Bermuda Triangle a.k.a. Devil's Triangle
No doubt that you have heard of Bermuda Triangle. It has been the greatest mystery that is still circling the minds of the great till now. Due to my curiosity, I had searched information on Bermuda triangle to be shared with all of you.
Bermuda Triangle is located at a region in the western part of North Atlantic Ocean, a triangle formed between Bermuda, Florida, and Puerto Rico where dissapearances of ships and planes took place unexplained by human error, piracy, equipment failure, or natural disaster. Is it a myth.... or truth....? Let us discover further.
This are the following notable incidents relating to Bermuda Triangle;
1) Flight 19
It was a training flight of TBM Avenger Bombers that went
missing on 5 December 1945 while over the Atlantic. The squadron's flight path was scheduled to take them due east for 120 miles, north for 73 miles, and then back over a final 120 mile leg that would return them to the naval base, but they never return...The flight took place on a calm day, under the supervision of an experienced pilot, Lt. Charles Carroll Taylor. It was claimed that the flight leader had been heard saying, "We are entering white water, nothing seems right. We don't know where we are, the water is green, no white." It was also claimed that officials at the Navy board of inquiry stated that the planes "flew off to Mars."
2) Mary Celeste
A 207-ton paddle steamer, Mary Celeste hit a reef and quickily sank off the coast of Bermuda on 13 September 1864.
3) Ellen Austin
The Ellen Austin supposedly came across a derelict ship, placed on board a price crew, and attempted to sail with it to New York in 1881. According to the stories, the derelict dissapeared, others elaborating further that the derelict reappeared minus the prize crew, then dissapeared again with a second prize crew on board. A check from Lloyd's of London records proved the existence of the Meta, built in 1854, and that in 1880, the Meta was renamed Ellen Austin. A large number of missing men were placed on board a derelict that later dissapeared.
4) U S S Cyclops
The incident resulting in the single largest loss of lifes in the history of the US Navy. Under the command of Lt Cdr G. W. Worley, went missing without a trace with a crew of 309 sometime after 4 March 1918, after departing the island of Barbados.
5) Spray
S.V. Spray was a derelict fishing boat refitted as an ocean cruiser by Joshua Slocum and used by him to complete the first ever single-handed circumnavigation of the world between 1895 and 1898. In 1909, Slocum sailed from Vineyard Haven bound for Vanezuela. Neither he nor Spray were ever seen again.
6) Star Tiger and Star Ariel
G-AHNP Star Tiger dissapeared on 30 January 1948, on a flight from the Azores to Bermuda. G-AGRE Star Ariel dissapeared on 17 January 1949, on a flight from Bermuda to Kingston, Jamaica. Both were Avro Tudor IV passenger aircraft operated by British South American Airways. Both planes were operating at the very limits of their range and the slightest error or fault in the equipment could keep them from reaching the small island. One plane was not heard from long before it would have entered the Triangle.
Those who lived to tellI am sure that everyone heard of the famous sailer, Christopher Colombus. He is the first to have sailed through the Sargasso Sea and the Bermuda Triangle. He is also the first who have reported unusual events. The extracts of his logs were compiled after his death by Fray Batolome de Las Casas. Colombus saw a fire ball plunged into the sea a few days after leaving the Canary Islands, far before the Sargasso Sea and Bermuda Triangle. He actually saw a light on the horizon on 11 October 1492, which does remain unexplained today.
When travelling through the Sargasso Sea and Bermuda Triangle...
Thursday 13 sept 1492
On this day at the beginning of night the compasses northwested and in the morning they northeasted somewhat.
Monday 17 Sept 1492
The pilots took the north, marking it [North Star],and found that the compasses northwested a full point [11 and one quarter degrees]; and the sailors were fearful and depressed and did not say why. Columbus was aware of this and he ordered that the North again be marked when dawn came, and they found that the compasses were correct. The cause was that the North Star appears to move and not the compasses.
Sunday 23 September 1492
Since the sea had been calmed and smooth the men complained, saying that since in that region there were no rough seas[Sargasso Seas], it would never blow for a return to Spain. But later the sea rose high and without wind, which astonished them, because of which Columbus says that the high seas were very necessary for me, a sign which had not appeared except in the time of the Jews when they left Egypt and complained against Moses, who took them out of captivity.
