This story was first published by OhmyNewsInternational. To read their version, with interesting illustrations and live links, please cut and paste this address:
http://tinyurl.com/6rgzos
By a strange coincidence, Britain's oldest man, Henry Allingham, and America's oldest man, George Francis, were born on the same day - June 6, 1896. That means they are 112 years and six months old this week.
Famous in their own countries, they are little known to the rest of the world. They have never met, and are probably unaware of each other's existence.
Henry Allingham is one of only four remaining British survivors of World War 1 (1914-1918) in which nearly a million of his comrades died.
As a teenager, he enlisted with the Royal Naval Air Service as a skilled mechanic and a year later, in 1916, he was involved in the greatest naval battle of the war, the Battle of Jutland.
In 1917, he was posted to France to support the Royal Flying Corps, and helped service and rescue aircraft which had crashed behind the trenches.
In 1919, he married 22-year-old Dorothy Cater in Chingford, Essex. [In another strange coincidence, the writer of this article was born there... in 1919.]
Henry's wife died 38 years ago, while his two daughters both died in their 80s. He has five grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren. Eight of his descendants and their partners flew from their homes in the United States to join him for his 112th birthday.
A report in London's Daily Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2086501/Henry-Allingham,-Europe's-oldest-man,-celebrates-112th-birthday.html says:
To mark Armistice Day in 2005, Mr Allingham travelled to St Omer, near Calais, France, to lay wreaths to fallen comrades.
A year later, aged 110, as the oldest British World War I veteran, Mr Allingham met his German counterpart, Robert Meier, 109.
The men greeted each other warmly and laid a wreath at the war memorial near Witten town hall.
Mr Meier said it was "amazing" that both men were still alive and went on to say: "Why did we have to have a war?"
In 2007, Mr Allingham marked his 111th birthday on board the Royal Navy's oldest warship, HMS Victory, at Portsmouth.
A military flypast of aircraft from the Royal Navy's historic flight and the RAF marked the occasion.
Henry lived in Eastbourne, East Sussex, on the south coast of England for many years, but when his eyesight began to deteriorate he moved to the nearby St Dunstan’s care home for blind ex-service personnel.
America's oldest man, George Rene Francis, lives in a nursing home in Sacramento, California. Last month he voted for Barack Obama, whose victory, he declared, “made democracy work.”
"... Francis has lived through 19 U.S. presidents and six decades of Jim Crow laws, when he and all black Americans were forced to endure racial segregation," says a report in the Sacramento Observer http://www.sacobserver.com/community/111108/george_francis.shtml
"This week, a beaming, wheelchair-bound Francis told his daughters he felt like jumping up and down after helping to elect the nation’s first black president. 'He is going to give black men a break in the world, and give them a better opportunity to live and make more money,' Francis said.’’
The report says that Francis grew up listening to Louis Armstrong play trumpet on his front porch in New Orleans’s Seventh Ward.
A lifelong Democrat, Francis cast his first ballot in the early 1930s, when he voted for Franklin Roosevelt.
In 1949, before the civil rights movement, he moved west to California seeking a better job.
His wife of four decades, Josephine, died in 1964 at age 63. But Francis’s extended family — which includes four children, 18 grandchildren, 33 great-grandchildren and 16 great-great grandchildren —say the man they call “Papa’’ never lost his spirit, nor his interest in politics.
An article about American supercenturians (people aged 110 and over) in Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_C._White#Carrie_C._White says: "He credits his longevity to nature, and enjoys a rich diet of pork, eggs, milk and lard. He gave up smoking cigars at the age of 75."
On the other hand, according to the London Daily Mail, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/7439458.stm Henry Allingham has joked that his secret to longevity is "cigarettes, whisky and wild women".
VIDEOS
Henry Allingham: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk_R303aoso&NR=1
George Francis: http://www.truveo.com/Black-Centenarian-Votes-Obama/id/2342739199
FOOTNOTE. The world's oldest living person is Maria de Jesus (115) of Portugal, born on September 10, 1893. The oldest living man is 113 year-old Tomoji Tanabe of Japan, born on September 18, 1895.
POSTSCRIPT
Sadly, George Francis died on December 28. "Francis, who lived in Sacramento's Eskaton Care Center Greenhaven retirement community, passed away Sunday after being hospitalized recently for heart problems," Sacramento TV. http://www.news10.net/news/story.aspx?storyid=52493&catid=2
reported.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Fast Falcons Thrill Thousands
But spare a thought for the pigeons
This story was first published by OhmyNewsInternational. To read their version, with interesting illustrations and live links, please cut and paste this address:
http://tinyurl.com/68r4dp
Will Londoners fall in love with the pair of pregrine falcons nesting in the House of Commons building http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/10/01/eaperegrine101.xml to the extent that Brisbane's citizens adore Frodo and Frieda? http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/extras/frodocam/default.htm
A team led by London wildlife volunteer David Morrison spotted the parlimentary pair and reported them to the London Wildlife Trust, which promptly issued a news release. http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/index.php?section=news&id=2576
Peregrine falcons are raptors (birds of prey), and can reach a speed of 322 km/h (200 mph), making them the planet's fastest animal.
London birdlovers may not share Morrison's delight about the newly found pair, if the birds swoop on Trafalgar Square's famous pigeons for a tasty breakfast. (Falcons have been seen on other London landmarks including Tate Modern, Battersea Power Station and the Millennium Dome).
In Brisbane, Australia's third largest city, thousands of web vievers have eagerly watched Frodo and Frieda building nests and raising chicks every year since 2003.
Ever since 1999, the birds have lived on a ledge on the 27th floor of the Admiralty Towers building in the city's central business district. In 2003 the daily newspaper The Courier-Mail set up a camera website. http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/extras/frodocam/mainyarn.htm
to keep track of their fascinating domestic life.
Right now, Frodo and Frieda seem to be looking around for a new home on a nearby tall building. http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24385730-3102,00.html Perhaps they're seeking privacy, away from the world's gaze.
London and Brisbane are by no means the only cities with peregrine falcon webcans. The raptors are found worlwide, and birdlovers flock to watch them on local webcams.
Appropriately, one of the best sites is Kodaks' world headquarters, Kodak House http://rfalconcam.com/rfc-main/gvasAndKodak.php
in Rochester, New York state. Kodak recounts its history:
In downtown San Francisco, California, in 2005, a camera was set up to spy on a peregrine falcon nest on the northwest corner of the Pacific Gas & Electric Company headquarters building . A pair of peregrines, dubbed George and Gracie, built a nest on the 33rd floor ledge of the building, and reared three chicks. Then tney moved across the street to 201 Mission St. and so did the webcam.
In 2007, George and Gracie built a nest on the Bay Bridge, off camera. Fearful biologists removed the eggs from that perilous site and took them to a Santa Cruz facility to hatch in greater safety.
In fact, people are still grieving over George and Gracie's disappearance, after the falcons were driven away by another pair. "People actually saw the battle taking place in the air between the falcons," wildlife biologist Glenn Stewart said, "but I guarantee no one would ever have noticed if we hadn't let them get involved through the webcams."
