text:
The Search for the Giant Squid
By RICHARD ELLIS
The Lyons Press
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Is the Sea
Monster a
Giant Squid?
Below the thunders of the upper deep,
Far, far beneath the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth; faintest sunlights flee
Above his shadowy sides: above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
And far away into the sickly light,
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumber'd and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages and will lie
Battening upon huge seaworms in his sleep,
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
Then once by man and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.
--Alfred, Lord Tennyson
"The Kraken"
Poems, Chiefly Lyrical, 1830
Architeuthis, the giant squid, is probably responsible for more myths, fables, fantasies, and fictions than all other marine monsters combined. In the Odyssey we read of Scylla, a horrible monster:Her legs--and there are twelve--
are like great tentacles,
unjointed, and upon her serpent necks
are borne six heads like nightmares of ferocity
and triple serried rows of fangs and deep
gullets of black death. Half her length she sways
her heads in the air, outside her horrid cleft,
hunting the sea around that promontory
for dolphins, dogfish, or what bigger game
thundering Amphitrite feeds in thousands.
And no ship's company can claim
to have passed her without loss and grief; she takes
from every ship, one man for every gullet.
Also known as the kraken, the polyp (poulpe in the French of Vingt mille lieues sous les mers), and the sea serpent, the giant squid is, next to the shark, perhaps the most infamous animal in the sea. Aristotle introduced us to the teuthos, the giant squid, as differentiated from teuthis, the smaller variety. Somewhat later, in his Naturalis historia, Pliny discussed a "polyp" that plucked salted fish from the fish ponds of Carteia (on the Atlantic coast of Spain), and "brought on itself the wrath of the keepers, which owing to the persistence of the theft was beyond all bounds." The guards that surrounded the polyp wereastounded by its strangeness: in the first place its size was unheard of and so was its color as well, and it was smeared with brine and had a terrible smell; who would have expected to find a polyp there, or who would recognize it in such circumstances? They felt they were pitted against something uncanny, for by its awful breath it also tormented the dogs, which it now scourged with the ends of its tentacles and now struck with its longer arms, which it used as clubs, and with difficulty they succeeded in dispatching it with a number of three-pronged harpoons.
The head was as big as a cask and held 90 gallons; its arms ("knotted like clubs") were 30 feet long with suckers like basins holding 3 gallons, and teeth corresponding to its size. Its remains weighed 700 pounds. The longer tentacles identify the polyp as a squid, rather than an octopus, but whatever it was, this would appear to be the only record of a cephalopod coming ashore for any reason except to die. (Pliny told us that it was "getting into the uncovered tanks from the open sea," so perhaps these were somehow accessible to a deep-water inhabitant. The fact that the tanks held "salted fish" indicates that they were not holding tanks at sea, however.) Pliny, of course, depended upon the reports of others for his Naturalis historia, but if we assume that something like this actually happened in antiquity (even allowing for exaggeration), it is the only such occurrence in all the literature.
The many-armed sea beast lay relatively dormant, however, until it was resurrected by Olaus Magnus (1490-1557), the Catholic archbishop of Sweden, a veritable fount of information on sea monsters. In his 1555 Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus (History of the People of the Northern Regions), he describes and illustrates several "monstrous fish," as follows:Their forms are horrible, their Heads square, all set with prickles, and they have long sharp horn round about like a Tree rooted up by the Roots: They are ten or twelve Cubits long, very black, with huge eyes ... the Apple of the Eye is of one Cubit, and is red and fiery coloured, which in the dark night appears to Fisher-men afar off under Waters, as a burning fire, having hairs like goose feathers, thick and long, like a beard hanging down; and the rest of the body, for the greatness of the head, which is square, is very small, not being above 14 or 15 Cubits long; one of these Sea-Monsters will drown easily many great ships provided with many strong Marriners.
Olaus Magnus's Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus appeared in English in 1658 as A Compendious History of the Goths, Swedes and Vandals, and Other Northern Nations. The descriptions and drawings that appeared on his maps firmly established the existence of many fabulous creatures, and were copied, reproduced, and modified for centuries, thus ensuring his place as one of the most important figures in the history of zoology. He described the Soe Orm as follows: "A very large Sea-Serpent of a length upwards of 200 feet and 20 feet in diameter which lives in rocks and in holes near the shore of Bergen."
One of the best-known drawings in Olaus Magnus's work is the one known as Les marins monstres & terrestres, lelquez on trouve en beaucoup de lieux es parties septentrionales (The Sea and Land Monsters That Are Found in Many Northern Places). This woodcut, supposedly the work of Hans Rudolph Manuel Deutsch (active in Switzerland around the middle of the sixteenth century), includes the Soe Orm. Les marins monstres then became the basis for Conrad Gesner's Historia animalium (1551-58), which is considered to be the basis of modern zoological classification. As Daniel Boorstin wrote in The Discoverers,His Historia animalium, following Aristotle's arrangement, supplied everything known, speculated, imagined, or reported about all known animals. Like Pliny, he provided an omnium-gatherum, but now added the miscellany that had accumulated in the intervening millennium and a half. A shade more critical than Pliny, he still did not deflate tall tales, as when he showed a sea serpent three hundred feet long.
One of Gesner's more interesting drawings shows a hydra: a creature with seven heads, a long scaly body, two clawed feet, and a curled-under tail. In the text, the hinder part of the head was said to resemble a Turk's cap, which is not shown in the drawing--unless the "crown" on each of the seven heads is a Turk's cap. It is difficult to equate this seven-headed image with any known animal, but if we assume that the artist was trying to portray something with which he was completely unfamiliar, perhaps from descriptions that changed over time, it is not impossible to see the "heads" as arms, and the body as that of a large cephalopod. The clawed feet look like an imaginary addition (they have six toes), and while we will never know what Gesner had in mind, his "monstrous serpent" could be one of the earliest depictions of a giant squid.
Of course Gesner included many of the creatures originally depicted by Olaus Magnus, which were then repeated, often without change, by the Renaissance encyclopedist Edward Topsell, whose Historie of Foure-Footed Beastes appeared in 1607. Although Topsell's marine "beastes" have no feet whatsoever, they are recognizably the drawings of Olaus Magnus. Ulysses Aldrovandi (Depiscibus, 1613) and John Jonstonus (Historia naturalis, 1649) followed with their encyclopedias, and they faithfully repeated Magnus's drawings and fanciful stories, including sea monsters with features of a giant squid.
Two centuries after Olaus Magnus, another ecclesiastic, the Danish missionary Hans Egede (who eventually became the bishop of Greenland), visited that icy island early in the eighteenth century, in hope of converting the natives to Christianity. Two settlements were established, the first in 1721 and the second in 1723. While the Greenland Eskimos proved to be unsusceptible to the faith that was being foisted on them, they were disastrously sensitive to the smallpox virus carried by one of the Danish missionaries, and most of them died. In Egede's story, Det gamle Gronlands nye perlustration (published in 1741), he recounts the following episode:As for other Sea Monsters...none of them have been seen by us, or any of our Time that ever I could hear, save that most dreadful Monster, that showed itself upon the Surface of the Water in the year 1734, off our colony in 64 degrees. The Monster was of so huge a Size, that coming out of the Water its Head reached as high as the Mast-Head; its Body was as bulky as the Ship, and three or four times as long. It had a long pointed Snout, and spouted like a Whale-Fish; great broad Paws, and the Body seemed covered with shell-work, its skin very rugged and uneven. The under Part of its Body was shaped like an enormous huge Serpent, and when it dived again under Water, it plunged backwards into the Sea and so raised its Tail aloft, which seemed a whole Ship's Length distant from the bulkiest part of its Body.
By this time the Dutch and the British were energetically slaughtering the bowheads of Greenland and Baffin Island for their baleen plates and oil, so Egede must have been familiar with whales. He had Pastor Bing draw a picture of the monster, which was reproduced in his Perlustration (published in English as A Description of Greenland in 1745), and since Egede was known to be a sober, reliable observer, the picture thus became of the earliest illustrations of a sea monster based on a reliable eyewitness account. Does Bing's drawing look like a giant squid? Not really, but if we factor in the modifications attributable to ignorance and exaggeration, we are left with no other choice.
