FOUR STORIES FOR DECEMBER

babies,solar power, ausra,Author Eric Shackle, in Sydney, Australia, and webmaster Barry Downs, in Kimberley, South Africa, invite you to ride the Internet's magic carpet and read these latest stories, that have been posted at http://bdb.co.za/shackle

Artists love The 12 Days of Christmas
December 13 is "day number one" of The 12 Days of Christmas for most of us, but centuries ago Day Number One was Christmas Day, December 25. Talented Australian photographer Anne Geddes displays her version of 12 drummers drumming in one of her books. The drummers are all babies beating toy drums. 0712

Solar power: California shames Oz
While some Australian politicians plan to build still more atmosphere-polluting coal fired power stations, the nation's leading solar energy scientist, Dr. David Mills, neglected by his adopted country, has moved to the US to help build a solar thermal power station in Central California.

Islanders re-enact The Pig War
Few people other than North Americans have heard of the once-threatened Pig War between Great Britain and the United States, but residents of tiny San Juan Island, where it occurred in 1859, re-enact it every year.

Olive Riley's Lost Cousins
As a great-great-grandmother, my friend Olive Riley (108), the world's oldest blogger, often wonders how many living relatives she has. Since she was the youngest of a family of 12 children, there must be hundreds of their descendants she has never heard of.


To read these latest articles, please visit http://bdb.co.za/shackle