Also in California, a pair of falcons named Carlos and Clara are raising three healthy chicks in a nest box at San Jose City Hall. A webcam http://www2.ucsc.edu/scpbrg/peregrine_cam.htm has averaged 18,000 visits daily.
A press
END
This story was first published by OhmyNewsInternational. To read their version, with interesting illustrations and live links, please cut and paste this address:
http://tinyurl.com/68r4dp
Will Londoners fall in love with the pair of pregrine falcons nesting in the House of Commons building http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/10/01/eaperegrine101.xml to the extent that Brisbane's citizens adore Frodo and Frieda? http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/extras/frodocam/default.htm
A team led by London wildlife volunteer David Morrison spotted the parlimentary pair and reported them to the London Wildlife Trust, which promptly issued a news release. http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/index.php?section=news&id=2576
Peregrine falcons are raptors (birds of prey), and can reach a speed of 322 km/h (200 mph), making them the planet's fastest animal.
London birdlovers may not share Morrison's delight about the newly found pair, if the birds swoop on Trafalgar Square's famous pigeons for a tasty breakfast. (Falcons have been seen on other London landmarks including Tate Modern, Battersea Power Station and the Millennium Dome).
In Brisbane, Australia's third largest city, thousands of web vievers have eagerly watched Frodo and Frieda building nests and raising chicks every year since 2003.
Ever since 1999, the birds have lived on a ledge on the 27th floor of the Admiralty Towers building in the city's central business district. In 2003 the daily newspaper The Courier-Mail set up a camera website. http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/extras/frodocam/mainyarn.htm
to keep track of their fascinating domestic life.
Right now, Frodo and Frieda seem to be looking around for a new home on a nearby tall building. http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24385730-3102,00.html Perhaps they're seeking privacy, away from the world's gaze.
London and Brisbane are by no means the only cities with peregrine falcon webcans. The raptors are found worlwide, and birdlovers flock to watch them on local webcams.
Appropriately, one of the best sites is Kodaks' world headquarters, Kodak House http://rfalconcam.com/rfc-main/gvasAndKodak.php
in Rochester, New York state. Kodak recounts its history:
In 1998 a trio of enterprising Kodak employees-- Kenn Martinez, Brad Carney and Matt Bernius-- placed a video camera on the steeple of the tower, aimed it at the nest box, and connected it to the Internet. The stars of their new website- the Kodak Birdcam - were a pair of Peregrine falcons, the fastest animals on the planet.Elsewhere in the US, peregrine falcons' nests have been found on skyscrapers in New York City, Columbus Ohio, Harrisburg Pennsylvania, and Atlanta Georgia, to name just a few. In many cities, webcams attract vast numbers of viewers.
To honor their legacy as masters of the air, the falcons were given wind-themed names by the Kodak Birdcam team. Mariah, for the female, after Kodak founder George Eastman's mother and the 1951 Lerner and Lowe song "They Call The Wind Mariah".
Cabot-Sirocco, the male, was hatched in Toronto and named Cabot by the folks at the Canadian Peregrine Foundation (in honor of the French explorer of the same name). Kodak named him Sirocco (a dry desert wind), and his US & Canadian names were combined as "Cabot-Sirocco".
In 2002 a new male joined Mariah when Cabot-Sirocco failed to return that spring. A high resolution digital camera, installed only weeks before, revealed that this new tiercel, or male falcon, wore no identification bands on his legs, unlike Cabot-Sirocco. The new arrival was named Kaver, after a gentle breeze that blows in the Hebrides islands near Scotland.
In downtown San Francisco, California, in 2005, a camera was set up to spy on a peregrine falcon nest on the northwest corner of the Pacific Gas & Electric Company headquarters building . A pair of peregrines, dubbed George and Gracie, built a nest on the 33rd floor ledge of the building, and reared three chicks. Then tney moved across the street to 201 Mission St. and so did the webcam.
In 2007, George and Gracie built a nest on the Bay Bridge, off camera. Fearful biologists removed the eggs from that perilous site and took them to a Santa Cruz facility to hatch in greater safety.
In fact, people are still grieving over George and Gracie's disappearance, after the falcons were driven away by another pair. "People actually saw the battle taking place in the air between the falcons," wildlife biologist Glenn Stewart said, "but I guarantee no one would ever have noticed if we hadn't let them get involved through the webcams."
Also in California, a pair of falcons named Carlos and Clara are raising three healthy chicks in a nest box at San Jose City Hall. A webcam http://www2.ucsc.edu/scpbrg/peregrine_cam.htm has averaged 18,000 visits daily.
A press
release http://press.ucsc.edu/text.asp?pid=2225 says:
San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and his office have been enthusiastic participants in this online reality show, issuing regular press releases with updates on the City Hall falcon family. For weeks the mayor's web site promoted a "Name That Falcon" contest for San Jose kids to name the three chicks. The City of San Jose also provides funding ($45,000 this year) to support SCPBRG [Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group] 's work with the falcons and its outreach programs in local schools.
On May 16, crowds gathered to watch along with the mayor and local media as SCPBRG researcher Brian Latta rappelled down to the nest box from the top of City Hall to place identifying bands on the legs of the chicks...
[Glenn] Stewart has roped in four research interns to help "drive" the webcam in San Jose--remotely operating the camera from their computers--because viewers don't want to miss any of the action going on in the nest box...
While the chicks are certainly cute, viewers aren't spared the grisly sight of hungry falcons feasting on their favorite prey: smaller birds.
"They've even seen a parent return with prey that was still alive and twitching," said Jaime Jansen, one of Stewart's interns and a junior majoring in anthropology at UCSC [University of California at Santa Cruz]. "But that's real life. People need to expect that not everything is going to be pretty."
END
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Friday, October 31, 2008
Army Newspaper Scooped the World
Guinea Gold veterans recall wartime in jungle
This story was first published by OhmyNewsInternational. To read their version, with interesting illustrations and live links, please cut and paste this address:
http://tinyurl.com/6dxf4n
Giant air transports dropped food, tobacco and copies of Guinea Gold. If anything, this little newspaper was more eagerly sought than rations. To troops practically marooned in the thick of the jungle swamps this link with news of the outside world came almost as tidings from another planet. - From the book "Jungle Warfare" (1944).
Newspaper scoops are no longer possible. Today's instant worldwide communication means that any important newsbreaking story is immediately copied, rephrased or translated, to be posted on thousands of news websites in dozens of languages within minutes.
But 66 years ago, in World War II, in the tropical jungle of Papua-New Guinea, where Allied troops were fighting Japanese invaders, a unique newspaper called Guinea Gold published a record number of world scoops.
That was because US General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the South-West Pacific, had given Guinea Gold permission to publish his communiques 20 hours before the news was released for the rest of the world's media.
New Guinea was the only war zone where the US armed forces did not produce a local edition of their own newspaper, Stars and Stripes. Guinea Gold, with separate American and Australian editions, fully met their needs.
