Alain Thebault does it again. He and his crew have already broken the 50-mph barrier, with a run that topped out at 54 mph (47.2 knots). We are not talking a windsurf here but a full-fledged D-class sailship!
That thing can average a speed of 41.69 knots/h for at least one nautical mile and reach speeds of 44,5 knots/h for at least 500 meters … beating thus two world speed records so far, including the one held since 1997 by the catamaran “Techniques Avancées”. It broke these records in 25-knot winds ... that’s right … meaning that it can speed considerably faster than the wind propelling it. The physics of that just have to be awesome!
It’s called the Hydroptère … a Greek name indicating water and wing … iow … the “WaterWing”.
The whole of Attica smells like a fireplace. Over 60 people have died. The few once-green parts of Southern-Greece have now also taken the cement-grey colour of Athens. Ashes spread everywhere ... beyond the centre of the city ... even to the beach-side community where I live.
Only a few places were saved ... and this because the people there had figured soon enough that ... the lack of snows in the past winter, the lack of rains in May, the heat and the winds were just too dangerous. Some villages had thus organised themselves into 24 hour patrols in shifts: the women until midnight and the men after that. They also assigned some people to the top of mountains with binoculars. Where this was done, fires were extinguished before spreading ... but even then barely so.
You see ... these fires were arson ... as in ... they were started on purpose! The motivation behind this is still a mystery. One cannot even begin to imagine what kind of sick persons would do this ... but there you have it ... they did. In any case ... with the start of hunting season ... these patrols will now have the added factors of shotguns.
In the meantime, there is even talk of cancelling the upcoming elections. It won't happen of course. But it just goes to show you.
"Greece looks almost certain to hold a general election —officially not due until next March— in a matter of weeks. Despite setbacks for the centre-right New Democracy (ND) government under the prime minister, Costas Karamanlis, he is likely to be returned to power..." That's how they used to do it. :)
John Rendall and Ace Berg, brought this lion to Africa to be reintroduced to his natural habitat with the help of a great man, George Adamson (the guy the movie “Born Free” was about). They then returned a year later. The lion remembered them.
They had found the lion as a cub at Harrods' then (1969) exotic animals' department. As John Rendall recalled for the daily Mail, they went there out of curiosity after … :
"A friend had been to the 'exotic animals' department at Harrods and announced, rather grandly, that she wanted a camel," says Rendall.
"To which the manager very coolly replied: 'One hump or two, madam?'
"Ace and I thought this was the most sophisticated repartee we'd ever heard, so we went along to check it out - and there, in a small cage, was a gorgeous little lion cub.
We were shocked. We looked at each other and said something's got to be done about that." They took the lion-cub for a few months, by which time it already grew rather large, and soon realised that the best solution for this magnificent cat was to live in the African wild.
Reintroducing a lion to the wild is no small feat however. Lions need to live and hunt in prides. And introducing a new male on an existing pride is basically impossible. Even with the help of Lion-man Adamson, this made the project rather questionable.
Nonetheless, at one years old, after living in London for many months, “Christian the King’s Road lion” was taken to the Kora Reserve in Kenya ( about 350 kilometres to the north-east of Nairobi) to be reintroduced with other lions back into the wild. There were many trials, including when another semi-tamed lion, named “Boy” killed the chef ... who was startled by seeing the lion close-by and started running and screaming. Boy was shot through the heart by Adamson but it was too late to save the man.
For Christian, the concern was different. He had been so tamed that it was unlikely that he could survive the harsh conditions of the savannah. He was observed making terrible lion-world-blunders … like stalking (and almost getting killed by) a rhinoceros. But thanks to the brilliance of Adamson, adapt this lion finally did. He hunted, fed, and stoped returning to camp. He even had some lionesses and a litter of cubs. His mane not even fully grown, he had already become the head of self-sufficient pride.
The King’s Road lion had reverted to his wild state again … so much so that when about a year later … Rendall and Ace decided to travel to Kenya to possibly catch a glimpse of him … Adamson warned them against it: "Christian hasn't been here for nine months … and he may never come back". Rendall replied, "We appreciate that, but we'll come anyway and see you.” When they arrived however, Adamson told them:
"Christian arrived last night. He's here with his lionesses and his cubs. He's outside the camp on his favourite rock. He's waiting for you."
And when John and Ace started approaching what was by now a wild lion …
"Christian stared at us in a very intense way," says Rendall. "I knew his expressions and I could see he was interested. We called him and he stood up and started to walk towards us very slowly.
