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Hi Evelyn and friends,

The below article looked pretty interesting to me. Looks like the real cause in the Titanic disaster was a full moon plus the fact that the moon was lined up with the sun, thus exerting an uncommon gravitational pull on the Earth. Pretty similar to what we have these days, right?

Hugs,

Miguel

What sank the Titanic? Scientists point to the moon

By Jim Forsyth | Reuters – Tue, Mar 6, 2012

Surprising new theory on Titanic's sinking Scientists think an odd combination of astronomical events may have doomed the ocean liner. Unexpected culprit

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - A century after the Titanic disaster, scientists have found an unexpected culprit of the crash: the moon.

Anyone who knows history or blockbuster movies knows that the cause of the ocean liner's accident 100 years ago next month was that it hit an iceberg.

"But the lunar connection may explain how an unusually large number of icebergs got into the path of the Titanic," said Donald Olson, a Texas State University physicist whose team of forensic astronomers examined the moon's role.

Ever since the Titanic sank in the early morning of April 15, 1912, killing 1,517 people, researchers have puzzled over Captain Edward Smith's seeming disregard of warnings that icebergs were in the area where the ship was sailing.

Smith was the most experienced captain in the White Star Line and had sailed the North Atlantic sea lanes on numerous occasions. He had been assigned to the maiden voyage of the Titanic because he was a knowledgeable and careful seaman.

Greenland icebergs of the type that the Titanic struck generally become stuck in the shallow waters off Labrador and Newfoundland, and cannot resume moving southward until they have melted enough to re-float or a high tide frees them, Olson said.

So how was it that such a large number of icebergs had floated so far south that they were in theshipping lanes well south of Newfoundland that night?

The team investigated speculation by the late oceanographer Fergus Wood that an unusually close approach by the moon in January 1912 may have produced such high tides that far more icebergs than usual managed to separate from Greenland, and floated, still fully grown, into shipping lanes that had been moved south that spring because of reports of icebergs.

Olson said a "once-in-many-lifetimes" event occurred on January 4, 1912, when the moon and sun lined up in such a way that their gravitational pulls enhanced each other. At the same time, the moon's closest approach to earth that January was the closest in 1,400 years, and the point of closest approach occurred within six minutes of the full moon. On top of that, the Earth's closest approach to the sun in a year had happened just the previous day.

"This configuration maximized the moon's tide-raising forces on the Earth's oceans," Olson said. "That's remarkable."

His research determined that to reach the shipping lanes by mid-April, the iceberg that the Titanic struck must have broken off from Greenland in January 1912. The high tide caused by the bizarre combination of astronomical events would have been enough to dislodge icebergs and give them enough buoyancy to reach the shipping lanes by April, he said.

Olson's team has sought to use tide patterns to determine exactly when Julius Caesar invaded Britain and prove the legend that Mary Shelley was inspired by a bright full moon shining through her window to write the gothic classic "Frankenstein."

The team's Titanic research may have vindicated Captain Smith - albeit a century too late - by showing that he had a good excuse to react so casually to a report of ice in the ship's path. He had no reason at the time to believe that the bergs he was facing were as numerous or as large as they turned out to be, Olson said.

"In astronomical terms, the odds of all these variables lining up in just the way they did was, well, astronomical," he said.

The research will appear in the April issue of "Sky & Telescope" magazine.

(Reporting By Jim Forsyth; Editing by Corrie MacLaggan and Paul Thomasch)

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Hello Mark

I play the guitar, too, and I am not that good at it. I am not a great singer either. I do it just for relaxing and such. Some people actually liked my singing like at parties. I wouldn't record it except for posterity, perhaps, so they had something to remember me by :))

But I do have a question. Is my guitar worth a lot of money? I bought it in 1964 or 1965. It's a Yamaha. Inside the guitar is the number 20 which I presume it was the 20th guitar that Yamaha made. It has a wonderful tone almost as good as a Gibson.

The bridge that was glued on is now loosened. I will have find a good guitar repair guy and get that fixed before I can play it again.

Speaking of writing songs, I wrote a few spoofs on people but nothing serious.

I used to go to a coffee shop where an obnoxious man also came. One day he sat there grumbling about the new girl working in the office where he worked. Apparently she was obese and I guess he wanted someone slimmer so he could come on to her. The company probably hired her knowing it would be a turnoff for him because he was a constant woman chaser. :)) One day he referred to her as a whale. I said, "Look who's talking! You aren't exactly slim yourself!" He was obese, too.

