Archive for November, 2009
Nazi U-boat off Sea Point
Nov 24th
A few weeks ago I was running on the promenade when I was absolutely stunned to see a U-boat (German submarine from WW2) just off shore.
Since then I’ve seen the U-boat regularly. It’s often surrounded by life rafts and often has stacks of people standing on the deck.
That was all too much for my notorious curiosity.
Short Answer
A two-part BBC drama called “The Sinking of the Laconia” is being shot in Cape Town at the moment. The ‘submarine’ I have been seeing is a prop constructed for the filming (see photo below).
Long Answer
The movie is about the Laconia Incident which is a fascinating story from World War 2.
On 12 September 1942 the armed troopship RMS Laconia was off the coast of West Africa. There were well over 2,000 people on board – mostly Italian prisoners of war.
At about 10PM the Laconia was spotted and torpedoed by the German submarine U-156 under the command of Werner Hartenstein.
The German crew surfaced and were amazed to find so many people in the water. Remarkably Hartenstein ordered a rescue operation and sent out the following message:
If any ship will assist the ship-wrecked ‘Laconia’-crew, I will not attack providing I am not being attacked by ship or air forces. I picked up 193 men. 4, 53 South, 11, 26 West. – German submarine.
Before long U-156 had rescued 400 survivors with 200 crammed onto the deck (see picture) and 200 being towed in life boats. Two other U-boats also turned up to help in the rescue operations.
Soon all of the submarines were displaying red cross colors and transporting hundreds of survivors to safety.
In a remarkable twist an American B-24 bomber spotted U-156. Seeing the red cross flags and life boats the pilot radioed his base – a secret airfield on an island.
Fearing that the vital secret base would be discovered and attacked the base commander ordered the pilot to “sink submarine”!
In panic U-156 cut the life boats loose and dived leaving the survivors to fend for themselves. Fortunately due to earlier radio messages other rescue ships soon arrived and many were rescued.
As a result of this incident Dönitz, the chief of the German navy, understandably ordered that U-boats should no longer rescue survivors of attacks.
After the war Dönitz was convicted of war crimes for this order even though the American navy made the same rule in the Pacific ocean!
Hartenstein (pictured alongside) and the rest of the U-156 crew were killed the next year when they were sunk by another American warplane (this time a Catalina).
Trapped in a coma for 23 years
Nov 23rd
EDIT: The authenticity of the article described below has been called into serious doubt. At this stage I’m not sure how true it is.
This article describes a very unlucky man who was trapped in a paralyzed body for 23 years!
Summary of the story:
- He suffered head injuries in a car accident
- Doctors thought that he was in persistent vegetative state
- In fact he was conscious but unable to move – locked in
- He was trapped in this state for 23 years!
- Recently a doctor used a new scanning technique and discovered that he was conscious
- After therapy he has learned to communicate using a computer and is able to tell his story
Can you imagine that?
Just lying there with nothing to do, no way of moving, no way of communicating. For 23 years! I can hardly imagine doing it for 23 days.
How terrible.
Several other notable examples of locked in syndrome exist. You can read more about this fascinating and horrible condition on Wikipedia.
Guido Fawkes – A Summary
Nov 10th
When I was a kid Guy Fawkes day was very exciting. Fireworks, party, bonfire. What’s not to like?
This year I noticed Guy Fawkes referred to as Guido Fawkes. Jules calls me Quizzy Pott because it is very, very easy to get me curious about things.
So here is a brief summary of Guido Fawkes.
Guy Fawkes (1570 to 1606)
Guy Fawkes was a Catholic who plotted to assassinate the King and Parliament of England in order to overthrow Protestant rule.
At the time the Catholics were being persecuted (sometimes brutally) by the Protestants in England.
Guy Fawkes fought for Catholic armies in Europe and during this time became known as Guido Fawkes.
The Gunpowder Plot was an attempt to kill King James I, his family and the aristocracy by blowing up the House of Lords during the opening of parliament
The plot was discovered and Guy Fawkes was arrested in a cellar with 36 barrels of gunpowder.
He was tortured for information but over 3-4 days gave almost no useful information. Here is his signature on the confession.
Fawkes was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. In a last act of defiance he jumped off the ladder to the gallows breaking his neck before he could be executed.
A tradition celebrating the November 5th breakup of the plot began and persists into modern times.
The modern English word ‘guy’ comes from Guy Fawkes.
Copenhagen climate change summit – quick explanation
Nov 6th
New Scientist has this excellent page with a high level explanation of what the upcoming Copenhagen climate change summit is about and why it is so important to all of us.
Goal
The Kyoto Protocol was the previous agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Kyoto now needs to be replaced and that is why the world is meeting in Copenhagen.
The world’s nations must agree on how they are going to massively reduce carbon emissions. This is required in order to avoid a dangerous increase in global temperatures.
It is already too late to avoid damage – the goal in Copenhagen is to agree on how to limit the damage we do to ourselves.
Rich vs poor
The rich world has already emitted way more than its share. If we are going to avoid dangerous global warming then the rich world is going to have to foot more of the bill.
Not only does the rich world have to reduce emissions by more, but it should also be offsetting past emissions.
Deal breakers
Reducing climate change is going to be difficult and very expensive. It requires global cooperation, so plenty could go wrong in Copenhagen.
- The US must agree on serious cuts (they were the only ones to ignore Kyoto). Getting the US Congress to agree to anything tough is very tricky. If the US is not serious then China and India will start to pull out too. Then the whole deal is pointless.
- Developing or recently developed nations feel that they shouldn’t be penalized for the past excesses of rich nations. This is reasonable but could be a big sticking point.
- Oil rich nations may try to ‘torpedo’ the deal to protect their own interests and because they emit huge amounts of carbon.
Why red wine doesn’t go with seafood
Nov 6th
One of the first things that I learned when I was a waiter in a seafood restaurant is that red wine doesn’t go with fish.
Why that was, I had no idea. It turns out that nobody else did either.
The Economist has this article detailing how some researchers were able to find the answer.
In an experiment the researchers analyzed wines tasted with seafood and found that wines with high iron content left an unpleasant taste. Generally red wines have a higher iron content and therefore don’t taste good with seafood.
In order to test the hypothesis the researchers changed the iron content in various wines and repeated the test. Sure enough iron content was strongly correlated with a foul taste.
Science is awesome. I must be honest though – I don’t mind red wine with seafood. Apparently the combination tastes very fishy and I like that taste.
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