Earlier in 1942, Melbourne Herald war correspondent Reg Leonard had suggested that the Australian Army should produce its own daily newspaper. Promptly crowned a major, he became Guinea Gold's foundation editor.
Years after the war had ended, Mr R.B. Leonard, O.B.E., managing director of Queensland Newspapers Pty. Ltd., said that Guinea Gold's success was due very largely to dedicated people below officer rank - men who toiled uncomplainingly and for long hours in the ramshackle buildings that housed its overworked plant.
He spoke of soldiers intercepting radio news by matchlight during bomber raids, some who set type by hand when mechanical equipment broke down, and others "whose brawny arms provided power for the presses when the electrical power failed."
That was the memorable occasion when Japanese bombers attacked Port Moresby powerhouse at 2am.
Horace ("Chis") Chisholm, the paper's last editor, also recalled the event: "Officers and men and natives toiled and sweated together as they turned the heavy press over by hand, but every unit received its share of the 5000 copies they produced.
"Overcoming incredible production problems, the newspaper came out seven days a week without missing a single day, from November 1942 to June 1946. Its 1,320 days' continuous publication was easily a world record for service publications. At its peak in 1944, it produced 64,000 copies (US edition 37,000, Australian 27,000). Maximum readership was estimated at 800,000.
"The front and back pages concentrated on up-to-the-minute news from around the world, including coverage of major sporting events on the back page. Page 2 was devoted to extracts from Australian and US newspapers published a few days previously, which air transport crews delivered to Guinea Gold.
"Soldiers with newspaper experience, who had been transferred from other units when Guinea Gold was established, wrote news stories by taking shorthand notes of shortwave radio bulletins from Australia, the US Armed Forces station in San Francisco, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), All-India Radio, and others.
"At Lae, the second-hand Miller high-speed flatbed press ran 20 hours a day, printing 34 million copies in little more than two years. When it was retired after the war, it had 50 welds. It's now an exhibit at the National War Museum in Canberra."
You can see a photograph of th sturdy press in action here: http://cas.awm.gov.au/photograph/017121
Writing in Sydney's Weekend Australian Magazine in 1982, Chisholm recalled:
The worst crisis in Guinea Gold's life was the day that the Port Moresby linotype and the Dobodura press broke down simultaneously.
The problem was overcome by having the type set in Dobodura, flying the type 100 miles over the Owen Stanleys [mountains], and the paper printed on the Moresby press. Papers for the northern edition were then flown back over the Owen Stanleys.
It was a good example of the co-operation received from the air forces. RAAF pilots flew almost daily over the Japanese lines to drop small bundles to forward fighting areas, and the day after the American forces landed at Cape Gloucester, New Britain, Flying Fortresses dropped Guinea Golds to them.
Always we thought of the men we served: men fighting in the lonely, dank, rugged, slimy jungle depths, hauling guns up steep mountainsides, repairing shell-torn signal wires under fire.
On a lighter note, "Chis" recalled that when the newspaper promoted a "Girl I Left Behind" contest, 1700 photos of wives, sweethearts and baby daughters swamped the editorial office.
It was a beauty contest, with full-page portraits of gorgeous girls on the front pages of a Sunday supplement, and smaller photos daily. It proved so popular that it ran for more than four months. An Australian/US judging panel decided the winners were (Australian) Miss Dorothy Faull, Federal Capital Territory, friend of Leading Air Craftman M.J. Jones, RAAF and (US) Mrs G. B. Osmun, wife of Captain G. B. Osmun, US Army.
Among his other memories, "Chis" wrote: "On one occasion a consignment of crossword blocks and clues failed to arrive from the mainland. Staff-Sergeant E. Shackle (the Telegraph, Sydney) solved the current one and compiled one on a pattern previously used."
A few years after the war ended, one of Guinea Gold's printers, Paul Jefferson Wallace, of Sydney, compiled and published a 32-page history of the newspaper, which is now one of my most prized souvenirs. It also provided useful material for this article.
Wallace reported that on moonlight nights in its early days, production of the newspaper was often interrupted by air raids, but deadlines were still met. Blow-lamps were used to melt linotype metal during frequent power supply breakdowns.
Because the hand-set type was so badly worn, it had to be packed with layers of gummed paper underneath, to raise it to type height. On one occasion, the printers ran out of T's. A native Papuan chiselled some out of wood. When there was a shortage of R's, editor Reg Leonard added tails to P's by cutting them from L's.
Wallace also explained why an Army newspaper was needed in New Guinea. "In 1942, isolation was a morale-destroying disease in New Guinea" he wrote. "Radio sets were few and far between, men were cut off from day-to-day news.
"The result was a flood of false rumours which swept along the Owen Stanley trail when Australian troops were just starting to push the Japanese back from their mountain strongholds.
"From the first edition on November 19, 1942, until the presses rolled to a stop on June 30, 1946, with the enviable record of 1,320 days of continuous publication, Guinea Gold daily brought to the news-hungry men of the Australian and American forces serving in the steaming jungle, topics of interest to allay their boredom and boost their morale."
In all, 237 Australian soldiers worked on Guinea Gold for varying periods. Not one of them was there for the full three and a half years' life of that unique and vital newspaper.
FOOTNOTE. Greg Ray described OhmyNews reporter Eric Shackle's army career, in a 2004 feature story in the Central Coast Weekend Herald http://www.bdb.co.za/shackle/articles/humour_fears.htm
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
This story was first published by OhmyNewsInternational. To read their version, with interesting illustrations and live links, please cut and paste this address:
http://tinyurl.com/6dxf4n
Giant air transports dropped food, tobacco and copies of Guinea Gold. If anything, this little newspaper was more eagerly sought than rations. To troops practically marooned in the thick of the jungle swamps this link with news of the outside world came almost as tidings from another planet. - From the book "Jungle Warfare" (1944).
Newspaper scoops are no longer possible. Today's instant worldwide communication means that any important newsbreaking story is immediately copied, rephrased or translated, to be posted on thousands of news websites in dozens of languages within minutes.
But 66 years ago, in World War II, in the tropical jungle of Papua-New Guinea, where Allied troops were fighting Japanese invaders, a unique newspaper called Guinea Gold published a record number of world scoops.
That was because US General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the South-West Pacific, had given Guinea Gold permission to publish his communiques 20 hours before the news was released for the rest of the world's media.
New Guinea was the only war zone where the US armed forces did not produce a local edition of their own newspaper, Stars and Stripes. Guinea Gold, with separate American and Australian editions, fully met their needs.
Earlier in 1942, Melbourne Herald war correspondent Reg Leonard had suggested that the Australian Army should produce its own daily newspaper. Promptly crowned a major, he became Guinea Gold's foundation editor.
Years after the war had ended, Mr R.B. Leonard, O.B.E., managing director of Queensland Newspapers Pty. Ltd., said that Guinea Gold's success was due very largely to dedicated people below officer rank - men who toiled uncomplainingly and for long hours in the ramshackle buildings that housed its overworked plant.