Sunday 30 September 1492
Columbus says here when night comes the compasses northwest one quarter, and when dawn comes they coincide with the North Star exactly.
Scholars have stated their opinions on the unusual happenings faced by Columbus;
It is not possible to detect compass variation with a magnetic compass. Compass always points to North. Colombus's navigator would have noticed nothing in the compass. Magnetic Variation can only be detected with other means today, such as charts, which Colombus obviously did not have..
A light was seen in the distance, it rose and dropped and then dissapeared. Some eplain this as torch lights on the beach of an island or that native fishing parties with torches were some miles off the island. This 'light' has been used to try to calculate distance from any land. But it usually turns out he was too far to have seen any light on land-hence it must be fishermen far out trying to get their evening catch or a light on some other islet off the main island.
My thoughts...I find the information very interesting. Before I did this research, I've always wonder whether is there a place that really brings things, substance, people, and any elements of the world to other place unknown living mysteries behind unsolved. The Bermuda Triangle might be a medium to the other world of maybe ruled by robots and machineries, or a medium that travels against time to the past or the future, somewhere that could not return to Earth, a place of pleasure, happiness, and satisfaction....or probably a place lead by devils and ghouls. It just brings me to fantasy.
To know more about Bermuda Triangle, kindly click
here.Thats all for now. Bye....=)
Labels: Veronica Tan
Baby,top. || 9:43 PM
Theo Jansen's Beast?
Date : Sunday, March 21, 2010
The moment I saw the video of Theo Jansen in Creative Thinking Skills Class, I was flummoxed and at the same time wondered what could that huge, gigantic structure that he invented be?
Since 1990, Theo Jansen has been occupied creating new forms of life. Not pollen or seeds but plastic yellow tubesare used as its basic material of this new nature. He made skeletons that are able to walk on the wind, so they don't have to eat. Over times, these skeletons have become increasingly better at surviving the elements such as storms and water and eventually he want to put these animals out in herds on the beaches, so they will live their own lifes. What an interesting
idea isn't it?
Development of idea:He want to make new life. Some might look a bit like crabs or other animals, but that wasn't on purpose, it just because they are the shapes that best survive. These animals have skeletons that can walk on the wind, eat the wind you might say, so they might have a chance to survive in windy places like the beach.
He wrote columns for a newspaper, grew up very close to the beach and when he came up with ideas for the paper he would often walk along it. He get ideas from the environment he is in and it was a place of his youth, which takes him back to looking at ideas in a youthful way. So the idea really just hit him to use tubes for animals.
He has had pieces of the kinetic sculptors for 16 years and they're still very flexible. In evolvement of his idea, he thinks they could really work one day and live even longer. He could put a herd on the beach and they could develop their walking better by sort of passing genetic information from one animal to the other.
Leg system: Based on his information, in comparison to the wheel, leg is proven to be more efficient on sand.
Disadvantages of wheel-
Wheels have to work their way through the sand and shift relatively more of it as a result.
Advantages of wheel and leg of the strandbeest-
Both do not lurch. For the wheels, their axle is at a constant height , which saves energy. For the leg of the strandbeest, the upper and lower leg parts move relative to one another in such a way that the hip joint remains at a constant height.
Storing the wind:The stomach consists of recycled plastic bottles containing air that can be pumped up to a high pressure by the wind. This could be done using a variety of bicycle pump, needless to say of plastic tubing. Several of these little pumps are driven by wings up at the front of the animal that flap in the breeze. It takes a few hours, but then the bottles are full. They contain a supply of potential wind. Take off the cap and the wind will emerge from the bottle at high speed.
The trick is to get that untamed wind under control and use it to move the animal. For this, muscles are required. Beach animals have pushing muscles which get longer when told to do so. These consist of a tube containing another that is able to move in and out. There is a rubber ring on the end of the inner tube so that this acts as a piston. When the air runs from the bottles through a small pipe in the tube it pushes the piston outwards and the muscle lengthens. The beach animal's muscle can best be likened to a bone that gets longer. Muscles can open taps to activate other muscles that open other taps, and so on. This creates control centres that can be compared to brains.
The materials used:The tubes are the tubes that are used to cover electric wiring here in Holland. They're yellow because by law they have to be like that. It's also very cheap, only about 10 cents a meter.