Clergymen seemed to have a particular affinity for sea monsters (or perhaps it was vice versa), for the next to write about the monstrous creature is Bishop Erik Ludvigsen Pontoppidan of Bergen, author of The Natural History of Norway, published in 1755. The good bishop firmly believed in the kraken, and maintained that the fishermen he spoke to told him it was a mile and a half in circumference. Referring to this beast as "the largest and most surprising of all the animal creation" and "incontestibly the largest Sea-monster in the world," the bishop wrote:It is called Kraken or Kraxen, or, as some name it, Krabben ... He shows himself sufficiently, although his whole body does not appear, which in all likelihood no human eye ever beheld (excepting the young of this species) its back or upper part, which seems to be in appearance an English mile and a half in circumference, (some say more, but I chuse the least for greater certainty) looks at first like a number of small islands, surrounded with something that floats and fluctuates like sea weeds.... At last several bright points or horns appear, which grow thicker and thicker the higher they rise above the surface of the water, and sometimes they stand as high and large as the masts of middle-siz'd vessels.
By all accounts, what the bishop was describing was a giant squid. "The creature," he added, "does not, like the eel or the land-snake, taper gradually to a point, but the body, which looks to be as big as two hogs-heads, grows remarkably small at once just where the tail begins. The head in all kinds has a high and broad forehead, but in some a pointed snout, though in others it is flat, like that of a cow or a horse, with large nostrils, and several stiff hairs standing out on each side like whiskers."
The nostrils and whiskers are somewhat problematical, but the rest of the portrayal is a remarkably accurate description of Architeuthis--by somebody who has no idea what sort of creature he is looking at. For landlubbers used to animals with a head at one end and a tail at the other, the kraken's tail, with its pointed apex, would have been the head, and the arms trailing behind obviously suggested a tail. Pontoppidan continues: "They add that the eyes of this creature are very large, and of a blue color, and look like a couple of bright pewter plates. The whole animal is of a dark brown color, but it is speckled and variegated with light streaks and spots that shine like tortoise shell." He mentions two places, Amunds Vaagen in Nordfjord and the island of Karmen, where carcasses had been found at high tide.
Bishop Pontoppidan took the deposition of a certain Captain von Ferry, who claimed to have seen a "sea-snake" passing his ship in August 1746. Upon being informed of the presence of the serpent, yon Ferry came about in order to get nearer to it. At the bishop's request, he described it in a letter written to the Court of Justice at Bergen:The head of this sea-serpent, which it held more than two feet above the water, resembled that of a horse. It was of a greyish color, and the mouth was quite black and very large. It had large black eyes, and a long white mane, which hung down to the surface of the water. Besides the head and neck, we saw seven or eight folds, or coils, of this snake, which were very thick, and as far as we could tell, there was a fathom's distance between each fold.
Although this description doesn't immediately suggest one, von Ferry's serpent, with the "seven or eight folds ... which were very thick," looks more and more like a squid. If one is familiar with snakes and has never seen (or expected to see) a giant squid, the long tentacles, which have been measured at 35 feet, suggest nothing more than some sort of a serpent. It is therefore possible that giant squid are not only responsible for sea-serpent sightings but are responsible for the very name.
An Englishman named Charles Douglas, sailing off Lapland in the HMS Emerald in 1769, on one of the first European oceanographic voyages, interrogated the Norwegians about the kraken and the sea serpent, and while no one could tell him anything about the kraken, they knew a lot about what they called "Stoor Worms." Douglas recounted one sighting, described by the master of a Norwegian vessel, of three of the worms, "floating upon the surface of the sea, twelve parts of the back of the largest appearing above water; each part being in length about six feet ... so that upon the whole he judged the animal could not be less than twenty-five fathoms long, and about one in thickness." From Douglas's description (which was read to the Royal Society in 1770), the "worms" might very well have been the arms of a giant squid, either dead or dying, given what we now know about the presence of Architeuthis in Norwegian waters.
In the Pictorial National Library magazine for 1849, in an anonymous article about sea serpents, there is an account that, the author states, "will suffice to show that the sea-serpent in no stranger in the waters of the northern and eastern hemispheres." The description is attributed to the Reverend Mr. Deinboll, the archdeacon of Molde:On the 28th of July, 1845, four men were out on the Ramsdale-fiord, fishing. About seven o'clock in the evening, a long marine animal was seen slowly moving forward. The visible part of the body appeared to be forty to fifty feet in length, and moved in undulations like a snake. Body round, dark color, and several feet thick. Its fore part ended in a sharp snout, and its immense head was raised above the water in a semi-circular form. The color of the head was dark brown, the skin smooth. No eyes were noticed, nor mane nor bristles on the throat.
A hundred and one years later, in Vike Bay in the very same Romsdalfjord, a giant squid measuring 30 feet in total length was found by fishermen. It is hard to fault those who believed that the 1845 animal was a sea serpent. In fact, in describing the 1946 incident, Bjorn Myklebust wrote that before the squid stranded, it had been seen swimming around the fjord. "It is therefore possible," he wrote, "that the observed sea serpents may simply have been ... giant squids that were lying and splashing at the surface.... It thus seems likely that many stories about sea serpents can be reduced to stories about giant squids."
In 1848, the frigate Daedalus was sailing off the Cape of Good Hope when the crew spottedan enormous serpent, with head and shoulders kept about four feet constantly above the surface of the sea, and as nearly as we could approximate by comparing with the length of what our main topsail yard would show in the water, there was at the very least 60 feet of the animal a fleur d'eau, no portion of which was, to our perception, used in propelling it through the water, either by vertical or horizontal undulation.
This description came from Peter M'Quhae, the Daedalus's captain, who was responding angrily to a request from the Admiralty that he confirm or deny the rumors about a sea serpent. M'Quhae went on to write that its diameter was "15 or 16 inches behind the head, which was, without any doubt, that of a snake," and that "it had no fins, but something like the mane of a horse, or rather a bunch of seaweed, washed about its back." The Illustrated London News ran the story, accompanied by drawings done from M'Quhae's description, and the Daedalus monster entered the lists as one of the best-described serpents of all time. Sir Richard Owen--who so disbelieved Darwin that he tried to have him excommunicated--attempted to argue that the animal was really a gigantic seal.
To his dying day, Sir Richard Owen refused to admit even the slightest possibility that monsters might exist outside the zoological framework that he understood. In response to one "sighting," Owen wrote, "The observers have no expert knowledge of zoology; their observation is, therefore, without merit." Of M'Quhae's sighting, he noted, "It is very probable that no one on board the Daedalus ever before beheld a gigantic seal swimming freely in the open ocean." With his penchant for bombastic overstatement, Owen finished off his critique (which was published in the Times) with the statement, "A larger body of evidence from eye-witnesses might be got together in proof of ghosts than of the seaserpent." In his angry response (also printed in the Times), M'Quhae accused Owen of flagrantly misquoting him, and wrote:Finally, I deny the existence of excitement, or the possibility of optical illusion. I adhere to the statement, as to form, colour, and dimensions, contained in my official report to the Admiralty; and I leave them as data whereupon the learned and scientific may exercise the "pleasures of imagination" until some more fortunate opportunity shall occur of making a closer acquaintance with the "great unknown"--in the present instance assuredly no ghost.
If we look at the drawing of the Daedalus monster with Architeuthis in mind, the identification of the "monster" leaps off the page. We see not an "enormous serpent," but rather the tail of an enormous cephalopod. Captain M'Quhae obligingly drew an eye where he thought it ought to go, but in his description he never mentions it. He does, however, mention that "no portion [of its anatomy] was used in propelling it through the water, either by horizontal or vertical undulation." No vertebrate can move through the water without some visible means of propulsion, but a squid, which uses water ejected from the funnel or the mantle to move, could easily conform to M'Quhae's description.
HMS Plumper was in the North Atlantic in 1848 when a strange creature was sighted. In the Illustrated London News for April 10, 1849, an article, which was signed "A Naval Officer," contained the following description:Being due west of Oporto [Portugal] I saw a long black creature with a sharp head, moving slowly. I should think about two knots, through the water in a north westerly direction, there being a fresh breeze at the time, and some sea on. I could not ascertain its exact length, but its back was about twenty feet if not more above the water; and its head, as near as I could judge, from six to eight ... the creature moved across our wake towards a merchant ship barque on our lee quarter, and on the port tack.
With a dark "body," pointed head, no mouth, and only the faintest suggestion of an eye, the illustration that accompanied the description of the Plumper's sighting looks like no living creature--except possibly a giant squid.
I do not propose to assign all sea-serpent sightings to Architeuthis, but there is a strong possibility that many of those seamen and passengers who saw a "monster" of some sort were actually seeing the giant squid. Let us examine the serpents of the Scandinavian ecclesiastics Bishops Egede and Pontoppidan. As Henry Lee points out in Sea Monsters Unmasked, Egede's illustration of a sea serpent can be easily made to look like a giant squid if we eliminate the eye and the mouth and have the "blow" come from the funnel instead of from the mouth. Pontoppidan's accounts are based largely on hearsay and the report of von Ferry, as well as one from a Governor Benstrup, but he also mentions the carcasses that washed ashore with regularity on the coasts of Norway. Is it not possible that mid-eighteenth-century Norway saw an invasion of giant squid like the one that occurred in Newfoundland in the late nineteenth century and New Zealand most recently?
