The Titanic has long been the subject of controversy. From the myriad of mistakes and circumstances that tragically came together April 14, 1912 to the inadequate loading of lifeboats in the very early morning hours of April 15, 1912. From the different hearings and results into the disaster to speculation as to how and why the ‘unsinkable’ ship sank. And there has been more since the wreck was found in 1985 by Robert Ballard and his team.

The debate as to whether or not Titanic should have remained at peace undisturbed as a graveyard for more than 1,500 people or explored and investigated like tombs from ancient Egypt. It’s a curious and complicated question as to when it’s OK to disturb a resting place, just how much time must pass. But it seems since no bodies have ever been found and all back to dust I imagine by now, the controversy has been focused more on disturbing the ship itself. The retrieval of items has perhaps sped up the natural decay of Titanic. Multiple dives have sure brought back some incredible footage. Speaking selfishly I thank Robert Ballard and James Cameron and all who respectively have visited the ship and allowed the rest of us to see it.

What spurred this post is the apparent end to one controversy, or at least a time out. For the first time, both scientific and salvage approaches are coming together. It has long been known that the ship is disappearing. Just how fast and when it will be gone have also been up for debate.

Research specialist Bill Lange of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts has said, “Everyone has their own opinion” as to how long Titanic will remain more or less intact. “Some people think the bow will collapse in a year or two,” Lange said. “But others say it’s going to be there for hundreds of years.”

The National Geographic reports that, “The 20-day Expedition Titanic will use remotely operated submersibles to complete an unprecedented archaeological analysis of the two-by three-mile (three- by five-kilometer) debris field, including Titanic’s two halves…Thousands of high-resolution photos and video will be combined with acoustic and sonar mapping data to form a 3-D replica of the site, allowing scientists and armchair explorers to probe it in detail. Some photos will reveal never before seen parts of Titanic…Other images, when compared to evidence from earlier years, will help experts gauge the rate of the wreck’s deterioration.”

As an example of the deterioration, they also report that, “Between 1987 and 1993, Nargeolet observed the gymnasium roof corroding and collapsing as well as the upper promenade deck deteriorating. On an early ’90s dive he saw that the crow’s nest—previously seen still attached to the forward mast—had disappeared altogether, apparently damaged to the point where it snapped off and fell to an as yet unidentified location.”

“In addition to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, several other top scientific organizations are managing the data collection. But RMS Titanic, Inc.—which holds exclusive salvage rights to the wreck—is funding the endeavor.”

This time around, project co-leader and director of special projects at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution David Gallo has said, “We’re going to be very careful not to touch the ship…It’s like any operation or exploratory surgery: There is always some risk, but we’ve done everything we can to ensure that we won’t in any way alter the site itself…The only treasures we’re going to be looking for are treasures of the mind…And we’re not picking anything up but data.”

May the controversy be laid to rest alongside Titanic. But there still remains the possibility that what they find this time could lead to renewed controversy Gallo concedes. “If we find out that the hull is going to collapse completely in the near term, what do we then think about the artifacts that are in that hull? Do we let it crumble naturally? Or do we try to somehow preserve the legacy by taking some of those pieces from the seafloor?” Some issues seem practically unsinkable it appears.

Read previous posts relating to Titanic

Remember when a giant cardboard box was a magical playhouse? When folding box tops became windows or doors, and sheets over furniture extended your own little cardboard domain? In this electronic gadget and computer world, one may wonder how much this manual form of play and imagination still goes on.

Hopefully parents everywhere are still saving those wonderful refrigerator boxes. And at least one designer is doing what she can to encourage cardboard fun. “Designer Liya Mairson has solved the issue of not having enough room to build a playhouse, or dedicate a full-time play area in your home to your kids, with her pop-up and collapsible cardboard play abode, ‘My Space.’ Children may easily construct and then tuck away this 100% recyclable nifty niche on a whim! When expanded, accordion-like, the multi-panel setup becomes a world unto itself, complete with cutout windows, working door flaps, and pop-out shelves…The user-friendly, durable nook is designed to be a blank and versatile backdrop for children to use their toys and belongings to create different worlds derived from their imagination…Imagine living in a giant pop-up book and you’ll get the basic drift of ‘My Space.’”