He sat there rather proudly and said, "I'm built for comfort." His name is Donnie and this is the song I wrote about him and sang it to a tune similar to "I'm an Okie from McSkogie (?).....

Donnie tells me he's built for comfort
I am trying to figure out just what that means
So I looked it up in Webster's great big book
And nowhere did it say that comfort means obesity.

I wrote another verse but have forgotten it now.

Below is a great video about an incident involving guitars. Maybe some of you have heard it before. It had 11 million hits. No wonder! I listened to it over and over again ...about a dozen times. The lead singer is not hard to look at either.

Helen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

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Amanda,

I almost missed this but I did not know you played the Guitar.

I started when I was ten years old. I learned and played

for years than the drinking and addictions took over

my life for many years and my interest and what was important

seemed to have been drowned out.

That is over and my new life is here. I play and proactive everyday

and for some reason I cannot stop writing new songs.

Just yesterday I pick it up and started another new one.

I love it. Do you have any recording up?

I use to play piano the way I was taught, so I played the way the music was written and kind of wooden and I heard other people play they brought in a rhythm of their own which I liked.

I had a friend whom was teaching piano and guitar as well as theory which was her strongest. I went along to learn to play guitar and borrowed a spare of hers for a few weeks and decided I liked playing so bought my own. During the course of learning it opened a whole new window because I learned to transpose music as well as using a kapo (bar that you place over the fret so you can keep playing the chords that are easiest and you don't have to learn the difficult chords)

I had to sing while playing so my confidence grew and different temposdeveloped in the 6 weeks I took the lessons, I did not have to learn music as I already knew how to read.

I was able to change my whole outlook playing piano, keyboard or organ and bring in that natural rhythm I had desired.

My first few poems was set to music. I started when one of my girlfriends back in NZ showed me her book of poems and I really like a couple of them and sat down and wrote music to them.

Then I wrote a couple of my own lyrics and setting them to music.

I have a love for music and mostly the guitar and working with soundtrack recordings.

I have studied Jazz, but would not call myself a jazz guitarist. I also work with Spanish,

Flamingo, Classical, and Mexican styles.

There is a Blues and Rock sounds that may at time, seep into some of my playing.

The type of music I play comes a lot from the mood I am in, or inspired by something,

someone, what I heard, or what I have seen. For many years

I listened to fusion jazz from people like Jean Luc-Ponty, Al Di Meola,

Stanley Clark, just to name a few. I did not want to be just another one playing

someone else's music so I started writing my own and working on my own style

of playing. I play hard, I play fast, I play soft, and I play with feeling.

Project: "Mark's Guitar Works"

Hi Mike, yes how true, that our world revolves around computers and computer chips. I don't know about you, but yesterday when this great community was off line for several hours, I realized just how much it has become a part of my life and what a tragedy it would be if it is ever lost forever. As I told one of my friends I felt as though I was having withdrawals. :)

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Hi everyone,
In today's society we all rely heavily on computers and computer chips. Computers allow us to communicate with people instantly all over the globe. Computer chips provide communication satelites to operate, cell phone towers and even the newer model automobiles are computerized. A lot of factories rely on computers and automobile manufacturers have computerized robots that do most of the work. In short, without computers and computer chips, we will all be lost. Even water purification plants are computerized. The reason that I'm bringing all this up is because we are seeing much more activity occuring on the Sun's surface than during any time in history. When a Solar Flare occurs, particles from the eruption bombard Earth. The radiation and other elements from these particles are capable of knocking out anything that is computerized. My question is, with this increased activity that is occuring, just how soon will one of these eruptions be big enough to send us back into the dark ages?

I am hoping that it will not be too soon, because I have met a lot of wonderful people in this community and I would definetely miss listening to the Peruvian Casanova singing. I cannot imagine a world without such wonderful friends, although with the increased activity I do not believe it will be that far in the future.
GOD BLESS YOU
~Mike~
http://www.countryvalues65.com
(P.S. The latest Solar Flare was March 6th, and today our Earth has been bombarded, and will be for 24 hours. We dodged the bullet this time, but there is always a next time.)

It very well could have Helen and as I keep telling myself as I see all that is happening today is that God is still in control whether anyone wants to admit it or not and good will eventually win out over evil.

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Hi there!

Just a point of interest ...After the Titanic was built but before it left port, one of the officials was speaking and he said that the Titanic was so stable even God couldn't sink it. Do you think that that had something to do with all variables lining up the way they did?

Helen