Even a limited review of the "sea serpent" literature produces any number of cases where the giant squid becomes a strong candidate. When British naturalist Philip Henry Gosse wrote The Romance of Natural History in 1861, he concluded with a chapter entitled "The Great Unknown," in which he summarized much of what was known about sea monsters up to that time, including a retelling of the 1845 kraken sighting in Romsdalfjord.
Gosse then quotes Sir Richard Owen, who wrote, "Few seacoasts have been more sedulously searched, or by more acute naturalists ... than those of Norway. Krakens and sea-serpents ought to have been living and dying thereabouts from long before Pontoppidan's time to our day, if all tales were true; yet they have never vouchsafed a single fragment of the skeleton to any Scandinavian collector." Eleven years later, a kraken "fragment"--consisting of an entire giant squid--would appear off Newfoundland, and now that an explanation appeared, it became possible to interpret Gosse's story as a description of what the Norwegians now call kjempeblekksprut. Particularly significant are the "waving motion" behind the animal (the arms); the "head" (a tentacular club); and the absence of eyes.
In 1886, an Australian named Charles Gould wrote a book called Mythical Monsters. It is largely about Chinese and Japanese dragons and other Asian monsters (Gould traveled widely in the Far East), but there is a chapter devoted to sea serpents. It commences with a discussion of the ecclesiastics Bishops Pontoppidan and Egede, as well as the early annalists such as Olaus Magnus and Aldrovandi, and then gets to the meat of his discussion: accounts of unidentifiable animals at sea. He introduces one Arthur de Capell Brooke, who sailed around the northern coast of Norway in 1820, and published his observations in Travels Through Sweden, Norway and Finnmark in 1823. Brooke seemed to be fascinated by sea serpents, because he recorded many sightings:Item: Off Otersoen.... It was of considerable length, and longer than it appeared, as it lay in large coils above the water to the height of many feet. Its head was shaped like that of a serpent; but he could not tell whether it had teeth or not. He said it emitted a very strong odour and that the boatmen were afraid to approach near it.Item: At Alstahoeg I found the Bishop of the Nordlands [another clergyman!] who was an eye-witness to the appearance of two in the Bay of Sorsund, on the Drontheim Fjord.... They were swimming in large folds, part of which were seen above the water, and the length of the largest he judged to be about one hundred feet. They were of a darkish grey colour, the heads hardly discernible, from their being almost under water.
Captain Brooke believed these reports, not only since they came from the mouths of fishermen ("an honest and artless class of men, who, having no motive for misrepresentation, cannot be suspected of a wish to deceive"), but also because some of the informants were "of superior rank and education," including the governor of Finnmark, Mr. Steen; the clergyman of Carlso, the Reverend Deinboll of Vadso; and the bishop of Nordland.
Gould also included an account from a Mr. McLean, the parish minister of Eigg. In 1809, he was rowing along the coast of Coll (in the Hebrides) when he spied an animal just offshore: "Within a few yards of it, finding the shallow water, it raised its monstrous head above water and, by a winding course, got, with apparent difficulty, clear of the creek where our boat lay.... Its head was somewhat broad, and of a form somewhat oval, its neck somewhat smaller; its shoulders, if I can so term them, considerably broader, and it tapered towards the tail, which last it kept pretty low in the water." Given such scanty details, it is difficult to envision the animal, but with no mouth, eyes, ears, or mane, it bears little resemblance to any known quadruped. Again it is possible to refer the description to some sort of invertebrate, but admittedly, only in the vaguest terms. We must assume that McLean saw something that did not fit the description of any creature known at that time.
In The Zoologist (subtitled A Popular Miscellany of Natural History), another Hebridean sighting, this one in 1872, is presented in some detail in an essay by two gentlemen of the cloth, Messrs. John Macrae and David Twopeny. (Macrae was the minister of Glenelg, Invernesshire; Twopeny was the vicar of Stockbury, Kent.) Sailing down the Sound of Sleat, with "two ladies, F. and K., a gentlemen, G.B., and a Highland lad," the party beheld a dark mass about two hundred yards astern, which proceeded to rise in symmetrical lumps, then sank out of sight, and surfaced again. They estimated its total length as 45 feet. It then "began to approach us rapidly, causing a great agitation in the sea. Nearly the whole of the body, if not all of it, had now disappeared, and the head advanced at at a great rate in the midst of a shower of fine spray, which was evidently raised in some way by the quick movement of the animal--it did not appear how--and not by spouting."
The next day they spotted the creature again, only this time "it looked considerably longer than it did the day before ... it looked at least sixty feet in length. Soon it began careering about, showing but a small part of itself, as on the day before, and appeared to be going up Lochourn." According to Macrae and Twopeny, several other people saw the creature. It was not until the book's publication that the authors were made aware of "Pontoppidan's Natural History or his print of the Norwegian sea-serpent, which has a most striking resemblance to the first of our own sketches." (Their essay is entitled "Appearance of an Animal, Believed to Be That Which Is Called the Norwegian Sea Serpent, on the Western Coast of Scotland, in August, 1872.")
It is worth noting that many "sea serpent" appearances that were recorded before Architeuthis was first described occurred in those waters later revealed to be the sometime haunts of the giant squid. Olaus Magnus said that the Soe Orm lived near the shore of Bergen; Bishops Pontoppidan and Egede saw their monsters off Norway and Greenland; the Reverend Dienboll's appeared in Romsdalfjord; and the controversial serpent of the Daedalus was spotted off the Cape of Good Hope. It seems more than a passing coincidence that sea serpents often inhabit those waters known to be occasionally occupied by giant squid, and vice versa.
In 1905, as if to dispel Owen's criticism that it was never scientists who saw these monsters, two naturalists, E. G. B. Meade-Waldo and M. J. Nicoll, on a scientific cruise aboard the Earl of Crawford's steam auxiliary yacht Valhalla, sighted a dark brown animal with a great frill on its back off the coast of Brazil. In the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, Meade-Waldo published his observations:I looked and saw a large fin or frill sticking out of the water, dark seaweed-brown in colour, somewhat crinkled on the edge. It was apparently about 6 feet in length and projected from 18 inches to 2 feet from the water. I could see, under the water to the rear of the frill, the shade of a considerable body. I got my field glasses on to it (a powerful pair of Goerz Trieder), and almost as soon as I had them on the frill, a great head and neck rose out of the water in front of the frill; the neck did not touch the frill in the water, but came out of the water in front of it, at a distance of not less than 18 inches, probably more. The neck appeared about the thickness of a slight man's body, and from 7 to 8 feet was out of the water.... The head had a turtle-like appearance, as had also the eye. I could see the line of the mouth, but we were sailing pretty fast, and quickly drew away from the object, which was going very slowly. It moved its head from side to side in a peculiar manner; the colour of the head and neck was dark brown above, and whitish below--almost white, I think.
Michael Nicoll's similar description was published alongside that of Meade-Waldo, and Nicoll also contributed a drawing, which is reproduced here. It is certainly possible to read their descriptions as a monster with a "frill," but it is almost as easy to see a description of a giant squid swimming at the surface: the frill could be one of the tail fins, the neck (not attached to the "frill") one of the long tentacles, and the head its flattened end. The "turtle-like" appearance of the eye is admittedly a problem, but if something looks like the "head" of an animal, we expect to see an eye somewhere, and Meade-Waldo and Nicoll may have only imagined it. (There have been many "sea monster" sightings that can be explained as Architeuthis if we assume that the observers misidentified the eye.) As for the "peculiar" movement of the head (which Nicoll described as "a curious wriggling movement"), it is more likely that they were describing an object that was not a head, but something else--a tentacle, perhaps. We know virtually nothing about the locomotion of giant squid at the surface (if indeed they ever locomote at the surface), but there may be a possibility that these creatures swim with a tentacle out of the water, which would go a long way toward explaining the sightings of a large-bodied animal with a long neck. (If a giant squid ever swam with both tentacles out of the water, we would probably have reports of two-headed monsters.)
Major General H. C. Merriam of the U.S. Army sighted a sea serpent while sailing off Wood Island, Maine, in August 1905, and wrote about it in a letter to Dr. F. A. Lucas, director of the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The letter (reproduced in its entirety in the appendix to V. C. Heilner's Salt Water Fishing) contains this description of a "monster serpent":Its head was several feet above the surface of the water, and its long body was plainly visible, slowly moving toward our boat by sinuous or snake-like motion.... It had no dorsal fin unless it was continuous. The color of its back appeared to be brown and mottled, shading down to a dull yellow on the belly. The head was like that of a snake, and the part shown above the surface--that is the neck--appeared to be about 15 to 18 inches in diameter. If it had any pectoral fins we did not observe them. I estimated its length at 60 feet or more.