He spoke of soldiers intercepting radio news by matchlight during bomber raids, some who set type by hand when mechanical equipment broke down, and others "whose brawny arms provided power for the presses when the electrical power failed."
That was the memorable occasion when Japanese bombers attacked Port Moresby powerhouse at 2am.
Horace ("Chis") Chisholm, the paper's last editor, also recalled the event: "Officers and men and natives toiled and sweated together as they turned the heavy press over by hand, but every unit received its share of the 5000 copies they produced.
"Overcoming incredible production problems, the newspaper came out seven days a week without missing a single day, from November 1942 to June 1946. Its 1,320 days' continuous publication was easily a world record for service publications. At its peak in 1944, it produced 64,000 copies (US edition 37,000, Australian 27,000). Maximum readership was estimated at 800,000.
"The front and back pages concentrated on up-to-the-minute news from around the world, including coverage of major sporting events on the back page. Page 2 was devoted to extracts from Australian and US newspapers published a few days previously, which air transport crews delivered to Guinea Gold.
"Soldiers with newspaper experience, who had been transferred from other units when Guinea Gold was established, wrote news stories by taking shorthand notes of shortwave radio bulletins from Australia, the US Armed Forces station in San Francisco, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), All-India Radio, and others.
"At Lae, the second-hand Miller high-speed flatbed press ran 20 hours a day, printing 34 million copies in little more than two years. When it was retired after the war, it had 50 welds. It's now an exhibit at the National War Museum in Canberra."
You can see a photograph of th sturdy press in action here: http://cas.awm.gov.au/photograph/017121
Writing in Sydney's Weekend Australian Magazine in 1982, Chisholm recalled:
The worst crisis in Guinea Gold's life was the day that the Port Moresby linotype and the Dobodura press broke down simultaneously.
The problem was overcome by having the type set in Dobodura, flying the type 100 miles over the Owen Stanleys [mountains], and the paper printed on the Moresby press. Papers for the northern edition were then flown back over the Owen Stanleys.
It was a good example of the co-operation received from the air forces. RAAF pilots flew almost daily over the Japanese lines to drop small bundles to forward fighting areas, and the day after the American forces landed at Cape Gloucester, New Britain, Flying Fortresses dropped Guinea Golds to them.
Always we thought of the men we served: men fighting in the lonely, dank, rugged, slimy jungle depths, hauling guns up steep mountainsides, repairing shell-torn signal wires under fire.
On a lighter note, "Chis" recalled that when the newspaper promoted a "Girl I Left Behind" contest, 1700 photos of wives, sweethearts and baby daughters swamped the editorial office.
It was a beauty contest, with full-page portraits of gorgeous girls on the front pages of a Sunday supplement, and smaller photos daily. It proved so popular that it ran for more than four months. An Australian/US judging panel decided the winners were (Australian) Miss Dorothy Faull, Federal Capital Territory, friend of Leading Air Craftman M.J. Jones, RAAF and (US) Mrs G. B. Osmun, wife of Captain G. B. Osmun, US Army.
Among his other memories, "Chis" wrote: "On one occasion a consignment of crossword blocks and clues failed to arrive from the mainland. Staff-Sergeant E. Shackle (the Telegraph, Sydney) solved the current one and compiled one on a pattern previously used."
A few years after the war ended, one of Guinea Gold's printers, Paul Jefferson Wallace, of Sydney, compiled and published a 32-page history of the newspaper, which is now one of my most prized souvenirs. It also provided useful material for this article.
Wallace reported that on moonlight nights in its early days, production of the newspaper was often interrupted by air raids, but deadlines were still met. Blow-lamps were used to melt linotype metal during frequent power supply breakdowns.
Because the hand-set type was so badly worn, it had to be packed with layers of gummed paper underneath, to raise it to type height. On one occasion, the printers ran out of T's. A native Papuan chiselled some out of wood. When there was a shortage of R's, editor Reg Leonard added tails to P's by cutting them from L's.
Wallace also explained why an Army newspaper was needed in New Guinea. "In 1942, isolation was a morale-destroying disease in New Guinea" he wrote. "Radio sets were few and far between, men were cut off from day-to-day news.
"The result was a flood of false rumours which swept along the Owen Stanley trail when Australian troops were just starting to push the Japanese back from their mountain strongholds.
"From the first edition on November 19, 1942, until the presses rolled to a stop on June 30, 1946, with the enviable record of 1,320 days of continuous publication, Guinea Gold daily brought to the news-hungry men of the Australian and American forces serving in the steaming jungle, topics of interest to allay their boredom and boost their morale."
In all, 237 Australian soldiers worked on Guinea Gold for varying periods. Not one of them was there for the full three and a half years' life of that unique and vital newspaper.
FOOTNOTE. Greg Ray described OhmyNews reporter Eric Shackle's army career, in a 2004 feature story in the Central Coast Weekend Herald http://www.bdb.co.za/shackle/articles/humour_fears.htm
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
The Queen WAS amused!
She giggled at a laughing baby clip
This story was first published by OhmyNewsInternational. You can view it (with better links) at http://tinyurl.com/5o5hce
Britain's grandmotherly Queen Elizabeth II giggled http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/theroyalfamily/3210566/Queen-visits-Google---and-is-amused-by-YouTube-video-of-laughing-baby-boy.html when she watched a video of William Nilsson, Sweden's famous laughing baby, while visiting Google's London office last week. If she had been shown a video of Ethan, America's famous laughing baby, she would have laughed out loud.
If you doubt that statement, try to keep a straight face when you watch Ethan's hilarious but brief YouTube clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXXm696UbKY Little things please little minds, and Ethan had tremendous fun tearing magazine pages.
"You can tell that he is going to be one of those guys that falls out of his seat in laughter at movies," one online viewer commented.
Ethan's father, Greg, shot the film in 2004, before anyone had heard of YouTube. " I was at home playing with Ethan when he ripped an old magazine and started to laugh," Greg recalls on his web site http://www.laughingbabyethan.com/story "I wanted to get him laughing on film for his mom, who was at work, so I grabbed the camera and started to tape. The result is the 'Laughing Baby' video."
Greg put a clip on the internet in January 2007. It won YouTube's 2007 "most adorable" award, and has received almost 20 million hits. It has inspired thousands of other proud parents to post similar clips on the web.
Ethan is now four years old.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYq5g_XRsdQ
Asked how Ethan was coping with his world fame, his father told OhmyNews: "Ethan was born in September 2004. He has no idea about the 'world fame.' I think it will be a few years yet before he can grasp that reality. 'Internet famous' is about as far as I would stretch his actual level of fame.
"As for other info, since Ethan is only 4, we try to keep as much privacy as possible with respect to our names, jobs and location. Obviously, we didn't expect this level of attention for our kid when we posted him on YouTube, so we try to be as careful as possible."
Ethan's parents are both in their mid-30s and Grag has been a stay-at-home Dad since Ethan was born.