It’s kind of an ironic name isn’t it? This cardboard ‘My Space’ seems about as far away from computers and the internet as you can get. And while there have been other commercial cardboard playhouse designs over the years, this one has so many more possibilities and variations. The photos only show a few of them. The video below, despite a rather frenetic musical accompaniment, shows a bunch of wonderful permutations of this imaginative folding cardboard contraption. Apparently it’s not available commercially, at least not at this time, but it could serve as further inspiration for home done versions.

As much as we may try to live the adage of being childlike just not childish, there are some things that seem to rest in childhood alone. Cardboard forts may be one such thing. But then again, maybe we instead just move on to a more grown up version. After all, there sure are a lot of home renovation and improvement stores and shows these days. Maybe some of what they do is address our leftover yearnings from those days when magic and imagination could turn a cardboard box into anything we could dream up.

It sounds like it could almost be a plot for a movie à la James Cameron and his dives to Titanic. A team sets out to unlock the mysteries of the Great Pyramid at Giza by sending a mini robot deeper inside than anyone has ever ventured before. The Pyramid of Khufu is the only wonder of the ancient world that is still standing, and for 4,500 years it has amazed, mystified, and frustrated those who have tried to figure out its secrets. While some exploration has been partially successful, apparently no one has yet been able to access what lies behind two (that have been discovered so far) stone doors at the heart of the pyramid.

Andrew Johnson of The Independent writes, “Now technicians at Leeds University are putting the finishing touches to a robot which, they hope, will follow the shaft to its end. Known as the Djedi project, after the magician whom Khufu consulted when planning the pyramid, the robot will be able to drill through the second set of doors to see what lies beyond.”

He explains that, “At [the pyramid’s] heart are two rooms known as the King’s Chamber and the Queen’s Chamber. Two shafts rise from the King’s Chamber at 45-degree angles and lead to the exterior of the monument. They are believed to be a passageway designed to fire the king’s spirit into the firmament so that he can take his place among the stars. In the Queen’s Chamber, there are two further shafts, discovered in 1872. Unlike those in the King’s Chamber, these do not lead to the outer face of the pyramid.”

“No one knows what the shafts are for. In 1992, a camera sent up the shaft leading from the south wall of the Queen’s Chamber discovered it was blocked after 60 metres by a limestone door with two copper handles. In 2002, a further expedition drilled through this door and revealed, 20 centimetres behind it, a second door.”

It keeps sounding more and more like some movie or kitschy TV plot where attempts to explore ancient ruins or monuments are made, but keep coming up against new obstacles, as if somehow the structures are protected from outsiders with trap doors, sliding panels, or worse.

Stuart Fox of TechNewsDaily writes that, “The robot explorer, built by researchers at the Leeds University, England, in collaboration with French aviation company Dessault and British robotics company Scoutek, will incorporate a small fiber optic camera for looking around corners, an ultrasonic probe for testing the quality of the rock and a releasable mini-robot that can fit through spaces as small as 0.7 inches in diameter. Additionally, the robot uses special nylon and carbon fiber wheels that won’t deface the pyramid’s sensitive rock.”

Shaun Whitehead, Systems engineer and mission manager told TechNewsDaily that, “All the robots were designed from scratch to do as little damage to the shafts as possible…The previous robots both used tracks that scrubbed away at the floor and ceiling as they moved. We use soft brace pads to grip the walls, like an inchworm or the technique that rock climbers use for ascending ‘chimneys.’ The wheels don’t need to grip, they need to slip as much as possible.’”

Recognizing the challenges they face, the team plans to continue their expedition until they succeed in reaching the end of the shafts. Just like so many great mysteries, you get to one door, figurative or literal, and find yet another door just beyond. “We have been working on the project for five years,” Dr. Robert Richardson of the Leeds University School of Mechanical Engineering has said. “We have no preconceptions. We are trying to gain evidence for other people to draw conclusions. There are two shafts. The north shaft is blocked by a limestone door and nothing has penetrated that door. With the south shaft a previous team has measured the thickness of the stone, drilled through it and put a camera through it and found there was another surface. We are going to determine how thick that is and we could drill through it. We are preparing the robot now and expect to send it up before the end of the year. It’s a big question, and it’s very important not to cause unnecessary damage. We will carry on until we find the answer. We hope to get all the data possible which will be sufficient to answer the questions.”

This monumental structure (monumental in so many ways) has survived for so long, thank goodness it seems they’re taking a gentle approach to their exploration. While I’m still not entirely comfortable with the idea of drilling even tiny holes in the Great Pyramid, this expedition certainly has piqued my curiosity for what may soon be revealed to be behind these very closed doors.