The Australian David Stead wrote about fish and fishing, whales and whaling, and, occasionally, monsters. He obviously believed that Australians had been shortchanged in the sea-serpent department, so in Giants and Pygmies of the Deep he recounts several Australian sightings. The first occurred off Bellambi Reef, New South Wales, in 1930, and observers described a "vast monster of the serpent type," with a mouth like a pelican's beak. It is obvious to Stead that the open-mouthed beast could only have been a rorqual whale, probably a minke. Only two days, later, however, another monster appeared off Scarborough ("a few miles north of the first occurrence"), but this time, it could not be so easily explained away. It looked like a huge black snake, some 80 or 90 feet long, and it threw its huge head in the air, then ducked below the surface, giving the impression that it was feeding. Stead concludes that this really was a monster, "a great Calamary or Cuttlefish or giant Sea Squid, of the type frequently called Polypus." He then discusses several additional Australian sightings, and concludes by saying, "In all of these and in many others there seems to me to be enough evidence to identify the beasts seen, not as any kind of real serpent, but the terrible gigantic Calamary."
Then we have the tale of the Grace Line steamer Santa Clara, sailing from New York to Cartagena in 1947. Some 118 miles off North Carolina, the ship struck a marine creature. Third Officer John Axelson sawa snakelike head rear out of the sea about 30 feet off the starboard bow of the vessel. His exclamation of amazement directed the attention of the other two mates to the Sea Monster, and the three watched it unbelievingly as in a moment's time it came abeam of the bridge where they stood and was left astern. The creature's head appeared to be about 2 1/2' across, 2' thick, and 5' long. The cylindrically shaped body was about 3' thick, and the neck 1 1/2' in diameter.... The visible part of the body was about 35' long.
Since none of the descriptions include a mouth or eyes--features that would probably attract immediate attention--it seems possible to assign all the elements of the Santa Clara sighting to the giant squid. The "snakelike head" could be the club end of one of the long tentacles, with the suckers turned away from the viewer, and the "neck" would be the tentacle itself. The given dimensions coincide with those of the club of a large squid's tentacle, and even the "cylindrically shaped body" is the right size. In other words, there is nothing in this description that might not refer to Architeuthis.
On October 31, 1983, road workers near Stinson Beach, north of San Francisco, spotted an "unidentified animal" swimming offshore. As reported in the San Francisco Chronicle, the animal was being followed by a flock of birds and about two dozen sea lions. One of the workers interviewed said, "There were three bends, like humps, and they rose straight up. Then the head came up to look around." On November 2, surfers reported a "sea serpent" near Costa Mesa, which they described as resembling "a long black eel." One of the surfers (quoted in the Costa Mesa Daily Pilot) said, "There were no dorsal fins. The skin texture wasn't the same as a whale, and when it broke water, it wasn't like a whale at all. I didn't see the head or the tail." From this sketchy information (first reported by J. R. Greenwell in the International Society for Cryptozoology's Newsletter, and then in a Time-Life book called Mysterious Creatures), it is difficult to form an opinion about the nature of this beast--assuming it was the same in both cases--but it is not unreasonable to visualize the elements that were described as being parts of a large squid. It must be pointed out, however, that there has never been a record of Architeuthis washing ashore in California. There is an animal known as the Pacific giant squid (Moroteuthis robustus), which does not get as large as Architeuthis, but can achieve a body and tentacle length of 19 feet (see pages 143-145).
In the conclusion to In the Wake of the Sea-Serpents, Bernard Heuvelmans wrote,The legend of the Great Sea-Serpent, then, has arisen by degrees from chance sightings of a series of large sea-animals that are serpentiform in some respect. Some, like the oarfish, the whale-shark and Steller's sea-cow, have been unmasked in the last few centuries. But most remain unknown to science, yet can be defined with some degree of exactitude, depending on the number and precision of the descriptions that refer to them.
He does not mention the giant squid in this passage, but 30-foot tentacles are surely more "serpentiform" than any parts of a whale shark or Steller's sea cow. (He devotes a chapter to "The Kraken and the Giant Squid," but it serves more to introduce the creature and its colorful history than to explain its sea-serpent possibilities.) The giant squid does not explain everything; there are many sightings by reputable persons that cannot be conveniently dumped into a basket woven of squid tentacles.
Even if we assume that the aquatic dinosaurs are gone, and that there are no giant eels, giant snakes, giant seals, or giant otters, we are still left with some "sea serpent" sightings that are difficult to explain. It is perfectly natural for untrained persons to attribute "monster" characteristics to strange creatures seen at sea. In the past, of course, there were no Disney movies, and no Nature programs on PBS; people had to depend upon published descriptions, which, as we have seen, were often wildly exaggerated. Because hardly anybody has ever seen a giant squid, how could they possibly reconcile some strange, many-armed commotion with what David Stead called the "terrible gigantic Calamary"?
The impossibility of proving a negative proposition encourages all true believers to persevere; as long as it cannot be demonstrated that the monsters do not exist--and of course it cannot--they will continue to hope. More than any other creature, real or imaginary, the giant squid fuels the cryptozoological fires. Tales of ship-grabbing monsters are as old as seafaring, but it was not until some still unexplained oceanographic anomaly in the late nineteenth century that specimens of Architeuthis began appearing on the rocky beaches of Newfoundland. Because the giant squid is such an incredible animal, it is actually easier to assume that it is a mythological creature rather than a real one. Its melodramatic appearance in novels such as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Beast has supported its delegation to the world of fiction; like the white whale, Architeuthis seems too big and dangerous to be true.
(C) 1998 Richard Ellis All rights reserved. ISBN: 1-55821-689-8
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Push May Shove Molitor Too Hard
While not electrifying by any means, the Twins have gotten out to a nice start. After losing their first 9 games to kick off the 2016 season, a 7-5 record through 12 this year is something Twins Territory will accept. The club has notched two series victories, and really should have had a third (and second against the Chicago White Sox in as many tries). It's that second series against the White Sox though that presents the case against Molitor for new front office mates, Derek Falvey and Thad Lavine.
On Sunday April 16, the Twins held a 1-0 lead thanks to an unlikely inside-the-park home run from Brian Dozier. Hector Santiago was pitching quite a gem, coming on the heels of an Ervin Santana one hit, complete game shutout.
The hometown nine gave up the lead on some rather unfortunate fundamentals from normally sound centerfielder Byron Buxton. Despite leading the big leagues in defensive runs saved through the early going, and having a cannon for an arm, Buxton failed to get in proper position on a Matt Davidson fly ball, allowing Jose Abreu to score from third. There's plenty of room to suggest even a properly played ball would have allowed Abreu to score, but the reality is that Buxton didn't get behind the ball, fielded it to the wrong side, and uncorked a less than desirable throw. It hopped a few times, and came in late.
Davidson's sac fly for the White Sox came in the 8th inning, and it's there that we find the first curious move from Molitor. To start the inning, Molitor replaced Robbie Grossman in right field with Danny Santana. Although Grossman is no asset himself, Santana as a defensive replacement is laughable at best. A year ago, he was worth -9 DRS in the outfield, and he's among the worst defensive players on any 25 man roster. Given the reality that Minnesota was currently going with a three man bench, the move makes no sense, and would eventually come back to haunt them (more on that in a bit).
While not nearly the gaffe that Santana's entry was, Molitor turned the ball over to Matt Belisle in the 8th. It's been relatively apparent in the early going that Ryan Pressly has the best stuff of any Twins reliever. He has strikeout ability, and his velocity is a task for big league hitters. With Jose Abreu and Avisail Garcia due up 2nd and 3rd in the inning, the leverage was calling for the club's best pitcher. Belisle struck out Tyler Saladino, hit Jose Abreu, allowed a base hit to Garcia, and then watched the White Sox first basemen to come around and score on Davidson's sac fly. Pressly may not have held the South Siders down, but I'd have given him the chance.
In the bottom half of the inning, Molitor's decision defensively immediately came back to bite him. Removing Grossman, a high on base guy and a batter with a strong early slash line, Danny Santana hit behind Joe Mauer who had reached on a single. Santana promptly went down swinging and Mauer never advanced beyond first base.
Neither team could push a run across in the 9th, and Molito's earlier decisions were set up to again bite him in extras. During the top of the 10th inning, Leury Garcia hit a looping ball to right field. Not deep in the gap, Santana took a very inefficient route, and turned the base hit from a single to a double. Ryan Pressly was now tasked with a runner in scoring position and no outs, as oppsed to simply having a runner on first.