The Swedish Laughing Baby video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HttF5HVYtlQ that so amused the Queen was posted on YouTube in August 2006, and quickly became one of its top clips. So far it has attracted an amazing 64 million hits.
William's father shot the film in his kitchen, apparently getting his son to laugh by saying "boo" to him. Comments range from a sweet "isn't he cute" to a sour "this baby sounds as if it has asthma."
Not everyone is happy about the spate of laughing babies. "Look Who's Laughing: Giggling babies have taken over YouTube. Next stop: Madison Avenue" was the heading over a story by Janelle Nanos in Slate online magazine on Dec. 31, 2007.
http://www.slate.com/id/2180950/
"Turning found video into good advertising is harder than it looks," Janelle wrote. "The danger of using YouTube footage in a television ad is that if the spot isn't well-executed, viewers feel shortchanged, since they know they can see the same spot online without a corporate logo tacked onto the end of it."
This story was first published by OhmyNewsInternational. You can view it (with better links) at http://tinyurl.com/5o5hce
Britain's grandmotherly Queen Elizabeth II giggled http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/theroyalfamily/3210566/Queen-visits-Google---and-is-amused-by-YouTube-video-of-laughing-baby-boy.html when she watched a video of William Nilsson, Sweden's famous laughing baby, while visiting Google's London office last week. If she had been shown a video of Ethan, America's famous laughing baby, she would have laughed out loud.
If you doubt that statement, try to keep a straight face when you watch Ethan's hilarious but brief YouTube clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXXm696UbKY Little things please little minds, and Ethan had tremendous fun tearing magazine pages.
"You can tell that he is going to be one of those guys that falls out of his seat in laughter at movies," one online viewer commented.
Ethan's father, Greg, shot the film in 2004, before anyone had heard of YouTube. " I was at home playing with Ethan when he ripped an old magazine and started to laugh," Greg recalls on his web site http://www.laughingbabyethan.com/story "I wanted to get him laughing on film for his mom, who was at work, so I grabbed the camera and started to tape. The result is the 'Laughing Baby' video."
Greg put a clip on the internet in January 2007. It won YouTube's 2007 "most adorable" award, and has received almost 20 million hits. It has inspired thousands of other proud parents to post similar clips on the web.
Ethan is now four years old.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYq5g_XRsdQ
Asked how Ethan was coping with his world fame, his father told OhmyNews: "Ethan was born in September 2004. He has no idea about the 'world fame.' I think it will be a few years yet before he can grasp that reality. 'Internet famous' is about as far as I would stretch his actual level of fame.
"As for other info, since Ethan is only 4, we try to keep as much privacy as possible with respect to our names, jobs and location. Obviously, we didn't expect this level of attention for our kid when we posted him on YouTube, so we try to be as careful as possible."
Ethan's parents are both in their mid-30s and Grag has been a stay-at-home Dad since Ethan was born.
The Swedish Laughing Baby video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HttF5HVYtlQ that so amused the Queen was posted on YouTube in August 2006, and quickly became one of its top clips. So far it has attracted an amazing 64 million hits.
William's father shot the film in his kitchen, apparently getting his son to laugh by saying "boo" to him. Comments range from a sweet "isn't he cute" to a sour "this baby sounds as if it has asthma."
Not everyone is happy about the spate of laughing babies. "Look Who's Laughing: Giggling babies have taken over YouTube. Next stop: Madison Avenue" was the heading over a story by Janelle Nanos in Slate online magazine on Dec. 31, 2007.
http://www.slate.com/id/2180950/
"Turning found video into good advertising is harder than it looks," Janelle wrote. "The danger of using YouTube footage in a television ad is that if the spot isn't well-executed, viewers feel shortchanged, since they know they can see the same spot online without a corporate logo tacked onto the end of it."
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Rain Man Inspires London Stage Play
This story was first published by OhmyNewsInternational. You can view it (with better links) at http://tinyurl.com/3k5dqm
Twenty years after his moving story was told in the Oscar-winning film The Rain Man, Utah's modest prodigy Kim Peek, who will turn 57 on November 11, is again being impersonated in an updated stage play with the same title at London's prestigious Apollo Theatre. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Theatre
British stage actor Adam Godley has won critical acclaim for his sympathetic portrayal of the autistic Raymond, a character inspired by Peek and played in the film by Dustin Hoffman (who won an Oscar for the Best Actor in a Leading Role).
Thanks to the film and countless TV, radio and press interviews, Peek has long been the world's favorite and best-known savant (learned scholar).
"Described as a confounding mixture of disability and brilliance, Kim is in love with knowledge," says the Multiple Sclerosis website Extraordinay People. http://www.mymultiplesclerosis.co.uk/misc/kimpeek.html
"... Kim was diagnosed as being mentally retarded at birth, but with father Fran's unflagging support he has developed a memory that is without equal.
"Born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, Kim has lived there all of his life. The local library is Kim's favourite place in the world. Kim devours books on anything and everything, as many as eight in a day.
"He reads at a phenomenal rate, a page that may take you or me three minutes will take Kim about 10 seconds. He reads the left page with his left eye and the right page with his right eye and will retain about 98% of it.
"He has 15 subject areas but about the only thing he can't do is, he can't reason out mathematical problems."
Another autistic savant, who can reason out mathematical problems, is Britain's Daniel Paul Tammet (29). Born in London, the first of nine children, he has written in a memoir, how having epilepsy, synaesthesia and Asperger syndrome all deeply affected his childhood.
He can calculate huge sums in his head in seconds and instantaneously recognize prime numbers, but he finds emotions difficult to understand and has trouble telling left from right.
He says he sees numbers as complex synaesthetic shapes with color, texture and motion. Thirty-seven, he says, is lumpy like porridge, while eighty-nine reminds him of falling snow. Sequences of digits form visual landscapes in his mind.
In March 2004, Tammet set a European record when he recited the famous mathematical constant Pi from memory to 22,514 decimal places in five hours.
He has been studied by scientists at California's Center for Brain Studies and at the Cambridge (UK) Autism Research Centre, and has been described as "autism's Rosetta Stone".
You can read about his life and achievements in his regularly updated blog, Optimnem http://www.optimnem.co.uk/about.phpAccording to Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Tammet Tammet and his domestic partner, software engineer Neil Mitchell, live together in Kent where they have a quiet regimented life at home with their cats, prepare their meals from their garden, and prefer their privacy.
They operate the online company Optimnem, where they create and publish language courses. Tammet has publicly discussed his relationship with Mitchell, his savant abilities, and his sexual orientation.
On the other hand, Kim Peek and his father, Fran, who is now 81, have spoken to five million people and traveled more than two million miles, sharing their story. Last Saturday, they were in Portland, talking with autistic children and their parents and friends at a function arranged by the Autism Society of Maine.
