ahem…)

Optic boom

A flash produced when electrons move faster than light, similar to the sonic boom produced by supersonic jets as the break the sound barrier. Physicists believe that it is possible to break the ‘light barrier’ in graphene sheets. The discovery could spark development of optical circuits a million times faster than silicon chips.

Post-truth

This word was Word of the Year 2016 according to Oxford Dictionaries, and has seen a sharp rise in popularity over the past year, despite having been in use for more than a decade. It means ‘relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief’. With the various elections and referenda that have taken place during 2016, the spike in usage of post-truth is perhaps not surprising …

Quintastic

A merger of the prefix ‘quin’ with ‘fantastic’, used to refer to a fifty-something person who remains smart, energetic, sexy, and successful. Particularly used in relation to someone famous.

Stentrode

An electrode slipped into a cranial blood vessel through a catheter. By transmitting brain signals, it could allow quadriplegics to operate an exoskeleton.

Textalyzer

A gadget that would enable the police to test your phone to see if you were texting before a car crash. As yet, though, it is not designed to gather private information, only whether the phone was in use at the time of the accident.