Whether Pressly or Molitor, the Twins decided to pitch to slugger Jose Abreu with Garcia on third and one out. They struck him out, but then decided to double down on their fortune and throw to Avisail Garcia, who was already 3-4 on the day. Despite Garcia not being an otherwordly hitter, Matt Davidson and Cody Asche followed him in the order, and are arguably easier outs. Garcia made the Twins and Pressly pay, as he ripped a 98 mph pitch over the fence in right field.
In a vacuum, I can understand how nitpicking a single game over a slate of 162 doesn't hold much water. The reality is that marginal teams need to win the ones they have to their advantage, and steal some down the stretch too. What happened against the White Sox was a perfect example of Paul Molitor managing his way out of competitiveness.
Over the course of his tenure with the Twins, he's shown a real ineptitude at times with the bullpen, a lack of understanding in how to best utilize his offensive assets, and an inability to develop his youth. Whether the Twins win or lose 90 games this season, I'd have to imagine the front office is more concerned about how capable Molitor truly is at handling big league scenarios. As the missteps add up, he's building a case against himself. There's validity to Paul Molitor the baseball player being an elite baseball mind. There isn't much to that comment when speaking of the manager though.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Author: dudeman1893
This part is including: Fiction, Blowjob, First Time, Gay, Incest theme.
Part two, Not as good as the first, and not as much sex. But have no fear part three is already done and has lots of sex. Let me know what you think.
That Sunday most of the guys from the football team came by my house to see how I was doing, and to sign my cast. From mid-afternoon, 'til late evening it was a constant stream of teammates and friends. Some brought their fathers and brothers with them. It was kinda strange with my new sexual revolution, as in, getting my first blowjob, and it being from my Dad, and not being able to tell my friends about it because of that fact.
It was nice to see everyone cared enough to stop by, but I couldn't shake the thought of my hard cock shooting cum into my Dad's mouth while I twitched on the shower floor. It kept me in a constant state of arousal, but Dad and I acted as if nothing had happened.
I also couldn't shake what my Dad had said about experimenting with friends, and the fact that my Dad had done some of that with his brother. I stood around most of the day looking at my friends and their brothers wondering if any of them had given each other blowjobs. I had seen all these guys naked in the locker room so it wasn't that hard to imagine them sucking each other off. Needless to say I was pretty much hard all day.
Dad had kept the beer flowing all day with the other dad's, so it was no surprise that by the time everybody had left later in the night Dad was a little on the drunk side.
Mom, Dad and I sat in the sunroom with a space heater on to keep us warm. We looked out on the snow covered back yard. Dad was finishing up another beer, while Mom just sipped on a glass of wine.
We talked about my broken arm and other random things for a while before Mom decided to go to bed. She moved behind my chair and ran her fingers through my hair, and said, "Hey kiddo, just because you aren't going to school tomorrow doesn't mean you should stay up all hours of the night." I tilted my head back and looked up at her, "Yes, mommy." I said with a sarcastic smile.
She playfully slapped my cheek, and said, "Don't get smart with me Buck-o, be in bed by midnight." She looked over at my Dad and said, "And Will, just because you don't have to work tomorrow, doesn't mean you have to finish off all that beer." My Dad looked back at her and smiled, "Yes, mommy." He said with a slight slur. "I live with a bunch of comedians." Mom said, as she walked into the hallway and closed the door to the sunroom, behind her.
My Dad got up and wobbled a little as he got another beer out of the mini fridge that sits out in the sunroom. I laughed and said, "Have another one, Padre." My Dad laughed and sat down. He opened his beer and took a swig. "That mean's Father, as in Priest, not Dad." He said with a laugh. "I thought it meant brother?" I said, and we both laughed.
We fell silent for a while and looked out on the snow. Dad drank his beer in a fast and nervous way, and I fidget with my cast trying to think of something normal to say, when all I wanted to do was talk about the other day in the shower. I had so many questions I didn't know where to start.
Finally Dad broke the silence, "It was nice to see everyone stop by to see you, you've got some good friends." "Ya, they're great." I said, and looked at my Dad, "But to tell you the truth, after what you told me the other day, I couldn't help but wonder if any of them had given each other blowjobs." I flushed with nervous-adrenaline wondering what Dad's response would be.
He took a drink of beer and chuckled, then in a drunken-philosopher way said, "Do you mean your friends blowing each other, or their brothers?" The feeling of talking about dirty things washed over me and I took a subconscious look back at the door to make sure it was closed. "Both." I said. My Dad laughed and took a drink of beer.
I fidgeted with my cast a little more, then looked at him, "Do you think that makes me gay? I asked.
My Dad looked at me and said, "Not necessarily, Jason. It's just a normal and healthy curiosity, weather you're gay or not. Either way it doesn't matter."
He took a long drink off his beer, and then sloshed the can out towards the windows to the back yard, in a wide sweeping motion, "From the beginning of time straight guys have experimented with each other, just the same way gay guys have experimented with women." He sat back in his chair and took another drink. "The simple truth is being gay is what makes you gay, and being straight is what makes you straight. Anything else that happens in between that, is just being human, Champ."
I smiled with a wave of relief washing over me, and I no longer felt weird about the intense hornieness I was feeling, so I just went for it.
"How did it happen between you and Uncle Ray?" I asked. My dad gave a drunken grin to nobody in the room, and talked in an open way. I think the beer had killed his inhibitions. "When Ray and I were growing up people acted like water was gold," Dad said, "so we always bathed together and then showered together when we got older. It was a normal thing back then, we even had to swim naked at the YMCA."
I was going commando in my flannel pajama bottoms and my harding cock was making a noticeable bulge, yet I did nothing to hide it.
"It started off innocent enough," Dad said, "Ray showed me how to jerk off, so we started doing it together. But one thing was, I was fascinated with Ray's cock, He's almost two years older than me and he had a huge cock, I would always just stare at his dick when we were jerking off in the shower together."
My Dad adjusted his hard cock in his almost identical flannel pajama bottoms, and finished off his beer. I got up and grabbed another one for him from the fridge. When I handed him the beer he seemed to be hypnotized by the tent in my pajamas.
I sat back down, fascinated with the idea of Uncle Ray's huge cock. "How big was it?" I asked? "Big," Dad said, "Ray was probably the same size I am now, when he was 14, just not as thick."
Dad started unconsciously rubbing his cock through his pajama bottoms, so I did the same. "It grew to be about 7in flaccid and who knows what, when it was hard." I looked down at my own cock and sighed "Jesus." Dad chuckled. "You said it Champ. Actually now that I think about it you've seen it in the flesh."
I gave him a questioning look. "You were about 6 or 7 at the time. The whole family was camping at Cannon Lake, and me and you showered with your cousins and uncle in the big open outdoor showers at the campground."
Him just saying that made me remember a bit. " Oh yeah," I said, "It was a big concrete pad surrounded by a fence with benches in the middle and shower heads all around on the fence." "Yep," Dad said, "That's how I knew he grew to 7 inches flaccid. That's why I keep telling you I'm not that big, Champ. Do you remember seeing him naked?" "I don't think so," I said, "I was probably horsing around with Trent and Peter." My cousins.
I kept rubbing my bulge and looked at my Dad. "Did you and Ray do anything on that campout?" Dad downed his beer and got up to get another one, still sporting a huge tent in his pajamas. "Naw," He said, "we never did anything after he graduated from High School."
The thought of my Dad and his brother together was so hot for some reason. "What other things did you guys do with each other?" I asked, My Dad chuckled as he settled back in his chair and adjusted his hard-on. "You're eager aren't you?" "Sorry." I said, feeling a bit embarrassed for being so open with my curiosity. Dad chuckled again. "No, No don't worry about it, Champ" He said, "I laugh because you are exactly like I was at your age." "Really," I said with a smile. "Everybody is Champ."
He took a drink of beer. "Sooo," He said, "You want a good story. Well, We Jerked off together and jerked each other off for a few years. Then when I was 14 and Ray was 16, Him and some of his friends snuck into a porno movie theater and spent all afternoon watching dirty movies. After that, one day we were in the shower and Ray soaped up my dick nice and good, I just thought he was going to jerk me off again like he always had, but I guess the porno had taught him a thing or two about blowjobs." Dad moved his hand under his pajama bottoms, getting caught up in his story. I did the same and moved my hand under my pajama bottoms and rubbed my foreskin over my cock head.
"But then Ray stopped stroking me when I got hard," Dad said, "and told me to rinse off. I reluctantly did what he said, then he got on his knees in front of Me. 'what are you doing, Ray?' I asked. Your Uncle just looked up at me as he took my dick in his hand and said, 'Don't worry Bro; I learned something new that looks fun.' Then he moved his mouth up to my dick and licked the underside of it with his tongue from my ball sack to my dick head."