Earlier this year, they entertained a packed house in their home state of Utah. Nexy day, the Provo Daily Herald published this interesting report : http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/254402/
Has Utah's Kim Peek ever met Britain's Danial Tammet? Yes. You can view their meeting by playing this YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdeAq7_r63g&NR=1
In another video, Peek hugs Tammet and tells him “Some day you will be as great as I am.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Twenty years after his moving story was told in the Oscar-winning film The Rain Man, Utah's modest prodigy Kim Peek, who will turn 57 on November 11, is again being impersonated in an updated stage play with the same title at London's prestigious Apollo Theatre. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Theatre
British stage actor Adam Godley has won critical acclaim for his sympathetic portrayal of the autistic Raymond, a character inspired by Peek and played in the film by Dustin Hoffman (who won an Oscar for the Best Actor in a Leading Role).
Thanks to the film and countless TV, radio and press interviews, Peek has long been the world's favorite and best-known savant (learned scholar).
"Described as a confounding mixture of disability and brilliance, Kim is in love with knowledge," says the Multiple Sclerosis website Extraordinay People. http://www.mymultiplesclerosis.co.uk/misc/kimpeek.html
"... Kim was diagnosed as being mentally retarded at birth, but with father Fran's unflagging support he has developed a memory that is without equal.
"Born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, Kim has lived there all of his life. The local library is Kim's favourite place in the world. Kim devours books on anything and everything, as many as eight in a day.
"He reads at a phenomenal rate, a page that may take you or me three minutes will take Kim about 10 seconds. He reads the left page with his left eye and the right page with his right eye and will retain about 98% of it.
"He has 15 subject areas but about the only thing he can't do is, he can't reason out mathematical problems."
Another autistic savant, who can reason out mathematical problems, is Britain's Daniel Paul Tammet (29). Born in London, the first of nine children, he has written in a memoir, how having epilepsy, synaesthesia and Asperger syndrome all deeply affected his childhood.
He can calculate huge sums in his head in seconds and instantaneously recognize prime numbers, but he finds emotions difficult to understand and has trouble telling left from right.
He says he sees numbers as complex synaesthetic shapes with color, texture and motion. Thirty-seven, he says, is lumpy like porridge, while eighty-nine reminds him of falling snow. Sequences of digits form visual landscapes in his mind.
In March 2004, Tammet set a European record when he recited the famous mathematical constant Pi from memory to 22,514 decimal places in five hours.
He has been studied by scientists at California's Center for Brain Studies and at the Cambridge (UK) Autism Research Centre, and has been described as "autism's Rosetta Stone".
You can read about his life and achievements in his regularly updated blog, Optimnem http://www.optimnem.co.uk/about.phpAccording to Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Tammet Tammet and his domestic partner, software engineer Neil Mitchell, live together in Kent where they have a quiet regimented life at home with their cats, prepare their meals from their garden, and prefer their privacy.
They operate the online company Optimnem, where they create and publish language courses. Tammet has publicly discussed his relationship with Mitchell, his savant abilities, and his sexual orientation.
On the other hand, Kim Peek and his father, Fran, who is now 81, have spoken to five million people and traveled more than two million miles, sharing their story. Last Saturday, they were in Portland, talking with autistic children and their parents and friends at a function arranged by the Autism Society of Maine.
Earlier this year, they entertained a packed house in their home state of Utah. Nexy day, the Provo Daily Herald published this interesting report : http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/254402/
Has Utah's Kim Peek ever met Britain's Danial Tammet? Yes. You can view their meeting by playing this YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdeAq7_r63g&NR=1
In another video, Peek hugs Tammet and tells him “Some day you will be as great as I am.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Self-Powered Electric Car Is a World First
This article was first published by OhmyNewsInternational. For easier reading and access to the numerous links, please click on
http://tinyurl.com/4wbdrq
---------------------------------------------------------------
A strange-looking vehicle is tipped to attract world attention when it's unveiled at the Paris Motor Show (Oct 4-9). It's the first solar and electric autonomous car in the history of the automobile, French carmaker Venturi claims.
Dubbed the Eclectic, it's a revolutionary vehicle powered by the sun's rays or, when there's no sun, by a wind turbine (an optional extra).
"Eclectic... opens up a new era in the field of mobility," says Venturi, which plans to market the car next year.
"Reserved for daily driving in urban areas, its low energy consumption makes it the most economical environmental vehicle ever built."
A British filmmaker named Danny, who drives his own electric car in London, shot a news-breaking video http://www.dannyscontentment.net/ showing the Eclectic prototype on a test run in Monte Carlo, the city in which it was built.
Until it's unveiled officially, the Eclectic is still a concept vehicle. It was featured in the movie Babylon A.D., where it was seen as a police car of the future.
But there are still problems to be overcome before the car will be allowed on British roads.. One critic, Auto IT, commented : "Great video and great to hear that the Eclectic might come to London. Photovoltaics will work in overcast conditions - they just don’t generate as much juice. More importantly, the Eclectic will need some mudguards to be legal on UK roads (and to stop the rear passengers getting a faceful of puddle). Doors might be an idea too."
Electric cars are making more impact in Europe and Asia than in America and Australia, where few people have even seen one. The latest electric cars have lighter batteries and greater range than previous models, a trend that is sure to continue.
In the US, Genenal Motors' keenly-awaited Chevrolet Volt, "a new plug-in electric car that could save a struggling GM" to quote Time magazine
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1841374,00.html?imw=Y will not be available until the end of 2010.
Australia expects to have its first plug-in electric car by the end of next year, when Mitsubishi intends marketing its baby i MiEV in that country.
Electric cars are no novelty on the roads of India, China, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Germany, Norway, the UK and other countries where they are made.
India is turning out thousands of electric cars, including the Tara Tiny, http://specials.rediff.com/money/2008/mar/17tara1.htm "the world's cheapest car," that sells for just under one lakh (100,000 rupees, or $US2146).
Ten electric cars already on the market are illustrated and described here. http://chisblassternardone.blogspot.com/2008/09/10-electric-cars-you-can-buy-today.html
In South Korea, CT&T http://www.ctnt.co.kr/eng/ exports electric vehicles to Canada , USA, Indonesia and China. Millions of TV viewers worldwide saw the Korean cars in use at the Beijing Olympics.
CT&T is about to build a large plant in Fiji,
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/200807/s2300794.htm?tab=pacific for the local market and for possible export to Australia and New Zealand.
The giant South Korean firm Hyundai plans to launch its first LPG/electric vehicle http://www.physorg.com/news134846723.html next July, and is thinking of marketing it in China and Australia.
In India, the G-Wiz is manufactured by the Reva Electric Car Company (http://www.revaindia.com). Reva was formed in 1995 to manufacture environmentally friendly, cost effective electric city cars. Designed in California, the car was developed and tested in India and launched there in May 2001.
The car is designed as a nimble, no-frills electric vehicle for non-polluting urban travel. It can carry two adults and two small children, and is designed for inner city use.
GoinGreen www.GoinGreen.co.uk began importing the car into the UK in 2003 and has since sold about 1000 of them.
The latest model - the G-Wiz i - has a range of up to 48 miles, a top speed of 50mph, better braking, improved interior and a newly designed crash cell jointly developed with Lotus.