I don’t watch the plethora of TV talent shows that seem to pop up more and more every television season. But I’m very glad someone sent me this clip from one. Jackie Evancho sang Puccini’s “O Mio Babbino Caro” (“Oh My Dear Papa”) on Tuesday’s episode of American’s Got Talent and blew everyone away.

I can sure see, or should I say hear, why. She’s a ten year-old girl from Pittsburgh who just happens to also be an incredible opera singer. She saw the Phantom of the Opera when she was eight and started singing its songs around the house, and one thing led to another.

Never before have I heard such a voice come out of someone who’s only been breathing air for ten years. The America’s Got Talent competition is not over, but I honestly can’t see how anyone could be more impressive. But then again, how would I know since I haven’t watched the show, right? But some things are just so amazing you don’t need comparisons or competitions to know what you’ve got. It’s that special and unusual.

I do hope she has a very strong support system and family that can help make sure this doesn’t totally overwhelm her young life, and that she doesn’t get packaged like some manipulated commodity. I hope she still gets to be a kid. All the internet and television frenzy must be pretty overwhelming no matter how you cut it.

And I don’t want to be a voice of concern, but I’ve heard of young, still growing and developing voices being pushed and stretched beyond their limits, to the point of damaging their voice later on in adulthood. But the purity and apparent ease with which she sings gives me hope that we will be listening to her for many decades to come. I sure hope so. I find myself looking forward to hearing her youthful interpretation of many more of my favourite opera arias.

One of the great things about kids and animals are there automatic and uninhibited reactions to things. I think that’s one of the reasons we love watching animals and little kids enjoy the world. And hopefully it’s not just vicariously enjoying their silly fun, but making it our own as well, remembering how fun it can be to have simple fun. Living it, always.

Imagine too the potential stress relief of the daily office grind if you could experience paper coming out of a printer the way Marcus the cat does. Not important papers perhaps, and not all the time, but some of it. If we could take time marveling at the convenience, efficiency, and affordability of printers nowadays.

And be delighted by the mechanics of them – the whirr of the printer’s inner workings, the popping out of a piece of paper nearly instantly transformed from blank sheet to printed document. Little things that are taken for granted now that were once unheard of. Talk about being far removed from centuries long past and monks copying out books by hand.

So as I watch this YouTube video of Marcus helping his person with his printing – with used paper that was later recycled – I take delight in watching his zeal. But I also know I won’t be looking at simple ejected printer paper in quite the same, simple way. It’s a lot more fun Marcus’ way.

There was a very interesting program on CNN the other night that I found very refreshing. Their coverage of ‘Toxic America’ as they called it, was very extensive and offered hopeful alternatives as well as the scary chemical facts. It’s not often that I agree with so much of mainstream health and chemical press. So many concerns were dealt with so well.

One post couldn’t begin to do justice to all the subjects they covered. The wealth of information, and links for still more, are really worth checking out I think. http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2010/toxic.america/

Their topics include:

• Meet a grandma who fights toxic toys
• Comparing U.S., EU regulations
• How toxic chemicals enter the womb
• Everyday plastic, toxic fears
• Study: ADHD linked to pesticide exposure
• Taking in more chemicals than you know
• Fragrance companies withholding chemical info
• Chemicals: Innocent or guilty?
• FDA: Limit use of BPA products
• It’s becoming a plastic world
• Presidential panel: Cancer risks underestimated

It’s heartening to see mainstream news stories like these. There aren’t always quick and easy answers, especially in our chemical dominated culture, and the CNN reports acknowledge that. But one of their themes seems to be just because we have created all these toxic chemicals doesn’t mean we have to keep using them now that we know what their unintended effects can be. In this case, increasing regulation, as is happening in Europe so far, seems to be the best chance at finally curbing companies’ overuse of toxins. Put the onus on them to prove what they’re doing is safe, and not the other way around, making others prove they’re harmful. After all, we can see how successful that approach has been…

I just saw a clip of the 2003 BBC “Wildlife on One” episode Dolphins: Deep Thinkers, narrated by David Attenborough. It’s a video of dolphins living where they should be. Swimming and surfing freely in the wide open oceans. Whenever we have the privilege of seeing wild animals in their natural habitat, it just drives home the point of how unnatural aquarium life really is. What better way to learn about an animal than to see real life, not captive life.