Dad was starting to breath heavy. "I didn't know what Ray was doing but when his tongue ran up my shaft it was as if the heavens opened up." We both laughed. "I know that feeling." I said.
"Then he took my whole dick in his mouth, my knees went weak and I moaned his name loudly. He took his mouth off of my dick and said 'Will, shut up, Mom and Dad are downstairs.' 'Sorry.' I said. I just couldn't help it. He took my cock back in his mouth and moved up and down it's length. It probably wasn't too hard to take, 'cause I was only about 3 and a half inches at that age. My knees gave out when I came in his mouth and I fell on top of him."
I wanted to jerk off so bad I almost pulled my cock out; instead I just slowly moved my foreskin over my cock head and rubbed the pre-cum leaking out of my cock all over my glands. I looked at my Dad with a smile and said, "So you got your first Blowjob in the shower just like me." My Dad laughed and it broke him out of his memory. "I guess you're right," He said, as he got up to get another beer. "Never thought about it."
"Did you ever give him a blowjob?" I asked. Dad sat down and opened his beer. "Yeah, immediately, in fact. After I recovered Ray stood up with his huge hard dick sticking out in front of him."
"How big was it then?" I asked.
"Oh," Dad said, "I guess something like 7 and a half inches hard, and about as thick as mine is now." He rubbed his cock to demonstrate. "But it was long. I had kinda got used to it over the years always jacking him off. But as I got down on my knees with the idea of putting it in my mouth, I was a little scared, mostly excited but a little scared, too. I could only go about half way down, but immediately Ray started moaning and he put his hands on the back of my head and took control. He gaged me a few times before he shot a huge load in my mouth." Dad took a long drink off his beer. "After that we gave each other blowjobs almost every day."
I felt like I was going to explode I had to go to the bathroom. I left Dad with his hand down his pajamas, and went into the house. I almost jerked off in the bathroom but didn't, thinking I might be able to talk Dad into taking care of it for me. So I just took a piss with a raging hard on, which, as we all know, is always a good time.
I walked back in the sunroom and closed the door behind me. I readjusted my hard on so it was more noticeable so Dad might do something about it. But he was passed out in his chair. His beer can was laying in a small pool of beer on the floor. His cock was still raging hard under his flannel pajamas though.
In a quick loud voice I said "Hey Dad." He didn't move. I moved in front of him and shook his leg, he just breathed loudly, he was out. I moved my hand down my pajama bottoms and rubbed my balls as I contemplated my options, curiosity and Hornieness slowly took over and I knelt down in front of my Dad.
I freed my hand from my ball sack and slowly moved it over Dad's large bulge. His breathing changed a little, but he didn't sir. I got a bit bolder and untied the drawstring and pulled his pajamas ever so slowly over his cock. He was going commando just like me. Like father like son, I guess.
My heart raced just knowing that at any moment he was going to wake up and catch me. But at the same time I didn't care. His cock looked so huge out in the open laying on his stomach. I just knew that for whatever reason I wanted it in my mouth.
I got his pajamas down past his balls and could no longer help myself. I buried my lips in his hanging nut sack. It was so warm and surprisingly, well, silky is the only word I can think, even though that's not exactly right. I slowly ran my tongue around his balls, trying to keep myself from just going crazy on his fat cock.
With my nose on his hard shaft and my mouth on his balls I couldn't take it anymore, so I slowly moved my tongue all the way up his shaft to his head. My Dad sired with a slight moan. I sat back on my feet somewhat startled, and watched my Dad. He unconsciously opened his legs even wider, but He still seemed to be out of it.
I got back up on my knees and moved my left hand up to his cock. I lifted it up and ran my tongue up his shaft again; He was leaking pre cum like crazy. I swirled my tongue around his mushroom tip and got my first taste of cum. Nothing to write home about, but it wasn't too bad.
I knew I had no time to spare so I just went for it and took his cock head in my mouth and tried to take as much of his shaft as I could. I got a little more than half way down before I felt it rub on the back of my throat. My dick pulsed in my pajamas, and I felt like I could of cum myself. When I felt the throbbing heat of my Dad's cock in my mouth, and felt it on the back of my throat I knew I wanted him to cum in my mouth while I came in my pajamas.
I kept his cock in my mouth and moved my left hand down to my own cock and started jerking it. My cock head was covered with pre cum and it made a nice lube between my foreskin and cock head as I rapidly moved my sheath over my sensitive head. With that over whelming feeling, and having Dad's cock in my mouth, my building orgasm felt like it was going to be like no other.
I moved my mouth back to the top of his shaft, then plunged back down taking more of it in this time. My mouth made a loud slurping sound around his cock and my Dad moaned louder then I was comfortable with. But I couldn't get myself to stop. As I moved my mouth back up and down his shaft, Dad moaned and mumbled "Oh Ray that feels so good."
That did it for me, I came in my pajamas so hard I moaned with my Dads cock in my mouth.
Once my orgasm passed, fear set in and I said to myself "Jason, What the fuck are you doing? You have your Dad's passed out cock in your mouth."
I quickly pulled my mouth off his cock and lightly laid it back on his stomach, It was covered with saliva, and some of my cum that was on my hand rubbed off on it. I licked my cum off his cock before I pulled his pajamas back up and tied his draw string back up.
I left him in the chair, then went and laid in bed contemplating what I had just done. I fell asleep thinking about the shower I needed to take the next day..
Other Chapters: Showering With Dad – by dudeman1893
- Showering With Dad - Chapter 2
- Showering With Dad - Chapter 3
- Showering With Dad - Chapter 4


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Who is Archimedes, and what is the Archimedes' Principle? Archimedies was a mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor in ancient Greece; he is perhaps best known for running around naked, screaming "Eureka!" (I have done it! or I have found it!), although that story (see next section) is of doubtful authenticity.
Archimedes' Principle can be simply stated: any floating object displaces its own weight in fluid. Archimedes also stated the principle in terms of force:
Any object, wholly or partially immersed in a fluid, is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object.
What is Archimedes Principle? The Eureka Story
The following story is, very likely, not true. However, it is very well known, and entertaining.
The king had a new golden crown made, but he suspected that perhaps the manufacturer had left out some gold, replacing it with cheaper silver; he commissioned Archimedes to determine whether that was the case. While pondering the problem at the public baths, he observed how his body displaced an equal amount of water from the bath. Realizing that he could use this to measure the volume of the crown, weigh it, and compare the result to the known weight of gold, he sprang out of the bath; too excited to bother dressing, he ran home naked screaming "Eureka!".
The story was likely invented or embellished by Vitruvius, a Roman writer who first told the tale in the first century BC, several hundred years after Achimedes' discoveries.
Practical Applications and Examples of the Archimedes Principle
One example of Archimedes' Principle in action is seen in the tendency of steel ships to float, while a lump of steel will sink. Because the ship is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the water it displaces, distributed over a sufficiently large area, the ship floats. The key insight here is that the amount of water displaced depends on the volume of the displacing object, while the upward force depends on the weight of that water; as such, while a solid mass weighing the same as the ship would sink, the ship isn't a solid mass; the steel thus occupies a greater volume, allowing it to displace enough water to equal the weight of the ship.
Simply stated: the empty space inside the ship results in the average density of that ship being lower than the density of the surrounding water, allowing the ship to float.
The principle applies to other mediums as well. For example, air can be considered as a fluid; an unfilled balloon will sit on the ground, but a balloon filled with helium such that the average density of the balloon is less than the average density of the surrounding air will float.
As a side note, all water is not created equal! It is easier to float in salt water than fresh water, for example, because salt water is heavier than fresh water and thus the same volume of displaced water will provide a greater upward force.


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Estimating vineyard is a tricky business, but if the latest USDA/NASS acreage report proves correct, less than 12,000 acres of grapes were planted last year in the state.
NASS does its best in surveying 8,500 California grape growers to gather acreage information. However, oftentimes the acreage for each year changes as NASS gathers more information.
If the acreage planted in '06 holes true with more surveying next season, it will represent the lowest acreage of grapevines planted since 1986 when a little more than 10,000 acres were planted.
Take out the 2,400 acres of Pinot Noir estimated planted in '06, and the newly planted acreage for last season falls below 10,000 acres.
This drop off in acreage reflects the growing uncertainty in the wine grape market where contracts continue to be offered at bargain basement prices, if at all, even though wine sales in the U.S. continue to grow.
More than 100,000 acres of vines have been taken out in the central valley over the past five years and more vineyards are continuing to disappear.
They are most often replaced by crops like almonds, pomegranates and pistachios, which offer more profit opportunities in the long run.