The three-wheeled German-built Twike (the name is a cross between Twin and Bike) is a light electric vehicle for two passengers. Buyers can select an all-electric version, or choose a model with pedals to save electricity, extend the range, and provide exercise for the driver (sometimes called the pilot).
"The combination of muscle power and electric motor, together with
the joystick steering, imparts a completely new driving experience," says the
Twike website http://www.twike.com
Dr. Andreas Schroer, in charge of the company's UK sales division, says
"The Twike transports its passengers into a new vehicle dimension. With a maximum range of 90 miles per charge and a top speed of 53mph a Twike easily meets your daily needs.
"At the same time the Twike is 10 times more efficient than a normal car. The futuristic joystick steering is easy and fun to use. The optional pedal drive adds to the fun and fitness of the passengers and saves even more energy."
Twikes were first made in Switzerland in 1996. Two years later,
the FINE Mobile GmbH launched the German production line and finally became the exclusive producer.
London eletric car owners don't have to worry about the soaring cost of liquid fuel., since they don't have to pay road tax or the London congestion charge of eight pounds a day - all-electric cars produce no carbon emissions.
Many UK councils also offer free parking for electric car users. In parts of Central London electric vehicles can park for free, and some places even offer free charging. EDF Energy is installing 250 on-street charging points nationally.
You can see many of the latest electric cars by visiting GreenMotor.co.uk http://www.greenmotor.co.uk/search/label/electric%20cars and Channel 4's Top10 http://www.channel4.com/4car/gl/gallery/feature/24420/ Skeptics and conspiracy believers ask "Who killed the electric car?" in this now well-known video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsJAlrYjGz8
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://tinyurl.com/4wbdrq
---------------------------------------------------------------
A strange-looking vehicle is tipped to attract world attention when it's unveiled at the Paris Motor Show (Oct 4-9). It's the first solar and electric autonomous car in the history of the automobile, French carmaker Venturi claims.
Dubbed the Eclectic, it's a revolutionary vehicle powered by the sun's rays or, when there's no sun, by a wind turbine (an optional extra).
"Eclectic... opens up a new era in the field of mobility," says Venturi, which plans to market the car next year.
"Reserved for daily driving in urban areas, its low energy consumption makes it the most economical environmental vehicle ever built."
A British filmmaker named Danny, who drives his own electric car in London, shot a news-breaking video http://www.dannyscontentment.net/ showing the Eclectic prototype on a test run in Monte Carlo, the city in which it was built.
Until it's unveiled officially, the Eclectic is still a concept vehicle. It was featured in the movie Babylon A.D., where it was seen as a police car of the future.
But there are still problems to be overcome before the car will be allowed on British roads.. One critic, Auto IT, commented : "Great video and great to hear that the Eclectic might come to London. Photovoltaics will work in overcast conditions - they just don’t generate as much juice. More importantly, the Eclectic will need some mudguards to be legal on UK roads (and to stop the rear passengers getting a faceful of puddle). Doors might be an idea too."
Electric cars are making more impact in Europe and Asia than in America and Australia, where few people have even seen one. The latest electric cars have lighter batteries and greater range than previous models, a trend that is sure to continue.
In the US, Genenal Motors' keenly-awaited Chevrolet Volt, "a new plug-in electric car that could save a struggling GM" to quote Time magazine
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1841374,00.html?imw=Y will not be available until the end of 2010.
Australia expects to have its first plug-in electric car by the end of next year, when Mitsubishi intends marketing its baby i MiEV in that country.
Electric cars are no novelty on the roads of India, China, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Germany, Norway, the UK and other countries where they are made.
India is turning out thousands of electric cars, including the Tara Tiny, http://specials.rediff.com/money/2008/mar/17tara1.htm "the world's cheapest car," that sells for just under one lakh (100,000 rupees, or $US2146).
Ten electric cars already on the market are illustrated and described here. http://chisblassternardone.blogspot.com/2008/09/10-electric-cars-you-can-buy-today.html
In South Korea, CT&T http://www.ctnt.co.kr/eng/ exports electric vehicles to Canada , USA, Indonesia and China. Millions of TV viewers worldwide saw the Korean cars in use at the Beijing Olympics.
CT&T is about to build a large plant in Fiji,
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/200807/s2300794.htm?tab=pacific for the local market and for possible export to Australia and New Zealand.
The giant South Korean firm Hyundai plans to launch its first LPG/electric vehicle http://www.physorg.com/news134846723.html next July, and is thinking of marketing it in China and Australia.
In India, the G-Wiz is manufactured by the Reva Electric Car Company (http://www.revaindia.com). Reva was formed in 1995 to manufacture environmentally friendly, cost effective electric city cars. Designed in California, the car was developed and tested in India and launched there in May 2001.
The car is designed as a nimble, no-frills electric vehicle for non-polluting urban travel. It can carry two adults and two small children, and is designed for inner city use.
GoinGreen www.GoinGreen.co.uk began importing the car into the UK in 2003 and has since sold about 1000 of them.
The latest model - the G-Wiz i - has a range of up to 48 miles, a top speed of 50mph, better braking, improved interior and a newly designed crash cell jointly developed with Lotus.
The three-wheeled German-built Twike (the name is a cross between Twin and Bike) is a light electric vehicle for two passengers. Buyers can select an all-electric version, or choose a model with pedals to save electricity, extend the range, and provide exercise for the driver (sometimes called the pilot).
"The combination of muscle power and electric motor, together with
the joystick steering, imparts a completely new driving experience," says the
Twike website http://www.twike.com
Dr. Andreas Schroer, in charge of the company's UK sales division, says
"The Twike transports its passengers into a new vehicle dimension. With a maximum range of 90 miles per charge and a top speed of 53mph a Twike easily meets your daily needs.
"At the same time the Twike is 10 times more efficient than a normal car. The futuristic joystick steering is easy and fun to use. The optional pedal drive adds to the fun and fitness of the passengers and saves even more energy."
Twikes were first made in Switzerland in 1996. Two years later,
the FINE Mobile GmbH launched the German production line and finally became the exclusive producer.
London eletric car owners don't have to worry about the soaring cost of liquid fuel., since they don't have to pay road tax or the London congestion charge of eight pounds a day - all-electric cars produce no carbon emissions.
Many UK councils also offer free parking for electric car users. In parts of Central London electric vehicles can park for free, and some places even offer free charging. EDF Energy is installing 250 on-street charging points nationally.
You can see many of the latest electric cars by visiting GreenMotor.co.uk http://www.greenmotor.co.uk/search/label/electric%20cars and Channel 4's Top10 http://www.channel4.com/4car/gl/gallery/feature/24420/ Skeptics and conspiracy believers ask "Who killed the electric car?" in this now well-known video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsJAlrYjGz8
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Bearskin Blitz Misses Mark
If the British Government bows to pressure from Animal Rights, and orders Buckingham Palace foot guards to remodel their iconic black bearskin helmets with false fur, not a single bear's life will be saved.