But this particular video showed something else as well. It focused on the play aspect of dolphin life, and how continuing to play in adulthood is something we humans share with them. Just doing something because it’s fun goes beyond the playful acts themselves I think. It improves the overall quality of our lives, helps bring about balance with the things we have to do.

Obviously the practicalities and necessities of life have to be dealt with. But without a sense of fun and play, life can become more about existing than living. Doesn’t that sort of defeat the purpose of doing all the survival stuff in the first place?

In addition to the glorious ocean flops and dives of these dolphins, there are some great moments when dolphin and human surf side by side. Both are just enjoying playing around in the ocean.

You know how sometimes you hear about dogs being able to smell cancer on the breath of their people? Well, here’s a dog who appears to have used his impressive sniffer to detect the infected toe of one of his human family members, Michigan man Jerry Douthett. But instead of just sniffing it, Kiko, the little white terrier with brown ears, decided to take matters into his own hands err…teeth. He actually chewed off the infected toe while Jerry “lay in a drunken stupor.”

“It wasn’t an aggressive attack. He pretty much just ate the infection, so he saved my life,” Jerry said. CBS reports that “For months, Jerry Douthett had refused to see a doctor for the festering digit, in spite of his wife’s pleas and her suspicion that he had out of control diabetes. [Then] about two weeks ago the couple went to a bar, where Douthett told the Grand Rapids Press that he drank four or five beers.”

His wife Rosie, a registered nurse (guess medical skills run in the family…) told the paper that “Jerry had had all these Margaritas, so I just let him sleep…But then I heard these screams coming from the bedroom, and he was yelling, ‘My toe’s gone, my toe’s gone!’”

Rosie has also said that “Maybe he thought it was not part of Jerry’s body…that it was a dead animal laying on the bed. But he chewed off the infected part so he knew when to stop, which was great.”

After the impromptu amputation, Jerry “was treated at Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids where physicians said he had type 2 diabetes and was suffering from a dangerous toe infection. Surgeons amputated what was left of the digit.”

Looks like ‘man’s best friend’ had the right idea. Knowing for sure now that he’s diabetic, and considering all the circumstances, perhaps not surprisingly, Jerry has given up drinking.

Ready for another animal friends video? This one features another unexpected pairing – a cat and a rat. There’s a couple of rats actually, but one seems particularly affectionate and intrigued by this feline. In all fairness, Ranj the rat seems to be rather more interested in Peanut the cat, than the other way around at first. Peanut is initially just more patient and tolerant of his tiny cohort.

But as the interaction continues it seems the cat comes around, going so far as to even give the rat a kitty kiss, and hugs later on. I guess the ‘if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em’ thing holds true for all of us in the kingdom of animals sometimes. Or maybe it just took the cat a little longer to feel the love here.

No offense intended to those who enjoy having songs placed over little videos, but as much as I love music, I could do without having any added musical background here. I guess I’m just funny that way. I prefer hearing the actual scene, even if it’s largely silent. It feels more like you’re actually there, watching the action as it happened.

But sound or no sound, tolerance or love, one thing is mighty obvious. This rat is no one’s dinner.

Well, it’s official in every way now. Law & Order, the original and best in my opinion, is gone. No chance apparently for even coming back on another network or cable provider, not as a TV-movie, and not as an NBC final episode or two to wrap up the characters. On July 30^th 2010 at the Television Critics Association press tour, Dick Wolf said, “I will confirm that it has moved to the history books…We were extremely disappointed that Law & Order is not coming back for a record 21st season. But that’s life. All series start with a death sentence, they just don’t give you the date of execution.” Talk about an appropriate description given the heavy nature of the show’s material.

But it would have been nice if that execution date hadn’t been sprung on everybody at the last minute – news the show was cancelled came about a week and a half before the final episode aired. Maybe advance notice and prep time would have resulted in a more final feeling finale.

While there was a special last scene in the last episode “The Rubber Room” which had all the characters together and gave a happy resolution for one, there was no similar resolution for other hinted at relationships or long running plotlines. Some have said it was fitting that’s how the show should have ended. I can see their point since Law & Order was always more about the cases, and generally all wrapped up into one hour little bundles. It was the antithesis of a serialized show. But, there were character relationships subtly woven in over the years that deserved attention.

Cast of Law & Order - Season 20 - The Last One