Overall, California grape acreage remains flat with 860,000 acres in the ground now. Non-bearing acreage is 63,000. Wine grape acreage is up 1 percent; table grape acreage is flat and raisin grape acreage down 2.4 percent.


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It seems apparent, more now than ever, that the xenophobia (intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries) problems in South Africa are affecting the employment rate. As South Africa begins weighing in on just how bad the lack of tourism is affecting them, sources state that the fear of people to come into their country from the outside, even from other parts of Africa, has reduced profits. As profits are what help better the economy there, among the faulted employment system that the country seems to have, the violent acts that have stemmed from the xenophobia are causing deeper concern for many.
The violence in South Africa is enough for people to have concern. Then when adding in the new sting that this past month has brought, as tourists are afraid to step into South Africa, the new concern is that if the violence does not stop, how far down will the economy fall? As many have been killed in the erupted violence in South Africa, police and soldiers have had to step in and take control of the matter. As pictures show just how bad things are, as natives loot, gangs attack, and shops owned by foreigners are destroyed, the country is getting back a bad reputation for tourism.
CEO of South African Tourism, Thulani Nzima, stated that the South Africa has always been marketed by them as the country with welcoming people, warmth in nature. He stated that many are now worried because of the fact that the money that they have spent marketing is depleted, and until the violence ends tourists will not be bringing much money back in. Nzima stated that the violent attacks that have taken place in in the country since the xenophobia started has damaged the brand that they created for the country.
However, the government in South Africa has been working to ensure tourists that they can feel safe in the country. The government states that only a small part of the country was affected by the violence, and since calling in the military, the violence in those portions of the country are mostly contained. The government, too, has been a bit concerned over how the xenophobia is affecting the employment rate in South Africa, but they are hoping to return the country back to the improved reputation that it had retained, especially after the hosting of the 2010 World Cup, which brought in many tourists, and helped tourists feel good about exploring the country. In addition the South African government was secure in their belief that tourism would help the country, as they state that it is inexpensive for tourists to visit the country, due to the low exchange rate of many currencies for theirs. Though, with the violence that had erupted, and even after the government's statements, tourists are not convinced that they will be safe in South Africa.
As tourism has been calculated to be the fastest growing sector in the country, it was the hope of the government that it would bring in around 500 billion rand per year, and possibly create 225,000 new jobs by 2020. As unemployment has now raised to around 25 percent, in South Africa, the effects of lack of tourists may already have been seen. Sources blame the lack of employment as the reason that natives are attacking foreigners, a peculiar notion due to the fact that lack of tourism is supposedly causing unemployment.
Many state that President Jacob Zuma is not doing much to curb the effects of xenophobia on South Africa, especially as unemployment is becoming a big factor in the event. As the National Development Plan, and many other initiatives created since 2012, aim to increase the amount of employment available, it seems that if the problem of lack of tourism is not handled quickly the country will see a larger decline before they see an increase in employment.
By Crystal Boulware


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Curve Dental will provide you with an organized view of your practice's financial and patient data with our preferred collection of dental reports for your practice. You can choose from a list of ready-to-run reports that cover all the bases, or you create a custom report to fit any particular purpose and save it as a template for future use.
Quick access to common and relevant reports will put you in touch with the data you want to see. With every report, you will have four convenient options:
- Download the information in a .csv format
- Print the report
- Send letters using the data in the report.
- Save reports—you never have to create the same report twice!
What's more, with every report, you can adjust the way the data is presented to the way you want it presented. You can reposition a column, add filters on the fly or remove filters—the displayed report will be updated in a flash.
Reports You'll Find in our Dental Reports Software:
- Useful Patient Reports. You can view and/or print a collection of reports to help you better understand who your patients are, such as demographic information and medical alerts.
- Simple Scheduling Reports. You can quickly create and view a scheduling report to see which patients have appointments for any given date, procedure, length, or status for any provider.
- Relevant Insurance Reports. Insurance management is a daunting task for any dental practice. With Curve Dental managing insurance becomes much more manageable.
- Effective Clinical Reports. Handy treatment plan reports will help zero in on unscheduled treatment plans, which will boost your bottom line.
- Accurate Financial Reports. Our software delivers on-the-fly financial information for a number of different purposes: Production, collections, aging, and more!
- Key Recare Reports. Recare is critical to the success of any dental practice and our reports make analyzing Recare quick and easy.
- Miscellaneous Reports. You'll find a collection of other reports to help you build and manage the killer practice.
- Custom Reports. If you don't see what you need, you can take an existing report and modify it. Or you can create your own report from scratch.
Want to see more of our reporting capabilities? Call one of our dental software consultants at 1-888-910-4376 today!


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As you might imagine this website attracts quite a lot of readers with a diverse range of interests; some simply interested in the paranormal, others seeking relief from the same.
Due to other responsibilities we cannot respond to all readers that use our contact us form but we do try to answer the questions of those that seem to be sincerely troubled. Today we received one such message, that in reality is a common fear, that of Continue reading


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"Anne Hathaway, Bill Irwin, Anna Deveare Smith and Debra Winger will star in the comedy "Dancing With Shiva" for Sony Classics. Based on a screenplay by Jenny Lumet, the plot details are being kept under wraps. Jonathan Demme ("The Silence of the Lambs," "The Manchurian Candidate") will direct and produce. Shooting begins mid-September in Connecticut…" (full details)
"Producer Elaine Wickham and writer-director Jan Dunn begin filming this Summer on "The Calling," about a girl who wants to become a nun, starring Brenda Blethyn as the mother superior. Ramsgate, a Victorian seaside town in the county of Kent on England's east coast will be used for filming…" (full details)
"The role of Notorious B.I.G. for an upcoming biopic on the rapper will be filled through an open casting call, the film's producers said Thursday. "Notorious," which has been in the works for nearly seven years, will seek its star by auditioning actors and non-actors alike who resemble the rapper, whose real name was Christopher Wallace. Anyone can submit audition videos beginning 3 a.m. EDT Sunday to www.foxsearchlight.com/notorious or www.biggiecasting.com…" (full details)


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Synopsis from Amazon:
In 1815, in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, two of England's wealthiest lords place a high-stakes wager on whether a popular set of books, which claim that the author has traveled to many unknown corners of the globe, are truth or, more likely, wild fiction. First Light is an epistolary novel, told primarily through the eyes of former aide-de-camp Gregory Conan Watts, describing the journeys of the airship Dame Fortuna and its crew through journals and letters to his beloved fiancee. The first recruit is, necessarily, the airship's owner: war hero, famed genius, and literal knight in steam-powered armor Sir James Coltrane. Persuading him to lend his talents and refitted airship to the venture requires bringing along his sister, his cousin, and the crew that flew with him during the Napoleonic Wars. Only with their aid can they track down a Scottish rifleman, a pair of shady carnies, and a guide with a strong personal investment in the stories. When they set out, the wild places of the world, including the far American West, the Australian interior, darkest Africa, and other destinations are thought to be hostile enough. No one expects the trip to involve a legendary storm - or the Year Without a Summer of 1815-1816. The voyage is further complicated by the human element. Some parties are not at all happy with the post-war political map. Most problematic of all, the crew hired by the other side of the wager seem willing to win by any means necessary. Dawn of Steam: First Light follows these adventurers, as they open up the world. In the process, their journey helps lay the foundations for an age of enlightenment and technology to come.
My Review:
It is a rare day when I can get thrills from historical fiction. Don't get me wrong, it's a perfectly legitimate genre--but when there isn't the "freedom" for action and colorful characters, or the writer seems compelled to make a schmaltzy love story out of it... Let me just say I would only pick an historical fiction novel for two reasons:
1. It is an author I am already familiar with and I enjoy their style of writing;
2. I have read every other non-romantic fiction novel in the entire library.
That being said, First Light defied my expectations for an historical adventure fiction novel. The closest I can compare it to would probably be the Allan Quatermain novels by H. Rider Haggard, which bored me so much that I stopped reading halfway through—and I do not do that lightly.
Maybe retrospection increases creativity and eases idyllicizing the time period, which is why authors today are better able to paint an exciting and glamorized picture of the early nineteenth century than the authors who experienced the reality of the time period firsthand—
But I digress.
Those who are familiar with my blog know of a post I wrote a while ago called "How to Book." In it, I delineated three major points that, if followed, are nearly guaranteed to produce quality, worthwhile literature. Of course, the post was more a rant against those books I had recently read that did not follow these guidelines; I probably didn't think I would find a book that actually scored on all three points.
Then again, I had not yet read First Light.