The sad truth, conveniently overlooked by well-meaning but highly emotional animal lovers, is that the famous, 18-inch (45.7cm) high helmets are made from skins of bears culled because they have reached pest numbers in parts of North America, or were victims of roadkill.
Britain's Minister for Defence Procurement, Baroness Ann Taylor, is responsible for acquiring all of the British Army's equipment. She has just met the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to discuss the possible use of synthetic materials and new designs.
Robbie LeBlanc, PETA director in Britain, who spoke to Baroness Taylor, said "It's important to show that Britain is a modern nation and you can still have great traditions, but not have that level of cruelty involved in slaying bears to make hats.
"It's so incongruous that Britain and all of Europe are modern nations here and still you have the Queen's guards ... walking around with an entire dead bear on their heads."
"New Palace Bearskins May Spare the Bear," the London Guardian newspaper announced on Sep 1, with an eye-catching photo of guardsmen flaunting their top-heavy (one and a half pounds) headdress. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/sep/01/military.fashion
Millions of tourists visiting London eash year photograph members of The Queen's Foot Guards whose shining black bearskins offset brilliant scarlet tunics on ceremonial parades.
It's just another round in a long drawn out battle. Five years ago, Caroline Davies reported http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1424257/Animal-lobby-forces-Foot-Guards-to-look-for-alternative-bearskins.html in the London Daily Telegraph:
"For two centuries the Sovereign's Foot Guards have been distinguished by the foot-high bearskins that top their scarlet ceremonial uniforms. But now, to appease animal rights campaigners, defence officials are seeking an alternative to the traditional headgear, which dates back to the Battle of Waterloo.
"Complaints to the Queen that her soldiers should switch to faux fur have resulted in a search for a synthetic bearskin - so far without success."
The wonderfully British-named Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Dick-Peter was quoted as saying "We have tried artificial fibres to try and get away from using bearskins. But nothing works. It either doesn't hold its shape, or it cannot withstand the weather, or it fails to retain the right colour, or it stands up in a very surprised manner in the wrong electrical conditions."
Next, in 2006, some 70 PETA activists staged a naked protest http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/5002082.stm against the use of bearskins.
Lieutenant Colonel Peter Dick-Peter again made the headlines. He told BBC London that fake fur does not have the same qualities as the real thing.
"It looks like a 60s Beatle wig," he said. "It just doesn't look right and if the wind blows it sticks up. The rain soaks into the fibre and it ends up an extremely heavy piece of sodden material on somebody's head. In hot electrical conditions, all the hair will stand up - a really bad hair day."
Caroline Davies wrote that the bearskin cap could be traced back to the Grenadier Mitre cap, which, in 1712, replaced the three-cornered (tricorn) hat when it was discovered that for a Grenadier to throw his grenade, he had to sling his firelock across his back, which invariably resulted in his hat being knocked off.
Fine, glossy pelts from female bears are reserved for officers. Other ranks have to make do with rougher male pelts. Helmets can last a century, and are sometimes passed from father to son. A good bearskin "should look like an apple in front, and a pear from the back."
Black bears live in the wild in 41 of the 50 U.S. states and in every Canadian province bar Prince Edward Island. In Canada, about 500,000 black bears mainly inhabit forested areas, according to figures from the British Fur Trade Association. The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada says the black bear is "not at risk."
If you are not an animal lover, you may like to join a bear-shooting expedition at Rick Dickson's Black Bear Hunts, in Wawa, Ontario, Canada: http://www.nlmotel.com/dicksonsbear.htm
The sad truth, conveniently overlooked by well-meaning but highly emotional animal lovers, is that the famous, 18-inch (45.7cm) high helmets are made from skins of bears culled because they have reached pest numbers in parts of North America, or were victims of roadkill.
Britain's Minister for Defence Procurement, Baroness Ann Taylor, is responsible for acquiring all of the British Army's equipment. She has just met the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to discuss the possible use of synthetic materials and new designs.
Robbie LeBlanc, PETA director in Britain, who spoke to Baroness Taylor, said "It's important to show that Britain is a modern nation and you can still have great traditions, but not have that level of cruelty involved in slaying bears to make hats.
"It's so incongruous that Britain and all of Europe are modern nations here and still you have the Queen's guards ... walking around with an entire dead bear on their heads."
"New Palace Bearskins May Spare the Bear," the London Guardian newspaper announced on Sep 1, with an eye-catching photo of guardsmen flaunting their top-heavy (one and a half pounds) headdress. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/sep/01/military.fashion
Millions of tourists visiting London eash year photograph members of The Queen's Foot Guards whose shining black bearskins offset brilliant scarlet tunics on ceremonial parades.
It's just another round in a long drawn out battle. Five years ago, Caroline Davies reported http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1424257/Animal-lobby-forces-Foot-Guards-to-look-for-alternative-bearskins.html in the London Daily Telegraph:
"For two centuries the Sovereign's Foot Guards have been distinguished by the foot-high bearskins that top their scarlet ceremonial uniforms. But now, to appease animal rights campaigners, defence officials are seeking an alternative to the traditional headgear, which dates back to the Battle of Waterloo.
"Complaints to the Queen that her soldiers should switch to faux fur have resulted in a search for a synthetic bearskin - so far without success."
The wonderfully British-named Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Dick-Peter was quoted as saying "We have tried artificial fibres to try and get away from using bearskins. But nothing works. It either doesn't hold its shape, or it cannot withstand the weather, or it fails to retain the right colour, or it stands up in a very surprised manner in the wrong electrical conditions."
Next, in 2006, some 70 PETA activists staged a naked protest http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/5002082.stm against the use of bearskins.
Lieutenant Colonel Peter Dick-Peter again made the headlines. He told BBC London that fake fur does not have the same qualities as the real thing.
"It looks like a 60s Beatle wig," he said. "It just doesn't look right and if the wind blows it sticks up. The rain soaks into the fibre and it ends up an extremely heavy piece of sodden material on somebody's head. In hot electrical conditions, all the hair will stand up - a really bad hair day."
Caroline Davies wrote that the bearskin cap could be traced back to the Grenadier Mitre cap, which, in 1712, replaced the three-cornered (tricorn) hat when it was discovered that for a Grenadier to throw his grenade, he had to sling his firelock across his back, which invariably resulted in his hat being knocked off.
Fine, glossy pelts from female bears are reserved for officers. Other ranks have to make do with rougher male pelts. Helmets can last a century, and are sometimes passed from father to son. A good bearskin "should look like an apple in front, and a pear from the back."
Black bears live in the wild in 41 of the 50 U.S. states and in every Canadian province bar Prince Edward Island. In Canada, about 500,000 black bears mainly inhabit forested areas, according to figures from the British Fur Trade Association. The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada says the black bear is "not at risk."
If you are not an animal lover, you may like to join a bear-shooting expedition at Rick Dickson's Black Bear Hunts, in Wawa, Ontario, Canada: http://www.nlmotel.com/dicksonsbear.htm
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