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22 Sep 1914 - German U-boat devastates British squadron, sinking three cruisers in one hour
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In the North Sea on September 22, 1914, the German submarine U-9 sinks three British cruisers, the Aboukir, the Hogue and the Cressy, in just over one hour.
In the first two months of war, the German High Seas Fleet made little effort to move from its headquarters in Wilhelmshaven. The one naval battle, fought at Heligoland Bight in late August, ended in a convincing British victory, with three German battleships sunk, three more damaged and 1,200 German sailors killed or wounded.
In the wake of Heligoland Bight, Kaiser Wilhelm and the German leadership concluded that the navy should be kept off the open seas, as its best use was as a defensive weapon. As the war continued, Germany’s greatest weapon at sea would not be its light cruisers but its lethal U-boat submarine, which was far more sophisticated than those built by other nations at that time. The typical U-boat was 214 feet long, carried 35 men and 12 torpedoes and could travel underwater for two hours at a time.
The one-sided battle on September 22, which claimed three British cruisers and the lives of 1,400 sailors, alerted the British to the deadly effectiveness of the submarine, which had been generally unrecognized up to that time. In the first few years of World War I, German U-boats took a terrible toll on Allied shipping. By 1917, however, the continued unrestricted U-boat attacks on American vessels traveling to Britain prompted the previously neutral United States to declare war on Germany. The infusion of American ships, troops and arms into World War I, as well as the economic support the U.S. supplied to the Allied powers, would eventually turn the tide of the war against Germany. read more »
High Tech's black humor:"brain of its own","Runaway Drones:fr War Zones to School Zones","Spyware'd trigger Google Glass camera"
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The Navy's Newest Destroyer Is a Drone, the first ship with a brain of its own
Among the high-tech features included on the USS Zumwalt—cannons that fire rocket-propelled, GPS-guided rounds and stealth design that gives the 610-foot ship the radar signature of a small fishing vessel—there’s also a computer intelligence capable of preparing the ship for battle and engaging enemy targets on its own. Think of it as a gigantic floating drone: “Most UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] are a few million dollars,” says Wade Knudson, who heads the Zumwalt project for Raytheon (RTN), which made most of the ship’s computer systems. “This is a $5 billion UAV.” read more »
Tech high, morality low: cruise Captains 1st on run, abandon sinking ship&crew Vs Captains of 1852 HMS Birkenhead, 1912 Titanic
Above: 2 cruise ships, 2 captains on the run
Capt. Lee Joon-seok of the Sewol
Capt. Francesco Schettino who was in command of the cruise ship Costa Concordia
The heroes: when HMS Birkenhead, a British ship, began to sink off the coast of S Africa in 1852, there were not enough serviceable lifeboats for all the passengers, and the soldiers famously stood firm, allowing the women and children to board the boats safely.
The heroine: Park Jee Young, 22, who by witness accounts helped passengers escape the S. Korea ship Sewol, 102 years to the day since the Titanic sank in April 1912.
The hero: Capt. Edward J. Smith went down with the Titanic. The Cunard liner RMS Carpathia arrived on the scene where she brought aboard an estimated 705 survivors.
From S. Korea TV - astonishing video of final minutes of stricken ship Sewol. Heartbreaking tragedy.
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Abandon ship? In recent maritime disasters, captains don't hang around read more »
"Harmony", the ever-biggest word carved by 2 popes, floating in the sky which has no boundaries of religions, or claimed regions
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[Dec 29, 2013] Pope emeritus Benedict XVI has shared a holiday meal with his successor, Pope Francis.
The two men dined together at Francis's residence, the Santa Marta hotel on the Vatican City grounds, Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano said on Saturday.
Francis had extended an invitation for a holiday meal when he paid a call on his predecessor December 23 at a monastery on the Vatican's grounds to offer Christmas greetings, Vatican Radio said. read more »
Why int'l experts not step in? Fukushima, Japan: 1,331 used fuel rods =14,000 x atomic bomb on Hiroshima
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Fukushima, Japan. Highly dangerous and unprecedented removal of highly radioactive nuclear fuel rods begins on Nov18
The fuel assemblies are in a 32 x 40 feet concrete pool, the base of which is on the fourth story of the damaged reactor building. The assemblies - which contain plutonium, one of the most toxic substances known - are under 23 feet of water.
If the fuel rods - there are 50-70 in each of the assemblies, which weigh around 661 pounds and are 15 feet long - are exposed to air or if they break, catastrophic amounts of radioactive gases could be released into the atmosphere.
The 1,331 used fuel rod assemblies contain radiation equivalent to 14,000 times the amount released in the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima.
“Full release from the Unit-4 spent fuel pool, without any containment or control, could cause by far the most serious radiological disaster to date,” say independent consultants Mycle Schneider and Antony Froggatt in a recent World Nuclear Industry Status Report.
28 Signs That the West Coast Is Being Absolutely Fried with Nuclear Radiation from Fukushima
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8. One test in California found that 15 out of 15 bluefin tuna were contaminated with radiation from Fukushima. read more »
Myths. 'Solar eclipse: Nov3' 'Google's massive barge' 'whats so funny' 'ghostly coldest place in universe' 'eyes w/ great sight'
Myths and legends around the world attempt to explain solar eclipses, such as the one above in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Here’s the much-talked-about barge in San Francisco Bay.
What's so funny?
ALMA reveals ghostly shape of coldest place in the universe
Look Into The Eyes with Great Sight
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Solar Eclipse Myths From Around the World
People around the world, and through time, have come up with many a tale to explain the sun's disappearance.
This Sunday, November 3 - people in equatorial Africa will be treated to a rare view of a total solar eclipse. Those living on the eastern North American coast, northern South America, southern Europe, or the Middle East, will get to see a partial solar eclipse.
Google's massive mystery barge
There are two mysterious structures built on barges, one in San Francisco Bay, the other in Maine’s Portland Harbor. read more »
Fun in Expression. Photos. 'Lit Nobel to Alice Munro, 82' 'elephants get point' 'surprisingly simple robots' 'longest talkathon'
"Literature Nobel to Alice Munro, 82"
"elephants get the point of pointing"
"surprisingly simple robots"
"let's share"
"longest talkathlon"
“how do I look?”
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Alice Munro, Canadian short story writer, 82, wins Nobel Prize in literature
"When I began writing there was a very small community of Canadian writers and little attention was paid by the world. Now Canadian writers are read, admired and respected around the globe. I'm so thrilled to be chosen as this year's Nobel Prize for Literature recipient. I hope it fosters further interest in all Canadian writers. I also hope that this brings further recognition to the short story form." read more »