The unorthodox format is ripe for flatness and a blasé, static plot: a series of letters and journal entries, most of them from the point of view of only one character, with perhaps ten lines of dialogue in the whole thing. How on earth could an author take something like that and pass it off as something more than a long treatise on someone's opinion with all the intrigue of a thesis paper?
This is where my three guidelines come into play.
My first point was that writers who want to produce excellent literature should think first, then write.
Yes, I majored in English—but that was only because I am far more comfortable on paper than I am at public speaking, which meant that journalism or communications was not an option for me. I did consider at one point about becoming a linguist because if there is one thing I love most about English, it is the precise and deliberate use of language. This is why I feel something like physically ill when reading unfettered stream-of-consciousness like Gertrude Stein or Faulkner—the rambling stringing together of words with no regards to syntax or coherence is maddening. That is not to say that ALL stream-of-consciousness is terrible; I have read some unorthodox styles of writing that I regard as gorgeous because I can tell from the feelings evoked by the precise phrasing that the author thought very intentionally to write the words he or she did, in that order, to bring just the right feelings or images.
This same deliberation is what gives First Light its incredible, vibrant realism. Within seconds of reading, I was transported two hundred years in the past. I was Cordelia, receiving the next communication from my beloved Gregory. I was Lord Donovan, understanding the progress made on the mission upon which I had sent a man I trusted to give me an accurate report. There was a lot of detail that went into the writing of this novel—but as far as I can tell, there was not one term out of place. The language was every bit what one might expect for a Victorian-era journalist, within his scope of understanding. This is where Cook really shines in his use of the "epistolary narrative" (yes, that's what it's called!) because he ends up describing major events at least three times, as a personal journal entry, as a report to Lord Donovan, and as a letter to Cordelia, and the language is just slightly different (but appropriately so!) each time, so one may gain a remarkably distinct picture of the events described. Even in instances where certain events happen "in the span of an instant"—something that is difficult to manage in a traditional narrative—Cook manages to give the impression of recollection on Gregory's part, while maintaining a sense of urgency and speed in his pacing.
My second point was that writers who want to produce lasting literature should not "neglect their lines."
This would be the "down time" between action sequences, which lets the reader first of all breathe, so that the book is not over in one big rush, and second, we get to experience the characters as they naturally are, according to their personalities, and not just what they're like when someone's trying to kill them.
Again, Cook shines. It would be very easy to just "pick and choose" the letters that contain exciting bits—or it might also be a clever trap to start rambling and meandering as some people do in the context of a personal letter. But not here. In the down time, we are being entertained by the colorful cast and becoming better acquainted, so that when danger does strike, we are genuinely fearful for "our dear friends' well-being"—and these are fictional characters, who exist only as text on a page, if you want to get technical about it! But the characters are so much like friends, that if you were to mention the name of a character, I would instantly conjure an image in my mind. That's how real and wonderful these characters were. A masterful use of "lines", indeed!
My third and final point was that good writing would feed the mind and enrich the life, not isolate or confuse.
Wow, I now think I know more about the workings of various steampunk objects than I ever have before—and also, I think I may have picked up a better understanding of how the modern equipment works, as well! And yet I never felt like I was reading a textbook. Gregory's descriptions in the letters to his wife were simplified and more practical than technical, very much geared toward a woman's logic; the descriptions in his reports to Lord Donovan were more on the technical side, as would be expected in man-to-man communication, but at the same time they were also direct, so no wasted verbiage there, either. Anything like geography and topography that would run the risk of being too much like a "dump" of useless (to the reader) information was nearly deferred with the phrase "I have included pictures", leaving it up to the reader's imagination just what those pictures contained, without cluttering up the story by concocting a painfully accurate description of every minute detail. Well played, sir!
As I expressed in my first point, I felt totally engaged by the characters and involved in this part of their lives the whole time I was reading. It made me laugh; it made me anxious; it blew my mind, and it made me ponder; it took my breath away, and it warmed my heart. I am only too thrilled to recommend this book to history buffs and steampunk/adventure lovers alike! If you're tired of the everlasting vampires and endless government conspiracies and yearn for the good old days of the traditional adventure novel from the early days of Manifest Destiny—Dawn of Steam: First Light is definitely for you!


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Emergency Power Cuts are used in response to a National Energy Emergency at times of a severe shortage of electricity production (generation) in the UK.
Each distribution area across the UK is split into 18 blocks which are each made up of a number of discrete geographical areas. Each of these blocks is assigned a letter between A and U. The letters F, I and O are not used.
Each day of the week is split into 8 three hour SLOTS. The first slot of the day starts at 06:30.
The blocks are allocated to the slots in a way that allows businesses to operate as normally as possible for 3 days in succession. This means that power cuts will either be concentrated between Monday and Wednesday or Thursday and Saturday, with Sunday being shared between all blocks. The more severe the emergency, the greater the number of blocks that will be switched off at the same time.
In the unlikely event of Emergency Power Cuts becoming necessary, a range of communications methods will be available. There are two pieces of information that you need to be aware of: firstly, your Emergency Power Cut block letter and secondly the slots which show when you will be affected.
Your Emergency Power Cut block letter is static and will not change during an emergency. It is based on where you live and how your electricity is supplied. You can find out your Emergency Power Cuts block letter on your electricity bill under the address.
Once you have your block letter, you then need to know when your block will be switched off and on. The Schedule of Emergency Power Cuts will be published through national & local TV and/or radio stations. The Energy Emergencies Executive website is currently being upgraded to provide this information, along with the development of a smart phone and tablet app. You will receive 48-hours' notice of Emergency Power Cuts.
The electricity supply will be turned off to certain areas, or blocks, for three hours at a time, depending on the shortage of electricity. This could be affected by the weather, the time of day and the demand for electricity.
At the lowest level of emergency, you could expect to be without electricity for just three slots in a week. However, if there is a severe shortage of electricity, you may be without supply for several slots in a week. You will receive 48hrs notice of Emergency Power Cuts being introduced.
If your electricity supply has not been restored after four hours, please call your Electricity Distribution Network Operator. Their number will be in the Yellow Pages under electricity.
Yes, it may be possible to avoid some power cuts by reducing the amount of electricity you are using. Please turn off every non-essential item, such as dish washers or tumble dryers, and minimise the use of electric cooking. Also, unplug all equipment that has a standby feature — they use electricity even when you are not using them.
You should not connect portable generators to your home wiring unless you have had a proper connection installed by an authorised person. An incorrectly connected generator could cause danger to yourself and tour electrical equipment.
When the power goes off, switch off electric heaters and cookers to avoid a fire risk when the power is restored.
Its always best to switch off and unplug equipment, including satellite receivers, video and DVD recorders, televisions and computer equipment, but leave a light on to tell when the power is restored. It may help if you can turn off your central heating time switch while the electricity supply is off.


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In Oil & Companies News 17/08/2016
Oil prices reached their highest levels in more than five weeks on Tuesday as the market largely held gains that came from speculation producers would take action to prop up the market.
Production losses in Nigeria, where more than 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) was missing due to militant attacks and pipeline problems, also helped to support prices.
Brent crude futures hit a high of $48.81 per barrel, their highest since July 7, in morning trade. They were trading at $48.45 per barrel at 1422 GMT, up 10 cents from their last close.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude reached $46.21 per barrel, its highest since July 15, before easing to $45.94, up 20 cents from the previous close.
Prices had dipped after negative U.S. economic data and as some investors cashed in during Asian hours. But the benchmarks have mostly held their roughly 16 percent rally since early August.
Much of the gains have been attributed to investor expectation that oil producers will take action to rein in ballooning oversupply. That stemmed from comments by Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih, who said the kingdom would work with others to stabilise oil markets.
"It was a piece of good news that the market latched onto," said Harry Tchilinguirian, head of commodity market strategy at BNP Paribas.
But analysts including Tchilinguirian, were sceptical of any such deal. Nigerian Oil Minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu also expressed doubts.
"Optimism on my part is quite sparse, but I believe engagement with the 70 percent oil producers might have an impact," Kachikwu wrote on his Twitter account.
The oil production losses in Nigeria, which has been beset by escalating militant attacks in the oil rich Niger Delta region this year, echoed lower output in Venezuela.
"August and September, from a fundamental perspective, look strong," said Dominic Haywood of Energy Aspects, citing robust refinery runs, production losses and subdued oil production in the United States.
Venezuela is on track for its steepest annual oil output drop in 14 years as it struggles with an economic and political crisis and years of under investment and mismanagement.
In the United States, the Energy Information Administration said it expected the country's shale oil production to fall for a tenth consecutive month in September.
Source: Reuters (Additional reporting by Mark Tay and Henning Gloystein in Singapore; Editing by Jon Boyle and William Hardy)


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