Incredible idea he has. We should take Theo Jansen's talent as an example to inspire us in designing and constructing in the future. =)
Labels: Veronica Tan
Baby,top. || 5:10 PM
Chinese New Year!!
Date : Saturday, February 27, 2010
Heyy!! Just wanna share part of my CNY celebration...
As usual, everyone will go back kampung and celebrate with their relatives..
I went back kampung during the CNY eve and it was real fun as I get to do the countdown with my cousins...
Then we get to play fire crackers...
I visited my relatives' place and get 'red packets' too..=).. too bad I forgot to take pictures there...
When I came back from kampung I conducted a small CNY open house which is also meant for old friends gathering too... It was really merry and jolly that time as my brothers also called upon their friends...
And the house ended up to be very packed and spaceless which almost turn upside down haha.. Imagine around 50 plus people in a small apartment lol...
The picture at the right side is the situation when they were busy gambling haha..
Not to forget, there is a guy who won around RM 100++ ... Honestly, I have never win that much in my life before..
Basically, I had spent the whole week of CNY holiday in attending friends' open house continuosly everyday and also visited my teacher. Oh the gatherings reminded me of my sweet old times in high school...
Nevertheless, I fancy life in college too... Meeting different people and characters are interesting... People here are good..=).. The classes are fun and I am learning a lot of new things.. So,
I'll blog some other interesting article next time..
Cya!
Labels: Veronica Tan
Baby,top. || 2:30 PM
First Few Classes =)
Date : Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Hi Guys!! Good day!
This is my very first post.. =)
Well.. I would like to share my experiences so far in Creative Thinking Skills class ...
1st Class (15.1.10)
We are given introduction on Creative Thinking
Took attendance early..
Mr. charles told us to ask questions and participate more on the activities..
Ms. Chee couldnt make it..
The course outline was briefed to us..
I got stunned when I saw Project 1,2,3 >60%
AAhhhh project work??!!!! (that was what i felt that moment)
Anyways my interest on this subject grew larger and larger... so im looking foward on the projects now..=)
2nd Class(22.1.10)
Mr. Charles introduced Ms. Chee... She introduced herself too.. :)
Lecture 1 is carried on...
about creative thinking revolution etc etc...
And some tips and steps to become a creative person..
The classroom started to be super cold...
Most of us cant stand it.... really cold although we had our jackets on...
We formed groups and are told to present something about the use of chocolate to save the environment, to make money, or to handle social issues on the next class...
( The suffering begin) *wicked laugh*
lol... not exactly..it is actually quite fun.. we get to thinnk of funny funny ideas, illogical...etc
That is what we have to do... we have to think of as many ideas as we can (Fluency)
3rd Class(29.1.10)
Attendance is taken while we were all preparing to transfer our slides to lecturer's com
We presented with little short movie at the beginning... creative leh.. =)
Thank you everyone in the group who had pitched in and made the presentation great..
Ms. Chee said we did more than she had expected and some even reached the flexibility level..
Then at the end of the class we are asked to create a blog...
4th class (5.2.10)
Very historical day of mine... I got late to class... It was like supersuper late...
I reached class an hour plus late.. Luckily Mr. Charles was nice and told me it's ok..
But of course I wont take it for granted and be late for next classes..
haha..
Well i missed lecture 2...
We were shown a few funny video clips
And a few other clips for our forum
The topics were too hard and Ms. Chee decided to give us a few simple and general topics for our small debate..
as i recall..Among topics are
1) Is it alright to lie to your girlfriend/boyfriend?
2) Will you sacrifice your dream for a higher salary?
3) (about clothing in college)<
...well, majority chose topic 2...
the debate was good... so far okok... went out of topic a few times..but still good
admire those who voiced out their opinion that time...=)
attendance took quite in a rush at the end of the class..
5th Class(12.2.10)
I arrived college early =)... Traffic was ok..probably due to cny(balik kampung)..
Very few people in class..
Lecture 3 was conducted..about opinion and facts...myths...etc
Then we were shown 2 interesting video clips..
Morpho Towers and BMW(South Africa)- Defining Innovation..
Well we gotta do research about one of them during the sem break...
holiday assignment..
Well the reason I post about my experiences for the first few classes is that I would like to remember and mark them in my life.... I hope you would not fall asleep while reading this..haha
Labels: Veronica Tan
Baby,top. || 11:56 PM