"Then, as if he had become convinced it was us, he ran towards us, threw himself on to us, knocked us over, knocked George over and hugged us, like he used to, with his paws on our shoulders.
"Everyone was crying. We were crying, George was crying, even the lion was nearly crying."
"The lionesses were far from pleased. There was a lot of growling and spitting," continues Rendall.
"'George said: 'This isn't safe - we'd better go.' So we each put a hand on Christian's back and he walked with us back to camp."
The reunion party went on all night and into the morning. Leaving his exhausted companions to go to their beds, Christian returned to his pride.”
Vivendi's Universal Music has said it is to test the digital sale of songs from artists without the customary copy-protection technology.
It will allow the sale of thousands of albums and tracks available in MP3-form without the protection, known as digital rights management (DRM).
Most major recording studios insist music sellers use DRM technology to curb online piracy.
Universal artists include 50 Cent, the Black Eyed Peas, and Amy Winehouse.
Universal said: "The experiment will run from August to January and analyze such factors as consumer demand, price sensitivity and piracy in regards to the availability of open MP3s."
Retailers including Google, Wal-Mart, and Amazon.com, will participate in the DRM-free trial, Universal said.
But participants do not include Apple iTunes online music store, the third largest music retailer in the US.
The Official (Plugged) Version of the Song is Awesome (you can listen to it at left) , but the Video of it Bites ... and so ... here is a Very Unplugged rendition of it ... Old-school-sailor-ink, heroin-chic-anorexia, po'-dangerous-lil'-baddd-grrrl, 60s/70s soul.
He loves this country, everywhere he goes there is grass and trees and flowers. He is passionately sniffing all the new smells of this African country, he rolls around on all the lawns and has already tried sadza – the local food stipend made of mealie-flour.
It was quite an effort to bring him over and Jacques and I would both like to thank the efforts of my friend Tanya, Mary and wonderful Mr. Andreas (Jacques doc). I would also like to wholeheartedly thank many people who bought from my little Africa Shop, without whose contributions this would not have been possible. A big thank you to Diane and to Lambrini and all her friends. Finally, thank you to the people at CYA, whose financial contribution was also a big helping factor (special thanks to Nadia and Steve for lobbying on my behalf!).
Jacques’ days are filled with walks and gardens. He usually starts the morning with a brisk trot as I leisurely cycle down to the WWF offices where I am volunteering. Then he gets to loll around their huge gardens. We then usually do another sniff-filled walk over to the MSF offices and then he gets to loll around their gardens for a while. Then it is back home, dinner time and an evening walk around the enormous compound garden grounds. All the roads we take in the city hardly have any traffic and they all have grass and trees (see photos).
Everywhere he goes Jacques get compliments. He has made quite an impression on the local populace – “that’s a very nice dog you have!” Many people are also very afraid of him which unfortunately comes from when white colonialist use to train their dogs to attack black people. But despite their fear, once they get to know him they all remark what a friendly dog he is.
Food is an issue, since we humans have not had meat in the supermarkets for the past three weeks. Thankfully, I have found a local vet clinic where they have a supply of good quality dog food.
Why blog Evelyn asks? Well ... it's a good way to keep in touch between friends, an excellent way to share information between like-minded people ... and even, for some very popular ones, a fun way to make a living.
Now ... as to the significance (or lack of) of an individual among the billions of people on this planet. Yikes what a thought! Though I figure that our significance is determined by how much we ourselves (and those we find interesting) care about us. That means that ... if those who are insignificant to you do not consider you significant ... who cares(?) ... just as long as those whom you consider significant to you ... also think you are significant. :)
This all came about because some of the greatest people (Nike, Lexi, Evelyn etc and some people I'm not sure I recognise) ... all from one of the most wonderful places on Earth (the Brick House) are launching their first ever blog. I hope you have a digital camera ... that's all I have to say! Anyway ... Congratulations ... Welcome to the blogosphere ... and I'm of course adding a link to it.
Alain Thebault does it again. He and his crew have already broken the 50-mph barrier, with a run that topped out at 54 mph (47.2 knots). We are not talking a windsurf here but a full-fledged D-class sailship!
That thing can average a speed of 41.69 knots/h for at least one nautical mile and reach speeds of 44,5 knots/h for at least 500 meters … beating thus two world speed records so far, including the one held since 1997 by the catamaran “Techniques Avancées”. It broke these records in 25-knot winds ... that’s right … meaning that it can speed considerably faster than the wind propelling it. The physics of that just have to be awesome!
It’s called the Hydroptère … a Greek name indicating water and wing … iow … the “WaterWing”.
And it's the fastest sailboat in the world.
